Early Book Review: Cross Stitch Celebrations: Graduation: 35+ Patterns for Cross Stitching Unique Graduation-Themed Announcements and Gifts by Mollie Johanson

Cross Stitch Celebrations: Graduation: 35+ Patterns for Cross Stitching Unique Graduation-Themed Announcements and Gifts by Mollie Johanson is currently scheduled for release on March 14 2023. Learn to create personalized graduation announcements, congratulations, and additional keepsakes for education-related accomplishments. Whether you are an absolute beginner in cross stitch or a seasoned pro, this book shows you how to create highly giftable personalized keepsakes for the accomplished students in your life. This step-by-step guide includes all of the basic instruction you need to learn the art of cross stitch.

Cross Stitch Celebrations: Graduation is a lovely resource for those that want to make graduation (or some school) related cross stitch. I have been crafting most of my life, but I still get nervous and antsy when it comes to creating custom designs and patterns. Knowing what needs to happen, and doing it, felt miles apart. I liked the way the author acknowledged the anxiousness many of us feel and helped readers the tools to work through it rather than dismissing it out of hand. I liked the variety of pattern details included, and some of the suggestions for customization and a successful project. I think that this book offers a great deal of valuable information and would be a great resource when planning graduation related projects. It is not a book I would buy for my personal collection (I am out of shelf space and this is pretty specialized) but this would be a great addition to library collections. 

Audiobook Review: Why We Forget and How To Remember Better: The Science Behind Memory by Andrew E. Budson, MD; Elizabeth A. Kensinger, PhD and Narrated by Elise Arsenault

Why We Forget and How To Remember Better: The Science Behind Memory, written by Andrew E. Budson, MD and Elizabeth A. Kensinger, PhD, and narrated by Elise Arsenault shows you how to use these answers to improve your memory. You will learn: how memory's most important function isn't to help you remember details from your past; how memory is actually a collection of different abilities; how you create, store, and retrieve memories of your daily life; ways to control what you remember and what you forget; ways to distinguish between a true and false memory; effective ways to study for an exam; how to remember people's names, all your passwords, fifty digits of Pi, and anything else you wish; how memory changes in normal aging, Alzheimer's disease, depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, and other disorders—including COVID brain fog; and how exercise, nutrition, alcohol, cannabis, sleep, mindfulness, and music affect your memory.

Why We Forget and How To Remember Better is a well written, researched, and narrated audiobook. I liked that the authors put their recommendations and research based finding into use in the format of the book, using the small chunks and repetition that they suggest for aiding forming lasting memory into the structure and flow of the book. I wish this book had been out when I was still in school, maybe I would have studied in a different way and still remember some the language and math details that might come in handy. Most of the book was very practical and informational, and I was glad to learn some of how memory works and changes I can make to better remember names and little things that often slip away. I thought the text was easy to follow and I thought the narrator did a good job with the read. Some of the book was a little beyond my interest level, but could be very interesting and helpful to others. Schemas for mnemonic and other tools were more advanced than anything I was looking for but I liked that they actually noted that these tools were not for everyone and put them at the end of the book as such for those that had interest in learning more about them and how to put them into practice. 

Why We Forget and How To Remember Better offers readers exactly what the title promises, and does it in a accessible way.

Early Book Review: Tiny and Wild: Build a Small-Scale Meadow Anywhere by Graham Laird Gardner

Tiny and Wild: Build a Small-Scale Meadow Anywhere by Graham Laird Gardner is currently scheduled for release on March 7 2023. The word “meadow” might conjure an image of a broad, expansive prairie covering acres of land, but it doesn’t have to. Meadows don’t have to be big to make a difference in the health of the planet. If you choose the right plants, even a small corner of the yard will do. The perks of creating a wild planting, even on a small scale, are many. Tiny but mighty meadows help mitigate climate change, foster biodiversity, sequester carbon, and calm the senses. With as little as a few square feet of space, you can create a beautiful, naturalistic planting that supports a diversity of plants, pollinators, and a plethora of other living things, not to mention its visual appeal to human eyes. The plant lists and charts in Tiny & Wild share the best plants to include in your micro prairie, and Graham offers plenty of practical advice on planting your meadow from seed, transplants, or mature plants, depending on your budget, the site, and your timeline. Plus, learn how to care for your wildflower planting, including tips for watering, plant care, and weed management.

