• Home
  • Escapes and Pleasures
  • Family and Friends
  • Go Sox
  • The Outer Loop
  • Articles of Interest

MillersTime

MillersTime

Tag Archives: MillersTime Readers Favorite Books

Readers’ 2023 Mid-Year Favorite Books

01 Thursday Jun 2023

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Add to Your 'To Read' List, Favorite Reads, Fiction, Mid-Year Listing of Favorite Reads, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books, non-fiction

“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read” – A. Lincoln

In this mid-year post of approximately 80 books, equally split between Fiction (F) and Non-Fiction (NF), I’m sure you’ll find two or three you’ll add to your ‘to read’ list (and at least one could likely to be on your end of the year favorites).

As usual, the value in what is below comes from what the 38 contributors (evenly divided between female and male) have written about the favorites they’ve cited.

And as always, I’m deeply appreciative and thankful for the contributors who have taken the time to participate and send in their current favorite reads. These posts only work because various friends take the time to respond to my call for books most enjoyed by MillersTime readers.

Alphabetical by first name:

Barbara Friedman:

Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady (NF) recounts the harrowing works of three teenage girls in Nazi-occupied Netherlands. They sheltered Jews and political dissidents, sabotaged bridges and railroads, transported weapons – and this is only a bit of what they did in defiance of the occupation. This is a different look at WWII heroism and worth a read.

Nancy Pelosi by Molly Bal (NF) is a very readable and enjoyable biography of a formidable lady, elected to Congress when she was 47 after she had raised 5 children but never held any elected or government position. The book highlights her hard work to realize many, many legislative accomplishments (and they may not be over yet). I wish we had more like her in government today!

 In the Nation’s Service: The Life and Times of George P Shultz by Philip Taubman (NF) relates a remarkable life importantly covering four stints in government as head of major cabinets. You also learn early on that he has a tiger tattoo on his rear! Well worth a read.

Ben Senturia:

My wife and I have begun reading (historical) novels by Kate Quinn, a NYT best selling author. We have read Rose Code (NF) and The Alice Network (F), both of which are based on women from WW I and WW II. The Rose Code focuses on three British female code breakers at Bletchley Park during WW II who are struggling in their private lives while trying to maintain strict secrecy around their jobs. The Alice Network is centered on a real-life female French spy network. Quinn’s character development and plot both drew us in and captivated us. I’m looking forward to the next one. 

I continue to read read a variety of Harlan Coben mysteries including the Myron Bolitar (F) and the Mickey Bolitar (F) and numerous free standing books. Coben is a good writer with a wonderful story telling ability.

Bill Plitt:

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger (F) upon the recommendation by a longtime friend who has known me very well for many years and thought I might resonate with this book of adventure. I did!

The story surrounds four characters: Odie, Albert, and Emmy who find themselves in a boarding school for Native American children, but includes Mose, who is mute and only speaks in sign language. The four of them flee the scene in an existential struggle to find freedom from their past through various trials brilliantly set by Kruegger. These moments are  accompanied by Odie’s playing of his harmonica along the river to their destination of St Louis in their bold escape from the boarding school and its past. 

The story reminds me of Huck Finn, but grabs me more deeply because I have found that this simple instrument has been a vehicle for expressing God’s presence at certain moments of my life, and also as a link with humanity surrounding me at that time.

But what really made the novel by Krueger most meaningful to me, was that “just by a chance”, I  had read Barbara Kingsolver’s latest book Demon Copperhead (F) previously. Her novel is about life for a young boy who struggles through his life of brokenness in the Appalachian world of SW Virginia, on a similar journey as Odie, but reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.    Reading both by following the other is a dynamic experience worth three novels.

Brandt Tilis:

Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright (NF). An eye-opening book about cultural ideals and ways to identify where your workplace culture is and how to get it where you want it to be. The book puts organizations into five different buckets and has easy-to-understand but hard-to-accomplish methods to advance your organization into the coveted “Stage 5 Culture.” A useful book for leaders and people who want to lead.

Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin (F). A Sci-Fi book that has its roots in Cultural Revolution era China. I had a hard time starting it, but once I understood who the characters were, I was hooked.  The Sci-Fi part gets a little technical, but it’s a fun adventure to figure out what’s going on. It has some shades of the show Lost.

Empire of Pain by Patrick Raden Keefe (NF). The combination of the excellent writing and the story itself makes this book read like fiction (you’re hopefully reading this before my Elizabeth’s review of the same book where she almost assuredly said the same thing). This is a book about the opioid epidemic, and it made me take a hard look at a lot of things in today’s world: community, religion, corporate culture, justice, and who I choose to support. It left me feeling both empty and motivated.

Brian Steinbach:

Chronicles by Bob Dylan (NF). This came out in 2004, but I picked up a used copy. Rather than a complete memoir, it is more a series of ruminations on five parts of his life – perhaps most interesting is the first part, which covers the time before he had a recording contract, adventures in the early 60’s NYC folk scene.

The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson with Casey Sherman & Dave Wedges (NF). Somewhat of a miss-title, as it actually covers most of his life, but the focus is on paralleling his last days with the Mark Chapman’s stalking and murder of him. This part is drawn from an article one of the co-authors first wrote, I believe. Well documented and interesting.

Renegades: Born in the USA by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen (NF). Drawn from podcasts they did in 2020, with many photographs, copies of edited speeches and songs. The conversations have a wide range, from the personal to the future of the country. Almost worth it just for the picture of Obama driving Bruce’s ‘Vette.

Chuck Tilis:

Man In the White Sharkskin Suit–A Jewish Family”s Exodus From Old Cairo To The New World by Lucette Lagrnado (NF). An emotional story, told through a young girl’s eyes (the author-Lucette Lagnado)) of enjoying the comforts of life in a cosmopolitan Cairo, only to have Nasser rise to power and force this Jewish family to emigrate to Paris and then New York. “The Man” is her father who is a bon-vivant around Cairo, whom Lucette adores even through his many foibles which result in significant hardship for the entire family as they attempt to assimilate in New York as Egyptian Jews. Yet, Lucette perseveres through what one reviewer called an “inversion of the American Dream” as her father never finds financial footing upon leaving Egypt. This story is beautifully written and delves deeper into the complexities of family, religion and human resolve.

The Arrogant Years–One Girl’s Search For Her Lost Youth From Cairo to Brooklyn by Lucette Lagnado (NF). This is the sequel to the aforementioned Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. I was so moved by the author’s affinity towards her father, I wanted to learn more about her story. The untold hero is actually her mother, who is treated at best indifferent and at worst cruelly by her father throughout what was an arranged marriage of sorts–by him and his mother-in-law.  Again, Lagnado’s writing style captures the essence of the family’s history and shows her mother’s resolve to provide for her family.

Elusive Links: A Story of Connection, Compassion and Competition by Dan Rosenberg (HF). How about a book that combines aspects of the Spanish Inquisition, history of golf, modern day relationships, and Maimonides that keeps you thinking the whole way through? Dan Rosenberg, a first time novelist, who came out of the business world put the pieces together in an incredibly well researched historical fiction story. Part of the fun in reading this book is thinking about how the author handled the research, writing, editing, story development, and all the other components for a successful novel.   

Chris Rothenberger:

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (F). This book was our book club read that has truly stayed with me since reading it in early March. It is the story of the realities of life of seven Black women living in a bleak inner city housing project. It reads as seven separate stories, but truly their lives and survival are intertwined as they struggle to survive and come together at the end. Hopes, dreams, tragedy, disappointment and loving events punctuate their struggles as each woman faces often insurmountable challenges to forge ahead. It is very well written and the author creates very memorable characters in each woman easily pictured by the reader. It was Gloria Naylor’s debut novel. Hopes and dreams, challenges, strengths and weaknesses punctuate the stories that are simultaneously loving and painful. In 1989 there was a miniseries starring Oprah Winfrey and it is available on streaming services and served to powerfully  galvanize the stories of each woman in the book.

Cindy Olmstead:

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (F): tale of two brothers raised in the suburb of Calcutta, one brother shy and obedient, the other impulsive. Though inseparable as children their young adult and adult lives cause them to take different paths, one breaking rules or contradicting authority, joining a radical group of Maoists. The other goes to United States to get a PhD in Environmental Science. Compelling novel that deals with brotherly love, sacrifice, cultural norms and conflict, political violence, familial duty and personal commitments. An excellent novel.

The Huntress by Kristen Quinn (HF): set during and just after WWII, it features an English journalist and a Russian female bomber pilot hunting for a Nazi war criminal who has killed children as well as adults. Interwoven is the young photographer who suspects her widowed father’s new fiancée, a German widow. A heart-wrenching story that will keep you reading to the very last page. Filled with unexpected twists that make Kristen Quinn a memorable author.

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (F): this is a riveting story about a family with five boys, a pediatrician mother and a writer father. The youngest boy is Claude who, at the age of five, wants to be a girl when he grows up. His parents want him to be whoever he wants to be, yet are not sure how to share this with the world. Secrets are kept within the family so no one knows until…  This novel caused me to address my own role as a parent and how I would manage such transformative situations in this ever changing world. Found it a soul-searching read.

David Meyers:

Bibi: My Story by Benjamin Netanyahu (NF). Just finished reading BIBI. Great read, & I believe he was the Winston Churchill of Israel.

David Stang:

As a way of procrastination in order to avoid tedious administrative undertakings I have been escaping by reading a copy of the original addition of James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson (F), the creator of the first extensive dictionary of the English language which was published approximately 300 years ago, or, to be more specific, in 1747.

Boswell’s opus is published in redacted form, the length of which is only 440 pages. On a year by year basis Boswell delightfully reports about multitudes of Samuel Johnson’s activities and commentaries. His method each annual assessment is to record both the year itself as well as Johnson’s age.

It is a delight to behold his intriguing discussion of how Johnson went about publishing his dictionary, which was expanded from one volume to two volumes in its second edition. Boswell also covers nearly every spoken encounter as well as most written encounters which to his knowledge and research did in fact come to pass.

Boswell comments that some of the definitions included in Johnson’s dictionary are intended to be witty and are filled with hyperbole. Boswell also mentions and lists some of Johnson’s definitions that are just dead wrong. Also reported by Boswell is the manner in which Samuel Johnson researched and compiled his dictionary, which took Johnson only three years to complete.

Donna Pollet:

In Memoriam by Alice Winn (F). A beautifully written love and coming of age story of two English boarding school boys and the horrid experience of trench warfare during The Great War.

Trust by Hernan Diaz (F). Immersive storytelling about capitalism and the art/skill of making ungodly amounts of money, odd and curious personalities, and the varied versions of truth we tell ourselves, we tell the world, and those that remain hidden. It reminded me of the classic film, Rashomon.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (F). Life through the eyes of an internet influencer and life as felt and experienced as a sister, daughter, family are contrasted in witty, sharp tongued, and moving language. Leaves you with more questions.

Ed Scholl:

Crazy ’08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History by Cait Murphy (NF). Baseball fans will especially enjoy this book about baseball in the “Deadball Era”, which was a lot more exciting than it sounds. It has more than baseball trivia…the author gives great contextual accounts of daily life in the cities where the big pennant races were taking place that year: New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit. And there are also fascinating accounts of the greedy owners, corrupt officials, and gambling magnates that controlled the game. You come away with pity for the poor players of that era.

