Andy's Picks

We read Alan Furst's Spies of Warsaw in the store book group, and I wanted more. He specializes in stories of intrigue set at the beginning of World War II. In this one, an expatriate Dutch tramp freighter is sent on several risky clandestine missions thattake her from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. With vivid, spare writing, Furst captures the feel of shipboard life and the powerless terror of war perfectly. I really missed the old rust bucket when the book reached its end. 

It is pretty dense, but if you like seafood, and especially tuna, this is an important book. Artist and scholar of the sea Richard Ellis chases the different species of tuna through history and into so many of the controversies of today: over-fishing, fish farming, mercury poisioning, and bringing fish species to the edge of extinction. It's so much more than sushi and cheap canned tuna.