Anthology Book Company

Running with the Mind of Meditation (0307888169, $20) — Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

A unique fitness program from a highly respected spiritual leader that blends physical and spiritual practice for everyone – regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability – to great benefits for both body and soul.
As a Tibetan lama and leader of Shambhala (an international community of 165 meditation centers), Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. He’s been trained in horsemanship and martial arts but has a special love for running. Here he incorporates his spiritual practice with running, presenting basic meditation instruction and fundamental principles he has developed. Even though both activities can be complicated, the lessons here are simple and designed to show how the melding of internal practice with physical movement can be used by anyone – regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability – to benefit body and soul.

Allergy-Friendly Food for Families (1449409768, $24.99)

“Allergy-Friendly Food for Families” is the most trustworthy, comprehensive, practical, and kid-friendly collection of recipes that exists for the important and growing audience of allergy-aware families. Unlike other allergy cookbooks, this book covers not one or two allergens, but the five most common allergens in kids: wheat, dairy, eggs, nuts, and soy. Each of the 120 recipes is free of at least three of these allergens; most are free of all five.

The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy Seal (0547750382, $15.95)  — Eric Greitens

In an inspiring memoir from one of the world’s most elite warriors, Eric Greitens recounts in remarkable detail his time as a Navy SEAL–from the most harrowing encounters and brutal attacks, to the lessons learned from his humanitarian efforts.

This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family’s Heartbreak  (0061958336, $15.99) — Melissa Coleman

A true story, both tragic and redemptive, “This Life Is in Your Hands” tells of the quest to make a good life, the role of fate, and the power of forgiveness.

In the fall of 1968, Melissa Coleman’s parents pack their VW truck and set out to forge a new existence on a rugged coastal homestead. Inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of the homesteading bible “Living the Good Life,” Eliot and Sue build their own home by hand, live off the crops they grow, and establish a happy family with Melissa and her two sisters. They also attract national media and become icons of the back-to-the-land farming movement, but the pursuit of a purer, simpler life comes at a price. In the wake of a tragic accident, idealism gives way to human frailty, and by the fall of 1978, Greenwood Farm is abandoned. The search to understand what happened is at the heart of this luminous, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive memoir.

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection (141659907X, $26.00) — A J Jacobs

“Having sanctified himself in The Year of Living Biblically and sharpened his mind in The Know-It-All, A. J. Jacobs had one feat left in the self-improvement trinity: to become the healthiest man in the world. He didn’t want just to lose weight, or finish a triathlon, or lower his cholesterol. His ambitions were far, far greater: Maximal health from head to toe.The task was massive. He had to tackle a complicated web of diet and exercise advice, much of which was nonsensical, unproven, and contradictory. He had to consult a team of medical advisers. And he had to subject himself to a grueling regimen of exercises, a range of diets, and an array of practices to improve everything from his hearing to his sleep to his sex life all the while testing the patience of his long-suffering wife. He left nothing untested, from the caveman workout to veganism, from the treadmill desk to extreme chewing. Drop Dead Healthy teems with hilarity and warmth and pushes our cultures assumptions about and obsessions with what makes good health, allowing the reader to reflect on his or her own health, body, and eventual mortality”-

In our troubled times on planet Earth, it’s sometimes easy to fall prey to cynicism or apathy. We seem to be bombarded by problem after problem and our news outlets seem to relish any opportunity to share a negative story.  But not all hope is lost. Paul Rogat Loeb’s “Soul of a Citizen” (ISBN 9780312595371) is an extraordinarily inspiring and moving work focusing on how anybody can become involved in social activism in an attempt to change our world in big and small ways for the better.  Loeb is obviously very passionate in educating others about citizen involvement in issues that should be important to all of us. Through numerous stories and examples of ordinary people who saw something wrong and worked up the courage to gather support and bring people together to make a positive difference. Whether we are concerned over environmental issues, human rights campaigns or stopping needless wars, “Soul of a Citizen” could be just the encouragement that we need to take action on our most deeply held beliefs. Loeb explores what leads people to become involved in social activism, the pitfalls that could discourage budding activists and ways to remain optimistic and hopeful for the long haul in the face of overwhelming opposition.  “Soul of a Citizen” clearly illustrates that the only people who have ever made a difference were ordinary citizens who became involved, sometimes reluctantly, in issues close to their hearts. All movements of great change must start small and progress step by little step.

