Readers' picks
Helen Hamlin's 1945 bestseller Nine Mile Bridge: Three Years in the Maine Woods is a wonderful story of living in the north woods of Maine. Its descriptions of winter are delightful and will cool anyone off.
Martha Barkley,
Belgrade Lakes, Me.
I reread Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, then Geraldine Brooks's 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel March. This excellent book is the story of the March girls' father during the Civil War and is a thought-provoking read that covers that period and the moral dilemmas of every war.
Marty Marsh,
Fort Collins, Colo.
The Imperial Presidency by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, provides a stark awakening as to how vulnerable our constitutional system is to presidential decisions made without the benefit of an adequate execution of sufficient checks and balances. Reading this brilliantly written book for the first time this summer, I better understand what has led this country into costly conflicts that have proved to have been very much against the best interests of this country. It is well worth reading by all caring Americans.
Gordon Blizard,
Millsboro, Del.
Currently on my bedside table (and in my handbag as I travel through the day) is Alison Lurie's The Nowhere City. The "nowhere city" is '60s Los Angeles where Katherine and Paul Cattleman have moved from Boston. Life in Los Angeles is difficult as they attempt to adjust, and a troubled marriage that may have begun eroding long before their move adds to their West Coast culture shock. A group of quirky characters, including a misfit waitress, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist, and a blond starlet, each with problems of their own, provide frequently hilarious scenes. This is wonderful writing about two people looking for happiness anywhere they can find it.
Lesslee Etzwiler,
Los Angeles, Calif.
Last night I finished The Catcher Was a Spy, a fascinating biography of Moe Berg, whose adult life featured nearly two decades as a (not very good) major league baseball player, the World War II years as a very capable spy for the OSS, and then 25 years as an increasingly impoverished vagabond without a job, who regaled people with stories of his previous "lives." Nicholas Dawidoff interviewed hundreds of people who knew Berg and reveals his remarkable, elusive character.
Elliot legow,
Youngstown, Ohio
For sheer, vicarious pleasure, I highly recommend Jon Krakaur's Into Thin Air about climbing Mt. Everest in 1996 and the tragedy that occurred. I reread it yearly.
Michael Pace
What are you reading? Write and tell us atMarjorie Kehe.
