Non-Fiction
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. "I know that this book has been wildly popular this year, so I’m adding it to the list as the rare bad review. Dr. Jahren writes as if her experience as a female in a male dominated field is universal, and includes sweeping stereotypes. As a woman in almost the same field, I found the book derogatory and difficult to read. Non-scientists may find it an interesting glimpse into the world of biology research, but should be warned that her story is not the story of all lab girls".
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle
The Language of Man. Learning to Speak Creativity. by Larry Robertson. (Link goes to website - will be available on Amazon soon, but better for author if you order directly anyway). I've been listening to a lot of podcasts lately about creativity, which is why I was so excited when Larry told me about his new book. It's about creativity in PRACTICE. He uses neuroscience, philosophy and the experiences of MacArthur Fellows (the "genius grant" awardees) to make a compelling case that we are wired to be creative. It's SO smart. It doesn't just tell you that creativity is not the sole purview of a few fortunate people - it shows you. In the words of Brigid Schulte from the Washington Post: “Within the first few pages of his fascinating new book, The Language of Man, Larry Robertson shatters deeply-held myths that creativity and genius are the birthright of a mere handful of elites, bringing the vaunted notion of genius out of the clouds and into our everyday lives. In a carefully constructed argument, backed by wide-ranging research from neuroscience to philosophy and the engaging stories of some of the most creative people on the planet, Robertson instead shows how creativity, more than anything, is a mindset, a habit, a choice, and the limitless and necessary birthright of us all. The accessibility of creativity this book reveals and the possibility it opens our eyes to are utterly captivating.”
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory and The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Alone, 1932-1940 by William Manchester. "These are the first two in what was to be a trilogy of Churchill biographies by Manchester. Manchester died in 2004, but journalist Paul Reid is finishing the third one, and it's supposed to be published late this year. So let's read the first two and then we can all go to the party at midnight at Barnes & Noble on the eve of the release of the third and final volume." (Context: this contribution was added the year the last Harry Potter book came out. As it happens, the final volume was, indeed, released in 2012.)
Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht. “Aliza is better known as @DKNYPRGIRL on Twitter, and she is a fan-fucking-tastic author. This book is a career guide and story-driven book about how not to suck at PR and journalism. It’s fantastic and awesome and I have already bought 10 copies as gifts for the 20 somethings in my life. I think you’ll like it because you will leap to your feet with glee at the great advice she gives because it’s all stuff we’ve known and done for years. This book is AWESOME.”
Lee Miller: A Life By Carolyn Burke. "Lee Miller is the Forest Gump of the art & photography world. She was a muse of Man Ray, Conde Nast & other arty men, then ended up taking all the most amazing photos of WW2 as a correspondent for Vogue (inc. bathing in Hitler’s tub). Wild."
Let’s Take The Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship – Non-Fiction by Gail Caldwell. Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp (author of Drinking: A Love Story) became best friends after meeting over dogs. “If you love dogs and women....this is the book for you.” “It says a lot that Gail Caldwell’s ferociously anguished chronicle of her best friend’s terminal cancer, that it manages to be, among many other things, a properly intelligent examination of the way in which dogs can help heal our past, enhance and challenge our knowledge of ourselves, even shed light on the mysterious workings of the human soul. If female friendship is the beating heart of this book, then a bond with a dog is the vein of pure tenderness that runs through its pages. You feel that the women’s friendship would never have existed in quite the same way without this crucial, balancing canine element."
Letters to a Young Poet
The Library Book by Susan Orlean. "I cried several times when I read this book which tells the story of the great LA Library fire in 1986 which reduced nearly the entire collection to ashes. Orlean weaves the story of how the collection was built with how they found the perpetrator with such clarity - you know exactly how the things that burned had found their way to the library, which makes their loss even more sharp and painful. If you love libraries, and books, you will love this book. It's also designed to feel like a library book in your hand, which I appreciated greatly."
Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas. "This book is one of the best auto-biographies I’ve ever read, and definitely the best cooking biography. Grant Achatz, a James Beard award winning chef is the uber-creative force behind Alinea, named the best restaurant in North America by Gourmet. The book covers his childhood working in his parents’ restaurant, his work through the ranks at The French Laundry in his 20s and his close relationship with Thomas Keller, through his creation of his ultra modern and ground-breaking Alinea. Soon after opening Alinea and winning accolades, Achatz was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer at age 33 and subsequently lost the ability to taste, eat and swallow. Chef Achatz writes so honestly about his life, dreams and his fight against the cancer that I really felt like I knew him while reading. I cried and laughed throughout. Interspersed with Achatz’s writing are chapters and bits from Nick Kokonas, who began as a regular customer and became Achatz’s business partner and support system."
