101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion
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A Time To Kill by John Grishamhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Really disappointed with this novel. This is a legal drama. The crime and perpetrator is revealed in the opening chapters. The question is not who did it or why the person did it, but whether the person will be convicted. The plot was overly simplistic. The young, small town lawyer makes the cocky, big city lawyer and his witnesses look ridiculous. The question of conviction or acquittal came down to racial prejudice verses human empathy. In reality, the situation was far more complex and potentially interesting. The writing was sophomoric at best. Awarding this 2 stars is an act of generosity.
Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settlewww.goodreads.com/review/show/3866802272
This is a slice of life novel with little plot to move the story along. The lives of a number of characters living in a Turkish community, most transplants, weave in and out of each other. The writing in this NBA winner is excellent. But I did not find the story or characters the least bit compelling. 3.5 stars
Divine Renovation by Fr. James Mallonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Fr. Mallon argues for the need for bold renewal in Catholic parishes. He lays out a plan based on his efforts as a pastor. I found some of his comments to be challenging, some of his recommendations to be inspiring, some of his suggestions to be ill advised and the entire book to be thought provoking. It would be worthwhile to have an entire parish leadership team read and discuss this book together.
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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A young man whose guilt for two murders nearly drives him mad is the heart of this classic. But there are enough neurotic secondary characters to keep any psychologist in business for years. I was surprised to see an insanity defense be successfully employed in a 19th century novel. This is long, convoluted, wordy, yet a classic worth reading for its exploration of complex characters.
This Is Happiness by Niall Williamshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The narrator of this languid novel is an older man looking back several decades to a brief period when he was 17 years old, living with his grandparents in a poor rural village of Ireland. This is a novel about change, change that comes dramatically by exterior forces and change that comes imperceptibly through ordinary life events, change that we work toward and hope for and change that is pure serendipity. This is about the right to call a life good and a time happy because we loved our way through it. I enjoyed this book and will look for more by this author.
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reidhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This felt like an agenda grappling for a story. The subtle racism of the unexamined behaviors and attitudes of liberal, “well-meaning” whites is just as demeaning and even more pervasive and insidious than the overt racism that they condemn. A 25 year old black young adult works part-time as a baby-sitter and part-time as a transcriptionist. Because she is black, lacks a college education, does not have a defined career, her techie white boyfriend and her rich white employer who is a celebrity influencer, both behave in ways that discount her self-determination. The premise was not bad, the execution was mediocre. Characters were clichés, the ending was a bit flat, the writing was only serviceable.
The Shed That Fed A Million Children by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrowhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is the story of the founding and growth of an international aid organization, Mary’s Meals, which is dedicated to providing food and education in the poorest communities around the world. Fueled by his family’s lively Catholic faith and energized by a pilgrimage to Medjugorje as a teen, the author began to organize relief shipments to war ravished Bosnia. The awareness of one great need led to the next. From housing for AIDS orphans in Rumania to a school for deaf street children in Liberia, the author found ways to fund-raise and meet needs around the globe. His efforts eventually took shape as Mary’s Meals, a program that provides starving children with one nutritious meal per day if they attend school. By linking food to education, the hope is to break the cycle of poverty in a generation. Mary’s Meals now operates globally, from Haiti to India to Malawi. This is an amazing story.
Against The Loveless World by Susan Abulhawahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I appreciated that this novel brought me into a setting which I have not often encountered in fiction. The narrator is a Palestinian woman held in an Israeli prison for over a decade. In her largely solitary confinement, she writes the story of her gradual radicalization. We journey with her from a contented childhood in Kuwait, the daughter of Palestinian exiles, through her family’s flight to Jordan and finally to her resettling in Palestine. I was not surprised to learn that the author is an activist for Palestinian rights. At times, I felt as if the novel was attempting to radicalize the reader. The Israelis, only seen at a distance, are irrationally cruel and stunningly brutal. The Palestinians living in Palestine are virtuous, strong, principled and loyal. Although I am sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, I am also not so naïve not to realize that there are two sides to every story and good and bad people on both sides of any conflict. I also thought that the woman we met in prison had much more personality than the woman we met in the memories, a difference strong enough that I felt at times like there was a disconnect. 3.5 stars
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrantehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is the fourth volume in the story of a turbulent friendship forged in the impoverished, violent, misogynistic streets of post war Naples. I deliberately read this quartet over several years because I did not want to leave these people and because their toxicity made it impossible to spend more time with them. These characters are magnificently complex. The story, their world, drew me in from the initial pages. 4.5 stars
Nothing To Envy by Barbara Demickhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Journalist Barbara Demick tells the story of life in North Korea through the experiences of 6 people who fled to South Korea. Demick does a terrific job of giving the reader an understanding of daily hardships for the average person. This is a difficult book to read because the lives portrayed are filled with such suffering: hunger, lack of medical care, desperation, fear. Unlike other accounts of societies undergoing difficulty, there is nothing here of the beauty of a heritage, no times of joy or celebration, nothing to relieve the bleakness of the lives described.
Dancing In The Mosque by Homeira Qaderihttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a memoir of growing up in war torn Afghanistan, in a society becoming increasingly restrictive for women. The author chafes at these restrictions from the youngest age. When her husband divorces her for not welcoming a second wife into the home, the courts award full custody of their young son to him. This book is written to that child to let him know of her tender love and her lifetime of struggle as an Afghani woman.
Sisters In Hate by Seyward Darbyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Despite its reputation for misogyny, women are well represented in white supremacist groups. This book sets out to discover what attracts women to these groups. The author profiles 3 women to answer this question. Their stories are punctuated by frequent tangential threads that explain the history of white supremacy, the back-to-traditional family values movements, the rise of conspiracy theories on the left and right, key figures in each of these cultural phenomenon and the like. Each of these women came to the movement by a different root for different reasons, and each remains or has left for different reasons. Each took on leadership in their corner of this world. My take-aways is that women do not occupy solely passive or subservient roles in these groups, that their attraction to white supremacy is diverse and that there is an easy leap from extremist groups on the left and on the right. I still find myself with more questions than answers, maybe because I find this ideology so repugnant that I have a mental block against understanding its adherents. 3.5 stars
Mahagony by Edouard Glissanthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was several grade levels above my reading ability. This leading light in the world of francophone literature has created a lyrical narrative of suffering, endurance and hope among the slaves and their descendants in Martinique. Using layers of poetic symbolic images, magical realism, multiple view points and a fluid time line, Gillisant has penned a masterpiece that is beautiful even when not fully understood.
The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Pricehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The beauty of the language in this short novel was mesmerizing. Inspired by the author’s great aunt, this traces one woman’s life in rural Wales during the 20th century. The realization that what is recalled here is no longer, that a way of life has vanished before the encroachment of modernity, gives this a haunting feel.
A Long Retreat by Andrew Krivakhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The spiritual memoir is one of my favorite genres. I love to hear how people recognize and respond to the promptings of God in their lives. This is a very well written, deeply personal, honest account of the process of discerning a vocation to the Jesuits over a decade. After eight years in formation, the author will realize that he is being called to a life of love and service as a husband and father. But along the way, he will learn to pray, to listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to surrender all to the will of God.
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joycehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If it were not for a Good Reads group challenge to read a book set in New Caledonia, I would not have picked up this book. It is not my usual reading material. In 1950, two quirky British women set off to New Caledonia to find an elusive golden beetle. Silly situations propel the story while a developing friendship propels both women to grow in self-acceptance. 2.5 stars
The Guest List by Lucy Foleyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A posh wedding held at a newly restored estate on a deserted island off the coast of Ireland will end in tragedy. But whose screams pierced the night and what happened? A full cast of characters narrates this novel giving glimpses into the back story and relationship between each until the full truth is finally revealed. I don’t believe that a reader has to like characters to enjoy a novel. But these characters were so shallow, pretentious, self-absorbed, amoral and immature that I could not invest in their story. By the end, I did not care who did what to whom, I just wanted Trump to build a wall around the island before any of them could get off and return to the rest of society.
Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean Sassonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A member of the Saudi royal family told her story to a Western writer because it would not be safe for her to publish under her own name in her country. Although her family is not part of the branch that governed Saudi Arabia, it does share in its extreme wealth and privilege. This princess tells the story of absolute subjugation as a female in Saudi Arabia's patriarchal culture. She may live in a magnificently gilded cage, but it remains a cage. How much worse life is for the female guest workers and impoverished Saudi women is only hinted at.
