In Defense of Food
An Eater’s Manifesto
Michael Pollan

By Travis Hill

It’s so terribly simple: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That’s what Michael Pollan recommends to the hundreds of millions of Americans who are literally dying to find the next big diet craze. And unfortunately for all of us lazy people out there, it appears he is right. (more…)

Love and Sex with Robots
David Levy

By Paulette Perhach

“Great sex for everyone, 24/7.”

This is the final line and premise from David Levy in his book, “Love and Sex with Robots.” He predicts that within five years, humans will be getting lucky with robots. Forty years from now, we’ll be falling in love with them. (more…)

By Paulette Perhach

In 2004, Frank Warren invited the public to send him all their dirty little secrets, presented on anything that could be sent in the mail.

Some are a letter that could never be sent to the person to whom is was written.

“A Lifetime of Secrets” is the third book to come out of the experiment, which has also been made into an international traveling art exhibit. (more…)

By Shannon McAleenan

Stephen Colbert is America. And so can you, provided you agree with all the opinions he spouts in his book. Don’t worry about having to make up your mind about anything. This is an all-inclusive bound ideology.

Stephen Colbert’s show, “The Colbert Report,” follows Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” But from the tone of Colbert’s book, he is the American you should be most interested in.

In this satirical tome, “I am America (And So Can You!),” Colbert tries to transmit his cable success to the page. His I’m-more-American-than-you persona works great on television, but his trademark wit doesn’t bite as hard in book form. On his show, Colbert stands his ground on the political right, but the jokes take a hard left turn. The complexities of this relationship don’t translate to book form. This aside, there are still more than enough laughs to make this book worth a read. (more…)

By Shannon McAleenan

The poems featured in the Chris Bodor-edited compilation “My Time: The Lunch Break Book” range from terse to flowing, but they all have one thing in common: they are written with the lunch break in mind. Whether that represents a reprieve from the factory, a fleeting peace amid school’s chaos, or a few minutes away from household duties, the poets in “My Time” were all inspired by that 30- to 60-minute break so many of us take for granted. And Chris Bodor, who printed the collection himself under the guise of St. Augustine’s Poet Plant Press, ties it all together in the dedication, stating that “lunch breaks and poetry are both about nourishment: how healthy we become when we fill our bodies and minds…” (more…)

By Paulette Perhach

If you happened to sit next to Chuck Palahniuk on a long flight, and if you had the guts to ask him all the questions you would ask the man who wrote “Fight Club,” you might get a conversation a bit like his book “Stranger than Fiction.”

Someone who writes of such immensely “flawed” up characters and equally disturbing scenes is either one of the most imaginative writers of our time, or he leads a rather flawed up life. (more…)

By Nick McGregor

Following up his debut novel-turned-international bestseller wasn’t very difficult for Khaled Hosseini. “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” like its predecessor “The Kite Runner,” personalizes the plight of Afghanistan’s citizens, examining the cultural consequences suffered during the country’s revolution and Taliban takeover. Although Hosseini was applauded for his unflinching depiction of violence in “The Kite Runner,” the scenes of horrific abuse found in “A Thousand Splendid Suns” are even tougher to stomach. But those instances, like one where a husband beats his wife unconscious and locks her in a tool shed, serve to show the Western world the oppression and injustice historically inflicted upon women in Afghanistan. (more…)