Breathless with Anticipation

This trailer has left me breathless. I keep forgetting that Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea is getting made into a movie, and then something surfaces to remind me. If you haven't read this nonfiction book, do so! It is physically harrowing and psychologically fascinating. (Plus, it's not very long. You won't be saddled with a tome.) This will be a double-whammy, bibliophile film. Not only is it based on a book, it's about true events that inspired the American classic Herman Melville's Moby Dick. The movie version comes out in March 2015 which gives me time to reread and savor both the non-fiction and the fiction.

Review: Rez Life

Rez Life
by David Treuer

Reservation life is about tragedy and resilience in large contexts and small. This book is complicated, but engaging. I get the impression that the author wrote this - in part - for his own understanding. Treuer tackles several heady subjects: the history of treaty rights, the complexities of the Indian justice system (his mother is a judge), the atmosphere of violence on reservations, the effect of casino cultural on both American culture and tribal cultural. Peppered throughout, he gives us intimate stories of his grandfather and his own childhood. Treuer also features other Natives' lives - some glorious as well as profoundly tragic. It's not an easy read - not cozy or comforting, but it's not entirely bleak either.

There is a lot to learn in these pages. I'm sure not everyone will accept Treuer's perspective, but I think this is a necessary read for American adults. It's necessary to understand how brutal the effects of white culture and the US Goverment were on tribes. And, more shockingly, how long these effects have lasted. Native culture is not a thing of the past, stuck in the days of cowboys and Indians. Here is how Treuer puts it while visiting a luxurious casino resort:

...it was clear that rather than living uninspected lives at the margins of American society, Indians have become part of the American fabric in ways no one could have guessed when gaming as we know it emerged in the 1980s. I was feeling proud of the Pechanga Band, the Morongo Band, the Seminole, and the others - proud of what they made against all odds. No one is untouched by Indian lives. I thought of what the tribal member told me about the gold course: it is good to look back at where you've been; you get some beautiful views. 

You also get some strange ones.

Review: Book by Book

Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs

by Cindy Hudson

A well thought-out, practical, and lively how-to guide. Pros? Lots of ideas are introduced. The author tackles a variety of problems that may arise, and she acknowledges and encourages evolution of the group as the girls age and change. Best of all, the author pragmatically reminds the reader that every group is unique... use solutions and choices that work for your group.

Cons? Quotes that introduce each chapter all seem to be from mothers. Where are the daughters' voices? Plus, I could've done without the chapter on recipes - that's just me. I would've rather had a section on communicating with all the group members. How to coordinate between meetings and keep everyone up-to-date on logistics... email? telephone? social media - using Facebook, GoodReads, or a blog? But all in all, I can't wait to join a book club with my daughter. (It will be a few years, though!) This book glows with enthusiasm. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com)

Review: Immortal Milk

Immortal Milk: Adventures in Cheese
by Eric LeMay

Not so much an expert's guide to cheese, this is a book about the love of cheese. You'll learn about cheese itself, but the author also feels free to muse all about the topic. (There's an entire chapter about the word 'cheesy.') It ends abruptly, but the appendices makes up for it. The appendices page upon page upon page of pairings for cheese - whether you like beer, wine, chocolate, fruit, or meat. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: The Food Truck Handbook

The Food Truck Handbook: Start, Grow, and Succeed in the Mobile Food Business
by David Weber

A how-to guide that is practical and inspiring. It's also challenging with plenty of reasons NOT to get into the food truck business. The author is president of a food-truck advocacy group and wants to encourage business owners to use high-standards and honesty. Includes lots of interviews with food truck owners. (Originally posted as SquareSpot at PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: The Victorian Internet

The Victorian Internet
by Tom Standage
The electric telegraph in the 19th century: an often overlooked innovation. But for my history-geek tastes, this book did not cover the subject with enough depth. It gives a brief history of early innovators of the electric telegraph and lists lots of amusing antidotes about how the public came to use the telegraph. (The parts I found most interesting were how telegraph operators created their own lingo and developed 'online' relationships within their profession.) Without admirable characters throughout or a unique storyline to drive the narrative (like the author's other book The Turk), this book is simply an easy-to-read overview about the telegraph. While amusing and informative, The Victorian Internet does not make history come alive. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Rebel Bookseller

Rebel Bookseller: How to Improvise Your Own Indie Storeand Beat Back the Chains 

by Andrew Laties

No-holds-barred look at running your own bookstore. Not a how-to guide but more of an expose. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackswap.com.)

Review: Chocolate

Chocolate : A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light 

by Mort Rosenblum 

This is the sort of book that is both satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. Besides leaving you hungry, it touches on a lot of topics (history, agriculture, botany, cooking, manufacturing, marketing)and covers several continents. Because the author tackles so much, the text often feels fleeting. But I was excited to discover many new leads in reading and eating. A great place to start on "the chocolate trail," but may not satisfy the experienced foodie or the in-depth historian. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

I love this quote which could apply to so many things in life:

"But as I listened to my various mentors argue away the afternoon, I finally caught on to the basic point of it all. With chocolate, there are no straight answers. There are only strongly held opinions."

Review: Unschooling Rules

Unschooling Rules: 55 Ways to Unlearn What We Know About Schools and Rediscover Education
by Clark Aldrich

This book is really a well-written list of ideas about what is wrong with our current "education-industrial" model, not an exhaustive argument about the benefits of unschooling. It helps to be familiar with the concept of unschooling. The author does not waste any time over-explaining the movement or it's history. This book would be great for school boards and administrators to use for inspiration and brainstorming.

It's a quick read as each "rule" or observation takes no more than 3 pages and is written to lead right into the next one. In the back is a very useful index with a section each for school administrators, parents, or policy makers. I'm a staff member at a small college and a new parent, and this brief book gave me new perspectives from both angles. I enjoyed it enough that it's jumped from my library list to my PBS wishlist. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A PracticalGuide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in YourRelationships

by John Gray

I read this book of curiosity. It's not that this book is wrong; it's impractical. People do exhibit the behaviors described in this book, but not because they are one sex or the other. The theories I can tolerate; the sweeping generalizations, I cannot. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Teaching Montessori in the Home

Teaching Montessori in the Home
by Elizabeth G. Hainstock

Too simple. It would be better had the chapter about "Making your home Montessori equipment" been at the front of the book, and each toy had a page number to refer to its step-by-step exercise. I hope the newer editions are better than this 1968 printing. Not entirely worthless; it's just that thre are plenty of better Montessori books. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Basic Montessori

Basic Montessori: Learning Activities for Under-Fives
by David Gettman

Picked this up from the local library in order to introduce myself to Maria Montessori's methods. Definetly a dry read, no getting around that fact. It served as a fine, if not excellent, introduction to Montessori. I found it much more useful as a d.i.y. guide to make the toys, and it did lead me to rearrange the living room to better accommodate my toddler. (Originally posted as SquareSpot at PaperBackSwap.com.)

Review: Under a Flaming Sky

Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894

by Daniel James Brown

Ditto what the previous reviewer said, "This book is not for the faint of heart." The book's narrative follows people fleeing - successfully and unsuccessfully - from a firestorm that raged across Northern Minnesota. I was "name-dropping" this one to my fellow Minnesotans weeks after I read it. Really got my adrenaline pumping. (Originally posted as SquareSpot on PaperBackSwap.com.)