Staff Recommendations
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The destiny of the republic : a tale of medicine, madness and the murder of a president
by Millard, Candice.
Reviewed by: LAPL Staff, LibrarianMarch 12, 2013
Call Number: 92 G231Mi
You might not think there would be much point to a book about James Garfield. His was the second-shortest Presidency, after all, at a mere 200 days, and almost half of that was spent in his death bed after being shot by Charles Guiteau. But Candice Millard's Destiny of the Republic makes the story of Garfield's assassination more interesting than you might have expected.
Garfield was the savior of a sharply divided Republican party in 1880. His nomination speech for one of the declared candidates was so riveting that a deadlocked convention eventually turned to him as... Read Full Review
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Some kind of fairy tale : a novel
by Joyce, Graham, 1954-
Reviewed by: LAPL Staff, LibrarianFebruary 22, 2013
The woods near Tara Martin's village have always been a mysterious place. Some would say haunted, some would say enchanted, but strange things happen there. But it's still a shock when 16-year-old Tara disappears without a trace from those woods. It's even more of a shock when she turns up at her parents' door 20 years later, seeming to have barely aged a day. The mystery of what happened to Tara is at the heart of Graham Joyce's Some Kind of Fairy Tale, a novel that combines fairy tale imagery with magical realism and outright fantasy.
Tara's story is... Read Full Review
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Year of meteors : Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the election that brought on the Civil War
by Egerton, Douglas R.
Reviewed by: Bob Timmermann, Senior Librarian, History & Genealogy DepartmentFebruary 11, 2013
Call Number: 973.711 E29
I missed this book when it was published in 2010, but with the renewed interest in all things Lincoln, I was intrigued by the idea of a book about the backroom politics that resulted in Lincoln's election in 1860. Surprisingly, Lincoln is only a supporting character in Egerton's book; the main focus is on other important figures of the time, whom history has more or less forgotten in the wake of the 16th President's accomplishments.
The most important character in the book is Lincoln's Illinois rival, Stephen Douglas. Coming into the election of 1860, Douglas was the... Read Full Review
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Code name Verity
by Wein, Elizabeth.
Reviewed by: Loren Spector, Acting Senior Librarian, Felipe de Neve Branch LibraryFebruary 2, 2013
Call Number: YA
In October 1943, two British girls, a pilot and a spy, crash their plane in Nazi-occupied France. The spy is captured and imprisoned by the Germans. She is forced to give up her secrets and reveal her mission in writing or face torture like the other captives in the prison. What she really writes, though, is the story of her friend Maddie, the pilot of the crashed plane, whom she assumes is dead.
But once the narrator details her experience with the British military and her current situation being imprisoned with the Germans, the reader’s world is turned upside down.
... Read Full Review
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The rook : a novel
by O'Malley, Daniel.
Reviewed by: LAPL Staff, LibrarianJanuary 20, 2013
We open with a woman waking up in a London park. She is surrounded by dead bodies, and cannot remember who she is or how she got there. Fortunately, in her coat pocket she finds a letter from her pre-amnesia self, which answers some of her questions. She is, the letter explains, Myfanwy Thomas, and she is a Rook, a high-ranking official in the Chequy, the spy organization tasked with protecting Britain from supernatural threats. And someone in the Chequy is trying to kill her.
From that premise, O'Malley spins a delightful comic-thriller that reads like a Douglas Adams'... Read Full Review
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Just my type : a book about fonts
by Garfield, Simon.
