Bryn Mawr Alum

Smoke Week: Sept 11-21, 2001

Smoke Week: Sept 11-21, 2001
$15.00

by Ellis Avery '93

September 11, 2023 at 1 pm and 8:15 pm EST

Honorable Mention 2004 Eric Hoffer Award for Culture
ISBN/SKU: 
9781928589242
Publication Date: 
September 1, 2014
Author: 
Publisher: 

Tales of the Romanov Empire

Tales of the Romanov Empire
$12.75

by Tamar Anolic '03


 

Tales of the Romanov Empire was short listed for the Goethe Book Awards for Late Historical Fiction! It was also Long listed for the Historical Fiction Company's Book of the Year Awards.

"Tales of the Romanov Empire is an impressive historical epic novel that chronicles slightly over 300 years of Russian history in short vignette chapters... Anolic's prose is polished, elaborate, and gorgeously descriptive overall.... Tales of the Romanov Empire is a bold, innovative project that compellingly overviews more obscure history, like manipulative bride shows, alongside more well-known material like Russia's dealings with Napoleon. Anolic also has a real knack for imaginative reveals and inserting surprisingly timely elements into the narrative." -The BookLife Prize

"Each tale, or vignette, is done in a clever way, with rich, enticing prose which sweeps a reader into the effluent and sometimes turbulent world of Russian nobility... This book is very educational, giving slices of the Romanov's lives and leading a reader by the hand through time without the passage of time feeling jarring or unsatisfying as each story closes and a new one begins. Rather, you are intrigued to do a little research on your own to look further into the different episodes, and Ms Anolic's skill as a researcher shines forth in the way she combines the history with the storytelling with such ease. Along with some wonderful scene setting... for this enjoyable read, Ms. Anolic's book takes us on a wintry journey into the Russian past and soul." -The Historical Fiction Book Company's review

Stories you've never heard about the Romanovs....

Tales of the Romanov Empire is a novel in short stories that examines one of history's most successful dynasties. The Romanovs were Russia's absolute monarchs from 1613 until 1917. Yet, beyond the glittering wealth and tragic love story of Nicholas and Alexandra, much of the dynasty remains shrouded in mystery.

Tales of The Romanov Empire sheds light on the Romanovs' unknown figures, from the election of Mikhail Feodorovich, the first Romanov tsar, to the bride shows that were staged to help Tsar Alexei find a wife. Grand Duke Konstantin, the Romanovs' famous poet, comes to life as he and his favorite cousin, Grand Duke Sergei, examine their ideals and their sexuality in a world that is hostile to them. All the while, as the empire's Jews struggle amidst the Romanovs' pogroms, many make the decision to flee to the freedom of the United States- these stories in particular are based on the author's own family history.

This novel contains stories of war, stories of personal gifts and choices bent to an autocratic ideal. In their telling, the vast human cost of absolute power- on both the oppressors and on the oppressed- becomes clear.

ISBN/SKU: 
9798779580656
Publication Date: 
January 21, 2022
Author: 

Berkeley

Berkeley
$24.95

by Margaret Atherton BMC '65

Presents a concise and comprehensive analysis of George Berkeley's thought and the impact of his intellectual contributions to philosophy

In this latest addition to the Blackwell Great Minds series, noted scholar of early modern philosophy Margaret Atherton examines Berkeley's most influential work and demonstrates the significant conceptual impact of his ideas in metaphysics and the philosophy of religion.

  • A concise and rigorous primer on Berkeley's essential writings and contributions to modern philosophy
  • Written by a leading scholar of early modern philosophy
  • Offers insight into the foundations of modern metaphysical and religious philosophy
  • Equips readers to find firm footing in Berkeley's wider body of published work in the canon of Western philosophy
  • ISBN/SKU: 
    9781405149174
    Publication Date: 
    April 29, 2019
    Author: 
    Publisher: 

    Never Simple: A Daughter's True Story of a Mother's Made-Up Life

    Never Simple: A Daughter's True Story of a Mother's Made-Up Life
    $18.99

    by Liz Scheier '00 

    December 5, 2023 at 1 pm at 8:15 pm EST

    This gripping and darkly funny memoir "is a testament to the undeniable, indestructible love between a mother and a daughter" (Isaac Mizrahi).

    Liz Scheier's mother was a news junkie, a hilarious storyteller, a fast-talking charmer you couldn't look away from, a single mother whose devotion crossed the line into obsession, and--when in the grips of the mental illness that plagued her--a masterful liar. On an otherwise uneventful afternoon when Scheier was eighteen, her mother sauntered into the room and dropped two bombshells. First, that she had been married for most of the previous two decades to a man Liz had never heard of and, second, that the man she had claimed was Liz's dead father was entirely fictional. She'd made him up--his name, the stories, everything.

