St. Raphael Reader's Book Selection
2007 - 2008
September 20
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan. This book is a gripping morality tale about the consequences of intentions, both good and bad, and about the shared responsibility that individuals must accept for the actions of others.
October 18
Suite Francais by Irene Nemirovsky. Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed. A convert to Catholicism, she began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, has surfaced more than six decades after her death. In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life, and especially the comedy it provides."
November 15
An infinity of Little Hours by Nancy Klein Maguire. Carthusian monks are the most contemplative and solitary in the Catholic church. Their lives until 1965 were indiscernible from their founders in 1084. This book captures the moment before Vatican II enforced changes to the order, in a British Charterhouse where men of varying personalities and strengths live every moment of every night and day in a carefully structured rhythm designed to strengthen their relationship with God.
January 17
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. This novel examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you. Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.
February 21
Everyman by Philip Roth. A thrice-married adman, a father and a philanderer, a 70-something spends his last days lamenting his lost prowess (physical and sexual), envying his healthy and beloved older brother, and refusing to apologize for his many years of bad behavior, although he regrets them. In the end, he is a man who has become what he does not want to be. This story is about being human and struggling with aging and death.
March 13
Aging with Grace by David Snowdon. This book combines fascinating information about high-tech research on the brain with the heartfelt story of the aging nuns who are teaching scientists how humans grow old and how to do so with grace. What distinguishes this study is Snowdon 's decision not to maintain the usual "objective" distance from his subjects but to become emotionally involved with them. Although the study is still under way, readers will appreciate the early insights to be gleaned from Snowdon 's human-centered and compassionate story.
April 17
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. The most comprehensive study in global warming that has reached the masses. Gore covers an extensive amount of information from the ice caps melting to the sea levels rising, from personal accounts that have made a difference in his life, to diseases that global warming has caused in the recent years. His book is a lecture of what is happening and what we can do to make a difference.
May 15
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. An account of the year following the death of her husband John Gregory Dunne . This book was immediately acclaimed as a classic in the genre of mourning literature. Didion applied the iconic reportorial detachment for which she is known to her own experience of grieving; there are few expressions of raw emotion. Through observation and analysis of changes in her own behavior and abilities, she indirectly expresses the toll her grief is taking.