Bob's Favorites

This was an impossible task to pick only five books from the over 200 we have read. I finally went through each page of listed books and tried to gauge the one’s that had stayed in my memory over the years. For those that had remained in my head, the reasons were a mixture of the writer’s craft, the story told, the knowledge gained, my personal connection and how the book helped us become closer together over the years.

The books are listed by the order they were read and not their standing in my memory.

1. Tuesday with Morrie, (Bill Lockwood): This short book was about a young journalist and his dying mentor. Their conversations and reflections stimulated our new group to talk about mentors in our own lives. We got to know each other better as each of us drew on own personal history of mentors in our lives. The book set the tone for freewheeling discussions that often take us places well beyond the book itself.
2. The Night of the Avenging Blowfish, (John Staff): Cleverly funny story of a young OC guy and his travel to a tropical island where the native’s outhouse is a lovely beach where they enjoy communal conversations while dumping to begin each day. I still laugh when I remember parts of this book.
3. The Control of Nature, John McPhee (David Moritz): I had seen articles by John McPhee in the New Yorker and always liked his skill of exploring the world with wonderful attention to detail. Here McPhee checked out how folks in Iceland stopped a volcano flow before it could destroy their town. Then he went to New Orleans (before Katrina) to write how the Army Corp of Engineers tried to tame the mighty Mississippi. Then (to my surprise) McPhee came to our own San Gabriel Mountains. with the story about how we foolishly built homes in the path of runoff from the very steep slopes. Every time I hike past a debris !! basin, I think of John McPhee.
4.The Life of Pi, Martel Yann (me): Yann imagined an incredible tale about boy and tiger lost at sea, sharing a lifeboat. His writing was so compelling, I bought into the story. In the end the reader was given a choice to believe the tiger really existed or was a metaphor the boy had created. I chose that the tiger was real.
5. The End of Faith, Sam Harris (David Jones): I had left my Catholic upbringing in college, but was having trouble deciding what my relationship with a god should be. Harris convinced me it was OK to accept to being an atheist.
6. The World is Flat, Tom Friedman (Stan Pine): All of Friedman’s books are great for learning more about the realities of our world. We almost never get a true understanding from our political leaders. It was wonderful to have a very readable Tom Friedman to try to make sense of the globalization all around us.
7. The Limits of Power, Andrew Bracevich (me): When I read Bracevich, I feel he has just slapped me in the face to get my attention. If we could harness our claimed “exceptualism” to the economic realities and willingness to sacrifice, we would realize the use of military might is not the best answer to dealing with the world.
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson (David Jones). Larson created the toughest young woman ever. It was so good, there were 2 movies made. I liked the US version where Rooney Mara brought the slim wisp of a super girl to life.
9. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand. Hillenbrand told the extraordinary story of Louie Zamperini. Born and raised in nearby Torrance, where he was a juvenile delinquent who became a disciplined Olympic runner. But his life crashed along with the Air Force plane as he fought in the Pacific. His survival at sea only to be rescued by the Japanese to spent his days being tortured by a sadistic camp leader. He survived to return home with PTSD. The then unknown and untreated psychological condition, almost did him in but again he survived. Hillenbrand was lucky that he was still alive when she wrote the book.
10. The Boys in the Boat. Daniel Brown, (David Moritz). Brown introduced us to a group of Washington University students from poor to middle class homes who became heroes of the rowing world and won their event in the Olympics. Each of their stories told about their grit and determination. Unlike the rowers from the East Coast, they had to earn money while they studied and practiced to become the best. There was a wonderful English character, who made their boats from native cedar. While in Seattle visiting grandchildren, I went to wooden boat restoration place on Lake Union. One of his boats still hangs from their ceiling.
11. Quiet, Susan Cain (David Jones). Susan Cain, an introvert, wrote this explanation about those among us who are introverts and how they have been unappreciated. My granddaughter, Hailey, is a full fledged member of the introvert world. Until this book, Uli and I fretted about her lack of friends and aloof nature. She was always happiest at home reading a book rather than on the phone or engaging with others. The book showed me, that I too am somewhat of an introvert. Now we can embrace Hailey, who plays violin in the school string orchestra and gets all A’s. It turned out at our book club meeting that most of us confessed to being introverted.