Title: Moneyball

Author:  Michael Lewis

Publisher: Norton, 2003

Summary/Review: If you have read and enjoyed any of Michael Lewis’s other books this one will not disappoint.

He is a master researcher, interviewer and story-teller who just seems to get better and better. Moneyball gives the reader an inside look at professional baseball by looking at Billy Bean and his staff of one, a Harvard economics graduate, as they try and succeed, to compete against the Goliaths of the National Pastime. Namely, the Yankees and Red Sox. The author’s in-depth investigative journalism lets the reader see, first-hand, how the management offices in professional baseball work, as well as the old-boys’-club assumptions under which they toil and fail.

Billy Bean was a top prospect in the Mets organization who became disenchanted with the game but stayed involved as a scout and later as the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics. He falls under the spell of Bill James, the patron saint of baseball statistics and analysis (known as Sabermetrics) and becomes the general manager who spends the least money per win in all of baseball. In an era of multi-million dollar sports contracts he manages, through purchasing little-known but statistically-sound players to come out on top, or very near the top of the standings every season.

You will thoroughly enjoy this inside, very inside, look at the wheelings and dealings which make Moneyball a winner.

Who will like this book?: Anyone who’s into baseball, and not afraid to get the (not so pretty) truth.  People who are interested in non-fiction books that read like fiction.

If you like this, try this: If you’re interested in the topic- concerning economics and baseball- try Alan Schwarz’s “The Number Game” or “Baseball Between the Numbers”.  If you enjoy Michael Lewis’ style of writing, he has a number of other books including “The Big Short” and “The Blind Side”.

Or, check out this blog or this one- two more books about sports!

Recommended by: Mark Z, Guest Reviewer

If this looks like a book you’d be interested in, visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to place a hold or check availability

Title: An Accidental Sportswriter

Author: Robert Lipsyte

Publisher: Harper Collins, 2012

Summary/Review: I appreciated this book because beyond the very interesting inside stories of Lipsyte’s relationships with many internationally famous sports champions including Muhammad Ali, Althea Gibson, Howard Cosell, Mickey Mantle, Richard Petty, and others, I was made aware for the first time why Lipsyte was justifiably famous as a sports writer, perhaps one of the first sports writers with an incredibly strong and ethical social consciousness.

He was one of the first New York Times  sports beat reporters who spoke his mind about racism, drug abuse, homosexuality, and sex in the previously sacrosanct major professional and college sports. I would recommend this book not only for it’s personal insights into athletes everyone feels familiar with, but also as a window into one man’s  attempt to drop the veil of secrecy surrounding sports heroes.

Who will like this book?: Someone  who enjoys reading memoirs about people who didn’t take the traditional  path.  Someone who’s interested in sports  and isn’t afraid to learn about the dirty secrets involved with them.

If you like this, try this: If you’re  interested in sports reporting, there’s an anthology released yearly entitled “Best  American Sports Writing”.  Also, try out “The  Only Game in Town: Sportswriting from The New Yorker” by David Remnick.

If you’d like to read more about baseball, check out the Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

If you have a child or teen  interested in sports and you’d like to get them started on some good reading,  check out Mike Lupica or Tim Green (a former NFL-er), two well-known sports  authors.

Recommended by: Mark Z, Guest reviewer!

Want to see if this book is available or place a hold? Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog!

Title: The Rosie’s Bakery All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar –Packed Baking Book

Author: Judy Rosenberg

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 2011

Summary/Review: The Rosie’s Bakery Cookbook is a wonderful thing.  It was a holiday gift from 2 colleagues so any subsequent weight gain when I bring one of these very tasty treats into work with me to share is not my fault.

Judy Rosenberg, the author, is the owner of the Rosie’s Bakery chain located in the Boston area and she  learned the considerable amount she knows about baking great desserts on her own.  She not only shares her excellent recipes but she also shares excellent advice.  She starts with one basic rule: “Don’t be intimidated.”  I love to bake but I try not to put myself in a position where I’m baking something completely unfamiliar for a special occasion.  This helps to cut down on the intimidation factor.  Following “Rosie’s Five Steps to Carefree Baking” will also help.  Briefly, they are:

1.       Read the entire recipe

2.       Prepare your ingredients in advance

3.       Avoid distractions

4.       Bake when you’re not tense or in a hurry

5.       Make sure you understand basic baking techniques (and the thoughtful instructions will help with this.)

My plan was to start with recipe number one and just work my way, recipe by recipe, through the whole book.  But I made the mistake of taking a quick glance at the Brownie section so I started on page 269 which is now marked with a chocolate thumb-print.  I did navigate away from the brownie section briefly to make the Applesauce-Raisin Cake and it was well worth  it.

This book is a treat, as are the baked goods you will produce.  Anyone who loves the occasional (or the more than occasional) indulgent dessert will find a recipe in this cookbook that will become a favorite and possibly a family legend.

