2012-2013 Season

Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye
After years of estrangement, Noah visits his stoic father, a shipwreck survivor, near the end of his life. A somber, hushed story of a father and son, set on Minnesota’s north shore.
(Literary Fiction)

Yes, Chef: A Memoir by Marcus Samuelsson
World-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson chronicles his life from early childhood in Ethiopia to his formative years in Sweden to his rousing culinary success in the United States.
(Memoir; Food Writing)

Arcadia by Lauren Groff
The story of a utopian community, told through the eyes of Bit, whose parents were founding members. A lyrical and beautifully told coming-of-age story.
(Literary Fiction; Coming-of-Age Stories)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
In this witty, timeless comedy of manners, the charming Bennet sisters seek the perfect husband. A sprightly commentary on society and marriage in Regency England. The One Book, One Batavia 2013 selection.
(Classic; Romance)

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman
When a fifteen year old boy forwards a video to his friends sent to him by his girlfriend the resulting scandal threatens the calm and security of his family. Set in Manhattan this modern story reveals how one innocent mistake can be impacted by twenty-first century technology.
(Fiction; Multiple Perspectives; Character-Driven; Issue-Oriented)

Nemesis by Philip Roth
A polio epidemic is raging through Newark, New Jersey, in the summer of 1944, and fear of contagion and rumors about the spread of the disease keep many children inside. This book vividly captures the climate of fear and hostility the epidemic engenders and the toll that guilt takes on the psyche.
(Historical Fiction; Literary Fiction)

Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante
A retired orthopedic surgeon is the prime suspect in the murder of her best friend, found dead in a Chicago brownstone, but she doesn’t know if she committed the crime. The early onset of Alzheimer’s disease is raising the question in her own mind of her innocence or guilt.
(Mystery; Psychological; Bleak; Haunting; Compelling)

Hiroshima by John Hersey
This understated, yet devastating, nonfiction account by journalist John Hersey tells the stories of six survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
(History)

2011-2012 Season

The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen
Set in the Pacific Northwest during the 1918 flu epidemic, this novel is about love, family, friendship, patriotism, and community. Each becomes threatened when the town of Commonwealth, still uninfected, votes to quarantine itself against the deadly illness by posting guards at the single road that leads in and out of town.
(Historical Fiction; Character-Driven; Compelling)

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
As a child, Rose discovers she can taste the emotions of the person who cooked the food she eats—which often discloses people’s secrets. She narrates this story about her unusual family and their unexpected talents. This lyrical novel, infused with magical realism, captures the sweet and sour flavor of family life.
|(Literary Fiction; Magical Realism)

The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Set in 1915 during the dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls, this novel tells the story of Bess and Tom and their commitment to each other, as well as the history and power of the falls.
(Historical Fiction; Richly-Detailed; Romantic)

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Written in 1955, this classic account of the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, remains one of the most popular books about the disaster. Walter Lord’s clear, concise storytelling allows present-day readers to feel the immediacy of the events of that terrible night 100 years ago. The One Book, One Batavia 2012 selection.
(History)

Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin
An old woman comes to Seoul to visit her children. At a busy train station she is separated from her husband and lost. While the family looks for their mother, they reflect on her life and their relationship to her. The novel represents the contrast between old and new in Korea and is the author’s first book to be translated to English.
(Literary Fiction; Domestic Fiction)

Crossing the Heart of Africa: An Odyssey of Love and Adventure by Julian Smith
Inspired by Victorian explorer Ewart Grogan, the author sets out on a similar journey, a 4,000 mile walk across Africa through eight countries. The stories of their travels are interwoven throughout the book, nearly a century apart, both inspired by history, adventure, and love.
(Travelogue; Strong Sense of Place; Candid; Conversational)

The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst
When Octavia learns that her estranged son has been arrested for murder, she abandons the manuscript of her latest book to reconcile with him. Their story is interspersed with fragments of Octavia’s books, with both their original and revised endings. Complex, layered, and emotionally charged.
(Literary Fiction)

