{"id":6709,"date":"2014-08-04T17:22:56","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T00:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=6709"},"modified":"2015-06-25T10:39:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-25T17:39:43","slug":"local-lowdown-books-of-local-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=6709","title":{"rendered":"Local Lowdown: Books of Local Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tis the season … for reading!\u00a0Here are a few books you’re sure to enjoy this summer!<\/span><\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moonlight Sonata at the Mayo Clinic<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nora Gallagher<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lyrical and honest memoir of a woman who almost loses her vision and the surprising ways it changes her life.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Vincent and I decided not to use certain metaphors. Blind drunk. Blind as a bat. We don’t see eye to eye.<\/em> We used deaf as a bat<\/em>, until I started to lose my hearing.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Pig for Friendship<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mukta Cholette<\/a>, illustrated by Sommer Roman<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

A playfully illustrated children’s book about a young girl and her relationship with her family, the environment and her barn-loving animal friends.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“All the animals will be our friends! We will always treat them well and be grateful for their contribution to our farm.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Beauty of Zentangle<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Suzanne McNeill <\/a>and Cindy Shepard<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

A look at the Zentangle method of mindful pattern drawing, which is designed to calm the mind and spur creativity.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Anything is possible, one stroke at a time.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dark Venus<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jinny Webber<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

Volume two of a trilogy of historical novels set in William Shakespeare’s England teams series protagonist Sander Cooke with Amelia Bassano Lanyer, the presumed dark lady of Shakespeare’s sonnets.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Mischievous Will Shakespeare\u2026He and she have a confederacy that has served them well, creating ever more varied women in his play scripts, ever more complicated roles for her to play.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Salade, Recipes From the Market Table<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pascale Beale<\/a>, photographs by Mike Verbois<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

A beautifully photographed cookbook made up of deliciously lovely studies on the salad in its countless forms.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There are few foods I would happily eat every day of the year. Salad is one of them. I enjoy the ease with which they can be put together, the endless variations\u2014from light mixed greens to more substantial salad-as-a-meal types, and the fact that I always feel so good when I eat them.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Broad Assumptions<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starshine Roshell<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether attempting naked yoga, exalting hot soccer dads or critiquing 50 Shades of Grey<\/em>, this book of columns is insightful and audacious, playful and literate.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I don’t love yoga. But I’m supposed to. Women my age, in my town (and let’s just say it, with my name) are supposed to swear by the practice’s tush-tightening, mind-loosening properties. \u2026But yoga mostly makes me\u2026uncomfortable.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Healing Afghanistan: Hope for the Children<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Judy Duchesne-Peckham<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

Local photographer and teacher Duchesne-Peckham shines a light and a lens on one of Afghanistan’s bright spots, a small Montessori-based orphanage school called The House of Flowers.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“(The House of Flowers) was beautiful and quiet and peaceful. I just fell in love with the kids. If they had let me take them home I probably would have been an instant mother of about seven children.”<\/p>\n


\nTitle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Say This Prayer Into the Past<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul J. Willis<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

A thoughtful book of poems from former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Willis that reckons with cadavers in the family closet, a house lost to wildfire, the beauty of the Sierra Mountains and more.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Since I saw your grandpa die\/I like to watch you breathe. Mornings especially, \/to see the air move easily\/across your lip hung down in slumber, \/poised to waken, ripen, bleed.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trash Can Days<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Teddy Steinkellner<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

The middle school adventures of four very different kids.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“If you’re not checking Facebook every five seconds, you’re going to miss something huge. And if you’re the last person to hear the big news, you’re going to look like an idiot.”<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Inner Traveler’s Guidebook to MOYO<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Linda Newlin<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moyo, the Swahili word for “heart,” is the focus of this workbook, which inspires people to discover their hearts’ desires and make their dreams a reality.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Everywhere we go, there are people who are making rainbows as they shine their unique light that was woven into them.<\/p>\n

Title<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Shadow Tracer<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meg Gardiner<\/a><\/p>\n

What<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gardiner’s mystery about a woman accused of murdering her sister is a page-turner of a plot-driven cat-and-mouse game.<\/p>\n

Favorite Quote<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Sarah had found that, with effort, she could remain comparatively anonymous. Nobody got suspicious if she protected her privacy.”<\/p>\n

\u2014Leslie Dinaberg<\/p>\n

Originally published in\u00a0Santa Barbara SEASONS<\/a>\u00a0on August 2, 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n

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