Flowers and bee

Flowers and bee

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Origins of the Calendar - or why December is the 12th month - instead of 10th

The Dance of Time : The Origins of the Calendar by Michael Judge is a great book for those folks who like to spout facts at parties. It is also is fun for those of us who really do want to know why December is the 12th month instead of 10th? (That is because they put in extra months and kept trying to change the names - but everyone kept using the old ones!)

Judge takes a logical approach and first begins his history with how the concept of capturing and notating time began. What religious and pagan festivals played a part and what groups were responsible for keeping or creating the traditions is part of his analysis. Then he goes in depth and does a month by month essay while highlighting the days and traditions that are still carried on today.

Some fun facts for your next shindig : Did you know that Halloween is one of the oldest celebrated pagan festivals - that has not changed much at all in character during that time and it predates Christianity by "at least five hundred years"? And the date has remained the same during that time frame? Did you know that the year used to start on March 25th? And that "New Year's Day" fluxuated between Jan 1 and March 25th until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar reforms - and not even then?

Great book - lots of information - Great read

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Irresistible

What do you get when you mix an ex-Marine and a single mom who helps take care of her elderly neighbor? And give the characters a past that they are not too proud of, but yet make them seem very real and approachable? It's the latest book from Susan Mallery called Irresistible.

Walker and Elissa are not really interested in having a relationship - both are in the "we been burned or hurt before" mode. She is trying to make it on her own. He is a new neighbor. But circumstances intervene and they become friends. And to their growing astonishment, they find they want more.

This is a great story - with good secondary characters that lead the reader to believe that there will be sequel, for he has several other siblings. Well written, with humor - and the plot moves along, and best of all, the leads seem real with problems and doubts like the rest of us. Very satisfying, and I'm looking forward to the other siblings' stories.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Unhooked Generation - Single people running amuck!

Unhooked Generation: The Truth About Why We're Still Single by Jillian Straus has some interesting points. Being single, I thought this book would prove to be thought provoking.

She believes that there are "evil" influences on single folks. Her list of reasons contains the concepts:
- There is too high a celebrity standard
- There is a divorce effect from so many divorces in our culture
- We live in a multiple choice culture which overwhelms people
- There is fallout from delaying marriage
- There are inadvertent problems from feminism
- The strong "cult of I " in our culture

The fact that she worked for Oprah, I thought would produce a interesting twist. So, I was a bit amazed that she blamed so much on feminism. And really, some of the issues - were not really feminist! I think she needed to do a bit more research on the history of feminism.

Does this book help "solve" the problem and provide answers? Not really - but she does raise interesting questions. Some of them I agree with and some I don't. Decide for yourself.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

The Alibi Club

The time is May 1940. There is a rather sordid murder. The victim is an American who works at a rather prestigious law firm. His girlfriend, Sally King, does not believe the police are interested in finding the truth. All of Paris is distracted by the fact that the French and Belgian forces may not be able to hold off the German advance. She believes that her boyfriend was killed because of something in his law firm. She goes to the American Embassy to find help and enlists the services of one of the ambassador's right hand men. And when he starts to look in to the situation - he finds more than he bargins for. Thus begins the web of deception, lies, and truths that took place before the German occupation in The Alibi Club by Francine Mathews.

This mixture of espionage, science, fact and fiction makes a good read. Who else could manage to mix a Josephine Baker homage character with Frederic Joliot-Curie and the race to figure out how to split the atom? She gives us a good sense of the time and place - the rush of refugees trying to escape on the roads south of Paris, the burning of the embassy's papers, the knowledge of what law firms and banks did business with the Nazis and the choices made, of who would stay in Paris and who would go. And meanwhile, Sally is convinced that in this chaos, the killer will go free.

Mathews has a good thriller on her hands here. She manages to weave in a large cast of characters - a mix of real people and made up ones - with the oncoming sense of panic and doom that the Nazi advance brings. Each chapter brings the Germans closer to the city. And the tension in Paris arises. Worth a look.

Monday, December 04, 2006

What Dreams May Come

Believe in the power of dreams? What about dreaming of romance? What if a romance character was there when you woke up? Would you be shocked or just take it in stride? How do you teach a medieval man table manners anyway? Read Knightly Dreams by Sherrilyn Kenyon which is one of the three stories in the book What Dreams May Come. Dreaming is the theme in the other stories by Rebecca York and Robin D. Owens too.

Owens' story of a twist of fate is very good too. It poses the question of what would happen if you had a chance to do things differently the second time around? And if you had a rather fat cat angel working with you? You end up with a story that is funny and serious. And something to think about.

Happy Dreaming. A fun read.

The Manor House Mystery Series

It's World War II in England. The men are off fighting, the Yanks are over here, and rationing is everywhere. Kate Kingsbury's A Bicycle Built for Murder introduces us to her reluctant sleuth Lady Elizabeth. She's a divorcee whose parents were killed in the Blitz and she is now in charge of maintaining Manor House. One of her tenants' daughter is found murdered, and she is asked to look into it -since the the remaining constables are not too eager to have had to have come out of retirement due to wartime. The murder is being blamed on the Yanks, but Lady Elizabeth - mindful of the fact that the Manor is about to have American officers stationed there - tries to remind the locals that the Yanks are not all bad.

The second book is equally as fun. Death is in the Air has a murder of a land girl, but the village is more nervous by the fact that there is a downed German airman on the loose. They would have caught him when he parachuted down, but some folks were a bit distracted by getting the silk of his parachute.

Kingsbury does a great job of giving her readers the flavor of wartime England in the countryside where the London bombings seem so far away. Lady Elizabeth is a great character. She is unsure of herself, but tries to carry on the family tradition anyway in this rapidly changing world. And everyone tries to adjust to wartime deprivations. A great series.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Tender is the Bone

Tender is the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples are 2 memoirs written by Ruth Reichl. Reichl is currently the editor in chief at Gourmet magazine. She was a food writer and the former dining critic for the New York Times. She has been in the food industry for awhile.

Tender is the Bone, her first work, is the story of how she grew up with a mother who would sometimes serve food that was slightly off. Ruth's tales of how she would keep guests away from certain dishes is very funny. And slightly scary! The book really focuses on how she found her place in the world and where she "fit" in. Every experience is geared toward the foodie she becomes, from learning French in a Canadian school, learning dishes from her relatives, to making snack food for her fellow teenagers. She ends up in California at the start of the organic and locally grown food movement that started there in the 1970's. She ends the book at the start of her food writing career.

