GREAT READS

FROM TERROR TO TERROIR AND POINTS IN BETWEEN

A wide range of standout titles for spring

By Karen Holt

CODE NAME: JOHNNY WALKER

By Johnny Walker, with Jim DeFelice ◗ “Warriors fi ght for the goal of peace. Warriors fi ght so things can be built. The insurgents fought to destroy,” writes former Iraqi interpreter “Johnny Walker.” (He’s still under too much danger of reprisals to reveal his real name.) At fi rst, American soldiers didn’t trust him to carry a gun, even as he accompanied them into battle. But over years of serving alongside U.S. Navy Seals, he repeatedly proved his bravery and loyalty, coming to be seen as a brother-in-arms by the Americans, who eventually helped him immigrate to the U.S. His revealing memoir provides a fresh perspective of a confl ict that has helped defi ne our time.

I AM PILGRIM

By Terry Hayes ◗ Already a hit in Australia, this thriller by Aussie screenwriter and fi rst-time novelist Terry Hayes moves at breakneck speed despite its massive 600+ page length. It opens with a retired U.S. intelligence offi cer, who literally wrote the book on criminal forensics, called to a grisly scene: a squalid New York hotel room where a woman’s body lies face down in a bath of acid. What begins as an investigation into an apparently isolated crime escalates into a race around the globe to prevent a biochemical terrorist attack. An intriguingly complex hero, brilliant villain and dazzling plot twists add up to an exhilarating ride.

EVERY SHOT COUNTS: USING THE REVOLUTIONARY STROKES GAINED APPROACH TO IMPROVE YOUR GOLF PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGY

By Mark Broadie ◗ This isn’t another book about improving the mechanics of your swing (admit it: you’ve already read a few of those) but a guide to making better decisions on the course. Columbia Business School professor and 4-handicap club player Mark Broadie shows how analytical methods used in the world of fi nance—such as measuring risk versus reward—applied to the stats of professional golfers can help you develop a more eff ective golf strategy. Victory, he explains, may not belong to the stronger player but to the smarter.

LINCOLN’S BOYS: JOHN HAY, JOHN NICOLAY, AND THE WAR FOR LINCOLN’S IMAGE

By Joshua Zeitz ◗ Combining lively prose and extensive research, historian Joshua Zeitz argues that two of the 16th president’s closest aides “helped invent the Lincoln we know today” with what they wrote about him in the aftermath of his assassination. Zeitz doesn’t try to debunk the image of the Great Emancipator as a wise and moral leader; he just points out that in Lincoln’s own time, opinions about the president were decidedly mixed. Hay and Nicolay, Zeitz writes, sought to secure for history the reputation of the exceptional man they served.

PERFECT: A NOVEL

By Rachel Joyce ◗ A woman driving her children to school detours into a seedy neighborhood to avoid a traffi c jam and accidently hits a girl on a bike. The girl is badly injured. Or is she? Whatever the truth, the collision’s consequences reverberate throughout Rachel Joyce’s poignant, suspenseful and multi-layered novel set in late 20th-century London. The plot unfolds primarily through the eyes of 11-year-old Byron, whose beloved mother is behind the wheel. Chapters interspersed throughout focus on a gentle, enigmatic man named Jim. When the two narratives converge, it makes for a hopeful ending that will long resonate with readers.

LAND AND WINE: THE FRENCH TERROIR

By Charles Frankel ◗ If you roll your eyes when a self-proclaimed wine expert goes on about terroir, this book will make you think diff erently about the subject. Professional geologist and passionate wine enthusiast Charles Frankel takes us on a fascinating tour of the terroir—“the combination of geography, geology and climate that gives each wine its special character”—of France’s great wine regions, from Alsace to Anjou, Bordeaux to Burgundy. A great read for anyone who wants to appreciate that next glass of French wine just a little bit more—or quiet that droning “expert.”