Popular Reading Collection

This is Your Mind on Plants
by Michael Pollan
published 2021-06-02

If you have read any of Pollan's other books, you will probably be unsurprised by the mix
of research, interviews, and personal anecdotes and experiences that he winds together to create a compelling and readable narrative.  Here, the topic at hand is three mind-altering plants (caffeine, opium, and mescaline), their effects on consciousness, and their complex histories and status in different cultures. Intertwined are the author's experiences trying to locate and attend clandestine peyote ceremonies, get solid (or any) information from the DEA on what types of poppies one can legally grow in their backyard, and the mind-numbing dullness of quitting caffeine. This is Your Mind on Plants might not be Pollan's best book, but it is an interesting and informative read.

Recommended by: Andrew H.

Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit
by Eliese Colette Goldbach
published 2020-03-03

Rust is an eye-opening memoir that educates the reader about what life is like working in a steel mill. Once one of the most important industries in the United States, the job is now considered undesirable to many because of its blue-collar status. Goldbach opens up about her mental health struggles that led her down an unconventional career path. Reminding us that one’s career is not always up the ladder. She goes into depth of her luck in securing a steel mill job and highlights what happens within various departments in the mill. The many dangers of working in a steel mill are brought to the attention of the reader, many of whom would not realize the potential hazards that these workers face. Goldbach laces together professional and personal stories in a way that blends well and is worth a read. 

Like Crazy: Life with My Mother and Her Invisible Friends
by Dan Matthews
Publication Date: 2020-08-11

When Dan decided to have his aging mom move in with him, he was unsure if this was a smart decision as he could not even take care of a plant! The saying, that it takes a village to raise a child, can also be applied to taking care of a loved one. Even through all the challenging times, Dan was able to discover who his mom was, her upbringing as an orphan, enjoy her wit, humor, and sense of adventure.  This book was funny, heartwarming, sad, and full of life that was brash and truthful. Through Dan’s words, one could experience the love he had for his mom and life.

Recommended by: Marcia S.

The Man Who Lived Underground
by Richard Wright
Publication Date: 2021-04-21

Richard Wright chose to follow Native Son (1940), the success and cultural impact of which made him the preeminent Black writer in America, with The Man Who Lived Underground. Rejected by his publisher, presumably for its inhospitable combination of brutality and existentialism, a truncated form was relegated to the posthumous collection Eight Men (1961). Eighty years later, it is available in its complete and intended form. Wright’s prose here is both immediate and unnervingly isolating, with only the five senses and the disoriented life of the mind within reach. His approach to depicting Black life in America tended towards pulp narratives, with a hopelessness his contemporaries Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin at times took issue with. Wright drags Jim Crow America’s collective disregard and violent prejudices out in the open by plunging his protagonist in the dark. Regrettably, it kept his book in the dark too -- until now.

                                                               Recommended by: Katie S.