Second Growth by Wallace Stegner

About a rural town in New England - the people who live there, the urbanites who spend their summers there, and the encroaching outside world. Not one of my favorites of Stegner’s, but I enjoyed it and it’s – as always – well-written.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

After a horrible divorce, Gilbert spends a year traveling – 4 months of hedonistic existence in Italy, then 4 months at an ashram in India, then 4 months finding “balance” in Bali. The author often tries too hard to be funny/cute/clever, which makes the book seem pretty superficial and glib - but I enjoyed it.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

I bought this book because of the absurd title and the creative layout – each chapter is a class on a syllabus for a Great Works literature course, with the conclusion as the final exam. It’s about a high school senior and her father, a professor – but it gets more complicated than the standard coming-of-age fare. I was immediately impressed with the writing, described by one reviewer as demonstrating a “talent for verbal acrobatics”. This is the author’s first book – published to mostly rave reviews - so I’ll bet there are more to come from her.

Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux

With a trip to Patagonia planned in Nov, I tried some of the travel literature related to Patagonia. First, I read In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin, a classic of travel literature - but found it boring and disjointed. Then read Old Patagonian Express about Theroux’s trip by train from Boston to Patagonia. It’s not really about Patagonia – but I really enjoyed Theroux’s eye for detail, sense of humor and writing style.

The Camel Club by David Baldacci

It’s too bad that Baldacci seems to be suffering the fate of many authors who’ve published several books. The early ones were really good, but the later ones are predictable and far less interesting, including this one.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Set in the 1950's, the narrator is a 77-year-old small-town pastor, whose health is failing, so he writes an extended letter to his 6-year-old son - about life, faith, and relationships between fathers and sons. The writing is quiet, insightful and often lyrical. After all the hype about this book, I was skeptical, but I really enjoyed it.

Chasing Daylight by Gene O'Kelly

Gene O'Kelly, the 53 yr-old CEO of KPMG, was a highly successful, type-A workaholic - until he went for a checkup and was told he had advanced brain cancer and maybe 3 months to live. In the ~100 days between that diagnosis and his death, Kelly wrote this book - about being present, enjoying "perfect moments", about balance and about acceptance. Not particularly well written and pretty disjointed at times, but definitely worth reading.

Raid on the Sun by Rodger Claire

Fantastic true account of Israel’s 1981 audacious and successful bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. This was the first mission of Israel’s new F-16s, and the required distance to fly and the weights of the planes were way beyond design specs – yet the mission was a total success and the reactor was completely destroyed. We can all be thankful that this mission destroyed Saddam Hussein’s ability to produce weapons-grade plutonium in 1981. Written with the cooperation of the Israeli Air Force, including interviews with the pilots who flew the mission, this reads like fiction. Great story.

109 East Palace by Jennet Connant

About day-to-day life at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, told from the perspective of Dorothy McKibben, the woman who ran the "front office" for Los Alamos in a storefront in Santa Fe. Despite the seriousness of the work being done, the absurdities of life in this remote and highly secret campus were often funny. Eg, a wedding in which only the first names of the bride and groom could be used in the vows because of the required secrecy surrounding the project (Well-known scientists had aliases to use in Santa Fe or when traveling); or the 12 feet of mattresses that were piled under the first nuclear bomb as it was raised up to the platform for the test at Trinity (in case the hoist broke and the bomb fell, it would have a "soft landing".) Though the author is often somewhat overly-reverential about Oppenheimer, that doesn't diminish the nightmare she describes Oppenheimer going through as a result of McCarthy's witch hunt after the war. An interesting and light perspective on the Manhattan Project. (For a fantastic book on the scientists and science of the Manhattan Project, read Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb. See my blurb in 2002.)

The Bookwoman’s Last Fling by John Dunning

I really enjoyed his first 3 “Cliff Janeway” (main character) books (Booked to Die, Bookman’s Wake, & The Sign of the Book). They had interesting plots revolving around the world of collectible books. The subsequent 2 “Janeway” books were mundane and predictable, this last one being the worst.

Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman

First third is about the Culinary Institute of America’s ‘master chef’ exam (which sounds like one of those cooking reality shows), and the other two-thirds about two top chefs – one running a restaurant called Lola’s in Cleveland and Thomas Keller, the chef at French Laundry in Napa. Interesting and entertaining.

Adventure Divas by Holly Morris

The author adventure-traveled the world to create what became an award-winning PBS series about women who are literally changing the world – in Cuba, Iran, New Zealand and India. In between trips for the Adventure Diva series, to make some money, she takes jobs with Lonely Planet & other documentaries to hunt headhunters in Borneo, climb the Matterhorn, and cross the Sahara. Fun, funny and fascinating.

Old School by Tobias Wolff

A wonderful coming-of-age novel about a scholarship kid in a New England prep school with a very strong literary tradition. In the writing contest in which the students compete to win a meeting with visiting authors (eg Frost, Ayn Rand), the protagonist is obsessed with winning the opportunity to meet Hemingway – and finds his voice in a way that has long-term repercussions.

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

Subtitled “A hilarious and true account of one man’s struggle with the monthly tide of the books he’s bought and the books he’s been meaning to read.” (Know what he means?) This is a collection of 14 of his monthly columns/reviews. Be forewarned that this book will add to your list of books to read.

Night by Elie Wiesel

With the new translation that was just published, I re-read Night, and was again amazed by the power of this little book.

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

About the 36 years McCourt spent as a public school teacher in NYC. McCourt’s writing style and gentle humor are wonderful. Though the third in McCourt’s trilogy, this was the first of McCourt’s book I read and I liked it so much, I immediately read Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis.

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Like anyone not living under a rock for the last few years, I’d heard the rave reviews about Angela’s Ashes (pulitzer prize winner in 1997) – but wasn’t particularly interested in reading about what McCourt calls in the third line of the book a “miserable Irish Catholic childhood.” But despite what was absolutely a miserable childhood (abject poverty, constant hunger, alcoholic father, etc.), McCourt tells the story through his eyes as a child, and his spirit and humor shine through. Everything the rave reviews said about this book are true. This is an amazing book that McCourt didn’t write till he was 66 years old(!)

‘Tis by Frank McCourt

Angela’s Ashes ends and ‘Tis starts when McCourt is 19, and emmigrates from Ireland to New York. As tough as his childhood was, I felt worse for him after he arrives in NY and he feels so completely out of place – but he eventually goes to college and finds his place (as a teacher). Another great memoir from McCourt.

Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

Offers a great explanation of cutting-edge cosmology for non-physicists. Greene goes through the history of cosmology and quantum physics as background for his explanation of string-theory/M-theory, 10-dimensional space, etc. Excellent use of analogies and unexpectedly sprinkled with humor and fun pop-culture references. I already have his other book (The Elegant Universe) in my pile of books to read.

A Place on Earth by Wendell Berry

The second of Wendell Berry’s books I’ve read and, like Jayber Crow (see my 2004-5 or all fiction lists), this is also about the community of Port William and the intertwined lives of the people who live there. This book has several main characters, and by the end, I felt like I knew them all well. Like Jayber Crow, this book meanders along at the pace of life in a small, rural town, and it seems appropriate to read it slowly and to savor the fantastic writing.