In my last column, published a few weeks ago, I reviewed the first five books to be discussed by members of the “Between the Lines Book Club”. In later articles, I hope to review the books to be read by the members of the other 6 book clubs in Columbus. Can you imagine? Seven book clubs in Columbus! We are, indeed, a literary society! Our many book clubs should be a source of pride for our community.

The remaining five books to be read during the 2004 year by the “Between the Lines” book club members are like a world tour. Readers will learn much about the lives of people in various countries, beginning in a small town in Maine and ending in Kabul, Afghanistan.

EMPIRE FALLS, BY RICHARD RUSSO—I think the Houston Chronicle characterizes this novel’s heart and soul: “Richard Russo is a masterful storyteller with a mission: to chronicle with insight and compassion the day-to-day life of small-town America…alternating episodes of boisterous humor with moments of heart-wrenching pathos…His characters are wholly sympathetic, but they are also human.”

BEL CANTO, BY ANN PATCHETT---- Lincoln, Nebraska chose this title to be their “One Book-One Lincoln” selection. (It’s a really neat concept---everybody in the whole city is urged to read a certain book; and then, all over Lincoln groups met to discuss this book and attend workshops about Bel Canto.)

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country’s vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera’s most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening---until a band of gun-wielding terrorists break in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER, BY LEIF ENGER--- Leif Enger’s debut is an extraordinary novel--- an epic of generosity and heart that reminds us of the restorative power of great literature. It’s a story of a father raising his three children in 1960’s Minnesota. Peace Like A River is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world.

ONCE UPON A TOWN: THE MIRACLE OF THE NORTH PLATTE CANTEEN, BY BOB GREENE---“In search of the “best America there ever was,” bestselling author and syndicated columnist Bob Greene finds it in a small Nebraska town few people pass through today--- a town where Greene discovers the echoes of the most touching love story imaginable: a love story between a country and its sons.”

From Christmas Day, 1941 to the end of World War II, a miracle happened in North Platte, Nebraska. American servicemen from every city and walk of life rolled through North Platte on troop trains, en route to their ultimate destinations in Europe and the Pacific. The tiny town, wanting to offer the servicemen warmth and support, transformed its modest railroad depot into the “North Platte Canteen”---a place where young men and women, going off to war, could enjoy coffee, music, home-cooked food, magazines, and convivial, friendly conversation during a stopover that lasted only a few minutes.

Every day of the year, every day of the war, the Canteen---staffed and funded entirely by local volunteers---was open from 5 a.m. until the last troop train of the day pulled away after midnight!!!

KITE RUNNER, BY KHALED HOSSEINI ---An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal that takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present.

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that was in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons---their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject---the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful debut.

This concludes the reading list for “Between the Lines Book Club”. As you can see, it’s very diversified. I feel certain that any of the ten selections would be an excellent read. Next week I’ll be reviewing the choices made by the Topaz Book Club.