The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Title: The Secret Life of Bees

Author: Sue Monk Kidd

Publisher: Penguin Books 2003

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - Top 100 YA, 21st Century Women Authors, Rory Gilmore; Goodreads Random

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sister, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

A really beautiful coming-of-age story set in a fraught time period and place. I was rooting for Lily to find her place int he world away from her father and the ignorant perspectives of many in her community. I loved meeting the sisters and learning about beekeeping and their particular brand of religion. Many of the sequences feel very dreamlike. Almost like the opening scenes of Lily watching the bees swarm in her room. My only quibble with the book is the format. At times, the constant flashbacks muddled the prose. Transitions were not the best. Overall this was a lovely atmospheric book.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Title: Purple Hibiscus

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publisher: Algonquin Books 2003

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 307

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - 21st Century Women Authors; Popsugar - Fave Color

Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They're completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating.

As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father's authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins' laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together.

A very powerful story about family. I was rooting for Kambili and Jaja throughout the novel. I just want them to have a good life aware from hardship and strife. Of course, that wasn’t to be, but it was nice to see them gain strength over the course of the story. Adichie crafts a richly descriptive world. I especially loved the descriptions and passages about food. I wouldn’t say I loved this book, but I really enjoyed the journey.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author: Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

Publisher: Dial Press 2009

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 288

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual - 21st Century Women Authors; Popsugar - Vegetable; What’s in a Name - Vegetable

“I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. . . .

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

I finally picked up this raved about book and absolutely loved it! The first 25 pages were a bit slow as we introduce the characters and the backstory. Once Juliet arrived on Guernsey I couldn’t stop reading. It was just too engaging! I fell for every single inhabitant on the island and even the ones not on the island. I love the epistolary structure of the book. It adds just a bit of fun and novelty into a great storyline. At times I was almost in tears learning about the characters. But at other times, I was laughing at the jokes and misadventures. This is a book that is going to be kept on my read and loved shelf for years to come. I’m certain I’ll be rereading this in the coming years.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Title: The History of Love

Author: Nicole Krauss

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company 2005

Genre: Literary Fiction

Pages: 252

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual (21st Century Women Authors); Modern Mrs. Darcy -- Recommended by Someone with Good Taste;  I Love Libraries

A long-lost book reappears, mysteriously connecting an old man searching for his son and a girl seeking a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.
Leo Gursky taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book…Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With virtuosic skill and soaring imaginative power, Nicole Krauss gradually draws these stories together toward a climax of "extraordinary depth and beauty" (Newsday).

I really really wanted to like this book. It's our book club selection and I've heard so many great things about it. I loved the final scene between Alma and Leo. I loved the mystery of the novel and the characters' pasts. And yet, I just couldn't find myself to love this novel. The format of pseudo-stream of consciousness and enumerated memories threw me off. I kept getting lost as to the multitude of characters and their perspectives. I even found myself confused by the time period on certain pages/chapters. I can see that this is a worthwhile book and I'm sure that there are people who love this one. That person is just not me...

Next up on the TBR pile:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Title: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Author: Susanna Clarke

Publisher: Bloomsbury 2008

Genre: Historical Fiction; Fantasy

Pages: 782

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fantasy Project; NPR Scifi/Fan; 21st Century Women Authors; A to Z - J; Books to Movies; 52 Books - W41

English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.

It's taken me years to get around to reading this giant volume, but I finally did it this week! And it was great! Clarke's writing reminds me of Jane Austen or Charles Dickens. I love the old-fashioned style of writing. The writing put me into the time period. And the story was great. I loved diving into Strange and Norrell and their strange personality quirks. The side characters were also very interesting. I loved Stephen and Arabella. The book meanderings through topics, stories, and characters, but somehow everything comes together in the end! The book is long, but I very much enjoyed it.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

Title: The Dovekeepers

Author: Alice Hoffman

Publisher: Scribner 2011

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 504

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 21st Century Women Authors; Read Your Freebies; A to Z - D; New Author

Nearly 2,000 years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path.

The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love. The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman’s masterpiece.

