Kang Yerin Yerin itibaren Jabłonka, Stare Jabłonki, Polonya itibaren Jabłonka, Stare Jabłonki, Polonya

Who would have thought that a book about the financial collapse of 2008 could be a page-turner? Lewis succeeded primarily because he focused on the stories of several brilliant fellows who actually made money on the financial crisis, rather than trying to lay out the increasingly grim events in boring chronological detail. I especially appreciated the clarity with which he explained such abstruse concepts as collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps.

I really liked this book. Lubrano interviewed a lot of white-collar folks who grew up in blue-collar households to attempt to find out if there's anything in their lives that boldly contrasts the experience of their peers growing up in white-collar environments. His findings are quite revealing, and he matches their explanation with a story that explains his personal experience growing up as a bricklayer's son in Brooklyn, feeling out-of-place in school at Columbia and professionally for a good part of his career. This book was one of those which has helped me get some perspective on how my own experience (comfortable white-bread Midwestern upbringing) is unique among my friends and colleagues and from that of my parents (though I inherited a lot of their so-called blue-collar hangups). Maybe I'm in a unique position to call it a favorite, but for me it was an incredibly interesting book that unlocked some understanding of my community.

I was riveted by this account of a woman professor of English literature living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. It puts a human face on that experience, how it feels to go from relative freedom to being forced to wear a veil, and to have armed guards check to see if you were wearing makeup, how long your nails were, or how many strands of hair were showing. Mixed into the story was discussions of great Western classics, like Lolita, Jane Austen and Henry James. This book would make a good companion to Persepolis, too.

i learned that always try your best in school i learned that from george.

This book is so stunningly illustrated. It's like a pint-sized Giant Robot explosion. I liked it waaaaay more than my toddler did. The minute her eyes strayed from the pages, I could tell this was one I'd be storing away on a top shelf, along with my signed J. Otto Seibold hardbacks and my copy of Superflat. File under: Underwater adventure, cute-mania, rescue team, accordion-playing polar bears