By Andreea Ciulac, Chicago Tribune (TNS)

‘My Life on The Road’ by Gloria Steinem; Random House Trade Paperbacks, 352 pages, $18

“My Life on the Road” documents Steinem’s life as an activist, writer and avid traveler. Steinem talks about the wanderlust she inherited from her parents and about the chance encounters that shaped the feminist movement in the late ’60s and early ’70s, elaborating on key moments including her first trip as a social activist to India, her tumultuous career as a journalist, and the founding of Ms. magazine, the first mainstream publication focusing on women’s issues.

‘M Train’ by Patti Smith; Vintage, 288 Pages, $16

Smith chronicles her wanderings around the world — both real and imaginary — and her memories of life with her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith. Black-and-white Polaroid photos scattered throughout the book accompany Smith’s stories about travels to Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul in Mexico, to the lunar landscape of Iceland and to a run-down seaside bungalow in New York’s Far Rockaway.

‘The Vegetarian: A Novel’ by Han Kang, Hogarth, 208 pages, $15

Yeong-hye and her husband’s dull existence is shaken when she starts having blood-filled nightmares. In order to cleanse her mind, she quits meat cold-turkey, a decision that her family interprets as an act of rebellion. The abusive treatment Yeong-hye receives from her husband, brother-in-law and sister, including force-feeding and sexual assault, only make her more disconnected from the outside world — and herself.

‘Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books’ by Cara Nicoletti, illustrated by Marion Bolognese; Back Bay Books, 304 pages, $16.99

Nicoletti combined her love for literature with her passion for cooking and the result is a cookbook inspired by famous literary foods. The book, divided in three sections based on literary genres —childhood, adolescence and college years, and adulthood — includes recipes for the breakfast sausage in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House in the Big Woods,” the chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream from Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections” and the perfect soft-boiled egg in Jane Austen’s “Emma.”

‘Wasting Time on the Internet’ by Kenneth Goldsmith; Harper Perennial, 256 pages, $14.99

Goldsmith, conceptual artist and poet, makes the case for “wasting” time on the Internet as a means to increase productivity and boost creativity. Goldsmith, who introduced a class at the University of Pennsylvania called “Wasting Time on the Internet,” argues that watching cat videos or browsing the web for hours on end is rewiring the human brain to think differently and, contrary to popular belief, makes us more connected to each other.

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