Books and Cooks

Spotlight on: Every Last One

2010-05-06T10:43:00.004-05:00

Dear blog, you've been neglected. The bookishness around here has been kind of lacking lately due to lack of time, food poisoning, and dull books. Just as I was a few months back, I've been setting books aside right and left. I'll read half the book and think 'Whatever. I'm so done with this.' and never go back. It's freeing, but leaves me little to say here.

This all leads me to a book that I plowed through last week, Every Last One: A Novelby Anna Quindlen. I even cried during the last 20 pages. I have to be honest here, I was already feeling weepy having just watched the film My Sister's Keeper (why oh why did they change the ending??) but still, I rarely cry at books. I go way back with Anna Quindlen, back to another film, One True Thing and the book it was based on by Quindlen. I cried then too. Over the years I'm pretty sure I've read all of Quindlen's novels, her essays in Newsweek and her excellent non-fiction book about her love of reading. Until now, none of her novels have resonated with me in the way One True Thing did.

Every Last One is the story of Mary Beth and her family, husband Glen, daughter Ruby, and twin sons Max and Alex. Mary Beth lives the good-kind-of-ordinary life. It's stable and centered on her family, a little bit dull and ordinary though this family has had their problems and they are serious ones. Thus the first half of the novel passes, as we get to know this family, yet all the time we wait because we know that Something is going to happen. Something does happen and it's utterly horrifying and life-changing. The rest of the novel deals with the aftermath and how Mary Beth finds a way to go on. Brilliant writing aside, Quindlen is able to evoke human emotions in a very true and honest way. Every Last One is a devastating but excellent read.

Spotlight on: Hearts and Minds

2010-04-29T10:09:00.004-05:00

Ohhh, it's a busy week here at Chez Books and Cooks. Did you know my daughter is a performance artist? It's true. She's performing 5 times this week complete with hair, makeup, and costume in front of hundreds of people. That makes me chauffeur extraordinaire leaving me with little free time.

Back to the books. Once Amanda Craig's Hearts and Minds was longlisted for the Orange Prize I started seeing it around. And around. I'd read a couple of Craig's books in the past and remembered them as likable but not especially memorable. I thought this might be her Big Book, so I ordered it and began reading it approximately 3 minutes after it arrived. It's really something.

Hearts and Minds is a book about immigration in present day London. Craig focuses on 5 characters whose lives intertwine in various ways. British Born Polly is a human rights lawyer. Job is a taxi driver from Zimbabwe. Anna has arrived from the Ukraine to work as a chambermaid. Katie is an American, living on the cheap and working for a magazine. Ian is a teacher from South Africa, trying to figure out if this life is better than the one he left. Some of these people are legal, others are not. Some are being exploited and live in fear. They are all trying to make a better life for themselves yet the life they are living is not what any of them expected.

Hearts and Minds is not a happy book, in fact it's quite a heartbreaker, but it tells a very real story. While this book is set in London and feels very British, this story is taking place all over the world. These same characters could be in New York, Los Angeles, or even the Twin Cities. Craig tells her story boldly, sympathetically. She includes a body and a murder, thought this is not a murder mystery. She cleverly ends each chapter with a zinger, turning what could have been an ordinary book into a page turner. I thought it was excellent. Sadly, it didn't make the Orange shortlist and who knows if it will ever be published on this side of the pond. Either way, I encourage you to seek it out.

Worth the Wait

2010-04-22T10:34:00.004-05:00

My husband didn't believe me last night when I told him to "Be quiet! I want to finish this book! It's a mystery! And I've been waiting for it for nearly a year!"

But it is true. I finished the fourth book in Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler crime series last May and have been waiting expectantly for book five, The Shadows in the Street ever since. I'd had it pre-ordered since October for crying out loud, and it finally arrived in the past couple of weeks. I actually tried to hold off reading it, but it didn't work.

I've written about his series before, here, here, here and here. This is not your typical mystery series. A lot of the story focuses on the people we've come to know over time and about the town they live in. Simon sometimes seems to be a secondary character in his own story! What stands out to me about these books is that the reader usually gets to know the victim before they become a victim. They are never just a nameless, faceless, victim, but a person, sometimes struggling, with a family and job and home and suddenly everything changes.

In this, the fifth installment in the series, someone is murdering prostitutes, but then the pattern changes and other women begin to disappear as well. There are a lot of other things going on, Simon's sister and father have had big changes in their lives, and a new clergyman has arrived at the cathedral who wants to make big changes not appreciated by all.

I cannot put my finger on why I enjoy this series so much. While I enjoy mysteries, it's never just about the mystery for me. I'm much more interested in the people and the setting. Being an anglophile this setting appeals to me particularly. Sadly, I have another wait ahead of me - who knows when or if another book will be forthcoming? I'll be there, ready to read it.

Big Books

2010-04-20T09:58:00.004-05:00

You know the sort. Not just big in size, but big in breadth and depth and meaning. The sort of books referred to in this way:

This (insert name of book) is so-and-so's (insert author's name) Big Book.

I've read a couple of books like this lately. Here is what I thought of them.

Cutting for Stone (Vintage)by Abraham Verghese

It seemed like everyone in blogland was reading this in 2009 and everyone was loving it. It appeared on 'best of' lists left and right, so of course I thought I'd read it too. I couldn't possibly give you a decent summary of this book except to say: a saga of conjoined twins, born in Ethiopia and separated at birth, they are orphans and raised by physicians thus they become involved in the medical field themselves.

Cutting for Stone ticks all the boxes. Well written. Check. Political upheaval. Check. Coming of age. Check. Love triangle. Check. Detailed medical scenes. Check.

This is a book that I thought was very, very, good but it never hit that sweet spot for me. That perfect reading experience/can't put it down/totally blissed out experience that I crave and only comes along a few times a year and I was sort of expecting with this. I never felt completely emotionally invested until the very end and it wasn't enough. 4.5 stars out of 5 if you know what I mean.

Small Island: A Novelby Andrea Levy

This book won some big prizes and was recommended to me by a few people so I finally gave it a whirl. This is the story of 4 people, 2 married couples, whose lives become intertwined. The time is post-war London in 1948. Hortense and Gilbert are Jamaican immigrants. They are confounded by the fact that everyone seems to think that Jamaica is in Africa. They have come from a country where they look like everyone else to one where they can't help but stand out. Queenie is their landlord and is married to Bernard. He still hasn't come home from the war and while Queenie wonders where he is, she doesn't seem all that concerned about it. We go back in time to get to know these four souls to discover how they came to be where they are now.

Small Island grew on me. I was feeling iffy about it at the beginning, there was a fair amount of dialect/slang/improper English (sorry cannot come up with the right word here!) that I am really not a fan of reading. I worried that it would carry through the entire book but it wound up being an amount that wasn't too distracting. As I got to know the characters I liked this book more and more. I was most moved by Gilbert's story of joining the British war effort as an airman. The surprise and dismay he felt at the discrimination he experienced made my heart ache.

I thought the story flowed really well until we got to Bernard's back story. His experience of war was so jarring compared to the other stories and he was a harder character to feel warmly towards. The end of the book came together so well. It was surprising and heartbreaking, tender at times and even a bit karmically mysterious. It was a good solid read. Like Cutting for Stone, it wasn't perfect for me but still highly recommended.

In other bookish news, have you seen this?? Frightening times indeed.

A Moment

2010-04-13T10:30:00.004-05:00

Last week I was having one of those good reading weeks. You know, when you have a few books going, and you don't even know which to pick up because they are all good and appealing and satisfying. Unlike this week, when everything I start is just so-so. Here's what I was reading last week.

Learning to Swimby Clare Chambers

Danielle has written about Clare Chambers several times and about this book in particular once or twice. My sense from Danielle was that Clare Chambers was one of those rare authors, who combines comfort reading with real intelligence and poignancy. Knowing that my tastes are often so in line with Danielle's, I knew I had to try this author.

Learning to Swim is a coming of age story in retrospect. Cellist Abigail runs into Rad, a man she used to know years ago when she was a teenager. It's obvious they have some sort of past together and thus we go back to Abigail's girlhood. She was a lonely child and her only real friend growing up was Rad's sister Frances. Abigail loved the eccentricity and seemingly romantic life Frances' family led, so different from her own middle class existence. As we read, we get to know everyone better and then there is a turning point, Something happens, relationships are shattered, everyone moves on, eventually coming to present day and this acquaintance of Abigail and Rad.

Learning to Swim was everything I expected. Easy yet smart. Satisfying and thoughtful. I'm looking forward to reading more Clare Chambers and have already procured two more of her books.

Bleeding Heart Squareby Andrew Taylor

I won this book in Librarything's Early Reviwer's program in February of 2009. It arrived in January of 2010! Sheesh. But in this case I say, better late than never! Bleeding Heart Square is just the sort of book I like. Set in London in the 30s, it is packed with eccentric characters that are difficult to read. No one is exactly what they seem.

Lydia Langstone has left her abusive well-to-do husband to live with her down-and-out father in Bleeding Heart Square. It is definitely a step down for a lady such as herself. We also hear from another gentlewoman, Miss Philippa May Penhow, though it seems she is no longer among the living. How she and Lydia and the various characters living at Bleeding Heart Square all tie together is the heart of this tale. It's a mystery but not of the usual sort. It's much more about the characters, the setting, the relationships and how everything is connected than it is about who-done-it, though we think we know, but are we correct?? It's the sort of mystery which mystery lovers probably get annoyed with, the sort of mystery that might actually be better placed in the Literature section of the store, the sort of mystery that I actually like quite a lot.

Dutch Baby Pancake

2010-04-09T14:53:00.002-05:00

5:30 Thursday - "I don't want to share a GIANT pancake! I just want regular pancakes! UGH!!"

6:15 Thursday - "This is gooooood! I don't like it - I love it! There isn't any more? UGH!!"

Winner!

2010-04-08T10:08:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to JoAnn, Winner of The Season of Second Chances!

I hope you enjoy the book!

Ah, the Foodie Memoir

2010-04-06T10:15:00.004-05:00

Thanks for all your comments and support last week. That was a low point for me and I actually thought about deleting the personal part of the post but decided in the end to let me be me. Starting on Friday I had backup - Daddy - and we all went to Iowa where I was able to see how a holiday meal for guests can be prepared entirely from processed food. Three varieties of canned soup were involved.

Speaking of food, if you know me, you know I love food, I love cooking, and I love reading about it. The food memoir is one of my favorite genres and I'm always on the lookout for what's new.

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

This is the story of an American Woman who has married a Frenchman and how she acclimates to France and her new family. This is one of those books that is easy and breezy to read, fun, cute at times, yet in the end sort of forgettable. It was fine, if you know what I mean. Throughout the book the author muses about her lack of clear career goals for herself, and it seemed as though someone suggested to her 'hey, food memoirs are popular, Americans in Paris stories are popular, you should write a memoir!', thus a career in writing blossomed. The food is not necessarily central to the book and there weren't any recipes that I was drawn to make. Reading over this, it seems like I'm being pretty critical of this book. It's more that I feel ambivalent about it, and you might love it whereas I thought it was okay.

The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove

Cathy Erway has taken a different direction with her food memoir. Erway was in her early 20's and living in Brooklyn when she wanted to start a blog. She came up with the idea of eating only food prepared at home - a huge anomaly in New York City - for an extended period of time. This book is based on that time and on her blog as well, though from looking at her blog my sense is that this book is not just reprinted posts, but a new way of looking at this period in time.

The Good: I found the subject matter of this book interesting and Erway's voice is appealing. She's intelligent and curious, and I appreciated how involved she became with the local food scene. She cooks both off the cuff yet still enjoys much more involved preparations and techniques.

The Not as Good: I felt old when I was reading this book! Erway's youth really shows in her lifestyle and behavior. There are several instances that involve heavy drinking and getting 'wasted'. She writes about the trials and tribulations of dating. Erway sometimes finds herself in situations in which she was perhaps over-extended. Dinner parties where dinner was not served until 10pm. Preparing food for hundreds of people yet not testing your recipes or picking up ingredients until the morning of. It's crazy, but I was actually getting stressed out reading these accounts.

Overall, this was a fun and good read, but I'm left wondering if I'm not the target audience for this book. (And folks, I'm under 40.) There were a couple recipes I've flagged to try and I was curious enough about Erway to check out her blog.

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway - see below!

Spotlight on: Elizabeth Cadell

2010-04-01T09:56:00.004-05:00

Who?

Before we get to that, can we talk?

We are on Spring Break here, otherwise known around this house as Spring-drive-your-mother-up-a-wall-because-you-have-opposite-temperaments-week. Oh, my goodness friends, I am feeling like A Terrible Mother.

I, a tried and true introvert, gave birth to one of the strongest extroverts I've ever met. As a baby she cried and cried when I turned my back to cook something and as a toddler stood next to me and screamed for about a year and half while I blew my hair dry. Now it's mom?...Mom?....MOM??....MOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! about every 4 minutes. She talks unceasingly. She climbs on me and touches and pokes me and talks in my face and tries to lick me (sorry). She cries and pouts and whines when she's not winning a game. She badgers me and argues about anything and everything. I faced an hour-long onslaught on why I wouldn't take her to dairy queen for lunch. She even hand copied text from their website about how delicious their food is.

"Mom they have wraps! And sandwiches that use waffles instead of bread!!"

"Someday you will understand why that is not a good thing."

**tears**

When I took the car to Tires Plus:

"Bring a book in case they ask us to wait."

"What do I need a book for? If we have to wait I'll just talk to YOU!!!!"

God help me. I love her more than anything, I'd lay down right now and give up every organ or drop of blood for her. But I wish she would just 'find something to do!' that didn't always involve me. Thanks for listening. She's now on a play-date so I am thrilled to be able to string two thoughts together without interruption.

Back to the books!

So, Elizabeth Cadell. Have you heard of her? This is the author I teased you with a couple posts back whose vintagey looking books I came across at the library. As you can see, I chose The Corner Shop written in 1966. This book definitely fits into that same sort of category as D.E. Stevenson though this book in particular is a little edgier, more mysterious, funnier, and rather a farcical comedy of manners.

Take for example our first meeting with our heroine, Mrs. Lucille Abbey, on a train:

'she had her own method of dealing with burly gentlemen who pushed; her capacious handbag....could in cases like this become a lethal weapon. One jab from the brass-bound end, and the gentleman, like all his pushing predecessors, gave way. As always, her quiet, deceptively mild air lulled the victim's suspicions and led him to conclude that it had been an accident.'

'She was aware that she was slim, blonde, and beautiful-but her looks, though they might be alluring, were also misleading and raised hopes which she was constantly constrained to crush. She had a clear brain, sound common sense and a capacity for hard work; why these sober attributes had been encased in so fancy a package she had never been able to understand; she knew only that she looked far warmer than she felt.'

Funny stuff! Lucille runs a business that sends secretaries out on jobs and when one client goes through three perfectly good secretaries in odd circumstances Lucille decides to find out whatever is the matter. She finds herself in the country where the rather odd 'professor' is sorting through his deceased father's papers and mother's things. A series of events puts Lucille in the middle of an art heist after which she travels to Paris to help her aunt and meets a bunch of quirky people. There's a lot of running around in Paris then and the plots become briefly complicated and intertwined and eventually we see how all the pieces and characters come together. It's really well done for a humorous book that reads quickly, and I told my husband that if I were move clever I would try to write a screen play based on this material.

I still don't know much about Elizabeth Cadell, thought I did find this fan site. She was writing books from the 40s to the 80s! I'm definitely going to be reading her again.

The Season of Second Chances (Giveaway Below!!)

2010-03-30T06:00:00.002-05:00

Joy Harkness moved to New York City to teach at Columbia years ago. The life she expected she'd have in New York - the one with a social life and excitement - never really materialized. At age 48, Joy is given an opportunity to teach at a small college in Massachusetts and participate in an exciting new project. Joy makes this huge life change, complete with an old Victorian fixer-upper. She feels a bit like a fish out of water in her new life. She is unused to dating, or even cultivating friendships yet as she is drawn out of herself, into new situations, she slowly finds her place.

Diane Meier'sThe Season of Second Chances: A Novel
is the sort of fiction I don't find myself reading a lot of. So many books that are geared towards women today and set in the present seem to have the same few story lines that often don't appeal to me. The Season of Second Chances felt different. A smart female protagonist that is an educator and teaches literature can only be a good thing. Diane Meier's career up until now has been one full of style and creating beautiful things. That is apparent in this book as she writes about the makeover of Joy's home and all the bits and pieces that go into it. She writes about personal style and the delicious food being cooked and eaten. I liked the cozy feeling of this book and experiencing Joy's house becoming a home.

I really enjoyed reading this book and was drawn into it right away. I found Joy to be a compelling character, though at times I wanted to yell at her! For such an intelligent woman she sometimes made really bad decisions, particularly about men. I thought about this and realized that was probably because she had kept inside of herself for so long. Dealing with adult emotions and motivations was something she needed practice with.

The Season of Second Chances is being released today. If you are interested in learning more about the author, Diane Meier, here is a link to her blog. It's interesting reading what she has written lately about her upcoming book release. I can only imagine how nerve-wracking that would be.

Now for the good news: Interpersonal Frequency LLC has kindly offered to send a signed copy of The Season of Second Chances to one lucky reader! Not only is this book a really a good read, it's also a gorgeous book. I saw a finished copy today and am in love with the endpapers. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite book of 2010 is so far, and make sure I have your email address. I will draw the winning name on April 7.

Many thanks to Interpersonal Frequency LLC for providing this review copy.

Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes

2010-03-28T11:06:00.003-05:00

David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City

More and More

2010-03-24T10:58:00.006-05:00

Still reading D.E. Stevenson here, though I think I'm going to take a break for awhile. I may try another older and seemingly similar author whose books I came across at the library the other day. This female author wrote from the 40s to the early 80s and was very prolific. The library had a whole shelf of these books with their vintage looking covers. Anyone want to take a guess at the author's name?

The Baker's Daughter, written in 1938, was my least favorite Stevenson book so far, so let's get it out of the way here. This is the story of Sue Pringle, daughter of the baker in a small village/town in Scotland. She is trying to get out from being underfoot at the home of her father and stepmother so takes a job as housekeeper to an artist and his outgoing wife. Sue arrives and the wife vanishes - she wants to be in London, not the wilds of Scotland! Sue gets close to the artist, people think it's not appropriate and try to encourage her to take an interest in the local young men and on and on it goes. I thought the story was a bit flat, and there were a bunch of side stories (too many) that weren't any more interesting. Next!

Listening Valley (1944)is sort of a companion book to Celia's House which I read and enjoyed. It's not a sequel, but many characters from Celia's House make an appearance here. There are many themes in Stevenson's writing and that was very apparent here. This tale begins in a similar fashion to Amberwell (1955), complete with little girls being raised by negligent parents. As in Amberwell, the more socially challenged sibling is left at home when the other marries. This is Antonia, and she becomes friendly with a much older man, older even than her father, who happens to be a wealthy business associate of her father. They marry. I'm not a big fan of this storyline, the young girl of 17 or 18 marrying the 60 something older gentleman. I find it rather creepy. Anyway, they are very happy and move to London and work in the war effort which invigorates him and makes a woman out of her. Eventually he becomes sick, passes away, Antonia moves back to Scotland to live in a house left to her by a distant relative, and she finds a more age appropriate love interest. Antonia becomes friendly with some airmen who are flying on nightly missions to Germany. There is really quite a lot of talk about the war and the reality of these missions so if you're interested in how the war was handled in a very domestic 1944 novel, this might interest you. Overall I wound up really liking this book, all the sorts of things I like about Stevenson are here.

The Blue Sapphire, written in 1963, is one of Stevenson's last 10 books. It's so interesting to see how as time passes Stevenson's writing changes and the landscape of course changes as well. This is the story of Julia Harburn, she is engaged to an overbearing man, Morland, yet somehow finds herself suddenly friends with young Stephen who has just come back from Africa bearing - guess what? - a blue sapphire. Julia wants to get out of house for just the same reasons as Sue in The Baker's Daughter. She takes a room at a boarding house and a job at a hat shop which is quite humorous. There is an interesting flirtation with the stock market here which left me wondering if someone might be evil and the obligatory flight to Scotland where Julia nurses an elderly uncle. There was a little more angst than usual here, but all ends well.

Finally, we have Fletcher's End, the sequel to Bel Lamington.

I cannot say much about this one or it might spoil Bel Lamington for you! Bel has already found her true love and she and her fiance buy a run down house called Fletcher's End and make it their own. Much of the book is about Bel's life in the country and getting the house redone. The romantic part of the story involves Bel's friend Louise. I really liked this one!

Here is a blurb from the dust jacket about the photograph above:

The picture of Fletcher's End on the jacket is an actual drawing of the house owned by the author's son in the Cotswolds, which served as an inspiration for this book.

How about that?

Several people have written and asked me what Stevenson book to start with or what my favorites have been. Of the 10 or so that I've read, my favorites are, in order:

Amberwell
Bel Lamington
Fletcher's End
Celia's House
Vittoria Cottage

In nonbookish news, my new PC is on the truck for delivery today! We are so excited. This computer I am on has been a lemon since day one and I'll be so glad to see the last of it. Wheee!

Books and a Meal

2010-03-18T10:38:00.005-05:00

It's been some time since I've shown any cooking photos. The truth is, the cooking around here has been pretty boring lately. I've been cooking a lot of my house 'standards' over and over and let's face it, they aren't' very interesting. Last night I decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with an Irish themed meal.

Sort of.

