“I need a good book.” If that’s something that you’ve been thinking, GBH staff have some fascinating and eclectic ideas for you, covering the gamut, from the history of tuberculosis to a drama at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Here are recommendations from GBH staff and volunteers.
The Chandelier by Clarice Lispector
Ingrid Alberding, accessibility analyst at the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media
“Clarice Lispector was a 20th century Brazilian writer who gained fame early in her life, and this was only her second novel, written when she was just 23. It's hard to overstate how full of feeling the writing is. Every sentence breathes a life and story of its own as the novel follows a strange young woman who moves to the city.”
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
Barbara Ayotte, senior director of strategic communications
”A page-turner of a novel that I read in one sitting about an interpreter who arrives at the International Criminal Court in the Hague to work as a translator, including for a former president accused of war crimes. She is caught in the ethics of this task and other dramas arising from her relationships that test her views on power, love, violence and truth. I previously worked for a human rights organization that provided evidence to the criminal courts and found this account mesmerizing. I couldn’t put it down and I didn’t want it to end.”
Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight by Janet Evanovich
Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
Lauraine Hutchinson, Local Corporate Sponsorship
”Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight continues the Stephanie Plum Series. She always makes me laugh with her antics. Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand is a great summer read. She keeps me on the edge of my seat waiting to see how things will pan out.”
Trust by Hernan Diaz
Scott Moss, underwriting partnerships, CAI, GBH’s local NPR for the Cape, Coast and Islands
”Diaz offers a uniquely constructed historical novel about money and the people who make lots of it. The book is actually four related stories that begins as a novel within a novel set in the 1920s through the market crash of 1929. The narration style changes from story to story and forces the reader to confront what trust really means. After all our entire financial system is based on our faith that our money has value.”
The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer
Henry Santoro, GBH News anchor and host
”Number One New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer has entered the stratosphere with this new book — his second Zig and Nola novel. You will not find a better, more compelling female protagonist than Nola Brown. Trouble finds her wherever she is, and simply put, she is the lightning rod. This book in an unputdownable thriller to the nth degree! Brad, by the way, is also the creator of the PBS KIDS books and television series Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum.”
Phantom Plague: How Tuberculosis Shaped History by Vidya Krishnan
Joyce Schwartz, GBH volunteer
”This book is a fascinating look at not only tuberculosis, but how big pharma has influenced who gets treated and with what. The book also discusses the politics behind HIV and what it took to get WHO and other public health agencies to release the cocktail of drugs that can control it around the world. As someone who worked with TB patients, I am amazed at who is actually 'running the show.’”
Still hungry for more recommendations? Watch the GBH Events page for upcoming meet-the-author opportunities and join the GBH Beyond the Page Book Club here. See what the GBH Newsroom staff are reading here.
