Cooking Light: Fresh Food Fast

The Frugal Foodie Cookbook

Southern Living Complete Quick and Easy Cookbook

Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast  

-Beth

Let it Bleed: The Rolling Stones, Altamont and the End of the Sixties
By Ethan A. Russell

Whoah! Quite a gripping and sometimes harrowing work with many of the photographs being simply stunning (and never before seen).
Reading about the Stones’ 1969 tour (with Mick Taylor & Ian Stewart on board) – Mick Jagger lamenting about being “so old” back then – is time travel at it’s best.
You get a sense of the evolving chaos from various perspectives, including photographer Ethan Russell, the band members, security man Tony Funches (who knocked out two Hells Angels and lived to tell about it) and others.
The book builds to the final concert, a huge festival held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California on December 6th. I had a really chilled, near visceral reaction to the firsthand accounts of what transpired here, with the Hells Angels providing “security” and ultimately stabbing a fan (who had a gun) to death near the stage.  A detail is dropped in then a few pages later you see a photograph and instantly “get it”.  A thousand words many times over, indeed.
The parallels mentioned to getting out of Vietnam by helicopter were right on as this concert was often a scene of mayhem, violence and general disorder. Not a happy scene.
Some of the photographs capture fans – some oblivious, many high, some focused on what is happening – from the stage, where the crush of humanity must have been stifling at best. The photo of a stunned looking Bill Wyman in the helicopter about to take off after the show is a real shocker, a moment in time.
The polar opposite of Woodstock, I’m not sure how anyone can argue that this event didn’t clearly “end the sixties”.

-Phil

I recently came across this book and had no real intention in actually reading it but once I started glancing through it, I was hooked. It didn’t matter that the location of the garden was in California – gardens everywhere have the same enemies or challenges: weeds, animal life, too much or not enough sun, water, or good temperature.

For all of us who have looked at a bare spot of land and dreamed big only to realize the dream wouldn’t come to fruition for several years, this is the book for you. It had me thinking about all the ridiculous mistakes I made starting my garden – most embarrassing, but now so nice to know that I wasn’t alone.

- Betsy

The Vinland Sagas

The Norse colony in North America always fascinated me. Why not go right to the source? These documents were once thought legendary, then proved to be (at least partially) true by the archaeological record. Included in this collection of “Vinland Sagas” are the Book of the Icelanders and the Book of the Settlements, which chronicle of the colonization of Iceland; and the Greenlanders’ Saga and Eirik the Red’s Saga, which chronicle the colonization of Greenland and subsequent excursions to North America.

Written in 13th century, I was afraid these would be dry and boring, but boy was I wrong. They are full of personal details and fascinating anecdotes, only occasionally bleeding into the fantastical. There’s a lot killing and a lot ice. The texts are rich enough that we are transported into another world. A world that existed a millennium ago. We learn about what the Norse wore, ate, and worshiped. Most fascinating are the tensions between the traditional religion and Christianity. The conversion of Europe to Christianity happened so long ago, it is often just a line or two in a school book, but in these sagas we have records of what that conversion was like, the tensions it caused, and how communities dealt with said tension. Did I mention the killings and the ice?

Another surprise was that the Iceland sagas we’re often more interesting than the Greenland ones. In these we find majority of material about the pagan-Christian problem. Did you know there were people (not the Inuit) on Iceland before the Norse? Did you know Iceland had a parliamentary government centuries before other European countries? This is not to take anything away from the Greenland sagas. As is pointed out in the brief notes which accompany it, the Eirik the Red’s Saga is a masterpiece of European literature.

If you have a library card, Vinland Sagas is downloadable for free from Netlibrary with no DRM-restrictions. They are read by Norman Dietz and the inimitable George Guidall.

I can recommend two novelizations of the same material. The first, William Vollmann’s The Ice-Shirt, focuses on Eirik the Red’s daughter Freydis and her role in founding of the North American colony. This is the first of Vollmann’s Seven Dreams sequence which explores the European conquest of the North American continent. It includes ink drawings by the author and contemporary accounts of his travels through Greenland.

The second is the award winning Voyage of the Short Serpent by Bernard de Boucheron which imagines what the dwindling Norse colony on Greenland must have been like in the 14th century. You can read my original review here.

For those not book oriented there is Severed Ways, Tony Stone’s dreamy yet realistic portrayal of two Vikings stranded in Newfoundland. Even if your not interested in the Norse, this is one of the best, truly independent, American films I have seen in recent years.

None of these titles are for the squeamish.

- Bryan

You don’t run. You hate sports. You should read this book anyway. Not focusing on running celebrities or ego-maniac endurance athletes, McDougall profiles the Tarahumara tribe of northern Mexico. With a cultural tradition of ultra-distance running (i.e. 50-100+ miles), the Tarahumara are some of the best runners in the world and seem to do so simply for the joy of it. He compares the Tarahumara with a handful of American ultrarunners who have a similar approach, and, you guessed it, are some of the best in world. People who choose to run 50-100+ miles are kind of nuts. Born to Run is a kaleidescope of lovable whack jobs (in this it shares some resemblance to John Waters’ recent Role Models).  We meet Zen kickboxers, self-declared Victorian sports experts, and sex cultists. One such turned-on-tuned-in-dropped out runner, “Caballo Blanco” dreams of organizing a race between the Tarahumara and like-mined Americans. The story of the race is an inspiring as best sports tales without devolving into the pity fest cliches which ruin so many other true life sports stories.

A significant portion of Born to Run is a lot of science about human physiology and nutrition. McDougall aims to prove we are literally born to run. Many of the ideas are controversial within running circles. McDougall makes a good argument but definitely presents only one side of the evidence. I’m neutral towards the science. Much of the nutritional evidence is backed up in Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald, though said book is coming from a diametrically opposed philosophical direction. I don’t know if we were born to run. I’m not an evolutionary biologist. Isn’t it obvious though our lifestyle and food choices have sky-rocketed rates of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease? As was pointed out in the 1970s when running exploded with popularity, running helps prevent the aforementioned diseases. An uninterested reader could skip these passages and stick to the dramatic narrative about the race and larger-than-life racers.

As someone who has ran until I hallucinated and loved it, I loved this book. An ode to the joy of running, this book will not only inspire you to run more and have more fun doing it, but motivate you to get off your tukhus and accomplish other goals you thought were impossible.

- Bryan

Candyfreak: A  Journey Through The Chocolate Underbelly of America

For grown up fans of Willy Wonka, this memoir of a candy lover is a mouth watering Valentine of a book and an ode to America’s independent candy makers which are finding it more and more difficult to survive in today’s world of corporate giants like Hershey’s and Cadbury. A lifelong candy fiend, Almond claims to have eaten candy every day of his life and professes that there are 3 to 7 pounds of candy available in his household at all times.

Traveling around the country visiting local candy companies, Nashville’s own Standard Candy Company, maker of the famous Goo Goo Cluster is featured. Did you know this local company makes its bread and butter manufacturing various nutrition bars and candy bars for other companies and only makes their signature candy bar 10 days a month?   Also featured is the Idaho Candy Company’s Idaho Spud, first created in 1918.  It is a marshmallow like confection made of agar, a seaweed product, flavored with maple, sprinkled with coconut and rolled in cocoa to look like a potato.

