An advice book with just as much wisdom as wit.
In this relationship guide, Borden (Lucky Me, 2007, etc.) introduces “Cooking Therapy”—advice and recipes to help couples work through common marital issues.
The author is a licensed clinical social worker and amateur chef, and in this book, she combines her two passions. In the first chapter, she notes the potential benefits of her version of marriage therapy (in which participants also learn to cook), noting that “Learning to let our accomplishments fill us with insight and pride promotes mental health.” The remainder of the book is split into four sections, focusing on what Borden calls the toughest marital ailments: when partners are sexually “out of sync,” when a relationship has grown “stale” over time, when little quirks take a toll on a marriage, and when differing financial styles lead to conflict. For each of these, she first draws on her therapeutic knowledge to explain the issue in detail. She then walks readers through creatively named recipes with metaphorically significant ingredients and instructions, designed to help resolve that particular problem. For example, a recipe for “Tune-In and Talk to Me Tacos” asks readers to create and eat two tacos—one with all their favorite toppings and one with their partner’s favorites, which the author says teaches the importance of “both fulfillment and compromise” in sexual relationships. The end of the book offers an appendix of all the recipes mentioned, including main dishes, sides, and desserts. Borden’s approach to strengthening marriages with Cooking Therapy is unique and brilliant, setting this book apart with an innovative way to work through problems. Her light humor and wit are constantly entertaining, and her ability to extract metaphors from her recipes will give couples plenty to think about. The recipes are clearly formatted with understandable ingredients and straightforward instructions, so even novices will be able to successfully prepare them.
An advice book with just as much wisdom as wit.Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9998718-0-5
Page Count: 150
Publisher: CYH Press
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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