Tiny & Wild is well written and organized, with a page lay out that make the information easy to follow and is enjoyable to look at due to the image selections and placement. Since  like to let some of my garden space be more wild than others, I thought it might be good to make it deliberately that way rather than just sowing a few types of local pollinator friendly seed and let nature happen. This book gave me the tools I needed to plan and more productively create a meadow space in my yard, and better support the wildlife around me in the process. I like that the book offers support and solutions for a wide variety of time and space commitments and also suggests resources that might help in making informed decisions based on location and conditions such as rainfall and sun levels where you might want to start.  I particularly liked the planting suggestions for shady meadow areas- since I have one strip of yard that I have had very little luck with and plan on tackling this year. The sample plant lists by conditions was very helpful in my planning. I am eager to see what the inspiration this book has given me produces over this upcoming year and beyond. 

Early Book Review: Hidden Creature Features by Jane Park

Hidden Creature Features by Jane Park is a nonfiction picturebook currently scheduled for release on March 7 2023.  Some animal features are easy to see—long tails, large wings, patterned fur, or sharp beaks. But look closer—you might be surprised by what you find!  A penguin’s sharp beak hides a textured tongue that helps it grip fish. A red-eyed tree frog has a golden eyelid that covers its eyes so it can see predators while it sleeps. A platypus fends off predators with a venomous spur. Rhyming text and eye-catching photos offer an up-close look at lots of fascinating hidden creature features!

Hidden Creature Features features some fantastic close up images of animals along with facts that detail hidden adaptations that they have to help them survive. I liked the variety of creatures shown, and the different adaptations that were shared. I knew some of the information, but the book still taught me a few things. For instance, I never knew that the pacu fish's teeth looked like that, and while I knew about the platypus's poisonous spur I did not know that it was only active during mating season. I love that the book includes a glossary and recommendations for further reading. I think this book would be a great addition to personal collections for those with children that love to learn about animals. I also think that this would be a valuable addition to public, school, ad classroom libraries. 

Book Review: The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around Earth by Jung Chang-hoon, Jang Ho

The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around Earth, written by astronomer Jung Chang-hoon and illustrated by Jang Ho, is a children's nonfiction book translated into English by Paige Morris. Everyone on Earth can look up and marvel at our moon in the night sky. It is an experience we share across cultures and continents. As our closest celestial neighbor, the moon touches on many aspects of our lives and has inspired interest from people across centuries. In The Moon Tonight, you can share that same sense of wonder with your child through the eyes of a father-daughter duo as they learn the science behind the twenty-nine-day lunar cycle and the moon’s four phases: crescent, quarter, full, and new. With age-appropriate and easy-to-follow scientific explanations this picture book offers families a reading experience that is both poetic and educational.

The Moon Tonight: Our Moon's Journey Around Earth is a wonderful book for a young reader to explore alone, or to share with an adult. There is a great deal of information about the moon, its cycles, and how it effects our oceans. I thought the text was straightforward and easy to understand and follow, with no moments of condescension that is sometimes found in nonfiction books for children. Credit for this can go to the author and the translator- since they both had a hand in the English version of the book working as well as it did. I thought the illustrations were lovely and added a great deal to the read. I also loved learning a few new proverbs and lore that relate to the moon. I thought I could remember all my moon facts from my school days when I took astronomy, but this children's book reminded me of information long forgotten and/or taught me a few new things.

Book Review: 100 Disasters That Shaped World History by Joanne Mattern

100 Disasters That Shaped World History by Joanne Mattern is a children's nonfiction book. From the Great Fire of London to the Challenger explosion, earthquakes, crashes, floods, and accidents have been major turning points throughout history. In 100 Disasters That Shaped World History, young readers will be introduced to some of the most notorious disasters known to mankind, discovering how these fateful events unfolded-and how they changed the world as we know it.

