Amy’s 5 Picks for Last-Minute Mother’s Day Gifts*

Chicken and Egg: A Memoir of Suburban Homesteading with 125 Recipes by Janice Cole (Chronicle Books, $24.95)
For the homesteading, chicken-raising, seasonal-minded Mom in your life. This memoir/cookbook has gorgeous photos and wholesome recipes, all of which include either chicken or eggs, and is painstakingly organized by micro-season, “ie: Early Spring/Late Spring”. This is additionally perfect if you or said Mom are completely fed up with having the same old baked chicken or scrambled egg roll-ups for breakfast.

Things to Make and Do: A Journal and Remember: A Seasonal Record by Nikki McClure (Buy Olympia, $16.95)
For the Etsy-shopping, poetry-writing, strawberry jam-making, DIY gardener in your life (or for someone who aspires to do these things one day). You cannot go wrong with one of these journals.

Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery & Cafe by Joanne Chang (Chronicle Books, $35.00)
For the gourmet Mom with a sweet tooth, who likes to read cookbooks in bed, and once in a while actually bake something. Each recipe looks accessible and amazing - Homemade Smores, Sweet Sticky Buns, and Almond Macaroons with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache.

City Walks With Kids New York: 50 Adventures on Foot by Elissa Stein (Chronicle Books, $14.95)
For the active Mom who’s wondering just what the heck to do with the kids all summer long. These boxes of cards offer fun and kid-friendly walks through NY. We also have City Walks: Philadelphia and Washington D.C., which would be great for the retired mom who loves to walk off the beaten path.

Head Off and Split: Poems by Nikki Finney (Triquarterly, $15.95)
For the lover of poetry in your life, or for someone who is fairly new to poetry but would appreciate Finney’s powerful imagery and distinct voice; that’s both personal but also intersects with public and historical moments in American life. She will not be disappointed.

*Disclaimer: I would not balk at any of these as a Mother’s Day gift. Nope, would not balk at all.

May 2011, Amy Vaccarella

Maleka's 5 Favorite Books Of All Time

Maleka's 5 Favorite Books Of All Time


Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Penguin, $9.99)
First book that made me cry. First book that made me hold my breath in suspense.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Harper Collins, $14.99)
First book that completely blew my mind.

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez (Random House, $14.95)
Like one long, long, lifelong love letter. And I enjoyed every minute, every day, every year of it.

The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (George Braziller, $12.95)
The pain and beauty of being a woman, being a mother, being a wife, and transcending from all those identities.

Zami by Audre Lorde (Random House, $15.95)
Audre, I wish I could have drank coffee with you in New York or Mexico and talked to you about writing, life, and love.

Kate's 5 Favorite Novels That Take You To Exotic Places

Kate's 5 Favorite Novels That Take You To Exotic Places

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, $16.99)
Journey to South America and follow the tumultuous and often highly dysfunctional lives of multiple generations of the Buendia family as they experience love, death and war.

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende (Harper Collins, $26.99)
Immerse yourself in the beautiful but violent world of Haiti in the late 18th century, and witness the triumph of the human spirit.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Random House, $16.00)
Part mystery, part social commentary, the plot of this novel is as lush as it's Indian setting.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper Collins, $14.99)
Travel to Africa with the Price family as they embark on a missionary expedition and find their individual purposes in the midst of hardship.

The Painted Veil by Somerset W. Maugham (Vintage Books, $14.95)
Join Kitty Fane as her physician husband drags their unhappy marriage to a cholera-stricken province in China.




April 2011, Kate Musliner

Amy’s 5 Books That Introduce Children to Mindfulness and Meditation

Amy’s 5 Books That Introduce Children to Mindfulness and Meditation

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, $17.99)
This is the first of a short series of books that introduces us to Stillwater, a wise and giant panda. In this story, he teaches three kids, through the art of storytelling, a few traditional Zen Buddhist tales about forgiveness, generosity, and impermanence.
(Ages 3 - 8)

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, $17.99)
This book is a little more advanced. Based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy, a young boy asks his animal friends the three important questions he’s been pondering: "When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do?". Through his actions and with the words of a wise old turtle named Leo, he is able to answer his own questions.
(Ages 5 - 9)

There by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick (Roaring Brook, $17.95)
A young girl wonders what life will be like when she gets bigger, asking “When will I get there? Will I wear sensible things and wear sensible shoes? Will I never say anything silly again?”. This is a sweet story about living in the moment.
(Ages 3 - 6)

Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerrie Lee Maclean (Albert Whitman & Co., $6.99)
This is more of an instructional book on meditation and mindfulness for kids, with simple instructions and exercises. One such exercise involves a jar of water and sand that gets shaken up and then watched as the sand (thoughts) settle and the mind becomes clear.
(Ages 3 - 8)

Each Breath a Smile by Sister Susan Swan, with words by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press, $10.95)
Another lovely instructional book teaching mindful breathing to kids, written by a Buddhist Nun who has studied with Thich Nhat Hanh. This one uses imagery and words that are connected with nature to inspire the readers.
(Ages 2 - 5)

*Runner Up:
Anh's Anger by Gail Silver (Parallax Press, $16.95)
Anh is a young boy who, out of deep frustration, explodes with anger at his grandfather. Then, alone in his room, he meets his Anger, who’s taken the form of a monster, and ultimately learns the practice of sitting with his anger and letting go. (At present this book on Back Order, but it is worth the wait!).
(Ages 4 - 8)

April 2011, Amy Vaccarella

Janet's 5 Picks for April

Janet's 5 Picks for April:
the month we begin as fools and end with redemption

My house is as filled with books as many of yours...bookcases in every room, books overflowing in the linen closet on the third floor, a pile or two on the coffee table...but my "special" books are in two special places. Special books are those that reverberate with my truth or provide a lesson that needs studying. Those are the books that I will someday place in a box and give to my daughter. Below is a kind of strange collection of a few of them:



Americans Who Tell The Truth by Robert Shetterly (Puffin Books, $7.99)
A book of exceptional portraits of men and women who devoted their lives to the pursuit of truth and justice.

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic Press, $17.99)
Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, Muth teaches us the lesson that all of us are always in the right place at the right time. All that is needed is for us to notice what is in front of us.

Sophie's Masterpiece by Eileen Spinelli (Aladdin Paperbacks, $6.99)
In her elder years, Sophie the spider, spins a magnificent baby blanket for a young mother who is too poor to provide her own.

