248 listings found.
Displaying 1 - 10
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Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the North Woods
Griffith, Cary
Dan Stephens, a 22-year-old Eagle Scout, was spending the summer of 1998 as a guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). While leading a group of 8 boy scouts and their 2 leaders, Dan stepped into the woods alone to look for the next canoe portage and didn't return. In October of 2001, Jason Rasmussen, a third year medical student, decided to go on a three day hike alone in the BWCA. On the first day he took a wrong turn on the unmarked 26 mile Pow Wow Trail and became hopelessly lost in an area of dense brush, bogs, and beaver ponds. Griffith skillfully interweaves the extraordinary stories of these two young men and those who searched for them.
[Adult Nonfiction Book 613.69 G]
Jennifer L., Ridgedale Library
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Still Summer
Mitchard, Jacquelyn
It's summer and it's high school reunion time for four women. One woman is unable to make it and she proves to be the heroine of the vacation. Of the three women left, one brings her teenage daughter for an adventure on the high seas in a small sailboat. Personality quirks and conflicts arise as the four females get reacquainted and encounter tragedy that will change their lives. This is a great beach read in the sun - just close your eyes and pretend to be with the adventurers on the sailboat in the Caribbean - at least until disaster strikes.
[Adult Fiction Book MITCHARD]
Jane S., Excelsior Library
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Later at the Bar
Barry, Rebecca
In Rebecca Barry's graceful, loose-limbed stories, characters congregate at Lucy's Tavern and talk and fight about love. "Later, At the Bar" a novel written in stories, is an intimate study of lonely people. Barry's people live in Upstate New York; they are farmers, truck drivers, cooks, small-time felons, and advice coumnists. They cheat, steal, and yearn. They make bad decisions, even ridiculous ones, but Barry's luminous generosity shines through all these stories. These stories also possess smart dialogue and a psychological insight that reminds one of Richard Russo's "Empire Falls".
[Adult Fiction Book BARRY]
Eddie A., St. Anthony Library
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The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet
DeGrasse Tyson, Neil
Plutoed: to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto (2006 Word of the year from the American Dialect Society.)
Read Pluto's full story from discovery in 1930 to reclassification to dwarf planet in 2006. Tyson's telling of the Pluto story connects the world of science with politics, social protest, education and our culture of celebrity worship. Committee resolutions, political cartoons, song lyrics and plenty of good humor included.
[Adult Nonfiction Book 523.4922 T]
Roberta R., Maple Plain Library
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The Only True Genius in the Family
Nash, Jennie
Magazine photographer Claire has a loving husband and a temperamental, artistic daughter Bailey. Claire's father, a famous landscape photographer, recently died. Grief is especially difficult for Claire to process as she had a complex and mostly unsatisfying relationship with him; wildly talented Bailey and her grandfather were kindred spirits. Claire's confusion, jealousy and emotional journey are conveyed in clear and beautiful language. The book cover art is misleading; this is not chick lit. Multilayered and thought provoking, I didn't want to put this book down.
[Adult Fiction Book NASH]
Kim B., Ridgedale Library
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Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska
Kantner, Seth
Born in 1965 in a sod igloo in Arctic Alaska and raised in the ways of the Inupiaq people, Kantner shares true stories of his tundra experiences from childhood through adulthood. Kantner testifies to the immense challanges of day-to-day survival in a homemade sod igloo, a structure that was regularly buried by sudden snow squalls, in a climate where "frostbite was a way of life." While the chapters, containing pictures taken by the author, read like individual stories it is the entire book's beauty I found outstanding. A wonderful story for those loving true-life tales and especially those with an interest in nature and Native American life.
[Adult Nonfiction Book 921 K1336]
Jennifer L., Ridgedale Library
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Garden Spells
Allen, Sarah Addison
If you liked "Chocolat" by Joanne Harris, you're in for another tasty treat in this tale of two sisters. The Waverly women have always had strong, and sometimes strange, gifts, which tended to set them apart from the rest of their small North Carolina townsfolk. Younger sister Sydney left town and family entanglements after high school, but returns years later with her young daughter, fleeing from the girl's abusive father. Older sister Claire takes them in, and as the two work their way toward reconciliation, a magical tale of life and love unfolds.
[Adult Fiction Book ALLEN]
Claudia K., Rockford Road Library
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Rollback
Sawyer, Robert J.
What if your body could be restored to the way it was when you were 25? In 2009, the earth has received its first contact from another civilization. Sarah Halifax was the astronomer who first figured out how to interpret the message from the Dracons. 38 years later, a new message has come back to Earth. In order for 87-year-old Sarah to work on decoding it and to be around for the next message from her Dracon penpals, Sarah and her husband, Don, submit to a "rollback", a treatment that will restore their bodies to the way they were at age 25. The treatment is given, but Sarah's fails. Now Don looks and feels 25, but has the life experiences of an 87-year-old. Sarah still needs to find the key to the message before her time runs out. The book raises many questions about science and ethics.
[Adult SciFi Fantasy Book SAWYER]
Laura K., Southdale Library
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Helping Me Help Myself
Lisick, Beth
A semi-serious but mostly humorous account of Lisick's year-long project of self-improvement. Lisick has been described by various reviewers as witty, disarming, earnest, and "wildly funny." She is also very likable and open-minded about everyone and every experience. If you like your humor a little more R-rated, you may want to try her earlier book, "Everybody into the Pool," about life and the counter-culture in San Francisco. Recommended for those who enjoy David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, or Susan Orlean.
[Adult Nonfiction Book 818.609 L687]
Julie B., Southdale Library
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Wesley the Owl
O'Brien, Stacey
Calling all nature and animal lovers. In 1985 Caltech student researcher O'Brien adopted an injured four-day-old barn owl that she named Wesley. For 19 years she kept, cared for and studied him, forging a tremendous relationship with the still-wild animal, as well as a vast understanding of his abilities, instincts and habits. This heartwarming, captivating memoir contains many humorous moments.
[Adult Nonfiction Book 598.97 O]
Jennifer L., Ridgedale Library
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