Janelle's Picks

These true accounts of the Mile High City include something for everyone, from first-time visitor to proud native.  I grew up only one-half hour away from Denver, and surprisingly, much of the detail covered in the book was new to me.  The author has chosen 25 pivotal events covering a time span of 1859 (when the city was a prime example of the Wild West) to the 1993 renovation of Lower Downtown (based around the Rockies’ baseball stadium.)  Some of the stories celebrate the ingenuity of Denver’s residents over the years.  Some present history we might rather forget, but from which we can learn.  Colorful characters from Buffalo Bill to Jack Kerouac are mentioned.  This book is a great gift for Coloradans curious about their Western city and surrounding areas, or a fun read for anyone vacationing here who wants a taste of Colorado flavor.

A disturbing look at where your meals have likely come from (and what they may have suffered in the name of profit.)  Not an easy read, but a well-researched one.

Hopefully this book will get the acclaim in the US that it has in other countries! The story hosts several generations of a damaged Norwegian family constantly reinventing themselves. Bawdy, irreverent, but surprisingly touching. Despite their flaws (or perhaps because of them), the characters will win you over as they struggle through universal--and not so universal--trials of life. An entertaining and ever-surprising read.

Ever been trapped in an airport due to a cancelled flight, when you have somewhere very important to go?  You can sympathize, then, with this main character’s frustration, becoming increasingly desperate as the hours tick by.  Being the literary sort, he begins composing a refund request—but it soon becomes a chronicle of his life (explaining why completing his trip is so critical.)  After all, he has the time!  His wry commentary on the airline industry makes for good laughs.  His life experience is heartrending.  A tragicomic look at alcoholism, broken marriage and ridiculous elements of the airline industry.

A fascinating factual account of the events surrounding the 1996 burning of the famous Fenice theatre in Venice. Few Americans were aware of this culturally significant event, and this book is a suspenseful, detailed way to inform oneself. Berendt brings the city to vibrant life through the eyes of colorful residents as the he explores theories of the cause of the fire. Another great offering in the nonfiction-that-reads-like-fiction style of the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Adults, don't run away!  Although designed for 9 to 11 year-olds, this book will enchant anyone young-hearted.  Neil Gaiman (the author of Coraline, to give you an idea) has written another darkly funny, clever, and inventive story that moves at a quick pace.  The main character, Bod, is raised by ghosts in a graveyard in order to stay hidden from the man who murdered his family.  Unique challenges and skills arise, as well as quirky friendships.  A great summer read unlike any other, or great fun for the child curious about ghosts!

Note: If you enjoy this book, try Good Omens by the same author for adults.

This book is the result of the author’s research (based on conservative or government data, fact-checked by two outside sources) on the realities of the US meat supply. If you eat meat, or if you feed it to your children, you should know the facts: “99% of all land animals [including poultry] eaten or used to produce milk and eggs in the US are factory farmed.” What is factory farming? “A system of industrialized and intensive agriculture in which animals—often housed by the tens or even hundreds of thousands—are genetically engineered, restricted in mobility, and fed unnatural diets (which almost always include various drugs, like antimicrobials)…all [factory farms] harm animals in ways that would be illegal according to even relatively weak animal welfare legislation.” Care about the environment you’ll leave your children? “Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the number one cause of climate change.” Beef? Even if cattle are raised on pasture, they are trucked to slaughter for up to 48 hours with no food or water, often in extreme heat and cold. Inspectors are not generally allowed to watch their actual slaughter. Chicken? According to Consumer Reports, 83% of all chicken meat is infected with either campylobacter or salmonella at the time of purchase. Guess why you have to be so careful how you prepare/cook it??? Humane? It is standard practice to sear off their beaks and allow them less space each than a piece of printer paper. “Cage free” or “free range” are not what they imply. Pork? Bacon? Pregnant pigs and those who recently gave birth are usually kept in crates too small for them to turn around, without bedding. The huge outdoor lagoons of their untreated feces frequently spill into surrounding water and their fumes cause chronic illness in their vicinity. Ever eat Tyson meats? (Quite likely, they’re the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef and pork…) The author sent a request to them SIX times, asking if he could meet “farmers” or tour “farms”, and never got a response. Sound suspicious? Fish in this industry? Never killed humanely, and dozens of species of “non-target” sea creatures including whales and turtles are hooked or netted, die and are thrown overboard in the mass-fishing industry. (Called “bycatch” by the industry.) Swine flu and bird flu? Caused by crossover of illness from factory farms. Our growing resistance to antibiotics? Most factory farmed animals are fed antibiotics before they get sick, to combat unsanitary conditions and make them grow faster. Worldwide sources state that the next pandemic will be linked to factory farming. If you’re still thinking, “But I like eating meat!”, then at least read this book to make an educated decision. Not just the animals’ welfare, but your own, and that of the planet, is at stake. Or, if you’d consider going vegetarian, are you worried about staying healthy? The American Dietetic Association says, “Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and for athletes.” The author emphasizes that by eating meat one chooses to finance the above-described industry on a daily basis. The question is, do you really want to?

I remember when I first heard about the hate-crime murder of Matthew Shepard. It felt like a physical blow, similar to what I felt seeing planes hit the Twin Towers—shock that such a horror had occurred in the U.S. in present time. Despite all the media coverage at the time (1998), I felt that I didn’t know the true story, and most of all, didn’t know who Matt really was. I knew he was a gay college student who suffered a horrendous crime and drew a lot of attention to the issue of discrimination, but I wanted to know more. So when I saw that his mother had written a book, I had to read it.

The book is both an intimate look at Matt and a call to action for still-unresolved issues in Congress and society as a whole. It made me feel an urgency to see federal hate crime laws finally passed, and I hope its publication will renew interest in and activism on this topic and on gay rights.

Telex from Cuba is a fascinating, evocative view of Cuba in the 1950s, when Fidel Castro and his brother were starting a guerilla movement and American sugar cane plantations ruled the economy. Told from the various perspectives of family members of sugar “kings” and a few others, this novel is highly informative while being extremely readable. The rampant ignorance and racism of expatriates at the time is quite disturbing; unfortunately, one realizes that the American capitalist habit of using foreign workers to operate more cheaply is not a thing of the past. This is a well-written book that brings social history into painful focus and leaves one reflecting on what has and hasn’t changed in the world of international commerce.

This book is the respite you’ve only dreamed of—a laugh-out-loud novel featuring our financial crisis! The central character is a forty-something dad who has been laid off and is now within a week of losing his house. He also has reason to suspect that his security-hungry wife may be having an affair, so the house detail has not yet been passed on to her and the pressure is enormous. A midnight visit to a 7/11 gives said husband an inspiration of how to quickly solve his money woes, and it’s all downhill from there. The author cleverly interweaves painfully true elements of our modern daily lives with the bizarre and coincidental. The result is hilarious, elaborately plotted, touching, and full of great characters. Disclaimer: illegal drug content.

If the author Barbara Kingsolver isn’t enough to make you pick up this book, have you heard of Frida Kahlo or Diego Rivera? Kingsolver creates a fictional character who works for, then develops a friendship with, these two celebrated Mexican artists. This friend is a writer born in America but raised in Mexico, who has a lifelong struggle reconciling the two cultures. Kingsolver’s language shines when adapted in the role of this writer, and there are many other levels on which to get drawn into this novel. Along with learning about two famous international artists, you get a feel for what living in the U.S. during WWII rationing and the “Red Scare” might have been like. Actual New York Times articles, seamlessly woven into the story, are surprisingly revealing about the journalism of the time. The ending appears predictable, but then takes a turn. A gem of historical fiction and another great read from a renowned author!