Between the Doors by Susan Windle (Xlibris Corporation, $10.00)
For lessons in creating a path for another, read the simple poem on page 18 about learning to ride a bike. Or is it simple? And is it just about riding a bike?

East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Penguin Books, $16.00)
I know, I know but this has been one of my all time favorites since before Oprah was on television. A book of truth that will definately go in the box.


April 2011, Janet Elfant

Erica’s 5 Fairy Tale Retellings (In Honor of the Royal Wedding)

Erica’s 5 Fairy Tale Retellings (In Honor of the Royal Wedding)

Nothing says fairy tale like a prince getting married. On April 29, H.R.H. Prince William will wed Kate Middleton, or as I like to call her: Milady Trench Coat. Wills, why didn’t you wait for me? I waited for you. When you were four and I was ten I decided not to make my move until all of your adult teeth came in, and this is how you repay me—me, the Parker-Bowles to your Prince Chuck? I’m not saying you have to jilt your bride or abdicate or anything, just hit me up on Facebook when you’re free.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, ed. Kathryn Berheimer (Penguin, $17.00).
‘Cause isn’t that what always happens in fairy tales, killing and eating? Contemporary authors like Neil Gaiman and Joyce Carol Oates drop breadcrumbs and invite you to follow the trails of their deliciously witchy short stories.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (Penguin, $13.00).
Remember that time I married that dude and moved into his house and he was all: “Erica, you can go anywhere except that one room,” and I was like: “uh, alright,” but then he went away on a business trip and I totally went into that room and then disappeared for a bit only to be replaced by what you suspect is some sort of clamoring haint in a gelatinous facsimile of my former body?

Ash by Malinda Lo (Little Brown & Co, $8.99)
A Cinderella retelling that I wanted to like more. There are sinister fairies and a cool stag-slaying Huntress and usually that’s enough to sell me. But there was something missing. Maybe it was those damned Disney door mice. Remember the chubby one that called her Cinderelly? Ah, good times.

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue (Harperteen, $11.99)
Donoghue’s latest offering Room is itself a dark fairy tale cast in the trappings of present-day abduction and captivity narratives. Kissing the Witch meditates on more traditional fairy-tale characters, however. Its 13 interwoven stories dovetail seamlessly from one to the next as old heroines awake in new skins.

The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block (Harperteen, $8.99)
Props to Maleka for introducing me to Block. Her Weetzie Bat series is a quirky, modern-day fairy tale set in a Los Angeles full of “slinksters,” ducks and dreams. The Rose and the Beast reinvents the lives of nine famous fairy-tale heroines in modern landscapes that manage to retain their magic through the transformative beauty of Block’s prose.


April 2011, Erica David

Claudia’s 5 Short Story Collections

Claudia’s 5 Short Story Collections

Short stories are what their names reveal: they are short. But even though they are short and you can finish one probably in less than 30 minutes, good ones can propel you into circumstances you don't want to leave. You encounter characters that become your best friends. And in the end you scream in despair: "Please one hundred pages more!"

Here are five master storytellers who lured me into their worlds with elegant and exquisitely written prose and breathtaking sometimes even shocking endings. In the short and sweet you will encounter pearls of wisdom and humanness that might linger with you for a long time.


Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Vintage Books, RH, $15)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner Books, $14.95)

Dubliners by James Joyce (Penguin Classic, $11)

The Empty Family by Colm Toibin (Scribner, $24)

Like Life: Stories by Lorrie Moore (Vintage Books, $14)



-March 2011, Claudia Vesterby

Erica’s 5 Great Novels Under 200 Pages

Erica’s 5 Great Novels Under 200 Pages

Because really, who has time to read anymore? Hey, Dickens, I have a life. Places to go. People to see. Could you maybe cut it down to a tale of just one city instead of two?

Tinkers by Paul Harding (Bellevue, $14.95)
Has the distinction of being the shortest book that it took me the longest to read. I wallowed in its language: lovely, languorous, poetic, effulgent. The final thoughts of a dying man unspool as visceral memory and sensation, intertwined with the life of his epileptic father. 191 pp.

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson (Grove, $14.00)
Maybe it’s best if I don’t tell you what this novel is about. If I try to I’ll say things like web-footed gondolier’s daughter meets Napoleon’s cook and walks on water. In lesser hands this strange book, which exists at the intersection of fairy tale and myth, could easily devolve into a circus. Winterson gives us an elegant carnival. 176 pp.

The Stranger by Albert Camus (Vintage, $12.00)
Lots of isms afloat in this book: existentialism, absurdism, nihilism, stoicism. But it’s not the big ideas that keep drawing me back to this deceptively simple story. It’s Meursault, the titular stranger, who struggles with existence outside of the social mechanism and, at times, outside of reason and remorse. 123 pp.

Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid (Farrar Straus & Giroux, $13.00)
As a 19 year-old West Indian girl working as an au pair for a white family in the city, Lucy negotiates issues of class, culture and coming-of-age in an unflinching voice that is spare, sharp and lyrical. 163 pp.

Push by Sapphire (Vintage, $13.00)
This is a tough read. I won’t sugar coat it. Precious Jones lives a dark life scarred with abuse and illiteracy. Though she learns to read and write, it doesn’t dull the edges of the brutality that is part of her reality. But literacy does give shape to her experience, allowing her to build and protect her own personhood. 191 pp.


March 2011, Erica David

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

Kate's 5 Books That Changed the Way She Thinks About Food

Kate's 5 Books That Changed the Way She Thinks About Food

The following books completely changed the way I think about the food I put in my own body, the way our culture relates to food, the global food economy, and the ethics of how we eat. I have listed them here in the order in which I first read them. They represent, for me, the evolution of my own approach to eating and my food philosophy. I highly recommend each and every one of them!

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser (Harper Perennial, $14.99)
I first read this book when I was in college, right around the time "Super Size Me" came out. It was the first time I ever thought seriously about food.

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan (Penguin Books, $16.00)
I read this book a few years later, between college and grad school. It made a lasting impression on how I think about the western diet and American food culture.

(Editor's Note: The Omnivore's Dilemma is also one of Nif's April 2010 Picks.)

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, by Michael Pollan (Penguin Books, $15.00)
I loved the Omnivore's Dilemma so much, I came back for more Michael Pollan! This book prompted me to try to eliminate processed food from my diet.

