The Memory of Love by Linda Olsson is set in New Zealand when Marion Flint, a woman in her early 50s, suddenly finds herself caring for a young boy trying to get away from a dangerous situation. As she sets about trying to meet his needs, she slowly opens her heart to the memories of her past. It's not only the locale that makes this book a breath of fresh air to read, but Olsson's writing is lyrical and easy as well.
Mary S @ Zablocki (Center Street)
Styled in the fashion of an actual eighteenth-century memoir, Pyg: The Memoir of Toby the Learned Pig is an amusing little book. Toby's life goes through all sorts of exciting little adventures, from barely avoiding the slaughterhouse after winning the grand prize at a fair, to becoming part of an all-animal circus and beyond. The tale is quite grounded for a concept that could have easily been taken away with whimsy or sentimentality, though sometimes this leads to the story feeling almost a little too dry and serious for the story of an intelligent pig.
For those who love the stories of Babe and Wilbur or any of the other yarns about smart swine, Pyg is definitely worth a read. The pace is steady enough so that the concept never outstays its welcome, and there are a few nice moments where the author (Russell Potter disguises himself as the 'editor' to increase the illusion that the book is indeed the memoir of the porcine protagonist) manages to touch upon deeper themes without getting preachy. Check it out from your local library today!
Tim @ Central
I'll tell you one thing; rock n rollers aren't the only ones who've dabbled into excess! Keith Richards has nothing over Edgar Allan Poe or Oscar Wilde. Lord Byron and Charles Baudelaire were indulging in shocking behavior long before Elvis ever shook his pelvis on television.
Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors by Andrew Shaffer is a delightful literary romp through a rogue's gallery of Western Literature's most famous misbehavers. We learn how Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald fueled the Jazz Age on gin fumes. We get a nice summary of the Marquis de Sade's literary and literal debauchery. Hemingway had issues, Truman Capote partied more than he wrote, Dorothy Parker could make a longshoreman blush, and Hunter S. Thompson truly takes the excess cake.
This fun book is like a compilation of gossip page headlines for the literary set. Fact filled, fun, and eye opening, this collection of short bio's will be a true hair of the dog for lovers of good literature and the people who wrote it.
Submitted by Dan@Central
Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from Marine Heroes of World War II by Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton should be taught in every high school across the country. It does not give battle reports and dates. It doesn't have a political agenda. It is simply a book of personal recollections of war in the Pacific from men who fought there. This is real. It's like sitting at your neighborhood tavern shooting the breeze with veterans of Guadalcanal and Okinawa and Peleliu. Each passage has a distinct voice and all of the voices, when strung together, tell the real story of warfare. It's not pretty. Friends being bayoneted, buddies blown to bits; slit trenches and wormy bread, bloated bodies bursting in the heat and staining your pants. These stories are real and within a few more years, there won't be any surviving veterans of WWII left to tell them. This book is important and vital and sad. No flag waving here, just stories of men and the horrors they faced while serving their country.
Dan K @ Central
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill is an epic novel spanning three decades that horror fans will enjoy because of its unsettling imagery and omnipresent dread.
Ever since Victoria McQueen helped police apprehend serial child abductor Charles Talent Manx, she can't keep out of trouble's way. Manx is in a coma and Vic is receiving phone calls from his victims. His dead victims.
The kids were never found; when they call, they tell Vic that they're not dead, they're thriving in a place called Christmasland. No matter how hard she tries, she can't forget the boy she found in the back seat of Manx's Rolls-Royce Wraith--a disturbing creature that looked like a vampire, with hooks for teeth.
So, that might sound creepy to you, but what really got me was Bing, the Gasmask Man, Manx's assistant. He's charged with trapping the mother's of Manx's victims; reading about the House of Sleep and Bing gassing his victims into submission nearly put me over the edge.
Jacki @ Central
As the summer settles in, no cookout or picnic is complete without snacks! But have you ever wondered why those potato chips, cookies, or soda taste so addictive? Michael Moss's recent book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us is an exploration of the places where biology, corporate profit, convenience, and food science overlap. Moss explores how the food industry has manipulated desirable ingredients (salt, sugar, fat) to enhance their food, creating a "bliss point" that our taste buds simply cannot resist. The book weaves together the rise of convenience food with information on our biological predispositions, nutritional needs, and susceptibility to food-related illness. The reader is introduced to the chemists that produce these convenience foods as well as the stealthy marketing devices corporations use to sell the products. This investigative work gives the modern reader a historical perspective on our current grocery store shelves. Journalistic in tone, this is a logical next read for anyone who has enjoyed books by authors like Michael Pollan or has an interest in the food industry.
Shannon @ Center Street
The Mediterranean Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone is much more than just a collection of amazing recipes, this cookbook has a brilliant introduction to slow cooking, as well as a comprehensive section on the items found in the Mediterranean pantry. Busy cooks interested in easy-to-prepare, healthy, and intriguing meals such as Greek shrimp with tomatoes and feta to lesser-known dishes such as creamy polenta lasagna, port-braised chicken and Bandit's Lamb will appreciate the wide range of delicious choices, clear and simple instructions, and mouth-watering photographs. Bon appetite!
Tricia @ Center Street