Sally the plot of the Highlander sounds like what you are describing, at least at the beginning. It is definately a romance novel, but a LOT of plot to go along. My friend recommended it to me because I was looking for something to read for fun. I just can't get into romance novels of any type. I definately thought the Jamie character was romantic, and not in the typical romance novel way. The characters in this book are very well developed. Too much S&M and soft porn in the Highlander though, for my taste. But that's just my taste. I'm not a prude, I just can't read all that stuff with a straight face. I've never been able to sit through these historical fiction works though, so it is just a me thing, Ms. Gabaldon is a very well loved writer and many of my friends just love her books. I wish I did, since I am part Scots and have visited the highlands and love them.

Thanks Bestyears! Really!! I haven't read it but of my list, Poisonwood Bible is the most incongruous. However, I will read it although it seems realistically "gritty" from Amazon reviews. I read fast and have a hard time finding books I Iove ..so I'll read a bunch of books I dislike then give up...again and not read new books again until the feeling passes. We don't all have the same tastes in reading, The Kitchen House is beloved but I didn't like it at all ( sorry Sue!) and I really disliked the "letter" aspect of the Guernsey Potato book. It was unsatisfying and annoying. I thought I would like Game of Thrones saga, yet, again, I hated it. Love McCalls #1 Ladies Detective Series.

Last week I finished Laurie Graham's Gone With The WIndsors, which I chose because of discussions about it here at RP. Thank you! I loved this book. True, much of the book is funny, mainly because of dear, ditzy Maybell's telling of the tale. But it is also a great commentary on the culture and values of Britain's elite at the time. And underlying it all is the approach of WW2, with "Mr. Hitler" being the subject of casual dinner conversation. Graham has created deeply lovable characters in this story. So am continuing with Graham, now reading The Importance of Being Kennedy, told from the standpoint of an invented children's nanny. This is a more serious book, with a startling castigation of Rose Kennedy and, to a lesser extent, Patriarch Joe, and a lot of sympathy for the downstairs folk, the "help". Graham is an unusual writer, and she depicts various cultures - British, Irish, American - with tremendous skill. I'll be looking for more from her.

Finally read Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston. Wow. What a read. It's written mostly in AfAm dialect from the south and once I got the hang of that, it was eaz-readin'. It's a bildungsroman novel (or is that repetitive?) of a young AfAm woman who struggles to find out who she is, so it sounds rather "same old story" but the writing is stupendous. If you like to read lyrical descriptions that are heavy with Southern folklore (but not enough to make it confusing), you'll like this. Don't be put off by the dialect. You get the hang of it (or at least I did). Neale Hurston's own biography is a fascinating story in its own right as well. She won a couple of Guggenheims for research, she went to university as an Af Am in 1917 or so (when few women let alone women of color did), and had a successful writing career. And then - she ends up in Florida working as a maid, her writing forgotten for years, has a stroke, ends up in an indigent hospital and dies in an unmarked grave. Alice Walker et al brought her writing to the fore in the 1970's and now she is part of the canon of the Harlem Renaissance (although not everyone might agree with that categorization). Fascinating...