The End of Food, by Paul Roberts (Mariner Books, $14.95)
This book was recommended by my environmental health professor in graduate school. It opened my eyes to some of the broader aspects and consequences of the global food economy.

Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer (Back Bay Books, $14.99)
Just as a disclaimer, I had already decided to be a vegetarian before I read this book. But I still found it extremely moving and thought provoking. It made me think about things that had never occurred to me, even after all four of the previous books and many others.



March 2011, Kate Musliner

5 Short Story Collections That Amy Recommends

5 Short Story
Collections That Amy Recommends

Short stories are just right up my alley right now, primarily because I can fit one in while nursing my baby or while my toddler is preoccupied. They are low commitment, high interest, and a good one can be as powerful as any novel. Here are a few collections that I've really enjoyed, (or am still in the midst of enjoying!):

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (Picador, $14.00)
Reading this debut collection by Tower is an experience. I found myself having a visceral reaction to each story, and it was a relief when each one was finished, only to throw myself back in again to the next one. Of the five books reviewed here, this one is at the top of my list.

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Random House, $15.00)
The narratives and subjects travel from Nigeria to the United States and paint a sharp picture of what it must feel like to be connected to those two places, but yet not quite fully visible in either. Adichie is very good at adding layers and dimensions to her characters that, in my opinion, are what make these stories stand out among other stories of the Immigrant Experience.

The Empty Family by Colm Toibin (Scribner, $24.00)
The latest work by Toibin, and the first I have read. Beautiful narratives, many of which share similar themes of loss and estrangement from one’s loved ones. The last story, The Street, is probably the finest and most heart wrenching of them all, and ends the book on a redemptive note.

Runaway by Alice Munro (Vintage, $15.95)
Munro is a master of this format, particularly with developing a depth to her characters and a finding a secret portal into their private lives. This collection is considered one of her best.

War Dances by Sherman Alexie (Grove Press, $14.00)
The 2011 One Book One Philadelphia selection. These stories and poems, while fleeting and sparse at times, take the reader on a journey; a brief and often brutally funny look inside Alexie's head.


March 2011, Amy Vaccarella

Maleka's Top 5 (or so) Vegan Cookbooks

Maleka's Top 5
(or so) Vegan Cookbooks

Get your vegan cooking on in 2011. You don't have to be an anarcho-punk, animal rights activist, or live in West Philly. It's just healthy!

1)Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry (Da Capo, $18.95)
Includes a suggested soundtrack for each recipe. Dope!

2)Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moscowitz (Da Capo, $27.50)
I consider Isa the best vegan chef out there. This is a vegan Bible.

3)Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moscowitz (Da Capo, $19.95)
And this is brunch to end all brunches.

4)The Joy of Vegan Baking by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (Fair Winds Press, $19.95)
Yes! Bake without eggs or milk.

5)Vegan Lunch Box by Jennifer Mccann (Da Capo, $19.95)
Vegan Bento Box lunches are cuteeeee.

p.s. I also love Ripe From Around Here by jae steele (Arsenal Pulp, $23.95), full of delicious vegan recipes and emphasizing mindful eating and local foods!

So Nu, 5 Yiddish Books for You (from Janet)

So Nu, 5 Yiddish Books for You (from Janet)

Snow, schmow. So vat's a bissel ice? Do yourself a favor. Come to the bookstore and take yourself a look at some yiddishkeit. Free hot drinks, we offer (a bargain at half the price). Have a nosh. A beauty queen you're not but vat's one cookie gonna hurt?

The New Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten (Three Rivers Press, $18.00)
Inside this vonderful book, you'll find 29 definitions of the word "Oy". With "oy" you can create an entire language.

Jewish as a Second Language by Molly Katz (a nice Jewish girl)
(Workman Publishing Company, $8.95)
Nu? Read carefully and learn "how to worry, how to interrupt, how to say the opposite of what you mean". These are essential additions to learning Yiddish language.

Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary by Uriel Weinreich (Schocken Books, $30.00)
A real dictionary written by a mensch, a professor of Yiddish language, no less. To understand, you need to read Hebrew script. Vat's a matter? Hebrew school you didn't go? You should take a look anyway. See vat you're missing.

Bintel Brief by Issac Metzker (Schocken Books, $12.00)
This book contains sixty years worth of letters to the advice column of the Jewish Daily Forward, a newspaper my grandfather read from cover to cover. From heart-rending letters of separation and loss, to questions about the most absurd sounding superstitions, to advice on how to remain observant in the "new world", the Bintel Brief is a taste of Jewish immigrant culture. The Yiddish language is as much a reflection of that unique culture as it is a language.

Nosh Schlep Schluff BabYiddish by Laurel Snyder (Random House, $5.99)
For the kindeleh, zie gezeint dine cup, (good health on your head), a board book with a few commonly used words.

Nu, mister smarty-pants, a guess maybe you can make on how many Yiddish words are in the schmancy Webster's dictionary? Oy, 15% savings on most books on the second floor, so maybe you're too busy to call your mother who was in labor for 52 hours and worked her fingers to the bone to send you to a fancy school but maybe you can take a minute to visit your local bookstore. We promise not to insult you...maybe...

February 2011, Janet Elfant

Janet’s 5 Books That Helped Her Breathe

Janet’s 5 Books That Helped Her Breathe

March is here. Some days bring hints of Spring. Some days bring gusts of wind and rain that take the breath away. Enough skidding on ice and trudging through snow drifts. Enjoy the mud and a new read.

Cleaning Nabokov's House by Leslie Daniels (Simon & Schuster, $24.00)
A laugh-out-loud novel filled with wisdom. The author will be reading at Big Blue Marble on March 11th.

The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness by Rabbi Rami Shapiro (Skylight Paths Publishing, $16.99)
Unique to this book is the practical guide to living in the moment, letting go of the past and expectations for the future, and simply increasing the flow of gratitude, appreciation, and humility available to us all.

Landscapes of Light by B. E. Kahn (Poets Wear Prada, $10.00)
Poetry written during a voyage from Greece to Israel which read precisely as implied by the title of the collection.

Dave the Potter, Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill (Little Brown & Co, $16.99)
We need stories of inspiration. Our children need stories of inspiration. Dave the Potter is a new arrival at the bookstore telling the true story of a slave who teaches himself pottery and etches his lines of poetry on his creations.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead (MacMillan $16.99)
We also need cute and heart-warming once in a while. Recent Caldecott Medal winner, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, is the story of devoted friendship, caring for the sick, and how much weight a city bus can manage.


