Recommended
New 
Books

May 2005

Knitting
by Anne Bartlett

Sandra, a textile historian, has been widowed for ten months when she meets Martha, a gifted artist and knitter. A close friendship soon develops between the two women and Sandra decides to create a project to showcase Martha’s knitting skills that will also occupy her own grieving mind. An enthralling story about the healing power of friendship. 

The Harmony Silk Factory
by Tesh Aw

Aw gives readers three unique perspectives on the character and life of Johnny Lim, a controversial figure in 1940’s Malaysia. To his son, Johnny is a traitor and a murderer; to his wife, he is an ordinary man; and to his best and only friend, he is a loyal confidant. Aw’s novel explores how little we really know about each other, even those to whom we are closest.           

Little Fugue
by  Robert Anderson

An imaginative take on the aftermath of Sylvia Plath’s suicide. At the center of the novel are three people: Sylvia’s husband Ted Hughes, Assia Gutmann Wevill, Plath's rival and Hughes's mistress; and Robert Anderson, a young New York writer who is obsessed with Plath's poems and her suicide. Anderson imagines how their lives intersect through some of the more dramatic upheavals of the past decades, including the 1968 student riots, the AIDS crisis of the1980’s, and the 9/11 disaster.

A revealing account of the high-stakes diplomacy that ensued after India tested three nuclear weapons on May 11, 1998. Talbott, Deputy Secretary of State under President Clinton, gives readers an insider account of the top-level talks between India and the United States. A fascinating look at the difficult policy choices faced by both countries.

I Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work
by Julie Jansen

Using career assessment quizzes and personality exercises, Jansen helps readers discover the type of work for which they are best suited. Jansen identifies six reasons people find their work unsatisfying, from boredom with a familiar routine to an overbearing boss. Jansen supplies plenty of practical advise for those wanting greater career satisfaction.

Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York
by Paul Goldberger

Goldberger describes the three years of proposals, counterproposals, and compromise that resulted in a plan for the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. Readers get an inside view of the meetings, press conferences, and backroom negotiations that led to the designs for the Freedom Tower and memorial, “Reflecting Absence.” An absorbing account of the struggle to rebuild one of the most symbolic sites in the world.