Tag: staff picks

April Staff Pick: The Creative Act

March 28, 2024

Sara holding The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press), picked by our Assistant Manager, Sara

With The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, I found myself going back to it whenever I needed a little inspiration. It is an extraordinary book that captures the practice of creating.

The Creative Act is a collection of short reflections from Rubin’s career as a legendary music productor who is well known for helping artists connect with their own creativity by creating a space where they can offer who they really are to the world. With his own insights from his experiences, the tools he provides is as simple as listening to your own intuition, finding out what works for yourself, and incorporating your own creative routine with habits that include meditating, being in nature and exercises. These insights are then elaborated further in different chapters that are easy to pick up and follow. I read it and listened to the audiobook, which I found relaxing and enjoyable.

One takeaway from the book is that we are all creators of something in our daily lives. It does a great job capturing the sacred practice of trusting one’s own intuition and being free to experiment with finding ways to express yourself. My favorite quote from the book reads, “Look for what you notice but no one else sees.”

When I am not at the bookstore, I enjoy walking the island and taking pictures. This is my way of creating something while also documenting it for memories – my own journal that I get to share with friends and family. It’s nothing serious, just a hobby I picked back up during the pandemic that I have grown to love doing. During this process, I allow my mind to wander as I take in the simple act of walking in nature. This book reminded me to touch back on my hobbies and how important it is to have routines and continue to create – or what creating means to me. I have become more mindful as I capture the beauty of what I see in hopes that others can see it too.

Another component that drew me into this book was the cover. It’s the alchemical symbol for the sun which represents life, energy, and spirituality where I found the simplicity of it had so much depth behind it that it made it even more meaningful. Rubin has a minimalist way of living so it only fit that the book would represent this in some way too with keeping everything simple.

March Staff Pick: Under the Henfluence

February 28, 2024

by Robin Wood

Bookseller Camila with one of her chickens and Under the Henfluence, by Tove Danovich

Under the Henfluence, by Tove Danovich (Agate Midway), picked by Bookseller Camila

“This book is about chickens, yes, but it is also about how they can change your life if you let them,” Tove Danovich, Under the Henfluence.

It’s March! Spring is in the air and what better way to celebrate the upcoming season, than to immerse yourself in the weird and wonderful world of chickens. Tove’s book (newly released in paperback), Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them expertly weaves the history and business of chicken keeping with extensive research and personal anecdotes. Tove not only raises her own backyard flock of chickens, she is a gifted researcher, storyteller, and journalist.

“It’s a mix of stories from my own flock and reporting on chickens as a species which asks the question of what we owe to the animals we’ve tamed,” Tove Danovich.

I have my own backyard flock of hens. They are what you would call “corona chickens,” or chickens purchased during COVID-19 while we were stuck at home with time on our hands. They are our pets that not only provide eggs, they bring us joy, love, and endless entertainment. “When times get tough, as one hatchery employee told me, people turn to chickens.”

I connected with Tove’s personal anecdotes on her experiences with her flock. Her stories were my stories. We shared in the joys and heartbreak that go with loving your flock. It was also fascinating to learn about our 3,000 (plus) years of chicken domestication. She writes about the chicken industry, 4-H clubs, chicken showing, chicken therapy, all the while sharing her personal journey and experiences. While reading this book, I found myself becoming mindful about where we get our eggs and poultry. I learned what “free-range” versus “cage-free” really means, and how terrible the lives of chickens can be in large industrial facilities meant to provide us with eggs and meat. Where we get our food matters. How animals are treated matters.

I laughed, I cried, and I connected with Tove’s informative book about the world of backyard chicken keeping. You don’t need a flock of your own to LOVE this book! You’ll certainly gain an appreciation for our feathered friends and the people that love them!

~ Camila

December Staff Pick: The MANIAC

December 19, 2023

by Robin Wood

George with The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut

The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut (Penguin Press), picked by store co-founder, George Cooper

Don’t be fooled by the title, or its listing as fiction. This is a brilliant biography of the greatest genius of the 20th century, John von Neumann, inventor of Game Theory and the modern digital computer (known by the acronym MANIAC, which his wife Clara called the JONNYAC) that was first used to design the hydrogen bomb.

Rather than taking us dryly through von Neumann’s endless accomplishments, many of which are beyond explaining to laymen, the author beguiles us with the voices of the genius’s celebrated scientific colleagues (who either loved or hated him) and his wives (who felt the same). We thus become witness not only to von Neumann’s triumphs but also his peccadillos and (in)humanity. The book is full of vignettes, from private meetings to marital quarrels, which give it a fascinating and compelling life.

He was a consultant to the Manhattan Project, drifting in from time to time and quickly solving problems other mental giants had been struggling with, and went on to a fruitful career with the U.S. Defense Department. But the problem that challenged him most was trying to generalize the process uniting biology, technology, and computer theory to explain all self-replicating phenomena, from life on earth to the possibility of machines doing the same.

He died at only fifty-six from cancer, in 1959, in a special suite provided for him by the government at Walter Reed Hospital, surrounded by dignitaries and attendants, hoping to catch the last pearls of wisdom from the fruitful mind of this singular polymath.

When asked what it would take for a machine to think and behave like a human being, he said it would have to “understand language, to read, to write, to speak. And it would have to play like a child.” But his death preceded the development of the truly powerful computers of today (still operating on the fundamental principles of MANIAC) that are doing just that. The very first project of DeepMind, a leading Artificial Intelligence machine, was playing Go, the game universally acknowledged to be the most intellectually difficult, and beating its human master. (The book concludes with a dramatic blow-by-blow description of this five game challenge match.)