Bliss, Remembered by Frank Deford
In this fictional memoir, 87-yr old Sydney is dying and decides to tell her son about an early part of her life, starting with her time as a swimmer when she attended the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and fell in love with an assistant to Leni Riefenstahl. Entertaining and thought-provoking.
(Historical Fiction; Sports and Romance)

2010-2011 Season

Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson
The exciting, fast-moving, true adventure story of scuba divers’ 1991 discovery of a sunken German submarine off the New Jersey coast, and the years they spent unraveling the unidentified U-boat’s mysteries.
(True Adventure)

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
Following a family tragedy, Agnes Shanklin leaves behind her life as a spinster schoolteacher and begins an unforgettable journey. She travels to Egypt, with her newly adopted dog Rosie, and finds herself in the middle of the Cairo Peace Conference where she meets T.E. Lawrence and Winston Churchill.
(Historical Fiction; First Person Narratives; Nostalgic; Descriptive)

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb
A feisty heroine, a remote island in the Great Lakes, an old mansion, and dark family secrets are the main ingredients in this contemporary ghost story with a gothic feel.
(Gothic Fiction; Ghost Stories)

The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian, a Jew—Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idli by, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
Three women set out to collaborate on an interfaith children’s book about the common traditions of their religions, but they soon realize they have to iron out their differences first. The “faith club” reveals prejudices, stereotypes and misconceptions about each other’s faith.
(Spirituality; Religion; Inspiring; Thought-Provoking; Candid)

Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry selected by Billy Collins
During his tenure as Poet Laureate of the United States, Billy Collins selected these short, clear poems for a project called Poetry 180, in which poems could be read aloud at high schools—just for the joy of hearing a poem each day. The One Book, One Batavia 2011 selection.
(Poetry)

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Retiring to the remote place in Norway that marked his coming-of-age, 67-yr. old Trond Sanders is forced to confront a long avoided past. A mesmerizing novel about memory and youth.
(Literary Fiction; Quiet and Contemplative)

Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult
Told in flashbacks, this story is about Paige O’Toole Prescott, a wife and new mother. She leaves her husband Nicholas and son Max to search for her own mother who abandoned her when she was five years old. Her journey examines the complexities of the human heart and the bond that exists between a mother and child.
(Introspective; Bittersweet; Moving)

The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar
Which of the 23 varieties of mustard on the shelf will we purchase? Why? Would it be an easier and less stressful choice if there were only 3 varieties? This book discusses “the pitfalls of making up one’s mind” and the psychology of choice.
(Society and Culture; Psychology)

2009-2010 Season

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen
Meghan Fitzmaurice is the successful host of a morning talk show, who seems to have it all—until she makes a terrible gaffe on national television. Her sister Bridget narrates this witty tale of two flawed sisters undergoing dramatic personal changes.
(General Fiction)

The United States of Arugula: The Sun-Dried, Cold-Pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution by David Kamp
A cultural history that chronicles the progression of fine dining in the United States: from boiled-to-death vegetables, gelatinous salads, and mass-produced white bread to sun-dried tomatoes, cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil, and artisanal whole –grain breads.
(Gastronomy)

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
When the queen of England discovers the delights of reading books, her advisers worry—and with good cause: her ideas and behavior are changing… dramatically. This novel is a paean to the joys of reading.
(General Fiction)

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
This Pulitzer Prize winning novel of interconnected stories follows the lives of folks in a small Maine town, including the rather blunt and opinionated school teacher of the title. Finely crafted and deeply emotional.
(Literary Fiction; Short Stories)

Playing with the Enemy by Gary W. Moore
As a teenager, Gene Moore was recruited by the Brooklyn Dodgers—but World War II interrupted his plans. In this heartfelt true story, Gary Moore describes his father’s unique experience in the Navy, playing baseball and guarding secret German prisoners, as well the challenges he faced during the war’s aftermath. The One Book, One Batavia 2010 selection.
(History; Sports)

