Sarah's Picks

Feels like: Big Fish meets Don Quixote.

Micaela, a queer Tejana cowgirl roams the Texan wild west in search of the white marauders from General Houston's army who killed her family. This is history as it ought to be told: passionate, beautiful, devastatingly terrible human events. It is what Julia Alvarez describes as the perfect historical novel: immersing readers "in an epoch ... that I believe can only finally be understood by fiction, only finally be redeemed by the imagination. A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart."

This fantastic book is your ultimate guide for do-it-yourself, off-the-grid, green living in the city. Kelly Coyne and Eric Knutzen will show you how to compost in a garbage can, raise chickens in your backyard, grow potatoes in old tires, build your own food dehydrator, make your own non-toxic cleaning solutions and even hack into your plumbing to reuse your greywater. For the especially ambitious (and cash infused), they also discuss how to “Be Your Own Utility” by harvesting your own power. For the most part, however, Coyne and Knutzen give practical, realistic, and damn hilarious advice on how to live sustainably, even if you live in a 500 square foot apartment with no yard and no money. There are no new-age peddlers hawking their unnecessary composting claptraps here! As Coyne and Knutzen say themselves “Composting is free!” Everything rots. So don’t let The Man convince you to buy the modern equivalent of Indulgences like hydrogen cars in the name of Saving the Earth. Use your legs!

If I could write a blurb for the back of Little Brother, it would say “Cory Doctorow, I didn’t finish your book because I got so excited that I went out and overthrew the government in the middle of the night!” Of course I did finish his book--how could I not? With references to Orwell’s 1984, political commentary on our security-obsessed society, and an alarmingly believable vision of America’s future, Cory Doctorow’s prescient novel of teen hackers revolting against a government run amok is the kind of book you want to illegally photocopy and hand out to every person you see.

"There is a feast witing for you here. Breathe it in... You know that here you will be well fed, well loved, well tended, satisfied." Thus begins Crescent Dragonwagon's Passionate Vegetarian, a hefty tome, joyfully penned in memory of her beloved co-chef, creative-partner and husband Ned. As the title indicates, this is no placid, objectively stated, "2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar" cookbook! Jam packed with gustatory delights as well as joyously, poignant and - yes - passionate stories, this is a cookbook not just for vegetarians, not just for chefs, but for anyone who loves food and stories that will not only satisfy your hunger, but pique your desires, make you laugh, and sometimes make you cry. And who can deny the power of food that will move you to tears?