“What is the best book you have read in the last 2 years and what about it did you like?”
(Your full responses compiled, with permission, by Kim Boestam, class Secretary; edited versions are featured in the Spring 2025 Quarterly edition.)
Kate Carlisle
Rough Sleepers, by Tracy Kidder. 2023, Random House. This explores Boston’s groundbreaking Healthcare for the Homeless initiative and its founder, Dr. Jim O’Connell. Beautifully written, illuminating and clearly demonstrating that housing IS healthcare. Kidder is a celebrated nonfiction writer and author of a great book about Northampton, btw. I was introduced to his work by Mark Kramer, in his Writing About American Social Issues seminar junior year.
Elisabeth Rose
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Well-written, a both moving and funny novel with an interesting twist. I also found it quite unique.
P.S.I cannot say it’s my favorite book. I love a lot of books and they’re so different, it’s like comparing apples and oranges.
Kendra Tollackson
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Reason: For most of my life, I have talked to trees (while walking, hiking, hanging out in my back yard, and more). This novel managed to validate my belief that trees are sentient beings.
Best Re-read: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.
Giulia Norton
As I glance over my book list, I am struck at how many novels have similar structures. Two narratives in one! Multiple voices! Etc. Here are two non-fiction books.
Jang Jin-Sung’s gripping memoir, Dear Leader, describes him navigating life in North Korea as a propagandist and State Poet Laureate then realizing he had to escape for his life. I found his description of life in a totalitarian state both illuminating and terrifying.
Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography describes how geography, such as whether a region has a warm weather port, or the degree to which it is shielded by mountain ranges, influences the potential for various political opportunities. It made maps 3D, if not 4D.
Anne Moeller Krouse
My daughters and I have enjoyed reading the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn and then binge watching them on Netflix! Love sharing our perspectives with each other and comparing the books to the movies.
Amy Resner
The Known World by Edward P. Jones. Like Faulkner, Jones masterfully produces, through his characters, the horrible stain of American slavery. About a black man who owns slaves in pre-civil war Virginia, this book left me shook in the way that only brilliant fiction can.
Arlene Wszalek
My pick is Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Long Island Compromise. The plot cleverly mirrors both real and fictional events. She weaves subtle threads through it which come together in a surprising, satisfying ending.
Lia Brassord
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne.
Laura Russell
COLD MOUNTAIN Wounded and bone-tired Confederate soldier, Inman, makes his Odyssey-like journey home. Frazier’s language is reminiscent of 19th storytelling but still alive for a modern reader. I was with Inman in the Appalachian forest; I felt his deep despair and desire; I could hear the voices of the scoundrels, mystics, and lost souls he encountered.
Meredith Young Branagan
Although I read a ton of books this question is easy — I can’t stop thinking about “A Little Life”, by Smith alum Hanya Yanaghara, It’s the story of four male college friends and their lives post college, but simply saying that would minimize the beauty of the book. The characters, one in particular, are beautifully drawn and their incredible life stories pull you in and don’t let go, even well after you’ve long finished the book. A warning, this isn’t a pretty story, and parts may be traumatic for some, so think about that before you read it. For me, this is one of my top ten of all time and, with that trigger warning, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Ellen Schwartz
One of my favorite books which just recently came out is Queen Bess by Maria Vetrano, a local author here in MA. I loved the premise of the book where a female tech billionaire goes back in time to bring forth a better candidate to run for president against the repugnant incumbent. She determines Elizabeth Tudor is that candidate. The story is fun and an interesting take on our current political situation. The female characters are strong and well-drawn and the book also does a wonderful job of highlighting the various relationships among women. It’s not a deep read, but certainly an enjoyable diversion. I had the pleasure of meeting the author recently and she was intelligent, engaging, and funny. This book is her first, and part of a planned trilogy. She asked the audience for help spreading the work about her book, so I’m happy to have this opportunity to bring it to the attention of the Smith community.
Susan Schreter
I wish you hadn’t used the word “best” as a qualifier. Best in terms of what? I recently read Kristin Hannah’s “The Women.” It was impactful, informative and sobering in terms of the gruesome yet valiant day-to-day of all medical personnel in war zones.
Anna Purves
I can’t tell you the BEST book I read, but I can tell you great books. What I suggest will be published earlier than the last 2 years.
The Beautiful Forevers. Fantastic. Grim but gripping, real. It’s nonfiction that reads like fiction.
Demon Copperhead by Kingsolver. Has flaws—overlong but reads fast and is still worth reading. It will reveal Appalachia to you like nothing before, dispels a lot of preconceptions and how much the snobby northeast created the image of people in Appalachia as second-class citizens.
Girl Woman Other by Evaristo. Fantastic. Won the Booker or something.
