Carolyn Alessio

DRINKING THE SEA AT GAZA By Amira Hass Metropolitan Books, 379 pages, $26 In 1993, Israeli journalist Amira Hass persuaded her editors to allow her to move to Gaza and...

STATES OF MIND Edited by Roberta Conlan John Wiley & Sons, 214 pages, $24.95 More conversational than technical, these accessible reports on the state of brain research began as a...

LETTERS FROM THE COUNTRY By Carol Bly University of Minnesota Press, 184 pages, $14.95 paper During the '70s, life in rural Minnesota involved a fair share of contemplation, according to...

ROSA: The Life of an Italian Immigrant By Marie Hall Ets University of Wisconsin Press, 256 pages, $16.95 paper Rosa Cavalleri didn't exactly envision gold-paved roads when she emigrated from...

ONE YEAR OFF: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey With Our Children By David Elliot Cohen Simon & Schuster, 302 pages, $24 David Elliot Cohen included his family...

SPUD SONGS: An Anthology of Potato Poems Edited by Gloria Vando and Robert Stewart Helicon Nine Editions, 200 pages, $14.95 paper Even tubers sometimes inspire epiphanies. In this inventive anthology,...

THE BEACH BOOK: A Literary Companion Edited by Aleda Shirley Sarabande Books, 263 pages, $14.95 paper Even if you're not headed to the sandy outreaches this summer, you'll feel as...

THE LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY ALBUM By Kevin McCabe and Alexandra Heilbron Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 531 pages, $40 Lucy Maud Montgomery, creator of the storybook hero Anne of Green Gables, may...

WHY WE BUY: The Science of Shopping By Paco Underhill Simon & Schuster, 255 pages, $25 You'll never browse with innocence again after reading this unsettling book. Paco Underhill and...

APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN GIRL By Rhoda Bailey Warren Academy Chicago Publishers, 174 pages, $22.50 There's no dearth of books and films about growing up in a coal-mining town, but Rhoda Bailey...