Nominated for a Pulitzer, Ortiz-Coferās book is an eclectic collection of poetry, creative nonfiction and fiction. She weaves these genres masterfully into a mosaic of diasporican life, especially from a womanās perspective. Published in 1993, The Latin Deli breaks from the traditional, bleak picture of Puerto Rican urban life in the States. Growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, and then Georgia, Ortiz Cofer focuses on the more typical stories of growing up in a middle-class home and what she casts as the daily struggle āto consolidate my opposing cultural identities.ā A subtextual element of the book is Ortiz Coferās developing identity as a Latina writer in a country that sees you as an āother.ā
A community transplanted from what they now view as an island paradise, these Puerto Rican families yearn for the colors and tastes of their former home. As they carve out lives as Americans, their days are filled with drama, success, and sometimes tragedy. A widow becomes crazy after her son is killed in Vietnam, her remaining word "nada." Another woman carries on after the death of her husband, keeping their store, filled with plantain, Bustello coffee, jamon y queso, open as a refuge for her neighbors. And there are Cofer's stories of growing up with a dictatorial and straying father,ā¦
I love reading complicated women. Messy, difficult, sarcastic, strong, clever, unusual, prickly womenāworks in progress who donāt always make good decisions and defy expectations. Characters shaped by their circumstancesāgood or badāwho use their considerable talents to figure their way out of difficult situations. I crave books that make me look anew at familiar genres or subjects. An element of mystery is the secret ingredient that makes me fall hard for a story; add a memorable female lead, and youāve got the perfect book. It wasnāt long before I switched from reading female-led mysteries to writing them. I havenāt looked back.
Constance Kopp was a real person, one of the first female deputy sheriffs in the United States, and the inspiration for this book.
I love how Stewart plays off brief mentions in the historical record and brings her fully to life. Constance doesnāt fit the expectations of a proper lady in 1914 New Jerseyāsheās too outspoken, too tall, too independent. This is a feminist story, a finding-your-purpose story, and a wonderful historical snapshot.
The next book in the series is called Lady Cop Makes Trouble, and if you havenāt figured it out yet, I love women who make trouble.
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Drunken Botanist comes an enthralling novel based on the forgotten, true story of one of the US's first female deputy sheriffs.
Constance Kopp doesn't quite fit the mould. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters from the city to the country fifteen years before. When a powerful, ruthless factory owner runs down their buggy, a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as heā¦
For the last decade, Iāve spent the majority of each year traveling. Iāve been to 60 countries across 6 continents and every US state. My love of travel was inspired and encouraged by my parents from a very early age. Iāve also been inspired by a wide variety of other sources, like movies, TV, photography, and, of course, books. Often, Iāll plan an adventure around a cool location I saw or read about and then just go. Iāll just show up and see what happens. All it takes is that little initial nudge, like what I found in these books.
This is the quintessential American road trip travelogue by one of Americaās greatest novelists. Written towards the end of his life, after driving literally around the country with his faithful poodle Charley, itās a remarkable, if sometimes probably fictionalized or at least embellished, snapshot of the country in late 1960.
Some language and aspects throughout are definitely āof its time,ā but so many insights and perspectives could have easily been written about the modern US. Itās a testament to the power and wonder of a good road trip that is sometimes funny, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes heart-wrenching, but always captivating.
An intimate journey across America, as told by one of its most beloved writers
To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light-these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.
With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, theā¦
I have a Walter Mitty view of the world. If I were a movie character, I would be Edward Bloom, in Big Fish. I have been a lawyer in the entertainment industry for almost four decades. As a result of my personality and profession, my books mix fantasy, science fiction, and the mystical into our everyday world, and I do it in a way that makes you wonder if what Iām telling you is true, causes you to hope it is true and compels you to wish you could join in the adventures.
The Celt in me loves Dark Humor. Managed Care is one of the funniest Dark Humor books I have ever read.
The dialogue is amazing, the characters fully developed and the story unique. Incredibly fast read. There is a poignancy to the story, and you cannot help but root for everything to work itself out for the characters.
