Category: FOUR STARS ****

June 18, 2010

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson **** (of 4)

Bryson recounts his Iowa childhood of the 1950s writing scenes so effectively that I could see every lincoln log (he peed on), smell the pages...

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June 18, 2010

The Know it All by A.J. Jacobs **** (of 4)

Proof that passionate writing overwhelms mundane subject matter. AJ Jacobs read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and writes a book about it.. Naturally, his book begins...

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June 18, 2010

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer **** (of 4)

This book about climbing Mount Everest made Krakauer famous with good reason. It’s a page turner. Suspenseful. Informative. A terrific read.

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June 18, 2010

Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir by D.J. Waldie **** (of 4)

A quirky recounting of the birth of one of America’s first post-war suburbs: Long Beach. Written by a city councilman who has lived his entire...

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June 17, 2010

Eat, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss **** (of 4)

What a hoot! The book is one heck of a lot of fun.

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June 17, 2010

A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger **** (of 4)

In the early 60s the Boston Strangler attacked, murdered, and then raped eleven women in and around the city. A black man with a criminal...

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June 17, 2010

The Civil War by Bruce Catton **** of 4

I listened to it on tape. It’s a short history of the Civil War. Gettysburg takes about six minutes. The Monitor and Merrimack about two....

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June 17, 2010

A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan **** (of 4)

This book is a commitment. It contains seven interior books, 150 pages apiece. It is worthwhile, however, for anyone who cares about the hubris of...

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May 15, 2010

The Help by Kathryn Stockett **** (of 4)

The characters in this book – racist, southern white women in the early sixties and the black maids that work for them – are so...

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April 30, 2010

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs **** (of 4)

Jacobs takes a year to live strictly adhering to the bible. He doesn’t know bubkes when he begins and figures he’ll start reading Genesis and...

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