Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
Reviewed by David Brown, First Regional Library
Julie Powell, frustrated with her boring secretarial job and her failed acting career, was searching for something to give her boring life a boost. While visiting her parents in Texas, she happened upon her mother’s copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Julie gets the inspiration to cook all 524 recipes in one year in the tiny New York City apartment she shares with her husband, three cats and a pet snake. A friend suggests she keep an online journal, or “blog”, to document the often hilarious results of a less-than-experienced cook tackling some very involved and demanding recipes.
Powell’s writing is funny and engaging; you really feel you’re right there in the tiny kitchen as she gets overwhelmed by crepes that keep sticking to the pan, or struggling with the live lobsters she has to “dispatch”. The supporting cast of characters—her husband, parents, brother, friends, even Julia Child herself—are as vital to the book as the recipes.
If you enjoy personal memoirs or books about cooking, you’ll enjoy this book. Julie and Julia is currently being turned into a major motion picture.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Reviewed by Nancy Opalko, Lafayette County & Oxford Public Library
The book thief is a young German girl named Liesel. Her mother, who is marked as a communist in Germany during the early years of World War II, gives (or is forced to give) Liesel and her brother up for foster care. Unfortunately, her brother dies before meeting his new family and the event of his death forever marks Liesel. This story has an unexpected narrator who guides the reader through life in a small German town—near Dachau—during Hitler’s reign of terror. You get a feel for how it must have been to live during a time when human beings were marched forcibly down the street to an uncertain death and a person could be whipped or worse for handing one of them a piece of bread. You also learn how fear can drain every morsel of humanity out of a person so that they will watch and do nothing as a fellow townsman is whipped for a slight kindness. But this book is foremost about how love and courage can overcome the worst kind of adversity.
Dear Deer: a Book of Homophones by Gene Barretta
Reviewed by Emily Oliver, Hernando Public Library
Parents are your children having problems with homophones (a word that is pronounced in the same way as one or more other words but is different in meaning and sometimes spelling)? Then this is the picture book for you!
Read along with Dear Deer the letter Aunt Ant sent him telling him about her new home at the zoo.
Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life in Its Disaster Zone by Joshua Clark
Reviewed by Victoria Penny, First Regional Library
Heart Like Water is a literary "true story" of survival in an urban wilderness. Mr. Clark is a young New Orleans transplant who has lost his heart to his city. The title refers to the human heart being made up of 80% water and the symbolic parallel of New Orleans under water. Clark describes the days and hours in late August 2005 leading up to what is now the most notorious storm in our lifetimes: Hurricane Katrina. He and several friends held out, remaining in the city as the hurricane blew in and afterwards during the often surreal trauma that ensued. The book consists primarily of Clark’s personal narrative about his own feelings and experiences as he tried to make sense of and articulate his observations of what was taking place. A French Quarter resident, Clark knew and met many more eccentric characters, and their salty stories and unreserved opinions are scattered freely throughout the book. Especially interesting to me was the way in which Clark deconstructs the media frenzy that took place in the atmosphere of disaster and breakdown. Clark himself reported for NPR and Salon.com during the early weeks after the hurricane. He later visits other storm-stricken areas of southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, interviewing residents about their own stories. This book is the most fascinating account of Katrina/New Orleans I have read. I literally could not put it down and managed to finish it in 24 hours. I cried, laughed, and felt stunned by turns while reading Heart Like Water.
Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys by Kate Brian
Reviewed by Emily Oliver, Hernando Public Library
Girls, are you an only child? How would you like to move in with a
family with seven boys?
This is what happen to Megan Meade when she refuses to leave the
country with her parents. Discover along with Meagan the joys and
trials of having seven instant "brothers". See what happens
when Megan begins to look at some of them as potintial boyfriends,
and not "brothers".
I could not put this book down, I read it in one sitting.
A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni
Reviewed by Laura Beth Walker, Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library
I have to be honest and say that I have no idea where most of my stuff is manufactured. But after reading this book I will pay closer attention. Sara Bongiorni made a New Year’s Resolution on January 1, 2005 to not purchase anything “made in China” for a year. Her husband was skeptical and her two children weren’t really sure what that would mean exactly. It turned out to mean a lot of hard work and time spent searching for products made in any country other than China. There weren’t many out there. The most memorable issues were her young son’s Christmas wish list (filled with toys made in China) and her husband needing a pair of flip flops on a beach vacation. Bongiorni writes honestly about the struggle and she is able to laugh at herself along the way.
Being Muslim, a Groundwork Guide by Haroon Siddiqui
Reviewed by Judy Card, Youth Services Coordinator
Are you constantly confused about Islam? What do Muslims actually believe? Do they all support terrorism or is that just our perception? What does the Qu’ran really say about jihad and virgins? What is the definition of jihad? Muslim scholar Haroon Siddiqui clearly explains that like being Christiam, being Muslim can mean many different things and goes on to describe a wide array of beliefs, including the five tenants of the faith. This short book is direct and to the point. After finishing it I felt that I had a much better understanding about this religion that is so much in today’s news. *** This book is being revised w/publication date of February 2008.
Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow by Kristin Breitweiser
Reviewed by Laura Beth Walker, Lafayette County and Oxford Public Library
What would you do if you suddenly lost your spouse in a terrorist attack? Probably exactly what Kristin Breitweiser did for the first few months after September 11th, 2001. Her husband was in the World Trade Center and died when the buildings collapsed. Racked with grief she tried to get through the days after his death by focusing on keeping things together for her young daughter. And then she did something amazing.
She and three other widows (nicknamed the ‘Jersey Girls’) began asking questions and demanding answers. They read and researched everything they could get their hands on regarding the attacks. Her book is a description of what they went through in order to get an investigation into the attacks started. Believe it or not, they met with trouble from both sides of the political aisle. Breitweiser has seen the inside of the Washington political machine and the struggle it takes to get anything done. She does not pick and choose sides and makes it very clear that the Jersey girls were willing to work with anyone who would listen. She is someone to be admired and her story is fascinating. And it might even make some Americans get their own wake-up call.
The Kindness Revolution : The Company-Wide Culture Shift That Inspires Phenomenal Customer Service by Edward Horrell
Reviewed by Amy Poe, Hernando Public Library
The cover of this book is the first thing to catch your eye with a great big yellow smiley face. This is your first sign that The Kindness Revolution is not your average business book loaded down with statistics and theoretical models but a book based on a very simple premise, that if followed can change the way your company works.
Written in a straight forward style with a down to earth, honest wit, The Kindness Revolution is fun to read and motivates you to improve and change your mindset. Horrell will show you how kindness can increase customer satisfaction and radically improve the bottom line of all businesses: profit.
Locals will recognize the companies profiled in the book since Ed Horrell is a Memphian and writes about such local institutions as St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Federal Express.
The Reincarnationist by M.J. Rose
Reviewed by Laurie Madsen, Senatobia Public Library
A blast from the past. Literally, Josh Ryder experiences snapshots of previous lives after being a victim of a suicide bomber in Rome. He managed to survive the attack but his life has been anything but normal since. He slips into previous lives while trying to come to grips with his overwhelming feeling of helplessness, lost love and a strong sense of a mission he must accomplish in this life to right a past wrong. Layers of story lines and interwoven relationships both present and past told in a simple fashion make this an enjoyable read. There is mystery and intrigue which makes this thriller a page turner as well. I recommend it. This title can be found at our Senatobia and Olive Branch libraries.