Steinbeck: A Life in Letters
Edited by: Elaine Steinbeck & Robert Wallsten
This anthology should not be read cover to cover. Steinbeck had plenty to say and was never shy or reserved about saying it. He maintained an impressively high level of correspondence and built time into each day for writing letters. His style changes as he does, succeeding professionally and riding a roller coaster of personal triumphs and disasters. He also frequently traveled, and insights about his numerous locations pepper his letters from those times. I enjoyed his book by leafing through and reading letters from various points, sometimes out of order, and following self-contained events in his life. My favorite letters were written when he reclused himself to a cottage by the sea and recovered from a failed relationship, slept with a bunch of women, then began corresponding with an attractive wife whom he eventually seduced away from her husband.
However, he may have said it best later in life in a letter to his son counseling him on falling in love.
"If it is right, it will happen - the main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away."
A Man Called Ove
By: Fredrik Backman
My team selected this book for book club and it was delightfully charming. Ove is the European version of the old man from Up: stubborn, recluse, prideful, but resolute in his moral convictions. Early in the book he begins a never ending conflict with a stray cat whom he eventually fails to drive away and dejectedly tends to. His past is shrouded in mystery which we uncover bit by bit as the book progresses. His neighbors wind up his unlikely lifesavers. The woman is loud, warm, and full of life and laughter and befriends Ove in what ultimately becomes a symbiotic relationship. I took fault with the end of the book which I won't spoil but which I don't think accurately honored the spirit of his wishes. But maybe that is what life is all about anyway: doing what is best for others. Five stars, definitely a book worth reading and excellent for discussion.
The Night Circus
By: Erin Morgenstern
Utterly magic. This story transcended time, space, constrains of normal life and expectation and possibility. When you open the cover, you ascend into a world of limitless possibility, unnatural beauty and elegance, and pure magic. As with the best stories, an undefined conflict promising enormous sadness anchors the plot, but the main characters are not ordinary, so nor should their story. Vivid descriptions, intricate characters, and setting where anything is possible make this book compelling and hard to put down. I may have cried at the end, nobody can prove either way, but the ability of this book to engage every sense while remaining black words on white paper speaks to the skill of the author and the strength of her story.
If Our Bodies Could Talk
By: James Hamblin
When your celebrity crush writes a book of course you have to read it. James Hamblin takes some of the most common health-related questions he gets asked and answers them in ways both obvious and circuitous. While some of his answers stray from the original question, it's his way of politely re-writing the assumptions behind the original question and giving context to the subject. He also loves to tell stories and his favorite way to begin an answer is wildly unrelated to the subject at all: drawing the reader in and gradually coming full-circle to the original topic. I learned a lot, both in obscure knowledge but also in where non-medical people's minds linger and puzzle. The first time a patient asks me a question answered in this book, I will happily recommend it and bless the man who took the time to research and publish the disconnect between ivory-towered medicine and every day human curiosity.
The Automatic Millionaire
By: David Bach
This guide to saving money smartly and efficiently was recommended to me by one of the hospitalists where I work. He is on track to retire before age 50, so I figured he must be well-informed. The book is full of cheesy personal anecdotes from the author which makes it read kind of like an infomercial, but once you drill down to the core message, his advice is strong. The book breaks down how to save money in easy, manageable chunks. In a world full of electronics, it is impressive, too, how writing a book on automating investing is so relevant. Most importantly, he helps you, the reader, identify why saving is so important and discover the motivation to make change. Even as a grad student with tens of thousands of dollars of debt right now, I still got excited about investing and managed to increase my retirement deduction. Find the time to read this book, and your financial stability will thank you.
The writer must believe
that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he
must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_steinbeck_114033
The writer must believe
that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he
must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_steinbeck_114033
Hidden Figures
By: Margot Lee Shetterly
This author begins her book early by telling the reader why this story is important to her. She has ties to these women on numerous levels, and was compelled by their humility and obsolescence to bring their untold accomplishments forward. She primarily follows Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, three African American computer scientists who helped win WWII and propel humankind to the moon. Their brilliance is impressive, but coupled by the racism and systemic oppression and contempt society placed upon them for simply being women, and being black, is monumental. The US government believed in these women at a time nobody else would, and their sacrifices and exceptional hard work paved the way for women of color to be acknowledged and respected in these fields. Over and over, their accomplishments were misattributed, minimized, or stonewalled, but as they were pushed against the glass ceiling, they never stopped pushing back. I found this book hugely inspiring and can't find basis to complain when women like these walked the earth and accomplished as much as they did in the same 24 hours a day we all are given.
Endurance
By: Scott Kelly
In keeping with the theme of reading books about subjects I know nothing, Scott Kelly's year in space stood out to me on the library shelf, and I'm so glad I acted spontaneously. Another immensely inspiring figure, Scott Kelly paints the picture of his life leading up to this mission in the context of his year aboard ISS. He jumps between space and childhood for most of the book until the timeline catches up to his astronaut years where he focuses more on his earth time and less in space. The window he gives ordinary earth-bound humans into the immense pressure and precision of NASA's space missions is fascinating. I loved his descriptions of everything aboard the ISS, and his deadpan humor when you least expect it. The triumph of a truly international collaborative project is a breath of fresh air in a time when partisan and isolationist agendas are becoming the norm. Scott Kelly reminds us that NASA, and space exploration, is a shining example of what collaboration can accomplish, and how the biggest challenge, the reason he spent a year in space, remains for humankind to accept: putting a human on Mars.
