WHAT I READ 2010

Given the endless possibilities of choosing a book to read it is a flat-out miracle that any decision is made. As I've written before, it is terribly exciting to finish a book and then start thinking of what to read next, not just what is perched on the nightstand but all the choices floating around out there in one's head and on one's bookshelves.  So, I made firm decisions 34 times last year and was happy with most all.  Then I started thinking that 34 wasn't really that many so I must do better this year (that sounds like a New Year's resolution, doesn't it?)

Here is what I read last year:

2010 BOOK LIST

• The Red House Mystery - Milne (a quick, fun read)
• The Provincial Lady in London - Delafield (laugh out loud)
• The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday - Smith (I love Isabel Dalhousie)
• The Paperwhite Narcissus - Riggs (well-written mystery)
• The Lost Art of Gratitude - Smith (Isabel Dalhousie again)
• The Making of a Marchioness - Burnett (nice little Cinderella story)
• A Moveable Feast - Hemingway  (better than I expected)
• Some Country Houses and Their Owners - Lees-Milne (interesting if you've traveled around England)
• Here's Poison - Heyer (not as good as I hoped)
• The Diary of a Nobody - Grossmith (good, understated British humor)
• Jeeves and the Mating Season - Wodehouse (laugh out loud to the point of ridiculous)
• Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain During its Darkest, Finest Hour - Olson (excellent)
• Stiff Upper Lip - Wodehouse (really, who is funnier than Bertie Wooster?)
• To Serve Them All My Days - Delderfield (beautiful)
• How Right You Are, Jeeves - Wodehouse (I wish Bertie would stop by for a visit)
• Louisa May Alcott Biography - Reisen (very good)
• Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put On My Pajamas & Found Happiness - Browning (good)
• Strong Poison - Sayers (excellent)
• Gaudy Night - Sayers (one of my all-time favorites)
• Cranford - Gaskell (sweet)
• Garden Open Tomorrow - Nichols (witty)
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard - Heath (very good, worth reading)
• Sense and Sensibility - Austen (wonderful, of course)
• The Bag Lady Papers - Penney (good)
• Whose Body? - Sayers (love)
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Barbery (really liked)
• Deadly Nightshade - Riggs (entertaining murder mystery)
• Game Change - Heilemann and Halperin (depressing)
• Tough Choices - Carly Fiorina (I have a new found respect for Fiorina)
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Bradley (excellent, I want to read more of the series)
• Miss Hargreaves - Frank Baker (a little Twilight Zone but fun)
• Crashing Through - Robert Kurson (a real eye-opener)
• Real Food - Nina Planck (good)
• The Johnstown Flood - David McCullough (scary, sad, but worth reading)

BOOK DISCUSSION 2011

Partial Pile

A group of friends and I gathered together the other night for our annual discussion of favorite reads. I love this night and look forward to it every year.  A very comfortable group of women which, when combined, offers an eclectic selection of books.  Rarely is there any overlap of books presented, but those who have read the book certainly jump in with their opinion.  Occasionally, there will be opposite opinions of one book which is great fun.  But usually everyone is madly scribbling down books to add to their own reading queue.

This year, the following themes emerged: perseverance through hard times; Sweden; art museums, and dogs.  Here is the list:

Top 12


Me - Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in its Finest, Darkest Hour  - Lynne Olson
Liz - Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand
Darcey - Still Me - Christopher Reeve
Lori - Look Again - Lisa Scottoline
Tammy - Rogue's Gallery: The Secret Story of the Lust, Lies, Greed, and Betrayals That Made the Metropolitan Museum of Art - Michael Gross
Alicia - The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Cassandra - Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems - Billy Collins
Jennifer - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life- Donald Miller
Dawn - Desiree: The Best Selling Story of Napoleon's First Love - Annemarie Selinko
Pam - The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon  - David Grann
Sheli - The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel - Kathleen Kent
Leslie - North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

We do a few rounds, one book at a time (usually), so here is a list of those books that were in the second and third round:


To Serve Them All My Days - R. F. Delderfield
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley
The Madonnas of Leningrad - Debra Dean
Perfectly Imperfect - Lee Woodruff
The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy - Stieg Larsson
Elegance of the Hedgehog -  Muriel Barbery
Service Included: Four Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter - Phoebe Damrosch
Little Bee - Chris Cleave
The Imperfectionists - Tom Rachman
Composed - Roseanne Cash
The War of Art - Steven Pressfield
Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
A Dog's Purpose - Bruce Cameron
Omniover's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
The School of Essential Ingredients - Erica Bauermeister
South of Broad - Pat Conroy
Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
Half Broke Horses - Jeannette Walls
The Life of Our Lord - Charles Dickens
Mariana - Monica Dickens
Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens
The Case of the Missing Servant - Tarquin Hall

All in all 36 books recommended.  Some inspiring, some entertaining, a few will carry you off to another time and that may be all you need. One should certainly grab your fancy.

CITIZENS OF LONDON - Book Review

Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest, Hour by Lynne Olson

A few months ago I was having dinner and discussing books with friends in Washington, DC.  One of my friends urged me to read Citizens of London, written by Lynne Olson.  I always admire writers who can take a serious, complicated subject and make it a page-turner.  Olson is one of those writers. This book is so well-researched and well-written that it is a joy to read.

John Gilbert Winant, Edward R. Murrow, and Averell Harriman are three Americans who expedited the entrance of the US into helping Great Britain fight Hitler. This despite President Franklin Roosevelt's reluctance to enter the war at all.  These three men understood that we had to come to the aid of Britain and stop Hitler.

Olson paints a vivid picture of life in London.  The relentless air raids, the shortage of basic foods, the terror of hearing the buzzing of an incoming bomb and not knowing where it would land. But even after night after night of attacks, Londoners would still pick themselves up and start the day with their regular routine whether it would be going to work or school.  Sometimes it would take hours to get to work because of streets blocked by crumbled buildings.  But they wouldn't use the war as an excuse to stop being productive.

Of course, Winston Churchill plays a very big role in this book and that's always a treat for me. And there is a bit of fun gossip about the likes of Pamela Harriman and others.

This book was even more interesting as I was in London for a few days while reading this book.  I would notice names of streets as places Murrow had lived or notice a plaque on a church noting the effects of a bombing attack. Touring the Churchill Museum and reviewing news clips or walking through the Churchill War Rooms noting where staff slept became more meaningful.  Reading this book at the same time of my visit was more than educational.  It personalized history for me.

Now I'm interested in reading another book by Olson, Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England.