November 2009

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Best Parenting Books

November 16, 2009 in autism, recommended reading by Claire | 4 comments

Roughly 2 million years ago, I met Ann Brown in a “Mommy and Me” class.  She was leading the class, playing songs and singing “Wheels on the Bus” like a rock star, and dispensing warm, witty and wise advice to all us nervous new mothers.  I was an emotional cripple at the time, since my son hadn’t yet been diagnosed with autism so all I knew was that he was the “weird kid” in the class.  Ann was a great support at the time but we lost touch.  Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, we’ve reconnected.  She’s a parenting consultant with her own funny and brilliant blog which I highly recommend you check out.  So who better to ask for a list of the best parenting books out there?  Give one to a new mom for the holidays.    Or just read it yourself.  It couldn’t hoit.  But enough of me: the rest of the post is written by Ann.
 
As a rule, I am against anything that has “How To” in the title. It’s not just that I can be certain that, by the end of the book, I will NOT know how to (in fact, things will probably be worse); it’s that I am squarely against any one way to do something. I cannot think of even one thing. Dancing? No, lots of ways to cut a rug. Cooking a chicken? I think FoodTV.com has fifteen pages on chicken alone. Driving? I say no, but my fellow drivers may disagree.

And so it goes with raising kids. I am even loathe to use the newly minted verb “parenting”. It just smacks of smugness, don’t you think?

However, as a parenting instructor and consultant by trade (I’ve learned to live with the hypocrisy while I come up with a better career title) I read my share of “How To” books on raising children. And although most of them (the books, not the children) never make it to the shelf in my classroom (except as material for the arts and crafts Creation Station that my co-teacher sets up for the kids), there are a few shining beacons.

1. The Blessing of A Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogul.
Ms. Mogul is a psychologist and an observant Jew, and she builds her
parenting philosophies on the foundational blocks of her Jewish beliefs.
The sub-title of the book is, “Raising Self-Reliant Children In An Indulgent
World”. She had me at “self-reliant”. I gave this book to my Mormon
co-worker after I read it because I wanted to make sure I didn’t love it just
because I am Jewish.
She immediately went out and bought seven copies, one for each of her
children. Read the rest of this entry »

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Buy Books for the Holidays – What a Great Idea!

November 14, 2009 in bookstore, childrens, gifts, giveaway, holiday, young adult by Kim | 1 comment

button-wideThere is a new website is in town and we love it – Buy Books for the Holidays!  Their goal is to introduce literacy charities, spotlight independent bookstores (YAHOO!  what could be better?), and provide gift suggestions and printable shopping lists.  We are instant fans of anything that reminds people to shop at independent bookstores.  Starting on Monday, Buy Books for the Holidays will be highlighting various independent bookstores. 

Buy Books for the Holidays has already directed readers to several terrific literacy organizations.   Want to donate funds to organizations that promote reading?  Look at the post on Reading is Fundamental or the list of organizations that need your money or your books.  More charity profiles will be added in the future.  For most of our fans, reading is a passion that we can feed by buying or easily borrowing books, but for some it is a hard won privilege.  Take this opportunity to feed the hunger for reading in others.

The website also includes some fun book lists:  a children’s booklist that is further broken down into books for “Mommy and Me,”  “Daddy and me,”  and ones that celebrate the family; a vampire list; a list for teenage girls (some would argue that a vampire list and a teenage girl list is redundant); and, a list for “if you like that author, then try this one . . .”  More lists will be printed each week, so check out all of the options.

As I’ve said before, my mantra is “the best gift is a book.” We’ll be providing you with lists throughout the holiday buying season (look for our parenting book list on Monday) and Buy Books for the Holidays is another great resource.   Remember, once the gift giving season is over, you’ll have a chance to win a book gift certificate for yourself if you are a Holiday Helper and you buy two books at an independent bookstores.

Happy shopping!

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First NYC Independent Booksellers Week

November 12, 2009 in bookstore, cookbook, Literary Event by Kim | No comments

image_largeWell, actually it’s more than a week since it’s advertised to be November 15th to the 21st, but the launch party was on the 11th.  Longer is better as far as I’m concerned.  Launched by the Independent Booksellers of New York City, the week-ish long series of events is basically a marketing tool, but what a great marketing tool.  By bunching together events and setting aside a week to highlight them, it caught my eye out here in LA and if I lived in NYC (or, even better, if the LA stores copied the idea), I would take a second look at my calendar and try to fit in a few extra events.  Actually, who am I kidding, I’d be running all over town.  There are several events every day, here are just some of the ones I’d try very hard to squeeze in:

