SALVADOR
The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
“The China Study is our biggest seller in the nutrition section. We’ve sold nearly 500 copies, and it’s with good reason. Campbell studies Asian eating habits to understand why they have low rates of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and generally all of the disease that are killing Americans. They eat a lot more fruits, vegetables, and grains, and in some cases that’s all their diet consists of. Campbell conducted his study over the course of many things, and his conclusion was an amazing book on how to eat to live a more healthful life. I’m looking forward to reading Campbell’s new book Whole, which once again focuses on the Asian diet to better understand why these foods lower our chances for disease. In the world of nutrition and nutrition studies T. Colin Campbell is a celebrity.”
JULIE
“Mary MacLane was born in Winnipeg in 1881. Her family moved to Butte, Montana where, at the age of nineteen in the year 1901, she began to keep a journal. MacLane thinks she’s a genius. “I find myself at this stage of womankind and nineteen years, a genius, a thief, a liar – a general moral vagabond, a fool more or less, and a philosopher of the peripatetic school.” Girl’s also a little bit out of her mind. She’s equates being happy with the coming of the Devil, and so addresses the Devil directly, calling out to him, asking him when the hell he’s going to show up and make her life more interesting. MacLane, in her earnest declarations of superior intelligence and calls upon the Devil, makes me at turns laugh out loud and totally cringe, recalling my own self-centered diary entries as a young woman. But she also makes me stop at some beautiful images, for instance this description of the regular old walk she takes every day:“I have walked for miles over the sand and barrenness among the little hills and gulches. Their utter desolateness is an inspiration to the long, long thoughts and the nameless wanting. Every day I walk over the sand and the barrenness.”
JOE
Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko
“I just started reading Rise of the Warrior Cop by Huffington Post writer Radley Balko. It is a fascinating and depressing trek through the growing militarization of America’s police forces. Reading how we have given away our 3rd and 4th amendment rights piece by piece without really noticing it is harrowing. This is not extremist screed or a revolutionary manifesto but a centrist reappraisal of the laws that allow government agents to break into our houses, hold us at gunpoint, shoot our dogs, and then leave without any repercussions when it turns out they raided the wrong house. One of the must read books of 2013.”
KATHLEEN
This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
“This is Where I Leave You is the story of a family with grown kids who have to get together at their mother’s house after the death of their father. Although none of them have ever been very religious their father requested they sit Shiva. They honor his request, spending seven days stuck in this house mourning together. The book follows each day of Shiva, as all of their resentments begin to surface and patience unravel. This book is really well written and very funny. I love the character development as tensions rise.”
BookPeople 