Drama, An Actor's Education - John Lithgow

A fun to read as watching Lithgow act.  The book is a fascinating tale of an actor's life.  The autobiography is told with humor, warmth and humility by the author.  If you like Lithgow or enjoy acting, the book is a good reading choice.  

Winning Digital Photo Contests - Jeff Wignall

This is actually a good book to learn about what makes a photo a winner.  I may try entering some online photo contests, but even for someone with no interest in contests, the book does a very nice job of displaying great photos and pointing out what made them work.  It is more educational than you might expect from the title. 

White Noise - Don DeLillo

Photojournalism - Reuel Golden

Subtitled, 150 Years of Outstanding Press Photography, this book offers a few paragraphs with a couple pages of photos from over 100 photojournalists.  It is well put together and offers some interesting insights into many well-known and iconic photos.  A leisurely read, especially enjoyable for photographers and news junkies.

The Forgotten Waltz - Anne Enright

Enright is an excellent writer in the tradition of great Irish storytellers.  Her original style and insights make this book worth reading, but not one of her best.  It lost some steam midway through.

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien

A novel told in a series of short stories.  It is a war, it is Vietnam, it is ugly, it is surreal, it is real.  O'Brien has written a book that will stop you in your tracks.  Devastating and tender, it is simply superb.

Learning to See Creatively - Bryan Peterson

A very basic book on photo composition that is flawed by the author's insistence of only using his own photos as examples.  It comes off as more of a promotion for the author than a real educational tool.  It would have been great to show examples of various photographer's different use of composition techniques.

West Wind - Mary Oliver

The Sound of Waves - Yukio Mishima

The Fall - Albert Camus

The Maid - Kimberly Cutter

The author claims that Joan of Arc was the greatest woman in history and after reading this book, I don't disagree.  Many have written about this amazing woman, but this novel brings to life the young girl who lead an army.  Cutter sticks to historical facts as she imagines Joan's life in this novel.  It quickly becomes a page-turner even though we all know the story.  The author has a wonderful style and the ability to involve the reader into what is perhaps the most real retelling of this tale.  It is blunt and gruesome in parts, but how could it not be describing that period in time.  An excellent book!

Paris Portraits - Harriet Lane Levy

This book is subtitled, Stories of Picasso, Matisse, Gertrude Stein and Their Circle.  It is a short book containing a variety reflections by Harriet Lane Levy.  For those who enjoy the changing art world in Paris as Picasso and Matisse come into their own, this book is a fun read.  The book is a collection of fragments written by Levy as she spent time in Paris with her friend Gertrude Stein as she developed her art collection and her famous salons.  I suppose it is not a coincidence that this book was released in the same year as the popular movie, Midnight in Paris, since it offers further insight into that romaticized period.  I enjoyed the book, although I did not find myself liking the author in her curious and somewhat detached relationships.  For those who can't get enough about this time in Paris, the book offers more small insights.

Let America Be America Again - Langston Hughes

This short book of poetry (21 pages) is a stirring collection of Hughes poems about America.  He notes the disconnection of the land of the free not being free for blacks, but remains optimistic that America can be what it dreams.  Langston Hughes is one of America's great poets and this short collection reflects his wonderful skills as a writer.

Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino

There are so many great books, but this one stands out among them for me.  Calvino has a spectacular mind and an ability to express himself in the most fascinating ways.  He seems to define creativity in this book.   This short book encompasses a vast array of thoughts about how we see and experience the world.  By focusing on different visions of a city, in this case, Venice, the author playfully examines the interaction of humans with cities.  Marco Polo sits in deep discussions with Kublai Khan...how can this book not intrigue the reader?  This book belongs on my desert island list.

Thousand Cranes - Yasunari Kawabata

One of Japan's greatest writers tells a complex tale in this classic book.  In a very simple and elegant style, deep emotions and complex human relationships are uncovered.  The Japanese tea ceremony is a focal point and provides a contrast between a deeply calm, reflective space and the many ways humans disturb that seemingly simple state.  Deceptively short in length, this book tells a deeply complex story with many surprises for the reader.

Just Kids - Patti Smith

This book surprised me.  I liked it much more than I expected to.  Patti Smith is a wonderful writer and tells us about a fascinating period in her life.  This autobiographical novel depicts the development of two artists, her and Robert Mapplethorpe, as they seek fame and expression in New York City in the 1970s.  It is a very touching story of friendship and mutual support for artist creativity.  The book also covers the craziness of two young people dedicated to their art while trying to make it in a harsh city.  Filled with many famous people, the book remains true to itself by remaining the tale of two kids holding to their visions. 

