Earth by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Grand Central Publishing)
“Jon Stewart takes readers through a clever look at various aspects of earthly living. With an Alien Preface, this guide is a handbook for post-human existence. Stewart and the writers of the Daily Show take these planetary outsiders through the gamut of all things Earth: from our of understanding of planetary geography to weather to evolution to the human body to reproduction. Our views of politics, science, and social practices, such as religion and weddings, are explained.” -Peyton read more
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
“Jonathan Franzen has created the typical, dysfunctional, American family. However, they are not so dysfunctional as to not be believable or seem forced. This book is not horribly plot driven. It is all about character development on this one. So even though this book is not overflowing with huge calamities at every turn it still manages to be a page turner. I loved this book.” -Ellen read more
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (Doubleday)
“It’s the day before your ninth birthday and you mother is baking a practice birthday cake in preparation for tomorrow. You take your first bite and instead of tasting your all time favorite, lemon cake, you taste your mother’s sadness. Thus begins a lifetime of being able to taste peoples emotions in the food that they prepare. Imagine being able to taste your mother’s affair in the dinners she cooks, your brothers disappearance in the toast he fixes for you. Aimee Bender has grabbed my attention and my heart. This was the first book of hers that I have read and I am now on a huge Bender kick.” -Zita read more from John P.
Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant (Random House)
“Survival and sustenance, high adventure in one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world where both tropical and alpine conditions co-exist is the setting of this book. It is 1997 and the place is the very farthest Far East right above North Korea, to the east of China and bordered on the east by the Sea of Japan, a place called Primorye. The area is all Russian. This is where men and women escaped the ravages of boom towns that disintegrated almost as quickly as they were formed after perestroika, men and women who would rather live off the land than try and amass paper money devalued to almost nothing overnight. The area was and is ripe in game, pine nuts, forests and the amur tiger, a god-like beast revered and feared. Unfortunately poachers from within and beyond the country had been killing this tiger to near extinction for its bones, organs, flesh and blood and its very spirit . . .
The author has written for Outside, the New Yorker and National Geographic. He has an obvious talent for bringing individual adventure driven events in the Jon Krakauer mode into the warp and weave of a total cosmos (the Russian Far East) rendered in many different perspectives. If it weren’t for his amazing story and his ability to tell it, we might be overwhelmed with so much information. But the facts and the story flow and feed off each other (no puns intended here) as he welds animal and human lives together.” -Pat read more
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