Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

We all read "The Secret Life of Bees" which was a wonderful, satisfying, coming-of-age story. I think the author copped out on this one. I don't like the fairy tale ending and I think she could have done more about how the heroine's father's death affected her (not giving anything away here -- he dies before the start of the book). It was a bit anti-climatic towards the end then she just kind of tied everything up rather quickly and neatly -- a little too neatly. I did like all the background info of the Mermaid Chair itself. Not a total waste of time, but leaves much to be desired.

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Seybold

From: Amy Witherow
Sent: Friday, June 9, 2006 7:56:30 AM
Subject: [maverickladies] The Lovely Bones, by Alice Seybold

I just finished listening to this book and just loved it -- to the point I'm recommending it to everyone. I didn't pick it up because of the subject matter. But the book isn't really about the murder. The author says in an interview after the book that it is "a knitting together of how you learn to live after someone leaves your life." It is written beautifully. Each character is fleshed out and very human. You have real compassion for everyone in the book with all their flaws. It made me teary. It made me laugh. And, it always hit my heart straight on.

A List of Good Books

I asked all the ladies I work with to send me the names of book they thought were really good. (I'm always looking for a good book to read!) I though I'd share the list with everyone.

Lucia, Licia, Adriana Trigiani
Blackbird House, Alice Hoffman
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant
Operating Instructions, Anne Lamott
Back When We Were Grownups, Anne Tyler
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
Prague, Arthur Phillips
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough
The Trees, The Fields, The Town, Conrad Richter (a trilogy)
The Piano Tuner, Daniel Mason
Strange Pilgrims (12 short stories), Gabrial Garcia Marquez
A Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Women of Silk, Gail Tsukiyama
The Language of Threads, Gail Tsukiyama
My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
Easter Island, Jennifer Vanderbes
One Thousand White Women, Jim Fergus
A Time to Kill, John Grisham
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
A Widow for One Year, John Irving
Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving
The World According to Garp, John Irving
His Brother’s Keeper, Jonathan Weiner
Change Baby, June Spence
Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follet
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
The Death of Vishnu, Manil Suri
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
Big Russ and Me, Tim Russert
I Am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe