The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

Why did I not like this book which has over six million copies in print? Perhaps it was the combination of a rather realistic tragedy with a magical encounter with God. Perhaps it was the puerile writing. Perhaps I just didn't like the theology. At times the sickening sweetness of it embarrassed me.

Faust in Copenhagen by Gino Segre

Subtitled "A Struggle for the Soul of Physics," this book humanizes physics and sets it into historical context in the early years of quantum mechanics. In 1932 prominent physicists Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein, Ehrenfest, Dirac and others gathered in Copenhagen for a free form discussion of their work. This was an annual event for them and as part of it the men did a skit based on Goethe's Faust. They wrote it in rhyme and poked fun at their own personalities and work. Segre includes a lot of biographical information and stories about physics discoveries told in an easy-to-understand way. My only complaint is that it skips back and forth in time; I think the material could have been better arranged in either straight chronological order or physicist by physicist.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Like A Prayer for Owen Meany Wroblewski's novel centers around a young boy who is markedly different from his peers. Edgar Sawtelle was born with an inability to speak, but he learned to use sign language with his parents and thrived on the farm where they bred and trained dogs for people who were willing to pay the $1500 they charged. Edgar's father dies early in the story and circumstances of his death create a mystery that tortures Edgar, who had the unfortunate fate of finding the body. I liked this book in spite of the fact that the writing seemed a little poetically self indulgent. It could have been edited down to about two-thirds the size of its 562 pages.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

The woman is Mamah Borthwick Cheney; the man is the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. They each left a spouse and children to pursue the love affair that scandalized Chicago in 1909. In this first novel, Nancy Horan sticks as close to actual facts as she can, but imagines the situation from the point of view of Mamah. Loving Frank is a good read that generated much discussion and many points of view at our book club meeting. A few members couldn't get over the fact that Mamah chose romantic love over being with her children. But some of us saw an overarching theme of the conflict between the need for personal fulfillment versus commitment to family. All of us felt that the story was tragic.