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.
Everyone (literally) in the small town (pop. 3,000) of Healey, Texas, knows the truth about Alice Franklin. Well, they know what's been determined by the collective consciousness of the town's population as the truth, which is virtually the same thing. Everyone believes it, so it must be so. Everyone treats Alice as if it's true, so the end result is the same.
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
The Read Local Committee is pleased to announce Debra Callaway has won our Faster, Higher, Stronger Essay Contest with her essay For the Love of Game. We love the way Deb addresses the different responses to competition within her own family.
The Travelers is a fast-paced, globe-trotting novel filled with CIA intrigue. What better cover for a spy than to be a travel writer? Travel writers go to far-flung, exotic locals, meet people, and there are no red flags on why they travel so much. Will Rhodes is a personable, intriguing character looking for perfection in all areas of his life; from drinking the perfect glass of wine to finding the perfect wall sconce.
Calvin was born on the day the final Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published. His parents claim that they didn’t name him after it, that’s it’s just a fluke. They don’t understand what’s the big deal about his grandfather putting a stuffed tiger named Hobbes into baby Calvin’s crib, either. Calvin understands the significance. He is special: eternally bound to Bill Watterson, the creator of the beloved comic strip.
Then his mom accidentally washes Hobbes to death and everything changes.
Danny Garcia begins following and filming The Clash after their manager, Bernie Rhodes, has lifted the band to the heights of commercial success. Rhodes is ferociously competitive, blinding him to the idea that there is no place for success as he imagines it for The Clash. They’re part of, and play to, an angry underclass. They’re searching for an authentic voice (and find it, early on). But by the 1980's they’ve become stadium rock, their image looks bought not made, Mick Jones quits listening, quits collaborating, and Joe Strummer has a crisis of conscience.
Family secrets are kept well-hidden until a modern day detective uncovers clues to solve a 70 year-old mystery of a little boy’s disappearance. Alice Edevane is an introspective, long-time crime writer who crafts perfect stories for her readers.
