Staff Picks: Pauli

Kabul Beauty School: an American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez.
NY: Random House, 2007.

Pauli says : I just finished listening to Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez on CD. I was enthralled by the story of a Michigan beautician (Rodriguez) who started a beauty school in Kabul, Afghanistan, after visiting there with a non-governmental agency and realizing that both Westerners and Afghani women were starved for hair salons. She forms lasting friendships and assists hundreds of women to become as self-sufficient as possible in a conservative, war-torn country.

The Readers’ Café Book Club will be discussing this book at the library on April 9th at 7 PM.

Staff Picks: Beverly and Joey

Beverly says, “I was very taken with Dawn Clifton Tripp’s Season of Open Water, written by one of our summer speakers.

This historical novel is set during Prohibition among the rum running operations in Westport, MA. It is a type of coming of age story about Bridge, her daredevil brother, Luke and their grandfather whose love of the sea and boats is their heritage. The author lives in the area and has conducted interviews with many local families who made extra money in hard times from the illicit operations. The book’s arresting use of present tense and careful description of locale, real historical events and nautical detail make it a memorable read.

Charles Simic is the new Poet Laureate of the US. His poetry takes the ordinary details of life and with edgy humor and political and social awareness brings his images and ideas into clear focus. Born in Belgrade, Simic won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 and was a finalist for a 1996 National Book Award. He retired last year from a long teaching career at the University of New Hampshire; he is a great supporter and user of libraries. His poetry has been published in The New Yorker and other periodicals and over 15 collections.”

Joey says, “I’m reading The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake.

It’s about the feud between designers, Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent in the 1970s. Anybody who likes French fashion, 1970s decadence, disco, or catty in-fights between the social elite should check it out.

It’s a supposed true story, but all parties lived pretty hard during the era so the details are of course a little fuzzy.”

Staff Picks and Recommendations: Clayton, Rebecca, and Barbara

Clayton has been reading: Bad Monkeys by Mark Ruff. “Funny, lots of attitude, a bunch of twists – just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re not being watched! Highly recommended!”

Dog Wars by Anthony C. Winkler. “This is a wicked funny, laugh-out-loud book. It takes on inter-class cultural assumptions, lots of sex, crazy vegans, a Hindu limo driver looking for his Beulah so he can finally repay the camel he stole in another life over 1,000 years ago…. Read this book!”

Madhur Jaffrey’s memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees. “She’s written so many good cook books (you’ve likely used some of her recipes before) and writes about growing up in Delhi. Currently its after the second world war, before independence – but almost entirely focused on her family life – a very wealthy, progressive yet traditional, family – of roughly 30 people give or take!”

Rebecca says, “I have been reading In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. Not too long ago I plowed through Moby Dick and then I went to the Whaling Museum on Nantucket. They told me about the Philbrick book and that it told the story of the whaleship Essex upon which the story of Moby Dick was based. It is a very good book and very clear to read, unlike Moby Dick, and it’s also a true story. I would imagine his recent book about the Mayflower would be just as enlightening.”

Barbara recommends, “Anything from the collection of Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown!! The Bravest Dog, two clever cats and their friends solve the Mystery and save the day before their well-meaning, but only human, parents know what’s happened.”

Staff Picks – Ellie and Stephanie

Ellie says, “I have started a new mystery, Kilt Dead by Kaitlin Dunnett. It is set in Maine but refers to many things Scottish and I think there is romance, too. I am listening to the audio CD of Prisoner of Azkaban –the 3rd Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.

A historical biography that I highly recommend is The Peabody Sisters: Three Sisters Who Ignited American Romanticism by Megan Marshall. Ms. Marshall gave a reading of the prologue of her book earlier in the month. There was a connection to Watertown in that the Peabody sisters’ grandmother—Eliza Hunt Palmer lived in the Hunt Tavern that was on Galen St.”
Stephanie says, “I just started to read Austenland by Shannon Hale- the main character was unlucky in love probably due to her obsession with Mr. Darcy and the book Pride and Prejudice. Then she is given by her deceased aunt a trip to an estate where people pretend they are in the regency England of Austen’s day–ah will she find her own Mr.Darcy?!!

I agree with Ellie on The Peabody Sisters and must add it got me more fascinated than ever with the whole cluster of genius that existed in Concord, MA with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry D. Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Alcott family ( the somewhat eccentric Bronson and his daughter Louisa May.) It led me to read the book American Bloomsbury and I just finished The Concord Quartet. Both deal with this amazing bunch of people.”