Almond’s writing style is hilarious and if you get a hankering for any of the unique confections he describes there’s a list of handy websites offering these goodies for sale so we can all savor the joy.

- Phyllis

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China

by Leslie T. Chang

Often brilliant, insightful, humorous, poignant and certainly unflinchingly descriptive, this book was a rewarding read.  I learned much about the lives of young, ambitious Chinese girls leaving their home provinces to find work in Dongguan or Guangdong assembling electronic parts or working on handbags in crowded, hectic factories.
The author details the various fleeting accomplishments, relationships, ambitions and the social stratas involved in the lives of a few girls like Min and Chunming, who you will come to know quite well.
Chang has a knack for letting scenes speak for themselves – “On weekend afternoons, the Hopeful Computer Training Center was crowded with workers sitting at computers learning Word and Excel. (A sign outside advertised, in English, Microsoft Worb.)”  She takes you on hilarious side trips into hyped up etiquette training sessions and inane adventures of an “Assembly Line English” training academy along with the fun involved at the Donnguan Making Friends Club.
Underneath this interesting, personal and often twisting travelogue through Chinese cities is the author’s own homecoming to her ancestral hometown of Liutai.
The book ends with an interesting look at Chunming, ever trying to reinvent herself, venturing into direct sales in the area of health foods. You’ll get an inside view of a company sales convention and the goings on there.
Be prepared to learn and laugh too.

Phil

Many folks like to be scared and the endurance of the horror genre proves that although this literary category has never quite achieved the credit given other brands of fiction, it isn’t going away anytime soon.  From fireside legends and ‘The Castle of Otranto’ to postwar science-fiction films and the ‘Twilight’ series, our collective nightmares and the figures that inhabit them have had an interesting history, often overlapping and merging with other genres to create something new.  These books should help familiarize you with the idea that being afraid of the dark can be quite enjoyable.

- Ben

Wicked Plants: the Weed That Killed Lincoln’s Mother
and Other Botanical Atrocities

The moral of this story, boys and girls, is: never, ever run willy-nilly through the garden putting vegetation in your mouth! What doesn’t kill you can make you itch, twitch, vomit, or go crazy. Seriously, I knew that Johnson grass was a pest, but I certainly did not know that its new green shoots contain enough cyanide to kill a horse. I swear I will never go outside again without wearing garden gloves.

This fascinating little book is a compendium of nightmare plants, including some very common garden friends such as lenten rose, hydrangea, lantana, and Carolina jessamine. Don’t eat these things. And remember when we were hippies and wore those necklaces made from beautiful seeds and berries? When it started going around that the red berries were poisonous, we all thought it was a conspiracy to make us dress better. Turns out those red berries were the deadly seed of the rosary pea, native to tropical Africa and Asia. Yikes.

Wicked Plants is wonderfully designed, beginning with its printed cover. Inside are beautiful etchings from Briony Morrow-Cribbs and macabre little drawings from Jonathon Rosen. The pages are printed with an all-over schmutz, as if the book has been previously handled by a gardener. Although it suffers from the lack of an index, it’s small enough to be thumbed through when you need to know the name of the Australian stinging tree, a mere brush with which can cause unbearable pain for up to a year (dendrocnide moroides, common name gympie gympie).

As for Nancy Hanks Lincoln, she died of milk sickness from drinking the tainted milk of cows who had been grazing on white snakeroot. –Pam

]]> http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/2010/05/21/book-review-wicked-plants-the-weed-that-killed-lincolns-mother-other-botanical-atrocities/feed/ 2 http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/2010/05/15/book-review-the-man-who-loved-books-too-much/ http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/2010/05/15/book-review-the-man-who-loved-books-too-much/#comments Sat, 15 May 2010 19:18:25 +0000 Amanda http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/?p=2742 The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
By Allison Hoover Bartlett

I’m sure it’s no stretch of the imagination to believe that someone who works in the library loves, not only books, but books about people who love books.  So I was excited to pick up The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett.  Knowing that someone else can get as crazy-obsessed as I do about a favorite author or series makes me feel all toasty inside.

And then there’s this guy Gilkey.  He loves books, but not because of their stories.  He seeks out particularly rare books, and then he steals them.  Not for their resale value and not because of any sort of nostalgia.  John Gilkey steals rare books because he wants other people to think he’s smart and wealthy and cultured.  Plus, he thinks he deserves them.

Kinda makes you want to punch him, right?  I know, I know.  But at least there are men in the world like Ken Sanders, who make it their mission to stop guys like Gilkey.  This book tells the tale of Sanders, Gilkey, and the books that came between them.

Interesting sidebar: I also learned that I can never, ever be a rare books dealer.  Why?  Because once I’ve tracked down some highly-sought after, highly-priced copy of some highly-prized work, the last thing I’m going to do is sell it to somone else – I don’t care what kind of profit I might turn. I want to keep it because it’s MINE!!! (Is that a little selfish?  See, I told you I couldn’t share…)

So, boys and girls, the moral of this story is Don’t Steal Books.  Instead read about someone else who tried.

‘Til next time…

Amanda

• Battlestar Galactica – if you haven’t watched BSG (the new series), you’re in for a wild journey.  Like Lost with great characters, intriguing mythology, mystery and suspense, but in Space!

• Are star-crossed lovers Sun and Jin or Desmond and Penny the reason you like to get Lost?  Read The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger or watch A Very Long Engagement starring Audrey Tatou.

• Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials Trilogy – if you especially enjoy the philosophical side of Lost, Pullman’s novels will definitely fill the void.

• Rose and Bernard, although minor characters of the cast, have a huge following among Losties! For more retired persons/senior citizens on adventures, read The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian, or watch the Oscar-winning animated movie Up.

• The Prisoner – this amazing British TV series from the late 1960’s starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan will satisfy your need for deep intrigue and mystery.

• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher – if you especially like Sawyer’s biting wit (and those nicknames!), you’ll dig this fantasy series featuring Chicago’s only wizard in the Yellow Pages, Harry Dresden.

• One of my favorite scenes on Lost occurred when Hurley declares a desire to write the script for The Empire Strikes Back and send it to George Lucas.  For more hilariously geeky conversations and lovable characters, don’t miss The Big Bang Theory.

• If you enjoyed Charlie’s flashback story about his band Drive Shaft, read about real rock stars in books like Hammer of the Gods, or watch music documentaries like The History of Rock n’Roll.

• My personal favorite suggestion to overcome Lost grief, and one I hope to someday achieve: travel to Hawaii and visit locations where Lost was filmed.

Get Crafty

Check out books on Hipster Crafts

Crafty hipsters have to start somewhere. What better place than the library to learn how to make your own wares. Find books on sewing, knitting, decorating, and more on our book list.

April is the month for Earth Day, Earth Hour, and even Earth Week. So we’ve decided to celebrate for the whole month! You can do your part by taking small actions to reduce power consumption, save water, and reduce waste. Take Mayor Dean’s Environmental Pledge.

