Jonathan Franzen "The Corrections"

A comic, tragic epic stretching from the Midwest of the midcentury to the Wall Street and Eastern Europe of today, The Corrections brings an old-fashioned world of civic virtue and sexual inhibitions into violent collision with the era of home surveillance, hands-off parenting, do-it-yourself mental health care and globalized greed.

After almost fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. Desperate for some pleasure to look forward to, Enid has set her heart on bringing the family together for one last Christmas at home.

Greg 

Dean Koontz "Icebound"

Suspense! If you are a fan of the genre, in that case I recommend to read a novel by Dean Koontz “Icebound”.

A widespread drought is causing murderous famine. There is one possible solution: giant masses of Arctic ice, split from the polar pack by high explosives, could be moved south to parched coastlines and melted for water.

In an Arctic ice field a special team of eight scientists has planned a number of powerful bombs that will detonate automatically at midnight. But before they can withdraw to the safety of their base camp – Edgeway Station – a shuttering tidal wave breaks loose the ice on which they are working. Now they are hopelessly marooned on an iceberg during the worst winter storm of the decade. The bombs in the ice beneath them are buried irretrievably deep … and ticking.

 Abruptly thrown into a desperate struggle for survival, the Edgeway scientists are further plagued by the discovery that one of them is a ruthless killer hellbent on a strange mission of his own…

The reading of the novel swept me along with a breathless pace …

Michail

Steven Saylor “The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World”

“The Seven Wonders: A Novel of the Ancient World” by Steven Saylor is a collection of short stories. The protagonist, Gordianus, is 18 years old and he sets off with his tutor Antipater of Sidon, the world’s most celebrated poet. Their journey takes them on a tour of the Seven Wonders of the World and we go along on the journey. One of the things I admire most about this book is the incredible research and description of the wonders and the cities of Greece, Asia, Egypt, which Gordianus and Antipater visit. They meet many interesting people and solve many mysteries and riddles. We see the beginnings of the Olympic Games. We not only see the wonders of the world, we go inside them. We're introduced to the politics of the time.

Saylor's writing is so real. And I really enjoy reading this book.

Ann

John Gridham "The Partner"

What can be better than to read a good detective story during the day off? Especially if it’s a story by John Grisham!!! Now a few words about the plot…

Once he was a well-liked, well paid young partner in a thriving Mississippi law firm. Then Patrick Lanigan stole ninety million dollars from his own firm and run for his life. For four years he evaded men who were rich, powerful and would stop at nothing to find him. Then inevitably on the edge of the Brazilian jungle they finally tracked him down.

Now Patrick is coming home. And in the Mississippi city where it all began an extraordinary trial is about to begin. As prosecutors circle like sharks, as Patrick’s lawyer prepares his defense, as Patrick’s lover prays for his deliverance and his former partners wait for their revenge, another story is about to emerge. Because Patrick Lanigan, the most reviled white-collar criminal of his time, knows something that no one else in the world knows. He knows the truth…

Jack

Sara Gruen “Water for Elephants”

   In the beginning of Water for Elephants Jacob Jankowski tells us that he is ninety or ninety-three. He's not really sure anymore. His body betrayed him years ago and Jacob now fears that his mind isn’t far, he’s living out his final days in the nursing home and hating every minute of it.  When the circus comes to town, Jacob comes alive and begins to tell us his life’s story. Water for Elephants transported me to a time of the great depression. I learned a lot about the old traveling circuses and life with them. That was really interesting. Water for Elephants is a wonderfully entertaining and well-written story that I think everyone should read. This novel is a delightful with unexpected and wonderful ending.

Olga

L. Frank Baum "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

   Well, friends – it is time for the fairy-tale to come! Today it will be the bewitching tale of Dorothy’s adventures in the magical Land of Oz. The name of the book – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and for sure it’s one of the best loved of the modern fairy-tales. Made into a spectacular film in 1939 it continues to delight adult and child alike.

    The story begins when a cyclone suddenly propels Dorothy and her dog Toto skywards and she finds herself in an unknown land.  She is hailed as a powerful sorceress by the little Munchkins, but her one desire is to return to Kansas, where beloved Aunt Em and Uncle Henry await her. Dorothy’s quest to seek the ‘Great Wizard Oz’ – the only one who can help her – leads her on a perilous journey along the Yellow Brick Road towards the glittering City of Emeralds. On the way she encounters the brainless Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman in search of a heart and the Cowardly Lion, who all join her. At last they reach the castle of Oz – yet in this strange land nothing is ever as it seems…
    So… if you want to have a real rest with the book in the hand – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is your choice!!!
Yura  

Ernest Hemingway "The Old Man and the Sea"

When The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952, it was instantly hailed as a classic. The triumphant yet tragic story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal – a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream – it has the simplicity of a fable, the significance of a parable and the drama of an epic. Among the finest in English literature, Hemingway’s description of fishing and the teeming tropical life abounding in the Gulf Stream provide a setting of warmth and shimmering beauty for the struggle between man against sea and man against fate. A story of grace and courage, of heroism and pity, The old Man and the Sea received special recognition in the citation accompanying Hemingway’s Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 and remains one of his most popular works today.

Donald

Alan Titchmarsh "Rosie"

Nick Robertson thought he’d got used to his grandmother Rosie’s dotty behavior. At 87-years-old she is determined that before life passes her by she will live a little or preferably a lot. It wouldn’t be so bad if Nick had nothing else to do. But with a living to make on the Isle of Wight, two warring parents on the mainland to cope with and a love life in terminal decline, he would prefer his grandmother to get on with things a little more quietly.

But there is no time like the present, Rosie insists. Life is to be enjoyed to the full and to hell with the consequences. She will help Nick find the soul mate he clearly lacks and he can help her find out more about her past. It seems a simple task, but it turns out to involve rather more skullduggery than Nick had anticipated…
Alan Titchmarsh’s sparkling novel is a delicious blend of humor and romance – and a resounding affirmation that there is no such thing as the generation gap.
Max       

Chuck Palahniuk “Fight Club”

 “Fight Club” is one of the most original and provocative novels, was published in 1996.

There are so many wonderful quotable quotes:
“If you don't know what you want," the doorman said, "you end up with a lot you don't.”
“I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.”
“The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly.”
“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”
“This is your life and its ending one moment at a time.”
“You know how they say you only hurt the ones you love? Well, it works both ways.”
“I don't want to die without any scars.”
“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.”
"We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression."

Story about a man searching for his life purpose. Looking for something to fulfill his life, his desire, someone he wanted to be. I enjoyed it from start to finish and i found it really memorable, dynamic and powerful.

 A must read.

Olga

Arabella Weir "Stupid Cupid"

Why do we always want something even more when we can’t have it? Hat Grant is getting married. She is having a proper, big wedding. That is until something goes wrong. Six weeks before the day her fiancé Jimmy Mack dumps her. Hat is devastated. It can’t be happening. This is her special day. She can’t cancel everything – what about the flowers, her dress, the photographer, the caterers, her ghastly mother? So, she doesn’t. She decides to go ahead with the wedding plans come what may. Can anything stop Hat from her descent into madness or is she spiraling towards the world’s first solo wedding ceremony? Stupid Cupid is a wicked , laugh-out-loud comedy about denial, blind hope and wanting something you can’t have.

Sara