Reading of Years Past

1999

• Women At Home in Victorian America, Ellen M. Plante; (****)
• Travels with Charley, John Steinbeck; (***)
• The Weaker Vessel, Antonia Fraser; (****)
• Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak; (***)
• Dog Stories, James Herriot; (****)
• McTeague, Frank Norris; (**)
• Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe, Henri Pirenne;(*)
• A Separate Peace, John Knowles; (**)
• A Little Yellow Dog, Walter Mosley; (*)
• A Red Death, Walter Mosley; (*)
• A Sudden, Fearful Death, Anne Perry; (***)
• Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton; (****)
• Hiroshima, John Hersey; (**)
• Scenes of America, essays; (**)
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott; (****)
• A Gentle Madness, Nicholas Basbanes; (****)
• Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys; (**)
• Death in Venice, Thomas Mann; (***)
• The Women's Room, Marilyn French; (***)
• Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt; (*****)
• Murder on the Orient Express, Agatha Christie; (****)
• Madam Crowl's Ghost & other stories, Sheridan LeFanu; (***)
• The Whirlpool, George Gissing; (***)
• The Mystery of the Blue Train, Agatha Christie; (***)
• The Midnight Club, James Patterson; (*)
• Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever, Judge Judy Sheindlin; (**)
• At Home in Mitford, Jan Karon; (****)
• All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot; (****)
• The Club Dumas, Arturo Perez-Reverte; (****)
• The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant, Pamela Horn; (****)
• Biblioholism, Tom Raabe; (*)
• The Wicked Winter, Kate Sedley; (****)
• Where Angels Fear to Tread, E.M. Forester; (*****)
• How Green Was My Valley, Richard Llewellyn; (****)
• The First Eagle, Tony Hillerman; (***)
• The Long Goodbye, Raymond Chandler; (***)
• "O" is for Outlaw, Sue Grafton; (****)
• 'Tis, Frank McCourt; (**)

1998

• Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden; (*****)
• London, Edward Rutherfurd; (****)
• Death and the Chapman, Kate Sedley; (****)
• Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul, Jack Canfield; (*)
• Dickens' Fur Coat & Charlotte's Unanswered Letters, Daniel Pool; (**)
• The Weaver's Tale, Kate Sedley; (****)
• Ellen Foster, Kaye Gibbons; (*)
• Scarlet Women, J. D. Christilian; (**)
• Dan Lemo and the Limehouse Golem, Peter Ackroyd; (***)
• The Shunning, Beverly Lewis; (**)
• The Holy Innocents, Kate Sedley; (****)
• The Face of a Stranger, Anne Perry; (***)
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt; (***)
• The Plymouth Cloak, Kate Sedley; (****)
• A Dangerous Mourning, Anne Perry; (***)
• Defend and Betray, Anne Perry; (***)
• The Eve of St. Hyacinth, Kate Sedley; (****)
• Sleeping Fires, George Gissing; (***)
• The Autobiography of a Tibetian Monk, Palden Gyatso; (****)
• Russka, Edward Rutherfurd; (****)
• Life in a Medieval Village, Frances & Joseph Gies; (***)
• Surrendering to Motherhood, Iris Krasnow; (**)
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie; (****)
• The ABC Murders, Agatha Christie; (***)
• Give the Boys a Great, Big Hand, Ed McBain; (**)
• "N" is for Noose, Sue Grafton; (****)
• Chromosome 6, Robin Cook; (**)
• Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell; (*)
• Maggie, a Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane; (**)
• Cape Cod, William Martin; (**)
• Bethlehem Road, Anne Perry; (***)
• Sleepers, Lorenzo Carcaterra; (***)
• The Last, Best Hope, Ed McBain; (***)
• Secret Prey, John Sandford; (****)
• Killer's Choice, Ed McBain; (**)