Borrow a book or media item from Nashville Public Library instead of buying a new one. Check out these books to learn more ways you can help:

Green Titles (for Adults)

Green Titles (for Teens)

Green Titles (for Children)

Waksman demonstrates the formal give and take between metal and punk. He successfully illustrates that within the music itself there was always a dialogue between the two as opposed to the malignant verbal snowball fight took place within the media starting in the late 1970s. Not that said dialogue was always as hot and heavy as a teenage makeout session. In early chapters Waksman contrasts ideological strains by comparing artists: the Runaways vs. the Dictators; Iggy Pop vs. Alice Cooper. The word “grunge” appears nowhere on the book’s cover, yet Seattle’s finest is Waksman’s great synthesis.

Waksman’s own unsaid ideology is that even in rock, that most populist of mediums, there is an underground, critically fecund history that differs from the mainstream narrative. The underground hidden channel is where new forms are born and therefore the specimens that get canonized are made. Waksman knows that the critics that know best wrote in zines not magazines. Another emerging thesis: any label that released Black Flag’s My War, Minutemen’s Double Nickels On the Dime, and Husker Du’s Zen Arcade all in the same year has a claim to best rock label of the 1980s (or maybe any other decade for that matter). The label: SST Records. The year: 1984.

Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music
By Greg Kot

The music industry is broken.  The labels know it.  The artists know it.  Consumers definitely know it.  Greg Kot knows it, and he seems kind of happy about it.  In his book, Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, Kot catalogues how different musicians found ways to go over, under, around, and through the majors in order to find new paths to fans and profitability in the Wild Wild West chaos of the digital frontier.

Most of the stories Kot included were familiar, but he also introduced, at least to me, a few new artists, such as Girl Talk, who are making some high-quality music—even if it is a mash-up of other unlicensed samples. 

Here is the best music quote ever:

“[The album is not dying.] What’s dying is the idea of only the crappiest crap, made with the crappiest intentions, with the crappiest production, to entice the most airtime on the crappiest giant chains of radio stations, bought and paid for by crappy labels and dictated by some crappy, contemptuous, lowest-common-denominator projecting programming executive from his crappy polling printouts in some crappy office somewhere, to ensure we all swallow the same crap all over the country at the same time, and then placing that one slice of crap on a longer disc with a bunch of even crappier crap.  That is the concept that is dying.  Amen.”
                                                                      – Jack Rabid, editor of The Big Takeover

 Amen, brother. Let’s get back to the business of making great music and let the bottom line take care of itself.

- Amanda

Check out books on Lost Treasure

- Ben

Lance: the making of the world’s greatest champion

by John Wilcockson

This is a very solid biography from a writer who certainly knows cycling at its highest levels and who did an excellent job combining interviews and insights from friends, racers and others back to Lance’s earliest years into a compelling read.
The portrait is built of a brash, determined, competitive child of a single mother who continued to excel at an early age as a triathalete then as a successful cyclist – one who won the World Championship road race at age 21 in Norway in 1993.
We learn of the trials of being a world class cyclist; the mentors, the camaraderie, the team strategies and dynamics, the demands and realities of competing in Europe at the brutal one day classics and at other important stage races.
Around the middle of the book the seriousness of his cancer discovery hits like a ton of bricks and is yet another mountain for Lance to climb. His winning the first of seven Tour de France titles in 1999 is expertly recounted, as well are the subsequent title defenses, complete with descriptions of the key competitors like wily Italian climber Claudio Chiappucci and the ever tenacious German multi-time runner up Jan Ulrich.
Going right up through his split with Sheryl Crow and training for his comeback attempt in 2009, this may be as close to a complete, tell-all, interesting and relatively unbiased view we’ll ever get of a remarkable  athlete, cancer survivor and the all time winningest Tour de France champion.
As an avid cycling fan I still learned quite a bit about Armstrong, good and bad and this biography enhanced my appreciation for his remarkable achievements (in the face of some very dire odds).  The uncommon early photographs are really great too.  Lance at 4 with his two cats – Tommie and Tootsie – you’ve got to love it!

Lost City Of Z A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon
By David Grann

I’m drawn to books like this – Shackleton’s Endurance, quests to find Hillary Scott’s remains on Mt. Everest, attempts to explain Amelia Earhart’s disappearance – which have a particular blend of mystery, time travel and research I find enjoyable and often compelling.
This one centers around acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann doing his utmost best to find original sources that will let him retrace the route into the Amazon that British explorer Percy Harrison Fawcett took in his quest to find El Dorado or the city of “Z” as he called it.   Fawcett himself, along with his son Jack and Raleigh Rimell vanished in 1925 while searching for this lost city know for its signs of beauty, culture and advancement.
What is really very impressive is the extent of  effort made by Mr. Grann in creating this book.  He not only seemingly interviews every remaining relative or associate of PHF,  including getting original sources and diaries by visiting Fawcett’s granddaughter Joan in Wales, tracking down journals from his WWI Military unit, traveling to the offices of the Royal Geographic Society in London and to a map archive in Sao Paulo, Brazil – he ultimately goes into the Amazon region himself to check things out!

This immediately amps up the action after he starts out a little like Bill Bryson preparing for his Appalachian Trail attempt. Grann is totally immersed in finding the truth some 80 years later and his expedition experience is complete with deadly insects, piranhas (and other worse jungle menaces!),  still hostile Indian tribes and difficult terrain. His descriptions pull no punches as you feel him becoming more deeply obsessed with this research mission.

It should be noted that the author is an excellent storyteller and makes great use of many historical documents in presenting this fascinating biographical mystery adventure.
Deserving of its place on many best of the year lists – the bibliography alone is a treasure trove of historic resources related to all manner of archaeology and exploration, early British explorers, nomads, Indian tribes, early discoveries and more. He references sources from Fawcett’s prolific writer son Brian (Exploration Fawcett 1953) up through the very recent book 1491.
Well done!

The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation’s bicentennial.

We asked library staff members: “If you could choose only one title to read/listen to/watch during February to mark African American History Month, what would it be?”

The results are in, and we are happy to share. The list includes all genres, formats, and age groups–all are available to check out from the library. See all of our book and movie picks for African American History Month.

And don’t forget to take a look at our extensive list of events – there’s something for everyone.

Who would have ever thought that a book about microeconomics would be so interesting?  Especially the second time around?  After really enjoying Freakonomics, the first book from this talented writing team of dueling Steves, I wanted to see what new and seemingly incomparable comparisons they made.  Here are some intriguing facts I learned:

1) The spread of television through rural India vastly improved the lives of women by decreasing the amount of domestic abuse they were forced to endure.  Whether this was because the women saw strong, positive role models and tried to emulate them, or their husbands were just too busy watching soccer to torture their wives, was indeterminable.

