Shelf Awareness for Readers for Friday, August 10, 2018
From My Shelf
The Writer's Life
Keith O'Brien: Flying Back into Women's History
Book Candy
Books About Falling for Your BFF
Shhhh. Bustle recommends "7 Books About Best Friends Falling in Love That Will Give You Serious Feel-Good Vibes."
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Buzzfeed wonders which "Harry Potter characters would survive the Hunger Games?"
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Chronicle Books offers "six books that teach children to be global citizens."
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In the Guardian, novelist A.G. Lombardo outlines his "top 10 novels about riots," which include A Clockwork Orange, Midnight's Children, Les Misérables and The Plot Against America.
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Perhaps "better known for its scantily clad female characters and their impossible anatomy," anime does feature "plenty of incredible badass women," Quirk Books writes. It profiles eight of them in "Strong female characters in anime."
Great Reads
Rediscover: The Complete Robuchon
French chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Joël Robuchon died on August 6 at age 73. He was a celebrity French cook who operated dozens of restaurants around the world--which earned him a total of 32 Michelin stars, the most of any chef. At age 21, Robuchon joined an apprenticeship program that allowed him to learn regional techniques throughout France. By age 29, he was head chef at the Hôtel Concorde La Fayette, which staffed 90 chefs cooking 3,000 meals each night. Robuchon cut his chops during the height of nouvelle cuisine, a style centered on innovation and reduction with an emphasis on plating. Robuchon synthesized some of those elements with more classic French cuisine. His simultaneous strive for perfection and simplicity earned him the title "Chef of the Century" by the restaurant guide Gault Millau, as well as frequent appearances on French cooking shows. An early retirement (caused by witnessing the premature heart attacks of overworked colleagues) was cut short when Robuchon opened his worldwide line of restaurants, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon.
Patricia Wells, chef, journalist and co-author of Robuchon's cookbook Simply French (1991), said his favorite line was "our job is not to make a mushroom taste like a carrot but to make a mushroom taste as much like a mushroom as it can." Home cooks seeking to sample Robuchon's famous simplicity of ingredients and perfection of execution can find more than 800 of his recipes in The Complete Robuchon (2008), translated by Robin H.R. Bellinger and available from Knopf ($40, 9780307267191). --Tobias Mutter
Book Review
Fiction
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
by Ottessa Moshfegh
Discover: A young woman disconnected from the world goes into hibernation with the aid of a dangerous drug.
The Boatbuilder
by Daniel Gumbiner
Discover: A young man in search of himself finds hope under the tutelage of a philosophical boat builder and the denizens of his small coastal town.
Early Work
by Andrew Martin
Discover: Martin's first novel cleverly dramatizes writers who overcome early indulgences to hone their skills and master their craft.
Mystery & Thriller
Live and Let Chai
by Bree Baker
Discover: A cozy mystery set in a seaside North Carolina town features iced tea, a slow-brewing romance and murder.
Stay Hidden
by Paul Doiron
Discover: This atmospheric mystery set on an island off the coast of Maine is filled with unpredictable twists and a cast of believable characters.
Biography & Memoir
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret
by Craig Brown
Discover: An irreverent and catty highlights-only biography of Queen Elizabeth's waspish younger sister, Princess Margaret.
History
Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History
by Keith O'Brien
Discover: This is the story of five female pilots who challenged stereotypes and changed aviation history.
Social Science
A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in America
by Melanie Hicken, Blake Ellis
Discover: A CNN investigative reporting team uncovers the incredible story behind a decades-long mail fraud that netted over $200 million.
Psychology & Self-Help
Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World
by Jon Lasser, Mike Brooks
Discover: This guide is for parents engaged in what often is an increasingly fraught battle with their children over technology use.
Humor
Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl from Somewhere Else
by Maeve Higgins
Discover: An Irish comedian offers her shrewd insights on American culture in this collection of clever essays.
Children's & Young Adult
Eleanor Roosevelt, Fighter for Justice: Her Impact on the Civil Rights, Movement, the White House, and the World
by Ilene Cooper
Discover: Ilene Cooper's Eleanor Roosevelt, Fighter for Justice is an inspiring account of Eleanor Roosevelt's untiring involvement with the major issues of her time.
Illegal
by Andrew Donkin, Eoin Colfer, illus. by Giovanni Rigano
Discover: The team behind the Artemis Fowl graphic novels collaborates again on Illegal, a middle-grade graphic novel about a Ghanian boy's escape to Europe.
#MurderTrending
by Gretchen McNeil
Discover: On a prison island where the inmates are tortured and murdered by government-sanctioned serial killers, a teen tries to prove her innocence and stay alive.