DEWEY: THE SMALL-TOWN LIBRARY CAT WHO TOUCHED THE WORLD, by Vicki Myron

636.8

MYR

Dewey arrived at the Spencer Public Library in Iowa via the book drop on a freezing winter night. He was adopted by the library staff and soon took to greeting patrons at the door and keeping them company while he napped in their laps.

Dewey was such a success as a library cat that eleven people attempted to claim credit for abandoning him in the book drop. He lived at the Spencer Public Library to the ripe age of 17.

THE RED LEATHER DIARY by Lily Koppel

974.71092

KOP

When Lily Koppel, a 20-something writer in New York, hurried to work one fall morning, she noticed a dumpster filled with antique trunks in front of her building. Finding them irresistible she climbed in to pull out the locked trunks from their landfill destination. One item changed her life - a diary written by a teenager over an unbroken 5-year span from 1929-1934. Manhattanite Florence Wolfson received the diary on her 14th birthday. From that day until she turned 19 she recorded her life from her first kiss to her crushes on women as well as men, to her interest in writing and art.

In a chance phone call, Koppel discovers Wolfson is still alive and living in Florida. They meet and develop a relationship that neither one could have anticipated.

DOWN THE NILE: ALONE IN A FISHERMAN'S SKIFF by Rosemary Mahoney

962.0455

MAH

Mahoney fulfills her ambition to row herself down the Nile, but not without some difficulty. Mahoney is an experienced and enthusiastic rower so the difficulty is not physical but cultural. In the Islamic country of Egypt, women do not row and Mahoney must pretend to be buying a boat for her nonexistent husband in order to be taken seriously. And then there is the matter of the police.

This is a well-written picture of contemporary Egyptian society and of those who came down the Nile before Mahoney, including Gustave Flaubert and Florence Nightingale.

LOOK ME IN THE EYE by John Elder Robison

362.196858

ROB

This is a fascinating and funny memoir of a man who grew up a misfit only to figure out late in life that he was afflicted with Asperger's syndrome. Older brother of Augusten Burroughs, John knew he was different. He dropped out of high school and discovered a genius for electronics. When he was in his forties, the discovery that his eccentricities had a name gave him the confidence to work on his social interactions. This is a compelling story that helps the reader understand someone struggling with a disability.

MIM CHIMPSKY: THE CHIMP WHO WOULD BE HUMAN by Elizabeth Hess

636.9885
HES
Part of an experiment to determine whether non-humans could acquire language, the chimpanzee named Mim was raised as a human child in a family, wore clothers and was taught American sign language. Nim became a celebrity in t he early 1970's, appearing on talk shows and as the subject of magazine articles. When the funding ran out, however, he was shipped back to the chimp breeders facility in Oklahoma where he was born. He was then shunted from place to place, (including a facility which used animals for medical experimentation) before ending his days at Cleveland Armory's Black Beauty Ranch in Texas.

THE RESCUE ARTIST by Edward Dolnick

364.162

DOLNICK

The 1994 theft of Edward Munch's renowned painting "The Scream" from Norway's National Gallery was shockingly easy. Dolnick, a writer for the Boston Globe recounts the compelling story of the investigation and recovery by a Scotland Yard Art Squad team led by Charley Hill. He is a fascinating undercover officer whose life is straight from the pages of a detective novel.

The book describes his work recovering lost treasure and the compulsion that leads him to become familiar with famous art thieves.

His absorbing escapades will leave you at the edge of your seat as you read about the little-known world of art theft.

THE WORST HARD TIME by Timothy Egan

978.032

EAG

A counterpart to John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, Egan's nonfiction work tells the lesser-known story of those who stayed behind and survived t he dustbowl of the 1030's. Filled with incredible details, like boiling tumbleweeed to eat. This book will fill you with admiration for the toughness and resourcefulness of the farmers and others who stayed because they had no choice.

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE: A YEAR OF FOOD LIFE, by Barbara Kingsolver

641.0973

KIN

Kingsolver moved family and flock from arid Arizona to a family farm in southern Appalachia. This book chronicles a year of their lives dedicated to eating only foods grown locally and in season. They have a large garden which provides their own meat. They even learn how to make cheese.

Her story is entertaining, educational and admirable. Kingsolver explores such topics as use of fossil fuel in transporting "exotic" foods, the losing battle in the use of pesticides, and fair trade. Interspersed with editorials from 19-year-old daughter Camille are recipes, weekly family menus, and humorous family stories. This year-long diary tackles important issues that make you think about what you eat and where it comes from.

PARADOX OF CHOICE: WHY MORE IS LESS by Barry Schwartz

153.83
SCH
Barry Schwartz discusses how an abundance of choice can become detrimental to our psychological and emotional well being. He explains the irony that having more choices, which would seem to encourage autonomy, actually causes us more stress and unhappiness than when choices are fewer. He spends some time suggesting that our expectations influence our attitude toward things and that the more choices we have, the higher the expectations, resulting in a greater chance that we will be dissatisfied. This is a fascinating look at a subject that effects us all.

THE LAZARUS PROJECT by Aleksandar Hemon

FIC
HEMON
In 1908, Lazarus Averbuch, and Easter European immigrant, is shot and killed by the Chicago Chief of Police when he attempts to deliver a note at the chief's home. One hundred years later, Vladimir Brik, a Bosnian immigrant, investigates this act of violence by tracing Lazarus's journey from Russia where his family was the victim of an infamous pogrom.
Brik ends up in Sarajevo, which he has not visited since the war, only to be confronted by another act of violence.