When you do something with style, you express your personality. Each of us, as an individual, have different tastes in clothing, décor, favorite activities and more. Here are some books that celebrate our differences and our similarities.
The Truth about Style, written by Stacy London, the co-host of TLC’s What Not to Wear, highlights the stories of nine different women from all walks of life. Before sharing these stories, however, Stacy tells us about the ups and downs of her own life and how she overcame her problems. Then we see how Stacy guides the nine women in their search for new self-images, starting in their closets. Several color photos accompany each case study.
Cupcakes and Cashmere: a Guide for Defining Your Style, Reinventing Your Space, and Entertaining with Ease, is written by Emily Schuman, the creator of the blog Cupcakes and Cashmere. This guide is arranged by season and is packed with information relating to the topics of style, beauty, at home and food and entertaining. The text is complemented by attractive color photos.
Wear This Now: Your Style Solution for Every Season and any Occasion is written by Michelle Madhok with Eileen Conlan. Madhok is the founder of Shefinds Media, which includes the website shefinds.com. This book helps the reader analyze her clothes closet, shop like a pro, look fabulous in every season and dress for special occasions. Cute color illustrations abound.
Lilly: Palm Beach, Tropical Glamour, and the Birth of a Fashion Legend combines a biography of fashion designer and icon Lilly Pulitzer with an examination of her style sense and business acumen. The book, written by Kathryn Livingston, includes a large scoop of gossip and a collection of appealing black-and-white celebrity photos.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Humor at the Library
Sometimes life can get you down. We have a solution for that: visit the library and pick out some humor books. Some of our new ones include:
I Hate Everyone . . . Starting with Me, written by comedienne Joan Rivers, is a rant against all people, no matter how worthy they may be, or how politically incorrect it is to belittle them. She goes after the dead, the elderly, the disabled, and people with annoying habits, people with good manners, and on and on. Although funny to read, the reader may find him or herself wincing at some of the jokes.
How Not to Read: Harnessing the Power of a Literature-Free Life, written by Dan Wilbur, gives tips on how to fake leading a well-read life, in order to impress others and be successful. An added bonus is the section of book jacket redesigns.
Suburgatory: Twisted Tales from Darkest Suburbiais written by Linda Erin Keenan and based on the television show by the same name. The book describes how Keenan’s life changes after she leaves her job as a CNN news producer and becomes a suburban stay-at-home mother. Her humor targets upper-middle class homeowners and parents.
The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever, is David Yoo’s autobiographical account of his failure- and fear-filled experiences from early adolescence to adulthood. Now the author of two young adult novels, Yoo enables the reader to identify with his pain and laugh along with him.
I Hate Everyone . . . Starting with Me, written by comedienne Joan Rivers, is a rant against all people, no matter how worthy they may be, or how politically incorrect it is to belittle them. She goes after the dead, the elderly, the disabled, and people with annoying habits, people with good manners, and on and on. Although funny to read, the reader may find him or herself wincing at some of the jokes.
How Not to Read: Harnessing the Power of a Literature-Free Life, written by Dan Wilbur, gives tips on how to fake leading a well-read life, in order to impress others and be successful. An added bonus is the section of book jacket redesigns.
Suburgatory: Twisted Tales from Darkest Suburbiais written by Linda Erin Keenan and based on the television show by the same name. The book describes how Keenan’s life changes after she leaves her job as a CNN news producer and becomes a suburban stay-at-home mother. Her humor targets upper-middle class homeowners and parents.
The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever, is David Yoo’s autobiographical account of his failure- and fear-filled experiences from early adolescence to adulthood. Now the author of two young adult novels, Yoo enables the reader to identify with his pain and laugh along with him.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Dieting the Healthy Way
Learn to control your weight the healthy way with these new diet books. They are:
The DASH Diet for Weight Loss: Lose Weight and Keep It Off – the Healthy Way – with America’s Most Respected Diet, written by Thomas J. Moore, MD, describes the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan originally developed to lower high blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as lower the risk of developing serious illnesses such as stroke, heart failure, colon cancer and more. Included are tips on meal planning, food tracking, exercise, and grocery shopping. Both meat-eater and vegetarian meal plans are offered; along with a brief collection of recipes.
