Thursday, October 15, 2009

Jane: Lots of reading

Lest anyone think all I do is crochet, cook, and garden, here are some books I've been reading recently. I'm on 2 book committees--the First Year Book committee at Coe, and the Linn Area Reads committee with the Cedar Rapids Public Library. It's very fun. So I've gotten to read all kinds of things! The last three on this list were read for those committees.

Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa by R. A. Scotti. Story of the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa,which was, of course, recovered but many questions remain. Told like a detective novel--fun to read.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. Precocious chemistry-loving girl from an eccentric English family tries to find the perpetrator of a mysterious murder for which her father is being considered a suspect.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Why do some people succeed and others do not? Gladwell examines the cultural forces behind success in a breezy book.

The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein. Memoir that chronicles lives on a street in early 1900s Lancashire where Jews were on one side, Christians on another, and a cross-side love affair brings tension.

Population 485 by Michael Perry. Reflections of a writer and volunteer firefighter on life in small-town Wisconsin, especially on the lives of those disrupted by traumatic events. Humorous and thoughtful.

1 comment:

wclaspy said...

I'm reading Outliers for our work book club. Maybe we can discuss in November over pumpkin pie :-)