What I'm Reading

2011

Author	Title	My Rating	Comments
Walter Isaacson	Steve Jobs	*****	Excellent. Even Steve Jobs would have liked this well-crafted book. It's accurate, fast-moving, heartwarming, and educational. Having worked at Apple during the turbulent mid-1980s, I found the book almost too well-written. I started having nightmares about Steve Jobs! But once I got past those difficult times in the narrative, I found the book technically and emotionally compelling. Jobs would have liked that it appeals to that place where technology and liberal arts meet. The technical material is generally right on, even though the author is not an engineer, and there are a couple of minor mistakes. The story-telling and the personality descriptions are also right on. I found it so sad to learn about Jobs' eating disorder, and that his reality distortion field probably played a part in him not getting cancer surgery soon enough. Isaacson lets us see just how truly insanely great Steve Jobs was. May he (Jobs) rest in peace and may the computer industry never forget the lessons he taught us about design, ease-of-use, perfectionism, and leadership.
Neal Stephenson	Reamde: A Novel	****	I loved the technical material about computers and guns, the story, the characters, the locations (Seattle, British Columbia, China, Iowa, T'Rain (the multiplayer game world)). He got a lot right with the networking and Internet technology, as well as the behavior of large Midwestern families. I didn't like the errors (wrong words, typos) and the length. The book needed a good editor.
Paula McLain	The Paris Wife	***	This story about Ernest Hemmingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson, probably deserves the comment some Amazon users are making that it's "chick lit." It does focus on female emotions, lacks manly action, and fails to tell us much about Ernest's motives. Nonetheless, I found it enjoyable not because I'm a chick, but because I liked learning about the Lost Generation in Paris 1920s, their drinking and womanizing, and their focus on "the work" (modernizing literature, art, music). Ultimately, the story is very sad. Even though I knew it would be sad, it still took me by surprise that the Hemminways let their marriage disintegrate when another woman decided she wanted Hemminway for herself.
Tom Rachman	The Imperfectionists: A Novel	****	Engaging, lightweight book about the demise of an English-language newspaper in Rome, Italy. Tells the story from the point of view of many characters, all of whom have the sorts of human flaws so often seen in any workplace: selfishness, perfectionism, lack of perfectionism (of course, given the title), ambition, lack of ambition, a need for attention, and so on. Good read, though not as profoundly moving as the next few books in my list.
Sebastian Barry	The Secret Scripture: A Novel	*****	Like the next book in my list, this is also an interesting book about a young woman who is a misfit in her culture, but in this case (unlike the woman in the next book), the character is badly treated. In fact, she is placed in an insane asylum. Part of the mistreatment is related to the political and religious turmoil in 20th century Ireland. Otherwise the mistreatment is simply because she is a beautiful young woman who dares to flirt with a man who is not her husband, but with whom she did share a violent incident related to the Irish Civil War of 1922-1923. I loved the book but also found it a bit irritating because I know so little about Irish history. Plus the book has a lot of words and phrases that we don't use here in the US. I was able to look some of them up on Kindle, but not all. Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book. In fact, I'm re-reading it to make sure I understand it and because it is so engaging!
Luis Alberto Urrea	The Hummingbird's Daughter	*****	The true story of the author's great-aunt Teresita, a lovable young spiritual healer, free-thinker, and revolutionary in late 1800s Mexico. Teresita is the illegitimate daughter of a fourteen-year-old Indian girl. An old-woman healer takes her under her wing, and later, after her "tribe" endures an Exodus to another ranch, her rich father takes her into his home, where she learns to read and to act like a lady. But Teresita also continues a folk education as a curandera, discovering healing powers and a mystical relationship with God. Unexpectedly, Indian pilgrims swarm to the Urrea ranch, where "St. Teresita" kindles their faith and a hunger for revolution. The only downside of the book is that there's too much Spanish, but maybe it will kindle my interest in learning that beautiful language.
Barack Obama	Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance	*****	Beautifully-written autobiography of a biracial young man, brought up by whites and Asians, seeking his place in African-American communities and his father's Kenyan family. The book has nothing to do with politics, and if people can set aside any expectations that it does, it can be read as a moving coming-of-age story. It shows a thoughtful young man with an unusual background but a typical set of goals related to belonging to a community and building an inner peace and strength that can be used to make a difference in the human community, regardless of color.
