“A Best Friend Is Someone Who Gives Me a Book I’ve Never Read” – A. Lincoln
It’s been almost six months since I last asked for your Favorite Reads.
So it’s time to think about a mid-year posting of books MillersTime readers are particularly enjoying.
For this ‘mid-year’ call, you can submit up to three recent reads and your accompanying remarks about why you enjoyed those book(s).
As usual, give the title, author, identify the book as F or NF, and, most importantly, write a few sentences or a paragraph of what it was/is about this book that makes it into your category of particularly enjoyable or exceptional.
I’ve already chosen my three.
What are yours?
If you do not have anything to add at this point, you might want to check out: THE LIST – 2022 Favorite Reads from Dec. 31, 2022. There were many enticing reads submitted for that post.
Please Send Your Current Favorites by May 26, 2023
Send to : Samesty84@gmail.com
Land Wayland said:
MILLER’S BOOK REPORT—2023
LIFE BETWEEN THE TIDES: Adam Nicolson, 2021, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. I start this submission trumpeting this as one of the finest pieces of writing I have EVER read. Concise. Knowledgeable. Thoroughly Human. Intelligently spanning the scope of inquiry both scientific and philosophical from specific to everyday relevant. (Heraclitus is an (un)acknowledged co-author). A detailed journal of the years of work invested by the author as he created three tidal pools at Rubbha an t-Sasunnaich on the Scottish coast on the Sound of Mull and then carefully followed the waves of life that followed until stability was reached years later. Who knew the storied Greeks and their acolytes knew so much about the way life populates large shallow pools of sea water that is refreshed twice daily and otherwise left to its own dramas.
This is a book that I will reread once a year and it will always be fresh and inspiring. (It is so well written that I promptly ordered five other books he has written—he is like my favorite professor in college…it mattered not what course he said he was teaching; I enrolled to study with the teacher).
PROBABLE IMPOSSIBILITIES. Musings on Beginnings and Endings: Alan Lightman, 2022, Vintage Books, Random House. Professor at Harvard and MIT in Science and the Humanities, speculates at a very sophisticated level about the myriad of stories that connect the smallest in nature with the largest. Who knew such fascination awaits at either end of an extensive string of “0’s”. In each short essay, he explains his specific subject matter so well that his surprising revelations and digressions make sense. A worthwhile way of stretching the imagination. Writing 5, Credibility 5.0, Worth the time 4.8 (some will not expect to be required to think too deep or hard).
GOD’S SECRETARIES: The Making of the King James Bible, Adam Nicolson, 2003, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY. The story of how the King James version of the Bible came to writ-ten with the full cooperation and deep scholarly input of both Catho-lics and Protestants despite their recent 200 years of bitter and bloody wrangling over every possible religious issue. Details how the newly crowned King James created the framework and the instructions for this to be done, chose the 51 senior scholars to do the work, and guided the six “teams” that met for more than 5 years to produce one of the most important pieces of writing in Western civilization. Crystal clear, adult writing (with a sprinkling of rarely used words (threnody, irenicon, encomium) properly used to keep the audience engaged). Each of the author’s sentences is a testament to the ability of a brilliant writer to make anything interesting, even the writing of an 800,000 word, 1200 page book that has been and will continue to be read cover-to-cover by less the 1% of its 1,000,000,000+ buyers.
Larry Longenecker said:
R,
I’m not as well read as you and your friends and family, mainly reading mysteries by John Grisham. However, I just downloaded a recommendation from Land Wayland titled “An Immense World.” Why this one out of all the choices? I was intrigued by his mention of “I didn’t know that.” and “So that’s how/why they do that.” I’ll let you know what I think of the book.
In the mean time, having read “LETTERS HOME”, I think you might enjoy Grisham”s “Sooley.”
Stay well,
L
Elizabeth Fleming Frost said:
“1421” was a book I picked up from the neighborhood free library box. I like history but was unable to put this book down. What a treasure trove of new information about the history of map making, the navigation principles, and the importance of libraries.
Ed Scholl said:
Crazy ’08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, by Cait Murphy (NF)
Baseball fans will especially enjoy this book about baseball in the “Deadball Era”, which was a lot more exciting than it sounds. It has more than baseball trivia…the author gives great contextual accounts of daily life in the cities where the big pennant races were taking place that year: New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit. And there are also fascinating accounts of the greedy owners, corrupt officials, and gambling magnates that controlled the game. You come away with pity for the poor players of that era.