I often try to bring you books by authors you may not be familiar with. But these are by three of the best, most-respected authors working today. All these books have adult language and situations.
More years ago than I like to count, my best friend Tom and I spent our vacation reading the novel "Ragtime" by E.L. Doctorow aloud to each other. Well, mostly, I would read to him as he soaked up the sun and I sat in the shade. That summer, and that spectacular book, hold a special place in my heart. Doctorow's beautiful writing is a joy to read aloud, and this is proved once more in his newest work, "Homer & Langley." Again delving into fictionalized history, the author imagines the lives of the infamous Collyer brothers, who lived in a brownstone across from Central Park in New York City and who gave the term "pack rat" a whole new dimension.
The story is told by Homer, the blind brother, who is two years younger than Langley. When they were boys, their parents went abroad every year and sent back tons of goodies, filling the house with "ancient Islamic tiles, or rare books, or a marble water fountain, or busts of Romans with no noses or missing ears, or antique armoires." Homer writes that "it was all very eclectic, ... and cluttered it might have seemed to outsiders, but it seemed normal and right to us and it was our legacy, Langley's and mine, this sense of living with things assertively inanimate, and having to walk around them." So the brothers became used to being surrounded by clutter. And they added to it. Boy, did they add to it.
I don't really want to tell you what the brothers went through, about the people who wandered in and out of their house like actors in a play, but I want to share samples of the wonderful writing. Read aloud Homer's words about being sightless in the city: "I liked the nice sharp sound of my stick on the granite steps of the bank. And inside I sensed the architecture of high ceilings and marble walls and pillars from the hollowed-out murmur of voices and the chill on my ears." It's like poetry! And here, Homer uses sound to take us through decades of time: "I was a vigorous walker and gauged the progress of our times by the changing sounds and smells of the streets. In the past the carriages and the equipages hissed or squeaked or groaned, the drays rattled, the beer wagons pulled by teams passed thunderously, and the beat behind all this music was the clopping of the hooves. Then the combustive put-put of the motorcars was added to the mix and gradually the air lost its organic smell of hide and leather, the odor of horse manure on hot days did not hang like a miasma over the street nor did one now often hear that wide-pan shovel of the street cleaners shlushing it up, and eventually ... it was all mechanical, the noise, as fleets of cars sailed past in both directions, horns tooting and policemen blowing their whistles." Wonderful! A book to savor.
Another all-time favorite book of mine was "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood, a grim and unforgettable vision of an alternative future America. Atwood continues her "speculative fiction" with "The Year of the Flood," which adds to the world she created in her novel "Oryx and Crake." It seems to be set in the second half of the 21st century. A lethal virus termed the "Waterless Flood" has destroyed most of the population: "It traveled through the air as if on wings, it burned through cities like fire, spreading germ-ridden mobs, terror and butchery. The lights were going out everywhere, ... systems were failing as their keepers died. It spelled total breakdown." We follow two female survivors, each alone and trying to find safety, and in flashbacks we learn their stories.
The women had been members of an eco-survivalist religious cult called God's Gardeners. As they describe everyday life in their world, the reader is pulled into their paranoia and fear. The fascist Corporations control everything; science and technology have introduced new animal forms, including bobkittens and rakunks, liobams, luminous green rabbits, kudzu moths, and a hybrid bee with a microchip in it that can "spy" on people.
Let's take a look at a sample of the writing, beautiful images amid the gloom: "The sun brightens in the east, reddening the blue-grey haze that marks the distant ocean. The vultures roosting on hydro poles fan out their wings to dry them, opening themselves like black umbrellas. One and then another lifts off on the thermals and spirals upwards. If they plummet suddenly, it means they've spotted carrion." Atwood insists she doesn't write science-fiction, but sci-fi fans, as well as language lovers, will probably like this remarkable book.
