Evening in the palace of reason: Bach meets Frederick the Great in the Age of Enlightenment by James R. Gaines

Recommended by: Stephan Macaluso, STL Librarian
Call Number: Stacks ML410 .B1 G28 2005

The legend is told in nearly every music appreciation class: King Frederick II (“The Great”) of Prussia—himself an amateur composer and flautist—practically falls over himself upon hearing that the great J.S. Bach has arrived to pay Frederick a visit. Gaines paints this meeting in much darker tones. History reveals Frederick to be a substantially more brutish, if not brutal, character. And so his challenge to Bach (that he compose a counterpoint to an unmelodic theme of Frederick’s) can be seen less as pleasurable Enlightenment discourse, and more as a stare-down. Bach’s response: The Musical Offering, a complete set of canons and fugues on the seemingly-impossible theme.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Recommended by Colleen Lougen, STL Librarian
Call number: Stacks PS3563.C337 R63 2006

Wonder what the world would be like after a nuclear winter? McCarthy skillfully creates a post-apocalyptic wasteland where a father and son are left to scavenge in a dark and barren land. Transcends any book that I have read in awhile. It will haunt you for many months to come.. Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Garbage land: on the secret trail of trash by Elizabeth Royte

Recommended by: Alex Wojcik, Student Recycling Coordinator
Call Number: Stacks: HD4484.N7 R68 2005

You are what you throw away. Upon completion of Elizabeth Royte’s 'Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash,' the reader finds his or herself desperately sorting recyclables from the trash bin, and grocery shopping with an increasingly discerning eye. Royte’s beautifully written investigation of America’s trash can begins in her own kitchen and ends in the realization that our daily decisions regarding consumption and waste remain with us, even after dragging our trash bags out to the dumpster.