ALMOST HOME By Pam Jenoff L’01 (Atria, 2009; $25.) Ten years after Jordan Weiss’s idyllic life as a graduate student and coxswain at Cambridge University is shattered by the drowning of Jared Short, her boyfriend and fellow crew member, she returns to London as a State Department intelligence officer. This time she discovers that Jared’s death was not an accident, and that he had been unearthing another secret when he was killed. Jenoff, a Philadelphia-based attorney, is the author of The Diplomat’s Wifeand The Kommandant’s Girl. BUY THIS BOOK
OBSERVING BIOETHICS By Renée C. Fox, faculty, and Judith P. Swazey (Oxford University Press, 2008; $45.) Bioethics deals not only with advances in biology, medicine, and biotechnology but also with the values and moral questions with which American society has been grappling. Fox, Annenberg Professor Emerita of the Social Sciences and Emerita Senior Fellow in the Center for Bioethics at Penn, and Swazey carefully examine the many aspects of this complex and evolving field. BUY THIS BOOK
BASEBALLS, BASKETBALLS AND MATZAH BALLS: What Sports Can Teach Us about the Jewish Holidays … and Vice Versa By Mitchell Smith C’70 (Author House, 2009; $19.95.) Teamwork, dedication, toughness, and a desire to triumph are the keystones of sports—and an undeniable part of Jewish history. Smith, director of sports psychology services at Florida Atlantic University, examines age-old Jewish traditions and how they relate to sports. BUY THIS BOOK
CÉZANNE’S OTHER: The Portraits of Hortense By Susan Sidlauskas Gr’89 (University of California Press, 2009; $49.95.) Paul Cézanne’s 24 oil portraits of his wife constitute a radical reformulation of modern portraiture. Sidlauskas, a former art-history professor at Penn who is now graduate director of art history at Rutgers, reveals Hortense as a crucial presence to the artist. BUY THIS BOOK
AN INTRODUCTION TO KANT’S MORAL PHILOSOPHY By Jennifer K. Uleman G’90 Gr’95 (Cambridge University Press, 2010; $28.99.) In clear, approachable language, Uleman, assistant professor of philosophy at Purchase College, provides a distillation of Kant’s distinctive moral philosophy that touches on questions of Kantian will, the categorical imperative, and human freedom. BUY THIS BOOK
SUNNYLANDS: Art and Architecture of the Annenberg Estate in Rancho Mirage, California Edited by David G. De Long, faculty (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. $34.95.) Built in the early 1960s by Walter W’31 Hon’66 and Leonore Annenberg Hon’85, the Sunnylands estate has become an icon of midcentury modernism. DeLong, professor emeritus of architecture at Penn, documents the estate’s history, from blueprints through completion, as well as visits by American presidents, British royalty, and a host of noted artists and actors. BUY THIS BOOK
THIS GREEN HOUSE: Home Improvements for the Eco-Smart, the Thrifty, and the Do-It-Yourselfer By Joshua Piven C’93 (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009; $15.95.) While the phrase “go green” has sometimes been more of an ideology than a practice, Piven—the author of As Luck Would Have It and The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook—provides more than 70 earth-friendly projects, from raising trout in your swimming pool to installing a root cellar. BUY THIS BOOK
PRIMITIVE MOOD By David Moolten M’87 Res’91 (Truman State University Press, 2009; $15.95.) Winner of the 2009 T.S. Eliot Prize, Moolten’s collection of poems uses myth and fairy tale as an ironic lens to examine society’s lost and marginalized. BUY THIS BOOK
BRIGHT TRIUMPHS FROM DARK HOURS: Turning Adversity into Success By David Heenan Gr’72 (University of Hawaii Press, 2010; $25.00.) By examining the stories of 10 extraordinary people who overcame overwhelming odds to succeed—from New York City school chancellor Joel Klein, who took on the daunting task of overhauling the city’s public-school system, to barrier-breaking African-American scientist Shirley Ann Jackson—Heenan pinpoints specific strategies that Americans can apply to their own struggles. BUY THIS BOOK
BOULEVARD By Bill Guttentag C’79 (Pegasus Books, 2009; $25.00.) A star-struck teenage girl flees home for Hollywood only to fall into crime and find herself in a community of runaways. Somehow, among the Tinsel Town castaways, she discovers love and friendship. BUY THIS BOOK
