Perfect Your Style

            New ideas for decorating your home can be found here at your library. Some of the new books we have are:

     Design Mom: How to Live with Kids: a Room-by-Room Guide is written by Gabrielle Stanley Blair, the author of the blog DesignMom.com. The theme of her book is how to live well with kids – and with six kids of her own she’s had a lot of practice. Blair’s ideas focus on finding a solution that is elegant yet works within your architectural and financial constraints. An abundance of color photos along with descriptive text illustrate family-friendly decorating solutions.

     The Height of Style: Inspiring Ideas from the World’s Chicest Rooms is from the editors of Elle Décor magazine. The editors present a compilation of the “best” rooms they have published in the last five years, each with an “overarching vision”. The rooms are divided into four categories: classical, fanciful, practical, and personal. Each full-color photo is accompanied by detailed text and the name of the designer. A list of decorating sources is included.

     Sarah Style: An Inspiring Room-by-Room Guide to Designing Your Perfect Home is written by Sarah Richardson, an award-winning Canadian designer and the host of several HGTV television programs. Sarah tours each room in the house, from entry, to kitchen, to bedroom and more; presenting ideas and full-color photos of more than one hundred rooms. Get empowered to redo a small space or several rooms.

     Taunton’s All New Decorating Idea Book is written by Heather J. Paper, a decorating writer with many years of experience. In this book she focuses on the three elements that are the foundation of a well-designed room: style, color, and personal touches. Full-color photos illustrate how these elements are utilized in the selection of furniture, floor coverings, window treatments, lighting and more.  

Afternoon Book Discussions/July through December 2015

     Join us once a month, on a Wednesday afternoon from 1:00 to 2:00 pm, to discuss a fiction or non-fiction book selection. Coffee, tea and cookies are served. Books are available at the Circulation Desk four weeks before the discussion date. Our schedule is:

 July 15^th                       Registration begins June 17^th

The City of Falling Angels
Written by John Berendt
          Traces the aftermath of the 1996 Venice Opera House fire, an event that devastated Venetian society and was investigated by the author, who through interviews with such locals as a suicidal poet, a surrealist painter, and a master glassblower learned about the region’s rich cultural history.

August 19^th                 Registration begins July 15^th

Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Written by Anthony Bourdain
         A New York City chef who is also a novelist recounts his experiences in the restaurant business and exposes abuses of power, sexual promiscuity, drug use, and other secrets of life behind kitchen doors.

September 16^th            Registration begins August 19^th

Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker
Written by Jennifer Chiaverini
         Presents a fictionalized account of the friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and her dressmaker Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave.

October 21^st                Registration begins September 16^th

Defending Jacob
Written by William Landay
         When his fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student, assistant district attorney Andy Barber is torn between loyalty and justice as facts come to light that lead him to question how well he knows his own son.

November 18^th            Registration begins October 21^st

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin
Written by Erik Larson
         Documents the efforts of the first American ambassador to Hitler’s Germany, William E. Dodd, to acclimate to a residence in an increasingly violent city where he is forced to associate with the Nazis while his daughter pursues a relationship with Gestapo chief Rudolf Diels.

December 16^th             Registration begins November 18^th

What Alice Forgot
Written by Liane Moriarty
         Suffering an accident that causes her to forget the last ten years of her life, Alice is astonished to discover that she is thirty-nine years old, a mother of three children, and in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from a man she dearly loves.

 

 

Outdoor Projects: Books to Inspire You

                        Prepare your yard for a staycation this summer when you create one or several outdoor projects as described in these books.

            The Bartlett Book of Garden Elements: a Practical Compendium of Inspired Designs is written by Michael and Rose Bartlett. Michael, now deceased, and Rose traveled the world for thirty years in search of unique garden ornamentation that is now documented with the information and colorful photos in this book. Examples of fences, fountains, and furniture, to stairs, sundials, and swimming pools, and more are given.

            Mosaic Garden Projects: Add Color to Your Garden with Tables, Fountains, Birdbaths, and more is written by Mark Brody and Sheila Ashdown. Here they present 25 projects that range in easy to advanced ability level. Tools, supplies, materials, and techniques are described and templates are provided. Color photos complement the text.

            The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects is written by Spike Carlsen. Carlsen, an expert woodworker, and former editor of Family Handyman, provides illustrated instructions for 76 projects that promote a sustainable lifestyle. Some of these projects cover harvesting and food preparation, storage and workspaces, animal shelters and feeders, and more.

            The Complete Guide to Outdoor Carpentry: Complete Plans for Beautiful Backyard Building Projects is a Black & Decker publication. Step-by-step instructions are given for more than 30 projects, including chairs, tables, benches, swings, and more. All are accompanied by color photos.

            Outdoor Wood Projects: 24 Projects You Can Build in a Weekend is written by Steve Cory. The projects are easy-to-do and include complete illustrated instructions. Construct planters, trellises, window boxes and outdoor furniture; some made from new wood, others from reclaimed wood or bamboo for extra savings.  

Alternative Diets

            Here are some more diet and cookbooks featuring healthy foods, as selected by librarian Nicole. Two books are based on the Paleo diet, and the other three on juicing.

            Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans, written by Michelle Tam, offers a variety of family-friendly Paleo recipes as well as strategies for stocking the pantry, feeding kids, maximizing flavor, and saving time in the kitchen.

            The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat, written by Loren Cordain, presents a breakthrough nutrition program based on eating the foods we were genetically designed to eat – lean meats and fish and other foods that made up the diet of our Paleolithic ancestors.

            The Blender Girl: Super-Easy, Super-Healthy Meals, Snacks, Desserts and Drinks is written by Tess Masters. This debut cookbook from the powerhouse blogger behind theblendergirl.com, features 100 gluten-free, vegan recipes for smoothies, meals, and more made quickly and easily in a blender.

            The Joy of Juicing: 150 Imaginative, Healthful Juicing Recipes for Drinks, Soups, Salads, Sauces, Entrees, and Desserts is a creative collection of juicing recipes from award-winning broadcast journalist and bestselling author Gary Null.

            The Reboot with Joe Juice Diet: Lose Weight, Get Healthy and Feel Amazing is written by Joe Cross. He gives readers all the tools they need to embark on their own journey to health and wellness, including inspiration and encouragement, recipes, and diet plans.

 

Healthy Living: Cookbooks, Diets, and More

            Anytime is the right time to eat healthily. Librarian Nicole offers an assortment of books to help us along.

            100 Days of Real Food: How We Did It, What We Learned, and 100 Easy, Wholesome Recipes Your Family Will Love, is written by Lisa Leake. Lisa decided her family’s eating habits needed an overhaul. She, her husband, and their two small girls pledged to go 100 days without eating highly processed or refined foods.

           A Slice of Organic Life is written by Sheherazade Goldsmith. It features over 90 self-contained projects, from growing your own food organically, cooking home-grown produce, keeping selected livestock, and leading a more sustainable lifestyle. This down-to-earth, yet practical guide is the perfect start for someone looking to go “green”.

           The Naked Foods Cookbook is written by Margaret Floyd. This cookbook, organized by the amount of time it takes to prepare a recipe, collects tasty, gluten-free dishes made with whole foods and healthy fats.

           Gluten-Free Girl Every Day is written by Shauna James Ahern. The book features food you want to cook every day: fresh, satisfying and filled with great flavors. Vegetables in season are the key to these recipes, along with whole grains, beans, and a few key spices and homemade sauces.

          The How can it Be Gluten Free Cookbook: Revolutionary Techniques, Groundbreaking Recipes is written by the editors at America’s Test Kitchens. They tried thousands of recipes to figure out the secrets to making favorite foods without gluten. This landmark book tells what works, and why.

May is Older Americans Month

            It’s inevitable that we age. To be prepared, and perhaps improve the experience, try these books.

            Goddesses Never Age: the Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being, is written by Christiane Northrup, M.D., a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and New York Times best-selling author. Here Northrup offers tips on how to enjoy good health, a fulfilling sex life, and pain-free movement while continuing to build on all of our relationships. Several personal stories enhance the text, and the 14-Day Ageless Goddess program is presented.

            Our Aging Bodies is written by Gary F. Merrill, a professor of cell biology and neuroscience at Rutgers University.  Using clear, informative text and anecdotal examples, Merrill describes the aging of the body’s major organs and bodily processes.

            Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying), written by journalist Bill Gifford, presents the latest in anti-aging research. Informative yet humorous, Gifford shows the reader some of the recent techniques that may or may not slow the aging process, including calorie restriction, adding resveratrol or turmeric to your diet, stem cell research, and the old standbys – proper diet and exercise.

            Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security is written by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and others. Find out how many Americans are missing out on billions of Social Security dollars to which they are entitled. Ways to maximize your lifetime benefits include: filing for benefits and then suspending them; start, stop, and start benefits again; how to collect from a divorced spouse’s account; and many others. Clear information is given in easy-to-understand language.  

            Social Security for Dummies, written by Jonathan Peterson, explains what social security is, how and when to sign up for benefits, navigating the system, and more. Also, find out about disability benefits and Medicare.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

            Already a bestseller in Japan and England, this book also is on the Newsday bestseller list here. It is written by Marie Kondo, a young Japanese woman and cleaning expert who has had a strong passion for decluttering and organizing since childhood. During her career, she has developed the KonMari Method which requires that you “concentrate your efforts on eliminating clutter thoroughly and completely within a short span of time”.

            How to decide what to throw away and what to keep? You must take each item you own, hold it and observe whether it sparks a feeling of joy within you. If it does, keep the item; if it does not, you should feel free to discard it or give it away. What types of items should you evaluate?  Clothing, books, papers, and komono (miscellaneous items).

            Kondo approaches the art of decluttering and organizing spiritually. For example, she says that if you are getting rid of something because it has outlived its use, or never served a purpose, be sure to thank the item for its service. Also, each day when you put away the things that you wore or used, say something like “Thanks for all you did for me today”.

            Finally, Kondo believes that once you have completed your “tidying up” project, you may experience other positive changes in your life. You may gain confidence in your decision-making capacity, gain confidence in life, reduce anxiety, find your mission in life, and more.

            This is a little book that can make a great impact.