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| Good Friday on the Rez: A Pine Ridge Odyssey by David Hugh BunnellThough journalist David Hugh Bunnell died last year, his timely, magnificent memoir is a lasting tribute to the Native Americans he called friends, weaving together as it does his own life with that of recent Native American history (including the 1973 Siege at Wound Knee, which he witnessed). Using a one-day, 280-mile round trip from his childhood hometown of Alliance, Nebraska to South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation as a framework, Bunnell explored the troubles Native Americans have faced as well as the beginning resurrection of their pride and culture. |
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The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love
by Per J. Andersson
Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, was born into a poor, untouchable family in a small village in eastern India. All his life he has kept a palm leaf bearing an astrologer’s prophecy: “You will marry a girl who is not from the village, not from the district, not even from our country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox.” But not until PK attends art school in New Delhi do his stars begin to align. One evening, while drawing portraits in a park, he meets a young Swedish woman, Lotta von Schendin — and this brief meeting will change the courses of their lives forever. This is the remarkable true story of how a young Indian man armed with nothing more than a handful of paintbrushes and a secondhand Raleigh bicycle made his way across Asia and Europe in search of the woman he loves.
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| Walking to Listen: 4,000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time by Andrew ForsthoefelAt a time when the United States feels pretty divided, Walking to Listen offers a bit of hope. A recent college grad in 2011, Andrew Forsthoefel set out with a full backpack, planning to walk from Pennsylvania to Georgia and across the country to the Pacific Ocean. Wearing a "walking to listen" sign and pondering the words of poets Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Kahlil Gibran, Forsthoefel found "teachers" of all types along the way and learned about trust, fear, kindness, loneliness, and more along his thought-provoking, inspiring journey. |
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| Duck Season: Eating, Drinking, and other Misadventures in Gascony, France's... by David McAninchHaving visited Gascony and fallen in love with it, Chicago-based journalist David McAninch moved there with his wife and six-year-old daughter for an eight-month stay. In this rural, nearly tourist-free region of Southwest France, they slowed down their meals, lives, and responsibilities, and McAninch was able to harvest grapes, herd sheep, take cooking lessons, and learn about the local food and culture. If you like envy-inducing travelogues mixed with mouth-watering foodie memoirs (with recipes!), have a seat at the table with this atmospheric tale. |
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The Mercy : The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst
by Nicholas Tomalin
In 1968, weekend sailor Donald Crowhurst set sail aboard an untested trimaran, The Teignmouth Electron, determined to win the first-ever official race to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe. Even before the race began, things looked uncertain for Crowhurst. The boat he was sailing was as yet unproven; when it was running at full speed it began to vibrate, shaking loose the screws in the self-steering apparatus. Crowhurst's navigational abilities were questioned during a pre-race test sail. Worst of all, there wasn't time to add in all the usual safety features. Undeterred, Crowhurst just beat the deadline for departure and headed into open water. Soon after the race began, Crowhurst ran into trouble. It wasn't long before he realized that he had no chance of winning, and he faced a difficult choice: finish the race and risk his life aboard a boat he couldn't control, give up in defeat, or take a shortcut and falsify his navigational logs. Crowhurst chose the latter, maintaining from that moment on two logs, one actual and one invented. Pieced together by two Times reporters following the discovery of the abandoned Teignmouth Electron and Crowhurst's navigational logs, Deep Water captures the enigma at the center of Crowhurst's final voyage: a quixotic attempt to save his business, and to provide for his young family, by attempting to become the first person to sail around the world without stopping.
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| Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Aleksievich; translated by Bela ShayevichThough it's too late to travel to the Soviet Union, which broke up in 1991, you can still visit via this moving oral history collection that provides an eye-opening look at the (pre- and post-) Soviet soul. Sharing the stories of a wide variety of people from across the vast country -- ranging from before the end of communism to the beginnings of the new Russia and the rise of Putin -- 2015 Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Aleksievich provides a thorough, fascinating look at war, freedom, family, and more, giving voice to those who've seen so much upheaval. For further reading, pick up Anne Garrels' Putin Country. |
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| Travels in Siberia by Ian FrazierDid you know that Siberia doesn't officially exist? Or that there's a city that was once known as the "Paris of Siberia"? Or that...well, we could go on and on. And you'll be able to, too, if you read author and humorist Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia. Frazier's taken five trips to the region, and he describes his various travels across the vast, remote area (including long road trips in both winter and summer) and discusses Siberian geography, people, culture, and history. This "energetic, illuminating account" (Kirkus Reviews) is sure to satisfy anyone who enjoys well-written travelogues or is curious about this sparsely populated area. |
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| Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia by Peter PomerantsevThough born in the Soviet Union, Peter Pomerantsev was raised in England by his political exile parents. In 2001, not long after graduating from university, he headed to Russia to learn more about the place he'd heard so much about. He spent around ten years there, many working as a television producer. From this unique viewpoint, he shares what modern Russia is like, introduces readers to intriguing people (oligarchs, biker gang members, supermodels, politicians, and more), and explores Russia's relationship with the West. If you're interested in a different take on Russia, this riveting read should please. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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