Here is 'Irish' stew and colcannon.

The stew could have been more Irish had I used Guiness, instead I used an English nut brown ale. This was yummy! Now that I've found out how easy it is, I'm wondering why I never made stew before. I practically just threw everything into the pot, cooked it for 3 hours and voila! Dinner. Gotta love that. I used Jamie Oliver's super easy technique from his latest US release, Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals. I think I've mentioned this book before, but I will again just because I think it is so good. I'm a pretty experienced cook and I like it, yet it's aim is people who are not used to cooking. Oh, and do you know what colcannon is? Cabbage combined with mashed potatoes. I sauteed the cabbage for a long time in butter, until it was soft and sweet. Want to guess what I'm having for lunch?

Here are a couple things I read recently:

Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth

The is the final book in Worth's trilogy about her experience as a midwife in the East End in the 1950s. I am sad there will not be any more installments. This book is very similar to the first in the series in that it focuses on specific experiences the midwives had. They are graphic birth stories, and the subject matter of many of them will surprise and shock you. There are also stories of Worth's life in the convent where she lived while working as a midwife. These stories I found not as compelling, but they do provide some comic relief from the intensity of the rest of the book. I recommend this series highly and while the first book is my favorite of the three, this is a close second.

The Spare Room: A Novelby Helen Garner

Unexpected.

That's the main word that keeps coming to mind whenever I think about this book. The Spare Room is the story of two women who have been friends during their adult lives. One of them, Nicola, is ill, she had cancer, and she asks her friend Helen if she can stay with her for a few weeks while she undergoes therapy. I think I was expecting lots of heartfelt conversations and tears. Perhaps thoughts of end-of-life regrets and tender moments. That was not the shape this story took. These characters aren't any cookie-cutter depictions of people dealing with cancer. Cancer doesn't suddenly make everyone a saint. The story of Nicola and Helen is authentic. How difficult is it to care for someone with cancer? How does it affect the caregiver and the relationship? Recommended.
This book was provided by Librarything's Early Reviewers Program.

New To Me

2010-03-16T10:26:00.005-05:00

The Kitchen House: A Novel
I heard great things about this one and no one around had it in stock. Thank goodness for amazon.

Stalin's Children: Three Generations of Love, War, and Survival
A spontaneous purchase while I was reading Child 44. I want to know more.

George Gissing's The Odd Women (Oxford World's Classics)
Read about this one here (check out this blog, I'm in love). Also loving these Oxford editions in general.

The Joy of Eating: The Virago Book of Food
Not sure where I read about this one, but had to have it immediately. I thought it would be a book of essays. Instead, it's more a book of 'blurbs' arranged by topic. Good for dipping in and out of.

These arrived for review.

Beatrice and Virgil: A Novelwas a surprise.

Wild Romance: A Victorian Story of a Marriage, a Trial, and a Self-Made Woman
Received this thanks to the Librarything Early Reviewer program. Sounds like just my sort of book.

DNF

2010-03-11T10:55:00.000-06:00

Besides being the year of D.E. Stevenson, 2010 is quickly becoming the year of the books I can label DNF - Did Not Finish. I've been casting things aside left and right.

I just like this cactus picture I took.

My personal revelations and goals for this blog have carried over into my reading in a big way. The older I get, the more I read, the more I expect from my books and the less of a chance I am willing to give a book that I consider to be sub-par. I want to read great books, amazing and moving books, that entertain or give me insight or just plain take me away. Friends, I have lost patience.

In years past I would plod through a book that I wasn't thrilled with. I'd sigh and moan and by the end, look at it with loathing. At least I finished the darn thing. Now I know that is no way to read.

How do I decide what I'm going to finish and what I'm not? I like the idea of the 50 page rule I read somewhere: Give it 50 pages to see if you like it. If you're over 50, do some subtracting and give it less pages. Presumably, you have even less time available in this lifetime for bad books. Often though, I don't even need 50 pages. One chapter can be enough to know I don't want to spend 350 pages with this story.

Sometimes it takes longer. A month or so ago I whined that nothing I was reading was catching my fancy. Kay told me to cast them all aside. What good advice! I stopped reading a 600+ page book 250ish pages in. I gave up on a 400 page book 150 or so pages in. The library books, I don't so much care about, but I get annoyed by the ones I've spent money on. How could you sell me this lousy book!

It's easy to tell when you've made the right decision about giving up on a book. It's when you look at it after you've decided and you feel great relief. A sigh of calm. You don't ever have to go back to that if you don't want to. There's a great book, and it's just around the bend. Or in that pile in the corner.

Bookclub Wrap-Up

2010-03-09T10:27:00.004-06:00

Oh boy, was I ever down on book club yesterday. There were a whole bunch of things going against me yesterday that started with pretty much complete lack of sleep on Sunday night and working all day Monday. Being so tired I can barely string two thoughts together does not put me in the mood for chatty get-togethers. Half of the women stay home with their kids full time so they are all ready for adult interaction whereas I just want to discuss the book and go to sleep. Additionally, an old member recently rejoined our group, a person that I really like, but whose participation skews the conversation in curious ways. Towards camping and yearly trips to Disney World, extreme exercise routines, and long talks about dogs. We are cat people here.

Do I sound cranky? Boy was I ever cranky yesterday. I composed 10 different emails telling everyone that I'm Not Coming! but didn't send any of them. My husband finally convinced me to go and leave early. I'm glad I did. All my complaints melted away as I enjoyed the company of old friends.

The book we discussed last night was Child 44by Tom Rob Smith. It was universally liked my my book club in varying levels.

In a nutshell: Child 44 is set in Stalin-era Russia. Everyone is looking over their shoulder and trying not to draw attention to themselves, for if you are suspected, then you are guilty. And if your child is found dead, they weren't murdered, because there is no crime in the Soviet Union. Leo is a MGB agent and thinks he and his wife safe, until they aren't. On the sly, Leo begins investigating a series of child murders, which puts him family into even greater jeopardy. What he finds, is, well, surprising.

This is a thriller in every sense of the word. It felt like every time I turned the page, there were more twists and turns, and even knowing something was coming didn't damper my enthusiasm for finding out what it was. Setting this story in Stalin-era Russia was a brilliant decision. I found the entire setting so fascinating. I sort of knew that living under this regime wasn't a good thing, but didn't really have any idea of what went on behind the scenes, how citizens were brutalized and lived in fear. It was frightening, creepy, and disturbing. A great read, if you're into that sort of thing!

Spotlight on: The Blue Orchard

2010-03-04T19:05:00.000-06:00

{The subject matter of this book is not for everyone. I'm not looking to have a moral or political discussion here, I simply want to tell you about this book.}

Jackson Taylor had me at Hello.

But let me go back to the beginning. You browse in bookstores, right? And the people that work there often ask if they can help you. Here is what passes through my mind, but not my lips, when this happens:

1. Me? Need help in a bookstore?

and

2. Yes, perhaps you can show me a fabulous book, one that I'll love and adore, that I've Never Seen or Heard of Before.

Good luck with that.

It's pretty rare that I come across a book that I've never heard of or noticed but that's just what happened with The Blue Orchard: A Novel. There it was, on the new fiction table with its appealing cover and heaps of praise. As they say, There's an app for that (Snaptell in this case), so I used my dear friend and looked up this book. All signs pointed to me taking this book home, and that is just what happened.

From the very beginning, we know a few things. Middle aged nurse Verna Krone has been arrested for assisting with illegal surgery performed on a woman. It is the 1950s and the doctor she has been working for happens to be a widely respected, community serving, politically involved black man. How did Verna get to be this woman? That is what we are to find out.

Verna Krone grew up in poverty, removed from school to go out to work and support the family. Also to be abused. Life is rough, but Verna perseveres, working at this job and then that. Finally a little bit of luck comes to this long suffering woman and she is able to train to be a nurse. Verna loves being a nurse, she is conscientious and takes pride in her work. Along comes another opportunity, a chance to make what is to most people quite a lot of money. Verna begins assisting Dr Crampton with his surgeries on women. These woman come from near and far, some are strangers, others familiar. They are all looking for the same thing. Eventually, the arrests come.

Jackson Taylor has done a sublime job of telling this story, that of the life of his grandmother. This is the story of one woman's life but it is so much more. It's a picture of a time in history, when politics and race and the law collided, and Verna Krone just happened to have lived through it. This is storytelling, folks, in its purest form. This is a long and meaty book, one to take your time with and savor and one that I was sad to see come to an end.

Just For Me

2010-03-02T09:55:00.004-06:00

I'm still gorging myself on D.E. Stevenson around here. These books are so perfect and simple at the end of the day when I'm tired. Here's what I've read lately:

Summerhills is the sequel to the very wonderful Amberwell, which remains my favorite Stevenson book so far. Summerhills was a good read and I enjoyed finding out what happened to all those familiar characters, as well as some new ones, but this book was not perfect in the way Amberwell was. Summerhills focuses on siblings Nell and Roger Ayrton. Roger decides to open a local school for boys, in part for his own son Stephen who Nell has been raising since the war. The Ayrtons are a few of the single people featured and we get to see how they sort themselves out and couple off. The most curious character in Summerhills is Miss Glassford, nanny to Stephen. Everyone is very surprised by her. She wears pants! And her favorite hobby is running! Early in the morning! They all think her very odd and cannot quite articulate why they simply do not like her or consider her romantically. She is obviously ahead of her time and I felt a little bit bad for her. All ends well for everyone else, though.

Celia's House was written in 1943; what is perhaps most curious about this book is that of course, the war was going on, and while it's definitely in the background here nobody knows what is going to happen. The first Celia is an elderly lady who aggravates her nephew when she decides to leave her estate to another relative, Humphrey Dunne, and his family. She does make a rather unusual stipulation though, as to the future owners of the home. I read this a few weeks ago so I am a little thin on details here. This nice family grows up in the house and the children become successful adults and their is romance and it is all quite nice and enjoyable.

Finally for today, we have Bel Lamington. Bel is slightly different from the usual Stevenson heroines as she begins with a rather sad and lonely existence. She is an orphan who lived with her aunt until adulthood when she died and now Bel is all alone in London, missing the country and working as a secretary to earn her keep. Lots of things happen to Bel in a short time: she meets an artist whom she cares for but who turns out to be a cad, her boss goes out of the country and Bel unexpectedly is fired from her job. This leaves Bel able to accept an invitation to Scotland to join her friend and Bel recuperates there, finds work, and finally true love comes calling.

If you're tired of these old books I've been reading, come back another day as I've read an excellent modern book.

From the Reviewer's Stack

2010-02-25T10:48:00.003-06:00

I've been quiet here but not here in real life. Busy with a long stretch at work, then getting the house back in order afterwords-still working on this, being the second in command for girl scout cookies sales...all this has made for a busy week. Speaking of cookies, those Samoas are like crack. Is there another cookie out there sold year round that approximates this? Please advise.

Well, I wrote late last year about how things are going to change around here, blah blah blah, and that I was going to greatly cut down on the number of review copies I accept and write about. I have been successful in this. There aren't exactly people banging down my door begging me to review their book, but I do get requests, perhaps a few a week and sure it's flattering, and nice to have such fun mail. Some of the requests are admittedly odd, for books outside any genre I read - self help, romance, etc. Then there was the illegible request that was formatted in some crazy way. I mean, AOL has a habit of making email look wonky by the time I receive it, but I could seriously not even read the text between the crazy http&^%$ stuff. And then the publicist contacted me again, saying 'how else can we get the word out' and I almost emailed back and said 'how bout start by sending me an email I can actually read!' but I didn't.

All this to say, that I'll be trying to keep my ARC reading to 12 books this year, that's one per month (I'm good at math too!) and here are the first two books of the year.

I actually received Melanie Benjamin's Alice I Have Been: A Novellast year. I was drawn to this story primarily by the Victorian period in which it is set, and secondly to it's literary nature. Benjamin was inspired by a photograph of Alice Liddell - the girl who inspired Alice in Wonderful - and was moved to think and write about who she actually was.

Alice I Have Been is divided into three sections, in the first Alice is young girl and counts teacher Charles Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll among her friends. There is a strong sense of unease in this section of the book, as we discover that Mr. Dodgson's favorite companions are young girls. When you think about the photograph above, that Dodgson took this photo of a child of a respectable Victorian family in such a state of undress -those couldn't have been her clothes, and with such an expression on her face, well it certainly seems that to an outsider something was Not.Quite.Right.

Something Happens.

Something really did happen to cause a break in the relationship between Dodgson and the Liddell family, but history does not tell us exactly what. The second section of the book deals features Alice as a young woman, having a romance with Prince Albert and meeting Mr. Dodgson again. It is uncomfortable. And finally, we see Alice as an older woman, somewhat surprised by the attention she still garners as Alice in Wonderland.

I liked Alice I Have Been very much. The period felt authentic to me and I thought the author used her imaginative powers very well here, conjuring up what Alice might have been like.

Next we have One Amazing Thingby Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. This woman really knows how the spin a sentence and I wanted to read this book after enjoying Sister of My Heart: A Noveland The Vine of Desire: A Novelso much.

One Amazing Thing takes place in a visa/passport office in the basement of a building in the US. San Francisco perhaps? There is an earthquake and the 9 people trapped inside this office must find a way to stay safe and survive until they can hopefully escape. One way they take their minds off their troubles is to each share 'one amazing thing' from their own lives and through this we see into each of their hearts and minds.

Despite the beautiful writing this was just an okay read for me. It was hard to get to know so many characters in so little time and really care about their stories. I was often mystified when the stories would go from first person to third person in one paragraph. Between stories, the survivors would deal with the immediate effects of the earthquake. I think the stories coming out of the earthquake in Haiti really lessened the impact of this part of the story.

Ultimately, what I got out of this book is being reminded that everyone has a story and a motivation that we'll probably never know nor understand. It is that story that makes each person who they are and may affect their daily life in ways we can never understand.

Many thanks to Delacorte Press and Hyperion Books for providing these books for review.

Around the Neighborhood - A Snow Sculpture

2010-02-23T10:19:00.001-06:00

Dying to Know

2010-02-16T09:54:00.003-06:00

Well. Perhaps you've been dying to know what books were bugging me last week. Maybe not! In either case, here they are:

1939: The Last Season

I was expecting something different, I think, in this book by Anne De Courcy. I thought it would be about British 'Society', debutante balls, the last hurrah before WW2 intervened. It was sometimes about those things. I enjoyed chapters about what the process was to be presented at court, health and medical care at the time, the lives of servants and the upkeep of those enormous country estates. I did not so much enjoy chapters about particular parties, and who attended, and what they wore and what was served for dinner, all told in a dry journalistic tone. I suppose that is what bothered me about this book - it was very dry and almost too 'stick to the facts' in form. I wanted personal stories and anecdotes; that is what brings history to life, I think, and it was not really achieved here in my opinion. Certainly I learned some things, but reading this became a chore.

Adam and Eve and Pinch Me

It surprises even me that Ruth Rendell wrote a book that was at times yawn inducing. This is the story of several women whose boyfriends and husband have died or disappeared and how they are all connected. Then there are a series of murders (we know the culprit) that affect all of these women, and we peer over the shoulders of police as they discover who-done-it. This book feels like Rendell and if you've read her, you know what that means. It's suspenseful and mysterious, people are a little bit...off. At first the reader is in the dark and is let in on the secret a few chapters in. Then we wait for things to come to a head. They do. Then I wondered what on earth is going to happen in the second half of this book. This is actually a good book and a decent read, it's just not up there with the other Rendell/Vine books I've read. It's much, much more psychological novel than it is a straight mystery/suspense/detective story. Published in 2001, I think it might be the most current Rendell/Vine book I've read and it's worth reading - it's just not her best or most typical book.

Ouch!

2010-02-12T10:31:00.002-06:00

I pulled something in my back again and I'm on the third day of gingerly moving around the house. Standing is okay, so is laying down, but sitting is not so good. Computer = not good.

On the bright side I am in The Good Book Zone. I have a few deliciously good books on the nightstand and just in the past 24 hours have read what will likely wind up on my 'Best Reads of the Year' list. That book is Still Aliceby Lisa Genova.

I'd wanted to read Still Alice for some time and recommended it to my bookclub who chose The Help instead. Now that I've read it, I know that everyone who raved about it was right. It brought me to tears at least twice. I woke up a couple times last night and the first thought I had was about Alice, and what would happen to her in the last part of this book.

I'm sure you've read enough reviews of Still Alice to last you a lifetime, instead I will just share a few random thoughts I had while reading this amazing book about a 50 year old Harvard professor who is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's.

*First of all, I haven't had much exposure to anyone living with Alzheimer's disease so this book was really an eye opener for me in terms of how it is diagnosed and how quickly the disease can progress. That shocked me, actually.

*Alice really gave me cause for thought when she thought about the fact that she'd rather have cancer, something you can at least fight instead of something that just gets worse until you finally lose yourself. She thought about how having and fighting cancer would lead society to perceive her as a hero; having Alzheimer's just makes you an outcast. People are afraid of what is perceived to be mental illness.

*This is a terrifying book. Any one of us could get Alzheimer's and there is NOTHING WE CAN DO to stop it or make it better. That is so frightening to me. The idea of not being present inside my body is so scary as is being a complete burden on everyone around me.

Still Alice is beautifully written and completely heart wrenching. I recommend it to everyone.

On A Roll

2010-02-09T10:07:00.004-06:00

I'm still reading D.E. Stevenson. She's been a beacon of light in my dark reading days, which have now thankfully turned around.

Amberwell was the third Stevenson novel I read and the first that I would say I loved. It was a page-turner for me and unlike her other books that I've read, I wasn't completely sure how everything would turn out halfway through. It's been a few weeks since I finished this so I'm having to jog my memory to come with a synopsis. Amberwell is a house that has been the home of the Ayrton family for generations. At the start of the book Amberwell houses Mr. and Mrs. William Ayrton and their children, two older boys from Mr. Ayrton's first marriage and three little girls from their own. They had wished for more boys. Thus, these girls grow up in a home where there is no love from their parents and they seem to spend virtually no time together. These girls lives revolve around each other and their nanny and as they do not attend school or Sunday School, they know no other children. They live for the days when their older brothers come home from school and bring excitement to their days. This is the setting for the first part of the book, and it's really very heartbreaking. Rather suddenly, these little girls become big girls and two of them go away leaving middle sister Nell at home with her parents. War comes and things change around Ayrton, with many of the servants leaving, and the grown up Ayrton's too incapable and self-absorbed to be of any use. Nell must come into her own and it is really lovely to see her become a strong young woman. One of the sisters went away rather mysteriously, the reasons around it are kept from us until the end when things are very satisfyingly revealed. There are still a few strings hanging at the end, and there is apparently a sequel which I'm hoping to read. This is why I'm currently applying for a library card for the neighboring library system - they have it and mine does not! I haven't read Miss Buncle's Book yet, but Amberwell seemed very close to the sort of thing Persephone might publish, not exactly, but very, very close.

I've also finished Stevenson's Vittoria Cottage. This is very similar to The Musgraves in that the main character is a young widow (this one less happily married) with three adult/teen children who are trying to find their way. The Dering family lives in a small village several years after WW2. This gives the reader a peek into how WW2 was still affecting the British, with petrol and food being rationed and people being encouraged to keep chickens and grow food. There are engagements and parties and small town life galore, also an interesting side story of a young woman with thyroid disease who is afraid of the treatment despite growing larger and larger. It is obviously early on where the book is going and it's an entertaining ride all the way. My only criticism is that the book ended quite abruptly and the reader misses out on a particular moment of happiness.

These are two Stevenson novels that I did not get on with. The first is The Four Graces. The story was okay actually, but the print of the book was so close together that it made me dizzy. I'm sorry to say that the other book that I did not finish was Mrs. Tim Christie/Mrs. Tim of the Regiment. This was recently republished and has been raved about everywhere so I am sort of embarrassed. I read about 50 pages and wound up asking myself - Why are you reading this? It's supposed to be entertaining and frankly, fun, but it feels like a chore. I think I just don't care for diary-style books and prefer a more straight forward style of storytelling that I can lose myself in. The 50 pages I read didn't flow well for me, it felt abrupt and more like a series of anecdotes. Oh well. Next I am going to give Celia's House a try and soon I many have to bother the grumpy librarian again.

A Weird Reading Week

2010-02-05T12:41:00.003-06:00

There is a stack of books on my nightstand, okay actually there are a few stacks, but the one I'm talking about is the stack of 6 books I've started, some as long ago as the beginning of 2010. Everything just seems 'blah' to me right now. No book is clever enough, engaging enough, well written enough to suit me it seems. Dare I say it? I'm bored by many of them. Every few days I get so annoyed that I start another book which is how I came to have so many in the stack. Another thing I keep doing is picking up something I know will be quick and pleasing, read it quickly in about the span of a day and then I'm back to where I started. I think I am going to finish 3 of the books in the stack for sure. Not sure when. The other three I could walk away from and never look back. Isn't that sad? I'm not sure what I need. In any case here are a couple of books that have worked for me lately.

I read the sixth installment of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs Novels), a couple weeks ago. It was such a divine feeling to read the first page and sigh with relief knowing where I was headed. I think I said it with the fifth book but I am going to say it again; Winspear gets better and better and these last two installments are my favorites next to the first book in the series. The main storyline in this outing deals with the sufferings of those who served in WW1 and Maisie works closely with Scotland Yard to solve the case. The other main storyline deals with Billy's wife and her depression **spoiler!** over the death of her child in the last book **end spoiler**. The entire book is really a fascinating look at mental illness and how it was dealt with in the past. I look forward to the next book!

