A
Prayer for Owen Meanyby John
Irving (Ballantine, 1990)
John Irving is one of my favorite authors because he is so unpredictable.
Here's a great story of destiny and friendship. Besides
Garp, I also enjoyed
A Widow for One Year,
A Son of the Circus, and most recently,
The Fourth Hand.
The
World According to Garpby John Irving (Ballantine, 1994 - Reprint)
My first exposure to Irving. Here is a tale about living out the search for
forgiveness and loving along the way.
A Series
of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett (a.k.a.
Daniel Handler) (HarperCollins, 1999). The first of a scheduled 12
installment ride (# 12 is due October 18, 2005). They're all
great fun and lots of laugh, regardless of how old you happen to be.
About Grace: A
Novel by Anthony Doerr (Scribner, 2004). Sure, it moves
slowly, from Alaska to the Midwest to the Caribbean and back. But it's
a great ride to see how far love will go.
Aloft, by
Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead, 2004). Keep your seatback and tray table in
the upright position and enjoy the ride through late middle age. Worth
it for the tennis match scene alone.
Cold
Mountain by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997).
Walk a mile (or more) in the shoes of a man trying to get back home. What a
richly told tale I hated to have to finish.
Crossing to Safety,
by Wallace Earle Stegner (Random House, 2002). Follows two couples whose love for each other survives
ambition and death.
Dust on the Sea
by Edward L. Beach (Dell, 1973 - Naval Institute Press, 2004). Great
story of WWII submarine courage - open the book and strap yourself in for a
one way ride.
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck (Penguin, 2002). Classic tale of two very different
families - the doomed Trasks and the slow but sure Hamiltons. Brutal
and beautiful.
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini (Random House, 2005) We had lots of fun reading
this children's adventure tale out load together. Leaves you hanging
for Part 2 after the last battle.
Form Line of Battle
(Richard Bolitho Novels #9) by Alexander Kent (McBooks, 1999).
I enjoyed reading this series growing up. The navy I served in was
lots different, but the books were a wild ride on a shi of the line.
Gap Creek
by Robert Morgan (Algonquin Books, 2000). Hard life tale of Julie
Harmon in the mountains of North Carolina at the turn of the century.
You'll be rootin' for her so much you'll be willing to gather fire wood.
Gilead: A Novel
by Marilynne Robinson (Ferrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004). "Marilynne
Robinson draws on all of these associations in her new novel, which -- let's
say this right now -- is so serenely beautiful, and written in a prose so
gravely measured and thoughtful, that one feels touched with grace just to
read it." (Michael Dirda - The Washington Post)
Going Postal:
A Novel Of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins 2004).
My favorite, so far, of the two dozen or so books I've read of Pratchett's
Discworld series. Funny, insightful, enjoyable, irresistible.
Nobody can read just one...
Hadrian's Wall
by William Dietrich (HarperCollins, 2004). This was a fun book that
combined strong characters, a bit of history and a great story.
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling (Scholastic, 1998) . Read what
you will about this famous series of stories of friendship, coming of age,
courage, and love, but at least take the time to read it. Click on the book
image to read some sample passages that keep us
coming back for more.
Harvard Yard
by William Martin (Warner Books, 2004). I had read Annapolis
before and enjoyed the sweep of history and the thread of story through many
generations.
Hannibal
by Thomas Harris (Dell, 1999). Troubling tale about the nature of evil
and the mixture of good and evil that finds its way into all of us.
One
Door Away from Heavenby Dean Koontz (Bantam Doubleday 2001)
Not a horror story - a wonderful tale of grace. Worth the read for the closing
paragraph.
On
the Occasion of My Last Afternoonby Kaye Gibbons. If you liked Cold Mountain, Last Afternoon is written in
the same style and era.
One Hundred
Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (HarperCollins, 2004).
Get to know the Buenida family through war, marriages, children, aging, and
before you know it, you'll refuse to see Macondo fall into ruin.
Pompeii: A
Novel by Robert Harris (Random House, 2003). Go back in time
alongside a Roman aqueduct engineer on the trail of a mystery that blows up
in his face.
Pope Joan
by Donna Cross (Random House, 1997). Covers lots more than just a
controversial tale about a female Pope. Cross write historical fiction
about the ways women made a way in an ill-suited time.
Prodigal Summerby Barbara Kingsolver
(HarperCollins, 2001). Tale of love, friendship and humanity's place within the
"circle of life". Also wrote The Poisonwood Bible, which I didn't like as much.
