DaytonDailyNews.com

Voting is complete

Book Summaries

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America

By Firoozeh Dumas

At age 7, Firoozeh Dumas and her family left Iran to move to the land of opportunity, America. Funny in Farsi chronicles their life in their new county, detailing the kindness of strangers as well as the prejudice they faced after the Iranian hostage crisis. Writing with a warmth and wit that would make Erma Brombeck proud, she tells what it's like for someone from another culture to discover American icons such as Disney World, fast food, malls and fad diets products. Her family is lead by an eccentric father, who tries to get rich by going on Bowling for Dollars, and keeps his love for America through the good and tough times. Together, they meet the challenges of a confusing new language (should we really eat "hot dogs" and "hush puppies"?) and new county with optimism and determination. Funny in Farsi is gives us insights into American and Iranian culture as well as the immigrant experience while being laugh out loud funny. > Buy this book

Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen

By Sara Gruen

In this recent bestseller, the author creates a tale full of both today and yesterday through her character Jacob Jankowski, an over 90 year old retired veterinarian. Balancing between his current life in an assisted living facility and the circus life he remembers following the Depression, Jacob tells of his life beginning with learning of his parents' death in an auto accident. Occurring just days before his finals in vet school at Cornell, he also discovers there is no money left and runs out of town along the rails where he catches the first train to come along which happens to be the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show circus train. His new life of exotic animals and memorable circus characters leads to adventure, romance and witnessing man's inhumanity to man and animal. The grittiness of the circus and the Depression times rings true due to factual research done by the author and counterpointed with the current day life of Jacob in the assisted living facility. > Buy this book

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life

By Barbara Kingsolver

The popular novelist describes the year her family decided to eat only homegrown food or food grown within 100 miles of their farm in Virginia. Fed up with the issues that surround our addiction to importing out of season food and the havoc this is causing to our environment and eating habits, Kingsolver advocates getting back to gardening varieties of foods, raising our own animals, buying locally, and appreciating eating in season. Her husband, an environmental scientist, adds complementary sidebars of supporting factual information and their daughters add tempting recipes. In the end they spend on the average 50 cents a meal to feed the family of four for a year. Kingsolver fans will recognize her entertaining writing style yet be amazed at wealth life-changing information included. > Buy this book