Tom Carter, beverage manager at Cushing Street Bar and Grill. On The Silver Cloud Café, by Alfredo Vea Jr.: It's a pretty dense book. It starts in San Francisco and weaves its way back to the Mexican Revolution and to the farm workers' strike of the late '50s and back again, all the while uniting folk-myth and reality. It's fiction with a dash of history. There's a cast of characters whose lives--unbeknownst to them--are intertwined across this time period in modern day San Francisco. Their histories come out in telling the story. The novel is from the genre of magical realism. One of the main characters that rediscovers his roots is this Chicano lawyer in San Francisco. The story is told through his eyes, at least for the first few chapters. Vea is always cutting back to the folklore of his culture. This is my second go-round with Latin American fiction. This book is a little different from some other stuff I've read. It blends cultures, history and heritage. Vea writes really beautiful prose. He shows the impact of history on his modern day characters. There's more of a romanticism and spirituality to his work. He shows America as losing its culture and heritage. Paul Weiner, architect. On Grandfather Twilight, by Barbara Berger, author and illustrator: I'm not reading any novels or big stuff because my life just isn't there right now. I just read to my kids. This is a wonderful, Zen story about an aged, ethereal man who lives in the woods with his companions, a dog, a cat, and a bird. At the end of every day he slips into a robe and goes to a wooden treasure chest where there's a long strand of pearls. Every day he takes one of the pearls off of the strand, takes his dog and cat and goes to the edge of the land where it meets the water. There he releases the pearl into the sky and it becomes the moon. He goes back home, slips his slippers off and goes to bed. The illustrations are very engaging, where you can show your child the beauty of living a simple life. What I like most about the book, as with anything else, is that everything we look at in some way is an opportunity for us to project who we are. As I read Ariel and Aidan this book, it makes me realize how important it is to understand the values you want to get across to your children. The values of this story are simplicity and mindfulness. Every time I open up that book, it makes me want to turn down the rpm's of my existence. Chad Daley, deejay on KFMA-FM. On A Man's Life: The Complete Instructions, by Denis Boyles: It's a genius, genius book. It contains little things from how to shave and set a table, to how to do laundry, and land a Boeing 747. Some of this is very serious, and some of it is joking around. They have sections on how to ask a girl out on a date, how to live with no money for a week, various types of intercourse. The shaving advice is good: shave twice, first down only and then across the face, but don't shave up; use hot water and lather, wash your face before and after. I use a lot of this. I thoroughly enjoyed the part about landing a 747. Turns out they have an automatic landing system. You have to engage it and figure out your weight and speed and everything, but the trick is to have this book on board with you when you're on the plane.

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