Saville by David Storeyhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is the story of a working class mining family, particularly of the second born son. Beginning in the 1930s and spanning about three decades, this is a story of the struggle to give the next generation a better life and of the slow growing frustration, even rage, living in the gut of that next generation. 3.5 stars
The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingatehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is my in-person book group’s April title. This is not a book I would have chosen to read. I am not a fan of inspirational fiction for the same reasons I disliked this book. It was smaltzie, predictable and not credible. There was the requisite sweet romance, family reconciliation and spontaneous appearance of a community of amazing support. The good characters have no significant flaws and the bad characters have no significant virtues. The author was irritatingly repetitive. For the reader who wants a story that will engage the heart instead of the head, who wants to be affirmed in a sense of the goodness of God and of people, of happy endings that foster steadfast hope, this book may hold great appeal. 1.5 stars
The Survivors by Jane Harperhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
When the body of a young woman is found on the beach, the memory of a 12 year old tragic storm surfaces. Needless to say, this older event which left 2 young men drowned and a young teenaged girl missing and the current murder investigation will connect by the end of the story. Although I did not find the end totally satisfying, I did find the mystery engaging and the characters well developed. 3.5 stars
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklinhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Well researched and interesting biography of the brilliant author.
Throwim Way Leg by Tim Flanneryhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The author, a mammologist, takes the reader with him as he explores remote areas of Papua New Guinea looking for rare animals. As the reader accompanies him, we are introduced to isolated villages, beautiful landscapes, stunning wildlife and interesting characters.
My Sisters The Saints by Colleen Carroll Campbellhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I stumbled on this spiritual memoir while searching for a book to use for a summer women’s group at my parish. Campbell takes the reader through 15 years of her young adult life. For each key moment, she shares a saint whose writings or witness inspired her at that moment and the spiritual wisdom she strove to integrate for herself. Although Campbell’s and my lives are quite different, I found in this narrative, a story that was particular enough to be unique and universal enough that even I could relate.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osmanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a light, humorous, completely implausible murder mystery featuring a group of quirky octogenarians at a posh retirement community. The story is told from various character’s perspectives and the author did an excellent job of giving each a distinct voice.
Things Worth Dying For by Archbishop Charles Chaputhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ranging from Casa Blanca to The Pilgrims Progress, from the French Revolution to a childhood in small town America, from reflections on the significance of story to the meaning of friendship, Archbishop Chapup’s book embraces a wide breadth of topics in the attempt to convince the reader to embrace more intentionally their Catholic faith in every aspect of their life. I suspect that many readers will find themselves disagreeing with some of his observations, but I also suspect that every Catholic reader will find something to ponder and something that will challenge them.
Warrior Herdsmen by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
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The author is an anthropologist who spent a year living with the Dodoth, a remote group of people in northern Uganda in the 1960s. As Uganda was in the process of modernizing, the Dodth was clinging to traditional ways. This book describes their way of life: family structure, economy, conflict with neighboring communities, sacred ceremonies, dwellings and more. I would love to know what has become of these people today, but the author’s final note, written in the 1980s says that she was unable to stay in touch with any after she left Africa.
Swallow by Sefi Attahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The protagonist is a young woman who has left her rural Nigerian home to work in Lagos as a secretary. As the story opens, a series of cascading events moves her closer and closer to the financial edge. Without the safety net of family, her situation quickly becomes precarious, forcing her to grapple with the tension between her morals and her need. Interwoven with the story of this young woman is that of her mother who faced the struggle to be true to her own values at multiple times in her life. I appreciated that this plot was not similar to most books I have read. The characters were sufficiently developed. For a nearly 300 page book, it read surprisingly fast.
A Bell for Adano by John Herseywww.goodreads.com/review/show/65556676
I recall enjoying this book when I first read it more than 40 years ago. This time I spent more time cringing at the derogatory slurs, the ethnic stereotypes and the patronizing tone. Set in a small coastal Italian town in the final weeks of WWII, it is the story of the American occupation which turns the town around. The Major who leads the town’s restoration has the wisdom of Solomon, the sobriety of John the Baptist and the compassion of Mother Theresa. In a few weeks, he does what the locals can not do for themselves, rooting out corruption, ending extortion, providing adequate food from local sources, reviving the town’s sanitation, regenerating a sense of mutual respect among the townsfolk, and bringing about a sense of joy all while worrying about the town’s lost bell. Hersey satirizes the incompetent military brass, the drunk military underlings, the gossipy and inept Italians at the same time he is telling a rather sweet story.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrellhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I feel guilty for not loving this fictional account of the death of Shakespeare’s son. I am not sure why I did not have the same positive reaction to this novel that nearly all my reading friends have had. Part of my problem may have been the way the story was told using duel time lines, a technique that I rarely enjoy. In part, I never found Agnes credible. Her supernatural ability to read people’s minds by pressing their hand, her extraordinary gift for healing with herbal remedies, Her extreme connection to the natural world, running off to give birth in a secret wooded space, her domestic skills that surpassed that of all others, her strange visions of the future, made her feel more like the modern literary feminist ideal than a real 16th century woman. In part, I did not think that any character outside of Agnes was developed to the point where I knew them. This book just did not work for me.