1997

• The Unclassed, George Gissing; (****)
• Kiss the Girls, James Patterson; (***)
• The Long, Fatal Love Chase, Louisa May Alcott; (***)
• "M" is for Malice, Sue Grafton; (****)
• Moonlight Becomes Her, Mary Higgins Clark; (***)
• Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey, Lillian Schissel; (****)
• Chain of Evidence, Ridley Pearson; (**)
• Beach Music, Pat Conroy; (****)
• The Last Don, Mario Puzo; (***)
• Along Came a Spider, James Patterson; (**)
• The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco; (*****)
• The Rapture of Canaan, Sheri Reynolds, (*)
• The 6 Messiahs, Mark Frost; (*)
• The Body in the Library, Agatha Christie; (****)
• I, Claudius, Robert Graves; (****)
• Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd; (*****)
• The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; (***)
• The Victorian Scene: 1837-1901, Nicholas Bentley; (***)
• The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger; (*****)
• The Serpent's Coil, Farley Mowat; (****)
• My Antonia, Willa Cather; (***)
• The Great Train Robbery, Michael Crichton; (****)
• She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb; (*)
• The Europeans, Henry James; (***)
• Darkest Day, Christopher Fowler; (***)
• The Genesis Code, John Case; (**)
• The Potter's Field, Ellis Peters; (****)
• Dead Man's Ransom, Ellis Peters; (****)
• The Complete Angel, James N. Pruitt; (*)
• Forever Amber, Kathleen Winsor; (****)
• The Confession of Brother Haluin, Ellis Peters; (****)
• A Vow of Obedience, Veronica Black; (**)
• The Summer of the Danes, Ellis Peters; (****)
• The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr; (***)
• Life on a Medieval Barony, William S. Davis; (***)

1996

• Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens; (****)
• Anthony Adverse, Hervey Allen; (***)
• Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen; (*****)
• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne; (**)
• L'Assommoir (The Gin House), Emile Zola; (****)
• Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett; (*****)
• And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie; (***)
• Thomas, Shelly Mydans; (****)
• Agnes Grey, Anne Bronte; (****)
• Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith; (****)
• Roots, Alex Haley; (****)
• Reversible Error, Robert Tanenbaum; (*)
• The Essential Handbook of Victorian Etiquette, Prof. Thomas Hill; (**)
• The Dead Secret, Wilkie Collins; (***)
• Wild Women, Autumn Stephens; (**)
• Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie; (***)
• Gigi, Colette; (**)
• A Murder is Announced, Agatha Christie; (**)
• The Bestseller, Olivia Goldsmith; (****)
• The Hermit of Eyton Forest, Ellis Peters; (****)
• The Virgin in the Ice, Ellis Peters; (***)
• One Corpse Too Many, Ellis Peters; (***)
• The Rose Rent, Ellis Peters; (****)
• The Sanctuary Sparrow, Ellis Peters; (***)
• Sudden Prey, John Sandford, (***)
• Brother Cadfael's Penance, Ellis Peters; (****)
• The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins; (****)

1995

• A Dangerous Fortune, Ken Follett; (***)
• The Buccaneers, Edith Wharton; (****)
• The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton; (**)
• Lady Chatterly's Lover, D. H. Lawrence; (****)
• David Copperfield, Charles Dickens; (*****)
• Love Medicine, Louise Erdrich; (**)
• Basil, Wilkie Collins; (***)
• New Grub Street, George Gissing; (****)
• Degree of Guilt, Richard North Patterson; (***)
• The Nether World, George Gissing; (****)
• The Haunted Hotel, Wilkie Collins; (****)
• Born in Exile, George Gissing; (****)
• Dead Man's Folly, Agatha Christie; (***)
• Sad Cypress, Agatha Christie; (***)
• Towards Zero, Agatha Christie; (**)
• N or M, Agatha Christie; (****)
• The Rainmaker, John Grisham; (***)
• Eyes of a Child, Richard North Patterson; (***)
• Romance, Ed McBain; (***)
• The Alienist, Caleb Carr; (****)
• Rules of Prey, John Sandford; (****)
• Shadow Prey, John Sandford; (***)
• Eyes of Prey, John Sandford; (****)
• Silent Prey, John Sandford; (***)
• Winter Prey, John Sandford; (****)
• Night Prey, John Sandford; (****)
• Mind Prey, John Sandford; (****)
• Nicholas and Alexandria, Robert K. Massie; (****)
• The Odd Women, George Gissing; (****)
• Centennial, James A. Michener; (***)
• "L" is for Lawless, Sue Grafton; (****)
• Hawaii, James A. Michener; (***)
• Nana, Emile Zola; (****)

