Ellen Rocco of North Country Public Radio in Canton, NY, wrote in August to renew her asterisk. She is often the host of NCPR's Readers and Writers on the Air series. Most of us can't get the broadcast, but the programs are available on the web (see the URL below). Ellen sent along an 18-page document recommending more than 100 books. She didn't read all of them (I don't think). This was a compilation of recommendations from staff and listeners at North Country Public Radio. Some of the books on the list should sound familiar to those of you who are not new to these pages: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (two very favorable reviews on the list), 1984, No Ordinary Time, and The Partly-Cloudy Patriot for example. Others look intriguing just because of their titles. This list and nine others are available on the NCPR Web site: www.northcountrypublicradio.org/programs/local/booklists.html Ellen's own recommendations begin with two novels: The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer and Three Junes by Julia Glass. Next she recommends the books in her most recent "cluster" reading about Cambodia. Buddha Wept by Rocco Lo Bosco: a short, quiet and unromanticized tale of emergence from the dark tunnel of the Cambodian holocaust A Blessing Over Ashes: The Remarkable Odyssey of My Unlikely Brother by Adam Fifield: a true story that corroborates the perception of the Cambodian holocaust in Buddha Wept, and then takes us into present time with the journey of a young Cambodian who is adopted by an American family First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of the Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung A History of Cambodia by David Chandler Soul Survivors: Stories of Women and Children in Cambodia by Carol Wagner, et al. Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors by Dith Pran (the man made famous by the movie The Killing Fields The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh by Frederick Lipp and Ronald Himler; a good one to introduce Cambodia to young readers NPR News Special: War Crimes produced by Neal Conan: a one-hour documentary now available from Audible.com The Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power Wow! That sounds like a huge reading load for an ambitious college course. More concentrated reading than I'd do without outside motivation these days. But a valuable assignment. Check out Ellen's list and all the others on the NCPR Web site.