WAR HORSE by MICHAEL MORPURGO

It is 1914, and Joey, a farm horse is old to the army and thrust into the midst of World War I on the Western Front. When Joey is dragged away, his heart aches for Albert, the farmer's son that he is forced to leave behind.

In the army, the beautiful rd-bay horse is trained to charge the enemy, drag the heavy artillery and carry wounded soldiers not much older than Albert off the battlefields.

Amongst the clamoring, of guns and while plodding through the cold mud, Joey wonders if the war will ever end.

And if it does, will he ever find Albert again?????

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

This is the perfect book for anyone who knows that compassion isn't only for humans and that the relationship between two souls who are meant for each other never really comes to an end. (Enzo, Denny, Zoe, Eve).

The book is perfect, a dog who speaks and thinks and is a philosopher, the thrill of competitive racing, a meditation on humility and hope in the face of despair.

Nemesis by Philip Roth

In the stifling heat of Newark, a terrifying epidemic is raging threatening the children of the New Jersey City with maiming, paralysis, lifelong disability and even death. This is the story of a wartime polio epidemic in the summer of 1944 and the effect that it has on a closely knit family oriented Newark community and its children.

At the center of the book, is a vigorous twenty-three year old playground director named Bucky Cantor. Focusing on Cantor's dilemmas as polio begins to ravage his playground and on the everyday realities that he faces, Roth leads us through every inch of emotion that polio brought to a community. Roth depicts a decent energetic man with the best intentions struggling in his own private war against the epidemic. Roth is tenderly exact at every point about Cantor's passage into personal disaster.

Questions are posed such as, what kind of choices fatally shape a life? How does the individual withstand the onslaught of circumstance?

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

Josef Kohn is a successful New York obstetrician who still dreams of his first wife, Lenka, an art student he left behind in Czechoslovakia while fleeing the Nazis.

Lenka, who he believes died during the war, continues to haunt his dreams, while his second wife, Amalia, remains more of a ghost to him than is Lenka. As we follow Lenka's journey to the ghetto of Terezin, where she is forced to draft technical drawings for the Germans and is a witness to the secret paintings of an underground group of artists involved in their own form of resistance against their captors, we see not only the endurance of the human spirit, but also of the artist, whose desire to create and document, cannot be extinguished.

From the glamourous of pre-war Prague, to the ensuing horrors of the Nazi Europe, we experience both the dawning of Lenka's and Josef's love affair to its tragic unraveling. Each character must forge their own path for survival and each must struggle to adapt to post-war America, while their secrets, their past and the ghost of their first marriage are only known to them.

The First Wife is a story that explores the depth......the power of first love, the resilience of the human spirit, and our capacity to remember.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Retired British army major Major Ernest Pettigrew, lives in a quaint English village. He is a widower who was deeply in love with his wife. They have one son named Roger. The story begins with his brother's unexpected death from a heart attack and the Major's deep desire to inherit his brother's gun, worth lots of money. He has the mate to the gun.

He begins an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Ali, a Pakistani widow who runs a local shop. This friendship disturbs the bucolic serenity of the town and opens up many questions. What does it mean to belong? What are the obligations of family and tradition when balanced against personal freedom? Will the village by lost because of petty prejudices?

I liked this book very much because Major Pettigrew struggled with loss and moved forward. At first he was lonely even with the many chores and responsibilities that he had. His friendship with Mrs. Ali allowed him to question values, and tradition and grow as a human being. He made mistakes along the way, admitted them and moved forward.

A Dog's Purpose byW. Bruce Cameron

The book tells the story of a dog named Toby who finds himself reincarnated and decides that there must be a reason, a purpose that he must fulfill and until he does so, he will continue to be reborn. The story is narrated by Bailey, who is very much, a dog.

From Toby, the feral dog, to Bailey, Ethan's best friend, to Ellie, the Search and Find dog, and lastly to Buddy, the reincarnated Bailey, I laughed and cried.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Zeitoun is a disturbing, non-fiction account of a New Orleans married couple who were dragged through their own special brand of Kafkaesque hell after Hurricane Katrina.

