Spring is here! And so are new books to the Urchin Bookshelf! Check it before you wreck it. (Actually, don’t wreck it at all. We only have one, and it was given to us by a large man with a long white beard, possibly the real Santa Claus.)
Margaret’s books
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma forever changed the way I think about food and how I eat. While Pollan is technically a journalist, he’s as much a scientist of human nature and philosopher. Several years ago I saw a portion of the PBS documentary based on The Botany of Desire and was completely blown away by eloquence in person that was equal to that on the page. The precursor to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Botany of Desire follows four different foods – the potato, marijuana, the tulip, and the apple – through their context in social history. He reveals how both humans and plants have helped shaped each other and finally asks, ‘Who’s domesticating who?’
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
One of my favourite writers, Larry McMurtry, called Abbey ‘the Thoreau of the American West.’ (Hey, I live there!) Abbey is another author that I have waited far too long to read. Environmental activist, essayist, and yes, anarchist, wrote often about the western landscape, a place I have always been drawn to. Desert Solitaire is a collection of vignettes drawn from Abbey’s experience as a park ranger in Arches National Monument. Abbey recollects a search and rescue mission to pull a dead body from the desert, the effects of the desert on society, and the detriments of outdoor tourism.
Sarah’s books
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
A few weeks ago, I happened upon a massive book sale held by Tauranga’s local Rotary club. Four giant spaces in an empty fruit packhouse were filled with table after table of books for sale from $1 – $5. The day I went just happened to be the final closeout, meaning that all books were reduced by 50%. As you can imagine, I was like an Urchin in a… well, 50%-off used book sale. When I saw this reimagining of the love between Cupid and Psyche by C. S. Lewis, it quickly jumped to the top of my reading list. Lewis’s non-fiction work A Grief Observed is one of my favourite pieces of writing in the world, challenging me with new ideas and viewpoints every time I pick it up. In Till We Have Faces, Lewis turns his poetic writing style and deeply philosophical wisdom to an ancient tale, and I’m greatly anticipating the opportunity to reflect on the philosophical notions presented in the story. According to a note from the author, Lewis began constructing his reinterpretation of this story while at university. It feels like a privilege to read the passion project of one of my favourite thinkers and writers.
London: the lives of the city, a collection by Granta
In 1999, Granta literary magazine compiled its largest issue to date: a collection of short stories, memoirs, essays, and photography about London. I’ll start making my way through them all as soon as I can open the book without bursting into tears.
Geo’s books
Prince: Inside the Music and the Masks by Ronin Ro
I was born in 1986, two years after Prince’s movie and soundtrack, Purple Rain, came out. How was I to know that, during my formative years of newborn to five years old, the myth known as Prince was forming, too. Being a baby, I failed to take notice. It took me twenty-six more years to pick up a copy of that album. I now realise that this fact boldly attests to that album’s timelessness. After picking up a few more of his albums (there are about a thousand of them), I wanted to know as much as I could about the man, myth, and legend behind these songs. Conveniently, music journalist Ronin Ro just published a biography on Prince, and while it isn’t an official biography (there may never be one, even if Prince himself writes it), Ro’s account will surely add more questions and answers to music’s most enigmatic, influential, and puzzling performers.
The London Scene: Six Essays on London Life by Virginia Woolf
Urchins think alike. Just as Sarah waits to deem herself ready to dip into the Granta collection, I’ve only recently deemed myself ready to read this book. I’ve read a few of Woolf’s books years before, and they were so powerful that I purposely decided to wait until I was a few years older before reading her again. I wasn’t actually sure when the moment would come, either, until she was heavily referenced in Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother? Bechdel’s analysis on Woolf’s writing made me remember that Woolf will remain, possibly forever, perhaps the best writer any of us will ever read.
What are you all reading?
Great recommendations! My boyfriend is a HUGE Edward Abbey fan (The Fool’s Progress is one of his faves), plus he grew up with a step father who was a park ranger. Can’t wait to tell him about this!
Big fan of Edward Abbey here….
Thanks for the recommendations, the first book is exactly what I am after for my next read!
I really enjoyed the Botany of Desire as well. Pollan took a really intriguing perspective to explore human-nature relationship.
About 15 years ago I bought Virginia Woolf’s book To the Lighthouse. I tried reading it a few times and never could get into it. I tried again this year, finished it , and loved. That happened to me with The Egoist also. The time, place, and people must change.
