by Elena Ferrante, 2012 This is the first book of the Neopolitan novels. There are three more – next is The Story of a New Name. I’m not sure where I heard about these – maybe the Library’s monthly emails on travel books? It’s set in 1950s Naples, Italy, and tells the story of two […]
Author: bookhound
The I Hate to Housekeep Book
by Peg Bracken, 1962 This is a funny book loaned to me by neighbor Ben. It’s full of housekeeping tips for a by-gone era. I’m so glad we don’t have to do all of this. Life must have been so hard when you had to cook from scratch every day, keep a spotless house, iron […]
We Came, We Saw, We Left
by Charles Wheelan, 2021 Loved this book! It is our second Old Town Library Book Club selection for the 2022-2023 year, and so refreshing! It was fun and funny. Charles Wheelan is an incredible dad. He teaches Economics at Dartmouth but loves to travel. He and his wife, Leah, decide to take their three teenagers […]
A Street Cat Named Bob
And How He Saved My Life, by James Bowen and Garry Jenkins, 2012 True story about a heroin addict in London, James Bowen, adopting this street cat (a “Ginger Tom”) in 2007, who ends up saving his life. What a wonderful gift this cat is from God to him. Because he had to care for […]
September
by Rosamunde Pilcher, 1990 Delightful soap opera set in mid-1970s Scotland. It’s 613 pages long. I got the book from a little-free library. First, Mom read it and loved it. Then, Carol read it and loved it. She said it takes you away to Scotland, and it certainly does. A rural village in Scotland with […]
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong, 2019 Eew. Yuck. I hated this book. Too dark, too depressing, too sad, too hopeless, too graphic, too filthy. No goodness and light whatsoever. Set in Hartford, Connecticut, it’s about “Little Dog,” a Vietnamese boy who is beaten by his mother, who was beaten by her husband. He falls in love with […]
The Frackers
by Gregory Zuckerman, 2013 Everything you ever wanted to know about fracking. Very detailed. This book was one of the books about oil that the Economist recommended. Thanks to the perseverance against all odds by a few determined men, the U.S.A went from being dependent upon OPEC for energy to being an exporter of energy. […]
Folly
by Laurie R. King, 2001 Fun mystery! Pat was reading it on her front porch one day this summer. Set in the San Juan Islands, a talented, rich, widowed wood-worker decides to escape her demons on an island her uncle bought in the 1920s. She decides to re-build the house he built that was burned […]
Garden of Eden
by Ernest Hemingway, posthumously 1986 What a strange book! It was the September 2022 selection for the Classic Book Club. I gave it to Mom to read first and asked her if she wanted to go to this book club and discuss it. She at first said yes, but then she said no. I finally […]
Oil!
by Upton Sinclair, 1926 Historical fiction about the early days of the oil business. Recommended by an Economist reporter in order to learn about the business. It follows Bunny Ross, a young “oil prince” and his life in Southern California with his father, J. Arnold Ross, former mule-driver turned oil magnate. Bunny is a sweet, […]
The Hummingbird’s Daughter
by Luis Alberto Urrea, 2005 Lori J. recommended this book. It was excellent. It’s about Saint Teresa of Cabora in Mexico and her life from the time she is born until she is exiled to the United States. She is the bastard daughter of Don Tomas, a wealthy rancher. He is a very loving man, […]
Love Warrior
by Glennon Doyle Melton, 2016 Memoir by a woman who was bulimic starting at age 10, then an alcoholic. She finds out she is pregnant for the 2nd time and decides to have this baby. She marries her boyfriend, they try to make a go of it, having 3 children, moving to Naples, Florida. She […]
Federer and Me: A Story of Obsession
by William Skidelsky, 2015 This book is written by a huge Roger Federer fan, and it’s about life as a Federer fan: the joy of his victories, the agony of his defeats, and despising Rafael Nadal. Being a Roger Federer fan brought him through a dark period of his life. I wonder how he feels […]
Malibu Rising
by Taylor Jenkins Reid, 2021 This was the last book selection for the “Take Me Away” summer book club at the Old Town Library. I don’t know what to think. It was a good story but too much gratuitous sex and drug-taking. It just didn’t need all that garbage. Set in 1950 to 1980 Malibu. […]
On the Road
by Jack Kerouac, 1957 I decided to read this book after Geoff Dyer wrote about it in The Last Days of Roger Federer. I’m glad I read it. It describes road trips across 1940s America twice, and then one down to Mexico. The main characters are Sal Paradise and his dear friend, Dean Moriarty. Dean […]
Red Notice
by Bill Browder, 2015 Eye-opening book about Russia. It details Bill Browder’s experience as a hedge fund manager starting soon after communism fell through his battle for justice for his lawyer, Sergie Magnitsky, who was tortured to death in a Russian prison. Bill fought and fought and fought to keep the truth in the forefront, […]
Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them
by Maeve Higgins, 2022 I learned a lot from this book. For example, Ireland has been blowing up monuments (to British men) for centuries. If our Black Americans blew up the monuments to slavery, the outcry would never end. Maeve was welcomed to America from Ireland because she is white and young and European. The […]
The Last Days of Roger Federer And Other Endings
by Geoff Dyer, 2022 I finished it! It’s not what I expected. He has never met Roger and Roger is barely mentioned in this book. He loves tennis and he loves Roger, but this book is mostly about dead, or nearly dead, poets, artists, writers, and musicians, and their last works. I have not read […]
A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century
by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, 2021 I asked neighbor, Nate, what book he was reading currently and he said this one. It sounded intriguing so I checked it out from the library. I scanned it–didn’t read it word-for-word. Their premise is that our modern lives are the opposite of healthy lives. I like what […]
White Sands
by Geoff Dyer, 2016 This is the second book I have read by this author. I learned about him when Christie let me know about his newest book, The Last Days of Roger Federer. The first book I read of his was Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It. That book was […]