Leif Enger	Peace Like a River	****	Wonderful story-telling. A lot of it feels familiar, even though few of us have travelled across the Great Plains in an Airstream searching for a fugitive brother who killed two men, sort of in self-defense. The kids in the story, the killer's brother and sister, are believable, so sweet but so persistent. The father isn't believable, but he's not supposed to be. He works miracles.
Janny Scott	A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother	***	I wonder why people know so little about Barack Obama's mother, Dr. Stanley Ann Dunham. She was an astonishing woman. This biography helps us see that, even though the writing is dry and technical. She was brilliant, creative, quirky, spiritual, and hard-working. She lived in California, Oklahoma, Texas, New York, Hawaii, Indonesia, Pakistan, etc. She went to high school on Mercer Island. (Wouldn't you have guessed Kansas from the few facts that are well-known about her?) She had a PhD in anthropology and was an expert in using micro-loans (before they were even called that) to help small businesses in Indonesia. She died at age 52 of ovarian cancer.
Geraldine Brooks	Caleb's Crossing	****	Such an interesting book! It tells the story of one of the first Harvard graduates, a Native American, from the point of view of his childhood friend, a girl who was mostly denied any education, but still managed to learn a lot. At first I was worried I wouldn't get used to her 1600's dialect, but I did, and learned to love her and her friends.
Jhumpa Lahiri	Unaccustomed Earth: Stories	***	Interesting, easy-to-read stories about Bengali Americans in Boston, Seattle, London, etc.
Toni Morrison	Song of Solomon	*	Boring and confusing. Morrison tried to tell the story from the point of view of men, according to the forward. Maybe men just aren't very interesting!? Certainly the main character, Milkman, is way too immature and spoiled to be interesting. Even when he reaches his 30s, he still acts like an over-privileged child. He does grow some when he researches his ancestry, but the insights he learns are not worth the work it takes to get through pages of boring text about other people's relatives. A few of the female characters are interesting: Pilate, Hagar, Circe the witch, and maybe they seemed unique when Morrison wrote the book in 1977, but today they seem like stereotypes because Morrison has similar characters in her much better later books. One other complaint: it was impossible to tell where the book took place. About 1/4 of the way in, a Seal of Michigan is mentioned and it comes as a surprise that the book might take place in Michigan.
Elizabeth George Speare	The Bronze Bow	*****	I re-read this young adult masterpiece every few years around Easter (Jesus is one of the characters). The book isn't overtly Christian, and I like that. The themes of forgiveness and loving your enemy are universal and presented in a practical way, as the young Jewish man learns to give up his hate for the Roman conquerors.
Rebecca Skloot	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks	*****	I loved this book. It's the story of Henrietta Lacks, the impoverished young black woman who unknowingly gave her cancer cells to science. Without telling her or her family, Johns Hopkins grew her cancer cells and gave them away to scientists. They are amazing cells that grow like crazy and have contributed to breakthroughs in Parkinson's research, treatments for leukemia and hemophilia, and in vitro fertilization advancements. The book keeps the science simple but interesting. What makes it shine is the stories about Henrietta's large, eccentric family, many who start out very angry about the way science and society ignored them.
Helen Simonson	Major Pettigrew's Last Stand	***	Good escapism. Light read about Major Pettigrew, an elderly Brit who befriends Ali, a Pakistani shop-keeper and beautiful widow who lives nearby.
Chris Cleave	Little Bee	****	Wow. What an interesting book about a refugee from Nigeria in London. I couldn't put it down. Was it good writing? I'm not sure. But it certainly gave me empathy for refugees and made me think about the consequences of our addiction to oil.
Booth Tarkington	The Magnificent Ambersons	****	George Will mentioned Booth Tarkington in a column and I was intrigued by his description of an earlier, simpler time, even though usually I can't stand George Will. :-) The Magnificent Ambersons didn't disappoint. The times were actually not simpler, as major change was coming about due to the introduction of the automobile, numerous immigrants from Europe, financial troubles, etc. The reader understands more than the main character, who is young and over-privileged but doesn't realize it. That makes for interesting reading. I recommend this book.