March 2011, Janet Elfant

Claudia's 5 Winter Mysteries

Claudia’s 5
Winter Mysteries

In the bleak mid-winter ......curl up in front of a fireplace, enjoy a warm drink and devour a couple of relentlessly gripping mysteries.

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell (Vintage Crime, $14.95)
Follow dour cop Kurt Wallander to a remote Swedish farmhouse and become a reading witness how he will solve his first crime.

Don't Look Back by Karin Fossum (Harcourt, $14.00)
Fossum, Norway's queen of crime, introduces Inspector Konrad Sejer, a refreshingly gentle and wise senior police investigator in Oslo. An idyllic Norwegian village is the crime scene and will be changed forever...

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (Picador, $15.00)
Meet retired Sherlock Holmes and fifteen-year-old, feisty Mary Russell, and accompany these two sleuths across the Sussex Downs, where they solve their first case.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (St. Martin's, $6.99)
The ultimate Dame of crime will take you to the coast of Devon where chilling murders will let the hair on your neck curl up. Compelling!

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon (Penguin/Grove, $7.99)
Bongiorno commissario Brunetti. May we follow you through the canals of Venice to observe your fine criminalistic sense? A mystery drafted multo bene.

Feel inclined to read more mysteries by the above authors?! You will find their books in our cozy bookstore.

February 2011, Claudia Vesterby

Erica's 5 Books: As Seen on TV

Erica’s 5 Books: As Seen on TV

I know, I know, it’s Mt. Airy. Most of you don’t even have a TV. You’re busy eschewing television in favor of nobler intellectual pursuits. Well, I’ve got a secret for you: sometimes TV steals your books and turns them into TV shows! All hail the Hell Box and its magnificent cunning!

The Walking Dead Vol. 1 by Robert Kirkman (Image, $34.99). Who exactly are the walking dead? Are they flesh-hungry zombies roving the countryside or are they the flawed band of humans who have survived the zombie apocalypse only to eke out a brutal, fragile existence that one could hardly call living?

206 Bones by Kathy Reichs (Pocket, $7.99). Temperance “Tempe” Brennan is a ballsy, no-nonsense forensic anthropologist who finds herself injured and trapped in an underground tomb, making for high drama in low places. Fox’s Bones TV series keeps Temperance as its lead, but uses Reichs’s real life experiences as its basis. So there’s no cheating on this one, folks. If you want to know how she escapes the tomb, you’ll have to read the book.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (Vintage, $7.99). Dexter Morgan is Jeff Lindsay’s serial killer with a heart of gold—he only murders other serial killers. Points awarded for titular alliteration and for the complexity of Lindsay’s murderous antihero in thrall of a Dark Passenger, i.e., his need to kill. Dexter wears humanity as the ultimate disguise and is played to apathetic, amoral perfection by Michael C. Hall in the Showtime series.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Penguin, $7.99). The Sookie Stackhouse paranormal romance mysteries are a soft, froofy PG-13, but the HBO series True Blood is definitely a hard, salacious R. I’ve seen more of Anna Paquin’s naked flesh than I ever cared to see, but Paquin for all her nudity, manages to maintain Sookie’s gutsy Southern charm and almost pigheaded sleuthing instincts—a hallmark of the book series.

The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Random House, $14.00). The first in this gentle, charming series following Mma Ramotswe, Botswana’s only lady detective, #1LDA combines a light touch with a penetrating exploration of character, politics and social mores. Subtext steeps along with every quaint cup of red bush tea enjoyed by the resourceful, size 22 heroine, cunningly portrayed by Philly’s own Jill Scott in the HBO miniseries.

February 2011, Erica David

Poetic Profile: Leonard Gontarek

1) How would you describe your poetry?

I am a surrealist, by way of Zen, with East European ancestry. There is
no such school of poetry, but I show up to class every day, nevertheless.



2) How does poetry fit into your everyday life?

There was a point, after much practice and commitment, I knew I had become a poet.
And so, poetry fits into my life thoroughly. Before that, I wondered a good deal
what place the poet had. I became, I suppose, an inhabitant of earth who wrote poetry.



3) What poets and/or authors inspire you?

It is always, of course, difficult to narrow down such a list. I’ll make it a top-ten:

Ten: Kenneth Koch
Nine: Charles Wright
Eight: Jean Follain
Seven: Carole Maso
Six: Alice Fulton
Five: W. S. Merwin
Four: Yves Bonnefoy
Three: Evan S. Connell
Two: Shunryu Suzuki
One: … Julio Cortazar


4) How does the community of Philadelphia play a part in your poetry?


I have organized poetry readings in the Philadelphia area for twenty years.
I judged a City Paper poetry contest. I co-edited a Philadelphia supplement
of The American Poetry Review. I have published local poets. I conduct poetry
workshops. I edit manuscripts of local poets. Hard not to feel part of an extended
Philadelphia poetry family. I’ll add this about Philly poets: they are brilliant,
visionary, honest and awfully talented. The other part of the community – the cafes,
galleries, bookstores, and the Philadelphia audience – all have been gracious and
supportive of poetry. I moved here from Vermont. In the first year, mountains still
appeared in my poems. Now I think I write Philadelphia poems. And that is how it
should be. Philadelphia is a terrific city. A beautiful cityscape. Home to me.



5) What is the last book you have read that you enjoyed? Tell our Big Blue Marble community a little about it.


Winter’s Journey by Stephen Dobyns. A book of only fourteen poems. Here are some
of the titles of poems, to give you an idea: Mourning Doves, Rabbits, Balance, Werewolf, Looking for the Dog, Chainsaws, Spring, Lost. Each are like small novellas. Meditations really. A man taking a walk talking to the dark, himself, God, and we are close behind and able to listen in. What distinguishes it from other prose-poetry is the intimacy of the voice (the poems seem like they are being spoken to you) and the immediacy of its content – what it is like to be alive in the twenty-first century, today, in the falling snow here, while the bombs fall there. They are poems of beauty, revelation, big and small truths, and good humor. But I’ll let Stephen Dobyns pitch his own poems.
Here is the conclusion to Looking for the Dog:

But thoughts like these, if I don’t bring them to a halt,
make my doubts pile up, and the world looks so brief,
so fragile that I start poking my finger through its walls,
its seeming substantiality, as if through a wet tissue;
and if I don’t repair my fabric of opinion and belief,
my illusion of truth, I’ll drop like a rock from a roof,
falling, falling till I come to an abrupt stop. Like this.




