True Crime: A Memoir by Patricia Daniels Cornwell Who knew that the first book I’d pick up by Patricia Cornwell wouldn’t be one of the installments in her famous Scarpetta series, but her deeply personal memoir, True Crime? Cornwell begins her story one winter morning when she wakes up to find her mother burning all…
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Choyeop Kim A brilliant collection showcasing the outskirts of futures – those who are left behind by technologies, or isolated by advancements and achievements. This whole collection is very quietly sad, centering stories of women isolated in thought, in space, in their one-of-a-kind experiences. Woman at…
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li There are few writers I know who have mastery and full control over words as Yiyun Li. This qualification, I believe is necessary when you write two books upon the loss of two sons to suicide. The first book Where Reasons End is written for Vincent. The second, Things…
The Plunge: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water by Chris Ballard A look at cold water swimming, from solo and community quick dippers to events organized by the nascent International Ice Swimming Association, held around the world. As with “Born to Run,” this is very much a character study of…
In Trees: An Exploration by Robert Moor A wonderfully broad and digressive look at trees in biology, history and culture. This nature writing at its finest, comparable to Charles Bowden, and Barry Lopez, that combines philosophy, biology and reportage, in original ways. Note that while American by birth, Moor lives in Halfmoon Bay, BC and hopes to…
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe A melange of true crime, history, political science and the portrait of a family, London Falling is another masterclass in narrative non-fiction from the author of Say Nothing. A young man leaves the balcony of a luxury apartment…
The Great Shadow: A History of How Sickness Shapes What we do, Think, Believe, and Buy by Susan Wise Bauer A look at the experience of sickness and our cultural adaptations to it, from the dawn of recorded history right up to modern times. A very entertaining and accessible read, although a frightening one at times,…