it is hard to believe how much things have changed in the past half century regarding the food we buy and how we prepare it. We’ve gone from eating canned peas and carrots to choosing locally grown and raised organic foods, and we expect to find every international cuisine and ingredient at our fingertips. M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters were pioneers in the evolution of how we cook and what we eat, and we think of food differently, eat and cook differently, thanks to them. This book chronicles their lives and overlapping relationships in the pursuit of good food and the skills with which to prepare it. Reading this book is like sipping a delightful glass of wine while dining on an exquisitely prepared meal in a little outdoor café in Provence as we hear them recount their stories and dreams.
Rania Al-Baz, a Saudi Arabian news anchor, was brutally beaten by her second husband. She underwent thirteen surgeries to correct the damage to her face. Rania is still an ardent supporter of her islamic faith and culture, just not in the misinterpretation of laws attributed to the Qur’an. Now living in Lebanon with her children; she continues to fight for the rights of women around the world.
Hollis is sent to live with Josie, an elderly, affectionate and quirky artist. For the first time in her 12 years as a foster child she loves her home. Josie is beginning to show signs of dementia and Hollis has to find a way to keep them together. The story stresses the importance of artistic vision, creativity and family. A Newbery Honor Book.
This well researched book should be read by anyone who is interested in reforming America's current health care system. By 2016, the country's health care costs are estimated to reach $4.1 Trillion, or 20% of the GDP. While American health care is more expensive per capita than other industrialized countries, our health satistics are lower. Brownlee shares her insights on how unnecessary treatment (more high-tech procedures, prescription drugs, and surgery) is not only bad medicine, but is also driving the costs of treatment so high that it becomes unaffordable to those who need it. She shares her knowledge about not only why our health care system is broken, but what changes are needed.
March 2009
it's An Award Winning Movie Now!THE READER by Bernhard Schlink
in post World War ii Germany, 15 year old Michael has a passionate affair with Hanna, a woman twice his age.
He later learns that she was a guard at the concentration camps during the war.
The author explores the collective German guilt over the atrocities commited by the Nazis.
Michael realizes that what the prisoners went through is incomprehensible, but also that no one can imagine what it was like to work for the Nazis or to just have been a German citizen at that time.
Learn of Hanna's other secret and why the book is called The Reader.
THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD by Elyn R. Saks Have you or any members of your family suffered from a mental illness?
Elyn Saks grew up in a happy Jewish family living in Miami, Florida during the 1960’s. When she was eight years old, she started obsessing about strangers waiting outside her window at night. it wasn’t until she went to Oxford University as a Marshall scholar that the voices and paranoia sent her to the hospital. This is her memoir of the events that occurred as she battled with schizophrenia. it is filled with insight, truth, and hope about dealing with a major psychiatric illness.
THE ADORATiON OF JENNA FOX by Mary E. Pearson
Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox awakens from a year-long coma to discover she has no recollection of her childhood. Her parents give her home movies of herself to watch, but she discovers unexplainable differences from the girl she was. in this well written science fiction and medical thriller, questions are raised about how far science should go to save life.
February 2009
THE JOY LUCK CLUB by Amy Tan
if you are a daughter or a mother when you read this book you will be nodding your head in agreement or say to yourself “i know just what she means;” but more than that you will gain a new perspective on the Chinese and Chinese-American cultures. Amy Tan weaves the stories of 4 mothers and their 4 daughters as they each grow from childhood to adulthood. The vehicle for her story is the Joy Luck Club. Begun in 1949 as a social gathering the Joy Luck Club brings together these four Chinese women and their husbands. While the women play mah jong, buy stocks and share a meal, the history of these women’s stories unfolds in a fashion that keeps you coming back for more.
The library also has the movie.
January 2009
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara A Civil War novel based on the Battle of Gettysburg. The author really brought the characters to life.
Check out these and 98 other firsts in this quick-read book of women's athletic milestones:
Eva Shain was the first woman to officiate a heavyweight championship fight, by working as a judge at the 1977 boxing match between Mohammad Ali and Earnie Shavers.
Alice Coachman was the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She did so in the high jump event in 1948.
Edward, a china rabbit, learns how to love after losing his family. You'll enjoy this heartwarming tale and the gorgeous illustrations. This would be a great Christmas gift for children ages 9-12.
