I just finished reading Tomatoland, by Estabrook -- I enjoy reading non-fiction, and am fascinated to learn about our sources for foods these days. (And can't wait to grow my own!)

For my book club, I've just started All the Light We Cannot See, which has all the marks of being an intense read.

I just read and loved A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

I just finished A Thousand Splendid suns by Khaled Housseini. It is not in my normal genre of reading and although it is a story about the lives of two women in Afghanistan with a few twists and turns it didn't hold much excitement or anything I still found it engaging as I learned about the culture and the history of the country and how life over the last 30-40 years have been there. It takes you through the life of two women over that time period. The book is still staying with me so even though it didn't have the excitement of the books I normally read I would recommend it.

Lyfia - Another message I got from A Thousand Splendid Suns is that one can never tell what trials others have experienced in the past that shaped them as they are today. I found it quite moving.

I'm reading Gone With the Wind. I loved it as a 13-year-old and was interested to see if it still held up now that I have adult insight. It's as absorbing now as it was then. I love history, but you can't beat learning about it from a personal perspective. The scene where the women are waving good-bye to the old men & young boys marching off to war for a futile last-ditch stand made me weep. And I don't see it as an apology for the ante-bellum South, as some critics have deemed it. It seems clear to me that Mitchell describes the old ways as a folly & its proponents as fools.

I got The Martian for DS16 for Christmas. He is so NOT a fiction reader, but he ripped through this on a car trip this summer! My turn now, really enjoying it. (Is the science correct? Don't know, don't care) Gotta finish before the movie comes out.

I'm still plugging away at my book challenge. I just fulfilled "book published the year you were born" category. I was born in 1968 but was having a hard time finding a book published that year that appealed to me. I ended up finding one by Michael Crichton, tho published under a pseudonym, called A Case of Need. I didn't realize until I received it that it was the first novel he ever wrote. It deals with illegal abortion. I enjoyed it for what it was, a crime novel, and found it somewhat interesting as a book written and set in its current day. IOW, I read a lot of books that are published in recent years but set in the past, but they still don't quite ring true to their era. IOW, no anachronisms. And then to know that this was written when abortion was still illegal, just found it interesting. At the end, the appendix includes several arguments pro/con for abortion that were debated att the time. Anyway, I enjoyed it for what it was, especially since I haven't read a crime novel in a while.

next up is a newly released novel called Kitchens of the Great Midwest. No idea where I heard about it but apparently I reserved an ebook through my library and it just came in. It doesn't fulfill a category on my challenge but I'm well ahead of my goals so I'll read it anyway. I'll post back whether I liked it, tho it gets good reviews so far on Goodreads.

4kids, what are the categories for your book challenge?

There is the publishers weekly best sellers on wikipedia that list the top 10 by year. I looked it up and I remember what a scandal Myra Breckenridge made at that time...

I've discovered I really like reading books set in the period from WWI through WWII, actually from the turn of the 20th century. I don't so much enjoy contemporary settings. No idea why.

Any recommendations?

When I read your post I immediately thought of 2. One is As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer and a really good non fiction one-The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. IBoth were wonderful reads. I think I also enjoy this time period and will try to think of more...

Linelle, try At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen. It is set in Scotland during WWII. Also involves a hunt for the Loch Ness monster. Sounds crazy I know but I really enjoyed it.

Sheila and Outside, thanks for the recommendations! War did such awful things to ordinary civilians, and yet they lived and loved and showed great courage. Also, it's the time of my parents and grandparents and it helps me see them as they were when they were young.

When I'm reading a contemporary novel I'm very aware of the technology they incorporate into the story and it feels very stuck in time and self-conscious. I'd rather not read something of "now" that already feels dated.

Annie, here is a list of the categories. A friend of mine got it started - there is a group of us doing it. I've finished all but 11 of them. I've enjoyed participating in that it got to me read certain genres I don't particularly go for as well as books I might never have picked up. One that surprised me was the graphic novel I read - it was a memoir written about a woman dealing with her aging parents, and ultimately, their deaths. It was funny at times, poignant as well. I never would have picked up a graphic novel and didn't even realize that they existed for adults! OTOH, for some categories, I had a few real duds.

