Thursday, December 30, 2010

Recommended Reading--Year End Edition

I'm not sure how I wound up with the year end edition of the book recommendations, but since I did, I decided the only right thing to do was to take a poll and compile a list. So, I asked several of my readerly friends which book they read last year was the most memorable and why. They had no genre restrictions. Certainly there are more books on this list that I haven't read than I have. I can't wait to get started. I hope y'all agree and enjoy some of them this year, too.

The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates by Peter Leeson. You do not have to be an economist to understand this book. The concepts are quite simple, and it is an interesting intersection of economics and history.

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Also nonfiction, this is an interesting read with some substance.

My Stroke Of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor. Book written by a brain scientist who has a dramatic stroke at an early age.You learn a lot about how the brain works, about how to support someone in rehabilitation, and about how resilient the human body can be.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbary

Local Girls by Alice Hoffman. Although it isn't what I'd call literary, it was an inspiring, truthful read. And it's
short enough to read on a long, winter day with a cup of cocoa.

Eat, Pray, Love. Sounds trite, but it's about a woman truly finding herself while exploring her passions. I read it like I read books in grad school. Pen in hand. Underlining what speaks to me that day. It's almost all underlined by now.

Half Broke Horses by Janette Walls

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, because it's an incredible and inspiring story.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I loved Walls' THE GLASS CASTLE and so HALF BROKE HORSES has been on my TBR pile. Must read it in 2011. I really enjoy Alice Hoffman's writing but hadn't heard of LOCAL GIRLS, so I'll definitely check that out. Thanks for the recs!