It should come as a surprise to precisely no one that OLLI members love to read (and read and read and read.) Here are just some of the books they couldn't put down in 2023. Enjoy!
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
“Great writing, great storytelling, great characterizations, very funny scenes and very sad scenes. Irving weaves the social and political headlines of the day into the story in a natural way. He creates the most interesting characters and puts them in unusual situations and then sees what they will do with themselves and each other.” – Ronnie Hersler
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me, by Patrick Bringley
“Amazing part memoir and part incredible tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. First we see it through Patrick Bringley’s eyes as a working guard, then, through our own, as we embark on a personalized tour of the Met via the Internet.” — Karen Gabrielson
Democratic Justice, by Brad Synder
“A thorough and well written story of a complex, fascinating, and influential individual: Felix Frankfurter.” — Jeff Wagner
Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope
“It might be the best Trollope novel ever — a title character you grow to love, a deeply affecting story, lots of humor along the way. I wanted it to go on forever.” — Susan Taylor
Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, by Ben McKenzie
“Helped me understand how crypto is supposed to work, and why it is so risky.” — Lisa Boner
Enough, by Cassidy Hutchinson
“Honest, political memoir.” — Richard Weinstein
Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
“A fascinating exploration of the relationships among Jews and Blacks in a small town in Pennsylvania in the 1930s, along with a searing description of the notorious Pennhurst State Hospital, embedded in an ever-moving narrative.” — Martha Swartz
Honor, by Thrity Umrigar
“Realities of oppression of women” — Cynthia Harbaugh
Horse: A Novel, by Geraldine Brooks
“Historical fiction about horse breeding in the south before the Civil War. Flips between 1800 to present day. Excellent” — Nancy Gilbert
If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First, by Wendy Dean, MD, and Simon Talbot, MD
“Have you noticed that time with your medical professional has been reduced to 15–20 minutes? This book documents the moral crisis many health care professionals face in staying true to their oaths.” — Carole Cosimano
Independence: A Novel, by Chitra Divakaruni
“I was absorbed by this book as soon as I started reading it. She described so vividly the terror of those times in India.” — Stella J. Livingston
Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout
“Beautifully written with engaging characters that reappear from previous wonderful novels. A pleasure to read and reread.” — Susan Adler
“Timely and gracious and character driven.” — Barb Kloehn
No Ordinary Assignment, by Jane Ferguson
“Deeply revealing memoir.” — Wallace Jones
North Woods: A Novel, by Daniel Mason
“The story of a 400-year-old house in the North Woods (MA) told through letters, poems, diary entries, along with a wonderful narrative voice. Captivating and exhilarating. Couldn’t put it down.” — Chris Greene
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, by Henry Grabar
“Joni Mitchell fans will recognize the title taken from one of her songs! An amusing dissertation on our use of land for parking cars ranging from dingbat apartment design in LA, to Spot Hero’s first roll-out at Wrigley Field in Chicago, to money laundering and other parking schemes in New Jersey.” — Randy Wu
Psalms (in the Bible), by David (mostly)
“I have a Bible sprinkled with also very good devotionals. Especially reading the Psalms has helped me a lot in the past, and in 2023 even more so.” — Ann Lofgren Glaser
Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora
“The memoir tells of a young boy’s story of his immigration from El Salvador to the US in 1999. His frightening tale (from a child’s perspective) leaves you thinking about him after the book ends. Mr. Zamora is a Cal graduate.” — Annette Mora
Stay True: A Memoir, by Hua Hsu
“Stay True is the beautifully written story of Hua Hsu’s coming of age at UC Berkeley. His identity was indelibly affected by the brutal murder of a fellow student with whom he had improbably formed a close friendship. The book expresses the resonance of grief in how Hsu came to make sense of the human comedies and contradictions of the world. It wonderfully details the zeitgeist of a generation passionate about mixtapes, zines, Doc Martens, and Jacques Derrida. For Stay True, Hsu received the inaugural 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Memoir.” — Linda Wing
Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home, by Richard Bell
“This book covered important historical subject matter — the abduction of free children who were forced into slavery. Richard Bell's writing was based on facts, but there also was strong feeling behind the historical facts. And it was very interesting to get an idea of the research process behind the narrative of the book. Professor Bell chose a non-academic publisher so this story could reach a wide audience. I was very glad that the OLLI Book Group facilitated by Linda Perkins chose this book.” — Selma Meyerowitz
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, by James McBride
“Breathtakingly honest. Perhaps as profound and personal a memoir as I have ever read.” — Deborah Tatto
The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghase
“The family saga, and the insights on India” — Sudan Neuhaud
The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut
“Beautiful writing and important themes. A classic I had not read until now. Highly recommend it.” — Debby Segal
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, by David Grann
“Historical fiction of mutiny on the seas” — Michael Ann Leaver
There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA and Two Minutes that Changed History, by Rory Carroll
“A riveting true crime story of the IRA’s attempt to assassinate Margaret Thatcher by bombing the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party Conference in October 1984.” — Bob Brewer
This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger
“Compelling and heartwarming story” — Christine Carr
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin
“The main characters in Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow are video game creators, a subject I couldn't care less about. The subject is human connection, how we make it, maintain it, abuse it, and finally thrive in it. It is a beautifully written almost love story.” — Sara Orem
Trust, by Hernan Diaz
“The totally unique format ( 3 separate “books” within the novel, with the last one pulling it all together) enhances the storyline and provides perspective. Lesson: Things & people are not always what they seem; make sure you know the whole story before passing judgment” — Cheryl Brewster
Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions, by Temple Grandin
“I didn't realize there are different kinds of thinkers in the human world: Visual and Verbal thinkers. Grandin describes both kinds and indicates the importance of recognizing the difference for the U.S. education system.” — Alvin Clark