Reader's Link

Browsing all staff pick reviews written by 'Tirantes'

Betcha Can't Cover This

Title: Jumpin' & Jivin', Volume 1
By: Acorn Media

DVD of short musical performances from the 1940s and early 1950s; think MTV two generations earlier. Santa Cruz County is proud of its musicians; I've heard great performances in the unlikeliest places. OK. Any of you outstanding musicians care to cover a single one of these? Match the musicians, dancers, ... [Read more]

Posted by Tirantes on Dec. 11, 2012
Tags: music
0 Comments

Farmer's Market Will Never Look the Same After

Title: Blithe Tomato
By: Mike Marshall

Digs below the trendy, glossy surface of contemporary small scale farming, uncovering rich soil beneath. Unlikely ever to enjoy wide distribution, but remarkably insightful and delightfully well written. Set in California's Central Valley, will amply reward serendipitous discovery in library stacks. [Read more]

Posted by Tirantes on May 1, 2012
Tags: non-fiction, biography
0 Comments

What Makes Steve Martin Run?

Title: Born Standing Up
By: Steve Martin

Copies of this book keep passing through my hands, as I sort through the library gifts. Such is my job. I must make a quick decision; one can’t read all the books, after all. One looks at reviews, similar books, how often they check out. But this one, every time ... [Read more]

Posted by Tirantes on Oct. 14, 2010
Tags: biography
0 Comments

Mountain skills

Title: Homeowner's Complete Guide to the Chainsaw
By: Brian Ruth

For the weekend lumberjack, details all the common uses of the chainsaw: cutting firewood, felling, limbing downed trees, even turning logs to lumber with chainsaw milling attachments. A chapter on splitting and stacking firewood is a bonus. Every procedure is amply illustrated, step by step – everything is there in ... [Read more]

Posted by Tirantes on July 22, 2010
Tags: non-fiction
0 Comments

Pictures Worth Thousands of Words

Title: One Shot Harris: The Photographs of Charles "Teenie" Harris
By: Stanley Crouch

Stanley Crouch gets the credit as “author”, both in our library catalog and on the book itself. But all Crouch wrote is an introductory chapter, which I skimmed but found dense. In actuality, the book is a collection of photographs by a Pittsburgh photographer, Charles Harris. Crouch expends the proverbial ... [Read more]

Posted by Tirantes on June 23, 2010
Tags: photography
1 Comment

Munchkins, Winkies, and Winged Monkeys

Title: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
By: L. Frank Baum

Be sure you get the edition with W.W. Denslow's illustrations throughout. This is not an e-book: you can point and click all you want, but nothing will happen, except in your imagination. It does not include a sound card; you will have to provide your own musical accompaniment. The intention ... [Read more]

Posted by Tirantes on May 20, 2010
Tags: fiction
1 Comment