Harry Bernstein's memoirs are remarkable not just for their remembrances of a Jewish English boy, who grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father, then immigrated to the US. What is most remarkable about Mr. Bernstein is that he became a published author in his 90s and went on to write two more books. Having enjoyed both of Mr Bernstein's previous books, The Dream and THE INVISIBLE WALL, I knew I wanted to read his third book which chronicled the story of his marriage. The Golden Willow: The Story of a Lifetime of Loveis the story of Harry and his true love and wife Rose. They had the sort of marriage most people only dream of. The Golden Willow goes back and forth between Rose and Harry's early days together, and their last days together as Rose died from cancer. It is a touching book and it's most poignant moments came when the author wrote about the grieving process, and how old age has affected his body and mind. The Golden Willow doesn't have the same narrative power as Mr Bernstein's previous books. There are times when it is repetitive and one wonders if life was truly always so cheerful. I think if you are a fan of the author's work already, you won't care about this, and instead will enjoy this book for what it is - a love letter to Rose.

Book Bites: The Good and the Not-So-Good

2010-02-01T10:14:00.003-06:00

Let's begin with the not so good.

Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions is our first book club read of 2010 which will be discussed tonight. I cannot wait to hear what everyone thinks about it! We have a journal in which information from each meeting is recorded, quotes and such. I suspect my quote of the night will be this:

This is 0% of what I am looking for in a reading experience.

Shall I elaborate? I just couldn't stand anything about this book. The writing style, the story itself, the mention of every one's race in a 'hey I'm not racist but everyone else who mentions race is' way, the bizarre mention of the length of the genitals of every male character. What the heck was that all about?? I think I 'get' Vonnegut's point, that this is a satire on 'modern' society and it's ills, but overall it felt like a waste of time. Not funny. Not entertaining. Sort of gross. Just annoying. The only positive thing I would say about it was that occasionally this 1973 book felt current. I wouldn't have finished this book had it been for my husband who has been bugging me to read Vonnegut for years. He thinks I'm nuts. So would all the reviewers on Amazon who love this sort of thing. Maybe you think I'm nuts, too. I don't care. I won't be reading any more Vonnegut, but it seems he has plenty of fans already.

On to better things.

Day After Night: A Novelis Anita Diamant's new book which perhaps I wouldn't have read for some time, but I came across a copy at the library. The library has been my friend in 2010! Anyhow, Day After Night is set in an interesting time period, that just after WW2. I've read a fair number of holocaust books, but I've rarely read detailed accounts of what happened to the many survivors after the war was over. We know they didn't just go home and resume their lives. Day After Night is set in Atlit internment camp in Palestine; basically another prison for those who had just been freed from persecution. The story focuses on four women with varied stories, as they experience Atlit and eventually their rescue/escape from it into Israel. I enjoyed this book and thought Diamant did an excellent job bringing this bit of history alive by making it personal through the characters.

On another subject, can I just say that this blogging change that I talked about in November is working for me. I am happy with the amount of time that I spend blogging and reading the blogs of others. I am commenting less but it means more if you know what I mean. I am very happy with the reading choices I have been able to make and the fact that I have very few books that need to be read on a time frame. My reading feels like me again, instead of feeling like I am following the herds reading the same things. It feels good.

Oldies But Goodies

2010-01-27T09:28:00.005-06:00

So, a few weeks ago I was browsing the shelves at my library to see what Mary Stewart books they have. My eyes glanced upwards and I happened upon a small selection of books by D.E. Stevenson. Stevenson has been experiencing a bit of a popularity boost, with two of her books being republished in 2009, Miss Buncle's Book and Mrs Tim of the Regiment, so I recognized her name immediately and decided to bring one of her books home. Now I have six checked out. Don't you love those vintage covers?

The first Stevenson book I read (and my favorite of the two) is called Blow the Wind Southerly which is apparently also known as Charlotte Fairlie and one other title which escapes me. Miss Fairlie is the headmistress of a girls school in England and is a particularly young headmistress with a somewhat lonely private life. Despite her youth, Miss Fairlie has an even temper and a sensible head on her shoulders. The first half of the novel takes place mostly at and around school. Miss Fairlie has a new student this year, Tessa who is away from her beloved home for the first time, and they form a particular bond. The school year passes successfully, despite discord from a grumbling teacher who wanted to be headmistress and overly strict parents. Tessa invites Miss Fairlie and some friends (children) to visit her at her home in the summer in Scotland (I think!). The path of the tale really becomes clear from this point midway through the book, and the reader can see what is coming, but of course obstacles must be overcome first. All ends well.

The second book I read is The Musgraves. This is a rather more complicated tale with more characters and storylines. Widowed mother Esther has three daughters, one a difficult spinster, one happily married, and one young and fresh, just leaving school. Each has their own storyline and issues. Then there is Walter, Esther's husband's son from his first marriage whom she has only met once - he was not happy about his father's remarriage but has returned to mend hard feelings. Throw in a drama club, a mysterious woman with a scandalous past, and a suspicious young man and you will see what ensues.

What struck me at first about these books, is that they reminded me of books I read in my childhood, that is to say, that they were 'uncomplicated'. The more I thought about it, I wasn't sure if this was the right word, for these books are not saccharine, there are certainly issues and problems to overcome, and unpleasant characters are present and seen by all as troublesome (a take home message, perhaps?). Perhaps the right word is comfortable, for these are books to fall into on a snowy afternoon, they are good books to read when you are tired and don't want to think much. They are there simply to be enjoyed.

As you can see in the photo above I've since borrowed more Stevenson books from the library, even sending a grumpy librarian down to their storage to find Mrs Tim and Vittoria Cottage. I was expecting her to return with old, dusty, falling apart books yet Mrs Tim is in pristine condition! All in all the library has 28 of Stevenson's titles, I consider this a lucky event for me as it seems these books are hard to find and expensive to come by. There is another Stevenson fan locally; I can tell from the catalog that someone else has borrowed their own stack of Stevenson titles. Perhaps they will bring more titles out of storage? I can hope.

If you have a particular favorite D.E. Stevenson book, I'd love to know about it.

A Great License Plate

2010-01-25T08:00:00.001-06:00

Sorry it's so dark.

Expectations

2010-01-21T10:13:00.004-06:00

I find it interesting how our expectations about a book, or a movie, or anything really, colors our experience of them and determines how we react to them. Sometimes, I prefer to go into reading a book with very little information so that my reaction can be my own and unaffected. This was not the case with two books I read recently.

It seems like I've been hearing and reading about how amazing Jayne Pupek's Tomato Girl was for years - and it has only been out since 2008! Every review I've come across has been glowing, and I expected to feel the same way. Well, I am going to bravely buck the trend. Tomato Girl is a story filled with dysfunctional people. Adolescent Ellie Sanders has had a difficult childhood as her mother suffers from mental illness. Her father has been supportive for many years, but his patience has run out and he has taken up with an abused and epileptic teenage girl, finally running away with her and leaving Ellie alone with her very, very ill mother. Bad stuff happens. More bad stuff happens. The last 50 pages are almost comical in that every horrible thing that could happen to a young girl does - in one day. There was a phrase that kept coming to my mind while I read this.

Hopeless Trainwreck.

I almost stopped reading 2/3 of the way through because I lost sight of the point of this book. I know bad stuff happens, and frankly I happen to read and 'enjoy' many particularly depressing books. This one crossed the line for me I guess and felt unnecessarily hopeless. It reminded me of a young adult novel bloggers raved about in the past year about a young teen being held hostage by a pedophile. I wonder, why do we need to read the fiction about this? We know it happens and the reality is bad enough. I am also reminded of another book that seems like a trainwreck, everything bad that could happen does, yet in the end there is hope. That book was A Fine Balanceand is a particular favorite of mine. In the end, I know everyone loved Tomato Girl but I didn't.

On a lighter note, The Monsters of Templetonby Lauren Groff is a book that seems to elicit strong reaction. Readers seem to either love it or hate it. I've had this book for some time now, and the feeling I had based on reviews was that I wasn't going to be crazy about it, but I was pleasantly surprised. In a nutshell, pregnant grad student Willie returns to her hometown of Templeton to get away from her life. She discovers that her father is not who she thought he was and sets out to explore the town's history to figure out who he was. There are photographs of Willie's ancestors, old letters, and chapters from the point of view of long dead relatives. All this tells the story of Templeton and Willie. Oh, there is a lake monster too. My sense was that the author doesn't take herself too seriously, there were many unique elements in this book. Overall I enjoyed this book, though it wasn't a love affair. By the end I was ready to be done (editing?). I'll be interested to see what Groff comes up with next.

How to Start the Year Off Right

2010-01-15T11:14:00.003-06:00

For one, I'd suggest beginning with some Dorothy Whipple. As 2010 began, I had a nice little stack of books on my nightstand, each of which was making me happy. They Were Sisterswas pleasing me most of all. This is the story of, yes, three sisters, and their relationships with one another and with their own families. One sister became caregiver to the others quite early on so she remains a bit of an authority figure to them. These three sisters are married, one to a somewhat dull but very solid presence, one to a loving husband whom she does not respect, and one to an abusive and degrading man. It is worth mentioning that Whipple creates a sense of fear surrounding this abusive man, and yet there is no physical violence, he abuses with his words and attitude.

How very difficult it is to describe what is so wonderful about Dorothy Whipple, why her books are just so readable, for that is what they are. Characters are fully and honestly drawn, and the drama all happens at home or in the minds of the characters. Whipple's books are not the sort that would be termed cozy; there is a great amount of discord and unrest here, and one hopes that there will be a happy ending for someone, at least. All in all, totally satisfying for me and it is all I can do to stop myself from plowing through my other Whipples right now.

Another book that started off my year right was John Harwood's The Seance. I had wanted to read this ever since I first heard about it, despite my slight disappointment in the ending of his previous novel, The Ghost Writer. The Seance has many elements that I enjoy; a Victorian setting, a mystery, somewhat of a story within a story. In a nutshell, Constance Langton has had a disappointing childhood, and as a young woman finds that she has inherited an old country mansion Wraxford Hall. But this is no ordinary mansion, as Constance is advised, amongst other strange occurrences, people have vanished into thin air. The middle part of the book is told from several perspectives, detailing the mysteries surrounding Wraxford, then for the ending we go back to Constance for a final adventure. I liked this book a good deal, but something occurred to me; I think I like John Harwood's writing better than his plotting. Sometimes things get a bit far-fetched, or complicated, but it's all beautifully told. Another book to recommend, and an author to watch, for sure.

Remnants, Part 2

2010-01-13T16:59:00.000-06:00

The reading of Louise Penny's second book in the Inspector Gamache series was to be a treat to myself while I would be at my in-laws over Christmas. The snow arrived and I stayed in Minnesota (yeah!) but I decided to go ahead with A Fatal Grace (Three Pines Mysteries, No. 2). What perfect timing! In three pines it was Christmastime - Check, snowing a lot - check, and absolutely freezing - check! As always, the villagers are out in force here as is the delicious sounding food and of course there is murder. I had a suspicion about the perpetrator here early on, whom I dismissed, and then later turned out to be The One. A divine and cozy read all around and I had to hold myself back from reading the next.

What We Eat When We Eat Alone: Stories and 100 Recipesis one of those books you come across unexpectedly and then pay *gulp* full price for. This is one gorgeous hardcover by Deborah Madison and her artist husband Patrick McFarlin. This book is exactly as advertised; the authors have asked friends, acquaintances and everyone else what they eat by themselves. From those who live alone, to those who are rarely alone, the answers were, to me, fascinating.

A few things that interested/surprised me were:

*Men are much more likely to prepare meat, such as a steak, for themselves than women.

*Women are much more likely to prepare a big pot of something, such as soup, and eat it over the course of many days.

*Not many people are cooking pasta for themselves. WHAT???? I am always cooking pasta for myself. Am I all alone?

If you like cooking, eating,or have that sociological curiosity like I do about what people are eating, pick this one up. There are recipes, too!

Finally, Singled Out: How Two Million British Women Survived Without Men After the First World Waris a book that was pretty great but because I read half of it last August and the rest in the Fall I can't say much that's coherent about it. In Britain these women were known as surplus women and there were one and three-quarter million of them. Singled Out is history, told by the people who lived it. Author Virginia Nicholson brings these women to life through a vast number of personal stories exploring lack of a mate and childlessness, to careers and retirement, and even that most delicate subject...pleasure. One subject of particular interest to me, was that of the many women authors in this position and how that translated into their writing; many Virago Modern Classic titles are mentioned. If you're interested in a more concise review Danielle has written about Singled Out here, here and here. If you're an Anglophile like me, if you love women's history, or books about WW1, you'll love this. Seriously.

So that's it! I can happily shut the door on 2009 and begin writing about the books of 2010. So far, there have been some good ones.

Remnants of 2009

2010-01-08T11:53:00.003-06:00

These books are some of the leftovers from 2009, unreviewed but not unappreciated. I just want to briefly share my thoughts on them for myself, perhaps you will find something that interests you.

Little Monsters by Charles Lambert - Reviewed by another blogger (who are you?), I ordered this one from the UK. An adolescent girl's father murders her mother and she is sent away to live with an uncaring (to put it mildly) aunt, uncle, and cousin. Her story goes back and forth from her growing-up years to her unconventional and what felt to be, fairly unstable adult life. This was okay for me.

A Northern Lightby Jennifer Donnelly - Cath always knows what I like, that's for sure. She told me I should try this, despite the fact that I thought the author's The Tea Rose was melodramatic. This young adult novel set in 1906 is gorgeously written, those who love books and words and learning will sympathize with main character Mattie who dreams to go away to college. Her mother's death makes her father want to keep her at home. I never fail to be surprised by the parent who wants their child to stay home and work on the farm, follow in their footsteps, get married and on it goes. Was it fear of education or they just wanted the extra hands? Mattie is torn between education and love and this all takes place as the backdrop of a very real and publicized murder of a young woman in the Adirondacks. Highly recommended.

Half of a Yellow Sunby Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - A complex novel set during the Nigerian Civil War, from the perspective of several characters including twin sisters, an academic, and his houseboy. I thought it was very, very well done and absorbing though I was a little disappointed in the ending.

Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Timesby Suzan Colon - Lovely memoir by a woman whose life and career as a magazine editor were turned upside down by the current recession. In the interest of saving money, she goes back to those family recipes used during other hard times. I appreciated the author's candor and enjoyed this story of her life in and out of the kitchen. Many thanks to Doubleday for this review copy.

Four down, four to go!

Nothing in Common

2010-01-05T10:10:00.003-06:00

The two books I'm writing about today have nothing in common other than the fact that I was reading them at the same time. I had such different reactions to these books and the experience really sort of 'highlighted' my tastes.

Daphne: A Novelby Justine Picardie was the darling of the British book bloggers some time ago and I waiting for US publication, then paperback publication to finally find out why. The wait was worth it! I'm a little, okay a lot, embarrassed to say that I've never read Daphne du Maurier's work, the person this novel is based on. But to tell you the truth, that didn't really matter at all, when it came to enjoying this book. I mean, I think if I'd read Rebecca (I know the story, just haven't actually read it!) I would have gotten more out of it, but it was a very compelling story nonetheless. The story goes back and forth between three characters. Daphne herself is living a solitary life, researching the life of Branwell Bronte as her marriage is seemingly coming apart. Branwell Bronte scholar J.A. Symington is disgraced, and fielding letters from du Maurier requesting information about Bronte. The present day character is a female graduate student who is keeping her fascination with du Maurier and the link she has discovered with Symington a secret from her much older and distant husband.

Let us cut now to the other novel I was reading, The Ivy Treeby Mary Stewart. You might or might not remember my first experience with Mary Stewart. It was a good one and I expected nothing less with The Ivy Tree. Well, this is one of those times that I disagree with everyone else on Amazon who adored this book. The story sounded good; a young woman from Canada is minding her own business in England when a man comes upon her and declares her the dead ringer for his cousin, long thought to be dead. His cousin who apparently is entitled to the inheritance he is hoping for himself. Thus begins this tale of mystery and deceit. It would be an understatement to say I did not enjoy this very much. I am not a huge fan of looooong stretches of dialogue in books. This book, I felt, had the following structure. Long stretch of dialogue between young woman and one other character;loooong description of place and of the countryside; repeat. And the big twist? It wasn't hard to figure out.

So when the dialogue laden The Ivy Tree was juxtaposed with Daphne it was so easy to understand why I enjoyed Daphne so much more. Yes, there is of course dialogue, and yes, the characters go places and do things, but Daphne was a much more cerebrally driven novel. It's all about what everyone is thinking, not what they are saying. Apparently, I like that more. But for the record, I haven't given up on Mary Stewart.

Books Read in 2010

2010-01-03T08:00:00.045-06:00

This post will be routinely updated as an ongoing list.

1. They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
2. The Seance by John Harwood
3. Tomato Girl by Jayne Pupek
4. Blow the Wind Southerly by D.E. Stevenson
5. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
6. Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear
7. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
8. Day After Night by Anita Diamant
9. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
10. The Musgraves by D.E. Stevenson
11. Amberwell by D.E. Stevenson
12. The Golden Willow by Harry Bernstein
13. Vittoria Cottage by D.E. Stevenson
14. 1939: The Last Season by Anne De Courcy
15. Adam and Eve and Pinch Me by Ruth Rendell
16. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
17. One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
18. Celia's House by D.E. Stevenson
19. Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth
20. Sumerhills by D.E. Stevenson
21. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
22. Bel Lamington by D.E. Stevenson
23. The Blue Orchard by Jackson Taylor
24. Listening Valley by D.E. Stevenson
25. Fletcher's End by D.E. Stevenson
26. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
27. Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard
28. Her People by Kathleen Dayus
29. The Baker's Daughter by D.E. Stevenson
30. The Blue Sapphire by D.E. Stevenson
31. The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier
32. The Art of Eating In by Cathy Erway
33. The Corner Shop by Elizabeth Cadell
34. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
35. Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor
36. Learning to Swim by Clare Chambers
37. The Girl in the Green Sweater by Krystyna Chiger with Daniel Paisner
38. Small Island by Andrea Levy
39. The Shadows in the Street by Susan Hill
40. Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig
41. This World We Live in by Susan Beth Pfeffer
42. An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
43. The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly
44. This is How by M.J. Hyland
45. Searching for Home by Mary Stanley
46. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
47. Someone Knows my Name by Lawrence Hill
48. Secret Daughter by Shipi Somaya Gowda
49. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
50. Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood
51. Mr. Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons'
52. The Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah
53. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
54. An Irish Country Village by Patrick Taylor
55. Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
56. Kisses on a Postcard by Terrence Frisby
57. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
58. They Knew Mr. Knight by Dorothy Whipple
59. Room by Emma Donoghue
60. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
61. Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
62. In a Far Country by Linda Holeman
63. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
64. A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
65. The Legacy by Katherine Webb
66. Purge by Sofi Oksanen
67. Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
68. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
69. The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler
70. The Sisterhood by Emily Barr
71. An Unpardonable Crime by Andrew Taylor
72. A Dry Spell by Clare Chambers
73. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
74. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
75. Oral History by Lee Smith
76. Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon
77. Breaking Dawn by
78. The Best of Times by Penny Vincenzi
79. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
80. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
81. A Hidden Life by Adele Geras
82. Unbroken by Laura
83. Starting From Scratch by Susan Gilbert-Collins
84. The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear

Books and Cooks Best Reads of 2009

2009-12-31T01:00:00.000-06:00

How does a book wind up on my Best of the Year list? Here's what I wrote last year, and it still stands:

...a book that lands on my Best Reads list has that extra something that I find hard to define. These books have touched me, and have stayed with me, some for nearly a year now. They have surprised and impressed me. They are not necessarily what the critics would call the best books, but they are the books that have affected me most deeply.

The above stack is in no particular order with one exception.

Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade Life was my favorite book of 2009. I knew while I was reading it that it would be. The writing is sublime, and Molly has opened her heart for all of us to peer inside. I could go on and on about her lemon cake which I've made at least four times already and is my daughter's favorite cake.

Vicki Forman kept me spellbound with This Lovely Life, a memoir chronicling her life as the mother of a severely premature baby and then child. She broke my heart and gave me cause to cheer all at once. Simply stunning.

The Midwife by Jennifer Worth was an instant love affair for me, full of nearly unbelievable tales of her years as a midwife in the East End of London. For those who enjoy a graphic medical book, this one is gripping.

Ah, Too Many Cooks. I was nuts about Emily Franklin's memoir of how she feeds her family. Similar in format to A Homemade Life, this had a twist of its own, that of young children. A great read and brilliant recipes, too.

The World in Half is a book I wish I would see around more. Cristina Henriquez tells a quietly beautiful tale of a girl simultaneously losing her mother and searching for her father; instead she finds the most touching friendship I've ever read about.

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan packs a punch. The story of a young black man returning home after serving his country is shocking and unputdownable. I'll be suggesting this to my bookclub for 2011.

Ellen Baker's Keeping the House was one of the first books I read this year and it's still with me. Loved this family saga set in Midwest, full of twists and secrets. It was a love affair for me from beginning to end. Would love to see more from this author.

How could you forget The Help by Kathryn Stockett? A totally satisfying read set in the South in the 1960s, I cannot wait to reread this one for bookclub next November.

Ruth Rendell's 1977 masterpiece A Judgement in Stone retains it's creepiness and sense of place 30 years after the fact. A divine story of suspense.

