Over the Counter #114

What books caught my eye this week as they passed over my library counter and under my scanner? Books with yellow covers!

First up was The Attack of the Killer Rhododendrons by Glen Chilton. Subtitled - My Obsessive Quest to seek out Alien Species.

From the publisher, Harper Collins:

"Glen Chilton, the author of the rollicking Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour finalist The Curse of the Labrador Duck, returns with yet another quest, this time to seek out species ill-advisedly introduced into foreign environments.

Chilton visits Ireland to witness how rhododendrons, an ornamental plant that escaped a private garden, now threaten to choke out the last of the great oak forests of the United Kingdom. He escapes blood-thirsty midges and a murderous Hungarian architect while visiting a colony of forgotten Scottish wallabies; finds out how termites, brought in on packing crates after the Second World War, contributed to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans; and dodges crocodiles and big guns in the eucalyptus forests of Ethiopia. And, in true Glen Chilton fashion, he never turns down the opportunity to share a few pints with eccentric locals, often finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time." Read an excerpt.

Next up was Triggered by Fletcher Wortmann. Subtitled - A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

From the publisher, St. Martin's Press:

"Imagine the worst thing in the world. Picture it. Construct it, carefully and deliberately in your mind. Be careful not to omit anything. Imagine it happening to you, to the people you love. Imagine the worst thing in the world.

Now try not to think about it.
This is what it is like for Fletcher Wortmann. In his brilliant memoir, the author takes us on an intimate journey across the psychological landscape of OCD, known as the “doubting disorder,” as populated by God, girls, and apocalyptic nightmares. Wortmann unflinchingly reveals the elaborate series of psychological rituals he constructs as “preventative measures” to ward off the end times, as well as his learning to cope with intrusive thoughts through Clockwork Orange-like “trigger” therapy.

But even more than this, the author emerges as a preternatural talent as he unfolds a kaleidoscope of culture high and low ranging from his obsessions with David Bowie, X-Men, and Pokemon, to an eclectic education shaped by Shakespeare, Kierkegaard, Catholic mysticism, Christian comic books, and the collegiate dating scene at the “People’s Republic of Swarthmore.”

Triggered is a pitch-perfect memoir; a touching, triumphantly funny, compulsively readable, and ultimately uplifting coming-of-age tale for Generation Anxiety." Read an excerpt.

(Over the Counter is a regular feature at A Bookworm's World. I've sadly come the realization that I cannot physically read every book that catches my interest as it crosses over my counter at the library. But... I can mention them and maybe one of them will catch your eye as well. See if your local library has them on their shelves!)