A century of industrialization has left our food system riddled with problems, yet for solutions we look to nutritionists and government agencies, scientists and chefs. Lisa M. Hamilton asks: Why not look to the people who grow our food? Hamilton makes this vital inquiry through the stories of three unconventional farmers: an African-American dairyman in Texas who plays David to the Goliath of agribusiness corporations; a tenth-generation rancher in New Mexico struggling to restore agriculture as a pillar of his crumbling community; and a modern pioneer family in North Dakota who is breeding new varieties of plants to face the future’s double threat: Monsanto and global warming. Threads of history and discussion weave through the tales, exploring how farmers have been pushed to the margins of agriculture and transformed from leaders to laborers.

“The extraordinary farmers . . . in Deeply Rooted embody the future of American agriculture.” — Alice Waters

By turns funny and sad, the linked stories in Tracy Winn’s debut collection, Mrs. Somebody Somebody intersect in surprising ways. Winn draws us into the last sixty years of an old mill town where her unforgettable characters are down on their luck, but making the most of it. The man-crazy young mill worker of the title story forms an unexpected friendship with a lesbian labor organizer; a plucky immigrant child finds faith that her sister will return safely from Iraq; and a secretive old bookie has reason to hide a fragment of bone in his pocket. Connecting them all is the decidedly upper-class Burroughs family whose stately home holds years of unspoken compromise and regret. In clean, sensuous prose, Winn delivers the truths of our experience, unfolding these all-too-human lives, showing how little race, class and age matter when it comes to the grace that connects us all.

“Mrs. Somebody Somebody is rich in surprises and moments of unlikely beauty. A splendid debut.” - Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street

The Odyssey Crime Club will discuss Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler. This first novel in a riveting new mystery series introduces two cranky but brilliant old detectives whose lifelong friendship was forged solving crimes for the London Police Department's Peculiar Crimes Unit. This month’s selection is discounted 20%

By the acclaimed author of The Highest Tide comes a story of contrary destinies further complicated by the border that separates them. Six foot eight and severely dyslexic, Brandon Vanderkool has always had an unusual perspective—which comes in handy once his father pushes him off their dairy farm and into the Border Patrol. Uncomfortable in this uniformed role, he indulges his passion for bird-watching and often finds not only an astonishing variety of species but also a great many smugglers hauling pot into Washington State from Canada. Rich in characters contending with a swiftly changing world and their own elusive hopes and dreams, Border Songs is at once comic and tender—a riveting portrait of a distinctive community, an extraordinary love story and fiction of the highest order.

“Jim Lynch’s new novel reads as an antidote to the 21st century: a kind of metaphorical insistence on hope and simplicity and art in the face of a surrounding storm.  Border Songs is a quietly ambitious book and it just gets better as it rises to the final satisfying image.” – Kent Haruf

In The Whole-Body Approach to Osteoporosis, nutrition and bone health expert Keith McCormick offers a holistic, ten-step approach to help readers increase bone density and bone flexibility, reduce the risk of fracture, and engage in more active and healthy lifestyles.

“…the most updated, advanced, and comprehensive approach to bone health regeneration available today.” -- Susan E. Brown, Ph.D., author of Better Bones, Better Body