David and Goliath
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell After hearing Malcolm Gladwell speak at Belmont last month (see March newsletter), I knew I would […]
Coup
Coup by Keel Hunt Once upon a time in a land far, far away, an evil governor was selling pardons for cash. Many bad men were to be released from […]
Citizens of London
Citizens of London by Lynne Olson Citizens of London is an account of the relationship between the Americans and British during WWII with an emphasis on the men who cultivated […]
Boomerang
Boomerang by Michael Lewis If you are interested in the European financial crisis or merely a student of human behavior, I recommend Michael Lewis’s book Boomerang. Lewis’s forte is telling […]
The Most of Nora Ephron
The Most of Nora Ephron, a collection of writings from the late journalist, novelist, screenwriter, foodie, and feminist is also a mainstay on my nightstand. From her short pieces in […]
The Book of Delights
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay Winner of the National Book Circle Award for Poetry, Ross Gay “decided …to write a daily essay about something delightful.” His rules: write […]
Bite By Bite
Bite by Bite by Aimee Nezhukumatathil Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of a collection of nature essays, World of Wonders, and a professor of English at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, has […]
Bedside Table Books
I usually read a book before bed, but often the next morning, I cannot remember what I read! Does this happen to you? If so, I suggest the Bedside Table […]
American Gun
American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15 by Cameron McWhirter Lest you think I read nothing but crime novels (mostly true!) I read and recommend American Gun: The True […]
Americans In Paris by Charles Glass
Before the Second World War, approximately thirty thousand Americans lived in Paris. When war broke out in 1939, that number had been reduced to five thousand, many of whom continued […]
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
Although Bill Bryson’s most well know book is A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bryson is not a traditional historian. He does not offer illuminating insights or new interpretations of […]
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell
EARLY YEARS Mrs. Edwin Lee Hall of Baltimore had high hopes for her only daughter Virginia, born April 6, 1906. That her ambitions for her child were limited solely to […]
A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre
I am a big fan of the non-fiction works of Ben Macintyre, Operation Mincemeat and Double Cross, and his latest, A Spy Among Friends, doesn’t disappoint. Ken Philby was one […]