Mortality by Christopher Hitchens

Having spent a lifetime as a literate and literary atheist, Christopher Hitchens died of esophageal cancer on December 15, 2011. In Mortality he reflects on his life and his journey from the diagnosis in 2010 to death. His writing over the course of these eighteen months maintains the amusing and intelligent outlook on life that had brought him great success as a writer. An Afterward by his wife remembers his charisma as a public speaker, friend, and family man. The tiny bit of tension in Mortality comes from the question of will this atheist recant on his deathbed. You will have to read the book to find out, and if you do, you will love being in the mind of a wonderful human being.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

A memoir told in the form of essays, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, is beautifully written and full of gratitude for lessons learned in a relatively quiet life. At first glance I thought the author arrogant with an attitude of "I'm here to tell you what life is all about," but that seemed to wear off as I read further and became more engaged. When we discussed it in book club, the consensus was that it was beautifully written but superficial. Evidently the author has had a life untouched by pain and sorrow. Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen is an excellent writer, but in this memoir she has left out life's blood and guts.

Chasing China; A Daughter's Quest for Truth by Kay Bratt

A Chinese-American college student travels to China in search of her birth parents. Lots of adventures are had and everything turns out all right in the end. Truly a terrible book; must have been written for sixth graders. Don't read.

A Book Forged in Hell by Steven Nadler

Reading Nadler is much easier than reading Spinoza so if you want to learn about Spinoza's infamous Tractatus Theologico-Politicus this is a good place to start. Spinoza shocked the clergy and others of the seventeenth century by stating his views that 1) there is no such thing as miracles, 2) the Bible is simply a work of literature, 3) God is Nature, and 4) organized religion is harmful and unnecessary. But his work is also given credit for promoting democracy and insisting on intellectual freedom. And beneath the disdain for organized religion there is a belief in a personal and individualistic spirituality each person would develop for him/her self. I love Spinoza's  thought and would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind reading philosophy. For me it was a little hard.

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Caleb is the anglo name given to a Wampanoag Indian who lived on Martha's Vineyard during the 17th century. He is befriended by an adolescent English girl who teaches him to read. Eventually, his education is taken over by her minister father and he winds up at Harvard College. Torn between two cultures, Caleb suffers nearly unbearable indignities, and the reader mourns his fate and the ignorance of those who bring it about. Caleb's Crossing is a good read and is based on a true story.

An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma

Darkness enfolds most of this novel, but there are touches of absurdity that lighten the mood a little. The eponymous father is a corrupt government official in Delhi, India who is paying a deep psychological penalty for having molested his daughter when she was small. He has actually allowed that daughter to move in with him and waits for her to call him out on his past behavior. How he handles it when she does is just amazing and nothing you could ever anticipate. Meanwhile he is entangled in political intrigue and gets into a bit of trouble over the bribery money he has collected. Sharma is an excellent writer and his book is a great read if you can take the yuckiness of pedophilia and a little animal cruelty.

A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss

Krauss takes the point of view of a modern physicist and cosmologist to address the old question of "Why is there something rather than nothing?" In doing so, he gives us a nice overview of 20th century physics and is pretty clear about what is controversial and what is generally accepted by scientists. This is necessary because he is wallowing around at the edge of human knowledge, a place where philosophy and theology would be tempted to step up with theory. His bias towards science is blatant and he is very hostile towards philosophy and theology. He especially doesn't like the traditional idea of God and has had famous atheist Richard Dawkins write an afterward to the book. Krauss believes that the universe is flat (it makes the math work out best) and that flatness allows (mathematically) for something to have evolved from nothing. He is pretty good at addressing the question of "Is there any such thing as nothing?"and notes that what we regard as empty space is really teaming with dark energy. I understood about forty percent of the physics in this book and was irritated by Krauss's attitudes towards other fields of study, but I'm glad I pushed myself through it. Physicists seem to be just as confused as the rest of us. See http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2012/04/lawrence-krauss-another-physicist-with.html for more.