Elizabeth Fleming Frost:

1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies (NF) was a book I picked up from the neighborhood free library box. I like history but was unable to put this book down. What a treasure trove of new information about the history of map making, the navigation principles, and the importance of libraries.

Elizabeth Lewis:

This Other Eden by Paul Harding (HF). The story – based absolutely on historical events – concerns an island off the coast of Maine settled in 1780 by black Africans and their ultimate and tragic displacement. Written in dazzling prose, the book forces the reader to wrestle with the monstrous effects of eugenics and racism. Not a “happy” read.

Elizabeth Tilis:

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (NF): Best non-fiction read of the year so far for me. Got it from the Millerstime list from last year! Loved it. Want to watch “Dopesick” on Netflix next. 

The Winners by Fredrik Backman (F): The final in the Beartown series trilogy. Loved it!

The Measure by Nikki Erlick (F): Loved this one too!

Ellen Miller:

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan (NF). This is an extraordinary book. It tells of a time in the 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan was reconstituted in Indiana by a slick salesman and soon spread throughout the country, hoodwinking some, finding willing participants in many places, and paying off others to join with them to create a white supremacist movement.

I was glued to this book. This is history I didn’t (and probably you didn’t either) learn in school. It includes a horrific story of one woman who revealed the leaders’ moral hypocrisy. Soon their political and financial corruption was revealed, and leadership began to decline. Egan’s writing is engaging and vivid. It’s hard to put this book down. It is a frightening reminder of the dangers we face today.

Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader by MarkBowden (NF). This book was another compelling read (although I listened to it). It is a gripping and harrowing true-crime story that chronicles the life of a young man and his gang in Baltimore during the 1990s which started off by selling drugs and ended up as a kill for hire operation. It is the story of what it’s like to live on the streets of Baltimore and why the young men and women crave this despite the danger, jail terms, and potential retaliations. It is also the story of the failure of the myriad programs that were put into the place over the years designed to change their lives and the nature of their community. Bowden’s writing is compelling and detailed, and he provides a powerful insight into the social and economic conditions that contribute to the rise of gang violence in the city. This is a history you may know, but not in this detail or with this insight. By the end, you will find yourself stunned by the totality of it all.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (F). My reading often runs in my favorite themes – racial inequality, Irish, Indian, African literature, historical fiction, the Holocaust, World War I and II. I rarely read what today is described as “literary fiction:” well told and written stories on other topics. This book — Hello Beautiful— proves to me that I should read more in this category more often. It is a story about love, commitment, and strong women. The writing is terrific – conveying tenderness and relationships so clearly. The unusual story drives this book, and the characters bring it home. You’ll be looking for more from the author when you finish it. It will be a great summer read, actually it was a great winter one. 

Ellen Shapira:

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge (HF): I found this to be a very enjoyable read, an extremely well written combination Water for Elephants and Lincoln Highway, two of my all time favorites. The story is based on a true event, the arrival from Africa of two giraffes in 1938 New York City during a severe hurricane and their subsequent cross-country drive to their eventual new home at the San Diego Zoo. There are three main characters, the zoo keeper in charge of the transport, the unlikely eighteen year old Okie who becomes the main driver, and a beautiful young women who is following along the way. The plot is simple but dynamic, with lots of drama and surprises. The characters are interesting and likable though all have mysterious pasts which become revealed along the way. 

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (F). This is the latest in the Lucy series books and picks up with heroine Lucy later in life, spending  the pandemic in isolation with her ex-husband William.  Like her other books, Lucy by the Sea is beautifully written, hitting on all the right notes of love, loss, despair, and the unknowing anxiety of that first year of COVID. I have read several other books set during the pandemic, but none seemed to ring as true as this one does in capturing the emotional toil it took on everyone as we lived through it.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (F). This is a real classic which I had read many years ago but re-read as a Book Club selection. The story is set in 1975 India during a tumultuous period of Indian history. Caste system violence is prevalent throughout the book and has various effects on the four main characters – a poor lower caste tailor and his nephew trying to escape their horrific past in their rural village, a middle class woman trying to make it on her own without a husband, and a young naive student who is uprooted from his idyllic town. These four characters end up sharing living arrangements, starting out with little trust or respect for each other and somehow develop bonds that go beyond a loving family. The four characters are joined by many colorful and intriguing characters who add much richness to the plot. The sweeping plot captures both the horrors and corruption of life in India during this period and also the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

Emily Nichols Grossi:

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (F), although based on a real story about a woman whose child was removed by CPS, this novel, Chan’s debut, felt both dystopian and possible. Frida, the main character, leaves her 18-month-old daughter at home unattended for two hours, the daughter is taken, Frida is heavily surveilled and ultimately sent to an experimental rehab facility for “bad mothers.” This is chilling in an Atwoodian sense, and I couldn’t put it down.

The Winter Guest by WC Ryan (F). This is a somewhat slow/quiet–but in the best way–mystery that takes place in 1921. Just years after the Easter Rising, Ireland is in a civil war. The daughter of a prominent landed family is murdered. She did participate in the Rising, but the IRA is suspected of killing her. Whodunnit?

Fruzsina Harsanyi:

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann (NF). I don’t use the words “page-turner” often, but I couldn’t put this book down. I read it on kindle and listened on audible, sometimes replaying a scene because the descriptions of life on a British man-of-war in 1740, on deserted islands off Patagonia, battles at sea and ship wrecks were riveting. This latest work by the superb author of Killers of the Flower Moon was so meticulously researched that even the 35 pages of notes were an interesting read. On another level, it’s also a moral tale of what it’s like to build an empire and who pays the cost.

The Daughters of Yalta, The Churchills, Roosevelts and Harrimans in Love and War by Catherine Grace Katz (NF). It’s February 1945. Sarah Churchill,  Anna Roosevelt, and Kathleen Harriman are invited to accompany their fathers to Yalta.  Each woman is an accomplished, trusted confidant of her famous father. Through their experience we get a glimpse of the public and private interactions — meetings, dinner parties, personal relationships — behind the decisions that shaped the post WWII world. What they witnessed at Yalta would be interesting enough, but we also see them through correspondence with their mothers and the other women in their fathers’ lives. The book ends with how they live out their lives after Yalta.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (F). I’m a latecomer to this book, which won the Pulitzer Prize, and was reviewed by several Millerstime readers last year. Set in Appalachia, where Kingsolver lives, it’s a story of a boy, his family, and friends, and the people and institutions who use and abuse him. The writing is so pitch perfect that I felt like I was entering a world that no news report of this life so poor and hopeless could ever make real. It’s some of the same characters and scenes we found in J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, except in Kingsolver’s work there is also humanity and joy and people to love.

Gandiff:

The Master Game: Unmasking the Secret Rulers of the World by Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval (NF).

Garland Standrod:

The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Raner Maria Rilke (F). This was Rilke’s only novel, but it is available  now in a new translation. Amazon says it best: “A groundbreaking masterpiece of early European modernism originally published in 1910. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge unspools the vivid reflections of the titular young Danish nobleman and poet. From his Paris garret, Brigge records his encounters with the city and its outcasts, muses on his family history, and lays bare his earliest experiences of fear, tenderness, and desolation.”

All About H Hatterr by G.V. Desani (F). First published in 1948, this comic novel chronicles the adventures of an Anglo-Malay man seeking enlightenment and wisdom. His final glimpse of wisdom is this: “avoid charlatans and frauds as you would a venomous snake”, which is good advice indeed. Desani’s prose style is rather extravagant.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (F). Again Amazon says it best: “Arundhati Roy’s modern classic is equal parts powerful family saga, forbidden love story, and piercing political drama. The seven-year-old twins Estha and Rahel see their world shaken irrevocably by the arrival of their beautiful young cousin, Sophie. It is an event that will lead to an illicit liaison and tragedies accidental and intentional, exposing “big things [that] lurk unsaid” in a country drifting dangerously toward unrest.

Haven Kennedy:

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (F). This is one of the most interesting series I’ve ever read. It gets quite a bit of flak for ‘genre jumping’, and it’s undeserved. The book deftly weaves a variety of stories together, with imagery and stories borrowed from a variety of different cultures and mythologies. It’s excellent.

Two authors:

Naomi Novik: Everyone is aware of historical fiction, but how many are aware of historical fantasy? Novik started her writing career with a series of novels set during the Napoloenic Wars. The books are well-researched and have the added benefit of dragons. It’s absolutely as bizarre as it sounds, brilliantly so. Novik has also written two books based on fairy tales, both of which are written from a female perspective and allow the heroine to do the rescuing. Finally Novik wrote the Scholomance series (F), a far more realistic version of Harry Potter. She brilliantly wove in a variety of different cultures, her through research being seen in the character’s names, history, and demeanor. 

Robert Jackson Bennett: Bennentt is a brilliant and interesting  author. He writes about a world where the once-conquered rose up and became the domineering force. He’s also written several other books. The most interesting thing about Bennett is his large assortment of LGBTQ+ characters. His stories are excellent.

Hugh Riddleberger:

I have just read Rinker Buck’s book Life on the Mississippi (NF) and am part way through one of his earlier book The Oregon Trail (NF). Rinker is not a reenact-or, but he lived these two incredible journeys as a modern day explorer of history, fauna, and the challenges of outfitting a covered wagon or building a flat boat and traveling great distances…SLOWLY… (who would think one could write an entire but enjoyable chapter on MULES!!) In my opinion he is a true renaissance man, as what he does not know he learns through books, listening to people who know more than he does, and possesses an innate curiosity coupled with courage, perseverance and “gumption”.  Both non-fiction and very readable.

Jane Bradley:

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (F). An unlikely story, set in the state of Kerala, India — full of surprises that will pull you in and keep your attention, maybe all summer long.

Finding Me by Viola Davis (NF).  A very moving memoir, especially engaging as an audiobook read by the author.

Jeff Friedman:

G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage (NF). The book resembles biographies by Robert Caro with respect to its themes and its moral ambiguity (and its length!), but it’s somehow even more rigorous. Since Hoover was in power for so long, the biography engages an amazing breadth of U.S. political and social history. 

High: A Journey Across the Himalaya through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, and China by Erika Fatland (NF). Highly absorbing travel journalism that focuses on the region’s unusual cultures. I enjoyed reading this while googling images of the places the author visited.

Jesse Leigh Maniff:

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann (NF).

Joe Higdon:

The Island of Extraordinary Captives by Simon Parkin (NF) is the story of German refugees that Churchill interned on the Isle of Man during WWII and how they organized themselves into a livable community.

American Midnight by Adam Hochchild (NF) is the chilling story of how Americans treated desenters during WWI  and used the war as an excuse to try to destroy the labor movement.

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff (NF) about the most overlooked founding father. Some say there would never been a revolution had it not been for Samuel Adams. It colors the pre-revolutionary period in vivid detail.

Judy & Mike White:

Judy and Mike – Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder (NF). We’ve enjoyed everything we’ve read by Tracy Kidder, our favorite being Mountains Beyond Mountains  in which Kidder learns of a person, Dr. Paul Farmer, whose work/mission in Haiti interests him, and shadows Farmer for years to understand the Haitian situation and understand  Farmer.  This new book, out this year, follows the same pattern with another doctor, Dr. Jim O’Connor, who took a “temporary” position just out of medical school to work with street people in Boston and makes it his lifetime work.  O’Conner, the others (especially the nurses) working with him, and the street people (those who sleep outside, not in shelters) are all fascinating.  We now have a better sense of why street people often stay in this lifestyle for most of their lives, even when other options might be possible. We were surprised by the number of women living on the streets, the size of the problem, and the difficulty of providing services; and re-learned the powers of just listening and accepting people to help them heal… as well as the lasting effects of childhood trauma.

