Staff Selections

Jan

Books discussed by Paul and Jan on "Iowa Talks"

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Books discussed by Paul and Jan on "Iowa Talks"
on April 26, 2010


1. The Help  by Kathryn Stockett
2. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
3. The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley
4. The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg
5. Apple Trees at Olema by Robert Hass
6. The Heights  by Peter Hedges
7. The End of Print by David Carson & Lewis Blackwell
8.  The Sandbox by David Zimmerman
9. House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni
10.  Parrot and Olivia by Peter Carey
11.  Sarah’s Key  by Tatiana de Rosnay
12.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
13.   The Bridge  by David Remnick
14.  The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
15.  West with the Night  by Beryl Markham
16.  The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
17.  So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
18.  Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
19.  Outlander  by Diana Gabaldon
20.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo  by Stieg Larsson
21.   Union Atlantic  by Adam Haslett
22.   I thought You Were Dead  by Peter Nelson
23.   How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Sasa Stanisic and Anthea Bell
24.   Question of Belief  by Donna Leon
25.   Black Cat  by Martha Grimes
26.   Still Midnight by Denise Mina
27.   Elegy for April by Benjamin Black
28.   Strip  by Thomas Perry.

 

 

Kathleen

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

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Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos Papadimitrious, Alecos Papadatos, and Annie DiDonna


What Watchmen did for postmodern superhero, Logicomix does for the the Bertrand Russel's foundational quest for truth in Mathematics.  In Logicomix, Bertrand Russel narrates his own story, from childhood with his strange, mysterious grandparents, to his student years , to his teaching years and lecturing years.  This graphic novel explained logic to me in a way that I understood (mostly) for the first time, by combining it with history, a little bit of humor, a little bit of romance, madness, war, and theater.  This book would be great for students of math, logic, and philosophy.

 

 

Andy

The Shell Collector

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The Shell Collector
Anthony Doerr


Some stories make you feel their weather while you read them. A crisp breeze off the sea, the scorching sun on a desolate road, the closeness of the air in an old forest. These feelings/environments all make appearances in this wonderful collection of 8 short stories. This was Doerr’s debut and can be read again and again. Released in 2002, it’s a new old classic.

 

Lance

Every Man Dies Alone

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Every Man Dies Alone
Hans Fallada


A signal literary event of 2009 has occurred…the belated appearance in English of the novel Every Man Dies Alone, the story of a working-class Berlin couple who took on the Third Reich with a postcard campaign intended to foment rebellion against Hitler’s Germany. To read Every Man Dies Alone, Fallada’s testament to the darkest years of the 20 th century, is to be accompanied by a wise, somber ghost who grips your shoulder and whispers into your ear: “This is how it was. This is what happened.”—Liesl Schillinger

 

Deb

The Essential Best Foods Cookbook

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The Essential Best Foods Cookbook
Dana Jacobi


A great hot weather cookbook, with economical recipes that are extremely delicious!

 

Mary

Ordinary Thunderstorms

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Ordinary Thunderstorms
William Boyd


 Though I don’t often read thrillers, I burned through this one.  Set in present-day underworld London, a wrongfully-charged murder and the low road of pharmaceutical licensing underpin a suspenseful plot.  The characters are well-imagined, and Boyd’s prose style is fabulous.  I am on the hunt for all work by this author.

 

 

Paul

Rules of Thumb: A Life Manual

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Rules of Thumb: A Life Manual
Tom Parker


Not a trivia book but a book of useful information in the “i before e except after c” nature. Wisdom passed down. “If there’s dew on the spider webs in the grass in the morning, it won’t rain.” “You can mail 5 sheets of paper with one fist class stamp.” “Human blood volume is equal to about a case of beer” “Do not invite a habitual raconteur to a party if the space is less than 600 square feet, not counting the piano. Otherwise, it will be hard for people to escape him/her without leaving the party.” Perfect stocking stuffer.

 

Ben

Vacation

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Vacation
Deb Olin Unferth


In Deb Olin Unferth's debut novel, a man with a dented head named Meyers embarks on an impulsive quest, full of misadventures, through Central America in search of an old college acquaintance with a brain tumor named Gray, the man he blames for the disillusionment of his marriage. In the meantime, a young woman seeks out her biological father, a man who steals dolphins and releases them back to the wild. Unferth's writing is first-rate, strange, exciting, haunting and structurally imaginative. This book draws you in with its characters, and surprises you sentence after sentence. Worth checking out.

 

Tim

Union Atlantic

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Union Atlantic
Adam Haslett


Union Atlantic is Mr. Haslett's first novel, following his short story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here, which was a finalist for both a Pulitzer and a National Book Award.  I think it's likely to be the best novel I'll read this year -- filled with characters and a plot that spoke to me about who we are as Americans today, and how we found ourselves in a culture of money, fear and isolation.  In Union Atlantic, a banker is motivated by greed and the desire to keep the astronomical debt his company carries afloat for just one more day -- regardless of the consequences; teenagers do drugs, dream of a future away from their hometown, and struggle to sculpt an identity; and a retiree stages a final hurrah of protest, rekindling the spirit of activism from her youth.  Defining the American psyche unlike any other book I've read recently, Union Atlantic seems like a Great Gatsby for the new millenium.  Highly recommended.

 

Terry

The Hundred Years War, Volume III: Divided Houses

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The Hundred Years War, Volume III: Divided Houses
Jonathan Sumption


The third volume of Jonathan Sunption's monumantal history of the Hundred Years War covers the period from 1369 to 1393, during which England, reeling from the death of the Black Prince, is on the wane, while France begins a resurgence under Charles VI. This history at its finest- meticulously researched, rich in detail,  penetrating analysis, and above all else lucidly written. 

 

Robert

The Waitress Was New

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The Waitress Was New
Dominique Fabre


This is a brief, but beautiful little novel made from the simplest stuff. The narrator is a bartender in late middle age. The suburban bistro he works at is falling apart and over the course of a few days he tries to patch things together. In the process he ruminates over his position and life in general. This is Fabre’s ninth novel but the first in English translation.