Mo's 5 Books to Inspire Summer Crafting!

Summertime is a great time to make and do things! Many people don't know it, but the Big Blue Marble has a small but mighty craft section on the second floor. Go check it out! Or ask a friendly staffer to bring you down their favorite craft book.

Lost Crafts: Rediscovering Traditional Skills by Una McGovern (Cambers UK, $16.95)
Check out the beautiful paper-cut cover by Rob Ryan! Then open it up and learn about the everyday art and skill of days gone-by.

Paper Cutting: Contemporary Artists, Timeless Craft compiled by Laura Heyenga (Chronicle, $27.50)
Are you a fan of Nikki McClure or Rob Ryan? This book features intricate paper-cut artworks by these and other artists.

Print Workshop: Hand-Printing Techniques + Truly Original Projects by Christine Schmidt (Potter Craft, $19.99)
Be the envy of hipsters everywhere after you learn the techniques in this book.

Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris (Hachette, $27.99)
Amy Sedaris is crazy and this satire on craft books is genius. Did you know that "Reckless crafting causes eight times the number of accidents caused by faulty glue guns and snakes combined!?" Sedaris' book is full of this and other crafting safety facts. She will also teach you about crafting for Jesus, unreturnable gift giving, and "fornicrafting."

Designer's Notebook by Andrew Schapiro and Brad Mead (Chronicle, $19.95)
This sophisticated design journal/sketchbook has dotted grids for making notes and diagrams of future projects. It also contains a resource guide at the back with design terms and measurements, as well as a detachable ruler, tracing paper, and stickers. It also has a nifty pocket in the back!


June 2011, Mo Speller

Five Books that Mo will probably use in Philosoraptors' Cafe Trivia Night

Five Books that Mo will probably use in Philosoraptors' Cafe Trivia Night, now on Tuesday May 17, 2011 at 7pm.

These books offer just a taste of the topics that will be featured at trivia night. Study up for an edge, but know that we're too silly to be completely predictable.

1. Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell (Penguin, $25.95)

2. Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang (Picador, $17.00)

3. It's Bigger than Hip-Hop by M.K. Asante (Griffin, $14.99)

4. Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue Literary Press, $14.95)

[Editor's Note: Tinkers is also one of Erica's March Picks.]

5. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, Illustrated by Ian Falconer (Little Brown & Co, $21.99)

May 2011, Mo Speller

5 Cookbooks Mo Thinks Are Pretty Great

5 Cookbooks Mo Thinks Are Pretty Great

Joy of Cooking, 75th Anniversary Edition by Irma von Starkloff Rombauer (Simon and Schuster, $35)
An oldie but a goodie. Did you know the author of the Joy of Cooking comes from St. Louis where Mo grew up? True story. Also it was originally written during the Depression and included tips on how to cook possum and road kill because that is how bad the Depression was. Today's edition doesn't have much to say about possum but it does have recipes for pretty much everything else including my favorite dairy-free chocolate cake recipe (p.723) and the recipe I use to make clotted cream for my tea parties celebrating Britain's National Health system (p. 1040, you start with raw cream). I've also never managed to come up with a produce item that you can't find in the index, including jicama, pawpaws, and cherimoya or "custard apple" a fruit I learned about from the book. If you haven't looked at this classic in a while, it's time to revisit it. I think if I were trapped on a desert island where I had to cook five course meals morning noon and night and I could only take one book, I would take this one. It just has everything.

The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookie Cookies and other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis (Chronicle Publishing, $18.99)
I don't actually know much about Star Wars, nor have I actually used any of these recipes but I do know a great food-related Star Wars pun when I read it and this book is full of them. Boba Fett-uccine, Han-burgers, and Hoth Chocolate...also the photos by Frankie Frankeny make the food look pretty good...and fun.

The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without by Mollie Katzen (Hyperion Books $22.95)
I don't really use Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook but I do use this book all the time. She's really great at thinking of ways to enliven classic recipes--like her Potato, Carrot, Turnip Gratin. How were there ever potato gratins that didn't include turnips? She's also great at explaining how to cook veggies using simple methods to bring out all their essential flavors.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois (St. Martin's Press, $27.99)
The basic secret of this book is that it teaches you how to make a really wet dough in huge quantities that you can store in the fridge for weeks (see p. xi, "THE SECRET"). Based on this recipe there are tons of baked goods you can make, including pizza and some really awesome cinnamon rolls.

Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream and Dessert Book by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield with Nancy Stevens (Workman, $ 9.95)
It is hard to find good ice cream recipes. These are pretty great ones. Let it be known that if you make Sweet Cream Ice Cream recipe number 2 (p. 29) using the Organic Valley Half and Half from the Co-op you WILL get a tummy ache and you WILL enjoy it. Ben and Jerry also teach secrets like how to put things like candy and chocolate chunks into your ice cream without them all sinking to the bottom and how to convince people who live in cold climates that they need to eat ice cream year round.

March 2011, Mo Speller

Five Books that Mo will probably use in Philosoraptors' Cafe Trivia Night, Special Speller Birthday Edition, Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 7pm

These books offer just a taste of the topics that will be featured at trivia night. Study up!

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson (Random House, $28.95)
This book is an obvious pick for Philosoraptor Trivia questions. Firstly, it is pretty funny. Secondly, even though Bryson was born in the U.S. he's clearly British now and the Spellers are half-British. Thirdly, this Indie Bestseller reveals the secret absurdity of quotidian household objects.

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance by Anne Sibley O'Brien and Perry Edmond O'Brien (Charlesbridge Publishing $24.95)
This is a kid's book that talks about activists who've used nonviolence to effect change. Most of them you've heard of before, but you probably didn't get the real story. In particular, trivia will focus on some famous civil rights activists in honor of Black History Month. You can expect more black history questions from other sources, possibly that Mo has previously listed as Staff Picks.

Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, edited by Daniel Ladinsky (Penguin, $17.00)
These poems are good. You can try to figure out how I will make them into trivia.

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (Random House, $19.95 for paperback or $29.95 for hardcover)
I don't often recommend buying in hardcover, but for this book you really should. The copy my family has is fifty-years-old, well-loved, and probably would not have survived had it been a paperback. The illustrations are beautiful. The trivia will likely be related to Valentine's Day.

Wicked Philadelphia: Sin in the City of Brotherly Love by Thomas Keels (The History Press, $19.99)
This book has made appearances at trivia nights before. We always love local history.

February 2011, Mo Speller

5 Kids' Books That Mo Likes to Recommend to Adults but that Kids Generally Like Too

Adults should generally read more kids' books.

Too Busy Marco by Roz Chast (Simon and Schuster, $16.99)
I know a lot of adults who need this book about how you have to go to bed when it is bedtime. So many people close to me stay up all night because they want to figure out how to save the world before they go to sleep. Marco's aspirations are much funnier though. Also Roz Chast is always a winner in my book.

Anh's Anger by Gail Silver, illustrated by Christiane Kromer
(Plum Blossom Books, $16.95)
It's okay to be angry. It's how you deal with being angry. This book proposes one way to deal with anger. Also it has beautiful illustrations.

We Are In a Book! by Mo Willems (Hyperion, $8.99)
Actually, to be honest I recommend pretty much every Mo Willems book to adults because they are funny and clever on so many levels. This one is best read out-loud. It's like a Droste picture. So much love for Mo Willems. Just read any of them when you need to laugh.

I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, illustrated by Jacqueline Chwast
(Houghton Mifflin, $6.95)
This book is sweet. Give it to a best friend or sweetie or someone you like.

17 Things i'm not allowed to do anymore by Jenny Offill & Nancy Carpenter (Random House, $15.99)
Sometimes it is fun to celebrate being bad. To get the full hilarity, you really have to look at the illustrations, but here is an excerpt: "I had an idea to do my George Washington report on beavers instead... I am not allowed to do reports on beavers anymore. I had an idea to dedicate my report to all beavers that ever lived... I am not allowed to dedicate my report to beavers anymore."

November 2010, Mo Speller

Five Books About Earth That Prove Mo Has a Dirty Mind

Nonfiction
Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in a Time of Climate Crisis by Vandana Shiva (South End Press, $15.00)
I love this book. Using India as a kind of case study, Shiva gives a brilliant critique of industrial agriculture and the failures of many forms of “development” to improve the lives of the poor or address climate change. She also explains how our current crisis also provides an opportunity to establish what she calls “Earth Democracy,” a truly democratic society that values the earth and the local independent farmer.

The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic America by Patricia Klindeinst (Random House, $18.00)
Klindeinst challenges the image of migrants and immigrants as “uprooted” through descriptions of several families and communities shape their adopted lands by farming and gardening.

Two Picture Books for Kids
Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary McKenna Siddals, Ilustrated by Ashley Wolf (Random House, $15.99)
What goes into compost?

[Editor's note: Compost Stew is also one of Jen's August Picks.]

Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin (Joanna Cotler Books, $16.99)
The inner thoughts and desires of a worm can be pretty hilarious.