Mike – Operation Pineapple Express by Scott Mann (former U.S. Special Forces) (NF). Amazing true story of an incredibly difficult effort to rescue Afghan allies and their families during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.  

Judy – His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life, by Jonathan Alter (NF).  Encyclopedic biography of Jimmy Carter from birth to this past year. The author learned so much about Carter and his family and those in his administration that reading it all can be overwhelming, but throughout it seems fair and thoughtful and very, very well researched.  It’s possible to pick and choose chapters that interest you.

Kathy Camicia:

Apeirogon by Colum McCann (HF). A beautiful writer wrestling with another culture and twisting and turning to be as objective as possible.

The Years by Annie Ernaux (NF). If you want the French version of the life of a boomer, she does it very well.

100 Poems to Break Your Heart—ed. Edward Hirsch (F). If you have any interest whatsoever in poetry this book is a gift—short poems, two to three page explanations and the lovely resonance of a good poem.

Kathleen Kroos:

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugo (F). Sam Hill’s mother promised he’d live an extraordinary life, and in time he finds out for himself.

Land Wayland:

Life Between the Tides by Adam Nicolson (NF). I start this submission trumpeting this as one of the finest pieces of writing I have EVER read. Concise. Knowledgeable. Thoroughly Human. Intelligently spanning the scope of inquiry both scientific and philosophical from specific to everyday relevant. (Heraclitus is an (un)acknowledged co-author).  A detailed journal of the years of work invested by the author as he created three tidal pools at Rubbha an t-Sasunnaich on the Scottish coast on the Sound of Mull and then carefully followed the waves of life that followed until stability was reached years later. Who knew the storied Greeks and their acolytes knew so much about the way life populates large shallow pools of sea water that is refreshed twice daily and otherwise left to its own dramas. 

This is a book that I will reread once a year and it will always be fresh and inspiring. (It is so well written that I promptly ordered five other books he has written—he is like my favorite professor in college…it mattered not what course he said he was teaching; I enrolled to study with the teacher).

Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman (NF). Professor at Harvard and MIT in Science and the Humanities, speculates at a very sophisticated level about the myriad of stories that connect the smallest in nature with the largest.  Who knew such fascination awaits at either end of an extensive string of “0’s”. In each short essay, he explains his specific subject matter so well that his surprising revelations and digressions make sense. A worthwhile way of stretching the imagination.

God’s  Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson (NF). The story of how the King James version of the Bible came to be written with the full cooperation and deep scholarly input of both Catholics and Protestants despite their recent 200 years of bitter and bloody wrangling over every possible religious issue. Details how the newly crowned King James created the framework and the instructions for this to be done, chose the 51 senior scholars to do the work, and guided the six “teams” that met for more than 5 years to produce one of the most important pieces of writing in Western civilization. Crystal clear, adult writing (with a sprinkling of rarely used words (threnody, irenicon, encomium) properly used to keep the audience engaged). Each of the author’s sentences is a testament to the ability of a brilliant writer to make anything interesting, even the writing of an 800,000 word, 1200 page book that has been and will continue to be read cover-to-cover by less the 1% of its 1,000,000,000+ buyers.

Larry Longenecker:

I just downloaded a recommendation from Land Wayland titled “An Immense World.”  Why this one out of all the choices? I was intrigued by his mention of “I didn’t know that,” and “So that’s how/why they do that.” I’ll let you know what I think of the book.

In the meantime, having read Letters Home, I think you might enjoy John Grisham’s Sooley (F).

Marsha Harbison:

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (HF). It’s historical fiction, extremely well written, set in 1954 during a 10 day journey across the U.S. It’s a coming of age story with an interesting cast of characters and stories touching on many important themes about life.

The Masters of Medicine by Andrew Lam, M.D. (NF). This is non-fiction and an extremely interesting historical recounting of “Our greatest triumphs in the race to cure humanity’s deadliest diseases”.  Dr. Lam highlights many rivalries and feuds of scientists and doctors researching and making life saving breakthroughs in heart transplants, insulin, penicillin, polio vaccine, cancer, and childbirth. He is a local author (living in Longmeadow, MA) and an excellent retina surgeon, who has also written Saving Sight, Two Sons of China, and Repentance (the last two set in WWII).

Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg (NF). This is an interesting quick read written by NPR legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg about the power of friendships,especially with Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It’s a touching book filled with interesting information about various political figures and journalists and also about her famous father, Roman Totenberg, violinist and teacher. One chapter features the discovery and return of his Stradivarius violin, which was stolen and hidden for 32 years.

Melanie Landau:

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (F), a novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.  

Nicole Cate:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (F). This book hit a lot of topics of interest for me, including poverty, opioid addiction, corporate greed, and “left behind” parts of America. The characters were complex and engaging, and I loved the writing style. 

Never Simple by Liz Scheier (NF). Memoir of a woman raised by a single mother with significant mental health issues.  Interesting and well-written story. The author used turns of phrase that were wise, spot-on, and funny.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (F). I am not one to tolerate a story featuring an octopus as one of the main characters, but I’m so glad I read this one. It’s a quick read with likable characters (even including the octopus) about family, parenthood, loss, and love.

Richard Miller:

What Ellen Miller and Fruzsina Harsanyi said (above), which allows me to list three different ones:

Elena Knows by Claudia Pineiro, translated by Francis Riddle (F). A reissue of a book written in 2007 that is simply outstanding. This short (145 page) novel is listed as a crime mystery, but that is the least important reason I loved this book and so enthusiastically recommend it. The writing (all done in the third person) and story explore a myriad of topics, including family issues – parent/child-mother/daughter: struggles with an incurable, progressive disease – Parkinsons; care giving; loneliness of ageing; issues of memory loss; suicide; religion; abortion, to mention just the most obvious ones. The final third of the book is particularly moving and revealing. While Elena Knows is a sad, difficult story, it hits honestly on the issues it explores. It was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. I’ve got to find out what won the prize as I cannot imagine why this one wasn’t chosen.

Finding Me by Viola Davis (NF). Superb memoir read/performed by Davis. An incredible telling of her life’s struggles and successes and her honesty about herself and her life. From a difficult early life in a family of poverty and violence, she finds ways to find her way in the world. Continually recommended by a number of MillersTime contributors.

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (F). Newest work by the author of Cutting for Stone, one of my long time favorite reads. While Covenant is not quite as wonderful, nevertheless, the characters are engaging, likeable, and memorable and their stories are also engaging and memorable. It’s long, but I suspect it will keep you entertained throughout. Verghese, a doctor as well as an author, is someone I’d love to know.

Tiffany Lopez Lee:

The Children of the Night: The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania by Paul Kenyon (NF). I read this book in preparation for a trip to Bucharest, and it was an incredible history lesson on Romania’s rich history, culture, politics, communism, and how the country’s geographical position between Western Europe and the East has been tricky to navigate. The author covers the 15th century through communism’s fall in 1989, skillfully fast-forwarding to the interesting points, and providing a perfect amount of detail.

Great Siege: Malta 1565 by Ernle Bradford (NF). I picked this one up ahead of my trip to Malta and was truly mesmerized by the story told in this book, and a bit shocked. I had not heard much about this place beforehand. It’s geographic location played an interesting role during the spread of the Ottoman Empire. I highly recommend for anyone heading to Malta, or interested in a small island next door to Sicily, often overlooked by the average person.

*** *** *** ***

If you are still looking for book suggestions, just click on any of the links below to get to previous favorite reads from other contributors, some who have been participating in this ‘exercise’ since 2009!

2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 Mid-Year, 2018, 2019 Mid-Year, 2019, 2020, Mid-Year 2021, 2022.

Share

Year End Call for Favorite Reads

30 Wednesday Nov 2022

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Escapes and Pleasures

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Books, Favorite Books of "MillersTime" Readers, Favorite Books Read This Year, Favorite Reads, Fiction, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books, Nonfiction

As I have done for the past 13 years, I am asking for a list (anywhere from one to as many as six) of books you’ve most enjoyed reading in 2022.

There is no definition to the kind of book which you might add to this list. They can be fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, short stories, science, poetry, mystery, romance, hobbies, children’s books, etc. I’m most interested in what you truly enjoyed this past year (old or new books) with the thought that others might get some ideas for their reading in 2023.

Even if you think others may recommend a particular book that you liked, please include it on your list. Some of you like to know that more than one or two MillersTime readers have enjoyed a given title.

Also, if you want to include any of the books you cited from the March 30, 2022 or July 17, 2022, feel free to do so. You can review what you sent in here:

March 30, 2022 Favorite Reads

July 16, 2022 Favorite Reads

Send me your list (Samesty84@gmail.com) with the title, author and whether the book is fiction (F) or non-fiction (NF).

Please take the time to include a few sentences about the book and particularly what made this book(s) so enjoyable for you. For many of the contributors and readers of this annual list, it is the comments that are what’s most important about MillersTime Favorite Reads each year.

Send your list by December 20. Then I can post the results on Dec. 31, 2022.

Thanks in advance.

*** *** ***

To see previous years’ lists, click on any of these links: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. 2016. 2017. 2018 Mid-Year, 2018, 2019 Mid-Year. 2019. 2020, Mid-Year 2021, 20221. 3/30/22. 7/16/22.

Share

One Favorite Read

26 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Best Reads, Favorite Books of "MillersTime" Readers, Favorite Reads, MillersTime Favorite Reads, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books

A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read.” A. Lincoln

Since it’s the middle of the year, and three months since the last Call for Favorite Reads, I thought it might be valuable to continue mid-year posting of books MillersTime readers are particularly enjoying.

For this mid-year call, I’m asking that you send in just one title and your accompanying remarks about why you enjoyed that book.

As usual, give the title, author, identify the book as F or NF, and, most importantly, write a few sentences or a paragraph of what it was/is about this book that makes it into your category of particularly enjoyable or exceptional.

If you do not have anything to add at this point, you might want to check out the 3/30/22 post, Winter-Spring 2022: Best Reads. There were a number of enticing reads in that post.

I already know what book I’ll select out of the several very good ones I’ve read in the last three months.

How about you?

Deadline for Submission – July 15th

Send to Samesty84@gmail.com

(But don’t wait – I don’t plan to send a reminder)

Share

Favorite Reads in the Time of COVID-19

30 Sunday Aug 2020

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Books, Favorite Reads, Favorite Reads in the Time of COVID-19, Fiction, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books, Nonfiction, Recent Favorite Reads

 “A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read.” A. Lincoln

Here are the books that 37 MillersTime readers have identified as recent favorites, 54% fiction, 46% nonfiction.

Barbara Friedman:

Grant by Ron Chernow (NF).  Chernow writes an excellent biography of Grant. Grant was an interesting person – not too scholarly, a masterful military strategist, an honest person, not necessarily primed to be a US President, and at many times too innocent. Grant has been described as the most underrated President, and that is probably correct. He was an honest person, but surrounded by corruption during his presidency and stuck with friends even when they were not honest. He fought for the rights of the Southern blacks and fought hard against the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction. The biography is excellent in portraying the good and the less good and brings to life a man who was probably underrated.  I highly recommend the book.

