Short Review: An Important Biography of a Radical Black Feminist

I've got a new hero (not only feminist, but a fierce warrior against all forms of discrimination), and she doesn't look anything like me. I had never heard of her before reading this book, in fact (a symptom of a significant problem in itself.) She reminds me of a black Molly Ivins, although she predated her by several years. (Perhaps I should say Molly Ivins resembled a white Flo Kennedy). In any event, this is a must-read.

The author, Sherie Randolph, worked with Kennedy's remaining papers - much had been destroyed for various reasons - but there was enough to craft an in-depth biography of a remarkable woman (a lawyer by training) who fought for justice during the 1960s and '70s against insane odds. I haven't heard "Black Lives Matter" activists mention her, but they're on the same page.

Highly recommended.

I obtained a free copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

Short Review: "Essential Turkish Cuisine"

The best cookbook is one from which you can learn something new, and I'm always on the lookout for cookbooks from specific cultures, so when Essential Turkish Cuisine came up for review, I grabbed a copy. Not just recipes - although there are about 200 of them - but also Turkish history, habits, traditional spice mixtures (some I'd never heard of), and food customs of both peasants and royalty. (Did you know the Turks started out as nomads in Mongolia? Me neither.)

Perfect. The author runs a cooking school in Turkey, and it shows. She explains how to make everything from homemade tomato paste to Borek (stuffed pastry).

Highly recommended.

I received a pre-release copy of this book for review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Snapshot: "Pop Sonnets"

You don't exactly read a book like this, but rather hunt around for your favorite - or at least most familiar - songs and see what kind of sonnets Erik Didriksen was able to turn them into. I think it's no accident that a number of other reviewers have found this useful in teaching classes on literature - this approach hooks 'em right in. There are dozens of titles here, from YMCA to Material Girl to Tubthumping, and they for the most part manage to capture the original content of the lyrics in semi-Shakespearean language very effectively.

Recommended.

I received a Kindle copy of this book in return for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: Connecting with the City

I'm not exactly this book's demographic (the author - Nora Lum - is young enough to be my granddaughter), but the information in here is insanely useful - not politically correct, not reverent, not necessarily polite (her profile of Staten Island includes the information that Ben Franklin probably pooped there) - USEFUL. Like the kid in the "Emperor Has No Clothes" story, Lum is observant, direct, unvarnished, knowledgeable, and confident. She was born in New York of Chinese and Korean parents, and grew up there, so she knows the place well. Much of the text is lists and short vignettes, interspersed with some critical street knowledge - where to pee, how to make money recycling bottles and cans if you're broke, how to eat a soup dumpling, and brief descriptions of the human characters (subway, homeless, new arrivals) -  you're likely to meet, but most of the book covers some genuinely interesting and offbeat parts of the City in ten walking tours (each includes subway directions, brief history, appropriate warnings, and sights to see). For example, the one she calls the Men in Black Tour gives directions to Flushing Meadows Park, site of two worlds fairs and some filming in the movie. I had to look up some of the urban slang (betch?) and I'd want an experienced New Yorker as a companion on most of these jaunts, but well worth a read. 

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of the paperback version in exchange for a review. (The Kindle version is much cheaper). The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: "State of the World 2015"

The subtitle of State of the World 2015 by the Worldwatch Institute is "Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability," but they might as well have called it "Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic." The book describes the various environmental problems and their current (alarming) status - familiar to those of us who study these matters - but the overall theme is how weak and ineffectual our current political and industrial leaders are in addressing the problems. From disbelief to greenwashing to outright fraud, the growth-oriented champions who actually have a chance at making some of the needed changes give lip service to environmentalism, but they are very far from actually engaging in it. Worldwatch makes the case that capitalism itself (at least in its current incarnation of grow, grow, grow) is a systemic part of the problem.

Rather dry, as one might expect from a serious tome written by a committee of scientists, but very important and worth the time to read.

Highly recommended.

I obtained a copy of this book free of charge in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: "Thug Notes"

Greg Edwards is a comedian, actor, and writer. One of his web series is "Thug Notes," which aims to educate people about literature using street language. The character who does the educating is Sparky Sweets, Ph.D (played by Edwards). Hilarious.

A selection of Sparky's teachings have been collected in this book, and it is impressive. The street language is no more difficult to decipher than some of Shakespeare's work, but it is best read aloud to get the most meaning and full effect. I actually like this book version better than the performed version because there is more depth: character sketches, themes and plot descriptions, Several of my personal favorites are here: Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, and Fahrenheit 451.Would have liked to see Siddhartha and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in the written collection, but no matter; they are available online.