2) If a computer screen does not load in 1 sec., most people will lose their train of thought.  If it takes up to 10 secs., most people will have already started thinking about something else entirely.  Think about that the next time you are at a hospital as a patient waiting for a diagnosis and the network slows down…

3)  There is a group of scientists just outside of Seattle who have potentially figured out how to stop global warming.  If you want to know how, you have to read the book, but I’ve long held the opinion that if we put chemicals in the air that made it warmer, why couldn’t we put chemicals in the air that negated the original chemicals we had already dispersed? That’s basically their idea in a nut shell, and it’s actually a very interesting concept.

This book is full of thought-inducing ideas, and I think Round 2 was just as good, if not better than Round 1.  Thanks Steves!

- Amanda

Whole Lotta Zeppelin: The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time

This book is truly great.  For anyone interested in a band that really made its own rules while creating some timeless and never equaled rock music, this large book will satisfy you on many levels.

This is a comprehensive, lavishly illustrated history with all the bases covered; tour diaries and dates, memorabilia shots, complete reviews of their recordings by various writers, interviews, timelines, recollections and fascinating stories. The band members certainly have their say through various excerpted interviews as well.

The picture of Jimmy Page ordering at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant circa ‘68 is priceless alone, but this book also filled in many gaps in my Zep knowledge, including manager Peter Grant’s involvement in many incidents, the source of their early bluesy material, and how their music continued to evolve up through 1980.  It also includes a close look at their film The Song Remains the Same and covers their 2007 London reunion performance with Jason Bonham on drums as well as an extensive discography.

I can remember when an older brother put headphones on me around 1973 and boggled my mind with the solo from “Heartbreaker” when I was about 10 years old.  While we can’t go back in time this book will take you through the years with many excellent guest writers and critics, sound engineers and fellow musicians who share personal recollections. Like the band and their career, an enthralling tour de force!

I am not originally from Nashville, so I didn’t grow up learning about the history of this place I’ve chosen to call home.  What I am, however, is a Civil War buff.  (I’m also a Yankee, but you won’t hold that against me, right?)

I came across Durham’s book one day in the stacks and thought it would be interesting.  Most of the Civil War knowledge I’ve acquired has been about the Deep South, or places like Savannah or Richmond.  I don’t know much about the Western Theater.  Or should I say, I didn’t know much until I read Durham’s book. For instance, I did not realize that Nashville was considered the second most important Confederate city (after New Orleans) in terms of shipping and supplies, and yet the Confederates did nothing to protect it.  No breastworks, no new fortifications, no ditches, nothing.  It was also the closest capital city to the North, which made the lack of protection a little more puzzling.

I also found it interesting that the term “Old Glory” originated here. A retired sea captain gave the Union officers the old American flag that he’d flown from his ship so they’d have one to raise above the capital building. 

Make sure you read the author’s introduction, because there is a nice shout out to our very own Nashville Room and the great staff that works there.

Now I’m caught up to 1863, but even I knew that most of the fun happened after that.  It looks like I’ll have to read Durham’s sequel, Reluctant Partners, so I can see how things turn out…

- Amanda

No one in the world can break your heart as beautifully as Ricky Bragg. This slim volume by the author of All Over But the Shoutin’ and Ava’s Man tells the story of the men and women who worked in and lived their lives around the textile mill in Jacksonville, Alabama until its permanent closure in 2001. It is the story of hardscrabble lives. It is the story of the meanest of mill owners, of cotton lint and brownlung, of shocking industrial accidents. But it’s also the story of the proud, hardworking generations of folk who never shirked, and did what had to be done to feed their children.

Bragg is the master of powerful, understated description. The first page of chapter one is so perfectly written that I had to read it aloud to a friend. He is also the master of speaking in a southern voice so natural that it catches you by surprise when you realize you’re hearing it: he was bad to drink then, or: he got red in his face. Never gratuitous, perfectly timed.

The mill in Jacksonville ultimately went the way of much American manufacturing: the jobs moved out of the country to workers willing to do them for 33 cents an hour. And make no mistake about it: despite hardship and tragedy, the mill was a life and a history for generations of workers and their families, its loss devastating to them.

Rick Bragg asked a friend of his if he thought anyone would read the book, filled as it is with sadness. His friend replied, “Well, it ain’t a damn barn dance, is it? It’s an American tragedy.” — Pam

1491

Ancient histories rarely read like detective stories, but Charles Mann is travelling the globe investigating the origins of the Americas.  In 1491, Mann hunts down the latest discoveries about the cultures of the western continents before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492.

Mann looks at several early civilizations in North, Central, and South America. He synthesizes many recent, but little-known studies from a range of scientific and historical experts.  He challenges that the Americas were home to cultures more advanced than had been previously been known. With this in mind, he also debates their possible beliefs and attitudes toward land, slavery, and governance.

1491 shows how much of what we know today of our continents’ history is highly debatable. There is a faction that holds the Amazon Basin supported vast, thriving civilizations up until the fifteenth century. Others still maintain that this would have been impossible given the unforgiving climate and jungle landscape.

While discussing the new findings, he also tracks how the most common myths were accepted. Though many of the anecdotes in this work are speculative, even the little-known facts of these civilizations are presented in a satisfying tale. His coverage of the Indians who occupied New England and the Mississippi River is fascinating. The work creates a very different, more provoking, study than the grammar school text books provide.

- Kyle

The birds John Yow profiles are probably familiar to everyone: crows, bluejays, belted kingfishers, wrens, robins and the rest of the backyard bird clan. Neither identification nor feeding guide, the book is a wondrous rundown of each bird’s habits and behavior. More studious observers than I likely know these things, but I found myself reading aloud to anyone who would listen and reciting bird lore to friends at parties. Seriously, did you know that cedar waxwings will stuff themselves full of berries until they fall on the ground? They also play at passing a berry back and forth, or up and down a line of their little friends, and repeat the pass until someone gets bored and swallows the berry. I saw this game for myself recently when the waxwings made their fall pilgrimage to my privet and honeysuckle hedge. Here’s some other cool stuff from the book: belted kingfishers dig 6-foot tunnels in riverbanks and nest in their caves; crows can talk if they want to, and for sure they put walnuts in the street and wait for cars to run over them; hummingbirds steal spiderwebs and use them as a wrapping to reinforce their nests. I have a whole new respect for my winged pals now.

One last thing about waxwings: one fall I found one on the sidewalk outside the Belle Meade Starbucks, alive but wonky and unable to fly. I assumed it had hit the window and stunned itself. I couldn’t bear the thought of the little guy wandering strange in the parking lot, so I begged a box and took it home to my yard, where it spent the night in its cardboard motel room and then went its merry way the next morning. Now I’m thinking the little guy had been on a berry bender and was looking for his after-dinner coffee.
– Pam

Inspired by the fine movie starring Hillary Swank as Amelia, and my general lack of knowledge about America’s most famous missing person’s last flight, I decided to read a few books on the topic.  This one stood out as the best of the three I read.

Her last flight, with somewhat dubious navigator Fred Noonan (I always thought it was a solo flight) went wrong somewhere over the Central Pacific after they left  New Guinea on July 2nd, 1937 with the intention of landing on a recently built runway on tiny Howland Island.