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
After a horrific accident, a disfigured man lies in a burn ward planning his suicide. There, he meets an emotionally unhinged sculptress of grotesques who tells him they have known each other for 700 years . . .
(Psychological Fiction; Historical Fiction)

Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez: An Autobiography by Richard Rodriguez
In this memoir of his school years, Rodriguez writes beautifully, movingly, and provocatively about his love of learning, the loneliness of achieving an educational level far beyond that of his immigrant parents, and his perceptions of speaking English at school and Spanish at home.
(Memoir)

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
Wilhelmina Upton returns to seemingly idyllic rural New York and her hippie-turned-born-again-Christian mother. Her journey of rediscovery reveals the trurth about her own twisted family tree and the monsters behind the facade,both literally and figuartively.
(Family Saga)

2008-2009 Season

Kindred by Octavia Butler
Dana, a 26-year-old African-American woman living in the 1970s, is transported back to the antebellum South, where she experiences life in slavery. While she is able to return to her real life in 1976, periodically she is called back to the past to protect the young man who will become her own ancestor. A thought-provoking novel by an author who was awarded a Macarthur “genius” grant.
(Time Travel)

The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx
The story of Quoyle, a loser who can’t seem to get anything right. After his wife’s unexpected exit, Quoyle is left in charge of their two young daughters. His feisty aunt Agnis persuades him to move back with her to the ancestral home in Newfoundland, where Quoyle attempts to get a fresh start. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.
(Literary Fiction; Domestic Fiction)

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
While the basic story of the Pilgrims is widely known, the events of the five decades after their arrival at Plymouth are surprisingly unfamiliar, fascinating, and relevant today. In vivid detail, Nathaniel Philbrick brings to life the legendary and less well-known Pilgrims and Native Americans who forged a relationship that eventually was destroyed by war.
(History)

Felidae by Akif Pirinçci
An internationally acclaimed suspense novel that features the adventures of Francis, a house cat who, in trying to catch the murderer of his feline friends, meets up with a bizarre cat cult, a kitty computer whiz, and a perceptive Persian. Very dark.
(Psychological Fiction; Mystery)

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Many of us have learned about the Civil War through history books, but this heroic and character-driven novel presents the Battle of Gettysburg through the compelling personalities of the men who fought there. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The One Book, One Batavia 2009 selection.
(Historical Fiction)

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield
This entertaining book traces the far-reaching impact of a single commodity, cochineal. A legendary red dye discovered by Spanish conquistadors in 1519, it produced the strongest, most vivid red color the old world had ever seen. Spain’s cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune, and the English, French, Dutch and other Europeans were determined to discover their own source of this elusive dye.
(History; Arts & Entertainment)

Folly by Laurie R. King
Rae, a woman who has suffered personal tragedy and teetered on the brink of mental instability, moves to a remote island to restore a peculiar, ruined house she inherited from her great-uncle. Rae believes she is alone on the island, but increasingly she feels as if she is being watched. As odd, menacing incidents begin to take place, she wonders if the danger is real or if it is only her imagination. A smart, intriguing, psychological novel.
(Psychological Suspense)

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
A Pulitzer Prize winning novel, this combelling book spans three generations. Told with humor and pathos, it tells the story of Cal, who grew into a man but was born a girl.
(Literary Fiction; Coming-of-Age Stories)

2007-2008 Season

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Three men, who were childhood friends until a terrible event ruptured their lives, live on the south side of Boston where they grew up. When one man’s daughter is murdered, his old friend, now a police detective, is assigned to the case and must investigate their other childhood friend. A bleak, suspenseful psychological thriller by an award-winning mystery author.
(Psychological Suspense)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
This award-winning short story collection presents universal characters attempting to understand the cataclysmic and benevolent events that occur in their lives. The stories’ locations are in India and the U.S.; their themes are global. Characters struggle to express their feelings of alienation, pain, and joy to themselves and others. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN Hemingway Award for this collection. A short and superb read!
(Short Stories; Literary Fiction; Character-Driven)

