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The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki — In Osaka in the years immediately before World War II, four aristocratic women try to preserve a way of life that is vanishing. As told by Junichiro Tanizaki, the story of the Makioka sisters forms what is arguably the greatest Japanese novel of the twentieth century, a poignant yet unsparing portrait of a family–and an entire society–sliding into the abyss of modernity.

Tsuruko, the eldest sister, clings obstinately to the prestige of her family name even as her husband prepares to move their household to Tokyo, where that name means nothing. Sachiko compromises valiantly to secure the future of her younger sisters. The unmarried Yukiko is a hostage to her family’s exacting standards, while the spirited Taeko rebels by flinging herself into scandalous romantic alliances. Filled with vignettes of upper-class Japanese life and capturing both the decorum and the heartache of its protagonist, The Makioka Sisters is a classic of international literature.

The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier and More Creative by Florence Williams — For centuries, poets and philosophers extolled the benefits of a walk in the woods: Beethoven drew inspiration from rocks and trees; Wordsworth composed while tromping over the heath; Nikola Tesla conceived the electric motor while visiting a park. Intrigued by our storied renewal in the natural world, Florence Williams sets out to uncover the science behind nature’s positive effects on the brain.

From forest trails in Korea, to islands in Finland, to groves of eucalyptus in California, Williams investigates the science at the confluence of environment, mood, health, and creativity. Delving into completely new research, she uncovers the powers of the natural world to improve health, promote reflection and innovation, and ultimately strengthen our relationships. As our modern lives shift dramatically indoors, these ideas—and the answers they yield—are more urgent than ever.

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2020
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Rating: 2.5/5) No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (Rating: 4.5/5) The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work from Home by Laura Vanderkam (Rating: 5+/5) Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies by June Casagrande (Rating: 5/5) Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Rating: 5/5) Joy at Work by Marie Kondo (Rating: 5/5) How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick by Letty Cottin Pogrebin (Rating: 5/5) World Without End by Ken Follett (Rating: 3.5/5) Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope into Action by David Fajgenbaum (Rating: 4.5/5) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Rating: 2/5) Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnet and Dave Evans (Rating: 4/5) Lovingkindess: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg (Rating: 5/5) The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Rating: 5/5)
2019
The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm (Rating: 5/5) The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath and Karen Kukil (Editor) (Rating: 4.5/5) Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work by Mason Currey (Rating: 3/5) Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller (Rating: 5+/5) Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell (Rating: 5+/5) Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy (Rating: 4.5/5) Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam (Rating: 5/5) Dare to Lead by Brené Brown (Rating: 4/5) How Does a Poem Mean? by John Ciardi (Rating: 5/5) The Overstory by Richard Powers (Rating: 4/5) The Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II by Robert Matzen and Luca Dotti (Rating: 3/5) Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty (Rating: 5/5) Educated by Tara Westover (Rating: 5+/5) Outer Order, Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin (Rating: 1/5) Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton (Rating: 5/5) The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal (Rating: 2.5/5) The Good Neighbors: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King by Fred Rogers (Rating: 4.5/5) Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (Rating: 5/5) The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout, Ph.D. (Rating: 4/5) Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer (Rating: 5/5) The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (Rating: 5/5) Becoming by Michelle Obama (Rating: 5/5) The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies by Jason Fagone (Rating: 5/5) The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict (Rating: 3/5) The Library Book by Susan Orlean (Rating: 4.5/5) The Real Story: Understanding the Big Picture of the Bible by Dr. Edward Sri and Curtis Martin (Rating: 2/5) The Royal Nanny by Karen Harper (Rating: 3.5/5) The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life by Ivanka Trump (Rating: 3/5) Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Rating: 5+/5) Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio (Rating: 4.5/5) Bell Canto by Ann Patchett (Rating: 4.5/5) Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success by Ivanka Trump (Rating: 3/5) Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (Rating: 5+/5) Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (Rating: 4/5)
2018
How to Be a Hepburn in a Kardashian World: The Art of Living with Style, Class and Grace by Jordan Christy (Rating: 2/5) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (Rating: 5/5) Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Rating: 4/5) Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Rating: 5/5) The Doctors Mayo by Helen Clapsattle (Rating: 2.5/5) Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (Rating: 4.5/5) Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Rating: 5/5) Why We Can’t Wait by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Rating: 5/5) Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (Rating: 4.5/5) Parson’s Pleasure by Roald Dahl (Rating: 4.5/5) Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Rating: 5/5) Small Bites: Forty Short Stories by Don Tassone (Rating: 4.5/5) The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane (Rating: 2/5) A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Rating: 5/5) The Inward Morning by Henry Bugbee (Rating: 3.5/5) The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (Rating: 3/5) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Rating: 5/5) If It’s Not Impossible… the Life of Sir Nicholas Winton by Barbara Winton (Rating: 4/5) The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Rating: 4.5/5) The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller (Rating: 3/5) Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series by Tyler Knott Gregson (Rating: 4.5/5) Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Rating: 4.5/5) The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel (Rating: 4/5) Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Rating: 4.5/5) Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (Rating: 5/5)
2017
Words Can Change Your Brain by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman (Rating: 3.5/5) Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics by Jackie Huba (Rating: 3/5) The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (Rating: 5/5) Drive by Don Tassone (Rating: 4.5/5) Write Like Hemingway by R. Andrew Wilson, PhD (Rating: 5/5) Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (Rating: 3/5) What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard N. Bolles (Rating: 3.5/5) Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy (Rating: 4.5/5) The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (Rating: 5/5) The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath, Edited by Karen Kukil (Rating: 3.5/5) Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Rating: 4/5) Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown (Rating: 4.5/5) All Our Worldly Goods by Irene Nemirovsky (Rating: 4.5/5) The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Rating: 5/5) Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Rating: 5/5) Suite Français by Irene Nemirovsky (Rating: 5/5)