The Dream was my first book of Harry Bernstein's but his second - my mistake. A simply told memoir of a life and a family and a love that now seems extraordinary - to Mr Bernstein, it was just life.

Here's to 2010 and all the great books that are to come! Happy New Year!

The Books of 2009

2009-12-27T13:35:00.006-06:00

There they are. This is the project I mentioned last week, the messy one my husband wished would disappear. Early in 2009 I started stacking up the books I'd read and before I knew it, I realized it might make a cool photo at the end of the year. So, here they are, minus library books, and a few that annoyed me enough that I've already gotten rid of them. If you click on the photo you can see what is there.

Here are my reading statistics of 2009 (as of right now, and I reserve the right to change these numbers before the end of the year). Here are last years statistics for comparison.

Total books read: 104

Female authors: 89
Male authors: 15

Fiction books: 79
Nonfiction books: 25
Memoirs: 19
Memoirs that are food related: 9
Nonfiction books that are not memoirs: 6 (sad)

Young adult books: 9 + 5 Harry Potter books
Mystery: 15
WW2/Holocaust: 9

ARCs: 29 (obnoxious)

Books that were re-reads: 7

Books published in:
2009: 42
2000-2008: 44
1990-1999: 9
1970-1989: 3
1940-1969: 6
1900-1939: 0
pre-1900: 0

Total pages read = 36,144 divided by 104 = 347.5 average pages per book

Ok, so lets assess all this. First off, it seems I have read way too many ARCs and not enough books of my own choosing. On the one hand I am torn on this subject; I have found some great authors/books that I might not have chosen on my own, on the other hand, I definitely had less 'wow' books than I've had before and more 'fine' books.

I should really read more male authors, and more general nonfiction. I've called this the year of the memoir and that was surely the truth.

I was happy when I totaled up my pages read for the year. I was a little bit afraid that I would find that I read more books, but less pages than last year! That was not the case, as I read nearly 30% more pages than last year - nice!

What about goals? I like to be non-goal oriented when it comes to my reading. It's the only way for me, I think. Having said that, there are a few things I'd like to do this year. I would really like to read more of my Persephone books and Viragos. Another thing I'd like to do is read more of my really thick books. I think I tended to avoid them last year thinking if I was reading 700-800 page books, I'd never have anything to post about. Now that I practice Blog Simplicity, I am not going to worry about that and just read whatever I want. Here are a few books I have in mind.

Coming up later this week, my favorite books of 2009!

In case you are wondering, I got to stay home for Christmas! It was totally blissful watching all that snow come down and know I had nowhere to go. I cooked a great meal and had friends over for Christmas dinner.

Feel like a chat? Plus book porn.

2009-12-21T11:51:00.009-06:00

I'm feeling rather chatty today. It's been a busy morning. Before eleven AM I dropped the girl off at school, got gas and groceries, made 6 jars of butterscotch (see last post), wrapped my Christmas gifts, and am on my fourth load of laundry. Whew! I am rushing, rushing, rushing, because I have a movie date with my coworker/friend this afternoon. It is a rare day that we can get together and see a movie in our favorite genre - The British Period Film - we are seeing An Education. My husband thinks I'm nuts to go see this since there are all sorts of 'nominated' films out there. Whatever. If he was being really nice today, he'd let me see a double feature and go to Young Victoria, as well, but it is not to be. In addition to all this rushing, our Christmas plans are now up in the air due to this new storm coming through the Midwest. I'd just as soon stay home than go to Iowa (so not festive), so perhaps I will get my dream to stay home this year. Doubt it.

I really, really, want to get a few reviews, well, not reviews, my reactions to books up in this space before the end of 2009. I am going to try, but not kill myself over it - I am operating on Blog Simplicity here you know. Next week will be devoted to my 2009 statistics and favorite books of the year, as well as sharing a book project I've been working on all year and my husband wishes would disappear (it's messy). I am a general pessimist in life, but must be an optimist about books, as I've been reluctant to post favorites until now. What if the best book of the year came along? But alas it has not.

In lieu of reviews/reactions and the like, here are the books that have come into my home over the past few months.

These are from Bookcloseouts -they were having a crazy 50% off fiction sale. I'm really curious about the Sarah Rayne (it sounds creepy and suspenseful) and excited about the Linda Holeman, an author under published in the US.

Well this is a lousy photograph, it's very grey here. I'm super excited about The Madness of a Seduced Woman, I loved this author's book, Anya. Has anyone read this?

Here are some new books I couldn't resist.

And here are some more. I'm reading Daphne: A Novelright now and it's quite good.

If I had more time, I'd give you more links here, but I've got to go! Cheers!

A Red Letter Day

2009-12-17T10:22:00.002-06:00

Today is truly a Red Letter Day for me. Last night I finished my

100th

book of the year. For the past few years I had trouble breaking 80, which I finally did in 2008 so this is really a great achievement for me. Will I ever do it again? Who knows, but I'll have a bit of fun bragging about 2009.

You might be wondering what book was my 100th of the year. That honor goes to Persephone's The Carlyles at Home by Thea Holme. I'll be honest and tell you I didn't know a thing about author Thomas Carlyle before I began this book but that mattered not a whit. What I am interested in, and what this book provides, is a peek into everyday life in a Victorian home.

From finances to home renovations, illnesses, noisy neighbors, and particularly servants, Thea Holmes has woven a picture of the day to day life of the Carlyes. The most prominent subject in the book are the servants that revolve through the Carlyle's door. One after another they arrive, some are competent, others steal, some stay a few weeks, others a few years. Jane adores some of them, but that adoration almost always turns into distaste. Jane Carlyle would surely have agreed with the sentiment 'good help is hard to find.'

I've read here and there that the Carlyle marriage was famously unhappy. That is not evident here. Perhaps I shall have to read the sections on the Carlyles in Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages which has been sitting patiently on my shelves.

It was fortuitous that Persephone published a picture of Jane Carlyle on their daily blog recently(page down to December 2). Isn't she lovely?

I'll end today with a little, okay a BIG treat. I came across this post on Smitten Kitchen (great recipes) the other day, and having all the ingredients in the house I made this crazy delicious yet super easy butterscotch sauce. OH MY. Is this stuff ever amazing. I found the last box of jars at the grocery store, and my yearly neighbor gift giving quandary has been solved. I bet you wish you lived next door right about now, no? ;-)

Spotlight on: The Moonflower Vine

2009-12-15T11:55:00.004-06:00

It is in the heat of summer that The Moonflower Vine begins. Youngest daughter of the Soames, Mary Jo, describes the annual pilgrimage to her parent's farm in Missouri where she and her sisters converge on their elderly parents for a 'vacation' that is part obligation, part reunion. These adult daughters allow themselves to be parented as they help out with what seems like a primitive farm. Everyone seems to resist intrusion on this short time together, yet social obligation intrudes. We see what appears to be a happy family, led by God-fearing father Matthew and thick-skinned and hardworking mother Callie. We see what looks like an ordinary family gathering, with openness and good-will all around. We wonder what author Jetta Carlson could possibly have to say about this ordinary seeming group of people for 300 or so pages.

And then.

The story changes from first person to third as each member of the family is revealed to us, one by one, from Matthew, to Callie, sandwiching their daughters, including one who is deceased. Suddenly our preconceived notions are shattered. What looked like one thing is shown to be very much another as the inner lives of these characters are revealed, showcasing most prominently their romantic lives.

This is heady stuff, let me tell you. I was a little bit shocked (and disgusted by one of the characters) in 2009, think what original readers of this novel thought in 1962! I was taken in by the tagline of this book:

A Timeless American Classics Rediscovered - An Unforgettable Saga of a Heartland Family

Saga? Rediscovered classic? Count me in.

I began this book knowing only what the back cover said. Didn't read the introduction, nor the 'extras' in the back. Didn't read any spoiler-y reviews. Thus, I think that is how this book is best approached, though of course now you know more than I did!

In any case, I do recommend The Moonflower Vine: A Novel (P.S.). For the surprising turns it takes and for the gorgeous cover you can gaze at on your nightstand.

'And In the End'....they fizzled

2009-12-11T10:54:00.003-06:00

I bet the title of this post really makes you want to keep reading! As we near the end of 2009, my thoughts are turning to what were my favorite books of the year. Not wanting to be rash, I'm keeping my mind open to current and recent reads. But let me tell you, not a one is making my list! Sure, there are plenty of good books, but I'm looking for WOW books. I keep having the same problem lately - a book starts out really well, and then, well, it fizzles, it just doesn't maintain the power it had at the beginning. Here are a few examples.

The Day the Falls Stood Stillby Cathy Marie Buchanan was I book I expected to love. I loved the cover, loved the topic of Niagra Falls in the early 20th century, and devoured the vintage photographs so wonderfully included. The story focuses on Bess, once well to do, her family is now down and out, clinging to their old life by a social thread. Bess falls in love with The Wrong Sort of Boy, Tom Cole, grandson of a heroic riverman and a bit of a hero himself. The story becomes partly one of war and how it changes everything, one of industry and debate as the power of the falls is utilized for electricity, and one of life and tragedy. Overall I liked this book, though I would say I loved the first half and found it to be a pageturner. As I continued reading, I found myself less interested in the characters and somewhat unsurprised by the twists and turns at the end.

Changing gears a bit, I came across Minette Walters as an author comparable to Barbara Vine. I was sold! I chose to read Walters' debut novel, The Ice House: A Novel. The Ice House began well, as a body is found in the ice house of a country manor, a place where a man, the husband of the current resident, disappeared. There has been a murder investigation here before - coincidence? This was sort of a quirky murder mystery. I mean, I don't' read many books when the police force comes across as incompetent and the suspects practically seem to be egging them on. Everyone is lying in one way or another. I liked this book right up until the end, when the tone changed from quiet and suspenseful to crowded and confusing with a lot of people showing up and shouting at one another. I read somewhere that Walters doesn't know who is responsible until she's written half of the book, and I'm not so sure I like this idea. Perhaps I prefer a more 'crafted' book in which hints are dropped and feelings are alluded to along the way. Not to say I won't try Walters again - I definitely will.

Now I'm off to make lentil soup - it's soup season here.

Book Club Wrap-Up

2009-12-09T12:29:00.003-06:00

My book club met at my house on Monday evening to discuss our last book of the year and vote on books for 2010. Tasty chocolates and lemon cake were served!

The book we discussed was The Book Thiefby Marcus Zusak which was my choice. I was really pleased with the response - several people 'loved' it, most liked it a lot, and only 1 person didn't like it - she's tired of holocaust books - understandable as we've read quite a few this year. My thoughts from my first reading of The Book Thief can be found here. My response this time was more subdued. The first time around I *loved* the book and cried and cried. Knowing what was coming lessened the emotional impact for me this time around, though I still enjoyed the book very much.

Last month my book club discussed The Gargoyleby Andrew Davidson, the story of a severely burned man who is visited in the hospital by a woman, Marianne, who claims to have been his lover in medieval Germany and relates stories about their pasts. She is undeniably convincing. The book is extremely graphic, detailing the medical condition of the burn victim, so graphic that reading about his miserable childhood and sordid life were a 'break' from the burn unit. I found this to be an interesting and engaging read. A couple little issues I had: 1. I though it would have been interesting if the author decided that Marianne did not age (can you tell I bought into the story!) and 2. I didn't care for the drug-withdrawal apparently Dante-esque (I haven't read him) visions explored towards the end of the book. I actually skipped this part; I wanted to get back to the story and I found this tiresome. Everyone in our group enjoyed this book to one degree or another.

Here is our book list for 2010:

1. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
2. Child 44, by Tom Rod Smith
3. The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood
4. The Wednesday Sisters, by Meg Waite Clayton
5. Plan B: A Novel, by Jonathan Tropper
6. Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel, by Audrey Niffenegger
7. Sarah's Key, by Totiana de Rosnay
8. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

What do you think? I feel rather so-so about this list. As always, I am let down by some of the books suggested (The Shack? Thank goodness that didn't make the cut.) and surprised by the books voted in. There are 3 I've read, including The Help which is my pick. I've wanted to read 2&6 so I'm pleased about those. My husband has been bugging me to read Vonnegut for years so he is pleased about that;I'm not so sure. 4 seems fluffy, and 5, well I'm just not interested in that At All!

Second in a Series

2009-12-03T10:10:00.004-06:00

They're YA, they're page turners, they're both the second book in a series, and they're both from the library and need to go back!

Susan Beth Pfeffer's the dead and the goneis the second in her series of an apocalyptic future in which the moon has been thrown off course. Everyhing is a mess, the weather in particular, which is making it difficult for life to continue. I really liked the first book in this series, Life As We Knew It, and actually wasn't that interested in this installment until I heard there would be a third book involving the main character from the first book. Whew! So, this installment follows New Yorker Alex Morales as he deals with the fallout of this new existence and his new role of 'man around the house' for his two sisters. Alex's story was different in that he seemed to have more resources for food as well as relationships outside his family through school and church. Speaking of church, the Morales family are devout Catholics and their faith is referred to again and again. Readers with a low tolerance for religion may find this tiresome. While I did find this to be a quick read and a page turner, I never felt an emotional connection with Alex nor as drawn in to the story as I was with Pfeffer's other book. Despite this, I still plan to read the next book in the series to see what happens next. I'm fascinated by this future Pfeffer has imagined.

I was waiting, waiting, waiting(!) impatiently for Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)to arrive at the library last Friday. It did, and I finished it Sunday morning. What a ride! Fast paced and exciting, this book picked up where The Hunger Games left off. Heroine Katniss is being targeted by The Capital as Someone Who Might Ignite a Rebellion and they decide to show her who's boss! Do they ever. Was anyone else a little surprised at the direction this book took? I was not expecting more of, you know. But it worked. And the ending was great - a cliffhanger, but what did you expect!? I'll be first in line (at the library) for the third installment.

What's Cooking?

2009-11-30T10:49:00.009-06:00

Here are a few things I've cooked up this Fall.

Oh boy I can taste these peppers! Roasted in the oven with tiny tomatoes, basil and olive oil these were divine. This recipe came from Nigel Slater's latest book, Tender.

My big green pot has been in heavy rotation.

Here is Emily Franklin's Gross-Looking but Very Delicious-Tasting Red Lentil Soup from Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes(loved this book). The recipe name is hers.

My family wouldn't touch this once they heard the word LENTIL. Sheesh. I liked this soup and might have liked it more if I had blended it. The best part about it was how easy it was to make.

I am sadly lacking a photo of the gorgeously colored cauliflower cheese soup from Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals.

I've been a fan of Jamie's for years and I think he genuinely wants us to cook and eat better. I also think this is his best cookbook to date that will get the average person to achieve this. It's accessible, fun to read, and contains lots of 'take it to the next step or keep it simple' sort of recipes.

Next up, are my divine baked beans.

My grandmother was an amazing cook and she made the best baked beans ever. My favorite meal of hers was made up of these beans, roasted loin of pork and homemade cole slaw. I can still taste it and I haven't eaten it since I was a kid. These beans took me back. I combined two recipes to make these beans, using navy beans, lots of bacon, molasses, brown sugar, tomato paste, ketchup, mustard and maple syrup. They spent about 7 hours in the oven and they were truly amazing. Served alongside ham steak and great cole slaw, I had a happy family.

Here is the Cuban style black bean stew from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show.

That's a ham hock in there. I'm still not too sure how I feel about those. This was a tasty supper. Here is how I served it; over brown rice and topped with cheese and homemade guacamole. My family will eat about anything topped with cheese and guacamole. Except lentils.

Now I'm hungry. Luckily I have some of the bolognese sauce I made for dinner last night left over. Cheers!

Books from Britain Part 1 of ??

2009-11-27T10:40:00.003-06:00

I always seem to read a disproportionally high number of books by British authors, but I think this year there has been a record number. Now that it is so easy to order from a particular depository of books I seem to order one book here, one book there (there is no minimum order for shipping).

While I am on the topic of this depository I thought I'd share a few tips I've gleaned from shopping there. First, there are two websites you can order from: the dot com and the dot UK. The prices are slightly different so check both places. Second, the preorder prices are AMAZING especially at the dot com site for some reason. I bought Nigel Slater's new book on preorder for a song, and have bought paperbacks, retail price $13-14 for $5-7. So, if there is something coming out you know you've got to have; preorder it!

Now for a few things I've read:

The Mesmerist by Barbara Ewing

Well, we know I love a good Victorian romp, and that is just how this engaging and entertaining book begins, with two somewhat-aged actresses looking for a new profession. Cordelia becomes a Mesmerist, Rillie her assistant. This is all fun and successful, but these two 'ladies' have secrets. Oh, do they have secrets! Suddenly, almost unexpectedly, things become much more Dark and Sordid, but also much more interesting. Scandal and murder and a Victorian style court case round out this book. This is just the sort of comfort reading I love to fall into. A delight!

Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth

Shifting to the 20th century, this is the second of Worth's trilogy of her life as a nurse in the East End. I adored the first in the series, The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times, and knew I had to have this. Worth is a master storyteller and one immediately becomes engaged in the tales she tells. Shadows of the Workhouse is made up of three stories, two real heart breakers that sandwich a lighter tale about a Nun Worth lived with.

Overall, Worth gives a fascinating peek into a world we rarely read about, that of the poor of the East End. This is a great book for lovers of social history, as well as medical history. I didn't find this book quite as engaging as the author's first, but still a worthwhile read.

Falling in Love with Louise

2009-11-24T10:20:00.004-06:00

Receiving Louise Penny's The Brutal Telling (An Armand Gamache Novel) as an advance copy (thank you Minotaur Press/St Martins Books and you too FTC) turned out to be one of those miracle reading moments, the ones when you don't really know what you're getting into and it turns out to be a great reading experience.

The Brutal Telling is the fifth in Penny's Three Pines/Chief Inspector Gamache series set in a tiny village in Quebec. A village that sounds so charming you would love to visit it - except for the fact that murders keep occurring there.

The Brutal Telling is about the murder of a hermit who lived up in the woods amongst some of the world's most valuable antiques. As far as the mystery goes, I pretty much figured out who-done-it from the very beginning. Obviously, what I liked so much about this book was not so much the mystery aspect, but the characters that populate these books such as Chief Inspector Gamache. He is one of those 'knowing' souls, he sees and hears things the rest of us pay no attention to. He is polite, well dressed and he loves good food. Oh does he ever! I loved, loved, loved, reading about all the tasty things these characters were eating all the time. For me this novel was more about the why? and what if? than the who.

Well, I liked this book so much that I immediately went looking for books 1-4. And I wanted to read them RIGHT NOW! But I managed to ration myself to just one, reading Penny's first book Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel (Three Pines Mysteries) and enjoying it immensely as well. This cleared up some the past history and relationships for me that I read about in book five and this time around, I wasn't so certain who the murderer was.

Now I am greedily holding on to books 2-4. I've decided to reward myself with book 2 when I go to the in-laws for Christmas. They're lovely people but Christmas there tends to be a bit....dull. It's handy to have a book to immerse yourself in. You know.

They Bake Cakes

2009-11-20T09:41:00.004-06:00

As I try out my new format, I've been trying to consider what ties my recent reads together and how to group them for review. This batch was easy, as they all focus on baking (and life).

Set in post-genocide Rwanda, Baking Cakes in Kigali: A Novel by Gaile Parkin is the story of cake baker Angel. Everyone around comes to her for her brightly colored cakes (it's funny that the characters think our traditional white wedding cakes are BORING!) when they have a special event. Parkin tells her story through Angel, she is a natural sounding board for her clients and we get to know the various characters and how their lives have changed since the atrocities. Parkin has the ability to write about horrible subjects with a light hand, making this an accessible book. It is simply a novel, one that happens to be set in Rwanda. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. Many thanks to Bantam Dell for this review copy.

Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker is Gesine Bullock-Prado's memoir of how she left the Hollywood rat race (she worked for her sister...get it...Bullock) to open a small bakery in Vermont with her husband. I enjoyed Bullock-Prado's voice, her straight talking, no-nonsense style appealed to me and made for a quick and fun read. While the greatest appeal of this memoir is probably for those who enjoy time spent in the kitchen (there are recipes!) , Bullock-Prado speaks to all who wonder if they dare to follow their dreams. Many thanks to Broadway Books for this review copy.

Fellow blogger, pastry chef, and Paris resident David Lebovitz has written a funny and charming book, The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City, encompassing a few of my favorite subjects - food, cooking it, eating it, shopping for it, and Paris. I've read a number of 'American moves to Paris and is surprised by how different things are there!' books, and had high hopes that this one would cover some new ground. I was happily satisfied. I loved Lebovitz's dry sarcasm and stories of his adventures in Paris, foodish or not. Lebovitz has included recipes at the end of each chapter and I'm looking forward to trying his dulce de leche brownies and chocolate yogurt snack cakes.

These folks are not the only ones who bake cakes! I do too. We have a birthday coming up next week, number 8, and The Girl wanted Molly's lemon yogurt cake. That's my girl. But. Can you imagine if I serve this to a bunch of second graders and they !gasp! didn't eat it and I had to throw it away? I would cry. So we have agreed on cupcakes for friends and lemon cake for the household. Good plan.

Pssst...

2009-11-18T13:18:00.008-06:00

Hello there.

I didn't expect to be gone quite so long. I've been up to a few things since my last appearance here.

I've been on a fabulous trip to Boston. Oh, how we loved Boston. It fit us to a T. And we rode the T. Ha! If you get a chance to go to Boston you won't want to miss taking a tour with this gentleman. He works for the Freedom Trail Foundation.

