Have you ever daydreamed about what you would do should disaster strike? You may have pondered about the unthinkable while on a plane or while traveling on the open sea. For your sanity, however, you've probably cast such thoughts from your brain. Laurence Gonzales, on the other hand, has been obsessed with survival scenarios, questioning why some people miraculously survive life-or-death situations and why others don't. Deep Survival attempts to explain this nagging question through a series of true stories: mountain climbers hit by lightning, boaters stranded on a life-raft in open water, hikers lost in the wilderness, and many more harrowing tales.

I'm a real fan of true stories of adventure (everything Jon Krakauer), so it was easy for me to get engrossed in Deep Survival. Gonzales is a talented writer and storyteller, weaving multiple true tales into a compelling piece of work. He also framed the entire book within his own father's survival tale. As a pilot in WWII, he miraculously survived a crash and was held as a prisoner of war. I also enjoyed learning about what to do in survival situation, but one thing the book taught me is that you don't know how you'll react until you're fighting for your life. For obvious reasons, I wouldn't recommend taking Deep Survival with you for pleasure reading if you'll be spending time on the open sea, in an airplane, or on a camping trip far away from civilization. It may get a little too close to home. But if you're spending time on the beach or in the backyard, pick up Deep Survival for a fantastic, edge-of-your-seat summer read.

Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death By Gonzales, Laurence 2003/10 - W. W. Norton & Company 0393052761 Check the Library's Catalog Fascinating for any reader, and absolutely essential for anyone who takes a hike in the woods, this book will change the way readers understand themselves and the great outdoors. ...More

Posted by kh at 1:48 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: adventure, Karen's Picks, nonfiction

My very favorite book was published on this day in 1936. Gone with the Wind, the book that has everything. Love, lust, war, peace, moral dilemmas, bad women, even badder men and people so good they make you want to cry. Set during the Civil War the book chronicles the story of Scarlett O'Hara. A spoiled rich girl and the belle of her county, Scarlett's family suffers greatly during the Civil War. Scarlett, ever in Love with Ashley Wilkes, must make do with the dashing Rhett Butler ( a scoundrel with a heart of gold).

The author, Margaret Mitchell, was a reporter for the Atlanta Journal. She quit her job to recover from a series of physical injuries and began the book during her convalescence. Mitchell drew on stories she had heard from her parents, other relatives and Confederate soldiers she had met as a young girl.

The book caused quite a sensation when it was first published. It was criticized for it's romanticized view of the old south, but the tale captivated readers world wide. The book sold millions of copies. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for the work and it was made into a movie. Mitchell died ten years after the film premiere.

Gone with the Wind By Mitchell, Margaret Conroy, Pat 2007/07 - Scribner Book Company 9781416548898 Check the Library's Catalog Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to give rise to two authorized sequels and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time. Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields and cities of the American South as "Gone With the Wind" does, creating haunting scenes and thrilling portraits of characters so vivid that we remember their words and feel their fear and hunger for the rest of our lives. In the two main characters, the white-shouldered, irresistible Scarlett and the flashy, contemptuous Rhett, Margaret Mitchell not only conveyed a timeless story of survival under the harshest of circumstances, she also created two of the most famous lovers in the English-speaking world since Romeo and Juliet. ...More

Posted by emc at 10:09 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: Liz's Picks

This Jane Austen fan has always enjoyed the quick wit and smart dialogue in the movies of Nora Ephron and Woody Allen. So I couldn't help mentally assigning roles to my favorite actors for the characters in this book - a 21st century screwball comedy par excellence.

There's the successful, but lonely, gay lawyer who suddenly realizes his long-lost adopted daughter is the coat check girl at his Manhattan hair salon; his wacky ex-wife who now recruits him as a friend when her latest husband dies and leaves everything to the nasty stepsons; his new love interest - a bridal consultant who lives with his octogenarian mother.

Every chapter has a new crazy twist to the plot, with an ending that is over the top, yet strangely satisfying. I'm definitely going back to read more by Elinor Lipman!

The Family Man By Lipman, Elinor 2009/05 - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) 9780618644667 Check the Library's Catalog A hysterical phone call from his ex-wife and a familiar face in a photograph upend Henry Archer's well-ordered life to bring him back into contact with the child he adored, a stepdaughter from a misbegotten marriage long ago 320 pp. ...More

Posted by sm at 9:10 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: humor, Susan's Picks

I like junk food and I am not ashamed about that fact. I just choose not to read the ingredient list. Not because I’m afraid of sugar and flour, but because I have no idea what cellulose gum is. Who really wants to be made the fool by a snack cake?

Author Steve Ettlinger felt that same way when he embarked to find out exactly what went into the batter of America’s favorite snack cake, the Twinkie. In the book Twinkie, Deconstructed, Ettlinger personally visited the wheat fields and mineral mines that are the places of origin for every ingredient listed on the wrapper. Some ingredients are fairly innocent like dextrose, a corn derived sweetener while others seem like science fiction. Polysorbate 60 comes from corn, palm oils and petroleum. Petroleum! Ettlinger refrains from taking a holier-than-thou food snob approach and actually explains the science and reasoning behind the creation and usage of these curious ingredients.

