When I think of summer, I think of picnics and patios, badminton and the beach, and, maybe above all else, watermelon. The quintessential summer fruit, nothing beats biting into a big triangle slice of watermelon after a day spent outdoors.
A picnic with simple food, shared with good people, is one of the best ways to spend a day. If you’re looking for some inspiration for summer days spent outside, a fresh slice of watermelon in hand, we’ve got you covered!
Last week was National Fried Chicken Day, this week it’s National French Fry Day! What is it about July that makes us want to celebrate all the fried foods? Whatever the explanation is, I’m ready to celebrate!
Let’s expand our celebration beyond just French fries and show some love to the potato. The potato, as we know, is extremely versatile. From fries to tots to baked to mashed, the potato can do it all. No matter how you choose to indulge in your potato love, we’ve got the cookbooks to help you achieve those goals:
What could be a more fun day to celebrate than National Fried Chicken Day? The United States may not have a shortage of incredible fried chicken restaurants to enjoy, but why not try making fried chicken in your own kitchen? From classic fry recipes to air fryer hacks, making fried chicken has never been easier. Fried chicken lovers, unite!
If you’ve been staunchly anti-audiobooks…I get it. I love holding the physical book in my hands, turning the pages, being completely immersed in each written word.
But then I tried an audiobook and while I’m not a full convert, I understand the appeal now. All those chores I didn’t want to do? I press play on a book and suddenly doing the dishes isn’t so bad. Taking walks alone is more enjoyable with a thriller playing in my ears (although I wouldn’t recommend this at night!). Long car trips don’t feel like a waste of time—they’re spent reading my current book!
So, if you, like me, have been averse to trying an audiobook, find one by your favorite author, press play, and do some of your chores. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll have found a new way to enjoy reading!
If you’re unsure where to start, here are a few recently well-reviewed audiobooks to try:
Finding Me by Viola Davis, read by the author
A noted actress’s memoir, in her own words, spans her incredible, inspiring life, from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present day.
Winner of the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording, Kirkus Reviews said, “This memoir by the Oscar winner is unforgettable thanks to the author’s fiery narration.”
Place a hold on the audiobook here or on the e-audiobook here
Greek Lessons by Han Kang, read by Greta Jung and Earl T. Kim
A young Korean woman losing her ability to speak befriends a Greek language teacher who is losing his sight and discover they have even more in common.
“Listeners may find themselves pausing the audio to ponder the book’s philosophical musings—or perhaps simply rewinding to re-immerse themselves in Han’s lyrical prose, delicate imagery, and the possibilities of the senses.” -Booklist
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, read by the author
The iCarly and Sam & Cat star, after her controlling mother dies, gets the help she needs to overcome eating disorders, addiction and unhealthy relationships–and finally decides what she really wants for the first time in her life.
“Kirkus calls the memoir “heartbreaking,” and in many ways it is, but McCurdy displays a surprising dark sense of humor in both the writing and reading of this book, a sign that her healing has begun.”
Place a hold on the audiobook here or on the e-audiobook here
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid, read by Stacy Gonzalez
A retired tennis champion comes out of retirement at age 37 after watching a young phenom beat her long-standing record at the 1994 US Open.
“Stacy Gonzalez’s emotional performance as Carrie, including Spanish-sprinkled conversations with her Argentine father/coach, is excellent. The large supporting cast includes former tennis pros Patrick McEnroe and Mary Carillo, and all the news shows and pundit debates are cleverly produced with theme music.” -Kirkus Reviews
Place a hold on the audiobook here or on the e-audiobook here
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith, read by the author
The best-selling poet and author of Keep Moving offers a memoir that explores coming of age in the middle of life.
