Memory Chalet, Paperback/Tony Judt

A collection of stirring and poignant personal essays from the leading historian. In 2008 Judt learned that he was suffering from a disease that would eventually trap his mind in a declining and immobile body, so he revisited the past in an effort to keep himself sane. These essays recall everything from his youthful love of a particular London bus route to a roadtrip across America, and each one also evokes a foray into history.