Who will like this?:  If you share, everyone who knows you.

If you like this, try this :  The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, Recipes from the World-Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen

The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook: The Best Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Occasion

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Recommended by: Sue D’Num

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit the Fairfield Public Library catalog to check availability and place a hold!

Title: The Orchard

Author: Theresa Weir

Publisher: Hachette Book Group, September 2011

Summary: I used to pick out the shiniest, darkest red apple with a perfect exterior. Not wanting to bite into something unexpected, I inspected it closely for holes. I took my time trying to find the best one, but I never gave much thought about what went into making such a beautiful apple…until I read The Orchard.
Seeing the farm through the author’s eyes, as someone who had never worked on one before, she interprets what really goes on in the fields–how the pesticides stay on their skin, give off a strong scent, and essentially become a part of them. Seen as an “outsider” by the farmers, she is able to see what they cannot see, or what they refuse to see.
Not only does this book bring truth to a subject that is not spoken often of, but her personal story takes into account how the past shapes the future, addresses the impact of family obligation over individual choice, and considers the awareness of fate.

Recommended by: Sharyn, Circulation Dept.

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit our catalog here, where you can check availability and place a hold.

Title: Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit

Author: Barry Estabrook

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing, June 2011

Summary: As an avid home cook, with a bent toward vegetarian and Italian food, this book was a real eye-opener about the principle ingredient in many of my dishes:  the tomato.

   Barry Estabrook researches the subject with a reporter’s eye as he travels the southern United States, particularly southern Florida, investigating exactly how corporate agribusiness (I’m am NOT saying that they are a Great Satan by any means, as corporate farms produce an enormous amount of food at very reasonable prices) has taken over the “slicing” tomato, as opposed to the canned or juice tomato, business in the United States. He explains that the genetic background of the tomato is actually an arid-landscape, don’t-water-me-too-much plant, which could not be further out of its element than in South Florida, where there is sandy soil and far too much humidity for the fruit we remember as a vine-ripened tomato. There are some bright spots in his research, such as organic and small scale farmers who grow a dizzying variety of tomatoes, only in season and only harvested at their peak of perfect ripeness.

   Just as in Fast Food Nation and classics like The Jungle, the inhuman conditions, abject poverty and actual slavery, in the U.S. tomato picking and farming industry is graphically exposed.

   He goes on to describe the extensive chemical fertilizer and pesticide use which is required to create the unnatural per-acre yield required to farm tomatoes in such a concentrated fashion. He concludes that the exalted culinary position of the slicing tomato, that jewel of almost every home gardener and farmer’s market, has largely been  co-opted by a rock-hard, chemically-and-genetically-altered, unnaturally inexpensive commodity that can be produced in soil not at all conducive to its growth, shipped in its greenest, hardest state without so much as a bruise, gassed with ethylene to force at least a pale pink or orange hue and sold to fast food chains and in your local supermarket all year long at very low prices, as long as you don’t care what it looks like, tastes like, and don’t bother to check its all-but-non-existent nutritional value.

Who Might Like This?: Anyone interested in cooking, eating, or feeding others.

Recommended by: Mark Z., Guest Reviewer

Does this look like a book you’d like to read? Visit our catalog here, where you can check availability and place a hold

Title: Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln’s Corpse

Author: James Swanson

Publisher: William Morrow, September 2010

 Summary: Beginning with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Bloody Crimes tells the parallel stories of Lincoln’s final journey home and Davis’s flight and ultimate capture. Swanson details the events immediately following the shooting of Lincoln, including the chaos at the Peterson house where Lincoln’s body was taken immediately following the attack. From the hysterical and inconsolable Mary Lincoln to the doctors and government officials who came and went throughout the evening, the Peterson house became the first place of mourning. When Mary Lincoln finally decided on Springfield as the President’s final resting place, the death pageant began. The journey by train took thirteen days, covered 1,645 miles and never deviated from the master timetable. Lincoln’s coffin was displayed in 10 cities along the way. Each city hastily constructed viewing chambers for their honored guest, and each city tried to make their display more elaborate than the last. Cleveland constructed a “temporary outdoor pavilion” made to look like a Chinese pagoda. Government officials, embalmers, and the coffin containing Willie Lincoln traveled on the train with Lincoln. More than one million Americans passed by the President’s coffin while it was on display and more than 7 million people lined the train tracks as the train passed by. To the many onlookers “Lincoln’s coffin became a kind of ark of the American covenant, possessing hidden meanings and mysterious powers.” Meanwhile, with the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Union army closing in on Richmond, Jefferson Davis began his flight south. A $100,000 bounty (more than $2 million today) was placed on Davis’s head. This was twice the amount offered for the capture of Booth. Lincoln, who was always forgiving, probably would have wanted Davis to escape and live in exile, but after Lincoln’s murder northerners wanted revenge. Davis was one of the last to accept that the cause was lost and that the South was defeated, and he moved slowly-never wanting to appear that he was fleeing. Thirty eight days after leaving Richmond, Davis was captured near Irwinsville, GA and gave up without a fight. His flight took him “through four states by railroad, ferry boat, horse, cart, and wagon”. After his capture he began his 12 day journey to imprisonment and 2 year captivity in Fort Monroe, VA. This is a highly readable account of an important event in our history and Swanson does a great job of showing us just how beloved Abraham Lincoln really was.

