First place wient to Palace Walk by Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz. It  is one of my favorite books. It is the first in his Cairo Trilogy. Mahfouz lived his whole life in Cairo; it shows in the detail of his writing. Palace Walk takes place around WWI, when nationalistic fever was running high and trigger fingers were itchy. This family drama is set against a backdrop of tension between the Brits and Egyptians. Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad rules his home with an iron hand, demanding respect from his wife Amina, and his children. At night he leads a different sort of life, going off with friends to drink and have a grand time. His friends view him as charming and witty. His family sees him as respectable, and fierce. Al-Sayyid feels it is the correct way to run a household. Amina is a wonderful character, Mahfouz captures her perfectly. She stands by her screened balcony looking out as the world passes by on the street below. She stays within the house unless escorted by her husband. As the children grow, Al-Sayyid finds them more difficult to manage. One son is following a bit too closely in his father's footsteps. Another son is caught in the turmoil of the times.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell took third place.  Margaret Mitchell had only one book published in her lifetime, but she did it right, winning the Pulitzer Prize for a book that has become one of the best sellers of all time.  Valentine’s Day falls in February, the Classics Book Club wanted a book with romance and passion.  Gone with the Wind  positively seethes with passion, it is full of high drama. Atlanta burns, the Civil War rages, Rhett and Scarlet smolder.  They never quite get it right, still as Scarlet says, “tomorrow is another day”.  You may have watched the movie, but there is a lot more story in the book.