Linelle, you might enjoy The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I read it a few years ago and tho' I don't recall the specifics, I remember enjoying it. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars in my Goodreads account and all my friends who read it really liked it also. Another is The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman. I also liked Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford which deals with the theme of Japanese internment camps here in the US.

I read a lot of books that are published in recent years but set in the past, but they still don't quite ring true to their era.

4kids, I read and mostly liked The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. However, occasionally it struck me that some dialogue sounded very contemporary. It can be jarring.

Thanks for the recommendations. They're all going on my list to investigate.

For your book challenge, can you check them off if you've already read one fitting the bill before 2015? Can one book result in many checks? Popular, nonfiction, different country, over 500 pages, crying?

Linelle, if you are into spycraft in WWII, I read two of Aline, Countess de Romanones, books many years ago (in the 80's iirc) at the recommendation of a co-worker. He gave me one (The Spy Wore Red) and I bought the other (The Spy Went Dancing), and I ran across them when I was straightening bookshelves recently. She was a US model-turned-spy who eventually married into Spanish nobility. I loved those books.

I just googled the title and saw there were more! Who knew! She used composite characters to represent people she worked with, but it was still very interesting to follow her exploits in trying to crack what the Nazi's were doing in smuggling art work thru Spain during that time.

I just have to put in a plug for my all-time favorite, Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. I thought the recent PBS series did an amazing job at capturing the feel and tone of the book. It did mix it with Bring Up the Bodies, which was also good, but Wolf Hall stands apart for me, if you like historical fiction and esp. that period.

4kid4us, if you haven't selected a Banned Book for your challenge yet, I would recommend Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. It's a wonderful and enlightening read. I love his stuff.
Banned in high schools...this is not the only place

Have you read a play yet? If not, Hedda Gabler or A Doll's House are good.

Is it cheating to use one book to fill 2 categories? Both of the plays could easily be read in a day....and I just finished a Pulitzer prize winning book of short stories...

Mom isn't here to ask for a book she loves any more, but she did like one by Edna Ferber that talks about when she moved to our town, which would cover 2 categories as well.

I suppose you have to assume ahead of time that a book will make you laugh or cry based on the reviews....otherwise you could be reading 20 books, waiting for that laugh.

The challenge was that all books had to be read in 2015. We decided as a group that you could not use one book in multiple categories. I read many that could fit in multiple categories. I'd stick them in one, but later, if I found a different book that fit an already filled category, I could switch some around. So IIRC, I think if I finish, I will have read 52 or 53 books for the challenge. I actually will read more than that b/c I read a couple of books this summer that didn't fit in any category that I hadn't already filled with something else.

Olychick, how funny - I JUST finished Sherman Alexie's book for the Banned Book category! When looking at various banned book lists, I'd already read many of them. This one looked appealing. Later, when I went to add it to my Goodreads list, I discovered I'd actually put it on a To Read list for my teenager. After reading it though, I'm not sure whether she'd like it or not, but possibly.

Annie, I did read a play already. I read Brighton Beach Memoirs. What Pulitzer book did you read? Was it Interpreter of Maladies by chance? I LOVED that book. I read that for my Short Stories category. I actually haven't read a Pulitzer yet for the challenge.

For anyone who wants to attempt this, there aren't any hard and fast rules - it really depends on what you want to get out of it. The idea is to get you to read books in genres/categories you might not normally read, which is why we decided for our group that we wouldn't let one book fill more than one category. We found this one on the internet at the end of 2014 and set up a Facebook group to share ideas. We've all enjoyed it so much that we decided next year that we would make up our own - each person gets to suggest one or two categories.

I did cheat a little bit. For the trilogy category, I was having a really difficult time finding anything that appealed to me. Most seemed to be either romance novels or sci-fi type of books. I had just finished on Dec 30 a book called My Brilliant Friend and discovered it was a trilogy. I decided since I was only a couple day shy of 2015 when I finished it, I'd go ahead and read the other two and use that for my trilogy. I just finished the third one this summer, and found out that there is a fourth and final book being published this month. I'm going to read that one too, so I guess, that would fulfill my trilogy anyway.

Here are the categories I have left if anyone wants to suggest something. I have ideas for some of them.