Leonard Gontarek is the author of St. Genevieve Watching

Over Paris, Van Morrison Can’t Find His Feet,

Zen For Beginners, and Déjà Vu Diner.

His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review,

Fence, Field, Pool, Poetry Northwest, Verse, Hanging Loose.


His work appears in the anthologies The Best American Poetry,

Joyful Noise! American Spiritual Poetry, The Working Poet,

Dwarf Stars Science Fiction Poetry Anthology.

He has been nominated five times for the Pushcart Prize

and twice received Poetry Fellowships from the Pennsylvania

Council On The Arts. He has been a cabdriver, movie- projectionist,

teacher and bookseller. He coordinates The Green Line Poetry Series

and teaches poetry workshops at the Moonstone Arts Center.

Featured Poem: Drawing Down

Here's another new Big Blue Marble blog series. We'll be featuring poems from local and beyond poets that we love. Check out this one from local poet Crystal Bacon, for these last days of winter.

Drawing Down


In the woods, the last sun
slants through trunks
bare and spare as bones.
At their feet leaves gather and scatter
layer upon layer bleached dun
and greeny gold. Their upturned faces
behold their downfall.

Here at home, houseplants grow
sickly in the shifted day.
Oxalis droops its winey blooms
on slimy dim stems.
Even the relentless geranium
weeps pink petals
moist as night time tears.

I draw curtains over closed blinds
and pulled shade. The lamp glows
warmly against cloth. Yet moon sings
sweetly full and blue,
bearing its bright message
down upon all creatures,
recipients of light.

-by Crystal Bacon

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

Poetic Profile: Saida Agostini

1.)How would you describe your poetry?

It’s like me, an intensely goofy, emotional and loving thick brown woman with big hair, tons of flaws and a huge heart (I know that sounds like a country song, but its true).



ritual

I never knew what it took to die
if no one closes your lids, your
eyes are scotch taped closed
if your mouth is left open, someone
will come and break your jaw put
your body back together so that
your family can come and see something
they know. the white hot violence it
takes to break your body into something
familiar hide the bed sores hide the shit
anything to pretend the work of dying
never existed shuffled off into a patchwork
of bodies twisted broken and turned into
the humans we wanted them to be. maybe
that’s why no one says much
when bodies of trans women are found
carved all over dark cities chopped into
arms legs and limbs that can’t be made
whole or familiar, but instead strange
leaving only teeth to identify whole
lives by, picking out fillings and extractions
to separate their blood from others
how did they say goodbye? what is
left to bring back home to a cemetery
or resting place—who can close their eyes
hold the body and remember what is familiar
in battle

2) How does poetry fit into your everyday life?

It’s how I stay sane, and remember to breathe. I have gone without writing for a year, and I would never do it again. Working within lgbt and homeless populations, I live with a lot of naked strength, grief, hope, and brutality. Poetry has become a way for me to find what is human, what connects me with everyone else, and remember how to hold on to the world that I dream of. I think poetry has always been a healing force for me, and one that I use in my political and therapeutic work.



3) What poets and/or authors inspire you?

The top list would be Jan Beatty, Yusef Komunyakaa, Joy Harjo, Lucille Clifton, Sharon Olds, Kalisha Buchanon, Sapphire,William Shakespeare (so clichéd I know), and Wanda Coleman.


4) How does the community of Philadelphia play a part in your poetry?

I love Philly! I think that the community is incredibly supportive of the arts, especially in honoring voices of folks not typically heard within the mainstream. In September 2010, I co-produced a queer gender variant production of For Colored Girls, which was sold out, I was overwhelmed by the support and excitement of the community, not only for the production, but the cause itself (the majority of the proceeds went to fund scholarships for LGBT youth). Last year, I was awarded an Arts and Change Grant from the Leeway Foundation, which I am using to develop a therapeutic group grounded in the arts. The energetic reception I have received from community organizations and other artists is deeply affirming of the reality that Philadelphia is committed to utilizing art as a means of social change. (also I really love cheese steaks, and the iced tea that you can get from the Chinese restaurants).

5) What is the last book you have read that you enjoyed? Tell our Big Blue Marble community a little about it.

So I just finished re-reading The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton, a re-telling of old Black folktales. It is one of the most beautiful and magical books I remember from my childhood.

M. Saida Agostini is a Black queer love centered poet, social worker and activist. A featured performer at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore, Philly Queer Lit Festival, More than Words and GenderCrash, her work bridges worlds all at once joyfully erotic, raw and unapologetically present. Wild Witness, her first chapbook was released in 2007, and will release her second chapbook Hunger in
2011.

Last Book I Loved: My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris

With four children and a business to keep up with, the kind of books that I find time for these days is pretty much limited to bedtime stories. The last book my five-year-old son discovered (and timely at that) on his book shelf was My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by Christine King Farris.

This book gives a glimpse into the childhood of Martin Luther King Jr., through intimate stories shared by his older sister, and heartwarming illustrations by Chris Seontpiet. I love how the stories and illustrations weave together a memoir filled with tenderness and compassion, and yet evoke a sense of vibrancy, purpose, and character.

This book offers a very gentle and thought provoking way to introduce the struggles of the civil rights era to children, and the progress that our country has made due to the sacrifices of people like Dr. Martin Luther King. When we finished reading the book, my son said, "I want to be like Martin.", which can only make a mama feel good.

-Dana Scherer

--Dana Scherer keeps herself enchanted with little ones, both as a mama and a local children's photographer. She lives in Germantown and is a proud parent of two students at Wissahickon Charter School. You can find more on her photography and family adventures at Bamboo Photography.

Jen's Five Years of Resolve

Perhaps you are looking for New Year’s resolutions -- or revolutions! Here are 5 year-long experiments, described in 3 books that I’ve read (including one that entirely changed the way I eat) and two I am most curious to read.

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver (and their younger kid, who wasn't old enough to have her name on the book) (HarperCollins, $15.99)

[Editor's Note: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is also one of Nif's April 2010 Picks. Which is not unconnected to the fact that it entirely changed the way I eat.]

Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon (Random House, $13.95)

A Year Without "Made in China": One Family's True Life Adventure in the Global Economy by Sara Bongiorni (Wiley Press, $14.95)

No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process by Colin Beavan (Picador, $15.00)

A Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs (Simon & Schuster, $15.00)

January 2011, Jennifer Sheffield

Staff Book Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

jie: u totally have to read this amazing book, will grayson, will grayson. there's this guy, will grayson, whose bff is this huge sweet,but self-centered gay dude, tiny. tiny falls in and out of luv everyday. will's rules are shut up and don't care too much...except that he starts to totally like this girl, jane. in comes the 2nd will grayson who is destroyed by an e-mail relationship which is not entirely fake. then comes this reference to this physicist dude, schrodinger, who does some kind of experiment with a cat in a box that may or may not kill the cat. so while the cat is in the box, no one knows if the cat is alive or dead or both at the same time. and that is totally the analogy for all of us who are caught in a box. jane knows all about this experiment. she is totally smart. then u find out about falling, falling in a big, tiny way. dude, it's a book about life. i know how cheap you r but buy it anyway at bbmb.

p.s. the ending is cool but i can't tell u about it.

Reviewed by Janet Elfant

Kate's Five Young Adult Series You Should Read If You Liked The Hunger Games

If you like dark, action-packed young adult sci-fi/fantasy novels that are full of romance and adventure, you will love the following series!

Science Fiction:

The Uglies Series, by Scott Westerfeld: Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras (Simon Pulse, $9.99 each)

The Maximum Ride Series, by James Patterson: The Angel Experiment, School's Out Forever, and Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Little Brown and Co., $7.99-$8.99)

Incarceron and Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher (Penguin, $17.99)

Fantasy:

The Mortal Instruments Series, by Cassandra Clare: City of Bones, City of Ash, and City of Glass (Margaret K McElderly, $9.99-$17.99)

A Modern Faerie Tale Series: Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside, by Holly Black (Margaret K McElderly, $8.99 each)

January 2011, Kate Musliner

Last Book I Loved: Gumbo Tales by Sara Raohen

I bought Sara Raohen's Gumbo Tales at the airport on the day I was leaving New Orleans and, as I read, I wished that I had picked it up the day I arrived. Raohen is a master at bringing the eclectic tastes of New Orleans cuisine alive on the page and conveys the city's pride and heritage to the reader. I read this book hungrily on the flight back to Philadelphia and upon landing, immediately sought out local restaurants that may just deliver Roahen's described oyster po-boys, okra gumbo, and olive-salad muffalettas. Whether or not they will be accurate to Roahen's experience I'll never know until I go back to New Orleans (which I will) to sample from the restaurants she highlights.

My favorite part of the whole book is her explanation of why Monday's meal, in the whole of New Orleans, is red beans and rice. Roahen writes, "If there was a first pot of red beans in New Orleans, documentation of it has not been found. Everyone here knows, though, that whether truth or myth, red beans and rice became a Monday staple for two reasons: it made good use of the ham bone from Sunday dinner, and cooks could stir the low-maintenance dish infrequently while tending to housework back when Monday was laundry day and people still set their washtubs over charcoal furnaces in the backyard." To know that, even today, Monday's meal is red beans and rice where the washing machine and dryer will dutifully do New Orleans laundry any day of the week is so comforting to me, someone who likes to know what's coming up next. And the fact that the whole city participates shows the tight-knit community that is New Orleans.

I fell in love with New Orleans while I was there and Roahen's Gumbo Tales made me love it even more. If you want to get a little taste for this wonderful city, please read this book.

-Lucia Gunzel

--Lucia Gunzel is the author/publisher of the children's book, Cranky Pants.

Poetic Profile: Dr. Niama L. Williams

1) How would you describe your poetry?

Like a running river that is full of glass, shards, lilies, roses, carnations--all things bright and beautiful and remnants of what has broken our souls. Our lives are often like that: we are made up of what has nearly broken us and what has solidified the weak parts. I bring both together in poetry and prose, my prose particularly, that runs the path of stream of consciousness. A good friend once said she would not buy my book if she found it in the bookstore. I laughingly queried, why? "Cause I had to work too damn hard!" she exclaimed. "I was lookin' shit up in the dictionary, reachin' for the thesaurus; I was workin' too damn hard! One minute you sound like Fifth and Central; the next like a Ph.D.!" I had to agree, and yet my friend in Tennessee's mother read THE JOURNEY and loved it--she with an eighth grade education.

2) How does poetry fit into your everyday life?

It keeps me sane and breathing calmly. Without poetry I would stumble at understanding and comprehending my world. The difficult things don't make sense if I cannot think about them and then sit down and write what God says about them and sends over the transom. For me, poetry and prose are about listening; picking up the pen, or sending out a message, "I want to write about x" and waiting for God to send the words. When He does, whatever I am struggling with begins to make sense and ceases to terrify or humiliate. That is something for which I thank the heavens daily, and the angels routinely.

3) What poets and/or authors inspire you?

An easy one!!!! Toni Cade Bambara, Toni Morrison (THE BLUEST EYE is THE perfect novel just as BELOVED is THE best film), Alice Walker (whom I routinely refer to as "Auntie Alice" her work hits so close to the bone!), Andre Dubus's House of Sand and Fog (the book, not the film), John Edgar Wideman, especially his DAMBALLAH; T. S. Eliot and his Prufrock, also The Wasteland (hard as hell to read, but oh the joy in deciphering!); Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes; for fun, Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels and Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone and Spenser novels.

4) How does the community of Philadelphia play a part in your poetry?

Where else would I read??? :-) My first venues were in Philadelphia and I am determined to make it here. That is not easy. I am devoted to Panoramic Poetry; Crucial and Lamar and the Redcrosses have done so much to help poets and artists. Yet making it as a poet in this city is no easy thing. Takes money, time, and effort; I am determined to do all three differently in 2011. 2012 will not find me scraping the bottom of the barrel to survive; not if I and the Lord have anything to say about it!

5) What is the last book you have read that you enjoyed? Tell our Big Blue Marble community a little about it.

Andre Dubus' HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG was a stunner. Every page I turned I THOUGHT I knew what was coming next, and every time I turned that page I was shocked out of my shoes. This man, this writer, had me pulling FOR the former Iranian general and AGAINST the blond white woman! I found this novel astounding for those two reasons; I never anticipated one plot point and I became firmer and firmer in my desire for the Iranian general to just destroy this woman and make short work of it too. He had me going against everything that represented the American dream, and happily too. Masterful.


