The Longest Road: Overland in Search of America, from Key West to the Arctic Ocean, by Philip Caputo. Delightful tale of the 70 year old Pulitzer Prize winner’s cross country drive from Key West to northern Alaska. Whereas I would make the trip and report of the places and sights, Caputo writes of the people he befriends along the way. Cuputo dips and mixes water in the same container from the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, Pacific, and Arctic Ocean. The book is laced with traces of the author’s liberal mindset: global warming, etc.
Fall of Giants: Book One of The Century Trilogy, by Ken Follett. The Russian Revolution. Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. War in Europe pitting friend against friend. Antiquated battle strategies costing countless lives. Mining accidents. Lower classes crossing paths with upper classes. Young couples having babies, that will grow up to be featured into Follett’s next book in the series.
A Fine Romance: a Memoir, by Candice Bergen. Candice focuses on the story of her relationships and adventures with husbands and beloved daughter Chloe. She also goes into detail about her Murphy Brown years, and other gigs like Boston Legal and her first Broadway play. Her first husband, French director Louis Malle, passed away. Several years later she was again swept away by doting New York City businessman / philanthropist Marshall Rose. Actor Candice and by-the-book businessman Marshall are birds of two different feathers, but they learn to love each other. She willingly confesses her own imperfections while praising family and co-stars. Bergen dutifully celebrates Christmas and Easter with Santa and the Easter Bunny. She marries a non-practicing Jew. After a childhood full of the bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs of friends and classmates, daughter Chloe converts to Judaism, helps officiate her mother’s wedding to Marshall, and becomes an editor at Vogue. But Candice writes that personally, she “doesn’t buy into the whole church thing.”
The Glory of their Times: the Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It, by Lawrence S Ritter. A sound recording of interviews with ballplayers from the first two decades of the 20th century, including luminaries Lefty O’Doul, Sam Crawford, Hank Greenberg, Chief Meyers, Paul Waner, Goose Goslin, and Smokin’ Joe Wood. Players recount playing against Ruth, Cobb, Hornsby, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, etc.
Johnny Carson, by Henry Bushkin. Behind the scenes tales told by Carson’s longtime lawyer, aka the Bombastic Bushkin. We even learn where that nickname came from – late night card games with Pat McCormick. Many were flabbergasted when Bushkin published this not so pretty picture of the late night king’s personal life and relationships. An amazing tale of privilege, extravagance, and even debauchery that led to not only Carson’s divorces, but Bushkin’s as well. Educational but sad.
Killing Jesus: A History, by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. The Fox News host claims belief in Jesus as the Son of God but remains neutral on the centerpiece of Christianity: God raising him from the dead. The book does fill in many details about the time period, and colors in the lives of those around Jesus.
The Natural: The Misunderstood Presidency of Bill Clinton, by Joe Klein.
Takedown: A Thriller (Scot Harvath #5), by Brad Thor.
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