It’s finally here– a whole book full of pictures of Maddie on Things! For those of you unaware of what this is or how it started, a little history: Theron Humphrey, a photographer on a mission to photograph 365 people in 365 days all across the country needed a travel buddy. Enter Maddie the coon hound, an adopted and adorably passive looking canine with freckles like a baby deer. She’s precious and there is no other word for it. While feeling particularly American on his road trip, he placed Maddie on top of his truck to capture beast and machine at their finest– and she stayed! No leaping, rowdy shenanigans from this speckled girl.

“I was like, okay, what else would she stand on?” Humphrey said, “Will she stand on this trash can? Will she stand on the fire hydrant? It just grew and snowballed from there.” Humphrey has been photographing Maddie for quite some time now and posting the pictures on his website, which I have been ravenously following since I first stumbled across an almost painfully cute picture of a dog wearing a “ghost costume”. This dog has the patience of Job and we have been assured is safe at all times and is given a multitude of treats after every picture.

I’m so very very excited that there is now a concrete collection of the best of these pictures that I can grab off of my coffee table whenever I’m feeling blue. And here’s the thing– these pictures aren’t cheesy stock pet photos that you might find on a calendar in a dentist’s office. The subject is smushably cute, yes, but there is a lot of artistry in these pictures. Craft+a coonhound= I JUST CAN’T TAKE IT. I have to stop typing and just show you guys pictures. Probably way too many pictures.

The story begins when New York Times contributor Jim Robbins reads an article about the Champion Tree Project, a project aimed at cloning all 826 species of trees in the United States from champion trees, the fittest trees of every species.

The Champion Tree Project is led by David Milarch, a humble shade tree nurseryman from Michigan. Milarch began the project following a near-death experience after which he received a message that “the big trees were dying” and his job was to do something about it.

You might be thinking, as Robbins did when Milarch told him the story, is this guy for real? Robbins explains that this was “the most unusual origin of a science story [he’d] ever heard.”

Over the years Robbins keeps in contact with Milarch and pursues the questions inspired by Milarch’s effort to nurture our planet with trees:

How do trees communicate with each other?

How do trees and to what extent do they filter water and air for all life on the planet?

How do they prosper and how do they die?

The result is a lively and urgent exploration among scientists that as our climate changes the right trees planted in the right place for the right reasons might save our planet.

The story of David Milarch and the Champion Tree Project is a passionate testament to the power of one and the ability of a grass roots effort to stimulate a scientific community often stymied by their own expertise. The Man Who Planted Trees, printed on 100% post consumer fiber, is as pleasurable as it is educational.

It may feel like Spring is never going to come but it’s not too early to start dreaming about summer fresh meals with friends and family.  Keeping the kitchen cool while wowing your guests gastronomically can be a challenge during the summer. With the help of the Home Made Summer cookbook, summer in the south is able to coax the most creative out of us.

The first Home Made cookbook, written by Yvette van Boven, has been out for a few years. She’s based in Amsterdam, though the recipes, geared towards the do-it-yourself cook, often have a flavor of the Irish and French, both of which are influences on her. Home Made Winter was chock full of recipes for comfort food, and now, Home Made Summer, which has just arrived, will prepare us for the sweltering months ahead.

Yvette says in the introduction, “on hot summer days, few people are keen on spending long hours in the kitchen.” We concur. The cookbook is organized rather differently than many cookbooks, with the breakfast, lunch and tea time recipes being first and most important, followed by drinks, many of which include tonics and cooling remedies for the hot days ahead, and then, finally, main courses and desserts. Among the recipes you’ll find inspiration for the barbecue, accompanying salads that are a cinch to prepare, cold soups to relieve the hottest days, and drinks that will capture the flavor of the summer while giving respite from it.

Many of the recipes in Home Made Summer involve little cooking time, with many dishes that essentially look after themselves. When the summer months come, we are eager to spend our energy with our friends, not in the kitchen. This cookbook helps us do exactly that, while reminding us of the importance of eating healthy and sustainable food.

Home Made Summer by Yvette van Boven (Abrams, 2013), $35.

Think Gangs of New York meets A Clockwork Orange meets Mad Max and set in 2050 Ireland. 

The City of Bohane is located on the west coast and named after the river that runs through it. Bohane is divided into several districts that are ‘governed’ by a gang, the Hartnett Fancy. Logan Hartnett aka Albino/’Bino/H/Mr. H/the Long Fella is the current boss of the fancy

He had that Back Trace look to him: a dapper buck in a natty-boy Crombie, the Crombie draped all casual-like over the shoulders of a pale grey Eyetie suit, mohair. Mouth of teeth on him like a vandalised graveyard but we all have our crosses. It was a pair of hand-stitched Portuguese boots that slapped his footfall, and the stress that fell, the emphasis, was money.

