Book recommendations from our meeting this year.

We had another wonderful book club meeting discussing Kate Morton's 'The Secret Keeper'.  I have compiled a list off all the books that were recommended during our meeting. I plan to post only a few at a time, so as not to overwhelm everyone, so be sure to check back occasionally when you're looking for something to read.

When Louise Bessire was living in Boston, she dreamed of another way of life, far from the phony smiles and small-talk of corporate dinners. Now she's got what she wanted--though not exactly in the way she hoped. Blindsided by her husband's affair, Louise has used her divorce settlement to buy Blueberry Bay, a picturesque bed and breakfast in Ogunquit. And with a celebrity wedding taking place on the premises this summer, business is looking up. (Via Amazon)

This is the first book in The Walk series, a story about the physical and spiritual journey of Alan Christoffersen.

What would you do if you lost everything—your job, your home, and the love of your life—all at the same time? When it happens to Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen, he’s tempted by his darkest thoughts. A bottle of pills in his hand and nothing left to live for, he plans to end his misery. Instead, he decides to take a walk. But not any ordinary walk. Taking with him only the barest of essentials, Al leaves behind all that he’s known and heads for the farthest point on his map: Key West, Florida. The people he encounters along the way, and the lessons they share with him, will save his life—and inspire yours. (Via www.richardpaulevans.com)

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is historical fiction. It is a bestselling novel by Jamie Ford about the love and friendship of a Chinese boy and a Japanese girl during the Japanese internment in World War II. 1940s. (Wikipedia)

With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187–424—one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.

Turn of Mind is a debut novel by Alice LaPlante billed as a "literary thriller": that it sure is. The main character here is Dr. Jennifer White. She's 64 years old and retired from her practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Chicago. Her old friend down the block, a woman named Amanda with whom she's shared good times as well as a lot of emotional friction, has just been found dead in her house, murdered. What's especially gruesome about Amanda's murder is the fact that four of her fingers were surgically removed after she was killed. Did I mention that Dr. Jennifer White's specialty as a surgeon was hands? And that the two women were heard arguing the night of the murder? The solution to this crime should be simple to grasp, so to speak, except for one problem. Dr. White has been diagnosed with dementia. She simply can't remember whether or not she murdered her friend. Most days she doesn't even remember that her friend is dead. (Via NPR).

This book has been on my 'to-read' list for a while and I can't wait to pick it up.

The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic. 
Welcome to Le Cirque des Reves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway - a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in "a game," in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. (via google books)

*Anne Marie's review*: I wanted to love this book so much. The title! The cover art! The description! Unfortunately, my expectations were sky high and this fell short.  Still a fun read, but I was disappointed.

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world. (Via Google books)

*Anne Marie's review*: this book was excellent! such a wonderfully creative, quirky departure from the typical fiction I usually read. I hope Semple has more novels up her sleeve.

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. (Via Amazon)