Food Behind the Scenes
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 … Read More
Rebecca Diamond
Spook: Scare Yourself Silly this Halloween
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 … Read More
Unlikable Characters
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 … Read More
Banned Books as a Parenting Tool: Lessons from The Giver
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 … Read More
Finding Humor for Emotional Strength
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 … Read More
Poetry and Recipes
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 … Read More
Possession
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. … Read More
Why Read Short Stories
Short stories wrap everything up. Short stories leave you wanting more. Short stories quickly move from one topic to the next. Short stories are neat and tidy. Short stories are … Read More
Staff Picks: Severance
Although published pre-COVID, Ling Ma’s brilliant debut novel Severance eerily mirrors the pandemic that has upended our world for the past year and a half. In Severance, Shen Fever is … Read More
The Man Who Ate Too Much
“Not all our food history is set down in cookbooks” (James Beard, American Cookery) The backbone of American cookery rests squarely on the shoulders of the late, great James Beard. … Read More