There are sooo many wonderful books. One of my favorite things is to pass on excellent book choices to other people. My home is lined with bookshelves because I love owning them, not just reading them.
Keep in mind I love books the way some people love kittens and puppies. The ideas within books helped me survive childhood. I haunt remainder bookstores looking for treasures to pass on to other people (sometimes whether they want them or not).
I would rather buy one to give away, rather than lend one. What follows are a chosen few of my favorite books.
Best Books Discovered in 2014:
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Blog post on “Forgiveness, Betrayal & the novel Shantarum”
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai under city by Katherine Boo
Book review from blog here: Gratitude & the novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Best Book Discovered in 2013:
Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Best Book Discovered in 2012:
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
A mystery entangled with a marriage based in masterful manipulation. Funny, dark, creepy & intelligent. A remarkable novel.
Best Books discovered in 2011:
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
is a masterful work. There is so much to learn about the ancient world. She was really a very intelligent leader and Alexandria was an amazing place to rule. Well researched & beautiful prose. “Cleopatra stood at one of the most dangerous intersections in history: that of women and power.”
Freedom: A Novel by Jonathan Franzen
Please follow
to read the review on my blog.
Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks
Particularly good for anyone who struggles with shame. Please follow
to read the review on my blog.
Best Books discovered in 2010:
Lark and Termite (Vintage Contemporaries) by Jayne Ann Phillips
Follow this link to read a complete review on my blog:
Real Love is About Paying Attention
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Follow this link to read a complete review on my blog:
Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
Best Book discovered in 2009:
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroudt
Follow this link to read a complete review on my blog:
Hope, Loneliness & Olive Kitteridge
Best Book discovered in 2008:
Pretty Birds: A Novel by Scott Simon.
Powerful story of a young woman of great courage who is a sniper in Bosnia.
Best Book discovered in 2007:
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A novel of endurance and beauty amid rubble. It is gut wrenchingly sad and wise about remembering in the midst of grief and the power of unspoken pain. It is dedicated to the women of Afghanistan.
Best Book discovered in 2006:
Anna Karenina (Oprah’s Book Club) by Leo Tolstoy
Astonishingly psychologically astute. If only Kitty or Anna would have recognized that Count Uronsky “in his soul he did not respect her (his mother)” which make him emotionally dangerous to both.
Best Book discovered in 2005:
Cloud Atlas: A Novel by David Mitchell
A trilogy of connection and disconnection in a most original voice. It is a thrilling read and one of the very few I will read again. Briliant!
Best Book discovered in 2004:
The Known World by Edward Jones
This book is amazing and won the Pulitzer Prize. It tells the remarkable story of a slave who becomes a slave owner. The author’s abilities to convey the moral complexities of that time is truly remarkable and moving.
Best Book discovered in 2003:
Red Azalea by Anchee Min
The true story of the author who struggled profoundly growing up in communist China. The opportunity to hear her speak is an unforgetable experience. She authenticly has learned how to make unbearable pain bearable. One of the ironies of her life is that she grew up with the dream of becoming a soldier who would go to Vietnam to kill American soldiers and now she is married to a Vietnam vet.
Works of Fiction and Science Fiction That will
Add Richness to your Life
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Ahab’s Wife: Or, The Star-gazer: A Novel
by Sena Jeter Naslund
Historically accurate with a courageous woman character.
by Philip Roth
This book won a Pulitzer Prize. It is about one of the most painful things that can happen to a parent; a good kid goes wrong – way wrong – and is lost. There is a glorious paragraph on what it means to be human and how impossible it can be to understand each other. This paragraph is quoted at the end of the emotional honesty page under the category WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN.
by Rosellen Brown
She really captures what it means to survive a profound tragedy.
The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty
by Carolyn G. Heilbrun
Insight into aging gracefully.
by Alice Hoffman
About the true anxiety of living in the larger world and how to cope when fate pulls the rug out from under you. A delightful book that is easy to digest.
by Isabel Allende
I was sorry I waited so long to read this author. On 9/11 of 1973 the American CIA had her uncle, the President of Chile, murdered because he was a “communist” (in truth a socialist). Isabel moved to the US and became a citizen in 2003. This book is a wonderful story about California during the gold rush.
by Robertson Davies
He captures the range of humanity in each of his characters — what it is to be three dimensional; strong, fragile, wise, foolish… He is like a grandfather teaching you the depth of life and makes you think hard about values and what really matters. This particular trilogy is of a man in Jungian therapy.
by Richard Russo
A treasure of a book that won a Pulitzer and is useful as a literary example of Too Little in the character of Mike Robe, “the human rut” as his wife refers to him. Janine, his soon to be ex-wife is Too Much. Her lack of respect leaps off the pages.
The Family Heart: A Memoir of When Our Son Came Out
also by Robb Forman Dew
This is an autobiographical account of coming to terms with having a gay child.
by Katherine Dunn
This book, though marvelous, is not for everyone. It teaches us about the human condition in a bizarre carnival family.
The Good Apprentice (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)
by Iris Murdoch
About self-forgiveness and the process of growing up-not an easy read; and very rewarding if you do.
by Shirley Hazzard
She is a true genius of prose.
by Michael Cunningham
A masterful book that skillfully weaves together three stories that make you think about how to spend the hours of your life. It deserves the Pulitzer Prize that it won. You might want to follow the book up with the movie that was so well done.
