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Santa’s gift bag is heavy with books celebrating enduring filmmakers, the making of a Golden Age screen classic, two beloved cult films and a toast to Hollywood’s drinking circuit.

Scorsese on the set of Goodfellas, copyright ©1990 The Kobal Collection. From Martin Scorsese, reprinted with permission from Abrams. 

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN MASTER
Martin Scorsese: A Retrospective celebrates one of America’s most original and audacious filmmakers. Written by incisive film critic Tom Shone and lavishly illustrated, this book—like a Scorsese film—packs a passionate wallop and is elevated by scrutinous attention to detail.

The film-by-film format encompasses Scorsese’s student films, B-movies (the Roger Corman-produced Boxcar Bertha), slick Hollywood entries (New York, New York), curiosities (The Last Temptation of Christ), documentaries (The Last Waltz) and iconic titles that established him as “the patron saint of blood and pasta” (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas).

A SINGULAR STYLE
In The Ultimate Woody Allen Film Companion, author Jason Bailey—film editor for Flavorwire—focuses on professional output, not controversial personal life, as he moves through nearly 50 years of Allen’s films—from What’s Up, Tiger Lily? to Blue Jasmine. The book’s lively, intuitive essays include surveys of Allen’s recurring themes (Jewish mothers, magic and magical realism, Groucho idolatry, infidelity, younger women, hypochondria), intermingled with charts and pages on related subjects including New York (complete with a map showing locales of film scenes), his favorite leading ladies and more.

BEHIND THE ULTIMATE EPIC
Lawdy! Who’d have guessed—after all these years and so much dissection—that The Making of Gone with the Wind would be as startlingly informative as it is sumptuous? But, then, author Steve Wilson, curator of the film collection at the University of Texas at Austin, had the benefit of access to the archives of David O. Selznick, the film’s producer, and his business partner. As a result, more than 600 rarely seen items, including storyboards, telegrams, contracts, fan mail, concept art and more, are grandly reproduced and scrutinized.

The book doesn’t skirt the racial controversies that have dogged the movie over the decades, but in this, its 75th year, neither is there any denying of its influence—and endurance.

AN IMPROBABLE CLASSIC
It was at a 25th anniversary gathering for the 1987 cult movie The Princess Bride that Cary Elwes—Westley to the film’s many devoted fans—was inspired to pen, with the help of Joe Layden, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride.

The filmmakers and stars share their stories as Elwes charts the film’s unlikely journey from modest hit to cult status (thanks to VHS sales) to a timeless favorite featuring derring-do, pirates, giants, oversize rodents and the quest for true love.

UNABASHEDLY CAMPY FUN
Thanks to a magical blend of music, madness and gender bending—the lead, played by the riotous Tim Curry, is a transsexual mad scientist—a strange little musical became a pop culture legend. The Rocky Horror Treasury: A Tribute to the Ultimate Cult Classic, by devotees Sal Piro and Larry Viezel, follows the film’s history, includes lots of fun facts (an entire episode of TV’s “Glee” was devoted to RHPS) and has a side panel with eight buttons that play musical clips of songs like “Dammit Janet” and more. An envelope in the back contains extras: a poster, temporary tattoos and an instructional Time Warp dance chart.

RAISE A GLASS
And finally, hoist a glass to Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling Through Hollywood History, a clever compendium of equal parts showbiz and booze. Written by Mark Bailey and illustrated by Edward Hemingway, the book includes often outrageous stories of famed inebriates (John Barrymore and Liz Taylor among them), the bars they frequented, hangover cures and cocktail recipes.

Read all about that bastion of Tiki glory, Don the Beachcomber, and discover the origins of Chasen’s Shirley Temple (yes, it was created expressly for the tiny starlet). Sprinkled with celebrity quotes (Dennis Hopper: “I only did drugs so I could drink more.”), this book also works as a kind of tour guide—find “Open” signs hanging over sections in which the bars and other alcohol-centric joints are still serving. My personal favorite bartender, the legendary Manny Aguirre of Musso & Frank Grill, gets a shout-out and shares his martini recipe. Cheers!

 

This article was originally published in the December 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Santa’s gift bag is heavy with books celebrating enduring filmmakers, the making of a Golden Age screen classic, two beloved cult films and a toast to Hollywood’s drinking circuit.

Warning: These books will make you want to adopt a dog. Or another. Maybe even several. The pooches featured in the five books here do everything from joy riding to going for a swim (or at least a dog paddle).

OUT FOR A SWIM
So, you’ve memorized the images in Seth Casteel’s Underwater Dogs (2012) and long for more? Never fear, Underwater Puppies is here! It’s worth the wait: These delightfully damp puppies are even sweeter than those that came before, not least because most of the pups are so very tiny (or: automatically cute). Casteel is a master at capturing the looks on their faces, and the effect is irresistible, whether the subject is Sugar (a boxer who serenely floats among the bubbles) or Bentley (a French bulldog whose expression says, what is going ON here?). The dogs pictured hail from shelters and rescue groups and serve as a reminder that, as Casteel writes, “adoption is a fantastic option when considering bringing a puppy into your life.” And how.

JUST BREATHE
Do you know someone who needs a chill pill? Here’s one in book form: Lessons in Balance: A Dog’s Reflections on Life by 9-year-old Scout, the pit bull star of the Tumblr blog “Stuff on Scout’s Head.” And that’s exactly what you get in this book—photo after photo of Scout calmly balancing all sorts of items on his head, with sayings like “Acknowledge your feelings” and “Look beyond appearances.” Turning the pages is a surprisingly hypnotic experience. After a while, the objects fade, and the consistency of Scout’s mellow gaze prompts a feeling of tranquility. The images can be a hoot, for sure: The bunch of asparagus on Scout’s head is funny, the soap-bubble is impressive and the hourglass is poignant. But the humorous images don’t belie the message. As object-placer and owner Jennifer Gillen writes, “From [Scout] I’ve learned to be present and mindful, focus on the task at hand, and complete it.”

DINING A DEUX
If you live alone, it can seem easier to favor quick-and-easy meals. But there’s another way! Judith Jones offers time-tested strategies for feeding yourself and your canine companion in Love Me, Feed Me: Sharing with Your Dog the -Everyday Good Food You Cook and Enjoy. An esteemed editor at Knopf for 50-plus years who edited the likes of Julia Child and Jacques Pépin, Jones has also written cookbooks herself. She now raises grass-fed cattle on her farm in Vermont, with her dog, Mabon, by her side. He’s her kitchen compatriot, as well, which is eminently sensible of him, since Jones is a longtime champion of cooking for pets. She began in 1933 at age 9, when cans of wet food and bags of kibble were not available. “I liked sharing some of what we were eating with a creature I treasured. It was my way of caring for her,” she writes. In Love Me, Feed Me, she offers 50-plus recipes for meats, pasta and more, along with plenty of photos and stories. Clever tips abound, like this one: Why struggle to scrape a pot clean when you’ve got an eager dog who’s happy to help with the task?

