Winner of the Pulitzer Prize!

Caroline Fraser has an affection for Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Little House books.  But Fraser also is a realist and an incredible historian. She takes the reader on a remarkable page-turning journey, delving deep into the real world of life on the prairie. Of course the Ingalls, Pa and Ma and the rest of the clan, figure prominently, culminating in Laura’s own family and life beyond the Little House books. Full of mind-numbing stories of hardship, Fraser … [Read more...] about Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Brilliant, funny, informative, eye-opening, masterful….these are just some of the adjectives I would apply to this WOW of a book.  Noah grew up in South Africa.  He was born about five years before Apartheid officially ended.  His a storyteller extraordinaire!  More importantly, his own experiences captured so vividly in this memoir will forever enlighten your understanding of Apartheid, leave you marveling at the selflessness of his mother, and make you love Trevor Noah forever. … [Read more...] about Born a Crime

Rosling, a Swedish statistician and academic who died last year, wrote the book with his son and daughter-in-law. The book delves into human tendency to incorrectly guess global trends and lays out several human instincts that cause such a distortion in perspective.

“Although I think everyone should read it,” Bill Gates writes, “it has especially useful insights for anyone who’s making the leap out of college and into the next phase of life.”

Gates concludes by sharing a quote from Rosling … [Read more...] about Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World

Gregory Boyle is a Jesuit priest who for the past 30 years has been running Homeboy Industries in L.A., a social enterprise that has helped thousands and thousands of gang members get job training and, more importantly, love and acceptance. His stories and take on life left me enthralled. Boy, do you want to meet this man and hear him speak!  He writes, “We want to live our lives ‘out loud’—for all the world to see—not with the volume cranked high but with our lives speaking for themselves.  … [Read more...] about Barking to the Choir

What do you want to be when you grow up?  How would you have answered that question when you were a kid?  Lindy West, the brilliant, funny, and insightful author of Shrill, is my new author crush.  She literally changed my view about so many things as I read her book.  She was asked that same question as a kid, but her reminiscence is both hilarious and biting with a big dose of (from my perspective) “wow, I never thought of that before.”  She writes: “Thanks to a glut of cultural messaging, I … [Read more...] about Shrill

Philpott is a kind of modern-day Erma Bombeck or Nora Ephron, spinning extraordinary stories from life’s ordinary details. In this witty and moving memoir-in-essays full of spot-on observations about home, work, and creative life, Philpott takes on the conflicting pressures of modern adulthood.  She offers up her own stories to show that figuring out who you are, who you’re not, and where you belong doesn’t just happen during one midlife crisis; rather, it’s an ongoing journey that doesn’t … [Read more...] about I Miss You When I Blink

Declutter and Organize to Make Room for More Happiness

“Don’t Wait to Start Creating Order” is one of the many valuable “tidying up” tips that Rubin offers in her action-packed (by that I mean get-you-butt-in-gear kind of action) book on ways to create outer order so that you can have inner calm.  As one professor of sociology and gerontology observed, “After age 50, the chances that a person will divest himself or herself of possessions diminishes with each decade.” Uh oh.

Not to worry.  … [Read more...] about Outer Order Inner Calm

The opening description of a 17-year-old girl playing a pickup game of basketball on the streets of NYC in the 90's is electric. Captivating story, thought-provoking themes, incredible writing. I devoured this book and just sent it off with my 22-year-old son on his trip to Florida. Maureen Corrigan at NPR reviews it here. She loved it too! Maureen Corrigan's review of The Falconer … [Read more...] about The Falconer

This was so funny and helpful--no pun intended. Adored this book and am recommending it to everyone. Powers is witty and cheeky and thought-provoking. A gas to read. Rachel Rosenblit of The Post said, "Marianne Power had me at hello. I’d only read a few pages of her blog-turned-memoir, “Help Me!: One Woman’s Quest to Find Out If Self-Help Really Can Change Your Life,” and I was already all in." Me too, Rachel!!!!! … [Read more...] about Help Me!