Eating Well, Living Better: the Grassroots Gourmet Guide to Good Health and Great Food, is written by Michael S. Fenster, MD, a cardiologist and host of a local cable TV cooking show “What’s Cookin’ with Doc”. Here is a weight loss plan, nutritious eating plan, and collection of healthy recipes all wrapped up in one book.
Hungry for Change: Ditch the Diets, Conquer the Cravings, and Eat Your Way to Lifelong Health, by James Colquhoun and Laurentine Ten Bosch, presents confirmed methods for losing weight and preventing and reversing disease through healthy diet. Also included are several recipes, menu planners, and a three-day detox plan.
The Lean: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight Loss is written by Kathy Freston, a wellness expert who has appeared on several national television shows. During each day of this 30-day routine, the reader makes small, healthy diet and lifestyle changes that yield big results. A chapter containing 45 recipes, and numerous suggestions on what to eat, complete this book.
The DASH Diet for Weight Loss: Lose Weight and Keep It Off – the Healthy Way – with America’s Most Respected Diet, written by Thomas J. Moore, MD, describes the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan originally developed to lower high blood pressure and high cholesterol, as well as lower the risk of developing serious illnesses such as stroke, heart failure, colon cancer and more. Included are tips on meal planning, food tracking, exercise, and grocery shopping. Both meat-eater and vegetarian meal plans are offered; along with a brief collection of recipes.
Eating Well, Living Better: the Grassroots Gourmet Guide to Good Health and Great Food, is written by Michael S. Fenster, MD, a cardiologist and host of a local cable TV cooking show “What’s Cookin’ with Doc”. Here is a weight loss plan, nutritious eating plan, and collection of healthy recipes all wrapped up in one book.
Hungry for Change: Ditch the Diets, Conquer the Cravings, and Eat Your Way to Lifelong Health, by James Colquhoun and Laurentine Ten Bosch, presents confirmed methods for losing weight and preventing and reversing disease through healthy diet. Also included are several recipes, menu planners, and a three-day detox plan.
The Lean: A Revolutionary (and Simple!) 30-Day Plan for Healthy, Lasting Weight Loss is written by Kathy Freston, a wellness expert who has appeared on several national television shows. During each day of this 30-day routine, the reader makes small, healthy diet and lifestyle changes that yield big results. A chapter containing 45 recipes, and numerous suggestions on what to eat, complete this book.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Travels to New York City
One of the greatest cities in the world is just a short car or train ride away from us on Long Island. Whether you’re going on a day trip or a weeklong vacation, look under Dewey number 917.47 for New York City travel books to suit a wide range of interests.
Here are some new books that focus on some of the more popular aspects of travel: sightseeing, shopping and eating.
The Art Lovers’ Guide New York: The Finest Art in New York by Museum, Artist, or Period, is a fully illustrated manual about its art museums and galleries. The reader is presented with half and full page black-and-white and color photos of sample paintings, sculptures, and other works of art, accompanied by text that describes more than sixty museums and galleries. Maps and indexes accentuate the guide’s usefulness.
The Stylist’s Guide to NYC, is written by Sibella Court, who is an “in the know” interior stylist. She introduces the reader to the city’s various stores, services, galleries, markets, and places to eat. Color photos, maps, concise, informative text and an index make this a dependable handbook.
Zagat 2013: New York City Shopping is billed as a survey “covering 2,212 stores in New York City, as rated and reviewed by 14,407 avid shoppers on plus.google.com/local”. Stores are rated based on their quality of merchandise, display, service and cost. Entries are listed alphabetically; lists are arranged by special features, merchandise, and locations
Zagat New York City Food Lover’s Guide 2012/13 is a combination of brief reviews and lists compiled by category, ethnic focus, and food tours. It is “based on the opinions of 6,909 avid food lovers . . .covering 1,537 food and entertaining resources in New York City."
Let’s not forget Brooklyn! Food Lovers’ Guide to Brooklyn: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants, and Events, written by Sherri Eisenberg, contains summaries of “Foodie Faves”, “Specialty Stores, Markets, and Producers”, and “Food Events” presented in chapters arranged by neighborhood. Maps and indexes help the reader access information.
Here are some new books that focus on some of the more popular aspects of travel: sightseeing, shopping and eating.
