I would be tremendously disappointed if the majority of people who pick up this book are vegetarians simply seeking validation for their dietary choices, and I bet Foer would be too. As a writer, Foer is renowned for engaging with the darkest truths in human experience in a wholly original manner. In his first nonfiction book, Foer saddles up to one of the most polarizing topics today: eating animals. Despite Foer's self-confessed vegetarianism, he offers narratives from all sides of the debate...factory farmers, animal rights activists, vegetarian ranchers, vegan slaughterhouse architects (you read that correctly). Most importantly, Foer lays the hard facts about factory farming out on the table, so that readers can come to their own fully informed decisions. Articulate, meticulously researched, equally funny and disturbing. Foer gently forces us to face the good/bad reality of consuming animals, in the most digestible way possible.
The seeds for the German Johnson Pink tomatoes I'm growing were brought to Iowa from Bremen, Germany in 1883 by Michael Ott. A year after his death, Ott's grandchildren founded the Seed Saver's Exchange in order to preserve heirloom variety seeds in the U.S. The German Johnson Pink became SSE's Tomato No. 1 out of a collection of nearly 6,000 tomatoes. Until The Heirloom Tomato, I was completely ignorant of the history I held in my hands when the seed packet was purchased last spring. Amy Goldman captures the manifold shapes, colors and tastes that heirloom tomatoes can acquire in bewitching photographs and phenomenal recipes (fried green tomatoes!). Goldman's tomato genealogies reveal the many reasons why growing heirloom variety plants and vegetables is crucial in the age of big box grocery chains (with their tasteless, bland greenhouse tomatoes) and genetically modified foods.
As a novice gardener, I have been overwhelmed by the hundreds of available books ranging in complexity and scope. I want a garden that includes flowers and edible plants, but that is not going to cost a fortune or increase my carbon footprint and use of hazardous fertilizers and pesticides. Grow Organic addresses these questions and more. It's a practical and thorough guide to creating your own sustainable garden from start to finish, with lots of beautiful pictures to illustrate and inspire. And thanks to DK Publishing, the book itself is made from sustainable materials!
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process Self-reliance Series)
by Kelly Coyne Process
Our Price: $16.95
Since reading this book, I have (1) foraged for and eaten a delicious array of dandelions, chicory, day lilies and lamb's quarters, (2) set about designing a worm composting system, (3) begun making my own bread, and (4) contacted my landlord about planting a garden of edible delights in our currently unused and barren backyard. And that's just the beginning. I can't say enough about The Urban Homestead. If you're wary about spending the $$$$, first peruse the authors' blog (www.homegrownevolution.com). I promise you'll be inspired to take proactive, affordable steps towards having a more self-sufficient, sustainable existence. rnrnrn
p.s. This book also comes highly recommended by our assistant store manager, Bronwen!
I never learned about the Bosnian War in high school, because our history textbooks were not recent enough. Joe Sacco’s graphic novel is an articulately written, exquisitely drawn introduction to the tragedies that befell Bosnia in the mid-90’s. Sacco’s ethnographic approach couples testimonies of Muslim, Bosnian, and Serb individuals who lived through the conflict with chilling depictions of violence and terror. It is an intensely upsetting but invaluable contribution to collective memory.
I had the karmic misfortune of being born way after the great musicians featured in this book, and yet have developed a hobby bordering on obsession with collecting as much knowledge as possible about early rock and roll music…I need not look any further. This book was produced from an exhibition for the Foundation Cartier in Paris in 2007, and focuses on what Alain Dominique Perrin (chief curator) considers to be a seminal period in rock and roll—from 1939 (the beginning of WWII in Europe and the “boogie woogie” craze), through Elvis’ departure from the army in 1959—when rock transitioned from a distinctly American-driven phenomenon, with strong roots in blues and country music, to a mainly British-dominated scene. Rock ‘n’ Roll begins with snapshots of the poor, agricultural, segregated South (suggestive of its true origins), then documents the entrance of the US into WWII after Pearl Harbor and the great economic boom of the 50s that resulted. Photographer Alfred Wertheimer’s snapshots of Elvis, taken before he became a legend, offer rarely seen portraits of a young man kissing his mother on the cheek, tinkering with a portable turntable in a train car, and napping on a couch. Rock ‘n’ Roll engages with blues, country and jazz vinyl covers, concert posters and photographs from this musical period as critical objects of art and American material culture, and makes evident the controversial ways in which the genre was mixing black and white way before the civil rights movement gained momentum. This book is a must-have for any rock fiend's collection.
Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery
by James Lileks Crown
Our Price: $23.95
While American astronauts were racing Soviets to the moon, our patriotic women were making their own bold explorations in the kitchen. In Gastroanoamalies, James Lileks (author of the Gallery of Regrettable Food and creator of www.lileks.com) brings us a glimpse of one of the darkest periods in American culinary history. Lilek’s collection of overexposed color photographs, taken from various cookbooks of the 40s-60s era, throw into garish day-glo contrast such delicacies as meat upside-down cake, light bulb-shaped flan, a multiplicity of aspics1 (chicken liver mushroom treat, corned beef slaw mold), and simmered/sautéed/broiled brains. Lileks even unearths a cookbook entitled 51 Ways to a Man’s Heart (c.1940) with the reassuring mantra, “…unexpected guests will not daunt a hostess who knows how to make a Fish Roll.” Recommended for foodies with a sense of humor and/or iron stomach, lovers of kitsch, and people trying to lose weight without pesky shakes and expensive programs (trust me…after glancing through these pages, you won’t have an appetite). Ultimately, you will be left with that eternal question that plagues consumers of vintage cookbooks with black and white photos…is that a quivering slab of chocolate ice cream or meat?