A BOOK YOU STARTED BUT NEVER FINISHED - Empire Falls probably. My book club read it maybe 10 years ago and I didn't finish it b/f we met to discuss. Then I heard the ending and never went back to finish for some reason. Now that I've forgotten what it is about, I may go back and re-read this one and finish. It would also fall under the Pulitzer category, but I want to do something else for that category.

A CLASSIC ROMANCE

A BOOK THAT BECAME A MOVIE

A POPULAR AUTHOR'S FIRST BOOK

A BOOK FROM AN AUTHOR YOU LOVE BUT HAVEN'T READ

A PULITZER PRIZE WINNING BOOK

A BOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR "TO READ" LIST - If I use the first book I ever added to my Goodreads list, it would be The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew and the Heart of the Middle East.

A BOOK WITH ANTONYMS IN THE TITLE - Possibly Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil or The Book of Lost and Found (just came out but I'm waiting on my library to get it)

A BOOK FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD - I grew up in the 70s/early 80s. I'm thinking maybe something like The Outsiders. I was an avid reader back then and I can't really remember any popular books from that period that I wouldn't have already read. But if anyone grew up then and has a suggestion, would love to hear it.

A BOOK SET DURING CHRISTMAS

A BOOK YOU OWN BUT HAVE NEVER READ - I'm annoyed b/c for this category I had a book I was planning to use but I can't find it anywhere now. Odd, I know I didn't loan it out so not sure what happened to it!

OMG! 4kids- re History of Love. I read it several years ago and thought it was AMAZING. I often think of it and think I should re-read it ( I never re-read books) because there were so many things and so many levels and I wasn't too focused when I read it. ( Also did you know she is/was? the wife of Jonathan Safran as in Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. ). If I remember correctly though it is set after WW2?

What a great thread this is.

Yes, I just finished interpreter of maladies which was also a pulitzer winner. It was pretty good considering I don't typically like short stories. I typically like them if they have a twist or if they are humorous. I have an old book from FIL called Touch of Nutmeg which is a book of short stories that all have a twisted ending...like twilight zone and I like Saki.

Have you read A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas? It's a wonderful story that I so related to with family holidays, and of course, beautifully written.

Have you read AJ Cronin's Keys of the Kingdom? That was made into a movie. Of course so many books were.

For antonyms or movie category, have you read Cheryl Strayed's Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference would be a fun antonym read.

That sounds like a fun challenge...

Linelle - Have you read Edith Wharton's books? Also Willa Cather. Not all of her books were set in pioneering times. And, of course, Pearl S. Buck. I was on a "mission" a while back to read books about civilian experiences during WWI. I picked up a few books that were not very good so if you run across any good ones please post.

4kids - For your childhood book - You probably read the Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker series already? Those are great if you haven't. Lots of good books out there for your categories.

I'm not sure I get a book from your childhood...does it mean something you read back then and re-read it? Or does it mean a young-adult book that was popular when you were growing up? Or does it mean a book for children that you never read...like I've never read the Velveteen Rabbit or The Little Prince or the Wind in the Willows. Only a few years ago I dug up and read The Secret Garden, and over vacation I read Alice in Wonderland....knew the story but never read the book.

When I think back to what I read as a kid, I read The Goops when I was really little, which I don't think they even publish any more...nope, they do still publish it! I consumed Nancy Drew as a pre-teen as well as anything to do with horses, read Gone with the Wind when I was 12, and the Fountainhead when I was 13 which was a good thing as it saved my life. Also read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories at a young age.

Roses, thanks for the suggestions. No, I haven't read any Edith Wharton or Willa Cather. Right off the top of my head, the only book I can think of that takes place during WWI (at least for the Europeans) is Dead Wake by Erik Larson (nonfiction), about the sinking of the Lusitania. OMG, so good, so harrowing. Even though you know what will happen, it has you on the edge of your seat.

In memory of Oliver Sacks, how about Awakenings for your book turned into a movie. He was truly a special person and I've enjoyed everything I've read by him. So sorry that he's gone.

Linelle, from a different cultural perspective, try Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck. It was definitely a wow book. Another historical fiction that is extremely well researched and part of it (a small part) deals with the WWII period is Outlander, there is some very, very deep, thought provoking things going on in the books (the TV series is well done but there is just so much more in the books).

