Page 32: Short Takes on Five Vermont Books 

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Seven Days writers can't possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a choir of cicadas. So this occasional feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just a little and quote a single representative sentence from, yes, page 32.

Kindness Will Save the World: Stories of Compassion and Connection

James Crews, Mandala Publishing, 208 pages. $22.50.

Savor this daily task because you never know how many times you'll get to do it.

The chore of rinsing and filling your husband's thermos. A neighbor offering an extra doughnut. Motivational graffiti on an overpass. All become opportunities for gratitude and compassion in poet, author and mindfulness workshop leader James Crews' essay collection, born from the "kindness journal" he kept during the pandemic.

There's nothing earth-shattering here, and that's Crews' point. In short narratives pulled from his own life — most are less than two pages — he invites the reader to look at the mundane and respond with kindness. Best read in small bites, the collection includes prompts for practicing kindness and reflecting on connection. "Imagine if we gave the people in our lives the benefit of the doubt, believing in their needs," the Shaftsbury resident muses.

Most of us want to feel more hopeful about the state of the world, but it's easy to meet suggestions like these with derision. Could kindness save the world? I don't know, but I have yet to see "Cynicism will change the world" on a bumper sticker.

— A.S.

True North

Randall DeVallance, Beacon Publishing Group, 223 pages. $16.99.

Leathers studied his coat rack, as if measuring the bygone years by the garments which had once hung there.

Salvatore Slocum gets quite the surprise after a meeting with his enigmatic boss, Burt Leathers, in this novel that mixes office comedy with elements of mystery and noir. Leathers' memory vanished 30 years ago in a blinding flash of light, an accident that left him with a powerful persuasive ability and an uncanny intuition that helped him build a self-improvement company called True North. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Leathers steps down and appoints Salvatore the new boss. What Salvatore doesn't know is that someone is heading inexorably toward True North's headquarters with a gun and revenge on his mind.

Vermont-based author DeVallance has a knack for using the absurdity of work culture and quirky, clipped dialogue to great effect. True North has its share of twists, and DeVallance obfuscates the turns with skill and a sense of casualness that permeates the narrative, making for an intriguing read with just the right amount of the bizarre.

— C.F.

Year of No Garbage: Recycling Lies, Plastic Problems, and One Woman's Trashy Journey to Zero Waste

Eve O. Schaub, Skyhorse Publishing, 248 pages. $16.99.

Frankenstein combinations of materials ... are not only ubiquitous, but also ... inherently evil, unrecyclable landfill fodder.

Eve O. Schaub takes her New Year's resolutions seriously. The Pawlet author of Year of No Clutter and Year of No Sugar meets her hardest task yet with Year of No Garbage. For 365 days, Schaub and her family vowed to throw away nothing: no food packaging, no junk mail and definitely nothing as superfluous as paper towels. Items could only be reused, recycled, composted, donated or sold.

Schaub writes with self-awareness and a healthy dose of humor. Part memoir and part how-to guide, the book takes readers through the triumphs and trials of living with zero waste, as Schaub chips away at the "looming pile of crap" in her kitchen and attempts the near-impossible task of grocery shopping. As she puts it, "If I don't care about where this peanut butter wrapper or orange net ends up ... who will?"

To find out if she succeeds, consider buying the book electronically or used.

— H.F.

Homeslice: Monologues of Millennialhood

Dayton J. Shafer, Alternating Current Press, 78 pages. $14.99.

She leaned down, & much too young even to know what was happening, you found yourself looking down her blouse.

Poet, Hunger Mountain managing editor and former Vermont Studio Center fellow Dayton J. Shafer has a fantastic eye for detail. The 10 prose poems in his debut chapbook ripple with high-definition imagery, from the "silken blanket corners" that a young Shafer stuffs in his ears to block out his parents' fighting to the "half-people huddled in corners crying" in his high school hallways after September 11.

It's a specificity that sometimes detracts from Homeslice's stated purpose to serve as a polemic on all the anxieties and hot-button issues of the "elder millennial" micro-generation: those born between 1981 and 1985. But the vivid descriptions and the collection's unique format — the poems are narrated in the second person and designed to be performed onstage, with an audience intoning the variations of "Is your American dream ___?" that begin and end each passage — are reason enough to pick up this quick read.

— E.H.

The Sweet and Innocent Little Children's Book of Cannibalism

Julia Z, Dorrance Publishing, 68 pages. $30.

Next to her, I sometimes think / What am I, chopped liver?

Now, there's an expression rarely taken literally. But if your kids are less inclined to the syrupy sermonizing of the Berenstain Bears than to the macabre musings of Edward Gorey, this children's book of unusual appetites may be right up their dark alley.

Vermont author and artist Julia Z wrote and illustrated this book as a quarantine project. As she wrote in a 2021 Kickstarter campaign, "There's a lot of scary, depressing, cruel, and selfish stuff going on in the world ... Maybe a couple people will enjoy my mostly harmless book despite all that."

Some of the book's advanced vocabulary — "ambergris," "benignant," "epicure," "concupiscent" — will fly over the heads of younger readers and many adults. But Z's rhyme and cadence, coupled with her playfully creepy illustrations, make it a delight to read aloud. One caveat: Given its grim gustatory gist, this one might be better served before dinner rather than at bedtime. As Z puts it, "Eat your carrots before they eat you."

— K.P.