Debra suggests : The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

"What shall we have for dinner?" is often called the omnivore's dilemma as we choose among the countless offerings of nature and try to assess our foods' safety, nutritive value,health benefits and potential implications for the health of our environment. Best selling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and often shocking examination of eating in America is an eye opener. As we begin to recognize the profound implications of our everyday food choices, we realize that we really are what we eat and what we eat can remake the world. -DB

Sue Suggests: Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

There are no age restrictions for Fantasy and Science Fiction lovers because you might miss a great story! Suzanne Collins' Hunger Game Trilogy is proof of this. The story takes place in a dystopian society where annually young people are chosen by lottery to participate in the Hunger Games--a fight for their very lives! The book brings adventure, romance, and science fiction together to create a "can't put it down story" and leaves you yearning for the next book in the trilogy. I have doubled my pleasure by reading the first two books in the series and am waiting impatiently for the final chapter of the Hunger Games Trilogy.



Book 1: The Hunger Games

Book 2: Catching Fire

Calling All Readers!

Looking for something new to do this Saturday?

Here's your invitation to join a fun, informal book chat. This isn't a book group; we won't be discussing a specific title. Instead, share your reading list, get great suggestions for new books to read, and hear about the great titles that others are reading. You'll hear descriptions of everything from Cheever's short stories to the latest Robert B. Parker. No sign-up necessary, just drop by the Hills Branch for a fun and lively hour of talk about books.

Saturday September 26th, from 11:00 am to 12:00 noon
Hills Branch Library 210 Washington St.

Megan Suggests: Beginner's Greek

Beginner's Greek by James Collins

Here’s a romance from the male perspective which is also a comedy of missed connections. Not too light, not too heavy, with lots of plot twists and turns. This was rumored to be Oprah’s next pick, but it didn’t turn out to be. Enjoy it anyway.

Mike Suggests: Stitches

Stitches by David Small

In one of the most anticipated graphic memoirs of the Fall season, Caldecott Medal award-winning artist David Small relates his childhood spent suffering inexplicable and dreaded silences from his mother, radiology treatments imposed by his father, the madness of his grandmother, and escaping it all through his drawings and artistry. It's a beautifully told tale of heartbreaking family dysfunction reminiscent of Alison Bechtel's Fun Home or Dash Shaw's Bottomless Belly Button. This is a memoir that is sure to be an enduring example in the graphic novel cannon for some time.

Tyson Suggests: The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan

Compared to your standard history of science books, which describe individuals, timelines, and advances, Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World takes on the history of the scientific method and casts it as a method of dispelling myths and fictitious notions. Written by one of the foremost thinkers in his arena, Sagan shows how--in our scientifically-advanced world--superstitions, conspiracy theories, and junk science still thrive and sends out the clarion call to develop more awareness through education and application of critical thinking. A discussion between Sagan and his cab driver may strike a cord with many of us, where the cabbie lays out his belief how life on Mars has been proven by the face on the surface on the planet--showing how pervasive our lack of scientific literacy can be.

Jonathan Suggests: Dork Tower

Dork Tower, volume 1: Dork Covenant by John Kovalic

Dork Covenant comically introduces us to the world of the maligned and misunderstood gamer as exemplified by resident dorks Matt, Igor, Carson, and Ken.

Kovalic's simplified black and white artwork places the emphasis where it belongs, on the characters and the plot. Some graphic novels draw the reader with great inking or smooth layering. Dork Tower offers something much more substantial.

The star of this volume is a gem for Lord of the Rings fans and can be found on pages 67-73. That strip captures the essence of this web-comic turned graphic novel.

Every volume sees growth in the plot and the characters. Kovalic touches on relevant issues from the time whether the invasion of collectible minis, the latest video game system, or being a Mac or PC person.

Not everything is an inside joke that only uber geeks can understand, which is a trap other comics fall for. Kovalic broadens the scope for a general audience while maintaining multiple levels of comprehension.

At the heart of Dork Tower are the characters. We feel their pain and their joy as they suffer unemployment, enter relationships, and support one another as friends should. Dork Tower has a little of everything and it starts with Volume 1: Dork Covenant. Grab it today from the Graphic Novel kiosk on the 2^nd floor behind the stairwell. You won't regret it.

