Cat's Reviews

From Africa to America, in slavery and in freedom, midwives have been helping babies into the world with gentle hands. Photographs and heartbreakingly beautiful paintings illustrate stories of African American midwives told in both the prose of history and the poetry of individual births. This is a book for readers of any age who want to learn about what midwives do, and how the knowledge of African American midwives has been handed down and still benefits modern babies. - Cat

These 29 sweet Spanish nursery rhymes are about things kids and their grown-ups like best: frogs and elephants, piñatas and cinnamon bread, wide-open fields and your own cozy bed. The English adaptations, with their own rhythm and charm, are equally delightful to read aloud. Each poem is accompanied by beautiful paintings that gave my grandson and me even more to talk about—once he stopped dancing to the poems. - Cat

Lady Amalia Cornaro only snuck out of the palace to buy a book and put off a little longer her duties as heir to the Cornaro family. Zaira was only trying to elude the clutches of anyone who wanted to put her mage power over balefire to their own use. Neither expected to end the day bound together for life as Falcon and Falconer, mage and keeper, in the service of the Raverran Empire. - Cat

Nine-year-old Alex and his superhero mom Valerie make their way across the country, comic-con by comic-con, toward a future of inevitable loss. They visit the fallen heroes, wise women, and wizards of pen and ink who have all shaped the story of their lives. Pushed and pulled by so many other people’s stories, can they learn to write their own? - Cat

We’ve come a long way since the dawn of American spaceflight, and accomplished the unimaginable (like robots on Mars!). But after the retirement of the last American space shuttle, the future of spaceflight in this country is being made even more vulnerable by budget cuts and public skepticism. Dean’s book is a literary elegy to the astonishing achievements of our recent past, and a critical, curious look at what may be to come.

I loved this complex book! When the curator of a Vatican exhibit about the Shroud of Turin is murdered, the blame falls on Simon, a Roman Catholic priest. His brother Alex seeks an ancient gospel that contains the clues he needs to clear his brother’s name. Drenched in history, this is the story of how far a quiet, heartbroken man will go to protect his beloveds…and how far others will go to conceal the truth.  —Cat

The most important thing to know about pigs: They will eat anything. This characteristic led to pigs becoming simultaneously prized by many as a versatile and readily available source of high-quality food that sustained the spread of entire civilizations, and deeply loathed by others as filthy, dangerous, and contemptible. Mark Essig tells the fascinating story about how a self-domesticated game animal came to root along the borders between cultures and social classes to become one of humanity’s most controversial foods.               

I don't know whether to be relieved that my experience of being female is normal or depressed about how much, um, annoyance is inevitable. Julie Holland unveils the hormonal chemistry behind our feelings and discusses many strategies for living well with our changes. She backs up her information and advice with over forty pages of notes and references. Best of all, she addresses sometimes uncomfortable material with a matter-of-fact writing style that I found very helpful.

Using examples from around the world and from the first written scriptures to yesterday’s newspaper, Armstrong demonstrates how the same impulses that lead religious movements to promote peace with compassion have also been used—one could say commandeered—to justify annihilating neighbors, enforcing social inequalities, and punishing dissenters. I found more food for thought about the complicated relationship between religion and violence in this book than I did in four years of history and comparative religion lectures.

What would you do if your own mother kidnapped you, forced you into a teahouse full of spinsters, and promised to turn whichever one you chose into a duchess fit to be your wife? If you are the Duke of Halford, you choose the least likely candidate, and then bribe her to fail. What would you do if you were a serving girl offered the chance at 1000 pounds, enough to start your own bookshop and provide a safe haven for your sister? If you are Pauline Simms, you say “Cor, yes!” And then you...fail to fail. I thoroughly enjoyed this story of secrets, dreams, and love discovered.