Listed below are the books discussed on the Faith Middleton NPR Radio Show November 20, 2009


Roxanne’s Picks and Comments
Zeitoun
By Dave Eggers
This book is about a family who has lived in New Orleans for thirty years. They are of Islamic origins. The father is a painter. When Hurricane Katrina struck, the wife and kids left but the father stayed. This is his story about the damage and awful things done to a handful of people. The combination of physically being in the “Third world” and maybe criminally being in the “Third world” is how Eggers chooses to define this story. It is engaging from beginning to end.
Tyranny of Email
By John Freeman
The author does a couple of things in the book. First he establishes the negative impact of email by using the example that by depriving ourselves of facial expressions when we communicate we are missing out on the human component. “Nothing, especially LOL can quite convey the sound of a friend’s laughter.” Then he’s quite practical about how to use email politely. This is a good resource for our tech times.
Wasted Vigil
By Nadeem Aslam
I hesitate to talk about this book because it’s filled with despair. Set in Afghanistan, this novel is about the “boots on the ground” in this country from the Soviet invasion until two minutes ago. Beautifully written and a reminder of the occupation of war and corrupt governments and what lives are like in a country that is not free and democratic.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First Twenty-Five Years
The definitive chronicle of rock and roll told by its legends. It takes each year and describes who was inducted, what their early influences were and who performed in their honor. It’s a reminder of how rock & roll was considered corrupting and corrosive. How rap is considered now. Now we look at rock & roll and we think, nothing wrong with this!

Rose’s Picks and Comments
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin
By David Quammen
This book is relevant as we celebrate Darwin’s 100 birthday. There have been 14,129 books on Darwin and this joins that company. This is a rather brief, but highly readable biography. We get to know Mr. Darwin in a very personal way as this book highlights his various ailments related to the worry he experienced about the response to his work. Currently, 87% of Americans reject Darwin’s theory of evolution so his worry seems to have been justified.
Oxygen
By Carol Cassella
This is a medical mystery about a pediatric anesthesiologist who has a child die on her operating table. Not only does it trouble her ethically and morally, but she has a malpractice suit to contend with and she can’t understand how the child’s death occurred. This is a complex novel filled with guilt and love and a twin plot of her father dying. The author gets the medical part right and produces a real page turner.
The Secret Scripture
By Sebastion Barry
He is one of the most magnificent writers I have every encountered. His sentences are breathtaking. I have not finished it yet because it takes me so long to absorb each word, sentence, paragraph.
Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences
By Kitty Burns Florey
This is a fabulous book, affectionate and honest. It’s a memoir of sorts with all the sentences diagrammed! This may be a lost art but this charming book makes deconstruction of language fun.
Appetizers
By Cindy Pawlcyn
This Napa Valley restaurateur provides the best recipes and tips for great appetizers. Perfect time of year to use this book as a resource.

Faith’s Picks and Comments
True Compass
By Edward Kennedy
For the size and scope of this book, it is actually very intimate. Kennedy was the ultimate witness to history as he served in the senate through ten presidents. It’s clear that he wanted to be president but it’s also clear that he did far more in all his time in the senate than most presidents. We get to meet his family, his mentors and the old Boston “guard”. A great memoir. Roxanne would add that this is a great book for teenagers and young adults. It provides a clear sense of qualities like perseverance, loyalty and commitment to public service.
Distracted
By Maggie Jackson
This Boston Globe columnist makes some great points in this book.. She thinks technology is great but using it to multi-task and never putting it down is altering relationships. We are failing each other because we are not hearing each other any more.
Cancer Vixen
By Marisa Acocella Marchetto
This memoir is now out in paperback and I recommend it because it’s a comic book, although that’s an odd description. It’s the story of how the author was diagnosed with breast cancer three weeks before her wedding. It describes her treatment and how it affected every aspect of her life. She manages to pack so much into each graphic/”cartoon” panel.
The Interrogative Mood
By Padgett Powell
This will be taught in writing classes! It’s nothing but questions from beginning to end of the book. Cover to cover, it’s one of the genius performance pieces on paper. It’s a meditation so captivating because as you read along, you realize this is how our minds work. These questions have a direction and life of their own
Every Little Thing: Reflections on Family, Faith and Friendship
By Tracey O’ Shaunnessy
She is a columnist for the Waterbury Republican and has collected her essays from the paper into this book. She’s very good, one of our finest essayists. Her words are born of deep reflection and run the gamut of poignancy to hilarity often in the same piece of writing.