“It’s right that the author should narrate her painfully personal work…Heartbreakingly beautiful, this audio will move listeners to reflect on their own lives with insight, and, possibly, gratitude.” -Booklist
Place a hold on the audiobook here or on the e-audiobook here
Cormac McCarthy passed away on June 13, 2023, at 89 years old. He is known for changing the landscape of American literature, eschewing conventional usage of punctuation, and having a generally bleak outlook on American life. He won numerous awards for his works, including the Pulitzer Prize for his novel, The Road; the National Book Award for All the Pretty Horses; and the film adaptation of his novel No Country for Old Men won four Academy Awards. McCarthy wrote twelve novels, multiple short stories, a few screenplays (some never published), and a couple plays.
Maybe you haven’t read any of McCarthy’s work, maybe you’re interested in one of his works you haven’t read, or you’re ready to watch a film adaptation; whichever you choose, we’ve got the materials to help you honor him.
“A young boy, an old man, and the outlaw who has unknowingly killed the boy’s father, all try to resist the changes brought about during the period between the wars.”
“Based on incidents that took place in the southwestern United States and Mexico around 1850, this novel chronicles the crimes of a band of desperados, with a particular focus on one, “the kid,” a boy of fourteen.”
“Cut off from the life of ranching he has come to love by his grandfather’s death, John Grady Cole flees to Mexico, where he and his two companions embark on a rugged and cruelly idyllic adventure.”
“Stumbling upon a bloody massacre, a cache of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash during a hunting trip, Llewelyn Moss removes the money, a decision that draws him and his young wife into the middle of a violent confrontation.”
This film adaptation was released in 2007, directed by the Coen Brothers. It stars Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem, who won the Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four.
“Apocalypse grips the earth; wildlife has disappeared; and starvation prevails. Amidst this bleak backdrop, a man and his young son slowly make their way toward the coast. Avoiding roves of marauding cannibals and fighting off starvation, they gain hope and stamina in knowing they are some of the remaining few virtuous people.”
Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, and Charlize Theron star in this 2009 film adaptation. While it wasn’t nominated for any Academy Awards, it did win a couple film critics awards: Best Cinematography and Best Actor for Viggo Mortensen.
“In 1980 Pass Christian, Mississippi, salvage diver Bobby Western, after a plane crash, discovers the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box and the tenth passenger are missing, submerging him in a conspiracy beyond his understanding as he is shadowed in body and spirit by the past and present.”
“1972, Black River Falls, Wisconsin: Alicia Western, twenty years old, with forty thousand dollars in a plastic bag, admits herself to the hospital. A doctoral candidate in mathematics at the University of Chicago, Alicia has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and she does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby. Instead, she contemplates the nature of madness; she surveys the intersection of physics and philosophy; and she introduces her cohorts, her chimeras, the hallucinations that only she can see. Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Stella Maris is a philosophical inquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and existence.”
We’re starting to experience some beautiful, sunny days here in Northeast Ohio now that it’s June, so it is very fitting that June is Great Outdoors Month!
There are plenty of ways to spend some extra time outdoors, but if you’re looking for some ideas, look no further!
After the successful celebration of the 350th Anniversary of American Jewish History in May 2004, the Jewish Museum of Florida and prominent Jewish leaders in South Florida urged President Bush to name the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month. In May 2006, the first Jewish American Heritage Month was celebrated, honoring the centuries of Jewish impact in America.
There is a myriad of ways that Jewish Americans have contributed to the United States. Below I’ve compiled a small selection of books to enjoy that acknowledge some of those contributions, whether you want to get lost in a story, experiment in the kitchen, or learn something new.
“Florence, the 20-year-old daughter of Jewish bakery owners Esther and Joseph Adler, starts the summer of 1934 training for an upcoming trip to France to swim the English Channel. When Florence’s life is cut short in tragedy, Esther and Joseph keep her death quiet from their eldest daughter, Fannie, who waits out a high-risk pregnancy in the hospital. Protecting the baby becomes paramount. While Fannie’s husband, Isaac, swindles away funds in real estate schemes, their young daughter Gussie, unable to grasp the reason behind the lie, mourns the loss of her beloved aunt and misses her mother. Gussie finds comfort in Anna, a young German girl mysteriously living with the Adlers, and Stuart, Flossie’s swim coach and admirer. Stuart, a handsome lifeguard and son of the elite Covington hotel owner, begins clandestine swimming lessons with Anna, growing closer as they also grieve for Florence. As the secrets threaten to spill and heartbreak blankets them, the family must unite to face a future without Florence.”
