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Kindred, by classic science fiction author Octavia Butler, is a novel about a Black woman from 1970s Los Angeles who finds herself repeatedly pulled back in time to pre-Civil War Maryland, where she must save the life of her white ancestor. While there, she experiences the horrors of slavery first-hand and is forced to make difficult choices in order to stay alive and return home.

Spanning decades over the lifespan of the Conroy family, Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House is a difficult, absorbing, fascinating read that was really hard to put down. Told from the perspective of younger brother, Danny, the reader is taken through Danny’s difficult childhood with his father and his stepmother. Protected and raised almost entirely by his sister Maeve, Danny graduates high school, college and eventually medical school; falls in love, gets married and has children.

Mortician Caitlin Doughty does it again with her second book, this time not about cremation, but still about death, don’t worry! In From Here to Eternity, she reviews her experiences in countries around the world, teaching us what she learned about how different cultures care for their dead. We learn about different rituals and ceremonies, and compare them to our own.

Recently I read the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. In this book the main character, Hazel, is suffering from a type of lung cancer. In the beginning of the book she is depressed from living a life with a terminal illness. But throughout this book she progresses and grows in who she is and forms strong relationships. While this book is a romance, it is very beautifully written.

I would give Marching for Freedom five stars and highly recommend it. The story of the marchers is really inspiring and made more real to the reader through personal stories, photos, and song lyrics. I am very thankful for the sacrifices of the people in the story. Put this book on your reading list!

Review By Rachael F

The Monopolists explores the fascinating and little-known origins of the board game Monopoly. Though long marketed as the brainchild of an unemployed father during the Great Depression, Monopoly was in fact lifted almost entirely from a game that was invented thirty years earlier by a progressive feminist. Lizzie Magie created The Landlord’s Game to demonstrate how landowners were unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of renters.

Looking back on her life on and off the screen, Sally Field brings a mature, sensitive, and poignant reading to her intimate, hauntingly honest, as well as authentic and fresh memoir, 

Kathryn Stockett’s first historical fiction novel is amazing. It’s about the lives of African American maids/nannies who served white women in the 1960’s, particularly in Mississippi.

In 2009 “Precious”, the movie that is based on Push, was highly acclaimed and received multiple Academy Awards. I wanted to know what all the hype was about, but I wouldn’t watch the movie because I was afraid it would be unsettling. So, I decided to read the book. The book is intense. I was not prepared for its graphic nature. Both the language and subject matter are very disturbing, albeit authentic to the author’s traumatic experience.

In this comprehensive account, The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution,

Co-written by a sportswriter and an economist, Scorecasting uses statistics to examine and debunk popularly held ideas about sports. Focusing primarily on baseball, basketball, and football, it explores such topics as home-field advantage, referee bias, hot streaks, and why certain types of players are overvalued.

Billy Crystal has just turned 65 as he reflects on his personal and professional life while providing his observations on aging in his memoir,