UPR listeners are avid readers, so our periodic question to you isn’t if you’re reading, but what are you reading? We’re also asking if you have anything special you read for the holidays, and do you have suggestions for books to give as gifts?
In addition to you, we’ll be talking with Anne Holman from The King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Andy Nettell from Back of Beyond Books in Moab and Catherine Weller of Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City.
Tom’s list:
The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today by David Norton
Eternity is Now by John H. Groberg (LDS title)
The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
Weller Book Works - Catherine Weller’s Book List
Adult
Absolutely on Music: Conversations by Haruki Murakami and Seji Ozawa
Against Everything: Essays by Mark Greif
Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan
Gamblers Anatomy by Jonathan Lethem
How to Bake Everything: Simple Recipes for the Best Baking by Mark Bittman
Lion in the Living Room: How Housecats Tamed Us and Took Over the World by Abigail Tucker
Mirror Thief by Martin Seay
Mister Monkey by Francine Prose
Moonglow by Michael Chabon, Harper
Names of the Stars: A Life in the Wilds by Pete Fromm
On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor
Plant: Exploring the Botanical World
This Annoying Life: A Mindless Coloring Book for the Highly Stressed by Oslo Davis
Children’s
Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis
Lost House: A Seek and Find Book by b.b. Cronin
The Sun is Also a Star by Niccola Yoon
They All Saw a Cat by Brendand Wenzel
Way Things Work Now by David Macaulay
Back of Beyond Books - Andy Nettell’s Book List
The Disappearances: A Story of Exploration, Murder, and Mystery in the American West by Scott Thybony
Mapping the Four Corners: Narrating the Hayden Survey of 1875 by Robert S. McPherson and Susan Rhoades Neel
Canyon Wilderness of the Southwest. Photographs by Jon Ortner
Bob Dylan The Lyrics 1961-2012
Night School--A Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child
King’s English - Anne Holman’s Book List
Fiction
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach
Nonfiction
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
The Lyrics by Bob Dylan
Childrens
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The ThreeMagical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley
Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis
Fabulous
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
John Derian Picture Book, John Derian
Recommendations Made By Listeners
Kasey:
@upraccess anything by@candice_millard is a great choice. Her books on Roosevelt, Churchill, and Garfield are phenomenal historical reads.
Aimee:
Hi, Tom.
I've recently enjoyed some fun graphic children's comics. The series is written and drawn by Jeffery Brown. He draws funny little comic strips about Darth Vader and small little Luke and Leia. The titles include "Vader's Little Princess," "Darth Vader and Son" and "Goodnight Darth Vader."
I would recommend these for anyone who likes the Star Wars movies. I'm planning on using them to convince my nieces and nephews to become avid fans.
Jennifer from Uintah County
(She recently asked a group military veterans “What causes war?” Thought of the poem “The Killers” by Leonard Cohen)
Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs by Leonard Cohen
Marsha in St. George:
Currently reading:
The Iran Wars by Jay Solomon
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (can't put it down!)
As We Are Now by May Sarton
New Shirts & Old Skins poems by Sherman Alexie
Steve:
Tossing this in at the last minute: I’ve just started to re-read “Here Is New York”, E.B. White’s slender 1949 monograph about … well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?
When I say I’ve “just started to re-read”, I mean that because it is really a polished gem of only about 40 pages, so it doesn’t take long. The edition I bought has a “New Introduction” by Roger Angell, who was E.B. White’s stepson and himself, like his stepdad, a stellar writer at The New Yorker. I put quotes around “New Edition” because I don’t know precisely when it was actually new. I just bought it the other day.
The book was written the year before my birth, but I too lived in New York City in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and oughts and my wife and children live there still, and the essential quality of the ever-changing city that White described in the 1940s continue to pertain to this day.
Claudia
Hi Tom!
Our holiday favorite is "The Other Wiseman", a tale of the wise man who was delayed and didn't make the great event but instead spent a lifetime looking and finding a life of service a way to "find" the Messiah.
My recent find was the the Audiobook of the Orphan Keeper by Cameron Wright. I really enjoyed the audio version. The accents and voices of the characters in the book really added to my enjoyment of the story. This book is the true story of Taj Rowland, a kidnapped Indian boy who was passed off as an orphan and adopted by an American family. Taj returns to find his lost family. Through a series of improbable coincidences that even Dickens could not make up; he does.
Aleq:
The two books I am currently re-reading, one fiction, one not, are Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, and Your Inner Fish, by paleontologist Neil Shubin.
Heir is the first Star Wars novel published after the release of Return of the Jedi, and still feels like a superb piece of literature despite Disney's attempt to erase the good parts of Star Wars from the world.
And Fish is one of the best books about the evolution of vertebrates I have ever come across. Easy to understand for the Layman, while simultaneously giving a wealth of knowledge to whoever picks it up.
