Kidder introduces a new hero for our time. Deo— a survivor of the Rwandan massacres—through a combination of what can only be described as grace and good fortune, manages to get to the U.S., squatting in a tenement in New York City and camping in Central Park while working as a grocery delivery man. Befriended by perceptive and tenacious strangers, he makes his way to Columbia University, medical school, and Dr. Paul Farmer with Partners in Health—the subject of Kidder’s book Mountains Beyond Mountains. Kidder examines Deo’s remarkable life and journey with sensitivity, compassion, and awe at the example set by Deo’s sheer capacity for hope. ~ Mary ~ We anticipate a visit to Bainbridge by Kidder in Fall 2010!

The Lacuna (Harper), a lavish, luscious novel told through diaries and letters, is a splendid mixture of art and politics. The language and characters are vintage Kingsolver. Historical fiction doesn’t get any better—you’ll meet Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leon Trotsky. There’s a mystery, too, so don’t be discouraged if you’re confused at first!”

This chapter book is intended by the publisher for an audience in grades 4-8. I found it a beautiful and satisfying read. Wonderfully illustrated by Foreman’s watercolors, it’s a multi-layered story of a boy who, through his obsession with learning to play the violin, learns a painful secret and manages to draw his family together. This is a very sensitive introduction to the difficult subjects of the Holocaust and family secrets. ~ Mary

This is probably the most important book I have ever read-certainly the most disturbing. It's profound in its implications. I highly recommend it.

This is a perfect gem of a book. Peavey, an environmental lobbyist, married a sheep rancher, moved to rural Idaho in midlife, and developed a fresh way of looking at conservation. Her love of the land and growing appreciation for this new life glow on every page. ~ Mary G

Enger has surpassed Peace Like a River with this tale of outlaw Glendon Hale's search for the wife he abandoned many years earlier. Monte Becket, the narrator, tears himself away from his home and family, irresistibly drawn by Hale and his quest. The journey, set in 1915 and moving from Minnesota across the fading Wild West, reveals that Enger has honed his direct-from-the heart style with a story that both men and women will find immensely satisfying and appealing. ~ Mary

The amazing story of how a small community in France defied the Vichey government and Nazi occupiers, sheltering and saving the lives of thousands of Jews. This is an inspiring demonstration of the importance of recognizing and opposing evil from its outset.

What a cool book! Opening up just like a stage curtain, it goes on with wonderful illustrations and lift-the-flaps including a ticket envelope and ticket. It has costume swatches, script excerpts, playbills, and explanations of who does what, backstage and onstage. This is the perfect book for a child to read before going to his or her first play, and one to keep as appreciation of theater deepens.

Having moved to rural Tennessee in 1980 for an internship, Dr. Verghese gives us a glimpse of life there-- the hill people, tobacco culture, truck stops, and evangelical churches-- as he chronicles the arrival of AIDS in his hometown. His candor and compassion make Verghese and appealing narrator. Despite its grim subject, this book is funny and touching and ultimatly uplifting in its demonstration that it is possible to get beyond our ignorance and fears in striving to create a caring community.

This novel is about the isolation of small towns and world travel, boredom and terror, magic and religion, bedlam and beatitude. A person is born, and others die, one with a stone egg in his mouth. Magic or devine retribution? Maybe you'll figure it out, moaybe you won't, but I bet you'll like this book.

The reader is both repelled by and drawn into this fascinating and wrenching novel set in Florida. The plot revolves around a little girl who disappears from the strip club where her mother works, her mother having taken her there because the babysitter was sick. Dubus peoples his book with disparate characters in desperate circumstances, and he has an extraordinary way of getting us as readers to identify with people with whom we have seemingly little in common. ~ Mary

Simply and elegantly told, this is the story of a young Chinese man's stay with and older Japanese gardener. It unfolds gently, revealing a larger complex pattern of time, place, culture, and character. This is my favorite among the books I read in 1998.

Abu-Jaber, who won a Pen Center U.S.A. Award and an American Book Award for her lovely novel Crescent, has just garnered a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award for this memoir. Food holds the author's eccentric and somewhat volatile family together as they ratchet between two countries and their cultures, Jordan and the U.S. The author weaves mouthwatering recipes into her story of great humor, passion, and generosity of spirit. A delicious read.

Bauby, the editor of Elle magazine, presents an extraordinary account of the stroke that left him paralyzed except for his left eye, with which he learned to communicate through blinking. This story ultimatly is about the resilience of the human spirit and what it means to be alive. Unforgettable.

This novel is a stunner. It's the story of two high school students who fall in love in the summer of 1968, their idealism and innocence juxtaposed against the world run amok. There is a sweetness and tenderness in Clark's language that is extraordinary. ~ Mary G.

This fictionalized account of the westward migration of Joseph Reed and his family, who traveled to California by wagon train in 1847, is fast paced and surprising at almost every turn. It's a wonderful read with plenty of suspense, lots of western history, and a cast of intriguing characters exhibiting stubbornness, bad judgment, and devotion. ~ Mary G.

If you like books by Tom Robbins and Ken Kesey, you will think this is a terrific read. I did. It's a tale of magic and morals and everyday life of Native Americans, on and off the reservation.

Wild Life has one of the more engaging main characters /narrators I've ever encountereed-- turn of the (last) century feminist, writer and free thinking futurist- see what you think!

A western for people who don't usually read westerns. The narrator is the 12-year-old son of a small town sheriff whose quiet heroism is revealed as he confronts the choice between family loyalty and justice. The author's attention to character development and his evocation of time and place make this a compelling read.

I've been trying to get my book group to go on a road trip to Nova Scotia ever since we read Norman's The Bird Artist and No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod. This book may just do the trick. Norman's meditations on Nova Scotia, drawn from excursions and projects there, are as quirky and steadfast, quiet and deep, as the people about whom he writes. ~ Mary G.