100 Disasters That Shaped World History is a book that covers a wide range of disasters, including some I would not have never thought to include, like the MGM fire and a molasses flood. The impact of these crisis are covered- such as how laws and regulations followed and how people's behavior did (or did not) adjusted afterwards. This many incidents is a great deal of ground to cover, so some are cover in much more depth than others, but this is an interesting and informative read. I thought the illustrations were less than stellar, but they are credited to the publishing group rather than an individual so that is not terribly surprising. I did like the trivia and project suggestions at the end, but that could have been made even better with some suggested resources for further reading as well. This is an interesting and engaging read for young readers that like history and learning about things that have gone wrong in the past. 

Book Review: The Late, Great Endlings: Stories of the Last Survivors by Deborah Kerbel, Aimée van Drimmelen

The Late, Great Endlings: Stories of the Last Survivors by Deborah Kerbel and Aimée van Drimmelen pays homage to some of the more well-known endlings of the past century with rhyming stanzas that accompany watercolor illustrations and factual descriptions of each animal, along with the circumstances that led to their species' extinction. Together, these portraits of animals, like the passenger pigeon, the Pinta Island tortoise and the Tasmanian tiger, are a poignant symbol of a world irreversibly altered by human development, habitat loss and climate change. Readers are invited to reflect on the interconnectedness of all life forms on our planet with an additional look at animals that are at risk of becoming extinct in our lifetime. Concluding on a hopeful note, the final page offers suggestions for what kids can do to change the course of this mass species extinction crisis.

The Late, Great Endlings is a sad but interesting read about the last days of several endlings (the last member of a species). I liked learning the information shared, and I think the artwork does a good job of capturing the lives of the featured creatures. I also like that the book ended on a reasonably hopeful note. While reminding readers that we could very well see more species go extinct in our lifetimes, there are ways to mitigate our individual impacts and help make positive changes in the world around us to help slow or stop that decline. To be perfectly honest, the only part of this book I could have done without was the poetry. It seemed a little trite and unnecessary for the most part, and did little to add to the feel and purpose of the read. 

Book Review: The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook by Jenn Fujikawa

The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook by Jenn Fujikawa features more than 50 recipes for dishes seen in, and inspired by, the film, including: Buttercup Buttermilk Scones, Hash You Wish, Farm Boy Breakfast, Six-Fingered Sandwiches, Chips of Insanity, MLT, The Grandson’s Soup and Sandwich, Vizzini’s Sicilian Meatballs, Fezzik’s Stew. The Spaniard’s Paella, Bread Pirate Roberts, Twu Wove’s Kiss Cookies, Iocane Powder Punch, and Inigo Montoya’s Taste of Revenge. Perfect for fans, families, and Brute Squads, this cookbook is a way for home cooks to plate up the adventure, comedy, and romance of everyone’s favorite film.

The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook is a fun novelty cookbook. It has some good recipes with punny titles. I liked the movie quotes, pictures, and information that was included in the text as well. Most of the recipes are ones you can find elsewhere- with a title change. However, I did like that they were labeled, both in the table of contents and at the start of the recipe, for if they were gluten free, vegetarian, or vegan and sometimes included suggested modifications to make it vegetarian if it was not in the recipe. If you prefer metric measurements, here you are out of luck and will need to do some conversions since it is all in imperial units. 

The Princess Bride: The Official Cookbook is exactly what it promises- a cookbook for fans of the movie that might want to put together a pun filled meal (or series of meals) to share.