Dr. Niama L. Williams is the guiding force behind Blowing Up Barriers Enterprises, a company that specializes in leading you to the life you have dreamed of living but can't quite seem to get to on your own. She is the author of 11 books, each describing her survival of trauma and celebrating those who have assisted her as she's walked her path. Dr. Ni also facilitates two workshop series, "Affirming the Fully Imagined Life" and "It"s Okay To Want: Eroticism and the Survival of Sexual Trauma" and interviews authors on "Poetry & Prose & Anything Goes with Dr. Ni" under the auspices of BlogTalkRadio.com. Review her credentials, publications and workshop descriptions at her website: http://drnisnotesandnibbles.blogspot.com/ or peruse one of her books for yourself at her Lulu.com storefront: http://stores.lulu.com/drni.

Last Book I Loved: Most Good, Least Harm by Zoe Weil

Between the snowstorm, holidays, and my glorious new Kindle, I've had plenty of time to read this winter. And I am so glad I was able to read Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life by Zoe Weil right before the new year.

Most Good, Least Harm book delves into some of the issues covered in my own book. Weil gets to the core of conquering eco-anxiety and environmental guilt, using information and consumer power to improve and enrich your life. The book is truly inspiring and the perfect thing to read entering the new year.

-Paige Wolf

--Paige Wolf is a publicist, author, and green living expert who uses her media savvy and personal moxie to promote manageable eco-chic living. After working as a journalist, publicist, and communications manager, Paige founded Paige Wolf Media & Public Relations in 2002.

Poetic Profile: Crystal Bacon

1)How would you describe your poetry?

My poetry is rooted in the lyrical tradition of creating a snapshot of a moment. Typically, I’m not drawn to writing about large public topics. Most of my poems start with something personal, an experience, an insight, a question that I’m dealing with. I’m usually interested in seeing what these small moments can say about the human experience. How our individual moments of experience link us to each other and to nature.

Nature plays a large role in my creative imagination. Even though I live in the city and have done so for many years, I still see trees, which I love as a class of beings with a great passion, as essential to our human-nature. I can find a meditation on nature just looking out my window at the large dogwood tree in my front yard. Sound is also very important to me. All my life, words have played around in my mind, my inner ear, ringing off each other. Usually, poems come to me in this way. I’ll see or feel something, and then I’ll say a few words about it. I work on making the words memorable, since I’m not writing them down at this point, I’m just storing them in my mind. The words become a few lines, and the lines will hold together usually because of the sound or rhythm, and this is when I get ready to actually “write” them at the computer.



2)How does poetry fit into your everyday life?

I spend a lot of time thinking about poetry. I start each day with a spiritual practice that includes chanting and meditation. This appeals to my sense of devotion and the role of sound, metaphor and image in devotion. Chanting Sanskrit or Pali mantra is good for my ear and my heart, which we could argue are the same, meeting in what the Buddha called the Chitta, the heart-mind. I always love to read poetry, but I read it sparingly these days. I’ll keep a book by my bed and read a little of it every night before I go to sleep. Every couple of semesters, I teach a poetry writing class at the Community College of Philadelphia, and this brings poetry into my day to day life with more regularity. So it sort of comes and goes. There’s a wave of poetry that runs through each day, sometimes a big uplifting one, and sometimes small gentle ones that just tickle my senses.



3) What poets and authors inspire you?

Personal favorites are Elizabeth Bishop, who was very important to me while I was really finding my voice during my MFA days, Jane Hirshfield, CA Conrad, who is a great friend and an amazing poet, totally unlike me in style, which is always good. Mary Oliver is always a pleasure to read. Rilke, Hopkins. My former teachers Larry Levis, who was an amazing poet, and Debra Allbery, who was also his student, and whose new book just won the Grub Street National Book Prize. I nearly memorized her first book, Walking Distance. I enjoy Robert Pinsky, who I think is a genius. I’m pretty eclectic. Stein, O’Hara, Lux. If the poems are well crafted and bring out a clear sensation in my body when I read them, then that is what inspires me. I also read deeply in the spiritual traditions of the East. I’ve been reading lots and lots of Buddhism for the last year: Chodron, Bikku Bodhi, Ajahn Cha, Thich Nhat Hanh. All of these books have shaped my aesthetic as well.



4) How does the community of Philadelphia play a part in your poetry?

If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be far from civilization and close to nature, so being in Philadelphia has sometimes been challenging for me. That said, the trees and woods of Mount Airy populate my poems. I don’t write much about people in general, so there’s no concrete connection that way. But I’m a ferocious home body. My home is my sanctuary, and I’ve found great comfort in the neighborhood where I live now, in East Mount Airy. It’s safe and friendly, good for dog walking. I like the extended community, “downtown” Mount Airy, the Marble, the High Point, the Co-op. Last winter, I went through a deep personal shift in my life, and this community, that little intersection of Greene and Carpenter, fed me and gave me an anchor. Overtime, I’ve become more and more at peace in the inner community. As the saying goes, wherever you go, there you are. And this is where I am now, so here I am.



5) What is the last book you have read that you enjoyed? Tell our Big Blue Marble community a little about it.

The last book I read was Be Love Now, by Ram Dass. I’ve been living a yogic lifestyle for about the last five years pretty seriously, and I’ve always found Ram Dass’ teachings very heart opening and inspiring. He’s very funny and humble. The book is about his experience with the great Indian sage, Neem Karoli Baba and how these great realized beings like Babaji help us to open to love. Babaji told him early in their relationship as teacher and student, “Ram Dass, love everybody.” This was not surprisingly a difficult assignment. But Ram Dass has made it his life’s work to move more and more into love and away from the ego-based mind. The book has many wonderful stories about their time together in India and also includes a short “year-book” of other great Indian sages and teachers all of whom offer the same basic instruction: get out of the mind and into the heart. As this is my personal goal for this lifetime, I found this book deeply inspiring and useful.

Bookstore Bestsellers 2010

Hi and Happy New Year! As I did last year, I would like to present our top 20 bestsellers of the past year and top 20 bestsellers overall.