HIT THE ROAD, FIDO
Ah, hitting the road—the time-honored tradition that celebrates freedom, possibility and the delights of windblown hair. In Dogs in Cars, photographer Lara Jo Regan, best known as the guardian of the beloved Mr. Winkle, captures “the pure joy of a dog in its most heightened state” via a gorgeously photographed collection of dogs with eyes alight, tongues flapping, fur ruffled by the breeze. The pooches look thrilled (and beautiful—Regan knows her lighting), and will inspire an urge to hug any nearby pets. All of the images were taken in California and showcase the state’s natural beauty: palm trees, mountains, beaches, glorious skies. Cars range from a 1979 Cadillac Eldorado to a 2014 Toyota Prius (there’s a golf cart, too), and indexes at the back identify the various cars and dog breeds. Dogs in Cars is a fun gift for dog lovers, road-trippers, car aficionados and anyone who wants to gaze upon joy, page after page.

FURRY FRIENDS
Brittni Vega’s Harlow & Sage (and Indiana): A True Story About Best Friends is a sweet and funny story told from Harlow the Weimaraner’s perspective. (Thankfully, Harlow doesn’t use the mangled English favored by some Internet sensations—she would never spell cheese with a “z”!) The book began as an Instagram account in 2013, with wonderful photos of the adventures of Harlow and her older sister Sage. Alas, Sage died a few months later. In an effort to assuage everyone’s sadness, Vega and her husband brought home Indiana, a Dac-hshund puppy. Following along as the dogs and their humans move from fresh grief to fond memories, from begrudging acceptance to true sisterhood, is a lovely experience. There’s lots of dog-centric hilarity, too, which makes Harlow & Sage a great choice for reading to or with kids.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Warning: These books will make you want to adopt a dog. Or another. Maybe even several. The pooches featured in the five books here do everything from joy riding to going for a swim (or at least a dog paddle).
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Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year—especially for book lovers! We’ve selected a stack of seasonal goodies that the little angels and elves on your gift list will love.

GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT
Capturing the only-in-December sense of excitement that accompanies the holidays, Tom Brenner’s And Then Comes Christmas follows a jolly little family as they prepare for the big day. Out in the country, surrounded by snow-covered fields, everybody gets in on Christmas activities: Sis hangs paper snowflakes; Dad’s on light duty; little brother offers encouragement; and Mom accepts mysterious packages from the mailman. This prelude to Christmas is an especially festive affair thanks to Jana Christy’s textured digital illustrations. In her hands, the rituals of December—baking cookies, trimming the tree, sitting on Santa’s lap—have a special candlelit magic. Brenner’s poetic prose distills the essence of the season, including the special solemnity of Christmas Eve, when “the whole world seems to be waiting.”

POEMS FROM SANTA
Who knew Santa was an aspiring writer? In Bob Raczka’s twinkling new book, Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole, the King of Christmas crafts bite-sized poems just right for little readers. Starting on December 1 and ending on Christmas, the merry old elf himself pens a haiku a day, offering insights into his cozy home life with Mrs. Claus and the holiday preparations at the Pole. On Christmas Eve, Santa writes, “Which is packed tighter, / the sack full of toys or the / red suit full of me?” Through illustrations that are a wonder to study—from Santa’s palatial cabin, with its ornate onion domes, to the blue, lunar landscape of the frozen North—artist Chuck Groenink provides a visionary take on the kingdom of Claus. Raczka’s poems, with their arresting imagery and appealing simplicity, make this an ornament for any Christmas book collection.

A GUIDING LIGHT
Finding the perfect Christmas gift is an issue of unusual import for the adorable angel-heroine of Alison McGhee’s Star Bright. Considering the recipient—a very special baby who’s due in December—it’s no surprise she’s nervous. The angel considers a few gift options—music, wind, rain—but none seems right. When she spies travelers on Earth who are lost in the dark of night as they journey to view the newborn, she sets off to guide them with her own special light—a bright Christmas gift, indeed. Peter H. Rey-nolds’ angels are a spunky bunch who inhabit a celestial realm filled with ladders and catwalks. His swirling watercolor, pen-and-ink drawings keep the proceedings lighthearted. Adding a new angle to the Nativity story, this thoughtful tale serves as a poignant reminder of what Christmas is about: the spirit of giving.

SWEDISH CHRISTMAS
A delightful departure from the Christmas story norm, Ulf Stark’s The Yule Tomte and the Little Rabbits is a rollicking holiday adventure that features Sweden’s answer to Santa Claus. Grump is a Yule tomte, or holiday gnome—a miniature St. Nick who delivers Yuletide gifts. Unfortunately, the loss of his favorite red hat and much-needed mittens has turned him into a Christmas crank. Deciding to boycott the big holiday, he holes up in his cottage, but he’s not getting off so easily. Neighboring rabbits Binny and Barty are determined to celebrate the season the traditional way—with tomte in tow. Eva Eriksson’s delicate renderings of Grump and the bunnies are a delight. Told in 25 chapters—one for each day of the Advent calendar—this festive tale is certain to become a Christmas classic.

NIGHT OF WONDERS
For a magical introduction to the miracle of Christmas, it’s hard to top Lee Bennett Hopkins’ Manger. In this luminous new poetry collection, animals of every stripe possess the power of speech on Christmas Eve, and each pays tribute to the baby Jesus in verse. Hopkins, an award-winning poet, selected the 15 accessible pieces in this special volume, which includes work by X.J. Kennedy and Jane Yolen. Helen Cann’s delightful watercolor, collage and mixed-media illustrations are teeming with detail and color, the perfect match for poems that have a plainspoken narrative quality. This is an enchanting look at the holiest of nights.

SEASON OF PEACE
A century has passed since World War I. In Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914, John Hendrix offers a moving account of the holiday ceasefire achieved by soldiers fighting at the French-Belgian border. Relating events from the front line in a letter to his mother, a young British soldier tells of the remarkable moment on Christmas Day when French, English and German men laid down their weapons and clasped hands, sharing biscuits and good wishes. Hendrix’s expert drawings in graphite, acrylic and gouache bring the battlefield to life. Among the mud and concertina wire, hope takes the shape of tiny Christmas trees in the trenches. Peace, as this solemnly beautiful story proves, is the greatest gift of all. 

 

This article was originally published in the December 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year—especially for book lovers! We’ve selected a stack of seasonal goodies that the little angels and elves on your gift list will love.
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When I was in third grade, my parents gave me a bright red book that still sits on my bookshelf today: Great Stories for Young Readers. Here are some of our favorite new gift books geared toward all sorts of young readers. With luck, your present to a special someone will become a cherished favorite for decades to come.

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
Young readers always get a kick out of animals—old and new—and the amusing things they do. Leave Animal Antics on a coffee table, and readers of all ages will dive in. The book combines superb photography with short write-ups about why each animal is behaving so comically. A baby orangutan gazes mischievously from underneath a “hat” of leaves; a koala snoozes while hanging slumped in a tree; and a bobcat sits atop a tall cactus in a prickly attempt to avoid the wrath of a cougar. The cover photo sets the tone as a chimp sticks out its tongue, and images inside explain that chimps’ facial expressions have different meanings from those of humans. The tidbits in Animal Antics are meant to educate and entertain.

If you know a young reader who can’t get enough of dinosaurs, The Great Big Dinosaur Treasury is the perfect choice. This is my favorite sort of storybook collection, containing eight stories from different authors and illustrators, giving kids a chance to sample a variety of tales and styles. It features favorites like Curious George’s Dinosaur Discovery and Bernard Most’s If the Dinosaurs Came Back—always popular in our house. Carol and Donald Carrick’s Patrick’s Dinosaurs is a timeless story about two brothers and the amazing power of imagination. Kids will relish Howard Fine’s dramatic illustrations for Deb Lund’s Dinosailors, about a “dinotough” group of sailing dinosaurs who encounter a nasty squall. A “Meet the Authors and Illustrators” section will no doubt lead readers to more books. And if all that good reading isn’t quite enough, the book contains an access code so fans can download free dinosaur-themed party accessories. ’Tis the season for celebrations, after all!

