What's New on the Bookshelf?

Good news! The Cape Cod Times ran an editorial yesterday exploring the premise that Cape Cod is special and should not necessarily be sprayed with herbicides. (The link refuses to cooperate. Find the article yourself under Opinion, More.)

On our bookshelf today, we add three new books, above.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, I have not yet read. I know the author made an appearance at the Provincetown Fine Arts Center last summer and that her collection of short stories won a prize. What’s more, short stories are always appreciated by guests, because you can take an easy bite, digest, and come back with more appetite at a later date, once home.

The second book is a memoir by Elena Gorokhova. A Mountain of Crumbs describes her childhood and adolescence in Soviet Russia. I savor it, consuming one chapter at a time, every night before bed. The topic is particularly interesting to me because my dad was Russian and escaped in 1918. The Wellfleet Library is inviting Elena to give a reading in early September.

Finally, a book I have not had a chance to read but have wanted to read for months, a book everyone, who worries about their health, should read: Slow Death by Rubber Duck.

The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow reports, “Studies show that harmful toxic chemicals are common in household items, including rubber ducks and bubble bath, and that many of these chemicals are also found inside of our bodies. Over a four-day period, Slow Death By Rubber Duck authors Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie used every-day household products suspected of causing harm to our ecosystem and to human health. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment, Rick and Bruce tell a unique inside story of common toxins and body burden.”

After reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck, my friend Melanie McMinn over at Frugal Kiwi was driven to make her own toothpaste. I have not tried the recipe yet, but really, how clever. Why would anyone want to put the tricolsan in commercial toothpaste into his/her mouth???