2014 Book and Movie Recommendations

Books

“Fidelity” by Wendell Berry, Five short stories

“Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver, story revolving around family dynamics

and how climate change plays a role

“A Woman Named Hope” by David Bergen

“Proof of Heaven” by Eben Alexander

“Settlers of the Marsh” & “Over Prairie Trails” by Frederick Philip Grove

“Eyes at the Window” by Evie Yoder Miller, story of an Amish community back in

the l800’s

“The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew– Three Women Search for

Understanding” by Randy Idilby, Susanne Oliver & Priscilla Warner, story about

3 women following 9/11

“In Search of America” by Frederick Philip Grove

“Beyond Belief”, by Senna Hill, life inside Scientology (true story) “The Prism” by

Andrea Baggi, story of a woman with a multi-fractured personality

“The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, father & son walk along through burned

America

“No Great Mischief’ by Alister Macleod

“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce, aman in search of

himself following retirement

“Up Here” magazine about northern Canada

“What the Dog Saw” by Malcom Gladwell (Reporter for the NewYorker),

collection of articles

“Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith” by Andrew Preston, how religion influences

American foreign policy and War

“Freedom” by Jonathan Fransen, contemporary American Family

“The Great Disgeneration” by Nile Ferguson, 2008 economic crash

“The Light Between Oceans” by ML. Stedman, story of a lighthouse keeper and

his wife and how their lives change when a boat washes up on shore with a dead

man and a living baby

“The Purchase” by Linda Spaldings, 1798 setting about someone being exiled

from a Quaker community

“Together Tea” by Marian Kamali, complicated cultural identity story between a

daughter and her parents i970-S Tehran – l990’s New York

“The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society” by MaryAnn Schafer & Annie

Barrows, an exchange of letters describing life on Guernsey Island following

WW2

“I Shall Not Hate” by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Gaza doctor’s journey

“How to Read Bible Stories & Myths in Art” by Patrick De Rynck

“Nomad” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a triumph of the human spirit “Under an Afghan Sky”

by Meliissa Fung, a memoir of captivity

Movies

“Unfinished Sky” A Widowed Australian farmer takes in an Afghan Woman who

has fled from a brothel after a brutal assault

“Partition” During the turmoil and violence of Partition, a Sikh ex-soldier, haunted

by war, offers shelter to a young Muslim woman who has been separated from

her family

“The Visitor” A lonesome widower who is also a depressed college Professor,

befriends a pair of illegal immigrants. Life changing for him.

“Far Pavillions” set in India mid l800’s

“Anna Karenina” Set in late 19th century Russia high-society

“Temple Grandin” Story of her life

“Learning How to Understand & Appreciate Classical Music”

“Monsieur Hazhar” Man from Algeria is a fugitive in USA

“Mary & Martha” Two women who have both lost a son in Africa

“Music of the Heart” Story of a teacher struggling to teach violin to inner city

Harlem kids

“The Way”

“42” Jackie Robinson story

“The Butler”