Staff Recommendations
Sheryn Morris
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Voyage of the Sable Venus: And Other Poems
by Lewis, Robin Coste
May 1, 2019
Call Number: 811 L675
Poetry is the most intense and concentrated form of writing, using words, metre, rhyme and format to express thoughts, feelings and stories that can be fact or fiction. Robin Coste Lewis, Los Angeles Poet Laureate, has used all of these characteristics of poetry to examine the artistic representation of black female enslavement through the millenniums. Her poetic technique catalogs art work that often extolled and rhapsodized the sexuality of black females. This is a complex work, which compels and shocks by the very nature of the historical artwork that is referenced. Her poetic... Read Full Review
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Our only world : ten essays
by Berry, Wendell, 1934-
April 22, 2019
Call Number: 309.73 B534-1
National Poetry Month is almost over, and today is Earth Day, so there is no better time to consider some of the thoughts and ideas of Wendell Berry. He is a gifted and prodigious writer of poetry, novels, short stories, and non-fiction. The Los Angeles Public Library's catalog lists numerous works by him (hard copy, audio-visual and e-media), with more of his work to be found in a variety of journals and magazines. His poems are approachable and suggestive; as a cultural critic his work is... Read Full Review
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The spy and the traitor : the greatest espionage story of the Cold War
by Macintyre, Ben, 1963-
April 16, 2019
Call Number: 351.74 M152-1
There have been masterfully written entertaining spy novels from Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, John Le Carré, and others. Many works are based on the authors' first-hand experiences working for intelligence agencies, not just their exuberant and fanciful imaginations. However, Ben Macintyre’s well-researched account of the Russian double agent, Oleg Gordievsky, and his American counterpart, Aldrich Ames, provides meticulous details about real spies. Gordievsky is the only known Soviet double agent smuggled out of Russia to Great Britain, and is still alive and in protective custody. ... Read Full Review
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Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”
by Hurston, Zora Neale
February 26, 2019
Call Number: 326.09 H966
Zora Neale Hurston is well known for her novels, especially for Their eyes were watching God. Her educational background and training were in cultural anthropology, ethnography and folklore. A prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction, this book would not be published in her lifetime because there were quesions about her methodology, and possible plagiarism. In the foreword, Alice Walker points out that black scholars and intellectuals also had issues with the... Read Full Review
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Sweet Home Cafe cookbook : a celebration of African American cooking
by Lukas, Albert, 1968-
February 20, 2019
Call Number: 641.5973 L9535
September 24, 2016 was the dedication and opening day for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which included the Sweet Home Cafe.This cookbook has the cafe's recipes, which represent the extensive diaspora of African Americans and encompass culinary traditions from Africa, the Caribbean, Native Americans, Europeans, Latinos, plus influences from recent African immigrants. There is a historical introduction and overview of African American cooking, cooks, eateries, The Green Book, and information about permanent exhibits at the museum which... Read Full Review
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An elderly lady is up to no good : stories
by Tursten, Helene, 1954-
January 23, 2019
Call Number:
An appropriate subtitle for this book might be: don’t mess with Maud, all she wants is peace and quiet. Mystery writer Helene Tursten, best known for the Detective Inspector Huss series, was asked to write a short story for Christmas, and so she did: “An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime”.88-year-old Maud is a combination of Charles Bronson’s character in the movie,... Read Full Review
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The white darkness
by Grann, David,
January 16, 2019
Call Number: 998.5 G759
Antarctica, which contains the South Pole, is a large land mass (5,400,000 square miles) located in the Southern Hemisphere. It is, " ... on average, the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents," and has a limited amount of animal and vegetative life. It is a place that has evoked rich hypothetical and mythological ideas about its origins. For those who want to journey on foot between certain geographical spots, there are seemingly limitless areas of white glacial plains, peaks and creavasses.Henry Worsley was... Read Full Review
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A year in the life of Downton Abbey
by Fellowes, Jessica,
December 2, 2014
Call Number: 809.2954 D751Fe-2
Downton Abbey enthusiasts will be more than a bit chuffed over the latest book on their favorite PBS television series. They probably will cheer with joy! Not that avid fans need any enticement, but the book is a stunning prelude to next year’s season. In addition there will be another season after that, which will start production next year. This book is set in post-World War I England. Jessica Fellowes interweaves the story of the upstairs and downstairs characters and daily life at the fictional estate. There... Read Full Review
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The house in France : a memoir
by Wells, Gully.
August 27, 2012
Call Number: 071.092 W453We
In this sparkling, joyful family memoir, Gully Wells has created an homage to her mother, the irrepressible Dee Wells, not exactly a rock of stability, but who did create a vacation house that would become a solid lodestone in the lives of her children, grandchildren, husband, lovers, and friends. She bought a ramshackle farmhouse that was clinging to a hillside in southern France and made it into a vacation home that became a summer retreat, and respite for some, from a busy life in England. Dee Wells was a femme fatale who at times unwittingly attracted men wherever she went. However, if... Read Full Review