"Some books are to be tasted; others swallowed; and some to be chewed and digested."
— Sir Francis Bacon

Book Talk's primary focus is contemporary fiction and nonfiction. Many of the titles so far have been new books but the date of publication is not as important as the content of the book. Naturally, some books may turn out to be disappointing for some readers. As we all know, that can't be helped but a disappointing book is still a good basis for fruitful discussion.

View the books alphabetically by title.
View the books alphabetically by author.

Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Aurelia: A Crow Creek Trilogy by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
Baghdad Diaries by Nuha Al-Radi
Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Bias by Bernard Goldberg
Blue Angel by Francine Prose
Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O’Brian
Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz
Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks
Body Artist, The by Don DeLillo
Bonelight by Mary Sojourner
Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry
Botany of Desire, The by Michael Pollan
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Brotherhood of the Bomb by Gregg Herken
Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women By Alexa Albert
Buddha from Brooklyn, The by Martha Sherill
Burning of Bridget Cleary, The by Angela Bourke
Churchill: A Biography by Roy Jenkins
Ciao, America! by Beppe Severgnini
Cicero by Anthony Everitt
Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz
Continental Drift by Russell Banks
Corrections, The by Jonathan Franzen
Da Vinci Code, The by Dan Brown
Dante Club, The by Matthew Pearl
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Day I Turned Uncool, The by Dan Zevin
Desire of the Everything Hills by Thomas Cahill
Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? by Martin Gardner
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Eagle's Shadow, The by Mark Hertsgaard
Einstein's Dreams by Alan P. Lightman
Emperor of Ocean Park, The by Stephen L. Carter
Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman
Eyre Affair: A Novel, The by Jasper Fforde
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Fifty Greatest Love Letters of All Time, The by David Lowenherz
Fury by Salman Rushdie
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Germs by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg & William Broad
Gertrude and Claudius by John Updike
Gould’s Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan
Half a Life by V.S. Naipaul
Hungry Ocean, The by Linda Greenlaw
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Into Africa by Martin Dugard
Joshua’s Hammer by David Hagberg
Keep It Simple Stupid by Judith Sheindlin
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Boudain
Lesson Before Dying, A by Ernest Gaines
Lexus and the Olive Tree, The by Tom Friedman
Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Lovely Bones, The by Alice Sebold
Lying Awake by Mark Salzman
M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio by Peter Robb
Majesty of the Law, The by Sandra Day O'Connor
Middle Mind, The by Curtis White
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Money & The Power by Sally Denton and Roger Morris
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Mountain City by Gregory Martin
Mr. Spaceman by Robert Olen Butler
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
Nanny Diaries, The by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Next by Michael Lewis
Niccolo's Smile by Maurizio Viroli
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Night Inspector, The by Frederick Busch
Nothing Like It in ihe World by Stephen Ambrose
Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons
On the Rez by Ian Frazier
Partly Cloudy Patriot, The by Sarah Vowell
Peace Like A River by Leif Enger
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Poet and the Murderer, The by Simon Worrall
Poisonwood Bible, The by Barbara Kingsolver
Positively Fifth Street by James McManus
Prairie Nocturne by Ivan Doig
Professor and the Madman, The by Simon Winchester
Russia Hand, The by Strobe Talbott
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian
Secret Life of Bees, The by Sue Monk Kidd
Showman and the Slave, The by Benjamin Reiss
Small Wonder: Essays by Barbara Kingsolver
Snow Mountain Passage by James Houston
Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
Spike, The by Damien Broderick
Star Called Henry, A by Roddy Doyle
Stupid White Men by Michael Moore
Ten Little Indians by Sherman Alexie
Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
Time of the Rabies by Robert Laxalt
Tipping Point, The by Malcolm Gladwell
Too Far Afield by Gunter Grass
Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere by Jan Morris
True Story of the Kelly Gang, The by Peter Carey
Twilight of American Culture, The by Morris Berman
Victorian Internet, The by Tom Standage
Vision of Emma Blau, The by Ursula Hegi
Unfinished Life, An by Robert Dallek
Walk in the Woods, A by Bill Bryson
Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips
We Band of Angels by Elizabeth Norman
What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
Year to Live, A by Stephen Levine
Yellow Dog by Martin Amis