So I really wanted the like this book. I really did! I had heard such great things and the summary intrigued me. Unfortunately I just had a hard time connected with any character and getting past my annoyance with the preaching nature. None of the main characters spoke to me at all. I wanted to find someone real, but they felt like just characters. I also became very annoyed with Yael's narration. She repeated herself way too many times. As to the preaching tone of the novel, I must say that I was fairly turned off. It was weird. Some times it seemed like the characters were pointing out why following the religion was bad and other times they seemed to support it. I couldn't settle on the tone, but the preaching at the reader got to me. Oh well. Another hyped book that I just didn't get into.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Title: Fingersmith

Author: Sarah Waters

Publisher: Riverhead Books 2002

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 584

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 21st Century Women Authors; 1001 Books; Mount TBR; New Author; Lucky No. 14 - Books vs. Movies

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.

One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.

Oh... I really liked this one.  In the beginning of the novel, I thought I would tire of Sue's narration, but then things started happening and plot twists were revealed.  And suddenly I was right in the thick of the story.  I was rooting for Sue to find her escape and her happiness.  I did not see her future as laid out as one carefree, but I was hoping for a bit of happiness.  This book kept me guessing as to what was just around the corner.  I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.

Movie:

I've loved Sally Hawkins ever since I saw her in Persuasion.  I got really excited when I saw that she was playing Susan. After watching the movie version, I'd have to saw that I like the book even more.  This was a faithful adaptation of the story, although they changed the order slightly.  We get much more from Maud's point of view right away.  But I understand.  For the movie version, this just works better.  We are still experiencing the twists and turns as the plot moves forward.  We will get the big reveals. And we get all the great characters brought to life on screen.  Definitely recommend this one.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Title: Bel Canto

Author: Ann Patchett

Publisher: HarperCollins 2001

Genre: Literature

Pages: 318

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 21st Century Women; Rory Gilmore; Mount TBR; Women Authors

Opera and terrorism make strange bedfellows, yet in this novel they complement each other nicely. At a birthday party for Japanese industrialist Mr. Hosokawa somewhere in South America, famous American soprano Roxanne Coss is just finishing her recital in the Vice President's home when armed terrorists appear, intending to take the President hostage. However, he is not there, so instead they hold the international businesspeople and diplomats at the party, releasing all the women except Roxanne. Captors and their prisoners settle into a strange domesticity, with the opera diva captivating them all as she does her daily practicing. Soon romantic liaisons develop with the hopeless intensity found in many opera plots. Patchett (The Patron Saint of Liars) balances terrorism, love, and music nicely here. 

This has been on my TBR list for ages.  We chose it for our book club selection for July and I was very excited to read the novel finally.  However, I ended up being not very impressed with the novel.  It's not to say that it's bad.  I imagine that many peiple love this volume.  I just didn't.  I never felt connected to any of the characters and became very detached about everything.  People rave about Patchett's writing, but I didn't find anything special about it.  It's a well written novel, but just not anything that really struck me as great.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Title: The Thirteenth Tale

Author: Diane Setterfield

Publisher: Washington Square Press 2006

Genre: Literary fiction

Pages: 406

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 21st Century Women Authors; Mount TBR; Women Authors; 52 Books -- W16; What's in a Name -- Number written in letters

All children mythologize their birth...So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself -- all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter's story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida's storytelling but remains suspicious of the author's sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

The first chapter, I was wary.  By the second chapter, I was intrigued.  By the third chapter, I couldn't put it down.  This book and storytelling style reminded me of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's books.  And I absolutely adore his book.  They and this novel are great stories, but also amazing love letters to books and storytelling.  I immediately connected with Margaret and her love of books.  My dream would be to own a book store (unfortunately there's not much money in it).  I would love to surround myself with dusty tomes containing amazing worlds and people.  Back to The Thirteenth Tale... I enjoyed the slow unraveling of the story.  I loved Miss Winter's "no questions, telling it in order" approach.  Sure, we all wanted to know everything up front.  But the story itself needed to be told in order so that the reader (and Margaret) could truly understand Miss Winter and her life.  At times, I had to slow myself down.  Instead of rushing to find out the next secret, I wanted to savor the story.  Setterfield has a way with words.  They just seemed to melt off the page, slow and luxuriously.  If I could write like that, I would be perfectly happy.  I won't give away anything, but the secrets revealed were definitely the icing on the cake.  Now I feel like I need to pick up Setterfield's new book...

2014 Reading Challenges -- Perpetual Edition

Overall, I want to focus most of my 2014 reading challenges of knocking out some of my perpetual reading challenges.  So I've chosen a few books from each challenge to help me reach my ultimate goals.

