Jesus Land:A Memoir

In this riveting memoir, the author, Julia Scheeres, takes us with her as she grows up; a white girl with two adopted black brothers in 1970's rural Indiana, and then as the teens are sent to a fundamentalist Dominican Republic reform school. These children endure brutal abuse and cruel racism but the work is successful due to the author's distanced and uncritical tone and the lack of malice and vindictiveness. This is an earnest examination of the meaning of family and Christian values. A strong story tinged with sadness yet pervaded by a sense of triumph and courage. -Aurora

Born in the USA

Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First by Marsden Wagner, M.D., M.S. It’s a little-known fact that the maternal mortality rate in the United States has been rising for the past 25 years, and both our maternal mortality and infant mortality rates are among the worst in the industrialized world. Wagner uses both hard scientific evidence* and lots of personal experience to wade through the tangles of modern obstetrical care. Doctors and scientists are in conflict, he says, because while a scientist must assume that everything is known, a doctor must assume that he or she knows what the problem is and how to treat it in order to get anywhere. A lack of oversight, love of technology, lack of knowledge of normal birth, and a fear of litigation combine to make hospital births downright dangerous for mother and child. ** After documenting these grim facts, Wagner goes on to paint a picture of an ideal maternity system run primarily by midwives, similar to those already existing in other countries, which have been established even without the approval of the obstetrical community. It seems like a long haul, but this book is a good start.

* For those interested in doing their own medical research, Wagner frequently cites the Cochrane Library, http://www.cochrane.org . This is a medical nonprofit working towards evidence-based medical practice. They synthesize and analyze medical studies, providing both their reports and the original studies in their on-line library.

Wikinomics

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything is a great book for those who are interested in the rise of new media applications and collaborative online communities. Even if you are not interested... Pick it up, Read it. You might be very interested by the time you reach the end.
-Morrigan

Real Food by Nina Planck

This book is an excellent resource for anyone who has ever looked at the list of ingredients on a box of low-fat cookies and thought “Hell, butter and bacon have got to be healthier than something straight from a chemistry lab.” In this well-researched (complete with footnotes, a glossary, a lengthy bibliography, and pages of Web resources for finding such treasures as stone-ground corn) book, Planck lays out scientific research showing exactly that. But the book isn't a dry tome. Planck combines her experience as a journalist with her background as a farmer's daughter and as the creator and manager of farmer's markets in the United States and abroad to write an informative, interesting, and honest book about how the “industrial diet” is affecting Americans' health and to advocate a return to foods that are not six degrees of separation from the field. Real Food is an excellent companion to other recent books on the food chain, such as The Omnivore's Dilemma and What to Eat. --Inanna

Gift from the Sea

Anne Morrow Lindbergh's, "Gift from the Sea", was published in 1955, after spending a solitary visit on Captiva Island in Florida. I had never read this work and only picked it up after recently spending time in Captiva myself. The books message is a remarkably enduring one offering an extraordinary kind of freedom. The kind of freedom that comes when one chooses to remain open to life itself and whatever it may bring. The book makes it possible to quiet down and rest in the present. Anne Morrow Lindbergh's respect for the natural beauty surrounding her and her talent as a writer is truly a gift to all women, helping them to embrace the life they have.

If you are a lover of the sea, have ever stepped foot on Sanibel or Captiva Islands or reached for a seashell because it "spoke" to you......you will have to own a copy of "Gift from the Sea"! -Aurora

Gracefully Insane:The Rise and Fall of America's Premier Mental Hospital

"Gracefully Insane" by Alex Beam is a knowledgeable, historical portrait of New England's McLean Hospital... the mental hospital equivalent of a 5 star hotel. There have been no guards, no fences, room service, golf, bowling, tennis and a riding stable over time but today this institution faces an uncertain future. One former director was quoted as saying, "If you don't know where you are , then you're in the right place".
This is a lively honest work derived from patient records, journals and interviews of both patients and employees. An unsettling review of mental health treatments from the early days of ice water therapies through the introduction of modern psychopharmacology. Recognizable patients include; Anne Sexton, James Taylor, Robert Lowell and Ray Charles while the hospital experience is clearly evident in Sylvia Plath's, "Bell Jar" and Susanna Kaysen's, "Girl, Interrupted".
"The insane asylum seems to be the goal of every good and conscious Bostonian," Clover Adams wrote in 1879. This book offers a look at the, "Boston arsitocracy that produced, for nearly two centuries, an endless stream of brilliant, troubled eccentrics and the equally brilliant and eccentric doctors who lined up to treat them". I won't say I enjoyed reading this but definately did find it fascinating. - Aurora

Not everything you read needs to enrich your mind...

I've never read Moby Dick. I've been meaning to, and I even want to but I just can't seem to get there. But recently I had a complete weekend free (including most of Friday afternoon!) and the weather report said three days of rain---the perfect opporutunity, right? Well, not so much. Turns out that when you're totally burnt out from the holidays, Moby Dick just isn't gonna do it. Some books that will? Instyle: Instant Fashion is a great book for the sartorially challenged or for those who want a refresher and don't know where to start. The book has a layout very similar to the magazine(to which I am addicted) and an easy reading style. It includes checklists of seasonal "basics" and a workbook for those who really need help.
Also during my weekend of mindless reading I turned to Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor by Linda Wells and the editorial staff at Allure magazine. It is fabulous. I'm not ashamed to say that I photocopied a page about eyeliner. Maybe with clearly written instructions I will stop poking myself in the eye. Lastly, (why break a streak?) I read What would Jackie Do? by Shelly Branch and Sue Callaway. The authors extrapolate the lessons learned from the most stylish woman ever into everyday situations. It's a cute read; the sort of book you buy your girlfriend as a semi-joke. I emerged from my weekend of fluff refreshed and ready to take on more serious reading..though maybe not Moby Dick just yet. -Rhiannon