Posted on by rjonakait

Some Books I Do Remember

I look over the books I read in 2025. Many I can’t seem to recall at all. Others I vaguely remember. But a few have stuck with me.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey. Twenty-four hours orbiting the earth. I did not like this slim, Booker prize winner as much as some friends did, but the poetic meditations made it worthwhile.

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow. I was not familiar with this history of remarkable women who transformed department stores in mid-twentieth century New York City.

The Fish Can Sing by Halldór Laxness. Any writing by Iceland’s Nobel Prize Winner is worth reading.

V13: Chronicle of a Trial (Translated from the French by John Lambert) by Emmanuel Carrère. A great book about the trial of terrorists who slaughtered many in Paris on Friday November 13, 2015.

32 Yolks: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line by Eric Ripert. This memoir from the renowned chef is surprisingly good but also disappointing. It ends too soon. I wanted to learn more about his later life, but if he has written about that, I have not found it.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. This fictional biography of Bella de Costa Greene is not great literature, but Greene’s story—born Black, lived as a white, became J.P. Morgan’s librarian—is a great one.

Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing by Robert A. Caro. Learning how a great craftsman crafts is always fascinating.

Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America by Michael Luo. An important but often overlooked part of our history.

Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China’s Last Golden Age, by Stephen R. Platt. Picked by my history book group, I expected an academic slog, but Platt made this into a page turner.

My Friends, by Fredrik Backman. This, as is anything written by Backman, is worth reading.

The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman. A delight for all ages.

The Maid by Nita Prose. A mystery story with a different, often amusing, main character.

Sonny Boy by Al Pacino. I resist most memoirs and especially those of show biz celebrities, but I saw several comments about how good this book is. I pulled it off a library shelf and loved it.

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. I had seen the great movie Persepolis when it came out but only now read the graphic novels that inspired the film. They are also great.

The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century by Tim Weiner. I don’t remember many details even though I read the book recently, but Weiner gives us an important and depressing look at the country.

The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon. Taught me a lot about the commercial importance of the Great Lakes and the dangers of their waters as well as about the Edmund Fitzgerald. The book is another surprising page turner.

The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King. Learned many fascinating facts and insights about an important but now often overlooked person.

In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us by Steven Macedo & Frances Lee. A significant, critical examination of our responses to Covid. I am still coming to grips with this book and hope to write about it soon.

Posted on by rjonakait

First Sentences

“Here’s a book very unlike the others I have written—very much shorter, for one thing, as some readers may notice—but its intention is to share some experiences I’ve had while doing the others, and thoughts I’ve had about what I’ve been trying to do with those books.” Robert A. Caro, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing.

“I like to think I know what death is.” Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing.

“It was no place for a harbor.” James Tejani, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America.

“She never called her mother Mom or Mommy or even Mother.” Ruth Reichl, The Paris Novel.

“On March 18, 1990, the city of Boston—and the world—suffered a profound loss when two men dressed as police officers commandeered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and pulled off the greatest art theft in world history.” Stephen Kurkjian, Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist.

“Day 1,299 of My Captivity: Darkness suits me.” Shelby van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures.

“As the judge banged the gavel, William Dampier hung his head in disgrace.” Sam Kean, The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science.

“The Old North bell tolls the hour, and I realize that I’ll be late.” Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, The Personal Librarian.

“My family’s story is a particular one, but it is also a story that millions of families tell about their past.” David Leonhardt, Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream.

“The rainy streets of Dublin on a cold winter’s day were no place for a young boy to dawdle, unless that very same boy had his nose pressed up against the window of the most fascinating bookshop.” Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop.

“The room felt like the bottom of a grave.” Mike Dash, The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia.

“Although I don’t consider myself particularly vain (except perhaps for considering myself more often than I should), I was pleased to have conceived such an expert murder, especially since I had never previously considered committing one.” Rupert Holmes, Murder Your Employer: McMasters Guide to Homicide.

“We tend to think of measurement as something taken from the world: as knowledge extracted from nature by means of scales, gauges, and rulers.” James Vincent, Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants.

“When I was 12, I remember holding hands with this girl—I want to say ‘Patty,’ but I am guessing here—and something about the way she held hands was just . . . wrong.” Paul Reiser, Couplehood.

Posted on by rjonakait

First Sentences

“Here’s a book very unlike the others I have written—very much shorter, for one thing, as some readers may notice—but its intention is to share some experiences I’ve had while doing the others, and thoughts I’ve had about what I’ve been trying to do with those books.” Robert A. Caro, Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing.

“I like to think I know what death is.” Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing.

“It was no place for a harbor.” James Tejani, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America.

“She never called her mother Mom or Mommy or even Mother.” Ruth Reichl, The Paris Novel.

“On March 18, 1990, the city of Boston—and the world—suffered a profound loss when two men dressed as police officers commandeered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and pulled off the greatest art theft in world history.” Stephen Kurkjian, Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist.

“Day 1,299 of My Captivity: Darkness suits me.” Shelby van Pelt, Remarkably Bright Creatures.

“As the judge banged the gavel, William Dampier hung his head in disgrace.” Sam Kean, The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science.

“The Old North bell tolls the hour, and I realize that I’ll be late.” Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, The Personal Librarian.

“My family’s story is a particular one, but it is also a story that millions of families tell about their past.” David Leonhardt, Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream.

“The rainy streets of Dublin on a cold winter’s day were no place for a young boy to dawdle, unless that very same boy had his nose pressed up against the window of the most fascinating bookshop.” Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop.

“The room felt like the bottom of a grave.” Mike Dash, The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia.

“Although I don’t consider myself particularly vain (except perhaps for considering myself more often than I should), I was pleased to have conceived such an expert murder, especially since I had never previously considered committing one.” Rupert Holmes, Murder Your Employer: McMasters Guide to Homicide.

“We tend to think of measurement as something taken from the world: as knowledge extracted from nature by means of scales, gauges, and rulers.” James Vincent, Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants.

“When I was 12, I remember holding hands with this girl—I want to say ‘Patty,’ but I am guessing here—and something about the way she held hands was just . . . wrong.” Paul Reiser, Couplehood.