Yolo County Library
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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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| 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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Driving Miss Norma : one family's journey saying "yes" to living
by Tim Bauerschmidt
A full-length memoir based on the popular Facebook page of the same name chronicles the remarkable cross-country journey of the effervescent 90-year-old Miss Norma, who in the face of terminal illness embarked on a transformative road trip with her son, daughter-in-law and giant poodle.
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The Not-Quite States of America: Dispatches from the Territories and Other Far-Flung...
by Doug Mack
When people think about what makes up the United States, they probably think of the 50 states -- but there are other places that are often forgotten (if people know about them at all). Tracing the author's visits to some far-flung U.S. territories, including the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands, this informative, amusing book provides a fascinating look at each place, its role in history, the people who live there, and their ideas about statehood. If you think you know the United States but can't locate the territories on a map, pick this up -- after all, they are part of the country, too!
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Havana : a subtropical delirium
by Mark Kurlansky
Award-winning author Mark Kurlansky presents an insider's view of Havana: the elegant, tattered city he has come to know over more than thirty years. Part cultural history, part travelogue, with recipes, historic engravings, photographs, and Kurlansky's own pen-and-ink drawings throughout, Havana celebrates the city's singular music, literature, baseball, and food; its five centuries of outstanding, neglected architecture; and its extraordinary blend of cultures. Kurlansky shows Havana through the eyes of Cuban writers, such as Alejo Carpentier and José MartÃ, and foreigners, including Graham Greene and Hemingway. He introduces us to Cuban baseball and its highly opinionated fans; the city's music scene, alive with the rhythm of Son; its culinary legacy. Once the only country Americans couldn't visit, Cuba is now opening to us, as is Havana, not only by plane or boat but also through Mark Kurlansky's multilayered and electrifying portrait of the long-elusive city.
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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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Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys Across a Changing Russia
by Lisa Dickey
With Russia so much a part of recent news, some may want to know more about the world's largest country. Veteran author Lisa Dickey shines a light on that topic and on the changes to Russia that have occurred during the past two decades, detailing three journeys she took across the vast nation, in 1995 (with an American photographer), 2005 (with another photographer), and 2015 (solo). On each trip, she tried to visit the same people and places, and the result is an in-depth look at Russians (including farmers, small business owners, Jews, and others) that explores everyday life, people's social attitudes, and more. Bear in the Streets provides a rich look at an intriguing place.
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Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey into the Heart of Russia
by David Greene
David Greene, the co-host of NPR's Morning Edition, spent several years based in Russia. In his new book, he describes his eye-opening travels along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Traveling third class from Moscow to Vladivostok, he meets ordinary but fascinating people -- from singing babushkas to entrepreneurial teens -- and shares food and time with them. Using this trip as a lens, he also discusses the challenges faced by 21st-century Russia.
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Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia
by Anne Garrels
What is life in Russia really like and why do Russians love Vladimir Putin? Anne Garrels, formerly an NPR correspondent based in Moscow, answers these complicated questions using a variety of people (from taxi drivers to doctors) in the Chelyabinsk region as a microcosm. Having visited the area (which is located far from Moscow) for two decades, she not only offers "a collection of scrupulous, timely journalistic portraits" (Kirkus Reviews) that document the differences in everyday lives over time, but also describes how growing freedoms have not always been beneficial, and shares what Russians really think of the West.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Yolo County Library
226 Buckeye St. Woodland, California 95695 530-666-8005
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