A fabulous article in the New York Times about photographer Julius Shulman (click here for article), prompted me to dive into TCPL’s architecture collection. I came out with Modernism Rediscovered, by Pierluigi Serraino and Julius Shulman. Containing over 300 modern masterpieces, ArtNews said “If buildings were people, those in Julius Shulman’s photographs would be Grace [...]
People’s stories are compelling, and nowhere is that more evident than in the work of Storycorps, an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of their lives. Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 40,000 interviews from [...]
It’s a presidential election year, and one way to learn more about the presidential candidates is to read books written about them or by them. There’s a lot available in book form by/about President Obama and you can check TCPL holdings by clicking this link here. What’s been written in book form about Mitt Romney? [...]
Radio Commentator Paul Harvey, always used to end his shows with “and now you’ve head the rest of the story”. That phrase came to mind when I recently read Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn. Hohn’s book, subtitled “The true story of 28,800 bath toys lost and sea” concerns plastic ducks and other toys, known as the [...]
We have a new gardening book by Lewis Hill and Leonard Perry called The Fruit Gardener’s Bible that is awesome! I’ve grown strawberries for years but am fairly new to the world of grapes, peaches, apples, raspberries and blackberries (all of which were already planted at the house we bought or I planted shortly thereafter). [...]
I’ve been reading Karen Armstrong’s books for several years, most notably, her biography titled The Spiral Staircase, and her fascinating A History of God. Recently, I listened to the author read Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, an unabridged audiobook from Random House. The author reads expertly and it was a joy to listen to [...]
Are you looking for a method to hold civil conversations? The Little Book of Circle Processes written by Kay Pranis, an independent consultant who conducts circle training across the country, provides a good introduction. Pranis served as the Restorative Justice Planner for the Minnesota Department of Corrections for 9 years. Truly ‘little’, this 76-page small [...]
I have not been an Oprah fan, to any extent. Of course, I was aware of her influence, especially on reading, when her Oprah’s Book Club ‘made’ authors’ reputations, their books bestsellers, and the library hold queues extraordinarily long! I wasn’t able to join in the “Did you see yesterday’s Oprah?” conversations, as I work [...]
Drinking with Miss Dutchie by Ed Breslin is not the best book I’ve read in a while but nevertheless it is a worthwhile read especially if you love animals. The book is about the author’s struggle with alcoholism and nervous breakdowns and how adopting a dog helped him fight these demons. Breslin absolutely adores his [...]
On a long car trip I listened to the talking book version of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a Year of Food Life by best-selling novelist Barbara Kingsolver. Driving past Midwestern farm fields, I became engrossed in the story of the family’s move from Tucson, Arizona to a family farm in the Appalachian foothills of Virginia. Realizing [...]