Gift Recommendations
If you're stymied for the perfect holiday gift for someone on your list, check out these recommendations from First Parishioners. If you follow the Amazon.com links in the listings, First Parish gets a percentage of whatever you spend. We're just getting started with our recommendations list, so email the Web Guy if you have ideas for additions.
From Drew Stein:
"Planet Drum by Mickey Hart, percussionist for the Grateful Dead. It's not fair to just call this man a drummer, as he takes us on an around-the-world tour of tribal rhythms that at once transport and amaze. I first listened to this album at a low point in my life, when I was not sure if anything I was doing or anywhere I was going made sense. The music contained within allowed me to meditate and connect with my deeper self and find the answers I sought. To this day the music and chanting of track number five can lift my spirits from the deepest funks and set my heart to dancing on the open savannahs of untapped possibilities. A great find for anyone looking for drumming, chanting, and rhythm to lift and engage the human spirit." (CD/MP3)
From Rev. Arline Sutherland:
"This is the book I'm giving everyone! After reading the review of Wabi Sabi, written by Mark Reibstein and illustrated by Ed Young, in the New York Times last week, I ordered this exquisite book. I have been using it as my meditative reading ever since it arrived. 'Wabi Sabi' is both a Zen concept and the name of a charming cat in Kyoto who sets out to find out what her name means. It is hard to find the words to describe the beauty and the spiritual depth of the collage illustrations and haiku on every page. I plan to give a copy to every one on my gift list, most of whom are adults."
From Erik Svenson:
Love & Death by Forrest Church. "I'm really looking forward to reading this one. Rev. Church is one of the great UU luminaries. He spoke very movingly about his battle with cancer at GA last summer."
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. "This is a must read for anyone who is concerned with their relationship with food and sustainability."
Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn. "Your world will be turned on its ear with Ishmael. It's very deep but told in a very straightforward manner."
Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy, by Jostein Gaarder. "If you were ever interested in the difference between philosophies and philosophers, Sophie's world is a great read. I learned a lot and had a great time doing it."
From Chris Hess:
"It would be hard to convince me that Michael Hedges was not the best guitar player who has ever lived. He ignored traditional ideas about what sounds a guitar could make, how it should be played, how songs could be constructed. He made from acoustic guitar something completely new. Hedges' tone was gorgeous and his technique was unprecedented. It's hard to believe that Aerial Boundaries, Hedges' best, is not an ensemble recording. But it's just one guy, live, straight to two-track with no overdubs. One guy who was ambidextrous, polyrhythmic, and who seemed to have no small measure of aggression targeted at his chosen instrument. He slaps it, thumps it, and slams it, producing all manner of percussive notes in addition to the two or three lines he's playing on the strings at any given time. Aerial Boundaries is amazing. Get yourself a good set of headphones, close your eyes and get ready for a treat. It's beautiful, groovy, elegant, soulful music." (CD/MP3)
"The folks from America's Test Kitchen took a bunch of popular dishes and experimented on them, varying ingredients and amounts of ingredients, cooking techniques, and anything else they could think of to mess with. The result is a compilation of what they believe to be the best recipes for about 1,000 dishes. In this age of inflated product claims, it's positively amazing how many times you'll make something from The New Best Recipe and find yourself saying 'Holy [insert deity or epithet], this is in fact the best [whatever] I've ever had.' Great to own, great to give."
From Russ Brami:
"Global Knives are serious Japanese chef knives that are competitive in cost with the better traditional European knives but are far lighter and more nimble in use. Unlike traditional knives, Global knives are made of a single smooth seamless piece of hardened stainless steel. They are beautifully balanced and allow precision cuts that are often awkward with heavier knives. Their very thin blades reqire sharpening with the Yoshikin Minosharp water knife sharpener but the ingenious sharpener is quick, safe and easy to use. Global makes a great many models including large carving knives, cheese slicers and specialty sashimi knives but you can get by with a total of three: the 7" Usuba vegetable knife, the 5½" utility knife and the bread knife. I find that the thin ultra sharp vegetable knife can make perfect cuts in ripe tomatoes and joints of ham alike. The Global website, yoshikin.co.jp gives a good overview of the company and its products."
"Surefire is a company that makes extremely durable, advanced technology light devices used by by the military, hospitals, police and fire departments. Their products are highly reliable and virtually unbreakable.. Their flashlights range from tiny plastic LED models that fit on a key chain to sizable and powerful ones that can put out extremely bright light over long distances. I have carried their smallest flashlight, the Executive Elite with me at night in my pocket for years. At 3½ inches, it is very easy to carry but has enough heft and presence that it won't slip out or get easily lost. Amazon carries many other models as well including LED models. You can learn more about the company at surefire.com."
