Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer

Jonah Lehrer's newest book, Imagine, offers insights into the complex dynamics of creativity, based on research in neuroscience and psychology. His topics include the role of mind-altering drugs, why some urban environments are more conducive to innovation than others, the connection between mental illness and creativity, and why brainstorming doesn't work. Fascinating stuff.

The Brilliance audio recording [8 hours] is nicely produced, with the final sentence from the previous CD repeated at the start of the next one. I also like that the beginnings and endings of each CD are identified with a little bit of music. It's read by the author, whose public speaking experience is evident. Hear him read a few minutes from Imagine here, accompanied by great animation art.

Readalikes: Quiet (Susan Cain); Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell); Where Good Ideas Come From (Steven Johnson); My Stroke of Insight (Jill Bolte Taylor) and Information (James Gleick).

Sheepish:Two Women, Fifty Sheep & Enough Wool to Save the Planet by Catherine Friend

In her first memoir, Hit by a Farm, Catherine Friend described how she and her wife, Melissa, started a sheep farm in Minnesota. Even though Melissa is the true farmer, 15 years of farming has had an effect on Friend. In Sheepish, Friend admits that she has absorbed a little of what Gene Logsdon describes as the true farmer's spirit: "that blend of creative artistry, independence, manual skill and love of nurturing that marks a true farmer."

"Most of us use the word 'sheepish' to mean embarrassed, ashamed, or chagrined." Friend writes that this definition makes no sense because sheep are never those things. She uses sheepish in a different way: "of or belonging to. Think Spanish -- of or belonging to Spain. Danish -- of or belonging to fruit-filled pastries. Sheepish -- of or belonging to sheep. Sixteen years ago I was not at all sheepish. I was bookish, library-ish, wine-and-appetizer-ish. Decidedly unsheepish." That has really changed.

Sheepish is full of amusing anecdotes about farm animals, woollen fiber arts, menopause and life in general. Here are a few things that I learned: Oxytocin, the hormone that establishes social attachments between mammals, is "the reason farmers keep farming even though animals beat them up and batter their bank accounts." There are fewer allergies to wool than to any other known fiber, and the reason why over 30% of Americans believe they're allergic to wool has to do with its structure. "If you joined the fiber of five Merino sheep end to end, you could wrap a thread of wool around the world." You can minimize exposure to dust mites with woolen bedding because wool wicks away moisture and dries out more quickly than synthetic or down, plus the lanolin in wool repels dust mites.

Friend is a funny woman. When Melissa was recovering from abdominal surgery, Friend had to convince her to stay put, by telling her "if she doesn't stop sneaking out of the house to work in the shed, all the internal organs still left inside her will come undone and head for the nearest exit." Sometimes it is the situation itself that is funny, like when a duck and a chicken each laid an egg in the same place and both refused to give up the nest, so they looked like either a chicken's body with a duck's head or vice versa. "Later I find five hens in a nest box meant for one, basically stacked on top one another, each determined to lay her egg in that nest." (This last anecdote is especially for people who love chickens, like my friend Claire at Egg Venturous.)

Readalikes: Trauma Farm (Brian Brett); At Least in the City, Someone Would Hear Me Scream (Wade Rouse). Also recommended for people who enjoy reading about knitting, spinning and weaving.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Hannah Payne is found guilty of murdering her unborn child and sentenced to 16 years with bright red skin in Hillary Jordan's When She Woke. People are "chromed" yellow, blue, green or red, depending on their crimes. They face society's extreme prejudice in a dystopian future Texas. In this character-based thriller exploring themes of religious faith and intolerance, The Handmaid's Tale meets The Scarlet Letter with a little lesbian action thrown in. Enjoy.

Note added June 1, 2012 - See my subsequent review of the Classics Illustrated edition of The Scarlet Letter.

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson's thrilling epic, The Orphan Master's Son, is set in contemporary North Korea. It begins in the Long Tomorrows orphanage and follows the life of one remarkable man who chose a martyr's name for himself: Pak Jun Do. Jun Do adapts to whatever situation is thrust upon him, going from starving orphan to tunnel soldier to international kidnapper to sailor to prison mine inmate to impersonating a high-ranking public official. He is a heroic figure, facing the most brutal hardships with dignity and integrity.

I was totally enthralled by the Random House audio recording [19.5 hours] narrated mostly by Tim Kang. Some segments of the story are told in first person by a young interrogator/torturer who considers himself a biographer. There are also propaganda broadcasts throughout, which lighten the story with touches of humour. In the audio production, two additional narrators, Josiah D. Lee and James Kyson Lee, provide contrast for these sections.

"Good morning, Citizens! In your housing blocks, on your factory floors, gather 'round your loudspeakers for today's news: the North Korean table-tennis team has just defeated its Somali counterpart in straight sets! [...] Don't forget, it is improper to sit on the escalators leading into the subways. The Minister of Defense reminds us that the deepest subways in the world are for your civil-defense safety, should the Americans sneak-attack again. No sitting!"