Comfort Me With Apples, her second book, takes up the story where she left off. She goes from food writing to becoming a reviewer. In the meantime, her personal life changes and evolves as well. It is interesting that what behavior a reader will accept from a adolescent memoir, they will not accept from a "grown-up" memoir. There were parts of this book where I just wanted her to grow up and move on in her life. But then again - it is easy to say when you are the reader and not the person living that life.

As she travels through what is going to become the chef/restuarant explosion of the West Coast (hanging out with Wolfgang Puck and others), it is interesting how she lets us see the sights along the way. A must read for a food lover, and someone interested in the California restaurant scene.

I will eventually read her third book, Garlic and Sapphires: the secret life of a critic in disguise, but until then I will recover from ingesting these two.

Monday, November 20, 2006

The London Blitz Murders

It is 1942 - the Blitz is raging. London is under duress - what else can go wrong? Max Allan Collins' book The London Blitz Murders gives us a fictional scoop of a real murder. The Blackout Ripper was real and Collins takes some of the real players and gives us a great historical mystery.

His lead detective is good ol' Mrs Mallowan who works in a pharmacy for the duration. Don't know her? Try her other name - Agatha Christie. Collins manages to work in Christie's war time work - both writing and otherwise, with the true crime tale.

This book gives the reader a slice of what it was like in the time period - with the characterizations of the real people involved with the case. And leaves us with a little insight into Agatha and her writings as well. Great read.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Running with Scissors or My Family Is More Dysfunctional Than Yours

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs is a book about a seriously dysfunctional family. Someone told me that it was funny. It is in parts, but then somewhere in the midst of reading it, you realize this is not fiction. Even if the story is 50% true, (it is just one person's perspective) it makes everyone else's family look extremely normal and bland in comparison. Thank goodness!

Augusten's mother is mentally ill and depressed. She sends him to stay with her doctor and his family because she can not handle anything. The Finches are self-aware eccentrics who can quote Freud to each other, but can not handle getting rid of the live Christmas tree in the living room. The fact that Augusten can handle the chaos - and he is given no choice - gives the reader some admiration of his coping skills.

He is writing about his adolescent self, which is sometimes likeable - sometimes not, and all the angst that adolescence contains is merely magnified in his environment. It is hard enough on a teenager, without having a sick parent, an unhealthy family life, and a developing gay sexuality to deal with.

Blame it on the 70's, blame it on the drugs, blame it on a sick parent - whatever the case, Augusten manages to learn how to survive in this environment. He writes well, but the story reminds me of a bad gorey accident. You know that you should look away, but your eyes are being drawn to the chaos and mess.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

A Sequel - perhaps a series?

The Orchid Shroud: A Novel of Death in the Dordogne by Michelle Wan is the sequel to a book I have in an earlier post - called Deadly Slipper. Again the characters have another death come their way. Mara is still trying to just finish her renovation project. Julian has not yet found his elusive orchid -what he is calling his Cypripedium incognitum.

I guess the thing I really love is the internationalism of the book. It is set in a small French village. It's lead characters are a Canadian and an expat Brit. The author is Chinese - but grew up in Canada and is married to an American who travels the world.

I hope she creates a series around these characters - she just brings their whole world to life. Again a great story about a place and it's mystery.

Reread while reading something else...

Yes, I have not posted for awhile. I have been trapped in book that is good, informative - and that puts me to sleep. I think I will have to stop reading it - because it is bringing my reading adventures down.....

Yes - it happens to the best of us! That is why the phrase " the right book at the right time" is indeed a powerful one...

While I was wading through the above book, I broke away for a bit of fun and reread Venetia by Georgette Heyer. It is one of the first Heyers that I ever read. It has our title character trapped in the countryside but enjoying her life, the younger brother who gets into scrapes when he is not quoting Greek to her, and the mysterious Damerel who happens to be the rake next door. Well there goes the neighborhood! Again, a book of detail, pithy dialogue and people who should really stop listening to what the neighbors think! A wonderful regency done by the master. Have fun...

Sunday, October 01, 2006

The Cloister Walk

Reading about spirituality, is definitely a "personal" thing for people. It is not only the book, that needs to be stimulating to keep one's interest. The reader must be open to the concepts that are discussed or nothing of the author's words will really sink in. Sometimes with these type of books, the concepts will be agreeable to what one already believes. Sometimes the concepts will challenge the core of one's belief or in some cases, lack of belief.

The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris is a challenging book about faith and spirituality. Norris, a poet and writer by trade, takes us on a personal journey into a community of a Benedictine monastery in Minnesota. That fact that Norris is a Protestant, married with children, and spending two extended residencies within this monastery is pretty remarkable.

To make our journey easier, Norris takes us through a liturgical year. She follows and and tries to clarify the psalms and text of the services for us and herself. Along the way she delves briefly into the history and development of the Benedictines and monastery life in general.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02443a.htm
(This listing from the Catholic Encyclopedia will give you an in depth history of the order.)

The organization of this book is also interesting, some of the chapters are very short, some are long. It combines with the text of the chapters, to force the reader to contemplate the topic and mull it over awhile.
And Norris' language seems to me very lush, but yet writes in an approachable style. Explore the book and see what you think.

" Anyone who listens to the world, anyone who seeks the sacred in the ordinary events of life, has 'problems about how to believe.' Paradoxically, it helps that both prayer and poetry begin deep within a person, beyond the reach of language. The fourth-century desert monk St. Anthony said that perfect prayer is one you don't understand. Poets are used to discovering, years after a poem is written, what it's really about. And it's in the respect for the mystery and the power of words that I find the most profound connections between the practice of writing and monastic life." - p. 143 The Cloister Walk.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Motif for Murder

Laura Childs' latest in her scrapbooking mystery series is Motif for Murder. Carmela is still having problems with her husband, Hurricane Katrina just came through, and then her husband is kidnapped the same day his uncle is killed. What is going on!? As she tries to help her customers repair their waterlogged photos, and tries to be calm waiting for a ransom note, she wonders where is it all going to end.

