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September 27, 2007
Yesterday at the Farmer's Market,
I was struck by the sudden change in the offerings. Autumn has overtaken Summer in the produce selection. And even though the temperatures are not co-operating, there is definitely a feel of Fall in the air. Did you see last night's Harvest Moon? Amazing!
The Desketeers have always been all about the food and our latest favorite cookbook is Everyday Food: Great Food Fast From the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living. This book has many wonderful qualities to recommend it from the color photography of each dish, to the simplicity of ingredients and preparation, but what really does it for a lot of us is the way the book is organized.
Instead of using the classic cook book form of dividing the sections by course, this one uses the four seasons as its organizational tool. This makes the act of cooking seasonally a no-brainer. Who wouldn't want an Arugula, Beet and Goat-Cheese Salad or Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Oven-Baked Polenta this time of year as the days grow short and the nights long?
In fact not only did the Desketeers end up buying for themselves and their loved ones, other library staffers did the same. In the end, 15 copies were purchased total! This is a love bordering on obsession and we invite you to join us!
Bon Appetit!
Posted by JenniferD at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2007
Sometimes in the quest for an answer,
we come up with more questions.
Yesterday I posed a question to my Go To Reference Girl Janet. A friend Larry E. (not his real name), had seen a review of a Polish poet in the New York Review of Books "a few weeks ago" and was blown away by the beauty of his work. This intrigued me. So off I trotted to Janet who in addition to being not only a Reference Maven is also very keen on poetry.
Well, as we hunted through the previous two issues something really struck our eye. Hey! The New York Review of Books takes personal ads! Really, really odd personal ads! This reminded me of a book which we now have ordered entitled They Call Me Naughty Lola: Personal Ads from the London Review of Books edited by David Rose. This book contains such gems as:
I'm just a girl who can't say 'no' (or 'anaesthetist'). Lisping Rodgers and Hammerstein fan, female lecturer in politics (37) WLTM man to 40 for thome enthanted eveningth. Box no. 2498.
You're a brunette, 6', long legs, 25-30, intelligent, articulate and drop-dead gorgeous. I, on the other hand, am 4'10", have the looks of Hervé Villechaize and carry an odour of wheat. No returns and no refunds at box no. 3321.
While the ads that Janet and I came across are not quite as much fun they did provide some amusement. Along with the astonishment that someone who actually reads the New York Review of Books could seriously refer to themselves as "Guinevere" and see in an other ad three columns over "King Arthur" is looking for her.
Oh and the answer to the orignal question? It was the April 26th issue (so much for a couple of weeks ago, gee Larry!) and the poet was Zbigniew Herbert.
Posted by JenniferD at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2007
"It takes two to make an accident." - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 3
In addition to being my friend Mary C.'s birthday (Happy Birthday Mary!) it would have been F. Scott Fitzgerald's 111th birthday today. In the last year, there have been two books that have crossed my path that have borrowed heavily from his master work The Great Gatsby.
The first is Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Laurel Estabrook was born and raised in East Egg the same town that Jay Gatsby lived in. Now as an adult, she is living in Vermont and working in a homeless shelter tryiing to recover from a horrific attack. When she comes across a box of professional photgraphs belonging to a deceased resident, she becomes obsessed with the life of the photographer and the not so distance history of the Eggs. This is a very suspenseful look at the Gatsby story.
The second book is Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston which is the fictionalized account of Ginevra King who was Fitzgerald's first real love. Was it truly she, and not Zelda who was the inspiration for Daisy Buchanan? Preston delves into that question and also what happened to Ginevra after the twenties stopped roaring.
Gatsby is one of those works that totally warrants a re-examination every few years and wth these two new twists on the story it is fun to take another peak at it.
Posted by JenniferD at 03:02 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
As reported on yesterday's Morning Edition on NPR
yesterday was International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Those of us here at the Biblio had a really good time with it amongst ourselves and so we have decided to carry the fun for a few more days and let it color our Circ de Cinema pick of the week.
Pirates of Penzance is the wonderful Gilbert and Sullivan opera. When indentured to pirates Frederic falls in love with Mabel, the daughter of a major general hilarity ensues. This is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera to debut in New York and the one that brought us the classic "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General".
This version is from the wonderful run at the Central Park Delacorte Theater in the 1980's that featured Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, and Rex Smith. So while production values are a tad rough, the energy of the piece carries the day.
So git out yer eyepatch Matey, and pour yerself a grog. Arrrggghhh it's movie time!
Happy Weekend!
Posted by JenniferD at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)
September 13, 2007
Fashion Week in New York has come and gone
and because The Desketeers are nothing if not slaves to fashion, our Circ de Cinema pick of the week is that tasty confection from the 50's Funny Face starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn.
When photographer Dick Avery comes across the "funny face" of bookstore denizen Jo he lures her to the City of Light to become his model and in turn falls in love. What we love is the lush Paris backdrop and of course, the clothes, which were designed by Givenchy. Even fashion photographer great Avedon helped with the photography shown in the film. All of this and the Gershwin score too! While not exactly the same as a long weekend in Paris or even a short trip down the catwalk, this is escapism at it's best.
Happy Weekend!
Posted by JenniferD at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)