Fendley's Favorites

Fendley’s Favorites in no particular order

Wells,  Divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood

Niffenegger,  Time traveler’s wife

Golden,  Memoirs of a geisha

Irving,  A prayer for Owen Meaney** (a life-changer)

Roy,  God of small things

Kidd,  Secret life of bees

Edwards,  Memory keeper’s daughter

Robinson,  Gilead (Pulitzer Prize winner)

Chabon,  Amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Pulitzer)

Allende,  Zorro

McCarthy,  The road (Pulitzer) a "should read''

Eugenides,  Middlesex (Pulitzer)

Fitch,  White oleander

Zusak,  Book thief

Nichols,  Balaam Gimble’s Gumption—good, clean knee-slapper

Eggers,  What is the what

Diaz,  The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao (Pulitzer)

Russo,  Empire Falls (Pulitzer)

Conroy,  Body and soul--piano prodigy

Parris,  Heresy--set in Oxford in 1500’s, a whodunit

O’Dell,  Fragile beasts-an “old maid” takes in 2 needy boys

Stockett,  The Help--maids in 1962 Mississippi write about working for                whites

Allende,  Island Beneath the Sea--Zarite, a slave in Santo Domingo, endures rape, loss of her children, lost love, then finds her children and love in New Orleans

Sansom,  the Matthew Shardlake series—whodunnits set in Medieval England

DeMille,  Up Country—learn something about the VietNam war while you read  page-turner, suspense-filled fiction

Conroy,  The Prince of Tides (different Conroy than above)

Conroy,  South of Broad—an unusual group of HS buddies provide support for one another thru adulthood--read this. really.
Verghese, Cutting for Stone--a family of doctors in Ethiopia implodes then reconciles in America
Caldwell, The Rule of Four—I think this book was roundly dissed following the publication of The DaVinci Code sort of like it was a copy-cat story, but I liked it very much, and the ending was both moving and satisfying, something I find lacking in many novels.

Young-adult must reads

I’m not particularly partial to these 2 authors.  Just coincidental that each wrote 2 books I really like.  No one should die without reading these books!

Spinelli                  Stargirl

Spinelli                  Maniac Magee

Wittlinger               Razzle

Wittlinger               The long night of leo and Bree

Non-fiction must reads—Don’t read these in public.  Your mouth will be hanging open!

Larson                  Isaac’s storm(events leading up to 1900 Galveston hurricane)

Dwyer                  102 minutes (World Trade Center)

Burnett                  Uncivilized beasts & shameless hellions

Hillenbrand           Unbroken—Japanese POW WWII story