GATHER 'ROUND
Well-done editions of fairy tales sometimes shine like newly discovered jewels, and several recent offerings do just that.

Chief among them is Little Red Riding Hood. The Brothers Grimm tale is retold in its original form, accompanied by remarkable laser die-cut illustrations by German-born artist Sybille Schenker. Her delicate, colorful pages have transparent layers that look like lace. Colors pop against dramatic black backgrounds as these truly exquisite cutouts transform scenes from the beloved tale into striking silhouettes. The wolf threatens to eat Little Red Cap; through a window we see Grandmother sleeping peacefully in her bed as the wolf approaches; then the wolf lies menacingly underneath Grandmother’s lavender flowered quilt. Everyone knows this fairy tale, but believe me, you’ve never seen it quite so strikingly illustrated.

Robert Sabuda is the king of pop-up, and The Dragon & the Knight: A Pop-up Misadventure is another of his marvels. This collection of nine two-page fairy tales includes favorites such as “The Three Pigs,” “Goldilocks” and “Rapunzel.” Of course, pop-ups are the star here; the short fairy tales simply set the stage for the 3-D action. In the very first story, a mischievous dragon declares that he can’t stop his fire-breathing ways, and from that point on, he and a kindly knight face off on each of the book’s spreads. Sabuda’s paper sculptures rise magically, bursting out of the book’s text-filled pages. As Hansel and Gretel stand in front of the witch and her house, the dragon wisecracks, “You don’t want to know what kind of a sweet tooth SHE has.” By the end, the dragon has begun to burn holes in the pages, throwing stories into increasing disarray. Happily, all concludes in a friendly way, and there’s a fun surprise regarding the knight’s identity.

Classic Bedtime Stories reminds me of the story-books I loved as a child. This large-format book contains 50 vibrant illustrations—influenced by masters like N.C. Wyeth and Arthur Rackham—that took artist Scott Gustafson nearly two years to complete. Tales such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” jump to life in Gustafson’s detailed scenes. In “The Lion and the Mouse,” a trapped, scared lion’s head dominates the spread as he gazes apprehensively at a lively, furry mouse. In “Jack and the Beanstalk,” the furious giant glows in candlelight as he angrily tries to grab Jack. Particularly beautiful is “Little Sambha and the Tigers,” based on the enduring, though controversial, tale written by Scottish author Helen Bannerman in 1899 about her experiences living in India. Gustafson injects much-needed cultural context and humanity here, resulting in an updated tale worth telling.

Fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, take note. In Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, author Rick Riordan offers insight into the mythology behind his best-selling series. Written in the voice of Percy, Riordan’s half-god, half-mortal hero, this is a fun yet informative take on mythology, with selections such as “Hermes Goes to Juvie” and “Persephone Marries Her Stalker.” Percy explains in the introduction: “There’s like forty bajillion different versions of the myths, so don’t be all Well, I heard it a different way, so you’re WRONG! I’m going to tell you the versions that make the most sense to me.” This is a fun, breezy take on the gods that many will enjoy, whether or not they’re familiar with Percy Jackson. What’s more, Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator John Rocco adds his signature style to this collection with dramatic, engaging art.

BIG INTERACTIVE FUN
These jam-packed volumes offer a fresh spin on several favorite activities.

The Children’s Book of Magic presents a compelling look at the history of magic along with step-by-step instructions that teach young magicians 20 magic tricks. It’s easy to lose yourself in this book, which is teeming with tidbits, photos and illustrations. Did you know that sword swallowing is rarely faked? And have you heard of William Robinson, who pretended to be a Chinese magician named Chung Ling Soo? Students will love learning the tricks within these pages, such as the Rising Aces, Coin Through a Bottle and the Magic String. All require everyday household items such as rope, thread, a ping-pong ball, a deck of cards, a water bottle and so on—no giant saws needed! There’s also a timeline of magic history, a glossary and a list of skills that every magician needs.

Airplane books are another perennial favorite, and kids will flock to Nick Arnold’s Flying Machines. The book includes a brief explanation of how planes fly, along with a timeline of the history of flight, all accompanied by cheery illustrations by Brendan Kearney. The real fun starts with tear-out sheets that allow readers to build two paper planes. There’s also a box containing the materials to build three balsa wood and propeller aircraft, along with suggestions for flight experiments and a log to record notes about various flights. The models are colorful and easy to build, with names like Whirlybird Helicopter, Galactic Glider and Twin-Prop Superstar. There’s a reason why airplane books are so popular: Appealing to both boys and girls, they’re educational and offer hours of fun.

Artsy kids will be inspired by You Call That Art?!: Learn About Modern Sculpture and Make Your Own. The book’s engineers are pop-up creators James Diaz and David A. Carter, the latter known for The 12 Bugs of Christmas and other pop-up bug titles. This collaboration takes a serious look at the history of modern sculpture and includes brief profiles of 10 influential sculptors such as Rodin, Picasso, Duchamp and Calder. Students can dig deeper with the help of a bibliography and a list of websites in the end pages. The entertainment factor is a large envelope containing more than 100 colorful punch-out pieces that can be used to create six different sculptures modeled after those of the masters. These cardboard pieces are easy to maneuver, are numbered and come with instructional diagrams. Of course, kids are encouraged to forget the numbers and make their own creations.

 

This article was originally published in the December 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

When I was in third grade, my parents gave me a bright red book that still sits on my bookshelf today: Great Stories for Young Readers. Here are some of our favorite new gift books geared toward all sorts of young readers. With luck, your present to a special someone will become a cherished favorite for decades to come.
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These five new books on home décor could hardly be more different, yet are unified by a common goal: to help us craft our homes into more comfortable, beautiful and uniquely personalized spaces.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW
It’s only natural that most of us focus on fixing up the inside of our home before we even think about the outside. Aside from the mandatory effort to establish minimum curb appeal, the yard doesn’t get much of a plan at all. Cultivating Garden Style can change this. The big book of inspired ideas from popular columnist and blogger Rochelle Greayer guides readers through the process of transforming outdoor spaces—vast or tiny—into practical yet gorgeous reflections of your own style. Wondering if you even have a garden style? You do, and all will be revealed as you respond to chapters that highlight specific styles via beautiful photographs and a framework of recurring elements—how to personalize with outdoor furniture and accessories, how to select plants—which help you discover and articulate what you like and why. Greayer also includes plenty of simple DIY projects to ensure your space has as much room for personal touches as possible.

EUROPEAN GRAND DESIGN
Veranda magazine is all about luxury and the very best in interior design. This means the magazine’s newest coffee table tome, Veranda: A Passion for Living, is not so much a practical guide as it is a showcase of some of the most beautiful homes in Europe, each with its own style, sense of place and personality. This is total eye candy for us average do-it-yourselfers, but it’s sure to inspire, teach and elevate our sense of the possible. If we see big, then we can dream big and perhaps adapt big. This is the perfect treat for both the design enthusiast and the armchair traveler.    