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There are scenes of cruelty and torture, but there is also beauty, loyalty and love. The sense of place is strong, the plot is lively and there is a large cast of interesting characters. I am grateful to Adam Johnson for giving me a peek into what it might be like to have been born in one of the most oppressive countries in the world, but especially for introducing me to unforgettable Pak Jun Do.

Readalikes: The Lizard Cage (Karen Connelly) although it does not have the same epic scope. A good read-along is Pyongyang, Guy Delisle's true account in comics format of three months spent working in North Korea. The children playing accordions in Johnson's novel could be the very same girls depicted on the cover of Delisle's travelogue.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

I got back from a trip in the wee hours of this morning, so it is fitting to write about Where Things Come Back as my re-entry into this blog. I finished reading  John Corey Whaley's fine and nuanced novel in the airport in Chicago, just before boarding my flight home.

A tiny town in contemporary Arkansas makes national news when a naturalist spots a giant woodpecker that was thought to be extinct. The media attention overshadows another story in the same town, the disappearance of 15-year-old Gabriel Witter. Gabriel's older brother, Cullen, is devastated by the loss of his sibling and struggles to maintain hope that he will be found alive. The point of view shifts occasionally away from the immediacy of Cullen's first-person narration, circling around far-flung events that come to bear eventually on his own situation.

Described as an "existential thriller," Where Things Come Back is about the search for meaning and purpose in our lives. It is an amazing debut novel and winner of both the Printz and the William C. Morris awards earlier this year.

Readalikes: The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp (for the cynical voice); Looking for Alaska by John Green (for the voice and the bittersweet experience of first love); King Dork by Frank Portman (for the cynical voice and because Cullen's collection of titles for his yet-to-be-written books reminded me of Tom's every-changing names for his mostly-imaginary band); What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson (for the sibling relationship and the hope) and Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet (for the layered storytelling and suspense). I also recommend a great nonfiction work about the elusive woodpecker: The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Phillip Hoose.

NOTE added May 25, 2012 - At my YA book group last night, we talked about this book and one member had a different take on the ending than the rest of us. After discussion, the rest of us saw this book in a new light. It's a good example of why I love discussing books with other people. I also love ambiguous endings, so I like Where Things Come Back even better now.

One Soul by Ray Fawkes

In One Soul, Canadian comics artist Ray Fawkes chronicles the lives of 18 people, all of them born in different eras and in different parts of the world. Each double-page spread has 18 black-and-white panels, and each panel follows one person from babyhood until death. Fawkes uses the crown chakra to represent the soul at significant moments, and echoes this image in other panels with a shock of hair, a hair ornament or some other focus on the forehead. After death, that person's panel goes black. The afterlife or soul continues with occasional white text in these dark panels.

The story lines include a baby left in a basket at the door of a church, a child born into slavery, and the rags-to-riches adventures of a lucky man. There is a gay shepherd in a primitive time and place, while the most contemporary setting follows a lesbian drug addict.

You can flip through the book and focus on any one of these stories at a time. What is most powerful, however, is reading all 18 stories at the same time, as they are presented on the page. They form one multilayered portrait emphasizing the common aspects of human existence. Love, kindness, religious faith of all kinds, greed, cruelty, redemption... all of it. This is a magnificent book.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

In the year 2044, many people escape ugly reality by living in a virtual world, OASIS. You can work, play and even attend school there. The original programmer, James Halliday, was enamored with the coin-operated video games of his youth. That is why READY PLAYER ONE is "always the last thing an OASIS user saw before leaving the real world and entering the virtual one."

When Halliday dies, he leaves all of his wealth to the person who can solve a treasure hunt online, one which requires extensive knowlege of 80s pop culture and video games. It's a geek extravaganza with cut-throat action. If your avatar dies, it's game over. But the stakes are so high that some players will kill each other in the real world... if they can be found.

Wil Weaton narrates the audio version for Random House [15.5 hours] (creating a nice bit of irony when Star Trek: The Next Generation comes up in the storyline). It would have been nice to have more vintage electronic sounds included, rather than having them described only, but that's a quibble.

I remember some of the sounds because when I was about 21, I was addicted to Atari games like Pac Man, Space Invaders and Frogger. After recognizing what a time-waster this was (and experiencing cramped muscles from hours hunched over a game), the only way I could quit was cold-turkey. I might be sorry about that if I ever have the opportunity presented in Ready Player One. Sympathetic characters, a thrilling plot, an online romance and a trip down nostalgia lane are a winning combination for author Ernest Cline.

This is an adult novel that will appeal to older teens. (It doesn't really matter if the 80s are familiar to the reader or not.) The only readalikes I can think of are teen novels: Epic (Conor Kostick); Little Brother (Cory Doctorow) and Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd. You might also want to re-watch the classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.