Patron: Jane Depriest
Title: Bee Season, by Myla Goldbert

The story of Eliza Naumann, a nine-year old whose life is changed by winning the National Spelling Bee.  The book actually chronicles the life and family interactions of Eliza, her father Saul, her brother Aaron and mother Miriam. The book was a little unsettling to me; the family is dysfunctional.  The father is totally absorbed in the Jewish faith; Aaron rebels against this and joins the Hare Krishna; the mother is a brilliant lawyer but very distant from the family.  I didn't understand a lot of the references to literary works in the Jewish religion. I kept wanting things to "get better" and they really didn't, but maybe that was the point.
 

Patron: Veda Wrenn
Title: Her Best Friend's Baby by Vicki Lewis Thompson

A continuation of a series of books about Maitland Maternity Hospital.  Mary Jane Patter decides to carry her friend's baby because the friend has fertility problems.  The friend dies in a car accident; eventually Mary Jane and her friend's husband fall in love and marry.

Patron: Linda Partridge
Title: Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

This book's theme was  a new one for me.  The writing, I thought was superb.  I laughed a lot, especially while reading the first part of the book, but I found myself wanting to cry later (the New York part).  A very touching ending. A good read!
 

Patron: Allane Holley
Title: Recessional by James Michener

Michener deals with the good and bad of retirement homes.  You see the picture from management as well as those who live there.  The characters represent a cross-section of society as well as a love story.

Patron: Ralph Friedman
Title: Comes the Blind Fury by John Saul

Interesting and a good story.  A ghost is one of the main characters.  So its unreal.  A lot of deaths.  Saul doesn't seem to have much to care about human lives. They seem too dispensable.

Patron: Louisa Garner
Title: Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! by Poul Anderson and Gordon Dickson

This book was very entertaining.  The characters were very well explained.  I enjoyed how the authors used elements well known to everyone and used them in relation to an alien perspective.