I loved this book. Meredith and her brother went with their mother to their grandparents when their parents split up. Her grandfather taught her about life most often through the bees and the honey bus that he kept. A parent with mental illness is not easy to cope with for a child, but she had such a supportive and grounded, albeit not always easy, upbringing, that the book overall is incredibly beautiful and hopeful. I highly recommend it and suggest that it would be a wonderful book group book.
She is making appearances now so keep an eye out for opportunities to meet her.

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Moraga's new book is, at its core, a mother-daughter story. The mother, Elvira, was hired out as a child, along with her siblings, by their own father to pick cotton in California's Imperial Valley. The daughter, Cherríe Moraga, is a brilliant, pioneering, queer Latina feminist. The story of these two women, and of their people, is woven together in an intimate memoir of critical reflection and deep personal revelation.

Perhaps I'm on a mother kick at the moment...

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I am a big fan of Li's spare and straightforward prose. I had the honor of meeting her at the old store a few times. This book won't be for everyone, but it's beautiful and difficult and honest.

Yiyun Li meets life's deepest sorrows as she imagines a conversation between a mother and child in a timeless world. Composed in the months after she lost a child to suicide, Where Reasons End trespasses into the space between life and death as mother and child talk, free from old images and narratives. Deeply moving, these conversations portray the love and complexity of a relationship.
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This is not your average 'hey, relax' book. Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity . . . doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance.
So argues artist and critic Jenny Odell in this field guide to doing nothing (at least as capitalism defines it). Odell sees our attention as the most precious-and overdrawn-resource we have.
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Keep Going

by Austin Kleon

On the advise of a creative friend, I subscribed to his email blast. Austin Kleon (Steal Like an Artist) is a relentless cheerleader and mentor for being creative and I find something that works in every message he puts out.

The creative life is not a linear journey to a finish line, it's a loop-so find a daily routine, because today is the only day that matters. Disconnect from the world to connect with yourself-sometimes you just have to switch into airplane mode. Keep Going celebrates getting outdoors and taking a walk (as director Ingmar Bergman told his daughter, "The demons hate fresh air").
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We know that I am a great lover of cookbooks. I try really hard not to be swayed by photos of gorgeous surroundings and food, but this book had me at the cover.

It's a year of wonderful vegetarian recipes and there are several I want to try soon, or when the main ingredients are in season.

It's also a great way to see what you might want to be growing this year and plan for it.

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Isn't it time to up your Taco Tuesday game?

Enrique Olvera is a leading talent on the gastronomic stage, reinventing the cuisine of his native Mexico to global acclaim - yet his true passion is Mexican home cooking. He shares 100 of the recipes close to his heart - the core collection of basic Mexican dishes - and encourages readers everywhere to incorporate traditional and contemporary Mexican tastes and ingredients into their recipe repertoire, no matter how far they live from Mexico.

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