The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This is a slow, magical fairy tale type of book. Everything from the wonderful  character development to the author's ability to capture the haunting dramatic breathtaking wilderness and lifestyle of Alaska. Everyone in the club really enjoyed this book

Club Rating: 4.6

Unsaid by Neil Abrahamson

Helena, a vet, has died and she finds that it is not so easy to move on. She is terrified that her 37 years of life were meaningless, error-ridden, and forgettable. So Helena haunts-- and is haunted by-- the life she left behind. Meanwhile, her attorney husband David, struggles with grief and the demands of caring for her houseful of damaged and beloved animals. But it is her absence from her last project, Cindy-- a chimpanzee who may unlock the mystery of communication and consciousness-- that will have the greatest impact on all of them.

Don't Stop the Carnival by Herman Wouk

It's the story of Norman Paperman, a New York City press agent who, facing the onset of middle age, runs away to a Caribbean island to reinvent himself as a hotel keeper. (Hilarity and disaster -- of a sort peculiar to the tropics -- ensue.)

Wouk draws on his own experience (Wouk and his family lived for seven years on an island in the sun) to tell this story.

Club Rating: 4.0

When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe

A historical fiction that is a mix of the horrid atrocities of the Japanese on the Filipino people in WWII, and the wonderful magical tales of the Philippines -

Club Rating: 3.8

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Vera's spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she's kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?

Club Rating: 3.6

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

This story revolves around three young girls. Letty, Cordelia and Astrid in the 1929 glittering metropolis of Manhatten. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star… Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes.Astrid is a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets. 

Club Rating: 3.3

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah

Set in the 1940's, nine-year-old Raj is unaware of the war devastating the rest of the world. He lives in Mauritius, a remote island in the Indian Ocean, where survival is a daily struggle for his family. When a brutal beating lands Raj in the hospital of the prison camp where his father is a guard, he meets a mysterious boy his own age. 

David is a refugee, one of a group of Jewish exiles whose harrowing journey took them from Nazioccupied Europe to Palestine, where they were refused entry and sent on to indefinite detainment in Mauritius.  This novel sheds light on a fascinating and unexplored corner of World War II history.

Rating: 4.5

American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

In the Victorian-era, Cora Cash is traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage. 

Club Rating: 3.6

Nemesis by Philip Roth

This book is told by Bucky Cantor, the young playground director of the Chancellor Avenue playground in 1944 Newark. When a polio outbreak ravages the kids at the playground, Bucky, a hero to the boys, becomes spooked and gives in to the wishes of his fiancée, who wants him to take a job at the Pocono summer camp where she works.  This book captures the fear and hysteria during the Polio Epedemic in not knowing how it infects and therefore, how to avoid contracting it.

Club Rating: 3.5

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

This is the story of Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and the family of Alice Liddell.  Born into a Victorian family of privilege, free-spirited Alice catches the attention of family friend Dodgson and serves as the muse for both his photography and writing. Their bond, however, is questionable.  Benjamin does a wonderful job of capturing that era and the mystery that shrouded their relationship.

Club Rating: 3.2

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until this author stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it.

This got very mixed reviews with some members loving it and some hating it.  We felt that it was good writing, true to history and the author did a good job of interjecting a plausible line of vampire hunting.  If you can't suspend reality enough to go with this, it may not be your cup of tea.

Club Rating: 3.18

Peace Like A River by Leif Enger

This is a tale about a young boy who narrates this novel, named Reuben, as well as his father, a man who is driven by his faith and love of his family.  This will captivate you with it's superb prose and eloquent style.

Club Rating: 4.02