I started and finished A Sense of Direction in one evening; I couldn't really stop thinking about it, so I couldn't put it down. I found it...
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A funny and revealingly honest book that gives hope (look! this boy overcame his circumstances, fears, etc. to live his life fully!) at the same time it fiercely crushes it (wow, are people really still so racist these days? ugh. And it's god-awful how rampant alcoholism is in the Native population but not at all surprising given the total loss of their lands and culture in return for internment camps and casinos).
My pet peeve, as always, is that any book--let alone a NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER BY A WELL-RESPECTED AUTHOR/ARTIST--had four significant typos pop out a me unbidden. Hey, here's an idea: how about the editors, proof-readers, publishers, et al respect the trees that died so we could read their books and respect the expectations of readers by actually producing error-free works? All in favor, say 'Aye!'
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(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Queen, goddess, rock star of chocolate desserts gives us her memoir and best recipes folded into a rich batter of lessons learned and full-color photographs that make you drool first and bake later. If you want to know about Alice Medrich's career, she'll tell you about it here in her own voice. If you want a recipe for the absolutely BEST chocolate cookies on this planet ("Bittersweet Decadence Cookies"), then do yourself the favor of getting this book now. It's a tome of Yum-and-Holy-Wow and, along with her "Cookies and Bars" book, deserves to be front-and-center on every chocoholic baker's altar!
Emily Carr, an early 20th century Canadian painter, was a spit-fire and Susan Vreeland really captures her spirit, spunk, compassion, devotion to her home land & expression of it in paintings, and her persistent self-doubt with a convincing and compelling novel of triumphs and tragedies. Her life as an artist was remarkable, especially since she persevered (mostly) in spite of pervasive sexism and shunning of her native & natural subjects. It's also a sympathetic political and societal perspective of what it was like in British Columbia when the colonizers were wiping out the native peoples as best they could, while she valued and adored (some said idealized) their culture and way of living. It's hard to be "ahead of the times" at any time, apparently.
Mmm. A tall, handsome, maniacal farmer snags a city-slicker lady who, even after reading her memoir, seems like the unlikeliest of candidates for Farmer of the Year. It's heavy on the real dirt of farming, including passages thick with jargon that I found irritating, but very sincere and totally effective in waking up other citified folks from their I-wanna-be-a-farmer fantasies...though it didn't do as much for my desire to find a farmer-lover!
Much like the seasons do for us, the intertwining voices of this book carry us through a year in the life of a family and its widening community in a familiar but dynamic manner. Percival Darling is the man you're glad isn't your neighbor but he could be a male version of me when I'm old if I'm not careful now. Still, you've got to love fictional curmudgeons who love others, right? And reading about my new "hometown" of Cambridge, MA and its still-unknown-to-me environs was a real pleasure. If you like character-driven stories of ordinary people who are more interesting than you would think just passing them on the street, you'll probably like Glass's newest novel.
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radfemme has commented on (14) products.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
radfemme, June 11, 2011
A funny and revealingly honest book that gives hope (look! this boy overcame his circumstances, fears, etc. to live his life fully!) at the same time it fiercely crushes it (wow, are people really still so racist these days? ugh. And it's god-awful how rampant alcoholism is in the Native population but not at all surprising given the total loss of their lands and culture in return for internment camps and casinos).My pet peeve, as always, is that any book--let alone a NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER BY A WELL-RESPECTED AUTHOR/ARTIST--had four significant typos pop out a me unbidden. Hey, here's an idea: how about the editors, proof-readers, publishers, et al respect the trees that died so we could read their books and respect the expectations of readers by actually producing error-free works? All in favor, say 'Aye!'
(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate by Alice Medrich
radfemme, June 8, 2011
Queen, goddess, rock star of chocolate desserts gives us her memoir and best recipes folded into a rich batter of lessons learned and full-color photographs that make you drool first and bake later. If you want to know about Alice Medrich's career, she'll tell you about it here in her own voice. If you want a recipe for the absolutely BEST chocolate cookies on this planet ("Bittersweet Decadence Cookies"), then do yourself the favor of getting this book now. It's a tome of Yum-and-Holy-Wow and, along with her "Cookies and Bars" book, deserves to be front-and-center on every chocoholic baker's altar!Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland
radfemme, June 8, 2011
Emily Carr, an early 20th century Canadian painter, was a spit-fire and Susan Vreeland really captures her spirit, spunk, compassion, devotion to her home land & expression of it in paintings, and her persistent self-doubt with a convincing and compelling novel of triumphs and tragedies. Her life as an artist was remarkable, especially since she persevered (mostly) in spite of pervasive sexism and shunning of her native & natural subjects. It's also a sympathetic political and societal perspective of what it was like in British Columbia when the colonizers were wiping out the native peoples as best they could, while she valued and adored (some said idealized) their culture and way of living. It's hard to be "ahead of the times" at any time, apparently.The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
radfemme, April 8, 2011
Mmm. A tall, handsome, maniacal farmer snags a city-slicker lady who, even after reading her memoir, seems like the unlikeliest of candidates for Farmer of the Year. It's heavy on the real dirt of farming, including passages thick with jargon that I found irritating, but very sincere and totally effective in waking up other citified folks from their I-wanna-be-a-farmer fantasies...though it didn't do as much for my desire to find a farmer-lover!The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass
radfemme, March 22, 2011
Much like the seasons do for us, the intertwining voices of this book carry us through a year in the life of a family and its widening community in a familiar but dynamic manner. Percival Darling is the man you're glad isn't your neighbor but he could be a male version of me when I'm old if I'm not careful now. Still, you've got to love fictional curmudgeons who love others, right? And reading about my new "hometown" of Cambridge, MA and its still-unknown-to-me environs was a real pleasure. If you like character-driven stories of ordinary people who are more interesting than you would think just passing them on the street, you'll probably like Glass's newest novel.1-5 of 14next