Written by Dorri Olds. Excerpt from NYC Resident magazine September issue. To read about Top 10 Movies, Theatre and Art go to my published articles section and click on the upper left cover thumbnail image.
TOP 10 Non-fiction:
THE PAIN CHRONICLES—Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering. Author: Melanie Thernstrom. From Babylonian pain-banishing spells to modern brain imaging, this book traces conceptions of pain throughout history, to reveal the elusive, mysterious nature of pain itself. Interweaving first-person reflections on her own battle with chronic pain, Thernstrom covers pain’s peculiar traits and harrowing effects, and its various antidotes. It is an inspiring book of hope.
NO EXCUSES—9 Ways Women Can Change the Way We Think About Power and Leadership. Author: Gloria Feldt. In nine chapters, this book serves as a powerful tool. It encourages women to change the way they think about power and teaches how their own actions, or lack of, can be what’s keeping them down in politics, work and love. Feminist icon Feldt urges women to step into power in every aspect of their lives. Through interviews, historical research and anecdotes, she examines why barriers to equality still exist in American culture. This is a timely and valuable resource for the gender that makes up 51 percent of the population but comprises only 15 percent of the members in Congress and less than 1.2% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE?—True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life. Author: Bruce Frankel. Whether prompted by advancing birthdays, unexpected personal events, job losses, or retirement, at some point, many of us come to reconsider our lives. We wonder: Is it too late to redefine ourselves and leave our mark in the world? In this book of intimate narratives, Bruce Frankel introduces a host of unforgettable people who have bravely embraced a new sense of possibility late in life, with almost unimaginable success, passion and purpose. The book captures the singular lives of everyday, yet ex-traordinary “late bloomers” who have bravely embraced new callings, discovered unforeseen pleasures, and overthrown the usual expectations of age.
Fiction:
OVEREXPOSED. Author: Susan Shapiro. Eager to finally stand on her own two feet, New York photographer Rachel Solomon escapes the clutches of her crazy Midwestern Jewish Family, and the twisted machinations of her kooky best friend, Elizabeth. All is well until Elizabeth marries her brother, moves to her hometown, and becomes the daughter Rachel’s mother always wanted: popping out babies named after her crazy dead relatives. In this comic novel, readers who delighted in Speed Shrinking will fi nd amusement in Rachel’s desperate actions to prove herself worthy in the eyes of her traditional family—and navigate the precious waters between best friends.
THE THIEVES OF MANHATTAN. Author: Adam Langer. Ian Minot, an aspiring writer with a low-paying day job at a coffee shop in New York City, becomes embroiled in an elaborate scheme to create a fake memoir. Ian quickly realizes that fact and fiction can be dangerously intertwined. He becomes hopelessly ensnared in his own web of deceit. Publishers Weekly’s gave this book a starred review and referred to Langer’s style of writing as “slang so trendy a glossary is included.”
FREEDOM. Author: Jonathan Franzen. Patty and Walter Berglund were the new pioneers of old St. Paul—the gentrifi ers, the hands-on parents, and the avant-garde of the Whole Foods generation. Patty was the ideal sort of neighbor, who could tell you where to recycle your batteries and how to get the local cops to actually do their job. She was an enviably perfect mother and the wife of Walter’s dreams. Together with Walter—environmental lawyer, commuter cyclist, total family man—she was doing her small part to build a better world. But why has their teenage son moved in with the aggressively Republican family next door? Why has Walter taken a job working with Big Coal? What exactly is Richard Katz—ou-tré rocker and Walter’s college best friend and rival—still doing in the picture? Most of all, what has happened to Patty? Why has the bright star of Barrier Street become “a very different kind of neighbor,” an implacable Fury coming unhinged before the street’s attentive eyes?
TRUE PREP. Author: Lisa Birnbach. A contemporary look at how the old guard of natural-fiber-loving, dog-worshipping preppies adapt to the new order of things. Birnbach considers the prep attitude towards money (ambivalent), schools (good investment), wardrobe (now your clothes fit), work (some careers will never be prep), decorating (ask mummy), scandal (including rehab and prison), and food and drink (with some classic recipes for both). She also looks at weekends (and what to do to get asked back), entertaining, sports (including sailing and shopping), weddings, etiquette, the Internet and electronic gadgetry, political correctness, reality TV, and . . . polar fleece. And last but not least: a do-it-yourself eulogy.
THE BELLINI MADONNA—A Novel. Author: Elizabeth Lowry. Thomas Lynch, once a brilliant, young art historian, is now a disgraced, middle-aged art historian, overly fond of the bottle and of his fresh young students. But everything will change now that he’s on the trail of a lost masterpiece, a legendary Madonna by the Italian master Giovanni Bellini. Insinuating himself into the crumbling English manor house where the painting may be concealed, Lynch attempts to gull the eccentric and perversely beautiful women who live there—though he himself seems to be the pawn in this elaborate game. Interlaced with complex clues and hidden jokes, The Bellini Madonna reels from the lush English countryside to the sternly lovely hill towns of the Veneto, from the fi fteenth century to the twenty-first.
Children’s Fiction
WHAT MOMMA LEFT ME. Author: Renée Watson. For ages 10 to 14. A heart-tugging novel that celebrates one girl’s gift for fi nding joy. The main character, Serenity, experiences trauma. She is forced to go live at her grandparents’ house. Despite the challenges she faces—strict rules, a new school, new church and a new neighborhood—she finds strength and love with her grandparents, makes new friends and allows optimism into her life. It is a powerful tale of resiliency and hope.
THE BOOK THAT EATS PEOPLE. Author: John Perry. For ages 6-10. Perry claims this book wrote itself late one night while he was sleeping. It is a story of a book with an insatiable hunger for humans. It is chock full of warnings like, “If you hear growling while you’re reading it, stop reading, close the cover, and put something heavy on top of it. Never turn your back on it.” Publishers Weekly says, “It’s all irresistible. Read it. Carefully.”