Who: Molly Giles, writer
Recommendation: ”A House for Mr. Biswas” by V.S. Naipaul
Why it’s a good read: Mr. Biswas is such a human mess! He longs for peace and privacy and a home of his own and his attempts to procure these are deeply touching and very human.
Synopsis: In his forty-six short years, Mr. Mohun Biswas has been fighting against destiny to achieve some semblance of independence, only to face a lifetime of calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning death of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr. Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. But when he marries into the domineering Tulsi family on whom he indignantly becomes dependent, Mr. Biswas embarks on an arduous—and endless—struggle to weaken their hold over him and purchase a house of his own.
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Who: Leslie Bacho, CEO, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley
Recommendation: “Roman Stories” by Jhumpa Lahiri
Why it’s a good read: Lahiri is one of my favorite story tellers. Although these short stories are all set in Rome, they convey the challenges of a changing city, the tensions among its many cultures and the social strata, and the perspective of immigrants and refugees in a way that is universal. While I read the English translation, I am in awe of her ability to begin writing in her adopted language of Italian relatively late in her career.
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Who: Lydia Sidhom, Bay City News intern
Recommendation: “We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction” by Joan Didion
Why it’s a good read: Many of Didion’s best works are tied up in a nice bow in this thick anthology, which I checked out from the Oakland Public Library. Read for everything from distinct takes on California in the sixties to Didion’s account of her lived journalistic experiences.
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Who: Dan Rosenheim, Business Development Director of Bay City News
Recommendation: “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks
Why it’s a good read: Powerful account of a rare Haggadeh’s journey through the centuries until its discovery in late 20th century Sarajevo, Slovenia.
Synopsis: In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding, she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation.
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Who: Rob Merker, Treasurer of Bay City News Foundation
Recommendation: “Trust” by Hernan Diaz
Why it’s a good read: On many lists of the best books of 2022. An insightful story told from 4 different perspectives.
Synopsis: Even through the roar and effervescence of the 1920s, everyone in New York has heard of Benjamin and Helen Rask. He is a legendary Wall Street tycoon; she is the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. Together, they have risen to the very top of a world of seemingly endless wealth—all as a decade of excess and speculation draws to an end. But at what cost have they acquired their immense fortune? This is the mystery at the center of Bonds, a successful 1937 novel that all of New York seems to have read. Yet there are other versions of this tale of privilege and deceit.
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Who: Georgia Rowe, freelance writer
Recommendation: “Playground” by Richard Powers
Why it’s a good read: “Playground” takes us into depths of the world’s oceans, even as it tells a story set in the early days of the tech revolution. Moving from Chicago to Makatea in French Polynesia, it centers on Todd and Rafi, two college friends whose divergent paths change themselves, each other, and the world. Powers is a master storyteller, and “Playground” may be his most engrossing novel to date.
Check if the book is available to borrow from your public library.