Louise Erdrich is my favorite writer for many reasons, including her ability to craft beautiful sentences pregnant with sound and imagery and weave multiple narratives into what feels more like an experience than a story. Though The Round House centers on heart-wrenching, melancholy issues, the book doesn’t become a heavy, cumbersome read. Erdrich does an excellent job of digging into these topics wholeheartedly, while still incorporating stories of love, family, and hope. Ultimately a coming-of-age story, Joe’s adolescent, male point of view gives a fresh perspective on a topic rarely told from a child’s mind. His youth and loss of innocence raise the stakes.

Since the injustice Erdrich brings up in The Round House is relevant and important in today’s society, some reviewers have dubbed the novel the Native American To Kill A Mockingbird. Regardless, this novel made me feel both the deepest grief and the lightest joy, all while bringing attention to an injustice rarely discussed. As expected, the book exceeded my expectations in every way.

About the Author: Louise Erdrich is an American author of novels, poetry, and children’s books featuring Native American characters. You can learn more about her here.

This review was written by girlfriend Kiri Bee.

Unfortunately this site suffered from my lack of any spare time whatsoever to update it and I apologize to our readers and especially to our writers. We’ll be back tomorrow with a great new review!

I thought I’d share what is my favorite recipe so far. Just a little taste of the great things in this book. Enjoy girlfriends!

Broccoli Slaw

2 heads broccoli
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries coarsely chopped
1/2 cup buttermilk, well shaken (my son’s job – believe me it is well shaken)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbs cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
lots of freshly ground black pepper

Trim the broccoli and chop in to large chunks, then cut each chunk into thin slices. Toss the broccoli with the almonds and cranberries. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk, mayo, vinegar, sugar and salt until smooth. Stir in the onion. Let the onion marinate in the dressing for 10 minutes. Pour the dressing over the broccoli mixture; add black pepper. Stir until the broccoli is evenly coated. Serve immediately, or cover in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.  YUM.

*Recipe courtesy of Alfred A. Knopf Publisher excerpted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

If you asked someone who didn’t know me very well they would probably say that I was quiet; they might possibly describe me as an introvert. In fact, many times I have felt that “second class citizen” feeling, particularly in the workplace. However, colleagues eventually see the power of that quietness.  When other people are talking, I’m listening and thinking.  Eventually that all comes to fruition and after awhile they see that I am definitely capable of speaking up (or louder!) when the need arises. I also tend to build one-on-one professional relationships that are more valuable than the multiple shallow ones of the average extrovert. My “quietness” has served me well in life and still does – people underestimate me and that can be a very powerful thing.

This book is a long overdue tribute to introverts. CEOs and management should take note – for example, by depending on the classic meeting around a conference table you are missing out on valuable ideas from roughly a third of your employees.  How many of these professionals think to ask employees to put their thoughts in writing instead?

Quiet is an important book about how we undervalue introverts – even our children. It is a great read for everyone.

About the Author: Susan Cain is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She practiced corporate law for years, for clients such as Goldman Sachs and General Electric. She believes all she has accomplished in life is due to her traits as an introvert. You can learn more about Susan here.

Fogarty takes 101 oft-used (and oft-confused) words and phrases, breaks down “What’s the Trouble” with each one, explains why and/or when the confusion occurs, and then outlines “What Should You Do”.  She explains each rule in concise and easy to digest language so the reader is sure to understand.  She also illustrates where things are technically grammatically correct one way but commonly accepted in every-day speech another way, or more formal one way but perfectly correct another, or correct different ways in different countries.  Where Fogarty really shines, though, is in her examples.  She liberally quotes from books, newspapers, movies and TV shows, both classic and modern, from all parts of the taste spectrum.  A Buddhist saying shows us “lighted” and “lit” are interchangeable, while Penny correctly uses “you and me” in a conversation with Sheldon from the TV show The Big Bang Theory.  The 101 words are alphabetized for easy searching and illustrated with amusing cartoons featuring an animal somewhere between an aardvark and a kangaroo.  This is a quick guide in more ways than one.  It is easy to use, search and read, but though 101 may seem like a lot, with so ever changing and incredibly confusing a language as English, your particular grammar pet peeve may not have made the list.  So whatever your grammar IQ, this book will educate, entertain and serve as a modern, humorous, and relatable quick-guide to a traditionally stuffy subject.

About the Author: Mignon Fogarty is a writer and entrepreneur. She has served as a senior editor and producer at a number of health and science web sites. Visit her here.

This review was written by girlfriend Alex Hopwood.