1. Deaf Sentence by David Lodge: Novel.
The hard-of-hearing professor ends up with more that he bargained for when he agrees pleasantly to a suggestion without knowing what was really said.
2. Hope And Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami: Novel.
Trying to leave for Spain from Morocco makes America’s illegals problem look like a game.
3. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann: Non-fiction.
How many dozens of people have been lost in the jungles near the Orinoco trying to find the legendary civilization – or is it just a legend?
4. The Search Committee by Marc Angel: Novel.
Here is tradition versus change in a Yeshiva where all the human emotions are on display and ramped up in the anguish of deeply held beliefs on trial.
5. The Southwest Corner by John C. Holm and Mildred Walker: Novel
A deep and quiet story of an aged woman learning where and how she can grow and change until the last moment she lives, losing and finding what her true center is.
6. Betrayal: The Life and Lies of Bernie Madoff by Andrew Kirtzman: Non-fiction.
This well-written book lets us really know what the Bernie Madoff scam was really about and how he worked it in simple language.
7. The Grace That Keeps The World by Tom Bailey: Novel
How did the expert hunter kill his beloved son?
8. The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank by Ellen Feldman: Novel.
What does it feel like to have your life turned into a commercial product without your consent? The survivor’s agony is only the beginning.
9. When A Crocodile Eats The Sun by Peter Godwin: Memoir.
Modern Zimbabwe and the courage and loss of both black and white people who call it home.
10. German Boy: A Child of War by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel: Memoir.
Germany after its defeat in WW2, and a world we haven’t understood or seen before.