Check Back in April....

I hope you're enjoying the On The Same Page selection, The Hunger Games. Be sure to check back on April 1 to find out which book was selected as the next Featured Book of the Month.

On The Same Page

The Featured Book of the Month program is on break during February and March to make way for The Library's On The Same Page community reading program. Check the On The Same Page website for information on the 2010 title, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Be sure to stop into your local branch to check out a copy and then discuss the book in person at one of our book discussions or online.

Let's Get the Discussion Started!

I hope you're enjoying January's Featured Book of the Month, Farewell, My Subaru by Doug Fine. I'm sure you have lots of thoughts about the book, so let's get the discussion started!

-What do you like about the book? What don't you like?
-What steps have you taken to lead a greener lifestyle? Would you go as far as raising goats and driving a ROAT (Ridiculously Oversized American Truck) powered by vegetable oil?
-Do you think it's really possible to live a green lifestyle without giving up your modern conveniences? Why or why not?

About Doug Fine

After being raised on Dominoes Pizza and Brady Bunch re-runs, Doug Fine’s method of journalistic investigation was to strap on a backpack and travel to five continents; to the nooks where the world’s monied media venues weren’t sending their people.

As a young freelancer, Fine reported in this manner for the Washington Post, Salon, U.S. News and World Report, Sierra, Wired, Outside, National Public Radio, and other venues from little-visited jungle war zones like Burma, Rwanda, Laos, Guatemala and Tajikistan. He became a world-class adventure writer and investigative journalist, writing culturally-insightful and funny dispatches. One of these, about democracy efforts in Burma, was read into the U.S. Congressional Record.

During this time, his 20s, Fine recognized that he lived on an actual planet, and that he felt most alive while in wild ecosystems. Following this impulse in contradiction to all the suburban values with which he was raised (which can be summarized as, “if you’re not going to be a doctor, you can at least be a lawyer”), he moved to extreme rural Alaska to see if a former suburbanite could survive. Happiness and self-awareness were the goals. This resulted in his award-nominated first book, Not Really An Alaskan Mountain Man, which is now in its third printing.

Realizing that living in sync with his ecosystem is indeed where his own inspiration and personal happiness reside, Fine for his second book decided to embark on a “Hypocrisy Reduction Project,” to see if he could truly live a sustainable lifestyle, rather than borrowing from Babylon to live in an ecological Zion. He moved to a beautifully-obscure valley in Southern New Mexico to write Farewell, My Subaru, to quite simply see if a Digital Age Human can live without Petroleum but without giving up any of his Digital Age Comforts. His conclusion? He can, once he figures out how to keep the coyotes from eating his chickens, his solar panels from electrocuting him, and his vegetable oil truck exhaust from giving him a bad case of the munchies (it smells like Kung Pao chicken).

Be sure to visit your local branch and check out a copy of Farewell, My Subaru and mark your calendar for Doug Fine's visit to the Main Library on February 6.

About Farewell, My Subaru

Is your New Year's resolution to live a more green lifestyle? If it is (or even if it isn't) stop into your local branch and check out a copy of January's Featured Book of the Month, Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living by Doug Fine. The book details Fine's attempts to live locally and reduce his dependence on oil, all while keeping his modern conveniences. In the author's words,

"This ia a book of carbon-neutral carnage, about my attempts to kick oil while still living like an American. Farewell, My Subaru is the account of everything that can go wrong (and then right) when a regular guy tries to get oil out of his life. It details, among other embarrassing (but, my editor insists, inspiring) realities: coyotes eating my chickens, my near-death due to clumsiness during solar panel installation, and my suffering from Extreme Munchies thanks to the exhaust of my new carbon-neutral, vegetable oil-powered R.O.A.T. (Ridiculously Oversized American Truck). Hence the title of the book – I had to ditch the ol’ reliable Subaru in favor of a diesel. But for all the mishaps, I have reduced my electric bill by 80% and no longer need gas stations to drive. All while keeping my Netflix, my Internet, my fridge, washing machine, and most of all, my booming subwoofers."

For more information about the book visit Doug Fine's website. Be sure to check out your copy today, check back here to discuss the book, then visit the Main Library on February 6 at 2pm to meet Doug Fine.

Discussion Questions for Under the Banner of Heaven

I hope you're enjoying our December Featured Book of the Month, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer. Some insightful comments about the book have already been posted, so here are a few discussion questions for you to consider. Join the conversation or add your own thoughts...we'd love to hear from you!

Did you like the book? Why or why not?

Given the nature of--and the motive for--the murders of Brenda Lafferty and her child, should Ron Lafferty be considered mentally ill? Or, as Krakauer states in his book, "If Ron wasn't insane--or at least no more "insane" than anyone else who believes in God--what was he? Why had the Lafferty brothers' religious beliefs turned them into ruthless killers?"

How would you expect maintream and fundamentalist Mormons to react to Krakauer's book?

About Under the Banner of Heaven

What's not to love about Under the Banner of Heaven, our December Featured Book of the Month? It's a true crime story, an exploration into the extremes of religious belief, and it's written by Jon Krakauer, one of my all-time favorite authors.

Under the Banner of Heaven tells the true story of Mormon fundamentalists Dan and Ron Lafferty, who murdered the wife and infant daughter of their younger brother Allen in 1984, but claimed they were acting on direct orders from God.

So take a break from the holiday madness, grab a blanket and some hot chocolate, and spend a chilly winter's night absolutely mesmerized.

Be sure to listen to Krakauer's informative NPR interview about his book or read my blog post on Turning the Page, our staff blog about books and reading.