There have always been some books I've read that stick in my mind forever. They range from thriller to historical to heartwarming saga, but what they all have in common is that I never forgot them. Here are just a few of those titles.
Dancing at the Rascal Fair by Ivan Doig
The settlement of Montana between 1890 and 1919 is recounted through the quiet but compelling life of Angus McCaskill, a young Scotsman who travels with his friend Rob Barclay to Montana's Two Medicine Country to homestead. Doig writes fervently of the voyage from Scotland and the lean first years, as the two share the work and hardship of establishing claims and building up flocks of sheep.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Joe Kavalier, a young artist and magician, escapes pre-World War II Czechoslovakia, making his way to the home of Sam Clay, his Brooklyn cousin. Sam dreams of making it big in the emerging comic-book trade and sees Joe as the person to help him. As the cousins gain success with their masked superhero, the Escapist, Joe banks his earnings to bring his family from Prague. But when the ship carrying his brother to America is torpedoed, Joe joins the navy and is posted to Antarctica. What results is a novel of love and loss, sorrow and wonder, and the ability of art to transcend the hardships of this world and gives us a magical glimpse of "the mysterious spirit world beyond.
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billy Letts
The neon sign had seemed appropriate when the Honk and Holler Opening Soon was being built. But twelve years later, the once-busy highway outside Sequoyah, Oklahoma, is little traveled, and "opening soon" is a tired joke. Today the sign is as battered and beaten as the cafe and its owner, Caney Paxton, a Vietnam War veteran who hasn't ventured outside since its opening. The characters who drift in and out of the Honk don't change much: Molly O, a four-times married earth mother who recognizes a wounded spirit when she meets one; Life Halstead, a widower who eats three meals a day in the cafe so he can be near Molly O; Hooks Red Eagle, Soldier Starr, and Quinton Roach, Cherokee veterans of World War II; and Bilbo and Peg Porter - Bilbo steadily puffing his smokes while Peg struggles for breath through her oxygen mask. With Christmas only days away, their lives are to be forever changed with the arrival of Vena Takes Horse, a Crow woman on a quest, and Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese refugee looking for home.
Shooters and Chasers by Lenny Kleinfeld
A young Chicago cop chases a pair of killers-for-hire who are also star-crossed lovers.As he steps from a taxi, prominent Chicago architect Wilson Willetts is murdered by an inept assassin who thereupon gets himself nabbed with indecent haste. Apart from Willetts's friends and relatives, just about everyone is happy that such a high-profile case has been cleared with such admirable efficiency. But the arresting officers, sexy Mark Bergman and grizzled John Dunegan, his mentor/trainer/partner, are excellent cops, however, and something about a case so impeccably neat and complete begins to rankle. Sensibilities alerted, they take a fresh look, and soon enough find themselves in an alternative investigation, awash in an archipelago of hidden agendas .Appealing heroes and villains, a quirky love story, wit, style and suspense with a Chicago setting.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
A mystifying puzzle involving the execution of an innocent man is interwoven into this monumental masterpiece of medieval intrigue and ingenuity. When a pious monk and an ambitious stonemason conspire to erect a magnificent cathedral, they are plagued by the malevolent machinations of an unscrupulous priest and a rapacious landowner. Though cursed by an extended series of political battles, military campaigns, and natural disasters, Prior Philip and Tom Builder transcend adversity and exploit every opportunity in order to continue construction. Follett has skillfully crafted an extraordinary epic buttressed by a succession of suspenseful subplots. A towering triumph of romance, rivalry, and spectacle.
Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy
Haunted by a series of horrifying and violent episodes in their past, Grace McBride and the oddball crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught, where the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail. By the time the police realize what's happening, three people are dead, and with seventeen more murder scenarios available online, there are seventeen more potential victims. While the authorities scramble to find the killer in a city paralyzed by fear, the Monkeewrench staff are playing their own game, analyzing victim profiles in a frantic attempt to discover the murderer's next target. In a thriller populated by characters both hilarious and heartbreaking, a rural Wisconsin sheriff, two Minneapolis police detectives, and Grace's gang are caught in a web of decades-old secrets that could get them all killed.