We ate A LOT of seafood. Here is the rundown for me (my goal was to have seafood for lunch and dinner every day):

cod
lobster roll x 2
swordfish
crazy good lobster bisque
clam chowder x 2
shrimp
crab
my first raw oyster (I don't think I get the appeal)
some whitefish

Yum! And The Girl discovered that she loves mussels. Who knew? I mean, she wouldn't try a hush puppy but she eats mussels.

I spent a lot of time volunteering at school.

I did quite a bit of cooking; here is a sneak peek. This was one of my proudest moments as a home cook. I even told my husband to 'be more effusive'.

I went to the farmers' market. I never got to take photos some weeks but here is my most recent trip:

Isn't that kale pretty? Too bad it went to waste. I never did figure out what to do with it (that my family would eat).

I did a fair amount of reading.

Last week I met my new best friend.

Come here, lover.

I also spent some time thinking. Thinking about this space and what to do with it. Thinking about what has been bothering me about blogging and the like. Being put off by the popularity-contest aspect of it all. You know what I mean.

In addition, I am not a writer. I don't want to be a writer and writing is not why I'm here. I'm here because I love books. I came across a brilliant post last week at Kiss a Cloud. I identified with so much of what Claire wrote, especially this:

I would really rather spend more time with my children, read my books, read your thoughts on your books, than write.

Ahhhh. So true.

So what to do? I decided I wanted to come back to this space but I think it will be in a slightly different way. I think most books I read will get more of a 'blurb' and less of a review, and the really special books that stand out to me will perhaps get a highlight post. Or something like that. We'll see. Most of all, I know that if I'm going to do this it needs to be for me, a journal for ME. Not to please someone or to advertise for anyone. Not to generate traffic or more followers. Just for me.

I feel quiet.

2009-10-14T13:01:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure why. Perhaps the change of season is sending me within. Maybe the fact that I have a busy few weeks ahead and a trip coming up. Could it be that I am dreading a long and exhausting 6 months ahead at work due to flu season? I just know that right now the thought of putting something coherent in this space is stressing me out. And that is not what this space is for. So I am going to move back for a short time. I am going to warm the house by cooking. I am going to try to persuade The Girl to read more chapter books. I am going to visit my favorite blogs for relaxation. I am going to read good books and drink tea with honey. I am going to walk The Freedom Trail and eat heaps of fish. And then I will be back. See you then.

Pageturners

2009-10-09T11:06:00.003-05:00

I had the good fortune to read two excellent books in the past week that grabbed me and didn't let go.

This first was Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave. The publisher's description is unusual; basically we can't tell you anything except that it's about two women and a terrible choice. That's it. I am such a sucker for things like that, but in this case I'd say it paid off. This is the story of two women. One is a teenage refugee from Nigeria who has been living in what is basically a jail for people trying to immigrate. The other is a typical British woman, working mother and wife. They first met two years ago under horrific and unbelievable circumstances and now they meet again in the present. This was an intense and serious read and I thought the author did an excellent job conveying the issues in Nigeria and the disturbing way people trying to flee their countries are treated. He also excelled at giving each woman a distinct and unique voice. I would certainly recommend this book.

The other book I finished in about a day was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wow, what a ride! I think everyone knows what this is about, right? It's life in the future, and teenage contestants are forced to participate in a televised 'game show' in which everyone must die - except for one. Talk about compelling reading! And this despite the fact that I sort of assumed the ending from the beginning - this is the first of three in a series - after all. If you like some sci-fi with your reading along with great characterization read this! I now really want to get my hands on the follow up, Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games). I'll be waiting awhile; I'm number 24 on the library waiting list.

Have a great weekend! We are expecting freezing temperatures and flurries! Lucky us. I can never belive that I moved here.

Unremarkable

2009-10-07T10:01:00.003-05:00

My book club met on Monday night to discuss Those Who Save Us. This was the first book all year that we all finished and that we all liked - quite an event for us. The enjoyment of the book ranged from those who thought it was 'fine, readable, maybe missing something' to those who 'really liked it'. All in all, it was a success. A good discussion of an atypical holocaust book, one in which we see the point of view of the German civilians.

**********************************************

Does this ever happen to you? You finally get around to reading a book by an author praised by critics and fans alike and find yourself...totally underwhelmed? That's what happened to me when I read P.D. James' Innocent Blood. P.D. James is well known for her detective series and since I don't generally gravitate toward those sorts of series I chose to read this stand alone novel.

The premise is intriguing. Philippa is an adopted British woman who upon turning 18 seeks to discover the names of her birth parents. What she discovers about her parents and their involvement in a murder is horrifying. Phillipa's story is juxtaposed with that of a man hungry for revenge who creeps around London hunting his prey. It sounds interesting, yes, but in actuality I found this book very...dull. There is great description of place, but the characters were one dimensional. Oh the characters! Never has a more unlikable group of people appeared in one book! The 'bad' people were utterly void of morals, and the 'good' or shall we say 'better' people were not much better.

I think Innocent Blood would have worked well as a short story. This format would have given the reader more of feeling of tension. As it is, the story plodded along until the last 75 pages which I found satisfying. Except for the very creepy and corrupt event that happened in the epilogue. Ugh.

Someone told me, 'If you're looking for a good mystery, you can't go wrong with P.D. James.' For me, that hasn't proved to be the case, but I'm willing to give her another try one of these days.

Guily Pleasures

2009-10-01T10:37:00.003-05:00

Emily Barr's books are guilty pleasures for me. I first came across her writing when traveling in London in 2001 and it seemed every other woman riding on the tube was reading Backpack. You could hardly blame anyone wanting to read a book with a beach on the cover in the middle of February.

Over the years, I've read most of Barr's books. It was helpful that they were being published here, but the more recent ones have not been.

Barr's latest book, The Life you Want, picks up the story of Tansy, the main character in Backpack. Travel-lover Tansy is living a life she never expected, an ordinary existence, mothering two boys, wife to a man who works late, lusting after her son's teacher, and drinking too much to get through the day. Tansy hears from an old friend in India who needs her help and lucky girl that she is, she is off. After spending a few days alone, Tansy travels to see her friend. Soon, she is spending her days enmeshed in life at the 'center' where her friend lives. But all is not as it should be and Tansy finds herself in the middle of big mess.

I would probably classify Emily Barr's books as chick lit with a twist. She generally writes of women with a secret or as here, women who get in over their head. Some heavy topics, but written with a light and humorous hand. The Life You Want is a fun, escapist read. I could see where the story was going but that didn't spoil any of the fun for me since I was curious to see how Tansy would sort things out. Lots of implausibility in the story, but heck, it's all in good fun.

If you haven't read Emily Barr I certainly do recommend her books.

I probably won't be around again until sometime next week . I have a visitor coming from Florida - good thing I caught him in time to tell him to unpack his shorts, and ask him if he owns any long sleve shirts. I broke down yesterday and turned on the heat. Is that a record?

Those Who Save Us

2009-09-29T10:31:00.003-05:00

I'm freezing! Brrr. I feel bound and determined NOT to turn on the heat in September, however at the moment my bedroom is a brisk 62 degrees. We'll have to see how I feel when I arrive home from work at midnight.

My bookclub has had its fair share of duds this year. At our next meeting we'll be discussing Jenna Blum's Those Who Save Us. Here was something I could finally sink my teeth into.

Those Who Save Us is the story of Trudy and Anna. Anna is Trudy's mother, a German immigrant who was never really accepted in the small town of Minnesota where she lived. Trudy is her daughter, a professor of German studies, who has lived her life wondering why her mother won't talk to her about her father and her past. Thanks to a photograph she found with her mother's things, Trudy believes she is the child of a Nazi officer.

Told in alternating story lines, we learn Anna's past and Trudy's present. I think I enjoyed Anna's storyline more, desperate as it was. Anna's story feels unexpected and it is no wonder that she has chosen to remain silent. Though free during WW2, she suffered and paid a price for survival. Trudy embarks on a video project with a colleague who is recording stories of Jewish survivors. Trudy in turn begins recording stories of Germans who lived through the war. The tales she hears vacillate from greatly disturbing to life affirming. The ending comes as a bit of a shock, we know that Trudy will eventually discover what her mother went through, and the end is positively gripping as things are revealed.

As I mentioned above, this story takes place in Minnesota. When I read a book set in a place where I live or have lived, I never fail to wonder if because I am familiar with the place, the details of place stand out so much to me. I cannot tell from Blum's biography if she has ever lived here, but I can tell you that she has the details spot-on. When she writes about the cold, and how it seems your lungs are going to shatter when you breath in, well, I know she knows how cold it really is here.

This was an absorbing read for me and one of the highlights of our bookclub in 2009. I can't wait to hear what everyone else thought.

Two Lauries

2009-09-25T10:14:00.003-05:00

I was all set to participate in the blogishness yesterday but I went to the eye doctor yesterday and spent the afternoon blind. How did I forget that they were going to dilate my eyes and why does it seem it affected me more than ever? I went to the grocery store afterwards and almost had to ask someone to read the labels on the food for me. Thank goodness for tv.

This has been a busy week and I have only a short time now as I'm due at school for the 'picnic' when parents join their children for lunch and awful food is served. Ugh.

I'd just like to mention a few books I've read lately - it's been awhile since I've read them so I don't have a lot to say.

Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen is an absolutely delightful food memoir. She's funny, she's sarcastic, she knows what she likes and she's not afraid to eat it. I don't even know that I so much plan to cook any of her recipes - the writing here is what appealed to me. Happily, there is a follow-up to Home Cooking,More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen; unhappily this is all we will ever have as Colwin passed away at a young age.

I also read Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak in a flash last weekend. Utterly compelling, this young adult novel is one I've heard of everywhere and for good reason. Anderson certainly has some insight into the minds of teenagers. For those unacquainted, Speak is the story of a young woman who has entered high school as an outcast, thanks to a phone call to the police she made at a party. No one knows why she really made that phone call, no one knows why she rarely speaks. I can completely see why this book has become assigned reading for teens. This book is rather bigger than itself, in that so many teens can relate to feelings of isolation and of being misunderstood that Anderson writes of so vividly. This is the sort of book I hope my daughter is reading when the age is right.

Gifts of War

2009-09-23T10:11:00.005-05:00

Set during World War I, Gifts of War: A Novel is the story of a British soldier named Hal, who is involved in the Christmas Truce of 1914. Hal meets a German soldier Wilhelm at that times who entrusts Hal with a photo of his English girlfriend Sam in the hopes that Hal can let her know he is alive. Hal is injured during the war and sets out to find Sam. Upon seeing Sam, Hal is so taken with her that he does not reveal his true purpose and instead sets out to become romantically involved with her. Hal discovers that Sam is the mother of Wilhelm's child which puts her in a precarious position both in the village and in her job.

A large portion of the book deals with Hal's career. Hal's service on the front lines and his extensive knowledge of German give him exciting employment opportunities with the war ministry in military intelligence.

While readable, I found Gifts of War to be an odd book. Set up as a story of passion, the relationship between Hal and Sam come across without passion, instead there is a lot of talking. The truth is, Hal 'fell in love' with Sam at first sight, based on her appearance. Obviously, at the time men were in short supply, Hal could have had any woman he wanted. Even considering the fact that Sam's boyfriend is the enemy, I still found Hal a morally corrupt person to have broken the pact he made with Wilhelm.

I found the portion of the story that dealt with Hal's military work to be the most fascination and engaging aspect of this book. I sensed that the author felt more assured to be writing on this topic than of the love affair. This makes sense, considering the description we have of author Mackenzie Ford:

Mackenzie Ford is the nom de plume of a well-known and respected historian who lives in London.

Gifts of War ends in an unsatisfying way. It made me wonder what was the motivation to write this book in the first place. The author writes about military intelligence in a fascinating way, but it seems he or she threw in the romance to attract a more varied audience. The premise is certainly interesting and includes a moral question but the ending of the novel does not reflect any moral resolution.

Many thanks to Doubleday for this review copy.

Farmers' Market - September 20

2009-09-21T16:07:00.004-05:00

I had company again this week at the market. While there, she ate a doughnut and an apple cider popsicle. On the way home she ate a tiny apple that was gifted to her. Lucky girl!

Funny, this doesn't look as heavy as it felt! Peppers, corn, wax beans, leeks, spinach, garlic, meats, and fresh apple cider (!!). Last night we feasted on flank steak, corn on the cob and spinach. I can never believe that you can start with so much spinach and wind up with less than a cup when you cook it.

In exciting news, my new cookbook arrived today. It looks divine and after the first quick browse, I might do something from it tonight. More on Tender later. I see the price has gone up. Nuts.

Eye Candy

2009-09-18T14:00:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've done one of these posts for awhile! I think my book buying slowed down a bit this year which is good for my wallet anyway. I should warn you, these aren't the best photos ever taken.

I've been having a bit of a British book binge lately.

I keep ordering things from The Book Depository! I love to boost the British economy, you know. I think the free shipping on all orders makes it so easy to order one thing here, one thing there...I have 2 books on their way here right now.

Danielle actually talked me into the top book, The Forsyte Saga: The Man of Property,the first book in The Forsyte Saga. These new single book editions are so much more reader friendly than the huge tome. I actually found this UK edition at a US store. I also found the second title, The Book of Love at Border's and had to snatch it up after the good press from the UK book bloggers. The other titles are ones I've had my eye on for some time, except for the Emily Barr which is a new release that I'm already reading.

Here are some books that were given to me.

A friend in Chicago handed me Tales of Burning Love by Louise Erdrich book when I told her how much I enjoyed The Master Butcher's Singing Club. She said she really liked this one.

The other two books are ARCs. I requested Alice I Have Been - this sounds amazing and I feel really lucky to have scored this one. The John Irving book came unsolicited - and it is huge. I've read one book by Irving and since it's here, I'll give this one a try.

This final stack contains other books I've bought.

Pass the Polenta: And Other Writings from the Kitchen fits into that food memoir category I'm so fond of. I'll be reading The Gargoyle soon for bookclub. The bottom two books I found at a used book store in Chicago. The Bretts was apparently a Masterpiece Theatre presentation in the 80s. The Second Sister by Leslie O'Grady is a book I'm quite curious about. It sounds like a blend of romance and suspense - has anyone read this author?

Finally, you'll see Boston 2010 there. My last copy of Frommer's Boston is from 1997 and I'm thrilled to be returning there next month. Any suggestions?

Mudbound

2009-09-17T10:57:00.003-05:00

It's not very often take I take note of a book, pick it up at the bookstore, and read it a week later. I generally like to hem and haw a bit but occasionally, the stars align and I actually buy the right book at the right moment and just get on with it.

That book was Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, first time novelist.

Mudbound takes place in Mississippi just after WW2. The McAllens, a white family, have just bought a farm out in the country where the black Jackson family live as sharecroppers. The Jackson's eldest son Ronsel has just arrived from serving his country in Europe where he experienced for the first time in his life what it was to be just a man, not a black man. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to come home after that and adjust to life as a second class citizen - we have that chance here. Ronsel begins what seems to everyone else like an unlikely relationship with Jamie McAllen, brother of farm-owner Henry. These men understand one another like no one else around can as they've both just returned from war.

Because Jordan has chosen to give us first person accounts from a variety of characters, we know that Henry's wife Laura is less than thrilled with her new life in the country. We know how Ronsel's parents feel about the McAllens and their life on the farm. What is striking about the characters in Mudbound is that Jordan has not made them any better than they are. The McAllens are just as racist as you'd expect a family at this time period to be. They've been brought up to believe that black people are..different. The elder Jackson's have learned how to live in this world, showing subservience when it eases the struggle.

As I came to expect, a great drama unfolded in the latter part of Mudbound. What came to be was so shocking and beyond reality that as I read the words my eyes shut, I said out loud 'Oh my God' and closed the book.

Mudbound is not a perfect book, but it is absolutely spellbinding. It's the sort of book you begin to read and suddenly you've read 100 pages and the next thing you know you've finished. It's the sort of book that creates an atmosphere from which it's difficult to surface. It's astonishing really, to read something like this from a first time novelist. Hillary Jordan is an author to watch.

Purple Cauliflower

2009-09-16T20:59:00.003-05:00

It stays purple when you cook it. Just in case you were wondering.

The End.

Farmers' Market - September 12

2009-09-13T14:07:00.004-05:00

You'll never GUESS who accompanied me to the market yesterday!!

Yes, it was The Girl. She picked out that giant purple blob which is cauliflower -it's gorgeous actually, and there was also orange cauliflower and a romanesco one which was snapped up under my nose. She also chose brussels sprouts (!!), banana peppers (what do I do with those??), honey sticks, and the chocolate sauce in the jar in the front. She goes for all the expensive stuff. She also wanted jams, honey, flowers, and apple cider in a special kids cup.

I also picked up beans, pattypan squash, corn, red peppers, heirloom tomatoes, eggs and a little meat.

So, you know how I cannot resist a cookbook about vegetables and seasonal cooking? Yeah. So I was just picking up a few things from Whole Foods when I spotted this:

I brought Tastes from Valley to Bluff: The Featherstone Farm Cookbook home with me and just from a quick browse I can tell you it looks fabulous. What a bonus that all the foods within can be grown right here in Minnesota! And, 2/3 of the book is vegetarian. Love it.

East of the Sun

2009-09-11T10:57:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure where I first heard of Julia Gregson's East of the Sun: A Novel, but it was well before it was published in the states. It was this review by Harriet Devine that made me decide for once and for all that I needed to give this book a try. I was lucky enough to mooch a copy with that gorgeous cover you see above. The US edition is nice looking, but I think this aquamarine cover is just sublime.

East of the Sun takes place in 1928 and is the story of three women. Viva is an orphaned young woman trying to get her fare paid to India where her parents died and where she is searching for a piece of her past. Viva becomes the chaperone for Rose and Victoria (Tor). Rose is traveling to India to marry a military man whom she has only known a short time. She is sad to leave her family and nervous about her new life. In contrast, Tor, Rose's bridesmaid, is thrilled to finally have some freedom and cannot wait to get out from under her mother's watch and experience life. Also traveling under Viva's care is Guy, a troubled teen who has been educated in England (until he was expelled) while his parents lived in India. Guy becomes rather a troublesome influence in Viva's life; he is somewhat mentally disturbed.

The first part of the book is about the actual trip to India. Later on we follow Viva as she tries to eek out a living, Rose, as she becomes accustomed to married life, and Tor as she seeks romance, for she does not want to be sent home, unmarried and ashamed. I think Viva was my favorite character to read about. Her struggles were the most interesting as well as her life living and working amongst the native people of India. I found Rose's story fascinating as well, the idea that a beautiful young woman would leave her family, possibly forever, to marry a man she barely knows. I'm reading another book right now, a nonfiction book about the lack of men to marry after WW1. Perhaps that is why Rose took a risk.

I found East of the Sun to be the perfect sort of comfort reading for me. I read it on vacation and it was the perfect book to fall into and escape with at the end of the day. I don't know that it would survive harsh literary criticism, but I have to say I sort of loved it. Loved the girls and their relationships, loved the romance, loved the setting in India where the Indian people are beginning to chafe under British rule.

It was a compelling read for me, so much so, that I have Gregson's other published novel, The Water Horse, winging its way to me from England as I write.

The Year of the Flood

2009-09-09T10:26:00.003-05:00

Last week I made an attempt to tell a friend what Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood: A Novel is about. She would probably tell you I wasn't very successful. I can hardly think of another book that I've read in its entirety that is so difficult to describe. But I will try, and at the very least hope to give my thoughts on this novel.

We know from the outset the Apocalypse has come for the human race. We also know that two women have survived, Ren and Toby. Ren has survived because she is locked inside a bizarre sex club where she worked. Toby has survived in a fancy spa, where the treatments are edible and she has horded food. Ren and Toby knew each other once, when they lived with the God's Gardener's, a green-burlap wearing-vegetarian group of people who try to preserve plant life, keep bees, and whose leader has predicted what is now happening. The Flood is a waterless one, and the story goes back and forth, telling the stories of Ren and Toby before and after the flood.

The period after the Flood overlaps with what Atwood fans know happened in Oryx and Crake. Because of this, we readers sometimes know more than Ren and Toby. In other instances the characters in this book clear up what we didn't understand about what was happening in O&C. Where O&C is the story inside the corporations, this is the story of what happened to everyone on the outside and what life had been like there. I loved seeing the characters from O&C in another light - they do appear here - in fact, the number of coincidences here where characters happened to know each other almost became silly.

I think a big question is: Do you need to have read Oryx and Crake to read this book? I'm going to say that if you're interested in this book, it would be to your benefit to read O&C first. Not only does the back story help, but enough is given away in The Year of the Flood that it would ruin O&C quite a bit.

My friend asked me if I enjoyed this book. I cannot really say that this is a book that you will 'like' or 'enjoy'. It is devastating and horrible, yet at the same time often hopeful. It is bizarre and even funny, in that disturbing way that Atwood is. It was a treat to immerse myself in this world that I already knew about, and learn more about Atwood's vision. It's just very Atwood - can I say Atwoodian - is that a word yet? It's totally her, so if you think she's fabulous, then this is for you.

Back in the Saddle Again....(I think)

2009-09-08T10:03:00.004-05:00

Today was the big day - the first day of second grade. There were some nerves on the walk to school, but as soon as the girl saw her best friend, I literally felt the pull of her body towards her friend as they embraced. They hadn't seen each other for 3 weeks after spending the summer together at day camp so there were big smiles all around. I can't wait to hear about her day.