1 as·pic (noun): a succulent infusion of animal stock and gelatin, chilled and used as a coating for anything (fairly) edible that can hover in a gelatinous mass. Mmm mmm.
This book is so precious. It's not even really a book, but rather a collection of lovely contemporary art prints from a 2006 show held at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York that you could hang on your wall, if you were so inclined. The show was a fundraiser for 826NYC, a non-profit organization associated with the infamous Dave Eggers that tutors children in creative writing (check out their website at www.826nyc.org). McSweeney's published the art featured at the 826NYC benefit show as a collection, but per their usual comedic twist, they have included critiques and interpretations on the back of each art print by the 6-10 year olds that attend 826NYC classes. It is absurd and adorable and ingenious. For instance, in response to Fred Tomaselli's piece Small Photogram, 7 year old Alex Casimir postulates: “It looks like a dizzy man who’s on a bed at the hospital and he sees all these little stars far away. And to him, the sun is shaped like an octopus.” Not only does the collection stay true to 826NYC's mission, to encourage children to express themselves creatively, it also restores a simplicity and honesty to interpreting visual art that, I think, is tragically lost in most art criticism at present. A little person looks at an abstract painting and thinks, that figure's head looks like a bird head. It reminds me about how I like birds. Chicken tastes good. Yes, that figure's head does look like a bird's head, little Timmy. And yes, chicken does taste good. Art is fun!
There are many different kinds of maps aside from the pictographic representations of national and cultural borders that we have come so heavily to rely upon. There can be maps of personhood--emotional and physical experiences of negative or positive variety, fantastical locations that only appear in epic novels or television sitcoms, and spiritual adventures that cannot be conveyed by prose alone. In You Are Here, Katharine Harmon investigates the fundamental human impulse towards orienting oneself in a manner that is wholly metaphorical. Her collection includes historical and contemporary maps of the New Land of Matrimony (1772), a vision map from the Turkano Indians of the Amazon, A Pictorial Map of Loveland (1943), and Kasaburo Ohara's A Humorous Diplomatic Atlas of Europe and Asia, to name a few. Above all, Harmon's vibrant compilation of symbolic artifacts and well-chosen essays sends the message that every human is a cartographer in their own right.
Published in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Frida Kahlo's birth (July 6, 1907), this comprehensive volume includes beautiful prints of Kahlo's raw, vulnerable, feminine/fierce, surrealist art, as well as essays regarding Frida's life and style. But perhaps the most rare and valuable feature of this book are the photographs, taken from Frida's private family collection that capture her, Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky and others in intimate moments that have never been shared with the public before. This book is a lovely and holistic portrait of a masterful and enchanting figure in art history.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: The Spiritual Classic & International Bestseller; Revised and Updated Edition
by Sogyal Rinpoche HarperOne
Our Price: $17.95
The Tibetan Book of the Dead or Bardo Tödrül first appeared in Tibet sometime in the 14th century, but its authorship is credited to Padmasambhava, the "lotus-born" Second Buddha of Tibet, who introduced Buddhism to the region in the 8th century. Since its discovery and first English translation by Dr. W.Y. Evans-Wentz in 1927, the Bardo Tödrül has captivated Westerners with its utterly alternative take on death and human impermanence. But without added context for the dense and mysterious teachings given in the Bardo Tödrül, much of its meaning is lost.
Sogyal Rinpoche, a contemporary Tibetan Buddhist master, expands the Bardo Tödrül teachings for a Western audience. Sogyal provides an exhaustive and fascinating background on Tibetan Buddhist beliefs regarding impermanence, compassion, the nature of mind, karma and rebirth in an approach that is valuable for people of all spiritual backgrounds, especially those who struggle with the loss of a loved one. This is a comforting, illuminating, poetically written manual for living and dying well in a cultural climate that is in great need of a healthier, more socially responsible attitude towards death.
Human beings aren’t simple. Realistically, no one is completely “good” or “evil” to the core. Many of us are products of parents whom we felt were intrinsically well-intentioned people that somehow ended up on the wrong path, towards self-destruction or worse. But we still love them viciously. This is a book about Helen, a daughter raised by such a parent—who loves her mentally ill mother deeply, but ultimately murders her in an act seeming both cruel and altruistic. The story unfolds over the next 24 hours, as a constellation of characters deeply connected by painful histories begins to unwind around Helen, and she struggles with guilt and relief.
Although The Almost Moon is a work of fiction, there are clearly autobiographical themes running throughout the work (those that have read Sebold’s memoir Lucky will agree). This is a brutal, difficult read, but Alice Sebold has the rare ability to render even the most horrifying scenes of ugliness and violence in a voice that is simple, honest, and does justice to the reality of such experiences. Sebold captures the inscrutability of growing up in a dysfunctional environment, and the difficult choices that children often must make out of love for their parents in a way that few writers can. The Almost Moon speaks to the complexity of such familial origins, and the rage, grief, compassion and redemption that are all equally present and equally possible.
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
by Frida Kahlo "Harry N. Abrams, Inc."
Our Price: $24.95
Frida's diary is less prose and more a collection of poetic fragments, watercolor and color pencil drawings as well as the occasional draft of a love letter to Diego Rivera. Although reading this oftentimes made me feel like I was intruding on something very personal, it is a joltingly powerful glimpse into her tumultuous and painful life, where she alludes to her chronic pain, miscarriage, and love affair with Leo Tolstoy. A haunting, aesthetically beautiful read for any Kahlo enthusiast.