The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team by Wayne Coffey
Was this the “greatest sports moment of the twentieth century?” Coffey, a sportswriter for New York’s Daily News, brings to life the players, the coach, and the game in Lake Placid that has been called “a miracle on ice.”
(Sports and Competition)

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder
“On Friday noon, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below.” Did this incident happen by chance, or was it a case of divine intervention? These and other questions will be topics for this book discussion. The Bridge of San Luis Rey won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 and was chosen by the Modern Language Association as one of the best books of the 20th century.
(Historical Fiction; Classic)

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Through a warmly humorous, yet sad, story that alternates between the near future and the 14th century’s outbreak of the bubonic plague, Willis weaves the importance of human relationships and the successes and limitations of science. This time travel novel won all three major science fiction awards (Hugo, Nebula, and Locus). The One Book, One Batavia 2008 selection.
(Time Travel)

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
Do we choose what to plant in our gardens? Or do the plants choose us? Learn about four common plants and the human desires they inspire: the apple and sweetness; the tulip and beauty; marijuana and intoxication; and the potato and control. Pollan weaves an interesting tale with observations from philosophy, natural history, botany, and his own gardening experience.
(Nature; History)

Emma by Jane Austen
Emma Woodhouse – pretty, rich, bright, and very self-assured – lives an undisturbed and well-ordered life. She’s known as a matchmaker and thinks her ideas about romance and life are ideals everyone should follow. With wit and irony, Austen describes a young woman who discovers that life is not tidy, and is, instead, unpredictable and sometimes painful.
(Historical Fiction)

An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg
A heartbreaking, yet heartwarming, novel about family and courage. When a young widow seeks refuge in her Wyoming hometown, the welcome she receives from her father-in-law Einar is decidedly cold. Meanwhile, her young daughter becomes fast friends with Einar’s old friend, a man wounded by a bear attack. This novel’s seemingly simple prose brings the characters to life.
(General Fiction)

2006-2007 Season

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
This lyrical, award-winning novel features an international cast of well-drawn characters and a riveting plot. When guerrillas take hostages at an embassy party in an unnamed South American country, the following months of captivity result in some surprising relationships.
(Literary Fiction)

The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
Nine-year-old Lucy Gault has run away from home. The repercussions of her childish act result in unrelenting grief and emotional turmoil for her family and herself, and finally forgiveness. No registration is required.
(Historical Fiction)

Strange Fits of Passion by Anita Shreve
A gripping novel about a woman who escapes her abusive husband and arrives in a small coastal town in Maine, along with her infant daughter. Just as she begins to make a new life for herself, she is forced to make a terrible choice.
(Psychological Suspsense)

Rabbit, Run by John Updike
John Updike has created a character named Harry Angstrom, a.k.a. Rabbit. Rabbit is a liar and is lazy. He’s also an adulterer and accepts no responsibility for his family. He’s in a dead-end job and wants sympathy from everyone. Yet the reader likes him. Find out why.
(Literary Fiction; Modern Classic)

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz
This bleak, powerful, true story describes two years in the lives of two boys growing up in Chicago’s Henry Horner Homes, where they live amidst poverty and violence. The One Book, One Batavia 2007 selection.
(Society)

Spilling Clarence by Anne Ursu
How would you feel if you could remember everything that had ever happened to you? A fire at a pharmaceutical factory releases a drug into the air, and the citizens of the small college town of Clarence, Minnesota, find out.
(Psychological Fiction)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Married three times and tried for the murder of one husband, Janie Crawford is the colorful and independent protagonist in this novel. This book is about achieving a strong sense of self and a zest for living.
(Psychological Fiction; Modern Classic)

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
Krakauer was on assignment for Outside magazine to write about the commercialization of Everest expeditions when he became a witness to a tragedy of epic proportions. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction.
(Adventure Writing; First Person Narrative)

2005-2006 Season

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Jay Gatsby is rich, famous and has everything he wants, except for one thing. The American jazz age at its finest.
(Literary Fiction; Modern Classic)

The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel
In this compassionate, witty novel, Langston abandons graduate school and returns to her small Midwestern town, where she meets the unusual new minister and two troubled, orphaned girls.
(General Fiction)