Ironically as she works in her shop to take her mind off of things, and does something creative, like an altered book in the memory of Uncle Henry, she manages to find a clue! With the help of her best friend, the flamboyant Ava, Carmela sleuths and gets into danger. Childs fills her book with great characters and sidekicks. A quick fun read.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Quiet Gentleman - a classic re-read

The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer is a classic regency romance. We have our traditional cast of characters:

Gervase - the new Earl of Stanyon
Martin - the hot headed - younger half brother
The Dowager - the grumpy widow
Miss Morville- the widow's temporary companion and sensible miss
Marianne- the local silly young lady that the young men are interested in
Theo - the cousin who runs the estates
Lord Ulverton - the new Earl's best friend

Take the following and mix it up - an newly made Earl who no one thought would inherit. The younger son who is not thrilledto be replaced by his brother. The sympathizing cousin. The Dowager who will bear having the new Earl in her home if she must. The best friend who comes for support, but stays to woo. And the practical miss who seems to know everything that is going on, but doesn't tell tales. And then there are the accidents that seem to happen just to the new Earl... What is going on???

I am not going to tell you - because there is no way I can reproduce the depth of knowledge that is in a Heyer book. She creates wonderful characters, plots can make you think you have left the twenty-first century, and gives her books dialogue to die for.

Try it - you'll want more...

Instinct to Heal

The Instinct to Heal: Curing Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Without Drugs and Without Talk Therapy by David Servan-Schreiber is one of those books that you might pass up in the bookstore. The title promises everything, and who is this guy anyway? - and the cover is very, very bland. This guy, Dr. Servan-Schreiber is a French, award winning psychiatrist and neuroscientist whose background includes directing the Center for Complementary Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh's Shadyside Hospital. And he was the Chief of the Hospital's Division of Psychiatry and Director of the Behavorial Sciences teaching program. So he's got some credentials. (For more on his resume - http://www.instincttoheal.org/) Better yet - he can write well and take complex material and make it more accessable to the layperson.

I read about him and some of his theories in Ode magazine (July 2006 issue.) Their article was focused on the food - mind connection he talks about. In the article, he mentions depression and Omega 3's and how they are bound together. I was curious and read his whole book, enjoyed it, (can you say that about a medical book?) and I am trying some methods out.

I could go on and on about the interesting things he talks about, the whole Omega 3 chapter is an eye-opener (and wouldn't you know it - the Chicago Tribune has an article about Omega 3s, in their Sunday, September 10th paper in the Q section), but this is not a medical blog! And if you don't have any of the symptoms that he talks about ...well aren't you lucky! If you're interested in the topic - his book is a good place to start.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

More about Food and New Orleans...

Did I mention I like Cajun cooking? Here are some more mysteries set in New Orleans in the Pre-Katrina era, for this particular book in their series.

In Crime Brûlée - Nancy Fairbanks features an amateur detective named Carolyn Blue who is the wife of a academic and who in this book is trying to get a foodie writing career off of the ground. She is in New Orleans for a science conference that her husband is attending. She has wonderful dinners and lunches but a somewhat horrible experience in the city - muggings, being threatened, having to view a dead body, etc. If she wasn't trying to track down her best friend who suddenly disappeared after an fight with her husband in front of their group of fellow alums, I think she would have (I know I would have) gone home! She tries to balance her sleuthing with seeking out food experiences and being a good faculty wife at the conference. This is the first of this series and I would be definitely be interested in reading more!

The book, Roux the Day : a gourmet detective mystery by Peter King is a great way to experience his series. The gourmet detective - whose name is never mentioned - since the stories are in the first person, has an unusual career. He looks for rare foods, lost recipes, or food subsitutions for a recipe - he is a all around foodie. He is asked to come to New Orleans to determine if a book up for auction is a famous local restaurant family's chefs' book. The chef's book has the family's famous recipes from their now shuttered restaurant. And he soon finds out that there are many others who want this lost cookbook. And they will kill to get it. He, too, rounds out his visit with dining at New Olreans' finest restaurants. This is a well written, lively book, and I would be curious to see what "case" this detective has next!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

House Thinking

Winifred Gallagher's House Thinking: A Room by Room Look at How We Live is a book that goes into great detail about the history of the house - looking at interior and exterior design. She deals with mostly American homes, and why things have evolved into the homes that are stylish today.

Who knew the psychological aspects of room interiors? Some people can't stand the "great room" concept, while others thrive on the largesse of the space. And you learn how the car, family dining practices, and the different parts of the country can effect how your house has been designed.

What was interesting was the theory that some people pefer their "home" environment at work to their actual living address. This book gives you something to think about...and makes you look around at your dwelling.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Red Beans and Vice

I'm reading some mysteries that are set in New Orleans for a particular project and came across the Lou Jane Temple book called Red Beans and Vice. Temple's main sleuth is Heaven Lee and she is a former lawyer turned chef in Kansas City. She comes to New Orleans to help cook at a charity dinner shindig, and to stay with a former classmate. Then of course there are threats, a bit of violence and a murder! And then there are recipes! And a mini tour of some of the highlights of the once vibrant city.

Temple has some fun characters and she involves you with the secondary characters left behind in Kansas City pretty easily. I would recommend this for a fast read, and it looks like a series that would be enjoyable to get into!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Target or How did I End Up Spending So Much, When I Went in For One Item?

A history of Target? What is there to know? Actually there is quite a lot really, to learn about their founding brothers/owners - the Daytons (one of whom created B. Dalton Booksellers), and how they run the company today. The book, On Target : How the World's Hottest Retailer Hit a Bull's-Eye, by Laura Rowley is pro Target - how could it not be? - they let her in their offices - but it is not overwhelming enough to make one scream "BIASED!" at the top of their lungs. And for all the company bios, or puff piece articles in business magazines, that is saying something.

I felt like the reader was getting a glimpse in to the mightly "Tar jey" and how they have decided to focus on design and good value, as opposed to the "as cheap as you can and you get what you pay for" attitude that some other retailers have. Is every store or item perfect? Of course not - within any chain there are good store managers and bad ones. But if the bad attitude is coming from up on top, it evently drifts down to the customer service level.

It was interesting how their owning Marshall Field's was a bit glossed over - the Chicagoland area is not pleased with the Dayton Hudson/Target folks about that. But whether you believe all the management plans and "missions" or not, the story of their prowess in gathering and developing designers is something worth looking at. And to be very successful in this highly competitive market called retail is a big deal.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Mr. Adams, damn you Mr. Adams ; You're obnoxious and disliked; that cannot be denied...

Yes - a little lyric from the musical 1776. An interesting portrayal of John Adams to be sure, but David McCullough's John Adams is a bit more authentic. Yes - it is a long book - but worth the read to discover Mr. J. Adams.

