"Tiger, Tiger" by By Margaux Fragoso
It's testimony to Fragoso's narrative abilities that she can render both her own and Curran's points of view convincingly, as different -- opposed -- as they are. Written without self-pity, rancor or even judgment, "Tiger, Tiger" forces readers to experience Curran simultaneously as the object of a little girl's love and fascination and as a calculating sex offender who cultivates her dependence on him while contriving to separate her from anyone who might prevent his molesting her.
"MOBY-DUCK: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them" by Donovan Hohn
"Moby-Duck" succeeds as harebrained adventure, as a cautionary environmental tale, as a deconstruction of consumer demand, and as a meditation on wilderness and imagination. Hohn moves easily between the micro and the macro, weaving personal histories into science and industry as he roams.
"Life" by Keith Richards
As an avid reader of music biographies, many of them suffer from being ghost written and too factual. This is definitely an exception. Keith's personality and attitude comes across in the book really really well, and we are given a wonderful insight into one of the most interesting characters of the 20th Century.
"The Social Animal" by David Brooks
The Social Animal is worth reading and debating, but it doesn't give a lot of pleasure. Brooks tries to embody the story of the "revolution in consciousness" in two characters, but they are rarely believable as such.
"Three Stages of Amazement" by Carol Edgarian
Edgarian dips gracefully into different points of view, enlarging the scope of the story, which becomes about a community of interconnected people as much as it's about the individuals who make it up. We get insight into the minds of Lena and her husband, their toddler son and the Central American nanny, who takes a pay cut to keep her job.
"Conversations With Scorsese" by Richard Schickel
The length and breadth of that work is the starting point for longtime film critic, author and documentarian Richard Schickel in "Conversations With Scorsese," his intriguing, sometimes maddening but ultimately satisfying new book. Though billed as a conversation, it often reads more like a lecture series as the men discuss each of Scorsese's feature films, a smattering of his documentaries, his views on editing, music, color, storyboarding and everything else in the filmmaking process.