4 Book Recommendations for January

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson (2010)

Major Pettigrew is a retired major in service to his country.  He is a dedicated citizen with his life all in order until he meets a Pakistani shopkeeper.  She is charming, delightful and loves literature. The major confronts change with various people in his life, the shopkeeper, his son and in-laws.  He is changed himself. It is quite interesting seeing how this upstanding member of British society changes.  ~ Recommended by Sue

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean (2006) 

Young Marina was a dedicated, inspired docent at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg during the Nazi siege of Leningrad in 1941.  At the conclusion of the war she was able to immigrate to the Pacific Northwest with her devoted husband.  Now at the end of her long life memories of that hard winter, living in the basement of the Hermitage and facing starvation and German bombs, she recalls those beautiful paintings of the famous Renaissance masters that hung in the galleries of the museum before they were packed and stored but she can no longer remember what she ate at breakfast nor that it is her granddaughter who is about to be married. ~ Recommended by Regina

Scaling Down: Living Large in a Smaller Space by Judi Culbertson (2005)

Looking to eliminate clutter and get organized in the New Year? Culbertson covers both the psychological and practical aspects of decluttering and simplifying in this how-to manual. You’ll go from room to room as Culbertson discusses best practices for organizing paperwork, paring down memorabilia, and letting go of duplicates or lesser used items. The book is aimed mostly at empty nesters looking to downsize, but the tips and advice given will help most any person looking to live a fulfilling life with less stuff.   ~ Recommended by Rebekah

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (2011)

This 2011 winner of the Man Booker Prize, England’s top literary award, is not a cheery book but it does offer quite a bit.  Tony Webster looks back on his life as a divorced, retired 60-year-old man and finds that his memories do not match what actually happened.  The death of a friend’s mother who bequeaths him money and the diary of a school friend who committed suicide at 22 prompts the examination of his history. Time and memory and missed opportunity arise throughout.  One of the characters early on says “We need to know the history of the historian in order to understand the version that is being put in front of us.”  The reader is invited to ponder whose history it is in this gracefully written story.  ~ Recommended by Sheila