The Human Stain: A Novel American Trilogy (3)
by Philip Roth
There is a twist that occurs that will genuinely take the reader by surprise. The delight that the twist offers is a complete change in frame of reference.
The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War by Michael Shaara
This novel of the fighting in the Civil War won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975. Really amazingly well done & memorable.
The Last Gift of Time: Life Beyond Sixty
by Carolyn G. Heilbrun
Insight into aging gracefully.
by Ursala K. Le Guin
Science Fiction that captures what a slippery grip we have on reality. “There is a bird in a poem by T.S. Eliot who says that mankind cannot bear very much reality; but the bird is mistaken. A man can endure the entire weight of the universe for eighty years. It is unreality that he cannot bear.”
by Carl Hiaasen
A laugh-out-loud book with a wonderful heroine in JoLayne who wins the lottery by betting on a significant number for five years. The “significance of her lotto number was this: each represented an age at which she had jettisoned a burdensome man.” She understands the value of a man who is true to his word.
by Evan Connell
This book really captures the distance embedded in WASP culture. The characters are so completely removed from their feelings.
by Oscar Hijuelos
Read to understand forgiveness more deeply.
by Margaret Drabble
This book is for those of us who have a difficult time of it finding a mother’s day card that doesn’t lie amongst all the sweetness. She so accurately creates a portrait of a mother unable to love because the character is based on her own mother.
by Carolyn Shields
This is the final book that will be written by her because she died of cancer. She writes of ordinary people like ourselves and makes their struggles into poetry. She won a Pulitzer Prize for The Stone Diaries.
Healing From Trauma
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence–from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror by Judith Herman M.D.
This was a groundbreaking book in 1992 & it is crucial to understanding trauma. Trauma leaves a number of survival conclusions that were self protective in the past & may interfere with trust & connection in the present.
Best Books for Women Who Choose MIA Men
by Terry McMillan
This is one of her first three books. These were more substantive than the books that followed afterwards. She beautifully captures men who don’t follow through.
by Meg Wolitzer
The story of a heroine who allows herself to be overlooked.
by Anita Brookner
The story of a friendship of two women who both, in very different ways, manage to compound their bad choices.
Best Books for Self Help
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink, Ph. D
Beyond Anger: A Guide for Men: How to Free Yourself from the Grip of Anger and Get More Out of Life by Thomas J. Harbin, Ph. D.
by Daniel Gilbert
The Dance of Anger: A Woman’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships
by Harriet Lerner
This book is the one most often positively mentioned by women who begin it in my waiting room and then go out to purchase it. Really very wise and useful!
Where to Draw the Line: How to Set Healthy Boundaries Every Day
by Anne Katherine
A small easy-to-read book. If you are feeling intruded upon by people who love you and aren’t sure how to push back, this is the book for you.
by Daniel Siegal MD & Mary Hartzell
Terrific book by a neuro-psychiatrist and a day care director.
Best Books for Couples
Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples, 20th Anniversary Edition
by Harville Hendrix
Helps husbands and wives understand what strengths and weaknesses they bring to their marriage from childhood. Includes a great vision exercise to help couples learn to think down the road.
Sexuality
Two tools to improve your sex life:
For Yourself : The Fulfillment of Female Sexuality
by Lonnie Barbach
by Lonnie Barbach
Drinking
Any Book by Dr. Abraham Twerski
by Jo Nesbo
Harry hole is an alcoholic police detective in Norway who is well worth your time and affection. You can read the full review on my blog.
by Caroline Knapp
Terrific writing on the damage of alcohol.
by Pete Hammill
A truthful personal history.
Sober for Good: New Solutions for Drinking Problems — Advice from Those Who Have Succeeded
by Anne Fletcher
Based on interviews with 222 people.
First Year Sobriety: When All That Changes Is Everything
by Guy Kettlehack
A survival guide.
Best Books for Self-Esteem
by Bryce Courtenay
A tale of South Africa, boxing, being bullied and the triumph of the human spirit.
A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman
by Joan Anderson
This is the perfect book for those who are trapped in being Too Little. The subtitle says it all: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman.
Overcoming Low Self-Esteem: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques
by Melanie Fennel Ph.D.
Self Matters: Creating Your Life from the Inside Out
by Phil McGraw
Best Books on Solitude & Loneliness
Three books for those who feel too lonely
Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman
by Nuala O’Faolain
A very genuine portrait of loneliness, a powerful memoir.
by Anita Brookner
Anita Brookner “brilliantly evokes the origins, nature and consequences of human isolation and regret over chances not taken.”
Solitude: A Return to the Self
by Anthony Storr
by Alice Koller
by Emily White
Best Books about Vietnam Aftershocks
No one does it better than Tim O’Brien, who was a vet himself.
by Tim O’Brien
by Tim O’Brien
Best Books for Fun Books
by Alec Milius
About the consequences of being a spy & lying all the time to everyone who matters.
by John Burdett
Wild, funny & a really good time with a Thailand cop.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Created in either print or film. Follow this link to read review in my blog.
by Suzanne Collins
Science fiction & a movie. Follow link to read review on my blog.
Snow Angels (An Inspector Vaara Novel)
by James M. Thompson
A detective in Finland.
Two Links for Readers
