<p>I loved Just Kids, by Patti Smith. Fascinating, touching memoir about her early years in NYC with Robert Mapplethorp. You don’t have to be a fan of her music to enjoy it.</p>
<p>kristin5792 - have you read Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools? Not exactly medically-related, but definitely along the humanitarian genre.</p>
<p>I am currently reading Mountains Beyond Mountains (I seem to have found myself enjoying stories by humanitarians this year) and was wondering if Gawande’s books are along those lines? I work in health care, which is why I guess I’ve felt drawn to Mortensen’s books (although they don’t directly address healthcare issues) as well as the Tracy Kidder book. Would love to find more books like these.</p>
<p>By the way, I would like to add, that until the earthquake in Haiti and all the accolades from CC posters about Paul Farmer’s work, I had never heard of Partners in Health, so I thank all those who shared their knowledge of him with me.</p>
<p>I received for Christmas, and very much enjoyed, Wild Blue: A Natural History of the World’s Largest Animal, by Don Bortolotti–a comprehensive discussion of blue whales, what we know about them, and how hard it is to find those things out. The book gives a lot of insight too on the whaling industry, the politics of environmentalism and animal conservation, and other fascinating topics.</p>
<p>hi missypie. I just finished “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen. it was just wonderful, pitch perfect. Do you like nonfiction? “A Voyage Long and Strange” “The Hemingses of Monticello” are two I’d highly recommend. I am going to try the new Stacey Schiff book, “Cleopatra.”</p>
<p>Freedom was TIME’s best fiction of the year.</p>
<p>I liked Memory Keeper’s daughter.</p>
<p>Little Princes - One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan. I read an advance reader’s edition and it will be published this month. As inspiring and incredible as Mortenson’s books.</p>
<p>My favorite fiction book this past year was Room, by Emma Donoghue. I was going to link to the New York Times review, but that would risk exposure to spoilers; I think this is a book best read without any foreknowledge of the plot. To give you one clue (you will know this from the first page) the narrator is a young boy. If I knew that going in I might actually have been turned off, but please believe me, this is an amazing book. For what it’s worth, it was on the New York Time’s list of the 10 Best Books of 2010 and made the 2010 Man Booker Prize shortlist.</p>
<p>My favorite nonfiction book was Half Baked: The Story of My Nerves, My Newborn, and How We Both Learned to Breathe, by Alexa Stevenson. This memoir, by an NPR contributor, was as much a page-turner for me as any novel. The author’s daughter Simone was born at 25 weeks’ gestation. I was interested in it partly because my younger S was born prematurely, although not at such a scary point; he was only ten weeks early. (He is now a healthy 18-year-old!) But I don’t think you need to have had a premature baby to enjoy this book. My older son, a 20-year-old college kid, read the book on his Kindle just because it was there (we share an account), and really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>Here’s 3 memorable ones off the top of my head:</p>
<p>I second the recommendation for “Room” — just finished it the other night and could hardly put it down.</p>
<p>Another second for “Zeitoun”, an unbelievable true story about Hurricane Katrina.</p>
<p>If you like ghost stories with a psychological bent, Sarah Waters’ “The Little Stranger” was wonderfully suspenseful.</p>
<p>Tacitus. The Annals, Histories, the whole party. </p>
<p>Excellent stuff.</p>
<p>Seconding several books already mentioned:
Room
Zeitoun
Steig Larson series
Half Broke Horses
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
*Unbroken<a href=“by%20Laura%20Hillenbrand%20who%20wrote%20%5Bi%5DSeabiscui%5B/i%5Dt;%20this%20one%20is%20about%20an%20Olympic%20athlete/Japanese%20prisoner%20of%20war%20during%20WWII%20-%20I%20could%20not%20put%20it%20down”>/i</a>
*The Hunger Games<a href=“YA%20book%20-%20listened%20to%20it%20on%20tape%20with%20DD%20and%20DH%20on%20a%20long%20drive;%20loved%20it%20so%20much%20I’ve%20read%20the%202nd%20in%20the%20series%20and%20have%20the%203rd%20on%20my%20Kindle”>/i</a></p>
<p>currently reading Freedom; Cutting for Stone is up next</p>
<p>For those who loved Cutting for Stone. Verghese’s two memoirs: My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story and The Tennis Partner are also wonderful.</p>
<p>Another vote here for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I read a lot and this was by far the best this year. Zetoun was also very good. I struggled with Cutting for Stone. Am on the library list for Room and waiting for it.</p>
<p>Loved Cutting for Stone.</p>
<p>I hated the name and just wouldn’t read Water for Elephants for the longest time, but I finally read it a month ago when I had nothing else at hand and I LOVED it. Highly recommend.</p>
<p>Not that Franzen needs any more endorsements, but his latest is quite good, as well.</p>
<p>I LOVED Cutting for Stone too - def the most memorable book I read in 2010.</p>
<p>At Home by Bill Bryson.<br>
Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy.</p>
<p>I notice that there are many votes for Cutting for Stone. You can add mine, too! For anyone who enjoyed the book, but might have missed the CC discussion thread, it’s here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/983235-cutting-stone-october-cc-book-club-selection.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/983235-cutting-stone-october-cc-book-club-selection.html</a></p>
<p>“Breaking Night, A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival…My Journey from Homeless to Harvard” By Liz Murray. This story is heartbreaking and inspiring…anyone who likes memoirs will love this one!</p>
<p>Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by Barbara Demick</p>
<p>The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (its in teen fiction, but don’t let that sway you). It should be a must-read for all school-kids - great book, well-written (once you get past the fact that “Death” has its own voice in this book) and so touching.</p>
<p>Also, if you like heart-wrenching stories…pretty much anything by Anita Shreve (earlier books better than recent ones).</p>
<p>If you like just really good books with a bit of humor and a lot of page turning suspense, Harlan Coben is your man. Tell No One was really good. Any of his are good reads…like early to mid works best (Myron Bolitar series of Coben’s is good). Also great authors are Lee Childs and Greg Isles. In funny romance genre, I enjoyed Bet Me by Jennifer Cruisie. If I have any of these books and their rightful authors mixed up, but I am going off memory (which isn’t always reliable these days). Enjoy your books!</p>