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Staff Recommendations

Julia M.'s Recommendations

The Bible: A Biography
by Karen Armstrong
Grove Press

Our Price: $13.00

This book is readable and fascinating. The Judeo-Christian Bible is possibly the text (in all its forms) that has caused the most joy and also the most devastation of any book ever to exist. Armstrong's treatise examines the development of Judaism and eventually Christianity and how individuals and groups have constructed, interpreted and reinterpreted the Bible over the 3,000-odd years of its life. Understanding this history is essential to understanding our Christian-influenced country/world.

Robert Polidori: Havana
by
Steidl

Our Price: $75.00

On a trip to Cuba in 2001 I was struck by the tragic beauty of a city in the midst of decay and I decided that if I were to be a professional photographer, Havana would be my subject. Before 1959, Havana was a thriving urban area where brightly painted yet minimalistically designed art deco high-rises lined the block next to ornate baroque-style edifices. Though they were built at every stage since the island was colonized by the Spanish, all of these buildings started crumbling at the same time: 1959. This image, of diverse architectural styles decaying at the same rate has a startling photogenic quality that speaks to the sorrows and struggles of the Cuban people who are also pictured in these photographs. Polidori has captured that beauty with incredible power.

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
Marlowe & Company

Our Price: $27.50

Veganomicon is my favorite cookbook and I'm not even vegan. It's full of delicious and not-too-difficult dishes made with easy-to-find ingredients that are scrumptious by their own right rather than as vegan substitutes for cheese and meat. Some highlights include red lentil-cauliflower curry; quinoa salad with black beans and mango; and green pea and lemon risotto with roasted red peppers. There's even a recipe for cholent! There are easier ones too, like hummus, guacamole, and an entire section of single-vegetable dishes. And don't worry, there are also some excellent recipes for “cheesy sauce” and vanilla (or green tea) ice cream. If you're interested in becoming vegan, or just in eating fewer animal products (like me) or if you're vegan already, this is a perfect addition to your cookbook collection. And it's fun to read, too! (See the description of the Snobby Joe on page 98.)

Happy cooking, saving the world!

Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age
by Ariel Schrag
Viking Juvenile

Our Price: $18.99

This book is for anyone who was ever a middle schooler, or who cares about anyone who was ever a middle schooler. In particular, it's for those of us who work with middle schoolers. It is a compilation of graphic writing about that awful time of life. Some of the strips may cause you to relive moments from your past you thought you had blocked out, but you will also discover you've come to a point where you can laugh at that past misery--even though you thought you never would. Many of these cartoons capture middle school more aptly than I've ever read.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by Alison Bechdel
Houghton Mifflin

Our Price: $13.95

I'm always on the lookout for good graphic memoirs. If you liked Persepolis and Maus, then this is what you need to read next. This one takes place in Pennsylvania and is by the author of the Dykes to Watch Out For series. It's the honest, witty, and beautifully rendered story of a dysfunctional family and Alison's survival and sexual awakening. I loved the literary allusions (even the ones that were far above my head) and the richness with which Bechdel brings the setting to life (small northern Appalachia town; Gothic revival house; Bechdel family funeral home) and situates her story within that world. And if you know other graphic memoirs I should read, please tell me about them...

No Telephone to Heaven
by Michelle Cliff
Plume

Our Price: $14.00

No Telephone tells the story of Clare, born in Jamaica in moderate privilege to a light-skinned father and darker skinned mother, who grows up in America with her father and studies in an English university. As a young woman studying in England, she meets transgendered Harry/Harriet who encourages her to return to Jamaica to reclaim her heritage. She does so, and joins the guerrilla resistance movement there. It's a book about negotiating racial, sexual and national identity, and it powerfully situates each of these struggles parallel to the others. This is one of my favorite books... Read it!

Jasmine
by Bharati Mukherjee
Grove Press

Our Price: $14.00

I agree with Alice Walker when she says about Jasmine, "This is a novel of great importance to any contemporary insight into ourselves as Americans in the midst of enormous social, political and personal changes."

Suddenly widowed at seventeen by violence in India, Jasmine sets out to perform Sati (ritual self-sacrifice) in Florida. After a torturous journey through the hidden international trails, Jasmine manages to get herself smuggled into the United States. Once here, she is propelled into a struggle between east and west, home and exile, tradition and western modernity. It’s also a struggle to reclaim her identity while everyone around her attempts to define her for their own needs. Her name is changed and she is violently redefined again and again as she moves around the US, until ultimately, she finds herself in America's heartland. With Jasmine's migration, Mukherjee has given us a window through which to see ourselves as a nation. Mukherjee's writing is rich and layered. It's a beautiful book!

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