The Uyghurs by Gardner Bovingdonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This history of the Uyghurs and their relationship to China was more scholarly than I was prepared for. I learned a great deal but did not catch even more than I learned.
A Promised Land by Barack Obamahttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I enjoyed this political memoir of Obama’s run up to and his first term as president. I appreciated the insights into various policy decisions. It is well written and engaging.
Archbishop Remero: Martyr of Salvador by Placido Erdozainhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a reflection on the influence St. Oscar Romero had for the base Christian communities in their fight for justice written by a priest involved in this struggle. It was published the same year that Romero was assassinated so has an immediacy, giving almost as much attention to other priests who were martyred as it gives to the archbishop. What this book can not give is a perspective that would be gained by the distance of four decades.
Women in the Old Testament by Irene T Noelhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Catholic scripture scholar Sr. Mary Irene Noel, OSB looks at each of the major female characters and many of those who only get a brief mention in the Old Testament. She gives us the biblical passages along with solid commentary.
The Flicker of Old Dreams by Susan Hendersonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was a pretty formulaic novel. Two people who are unfairly shunned by their small town find love, both for each other and for themselves. This book did not work for me. I thought the author did far more telling than showing. And what she did tell the reader, she repeated endlessly. At the same time we were beat over the head with the narrator’s social awkwardness, the lack of acceptance by the town’s people, the unfair way the young boy was blamed for the accident that killed his brother or the town’s economic decline in the past 20 years, other elements were given inadequate attention. Why is the residents of this small town so cruel to a grieving 14 year old or to a little girl whose mother died in child birth? What would make a mother send her 14 year old away from the taunts of a town while staying to serve that same town as its music teacher? This was probably a 1.5 star read for me.
The Number One Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smithhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This was fun, although not what I was expecting. The protagonist, a brand new private investigator with no training, solves a series of small questions. All are solved in a matter of days and a few pages. The rest of the book focuses on the life and family of the protagonist.
Lay Down Your Guns by Greg Taylorhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a biography of Dr. Amanda Madrid with an emphasis on her Evangelical Christian faith. Dr. Madrid has spent her career serving the rural poor of western Honduras, treating those with drug and alcohol addictions and confronting the violence of local cartels. Her courage, strength, generosity and compassion for the hurting are inspiring. But I did not think that the writing did justice to the story. Dr. Madrid gets 4 stars but the writing gets 2 stars.
Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salihhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a wonderfully written novel with a haunting atmosphere set in the Sudan in the mid-20th century. The narrator has returned to his home village from being educated in England. A stranger has settled in the village, a man, like himself, who was also educated in England. This stranger is soon dead, leaving the narrator with guardianship over his wife and sons, with the key to a mysterious room and with his story of sexual conquest in England that ends in each woman’s death. I take it that the stranger’s story is in some ways a parable about the mutual seduction of Africa and Europe and its perils for both, but I did not honestly grasp the message.
Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spensehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Quirky, irreverent, funny, insightful, this was pure fun. Even when I was not familiar with the book being discussed, I still enjoyed her letters to and thoughts about specific titles, about the joy of reading, about readers and non-readers and genre readers and everyone in between.
The Chouans by Honore de Balzachttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Spies, deceit, bloody battles and fluttering hearts, this is a romance between a Royalist and a Republican set against a 1799 uprising by Royalists in north west France. I enjoyed the historical elements more than the romance which I could not accept. I find it hard to believe that two dedicated fighters would risk the lives of their comrades and the success of their mission for a romantic passion sparked in a chance encounter and fanned into flame in a few hours.
Deacon King Kong by James McBridehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
When a kind-hearted elderly drunk shoots the young drug dealer, who he has mentored since childhood, he sets in motion a complicated string of interlocking events that involve Italian and Irish mobsters, Caribbean drug dealers, caring Brooklyn cops, Baptist church ladies and lots of delicious cheese. McBride gives us a story that walks the line between powerful and ridiculous. The characters are so well drawn that I am certain I would recognize them if they rang my doorbell. And the language, it is so creative, so precise, and so unobtrusive that I would have enjoyed reading this book if it were about the growth of crab grass.