Not brand new, but good. Ansary sent an email to 20 friends after the 9/11 attacks giving his perspective as an Afghan American that eventually reached millions. it is a memoir.
A major voice in American and more particularly southern literature, Eudora Welty was born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. This authobiography recounts the early influences of family, teachers, and environment in her development as a writer. She invites us into a different time and place, a world where things move at a slower pace. if your idea of pleasure is sitting on a big front proch in the middle of summer sipping a mint julelp or an ice cold lemonade and listening to an amazing woman tell her story, this book is for you. it's short, and sweet, and near perfect summer reading.
Hugo lives in the ventilation tunnels of the Paris train station in 1931. After his uncle's death he has taken over the maintenance of the train station's clocks. Find out what happens to him as he tries to keep his uncle's death a secret.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This call to arms for Democratic investors from the cofounders of Blue investment Management, an ethical investment fund, belies the widespread myth that progressive investing is financially unsound. The Blue index-the companies in the S&P 500 that are socially responsible and have also supported Democratic candidates over the last five election cycles-outperform the market by nearly 20%, and outperform red S&P 500 companies by 23%, they assert. While blue companies often have cultures and business models that are more innovative, more flexible, more employee-friendly and more eco-efficient, they tend to be dismissed as less viable investments. The bulk of investment capital continues to prop up conservative causes, the authors say, claiming that most investors don't realize that no matter where they invest their money, much of it is likely to funnel directly into the Republican Party. Surprisingly, 84% of S&P 500 companies support Republican causes; according to the authors the ravenous lobbyist culture keeps the money flowing. The authors set forth a solid plan for progressive investors who want to make sure their money supports their politics. Many will find this exhortation to build our own political capital market a well-presented political and financial wakeup call.
February 2008
No time to read an entire novel? Try these truly inspirationalchildren's books!
Miss Pointy radically changes life for Sahara and all of her fifth graders. You'll wish all your teachers had been like her and that your children could always have such extraordinary motivators. Only 175 pages!
Ten-year-old Lucky Trimble lives in a quirky desert town with her guardian Brigitte. Lucky tries to keep any bad things from happening by searching for her Higher Power. Follow her struggles as she longs for a stable life. Only 123 pages!
New at the Arcadia Commons Campus Library:
How Real is Reality TV is a collection of scholarly essays which examine popular shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, Big Brother, The Nanny, American idol, Extreme Makeover, Joe Millionaire and The Amazing Race. The researchers study how the unscripted shows are carefully constructed through editing and how the participant's portrayals are exploited.
Perfect Phrases for Sales and Marketing Copy by Barry Callen helps the reader develop creative names for products, write attention grabbing headlines and gives tips for creating posters and fliers.
The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother wrote this memoir of her family’s nomadic upbringing, during which she and her siblings fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities. You won't want to put this down until you find out if the children survive.
in a small town on the Bay of Bengal, middle-aged Sripathi Rau struggles with regret, failure, and frustration in the dilapidated house where he lives with his wife, elderly mother, and rebellious son. After tragedy claims his estranged daughter, Sripathi travels to Vancouver and returns to india with his orphaned granddaughter. The little girl eventually breaks through the hard and bitter wall surrounding Sripathi’s heart, bringing new hope and meaning to the family.
Texas Township, General Collection
Call # PR 9499.3 .B17 H47 2002
Recommended for English students interested in contemporary indian writers. Also of interest: interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and in Custody by Anita Desai.
if you are open to the unexpected and magical you'll definitely enjoy Alice Hoffman. A woman is struck by lightning and along with physical ailments she feels that her spirit is frozen. She goes in search of another lightning strike survivor in hopes that he may be able to aleviate her fears.
Be careful what you wish for.
Texas Township, General Collection
Call # PS 3558 .O3447 i23 2005
Authored by script writers of "Sex and the City," the book highlights behaviors that individuals act out who are in dead-end relationships. The straightforward message is that a woman deserves a partner who truly loves her and not one that she must constantly make excuses for. But there is a bigger message than just studying relationships and differences in cross gender communication. This book offers a life lesson about suffering and clinging onto something that wasn't meant to be.
The book will be of interest to students studying communication due to its lighthearted, but laser precise style and it's not-just-another-relationship book transcendence.
