Elevate Difference

Books

Devine Color: When Color Sings

What do you do when the taupe couch you loved in the store looks green when you combine it with the other furnishings in your living room? Before you return the couch to the store, read Devine Color: When Color Sings by Gretchen Schauffler. In Devine Color, Schauffler educates readers about color and the effects it has on home décor. Her goal is to help her readers appreciate the beauty of their surroundings.

Mommy's Angel

Most savvy feminists can argue their way through complex social problems such as sexual violence, poverty and drug use. Most savvy feminists, though, could not articulate those issues though a fast-paced, sharply written story like Mommy’s Angel.

Entitled to the Pedestal: Place, Race, and Progress in White Southern Women's Writing,1920-1945

I have to be honest. This was not the easiest book to read or absorb. It reminded me of a book that might appear on a required reading for a college literature course.

The Amputee's Guide to Sex

Posing as a handbook, The Amputee's Guide to Sex opens up a new world: not of cold lifeless prosthetics, but the raw, quivering beings that lie beyond them. Containing prose poems and free verse, the Guide is sharp and unapologetic, yet simultaneously contains yearning and heartbreak. This book strips our obsession with Being Different/Otherness down to what it feels like from the other side; it's the difference between empathizing and fetishizing.

Absolute Convictions

If you’ve never heard of Roe v. Wade, you’ve either been living in Papua, New Guinea for the past four decades or Russian cosmonauts kidnapped you when you were two. The impact this decision continues to have on the cultural and political consciousness of our country could more accurately be described as a stranglehold. As we are seeing, once again, in this new political season, any politician who wants to run for national office has to pass the “litmus” test of _Roe v.

Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery

"The teachings and practices of this book will come alive only if you leave the comfort of your home and explore the natural world, which is always beckoning, just outside your front door." I read this first chapter of Mark Coleman's Awake in the Wild with a chuckle as I release my clutching grasp on the sticky New York City subway pole to turn the page of his book of Buddhist meditations.

Georgia's Frontier Women : Female Fortunes in a Southern Colony

I found this book difficult to read. I am not used to the academic tone Marsh uses. His sentences seemed to go on for several lines, and I had trouble following the thread of his ideas. However, this book is worth reading for anyone interested in Georgia history. The information presented is important. The book shows women's economic contributions and status, and how the things early settlers did have affected the state up until the present day. Georgia was founded in 1732 by a charter of King George II. He appointed a group of trustees to supervise its settlement.

Gasp! The Swift and Terrible Beauty of Air

When I first received Gasp! The Swift and Terrible Beauty of Air, I couldn't believe that someone could write a 400 some paged book on the subject of air. But after reading this book, I realized that kind of attitude is exactly the basic root of the problem. Joe Sherman explores everything there is to explore about air, from why a child takes their first breath to the evolution of Earth's atmosphere and all the radical scientists who discovered truths about our air.

Deeksha: The Fire from Heaven

Imparting spiritual advice and spreading the message of a new worldwide movement, Deeksha: The Fire from Heaven offers readers a lot of information. In the first third of the book author Kiara Windrider takes readers on the journey of his personal enlightenment.

Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq, Rescued by an Italian Secret Service Agent, and Shot by U.S. Forces

In the United States, Giuliana Sgrena is known as the Italian journalist who was kidnapped in Iraq, held for a month, and then, on the day of her release, shot at by American troops on her way to the airport; the Italian secret service man escorting her was killed and Sgrena herself was severely injured. In the weeks following, while the U.S. military insisted that Sgrena’s car had failed to stop at a checkpoint, Sgrena claimed that the shots had come without warning. In Italy, where Sgrena is known for her long career of courageous reporting, she became a national hero.

And Tango Makes Three

And Tango Makes Three is a simply but beautifully told illustrated children’s book about the real-life story of two male penguins at the New York Central Park Zoo, Roy and Silo, who form a partnership and are given a fertile egg to hatch. And Tango is born. The book doesn’t shy away from using the words “family,” “love,” “daddies” and “couple” to describe Roy and Silo’s pairing and their relationship with their baby chick.

Foreign Exposure: The Social Climber Abroad

Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser’s third book in the Social Climber series finds the 10th grade heroine, Miriam “Mimi” Schulman, spending a summer in Europe, continuing her high school journalistic exploits. The popularity of the series is evident in the relatable characters.

The Butterfly Effect

While reading the first half of Susan Hawthorne’s newest collection of lesbian poems, The Butterfly Effect, I found myself lost in footnotes. Each poem reads on the right page, while footnotes to the poem fill up the left page. Most of the time, the footnotes are as long as, if not longer, than the actual poem. At first, I thought this was a brilliant idea. Then I started to get slightly annoyed by the footnotes and felt that they were a little pompous and unnecessary.

Broken World

Don’t be fooled by the title of Joseph Lease’s collection of poems, though the world may be “broken,” the collection spends its time rebuilding, rationalizing and living despite it. Repetition fuels the elegy, “Broken World (for James Assatly),” a poem built in sections, a poem that works to remember a friend and writer who died of AIDS.

A Place for Dialogue: Language, Land Use, and Politics in Southern Arizona

Sharon Stevens has dual intention for A Place for Dialogue. She has brought to light the conflicts between ranching, grazing and conservation in Southern Arizona.

