Staff Picks

The author was inspired to write this book when she was reading a biography of Alexander Graham Bell. This famous inventor, courted by people from around the world due to his invention of the telephone five years before, set aside all his other projects to try to create an instrument that would help heal President Garfield by locating the assassin’s bullet. Her research led her to discover the character of this “minor” President, shot four months into his tenure.

Though barely remembered today, James Garfield was larger than life: a robust and cheerful man, a passionate abolitionist, a reformer who fought against the ingrained political machines and the spoils system. He was a great orator, a devoted father, and a hero of the Civil War. Raised in poverty, he was a gifted scholar who won a position as a university president when only 26 years old. He had not sought a nomination for President, but was put on the ballot as a compromise candidate and, in a long and suspenseful session, was chosen as a candidate for the 20th president of the United States.

Intertwined with this story is the tale of con man Charles Guiteau, who wormed his way into the White House until his delusions led to the belief that he had divine orders to kill the President. When Garfield was shot his suffering had only begun as doctors jockeyed to become his physician and politicians maneuvered to grab power when he couldn’t work. This is narrative nonfiction at its best—suspenseful, full of interesting information and well written. The audio version, voiced by Paul Michael, is also well done.

They say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but I'd say sometimes they are wrong. If, for example, the cover is graced by a taxidermied mouse in full Shakespearean garb (right down to the tiny skull of Yorick), a mouse who happens to have the elegant name of "Hamlet von Schnitzel," then as far as I'm concerned you have a pretty good idea about what kind of book it's going to be. And that is a bizarre, funny, ridiculous, funny, over-the-top, funny memoir by Jenny Lawson, better known to her fans as The Bloggess. Those familiar with her blog will know to expect a lot of profanity, self-deprecating humor, candid discussion of mental illness (depression, anxiety, OCD), and situations that are so random and bizarre they seem impossible. And yet . . . truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.

Jenny Lawson grew up in rural Texas (which in and of itself might explain some of her stories), with a long-suffering mother and a (crazy) taxidermist father. A father who thought it was a good idea to wake his daughters in the middle of the night to entertain them with a puppet show. One where the puppet was a recently deceased squirrel (named Stanley the magical squirrel, of course). Her stories range from her childhood to her current life with husband Victor (lucky recipient of a giant metal rooster named Beyonce) and daughter. While mostly laugh-out-loud funny, there are poignant moments as well. Even in her most tragic stories, though, Jenny Lawson somehow manages to find the humor.

Overall, you will either be horrifically offended by this book or will howl in laughter. Or both. And if that's not enough to make you want to read it, I have one word: chupacabras. Oh yes, it even includes chupacabras. What more could you ask for in a book?

Peter Reinhart is a major American authority and writer on bread baking. I came across American Pie several years ago while searching the Library catalog for anything else by Reinhart. Since I regularly made homemade pizza, it immediately appealed to me. A week later I purchased my own copy.

American Pie is one part food travelogue (The Hunt) and one part recipe book (The Recipes). The Hunt begins with Reinhart having pizza from his favorite childhood pizzeria; he is incredibly disappointed to realize, however, that it isn’t at all as good as he had remembered. ‘“Maybe,” I said to myself,” it was never as good as I thought it was, just the best I’d been exposed to during my sheltered youth.”’ Reinhart begins looking for a better pizza, and, as he shares his search with others, he is continually met with the objection “But you can’t say something is the best until you’ve tried…” This begins his quest to find, what to him is, the perfect pizza. His journey takes him to Genoa, Rome, and Naples, as well as all across America. Reinhart provides an incredibly interesting and mouth-watering overview on the different aspects of regional pizza, as well as the nature of great pizza and the people and quality ingredients that make it happen. I guarantee if you read the first half you will be dying to make some of the pizzas that follow in the second half.