This book is a comprehensive, detail-packed account of the last few legs of the flight and is particularly strong in presenting information about the communication transmissions, the attempts at rescue by the Coast Guard and Naval ships and possibilities about what may have happened to lead to this disappearance, without much trace.

Mr. Gillespie, an internationally recognized expert on the Earhart disappearance, debunks some myths and speculations with numerous factual references in a very readable and compelling style. He definitely makes you feel the urgency of husband George Putnam’s many communications in trying to expand and extend the fruitless searches.

I was also really intrigued with the included DVD which contains numerous diagrams of search patterns, radio transmission logs, telegrams, Naval and Coast Guard documents and most fascinating, “Betty’s Notebook.”  This is a scan of what 16 year old Betty Klenck is to have jotted down while listening to a shortwave radio broadcast in early July 1937 in St. Petersburg, Florida (her father rigged a super strong antenna in their yard).  It presents fragments of what appears to be a distressed Earhart and Noonan communicating in their crashed plane, exact location unknown.

A very well done book on one of America’s most enduring mysteries.

- Phil

As our nation emerges from years of isolation from Iran and attempts to engage a nation whose actions are frightening, this autobiographical graphic novel serves as an excellent primer on the history of Iran’s theocracy. For readers not tuned into graphic novels, don’t be deceived by the comic book format. Satrapi, born in 1969, is a child of the revolution but also the child of progressive, well educated parents who are at first elated by the overthrow of the Shah. They are quickly disillusioned when the Islamic regime evolves into the same sort of totalitarianism and fear suffered under the Shah. Marjane’s story continues in Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.

- Phyllis

Written by a New York Times reporter living in London and married to an Englishman, this is a delightful choice. With wit and humor Lyall explains the intricacies of British culture. She describes the elaborate game of cricket, so popular in Britain and its former colonies but a complete mystery to most Americans. Another chapter is devoted to the heckling that goes on in the House of Commons during prime minister’s questions as well as the blatant sexism in parliament that is shocking to Americans. Lyall also examines the differences between the generation of Brits who came of age during WW II, the queen’s generation, and the post war generation of Princess Diana. For anyone interested in our cousins across the pond this is a jolly good read.

- Phyllis

What a harrowing story. What a brave woman. Born into the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, Carolyn became the fourth wife of Meril Jessop when she was 18. This was not one big happy family. Jessop was abusive and controlling. The wives were jealous and cruel to one another and each others children. Carolyn gave birth to 8 children with no prenatal care and received no financial, physical or emotional support through four life threatening pregnancies and the serious illness of her 7th baby. This book offers insight into this mysterious religious sect and is the story of a brave woman’s survival and fight for her children.

- Phyllis

Lovers of armchair travel will enjoy this memoir by Australian journalist Sarah MacDonald. For the sake of love, she finds herself living in a country she loathes. Alone much of the time while her journalist boyfriend is away on assignment, MacDonald nevertheless embraces her new life in India, visiting various shrines and holy places important to India’s vast number of religious faiths. At one point she suffers a bout with pneumonia so bad her hair falls out. This illness is further exacerbated by Delhi’s densely polluted air and a conglomeration of questionable cures offered by medical doctors, yogis and fortune tellers.

MacDonald tells of friendships with young Indian women straddling the traditional mores of their parents and the modern outlook they acquired along with western education. In the end, she embraces India as a fascinating country crowded with the colors, smells, sights and sounds of humanity.  Fans of the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, will enjoy this one. This title is also available in an audio edition.

- Phyllis

This slight little book by one of Nashville’s favorite authors caught my eye and I read it in a day or two. It’s based on a recent commencement address given by Ann at her alma mater, Sara Lawrence College, in New York.

Ann uses her typically economic and well crafted style to illuminate how this came about and includes a very touching post script. She emphasizes the importance of listening and seeking counsel and while time leaps by quickly and technology engulfs us, some things, like the Greek chorus in her head asking (us) “What now?” don’t change.

A very personal and at times witty book – I particularly liked the few pages where she likened being a fiction writer to being a duck hunter (you have to read it) and a welcome read in these “uncertain times.”

- Phil

4 stars

Senior Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim weaves an intricately detailed recounting of what all agree was an epic, thoroughly well played tennis match into a compelling multi faceted book.

This is a very descriptive portrait of each man’s differences, backgrounds, tendencies, technical strengths and styles, coaching entourages and personalities which leads up to the titanic Wimbledon final that was played over five sets and seven hours in July of 2008.

Many interesting behind the scenes moments, humorous asides and detours including how Federer met Mirka, his disdain for Djokavic’s “boorish” parents, Nadal’s family dynamics and upbringing, racquet comparisons and endorsements all add background color to the event.  Even chair umpire Pascal Maria gets his time in the sun (or rain as it were) here.

One of the best tennis books I’ve read; an often witty and full account of the quirks and glories of Wimbledon, “The Championships” and of what makes both Roger Federer and the eventual ’08 Champion Rafael Nadal so outstanding by anyone’s standards.

My only complaint: no photos included.

- Phil K.

Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip

Harry Truman left office in 1953, before ex-Presidents had Secret Service protection or pensions. With only his Army pension for income, Harry returned to his Independence, Missouri home to resume life as an ordinary citizen. Harry loved to drive, and was determined (despite his wife’s misgivings) to make a 2500-mile vacation road trip to New York and back. He and Bess set out in their new Chrysler on a journey over America’s back roads (no interstates then), with stops at small-town diners and Mom and Pop motels, during a hell-busting heat spell (no air conditioning in cars then, either).

This book is utterly charming. This is not a 1000-page deep history. What it offers is an intriguing and humorous look at Harry Truman, the 1950s, and road trips in general. It offers fascinating side stories (like Harry’s feud with Dwight D. Eisenhower), details of meals taken (Bess really eats quite a lot of fruit), and a view of what has happened since 1953 to some of the places they visited (one of the motels is now a halfway house for felons). A very satisfying read, and an incitement to read much more about Harry Truman.

- Pam

Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City

An amazingly well written book that informed and delighted me.

I always appreciate well done books on NYC and its environs and this one is terrific. Part urban ecologist, part social anthropologist and one fine writer, Ann Matthews covers such diverse topics as coyotes sneaking into Manhattan from the Bronx at night, the life of falcons in the city, the urban “public space” myths and their origins to the search for the ruins of Penn Station in Secaucus, New Jersey and so much more with wit and a obvious knowledge. Her scope, though often based in New York’s metro areas is also national, sometimes global as she addresses many issues with alarming prescience since this was written before the twin towers were felled and we had Katrina. All the praise for this book is well deserved.

- Phil

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: Stories

This collection of stories from a Chapel Hill, NC native is my pick for the most impressive debut of 2009. Fans of Raymond Carver, Jean Thompson, and George Singleton, take note.

- Beth

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
By Wilson, Sloan

This quintessential look at 1950’s conformity could be described as a more hopeful Revolutionary Road.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
By Pollan, Michael

The bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the 21st century.

