Lisa says:
BookSense is website that collects and advertises the wisdom of independent booksellers across the country. Each month, booksellers from stores large and small review what they think is really hot; the best of these reviews are collected in a list called BookSense Picks.
Click here to see what their monthly picks are for this month!
Lisa says:
The popularity of Sheila Weller’s Girls like us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon–and the journey of a generation expresses the desire to revisit (or learn about) that magical, stormy time in our history (also on CD). If you are on a waiting list for a copy of this tri-ography, there are plenty of other titles steeped in sixties culture to keep you preoccupied. Here’s a list of some recent publications to get you started. Use the comments to add your favorites to the list!
Boom: voices of the sixties by Tom Brokaw (also large type, CD, Playaway and downloadable audio)
A freewheelin’ time: a memoir of Greenwich Village in the sixties by Suze Rotolo
The hippie narrative: a literary perspective on the counterculture by Scott MacFarlane
Laurel Canyon: the inside story of rock-and-roll’s legendary neighborhood by Michael Walker (also CD)
Prime green: remembering the sixties by Robert Stone
The sixties: photographs by Robert Altman
The sixties rock experience (3 CD set)
Sixties style by Judith Miller
The sixties: the years that shaped a generation produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting (DVD)
Regan says:
Summer reading is a good time to laugh, even out loud. And Roger Rosenblatt (you may recognize the name if you watch the PBS’ News Hour) turns in a fast, funny, final exam on New England’s small liberal arts college culture. From a professor hero named Peace (by hippie parents) to the porcine mascot of Beet College—there are lots of characters to cheer and boo. A deadline looms for the college and as the school year ends– will it be the college’s last or will Peace find a way?
Melody says:
Randy, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked last summer to give a lecture which he titled “The Last Lecture” as he had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live. He is married and has three young children under the age of six. The lecture was so moving to me; I first watched him on Oprah, where he gave the lecture again. It was so touching! He basically tells one and all about achieving those childhood dreams, overcoming obstacles, and asks the question if we were going to leave or vanish tomorrow, what would we want to leave as our legacy? It is very poignant and will forever be the “message in the bottle” for his children. (You can also watch his lecture online by going to www.thelastlecture.com) [book] [audiobook]
Author: Randy Pausch
Kris says:
It’s the 1930’s along the humid Missouri river, and at the old family home Hedie Rails Ducharme hasn’t been married long before she realizes her handsome free-spending husband is also a gangster. Pregnant and often alone, Hedie glimpses ghosts and begins reading journals written by the many “river wives” before her.
The family saga begins in the 1830’s with a massive earthquake that buries the little Missouri river town of New Madrid and brings young Annie Lark’s roof down on her. Abandoned and trapped beneath heavy beams, she’s eventually rescued by charming Jacques Ducharme, a French fur trapper who came to loot, but stays to nurse her to health and marry her. From modest beginnings they build a river inn and prosper, and Annie forms a warm friendship with one particular guest, John J. Audubon. Then Jacques’ piratical dealings destroy their future forever. Time claims most of the lusty figures that began the venture, but a mysterious witchery sustains Jacques decades beyond a normal lifespan, while he nefariously accumulates and hoards immense wealth. Suddenly he’s gone, leaving successive generations, including Hedie, to search fruitlessly for the treacherous river pirate’s legendary treasure, while the impassive and mighty Missouri rolls on.
Author: Jonis Agee
Suzanne says:
I just finished “Shift” by Jennifer Bradbury. And yes, I read it in one night. If you’re looking for a coming-of -age mystery adventure, this is the read for you. Two high school friends decide to bicycle across the country to the West Coast to celebrate their high school graduation/liberation. Being an avid cyclist myself, I appreciate the sense of freedom the characters experience while biking and the physical and relational challenges they face. One makes it to the coast, the other does not. As the cover states, “Some friends fade away…others disappear”. Who disappears? Why? Read it to find out!
