Book List

Eight years ago, one of my Tai Chi students asked me to create a book list for her. She wanted a list of good books, fiction, and non-fiction, so she could explore authors she wasn't familiar with. She specifically asked that the choices be more family oriented, rather than dark or profane. I've passed the list out to several others, so I thought I'd post it here, too. - I updated the list to include four more great books.

Yes, I've read all of these.

Book List

109 East Palace Jennet Conant

700 Sundays Billy Crystal

A Three Dog Life Abigail Thomas

A Useful Dog Donald McCaig

Alex & Me Irene Pepperberg

Augusta Locke William Haywood Henderson

Bastard Out of Carolina Dorothy Allison

Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson

Belong to Me Marisa de la Santos

Big Sid's Vincati Matthew Biberman

Blind Your Ponies Stanley Gordon West

Chronicler of the Winds Henning Mankell

Coal Run Tawni O'Dell

The Color of Water James McBride

Coop Michael Perry

Dating Dead Men Harley Jane Kozak

Devil in the White City Erik Larson

Down Town Ferrol Sams

Dreams from my Father Barack Obama

Driftless David Rhodes

Evidence of Things Unseen Marianne Wiggins

Family Life Akhil Sharma

Forever Pete Hamill

Four Corners of the Sky Michael Malone

Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger

Good Grief Lolly Winston

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Jamie Ford

In the Shadows of the Sun Alexander Parsons

Irreplaceable Stephen Lovely

Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

Little Bee Chris Cleave

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits Ayelet Waldman

Love Walked In Marisa de los Santos

Marley and Me John Grogan

My Antoinia Willa Cather

One Thousand White Women Jim Fergus

Outcast United Warren St. John

Peace Like a River Leif Enger

Same Sweet Girls Cassandra King

Sky Bridge Laura Pritchett

Sky Burial Xinran

Some Horses Thomas McGuane

Some of Tim's Stories S.E. Hinton

Stargirl Jerry Spinelli

The Art of Racing in the Rain Garth Stein

The Color of Water James McBride

The Flying Troutmans Miriam Toews

The God of Animals Aryn Kyle

The Good Good Pig Sy Montgomery

The Guernsey Literary Mary Ann Shaffer

Potato Peel Pie Society Annie Barrows

The Day The World Came To Town Jim Defede

The Dog Stars Peter Heller

The Longest Trip Home John Grogan

The Memory of Running Ron McLarty

The Mighty Queens of Freeville Amy Dickinson

The Opposite of Love Julie Buxbaum

The Secret Life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd

The Tender Bar J.R. Moehringer

The Undomestic Goddess Sophie Kensella

The Well and the Mine Gin Phillips

The Whistling Season Ivan Doig

Three Cups of Tea Greg Mortenson

The Life and Time of the Bill Bryson

Thunderbolt Kid, A Memoir

Turtle Warrior Mary Relindes Ellis

Undiscovered Country Lin Enger

Water for Elephants Sara Gruen

We Bought a Zoo Benjamin Mee

What are you reading?

BEA, Book Expo America 2014

I had a wonderful time at Book Expo this year.  To be fair, I always have a wonderful time, otherwise I wouldn't attend.  I go on my own dime, so to be fair, I need to have a good time.

The highlight for me is the books.  Sure, I like meeting authors, afterall they write books, one of my favorite things, but books really do it for me.

I shipped home 107 pounds of books; three boxes stuffed full.  That translates to 116 books.  These photos don't show all of them, some flew to new homes before I could get the rest organized for photos.  Here's a collage of the books that stayed here.

Ten hardcovers, but the rest were ARC's, Yay!  The kids books on the left and left center of the bottom row, will be donated to Bob's old station, where they have a Free Library for they children who end up at the police station.

What are you reading?

May 2014 Reads

38	Sweet Thunder	Ivan Doig
39	Cold In July	Joe R. Landsdale
40	Never Tell	Alafair Burke
41	Coop	Michael Perry
42	All He Saw Was The Girl	Peter Leonard
43	Moscow Sting	Alex Dryden
44	All The Pretty Horses	Cormac McCarthy
45	Family Life	Akhil Sharma
46	Driftless	David Rhodes
47	Cypress Grove	James Sallis
48	The Bat	Jo Nesbo
49	Until Proven Guilty	J. A. Nance
50	The Day The World Came To Town	Jim Defede
51	Mystic River	Dennis Lehane
52	The World I Never Made	James Lapore

While I was on my six week vacation I read  28 books, it was easy to do without the "every day" distractions.  All the reading was on my nook e-reader. It's impossible to carry so many books with me, unless I'm on a road trip, even then it'd be iffy.