Author Thomas Pynchon has almost a cult following, partly because he seems to enjoy experimenting with literary genres, and with his newest, "Inherent Vice," he takes on the detective novel. It is set in the Southern California oceanside town of Gordita Beach. The normal ex-lover needing help from the P.I. setup soon grows into a plot with many offshoots, including the reemergence of the legendary island of Lemuria. Amid tons of fun late-1960s cultural references, large and small (Richard Nixon, "The Flying Nun," IBM punch cards), the book provides its own '60s soundtrack. (Really: visit Amazon.com.) I enjoyed the writing: "Sometimes in the shadows the view would light up, ... as if the contrast knob of Creation had been messed with just enough to give everything an underglow, a luminous edge, and promise that the night was about to turn epic somehow." Pynchon gives us "biblical, sailor-take-warning skies" and gems like this: "In the little apartment complexes the wind entered narrowing to whistle through the stairwells and ramps and catwalks, and the leaves of the palm trees outside rattled together with a liquid sound, so that from inside, in the darkened rooms, in louvered light, it sounded like a rainstorm, the wind raging in the concrete geometry, the palms beating together like the rush of a tropical downpour, enough to get you to open the door and look outside, and of course there'd only be the same hot cloudless depth of day, no rain in sight." I love the way the book ends. Pynchon fans will have a blast.
For book news, best-seller lists and more, go to www.record pub.com, click on "News" in the menu bar, then "Lifetimes," and look for "One for the Books" online. And visit my blog, "Shine A Light," at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light.
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BOOK NOTES, One for the Books Extra Online Exclusives:
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Follow me on Twitter @One4TheBooks.
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Check out my new blog on books, inspiration, fun and thought-provoking goodies! It’s called “Shine A Light!”
http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/
If you lose that link, go to www.recordpub.com. Click “Blogs” in the blue bar at the top of the page, and find “Shine A Light.”
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LOCAL BOOK CLUBS:
The Book Discussion Group at the Randolph Library meets the first Monday of the month, except August, at 6:30 p.m. in the Randolph Senior Center. The group is open to everyone, and new members are always welcome. The library will stock copies of the books each month. Call the library at 330-325-7003.
Pierce-Streetsboro Library’s Book Discussion Group meets regularly on the second Monday of each month at 6:45 p.m. in the library’s meeting room. New members are always welcome to attend and participate in the discussion. The library is located at 8990 Kirby Lane in Streetsboro, next to the administrative offices of the Streetsboro City Schools. For more information, call the library at 330-626-4458.
The Book Discussion Group at the Mogadore Branch of the Akron-Summit County Library, 144 S. Cleveland Ave., 330-628-9228, meets at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays to discuss books.
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NCR Book Club has published a review of THE COPRESIDENCY OF BUSH AND CHENEY by Shirley Anne Warshaw:
http://ncronline.org/node/14742
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From Shelf Awareness: New Titles Out September 8:
You Were Always Mom's Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives by Deborah Tannen
Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin by Kathy Griffin
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Dexter by Design: A Novel by Jeff Lindsay
The National Parks: America's Best Idea by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A. J. Jacobs
Now in paperback:
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
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New Titles Out September 14 and 15:
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
True Compass: A Memoir by Edward M. Kennedy
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters
No Time to Wave Goodbye: A Novel by Jacquelyn Mitchard
Guinness World Records 2010
Now in paperback:
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
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Publishers Weekly Best Sellers
By The Associated Press
HARDCOVER FICTION
1. “Alex Cross’s Trial” by James Patterson, Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown)
2. “Dark Slayer” by Christine Feehan (Berkley)
3. “South of Broad” by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese)
4. “Spartan Gold (A Fargo Adventure)” by Clive Cussler, Grant Blackwood (Putnam Adult)
5. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam/Amy Einhorn)
6. “The White Queen” by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone)
7. “Homer & Langley” by E. L. Doctorow (Random House)
8. “206 Bones: A Novel” by Kathy Reichs (Scribner)
9. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
10. “Dead and Gone” by Charlaine Harris (Ace)
11. “The Eleventh Victim” by Nancy Grace (Hyperion)
12. “The Spire” by Richard North Patterson (Holt)
13. “That Old Cape Magic: A Novel” by Richard Russo (Knopf)
14. “A Gate at the Stairs” by Lorrie Moore (Knopf)
15. “Smash Cut” by Sandra Brown (Simon & Schuster)
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I” by Julia Child, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle (Knopf)
2. “Culture of Corruption: Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies” by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing)
3. “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment” by Steve Harvey (Amistad)
4. “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown)
