Friday, May 30, 2014

The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti


First, there was the cheese. It was a tin of artisanal Spanish cheese in a time when hand-made foods were not appreciated in the United States, the early 1990s. Ari Weinzweig, who owned a delicatessen in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, brought it along when he returned from traveling in Europe. He wrote about it in his deli newsletter.                                              
 Second, there was the writer. Michael Paterniti’s job was to proofread that newsletter. Since he was a poor college student, he was unable to taste the twenty-two dollar a pound cheese. However, on the basis of the description he edited, he admired and coveted it. After finishing school, he became a successful writer, and years after his non-tasting of the wonderful cheese, he decided to pursue its story.
Third, and most importantly, there was the cheesemaker, Ambrosio Molinos, who spent years perfecting and marketing the old family cheese, Paramo de Guzman, only to eventually lose the business to financial problems, due to betrayal by a boyhood friend. 
Paterniti traveled to Spain to track down the cheese and its maker. He became enamored of the remote village of Guzman, even moving his young family there for a year. He loved the sunny farm fields, the well-tended vineyards, the quaint homes and their eccentric inhabitants with their old Castilian way of life. He was most taken with Ambrosio Molinos, cheesemaker and storyteller extraordinaire. In the hills surrounding Guzman are a series of caves called bodegas belonging to the farmers. Here they store their wine and cheese. Each bodega had a contador, a room once used for keeping track of inventory, now used for meeting friends, drinking, eating and telling stories. Hence, it is the “telling room.” The telling room is where Ambrosio tells Paterniti the story of the cheese: the development, growth and success of the family business and its sad demise. 
Michael Paterniti writes beautifully about Spain, its countryside, people, history and food. The Telling Room: a Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese is an unusual and intriguing story.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Minding the Manor: The Memoir of a 1930's English Kitchen Maid by Mollie Moran


Mollie Moran writes her book in a conversational style, making readers feel that we are visiting an elderly neighbor or relative who has good stories to tell.  Mollie Brown was born in rural England in 1916 to a poor but resourceful family. A bright, outdoor-loving tomboy, she left school at age fourteen to make her own way in the world. She was thrilled to get a position as a scullery maid in a London home. Part of a large staff (fourteen people served two men), at first she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of heavy scrubbing she was expected to do. (She washed dishes for not only her two masters but all fourteen servants.) But with the help of friendship, good humor, physical strength and emotional pluck, she survived and eventually thrived. She was promoted to kitchen maid and learned some cooking skills which led to more promotions. Eventually she became a valued cook.
But this book is not only about drudgery below stairs. Just like any teenage girl, Mollie was interested in clothes and boys. She never wasted a minute of her free time, going to all the dances she could and getting mixed up with the Blackshirts in Hyde Park, (attracted by the boys and not the politics). She embarrassed her employer by posing in her bathing costume for a picture that ended up in the “News of the World” newspaper, a weekly tabloid that just went out of publication in 2011. During her time in London, she caught glimpses of members of the Royal Family as well as Wallace Simpson.
At the onset of World War II, she met and married a service man in the RAF. They were separated for the duration of the war, but in the post-war years she and her children accompanied him to his postings in the Far East. Her willingness to embrace opportunity and try new experiences helped her in this phase of her life just as it did when she worked as a maid.

At ninety-seven years of age, Mollie Moran has an excellent memory and sense of humor. Minding the Manor: the Memoir of a 1930's English Kitchen Maid is an engaging personal story.

Friday, May 23, 2014

I Don't Know Where You Know Me From by Judy Greer


You've seen her in a movie, TV show, or even a commercial. Perhaps you just caught an episode of Two and a Half Men, or watched 13 Going on 30 with a friend. Or was it The Descendants, or that episode of The Big Bang Theory? Or maybe you just saw that Framily commercial.

The actress you are thinking about is Judy Greer, and while you might not remember what you saw her in, she has been in over 80 movies and TV shows. In I Don't Know Where You Know Me From, she gives readers a peak into her life growing up, how she got started acting, and a little bit about her family. The book is full of short essays about the hows and whys of who she is, and the people who made her this way. From a look back at her childhood in a suburb of Detroit to her college years in Chicago and her current life in LA, reading I Don't Know Where You Know Me is like meeting a new friend who just happens to have worked with some of the biggest movie stars on the planet.

If you liked the memoirs by Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling, check out Judy Greer's book. Judy Greer's honesty, humor and yes brief insights into the world of Hollywood is a refreshing look at the life of a co-star.

