My Favorite Books of 2013

               

2013 Fiction = The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Pulitzer Prize)

A peek inside the craziness that characterizes North Korea's closed and insanely dangerous society. I've always wondered what was behind what I see and read in the press. Adam Johnson's amazing tale of daily half-life and slow death north of the DMZ leaves the reader mesmerized by the illusions supporting that dark country.

2013 Fiction (Audio Book) = Cutting for Stone
by Abraham Verghese

I had read the book, but listening to Sunil Malhotra's melodic audio rendition of the story of twin brothers Marion and Shiva Stone doubled the pleasure of this wonderful, sad, and often gut-wrenching narrative.

2013 Nonfiction = In the Beginning Was the Spirit: Science, Religion, and Indigenous Spirituality by Diarmuid O’Murchu

O'Murchu expands the Christian consciousness to allow for a bigger, more mysterious deity than most of us allow. As the subtitle promises, the author melds the findings of science with "modern" and more primitive religious beliefs. Christians, prepare for a mind-bending but totally faith-filled reading experience.

Commentaries (c) 2013 by Alfred J. Garrotto