Oreo Cookie Book Club Reading Selections
April 2013-April 2014
April: TIME TO START THINKING: AMERICA IN THE AGE OF DESCENT by Edward Luce, 4*, 320 pg. Not in paperback. A Brit’s view of America and our growing list of issues. Luce is highly respected. He writes for FT, read world wide. He has travelled the U.S. and interviewed important people. His views on our issues and problems are balanced. We need to think about what he is saying. It is time for all Americans to start thinking. Paperback.
May: THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES: A HIDDEN INHERITANCE. Edmund de Waal. 432 pages, some of them photographs and illustrations; also available as a Kindle book. 4* (A bit long for some of us, but in the end one longs for it not to end.) It is a beautifully told book and an unusual book. It traverses the world from Odessa to Vienna, from Paris to Tokyo, and relates the history of an illustrious family who fall prey to the vicissitudes of history, politics, and fate. The whole book revolves around a collection of 264 Japanese netsuke (implausible but true).
June: AFTER THE MUSIC STOPPED: THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, THE RESPONSE AND THE WORK AHEAD- Alan Binder, 4* Hardback and Kindle , 496 pg.
July: THE SWERVE – Stephen Greenblatt , 4*pb. 263 pg “How the world became modern.” Won a Pulitzer
August: THE PRICE OF INEQUALITY: HOW TODAY’S DIVIDED SOCIETY ENDANGERS OUR FUTURE – Joseph Steiglitz, 4.5*, 498 pg.
September: THIS CHILD WILL BE GREAT – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, memoir, Liberia 4.5,* 384 pg. The author is the current president of Liberia. “An inspiring inside look at a nation struggling to rebuild itself and the woman now behind those efforts.”
October: EMPEROR OF ALL MALADIES: A BIOGRAPHY OF CANCER by Siddhartha Mukherjee, 4.5*, 608 pg History of the disease beginning thousands of years ago.
November: THE PARTY IS OVER: HOW REPUBLICANS WENT CRAZY, DEMOCRATS BECAME USELESS AND THE MIDDLE CLASS GOT SHAFTED – Mike Lofgren, 4.5*, 240 pg. not in paperback
January: WHY NATIONS FAIL; THE ORIGINS OF POWER, PROSPERTIY AND POVERTY Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. Hardback, 4*, 544 pg. It has been criticized for being a bit loose with historical details, but overall, seems to be a good discussion of politics, economics and geography.
February: NATURE WARS; THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF HOW WILDLIFE COMEBACKS TURNED BACKYARDS INTO BATTLEGROUNDS – Jim Sterba. Hardback, 4.5*, 368 pg. A long, enthusiastic review by Russell Baker describes a fascinating story of the diminution of man’s hunting, killing predatory destruction of nature and wildlife and how it has made a remarkable comeback and why.
March: THE FAVORED DAUGHTER – Fawzia Koofi, 4.5*, 272 pg. Female leader in Afghanistan. Will be released April 30, 2013.
April: THE SULTAN’S SHADOW –Christianne Bird, 329 pg., 4.5* Bird paints a stunning portrait of violent family feuds, international intrigues, and charismatic characters – from Sultan Said and Princess Salme to the wildly wealthy slave trader Tippu Tip and indefatigable British antislavery crusader Dr. David Livingstone. The Sultan’s Shadow is a brilliantly researched and irresistibly readable foray into the stark brutality and decadent beauty of a vanished world.
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