Mike Suggests: Black Mass

Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill

Between the 1970's and 1990's, the Boston crime world was impacted and largely run by one man from South Boston: James "Whitey" Bulger. What most of his associates didn't know was that Whitey Bulger was also an informant for the FBI. In Black Mass, two staff writers from the Boston Globe take on the difficult task of drawing together testimony and the FBI's secret files (as well as reading between the lines) in order to show how the FBI colluded with one of the most notorious gangsters in Boston. It's chilling to read as the facts pile up and serve to strengthen the argument that Whitey Bulger was the one controlling his relationship as an informant--getting away with murder, extortion, and drug running while drawing down threats presented to his own gang from La Cosa Nostra in New England. I'd suggest complementing the book by watching Martin Scorsese's take on the tale in his award-winning movie The Departed.

Mike Suggests: Bayou

Bayou by Jeremy Love

Bayou is the first print release from DC’s Zuda line, which begin as web-based comics created by amateurs and voted on by fans. Set in the Deep South during the dark years of Jim Crow, Lee’s life is thrown into turmoil as her sharecropper father is unjustly accused of kidnapping Lily, her white playmate. Setting out to find Lily takes her to the last place Lee saw her, in the bayou—which acts like the looking-glass in the Alice in Wonderland stories, transporting her to a mythological world. If the strength of Bayou is anything to judge by, more Zuda comics will be published in print format and pick up in popularity, and make sure to visit the page for Bayou on Zuda if you’d like to continue beyond the first volume released in print.

Rob Suggests: Underground

Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weather Underground by Mark Rudd

At the height of the 1960s student anti-war movement, Mark Rudd’s name and face came to represent the nation-wide phenomena of student radicalism. He was a leader of the Columbia University strike of 1968 and went on to national leadership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Weather Underground. Forty years later, we have his story. An insightful, thought-provoking and critical memoir it is. As crazy as the Weather Underground’s actions and ideas were, Rudd’s very personal account gives readers a clear understanding of just how it all came about: how a group of very intelligent, idealistic students could so misread their country to think that they were leading a Revolution in the United States. Just as the author is unsparing in his criticism of the SDS leadership and Weathermen (including his own role) he is unwavering in his criticism of United States foreign policy then and now. If you want a refreshing, insightful inside view of the anti-war movement, this is definitely a good choice.

Debra Suggests: The Visitor

The Visitor (DVD)

Walter Vale is a widower teaching economics at a Connecticut university, living alone and no longer motivated by his work. In New York to present a paper at a conference, he goes to the apartment that he has not visited in some time but has kept since his wife was alive, only to discover a young couple living there. Despite their great cultural differences, Walter befriends Tarek, a Syrian citizen and drummer and gradually builds a friendship with Esi, his girlfriend from Senegal. One day, when returning from Central Park with Walter, Tarek is arrested for jumping a stuck subway turnstile despite the fact that he had paid. The police discover he does not have legal papers and transfer him to an immigrant detention center in Queens. Feeling responsible for and connected to Tarek, Walter decides to stay in New York to help and support him. Not hearing from her son, Tarek's mother arrives from Michigan to find out why, and she and Walter support one another while they attempt to free Tarek.

Peggy Suggests: My Antonia

My Antonia by Willa Cather

In Jim Burden's accounting of his life with, and without, Antonia Shimerda, readers are transported to the hardscrabble Nebraska prairie and the rural immigrant experience. When Jim first sees the Shimerda family, immigrants from Bohemia, disembarking from the same train that is taking him West to live with his grandparents, he has no idea the impact they will have on his life. Nostalgically, he remembers the good and bad times they had on their respective farms and creates his portrait of Antonia, an independent and tough survivor.

Megan Suggests: Free Food for Millionaires

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Lee mixes feminism and cultural awareness to create a sweeping story of first-generation Korean Americans finding their way between the old world and the new. Casey Han, her 22-year-old heroine, is having trouble turning her Princeton economics degree into a job. When her authoritarian father throws her out, she goes to her white boyfriend for solace only to find him in bed with two sorority girls. Just as all looks lost, she meets a rich school acquaintance, Ella Shim, who offers her a place to stay and convinces her fiance to help Casey get a job. Casey's taste for expensive clothes keeps her in debt, Ella's shyness makes it easy for her husband to cheat on her, and Casey's father's coldness makes it hard for her mother to ignore kindness from another quarter. With very broad strokes and great detail, Lee paints colorful three-dimensional characters and outlines inter-generational and cultural struggles brilliantly.

Mike Suggests: Last Train to Memphis

Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick

The first in a two-volume series chronicling the life of the King of Rock and Roll, Peter Guralnick has written the definitive biography of an American Icon. If you don't like Elvis's music before reading this, you'll be a convert after finishing it. Be sure to read the book while listening to the recordings, such as Elvis's legendary and ground-breaking Sun Studio Recordings.