McCullough's smartest move was to let Adams explain things for himself. He was a prodigious letter writer and so was Abigail, and McCullough has used the Adams' correspondence to fill his book and let them tell the story of their times. It really is quite amazing when you realize all that Adams lived through, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolution, the French Revolution, and the vice presidency and being President of a newly formed nation that some people did not think would make it. And along the way, he was the nation's representative to England, Holland and France; he helped write the constitution of Massachusetts and established the U.S. Navy. Oh - yes he had six children, one of whom became president, too! Yeah, a busy guy. And all done with out computers and modern communication. Makes today's politicians seem like wimps in comparison.

McCullough mentioned in his press interviews for this book that he fell in love with Abigail, and the reader does too. It was remarkable the life she lead, while maintaining the homestead while John was traveling or overseas, but still keeping up on the politics of the moment. They had a unique and loving relationship for their time.

John Adams and Abigail come alive in this book. If you really want a sense of how the world was during this period, McCullough's prose makes you feel as if you were there, looking over their shoulders at their writings. He makes some of the more complicated issues, clearer and makes you care for these people and their passions for liberty. And he made me cry, when he wrote about John's twilight years. It is a talent to make someone care about a person who died over 180 years ago...

A book worth your time and effort.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Orchids, a Mystery & French Food - What More Could You Want?

This book says it is fiction. But the subtitle says it all. Deadly Slipper: A Novel of Death in the Dordogne by Michelle Wan, is a great beginning to what will hopefully be a series. The next book is out this month.

This is a well written mystery that explores its surroundings - the Dordogne region of southwestern France, and some of the locals and expats who live there. And then there are the orchids. Yes, I admit the reason I read this, was for the orchids, but they are a important part of the search for the missing hiker who disappeared 19 years ago.

The leads are Mara - a twin who is obsessed with her sister's disappearance, and Julian the orchidologst that she gets to help her with her quest. She has a series of photos of what appear to be the last roll of film that her sister took. Can Julian identify the orchids and the landmarks in the shots? And what about those stories of other missing women?

Wan gives us intimate details of the countryside, and has us peeking in to the lives of the villagers and along the way - the reader gets to savor the local bistro's menu. I am eagerly awaiting the next book!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

What do we really know about Shakespeare?

Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt, is one of those biographies that truly change the way you think about the subject. Everyone thinks they know a bit about Shakespeare, but what do we really? The imaginings of various 19th and 18th century biographers? The myths? The rumors that it was "really someone else" who wrote all those plays? (Let me be fair and declare that to be bunk in my opinion - straight away here!) Greenblatt takes the latest known scholarship and turns it into readable prose that attempts to dig away at the secrets of Shakespeare.

He gives us the Catholic background of Will's family, and their lives in a Protestant world. And Greenblatt manages to explain how this religious struggle effected the way Shakespeare viewed the world.

The details of Shakespeare's fellow playwrights and what everybody was reading at that time, is very fascinating when you discover that Will had a habit of borrowing bits and pieces from all over the place as he was perfecting his style.

Some of the conclusions may be conjecture, but until we find something else - meet Mr. Wm. Shakespeare - actor, playwright, and gentleman.

Julia and Her Love Affair with France

I don't remember watching Julia Child regularly (that was in my pre-Food Network obsession days,) but when I did, it was just as much fun - to watch her in action as it was to see what was cooking. And when I had the pleasure of seeing her kitchen at the Smithsonian - yes, they have the whole thing!- it was interesting to realize what a true pioneer she was. If you want to recapture the essence of Julia then try the book, My Life in France by Julia Child and her grandnephew Alex Prud'homme. Her voice and enthusiasm come across loud and clear.

Julia had quite a few adventures before becoming a cooking goddess. She went with her husband Paul to Paris in 1948, when he got posted there for his government job. And there she discovered Paris and French food. She got started at Le Cordon Bleu, made friends with future collaborator Simone Beck, and discovered the job of sharing her cooking techniques. And if that were not enough, the Childs got posted to Germany and Norway and got involved with McCarthy politics, as the senator attempted to "clean up" the government. All that and she wrote a monumental cookbook too! What a life!

Discover the joy of Julia once again! Bon Appetit!

And if you want to try her famous French cookbook vicariously, try Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell. A thirty-something's culinary challenge, and obsession with Julia and the art of French cooking. Pretty funny writer and an equal part of this book is about life and how to live it, and yes - food.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Sweet Poison - Sayers read alike

Read alikes. This is a library term for books that remind one of, have similar topics of, or the same writing style as other well known books and authors. Sometimes these reading suggestions work, sometimes not - it really depends on what qualities the original book/author/story has for you, the reader. In this case I just finished Gaudy Night and had gotten the read alike suggestion of reading the David Roberts' mystery series featuring Edward Cornith and Verity Brown. The first book in the series is Sweet Poison.

Is it Sayers? - No. But is it good? Yes. Roberts' focuses on the same time period 1930's England, and has a male and female lead characters that are working together to solve murders. Roberts actually has a good grasp of the complicated politics that England went through before WWII. Most popular stuff glosses over the fact that there were communists and fascists throughout English society before the war. Many folks did not think Hitler was that bad. Yeah - they don't like to mention that - a bit of embarrassment, really. Regardless, Roberts make the story interesting by having Edward as the aristocrat and Verity is the middle class, communist journalist and in 1935 politics are all over the place and contribute to the tension surrounding the murder.

This book has the classic murder at the grand estate, but after that it shows the much grittier - "real" side of that time period. It wasn’t all glitter and bright young things. Politically, people were still sorting out what it meant to be a communist and how these ideals would play out on the world stage. And the author shares my theory of communism at that time - which if you have ever read Doris Lessing - communism seems like a better system for men than women.

Verity and Edward make a great team, and I look forward to their other adventures…

Sunday, July 09, 2006

The Fixer-Upper

Judith Arnold's The Fixer-Upper is a great "real" contemporary romance. The set-up is this. Libby - a divorcee with a teenager - is a private school admissions director in NYC. She gets an application from a youngster himself - Eric. In a world where parents send her massive boxes of chocolates and the kids have taken every lesson known to man, this kid stands out. She wants to meet this applicant. Eric finally mentions to his dad, Ned, a widower, that he has applied. Ned goes in to meet the admissions director and likes what he sees. Ned is an architect - but has just moved to NYC to work in rehabing and restoration. He ends up seeing Libby's pre world war II apartment and offers to strip the battered but potentially beautiful fireplace.