Return of the Bird Tribes by Ken Carey

Evidently this lyrical and mythological tale has a cult following. For me, it was a hard book to read because I am not fond of fantasy and don't like the idea of angels (which in this case are birds.) I can admit to unknown forces in the universe, but to anthropomorphize them seems silly. However, beneath the mythological fluff of Carey's work there is a solid base of spiritual insight, summed up nicely on p. 169: "... all creatures inhabit and live within a single field of shared consciousness ... all are projections of a single Being ... all of us ... are differentiated aspects of one conscious and coherent whole." I am glad I pushed myself through Return of the Bird Tribes, but will probably not recommend it to others because the mythology is a little too woo-woo (not to say distasteful) to me.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Silas is a black deputy sheriff and Larry is a white mechanic in a small Mississippi town where their separately lived adult lives hide the fact that as young boys they were close friends. A lonely odd duck, Larry was blamed for the unproven death of a girl who went missing some twenty years earlier. The men's lives begin to come together after a second girl disappears. Larry, once again, takes the blame, and Silas takes on the task of solving the crime. Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter not only gives us a good who-dunnit, but also impels us to think about social ostracism, race relations, and male friendship.

Apron Anxiety; My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky

For a true inside look at what goes on the the life of a single woman in her twenties and thirties, Shelasky's memoir is excellent. Readers are in the mind of an energetic and witty young woman whose post-college adventures sound a little like Bridget Jones Diary. We hold her hand as she bumps through various romances always hanging on to her long established identity as a writer. Her career has her associating with famous people and sophisticated events, and this is fun to watch. But the crux of her life during this period is her relationship with a young man she refers to as The Chef. A fun read with some good recipes buried in the text.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Covering both the personal and professional, Isaacson gives his readers a well rounded look at the famous Mr. Jobs. This biography is neither overly sympathetic nor too critical of its subject. Apple's founder is described as a harsh and difficult person at times and Isaacson struggles to understand his complex personality. In doing so he portrays a brilliant college drop-out who is an impeccable craftsman and loves being at the intersection of engineering and the arts. The book is a tad too long, but Isaacson has done a wonderful job with what must have been mountains of information. Jobs cooperated with his biographer and lets his portrait show the painful and not-so-nice aspects of his personality and life.

The Wisdom Jesus by Cynthia Bourgeault

Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest, a contemplative, and a renown writer and teacher of spirituality. Her book The Wisdom Jesus incorporates the most progressive thought about the nature of Jesus and what he taught. One interesting aspect is that Bourgeault tries (unsuccessfully, I believe) to marry modern thought to the Episcopalianism she loves. She starts off with the Nicene Creed and I couldn't help thinking, "Oh, the Bishop made her put it there," because she moves right into what you could call new age thought, the liberal religious tradition, metaphysical Christianity, mysticism (ancient and modern) or just plain spirituality. She even admits that "... Christianity was changed into a religion about Jesus rather than a religion of Jesus" which is what the liberal Christian tradition has said all along. Like Bishop John Shelby Spong, she seems to want to rescue her church from becoming obsolete by coaxing it beyond literal interpretation of creeds and Bible stories into a sophisticated spirituality (what Dawkins calls "Einsteinian religion") that doesn't expect logical and sensible people to park their intelligence at the door when they come to church. The Wisdom Jesus is a wonderful, wonderful book, well written in a thoughtful and erudite manner, yet very accessible.

Tiger for Breakfast by Michel Peissel

Michel Peissel's biography of Boris Lissanevitch is a wonderful evocation of Kathmandu in the mid-twentieth century. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1905, Boris was lured into a career in ballet to prevent his being shanghaied into the Russian army. He became a renowned dancer who travelled widely and wound up as a hotelier and restaurateur in Kathmandu which was his home from 1951 until the end of his life in 1985. He established the famous Yak and Yeti Hotel and Restaurant and was witness to the opening up of the closed country of Nepal. He met major historical figures and watched tourism, and and especially mountain climbing, grow there. Peissel knew Boris personally and his book is more an "I knew him when..." narrative than a deep reconstruction of Boris's life. Now out of print, Tiger for Breakfast is one of few existing resources on what was a full and fascinating life.

The Thought Exchange by David Friedman

David Friedman has had a successful career as a musician (conductor, composer, singer) and has also developed a technique called "thought exchange"for managing your mind and emotions He gives talks and seminars on the technique which involves recognizing your emotions, paying attention to them and replacing their underlying thought with a different thought. His book, subtitled "Overcoming Our Resistance to Living a Sensational Life," explains the technique and is filled with wonderful examples of how it works. However the book is also very repetitive and could really have been written in about half the 473 pages he published. Nevertheless it has been inspirational and  led to some very good discussions in my metaphysics class.