Book Review: The Science of Witchcraft: The Truth Behind Sabrina, Maleficent, Glinda, and More of Your Favorite Fictional Witches by Meg Hafdahl; Kelly Florence

The Science of Witchcraft: The Truth Behind Sabrina, Maleficent, Glinda, and More of Your Favorite Fictional Witches by Meg Hafdahl; Kelly Florence (authors of The Science of Women in Horror and co-hosts of the Horror Rewind podcast called “the best horror film podcast out there” by Film Daddy), is a guide to the history of witchcraft through the stories and characters we all know and love. Reveal the spellbinding science behind the legends and lore surrounding fiction’s most iconic witches, answering such questions as; what is the science behind divination and spellcraft? When did witchcraft begin to show up in literature and media? Has science made it possible to uncover the truth behind the powers of necromancy and employing familiars? How has witchcraft been thought of throughout the world? Through interviews, film and literary analysis, and bone-chilling discoveries, join Kelly and Meg as they learn about the complicated and rich science of witchcraft throughout the centuries and discover why now is the season of the witch!

The Science of Witchcraft is a bit of a scattered read, full of interesting information and thoughts about the witches found in media, and how some of the aspects of those witches and their activities could (or could not) happen via science. It felt like each segment was written for a podcast, which kind of makes sense, hoping for a conversational tone and jumping around a bit as different thoughts came to mind. That works well in a podcast format, since it sounds like a natural conversation, but it did not hold up quite as well in book format. I learned a few things, and found the text to be interesting, but I was often frustrated by the choppy flow and could not sit and read without breaks. This would be much better suited for readers that like to read a section or chapter a day, or perhaps in small bits as and audiobook rather than sitting to read cover to cover.  

Book Review: How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler is a collection of essays from a queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field. Science and conservation journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature: the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs, the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams, the bizarre Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena) and other uncanny creatures lurking in the deep ocean, far below where the light reaches. Fusing genres to create a new kind of essay, Imbler's debut collection weaves the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family and coming of age, implicitly connecting endangered sea life to marginalized human communities and asking how they and we adapt, survive, and care for each other.

How Far the Light Reaches is a merging of scientific exploration and information with a personal memoir. I thought the essay collection was interesting, and that the book would appeal and resonate with many individual- and would frankly be great for some people to read in order to gain empathy and understand others a bit more. However, I have to admit that I was hoping to learn more about sea life and new discoveries than the author's personal life- although this has nothing to do with the narrative of their life and is more about the book not being what I was looking for or needing to read in that moment. I did think that the book was very well written, with plenty of understanding and heart. I think it will be a very important read for some, and enlightening read for many, and a highly engaging read for all. It is a fantastic book- just not what I was looking for when I read it. 

Book Review: Hidden Places: From Secret Shores to Sacred Shrines by Claudia Martin

Hidden Places: From Secret Shores to Sacred Shrines by Claudia Martin roams across the globe in search of hidden treasures and secret places off the beaten track. Explore the Silfra Deep Trench in Iceland, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet to create a remarkable rift and freshwater dive site; experience the weirdest of woodland walks through the Crooked Forest in Pomerania, Poland, where a grove of 400 pines are uniformly curved; marvel at the colorful, gold-plated temple of Doi Suthep in northern Thailand; or visit the world’s highest sand dune, Grande Dune du Pilat, on the Bordeaux coast. Each location is accompanied by a caption explaining the geography and history of the place. Illustrated with 180 color photographs, Hidden Places ranges from the sparse landscape of the Arctic Circle to the rich rainforests of the Amazon basin. Read this book and discover the special, hidden places that will come to define your bucket list – many of which are much closer to home than you think.

Hidden Places was a wonderful book to look through and enjoy. As someone that has travelled little, but often thinks about going to the less travelled places in the world, I really enjoyed getting a good look at the quiet places that I am likely never going to see. The photographs are wonderful, and for the most part show locations with few to zero people taking advantage of the locations (just how I'd like to see them). I liked the variety of locations and climates included. There were snow and ice covered locations, lush forests, deserts, as well as man made or altered locations from all over the world. The colors in each image are so vibrant and perfect that it feels almost like you are looking out a window rather than at a picture on a screen, or page in the case of a print version. Some of the colors and wonders included looked so perfect that I was squinted to make sure the image really was a photograph rather than a painting since they looked so fantastic.   I think this book offers readers exactly what they will be hoping for by the title and cover, weather they are regular travelers or those that prefer staying home and enjoying from afar. 