Havana Blue by Leonardo Padurawww.goodreads.com/review/show/4036735390
I wanted more detective story and less memories of adolescence, more complicated crime solving and less complicated personal life. 2.5 stars
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherfordhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a major piece of world history that I know very little about. I am becoming fascinated with the Mongrel Empire. I would have liked more of the cultural innovations that shaped the modern world and less of the military history, but I still enjoyed this very readable work of popular history.
Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a story of fathers and sons, of ambition and greed, of what is acquired and what is lost, a family saga set against a culture in change. I wish my library had more books by this author.
Miss Jane by Brad Watsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jane was born in 1915 in rural Mississippi with a birth defect that left her incontinent. This is the story of a woman growing into personal dignity despite a medical condition that is embarrassing, finding her place in a society that is not sure how to place her. Watson creates a sympathetic character but not a pitiable one. There is depth, beauty, honesty, quiet strength and lots of brokenness in this world. 3.5 stars
Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlmanhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a collection of well written short stories that feature extraordinarily ordinary individuals who encounter those ordinary experiences with extraordinary defining power (the terminal illness of a friend, a romance unconsummated, the childhood recognition that what you believed may not be true, religious celebrations) and who move through them with the extraordinary grace that is shockingly ordinary.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenideshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I don’t know what to make of this story. Five teenaged sisters commit suicide in rapid succession. The neighbors become increasingly fascinated by the family who become increasingly isolated as the events unfold. For the neighborhood boys, the girls become the focus of lust, of love, of curiosity, and eventually of all their middle aged obsessions. It is these boys, now men, who tell the story. I suspect that there is some deep meaning to this story, but I can’t quite figure it out.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickenshttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this novel. I found it funny, engaging and I came to like even the most irritating characters.
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnstonhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is a fictional account of the life and political career of Joey Smallwood, a union organizer who became the first premiere of Newfoundland who was instrumental in its confederation with Canada. I enjoyed learning about this piece of history with which I had been unfamiliar. Great writing.
West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledgewww.goodreads.com/review/show/4085019641
In 1938, two giraffes were transported by boat to New York, then by trailer to the San Diego Zoo. That historical event inspired this fictional story starring an experienced zoo keeper, a 17 year old orphan, an aspiring photo journalist and 2 giraffes. The narrator is the orphan, now 100 years old and nearing death, who has decided that he can’t let the story die with him. So, although he can’t speak, falls out of his wheelchair, isn’t eating, he commits this story in sprawling detail to the pages of notebooks. It was the voice of the narrator that I struggled with. No one recalls exact conversations, the gap teeth of a service station attendant, the color of vehicles along the road after 80 years. Weakened by age, racing against a clock, hallucinating, writing long hand, I could not believe that a writer would include details about billboards, flying birds, the physical look of hotels and camp grounds. At times, he spoke with folksie colloquialisms and the next sentence seemed to be constructed with the aid of a thesaurus. The author certainly did her research into American life in 1938 and she wove every bit of what she learned into this novel. 2.5 stars
Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamesehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This is the story of a father and son reconciliation. A tough, womanizing, vulgar alcoholic dying man asks for the help of his estranged son. As they spend time together, the father reveals a softer, gentler side as he tells his son the story of the traumatic events that drove him to the bottle. The son begins to understand and forgive his father as he hears the story. I could not fully reconcile the kind, selfless, generous younger version of the father revealed in his stories with the vulgar, nasty man introduced to the reader as the book begins. This story felt familiar, a narrative I have encountered in other books. 2.5 stars
All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny
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It was fun to spend more time with Armand’s family, but I missed the quirky characters of Three Pines. O, yes, and the mystery was as implausibly solved as ever, but with such charm.
101 Books to Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Persuasion (other topics)It (other topics)
The Immortalists (other topics)
The Hate U Give (other topics)
Timekeeper (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jane Austen (other topics)Madeline Miller (other topics)
Sarah Henning (other topics)
Sarah McCoy (other topics)
Sarah Pekkanen (other topics)
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Why did I let this wonderful memoir sit on my TBR list for so long? Alexandra’s parents moved to Rhodesia to become colonial farmers when she was two years old. Very soon after, a gorilla war of independence broke out. Threatened by landmines and soldiers on the outside and from the weight of grief and alcoholism on the inside, her family found a way to navigate forces that destroyed many others. At times funny, at times tragic, at times eccentric, at times heroic, Fuller gives us a wonderful story told through the eyes of a gradually maturing child. Fuller resists the temptation to explain things to the reader, to presume insight she could not have possessed at any given age, of vilifying her parents or glorifying her plucky younger self. 4.5 stars