Fantasy Project: 20 Books

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
4. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
5. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
6. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
7. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
8. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
9. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
10. Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
11. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
12. The Little Prince by
13. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD

Nonfiction Adventure: 20 Books

1. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
2. Living History by Hilary Rodham Clinton
3. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
4. John Adams by
5. Washington by
6. American Lion by
7. Woodrow Wilson by
8. Alexander Hamilton by
9. The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge
10. What Ifs of American History by
11. A Vindication on the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft
12. Becoming Mona Lisa by Donald Sassoon
13. The Emperor of Maladies by
14. TBD
15. TBD
16. TBD
17. TBD
18. TBD
19. TBD
20. TBD

NPR Scifi and Fantasy: 10 Books

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
6. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
7. Neuromancer by William Gibson
8. Contact by Carl Sagan
9. Dune by Frank Herbert
10. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

NPR Teen Books: 10 Books

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
3. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
5. Dune by Frank Herbert
6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
7. TBD
8. TBD
9. TBD
10. TBD

Top 100 YA Novels: 5 Books

1. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
3. Tithe by Holly Black
4. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
5. TBD

21st Century Women Authors: 5 Books

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
4. House of Riverston by Kate Morton
5. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

United States of YA: 5 Books

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
3. TBD
4. TBD
5. TBD

Time Top 100: 5 Books

1. Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Beloved by Toni Morrison
3. TBD
4. TBD
5. TBD

Rory Gilmore: 10 Books

1. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
2. Living History by Hilary Rodham Clinton
3. The TIme Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison
5. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
6. Siddartha by Herman Hesse
7. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
8. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
9. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
10. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

1001 Books: 10 Books

1. Neuromancer by William Gibson
2. Contact by Carl Sagan
3. Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison
5. A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
6. Siddartha by Herman Hesse
7. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
8. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
9. The Little Prince by
10. The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams

U.S. Presidents: 5 Books

1. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
2. John Adams by
3. American Lion by
4. Washington by
5. Woodrow Wilson by

21st Century Literature by Women Reading Challenge

List taken from a Book Riot Article by Cassandra Neace

I am a bit ashamed to say that I've only read three of these books.  So, I'm adding this as one of my perpetual reading challenges.  The ones I have read are bolded...