Rabbit Angstrom Novelsby John Updike
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1995). Hard hitting stories that follow the life of Harry
"Rabbit" Angstrom as he and America grow up and old together.
Roxanna
Slade by Reynolds Price (Simon & Schuster, 1999). Southern tale, by a wonderful author, about
living with the past, and growing with love and grace.
Saint
Maybe by Anne Tyler (Ballantine, 1996)
The path of repentance is long and full of surprises. Tyler is slow but
sure. Nothing fancy, but the dialogue can fairly crackle at times, and the
stories and characters are real. I also enjoyed
Ladder of Years,
A Clockwork Planet, and
TheAccidental Tourist.
Smoke Jumperby Nicholas Evans (Dell, 2002). A bit predictable,
perhaps, but not a bad ride either - Evans wrote Horse Whisperer - the
ending leaves much to be desired, but Evans is a wonderful writer.
The Andromeda
Strain by Michael Crichton (Random House, 1993). Of course you
can't put it down, like so much of what Crichton writes. Strings you
along with just enough detail to keep you hanging on for dear life.
Timeline
by Michael Crichton (Random House, 1999)
I'm a sucker for time machine tales, and this one is particularly well-told.
I also liked Airframe,
Sphere,
The Great Train Robbery, and the one that started it for me,
The Andromeda Strain.
The Da Vinci Code:
A Novel by Dan Brown (Doubleday, 2003). A lot like Pop Joan in
its use of historical novel as soapbox and free pass from having to deal
with bothersome footnotes. Who cares? It's a great story.
The Deed of
Paksenarrion (Books 1-3) by Elizabeth Moon (Baen Books, 2003).
The Thompsons put us on to this great trilogy about courage and miracles and
friendship. Paks is one of the finest characters I've ever had the
honor to ride alongside.
The Five People
You Meet In Heavenby Mitch Albom (Hyperion, 2003). Fun read,
wierd theology. What would happen if we actually did the hard work of
living while we were, say, alive?
The
Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
If Tom can believe, maybe she can, too. Even out so far in the woods that no
one is going to come and rescue her. I'm a King fan. I also liked
Black House, Dreamcatcher, Hearts in Atlantis, The
Green Mile, The Stand, Rose Madder, Gerald's Game, Misery, and
Four Past Midnight. (I did not like Bag of Bones.)
The Hobbit and
the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring,
The Two Towers, The Return of the King), by J.R.R.
Tolkien. The Hobbit works well for children (at least ours), but the other three
are much thicker. Good reading, all.
The
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Ballantine, 1993)
Eye-opening, Pulitzer prizewinning story about Gettysburg. Shaara introduces
you to the many personalities behind the statistics and battlefield maps.
The Legend Of
Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield and Barrett Whitener (The Hearst
Corp., 1996). What a fun read about golfing and living life in the
zone.
The Life of Pi
by Yann Martel (Harcourt, 2003). What to do when shipwrecked on a life
raft with a tiger? After traveling half a world together, I didn't
want to be rescued.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown, and Co., 2002). Distressing yet
dispassionate in a way that enables you to move beyond the ugly murder of a
young girl - and get on with life because that's precisely what she does.
The Power and the Glory by Graham
Greene. A "whiskey priest" running from a Mexican government bent on
exterminating the church finds salvation in serving God in spite of his past.
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy.
Good story about growing up and learning to forgive - our parents - even
ourselves. I also enjoyed Beach Music
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd. Lily searches for her true mother, in spite of warnings
not to dream too big and to be careful of the truth that might be better off
buried. What she discovers is a path to forgiveness and acceptance, through
a new kind of family.
The Shipping News
by E. Annie Proulx (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Saw the movie first.
The book filled out so many nuances that could not be captured on film.
Thanks, Kirsten.
The Source
by James Michener (Ballantine, 1976). Digging through Tell Makor north
of Jerusalem, Michener takes you through 12,000 years of human love and
struggle in the holy land. Thanks, Ruthann.
The
Sparrowby Mary Doria Russell (Ballantine, 1997) Cynical (or is it just
painfully realistic) but intriguing. Russell asks: Where is God in the pain? The
author converted from Christianity to Judaism, and this story describes her
journey.
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell (Ballantine, 1999)
Second installment of the story begun in Sparrow, and a must-read to discover
the grace inherent in Russell's vision of God's place in our world (and beyond).