You will fall in love with the characters because they feel like people you might know. Libby's ex's family hangs around - she claims she got them in the divorce - and her ex is around too. Ned and Eric have problems adjusting to the new city and being without their former family support. Libby's daughter is thirteen, smart and her current fascination is with a street musician she discovered with her girlfriends. And Libby is dealing with the fact that her apartment is going condo! And she starts to question herself, is Ned is just seeing her so that Eric can get into school?

Arnold writes very well developed characters and they have everyday problems - from the problems of dating as a single parents, trying to put the kids first even when it may threaten the relationship, and to learning to move on with one's dreams. Again, Arnold has written a winner. Very enjoyable characters that you will root for!

A Classic Rereading - Gaudy Night

Every so often, one must reread a book to see if it is indeed as good or great as you have remembered. Or maybe you are going to the movie and want a refesher on how the book really is better. Or in this case a play. I just finished Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers. I can not remember how many times I have reread it, but each time I get something else out of it. It still is a mystery in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, but mostly with Harriet Vane and not so much Lord Peter. The book still assumes that everyone has taken Latin and knows where all the starting chapter quotations are from. And there is that annoying Latin bit at the very end of the story - that no matter how many times I have had it translated - it does not satisfy me. But get past all that, and there is a story of the love of scholarship and a university setting. Education for education's sake. And a bit of a mystery tossed in for good measure.

Sayers was a scholar herself - Dante - and this book shows her love of the place that got her started - Oxford. And who doesn't remember their college days as sometimes wondrous and brain expanding times (knowledge - folks, not drugs!) The feeling that you have just been shown/taught the concept that runs the rest of the world or, that will become your personal mantra, is a feeling that is suppressed when you have been out of academia for awhile in the "real world." Perhaps that is why so many people choose academia?

Harriet Vane and Sayers get caught up in the questions that are still being debated over 100 years since women have been admitted to higher education. Should a woman have a career or a family? What will higher education do to her place in the world? What would Sayers think - she being in the group of the women graduates that first went to Oxford- of today's graduates? The irony is that in 2006, more women are going to college than men. Now if we can figure the rest of it out...

Enjoy the read.

Sunday, July 02, 2006

What if you're the normal one in the family?

Cathie Linz's book, Good Girls Do, is a contemporary romance that asks the question - what if you're the "normal" one in the family? Julia is enjoying the small town life as the local librarian, when her mother, sister and niece move in. Her wandering mother is an hippie/new ager, her sister is the wild one of the family- following in mom's footsteps, and her niece - well let's just say she's not a average kid. And then she meets the former bad boy of the town - Luke who comes back to take over his dead dad's bar. Julia has spent a lifetime trying to recover from a chaotic childhood and enjoys being part of this settled community. Luke has had a crummy childhood and it not sure he wants to come back to the place he started from. Julia and Luke both learn about each other and a bit of perspective on their pasts and how they fit in the community. Fun read, nice twist on the characters- worth a look. Hope the sequel with the sister is just as good.

Various mysteries - Wedding Planners & Edwardians

And now it it time for some mysteries...

Deborah Donnelly has created a great character in wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid. Her latest in the series is You May Now Kill the Bride. This mystery is set in in Puget Sound's San Juan Islands with Carnegie trying to arrange the wedding of her best friend. Carnegie sounds like a great wedding planner (having been a professional bridesmaid, she rings true to me...) who just has a problem with corpses falling in her path. Her best friend's future husband is a cop so that helps with the current batch of deaths, and she has a great cast of characters surrounding her - the on and off again boyfriend, the ex military man for a secretary/assistant and her mom who is thinking of remarrying. I have not read the past ones in the series, but am looking forward to exploring/reading those. A good read which falls into the "read it for character - not a intense and intricate plot" - mystery.

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Having a historical setting for a mystery series can backfire - especially if the author does not do their research. The Edwardian England mystery series by Marion Chesney is a nice glimpse into the past. Marion Chesney is another writing name for M.C. Beaton who has written several other series. This series is about Lady Rose Summer and Captain Harry Cathcart. The latest book is Our Lady of Pain. Again the emphasis is on the characters, before concentrating on the mystery.

This is the fourth book in the series and Chesney is continuing to develop the relationship between the two leads. Lady Rose, who her father claims is over educated and that is why she is not getting any marriage offers, is now in a engagement with Cathcart - because otherwise her parents were going to send her to India. Cathcart, who is a veteran of the Boer war is trying to create a business of his private investigations. Rose and Harry like each other, but their timing seems off in their relations with each other, and their status in this society keeps causing misunderstandings. The other fun characters are Daisy - the dance hall girl/maid that Rose has taught to become her assistant/chaperone, and Superintendent Kerridge of Scotland Yard, a man of the people, who is not a fan of the aristocracy.

If the bodies and cases don't get in the way, Rose and Harry may prosper yet! Start with the first in the series - Snobbery with Violence. A fast & fun series.

Behind the Scenes in a Professional Kitchen

Addicted to the Food Network? Always wanted to be a chef? Been dreaming about finding out about the action behind the scenes of a three star restaurant kitchen? Read Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as a Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford. Buford is a writer with the New Yorker magazine who was curious about what kind of cook he would be in a professional kitchen. He met Mario Batali, and the opportunity arose to work in the kitchen of Babbo, Batali's three star restaurant in New York City. This begins a series of apprenticeships that Buford takes on to expand his culinary knowledge of Italian cooking.

Buford starts at the bottom as a prep cook - cutting, dicing and more cutting and moves up the line, eventually to the grill and the pasta station. He writes really well and you join him in his fascination on why things work in a kitchen, and why things don't. The events taking place at Babbo, become a drama with characters that travel through the entire book.

His culinary explorations are interesting as well - did you know that polenta was originally made from barley? And polenta can cause a vitamin deficiency - if it is the ONLY thing that you eat? He tries to get at the heart of what Batali learned in Italy about cooking - and goes to some of Batali's teacher's to learn with them. While in Italy, Buford trains with a pasta maker and butcher to learn the their art of Italian food. And he comes to realize the differences between the small restaurateur/home cook of the Italian regions and the variations that Batali has made for the fancier New York City restaurant customer.

This is a great book and well written. He gives you some knowledge of Italian cooking, a background on Mario Batali, the ins and outs of a busy restaurant kitchen and he makes you think twice about ordering in a restaurant after 10:00 pm! Enjoy.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Road Trip anyone?

Jane and Michael Stern are very interesting people. She is East coast. He is Midwest. He is lean. She is not. But they got together, got married and have been working together ever since. Their specialty is road food. They literally wrote the book on that. They have also done books such as the Encyclopedia of Pop Culture and one about Elvis. Nowadays they are sticking to the food projects, with a road food column in Gourmet magazine and a new book called Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food. This book is their memoir of how it all started.