DECORATE WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS
Desha Peacock has lots of friends. From the bushel of folks she’s gathered together to tell us their stories in her new home décor book, Create The Style You Crave On A Budget You Can Afford, it looks like she could get anyone to talk about anything. No wonder she’s an award-winning TV host and producer. Desha enlists her budget-savvy friends into her conspiratorial cohort, so that we readers come to feel that we’re part of the teamas well, making the most out of our own homes with whatever we’ve got. For instance, there’s Corri in Arkansas, who takes us through her house room by room (with Instagram-inspired photos), proudly showing us how she turned her Little Rock, Arkansas, budget (she operates her own restaurant downtown) into a shining example of design magic. In the second half of the book, Desha lays out every last decorating option we might consider, taking us through “Decision Making 101” for our own idiosyncratic case. Tips on mood boards, color, budget and a resource list round out this well-balanced guide.

YOUR STYLE GURU
On the same subject, but on a different tack, HGTV star and Good Housekeeping Home Design Director Sarah Richardson shows so much confidence in her decorative good sense, she even names her approach (and her book) after herself: Sarah Style has much less regard for budgetary constraints, placing all its emphatic wisdom instead on cleanliness, good taste and artful arrangement. If you have the resources and the ambition, then Sarah is the style guru for you. Richardson goes room by room and offers a virtuosic range of visions: formal, informal, bachelor, Parisian, Victorian, Retro, Pop, minimal and many more, all absolutely gorgeous.

YOU CAN RESTORE IT
The art of furniture restoration is an oft-overlooked subject in the DIY design world, but it finally gets the grand treatment it deserves in Christophe Pourny’s sophisticated and engaging guide, The Furniture Bible: Everything You Need to Identify, Restore & Care for Furniture. As one of the official furniture restorers for the City of New York, Pourny knows his stuff. He challenges readers with a formidable syllabus, including the abilities to identify any piece of furniture by its historical period, materials, construction and finish along with a full run-down of repair techniques and methods of refurbishment. Hundreds of detailed photographs and step-by-step montages make this book a complete education.

These five new books on home décor could hardly be more different, yet are unified by a common goal: to help us craft our homes into more comfortable, beautiful and uniquely personalized spaces.
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Gift books sized right for stocking stuffers abound this season. Small in dimensions but big in style and content, they make ideal holiday gifts for any taste.

Horse and art lovers will appreciate the gorgeous equine celebration Horse: From Noble Steed to Beasts of Burden. A profusion of beautiful illustrations, paintings and sculptures each meticulously identified by captions accompanies short essays and quotes in a hefty hardcover volume. Horse is the latest addition to a charming Watson-Guptill series of mini-books that includes Dog, Cat and Zoo.

Other small and savory selections to slip into a stocking can be found in Abbeville Press' Tiny Folios series, which features subjects from pop culture to fine art. Just four inches square, each title combines text and art for a delightful peek at such topics as Elvis and American Art of the Twentieth Century. To score some points with the love of your life, choose Hugs & Kisses which features photos of touching and heartfelt embraces.

Brush up on your Bard with Fandex Shakespeare, a set of double-sided, die-cut cards attached at one end in a lively, colorful fan of facts. Background information and a summary of each play make for quick study. The Fandex Family Field Guide series has 13 other titles, too, like Mythology, Wildflowers and Civil War.

Holiday blues, winter blahs, sugar lows and bad hair days have a new remedy: The Blue Day Book: A Lesson in Cheering Yourself Up. Amusing animal photos are paired with inspiring, witty text designed to lift the spirits. Skip sending that well-intentioned e-card to a blue buddy, and give this charming antidote instead.

A Blue Dog day will cheer up fans of popular cajun artist George Rodrigue. A Blue Dog Christmas is a warm memoir of the artist's childhood holidays and canine companions. It features 19 new holiday prints, and a festive ornament that can be used year after year.

Another artist who happily refuses to grow up is Dan Price, author of The Moonlight Chronicles. Price describes himself as a hobo artist whose mission is to travel without a destination, observing and distilling the joys of simple living. His hand-written journal entries and charming sketches are full of wonder and gratitude. This is an unusual book in an unusual format, and well worth a look for its artwork, honesty, travel writing and journaling techniques.

For the simple joys of sophomoric humor, no one can outdo the usual gang of idiots from MAD Magazine. The MAD Bathroom Companion is a compilation of the magazine's best short pieces that can be read in one sitting. Enough said? The ideal gift for friends and family fond of infantile jokes, smug mockery and great cartooning.

If pearls of wisdom from MAD Magazine are not your style, the erudite gems from The Literary Book of Answers may be. The book is reminiscent of the time-honored practice of divination, where with closed eyes and an open book, a random finger pinpoints the answer. Here, readers are instructed to focus on a closed-ended question, touch the book just so and open to a seemingly random page containing a quotation from Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Sophocles or a host of other famous writers. It may sound corny, but the quotations are pithy, interesting and certainly more grammatical than advice given by friends and family. Should you quit your job? Move to Wisconsin? Have asparagus for dinner? Wait a little, advises Rudyard Kipling; That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, says Lewis Carroll; Enjoy it, all of it, Homer concludes. As a bonus, a truly literary-minded reader can seek out the source of a quote, find the context or discover a favorite new author.

Another new book has all the answers too, but to only one question: why aren't you married? Even God Is Single (So Stop Giving Me a Hard Time) by Karen Salmansohn delivers 26 good, snappy, single-girl comebacks to that dreaded question. This edgy little gift book also offers its philosophy of why it's better to hold out for a soulmate instead of settling for a cellmate.

A true gentleman, of course, never asks a woman why she is not married. He might however, ask guests to dinner without consulting A Gentleman Entertains, by John Bridges and Bryan Curtis. As this elegant manual proves, such an uneducated move could be a mistake. Single or not, a good host must know how to set a table, put guests at ease, have enough ice on hand, avoid disaster when the entree burns and other essential skills. Several likely social scenarios are covered, as well as a few klutz-proof recipes and tips galore.

Two chunky palm-sized books that will fit even the tiniest of stockings are Christmas Joy and A Treasury of Christmas. Irresistibly small, they are nonetheless packed with seasonal delights. The Treasury recounts several classic holiday stories, and Christmas Joy explores a variety of holiday themes such as charity, children and food. Need more books for folks on your holiday list? Euripides says "Go forward to your favorite bookstore," for "Yonder lies some more of the same sort" (Hans Christian Andersen). In other words, plenty of great new titles, big and small, await selection. "You may be sure of that" (Aeschylus).

 

Joanna Brichetto is a Nashville based writer who agrees that good things come in small packages.

Gift books sized right for stocking stuffers abound this season. Small in dimensions but big in style and content, they make ideal holiday gifts for any taste.

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So you want to work on some aspect of yourself this year? BookPage is here to help! We've got reading selections from head to toe. Make a resolution to improve your life with small, consistent changes that can make a big difference in the way you think and feel.

HEAD
Feeling scattered and stressed? The Mindfulness Habit is a short, simple guide that offers a six-week program to help you live in the present moment and achieve a calmer and more focused state.  

MOUTH
If your strategy for winning an argument is to yell louder than the other guy, Dana Caspersen's Changing the Conversation is an innovative look at conflict resolution that will be an eye-opener. Take a deep breath and learn to listen carefully, resist the urge to attack and find ways to move forward.

BELLY
With Zero Belly Diet, the co-author of the popular Eat This, Not That! series delivers a diet-and-exercise plan that promises not only a flatter stomach, but also a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s. The solution lies in our fat genes and nine super nutrients.