Thanks for the tip! With that said – I have one book I need to retry now … Sophie’s World! Could never finish it! And that was 13 years ago!
I loved that book. A roller coaster ride through philosophy. Read it!
I read To the Lighthouse as well, and though I found the book interesting, the stream of consciousness tecnicque was a bit tiring after a while. I don’t think she would be my favorite writer though I think she is a great writer.
sorry technique was spelt wrong. I could blame the keyboard but I think it was operator error.
Why the tears over London? I love Granta Magazine, never get through them, but great for dipping into.
I’m reading non-fiction ‘The Maid and the Queen’ was in need of reading about good, strong women, what better than a secret hisotry of Joan of Arc.
Wonderful suggestions. I want to read them all! Thank you for sharing.
Reblogged this on AURORA MOREALIST ©2011 ~ Writer and commented:
Love this, had to follow and share with you!
LOVE your pages. Agree with above comment, we must change. For only in change do we read and see differently as I have done as well with some works I first could not “feel” at all. Great post, following you now. Also reblogging
London, the lives of the City looks like an amazing read and I think it’s going to be put on my “to find” list! Right now I acquired a few amazing used books at a charity used book sale for a dollar a piece as well! (Book lovers heaven I think) So I’m about to start A Handmaid’s Tale (Why I never read it in High School I’ll never know), The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, Bridget Jones Diary and a really nifty “Reverse Dictionary….that you use when you can’t think of a word that’s right on the tip of your tongue. So we’ll see how that goes.
Great Post!
The Granta London issue is essential reading. It even makes the Hanger Lane Gyratory system faintly glamorous!
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll have to check these out.
I am currently reading ‘A room of one’s own’ but finding it difficult. I had not previously heard of the CS Lewis book so thanks for brining that one to my attention. Congratulations on being freshly pressed. I like books very much.
Reading a variety of commentaries on the Hebrew names of God and their meanings.
Very interesting stuff. 
I think you’ll enjoy the CS Lewis and have have taken down the name of the first two. Thanks fors sharing
WOW! I never thought I would see a review for Desert Solitaire. My first encounter with this book was when my son was assigned to read this in 8th grade Science class. He was totally clueless. I felt this was material designed for high school seniors or college aged students and older. I read it with him(to him) and explained it as best as I could! I think the teacher threw it at the class thinking they would get it( honors class) The class did NOT get it and it was finally assigned as “extra credit” Too bad the teacher didn’t even spend time TEACHING the material.
So many good books are destroyed by abysmal teachers. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve heard say they hate reading because of high school. I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic English teacher who gave us Siddhartha, Wuthering Heights, etc… Although, I have to admit, I still have yet to read Heart of Darkness… sorry Ms. Swain. – Margaret
I had to leave a comment…Virgina Woolf is a distant cousin, and I have the same name as her mother…first and last, Julia Stephen. Artists run in the family,
–they all look superb. Especially the one by Woolf. Thank You…
Hi, I think you’ll love The Red Tent, a historical fiction that’s hard to put down and forget.
Till we have faces has been one of my very favorite books since I was young. I studied Greek history and mythology in elementary school and C.S. Lewis is amazing, so I have always felt very strongly about it. I haven’t picked it up in a while, maybe I should. Great books I’m currently reading: Villette (by Charlotte Bronte) and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Soldier, Spy by Metaxas. If you like the way Pollan connects the world for a better understanding of it, you’ll like Metaxas’ approach as well.
Till we have faces has been one of my very favorite books since I was young. I studied Greek history and mythology in elementary school and C.S. Lewis is amazing, so I have always felt very strongly about it. I haven’t picked it up in a while, maybe I should. Great books I’m currently reading: Villette (by Charlotte Bronte) and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Soldier, Spy by Metaxas. If you like the way Pollan connects the world for a better understanding of it, you’ll like Metaxas’ approach as well.
I will have to check out the Botany of Desire..
I am slowly reading Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. so far so good. 
Very cool!!
Try these…
http://cynicseyeview.wordpress.com/2011/06/08/the-rule-of-three/
Thanks for recommending. Looking for a book club pick for family summer vacation and will recommend the CS Lewis. So tired of the easy picks and current favorites or whomever won the Pulitzer. Refreshing to revisit classics. Thx.
We have a copy of Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, I think my mum bought it some 3 years ago and I haven’t opened it yet… well then, you just made me want to open it now. Hehe.
