Category Archives: Books

Books

Episode 303: Plain, Amish, and Mennonite Books

Welcome back! We are so pleased you are joining us for our podcast book group: Reading with Libraries!

Check out our full shownotes page right here. All the books we discuss today, a bunch of resources to learn more about this genre, and recipes to our beverages are all located here.

This week we are discussing Plain, Amish, and Mennonite Fiction.

We are pleased to welcome returning Guest Host Lydia!

Come discover the genre of “bonnet fiction” or plain fiction, including Amish, Mennonite, Shaker communities. If this is your first experience in this genre, you may be surprised at how popular (and lucrative!) this genre is for readers and publishers.

Check out this episode!

Books, Communication, Programs

Coming in February: Teen Writing Workshop!

If you work in a school library or with teens, you should definitely know about this event! It sounds like a great workshop and they do offer scholarships for those unable to pay. Also, they are available to conduct in-person workshops at your school! Read on for more information: 

“Teen Novel Writing Workshop to take place Feb. 23 & 24, 2019 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins

Know a teen who loves to write and dreams of one day becoming a published author? If so, here’s a workshop he or she may want to attend: “Novel Writing for Teens,” led by Sigma’s Bookshelf co-founder Rachel M. Anderson.

Sigma’s Bookshelf, based in Minnetonka, MN, is believed to be the first and only free book publishing company exclusively for teen writers. Check out their 12 published titles at www.sigmasbookshelf.com/books. The company is grant supported and all services are 100% free for teens whose books are selected for publication. Authors are also paid royalties for books that sell online, at stores, and at events.

The next scheduled two day workshop takes place on Sat., and Sun., Feb. 23 and 24, 2019, at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

Thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Regional Arts Council (MRAC), cost is just $50 per student, and scholarships are available upon request.

More information can be found at the bottom of the front page of www.SigmasBookshelf.com  or at EventBrite.

Note: Rachel is also available to lead an in-person workshop at your school. Send her an email if this is of interest.”

Rachel M. Anderson

Co-founder
SIGMA’S BOOKSHELF
952-240-2513

 

Books

Music Book Mash-Up: January

In this series, we are going to share a fun variety of books about music! Even if you don’t play an instrument (or don’t play an instrument well) you can still absolutely be a music lover. So check back each month for a different collection of books all relating in some way to music! We’ll share fiction and nonfiction titles and try to cover many different genres and time frames. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments! Happy reading (and listening, and playing!)

We’ll start things off with a picture book that looks truly delightful:

Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald by Roxane Orgill, Sean Qualls (Illustrator)

When Ella Fitzgerald danced the Lindy Hop on the streets of 1930s Yonkers, passersby said good-bye to their loose change. But for a girl who was orphaned and hungry, with raggedy clothes and often no place to spend the night, small change was not enough. One amateur night at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Ella made a discovery: the dancing beat in her feet could travel up and out of her mouth in a powerful song —and the feeling of being listened to was like a salve to her heart. With lively prose, Roxane Orgill follows the gutsy Ella from school-girl days to a featured spot with Chick Webb’s band and all the way to her number-one radio hit “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.” Jazzy mixed-media art by illustrator Sean Qualls brings the singer’s indomitable spirit to life.

Next, a book that explores the many contributions of women to the world of country music:

Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives by Holly Gleason (Editor)

Full-tilt, hardcore, down-home, and groundbreaking, the women of country music speak volumes with every song. From Maybelle Carter to Dolly Parton, k.d. lang to Taylor Swift–these artists provided pivot points, truths, and doses of courage for women writers at every stage of their lives. Whether it’s Rosanne Cash eulogizing June Carter Cash or a seventeen-year-old Taylor Swift considering the golden glimmer of another precocious superstar, Brenda Lee, it’s the humanity beneath the music that resonates.

Here are deeply personal essays from award-winning writers on femme fatales, feminists, groundbreakers, and truth tellers.
Part history, part confessional, and part celebration of country, Americana, and bluegrass and the women who make them, Woman Walk the Line is a very personal collection of essays from some of America’s most intriguing women writers. It speaks to the ways in which artists mark our lives at different ages and in various states of grace and imperfection–and ultimately how music transforms not just the person making it, but also the listener.

And finally, a book recommendation that I also found was on many “best of” lists:

Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan

A delicious romp through the heyday of rock and roll and a revealing portrait of the man at the helm of the iconic magazine that made it all possible, with candid look backs at the era from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and others.

The story of Jann Wenner, Rolling Stone’s founder, editor, and publisher, and the pioneering era he helped curate is told here for the first time in glittering, glorious detail.

Supplemented by a cache of extraordinary documents and letters from Wenner’s personal archives, Sticky Fingers depicts an ambitious, mercurial, wide-eyed rock and roll fan of who exalts in youth and beauty and learns how to package it, marketing late sixties counterculture as a testament to the power of American youth. The result is a fascinating and complex portrait of man and era, and an irresistible biography of popular culture, celebrity, music, and politics in America.

Books

Episode 302: Metaphysical and Philosophical Books

Welcome back! We are so pleased you are joining us for our podcast book group: Reading with Libraries!

This week we are discussing Metaphysical and Philosophical books.

