Book
Recommendations
From the May 2003 Forum
Chestnut Hill's annual book forum took
place on May 11, 2003. Friends gathered to recommend
books that they were reading currently or had read
in the past and wanted to recommend. Rather than
try to capture in these notes any sense of the description
that each person gave, I've appended links to the
Amazon.com description of the book. This is not intended
as an endorsement of amazon.com or its book descriptions,
and the meeting doesn't get any money if you choose
to buy a book from such a link; it is only meant
to lead you quickly to more information about the
book than I was able to record on my Palm Pilot.
Here, more or less in the order people talked about
them, are the books recommended this year, followed
by (the name of the person recommending the book):
Tender at the Bone, Ruth Reichl, (Ann Jones) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0767903382/qid=1052683801/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Here I stand, John Shelby Spong (Phil Jones) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006067539X/qid=1052683835/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Accordion Crimes, E. Annie Proulx (Terry Foss) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684831546/qid=1052683870/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
King Leopold's Ghost, Adam Hochschild (Terry Foss) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618001905/qid=1052683899/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
The Price of a Child, Lorene Cary (Roberta Foss) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679744673/qid=1052683928/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
Atonement, Ian McEwan (Roberta) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/038572179X/qid=1052683954/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
The Pickup, Nadine Gordimer (Roberta) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142001422/qid=1052683986/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
Dark Sister, Graham Joyce (Jackie Fields) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312872542/qid=1052684015/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
The Tooth Fairy, Graham Joyce (Jackie Fields) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312868332/ref=pd_sim_books_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
The Ecology of Money, (Douthwaite & Leitaer) (Janet Boys) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1870098811/qid=1052684087/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
Sleeping in Flame, Jonathan Carroll (Melanie Monk) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679727779/qid=1052684187/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
To say nothing of the dog, Connie Willis (Dylan Steinberg) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553575384/qid=1052684217/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry (Amey Hutchins) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1582431604/qid=1052684248/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
The Chosen, Chaim Potok (also many other books) (Marcelle Martin) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449213447/qid=1052684277/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell (Dennis McCooe) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195133323/qid=1052684308/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Regeneration, Pat Barker (??) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452270073/qid=1052684340/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
Gaviotas - A village to reinvent the world, Alan Weisman (Hollister) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890132284/qid=1052684371/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
The Botany of Desire, Michael Paulin (Susan Eden) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375760393/qid=1052684414/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver (Meg Mitchell) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060959037/qid=1052684453/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
A Year of Wonders, ? Brook (Meg Mitchell) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142001430/qid=1052684477/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-9775555-3252625
The Lovely Bones, Alice Seybold (Mickey Abraham) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316666343/qid=1052684512/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Elephant Winter, Kim Echlin (Jackie) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786706104/qid=1052684544/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, Marcus Borg (several people) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060609176/qid=1052684615/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9775555-3252625?v=glance&s=books
And check out bookcrossing.com; it's pretty cool. Dylan is even a gold-star contributor!
Phil Jones