"Funniest book I've ever read." āTom McCaffrey, bestselling author of The Wise Ass
Is it too much to ask that a managed care facility refund a year's advance payment when your grandfather dies before he can move in?
Frank Johnson doesn't think so, which is why the thirty-three-year-old now lives in a nursing home, locked in a chess match feud with management that doesn't occupy nearly enough of his time.
When foster kid Elroy is thrust into his life, Frank decides to turn this forced relationship to his advantage - launching a string of absurd decisions, inappropriate behaviors and unexpectedā¦
Evanovichās Stephanie Plum books are fast-paced, light reads that can
pull me out of the deepest reading slump. I think of them as reading chocolate because
of the level of enjoyment and satisfaction they give me.
Iāll admit, Iāve read
the series out of order. Fortune and Glory was one of the best. Thereās lots of
action, all my favorite characters pitched in, and there was a mystery that was
twisty but resolved in a way that was entertaining and satisfying.
From āthe most popular mystery writer aliveā (The New York Times), the twenty-seventh thrilling entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series isnāt just the biggest case of Stephanie Plumās career. Itās the adventure of a lifetime.
When Stephanieās beloved Grandma Mazurās new husband died on their wedding night, the only thing he left her was a beat-up old easy chairā¦and the keys to a life-changing fortune.
But as Stephanie and Grandma Mazur search for Jimmy Rosolliās treasure, they discover that theyāre not the only ones on the hunt. Two dangerous enemies from the past stand in their wayāalongā¦
The two constants in my life to date have been ocean exploration by day and reading epic adventures by night. As a Ph.D. marine scientist, Iāve had the incredible good fortune to travel the world conducting marine science research, work which to date has resulted in forty-two research articles and a textbook. But as much as Iāve enjoyed conducting the research, communicating about the sea has been even more engaging, taking me to the White House, both houses of Congress, and many countries around the world. And perhaps best of all, Iāve been able to couple my love of stories with my own research experience to produce four adventure novels.
I love this book despite the incredible discomfort I experience every time I read it.
Diving in the cold waters of the North Atlantic on a good day is no picnic. But diving deep into the wreck of a mystery U-boat, not knowing if you are going to come out? Epic.
I just recently listened to the Audible book while driving back from an undersea research project in a van filled with young scientific divers. The climax had us all squirming in our seats!
In the tradition of Jon Krakauerās Into Thin Air and Sebastian Jungerās The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mysteryāand make history themselves.
For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships. But in theā¦
When I decided to write about Catherine Donohue, I searched for everything I could find about her, which was surprisingly little. I traveled to Ottawa, Illinois to read her letters held at a local historical society, and I connected with the son of her attorney, who has kindly uploaded his fatherās old newspaper clippings onto the internet. The story of Americaās Radium Girls is a tragic warning about where greed and corruption can lead, but it is also a story about courage, faith, and perseverance. It is a privilege to be a part of increasing awareness of their fate. After all, HERstory is history, too.
When I decided I wanted to read more and write about the Radium Girls, this was the only novel I could find featuring them. It is an accessible, young adult novel with a dual timeline. A contemporary young woman discovers a painting at a thrift shop that reveals glow-in-the-dark elements. The story of a fictional early dial painter is told alongside the struggle of the main protagonist in todayās world.
1
author picked
Glow
as one of their favorite books, and they share
why you should read it.
This book is for kids age
11,
12,
13, and
14.
What is this book about?
Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2017 Selection
Lydia is thrilled to join the working girls in the factory, where they paint luminous watch dials for the soldiers fighting in World War I. In the future, these girls will be known as the tragic Radium Girls: factory workers not only poisoned by the glowing paint, but who also had to fight against men who knew of the paint's deadly effect. One hundred years later, Julie, whose life is on hold after high school, becomes intrigued by a series of mysterious antique paintings she finds in a thrift store. When she discoversā¦
As a poet, my main gift is related to my first ambition, to be a musician. I like to talk, I like to listen, I like the sounds of words and I like to hear(for example) what Emily Dickinson and William Butler Yeats have to say.