What is amazing is that when they first had the concept to taste food at all the little mom and pop places in the Unites States, they did not think it would take that long! This book tells about their first adventures - when they looked like hippies and were going into places that might not appreciate that lifestyle - and how they have refined their "system" of reviewing. Apparently they eat around 5 meals a day! Breakfast being one of the biggest. They usually order a ton of stuff to taste all the different dishes a place has to offer. No wonder some places thought they were a bit strange.

In the midst of their adventures, they made friends, had the usual traveling problems (illness, bad hotels, etc.), found some great food and learned a lot about America on the way. Each chapter ends with a recipe, and leaves the reader wishing to take a food road trip too...

Just when ya think that romance is like everyone else's...

I read a lot of romances. Some have great storylines and characters you want to go out to lunch with. Some have people you do not want to stand in a line with. Some books have a historical theme that opens your eyes to that period of history. Some books could be set anywhere and in anytime. Some are dull as dishwater. Sometimes it is hard to tell when the storyline went blah. But just when you think it is a skimmer - bamm! Something hooks you in.

I am not quite sure how that happened in Suzanne Enoch's An Invitation to Sin. One minute I was just humming along, reading and feeling that I might turn in early. Then the bamm. She has done this to me before. I am becomming convinced that this is her technique.

She is currently writing a series on the Griffin family. Lord Zachary is a charmer, who happens to be a third son, who goes from one idea to the next. He is forced to take his aunt to Bath. They happen to stop on the way at her old friends the Witfelds. The Witfields have seven daughters. In regency times, this is a big YIKES! But just when you think the charmer will just flirt with the daughters and move on...he meets the eldest sister Caroline who has a goal to get into an arts conservatory, and needs him to pose for the assignment to get in. Then there is Mr. Witfeld, a dabbler in many hobbies himself, and the 6 other daughters who are rather anxious to get married. And how did Enoch just sneak in the bit about breeding cows!

Again - you think romances are predictable, and then you get an author who just won't play along. Yes - it is a romance - so how do you think it ends? But the journey and the characters she gives you are worth the trip. Try her - you'll like her.

P.S. Zachary has 2 other unmarried brothers! Can we say series?

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Never Judge a Book By Its Cover - HA!

Graphic Design. Post-Modernism. Books. Do you like all three? I have the book for you... By Its Cover: Modern American Book Cover Design by Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger. It covers the growth of book design from the 1960's when the paperback first got started, to post-millennium book covers. I'm not an expert in art or design, but I know what I like and some of these covers are "out there" for their era. And by now, some of the designs look like they are very current aka 2006. It will also show you, how current book design has become much more formulaic. And it is very interesting to see which covers/titles have become iconic. Fun in graphics land.

Think Globally - Act Locally

Wanda Urbanska and her husband, Frank Levering, wrote a book called Simple Living: One Couple's Search for a Better Life, when they moved from L.A. to Virginia. They had a hand in starting the current "simplicity" movement. They now have an orchard in North Carolina and have a show called Simple Living on PBS. Their latest book, Nothing's Too Small to Make a Difference continues their message of keeping thing simple and worrying about their impact on the environment.

This book may be a re-run to others who have previously read other books on simple living, but I felt it was a great reminder and inspiration to those of us who are trying to do what little we can. Wanda points out that - yes - little things do add up - when she talks about taking a travel cup to get her coffee from the local shop versus the plastic cup. She sat down one day and added up all the cups she would have used and it was quite a lot. Sometimes I think that we need the reminder that choosing to make a smaller footprint on the earth, create less garbage, buy less junk, create more beauty IS worth it. This book is a positive introduction to that, it has some first-rate tips, and it is a good update on the couple that helped the "movement" along.

Traveling Solo

A Woman Alone: Travel Tales From Around the Globe edited by Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick and Christina Henry de Tessan, is one of those books that make you want to run away from home. Traveling to a country completely different from what you are used to can be difficult. Traveling to that country - alone and being female - can be even more difficult. The 29 different authors from completely unique backgrounds themselves, offer a singular view of their travels. The countries they go to range from Ireland to India, and many are off the beaten path where most of us won't ever go. One of my favorite trips was the one where the author traveled in a train in India - making friends with her fellow female travelers who find her independence as astonishing as she finds them. Not too mention the bathroom facilities on this train are an adventure to themselves.

The authors make friends, discover how tough they really are, and make peace with the world around them. A thoughtful and inspiring read for when you get the traveling bug.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Second Sight

Amanda Quick's Second Sight is another book she has set in Victorian England. This time around she has created the Arcane Society, a organization founded by an alchemist, which consists of dabblers of psychic phenomena. Our heroine Venetia, is a photographer who is invited by the Arcane Society to photograph their collection of artifacts. This is how she meets the mysterious Mr. Gabriel Jones.

After an exciting night with Mr. Jones - she later reads a small notice of his death. She needs a new name for her career and she chooses Jones as a tribute and because it is common. As Mrs. Jones, she starts making a name for herself in the photography world and starts making enough money to support her extended family. Imagine her surprise when her so called "husband" comes back from the "grave".

Psychical events, auras and the death of another photographer allow the Joneses to learn more about each other true selves and each others' secrets. Fun, romance and a bit of mystery keeps this frothy book moving along. One wonders if the author is going to continue with the Arcane Society - there is Gabriel's single cousin after all! A great read!

Inside a Paris Quartier

Diane Johnson's book Inside a Paris Quartier: Reine Margot's Chapel and Other Haunts of St. Germain, is a part of National Geographic's travelogue and memoirs series. This series has various different authors writing about their favorite cities. In this case, Johnson has lived in this part of Paris for many years, and other ex-patriate Americans have too, so she is giving us a tour of her neighborhood.

She tells us that the real Three Musketeers lived here, as well as Gertrude Stein. She gives us the details and the stories of the various nearby buildings (and the people who lived there) from the 1500's to the 2000's. Paris is a old city that is continually changing. The history of this part of town has layers and layers, and this is just one quartier!

This a great introduction to the history of Paris. Johnson makes it sound fabulous and romantic and she convinces you that you must learn more - even if it is just enough to keep the Louie's straight. A must for the francophile.