    Those big lies were the start, but not the end; it had taken dozens of smaller lies to support them, and by the time she was done she had built a fairy-tale, half-true life for the two of them. Judith Scheier's charm was more than matched by her eccentricity, and Liz had always known there was something wrong in their home. After all, other mothers didn't raise a child single-handedly with no visible source of income, or hide their children behind fake Social Security numbers, or host giant parties in a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment only to throw raging tantrums when the door closed behind the guests.

    Now, decades later, armed with clues to her father's identity--and as her mother's worsening dementia reveals truths she never intended to share--Liz attempts to uncover the real answers to the mysteries underpinning her childhood. Trying to construct a "normal" life out of decidedly abnormal roots, she navigates her own circuitous path to adulthood: a bizarre breakup, an unexpected romance, and the birth of her son and daughter. Along the way, Liz wrestles with questions of what we owe our parents even when they fail us, and of how to share her mother's hilarity, limitless love, and creativity with children--without passing down the trauma of her mental illness. Never Simple is the story of enduring the legacy of a hard-to-love parent with compassion, humor, and, ultimately, self-preservation.

    ISBN/SKU: 
    9781250871114
    Publication Date: 
    April 11, 2023
    Author: 
    Publisher: 

    Popovers and Candlelight

    Popovers and Candlelight
    $11.48
    $22.95
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    by Marcia Biederman BMC '70

    What would you do with your last sixty dollars? If you were Patricia Murphy you'd turn it into a fortune by buying a rundown Brooklyn diner. On the cusp of the Great Depression, the diner became an overnight sensation, the first of nine popular Patricia Murphy's Candlelight Restaurants that opened over the course of four decades in New York and Florida. Popovers and Candlelight recounts how Murphy bucked Mad Men-era sexism in a male-dominated field and created remarkable dining experiences with solid American fare, a talented staff, and eye-popping décor. Dripping in diamonds, she transcended ethnic prejudices to become a socialite and built a brand that sold fragrance as well as food. Mutinous siblings, a desperate manager, and a typhoid outbreak brought it all to an operatic end, but Marcia Biederman restores Murphy and her contributions to their proper place in women's and culinary history. This book will delight readers with its rags-to-riches story and fascinating view of class, gender, ethnicity, and food culture during much of the twentieth century.
    ISBN/SKU: 
    9781438471549
    Publication Date: 
    November 1, 2018

    Two Sisters of Fayetteville

    Two Sisters of Fayetteville
    $11.38

    by Tamar Anolic '03


     

    A B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

    Two Sisters of Fayetteville has been short listed for the 2023 Dante Rossetti Awards for YA Fiction. It also won Honorable Mention for Young Adult Fiction in the Firebird Book Awards for Fourth Quarter, 2022.

    Seventeen-year-old Joanna Upshaw and her sister, sixteen-year-old Hannah, are two of twelve siblings in an insular, conservative, and evangelical Christian family- same as the Duggars, whose reality show they watch on TV. Joanna in particular is exhausted by the demands of helping her mother with the housework and childcare attendant in such a large family. She is also beginning to realize that she doesn't measure up to her parents' vision of a perfect Christian woman- or to any of their strict rules.

    Hannah is the sister that Joanna is closest to, the one that shares her fatigue and anxiety. Both of them have spent their whole lives learning that their highest calling is to marry and have as many children as possible. However, as Joanna watches Hannah and two of their brothers court with the intention of marrying, she questions whether she is capable of doing the same, especially as her parents shoo her marriage prospects away one at a time. Afraid of becoming the old maid that never amounts to anything, Joanna finally makes plans to get away from her parents forever.

    Fans of Jennifer Mathieu's Devoted and Julia Watts' Quiver will like this book.

    ISBN/SKU: 
    9798849876559
    Publication Date: 
    September 30, 2022
    Author: 

    Game of Cones

    Game of Cones
    $26.00

    by Cynthia Blair BMC '75 - published under the psuedonym Cynthia Baxter

    In Cynthia Baxter's fourth Lickety Splits Mystery, ice cream shoppe owner and amateur sleuth Kate McKAy doesn't waffle around scooping up new clientele at a historic hotel, but her hopes of becoming the Hudson Valley's reigning ice cream queen melt fast when murder checks-in!

