By Amy Tan
A delightful book about the writer's journey as a birder, complete with pages from her bird journals and beautiful drawings. Really inspiring in terms of observations, curiosity and dedication. [non-fiction, 288pp.]
Some resources listed at the end of the book: John Muir Laws: Laws Guide to Drawing birds; David Sibley: What It's Like to Be a Bird; Jennifer Ackerman: The Bird Way, The Genius of Birds
The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis
By Maria Smilios
This was so interesting. It tells the history of tuberculosis in the first half of the 20th century by following the lives of a few of the nurses, some of the patients, and a few scientists and doctors who were involved in the search for cure. The focus is on Seaview hospital in Staten Island, the nurses who were recruited from the Jim Crow South, and the struggles to fight racism and hospital segregation in the north. [non-fiction; 428pp. including notes and index]
By Fredrik Backman
A novel about 2 artists, a generation apart, one who is just starting her journey, and the other at the end of his. Their chance encounter serves as the beginning of a cross-country adventure young artist and the friend of the belated-artist, as they each remember their friends. [fiction; 436pp.]
Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America
by Joy-Ann Reid
It's really horrible how surprised I am every time I read about the extent of racist behavior in the American south. It's always amazes me how evil people filled with hatred can be, and the extent they go to just to prevent people from voting or even registering to vote, or basically doing anything to improve their lives. It is truly horrifying. [non-fiction, 342pp. including notes and index]
By Philip Roth
The story of a PE instructor and playground director, in a Newark, NJ neighborhood in the summer of 1944, and the way his world is affected by a polio outbreak.
This book made me realize how much I didn't know about polio. [fiction, 280pp.]
By Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
This book explores some of the reasons we live in scarcity (housing, public transit, innovation, etc.) and imagines a world of abundance. It doesn't describe how exactly we get there, just gives general directions to try. For example, reduce regulation (while somehow maintaining the standards these regulations were intended to ensure). [nonfiction, 304pp.]
By Joseph Alexiou
I heard about this while attending the installation of Mucky's Return (a sculpture of dolphin that was found in the canal). The author gave an interesting speech about Mucky and other unfortunate marine mammals who were found stranded in the polluted waters of the canal. The book is not about them (a point of disappointment to me). It is about the history of the place that now includes the canal, from the days of the American Revolution to current times. It is interesting, but perhaps a bit too detailed for me, whereby the bigger story kind of got lost. It reads like a research paper, but a very long one. [non-fiction, 398 pp.]