This could be the new Cliff's Notes. (It's more interesting and the online version is free.) Edwards admits that this project came about in part to combat the "exclusionary" way that academics present the classics. I think he's on to something. (YouTube list of all the Thug Notes performances here.)

Very highly recommended.

I obtained a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the Amazon page for the book.

Short Review: "Seeking Surrender"

The author of this short book, Colette Lafia, had a number of trying life experiences (death of a sibling and inability to have children, among others), and she started a spiritual journey to try and make peace with herself. She first visited a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, where she made friends with one of the monks, and much of the book is their written correspondence over several years.

Although the content is written from a Christian and specifically Catholic point of view, the first thing I noticed was its resemblance to Buddhist practice. A few rituals when needed, very little dogma, but much emphasis on acceptance (the 'surrender' of the title), presence, compassion, searching, and meditative prayer.

Very simple, unadorned, and moving. Recommended.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: "Clockwork Lives"

Wow. Just wow. Kevin J. Anderson and Neal Peart (yes, the drummer from the rock band Rush) have written a scintillating steampunky novel - structured like the Canterbury Tales as a framework around a collection of stories told by their owners. (Apparently there is a Rush album to accompany it, although I did not obtain a copy of that to review.)

The framework takes up the story of Marinda Peake, who cares for her ailing father in an unusually regimented world. When he dies, she is forced by the terms of his will to leave her circumscribed life to seek out other life stories. Evocative, thoroughly imagined, and magical without a single dungeon or dragon, but with a very Alice Through the Looking Glass mirror. Marinda finds danger, death, love, and gold on her journey through other people's stories.

Very highly recommended.

I obtained a review copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Full Review: "Lingo"

Lingo - Around Europe in Sixty Languages, by Gaston Dorren, is a book on linguistics. Before you turn your nose up, however, let me tell you that it is a very well-written and interesting book on linguistics. Oh, alright, sometimes the author gets down in the weeds of some concept that's really too detailed (at least for me), but most of the time it's fascinating to see how languages have diverged from, converged on, borrowed from and competed with each other. Did you know, for example, that "if you know one Slavic language, you know a whole bunch of them - the only problem is, often you don't know which one it is that you know," or that "Turkish is a bit of an introvert," or that French has a mother fixation on Latin, or that 200 million people in India speak languages that have nothing to do with the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root? Cool.

The last chapter, aptly named The Global Headache, deals with English and Chinese. Dorren makes the case that English resembles Chinese in some respects: (1) hard to pronounce, (2) the written language gives no clue to the spoken, particularly given the various dialects, and (3) the lack of inflections (word bits added to clarify meaning, for example larger and largest) makes them  a little easier to learn than some of the other possible world languages.

Each short chapter (and there are a lot of them...the book is 304 pages long and has 60 chapters) ends with a note on a specific word that has entered our language, as well as another word that probably should because there isn't a good way of expressing it in English. The book has both a reading list and a thorough index as well.

Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Snapshot: "The Embroidered Garden"

I'm not sure I'd bother to embroider a set of gardening gloves (which will get filthy real fast), but if you want to do so, this short book will tell you how (Kazuko Aoki's "The Embroidered Garden.") There are several dozen other embroidery projects here, too, mostly small, often practical, and all about gardening throughout the year. A lot of them would be good as gifts.

Good photographs, a tutorial on embroidery stitches, and notes on all of the projects. Very nice.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: "Meatless All Day"

Taunton Press is well-known for beautiful, high-end books on a variety of topics, so I was pleased to get a copy of "Meatless All Day" to review. Not disappointed. Excellent design, lovely photos, and 80 interesting recipes, some inspired by Indian and other cuisines, with emphasis on how successful they are at substituting for various meats. There is even a list of ingredients that will add meat-like flavor and texture to a vegetarian dish.

My benchmark for a vegetarian cookbook, however, is how good a recipe it has for a veggie burger. This one has three, all excellent: Black Bean Burgers with Grilled Mango-Lime Mayonnaise, Mexican Pinto Bean Burgers with Fresh Guacamole and Corn Pico de Gallo, and Veggie Burgers with Brown Rice, Fresh Parsley, and Chickpeas. There are also a number of other recipes to create cutlet-like portions that could work in a bun.

Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.