Stay

Larkin, Allie. Stay. 2010. (Fiction Larkin. A) 

In an effort to console herself after the love of her life marries her best friend, an intoxicated Savannah Leone buys a six- thousand dollar Slovakian German Shepherd off the internet. With a premise like that, one would expect this book to be filled with over-the-top antics, yet Stay, was much different.  On the surface it appeared to be a cute chicklit novel: Girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl makes peace and learns about herself.  To dismiss this book so easily, however, takes away its depth. Stay was quirky, sweet, and honest, and much more about family and friendships than about inventing outrageous humorous moments.

I couldn't put this book down. Even though some parts were predictable, Allie Larkin created characters that were imperfect and interesting, and after I finished the book, I found myself wondering if Savannah and friends needed me to drop by with some bagels.

-Juliette S

Confections

Bullock-Prado, Gesine. Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker. 2009.(641.5092 Bullo.G) How often does one hear of a "reverse" Hollywood success story? That's what intrigued me when I saw Gesine Bullock-Prado's Confections of a Closet Master Baker. After years of working as a producer, hustling deals at power lunches for her older sister Sandra, Gesine decided to swap the pressure and glamour for a quieter life in Vermont turning out, of all things, gourmet pastries. It's a very personal account enhanced by her husband's sketches and her remembrances of a seemingly charmed European childhood spent accompanying her opera singer mother on tour. This memoir reflects nothing if not the tremendous determination of the author to follow her own dream. (Shira S., RA)

Year of Wonders

 Brooks, Geraldine. Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague. 2002. (Fiction Brooks.G)

Having read and enjoyed “People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks about the Sarajevo Haggadah , I decided to try another of her books. In this work of historical fiction, we are transported to a small English village, where the plague of 1666 claimed the lives of 260 villagers. After nearly a quarter of the residents died, the local pastor convinced the villagers to isolate themselves within the boundaries of the village in order to contain the spread of the disease. Food and medical supplies were donated by a nearby village for a year. Brooks’ tells the story of ordinary people who rise to the occasion of an extraordinary situation and find that the year of the plague may just become a “year of wonders.” After reading two of Brooks’ books, I think I have found a new favorite author and can’t wait to dive into her Pulitzer Prize winning novel March.  (Rika, Reference)

Why Evolution is True

Coyne, Jerry A. Why Evolution is True. 2009. (576.8 Coyne.J)

Like most high school students in the early ‘80s, I was taught the theory of evolution and natural selection in the classroom.  But up until recently, I still found it difficult to comprehend how the sophisticated human could have evolved from ancestral monkeys. Mr. Coyne’s Why Evolution is True not only explains evolution from a 21^st-century perspective that far surpasses my high school textbooks, he answered many questions about the evolutionary process that—until I read Coyne’s book—had left me wondering. 

Read more: Why Evolution is True