A Sampling of New Books from BEA for Fall 2010
Posted on 11. Jun, 2010 by admin in What We're Reading
Suzanne Murray
For a bibliophile, the tradeshow floor of BookExpo of America (BEA) is a maze of wonderment waiting to be discovered, an inviting mega-bookstore…on steroids. Row after row of glossy-covered paperbacks and hardbacks wait patiently for attendees to examine them: lift them off the shelf, feel the heft in their hands, read the back cover, crack open to whatever fateful page happens to be calling, and give a paragraph or two a read.
One of my favorite parts of BEA each year is the time I spend mingling among the publishers’ displays, on a mission to nowhere in particular but instead to wherever my inspired heart decides to take me. What new book will I discover next? The mystery of the answer gives half the pleasure.
Here are three of the many titles that caught my eye at BEA this year.
The Crabby Cook: Recipes and Rants by Jessica Harper
I love the idea of a cookbook that contains recipes as well as a sassy narrative, but maybe that’s because I love memoirs as much as I love food. The Crabby Cook, by movie actress, singer, and children’s book author Jessica Harper, focuses on the theme of feeding a family of eaters with tastes so individual that they could drive a mom crazy. The result is a compendium of comfort-food recipes that children will be happy with, but with a twist to keep the adults interested too. Entrees include Gobble-It-Up Turkey Chili, Sorta Mac ’n Cheese, Healthy Shmealthy Muffins, and Lazy Ass Minestrone. Ingredient lists are simple; cooking steps are well within the realm of manageable. Sounds great to a busy mom like me.
Creative Is a Verb by Patti Digh
Patti Digh has done it again. After her inspiring book Life is a Verb, based on her blog 37days.com, which was inspired by her stepfather’s death by lung cancer a mere 37 days after diagnosis, Digh gives us more thought-provoking and inspiring essays to ponder. Essays in Creative Is a Verb include “Put Down Your Clever,” “See the Pencil,” and “Throw More Pots” and are followed by exercises to help the reader unleash his or her creativity. More beautiful artwork from Digh’s blog followers graces the pages too, lending creative inspiration of their own.
Film+Travel: Europe—Traveling the World Through Your Favorite Movies by Museyon Guides
Just when you thought they couldn’t possibly come up with another good idea for a travel book, Museyon Guides has. From Hitchcock’s London to Italy’s Cinecittà Studios, movie aficionados get taken in Film+Travel: Europe on a journey where celluloid meets pavement, where imagination and reality intermingle. Film enthusiasts and armchair travelers alike may never have to leave home to enjoy this part-travel guide, part film-history book, which takes readers through the landscape of Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, The United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and Russia—through the lens of film. Those who enjoy Film+Travel Europe may also want to check out the other books in the series: Film+Travel: North America, South America and Film+Travel: Asia, Oceana, Africa.
The organizers of BEA continue to seek new ways to keep the publishing audience interested and to maintain the conference’s relevance. But while workshop topics and conference length may flip-flop to meet the perceived and changing demands of the marketplace, one thing remains the same: books, regardless of form—electronic or paper—are lovable.
A Review of “The Diamond Cutter”
Posted on 03. May, 2010 by admin in What We're Reading
Lauren Villagran
Geshe Michael Roach has squeezed some pretty heavy concepts—how Buddhist practices can make you a better businessperson… or just a better person—into a slim book that could easily be called a page-turner. Not what you’d expect from a book that spends pages explaining Buddhist teachings from 2,500 years ago.
Authored by the first American to complete the 20 years of study required to earn the degree of geshe, or master of Buddhist learning, Roach put his decades of Buddhist practice to work in the global diamond business of New York City, and this is his story. His effort to maintain a monk’s patience, generosity and peace in the down-and-dirty Diamond District provide an amazing tale—and, surprisingly, a path anyone could follow toward financial success and personal contentment.
It’s a big claim, one that many authors have tried to make. Whether his path works or not may be up to us, the reader. But Roach writes with equal dexterity on matters of business and Buddhism, making this book both a fascinating read and an education.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Posted on 03. May, 2010 by admin in What We're Reading
Lauren Villagran
No, it’s not that I’m hopelessly behind the times and am reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonder of a travelogue for the first time. I’m on my second helping. This book is like candy that’s good for you.
When I first picked it up, I was turned off by Gilbert’s glib style. But I pressed on, curious about what made the book so popular. After my second read, I think I’d boil it down to this: It’s supremely organized, full of surprising (but not flowery) language, and—above all—it’s honest. Wonderfully, brutally honest.
For writers of travelogues, memoir or creative nonfiction, this last element is perhaps the most important. No matter how open one might be as a person—after all, some natural instinct drives us to write our personal stories—as a writer, with the blank page in front of you and the echo of several dozen voices in your head (or is that just me?), it’s hard not to consider how your mother, father, partner or friend might react to particular details about your own life. Or theirs.
That’s what I found courageous about Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert doesn’t hold back about the stuff that might embarrass the rest of us—crying until she had created a pool of tears and snot on the bathroom floor; confessing that, at 31, she really didn’t want a baby; sharing her messy emotional process as she tried to recover from divorce. And somehow, she makes all of that funny.
Her adventures and misadventures through Italy, India and Indonesia offer an amazing escape and some really good life lessons along the way.
When it comes to living your life the best way possible, how can you beat her advice? Eat, pray, love, she says.
Sounds good to me.
Click here to purchase Eat, Pray, Love on Amazon.