Relish: My Life in the Kitchen

I think this may be the first graphic novel I've written about here. I'm not a graphic novel fanatic. I like what I like. And I find with graphic novels - that sometimes I like the art and hate the story or vice versa. And then after reading some titles, there is my occasional thought of why did they choose to make this book a graphic novel? It is a lot of work!!  Words and pictures! But sometimes those elements can be a powerful combination.

With my previous experiences in mind, I look at graphic novel memoirs with an skeptical eye. But then I discovered Lucy Knisley's latest book Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. I was immediately charmed by the art - quirky, colorful, not too stylized - so I was hopeful while flipping through the pages. And then I read her story.  She tells the tale of growing up with a foodie family in New York. Mom worked at Dean and Deluca, then went on to catering and farmer's markets. Dad was a gourmand. Food was seen as a powerful element in their family, sometimes bringing them together when other forces (time, distance, divorce) separated them.

Her chapters show various stages of her life and the food dishes that have left a place in her timeline, and she has chosen to share with us, the reader, her experiences. And some of them are awkward and funny - aren't all teenage years?

And then there are the recipes. I really thought the recipe graphics after each chapter were great - even when I knew that there was no chance I would ever make the dish. (I think that Knisley would make a great cookbook illustrator!) To me, she brought across the idea that cooking was fun.

So I love this book. But I love the art - it appeals to me, and her story is familiar to anyone who has read a few foodie memoirs. Or those who remember an awkward adolescence and trying to find your place in the world.. And then there is the Chicago angle, that was a surprise. But most important thing (to me) when reading a contemporary memoir is - are you still interested in finding out what is happening currently with that writer? Are you going to look them up? I was still interested, and I did here.

It is a fun frothy read. And I'm looking forward to her other works.

Mama Does Time

Florida native, Deborah Sharp does her home state proud with her book Mama Does Time. Mama's home town of Himmarshee is not necessary the touristy part of the state, but she makes news when a body is discovered in the back of her car when she is at the Dairy Queen. When Mace, her middle daughter gets her Mama's phone call, she tries to spring into action, even though she had just settled down to "wanting to see if she could spot any of her ex-boyfriends on Cops."

Now Mama is southern damsel in distress - what is she going to do in jail (besides making friends with her purple haired cellmate)?  With the help of her cousin, the lawyer, Mace gets Mama out and shows the new detective in town (the one from Miami) what chaos really is. Mace and her sisters try to get Mama out of her mess and manage to involve most of the town, including Mama's latest fiance ( a Northerner!), who is wanting to be spouse number five!

Filled with southern humor, quirky characters, and goofy family dynamics, Sharpe takes us along for a roller coaster ride of fun. And there is a pretty good mystery too! I'm looking forward to the sequels! A fun frothy read at its finest...

Murder at the MLA

Is it a skewer of academia or is it a mystery? D.J.H. Jones' book Murder at the MLA is a little bit of both.

The setting is at a convention hotel in Chicago. The convention is the yearly gathering of the Modern Language Association. It is an event attended by English Literature professors, English departments looking for graduate candidates, and candidates looking for jobs from across the country.

As the convention begins - there is an accident- a professor falls over the railing into the lobby. But is it murder? But then a hiring group from Wellesley gets poisoned from their coffee and one dies. Are the two deaths connected? When the detectives come in - they realize they need some background in this world of publish or perish. And they enlist an assistant professor to be their guide.

The author does a great job with their characters (although the third person omniscient point of view is occasionally disconcerting - but funny sometimes) and they make the reader care about the characters and you want them to succeed with the case. The author (one doesn't know whether it is a he or a she) manages to make quite a statement or two about the status of English literature trends in teaching, the fact that universities are so willing to use up young academics and toss them when it comes time to get tenure, and how some of the trendy teachers are just plain ridiculous. And that the parents and students are paying tuition for it!

A fun mystery about academics! And some nice details about Chicago. Give it to the English major in your life! A fun read.

Dead Reckoning

Charlaine Harris does it again.  A solid book. Funny thoughts from our girl Sookie. (I really think that is why I can not bear to see the TV show. I just love her inner dialog in the books.) And more trouble than you can shake a stick at.

If you haven't started these -- do it from the beginning. Sookie's life is a roller coaster ride and this title Dead Reckoning just keeps the crazy happening. I do not think that anyone could pick this one up and jump in. But I'm so entrenched in the Sookieverse, maybe I'm blind. 

This title is a 'filler" series title. What I mean by that, is that some longer plot lines are wrapped up, some seem to be just beginning, and of course all heck breaks loose at least once or twice. (Okay - my favorite part of this book  is Sookie planning a for a mjaor vampire fight and a baby shower at the same time!) And then there are those teases of plots that are yet to come... This title may not move the series and the characters along with leaps and bounds, but these books tend to have a lot buried in them that you notice later... We will see.

