2012 suggestions

Since I was the one who started the suggestions last year, I figured I was up for it again this year and since I was looking at books to add to my list in 2012 I combined the search for the HRBG.

I came up with 10. I will setup a poll for each so that we can all vote and then the winners can be our 4 books for next year. Does that sound good?

I know that some of these books have been widely read (shame on me but I haven't gotten to them yet, so maybe there are others who haven't either) and they could be a re-read for some. Mark Yes if you would read this book with the group, no if you don't want to read it, and undecided if you might but it's not top your list. Please use the same criteria for all the polls.Description - On a may Afternoon in 1943, a U.S. Bomber Crashed into the Pacific Ocean and Disappeared, Leaving Only a Spray of Debris and a Slick of Oil, Gasoline and Blood. Then, on the Ocean Surface, a Face Appeared. It was that of a Young Lieutenant, the Plane's Bombardier, Who was Struggling to a Life Raft and Pulling Himself Aboard. So Began One of the Most Extraordinary Odysseys of the Second World War…

Southern whites' guilt for not expressing gratitude to the black maids who raised them threatens to become a familiar refrain. But don't tell Kathryn Stockett because her first novel is a nuanced variation on the theme that strikes every note with authenticity. In a page-turner that brings new resonance to the moral issues involved, she spins a story of social awakening as seen from both sides of the American racial divide.

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned by their mother’s death and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.

Moving from Addis Ababa to New York City and back again, Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable story of love and betrayal, medicine and ordinary miracles—and two brothers whose fates are forever intertwined.

Paris, 1937. Andras Lévi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student, arrives from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter he promised to deliver. But when he falls into a complicated relationship with the letter's recipient, he becomes privy to a secret that will alter the course of his—and his family’s—history. From the small Hungarian town of Konyár to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the despair of Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in labor camps, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a family shattered and remade in history’s darkest hour.

This rich, impressive contemporary thriller from two-time Edgar-winner Hart (The Last Child) focuses on two brothers, Michael and Julian, both raised and abused at the Iron House of the title, an orphanage in the mountains of North Carolina. As a boy, Michael flees the place and ends up on the streets of New York City, where Otto Kaitlin, "the most powerful crime boss in recent memory," rescues him and fashions him into an accomplished killing machine and a surrogate son. When Kaitlin dies, his real son, Stevan, fueled by a mixture of jealousy and greed, sets out to destroy everything the now grownup Michael has. Stevan kidnaps Michael's girlfriend, Elena, and threatens emotionally fragile Julian, a creative, tortured genius who is now living at the North Carolina mansion of his adoptive parents. Hart deftly interweaves a complex family history story with Stevan's intense, bloody quest for vengeance. Though the book occasionally feels overplotted, its powerful themes and its beautiful prose will delight Hart's fans—and should earn him many new ones

To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.
Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer.
Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.

In the 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals in a small town in rural Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry was the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, black single mother. But then Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie and she was never seen or heard from again. He never confessed . . . and was never charged.
More than twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary, shunned existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has become the town constable. And now another girl has disappeared, forcing two men who once called each other "friend" to confront a past they've buried for decades.

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.
Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.
Tatiana de Rosnay offers us a brilliantly subtle, compelling portrait of France under occupation and reveals the taboos and silence that surround this painful episode.

Bitter in the Mouth is a brilliant, virtuosic novel about a young woman’s search for identity and the true meaning of family.
“What I know about you, little girl, would break you in two” are the prophetic last words that Linda Hammerick’s grandmother says to her. Growing up in small-town North Carolina in the 1970s and ’80s, Linda already knows that she is profoundly different from everyone else, including the members of her own family. She can “taste” words. In this and in other ways, her body is a mystery to her. Linda’s awkward girlhood is nonetheless enlivened and emboldened by her dancing great-uncle Harper, and Kelly, her letter-writing best friend. Linda makes her way north to college and then to New York City, trying her best to leave her past behind her like “a pair of shoes that no longer fit.” But when a family tragedy compels her to return home, Linda uncovers the startling secrets of her past. Monique Truong’s acclaimed novel questions our assumptions about what it means to be a family and to be a friend, to be foreign and to be familiar, to be connected to and disconnected from our bodies, our histories, ourselves.

Tana French's In the Woods and The Likeness captivated readers by introducing them to her unique, character-driven style. Her singular skill at creating richly drawn, complex worlds makes her novels not mere whodunits but brilliant and satisfying novels about memory, identity, loss, and what defines us as humans. With Faithful Place, the highly praised third novel about the Dublin Murder squad, French takes readers into the mind of Frank Mackey, the hotheaded mastermind of The Likeness, as he wrestles with his own past and the family, the lover, and the neighborhood he thought he'd left behind for good.

I thought I'd add a few classics since we did a few this year.The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through to the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is an adventure story primarily concerned with themes of hope, justice, vengeance, mercy and forgiveness.

then there'sThe Author is quite aware of the defects of this little story, many of which were unavoidable, as it first appeared serially. But, as Uncle Alec's experiment was intended to amuse the young folks, rather than suggest educational improvements for the consideration of the elders, she trusts that these shortcomings will be overlooked by the friends of the Eight Cousins, and she will try to make amends in a second volume, which shall attempt to show The Rose in Bloom.

then there'sErskine's first novel gets off to a fine start. As a participant in a college research project on hypnotic regression, Jo Clifford is almost too good a subject. Under hypnosis, she relives the final, tortured moments in the life of Matilda, a 12th century Welshwoman. In the process, Jo herself comes close to death. The story then jumps 15 years. Jo, now a journalist researching regression, is again hypnotized and again regresses to Matilda's excitement-packed life. Unfortunately, the pace of the early pages is not maintained. The problem is not with Jo/Matilda, who are both well-drawn, or even with the whopping coincidences Jo encounters. What slows the narrative is the bevy of minor characters, Jo's acquaintances. They talk to her and about her, they try to help her and they conspire against her, all at the expense of the central plotline.

