I am not a great cook, so I rarely try out new recipes, but a few nights ago I finally got around to testing a recipe from Susan Spicer's cookbook, Crescent City Cooking, and really enjoyed it.
A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology
By Jack Kornfield
Bantam Dell (April 29, 2008)
Jack Kornfield is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist practice in the west. Graduation from Dartmouth in 1967, Kornfield has been institutional in bringing Buddhist psychology into western day by day mainstream living. An understanding of both mindsets that few can express as he can. He is able to make self-adaptation understandable, practical and helpful.
Wise Heart, is too much of a book to talk about in a few words. The major focal points are: Addressing who you really are; application of the good Psy-health practice of mindfulness; the understanding of self and of others; finding personal freedom and personal practice.
Just released, this is a wonderful book for the present. I have been living with Wise Heart for 2 months now, and have enjoyed it. Reading Wise Heart has increased my understanding of how to incorporate Eastern Psychology into modern life.
Fans of Jack Kornfield’s A Path with Heart and After the Ecstasy, The Laundry will not be disappointed as this story is continued.
Mississippi native Eric Etheridge has recently published a coffee table book of photography called Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders that portrays the historic summer of 1961 through interviews of the former freedom riders, and their current portraits alongside their mugshots from the time.
Having grown up in Jackson, I can't remember the first time I was made aware of segregation, or the role our state played in the civil rights movement. Though I can't remember when I learned about this part of our history, I've always been sensitive to the attitude of some people in our community: that these events happened in our past, and though they are an important and controversial part of history, we ought not dwell upon them but instead, continue to move forward and distance ourselves from the past. Thus, it came as quite a shock in college when my sociology class read Doug McAdams' book, Freedom Summer.
Reading Freedom Summer forced me to come face to face with this reality: I grew up believing that a great temporal and physical distance existed between me and my culture's not so distant past when, in fact, the people in Freedom Summer filled the streets of my hometown in the not so distant past. The images depicting that summer were filled with tanks, policemen and rioters. It was at this point that I finally understood that these are people I pass in my neighborhood and stand in line behind in the grocery store.
Many of the documents and mug shots from that summer remain forever in posterity in the files of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History where Etheridge discovered them and came up with the idea to use them to recreate this history. In his introduction,Etheridge mentions that he found no evidence that the Sovereignty Commission used the mug shots after they were filed, but expresses his belief of their importance today, saying: "... they're invaluable to us today. They give us the chance to take the measure of these men and women in the very heat of battle, and perhaps to take measure of ourselves in their responding gaze. Here they are, four decades later, patiently and urgently awaiting our reply," (29). In my humble opinion, through his interviews and the creation of Breach of Peace, forty years later Etheridge attempts to respond to their gazes.
Mr. Etheridge will be at Lemuria signing Breach of Peace on Friday, May 30 at 5:00 and giving a short talk at 5:30... we hope to see you all there to celebrate this beautiful book!
Success! The book sale last week at Lemuria's "Dot.com" building was a great success. The back porch at dot.com was warm and welcoming due to the beautiful weather for Lemuria's first ever sale day. Can you believe that after thirty-three years John has agreed to have the first big sale in the store's history? Don't forget that there are still two more spring sale days left: this Saturday, May 24, and Monday, May 26, which is also MEMORIAL DAY! So come by the Dot.com building and peruse the shelves. All the first editions and advanced readers copies on the shelves of Dot.com will be 10% off again and like last Saturday, we will have tables of advanced reader books priced as marked, starting at $1!!
The Outlander by Gil Adamson, 2008, Ecco, a division of HarperCollins, $25.95. (First Edition Club pick for May)
I have struggled coming up with a review of Gil Adamson's debut novel, The Outlander for over two months now, and this morning I read the latest edition of BookPage, and lucky me, my new favorite book reviewer, Kristy Kiernan, has a fantastic review...so let me give her the honors...
No country for young widows
REVIEW BY KRISTY KIERNAN
In 1903, the wilds of Montana and Alberta, Canada, and the frozen peaks of the Rockies challenged the most adventurous and experienced explorers. Only someone desperate, perhaps even mad, would dare consider them a viable escape route, but then Mary Boulton, most often referred to in Gil Adamson's suspenseful debut, The Outlander, as "the widow," is surely both.
After the death of her infant, Mary slowly begins to work her way out of a crippling depression, only to be confronted with evidence of her husband's infidelity. Alone in a desolate and friendless landscape, Mary loses her last shred of sanity and kills him, living with his body while sewing her mourning gown. Her reckless act is discovered soon enough, sending the widow fleeing across the harsh land with her twin brothers-in-law, seeking revenge, hot on her trail.
Throughout her travels the widow suffers from frightening delusions, as well as the ever-present threats of starvation and frostbite, but she presses onward and upward, making her way through treacherous mountain passes, dodging wolves, deadly arrows and capture. A host of interesting characters cross her erratic path, providing shelter, company or simply an opportunity to steal provisions, and her encounters with a notorious mountain man known as the Ridgerunner are especially compelling.
As the widow's wilderness knowledge and competence improves, so does her mental condition, and by the time she arrives in Frank, a mining town in southwest Alberta, she's nearly got a grip on her sanity. But nothing will stop her husband's brothers, and soon after the famous Frank Slide, when 74 million tons of mountain crashed to the valley below, they manage to catch up to her.
Readers will feel as breathless as Mary as they follow her frantic dash across the snow-bound mountains. Combining the best escape-over-hazardous-terrain action from novels like Cold Mountain with moody, literary prose, The Outlander is an utterly gripping debut.