The Splendid and the Vile by EriK Larson (NF). This latest Larson biography is about Winston Churchill in his first year of Prime Minister in the UK. We know the story – he supplanted Neville Chamberlain as PM, the year was a rough one with the Battle of Britain, and the UK survived this first year. What makes the book so interesting is Larson’s extensive use of Jock Colville’s diaries and the diaries of Mary Churchill to give the book a more personal feel and texture. Larson writes so well, and this is a book worth reading as an interesting perspective on that year.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (NF) is a well written and researched book on the Great Migration which took place between roughly 1917 to 1975 as blacks migrated from various parts of the South to northern and western cities looking for between opportunities. In particular, the books traces the lives of three migrants— Ida Mae Brandon Gladney who migrated in 1937 from Mississippi to Chicago; George Swanson Starling who migrated in 1945 from Florida to NYC; and Robert Joseph Pershing Foster who migrated in 1953 From Louisiana to Los Angeles. She really got to know these three individuals and around and through them told the amazing story of migrants.

A Game of Birds and Wolves by Simon Parkin (NF). This is a fascinating and largely unknown story of a “for real” board game “played” at Derby House in Liverpool during WWII.  In the early years the efforts focused on how the Royal Navy could have more success against the U-boats (the wolves) which were destroying the Merchant ships bringing badly needed food and supplies into the British Isles in the Battle of the Atlantic.  (Have You ever played the game Battleship?  This was the origin of the game). The Birds were the WRENS, an auxiliary unit of the Royal Navy of very young but very bright women who helped devise, improve and run the games. Navy officers would spend time at Derby House And play the games to learn new strategies to combat the U-boats. Because of the success of these games in Navy training, Britain essentially won the Battle of the Atlantic by early 1943 and the U-boats were withdrawn. The book is actually more about Gilbert Roberts who designed the games and masterminded the effort. The book looks at a largely unknown but very successful effort in Britain’s war efforts.. . . and largely done by women!

Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace (NF) is a wonderful book recounting the 116 days between when Harry Truman became President, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, and the beginning of the atomic age. While we all know the basic story, in this book you learn more about the scientists, the military, the President, the incredible co-operation among the various parties, the absolute precision among the various parties,  the angst around whether to drop the bomb or not, and ultimately the dropping of the bomb.

Ben Shute:

Reading seems to go to the bottom of my “to do” every day.

I’m not sure where the time goes, although there is an increasing number of on-line lectures and performances that attract us, and thanks to my daughter I’ve become a podcast listener as well.

I’m still slowly working my way through These Truths by Jill Lepore (NF), which I am enjoying but which seems best in short bursts. I then discovered her podcast, which has become another time sink.

Carrie Trauth:

Although I have worked part time and been busy with online meetings. I definitely have been escaping the virus and political turmoil by reading a lot. I especially liked the following two books:

A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware (HF).This is a wonderful historical fiction about two woman architects in the early 1900’s. They rebuild two famous hotels after the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

Women of a Dangerous Age by Fanny Blake (F) .A story of two middle age women starting over.

Chris Boutourline:

I”m currently two-thirds of the way through The Hours by Michael Cunningham (F), and liking it. (It was a bit hard to follow at first). Drawing inspiration from the life, and death, of Virginia Woolf, the author artfully weaves together the stories of three women to reveal their complicated, interior lives. (Ed. It won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the 1999 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction).

I enjoyed Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday (F). It follows a modern-day “Alice” down a rabbit hole when she enters a relationship with a man 30 years her senior. To some extent, based on the author’s affair with Philip Roth.

Cindy Olmstead:

Reading (and listening) more to non-fiction, specifically to understand my views on racism. Need to open my eyes to my “hidden” biases. Read How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendi (NF). It is a tough read but very enlightening. Also rereading White Fragility, Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (NF).

Also found these to be good reads:

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates (NF). Her work with the Gates Foundation to lift up women worldwide to bring economic and health security. It is not a typical feminist approach but her strength as an advocate based on her personal awareness from her global travels to the needy. 

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni (F): Story of young boy bullied due to his physical disability, ocular albinism, which makes his eyes red. it is a very inspiring and moving read.

David P. Stang:

The Gift Of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister (NF). Written by a Benedictine nun, spiritual teacher, and executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research Center for contemporary spirituality in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her book contains 40, three to five to page essays on dimensions of consciousness experienced by geriatrics. She begins each essay with a quotation, then describes the particular experience or perception explaining both the defeatist, hopeless way of interpreting the topic, but also provides a far more constructive, optimistic and inspiring interpretation. My friend Rick Miller gave me the book and every night I read at least one of the little chapters before going to bed. I’ve nearly completed my second reading of her entire book. That before bed, nightly experience reminds me of my mother reading me nursery stories before I fell asleep at night as a small child. In her Gift Of Years Joan Chittister has become a substitute for my long deceased mother. As I experience it, Joan Chittister’s written words become spoken words of a compassionate mother telling her sleepy-eyed octoctogenarian son that this is a time of life about which he should become most cheerful.

Biography of Silence by Pablo d’Ors (NF) is all about the phenomenology of meditation. Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view. The central structure of an experience is its intentionality, its being directed toward something, as it is an experience of or about some object. Applying this dimension of consciousness to the writing of Biography of Silence d’Ors makes phenomenological reference to all the ideas that pop into a person’s head while meditating. D’Ors is concomitantly a Spanish Catholic priest and Zen meditator. Among other things his book on meditation teaches us is how to notice but ignore all of these thoughts that pop into our consciousness when we are seeking to be silently receptive to a greater reality. His precisely described perceptions of what he experiences while meditating are awe inspiring.

Ed Scholl:

I’ve probably been reading a bit more during this time of Covid than before. Two books that I have read and enjoyed in recent months are:

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by David McCullough (NF). It is the story of the founding of Marietta Ohio – the first settlement in the northwest territory in 1788 by the Ohio Company. 

Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 by Stephen Ambrose (NF). I wanted to read this book to give me more background information for our transcontinental railroad exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History where I volunteer. But I especially wanted to read it prior to our train trip across America, which will include part of the original transcontinental railroad route from Sacramento to Omaha. Building that railroad, especially through the sierra Nevada mountains, was an engineering marvel, and Ambrose tells the story in a very engaging way. 

Elizabeth Lewis:

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (F), but seems pretty close to his real family history:  How could I have missed this gem (not a little gem, a generous epic of a book) before?  But now, with more time for leisurely reading, I have immersed myself in the life of the characters and of the land. And where else could I find such sentences as “She instructed me as out of bitter personal experience, she brooded along the edges of my childhood like someone living out a long Tennysonian regret. *** Gentility is inherited through the female line like hemophilia, and is all but incurable.”

Ellen Miller:

Here are six very different reads from me in the last four months, each of them I highly recommend for various reasons.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (NF). This much-anticipated book by the author of the prize winning The Warmth of Other Suns won’t disappoint. It is a deeply researched, anecdote-illustrated, clear-eyed discussion of race and class in America that puts systemic discrimination in this country into a global framework. It makes a strong case of the similarities to the ancient caste system of India and the Nazi-created caste system for Jews. (One of the many fascinating insights is that Nazi officials came to the US to study our laws concerning racial separation, as they designed their Nuremberg Laws.)

The book reads a bit like sociology textbook, one I would have happily read in my college days. It is engagingly written and her argument adds a new depth and understanding to our country’s system of racial injustice. It offers many examples and insights that at times I found shocking. It is a must read.

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh (F). Over the past several compilations of ‘best reads” I have recommended this author’s previous two award winning novels (Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation) by this new writer. Each of her books is provocative, a little off-beat, with consistently superb writing.

Her latest is no exception. Death in Her Hands tells a haunting story about an elderly woman living alone who stumbles on a possible murder. Her suppositions about this possible murder grow into a full-blown obsession as she pursues solving the mystery to the point where she looses her grip on the real world. It’s a fascinating and well-paced and in some ways reminiscent of Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, which I also highly recommend,

Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey (NF). This book, by the African-American, Pulitzer Prize winning poet who served as United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and 2013, is a deeply personal and chilling memoir of her mother, who was brutally murdered by her second husband. Trethewey tells her own story as a mixed-race child in Mississippi history in the deeply segregated South. Her insight is sharp and her voice clear as she explores the loss and grief in trying to understand her mother’s tragic life. The writing is sensitive and engaging, the story of racism and abuse riveting. You won’t want to put this down.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (F). I recommend this book highly but cautiously. I strongly urge you to read ABOUT this book, before you read it. Hamnet (another spelling of “Hamlet”) is a fictional portrayal based on little known facts of the death of Shakespeare’s son. It does not focus only on his play “Hamlet” (written four years after the child’s death) but instead it is an imagined full-blown story of Shakespeare’s wife and family, their life and times (the 1580’s) and the plague that killed their 11-year old boy. None of the characters have their historical names (other than Hamnet and his twin sister Judith), which I found confusing. But it’s well worth struggling through that in this splendidly told story. It’s a beautiful book, superbly written, a tale of family and loss.

The Yield: A Novel by Tara June Winch (F). This book is written by an Aboriginal author and it tells the story of a young woman returning to her native home after the death of her grandfather, Albert Goondiwindi, who was determined to pass on the language of his people to those he would leave behind.

The book is divided into alternating chapters of his explanations of native wordsand phrases, the reactions of the granddaughter who has returned home from London for the first time in 10 years, and others with critical pieces of the story to tell. Woven into this tale is the news that his native place is to be repossessed by a mining company and the granddaughter’s attempts to save their land. This is essentially a story of a dispossessed culture and the attempts to reclaim it. It’s a moving, well-written, and very real story.

Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (HF.) Even when I startedthis book, I wondered why I had chosen it, even as a “summer” read. But after the first ten pages I was hooked on the story of life of the famous film star – the Austrian-born Hedy Lamarr (ne: Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) – the glamorous Hollywood actor who began er career in 1938. My mother was an admirer.

The book deftly tells the story of an early marriage to an Austrian arms dealer very riendly with senor Nazi officials (she was of Jewish heritage), and how she became privy to many of the Third Reich’s plans while at her husband’s side. She fled him and his world and ended up in Hollywood where she was featured in 30 films in an acting career spanned nearly three decades. It also details how she struggled to use her scientific knowledge, and what she had learned about Nazi plans, to help the war effort against the Nazis by co-developing a radio guidance system for allied torpedoes. (This involved developing technology that led to both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth innovations.)

This is a great story and an engaging summer read.

Ellen Shapira:

I have been doing lots of reading the last few months, and actually I have enjoyed some good ones so here are a few for your list.  

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (HF). I have loved Sue Monk Kidd’s  previous books and was anxious to read this, though the subject was questionable, imagining Jesus having a wife in the years before he was known as a prophet in the Galilee. The book did not disappoint, being beautifully written and focusing on the character of Ana, as she uses her cunning and wit to navigate a life of intrigue, romance, and  treachery in the 1st century. It is a masterpiece of historical fiction reminiscent of The Red Tent. 

