Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

This book was Nelson Mandela's autobiography. I really enjoyed it, although at times the 600+ pages was a bit daunting. His book does a great job of describing his personal development as an activist, while secondarily charting the politics going on around him. A child of the late 1970's, I was completely unfamiliar with his entire story and found it inspiring and him strangely humble. Recommended.

The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard

This was a book I definitely enjoyed and did not like putting down. The writing style was similar to Jodi Picoult's although the book fit better into the suspense-mystery genre. By interspersing the past and present, Pickard brings the reader up to speed on the past as the characters themselves are figuring out long-term secrets. The characters were people I rooted for or hated. While probably not a classic this book was certainly good enough to recommend.

Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McAll Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is one of those authors whose books I turn to when I am wandering aimlessly though the library unsure of what to pick. Usually I find his books to be clever and sweet, almost fables. This installment of the Ladies #1 Detective Agency series had the same characters with the same honest concerns, but the cases that Mme Ramotswe solved did not have that same fable feel to them that I love so much. I think I might try some of the other series he has written as a change.

Women and Desire; Beyond Wanting to be Wanted by Polly Young-Eisendrath

The author of this book is a Jungian psychologist so I found pieces of this book a little hard to swallow and too psychoanalytic for me. That aside, I found many of the observations in this book around compliance, latent desires, and desire for competence very familiar. Thought not as accesible to Knapp's Appetites (yes, I did read it again this year) it was worthwhile. Perhaps what I learned the most from the book was in the forward, where Young-Eisendreth explains her change from asking her female patiens, "What do YOU want," to "What do you WANT."

City of God by Paulo Lins

I have been looking forward to reading this book for literally 10 years. Recommended to me by Adriana in college, I kept looking for it in English. It was not translated until this year, after a movie was made from it. I guess I was expecting this description of life in a famous Brazilian slum to read like a Jonathan Kozol book (e.g., Amazing Grace). It was more of a non-linear dream-like description of the violence, drugs, and power struggles throughout three generations of the slum. Paulo Lins himself grew up in this environment, then embedded himself for ten years to write this book. A challenging read.

Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte

I bought this book several years ago from a sale table at Trident before a vacation but never got to it. Recently I plucked it off the shelf before a business trip because I didn't have time to get to the library. Good thing I did--I really enjoyed this story of the girlfriend of a drug-smuggler who is left to survive on her own in Mexico after his death. It reminded me a little of Count of Monte Cristo in that the book depicts her rise to power and plays on themes of revenge. I also respect the amount of research that Perez-Revente obviously must have put into the writing of the book. Recommended.

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

This book was about a strange collection of people who meet each other on the roof of a building as they are all planning to commit suicide on New Years Eve. Told with Hornby's typical satirical voice and cartoonish situations, this book was quick-moving with crisp dialogue. I enjoyed this book but not as much as his other books. I am beginning to think that he is writing books to be screenplays.

Parched by Heather King

This book was not what I expected. Unlike many other memoirs about addiction, King focuses on an honest description of the addiction, rather than of the recovery. It was amazing to read the degree to which a middle-class woman was living in complete dregs and not even noticing because of the addiction. I would have liked to hear about how she achieved sobriety.

Plainsong by Ken Haruf

This book came to my attention because Lisa O. thought that I had recommended it to her. Well, thank you to whomever started the chain of recommendations because this was a wonderful book. The story was about a handful of main characters in a simple town and how their lives intertwine over time. I am saving the sequel for a special occasion, but it is hard not to run out and buy it right away. Recommended.

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

I was not a huge fan of Secret Life of Bees but I decided to try this book anyway because everyone else really liked Secret Life and maybe it was just the subject matter that turned me off to that book. Turns out that I did like the Mermaid Chair more. It still played with ideas of a woman deity but to a lesser extent. The description of the interactions between the characters were compelling and the unlikely or fantasy aspects of the book were reasonably believable. I appreciated how well-developed the main character was.

Secret Girl by Molly Bruce Jacobs

In the epilogue of this book, Jacobs makes reference to a devastating family tragedy that occurs after the book was finished, and after Googling her story about losing her son to hyenas during an African safari. Since then. it has been difficult to separate that story from the one she tells in her book. The book is about her sister who has hydrocephalus and is sent to live in an institution. Molly is not told about her sister until their teen years, and it is several years after that before she decides to meet her sister. Jacobs both critiques her parents and the mental health system while telling the story of her adult relationship with her sister.

Digging to America by AnneTyler

I don’t always relate to Anne Tyler’s books but this one about adoption was very accessible. Maybe this is because I’ve been reading her books for fifteen years and am now getting closer to the ages of her main characters. In any case, this story followed two very different families who each adopt a child from Korea. One family is Iranian-American and the other is WASPy American and the friendship between the families that arises is one that brings questions of identity and American pride into focus.

Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

This book the autobiography of a man who worked for a Haliburton-esque consulting/construction company in the 1980s. He tells his story of brokering famous deals in the Middle East and Central America. I think that calling this a "Confession" is accurate, as it is hard to believe anything in the book other than that the author feels guilty. His stories seem exaggerated and the danger he expresses being in seems like paranoia. A must-read for conspiracy theorists, this book is skippable by anyone who is looking for a real description of the United States' economic responsibility within world events. Gold star to anyone who recommends a good alternative that covers the same material.

My Latest Grievence by Elinor Lipman

I usually find Elinor Lipman's books to be clever and kind of fun. I did not really think that this book was either but I finished reading it to the end because I was curious about the characters. This story follows a young woman growing up as the daughter of incredibly rational parents who are dorm-parents on a college campus. She is shocked to find out that her father was formerly married and even more curious when his ex-wife moves to the college.

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson

This was a special, unusual book recommended to me by Jenne. The story is about a young woman who becomes apprenticed to a lighthousekeeper, someone who takes care of a lighthouse. Part of the job of a lighthousekeeper is to tell stories for the sailors who visit the lighthouse so the young woman hears the stories told by the older keeper. As the story progresses the characters in the main storyline and the story-within-a-story both get more interesting. The young lighthousekeeper ultimately begins to weave her own by the end of the book. Recommended.