Summer is almost here, which means it's time to pick out a good book to read at the beach or cabin. For those who haven't already made up their minds what to read, here are my recommendations, based on my own reading since last winter. (My 2008 recommendations are still good for 2009, too.)
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Because summer reads are supposed to let you escape the newspaper headlines, my top recommendation is a novel that's unlike anything you've read before. Part coming-of-age memoir, part murder mystery, the novel is narrated by Blue van Meer, a very smart and highly educated girl who, in her final year of high school, witnesses a drowning, a suicide (or was it murder?) and enough mysteries (conspiracies?) to turn her life upside down as she becomes amateur detective to understand it all. But the story, the plot, is not the main attraction to this book. It's Pessl's mastery of language. Every page is filled with footnotes of literary, historical, and scientific references. The use of metaphor and simile is abundant and when Pessl gets it right, which is often, the effect is wondrous.
- House of Cards by William D. Cohan
This account of the sudden collapse of Bear Stearns, one of the oldest financial institutions on Wall Street, might sound too dry for summer reading. But those days in March, 2008, when it all came tumbling down, make for fascinating reading because of the unparalleled access the author had to the principals at Bear Stearns, who sugar coat nothing. They tell their side of the story while the wounds are still raw, still hurting. Day by day, hour by hour, as escape paths are cut off one by one, you feel what they feel as Bear Stearns goes down. Equal parts drama, gossip and financial analysis, this book is a page-turner, even on the beach.
- The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
If the financial crisis seems like an unsuitable subject for a summer read, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq must seem even more so. But what makes The Forever War a candidate for taking to the beach is the human side of the war revealed in its pages. Filkins, a New York Times reporter who has travelled extensively in the Middle East, doesn't tell us about the politics and strategy of the war. He paints, in multiple vignettes, stories about the people, the soldiers and civilians, the Americans and Iraqis, whose lives are impacted. The result is a literary work, not a news account. Serious reading, but never dull.
- The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
If your summer lasts long enough to finish the other books, you might consider the last book in my recommended list. It's something to get you ready for reading the financial pages again next September. It's The Ascent of Money, a companion book to a PBS television series of the same name. The book traces the history of money, credit, bonds, stocks, and insurance. It describes the notion of risk and how the world of finance evolved to deal with it. It explains how globalization isn't a new phenomenon, using examples from the Roman Empire to the European colonization of much of the world. But, in truth, you probably won't miss much by skipping the book and watching the television series instead. It's available for free, instant viewing on the PBS Web site.
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