Hoeg creates cold and loneliness with his prose. This book makes one FEEL that they must follow Smilla through her obsessive search for a boy's killer through Denmark and Greenland. This is the most beautiful writing style I have ever seen applied to the thriller genre.

This novel is an unflinching, sometimes brutal portrayal of life for women in 19th century China. It's also the story of a friendship between women that must have been very rare in such a time. The novel depicts the mysterious ritual of foot-binding and the little-known tradition of women's "secret writing," called nu shu, and so opens the hidden world of these women. Yet despite all the restrictions on their lives — and despite their human flaws — these women survived and created intimate lifelong relationships with one another. Clearly, there's more than enough fodder for any book club to discuss and debate.

Until I read this book, I was not as aware of Japanese internment during WWII and through the story of children growing and learning about this I was made more aware of the situation. Also, I appreciated the writing, the story telling, and for me the title also describes the way the story falls from the sky, building and building.

This is a journey of the soul without having to go anywhere. It started out as a quest to find and photograph the elusive snow leopard, but after the author's wife passes away he finds real peace in his life, and discovers what his future holds with his young son. It sent shivers down my spine; I was chilled by the connection I had with the author who was unknowingly looking for the same things as me. Some day I'll get there, retrace his steps, and perhaps find a path of my own.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening is my favorite poem. The mood of quiet evening and snowfall as a blank canvas, the poet considers what he might do if he didn't have "promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep." Beautiful, hopeful, yet poignant and melancholy.

I think this is destined to be a classic. You'll think differently about pizza delivery after this.

This is a very funny book, and there's way more information about snowmen around than you would think. Lots of illustrations, especially of the Victorian era, but my favorite is a painting of a 1500s snowball fight.

A little boy has a fun day playing in the snow, and even tries to keep a snowball in his coat pocket inside! A strikingly beautiful 1963 Caldecott Medal winner.