Misha S.

  • NurtureShock: Research that will make you go hmmm …

    I stumbled across Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman’s book NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children after I was gifted a copy of Newsweek with their incendiary cover-story (September 14, 2009 issue) entitled “Is Your Baby Racist?” I should mention that a teenager gave me this particular magazine issue as a tongue-in-cheek gift at my baby shower. In their Newsweek… Continue reading

  • Life Stories: Biographies of Great Americans

    The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard After a disastrous political defeat, the intrepid Roosevelt and his son undertake a treacherous Amazonian voyage, complete with cannibals.  Surmounting all obstacles, they survive to tell the tale. John Adams by David McCullough McCullough masterfully describes the complex life of one of the most… Continue reading

  • Just my Luxe

    As a librarian who helps people find good books to read for a living, there is one thing that I know for sure: a reader’s mood or what’s going on in their lives does affect what they want and choose to read. Let me share a case in point: myself. I generally read “literary” fiction—old… Continue reading

  • Three excellent picture books

    My family recently discovered three new picture books that have become read-aloud favorites. Wombat Walkabout by Carol Diggory Shields; illustrated by Sophie Blackall Six wombats with charming names like Jack and Pru go on walkabout. But a hungry dingo with a sack is following close behind when one by one each wombat gets distracted by… Continue reading

  • Seattle’s Food Critics Can Really Write: A Homemade Life and Hungry Monkey

    I just read two fantastic cooking memoirs by Seattle food critics that had me pawing through my pantry and looking at my city anew. The first was Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes From My Kitchen Table.  Wizenberg, the author of the popular food blog Orangette (where she shared recipes and family stories… Continue reading

  • Ricki Lake: Birth Advocate

    In early 2008, I attended a screening of Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s documentary, The Business of Being Born. Ricki Lake was there to introduce the film, and you could tell that the film was a passion project for her. While this may not be common knowledge, Ricki Lake, actress and former talk show host,… Continue reading

  • Book Groups Read My Jim

    I have had the pleasure now of facilitating two book group discussions of this year’s featured work for Seattle Reads, My Jim by Nancy Rawles. What I have seen (and heard from others) about the reactions of readers to Rawles’ book is that it makes a powerful impression.  My Jim also gives readers plenty to… Continue reading

  • In Praise of Felicity

    I am a sucker for television series about high school or college.  In other words, I love coming-of-age stories. So it was a surprise to me when I stumbled across the WB series Felicity. It started in 1998, when I was without television, so I missed its four seasons in the life of the plucky… Continue reading

  • The Visitor and Little Bee

    Two of the most powerful stories that I recently encountered were stories about immigrants and refugees. One was in a film and the other was a novel, but both left a strong impression on me. In the film, The Visitor, a widowed, burnt-out professor in Connecticut, Walter Vale, (played to perfection by Richard Jenkins, who… Continue reading

  • Long Way Round and Down

    Do you like learning about the world? Do you like motorcycles? Do you think that Ewan McGregor is easy on the eyes? If you have answered yes to any or all of those questions, then keep reading. In 2004, actor Ewan McGregor, who some may know from Trainspotting, the Star Wars prequels, or Moulin Rouge!,… Continue reading

  • From the Page to the Screen: Revolutionary Road

    Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road is a novel that has been lauded by critics and adored by other writers, but it has not garnered the same attention it deserves from readers. Sure, readers keep discovering Yates, but he doesn’t get the same kind of name recognition as other American writers like John Updike and John Cheever.… Continue reading

  • Parenting in the Wired Age

    Parents today have so many networks and resources available to them. It can be daunting, but it can also be reassuring. There are so many decisions to make, so many styles to choose from. Do you breastfeed or bottle-feed, or both? What bottles should you use? Cloth or disposable? Co-sleeping or crib? Those first months… Continue reading

  • Too Much Coffee & Lots of Books: Missing the Gilmore Girls

    The Fall 2008 TV season has begun, and while there are many new and returning shows that look interesting, all I can think of is how much I miss The Gilmore Girls. Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the show centered around the mother-daughter duo of Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and her namesake daughter, Rory (Alexis Bledel) in… Continue reading

  • Julia Glass: Book Group Darling

    When Julia Glass’ first book, Three Junes, came out in 2002 and won the National Book Award, it became a book group trailblazer. Book groups everywhere rejoiced in a new author of contemporary fiction whose writing was fresh and confident and featured complex, memorable characters. You’d think that would be easy to do, but it… Continue reading

  • Boxed Sets: Finding a Playlist in a Box

    While I have an extensive CD library, and spend a fair amount of time and money on music, I generally don’t shell out the cash to buy box sets. But I stop by my local indie music store, Easy Street, fairly often to peruse their shelves to see what’s new. Not familiar with box sets?… Continue reading