Audiobook Review: The Creative Lives of Animals by Carol Gigliotti, Narrated by Sheri Saginor

The Creative Lives of Animals was written by Carol Gigliotti, and the audiobook was narrated by Sheri Saginor. Most of us view animals through a very narrow lens, seeing only bits and pieces of beings that seem mostly peripheral to our lives. However, whether animals are building a shelter, seducing a mate, or inventing a new game, animals' creative choices affect their social, cultural, and environmental worlds. Drawing on a growing body of scientific research, Carol Gigliotti unpacks examples of creativity demonstrated by animals through the lens of the creative process, an important component of creative behavior, and offers new thinking on animal intelligence, emotion, and self-awareness. With examples of the elaborate dams built by beavers or the lavishly decorated bowers of bowerbirds, Gigliotti provides a new perspective on animals as agents in their own lives, as valuable contributors to their world and ours, and as guides in understanding how creativity may contribute to conserving the natural world. Presenting a powerful argument for the importance of recognizing animals as individuals and as creators of a healthy, biodiverse world, this book offers insights into both the established and emerging questions about the creativity of animals.

The Creative Lives of Animals was a hard listen for me for a few reasons. First, I thing the research done to write this book and the information included is important and interesting. However, I have to admit that I almost Did not make it through the introduction. I was expecting the book to focus more on the example and actual experiments and examples of how animals demonstrate creativity. I felt like the book was more aimed at people in the field, or with a particular frame of mind rather than just regular folks that wanted to learn more about the creativity and intelligence of animals. There were times where the tone of the writing felt very pretentious to me, and that always make a nonfiction read harder for me to enjoy. I felt like the narrator tried to do a solid job, using inflections to avoid falling into a monotone, and I think they did the best they could with the material. However, While I was listening I felt like I was in a grad school lecture rather than listening to an audiobook. It might work much better for other readers/listeners, but it just did not work for me.

The Creative Lives of Animals covers and interesting subject matter, and is well researched. However, I felt like it was aimed more at other researchers and scholars rather than readers like me. 

Book Review: How to Embroider Almost Every Cute Thing: A Sourcebook of 550 Motifs + Beginner Stitch Tutorials by Nihon Vogue

How to Embroider Almost Every Cute Thing: A Sourcebook of 550 Motifs + Beginner Stitch Tutorials by Nihon Vogue includes 550  embroidery motifs for just about everything you could ever want to depict with needle and thread. From cheeseburgers and chihuahuas to earmuffs and exercise equipment, among the many charming motifs are flowers, food, animals, clothing, vehicles, sports and hobbies, letters, numbers, and decorative designs from Japan’s leading embroidery artists. Use the motifs to embellish t-shirts, socks, bags, table linens, and more! What you’ll find inside includes finished stitched examples, stitch guides templates for all the motifs, and essential step-by-step tutorials for key stitches and techniques.

How to Embroider Almost Every Cute Thing: A Sourcebook of 550 Motifs + Beginner Stitch Tutorials offers readers exactly what the title promises, a wide variety of embroidery motifs with instructions and valuable information about getting your project done the way you envision it. I thought the book was well organized and easy to navigate to find exactly the pattern or bit of instruction that you are looking for. The only complaint I had is that I would have liked the stich guides to be a little bigger, some of the little details felt crowded and hard to read, but that is more on me and my eye sight that the book. think the best part about this is that it gives readers the inspiration to make things their own, and a solid starting point in creating their own pieces or embellishments. 