Williams, late in his life, can look out the window or at the newspaper and open his mind and eye and breath to catch the truth of the thing in verse-music.
Very early in his life, he memorized a lot of poems, so as a New Jersey improviser he didnāt have to think about the sounds. He composedas an athlete runs, jumps, throws, etc. I can hearhim.
This collection makes available work of one of our greatest American poets in the last decade of his life. The first section, Pictures from Brueghel, contains previously uncollected short poems, while the second and third parts are the complete texts of The Desert Music (1954) and Journey to Love (1955), originally published by Random House. In these books, Dr. Williams perfected his "variable foot" metric and achieved full mastery of the "American idiom" which was his lifelong first concern. Among the poems of this period is the long "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower" which W. H. Auden has called "one ofā¦
To be a successful humorous cozy mystery author, character development is the key. Prior to writing cozy mysteries, like the protagonist in my Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, I enjoyed a career as a ladiesā apparel sales exec. Fortunately for my writing gig, salespeople are also students of human nature. I've been fascinated by what makes people tick all my life and have taken all I have learned and applied it to my writing. The relationship between the protagonist and her sidekick is one that makes the characters in my stories imperfect, but believable, accents their individuality, and lets their personalities come alive so that readers canāt help but invest in them.
Ironically, as a wordsmith, I absolutely adore the universal hilarity of physical comedy, an art form that transcends the need for words. So, I was immediately drawn to the slapstick antics of calamitous Trenton, NJ rookie bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. In this book, Stephanie is hot on the trail of bail jumper Kenny Mancuso. Low on expertise but learning fast, high on resilience, and despite the help she gets from friends and relatives, Stephanie is targeted by a loathsome adversary. Lula, Stephanieās soon-to-be-sidekick, was first introduced as a minor character in the debut of the series, One for the Money.
Lula is a zaftig black ex-hooker who somehow squeezes her size 16 body into a size 10 spandex bodysuit. Lulaās wisecracking, street-smart philosophy is to always shoot first and ask questions later. In this second book of the series, Lula becomes a continuing character with her role as a fileā¦
Kenny Mancuso shot his childhood buddy Moogey Bues and then jumped bail. Now bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is on the case to track Kenny down. Then someone finished Moogey off, Kenny can't be found, twenty-four coffins are missing, and there's some ex-army heavy artillery roaming the streets. And Joe Morelli - the cop with more than a professional interest in her every move - is tailing Stephanie. With a healthy disregard for the law, and an unhealthy dependence on marshmallow hot chocolate, Stephanie's a match for anyone - even Morelli. That is, until her eccentric grandmother goes AWOL and littleā¦
Iāve been passionate about the natural world since I was a child. This passion took me to many remote corners of the globe, and I always returned with a desire to share what I observed. As a science writer and journalist, Iāve been fortunate to tell multidisciplinary stories from the tops of the Andes to the reefs of Papua New Guinea and many places in between. As a writer, I know the importance of reading, and Iām constantly seeking out books by journalists and authors obsessed with topics that are often obscure but always fascinatingātopics that have led them on journeys of exploration they share through their books.
I love a book that reads like a novel but is outrageously well-researched and transports me to another time. I love vivid characters who provide me with new lenses to better understand better historical events I thought I already understood.
This fast-paced nonfiction book about the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks that gripped the nation and inspired Jaws kept me on the edge of my seat. It also provides a look at the shark science of the day and the perceptions that informed it. It's definitely a beach read!
Combining rich historical detail and a harrowing, pulse-pounding narrative, Close to Shore brilliantly re-creates the summer of 1916, when a rogue Great White shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore, triggering mass hysteria and launching the most extensive shark hunt in history.
In July 1916 a lone Great White left its usual deep-ocean habitat and headed in the direction of the New Jersey shoreline. There, near the towns of Beach Haven and Spring Lake--and, incredibly, a farming community eleven miles inland--the most ferocious and unpredictable of predators began a deadly rampage: the first shark attacks on swimmers in U.S.ā¦
