Rem

Rem was a promising middleweight boxer until he almost killed a man in a barfight in Modesto, California. He has since devoted his life to peace and knitting.

Zipper Mouth (Paperback)

By Laurie Weeks

$14.95

ISBN-13: 9781558617483
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Published: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 10/2011

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The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (Paperback)

By Nicholas Carr

$15.95

ISBN-13: 9780393339758
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Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 6/2011

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You Think That's Bad (Paperback)

By Jim Shepard

$15.00

ISBN-13: 9780307742148
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Published: Vintage, 3/2012

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In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction (Paperback)

By Peter A. Phd Levine, Gabor Md Mate

$17.95

ISBN-13: 9781556438806
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Published: North Atlantic Books, 1/2010

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Best book on addiction EVER.

A Visit from the Goon Squad (Paperback)

By Jennifer Egan

$14.95

ISBN-13: 9780307477477
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Published: Anchor, 5/2011

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Fabulous!

Lit: A Memoir (Paperback)

By Mary Karr

$14.99

ISBN-13: 9780060596996
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Published: Harper Perennial, 7/2010

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I'm a little late to the Mary Karr party, so those of you who have already enjoyed her two earlier memoirs will have to excuse my enthusiasm; but holy cow, this woman can write! Lit is the story of her journey into and out of alcoholism during her early adulthood, in the meantime dealing with a failing marriage, a struggling writing career, and the ghosts of her childhood. If it's a story you think you know, think again. Funny, matter-of-fact, and filled with biting Texas grit, Karr also manages to chart a spiritual awakening as moving as anything in our inspiration section.

Freedom - Oprah #64 (Hardcover)

By Jonathan Franzen

$28.00

ISBN-13: 9780312600846
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Published: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9/2010

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I know this book has been hyped to death, and it's certainly far from perfect. But it's a funny, epic novel in the grand tradition. The central story of Walter and Patty Berglund, the beautiful way Franzen gets inside the twists and turns of a 40-year marriage, elevated this book into a special category for me.

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture (Paperback)

By Ellen Ruppel Shell

$16.00

ISBN-13: 9780143117636
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Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 6/2010

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In these days of belt tightening, it's all too tempting to throw in the towel and just start buying cheap at the nearest discounter. But this book will snap you out of it. Ellen Shell has written an eloquent history of America's obsession with the bargain, and in the process how we've sacrificed living wages, craftsmanship, and even health. From Woolworth's to IKEA, Walmart to Dennys, Shell describes this endless landscape of crap -- not that I'm biased -- and how with our wallets we can constantly vote for quality over quantity.

The Savage Detectives (Paperback)

By Roberto Bolaño, Natasha Wimmer

$16.00

ISBN-13: 9780312427481
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Published: Picador, 3/2008

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This book by the Chilean author Roberto Bolano comes translated into English with a lot of hype, something I'm usually wary of. But this one doesn't disappoint. Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima are a couple of wild-eyed poets running around Mexico City in the 1970s. Founders of a new movement called Visceral Realism, they are busy heckling established professors, selling pot, and pursuing mysterious lost poets who may or may not hold the future of Latin American poetry in their hands. It's an unholy and hilarious mix reminiscent of Kerouac, with something all Belano's own. He pokes fun at the idealism of youth, but also manages to capture the magic as well. Whoops! I guess I'm part of the hype now. Oh well, try and forge ahead anyway...

Twin Study: Stories (Paperback)

By Stacey Richter

$14.95

ISBN-13: 9781582433936
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Published: Counterpoint, 6/2008

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This excellent collection of short stories is hard to describe. Richter blends fantasy and gritty realism in a new way. In one of my favorites, an unhappy wife finds herself lured away from her suburban home by a pack of cavemen -- actual cavemen -- who have shown up in her neighborhood. Humorous and disturbing all at once.

The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring (Paperback)

By Richard Preston

$16.00

ISBN-13: 9780812975598
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Published: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2/2008

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This is the fun and more than a little unbelievable story of how a bunch of students and amateur naturalists ventured into the redwood forests of Northern California and began to explore the hitherto unknown canopies of these amazing giants. Preston's writing veers over into soap opera at times, but how else to capture the romantic nature of the facts; i.e., a geeky convenience-store clerk who in his spare time goes out and finds the tallest tree in the world! A fascinating read.

The Lady in the Lake (Paperback)

By Raymond Chandler

$14.00

ISBN-13: 9780394758251
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Published: Vintage, 8/1988

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"'He might be a muddy-faced boozer,' I said. 'The police think he's a murderer too. Of his wife. She's been found drowned in the lake. After a month.' She moistened her lips and held her head on one side, staring at me fixedly. There was a quiet little silence. The damp breath of the Pacific slid into the room around us.'" Ah Raymond. The Master.

Breath (Paperback)

By Tim Winton

$14.00

ISBN-13: 9780312428396
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Published: Picador, 5/2009

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Bruce and Loonie are a couple of boys growing up in a dead-end small town in Australia, longing for danger and adventure. Just down the river from their village they discover the wide, terrifying ocean, and fall in love with a mysterious surfer named Sando. This is a breathless story about testing one's limits, learning to face fear, and finally how saying no might be the better part of valor. Beautifully written.

Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation (Paperback)

By Larry Rosenberg

$16.95

ISBN-13: 9781590301364
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Published: Shambhala, 11/2004

As a commentary on the Anapanasati Sutra, the Buddha's teaching on breath awareness, this book is a good nuts and bolts introduction to one aspect of Buddhism. But it's Rosenberg's own personal experience, and his vivid examples, that made the book memorable for me. His breadth of experience has taken him from Korean monasteries to the forest teachers of Thailand, but he always brings things back to the present moment, which is the only real teacher. According to him our experience, honestly examined, reveals that we are like Sisyphus, endlessly pushing towards a "better" horizon. But if we can relax these expectations, there is a lot of joy to be found in just this moment, breath by breath.

Destroy All Cars (Hardcover)

By Blake Nelson

$17.99

ISBN-13: 9780545104746
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Published: Scholastic Press, 5/2009

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Meet James Hoff: Junior, intellectual, hater of automobiles. He wants to reject all the sellouts around him, the "Consumer Americans" as he calls them; but his sense of humor, and interesting girls like Sadie Kinnell, keep getting in the way. This half-funny, half-serious book is good for sullen teens, and the sullen teen in all of us. At one point James lists his goals for the coming year: 1.) Overthrow petroleum-based world economic order; 2.) Have sex. Works for me.