One Book, One City: Selection Announced

I would have recommended: Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod by Gary Paulsen.

Extremely funny story for outdoor enthuiast.

Or ... Boat Who wouldn't Float, by Farley Mowat. A book that anyone thinking about buying their first boat should read. Very funny!

I haven't heard of the Paulsen book, sounds interesting -- and the Mowat sounds hilarious. I like non-fiction adventure stories like those.

Of the 25 finalists, I have read 10, but I'm not very excited by this particular list of books. I'm a big fan of mysteries, but it seems like they're not the best choice for this kind of initiative -- for a wide-reaching program like this, I would try to pick something not quite so genre-specific as the Cornwell, Evanovich, or Grisham. I like your suggestions better.

Hmm, if I had to suggest a couple of titles, I might offer these (and I'm blanking on great non-fiction entries, so these are all fiction):

=> "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn -- a social satire which reminds me of Ionesco's "Rhinoceros"

=> "Enigma" by Robert Harris -- WW2 drama/spy novel, but more detailed and (dare I say) literary than most of that type; this includes some fascinating history of Bletchley Park and the cracking of the codes

=> "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden -- just a fascinating book, very detailed and well-researched, much more intricate than the movie

Paulsen normally writes children's books, but in this case he wrote about his Iditarod adventure.

Mowat is probably best known for his "Never Cry Wolf" book which was later made into a movie, but in any case ... both books are very funny and a good read.