So, I've been back home for a few days and when I wasn't at work I was making tomato sauce and doing laundry. I did go to the farmers' market on Sunday, but unfortunately there is no photo as I didn't have a camera here. I spent 8 hours on Sunday doing this with tomatoes. I don't really have words for how tired I was afterwords. I don't know how those pioneer women did it. This year I prepared 30 meals worth of sauce, unbelievable that I made dinner for one month, in one day.

Chicago was fun as always and it's great to enjoy old favorites as well as new pleasures. Highlights of our trip included the new German U Boat exhibit at the Science and Industry Museum - it's inside now - and yours truly got to enjoy the Harry Potter exhibit by myself there. There are many costumes on display and props from the movies. I even got to throw a bludger! The detail of the props is AMAZING and I would have loved to have brought home a replica of the Marauder's Map if only it hadn't cost $45. (!!!!!! for a piece of paper !!!!!!)

One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting the Old Town Oil Shop. It's my idea of heaven - casks upon casks of oils and vinegar to try and bring home.

You can taste as much as you want, then when you decide what you'd like, your oil or vinegar is poured into a lovely bottle from these silver casks. That way you know exactly what you're getting. I brought home some olive oil and an amazing black current balsamic vinegar.

There's so much more. I've been reading so hopefully I'll get to reviewing books in the next day or so. There are also new books to share. But for now, I'm going to celebrate the first day of school by treating myself to a movie - Julie and Julia. Originally, I had quietly boycotted this film. While I loved Julia's book, I actively disliked the few chapters I read of Julie's. In addition, from what I've read and heard, Julia was not a fan of Julie - she had no interest in her project. So....is it a bit insulting to Julia that the film we now have of her life includes Julie? I'm not sure. But, now the reviews are so good, I've decided to go anyway. C'est la vie.

Photo from Seasoned Solutions Culinary Tours.

Clean Food

2009-09-01T09:01:00.005-05:00

Terry Walters believes that in order to nourish our bodies we should eat food as close to the natural source as possible. Her new cookbook, Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You,is being released today and illustrates her philosophy with delicious sounding recipes.

For the last couple of years I've personally decreased the amount of meat in my family's diet. At first I found it to be a challenge, now it feels ordinary. When I was offered Clean Food for review, I thought it sounded like a good fit for me. While we do eat plenty of vegetarian meals, it would be nice to sometimes eat even lower on the food chain, that is to say vegan, and I thought I could use some ideas.

I've only had a chance to try one recipe from Clean Food so far, that for Fruity Balsamic Vinaigrette and it is a winner. This vinaigrette is lighter than the usual salad dressing I prepare, the juices contained in it balance out the olive oil to create a wonderful dressing we all enjoyed. Other recipes that I haven't made yet but have marked to try include: Sesame Brussels Sprout Saute (you know how I love my brussels!), Crispy Chickpea Fritters, Millet Black Bean Patties with Corn, Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Guacamole (!!), Spiced Sweet Potato Fries, Sweet Dumpling Squash with Orange Scented Quinoa Stuffing, and Wild Rice Pilaf. I could go on.

While many of the recipes use ingredients that are common in my kitchen, there are ingredients that are new to me as well such as sea vegetables, various condiments (that frankly, I've seen at the store and always wondered about), and different types of flours, grains, and beans. Walters often uses kombu, a sea vegetable when cooking grains or beans. She writes that it adds minerals and tenderizes legumes. I'd heard about kombu before, but have finally been inspired to buy some and will try it the next time I cook a pot of beans.

I noticed early on that the recipes didn't contain wheat -I wondered why- then Walters mentioned that one her children had sensitivities to wheat, corn, soy, and dairy. It all made sense to me then, and I realized what a great resource this book could be for families with similar food allergies. There are loads of yummy sounding desserts in the book that are dairy-free, gluten-free, you name it. These sorts of recipes are a God-send for families that struggle with what to prepare for allergic children.

If you're interested in Clean Food, I suggest checking out Terry's website. There is more information about Terry's philosophy about food and cooking as well as fun videos of her cooking and shopping.

Many thanks to Megan with Sterling Publishing for sending me Clean Food for review.

We're Off to See the Wizard...

2009-08-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

Well, okay, not the wizard. Can you guess?

We're headed off for next few days by car, then I'll be flying back since I have to work THE ENTIRE HOLIDAY WEEKEND starting Friday and except for Sunday when I may try to make my famous tomato sauce. And do all my family's laundry for the past week.

Then school starts and then I will be back to regular posting. BUT! I am scheduling a post of an about-to-be-released-book while I'm gone so stop by and check that out.

See you!

The Crocodile Bird

2009-08-28T10:00:00.001-05:00

Ruth Rendell's novel The Crocodile Bird is the story of Liza, a young woman with a rather unusual upbringing. She has grown up sheltered from the outside world, brought up in the gatekeeper's house of an estate in the English countryside. Liza has only left the property a few times in her life, so has only come into contact with a few adults besides her mother Eve who has dictated her upbringing. Liza has never even known another child.

The Crocodile Bird opens with the knowledge that Eve is going to be prosecuted for a crime in the coming hours. In an attempt to protect Liza, Eva hatches a plan for Liza to get away, but Liza does not follow her instructions. What follows is the story of Liza's life after Eve's incarceration, as well as Liza telling the story of her past and why Eve kept her in seclusion. Liza's story is bone chilling; after all, Eve was arrested after the police came around looking for a missing man. For Liza, Eve's behavior didn't seem out of the ordinary - for her audience, well, it is shocking.

The Crocodile Bird is one of Ruth Rendell's stand-alone mysteries, and I felt it was very similar to her books under the name Barbara Vine - if you like her writing, I think you'd like this book. Rendell's books often seem so timeless. This one was written in 1993, if it hadn't been for descriptions of cars and televisions and other items, it could have taken place at anytime in the past 50 years or so.

Like the other Vine/Rendell books I have read, The Crocodile Bird is perfectly paced, and perfectly creepy. What made The Crocodile Bird stand out was its ending. Based on the blurb on the back of the book, it seemed clear what direction the story would take. And then - surprise. Well done Ruth Rendell.

Sacred Hearts

2009-08-26T09:43:00.003-05:00

Upon beginning Sacred Hearts: A Novel, I didn't imagine that I'd find myself completely wrapped up in this story about an Italian convent in the 1500s, but I absolutely was.

Sacred Hearts focuses on a period of time during which dowries were so high that families were perhaps only able to afford to marry off one daughter, and the other or others would be placed in a convent. Serafina is one of these young women, who has been placed into the convent of Santa Caterina against her will. She has arrived at the convent after an unapproved love affair and her story is full of all the passion of youth and young love. Her anger and grief are overwhelming when she finds herself suddenly living in what is essentially, a prison. One of the sisters, Suora Zuana, is touched by Serafina and attempts to make her more comfortable as she adapts to convent life. Zuana is a fascinating character and much of the story is told from her perspective. Thanks to her father, Zuana is knowledgeable about diseases and cures and her work at the convent is as the dispensary mistress, sort of a combination of physician, nurse, and pharmacist.

Sarah Dunant has created an amazing world within the pages of Sacred Hearts. As a reader, I felt so powerfully the sense of isolation these women must have felt, living in the middle of a city but unable to see outside the walls of the convent. Just as in the world of a convent, there are no men that even speak in this book besides a few words from the bishop. Because of all this, I felt almost as a voyeur, being able to see inside the world of these nuns. For some the convent seems a prison, at least at first. For others, the convent serves as a refuge, the only place to go once they are released from an unhappy life. For a few, they came to the convent because they were called.

I enjoyed this book very much, and then I heard a story that made me appreciate it even more. There is a woman that I work with that I often discuss books with. I was telling her about this book and when I finished she told me that it sounded like her mother's life who grew up in the 1950s. It was tradition in her Catholic family that one child would be 'given' to the church and she was chosen by her mother perhaps because she was favored by her father. She stayed with the convent for a number of years, until she suffered an nervous breakdown because she was so unhappy. When she was finally able to leave the convent she was treated so terribly in her small town for the 'shameful' thing she had done she had to move away. Her life did have some happiness, but ultimately ended in tragedy, her daughter suspects from the guilt she felt from leaving the convent.

All this to say, that throughout history, oftentimes women's lives were not their own to live, to make choices about, to enjoy.

Many thanks to Librarything's Early Reviewer program for this review copy.

Pre-Ordered. Done.

2009-08-24T20:16:00.003-05:00

They had me at Nigel Slater.

And then I watched a video in which Nigel states that he wrote 600 pages about vegetables. Uh-huh.

It had to be mine. The best price can be found here.

I'm counting down the days until Tender: Volume 1: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch arrives. That means there is going to be a Volume 2; it is about fruit.

Farmers' Market - August 23

2009-08-23T10:32:00.003-05:00

Why yes, yes I am planning on doing some cooking this week! New additions today include red peppers, golden beets, and a melon. I haven't had great luck with the melons at the market - they've tended to be mushy in the past - but I'm trying again.

I didn't make it to the market last week, but 3 friends gifted me with produce during the week. Plum-sized tomatoes (used for salsa), large heirloom tomatoes (used in tomato/mozzarella/basil salad -yum!), and corn and squash from the CSA box of a friend of a friend. That friend said I was the only person she could think of who would get excited about free vegetables. She was right, I did. My in-laws were pretty impressed when we received two deliveries on the same evening.

Are there any gardeners out there that can advise me about whatever this zucchini plant fungus/rot thing is? There were white spots on the leaves which then became white powder all over the leaves. My plants are done for, and I think they had this last year. Should I not plant again this coming year, or am I supposed to treat the soil in some way? Enquiring minds want to know.

Where in the world is.....Tara?

2009-08-20T14:26:00.003-05:00

Here I am!

It's been a strange week here at Chez Books and Cooks. After a long weekend of working (me), the girl traveled off to visit her grandparents for most of the week. It's been very quiet around here! Every evening, we're not sure what to do with ourselves.

We celebrated our 9th anniversary yesterday, so took a little mini-trip on Monday to one of those lovely old river towns, Stillwater, MN. I hadn't been there for a few years so was eagerly anticipating browsing in the many used book stores I remembered and hoping to find a few more green Viragos for my collection. Alas, things have changed. There are only two bookstores there now; one that sells new books and the other that sells 'rare' books, that is to say, expensive. There was an extremely small literature section at the rare bookshop which surprised us. My husband made the astute point, that if he wanted to read, say a history book (there were a lot of those), he would read a current one with updated information rather than one that is 60-80 years old.

In any case, we had a lovely time, and spent the evening at a beautiful bed and breakfast after dinner and drinks overlooking the river. Other than that, my schedule has been very off, full of dinners out and cleaning in expectation of my in-laws coming to stay this weekend. This involved a thorough cleaning of the girl's room and much trash removal of various do-dads.

Incidentally, she will be arriving home soon! I cannot wait to put my arms around her. I can tell it's going to be trouble when she goes away from home based on the meal I'm planning for tonight after only 4 days away...

flank steak
salad
chips with homemade salsa and guacamole
lemon cake

All her favorites.

Something sort of bookish, is that I went to see The Time Traveler's Wife yesterday. Despite the lackluster reviews, I had hopes that this would be a satisfying movie and it just sort of...wasn't. I cannot remember details of the book, but I do remember how incredibly moved I was by the story. The dialogue in the move seemed stilted to me. It wasn't until later in the film that I felt connected to it, and in fact cried from the part when they're trying to get pregnant until the end. I cried during the book too; it all just broke my heart. I'm not sorry I watched the film since I would have always been curious, it's just that this book perhaps doesn't translate well to film.

The Lost Garden

2009-08-13T10:44:00.004-05:00

I've been a fan of Irish author Mary Stanley for some time so when I picked up her book The Lost Garden recently I felt that I was going to reading a sure thing, a completely satisfying novel. I'm sorry to say that I was a bit disappointed in this book.

The Lost Garden is the story of Esme, a woman who has moved to Paris for a year to be closer to her lover. She meets an acquaintance of his named Jacob who happens to be a psychiatrist, and because she is lonely and bored she begins telling him the story of her life, a lot of which has to do with her unluckiness in love. Esme then moves on and begins a relationship with another man, but continues to think about the conversations she had with Jacob and the fact that she hadn't told him everything. Slowly, we meet Esme's three daughters as the pursue their interests around the world and events ultimately bring all four women back to their home in London.

It's obvious early on that Esme has something in her past that she is hiding and it's not until the last third of the book that we find out what that is. Esme confronts her past, a 'twist' is revealed, and finally another 'twist' that only the reader knows about.

I've enjoyed Stanley's writing so much in the past, and I just didn't find that this book had the same texture, pacing, and texture as her other novels. When I read my description of this book, it doesn't even sound very interesting to me! I just figured it would be good based on the writer.

If you want to try this author, I suggest starting with another of her books, such as Retreat, Missing or Revenge.

Addicted to Harry Potter

2009-08-11T10:58:00.003-05:00

Did I mention that when I finished Harry Potter 6, I immediately began book 7? And did I mention that after I finished that I read book 1 and am now reading book 2? Yeah, it's crazy! I don't know what it is about Harry that keeps me coming back for me, but I'm enjoying it for the time being.

I don't particularly want to discuss the plot of book 7, except to say that again, it took me awhile to find a rhythm with this book. The fact that Harry and friends don't go back to school really throws me off, and it seems like they're just running around for the first 2/3 of the book.

What I was thinking about as I read book 7, and what I want to talk about, is what are they going to do with the movie! I've read that book 7 will be split into two films, and I wanted to figure out what I thought would be the breaking point. First, I thought it might be when Ron returns to Harry and Hermione and they find the sword. Reading on, I then thought it might be after they visit Mr Lovegood and learn about the Deathly Hallows. This would be more of a dramatic ending, as the trio (HRH) realize it's not just horcruxes they need and they're setting off with a new goal. What do you think? Do you agree with either of these as a stopping point or do you have another idea?

My other thoughts about book 7 have to do with the fact that when HRH go off on adventures they're always using polyjuice potion or the invisibility cloak. Obviously that's not going to film very well with the main characters never themselves so I'm guessing there will be some changes made.

As I said, I finished book 7 and went straight back to book 1. My main purpose was to experience how Rowling crafted these books from the beginning and seeing what hints are dropped about the future earlier on. Book 1 is just a pure joy, it's truly a kids fantasy book and somehow the dark stuff just doesn't come across as scary as it does later on. It's such fun to read about the wizarding world and all the things we take for granted later on. Harry is also sort of annoying in the earlier books. He is always jumping into situations or places where he's not supposed to be. It's funny now reading the reviewer comments on book 2 about book 1. It's obvious no one knew what a huge global phenomenon this would all be.

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My other current obsession is Woodstock. Not sure why, expect for seeing the trailer for the new Woodstock film coming out. I'm fascinated by the whole thing, the music, but more so, the crowds and what that experience would have been like. I've been watching performances on youtube of Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez and the like. It's interesting stuff and hard to believe it all happened 40 years ago.

We have lots going on in the coming weeks, so I'm thinking posting/commenting will be sporadic. Just a heads up.

Farmers' Market - August 9

2009-08-09T09:46:00.003-05:00

I really cannot believe it is August 9. Nuts. Interesting purchases today include the really nice looking eggplant and bok choy. I have a recipe for a raw bok choy salad with an Asian dressing - sound good? I also bought some heirloom tomatoes. I think I bought some brandywine, Cherokee purple, something with valentine in the name...and something else. They all looked like they were grown with love.

Talking about Oryx and Crake

2009-08-07T10:43:00.007-05:00

My book club met last week to discuss Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. We had a good turnout and a good discussion. I was pleased to discover that most members enjoyed this book a lot - truthfully I was a bit surprised. The members that weren't crazy about it coincidentally also didn't care for The Time Traveler's Wife - they just don't really like books about alternate reality.

Oryx and Crake is a difficult book to describe. When people have asked me, I usually say something along the lines of "it's about an apocalyptic future, sort of an end of world scenario and how it became that way. There are bio-engineered animals...stuff like that." So, that tells you a lot, huh. Not really. Oryx and Crake is a book best discovered for yourself. It opens with a man called Snowman. He used to have a friend named Crake and loved an elusive woman known as Oryx. But Snowman is now alone as least as far as the human race goes and as far as he knows. The book goes on to detail Snowman's formative years and what life was like living in a futuristic compound with his scientist father. How did the world become this way and why is Snowman all alone? It is all there to be discovered.

This was my second reading of Oryx and Crake, and I think I got more out of the book this time around. Obviously, knowing the outcome,I wasn't so mystified by everything going on in the beginning of the book and I was able to enjoy the ride more. While this isn't my favorite Atwood, I still enjoyed this book very much. As always, I am fascinated by the workings of Margaret Atwood's mind. Her creativity and the way she expresses how she sees the world through her writing are second to none.

The timing of reading O&C turned out to be fortuitous. I now realize that Atwood's forthcoming book The Year of the Flood: A Novel takes place during the same or a similar period as O&C; I think this re-reading will help me to understand and appreciate it that much more.

Out Of Order

2009-08-06T10:32:00.005-05:00

We have been having computer/modem/router problems around here and I've been without service all week. What a good thing that our neighbor does IT and was able to help diagnose the problem. It sounds like some part of our system might have been hit by lightening. Crazy!

Funny, when there's no computer to use I'm able to get a lot more reading done. Somehow I didn't get much more housework done. Hmmm.

I hardly know where to begin with my 300 emails, huge backlog on bloglines and the numerous books I've read. So, here, I think I'll start with something fun.

Sophie Kinsella. Do you enjoy her books? For whatever reason, I'm drawn to them, and I was happy to score a fresh and never-read copy from the library of her newest book, Twenties Girl: A Novel. Kinsella is of course known for her Shopaholic series, but this is a stand-alone book.

In Twenties Girl, we meet Lara, a twenty-something young women whose luck has seemed to have run out. She's had problems at work, a break-up with her boyfriend and now she has to attend the funeral of her great-aunt Sadie who she never knew.

But. Twenty-something Sadie in ghost form appears to Lara at the funeral and she begs Lara to stop the funeral because she cannot rest until a very special necklace is returned to her. Let's just say Sadie is extremely persistent and Lara agrees to help her. Thus begins the antics that take place in this novel, from cute and funny, to cringingly embarrassing (and unlikely) as well as quite moving. We discover how having a ghost can actually be quite helpful as they can go places and see things others cannot. Just as you'd expect there's romance involved here, and just as you'd expect with a Kinsella book, there are happy endings all around.

Reading a new Sophie Kinsella book is like eating your favorite candy - wonderful in small doses. I mean, I wouldn't want to read books like this all the time, but once in a while they're just the perfect escape. It's a quick, fun, light, escapist read. I want to give kudos to Kinsella for her writing ability. I think writing a book like this is harder than it looks, keeping the balance between fun and ridiculous, and weaving that invisible thread throughout the book that keeps the reader curious and turning pages. All in all, a delight.

Farmers' Market - August 2

2009-08-02T10:04:00.002-05:00

Ahhh. Veggies.

Here are the goods from today. I think I'm going to cook that flank steak tonight with corn and the snap peas (not sure why there are still snap peas, but these looked okay), and tomorrow I will make potato and squash gratin with green beans on the side. Have you seen yellow shallots? I'm used to the red ones but thought I'd try these. I did see some tomatoes today, peppers, and eggplant. The weather has been cool, cool, cool. I hope I can make my tomato sauce this year -this is my summer wish. Enjoy the day!

Re-Reading Harry Potter

2009-07-30T10:20:00.003-05:00

A few days before I went to see the most recent Harry Potter film, I thought I ought to re-read the book before I went. I didn't have long, and so I started reading with my frenetic, rushed Harry Potter pace. You know the one, where you rush to get to end so no one else spoils the book for you. I got through about a chapter and decided I just didn't want to read so fast so I put the book away, and went to see the film. Of course, that put me in the mood for Harry Potter and I decided to try to read the book again.

I started slowly, a chapter a day. It's always taken me time to 'warm up' to these books, and it never seems the story really starts until everyone is ensconced at Hogwarts. After awhile, I began reading more and more until suddenly I was finished. And now I am reading about the Deathly Hallows.

I am not going to summarize Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince nor am I going to 'review' it. I just wanted to say what a different reading experience this was than before. The last three books in the series I rushed through, reading for plot and this time around I was able to take my time, get to know the characters better, particularly the secondary characters. I do really like the magical world Rowling has created - I can practically imagine the entire thing really exists - and this time I was able to really enjoy it. Another plus, was being able to jump right into the next book in the series, and who knows? Perhaps I will go back and re-read the earlier books just to experience how Rowling set the story up so long ago.

I hope my daughter wants to read these books someday, but won't it be such a different experience! She'll never have to wait and wonder what's going to happen - it's all right there in the next book.

Wrapping Up Memoir Week

2009-07-28T10:52:00.003-05:00

Whew! I did it! I'm pretty proud that I was able to post a review of a memoir every day last week. I don't think I'd ever posted so many days in a row before, and frankly I doubt I will again! Several reasons come to mind. First, I really enjoyed all the books I featured last week and I found it difficult coming up with unique adjectives to use for each one. In addition, some of the books had a similar tone or story. The thing I regret the most about last week, is that I don't think I was able to adequately express how very much I enjoyed Harry Bernstein's The Dream. I really just couldn't think of anything else to write at that point, and that is why I am a reader and not a writer.