Many people are dissuaded from becoming involved in issues important to them because they feel that they must know every detail about the problems and proposed solutions. Loeb calls this “the perfect standard” and argues that we don’t need to know everything about a certain injustice to feel in our hearts that something needs to be done, and to act on these feelings.  We can all start where we are, and take things a little at a time. By building a supportive group or community of like-minded individuals, we have the potential to accomplish far more than if we acted alone. Loeb offers encouragement to help enlist the uninvolved to your cause. Many people know about issues such as environmental injustice, but without being engaged, are unlikely to make their voice heard.  Even small actions can ripple outwards and have unpredictable effects on the world around us.

“Soul of a Citizen” has inspired countless citizens to act on their most deeply held morals and beliefs. The original edition published a decade ago has become a classic handbook in the field of social activism. The updated edition published in 2010, is brimming with even more inspiring stories and engaging advice to help us meet the challenges of our difficult times. “Soul of a Citizen” offers a powerful and hopeful cure for the cynicism that plagues our world.

Thanks for reading!

Matt

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E L James (0345803485, $15.95)

When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too–but on his own terms. Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success–his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family–Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.
Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

Sacre Bleu, by Christopher Moore (0061779741, $26.99)

Baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec vow to discover the truth behind the untimely death of their friend Vincent van Gogh, which leads them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late-nineteenth-century Paris.

The Pale King: An Unfinished Novel, by David Foster Wallace (0316074233, $16.99) NOW IN PAPERBACK

“The Pale King” remained unfinished at the time of Wallace’s death, but it is a deeply intriguing and satisfying novel, hilarious and fearless and as original as anything Wallace ever undertook. It grapples directly with questions of life’s meaning and of the ultimate value of work and family.

Lost and Found:  Unexpected Revelations About Food and Money, by Geneen Roth (0452297761, $15.00) NOW IN PAPERBACK

The #1 “New York Times” bestselling author of “Women Food and God” explores how emotional issues with money mirror those with food and dieting.
When Geneen Roth and her husband lost their life savings, Roth joined the millions of Americans dealing with financial turbulence, uncertainty, and abrupt reversals in their expectations. The resulting shock was the catalyst for her to explore, in workshops and in her own life, how women’s habits and behaviors around money-as with food-can lead to exactly the situations they most want to avoid. Roth identified her own unconscious choices-binge shopping followed by periods of budgetary self-deprivation, “treating” herself in ways that ultimately failed to sustain, and using money as a substitute for love- among others. As she examined the deep sources of these habits, she faced the hard truth about where her “self-protective” financial decisions had led. As in all her books, Roth relates her personal experience with irreverent humor and hard- won wisdom. Here, she offers provocative and radical strategies for transforming how we feel and behave about the resources that should, and ultimately can, sustain and support our lives.

Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me, by Chelsea Handler (0446584703   , $14.99)  NOW IN PAPERBACK

“My tendency to make up stories and lie compulsively for the sake of my own amusement takes up a good portion of my day and provides me with a peace of mind not easily attainable in this economic climate.”–Chelsea Handler, from Chapter 10 of Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
It’s no lie: Chelsea Handler loves to smoke out “dumbassness,” the condition people suffer from that allows them to fall prey to her brand of complete and utter nonsense. Friends, family, co-workers–they’ve all been tricked by Chelsea into believing stories of total foolishness and into behaving like total fools. Luckily, they’ve lived to tell the tales and, for the very first time, write about them.

The Dovekeepers, by Alice Hoffman (1451617488, $16.00)NOW IN PAPERBACK

Hoffman weaves a spellbinding tale of four extraordinary, bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in desperate days. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets–about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and who they love.

Son of Stone, by Stuart Woods (0451236351, $9.99)  NOW IN PAPERBACK

“A new addition to the New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series. After an eventful trip to Bel-Air and a reunion with his sophisticated (and very wealthy) former love, Arrington Calder, Stone Barrington is back in New York, and he’s looking to stay closer to home and cash in on his partnership at Woodman & Weld. But Arrington has other plans for Stone…including introducing him to the child he fathered many years ago”–

By now everyone is salivating to see the most highly anticipated movie of the year, The Hunger Games, and the countdown to 12am 3/23/12 has officially begun. What better way to kick off this week with reading through this amazing trilogy by Suzanne Collins!

Start with the stunning beginning Hunger Games (9780439023528 $8.99), continue with the rich sequel Catching Fire ($17.99), and end by feasting on Mockingjay (9780439023511 $17.99). Just can’t get enough of Suzanne Collins, pick up the first book she wrote (which happens to be the first in a series) Gregor the Overlander (9780439678131 $6.99).