  • Paul Auster in conversation with Granta editor John Freeman at powerHouse Arena
  • The New York Review Classics 10th Anniversary Party at Greenlight Books (see my guest post about Greenlight Books at Bookshop Blog).  Jhumpa Lahiri and several other authors will be attending this free event; I’d like to note that I paid $40 to hear Lahiri last year, so if you can go for free, do it.
  • Every day during the week of celebrations, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks will be giving away free cookies, YUM!
  • But the food doesn’t stop with cookies, on Sunday morning stop by Book Culture for a free Bagel Brunch.
  • Unnameable Books will host a midnight release of Sarah Palin’s book and Vladimir Nabakov’s book at midnight Sunday night/Monday morning.  Which book would you chose?
  • In honor of the paperback release of State by State, WORD is offering a “Neighborhood by Neighborhood” essay contest.  My kids still wear the t-shirts they received for winning an essay contest at our local bookstore and much to their embarrassment, I’m still bragging about it.
  • The weeks festivities close with a reception at Book Culture where they will give out a 20% discount coupon.

And in the midst of all of it, the National Book Award winners will be announce on November 18th in New York City.  Visit the stores, buy some gifts, and then don’t forget to reward yourself by entering our ABA gift card giveaway to spend on books for yourself!

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Green Books Campaign – 100 Bloggers for 100 Books PLUS a Giveaway!!

November 10, 2009 in book review, environment, giveaway, poetry, publishing by Kim | 8 comments

100bloggers

Designed by Susan Newman

GIVEAWAY OF AL GORE’S NEW BOOK AND FROM GREEN TO GOLD DESCRIBED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!

We’re joining Eco-Libris and 99 other book bloggers in reviewing 100 books that were published in an eco-friendly manner.  Eco-Libris organized this event (see our post about Eco-Libris and Kim’s interview on their blog) to highlight both the need for and availability of books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper.  “Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible ,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Very few books are currently printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to “green” books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”

FC9781553800675We are so happy to join today’s blogging event.  Since I am trying to read more poetry, I decided to chose From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico as our review book.  This poetry collection is not only printed in a green manner, the poems themselves evoke an awareness of the beauty of nature and life.   I experienced a sense of melancholy and an awareness of the beauty of every moment as I read the poems.  

The theme of the time passing repeatedly occurs:  in the appropriately named “Time,” time is ”the mongrel bitch, limping along on three legs . . . She holds a bleeding forepaw tightly against her chest and whimpers from time to time.”   Even more poignant for me was “Marston-Bigot, Somerset” which describes the antics of WWII soldiers on New Years Eve at a temporary encampment juxtaposed with the animals (badger, mole) that will continually be present in an ongoing cycle of life.  

Several poems refer to aging, another aspect of time.  My favorite is ”Kontrapunkt” with the repeating lines “I crave another body.  This one will never do.”  References to autumn and winter as stand ins for aging Read the rest of this entry »

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Best Gifts for Readers and Cooks

November 8, 2009 in book review, cookbook, gifts by Kim | 9 comments

Every Christmas morning, I ask my kids “what’s the best gift?” and they respond “A BOOK!”  Last week, my daughter asked which books I would like for Christmas.  My son, the teenager that he is, responded that he was just going to give me a note telling me to read the books he gave me last year.  My husband reminded him that I’m the one that buys the gifts, so my son may want to rethink his strategy. 

We’re hoping to help you with your holiday shopping.   We’re encouraging you to shop at an independent bookstore by rewarding one lucky shopper, our official Holiday Helper, with an ABA gift card.  Additionally, as we did last year, we’ve asked booksellers, experts, and opinionated people to recommend various genres of books (regardless of when they were published) as gifts for the holiday season.  This year we’re launching our Best Gifts for Readers lists with cookbooks.

Catherine Ettlinger started Unconfidential Cook, a unique food blog with scrumptious recipes contributed by her and her readers.   Catherine’s theory is that many of us are happy to share our cooking experience, hence the name ‘unconfidential cook’.  From the chatting on her blog, she’s right.  To complement her blog, Catherine hosts unconfidential cook dinners where the guests bring a dish and the recipe, then eat every thing in sight.   I’ve been to three of the dinners and they are a Los Angeles foodie treat.  The perfect pairing of great food and interesting conversation, each evening combines the necessary ingredients for a lovely meal.  I asked Catherine for her cookbook recommendations, and while she mentioned that much of the innovative recipes and culinary writing is online, these cookbooks were so terrific, every foodie should own one:

lost dessertsLost Desserts by Gail Monaghan:  If you think one of your all-time favorite desserts has vanished forever with the demise of a restaurant or the retirement of a chef, don’t despair. Monaghan has gathered dozens of legendary recipes and assembled them with mouth-watering photos by Eric Bowman. You’ll never make a dessert again without first referencing this beautiful book.  (Kim’s comments:  I’ve seen this cookbook at Catherine’s house and it is a work of art.  More importantly, I’ve tasted a few of the desserts and they are more than calorie worthy.)

 The Art of Simple Foodby Alice Waters, Clarkson Potter:  There are more than 250 recipes in this book by the champion of  the phrase “eat locally and Read the rest of this entry »

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