Only Receive by Michele Longo O'Donnell

"The terrible problem of man continuing to attempt to 'reach' God, or heaven, by self-effort, is that it has always ended in a sense of failure and it always will." Michele O'Donnell proposes that we "Only Receive" what the Universe stands ready to offer us and we will find the peace that Jesus says lies within us. She accepts the premise of The Secret and supports if by quoting Jesus as saying "According to your belief, so shall you experience." [Matthew 9:29, 31] The author is a nurse and much of her book addresses issues of ill health. I do not believe all her claims of miraculous healing, but there is still much wisdom embedded in this little book.

The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula Mclain

Mclain sticks close to truth in her novelization of the life of Hadley Richardson, who was Ernest Hemingway's first wife. The story is told in Hadley's voice with occasional sections in the third person to take you into what Ernest was doing when away from his wife. Their love story is so touching that it heightens the sadness as the marriage breaks down. Most painful is the way in which Ernest sleeps with Hadley's best friend and tries to make this an acceptable arrangement among the three of them. My heart bled for Hadley. Excellent book.

Fifty Shades of Grey: Book One by E.L. James

This is a fun book if you like very graphic sex scenes. However, I felt it was about the silliest thing I've every read.

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

In 1992 the city of Sarajevo was besieged by Serbs who objected to the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovia, wanting instead to incorporate the area into a new Serbian state. Based on a real story, Galloway's novel has the cellist sitting in the middle of a street and playing the cello for about twenty minutes on each of twenty-nine days to honor twenty-nine of his neighbors who had been killed there by Serbian bombs. The reader is taken into the every day struggles of the besieged by following the activities of a man trying to cross the city to fetch water, a baker who buys shelter with bread, and a sniper assigned to protect the cellist. This is a good read which provides insight into conditions most of us are blessed not to have to experience.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

The author of The Devil in the White City, which is about the Chicago Worlds Fair, brings us another historical novel that is a real page turner. Thunderstruck is about the struggle of Guglielmo Marconi as he launches his wireless communication business. His efforts are interwoven with the story of a murder in London. Good read by an excellent writer.

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

A young doctor named Natalia leaves her work at an orphanage to go to the hospital where her grandfather had just died. Her goals were to retrieve his personal items and to find out more about the circumstances of his death. Along the way she reflects on the tales her grandfather had told her, especially one about a deaf-mute woman who befriended a tiger which had escaped from a zoo. There is a good dose of magical realism in the story her grandfather had told her about a man who could not die. These stories are sometimes hard to follow and don't seem to relate to each other very well. The writing is very clever and evocative, but this reader was left confused and somewhat turned off by this novel even though it was a finalist for the National Book Award and named one of the best books of 2011 by several publications.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

St. Petersburg, Russia, is the setting for this World War II story that provides sometimes painful descriptions of the desperation of citizens during the German army's siege of the city. A couple of young men who have run afoul of the law are assigned the task of finding a dozen eggs in a city which has very little food and no eggs. Their efforts take them behind German lines where they join with some members of the Russian resistance trying to make their way back to the city. Excellent novel.

Evening by Susan Minot

I read this book for a second time looking for description of a particular scene that was in the movie. It wasn't there. Meryl Streep's conversation with the dying protagonist was totally missing from the novel. However, it is still a good read. Some may object to how time is scrambled and the reader must pay close attention to identify time, place, and characters. Pulling it all together, you come out with a compelling story of the dying woman's lost love and on the three husbands she married instead.

Only Receive by Michele Longo O'Donnell

Meant to be an inspirational work, Only Receive received a fair amount of criticism from our church reading group. Mostly it was seen as being dualistic and anthropomorphic. Even though O'Donnell does not believe that God is a being separate from the universe and the rest of us, her writing sometimes belies that basic understanding of God.

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt

This teeny-tiny hardcovered book (4" x 6", 67 pages) was written by a Princeton professor of philosophy. It is serious in tone as the professor tries to define his subject. However, about two-thirds of the way through, I was gobsmacked by the thought that "This is bullshit on bullshit." Then the author pulls it together with a rather reasonable ending and the reader is left wondering if it is parody or not.