While this book could have taken readers down a terrifying path filled with food-based scenarios that could turn stomachs, it simply does not. Rather, it lays out the science in a trivia friendly way that could certainly liven up conversations in line at the White Hen Pantry. Cellulose gum is used in frosting and rocket fuel!

Posted by kn at 2:59 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: Katie's Picks, nonfiction

On this date in 1906, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was born in Englewood, New Jersey. Lindbergh attended Smith College where her writing won awards. At 23 she married aviator Charles Lindbergh. Anne Morrow Lindbergh was the first woman to receive a glider pilot's license. She received her airplane pilot's license in 1931.

Lindbergh wrote several books about her flying experiences. Her book Gift from the Sea, a story about a woman's journey through life, was published in 1944 and became a bestseller. It has recently been reissued.

Gift from the Sea By Lindbergh, Anne Morrow 1983/01 - Pantheon Books 0679732411 Check the Library's Catalog modern-day classic. "Gift from the Sea is like a shell itself in its small and perfect form . . It tells of light and life and love and the security that lies at the heart."--New York Times Book Review. ...More

Posted by emc at 10:08 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: adventure, nonfiction

If you thought Pride and Prejudice couldn't get any better, then it's time to check out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, that's right. Zombies. Think Pride and Prejudice meets Shaun of the Dead. First of all, if you've never read the original Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, don't read Grahame-Smith's adaption quite yet. To fully appreciate the zombie charm and humor, you must first experience one of the greatest love stories of all time.

As someone who has read most of Austen's novels, I consider her writing dear to my heart. But frankly, the plot can be slow, and the characters a bit dry. I can also see how her works lack a certain guy appeal. Throw "ultraviolent zombie mayhem" into the mix, and you have a winner. Apparently, Grahame-Smith attempted to preserve much of Austen's original text, while adding the zombie element to spice up the story. One of the most amusing parts of reading this mash-up is wondering how the less than likeable characters will be handled. I found myself hoping that Mrs. Bennet and Lady Catherine De Bourgh would meet a meet a terrible fate at the hands of the zombies, or "unmentionables" as they're also called.

The PPZ mash-up is an entertaining summer read that's full of great action sequences and even illustrations. But don't expect a piece of writing that will tickle your literary tastebuds. Grahame-Smith's insertions can be a bit clunky, so it's usually obvious what's not actually Austen's, other than, say, all the zombie stuff. To all of the readers out there who are horrified that anyone would dare defile Austen's classic: stay far away. PPZ is best suited for readers with a generous sense of humor.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance+now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! By Grahame-Smith, Seth Austen, Jane 2009/04 - Quirk Books 9781594743344 Check the Library's Catalog BookPage Notable Title Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. ...More

Posted by kh at 1:01 PM | 0 comments  
Labels: historical fiction, Horror, Karen's Picks

James Joyce wrote those famous words of Molly, Leopold Bloom's lover, in his ponderous masterpiece, Ulysses, in which Bloom wanders through the city of Dublin on his own quest - all on the day of June 16, 1904. Since then, Joyce fans around the world celebrate Bloomsday each year on June 16.

Here in the Chicago area, you can celebrate with "readings, music and song" at the Irish American Cultural Center. The Library also provides the means to have your own Bloomsday by enjoying one of these books set in Dublin:

Ulysses: A Reproduction of the 1922 First Edition By Joyce, James 2002/09 - Dover Publications 0486424448 Check the Library's Catalog Regarded today as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, "Ulysses" remained banned in the United States until 1933. Drawing upon a complex network of symbolic parallels from mythology, history, and literature, the novel employs experimental narrative techniques to chronicle an ordinary day in the lives of three Dubliners. ...More

Quentins By Binchy, Maeve 2002/10 - Dutton Books 0525946829 Check the Library's Catalog Following the enormous success of "Scarlet Feather, Quentins" tells of documentarian Ella Brady as she discovers her true self by learning about the people who have patronized the Dublin restaurant Quentins. ...More

The Ginger Man By Donleavy, James Patrick 2001/03 - Grove Press 0802137954 Check the Library's Catalog First published in Paris in 1955 and originally banned in America, J. P. Donleavy's first novel is now recognized the world over as a masterpiece and a modern classic of the highest order. Set in Ireland just after World War II, The Ginger Man is J. P. Donleavy's wildly funny, picaresque classic novel of the misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a young American ne'er-do-well studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Dangerfield's appetite for women, liquor, and general roguishness is insatiable--and he satisfies it with endless charm. "Lusty, violent, wildly funny ... The Ginger Man is the picaresque novel to stop them all."--Dorothy Parker, Esquire ...More

1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion By Llywelyn, Morgan 1998/04 - Forge 031286101X Check the Library's Catalog The Easter Rising of 1916 was a major turning point in Irish history. Peopled by patriots and poets, fueled by a common cause, and played out in the historic streets of Dublin, it a story everyone knows and no one will ever forget. Now Morgan Llywelyn offers a stirring and powerful novel set against the backdrop of this life-changing event. ...More

The Barrytown Trilogy By Doyle, Roddy 1995/09 - Penguin Books 0140252622 Check the Library's Catalog The bestselling author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha presents a one-volume edition of his celebrated trio of novels. Doyle's comic novels, The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van, depict the daily life and times of the Rabbitte family in working-class Dublin. ...More

Posted by sm at 7:00 AM | 0 comments  
Labels: Susan's Picks