H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald It seems like the memoirs that really appeal to me, especially recently, are ones like this: brilliant, well-read women who do interesting things. Helen Macdonald is a falconer, but she’s also an academic with a taste for literature. When Macdonald’s father dies, she sees the book Goshawk by …
Category: Book Review
May 17
Book Review: At Home, A Short History of Private Life
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson I have adored quite a few of Bill Bryson’s books, especially In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods, which I found both uproariously funny and full of fascinating anecdotes. I expected to like this one just as much, and got the …
Apr 30
Book Review: Lolita
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov I chose this book based on its thunderous reputation, despite the loathsome logline. Let’s say straight off the bat that this is a book about a man who spends two years raping a child. One’s opinion of this book is bound to be different depending on how close you are to …
Apr 25
Book Review: The Unthinkable
The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why by Amanda Ripley This book is a lot like those “worst case disaster books” where anxious over-planning worry-worts like me can fantasize about the worst things imaginable and console ourseles that we are better prepared now that we have more information. Even though I’m probably …
Apr 23
Book Review: The Job
The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop by Steve Osborne I love reading or listening to stories about people who live very different lives from me, and Osborn is “not a liberal,” a working class, raised Catholic, non-intellectual Brooklyn cop for whom beating people up is as common and …