“Set against the backdrop of the Clinton and Lewinsky scandal, My Last Innocent Year is a coming-of-age story about a young woman on the brink of sexual and artistic awakening, navigating her way toward independence while recognizing the power, beauty and grit of where she came from. Timely and wise, it reckons with the complexities of consent, what it means to be an adult, and whether or not we can ever outrun our bad decisions.”
“Relying on classic Jewish dishes, new favorites, and some imports, Gray and Kassoff Gray look to change the traditional Jewish table by “blending” tastes and histories. With dishes like yukon gold and sweet potato latkes and vegetable kishka with sage and paprika mixed in with asparagus risotto with Parmesan tuiles and quick summer squash ratatouille, there is a little something from everywhere thrown into the pot. With more than 75 color photographs, stories, and instructions from the authors on almost every recipe, as well as other restaurateurs’ and chefs’ anecdotes peppered throughout, this book has a very personal and inviting feel, asking the reader to focus on enjoying the food.”
“Finding himself alone after his divorce and his mother’s recent death, Ben Ziskind distracts himself with work, crafting questions for a TV quiz show. When he decides to steal a Chagall painting that once belonged to his mother, his actions shake him from his hermetic shell. Flashbacks to Ben’s past and to the lives of Chagall and his one-time novelist friend, the Hidden One, merge together. Horn deftly weaves an intricate story steeped in folklore and family secrets. Along the way, readers are offered glimpses of the possibilities, allegorical and otherwise, of life’s beginning and end.”
“In this anthology of 14 short stories by YA authors, the protagonists experience all the familiar exhilaration, embarrassment, and anxiety of late adolescence, with physical symptoms to match: they’re torn, they freeze up, they blush. They are also Jewish, and what that means—in terms of family, upbringing, and beliefs—adds additional layers of questioning and rumination to their fledgling sense of themselves.”
“Russian Jewish folklore meets the modern world in this fantastical story of good versus evil. Estranged siblings Isaac and Bellatine Yaga come from a long line of Russian puppeteers, each having their own special talent (or curse). Isaac is the Chameleon King, changing his appearance by imitating a person’s muscle movements. Bellatine has hands which ignite and wake the puppets. The siblings reunite when they receive an inheritance—Thistlefoot, a living house with chicken legs that moves and responds to commands in Yiddish. Isaac and Bellatine tour the U.S. with Thistlefoot, performing their famous puppet shows, but they soon discover there are others intent on finding the magical house. The evil Longshadow Man is close and will let no one get in his way; however, the house has its own agenda, and dues must be paid to balance the universe’s energy.”
“In this ambitious mix of biography, historiography, and family memoir, historian Popkin (A New World Begins) pays tribute to his grandmother, novelist Zelda Popkin. Throughout, Popkin draws insightful comparisons between Zelda and other Jewish American writers and provides helpful synopses of her novels. This admiring profile restores a well-deserving author to the spotlight.”
“When Charles Lindbergh, Republican candidate in the 1940 presidential race, defeats popular FDR in a landslide, pollsters scramble for explanations–among them that, to a country weary of crisis and fearful of becoming involved in another European war, the aviator represents “normalcy raised to heroic proportions.” For the Roth family, however, the situation is anything but normal, and heroism has a different meaning. As the anti-Semitic new president cozies up to the Third Reich, right-wing activists throughout the nation seize the moment. Most citizens, enamored of isolationism and lost in hero worship, see no evil–but in the Roths’ once secure and stable Jewish neighborhood in New Jersey, the world is descending into a nightmare of confusion, fear, and unpredictability. But though the situation is grim, this is not a despairing tale; suspenseful, poignant, and often humorous, it engages readers in many ways. It prompts them to consider the nature of history, present times, and possible futures.”