5. “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect” by Ronald Kessler (Crown)
6. “Strength in What Remains” by Tracy Kidder (Random House)
7. “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions)
8. “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” by Christopher McDougall (Knopf)
9. “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion)
10. “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity” by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway)
11. “Catastrophe” by Dick Morris, Eileen McGann (Harper)
12. “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook” by Debbie Macomber (Harlequin)
13. “Flat Belly Diet! Cookbook” by Liz Vaccariello with Cynthia Sass (Rodale)
14. “NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children” by Po Bronson, Ashley Merryman (Twelve)
15. “Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care” by T.R. Reid (The Penguin Press)
MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS
1. “Scarpetta” by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley)
2. “92 Pacific Boulevard: A Cedar Cove Novel” by Debbie Macomber (Mira)
3. “Heat Seeker” by Lora Leigh (Saint Martin’s Paperbacks)
4. “Divine Justice” by David Baldacci (Vision)
5. “Extreme Measures” by Vince Flynn (Pocket)
6. “Hunting Ground” by Patricia Briggs (Ace)
7. “Storm of Shadows” by Christina Dodd (Signet)
8. “The Brass Verdict” by Michael Connelly (Grand Central)
9. “Obsidian Prey” by Jayne Castle (Jove)
10. “From Dead to Worse” by Charlaine Harris (Ace)
11. “Dead Until Dark” by Charlaine Harris (Ace)
12. “The Darkest Whisper” by Gena Showalter (HQN)
13. “A Good Woman” by Danielle Steel (Dell)
14. “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane (HarperCollins)
15. “The Quickie” by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge (Vision)
TRADE PAPERBACKS
1. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger (Mariner Books)
2. “The Shack” by William P. Young (Windblown Media)
3. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson (Vintage)
4. “My Life in France” by Julia Child, Alex Prud’Homme, (Anchor)
5. “Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine” by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions)
6. “The Weight of Silence” by Heather Gudenkauf (Mira)
7. “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)
8. “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin)
9. “Olive Kitteredge” by Elizabeth Strout (Random House Trade Paperbacks)
10. “Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously” by Julie Powell (Back Bay Books)
11. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial)
12. “The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel” by Garth Stein (Harper)
13. “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith (Quirk Books)
14. “Freakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow)
15. “Home: A Novel” by Marilynne Robinson (Picador)
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WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERS
By The Associated Press
FICTION
1. “Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)” by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press)
2. “Alex Cross’s Trial” by James Patterson, Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown)
3. “Dark Slayer” by Christine Feehan (Berkley)
4. “South of Broad” by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese)
5. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam/Amy Einhorn)
6. “Spartan Gold (A Fargo Adventure)” by Clive Cussler, Grant Blackwood (Putnam Adult)
7. “The White Queen” by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone)
8. “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
9. “Breaking Dawn” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown for Young Readers)
10. “Homer & Langley” by E. L. Doctorow (Random House)
11. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
12. “Blood Promise: A Vampire Academy Novel” by Richelle Mead (Razorbill)
13. “206 Bones: A Novel” by Kathy Reichs (Scribner)
14. “Dead and Gone” by Charlaine Harris (Ace Hardcover)
15. “The Eleventh Victim” by Nancy Grace (Hyperion)
NONFICTION
1. “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck, and Sidonie Coryn (Alfred A. Knopf)
2. “Culture of Corruption: Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies” by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing)
3. “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company)
4. “In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect” by Ronald Kessler (Crown)
5. “StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths” by Tom Rath (Gallup Press)
6. “Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You” by Terry Walters (Sterling Epicure)
7. “A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity” by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway)
8. “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions)
9. “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment” by Steve Harvey (Amistad)
10. “Strength in What Remains” by Tracy Kidder (Random House)
11. “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” by Christopher McDougall (Knopf)
12. “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion)
13. “Catastrophe” by Dick Morris, Eileen McGann (Harper)
14. “How to Smell a Rat: The Five Signs of Financial Fraud” by Ken Fisher, Lara W. Hoffmans (Wiley)
15. “Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care” by T.R. Reid (The Penguin Press)
The Wall Street Journal’s list reflects nationwide sales of hardcover books during the week ended last Saturday at more than 2,500 Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton, Bookland, Books-a-Million, Books & Co., Bookstar, Bookstop, Borders, Brentano’s, Coles, Coopersmith, Doubleday, Scribners and Waldenbooks stores, as well as sales from online retailers Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.
