Choices for the September 7th discussion. Vote!

Books were selected by Pepper Elliot, who will lead the discussion on Sept. 7th.

West with the Night
by Beryl Markham

West with the Night is a memoir of Beryl Markham, horse trainer, bush pilot, and history making aviatrix. Beryl Markham grew up in the wilds of Africa where her father raised racehorses on their farm. Beryl followed in her father's footsteps by becoming the first woman in Africa to receive her horse-training license. Fascinated with the talents of her friend, Tom Black, Beryl learned to fly and went on to become the first person to fly east to west across the Atlantic from London to North America. Although her flight ended in Nova Scotia rather than the intended New York, Beryl will always be known for her courage and her groundbreaking talents.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Barbara Kingsolver

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

The Stationmaster
Jiro Asada

As well as introducing North American fans to Japanese culture and animation through anime programs, VIZ now presents The Stationmaster, a collection of eight short stories by award-winning author Jiro Asada.

As an example of the types of stories contained in the book, the eponymous tale, the one that gives the book its name, concerns a railway man, Otomatsu, who waits at the end of the line each day to greet incoming trains. But after years of being filled with passengers, the trains now bring only one or two people, and sometimes come empty into the station. Otomatsu realizes that the station will soon close, and looks back over the tragedies he's experienced over the years. But suddenly the emptiness of his life changes, as a bright young girl wanders in. She has an uncanny resemblance to his own infant daughter who had died years before. What will this girl do, to return life and hope to this stationmaster?