In the aftermath of a fatal car accident, a private journal of love notes from a husband to his wife is passed into the hands of six suffering people. Although completely different, they live in a world in which pain is expressed as illumination, so one’s wounds and suffering glitter and fluorescence. A very original story about a different world and how people are still connected.

Introducing a new industrial revolution: Environmentalism has always been at odds with industry and vice versa; environmentalists trying to rein in industrial growth and industry fighting against the constraints of the environment. The problem lies with the linear life cycle of production: cradle to grave. This means that lots of time and effort is put into extracting raw materials from the earth and producing a product whose life cycle inevitably ends in a landfill where it can never be recovered. Picture instead industry that is cradle to cradle. A product is designed with the idea that all the components are valuable as either biologic or technical nutrients. “Products that, when their useful life is over, do not become useless waste but can be tossed onto the ground to decompose and become food for plants and animals and nutrients for soil; or, alternately, that can return to industrial cycles to supply high-quality raw materials for new products”. With this revolutionary concept, the idea of waste is eliminated. This book provides examples of companies that are succeeding at cradle to cradle design. Instead of merely recycling (which often means down-cycling) these companies and innovators are seeing their products through their whole life cycle rather than just into the consumer’s hands. This change in perspective could make peace between the natural world and human productivity.

Considered his most personal and timely book to date, biologist E.O.Wilson assesses the precarious state of our environment. He examines the mass extinctions occurring now and provides a specific plan to save our world. He has a vision that is as economically sound as it is environmentally necessary. The current scientific information he presents is written in an engaging and persuasive style that is easily understood by everyone. An elegant manifesto of why biodiversity matters.

Bloodroot is a flower whose blood-red sap possesses the power to heal and to poison, and this book tells a story of incendiary romance that consumes everyone in its path. Myra Lamb is a wild young girl who grows up on Bloodroot Mountain in the Smokey Mtns of Tennessee. Her grandmother Byrdie, passes down “the touch” that bewitches animals and people alike. Doug is the neighbor boy who longs for Myra yet is destined never to have her. Against a backdrop of beautiful but unforgiving country, a dark mystery unfolds of one family across generations. In this audiobook all the characters are read by people whose voices bring to life the characters they portray.

This book tells the wonderful story of the friendship of five women in Palo Alto, California. The women are very different but are bonded by a shared love of literature and the Miss America Pageant, which they watch together every year. The women start a writing club and meet weekly. They also experience the history of Vietnam, the race for the moon, and the women’s movement. Humorous and enjoyable!