1994

• Daphne du Maurier, a biography, Margaret Forster; (****)
• Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe; (***)
• Jamaica Inn, Daphne du Maurier; (***)
• The Monk, Matthew Lewis; (****)
• The Scapegoat, Daphne du Maurier; (***)
• Vampire Stories, Alan Ryan ed; (***)
• Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray; (****)
• Prime Witness, Steve Martini; (**)
• Four Past Midnight, Stephen King; (***)
• "J" is for Judgement, Sue Grafton; (****)
• Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow; (***)
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, SIr Arthur Conan Doyle; (****)
• Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Alan Gurganus; (****)
• Pleading Guilty, Scott Turow; (**)
• Flavor of the Month, Olivia Goldsmith; (***)
• Perfect Victim, Christine McGuire; (*)
• The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne; (****)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson; (***)
• Voyage in the Dark, Jean Rhys; (**)
• The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins; (****)
• Frenchman's Creek, Daphne du Maurier; (**)
• The Middle Ages, Morris Bishop; (*****)
• The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler; (***)
• Satori in Paris, Jack Kerouac; (**)
• Guardian, John Saul; (**)
• Delta of Venus, Anais Nin; (***)
• Little Birds, Anais Nin; (***)
• Chesapeake, James A. Michener; (****)
• Queen, Alex Haley; (****)
• The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck; (****)
• The List of 7, Mark Frost; (****)
• The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas; (*****)
• Criminal Seduction, Darian North; (*)
• Around the World in Eighty Days, Jules Verne; (***)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles, SIr Arthur Conan Doyle; (****)
• Sacred Clowns, Tony Hillerman; (***)
• I'll Be Seeing You, Mary Higgins Clark; (***)
• "K" is for Killer, Sue Grafton; (****)

1993

• The Pelican Brief, John Grisham; (***)
• The Secret History, Donna Tartt; (****)
• Mafia Cop, Lou Eppolito; (*)
• Anywhere But Here, Mona Simpson; (*)
• Scent of Evil, Archer Mayer; (*)
• Open Season, Archer Mayer; (*)
• My Secret History, Paul Theroux; (***)
• Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand; (****)
• Celestial Navigation, Anne Tyler; (*)
• Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton; (****)
• The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand; (****)
• Congo, Michael Crichton; (*)
• Beloved, Toni Morrison; (**)
• Sphere, Michael Crichton; (*)
• All Around the Town, Mary Higgins Clark; (**)
• First Wives' Club, Olivia Goldsmith; (****)
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou; (***)
• In Xanadu, William Dalrymple; (****)
• The Courtship of Joanna, Catherine Gourley; (****)
• "C" is for Corpse, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "D" is for Deadbeat, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "E" is for Evidence, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "G" is for Gumshoe, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "A" is for Alibi, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "B" is for Burgler, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "F" is for Fugitive, Sue Grafton; (****)
• "H" is for Homicide, Sue Grafton; (****)
• Rising Sun, Michael Crichton; (****)
• "I" is for Innocent, Sue Grafton; (****)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde; (***)
• The Novel, James A. Michener; (***)
• The Collector, John Fowles; (*)
• The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole; (*)
• Princess, Jean Sasson; (****)
• Lasher, Anne Rice; (*)
• Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher; (*)
• The Client, John Grisham; (****)
• Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier; (*****)
• The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison; (*)
• Lady's Maid, Margaret Forster; (*****)
• The Burden of Proof, Scott Turow; (***)

