The Annotated Alice
Lewis Carroll, 1865; Martin Gardner, 1960
384 pp.
February 2007
Not just for kids. Alice has been relegated to the nursery long enough; let's bring her back into adult company.
For starters, Carroll’s tale is a very funny piece of work. Its cryptic, sophisticated humor—based on logic, math, and wordplay—flies over the heads of most children…adults, too, for that matter.
Marley and Me
John Grogan, 2005
305 pp.
January 2007
My friend Nan called to say she was giving everyone in her family a copy of this book—high praise, indeed, because she isn’t exactly a dog lover. In fact, she doesn't like people who are.
So obviously I was intrigued, all the more so because Nan has unerring literary taste, championing books long before critics get around to them. So maybe she was on to something.
Pavlov's Cats
Randy Minnich, 2005
84 pp.
December 2006
Know why cats don't get presents on their birthday? Answer—they already own everything.
Any cat owner gets the joke because it's really about us—our powerlessness in the face of a nine-pound creature. Randy Minnich explores that helplessness. His book is a delightful read for any human addicted to Felis silvestris catus.
The Samurai's Garden
Gail Tsukiyama, 1994
224 pp.
November 2006
I worked up quite an appetite while reading this charming book—there's a fair amount of cooking and eating going on, and it made me hanker for some Japanese food.
There are also intriguing descriptions of Japanese decor: the exquisite airiness of shoji (paper walls) and the beauty of human artistry imposed on nature. This last has to do with the garden in the book's title.
Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement
Rodney Rothman, 2005
256 pp.
October 2006
Funnyman Rothman has written a funny book. And like all good joke stories, this one contains more than a kernel of social truth.
Rothman, a former joke writer for both Saturday Night Live and David Letterman, is 28 and burned-out. So what else is there to do but head to a Florida retirement community?