This book provides a fascinating and detailed look at life for African-American women during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Frankel’s work gives life and voice to those women who sought to keep family ties strong, not only under the burden of slavery, but also through the tumultuous times of displacement occasioned by contending armies, slave-owners who sought to evacuate their bondsmen and women, slaves who claimed their freedom by running or walking away, and the uncertainty which followed emancipation and the close of the war. This book is excellent for the telling details it provides about African-American women and their families during this time. Although she focuses on Mississippi, no doubt many of the experiences Frankel relates were similar for African-American women in other locations throughout the South.

The saga that launched Jakes’s bestselling career of is available once again. Phillip Kent, the illegitimate son of an English nobleman, embraces the ideals of the fledgling nation of America. Includes a new Introduction.

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
By Tolle, Eckhart

Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one. In very practical terms, Tolle leads readers into this new consciousness to learn to live and breathe freely.

23 Minutes in Hell: One Man’s Story of What He Saw, Heard and Felt in That Place of Torment
By Wiese, Bill

I would give this book 5*. If you like inspirational books that give a unique perspective on a somewhat different subject matter than your typical inspirational books, you will like this one.

Heartsick
By Cain, Chelsea

Addicted to pain killers and still bound to Gretchen Lowell, the beautiful serial killer who had abducted and tortured him before turning herself in, even after she is incarcerated for her crimes, Portland detective Archie Sheridan is caught in another deadly duel with a vicious murderer targeting teenage girls, ambitious reporter Susan Ward, and Gretchen herself.

Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War
By Bageant, Joe

Web columnist Bageant takes readers on a raucous tour through the taverns, churches, and double-wide trailers of the invisible working class–the very people who carried George W. Bush to victory–offering a vivid and sobering snapshot of a nation on the brink of catastrophe.

The Post-Birthday World

5 stars

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
By Thomas, Dana

5 stars

.

By George
By Stace, Wesley

5 stars

Captain’s Fury
By Butcher, Jim

5 stars

.

Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1910-1939
By Roiphe, Katie

5 stars
The Tender Bar: A Memoir
By Moehringer, J. R.

5 stars

Dr. Oliver Sacks, prominent neurologist, is able to write about the human brain and the human being with a poetic style. His early book, Awakenings, which told of his work with post-encephalitic patients in New York City , became a major motion picture.

In Musicophilia, Dr. Sacks once again speaks directly to the reader with his urgent message of human reality. We are a musical species; music has great power for us. Yet music has no necessary relation to the world. Dr. Sacks explores this innate human quality, generously sharing his own musical quirks.

The expansive spirit of his narrative is captured in the following quote from www. Wired.com: “I intensely dislike any reference to supernaturalism, but I think there can be profound mystical feelings which do not have to call on fictitious agencies like angels and demons and deities. The whole natural world is bathed in wonder and beauty and mystery.”

- Sally

A Fraction of the Whole

This Booker Prize nominee is hilarious, extremely well-written, and wise; misanthropic but hopeful.

The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order
By Wickersham, Joan

This memoir by a daughter trying to come to terms with her father’s suicide is this season’s The Year of Magical Thinking.

Swallow the Ocean: A Memoir
By Flynn, Laura

Set in 1970s San Francisco, “Swallow the Ocean” is a searing, beautifully written memoir of a childhood under siege and three young girls determined to survive despite their mothers mental instability. In luminous prose, this memoir paints an intimate portrait of what might have been a catastrophic childhood.

Cassandra at the Wedding
By Baker, Dorothy and Eisenberg, Deborah

Cassandra Edwards is a graduate student at Berkeley: brilliant, nerve-wracked, gay, and miserable. Returning to her family ranch in the foothills of the Sierras for the wedding of her identical twin to a nice doctor from Connecticut, she is hell-bent on sabotaging the wedding.

Work Shirts for Madmen
By Singleton, George

Art and alcoholism collide.

.

Throw Like a Girl
By Thompson, Jean

From the celebrated author of “Who Do You Love” comes this collection of 12 new stories that take dead aim at the secrets of womanhood, describing the change from youth to experience in taut, moving prose.

- Beth

Unkempt

5 stars

Black Swan Green
By Mitchell, David

5 stars

.

Arthur & George
By Barnes, Julian

5 stars

The Circus in Winter
By Day, Cathy

5 stars

.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
By Roach, Mary

5 stars

]]> http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/2009/07/21/book-review-5-star-picks-from-beth/feed/ 0 http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/2009/07/21/book-review-locas-the-maggie-and-hopey-stories/ http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/2009/07/21/book-review-locas-the-maggie-and-hopey-stories/#comments Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:58:28 +0000 Kyle http://offtheshelf.nashvillepubliclibrary.org/?p=479 Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories
By Hernandez, Jaime

LOCAS compiles all the storylines involving two of Hernandez’s most popular characters, Maggie and Hopey, from the groundbreaking comic series Love & Rockets. Following the exploits and tribulations to two Latina punk chicks in a SoCal ghetto, this is essential reading for anyone that was ever in love, or anyone that ever wanted to burn things down. We witness Maggie and Hopey’s relationship, as well as Hernandez’s drawing style, evolve through the years. The girls’ read like a flipbook of lust, glory, failure, separation, and the twilight confusion between adolescence and adulthood; while Hernandez’s compositional discipline cements him as a master of the comic frame, slowly transcending the aesthetic paradigms of “arty” graphic novels. This picaresque masterpiece brought me to tears. One of the best works of art my life has collided with in recent years.

- Bryan

James Tate’s unusual poems are like tiny, surreal short stories. Give this a try even if you don’t usually like poetry.

Three Guys from Miami Celebrate Cuban: 100 Great Recipes for Cuban Entertaining
By Lindgren, Glenn ; Musibay, Raul; Castillo, Jorge

This is an indispensable party cookbook. The recipes for garlic shrimp, Cuban pizza, and chicken spread are absolutely not to be missed.

The Northern Clemency
By Hensher, Philip

This long, engrossing novel could be described as a British cousin of Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections.

Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
By Harris, Mark

This absorbing look at the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1968 was my favorite nonfiction book of last year.

- Beth

A Fighter’s Heart: One Man’s Journey Through the World of Fighting

Don’t let the cover throw you – this isn’t all blood and brutality. Sam Sheridan covers an amazing amount of territory here – physically and psychically speaking, in this informative, insightful and very interesting book.

From Muay Thai training in Bangkok to Pat Miletich’s renowned fighting arts school in Iowa, home base of many “ultimate fighters,” to Rio de Janeiro for ground fighting and Jiu-Jitsu immersion, to Japan, Oakland and New York City, Sam really brings home what the training is like and what skills are gained with the hard work each discipline presents. He himself attempts a few mixed martial arts fights and really works to understand what it takes to win and he makes you feel present all the way. I especially appreciated the time Sam described spent in Oakland hanging and training with young Olympic boxing gold medalist Andre Ward and his trainer, Virgil Hunter. The Tao of the Punch section where he studied Tai Chi with Master William C.C. Chen in Manhattan was also excellent and illuminating.

A few minor quibbles – did we need to check out dog fighting to learn about “gameness”? (I’ll admit I skipped that section) Overall, though, a masterful book about exploring cultures, fighting arts, and what it means to have a “fighter’s heart”. Well done!