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USA Today Best Sellers
By The Associated Press
Key: F-Fiction; NF-Nonfiction; H-Hardcover; P-Paperback
1. “Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)” by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press) (F-H)
2. “92 Pacific Boulevard: A Cedar Cove Novel” by Debbie Macomber (Mira)(F-P)
3. “Eclipse” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-H)
4. “Alex Cross’s Trial” by James Patterson, Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown) (F-H)
5. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger (Mariner Books) (F-P)
6. “A Good Woman” by Danielle Steel (Dell) (F-P)
7. “New Moon” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P)
8. “Dark Slayer” by Christine Feehan (Berkley) (F-H)
9. “Scarpetta” by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley) (F-P)
10. “Breaking Dawn” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-H)
11. “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P)
12. “The Shack” by William P. Young (Windblown Media) (F-P)
13. “Glenn Beck’s Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine” by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions) (NF-P)
14. “South of Broad” by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese) (F-H)
15. “Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I” by Julia Child, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle (Knopf) (NF-H)
16. “Divine Justice” by David Baldacci (Vision) (F-P)
17. “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing) (F-H)
18. “Spartan Gold (A Fargo Adventure)” by Clive Cussler, Grant Blackwood (Putnam Adult) (F-H)
19. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson (Vintage) (F-P)
20. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam/Amy Einhorn) (F-H)
21. “Storm of Shadows (The Chosen Ones)” by Christina Dodd (Signet) (F-P)
22. “Blood Promise: A Vampire Academy Novel” by Richelle Mead (Razorbill) (F-H)
23. “Extreme Measures” by Vince Flynn (Pocket) (F-P)
24. “Heat Seeker” by Lora Leigh (Saint Martin’s Paperbacks) (F-P)
25. “Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association” by American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association) (NF-P)
26. “My Life in France” by Julia Child, Alex Prud’Homme, (Anchor) (NF-P)
27. “Dead Until Dark” by Charlaine Harris (Ace) (F-P)
28. “Culture of Corruption: Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies” by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing) (NF-H)
29. “Hunting Ground” by Patricia Briggs (Ace) (F-P)
30. “The Brass Verdict” by Michael Connelly (Grand Central Publishing) (F-P)
31. “Acts of Mercy: A Mercy Street Novel” by Mariah Stewart (Ballantine) (F-P)
32. “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) (NF-P)
33. “Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously” by Julie Powell (Back Bay Books) (NF-P)
34. “The White Queen” by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone) (F-H)
35. “The Quickie” by James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge (Vision) (F-P)
36. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre (Arthur A. Levine Books) (F-P)
37. “The Keepsake” by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine) (F-P)
38. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial) (F-P)
39. “The Darkest Whisper” by Gena Showalter (HQN) (F-P)
40. “From Dead to Worse” by Charlaine Harris (Ace)(F-P)
41. “My Sister’s Keeper: A Novel” by Jodi Picoult (Pocket) (F-P)
42. “The Weight of Silence” by Heather Gudenkauf (Mira) (F-P)
43. “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak (HarperTrophy) (F-P)
44. “Shutter Island” by Dennis Lehane (HarperCollins) (F-P)
45. “206 Bones: A Novel” by Kathy Reichs (Scribner) (F-H)
46. “The Bodies Left Behind” by Jeffery Deaver (Pocket Star) (F-P)
47. “The Laird Who Loved Me” by Karen Hawkins (Pocket) (F-P)
48. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson (Knopf) (F-H)
49. “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown) (NF-H)
50. “Living Dead in Dallas” by Charlaine Harris (Ace) (F-P)
Reporting stores include Amazon.com, B. Dalton Bookseller, Barnes & Noble.com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Books-A-Million and Bookland, Booksamillion.com, Borders Books & Music, Bookstar, Bookstop, Brentano’s, Davis Kidd Booksellers in Nashville, Jackson, Memphis, Tenn., Doubleday Book Shops, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Cleveland), Powell’s Books (Portland, Ore.), Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers (Madison, Conn.), Schuler.