3/115

1. Megan Abbott – The End of Everything (2011)
2. Diana Abu-Jaber – Crescent (2003)
3. Diana Abu-Jaber -- Origin (2007)
4. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Purple Hibiscus (2003)
5. Chimananda Ngozi Adichie --  Half a Yellow Sun (2006)
6. Isabel Allende – Portrait in Sepia (2000)
7. Isabel Allende -- Ines of My Soul (2006)
8. Julia Alvarez – Before We Were Free (2002)
9. Julia Alvarez -- Saving the World (2006)
10. Margaret Atwood – The Blind Assassin (2000)
11. Margaret Atwood -- Oryx and Crake (2003)
12. Margaret Atwood -- The Year of the Flood (2009)
13. Anita Rau Badami – Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? (2006)
14. Aimee Bender – An Invisible Sign of My Own (2000)
15. Aimee Bender -- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010)
16. Jane Borodale – The Book of Fires (2010)
17. A.S. Byatt – The Children’s Book (2009)
18. Susanna Clarke – Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2004)
19. Edwidge Danticat – The Dew Breaker (2004)
20. Lauren B. Davis – The Radiant City (2005)
21. Lauren B. Davis -- Our Daily Bread (2011)
22. Lydia Davis – The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis (Short Fiction – 2009)
23. Kiran Desai – The Inheritance of Loss (2006)
24. Anita Diamant – Good Harbor (2001)
25. Anita Diamant -- The Last Days of Dogtown (2005)
26. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni – The Palace of Illusions (2008)
27. Emma Donoghue – Life Mask (2004)
28. Emma Donoghue -- Room (2010)
29. Jennifer Egan – A Visit from the Goon Squad (2012)
30. Louise Erdrich – The Plague of Doves (2008)
31. Lyndsay Faye – The Gods of Gotham (2012)
32. Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl (2012)
33. Kay Gibbons – The Life All Around Me (2005)
34. Xiaolu Guo – Village of Stone (2003)
35. Xiaolu Guo -- A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers (2007)
36. Lauren Groff – The Monsters of Templeton (2008)
37. Lauren Groff -- Arcadia (2012)
38. Carol Guess – Gaslight (2001)
39. Jennifer Haigh – Mrs. Kimble (2003)
40. Jennifer Haigh -- Baker Towers (2005)
41. Jennifer Haigh -- Faith (2011)
42. Melinda Haynes – Willem’s Field (2004)
43. Alice Hoffman – The Dovekeepers (2011)
44. Helen Humphreys – Wild Dogs (2004)
45. Siri Hustvedt – The Summer Without Men (2011)
46. Joshilyn Jackson – Between, Georgia (2007)
47. Joshilyn Jackson -- A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty (2012)
48. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees (2003)
49. Sue Monk Kidd -- The Mermaid Chair (2005)
50. Haven Kimmel – The Solace of Leaving Early (2002)
51. Barbara Kingsolver – Prodigal Summer (2000)
52. Barbara Kingsolver -- The Lacuna (2009)
53. Elizabeth Kostova – The Historian (2005)
54. Nicole Krauss – The History of Love (2005)
55. Nicole Krauss -- Great House (2010)
56. Aryn Kyle – The God of Animals (2007)
57. Jhumpa Lahiri – The Namesake (2003)
58. Jhumpa Lahiri -- Unaccustomed Earth (Short Fiction – 2008)
59. Ursula K. Leguin – Lavinia (2008)
60. Anne-Marie MacDonald – The Way the Crow Flies (2003)
61. Claire Messud – The Emperor’s Children (2006)
62. Lydia Millet – My Happy Life (2002)
63. Lydia Millet -- Oh Pure and Radiant Heart (2005)
64. Lorrie Moore – A Gate at the Stairs (2009)
65. Laura Moriarty – The Chaperone (2012)
66. Toni Morrison – Love (2003)
67. Toni Morrison -- A Mercy (2008)
68. Toni Morrison -- Home (2012)
69. Kate Morton – The House of Riverton (2006)
70. Alice Munro – Runaway (2004)
71. Alice Munro -- The View from Castle Rock (Short Fiction – 2006)
72. Eileen Myles – Inferno: A Poet’s Novel  (2010)
73. Sena Jeter Naslund – Four Spirits (2004)
74. Audrey Niffenegger – The Time Traveler’s Wife (2003)
75. Audrey Niffenegger -- Her Fearful Symmetry (2009)
76. Joyce Carol Oates – I’ll Take You There (2002)
77. Joyce Carol Oates -- The Falls (2004)
78. Joyce Carol Oates -- A Fair Maiden (2010)
79. Heather O’Neill – Lullabies for Little Criminals (2006)
80. Julie Otsuka – When The Emperor was Divine (2002),
81. Julie Otsuka -- The Buddha in the Attic (2011)
82. Helen Oyeyemi – The Icarus Girl (2005)
83. Helen Oyeyemi -- Mr. Fox (2011)
84. Ann Pancake – Strange As This Weather Has Been (2007)
85. Ann Patchett – Bel Canto (2001)
86. Ann Patchett -- State of Wonder (2011)
87. Marge Piercy – Colours Passing Through Us (Poetry – 2003)
88. Francine Prose – Blue Angel (2000)
89. Nina Revoyr – Wingshooters (2011)
90. Marilynne Robinson – Gilead (2004)
91. Marilynne Robinson -- Home (2008)
92. Mary Doria Russell –  A Thread of Grace (2005)
93. Mary Doria Russell -- Dreamers of the Day (2008)
94. Diane Setterfield – The Thirteenth Tale (2006)
95. Elissa Schappell – Blueprints for Building Better Girls (Short Fiction – 2011)
96. Sarah Schulman – The Child (2007)
97. Sarah Schulman -- The Mere Future (2009)
98. Mary Ann Shaffer – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008)
99. Lionel Shriver – We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003)
100. Marisa Silver – The God of War (2008)
101. Jane Smiley – Private Life (2010)
102. Ali Smith -  Hotel World (2001)
103. Ali Smith -- The Accidental (2005)
104. Ali Smith -- There But For The (2011)
105. Zadie Smith – White Teeth (2000)
106. Zadie Smith -- On Beauty (2005)
107. Zadie Smith -- NW (2012)
108. Kathryn Stockett – The Help (2006)
109. Elizabeth Strout – Olive Kitteridge (2008)
110. Donna Tartt – The Little Friend (2002)
111. Jannette Walls – The Glass Castle (Non-Fiction 2005)
112. Karen Thompson Walker – The Age of Miracles (2012)
113. Sarah Waters – Fingersmith (2002)
114. Kathleen Winter – Annabel (2010)
115. Alissa York – Effigy (2007)