Susan Rice and Charlie Brown Head The List

November 26th would have been the 90th birthday of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. However, his beloved characters are timeless and to this day his legend continues to be embraced. Celebrating Peanuts is a hardcover collectors item filled with characters he created along with commentary from Schulz himself. You will learn interesting tidbits about the franchise like: Schulz wasn’t the one who gave the Peanuts their name. In fact, Schulz hated the name Peanuts, believing the name was rootless and made no sense. But Peanuts stood because the name Schulz had created conflicted with other strips that had similar names. It is also worth noting that all of the characters are named after members of Schulz’s family and friends.

Phiona Mutesi is extremely poor and oppressed. She struggles each day simply to find a meal. School is not an option because it’s not free where she comes from, and she cannot afford it. One day while rummaging through the garbage for food, Phiona met Robert, a missionary who has also grown up in the slums. His ambition was to teach and empower kids through chess. How does someone so poor and illiterate become a grand master at 15? Find out in this amazing, humbling and true story.

We are in cold and flu season with new warnings about the H1N1 virus. We are constantly being reminded about how inferior our health care system is. With all of that, wouldn’t you like to know how to never get sick again? Gene Stone set out to interview people who never get sick and in his book he let’s us in on their secrets: from taking large doses of vitamin C, to washing your face daily in a bowl of peroxide and water to eating dirt (you’ll have to read that chapter to understand). There are loads of preventive measures people have taken throughout the ages, and ancient cures to prevent illness that still work today. People in this book swear by their routines and remedies. More importantly, they have lived free from sickness until their death (of old-age). This book should definitely be a part of your home library.

The authors of the Christian runaway hit The Shack, which sold more 18 million copies, are back with a new book about the same topic: God. In this book, the main character is a self-made business success who ends up in a coma where none of his worldly accomplishments, wealth,  and tactics have any value. His new metaphysical seat sends him back through every inch of his earthly life to bear witness on himself and determine where he went wrong and how his life became one huge house of cards. It is a chance for the reader to look in the mirror and discover, through this man’s journey, certain truth about himself or herself.

This military affairs journalist was right about his criticism on the War in Iraq and he has been at the forefront of uncovering the real issues and tactical errors made by America’s military operatives over the years and why these mistakes happened. In his latest book, The Generals, the bestselling author actually identifies the people (yes, he names names) behind some of our most egregious military failures since World War II through the present. He made headlines this week for calling out Fox News as being a “wing of the Republican Party” in their mishandling of the latest outbreak of violence in Benghazi that left Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others dead.

Finally, a truth that took too long to uncover has been acknowledged. But is it too late for the five individuals that were forced into confessing to a rape they didn’t commit? On April 2o, 1989, Trisha Meili was found raped and severely beaten in Central Park. Days later, five black and Latino youths were picked up  for the crime. Despite the evidence and their stories not matching up to the facts, they were tried and convicted in the media and later tried and convicted in the courts. Most spent more than ten years behind bars before the real rapist confessed and they were released. This book explores the huge race and class divisions in New York City that allowed the lives of these five young men to be ruined without remorse. The book was recently made into a documentary by the author’s husband, award-winning director and filmmaker Ken Burns.

Susan Rice celebrated a birthday this month and unfortunately, the U.S Ambassador to the United Nations also finds herself under intense scrutiny by the GOP following statements she made about the bombing of a U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. She is in line to replace Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State but will she be able to cross this recent attack on her character? While she is being painted one way, this book shows Rice, a Rhodes Scholar, to be a nimble thinker on issues of national security and how things like poverty have an impact on our safety.