- Phil

Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography

How many of us think graphic novel when they think historical biography? Forget Doris Kearns Goodwin, if you want a slice fascinating history check out Chester Brown’s Louis Riel: A Comic Strip Biography.

Riel was a French-speaking populist leader that led an armed rebellion against the English-dominated Canadian government. Arguably pushed into role of public spokesmen, the religiously intense (perhaps insane) Riel is the most interesting person you never learned about in school. (Did you learn anything about Canadian history in school?) In contrast to the violent tumultuous subject matter, Brown’s pages are each broken into six uniform squares. By strictly adhering to the comic strip format Brown represents visually, and simultaneously comments upon, the academic distance of the historian.

Don’t let the format turn you off – this is art and reading for thinking adults. Truth is always stranger than fiction, but you’ve never seen it presented quite this way before.

- Bryan

Make the Impossible Possible: One Man’s Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary

I heard Bill Strickland speak at an arts conference earlier this year and immediately went and picked up his book. His stories about the power of the arts to improve people’s lives is truly inspiring. In 1968 he looked around his very poor neighborhood in Pittsburgh and decided he needed to try to save the local kids’ souls with clay, the same way his had been saved. It’s been a rocky road, but Strickland has lived by his belief that everyone has potential and he has changed lives doing it.

- Liz

A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates

One of the best biographies I’ve ever read, this beautifully written book examines the often tumultuous life of the underappreciated author of Revolutionary Road.  Also look for Blake Bailey’s upcoming biography of another literary icon of the 1950’s, Cheever: A Life.

Nothing That Meets the Eye: The Uncollected Stories of Patricia Highsmith
By Highsmith, Patricia

Although she is more famous for creating the character of Tom Ripley, Highsmith is the master of the precise, pessimistic short story.  Be prepared to be overcome with dread.

The Same Man: George Orwell and Evelyn Waugh in Love and War
By Lebedoff, David

This is a very readable, sympathetic portrait of two men who at first glance seem like polar opposites.  Despite their flaws, the author portrays both Orwell and Waugh with affection and generosity.

The Woman in White
By Collins, Wilkie

Something about the holidays always makes me want to read classics.  This gothic mystery is impossible to put down.

- Beth

Why You’re Dumb, Sick, and Broke

Though Mr. Gage has written a number of “prosperity” type books, this is the first book I have read of his. In the self-help field, this is something different. He intentionally ruffles a few feathers in trying to assist readers in discovering reasons why they might be holding themselves back in various ways. He pretty well trashes organized religion, though he does profess to believe in God. Politically a libertarian, he is also much against the government trying to provide for and solve every problem we have. As such, Ayn Rand figures much into his philosophy.

Probably the most useful section to me was the 7 laws of prosperity chapter, dealing with clearing your negatives, tithing, and other suggestions. Plus he is also rather free with his language, which he lets us know from the start. Mr. Gage is nothing if not entrepreneurial, listing some sources in the appendix for further investigation. His particular line is multi level marketing, in which he has evidently done quite well.

- Ric

Ok, how interesting can a book on researching a cure for polio, a non-threat in this century, be? Very! This is a thriller even though you know the ending. The first chapter starts with an expose by Walter Winchell talking about all the white coffins that will be needed for all the children that the new polio vaccine will kill. Dr. Salk stays focused on his mission: to inoculate as many brave “polio pioneers” as he can before the next outbreak.

As any hero he has his foibles. His family and marriage suffer with all the time spent in the lab trying to be the first to come up with the cure. When he does get recognition, his academy speech does not mention his brilliant and dedicated staff. Every chapter starts with a picture from the medical archives of this terrifying period in the 40’s and 50’s. Anyone who grew up during this time knew of someone who had had polio and what an iron lung looked like. This true story is even a better read than a Robin Cook novel.

- Cheryl

Whether or not you’ve ever heard of James Tiptree, Jr., be prepared to be completely absorbed by this biography. Alice Sheldon (a.k.a. Tiptree) is famous for having written award-winning science fiction stories under a male pseudonym. This, however, is only a small part of her story.

The child of African explorers, she came out as a debutante, served in the Women’s Army Corps, and worked for the CIA before her career in science fiction. She was a woman with many traditionally “male” qualities, and the book’s main appeal is its exploration of how gender issues affected her life. These themes are also present in her fiction, which made the eventual discovery that she was a woman even more shocking (since it gives her stories an altogether different slant). For a fuller experience, pair this with Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, a collection of Tiptree/Sheldon’s best-known stories.

- Beth

Julie Powell was working a dead-end job when she decided to take on a personal mission: to cook her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Each day, she would track down elusive ingredients and concoct the recipe of the day, aided by her bemused husband, many vodka martinis, and a passionate (and often hilarious) dedication to her project. Not for the faint of heart (be warned that Powell makes no attempt to watch her language), this book shows the appeal of dreaming up a goal and then working madly to accomplish it.

- Beth

This book is basically an enchanting foray into someone else’s brain. In short alphabetical entries, Rosenthal describes the minutiae of her life and feelings, from Letters (“The letters a, e, g, and s seem nice; k, v, and x seem meaner.”) to Prison Escape Movies (“They can’t make enough of these movies as far as I’m concerned.”). Also featured are tables (“What My Childhood Tasted Like”, “Things That Confused Me for Much Longer Than They Should Have”) and a chronology of her childhood memories. A light look at contemporary life, this would make an engaging beach read.

- Beth

This is non-fiction that trumps any fiction story of survival. Jeannette Wall became a successful gossip columnist in New York while managing to hide her childhood story. It is her telling of overcoming such abject poverty along with her brother and sisters, that startles the reader with its impossible truth. Jeannette’s parents were selfish or immature in their choices and addictions, yet they were extraordinarily creative in providing their view of the world as adventure for their children. One Christmas, the father took each child out separately to pick out the star that they wanted. What a special moment. There are many incidences of horror, laughter, and compassion for this family. It begs the question, what would have happened if Human Services had stepped in?

- Cheryl

I feel much better for having read this book. Mike Tidwell, in a sensitive and economical style (recalling Rick Bragg to me), brings to light the plight of Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coast while living and traveling among its colorful residents. You’ll meet Cajun shrimp fisherman out in their bayou battlefield, a Vietnamese crabber with a secret, a Houma Indian healer, oil platform workers and all manner of ordinary folks who live in the bayou area.

Sometimes an otherworldly land fast disappearing into the gulf, there is no place like coastal Louisiana. Tidwell’s journey will really take you there, letting you hear the sounds and voices of the region and witness fast disappearing ways of life as these Cajuns hang on through the next big hurricane season.

Written in 2003, the writing gains a whole new poignancy in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A touching, sometimes funny and eye-opening book.

- Phil

This is a really satisfying, deeply felt and humorously presented reminiscence of growing up in Long Island and New York. Billy Crystal recalls in glorious detail the times spent with his father, who died when Billy was fifteen, and of his extended circle of interesting relatives who he often performed for at a young age.

