Ahab's Wife: or, the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund. “I didn’t see this on your list and it’s one of my favorite books!!”  Amazon: From the opening line—"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last"—you will know that you are in the hands of a master storyteller and in the company of a fascinating woman hero. Inspired by a brief passage in Moby-Dick, Sena Jeter Naslund has created an enthralling and compellingly readable saga, spanning a rich, eventful, and dramatic life. At once a family drama, a romantic adventure, and a portrait of a real and loving marriage, Ahab's Wife gives new perspective on the American experience.

Discovery of Heaven by Harry Mulisch: My Dutch friend recommends this book by a Dutch author. From Amazon: An "epic tale of love, friendship, and divine intervention in this cerebral story of heavenly influence." One Amazon reviewer says it starts off like 'It's a Wonderful Life,' with a conversation between two people in Heaven talking about how they influence events on earth.

Five Sisters By James Fox. This is another biography about a Virginia family, in this case the Langhorne sisters, who include Irene (the original Gibson girl) and Nancy Astor. Their family was remarkable – almost Kennedyesque. It was a quick read, and very entertaining.

Metropolis by Elizabeth Gaffney: "Historical fiction set in NYC during building of Brooklyn Bridge."  From Amazon: "On a freezing night in the middle of winter, Gaffney’s nameless hero is suddenly awakened by a fire in P. T. Barnum’s stable, where he works and sleeps, and soon finds himself at the center of a citywide arson investigation.  Determined to clear his name and realize the dreams that inspired his hazardous voyage across the Atlantic, he will change his identity many times, find himself mixed up with one of the city’s toughest and most enterprising gangs, and fall in love with a smart, headstrong, and beautiful young woman. Buffeted by the forces of fate, hate, luck, and passion, our hero struggles to build a life–just to stay alive–in a country that at first held so much promise for him." 

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luis Zafon – “Set in Barcelona in the 1950s, this a wonderful, intricate (long) story full of interesting characters, mystery, romance, adventure and fantasy. Terrific story telling!”

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  Huge bestseller in the early 00s.  From Amazon:  "A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant."  They made a movie out of it with Rachel McAdams.