Category: Book Recommendations
Interview with the Vampire
I have just finished, Interview With the Vampire, By Anne Rice. Like the last two books I read, I walked away, then returned; this has become a norm for me. I had book discussions with a couple of my AI consultants and came up with the following book recommendation, Review, and study of Anne Rice,…
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle
By Jon Meacham Genre: Biography / Narrative History Narrated by: Jon Meacham, Audio Length: 21 hours, 10 minutes 📖 No-Spoiler Synopsis Jon Meacham’s biography is a “moral map” of the sixteenth president. It moves past the simple myths of the log cabin to explore how a self-taught, often melancholy man from the frontier became the…
So, Anyway
I recommend this book for the classic “tongue in cheek” British humor of it’s author, John Cleese (Cheese). It calls to fans of the wacky, outlandish entertainment of the Monty Python era – especially if you’d like relief from the news, heavier reading or just a chance to laugh out loud, who cares who’s looking!…
Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung
Narrated by: Connie Chung Genre: Memoir / Autobiography / Journalism History Posted April 23, 2026 A Note on the Journey: This wasn’t an easy listen for me. About two-thirds of the way through, I hit a wall with the tone of the narrative. I had to stop and process whether the “pity party” I was…
A Gentleman in Moscow By Amor Towles
A book that has been on my shelf for years that was recommended below by AI Gemini who does most of my book and literary research. No-Spoiler Synopsis In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov—an unrepentant aristocrat—is hauled before a Bolshevik tribunal. While many of his peers are executed, the Count is sentenced to house arrest for…
Lonesome Dove By Larry McMurtry
Read this for the character dynamics. McMurtry deconstructs the “myth” of the cowboy and replaces it with something much more human, funny, and heartbreaking. Gus and Call represent the two sides of the American spirit: one lives for the joy of the moment, and the other lives for the satisfaction of the task. For someone…
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
East of Eden is a sprawling family saga that follows the intertwined destinies of two families: the Hamiltons (based on Steinbeck’s own maternal ancestors) and the Trasks. At its core, the novel is a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis, specifically the story of Cain and Abel. It tracks two generations of brothers as…
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
You should read this because it is a masterclass in character study. If you enjoy books that feel “human” and technically precise in their emotional delivery, this is it. It captures the “hubris of youth and the wisdom of old age” without being sentimental. For a photographer, the book’s “epistolary” format (told entirely through letters…
These Truths: A History of the United States by
Jill Lepore I finished this one on audio — 39 hours of it — and I’m still thinking about it weeks later. Jill Lepore is a Harvard historian and a staff writer for The New Yorker, and she set out to do something that sounds impossible: write a single-volume history of the United States, from…
Theo of Gloden by Allen Levi
This is another of those books that snuck up on me, not sure where I learned of it but it was available in our library and what a great find. It came out of nowhere and I didn’t even get it into my list of currently reading and it ended way too soon, and now…
