Bookshop Santa Cruz staff recommendation:

Good historical fiction makes you believe you’re reading a wonderfully written biography. This book does just that. I knew absolutely nothing about Fanny Stevenson and now I want to learn more about the life she shared with Robert Louis Stevenson. Globe-trotting from France to California to the South Pacific, Fanny and RLS were always in search of either health or a great story and sometimes the found both! Fanny broke gender and moral norms as she marched to the beat of her own drummer. We should all be that brave.

I never took a World Religions class, so I’ve had to piece together my understanding of other religions from conversations and books. From that standpoint, If the Oceans Were Ink is one of the most important books I’ve read. To counter misunderstanding and division after 9/11, American journalist—and secular feminist—Carla Power spent a year studying the Quran with her friend, Shiek Nadwi. Their conversations and travels, relayed in Power’s excellent prose, provide an invaluable introduction to the basic tenets of Islam and the distinctions between its origins and its later cultural trappings. A model for respectful interfaith dialogue.

Jodi Piccoult is at her best in Leaving Time: A Novel. She drew me in with the story of Jenna Metcalf searching for her mother who vanished after a tragic accident over a decade earlier. Woven into the novel, is her mother’s research on elephants and their grief. Jenna investigates every lead she can find and finds two allies to help with her search. The combination of what they find, Jenna’s memories and the contents of a journal make for an exciting finish. This was a book that I finished and immediately read again…it is that good.

Want to understand how the 1% amassed all of their money and power? Want to take power back? Graeber, one of the minds behind Occupy, traces the history of money from the earliest civilizations up to the housing market crash of 2018 and (too big to fail) bail-outs. Graeber introduces new ideas for changing our broken financial system. Viva La Revolution! - Jason