Brownstone & Ivory by Peter Stephen Benton

This novel was written by a man from Longmeadow, MA, so for me it is very local. As co-editor of Reflections of Longmeadow and great granddaughter of an East Longmeadow quarryman, I know a little of the history of the area and was delighted to see it as background to this story of a young man whose life takes him to New York City and into architecture and music. I would probably not have read this book were it not for the local connection.

Hot Lights, Cold Steel by Michael J. Collins

Subtitled "Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years," this book is the memoir of a doctor who struggled with shortcomings in his earlier education when he came to the Mayo Clinic in for his first year of residency. It is a fascinating glimpse into medical education and the hard lives lived by residents who do not earn very much money. Collins struggled not only with study, but also with supporting his ever-growing young family. He drove very old cars and moonlighted at a neighboring clinic in the effort to keep body and soul together. But his native optimism and cheerfulness carry him through the hard parts leaving in their wake a trail of stories well worth reading.

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

In 1666 England was hit by bubonic plague. Year of Wonders is an wonderfully imagined story of what happened in a small town when the disease was brought there from London. It is based on the actual experience of the town of Eyam in Derbyshire. The fictional protagonist is a maid whose life takes fascinating twists and turns as she tries to help people around her who are dying. It is a crisis that brings out the best and worst of human behavior. Good read.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

I am not a Kingsolver fan. Her writing is excellent but she's a little too preachy and judgmental for my taste. But this non-fiction work was chosen by my book club so I diligently read it. It tells of the year that Kingsolver and her family decided to eat only locally grown food. They moved to a farm they owned in Kentucky and became growers of much of their own food and learned to participate in the kind of marketing the local farmers were doing. An interesting amalgam of research and personal memoir, the book also contains small sections written by the author's husband and daughter.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

A young Scottish woman running a vintage clothing shop suddenly discovers she is next of kin to a great aunt she never knew she had. For more than sixty years Esme had been kept in an insane asylum, never acknowledged or spoken of by her family. When the novel's protagonist, Iris, receives notice that she is now in charge of Esme, she is forced to deal with the closing of the asylum and placement of the seventy-year-old woman who is a total stranger to her. Iris, of course, wants to know Esme's story and is shocked to learn of the painful circumstances endured by her grandmother's generation. This novel is a great read.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

A love triangle that developed when the novel's main characters were at Brown University complicates things as the young people try to find purpose and direction in life. One is bumming around Europe, one is in biology, and one is a scholar of Victorian literature. The book is packed with literary references which makes it enormously fun if you're an English major, but which might put off others. This English major thought it was a terrific read.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

The tangled relationships of three young men with each other and with a particular young woman weave a subtle mystery in this novel by Booker Prize winner Julian Barnes. The story is told in the first person by a character named Tony Webster who is looking back over the course of a long life at relationships that started before his years at Oxford. He sees the young men coming of age, plodding through middle age, and being reflective in old age. Barnes is brilliant as usual in his writing of this compelling tale.

The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter

Love in all varieties is featured in this wonderful novel which won a National Book Award for author Charles Baxter. Straight love, gay love, parental love, hot love, cool love, requited love, and unrequited love. For those with faith in literature as a pathway to truth, Baxter's novel with inspire insight. The author is smart enough to know that "The problem with love and God, the two of them, is how to say anything about them that doesn't annihilate them instantly with the wrong words, with untruth. In this sense, love and God are equivalents." Excellent book.

Great House by Nicole Krauss

Multiple stories are embedded in this novel about an antique desk and the people associated with it. Krauss is a good writer who presents challenging work by splitting her stories into fragments that are often hard for the reader to piece together. Great House takes the reader from NYC to London to Jerusalem without explaining how the scenes in these places are linked. That is something the reader must do by reading to the very end of the book. This same style of presentation is also used in her earlier book The History of Love and I really don't like it. Writing, plot, and character development are all excellent but I don't see the point of scrambling the story.

Parrot & Olivier in American by Peter Carey

Carey, a two time winner of the Booker Prize, presents an interesting look at American culture through the eyes of a character modeled after Alexis de Tocqueville. The relationship between the aristocrat named Olivier and the penniless Parrot provides a look at the French Revolution from different points of view. Peter Carey is a brilliant writer and his work is irresistible to me.