Reviews

Robert Benson always takes the question of “how to write a book” very seriously. For he was once "in the same spot and grateful for any help that might move [him] along . . . Sharing the things [he] knows about how a person goes about telling his story seems only right. Perhaps it is even, as the old prayer book says, a good and joyful thing.” He’s the perfect mentor to help nudge a new writer on her way.

Furiously Happy is a second memoir by Jenny Lawson, and she's just as outspoken, insightful and full of profanity as in the hysterically funny Let's Pretend This Never Happened (a Mostly True Memoir).

As we anticipate the chance to read Allie, First at Last, the just-released second middle-grade novel from Shawnee resident Angela Cervantes, we're reminded that Gaby, Lost and Found, her debut effort a couple of years ago, was much lauded and won multiple awards.

It's been three years since her husband was killed in a freak accident and Taylor Cabot is making plans to start living again.  She’s made a moving-on list and is marking items off.  She's moved home, is getting active with the help of an activity tracker, and has replaced the donuts with healthier choices. She's even started spending time with a handsome plastic surgeon from the hospital where she works as an ER nurse. When her old friend, Seth Donovan, turns up at the hospital to train the crisis team, old feelings begin to resurface.  

Viewers might think Les Blank's film A Poem is a Naked Person is solely about legendary piano player Leon Russell as he is featured prominently in the title and cover design. But the documentary is more an artifact capturing Oklahoma folk culture in the early 1970s. More specifically, it captures the hot hypnotic mess of hippie blues and booze that orbits Leon Russell, which may have caused Russell and Blank to argue about its release.

Director Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox is a must-see movie for food enthusiasts. Ila, played by the stunningly beautiful Nimrat Kaur, is a lonely housewife in Mumbai, India who desperately wants to please and attract her emotionally distant husband. Every day she takes great efforts to prepare his lunch in a unique (at least in our western culture) stacked tin lunchbox which is picked up by a local delivery system and brought to him at work.

Denver neurosurgeon Maggie Sullivan has reached a low point and needs a break. After being named in a wrongful death lawsuit, her medical partners being indited for fraud, and a miscarriage and break up with her boyfriend, Maggie is yearning for the peace of the mountains where her father's country store and campground on the Continental Divide Trail reminds her of less complicated times.

Just in time for farmers market season Jeanine Donofrio has launched the new cookbook The Love and Lemons Cookbook: an Apple to Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking, which includes beautiful photography by her husband Jack Mathews. Rather than being divided into category chapters, such as Appetizers, Salads, or Desserts, the book is arranged by fresh ingredients, such as Asparagus or Mushrooms, encouraging readers to use what they have in their fridge