I was curious to see what the reactions would be last week to the books I featured. I was not surprised that Can Any Mother Help Me? seemed to be the 'most popular' book, or at least the one that received the biggest response. The thing that made me wonder in the first place is that most of the books I featured were not happy books, instead most had some element of sadness or neglect. This is something that I think is common in memoirs. It just seems like most memoirs I read are, well, sad. When someone has a happy and healthy life, it doesn't seem as though they're necessarily driven to write about it. And frankly, it might not be that interesting to read, either.

I think in general as a reader, I tend to choose a greater percentage of books that aren't considered 'happy books'. I'm not sure why I feel compelled to read about negativity in the world, but I suppose I always have. I guess I could say that what I am reading about is life, and life doesn't always bring good things to people.

Thank you for supporting me during Memoir Week - it was fun! But now we will return to regularly scheduled programming.

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So, somehow I have wound up with 21 ears of corn. Any suggestions on what I could do with it in the next couple of days? I really want to try not to waste it.

Farmers' Market - July 26

2009-07-26T10:26:00.003-05:00

Aren't I predictable? I buy the same things over and over, I suppose because those are the things we all enjoy.

It's pretty obvious at the market that we've barely had temperatures over 80 degrees this July. We're not seeing the 'hot weather' veggies yet, such as eggplant, peppers, sun-ripened tomatoes and the like. I'm growing a variety of small tomatoes in the garden and they are all still green and my zucchini are taking forever to grow. One great thing about this blog, is that I can go back see that for example, last July 10 I had tomatoes from the garden already. It's rather depressing.

Anyhow, tonight, I think we'll grill that rainbow trout you see. I'm not sure what veggies we'll have yet, I'm thinking mashed potatoes with shallots or corn or salad or broccoli. Hmm.

The Dream

2009-07-24T10:43:00.004-05:00

Memoir week concludes with Harry Bernstein's brilliant memoir, The Dream.

I'd picked this book up a few times at the store, but never took it home with me, until I read Lisa's fabulous review of Bernstein's other memoir, The Invisible Wall. I am not usually so stupid about books, but for some reason I got it into my head that The Invisible Wall was the follow-up to The Dream, so I ordered The Dream, only later discovering that it is Bernstein's second book, after The Invisible Wall. Silly me. But. I can tell you that whether or not you've read Bernstein's first book, The Dream stands alone as a fabulous memoir.

What is rather remarkable about Bernstein's books is that they exist at all. You see, he is now 98 years old and didn't begin writing until he was in his 90s. The Dream begins when Harry and his family set out for America from a small mill town in Britain. This has been his mother's dream for many years as she hopes for a better life for her children. Harry grew up in poverty with a sacrificing mother, and a father who drank away his wages and provided little to his children.

The Bersteins go to Chicago where they have family and have a few successful years. The great depression begins, and life changes again when part of the family moves to New York. Harry writes about his days as a schoolboy and later as a young working man. The move to New York winds up being fortuitous for Harry, as he meets and falls in love with Ruby, the love of his life, and is finally able to spend time writing. The pictures included in the book compliment the story perfectly and the love between Harry and Ruby is apparent in photos of them as young newlyweds and as an older couple.

Harry Bernstein is a gifted writer, he tells his story simply but with emotion and love. This was one of those books that I couldn't put down. I'm now reading Bernstein's The Invisible Wall , a memoir of his childhood and then I plan to read his third book, as well. I understand that he is working on fourth book and hope to enjoy it someday too.

****************

Well, this completes memoir week! I think I'll do a bit of a wrap-up next week, but for me I'm a little 'written out'.

This Lovely Life

2009-07-23T11:23:00.003-05:00

Memoir week continues with Vicki Forman's newly released memoir This Lovely Life.

If I could only use one word to describe this book, that word would be STUNNING.

Vicki Forman became a person she never imagined she'd be when her 23 week gestation twins arrived prematurely. Despite her pleas to the doctors to let them go and not resuscitate them, California law dictated that this could not happen. The twins, Evan and Ellie, survived their birth, though Ellie passed away 4 days later. The months and years to follow find Forman on an unimaginable journey which she details in This Lovely Life.

Evan's story isn't that story we read about when the premature baby goes on to be 'just fine', a little behind in development but otherwise 'normal'. His story is the one in which he spends months in the NICU, with tiny bits of progress, but problems always cropping up. Things are never really 'just fine' for him. A feeding tube, blindess, seizures. These are but a few of the challenges facing Evan and the Forman family as they come to terms with the fact that Evan is considered profoundly disabled.

Forman writes with an unbelievable amount of honesty. The power of her words that articulate the fear, anger, and dismay she felt gave me a heaviness in my chest as I read and reread them. We experience the love Forman has for Evan, as she truly becomes his advocate and fights to achieve for him a life that he deserves. Forman also displays an incredible amount of hope. Throughout it all, she remains steadfast in her determination to celebrate what Evan can do, rather than what he cannot.

This Lovely Life is a sad book, but it is also full of love and hopefulness. It is the sort of book you think about when you are not reading it, that questions how to cope with medical professionals that often treat a patient as a series of problems to be fixed rather than as a human being, the sort of book that questions what 'life' really is.

Can Any Mother Help Me?

2009-07-22T09:28:00.003-05:00

It seems like a long time ago that Karen wrote about Jenna Bailey's book Can Any Mother Help Me? The book stayed in my mind though, and once it was available in paperback (with rather a silly cover) I had to make it mine.

This is the story of a group of women who corresponded with one another via a secret magazine from 1935 until 1990. They called themselves the CCC - The Cooperative Correspondence Club - and wrote articles about their lives which one member would compile into a magazine which would be mailed in turn to each member. The magazine was born from a letter written to a mother's magazine in which the writer, a young mother, described how lonely and exhausted she was and desired some sort of occupation. The suggestion was made that perhaps the writer would like to exchange letters with other mothers, and the CCC came to be.

Jenna Bailey was a student looking for a subject for her master thesis when she came across these old magazines and lovingly turned the material into this book. There is commentary from her throughout the book which I appreciated, but the bulk of the book is made of these women's stories through the years. They wrote through all the phases of their lives, from childbirth and young motherhood, through the war, during working days or staying at home with the children, to divorce, and family illness, and finally their own mortality as they aged. There is such an immediacy to their writing. I felt heartbroken as one woman described her divorce from a man she was still in love with and so much sadness as they wrote about the illnesses of their children, both in infancy and as adults. Over time, the women met in person and developed relationships beyond the magazine's pages. The author has been fortunate enough to have met with a few of the remaining women and their families who were so generous in sharing the intimacy of their lives

This is a remarkable story in many ways. Remarkable in the length of time the magazine continued, the effort these women put into it, and the representation of lives lived in a particular moment in time. It is striking that as the magazine made its rounds among the women, they would make comments in the margins for the writing. Does that sound familiar? These women were the bloggers of their time.

Silvertown

2009-07-21T10:36:00.004-05:00

Memoir week continues here, with Melanie McGrath's

Silvertown

An East End Family Memoir

Silvertown is the story of Melanie McGrath's grandparents, Jenny and Len Page. It's one of those extraordinary stories of everyday life in the East End of London around the turn of the century. These are people who struggled every day of their lives, and knew no different. People who lived in London but never visited the Tower of London or St Paul's Cathedral.

McGrath tells this story with candor, she is sympathetic but honest about her subjects. The lives her grandparents led are the same lives everyone else around them led. They both grew up in poor households, Jenny wishing to marry to get from under her father's roof and maintain her own household instead of her parent's. McGrath says this about Jenny's husband:

He was not one of her passions.

Nor was she one of his. Jenny and Len have two children who are removed to the countryside during the war. They stay there for six years during which time they have little contact with their parents. When they return, their father Len is glad to see them as he intends for them to work in his coffee shop. His bookish daughter has other ideas, of school and education. Her diagnosis of tuberculosis keeps her from school and the coffee shop much to her father's dismay - he sees nothing wrong with her that a little hard work wouldn't fix. This daughter happens to be the mother of the author and while we yearn to hear more about her, the author tells us that:

Hers is a different story, to be told another time.

I hope she writes that book.

Jenny suffers her husbands unfaithfulness, eventually winding up on her own, still working hard as she continues to do throughout her life. You know the rest.

This was a fascinating and absorbing read and contained one of the most horrific life experiences I've read in any book. The day Jenny turned 17, her mother took her out by herself, a rare occurrence. They did not go out for ice cream or new shoes. Jenny was delivered to a man who was paid to remove all of Jenny's teeth. There was no anesthesia or pain medication besides alcohol. It is an unbelievable story, and what was even more unbelievable was the reason why.

For those interested in what life was like, Silvertown is recommended.

A Memoir A Day....

2009-07-20T09:00:00.000-05:00

Keeps the reading blues away? I don't know, but I've been reading a lot of memoirs lately, food and otherwise, and they are keeping me riveted. I have a few to review and so I think I am going to call this

Memoir Week

here at Books and Cooks. I am going to try to post each day, which may not work but I'll give it a go.

Today's featured memoir is

The Imposter's Daughter

by Laurie Sandell

I read an interview with Sandell in a magazine recently about her upcoming memoir and when it was offered for review by Hachette books I eagerly accepted. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it is a graphic book! I was not at all sure I was going to like this memoir, after all, I tried one graphic novel which didn't work for me at all, and another short one that did. Almost immediately after receiving The Imposter's Daughter, my computer was having issues and while I was waiting things to improve I began reading Sandell's book.

I was immediately drawn into her story. Sandell grew up in a home where there were many secrets surrounding her father. Where did he go on his long trips? Why did he get mail addressed to other people? Who did he communicate with on his ham radio? Did he really earn all the degrees and work at all the jobs he said he did? Sandell lived in a cycle in which she tried to understand and please a man who was unstable and dishonest. It's not until Sandell goes away to college and is a young woman that she realizes how her father has personally betrayed her and some of what he was involved in.

The heart of Sandell's book is what effect all this had on her. Not surprisingly, she's pretty damaged and makes some not-so-great choices. While her writing career takes off, she struggles in her relationships with men and with an addiction to sleeping pills. She avoids her father and is frustrated with the fact that her mother refuses to see her father as he really is.

I really enjoyed reading The Impostor's Daughter: A True Memoir . Despite my reluctance to read another graphic book this one has the right balance of narrative and dialogue to make it a satisfying read. Sandell's perseverance to seek the truth and take control of her life is quite moving and I enjoyed the unique way she told her story.

Many thanks to Hachette for this review copy.

Farmers' Market - July 18

2009-07-19T10:37:00.003-05:00

Oh Happy Day! Corn is here!

The market was packed yesterday, there was one vendor selling corn and the buyers were 5 deep. It was so busy that the St Paul police officer that monitors the market was breaking down boxes and bagging and selling corn. Nuts!

New additions for me this week were cucumbers (refrigerator pickles?) and leeks - yum!

We had friends over for dinner last night. I served:

*Barefoot Contessa's lemon chicken with satay sauce
*boiled corn
*a salad of halved roasted fingerling potatoes, blanched green and wax beans, basil, chives and a balsamic vinaigrette
*Molly Wizenberg's lemon yogurt cake with strawberries and blueberries (the recipe from the book for this cake includes a syrup that you pour over the warm cake before putting on the glaze - I think that puts this over the top)

Unfortunately I was too busy to take photos of any of it, but it was all delicious!

Plans Change

2009-07-16T10:38:00.003-05:00

So I was all set to have Memoir Week here on Books and Cooks, thanks to the memoir reading binge I've been on. But as I was writing my first post on Tuesday announcing memoir week I was called in early to work. Which was a good thing! And then I spent most of, okay all of my kid-free time on Wednesday trying to get into Harry Potter after the first show I showed up for was sold out. I finally did see it after buying a ticket online, retrieving it, standing in line for a half hour, then sitting in the theater for another half hour. Was it worth it? I'm going to say Yes. I'm not sure how close it was to the book, I read that back in 2005 after all. I did love that there was a bit of humor in this installment and enjoyed the romantic tension between the characters. Alan Rickman is fabulous.

So, here I am on Thursday. I think that it is too late to begin memoir week and I will hold that thought for next week. I will instead tell you about another book I read recently, The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri.

Reading this book was like putting on an old comfortable sweater. The plot is familiar: a young woman has been facing tough times in life and love and decides to travel. In this case, the young woman whose name is Kate travels to the homeland of her mother's family, Ireland, and finds herself in a small village. She is immediately taken in by a lovely but lonely woman and instead of moving on like she expected, Kate stays on for a bit. She soon begins learning how to make lace with the village women and because pretty things are hard to find in small villages in Ireland, they begin to create beautiful lingerie out of the lace. We get to know the lace makers, the challenges and struggles that they have faced. We get to know the village priest who thinks lacy lingerie is Evil, a storyline that seemed a little far-fetched. I guess I just don't see what fancy underwear has to do with religion. But I let that go, since there was so much to enjoy about this book, including a little romance. Except for the priest, this is a warm and gentle book, one to curl up with. For some reason, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did, perhaps because it seemed formulaic. But it brought me pleasure and I am happy to recommend it.

Farmers' Market - July 12

2009-07-12T10:45:00.004-05:00

I was disappointed today not to find corn at the market, but now looking back, I see that I wasn't able to buy it until July 20 last year. We're having another summer on the cool side here so I'm sure that is part of the reason why.

Lots of lovely things today though. Besides the 'ususal' snow peas, green/wax beans, potatoes and scallions, I bought some broccoli, gorgeous spinach, shallots, late summer wildflower honey, strawberries, yellow squash and kabob meat. I had a heavy bag, I mean bags, today. I am going to make this squash and potato gratin today, it is an old favorite of mine and I make it a few times every summer. Not sure my family is as crazy about it as me, but oh well, I say.

Mariana

2009-07-10T10:20:00.003-05:00

Mary, fairly newly married, hears on the radio that the British destroyer her husband is on during WW2 has sunk and there are many casualties. Knowing that she will not be able to find out the fate of her husband that night, Mary goes to bed and unable to sleep, thinks about the many events that have made up her life. Thus begins Mariana (Persephone Classics) by Monica Dickens, the coming-of-age story of a woman, a woman that could be everywoman.

She is not the prettiest or the smartest or the most clever. She is not always lucky in love or circumstances or her career. But what she is good at is being herself. In one of my favorite lines from the novel Mary thinks "All one could do was to get on with the one job that nobody else could do, the job of being oneself."

We get to know Mary as a schoolgirl, enjoying holidays with her cousins in the country. From the beginning, we see that she is besotted with her cousin Denys, who will break her heart. Mary is not sure what she wants to do with herself besides become a wife and mother. Drama school does not work out all that well and a trip to Paris to learn dressmaking seems to go well until Mary meets the Wrong Man. Mary seems to sense that he is wrong, but not wanting to displease anyone, and hopeful to improve her family's circumstances, Mary carries on with him, until she simply cannot do it any longer. Finally, there is the Right Man, and with him comes all the joy that Mary has been hoping so long for.

Harriet Lane writes in the preface that "Mary is sometimes quite difficult to like." I did not find this this be the case at all, in fact quite the opposite. In fact, I loved Mary, in all her ordinary-ness. Weren't we all Mary at one time or another? I identified with Mary time and time again, when she felt out-of-place, heartbroken, or simply just not enough. Mariana is simply a brilliant portrait of a girl, she could be any girl, at any time, really, which is what makes this 1940 novel timeless and relevant. With this book, it is easy to see why Persephone began publishing in the first place, to share treasures like this one.

Reading YA Books

2009-07-09T10:15:00.006-05:00

Until about a year ago, I hadn't read any YA books, since I was, well, a YA myself. Before I began this blogging adventure I would have never thought of looking for books in the YA section. What I've found since, is that when you look past all the vampire books (sorry, that genre just doesn't appeal to me at all) and books with sexy girls on the covers, there are treasures to be found in the YA section. I've read a couple recently myself.

Laurie Halse Anderson's Wintergirls is the story of a young woman suffering from anorexia. I felt as thought I knew a fair amount about anorexia before reading this book. I did a science fair project about it in the 7th grade that was featured in the newspaper. I had a close friend in high school that suffered from the disorder. In my professional career, I've read doctor's interviews with sufferers and observed their behavior in the hospital cafeteria as they obsessed over food, threw some away and sometimes sat with their families in situations that can only be described as turbulent.

Despite all this, I didn't really know what was going on in the head of a person suffering from anorexia and what their families go through as well, and that is where LHA comes in. She has created a portrait of a young woman, full of self doubt and pain that exerts control over her life in the only way she feels she can, by starving and cutting herself. This is an intense and powerful read.

Another book I read was If I Stay by Gayle Forman. This is the story of Mia, a young woman with a joyful life who is preparing to make a choice. A choice between leaving home and going to Julliard after high school or staying home near her boyfriend who is a member of a local up-and-coming band. Suddenly tragedy strikes and Mia finds herself with a different sort of choice to make between everything or nothing.

Reading these books, and other YA books I've noticed some similarities. These books start with a bang. There's no meandering, get-to-know-the-characters in the first 50 pages as I so often find in adult books. By the end of the first chapter or even sometimes even the first page, the story is out there, we know where we're going, there is action and suspense from the get go. I understand this, I mean these books are being written for the ipod and text message generation, they want to just get to the story. This is also, I think, why I tend to not find these books completely satisfying. More likely though is the fact that I'm 'past' much of the subject matter.

I enjoyed both of these books, admittedly Wintergirls more, and will continue to read from the YA section when the right book comes along.

How I Hit the Book Jackpot

2009-07-07T09:48:00.005-05:00

Every so often I browse the library's selection of 'Materials Ordered'. They're listed by month and organized by non-fiction, fiction, cd's, children's, etc.. I usually like to peruse the non-fiction books and wind up requesting a handful that I've never heard of, never seen, simply based upon the titles. You could probably guess what sorts of books wind up on my hold shelf. Mostly cookbooks, other books about food, and sometimes books with Paris or France in the title. While I always browse through the cookbooks that arrive, other times the books that come aren't my thing. But a few weeks ago, a book showed up that was just my thing.

I simply devoured Emily Franklin's food memoir, Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes
. Talk about the perfect book at the perfect time. Franklin's memoir is arranged like so many food memoirs these days, as a series of essays with recipes at the end of each one. The difference here is that Franklin is cooking for her family, picky eaters and all.

Franklin is a writer, I believe of YA novels, her husband is a pediatrician, and she stays home with all the children. Franklin loves food and cooking and has experience cooking as a chef. She obviously loves children, her life revolves around them, and it's clear she wants them to have a good relationship with food and eating. While the children are adorable and say lots of clever things, Franklin keeps a tight focus on the family's relationship with food, their day-to-day 'food life' whether the family is at home, vacationing, or celebrating holidays. I love books like this. I love reading about what people eat for dinner, or any meal really. For whatever reason, this fascinates me, which is why I'm sure I've loved so many food memoirs.

From a practical standpoint, Franklin offers many good ideas, techniques, and her own philosophy on getting kids to try new foods. I have a pretty good eater (she devoured that trout the other night) so I didn't necessarily read this book for that perspective. Oh, the recipes! Franklin has a lot of recipes that really appeal to me. She's altered recipes for things like muffins and other baked goods to include applesauce, wheat germ, and whole wheat flour. Her cooking style reminded me of mine in some ways. She roasts vegetables and makes big pots of lentil soups. Her recipes really appealed to me for their simplicity and I'd like to try many of them. Which is a problem since I don't own this book and it's due back - this is a book I'm now considering buying. I didn't want this book to end and stretched it out to make it last. I could read about what Emily Franklin is making for dinner forever, I think. The experience of reading this book was enhanced when I found this link to Apartment Therapy where there is a tour of Franklin's kitchen. Nice, huh?

What else can I say? Loved it, loved it, loved it. Thank you Emily Frankin for a fabulous reading experience.

Farmers' Market - July 4

2009-07-05T08:36:00.004-05:00

I bought lots of good things yesterday. I was most excited to see green/wax beans and most disappointed not to find corn. I went to a BBQ yesterday and meant to make a salad from Sara Foster's book, Fresh Every Day (a fabulous book), which was supposed to contain arugula (stand-in for watercress), snap peas, corn, and a blue cheese dressing. Instead I made a huge salad with arugula, snap peas and wax peas that I blanched, raw summer squash, scallions and blue cheese with the lemon/red wine vinegar dressing. It was yummy and disappeared, always a good sign.

Oh! I almost forgot. I'm trying something new from the market I've been intrigued by for a while. Farm-raised, organic rainbow trout - it's right in the front. I bought some that is already seasoned and we're going to try grilling it.

Cheers!

Wishy-Washy

2009-07-02T10:26:00.003-05:00

Was I ever wishy-washy about The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. I picked it up since it was in the must-read pile, and I was in the mood for some historical fiction.

In case you haven't heard from the huge marketing campaign, this novel is the story of a young woman named Connie working on her Ph.D. in American history at Harvard who spends her summer alternately looking for a dissertation topic and cleaning up her maternal grandmother's home near Salem, MA. The house is perfectly creepy and old, without electricity or a phone line. Connie comes across an old key in the house with a slip of paper attached reading 'Deliverance Dane'. Connie sets off to figure out who Delivance was and has a relatively easy time tracking her down and obtaining information about her descendants. Scattered throughout the novel are chapters that reveal what happened in the past from the perspective of Deliverance and her descendants. Howe's idea was apparently to write a novel from the idea of 'what if the witches from Salem were actually practicing witchcraft' thus the story takes an odd magical turn about halfway through that I wasn't expecting.

So how was I wishy-washy? Well, when I was awake and alert I thought this was an okay read. I really thought the premise was interesting and enjoyed reading about the big old house and its secrets. The Postscript was fascinating and it's obvious there and throughout the book that Howe is a scholar of American History.