    From the moment Kate arrives at the imposing Mohawk Mountain Resort, not even luggage brimming with hot fudge can sweeten her stay. Instead of savoring alone time with her on-again boyfriend Jake and leading workshops on whipping together delectable frosty treats, she finds herself stranded at the isolated hotel with a small group of nutty characters--and a dead body.

    When the corpse of wealthy cosmetics executive Bethany La Montaigne is suddenly found following a blackout, any of the five strangers trapped with Kate and Jake could be the killer. Chilled to the core, Kate vows to discover whether the victim's mortal enemy was a smooth-talking playboy, bubbly millennial, mousy librarian, charming Englishman, or the Mohawk's creepy general manager...

    Bethany's life was chock full of scandals and there's little doubt that someone refused to endure another taste. With just a sprinkling of clues, it's up to Kate to bring justice to a culprit who believes that revenge is a dish best served cold...

    ISBN/SKU: 
    9781496726827
    Publication Date: 
    November 24, 2020

    Last Licks

    Last Licks
    $15.95

    by Cynthia Blair BMC '75 - published under the psuedonym Cynthia Baxter

    It's autumn in the Hudson Valley, and Kate McKay has some tricks up her sleeve for a deliciously spooky season at her Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe. But with a cold-blooded murderer thrown into the mix, the scares are about to become a little too real . . .

    Kate receives the shock of a lifetime when she's blindsided by an offer she can't refuse. An assistant movie director desperately wants to shoot a key scene at Lickety Splits and she's willing to pay big bucks to sweeten the last-minute deal. All Kate has to do is tolerate a bustling film crew for a few hours and provide one important prop--a scoop of handmade ice cream . . .

    But when up-and-coming actress Savannah Crane drops dead after spooning down some chocolate almond fudge, Kate's first taste of Hollywood might be her last. Determined to clear her name, Kate finds herself churning through a long list of unsavory characters to catch the real killer lurking around town. As she uncovers the truth about the jealous rivals and obsessive stalkers who haunted Savannah's life, Kate soon realizes that tangling with the late starlet's "fans" could make this her most terrifying fall yet . . .

    Includes mouthwatering ice cream recipes from the Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe!

    ISBN/SKU: 
    9781496714190
    Publication Date: 
    August 25, 2020

    Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked

    Scan Artist: How Evelyn Wood Convinced the World That Speed-Reading Worked
    $26.99

    by Marcia Biederman BMC '70

    The best-known educator of the twentieth century was a scammer in cashmere. "The most famous reading teacher in the world," as television hosts introduced her, Evelyn Wood had little classroom experience, no degrees in reading instruction, and a background that included work at the Mormon mission in Germany at the time when the church was cooperating with the Third Reich. Nevertheless, a nation spooked by Sputnik and panicked by paperwork eagerly embraced her promises of a speed-reading revolution. Journalists, lawmakers and two US presidents lent credibility to Wood's claims of turbocharging reading speeds through a method once compared to the miracle at Lourdes. Time magazine reported Woods grads could polish off Dr. Zhivago in one hour; a senator swore that Wood's method had boosted his reading speed to more than ten thousand words per minute.

    But science showed that her method taught only skimming, with disastrous effects on comprehension--a fact Wood was aware of from early in her career. Fudging test results, and squelching critics, she founded a company that enrolled half a million. The course's popularity endured even as evidence of its shortcomings continued to accumulate. Today, as apps and online courses attempt to spark a speed-reading revival, this engaging look at Wood's rise from mission worker to marketer exposes the pitfalls of embracing a con artist's worthless solution to imaginary problems.

    ISBN/SKU: 
    9781641601627
    Publication Date: 
    September 3, 2019
    Author: 
    Publisher: 

    Bedtime for Cranky Crab

    Bedtime for Cranky Crab
    $9.99

    Cristina Ergunay BMC '94

    This sweet rhyming padded board book is perfect for cranky kiddos not quite ready for bed, perfect for fans of Grumpy Monkey and The Pout-Pout Fish!

     

    Cranky Crab is NOT ready for bed. The sea creatures around him are all drifting off to sleep, but he just wants to eat snacks and play! Maybe what he really needs is... a bedtime kiss!Follow Cranky Crab as he travels past dolphins, starfish, seals, and more, all snuggling down in their habitats. As night falls, the water darkens and colors change, lulling Cranky Crab -- and the reader -- to sleep.This sweet, rhyming text is brought to life in unique, soft technicolor, and the dreamy underwater world will soothe even the crankiest little crabs!

    ISBN/SKU: 
    9781338357967
    Publication Date: 
    May 5, 2020
    Author: 
    Publisher: