A recap of reading to help with gift giving
By: Dr. Joan Ruddiman
Barbara called recently for titles of romance novels. She was having foot surgery and wanted to stock up before she was bound to a chair for six weeks. "I can’t find that column you did on the romance writers," she said.
In the spirit of the season when we are scouring for gifts ideas, with the mindset that we all misplace those reminder notes, here’s the 2005 recap of some titles to consider for hard-to-shop-for adults. The general categories are fiction, non-fiction, history and local history. However, like Book Notes, the categories often cross over when considering audience and purposes.
Research says that women are the big readers of fiction. We will begin with the following that are books that were recommended by women and enjoyed by this woman.
For those who are fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s "No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency," give the book-on-tape version. The Botswanian names are musical as read by Lisette Lecat who won the Alexander Scourby Narrator of the Year award in 1999. Even those who have read the books will be delighted to hear the stories.
I had the pleasure of meeting author Diane Chamberlain this past year, which prompted me to read outside my normal sphere. Chamberlain’s romance novels take in family relations and a bit of mystery. "The Bay at Midnight" has particular appeal for local folks as it is set in Point Pleasant, with trips to Princeton and other New Jersey locales.
This was the year I succumbed to the charms of Stephanie Plum. I had read all about Janet Evanovich her friendship with the Trenton police, donating money for a horse for the new equine patrol but just never actually read an Evanovich Stephanie Plum mystery. Rather like chips, you can’t enjoy just one. If you are starting out, or gifting a first-timer, begin with "One for the Money" and move on from there. The chronological tellings just add to the charm.
For the most personal of the local connections is Arnold Ropeik’s "Mosaic" a collection of his columns from the Trenton Times over the past 20-plus years. The book is a nice treat for those snowbirds who live in Florida but who still call New Jersey home.
Already we digress from the simple fiction-non-fiction plan. For women fully realized women of that glorious middle-age span give a pair that includes a fiction and a non-fiction selection. Sue Monk Kidd’s "The Mermaid Chair" is getting lukewarm responses from women who loved "The Secret Life of Bees." However, read in tandem with Sue Shellenbarger’s "Breaking Po!nt: Female Midlife Crisis is Transforming Today’s Women" a whole new perspective opens up. The crazy lady who runs off with a monk makes a whole lot more sense when viewed through Shellenbarger’s reporting of research on the adult woman’s brain. We women of a certain age are more complex than anyone ever imagined. And it is all good. (Well, not the monk part). Women need to know how amazing their minds are and that they are not crazy!
For more cool brain research that goes down easily and surely makes life easier for parents and kids, give "The Primal Teen" by Barbara Strauch. The book’s original title when published in England was "Why are They So Weird?" Actually, that’s the better title as Strauch, the New York Times Health and Science editor and mother of teen girls, reports on what current research tells us about adolescent brain development (and yes, it is rapidly developing), which also helps us understand why teens do what they do. (No one says the development is in a logical line.)
Men, research says, primarily read non-fiction. For men but women too, just check for interests the following were some favorites this year. A thank you to Rox and Joe who find really cool non-fictions, and to Jake who lends me the best of the history stuff he reads.
I loved Mark Frost’s "The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf." It is not only a great golf story, it is a fascinating history of the early 20th century. For any golfer man or woman put it at the top of the list. It is too cold to play so they will be happy to read about golf in wonderful detail.
Peter Hessler’s "River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze" may have been ahead of its time. With the economic rise of China, anyone interested in current events will find Hessler’s insights worth considering.
The book for people who value being in-the-know is "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. It is easy to read and provocative.
For our local folks who collect histories of our area, Donald Scarinci’s "David Brearley and the Making of the United States Constitution" would be a welcomed gift. Brearley was an important but little known founding father and he was from Allentown.
The print run may be limited for many of these titles, so get them while they are still around.
Lyndall Gordon did her research, in part, in Allentown and graciously acknowledges Nancy Stein at the Allentown Public Library and others in town who supported her efforts in writing "Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft." The local connection is Gilbert Imlay, Wollstonecraft’s lover. But the story is so much more, and very well written. This is one to give for the connection to Allentown with the strong suggestion to read it! It is a good book.
This was the year of histories on the Founding Fathers. Joseph Ellis’ "His Excellency: George Washington" examines the nature of the military man and how Washington built on some revolutionary concepts in how to run an army.
Strongly suggested are two histories by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors that win high praise from readers. David McCullough’s "1776" comes at a good time as we need to remind ourselves that building a country based on the rule of the people takes time. "The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin" by Gordon Wood reminds us how much an emerging nation needs wise counsel. Wood, like Bill Brands and others, recognizes that Franklin came to be an American, as he realized that Mother England was never going to understand the vitality and innovation of the colonies.
Franklin would be 300 this year, as is Allentown so there you have a local connection.
Finally, for jaw-dropping fascination and history, "1491" by Charles Mann is a winner. Just consider that pretty much whatever we thought we knew about the Americas before Columbus landed is wrong. Mann puts together the book that he hoped someone else would write that compiles the most recent research and theory on ancient Americans. Stay tuned for more. This one is in the running as the final favorite as 2005 closes out.
Next week, some ideas on how to shop for books as gifts for children and young adults.
Dr. Joan Ruddiman, Ed.D., is a teacher and friend of the Allentown Public Library.