After seeing "Grizzly Man," I wanted to know more about this unusual man who was determined to live among the grizzlies. Very bizarre choices he made!

Deepa Mehta's daughter wrote a memoir about working with her mother on the movie "Water," and also about her troubled relationship with her mom and how the (also troubled) movie-making was a redemptive experience for them.

I ran across this one in a bookstore; it's by an NPR commentator about his experiences traveling with his children. Some of the chapters were better than others...I found him to be a bit of a snob at times and questioned some of his choices! But a good travel essay read.

Another interesting Cornwell read--but in some of these mystery novels, I'm finding it hard to get past some of the outdated computer technology. I like to read mystery writers in chronological order, and I'm still back in the 90s. This novel is dated in many ways.

I wanted to read this before I see the movie. Foden based this story on a real-life character (not Amin, but Amin's Scottish doctor), who is still alive and kicking in the UK. I didn't know much about Amin's reign as dictator of Uganda, and this novel certainly gave me a disturbing picture of what went on.

This is the story of a hyperactive dyslexic who started one of the country's most successful companies, but it is more about his business history and philosophy than a personal epic. Interesting, but I got bogged down sometimes in all of the Kinkotrivia. He appears to be a highly dynamic, if volatile, man...probably fascinating to know but difficult to work with!

Southern coming-of-age novel...well written and engrossing, but disturbing at times.

I am looking forward to reading a chronological novel next. This one was a bit hard to follow, and I'm glad I stuck with it. I especially appreciated the story of friendship between Jonathan and Alex.

I had a difficult time relating to the characters in this coming-of-age story at an east coast prep school. Not necessarily one I would recommend.

Memorable, bittersweet, and beautiful story of a set of conjoined twins. It was a wonderful depiction of sisterhood!

Yet another interesting novel by Cleverly--this one took me a bit of time to get into, but I enjoyed it once that happened. She must do an amazing amount of research to write these books, which take place in India during the time of the British Raj.

What a wonderful read! Orenstein accounts her ambivalence, as a feminist, about having a child, and then her difficult journey to get pregnant...through Clomid, miscarriages, IUI, IVF, and an egg donor...fortunately it has a happy ending. She is a compelling writer and I plan to read her other work too!

After recently hearing Tsukiyama speak in person, I decided to go back and read her novels in order. This is an excellent first novel, about the lives of women in China working in the silk trade. I loved it! Excellent story of women's friendship.

Story of IVF pregnancy and birth of the author's twins. As the mom of a preemie, I found the NICU experience interesting, but this book needed an editor. The author herself is an editor; maybe that's why no one else wanted to edit her text! She goes off into many different directions and comes across as privileged. But an interesting read nevertheless.

Magnificent! I enjoyed this one even more than The Kite Runner. It was as difficult to read as The Kite Runner at times, but the story of women's friendship was beautiful. I loved it!!

This is the second of Fairstein's books I've read, and I'm finding that I enjoy them more than Patricia Cornwell's because of the NYC setting. I just can't imagine how she finds time to write, given that she's also the head of NYC's sex crimes prosecution unit!

It's easy to tell this novel began as a short story. It should have stayed as a short story. At first, I enjoyed the lyrical writing, and I was interested to see where the book led. But it didn't lead anywhere. There was no plot, and way too many characters. It was hard to follow the point of view, which kept changing with each chapter. I finished it, but only because it wasn't very long.

An African-American scholar unearthed and subsequently published the first known piece of fiction written by a former slave. 1/3 of the book is his story of research and publication, 1/3 is the novel itself, and 1/3 is footnotes. Very interesting!

I read 70 pages into it and then stopped. Highly stylistic, I really wanted to like it more, but I was finding it impossible to relate or get to know any of the characters. I finally decided that I wasn't getting enough out of the book to continue.