But when I was tired, and it was the end of the day, I felt very nit picky about this book. My main problem with it was that the dialogue felt heavy. Too much description of how people said things, or what they were doing when they said it that didn't pertain to the continuation of the storyline. I've found that I prefer books that are just told, not just 'he said'/'she said' all the way through. In addition, I had trouble reading the New England dialect that Howe uses occasionally and had to actually read aloud to figure out what was being said.

The characters often seemed overwritten, like caricatures of people. The innocent student, the bad-boy painter romantic interest, the hippy-dippy mother who is all knowing, and the villain. Connie wasn't the easiest character to like. For a Ph.D. student she took an awfully long time (20 pages) to pick up on clues that I noticed immediately. In addition, from the moment The Villain was introduced it was as though Howe was throwing stuff at me to let me know that he was The Bad Guy. So how did Connie not notice?

{Insert big sigh.}

I know it sounds like I didn't like this book at all, which isn't the case. It's just that this, for me, was an okay book that could have been great, with better execution and more editing. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of people who enjoy this novel. I guess I just read enough to know that it could have been so much better.

Many thanks to Hyperion for this review copy.

The Midwife

2009-06-30T10:43:00.005-05:00

I've been a moody reader lately. It all started with something I read in Adam Roberts' The Amateur Gourmet. Roberts' had lunch with Ruth Reichl, and he worried out loud about what he 'should' wear, and what he 'should' order. Reichl set him straight. She told him (and I'm paraphrasing here) that it's his meal, his experience. He should wear what he wants and what he's comfortable in, and he should order what he wants to eat. Not what the restaurant's necessarily known for, not what will impress your date or Ruth Reichl, but what you want.

That got me thinking about what I want to read. Not necessarily what books people want me to review, or what the readers of this blog might be most interested in, or what looks impressive out in public. What I Want. And What I Want to read lately is this:

Memoirs.
Food Memoirs.
Other books about food.
First person. (isn't that a strange one?)
Historical Fiction.
Women's stories.
Strong women.
Hard times.

That is what I've been in the mood for. Not mysteries, or books set in Asia. So, I guess what I'm saying is that these are the sorts of books I'll be reviewing here in the coming week or two. Because that's what I want to read. And you know what? I'm sure that will change.

Lesley wrote about The Midwife last month and as sometimes happens to me, I knew I needed to have that book right away. So I literally went and bought it the next day. And then it sat on the big stack and said 'read me. read me!' for a while, and then finally, because I am reading What I Want, I picked it up and I can tell you, it was perfect.

The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times is Jennifer Worth's memoir of her experience as a midwife in the East End of London in the 1950's. Times were different then when most women gave birth at home, and midwives were most involved in their pre and post natal care. Boy, does Worth have some amazing stories! Worth lived in London with a group of Nuns who were experienced midwives themselves - this provided some interesting stories without even delivering babies! Worth's patients were working class people, living in differing levels of poverty, some better off than others, and to think people still lived in homes with communal bathrooms and water that must be carried upstairs in the 1950s is really something.

The Midwife contains the stories of the woman who has given birth to 25 babies, the differing response to babies whose skin color does not match their parents, young mother's who seems unsuited to the job, and prostitutes who fell on hard times. The stories are sometimes difficult and heart-breaking, but are also life-affirming. Worth writes with just the right amount of compassion and mater-of-factness. Worth is at her best when she writes about the women whose lives she entered, though there are more personal essays as well.

If you're interesting in the subject, I couldn't recommend this more. I will tell you that it's quite graphic in terms of childbirth - all aspects of it. The good news is that Worth has written 2 follow up books to this; as yet unpublished in the US, so I'm thanking my lucky stars for The Book Depository.

Farmers' Market - June 28

2009-06-28T10:43:00.004-05:00

The food wasn't the most interesting thing to come of this week's trip.

Though the food looks great! Not much different from last week. They are saying corn might be available next week - whee! And I am eagerly anticipating green beans. Would you believe I paid $2 for that lettuce?

So, the girl went with me to the market today. She remarked on and was curious about something that's fairly obvious at our market - the majority of the vegetable farmers are Hmong. So I asked her to wait until we got into the car where we discussed in a highly simplified manner:

* The Vietnam war and why the Hmong came to the US, particularly Minnesota.
* Why people have traditionally come to the US - freedom from oppression.

This led into:

* Freedom for women's rights and a book we read about "Elizabeth" who worked for women's right to vote and make laws.
* Another book she read about people coming to America on a boat and selling their jewelery so they could do so, and celebrating Thanksgiving when they arrived. (Not sure if this was all the same book.)

It was more than I bargained for, but was a really good chat. I think she 'got' it. And naturally I was impressed what she remembers from her reading. Good stuff.

Friday Catch Up

2009-06-26T11:18:00.003-05:00

So, Laurie Halse Anderson. An author I hadn't heard of until I began reading blogs and suddenly her name and books were popping up everywhere. I decided to check out her work and was most interested in her 2000 novel, Fever 1973, which was sitting on the shelf at the library just waiting for me. Fever 1793 is historical fiction, set during the yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia in, you guessed it, 1793. We experience the outbreak from the perspective of adolescent Matilda who helps her widowed mother run a coffee shop. By the end of the first chapter, the outbreak has already hit too close to home for this family.

From that point, things go from bad to worse. An attempt to escape from the city doesn't go as planned, and everything that could go wrong, does. Matilda shows gumption and compassion beyond her years. She is a fantastic heroine who finds strength within and despite adversity and is a great role model.

I enjoyed this book, it was fast paced, and full of twists and turns, perfect for the young adult audience this book is meant for. Did it feel like a young adult book? To me, yes. But the plot, excellent characterization and historical details made this a compelling read. I especially enjoyed the appendix at the end of the book where Anderson provides lots of fascinating historical information.

Any Laurie Halse Anderson fans out there? What is your favorite of her books?

***********

The Blue Notebook was a difficult but important book to read. This novel comes from an unlikely author, Dr James Levine from the Mayo Clinic. According to the publisher, Dr Levine was doing research in India when he was inspired to write this story of a child prostitute. Not only is Levine publicizing the plight of these disadvantaged children, he's also donating US proceeds from the novel to charity.

The Blue Notebook is the Story of Batuk. Sold into slavery by her father at 9 years of age, she is now living on the Common Street, a street of prostitution, in what sounds like some sort of cage where she services men. She owns a blue notebook and a small pencil with which she tells her story. Hardened yet still childlike, Batuk at age 15 tells her story, past and present. We see how these children are exploited and how it seems there is no place else for them. Which is often times sadly the case, it seems.

About midway through, the novel takes a dramatic turn and it quickly becomes apparent to Batuk that she was better off on the streets than where she has been brought. The ending is rather shocking and if anyone cares to discuss it please comment or email me. Sometimes things that may seem obvious to others need to be spelled out to me so I want to be certain I understood what happened.

I was terribly impressed by the voice Levine gave to Batuk. It felt authentic to me in terms of the age of the character, as well as her Indian origins. This is the sort of book you cannot really say you 'enjoyed' for who enjoys a story about human suffering? But at the same time, Levine is doing what he can to make others aware of this all-too-real situation and I thank him for that. Since Dr Levine is from Minnesota it is my hope that he will make an appearance nearby and perhaps I will get to hear him speak.

The Blue Notebook will be published in July by Random House. Many thanks to them for this review copy.

Beach Trip - Author Interview

2009-06-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Beach Trip by Cathy Holton is the story of four women who might never have been friends. Fate brought them together as roommates in college and now in their 40s, they come together again for a reunion at the beach. Lola, who organizes the trip, is the most enigmatic of the four women. She is unhappily married, seems drugged much of the time and exhibits childlike behavior. Mel is the strong one, an author, she lives the single life in the city and says what she thinks. Annie struggles with secrets in her past, and keeps her life orderly in contrast to the inner turmoil she feels. Sara is happily married, mother of two children, one of them who struggles. She was the most relatable character I felt, but she struggles with her past as well.

This is pure women's fiction. It's the sort of book that deals with heavy subjects and secrets with a light hand; there is sadness and regret but also humor and hangovers. The narrative goes back and forth in time as the reader gets to know the women in the present, and how their pasts shaped their lives.

This was a really good read for me. I enjoyed the writing style and the subject matter and whenever I saw the book on my nightstand, I looked forward to getting back to it, always a good sign. There was a plot twist that I picked up on right away - Holton waited until towards the end to confirm my feeling. I thought that would be the only plot twist but boy was I wrong! The ending contains a huge twist that I thought was well done and believable - it made the book for me.

Cathy Holton was kinds enough to answer a few questions from me. Her answers are fun and witty, and her next book sounds fantastic. Check it out:

What inspired you to create the four women Beach Trip centers around?

A friend of mine told me about a trip she was getting ready to take with some college friends; just six women alone in the Bahamas aboard a yacht with a Captain and crew (one of the women had married well). I said it sounded like fun and she said it was, just lots of drinking and lying in the sun and reminiscing. But then she qualified that by saying that the trip usually got kind of tense toward the end because there was something between two of the women, something that had happened in college and never been resolved and only surfaced at the end of the week when the sun and the close quarters and the martinis got to be too much. That got me interested.

Did you already have the idea for the ending in your mind when you started writing? (I wasn't expecting what happened at all - which I love.)

I knew something dramatic would happen and I knew it would involve Lola, but I wasn’t sure until the middle of the novel what it would be.

Would you talk a bit about your physical writing process? Where, when, on a computer or by hand, is it quiet or noisy, is there food involved?

There’s always food involved. And caffeine. Although I try to keep the food to a minimum; usually just a little something sweet around mid-afternoon when my brain begins to fog and I need that carb rush. When I’m working I try to stick to a structured routine; up at 8:00 and in front of my computer by 9:00. By noon I break for lunch, take the dog for a walk in the woods, and then get back to work by 1:00 or 1:30. I break for the day around 4:00. I try to average ten double-spaced pages a day. I write in a corner of my bedroom, near a pair of long windows, in front of a fireplace and a wall of bookshelves. It’s very cozy and very quiet.

Who are your favorite authors - for inspiration or just reading pleasure? What's on your nightstand right now?

I read constantly; I’m an eclectic reader. My list of favorite writers is long and changes daily but I always come back to Flannery O’Connor, George Singleton, Lewis Nordan, Alice Hoffman, Peter Carey, Hilary Mantel, Kate Atkinson, Ian McEwan, and Doris Lessing.

I love to read short stories, especially those written by John Cheever, Shelby Foote, Ellen Gilchrist and Isabelle Allende.

On my nightstand right now is Alice Munro’s “Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You,” and Brock Clarke’s “An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England.”

Besides books, I also write about cooking on my blog. I loved the fact that in Beach Trip you wrote about what the women were eating and drinking. Does that mean you enjoy cooking? What would you serve your girlfriends if they were coming over - feel free to include a cocktail!

Eating, yes. Drinking, yes. Cooking, not so much. I’m lucky though. My husband has a degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management and, get this – he likes to cook. (Which helps explain why I’ve kept him around for thirty years.)

If my girlfriends were coming for dinner, I’d have him wear his apron that reads, Kitchen Bitch, and then serve something like Goat Cheese Salad on Field Greens with Toasted Pecans, Pan-Seared Tuna with White Bean Puree and Asparagus in a Crawfish Bernaise, followed by Strawberry Creme Brulee. And, of course, that delectable creation, the Mother of All Martinis – The Breathless.

(I hope he never reads this. If he does, it’s Beans & Weanies for me for a month.)

Finally, what are you working on now in terms of your writing?

I’m working on a novel tentatively called “Old Money”, about a Chicago girl, Ava Dabrowski, who marries into an aristocratic Southern family. While working on her first novel, a legal thriller, she agrees to spend a summer in her new husband, Will’s, hometown of Woodburn, Tennessee. Ensconced in the family’s crumbling mansion with Will and his two great aunts, Fanny and Josephine, Ava finds herself a stranger in a strange land, caught up in the dramas and intrigues of the characters inhabiting this small Southern town. Gradually drawn into tales of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Fanny’s first husband, Ava stumbles upon a decades old family secret, a discovery that causes an increasing rift in her marriage as she puts aside her legal thriller and begins instead to write about the enigmatic Woodburn family.

Many thanks to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to read Beach Trip and contact Cathy Holton!

Spiced

2009-06-23T11:45:00.005-05:00

Whew! It's hot out there! A week ago we didn't need air conditioning, now it's in the 90s. Crazy.

My book club met last night to discuss The Gravedigger's Daughter by JCO. The response was not surprising. Two members didn't get much past 100 pages and no one that finished it was very impressed. Or impressed at all, really. We have mutually agreed to NOT read JCO again. Relief.

So, here are a few books that I've finished lately...

Spiced is Dalia Jurgensen's memoir of her life as a pastry chef. While I read a fair amount about food, I haven't read much in the chef-memoir vein, so this was new ground for me. Dissatisfied with working in an office, Jurgensen took a chance and went to cooking school and scored a great first-time-in-the-kitchen gig at Nobu in NYC. I loved reading about what fine restaurants are really like behind the scenes. It's pretty scathing back there - the saying 'if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen' proves true in the restaurant setting. It sounded crazy stressful having to deal with the hierarchy in the kitchen, the blatant sexism, the filthy bathrooms, and the long hours on your feet. Spiced also made me more aware of the business that goes on in terms of restaurant openings and closings and why chefs move around as much as they sometimes seem to. I enjoyed Spiced most when Jurgensen was writing about the actual food, the desserts that she prepared and how she came up with a menu for a particular restaurant. I was less interested in Jurgensen's personal/intimate life, and by the last chapters I had had enough stories of sexist men in the kitchen to last me a lifetime. Despite this, I would definitely recommend this book; Jurgensen has a chatty and personal writing style that really grabbed me and of course I loved the topic. One thing I realized is that as much as I enjoy cooking, cooking at a restaurant would not have been for me. Stressful, yes, but I enjoy trying new recipes and techniques, not preparing the same dishes all the time. Many thanks to Putnam for this review copy.

I was going to write about Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793, but it's getting late and I'll leave it for another day...

Farmers' Market - June 21

2009-06-21T15:40:00.002-05:00

Today the girl and I bought:

lettuces, snow peas, sugar snap peas, fresh onions, red new potatoes, strawberries, grass fed beef, and garlic. Garlic! This is amazing garlic. It has separated into cloves but hasn't dried and become papery on the outside yet. Oh! And flowers for Daddy. And honey sticks for everyone. Also available was broccoli, beets, bok choy, lots of greens and someone had hot-house tomatoes. It's getting good!

Happy Father's Day!

Some Comfort Reading

2009-06-19T10:22:00.002-05:00

Adele Geras' books have become another form of comfort reading for me. Thick, long stories spanning many years, somewhat melodramatic, with romance and hidden secrets. Yep, that's what I like in a comfort read.

Hester's Story is the third of Geras' books that I have read. The story goes back and forth from Hester's youth to her life as a middle aged woman. Hester had an unhappy childhood, losing her mother at a young age and then being shuttled off to live with relatives in England. She never felt that she fit in anywhere until Madame Olga came to town and Hester discovered a passion for ballet. Hester is gifted and spends time in London becoming a prima ballerina until an affair with the wrong man changes the course of her life.

As a middle aged woman, Hester lives in an estate called Wychwood and supervises a special ballet performance that occurs there annually. As the story opens, the dancers and choreographers descend on Wychwood and of course they all have their own personal issues and dramas going on. Ultimately, Hester's past and present come together in a way that she never expected.

This was a good read for me. There is an awful lot of talk about ballet in this novel, so if you have absolutely no interest at all in ballet, I wouldn't recommend this. I did find the ending a little disappointing. I had a feeling about what was going to happen (and I was mostly right) but I was expecting more emotions from the characters when all was revealed. Instead, things wrapped up a little bit too quickly and neatly for me.

All in all though, I enjoyed this and would recommend it. I still think I liked Geras' first adult novel, Facing the Light best, and I also enjoyed Made in Heaven.

It's a good day for chocolate cake....

2009-06-17T09:29:00.007-05:00

Because today is My Birthday!

I woke up to a homemade card that reads: I love you so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so,so MUCH! Fabulous.

I received some new earring to replace the ones that were stolen in November (house was broken into). Nothing fancy, just costume jewelery.

I am going out to dinner and then I am going to eat Chocolate Mousse Cake from Buttercream Bakery. They make wedding cakes and use all natural ingredients. Yum!

I am going to treat myself to some new Persephone books thanks to their 3 for 2 anniversary offer; it seems we share a birthday.

Finally, it seems like a good time to share some books that have creeped into my house lately.

Here we have some books I ordered from The Book Depository when they were having a sale.

Persephone's Miss Buncle's Book. The Cranks Bible which is a vegetarian cookbook with a Middle Eastern twist. Singled Out which I've had my eye on for ages. The Blackest Streets - subtitle is The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum - just my thing, and another Barbara Ewing novel - loved The Trespass a few years back.

Here are new advance copies that have arrived.

This Lovely Life: a memoir of premature motherhood - I've skimmed this one a bit - it looks heartbreaking, devastating, and wonderfully written.

Sarah Dunant's new book Sacred Hearts about a 16 year old sent to a convent against her will in the 16th century.

Gifts of War - a love story set against the backdrop of WW2.

Au Revoir to All That: Food, Wine and the End of France - food, wine, France? Sounds good to me.

Here are the books I've purchased, new and used.

The Moonflower Vine - 'A timeless American classic rediscovered, An unforgettable saga of a heartland family' This was a bestseller in the 1960s.

Ruth Rendell. Of course.

Laurie Colwins's cooking memoirs - I got tired of seeing these all over the place and not having read them. I'm on a bit of a food memoir binge, anyway.

The Silent Raga - the story of two sisters in India - the cover is gorgeous - I couldn't resist.

American Cookery - A family saga complete with recipes. I kept picking this up and putting it back until finally I found a used copy and brought it home. Has anyone read this or anything by author Laura Kalpakian?

Finally, here are some books that I've won or mooched, or scored from paperbackswap.

Highlights here include What the Butler Saw:Two Hundred and Fifty Years of the Servant Problem and Barbara Vine's latest, The Birthday Present which is of course worth mentioning today.

Cheers!

Joyce Carol Oates - An Acquired Taste?

2009-06-15T11:01:00.003-05:00

Thanks so much for all your kinds words, thoughts, and vibes last week. I had a totally blissed out time with the girl last week. Camp started this morning. My stomach was churning and she was fine until we arrived. That small hand clutched mine and whispered 'I want to stay with you mama.' But. Soon her best friend arrived and all was well, kiss and out the door. Can't wait to hear all about it.

My introduction to Joyce Carol Oates was her novel We Were the Mulvaneys which I read with my book club in 2002. I didn't keep records then so I cannot remember my specific response to the book but I remember that while it was readable we all felt awfully lukewarm about it. It's somewhat surprising then that we chose to read The Gravedigger's Daughter this year. I think we were all drawn in by the description of the book.

The Jewish Schwart family has immigrated to the US from Nazi Germany. Typically, these sorts of characters would be written in a sympathetic light, but not by JCO. Father Jacob is authoritarian and crazy. The only job he's been able to procure is that of the town gravedigger. Ma is passive, doesn't speak English or frankly much of anything. Youngest daughter Rachel is smart and inquisitive, but thwarted by poverty and her family situation.

Jacob commits a crime that leaves Rebecca on her own. Without any positive male role models in her life Rebecca naturally becomes involved with the Wrong sort of man and bears him a child. A series of circumstances lead Rebecca to relocate and change the names of her son and herself. Suddenly the girl who had been dumpy is beautiful and desirable to men. They want to get to know her better while she wishes to keep them at arm's length. Some more things happen to Rebecca, none of them good. There is a somewhat funny and strange series of letters at the end of the book. And then it just ends.

If you couldn't tell already I wasn't crazy about this book, and sadly it was quite long at nearly 600 pages of small print. JCO has a unique narrative style. As a reader I felt quite distant from all the characters. There seemed to be an excessive amount of exclamation points. Exclamation points! Like that! The story is just entirely depressing, crass at times, horrific in others, and towards the end I just didn't care to be introduced to new characters that frankly didn't seem to add much to the story. I'm glad I read it since it sounded good to me, but I don't think I'll be returning to this author.

So, I'm curious to know if there are any JCO fans out there. I'm wondering if she's sort of like Margaret Atwood - you have to sort of 'get' her to enjoy her books. It'll be interesting to see what my bookclub thinks. Or if they even finish it.

I wanted to mention our last meeting when we 'discussed' Emma. It was a disappointing meeting in terms of the bookishness. Only 3 out of 7 members finished the book. There were so many negative comments! It was hard to follow, too many characters, couldn't get into the language, on and on. I was actually pretty surprised at the reaction. I guess we won't be dipping into Austen again as a group.

I guess it sounds like I've been reading a lot of books which I did not enjoy - but I've actually read a few good ones too! I'll share those soon.

Sigh of Relief

2009-06-12T07:47:00.004-05:00

what I haven't been doing:

* worrying about next week
* spending more than 1/2 hour per day on the computer
* blogging

(photo taken last summer)

what I have been doing:

* enjoying the girl being home with me, just us
* wondering at when she became such a young lady
* and so tall
* letting her lead me on a 2 hour walk
* eating ice cream in the middle of the afternoon
* going to the playground
* trips to target where I get talked into stuff I never buy
* feeling sad that she's starting daycamp next week
* reading lots
* loving her

see you next week