The omnivore’s dilemma: a natural history of four meals by Michael Pollan

Recommended by: Jeff Pollard, Institute for International Business
Call number: Stacks GT2850 .P65 2006

It is well written and really makes you think about our food industry -
and the ramifications it has on our environment and our bodies. Don't
read it unless you want to learn more about - and likely change the way
you approach your shopping and eating experience - join a CSA to help
eat local!

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson

Recommended by: Jennifer Torres
Call number: Stacks PN6727.P4682 M684 2007

What is lovely about this book is that it is deceptively child concept of a mouse civilization and its defenders. Rather its a fantasy for adults, in which the heroes face betrayals, intrigue, and predators in fierce life or death struggles. The art is lush and detailed, making the fantasy all the more vivid. All in all a beautifully crafted book and a fine story

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander

Recommended by: Phyllis Freeman, Professor of Psychology
Call number: Stacks PS3555.N424 F67 1999

I just finished For Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander, a wonderful first volume of short stories. The volume opens with a story of the last night in prison of 26 celebrated Yiddish writers arrested during Stalin's purge and an unpublished loner picked up by mistake with them. He composes a work during their last evening on earth and recites this to the others. Another lighter story is about a rabbi who unhappily plays Santa each year at a department store. My favorite story is about a group of villagers who board the "wrong" passenger train instead of the cattle car to the concentration camp and then disguise themselves as circus performers. The book is wise, powerful, brilliantly ironic, and a must read. The stories and the issues they raise have stayed with me. The book earned him a PEN/Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
I decided to read the short stories after finishing his deeply satisfying first novel (which the Library should purchase) The Ministry of Special Cases, about the "disappeared" in Argentina. Unforgettable characters and heartbreaking situations very reminiscent of the best of Gogol, Kafka, and Singer.

Freakonomics: a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything by Steven Levitt

Recommended by: Dan G., student
Call number: Stacks HB74.P8 L479 2005

At just over 200 pages, Freakonomics is a quick read into the often overlooked gap between what conventional wisdom says is the case and what actually IS the case. With an easy writing style and incongruous teasers for chapter titles, like "What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?" and "How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?", the authors easily trap you into reading the entirety in one sitting.

Baudolino by Umberto Eco (trans. William Weaver)

Recommended by: Stephan Macaluso, STL Librarian
Call number: Stacks PQ 4865.C6 B3813 2002

I’m a big Umberto Eco fan, and this is really Eco at his best: a multilingual, atmospheric adventure that blends fantasy with historical detail. In 12th Italy, young Baudolino begins a quest that takes him through warring barbarians to a rediscovered Eden (so he thinks). Along the way he meets the most fantastic creatures. A memorable read.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

Recommended by: David Agnardo, Community Member
Call Number Stacks: DP269 .O74 1955

I first read this book 30 years ago, but not until recently did I realize
or understand the divisions in Spain between the Catalan and the
Castilian languages. This book gives a small insight into these cultural and linguistic divisions.