WALLET
In Slaying the Debt Dragon, the blogger behind QueenofFree.net credits hard work and faith as the tools that helped her family eliminate a mountain of debt ($127K) in just four years. Her detailed, sensible strategies can help other families get their financial houses in order.

HIPS
David Zulberg taps the wisdom of the ancients to craft a health plan in which you’ll adopt one new habit each week for five weeks. The new habits—like eating light at one of your three daily meals—are simple but have major transformative potential.

FEET
The author of the bicycling manifesto Just Ride challenges conventional wisdom on eating and exercise in this stripped-down guide to getting strong and lean. In Eat Bacon, Don't Jog, Grant Petersen encourages readers to trade long jogs for short bursts of intense activity and ditch that low-fat diet for a low-carb, high-fat eating plan.

So you want to work on some aspect of yourself this year? BookPage is here to help! We've got reading selections from head to toe. Make a resolution to improve your life with small, consistent changes that can make a big difference in the way you think and feel.

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Ah, love—everyone wants it, but many feel unsure how to get it or keep it. These titles offer valuable, often entertaining insight on many facets of love. Personal stories, wit and wisdom abound. Go forth and be romantic!

FINDING A LATER SPARK
The New York Times “Modern Love” column has launched many memoirs, and Eve Pell’s popular 2013 essay has grown into Love, Again: The Wisdom of Unexpected Romance. “How do old people meet new loves?” Pell writes. “Here’s how it happened for me: I schemed.” She, 67 and twice-divorced, asked a mutual friend to invite Sam, a 77-year-old widower, to a party. Next came a movie date . . . and three years later, they married. Pell shares their stories, plus those of 14 more couples who found later-life love. Times are changing, Pell notes: “Old people who follow their own hearts are not considered exceptional or outlandish—less Auntie Mame and more Judi Dench.” She adds that, since there will likely be a caretaker (and grieving spouse) in every older couple, “old love” can feel risky, but some find the best way to face the truth of mortality is to seek happiness and enjoy each moment. Pell’s greatest lesson learned: “Trust yourself. Whatever your age, you have the right to live as fully as you can, as fully as you want to.” This lovely, poignant read will bring out the romantic in readers of any age. 

DEVOTION’S DARK SIDE
Lisa A. Phillips tackles a timely, deeply personal topic in Unrequited: Women and Romantic Obsession. Phillips admits that, 20 years ago at age 29, she became obsessed with “B.” The two dated despite his long-distance girlfriend, but as Phillips (fresh off a breakup) fell in love, he pulled away. “For years after I stopped pursuing B.,” she writes, “I could not acknowledge that I’d gone too far.” Friends comforted her, but if she’d been a man, “They would have accused me of stalking.” Phillips acknowledges that, and uses it as a powerful jumping-off point for her far-ranging exploration of women’s obsessive love and its consequences. Unrequited features women’s personal stories and examines obsessive behavior through the lenses of psychology, literature and popular culture. Phillips herself eventually decided that unrequited love was not to be her fate. Meeting her now-husband and years of self-assessment got her there; for others, cognitive behavioral therapy helped with “disrupting the unsatisfying cycle.” Phillips also explores obsession’s impact on its objects, and cautions readers against the “gender pass” (downplaying women’s stalking behavior as somehow less dangerous than men’s). This is a compellingly written, eye-opening guide.

FUN AND MARRIAGE
Tim Dowling professes to be surprised at his evolution from Manhattan bachelor to London husband of 20 years and father of three boys. Of course, as the humor columnist for The Guardian reveals in How to Be a Husband, he’s not really surprised—but he does find it amazing he had the gumption. His relationship started with a meet-cheat: He decided he must be with his now-wife so he cheated on and dumped his long-term girlfriend to do so. It wasn’t characteristic of him, but with new love came more changes, like visits to her London home, immigration-related stress and finally, “We simply agreed —we’ll get married—with the resigned determination of two people plotting to bury a body in the woods.” Dowling admits this is far from a self-help book, as his “successful marriage is built of mistakes.” But he shares lessons despite himself, like the Twelve Labors of Marriage (“Housework,” “Finding Things,” “Nameless Dread”) along with the 40 Precepts of Gross Marital Happiness: “It’s okay to steal small amounts of money from each other” and “Go to bed angry if you want to.” With these clever lists and remembrances of joy, grief and hilarity, Dowling has crafted a heartfelt tale of his married life so far. He pokes fun at stereotypes and advises the hapless: “I’ve always felt that being a good husband and father is a simple matter of occasionally reminding one’s wife and children that they could do a whole lot worse.”

LONG-LIVED LOVE
When you want to learn something, you look to the experts. It worked for Karl Pillemer’s 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, and he knew it would work for 30 Lessons for Loving: Advice from the Wisest Americans on Love, Relationships, and Marriage. The seeds of Pillemer’s second book originated from the Marriage Advice Project: He and his team interviewed 700 older Americans in committed relationships lasting from 30 to 70 years, including cohabitants and widows/widowers. Pillemer writes, “For them, it’s no longer a mystery as to how everything will turn out —it’s already happened.”

According to stories the elders share, what we all hear about long-term love (don’t hold grudges; share the chores!) aren’t just empty phrases, but rather words to live by. Readers can start with one of the book’s five sections (“Lessons for Finding a Mate”; “Communication and Conflict”) or delve into 30 lessons on topics like manners, in-laws, work and children. Pillemer, married 36 years, shares his own perspective-shift: “I came to a revelation. They are talking about marriage as a discipline . . . a developmental path where you get better at something by mindfully attending to it and continual practice.” Also, seeing is believing: “Nothing convinces you of the value of making a lifelong commitment like being in the presence of couples who have done just that.” Long live love!

 

This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Ah, love—everyone wants it, but many feel unsure how to get it or keep it. These titles offer valuable, often entertaining insight on many facets of love. Personal stories, wit and wisdom abound. Go forth and be romantic!
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Strong heroes have always been a fixture in romance novels, but lately, authors have been pushing readers’ comfort zones with bad boys who are off-the-charts wicked. We thought it might be fun to sample a few books from boundary-testing authors this month, so we suggest you read on, sigh and enjoy!

BAD BOYS ON MOTORCYCLES
In Rough Justice by Sarah Castille, rival motorcycle gangs battle for supremacy in a Montana town. Growing up with her brother inside the world of the Black Jacks motorcycle gang, beautiful Arianne Wilder wants nothing more than to escape and live a normal life. But her father is the vicious leader of the gang; he believes he owns Arianne, and he refuses to let her go.

The Black Jacks are feuding with the Sinner’s Tribe, a rival gang ruled by ex-military warrior Jagger. When an arsonist torches the Sinner’s clubhouse and the gang discovers an unconscious Arianne at the scene, Sinner’s members demand her death in revenge. Jagger refuses, instead he keeps her safe. He doesn’t learn until a week later that the beautiful woman he captured and released is the daughter of his arch-enemy. Nevertheless, he won’t abandon her; he vowed to protect her, and there are far too many people who want her dead. Besides, he just happens to be falling in love with her.

Arianne knows her best chance of surviving is to remain under Jagger’s protection, but her brother needs her help. Whom will she choose and whom will she betray: her brother or Jagger?

