How Do I
Julie's Picks
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Potok, Chaim The Chosen Fiction |
| In 1944 Brooklyn, New York, a deep friendship is born after two teenagers face each other on the softball field, in a game that takes on the significance of a spiritual war. Set during the final years of WWII, Reuven, an Orthodox Jew, and Danny, son of a Hasidic Rabbi, meet at age 15, and help each other negotiate their separate sacred and secular worlds. A novel as powerful and tender as when it was published in 1967. Recommended July 2010 |
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Waters, Sarah The Little Stranger Horror |
| The Little Stranger came highly recommended.
Sarah Waters previously penned three historical fiction novels, two
of which were shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker prize. The
Little Stranger landed on the Booker 2009 shortlist, too. Just
a few pages into The Little Stranger I knew I’d found a gem.
Set in 1947 rural England, war rationing is still in place. The narrator,
an articulate, likable middle-aged physician, answers a call to Hundreds
Hall, a declining Georgian mansion he remembers visiting as a young
child, when his mother worked there as a maid. Hundreds Hall and the
family who live there gradually absorb, haunt, and finally possess
his thoughts, time, and energy. It’s a strangely beautiful novel,
creepy, psychologically complex, atmospheric, one I’ll continue to
ponder. Recommended June 2010 |
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Carpenter, Novella Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer Nonfiction |
| A child of back-to-the-landers, self-sufficiency runs
in Ms. Carpenter's blood. Smart, tenacious, literate, firmly committed
to life in a gritty city, she cultivates a vacant lot in a blighted
neighborhood of Oakland, CA. From raising a turkey she serves for
Thanksgiving dinner, to adopting a strict "100-foot diet" for one
month (eating only what she's raised or grown on her borrowed lot),
her stories are compelling and, yes, educational. May 2010 |
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Janzen, Rhoda Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home Nonfiction |
| When she leaves home for college, Janzen withdraws from
the conservative Mennonite community she grew up in and embraces the
secular world. She marries outside the faith, earns a Ph.D. and teaches
English and creative writing at a Midwestern college. At age 43 a
double disaster sends her home to live with her mother, who is a church
deacon, and her father, a former "Mennonite equivalent of the pope."
Instead of spending a planned sabbatical researching, she reengages
in Mennonite culture. Weaving sharp details with deadpan humor, Janzen
explores her past and present, focusing on her parents' values. Stoicism,
honesty, hard work, good cheer, faith, generosity, and tolerance shine.
While at home, Janzen sews her own pants, whips up delicious food
from scratch (Zweibach! Borscht!), sings a lusty alto, edits an academic
book (she's a crack grammarian). And she tells a heck of a story.
Recommended April 2010 |
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| Haasse, Hella S. In a Dark Wood Wandering Fiction |
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| In a Dark Wood Wandering, first published in
the Netherlands in 1949, follows strict parameters of the historical
fiction genre: it presents a story that takes place during a notable
period in history (beginning with the reign of Charles VI, known as
the Wise, the Well-Loved, and the Mad King); the story centers on
a significant event in that period (the second half of France’s Hundred
Years’ War with England, which includes Joan of Arc’s military career);
and the novel presents actual events from the point of view of people
living in that time period (the majority of In a Dark Wood Wandering
is from the point of view of Charles VI’s nephew, Charles d'Orleans,
poet and mediator, who sacrificed personal happiness in a long life's
struggle for peace). A compelling fictional account of a fascinating
era. Recommended February 2010 |
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Baker, Nicholson The Anthologist Fiction |
| A poet who can't quite complete the introduction to his
poetry anthology, writes instead to the reader of this novel. Brimming
with charming digression, he muses on his own semi-successful career
as poet, the lives of famous and obscure poets, history of rhythm
and rhyme—ultimately reminding us why we read poetry. Recommended December 2009 |
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Wrangham, Richard Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human Nonfiction |
| In a concise 207 pages, biological anthropologist Richard
Wrangham tells a story of human history centered on food modified
by flame. Wrangham’s idea that cooking made us human departs radically
from previous evolutionary theory. Before Wrangham, the evolutionary
change credited with development of the large human brain was the
addition of meat to a strictly vegetable diet. Darwin thought fire
was irrelevant to how humans evolved. Even a century after Darwin,
anthropologists regarded cooking as unnecessary to human development,
