Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do; and What it Says About Us by Tom Vanderbilt

Traffic is a very information book about the living organism of human behavior, laws, signs , signals, metal monsters and culture and how they make up one word - traffic. Tom Vanderbilt provides pages of professional information and easily translates it into everyday language. He provides easy to understand, everyday examples along with startling observations we would never think about. Vanderbilt relates traffic - and all things that are traffic - to animal behaviors, stories, myths and world events.

This book is very well researched, but it is also funny and personal. Driving is a very physiological process and Vanderbilt will explore the minds of many people in many times and places. Vanderbilt went to many places and interacted with many people to explore the human mind, and how it changes once enclosed in a large metal machine - the car.

Traffic is sometimes extremely easy - sometimes almost impossible - to change and influence, because millions of unpredictable humans with millions of additional factors make up traffic. After reading this book you will never drive the same way again, or think of traffic in the same way. Highly recommended, even to non-drivers.

Recommended to ages 15 and Up (easier for drivers to understand however).

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina is about a group of people in society related in some way or other. The book changes between the points of view of these people and leads you on the confusing path of their lives, opinions and emotions. After Anna Karenina visits her brother, can she return home and be just as happy? Have her affections changed? Can she live happily with those changed emotions? She will never be the same. Stephan Arkadyich has cheated on his wife, can she forgive him? But more importantly, can he change? Can Levin make his true love see his love? Can he summon up the courage to propose to her, and will she make the right choice in answering?

This book follows these characters in Moscow, Petersburg and the Russian countryside during very important times for Russia. Occasionally there will be an argument on religion, farming or philosophy that is a bit hard to understand. The book is very vivid in emotions, you will see everything through the characters' eyes, sometimes clearly, sometimes less so. Follow these people as they search for happiness and meaning in life. A good book, although sometimes tedious and confusing.

Recommended to ages 16 and Up.

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Cristie

The large, gorgeous, famous ruby, the Heart of Fire, is on the move once more. A rich American has bought it, under slightly suspicious circumstances and has given it to his daughter, Ruth. All seems well, except Ruth's marriage to Derek Kettering, a man with no love for Ruth, only her money. She plans on divorcing him, but there is something that is holding her back, something she does not want to tell her father before her trip to Nice. But then when the Blue Train reaches its destination Ruth Kettering is found dead and her rubies are missing. Who can solve the crime, but Hercule Poirot? He takes on the task with Kathrine Grey, a woman with beautiful eyes who has slowly become involved in the Ketterings' lives through change meetings and occurrences. She will become an important character, even though she didn't plan to.

Poirot will follow every clue, every suspicion, will talk to and possible trick, every person. There are many suspects, some more obvious than others. But of course Poirot will find the truth, suspected or not.

Recommended to ages 12 and Up.

The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Cristie

Hercule Poirot is planning on retiring. But how can the great, genius Poirot go out without something fantastic? For his last few jobs he decides to take after his namesake, Hercules, and solve twelve crimes, all that of which will bear a resemblance to the twelve tasks of Hercules.

Poirot will find an interesting twist to a dog kidnapping, find the root of a wicked rumor, help clean the government of disgrace, help cure an insane man and help many others. Poirot once again finds interesting twists in each crime from evidence and clues only he can see and he always finds the main character of the incident.

This book is very good, it is not quite one mystery, really there are twelve. Each are written in slightly different ways, and it is quick moving and refreshing, even if you don't follow Poirot through every thought process like other books. There are so many characters, fresh ones for each mystery and they are all remarkably real and unique. A great Cristie.

Recommended to ages 12 and Up

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre is a book about a young girl and her many struggles on finding herself, balance and happiness. This book is from her point of view, speaking directly to the reader as she starts out, beaten and repressed in her Aunt's house. She is later sent to school and must learn how to conduct herself and show people what she is really like. She learns life lessons from a fellow student, and she changes greatly. Throughout the book she seems to have many different changes in character.

She becomes a governess for a little French child who is living in a large mansion that is surrounded in mystery. There is a strange servant in the attic with a creepy laugh, strange noises and dangerous occurances. And the strange master that is always away from home will soon be returning. Then everything will change for Jane Eyre. She will have to figure out what is right to do, even when it is very hard. Can she possibly find happiness and a true home at the end of it all?

This book is very thick with religion and superstition - of ideas of spirits and sprites. It is quite odd at some points but yo will get very deep in the book and wont be able to put it down at other points. It is a book about love.

Recommended to ages 14 and Up.

The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy

The Order of Odd-Fish is a vibrant book about the adventures of Jo Larouche. She was born a dangerous baby and always felt like something was missing in her life. She didn't want to remain in the Ruby Palace out in the desert with her old, slightly crazy Aunt Lily who can't remember forty years of her life. She always wanted thing to change and with the arrival or the huge, walrus like Colonel Korsakov and his butler, a three foot high cockroach named Sefino, things will start changing faster than Jo could ever have imagined.

She will become entangled with desperate villains, creepy balloon people, knights on ostriches, unique friends, strange animals, terrifying gods and a wonderfully chaotic city that no one has heard of before.

This book is wonderfully fresh in plot and characters. t is extremely creative, full of amusing and scary twists and turns. The descriptions on Eldritch City and every other scene is so vibrant with sounds, sights and smells that you will feel you are in the book. This book doesn't have a boring moment. James Kennedy has created a whole 'nother world, vibrantly alive. A must read.

Recommended to ages 12 and Up.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a heart breaking book about the lives and deaths of American Indians during the 19th century. It has been entering hearts and homes and changing minds since it came out in the 1970s.

During this time is the Civil War and Reconstruction. Many people have only learned about these overwhelming topics. But during the same time another race of people were in dire need of help. Those people were being murdered and moved and no one could hear their voices. The American Indians consisted of so many tribes, many different languages and customs that are now lost. They were noble, beautiful people. They helped and trusted white men, and made promises to them. Time and time again they were cheated by the white men, and shot down under truce flags and American flags. Time and time again the women and children would have to flee in the dead of winter or be murdered and mutilated. The Indians kept trying to do what was right and be trusting but the whites continued to think of them as barbaric and incapable of emotion and broke promise after promise.

Even when a white man learned the ways of the Indians, and saw their beauty - they couldn't help for long. They could be overwhelmed and verbally attacked by others who only wanted to make their fortunes by cheating the Indians out of food, clothing, shelter and land. The Indians were strong, they were moved so many times, having to start all over in a completely different place, that they weakened and thousands died from diseases and starvation. They could do nothing against the millions of white men, whenever they tried to resist they were wiped out. White people didn't care to learn their ways, or hear their words, or know individuals instead of The Indian. Many different innocent people were blamed and punished for what others dd. White men were determined to destroy them all forever. They were all moved and killed and starved and learned many terrible things. One of which is that it was possible to die of a broken heart.

Everyone should read this book about a lost people. They should hear the story that has been covered up for far too long. Hear those voices of all the long gone Indians who were here before us all. And this book a wonderful way to hear those voices from the past.

Recommended to ages 15 and Up