Staff Recommendations
Sheryn Morris
Pages
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L.A. Mexicano : recipes, people & places
by Esparza, Bill,
September 14, 2021
Call Number: 641.5972 E773
Cookbooks that combine recipes, history and personal anecdotes are a treasure. When the author is passionate about their subject we readers benefit. Bill Esparza is that person, who is passionate about food, history and writes about his ancestry, his family and their relationships with food, culture, the Spanish language, Mexican heritage, immigration and U.S. citizenship. That personal history is a jumping off point for Esparza's history of Mexican food in Los Angeles. Breaking bread and sharing food is at the heart of this book, and the featured cooks and chefs have very big hearts.... Read Full Review
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You will not have my hate
by Leiris, Antoine,
September 7, 2021
Call Number: 322.42094436 L531
On Friday, November 13, 2015, a series of terrorist attacks, some suicide bombers, took place in Paris, France: at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris; at crowded cafes and restaurants in Paris; and another attack was leveled at the BataclanTheatre in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Because of terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket that took place in January, 2015, France was already on high alert. The attacks in November, 2015 were the deadliest since World War II.On what became a hate-ridden night, Antoine Leiris lost his wife, Hélène... Read Full Review
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When Harry met Minnie : a true story of love and friendship
by Teichner, Martha
August 16, 2021
Call Number: 636.7 T262
Martha Teichner is a tough-minded, thoughtful journalist who has seen a great deal of the world while reporting on some of its hotspots (Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudia Arabia). Covering the Gulf War in 1990-1991 she was among a small, select group of women journalists who were embedded with U.S. field troops.This book, her first, riffs on the title and content of the movie, When Harry Met Sally. The movie was an unlikely love story between two people, and it was fiction. Harry and Minnie are two bull terriers, who also are an unlikely match, and theirs is a real-life... Read Full Review
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The autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
by Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946
June 28, 2021
Call Number: 813 S819S 2020
Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein were originals, as individual people and as a couple. They did not strive to be different or unique, they just were. As a couple they even debunk what might be perceived as their traditional roles in a relationship with Gertrude Stein, the writer, poet and creator with Alice B. Toklas as a factotum who supported the great artist and took care of the household and cooking. It is not quite the whole story. They were stereotyped, and for the uninformed not to be taken seriously. At one time, Gertrude Stein was gratuitously known for one line from a long poem, “... Read Full Review
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On Juneteenth
by Gordon-Reed, Annette
June 21, 2021
Call Number: 326.09764 G6655
In size and length, this relatively small book encompasses a major historical event, Juneteenth. Annette Gordon-Reed (historian, lawyer, law professor, multi-award-winning writer and native-born Texan) has written a collection of essays based on personal remembrances and history. No reader should be misled to think that this book will provide a quick overview of what is now a federal holiday. If anything, this distillation of history should send many of us to do further research and reading.January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which according to the... Read Full Review
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Sometimes you have to lie : the life and times of Louise Fitzhugh, renegade author of Harriet the spy
by Brody, Leslie, 1952-
June 8, 2021
Call Number: 813 F555Br
When the children's novel Harriet the Spy was published it received positive and negative criticism, and there was some alarm, even by librarians, about the main character, a cantakorous child, who is a spy. Harriet is an eleven-year-old who keeps a notebook, really a diary, with her observations about classmates, neighbors and family. When another child steals the notebook, classmates read Harriet's notes and start bullying her. In today's world the fictional Harriet would be considered an outlier, a... Read Full Review
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Every Day is a Gift: A Memoir
by Duckworth, Tammy
May 19, 2021
Call Number: 92 D836
It is one woman’s story of growth and achievement, comprised of innumerable personal and professional extremes, of opposing and contradictory experiences that took her to places, jobs and professions that she never ever could have imagined. Her life is like a complex Venn diagram or a mandala, with multiple overlapping layers. On the book jacket, beneath her name, she lists soldier, senator, mother. The life of a soldier propelled her on the road to becoming a senator and a mother.She is biracial, multiethnic and multilingual. In 1989, from the University of Hawaii she graduated with a B.A.... Read Full Review
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Let's make ramen! : a comic book cookbook
by Amano, Hugh
May 11, 2021
Call Number: 641.5952 A484
Walk into any supermarket, peruse the soup aisle, and you will find the ubiquitous paper cups of ramen lining numerous shelves. The variety is terrifc. These instant cups have helped many of us get through a hectic day at work or home because they are convenient, inexpensive, have a relatively long shelf-life, and are easy to make in a microwave or with boiling water poured over the contents to provide a quick meal. Ramen has become a generic name for a large variety of instant noodle soups. What is ramen? Is it the name of a type of noodle, or the name of a soup? What is the difference... Read Full Review
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Boundaries
by Lin, Maya, 1959-
May 4, 2021
Call Number: 730.914 L735-1
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most frequently visited public memorials under the maintenance and jurisdiction of the United States National Park Service. The memorial is a remembrance of those who gave their lives, and provides solace to those who are still alive--family, friends and veterans. What came to be known as the Vietnam War, and the involvement of the United States, was one of the most tumultuous, contentious and divisive periods in the modern history of our country. The history of the creation of the memorial was... Read Full Review
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Crazy Brave: A Memoir
by Harjo, Joy
April 28, 2021
Call Number: 811 H2816H-1
Joy Harjo is the current Poet Laureate of the United States, whose tenure began on June 19, 2019, and is the first Native American to hold this position. Last year she was elected to a third term by Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress. Harjo began her first year with a poetry reading and concert. Never one to regard unexpected events as anything other than a part of the cycle of life, the pandemic fired up Harjo's exceptional resilience, versatility and... Read Full Review
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Start With a Small Guitar: Poems
by Thompson, Lynne
April 14, 2021
Call Number: 811 T4733-1
In this collection by Lynne Thompson the poems are about love and longing that combine the ethereal, the earthy, with unexpected modern incantations to people, places, flora and fauna. These modern lyrical poems are not predictable. Poems of substance require at least a second reading, and these poems require more than that. They are mostly joyous and frequently made me laugh out loud, recognizing Thompson’s honesty about relationships: what we expect, what we get and how we deal with our thoughts and emotions in that context. The title of each poem is like wrapping paper around a gift, with... Read Full Review
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Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose
by Giovanni, Nikki
April 7, 2021
Call Number: 811 G5115-16
Poetry is the most intense and concentrated form of writing, using words, metre, rhyme and format to express thoughts, feelings and ideas that can be fact or fiction. It gets at the marrow of truth and truth-telling using words to create an image, not a picture, of an idea. In expository/essay writing, a subject statement is presented, then followed with paragraphs that have content to support the subject. An essay takes the time and space to implore, convince and to tell you something. Poetry slams on the brakes and makes you reconsider what was written. It may very well make you look... Read Full Review