Book Review: The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons by Robert Harvey

The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons by Robert Harvey is a nonfiction book featuring more than 200 intriguing images taken by space probes travelling billions of kilometers from Earth, The Solar System is an exhilarating exploration of the mysteries of our local planetary space. Within the span of a human lifetime, our spacecraft have visited all eight planets of the Solar System, together with several dwarf planets, asteroids and comets. We have mapped the surface of Mercury and Venus in exquisite detail, landed rovers on Mars, placed orbiters around Jupiter and Saturn, and parachuted to the surface of Titan. Our emissaries have visited icy worlds five billion kilometers from home and continued onwards to reach interstellar space. The pictures and science returned by these intrepid travelers have transformed our understanding of the Solar System in which we live.

The Solar System: Exploring the Sun, Planets and their Moons is an accessible and visually stunning look at our solar system, what we have learned, and our place in it.  I thought the text was well written and pairs well with each of the chosen images.  The images are absolutely stunning and the star of this book. I like that there were some artist renditions as well, which were also of great quality.  I thought the text was understandable and added context to the images making them more impactful. without getting too technical or overwhelming. I think middle grade and older readers could get just as much out of the book (particularly if they are interested in the subject matter).  This is a lovely coffee table book that will stand up to rereading and flipping through when the mood strikes. 

Audiobook Review: A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts by Leanna Renee Hieber; Andrea Janes, Narrated by Linda Jones

A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts was written by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes, and the audiobook is narrated by Linda Jones. From the notorious Lizzie Borden to the innumerable, haunted rooms of Sarah Winchester's mysterious mansion, this book explores the history behind America’s female ghosts, the stereotypes, myths, and paranormal tales that swirl around them, what their stories reveal about us—and why they haunt us. Sorrowful widows, vengeful jezebels, innocent maidens, wronged lovers, former slaves, even the occasional axe-murderess—America’s female ghosts differ widely in background, class, and circumstance. Yet one thing unites them: their ability to instill fascination and fear, long after their deaths. Here are the full stories behind some of the best-known among them, as well as the lesser-known—though no less powerful. Tales whispered in darkness often divulge more about the teller than the subject. America’s most famous female ghosts, from from ‘Mrs. Spencer’ who haunted Joan Rivers’ New York apartment to Bridget Bishop, the first person executed during the Salem witchcraft trials, mirror each era’s fears and prejudices. Yet through urban legends and campfire stories, even ghosts like the nameless hard-working women lost in the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire —achieve a measure of power and agency in death, in ways unavailable to them as living women.

 A Haunted History of Invisible Women offers a readers a variety of ghostly legends, including the research into the people and places involved, all through the lens of feminism. The social constructs, expectations, and realities of life as a woman have colored even the most factual hauntings, and this book dives into how this has shaped specific stories, and how our perception and interest in the stories has been shaped as well. I love a good ghost story, and more than that I love looking into the historical research of what really happened, particularly what we do know and what is lost in time and legend because of record keeping and unsolved crimes. I like that this book focused on the history, lives, and treatment of the women that these ghostly legends are based on, and the spiritualists and women that are drawn to the subject matter. While every time I hear ghost stories I think about what can be proven, what can be debunked, and the real lives of the people at the heart of the story, I think this book made me even more conscious of how our societal expectations and stereotypes shape  the stories and how we think about them. I think this book offers exactly what it promises and while I was well acquainted with many of these tales, it offered me bits of history and some new perspectives to consider with other stories I already know, or might hear about in the future. 

Book Review: Indian for Everyone: 100 Easy, Healthy Dishes the Whole Family Will Love by Hari Ghotra

Indian for Everyone: 100 Easy, Healthy Dishes the Whole Family Will Love by Hari Ghotra was released for sale on October 4 2022. Fresh, flavorful, and full of spices, veggies, and healthy proteins, Indian for Everyone presents over 100 curries, daals, and other classic Indian dishes to make and enjoy with your kids (or without). A former chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Tamarind, as well as a creator of a popular line of curry kits and sauces, Hari Ghotra’s mission is to demystify Indian cooking so everyone can enjoy its benefits. She explores the many perks of traditional Indian spices—including reducing inflammation, lowering blood pressure, and easing pain—and shows how to stock your pantry with the most versatile ingredients. She covers basics like biryani and rogan josh, as well as street food, snacks, drinks, and holiday specialties. Many of the recipes are naturally vegan or vegetarian, but can easily be made with meat as well, as detailed in the substitutions section. And she even includes some flavorful Indian twists on beloved American foods like mac and cheese and chicken wings.