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The following authors are making the media rounds, visiting talk shows, and/or talking about their books:
-- Melvin Van Peebles, Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
--Frank Partnoy, Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets
--Douglas Brinkley, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
--Carolyn Rubenstein, author of Perseverance: True Voices of Cancer Survivors
--Susan Olsen, author of Love to Love You Bradys: The Bizarre Story of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour
--Haleh Esfandiari, author of My Prison, My Home: One Woman's Story of Captivity in Iran
--Nancy Kay, author of Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life
--Irene Pepperberg, author of Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process
--Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, author of Bending Toward the Sun: A Mother and Daughter Memoir
--George Foreman, author of Knockout Entrepreneur
--Bill Knoedelseder, author of I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-up Comedy's Golden Era
--Linda Perlman Gordon and Susan Morris Shaffer, authors of Too Close for Comfort?: Questioning the Intimacy of Today's New Mother-Daughter Relationship
--Ted Bell, author of Nick of Time
--Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals
--Michael Schaffer, author of One Nation Under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food
--Tom Ridge, author of The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege . . . And How We Can Be Safe Again
--Jane Goodall, author of Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink
--Helen Scales, author of Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality
--Alex Dryden, author of Red to Black
--Frances Largeman-Roth, Feed the Belly: The Pregnant Mom's Healthy Eating Guide
--Carolyn Rubenstein, author of Perseverance: True Voices of Cancer Survivors
--Po Bronson, NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
--Henry Kaufman, The Road to Financial Reformation: Warnings, Consequences, Reforms
--Alex S. Jones, author of Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy
--Bill Donohue, Secular Sabotage: How Liberals Are Destroying Religion and Culture in America
--Robert Baer, The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower
--Colin Beavan, No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process
--Kaylie Jones, Lies My Mother Never Told Me: A Memoir
--Frank Bruni, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater
--Alison Gopnik, The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life
-- Nathan Rabin, The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture
--Alex S. Jones, Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy
--Stephanie Covington Armstrong, Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat: A Story of Bulimia
--Nancy Rappaport, In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide
--Nina Garcia, author of The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart
--Reif Larsen, author of The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
--Susan Allport, The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them
--Benjamin Moser, Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
--Richard Wrangham, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
--Sam Tanenhaus, The Death of Conservatism
--Helen Scales, author of Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality
--Darius Rejali, author of Torture & Democracy
--Paula Deen, author of The Deen Family Cookbook
--Steven Hayward, author of The Age of Reagan: The Conservative Counterrevolution, 1980-1989
--Stephen Meyer, author of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design
--General Tony Zinni, Leading the Charge: Leadership Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom
--Jonathan Kozol, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America
--Jessica Dulong, author of My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson
--Nancy Rappaport, author of In Her Wake: A Child Psychiatrist Explores the Mystery of Her Mother's Suicide
--Ammon Shea, author of Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages
--Richard Russo, That Old Cape Magic
--Nina Garcia, The Style Strategy: A Less-Is-More Approach to Staying Chic and Shopping Smart
--Alice Eve Cohen, What I Thought I Knew
--Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin
--Suzanne Simons, author of Master of War: Blackwater USA's Erik Prince and the Business of War
--Fred Kaplan, 1959: The Year Everything Changed
--David Helvarg, Rescue Warriors: The U.S. Coast Guard, America's Forgotten Heroes
--Crystal Renn, author of Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves
--Judy Shepard, author of The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed
--Rod Blagojevich, author of The Governor
--Jorge Posada, author of Fit Home Team: The Posada Family Guide to Health, Exercise, and Nutrition the Inexpensive and Simple Way
--50 Cent and Robert Greene, authors of The 50th Law
--Jessica DuLong, author of My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson
--Deborah Tannen, author of You Were Always Mom's Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives
--Jeffrey Ross, author of I Only Roast the Ones I Love: Busting Balls Without Burning Bridges
--Ruby Gettinger, author of Ruby's Diary: Reflections on All I've Lost and Gained
--Nicholson Baker, author of The Anthologist
--Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties
--NeNe Leakes, author of Never Make the Same Mistake Twice: Lessons on Love and Life Learned the Hard Way
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Here are links to other recent One for the Books columns. More links are available on my blog at http://blogs.dixcdn.com/shine_a_light/one-for-the-books/
Thrillers, Dark and Grisly -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4656532
Celebrating Woodstock -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4647537
A Potpourri of Fiction -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4638792
Memorable Friendships -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4634430
Three Fictional Visits to Africa -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4625472
Surprising Adventures in the Lives of Monks -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4616188
Mysteries for Summer Reading -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4606477
Father’s Day Gift Ideas -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4596658
Novels Set in India -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4592641
Books for Mom -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4583126
Historical Thrillers -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4573374
Picture Books for Children -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4563834
WWII Internment of Japanese Americans -- http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4554807
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