December 2011 -

October 2011 -

August 2011 -

June 2011 - "Never Let Me Go" is a rare novel that really stays with you. It is the story of kids at an elite prep school and the horrible truth about what makes them special. Ishiguro's novel makes us look at human relationships from the outside by slowing posing a series of "what if" questions.

April 2011 - Chris Cleave tells the story of two very different women and the traumatic experience that thrust them together. “Little Bee” is a novel about the harsh realities of the immigrant experience as well as the horrors of our modern world. This is a novel that delves into our concepts of morality and forces us to question who we are at our cores.

February 2011 - Abraham Verghese's “Cutting for Stone” draws from his life experiences as a doctor to tell the tale of two twin brothers who while orphaned by the death of their mother and disappearance of their father come of age in the midst of a politically tumultuous Ethiopia. The novel follows the twins through their story of love and betrayal, compassion and redemption, exile and home that unfolds across five decades in India, Ethiopia, and America.

November 2010 - Steve Hely's debut novel, “How I Became a Famous Novelist,” is full of subtle (and not so subtle) jabs at the state of modern writing, publishing and popular culture at large. It is a look into what we as individuals value in the entertainment and information we consume everyday.

September 2010 - Neil White's memoir “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” reveals his time spent and his lessons learned while serving a prison term at the last surviving leper colony in the U.S. at Carville, LA. White learned more about his crimes and failings from the quiet solitude of the Hansen's disease patients living at Carville than he did the from the prison system, and he shares those lessons within his memoir.

July 2010 - “Bayou Farewell” by Mike Tidwell is considered "part travelogue and part environmental expose," and is said to have forecast the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Reading and discussing "Bayou Farewell" in light of the continuing tragedy of the BP oil spill reminds us that our precious marshland is in constant danger and of our responsibilities to our environment.

May 2010 - Ishmael Beah's “A Long Way Gone” tells the story of his time as a child soldier enlisted into service in war torn Sierra Leone at the age of twelve. Beah describes the almost unspeakable violence he was forced both to perpetuate and endure. The story is told in heartrending detail, but it is definitely a story that needs to be told and read.

March 2010 - Jon Krakauer's “Into the Wild” tells the story of Christopher Mccandless, an idealistic young man who hiked into the Alaskan bush alone and ultimately died there. Beyond Mccandless' own journey Krakauer describes his trials as a young mountaineer and the ways in which he relates to Mccandless in fantastic detail.