Title: the Sally Lockhart books

Author: Philip Pullman

Publication Date:

Who read it?: Meghan and M.E. 

Comments: Great characters and plot twists. Well-written, too.

Genre: Young adult mystery/suspense

Title: The Thirteenth Tale

Author: Diane Setterfield

Publication Date: 2006

Who read it?: Meghan 

Comments: Modern gothic, inspired by Jane Eyre, The Woman in White and other classics, and a book for true book lovers.

Genre: Contemporary fiction

Title: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Author: Lisa See

Publication Date: 2005

Who read it?: Debbie 

Comments: A story of the lifetime friendship of two Chinese women in the early 19th century. I found the descriptions of women's roles and societal expectations fascinating

Genre: Historical Fiction

Title: Princess in the Spotlight

Author: Meg Cabot

Publication Date: 2001

Who read it?: M.E. and Meghan 

Comments: Pure, unadulterated brain candy. The second in The Princess Diaries series - Princess Mia is hysterical as a normal teen coming to grips with becoming royalty.

Genre: Young Adult

Author: Cees Nooteboom (or Cheese Notebook as David is calling it these days)

Publication Date: 2002 (English)

Who read it?: Olivia

Comments: I really love this book. It was given to me by my friend Ruud (they like double vowels over in the Netherlands), and I really liked it. It's a bit about existence etc., but it is mostly just not a bad novel. It's not really very 'serious', but has some good quotes. But, like many semi-literary European male authors, he doesn't really seem to understand women at all.

Genre: Semi-literary fiction.

Title: Bras and Broomsticks''

Author: Sarah Mlynowski

Publication Date: 2005

Who read it?: M.E.  

Comments: Obviously, I'm on a bit of a teen book kick right now. This is the 1st in the Bras and Broomsticks trilogy (the 3rd comes out in June!). Both this book and the sequel, Frogs and French Kisses, are really cute. Rachel comes to terms with the fact that her little sister and her mother are witches - but not without trying to figure out how to use it to her advantage!

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Title: The Teahouse Fire

Author: Ellis Avery

Publication Date: 2006

Who read it?: M.E.

Comments: This was a very interesting novel focusing on a different aspect of Japanese culture (tea) and the world surrounding it.

Genre: Fiction

Title: Dead Man's Ransom

Author: Ellis Peters

Publication Date: 1985 

Who read it?: M.E. and Meghan

Comments: Number 9 in the Brother Cadfael series.  I just find these books really relaxing - "comfortable shoe" books!!

Genre: Fiction

Title: Posession

Author: A.S. Byatt

Publication Date: 1991

Who read it?: Meghan

Comments: I was annoyed to realize I'd seen the movie for this book when I was about 30 pages in (movies based on books should make a bigger deal about the books so people can read them before seeing the movie!). BUT, I'm glad I kept reading. This is an extraordinarily literary book, and I'd love to read it again just to look up all the references I missed and follow the different threads more closely. It's also a well-drawn set of stories, about two English lit PhDs in the 1980s who discover letters between two Victorian poets, and it made me wish the poets were real so I could read more of their work than just the few snippets included in the novel.

Genre: Fiction

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Publication Date: 2007

Who read it?: M.E.

Comments: This one was better than The Kite Runner. I didn't even know that was possible.

Genre: Fiction