"A rich guy pretending to be a butler during the Great Depression, the great William Powell’s best part. Plus Carole Lombard. It’s a thoughtful riot."

"“Bud, Not Buddy” should be mandatory reading. The story of an orphan, determined to find his father, weaves in and out of an accurate illustration of life during the Great Depression. A feel-good tale that beautifully and painfully describes the determination of a young black boy."

"There’s no law against asking strangers about their lives and feelings, although sometimes it really feels like there is. This is the kind of thing I want to read all day long, on every aspect of life (and there’s more, Terkel collected oral histories on race, the great depression, movies and plays, etc.)"

"Studs Terkel was a radio host in Chicago who also wrote fantastic oral histories about 20th century America by interviewing regular people about their lives. He covered the Great Depression in Hard Times; World War II in The Good War; and, in this book, what people’s jobs mean to them. His books are invaluable time capsules of how Americans in previous generations spoke and thought about themselves."

"I just re-read Ask the Dust by John Fante. It’s semiautobiographical about a guy who’s trying to be a writer in Los Angeles, and it takes place during the Great Depression. It was one of my favorite books in college. It was crazy to re-read it in my 30s, as well as to live vicariously through some of the places that I haven’t seen in almost two months. I’m also trying to keep things light so I’ve been reading Fifty Great Short Stories by Milton Crane."

"I just re-read Ask the Dust by John Fante. It’s semiautobiographical about a guy who’s trying to be a writer in Los Angeles, and it takes place during the Great Depression. It was one of my favorite books in college. It was crazy to re-read it in my 30s, as well as to live vicariously through some of the places that I haven’t seen in almost two months. I’m also trying to keep things light so I’ve been reading Fifty Great Short Stories by Milton Crane."

"At first this book first gives you a ‘reader’s digest’ version of how the world leaders really were. That’s interesting enough. But it goes on to show you how the brain works when a person is depressed, and how to overcome it. It is fascinating and full of important information. I kept reading thinking “great to know the other side of our leaders we didn’t know.” But then, in the end, there is a surprise! It shows the current scientific findings of the link between depression and empathy, we knew only as a moral and idealistic trait. Now it seems they found a point of brain that corresponds to empathy, scientifically, which is connected to depression, its cause, and also as its cure."