Books are meant to be taken off the shelf and looked back on. So as we head into the last weeks of 2009 it’s time to take a look at all the progressive books released this year. The Book Lounge held a diverse array of literary works this year. Books this year explored foods leading to our demise, Canadians who have built our progressive movement, and reasons you may not want to take that cruise vacation. Take a look, there may be a book to enjoy some tea by this holiday season.

Today direct action involving the obstruction or destruction of public property is often looked at as radical, destructive or the acts of the uninformed. On the anniversary of the Battle of Seattle it's important to look at the history, success and importance of putting one's body on the line for the principles in which you believe.

Ten years ago on Buy Nothing Day we were awaiting the release of Naomi Klein's No Logo. Definitive in nature, it captured the meaning in a growing rejection of marketing, brands and over-consumption. And reflected the growing movement to create a world of individuals with control over government processes.

But even the numerous tomes of anti-consumption had their problems. As authors Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter pointed out in The Rebel Sell, Klein's book opens with her description of her Spadina neighbourhood, how collective it was, individual and away from the mainstream, words that authors Heath and Potter believe allowed corporations to begin to commodify counter-culture. Corporations stole the counter culture and sold it back to us.

In December 2003 Malalai Joya stood as the elected delegate to an Afghan grand assembly on a new Afghan Constitution. She made international headlines when she used her turn to speak out against the domination of warlords in government procedures. Since that time Joya served as an elected representative on the National Assembly when she was elected in September of 2005. Today Joya starts the Canadian portion of her tour promoting her new book, A Woman Among Warlords:The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice.