May's Book: Uglies

This month's pick is from Sharlene (too busy ushering new nieces into the world to post--congrats!)--Uglies, by Scott Westerfield.

Here's a synopsis from Amazon:
Playing on every teen’s passionate desire to look as good as everybody else, Scott Westerfeld projects a future world in which a compulsory operation at sixteen wipes out physical differences and makes everyone pretty by conforming to an ideal standard of beauty. The "New Pretties" are then free to play and party, while the younger "Uglies" look on enviously and spend the time before their own transformations in plotting mischievous tricks against their elders. Tally Youngblood is one of the most daring of the Uglies, and her imaginative tricks have gotten her in trouble with the menacing department of Special Circumstances. She has yearned to be pretty, but since her best friend Shay ran away to the rumored rebel settlement of recalcitrant Uglies called The Smoke, Tally has been troubled. The authorities give her an impossible choice: either she follows Shay’s cryptic directions to The Smoke with the purpose of betraying the rebels, or she will never be allowed to become pretty. Hoping to rescue Shay, Tally sets off on the dangerous journey as a spy. But after finally reaching The Smoke she has a change of heart when her new lover David reveals to her the sinister secret behind becoming pretty.

April's Book: The Memory of Running

This month's selection was made by Jen, The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty. Here is a blurb from the publisher:

Every decade seems to produce a novel that captures the public's imagination with a story that sweeps readers up and takes them on a thrilling, unforgettable ride. Ron McLarty's The Memory of Running is this decade's novel. By all accounts, especially his own, Smithson "Smithy" Ide is a loser. An overweight, friendless,chain-smoking, forty-three-year-old drunk, Smithy's life becomes completely unhinged when he loses his parents and long-lost sister within the span of one week. Rolling down the driveway of his parents' house in Rhode Island on his old Raleigh bicycle to escape his grief, the emotionally bereft Smithy embarks on an epic, hilarious, luminous, and extraordinary journey of discovery and redemption.

March's Book: The Mapmaker's Wife

This month's book was selected by Sharon--"The Mapmaker's Wife" by Robert Whitaker. Here's a description from Alibris.com:
In the early years of the 18th century, a band of French scientists set off on a daring, decade-long expedition to South America in a race to measure the precise shape of the earth. This is the story of Isabel Grames, who became stranded in the Amazon--an epic love story that unfolds against the backdrop of the greatest expedition the world has ever known.

February's Book: Sky Burial

I'd like to suggest Sky Burial by Xue Xinran for the read for this month. (This is all Amy's fault, by the way, because Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress made me want more stuff with Chinese culture in it. Though of course this book isn't anything Chinese--it's about Tibet. But it's still Amy's fault.)

This is the story of a Chinese woman who spends thirty years in Tibet trying to find her husband--or, at least, to find the truth about what happened to him. It's beautiful, stark, and as far as I can tell, it's true.

Favorite Books

What are some of your favorite books? Or just the one book you think everyone ought to read? Or the book you absolutely love, but you know you can't recommend it because it's in bad taste/silly/too embarrassing to admit you love it? (That last question is SO about my own fantasy addiction.) If you want to share some of your favorite books ever, or just see what other people love to read, this is the post for you!

October's Book: Good Omens

Elisa says: The book I choose is "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry
Pratchett. I've read some Terry Pratchett (and enjoyed it) and this is, by far,
the funniest I've read. What other book has the tribute, "The Apocalypse
has never been funnier." And what other book has Elvis flipping  burgers
in an obscure burger joint. (He just staged his death.) Interesting sidenote:
There was talk of making the book into a movie and Jude Law was to play
the part of the demon Crawley. Unfortunately the movie fell through.

Anyway, to give you a taste, here is what is written on the back cover.
"We hear the world will end on a Saturday. Unfortunately, Sister Mary
Locquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist."

September's Read: _Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress_ by Dai Sijie

I have been a devoted lurker since Wynne invited me to join this cozy little group, and since she asked me to pick Sept's book, I ransacked my "to read" shelf and came up with this short novel. I picked it up at Costco (I simply can't get out of that store without at least one book in my basket--am I the only one?) and thought it would be good for this group because it's about...reading. More specifically, it's about the Chinese Cultural Revolution and two boys who discover a forbidden stash of Western classics. On a personal note, I'm interested in learning all I can about Chinese culture because my husband and I are considering a Chinese adoption program.

By the way, if this is too short for you more ravenous bookish types--and I've noticed that you tend to hit the heavy ones--I have another Chinese one for you once you finish this one: _Iron and Silk_ by Mark Salzman. I teach Freshman English at BYU and I use this one in class as a great example of personal essay writing (as opposed to their samples, which tend toward "Dude, that was like way awesome.")