Bookworm Pats Self on Back After Successful Lending Spree

Possible Blog Reader and Often Book Trader Jenny brought a pile of books back to me this week.  She is probably the fastest reader I know, and when I asked her what she thought of the books she said she “liked them all.”  A concise and excellent review that reflects on their owner, don’t you think?  I will write a review of each that will be at least one sentence longer than hers.  Here I go:



Desperate for photo content, I took a picture
of books referenced on my messy desk.



·         South of Broad by Pat Conroy: Richmonders, don’t be fooled.  This is about Broad Street in Charleston, SC not the River City.  This book is not as good as Conroy’s most famous The Prince of Tides or even Beach Music but this guy sure knows how to craft a story.  I think most people would enjoy this one.

·         Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell:  This may have been my favorite of his books, but like with any of Gladwell’s books, you have to be in the mood.  He is a pro at finding out “why” stuff happens, and making it interesting.  In this case, he writes why certain folks are able to be super duper successful.  Fun facts include:  you can be a “pro” at almost anything if you dedicate 10,000 hours to working on it; most professional hockey players in Canada were born in January, February and March.  I am a real hit at cocktail parties as you can imagine.

·         Muriel’s War: An American Woman in the Nazi Resistance by Sheila Isenberg:  Not my favorite WW2 memoir, but I did think it was fascinating that an American woman stuck around so long in Nazi-controlled Austria, especially after admitting to her University that she was Jewish. 

·         The Man from St. Petersburg: Another win for Ken Follett.  This was one of his suspenseful books versus what I call his “epic novels.”  I like the epic pieces the best, but this guy is a genius so who am I to judge?

Pressure is on for me to find books to lend to Jenny for her upcoming production trip to South Africa.  I feel like I have her fate in my hands – a bad book can really ruin a long international flight (cue evil laughter).  But I wouldn’t do that.