September
2000

THE TREE PEOPLE
by Naomi M. Stokes

Several bizarre murders take place in Washington State's scenic Olympic Peninsula while loggers and environmentalists battle over old growth forests.  Naomi M. Stokes has written a unique and involving tale, which blends ancient Native American mysticism with a modern-day police procedural.

October
2000

BAPTISM BY FIRE
by Heather Choate Davis

The author had a perfect family and an ideal, if not entirely fulfilling life...and then her baby got sick.  Throughout the harrowing six weeks of her daughter's illness, Heather loses her self-sufficiency but finds a faith which has remained with her ever since.  Heather is real, not always likeable, and never preachy.

November
2000

AN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD
by Annie Dillard

Annie Dillard remembers...everything! An American Childhood is Pulitzer Prize - winning author Annie Dillard's poignant, vivid memoir of growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950's. This autobiography of her childhood years traces her developing sense of selfhood and independence, and the reader can see the roots of the artist who would eventually emerge.

December
2000

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS
by Arundhati Roy

This poetic first novel from an award-winning Indian screenwriter is nominally the story of young twins Rahel and Estha and their family, but it feels like a million stories spinning out indefinitely.  The novel is invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language.