I recently read Julia Child's memoir My Life in France. But it was a fascinating look at post-WWII France. I love a good travelogue, especially one with a lot of food (though I confess I didn't understand any of the French dishes she was preparing). It was also a portrait of a driven and determined woman. As was recently pointed out to me, Julia Child didn't even learn to cook until she was 37. She worked and worked and worked to create her first major work Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I'd never thought how much work went into Read more…

Over the weekend I finished the biography of John Quincy Adams by Paul Nagel. His presidency, which only lasted one term, was one chapter of the entire (long) book. And it could be summed up with once sentence: "He didn't do much, and not much happened." Adams had strong enemies in Congress and anything he tried to do, they weren't interested in. So pretty much nothing happened. But the life before and after the Presidency! At 12, he risked capture during the Revolutionary War accompanying his dad to France. He went to St. Petersburg as a secretary to a diplomat Read more…

Two books for you to consider: The first, and best, is In the Woods, by Tana French. Set in Ireland, it's an engrossing detective story with a good narrator and lots of interesting sub-plots. There's a sequel to it, The Likeness, which I haven't read, but very much intend to. The next book is a true crime novel, The Monster of Florence, about a serial killer in Florence during the 70s and 80s. It's interesting and scary at the beginning. It is less good as it begins to focus on the absurd police response. That part is definitely interesting, but Read more…