I so appreciate this thread as it's got me thinking about books I haven't thought about in years. For example, Paul Gallico...his Love of Seven Dolls is just a beautiful story, the feelings around which still stick with me all these years later. I read him a lot as a teen. This book was loosely turned into the movie Lili.

For a classic romance, I suppose it would qualify, have you read Rebecca? Wow what a book about jealousy! I so enjoy duMaurier.

I can see where half the fun of the challenge is in choosing the books to read.

I mentioned your list to a friend, 4Kids and she promptly added me to a secret FB group that is doing the challenge. I am pretty far behind -- but that's ok. I'll play along!

Love "Rebecca."

Oh, "The Red Tent." The very first line of the book shatters me, "We have been lost to each other for so long."

As a pre-teen & consumed every Nancy Drew I could lay hands on. I loved reading Rebecca! I was going to suggest The Good Earth, another Pearl Buck that I read in high school. Also for the large volume from my childhood, there is always War & Peace (who could forget that one; another one from HS days), or Dr Zhivago. A classic romance, although more modern day, is The Notebook.

There are so many good ones that became movies (Wild is the most recent one I read first), but also enjoyed Secret Life of Bees, John Grisham's real first one (A Time to Kill, but The Firm & others were made into a movie), Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Come to think of it, didn't Grisham write something about Christmas? There's A Christmas Carol of course, and I think my favorite chick-lit author, Mary Kay Andrews, had something.

The book I own but never read came to mind when I heard about the move A Walk in the Woods. I still haven't cracked the cover on it and will likely watch the movie, especially since Redford and Thompson are paired up. Also have a h/c of Go Set a Watchman and haven't read it yet either.

Bottom of my list to read? Hmmmmm. Don't have one right now except the 2 h/c's above.

Annie, that's a great suggestion for my "movie" book. Outside, I've read all the books you mention. I think part of the problem is that I read a lot so the books I find on lists or from friends' suggestions are books I've already read. But I have not read Awakenings so perhaps I'll try that one. And Rebecca I had as a possibility for my classic romance. There are actually quite a few in that category that I haven't read so I'll have a tough time choosing! Funky, wouldn't that be funny if the secret FB group was the same one I'm in? No one new has been added, but I did just check! :)

Outsideplaying-- I told the bf the very same thing about Walk in the Woods last night. I have given it as a gift numerous times but I never read it myself!

I just started We Are Water. I've had two copies sitting for ages. I have a love/hate relationship with Wally Lamb. I love his writing but his stories and characters reveal so many of the uglies of the world. I find become irritable and moody when I read his books-- even days afterward. It was the only book in my stack with more than 500 pages so I went for it.

4kids-- that would have been funny!! This group isn't all that active right now-- and I only know a few of the members but that's ok. I am hoping to get some unexpected recommendations out of it!

You guys who haven't yet really should read A Walk in the Woods. It is great fun.

You got me thinking about books I own but haven't read. One is Origins by Richard Leakey. It's a subject I'm very interested in but I haven't read this book. I'm going to open it in the near future.

I'm currently reading Jayber Crow, which I think was mentioned earlier in this thread, and enjoying it very much so far.

Years ago I was often desperate for book recommendations. I didn't know many people who read the way I did, who truly treasured books, read voraciously, and ventured far beyond the bestseller lists. I just realized I have the opposite problem now! I have more than 200 books on my Unread list on Goodreads and thanks to threads like this, I add frequently. Even though I read 6-7 books a month, I feel like I'm running in place, LOL!

Some recently completed books that I can recommend:

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing

They Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart

Hold Still by Sally Mann (memoir)

We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas

Shine On, Bright & Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Promise by Ann Weisgarber

Loved a walk in the woods.

I just remembered another children's book that I used to love to read...Mr. Popper's Penguins. Hadn't thought of that in decades.... and of course Charlotte's Web. Heck that would fit for the book that makes me cry category!

We're headed out of town to a wedding this weekend, so I may grab my bopy of Walk in the Woods and start it. I've also got The Unlikely Pilgimmage of Harold Frye ready to go on my Nook. Just finished Sue Grafton's 'X', the Kinsey Millhone series. I have to finish the alphabet.