Essays on London life and Pollan’s new book sound interesting. Thanks for the recs. Jusy finished The Expats and Leaving the Atocha Station.
Leaving the Atocha Station looks fascinating. I haven’t read any Ben Lerner, but this looks like a good place to start! – Margaret
I love “Till We Have Faces.” I read it as an undergrad and really enjoyed it. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the book
Pingback: Reading Too Much. Writing Not Enough. « The Sycamore
Awesome books! I really would like to buy Till We Have Faces but the local bookstores don’t have stocks. Happy reading!
I’m reading The Huger Games at the moment. I want to read all three in the next few months
Excellent Post and great recommendations. Inspired me to write about a book I found in a pub a few years ago. It still haunts me. Thank You!
http://www.geordiesgirl.com
I’m currently reading Rilke’s “Notebooks” which I find it so powerful.
I read Virginia Woolf “the waves” some months ago , it was a hard book and not so joyful to read I confess, but well it’s so creative and nothing compares with it . so it’s absolutely worth the time I spent reading it.
I read “The Waves” decades ago, during a hot summer when I was in the south of England and had time on my hands. I loved it. Picked it up again a few years ago and couldn’t get through it. There really is something about timing, sometimes also about age (although in this case, I don’t think age was the factor).
What fabulous reading suggestions…realy looking forward to “London ~ Lives of the City.”
Good luck!
~ Trèsors De Luxe
P.S. – We’re having our “Grand Opening Giveaway” in honor us launching our online jewelry boutique! To enter, just stop by our blog @ http://www.tresorsdeluxe.wordpress.com for instructions
Would like to read ‘The Botany of Desire.’
I just moseyed over here from Freshly Pressed — congratulations. I can’t tell you what a delight it is to stumble on such a thoughtful, literate space!
Thank you! It’s always nice to see so many new readers. – Margaret
thank you for the list. wouldl love to read some abbey. i’m reading dear virginia woolf now myself, and i just blogged about her , and i agree with you wholeheartedly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
her wit and satire is unchallenged. .x
I’m particularly intrigued by the Woolf collection–might have to pick that one up. Right now I’m reading “Godric” by Frederick Buechner. Great book so far; it was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize back in the early 80s.
Brilliant of course! And thanks for sharing! May have to pick up a few of these to read
Thank you for that insightful collection of to-reads. My heart and brain are agreeing on a Prince and Woolf concoction – two human beings I greatly admire. Like most, I don’t feel well-acquainted with Prince, but Woolf, well, that’s a different story. Her writing burst open a vein in my being never knew existed! Like you, I’ve read most of her works (in university – some for pleasure, most for class), but I cherished them. I was too young, though. My mind wasn’t ready. I think it’s time to return to her. Even before I discovered your blog, I was considering this while cruising Goodreads (just yesterday)! Is it fate?
Always great to have a fresh batch of reading options, especially when someone makes the list for you! Thanks
By the way, I’m reading At Home: A Short History of Private Life. My first Bill Bryson experience. I’m thinking I should have started with his more celebrated works, but hey. It’s a great mix of interesting facts, albeit a bit off course. Or so the title makes you think.
I’m also in the middle of A Dance With Dragons (latest Song of Ice and Fire installment). Lengthy yet incredible! Any fantasy series junkies here? Who doesn’t love Game of Thrones, anyway…!
You will love Bill Bryson! He’s (obviously) one of our favourite writers! – Margaret
I love Virginia Woolf and C.S. Lewis…Nice to see a few 20th century classic writers here…and Abbey, whom many people won’t know.
Currently reading Infinite Riches, a collection of 20th century short stories written by women. I write non-fiction so most of my reading tends to be in that genre.
Everyone should read The Imperfectionists, written by a fellow Canadian journalist Tom Rachman and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, a French novel. Both are charming yet deeply moving and both set in Paris, my favorite city.
I’ve actually had The Elegance of the Hedgehog sitting on my bookshelf for several years now. Thanks for the recommendation! – Margaret
Thanks for the suggestions. I read in a 4 book rotation. History- Popular Fiction-Religion- Something I should’ve paid more attention to in school. Right now I’m reading Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
Muy buenas recomendaciones…
Love Desert Solitaire. Thanks for sharing (and reminding me to give it a proper read)!
Till we have faces sounds like a good read, not too sure about the other ones… I’ll have to add it into my long list of books to read somehow.
