What to do

Below is a very short post about each book.  If you wish to add to it, just click on "comments"  below and type in your thoughts.  Click "older posts" to see more of the titles.  I will be moderating the posts so they will not appear immediately.  Don't sign your real name, but use a clever pseudonym that will identify you and amuse us.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

How a 14 year old boy in Malawi used old bicycle parts and PVC pipe to create a windmill and bring hope and energy to his village.

Check out this video

Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story by Leonie Swann and Anthea Bell

Another first novel, originally written in German, about  herd of Irish  sheep trying to discover who murdered the shepherd and why.  This is funny, dark and joyous and like nothing you've read before.  Watership Down meets Miss Marple.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

What would happen if the moon were shifted in its orbit after a meteor strikes it?  That's the premise of this short novel that sees what happens to a family living in western Pennsylvania after  this happens.  There is a sequel, The Dead and the Gone.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The King Must Die by Mary Renault

Hunger Games is a hot new young adult (jr. and sr. high school)  novel and The King must Die is a novel Carolyn and I read when we were in high school.   Both are based on the myth of Theseus,

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Weisman asks the question, "What would happen to the earth if humans vanished?"  The answer is fascinating.  If you read nothing else the first chapter, about what would happen to New York, is worth the price of admission.

Dog on It by Spencer Quinn

A fast paced mystery with a dog as co-detective and narrator.  The sequel, Thereby Hangs a Tale comes out Jan. 5 2010.

The Night Villa by Carol Goodman

Mystery cults, Pompeii, archaeology, modern cults, mathematics and romance!  What's not to like?

The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong is a writer with something to say to our whole EpiscoPagan-UU-Atheist family

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford

Crawford owns a motorcycle shop.  What is this connection between philosophy and motorcycle guys?  If you missed it the first time, you might want to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People By Zama Farahad

After you retire from your first career what better thing  can there be than running a marriage bureau for rich people.  Even rich people need love.

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

I love debut novels.  I am fascinated by the way so many new books are pushing the "book" envelope and forcing us to read the page in new ways.  This one does that and provides a coming of age story full of adventure and mystery.

Lady Vernon and Her Daughter: A Novel of Jane Austen's Lady Susan by Jane Rubino and Caitlen Rubino-Bradway

It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that the descendants of Ruby Coughenour, must, at the least, feign an interest in all things Austen.  Sawyers, bear with us in this. 


Here is the token Jane Austen title. 


And look, it comes with a

Book Trailer !!!

The Lucius Beebe Memorial Library has decreed January to be Jane Austen month.  Here is what we have planned.  Jane at the Beebe