The Art Lovers’ Guide New York: The Finest Art in New York by Museum, Artist, or Period, is a fully illustrated manual about its art museums and galleries. The reader is presented with half and full page black-and-white and color photos of sample paintings, sculptures, and other works of art, accompanied by text that describes more than sixty museums and galleries. Maps and indexes accentuate the guide’s usefulness.
The Stylist’s Guide to NYC, is written by Sibella Court, who is an “in the know” interior stylist. She introduces the reader to the city’s various stores, services, galleries, markets, and places to eat. Color photos, maps, concise, informative text and an index make this a dependable handbook.
Zagat 2013: New York City Shopping is billed as a survey “covering 2,212 stores in New York City, as rated and reviewed by 14,407 avid shoppers on plus.google.com/local”. Stores are rated based on their quality of merchandise, display, service and cost. Entries are listed alphabetically; lists are arranged by special features, merchandise, and locations
Zagat New York City Food Lover’s Guide 2012/13 is a combination of brief reviews and lists compiled by category, ethnic focus, and food tours. It is “based on the opinions of 6,909 avid food lovers . . .covering 1,537 food and entertaining resources in New York City."
Let’s not forget Brooklyn! Food Lovers’ Guide to Brooklyn: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants, and Events, written by Sherri Eisenberg, contains summaries of “Foodie Faves”, “Specialty Stores, Markets, and Producers”, and “Food Events” presented in chapters arranged by neighborhood. Maps and indexes help the reader access information.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Dog Stories
Man’s best friend (and woman’s too), the dog, is featured in a few new non-fiction books.
Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars is written by Bill Berloni, a theatrical animal trainer and Jim Hanrahan. This second edition tells the story of Bill’s first discovery of the dog that became Sandy in the Broadway play Annie; and continues with chapters about other dogs featured in the plays Gypsy, Anything Goes, the Wizard of Oz, Oliver and more, films and television shows. The book features several color and black-and-white photos of the stars, both dog and human. Berloni’s thirty-plus year career as an animal trainer earned him the 2011 Tony Honor for Excellence in Theater award.
A Dog Named Boo: How One Dog and One Woman Rescued Each Other – and the Lives They Transformed Along the Way, is written by Lisa J. Edwards, whose decision to take on the runt of the litter was of benefit to both of them. Edwards, a dog trainer with her past history of being physically abused identified with the disabled dog. Boo joins her family, which includes her husband and other dogs and cats. He trains to become a therapy dog and is able to change the lives of several individuals, including Lisa’s.
Sophie: the Incredible True Story of the Castaway Dog, written by Emma Pearse, tells the story of an Australian cattle dog who, lost at sea, managed to rescue herself by swimming through shark-infested waters to land, surviving in the wild for five months. This is a harrowing adventure with a heartwarming ending in which Sophie is reunited with her owners. Color photos add to the reader’s enjoyment.
What Dogs Want: A Visual Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Every Move, is written by Arden Moore, an animal behavior consultant and author of several books about dogs and cats. Using color photos and easy-to-read text, Moore describes 100 different postures, expressions, sounds and actions; for each she identifies what the dog wants, how to respond, and whether the behavior is limited to certain breeds or is displayed by all dogs. This is an entertaining book for all dog owners.
Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars is written by Bill Berloni, a theatrical animal trainer and Jim Hanrahan. This second edition tells the story of Bill’s first discovery of the dog that became Sandy in the Broadway play Annie; and continues with chapters about other dogs featured in the plays Gypsy, Anything Goes, the Wizard of Oz, Oliver and more, films and television shows. The book features several color and black-and-white photos of the stars, both dog and human. Berloni’s thirty-plus year career as an animal trainer earned him the 2011 Tony Honor for Excellence in Theater award.
A Dog Named Boo: How One Dog and One Woman Rescued Each Other – and the Lives They Transformed Along the Way, is written by Lisa J. Edwards, whose decision to take on the runt of the litter was of benefit to both of them. Edwards, a dog trainer with her past history of being physically abused identified with the disabled dog. Boo joins her family, which includes her husband and other dogs and cats. He trains to become a therapy dog and is able to change the lives of several individuals, including Lisa’s.
