| 2008 | Book Title | Description | Author |
| | | |
| January 9 | 
Skipping Christmas Dell Publishing $6.99 | Skipping Christmas A modern take on traditional Yuletide storytelling, this lighthearted fable introduces an all-American husband and wife who decide to beat the high cost of giving. Instead, the weary Kranks are trading in snowmen for suntans by setting sail for the Caribbean on Christmas Day. It sounds like bliss, but Luther and Nora soon find out that skipping Christmas is no paradise. | John Grisham |
| February 13 | 
Atonement Anchor Books $14.95 | Atonement Atonement is Ian McEwan's finest achievement. Brilliant and utterly enthralling in its depiction of childhood, love and war, England and class, the novel is at its center a profound-and profoundly moving-exploration of shame and forgiveness and the difficulty of absolution.
| Ian McEwen |
| March 12 | 
The Thirteenth Tale Washington Square Press $15.00 | The Thirteenth Tale Everyone in our book club rated this a "10"--one of the favorite books we've ever read. We stayed up too late, arrived at work late, and didn't want it to end. A gothic mystery like no other. See the beautiful Web site: http://www.thethirteenthtale.com/ | Diane Setterfield |
| April 9 | 
The God of Animals Scribner Book Company $14.00 | The God of Animals Kyle's stunning first novel is not just another one of those "coming of age" stories. Rather it's a riveting read told through 12 year old Alice's eyes. Her father's struggling horse ranch located in the high desert of Colorado is the backdrop. Read it! The twists and turns, well-developed characters, beautiful language, and vivid imagery will keep you turning the pages. | Aryn Kyle |
| May 14 | 
Suite Francaise Vintage Books USA $14.95 | Suite Francaise An extraordinary novel of life under Nazi occupation--discovered and published 62 years after the author's tragic death at Auschwitz. Subtle, often fiercely ironic, and deeply compassionate, Suite Fran
aise is both a piercing record of its time and a brilliant, profoundly moving work of art. | Irene Nemirovsky |
| June 11 | 
Loving Frank Ballantine Books $14.00 | Loving Frank I was hooked from the first page of this beautifully written story of Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair with Mayma Cheney and the sacrifices they made to be together. It's a fabulous read with an ending you won't see coming! | Nancy Horan |
| July 9 | 
Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe New American Library $14.00 | Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe When she learns that her college sweetheart husband has been seeing another woman, Mira Serafino's perfect world is shattered and she wants no one, least of all her big Italian family, to know. She heads north, with no destination and little money, stopping only when her car breaks down in Seattle. She takes a job at the offbeat Coffee Shop at the Center of the Universe, where she'll experience a terrifying but invigorating freedom, and meet someone she'll come to love: the new Mira. | Jennie Shortridge |
| August 13 | 
Infidel Free Press $15.00 | Infidel In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia to her intellectual awakening in the Netherlands to her life under armed guard in the West. | Ayann Hirsi Ali |
| September 10 | 
The Art of Racing in the Rain Harper $23.95 | The Art of Racing in the Rain Enzo is the funny, observant narrator of this book, who just happens to be a dog. He's a philosopher who tells you the story of his family with love and devotion. You'll laugh out loud, you'll cry, butyou won't be able to put it down. You don't need to be a dog lover, ora race car enthsiast. It just may become your favorite read of the year. | Garth Stein |
| October 8 | 
Love Walked In Plume Books $14.00 | Love Walked In Cornelia Brown Series Love Walked In Belong to Me Marisa de los Santos returns us to the best parts of childhood by taking us inside the minds of two wonderful children: Clare, a sen- sitive girl with a huge capacity for forgiveness, and Dev (one of my favorite fictional characters ever), a young genius with a wisdom most of us only hope to achieve. By revealing the hearts of these two special children Marisa reminds us of our best selves and our own capacity for caring. These warm, human books will stay with you to comfort you on your worst days. | Marisa De Los Santos |
| November 12 | 
The Worst Hard Time Mariner Books $14.95 | The Worst Hard Time The dust storms that terrorized America's High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since, and the stories of the people that held on have never been fully told. Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist and author Timothy Egan follows a half-dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, going from sod homes to new framed houses to huddling in basements with the windows sealed by damp sheets in a futile effort to keep the dust out. He follows their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black blizzards, crop failure, and the deaths of loved ones. Drawing on the voices of those who stayed and survived--those who, now in their eighties and nineties, will soon carry their memories to the grave--Egan tells a story of endurance and heroism against the backdrop of the Great Depression. | Timothy Egan |
| December 10 | 
Run Harper Perennial $14.95 | Run Set over a period of 24 hours, Run shows how worlds of privilege and poverty can coexist only blocks apart from each other, and how family can include the most unlikely of people, in this novel about secrets, duty, responsibility, and the lengths people will go to protect their children. | Ann Patchett |