Recommendations from Copperfield’s Books Recommendations of recent books from the staffs of a rotating list of Bay Area independent bookstores. Fiction In this rich, daring and haunting novel, Miranda joins a handful of dedicated scientists on the isolated Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco as a nature photographer. Set in Iraq and Syria, with ISIL as a menacing backdrop, this novel beguiles us with charm as we enter a world rent with danger, heartbreak and confusion we Westerners can hardly imagine. What’s fascinating here is not just the information about how sugar works in the body and with diseases, but also the history and politics of the sugar industry. Notes on Living to Read and Reading to Live, by Peter Orner: Many books have been written about what a particular writer loves to read, but few have taken us to the level Orner does, where insight and empathy flourish. Essays, by Michael Paterniti: Time to curl up with one of the finest essayists out there today, exploring subjects that intrigue him, from gigantism to genius chefs to earthquakes.