Crossing to Safety - Wallace Stegner

I don't know that I have ever read anything by Stegner that wasn't beautifully written and engaging.  This book is no exception.  A simple tale of the frienship of two couples over a period of time, Stegner as usual, is able to create a story that stimulates the reader with his great writing style and ability to create great characters.  I enjoyed this book from beginning to end and found myself smiling at passages expertly composed and drawing into the book.  Another fine example of what made Stegner one of America's great writers.

A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 - Adobe Press

This educational, "Classroom in a Book" published by Adobe to train people new to Lightroom 3 is excellent.  It includes a CD with photos to use in each of 10 lessons.  The exercises are easy to follow while providing a very thorough demonstration of all of the features of Lightroom 3.  For anyone serious about photography, Lightroom 3 is a must, and this book is a great way to learn the complexities and great tools of this software.

Cross Channel - Julian Barnes

A great collection of short stories on interactions between the British and French covering various times in history.  The stories are wildly unique, curious, and very personal.  The writing is superb and immensely entertaining and thought-provoking.

People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks

I might as well say, right from the jump: it wasn't my usual kind of job. I like to work alone, in my own clean, silent, well-lit labratory, where the climate is controlled and everything I need is right at hand. It's true I have developed a reputation as someone who can work effectively out of the lab, when I have to, when the museums don't want to pay the travel insurance on a piece, or when private collectors don't want anyone to know exactly what it is that they own.

The Lemon Table - Julian Barnes

The Lemon Table is a collection of short stories about aging.  Barnes is inventive with these stories and they are a pleasure to read.  Both amusing and thought-provoking, it is a great collection by a great writer.  These stories are so rich in the breadth of emotion and originality that they often feel like individual novels more than short stories.

Why Suicide? - Eric Marcus

This book is laid out in a question and answer format and covers a broad range of questions about suicide.  I found it very informative and is a book well worth reading, especially by anyone touched by suicide.  I was surprised how little I understood some aspects of suicide and some of the myths that I gave some creedence.

By Nightfall - Michael Cunnigham

Touched by Sucide - Michael Myers

How does one explain the inexplicable? Make sense of the senseless? Speak about the unspeakable? When someone you know and love dies by suicide, these and many more questions--an avalance of questions--take over your life.  Suicide is a death like no other. It is deliberate and chosen. Is it rational? Rarely. Desparate? Always. Ignited by internal pain, suffering and absense of hope? Almost always. And it always leaves behind a legacy of mystery and devastation. Suicide touches you and you are never the same.                                                                                                                              This is an excellent book for those touched by suicide.  In a very straight-forward style it presents a lots of information, dispels many myths, and provides comfort for those surviving.  I like the casual format with a lot of first person stories.

Horoscopes for the Dead - Billy Collins

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this one, but it didn't really work for me.  Sure, Billy is a good poet, and I have enjoyed some of his earlier books.  This one, however, seemed like he ran out of things to say and just got cuter and sillier while he discussed more meaningless little things.

Love and War in the Apennines - Eric Newby

We were captured off the east coast of Sicily on the morning of the twelth of August, 1942, about four miles out in the Bay of Catania. It was a beautiful morning. As the sun rose I could see Etna, a truncated cone with a plume of smoke over it like the quill of a pen stuck in a pewter inkpot, rising out of the haze to the north of where I was treading water.


A remarkable story of the author's capture and escape during WWII.  His adventures around Italy, evading both the Nazi's and the Italian fascists, is a tale of adventure and the humanity of the Italian people who assisted him.

Edible Stories - Mark Kurlansky

You know you are on the edge when you live in Seattle, with nothing more to the continent than Puget Sound. The sound looks like a white-gray sheet of aluminum, often stained slighthly darker by ripples of rain, as though the rain had gotten the water wet. ...If it were true, as was once believed, that you could fall off the edge of the world and be devoured by a giant turtle, Seattle would be a place where that might happen.

I loved this funny and inventive novel told in sixteen parts.  Each part is a stand-alone chapter based on a different edible item.  Original and well-written, it is hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this book.

Edward Weston - Manfred Heiting

Edward understood thoughts and concepts which dwell on simple mystical levels. His own work- direct and honest as it is -  leaped from a deep intuition and belief in forces beyond the real and the factual.

This is a great small compilation of Weston's work in the Taschen Icon series.  It is small in size, but the quality is excellent, especially considering the inexpensive price.  An article on Weston written by Ansel Adams provides insight into this great and ground-breaking photographer.

Lola Alvarez Bravo - Elizabeth Ferrer

Lola Alvarez Bravo is often over-shadowed by her more famous photographer husband, Luis.  This excellent book displays the span of her photographic work and shows her to be a worthy photographic.  The text is well written and provides an informative biography.  She lived in an exciting time for the arts in Mexico.  Her friendship with Frida Khalo is described in the text and many intriguing pictures of Frida are included in this book.  For any fan of photography, this is compelling body of work showing a unique vision and documenting a time of creative expression in Mexico.