A Picture Book for Grown-ups
A Field Guide to Sprawl by Dolores Hayden, with Photographs by Jim Wark (W.W. Norton, $22.95)
Aerial photos of landscapes that demonstrate our terrifying infrastructure, parking lots, and developments at their worst.

October 2010, Mo Speller

Mo’s Five Books That Relate to Cities and Ecology

(3 of which are about projects to make your home sustainable, and 2 of which are children’s books about urban gardens to inspire you)

Toolbox For Sustainable City Living by Scott Kellogg and Stacy Pettigrew
(South End Press, $16.00)
This book gives detailed instruction on how to carry out various sustainability related home projects--from passive solar, to grey water recycling, to small turbines.

Dam Nation: Dispatches for the Water Underground edited by Cleo Woelfle-Erskine (Soft Skull Press, $19.95)
This book discusses in-depth the ecological devastation caused by dams and modern water systems and then gives detailed instructions on building grey water systems.

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System by Mary Appelhof (Flowerfield Enterprises, $12.95)

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
(Little, Brown & Company, $16.99)
This book is based on the Highline in Manhattan, a garden made on old elevated railroad tracks. My favorite line is “The garden was especially curious about old, forgotten things.”

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart (Square Fish, $6.99)
A girl moves from the country to the city and brings her garden to the rooftop of a row-house and a smile to her Uncle’s face.

[Editor's note: The Curious Garden and The Gardener are also among Maleka's June picks.]

August 2010, Mo Speller

Mo's Five Staycation Picks

Arrive without traveling--have a staycation with a book. Here are five that I enjoy.

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee (Houghton Mifflin, $16)

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (Simon and Schuster, $15)

The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions From Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (Clarkson Potter, $35.00)

How to Be An Explorer of the World: Portable Art Life Museum by Keri Smith (Penguin, $14.95)
[Editor's note: This book is also one of Maleka's May picks.]

You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination by Katherine Harmon (Princeton Architectural Press, $24.95)

July 2010, Mo Speller

Five Books That Taught Mo a Thing or Two about Philadelphia

I have now been living in Philadelphia for almost two years. When I move to a new place I like to study its history. Here are some of the books on the topic of Philadelphia history that I have consulted and enjoyed.

Forgotten Philadelphia: Lost Architecture of the Quaker City
by Thomas H. Keels (Temple University Press, $40.00)

Digging in the City of Brotherly Love: Stories from Philadelphia Archaeology
by Rebecca Yamin
(Yale University Press, $35.00)

Up South: Civil Rights and Black Power in Philadelphia
by Matthew Countryman
(University of Pennsylvania Press, $22.50)

Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North
by Thomas Sugrue
(Random House, $20.00)

Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine (Scholastic, $16.99)

June 2010, Mo Speller

Mo's May Picks

Nonfiction
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
(William Morrow and Co., $25.99)
In parts I find the way this book was co-written slightly annoying; however, it is a hugely inspiring tale of a young man who assembles a windmill out of discarded parts to power his Malawi village which had previously had little or no electricity.

Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom for the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt
(Little Brown and Co., $23.99)
The crow population has skyrocketed in recent years, partly as a result of urban sprawl. Crows are ever present in cities and suburbs (you may have also noted they are heavily featured in Nikki McClure's illustrations). Haupt investigates how crows are a sympton of the ecological damage wrought human civilization, but also a reminder of the wildness and wonder we should strive to protect. This book is a primer on urban naturalism and works to break down the false dichotomy between cities and nature.

Picture Books
The End by David Rochelle, illustrated by Richard Egielski
(Scholastic, $16.99)
This picture book inverts the classic fairytale form and the results are very silly.

Gracias/Thanks by Pat Mora
(Lee and Low Books, $17.95)
This is such a sweet book. I think my favorite line is "For my family, who clapped and clapped even when I tripped on the stage in the school play. Thanks."

Fiction
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips
(Random House, $14.95)
This is the first book I've read by Jayne Anne Phillips. Funnily enough I decided to read it for three reasons:
1. It had a cool cover in the hardcover version.
2. It was reviewed well by some great authors including Junot Diaz. It was also reviewed well by NPR.
3. I had just read some beautiful short stories by Phillips.
I read and loved this book and then when it came out in paperback it had an awful cover that makes the books seem really weepy and sentimental. So please remember the adage "Don't judge a book by its cover." This book is beautifully written and reveals Phillips' background as a poet, especially in her chapters written from the perspective of Termite--a boy with extremely limited mobility and abilities to communicate--who, as only Lark seems to understand, knows and perceives more than anyone else.

May 2010, Mo Speller