“The Austrian Jewish Künstler family’s established, prosperous life is threatened when creeping Nazi reforms erode their freedom. Fortunately, they escape Vienna in 1939 and settle in Los Angeles, finding themselves on the fringes of its European émigré community. Salomea (“Mamie”), 11, enthusiastically explores her new home, helping her parents and aging grandfather learn English. When Mamie is 93, she invites her 23-year-old grandson, Julian, to stay with her; his New York life has disintegrated since he lost both his girlfriend and his roommate. His parents refuse to subsidize his aimless existence, so he reluctantly accepts Mamie’s offer, only to linger when the pandemic strikes. Over the months, Mamie recounts fascinating anecdotes about meeting famous writers and luminaries such as Greta Garbo. Contrasting the wartime excesses in Hollywood with privation in Austria, Mamie and Julian liken COVID-era isolation to the sense of exile so many faced when they fled Europe.”
“In Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them. The question that most intrigues him is not just who makes the food, but how the food makes the people. Jews of Color are not outliers, Twitty contends, but significant and meaningful cultural creators in both Black and Jewish civilizations. Koshersoul also explores how food has shaped the journeys of numerous cooks, including Twitty’s own passage to and within Judaism.”
If you live in Cleveland, you probably know that we like to brag about our wonderful museums. From the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to Cleveland Museum of Art to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to Cowan Pottery Museum here at Rocky River Public Library, Cleveland has quite a few museums to explore and celebrate.
Documents the unsolved theft of twelve masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tracing the research of the late art detective Harold Smith while recounting the author’s own forays into the art underworld.
This beautifully written and richly illustrated book is a clear-eyed but loving account of natural history museums, their curators, and their ever-expanding roles in the twenty-first century.
Beautifully composed panoramic photographs that showcase the iconic interiors and exteriors in the great museums and cultural institutions of the United States from a singular visual perspective.
When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort – she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In this collection of compact fictions, Nicolette Polek transports us to a gently unsettling realm inhabited by disheveled landlords, a fugitive bride, a seamstress who forgets what people look like, and two rival falconers from neighboring towns.
On April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced that the United States military would invade Cambodia, furthering their involvement in the Vietnam War.
On May 1, over 500 students gathered on an outdoor common area in the center of campus to demonstrate against President Nixon’s announcement. At this demonstration, a rally was planned for May 4, to continue the protest. During the next few days, students kept up the demonstrations, and after Kent Mayor LeRoy Satrom declared a state of emergency, the Ohio National Guard were called on May 2.
On May 3, Governor Rhodes said they were going to “eradicate the problem” and that the protestors were “the worst type of people that we harbor in America” (Kent State). Another rally took place that evening, with Guardsmen tear gassing participants in order to get them to disperse. A curfew was enforced, and several students were bayoneted by Guardsmen.
On May 4, the originally planned protest took place as scheduled. The University tried to advertise it had been cancelled, but students (and some non-students as well) gathered anyway, even when tear gas was used to get them to disperse. At 12:24 PM, Guardsmen began firing at the protestors for approximately 13 seconds, killing four students—Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder and Sandra Scheuer—and injuring nine students— Joseph Lewis, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Alan Canfora, Dean Kahler, Douglas Wrentmore, James Russell, Robert Stamps, and Donald MacKenzie. The University President closed the school and remained closed for six weeks.
This is an incredibly brief overview of the Kent State shootings and I highly recommend the Kent State University’s Digital Archives for oral histories, timelines, newspaper articles, interviews, and more. Below are a few titles available through the library for more information:
Read it or Weep 