The Recipes consists of “The Family of Doughs,” “Sauces and Specialty Toppings,” and “The Pizzas.” Because my husband and I love thin crust, first I decided to try the Roman Pizza Dough – an ultrathin dough that typically is not served in the states. I liked it; but it was, incredibly, too thin and crispy for my husband: it almost had the texture and snap of a Wheat Thin cracker without the greasiness. I also adopted Reinhart’s basic recipe for Sautéed Mushrooms, altering it minimally by adding a bit of thyme. In “The Pizzas” section, both my sister and I raved over the Onion Marmalade, Walnuts, & Blue Cheese Pizza. (If you try it, load the onion marmalade thickly on the dough! That recipe is also how I discovered I no longer despised Blue Cheese.)

Until I read American Pie, I used my 1985 edition of Carol Field's The Italian Baker for my go-to pizza dough recipe. Though it is good in a time pinch, it does not compare to the slow, cold-rise dough recipes in American Pie, or, for that matter, my all-time favorite: Sourdough Pizza Crust from King Arthur. (Though easy, the sourdough recipe requires a significant time investment for the best result.) Another thing I learned from American Pie: crank up the heat for homemade pizza – 465 is now the absolute lowest I go.

As a reader with an avid interest in history, Anne Perry provides some of the most meticulously researched series I’ve ever read. Her two most famous (and intertwining) series are the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt and William Monk mysteries. They are set in Victorian England, and move from the world of the rich and famous to the hopeless poverty and dark underworld of Dickensian London. In the first book Thomas Pitt is a gamekeeper's son turned policeman, a relatively new profession. Charlotte is the daughter of a well-to-do gentleman, whose older sister is murdered. As you read through the series the characters develop as they encounter betrayal, horrors, love, passion and unexpected friendships.

In Dorchester Terrace, the latest in the Pitt series, Thomas Pitt has been moved up to the position Head of Special Branch, which means he must deal with anarchists, terrorists, and threats to the country. Thomas has always been uneasy about this last promotion—he knows he is very good at detecting, but this new post rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, makes him feel out of place. His wife Charlotte does what she can to assist in the case, despite his oath of secrecy which requires that he keep everything to himself.

There are rumors that anarchists are plotting to blow up the Dover to London rail line—but are they true? If so, who is the target—a minor Hapsburg family member who is a foreign diplomat yet appears to be a dilettante? Is the bombing a distraction from an even greater threat in the capitol? Or could one of his enemies be plotting to discredit him? Meanwhile a former Italian revolutionary and spy lies dying in her house, afraid that when her mind rambles she will give away secrets which still could prove dangerous.

Future Science is the first installment in what editor Max Brockman hopes will be an annual collection; it consists of essays by young scientists who, for the first time, are presenting to a general reading audience the scientific hypotheses they are pursuing in their scholarly research. Nearly every essay is accessible (I skipped 2 of the 18 due to lack of interest). Brockman's editing gives you more than would be found by simply reading the abstract and conclusion from the full, published, scholarly reports; it also preserves the scientists' voices and excitement for their subject matter.

I loved this book for its variety of topics coupled with detailed overviews that gave me a clear understanding of the theses and research. I must admit that there was a strong weight toward psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral evolution; however, for me that was a perfect fit. When looking through the table of contents, The Emergence of Human Audiovisual Communication sounded like it would be a real snoozer, yet it turned out to be one of my favorite essays.  Asif F. Ghazanfar explained that we communicate within a specific frequency range; this consists of the speech signal, rhythmic facial movements (singular to humans), and rhythms in the auditory regions of a listener's brain: all of them cycle at 3 - 8 Hz (cycles per second). Trust me, it's really interesting when you read the entire essay. Other favorites dealt with developmental and behavioral psychology, often related to children (Children's Helping Hands; Nurture, Nature, and the Stress that is Life). Another surprise favorite discussed the relevance of looking for life in other planets' vast oceans where, as seen in deep hydrothermal vents within our own ocean depths, life could be based on chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.