Non-Fiction
Unqualified by Anna Farris. "Fun memoir from the woman Chris Pratt cheated on! Anna has a distinct voice and compelling stories. A breezy Hollywood read".
Unwise Passions By Alan Pell Crawford. "Riveting. The subtitle is 'A True Story of a Remarkable Woman---and the First Great Scandal of Eighteenth-Century America.' It’s an accessible biography, a potboiler but true story. I thought it was great fun.
Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard. "Character studies of Queen Victoria's five daughters. Fun look at late 18th/early 19th century Britain. Queen Victoria considered the marrying off of her offspring to be one of her highest callings. (And she was quite good at it.)"
Waiting for Snow in Havana By Carolos Eire. “This isn’t bad for the non-fiction types. It’s about a Cuban boy who is one of 14000 children who were flown out of Havana w/o their parents during the first years of the Castro regime.”
Walden by Henry David Thoreau "I picked this up for the first time because I read that it had no real readership until the Depression--when people were forced to think of the virtues of the simple life--and it seemed like something that would speak to our own time. I wasn't disappointed. So much of our American identity comes straight from Thoreau's sensibility--it was enlightening to that end and inspiring in these materialistic times. And it's beautifully written, quite thought provoking." The story is detailed in its accounts of Thoreau's day-to-day activities, observations, and undertakings to survive out in the wilderness in Concord, Massachusetts for two years.
A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison. “A beautiful story.”
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. “Epic. Moving. A compelling story and important read for everyone to read and understand this critical piece in American history.”
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey. From Amazon: “Casey, O magazine editor-in-chief, travels across the world and into the past to confront the largest waves the oceans have to offer.” A contributor called it “Fascinating and scary.”
West with the Night : autobiography of aviator Beryl Markham. One reviewer said she enjoyed this book. The Amazon reader reviews are rhapsodic.
What I Did While You Were Breeding by Kristin Newman. "A very funny read from a Northwestern Grad who is now a tv comedy writer/producer in LA — she was kind enough to Skype into my daughters book club and that was before she knew they were a group of NU seniors."
What is the What by Dave Eggers. From the Washington Post: "God has a problem with me," complains Valentino Achak Deng, the subject of Dave Eggers's extraordinary new novel, What Is the What. Coming from almost any other person on the planet, this lament would appear hopelessly self-pitying. But coming from Valentino, a Sudanese refugee, it sounds almost like an understatement. At a time when the field of autobiography seems dominated by hyperbolic accounts of what might be called dramas of privilege (substance abuse, eating disorders, unloving parents, etc.), [this] is a story of real global catastrophe -- a work of such simple power, straightforward emotion and genuine gravitas that it reminds us how memoirs can transcend the personal to illuminate large, public tragedies as well."
What Jackie Taught Us: Lessons from the Remarkable Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Tina Santi Flaherty. “I enjoyed it pretty well -- good for beach reading.”
What Would Jackie Do: An Inspired Guide to Distinctive Living By Shelly Branch and Sue Callaway. “I’m not afraid to say I paid full fare for this book while waiting for a flight. It’s hilarious! Very useful too.” A self-help/etiquette book with Jackie O as role model."
When I Am Playing with My Cat, How Do I Know That She Is Not Playing with Me?: Montaigne and Being in Touch with Life
When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead: Useful Stories from a Persuasive Man
When I Was a Child I Read Books: Essays by Marilynne Robinson. A collection of essays, beautifully written by an award-winning author.
When The Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd "A perennial favorite of mine from a wonderful writer. Sue Monk Kidd took her journals from her mid-life passage and put them into this thoughtful, inspirational book which is a must read for any woman in mid-life who is seeking. Something. That thing. Y'know. It. With this book's help, my bet is: you'll start finding."
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. “This was a fun non-fiction read. We're through the agricultural, industrial, and now the information age; next up: the Conceptual Age. So says Pink. Creative, right-brain thinkers will rule the world. All the number-crunching analysts are going overseas, so don't think about coaching little Tommy or Suzy toward a business degree without first developing amazing creative talents. I don't think he's 100 percent on the mark, but the book's informative, and it's exciting to think about all the implications, especially for our children.”
Why Not Me by Mindy Kaling. “Not as good as her first memoir, but still damn funny.”