Container Theme Gardens by Nancy J. Ondra
I’m not much of a gardener. I grew up with a garden in the back yard, but I think that because that was all in a very different climate than where I now live, that I no longer have a good grasp on the details of how to work with what when etc. I have managed a few things though, including several pots around my front steps. That’s why I was hoping that Container Theme Gardens would be something I could use in a the […]
American Sfoglino: A Masterclass in Handmade Pasta by Evan Funke, Katie Parla, Eric Wolfanger
Evan Funke and Katie Parla’s American Sfoglino: A Masterclass in Handmade Pasta is a book you will want to have as a hardcopy and maybe also as an ebook. It is an aspirational cookbook, with it’s beautiful photography. If you aspire to make pasta at home without a pasta maker, it is also a very practical cookbook. Through photography and description, Funke shows how to make some of the master doughs and pasta shapes of Bologna. If all you want to do is dream and […]
Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand
Who knew the world of photojournalism was so fraught with peril!? This book sucked me in, which I did not expect at all. I saw this on a list of suggested books for Veronica Mars fans, perhaps because both protagonists are cynical, blonde women? But while Veronica has her issues, she has nothing on Cass Neary. I don’t know really how to describe this. Yes it is a murder mystery but it’s really more of a thriller, involving a washed up, drug addled photographer sent from Manhattan […]
Remedia: A Picaresque by Micahel Joyce
I was asked to read this book for a lit mag and do a review of it. The last several books I’ve done for them have been pretty awesome, so I was optimistic going into this one. It’s a picaresque style novel, which I’ve never encountered before, and I had high hopes that I would enjoy this new type of genre. But, alas, I’ve DNFed this one at page 256 because I just can’t anymore with the crazitude. Remedia starts out like it’s going to […]
Hashtag Authentic: Finding creativity and building community on Instagram and beyond by Sara Tasker
I tend to hang out in relatively niche corners of Instagram. As such, I came to Hashtag Authentic completely unaware of Sara Tasker and her Instagram feed. Never heard of her, and her images don’t show up in my Explore feed. But the description of Tasker as an “Instagram coach” twigged my curiosity enough to make me want to read this. What this book is: A gorgeous primer on the hows and whys of Instagram. Tasker teaches basic lessons in photography for social media. (If […]
Best for: Anyone who wants to be reminded of what it’s like to have a compassionate, intelligent person as US President. In a nutshell: Official White House Photographer Pete Souza shares a history of the Obama Presidency in photos and text. Line that sticks with me: The very last photo, of President Obama looking at the White House from Executive (formerly Marine) One, made me tear up. Why I chose it: My stepmother-in-law gifted my husband and I this massive book for Christmas. We’re moving […]
