Staff Picks

Several years ago, my friends and I would often entertain ourselves by getting together and reading aloud. Our go-to book of choice was always, inevitably, J. D. Salinger's Nine Stories. Much better than longtime favorite Catcher in the Rye, this collection of short stories showcases Salinger's signature writing style: straightforward and concise, with excellent dialogue. Each poignant story transitions seamlessly into the next to create an experience centered around love, loss, loneliness, and the mystical wisdom of some of his most fully developed characters. Whether or not you had a similar experience as my friends and I did (and especially if you've grown to love the Glass family through his other novels), reading this book, a collection that is simultaneously funny and incredibly somber, is like returning to an old friend.

Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles reads like a cookbook, but is resplendent with natural, organic formulas for everything from individualized hair care and chemical-free face wash to all-natural aftershave, gentle organic toothpaste, and herbal love potions or aphrodisiacs. This book is a treasure for crafty folks who are driven to live an organic, earth-friendly existence. The easy-to-follow recipes give tips on general body care, advice on storage for the products you create, and even hints on where to find every ingredient listed in the book--not to mention the wonderful gift ideas.

The Sun Also Rises is one of Hemingway's best novels, in which he reaches his full potential of using sparse language and simple sentences to examine complicated relationships. The novel follows a group of expatriates through their adventures in Paris and Spain. Prominently featured in this tale of post-World War I disillusionment are two of his most memorable characters, the emasculated Jake Barnes and the enchanting yet unobtainable British socialite, Lady Brett Ashley. As the plot follows them through bullfighting festivals and fiestas, the development and demise of their romantic entanglement mirrors the sentiments of the Lost Generation as the harsh reality of a war-torn world becomes ineradicable.

After reading the back of the book, I picked this novel up, thinking it was a mystery. After only a few pages into the book, I immediately realized that I was getting so much more than I bargained for! The Raw Shark Texts, Hall's debut novel -- and what a debut it is! -- is full of action, suspense, romance, and yes, a little bit of mystery. It's a book that pushes the limits on the definition of "book" -- including a flip books/concrete poetry/word games/puzzles/clues that play an integral role in the plot. Any bibliophile, linguist, or lover of typography will adore this cyberpunk-ish conceptual thriller. I cannot recommend this book enough. I dare you to pick up this pageturner and resist the urge to put it back down!

After having looked for this book for four years since a friend (with impeccable taste) recommended it to me, I was ecstatic to stumble upon Einstein's Dreams right here in our very own Wordsmiths! Lightman, a professor of physics and writing at MIT, has written a book that is part sci-fi, part magical realism -- a mix of physics and poetry. Thirty chapters give small vignettes of the world as it inhabits different theories or perspectives of time, framed within a fictional account of Einstein's discovery. In the novel, Einstein dreams these portraits of time, portraits which play with time -- stretching it out, twisting it, stopping it, turning it backwards and inside-out -- and illustrate how individual lives are affected in the real world. For lovers of Jorge Luis Borges or Stephen Hawking, Lightman provides the best of both worlds.