Book
Recommendations
From the June 2004 Forum
Chestnut Hill's annual book forum took
place on June 27, 2004. 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):
Hollister Knowlton: Secret Life of Bees by
Sue Monk Kidd
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142001740/qid=1088362439/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Dianna Marder: Marriette in Ecstasy, by
Ron Hanson
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060981180/)
Catherwood, by Marly Youmans
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0374119724/qid=1088359929/sr=8-7/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i7_xgl14/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
The Romance Reader, Pearl Abraham
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1573225487/qid=1088359966/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Ann Jones: Ladies Coupé: A Novel in Parts by
Anita Nair
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141005955/qid=1088359996/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
The Oriole's Song by BJ Elder
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1891936344/qid=1088360051/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Betty Hartzel: The Gift of Therapy by Irvin
Yalom
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0066214408/qid=1088360090/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060958340/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books&st=*
Linda Rosenwein: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A
Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/081297106X/qid=1088360142/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Terry Foss: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156027321/qid=1088360183/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0380789019/qid=1088360214/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by
Mark Haddon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385512104/qid=1088360339/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Roberta Foss: The Color of Water: a Black Man's
Tribute to his Mother by James McBride
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573225789/qid=1088360244/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060934417/qid=1088360269/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Quaker Lite 2-1/2, Stan Banker
http://www.quakerbooks.org/get/11-99-00249-6
MJ Robinson; Against all Enemies: Inside America's
War on Terror by Richard Clarke
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743260244/qid=1088360370/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Battle Ready, Tom Clancey with Anthony
Zinni
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399151761/qid=1088360406/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
anything by Robertson Davies
Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060540753/qid=1088360705/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Lucy Grealy, Autobiography of a Face
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060569662/qid=1088360739/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Annika Nordlof: McDuff Moves In by Rosemary
Wells (other McDuff books too)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786803185/qid=1088360822/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
The Seven Silly Eaters by Marianne Hoberman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0613301226/qid=1088360868/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Magic Treehouse Series by Mary Pope Osborne
The Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375825215/qid=1088361012/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Several Ramona books by Beverly Cleary
Ramona and Beezus
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/038070918X/qid=1088361074/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Betsy Tacy and Tib by Maud Harte Lovelace
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064400972/qid=1088361106/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Mr Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence
Atwater
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316058432/qid=1088361152/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Lady Lollipop by Dick King-Smith
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0763621811/qid=1088361190/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Jackie Fields: Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312422156/qid=1088361222/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Reason: Why Liberals will win the Battle for
America, Robert B Reich
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400042216/qid=1088361247/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
John Nordlof: Short Hx of nearly everything by Bill
Bryson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767908171/qid=1088361495/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture
of Reality by Brian Greene
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375412883/qid=1088361519/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End
of Slavery In America by Alan Guelzo
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743221826/qid=1088361559/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam by James
McPherson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195173309/qid=1088361590/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the
Civil War by James McPherson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195124995/qid=1088361624/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics and the
Triumph of Anglo-America by Kevin Phillips
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465013708/qid=1088361647/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Radical Enlightenment by Jonathan Israel
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0199254567/qid=1088361671/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing
and Acting of History by Edmund Wilson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385092814/qid=1088361696/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Lynn Mather: Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah
Khan, a Man to Match His Mountains by Eknath
Easwaran
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1888314001/qid=1088361732/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Cradled All the While: The Unexpected Gifts
of a Mother's Death, Sara J. Corse
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806646446/qid=1088362915/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Melanie Monk: Sandman: The Dream Hunters by
Neil Gaiman
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1563895730/qid=1088361843/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Haiku: the Poetry of Nature (collection)
David Cobb
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0789308266/qid=1088361886/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Ariake: Poems of Love and Longing by the Women
Courtiers of Ancient Japan by Rae Grant, Liza
Dalby, Lisa Crihfield Dalby
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0811828131/qid=1088361918/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books#product-details
God of the Fairy Tale: Finding Truth in the
Land of Make-Believe by Jim Ware
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0877880492/qid=1088361995/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Dona Garrettson: Journals of Lewis & Clark
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0395859964/qid%3D1088469732/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr_11_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
The Stolen Light by Ved Mehta
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393306739/qid=1088362162/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812971043/qid=1088362188/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-0925027-5418342
Pauline Doyle: It's Not About the Bike by Lance
Armstrong
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0425179613/qid=1088362222/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
The Anatomy of Hope : How People Prevail in
the Face of Illness by JEROME GROOPMAN
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375506381/qid=1088362244/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden
Herrera
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060085894/qid=1088362292/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-0925027-5418342
Pat Witte: Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail
Adams by Lynne Withey
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074323443X/qid=1088362338/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0925027-5418342?v=glance&s=books
Warren Witte: American Dynasty: Aristocracy,
Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House
of Bush, by Kevin Phillips
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670032646/qid=1088362386/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-0925027-5418342
And check out bookcrossing.com; it's pretty cool. Dylan is even a gold-star contributor!
Phil Jones