Book of the Month: Border Songs

Border Songs by Jim Lynch

Set in a rustic county on the border between Washington and Canada, Border Songs follows the eccentric characters residing on both fronts—particularly Brandon Vanderkool. Bird aficionado, dyslexic, a towering six foot eight, Brandon is often the whisper of the town and his Border Patrol colleagues. Unbeknownst to him, he possesses an uncanny knack for making unconventional art and being in the right place at the right time, much to the dismay of drug smugglers, bombers, illegal aliens, friends and family. Jim Lynch weaves a humorous and deeply detailed account of innocence lost for some and preserved for others. After a year of dire events, life will never be as it was before for Lynch's endearing characters, it may prove to be better. Review by Nicole Blackburn.

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Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing by Tarquin Hall

Private Investigator Vish Puri, the subject of Tarquin Hall's second book in her award-winning detective series, is hot on the trail of a killer whose victim was an eccentric scientist who made a career out of disproving religious gurus. Set in India, this fast-paced, wryly funny novel is a great summer read that will prove hard to put down. Review by Allison West.

If you've read a great book, let us know!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

How much of ourselves do we really own? Once we lose a piece of ourselves, is it still ours? These questions and many more are the topic of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Lacks was a young, African-American woman who died from complications from cervical cancer in 1951 after receiving treatment from Johns Hopkins Hospital. Before her death, her doctor took a culture of cells from her tumor that would later be known as HeLa cells, the building blocks for many medical breakthroughs over the past 50 years. Unfortunately, Lacks' cells were taken without her knowledge or her family's permission. Skloot handles the story of Henrietta Lacks and her family with the utmost sensitivity while simultaneously turning a harsh eye on the ethical dilemma that made Lacks immortal.

Review by Allison West, check it out in this month's issue of Numéro!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday: Nocturnes

For many of us, we barely have the time to sit down and watch TV let alone read a good book. It's difficult to surrender our attention for hours to a single lengthy story. This book may prove to be a remedy for those of us who crave quality writing but don't have an excess of time.Kazuo Ishiguro has compiled five short stories to satiate your craving.

Amongst the melancholic, angst filled lives of the characters inhabiting Ishiguro's enlivened snapshot stories in Nocturnes, there is one transcendent beacon. When the light of day fades, music is the point of hope, the life force sustaining the aspirations and wills of the main characters as you follow them throughout world. Not every story may strike a cord with you, but I found a few to have hooks in them that bubble up within my memory from time to time. Throughout our lives we encounter people who change our lives and then never see them again, some of these stories embrace that cross cultural occurrence. And you are reminded that amidst every tragedy there is a hint of beauty.