  “When Gregor falls through a grate in his apartment building, he’s hurtled into the dark Underland, a world that is on the brink of war. But his arrival is no accident–a prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland’s uncertain future.“

Flew through all of Collins’ books? Check out the list Anthology staff has put together for those that can’t get enough of dystopic society!

  Delirium by Lauren Oliver (9780061726835 $17.99)

In [Oliver's] dystopian America, love has been outlawed as the life-threatening source of all discord. Lena’s gradual awakening is set against a convincing backdrop of totalitarian horror. The abrupt ending leaves enough unanswered questions to set breathless readers up for volume two of this trilogy.”–Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Divergent by Veronica Roth (9780062024039 $9.99)

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

Enclave by Ann Aguirre (9780312650087 $16.99)

In a post-apocalyptic future, fifteen-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders may be wrong–and dangerous.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner (9780385737951  $9.99)

When Thomas wakes up, he’s surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got there. The next day, a girl arrives with a surprising message.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (9780440237686 $6.99)

Jonas’s world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.      

I can vividly remember finishing this novel at the age of nine, and being blown away by this  eerie world Lowry had created. I asked my mom, how can there by a world with no pain, no happiness, no fear; to which she aptly replied I hope we never have to find out, don’t you? Excellent read, and I personally (Teresa) would recommend to any age!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (9780385736824 $9.99)

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

  Matched by Ally Condie (9780142419779 $9.99)

 Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right   choices for her. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

If you loved Matched don’t forget to look for the exciting sequel Crossed (9780525423652 $17.99). Then you will have to patiently wait for the conclusion that should arrive in November of 2012!

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (9781442409064 $9.99)

   At age 16, Rhine Ellery has four years to live. Thanks to a botched effort to create a perfect race, all females live to age 20 and males live to age 21. On the cusp of her 17th birthday, Rhine attempts to flee, but what she finds is a society spiraling out of control.  

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (9780385490818 $15)

This book is more for the adult audience so young reader’s take caution. (Adult themes are prevalent throughout the novel.)

In the world of the near future, who will control women’s bodies?
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read.

Happy Reading!! (Let us know what you think of the books listed above when you get done with them

Imagine — Jonah Lehrer (9780547386072, $26.00)

“New York Times” best-selling author Jonah Lehrer shows us how we can all learn to be more creative.Did you know that the most creative companies have centralized bathrooms? That brainstorming meetings are a terrible idea? That the color blue can help you double your creative output? From the best-selling author of “How We Decide” comes a sparkling and revelatory look at the new science of creativity. Shattering the myth of muses, higher powers, even creative “types,” Jonah Lehrer demonstrates that creativity is not a single gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s a variety of distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.
Lehrer reveals the importance of embracing the rut, thinking like a child, daydreaming productively, and adopting an outsider’s perspective (travel helps). He unveils the optimal mix of old and new partners in any creative collaboration, and explains why criticism is essential to the process. Then he zooms out to show how we can make our neighborhoods more vibrant, our companies more productive, and our schools more effective.
You’ll learn about Bob Dylan’s writing habits and the drug addictions of poets. You’ll meet a Manhattan bartender who thinks like a chemist, and an autistic surfer who invented an entirely new surfing move. You’ll see why Elizabethan England experienced a creative explosion, and how Pixar’s office space is designed to spark the next big leap in animation.Collapsing the layers separating the neuron from the finished symphony, “Imagine “reveals the deep inventiveness of the human mind, and its essential role in our increasingly complex world.

Force of Nature– CJ Box (9780399158261, $25.95)

He never wanted to tell Joe Pickett about it, but Nate Romanowski always knew trouble was coming out of his past. Now it’s here, and it may not only be the battle of his life-but of Joe’s.In 1995, Nate was in a secret Special Forces unit abroad when a colleague did something terrible. Now high up in the government, the man is determined to eliminate anyone who knows about it, and Nate knows exactly how he’ll do it-by striking at Nate’s friends to draw him out. The entire Pickett family will be a target, and the only way to fight back is outside the law. Nate knows he can do it, but he isn’t sure about his straight-arrow friend-and all their lives could depend on it.

Wild:  From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail — Cheryl Strayed (9780307592736, $25.95)

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe–and built her back up again.
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State–and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.
Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, “Wild “vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Some Assembly Required:  A Journal of My Son’s First Son — Anne Lamott (9781594488412, $26.95)

In “Some Assembly Required,” Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter of her own life: grandmotherhood. Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at nineteen, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson Jax’s life.In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam-about whom she first wrote so movingly in “Operating Instructions”-struggle to balance their changing roles with the demands of college and work, as they both forge new relationships with Jax’s mother, who has her own ideas about how to raise a child. Lamott writes about the complex feelings that Jax fosters in her, recalling her own experiences with Sam when she was a single mother. Over the course of the year, the rhythms of life, death, family, and friends unfold in surprising and joyful ways.By turns poignant and funny, honest and touching, “Some Assembly Required” is the true story of how the birth of a baby changes a family-as this book will change everyone who reads it.

