Look Me In The Eye

Look Me In The Eye by John Elder Robison

This book details the fascinating life of John Elder Robison growing up with asperger's syndrome, before it had a name. As if that weren't hard enough, he does this with Augusten Burroughs parents. True, John Elder Robison is Augusten's brother. His life is just as exciting with a stint as a sound magician for KISS, fiery inferno bathtubs and wacky stunts, I couldn't put it down.

Mayflower

Mayflower : a story of courage, community, and war by Nathaniel Philbrick

This is a very engaging and readable recounting of the Pilgrims' trip to America and their early years in Plymouth. It gives a vivid account of what life was like and the issues they had to deal with.

Operating instructions

Operating instructions by Anne Lamott

As an expecting first time parent, this book was recommended to me and it is just superb. Lamott, in her honest and insightful way, journals the first year of life with her son. She writes about all the fears and frustrations of raising a baby (in her case as a single parent) that most people are afraid to talk about. It is very encouraging and funny.

Nice Place To Be [CD]

Nice place to be by The Fawns

Catchy, easy to groove to pop with lots of gentle melodies and enchanting beats.

Garden State Soundtrack [CD]

Garden State: music from the motion picture (Various performers)

From the Shins to Simon and Garfunkel to Iron and Wine this soundtrack has lots of shining moments.

Gentleman Ruffin [CD]

Gentleman Ruffin by David Ruffin

Ex-Temptation David Ruffin was is in mighty fine form on this 1980 solo offering. Don't be afraid of the disco production and don't hesitate to dust off your dancing shoes.

Dans Les Airs [CD]

Dans Les Airs by Le Vent du Nord

I picked up this CD because of the album cover—I was intrigued because one of the band members was shown playing the hurdy gurdy. As it turns out, there is some great hurdy gurdy playing, but there is much more: wonderful vocal harmonies, great fiddling, Québécois foot percussion, and always infectious melodies and driving rhythms. A great album.

The Time Traveler's Wife [DVD]

The time traveler's wife

A time bending tale of love trying to stretch to its limits. This science fiction film has characters who win you with their believability and their commitment never to give up on love.

The poet of Tolstoy Park

The poet of Tolstoy Park by Sonny Brewer

In 1925, given only a year to live by his doctor, Henry Stuart leaves his home and grown sons in Idaho to move to the woods on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, Alabama, where he builds a round house and lives for more than two decades, while visitors make a pilgrimage to visit him on the property he names after Leo Tolstoy. Very quirky, yet lovable character.

Emerson & Eros

Emerson & Eros by Len Gougeon

Emerson is considered to be a man of mythic proportions. His influence on his era was incalculable and extends forward into our own. What made a man who was unremarkable and uninspired into a legend who started a philosophy (Transcendentalism) and spurred others into action on large causes (women's suffrage, anti-slavery, etc...)? Gougeon explores these tantalizing questions.

Farewell, my Subaru

Farewell, my Subaru by Doug Fine

A practical and funny memoir of an ex-suburbanite's adventures creating a sustainable lifestyle in New Mexico, living "off the grid" with dairy goats, monsoons, and biofuels.

Cul de Sac

Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson

The first collection of Richard Thompson's wonderful daily comic strip. Cul de Sac has been compared to Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes, and yet manages to hold its own. Quirky, funny, animated, and totally addictive

The Yiddish Policemen's Union

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

In an alternate history where the US created a 'Pale of Settlement' for Jews after World War II in a desolate corner of Alaska, Yiddish is spoken, ultra-Orthodox gangsters control the islands and a lonely detective tries to solve the murder of a neighbor he barely knew. No ordinary crime novel, Chabon's language is extraordinarily rich and the setting imaginative and evocative.

Plato and a platypus walk into a bar: understanding philosophy through jokes

Plato and a platypus walk into a bar: understanding philosophy through jokes by Thomas Cathcart

A brief but hilarious introduction to Western philosophy as told through jokes. Learn while you laugh.

Rumspringa : to be or not to be Amish

Rumspringa : to be or not to be Amish by Tom Shachtman

A close look into the intriguing Amish practice of "turning loose" their youth at 16, and its results. Included is the author's perspective on this society within a society and what that could mean to us.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The author traces the Big Bang through the rise of civilization, documenting his work with a host of the world's most advanced scientists and mathematicians to explain why things are the way they are. The author provides witty, interesting and, most importantly, understandable commentary on the many subjects the book addresses.