Al-Radi, Nuha; Baghdad Diaries
Albert, Alexa; Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women
Alexie, Sherman; Ten Little Indians
Ali, Monica; Brick Lane
Allende, Isabel; Daughter of Fortune
Ambrose, Stephen; Nothing Like It In The World
Amis, Martin; Yellow Dog
Banks, Russell; Continental Drift
Battles, Matthew; Library: An Unquiet History
Bauby, Jean-Dominique; The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Berman, Morris; The Twilight of American Culture
Boudain, Anthony; Kitchen Confidential
Bourke, Angela; The Burning of Bridget Cleary: A True Story
Broderick, Damien; The Spike
Brooks, David; Bobos in Paradise
Brown, Dan; The Da Vinci Code
Bryson, Bill; A Walk in the Woods
Busch, Frederick; The Night Inspector
Butler, Robert Olen; Mr. Spaceman
Cahill, Thomas; Desire of the Everything Hills
Carey, Peter; The True Story of the Kelly Gang
Carter, Stephen L.; The Emperor of Ocean Park
Coetzee, J.M.; Disgrace
Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth; Aurelia: A Crow Creek Trilogy
Dallek, Robert; An Unfinished Life
DeLillo, Don; The Body Artist
Denton, Sally and Morris, Roger; The Money & The Power
Doig, Ivan; Prairie Nocturne
Doyle, Roddy;A Star Called Henry
Dugard, Martin; Into Africa
Ehrenreich, Barbara; Nickel and Dimed
Enger, Leif; Peace Like A River
Everitt, Anthony; Cicero
Fadiman, Anne; Ex Libris
Fforde, Jasper; The Eyre Affair: A Novel
Fielding, Helen; Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Flanagan, Richard; Gould’s Book of Fish
Franzen, Jonathan; The Corrections
Frazier, Ian; On the Rez
Friedman, Tom; The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Gaines, Ernest; A Lesson Before Dying
Gardner, Martin; Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?
Gladwell, Malcolm; The Tipping Point
Goldberg, Bernard; Bias
Grass, Gunter; Too Far Afield
Greenlaw, Linda; The Hungry Ocean
Hagberg, David; Joshua’s Hammer
Haruf, Kent; Plainsong
Hegi, Ursula; The Vision of Emma Blau
Herken, Gregg; Brotherhood of the Bomb
Hertsgaard, Mark; The Eagle's Shadow
Hiaasen, Carl; Basket Case
Hillenbrand, Laura; Seabiscuit: An American Legend
Horwitz, Tony; Blue Latitudes
Horwitz, Tony; Confederates in the Attic
Houston, James; Snow Mountain Passage
Jenkins, Roy; Churchill: A Biography
Kidd, Sue Monk; The Secret Life of Bees
Kingsolver, Barbara; The Poisonwood Bible
Kingsolver, Barbara; Small Wonder: Essays
Lahiri, Jhumpa; Interpreter of Maladies
Laxalt, Robert; Time of the Rabies
Lethem, Jonathan; Motherless Brooklyn
Levine, Stephen; A Year to Live
Lewis, Bernard; What Went Wrong?
Lewis, Michael; Next
Lightman, Alan P.; Einstein's Dreams
Lowenherz, David; The Fifty Greatest Love Letters of All Time
McManus, James; Positively Fifth Street
Martel, Yann; Life of Pi
Martin, Gregory; Mountain City
McEwan,Ian; Atonement
McLaughlin, Emma and Kraus, Nicola; Nanny Diaries
McMurtry, Larry; Boone’s Lick
Melville, Herman; Moby Dick
Miller, Judith; Engelberg, Stephen; Broad, William; Germs
Moore, Michael; Stupid White Men
Morris, Edmund; Theodore Rex
Morris, Jan; Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere
Naipaul, V.S.; Half a Life
Norman, Elizabeth; We Band of Angels
O’Brian, Patrick; Blue at the Mizzen
O'Connor, Sandra Day; The Majesty of the Law
Ondaatje, Michael; Anil's Ghost
Ozeki, Ruth; My Year of Meats
Patchett, Ann; Bel Canto
Pearl, Matthew; The Dante Club
Phillips, Kevin; Wealth and Democracy
Philbrick, Nathaniel; In the Heart of the Sea
Pollan, Michael; The Botany of Desire
Prose, Francine; Blue Angel
Reiss, Benjamin; The Showman and the Slave
Robb, Peter; M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio
Salman Rushdie; Fury
Salzman, Mark; Lying Awake
Santiago, Esmeralda; When I Was Puerto Rican
Schlosser, Eric; Fast Food Nation
Sebald, W.G.; Austerlitz
Sebold, Alice; The Lovely Bones
Severgnini, Beppe; Ciao, America!
Sherill, Martha; The Buddha from Brooklyn
Sheindlin, Judith; Keep It Simple Stupid
Simmons, Rachel; Odd Girl Out
Shreve, Anita; Sea Glass
Sobel, Dava; Galileo's Daughter
Sojourner, Mary; Bonelight
Standage, Tom; The Victorian Internet
Talbott, Strobe; The Russia Hand
Updike, John; Gertrude and Claudius
Viroli, Maurizio; Niccolo's Smile
Vowell, Sarah; The Partly Cloudy Patriot
White, Curtis; The Middle Mind
Winchester, Simon; The Professor and the Madman
Worrall, Simon; The Poet and the Murderer
Xingjian, Gao; Soul Mountain
Zadoorian, Michael; Second Hand
Zevin, Dan; The Day I Turned Uncool

Send your suggestions and recommendations
to show producer Dave Santina:
dave@knpb.org