Book Reviews
Diane Girard Writes: Survival Against the Odds; The Hardy Charm of The Independent Book Store
What makes the store a charming and hardy survivor? Mostly, it’s the people who own it and who work in it. They truly care about books and they know books and writers. They make recommendations based on what a customer likes to read and if a book is not in stock, they can order it, swiftly. They connect frequently with their customers through an email newsletter. They sponsor six book clubs. They have held readings by both famous writers and local writers. And, they care about and support local community organizations and have done so for many years. I suggest that when you buy books, you purchase them from your local independent book store. Then, you can relish the good-citizen feeling of supporting a local business and delight in opening the fresh pages of a new book. more »
Goosed: Those Years When Fate Takes a Hand By Julia Sneden, A SeniorWomen.com Tradition
Julia Sneden wrote: My only previous experience with goose occurred before we were married, in 1960. I was in Denmark, visiting with friends, and was invited to share the goose-liver stew that was made up of leftovers from their Christmas dinner of a few days before. It was absolutely delicious, but no one thought to enlighten me about the digestive effects of over-indulgence in such a rich dish. I wondered why I was the only one who took second helpings. I soon found out. more »
Jill Norgren Writes: My Choices of Good Reads For The Past Year
Barack Obama writes with grace and honesty. Clarity defines his discussions of policy and politics ... and helps us to understand the strategies guiding the decisions of the new president-elect as Biden forms a government... Elizabeth Strout's stories are brilliantly observed and can leave you breathless with surprise. James McBride's main character runs us ragged in the 2020 mystery novel Deacon King Kong in the maelstrom of aging and loss. In each, there is the poignancy of older characters chasing life... Homeland Elegies by Pakistani-American playwright Ayad Akhtar’s bears some comparison with Olive, Again. It is described as a novel but is more comfortably thought of as linked stories... Douglas Stuart's Shuggie Bain evokes the chaotic domestic world of drinkers without a scintilla of sentimentality and The Brothers Mankiewicz is a well shaped biography based on new interviews and archival sleuthing. Read on for the entire look at these new reads. more »
Serena Nanda Reviews Light in Dark Times: The Human Search for Meaning
Alisse Waterston is a cultural anthropologist; the inspiration for the book was her own emotional and intellectual development as an anthropologist and an activist, but her search for meaning goes far beyond cultural anthropology, which she describes only briefly in terms of its relevance as a source of light in dark times. The book is a work of art as well as a narrative, enlivened by the charming sketches of the co-author, Charlotte Corden, and is rooted in an interdisciplinary intellectual immersion in historical and modern literature, philosophy, poetry, and social science. Waterston’s fictional and nonfictional encounters are focused on the widespread current political, economic and humanitarian crises. more »