With spring well underway, we had a good mix of old favorites and new discoveries:
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L'Engle
A Small Hotel – Robert Olen Butler
A Secret Kept – Tatiana de Rosnay
Death Comes to Pemberley – P.D. James
On Agate Hill – Lee Smith
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive – Alexander McCall Smith
The Lost Art of Gratitude – Alexander McCall Smith
The 4th of July – James Patterson
Snobs – Julian Fellowes
Biography of a Face – Lucy Grealy
The Paris Wife – Paula McLain
Midnight in Paris movie
Match Point movie
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court – Mark Twain
Emphyrio – Jack Vance
Count to a Trillion – John C. Wright
Shapeshift – Sherwin Bitsui
Program or Be Programmed – Douglas Rushkoff
The End of Eternity – Isaac Asimov
The Hot Gate – John Ringo
The Freedom Maze – Delia Sherman
The Restoration Game – Ken MacLeod
Temporary Duty – Ric Locke
Iron Angels – Geoffrey Landis
Children of the Sky – Vernor Vinge
Sweeter Than Wine – L. Neil Smith
Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
Saving the Queen – William F. Buckley Jr.
Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy – John le Carre
Boxcar Brigade – Mary E. Ester
Harry Potter series
The Big Short – Michael Lewis
Fifty Shades of Grey – E. L. James
Roman Fever – Edith Wharton
Devil’s Gate – Clive Cussler
Red Mist – Patricia Cornwell
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
County – Dr. David Ansell
Iqball – Francesco D’Adamo
The Hunger Games
From our sister group in Oklahoma:
Books
Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson
Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
One for the Money by Janet Evanovich
Dogs of Riga and White Lioness by Henning Mankell
Magister Luti by Hermann Hesse
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday
Night to Remember by Walter Lord
Paris Wife by Paula Mclain
Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert
Tonight They’ll Kill a Catholic by R. Douglas Wead
Books by Stephen King, James Michener, and Leon Uris
Movies and TV
Night to Remember
One for the Money
Raisin in the Sun
1. 1961 Sidney Oiutuer
2. 1989 Danny Glover
3. 2008 Sean Combs
Plays
Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Take Note:
Lawton Public Library Book Sale
World Book Night
From Mary Lou in Maryland:
John Sanford, Heat Lightening (2008). This is another Minnesota detective mystery featuring detective Virgil Flowers. Corpses are showing up at veteran’s monuments with lemons in their mouths. In his usual fashion, Virgil works out the mystery while fishing on one of Minnesota’s many lakes.
Lee Child, Worth Dying For (2010). Jack Reacher finds himself very unwelcome in a rural Nebraska county, where a local family has exploited and terrorized the farmers and residents. The Duncan family is pressuring Reacher to leave town, but his attention is captured by the mystery of a child who went missing decades ago. It takes all of Reacher’s ingenuity to stay alive and solve the mystery.
Ian Rankin, Strip Jack (1992). Edinburgh police inspector John Rebus is at odds with his chain of command as usual, and suspects that a prominent member of Parliament caught in a brothel raid has been set up. Despite the efforts of his superiors, Rebus maneuvers through the bureaucracy and manages to bring matters to a just conclusion.
Edward P. Jones, The Known World (2003). Set in Virginia in the 1840s, the novel tells the story of a former slave who has become a prominent farmer and a slave owner. When the farmer dies unexpectedly, his widow struggles with the moral issues of slavery as well as the practical challenges of running the estate. This well researched historical novel provides a fresh and compelling view of the institution of slavery in the American South.
Nelson DeMille, Cathedral (1981). The action takes place in New York City on St Patrick’s Day. Detective Lieutenant Patrick Burke of the NYPD is assigned to security around the annual parade down 5th Avenue past St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A small group of former IRA militants, now calling themselves the Fenians, plans to capture political hostages and the cathedral during the famous parade. Burke, of Irish descent and working as an intelligence officer, seems always one step behind the Fenians as the plot unfolds. This is a very suspenseful novel with well-drawn subplots of NYC and US bureaucratic politics, Catholicism, Belfast, and even romance.
