Ashland Books@Noon September 2018 Picks

1) The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane: a novel

Author

See, Lisa

Notes

Nina had recently read this and really enjoyed the historical detail.

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, "one of those special writers capable of delivering both poetry and plot" (The New York Times Book Review), a moving novel about tradition, tea farming, and the bonds between mothers and daughters.
In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes...

2) The favorite sister: a novel

Author

Knoll, Jessica

Notes

Kristin is reading this title now. She said that the characters weren't likeable but that she is intrigued enough by the mystery to keep going. She had read and enjoyed the author's first novel: The Luckiest Girl Alive.

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, Large Print - Hardback

Description

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"When five hyper-successful women agree to appear on a reality series set in New York City called Goal Diggers, the producers never expect the season will end in murder"--

3) Girl Waits With Gun

Author

Stewart, Amy

Series

Kopp sisters novels volume 1

Notes

Renee was excited about reading this title. An historical novel based on real sisters starting a silk business. It sounds like an excellent read about women fighting to establish themselves at the beginning of the 20th century.

Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER. The first in the Kopps Sisters Novel Series, Girl Waits with Gun is an enthralling novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation's first female deputy sheriffs.
Constance Kopp doesn't quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters into hiding fifteen years ago....

4) Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books

Author

Nafisi, Azar

Notes

Another title that Jane brought to the discussion.

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, Large Print - Hardback

Description

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Prof. Nafisi resigned from her job as professor of English Literature at a university in Tehran in 1995 due to repressive government policies. For the next 2 years, until she left Iran, she gathered 7 young women, former students, at her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss works of Western literature forbidden by the new regime. They used this forum to learn to speak freely, not only about literature, but also about the social, political,...

5) Under The Same Sky: From Starvation in North Korea to Salvation in America

Author

Kim, Joseph

Notes

Jane also spoke about reading this novel set in North Korea.

Description

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An inspirational memoir about an abandoned young boy who escaped the devastating famine in North Korea and came to America in search of survival, freedom, and the pursuit of his wildest dreams. ¶ "Riveting."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) ¶ Inside the hidden and mysterious world of North Korea, Joseph Kim lived a young boy's normal life until he was five. Then disaster struck: the first wave of the Great Famine, a long, terrible ordeal that...

6) The invisible bridge

Author

Orringer, Julie

Notes

Jane brought a trio of books to share. This was one that she enjoyed.

Formats:

Audiobook CD, Book - Hardback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print - Hardback

Description

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This book is an unforgettable story of three brothers, of history and love, of marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family's struggle against annihilation, and of the dangerous power of art in a time of war.

7) The president is missing: a novel

Author

Clinton, Bill

Series

New York Times Bestsellers Fiction

Notes

Pat described this as "popcorn"...but was also quick to point out that it transcended normal Patterson because it felt like it also had an insider's look into the presidency.

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, Large Print - Hardback

Description

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"The President Is Missing confronts a threat so huge that it jeopardizes not just Pennsylvania Avenue and Wall Street, but all of America. Uncertainty and fear grip the nation. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the Cabinet. Even the President himself becomes a suspect, and then he disappears from public view... Set over the course of three days, The President Is Missing sheds a stunning light upon the inner workings...

8) Clock dance

Author

Tyler, Anne

Notes

Bonnie loved Clock Dance...and the characters. A novel worthy of Tyler.

Formats:

Audiobook CD, Book - Hardback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print - Paperback

Description

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A novel of self-discovery and second chances from the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning author—Willa Drake has had three opportunities to start her life over: in 1967, as a schoolgirl whose mother has suddenly disappeared; in 1977, when considering a marriage proposal; and in 1997, as a young widow trying to hold her family together.
So she is surprised when in 2017 she...

9) There there

Author

Orange, Tommy

Notes

We started with a lively discussion about this title. Nina, Carolyn, Bill, Claudia, and Kristin had all read recently. Nina was specifically concerned about the lack of representation of tribes that originated in the San Francisco Bay Area. While others interpreted the lived experience of the author and his Cherokee/Oklahoma connections as the driving factor in this authorial decision. Regardless, the conversation drove home to all the fact that the Native American experience is not monolithic, which is part of the point of the novel! Nina also brought

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Large Print - Hardback

Description

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"Not since Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine has such a powerful and urgent Native American voice exploded onto the landscape of contemporary fiction. Tommy Orange's There There introduces a brilliant new author at the start of a major career. "We all came to the powwow for different reasons. The messy, dangling threads of our lives got pulled into a braid--tied to the back of everything...