BRIGHT SHINY MORNING BY JAMES FREY

This book is a sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles that is bold, exhilarating and utterly original.

Dozens of characters pass along the readers sight lines. some never to be seen again. But, James Frey lingers on a handful of LA's lost souls and captures the dramatic narrative of their lives. There is a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation. There is a supremely narcissistic movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his passion nearly destroys him. There is a couple, both nineteen years old who flee their hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city,. There is an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teen shows up half dead outside the restroom that he calls home.

The book illuminates the joys, horrors, and unexpected fortunes of life and death in Los Angeles.

THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled, THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, by one Julian Carax. But, when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book that Carax has written. In fact, Daniel, may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets.

This is an epic story of murder, madness and doomed love.

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST BY MOHSIN HAMID

At a cafe table in LAHORE, a bearded Pakistani man converses with an uneasy, American stranger. As dusk deepens to night, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful encounter.

Changez is living an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class in Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite valuation firm. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant and beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exhalted level once occupied by his own family back in Laghore.

But, in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned and his relationship with Erica shifting. And Changez's own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power and maybe even, love.

NETHERLAND BY JOSEPH O'NEILL

Unexpectedly finding himself marooned among the strange occupants of New York's Chelsea Hotel, feeling lost in the country that he has come to regard as home, Hans van den Brock begins an unlikely friendship with Chuck Ramkissoon, a charming Trinidadian who introduces Hans to an "other" America populated by immigrants,and strivers of every race and nationality. What holds them all together is their love of cricket and this allows Hans to re-connect with his adopted home, after his wife and son return to England after the horrible events of September 11.

A HOLE IN THE EARTH BY ROBERT BAUSCH

Henry Porter's summer begins when his daughter Nicole, who he hasn't seen since his wife divorced him five years ago shows up on his doorstep. Nicole is a surprise. She just graduated high school and is almost an adult. The gap between the little girl that Henry once knew and the woman she has become leaves him fumbling for words. The very evening of Nicole's arrival, Henry's girlfriend, Elizabeth, reveals that she is pregnant, leaving Henry speechless once more. He deals best with situations like these by heading to the racetrack in time for the daily double and to place a few bets.

At the heart of this compelling and thought-provoking look at family, relationships and why men act the way that they do is the profound and affecting story of a family piecing itself back together.

SOUTH OF BROAD BY PAT CONROY

Against the sumptuous backdrop of Charleston, South Carolina, South of Bend gathers a unique cast of sinners and saints. Leopold Bloom King, the narrator is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, an ex-nun, is the high school Principal and a respected Joyce scholar. After Leo's older brother commits suicide at the age of ten, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. Eventually, he finds his answer when he becomes part of a tightly knit group of high school seniors that include Sheba and Trevor Poe, glamorous twins with an alcoholic mother and a prison-escapee father; hard scramble mountain runaways Niles and Starla Whitehead, socialite Molly Huger and her boyfriend, Chadworth Rutledge. The ties among them last for years. The final test of friendship brings them to San Francisco and is something that no one is prepared for.

Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

Nearly thirty and trapped in a dead-end secretarial job, Julie Powell resolves to reclaim her life by cooking, in the span of a single year, every one of 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her unexpected reward: not just a newfound respect for calves liver and aspic, but a new life.....lived with gusto.

This was the worst book that I ever read. I finished it because the library is doing it for a book discussion and since Martin has CHF we will never attend GREAT BOOKS again. I wanted to discuss a book and this is it. It isn't worth the paper that it was written on.