Jamie Ford	Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet	***	In this touching and enjoyable book, 13-year old Henry, a Chinese immigrant in Seattle during WWII, tells his story of falling in love with Keiko, a 3rd generation Japanese girl whose family is "evacuated" to an internment camp. A grown Henry also tells part of the story. The title is perfect, as the story is bitter and sweet, like lots of Asian cooking. Henry's fascination with jazz and his friendship with Sheldon, an older black saxophonist, adds spice to the story. This is Mr. Ford's first novel and it could use some polish. Some parts aren't believable and some of the writing is amateurish. Still, I would recommend the book.
Barbara Kingsolver	The Lacuna	*****	I can't say enough good things about this novel that follows a boy as he grows up in Mexico, Washington DC, and North Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. He works with Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leon Trotsky, and later finds himself in trouble with the House Un-American Activities Committee. He becomes a novelist and hires a secretary, Violet Brown. Violet's dry wit and standoffish, asexual love for her employer are appealing. He tells her to burn his diaries and letters, but she saves them instead. It is these papers that form the bulk of the novel. There are gaps, or lacunae, in the story, hence the title. My only criticism is that it's a bit unbelievable he would end up in Asheville, NC, and that feels like sort of a "safe choice" for an author who had exhausted her knowledge of 1930s Mexico so moved the story to the Southern US, which she knows well (having written about it before, and having lived there).
Haven Kimmel	A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland, Indiana	****	This book was recommended to me because I liked "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress." It's also an autobiography of a spunky girl who grew up in a small community. No doubt I'm guilty of classism, but I didn't like this book as much as Mennonite, partly because the narrator showcases the ignorance and borderline personalities found in many small, Midwestern towns. On the other hand, when I lived in Indiana, I befriended lots of people like this girl and found them smart, creative, and good at getting into trouble in a safe way. My mother did not approve. :-)

2010

Author	Title	My Rating	Comments
Reeve Lindbergh	No More Words : A Journal of My Mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh	*****	I loved this book. I read it as an extra-curricular activity in our book club. Our book for the month was the next one in my list here, "Gift from the Sea," by Reeve Lindbergh's mother. I liked "No More Words" better and think the daughter is the more talented writer. "No More Words" is sad in many ways because it's about the last couple years of the author's mother's life, after the mother has had many mini strokes and has lost most of her cognitive abilities. But the beautiful writing is poignant and helpful for anyone who cares for an elderly parent or simply anyone who loves someone who is damaged in any way.
A.M. Lindbergh	Gift from the Sea	***	Classic book that helped women in the 1950s and 1960s assert themselves and give themselves permission to find solitude in the midst of their busy lives. Our book club chose to read this for December because it's short and many women go crazy around Christmas time with shopping, baking, entertaining, etc., and have little time for reading. Since I don't do any of that and have always lived a simple life, both the book choice and the book itself weren't too relevant to me, but I did enjoy the couple hours it took me to read the book because of the poetic writing and spiritual themes.
Rhoda Janzen	Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home	*****	Funny, heart-warming, educational (good info on Mennonites). I highly recommend this book.
Sheryl WuDunn & Nicholas Kristof	Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide	*****	This is a life-changing book about women around the world who are subjected to kidnapping, slavery, beatings, rapes, murder, mutilation, discrimination, and so on. Sounds cheery, eh? Seriously, the book will make you angry but also hopeful because it analyzes what works and what doesn't. Education, literacy programs, micro-financing, school uniforms, women's health programs -- all of these work. Even if you aren't able to make a trip to Africa or Pakistan to try to help, as the authors recommend, you can help with micro-finance loans from your home with programs like Kiva. This book has motivated me to do just that and much more.
Madeleine L'Engle	Many Waters	*****	I seem to be on a Madeleine L'Engle kick. This book is as wonderful as all of her books. It tells the story of Sandy and Dennys (twin brothers of Meg and Charles Wallace from A Wrinkle in Time) entering one of their father's quantum physics experiments and ending up in the Middle East at the time of Noah.
Madeleine L'Engle	An Acceptable Time	*****	Yes we can change the world with love. That is the theme of Madeleine L'Engle's wonderful books. In this book, Polly O'Keefe, the daughter of Meg from A Wrinkle in Time, visits her grandparents in New England, and with Zachary and a retired bishop, finds herself traveling back in time 3000 years. Druids have crossed the ocean and mingled with Native Americans. They may want to sacrifice Polly, or at least Zachary, for rain. The book is so repetitive at the end that you have to speed read it, but other than that, I liked it for the wonderful feelings of love and peace it gives the reader.
