The Keepers of the House

By Shirley Ann Grau

For seven generations, the Howlands have been the pillars of their Southern town.  But when Abigail Howland Mason discovers the secret between her grandfather, William, and Margaret, his black housekeeper, racism and revenge surround her home and family.  But Abigail is not going down without a fight.

Excellent book -- it deserved the Pulitzer Prize in 1965. The ending is especially good.

Into Thin Air

By Jon Krakauer

The author describes his 1996 Everest climb, in which eight climbers died.  A series of bad weather and small errors could have killed the entire expedition, especially since some of the climbers were not as fit for the climb as they maybe should have been.  The story also includes a rough history of why Everest is still known as "the ultimate climb".

Not really my first choice for reading material, but I was sucked into the humanity of the story.  However, the author is one of the few to survive, so he doesn't have a lot of people around to contradict him.  While it's true that the story demonstrates all the little mistakes that lead to huge consequences, which is typical of real life, I have trouble with him placing all of the blame on one person.  Climbing Everest has turned into a part of people's bucket list, and is not taken as seriously.  Plus, the weather turned bad without warning, so it seems flippant to blame the guides for every mistake.  I've read other books by Krakauer, and while I enjoyed them, I still don't believe everything he writes --- in fact, I rarely agree with his opinions.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder

The bridge connecting San Luis Rey to Lima, Peru collapses, killing five people.  Brother Juniper witnesses the tragedy. He then studies the victims' lives to prove that it was divine intervention, and not chance, that caused the fall. 

What struck me about this story, is that at the end I agreed with Brother Juniper.  If the characters were going to die tragically, this was the perfect time for it.  At the end of their lives, they had made some major life decisions, and I didn't want them to fail. 

A Bell For Adano

A Bell For Adano by John Hersey

Major Victor Joppolo, an Italian-American Army officer, is sent to bring democracy and order to the town of Adano.  His concern for the happiness of the people center around restoring a 700 year old church bell taken and melted down for bullets by the fascists.

This book was published in 1944 and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1945.  I truly enjoyed this book and read it in just a few days.  It has more to it, of course, than tracking down a bell.  It illustrates the good, bad, and ugly of American occupation during WWII. Being born during/after the Civil Rights movement, I forget about the prejudice that everyone felt towards anyone not like them, both American and Italian.  Plus I remembered that most people at the top are bullies that refuse to listen to others' opinions...