Memoir
I Never Promised You A Goodie Bag, by Jennifer Gilbert. The highs and lows of being a high-profile party planner. How high-profile? Oprah-high. Pressure!
Man Made, by Joel Stein. The Time magazine humor columnist attempts to acquire as many manly skills as he can, in anticipation of being a good father to a new son. Hilarity ensues.
Two Winters in a Tipi, by Mark Warren. Why would an otherwise level-headed educator move into a stick-and-fabric tipi in the North Georgia woods? Read on.
Love, Life and Elephants, by Dame Daphne Sheldrick. She spent 20-odd years as co-warden of Tsavo National Park in Kenya. Elephants aren’t the only thing she fell for.
Making a Difference, by Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. “Making a difference” is an understatement: Sully landed a plane in the Hudson River and saved dozens of lives. Here, he talks to other courageous leaders.
Fiction
The Taliban Cricket Club, by Timeri N. Murari. Even the author of “Kabul Beauty School” calls this Afghanistan-based love story “riveting.”
The Undertow, by Jo Baker. A highbrow beach read that follows a troubled British family through a tumultuous century.
Freeman, by Leonard Pitts, Jr. Why would Sam, a freed slave, return to the South after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln? Her name is Tilda.
Magic Words, by Gerald Kolpan. Let the subtitle do the ‘splaining: “The tale of a Jewish boy-interpreter, the world’s most estimable magician, a murderous harlot and America’s greatest Indian chief.
The Cottage at Glass Beach, by Heather Barbieri. A beautiful, mysterious woman on a beautiful, mysterious island in Maine. Here comes summer.
Essay
Alphabetter Juice, or, The Joy of Text, by Roy Blount, Jr. Everyone’s favorite lexicographic curmudgeon pulls no punches on modern language usage. Pour yourself a cocktail for this one.
Bunch of Amateurs, by Jack Hitt. How do people get seduced into crazy hobbies like chasing the ivory-billed woodpecker or splicing genes in a salad spinner? (Really.) Hitt investigates.
Nonfiction
Nature’s Compass, by James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould. How in Hades does a bird navigate its way from pole to pole? Or for that matter, a bee from hive to field?
The Eskimo and the Oil Man, by Bob Reiss. You hear about the battle over drilling in Alaska. Reiss personalizes it through the eyes of people on both sides.
Running with The Kenyans, by Adharanand Finn. Last year, it was all about running like the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico. This year? Running with East Africans in Iten, Kenya. Run on.
