Afsaneh: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. If you are tired of eating tomatoes that taste as good as their cellophane wrapper, or strawberries that taste like cardboard, or meat from animals that have been fed growth hormones and antibiotics (I’ll spare you other disgusting details —I’ll let you find out by reading the book), then you’ll have a field day with Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  It turns out being a “locavore” is not as difficult as it might seem.  Read her book and feel comforted by the fact that there are farmers out there who are growing healthy food at the expense of hard work so that we can have the best of the best.  Read the blog and find out where to shop for locally grown produce around the St. Louis area, and come visit us for a copy of the book.

Kelly: Home by Marilyn Robinson.  I loved this.  I haven’t read Gilead but that has now been catapulted to the top of my list.  Home takes place concurrently with Gilead but delves into the lives of Rev. Boughton, Glory Boughton and the wayward Jack Boughton and can be read completely independently of the first book.  It’s set in the 1960′s in small-town Iowa and explores the inner turmoil of Glory as she returns to Gilead as a single woman in her mid-30s to care for the ailing Reverend,  and into the difficult and very careful road that she and Jack walk in their attempts to get to know each other after Jack’s 20 year absence from the family.