Top 20 Bestsellers at Big Blue Marble in 2010:

1) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
2) The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
3) Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
4) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
5) Food Rules: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
6) The Wisdom to Know the Difference by Eileen Flanagan (local author)
7) Little Bee by Chris Cleave
8) The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney
9) Tinkers by Paul Harding
10) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (selected as companion book for the 2011 One Book, One Philadelphia)
11) Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
12) Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve (local author)
13) Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
14) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
15) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
16) The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
17) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
18) Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
19) Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
20) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Top 20 Bestsellers at Big Blue Marble to Date:

1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
2) Body Trace by D.H. Dublin (local author)
3) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (local author)
4) The Daring Book for Girls by Miriam Peskowitz (local author) and Andrea Buchanan
5) Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
6) Good Night Philadelphia by Adam Gamble and Cooper Kelly (local setting)
7) Philadelphia Chickens by Sandra Boynton (onetime local author)
8) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
9) Blood Poison by D.H. Dublin (local author)
10) Flotsam by David Wiesner (local author)
11) Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
12) Green Jobs Philly by Paul Glover (local author)
13) The First 1000 Days by Nikki McClure
14) Philly Joe Giraffe's Jungle Jazz by Andy Blackman Hurwitz (local author)
15) The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
16) Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
17) Freezer Burn by D.H. Dublin (local author)
18) The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
19) The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
And tied for spot 20:
a) Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth
b) The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Magic Jewelry from ‘Found Paper’: Pop-Up Workshops for Kids

There’s nothing like learning from the master! Edward Maeder, former curator of textiles and costumes at the L.A. County Art Museum, will lead two workshops for young people in February, in Mt. Airy, at the Green on Greene Bldg, across from the Big Blue Marble Bookstore. These hands-on experiences will be embued with Maeder’s enthusiasm for clothing and its meanings.

No wonder Harry Potter so relished his magic jewelry!

The “Kids Workshop: Found-Paper Jewelry”, Sunday, Feb 10, is a chance for kids to build accessories from everyday papers such as napkins, crepe, tissue, doilies and coffee filters.
Boys and girls will create such accessories as bracelets, necklaces, arm bands. Inspired by Harry Potter? Already developing your own personal style? $12, 2 hrs. Additional studio time can be scheduled for free, at the event. 10 am-noon, ages 8 to 14.

Adults and kids are welcome for the “Old Fashioned Valentines Workshop”, Sun. Feb. 13, 1:30-3:30 pm. $12, 2 hrs* Bring one or more photos of yourself that can be cut or copied.

Workshop participants will also see dresses Maeder is creating on site. They are in the same body of work as the 18th century-inspired works Maeder exhibited at Historic Deerfield, built of q-tips, coffee filters and other found papers.

Edward Maeder has been making costumes since he was knee high. He will in residence in Mt. Airy, Feb 5 – 20, also holding adult workshops and giving a talk on color.

The Pop-Up Studio will be held in the anchor space at the Green on Greene building, Greene St. & Carpenter Lane, 6819 Greene St. For reservations (strongly advised!), call 215 842-1040, or email muze@erols.com. Check out MaederMade facebook page for updates.

Poetic Profile: Paul Siegell

1) How would you describe your poetry?

It’s like that feeling you get when you’re home and you realize, albeit too late, that you’re outta toilet paper and your jeans, yeah, they’re down around your ankles and you have to do that hilarious, wide-legged lurch over to the cabinet to get another roll. It’s kinda like that. Wait, what? It’s nothing like that at all!

*TEAM PLAYERS*


what are these words, friends,
shuffling their letters, about? what star
ry-eyed sport could spell and cast them
into asterism, the unheard of listenables?
my notebook’s blanks are becoming few
er. let the nude let the bottle even milk,
let it all hours pour. let the pen drain die
scratch. the draft in the bathroom is flutter
ing the toilet paper dangling from the win
dowsill. waverly. ledge. the habits of the
horizon have my mind on a milk carton.
planet is greek for wanderer. is this wit
ness relocation? athletic letters ceaseles
sly switching teams? perhaps olympians
leapfrogging on and off the podium of
use? and from where will the next note
book come? it’s friends not facilities,
words not worries.

2) How does poetry fit into your everyday life?

If I had a cycle of only three types of heartbeats, one would be my fiancée/family/friends, one would be music, and the other would be poetry.

(My day job, thank goodness, how I bankroll all of it.)

3) What poets and/or authors inspire you?

All poets inspire me, even the ones I don’t find very inspiring. If it’s in front of me, I can learn from it.

4) How does the community of Philadelphia play a part in your poetry?

I go wiz wit, hot peppers. Philadelphia’s pretty much Poetry Central right now. Pick a night, there’s most likely a reading going on somewhere in Philly. Thank goodness I got here when I did. There are so many poets, groups of poets, reading series, all kinds of journals publishing here, plus all kinds of kind souls asking me to read for their series, it’s incredible. Philly’s a great place to be a poet. People really care here, and that encouragement really adds up.

5) What is the last book you have read that you enjoyed? Tell our Big Blue Marble community a little about it.

Sherwin Bitsui’s Flood Song (Copper Canyon, 2009). An all-around magical book of poetry that, if you let it, will open to you a multidimensional realm of perspectives, seemingly all at once. “Flood Song” is the absolute perfect title for such an abundance of imagery and emotional resonance. If you can handle being flooded, dive in. When you’re done, kick me an email and we’ll talk.

PAUL SIEGELL is the author of three books of poetry: wild life rifle fire (Otoliths Books, 2010), jambandbootleg (A-Head Publishing, 2009) and Poemergency Room (Otoliths Books, 2008). Trailers of his books are yours for the viewing [here]. Paul is a senior editor at Painted Bride Quarterly, and has contributed to APR, Black Warrior Review, Rattle and other fine journals. He has also been featured nationally in Paste and Relix magazines. Kindly find more of Paul's work, and get signed copies, at ReVeLeR @ eYeLeVeL.

Last Book I Loved: Room by Emma Donoghue

I am jumping on the bandwagon and singing the praises of Room by Emma Donoghue. The storyline itself sounds like something from a Lifetime Movie Of The Week, but what sets it apart and makes it unique is the author's choice to tell the story through the five-year-old boy's point of view. The reader sees things through his eyes and knows what's happening (like the tension between characters or the shrillness of what's not being said) but the boy is completely clueless. There's a naivety to the voice that makes many scenes quite disturbing. Had Donoghue told the same story from the mother's point of view, the book wouldn't have been nearly as effective.

-Robert Swartwood

--Robert Swartwood is the editor of Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer. Visit him online at www.robertswartwood.com.