The Spiral Staircase

The Spiral Staircase by Karen Armstrong

Armstrong is a well-known biographer and author on religious and cultural subjects. This memoir is her most personal to date and helps us to understand her interest in the subjects she so skillfully covers, as a person with one foot in the world of the secular and the other in the sacred. She does not skirt around the difficult questions but shows rare candor.

Stumbling on Happiness

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
A humorous look at our thoughts and perceptions around happiness. Psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains why our predictions of what will make us happy are often wrong. He also examines how our memories of happy times may be distorted. This is not a self-help book, but Gilbert does help us become more realistic in our search for happiness.

Understanding comics

Understanding comics by Scott McCloud
The first book in Scott McCloud's influential trilogy of comics about comics, "Understanding Comics" is both entertaining and informative. Anyone interested in art and storytelling would enjoy reading this fascinating book.

With Malice Toward None

With Malice Toward None by Stephen B. Oates

Oates brings to life both Lincoln's deep humanity and personal struggles, and his genius in guiding the nation through the Civil War despite political pressures on all sides (not least from his own cabinet). If you don't have a profound respect for Abraham Lincoln as our greatest president, you will after reading this book.

A Chain of Voices

A Chain of Voices by Andre Brink
This wonderful novel by award-winning South African Andre Brink, banned by the apartheid regime, tells the story of an historical slave rebellion. The chain of voices consists of multiple narratives by different people: slaves, slave owners, family members, magistrates.

The Camel Bookmobile

The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
Set in Kenya, this book tells the story of a foreign librarian who goes to work at a bookmobile service. Traveling by camel to reach remote villages, she becomes emotionally involved in one community where a couple of books have not been returned. This threatens bookmobile services for the entire village. Beautiful writing and moving story - highly recommended.

The California book of the dead

The California book of the dead : a novel by Tim Farrington

Lesbians Marlowe and Daa search for a lover and roommate to replace the departed Jackson, while masseur Jack seduces Marlowe's cousin, Sheba, into their world of Buddhist rituals, banana smoothies, and California enlightenment.

Border Songs

Border Songs by Jim Lynch
Brandon Vanderkool's extreme dyslexia and height give him a peculiar perspective, which proves handy once his father pushes him off their Washington dairy farm into the Border Patrol. Though he used to just jump over the ditch into British Columbia, he's uncomfortable in this uniformed role and instead indulges his obsession with birds and art while incidentally spotting smugglers and illegal immigrants who are provoking an already paranoid society.

Stephen Fry in America

Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry

Join Stephen Fry, the English actor/writer/director/tweeter, as he visits each of the North America's fifty states. This book is an interesting and humorous account of the American experience from a European perspective.

The botany of desire : a plant's-eye view of the world

The botany of desire : a plant's-eye view of the world by Michael PollanDo we choose what to plant in our gardens? Or do the plants choose us? Learn about four common plants and the human desires they inspire: the apple and sweetness; the tulip and beauty; marijuana and intoxication; and the potato and control. Pollan weaves an interesting tale with observations from philosophy, natural history, botany, and his own gardening experience.

Asimov's Mysteries

Asimov's mysteries by Isaac Asimov

A collection of short stories, each of which could equal well be described as science fiction and as a mystery. These stories are fun, amusing, and all the more charming for being a little dated. A quick, easy read.

The alchemist's daughter : a novel

The alchemist's daughter : a novel by Katherine McMahon

A student of Isaac Newton, John Selden believes he can turn his daughter into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. Secluded in their ancient house, with only two servants for company, he fills Emilie with knowledge and records her progress obsessively. After encounters with two strangers, Emilie discovers that for all her extraordinary education she has no insight into the workings of the human heart. When she tries to return to the world of books and study, she instead unravels a shocking secret that sets her on her true journey to enlightenment.

Strangest Dream [CD]

Strangest Dream by Popcorn Behavior

A local contra dance band, Popcorn Behavior plays wonderfully danceable tunes drawing from a range of traditions. This album also contains some songs, which are every bit as good as the dance tunes which surround them. A great album.