“The New Old Me” by Meredith Maran (Blue Rider Press, pp 302, $27.00) A great undiscovered jewel, and from what I infer, a book that deserves to get into every single book club in the nation, and beyond. My enthusiasm is perhaps excessive. There comes a time when a book appears and has valuable lessons […]
“The Wicked City,” by Beatriz Williams (William Morrow, pp 368, $26.99) In “Wicked City,” one can smell the whiffs of Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway as he journeys back and forth between New York and East Egg. You can touch Princeton, the Prohibition, the allure of speakeasies with Fitzgerald pouring himself a scotch, and nudging the fabulously […]
“The Telomere Effect: a Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer,” by Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD and Elissa Epel, PhD (Grand Central Publishing, pp 399, $28.00) Whoever came up with the subtitle for this fascinating book did an excellent job creating a strong hook. Who indeed would not want to live longer? Contrary to what you […]
“Is It all in Your Head? Trues Stories of imaginary Illness,” by Suzanne O’Sullivan, MD (Other Press, pp 296, $26.95) Psychosomatic illness is problematic. Disregarded as not real, it is often not considered seriously and is relegated to footnotes in medical books. And yet, it is all around us, often having debilitating effects on the […]
“World War I and America: Told by the American Who Lived It,” edited by A. Scott Berg (Library of America, pp 896, $40.00) Besides the inviting silky quality of the paper, this volume from the Library of America offers an impressive collection of articles, essays, personal stories, and declassified documents from WWI, from both participants […]
“Trump’s Great American Suicide“ Is America committing suicide? That is the thought swirling around the darkest recesses of my mind ever since Trump got elected. “Is America the Next Atlantic City?” is another. Though both strong contenders for my attention, they differ. The Atlantic reference suggests that something happened to the New Jersey town, which, […]
March 2017. Only six weeks have elapsed since Trump took power, and what a contrast with the previous administration. The country seems to have been seized by the invisible hand of hysteria and neurosis. In recent memory, never a concentration of angry and vocal citizens has been so strident and quick to gather. In this […]
“The Book of Joy,” by the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams (Avery, pp 356, $26.00) A major contradiction lies at the heart of Western societies. The constant pressure towards the quest for happiness. It is no secret that the pressure to be happy creates more anxiety than happiness. Tons of books from fields […]
“The Wines of My Life, ” by Eric Beaumard (Abrams pp 280, $45.00) “The Wines of My Life” is a very important book for two reasons. First it was written by, perhaps, the most influential sommelier in the world, Eric Beaumard, who from humble origins and a major road accident that left him physically impaired […]
“The One Man” by Andrew Gross (Minotaur Books, pp 418, $26.99) “The One Man” marks a radical departure for Andrew Gross. His past novels (nine and counting) were all in the pure thriller genre, a craft he learned straight from the Lord himself, James Patterson, with whom he co-authored several novels. “The One Man” however […]