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Defining Style

Emphasizing personal style, Joan Barzilay Freund’s Defining Style is a freeing, inspiring and extremely innovative look at interior design.
Emphasizing personal style, Joan Barzilay Freund’s Defining Style is a freeing, inspiring and extremely innovative look at interior design.
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The perfect holiday reads

Review by MiChelle Jones

October 1843 was the worst of times for Charles Dickens, Les Standiford explains in The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. Despite early successes and a secure place in the literary canon, at 31, Dickens found his career, finances and marriage at low points. And yet, he rallied to write one of the most enduring tales of all time in just six weeks. Showing how the Carol (as Dickens referred to the novella) developed in Dickens' mind—inspired by a lifelong love of Christmas, a belief in social responsibility and a hope of quick financial rewar—is just one of the accomplishments of Standiford's entertaining book. He also covers the publishing and copyright industry of the mid-1800s, the history of the Christmas holiday and provides a view of life in England during the Victorian Age. Standiford includes a succinct paraphrasing of A Christmas Carol as well as a rundown of some of the thousands of adaptations and parodies of the work.

As an antidote to the more saccharine expressions of holiday cheer, turn to John Grossman's fourth holiday book, Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas. Culled from the author's collection of antique postcards and advertisements, this parade of evil spirits, surly Santas and bad children also has a (slightly) softer side, showing the evolution of the old elf from European figure to all-American icon.

Christmastime in the city
Whether you use A Very New York Christmas as a planner for Christmases future or memory book of Christmases past, this little book makes a delightful Christmas present. Featuring the beautiful artwork found on Michael Storrings' NYC-themed holiday ornaments, the book takes readers on a colorful watercolor tour of Manhattan and the other boroughs, starting with the Macy's parade. Snowflakes—Swarovski at Saks and Baccarat at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue—follow, along with St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Plaza, the Guggenheim, scenes of Central Park and a giant menorah. Then it's on to the American Museum of Natural History's Origami Tree and the tricked out Dyker Heights neighborhood before returning to Times Square for New Year's Eve. A map at book's end (rendered in watercolor, of course) shows the location of all the pictured sites.

Visions of gingerbread

If decorating a tree isn't enough of a challenge, try the confectionary wonders in Susan Matheson and Lauren Chattman's witty The Gingerbread Architect: Recipes and Blueprints for Twelve Classic American Homes. For each of the architectural styles, architect Matheson and former pastry chef Chattman include ingredients, step – by – step instructions, a dollop of history and suggestions for even more elaborate decoration. Even those of us who lack patience or coordination may be tempted to try the structures, which include an urban brownstone, an art deco gem, a Corbusier – esque "modern" house, a Victorian farmhouse and a Cape Cod.

Simpler gingerbread creations are described in Yvonne Jeffery's The Everything Family Christmas Book, along with a Spirit of Christmas Present-worthy bounty of holiday-themed games, lists of Christmas movies and TV shows, party ideas, decorating tips, etc. This is a great resource for new families or households, someone hosting the family Christmas for the first time or otherwise seeking to establish new traditions. Among the treats Jeffery includes: suggestions for reducing holiday stress and dealing with guests; the top gifts of various decades and how much they cost; and how the holiday is observed around the world.

Holidays on nice

Have a box of tissues handy when you sit down with Ed Butchart's More Pages from the Red Suit Diaries; David Sedaris, he ain't. Butchart was the official Santa at Georgia's Stone Mountain Park for 18 years and in this follow-up to 2003's Red Suit Diaries, he shares more heartwarming stories of his adventures as a real-bearded Santa. In vignettes familiar to viewers of made-for-TV holiday movies (and a couple reminiscent of Miracle on 34th Street), Butchart astounds little kids with his insider knowledge, puts parents at ease and delights in seeing second-generation visitors. He also makes a few miracles happen through the ministry he founded with his late wife, Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC).

October 1843 was the worst of times for Charles Dickens, Les Standiford explains in The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits. Despite early successes and a secure place in the…

Religion & Spirituality

Parenting without fear

Review by bookpagedev

Dr. Tim Kimmel contends that too much of today’s Christian parenting is based upon fear and, as a result, many parents build walls of holy checklists around their children to keep them safe. What God really wants, he insists in Grace-Based Parenting, is for parents to base their parenting on God’s grace instead. With an easy-to-read style and lots of explanations, examples and encouragement, Kimmel gives parents the tools to build or rebuild a home that reflects the security (love), significance (purpose) and strength (hope) that God gives each of His children. Mike Parker is a writer in Smyrna, Tennessee.

