Monthly Archives: December 2016

The Paris Architect

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The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
Pages: 367     Published: 2013

The book: During the German occupation of Paris in 1942, Lucian Bernard, a talented, young architect, is struggling to find work that will support himself and his wife.
He is offered a commission designing factories for the Third Reich, but it’s contingent on him taking another better-paying job that must remain a secret. He is to design hiding places for Jews so cleverly constructed that the German’s won’t find them. Read more

The Little Paris Bookshop

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The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Translated from German by Simon Pare
Pages: 359     Published: 2015 (English translation)

The book: Monsieur Perdu is the owner of a barge, named Literary Apothecary, which is moored on the Seine in Paris. He dispenses books to heal his customers’ emotional ills and stops them from reading what he considers might not be good for them.
Catherine, a new neighbor, moves into the apartment building where Perdu lives. Her arrival causes Perdu to break open a room that has been closed up for over twenty years. Inside, there’s an unopened letter addressed to him from an old lover. So begins Perdu’s journey. Read more

The Call of The Wild

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The Call of The Wild by Jack London
Pages: 85     First published: 1903

The book: Buck, a St. Bernard and Scots Shepherd dog mix, lives an idyllic and comfortable life as the pet of a prominent local judge in a California town. Thousands of miles away, in Alaska, the gold rush is booming. The men in the inhospitable north need dogs – big dogs – to work for them. This demand for dogs results in Buck being kidnapped. This is the story of his journey and new life in Alaska.

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The White Tiger

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The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga          Pages: 276           Published: 2008

The book: Set in modern-day India, Balram Halwai, originally a poor, uneducated man from the countryside, tells us his life story in a series of memos written to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiaboa, who happens to be visiting India.
Balram’s story is compelling and, at times, shocking. He is a witty narrator with a dark and sarcastic sense of humor. In telling his own story, we discover the many faces of India and gain an understanding of what goes on beneath what we see on the surface.

You might like it because: It’s incredibly funny and entertaining, as well as a great story. The author created a vivid picture of life in India and his main character Balram is very appealing, even if he is a sociopath. Read more

The Ocean At The End Of The Lane

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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Pages: 178     Published: 2013

The book: The story’s narrator, a middle-aged man, returns to the area he grew up in to attend a family funeral. Having some time to kill, he goes in search of the house he grew up in, but it is long gone. He does, however, recognize a farmhouse where, when he was a lonely, bookish seven year old, he made friends with Lettie Hempstock, an unusual girl who claimed the pond in her backyard was an ocean. As the narrator sits by the pond, memories hidden away for decades come flooding back and a very strange story begins. Read more

Longitude

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Longitude by Dava Sobel
Pages: 176     First published: 1995

The book: In the 1700s, ships plying the ocean in search of new territories, goods, and trade were quite literally “lost at sea,” as soon as land disappeared from view. Sailors had no effective means of measuring longitude so could not pinpoint where they were, a necessity when trying to determine how to get to their destination. At the time, successful navigating required a mix of astronomy, mathematics, map reading, experience, and a great deal of luck! In 1714, the British parliament offered a reward to anyone who discovered a proven methodology for measuring longitude. Read more

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