Saturday, November 17, 2007

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Anyone who despairs of the individual’s power to change lives has to read the story of Greg Mortenson, a homeless mountaineer who, following a 1993 climb of Pakistan’s treacherous K2, was inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers and promised to build them a school. Over the next decade he built 55 schools—especially for girls—that offer a balanced education in one of the most isolated and dangerous regions on earth.

Link to book's website:

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/Intro.php

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly.

Link to reading group guide and discussion questions:

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/glass_castle1.asp

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Runaway by Alice Munro

Alice Munro is widely considered to be one of the world's premier short story writers. The stories in this book take place throughout Canada and focus on human relationships looked at through the lens of daily life, featuring women and men drifting in and out of each other’s orbits, pulled by forces they often don't understand.

Link to reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/140004281X/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Friday, November 9, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Painted House by John Grisham

With A Painted House, John Grisham strikes out in a different
direction than his typical legal thriller. As the author is quick to
note, this novel includes "not a single lawyer, dead or alive."
Instead, Grisham has delivered a quieter, more contemplative
story, set in rural Arkansas in 1952.

Link to reading group guide and discussion questions:

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/painted_house1.asp

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

This stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever.

Link to reading group guide and discussion questions:

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides3/memory_keepers_daughter1.asp

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Dial M: the Murder of Carol Thompson by William Swanson

Veteran Minneapolis journalist William Swanson writes a
compelling book about the brutal 1963 murder of a local housewife, a case that attracted international attention.

Link to reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0873515870/ref=dp_proddesc_0/002-6682929-9311204?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

The Human Stain by Philip Roth

The Human Stain provides one of the most provocative explorations of race and rage in American literature. It is 1998, and in a small New England town an aging classics professor is forced to retire when his colleagues decree that he is a racist.

Link to reading group guide and discussion questions:

http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_H/human_stain1.asp