Sometimes we are part of an intricate tapestry of grace and meaning that far
exceeds our ability to understand or predict.
The Time
Traveler's Wife: A Novel by Audrey Niffenegger (Harcourt, 2004).
Does life really give us a choice, or can we learn to choose a way to honor
the patterns of a connected existence. If we knew how it would have to
play out - could we still enjoy the ride?
Trinityby Leon Uris (Bantam Books, 1983)
Take a gut-wrenching trip to northern Ireland; you'll return a different
person.
Underworld
by Don DeLillo (Simon & Schuster, 1998). No ordinary read - hard to
follow the bouncing baseball through a time machine of the shadow side of
American history.
Watership
Downby Richard Adams (Avon Books, 1972)
This has got to be one of my favorite books of all time. It's a great story
of leadership, courage, community, and hope.
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol
Oates. Time has its own way of healing old memories and wounds. Even families
can sometimes survive - and forgive. My brother-in-law is a big fan.
Zen And The Art
Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig (HarperCollins, 2000).
I was sad for the ride to end and have to content myself with echoes of the
road and the Chautauquas by the firelight.
The
Chronicles of Narnia:
The Magician's Nephew;
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe;
The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian;
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader;
The Silver Chair;
The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis (Mass Market Paperback - August 1994)
What a great series of tales of adventure, friendship, courage, and faith.
The
Possessedby Fyodor
Dostoyevsky
Prophetic novel about the horrors of Soviet Russia. Don't look for it
in bookstores, but most good library systems will have it. I also liked
The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov.
The Gulag Archipelago
1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigationby Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Harper & Row, 1973)
Worth the effort. Dedicated "to all those who did not live to tell it."
A
Prayer for Owen Meany
The
World According to Garp by John Irving (Ballantine, 1994 - Reprint)
A Series
of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snickett (a.k.a.
Daniel Handler) (HarperCollins, 1999). The first of a scheduled 12
installment ride (# 12 is due October 18, 2005). They're all
great fun and lots of laugh, regardless of how old you happen to be.
About Grace: A
Novel by Anthony Doerr (Scribner, 2004). Sure, it moves
slowly, from Alaska to the Midwest to the Caribbean and back. But it's
a great ride to see how far love will go.
Aloft, by
Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead, 2004). Keep your seatback and tray table in
the upright position and enjoy the ride through late middle age. Worth
it for the tennis match scene alone.
Cold
Mountain by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997).
Crossing to Safety,
by Wallace Earle Stegner (Random House, 2002). Follows two couples whose love for each other survives
ambition and death.
Dust on the Sea
by Edward L. Beach (Dell, 1973 - Naval Institute Press, 2004). Great
story of WWII submarine courage - open the book and strap yourself in for a
one way ride.
East of Eden
by John Steinbeck (Penguin, 2002). Classic tale of two very different
families - the doomed Trasks and the slow but sure Hamiltons. Brutal
and beautiful.
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini (Random House, 2005) We had lots of fun reading
this children's adventure tale out load together. Leaves you hanging
for Part 2 after the last battle.
Form Line of Battle
(Richard Bolitho Novels #9) by Alexander Kent (McBooks, 1999).
I enjoyed reading this series growing up. The navy I served in was
lots different, but the books were a wild ride on a shi of the line.
Gap Creek
by Robert Morgan (Algonquin Books, 2000). Hard life tale of Julie
Harmon in the mountains of North Carolina at the turn of the century.
You'll be rootin' for her so much you'll be willing to gather fire wood.
Gilead: A Novel
by Marilynne Robinson (Ferrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2004). "Marilynne
Robinson draws on all of these associations in her new novel, which -- let's
say this right now -- is so serenely beautiful, and written in a prose so
gravely measured and thoughtful, that one feels touched with grace just to
read it." (Michael Dirda - The Washington Post)
Going Postal:
A Novel Of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (HarperCollins 2004).
My favorite, so far, of the two dozen or so books I've read of Pratchett's
Discworld series. Funny, insightful, enjoyable, irresistible.
Nobody can read just one...
Hadrian's Wall
by William Dietrich (HarperCollins, 2004). This was a fun book that
combined strong characters, a bit of history and a great story.
Harvard Yard
by William Martin (Warner Books, 2004). I had read Annapolis
before and enjoyed the sweep of history and the thread of story through many
generations.
