Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets

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A powerful story of two women in the Colorado wilderness and of their survival, physical and emotional, that will keep the reader turning pages into the night!

“A visceral book, building suspense from sensory details…A page turning, two-pronged wildlife adventure.”—The Wall Street Journal

“A taut and thrilling narrative…Skillfully blending the emotional terrain of women’s fiction with a briskly paced adventure story.”—Booklist (starred review)

“A powerful story of survival, wilderness field craft, and fractured relationships packed into a suspenseful plot with more than a few surprises.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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An Invitation to Poetry: a New Favorite Poem Project Anthology edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz

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When Robert Pinsky was Poet Laureate of the United States, he set out to discover Americans’ favorite poems by inviting us to write to him.  Thousands responded.  Some of the best are captured here and as an added bonus a dvd is included with 27 segments as seen on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.  One can hear ordinary people of all ages, from all walks of life – a construction worker, a Supreme Court justice, a glass blower, a marine – commenting on his or her connection to the poem.  Give yourself a treat!

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Disgraced: a play by Ayad Akhtar

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A thoughtful and suspenseful play that would be an excellent choice for a discussion group.  It is sure to enter the canon of classic American plays such as “Death of a Salesman”, “Angels in America” and “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

While reading just ninety-six pages, the reader is compelled to consider many of the problems in contemporary society – Islamophobia, race relations, terrorism, immigration and assimilation.  The author forces us to examine our racial and religious beliefs and prejudices which is particularly powerful after the recent terror attacks in Paris and Brussels.

“Compelling… DISGRACED raises and toys with provocative and nuanced ideas.” —Jesse Oxfeld, New York Observer

“A continuously engaging, vitally engaged play about thorny questions of identity and religion in the contemporary world…. In dialogue that bristles with wit and intelligence, Mr. Akhtar…puts contemporary attitudes toward religion under a microscope, revealing how tenuous self-image can be for people born into one way of being who have embraced another…. Everyone has been told that politics and religion are two subjects that should be off limits at social gatherings. But watching Mr. Akhtar’s characters rip into these forbidden topics, there’s no arguing that they make for ear-tickling good theater.” —Charles Isherwood, New York Times

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Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar

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Here is an excerpt from Vanessa’s diary – “every moment with Virginia – one feels more alive, not just alive, but living.  I have understood this Virginia equation – there is no rational, logical, or reachable Virginia lurking beneath – eventually Virginia  becomes exhausting”.  One would never want a sister like Virginia Woolf!

“Parmar inhabits the gilded ‘bohemian hinterland’ of Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa, creating a vibrant fictional homage.”O: The Oprah Magazine

“Parmar does a stellar job conveying Virginia’s complicated, almost incestuous feelings for Vanessa. . . . The author also deftly brings to life the various artists and writers who formed the nascent Bloomsbury group. . . . Parmar’s narrative is riveting and successfully takes on the task of turning larger-than-life figures into real people. . . . [She] weaves their stories together so effortlessly that nothing seems out of place.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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The Likeness by Tana French

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The second in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, this book is a very loose sequel to In the Woods, but can easily be read as a stand-alone mystery. Cassie Maddox is a Dublin detective who goes undercover to solve the murder of a woman who looks exactly like her. While set in contemporary times, the book’s style and plot give it the feel of an old-fashioned page-turner.

The Likeness has everything: memorable characters, crisp dialogue, shrewd psychological insight, mounting tension, a palpable sense of place, and wonderfully evocative, painterly prose. In the Woods was an Edgar Award finalist; this one just might go one step further. –Booklist (*starred review*)

“For The Likeness, [French] has brought back detective Cassie Maddox and fashioned a plot that harks back to both Donna Tartt and Wilkie Collins.”The Washington Post

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Becoming Nicole: the Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt

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Amy Ellis Nutt won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011.  In her very capable hands, she puts the reader inside the household of the Maines family and their identical boy twins.  A very mainstream American family must struggle, transform, persevere  in a landmark discrimination case.  A fascinating true story about a courageous girl.

“A transgender girl’s coming-of-age saga, an exploration of the budding science of gender identity, a civil rights time capsule, a tear-jerking legal drama and, perhaps most of all, an education about what can happen when a child doesn’t turn out as his or her parents expected—and they’re forced to either shut their eyes and hearts or see everything differently.”Time

“[An] exceptional chronicle . . . ‘Stories move the walls that need to be moved,’ Nicole told her father last year. In telling Nicole’s story and those of her brother and parents luminously, and with great compassion and intelligence, that is exactly what Amy Ellis Nutt has done here.”—Sue Halpern, The Washington Post

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Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart

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I thoroughly enjoyed this work of historical fiction set in the early 1900’s about three sisters pursuing justice after a local bully crashes his motor car into their buggy and refuses to pay damages.  I sincerely hope Amy Stewart writes a sequel – one book about the Kopp sisters is not enough – it’s a feminist romp and a complete hoot!

“Constance Kopp, the feisty heroine of Amy Stewart’s charming novel “Girl Waits With Gun,” sounds like the creation of a master crime writer. At nearly 6 feet tall, Constance is a formidable character who can pack heat, deliver a zinger and catch a criminal without missing a beat. Based on the little-known story of the real Constance Kopp, one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs, the novel is an entertaining and enlightening story of how far one woman will go to protect her family.” —Washington Post 

“Stewart has spun a fine, historically astute novel…The sisters’ personalities flower under Stewart’s pen, contributing happy notes of comedy to a terrifying situation…And then there is Constance: Sequestered for years in the country and cowed by life, she develops believably into a woman who comes into herself, discovering powers long smothered under shame and resignation. I, for one, would like to see her return to wield them again in further installments.”—New York Times Book Review

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When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

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I read this on a snowy morning in one sitting.  Written by a neurosurgeon who passed away last year, this is a short but very powerful book. Paul Kalanithi was a successful neurosurgeon when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in his thirties. In addition to his work in medicine, he also studied literature, and this memoir is a beautiful combination of the two fields. His words and story are poignant and hard to forget “The future, instead of the ladder toward the goals of life, flattened out into a perpetual present.”

“Rattling, heartbreaking, and ultimately beautiful, the too-young Dr. Kalanithi’s memoir is proof that the dying are the ones who have the most to teach us about life.”—Atul Gawande

“A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity . . . Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former.”Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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The Double Life of Liliane by Lily Tuck

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Beautiful writing.  Complex at first as the reader swings between past and present, but I fell in love with the book by the end.

“[An}exquisitely crafted narrative collage.”—Jane Ciabattari, BBC.com

“Playful, buoyant prose and poignant scenes…that quicken the heart…In Tuck’s prose—… lively, dizzy, happy—one gets a contagious sense of fun that she has transmuting life into words.”—Publishers Weekly (starred, boxed review)

“Special, provocative, unusual.”—Booklist (starred review)

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Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash

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Rash, with his evocative prose and poetry, takes the reader to the Appalachian hills of his native North Carolina. He combines suspense with observations and insights, and tells a disquieting tale about the characters’ attachment to the land even as they abuse its beauty.

“[Above the Waterfall is] as rich and moving as his best. If you like detective novels, the plot twists are dizzying enough to keep you guessing. Fan or not, you’re going to find this one hard to put down.” (Charleston Post & Courier)

“Combining suspense with acute observations and flashing insights, Rash tells a seductive and disquieting tale about our intrinsic attachment to and disastrous abuse of the land and our betrayal of our best selves.” (Booklist (starred review))
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