Books
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The Last Amateurs - John Feinstein
One of my favorite nonfiction reads. This book follows the players and coaches of the Patriot League through the lower levels of D-1 basketball.
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The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
This bestseller is an excellent novel about Afghanistan around the rise of the Taliban.
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The Sparrow - Mary Doria Russell
An excellent science-fiction novel about humanity's first contact with extraterrestrial life and the Jesuit mission to the planet of Rakhat.
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Children of God - Mary Doria Russell
In the squel to The Sparrow, Emilio Sandoz, the lone survivor of the first mission to Rakhat, addresses his demons as he is forced to return to Rakhat.
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109 East Palace : Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos - Jennet Conant
This book is the story of Los Alamos from the perspective of Dorothy McKibben, who ran the Manhattan Project office in Santa Fe. Both of my parents knew Dorothy, and this book is a wonderful, nonfiction account of the personal element of the Manhattan Project.
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
Another fun read in the Harry Potter series.
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The Subtle Serpent - Peter Tremayne
The Subtle Serpent was my first read in the Sister Fidelma series, thanks to a recommendation from my friend, Margie. I was definitely hooked, although I would recommend starting with Absolution by Murder.
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River God - Wilbur Smith
This is a great novel set around the Hyksos invasion of Egypt in 1780 B.C.
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The Seventh Scroll - Wilbur Smith
The sequel to River God, this novel is set in the present day as treasure hunters look for the tomb of Pharoah in Ethiopia. The actual book, River God, is referenced throughout as something of a guide that the explorers are using.
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Warlock - Wilbur Smith
Another sequel to River God, this novel is set back in ancient Egypt as the true heir to the throne of Pharoah battles the false Hyksos Pharoahs.
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Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant
A wonderful read about a young girl's coming of age during the reign of Savonarola in renaissance Florence.
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My Sister's Keeper - Jody Picoult
This novel deals with the emotions of a girl who was conceived solely to provide a bone marrow match for her sister who is struggling with leukemia.
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Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld
This novel follows the journey of a midwestern girl through a prestigious east coast prep school and all of her self examination while she's there.
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The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
This novel about a young girl's hunt for her father on the trail of Drakulya is one of the best novels that I've read.
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The Camel Club - David Baldacci
Another Baldacci thriller, four D.C. misfits try to prevent Arab terrorists from causing a nuclear disaster.
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Shroud for the Archbishop - Peter Tremayne
The second in the Sister Fidelma series.
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Absolution by Murder - Peter Tremayne
The first book in the excellent Sister Fidelma series.
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Suffer Little Children - Peter Tremayne
The third in the Sister Fidelma series.
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The Spider's Web - Peter Tremayne
The fifth book in the Sister Fidelma mysteries.
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Valley of the Shadow - Peter Tremayne
The sixth book in the Sister Fidelma series.
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The Monk Who Vanished - Peter Tremayne
The seventh Sister Fidelma mystery.
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Act of Mercy - Peter Tremayne
The eight in the Sister Fidelma series.
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Our Lady of Darkness - Peter Tremayne
The ninth novel in the Sister Fidelma series.
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Smoke in the Wind - Peter Tremayne
The tenth Sister Fidelma mystery.
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White Ghost Girls - Alice Greenway
This novel is set around two girls growing up in Hong Kong while their father is a war photographer for Time. An interesting, but not exceptional read.
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The Nymphos of Rocky Flats - Mario Acevedo
This is a truly fun read by a former Rocky Flats worker. The novel is about a vampire being called in to find out about an outbreak of nymphomania at the Rocky Flats site. My mom knew the author through work at Rocky Flats and, hilariously, the novel had to be cleared by the DOE for publication.
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American Gods - Neil Gaiman
This novel is a truly bizarre take on the conflicts between gods as their mythologies came over to the United States.
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The Pact - Jody Picoult
Two teenagers in love engage in a suicide pact. One survives and is charged with murder in this novel about the search for truth.
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Badger's Moon - Peter Tremayne
The eleventh novel in the Sister Fidelma series.
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The Leper's Bell - Peter Tremayne
The twelfth Sister Fidelma novel.
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Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
A great read, this search for the Grail intertwines the stories of Alaïs, a 17 year old from Carcasonne, France in 1209, and Alice in 2005. Definitely worth a read.
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Master of Souls - Peter Tremayne
The newest book in the Sister Fidelma series, published in 2006. This book was clearly the worst effort in the series by far.
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The Collectors - David Baldacci
This was another excellent page turner by one of my favorite authors. There will clearly be another sequel involving the Camel Club with the cliffhanger at the end.
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In the Company of the Courtesan - Sarah Dunant
This was another enjoyable read by Dunant. Mostly set in medieval Venice, the story begins with the sack of Rome in 1527. I did find myself chuckling at the repeated "Lutheran heretics" remarks by Bucino. I definitely recommend this book as well.
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The Children of Men - P.D. James
The was a very fascinating read about the society after a generation wehre people have lost the ability to reproduce.
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People of Darkness - Tony Hillerman
This was another good Tony Hillerman novel. Jim Chee solves a series of murders and narrowly escapes himself as he investigates the People of Darkness.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
A fitting conclusion to the Harry Potter series. Definitely a must read.
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Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather
This was a great read. The novel is a fictionalized account of the missionary life of the first Archibishop of New Mexico, Jean Baptiste Lamy.
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Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
A truly excellent page turner. I finished this entire book in about a week.
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The Undead Kama Sutra - Mario Acevedo
This is yet another hilarious vampire-alien romp by Mario. He's rapidly become one of my favorite authors for light, fun reading.
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New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
The 2nd book in the Twilight series. I read this one on the planes to and from Peru. Another excellent read.
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Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
The third book in the Twilight series. I highly recommend the whole series so far.
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Ghostwalk - Rebecca Stott
An interesting novel about a historian researching the alchemy of Issac Newton. This one started very slow and had a tendency to be a little confusing in jumping around on the timeline, but once it found its stride, it was a quick race to the finish.
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Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
The fourth book in the Twilight series. This one had me laughing out loud at a number of places. It was a quick and entertaining read, but also the weakest effort of the series.
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The Host - Stephenie Meyer
The Host is Stephenie Meyer's first adult novel. It is set in a time in the future where an alien parasite has taken over the human race, leaving a small band of people who have not been affected. The story is a great read as the human host struggles against the "soul" as they both stuggle for the ones they love.
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A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
An absolutely hilarious romp through New Orleans with Ignatius J. Reilly as a pompus reader of Boethius who is completely incapable of interacting with modern society. This one had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions.
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Blindness - Jose Saramago
This was a really fascinating story about an epidemic of blindness that affects an entire country, except one woman. It's a pretty dense read, but a very good one. Saramago never uses names for any of the characters, only descriptions, which adds an interesting perspective as well.
