In the Mail: Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid

Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid: The Simple Truth to a Complicated Relationship

Publishers Weekly:

Cover of "Women Are Crazy, Men Are Stupid...
Cover via Amazon

In this comic relationship self-help, semi-functional (but self-aware) couple Lee and Morris-brandishing their credentials as “a major nut bag” and “a genuine dunce,” respectively-boil down the whole of male-female relationships to a simple, provocative statement, then go about examining the evidence and implications in an alternating, occasionally overlapping, he said-she said format. Most chapters follow the same structure, giving Morris the lead on any number of subjects-which came first, stupid or crazy; keeping your big dumb mouth shut; dealing with outsized expectations-after which Lee steps in with a response. This gives the book a male-oriented feel, but it’s got enough laughs and insight to hook readers on either side of the gender divide, provided the egos involved aren’t too fragile. Morris and Lee have a warm, funny, playfully adversarial relationship that’s both intimate and identifiable, and put through the paces in lengthy, laugh-out-loud dialogues. For all its self-deprecating comedy, this volume provides valuable insight into typical relationship potholes, including chick-flick con

In the Mail: The 5 Greatest Warriors

The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly

Publishers Weekly:

In the thrilling third installment in bestseller Reilly’s series to feature Jack West Jr. (after Seven Ancient Wonders and The Six Sacred Stones), the adventurer from the Australian outback and his band of merry men, women and children race against several nefarious groups to defuse a disastrous celestial event. The planetary entity known as the “Dark Star,” the evil twin to our sun, is set to return to our solar system, igniting a massive negative energy source that will destroy all life on earth. It’s a tough challenge, but if anyone can save the world, it’s Jack. There are riddles to solve, bad guys to kill and derring-do to be done, all of which flashes by as one action scene piles onto the next. Readers should leave their thinking caps behind, hang onto the panic bar and be prepared to be flung hither and yon.Plenty of maps and diagrams add to the fun.

Armies of the Napoleonic Wars: An Illustrated History, edited by Chris McNab

Armies of the Napoleonic Wars: An Illustrated History, edited by Chris McNab, is a wonderful resource for any Napoleonic Wars buff.  The book is a compilation of several booklets on this subject published by Osprey Publishing.

Here is a brief description of the book from the publisher:

The Napoleonic Wars saw almost two decades of brutal fighting, from the frozen wastelands of Russia to the wildness of the Peninsula; from Egypt’s Lower Nile to the bloody battlefield of Waterloo. Fighting took place on an unprecedented scale across Europe, and over the entire period of the wars Napoleon led his Grand Armee and his allies against almost every European nation, and against varying coalitions. This book provides a comprehensive guide to all the major armies of the Napoleonic Wars, of France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Portugal. Covering the changes experienced by the armies over the period, the author details the organization, infantry, cavalry, and artillery of each. With stunning original artwork of the often glorious uniforms worn into battle, period illustrations or the equipment used, and photographs, this is a beautiful and in-depth study of the armies that fought in the Napoleonic campaigns.

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In the Mail: Snark (paperback)

Snark: It’s Mean, It’s Personal, and It’s Ruining Our Conversation by David Denby

Library Journal

“It’s Mean, It’s Personal, and It’s Ruining Our Conversation,” exclaims Denby (Great Books), longtime film critic for The New Yorker. The noun snark, an apparent conflation of “snide” and “remark,” harkens back to Lewis Carroll’s fictional animal, though there’s no need to “hunt” for this incarnation of the beast; it’s ubiquitous according to Denby, and it’s nasty: “the most dreadful style going, and ultimately debilitating.” Not to be confused with satire, which at least has human betterment at its heart, snark plays on others’ vulnerabilities to no good end. Snark is not a recent phenomenon; Denby traces its origins back to ancient Greece and is not himself above naming names, counting writers James Wolcott, Joe Queenan, Tom Wolfe, and Maureen Dowd (who actually gets a whole “fit,” as the book’s sections are called, to herself) among its better-known current practitioners. Alice Roosevelt Longworth might not have appreciated it, but this relatively brief, witty (a quality he claims that snark lacks) work is highly recommended for all libraries.

In the Mail: Thinking About Almost Everything

Thinking About Almost Everything: New Ideas to Light up MindsAsh Amin & Michael O’Neill, eds.

From the Publisher

“I am enchanted by the notion of harnessing the power of new ideas and innovative thinking to challenge conventional thought.”-Bill Bryson

Thinking About Almost Everything brings together original thinking on a staggering range of topics across the sciences, arts, and humanities, grouped into nine categories. The short essays are written in a lively and accessible style and show how complex matters can be explained with clarity.

Professor Ash Amin is the executive director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University.

Michael O’Neill is a professor of English and director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Durham University.

The Wee Christmas Cabin of Carn-na-ween by Ruth Sawyer

Another great book I came across at the library with my kids was The Wee Christmas Cabin of Carn-na-ween. As I love folklore and Christmas this was a perfect story for me.  Here is Publishers Weekly:

Readers will want to pull up a creepie (stool) and gather ’round a roaring peat fire to hear every lilting word of Sawyer’s magical and haunting Irish folktale, first published in 1941. Orphan girl Oona, abandoned by her tinker kin, grows into a lonely, ostracized old woman longing for a home of her own. On Christmas Eve, as the legend goes, the wee people to whom Oona has always been kind oblige her in a special way. Gauzy, evocative mixed-media paintings convey a quiet yet powerful energy.

We didn’t have a peat fire but we did gather on the couch and read this charming story. It has that classic Irish blend of melancholy, magic, tragedy and hope. And as noted by PW, the illustrations add to the evocative story.

So if your family loves to read stories out loud together this would be a great choice this holiday season. Of course , you and your older readers could read it too (I read it again after the family reading).