Patch Picks: Five Book Suggestions

Every week, Vienna Patch will run a weekly feature, highlighting editor and reader picks of great local businesses, destinations, services, organizations, ways to spend a day off, and more. 

This week, we offer five book suggestions in celebration of Read Across America Day, which was celebrated this week.

Leave your own suggestions in the comments below.

Want to suggest a topic for Patch Picks? Submit your idea there, too.

1. "Cat In The Hat" by Dr. Seuss

Why? After all, Read Across America Day is celebrated on Dr. Seuss' birthday, March 2. Pick up an old favorite and share it with your kids.

2. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Why? It's easy and all too common for historical fiction writesr to fall into bored, cliche story lines when telling a story about life in the South before and during the Civil Rights Movement. Stockett takes the issues and writes a refreshing, new tale of life in 1962 Mississippi through the voice of three narrators: Skeeter, a 22-year-old white daughter of a plantation owner; Aibileen, a respected black maid who recently lost her young adult son; and Minnie, an outspoken black maid with a temper.  I finished this 464-page book in 30 hours. I couldn't put it down and bet you won't be able to, either.

3. "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan

Why? Less extreme than Food Inc., Pollan uses this book to tell a history of the food industry and federal regulations that I had never known before.  For meat-eaters (Pollan is one himself), vegetarians and vegans alike, it's a good, quick, current read about where food comes from, and what you're actually eating. (McDonald's shakes, for instance, have more than 20 ingredients).

4. "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Why? You'll be charmed by Francie Nolan as she comes of age in the early 1900s in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The story is told through five "books," each covering a different period between roughly 1900 and 1920, chroncling the Irish/Austrian-American family's struggles as they adjust to life in the tenements. Many say that the story is actually a "thinly guised" version of Smith's childhood -- several characters are said to be based loosely on people from Smith's own neighborhood.

5. "The Forever War," By Dexter Filkins

Why? Of all of the books about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you should read this one. The former New York Times war correspondent turned New Yorker writer chronicles his interviews, assignments and pursuit of stories about the the wars. In the literary journalism style, Filkins tells stories of soldiers and locals alike, bringing the kind of raw, human element that is often noticeably absent from newspaper war stories. And, he doesn't editorialize. What you're getting is what he sees: people and places as they existed in that moment.