This is the second in our ongoing series highlighting gift books for the holiday season.
Books for nostalgia lovers:
America's Kitchens by Nancy Carlisle and Melinda Talbot Nasardinov (Historic New England/Tilbury House, $34.95 trade paper, 9780884483083/0884483088, October 2008)
If you missed this book last year, now's the time to check it out. It's a lavishly illustrated history from the 1700s to the 1970s, with photos, advertisements and text, with subjects like "After the Civil War," "New Mexico Foodways," "Two Levittown Kitchens" and "The Ideal Postwar Kitchen." It's all here, from butteries to raisin seeders to TV dinners and Tupperware. A delight for foodies and historians.
Fill 'er Up: The Glory Days of Wisconsin Gas Stations by Jim Draeger and Mark Speltz (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, $29.95, 9780870203930/0870203932, October 2008)
Another offering from last year, but it's so neat we had to include it. Maybe I'm partial because my father owned a Texaco gas station, but I do love this book. Filled with photographs and old advertisements, the stations run from standard boxes to old English cottages to prefabs (that could be disassembled and moved to a better location) to red-roofed pagodas and Tudor homes.
Where Discovery Sparks Imagination: A Pictorial History of Radio and Electricity by John D. Jenkins (American Museum of Radio and Electricity, $34.95, 9780979456909/0979456908, June 2009)
This lavishly illustrated book (more than 600 photographs) starts with the rise of electricity in the 17th century and follows electrical inventions through the radio. Esoterica like Zamboni perpetual motion machines are included, but half the book features radios, and they are spectacular: a mahogany loudspeaker inlaid with mother-of-pearl handcrafted in Czechoslovakia; a Chippendale console with hand-painted Chinese scenes; a Bakelite Kadette radio with an ornate grille; and handsome floor consoles.
Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress by Candacy A. Taylor (Cornell University Press, $19.95 trade paper, 9780801474408/080147440X, July 2009)
"It all starts with a cup of coffee... the quintessential tonic of the roadside restaurant and an entry point into a relationship that, for many waitresses, can last more than thirty years." From the Sip 'n Bite in Baltimore to Ole's Waffle hop in Alameda, 57 waitresses in 38 towns tell their stories. In plentiful color photos and text, Taylor captures what coffee shops are about, celebrating places where waitresses really do know your name, and how you like your eggs.
Oaks Park Pentimento: Portland's Lost and Found Carousel Art, photographed by Jim Lommasson (Oregon State University Press, $25, 9780870715785/087071578X, November 2009)
The center column of a historic carousel in Portland, Ore., was originally painted by anonymous German and Italian immigrants--a woman with a parasol, renderings of Arabs and Native Americans, a dancing girl. In 1944, the panels were painted over with Oregon landmark scenes. Over the years, the images flaked and faded, resulting in double exposures--pentimentos--that are haunting. A girl with a doll stands in a forest lake, an Arab on a camel wanders through mountains or maybe ocean waves. The images are dreamy, and lost again, since the original paintings have now been restored.
Books for inspiration and joy:
Grace Notes: Daily Readings with a Fellow Pilgrim by Philip Yancey (Zondervan, $19.99, 9780310287728/0310287723, October 2009)
When you have the admiration of Billy Graham and Anne Lamott calls you her favorite Christian writer, you're covering a lot of ground. Philip Yancey is on many Christians' list of favorite writers, and, I'd imagine, on some others' lists as well, because Yancey does not fit into a stereotyped niche--he credits Martin Luther King Jr., Shusaku Endo, Annie Dillard and Robert Coles as spiritual directors. This collection from his books and articles is a treat for his fans and a good introduction for future fans.
A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke, edited by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows (HarperOne, $22.99, 9780061854002/006185400X, November 2009)
This is a good way to read Rilke--a bit at a time, to let it sink in and resonate. The temptation with Rilke, at least for me, is to overindulge and thus be overwhelmed by the beauty and profundity in his writing. In these selections from his poetry, prose, letters and journals, Rilke "points to the sacred as inseparable from the relations and processes of life."
Yiddish Yoga: Ruthie's Adventures in Love, Loss, and the Lotus Position by Lisa Grunberger, illustrated by Art Glazer (Newmarket Press, $15, 9781557048356/1557048355, October 2009)
Not being a yoga fan (I know, a minority of one), I gave this book to a friend who practices. She raved about it, as did other women in her class. So I took another look, and fell in love with Ruthie, a recently widowed, 72-year-old New Yorker with a bit of a mouth. She's grieving, she's stiff and her mantra is "Valium, thank you, valium, thank you." As she goes to class, she unbends, she lets go, she forgives, while mixing yoga traditions with Jewish. I will be giving yoga another try, with Ruthie as my guide. It's an absolute delight.
Mansions of the Heart: Exploring the Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth by R. Thomas Ashbrook (Jossey-Bass, $22.95, 9780470454725/0470454725, October 2009)
Ashbrook, a director of spiritual formation, has written a book for people who want to go deeper into their life with God. Using Teresa of Avila's writings, along with those of John of the Cross, he speaks to matters of the soul, and invites seekers to walk with God, rather than "stumble along some distance behind."
Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien (Free Press, $15 trade paper, 9781416551775/1416551778, June 2009)
In case you missed the hardcover last year, pick this up in the paper edition. How could you not love this book? An injured baby barn owl? Named Wesley? Rescued and kept for 19 years by biologist Stacey O'Brien, Wesley teaches her lessons about owl behavior and love and courage--standard fare for animal books, but raised to a high level by O'Brien's prose and Wesley's considerable charm.
Sisters: An Anthology, edited by Jan Freeman, Emily Wojcik and Deborah Bull (Paris Press, $20.95 trade paper, 9781930464124/1930464126, December 2009)
This anthology is a collection of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and a play that focuses on a very special relationship. Emerging and well-known writers, among them Rita Dove, Barbara Kingsolver, Mary Karr, Julia Glass and Audre Lorde, write about the love, the drama, the humor and the heartbreak of being a sister. Marie Louise Kaschnitz has a poignant dialogue with her dead sibling; M.F.K. Fisher writes about her proud older sister Norah, and a sad moment when Fisher rejected her; Joyce Armor tells, in verse, of tables being turned and a trick gone awry in "Sweet Dreams." It's a great book for anyone who has a sister, now or in the past.--Marilyn Dahl