Arcadia Commons Library, General Collection
Call # HQ801 .B37 2006
Best read by the young-at-heart surrealistic cynic with keen eyesight, this tabloid sized comic book encapsulates Chris Ware's full-page, obsessive cartoons of intrigue and conflict. This is not a comic book for 10 year-olds or those easily upset, but for those who seek out strips found in alternative weekly papers.
To do this book justice, the reader would benefit from immersing themselves in the experience as it's not suited for idle comic reading. Due to its heart-wrenching writing and clear but meticulous illustration, it takes some physical optical effort to absorb. Readers are guaranteed to get a visceral reaction, due to its intensely illustrated design.
The volume features some of Ware's nostalgia-fueled renditions of vintage advertisements, epic sagas featuring his cast of misaligned characters and an eye straining faux history of the Acme Novelty Company.
Great for graphic design students, cultural satire fans, those open to new forms of fiction and Mad Magazine devotees who enjoy satire served up in cartoon form.
PreS-Gr 2 Brief text and pictures trace the journey of a freight train as it goes through tunnels, by cities, and over trestles. Donald Crews won the 1979 Caldecott Honor Book award for its colorful illustrations and appeal to young children. This book is ideal for teaching color and the concept of fast and slow to preschool and early elementary children.
Lauren Greenfield, a photojournalistbased in L.A., chronicles the lives of twenty girls and women at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida.This residential facility offers treatment for women with eatingdisorders, namely, anorexia and bulimia. This is a timely and important book, since this disease will affectnone out of seven American women.
Texas Township Library, General Collection
Call Number: RC552.A5 G74 2006
Other books of interest are:
Kalodner, Cynthia R. Too fat or too thin? : a reference guide to eating disorders
Call # RC552.E18 K356 2003
Michel, Deborah Marcontell, 1964- When dieting becomes dangerous : a guide to understanding and treating anorexia and bulimia.
Call # RC552.B84 M53 2003
Untitled Document
Kalamazoo Valley Community College Libraries
New Books and AV Materials Staff Picks
it is hard to believe how much things have changed in the past half century regarding the food we buy and how we prepare it. We’ve gone from eating canned peas and carrots to choosing locally grown and raised organic foods, and we expect to find every international cuisine and ingredient at our fingertips. M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters were pioneers in the evolution of how we cook and what we eat, and we think of food differently, eat and cook differently, thanks to them. This book chronicles their lives and overlapping relationships in the pursuit of good food and the skills with which to prepare it. Reading this book is like sipping a delightful glass of wine while dining on an exquisitely prepared meal in a little outdoor café in Provence as we hear them recount their stories and dreams.
Rania Al-Baz, a Saudi Arabian news anchor, was brutally beaten by her second husband. She underwent thirteen surgeries to correct the damage to her face. Rania is still an ardent supporter of her islamic faith and culture, just not in the misinterpretation of laws attributed to the Qur’an. Now living in Lebanon with her children; she continues to fight for the rights of women around the world.
Hollis is sent to live with Josie, an elderly, affectionate and quirky artist. For the first time in her 12 years as a foster child she loves her home. Josie is beginning to show signs of dementia and Hollis has to find a way to keep them together. The story stresses the importance of artistic vision, creativity and family. A Newbery Honor Book.
This well researched book should be read by anyone who is interested in reforming America's current health care system. By 2016, the country's health care costs are estimated to reach $4.1 Trillion, or 20% of the GDP. While American health care is more expensive per capita than other industrialized countries, our health satistics are lower. Brownlee shares her insights on how unnecessary treatment (more high-tech procedures, prescription drugs, and surgery) is not only bad medicine, but is also driving the costs of treatment so high that it becomes unaffordable to those who need it. She shares her knowledge about not only why our health care system is broken, but what changes are needed.
March 2009
it's An Award Winning Movie Now!THE READER by Bernhard Schlink
in post World War ii Germany, 15 year old Michael has a passionate affair with Hanna, a woman twice his age.
He later learns that she was a guard at the concentration camps during the war.
The author explores the collective German guilt over the atrocities commited by the Nazis.
Michael realizes that what the prisoners went through is incomprehensible, but also that no one can imagine what it was like to work for the Nazis or to just have been a German citizen at that time.
Learn of Hanna's other secret and why the book is called The Reader.
THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD by Elyn R. Saks Have you or any members of your family suffered from a mental illness?
Elyn Saks grew up in a happy Jewish family living in Miami, Florida during the 1960’s. When she was eight years old, she started obsessing about strangers waiting outside her window at night. it wasn’t until she went to Oxford University as a Marshall scholar that the voices and paranoia sent her to the hospital. This is her memoir of the events that occurred as she battled with schizophrenia. it is filled with insight, truth, and hope about dealing with a major psychiatric illness.
THE ADORATiON OF JENNA FOX by Mary E. Pearson
Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox awakens from a year-long coma to discover she has no recollection of her childhood. Her parents give her home movies of herself to watch, but she discovers unexplainable differences from the girl she was. in this well written science fiction and medical thriller, questions are raised about how far science should go to save life.
February 2009
THE JOY LUCK CLUB by Amy Tan
if you are a daughter or a mother when you read this book you will be nodding your head in agreement or say to yourself “i know just what she means;” but more than that you will gain a new perspective on the Chinese and Chinese-American cultures. Amy Tan weaves the stories of 4 mothers and their 4 daughters as they each grow from childhood to adulthood. The vehicle for her story is the Joy Luck Club. Begun in 1949 as a social gathering the Joy Luck Club brings together these four Chinese women and their husbands. While the women play mah jong, buy stocks and share a meal, the history of these women’s stories unfolds in a fashion that keeps you coming back for more.
The library also has the movie.
January 2009
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara A Civil War novel based on the Battle of Gettysburg. The author really brought the characters to life.
Check out these and 98 other firsts in this quick-read book of women's athletic milestones:
Eva Shain was the first woman to officiate a heavyweight championship fight, by working as a judge at the 1977 boxing match between Mohammad Ali and Earnie Shavers.
Alice Coachman was the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. She did so in the high jump event in 1948.
Edward, a china rabbit, learns how to love after losing his family. You'll enjoy this heartwarming tale and the gorgeous illustrations. This would be a great Christmas gift for children ages 9-12.
Not brand new, but good. Ansary sent an email to 20 friends after the 9/11 attacks giving his perspective as an Afghan American that eventually reached millions. it is a memoir.
A major voice in American and more particularly southern literature, Eudora Welty was born in 1909 in Jackson, Mississippi. This authobiography recounts the early influences of family, teachers, and environment in her development as a writer. She invites us into a different time and place, a world where things move at a slower pace. if your idea of pleasure is sitting on a big front proch in the middle of summer sipping a mint julelp or an ice cold lemonade and listening to an amazing woman tell her story, this book is for you. it's short, and sweet, and near perfect summer reading.
Hugo lives in the ventilation tunnels of the Paris train station in 1931. After his uncle's death he has taken over the maintenance of the train station's clocks. Find out what happens to him as he tries to keep his uncle's death a secret.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This call to arms for Democratic investors from the cofounders of Blue investment Management, an ethical investment fund, belies the widespread myth that progressive investing is financially unsound. The Blue index-the companies in the S&P 500 that are socially responsible and have also supported Democratic candidates over the last five election cycles-outperform the market by nearly 20%, and outperform red S&P 500 companies by 23%, they assert. While blue companies often have cultures and business models that are more innovative, more flexible, more employee-friendly and more eco-efficient, they tend to be dismissed as less viable investments. The bulk of investment capital continues to prop up conservative causes, the authors say, claiming that most investors don't realize that no matter where they invest their money, much of it is likely to funnel directly into the Republican Party. Surprisingly, 84% of S&P 500 companies support Republican causes; according to the authors the ravenous lobbyist culture keeps the money flowing. The authors set forth a solid plan for progressive investors who want to make sure their money supports their politics. Many will find this exhortation to build our own political capital market a well-presented political and financial wakeup call.
February 2008
No time to read an entire novel? Try these truly inspirationalchildren's books!
Miss Pointy radically changes life for Sahara and all of her fifth graders. You'll wish all your teachers had been like her and that your children could always have such extraordinary motivators. Only 175 pages!
Ten-year-old Lucky Trimble lives in a quirky desert town with her guardian Brigitte. Lucky tries to keep any bad things from happening by searching for her Higher Power. Follow her struggles as she longs for a stable life. Only 123 pages!
