| East of Eden by John Steinbeck. No writer is more quintessentially American than John Steinbeck. Born in 1902 in Salinas, California, Steinbeck attended Stanford University before working at a series of mostly blue-collar jobs and embarking on his literary career. Profoundly committed to social progress, he used his writing to raise issues of labor exploitation and the plight of the common man, penning some of the greatest American novels of the twentieth century and winning such prestigious awards as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He received the Nobel Prize in 1962, "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." Today, more than thirty years after his death, he remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. IMO East of Eden is his best book. It is the story of Cain and Able revisited. Two brothers who's lives are intermixed as much as their name sakes. Testing whether we can overcome our fates. East of Eden is less well known than Cannery Row or Grapes of Wrath (both outstanding) but is far easier to get invested in the characters Steinbeck creates. | |
| Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss. Charming, funny and informative. What more could you want in learning what is mostly a chore for most of us. Former editor Lynne Truss, gravely concerned about our current grammatical state, boldly defends proper punctuation. She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. Using examples from literature, history, neighborhood signage, and her own imagination, Truss shows how meaning is shaped by commas and apostrophes, and the hilarious consequences of punctuation gone awry. Featuring a foreword by Frank McCourt, and interspersed with a lively history of punctuation from the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes a powerful case for the preservation of proper punctuation. | |
| An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof. Under the Tuscan Sun meets the wide-open sea . . . An Embarrassment of Mangoes is a delicious chronicle of leaving the type-A lifestyle behind -- and discovering the seductive secrets of life in the Caribbean. Who hasn’t fantasized about chucking the job, saying goodbye to the rat race, and escaping to some exotic destination in search of sun, sand, and a different way of life? Canadians Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, Steve did just that. In the mid 1990s, they were driven, forty-something professionals who were desperate for a break from their deadline-dominated, career-defined lives. So they quit their jobs, rented out their house, moved onto a 42-foot sailboat called Receta (“recipe,” in Spanish), and set sail for the Caribbean on a two-year voyage of culinary and cultural discovery. In lavish detail that will have you packing your swimsuit and dashing for the airport, Vanderhoof describes the sun-drenched landscapes, enchanting characters and mouthwatering tastes that season their new lifestyle. Come along for the ride and be seduced by Caribbean rhythms as she and Steve sip rum with their island neighbors, hike lush rain forests, pull their supper out of the sea, and adapt to life on “island time.” Exchanging business clothes for bare feet, they drop anchor in 16 countries -- 47 individual islands -- where they explore secluded beaches and shop lively local markets. Along the way, Ann records the delectable dishes they encounter -- from cracked conch in the Bahamas to curried lobster in Grenada, from Dominican papaya salsa to classic West Indian rum punch -- and incorporates these enticing recipes into the text so that readers can participate in the adventure. Almost as good as making the journey itself, An Embarrassment of Mangoes is an intimate account that conjures all the irresistible beauty and bounty from the Bahamas to Trinidad -- and just may compel you to make a rash decision that will land you in paradise. | |
| Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. Starring Sissy Hanshaw--flawlessly beautiful, almost. A small-town girl with big-time dreams and a quirk to match--hitchhiking her way into your heart, your hopes, and your bed. Featuring Bonanza Jellybean and the smooth-riding cowgirls at the Rubber Rose Ranch. Chink, lascivious guru of yams and yang. Julian, Mohawk by birth; asthmatic esthete and husband by disposition. Dr. Robbins, preventive psychiatrist and reality instructor... Follow Sissy's amazing odyssey from Virginia to chic Manhattan to the Dakota Badlands, where FBI agents, cowgirls, and ecstatic whooping cranes explode in a deliciously drawn-out climax...beware the Tom Robbins is a character in his own book as is my ex-wife. Who knew? [This was made into a completely dreadful movie. Miss it if you can.] | |
| Everything You Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Ask by Dr. David R. Ruben. With more 30 million copies in print in over fifty countries, this #1 bestselling classic is the most popular book on human sexuality of all time-and with good reason. Dr. David Reuben's frank, compassionate, often humorous language-backed with solid, up-to-the-minute medical and scientific research-puts readers at ease, allowing them to explore and improve their own sexuality in amazing new ways. In this extraordinary new edition, presented in an accessible Q&A format and revised to include today's hottest topics, Dr. Reuben sheds astounding new light on: * Sexual intercourse, masturbation and other sexual acts * Impotence, frigidity, and other sexual dysfunctions - their various causes and how they're treated * Birth control - all the forms on the market and how well they work * Sexually transmitted diseases - what they are and how to avoid them * Menopause - hot flashes, hormones, and how to thrive during this change of life * "September sex" - why we need it more as we age and how to enjoy sex despite certain physical constraints * Alternative lifestyles, infidelity, plastic surgery for the genitalia, and much more |
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