Three Cups of Tea : One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

Mortenson, lost and weak after a failed attempt to climb K2, stumbles into a village in northern Pakistan where the girls sit outside and, without a teacher, scratch multiplication tables in the dirt with a stick. He begins a one-man effort to build girls' schools in Pakistan. He's crazy and adventurous and big-hearted and doesn't seem to mind getting shot at. This is a magnificent book--highly recommended for individuals and book groups.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Absolutely magical! The integration of art with the story is a category-killer: this isn't an illustrated story--the pictures are used cinamatographically to convey the story. And there are a few surprises beyond that. Highly recommended.

Gang Leader for a Day : A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh

You never hear about gangs and drugs anymore. Did things get better or did the media get bored? I have no idea. Anyway, this book is a must-read: Venkatesh befriended a gang leader and spent years shadowing him. The extent to which the gang is run like any old business is amazing.

Where Does the Money Go? : Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis by Scott Bittle,

This is one of those books that if you think about it too much, you'd hide your money under the mattress and buy some ammo for fear of the coming crash (caused by the impossibility of the US meeting its Social Security and Medicare obligations). But because the book is so goofy and flippant in tone (and here I must admit that I bought it mostly because of the cover) that it is easy not to take it too seriously. In any case, this is fun and interesting reading.

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

This was a fun (and very light, very quick) read. There are all sorts of interesting insights into human behavior here. (Warning: one section is a bit graphic--they did research on decision making of aroused males.) Recommended.

The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman's Fight to Save the World's Most Beautiful Bird by Bruce Barcott

This was a very enjoyable read--I don't want to say too much because I don't want to give the game away, but there is a fascinating case study here. Recommended.

The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

I read this to the boys. They loved and so did I--this is one of the best written and best plotted YA books I have ever read. Highly recommended.

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles : Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee

I loved this book. Lee (and howabout that middle name?) covers everything from the Chinese immigrant experience to the link between the American Jewish community and Chinese food to the origin of General Tso's chicken. Highly recommended.

Barbara Bush : A Memoir by Barbara Bush

I hate W as much as the next guy, and I wasn't too sure what I'd think of his momma. Well, I adored this book. Bush did a great job conveying her personality and I ended up liking her. She also has some great stories to tell: playing footsie with Yeltsin, rats in the White House swimming pool, etc. Recommended.

Josephine : A Life of the Empress by Carolly Erickson

This was pretty good but not extraordinary.

The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Role of Women in Prehistory by J. M. Adovasio, Jake Page, Olga Soffer

This was boring--a mishmash of ideas I had encountered before.

One True Thing by Anna Quindlen

This was terrible. The characters totally didn't work.

Fork It Over: The Intrepid Adventures of a Professional Eater by Alan Richman

Eh--there are much better foodie books than this.

Bound on Earth by Angela Hallstrom

Angela Hallstrom’s debut novel, Bound on Earth, is worth reading.

I know as much about defining a good novel as Potter Stewart knew about defining pornography: I can’t do it but I know it when I see it. And I see it in Hallstrom’s book. The characters are real. The situations are real. The emotions are real. She has done a better job of creating “real” than most authors I have read (notice I didn’t say “most LDS authors”). She gets us into the minds of a five year old, a middle-aged man, a young zealot, and many more characters in only a few paragraphs. And she gets it right. The story of the Palmer family–normal middle-class Mormons–emerges through chapters told from the points of view of different players. They seem real, and I liked them. There are also many great observations here about Mormon culture–including the killer line that “till death do you part” is “what Mormon girls hear when they fail.”

Which is not to say that the book is perfect: the last scene reminds me of everything that I don’t like about LDS fiction as Hallstrom gives in to the saccharine send-off. Also, it reads as if it were a collection of pre-existing essays that she [barely] strung together. (I’m not sure whether this is in fact the case–but since various chapters won awards as independent works it may have been–I’m just noting that the chapters feel only loosely connected.)

But . . . but . . . compared to my other forays into LDS fiction (and I skim a lot of review copies that don’t end up getting reviewed because I’m queasy and weary after five pages), this is a gem.

Cross-posted from Times and Seasons.

The Joy of Work : Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers by Scott Adams

Fluff!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

For once I wasn't disappointed with the ending of a novel. This isn't the best book I've ever read, but it was enjoyable. And did I mention that I didn't hate the ending?

Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock

You just wouldn't think that a book about goat testicle transplants would be that good. You'd be wrong. This may be the most bizarre book I have ever read, but also one of the most interesting. Highly recommended.

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year-History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

I loved this book--it is one of the best-written "science for the layperson" titles that I have come across. I had feelings of awe and reverence as he described the imprint of evolution on human bodies and our commonalities with other animals. Highly recommended.

The Innocent Man : Murder and Injustice in a Small Town by John Grisham

eh.

The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America by Susan Faludi

This was a great read. (Except for the historical survey at the end, which seemed tacked on.) I admit that making fun of the media's "lifestyle reporting" (i.e., reporting of trends) is no harder than shooting fish in a barrel, but this was still a great book. Her focus on gender issues in media reporting about 9/11 was particularly interesting.