Check out I Don't Know Where You Know Me From @ the library!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Book of Ages by Jill Lepore


Jane Franklin was the younger sister of Benjamin Franklin. He was the youngest son and she the youngest daughter of a large colonial family in Boston. He was six years older than she and, due to gender, miles ahead of her in opportunity. While he was provided with some education and allowed to leave the family candle-making business for an apprenticeship in printing, she, as was standard for the times, was kept at home with no opportunity for education or choice in employment.  He went on to become one of the wealthiest and most accomplished men of all time: writer, scientist, philosopher, diplomat and Founding Father of our country. She became the wife of a poor man and mother of twelve children, only one of whom survived her. He wrote many books and pamphlets, including his Autobiography and Poor Richard's Almanac which are still read today. Her only book, Book of Ages, was a handmade book for personal use, in which she recorded the births and deaths of her children and husband. But she was a writer, exchanging letters with her brother and other friends throughout her life. Her letters have survived due to her connection to her famous brother.  Now author Jill Lepore has used them to write a life of Jane Franklin.  Few people have ever been as gifted as Benjamin Franklin, but in Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, Lepore paints a picture of a woman whose innate intelligence outshines her lack of education.  Life in the colonies before and during the Revolutionary War required a courage and perseverance hard for modern Americans to comprehend. Jane Franklin’s letters assist historians in their examination of the life of ordinary people in Colonial America. Drudgery, poverty, illness and death were the order of the day for the American colonists, particularly the women. The rights of women lagged behind the Rights of Man and, in fact, were years in coming. But women contributed to the struggle for independence as well as men, as this book shows.

Friday, May 16, 2014

The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr



How much thought have you ever given to perfume? Have you lingered in a department store wondering which scent would be best for you, or looked at ads and wondered if a simple spritz could make you more like your favorite celebrity. No matter how much you've thought about perfume, the people who make these scents have spent a lot of time coming up with the perfect scent, and how to market it to you.

The New York Times scent critic Chandler Burr takes year long look in to how perfume is created. He goes into the luxury brand Hermès to watch them create a new perfume that reflects their brand, and can help them compete with brands like Chanel. He also gets an inside look at the creation of Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovey, by the more mainstream perfumer Cody, and even has exclusive access to the actress herself. The amount of thought, time and number of people behind creating a perfume is amazing, and the amount of money behind these scents is astonishing.

Whether you have a collection of bottles or a signature scent, The Perfect Scent is a fascinating look into all the work that goes into making a perfume.

Check out The Perfect Scent @ the library!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Mommy Dressing: A Love Story, After a Fashion by Lois Gould


Bad mothers are the most interesting mothers, particularly when they are someone else’s.  In this light, Jo Copeland, mother of author Lois Gould, was a particularly interesting mother. She was a perfectionist who could not express any kind of warmth or kindness to her two children. Copeland was a fashion designer for over fifty years, beginning in the 1920’s.  Professionally successful and glamorous, she helped create the American fashion industry (as opposed to the French.) Her designs were worn by such diverse personalities as Gypsy Rose Lee and The Duchess of Windsor. Both Copeland and her husband were shallowly obsessed with appearances and their marriage did not last, leaving Gould and her brother in the care of nannies and housekeepers. They were isolated in their bedrooms, subjected to long periods of enforced silence and strict senseless rules. In general, they were left out of their mother’s life. A father who bragged that he could “handsome up a room” and a mother who would criticize a daughter for perspiring or getting a pimple were not best suited for raising children. However, Mommy Dressing: A Love Story, After a Fashion is not the emotional, self-pitying memoir it could have been. Gould delves into the story of her mother’s own emotionally deprived childhood, a childhood that left her unable to mother her own children. Good writers always have a talent for empathy and sensitivity that helps them explain the incomprehensible behavior of others. Lois Gould’s purpose in writing this book was not revenge but understanding and her success is the reader’s gain.   

Friday, May 9, 2014

Mother by Judy Olausen


Judy Olausen’s mother, Vivien, is definitely a good-natured good sport. In her daughter’s book of photographs, Mother, she is the only model and she proves to be willing to pose in all manner of ridiculous situations and costumes in this send-up of the 1950’s ideal housewife and mother. In pictures filled with 1950’s memorabilia, she washes, dries and irons laundry. She scrubs, vacuums, shops, cooks and waits for the man of the house to arrive. Mother goes to church. Mother serves drinks. Mother gets her hair done. Mother goes camping. Mother IS a coffee table. Mother IS driftwood. Mother IS roadkill. Mother IS a doormat. Mother is an excellent model and MOTHER is just plain funny.

Check out Mother @ the library! Also check out other books featuring moms with our May book display!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover by Ann Ross


Ann Ross’s fifteenth novel featuring Miss Julia and her friends and family is a comfortable and warm as a quilt. In Miss Julia’s Marvelous Makeover Ann Ross introduces new characters from Miss Julia’s distant relatives that Miss Julia would like to keep that way or as far away as possible. Miss Julia’s cousin sends her granddaughter, Trixie, to learn manners from Miss Julia and to find a husband in the small southern town of Abbotsville. This town is so well drawn that it often seems as if it is another character in the book.  During this book’s summer Miss Julia must deal with this unwanted house guest plus her beloved husband, Sam has a minor health scare and decides to run for state senate. Yet through it all Miss Julia remains true to herself and steadfast in her faith. 

Check out Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover @ the library!