Patience with God by Tomáš Halík

About Zacchaeus, atheism, Nietsche, and the church on the margin.

The kind of book that you read paragraph by paragraph and ponder and look for someone to share it with. Deeply spiritual and full of insights. A book to reread, an author to note and find his other books.

God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet

(read aloud)

This puts into words so eloquently many of my thoughts and experiences of a career in medicine, and I presume the experience of many of my colleagues, particularly those in primary care and non-procedural practices.

Efficiency has been a goal that has had unintended consequences.

She talks of the value of listening, of making the diagnosis, but most of all finding that part of a person that is beyond imaging, measuring, and testing. She is the doctor you want to have in your last days or when everyone has given up on you.

A Wedding in Haiti by Julia Alvarez

(read aloud)

A good writer takes a trip across Haiti and describes what she sees and who she meets. She looks and listens and Haiti speaks. She tells a story: her story, Haiti's story, and the human story. Most delightful to us reading to each other, the details rang true to our shared experience. The Haiti we know is also the Haiti she saw. She deftly steers between the dangers of pity and naiveté. She chose an interesting subject and writes beautifully.

Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges

Long well-documented, tells much about his life, his math, his code work, his development of the computer, and his homosexuality. Good balance and objectivity. Just the right level of detail in all the areas. A sad ending of a difficult but brilliant soul.

Dead Wake by Erik Larsen

(read aloud)

This was a wonderful, interesting account of a historical tragedy. The sinking of the Lusitania is a gripping, multifaceted story with intrigue and misfortune and bravery all mixed together.

The writing is very good and keeps your attention. There are many interesting characters. President Wilson, and the captains of the Lusitania and U-20 are major thread.s One of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley

(read aloud)

Though we've pronounced Flavia's name wrong through all these books, we are getting to know her better. Attending her mother's old school in Canada, she has instant notoriety, though we don't know precisely why. Minutes after she arrives she is embroiled in a murder mystery. Most of the story is foggy and vague, reflecting her unsettled state in a new country and a new school.

I wouldn't recommend this as a first Flavia read but I wouldn't miss any myself.

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

(read aloud)

A thoroughly British take on a small town with rigid class lines and expectations. A middle-aged woman tries to start a bookstore and succeeds, but runs counter to jealous powerful people who are used to having their slightest whims satisfied. Bleak, sad, lonely, suppressed. The final bus ride out of town with the main character was actually a relief Wherever she is headed, I hope she fares well.

Joyland by Stephen King

A story of a young man set in a carnival. A tale of lost love, coming of age, heroism, mystery and murder. With ferris wheels, haunted house, a "real" ghost and several clairvoyant characters. Starting indolently like a warm summer, it grows into an autumn storm with a crackling crescendo ending. Lots of fun.

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage

The premise of this book is that the introduction of the telegraph was very similar to what has transpired with the internet. The analogy is very engaging.

The author does a wonderful job of capturing the effects and benefits and problems. Good, evil, crime, encryption compression standards, disruption, winners, losers, are all a part of this "new" technology.

A very interesting book.

The Father's Tale by Michael O'Brien

(read aloud)

Very long book with long philosophical ellipses. Probably not a good choice to read aloud. Many good spiritual themes. Parts of the writing are very good but though my friends who recommended this book disagree I think a good editor could have taken this good book and made it a great book, and at two-thirds the length.

The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester

William Smith, a self-taught geologist and canal engineer, had the idea of a map that showed the underground strata of England. He collected rocks and fossils of small animals that he used to date the strata. He traveled all over England and spent years making a map and published it; but before it made money for him, he lost everything and was put in debtors prison. With some help from friends he got out of prison. His maps were plagiarized. He left London and lived simply. Eventually his contributions were recognized, he was given official honors with apologies, and made a good financial recovery. So the book has a pleasant ending.

As usual, Winchester keeps the reader's interest. He makes a good case for Smith's importance. He tends to dwell on Christianity holding back scientific discovery because of its insistence on a young earth. It seems to me that there are more innocent explanations, like whole continents were not thought to move, and who thought that tops of mountains were once under oceans!

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

(Listened to audiobook)

Following a painting back in time as it went from person to person back to the artist. Each chapter is a separate story standing on its own with the painting a silent presence observing and being observed, influencing by its beauty and value. Some chapters touching, some much fun, especially as read by gifted actors.

Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours that Ended the Cold War

This book takes an historical event and puts it in context, recounts the event as an eyewitness, and presents its historical significance.

For a summit meeting that is of common knowledge, this book is surprisingly interesting.

While it presents Reagan in a very favorable light it avoids a fawning tone. The author has very good credentials and a very engaging manner.

The book makes a good case for the subtitle.

Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah by Captain Sir Richard F. Burton

This voyage in 1852 was extremely dangerous. It was only possible because of Burton's astonishing language ability and his cultural understanding. The account is extremely detailed, at times tedious; but there are parts of extreme interest. The whole account is under the constant tension of the possibility of his discovery. Violence is always just an insult away, robbery or assault if one is momentarily relaxed. And always the heat, the implacable unbearable heat. And water is life and thirst is a death.

9 Algorithms that Changed the Future by John MacCormick

This book is written at exactly the right level. It seems to explain so that it is understandable but comprehensive and reliable.

The discussion of error correcting was interesting. Data compression and databases were also quite clearly presented.

I enjoyed this book.

Faraday Maxwell and the Electric Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics by Nancy Forbes

This is a well-written and engaging history based on the premise that Faraday, a self-taught experimentalist, had seminal insights that were noticed by a similarly brilliant mathematical genius and physicist. The idea of electromagnetic fields was born and changed the world. In the course of the book one grows to appreciate these two men at a deeper level than their ideas. The book looks at their character and there is grace at work there.

The Martian by Andy Weir

An astronaut on a Mars landing is abandoned when the mission is aborted and he is thought to be dead. The result is a hi-tech Robinson Crusoe in a vacuum.

The story is full of twists and turns and is very exciting and actually plausible. A fun read.

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

(read aloud)

A widower bookstore owner, buried in grief and self-absorbed, has a sort of rebirth when a baby is left at his store. This is a story full of warmth and redemption and surprise. It is beautiful and full of unexpected love and expected friendships. Very much worth reading.

American Chestnut by Susan Freinkel

The subtitle gives a good summary: "The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree." This is an interesting if unfinished story. Since the tree is not extinct there is hope. It was revealing that in our current state of science we are so much at the mercy of plant pathogens. I had to remind myself that such is certainly also true of human pathogens!

The book is slightly aimless and somewhat repetitious. There are only so many ways to say that a tree is wonderful and its loss is regrettable.

Still, the book is hopeful without denying the difficulty of the task, to restore a tree that once spread throughout the eastern forests of the United States.