All Adults Here by Emma Straub (F) is a charming story of a widow living in upstate New York struggling with her relationships with her three grown children and their issues, a granddaughter who comes to live with her and a new lover.  The book touches on many contemporary themes including bullying, sexual identity, adultry, surrogate pregnancies to name a few.  This is definitely a feel good read and a pleasant respite from the more serious issues of the day.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (F) is a hot book of the moment and worth the attention. It is a multi-generational saga  with a different take on racism reflected in the context of the decades between the 1940’s and the present. Twins, who are very light skinned from a Louisiana small town,  are inseparable growing up until one of them decides to “disappear” and pass for white. The story has many twists and turns; however, the strength of the book lies in the depth of the relationships between the various characters.  

Emily Nichols Grossi:

I recommend:

The Secret Place by Tana French (F). Sob, I am now done with the Dublin Murder Squad books. They are all so damn thrilling and good, even if you must suspend belief in certain moments. It pains me to find the female detective annoying, but she is overwritten in my opinion. Nonetheless, a read that renders the rest of the world invisible in the moment which is, at present, the best sort of escapism.

I’m not done with but am loving Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson (NF). Suspect this will be on many a list this time around.

And I thought In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (NF) was absolutely excellent and terrifyingly relevant. A must-read, IMO.

Fruzsina Harsanyi:

About my reading in the time of Covid (and Black Lives Matter): 1) I’ve always been interested in how ordinary people handle extraordinary situations.  Now in this extraordinary time, I’ve expanded this focus to reflect on leaders; 2) Also, I’m reading more mindfully and exploring new subjects. 

The Yield by Tara June Winch (F) is at the top of my list. Australia’s top award (Miles Franklin) went to this Aboriginal writer who says it broke her heart to write it. It’s about colonial violence, oppression and environmental destruction, but also a celebration of the Wiradjuri people through their language. A must on Audible.

Inge’s War, A German Woman’s Story of Family, Secrets, and Survival Under Hitler by Svenja O’Donnell (NF)  The subtitle describes the book.  This WWII book focuses on ordinary German people — what they knew, what they did or did not do, how they got through the war with madmen at the helm.

The Great Influenza by John M. Barry (NF), a book I wish I had read in print! The information about the so-called Spanish Flu in itself was fascinating. But Barry’s “side trips” into the history of medicine in the US, Johns Hopkins University, the role of the media, Woodrow Wilson and the Peace Conference were all fascinating and relevant to our time. It’s not really 546 pages; lots of footnotes.

The Hemingses of Monticello, An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (NF) I couldn’t put this book down, though it was often repetitious.  In this meticulously researched work, Gordon-Reed tells the Jefferson/Hemings story by focusing on the Hemings family, the enslaved women and men who worked in Jefferson’s house and lived there as servants to their father and siblings. It takes repetition to get one’s head around that. An important read for me in the time of Black Lives Matter as I try to understand systemic racism more deeply.  On to Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste!

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (NF). Larson’s purpose here is not another Churchill biography but an account of how Churchill, his family and the people around him lived, worked, and loved during the first year of WWII.  This was the year Churchill became the leader history remembers. 

Shadowland by Joseph O’Connor (HF) In the genre of historical fiction, this book is a delight to read any time. It captures the world of late 19th century theater in London, the charisma of two of its leading actors Henry Irving and Ellen Terry and their relationship with Irving’s business manager Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula. It’s pure magic to read and, I’m told, even better to listen to.

Garland Standrod:

I have wanted to read items completely away from the current Covid calamity.  So:

For this enforced quarantine interregnum of unknown duration, I decided to read some very long poems—written in English.  These have been:

William Wordsworth, The Prelude (1850). Wordsworth worked on this autobiographical poem his entire life, and it details his interactions with nature and the development of his poetry.  Quite moving in parts.

Herman Melville, Clarel (1876). This is the longest poem in American literature, and one of the longest in world literature. It took some time to read, but that was the point. It describes how a traveller named Clarel visits the Middle East and his struggles with his religious faith. Extremely interesting, in parts, and quite philosophical, it is now considered one of Melville’s major works.

Lord Byron, Don Juan (1819 – 1824). This satiric epic poem of 16,000 lines is a parody of an epic poem, and is quite witty, in parts. The involuted plot involves the life history of Don Juan and pirates and Turkish mercenaries and the Russian army and Catherine the great… and on and on.  I am in the midst of this tale. His gibes at Wordsworth are quite funny.

Glen Willis:

My favorite book in this period was The Order by Daniel Silva (F). My 98 year old aunt turned me on to Silva many years ago so we have read all of his books together. We share Kindles so I know exactly what page she is on and see that I am always playing catch up.

Silva has as his central character,  Gabriel Allon , an artist, a spy, an assassin, high up in the  Israeli Intelligence and also a close friend of  several Popes with many contacts in the Vatican. This book begins with the assassination of his friend Pope Paul VII and the attempt of an ultra-right religious Order trying to undo the reforms of that Pope ( Think Francis) so they can take over the Catholic church.

I find his books to be real page turners and the story filled with an accuracy of his subjects, Since Allon is a known and respected as an artist specializing in restoration of great art, there is always a masterpiece or two to discuss. In this book, besides the story, I found his Author’s Note at the end of the book to be fascinating.

He takes the time to discuss the sub-plot of anti-Semitism in the church, in the current European Union etc., in our own country, and the controversies concerning  Pius XII  in WWII;

Since the time frame is present day he also covers the story within the current  pandemic.He also takes the time to share a well written history of antisemitism in the ancient texts and scriptures. I felt I leaned so much in the afterward of the story. He quotes some of the truly great theologians as apologists for alternative opinions of many of the arguments used to support antisemitism. I strongly recommend this book as a great read.

The Stand by Stephen King (F). A truly terrific book to read during this time of the Coved 19 virus, self- quarantine; masks, personal and self-distancing;

I first read this book in 1978 when I was teaching religion at Holy Names Academy with Gilbert Brennan.  We discussed the book in terms of fundamental choices we all have, What’s it going to be? Good or Evil. It was a very successful discussion.  It was Stephen King’ s fourth novel and the longest he had written to that time. To sum up, it is an apocalyptic story about a killer flu, released by the military and spreading throughout the world killing 2/3 of the population in 2 weeks. SOUND FAMILIAR?

The survivors in the US develop into two groups, those who dream of a dark man, Randall Flagg, who has his headquarters in Las Vegas; the others dream of an elderly black woman, Mother Abigail,  sitting in a rocking chair on her farm in Nebraska waiting for those who are drawn to her. Obviously the book personifies the attraction in the new world of some to good and some to evil.

The book when originally published had to be revised due to the length and cost. In 2011 the Book was revised again by Mr. King to include the original chapters as well as add some more insight into some of the characters. It was also a made for TV film and a miniseries.

It is a long book but fascinating in the story and the characters. Given the times we are living in, I recommend the Audible version. Sit back, close your eyes, and LISTEN!!!!!!  It’s my favorite is Stephen King novel.

Haven Kennedy & Daughter Miriam:

Here is something from me and Miriam:

Reading is, as always, my escape. It allows me to fall into another world. When I’m stressed, I read science-fiction and fantasy – books from my childhood. I’ve been reading an incredible amount of Terry Pratchett’s work. Miriam (my six year old) has been enjoying the books about Tiffany Aching. Pratchett interweaves social commentary and morality in his books, causing you to think. Right now I’m reading Prachett’s Thud (F) , a book about the tension between dwarves and trolls. The book is perfect for the times we are living in.

I’ve also read:

Horace by George Sand (F) – this book was very hard to find. Most of Sand’s work has not been translated into English. It took getting an inter-library loan to receive it. It’s a beautiful book, set in France during the late 18th century. It’s well-written with an emphasis on social commentary.

Lucky Us by Amy Bloom (F) – I read this book in a matter of days. It’s beautifully written with engaging characters. It’s set in WWII. After I finished the book, I began to think about it, finally deciding that it was a well-written, intelligent soap opera. I still recommend reading it, just for the way Bloom writes.

Beyond that, it’s all comfort reads. It’s Terry Pratchett, Jasper Fforde, The Chronicles of Narnia. It’s books of my childhood. It’s books written with my daughter in my lap. It’s reading to my daughter about different cultures, different religions, different ways of thinking. So much of what is going on in the political world is hate and fear – fear of what is different. I want my daughter to turn to reading as a comfort, to seek knowledge, to explore different worlds. Reading is what is needed more than anything. It’s unfortunate that so much of what we read is on social media, which is an echo chamber of what we are already thinking. Reading is a great way to escape the echo chamber. And even in the silliest books – Pratchett’s for example – we can learn something.

Jane Bradley:

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (F) – lets you escape to an island off the coast of Finland, where you get to know a grandmother and her granddaughter spending a quiet summer there.

Jeff Friedman:

Throughout the pandemic, I’ve tried to engage in long-term reading projects — that is, reading a coherent series of books one after the other as opposed to moving among topics. I try to start every morning by spending at least 30-60 minutes on that project before the workday starts. That gives my days a nice rhythm and progressing through the books helps to “mark time” across weeks that might otherwise seem interchangeable.

I started by reading a series of memoirs/biographies of foreign policy-makers, in chronological order. Then I started reading a series of books that the Kennedy School publishes after every presidential election, based on conferences that it holds with presidential campaign managers. The books are called Campaign for President (NF). I’ve learned a lot of history from them, I’ve gotten a better sense of how presidential campaigns view the world, and that has given me some useful perspective on current events.

Jesse Leigh Maniff:

During this time of uncertainty, I’ve been drawn to the familiar, re-reading fictional books that provide an escape from reality and where good triumphs over evil: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (F), Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend (F), second of the Nevermoor series, and the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman (F).

Judy White:

Blue Nile by Virginia Morell  (NF). Interested Mike and me especially because it is a true adventure story of an international group who were the first to raft the full length of the very wild and dangerous Blue Nile River from the Ethiopian highlands to Sudan. Interesting on human, adventure, historical levels. (We lived in Ethiopia for two years and have returned three times.)

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker (NF). Amazing true story of a very large family with many cases of schizophrenia and how their experience added to the understanding of the disease.

Becoming by Michelle Obama (NF)  Candid, well-written autobiography.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (NF)  Amazingly, I had never read this. I loved it.

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson  (NF). Classic Bryson, funny, informative, surprising.

What It’s Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley (NF).  \Big, beautiful book about how birds live, not a identification guide but just amazing facts and beautiful paintings.

Kate Latts:

I just finished the book The Gilded Years by Karen Tanabe (F). It is based on the true story of the first African American woman to attend Vassar College in the late 1890s while passing as a white girl. I loved reading about the exploits of the girls with the Ivy League boys as they navigated their futures after graduation balancing their interests in careers and exploring the world with the realities of marriage and motherhood. The focus of the book is really though on the protagonist and the double life she leads pretending to be white.

Kathleen Kroos:

Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini (HF). It is a good historical novel.

Kathy Camicia:

Bit chilly in Maine but that’s perfect reading weather for me. Here’s my current list for the year of reads worth reading:

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston (F) and The Wedding by Dorothy West (F). My book club is focusing on African American women authors. I enjoyed both of these, particularly Dorothy West’s book about the upper class African American community in Martha’s Vineyard; race and class explored from several perspectives.

The Mirror and The Light by Hillary Mantel (HF). What can I say? It’s just as brilliant as Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. Best read in a long time and it’s a long book.