though they understood that cooking is one defining activity that
separates us from other animals. Wrangham writes that cooking increased
our food’s value. It affected the way we walk, the size of our brains,
how we spend time, and helped define our social lives. Highly recommended. Recommended October 2009 |
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Wizenberg, Molly A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table Nonfiction |
| An anecdote accompanies each recipe in this memoir/cookbook
written by a popular food blogger. The entries (blog length, aimed
at those of us with sustained attention challenges) range from how
the writer met her husband to what she cooked her father for breakfast
as he suffered with terminal cancer. Wizenberg writes primarily in
an informal, intimate blog voice. Reflections on her father's life
and death carry the weight of a more literary effort, and made the
book worth reading. Recipes focus on local, fresh ingredients. Recommended July 2009 |
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Bittman, Mark Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes Nonfiction |
| Food Matters, by the cookbook author and New
York Times columnist Mark Bittman, doesn't contain new information,
though it offers a refreshingly concise history of the influence government,
big business, and science have had on current dietary problems. Bittman
turns Michael Pollan's catchy mantra from In Defense of Food,
"Eat food, not too much, mostly plants," into the less snappy but
more specific, "Eat more plants, fewer animals, and as little processed
food as possible." This approach to eating is practical, focused on
cooking at home using familiar ingredients. Recipes are more like
guidelines than strict lists of ingredients and instructions. Bittman
calls himself a foodie, but he's not a snob, and he aims to help readers
learn how to enjoy everyday food in ways that will help their bodies
as well as the environment. Recommended May 2009 |
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Solomon, Steve Gardening When it Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times Nonfiction |
| Steve Solomon is the gardening grandfather I never had,
a kind but firm voice offering strong opinions backed up by long experience.
Since Mr. Solomon started Territorial Seed Company in 1979 (he sold
it in 1985), he has grown about 50% of his family’s annual calories.
From this self-described "capital-O Organic gardener with capital-O
Opinions," the reader will learn about quality hand tools (you only
need 3), how to make a once-a-year compost heap, why gardening centers
should be avoided in favor of planting seeds directly in the garden,
which seed companies sell the highest quality seed, and how to increase
soil fertility by mixing up a batch of COF (complete organic fertilizer
– a highly potent, correctly balanced mix made entirely of natural
substances) to use throughout the garden. Drawings of each vegetable’s
root system illustrate the space required for each plant’s optimal
growth. Educated and inspired by Gardening When it Counts,
rather than waiting in lines at the nursery this spring, I’ll be preparing
beds and planting seeds. Recommended April 2009 |
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Light, Alison Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury Nonfiction |
| The title of one review, “A room of one's own -- and someone
to clean it,” aptly describes the era in which Virginia Woolf lived,
(1882-1941). In England during the post-Victorian era, upper-class
household life changed as former live-in servants took jobs in shops,
where shorter work hours and independent living meant autonomy and
freedom. Woolf grew up with full-time servants, and employed a live-in
cook until she was 53. For Woolf, being home alone meant alone with
the servants, and Virginia and her husband Leonard were not actually
home alone until their seventeenth year of marriage, when they traded
live-in help for a daily housekeeper. This thoroughly researched and
insightful book divides its time equally between the lives of Woolf
and her domestics, while exploring issues of dependence/independence,
and the nature of human intimacy. Recommended March 2009 |
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Krauss, Nicole The History of Love Fiction |
| The History of Love is divided into four tales
told by four narrators whose stories gradually merge. The History
of Love is also the title of a book one of the characters has
written. These facts alone spell “postmodern novel.” But don’t dismiss
this gem because of the labyrinthine narrative. The History of
Love’s poetic prose offers the reader startling rewards. Krauss
draws fully formed characters who live lives of undying faith and
love, and who embody the power of creativity, especially the written
word. Life and literature intertwine in a beautiful story of patient
faith in love. Recommended February 2009 |
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Moore, Lorrie Birds of America Short Stories |
| I took a humor writing class once, and the instructor’s
main premise was that humor bubbles up best through the morass of
personal sadness and even tragedy. Of the model stories she handed
out, my favorite was one of the short stories in Birds of America.
