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 …

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 …