 Who Might Like This?: Civil War buffs and Abraham Lincoln admirers, and anyone who is interested in American history.

If you like this, try this: Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer By James Swanson.

Recommended by: Sue B, Circulation Coordinator

Look like something you’d enjoy? Click here to visit our catalog and check availability and place a hold!

Title: Primal Leadership: Recognizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

Author: Daniel Goleman

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press, 2002

Summary: I picked up this book for a class assignment where we had to read a “management” book. I was really dreading this assignment since I hate being forced to read anything, and I have a hard time understanding any aspect of business. A few chapters in I realized this was definitely not a “business/management” book- this was a psychology and basic human interest book. A few weeks ago, I read an article on Yahoo! about how to get what you want in customer service. The number one rule? “You don’t have to be nice”. All I thought was “okay, that may be true…but why wouldn’t you?” This book gives the reasons that being nice (and keeping your emotions- both negative and positive- in check) can improve your relationships- personal and busines.

Emotional intelligence, in a nutshell, is understanding your own emotions so that you can manage them and keep situations under control. While this sounds like it has no place in the business world (and empathy does seem to be lacking in many “cut-throat” business plans) in fact, it does. Lower turnover, increased customer service, increased morale…are all good things! On top of that, building emotional intelligence should be a priority in everyday life. Connecting with people tends to get you exactly what you want- and against the article I had previously read (and had gotten slammed by customers and customer service agents across the board) you don’t need to be rude, stubborn, and arrogant to get your way. The best part? Anyone can (and should!) learn to increase their emotional intelligence with a little hard work…and this book!

Who will like this book: Anyone interested in psychology, anyone interested in business, and anyone who has been involved in customer service (on the giving or receiving end!)

If you like this, try this: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (both deal with making a great first impression), The Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler (Primal Leadership is more focused on keeping emotions in check, while Power of Nice is more focused on bringing out positive emotions), any other Goleman book regarding EI

Recommended by: LB, circulation assistant

Think this looks like a book you’d like to read? Click here to visit our catalog and place a hold!

Author: Stephen Sondheim

Title: Baked/Baked Explorations

Author: Matt Lewis

Publisher: Abrams, Harry N., Inc. October 2008/October 2010

Summary: This winter has really been no fun.   I’m not a real fan of winter sports so having fun out in the snow is not something I look forward to.  Lurching spastically down a ski slope or falling on my butt on a frozen pond doesn’t leave me feeling invigorated and full of the joy of life.  I prefer to pull the shades, draw the curtains, put on some music and bake, so two of my favorite books have been getting a real work out lately.

Baked (2008) and Baked Explorations (2010) by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

I knew I was going to love the Baked cookbook when I read Lewis and Poliafito’s philosophy of breakfast:

 “As the first meal of the day, we think it should not be squandered on tasteless bran thingamajigs, dreary wheatgrass shakes and not-so-healthful nutrition bars…A glorious baked good is a wonderful thing to wake up to…Our breakfast philosophy comes down to this: We want you to go to bed with visions of lemon loaves and marble bundts dancing in your head.”

While you can feel virtuous and glowing with health digging into the oatmeal or bran flakes in the morning, give me a slice of lemon, lemon loaf, some double chocolate loaf with peanut butter cream cheese spread or some monkey bubble bread before I have to leave the house and spend a happy twenty minutes chipping ice off my car.

But it’s not just about breakfast.  The Baked brownie recipe has been praised by the The Today Show, America’s Test Kitchen, AND Oprah.  Lewis suggests serving them with ice cream – a most excellent suggestion.  The maple cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting are another winner, and they contain nuts – an excellent source of protein.

The books are beautifully illustrated by Tina Rupp, a New York based photographer who specializes in photographing “everything that has to do with food.”  Though it can be slightly depressing to compare your finished product to the photos.

My most recent experience with one of the baked recipes was the lemon, lemon loaf and it is a wonderful way to forget that the outside world is grey and cold and covered in really gross looking snow.  After juicing the lemons your whole kitchen smells like citrus.  Put on some Gloria Estefan, close the curtains and you’re in Florida.

Recommended by: Sue D’Num

Look yummy? To put a hold on Baked visit our catalog here or Baked Explorations by visiting here