Reading Recommendations:

Separate Beds

, a novel, Elizabeth Buchan

Annie's life isn't perfect, but her marriage to Tom, her children, and her work give ballast to her life even after her daughter, Mia, disappears to university and refuses for five long years to have anything to do with her family. With the country in the early stages of an economic crisis, Annie knows she has no right to complain. Even so, with the arrival of financial mayhem, the veil of professional and domestic success that Annie has clung to begins to slip, revealing that the tiny fissures in her relationships have, pressured by years of distraction, subtle resentment, and misunderstanding, become cracks too deep and wide to ignore.

Mia's dramatic exit from their family life leaves Tom and Annie wounded and estranged from each other. In the wake of Mia's absence, Tom has moved across the hall to Mia's old bedroom. While she must admit she's relieved to have the peace and quiet, Annie hopes the separation will pass. Even the best marriages weather bumps in the road. Yet, their isolation deepens when Tom is unceremoniously booted from the job he adores as a hard hitting radio producer. Tom had his suspicions that something was amiss at the office, but the news catches Annie completely off guard and she's shocked Tom didn't share his concerns with her. To add insult to injury, their son and Tom's mother both moved back into the house. Suddenly the dull but comfortable status that lulled Annie and Tom with its routine predictability evaporates. The cold estrangement that had grown during years raising children and overcommitting to careers, threatens to upend them and their world completely. With the house ever more crowed and chaotic, Tom and Annie must confront their problems head-on, and find a way to come together not just to stabilize their family but to save their marriage as well.

The Migraine Brain,

Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health, Carolyn Bernstein. MD., Founder and Director, Women's Headache Center at Cambridge Health Alliance and Elaine McArdle

You know that your migraine isn't just a headache but you may not know that migraine actually is a neurological disease. Thirty million Americans get migraines, often with excrutiating headache pain, and Dr. Carolyn Bernstein, a migraine sufferer herself, praised for her excellence and compassion as a physician, explains that certain unique chemical and structural differences in the migraine brain and certain nervous system cause the many debilitating symptoms associated with migraines. Even though they cannot be completely cured, you can greatly decrease the number of migraines you experience and lessen their intensity with this proven, personalized wellness program. Packed with the latest clinical and pharmacological research, as well as lively anecdotes, patient interviews, and quizzes and questionnaires, The Migraine Brain presents the latest science on migraine headaches and offers a comprehensive treatment program. It will change the lives of migraine sufferers forever.

And, one other book I urge the reader to consider:

American Wasteland

, How America Throws away Nearly Half Its Food (and what we can do about it), Jonathan Bloom.

After reading American Wasteland, you will never look at your grocery list, dinner plate, or refrigerator the same way again.

The story of food waste takes you to the lettuce mountains of Salinas, into the buffet lines of a chain restaurant, behind the scenes at the local grocery store, and within the average household to reveal how and why almost half of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten.

At the same time, households are struggling with rising food costs. Food banks are struggling to supply the growing number of hungry Americans, and we are unsure how we'll feed the world's mounting population. And producing food impacts the environment. Yet, the remedy may be simpler than imagined.

This one may not exactly be "reading for pleasure," its simply something we should do for ourselves and future generations and you will never waste again!

See you at Rylander!