Colum McCann	Let the Great World Spin: A Novel	**	This book has a great sense of time and place, 1974 New York City, when Philippe Petit walked across a tight-rope that he strung between the World Trade Center towers. The author puts together stories about other people living in New York at that time, including two Irish brothers, prostitutes who one of the brothers helps, mothers of dead Vietnam soldiers, two recovering addict artists, a tagger, and some phone phreaks. I wish he had stuck to telling the stories of the brothers and prostitutes. It seems like he had something good started with them but didn't do the work to pull their entire stories out of his brain and share them with his readers.
Andrew Hacker & Claudia Dreifus	Higher Education?: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids---and What We Can Do About It	****	A must-read for everyone who works in higher education, is attending college, is sending their kids to college, or who supports a college with taxes or donations. The book is highly critical of higher education, as it should be. Too many colleges focus on protecting athletics, administrative functions, and the over-privileged tenured professors' right not to teach much or work hard at all. Why don't colleges focus on the students? Oh, because they don't have to. Taxes will still fund state universities and wealthy donors will still give money to private colleges. What other industry gets away with ignoring the needs of their customers as blatantly as colleges do? What's the price society pays when students graduate from college with little to show from their four years except huge debts?
Jonathan Franzen	Freedom: A Novel	**	The author didn't like his characters, which made it hard for the reader to like them either. Events just happen to the characters. We learn very little about their motivations or what's in their hearts. My advice: Don't believe the reviewers who claim this is the latest Great American Novel or that it has universal themes. The characters are a product of the 1980s and the current decade: the punk-rocker womanizer, the environmentalist who works with mining companies, the housewife who was better off as a college basketball star, and the teenage son who thinks he doesn't need to live with his parents. The characters and themes aren't universal and are barely believable if you're outside the East Coast intelligentsia.
Elizabeth Gilbert	Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia	*****	Better than the movie! I loved the book, in fact. It's full of wisdom. The part in India was especially helpful with many suggestions on how to forgive yourself and others and be content. ☯ ☮ ♡
Robert Goolrick	A Reliable Wife	**	Set in Wisconsin and Saint Louis, MO in the early 1900s, this story about a wife who pretends to be pure when she really has a history as a party girl (though they didn't call them that back then) was hard to put down. Nonetheless, I didn't really like it. The writing is off-putting. The author keeps the reader at bay. Plus the melodrama of the story didn't do much for me. I only read it because my Book Club made me. :-)
Tara French	Faithful Place: A Novel	*****	Loved it. Set in Dubln, it's sort of a cross between Angela's Ashes and Sherlock Holmes. Frank Mackey is a bold, but flawed detective who, as so often happens in French books, gets involved in a case in a personal way. He sort of has to. His ex-girlfriend and brother end up dead.
Lisa See	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel	****	Interesting coming-of-age story that takes place in 19th-century China. The foot binding is creepy, but the emotional attachment and betrayal between the women is believable and moving.
Tana French	The Likeness: A Novel	*****	Loved it! Sure, it's a bit hard to believe that Cassie Maddox, the detective, looks exactly like the victim, but once you get past that, this book is enjoyable because of the great writing and because of the lovable, strong, flawed characters who go through hell and come out again as better people.
Robert Hellenga	Blues Lessons: A Novel	****	I liked this book a lot but it doesn't sparkle like Hellenga's other books. It seems prosaic. I love blues music, but a list of blues musicians' names doesn't belong in a novel perhaps? And I didn't think about the symbolism that some people see in the book. Blues music and longing, yes, but Southwestern Michigan as the Garden of Eden? I don't think so. And the fact that a single apple tree can grow multiple types of apples isn't magical; it's biology. However, I'm not an unbiased reader. I grew up in a small Michigan town 15 miles East of the town in the book! And all the other haunts in the book, the University of Chicago, Madison Wisconsin, I-90, I-94, the Niles Amtrak train station, etc: been there done that. :-)
Stieg Larsson	The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest	****	Another terrific celebration of strong women, and the men who love them, fighting men who hate women. I didn't like this book quite as much as the previous two books in the series because of all the history of The Section and the numerous detectives with Swedish names that were hard to keep straight. All in all, though, it was a satisfying ending to an unforgettable trilogy.