New at the Arcadia Commons Campus Library:
How Real is Reality TV is a collection of scholarly essays which examine popular shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, Big Brother, The Nanny, American idol, Extreme Makeover, Joe Millionaire and The Amazing Race. The researchers study how the unscripted shows are carefully constructed through editing and how the participant's portrayals are exploited.
Perfect Phrases for Sales and Marketing Copy by Barry Callen helps the reader develop creative names for products, write attention grabbing headlines and gives tips for creating posters and fliers.
The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother wrote this memoir of her family’s nomadic upbringing, during which she and her siblings fended for themselves while their parents outmaneuvered bill collectors and the authorities. You won't want to put this down until you find out if the children survive.
in a small town on the Bay of Bengal, middle-aged Sripathi Rau struggles with regret, failure, and frustration in the dilapidated house where he lives with his wife, elderly mother, and rebellious son. After tragedy claims his estranged daughter, Sripathi travels to Vancouver and returns to india with his orphaned granddaughter. The little girl eventually breaks through the hard and bitter wall surrounding Sripathi’s heart, bringing new hope and meaning to the family.
Texas Township, General Collection
Call # PR 9499.3 .B17 H47 2002
Recommended for English students interested in contemporary indian writers. Also of interest: interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and in Custody by Anita Desai.
if you are open to the unexpected and magical you'll definitely enjoy Alice Hoffman. A woman is struck by lightning and along with physical ailments she feels that her spirit is frozen. She goes in search of another lightning strike survivor in hopes that he may be able to aleviate her fears.
Be careful what you wish for.
Texas Township, General Collection
Call # PS 3558 .O3447 i23 2005
Authored by script writers of "Sex and the City," the book highlights behaviors that individuals act out who are in dead-end relationships. The straightforward message is that a woman deserves a partner who truly loves her and not one that she must constantly make excuses for. But there is a bigger message than just studying relationships and differences in cross gender communication. This book offers a life lesson about suffering and clinging onto something that wasn't meant to be.
The book will be of interest to students studying communication due to its lighthearted, but laser precise style and it's not-just-another-relationship book transcendence.
Arcadia Commons Library, General Collection
Call # HQ801 .B37 2006
Best read by the young-at-heart surrealistic cynic with keen eyesight, this tabloid sized comic book encapsulates Chris Ware's full-page, obsessive cartoons of intrigue and conflict. This is not a comic book for 10 year-olds or those easily upset, but for those who seek out strips found in alternative weekly papers.
To do this book justice, the reader would benefit from immersing themselves in the experience as it's not suited for idle comic reading. Due to its heart-wrenching writing and clear but meticulous illustration, it takes some physical optical effort to absorb. Readers are guaranteed to get a visceral reaction, due to its intensely illustrated design.
The volume features some of Ware's nostalgia-fueled renditions of vintage advertisements, epic sagas featuring his cast of misaligned characters and an eye straining faux history of the Acme Novelty Company.
Great for graphic design students, cultural satire fans, those open to new forms of fiction and Mad Magazine devotees who enjoy satire served up in cartoon form.
PreS-Gr 2 Brief text and pictures trace the journey of a freight train as it goes through tunnels, by cities, and over trestles. Donald Crews won the 1979 Caldecott Honor Book award for its colorful illustrations and appeal to young children. This book is ideal for teaching color and the concept of fast and slow to preschool and early elementary children.
Lauren Greenfield, a photojournalistbased in L.A., chronicles the lives of twenty girls and women at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida.This residential facility offers treatment for women with eatingdisorders, namely, anorexia and bulimia. This is a timely and important book, since this disease will affectnone out of seven American women.
Texas Township Library, General Collection
Call Number: RC552.A5 G74 2006
Other books of interest are:
Kalodner, Cynthia R. Too fat or too thin? : a reference guide to eating disorders
Call # RC552.E18 K356 2003
Michel, Deborah Marcontell, 1964- When dieting becomes dangerous : a guide to understanding and treating anorexia and bulimia.
Call # RC552.B84 M53 2003
Kalamazoo Valley Community College
Texas Township Campus - 6767 West O Avenue, PO Box 4070,
Kalamazoo, MI 49003-4070 -
269-488-4400
Arcadia Commons Campus - 202 North Rose Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49007 - 269-373-7800
The Killer Angels
Sahara Special
The Higher Power of Lucky
