Fiction
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, by Alexander McCall Smith. Another round in the continuing adventures of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.
Hild, by Nicola Griffith. Before she became Saint Hilda of Whitby, she was a wide-eyed country girl in seventh-century Britain who some thought could see the future.
Music
Respect Yourself, by Robert Gordon. Detroit didn’t have a lock on soul music in the 1960s. Stax Records in Memphis had Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett on its roster.
27: A History of the 27 Club, by Howard Sounes. It’s called the 27 club because that’s the age at which these big musical names died: Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse.
Willin, by Ben Fong-Torres. A band-ography of the seminal 1970s band Little Feat.
Food
Anything That Moves, by Dana Goodyear. American “foodie” culture is going through breakneck changes. A New Yorker staff writer takes a critical, and humorous, look at the outer edges of the movement.
In Meat We Trust, by Maureen Ogle. America is a deeply carnivorous nation. How did we become so? Here’s a history of our meat-loving appetite.
Out there
Earth: An Alien Enterprise, by Timothy Good. Here’s your subtitle: “The shocking truth behind the greatest cover-up in human history.” I.e. systematic alien encounters.
The Angel Effect, by John Geiger. Why is it that so many people claim to sense a foreign or otherworldy presence at times of great stress or need? This writer investigates.