Lift
A Light on the Corner by Andrea Raynor. "A Light on the Corner is at once inspirational and accessible. Regular people living regular flawed lives are invited to appreciate life’s tiniest, most transformative moments, and suddenly we are aware of the sacred around us. With humility and humor, Raynor gives us the gift of sight. I plan to keep this by my bedside to reread as necessary".
Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr. From Amazon: “Reviewers agreed that while Karr's memoir could have succumbed to the pitfalls of the addiction-recovery memoir, it rises above the genre. Juicy, evocative, confessional, poetic, and often darkly humorous, Lit recounts Karr's dark past in an intimate, easy style.”
Lit: A Memoir (P.S.)
A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich "Sort of a Cliff Notes of world history, from the Stone Age to the atomic bomb, written for younger readers (so not a lot of dates and names) with a wry sense of humor. Get the full sweep of human history -- including the rise of fall of civilizations, great works of art and the progress of science -- in forty very short chapters. Gombrich wrote it at age 26 before WWII in Vienna, but then at age 92 updated it to include the rise of the Nazis (who banned the book) and his own escape from the Holocaust. Beautifully written and concise. Originally written in German, now published in twenty-five languages. I read it out loud to our kids a few years ago and am currently re-reading it. Also comes as an audiobook, for long car rides."
Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living by Jason Gay. "“WSJ sports writer fills a book with funny vignettes and thoughts.” From the Amazon description: "The book you hold in your hand is a rule book. There have been rule books before—stacks upon stacks of them—but this book is unlike any other rule book you have ever read. It will not make you rich in twenty-four hours, or even seventy-two hours. It will not cause you to lose eighty pounds in a week. This book has no abdominal exercises. I have been doing abdominal exercises for most of my adult life, and my abdomen looks like it’s always looked. It looks like flan. Syrupy flan. So we can just limit those expectations. This book does not offer a crash diet or a plan for maximizing your best self. I don’t know a thing about your best self. It may be embarrassing. Your best self might be sprinkling peanut M&M’s onto rest-stop pizza as we speak. I cannot promise that this book is a road map to success. And we should probably set aside the goal of total happiness. There’s no such thing."
Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela. “If you think you cannot be more impressed by Nelson Mandela, this book is just proof that the man really was extraordinary in every way. It can be dense in parts, especially when he gets into the minutia of ANC party politics, but his account of his time in jail and the other brave freedom fighters puts our lives in perspective. He was a giant among men.”
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen. “Loved every page because it's like having a conversation with a friend who is wise beyond her years.”
Love Illuminated: Exploring Life’s Most Mystifying Subject (with the Help of 50,000 Strangers) by Daniel Jones. "Jones has edited the wildly popular ‘Modern Love’ column in the New York Times for ten years. His job is sifting through the thousands of submissions that arrive around the clock (as he puts it, ‘pouring into my laptop, dribbling out of my printer and spilling across the tables of my office and home.’) The book is Jones's attempt to synthesize the lessons he's learned about the human heart. It's an easy read -- you'll conquer it in a single afternoon on the beach -- and maybe emerge with new insight into your own marriage or other relationships.
Love Nina: Dispatches of Family Life by Nina Stibbe. "20 year old Nina Stibbe moved from Leicester to London in the early 80's to become a nanny. And how fantastic is it that she moves in with Mary Kay Wilmers, the editor of the London Review of Books (and exwife of director Stephen Frears), who just happens to live across the street from Alan Bennett and next door to Claire Tomalin. Now all this name dropping would be irrelevant if these people were not intelligent, witty, and prone to interesting kitchen banter. Even the kids have a terrific dry sense of humor that they obviously learned from their mother. Lucky Nina and lucky us. I especially fell in love with Mary Kay with her ability to sound completely unfazed at all times. Nina is very far from the perfect nanny but she seems to be the perfect fit for this slightly unconventional family. I'm always a fan of the epistolary format and long for the days when my friends and I would write letters chronicling the daily details of our ordinary lives. I'm so glad that Nina's sister saved all these letters. I was very sad when it ended and I realized that I was not going to get another update on the Gloucester Crescent crew."