Leslie Berlin’s List of Books that Make Life Better

Long, but so worth the effort. A wonderful storyteller lays out the history of genetics and biotech in such an effortless manner that you don’t even realize how much you’re learning.

I recently reread this novel and was struck again by Irving’s ability to tackle big subjects through great narrative. The women in the story are a bit one-dimensional, but overall, this is a really enjoyable Dickens-esque immersion in a now-disappeared time and place (in this case, mid-20th-century Maine).

Though I’m too much of a fraidy-cat ever to have made it through one of King’s other bestsellers, I turn to this memoir of his writing life not just for the superb storytelling, but also for the great advice on craft.