by Greg Mortenson – $18.50

Mortenson continues and deepens the story he started in “Three Cups of Tea” showing us the challenges, opportunities and positive impacts of building schools in remote parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In particular, he details what happened when he was approached by people from the Hindu Kush, a remote and desolate area of war-torn Northeast Pakistan referred to as ‘the end of the world”. The messengers, who had traveled for days on horseback without stopping, told Mortenson that they were desperate to begin educating their daughters.

Mortenson, of course, wanted to visit the area himself, but knew he would need a guide to help him set up a communications link in Zuudkhan and someone to help him navigate the path to a safe meeting with the Nomadic Tribes. And then Mortenson meets Sarfraz Khan, a man of contradictions with an unusual past: lover of music and dancing; ex-commando; smuggler of gemstones; whiskey drinker and trader of yaks. Over the months and years, Khan and Mortenson have developed a close personal relationship based on complete mutual trust and respect.

Khan proves very helpful in traveling the inhospitable terrain of the Hindu Kush and invaluable in sharing his knowledge of the diverse cultures where each tribal elder has the final word in the lives of members of their tribes. Sarfraz Khan, self-described “man of no much success” has great charisma and the ability to bend other men’s wills to his own. A particular story of how Khan walked for days, while critically ill himself, to get to medical help shows the force of his sheer determination not to die before his work is done.

“Stones into Schools” is both heart-warming and informative. It provides an exploration into Mortenson’s own life, his deep connection with Khan and the people in this almost forgotten part of the world, and the deep passion of their common dream to educate girls and women so they in turn can educate in their communities. It provides a compelling and convincing picture about the power of schools and education to promote peace in war-torn Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The next book is “There’s Lead in Your Lipstick” by Gillian Deacon.

by Jonathan Safran Foer – $16.99

This is a wonderfully written book for anyone who wants to make informed choices about their diet. Typically people choose price over quality, and readily look to meat for their source of protein, but reading this book may well change people’s minds.

Foer wrote the book after his son was born as he became more and more curious and concerned about what his son would be eating. He recalls stories of his own childhood, showing how everyone’s family culture plays out in our food choices. He particularly describes a wonderful grandmother who was always encouraging him to “eat, eat, eat”

Based on lots of first-hand research about the differences between family and factory farms, including how most animals are raised, slaughtered and brought to market, Foer shows the effects of big corporations and how they are a large factor in the food that reaches our markets. It’s not a pretty picture, which makes the fact that family farming is rapidly being replaced by factory farming quite alarming.

Foer tells us that the first poultry factory farming began accidentally. Apparently a producer was shipped 500 chickens instead of the 50 that had been ordered…and that was only the beginning!

Foer’s chapters on Factory Farming are at times unsettlingly graphic as he writes about the conditions the animals are subjected to as they are raised, slaughtered and brought to market. Even though factory farms have government inspectors to ensure that “humane and healthy” rules are practiced, it appears that much is missed.

The health of workers working in unsanitary conditions is also explored as is the health of people living nearby and the bad effect the runoff from these factory farms have on the surrounding environment. Of particular concern are the antibiotics used by factory Farms to stop the spread of disease due to overcrowding and very unhealthy conditions. The overuse of antibiotics is polluting our water and the food we eat, causing serious health concern to humans. This practice continues in spite of the fact that every leading health organization, including the World Health Organization, has asked that this practice be stopped. All one can do is shake one’s head and ask, “What will it take for change to occur?”

The reader’s concern mounts even further as Foer describes the global implications of the growth of Factory Farms, especially given the problem of food borne illnesses, antimicrobial resistance and potential pandemics. His facts are genuinely terrifying. Where does it end?

Not everyone wants to be a vegetarian, but, at the very least, this book makes one want to consider purchasing meat from local and small producers rather than from Factory Farms.

The next book for the P’lovers Book Club is “Stones Into Schools” by Greg Mortenson.

by Douglas Coupland – $19.95

Douglas Coupland brought his extraordinary writing skills to the creative task of fashioning a novel ‘in five hours’ to fit the format of the 2010 CBC Massey Lecture series. No one has ever given fictional writing a voice through the Massey Lectures before!

Player One consists of 5 chapters (think five hours) and entirely takes place in the bar of an airport hotel. The main characters include the bartender who is a recovering alcoholic; a minister who has just stolen funds from his church and is planning to leave the country; a middle-age woman who is there to meet an internet date; and a young woman in a designer black dress who has an avatar and who doesn’t really understand humans but wants to get pregnant to prove to her father that she is human! The fifth character is called ‘Player One’ who serves as a narrator and, at the end of the book, turns out to be one of the characters.

