Books that captivate with their exquisite prose and unforgettable storytelling. Perfect for readers who appreciate the art of language.
Too Big To Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington
Fought to Save the Financial System–and Themselves
Andrew Ross Sorkin, 2009
640 pp.
June 2011
Even at 600 pages, Too Big to Fail is too hard to put down. On the surface, it's about a very few—very rich—men, who talk on their cells incessantly, fly the world in their private jets, check balance sheets, and ante up a billion bucks when asked to do so.
But they happen to be saving the world from collapse. We all know the ending: the world was saved. But how close we came to the precipice makes for a riveting tale.
All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
Beverly McLean and Joe Nocera, 2010
416 pp.
June 2011
McLean and Nocera do some finger pointing in All the Devils—not at just a few individuals but at a host of policy makers, businessmen, and financial types across the spectrum.
No single villain is responsible for the 2008 crash, they posit. Instead, the crash was a result of a wide systemic failure that encouraged—and was encouraged by—greed and carelessness.
The Third Angel
Alice Hoffman, 2008
256pp.
May 2011
Alice Hoffman weaves her magic once again, this time in three interlocking stories about the inexorable power of love—and where, if we're not careful, love can lead us.
Set in London, the novel's central axis—around which the three stories spin—is the Lion Park Hotel. Every night at 10:30 a disembodied voice kicks up a ruckus, the ghost of a man who met a violent end in Room 707. The haunting permeates the other two stories but isn't resolved until the third.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot, 2010
369 pp.
February 2011
Immortal Life has to be one of the most remarkable stories of all time, combining the human pathos of one woman's family with the history of scientific and medical advancement.
In 1951 a beautiful, young woman died of an aggressive form of cervical cancer. During treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Henrietta Lacks' tissue was taken unbeknownst to her...and used within a cell culture lab. Her cells proved extraordinary—unlike all other cell cultures, they divided endlessly. Nothing like them had been seen before.
Shanghai Girls
Lisa See, 2009
314 pp.
January 2011
I confess: I've not always been a huge fan of Linda See; her novels, while engaging, have a tendency to spill over into bathos. Shanghai Girls is an exception—written with See's trademark readability, it has more restraint in the melodrama department.
Shanghai Girls, in fact, is a wonderful book, giving us two historical snapshots: first, of Chinese culture in the late 1930's, up to the onset of World War II; second, of the U.S. and what it looked and felt like to Chinese immigrants before and after the war. Neither offers a flattering picture—of China or America.