Now that we are starting the holiday season, some of you may enjoy a few of my suggestions for books to read when and if you have time to relax. So I thought that you might appreciate some suggestions for books to read during the upcoming weeks.

The criteria that I have used to recommend these books are that they are engaging or informative or both. Some are new but most are not. They are fiction and non-fiction. There are autobiographies and biographies. A few were discussed by the Mature Men’s Book Discussion Group.

The only thing that this eclectic collection has in common is that I was engaged by, learned from and enjoyed all of them. I hope that one or more will be of interest to you.

They are listed alphabetically by author. “Americanah” by Chimananda Ngozi

Adiche. Ms. Adiche tells the somewhat autobiographical fictional account of a young Nigerian woman who is a student at Princeton University. It covers her life in the US and in her hometown of Lagos, Nigeria. A reviewer wrote: “Adiche is to Blackness what Philip Roth is to Jewishness.” Both writers engage with the cultural, social and historical contexts of their identities which shape their experiences.

You will find “Americanah” is eye-opening. “Reagan-His Life and Legend” by Max Boot. This is a comprehensive biography that discusses not only President

Ronald Reagan’s life but also describes what America was like during his lifetime.

Interestingly, President Reagan was born in 1911 in the small town of Tampico, Illinois which then and now had less than 1,000 residents. Abraham Lincoln was born in 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky and raised in Indiana and Illinois in areas much like Tampico. When Lincoln was born, he lived in small houses without electricity or indoor plumbing and paved roads were rare. One hundred years later, when

President Reagan was born, those same conditions persisted in his hometown. “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte.

This is an all-time classic, written in 1847, most likely read by most of you in high school. But not me. As Anne told me that this was the greatest novel ever written,I decided to read it a few months ago.

While I am not sure that I share Anne’s enthusiasm, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was considered ground-breaking when it was published because of the introspective writing style which was revealed through the first person narrative. Surprisingly, it holds up 150 years later. “The Power Broker – Robert Moses and the Fall of New York” by Robert A.

Caro. As the unelected New York Parks

Commissioner (and many other appointed positions) he was one of the most powerful persons in the history of the City of New York. For decades in the middle of the 20th Century, virtually all public development projects in the New York City area were under his control. Moses’ developments are a case study in both what to do and what not to do. Los Angeles Dodgers fans owe Moses a debt of gratitude because his objections to Walter O’Malley’s efforts in the mid-1950’s to build a new baseball stadium to house the Brooklyn Dodgers were, at least in part, responsible for the Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles. Importantly, at least to me, when Robert Moses and Nathan Ostroff, my father, were born, a few years apart, their families lived on Dwight Street in New Haven CT and both went, as “townies”, to Yale College. “Bad Blood - Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup” by John Carreyrou. This is the absolutely riveting story of Elizabeth Holmes and her startup company, Theranos. Theranos under Ms.

Holmes’ leadership raised many millions of $ by promoting a revolutionary machine that would make blood testing faster and cheaper. By 2015, Theranos was valued at $9B and Ms. Holmes had a net worth of around $4B. Except the machine didn’t work and the Silicon Valley mantra of “Fake it until you make it” was put to the test. Mr. Carreyrou was a Wall Street Journal reporter who, among others, exposed

Theranos and Ms. Holmes. By 2017, the value of Theranos was Zero. You will find yourself hoping for the death penalty for Ms. Holmes who was charged with fraud. She is now in prison serving a lengthy sentence. “”The Waiting” by Michael

Connelly. This is the latest of nearly 40 mysteries/police procedurals by Mr. Connelly, a former Los Angeles Times reporter, mostly set in Los Angeles and mostly involving the fictional now retired

LAPD detective Hieronymous

Bosch. These books are not only imaginative but also depict accurately the geography and life of the City of Los Angeles. Mr. Connelly is now an industry unto himself.. In addition to his books, he is responsible for three streaming series, “Bosch”, “Bosch:Legacy” and “The Lincoln Lawyer” featuring Bosch’s fictional half-brother Mickey Haller. “The Best Team Money Can Buy – The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse” by

Molly Knight. You should have expected that I would include a book about baseball and, better yet, the Dodgers. Molly Knight is a Los Angeles-based sportswriter who publishes a blog entitled “The Long

Game” available on Substack. This book and the blog are an endless source of truly inside baseball. Molly will be returning to speak at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills in February, 2025. “Bibi–My Story” the autobiography of Benjamin Netanyahu and “Zev’s Los

Angeles – From Boyle Heights to the

Halls of Power – A Political Memoir” which is the autobiography of Zev Yaroslavsky. These are listed together because there are some contrasts and some similarities. They are both 75 years old, prominent Jewish leaders and both remain in the public eye. Mr. Yaroslavsky was “termed out” of both the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. For better or worse, Mr. Netanyahu has not been subject to term limits and remains as Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister. Netanyahu’s book is about the perilous history of Israel. Mr. Yaroslavsky’s book is about the history of modern Los Angeles, perilous in its own way. [Watch Publisher Josh Gross’s insightful interview with Yaroslavsky about his memoir at https://vimeo.com/698365633]. “Man of Tomorrow–The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown” by Jim Newton.

This is an examination of California history during the life and times of former California Governor Jerry Brown and his service as governor first starting in 1972 and then again nearly thirty years later. Jim Newton is a former Los Angeles Times Editorial

Page editor, reporter and columnist who now teaches at UCLA and is the founder of Blueprint Magazine. “Guardian Angel” by Sara Paretsky.

Sara Paretsky is a Chicago mystery writer who has created the character of Vicki

I. Warshavsky, a Chicago based working class private investigator with whom you will fall in love. Ms. Warshavsky is the central character in most of Ms. Paretsky’s twenty or so mysteries. Most of these are set in and evocative of Chicago from the 1980’s when Ms. Paretsky started to the present. Ms. Paretsky has earned my respect because she holds three advanced degrees (including a PhD in history) from the University of Chicago. I have only one. Although I have picked Guardian Angel, you will also enjoy “Killing Orders”, “Burn Marks”, “Blood Shot” and all the rest. “When the Lion Feeds” by Wilbur Smith. Wilbur Smith is one of my favorite writers. He was born in what is now Zambia in 1932, and became an accountant. Commencing in around 1962, he became a full time author and wrote a novel a year until he passed away in 2021. Most of his early books are historical adventure fiction which blend gold mining, hunting and fractious families set in southern Africa. He also wrote a series set in ancient Egypt and another series about contemporary South Africa. For me, the historical adventure stories are the best. When the Lion Feeds was his first. There are several others that are equally enthralling including “A Time to Die”, “The Sound of

Thunder” and “A Sparrow Falls.” Try one of these and you will be hooked with more than forty to go. “The Last Trial” by Scott Turow. I am a great fan of courtroom novels and few authors do them as well as Scott Turow.

His novels drew upon his several years’ experience as a federal prosecutor in Chicago. His first book of fiction was the ground-breaking “Presumed Innocent”. It was first made into a movie starring Harrison Ford as the accused, Rusty Sabich.

Raul Julia played the part of a young trial lawyer, Alejandro (Sandy) Stein who was the counsel for the accused. “The Last Trial” is about the last trial of the now aged, and failing before our eyes, Sandy Stein and is almost as good as “Presumed Innocent” or perhaps even better as it realistically describes the arc of the development of this character.

I hope that at least one of these attracts your interest.