While the characters and their personal situations are interesting by themselves, Coupland adds to the mix a world-wide crisis with the price of oil rising to $900 a barrel which has the effect of ending all supplies of electricity, along with gas for cars and planes. Enter a sniper on the roof and the tension mounts.

Characters discuss the meaning of life, personal values and revelations, and, over the course of the day, the reader witness’s significant changes in their lives. The story gallops along and makes one think about one’s own values and sense of the purpose of life.

The book also includes an Appendix called ‘Future Legend’ which has over 150 new words made up by Coupland along with their intriguing definitions. Coupland is a Canadian creative genius who has not only written over twenty books, but who is also a visual artist, sculptor, furniture and clothing designer, and a screenwriter.

by Wangari Maathai – $15.00

Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founding member of The Green Belt Movement in Africa, has written a book about the connections between spirituality and the earth. She uses many religions and parables to give the reader a compact history of this relationship. She gives special attention to the role that trees have traditionally played in religious ceremonies.

The author makes the point that spirituality and activism make a great team and much must be done to save our planet Earth from being greedily ravished for profit. Maathai asks her readers to work together, using self-empowerment, to develop peace, spirituality and activism.

She also sees the following as goals for all peoples: (a) commitment to service; (b) responding to the call to serve; and (c) gratitude and respect.

By Diana Beresford-Kroeger – $32.50

The first sentence of the introduction draws the reader in to the author’s world:

‘The landscape of my youth was an Irish one. The fields were filled with the brilliant chrome yellow of furze.’

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is a botanist and medical biochemist, which means she is an expert in the medicinal, nutritional and environmental properties of trees.

‘The Global Forest’ is a beautifully written collection of essays about a variety of the scientific facts, folklore, and environmental importance of trees and forests. Reading this book provides a gentle and compelling opportunity to learn about trees and their connection to the interconnected lives of people and the planet.

Each chapter is complete and lovely in its own right and yet the words, which dance across the pages, leave the reader hungering for more information.

For example, the chapter on Hedgerows describes them as living continuations of the forest. Hedgerows are seen, especially in Europe, wherever there is agriculture and they act as corridors of life and boundaries for farmers’ fields. One can’t read this chapter and not want to sit beside a hedgerow and stare at the life that teams within it.

In the chapter on the medicinal products and uses of trees, Beresford-Kroeger gives information about how these properties have been and are being used to support mankind. One interesting example of this is the chemical ‘ergotamine’ and its use today in the treatment of migraines.

Each chapter, no matter how specific or scientific, always seems to underscore that forests are also places of quiet refuge for all living things.

Beresford-Kroeger also writes about Gaia and the complex web of all living things. She shows how all countries and nations benefit from forests, and cautions the reader about the ongoing rape of Mother Nature. She laments that there seems to be no end to greed and no meaningful or sytemic beginning to sustainable management of the planets resource bases.

Putting aside her concerns and pessimism, Beresford-Kroeger ends with an uplifting paragraph about how today’s children are being taught better modes of planetary management.

By Margaret Atwood – $22.00

This latest novel from Margaret Atwood is brilliant, is a solemn praise of human hope, and a serious look at our capacity for self-destruction.

The great imaginary power of Atwood’s fiction allows the reader to suspend disbelief and to believe that anything is possible, including a great eco-apocalyptic situation that includes violence, obscenity, comedy, endurance, love and hymns…From ‘God’s Gardeners Hymnbook’.

Adam One, the kindly leader of god’s gardeners, had long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth, as we know it. Now it has occurred, erasing most human life.

Two women are spared: Ren, a young trapeze artist locked inside a high end sex club and one of god’s gardeners, Toby, who is barricaded inside a luxurious spa, The Noo-You Spa.

The year of the flood tells Toby and Ren’s stories during the years prior to their meeting again.

Atwood puts her finger on the pulse of the future as she takes her readers through the fascinating lives of Adam one and his beleaguered followers as they regroup. Ren and Toby emerge into an altered world where nothing, including the animal life, is predictable.

Through her skillful writing and descriptions, Atwood enables readers to see, hear and smell the old and new worlds of her intriguing characters. This book is hard to put down because the reader cares about these complex characters and wonders how their bizarre interconnections will unfold.

A highly recommended book for all Atwood fans and those who are interested in how our world as we know it could be transformed.

The next book club meeting is November 8th. The book will be “The Global Forest” by Diana Beresford-Kroeger. All are Welcome!