Heather Graham, Deadly Night (Oct 2008), Deadly Harvest (Nov 2008), Deadly Gift (Dec 2008). This is a fluffy gothic romance trilogy featuring the 30-something Flynn brothers, private detectives. Aiden is formerly military and FBI. Jeremy is a former police diver and a talented guitarist. Zachary is a former police forensic technician. From an aunt they have never heard of, they inherit a decaying house on the river near New Orleans. With the help of family ghosts, they solve the mysteries of a contemporary serial killer and the deaths of their civil war ancestors. Deadly Harvest is set in Salem, Mass and the paranormal subplot focuses on Wicans and dreams. Jeremy comes to help clear his former partner of foul play in the disappearance of his wife and discovers that a serial killer is at work. Deadly Gift is set in Rhode Island. Sean O’Reilly was a friend of the Flynn brothers’ father and an important figure in their lives when they were orphaned as teenagers. He runs a charter boat business in Newport. When his partner disappears and Sean nearly dies within 24 hours of flying to Dublin, Zach is summoned to escort him safely home and to solve the mystery of the partner’s disappearance. This novel features leprechauns, banshees, and various other Irish myths.
From Mary Lou in Maryland:
John Sanford, Heat Lightening (2008). This is another Minnesota detective mystery featuring detective Virgil Flowers. Corpses are showing up at veteran’s monuments with lemons in their mouths. In his usual fashion, Virgil works out the mystery while fishing on one of Minnesota’s many lakes.
Lee Child, Worth Dying For (2010). Jack Reacher finds himself very unwelcome in a rural Nebraska county, where a local family has exploited and terrorized the farmers and residents. The Duncan family is pressuring Reacher to leave town, but his attention is captured by the mystery of a child who went missing decades ago. It takes all of Reacher’s ingenuity to stay alive and solve the mystery.
Ian Rankin, Strip Jack (1992). Edinburgh police inspector John Rebus is at odds with his chain of command as usual, and suspects that a prominent member of Parliament caught in a brothel raid has been set up. Despite the efforts of his superiors, Rebus maneuvers through the bureaucracy and manages to bring matters to a just conclusion.
Edward P. Jones, The Known World (2003). Set in Virginia in the 1840s, the novel tells the story of a former slave who has become a prominent farmer and a slave owner. When the farmer dies unexpectedly, his widow struggles with the moral issues of slavery as well as the practical challenges of running the estate. This well researched historical novel provides a fresh and compelling view of the institution of slavery in the American South.
Nelson DeMille, Cathedral (1981). The action takes place in New York City on St Patrick’s Day. Detective Lieutenant Patrick Burke of the NYPD is assigned to security around the annual parade down 5th Avenue past St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A small group of former IRA militants, now calling themselves the Fenians, plans to capture political hostages and the cathedral during the famous parade. Burke, of Irish descent and working as an intelligence officer, seems always one step behind the Fenians as the plot unfolds. This is a very suspenseful novel with well-drawn subplots of NYC and US bureaucratic politics, Catholicism, Belfast, and even romance.
Heather Graham, Deadly Night (Oct 2008), Deadly Harvest (Nov 2008), Deadly Gift (Dec 2008). This is a fluffy gothic romance trilogy featuring the 30-something Flynn brothers, private detectives. Aiden is formerly military and FBI. Jeremy is a former police diver and a talented guitarist. Zachary is a former police forensic technician. From an aunt they have never heard of, they inherit a decaying house on the river near New Orleans. With the help of family ghosts, they solve the mysteries of a contemporary serial killer and the deaths of their civil war ancestors. Deadly Harvest is set in Salem, Mass and the paranormal subplot focuses on Wicans and dreams. Jeremy comes to help clear his former partner of foul play in the disappearance of his wife and discovers that a serial killer is at work. Deadly Gift is set in Rhode Island. Sean O’Reilly was a friend of the Flynn brothers’ father and an important figure in their lives when they were orphaned as teenagers. He runs a charter boat business in Newport. When his partner disappears and Sean nearly dies within 24 hours of flying to Dublin, Zach is summoned to escort him safely home and to solve the mystery of the partner’s disappearance. This novel features leprechauns, banshees, and various other Irish myths.
Thanks for a great discussion and see you next time at 7:30 on Wednesday, April 18.