The author has crafted an interesting plot with lots of action, mayhem and danger. When combined with the heated attraction between Arianne and Jagger—who are equally matched in brains and cool street smarts— and the intriguing details about life in the world of a motorcycle gang, the end result is a riveting story. Readers who like their romance with an edge and lots of action will adore Rough Justice and eagerly await the next book in this new series from Castille.

PLAYING WITH FIRE
New York Times best-selling author Jay Crownover delivers another riveting read in her Welcome To The Point series with the second installment, Better When He’s Bold. Brysen Carter can barely juggle college classes, her job at a bar and protecting her little sister from their mother’s rapidly escalating alcoholic rages. She doesn’t have a spare moment to deal with the very dangerous, very handsome and all too sexy Race Hartman. Still, she can’t stop thinking about him.

Race knows the beautiful, cool blonde is out of his league. Brysen is a law-abiding citizen, and he’s breaking every law that won’t bend. But Brysen is a good friend to his sister, and fate keeps throwing the mismatched pair together. When someone targets Brysen and puts her life is in danger, Race steps in to protect her. While he has always wanted to sleep with her, he doesn’t want to admit that he needs far more from her than a one night stand.

Crownover brings her signature multi-layered characters with complex backstories to her latest novel. Both the hero and heroine are struggling to deal with less-than-noble parents while coping with vulnerable siblings and career challenges. Readers will surely cheer for this couple and their fight to reach a happy ending.

THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS
Samantha Young sets her latest novel, Hero, in the upper-class world of Boston society. After losing her mother three months prior, Alexa Holland has struggled to come to grips with harsh truths about her family. When she arrives for work at a photo shoot and sees powerful, rich and handsome Caine Carraway, she’s shocked. Caine makes a pass at her and she blurts out the truth: Her father is the man responsible for his mother’s death. Stunned and furious, Caine demands a different photographer and fires Alexa’s boss. In turn, her boss fires her. When Caine offers her a job, a desperate Alexa accepts, knowing full well that he plans to make her life miserable. Since she has to pay rent, however, Alexa feels she has little choice.

The two have unexpectedly off-the-charts chemistry, and before long, their love-hate relationship has added lust to the mix. Both strong-willed, honorable yet damaged people, Caine and Alexa struggle to find a balance between their two worlds. When Alexa is attacked, however, those worlds collide, and family secrets are revealed. The secrets have the potential to destroy any hope of a happy ending for them.

Hero is filled with emotional drama and witty exchanges between the hero and heroine as they fight to ignore and resist the attraction that pulls them together. Fans will be delighted with this latest story from Young.

GAMBLING WITH DESIRE
Best-selling author Sarah McCarty continues her popular Hell’s Eight series with the seventh book in the series, Ace’s Wild. In a small town in 1860s Texas, gambler and Texas Ranger Ace Parker does his best to annoy elegant blonde schoolteacher Petunia Wayfield at every opportunity. He does it because, of course, he wants her—badly. She also makes him want things he’s never had, like a wife and a family. Things he’s convinced men like him can never have.

What Ace doesn’t know is that Petunia wants him just as much. He enthralls her, even while he’s irritating her, and she privately admits he stirs  “crave-it-no-matter-what lust” in her heart. When Petunia asks him for to help one of her young students, Ace strikes a bargain with her. He’ll help her in return for a kiss. The bargain seems simple enough, but there’s nothing uncomplicated about the way that kiss rocks both their worlds. Fate seems determined to entangle the two in a growing number of ways, despite Ace’s determination to stay away from Petunia. The whole town knows the two are meant to be together. The question is, how long will it take for them to stop fighting their inevitable pairing?

The dialogue in Aces Wild is a delight—sharp and insightful, often funny and wry. Both Ace and Petunia are endearing, strong and stubbornly independent. It’s a pleasure to watch these two struggle to come to terms with falling in love. The charming cast of supporting characters includes a loveable young boy, a practical ex-saloon-girl and Ace’s childhood friend. Readers are certain to love this latest entry in the series.

Lois Dyer writes from Port Orchard, Washington. 

Strong heroes have always been a fixture in romance novels, but lately, authors have been pushing readers’ comfort zones with bad boys who are off-the-charts wicked. We thought it might be fun to sample a few books from boundary-testing authors this month, so we suggest you read on, sigh and enjoy!
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Easter is a time for self-discovery and reflection on relationships, faith and the soul. Five new books offer fresh perspectives to help readers find God, themselves and each other, and renew their hearts for another year.

Rediscovering the meaning of the gospel is the soul of N.T. Wright’s Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good. Wright has a gift for cutting through religious dross to the essence of faith, and this book is no exception. Challenging conventional views of what is meant by “gospel,” Wright calls for an understanding of the Good News as just that: good and news. Like an ancient herald declaring “There is a new king—everything has changed,” so too is the gospel, and that change is as immediate and world-shaking today as it was on that first Easter morning.

Wright’s book is a call to stop defining Jesus by what fits our culture, but as the world-changing king He is, with believers as active participants in His kingdom, building it now, brick by brick. Fascinating and uplifting, Simply Good News is the must-read book of the year for every Christian. It will surprise you, it will challenge you, and it will make you see the world and your faith with fresh eyes—good news, indeed.

WORLDS APART
Discovering God’s kingdom is the theme of Chad Gibbs’ Jesus Without Borders: What Planes, Trains, and Rickshaws Taught Me About Jesus. A native of Alabama—“the buckle of the Bible Belt”—Gibbs grew up surrounded by the culture of the Christian South. While on a European vacation, he observed churches very different from those at home, prompting him to think about how Christianity itself must differ around the world. For more than two years, Gibbs hopped around the globe on a quest to see these differences for himself, calling on contacts everywhere from Africa to Australia. In all, Gibbs visited 12 countries, worshiping with Christians of all cultures and hearing their experiences of faith—often in lands where that faith was in the minority. The result is more than just a travelogue of sites and curiosities; it’s an insightful examination of the assumptions made by American Christians and a look at how much we can learn from other views of the faith. Gibbs has a gift for humor—Jesus Without Borders is a very funny book—but also a greater gift for exploring profound questions about how culture alters faith, and how what we think it means to be Christian is at least partially the result of the society in which we live. Enjoyable and eye-opening, Jesus Without Borders will take you on a journey you did not expect and change you for the better along the way.

Unexpected discoveries also lie at the heart of Called: My Journey to C.S. Lewis’s House and Back Again, by Ryan J. Pemberton. A successful young marketing writer, Pemberton had his life spun completely off track when he was jolted by a profound certainty that God wanted him to leave his comfortable, well-paying job in Oregon and travel around the world to study theology at Oxford. Facing obstacles of financing and finding living space for himself and his wife, and of course the rigors of the most prestigious academic setting in the world, Pemberton found himself in an unexpected place, where he could only rely on faith to carry him through. Called is his account of those challenges, and of the surprises God had in store for him throughout—including the opportunity to live in C.S. Lewis’ Oxford home. Told in vignettes both simple and sublime, Called is a record of faith and revelation, and a reminder that life with Jesus will shake up all our expectations—but that upheaval will be worthwhile.

LOOKING INWARD
Sometimes discovery must come not only for ourselves, but also for others in our lives. Donald Miller, the best-selling author of Blue Like Jazz and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, confronts this reality in his latest memoir, Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy. In his typically straightforward, revealing manner, Miller shares his difficulties with finding and keeping an intimate relationship, culminating in a year-long quest to change himself from an actor playing at love into a human being able to trust another with his heart. As with all his books, Miller’s faith lies at the center, guiding him through this journey of self-discovery. As Miller prayerfully lays bare his own habits of manipulation and deception, he exposes these same tendencies in the rest of us, pointing the reader and himself toward the openness and honesty that God intends for us to share with those we love.

