Good Reads & Views

Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy by Alex S. Jones
070 JON

Alex Jones, former Pulitzer Prize journalist for the New York Times and Director of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, contends that there is an "iron core" of fact-based and investigative news that is essential for the healthy functioning of a democracy and that we are in danger of losing it.  That core is defined in the initial chapter and does not include the latest celebrity gossip or crimes or sports or the opinions of columnists but rather carefully checked news about actions by government officials, politicians, and corporations that powerful people might like to suppress.  Unfortunately, that news is expensive to produce and tends to have a smaller audience while the soft news has a huge audience that brings in advertising dollars.   News organizations in all media looking at the bottom line during economic crises increasingly cut budgets for news rooms and dismiss their best and highest paid reporters. The result: "We could be heading for a well-informed class at the top and a broad populace awash in opinion, spin, and propaganda."  Hopes for the future are given in his last chapter on "Saving the News."

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters 
FIC Waters, Sarah

The narrator of this eerie story is Dr. Faraday, a country doctor who returns to treat a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked as a parlor maid. The Ayres family has owned the house for centuries but the once grand Georgian estate is in decline and the family members have fallen on hard times. Some dark power seems to shadow Hundreds Hall and its occupants. Is the house haunted? Or is it all just imagined? The book does a good job portraying village life and the social class struggle in postwar England. A spooky, satisfying read. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

The Brutal Telling by Louise Penney
FIC Penny

Murder seems to be drawn to Three Pines, Ontario. When a body turns up in the bistro which is the heart of the town, Sûreté du Québec Chief Inspector Armand Gamache again finds himself looking for a serpent in paradise. A delightful locale and charming locals are apparently not enough to eliminate the human passions, and any welcoming face may be a façade covering greed, envy, fear, or jealousy. The fifth of a series.  

Descartes’ Bones by Russell Shorto
194 SHO

The philosopher René Descartes’ life was surrounded by controversy, and that controversy didn’t stop just because he had the misfortune to die. Buried quickly in a frozen Swedish graveyard, his body did not rest in peace. Having retrieved it with great difficulty, his French followers buried it again with as much ceremony as possible in Paris. And in upheaval after upheaval over the centuries, his remains became literally bones of contention, as everyone tried to either claim the father of modern philosophy, or destroy the memory of this godless heretic (a charge which would have horrified him.)

At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends by Dwight D. Eisenhower
B Eisenhower, Dwight D.

President Eisenhower wrote this book in the years following his presidency, and it was published in 1967, just two years before his death. The book’s subtitle “Stories I Tell to Friends” is apt; he shares entertaining stories in a conversational style. Eisenhower relates anecdotes from his boyhood in Abilene, Kansas; his military training; World War II (including stories about Patton and Macarthur); and the years immediately following the war. The stories conclude with the events of 1951, with Eisenhower stating his reluctant willingness to be nominated as a presidential candidate. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems by Robert Frost
811.52 FRO

First published in 1969 and reissued in 2002, this contains all eleven volumes of Frost's poetry in chronological order of their publication.  A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914) were first issued in England and brought him to the attention of American critics and publishers.  His fourth volume, New Hampshire (1923), which contained poems such as "Fire and Ice" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1924.  Subsequent Pulitzer Prize winners were Collected Poems (1930), A Further Range (1936), and A Witness Tree (1942). 

 

Robert Frost, A Life by Jay Parini
B Frost, Robert

This is another superb biography of a major author by Jay Parini, a poet, novelist, critic, and Professor of English at Middlebury College.  In a balanced portrayal of Frost's life and illuminating discussion of his poetry, Parini provides a much needed corrective to previous biographies.  In his lifetime (1874-1963) Frost achieved both critical and popular renown and four Pulitzer Prizes through his celebration of rural New England life, despite anxiety and depression due to family tragedies involving mental illness, suicide, and the need to support his children financially throughout their adult lives.  He loved living on his various farms while writing, but grew up in San Francisco, lived in England when his first poetry collections were published, and taught at Amherst, Dartmouth, the University of Michigan, Harvard, and scores of other colleges and universities.  His classes and appearances in later years at campuses everywhere impressed faculty and students with his wit and ability to make his points about the nature of poetry with not only readings from his own but also his extemporaneous verbatim recall of  hundreds of verses by other poets from Shakespeare to Frost's  contemporaries.

A Perfect Red : Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield
667.26 GRE

A fascinating account of the history of cochineal, a “perfect red” dye that was one of the world’s most treasured commodities. Spain’s monopoly on cochineal was worth a fortune and other European countries tried to discover the secret behind the most desirable color on earth. This pursuit lasted more than three centuries and Greenfield tells its gripping story.

In the Shadow of the Law by Kermit Roosevelt
FIC Roosevelt, Kermit

In this debut novel, the author captures the culture of a high powered D.C. law firm, its partners, and especially a group of associates fresh out of elite law schools. The firm gets involved in two major cases, a pro bono death penalty appeal and a lawsuit against a chemical company after an explosion has killed a number of workers. The associates find themselves dealing with the conflict of what is right and what is best for the client as well as second guessing their dedication to the law and career choice. In spite of a rather trite plot, this is a compelling read. 

Karavans by Jennifer Roberson
FIC Roberson, Jennifer

For Audrun, Davyn, and their children, escape is their only hope. A brutal tribe of barbarians has swept across the country, decimating their conquered victims. But the world beyond Sancorra may be even more dangerous. Because the sentient wood Alisanos is on the move, devouring land and people as it goes. And the people who escape—aren’t really people any longer. A seer and two almost immortal guards protect the last caravan of the season from the dangers surrounding them. But even they may not be enough. The first in a series.