The Fiction Book Club’s #2 selection is The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. This is a quintessential southern writer’s story a dysfunctional family with an abusive father and a sensitive, beaten down, manipulative mother told through the eyes of one of the children. Tom is compelled to reminisce about his family when his twin, Savannah, attempts suicide. Her therapist needs to know where all the family secrets are buried in order to help Savannah. Tom slowly delves into the quagmire of their childhood, revealing the poison at the center. Dripping with southern pathos, gorgeous prose, and wry humor.

The Fiction Book Club’s #4 selection is The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. Set during WWII, this story focuses on the war’s effect on regular people rather than on battles. Frankie is a hotshot young reporter working under the legendary Murrow. Reporting from London she sends out over the radio the stories of Europe and WWII. Emma Trask sits with her young husband, Will, listening to Frankie’s stories a world away in their little village on Cape Cod. Iris is the postmistress, 40 and single she takes her job seriously. When their lives intersect, the Postmistress must keep a secret.

#2 for the Classics Book Club is The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. Larry was set to marry Isabelle, go into business, and live an affluent easy life when WWI interrupted his plans. War changed Larry, as war is wont to do with the easy clay of young men’s lives. He wanted something deeper; he wanted his life to have a reason beyond buying the toys of the affluent. Larry dropped out; he would spend his life seeking a different way. Isabelle was not willing to give up the trappings of the good life to live in squalor with Larry. This is an amazing novel about choice, purpose, meaning, and betrayal.

#4 for the Classics Book Club is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Huck takes a journey on the Mississippi River, a boyhood adventure. It is a lively yarn of escape, danger, and friendship. But it is also the story of how a white boy, Huck, comes to recognize the valor and merit of Jim, a black man. A white boy bonding with a black man during the time of slavery is powerful stuff. Jim is portrayed as an altogether admirable man, a man of courage, compassion, and kindness. Yes the book uses very bad words about people of color, but if you strip the words from the book you strip the power from the story of their suffering.

Mystery Book Club’s #2 choice is Stone’s Fall by Ian Pears. Lord Ravenscliff, John Stone, was a circumspect private man and the lynch pin of a financial empire. He fell to his death out a second story window; his well known fear of heights raises red flags for reporter Mathew Braddock. With the false foundation of Stone’s empire, a misstep could leave the world financial markets teetering on the brink of disaster. Sound familiar? Arms dealers, financial skullduggery, stocks reflecting smoke and mirrors? In the afterward Ian Pears says: “What surprised me most (although perhaps it should not have done) was that however much the world changes, human nature stays the same. The great constant in finance is the tendency of men to become befuddled by their own success, making them willing to take greater risks and eventually be brought down by their own vanity, which can easily overcome the most sophisticated expertise.”

Mystery Book Club’s #4 choice is Six Suspects by Vikas Swarup, author of Slumdog Millionaire. Vicky Rai throws a party to celebrate getting away with murder, literally. Someone shoots the bad boy dead at his own soiree. Police discover six people with guns, but which one shot Vicky Rai? Journalist Advani gives us the lowdown on the suspects ranging from a gangster whose body is regularly taken over by Mahatma Ghandi (really bad for his line of work), a rather dimwitted American, a starlet, a stone-age tribesman, a corrupt politician, and a thief. Who shot Vicky Rai?

2nd Place for the Non Fiction Book Club goes to A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Anyone interested in history should read this book! It is full of the history of our country, from Columbus’s cruel subjugation of the natives on Haiti and Cuba to the violence in Seattle and across the land as the IWW took on the bosses to fight for a living wage and decent working conditions, the Civil War, the struggle for equal rights, both world wars, Viet Nam, and on up to the Clinton years, 9/11, and the Iraq War. Zinn was a bombardier in WWII. One run had him dropping bombs on a small French Village. After the war, being interested in Political Science and History, he went back and interviewed the survivors in that village. He discovered it was a friendly village with some German soldiers who had run away and were waiting out the war. 1000 people died in his bombing run. This sounds like a page out of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Zinn had a questioning nature, a desire to understand the real facts rather than the official line. While he applauds Columbus’s audacity, bravery, and determination he does not forgive his brutality, lack of compassion, and genocide. Zinn was a respected professor with an ability to write in clear, concise prose. Facts are power, and this book is full of them.

4th Place for the Non Fiction Book Club goes to Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Women have it rough; it is a man’s world. Every day somewhere in the world something bad is happening to some poor woman. Honor killings when the male members of the family feel their honor has been besmirched. Women are burned alive when the dowry is not considered sufficient, after all the man can just go find another bride and receive another dowry. Genital mutilation, having acid thrown on them, beatings, being captured as sexual slaves forced to work in brothels, and it is happening every day somewhere in the world. Kristof and WuDunn make a case for economically empowering women to change this world order and help move the third world out of poverty. Empowering women through education, giving them the opportunity to be economically viable, and providing safe, responsible medical care can make huge differences in the economic and political reality of their regions. Kristof and WuDunn give information on what is happening today then suggestions on ways to be part of making positive changes.

#2 choice for the Travel Essay Book Club is The World: Travels 1950-2000 by Jan Morris. If you like to travel, or read about traveling, this is a wonderful book! Jan Morris has been everywhere, she has written beautifully about her travels in many, many books. This book condenses the stories into vignettes of those trips. From accompanying Edmund Hillary on the first successful summiting of Mount Everest to strolling in Venice, Morris explores a variety of experiences and settings. Kyoto, Cape Town, Jerusalem, Atlanta, Addis Ababa, and on into so many marvelous places to intrigue fellow travelers.

#4 choice for the Travel Essay Book Club is Skeptical Romancer by W. Somerset Maugham. An author of enormous talent, Maugham has written some of the best books of his time. In addition to writing fiction with great emotional power, he was also an enthusiastic traveler who spoke several languages, spied for the Brits, and zipped around the globe. Skeptical Romancer is a series of vignettes from Maugham’s travels to Spain, China, Russia, America, the South Sea Islands, and a few other places. The writing is lovely.