Dreamland

Dreamland: adventures in the strange science of sleep by David K. Randall 290 pg.

I caught an interview with this author on NPR and am so glad I read this book.  Right from the beginning I learned about the historical sleep pattern of humans and how I am doing it right.  Before artificial lighting, people often slept in 2 phases.  In modern experiments when light is withheld, people revert back to this "first sleep", "second sleep" system.  If you talk to your doctor about this today, they will prescribe a sleep aid for you to try to get you to sleep through the night.

The science of sleep is fairly new and there have been many discoveries in recent years.  This book does a great job summarizing the latest information and the history behind it.

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Gettysburg

Gettysburg: the Graphic Novel by C.M. Butzer  80 pp.

This brief graphic novel presents the basics about the Battle of Gettysburg, including the horrific death toll. It also shows the building and opening of the national cemetery that was completed in just a few months. The book ends with the opening ceremony for the cemetery and includes brief excerpts of the speech by former Secretary of State Edward Everett and the complete text of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address. The illustrations during a portion of the address include a "timeline" of different rights marches from the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, unions, the civil rights movement, the American Indian Movement, United Farm Workers, through gay rights. The author's notes in the back explain a little more about the battles, the construction of the memorial, and Lincoln's speech. This would be a useful resource for American History teachers.

The Sandcastle Girls

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian  320 pp.

"How do a million and a half people die with nobody knowing? -- You kill them in the middle of nowhere." So says the narrator of this story about the Armenian genocide. I know I learned nothing about it when in school. In 1915 the Ottoman Empire began the systematic elimination of the Armenian people, some killed outright, others marched into the desert to die of thirst and starvation. This novel chronicles the events in the lives an American aide worker, Elizabeth Endicott, and an Armenian engineer named Armen Petrosian during that time period. That story alternates with that of novelist Laura Petrosian, the granddaughter of Elizabeth and Armen as she researches her grandparents' story through diaries, letters, and photographs as well as the secret her mother kept until her death. This is a riveting story which, while fiction, may help to spark more recognition of the horrific events of the early 20th century. Bohjalian is a very talented writer.

I knew nothing about the Armenian genocide until a high school friend told me about his Armenian grandmother being smuggled out of Turkey in a hay wagon as a child to escape the Turks. She was a sweet little lady who spoke no English but still attended all the school events her grandchildren were in and especially delighted in the musicals her grandson often starred in. I'll never forget Grandma Haroian.

Poison

Poison: a Novel of the Renaissance by Sara Poole  392 pp.

After the death of author Ariana Franklin, which ended the Mistress of the Art of Death series, I was looking for another book with a strong woman in a position not usual given to women. This one comes close.

Francesca Giordano is following in her father's footsteps. She is a poisoner's daughter. Her murdered father was an expert on poison's and protecting people from being poisoned. She takes on his position in the household of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, mainly to protect him from his enemies, but also to discover her father's killer and exact revenge. Pope Innocent is in poor health and Borgia wants to be his successor. There is also the problem of the Jewish refugees who have escaped from Spain and the evil Torquemada's Inquisition. One faction waits for Pope Innocent to sign a document evicting the Jews from their Roman ghetto. If Innocent dies and Borgia becomes pope, that will not happen. Francesca is enlisted to kill Innocent. He dies but was she the one responsible? Borgia is elected Pope but has many enemies who would gladly see him dead. What of her affair with young Cesare Borgia? And will she ever get her revenge on the one who killed her father? On to the second book in the series.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl/Gillian Flynn 419 pgs.

Linda beat me with a great review of this book so don't miss what she says.  I have to agree with everything.  This is an amazingly fun book.  Currently the leader for most holds in 2012 here at UCPL (The Help was the winner in 2011), I can understand the popularity.  If you like twisty plots and characters that you can love and hate, click the link "check our catalog" and put it on hold for yourself right now.

