L.M. Montgomery, The Alpine Path - This brief little biography of Montgomery's family, early life, and early career really has her flavor. I find her biographical writing style both refreshingly personal and reminiscent of her published work - so many of the stories she tells found their way into her books. My only complaint about this one is that it was too short!
Florence Dupont, Daily Life in Ancient Rome - This was a really interesting book, covering every aspect of the Roman life, setting each habit and attitude and lifestyle into the overall belief system of the time period. Well written, clearly laid out, and informative, definitely a keeper.
Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone - This is one of the most-cited books in all the journals I proofread, and having read it, I can see why. Putnam makes a tremendous case for why "social capital" (the time we spend out and about amongst other people socially) is important, he provides numbers and statistics on its health benefits, its educational benefits, its economic benefits, and he discusses in great depth the fact that social capital declined steadily over the course of the latter half of the twentieth century. My only quibble with the book is that it was published in 2000, and so much has changed since then - I'd love to see an updated version in which he talks about the impact of 9/11 and of the Internet on our general social habits. Nonetheless, dated as it is, it still has important messages to send.
Rien Poortvliet, illustrator, Gnomes - We used to have this when I was a kid, and I loved looking through it at the pictures and the vividly imagined world of the gnomes. I am more impressed, having read it over again as an adult, with the details of all the handcrafts and medicinal plants, etc. - the author of the text (whose name, sadly, is all but unreadable in the font) must have done a huge amount of research. It's not great literature, but it's such a cute, fun, imaginative book.
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