E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis
The wonderfully readable story of the personalities and fascinating behind-the-scenes developments that led to Einstein’s formulation of the E=mc2 equation.
(Science)

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
In this subdued, introspective novel, Stevens—the consummate butler for all his adult life—embarks on a rare vacation. During his drive, he finds himself reflecting on his many years of unfailing service to Lord Darlington – and wondering at his own ability look past the terrible truth about the man he served.
(Literary Fiction)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
A remote New England village sets the scene for this tragic love story. One of Wharton’s masterpieces and an American classic.
(Literary Fiction; Modern Classic)

The Giver by Lois Lowry
This Newbery Medal-winning novel initially appears to depict an ideal futuristic society. Then twelve-year-old Jonas receives his life’s assignment as the Receiver of Memory. His daily meetings with the Giver, who conveys memories of life before the establishment of their regimented society, gradually lead Jonas to question their way of life. A thought-provoking novel about freedom, community, family, and love. The One Book, One Batavia 2006 selection.
(Children’s Fiction; Dystopian Fiction)

The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway
This intriguing memoir takes us from a little girl’s life on an isolated sheep farm, through a difficult coming-of-age in Sydney, up to the author’s decision to leave Australia for graduate school in the United States. Conway became the first woman president of Smith College, and has also written True North and A Woman’s Education.
(Memoir)

Sula by Toni Morrison
An engrossing story about two African-American childhood friends, Sula and Nell, and the overwhelming problems they face as adults.
(African-American Fiction; Literary Fiction; Bittersweet)

2004-2005 Season

Anagrams by Lorrie Moore
In this complex, inventive, and surprising novel, the characters’ identities change with every twist of the plot.
(Literary Fiction)

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
David Lurie, a college professor, finds his life dangerously transformed when he begins an affair with a student. This searing novel by Nobel Prize winner, J. M. Coetzee, speaks to the momentous changes that have occurred in post-aparthied South Africa.
(Psychological Fiction; Thought-Provoking)

A Lesson before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
Jefferson, an African American youth, is wrongly accused of murder and is sentenced to die. While in jail, a former friend, with personal problems of his own, visits Jefferson and together the two learn how to oppose and defy the outcome of their lives.
(Historical Fiction; Character-Driven)

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
Shirley Hazzard took two decades to follow up her National Book Critics Circle Award winner The Transit of Venus. The magnificent work she delivered (coincidentally during this millennium’s real transit of Venus) is set in post-World War II Japan. Learning to dream again, after such a great fire as Hiroshima and the Wars in general, takes much more than planning. Ms. Hazzard knows.
(Australian Fiction; Atmospheric)

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
This engrossing book interweaves the fascinating story of the building of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago with the creepy true tale of serial killer Dr. H.H. Holmes. The story alternates between the architects’ challenges and the murderer’s plotting, and the suspense builds…
(True Crime; History)

The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason
This evocative novel tells about three generations of women. The protagonist, Ruth, struggles to understand her childhood loss under the empathic guidance of her Aunt Sylvie.
(Domestic Fiction; Psychological Fiction)

2003-2004 Season

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
In this spellbinding novel, a woman is torn between her love for her husband and a growing obsession with a man who reappears many years after she knew him during a secret phase in her past.
(General Fiction)

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
This is the first novel that propelled Barbara Kingsolver into literary prominence. Taylor Greer, the first of Kingsolver’s unique main characters, is poor, but spunky and open to life and all its challenges. This novel will make your spirits soar — guaranteed!
(General Fiction)

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
“Remember you must die!” A group of elderly friends are haunted by this warning from an unknown source. Each one has past secrets they’d prefer to forget but must face again. This sparse story is just one example of Muriel Spark’s dark yet hilarious novels. Mystery, suspense, and comedy — all rolled into one! Don’t miss the book and its discussion!
(Satirical Fiction; Modern Classic)

