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Allende, Isabel. DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE: A NOVEL.
An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Victorian spinster and her rigid brother, young, vivacious Eliza Sommers follows her lover to California during the Gold Rush of 1849. She enters a rough-and-tumble world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chien-California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive lover gradually turns into another kind of journey, and by the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is. (NEO-RLS 2004)
Anderson, Joan. A YEAR BY THE SEA: THOUGHTS OF AN UNFINISHED WOMAN.
Non-fiction. At fifty, Joan Anderson is disillusioned with her marriage and herself. When her husband announces he has taken a job that requires them to move 100 miles from their home, Joan opts out. Instead, she decides to spend a year in their cottage on Cape Cod, using the time to take stock of life and her marriage. This is humorous, thought provoking, and inspirational. (NEO-RLS 2002)
Anderson, Walter. MEANT TO BE.
Anderson, longtime editor of Parade Magazine, grew up on the "wrong side of the tracks" in Mount Vernon, New York, the youngest child of an alcoholic, abusive father. He escaped his situation by quitting high school at sixteen to join the Marines. Four years later, while on leave to attend his father's funeral, he stuns his mother with a question that has inexplicably haunted him since he was a small boy: Was the man who had so tormented him in his childhood his real father? Her answer: Walter was born of a wartime love affair between his Protestant mother and the Jewish man she loved. His mother swears him to secrecy, and he honors their pact for nearly thirty-five years, and then one day he meets an unknown brother -- another son of his real father -- who has lived a similar, nearly parallel life. Their secret, in ways large and small, defines the course of his life. (NEO-RLS 2004)
Armstrong, Lance. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BICYCLE.
Non-fiction. 2001. Lance Armstrongs energy and determination come through loud and clear in his memoir. He is a world-class athlete who won the Tour de France after he recovered from his grueling battle with cancer. In prose that leaps off the page, we are captivated by his humor, his moxie and his charm. (NEO-RLS 2003)
Atwood, Margaret. SURFACING.
Fiction. 1998. "Part detective novel, part psychological thriller, this is the story of a talented woman artist who goes in search of her missing father on a remote island in northern Quebec with her lover and another couple." (NEO-RLS 2002)
Bajwa, Rupa. THE SARI SHOP: A NOVEL.
Bajwa dramatically illustrates the class gap in contemporary India in her debut novel, focusing on the fortunes of Ramchand, a lowly, disaffected clerk in a popular sari shop. The novel opens with Ramchand happily going about his duties serving the shop's mostly upper-class clients. Opportunity for advancement comes from an unlikely source when he attracts the attention of the beautiful, literate Rina Kapoor, whose family hires the shop to provide saris for her upcoming wedding. (NEO-RLS 2005)
Baldachi, David. WINNER.
Fiction. A cut above your average mystery or thriller. A series of weekly lotteries are being fixed. The mysterious mastermind of the plot personally chooses his dubious winner. The consequence of being chosen makes for a gripping page-turner. (NEO-RLS 2002)
Bayard, Louis. MR. TIMOTHY.
Timothy Cratchit is Tiny Tim no more in bayard's inventive updating of the Dickens character's life. Grieving his recently deceased father and attempting to free himself of the financial support of "Uncle" Ebenezer, Timothy (no longer tiny and free of his crutch) is living in a brothel, where he earns his board by teaching the madame |