Lane Brisson Retallick:

Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston (NF).
This non-fiction book is subtitled “The Story of the Deadliest Ebola Outbreak in History, and of the Outbreaks To Come.” The author writes in his Preface that this book is the successor to his 1994 book, The Hot Zone. The story covers the Ebola Outbreak of 2013-2014 in the West African area of the Makona Triangle, which includes parts of Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.

The author is an excellent writer, and he tells a complicated and dramatic story, with a large cast of characters and dire situations, in a suspenseful manner which kept me engaged.

Lydia Hill Slaby:

Just finished reading The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (F). (Did you ever read her first novel, The Night Circus? It is gorgeous and haunting and I strongly recommend it.) My sister had come home from the library with it a few days ago and got annoyed with it and handed it to me. (Has DC sorted it’s libraries yet? We’re not allowed in, but we can pick up a pile of books from the front door.)

Perhaps it’s because she has children, so everything causes a small amount of annoyance these days.

Halfway through this book I realized I was going to read it at least two more times, so I bought it from our local bookstore and returned the original.

I’m not quite sure what is happening with me and the pandemic and books these days, but I’m finding myself entranced by stories whose plots are hidden (or happen mostly underground?). It started with The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss (F), a novella that describes the life of Auri, his most enigmatic character from the Kingkiller series, and her home in the Underthing. It is more of a character study than an actual story with a beginning, middle, and end, but all stories start somewhere and then end somewhere else, so in a way it is a complete story. Either way, when I fell asleep the night of the day I read it, I felt like my time had been well spent.

The Starless Sea is much longer (so a few days, not just one, of devoted, well-spent reading) and has overlapping and intertwining fairy tales that build into the overarching plot. It is beautifully written, and, if The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a character study of Auri, The Starless Sea is a character study of story itself. How it grows, lives, and dies in one author’s imagination. How one can be chosen or disregarded. How we can pass by another in our search for the obvious, or disregard the obvious in our search for the subtle. 

In a sense, a wonderful book for our current time. Strong recommend.

Maria Lerner-Sexton:

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (NF) has occupied my last week or so.  Erik Larson takes us on Winston Churchill’s journey through the very beginning of WW II in Britain. Yes, we know the story, but this is a a beautifully documented and highly readable account, and it includes the side stories of several Churchill family members and close confidantes.

ML – Anonymous

I received Franny and Zooey (by J.D.Salinger – F) in 1961, the year of its publication…I read it, and shelved it perfectly ignorant of its predecessors.

Well before my teaching career began, some English prof. probably suggested that everyone ought to have read The Catcher in the Rye. Done, done, and taught it.

In the early 21st century, in a second hand bookstore, I found Salinger’s Nine Stories. Forty years later, the name “Seymour Glass” in some of the stories sounded vaguely familiar; and the internet got me up to speed.  I’d broken my own cardinal rule (read multiple works by an author in the order s/he wrote them) without knowing it.  Finally, in 2020 (in a second hand bookstore) I found Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters/Seymour, An Introduction.  

So somewhere vaguely in April or May (do we still have months?), I read the whole thing in order, concluding with an affecting re-read of Franny and Zooey (you asked about re-reading at some point, but when?!). All of them are better in chronological order, but the body of work is also changed and enhanced by the recent documentary on Salinger which included the info that he suffered lifelong PTSD from having “liberated” Dachau & something else.  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j-d-salinger  

An upshot of this whole thing is that male academics “decided” that Holden Caulfield represented some thang about the American experience. It is the female characters in the Glass Family books & stories–Franny, Esme, Seymour’s sister and mother–who are the most remarkable–at least by comparison to Caulfield.

Meggie Patterson Herlinger:

I have been reading a lot of lighter things more recently but some of the books that I have given five stars to are:

Pretty Things by Janelle Brown (F).

This Tender Land by Willam Kent Krueger (F).

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (NF).

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (F).

Melanie Landau:

(My reading in August…interruptions by too much TV news – National Conventions – and now Hurricane Watches – 

Two books:  

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder (NF).

Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston (F). Fictional account of the rise of Joey Smallwood – New Foundland)

Mike White:

Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind’s Beginnings by Virginia Morell (NF).

Blue Nile by Virginia Morell  (NF).

Ramona Campos:

I had to reach across my train-fogged mind to remember a couple books that stand out.  I read an oldie called My Antonia by Willa Cather (F). It was a cross cultural experience for me to learn about early settlers of the American frontier: Bohemian immigrants from a region in the Czech Republic. The sensitivity and imagery used in this book was nothing short of poetic, and it is clear that the author has lived the experience and loved the forsaken prairie land. 

Because my husband lived in the Dominican Republic for six years, I try to read the literature of Hispanic authors from that region, and I zeroed in on this book called Dominicana by Angie Cruz (F). It was about a young immigrant family trying to “make it” in the Bronx. I didn’t love it, but it did keep my interest, and I recommend it because it would be a cross-cultural experience for others who want to understand the experience of Dominican immigrants told from the perspective of a young, relatively powerless and poor young girl. 

Rebecca Jacobs:

Life is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age by Bruce Feller (NF) A timely read about pivotal moments in our lives and adapting to change. Using different stories, he shows us ways to adapt to involuntary and voluntary lifequakes. 

The Only Plane in the Sky: Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff (NF). I read this right when Covid-19 started in the US, in particular NYC in March.  The reader is transported back in time, recounting that day from multiple perspectives and first-hand accounts. Although heartbreaking, the book is filled with courage and resilience. It reminded me we will get through hard times. 

Filthy Beasts by Kirkland Hamill (NF). A riches to rags, tragic-comedy about three boys, an alcoholic mother, indifferent father. It’s perfect for people who like difficult family memoirs and complicated parents.

Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kokler (NF): A true story about a family of 12, six of the boys with schizophrenia. It’s a story about mental illness that defined their entire lives.

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (F). The story alternates from the AIDS pandemic in the 80’s in Chicago to modern day Paris. Amazing characters and a good glimpse into multi-generational trauma as a mom tries to track down-her estranged daughter. Very haunting and well-written.

The Last Flight by Julie Clark (F) Two different women at dangerous crossroads change places by switching airplane tickets.

The Hate U Give by Angie Clark (F): Heartbreaking young adult book about a racism, police brutality, and interracial dating. 

Richard Miller:

I initially had five favorite reads, some of which were rereads, for this period: Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor (F), Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (F), A Burning by Megha Majumdar (F), Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey (NF), and Levels of Life by Julian Barnes (NF).

Then I read Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (NF) and decided that it was so compelling that I only wanted to focus on that single book. (See Ellen Miller’s account above.)

Some of you know of Wilkerson from her Pulitzer Prize winning reporting for feature writing at the NY Times. A number of you, including myself, have previously cited as a favorite her 2010 The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration (NF), winner of the National Book Critic Circle Award and one of the NY Times’s Best Nonfiction books of 2010.

In this new eye-opening account of how our society is organized, Wilkerson captured me and held me throughout with her focus on caste as a way of understanding my country, our history, and our current divisions in a way I had never truly seen it.

In linking her examination of how our (hidden) caste system is similar to those of India and Nazi Germany and with compelling stories that we can all understand, she accomplishes her goal of making the reader see perhaps what we have never clearly seen: the effects that our caste system has played and continues to play in shaping what kind of country we have.

In her Epilogue, “A World Without Caste,” Wilkerson pulls together what she wants us all to understand: that once we truly see what caste has done and continues to do, we can choose individually and as a country to do something about it.

The book is a call to look at ourselves in a different way than perhaps we have until now.

It is compelling.

Robin Rice:

Brian Doyle’s Mink River (F). I recently read this a second time and now know I will read it again. And quite likely again. Along with re-reading Frances Itani – Requiem, Deafening (HF) – books, words, authors that hold you quietly in place, not for plot but for the solace and joy and surprise of words. (I’m thinking of launching again on Dorothy Dunnett’s The House of Nicolo for months of an amazing, gripping ride. Takes patience, but oh boy….)

Sal Giambanco:

Jeff Abbott’s new page turner, Never Ask Me (F). Follows the fast pace of his last best seller, The Three Beths.  Jeff’s work for me is an absolute page turner, and I generally stay up all night reading him.  

On the nonfiction side; a hero in America but not so much in his native France, The Marquis, Lafayette Reconsidered by Laura Auricchio (NF) is a sobering reminder how reason and moderation often cannot succeed in the midst of a radically polarized society.  Opposed by both the Jacobins and the monarchists, they could all agree on their hatred of Lafayette, the author of The Declaration of the Rights of Men and a genuine hero of the American Revolution whose very life was only spared because of the interventions of President George Washington. Later in life, Lafayette opposed both the excesses of Napoleon and France’s last king Louis XVIII.  

From the American Presidents series sponsored by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Franklin Pierce by Michael Holt (NF) and James Buchanan by Jean Baker (NF). Spurred by the bitter politics of today, I have been doing a deep dive into the most divisive politics in American history, America in the 1850s, the politics that led to the Civil War.

Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan were our 14h and 15th Presidents in the eight years just before Lincoln was elected President in 1860. Both men are ranked towards the bottom of any rankings of America’s 45 Presidents – but I expect Mr Trump will tank just ahead of Buchanan.

James Buchanan, America’s only bachelor President, may be the most disappointing.  An ambitious politician who served and loved his country and who helped add more territory to the United States as Polk’s Secretary of State than any other administration (think Mexican cession – larger than the Louisiana Purchase – and the person who negotiated our final borders with Canada.  Buchanan was less successful as President when he tried to add both Cuba and Baja California.  

Virtually everything both Pierce and Buchanan did as President blatantly favored the South (four of Buchanan’s cabinet members would serve as high ranking leaders of the Confederacy- including its President, Jefferson Davis.)

After Lincoln’s election and after South Carolina’s secession a month later in December 1860 (Lincoln would not assume the Presidency until March 1861); unlike his hero, Andrew Jackson during the 1830s nullification crisis, Buchanan inexplicably did nothing.  He even allowed virtually all federal munitions in the South to fall into the hands of the Confederacy.  

Jean Baker argues that if Buchanan had just taken basic steps to preserve the Union he took an oath to serve, the Civil War may have been entirely avoidable – and that Buchanan’s actions would have been considered treason during any other time.

Both Franklin and Buchanan failed to understand the depth of Northern opposition not only to the institution of slavery itself – but Northerners were resentful of a small anti democratic Southern aristocratic elite that seemed to dominate every lever of our nation’s national government. 

Sam Black:

Inferno by Max Hastings (NF). The best one-volume history of WW2.  The author is a master of strategy and offers unvarnished opinions about many of the prominent WW2 generals and politicians. The book also quotes from hundreds of diaries and letters to provide views of what happened from a ground-level perspective. Revelatory on the overwhelming contribution of the Soviet Union to the Allied victory.  A masterpiece.

The Man Who Broke Napoleon’s Codes by George Scovell (NF).  The British army under Wellington vanquished Napoleon’s forces in a multi-year campaign in Spain. This came about in part because of the code-breaking efforts of a British officer who is finally getting a secure place in history as the result of this book. Amazing detail and lucid narrative and description.  

Tim Malieckal:

Sashenka by Simon Sebag Montefiore (F), a prequel to Red Sky at Noon. Not as good, but enjoyable.

