Authors I've learned to love lately

I've always loved Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers), and Thomas Friedman (Lexus and the Olive Tree, The World is Flat; Hot, Flat, and Crowded). But a new favorite is Barbara Kingsolver, writer of The Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, and the Poisonwood Bible, among many others, and Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Love, Pray and a book of short stories called Pilgrims.

Two very compelling authors who I have come to admire are Samantha Power, who wrote "A Problem from Hell, America's Handling of Genocide" which makes a strong connection between the actions of the public and the intervention of politicians in stop genocide. It is important, even necessary to pay attention to issues like Darfur, and to write to our representatives about them. John Perkins wrote "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," which made me realize just how much damage corporatocracy wreaks on the world, and that we have to stop it. We can only do that if we know it is happening. He provides an anatomy of the economic disruption of our corporations. He knew what he was doing when he helped one of them, and eventually he couldn't live with it, and had to write about it.

If anyone would like to borrow any of these books I'd be happy to lend them out.

Books I've read lately -1

I realize I've started reading two or three books a week, usually simultaneously, and most of them are worth sharing with friends and family. A few weeks ago I read, over the course of several days, 5 Jane Austen novels. She has a talent for inconspicuously introducing whole families and villages in a way that keeps everyone clear in your mind. Her characters are visually spare but the relationships they have are completely filled out and understandable.

In contrast I had to read, for my book club, a new author, Annie Vanderbilt, who wrote The Secret Papers of Madame Olivetti... The imagery got in the way of the characters, the plot, the relationships.

Most recently I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, which I recommend to everyone, but especially parents, on the real ingredients for a successful life.

I just finished reading Wesley the Owl by a biologist who fell in love with a rescue owl and what it taught her about animal intelligence.

Now I'm reading Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman.

Because I belong to a book club that specializes in mostly fiction, but my preferred reading is mostly nonfiction, my interests run the gamut. So I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on different books and let my family and friends chime in with their recommendations.

I'm about to read Social Intelligence, the New Science of Success by Karl Albrecht (referenced in Outliers), and the Given Day by Dennis Lehane, a novel recommended by my Mom. As I feel the need to share and comment on these and other books, I'll post here, and everyone is welcome to post about what they have read that they find interesting and worth recommending or worth warning people away from.