Mary Lee P

The Sacred Scripture is the autobiography of a woman nearing 100 years old, who has spent most of her life in an insane asylum in the Irish countryside. She recounts her memories of the harrowing years of her youth, full of tragedy and betrayal. At the same time we meet the head psychiatrist of the institution in which she has resided for decades. He must evaluate her condition to see if she can be reenter the "real" world. He visits her repeatedly and uncovers the official accounts of her past which are at odds with the memories she has shared with him. Which account is real, and which imagined? Only the reader is privy to both complete accounts. This beautifully written book explores the mysteries of memory, and the fragility and resiliency of the human mind and spirit. When I finished it, I wanted to start it all over again.

With South of Broad, an ode to the beauty of Charleston and the joys and sorrows of friendship, Pat Conroy pulled me into his imagined world from page one. It's not the first time this has happened and I hope it won't be the last. The most vivid complex character is the city itself. He captures the smells, sights, sounds and spirit of this beautiful, fragile place.

It turns out "The New World" wasn't so new after all. The idea that North and South America, before Columbus, was home to more inhabitants than Europe at that time is completely at odds with what we learned in school. But in a work that synthesizes recent scholarship, Mann makes a very good case for the concept that ancient civilizations had inhabited the Western Hemisphere for millenia. It explains the existence of ruined cities throughout south and central America. and the huge contributions to agriculture; maize, tomatoes, and potatoes which became staples around the world. DNA analysis explains just how devastating European diseases were to Native Americans from the first moments of contact, even before European settlement. It is a fascinating look at an accidental disaster that did indeed create a "New World."