Of Beetles and Angels by Mawi Asgedom
In this inspiring, heartfelt memoir, a young Ethiopian-Eritrean man describes his family’s arrival in the United States as refugees, their struggles to adjust to a new life in Wheaton, IL, and his own motivation to succeed that led to his graduation from Harvard. The One Book, One Batavia 2004 selection.
(Memoir)

Headlong by Michael Frayn
When a frustrated philosopher uncovers what he believes is a lost painting by Bruegel in a boorish neighbor’s basement, he embarks on a quest to separate the work from its owner.
(Humorous Fiction)

Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr
In this lyrical novel, a retired American couple moves to a Mexican village to re-open an old copper mine. This quiet, character-driven story brings to life many of the town’s residents, who are perplexed by the strange ways of their new neighbors.
(Literary Fiction)

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman
Sister John of the Cross, an elderly nun, experiences a series of dazzling visions, but she is confronted with a difficult choice between her spiritual gifts and curing the powerful headaches that accompany her visions.
(Religious Fiction)

2002-2003 Season

Talking to the Dead by Helen Dunmore
Talking to the Dead is a fast-paced story about two sisters’ shared childhood and the circumstances surrounding a tragic event that occurred when they were young. Dunmore gradually reveals each sister’s impression of the tragedy and then leaves it up to the reader to decide which impression is the true one. This is a haunting tale of sibling rivalry, adultery, and murder.
(Psychological Suspense)

Larry’s Party by Carol Shields
Larry Weller is an ordinary guy whose life, to his surprise, twists and turns like the garden mazes he designs. In this quietly triumphant novel, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carol Shields gives us a sympathetic portrait of a Baby Boomer adjusting to society’s changing expectations of men.
(General Fiction)

All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg
Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times, reminisces about his cruel yet triumphant southern childhood in All Over But the Shoutin’. Recalling the influence of his alcoholic father and his courageous mother, Bragg writes with lucidity, humor, and honesty. This is a memoir you’ll be glad you read.
(Memoir)

Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Each person who visits Claudia Hampton at her deathbed reveals another aspect of this flawed, yet fascinating, woman’s life. This quiet, nostalgic Booker Prize winner raises questions about the complexity of human relationships and memory.
(Literary Fiction)

Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor
This dark thriller is about a naïve and vulnerable Irish girl who meets up with a middle-aged psychopath.
(Psychological Suspense)

The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
When Charles Baxter wanders to a park during a sleepless night, he encounters a neighbor who tells him the first of several tales of love that interweave to create this luminous novel.
(Literary Fiction)

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, deserts the army and travels across North Carolina to reunite with his lover. This is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a page turner complete with adventure, war, and love.
(Historical Fiction; Multiple Perspectives)

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
Did he kill her, or didn’t he? In this complex, layered, disturbing novel, a politician and his wife escape to the woods to recover, after a horrific secret from his past is uncovered. A master magician who had managed to make his past vanish, he is suspected of murder when his wife disappears.
(Literary Fiction; Psychological Suspense)

2001-2002 Season (partial season)

Paradise News by David Lodge
Paradise News tells the humorous story of Bernard Walsh, naïve and middle-aged, who while being a dutiful son, discovers new excitement and love in a Hawaiian paradise.
(Humorous Fiction)

Disobedience by Jane Hamilton
Narrated with pitch-perfect sarcasm and sadness by the teenage son who discovers his mother’s affair, this is the absorbing, bittersweet story of a family silently ruptured by infidelity—even as the pre-teen daughter and her father joyfully pursue their passion for Civil War reenactment.
(Literary Fiction)

An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
With wit and irony, Annie Dillard lovingly recalls her unconventional upbringing in An American Childhood. Learning to fly, playing poker, collecting and drawing insects and reciting psalms were just some of the experiences that influenced this brilliant writer and naturalist.
(Memoir)

She Walks These Hills by Sharyn McCrumb
A haunting, homespun, literary mystery set on the lovingly evoked Appalachian Trail, where modern-day travelers encounter the ghost of a young woman who was kidnapped in 1779.
(Mystery)