Thanks for locating those, cyderry - an interesting list!

Thanks so much for putting this together! I voted undecided a lot just because I had not heard of a lot of the books. But I am interested in reading along with whatever is chosen next year. So maybe I should just have said yes. :)

Billiejean,

I've added a short description on each of the books to give some idea of what the story is about.

Thanks!

I sure like how you have laid this out Che'li. I appreciate all the time and effort you have put into it. I will be excited to see how the votes go and which books are chosen for 2012.
Thank you

Hi billyjean; **waving madly**

Hi, Belva!!!

We have a few months so we'll just let the polls sit. I'll come back in November and get the totals.

Will we go with four books again? I thought that was a good number.

The numbers in the polls don't seem very high -- should we wait for more response or start with the Count of Monte Cristo for the first quarter?

I guess it doesn't matter to me. I am pretty interested in The Count of Monte Cristo, but I would not mind waiting longer for results. That is one book that I already have. Most of the others I would have to have time to locate a copy.

I'd like to read The Count of Monte Cristo with you and I'd be happy to read it at the start of the year.

Okay, let's go with the Count of Monte Cristo for the winter read - January through March. That should be enough time for that chunkster (1462 pages hardcover).

Thank you Cheli for setting this up and getting us going. I am thrilled that we will be reading The Count of Monte Cristo for our 1st quarter book. It is truly one of the classics and you just can't read those too many times. I have only read this one once and am due for a re-read but wouldn't have picked it up on my own.
Thanks,
belva

HI --BILLIE-JEAN!~~! I have missed your little face. ♥

I've never read it so I'm glad that for such a chunkster I'll have some company.

My partner has been reading it on his Kindle for months now..he really likes it..unfortunately it doesn't appeal to me so I'll be sitting this one out. He says it's great fun though.

alans - did you look at the other books that were suggested? Maybe the next one will be more to your liking.

I did read The Count when I was a kid, but don't remember much of it. So I'll join you again if I can find the time (other bookclub and loaners to get through too).

Here's another to consider...The State of Wonder

Description...
Years ago, Marina Singh traded the hard decisions and intensity of medical practice for the quieter world of research at a pharmaceutical company, a choice that has haunted her life. Enveloping herself in safety, limiting emotional risk, she shares a quiet intimacy with her widowed older boss. Mr. Fox, and a warm friendship with her colleague Anders Eckman. But Marina's security is shaken when she learns that Anders, sent to the Amazon to check on a field team, is dead - and Mr. Fox wants her to go into the jungle to discover what happened. Plagued by trepidation, Marina embarks on an odyssey into the unknown, down into the Amazonian delta, deep into the dense, insect-infested jungle, to find answers from the company's research team. Led by the formidable Dr. Annick Swenson, the scientists are looking into the development of a new drug that could have a profound impact on Western society. But the team has been silent for two years, and Dr. Swenson does not like interlopers inserting themselves into her work, as Marina well knows. The eminent and fiercely uncompromising doctor was once her mentor, the woman she admired, emulated, and feared. To fulfill her mission, Marina must confront the ghosts of her past, as well as unfulfilled dreams and expectations-on a journey that will force her to make painful moral choices and take her to the depths of her own heart of darkness.

I just finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and loved it.

Her first book The House at Riverton has some fluctuations in the ratings but is 3.86.

Here is a description:

A story of love, mystery, and a secret history revealed. Summer 1924. On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again. Winter 1999. Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid at Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories-long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind-begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Looks like Cutting for Stone, Room, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, and Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott received the most votes. Should we move forward with those as our selections for the year?

I'm good with that...should we say:

2nd quarter = Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
3rd quarter = Eight Cousins
4th quarter = Cutting for Stone

Thanks for keeping us on target. I am still reading along on TCOMC. I am not sure I will finish by the end of March, but hope springs eternal.

Don't worry, Billie jean, we won't runaway and hide so you can't find us! TCOMC moves fa ster toward the end, IMO.

We never decided on a book for the 2nd quarter.
I was just checking my shelves and saw Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim with a rating of 4.21.

Now that I have a nook, it is easier to get copies of the group read books. :)

I went ahead and downloaded this on my nook and can start whenever.

I this yes enough? should we wait a few more days?

It is fine with me to wait a few more days.

Well, We still don't seem to have a definite choice, and the 2nd quarter is already under way, let's try to find a book for the summer. Here's another suggestion.
I've seen this one talked about and it has a pretty high rating.

Gillespie & I by Jane Harris Rating 4.13 ★★★★If we can agree on a book, we could start the 1st of June and read it through July and August - a true Summer reading.

Would love to read this one!

This looks like a good one to me. By the way, I am still reading The Count of Monte Cristo. I passed the halfway mark. :)

I'd really like to have more than 3 of us deciding, but if we hear no more let's start Gillespie & I June 1. I'm also doing Enchanted April.

Are we still planning to read Gillespie and I? I have requested it from my library today.

I thought no since there wasn't much response.

I picked it up today, so if anyone else joins in I'll be here.

I have Enchanted April and will try to get Gillespie and I.

i'm doing Enchanted April for another book group.

OK, then I will read the other first.

I have an unread copy of Gillespie and I so I'm good if this one is it.

Ok, I have finished Gillespie and I and LOVED it!

I haven't got my copy yet. I will be reading Enchanted April though, I've got that one.