Dr. Tim Kimmel contends that too much of today's Christian parenting is based upon fear and, as a result, many parents build walls of holy checklists around their children to keep them safe. What God really wants, he insists in Grace-Based Parenting, is for parents…
NonfictionHumor

Just for fun

Review by bookpagedev

Please note that the subtitle of I’m Too Young to Be Seventy is And Other Delusions. Yes, Judith Viorst is well aware that she’s a septuagenarian, and in her hilarious and poignant new collection she has written a stellar set of poems to . . . celebrate? Commiserate? Whatever her motivation, Viorst’s verses are whip-smart and will ring true to anyone entering this decade of their lives. (A noted children’s book author whose latest volume for kids is reviewed elsewhere in this issue, Viorst also wrote collections to acknowledge her 40s, 50s and 60s.) In one of the funniest pieces, Viorst firmly insists that her middle-aged children still need her advice even though it’s now about periodontal disease and tax-free bonds. In one of the sweetest, she writes, Still married after all these years? / No mystery. / We are each other’s habit, / and each other’s history. Readers don’t need to be anywhere near 70 to appreciate such sentiments.

Please note that the subtitle of I'm Too Young to Be Seventy is And Other Delusions. Yes, Judith Viorst is well aware that she's a septuagenarian, and in her hilarious and poignant new collection she has written a stellar set of poems to .…
Religion & Spirituality

Adjusting our focus

Review by bookpagedev

Christian publishing phenomenon Max Lucado is an industry unto himself. His work appears on everything from bookmarks and calendars to greeting cards and plush animals. With all this acclaim, it would be easy for Lucado to assume the universe revolved around him. Instead, he has chosen to proclaim loudly that contrary to popular belief, It’s Not About Me. Lucado contends that modern life leads people to want the wrong things. Using the universe as a measuring rod, Lucado draws on the ancient wisdom of Copernicus to conclude that there is a center to all created things, and it isn’t us it is God. We exist to give honor to His name. By properly aligning our lives with this central truth, we not only find our purpose, but happiness.

Christian publishing phenomenon Max Lucado is an industry unto himself. His work appears on everything from bookmarks and calendars to greeting cards and plush animals. With all this acclaim, it would be easy for Lucado to assume the universe revolved around him. Instead, he…
LifestylesHealth & Fitness

A younger you awaits

Review by bookpagedev

Look and feel 10 years younger in 10 weeks. Sound too good to be true? It’s not, and you don’t have to resort to plastic surgery or fad diets to achieve it, says physician Steven Masley in his new book, Ten Years Younger. His sensible, easy-to-follow plan is based on a healthy diet, skin rejuvenation, plenty of exercise and stress reduction. Masley argues that the fast-paced and unhealthy lifestyle many Americans choose leads to accelerated aging. That is, the waistline grows and the memory goes. The solution, he says, is to counteract the one-percent average reduction in overall fitness level each year. Masley breaks his plan down into phases, and includes appropriate meals, exercise, skin and dietary supplements, and relaxation routines for each day. Turning back the clock never sounded so simple.

Look and feel 10 years younger in 10 weeks. Sound too good to be true? It's not, and you don't have to resort to plastic surgery or fad diets to achieve it, says physician Steven Masley in his new book, Ten Years Younger. His…
MusicArts & Culture

The remarkable life of a blues icon

Review by bookpagedev

It’s a long way from Stovall, Mississippi, to the South Side of Chicago. Yet once Muddy Waters had his fill of sharecropping and made the trek north in 1943, he would embark on a legendary career that established him as a pre-eminent American bluesman. Veteran music writer and Memphis resident Robert Gordon has written a well-documented, anecdote-filled biography of Waters (born McKinley Morganfield) in Can’t Be Satisfied, a book that also functions as a mini-history of American blues, focusing on Waters contemporaries such as Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon and Big Bill Broonzy, as well as the important recording work accomplished at Chicago’s Chess Studios. Waters first came to the attention of folklorist Alan Lomax, who made some vital yet primitive recordings of his distinctive slide-guitar stylings in 1941. When Waters finally left his hardscrabble Mississippi Delta roots behind, he became an icon of the blues world, with all the attendant adulation and personal ups and downs that status entails. Gordon’s compellingly written narrative captures Waters’ amazing life on the road, the incredible cast of generally unknown but gifted sidemen who surrounded him, including pianist Otis Spann, harmonica player Little Walter and guitarist Jimmy Rogers, as well as the local color of life in the Windy City, where the blues was revered but remained almost a cultish pursuit until British rockers like The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton brought international attention to it in the 1960s. In many ways, modern-day gangsta-rappers have nothing on Waters, who often held court over a music culture characterized by cash money, guns, booze, a welter of wives and lovers, and often-illegitimate offspring. Yet while many of his contemporaries were left by the wayside imprisoned, victimized by drugs or just plain tired of the life Waters persevered, continuing to sing and play almost to his death in 1983 at the age of 70. The blues were around way before I was born, Waters once said. They’ll always be around. Long as people hurt, they’ll be around. Gordon’s book captures this truth in riveting fashion, providing a portrait of a man who was certainly no saint but was, without question, an essential and vastly influential artist. The book’s extensive footnotes offer a treasure trove of interesting facts and fascinating stories about the American blues scene. The volume also includes a brief but poignant foreword by Keith Richards and 16 pages of black-and-white photos.

It's a long way from Stovall, Mississippi, to the South Side of Chicago. Yet once Muddy Waters had his fill of sharecropping and made the trek north in 1943, he would embark on a legendary career that established him as a pre-eminent American bluesman.…

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