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MITCHELL'S BOOK CORNER 54 Main Street, 228-1080

"Madness: A Bipolar Life"

by Marya Hornbacher You may remember Marya Hornbacher from her prior bestselling memoir, "Wasted," which followed her through her bout with anorexia and bulimia. Now Marya is baring her life once again to introduce us to the issue behind the symptom: she is bipolar. Marya lets us in to hear her private thoughts, her feelings of confusion because she cannot control her life and her fight to live with bipolar illness. As a young girl she was considered unruly when manic and difficult when depressed. She refused to allow the illness to control her, however, and her battle reveals a strength of character and stubbornness that has helped her live life one day at a time. For anyone who is bipolar, or anyone who has a loved one who is bipolar, this memoir will bring the subject out in the open so that it can be understood. The appendix contains bipolar facts, like 5.8 million American adults have bipolar disorder, as well as a list of helpful websites. Marya's courage is a wonderful step in the right direction in this country's discussion on mental illness.

- Lucretia Voigt, Mitchell's Book Corner

NANTUCKET BOOKWORKS 25 Broad Street, 228-4000

"The God of Animals"

by Aryn Kyle

For the excitement of discovery and the hope they can give us, good first novels rule. Aryn Kyle's debut has a charming narrator in Alice Winston, who tells us the story of her lonely thirteenth year. She feels abandoned by her older sister Nona, the family star, a beauty and a riding champion, who has run off and married a young cowboy. Her father is distracted, scrambling to find riding students and horse boarders to keep their family stable going. Her mother can offer little help: mysteriously traumatized, she retired to her bedroom when Alice was a baby and has stayed there pretty much ever since. And the ghost of a drowned schoolmate looms over all of Alice's attempts to solve the puzzle of her family and to claim her own life. It's a good story.

- Dick Burns, Nantucket Bookworks

NANTUCKET ATHENEUM 1 India Street, 228-1110

"Someday" by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Rosie Winstead Ayoung girl dreams about her future, "someday," and contrasts these dreams with her current reality, "today," on alternating pages. While the present features humble everyday activities, such as feeding her fish, it takes only a small leap to see the connection with her big plans, in this case swimming with dolphins. In poetic descriptions, Spinelli's first person narrative invites us to share a little girl's large dreams, while Winstead's watercolor and cut-paper illustrations have their own pastel, dream-like quality. Recommended for ages 4-8, and a good read-aloud and discussion-starter about kids' own "somedays." I

- Maggie Head, Nantucket Atheneum