Reviewed by: Vi Thục Hà, Senior Librarian, International Languages DepartmentJanuary 10, 2013
Call Number: 085.2409 G231
In our modern world, some thought should be applied to the method in which we interact and communicate with written language. Should text and the font used on the computer, in books, on street signage, on products be beautiful, functional, provide clarity or be invisible? When reading a book, should we notice what font is being used? How much identification of a corporation’s brand is tied in with the characteristics of their font choice? Is the Paris Metro the same if it does not employ the swoopy Art Nouveau signage or should the aim be for the consistency of the New York subway... Read Full Review
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The big book of hacks : 264 amazing DIY tech projects
Reviewed by: Vi Thục Hà, Senior Librarian, International Languages DepartmentDecember 31, 2012
Call Number: 621.381 B5925
Much can be written about the popularity and permeation of DIY (do-it-yourself) culture into our everyday lives. The emphasis on self-sufficiency and learning to do things without paying someone, or relying on an expert, has encouraged many to become modern-day homemakers and handypersons by learning to knit, install drywall, bake bread and start a vegetable garden. The library, if anything, is an incubator for DIY with its multitude of programs and books that encourage self education.
A subset of this DIY culture is the Maker Movement that takes the DIY ethic and employs engineering... Read Full Review
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Empress of fashion : a life of Diana Vreeland
by Stuart, Amanda Mackenzie.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionDecember 18, 2012
Call Number: 746.52 V979St
She was not a pretty child, but it was stingingly cruel for Diana Dalziel’s mother to tell the young girl that she was ugly. The mother and sister were beauties, and the contrast with young Diana was even more obvious. After a miserable childhood, the teenaged Diana, or De-e-e-e-ahna as she said it was to be pronounced, took charge of her own life and created The Girl. After that there was no stopping this jolie laide who went on to become Diana Vreeland, a major power broker behind twentieth century fashion as fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar, editor in chief at ... Read Full Review
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How To Cook Everything: The Basics: All You Need To Make Great Food
by Bittman, Mark
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionDecember 7, 2012
Call Number: 641.5 B624-1 2012
It is one of the worst comments made about someone who is a rotten cook: “They don’t even know how to boil water!” Well, if you have never done it, or if you have never seen what it looks like--boiling water--then one of the most basic techniques in food preparation can produce a bad, if not inedible, meal. And, if the inexperienced cook mistakes simmering water for boiling, and puts in pasta or rice, the end product will be a globby mess of starch.
For over twenty years Mark Bittman has been nudging, pushing and cajoling people to do their own cooking and has been... Read Full Review
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The man who changed the way we eat : Craig Claiborne and the American food renaissance
by McNamee, Thomas, 1947-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionDecember 3, 2012
Call Number: 641.092 C585Mc
Craig Claiborne’s name is not readily, if at all, familiar to foodies or anyone else these days. But he is one of the great godparents of today’s food world. In the late 1950’s he changed and molded our modern ideas and attitudes about food, eating, entertaining and dining out. He found his passion in food and wrote about it, and broke major barriers to do so. Prior to Claiborne’s position as food editor at The New York Times, articles about food, homey little recipes, and maybe a nod or two to a well-known restaurant were part of the “women’s... Read Full Review
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Civic Virtue: The Impact of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and the Watts Towers Arts Center
Reviewed by: Vi Thục Hà, Senior Librarian, International Languages DepartmentNovember 30, 2012
Call Number: 709.794 C5825
During the past two years, Southern California cultural institutions joined together to celebrate the Los Angeles art scene from 1945-1980. Pacific Standard Time, the unprecedented undertaking funded by The Getty, celebrated the multiplicity of artists and works created during this fertile period; the exhibits covered by more than 60 cultural institutions included such topics as ceramics, racial identity, feminism, photography, local history, design and architecture.
The exhibitions are long gone now, but quite a study can be achieved through the museum catalogs that have come out of... Read Full Review
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The ghost brigades
by Scalzi, John
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryNovember 28, 2012
Call Number: SF
What if you knew, from almost the moment you were conscious, the exact and precise reason for your existence? Would it be helpful or would it be a limitation? And how would free will--the ability to choose--be manifested in this circumstance? These are some of the questions explored in The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi.
In Old Man's War, Scalzi created and explored the Colonial Union and the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF), which recruits aging humans from... Read Full Review