So Much to Read
“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him, for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”—Samuel Johnson
Home So Much to Read is experimenting.
Six words—per sentence, at least.
(Sometimes there's so much to say.)
29 July 2008 Rebecca Daphne DuMaurier The heroine is in the dark.
The reader fumbles along with her.
Things aren’t always what they seem.
A creepy shiver beats air conditioning.
How I Fell in Love with a Librarian and Lived to Tell about it Rhett Ellis Small-town preacher fancies mysterious librarian.
An old-fashioned story set in the present.
Sincere, simple, with an odd streak.
Just right for a single-sitting read.
27 June 2008 Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Mary Roach
Author ofStiff Chock full of fun sex facts.
Giggly author experiments, enlists husband—TMI.
13 June 2008 The Inimitable Jeeves P.G. Wodehouse Light and funny, perfect for bedtime.
"I endeavor to give satisfaction, sir."
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story Richard Preston
Author ofThe Wild Trees Preston makes science dramatic, disease fascinating.
Sophie's Choice William Styron How can horror be so beautiful?
Replay Ken Grimwood Terrific time travel adventure set mid-twentieth-century.
(A calculator watch is amazing technology.)
Datedness only adds to the fun.
In the Garden of the North American Martyrs Tobias Wolff Men make bad decisions, unsure why.
The Way Life Should Be Christina Baker Kline Modern fairytale features Maine, Italian cooking.
The First Man-Made Man:The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair, and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution Pagan Kennedy Tragic figure born female, too soon.
A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley Drama gathers like a Midwestern storm.
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain Robert Olen Butler Vietnam war hangs in Louisiana air.
God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America Hanna Rosin Where home schoolers leave home for.
Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home David Shipley and Will Schwalbe Email changed work—and home—life.
Everyone has to be a writer.
Assume every email will be forwarded.
Never forward unless you have permission.
Please is obnoxious, exclamation points aren't?
Read this book before hitting send.
Songs Without Words Ann Packer
Author ofThe Dive From Clausen's Pier One person fails to phone another.
A friendship is destroyed, lives changed.
It's two female friends, of course.
Two men, there'd be no story.
Me, I couldn't put it down.
The Lost Language of Cranes David Leavitt
Author ofThe Body of Jonah Boyd Granted, it's obviously a first novel.
Young man, a writer, comes out.
His parents' marriage has its secrets.
The monologues will make you cringe.
But lesser Leavitt is still good.
80's New York is gone forever...
And, surprise—the cranes aren't birds.
Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Steve Martin
Author ofShopgirl You'll read about his difficult father.
Getting started as a boy magician.
Offbeat theater collaborations in the sixties
Playing packed stadiums in the seventies.
Famous people he knew, movies made.
But Steve Martin remains a mystery.
Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art Gene Wilder Gilda Radner was a formidable force.
Alan Zweibel, though married, loved her.
(So I learned from Bunny, Bunny.)
Radner chased Wilder, wore him out.
She dies, he marries nice lady.
Life just isn't fair, is it?
