2009 Non Fiction Book Club Favorites


Our Book Clubs vote on their favorites of the books discussed. Here are their top four favorites of 2009.

The Eaves of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars (Paperback)

By Andrew X. Pham
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780307381217
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Broadway, 6/2009
Other Editions of this Title
First place went to The Eaves of Heaven by Andrew X. Pham, an excellent selection.   Catfish and Mandala proved he could write, but he surpassed its promise with this moving portrait of his father’s life.  It astonishes me that Pham creates such utterly lovely prose about such terrible times. Thong Van Pham’s family lived for  generations on an estate in a North Vietnamese village. Their property included thousands of acres, a mansion, and a second home in Hanoi. The Pham’s flourished under French rule, they lived on rich farm land with great wealth.  WWII brought mass starvation as the invading Japanese used the country to feed their soldiers. Vietnam rejoiced when the Japanese were defeated, believing they would be free but a deal was cut with the French and an unwilling nation returned to the yoke of colonial rule.  Resistance was inevitable.  By day the French used brutal mercenaries to torture and kill any villager thought to cooperate with the rebels.  At night resistance fighters demanded food and money.  Deny either and death was the reward.  Pham’s family fled south. America tried to rescue the ARVN forces attempting to rout the Viet Cong.  In a short time the culture and lifestyle enjoyed by generations was eradicated by war.

Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family (Paperback)

By Lauren Kessler, Theodore R. Kulongoski
$19.95
ISBN-13: 9780870714177
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Oregon State University Press, 8/2008
Other Editions of this Title
Second place went to  Stubborn Twig by Lauren Kessler, this year’s featured Oregon Reads book & Bend’s Novel Idea.  Masuo Yasui immigrated to Hood River Oregon with the same dreams as any other immigrant, a better life.  He studied hard to learn English and worked tirelessly to build his business.  His striving paid off with a general store and orchard.  Life looked good for the Yasui family until December 7th 1941.  The American Dream came crashing down for Yasui when he was imprisoned as a spy and his family sent off to an internment camp.  How do you put your life back together after being ripped away from your home, your business, your way of life? 

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance (Paperback)

By Barack Obama
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9781400082773
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Broadway, 8/2004
Other Editions of this Title
Third place went to Dreams From My Father by President Barack Obama.  Theses are momentous times, we have just elected our first black president, it has been long overdue.  President Barack Obama has a more varied background than any of our prior presidents.  His father was from Kenya, Barack lived in Indonesia as a young boy, he worked organizing the poor in Illinois.  This man has had varied experiences that influence who he is today.  

A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America (Paperback)

By Tony Horwitz
$19.00
ISBN-13: 9780312428327
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Picador, 4/2009
Other Editions of this Title
 Fourth place went to A Voyage Long and Strange by Pulitzer winner Tony Horwitz (somehow I think the Pulitzer meant more to him than winning our book club favorites). Tony is the product of a “good education’, private schools and ivy league college. On a trip along the east coast he stopped at Plymouth Rock, a disappointing cheap tourist trap today.  It got him thinking about American history and the woeful inadequacy of his education. His book sets the record straight on the early years of North America.  I felt on pretty firm ground with Leif Ericson, but my confidence declined with his siblings. I was blissfully ignorant of Leif’s murderous sister Freydis.  I was aware of Columbus, Hernando de Soto, Coronado's trek north to the Grand Canyon, and the bad Pizarro brothers.  But Cabeza de Vaca’s amazing journey across thousands of miles of unknown territory took me by surprise.  He was one of 3 survivors from 242 soldiers Narvaes sailed off and abandoned in the swamps of Florida. To remain alive among the native population he learned to be a healer, becoming revered by the tribes. It is an astonishing story; I will read more about Cabeza de Vaca in A Land so Strange by Andre Resandez.  Spanish St. Augustine Florida was the first successful settlement. Tony pokes into the various nooks and crannies of history, he gives us a look at what the land is like today.  It is not unusual to find sites of historic importance buried beneath the asphalt of a parking lot.  Respect for the past is often sadly lacking in our young nation.   
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