Indian for Everyone: 100 Easy, Healthy Dishes the Whole Family Will Love is a very well written cook book, with instructions and encouragement for readers. I have always enjoyed Indian food and the flavor profile, but I have been so unsure as to how to get started, especially with my less than adventurous and fairly picky household. I will admit to being a little worried when the importance of onions was discussed in the introduction- since I am not necessarily a fan- but Ghotra offered solutions, ideas, and substitutions for a variety of dietary restrictions and preferences- including onions. I liked that each recipe included imperial and metric measurements, making them easily accessible to readers, and offers suggestions and tip on how to personalize the recipe and how to make aspects of cooking easier (like prepping and freezing masala in advance). I thought it was well organized and the recipes were easy to understand and follow. While I might not have all of the ingredients for all of the recipes in my house already, most of the items I was missing are easily obtained in large grocery stores, although some require a little extra leg work. I am looking forward to trying my hand at some of these recipes (starting with the naan, turmeric and honey bread, and a few desserts). More importantly, I have a better understanding of spices I love and how I can use them to better  effect and with different combinations than I have tried before. I think this is the perfect cookbook for those looking to learn more about Indian Cuisine and how they might better understand and incorporate the spices and intent of it more effectively. 

Book Review: House London by Ellie Stathaki, Anna Stathaki

House London by Ellie Stathaki is a nonfiction book that showcases 50 of the most inspiring contemporary interiors in the city today. Created by some of the best designers, architects, and creatives around, this book celebrates the amazing variety and vision that lies behind sometimes quite ordinary facades. Writer Ellie Stathaki  and photographer Anna Stathaki explore different interior styles and show the very best of London homes – from the surprising interiors of humble terraces, to extraordinary conversions showcasing the height of luxury. Some homes will provide worthy inspiration, and others a level of drama most of us can only dream of. With beautiful photography throughout, each home draws on something uniquely ‘London’ and supporting text profiles home owners, architects, and designers and highlights the architectural bones that make up the home.

House London is an exploration of homes in London that capture a certain something and about the city and its people. While not big into learning about the rich and famous, or how they live, I am a huge fan of the city and thought this would be a fun look at interior designs and homes I would never otherwise see. I was not disappointed in the quality of the photography, even if some of the choices go well outside of my personal taste and others made me dream of finding a way to get that much natural light in my own home. I will admit to paying much more attention to the photography than the text, but I did find that the text was well researched and written and added a depth of interest and understanding to the homes featured and the people involved. I found the book to be intriguing and entertaining to explore. I think it will be great for those that love home design and decorating, as well as those looking for some inspiration for future projects. 

Book Review: Diary of the Cat Named Carrot by Erin Merryn

Diary of the Cat Named Carrot by Erin Merryn is a nonfiction book for all ages. Bailey was certainly no ordinary cat—an orange tabby who gained fans around the world when his humanlike antics went viral. Sadly, when 14-year-old Bailey died, his family grieved their loss. They’d never find a cat quite like him—or would they? Then along came Carrot, an orange tabby kitten born as a stray, who appeared just as Erin Merryn and her young girls Abby, Hannah, and baby Claire were mending their broken hearts. Written in the voice of Carrot, follow her remarkable journey from shelter cat to top Instagram celebrity feline. Much like Bailey did, she loves spending time with her human family: making mischief with her girl gang; going joyriding in a pint-sized pink Barbie Jeep; doing arts-and-crafts projects; modeling a pink tutu and flowery headband; enjoying a spa day complete with fluffy robe and cucumber eye treatments; celebrating Christmas, Easter, and every holiday in between.