His father booked jazz musicians so you’ll hear of first hand encounters with Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and others on the Commodore label. Classic bits about the family’s grey on grey Belvedere, going to Yankees games, visiting the Catskills and jokes about his uncles are balanced with love and admiration for his parents who showed him the way.

I’m sure the one man stage play is excellent; this may be the next best thing.

- Phil

Normally, we consider the planets a facet of astronomy, but the author quickly redirects the discussion to history, geology, astrology, poetry and music. The Planets is a reminder of how many realms the subject touches. Dava Sobel’s tour of our neighbors reminds us of our place in the universe and how mysterious that place remains. The book also reacquaints us with the characters related to the discoveries of each planet and the origins of their mythological names.

- Kyle

How did I never read this one? I guess because I was in high school in 1979, wrapped up in required readings and all the other activities of that time.

With the resurgent NASA missions underway this is definitely one to read for a good understanding of how things really were back in the early days, when the original seven astronauts were making history.

This book is fantastic – humorous, insightful, biting and full of the famous Wolfe talent for perfectly describing arcane minutia and getting the scene and times just right.

The passion that now animated NASA spread out even into the surrounding community of Cocoa Beach. The grisliest down-home alligator-poaching crackers manning the gasoline pumps on Route AIA would say to the tourists, as the No-Knock flowed, “Well, that Atlas ve-hicle’s given us more fits than a June bug on a porch bulb, but we got real confidence in that Redstone, and I think we’re gonna make it.”

Wolfe takes you back to the pre-Cape Canaveral days when the elite test-pilots were breaking speed records. Then, to the space-race era Project Mercury missions when Al Shepard (”Smilin’ Al”), Gus Grissom, John Glenn, and Wally Schirra were vying for outer space time with the chimpanzees.

This book is so good it should be put in a time capsule. Highly recommended!

- Phil

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman (Lying Awake; Iron and Silk) recounts his experiences teaching creative writing at Central Juvenile Hall, a Los Angeles County detention center for high-risk juvenile offenders. Introduced to the Inside Out Writers program by a friend, he was initially skeptical about being involved, but was won over by the quality of the boys’ writing and by Sister Janet Harris’s philosophy that “these young people [need] a chance to express themselves, and feel that someone is listening.” Salzman’s beautifully descriptive narrative brings his teaching sessions with the students vividly to life. However, for me, the treasures of the book were really the students’ pieces of writing. Given the violent nature of their crimes, I found the vulnerability and thoughtfulness of their written work surprising.

When challenged by friends and family about the usefulness of his working with “serious criminals,” Salzman’s response is “a little good has got to be better than no good at all.” I believe most readers who have the pleasure of getting to know his students and read their writing will agree.

- Liz

Jimmy Connors Saved My Life
by Joel Drucker, 2004

Author Joel Drucker puts new meaning into the word obsession with this detail-packed, unauthorized (”Don’t write a book about me, son”) biography of one of tennis’s most determined, winning and elusive figures.

Connor’s tenacity and single-minded drive is chronicled here by insider Drucker, who managed to meet and talk with Jimbo on many occasions – yet could never convince him to sanction an authorized biography. No matter – the author weaves details of his own life and of his brother’s troubling mental illness in with his passion for tennis and emotional alliance with the guy from “down in the boondocks.”

This makes for a fascinating and pretty comprehensive biography with some interesting insights from someone who really seemed to get Connors. You’ll trip back to the days when Borg and McEnroe ruled, when the hated Ivan Lendl was just coming up, and when Connors himself was a perennial threat at the US Open or being written off again. In the end – and this can be said of author and subject – they did it their way!

- Phil

Daniel Eatock: Imprint

Daniel Eatock’s art/work is a thing of whimsy and Zen insight. His self-designed retrospective Imprint will have you laughing out loud. A master wit and visual contextualizer, he’s a post-Warholian ninja. His designs and concepts will inspire you. His egotism should annoy you. He gave me a great idea for how to make a bed frame on the cheap. Message to any negative ninnies who are dismissive of Eatock’s work: quit your job and do what he does. He likely gets paid more and has more fun while he is doing it. You’ll never think about car batteries the same way again.

- Bryan

This was quite an informative and interesting book, with many hilarious encounters told with candor and an eye for detail. Ever wonder what it’s like to work for the brown army of UPS during the Christmas season? How about selling extras to customers at Enterprise Rent a Car, a place where the phrase “6 figures in 6 years” was bandied about by upper management to trainees. Alex Frankel got to work at both places for a while; he also tried to gain employment with Home Depot and Whole Foods but the interview process weeded him out. His arcane group interview at the Container Store was particularly unusual and funny. He ends his journey after the sheer boredom of folding clothes at the Gap (a place no longer apparently that cool, but where hip individualism survives despite many policies and a dress code) and an exhausting stint at Starbucks, with a more enlightened retail experience at the Apple Store.

Set in San Francisco over a couple of years, this is a whirlwind tour in which you’ll experience the sometimes complex indoctrination processes, the levels of management (and their sometimes painfully urgent meetings, incentive charts, goal setting and evaluation systems) and meet several driven coworkers that sometimes let Alex feel like he is actually “one of them.” Corporate culture from an insider’s front- line perspective – a brave and very entertaining endeavor!

- Phil

Chet Baker: His Life and Music

by Jeroen de Valk

Every time I hear the muted, forlorn trumpet solo Chet Baker provides to Elvis Costello’s 1983 gem “Shipbuilding” it makes me appreciate his singular, deliberate tone.

Chet Baker: His Life and Music, by Jeroen de Valk, sheds light on his troubled and ultimately tragic life and his musical accomplishments in an unvarnished style.

Starting with the end and the small funeral after his death in Amsterdam in 1988, de Valk traces back to Chet’s Oklahoma roots, the early years and peaks with Gary Mulligan and Russ Feeman to his European sojourns and years marked by drug addiction and prison time.

Keeping track of his various wives and periods is helped by a chronology at the beginning, an excellent interview from 1979 and a comprehensive discography.

What I especially appreciated were the photos – from seeing Chet with those giant glasses from the late ‘70’s to a look of intense immersion in his playing to that shot of him from 1961 sitting on a window ledge in Italy (made me think of his death 27 years later) – captures how much he changed over the years.

For those who have seen the film “Lets get Lost” or want to really  know more about the trumpeter capable of playing with exceptional clarity and style, this book is very worthwhile reading.

-Phil

By Lance Armstrong

This is an excellent book to read prior to Armstrong’s attempt at a record six straight Tour de France victories in 2004. That would be an awesome achievement. Reading this book will give you unique perspectives and insight into what makes the brash Texan so tenacious and motivated.

Lance shares his thoughts on a variety of topics along the way, covering details from each of his tour victories, his preparation, the incessant doping control visits and his life in Spain and France. He treads upon the trials of his marriage, his disappointment at his Olympic performances, his great supporting teams on US Postal Service and how he is looked upon in the cancer survivor community.

Having seen him race a few times early in his career and as a devoted Tour de France fan, I highly recommend this book.

-Phil