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Updated 10/08/2007
If you love to read as much as I do, you probably are constantly asking people if they’ve read any good books lately and if they have any recommendations! Here is a list of some books I’ve read this summer that I really enjoyed. And just a suggestion: instead of spending a ton of money at the bookstore, check them out of the library. I love the St. Louis Public Library and their website that lets me put books on reserve whenever a title pops into my head.
If you'd like to purchase any of these books, be sure to visit the KMOX - St. Louis Children's Hospital aStore. You'll be able to buy the books and a percentage of the purchase price goes to the hospital.
Happy Reading!
“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” by Lisa See
Lily and Snow Flower, two girls growing up in a China of undetermined date, have a difficult life ahead of them. They must have their feet bound (I had never before read about how this actually works!) in order to be married. As girls, they have no worth other than being married successfully and are considered “worthless daughters.” Their friendship lasts a lifetime, through Snow Flower’s bad marriage and Lily’s rise in rank because of her own. The author does not appear to be the least bit Chinese and that makes the authenticity of the story even more compelling.
“Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
I loved this book/memoir. Elizabeth is in a bad place after a failed marriage and a failed rebound relationship. Depressed and lost, she decides to take a year off of “life” and travel to Italy (where she eats and gains 30 pounds), to India (where she lives in an ashram, meditates and loses the weight), to Indonesia (where she hangs with a medicine man and finds love with a Brazilian). By the end of her year, she is a new person—happy, centered, renewed. This book makes me want to learn to meditate and learn to find that quiet place in my head.
“A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ishmael Beah
It never ceases to amaze me how little I know about the violence and blood shed that happened and continues to happen in Africa. I say this as a person who pays a LOT of attention to the news and world events.
This book is written by a man who was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. Not even a teenager, Ishmael fled invading rebels who were murdering everyone in their path and spent several years wandering the forests of the country, trying to survive, until he was pressed into service by the country’s Army. The brutality he witnessed and perpetrated is unbelievable, and yet, he was rehabilitated and went on to become a spokesperson for the plight of child soldiers in the world.
“Water For Elephants” by Sara Gruen
Jacob Jankowski hooks up with a traveling circus during the Depression, thanks to the fact that he’s “almost” a veterinarian. A great, compelling story of love, loyalty and animals. This is a book you will probably give to your friends or co-workers when you’re finished!
“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” by Kim Edwards
How can one action change your life and the lives of others? How can secrets taint everything? Kim Edwards introduces us to Dr. David Henry who delivers his wife’s twins, only to realize the daughter has Down’s Syndrome. It’s the 1960s, he’s worried she may have health problems, and he gives the baby girl to his nurse to be taken to a home. The nurse instead takes the baby and raises Phoebe as her own. But his wife’s grief and Dr. Henry’s guilt change the course of the rest of their lives.
“The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khalid Hosseini
These are two separate books by Khalid, once a guest on TIAM. The first was an international best-seller and has already been made into a movie coming out this fall. The second is his latest book and I highly recommend them. Both are tales of people in Afghanistan trying to survive through political and religious tumult, wars and each other. It’s a perspective on Afghanis that I never had before, which I think is why it’s affecting people so much.
“On Chesil Beach” by Ian McEwan
Critically acclaimed, this short book follows a young, naïve couple in England who marry. Both with their own hang-ups about sex, they get into a fight on their honeymoon night, get an annulment and move on with their lives. But they never truly get over each other. If they had just stopped on Chesil Beach to get past their embarrassment, would they have had a long, happy life together?
“Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides
This book won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. I found it fascinating and couldn’t stop reading about Calliope and her Greek-American family in Detroit. It traces many generations, from the old country to the new, and Calliope’s journey from girl to man.
“Sammy’s House” by Kristin Gore
Yes, this is the daughter of former Vice-President Al Gore, and a fun read. I did not read her first book about Sammy, but one need not to enjoy this follow-up. Sammy is a health policy person working for the vice-president while the president leads them all to embarrassment and shame. On air with us on TIAM, Ms. Gore wouldn’t exactly say it held kernels of truth from the Clinton Administration, but regardless, it reminded me a lot of my experiences working as press secretary to a governor!
“I Feel Bad About My Neck” by Nora Ephron
Every time I heard a commercial for this book on KMOX, I would say, “What IS that supposed to MEAN??” So I had to read the book to find out. A short, funny, easy read, any woman over 35 will enjoy it. It’s about life and aging and learning to like ourselves.
“Body Surfing” by Anita Shreve
An interesting tale of Sydney, twice widowed by 29, who goes to work for a family as a tutor to their youngest daughter, only to get caught up between the two older brothers and a family rift. Only when it’s too late does she understand the treachery of one of the brothers set everything in motion.
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