From Russia with Blood: The Kremlin’s Ruthless Assassination Program and Vladimir Putin’s Secret War on the West by Heidi Blake, Marisa Calin, et al. (NF). Very well sourced, scary stuff connecting the dots of Putin’s killing regime

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (NF). Anthro 101 for people like me who didn’t take it in college. inspiration in every chapter.

All Creatures Great and Small by James Harriot (NF). A vet recounts his life in Yorkshire in the 30s. Incredibly enjoyable.

Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P.G. Wodehouse (F). My favorite of PG Wodehouse’s characters, Frederick Alamont Cornwallis Twistleton III, the Earl of Ickenham. Like uncorking a vial of laughing gas.

Now reading the second book, All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Harriot (NF). Reread Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (F). Managed to fit in a reread of The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham (F), my favorite book.
Just started Jean Genet’s Prisoner of Love (NF). Have you ever read him? What a life!

Tom Perrault:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (F). I’ve loved Ann Patchett since Bel Canto and keep waiting for that lightening to strike again. It doesn’t quite happen here, but it was an interesting read and worth it.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (F). I just loved this book. Such an odd premise he begins with an a leisurely pace until the end and yet super compelling. I’m a fan.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron (F). A total classic and I understand why. I couldn’t stop thinking about this book after finishing it. It’s completely engrossing and even as I write about it, I’m thinking all over again about it. :)

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (F) – I was put off by the telling of the story: it reads like a transcript of an “interview” between multiple people spliced in with one another to tell a story. And then I was hooked. She’s a good storyteller after all.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Mink Kidd (F) – More of a “feel good” beach read than anything, but if you’re at a beach and want something light and lovely, read this.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (F) – Her debut novel from 2017 got a ton of buzz so I read it. Interesting. She’s a good writer with a modern take on relationships so there’s that. I prob didn’t love as much as others did, however.

Share

The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2017

29 Friday Dec 2017

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Best Book List, Books, Favorite Reads by MillersTime Readers in 2017, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books, Most Enjoyable Reads 2017


“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read.” – A. Lincoln

Once again the MillersTime “best books roundup” is my favorite post of the year. It’s a labor of love and is only possible because so many of you take the time to send in what books you have enjoyed over the last 12 months. I’m indeed indebted to each of you and offer my heartfelt thanks to all of you.

The 2017 list is comprised of the favorite reads of 82 adults and 10 children. Fiction leads the nonfiction 56% to 44%, similar to last year. Our youngest participant is almost five month’s old; the oldest is 96. The rest of you are mostly between the ages of 35- 75. Fifty-eight percent of you are women, 42% are men.

While I don’t expect everyone of you will read all the way through this list (anyone who does can claim it as a favorite book for next year), know there is a tremendous amount of information here. I’ve organized it in several ways, hopefully to make it more user friendly:

I. The most frequently cited titles (three or more times) are listed first.

II. Next the contributors are listed alphabetically — to make it easy if you are looking for the favorites of someone you know — with the titles and authors next and then any comments made about those books.

III. Finally, there are also two spread sheet links included as easy, searchable references for you to see the titles, authors, and MillersTime contributors in summary form:

List # 1 – Organized by book titles 

List #2 –  Organized by reader/contributor’s name.

I. Titles that appear on the Favorites’ List three times or more:

Fiction (F):

  •      A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
  •      America’s First Daughter, Stephanie Dray
  •      Days Without End, Sebastian Barry
  •      House of Names, Colm Toibin
  •      Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan
  •      Salvage the Bones, Jesymn Ward
  •      Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesymn Ward
  •      Small Great Things, Jody Picoult
  •      The North Water, Ian McQuire

Nonfiction (NF):

  •      Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson
  •      Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
  •      Evicted, Mathew Desmond
  •      Grant, Ron Chernow
  •      Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance
  •      Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann

For me, as is true every year, the strengths and value of this year’s list have more to do with what contributors say about a book than the number of times a book may be listed. Often, a book listed only once is one I most want to read in the coming year.

A reminder: this list is not meant to be the best books published in 2017, but rather what the title of this posting states — The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2017.

Please forgive my endless prompting for your submissions, though the results, I hope, may have been worth the reminders. (Late additions — please feel free to send them — will be posted as they arrive, without any snarky comments from the editor.)

And, of course, I take responsibility for any inaccuracies or mistakes in the posting of your names, the titles, the authors, and your comments. Please do let me know about errors so I can correct them quickly and easily.

Feel free to share this post with others — family, friends, book clubs, etc.

Enjoy.

II. The 2017 List of Favorites:  

(alphabetical by reader’s first name):

Continue reading »

Share

Calling for Favorite Reads in 2017

30 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Audible Books, Books, Bools Most Enjoyed This Year, Fiction, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books, Nonfiction


“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read”- A. Lincoln

It’s that time of year again — when I request you share with other readers of MillersTime your most favorite books read over the past 12 months.

Here are a few guidelines that may help in drawing your list and in making my compilation easier:

*When I ask for your Most Favorite Reads of 2017, I’m seeking fiction and/or nonfiction books that stood out for you above all you’ve read in the past year. What have been the most enjoyable, the most important, the most thought provoking, the best written, the ones you may go back and read again, the ones you reread this year, and/or the ones you have suggested others read?

* You are welcome to send just one title or as many as are truly favorite reads.

* In order to make my work less cumbersome, please do the following:

* List the title, the author, and indicate whether it is fiction (F) or nonfiction (NF).

* I, and most MillersTime readers, seem particularly interested in why a particular book made it to your list this year. Please write a sentence or two, or more, about why each particular book was a favorite for you this year.

* Don’t be concerned about whether others will have the same book(s) on their lists. If we get a number of similar titles, that’s just an indication of the power of a particular book/author.

* Your books do not have to be ones that were written and/or published in 2017, just ones that you read over the past year. If you participated this year in sending titles of books you enjoyed in the first half of 2017, feel free to include one or more of those if they make it to your list of most favorites in 2017.

*If you have listened to a book(s) in one of the various audio formats, Books on Tape, CDs, Audible, etc., and if they meet your definition of books “you’ve enjoyed the most in 2017,” please include those on your list also, This is in addition to the ones you (may) have listed. Be sure to identify which ‘books’ on your list were ones you enjoyed audibly.

* Send me your list in an email (Samesty84@gmail.com) by Dec. 17th  so I will be able to post the entire list at the end of the year. (If you send me your list sooner, you may be able to avoid my constant email reminders to do so.)

To see previous years’ lists, click on any of these links: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. 2016.

Share

Final Edition: MillersTime Readers Favorite Books Mid-Year 2017

15 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Favorite Reads, Mid-Year Listing of Favorite Reads, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books

“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read”- A. Lincoln

Here are all, in one place, the 2017 mid-year favorite books by MillersTime readers.

The first ten in this list were not in earlier posts. They are followed by the ones I posted earlier.

Enjoy.

New Additions to the List:

Jane Bradley:

I’ve enjoyed many of the same books already listed by others, including:

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston (NF).

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (NF).

Between Them: Remembering My Parents by Richard Ford (NF). [audiobook]

A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles (F). [audiobook]

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag (F). [audiobook]

Swing Time by Zadie Smith (F).

Moonglow by Michael Chabon (F). [audiobook]

Two biographies that have captivated me are Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (NF) [audiobook]; and Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands (NF), which I’m still reading.

A novelist new to me this year is Rachel Cusk, author of a trilogy about a British writer whom we get to know mostly through her encounters with others.  The first two novels in the trilogy are Outline by Rachel Cusk (F); and Transit by Rachel Cusk (F), and I’m looking forward to the third.

Chris Rothenberger:

This year I have read many of the books written by Lisa See, a Chinese-American author of historical fiction.  She has written numerous books highlighting stories about Chinese characters and culture, and illuminating the strong bonds between women.   Her stories are in depth and fascinating and shine the light on little known topics, and a culture that proves fascinating.  Her research is impeccable, and deep, including travel to China to remote areas to research her stories. She has won numerous awards and is a NY Times Bestselling author.  The books are both engaging and characters well developed; at times the stories are painful and sad, but culturally revealing.

Books I’ve read so far are: Sun Flower and the Secret Fan,   Shanghai Girls, Dreams of Joy, China Dolls by Lisa See (All F).

Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard (NF). It’s a story every American should read.   Like his other books, it does not disappoint.  The background of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb to end WW2 is riveting, and the sequence of events carefully shared.  I learned volumes about our history, as I have in his other books.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly (F). It’s the story of 3 women whose lives converge during WW2.  It highlights actual events in US and Germany during the wartime and provides a different perspective about war through the female viewpoint whose lives were impacted by war. Their destinies converged around Ravensbruk, Hilter’s Concentration Camp for women. The story is based on the lives of real people and highlights love, redemption and years of secrets.

Garland Standrod:

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani (F). A novel about a man’s fascination with the garden of an eccentric Jewish family in Italy just prior to WWII. The novel’s tension results from the knowledge by the reader that the family will end up in a concentration camp. Published some time ago but an Italian classic.

Robert Lowell: Setting the River on Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison (NF). Thus study, although overlong, is a fascinating study of bipolar disease combined with poetic genius, by the author of An Unquiet Mind.

Linda Rothenberg:

I loved The Rent Collector by Camron Wright (F).

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift (F) was good.

Let There Be Water by (NF) is a good read.

Dave Katten:

I just wrapped up 3 audiobooks I’d been working on all year:

Americanah by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie (F) was another read in my quest to understand/fathom race in America, esp. blackness in America. I actually prefer fiction as the vehicle for that, over non-fiction, since fundamentally I’m looking for stories over data (which is not typical for me). Anyone who reads this should get the audiobook version, just so they can hear the narrator’s delightful Nigerian-American English, as well as the correct pronunciation of Igbo.

I didn’t like Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (NF) at first and put it on pause for some time. Most people I talked to said the first part was the most interesting, but I was more taken by the middle/final parts. Again, the stories here are more interesting than the data, but Vance does a good job of weaving them together. As a side note, I thought it was interesting that his advisor at Yale law was Amy Chua, she of the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, who convinced him to write the book. I think I saw a joint interview with them in The Atlantic. However, while I expected to come away with more empathy for rural working class folks, I found the internal contradictions that Vance lays out to be really frustrating, rather than relatable. That is unusual for me.

I picked up The Idiot by Elif Batuman (F) because I heard it was about a college student studying linguistics at an elite private school in the mid-90s, which is *almost* me. It was surreal – I was interested, I was engaged, but the plot didn’t really develop. Nobody wanted anything, everything just happened, for no discernible reason. Then the protagonist’s freshman year was over. There were a few insights on the immigrant experience, but overall, things just “were” or “happened”, but I still wanted to finish. Not typical for me.

Lydia Hill Slaby:

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barret (NF). I’ve been reading and enjoying this one. Otherwise, it’s been a quiet year in Lake Wobegon.

Chris McCleary:

I strongly recommend folks check out Andrew Mayne (the most recent book of his that I read was Orbital (F), and I gave it 4 of 5 stars. It was a sequel to an earlier novel: Station Breaker (F). He has written a wide variety of books, across genres, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every single one of his books that I’ve read (I think I’ve read his entire bibliography except two so far).  So I’d like to recommend folks check out anything by him.

Jim Kilby:

Bad Blood by John Sanford (F). Murder mystery.

Fatso. Story by and about Art Donovan (NF). Ex Baltimore Colt lineman. “When Men Were Men.”