Diary of the Cat Named Carrot is a lovely story about welcoming a new kitten into a family that is missing their late cat. I thought that it was neat to have the story from Carrot's perspective, and the pictures did a great job of documenting the family's journey together and how much Carrot (and the kids) grew. It is a quick, mostly happy read, formatted to be blog like- so it matches what fans of Carrot would already be used to. The pictures are fun, and while some of the text got to be a little to long for me, this book still works well and would be a nice read for any cat fan. It might also be a good book choice to start a discussion about getting a cat with children.  

Book Review: Superheroes of Nature: Incredible Skills to Survive and Thrive by Georges Feterman

Superheroes of Nature: Incredible Skills to Survive and Thrive by Georges Feterman is a children's nonfiction book with full color photos and interesting text celebrating biodiversity and nature. From the Borneo ant to the flying dragon, find out all about these amazing animals and the extraordinary abilities that make them the superheroes of our planet. For example a hammerhead shark can see 180 degrees, the webbed gecko can glide across the desert sand, and the springbok is super fast! For each animal readers will discover their superpower, super stats, and super facts about them and some additional information about how they used their super skills in the wild. 

Superheroes of Nature is another visually appealing book from the Animal Powers series, like Superpowers of Nature: Wild Wonders of the World, which I also recently read and reviewed. The chosen photographs are attention grabbing and does a delightful job of illustrating the features and actions described in the text of the book. I though the book was well organized and balanced, delivering interesting and informative text in accessible lengths along with the bight photographs. I think this book, and the series to be honest, will be a hit with readers interested in animals and science. It would be a valuable addition to school and classroom libraries as well as the public library and personal collections. 

Book Review: Cities of the Dead: The World's Most Beautiful Cemeteries by Yolanda Zappaterra

Cities of the Dead: The World's Most Beautiful Cemeteries by Yolanda Zappaterra is a nonfiction book and collection of photography. Readers will discover the fascinating stories of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries, featuring spectacular photography, unique histories and famous residents. The book invites readers on a tour of memorial sites, ranging from monastic settlements to grand cathedrals, Shinto shrines to Gothic chapels, tombs and crypts. Enjoy tales of myths and monsters, grave-robbers, pilgrimages, spiritual retreats, remembrance and community. Marvel in cemeteries with a hundred thousand to a handful of graves which feature famous headstones, weeping angels, ocean views, woodlands, thousands of glowing lanterns and a tomb of poets. From London's famous Highgate Cemetery, which houses famous names from Karl Marx to Malcolm McLaren, George Eliot to Christina Rosetti, to Hawaii's breathtaking Valley of the Temples, this book spans the globe to bring you the most fascinating, intriguing and evocative cemeteries across cultures and continents. Together with the photographs, the stories behind these notable burial sites bring these sanctuaries to life, detailing the features that make them special, highlighting both similarities and differences between time periods, religions and cultures, and showing how cemeteries are about and for the living as much as the dead.

Cities of the Dead is a fascinating read and visually captivating. I thought the information provided for each site was well researched and written, with just enough information to give readers an understanding of the location, and perhaps inspire some further research for the locations that really speak to them. I have to admit that I was much more interested in the photography, but that is more on my personal preference and visual nature than any lack on the author's part.  It was nice to see the beauty ad dignity of these locations, rather than the focus of dark and spooky that I mostly see particularly this time of year. The serenity and magnitude of some of the locations was interesting and I liked the variety of locations and seasons and time of day in which the pictures seemed to be taken. I found some of the images sad, like the cramped crowd of tombstones of Beth-Chaim in Prague, and some of the less well tended expanses, however other locations seems so restful and carefully tended that they exude peace. The contrasts of how history and people shape these things is important, and too often forgotten. I like that the author included a guide to the symbolism in cemeteries, visitor information on the featured locations, an index and the full list of photograph credits. These important details too often are lost in the process, and I love digging into these kids of details at the end of a nonfiction book.  I think my only complaint is that the number of photographs per cemetery seemed a bit uneven, some locations only had one while others had several pages. I understand that this is partially because of image availability and cemetery size and accessibility, but it still bothered me in the end.