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Wild

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, 315 pages

Four years after her mother's death from cancer, after the collapse of her marriage, the disconnect with her siblings, and a troubling flirtation with heroin, Cheryl Strayed set out on a three-month walk along the Pacific Crest Trail. The PCT is the bigger, tougher western brother of the Appalachian Trail, spanning from Mexico, up through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, along the Cascades, and into Canada. Strayed, who had never backpacked wasn't crazy enough to hike the full length, but she did traverse California and Oregon with a way-too-heavy backpack nicknamed Monster and hiking boots that were a size too small. She lost six toenails on the journey, but emerged a better person. (Though it wouldn't be much of a memoir if she walked 1,100 miles and was just as bitter and confused as when she started, so this shouldn't be a surprise.)

This book has gotten a lot of buzz since it came out earlier this year; heck, it was an Oprah book, and if that's not buzz, I don't know what is. I normally go out of my way to avoid Oprah's picks, but the hiking, camping, and western U.S. setting was enough to overcome that. It didn't make me laugh and cry the way the effusive blurbs on the back led me to believe I might, but I did like it.

Let's pretend this never happened

Let's pretend this never happened (a mostly true memoir) by Jenny Lawson  318 pgs.

First of all, let me start out by saying that Jenny Lawson is hilariously crazy and that this is one of the funniest books I've read in a long time.  But will you think it is funny?  If you think firing people (ok, let's be honest here, we are talking about men) for emailing pictures of their genitalia to co-workers is funny or losing a turkey baster in the vagina of a cow is funny, or if awkward future in-law meetings are funny, then this is your kind of book.  If none of those topics seem promising to you, maybe this isn't something you should check out.

Jenny is a popular and POWERFUL blogger (as determined by Nielsen ratings...who knew they rated the power of bloggers?).  She is the daughter of a fun loving taxidermist dad and a very tolerant woman.  Here she writes a memoir of her childhood and her marriage.  She tells us about her anxiety attacks and follows some of her thoughts from beginning to end so we can see that how it starts is usually not very related to how it ends.  Very entertaining reading.

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Paris to the Moon

Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik  338 pp.

I picked this up as an audiobook on a sale table for $5--at Old Time Pottery of all places. It was more than worth the investment. Adam Gopnik moved to Paris with his wife and son. The move was for more than just his job as a writer for The New Yorker. Gopnik and his wife shared a love for the city and were excited at the chance to raise their young son there. This book is a collection of articles that were published in the "Paris Journals" section of TNY as well as writings from his personal journal. The anecdotes include touching, perplexing, and/or humorous accounts of their day to day life, parenting in Paris, Christmases battling French style holiday lights, carousels, Ferris wheels, greeting the new millennium, and the birth of a daughter. It's a charming light read.

Da Vinci's Ghost

Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image by Toby Lester  275 pp.

Everyone is familiar with the illustration of Vitruvian Man, Leonardo's drawing of a man in a circle and a square. Few know the story behind it. In fact, Leonardo did not conceive of the idea on his own. The 1st century Roman architect and engineer, Vitruvius first wrote of it in the Ten Books on Architecture which Leonardo studied. But the work of the genius is tied to that of Augustus Caesar, various Roman and Muslim thinkers, Hildegard of Bingen, dome building architect Filippo Brunelleschi, and many other scientists, doctors, mathematicians, and great thinkers whose knowledge was consumed by Leonardo in his insatiable quest to know more. This is an interesting, if a little confusing, look at a fascinating man and his work.

Get Jiro!

Get Jiro! by Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose  160 pp.

Chef, author, and television personality Bourdain enters the world of graphic novels about what could be called the Post-Apocalyptic Restaurant Society. A future Los Angeles is divided into those living in the inner ring, controlled by two competing master chef warlords and the outer ring where they must live on the scraps. People who are allowed in the inner circle line up for days just to get a taste of the available delicacies. The Internationalists blend food from around the world into amazing confections. The Vertical Farm serves only organic, whole-grain, macro-biotic, and vegetarian food. Jiro is a renegade master sushi chef who decapitates customers who dare ask for a California Roll or who stir wasabi into their soy sauce. Both the controlling chefs want Jiro on their side and will stop at nothing to get him. This is a bizarre, amusing, and violent story. It was easy to see Bourdain's snarky take on modern food culture in the story. I'm pretty sure that Rose, the evil head of The Farm, is Bourdain's extreme depiction of Alice Waters, slow food fanatic and owner of Chez Panisse. I suspect Bob, the opposing chef is based on Thomas Keller, of The French Laundry.