I’d like to check out Desert Solitaire. I, too, love Larry McMurtry and if he likes Abbey, then he’s worth checking out. Also need to check out Til We Have Faces! Thanks.
I am rereading some of the Southern literature I mentioned in my latest post:
http://charleneoldham.com/2012/04/30/southerners-we-cant-win-a-war-but-we-can-write/
I also love Larry McMurtry and the songs written by his son, James.
Gets no better than C.S.Lewis! Would kill to talk to him….maybe in heaven!
Great blog and good comments. Anyone read Flush by Woolf? A biography of a dog, had to go and buy that as soon as I read the blurb in the back of another book. Currently reading The White People and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen and yes, they are weird. They are written in a marvellous archaic language that seems odder than Chaucer where husbands are ‘fond’ of their wives and don’t like ‘fuss’ about household matters.
Great reads, can I recommend a kindle book to you, called “The Opportunist” by Tarryn Fisher
Loved The Botany of Desire. Read it a few years ago and can’t wait to talk about it with my friends, however many of them still have it in their tbr list so I must remain silent. Also, not sure I’m ready to read Woolf yet. Waiting for the time to present itself.
I heard “Til We Have Faces” in a radio Reading Aloud program (which I miss to this day) and loved it. The program was 1/2 hour daily M-F, and I could hardly wait for the weekend to be over so I could hear the rest. Still love it. (They also read “War & Peace,” which although an incredible book, is not well-suited to that format and took about a year to get through.)
Reblogged this on Detkin’s Blog.
I just stumbled across your blog, thank you for the interesting read and recommendations. I read Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway as an undergrad and always meant to read more of her work but never got around to it. I’m reading Ian McPhedran’s Soldiers Without Borders, Julianna Baggott’s Pure and Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations at the moment. The first two as an escape from my thesis work and the third for my thesis, though it is quite interesting. My all-time favourite book though is Wuthering Heights and I buy copies when I find new or interesting editions. I noticed one of you had yet to read Heart of Darkness, I’d recommend that and Disgrace. I agree with one of the previous posts, bad teachers can really affect a student’s desire to read. I was also lucky to have a fantastic English teacher in high school who encourage us to read widely. I also had one who essentially told me to dumb down my writing because nobody speaks like that in real life.
I’m reading The Shamanic Way of the Bee by Simon Buxton. I think you would like it!
Love CS Lewis, not so much Virgina Woolf, and I’m gonna rush out to look for Desert Solitaire. Am currently in the middle of “House Thinking” by Winnifred Gallagher. Great blog!
Some good suggestions up there! Haven’t read any of them, myself, except Michael Pollan. I had a serious paradigm shift after ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’, but a few years later I read ‘Eating Animals’ (Jonathan Safran Foer) and had to rescind a lot of my praise for Pollan.
One recommendation I have that I read recently was Michelle Goldberg’s latest, ‘The Means of Reproduction’ (reviewed it, myself, on WP); fantastically written, well-mapped and very, very well-researched.
Till We Have Faces might just be my favorite Lewis book–deep and mythic. I am currently revisiting Perelandra. Also just started reading Marilyn Robinson’s essays: When I was a Child I Read Books.
I love to read and have actually read one or two of the books. Thanks for all of the recommendations. I will definitely try many of them if not all
Great recommendations. The one by Woolf seems like something worth reading( It is not a very popular one ,comparing to her other books ).
The C.S. Luis titles are now on my to-read list! Thanks for the recommendations! Also, the book on Prince sounds pretty neat.
Usually, I am more of a fantasy reader though. Right now I am reading Firestarter – Stephen King. Also, I’m reading Illiad – Homer (trans. by someone I’ve never heard of) and the Oddasy is next on my list. I am reading the Lord of the Rings right now too (book 1, mid-way through).
But! My favorite books are (shockingly) my own. I am in love with the story-lines and the characters! All of it. I currently have 12 of my books started on here, and plan on not only putting the rest of those books up, but posting new ones as well! You can check them all out at The Nexus (http://www.kylewrittenword.wordpress.com) there is a paragraph about each book in the genre pages.
Again, thanks for the recommendations!
I read the “Botany of Desire” about 7 years ago and loved it! It was so interesting to think that maybe plants actually pick us!
Pingback: Jiro Ono and the Striving of Eternal Perfection, or: No Big Deal | The Urchins
Some great recommendations there and a few I hadn’t heard of so another few to add to my books to read list.
Great I like ^^