RE-CREATIVE
50 Projects for Turning Found Items into Contemporary Design
by Steve Dodds $14.95 Penguin www.penguin.com

RE-CREATIVE / 50 Projects for Turning Found Items into Contemporary Design by Steve Dodds, has a two-fold mission; teaching us that by re-using and recycling everyday items, we will not only be living “green” but we will be living fashionably as well. After a first glance at this marvelous new how-to book, I was hard-pressed to decide which project to undertake first.

By using found, discarded and forgotten items you can create a plethora of contemporary furnishings for your home that will be more distinctive than anything you could find at your local mall. One of the easiest of these projects is making a clock that can be either wall-mounted or set on a table, using anything from an old record album sleeve to an empty tea tin. Another quirky and fun variation on this theme is to use an empty soda can which you run-over with your car (even the placement of the can under the tire is explained here) and then mold further with a hammer. Then you simply attach battery-powered works, which are readily available at most hardware stores and voila!

A couple of more complicated projects are a credenza made from scraps of wood and discarded wooden wine crates and a wall-mounted, drop-front nightstand which doubles as a picture frame when closed. A handy chart shows you how much time each project entails and the level of expertise you will need in order to complete it. Also, the introductory section explains how and where to scavenge materials and how to keep your eyes open for the just right recyclable “trash” you can find in your everyday travels. Pieces of heavy plastic strapping once used to bind stacks of lumber together can be woven to make a bench-seat and other found items such as old neckties and empty rice sacks can easily be transformed into cushions for your favorite chair or sofa.

A fruit bowl fashioned from a discarded wok lid or a lampshade made from old playing cards or Metro cards, like those used for public transportation in cities like NY, will certainly be conversation pieces, as will a small table built from discarded computer cases and a record-album mail organizer that mounts on the wall. Fun, ecological, and cheap-who can ask for more?

PRACTICE RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
Bring More Peace, Love and Compassion Into the World
By The Editors of ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ with a foreword by Rabbi Harold Kushner
$14.95, Conari Press www.redwheelweiser.com

In this crazy, busy world of ours, sometimes it’s good to be reminded how important it is to stop for a moment and appreciate those around us. Thankfully, a new edition of

PRACTICE RANDON ACTS OF KINDNESS /Bring More Peace, Love and Compassion Into the World is here to help us achieve that goal.

Filled with short, easy-to-digest essays about what it means to be kind and loving, this book will easily find a place on your nightstand, in a desk drawer at work or even in your purse. Such notables as Joan Rivers, with her piece ‘Abandon Guilt; You can feel for people and…still have a nice sweater’ remind us that we don’t have to necessarily give up our worldly possessions in order to care about those less fortunate than ourselves, while Lenny Bruce’s “Do It Again and Again; There are never enough “I Love You’s” talks about how easy it is to unintentionally ignore the most important people in our lives.

Willa Cather and Robert Fulghum chime in respectively with “Cherish The Cords of Kindness’ and “Give To Get” while Zen masters from Buddah to the fictional sage of the ‘Star Wars’ movies, Yoda, weigh in with their proverbial words of wisdom. With over 100 entries available at the turn of the page, you will find inspiration and guidance no matter which piece you should happen upon. Any one of them will make a great subject for conversation or meditation.

In the foreword by Rabbi Harold Kushner, we are reminded that acts of kindness and generosity are not only good for the soul, but they’re an important component of maintaining the health of the body as well. The other great lesson here is that, “When you are kind to others, it not only changes you- it changes the world. Cumulative acts of kindness change the climate in which we live. They teach people to see the world differently.” In a world where ‘busy’ has replaced ‘kind’ in our daily vocabulary, this book is a great reminder that one does not have to exist in place of the other.

WHAT SIGN IS YOUR PET?
By Dr. Donald Wolf $12.95, Taylor Trade Publishing

If you are a pet owner and a fan of astrology then you will have a lot of fun reading WHAT SIGN IS YOUR PET? by Dr. Donald Wolf. With ten years as a practicing veterinarian as well as having a scientific interest in understanding the stars and their influence over our lives, Dr. Wolf has concluded that those same stars affect our four-legged friends as strongly as they do us. And the evidence he presents to back up his claim is most convincing.

The book begins with very specific descriptions of what sign your pet might be. If he/she is energetic, active and restless, friendly and cheerful, never depressed and loves to be the center of attention, your pet might be an Aries. A pet with a Cancer sun sign will tend to be calm and quiet, will rarely get into fights and is afraid of loud noises. There are of course, more behavior traits for each of the 12 signs than I have listed, but you get the point.

If, after going through each list, you are still uncertain about the sign of your pet, there are several pages devoted to a more in-depth questionnaire, which should lead you to the correct information. Some pet owners know their pet’s birth date, but if you are the proud owner of a stray or rescue animal, then you have a bit more researching to do.

Once you have determined whether your pet is a Leo or a Virgo, a Taurus or a Scorpio, you will then find a chapter devoted to each sun sign, which speaks to his/her personality, health and compatibility with other pets of the same or different sign. The final chapter “The Happy, Healthy New-Age Pet” sums up the care that must be given to any new pet and tells us that in the end, no matter what his/her sign may be, showing love and respect for your new family member top the list when it comes to having and sustaining a long and fruitful relationship.

REAL WOMEN EAT BEEF By Tracy McArdle
$13.00 Downtown Press www.simonsays.com

It is said that you can’t go home again, but in her new book REAL WOMEN EAT BEEF, Tracy McArdle (author of the hilarious “Confessions of a Nervous Shiksa”) makes the point that although you can go home again, the experience is never quite what you expected it would be.

When 35-year-old Jillian Campbell-Marks decides to divorce, drop the hyphenated last name, change her job and move home, what begins as a lateral move in her mind is more like a move to a parallel universe. After spontaneously buying a rambling old farmhouse, complete with barn and land, in Holden, MA near her family home in Boston, she quickly realizes she can’t maintain it by herself. But bulldozing ahead in her usual fashion, Tracy begins work as an advertising executive for Wiseman/Connor, the number two shop in New England.

Unfortunately, upon arrival, she finds she has been re-assigned from the promised snazzy sports car account to selling beef, something she hasn’t eaten in 20 years. In the meanwhile, her father, owner of the famed eatery, Ellen’s, named for her deceased mother, announces plans to re- marry. Although Tracy makes every attempt to be civil, her dislike for his fiancé is palpable as is her jealousy of her soon-to-be eight-year-old stepsister.

Adding to the menagerie of people who are back in her life is her beloved grandfather whose health is quickly declining and her very candid, best friend Candy. Key to her survival is a twelve tear old tomboy named Sarah, who comes into her life as an all around fix-it person and becomes the pet-sitter she desperately needs when, out of the blue, she finds herself saddled with two goats and a dog. For a woman who is bent on never having children and keeping her corporate mask intact, Tracy surprises everyone in her life and especially herself, as she begins to adopt the life of the blossoming pre-teen she has come to understand and love.

With witty dialogue and a thread of romance and intrigue, Real Women Eat Beef is a great read and both an eye-opening look inside the glossy world of advertising and into family dynamics that challenge even the most hardy of souls.