Bestyears, I have almost 1000 books on my To Read list in Goodreads. I need to start deleting some that I know I'll never read (and some of those are books I've earmarked for some of my kids). I'm to the point where if it doesn't have at least 3.5 stars, I'm deleting it unless I truly think I want to read it. I just got off the phone with a friend who recommended a book she just finished - I was going to add to my Goodreads list, but discovered I had read the book five years ago and didn't remember the title at all (tho' I remembered the plot when I read the description). Thanks for your list - I've only read two of them so I'll have to see if any of the others might appeal to me. I usually read about 40-50 books a year, which is a lot for me with four kids at home, but I bring a book with me everywhere b/c I spend a lot of idle time in my car waiting on them at various practices/activities. And I watch very little tv.

Thanks for the list!

Rosesstink, I recommended Jayber Crow above. I had borrowed it from the library but there are some very powerful moments to ponder so I think I may have to purchase it so I can go back and let some of those things sink in. I think much of that comes from the wisdom that comes with age that belongs to the author and I need to spend more time with it.

Bestyears - Thanks for The Grass is Singing. I like Doris Lessing and haven't read that one yet. Have you read Alfred & Emily? I thought it an interesting concept but not a book I would recommend.

Rosesstink, I haven't read that one yet -in fact there are a few Doris Lessings that I haven't read. When I finished The Grass is Singing, I knew I had to add those to my list.

I haven't read this one, but it was recommended on a local morning show with a warning that it was very dark. The "dark" part worries me a little, but I love mysteries.

The Gates of Evangeline

Hands down...Destiny of the Republic was great. I am not even into History but the story and character development by the author was incredible. REALLy worth reading.

Sheila, thank you so much for recommending The Invisible Wall. I just this minute finished it and I loved it!! It was just wonderful and amazing that it was published when 'arry was 96. What a gift. Thanks again.

Linelle--- I am so happy to know you read it and loved it. For a lot of reasons, that book really resonated with me. So touching. I believe he wrote another book after that one, and I do believe he passed away within the last few years. Thank you for updating back!

:) It was a trifecta: early 20th century, England, Jewish culture. How that family survived with that brute of a father I just don't know. What a storyteller.

Just had our first book club meeting after summer hiatus; books discussed were Go Set a Watchman and To Kill a Mockingbird. Of the 9 present, 8 rated GSAW 'meh'. One HATED it. I was that one...IMO it was not a book. It was a very early, very very very badly written mess of an idea that was read by a genius editor who spotted a nugget of gold in the childhood reminiscences and managed to wrestle Harper Lee into pulling together TKAM. By all accounts Lee (very rightly) never wanted Watchman published. Frankly, after reading both books I suspect Harper Lee never wrote another book because Mockingbird was more or less a heaven sent combination of editing and one Big Idea, and I doubt she was capable of creating anything else. Anyway, now she is blind, deaf and has dementia. Her sister Alice, a sharp and protective woman (a lawyer herself). who watched over Harper Lee died last year and suddenly two months later her now-fully-in-control attorney discovers and sells the new book for publication. I call bu**sh*t on the whole thing. It isn't a book, just a cash grab and it should never have seen the light of day.

Actually reminded me of when I attempted to read Fifty Shades of Grey. I can handle off-putting themes, I can handle unsympathetic characters. But I can't handle bad writing and in both cases, the writing was so execrable I simply couldn't hear anything else. I mean, 'the musky smell of clean Negroes'...I can't even.

I appreciate your perspective, runninginplace. I still haven't found myself overwhelmed with desire to read GSAW. Growing up in AL and reading about Harper Lee almost all my life makes me feel exactly what you have expressed about how this all came about.

Meanwhile, are there any Steig Larsen trilogy fans out there (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)? I've not read the new book (Girl in the Spider's Web, David Lagercrantz), but was trying to figure out how Lagercrantz figured into the family feud. If you don't know the story, Larsen was estranged from his family, but he and his partner of over 30 years weren't married so she couldn't claim any inheritance. But his partner has his computer with a partially written 4th book. So now it seems Larsen's father and brother hired Lagercrantz to write a sequel. In an article I found, Larsen's partner had this to say: The trilogy should stand on its own, she said. “I think about the readers. They got to know a fantastic writer who becomes like an old friend. And now they say, ‘Your old friend is gone but we’ll give you a blind date, and be happy.’ ”