Less by
Andrew Greer is, surprisingly to me, the winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Basically,
this is a satirical odyssey of a gay American author abroad, ruminating about
age, love, time and success (Is he a failed author or a failed gay?) The New
York Times has hailed Greer as "inspired, lyrical,"
"elegiac," "ingenious," as well as "too sappy by half."
Less shows a talented writer “raising the curtain on our shared human
comedy”, but I especially agreed with the “too sappy by half”.
*The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason is an unforgettable love story of a young doctor
and nurse at a remote field hospital in the
First World. It contains intriguing insights into Vienna’s aristocracy, medical
education, and the brutal realities of warfare or battlefield medical care. A “lyrical
and affecting novel about the costs of war and lost love will satisfy readers
of quality fiction.”
Strangers in Budapest
by Jessica Keener describes
post-Communist Budapest from the perspective of a young, entrepreneurial
American couple who become enmeshed in an old man's plan to seek vengeance for
his daughter's murder. “Despite the book's bleak tone, (the characters) all
draw our interest as people to care about, and Budapest becomes a powerful
symbol of past horrors, lush culture, and an uncertain future.”
**The End of Alzheimer's:
The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline by Dale
Bredesen, MD is “a paradigm shifting book that offers hope to anyone looking to
prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's Disease and cognitive decline”. Bredensen
suggest that AD is not one condition, but three with different protocols.
Basically, the protocols emphasize testing to establish benchmarks which can
document progress or decline and then chart an individualized plan to show how
to rebalance key lifestyle components such as nutrition, exercise, sleep
quality, stress and socialization. The book is often dense with scientific data
and frequently self-serving but seems to be based on quality research and of
interest to caregivers or everyone over forty who worry that their memories
aren’t what they used to be.