In Bohane, the way you carry yourself is everything.

Kevin Barry writes like a poet chewin’ loonies. His prose is so good, and his story telling is… so good. He writes with this street slang that is totally believable. And this is one of the few times a ‘twist’ really caught me unawares, and it was cool. It was as subtle as his narrator, yet when looking back it was set up really well. Not one of those times that leave you like “okay, well, didn’t see that coming, but who the hell could have?” More like: Whoa… Barry is fracking great!

Right from the start we learn that the guy who had holdings of the fancy prior to the Long Fella is back and 25 years gone, the Gant Broderick, is still one bad dude – fifty years old, he’s still aka the Big Unit – “He had a pair of hands on him the size of Belfast sinks.” This book is one of an insular city of vice and all of the people (there are some really great ones in here) reflect it. There is love and violence and distrust. There is cold maneuvering and hot syrupy sentiment. The Gant <a bastardized form of giant> is one of these that suffer from attacks of sentiment, looking for the past, for the ‘lost-time’. But, this doesn’t stop him from being one big bad ghoulie _ he still carries his blade around.

The characters are what really solidify this book for me. They are kind of like Barry Hannah’s characters, maybe a bit more fantastically so. Oh, and the women in this book are just great:

Jenni Ching is one strong female, a bad chic. She’s sexy, smart, and kicks ass all day. “Jenni took a stogie from the tit pocket of her white vinyl zip-up. Torched the motherfucker.”

Macu, the Long Fella’s wife, is “dark-complected and thin, with a graceful carry of herself, and a sadness bred into her. One of her eyes was halfways turned in to meet the other, but attractively so.”

Girly Hartnett is the Long Fella’s mum. “… eighty-nine years of age, and in riotous good health. Girly was the greatest rip that ever had walked the Trace but she resided now in a top-floor suite at the Bohane Arms Hotel. The Curtains hadn’t been drawn back in decades.” *Girly is not just some old hag in this tale.*

I’m just going to list a few names from the book at this point, because they are just wonderful:

Ol’ Boy Manion,        Eyes Cusack,    Sweet Baba Jay,

Big Dom Gleeson,     Wolfie Stanners & Fucker Burke.

Bohane is a city that “builds sausages & beer” for the fierce winters. It builds fierce people for the blackness that seeps in from the river. If you want to read a great story, you could do worse.

I’m going to give this one a 5/5 ***** and I’ll deff be reading his short story collection that comes out later this year.

I don’t know if many of you know about this but Goodreads has been bought by Amazon.  I love Goodreads and have been just devastated by the news.  Here is my last post on Goodreads….

I’m sorry to say that this will probably be the last book that I post on Goodreads. As a bookseller in an independent bookstore, the purchase of Goodreads by Amazon has forced me to rethink my use of the website. I am already bothered by customers coming into my store and asking for advice on what books to read and then not buying anything because they are going home to order the titles online so in good conscience I will be closing my Goodreads account very soon.

If in the future, if you are interested in what I and/or my co-workers are reading please visit, Blog.LemuriaBooks.com.

Please know that I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience here on Goodreads and loved to see what the world was reading and y’all were instrumental in helping me choose books to read. I loved feeling like someone was selling me a book for a change.

Thanks,
Maggie

As many of you already know, we each post about 2 or 3 times a month but I am going to need your help!!  I loved seeing what people out there were reading and really did use Goodreads to feel like someone was selling me a book.  Every few blogs of mine I plan to do a list of what I’m reading and I would really appreciate it if y’all would  comment and let me know what you are reading.  We readers have got to stick together!!!

Here are a couple that I have read recently…

The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro

Of course, Claire Roth has heard of the Gardner Art Heist but she never thought she would end up involved.  Being a struggling artist in Boston has had more downs than ups for Claire but she can make ends meet by painting reproductions of famous paintings.  She is approached by gallery owner, Aiden Makel, with a deal she can almost not refuse.  He claims to have the stolen Degas from the Gardner in his possession and if she will paint a reproduction of it then he will let her have a show at his gallery.  This show would put Claire back on track in the Boston art scene but is she willing to do what is asked of her.  Makel’s plan is to turn around and give the ‘fake’ back to the Gardner like he has found the painting on the black market.  She decides to go through with it but then begins to have her doubts about the authenticity of the stolen Degas itself.

The Demonologist by Andrew Pyper

David Ullman is an expert on John Milton’s Paradise Lost.  After the school year is over he receives a mysterious job offer for a ‘demonologist’  in Venice but the details will remain unknown until accepts the position.  Things are not going well at home so he decides to travel to Venice and take his daughter, Tess, with him for a mini vacation.  What he encounters there will completely alter his belief system and his life.  When Tess falls from the hotel roof, David becomes completely consumed with getting her back that takes him on a quest across the United States.  Will he find her in time?