The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume III: Transcontinental America (1850-1915) by D. W. Meinig

This volume overlaps slightly with the previous volume; Meinig returns to before the Civil War to cover the geographical history of the West in more detail. Then he shifts his focus to the country as a whole to look at railroads, the economy, the population, and how people were beginning to be united again after the Civil War. He closes by looking at American spheres of influence in the world. As with previous volumes, this book provides a good mixture of specific and general, lots of maps, and a fair amount of history.

The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume II: Continental America (1800-1867) by D. W. Meinig

This volume covers the expansion of the United States from a country on the Atlantic seaboard to one that covers the continent. It was clearly organized--first showing how the country acquired the territory, then looking at patterns of settlement, and then covering the Civil War before closing by showing the US in relation to its neighbors. If you're looking for a solid geography that tracks both details and the big picture and which is well-illustrated, you won't be disappointed here. You can get a lot of history from this book, too, although it is not a full replacement for a history.

Legends: Stories by the Masters of Modern Fantasy edited by Robert Silverberg

This anthology houses a phenomenal collection of short fantasy. There wasn't a story in here that I didn't enjoy. While I was familiar with some authors, and not with others, between the introductions and the pieces chosen, I never felt totally lost. "The Little Sisters of Eluria" by Stephen King was set in the Dark Tower world and was a nice set piece with Roland's experience with some really creepy ladies. "The Sea and Little Fishes" by Terry Pratchett shows off Granny Weatherwax and her headology at its best. "Debt of Bones" by Terry Goodkind made me decide to pick the Sword of Truth stories back up again; it was a beautiful story about Zed before the wall shutting magic out, with a heart-warming twist at the end. "Grinning Man" by Orson Scott Card was set in the America you hear about in tall tales. I definitely want to pursue this series as well. "The Seventh Shrine" by Robert Silverbeg was set on Majipoor; I really enjoyed its exploration of cross-cultural communication and misunderstanding. "Dragonfly" by Ursula LeGuin is an Earthsea story; I think I've read this one before. I actually don't remember much of "The Burning Man" by Tad Williams. "The Hedge Knight" by George R. R. Martin is the start of the Dunk and Egg stories. I really liked this one; it sets up them as a great pair and offers the potential for even more stories of the Seven Kingdoms (also something nice to do while waiting on The Winds of Winter). "Runner of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey may have been my least favorite story of the collection; I just couldn't get into the whole runner thing (which was a big deal for most of the story). "The Wood Boy" by Raymond Feist is another story that I don't remember as well. The collection concludes with Robert Jordan's "New Spring," which shows a younger Moirane meeting Lan for the first time.

The Velvet Horn by Andrew Lytle

This book is one you have to ease yourself into slowly. Its outer layer showing a Southern family at the death of the patriarch, slowly melts away, revealing years and years of betrayals and lies. In other words, this book is Southern Gothic at its best.

Sidetracked by Henning Mankell

This book shows the Ystad police department at a crossroads: Björn is retiring and, after Hansson fills in temporarily, a woman will arrive to take his place. Kurt Wallander finds himself in charge of a difficult investigation of a series of scalpings at this time. We get to watch the murders being committed as Wallander and his colleagues struggle to solve them. The mystery for me this time was not only could Wallander find the killer in time, but who was the killer and what was his motivation. I really enjoyed this book--it's one of the most interesting of Mankell's that I've read yet.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I think this book needs a resistant reader. If you don't resist it, it's easy to get caught up in the feel good messages (look at women coming together to fight racism! look at how bad things were just fifty years ago! how far we've come!), and forget the very real questions of race and class that still haunt this country. The book also seems to reinforce a lot of heteronormative standards. The story was incredibly compelling, in part because Stockett builds in so many mysteries (what happened to Constantine? what's up with Celia?) and questions. Many elements of this book (the pie, Celia, the toilets on Hilly's front yard, the Senator's son) seemed way over the top, but it is definitely a thought-provoking read.

Ape House by Sara Gruen

This book made me rethink my career path, if only temporarily. I really enjoyed reading about the bonobos and I thought the research/bonobo plot was strong and nuanced. I was less enamored of the reporter whose marriage was on the brink all novel. I also liked the way this story thought about how we entertain ourselves and what it means to be human. A great read.