Wintering by William Durbin

Pierre, a teenage voyageur for the North West Company is on his second trip through the boundary waters. For this trip he will winter over and help construct a trading post on Lake Vermilion. He learns about life in the wilderness from his fellow canoe-men and the Ojibwe people he comes to respect.

Recommendation: Though not as good as William Durbin's first book, The Broken Blade, this is a nice read. If you enjoy the history of travelers and traders of the early American and Canadian wilderness, this book would interest you.

Living with Chickens by Jay Rossier

There doesn't need to be a Chicken Raising book for Dummies. This book fits that niche. A well written book that can be both read and used as a handbook for starting and maintaining a your own flock of chickens in your backyard. You'll learn the common breeds of chickens, how to care for them from chick to broiler or layer.

Recommendation: If you haven't ever raised chickens before, this book is for you. After reading it you be able to realistically decide if raising chickens is for you.

Deception Point by Dan Brown

The United States President is suffering miserably in the polls and his opponent, a charismatic senator with lucrative connections, is by far the front runner. The President's star child, NASA, keeps fumbling projects with failures and over-budget fiascoes that give his opponent the opportunity to make NASA the poster child for what's wrong with government. Things seem dismal until a meteorite with hidden secrets is discovered above the Arctic circle.

Recommendation: This book, like another of Dan Brown's books, The Da Vinci Code, will grab you from the beginning and not let you go. Brown weaves the topics of politics, deception, science, and exploration into an unpredictable novel that will keep you in suspense until the end.