Library Loot ~ May 1-7

The World Without Us ~ by Alan Weisman, 2007, ecology

If human beings disappeared instantaneously from the Earth, what would happen?  How would the planet reclaim its surface?  What creatures would emerge from the dark and swarm?  How would our treasured structures — our tunnels, our bridges, our homes, our monuments — survive the unmitigated impact of a planet without our intervention?  In his revelatory, bestselling account, Alan Weisman draws on every field of science to present an environmental assessment like no other, the most affecting portrait yet of humankind's place on this planet.

Bookends ~ by Liz Curtis Higgs, 2000, fiction (Pennsylvania)

Emilie Getz and Jonas Fielding are as different as two people — of the same age, with the same faith, living in the same charming Pennsylvania town — could be.  She loves history; he loves new ideas.  She sticks to the rules; he likes to break them.  She’s into saving relics; he’s into saving souls.  The one trait they share is a penchant for controlling every aspect of their lives, including their stubborn hearts.  When Emilie’s search for an archaeological treasure leads her to the one piece of land she can’t have (thanks to Jonas), they choose opposing sides in an engaging battle of wits.  Emilie, a no-nonsense sort of woman, is determined to have her way.  But Jonas is on a mission as well:  He wants to hear Emilie laugh.  Often.

The Last Runaway ~ by Tracy Chevalier, 2013, fiction (Ohio)

Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker, moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land.  Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape.  Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery.   In her new home, Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality.  However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance.  Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs.

The Skull in the Rock : How a Scientist, a Boy, and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins ~ by Lee R. Berger, 2012, YA science

In 2008, Professor Lee Berger — with the help of his curious 9-year-old son — discovered two remarkably well preserved, two-million-year-old fossils of an adult female and young male, known as Australopithecus sediba, a previously unknown species of ape-like creatures that may have been a direct ancestor of modern humans.  This discovery of has been hailed as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in history.  The fossils reveal what may be one of humankind's oldest ancestors.  Berger's discovery in one of the most excavated and studied areas on Earth revealed a treasure trove of human fossils — and an entirely new human species — where people thought no more field work might ever be necessary.

The Ten-Year Nap ~ by Meg Wolitzer, 2008, fiction (New York)

For a group of four New York friends the past decade has been defined largely by marriage and motherhood, but it wasn’t always that way.  Growing up, they had been told that their generation would be different.  And for a while this was true.  They went to good colleges and began high-powered careers.  But after marriage and babies, for a variety of reasons, they decided to stay home, temporarily, to raise their children.  Now, ten years later, they are still at home, unsure how they came to inhabit lives so different from the ones they expected — until a new series of events begins to change the landscape of their lives yet again, in ways they couldn’t have predicted.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire @ The Captive Reader and Marg @ The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages us to share titles of books we’ve checked out of the library.  Add your link any time during the week, and see what others got this week.