The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls was so readable, it grabs you from the very start and takes you on a journey with some unforgettable characters. The early death of Mama Butler thrusts Althea into the role of caregiver and shifts the family dynamics. The way the sisters react to a new family crisis reflects their early roles. The novel is a reminder that good people can make bad choices. I will be recommending this book to my book club, they are many themes to discuss in this very enjoyable novel.

The Winter Soldier transports the reader back one hundred years to war torn Eastern Europe. We see events through the eyes of a young medical student being trained in Vienna who is suddenly delivered to a field hospital in the Carpathian Mountains as their only 'doctor'. The novel is rich in characters. The descriptions of the geography and buildings make you feel part of the action.

I read dozens of books each year to chose the selections that our book club reads. This is exactly the type of novel we love. Told from a doctor's point of view, it is very different from any historical fiction I have read about war in Europe. It is not surprising that the author is a Clinical Psychiatrist as he portrays such believable characters.

I think any reader would enjoy getting lost in The Winter Soldier.

The characters in A Place For Us are so compelling and rich that they pull you along through a deep and complicated family history. The young author has a very strong voice that unfortunately became lost for me at times as she switched narrators and timelines.
What kept me reading was the unique look at a 1st generation Muslim Indian American family, what the parents hoped to gain from raising their children in America as well as what they lost by leaving their culture behind. Any reader who enjoys a book that immerses them in a different life would enjoy reading A Place For Us.

Clemantine Wamariya's book is haunting. At the age of six when our children are enjoying Kindergarten this girl and her sister enter the world of refugees. The beauty of this book is in the simple way she tells her unbelievable journey. She reminds us that millions of Africans have been affected by genocide, she is but one survivor and each survivor has had a different experience.

Clemantine's story pulls you along and surrounds you with strong images from her journey through war torn refugee camps, her attempts to assimilate into the United States, and her visits back to Africa in recent years.

I will be recommending this book to everyone I know who wishes to expand their view of the world. I know my book club will be reading The Girl Who Smiles Beads, it is exactly the type of thought provoking book we enjoy discussing.

Anatomy of a Miracle starts with such an instant hook that I was hoping for a thrilling read. Instead I found the narration clumsy and repetitive. There were a few memorable characters, but too many side characters that took away from the plot and point of the story. Treatment of important themes seemed insensitive and outdated. This is not a novel I will be recommending to my fellow readers.

Immortality is certainly not a new theme in literature, yet Dara Horn puts an interesting spin on the theme in Eternal Life. The main characters of Rachel and Elazar did not choose immortality because they wanted to live forever, but rather accepted immortality as the price paid for a bargain Rachel chose for them. The author holds your interest through believable modern and ancient problems and situations that the main characters face. As the person who chooses books for our local book club, I would choose Eternal Life for the lively discussion it would generate. I would recommend this unique, positive book to readers of all ages.

Life often takes turns based on small actions that have large consequences. The characters in this novel seem to have all ended up in unfortunate circumstances. The way they come together and either survive or not makes for a very entertaining read. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes interesting characters. I felt the descriptions of life on the streets of LA was haunting and accurate. I wished the author had provided more closure on some characters, like Britt and her situation with Andy. I also would have liked more background on other characters. Wonder Valley is a novel that stays with you and makes you re-think what makes people make the choices they do.