Discovering the self is also at the heart of Jessica N. Turner’s The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You. “Fringe hours” is Turner’s phrase for moments of unused time that pass unnoticed on the edges of a busy day, moments that can be redeemed to restore the spirit and pursue passions. Since Turner’s work is aimed at the busy American woman, I recruited the perspective of one I know well—my wife, Betsy. Reading the book with me, she offered her thoughts: “The Fringe Hours gives a lot of suggestions for ways to find and do what you love when you are limited by time, finances, job and family constraints. As a woman who measures herself against peers, this book helps me get excited about my passions (what makes me tick) and pursue what I need (rest and quiet time) without feeling guilty about what I’m not doing or being. Turner’s transparency about her life, as well as the survey comments from other women in the book, are refreshingly candid and compassionate. Her book extends grace, hope and inspiration to the reader. After reading this, I actually feel excited about my own fringe hours.” The book features short segments and brief questions, making it easy to glean inspiration and insight, even if the reader only has a few “fringe moments” to spend. If you’re feeling a bit lost in the whirlwind of daily pressures, The Fringe Hours can help you find yourself again.

 

This article was originally published in the April 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Easter is a time for self-discovery and reflection on relationships, faith and the soul. Five new books offer fresh perspectives to help readers find God, themselves and each other, and renew their hearts for another year.
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Graduation: a special time when feelings of joy and celebration collide with a healthy dose of sheer terror. All of those hours of hard work have finally paid off in the form of a high school diploma or a university degree . . . but what’s next? How to make it in the real world is a big question with no easy answers. Whether your grad needs some level-headed advice on living well from some of our greatest authors, a few first-job stories or a collection of essays from much-admired leaders, four new books offer plenty of calming wisdom.

Nerves and plenty of other things usually ensure that a graduate will retain little to none of the commencement speech on their big day. Cue Way More than Luck, a collection of 14 of the most inspiring (yet practical!) commencement speeches ever delivered, from influential thinkers and best-selling writers such as Ira Glass, Barbara Kingsolver and David Foster Wallace. Instead of a bunch of feel-good platitudes, these speeches plainly address those creeping fears new grads can’t help but harbor, while championing bravery, empathy and other “existential skills” that have become increasingly crucial for Millennials in our still-unstable professional sphere.

FINDING YOUR FIELD
All of the exams, the hours spent sitting (or sleeping) during class lectures, and the ink and tears spilled over term papers can only prepare a young graduate so much for the lurking inevitable: their first job. Thankfully, journalist Merritt Watts has collected 50 real stories in First Jobs to brace any grad for their dive into the workforce. From pet gravediggers to bar-backs to carnies, these stories are often hilarious enough to drive the jitters away. A short note on the story’s narrator closes each story, and spoiler alert: All of those profiled here are doing just fine.

Ever wonder about Warren Buffett’s early jobs and setbacks? How about Anderson Cooper’s or Hans Zimmer’s? Gillian Zoe Segal has collected 30 essays from a diverse group of today’s leaders and innovators in Getting There: A Book of Mentors, and they don’t shy away from the gritty truths. Buffett would “literally throw up” if he had to speak in front of a group of people until he forced himself through a public-speaking course; fashion maven Rachel Zoe was the scapegoat for her sticky-fingered boss; and Matthew Weiner (the Emmy Award-winning creator of “Mad Men”) waded through seven years of brutal rejection before his script made it onto the screen. Capping off each essay are bulleted lists of “Pearls,” and these bits of wisdom beg to be taken to heart. 

A BIT OF MAGIC
If there’s any writer who has served as an influence on today’s graduating Millennials, it’s J.K. Rowling. And with more than 450 million copies of her Harry Potter books sold worldwide, it’s safe to say Rowling knows a bit about success. But in Very Good Lives, her Harvard commencement speech from 2008, she chooses to address the subjects of failure and imagination. Rowling’s experience at rock bottom as “the biggest failure [she] knew” pushed her to pour all of her energy into her biggest passion—writing. But imagination is just as important for living well, and not only for creative professionals, as it allows us “to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”

Re-readability and engaging illustrations from Joel Holland make this a perfect gift, and as a feel-good bonus, proceeds from the sale of Very Good Lives will be donated to Rowling’s international children’s charity.

 

This article was originally published in the May 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Graduation: a special time when feelings of joy and celebration collide with a healthy dose of sheer terror. All of those hours of hard work have finally paid off in the form of a high school diploma or a university degree . . . but what’s next? How to make it in the real world is a big question with no easy answers. Whether your grad needs some level-headed advice on living well from some of our greatest authors, a few first-job stories or a collection of essays from much-admired leaders, four new books offer plenty of calming wisdom.
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The lessons we learn from our mothers shape who we are, even the lessons we don’t particularly appreciate. Those lessons keep coming year after year,  and their most valuable messages stay with us forever.

NPR journalist Scott Simon’s mother was a character in every way, a funny, gorgeous, gracious woman whose last days inspired her son to write Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime. Simon’s memoir expands upon tweets he sent to his 1.25 million Twitter followers as his mother lay dying of lung cancer in a Chicago hospital in the summer of 2013.

Her devoted son found his mother so funny and interesting that he decided to share her final moments with the world. As he explains, “She was an old showgirl who gave a great last performance.” And tweets such as this one helped him process what his family was going through: “I just realized: she once had to let me go into the big wide world. Now I have to let her go the same way.”

Patricia Lyons Simon Newman married three times, and over the years, her many jobs included being a model, secretary, typist and an ad agency receptionist. She had worked in nightclubs and dated mobsters, and Simon’s father was an alcoholic comedian.

Simon interweaves memories of their colorful life together with descriptions of their time in the ICU. He recalls frustrating moments when needed medicine was delayed and moments of supreme grace as his mom rallies for a final visit with Simon’s wife. No doubt Patricia Newman would be proud of her son and his extraordinarily compelling, heartfelt tribute.

THERE IN SPIRIT
Alice Eve Cohen certainly has a complicated relationship with motherhood, and it smacked her in the face during a daunting period she chronicles vividly in The Year My Mother Came Back. Strangely, the ghost of her mother suddenly appeared, 31 years after her death, just when Cohen faced seemingly overwhelming personal challenges.

In a previous book, What I Thought I Knew, the divorced mother of an adopted daughter wrote about finding out at age 44 that she was six months pregnant, after years of infertility and months of strange symptoms.

In her latest book, her beloved surprise daughter, Eliana, is an active fourth-grader in need of painful surgery. At the same time, Cohen (now happily married) is diagnosed with breast cancer, just as her mother was years ago. Meanwhile, as Cohen’s older daughter, Julia, is about to leave for college, she gets in touch with her birth mother.

This collision of events results in a maelstrom of emotional upheaval for Cohen, who finds much-needed comfort in the presence of her mother’s spirit: “We revisit events from our past together. Sometimes we just talk. Always, my mother is there and she is not there.”

This thoughtful memoir shows how our past and present remain constantly intertwined, and how being a mother is a complex journey that’s often full of stunning surprises.