Lorrie Moore’s characters are familiar folks, people you know, your
relatives, you. They act in familiar ways, but they react in ways
that are funnier than in my familiar world. These stories offer little
lessons in constructive humor. Birds of America is a stunning
collection, dark yet lit brightly. Recommended November 2008 |
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Wormser, Baron The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's Memoir of Living Off the Grid Nonfiction |
| It starts as a familiar story. In 1970, a young couple
longs for an authentic life in the Maine woods. With construction
help from a neighbor who can see that these outsiders are unprepared
to erect their own house, they make a home miles from town, foregoing
indoor plumbing and electricity. Kerosene lanterns light the darkness,
forty-eight treed acres supply fuel for heat and cook stoves. Garden
produce put up in late summer becomes minestrone soup in February.
What’s unfamiliar is the passionate perseverance evident in the twenty-three
years Wormser and his wife live off the grid while raising their daughter
and son. Wormser is a devoted high school librarian who mindfully
carries out the daily chores that make possible living without a furnace,
running water, or refrigeration. He thrives in the woods’ quiet, the
place that nurtures his rich development as a poet. (In 2000 he was
appointed Poet Laureate of Maine). Neither preachy nor defensive,
in calm prose Wormser reflects on reading and writing poetry, “first-hand”
cooking and eating, old time Maine farmers whose livelihoods are waning,
troubled high school teens, and the desperation and violence in the
local community that keeps romantic ideals of rural life in check.
Employing neither chapter divisions nor linear time, Wormser explores
questions such as, “What does it mean to be a poet in the United States?”
“What kind of work can a man do in a suit and tie?” “What do the trees
say?” “What are we doing and why are we doing it?” A thought provoking,
satisfying read, highly recommended. Recommended October 2008 |
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Schenone, Laura The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family Nonfiction |
| By shining a light on both the joys and pains of her
multi-generational family's history, Laura Schenone attempts to understand
her own passions. These take the form of multiple research trips to
Liguria, the region of Italy from which her great-grandparents emigrated,
honing painstaking techniques for handmade ravioli, and raising two
sons while pursuing her writing career. Her sorrows are affecting,
her successes triumphant. She also shares recipes, so you can delve
into the mysteries of ravioli. Recommended by Julie, July 2008 |
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Beaton, M. C. Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death Mystery |
| Agatha Raisin's dream is coming true. She has sold her
PR firm in London in order to begin early retirement in a quaint cottage
in the Cotswold countryside. Once ensconced in her carefully chosen
new setting, she realizes that her personal life has always, in fact,
been professional. Nor is she inclined domestically. No one asks her
to tea. The vicar's wife does not call. Entering a quiche in the village
baking contest purchased from her favorite London bake shop seems
like the perfect solution-a sure way to win friends. But her entry
kills the judge, and the embarrassing truth that the quiche was purchased
spreads quickly. Agatha's dreams are turning nightmarish. Published
in 1992, The Quiche of Death is the first in the Agatha Raisin
series by M.C. Beaton. Number eighteen, Kissing Christmas Goodbye:
An Agatha Raisin Mystery, arrived last year. And the fun continues:
September 30, 2008, is the release date for A Spoonful of Poison:
An Agatha Raisin Mystery. Recommended by Julie, June 2008 |
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Kaufman, Frederick A Short History of the American Stomach Nonfiction |
| Americans seem to be obsessed with dieting, health, and
nutrition, while at the same time the incidence of diseases related
to over-eating are increasing. I’ve been reading food history books,
both old and new, searching for how we arrived at this schizoid state.