1992

• Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice (***)
• The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice (*)
• Francis Slocum, Lost Sister of Wyoming, John F. McGinness (***)
• How to Retire at 35, Paul Terhorst (*)
• Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (****)
• Fatu-Hiva, Thor Heyerdahl (***)
• Widows, Ed McBain (**)
• Pudd'nhead Wilson, Mark Twain (***)
• The Firm, John Grisham, (***)
• Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser (***)
• Punish the Sinners, John Saul (*)
• Cold Fire, Dean R. Koontz (**)
• A Time to Kill, John Grisham (***)
• Siddhartha, Herman Hesse (****)
• The Feast of All Saints, Anne Rice (***)
• The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher (***)
• Surfacing, Margaret Atwood, (***)
• Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice (****)
• The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (****)
• The Mummy, Anne Rice (**)
• Needful Things, Stephen King (***)
• Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (****)
• The Tale of the Body Thief, Anne Rice (***)
• Growing Up Brady, Barry Williams (*)
• Getting Things Done, Edwin C. Bliss (*)
• Les Miserables, Victor Hugo (*****)

1991

• The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (****)
• Sleepwalk, John Saul (*)
• The God Project, John Saul (***)
• Rummies, Peter Benchley (**)
• Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris (****)
• While My Pretty One Sleeps, Mary Higgins Clark (***)
• The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin (****)
• Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin (*)
• Blind Faith, Joe McGinniss (**)
• Coyote Waits, Tony Hillerman (****)
• Gullliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (****)
• The Right Stuff, Thomas Wolfe (*****)
• Anna Karenina, Count Leo Tolstoy (*****)
• Red Dragon, Thomas Harris (***)
• The Rise and Fall of Adolph Hilter, William L. Shirer (****)
• The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (****)
• Hard Times, Charles Dickens (****)
• Pere' Goriot, Honore' de Balzac (*****)
• Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (****)
• A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (*****)
• Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston (*)

1990

• Fletch Lives, Gregory McDonald (*)
• The Serpent's Mark, Robert L. Duncan (*)
• Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (***)
• Masquerade, Lowell Cauffield, (0)
• Copp for Hire, Hon Pendleton, (**)
• Resurrection, William M. Valtos (**)
• Mugger, Ed McBain (**)
• The Catcher in the Rye (*)
• She Who Remembers, Linda Lay Shuler (****)
• A Night to Remember, Walter Lord (****)
• Crime and Punishment, Fyofor Dostoevsky (****)
• The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor (**)
• The Stranger, Albert Camus (***)
• Native Son, Richard Wright (****)
• Weep No More, My Lady, Mary Higgins Clark (***)
• Wiseguy, Nicholas Pileggi (****)
• In Cold Blood, Truman Capote (****)
• The Legacy of Ladysmith,John Kenny Crane (**)
• Star Trek: The Lost Years, J. M. Dillard (****)
• Ritual, William Heffernan (0)
• Lord of the Dance, Andrew M. Greeley (**)
• Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice (****)
• The Bad Place Dean R. Koontz (**)
• Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here, Ed McBain (***)
• Sadie, When She Died, Ed McBain (**)
• The Servants of Twilight, Dean R. Koontz (*)
• A Thief of Time, Tony Hillerman (***)
• The World According to Garp, John Irving (****)
• Creature, John Saul (***)
• Lord of the Flies, William Golding (***)
• Shotgun, Ed McBain (***)
• The Acts of King Arthur & His Noble Knights, John Steinbeck (****)
• Blood Relatives, Ed McBain (**)
• Talking God, Tony Hilerman (****)
• Vespers, Ed McBain (****)
• The Dark Wind, Tony Hillerman (***)
• People of Darkness, Tony Hillerman (***)
• Dracula, Bram Stoker (*****)
• The Witching Hour, Anne Rice (**)