When asked how he could bring together his ideas on computers and self-replicating machines with those on the brain and mechanisms of thought, von Neumann offered: “Cavemen created gods, I see no reason why we shouldn’t do the same.”

Don’t miss this book if you’re interested in biography, science or even science-fiction, because both were part of von Neumann’s world.

~ George Cooper

Our Favorite Books of 2023

November 23, 2023

by Robin Wood

Wellness by Nathan Hill tops store co-founder Judy Blume’s list this year. She wrote, “Wellness is compelling and quirky and yes, funny, because this is Nathan Hill writing, but it sometimes broke my heart. It goes deep but never tries too hard, never shouts look at me!” Read her full review.

She also recommends, Absolution by National Book Award winner Alice McDermott.

Bookseller Leslie loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. She writes, “This book was a surprise because I almost didn’t pick it up since it was ‘about gaming’ a topic that I’m not all together interested in. To me, it’s not really about gaming, but people, and relationships. I was so invested in the characters, and really cared about all of them.”

Store manager Emily loved Go As a River by Shelley Read, a debut novel inspired by the destruction of a town in the 1960s.

S. A. Cosby has another hit in All the Sinners Bleed, which was Lori’s featured staff pick in October, which she calls “a wild, wild ride!”

You know we’re giving you the good stuff with our featured staff picks. This month’s pick The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut, also tops co-found George Cooper’s year-end list. “Don’t be fooled by the title, or its listing as fiction. This is a brilliant biography of the greatest genius of the 20th century, John von Neumann, inventor of Game Theory and the modern digital computer,” George writes.

Social Media Manager Robin writes of Camille Dungy’s Soil, “This is a smart, beautiful, wide-ranging book that will draw you in and change how you look at the world around you.”

Of Time and Turtles by Sy Montgomery, and illustrated by Matt Patterson is Bookseller Gina’s favorite book of the year. “Did you know that turtles lived with the dinosaurs?” asks Gina. “Ever watched Jurassic Park? The sound of a Velociraptors “bark” in the movie is actually the sound of giant tortoises mating! With another amazing tale of rescue, release (sometimes) & the humans behind the scenes, Sy Montgomery will captivate your heart, mind, and make you think about driving safer with this great book.”

And, she adds, “the pictures are astounding!”

Bookseller Camila loved Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel.

Bookseller Sara brings two books to your attention:

Lighter by Yung Pueblo. She writes, “I was on a self development path when I came across the author Yung Pueblo and this book was everything I was looking for. Lighter is a book that will bring you towards a deeper understanding of yourself.”

And Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. “This was a book that I couldn’t put down. It was witty, empowering and demonstrated Elizabeth’s determination to challenge societal norms of being a woman in the 1960s in her unconventional way. As a chemist, she navigated her new career path as a host in a television show by staying true to herself – cooking using scientific reasoning with trial and error to make the perfect dishes for dinner at six.”

Share with us on social media what your favorite books of the year were, and stay tuned for more excellent reading in 2024.

September Staff Pick: Wellness

August 28, 2023

by Robin Wood

Wellness by Nathan Hill, (Knopf, out 9/19), picked by store co-founder, Judy Blume

If you loved Nathan Hill’s first novel, The Nix, as much as I did and you’ve been waiting seven long years for his next, as I have, rejoice! You won’t be disappointed. This brilliant storyteller has done it again.

At its core Wellness is “a bittersweet, poignant, witty novel about marriage and the pursuit of health and happiness. Expansive, tender, a reflection of life in America in the 21^st Century. Yet it’s also a sendup of gentrification, toxic internet culture, modern parenting.” It even explores, briefly, polyamory and what a scene that is!

The story had me laughing while cringing when Jack and Elizabeth put their money down on a Forever home. It reminded me of my early marriage when friends asked one another, Is this your first house or your final house? If only we’d known then what was ahead of us.

We come to know Jack and Elizabeth intimately, from being young and madly in love to being married lovers, to twenty years down the road when they have an eight year old son. We are on this journey with them, getting to know the families they left behind to the family they become.

Wellness is compelling and quirky and yes, funny, because this is Nathan Hill writing, but it sometimes broke my heart. It goes deep but never tries too hard, never shouts look at me! There are a few tricky diversions along the way. Don’t let them stop you. If they do, skip them and come back later. But don’t skip anything having to do with Jack or Elizabeth. They are unforgettable characters.

There’s a lot to think about, a lot to remind us of who we were and how we became who we are. If I belonged to a book club I’d want us to read this book, to talk about this book.

Ultimately “this stunning novel of ideas never loses sight of its humanity.” I’m quoting Publishers Weekly here because there’s no way I can say it better. Except to tell you I’m going to read it again. Starting now.

~ Judy Blume

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press), picked by our Assistant Manager, Sara

Under the Henfluence, by Tove Danovich (Agate Midway), picked by Bookseller Camila

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (S&S/Saga Press), picked by Bookseller Lori

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (Tor), picked by Robin, our social media manager

The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut (Penguin Press), picked by store co-founder, George Cooper

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books), picked by bookseller Lori

Wellness by Nathan Hill, (Knopf, out 9/19), picked by store co-founder, Judy Blume

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee (Ballantine Books), picked by bookseller, Riona Jean