I recently downloaded “One Good Deed: 365 Days of Trying to Be Just a Little Bit Better” by Erin McHugh through Net Galley. This book, which stemmed from Erin’s “good deed blog”, chronicles her attempt to do one good deed each day for a year. I found it a fun, positive read: often light-hearted, sometimes heart-tugging.
Erin McHugh is the type of writer that you feel is your friend after you’ve read her. She is a New Yorker, an author, a bookseller, a former Catholic, a gay rights activist, and has a large host of family and friends whom she writes about. Following Erin through her days made me feel that I knew her. You could sense her passion for helping others, her love of books, her devotion to her family, and her true New Yorker spirit. I just loved to pick up this book every day or so and read a few entries. Erin was making her world a little bit better, and it was inspiring!
Thank you, Net Galley and Abrams Image, for my copy!
I found this little gem on Net Galley, and since I’m a person who has ten thousand products in her bathroom, I couldn’t wait to read it!
“Simple Skincare, Beautiful Skin” is a great primer on basic skin care. Dr. Abdullah starts with the facts so that the average person can understand their skin. By reviewing how skin “works” he then proposes his approach: cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize, protect. Lots of information is given which helps the reader to decide what products to use and what products are unnecessary. Additionally, he has special chapters on understanding and treating acne and also the special needs of skin that has undergone cancer treatment (radiation, etc.).
I just loved this book! I found it so readable and so interesting. I have always been a bit obsessed with beauty products, but since reading this book, I feel I am a more educated consumer. Some product claims that sounded too good to be true to me, or illogical, really are! Also, Dr. Abdullah has his own line of skin care products and I’ll be honest: I was afraid that the book would turn into a commercial for them, but it does not. Except for a few references to his “skin care line”, I would have only found information on his products in his bio.
I’d recommend this book for those who want to better understand their skin. There is something in this book for all ages, teen to older adult.
Thanks, Net Galley and Green Leaf Book Group Press, for my copy!
This book releases on 9/1/12.
Through Net Galley I received an ARC download of this novel, whose full title is: “January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness and her Father’s Struggle to Save Her”. I had heard about this book – I think on NPR – and was intrigued to read this true story.
January Schofield is a brilliant and precocious young girl with a vivid imaginary life. As January develops, however, her creativity and genius is occluded by what is finally diagnosed, at age six, as childhood schizophrenia. January’s case is marked by severe violence and almost constant hallucinations. Her doctors struggle to understand her and to find medications that will effectively treat her, while her family struggles to keep her (and her little brother) safe.
I found this novel to be an incredibly compelling read. I started it one evening and read through until 2 AM in order to finish it. I think one of the things that drew me to this book was how incredibly human the parents were. You could just feel how they were struggling and how they were willing to do whatever they could for their child (actually children), even if it meant living apart. Their painful journey is described in detail through the father’s voice.
Thanks, Net Galley and Crown Publishers for my copy!
The other day I was listening to an interesting piece on NPR about marketing aimed at children, and a caller recommended this book. I found it at my local library (surprisingly, since it seemed to be out with holds everywhere in the system). I enjoy reading parenting books and wanted to see what this one was about. I just loved this book! This is a book that pretty much puts down on paper so many of the things my husband and I hold to be true about parenting – and it has a whole lot of ideas to add to our repertoire!
First off, let’s consider the subtitle: “Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids”. When I first read that I gave a bit of a guffaw. What?? Basically, one of the main tenets in this book is that there is too much “stuff” in kids’ worlds these days: toys, electronics, lessons, activities, etc. etc. etc., and we’d be well-served to get rid of a lot of it. Payne, who is an educator-counselor (Waldorf Schools) and family therapist, espouses that too much “stuff” and not enough quiet and rhythm/ritual is overwhelming kids and basically driving families crazy. Yes, yes, yes! I completely agree. He suggests taking all your children’s toys and removing (donating/tossing/storing) half of them (great idea that I will have to try). That you clear out clutter (on my to-do list every year but I never do it). That kids don’t need to have ten different lessons/activities each week (one of our rules around here is ONE weekly after school activity at a time – and I’m deemed weird by other parents). Kids don’t need to experience EVERYTHING before the age of ten (I agree – though most people think we’re getting the kids a “late start” on stuff). And kids should be doing things because they want to, not just because the parents want them to or think they have a future expert in that area. Payne writes about the importance of rhythm and ritual, such as in the family dinner (yes!), previewing the day with your child in advance to set expectations (something I’ve always done), keeping a consistent schedule (another thing my friends deem “weird”), and keeping a “Sabbath” day that may or may not be religious in nature, where the family relaxes together and there are no scheduled activities, etc., and everyone shares dinner together (something we try to do, though sometimes things creep in on Sunday afternoons).
