Mary Daniels Brown

My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books. As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.

The Best Books I Read in 2006

Listed alphabetically by author Atkinson, Kate. Case Histories Auster, Paul. Oracle Night Auster, Paul. The Book of Illusions Harwood, John. The Ghost Writer Lipton, Bruce. The Biology of Belief Phillips, Arthur. The Egyptologist Picoult, Jodi. Plain Truth Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle

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The Best Books I Read in 2005

Listed alphabetically by author Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning Gross, Joel. The Lives of Rachel Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven Shriver, Lionel. We Need to Talk about Kevin Tartt, Donna. The Secret History Turow, Scott. Ordinary Heroes Wharton, Edith. The House

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The Best Books I Read in 2004

Listed alphabetically by author Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed Eugenides, Jeffrey. Middlesex Franzen, Jonathan. The Corrections Goodman, Carol. The Seduction of Water Gross, Joel. The Books of Rachel Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Haruf, Kent. Eventide Hoffman, Alice. Blue Diary Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City Niffenegger,

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book review

“3000 Degrees” by Sean Flynn

Flynn, Sean. 3000 Degrees Warner, 2002Hardcover, 245 pagesISBN 0-446-52831-5 Recommended On December 3, 1999, six firemen died fighting a fire in an abandoned storage warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. 3000 Degrees tells the story of that fire, of the six who died and their families, and of several Worcester firefighters who survived that night. Like Sebastian Junger

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“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold

Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones (2002)   Little, Brown, 328 pages, $21.95 hardcover   ISBN 0-316-66634-3 “My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973” (p. 5). So begins Susie’s story, her narrative of watching from heaven as her family and friends go

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book review

“The Midnight Disease” by Alice W. Flaherty

Flaherty, Alice W. The Midnight Disease Houghton Mifflin, 2004Hardcover, 307 pagesISBN 0-618-23065-3 Trained as a scientist, neurologist Alice W. Flaherty always enjoyed writing. But after the birth and death of premature twin boys, she had a mental breakdown that made her write nearly constantly, a condition known as hypergraphia. She took medication and was hospitalized for

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“Q” Is for Quarry by Sue Grafton

Grafton, Sue. “Q” Is for Quarry (2002)Putnam, 385 pages, $26.95 hardcover  ISBN 0-399-14915-5            After her worst outing yet (“P” is for poor), Kinsey is back, this time helping two aging police detectives take another crack at a cold case—a still unsolved murder from 18 years earlier. Found with her hands

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The Best Books I Read in 2003

Listed alphabetically by author Atwood, Margaret. The Blind Assassin Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game Connelly, Michael. Lost Light Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter McCafferty, Jane. Thank You for the Music McEwan, Ian. Atonement Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea Sebold, Alice.

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book review

“Lucky: A Memoir” by Alice Sebold

Review: Lucky: A Memoir Sebold, Alice. Lucky: A Memoir Scribner, 1999Hardcover, 251 pagesISBN 0-684-85782-0 Simon & Schuster Audio, narrated by Alice Sebold In the tunnel where I was raped, a tunnel that was once an underground entry to an amphitheater, a place where actors burst forth from underneath the seats of a crowd, a girl had been

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“The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” by Sue Monk Kidd

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996)  HarperCollins, 238 pages, $12.95 trade paperback    ISBN 0-06-064589-X Highly Recommended Long before Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees hit the bestseller lists, Kidd was an established Christian inspirational writer and speaker. Then suddenly one day an incident involving her teenage daughter

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