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At Home on the Range: How to Make Friends with Your Stove by Margaret Yardley Potter

On May 24, 2012, in Book Reviews, Cooking, Food & Wine, History, Nonfiction, by Editor

While unpacking boxes of old family books recently, Elizabeth Gilbert rediscovered a dusty, yellowed hardcover called At Home on the Range, originally written by her great-grandmother, Margaret Yardley Potter. Having only been peripherally aware of the volume, Gilbert dug in with some curiosity, and soon found that she had stumbled upon a book far ahead of its time. Part scholar and part crusader for a more open food conversation, Potter espoused the importance of farmer’s markets and ethnic food (Italian, Jewish, and German), derided preservatives and culinary shortcuts, and generally celebrated a devotion to epicurean adventures. Reading this practical and humorous cookbook, it’s not hard to see that Gilbert inherited her great-grandmother’s love of food and her warm, infectious prose.

Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent by E.J. Dionne

On May 24, 2012, in Book Reviews, Nonfiction, Political, Social Studies, by Editor

Our Divided Political Heart will be the must-read book of the 2012 election campaign. Offering an incisive analysis of how hyper-individualism is poisoning the nation’s political atmosphere, E. J. Dionne Jr. argues that Americans can’t agree on who we are because we can’t agree on who we’ve been, or what it is, philosophically and spiritually, that makes us Americans. Dionne takes on the Tea Party’s distortions of American history and shows that the true American tradition points not to radical individualism, but to a balance between our love of individualism and our devotion to community.

The Lola Quartet, Literary Fiction with a Detective Story Element by Emily St. John Mandel

On May 24, 2012, in Book Reviews, Fiction, by Editor

In her most ambitious novel yet, Emily Mandel combines her most fully realized characters with perhaps her most fully developed story that examines the difficulty of being the person you’d like to be, loss, the way a small and innocent action (e.g., taking a picture of a girl in a foreclosed house) can have disastrous consequences. The Lola Quartet is a work that pays homage to literary noir, is concerned with jazz, Django Reinhardt, economic collapse, love, Florida’s exotic wildlife problem, crushing tropical heat, the leavening of the contemporary world, compulsive gambling, and the unreliability of memory.

Alien vs. Predator, A Poetry Collection by Michael Robbins

On May 24, 2012, in Book Reviews, Fiction, Poetry, by Editor

Since his poems first began to appear in the pages of The New Yorker and Poetry, there has been a lot of excited talk about the fresh and inventive work of Michael Robbins. Equal parts hip- hop, John Berryman, and capitalism seeking death and not finding it, Robbins’s poems are strange, wonderful, wild, and completely unlike anything else being written today. As allusive as the Cantos, as aggressive as a circular saw, this debut collection will offend none but the virtuous.

The Coldest Night – The Heaven of First Love and the Hell of a Battlefield by Robert Olmstead

On May 23, 2012, in Book Reviews, Fiction, Historical Novel, by Editor

Robert Olmstead’s riveting new novel is not only a passionate story of love and war, it is a timeless story of soldiers coming home to a country with little regard for, and even less knowledge of, what they’ve confronted. Through his hero, Olmstead reveals an unspoken truth about combat: that for many men, the experience of war is the most enlivening, electric, and extraordinary experience of their lives.

It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership – Lessons by Colin Powell

On May 23, 2012, in Biographies & Memoirs, Book Reviews, History, Nonfiction, by Editor

It Worked for Me is filled with vivid experiences and lessons learned that have shaped the legendary public service career of the four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. At its heart are Powell’s “Thirteen Rules”—notes he gathered over the years and that now form the basis of his leadership presentations given throughout the world. Powell’s short but sweet rules—among them, “Get mad, then get over it” and “Share credit”—are illustrated by revealing personal stories that introduce and expand upon his principles for effective leadership: conviction, hard work, and, above all, respect for others. In work and in life, Powell writes, “it’s about how we touch and are touched by the people we meet. It’s all about the people.”

Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan – A Biography of the Novelist and Poet by William Hjortsberg

On May 23, 2012, in Biographies & Memoirs, Book Reviews, Nonfiction, by Editor

Confident and robust, Jubilee Hitchhiker is an comprehensive biography of late novelist and poet Richard Brautigan, author of Troutfishing in America and A Confederate General from Big Sur, among many others. When Brautigan took his own life in September of 1984 his close friends and network of artists and writers were devastated though not entirely surprised. To many, Brautigan was shrouded in enigma, erratic and unpredictable in his habits and presentation.

Life With Twins: How Fast Can You Change a Diaper?

On May 22, 2012, in Reagan Wilda, by Reagan Wilda

Getting through life in the NICU and being home with two newborn preemies seems like ages ago. Now, we have successfully moved out of the formula feeding, bottle washing, sleeping most of the day and playing stationary on the floor phase and moved into the moving nonstop, sippy cup spilling and food tossing stage. Oh yea, did I mention the putting everything in your mouth stage?

A Day in the Life of a Blogger – Thoughts by Wilfried F. Voss

On May 22, 2012, in Articles, Blogging Aspects, Professional Blogging, Wilfried F. Voss, by Editor

Oh well, my blogging day usually starts at 5:30 in the morning and ends about two hours later. Yes, I do have a daytime job that pays the bills, and blogging, as much fun as it is, does not pay off. Considering the time I spend and the money I make, I work way below minimum wage when it comes to blogging. Nevertheless, blogging is fun, and I still hope that some time the efforts will result in some kind of financial independence.

How to get a Night’s Sleep with Brain Problems by Maria McCutchen

On May 22, 2012, in Guest Writers, Maria McCutchen, by Maria McCutchen

Sleep is precious to me, today. Because I typically only get 3-5 hours a night, and some nights, less, I will feel like I hit the jackpot when I get 5 or more hours! It seems so long ago since I’ve slept through the night – and I don’t mean the kind of “sleep” like I get now, where I wake-up a lot, and will have to fight to get back to sleep. I mean, sleep as in – sleep peacefully without waking up in the middle of the night, uncomfortable, in pain, and having odd neurological symptoms. I don’t even remember those days, to be quite honest. I forget what sleeping peacefully through the night was like.