I purposely downloaded three of my all time favorite reads, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Driftless by David Rhodes and Mystic River by Dennis Lehane.  It had been at least five years since I'd read each of these and a long vacation was the perfect time to savor them.  There are so many new books, it's easy to not re-visit these favorites, but with each one I was swallowed into the great writing.

The two non-fiction from this list are outstanding. Coop by Michael Perry, is a memoir of growing up and living in rural Wisconsin.  This quote from Publisher's Weekly explains Coop's charm much better than I can:  "Perry (Population: 485) is that nowadays rare memoirist whose eccentric upbringing inspires him to humor and sympathetic insight instead of trauma mongering and self-pity. His latest essays chronicle a year on 37 acres of land with his wife, daughters and titular menagerie of livestock (who are fascinating, exasperating personalities in their own right). But these luminous pieces meander back to his childhood on the hardscrabble Wisconsin dairy farm where his parents, members of a tiny fundamentalist Christian sect, raised him and dozens of siblings and foster-siblings, many of them disabled. Perry's latter-day story is a lifestyle-farming comedy, as he juggles freelance writing assignments with the feedings, chores and construction projects that he hopes will lend him some mud-spattered authenticity."

The other non-fiction is The Day The World Came To Town by Jim Defede.  This was recommended to me by friends who live in Australia.  It's a great small book about 9/11 and its aftermath.  America has a lot of air traffic and when the towers fell, we closed our airspace.  This book tells the story of Gander, Newfoundland, a small town with a big airport and a big heart.  38 planes were routed to Gander, adding more than 6,000 passengers and crew to this remote town.  >Gander residents responded as if good deeds were the main business of their lives. They housed the stranded passengers in their homes, fed them, clothed them, even provided impromptu entertainment.  Defede did some great research; I loved this small 256 page account of Gander and didn't want it to end.

Here are some brief notes about other reads from May.

Brilliantly capturing an America roaring into a new age, Sweet Thunder is another great tale from a classic American novelist. I’ve read everything Ivan Doig has written, I don’t think he could write a bad book.

Cold In July by Joe R. Lansdale is a remarkable suspense novel, full of darkness, humor, passion, and truth; it is an odyssey into the dark recesses of the human psyche. Cold in July will soon be a movie.

Here’s a quote from Suspense Magazine
“Never Tell is a great read. Alafair Burke writes a riveting story with a strong female protagonist.” It’s great to read about a strong woman character.

Moscow Sting by Alex Dryden is a very engaging fast-paced thriller. A great read

I really loved Cypress Grove by James Sallis. A small town sheriff asks a retired detective for help on a case that’s way above his pay grade. Turner, the detective, also happens to be an ex-con. This well written tale makes for some great reading.

In The Bat by Jo Nesbø is the initial Harry Hole novel, but it wasn’t released in America, until this year. This is a great series about Hole, pronounced Ho-Ly, a quirky Norwegian detective. If you haven’t read the series, start with this one. You won’t be sorry.

The World I Never Made by James Lepore is an atmospheric novel of suspense with brilliantly drawn characters and back-stories as compelling as the plot itself. It is the kind of novel that resonates deeply and leaves its traces long after you turn the final page.

There you have it, the books I hope my readers will read and love.

What are you reading?

Laura Hillenbrand's new book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

I really need to read this book!  This was taken from today's Shelf Awareness email. Such devotion!

David Macintosh, a mechanical engineer in Hood River, Ore., demonstrated the extremes of his inability to put down a copy of Laura Hillenbrand's new book, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.


It's on my list, and on my nightstand.

Read more books,

Historic Photos of The Chinese in California by Hannah Clayborn

Recently, I received an offer from Turner Publishing for a free copy of Historic Photos of The Chinese in California.  The book arrived, and I loved it.  The book covers Chinese history in California until just after WWII.  Hannah Clayborn, did a wonderful job selecting which photos to use.  I'm a California native and I learned so much.  

Outcast United by Warren St. John

When you read Outcast United, not only will your learn about the terrific kids that make up the Fugees, and their dedicated coach, you get a lesson in global politics. Here's a synopsis:

Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals. At the center of the story is fiery Coach Luma, who relentlessly drives her players to success on the soccer field while holding together their lives—and the lives of their families—in the face of a series of daunting challenges.

This fast-paced chronicle of a single season is a complex and inspiring tale of a small town becoming a global community—and an account of the ingenious and complicated ways we create a home in a changing world.

Read it, you'll be glad you did.