Egyptian fun for the kids and the adults

Do you like the movie the Mummy and the Mummy Returns? Have you looked at every Egyptian documentary on the History Channel? Been aching to go see King Tut? This book might interest you. Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris is a book put out by Candlewick Press - the same group that brought you Dragonology. Written by Dugald Steer and illustrated by Ian Andrew, Nick Harris, and Helen Ward, this is the "fictional tale" of Emily Sands and her illfated expedition for the Tomb of Osiris.

Old and young alike can peak at the travel postcards and letters left behind in this interactive scrapbook. It is filled with illustrations of areas and artifacts they have seen along their journey. You can learn Egyptian hieroglyphics, and a game (the pieces are in the book), and read the journals left behind. This would be fun to read before going to see the next Pharoah exhibit.

Australia, Australia, Australia - we love you - Amen!

With a bit of homage to Monty Python's Australian philosophers sketch, I must start by saying that Bill Bryson's book In a Sunburned Country gives one a small glimpse of a very big land. If one is lucky enough to travel there, this book might serve as a good introduction and a bit of a warning to a diverse country. I say warning - because Bryson seems fascinated with the Australian creatures that could kill you - jellyfish, sharks and snakes, as well as the Australian environment - the surf, the riptides, the cliffs, and the temperature which could also kill you. The book abounds with stories of explorers, tourists and near-do-wells who never made it back to their starting point.

As he travels around the country he points out spots of interest, everything from the dullness of the capital of Canberra, the beauty of Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef, the desolate areas around Alice Springs, the majesty of Uluru/Ayers Rock, and the subtleties of the cities of Perth, Melbourne, Darwin and Sydney. He even addresses the issue of the Aboriginal people. After asking questions about them throughout his travels, he comes to the conclusion that Australians have really been - the kindest word might be - stupid , in their dealings with them.

Bryson realizes that Australia is an old land but a young country, and suffers from growing pains. There is more to explore, more things to find, but these things take time. My edition of the book has a extra bit about him going back to Sydney for the Olympics of 2000. He is clearly eager to come back to the land and the people that he fell in love with.

Australia anyone? Long trip, but mighty fine once you get there.

Blame it on Chocolate - Why Not?

Jennifer Greene's book Blame it on Chocolate is a fast fun read. Lucy Fitzhenry works as a biologist/chocolatier for a chocolate bar company. She is working on producing a batch of cacao trees that will produce beans that will beat the best. The fact that she is grafting trees in a greenhouse facility in Minnesota, means that if this works - it will be really huge in the chocolate industry. One night - giddy with a first successful batch tasting, she has a wild night with a guy. He happens to be her boss - Nick. And well - interesting things happen to her and Nick. And then her family seems to becoming unglued too.

If you like learning a bit about chocolate, cacao trees, and like the heroine to have a supportive family and work life, this is a book for you. Warning - it will make you get up out of bed for a midnight fancy chocolate bar snack. Hershey's will just not do!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Kinda like Seinfeld - but in Italian

Tim Parks' book Italian Neighbors or, A Lapsed Anglo-Saxon in Verona, takes the concept of travel narrative on a bit of a spin. Not only is he an American in Italy - he is living there. And unlike Frances Mayes, he is not rehabing a fab house that only the moneyed can buy. He is a translator and teacher who is living with his Italian wife in a condo, with three neighbors, and a whole village to deal with. If you think your neighbors are wacky in America, they can be quite the characters overseas. In a village outside of Verona, he learns to live with their traditions and superstitions, and they learn that the crazy foreigner can be a help around the neighborhood - cutting lawns, bottling wine etc. Tim and his wife really come into their own when she becomes pregnant and the whole area becomes friendlier and asks after the bambino.

He goes into detail on the fastidious but impracticable Italian laws and regulations that become almost prohibitive, and that require work-a-rounds to fulfill them. His seasonal writings make the reader feel as if they are taking the year off in Italy. It is a good book filed with humor, a sense of irony and answers the question - What really happens when the tourists are gone?

Friday, May 26, 2006

Feeling the Budget Pinch? Shopping, Money and America

By coincidence, I ended up reading two books on the topic of spending money. And as one ended up supporting the other - it worked out quite well. The first title was Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine. Levine took the challenge of having her and her sig other, just buy what they needed - not what they wanted, for a year. It becomes a fascinating study of minutiae - is a Q-Tip really not a necessity? (I think they are necessary!)What about a fancy mustard or new shoes to replace worn ones? How does one can convince oneself that you really NEED an item?

She finds that just deciding these things can be exhausting, and that shopping for some has become an extension of oneself. She goes into a lot of buying psychology and investigates the simplicity movement. She is not rich, although she does have two residences in which they both work from home, which complicates matters. Does she save more in NYC or Vermont? But in Vermont, they need to drive. You find yourself cheering her on, as the urge to cut back and enjoy the little things, really does start to happen. They are not saints - they have some failures, and you may think their neccessities are frivilous. In the end, she makes you want to try it (kinda like going through Lent for a really long time) and she succeeds in saving $8000. Could you do it?

To continue in this anti-consumerism mode, the book, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor is a funny and serious look (yes, they can be in the same book) at consumers in American society today. Originally, the book was meant to go along with a PBS series of the same name. This version is a updated second edition. It is interesting that the term "affluenza" has now entered the mainstream - a google search gets many hits and not all from the U.S.

For someone who has not looked at the concept of over consumerism and the simplicity movement - this might be a great place to start. With it's facts, figures, stories and interviews; it tells the tale of how life improvement became the concept of getting more stuff. For those wanting to take the serious plunge of consuming less, this might inspire you to keep you on the path of curing your affluenza. Well written - and they made the economics easy to understand.

After September 11th, the general public was told to go shopping to keep up the economy. If you thought that was a bit goofy or wacked, these might be the books for you.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Prague anyone?

Time's Magpie: A Walk in Prague is Myla Goldberg's mini verbal snapshot of the city after the Velvet Revolution. Goldberg, who wrote the novel Bee Season, lived in Prague in 1993, just as the Czechs were starting to westernize. She goes back in 2003 to see what has changed.

Prague, she writes " is time's magpie, hoarding beautiful eclectic bits from each successive era." Her descriptions of the architecture alone sound wonderful - a blending of Barouqe, Renaissance, Art Nouveau and Communism. She mentions the floods of 2002, and what work remains to be done on the city.

This is a small book and she just touches on various areas of the city: the squares and plazas where there have been protests against the Iraq war, the Communists and at one time the Nazis, and the cemeteries where the famous are honored, and the Jewish cemeteries where the dead are forgotten where "headstones that are largely blank await additions that will never come." Her book leaves you wanting to learn more about such a historical city and the yearn to see it for yourself.

