Paris in Love: A Memoir
by Eloisa James
Do not eat while reading this book! You will choke! (4/19/2012)
Yes, you will choke with laughter. I have read lots of wonderful fiction by Eloisa James, but her skill at non-fiction is even better. This book is hilarious. It consists of snippets of events that occurred during a year in Paris. Reading each snippet is like repeatedly picking up small pieces of candy and every time you get something different but delicious. Deliciously funny in this case. I found myself laughing out loud at James's wit, at her ability to find and see the humor in the smallest of interactions with her family, especially her children, and with Paris itself. This is a book I will read and enjoy again, and it is a book I will give only to my best friends, those who value and thrive on laughter.
The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise: A Novel
by Julia Stuart
A Laugh, A Little Sadness and Lots of Warmth (9/19/2010)
I love this book! I loved it from the first page until the last page. I cannot wait until it is published so that I can give it to my friends.
This book is chock full of humor, but the laughs are not its purpose and they do not distract from the lovely stories behind the laughter. And, who could resist the antics of the animals who move in and out of the story lines.
But the real story is the humans. Human characters who are all eccentric, flawed, but fascinating. With one or two exceptions, all of the characters seem familiar. Not because they are stereotypical, because they are anything but. They are familiar because they so resemble the people we all know who live quiet lives, waiting for joy to come or return to their lives.
The ending of this book was extraordinary. It was sweet, free of theatrics, just a gentle pull toward resolution of all the stories, all the characters' lives.
I will read this again for certain. Long live Mrs. Cook (you have to read the book)!.
Heresy
by S.J. Parris
Intriguing Work of Historical Fiction (1/17/2010)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - from the beginning to the end. Right away I was captivated by the characters, the historical setting and the unfolding mysteries. The best historical fiction always makes me want more - more information about the time period and more about the characters. This book did all that. I repeatedly found myself doing online research to find out more about the main character - a complicated and fascinating man and the events of this time period. I was generally aware of the persecution of Catholics in England, but I did not fully appreciate the extent of the killing in the name of religion until I picked up this book.
The more I read this book, the faster I read - rushing to get to the answers. I hope this author writes more books in this historical period, especially if they involve Giordano Bruno and Sophia (I love independent and intelligent women who lived in contrary times).
The Possibility of Everything
by Hope Edelman
The possibility of the unexplainable (8/18/2009)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was moved by the author’s transformation by events that unfolded on a family vacation to Guatemala and Belize. I felt I was actually there with the author and her family (husband Uzi and 3 year old daughter Maya) as they together (more or less) experienced that which cannot be seen and cannot be explained.
I ended up pulling out my yellow highlight to mark those conversations that “pitted” the author (“I have to see to believe”) against her more accepting husband (“You need to have more trust….In the universe”). The author’s difficult struggle to move beyond what she describes as “the sacred triad of observation, experimentation, and proof” is beautifully written. Out of the mystery of the setting of Mayan temples, exotic plants, Shamans and ancient practices of spiritual healing comes the author’s moving revelation that, if we but move out of the way, we can come to believe and accept the presence of “subtler levels of reality” that we cannot see or quantify. If we open ourselves to the possibility of subtler levels of reality, then anything is possible.
This memoir is joyful, humorous and definitely thought provoking.
How We Decide
by Jonah Lehrer
Who knew emotions can be our best guide in decision making? (1/18/2009)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. With a myriad of examples drawn from all walks of life (the quarterack, the credit counselor, the guy protecting a submarine), author Lehrer challenges our common belief that the best decisions are made devoid of emotion. The author, through real examples applied to extensive scientific research and studies, challenges that notion. By example after example, he counters the belief we can make decisions without our emotions, which he defines in terms of specific portions of the brain and their functions. Again, by example, he cautions that while some of our brain functions, which are tied to our emotions, are our best friends in decision-making, other functions of the brain betray us, leading us to disastrous decisions and judgments. I found his examples relating to why we continuously spend more than we have, individually and collectively, fascinating. Who knew that the human brain played a role in the "sub-prime mortgage crisis!"
This is a book to linger over and ponder. The author has rendered what could have been just "cold" science into an intriguing journey through the human mind and its direct role in all human decisions, good and bad.
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