Check out our full shownotes page here, for all the info on the books we discuss and the material you can use to find all kinds of other books for yourself, friends, or patrons! (You can also find links to the beverages we are enjoying during this episode!)

We are pleased to welcome returning Guest Host Amy Schrank, from the Great River Library System!

 

Check out this episode!

Books

Book Bouquet: Pasta!

 

I can’t help it, readers, I am in love with noodles. If you ever show up to my house for dinner the odds that you will be eating some sort of noodle dish is high. So tuck into these noodly, doughy reads and make some delicious dinner tonight and enjoy.

(All the book links below lead to Amazon; if you click on one and buy things from Amazon, CMLE may receive a small percentage of Amazon’s profits. Thanks!)

 The Ultimate Pasta and Noodle Cookbook by Serena Cosmo

“Presenting the ultimate resource for every level chef—over 300 recipes for pasta, soups, stir-fries, sauces, desserts and baked dishes!

Go beyond spaghetti and meatballs and whip up baked lamb orzo, or a savory squid ink frittata! There are 300 recipes from around the world, and nearly 350 pastas to discover in this definitive book! Easy-to-follow instructions for making your own pasta flow into complete meals for the whole family to enjoy—even those with dietary restrictions! Handy tips and techniques make you the master chef in your home kitchen as you wow guests and savor the fruits of your labor. The Ultimate Pasta and Noodle Cookbook will be a gorgeous keystone addition to any cookbook library!”

The Geometry of Pasta by Caz Hildebrand  (Author), Jacob Kenedy  (Author)

“Wheels and tubes, twists and folds and grooves—pasta comes in hundreds of shapes, each with its own unique history, beauty, and place on the dinner table. For centuries these shapes have evolved alongside Italy’s cornucopia of local ingredients; if you know how the flavours relate to the forms, you hold the secret formula to good taste.

The Geometry of Pasta pairs over 100 authentic recipes from acclaimed chef Jacob Kenedy with award-winning designer Caz Hildebrand’s stunning black-and-white designs to reveal the science, culture, and philosophy behind spectacular pasta dishes from throughout Italian history.

A triumphant fusion of food and design, The Geometry of Pasta invites us to unlock the hidden properties of Italy’s most mathematically perfect deliciousness.”

 Noodlemania!: 50 Playful Pasta Recipes by Melissa Barlow  

“You’ll go noodle crazy with the playful and colorful pasta recipes in Noodlemania! It’s filled with hot and cold main dishes, salads, and even desserts! Try Super Stuffed Monster Mouths made with jumbo pasta shells, Rapunzel Pastamade with extra-long spaghetti, Spider Cookies made with crunchy ramen noodles, or Gloppy Green Frog Eye Salad made with acini di pepe. Noodlemania! also teaches basic math skills and includes fun trivia. Which pasta name means “little ears”? What’s the world record for the largest meatball ever made? Kids will have fun in the kitchen while sharpening their cooking skills with Noodlemania!”

 Pasta Wars by Elisa Lorello

“Slim, successful, and soon to marry the man of her dreams, Katie Cravens is leading the life she always wanted. As the face and CEO of Pasta Pronto, a “Carbs for the Calorie-Conscious” line of frozen food, Katie chooses to live life like one of her Slimline Spaghetti dinners―no mess, no surprises, and everything tied up in a neat little package. But when Katie’s fiancé runs off with another woman and a quality control fiasco sends her customers running for the hills, it’s time for Katie to make a change. Her company’s salvation presents itself in the form of a partnership opportunity with the legendary Ristorante Caramelli of Rome, and Katie has no other choice but to jet off to Italy to convince gorgeous, hotheaded co-owner Luca Caramelli that she’s a worthy partner. Gaining Luca’s respect proves harder than Katie could have ever imagined, however, when he insists that she must learn how to cook―and how to eat―true Italian food before he will ever agree to their companies’ partnership.

Katie and Luca’s tension in Italy mounts into a fierce public rivalry that erupts back in the States with a nationally televised cooking competition. As Katie tries to channel her inner Mario Batali to win the competition, she must choose between the flavorless prepackaged life that she worked so hard to maintain and the mouth-watering uncertainty of a life chock full of carbohydrates and Caramellis.”

 Takashi’s Noodles by:Takashi Yagihashi

“A collection of 75 recipes from James Beard Award-winning chef Takashi Yagihashi for both traditional and inventive hot and cold Japanese noodle dishes.
Combining traditional Japanese influences, French technique, and more than 20 years of cooking in the Midwest, James Beard Award-winning chef Takashi Yagihashi introduces American home cooks to essential Japanese comfort food with his simple yet sophisticated recipes. Emphasizing quick-to-the-table shortcuts, the use of fresh and dried packaged noodles, and kid-friendly dishes, Takashi explains noodle nuances and explores each style’s distinct regional identity. An expert guide, Takashi recalls his youth in Japan and takes cooks on a discovery tour of the rich bounty of Japanese noodles, so readily accessible today. Takashi’s exuberance for noodles ranging from Aje-Men to Zaru is sure to inspire home cooks to dive into bowl after soothing, refreshing bowl. ”

Thanks for reading with us this week!! We will have another bouquet of books next week.
You can also always get book suggestions by joining our book group podcast: Reading With Libraries. Join us! Stream it here! Download it to your own app! Read books! Drink themed beverages! Have fun with us!!