Left Neglected by Julie Rosen

This was an excellent book. It was similar to Still Alice in that it told the story of Sarah, a multi-tasking successful business woman who was texting on her phone while driving and had a horrible accident that gave her TBI in that she could not "see" her left side even though she was not blind.

The inter-dynamics of the family especially the relationship between the mother and Sarah were wonderful. The book showed Sarah as a strong woman as she was trying to cope with her disability as well as the strength of the family.

This is a MUST read.

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

This is a tale of war-torn lovers, family and survival of the luckiest rather than the fittest. The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a family shattered and remade in history's darkest hour. The book moves from the small Hungarian town of Konyar, to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris. It moves from the despair of the Carpathian winter to an unimaginable life in the labor camps. It tells the story of Andras Levi, a Hungarian-Jewish architecture student who arrives in Paris in 1937, from Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase, and a mysterious letter that he has promised to deliver. He falls into a complicated relationship with the letter's recipient and becomes privy to a secret that will alter the course of his and his family's history.

It's a wonderful book. And I'm proud to say that I'm going to review it for the Sisterhood Book club.

THE YEAR OF FOG BY Michelle Richmond

Six-year old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a stranger's van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose interest and flyers fade on telephone poles, Emmas's father finds solace in religion and scientific probability- but, Abby can only wander the beaches and city streets attempting to recover the past and the little girl that she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side of another sea, Abby will make the most astonishing discovery of all- as the truth of Emma's disappearance unravels with stunning force.

This is a profoundly original novel of family, loss and hope, of the choices we make and those that are made for us.

LIT by Mary Karr

LIT follows the self-professed blackbelt sinner's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness and to her astonishing resurrection.

Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to Warren, a blueblood poet produces a son that they adore. But, she can't outrun her past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her mother. She reaches the brink of suicide. A hair raising stint in "The Mental Marriot," with an oddball tribe of gurus and saviors, awakens her to the possibility of joy and leads her to an unlikely faith.

This is a conversion story that reads with dark hilarity.

LIT is about getting drunk and getting sober. It is about becoming a mother by letting go of a mother. It is the story of learning to write by learning to live. It is an electrifying story of how to grow up.

By Invitation Only byJodi Della Femina

A wonderful book that gave me an insider's look at the big money, big romance, food wars, catering wars, restaurant wars, local newspaper fights, and comical vendettas that make East Hampton, America's most talked about small town.

The Chosen by Chaim Potak

This is a classic novel about the unlikely friendship that develops between two boys in 1940's Brooklyn. Reuven Malther is a secular Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny Saunders is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe. Together they navigate the emotional terrain of adolescence and the demands of family and a crisis of faith when stories of the Holocaust begin to emerge on the shores of America.

The Chosen is a profound, deeply moving story of Fathers and Sons and of the enduring power of love.

THE POWER AND THE GLORY BY GRAHAM GREENE

In a poor, remote section of southern Mexico, the Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest is on the run. Too human for heroism, too humble for martyrdom, the little worldly," whiskey priest" is nevertheless impelled toward his squalid Calvary as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers.

ALL THE LITTLE LIVE THINGS by Wallace Stegner

This was a terrible book. It told the story of a couple suffering from the senseless death of their son and baffled by the engulfing chaos of the 1960's. They are especially troubled by Jim Peck, a messianic exponent of drugs, yoga and sex and Marian Catlin, an attractive young woman whose otherworldly innocence is very appealing and very dangerous.

THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake

In l940, Iris James is the postmistress in coastal Franklin, Massachusetts. Iris knows more about the townspeople than she ever will say, for example that Emma Trask has come to marry the town's doctor, and that Harry Vale watches the ocean for U-boats. Iris believes that it is her job to deliver secrets. Yet, one day, she does the unthinkable: slips a letter into her pocket, reads it and doesn't deliver it.

Meanwhile, Frankie Bard broadcasts from overseas with Edward R. Murrow. Her dispatches beg listeners to pay heed as the Nazis bomb London nightly. Most of the townspeople of Franklin think that war can't touch them. But, Iris, Emma and Frankie know better.........

The Postmistress is a tale of two worlds, one shattered by violence, the other willfully naive and of two women whose jobs are to deliver the news, yet who find themselves unable to do so. Through their eyes and the eyes of everyday people caught in history's tide, it examines how we tell each other stories and how we bear the fact of war as we live ordinary lives.

