"The Poisenwood Bible" was so sad, but so good, my two eldest girls loved it too, pdswife. Succ33d, Joyce Carol Oates is good, but some of her books have left me feeling awful (Do With Me What You Will....oy). I've also enjoyed Alexander McCall Smith's "No 1. ..." books, Ishbel - he must have lived in Africa, he refers to a lot of little everyday kinds of things (like the smell of Sunlight soap). I may have mentioned/asked this before, but has anyone read "Ursula, Under" by Ingrid Hill? I read it last summer and thought it was very, very good. I'm looking for something else right now - have to pay a visit to the library soon. Also, anyone read Marianne Frederiksson's "Hannah's Daughters" (sad, but it must resonate with a lot of people - it has been translated into all sorts of languages from Swedish; for me, could have been my grandmother's and mother's story, except set in Sweden).