The Log from the Sea of Cortez

In 1940, Steinbeck and biologist Edward F. Ricketts ventured aboard the "Western Flyer," a sardine boat out of Monterey, California, on a 4,000-mile voyage around the Baja peninsula into the Sea of Cortez. This exciting, day-by-day account of their expedition wonderfully combines science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure, and provides a much fuller picture of Steinbeck - and his beliefs about man and the world - than any of his fictional works.

Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

Combining southern warmth with unabashed emotion and sidesplitting hilarity, Fannie Flagg takes readers back to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, where the most unlikely and surprising experiences of a high-spirited octogenarian inspire a town to ponder the age-old question: Why are we here?