Worth mentioning
We do our very best to provide high-quality, in-depth reviews of current books covering a variety of topics that will interest fans of both nonfiction and fiction. While we can’t review everything, here are some current releases that the editors think are worth mentioning. We'd welcome recommendations from readers. If you'd like to send one to us, please click here.
Nonfiction
The Buzz About Bees: Biology of a Superorganism
By Jurgen Tautz (author), H.R. Heilmann (photographer), and D.C. Sandeman (translator)
284 pp. Springer $39.95
This book makes clear one thing, even for a reader lost in the dense fog of scientific explanation therein: We humans simply can’t live without bees. Bees fertilize 120,000 species of flowering plants, including nearly all of those that give us food; humans and domestic animals can’t live exclusively on self-pollinating grain. Bees keep nearly everything else alive, and they are in big trouble. Despite its cutesy title, The Buzz is not a sequel to Sue Monk Kidd’s bestseller The Secret Life of Bees—it’s pure science. A small volume published in Germany in 2007 and translated only recently, it tells in great detail how bees evolved and how they operate. Only in the last few pages will readers learn what threatens bees’ future—and ours. News about “colony collapse disorder,” the deaths of millions of bees in the US, hit the airwaves for a few days in 2007 and then we heard no more, but scientists were still baffled more than year later, and the deaths continue. For anyone willing to spend the time to study these pages, learning about the ”super-organism” that is a beehive will be fascinating. The photographs are beautiful and informative, and the translation excellent. (Recommended by Carter Jefferson)
How Free People Move Mountains: A Male Christian Conservative and a Female Jewish Liberal on a Quest for Common Purpose and Meaning
By Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer
224 pp. Collins $24.95
With the presidential election just weeks away, it seems almost impossible to find a civil conversation between “blues” and “reds.” But Kathy Roth-Douquet, a Jewish liberal and former Clinton aide, and Frank Schaeffer, a founder of the modern evangelical movement, manage to do so with minimal animosity and a seeming genuine respect for the other’s viewpoint. Were I a cynical individual, I’d point out that they don’t actually have to face each other, and they’ve had time to edit out the fights. Their attempt to find common ground on the issues of materialism and alienation, and faith and ideology, does seem to be authentic. It is refreshing to observe a common ground from such disparate world views. Roth-Douquet and Schaeffer, however, manage to do so convincingly. Contrary to the negative political ads blasting the airwaves (try living in a battleground state like Virginia), “blues” and “reds” actually do care about the same things. And Roth-Douquet and Schaeffer argue that this is a good place to start the search for common meaning and purpose. (Recommended by Julie McGuire).
Unspeakable: The Story of Junius Wilson
By Susan Burch and Hannah Joyner
312 pp. University of North Carolina Press $27.50
I can’t say enough good things about Susan Burch and Hannah Joyner’s Unspeakable: The Story of Junius Wilson. Wilson was a deaf African-American teenager when he was institutionalized as criminally insane without a trial in the 1920s. He was eventually castrated and spent more than seven decades on the grounds of a North Carolina state hospital without anyone to communicate with. In the 1990s, Wilson’s treatment and what remedies would best serve justice became questions for the courts to decide. This book combines resourceful research, disability history, legal drama, and explorations of language, education, racism, and the legacies of segregation and eugenics. The writing is strong and sensitive to the complex issues. The authors are adept at juggling all the big themes without losing sight of the man at the story’s heart. (Recommended by Penny Richards)
Why Don’t They Just Quit: What Family and Friends Need To Know About Addiction and Recovery
By Joe Herzanek
265 pp. Changing Lives Foundation $24.95
Joe Herzanek, former drug and alcohol abuser, has done more than get treatment for his addictions. Herzanek conquered his demons and has spent his sober life serving others suffering from addiction. He founded the Changing Lives Foundation (www.changinglivesfoundation.org) and has served as a chaplain and counselor at jails and prisons for fifteen years. Herzanek is currently the Chaplain at the Boulder County Jail in Boulder, Colorado. Why Don’t They Just Quit? is more than the typical self-help book. The winner of a Next Generation Indie Book Award, this book is gritty, honest, and full of practical tips, resources, and an Alcohol and Drug Addiction Self Test. I loved the myriad quotes sprinkled throughout from such diverse individuals as Mother Theresa, Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Abraham Lincoln, and Herzanek’s own family members. In the foreword, Joe’s wife, Judy, the Creative Manager for the Changing Lives Foundation says, “Joe speaks from firsthand experience, having survived shattered relationships, a life-threatening disease, physical and mental withdrawal, police problems, and raising two teenagers.” It is the intimate way in which the author shares himself that lends what could be “just another addiction recovery book” a fresh and hopeful voice. I would recommend this for anyone who has been impacted by the effects of addiction. (Recommended by Julie McGuire)
Fiction
Two Marriages
By Phillip Lopate
272 pp. Other Press $24.95
Essayist Phillip Lopate’s Two Marriages contains two distinctly different novellas that provide a subtle look at the intricacies of marriage and the secrets that control them. “The Stoic’s Marriage” revolves around Gordon and Rita, a beguiling young Filipina who nursed his dying mother. He journals their relationship from its first golden moments to those that test his life-long philosophical belief in Stoicism. Despite all, he remains a stoic to the end. “Eleanor, or, The Second Marriage” portrays a second marriage with cracks of which Frank is unaware, but cause Eleanor to act out secretly and then ’fess up in a rare moment of true communication. The marriage wavers and wobbles as the couple comes to grips with their choices—either unpleasant but expedient, or emotionally gratifying for the moment but not so for the future. Two Marriages is a captivating weekend read for lovers of character-driven plots and intricate relationship stories. (Recommended by Ruth Douillette)
Broad Street
By Christine Weiser
234 pp. PS Books $13.95
Christine Weiser, former bassist for the popular all-girl Philly rock band Mae Pang, has written a funny debut about fictional Broad Street, an all-girl rock band struggling to make it in a male-dominated profession. Confronting stalkers, ex-boyfriends, distraught parents, and the seemingly unreachable glass ceiling, Kit Green and Margo Bevilacqua, two friends who formed Broad Street during a drunken pact, learn that success is not measured in the number of records sold, but in friendships gained. Anyone who has desired to be in a rock band—and let’s face it, who hasn’t stood in front of the mirror with a fake microphone longing for the big break—or likes edgy characters with grit and determination, will laugh along at the exploits of Weiser’s engaging heroines. It helps that Weiser knows about music—you can check out her current band, The Tights, in the Philadelphia area. Her knowledge of the industry, along with strong writing, makes this an entertaining read. (Recommended by Julie McGuire)
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