Collins, Kathleen. (2009). Watching What We Eat: the evolution of television cooking shows. New York: Continuum. ISBN: 0-8264-2930-0 I’ve learned so much about food and cooking from watching cooking shows on television. As a teenager I would watch and long to be able to make the kinds of recipes being shown; dreamed of having a […]
Watching Others Cook: television cooking shows Read More »
White, Sharon. (2008). Vanished Gardens: Finding Nature in Philadelphia. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. ISBN: 0-8203-3156-2 This book was a great find, especially great for winter reading during the recent snow storm. The book combines a discussion of plants that grow in the city with city history. But the book is not nearly as dry as that
Dreams of Philadelphia Gardening Read More »
Uliano, Sophie. (2009). The Gorgeously Green Diet: How to Live Lean and Green. New York: Dutton. ISBN: 978-0-525-95115-5. The title implies a diet book, but it is much more than the typical diet book. It has the usual suspects: eating plans, nicely exercises, allowed and not allowed foods. But the book expands the idea of
Putting Your Life On a Green Diet Read More »
OBSESSED currently with LibraryThing. It is an online book cataloging service with social media applications that combines a love of books with a mania for organizing. It allows all of us to indulge in our librarian fantasies without actually having to get a Library Science degree. I found out about Library Thing last May and
Book Mania: LibraryThing Read More »
Koontz, Dean (2009). A Big Little Life: a memoir of a joyful dog. New York: Hyperion. ISBN: 9781401323523. Why do so many of us sit cold-hearted, distant when we read or watch a scene of a person’s death, vioolent or valiant, but weep copiously at description of a dog’s demise? It took Dean Koontz’s memoir
Writer’s Best Friend, Reader’s Best Friend Read More »
Schaefer, Elizabeth Maynard. (2008). Writing Through the Darkness: easing your depression with paper and pen. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts. ISBN: 9781587613197. Using writing strategies, from journals to essays and fiction, as a strategy for handling depression and working through emotional problems is not exactly a new idea. But Elizabeth Schaefer PhD. manages to offer guidance
Writing as an anti-depression strategy Read More »
Dickson Wright, Clarissa & Scott, Johnny. (2005). A Greener Life: the modern country compendium. London: David & Charles. North American edition. ISBN: 978-0-7153-2750-0. One of the perennial appeals of the country lifestyle is the sense of living simpler, healthier, more in tune with the planet. The idea of self-sufficiency holds great appeal for those of
Connected. A greener life, rural or not Read More »
Pollan, Michael. (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: Penguin. ISBN: 978-1-59420-145-5 How much actual food do you eat? That is the somewhat disconcerting premise that underlies this book. Michael Pollan suggests that, because of the great many processed food products with many additives and the policies of seeking to make more
Buchanan, Cathy Marie. (2009). The Day the Falls Stood Still. New York: Voice/Hyperion. ISBN: 978-1-4103-4097-1 320 pages. Fiction: Novel: Historical Fiction Gist A young woman grows to maturity in Niagara Falls during and after World War I. She endures loss in many forms, testing her faith and her strength. Based loosely
Day the Falls Stood Still: Test of Female Faith, Strength Read More »
McCarthy, Cormac.(2006). The Road. New York: Knopf. 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction Everything in The Road is reduced to the minimum; the language and writing style are stripped along with the lives of the characters. No linguistic decoration or extraneous description, luxury or sense of comfort. No neat tidy chapters or markers to tell
The Road: novel is realistic rendition of a nightmare Read More »