THE MASTERY OF LOVE BY DON MIGUEL RUIZ

The author illuminates the fear-based beliefs and assumptions that undermine love and lead to to suffering and dramas in our relationships. Using insightful stories to bring his message to life, Ruiz shows us how to heal our emotional wounds, recover the freedom and joy that are our birthright, and restore the spirit of playfulness that is vital to loving relationships.

SAG HARBOR BY COLSEN WHITEHEAD

The book is the little known story of the African-American part of Sag Harbor. It is a coming of age book and tells the story of a transformation from boyhood to manhood. There is no real designated plot but the stories, especially the coke and ice cream stories were wonderful.

The book makes you feel that you had summered in Sag Harbor.

The novel is lacking in character development. The reader would like to know more about Benji's parents and sister and why Elena never came home and encouraged Benji to leave once he graduated from college.

REPLAY BY KEN GRIMWOOD

Tis is an exciting book bout a man named Jeff who has a fatal heart attack at the age of 43 and wakes up 25 years earlier to replay the next 25 years of his life before he dies and replays again. Although he does make changes, nothing really changes.

For those among us who have made the wrong choices and have always thought about what would happen if they could do it all over again, this is a must read!!!!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sklott

This book is a biography of Henrietta Lacks and her offspring. There are her children, and their children, all reared in poverty and too often without health insurance. Lack's world-changing cells, meanwhile have been lavished with attention and money by scientists around the globe for nearly twice her lifetime. The story raises questions about bioethics and leaves the reader wondering who should benefit from scientific research and how it should be conducted. In the words of Lack's youngest daughter, Deborah: "If our mothers cells done so much for medicine, how come her family can't afford to see no doctors?"

Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses By Claire Dederer

Claire Dederer has written a witty and heartfelt book. Through her spiritual search practicing yoga, she finds that the poses weren't just acrobatic feats. The deeper that she explored them, the more they tested her most basic ideas of what makes a good mother, daughter, friend and wife. Suddenly headstand, was a way to wrestle with anxieties that she had always dodged, jump through helped her to understand her mother's flight (and maybe her own pursuit of freedom) and the dreaded crow reminded her that loosing one's balance could be worth a great deal more than keeping one's feet on the ground.

It's a wonderful book!!!!

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman

Set against the glorious backdrop of Rome, this debut novel follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters, editors and executives of an international English-language newspaper as they struggle to keep it and themselves afloat.

There is Lloyd Burko, the Paris Correspondent who at the end lives with his son, Jerome and knows nothing of the demise of the paper. Arthur Gopal, the Obituary Writer who looses both his wife to divorce and his daughter to death, goes on to make a new life as a New York reporter for a major newspaper. Hardy Benjamin, the Business Reporter is still with her boyfriend, Rory. Herman Cohen, the Corrections Editor, was going to retire and write a history of the paper in Philadelphia, but instead is enjoying his grandkids. Kathleen Solson, the Editor-in-Chief, has an open marriage and at the end returns to Washington with her husband to work in a lower ranking position. Winston Cheung the Cairo Stringer comes back to the United States to work in animal care. Ruby Zaga, the Copy Editor, continues to live in Rome, not Queens. She has earned enough money not to have to work. Craig Menzies, the Editor-in-Chief leaves journalism to work at a lobbying firm in Brussels, sets up a science workshop in his garage and occasionally thinks about Annika. Abby Pinnola, the Chief Financial Officer was offered a position at Ott headquarters, but decides to work for LehmanBrothers.

All of these characters are not perfect, but very likeable!!!!!

THE ROOM by Emma Donoghue

I couldn't put this book down!!!!! It tells the story of a kidnapped woman who was held hostage in a shed under a house for 7 years. She was kidnapped at the age of 19 while in college. The man called, Old Nick, rapes her. The first child, a girl, dies at birth. The second, a boy named Jack survives.

The story is told from Jack's perspective. He is a five year old and this ROOM is the only world that he knows. When because of a plan created by MA works, both move into the Outside. OLD NICK is put in prison until his court case comes up.

Jack and Ma must move back into the real world. It is very difficult.

This is a must read!!!!