Found Magazine (unusual "found" notes, photos, etc.)
PostSecret (anonymous postcards w/ deepest secrets)
The front page of the March 28, 1927 New York Times read "Slot Photo Device Brings $1,000,000 to Young Inventor." The Photomaton (predecessor of our photobooths) was the result of the creativity and tenacity of a man from a small town in Siberia. American Photobooth documents the history of the man and his machine, and features examples of how the photos have (and have not) changed over the years.
The city of Detroit plays such a big part in the stories of Detroit Noir that she becomes another character--not just the setting. The collection contains works by authors who have a special connection to the Motor City: Joyce Carol Oates, P.J. Parrish, and Michael Zadoorian are just a few. References to Vernors, the Ren Cen, Grand River Avenue, and other landmarks make the book a special read for those familiar with Motown. Motor City Dream Garages by Rex Roy features photographs of majestic garages of Detroit (a natural fit for the home of the big three automakers). Spectacular Homes of Michigan hit the shelves this week as well. It takes a look at the work of several interior designers throughout the state, including D.J. Kennedy. One of Kennedy's well-known projects was the design of Dennis Archer's 1920's mansion in Detroit. The luxury of the houses rivals the garages of Roy's book!
Terry Ryan has entertainingly chronicled her mother's trials and triumphs in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less. Struggling to support her growing family in the 40s and 50s with a husband who spends much of his salary on alcohol, Evelyn manages to make magic with her jingles and poems and wins contests by the dozens. She earns toasters and trips, shopping sprees and cars...just when her family needs them most.
If you wonder what could free the writer inside you, there are plenty of places to look for inspiration. I recently read How I Write: The Secret Lives of Authors by Dan Crowe. What do authors like Chip Kidd, Jane Smiley, Will Self, Nicholson Baker, and Claire Messud require to get their creative juices flowing? (Answers: Quark Express, a hot bath, Post-It notes, earplugs, and graph paper.) If you require visual prompts, give A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words by Phillip Sexton a glance. Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Brontë by Maureen Adams reveals how a furry companion could help your writing process. Once you're convinced you have it in you, Walter Mosley's This Year You Write Your Novel will keep you motivated. Finally, Famous by Kathleen Flenniken (an ALA Notable Book) demonstrates the elevation of something as simple as a vacuum cord or a child's lost coat to a poetic work of art. Take a look around, pick up a pencil, and get writing!
From the Addams Family to WKRP in Cincinnati, Sitcoms: the 101 greatest tv comedies of all time present a fascinating look at those shows we all loved to watch. These shows cover a sixty year period and create a history that includes years on tv, number of episodes, commentary, cast, mini-bios, classic quotes, and photographs. What cigar-smoking man and his dingbat wife, daughter and her husband lived in Astoria, Queens? What surgical unit served with draftee doctors in Korea? Who was the long-suffering son living with his cranky junk dealer Dad in Watts? Answers to these questions may be found in this reference book. Many shows lasted only a short time but they were influential or popular and have developed a following thanks to channels such as TVLand.
Next week, I'll gather with some friends over lunch. Instead of sharing books we've read in the previous month, we will each share our favorite book of 2007. I can't decide. I might have to have a favorite fiction and a favorite nonfiction or maybe even two of each....its a tough choice. For fiction, I am currently leaning towards Atonement or The Ministry of Special Cases or Away or The Other Side of the Bridge or......
Sometimes the media gets hooked on a particular topic and it shows up everywhere. For the past few years, there’s been a lot of focus on boys—their education, their motivation levels, and their futures. I’m in the middle of a fascinating new book, Boys Adrift: Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men by Leonard Sax, which explores this very topic. Sax is a physician and a psychologist, and his arguments are laid out in a manner that is thoughtful and extremely easy to understand. His theories are backed by tons of research, and he’s not afraid to make bold statements. I would recommend this book to anyone who has children, knows children, works with children, has an interest in the environment, has an interest in the modern educational system . . . anyone, really.
About 1 in 133 people in the U.S. have celiac disease, a genetic intolerance to gluten, the tiny protein found in wheat, barley and rye. What’s the cure? Simple, never eat gluten again! Much more easily said than done, but Shauna James Ahern learned how, got her health and her spirit back, created a fabulous blog and now has authored a book about her experience.
I was saying to myself the other day, “I wish I knew more about the history and criticism of the novel”. You know, like some kind of academic structure and stuff about the novel. ‘Cause if you just read Hunting and Gathering like I did, you’d wonder too. First off, it’s a French novel, and you know how they are. I do, because I’m French. This one is translated into English of course. The structure is all weird. The whole thing is done up in little chunks, like 2 or 3 paragraphs at a time, max. And the story keeps jumping around, but in a cool way.
Hungry for deep dish cherry pie, shepherds pie or pina colada muffins? Recipes are included in the newest Diane Mott Davidson novel, Sweet Revenge. Goldy Bear, a Colorado caterer, has several jobs lined up only to find a body of a former DA in the local library. He had been trying to sell antique maps. Was he poisoned first before he was stabbed? There are several suspects and Goldy is ready to assist the local police. This is the 14th title in her culinary suspense novels. This book may be reserved at your local Kalamazoo Library.
Since it’s almost impossible to visit all the places in the world you might like, “armchair travelling” with a book can provide a informational substitute, or whet your appetite for an actual trip.
If you are a fan of the classic “Dune” series by Frank Herbert you will most certainly enjoy this book. Brian Herbert (his son) and Kevin J. Anderson bring the series to a close by cleverly incorporating nearly all of the original characters into this action packed adventure. Thousands of years after the original novels timeframe, a new war wages as the machine intelligence and the face dancers square off against Ghola incarnations of the original heroes and villains of the Imperium. A giant ship piloted by Duncan Idaho’s most recent incarnation is fleeing the menace, trying to avoid capture or destruction long enough for Ghola children who are clones of the original characters to “find” their memories in the hope that they will have the skills needed to outmaneuver the seemingly unstoppable machine warriors.
Having read Peter Jenkin’s engrossing story A Walk Across America, I was quite surprised to find out that he had been preceded in this walk almost 100 years earlier by a woman and her daughter, who traveled from Spokane Washington to New York city, with only the clothes on their backs and $5.00 each!
