TBR List

Here is a sample of what I've placed on my "to be read" list:

• Caught by Harlan Coben. Coben is one of my favorite mystery/thriller writers, fast paced, smart plots, keeps getting better and better; and he's from Jersey. I'm looking forward to his latest which has gotten good notices so far.You can follow Coben on Facebook or read an excerpt from Caught
• The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. The story of our recent economic collapse told by facile writer Lewis of Liar's Poker fame. I have this title waiting for me in my audible.com queue. This got a good review from Michiko Kakutani.
• Anthill by E. O. Wilson. I read a short story by Wilson in the New Yorker all about an ant colony and its queen preparing for war with another colony. OK, I get it, ants are a lot like humans, but this full novel is a bit different from the NYer story. Harvard entomologist, Wilson, follows the life of Raff a budding naturalist, from his boyhood, through Harvard, and culminating in his effort to save  pristine woodlands from greedy developers.
• Private Life by Jane Smiley. About a mid-western girl, Margaret who meets and marries a brilliant physicist, Andrew in the late 19th century. Smiley, interested mostly in exploring the institution of marriage, bases her character on a couple of her real-life ancestors, who, by the way, have the same odd surname as my maternal great grandparents: See. I haven't read a thing by Smiley since the Pulitzer winning A Thousand Acres, but this one sounds interesting.
• Hell Hound On His Trail by Hampton Sides. I recently watched a captivating doc about the assassination of MLK, which focused on J E Ray. My interest has been piqued for a good book on the subject, especially by Hampton Sides. Sides is the author of Blood and Thunder, about Kit Carson, the Navajo (Dine) people and Manifest Destiny, which I enjoyed profusely. He also wrote Ghost Soldiers about a rescue mission during WWII.