Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon

The author interviews families where the child is very different from the parents. (The title comes from the saying, “the apple fell far from the tree.”)

Each chapter focuses on a category of difference - dwarfism, deafness, autism - or a characteristic or topic much, much larger (he interviews the mother of one of the Columbine shooters.)

The entire book is brilliant and moving - because Solomon approaches every interview and every sentence with the deepest empathy, patience, and insight. No purient curiosity. He treats everyone involved with maximum dignity, including the reader.

These are complex and interesting topics, and he explores all sides and the many challenges and conflicting feelings involved. But the two things that stood out for me all the way through were empathy and love.

I am certain this book has made / will make me a better parent and person. It’s very long (!!) but a must read!

(By the way, I listened to it on audio. Solomon reads it slowly, so I upped the speed to 1.5x/1.75x)

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women they destroyed

Very well done but depressing of course

The Wager/ previously noted by others.

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a small town Jon Krakauer . About a series of rapes by college athletes in a college town. Started very strong, then wound down a bit. Depressing and frustrating to read but important, just like the Kennedy book

The Lost Trees of Willow Ave. The book is a hyper-local look at how climate change is affecting our community and how the community is working to adapt. The book is well-written, informative, haunting, and at the same time hopeful.

Cobalt Red -- Expose of the cobalt/ rare earth mineral mining industry in Congo, which comprises 70% of the world's supply and has led to the utter immiseration of the country's population. Set against the backdrop of the country's long exploitation by colonialist powers.

I rarely say anything is a "must read," but given that we probably all are carrying around a piece of the industry in our cell phones and batteries... definitely relevant to all.

Anonymous wrote:Ghost Boy.

No words can sum this up in a sentence. There is a reason this was an international best seller.

For the sake of others, I will give this summary from Google — it’s the autobiography of a boy who had a medical condition that made him conscious but trapped and unable to communicate for much of his teen years and his path back from it, including building a career and falling in love.

I think as a mom of teens this would upset me too much. I get super affected by stuff like this and fall into a dark dark space so I need to watch what I can read. For some reason books affect my mental health much more than TV or movies.

Careless People not only explained so much about why we are where we are today but it was acidly funny.

All of the opioids books.

Anonymous wrote:Dark Renaissance. It is about Christopher Marlowe, written by Stephen Greenblatt, and I'm reading it right now and I can't put it down.

That sounds intriguing!

I just finished the Belle Burden book Strangers which has gotten alot of attention recently - it was a much better book than I expected. Sort of turning why a divorce into a mystery and was well written for a first time author.

Dark Renaissance. It is about Christopher Marlowe, written by Stephen Greenblatt, and I'm reading it right now and I can't put it down.

The Art Thief.
The Wager
Careless People
Dirtbag Billionaire

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raising Hare. I now want to go live in a cottage in englad, rescue a hare, take a very wild/hands off approach, have the hare successfully leave and survive in the wild, but have the hare visit me regularly and know generations of hares.

Fan of TNM?

TNM? Not sure what this means.

I love this thread but I do wish people could give a short summary of the book. I don’t want to have to google each name. You can’t really tell from most of the titles what the books are about.

I read ghosts of Spain which is a sort of travel book by th guardian correspondent in Spain. It’s really good although a little dated now. It talks about each region in Spain and some of the 20th century history and culture—the initial focus is on the endeavor to sort of interrogate the Franco period and what happened then, but it then goes way beyond that topic to talkkkg about tourism, linguistics, etc. A great east read especially for anyone traveling there.

I have a stack on my bookshelf to read including th fifth son which is about the Aztecs and the Spanish conquest. Also Replaceable You about human anatomy by Mary Roach because I’ve really liked her other books.

I’m also debating something between us which is an anthropologists take on the current political divide — if anyone has read that and has thoughts I’d love to hear them.

Admittedly it was the only nonfiction book I read last year, but Careless People was very interesting and good. While by the end I was ready for it to wrap up, it still was compelling for a reluctant reader of nonfiction. I also read about two thirds of Doppelgänger by Naomi Klein and feel like it was insightful into our current moment as well. My failure to finish speaks more to my tendency to wander off from book length nonfiction than to problems with the book. I prefer my nonfiction the length of a New Yorker article, in general.

Bone Valley

I had already listened to the podcast, and still thoroughly enjoyed all the book detail. Highly recommend the audiobook.