One of the best books I've read in the last 6 months is . .

After watching Tom Brokaw’s documentary on 1968, I bought his book “BOOM!” about that year. In Studs Terkel-type style, there are stories from those who were there and were affected for whatever reason, from Vietnam vets to Civil Rights activists to feminists and musical artists. Across the board, they have a concern about how 2008 could be as turbulent as 1968 for the obvious reasons (war, election, class divide, racial divide). A good read…

I have been having fun reading Jon Katz’s books about his farm and his animals. Nice light reading, sometimes sad. Now, I’m on the hunt for a good airplane book (to read on a plane). Any new suggestions…

I’m reading “March” by Geraldine Brooks. It won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 2006. I’m really enjoying it. Remember in the plot of the book “Little Women” - the father was off fighting in the Civil War? This book follows his experiences in the war.

I’m reading The Madonnas of Leningrad and enjoying it. So far, this year has brought good reading (see list below). I’m kind of on a roll now because next week I start two graduate classes and I know my leisure reading will be severely curtailed.

<ol>
<li> The Book Thief, Markus Zusak</li>
<li> When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, Peter Godwin</li>
<li> Better, Atul Gawande</li>
<li> The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid*</li>
<li> A Free Life, Ha Jin</li>
<li> Tropical Fish, Doreen Baingana</li>
<li> The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier</li>
<li> The Madonnas of Leningrad, Deborah Dean</li>
</ol>

I was really blown away by The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It was recommended to me by a British friend whose taste I admire. Anyhow, if you’re looking for an interesting, quick read (it’s a small book, only 175 pages) with an unusual way of drawing the reader into what is happening, give it a try, and then let me know what you think!

I have not read the entire thread, so I hope I am not repeating someone else’s suggestion. I picked up Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan the other day and I am now more than halfway through it, despite having no time to read. It is one of the best books I’ve ever read - beautifully written and fascinating. The author traces the components of four meals from their agricultural beginnings to his plate (or, in the case of the McD’s meals, to their cardboard containers) and the stories are a mix of agricultural science and history, government policy and more history, plant biology, economics, sociology, environmental science. Reading it is a painless education about the various food production/delivery systems that are operating in our country - it is hard to put the book down.

Rigged by Ben Mezrich.

On the NPR show “Fresh Air” today (available later on-line), there’s a replay of a fascinating (to me, anyway) interview with one of my favorite writers (who’s even better known, probably, as a longtime editor at the New Yorker), the late William Maxwell.

[NPR:</a> William Maxwell, the ‘Wisest, Kindest’ Writer](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18413172]NPR:”>William Maxwell, the 'Wisest, Kindest' Writer : NPR)

[Amazon.com:</a> William Maxwell: Early Novels and Stories: Bright Center of Heaven / They Came Like Swallows / The Folded Leaf / Time Will Darken It / Stories 1938-1956 (Library of America): Books: William Maxwell,Christopher Carduff](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159853016X/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159853016X/ref=reg_hu-wl_mrai-recs)

[NPR:</a> Book Picks from London Cabbie Will Grozier](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18442553]NPR:”>Book Picks from London Cabbie Will Grozier : NPR)

Has this book been mentioned yet? It is new and written by an NPR correspondent. “The Geography of Bliss.” by Eric Weiner, 2008. Reports where in the world people are happiest. Funny and uplifting.

I just finished a memoir titled “Shattered Dreams” by Irene Spencer It is about her life as a polygamist’s wife. Wow did I learn a lot about their beliefs and way of life. I highly recommend this book

Just started “Mistress of the Art of Death” by Ariana Franklin. So far, love it. It’s a medieval murder mystery.

Mistress of the Art - liked that book, although it broke down a bit toward the end. I’m a pathologist, so I had to like it.

Great thread! I liked “The Kite Runner” but LOVED “A Thousand Splendid Suns.” Someone earlier mentioned “A Prayer for Owen Meany,” which is one of my all-time favorite books. Other “WOW!” books that I have loved but have not seen mentioned in this thread include: “Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson; "“Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger; “Prodigal Summer” by Barbara Kingsolver, and “The Hours” by Michael Cunningham.

Just finished a wonderful novel, “Strange as this Weather Has Been,” by Ann Pancake. Really gorgeous writing, takes place among the people who live in mountain removal mining areas of W. VA. I learned a lot–it’s something I’ve read about, but it made it the destruction and fear much more real. Great characters, too.

Lately I’ve been dipping into - with great pleasure - Clive James’ Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts. Whoever came up with this title didn’t do James any favor, as it’s both vague and ponderous - qualities you won’t find in the book itself.

James is a cultural critic (or at least that’s one of his many hats) who’s better known in England than he is here (which is not to say that his reputation here is insubstantial). This book is a collection of essays, organized alphabetically, about 20th Century figures (with a few earlier ringers thrown in) that have intrigued James over the years. He’s thought hard about these people and, in each of the essays I’ve read so far, has some very fresh and stimulating things to say about them (in a brisk, lively style).

What a dinner party you’d have with the folks assembled here: why, there’s Duke Ellington over in the corner chatting with Franz Kafka, and over there Marcel Proust is huddled with Miles Davis, and that must be Dick Cavett (!) sharing a joke with Charles de Gaulle , and . . . and . . . and . . . .

<a href=“Cultural Amnesia - Clive James - Books - Review - The New York Times”>Cultural Amnesia - Clive James - Books - Review - The New York Times;

<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Amnesia-Necessary-Memories-History/dp/0393061167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201891662&sr=1-1[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Amnesia-Necessary-Memories-History/dp/0393061167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201891662&sr=1-1&lt;/a&gt;

It seems that with the tv writers’ strike I’ve been flying through books. i’m heading to Borders tonight…think I’ll be there for awhile with all these suggestions! I have to agree with all of The Kite Runner & Thousand Spendid Suns recommendations. They were both beautifully woven stories that made me look at people differently. I gave them both to my Ds to, again, help them understand what priviledged lives we live here.

Charlie Wilson’s War- (not the movie) the book—enlightening, and very pertinent to these political times

I just read what I thought was a really good book. A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell. Excellent. It’s about people in Italy right after Italy surrendered to the allies in WWII. The Nazis, however, are still trying to control the area with devastating consequences for the people of the area and the Jewish refugees. I really found this book hard to put down. Her other book, The Sparrow is also excellent but a very different concept. I am now starting to read her book, Children of God.

This last post called to mind for me Primo Levi, an Italian Jew and chemist who during WW II survived incarceration at Auschwitz. Levi’s best known work, The Periodic Table, is (I assure you) unlike any other book you have ever read - a series of linked stories, many of them autobiographical, each titled after an element that then serves as the story’s central metaphor. Saul Bellow’s cover blurb remains one of the more compelling I have ever encountered: "“We are always looking for a book that is necessary to read next. There is nothing superfluous here, everything this book contains is essential.”

[Amazon.com:</a> The Periodic Table: Books: Primo Levi](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Periodic-Table-Primo-Levi/dp/0805210415]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Periodic-Table-Primo-Levi/dp/0805210415)

Just finished Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth. Loved it. It’s a not a new book but was recently an Oprah’s Book Club selection so is prominately displayed in local bookstores. Eighteen years after it’s publication, the sequel, World Without End was released in Oct. '07. That’s next on my list.