How Not to Kill Your Baby– Jacob Sager Weinstein (9781449409913, $14.99)

This tongue-in-cheek parenting book is a hilarious parody of every fear-mongering, crazy-making pregnancy and parenting manual parents have ever cringed over.

The Good Father – Noah Hawley (9780385535533, $25.95)

First-time author Hawley delivers an intense, psychological novel about one doctor’s suspense-filled quest to unlock the mind of a suspected political assassin: his 20-year old son. Told alternately from the point of view of the guilt-ridden, determined father and his meandering, ruminative son, “The Good Father” is a powerfully emotional page-turner that keeps one guessing until the very end.

Emperor of Nihon-Ja (Ranger’s Apprentice #10) – John Flanagan (9780399255007, $17.99)

Months have passed since Horace departed for the eastern nation of Nihon-Ja on a vital mission. Having received no communication from him, his friends fear the worst. Unwilling to wait a second longer, Alyss, Evanlyn, and Will leave their homeland behind and venture into an exotic land in search of their missing friend, in this final volume.

Halt’s Peril (Ranger’s Apprentice #09) – John Flanagan (9780142418581, $7.00) NOW IN PAPERBACK!

The renegade outlaw group known as the Outsiders may have been chased from Clonmel, but not before killing Halt’s only brother. Now Rangers Halt and Will, along with the young warrior Horace, are in pursuit and it will take every bit of skill and cunning for the Rangers to survive.

Here are a couple of titles hitting our shelves this week:

The author of the New York Times bestselling The Little Giant of Aberdeen County returns with a magic-tinged tale of dreams, family secrets, and betrayals on a New England salt farm: 
The Gilly Salt Sisters (9780446194235, $24.99) by Tiffany Baker

“In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family’s salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn’t stop Whit Turner, the town’s wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It’s Jo who first steals Whit’s heart, but it is Claire–heartbroken over her high school sweetheart–who marries him.
Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen: her husband’s pregnant mistress. Suddenly, alliances change, old loves return, and new battle lines are drawn. What the Gilly sisters learn about each other, the land around them, and the power of the salt, will not only change each of their lives forever, it will also alter Gilly history for good.”

Natural Brilliance: A Buddhist System for Uncovering Your Strengths and Letting Them Shine (9781590309322, $18.95)  by Irini Rockwell

“Understanding yourself is the key to dealing with–and even “enjoying”–the inevitable complexity of life. Irini Rockwell presents us with a powerful system for the kind of self-understanding that leads to just that kind of satisfying relationship with life. It’s a Buddhist model for identifying your unique mix of personality traits that make up your innate intelligence. All five qualities–presence, clarity, richness, passion, and action–are your rich resource. By cultivating them you begin to see how you can use this remarkable system to enhance your relationships, your work, and your creativity. Ultimately, this system introduces us to a larger world: the totality and interconnectedness of everyone and everything.”

Here is a brief rundown of some of the great titles hitting our shelves this week:

The next book in CJ Box’s Joe Pickett series, Cold Wind (9780425246917, $9.99) , is now out in paperback!  “When Earl Alden is found dead, dangling from a wind turbine, his wife, Missy, is arrested.  Unfortunately for Joe Pickett, Missy is his much-disliked mother-in-law, and he’s not sure what to do — especially since it looks like Missy is guilty as sin.”

   Rhonda Byrne, author of the hugely popular film and book, The Secret, has now released The Magic (9781451673449, $12.99) “Remember when you were a child and you believed that life was magical?  Well, the magic of life is real, and it’s far more breathtaking, awe-inspiring, and exciting than you ever imagined as a child.”  For more information about The Magic, visit www.thesecret.tv

Doc (9780812980004, $15.00) by Mary Doria Russell, well-known author of The Sparrow, and Children of God.  “Violence is random and routine in Dodge City, Kansas, in 1878, but when the burned body of a mixed-blood boy named Johnnie Sanders is discovered, his death shocks a part-time policeman named Wyatt Earp and is a matter of strangely personal importance to Doc Holliday.”

The Sixth Man (9780446573092, $9.99) by David Baldacci.  “ Sean King and Michelle Maxwell return in their most shocking case: a high stakes struggle where the relentless needs of national security run up against the absolute limits of the human mind. “