Reading for Renewal

Our Women's Fellowship has participated in the UCC Women's "Reading for Renewal" program for many years. Below is a list of books for the 2010 - 2011 season. For more information on each book, visit the UCC Women's site. You may also click here for a printable brochure.

 

The Florida UCC Women's Book List 2011-2012

1. Albom, Mitch, Have a Little Faith, his faith as learned and practiced with his life-long friend and Rabbi, as well as a heart-warming experience with a Detroit Pentecostal pastor adding to a lovely faith journey.

 

2. Barbery, Muriel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, an unusual pair of protagonists share the way that we humans use power, time, and the beauty of relationships to find the meaning of life; by turns, humorous and heart-rending, set in Paris.

 

3. Bernstein, Harry, The Invisible Wall, a remarkable story post WWII when Jews and Angli-cans learned how to get along in a Lancashire mill town. The author is an amazing 92 years young; he is writing his next book!

 

4. Binchy, Maeve, Echoes, the clash of classes in her usual style; another Irish tale by one of our favorite romantic novelists.

 

5. Cahill, Thomas, A Saint on Death Row, the story of Dominique Green, an innocent on death row, whose story condemns our use of the death penalty.

 

6. Dallas, Sandra, Tall Grass, a heartbreaker of South Africa and the determination and en-durance of beautiful lives to survive, a lovely story.

 

7. DeRosnay, Tatiana, Sarah’s Key, Paris in 1942 when thousands of Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz; Sarah survives ultimately but loses her family.

 

8. Feiler, Bruce, America’s Prophet, the shaping of our country owes perhaps more to Moses than Jesus; Feiler traces Moses’ image and words in American history and culture decade by decade.

 

9. Hall, Ron and Moore, Denver, Same Kind of Different as Me, a young couple working at a mission in Ft. Worth, Tx, befriend a street person; all three learn the importance of pa-tience, tolerance and endurance in building relationships.

 

10. Hill, Lawrence, Someone Knows My Name, an unforgettable woman comes to America as a slave during the revolution, works for the British and eventually returns to Africa and Eng-land.

 

11. Kidder, Tracy, Strength in What Remains, with $200 in his pocket and very little under-standing of English, Deo flees war-torn Rwanda/Burundi hoping to return as a Doctor after an extraordinary American cultural and education adventure.

 

12. Martin, Charles, When Crickets Cry, a young girl’s life hangs in the balance and a retired heart surgeon must make a critical decision to save her.

 

13. Maxwell, Robin, Signora daVinci, Renaissance intrigue and the story of an amazing woman (Leonardo DaVinci’s mother).

 

14. Mortenson, Greg, Stones Into Schools, can there be a sequel matching the joy of Three Cups of Tea? This is it, hopeful and heart-warming in the continuing, pioneering story of Greg’s work in building schools for girls in Afghanistan.

 

15. Mosse, Kate, Sepulchre, an engrossing adventure occurs when an American graduate stu-dent unearths an 1891 mystery while researching the life of Claude DeBussey in Rennes-Les Bains, France

 

16. Lee, Janice Y K, The Piano Teacher, an intriguing tale of life in 1950’s Hong Kong as a shy Englishwoman and an Eurasian beauty clash culturally and socially in the love of a difficult man.

 

17. Pedersen, Laura, Last Call, a humorous, rambunctious Scotsman on his last legs meets a delightful nun playing hooky from her Holy Orders; you’ll laugh and cry sometimes at the same time in this book.

 

18. Rice, Anne, The Road to Cana, Jesus continues to narrate the next part of his life story, his baptism, the calling of the Disciples, and the beautiful wedding at Cana are the inspiration for Rice’s second installment of what she has said will be a trilogy.

 

19. Smith, Alexander McCall, The Miracle at Speedy Motors, #9 in the Ladies 31 Detective Agency.

 

20. Smith, Alexander McCall, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, #10 in the series-Precious and her delightful cast are not to be missed in these continuing adventures in her beloved Botswana.

 

21. Standiford, Les, Last Train to Paradise, the remarkable efforts by Henry Flagler to build a railroad to Key West in the ‘20’s; a must read for all Floridians.

 

22. Stockett, Kathryn, The Help, a young white woman tells the story of black maids in Missis-sippi in the 60’s.

 

23. Strout, Elizabeth, Olive Kitteridge, Olive has retired but was everyone’s feisty teacher and neighbor affecting the lives of the townsfolk of Crosby, Me.

 

24. Sullenberger, Chesley, Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, Sully’s amazing incident in the Hudson River and how it affected his life and ours.

 

25. Walls, Jeanette, Half Broke Horses, the author focuses on her Grandmother’s pioneer life in Texas, as she survives adversity with good-humored determination.

 

Mission Study Books 2010-2011

  

1. Idliby, Ranya; Oliver, Suzanne and Warner, Priscilla, The Faith Club , A Muslim, A Chris-tian, A Jew, 3 Women Search for Understanding

 

2. Sachar, Howard M., History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to our Time, a modern classic, the most authoritative and readable history of the Jewish state ever published, is now extensively updated, providing readers with the full story of Israel from its early 19th-century ideological beginnings to the Lebanon War of 2006.

 

3. Segev, Tom, One Palestine Complete, a panoramic history of Palestine under the British mandate chronicles a turbulent thirty-year history, from 1917 to 1948, that set the stage for the conflict between Arabs and Jews that still haunts the region today profil-ing the key figures and documenting the important events that shape Palestine.

 

4. Weaver, Mary Anne, Pakistan, In the Shadow of Jihad-Afghanistan, author, elucidates, a country in turmoil through two decades of eyewitness reporting and unparalleled access to Pakistan’s presidents, prime ministers, general and politicians.

 

5. Marcus, Amy Docker, Jerusalem 1913, The Origins of the Arab-Israel Journalist Marcus asserts that the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict began much earlier than what is commonly thought. She focuses on crucial events from 1913—the year of the First Arab Congress as well as the first secret peace talks—and how World War I interrupted these efforts.