This book is part of the Crown Journeys travel series which has well-known authors, take you to their home towns (like Kinky Friedman writing about Austin) or their adopted home towns (Alex Kotlowitz on Chicago) or places they have been. Read and learn. Travel and grow.

Monday, May 08, 2006

How much is that homegrown tomato?

Hey, home vegetable gardeners! This book is for you. The $64 Dollar Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander is one of those great "we're all in this together, gardeners", kind of read. His stories about his gardening adventures in the Hudson Valley area of New York (he has a lot of clay soil - just like our area) are pretty darn funny. His critter fight ends up being summed up by his co-worker as - "You may be smarter - but they have more time."

The title comes from the estimate he makes to figure out how much one of his heirloom tomatoes ends up costing him. I think his cost is much higher than normal gardeners (and I don't think he had any appreciation in the figure). I know my tomatoes come out much more cheaply, but I am not having a landscaping professional making/creating my garden beds either!

A fun gardening read for the home grower - perhaps something for the long winter months - but publishers always seem to put this stuff out in the spring - when real gardeners are getting busy! Read it, after the crop is put in!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Don't Look Down - Crusie and Mayer -------- I met 'em!

I had a wonderful chance to meet Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer at their booksigning for their current book Don't Look Down. Yeah, I know I wrote about it before (see below), but it really is a fun book. It was great hearing that even the authors thought their romantic adventure reminded them of the style of a movie like Romancing the Stone. We got to hear about their collaboration and how it started and how they felt about the book. Their concept of writing - Jenny writing the heroine and Bob writing the hero- and being able to combine their styles is wonderful... And the fact that they are writing another one together is very exciting.

It was also great to hear Jenny talk about the stuff that "stuck" in the books and what did not. (In DLD is it Wonder Woman) This is what I refer to as "the background bits" - the details that can make the lead character (or setting) quirky and informative. And I have a tendency to remember that stuff in odd moments (good tidbits for cocktail parties!) or make a later connection somewhere else. For instance in Jenny's previous book - Fast Women - she writes about various pottery/china. It was an aha moment - when I saw the pattern on sale at Marshall Fields. But hey - that is how you learn stuff. I learned about art glass from Jayne Ann Krentz, and beekeeping from LaVyrle Spencer. You Never Know!

And thanks to Bob - I learned a new swear word/term! Again - you never know...

"One evening in Maui, Jenny Crusie was watching the sun set over the Pacific when Bob Mayer sat down beside her and said, "What do you write?" Jenny said, "Well, basically, in my books, people have sex and get married." Bob said, "In my books, people have sex and die."
Naturally they decided to collaborate.
Nine months later, Don't Look Down was done."
from their website http://www.crusiemayer.com/story.htm


Valerie Frankel - More than just Chick Lit

Just finished Valerie Frankel's The Not-So-Perfect Man. I am catching up on her backlist. And again a book that is being marketed as Chick Lit, but it has more.

Frankel has a great sense of humor and her characters reflect that. Frieda is a young widow with a young son who is getting over the recent loss of her husband. Her older sister wants her to start dating again, her younger sister has dating problems of her own. When she meets Sam, he becomes more than just a "transitional" guy. So does she end up with the traditional provider of a guy? Or the actor who is on his way up? And how has the death of her husband really effected other members of the family and their relationships?

Frankel writes lead characters with interesting family groups and in this book the three sisters are the real leads. A great edition to her prior works.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Travel narrative at its finest

Frances Mayes' A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler is a great example of armchair travel reading. I had not read her early work Under the Tuscan Sun, but I am now planning to. She is my kind of traveler - interested in the culture, food and history of an area. She also has an interesting habit of renting houses instead of staying in hotels, and emerses herself within the culture and the neighborhood. And she seems to be a habitual rehabber - she constant sees houses she thinks about redoing.

Her language is lush, her descriptions are fascinating and she makes you hungry for the food of the country. Each chapter is a different country or city. I have never really wanted to go to Portugal before - she makes it sound wonderful. Naples has now become a must see. (Just to experience the food alone!!) She almost manages to explain to me the complex (and confusing) history of Turkey and Greece. I think she would be a great traveling companion. Take a taste of her travels. Well worth it.

A reading Weekend.

Had a chance to catch up on some reading this weekend.

Quick short story read - The True Love Wedding Dress with authors Catherine Anderson,Connie Brockway, Casey Claybourne, Barbara Metzger. The concept - a charmed wedding dress appears through out the ages to bring true love to those who wear it. Time frames range from 1790 to "today". Great quick read with some good authors.

Miss Bubbles Steals the Show by Melanie Murray is a a fun Chick Lit read. If you like the theater world, New York City, cooking and cats, this is a book for you. Stella goes out for auditions, has a great group of friends, a stage mom in Michigan, some dicy boyfriends, a noisy neighbor upstairs and a white Persian cat named Miss Bubbles. What happens when Miss Bubbles wins a role off Broadway in a play? Life gets a bit wacky. Fun, heartache, baked goods and a cat that whistles. Nice and frothy.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Ah, technology. I'm turning on the comments hopefully!

Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer's Don't Look Down

The latest thing I have read is the new Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer collaboration. Their Don't Look Down is a fun fast read. If you have not read Jennifer Cruise - where have you been? This author is one of the best authors with a sense of humor and fun out there. I can't do Oprah angst. This is much better. If I want angst I watch/read the news.
These authors are touring together and are coming next week in Deerfield, Illinois on May 1st at Borders Books and Music.
http://www.jennycrusie.com

http://www.crusiemayer.com/

Check out her or their website for more info. I am gonna try and make it to their reading/signing. I met her once at a Book Expo and she was great fun. Not to mention they have a very funny blog on their website called He wrote/She wrote that is worth reading.

Check it out.
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I have not yet finished reading Frances Mayes' A Year in the World but the woman has me thinking about going to Portugal. I have never really thought about going to Portugal - but her writing make it seem like a wonderous place... more when finished.

What I read - the good, the bad, and the so so...

Okay - Here we go. This is different way to suggest reads to my friends and the world at large. Let me first explain - that I read a bit of almost everything. Frothy romances, and footnoted history tomes and Harry Potter in between. Depends on the mood, the moon, and whatever catches my fancy. There are guilty reads and "majorly established and reviewed books" in here. So if it does not catch your fancy - wait and it might.
Read responsibly.