Movin' Along

Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca team up again to write about life, happiness, dating and loss. You’ll laugh, nod, cry and even shout in agreement when you pick up Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?  by the tag-team duo. Francesca is 28, living in Manhattan, and trying to make it as a writer. Lisa is the author of 24 novels and 6 humorous memoirs. Although both were deeply affected by the loss of beloved “Mother Mary” Lisa’s irreverent, out-spoken mother, they carry on with grace, humor and the awful truth (as they see it) in everyday living. The book is both entertaining and insightful. DB

Book Discussion

Join us for Book Discussion on Thursday, April 10th at 6:30pm.  We'll be discussing Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  After the death of her mother, Strayed finds herself falling deeper and deeper into a self-destructive, downward spiral.  Inspired by a book about the Pacific Crest Trail, she impulsively decides to hike from California to Washington in order to combat her demons.  HM

Sew True!

The Peoples' writer is back! In Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair, Anne Lamott once again examines life’s ups and downs. She offers advice, anecdotes, and thoughts on getting through the worst experiences. She encourages you to “feel” your feelings and not rush through any grieving process. By reconnecting to others and stitching things together during recovery, Anne reminds us that life goes on and so should we. DB

Weighty Issues

In 703: How I Lost More Than a Quarter Ton and Gained a Life by Nancy Makin you read about Nancy's weight gain to 703 pounds and her descent into isolation and self-destruction.  The effects on herself, her family and her friends are handled with startling honesty and a touch of Nancy's offbeat humor.  Her story continues with a gift of a laptop which allowed her to develop the friendships and support she needed to lose over a quarter-ton of weight.  She didn’t diet but the emotional connections she developed help transform her life into one where she recovered her feelings of self-worth and dignity – something that wasn’t afforded to her by others when she was at her heaviest.   

In Jennifer Joyner’s Designated Fat Girl we read about a woman who had it all – marriage, children and friendships but who used food as an emotional crutch until her weight was out of control.  She relied on gastric bypass surgery to lose the weight and you will find it interesting to read about her medical journey and her physical and emotional recovery.  Both books have relevant messages for showing us that when you need help you can get it from outside, or find it within.  SG

Mothers and Daughters

Warning -- Domenica Ruta's With Or Without You does not have a nice, neat, happy ending . . . but it doesn't have a bad ending either.  In fact, it really doesn't have an ending at all, just the honest depiction of a life in progress.  In this memoir, Ruta explores her relationship with her narcissistic, drug-addicted mother and how that relationship ultimately led her to both destroy and attempt to redeem herself.  At the same time darkly humorous and heart-wrenching, With Or Without You brings home the point that in at least some ways, we are all just like our mothers.  HM

Culture, Food, and Identity

Part coming-of-age story, part food memoir, Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang details the blogger and chef's childhood as the son of Chinese immigrants living in Orlando during the 1990s.  Huang learns form an early age (and from his ex-gangster dad) not to take insults from anybody, a lesson that gets him into trouble time and time again.  Fleshed out with references to hip hop, basketball, food, and '90s pop culture, Fresh Off the Boat explores issues of race, identity, and what it means to be American.  HM

A Few Words For A Big Idea

How do you accurately describe a country of so many contradictions?  In his first non-fiction work to be translated into English, writer Yu Hua attempts to do just that.  China in Ten Words is part personal memoir, part social and political commentary.  The book is divided into ten chapters centered around ten Chinese phrases that Yu expounds upon with vignettes from his childhood and early adult life.  This was a surprisingly quick read, providing a glimpse into the cultural fabric of a country where opposites not only exist, but flourish.  HM

scratch cooking...yes or no?

In Jennifer Reese's book, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, she chronicles her life after she lost her job. She wondered about making food at home from scratch, is it really cheaper? Her experiments range from the doable (bread, bagels) to the truly ridiculous (butchering your own turkey, making vermouth!) Reese also includes "the hassle factor" and a cost comparison. I also found this book to be laugh-out-loud funny as she takes an ironic tone to describe her adventures in say, goat keeping or curing her own meats. Informative and witty, I loved this book! ML

All Ye Know on Earth, and All Ye Need to Know

Many people recognize Ann Patchett as a writer of realistic fiction, including the PEN/Faulker Award-winning novel, Bel Canto, and her recently published best seller, State of Wonder. While I, too, have read and enjoyed her novels, none have affected me as strongly as her memoir, Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. The story revolves around Patchett's relationship with fellow celebrated author and poet, Lucy Grealy (Autobiography of a Face). While Patchett describes herself as stoic and hardworking, Grealy is a personality to be reckoned with, living life with the brilliance, violence, and transience of a firecracker.

The experience of following Patchett and Grealy's friendship, from their beginnings as creative writing students at Sarah Lawrence through their grapples with adulthood and all that comes with it, is at times both gratifying and devastating. Both in print and audiobook format, this title is highly recommended. OEO

Go Get 'Em Tiger

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua stereotypes the Chinese and Western ways of parenting. While Ms. Chua acknowledges that you don't have to be Chinese to be a "Chinese Mother" she still boasts throughout the book that the drive for excellence in children is more Chinese than Western. If you can get past this then the book is actually an enjoyable memoir and a quick and interesting read. If you would like insight into a mother who is truly a tiger, pushing her children to the extremes with an iron-will, but not without humor and mishaps along the way, then this book is for you. SG

Food As Identity

Wonder bread, Ding Dongs, potato chips, and Popsicles -- these are the constant cravings of Bich Minh Nguyen in her coming-of-age tale, Stealing Buddha's Dinner: A Memoir. A Vietnamese refugee in 1980s Grand Rapids, Nguyen struggles to reconcile her Asian family life with the Western culture surrounding her. Quickly, she comes to identify "being American" with eating American junk food, and finds herself torn between fried shrimp cakes and Kit Kats. Honored as a Michigan Notable Book in 2008, Stealing Buddha's Dinner is a fascinating look at childhood and the creation of identity through the eyes of an outsider. HM

Personal Triumph

When Hope Prevails: The Personal Triumph of a Holocaust Survivor by Sam Offen

This book, written by an elderly survivor of the Holocaust, is stark in its simplicity. The horror of it is very real but the triumph of survival leaves hope for us all. Sam and his two brothers survived but their mother, father, sister and many other relatives were killed. It is difficult to read about the gas chamber. Sam came to the U.S., married and had a family and lived to tell the story. He will be speaking in person at Oxford Public Library on October 7, 2010, at 7 p.m. Register now!