Spotlight On
A rotating showcase for topics of interest: current, historical, local, global. At the Library,
find a physical display highlighting materials in the collection that deepen one’s
understanding of and give context to the featured subject.
“Spotlight On” is also home to “Staff Picks,” where patrons will find reading, viewing,
and listening recommendations, and a forum for book clubs and other groups
in the community to share what they’re enjoying.
With the theater release on July 16th of the film Roadrunner, a documentary on the life and experiences of renowned chef, writer and travel host Anthony Bourdain, it seemed timely to spotlight some books both by and about him, available at the Hastings Library.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Anthony Bourdain
Spurred by a now infamous New Yorker article, “Don’t Eat Before You Read This,” published in 2007, Kitchen Confidential was and still is a best seller with revelations of what goes on behind a restaurant kitchen’s closed doors from the then little known Chef Anthony Bourdain.
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
Anthony Bourdain
Ten years after the publication of Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain explores the changes and adds juicy stories about the restaurant industry.
Appetites
Anthony Bourdain
A cookbook with a repertoire of some of Anthony Bourdain’s personal favorites from his own kitchen and around the globe.
World Travel: An Irreverent Guide
Anthony Bourdain
This is a down-to-earth, frank travel guide to the fascinating places and experiences of some of Anthony Bourdain’s favorite places.
Anthony Bourdain Remembered
Cable News Network
A biography published by CNN after Bourdain’s death in 2018.
On a lighter note, it is summer and cooking takes on an easier more casual attitude. Check out some of these available titles to hopefully make your summer cooking experiences more enjoyable:
Cooking for Good Times: super delicious, super simple
Paul Kahan
A Burger to Believe In
Chris Kronner
The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
Betty Rosbottom
Regina, one of our Reference Librarians, is thinking back to decades ago when she bought a vintage VW pop-top camper, made curtains and spruced up the inside. She and her dog headed to New Mexico and lived in the camper from May until October in complete comfort. If this sparks your travel/camper bug, check out these selections:
My Cool Caravan
Jane Field-Lewis and Chris Haddon, photos by Hilary Walker
Contains a cool collection caravans, metal, wood and fiberglass campers. It is exhilarating to see how beautiful and unique these vehicles are.
Vintage Trailer Style
Lisa Mora
All about buying, restoring, decorating and styling the small spaces of your dreams.
Vintage Camper Trailers
Paul and Caroline Lacitinola
This book features men and women and their campers. These talented owners create campers out of vehicles that seemed ready for the trash heap but are transformed into beautiful living spaces. The vivid photos are especially appealing to kids of all ages.
Mike, another Reference Librarian, wants to time travel.
Creative Gatherings: Meeting Places of Modernism
Mary Ann Caws
I want a time machine. I want to see the original Pennsylvania Station. I want to see the Beatles at the Cavern. In that spirit, this book takes you to the places where everyone from Gaugin to Dali helped shape modern art. From the cafes in Paris to Black Mountain College, as the old TV show said, You Are There.
Anthology of American Folk Music
CD Box Set
Called both the Bible of the folk revival and the world’s first bootleg album, this was compiled by Harry Smith in the early 50’s from his own collection of 78’s. Here you’ll find the Carter Family, Gus Cannon, Mississippi John Hurt and about 75 more records that shaped popular music from the 1960’s on. Simply some of the most influential albums of all times.
Hemingway
DVD. A new film by Ken Burns
It could almost be a Hemingway novel itself. A flawed man writing flawlessly, remaking literature for all time, but unable to overcome his own demons. By the end, you want to walk away, but also sympathize with a master craftsman who winds up losing the one great thing in this life: his talent and love of writing.
A Moveable Feast
Ernest Hemingway
When I first read this book, it was the chapters on being a young writer that I loved. Later, it was the (not always nice) comments about people like Fitzgerald, Stein and Pound. Now I read it for a look at Paris and its people: the fishermen, the waiters, the goatherd, and the booksellers along the Seine. And if they ever invent a time machine, I know exactly where to go if I’m hungry and have no money.
Explore More…
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