Hannibal
by Thomas Harris (Dell, 1999). Troubling tale about the nature of evil
and the mixture of good and evil that finds its way into all of us.
One
Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz (Bantam Doubleday 2001)
On
the Occasion of My Last Afternoon
One Hundred
Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (HarperCollins, 2004).
Get to know the Buenida family through war, marriages, children, aging, and
before you know it, you'll refuse to see Macondo fall into ruin.
Pompeii: A
Novel by Robert Harris (Random House, 2003). Go back in time
alongside a Roman aqueduct engineer on the trail of a mystery that blows up
in his face.
Pope Joan
by Donna Cross (Random House, 1997). Covers lots more than just a
controversial tale about a female Pope. Cross write historical fiction
about the ways women made a way in an ill-suited time.
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
(HarperCollins, 2001). Tale of love, friendship and humanity's place within the
"circle of life". Also wrote The Poisonwood Bible, which I didn't like as much.
Rabbit Angstrom Novels by John Updike
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1995). Hard hitting stories that follow the life of Harry
"Rabbit" Angstrom as he and America grow up and old together.
Roxanna
Slade by Reynolds Price (Simon & Schuster, 1999). Southern tale, by a wonderful author, about
living with the past, and growing with love and grace.
Saint
Maybe by Anne Tyler (Ballantine, 1996)
The Andromeda
Strain by Michael Crichton (Random House, 1993). Of course you
can't put it down, like so much of what Crichton writes. Strings you
along with just enough detail to keep you hanging on for dear life.
Timeline
by Michael Crichton (Random House, 1999)
The Da Vinci Code:
A Novel by Dan Brown (Doubleday, 2003). A lot like Pop Joan in
its use of historical novel as soapbox and free pass from having to deal
with bothersome footnotes. Who cares? It's a great story.
The Deed of
Paksenarrion (Books 1-3) by Elizabeth Moon (Baen Books, 2003).
The Thompsons put us on to this great trilogy about courage and miracles and
friendship. Paks is one of the finest characters I've ever had the
honor to ride alongside.
The Five People
You Meet In Heaven
The
Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
The
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Ballantine, 1993)
The Legend Of
Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield and Barrett Whitener (The Hearst
Corp., 1996). What a fun read about golfing and living life in the
zone.
The Life of Pi
by Yann Martel (Harcourt, 2003). What to do when shipwrecked on a life
raft with a tiger? After traveling half a world together, I didn't
want to be rescued. 
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown, and Co., 2002). Distressing yet
dispassionate in a way that enables you to move beyond the ugly murder of a
young girl - and get on with life because that's precisely what she does.
The Power and the Glory by Graham
Greene. A "whiskey priest" running from a Mexican government bent on
exterminating the church finds salvation in serving God in spite of his past.
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy.
Good story about growing up and learning to forgive - our parents - even
ourselves. I also enjoyed Beach Music
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd. Lily searches for her true mother, in spite of warnings
not to dream too big and to be careful of the truth that might be better off
buried. What she discovers is a path to forgiveness and acceptance, through
a new kind of family.
The Shipping News
by E. Annie Proulx (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Saw the movie first.
The book filled out so many nuances that could not be captured on film.
Thanks, Kirsten.
The Source
by James Michener (Ballantine, 1976). Digging through Tell Makor north
of Jerusalem, Michener takes you through 12,000 years of human love and
struggle in the holy land. Thanks, Ruthann. 
The
Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (Ballantine, 1997) Cynical (or is it just
painfully realistic) but intriguing. Russell asks: Where is God in the pain? The
author converted from Christianity to Judaism, and this story describes her
journey.
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell (Ballantine, 1999)
The Time
Traveler's Wife: A Novel by Audrey Niffenegger (Harcourt, 2004).
Does life really give us a choice, or can we learn to choose a way to honor
the patterns of a connected existence. If we knew how it would have to
play out - could we still enjoy the ride?
Trinity
by Leon Uris (Bantam Books, 1983)
Underworld
by Don DeLillo (Simon & Schuster, 1998). No ordinary read - hard to
follow the bouncing baseball through a time machine of the shadow side of
American history.
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol
Oates. Time has its own way of healing old memories and wounds. Even families
can sometimes survive - and forgive. My brother-in-law is a big fan.
Zen And The Art
Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig (HarperCollins, 2000).
I was sad for the ride to end and have to content myself with echoes of the
road and the Chautauquas by the firelight.
The
Chronicles of Narnia:
The Gulag Archipelago
1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation