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Silent Spring
Rachel Carson
Mariner Books, 2002
A Classic Read
Joni Mitchell perhaps most aptly summarizes the driving idea of Silent Spring in her song "Big Yellow Taxi": "Hey farmer farmer / Put away that DDT now / Give me spots on my apples / But leave me the birds and the bees. Please!" While both the book and the song are a ...
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Interpreter of Maladies
Jhumpa Lahiri
Mariner Books, 1999
Excellent Reading!
Jhumpa Lahiri is an enthralling story teller. The short stories are riveting and gives you a keen sense of the emotions felt by each character in the stories. I read this in one weekend which is hard to do as a mom of 4-yr old twins working fulltime... I simply ...
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The Last Chinese Chef: A Novel
Nicole Mones
Mariner Books, 2008
Gently Written
A cross between a romantic novel and a foodie tome. Rich in history and story line.
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The Namesake: A Novel
Jhumpa Lahiri
Mariner Books, 2004
Riveting
I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. The book is centered around Gogol - a young man struggling with issues of identity, family, culture, etc. However, Jhumpa bestows the entire family with such rich characters and personalities that you can't help ...
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The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World
Paul Roberts
Mariner Books, 2005
An eye-opening outlook of the petroleum industry
This book gave a very well rounded, all-inclusive view of where the oil industry started, is now, and is going. I had a hard time putting the book down; it had a way of invoking a lot of interesting thoughts. If everyone in America read this book, we'd be half-way ...
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel
Jonathan Safran Foer
Mariner Books, 2006
The first book I have cried to.
This book was one of the most (or the most) beautiful book I have ever read.
It completely puts into perspective the real relationship between father and child, mother and child, grandfather and grandchild and grandmother and grandchild. It shows you the power of ...
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King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Adam Hochschild
Mariner Books, 1999
A Century of Horror
Anyone who wants to understand the Congo should read two books, King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild and and In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo. Together, they explain why the last 100 years of bloody tyranny has laid ...
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How Doctors Think
Jerome Groopman
Mariner Books, 2008
Secrets of Medical Education
Dr. Groopman's insightful book provides valuable insights into the process by which an individual becomes a mature physician and learns to think like one. In today's world, that necessitates rapid turnover of patients and thought processes dictated by medical ...
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The God Delusion
Richard Dawkins
Mariner Books, 2008
Eye opener even for current non-believers
First of all, I can't help but wonder how many of the one star reviewers actually read the book. Saying the author is going to hell is NOT a review.
Anyway, maybe I should judge, because i don't plan on getting into detail about the book. I will say though, that ...
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The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Timothy Egan
Mariner Books, 2006
WE didnt know it was this bad
I was just a kid and I enjoyed those dust storms because they let school out
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Cold Sassy Tree
Olive Ann Burns
Mariner Books, 2007
Great stand-alone novel...
This novel is perfect in every way all on it's own. That said, there is a follow up "mostly" written by Burns titled Leaving Cold Sassy... don't go for that one. But, this one is a keeper. I was assigned this book in high school (quite a while ago) and it was one of ...
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The Member of the Wedding
Carson McCullers
Mariner Books, 2004
Eloquent, lovely, and sad
This is my very favorite book and, in my opinion, far superior to "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter."
I was not an adolescent when I read it--I was 23--but I was astonished by how often McCullers was able to perfectly describe what I had believed to be indescribable ...
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The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
Lee Smolin
Mariner Books, 2007
A Bracing Read!
The human mind suspended in unfathomable mystery is inevitably entangled in its webs of reason.
To illustrate: In his discussion of symmetry breaking (Chapter 4), Smolin states that "Much of the structure of the world, both social and physical, is a consequence of ...
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Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
Alison Bechdel
Mariner Books, 2007
The complexities of identity
I live an hour away from Beech Creek, Alison Bechdel's tiny hometown and the setting for much of her graphic memoir Fun Home. I've always found the area oppressive: dark, looming mountains casting perpetual shadows on impoverished, dying valley towns. But after ...
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Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews -- A History
James Carroll
Mariner Books, 2001
An Enlightening Read--and Honest
I found the book interesting in that an avid Catholic (James Carroll) would write a book about the Catholic faith's role in early antisemitism. I found it refreshing that he also showed how many of the popes of the past were NOT antisemtic but tried to help the Jews. ...
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