A Short History addresses these questions in a new way. Though
Ben Franklin and Cotton Mather are prominent characters, this is not
a dusty history of food. Employing hip language and humor, Kaufman’s
revelations surprise and even shock. Kaufman contends that the American
Puritan practice of fasting is the clinical ancestor of anorexia nervosa,
and goes on to explore our “separate-but-equal urges to stuff and
starve ourselves” (as the book jacket copy puts it). He backs up his
thesis with enough evidence to convince me. Recommended May 2008 |
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Sorin, Fran Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening Nonfiction |
| If I were categorizing this book, I’d invent the term,
“garden therapy.” Sorin is a counselor who wants to help gardeners
(including indoor gardeners) think about their gardening wants and
needs, while understanding and accepting the limitations imposed by
their garden spaces. Though the chapters include instruction on actual
plant cultivation, the reason to read Digging Deep is for its lessons
in creativity. Your garden is a perfect place to imagine, explore,
play, work, risk, share, and celebrate. Recommended by Julie, May 2008 |
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Bender, Aimee An Invisible Sign of My Own Fiction |
| This novel requires more than the usual suspension of
disbelief. If you haven’t read within the magical realism genre, the
extreme quirks of character and plot may surprise you. One definition
of magical realism includes “heightened reality in which elements
of the miraculous appear while seeming natural and unforced.” An
Invisible Sign of My Own offers large doses of heightened reality
as well as miraculous events that defy expectations. Though the protagonist
is an obsessive counter, knocker-on-wood (or paper if no wood is available),
and a compulsive quitter, it’s easy to sympathize with her as she
teaches math to second graders, worries about her ill father, and
tries to avoid emotional encounters with the attractive male art teacher
who has a few quirks of his own. Recommended by Julie, April 2008 |
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Rybczynski, Witold Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-First Century and Why We Live in Houses Anyway Nonfiction |
| In an intimate, conversational style, architecture critic
Rybczynski tells the story of New Daleville, a "neotraditional" residential
subdivision in rural Pennsylvania. Over the course of five years,
Rybczynski met the developers, the community leaders whose approvals
they needed, the home builders and sewage experts, and the first families
who moved in. Along the way, he explores how Americans came to prefer
single family houses and other pertinent housing history. As a committed
pedestrian, I loved reading about how smaller lots, narrower streets,
and other seemingly old-fashioned, small town characteristics of communities
like New Daleville contribute to a community that accommodates walkers
as well as cars. Exciting, too, is the planning for new communities
where people can choose to live within walking distance of their work,
and where opportunities for shopping and entertainment are also within
walking range. Recommended by Julie, July 2007 |
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Meyer, Danny Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Nonfiction |
| Danny Meyer opened Union Square Cafe in 1985 when he
was 27 years old. Since then his New York City restaurant empire has
grown to include 11 establishments. In Setting the Table
Meyer explores his family, business, and taste history with an emphasis
on food. Readers interested in dining and restaurants are likely to
enjoy his stories. But what I value most about this book is that Meyer
has woven his management philosophy throughout, showing the development
of what he calls "Enlightened Hospitality." I got excited about "Enlightened
Hospitality" while reading an interview just before Setting the
Table was published, in which Meyer emphasized the importance
of making his customers feel heard. He said, "The customer is certainly
not always right. But they must always feel heard." Setting the
Table has inspired me to pay more attention to the importance
of listening to others, whether customers, employees, supervisors,
or friends, regardless of my reaction to what they might be saying.
Among many other important lessons, this book has encouraged me to
focus on the act of listening. We take listening for granted, but
careful listening really is a gift we give each other. Recommended by Julie, April 2007 | |
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Harrison, Jim Returning to Earth Fiction |
| Returning to Earth chronicles a year in the life
of a closely knit family in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Four characters
are each given one-quarter of the novel to tell their first-person
tale. Donald, who is Chippewa-Finnish, begins the story. He is dying
of Lou Gehrig's disease at age forty-five. As he dictates to his wife
the story of his ancestors, he weaves family history, strong ties
to the natural world, and hints of private, mystical views of life,
death, and an afterlife. On page one Donald says, "I don't have the
right language to keep up with my thinking or my memory or all of
my emotions over being sick." But his authentic, distinct voice and
stream of consciousness style is just right for a man overwhelmed
with love for life. The members of Donald's family who narrate the
remaining three sections of the novel face their private grief as
well as struggle to help each other cope with Donald's death. Each
narrator's voice is distinctive and utterly believable, and the themes
of integrity and reverence for the earth are completely compelling.
Recommended by Julie, February 2007 |
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