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Mind-expanding nonfiction from the mystery writer's bookshelf.
Renowned for her atmospheric mysteries set in Victorian England, Anne Perry weaves period detail with police procedural to create thrilling crime fiction. Her most recent novel, Acceptable Loss, finds London detective William Monk and his wife Hester investigating a dockside homicide that leads to a repulsive criminal underworld of juvenile sex slavery. When we asked Perry to pick three favorites, she replied, "I have chosen three very different books, but they are all excellent company and provoke both thought and flight of the imagination." Enjoy!
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
By Bill Bryson
"He wanders through the rooms of his own house, and in his research and imagination the rooms of all the world. He sees the characters of history, famous and unknown, in the intimate details of their daily lives. We share their courage, laughter, stoicism, and inventiveness. After reading this, no old house will ever be ordinary to you again; instead, it will be a link between you and the rest of humanity -- a fascinating and grateful link to all that we have now, and have been given by the past."
The Secret History of the World
By Mark Booth
"It is nothing to do with war or politics, it is the history of the human mind, the great concepts and ideas that have become universal. For example -- if originally we all had telepathic connections with each other, then the one who destroyed that and caused aloneness also gave us individuality and agency! Orpheus measured the stars, created numbers and the musical octave and notation. Christ taught us that there is a cosmos within our heads as vast as that in space; to care for all men, not only our kin; and possibly the greatest of all, the nature of empathy. This is just a taste of the wealth of the mind we have inherited."
By Doris S. Platt
"This is a first-hand account by a woman who travelled from America to the Republic of Georgia as a tourist, and who stayed as a humanitarian and an adviser to President Eduard Shevardnadze through the time of the Georgian Civil War and the fall of Communism. It was a pivotal point in history observed with wit and love for the people. It is filled with stories of unforgettable characters, their courage and resourcefulness, their long and rich history, and their triumphs of the spirit. The description of the land and its beauty will haunt you long after you close the pages."
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With dates announced for his upcoming Old Ideas concert tour, we celebrate the inimitable Leonard Cohen: bard, survivor, legend. His most recent album is a return to form for the balladeer, exploring signature themes of lust and longing, spirituality and struggle, all overlaid with a droll sense of humor as familiar as Cohen's prophetic voice.
When Jack Luxton hears that his estranged brother has been killed in combat, long-buried memories begin to well up like groundwater, and difficult choices Jack thought he reconciled himself to years ago turn out to be close at hand. Man Booker Prize-winner Graham Swift's novel plumbs timeless themes of regret, renewal, and the bonds of love.
The opening story in Matthew Battles's electric collection, "The Dogs in the Trees", documents the inexplicable appearance of arboreal canines. Further gorgeous fantastika follows, producing a volume sure to draw comparisons to Borges and George Saunders.
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