The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James. Riverhead Books, 2009.

At the turn of the 18th Century in Jamaica, Lilith is born to a teen slave-child, black as black, but with startling green eyes. Her young mother does not survive the birth, and Lilith is placed with a retired slave woman to be raised. But those green eyes prove she is a member of a select sisterhood with a destiny far beyond the daily labors of a "field nigger." At a time when slave rebellions are happening frequently, Lilith is educated about the ways and facts of servitude on a sugar plantation, and is She is also taught to read, a skill taught in the dark, at night, for fear of being discovered. Ultimately, when she is old enough, she is invited to attend the monthly meetings of the "night women." At a time far removed from today's texting, tweeting and live television coverage, when slaves were not permitted to ride horses nor to leave the plantation unaccompanied, the word is still able to get around ...

The author, who is himself Jamaican, uses strong, graphic language to capture the humor, pathos, grit, and cruelty of the plantation and its people. And because I have family in Jamaica, I know the Jamaican cadence of his characters' voices is completely authentic. After reading this book, I understand a little more about the attitudes of my family, and you will understand why slavery needed to be abolished.

The soloist [electronic resource] : a lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the redemptive power of music, by Steve Lopez. Blackstone Audio, 2008.

This is Sacramento's "One Book" title for 2009, and the library, in partnership with other local agencies, is planning a series of programs in the next month around it, including an author talk on September 24.

Musical talent runs in my family. My grandfather formed and outfitted the Waianae Plantation band, purchasing the instruments in San Francisco and teaching the members to play them. He was also an in-demand pianist, violinist, and zither player, as reported in the society pages of the local newspapers. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are also musical, and became professional and amateur musicians. I learned to read music before I could read words. We also have a disabled musician in our family. I think that's why this story resonated with me.

The soloist, Nathaniel Ayers, is a former student at Juilliard who dropped out of school and society when he became incapacitated by schizophrenia. He fetched up on Skid Row in Los Angeles, where a reporter, author Steve Lopez, hearing the music he was making on a broken-down, 2-stringed violin, saw a story worth telling. Over the next year, he befriended Mr. Ayers and persuaded him to move into a shelter and take up music again. The frustrations of dealing with the homeless mentally ill are clearly expressed, making the small gains Mr. Ayers has achieved even more precious. Overall, the transformations that affect all the characters are emotional and durable, and readers are not exempt!

The Heretic's Daughter, by Kathleen Kent. Little, Brown and Co., 2008.

Ten-year old Sarah Carrier is both an observer and participant in the events leading to the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, and the story reveals itself from her point of view - fuzzy on the politics and implications of the historical period described, but full of details about the daily life and hardships of the families making new lives in the New World. And as the tension mounts towards the end of the novel and Sarah's mother is hanged as a witch, you have to piece things together carefully to figure out who the real "heretic" is.

Whitethorn Woods, by Maeve Binchy. A.A. Knopf, 2007.

Seemingly unrelated vignettes of men, women and children, all with ties to St. Ann's Well in the village of Rossmore in Ireland, are woven together in this novel. From whores to spinsters, from brilliant to "soft", from honorable to base - each is affected by the myths surrounding the well and the plan to obliterate it with the imminent building of a new road right through Whitethorn Woods. Unlikely pairings prove that St. Ann may still be working her miracles, especially when the final plot twist is revealed in the last paragraphs.

My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor. Viking, 2008, c2006

My sister-in-law read this book after my mom had a series of mini-strokes, and recommended strongly that I should read it, too. It's been hard to find, and also popular! There are still holds on it, two years later.

The author is a neuroanatomist specializing in brain anatomy and function. She suffered a rare form of stroke at the age of 37 and chronicles the progress of her disability and complete recovery over the next eight years. In a very readable and accessible style, she divides her story into three parts: required knowledge to understand the stroke, the story of her stroke and immediate post-stroke care, and insights about her experience and recommendations for readers.

The part that affected me most was her description of the differences between the right-brain and left-brain, and of how she uses her new-found knowledge of how they work separately and together to control her physical and emotional responses to life. It's so similar to what I was taught in school about the eternity of one's soul and the effects of prayer.

A single shard [electronic resource], by Linda Sue Park. Listening Library, 2007.

I downloaded this Newbery Medal winner a long time ago, and only just now listened to it when I began walking again.

Set in the medieval Korean village of Ch'ulp'o, where potters make the celebrated celadon ware, Tree Ear, an orphan lives under a bridge with Crane Man, who is homeless because an injured leg prevents him from working. He scavenges for food in junk-heaps to feed them both, and Crane Man provides wisdom and stories. One day, while rummaging through the potter Min's junk heap, Tree Ear happens to see Min throwing a vase on a wheel and becomes fascinated with the potter's craft. He steals into Min's house and accidentally breaks a greenware box. Min exacts nine days work from him in payment, and thus begins Tree Ear's - and the reader's - education in the production of celadon pottery and the society that supported it. Here is an image of the prunus vase mentioned in the last paragraphs of the book.

Although this is a children's book, the audio version, at least, is also appealing to adults. It would be a good discussion book because of the descriptions of the pottery processes and of Korean medieval society.

Chasing Shakespeares, by Sarah Smith. Atria Books, 2003.

This is another title I rescued from the re-shelve trucks. This time, it was the author's name that caught my eye, because I actually know a Sarah Smith, though she is not the author of this book. I showed it to "my" Sarah Smith, and she admitted to reading other works by the author, finding them pretty good.

A relatively minor American university receives a Shakespeare collection as a bequest. It seems most of the items in it are forgeries, except one letter ... and the grad student cataloging the collection takes it to London to show it to an expert. What starts as a research project turns into something far different, as research and relationships begin taking on a life of their own.

The interesting part, for me, was the travelogue and the biographies of the players and places in Shakespeare's life. A major theme was the conflicting evidence that Shakespeare was - or was not - the author of the works published under his name, and if not, who the real author might be. I usually avoid history, but I was drawn into the discussions and proofs, and feel like I got a literature lesson along with the entertaining read.