Uh-Oh: Some Observations From Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door by Robert Fulghum (NF). The guy who learned everything he needed, in kindergarten.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (F). Life through the eyes of an African intellectual.

The Greatest Stories Never Told by Rick Byer (NF). The real strange true history, about how the world’s events unfolded.

Five Easy Decades by Dennis McDougal (NF). How Jack Nicholson became the world’s biggest movie star.

General Richard Montgomery and the American Revolution: From Redcoat to Rebel by Hal T. Shelton (NF). A book that would only interest me about Gen. Montgomery, a friend of George Washington, killed in the Revolutionary War, and an  ancestor of my mother.

Gabi Beaumont:

Faithful Place (three stars) and The Secret Place (four stars) both by Tanya French and both (NF).

Currently reading Into the Water by Paula Hawkings (F) which I would recommend, but so far it is about 3 stars.

Bina Shah:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (F).
 

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison (F).

Tanya Chernov Smith:

I only have one recommendation that isn’t a “how-to-get-your-baby-to-sleep” guide:

The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert (NF). At a time when American politics have many of us considering life off the grid, this true story of a mountain man provides a special brand of comfort. Eustace Conway left his comfortable suburban home at 17 to move into the Appalachian Mountains, where he has since lived off the land. A charismatic and romantic figure, both brilliant and tormented, brave and contradictory, restless and ambitious, Conway has always seen himself as a “Man of Destiny” whose goal is to convince modern Americans to give up their materialistic lifestyles and return with him back to nature.

Kathy Camicia:

Madness, Rack, and Honey by Mary Ruggle (NF).   This was a NYTimes rec for the previous year. The author is a poet and her observations are written in a beautiful style and language.

The Best American Essays 2016  Ed.  by Jonathan Franzen (NF). Not the best year but they are always good; not that many from the New Yorker

Landscapes by John Berger (NF).  My favorite art critic who recently died. A collection of his essays on art, travel and the world.

A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women by Siri Hustvedt (NF). Very interesting essays on art and feminism by this author who is also a novelist and scholar. The second half of the book focuses on neuroscience and perception.

Known and Strange Things by Tegu Cole (NF). This is my favorite book of essays, and one I recommend highly. If you aren’t familiar with the author, it will be worth your while. He writes for the NYTimes Sunday magazine on photography and art. The book includes other topics such as travel, literature, history and politics.

Novels:

Commonwealth by Anne Patchett (F). Good.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (F). Good.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (F). Very good and still creepy.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff  (F). Very good.

Any Human Heart by William Boyd (F).  Excellent.

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster (F).  Excellent but not for everyone; post-modern

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O ‘Brien (F).

The Blue Guitar by John Banville (F). Good and always a pleasure to read.

The Secret Chord by Gerald Brooks (F). Very good.

The Making of Zombie Wars by Aleksandar Hemon (F). OK, but the author writes so well that I will read anything from him.

Continue reading »

Share

The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2015

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Best Reads, Favorite Books Read in 2015, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books

books1-539x303

“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read”- A. Lincoln

Once again, you’re gonna need some time for this post.

And probably pen and paper (or whatever device you use these days to make your own lists) — to jot down some titles that you’ll likely want to add to your ‘to read’ list for 2016.

Despite a recurring theme in contributors’ emails about not reading as much this year, not finding as many memorable books, and/or not remembering the titles read, I think you’ll find an remarkably rich and diverse list of titles and comments.

Eighty-three of you contributed this year, listing 455 books, with fiction leading nonfiction 59% to 41%. More than 350 of the titles were only listed once or twice. The female-male division of contributors was 57%-43% (F/M), about what it has been in the past. Contributors ranged in age from 18 to 80, with most in the 30+ to 70+ year age range. (There was one ‘family’ contribution — grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter, tho I’m not sure they realized the others had contributed.)

While I don’t expect most of you will read all the way through this list (anyone who does can claim it as a book for next year), there is a tremendous amount of information here. I’ve organized it in several ways to make it all more user friendly:

  1. The most frequently cited titles are listed first.

2. Then, the contributors are listed alphabetically — to make it easy to find a specific individual’s favorites — followed by the titles and authors of the books they most enjoyed this year and any comments they made about those books.

3. Also, two spread sheet links have been added this year to see the titles, authors, and MillersTime contributors in summary form:

a) List #1 — organized with the titles first, followed by authors and followed by name of the reader/contributor citing the book, and

b) List #2 –organized with the reader/contributor names first, followed by titles and authors.

To get to (and perhaps print out) either or both of these lists, click on the links in a) or b) above. Alternatively, you can get to these lists at the very end of this post.

4. You can also click on the title of any book mentioned on this post to go to Amazon to see more about the book and its availability. (I’m not pushing Amazon and as you know am a fan of independent bookstores, but I did want to give readers a quick way to see more about a particular title.)

5. And new this year, you can click on Public Library after any title in this post to see what is available in your local library. (Note you will have to type in your zip code when you connect to the site.)

Titles that appear on the Favorites List three times or more:

Non-Fiction (NF):

  •      The Boys in the Boat, (public library) by Daniel James Brown (13)
  •      Being Mortal, (public library) by Atul Gawande (7)
  •      Ghettoside, (public library) by Jill Loevy (6)
  •      Between the World and Me, (public library) by Ta-Nehisi Coates (4)
  •      The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Pearce, (public library) by Jeff Hobbs (4)
  •      H Is for Hawk, (public library) by Helen Macdonald (3)
  •      The New Jim Crow, (public library) by Michelle Alexander (3)

Fiction (F):

  •      All the Light We Cannot See, (public library) by Anthony Doerr (12)
  •      The Nightingale, (public library) by Kristin Hannah (7
  •      The Girl on the Train, (public library) by Paula Hawkins (7)
  •      Americanah, (public library) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4)
  •      My Brilliant Friend, (public library) by Elena Ferrante (4)
  •      Go Set a Watchman, (public library) by Harper Lee (4)
  •      Our Souls at Night, (public library) by Kent Haruf (3)
  •      Me Before You, (public library) by Jojo Moyes (4)
  •      Martin Beck Detective Series,(public library) by Per Wahloo & Maj Sjowall (3)
  •      The Poisonwood Bible, (public library) Barbara Kingsolver (3)
  •      Everything I Never Told You, (public library) by Celest Ng (3)
  •      Station Eleven, (public library) by Emily St. John Mandel (3)

For me, however, the strength and value of this (and previous) years’ lists have more to do with what contributors say about a book than the number of times a book may be listed. Sometimes, books listed only once or twice are the ones I most want to read in the coming year.

Just a reminder — this list is not meant to be the best books published in 2015, but rather what the title of this posting states — The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2015.

This list would not have been possible if those who contributed had not taken the time to send their favorite reads and their thoughtful comments. So, much thanks to all who did, those who have done so in the past — and continued to do so — and those who are new contributors.

Please forgive my endless reminders, though the results, I hope, may have been worth the nagging. (Late additions — please feel free to send them — will be posted as they arrive, without any snarky comments from the editor.)

And, of course, I take responsibility for any inaccuracies or mistakes in the posting of the titles, authors, comments, etc. as MillersTime readers rarely make grammatical or other mistakes in their submissions. Please feel free to let me know about any of my errors as I can correct them quickly and easily.

Feel free to share this post with others — family, friends, book clubs, etc.

Enjoy.

2015 – List of Favorite Reads:

Continue reading »

Share

The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2014

26 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Books Most Enjoyed in 2014, Favorite Reads, MillersTime Readers Favorite Books

books1-539x303

“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read”- A. Lincoln

Once again, you’re gonna need some time for this post.

And probably pen and paper to jot down some titles that you’ll likely want to add to your ‘to read’ list for 2015.

Despite a recurring theme in contributors’ emails about not reading as much this year, not finding as many memorable books and not remembering the titles read, I think you’ll find a diverse and rich list of titles and comments.

Seventy-four of you contributed this year, listing approximately 450 books, with fiction leading nonfiction 60% to 40%. At least 300 of the titles were only listed once. The female-male division of contributors was 56%-44% (F/M), about what it has been in the past. The contributors are listed alphabetically to make it easier to find specific individual’s choices.

Titles that appeared three times or more were:

  • All the Light We Cannot See (F) by Anthony Doerr (12)
  • The Goldfinch (F) by Donna Tartt (11)
  • The Boys in the Boat (NF) by Daniel James Brown (6)
  • No Place to Hide (NF) by Glenn Greenwald (6)
  • Americanah (F) Chimananda Ngozi Adichie (6)
  • The Lowland (F) by Jhumpa Lahiri (6)
  • Stoner (F) by John Williams (6)
  • The Invention of Wings (F) by  Monk Kidd (5)
  • A Constellation of Vital Phenomena (F) Anthony Marra (5)
  • The Children’s Act (F) Ian McEwan (4)
  • The Signature of All Things (F) by Elizabeth Gilbert (4)
  • The Light Between the Oceans (F) by. M.L. Stedman (4)
  • Gone Girl (F) by Gillian Flynn (4)
  • Zealot (NF) by Resa Azlan (3)
  • Wonder (F) by R.J. Palacio (3)
  • The Woman Upstairs (F) by Claire Messud (3)
  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North (F) by Richard Flanagan (3)
  • Orphan Train (F) Christine Baker Kline (3)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird, (F) Harper Lee (3)

For me, however, the strength and value of this (and previous) years’ lists have more to do with what contributors said about the books they enjoyed than the number of times a book was listed.

At the suggestion of one contributor, I have linked each book to Amazon’s site so you can read more about that particular book. I am not a fan of Amazon nor am I encouraging purchasing through them, but I did want to give readers a link to more information about each book. Hopefully, you will consider supporting your independent bookstore if you have one in your area.

Just a reminder that this list is not meant to be the best books published in 2014, but rather what the title of this posting states – The Books Most Enjoyed by MillersTime Readers in 2014.

The List:

Continue reading »

Share

♣ Search



♣ Featured Posts

  • Cappadocia: Thru Ellen’s Lens
  • Thru Ellen’s Lens: Petra & Wadi Rum
  • I Changed My Mind
  • By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea…
  • So Many Books…So Little Time? Here Are 34 Recent Favorite Reads
  • One Favorite Read
  • Yes, It’s True…I Biked from Bruges to Amsterdam!
  • Carrie Trauth Made the World a Better Place
  • “I Used to Be a Human Being” – Andrew Sullivan
  • MillersTime Contributors Favorite Reads from 2021
  • Thru Ellen’s Lens: Alaskan Landscapes & Skyscapes
  • Thru Ellen’s Lens: The Brown Bears of Katmai, Alaska
  • When I Was 22…
  • The Country ‘Spoke’ Again
  • Thru Ellen’s Lens: The Slot Canyons of Arizona

♣ Recent Comments

  • Sean on Telling Esty’s Story
  • Ping on Telling Esty’s Story
  • Mike Weinroth on Telling Esty’s Story
  • Bill plitt on Telling Esty’s Story
  • Ed Scholl on Call for 2023 Mid-Year Favorite Reads

♣ Archives

  • June 2023
  • April 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011

♣ Sections

  • Articles & Books of Interest
  • Escapes and Pleasures
  • Family and Friends
  • Go Sox
  • The Outer Loop

Proudly powered by WordPress Theme: Chateau by Ignacio Ricci.