All the Wild Hungers: A Season of Cooking and Cancer by Karen Babine
Babine is a poet and a scholar, and her essays are laced with lyricism, as well as scientific facts.
When her mother experiences neuropathy from the chemo she writes: “A lack of B12 can damage the nervous system as well as affect the brain functions.” Returning home after a doctor visit, she puts her pot named Phyllis on the stove to simmer soup for dinner, “that gorgeous cheerful shade of cobalt blue – Co – and I think about how cobalt is part of B12. I wonder if I could form an entire alphabet of neuropathy if I tried, if this is a new language I can create and put on the table.”
Annabel, A Novel by Kathleen Winter
Annabel is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel, one that addresses the topic of intersex children with grace and examines the fault lines of family and identity with a rare sensitivity.
Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth by Sheila O'Connor
O’Connor has written a love letter to our youth, a book that will provoke meaningful conversations between kids and their adults, and a book that will inspire future peacemakers and encourage a new generation of activists.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter lives in two worlds – the poor black community where she lives and where her father runs the neighborhood grocery store and the suburban prep school she attends where her parents believe she will be safe. But everything changes one night when she attends a party with her childhood friend, Khalil, and on the way home they are pulled over by the police. Khalil is fatally shot by the police officer. He was unarmed. The only person who really knows what happened that night is Starr and she must testify at a trial. Starr and her family are torn between doing the right thing and keeping her safe. She is at the apex of a conflict, the birth of a social movement.
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Kingsolver’s characters must give up their preconceived notions of what constitutes success and happiness, each generation entrenched in their way of thinking and being. Perhaps Mary Treat says it best of all:
“Their little families have come here looking for safety, but they will go on laboring under old authorities until their heaven collapses. Your charge is to lead them out of doors. Teach them to see evidence for themselves, and not to fear it. . . to stand in the clear light of day . . . unsheltered.”
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Paulette Jiles vividly brings to life the lawless Texas frontier of the 1870s and juxtaposes it against the noble Captain and his touching relationship with Joanna. You will want to read it through in one sitting but spare your nerves. There are gunfights and outlaws and villains aplenty in NEWS OF THE WORLD, but you will be heartened by the spirited duo that traverse the four-hundred-mile journey together to find their place in the world.
Water and What We Know by Karen Babine
Babine’s grandfather served in the Coast Guard, an unlikely choice for a landlocked kid raised on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, and one that his family disparaged – the land being solid, and the water less so. Perhaps that is his legacy: a legacy of water. Babine’s emotional home is her grandparents’ cabin on Third Crow Wing Lake, where she spent time each summer. She grew up in Northern Minnesota, three blocks from Lake Belle Taine, learning to swim in the frigid June waters. She spent every last day of elementary school at the Headwaters of the Mississippi, skillfully climbing over slippery rocks. She took school trips to Duluth, where she learned about the power of the lake to take down ships. She marvels at the weight of a bucket of water – forty pounds – so heavy for something so clear.
Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais by Timothy Cochrane
In a well-researched volume, Timothy Cochrane brings to life the hardships and heartbreaks of the Anishinaabeg and their new neighbors from the American Fur Company as they navigate the changing landscape of the fur trade in Grand Marais from 1823-1825.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
The horrors of Auschwitz are all here: the sadistic and heartless guards, the gas chambers and crematoriums, the unending cattle cars delivering unbelievable numbers of people, and of course Josef Mengele, infamous for his inhumane medical experimentation on camp prisoners. In spite of these horrors, the story of Lale and Gita Sokolov has something else – something that no one, not Mengele, not an SS officer, not even death, could take from them—love. Lale’s courage, determination, and unflagging hope are inspirational.
Broken Ice by Matt Goldman
As an Emmy-award winning writer for Seinfeld and the Ellen Show, Goldman has an ear for dialogue. His comedic roots show through in the banter between Nils and his partner Ellegaard. He’s created some memorable characters in addition to Nils and Ellegaard: Jameson, a former Canadian football player cum nurse practitioner, is hired by Nils’ ex-wife Micaela to dress Nils’ wounds – and he offers some comedic relief in some of the more tense moments of the investigation.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
The North Korean’s in Barbara Demick’s 2009 Nothing to Envy call themselves “frogs in a well” referring to a third-century Tao parable in which the frog at the bottom of the well is perfectly happy living in his dank and dark pit until he meets a sea turtle that tells him of the glories of the ocean. Nothing to Envy chronicles the lives of six defectors: a kindergarten teacher, a university student, a middle-aged factory worker and her daughter, a pediatrician, and an orphan from Chongjin, an industrial and mining center in the north.
Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
Virgil Wander is a story filled with tall tales and quiet ambition and reminded me of the Tim Burton movie, The Big Fish. If you’re a fan of magical realism, second chances, and the power of stories, check out Virgil Wander at your favorite bookstore or library.
Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger
Krueger takes a poke at corporate money and politics, as well as mining and the environment. There is action, adventure, and suspense, but woven throughout is a deeper, quieter message: one about family and nature and how closely we are connected to each other and the earth.
Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia
Using the evocative backdrop of the Boundary Waters wilderness, Mejia explores the myriad of ways we can become lost – physically, emotionally, and psychologically. She expertly weaves together the back stories of Maya and Lucas to an electrifying and ultimately satisfying conclusion. Mejia’s characters are real – flawed and messy, with complicated families and punk-dyed hair. They make choices that leave you clawing at the air, wishing you could pull them back from the cliff . . . and in the Boundary Waters, there are plenty of cliffs.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Pachinko is a story for our times – the story of a family that rises above the limitations placed upon them by people and governments, to make not only a home, but a life.
Old in Art School by Nell Painter
Painter is a dreamer and a realist. Anyone who has ever had a dream deferred, anyone who appreciates art or wants to learn more about art, will enjoy Painter’s memoir, Old in Art School.