Richard Russo	Bridge of Sighs	***	Lots of wisdom about love, hate, relationships, settling for less. The author was able to make the book palatable even though the characters are rather boring, conventional, small-town. I kind of envied Lou whose motto might be "the unexamined life is worth living." Maybe the key to happiness is less examination, and more optimism and tolerance of others?
Abraham Verghese	Cutting for Stone	*****	Fantastic, interesting, heart-warming, good way to learn about Ethiopia and surgery. I liked that it has twins because I'm a twin.
Muriel Barbery	The Elegance of the Hedgehog	*****	Good book, very literary. Believable and lovable characters. Lots of words, philosophies, art, music to research while reading it; maybe too many strange words.
Robert Hellenga	Italian Lover	*****	Terrific, I would read anything that man wrote, especially his books that take place in Italy.
Tana French	In the Woods	****	Crime drama that takes place in a small town outside Dublin. Interesting characters with a strong woman detective. Hmm, does this seem like a theme for books that I read? :-) This one is unique in its strong sense of place and the melancholy wistfulness for the innocent time before the children were murdered.
Robert Hellenga	Philosophy Made Simple	*****	Good opportunity to learn a little philosophy from a fun, heart-warming novel. Takes place in Texas. I prefer Hellenga books that take place in the Midwest or Italy, but still a terrific book.
Gretchen Rubin	The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun	****	Good reminder to enjoy life. Many of the ideas were helpful, others wouldn't work for me but probably would for some people.
Noel Hynd	Conspiracy in Kiev (The Russian Trilogy, Book 1)	***	Good escapism, crime drama. Mainly I read it because it was free on Kindle! :-)
Kathryn Stockett	The Help	*****	Terrific, deserving of all the good press it has gotten. So interesting to hear from black maids in the 1960s, even if the author is white.
Julie Klassen	The Apothecary's Daughter	***	Enjoyable escapism, free on the Kindle! Sort of a Jane Austen knockoff.
Tatiana de Rosnay	Sarah's Key	***	Pretty good, especially the parts that took place in the 1940s in Paris when Jewish children were shamefully rounded up.
Noel Hynd	Midnight in Madrid (The Russian Trilogy, Book 2)	***	Good escapism, crime drama, hey, it was free on Kindle!
Sue Monk Kidd	The Mermaid Chair	**	Hard to believe such a good writer wrote such a mediocre book, though I did enjoy it in some ways because of the love, spirituality, character growth, South Carolina scenery.
Greg Bear	Darwin's Radio	****	Husband left this in our bookcase. Not the sort of book I usually read, but I'm glad I did because if fits in with my interest in DNA.
Stieg Larsson	The Girl Who Played with Fire	*****	As good as his first book. I can really relate to Lisbeth Salander, as can many women, which is a scary commentary on modern life!
Stieg Larsson	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	*****	Couldn't put it down! Violent but not scary. Powerful and empowering.

2009

Dean A Shepherd	From Lemons to Lemonade: Squeeze Every Last Drop of Success Out of Your Mistakes	*****	Helpful, well-researched
Wally Lamb	The Hour I First Believed	**	I like Wally Lamb but this book is quite a mess. Was it supposed to be about Columbine, New England history and genealogy, dangers of Xanax? Author didn't seem to know.
Daylle Deanna Schwartz	Nice Girls Can Finish First: Getting the Results You Want and the Respect You Deserve . . . While Still Being Liked	****	Very helpful, good to know that I can be my normal nice, Midwestern, people-pleaser self and still finish first :-)
Ken Follett	World Without End	*****	Almost as good as "Pillars of the Earth," his first book about cathedral building in the Middle Ages, and that's saying a lot!
Julia Glass	I See You Everywhere	***	A story of sisters that was very believable, especially because they were similar to my sisters, but it failed to really touch my heart.
David Guterson	The Other	**	This story of friends in the Pacific Northwest, including one slightly insane friend, was somewhat interesting but didn't do much for me. The writing was quite awful in parts, like a rough draft.
Toni Morrison	A Mercy	*****	Wonderful story with good early American history, very moving, as good as any Morrison which is saying a lot!

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