MOUNTAINS OF THE MIND by ROBERT MACFARLANE

What an absolutely wonderful book this is, an engaging mix of history, of the advent of climbing, of Mr. Macfarlane’s own climbing adventures, all coming together in a delightfully informative, exhilarating read. The author weaves his own climbing trips into his exploration of how mountaineering evolved from the mid-1700s to …

BANGKOK EIGHT by JOHN BURDETT

There is such a delight in discovering (admittedly well after everyone else) a fabulous new detective hero, and after reading “Bangkok Eight” I am a fan, a firm, verging-on-embarrassingly-enthusiastic fan of Sonchai Jitpleecheep. Sonchai Jitpleecheep is an unusual Bangkok cop. For one thing he is only half Thai. For another …

A ROUND-HEELED WOMAN by JANE JUSKA

Well, you live and you learn. Intrigued by the title, I found out that to describe a woman as “round-heeled” implies that she is, well, an easy lay. A whore. But absolutely not the delightful Jane Juska, who uses the expression with her witty tongue very firmly in her well-bred …

PEOPLE LIKE OURSELVES by PAMELA JOOSTE

“People like Ourselves” by the South African novelist Pamela Jooste is both engaging, but also ever so slightly disappointing at the end. Perhaps it’s because I lived in Johannesburg for several very happy years, in a gated community that is featured in the novel, that I felt an instant connection …

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

  The delightful, quirky novel “The Housekeeper and the Professor” manages to weave such seemingly disparate elements as memory loss, mathematics and baseball into a poignant, very touching story. The Professor, a brilliant mathematician, suffered a severe accident in 1975 and ever since, he lives with only 80 minutes of …