Lipstick Jungle

Lipstick Jungle is the latest installment of literature from Candace Bushnell. Three very powerful women attempt to not only survive, but to succeed in the cut throat business world of New York City. Victory, Nico and Wendy are all at the top of the respective fields (fashion, media and movies). Though they may be at the top of their game, it doesn’t make life easier.

The Curse of the Holy Pail

When I first laid my hands on this book, I really didn’t know what to think. I’d never heard of this series before, the only thing I did know was that it was a mystery novel. Before reading it, I studied the book’s cover and found myself smiling; it was the outline of a thick woman in casual garb, not the typical "attractive" silhouette squeezed in a curve-hugging, tailored suit that I was expecting. I guess that was my first clue this book would not be what I expected. For a moment I pondered if I should have read the first book before reading this one.

September 11, 2001: Feminist Perspectives

As an antidote for all the disingenuous head-scratching over “what went wrong” in Iraq—how the United States transmuted the world’s sympathy and support into global revulsion in the wake of September 11, this painful retrospective on what might have been—or rather what should have been—is a powerful tonic. The writings gathered here, a pastiche of genres and a powerfully diverse set of feminist voices, were written in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks and published by an Australian press.

Eight Verses for Training the Mind

Billed as a clear explanation of one of Buddhism’s most basic texts, Eight Verses for Training the Mind opens more as if you have walked in on a conversation well in progress. This is a dialogue with those schooled in Buddhist rhetoric, delivered by a speaker who has no interest in bringing you up to speed. This book explores eight verses to be meditated on from a root text written in the eleventh century.

The Session

The Session is a novella mystery with quirky, intellectual humor dispersed throughout the book. It reminds me of the “Who’s on first?” Abbott & Costello skit: What we’re after here is the truth of the situation. I’ve got it. I’m pleased to hear it. In the palm of my hands. That’s the wrong place for it. On the edge of my seat? In anticipation of…? What? What? What are you waiting for? Who says I’m waiting? You’ve just done. I said no such thing.

Bitch (Issue #35: Super)

Bitch, as depicted on their website, is “a print magazine devoted to incisive commentary on our media-driven world." Reading Bitch was my first experience with a magazine that showcases feminist commentary about the media towards women in an eye-opening, upbeat conversation with the consumer. Issue 35 is considered to be the "Super Issue." In the "Love It/Shove It" section, a few articles are written in a hardcore feministic opinion about women's role in society depicted via television and advertising.

HELP! I'm Living with a (Man) Boy

Seems like writer and feminist psychotherapist Betty McLellan has heard my cries. Help! I’m Living with a (Man) Boy tackles what really needs to happen in dealing with the men (or boys) in your life.

Self Storage

Flan Parker makes money off of other people’s lost stuff. With her husband passively working on his thesis and two children to support, Flan makes money off the contents of unpaid-for storage units that she bids on. Before selling her spoils, Flan vicariously lives through the contents of each box as a reprieve from her own routine life. Although there are worse mates out there, Flan feels somewhat alone in her marriage as her husband, Shae, atrophies on the couch “researching” his thesis. Tables turn, however, when an Afghani woman accidentally hits Flan’s youngest child with a car.

Guide to Brooklyn: 2007

Has the ganglial network that is today's Internet annulled the need for books, especially guidebooks?

The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics and Modernity

In The New Voices of Islam, Mehran Kamrava compiles a selection of writings from Muslim reformists whose voices have been silenced and marginalized for much too long.

Mind Beyond Death

"Hey, I'd like to read a book about death!" Perhaps this is not what comes to mind as you browse the "New Books" section at Borders, but if you are interested in Tibetan Buddhism and ideas about the cycle of life and death, I may have a book for you. Somewhere between a conversation and a textbook, Mind Beyond Death, is an expansion upon a series of lectures given by author Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche in 2003 at the Treasury of Knowledge Retreat.

Girls in Trouble with the Law

“I was like four or six when my babysitter molested me... I would just freeze... Like I thought if I froze it would not have happened.” This 16-year-old girl’s memory is an all too familiar one for Laurie Schaffner.

Hip Tranquil Chick: A Guide to Life On and Off the Yoga Mat

I don’t know about you, but for me, being a girl today is hard work. The stress of relationships, working, trying to stay healthy, managing a meager financial budget and just trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life is strenuous and draining work for the body, mind and spirit. Luckily, Kimberly Wilson’s Hip Tranquil Chick is the modern girl’s guide to feeling strong, chic and ready to take on the world. In this book, Wilson breaks down the philosophy of yoga and how it can be applied to enrich your everyday life—on and off the mat.

On My Own: The Art of Being a Woman Alone

In today’s society, there’s no shortage of dialogue from women about the downfalls and loneliness of being single. Romance and the stability and reciprocal affection it brings is arguably one of the most fundamental desires for many. On My Own reconstructs what is means to be a woman alone, and emphasizes the value of solitude.

New York City Secrets / Secrets of Early U.S. History

I would have appreciated a one sheet of sorts to go along with New York City Secrets, as I wasn't really sure what it was about. It appears to be a short film with young people singing a rap song about different kinds of facts, secrets and things to do in New York City. There were some interesting graphics and information, but I am left wondering who the intended audience for this is. It was strange because I wasn't quite sure why they made it.