The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

This is a picasso of music and prose. A beautiful novel set amongst the ravages of WWII in Italy. There are four major characters; the burned english patient; the young nurse, Hana; the government hired thief, David; and the indian sapper, Kip. All of them so beautifully different. I loved it, swerving in and out of their lives, seeing what hurt them here or there, where they came from, how they all came to be so closely loved by eachother, how they had to leave eachother. It is a novel you have to be on your toes about. With the beginning of each chapter you are placed in someone else's life, in some other time. It is a mosaic of four lives. Not an easy read, but an elegant one. Four stars.

JLW

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

This is for the philosophical romantic, the reader of tragedy and the questioner of life. This is great writing. Never once was I bored or uninterested. Every page was full. And it's such a good look at post WWII Germans, which we don't hear much of. Most of the tragedy of that war is given to pity the genocide of the Jews, but what about the country that had to overcome such an atrocity on their hands, on their parent's hands, in their history forever, in their memories? It is a good story for many good reasons and I will probably read it again one day, not many books make it to my reread list but this one did. Nothing extravagant, just real.

J.L.Wills

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis

This is a wonderful book to read aloud to your kids. Me and the girls enjoyed every moment of this. I never had to ask them twice to come listen to me read about Narnia, in fact I had to be careful and make sure I could follow through with it because once mentioned they wouldn't be happy without a dose of Lucy, Peter, Susan, and Edmund. This is the second book but is always the first of the movies when movies are being made on Narnia. Still, the first book sets the stage and gives a fuller appreciation of the entire story. C.S.Lewis writes to enthrall not only children but anyone who has been a child once. He is brilliant.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this. And by the twentieth page I was scared. Really scared. The beginning is so dark and inescapable that I had to stop and remind myself to quit holding my breath. The middle is still tense but not nearly as quivering as the beginning of the book. It is written as a collection of newspaper articles and journal entries in the first person of many characters so you get personal with the all the main characters. And the ending is gallant, bloody, and unsure. I rave Bram Stoker, he did honor to the strength of femininity. It is a long book and it took me even longer being ill in the middle of it but it was such an adventure, such a great adventure.

J.L.Wills