Book of the Week: ‘What If?’
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions Randall Munroe 2014, 303 pages Nonfiction What if?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is exactly as the title describes: a book that provides carefully considered, researched, scientific answers to questions that are both random and ridiculous. Questions like, “What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed...
Book of the Week: ‘Best Day Ever’
Best Day Ever Kaira Rouda 2017, 342 pages Fiction Best Day Ever is an entertaining addition to a new trendy theme in popular literature, one that is the foundation of stories like Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris or The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, one that makes the reader suspect that the perfect lives of perfect couples are not always what they seem.Paul and Mia Strom seem to be one of these “perfect” couples – Paul works as...
Book of the Week: ‘The Cabinet of Wonders’
The Cabinet of WondersMarie Rutkoski2008, 258 pagesChildren’s Fiction Petra is a 12-year-old girl who lives in a village outside of Prague in the countryside of Bohemia. Her father is not a simple toymaker, but a magical artificer of metals. His skills allow him to create animals that are nearly alive. Petra’s silver pet and constant companion is a clever spider, who loves to cling to her hair and keeps up a running conversation with...
Book of the Week: ‘Wonder’
WonderR. J. Palacio2012, 315 pagesChildren’s Fiction This is the story of August, a young boy who is just a little bit different from everyone else. He was born with a rare genetic facial issue that has made his face look mutated from all of the surgeries that he has had in order to correct it. He has spent most of his life wearing an astronaut helmet to hide his face when in public, but now he’ll face the hardest challenge of them...
Book of the Week: ‘Ikigai’
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy LifeHéctor García and Francesc Miralles2016, 194 pagesNonfiction Ikigai can be translated as your purpose in life, or “the happiness of always being busy.” Héctor García, a blogger and former software engineer, and author Francesc Miralles are curious about this concept of ikigai, and they travel to the island of Okinawa in Japan. Okinawa has the highest average of people who are over...