All throughout this book I read about great ideas that basically allayed my sense of guilt: if you are not giving you kids EVERYTHING, it really is okay. You are not a slacker parent. In fact, it can be the simpler things that really are the most meaningful.
A highly recommended read, especially if you are parenting children at this time!
I was thrilled to get this book as a freebie from Net Galley, as I’ve always admired, though not always understood, Pauline Kael. Kellow brings us through Pauline’s life, from her early humble years to her tumultuous years at The New Yorker magazine. I found this book so interesting and easy to read, as I came to better understand Pauline – one of the harshest critics of film that I have ever come across. Years ago, in the 1980’s, when I started reading The New Yorker, I would often ponder: “Why is it that Pauline Kael never likes the movies I like? What does she like??” and I was often taken aback by her blunt attacks, particularly on films that were popular. Reading this book helped me to better understand and respect her. One thing is for certain: Pauline Kael’s impact on the field of film criticism was far-reaching and continues today.
Thanks, Net Galley and Viking Adult Publishers for my copy!
For my birthday, my friend got me this book as she knows that when I’m not busy being obsessed with Louisa May Alcott, I’m busy being obsessed with Laura Ingalls Wilder. I promptly put this book in a “safe place” and then couldn’t find it for six months. I was so very happy that I found it a few weeks ago and got to read this wonderful and hilarious book, where author Wendy McClure goes searching for all things Laura.
But first, let me backtrack. When I say I loved the Little House books when I was a kid, I mean I really LOVED the Little House books when I was a kid (um – as an adult, too). I read them all mulptiple times. I actually owned and wore a sunbonnet on a regular basis. And yes – I made my family call me “Laura” (but only when I was wearing the sunbonnet). In the 1970’s, our family travelled cross-country just about each summer to visit our relatives in Rhode Island, and one very spectacular summer my father announced that we could drive through and see all the places where Laura lived. I just had to make him a list of them. After skipping Wisconsin (too far off the path for us), and the little house that was on the prairie (which I thought was in Kansas but long gone), we went to Plum Creek, spent the night in Mankato (in a rain storm – in our RV – with me pretending to be in a covered wagon in a storm), De Smet, South Dakota, and the big Laura house and museum in Masnfield, Missouri. I was in my element. I waded in Plum Creek (I can still see my mother standing by the side of the road where my dad had pulled the rv over, sweater wrapped around her, calling out “Don’t fall in!”). I walked in places where Laura walked. I even met a woman at the Mansfield museum who had been Laura’s friend.
That said, I figured there weren’t many people as crazy/weird about Laura as I was. But then I read this book. Here was an author who loved Laura as much as I did! She even had some of the little “Laura fantasies” as a kid that I did (Laura time-warps and we’re friends, etc.). And she had gone to all these same places as me! In fact, thirty years after my pilgrimage there seem to be even MORE Laura places to discover.
Well, that’s what this book is about — Wendy Mc Clure’s journey to discover all things Laura one year (with her very patient and good-natured boyfriend), along with discovering some things about herself. I loved this book from start to finish. I laughed so hard in parts I cried. But mostly I felt like I had found a true kindred spirit in Ms. Mc Clure — just as I had 35 years ago in Laura, when I read my first Little House books.
I loved, loved, loved this non-fiction book, which traces the history and explains the use of dogs in our military. Fully entitled “The Dogs of War: The Courage, Love, and Loyalty of Military Working Dogs”, Rogak begins with the story of Cairo, the dog used in the mission against bin Laden, and then traces the history of dogs in the military from the 1800’s to present. Throughout, there are stories of real dogs and real people, pictures, and references. She covers how dogs are trained, what they are used for, what their lives are like on base and on mission, and what happens to them afterwards. The stories of dogs and their handlers are quite touching. The dogs themselves, though, are the heroes of this book.
As a dog lover, I found this book so interesting and inspiring. I will put it on the Christmas list for the dog lovers in my life! I also found this book very “readable” – I think it’d be great for a YA student looking for an interesting topic for a paper.
Thanks, Net Galley and St. Martin’s Griffin Publishing for my free kindle copy!
Beth's Book-Nook Blog 