Florida's Women's Conference
Reading For Renewal
2012 - 2013

Any number of books from the list that are read during the year should be reported.  Reports are due in February 2013 to the church’s Reading for Renewal Chair.  A qualified reader must read SIX (6) books from the list, including one Mission Study Book on the Homelessness. In addition to retail bookstores, the books are available at many public libraries and from on-line booksellers such as BN.com, booksamillion.com and Amazon.com.  Most are available in more than one format, including large type, compact disk, and various kinds of electronic media. If you have questions or comments, please contact Florida UCC Women Reading for Renewal Chair Terri Crawford at (239) 772-9678, terric57@yahoo.com or Co-Chair Barb Coons at (239) 549-8283, kayebarb3344@aol.com (please reference Reading for Renewal in the subject line).  You may also send them information about books to be considered for next year’s reading list.

Books are listed alphabetically by title.  F = Fiction, NF – Non-fiction

1.        Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks.  (F)  Forging a deep friendship with a Wampanoag chieftain's son on the Great Harbor settlement where her minister father is working to convert the tribe, Bethia follows his subsequent Ivy League education and efforts to bridge cultures among the colonial elite.

2.        The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim.  (F)  This historical novel is based on the life of the author’s mother.  Najin, nicknamed after the birth city of her mother as her father has never named her, is torn between the Confucian traditions of her father and Christian faith of her mother.  However, the privileged life of a calligrapher’s daughter changes with the harsh occupation of Japan.  One day after her marriage to a student minister they are separated and life as she knew it spirals downhill until more than ten years later when she and her husband are reunited.   

3.        The Chocolate Diaries:  Secrets for a Sweeter Journey on the Rocky Road of Life by Karen Scalf Linamen.  (NF)  Everyday women share their pursuit of honest, workable solutions to daunting challenges, inviting readers to harness the power of faith in God and hope. 

4.        Emily Alone by Stewart O’Nan.  (F)  Newly independent widow Emily Maxwell dreams of visits by grandchildren and mourns changes in her quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood before realizing an inner strength to pursue developing opportunities. 

5.        The Grace of Silence by Michele Norris.  (NF)  Norris, the co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered, examines both her family’s racial roots and secrets, including her grandmother’s short career as a traveling Aunt Jemima and her father’s shooting by a white policeman in Alabama in 1946. 

6.        Greater Journey by David McCullough.  (NF)   McCullough mixes famous and obscure names and delivers capsule biographies of everyone to produce a colorful parade of educated, Victorian-era American travelers and their life-changing experiences in Paris. 

7.        The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews.  (F)  After finding a box of Nazi medals buried in his backyard, the author tells a story of the love and forgiveness that grew between an American woman and a German lieutenant. 

8.        Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers.  (F)  This is the first in 2-book saga that explores the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters over four generations.  It begins when strong-willed Marta Schneider leaves her home in rural Switzerland. 

9.        Hold Up the Sky by Patricia Sprinkle.  (F)  Four women with difficult and overwhelming lives come together to live on a drought-stricken Georgia farm and discover the positive meaning hidden in the tough times by opening their hearts to each other and sharing their burdens. 

10.      Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.  (F)  When artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps during World War II are uncovered during renovations at a Seattle hotel, Henry Lee embarks on a quest that leads to memories of growing up Chinese in a city rife with anti-Japanese sentiment. 

11.      I Bought a House on Gratitude Street:  And Other Insights on the Good Life by J. Ellsworth Kalas.  (NF)  Kalas shares life lessons on matters of friendship, prayer, sin and success, all seen through the lens of Scripture.

12.      I Still Dream about You by Fannie Flagg.  (F)  Hiding her unhappiness from those who believe she has a perfect life, former beauty queen Maggie has an unexpected change of circumstances that leads to surprising discoveries and valuable lessons in friendship. 

13.      The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  (NF)  This documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling discoveries in such areas as cancer research, in vitro fertilization and gene mapping. 

14.      The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett.  (NF)  Three friends at a crossroads in their twenties quit their high pressure New York media jobs, leave their friends and everything familiar behind, and embark on a year-long backpacking adventure around the world. 

15.      The Lucky Gourd Shop by Joanna Catherine Scott.  (F ) When three adopted children grow curious about their Korean heritage their American mother provides a life story of their birth mother.  Mi Sook is found abandoned behind a coffee shop and is reared in the back room until she marries a construction worker.  Deceived by her husband and left widowed with a son and two daughters she is forced to make a practical and heartbreaking decision.  

16.      Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson.  (F)  Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) leads a quiet life in the village of St. Mary, England, until his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village.  Will their relationship survive in a society that considers Ali a foreigner? 

17.      Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger.  (F)  When her mistress departs from Victorian London society to seek relief from tuberculosis symptoms in Egypt, maid Sally throws herself into their new culture and comes to know freedoms she has never experienced before she is harshly reminded of her humble station in life. 

18.      Paul and Me:  Fifty-three Years of Adventures with My Pal Paul Newman by A. E. Hotchner.  (NF)  Their friendship began when the relatively unknown actor assumed the lead role in Hotchner’s first television play.  It continued through travels, adventures and the founding of Newman’s Own as a prank that morphed into a major enterprise giving donations to charities. 

19.      The Postmistress by Sarah Blake.  (F)  In London covering the Blitz with Edward R. Murrow, Frankie Bard meets a Cape Cod doctor in a shelter and promises that she'll deliver a letter for him when she finally returns to the United States.  Filled with stunning parallels to today's world, "The Postmistress" is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two extraordinary women--and of two countries torn apart by war. 

20.      Room by Emma Donoghue.  (F)  Narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday.  They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard.  The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies.  But Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful--and attempts a nail-biting escape. 

21.      Scones & Bones by Laura Childs.  (F)  Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is lured into attending the Heritage Society's "Pirates and Plunder" soiree.  But it's an antique diamond skull ring that gets plundered by someone who murders a history intern in the process.  Theodosia knows she'll have to whet her investigative skills to find the killer among a raft of suspects.   From the Tea Shop Mysteries series. 

22.      Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda.  (F)  Interweaving the stories of a baby girl in India, the American doctor who adopted her, and the Indian mother who gave her up in favor of a son, two families--one in India, the other in the United States--are changed by the child that connects them. 

23.      Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel.  (F)  Miami,1969. Frances is captivated by the community of houses built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay.  On the dock of one stilt house, she meets Dennis, and turns away from her predictable life.  Stiltsville becomes their island oasis-- until suddenly it's gone, and Francis is forced to figure out how to make her family work on dry land. 

24.      Stories that Feed Your Soul by Tony Campolo.  (NF)  Stories of everyday life where God is at work are set around the eighth chapter of Romans and centering on eight gospel themes. 

25.      This Will Be Remembered of Her:  Stories of Women Reshaping the World by Megan McKenna.  (NF)  McKenna juxtaposes Biblical women and contemporary women, exploring the reasons why each has been remembered throughout time. 

26.      The Warmth of Other Suns:  The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson.  (NF)  This epic chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of almost six million black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life and changed the face of America. 

27.      Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.  (F)  The dying wish of a loving father ignites a family drama that brings two sisters and their acid-tongued, Russian-born mother together in a story that reaches back to WWII Leningrad. 



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