It is Patricia's turn....but, she is not certain if she will be in NH this summer. Next on our list is Stephanie. Prior to going on vacation, Stephanie gave Kathy her list of books. We will vote at the June 23, meeting for one of the books to be our August selection.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave: The publishers of Chris Cleave's new novel "don't want to
spoil" the story by revealing too much about it, and there's good reason
not to tell too much about the plot's pivot point. All you should know going in
to Little Bee is that what happens on the beach is brutal, and that it
braids the fates of a 16-year-old Nigerian orphan (who calls herself Little
Bee) and a well-off British couple--journalists trying to repair their strained
marriage with a free holiday--who should have stayed behind their resort's
walls. The tide of that event carries Little Bee back to their world, which she
claims she couldn't explain to the girls from her village because they'd have
no context for its abundance and calm. But she shows us the infinite rifts in a
globalized world, where any distance can be crossed in a day--with the right
papers--and "no one likes each other, but everyone likes U2." Where
you have to give up the safety you'd assumed as your birthright if you decide
to save the girl gazing at you through razor wire, left to the wolves of a
failing state. Pub: 2010; 271
pgs.
The
Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman: Nearly two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews
held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean
desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five
children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a
spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous
women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died
in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that
death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by
Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what
they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless
rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born
in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with
uncanny insight and power. The lives of these four complex and fiercely
independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are
dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they
come from, who fathered them, and whom they love. Pub: 2012; 528 pgs.
The Round House by
Louise Erdrich: One of the most revered
novelists of our time—a brilliant chronicler of Native-American life—Louise
Erdrich returns to the territory of her bestselling, Pulitzer Prize finalist The Plague of Doves with
The Round House,
transporting readers to the Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. It is an
exquisitely told story of a boy on the cusp of manhood who seeks justice and
understanding in the wake of a terrible crime that upends and forever
transforms his family. Pub: 2012; 336 pgs
Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron: Running the Rift follows the progress of Jean Patrick Nkuba from the day he knows
that running will be his life to the moment he must run to save his life. A
naturally gifted athlete, he sprints over the thousand hills of Rwanda and
dreams of becoming his country’s first Olympic medal winner in track. But Jean
Patrick is a Tutsi in a world that has become increasingly restrictive and
violent for his people. As tensions mount between the Hutu and Tutsi, he holds
fast to his dream that running might deliver him, and his people, from the
brutality around them…. a stunning and gorgeous novel that—through the eyes of
one unforgettable boy— explores a country’s unraveling, its tentative new
beginning, and the love that binds its people together. Pub: 2012; 384 pgs.
Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya: Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his
family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic.
Under her wise wing, Tony will test the bonds that tie him to his people, and
discover himself in the pagan past, in his father's wisdom, and in his mother's
Catholicism. And at each life turn there is Ultima, who delivered Tony into the
world-and will nurture the birth of his soul. Pub:1999; 290 pgs.
Book Descriptions from Amazon.com
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