BOOKS THAT CAME HOME

Dear Son,

Dad and I just returned from a trip to New York--I think it was our first trip away from you.  Oh yes, we missed you very much!

Son, whenever your Mom travels, she tends to pack a huge load of books with her to read during the airplane ride and at her destination.  She often packs books she's not sure she'd like from her huge To-Read List.  The reason she does so is so that she can just leave those books behind during her trip if she doesn't like them--she leaves them at the airport, in the hotels, in eating areas.... certainly there's the possibility that others might enjoy them and she doesn't mind that.  But she prefers not to return with books she didn't care for.  This strategy also helps lighten the luggage for the return home.

This trip to New York was interesting in that we returned home with every book your Mom packed and read.  So welcome these additions to our library and we hope you will enjoy them, too, in the future:

MAN IS WOLF TO MAN: SURVIVING THE GULAG, memoir by Janusz Bardach and Kathleen Gleeson (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1998) -- among other things, this book shows how much the human being can suffer and how one need not be toppled by suffering.

THE ART FORGER, novel by B.A. Shapiro (Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC, 2012) -- a fictitious story but with interesting details about real life art forgeries

THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY, novel by Gabrielle Zevin (Algonquin Books, Chapel Hill, NC, 2014)-- your Mom is a sucker for fiction revolving around bookstores and this is a charming one

THE DESCARTES HIGHLANDS, novel by Eric Gamalinda (Akashic Books, Brooklyn, 2014) -- your Mom believes Eric Gamalinda is one of the greatest living writers today.  Do follow up on this book and also his poetry.

ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS, collaborative novel by  Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Erma Cuizon, Susan Evangelista, Veronica Montes and Nadine Sarreal (Anvil Publishing, Pasig City, Philippines, 2010) -- the structure of this novel is interesting, styled a la the Filipino early 20th century "dugtungan" novel where each writer wrote a chapter, passed it on to another writer who'd write the next chapter and so on.  It may be a tad Chick Lit-ish for you but it's interesting to consider the structure: colaboration with others, Son, can be one of life's pleasures.

Love,

Mom and Dad