This month, being my birth month, i will be looking at books that were published in 1992. I was happy to discover that '92 was a year for good books, many that may even be considered classics. I have selected 10 books that i consider noteworthy either by reputation or from my experience (I have not read all of them).

1. Jewels by Danielle Steel

On Sarah Whitfield’s seventy-fifth birthday, memories take her back to New York in the 1930s. To a marriage that ends after a year, leaving Sarah shattered. A trip to Europe with her parents does little to raise her spirits, until she meets William, Duke of Whitfield. In time, despite her qualms, William insists on giving up his distant right to the British throne to make Sarah his duchess and his wife. On their honeymoon, the newlyweds buy an old French Chateau, but not long after, the war begins. William joins the allied forces, leaving Sarah, their first child, an infant, and their second child on the way, in France. After the Nazi forces take over the chateau, Sarah continues to survive the terror and deprivation of the Occupation, unwavering in her belief that her missing-in-action husband is still alive.
After the war, as a gesture of goodwill, the Whitfield's start buying jewels offered for sale by impoverished war survivors. With Sarah’s style and keen eye, the collection becomes the prestigious Whitfield’s jewelry store in Paris. Eventually, their jewelry business expands to London and Rome, as their family grows. Phillip, their firstborn, is stubborn and proud; Julian, their second son, is charming and generous and warm; Isabelle is rebellious and willful; and Xavier, unusual and untamed, is the final unexpected gift of their love. They each find their own way, but will be drawn to the great house of gems their parents built. In Jewels, Danielle Steel takes the reader through five eventful decades that include war, passion, international intrigue, and the strength of family through it all.

2. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

In suburban Georgetown a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home… In a seedy D.C. Indecency house a patron is swiftly garroted to death… The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief… To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder — a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust — an ambitious reporter after a news break hotter than Watergate — to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House’s inner sanctum, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby’s brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime.

3. Jazz by Toni Morrison

In the winter of 1926, when everybody everywhere sees nothing but good things ahead, Joe Trace, middle-aged door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, shoots his teenage lover to death. At the funeral, Joe’s wife, Violet, attacks the girl’s corpse.This passionate, profound story of love and obsession brings us back and forth in time, as a narrative is assembled from the emotions, hopes, fears, and deep realities of black urban life.

4. Sleepwalking Land by Mia Couto

As the civil war rages in 1980s Mozambique, an old man and a young boy, refugees from the war, seek shelter in a burnt-out bus. Among the effects of a dead passenger, they come across a set of notebooks that tell of his life. As the boy reads the story to his elderly companion, this story and their own develop in tandem. Written in 1992, Mia Couto’s first novel is a powerful indictment of the suffering war brings.

5. The First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith

Elise, Brenda, and Annie have one thing in common: they were all first wives. Make that two things in common -- they were the secret to success for each of their spouses, faithfully supporting them as they rose to the top. Okay, three things: they were each abandoned for younger, blonder, sleeker women, "trophy wives" for their exes to sport about town.

It may not be on the menu at New York's finer restaurants, but revenge is a dish best served cold -- and while lunching at Le Cirque, the ladies decide the time for self-pity is over: now it's time to get even. How they conspire to give each man his due -- in full view of New York society -- makes The First Wives Club the "deliciously wicked" (San Francisco Chronicle) indulgence that, like vintage champagne, goes straight to your head...and captures your heart along the way!

6. Rising Sun by Michael Crichton

On the forty-fifth floor of the Nakamoto tower in downtown Los Angeles—the new American headquarters of the immense Japanese conglomerate—a grand opening celebration is in full swing.

On the forty-sixth floor, in an empty conference room, the corpse of a beautiful young woman is discovered.

The investigation immediately becomes a headlong chase through a twisting maze of industrial intrigue, a no-holds-barred conflict in which control of a vital American technology is the fiercely coveted prize—and in which the Japanese saying “Business is war” takes on a terrifying reality.

7. 'I' is for Innocent by Sue Grafton

I IS FOR IF . . .

Five years ago David Barney was acquitted of the murder of his rich wife, Isabelle. Now, Isabelle's ex-husband, Ken Voigt―who is suing Barney for her estate―is claiming the jury made a fatal mistake...

I IS FOR INDICTMENT . . .

Enter P.I. Kinsey Millhone, who takes the Barney case over from a former colleague…and comes up with more questions than answers. Why are Mr. Barney's witnesses denying ever having spoken to him? Why did Isabelle have so many enemies―including but not limited to her best friend, Voight's second wife, and her own twin sister?

I IS FOR INNOCENT

But the most troubling question of all is: Why is it that everything David Barney has to say about his beloved Isabelle still checks out? Now it's up to Kinsey to figure out who's getting away with murder . . . .before she courts her own.

8. Bailey's Cafe by Gloria Naylor

Welcome to Bailey's Café, the most mythically real diner you've ever walked into. Presided over by Bailey and his helpmate, Nadine, it is a magnet that draws a wide variety of the "colored" people of 1948, each with a story to tell. Bailey tells us about his love for his strong, quiet wife, and shares his haunting memories of World War II. Then, one by one, we hear from the café's regulars. There is Sadie, whose addiction to alcohol is second only to her mania for cleanliness; the oddly maternal Eve, whose bordello accepts only fresh flowers as legal tender; Sweet Esther, who takes nothing but white roses for her particular favors; Peaches, whose badly mutilated face is a sharp contrast to her beautiful body; Jesse Bell, who cannot overcome her lust for heroin; Miss Maple (whose real name is Stanley); and Mariam, the Ethiopian child who may be the bearer of a miracle. Gloria Naylor, author of "Women of Brewster Place" and "Mama Day", has created perhaps her finest work in "Bailey's Café". Her wonderful chorus of characters tell tales of woe and fortitude, prejudice and pride; Naylor has transformed the trials of these outcasts into timeless truths about the strengths of people everywhere.

9. French Silk by Sandra Brown

Like the city of New Orleans itself, Claire Laurent is a vibrant beauty laced with a mysterious elusiveness. The founder of French Silk, a fabulous lingerie company, she has fought hard to make it a worldwide success. Then a TV evangelist attacks French Silk's erotic sleepwear as sinful. And when he is killed, Claire becomes the prime suspect.

District Attorney Robert Cassidy knows Claire is damning herself with lie after lie about the murder, even as he feels her drawing him into her world and her very soul. But neither Cassidy nor her protests of innocence can save Claire unless she reveals a shocking truth -- one she has sworn to take to the grave...

10. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

The final curtain is closing on the Second World War, and Hana, a nurse, stays behind in an abandoned Italian villa to tend to her only remaining patient. Rescued by Bedouins from a burning plane, he is English, anonymous, damaged beyond recognition and haunted by his memories of passion and betrayal. The only clue Hana has to his past is the one thing he clung on to through the fire - a copy of The Histories by Herodotus, covered with hand-written notes describing a painful and ultimately tragic love affair.

BONUS

Boys over Flowers

This classic shojo is featured in a 51-episode anime series. When her only friend, Makiko, accidentally offends F4 leader Tsukasa, Tsukushi boldly defends her. Enraged, Tsukasa puts the dreaded red tag in Tsukushi's locker — a sign that she is now a target for the abuse of the F4 gang and the entire school. But when Tsukushi fights the gang with their own weapon, Tsukasa finds himself falling for her!

Have you read any of these books? Let me know your favorites in the comments.