Sophie: the Incredible True Story of the Castaway Dog, written by Emma Pearse, tells the story of an Australian cattle dog who, lost at sea, managed to rescue herself by swimming through shark-infested waters to land, surviving in the wild for five months. This is a harrowing adventure with a heartwarming ending in which Sophie is reunited with her owners. Color photos add to the reader’s enjoyment.
What Dogs Want: A Visual Guide to Understanding Your Dog’s Every Move, is written by Arden Moore, an animal behavior consultant and author of several books about dogs and cats. Using color photos and easy-to-read text, Moore describes 100 different postures, expressions, sounds and actions; for each she identifies what the dog wants, how to respond, and whether the behavior is limited to certain breeds or is displayed by all dogs. This is an entertaining book for all dog owners.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Dreams of Joy: A Novel
Written by Lisa See, this is a sequel to the novel Shanghai Girls, in which sisters Pearl and May flee war-torn China and escape to California and arranged marriages. In Dreams of Joy, Pearl’s daughter Joy learns the truth about her birth, kept secret by her mother and aunt for many years. She travels to Mao Tse-Tung’s Communist China, both to find her real father, an artist, and to support the revolution, a cause she naively supports since her year as a college student. Pearl follows close behind, yearning to save her daughter from danger and heartbreak.
The story is told from two points of view; that of mother and daughter. Each is determined to fight for what is believed to be right. Joy finds hardship, disillusionment and maternal love in her life in China; she settles in a rural area during a famine, in a loveless marriage, struggling to keep her infant daughter alive. Pearl learns to allow her daughter her independence; she renews old relationships and learns not to blame herself for her husband’s earlier suicide. How the two of them survived and managed to escape is an adventure in itself; the book’s greatest strengths are its multi-faceted characterization and emotional intensity.
The story is told from two points of view; that of mother and daughter. Each is determined to fight for what is believed to be right. Joy finds hardship, disillusionment and maternal love in her life in China; she settles in a rural area during a famine, in a loveless marriage, struggling to keep her infant daughter alive. Pearl learns to allow her daughter her independence; she renews old relationships and learns not to blame herself for her husband’s earlier suicide. How the two of them survived and managed to escape is an adventure in itself; the book’s greatest strengths are its multi-faceted characterization and emotional intensity.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Books to the Big Screen
Books are not just for reading! Since the beginnings of film production, books have been a wellspring of story ideas. Their adaptations have provided us with countless classic films. Here are some of these books-made-into-movies that we have in our collection.
Awakenings, a memoir written by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist who, during the late 1960s, worked with institutionalized patients suffering from encephalitic Parkinsonism (sleeping sickness) caused by an epidemic just after World War I; he describes how treatment with a new drug, L-DOPA, brought them out of their trancelike states into normalcy. Unfortunately, the drug only works temporarily and the patients eventually return to their catatonic states.
Memoirs of a Geisha, written by Arthur Golden, is a novel set in the years between World Wars I and II, and beyond. It tells of Nitta Sayuri, a poor girl sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house, her training as a geisha, and life in Gion, the geisha district of Kyoto. Eventually, the geisha houses are forced to close during World War II and Sayuri must reinvent herself in order to survive.
The Pianist: the Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945, is the memoir of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a concert pianist and composer who, although his entire family were transported to concentration camps and died, was able to survive in hiding. Eventually, Szpilman was rescued by a German officer, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, who heard him play the piano.
Awakenings, a memoir written by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist who, during the late 1960s, worked with institutionalized patients suffering from encephalitic Parkinsonism (sleeping sickness) caused by an epidemic just after World War I; he describes how treatment with a new drug, L-DOPA, brought them out of their trancelike states into normalcy. Unfortunately, the drug only works temporarily and the patients eventually return to their catatonic states.
Memoirs of a Geisha, written by Arthur Golden, is a novel set in the years between World Wars I and II, and beyond. It tells of Nitta Sayuri, a poor girl sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house, her training as a geisha, and life in Gion, the geisha district of Kyoto. Eventually, the geisha houses are forced to close during World War II and Sayuri must reinvent herself in order to survive.
The Pianist: the Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945, is the memoir of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a concert pianist and composer who, although his entire family were transported to concentration camps and died, was able to survive in hiding. Eventually, Szpilman was rescued by a German officer, Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, who heard him play the piano.
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