“Food fiction” is a broad genre that can include nuances of other categories such as humor, mystery, romance, history, self-reflection, etc. The list is endless. As a foodie, I’m always interested to see how an author can weave food or cooking into a fictional narrative. Sometimes it can be subtle touches, such as the celebrity … Read More
While browsing the Carr Library recreational reading collection recently, I eagerly picked up There, There by Tommy Orange. This book had been on my “to read” list but had proved difficult to get at my public library, so I was thrilled to get a copy. I began reading it that evening and was immediately wowed. Orange, … Read More
I love the spicy-sweet aroma of gingerbread baking in the oven. It permeates the whole house and lingers pleasantly afterwards, marking the arrival of the holiday season with its delicious scent. For me, it truly doesn’t feel like Christmas has arrived until I have made my gingerbread house. My aunt and I started making gingerbread … Read More
When we bite into an apple or enjoy a dish of decadent vanilla ice cream, we’re typically not thinking about the backstories of these foods. We choose them for sustenance or simply because they taste delicious. But there is more than just nutrition and flavor behind many of the things we eat. As a food … Read More
Although ghoulishly entertaining, Spook is ironically not about the supernatural happenings of the spirit world as its title eerily suggests. Instead, famed science writer Mary Roach takes a fresh approach in her investigation of the afterlife, delving into scientific explanations of “life after death.” As with Roach’s other books, it is a fun, fact-filled romp … Read More
Does a book’s main character always have to be likable? If you think back on your favorite main characters, many were almost surely ones you liked, or at least admired or related to on some level. Even villains are sometimes not totally unlikable, especially when they have a powerful quality or a character flaw that … Read More
I have always enjoyed children’s and young adult (YA) books and continue to read them even as an adult. When I became a parent, I loved reading books to my kids, sharing my favorites with them and finding new ones we could appreciate together. Once they started reading on their own, I started screening many … Read More
In Diem Perdidi by Julie Otsuka, the narrator recounts her experiences dealing with her mother’s Alzheimer’s progression. Alzheimer’s is an unforgiving, unpredictable disease. Periods of lucidity are contrasted with periods of confusion. Memories are conflated in a cruel time-traveling continuum, as short-term memory is often erased, but long-term memories remain. As with all terminal illnesses, … Read More
In addition to my position at Rutgers as a part-time business librarian, I am also a food writer and historian. While the vocations might not seem connected, they really do work well in tandem. The database-searching proficiency I gleaned through my M.L.S. (Rutgers, 1997) combined with many years working in corporate libraries allows me to … Read More
Possession can take many forms. The ownership of things, for example. I think back to the time we moved into our rented duplex in England for a two-year expat assignment. Even though we had put a large portion of our items in storage, we still had a full container of belongings that made the long … Read More