Staff Recommendations
Sheryn Morris
Pages
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Apollo's angels : a history of ballet
by Homans, Jennifer.
January 16, 2012
Call Number: 793.3209 H763
During this end-of-the-year holiday season, numerous presentations of The Nutcracker ballet are being performed with ballet dancers dressed as sugar plums, candy canes, waltzing flowers, and other holiday treats. Jennifer Homans’ Apollo’s Angels: a History of Ballet is especially wonderful to read right now. It will be of interest to everyone, not only balletomanes who may think they know everything about this dance form, but for those who know nothing about it, and in particular for those who have preconceived notions about men in tights performing daring leaps into the air and... Read Full Review
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Anatomy of a disappearance : a novel
by Matar, Hisham, 1970-
December 12, 2011
Call Number:
In this heartbreaking and haunting coming-of-age tale, an adolescent boy suffers the loss of both parents. Through a series of reflections and encounters that are seamlessly woven into a plot filled with the intrigue of a John Le Carre novel, family secrets are revealed that bit by bit clarify childhood misperceptions and longings for familial intimacy. Anatomy is aptly used in the title, since this is his dissection and examination of events surrounding the mysterious disappearance of his diplomat father, all of which does nothing to lessen or assuage the sense of loss.Nuri’s childhood... Read Full Review
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Blood, bones, & butter : the inadvertent education of a reluctant chef
by Hamilton, Gabrielle
October 3, 2011
Call Number: 641.092 H218
If you have ever toyed with the idea of being a chef or a cook, or have had the urge to own a restaurant, especially after watching one of those ubiquitous competition-style tv shows, you might want to think about the reality of a life in food beyond a few hours of a contrived reality. Better yet read this autobiography of a chef and restaurant owner who got into this line of work without a plan or formal training.This is an autobiography about family and food written with a passionate intensity for life and work by Gabrielle Hamilton: cook, reluctant chef/restaurant owner of Prune, wife,... Read Full Review
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Interviews with history and conversations with power
by Fallaci, Oriana
September 12, 2011
Call Number: 920 F194-2
The temptation must have been great indeed to refuse an interview with Oriana Fallaci, journalist, war correspondent and novelist. There were those who claimed they never gave interviews, but consented to her request, all with prior knowledge of her work. Henry Kissinger called his interview, "the most disastrous conversation I ever had with the press." And this from the former Secretary of State who had negotiated with his political counterparts from the world's toughest neighborhoods. Maybe the challenge itself, to prevail over this particular journalist, was enough for world... Read Full Review
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You know when the men are gone
by Fallon, Siobhan.
August 29, 2011
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Century upon century, during wars, women have waited for the men to return home, and the men, between battles, have yearned to come home to their wives and families. You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon is about the military men and women, their spouses and families who are involved in our present wars. She opens this book with a quote from one of the older war epics, The Odyssey, as Penelope sees Odysseus, ". . .yes, clearly--like her husband but sometimes blood and rags were all she saw." Fallon has first-hand knowledge of what it is to wait because... Read Full Review
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Must you go? : my life with Harold Pinter
by Fraser, Antonia
August 22, 2011
Call Number: 822 P659Fr
Sometimes true love does not take hold at a convenient time, does not make sense to outsiders or create good sense in those whom it grabs and spins around in a whirl of emotion, and so it was with Lady Antonia Fraser, historian and novelist, and Harold Pinter, playwright, director and actor. When they met briefly at a dinner party, January 8, 1975, Fraser said, ". . .now I'm off." Pinter asked, "Must you go?" The answer was no and thus the title and remembrance, in diary format, of their love story which disrupted two marriages and families, but endured for thirty-... Read Full Review