So many wonderful books to read. So little time!
Here are some of the best books I read in this year. I have read others, but space constraints limit how many to recommend.
• Stalin’s Daughter. The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva. An outstanding book written by Rosemary Sullivan. Tremendous story-telling. I could not put the book down. Riveting. Consequential. Historic. Compelling research.
• A Well Behaved Woman written by Therese Anne Fowler is set in New York’s Gilded Age and tells the story of the young William and Alva Smith Vanderbilt. A life of wealth and privilege is not itself a recipe for happiness. Alva charts a new course after an unimaginable betrayal. The book delineates their glittering lifestyle in detail and in opulence. “A woman’s lot is made for her by the love she accepts” wrote George Eliot.
• White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht is a compelling story of two devoted Korean sisters growing up under Japanese occupation. The older sister, Hana, is captured and forced to become a comfort woman for Japanese soldiers. It is a grim story, but is redeemed by Hana’s strength and character.
• The Dying of the Light is written by Robert Goolrick. The daughter of Virginia gentry Diana Cooke needs to marry well because her family has financial problems. She does marry Captain Copperton who turns out to be a cad and dishonest. The genteel Southern life is depicted as its dying embers glow. Diana’s story ends in tragedy.
• Of course, there is always author John Grisham. Because some of his titles are now 20-plus years old, during the forced home-stay of the COVID-19, I decided to re-read some of them. I read again The Client, The Brethren, The Chamber, The Last Juror, The King of Torts, The Whistler, The Racketeer, The Pelican Brief. I remembered many of the details, but not how each story ended. I spent many happy March hours reading America’s master storyteller again.
• Author Bill O’Reilly wrote “Killing Lincoln” with Martin Dugard in 2011. It is a dramatic re-telling of the last days of the Civil War and the assassination of president Abraham Lincoln. With rich details and research, the book is replete with vivid narrative and engrossing facts.
• A book I adore and re-read this year is a 2003 “The Thief Taker” by Janet Gleeson. Agnes Meadowes is the cook in the Blanchard household and the kitchen scenes are delicious. She unravels the murders taken place in 18th-Century London all the while serving elegant dinners on silver platters. The juxtaposition of manners and morals play out in superb fashion against greed and jealousy in the household. Love this book!
• Immerse yourself in 17th Century Florence, Rome, Venice, and Pisa as you read Galileo’s Daughter written by Dava Sobel. The book is “An historical memoir of Science, Faith and Love.”
• Driven by the need for power and recognition, George Stephanopoulos joined the Bill Clinton team and served in different capacities in the Clinton White House. All Too Human is his account of those years with all its greed, revenge, betrayals and moral bankruptcy. A sobering look into the Oval Office dealings and the highest levels of American government.
• Let’s Roll was written by Todd Beamer’s wife Lisa and gives many details of the events of 9/11 that show the patriotic courage and bravery of Todd and his fellows on that ill-fated United Flight 93. Todd’s last words heard by the GTE operator were “Let’s Roll.” Lisa’s faith helped her through this loss and to fashion a life for her and their children. She gave birth to their daughter several months after 9/11. A lot of tears reading this book.
• Bonus: No. 11. The Girl from the Train written by Irma Joubert is an outstanding narrative. Six-year old Grete Schmidt is on a train bound for Auschwitz. Jakob Kowalski is planting a bomb on the tracks. The intersection of their lives is powerful and the author writes a convincing happy ending.