Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson, 2008. I enjoyed reading this a lot, just as I enjoyed Three Cups of Tea. Of course I was unhappy to hear that Greg Mortenson probably exaggerated some of the material or maybe even lied about it. It was such a cool story and so inspirational—building schools instead of dropping bombs in Afghanistan. I do hope that he really did build some schools and that some kids are benefitting from his efforts.
A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols, 1997. An exciting, well-written, true story about the first sail boat race around the world in 1968, attempted by 9 sailors. One of the race participants was Donald Crowhurst, a novice sailor who essentially lost his way and his mind during the voyage and didn’t make it back. The documentary Deep Water tells his story, and the novel Outerbridge Reach uses elements of it as well. There are so many amazingly well-written books to read; this is definitely one of them.
The Longest Journey by E.M. Forester, 1907. Forester (A Room with a View, Passage to India, Howard’s End) is one of my favorite novelists, so I approached this with high expectations. It is, however, not as accessible as his other works; still, it is the kind of novel that grows on you and that you understand better some time after you’ve read it. The story is about a young man who wants to become a writer but who gets married and gets diverted from his ambition along the way. It is interesting, but it is also work to read this novel.
The Death of the Adversary by Hans Keilson, 1959 (translated by Ivo Jarosy, 2010). Amazon has a blurb about this book from the New York Times Book Review in which the author is called a “genius” and the novel a “masterpiece.” I agree whole-heartedly. I would add that the translator is brilliant. The novel is a psychological study of Hitler and his rise to power, and even if you think you’ve read enough about this topic or know enough, you should read this. I was lucky to have it sent to me to review for the National Translation Award; I gave it an excellent rating, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it wins the award.
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka, 2005. There are just so many good books to read. I really loved this story, told with wit, humor and intelligence, about a Ukrainian family that immigrates to England after the Second World War. The story revolves around the 84-year-old father in the family who has become a widower and who marries a 36-year-old Ukrainian bimbo who is using him to be allowed to stay in the country. There are several layers to the novel, and in addition to its cleverness, it quite moving.
Das Versprechen by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 1958. Dürrenmatt was a Swiss author who was a master the suspense/crime novel in German. I tried to read some best-selling crime novel in German this summer and was very disappointed; then I picked this up and couldn’t put it down. He also wrote Der Besuch der alten Dame which is often read in intermediate to advanced German classes. Das Versprechen is about a serial child killer.
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen, 2001. I see now what all the fuss is about this author—he is also a genius! This amazing work is about a more or less typical American family of the past few decades. The author is able to “become” each of the characters—the three grown children, the mother and the father—and the writing is fast-paced, intelligent, and very funny. But as with any truly great work, there is truth here in the writing, and that makes it so much more than just a great story.
An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale, 1990. A very simply told autobiographical account of Neale’s life on Suvarov, an uninhabited (when Neale was there some time ago) tropical atoll in the Cook Islands. I found this to be interesting and oddly comforting. Chris sailed to Suvarov during his time on the tall ship in the Cook Islands!
A Painted House by John Grisham, 2002. This really surprised me because it was very good! I always thought that Grisham was, well, a “schlocky” writer, but now I have to revise that opinion. This is a well-written, fascinating story of a young boy who lives with his family on a cotton farm in Arkansas in the 1950s. It describes the difficult but also authentic life of farm families in the American South, and it helped me understand where a lot of our current American values come from.
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