Peekskill resident Hernandez believes everyone can benefit from spiritual chanting. She includes music and texts in Tibetan, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Latin, Chinese, and Zuni. To quote one of her chapter titles, Incline Your Ear and Pray Like Hell.

A collection of well-honed, sometimes formal poems Porpora is unafraid of such old-fashioned subjects as love and nature, or even the urge to rhyme. "Every rock must, before long / come into its own / smooth, polished stone."

A found-object sculptor attends a Cape Cod artists' colony, bringing minimal clothing, a notebook, and Virginia Woolf's The Waves. In spare, evocative phrases Beacon resident Ali has fashioned a graceful prose poem of a novel. See Out & Aloud for author events.

A century old in 2004, the Catskill Park predates the National Forest system by decades; its 700,000 acres have been dubbed "America's First Wilderness." This detailed history of its conservation includes dozens of vintage photos. It'll make you love home.