From Deb Weiner-Soule:
"When our daughter, Abby, was small, no books were more popular in our house than Rosemary Wells' fabulous 'Max and Ruby' series. A seasonal favorite is Max's Christmas, which tells the story of Max, who doesn't want to go to bed on Christmas Eve and receives a special visitor late that night! It's a delightful story, beautifully illustrated, for small children."
"For slightly older children (5-7) I recommend The Jolly Christmas Postman, by Janet and Allen Ahlburg 
a lovely package. The Ahlbergs are also creators of the terrific Each Peach Pear Plum, another favorite in our house which unravels a number of beloved fairy tales, with surprising endings, in charming rhyme."
"Right now, Abby (highschool freshwoman) is a huge fan of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series…and yes, I've gotten sucked in, too (oops, pun intended!) If you haven't yet taken a look at this series of stories about teens and love and vampires and werewolves,
"Ben's a history aficionado. And sometimes, so am I. If you haven't already read Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
"As many of you know, I'm a sometimes-caterer and cook, and I adore Ruth Reichl, the former food critic for The New York Times and current Editor of Gourmet Magazine. Reichl, a fine writer, grew up in an ‘unusual' home, with a manic-depressive mother and an emotionally absent father. She tells the story 
of her life – sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious – with recipes interspersed, in three successive memoirs: Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me With Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires. And if it's just recipes that you want without the memoir, check out The Gourmet Cookbook, compiled by John Willoughby, Zanne Stewart Early, and edited by Reichl I can tell you that every recipe I've tried has been terrific, and if you only have ONE cookbook, this is the one I'd recommend."
From Star Lancaster:
"Just finished a fabulous read called Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. It's a tremendously moving story and very relevant to the world we find ourselves in today."
From Laura Juitt:
"Blokus is a phenomenal new board game that challenges spatial thinking. It has received more awards than any other game created this century, including a Mensa award for promoting healthy brain activity. The rules are simple enough for a 5 year old to understand, but the game's complexity is revealed shortly after everyone begins to play. Children and adults can play together for hours, and we do!"
From Bobbie Hodson:
"The Great Work by Thomas Berry. Inclusive and intelligent, Berry is the Obama of our ecological world. Berry's work is a must for all who value the other lives on our planet. Although erudite, Berry writes with ease, reflecting his deep spiritual roots as he reveals the needs for us to embark on a ‘sacredization of nature'. It's a book that will have multiple underlinings on every page by the time you finish it."
"The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen. A journey on many levels through the Himalayas in search of the leopard, wild sheep, other cultures and himself. I was mesmerized as he attempted every stream crossing, snow field, and craggy ledge---Like most great literature, the story keeps your interest while the message seeps slowly into your heart."
From Suzanne Jubenville:
"I'm shamelessly recommending one of my own recordings! Chiara Margarita Cozzolani was a 16th-century nun, and a composer of the same generation and idiom as the great Claudio Monteverdi. Cozzolani's music is reminiscent of Monteverdi's, but it is far more feminine, tending toward extended cadences and cyclical structure, and filled with ecstatic bursts of virtuosic singing that spring out of homogeneous textures in a surprising way. Her music is composed in the early Baroque style, for voices and continuo. This recording is by the ensemble Magnificat, conducted by Warren Stewart, and is a setting of Cozzolani's Marian Vespers service, composed for her own nuns to sing. Featured on the recording are ensemble motets for two to eight voices, interspersed with Gregorian chant and solo motets. This is one of the recordings I'm most proud of, not only because Cozzolani's music is so strange, ecstatic, and wonderful, but because the group of musicians put together to record this was incredible. I was simply awestruck to be included with this great group of mostly women performers (all 8 singers are women, as was the organist/harpsichordist--there is also a gamba and a lute accompanying the choir)."
From Margaret Brooke:
"This is for fans of R. Crumb, for people who even know who he is, and lovers of the music!"
Amazon says: "Anyone who knows R. Crumb's work as an illustrator knows of his passion for music. And all those who collect his work prize the Heroes of the Blues, Early Jazz Greats, and Pioneers of Country Music trading card sets he created in the early to- mid-1980s. Now they are packaged together for the first time in book form, along with an exclusive 21-track CD of music selected and compiled by Crumb himself (featuring original recordings by Charley Patton, "Dock" Boggs, "Jelly Roll" Morton, and others). A bio of each musician is provided, along with a full-color original illustration by the cartoonist."