A list of books

This quiet, gray afternoon, a patron came in with quite a list of books; most were out, but she did find a handful to take with her; the others I put on hold. Quite an interesting selection:

Zeitoun, Dave Eggers (2009).

A ticket to the circus: a memoir. Norris Church Mailer (2010).

The house at Riverton, Kate Morton (2009).

Hannah's list, Debbie Macomber (2010).

Bombay time, Thrity Umrigar (2001).

Day after night, Anita Diamant (2009).

Welcome to Utopia: notes from a small town, Karen Valby (2010).

The cleanest race: how North Koreans see themselves and why it matters, B.R. Myers.

Somewhere inside: one sister's captivity in North Korea and the other's fight to bring her home, Laura Ling and Lisa Ling (2010).

A gem of a book

Since reading biographies of Margaret Bourke-White and Richard Wright, I have floundered some, reading a handful of good books – good, but not great: "The Know-it-all" was enjoyable, funny in spots; "The Awakening" was interesting, even fascinating. But after two books I'd rate as 9, enjoyable and interesting weren't enough. I needed another gem.

I found one. Yesterday, in the new book cart kept in the Information Desk area, I found a gem: 7x5 rather than the more common 9.5x7, it is actually even smaller than a DVD case. But it is a magnificent tale. I read 134 pages yesterday; yes, smaller pages, less words, but, it is a gem.