Good Reads from our March 11, 2008 Title Swap:

Bauby, Jean-Dominique The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Bauby’s memoir of his experience with locked-in syndrome after a massive stroke)

Bausch, Robert A Hole in the Earth (An emotionally stunted middle-aged man deals with Parenthood)

Beah, Ishmael A Long Way Gone (Memoir of a young man swept up in Sierra Leone’s civil war)

Boyle, T.C. Tortilla Curtain (A tale of immigration from the perspective of two couples on different sides of the debate)

Bridge, Andrew Hope’s Boy (Andrew Bridge’s memoir of 10 years in foster care)

Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth (explores the family dynamics of an early 20th century peasant family in China)

Clarke, Brock An Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England (A dark, humorous tale of a man who burned down the Emily Dickinson House)

Diaz, Junot The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Multi-generational family curse leaves troubles and tragedy in its wake)

Eggers, Dave What is the What (A novel based on the life of a refugee from Sudan)

Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl’s memoir of his life in the Nazi death Camps)

Ghahramani, Zarah My Life as a Traitor (The memoir of an Iranian college student protesting against a repressive regime.

Godwin, Peter When a Crocodile Eats the Sun (A memoir about the collapse of Zimbabwe)

Iweala, Uzodinma Beasts of No Nation (A young boy is kidnapped and forced to serve in army of an undisclosed African nation)

Jacobs, A.J. The Year of Living Biblically (Jacobs’ memoir of a year he spent living the Bible’s commandments literally)

Lansens, Lori The Girls (Conjoined twins face the end of their lives)

Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird (Three years in the life of a young girl growing up in the racist south)

Mailer, Norman On God: An Uncommon Conversation (Mailer’s thoughts on organized religion and faith)

McCullough Coleen Ladies of Missalonghi (Three generations of women living in Australia during the early 1900’s)

Miller, Sue The Senator’s Wife (Two women at opposite stages of life face parallel dilemmas with their husbands)

O’Nan, Stewart Last Night at the Lobster (The last day of business at a Connecticut Red Lobster)

Picoult, Jodi (Any Title – Contemporary author of fast-paced timely novels)

Puzo, Mario Fortunate Pilgrim (An Italian mother struggles to raise her children traditionally while living in Brooklyn during the 1920s)

Smith, Betty A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Coming of age story of a young girl in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn)

Stegner, Wallace Crossing to Safety (Two bright young couples meet during the Depression and form a life-long friendship)

Toobin, Jeffrey The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (A look at the court from the Regan administration onward)

Walls, Jeannette The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls memoir of her turbulent childhood)

Wouk, Herman Marjorie Morningstar (A woman rebels against the confining middle class values of the 1950’s)