The Rosie Project
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion is a lighthearted, funny, and highly enjoyable love story for all the nerds out there. Professor Don Tillman is a geneticist with Asperger’s Syndrome who embarks on a project to find a “suitable mate” (the “Wife Project”). But instead, he gets sidetracked by a woman named Rosie and her …
Armageddon in Retrospect
And how should we behave during this Apocalypse? We should be unusually kind to one another, certainly. But we should also stop being so serious. Jokes help a lot. And get a dog, if you don’t already have one. Whenever strangers or acquaintances ask me who my favorite writer is, I always say Kurt Vonnegut. …
State of Wonder
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, The Magician’s Assistant) tells the story of a doctor, Mariana, who is sent to Brazil, at the behest of the pharmaceutical company she works for, to locate an elusive scientist who was once her teacher, a Dr. Annika Swenson. Dr. Swenson has, for many years, been given …
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini tells the story of two Afghan women whose lives are molded and refracted in the tumult of events in recent Afghan history — the Soviet invasion beginning in 1979, the Civil War, the reign of the Taliban, and the beginnings of the Karzai administration. It’s a powerful, moving, …
Good Omens
I recently found myself wanting some sort of inspiration (and faced with a lengthy plane flight). And there’s something about a really well told and solidly constructed book that just feels satisfying. It seemed like a good time, then, to re-read Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. Good Omens Film Adapation Update: Good Omens …