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Review | Without You, There Is No Us :: Speak Only English and Take Care What...
Without You, There is No Us: My Time With the Sons of North Korea’s Elite Suki Kim (2014) A fascinating, well-written, (and depressing) glimpse behind the North Korean shroud of secrecy, delusion, and...
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Martin Van Buren :: P is for Politician
Lindenwald, Martin Van Buren’s home in Kinderhook, NY Book review: The American Talleyrand: The Career and Contemporaries of Martin Van Buren, by Holmes Alexander (1935) I hardly expected a biography...
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Snapshot Review :: Wieland, America’s Earliest Gothic Tale
Wieland; or the Transformation: An American Tale Charles Brockden Brown (1798) In my quest to read a work of popular fiction published during each U.S. presidential term (as part of my Presidential...
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Book Review :: West of Sunset
West of Sunset Stewart O’Nan (2015) Stewart O’Nan has done it again. I very much enjoyed immersing myself in the world of 1930s Hollywood, with F. Scott Fitzgerald as my guide and O’Nan as my story...
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Batavia’s Graveyard :: Truth is Scarier Than Fiction
Batavia’s Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny Mike Dash (2002) In 1629 the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia, bound for Java with 250 passengers and crew...
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Dead Wake :: Erik Larson Gives The Lusitania Its Due
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania Erik Larson (2015) Once again, Erik Larson has taken an intriguing historical event, researched the heck out of it, and spun a dramatic yarn that brings...
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DNF :: Girl Waits With Gun
Girl Waits With Gun Amy Stewart (2015) I quit midway through when I realized I just wasn’t having any fun reading this lackluster bit of historical fiction. It was neither “hilarious” nor a “romp” as...
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H is For Hawk :: A Transcendent Memoir
H is for Hawk Helen Macdonald (2014) Meditative. Outstanding. Transporting. Informative and life affirming. An honest revelation of love and loss, the power of grief and the natural and unexpected path...
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Wedding of the Waters :: An Important Footnote in US History
Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation Peter L. Bernstein (2006) When on vacation, I like to read books set in the places I’m visiting, so this past summer while on a...
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Book Review: A New-England Tale :: A Sign of the Times
A New-England Tale Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1822) Stuck with it to the end, merely for the sake of my Presidential Reading Project. (This was a number-one seller during Monroe’s presidency). Very much...
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Henry Clay: The Essential American :: Larger Than Life In His Day, Nearly...
Henry Clay: The Essential American David S. Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler (2010) Having just finished a 400-plus book on the venerable statesman Henry Clay, I feel as if I’ve taken a survey course on...
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Book Review: The Simple Art of Simplifying
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Marie Kondo (2014) In the ten months since reading this book, I’ve been amazed by the number of friends and acquaintances I’ve encountered who have purchased...
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Double Book Review: Secret Romance Under Pressure
The Paying Guests Sarah Waters (2015) Bel Canto Ann Patchett (2005) Quite by chance, I read these two books back-to-back and in reflection, I was struck by their similar themes and plot points. Another...
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These Painted Letters Tell a Story
The House Tells the Story: Homes of the American Presidents Adam Van Doren (2015) I heartily recommend this book to those who enjoy: A) American history, B) American architecture, C) gorgeously...
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The Martian :: Ultimate Escapist Fun
The Martian Andy Weir (2011) Outer space adventures are really not my genre, but I find survival stories intriguing, and on that front The Martian did not disappoint. Author Andy Weir obviously did his...
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East of Eden :: My Favorite Book of 2015
East of Eden John Steinbeck (1952) I savored every chapter in this classic of American literature, a tale of good versus evil for the ages. Years ago, I began reading the Steinbeck canon in...
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My Favorite Books Read in 2015
Took a while, but here it is, my 23rd annual recommended reading list. In no particular order, my favorite books read in 2015. West of Sunset (2015) Stewart O’Nan East of Eden (1952) John Steinbeck...
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Review | Tambora :: The Eruption Felt Round the World
Tambora: The Eruption That Changed the World Gilles D’Arcy Wood (2014) In 1815, Mount Tambora, a towering peak on the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, roared to life, spewing an incredible geyser of fire...
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Review | The War That Saved My Life :: A Young Girl Finds New Life Escaping...
The War That Saved My Life Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (2016) Ten-year-old Ada lives a lonely existence, locked away in a London apartment by a heartless mother too ashamed of her daughter’s club foot to...
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Review | Journal of a Novel :: Witness to the Great American Novel
Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters John Steinbeck (1969) Of the books I read last year, East of Eden was my favorite. So, when I learned that author John Steinbeck had kept a writer’s journal...
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