James by Percival Everett. He wrote the book That American Fiction was kinda sorta based on. Retells Huck Finn from Jim’s perspective.
Demon King Kong by James McBride. A pure delight. Such humanity, such humor. The writing is just genius. Don’t like his current novel so much. HE’s trying too hard.
QUARTERLY note from Anna:
Anna Purves has stopped teaching and is working on projects. Finished my novel The Adolescent Airport and would love any help on getting referred to an agent . 2nd project is my poetry writing board game Dead Poets Rise ™ distributed. (No poetry know-how required.)
Carol Fresia
As it happens, about 2 years ago I started to keep a record of the books I’ve read, complete with scores from 1 to 10. There are quite a few 10s, but here are two of the ones that still hang around in my brain—oddly, neither one is fiction, though I read fiction the majority of the time.
Worn: A People’s History of Clothing, by Sofi Thanhauser (Vintage, 2023). Where does your clothing come from, and why does it cost as much—or as little—as it does? This insightful and absorbing book lays out how textile and garment production affect us and the world we live in (spoiler: it’s not great).
I Must Be Dreaming, by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury, 2024). I love the way Roz Chast’s mind works, and I love her drawings. Her exploration into what happens in the subconscious while we are asleep is hilarious and thought-provoking.
Kerry Herman
Outside of your prescribed lane, (read more than 2yrs ago): The Overstory, (Richard Powers). Inflamed my worldview, or rather enhanced it, to revive vivid childhood memories of reading The Lord of the Rings and a formative understanding of the interconnectedness of everything on our planet. Now have Playground on my stack.
Matrix, Lauren Goff, this book is for every strong woman you know.
Any of Anthony Doerr’s books but loved Cloud Cuckoo Land.
Anne Zeiser Petralia
It’s tough for me to pick one book as I read a lot! Here are some I love that I read in the past few years. Even if I’m “breaking the rules” by sending you a bunch of titles, at least you can personally enjoy them and if you just want one for the class list, pick whichever you feel like!
- Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston (obviously much older!)
- The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (Loved this book long before it became a series! Read it when it first came out in ‘85)
- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Sagan Foer 2005
Newer:
- Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
- Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead – Olga Tokarscuk
- Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro (What does it mean to be human? A book written from a robot’s perspective, a female “artificial friend” sold to a little girl)
And a few that many book club members will know:
- A Gentleman in Moscow – Amor Towles
- Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus
- The Help – Kathryn Stockett
QUARTERLY note from Anne:
The past two years have been very busy. I executive produced a three-part documentary series for PBS, Muraling Austin about the social impact of the street art of this vibrant capital city. It included murals and backstories on the 19th Amendment (women’s right to vote), immigration, the environment, segregation, mental health, and community activism. It also included social studies lesson plans for students for PBS LearningMedia, the largest distributor of video-based curriculum in the US. Muraling Austin aired nationally on PBS in the summer of 2023 and now is streaming on pbs.org. This project was honored with an Emmy (Lone Star) and two Gold Telly awards.
I am now directing, writing, and producing two multi-platform documentary projects. Touching the Sun, also for PBS, about the science and symbolism of our closest star. It blends Western heliophysics with Traditional Knowledge about the Sun. So far, we have shot the April 2024 total solar eclipse from Texas to Maine, a lead science researcher studying the corona and the solar winds with NASA, heliophysicists, astronauts, and Toltec and Mayan Indigenous elders. This project will also include lesson plans, a digital series, a website, a STEM educational outreach plan (focusing on Indigenous and underserved communities), and a social impact campaign about stewarding the Earth and humanity.
Finally, I’m directing, writing, and producing a multi-platform project on the underpinnings of democracy and authoritarianism – from local to global levels. This project feels more urgent than ever.
Meanwhile, my husband is semi-retired from the law and my son is on a gap year from college, teaching science at a nearby museum.
Leslie Mark
Easy, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kinmerer
Don’t need my reasons to read this author — just willingness to have lush, fecund, nurturing language wash your ears, fill your heart and motivate you (at least she did me) to reimagine all sorts of relationships!
Florie Seery
Nora Webster by Colm Toibin— I read “Long Island” this summer, which is the sequel to “Brooklyn.” A critic suggested that “Nora Webster” was the best work and they are correct! The book is set in Ireland in the 1960s and focuses on the interior life (splendidly Chekhovian) of a widow in Enniscorthy. These are my people.
Audrey Robbins
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. Long but epic novel with a strong female character. He writes beautifully, and I vividly imagined her journey. Worth the long read.
Agnes Bogdan Chapski
My favorite book lately is: Ikigai; The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. It’s never too late to find your purpose and reason for living (Ikigai) especially as many of us are in the stage of figuring out our next chapter. This book is so uplifting and got me thinking in a very different way about finding flow and using that to discover my Ikigai. I highly recommend it.