Cookbooks that are enticing, but specific, that are sensible, but exciting, are always welcome to a cook’s library. This is such a book. Its audience will include not only cooks who like to entertain, but also those who cook for... Read More

These lively poems press deeply into their places and the meanings of place. The first section, shadowed by the mile-long piles of culm extracted from coal mines and the harsh realities of life in coal towns like Taylor, Pennsylvania,... Read More

Do not presume to anticipate the course of these deft poems. Rather, know that each one acts as ballast against lyric predictability, nailing the dimwitted reader and the expert alike with a sure blow between the eyes. These are... Read More

Once upon a time many of today’s adults enjoyed listening to bedtime stories involving magic and unusual creatures such as giants and ghosts. The tales often allowed a smaller or weaker being to outwit or overcome its larger, stronger... Read More

The ability to maintain hope in the midst of darkness is a kind of grace. West’s vers libre poems are dark and disturbing, but they are ripe with this grace—hopeful, humorous, strong. In “Silky Turnpike,” a family is driving in a... Read More

“For qi to be beneficial and nourishing, you need to make sure it keeps flowing—not too quickly and not too slowly.” It seems that Henwood and Choy have applied this same principle describing energy or life force in writing this... Read More

Eight festivals are featured in this colorful, attractively designed book. Arranged chronologically by calendar year, the book starts with Purim, a Jewish Holiday in March, and ends with a Russian New Year’s story. Each holiday is... Read More

In Sun-day, Moon-Day, Cherry Gilchrist presents the origin of each week day’s name with an accompanying tale that relates (albeit sometimes loosely) to the day. The history is fascinating, especially for people interested in word... Read More