THE FAMILY TABLE
Cookbook author Pam Anderson and daughters Maggy Keet and Sharon Damelio, the trio behind the food blog Three Many Cooks, have always centered their lives on food, family and faith. When they began to collaborate on a cookbook, they realized they had much more to share than recipes. The result is a delectable biography of their family’s food history, Three Many Cooks.

They chronicle their “incredible, messy, hilarious, powerful, screwed-up, delicious, and life-changing love affair with food, with one another, and with the people we have come to cherish.” The book is told in alternating chapters by each of the three, with every reflection accompanied by a relevant recipe.

Anderson begins with memories of learning to cook comfort food like chicken and dumplings in the Southern kitchens of her mother, aunt and grandmother. In subsequent chapters she tells how as a young mother and wife of an Episcopal minister, she mastered the styles of Child, Beard and Claiborne.

These well-written, captivating accounts describe such things as Keet’s most memorable meal (at the home of a colleague in Malawi, Africa); the three women’s weight struggles; and an unforgettable dinner to celebrate Anderson’s mother’s 89th birthday.

This book will make readers hungry, not only for the wonderful meals, but for the camaraderie that accompanies each feast. As Pam says of a lunch shared with a dying friend: “I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the moment I started caring less about perfection and more about connection.”

MANY TYPES OF MOMS
Want to broaden your Mother’s Day experience beyond the greeting-card-and-box-of-candy routine? Dip into the wildly varied essays in Listen to Your Mother: What She Said Then, What We’re Saying Now.

In 2010, blogger Ann Imig (Ann Rants) organized a live reading called “Listen to Your Mother” to celebrate the holiday. It was such a success that more readings have been staged. This collection of the readings is refreshingly diverse, touching and funny. It’s a book that’s easy to dip into and likely to bring immediate rewards.

In “More Than an Aunt, Less Than a Mom,” Jerry Mahoney writes about his husband’s sister’s decision to become an egg donor for their unborn child. This was tricky business for everyone involved, he acknowledges, adding: “But that didn’t mean we shouldn’t proceed. It just meant we’d have to educate people, to show them what a functional family we had and demonstrate that our family, like any other, was built on love.”

No matter what the makeup of a family might be, isn’t that what Mother’s Day is all about?

 

This article was originally published in the May 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The lessons we learn from our mothers shape who we are, even the lessons we don’t particularly appreciate. Those lessons keep coming year after year, and their most valuable messages stay with us forever.

If you’re searching for a gift for dear ol’ dad, two celebrity memoirs and two accounts of unusual personal quests are among our recommendations for a Father’s Day reading list.

It’s especially poignant to read Stuart Scott’s memoir, Every Day I Fight, knowing that not long after the book was finished, the ESPN anchor succumbed to appendiceal cancer at age 49. Writing in a conversational tone, his prose sprinkled with colloquialisms like “dude” and “brotha,” Scott never wavers in his candid account of the struggle with disease that dogged the final seven years of his life, describing how he “refused to curl up and just be a cancer patient,” when he’d head straight from chemotherapy treatments to the gym for a mixed martial arts workout. 

Famous for trademark phrases like “boo-yah” and for bringing hip-hop culture to ESPN in the age of the “raplete,” Scott recounts the highlights of a career that saw him make his meteoric rise from a reporting job in Florence, South Carolina, to ESPN in a mere six years. In the two decades he spent at the network, he shed the perception that he was nothing more than a “catchphrase guy” and established himself as a dedicated, hard-working professional. What makes this memoir most appropriate for Father’s Day is Scott’s account of his fierce love for his two daughters. Even when he was honored with the Jimmy V Perseverance Award in 2014, Scott steadfastly avoided referring to his seven-year fight against cancer as “brave.” But after reading this revealing and courageous memoir, we can.

MOCKING MIDDLE AGE 
If you’re offended by explicit language or jokes from a comedian who admits he’s “not very politically correct, nor do I have a very useful filter,” you may want to pass on Brad Garrett’s When the Balls Drop: How I Learned to Get Real and Embrace Life’s Second Half. But the many fans who enjoyed Garrett’s Emmy Award-winning nine-year role as the big brother on the hit series “Everybody Loves Raymond” will relish a book that blends memoir with pointed and often hilarious musings on the perilous passage through the shoals of middle age.

Garrett shares entertaining stories of his early days in comedy, as he moved from small-town clubs to opening in Las Vegas for performers like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. He frankly acknowledges his debt to comedian Don Rickles, something that’s evident in the book’s blunt humor.

When it comes to what might loosely be called the self-help portion of the book, Garrett takes dead aim at targets that include vegetarianism, plastic surgery and exercise. He confesses his aversion to monogamy, though at 55 he’s quite content with his 31-year-old girlfriend. “Ultimately, you have to live right for you,” is Garrett’s theme, and from the evidence he presents here, he seems to have done quite well in that regard. 

REACHING FOR THE TOP
Austin newspaper reporter Asher Price’s decision, on the eve of his 34th birthday, to spend a year endeavoring to propel his 6-foot-2-inch, 203-pound frame high enough to dunk a basketball might seem to some a trivial pursuit. But in Price’s capable hands, Year of the Dunk: A Modest Defiance of Gravity, an exploration of what he calls the “limits of human talent,” is an informative, inspiring and often moving story of how life’s tough challenges can motivate us.

Price’s project takes him from a Texas gym, where he’s tutored by 1996 Olympic high jump gold medalist Charles Austin, to the Performance Lab of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York to the office of British zoologist Malcolm Burrows, an expert on the jumping characteristics of an insect known as the froghopper. While crisply explicating arcana like the difference between fast- and slow-twitch muscles, he documents a punishing exercise regimen that helped him shed pounds and gain vertical lift as he strained to reach his goal. He also describes unobtrusively his experience with an aggressive form of testicular cancer six years earlier.

Readers eager to learn whether Price’s project succeeded will have to look to the book for the answer. As is always the case, the outcome is far less interesting than the journey he recounts in this warmhearted story.

TRAVEL FOR THE DARING
Albert Podell’s Around the World in 50 Years: My Adventure to Every Country on Earth is the extraordinary account of a much different personal journey, or rather a series of them: his successful quest to visit each of the world’s 196 countries (plus seven that no longer exist). Podell, who achieved his goal in December 2012, is an engaging and colorful storyteller, and the momentum of this memoir rarely flags.

If you’re looking for a guide to the best all-inclusive resorts of the Caribbean or Europe’s finest five-star restaurants, look elsewhere. Instead, Podell offers tips for eating monkey brains, advice on how to bribe your way past corrupt government officials and a system for comfort-ranking countries based on the quality of their toilet tissue. At heart, this is an adventure story, one that nearly came to a premature end at the hands of a lynch mob on his visit to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in the middle of the 1965 war between India and Pakistan. That’s only one of the brushes with death or serious injury that enlivened Podell’s travels.

Through all these occasionally nightmarish experiences and the daunting logistical challenges he surmounted, Podell never loses his sense of wonder or his dry, punning wit. What’s most impressive is that he logged nearly one-third of his country visits after reaching age 70, including perilous trips to countries like Somalia and North Korea. 

Even if your desire for exotic travel never takes you out of your reading chair, you’ll find Podell a fascinating companion. 

 

This article was originally published in the June 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

If you’re searching for a gift for dear ol’ dad, two celebrity memoirs and two accounts of unusual personal quests are among our recommendations for a Father’s Day reading list.

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