Kristy Kiernan writes from South Florida and determinedly avoids all snowy mountains.
We are so fortunate to have Ms. Adamson here for a signing and reading tomorrow, Monday, May 19th starting at 5 pm. She writes, in my opinion, like Jim Harrison and Cormac McCarthy, which is not my favorite style, but I did enjoy Mary's story. Ms. Adamson has written poetry and short stories, and after this debut novel, I am sure she will be on the fast track to becoming a favorite literary author. Treat yourself to this exciting new author by buying a copy (or two) of The Outlander today!
Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On:
The Wealth- accumulation Secrets of America’s Richest Families
Catherine S. Mebreen and George H. Walper, Jr.
Portfolio (December 2007)
I just finished reading, and found Pass It On to be the perfect fit for the title of this timely book. I will pass this read on to my children. This book is a perfect follow up for families who have studied Schwab’s It Pays to Talk. Pass It On is a good one for families to read together, think about and discuss. Family financial goals are just another way to share love and friendship together in this important way that in the past for some was a hidden or taboo subject.
The main theme is there are only 2 definitive ways to create the kind of wealth that can be bequeathed to multiple generations.
(1) Own income- producing real estate-in addition to your primary residence. An asset that can earn money for you and that can be passed down to your heirs as part of your legacy.
(2) Practice what we call continually innovative entrepreneurship—being involved in or investing and reinvesting, in a company product, or service that represents a whole new way to make money.
Pass It On stresses self-assessment, character ethics and continue in, self-analysis of your business passions. This practical book outlines the best way to get really rich is to follow the models for keeping your heirs rich tomorrow.
Today is May 10th, the day everyone has been waiting for, National Train Day! Are you looking for a way to "get your choo choo on?" If so, come by the store and get a copy of Howard Bahr's new novel, hot off the presses, Pelican Road. Howard's fourth novel chronicles the lives of characters working on the rail road in the early forties and has been a hit with all those who have read it so far. I haven't had a chance to read it myself yet, but truly enjoyed the segments he read on Thursday night at the kick off signing on his tour.
"The gist: The Robert Johnson Blues Foundation celebrates the legacy of the pioneering Hazlehurst blues legend with a hall of fame awards banquet Friday followed by a blues jam Saturday.
"Hall of Famers: Friday's banquet will honor this year's two inductees into the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.
"There's Shaw native David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who at the age of 92 is still a force in the blues world.
"'He was the last man to play with my granddad," says Steven Johnson, who is the grandson of Robert Johnson and vice president of the Blues Foundation.
"Being honored posthumously is Ike Zinnerman, a veteran Alabama guitarist who it is said taught Robert Johnson to play.
"Performing at the banquet will be this year's Robert Johnson Gibson Guitar New Generation winners, 17-year-old Tyler Bryant of Texas and 15-year old Gabriel Lambirth of California.
"Jammin' in the park: Saturday's blues jam will also feature performances by Bryant and Lambirth, as well as some elder statesmen of the blues.
"'We're trying to bridge the gap between the younger blues generation and the older generation," Steven Johnson says. "We want to keep the blues alive."
"Hall of fame honoree Edwards will headline the festival, along with The Muddy Waters Reunion Band, which features an all-star lineup of Hubert Sumlin, Bob Margolin, Tom "Mookie" Brill, Pinetop Perkins and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.
"Also performing will be R&B artist T.K. Soul, The Howlin' Wolf Reunion Band featuring Henry Gray, Jesse Robinson and the 500 lb. Blues Band, The Blues Gang and up-and-coming female guitar slinger Malina Moye."
A good friend of the bookstore, Seetha Srinivasan, recently announced her retirement from the University Press of Mississippi. The Clarion Ledger honored her with a nice article yesterday in the paper:
"University Press of Mississippi director Seetha Srinivasan announced her retirement this week from the helm of the state's scholarly press, an arm of Mississippi's eight state universities.
"Srinivasan's guidance of University Press will officially cease on June 30, but her influence will continue to nurture the not-for-profit scholarly book publisher long after her retirement. She has led the Press for the last decade.
"University Press of Mississippi was established in 1970 and has published more than 900 titles and distributed 2.6 million books, including some of the works of authors and artists Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, Ellen Douglas, Stephen Ambrose, Toni Morrison, William Dunlap, Walter Anderson, Barry Gifford, W.E.B. DuBois and Richard Wright.
"Srinivasan joined University Press of Mississippi in 1979 as an editorial and promotion assistant. But after almost three decades, her influence brought the organization the development of publishing a book of Welty's photographs, three historical works by Ambrose, a retrospective by Dunlap and nonfiction writing by Nobel laureate Morrison.
"Internationally respected, Srinivasan has been a force of nature in the world of scholarship, the arts and literature in Mississippi. Quality and a deep sense of respect for Mississippi's sense of place have been the hallmark of her tenure.
"Mississippians owe her a debt of gratitude for her service in this vital role."
Southern Herb Growing by Madalene Hill and Jean Hardy is a comprehensive book on everything from herb selection for our tough southern climate to designing an herb garden to preserving and cooking with herbs.
In the introduction, Madalene Hill tells the story of beginning her restaurant in Cleveland, Texas despite the fact that she had retired and had just planned to enjoy cooking. The restaurant and herb garden grew into a booming family business.
This has been the best herb book I have come across so far. Much of the scientific information on herbs is supplemented with Madalene’s tried and true experience of herb cultivation in a southern climate. I have yet to try some of the recipes from the family restaurant, but I look forward to trying the recipes for herb butter and parsley soup.
If you have used an herb reference that you found particularly helpful, please add a comment to the blog.
~Lisa
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