Joe Kavalier, a young artist and magician, escapes pre-World War II Czechoslovakia, making his way to the home of Sam Clay, his Brooklyn cousin. Sam dreams of making it big in the emerging comic-book trade and sees Joe as the person to help him. As the cousins gain success with their masked superhero, the Escapist, Joe banks his earnings to bring his family from Prague. But when the ship carrying his brother to America is torpedoed, Joe joins the navy and is posted to Antarctica. What results is a novel of love and loss, sorrow and wonder, and the ability of art to transcend the hardships of this world and gives us a magical glimpse of "the mysterious spirit world beyond.
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billy Letts
The neon sign had seemed appropriate when the Honk and Holler Opening Soon was being built. But twelve years later, the once-busy highway outside Sequoyah, Oklahoma, is little traveled, and "opening soon" is a tired joke. Today the sign is as battered and beaten as the cafe and its owner, Caney Paxton, a Vietnam War veteran who hasn't ventured outside since its opening. The characters who drift in and out of the Honk don't change much: Molly O, a four-times married earth mother who recognizes a wounded spirit when she meets one; Life Halstead, a widower who eats three meals a day in the cafe so he can be near Molly O; Hooks Red Eagle, Soldier Starr, and Quinton Roach, Cherokee veterans of World War II; and Bilbo and Peg Porter - Bilbo steadily puffing his smokes while Peg struggles for breath through her oxygen mask. With Christmas only days away, their lives are to be forever changed with the arrival of Vena Takes Horse, a Crow woman on a quest, and Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese refugee looking for home.
Shooters and Chasers by Lenny Kleinfeld
A young Chicago cop chases a pair of killers-for-hire who are also star-crossed lovers.As he steps from a taxi, prominent Chicago architect Wilson Willetts is murdered by an inept assassin who thereupon gets himself nabbed with indecent haste. Apart from Willetts's friends and relatives, just about everyone is happy that such a high-profile case has been cleared with such admirable efficiency. But the arresting officers, sexy Mark Bergman and grizzled John Dunegan, his mentor/trainer/partner, are excellent cops, however, and something about a case so impeccably neat and complete begins to rankle. Sensibilities alerted, they take a fresh look, and soon enough find themselves in an alternative investigation, awash in an archipelago of hidden agendas .Appealing heroes and villains, a quirky love story, wit, style and suspense with a Chicago setting.
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
A mystifying puzzle involving the execution of an innocent man is interwoven into this monumental masterpiece of medieval intrigue and ingenuity. When a pious monk and an ambitious stonemason conspire to erect a magnificent cathedral, they are plagued by the malevolent machinations of an unscrupulous priest and a rapacious landowner. Though cursed by an extended series of political battles, military campaigns, and natural disasters, Prior Philip and Tom Builder transcend adversity and exploit every opportunity in order to continue construction. Follett has skillfully crafted an extraordinary epic buttressed by a succession of suspenseful subplots. A towering triumph of romance, rivalry, and spectacle.
Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy
Haunted by a series of horrifying and violent episodes in their past, Grace McBride and the oddball crew of her software company, Monkeewrench, create a computer game where the killer is always caught, where the good guys always win. But their game becomes a nightmare when someone starts duplicating the fictional murders in real life, down to the last detail. By the time the police realize what's happening, three people are dead, and with seventeen more murder scenarios available online, there are seventeen more potential victims. While the authorities scramble to find the killer in a city paralyzed by fear, the Monkeewrench staff are playing their own game, analyzing victim profiles in a frantic attempt to discover the murderer's next target. In a thriller populated by characters both hilarious and heartbreaking, a rural Wisconsin sheriff, two Minneapolis police detectives, and Grace's gang are caught in a web of decades-old secrets that could get them all killed.
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