Great book. Great series. A fun frothy read!

The Love Goddess' Cooking School

When Holly's Grandmother Camilla dies, she inherits her business - a cooking school, and her house, but does she inherit her 'second sight'? In The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate, that is the question her small Maine town neighbors want to know. But Holly has had problems in her own life, and can't make a marinara sauce. She's not too sure that continuing the cooking school is such a good idea after all. But when she has four students sign up for classes, she decides to give it a try.

Senate does a great job at creating a small town community where everyone knows about everyone else's business. And Holly discovers that her grandmother's life was not all joy and roses. Filled with great characters and greater descriptions of food (you will be craving Italian after this one - trust me), the reader will enjoy reading about Holly's struggles in the kitchen, glimpses of Camilla's strength, and their cooking students growth, both in the kitchen and in their personal lives.

Makes one want to take an Italian cooking class if they are going to be that cool. A fun and frothy read.

If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince?

It isn’t easy being the new kid in the school, or in the house. Sophomore Lucy Norton is left in her new home with her stepmother and her evil twin stepsisters by Lucy’s bi-coastal working father. Feeling ostracized in the house and isolated in her new high school, she takes refuge in her art class. Inspired by an older classmate Sam’s painting, she thinks he’s a jerk in person, but her opinion changes after he invites her to a show at an art gallery. Lucy finds herself struggling to find her identity and place in the world when she has an assignment to create a self portrait. But when a basketball game comment in the cafeteria attracts the attention of Connor, the star of the varsity team, Lucy suddenly rises in social status. She gets a date and some new girlfriends who are plugged into the school’s gossip feed. Will she remain the art aficionado or become part of the “in” basketball crowd? Is Connor really her prince?

Melissa Kantor's  If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where's My Prince? provides her independent narrator heroine with the wit and sarcasm to have the reader identify with her. She allows Lucy to show us the humor in her uncomfortable home and school life - “It’s so Brothers Grimm.” As she tries to maintain her bond with her dad, she feels that her stepmother is changing everything. This is a good account of a created family trying to adjust to their new life together. It is a charming story of a contemporary teen dealing with the change and uncertainty that being in a new environment can bring. This book shows that having different and creative talents can be a beneficial and positive experience.  Kantor does a great job at updating the Cinderella fairy tale. A fine frothy read for young adult collections and a fun read for adults too.

Some Like It Hot Buttered

Jeffery Cohen's confection of a mystery, Some Like It Hot Buttered is a fast humorous read. It appeals to the mystery and movie fan. His hero, Elliot, is trying to get his small town movie theater off the ground. The last thing he expected was to find a customer dead in the aisles.

It is good for business - kind of - but Elliot wants to make sure his theater is known for the comedy movies he shows, not deadly popcorn. With suspicions falling on his employees (Sophie, the teenage wannabe goth, is a stitch), Elliot wants this investigation solved. And it doesn't hurt that the local police detective is a nice looking gal. But what about the car attacks when he's riding his bike home at night?

Filled with zingers and movie trivia, this is the first book in the series. Definately fun and frothy. And popcorn worthy! Looking forward to reading the next one.

Fired Up

Fired Up is Jayne Ann Krentz's latest in her Arcane Series. And it is the first book in the Dreamlight Trilogy. Jack Winters believes he has been affected by the family curse. He needs the legendary Burning Lamp and someone with the talent to read the lamp's dreamlight. Chloe Harper comes from a family that would prefer to remain under the Arcane Society's radar. Her family's talents have usually gotten them in trouble. A little forgery, here. A new identity, there. Jack is convinced that Chloe is the investigator who can find the stolen lamp.

But once they have the lamp the fun has just started. For it seems that several groups of people are after the artifact. And only one of them is the Arcane Society. Can Chloe and Jack lie low in the wilds of Las Vegas long enough for her to try to work the lamp? How many people know about this legend anyway? And how is Fallon Jones involved?

Another fine adventure from Krentz. And a fun introduction to a new talented family - the Harpers. For them, going legit, is the crime! A fun fast read!

Broken Teaglass

The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault says it is a novel but it is really a mystery. What happens when co-workers find coded clues that makes them think that something is amiss in their quiet workplace? The workplace in question happens to be a dictionary publisher and the clues are words. Is this just a puzzle? Is this just a workplace prank? There are several eccentric people who work here. Is it one of them? And what happens when the slip of paper says murder?

This slowly moving story combines a love of words, a deadly puzzle and a recovery/coming of age story all in one. The author draws you in and involves the reader in the discussion about words (how they change, develop and grow) and the lives of the lexicographers who are working on the changes to the new edition. And was there really a murder?

A very interesting first work by a new author. It will be intriguing to see what she writes next. A book for the word lover and a very fun read.

Never Thought I'd Join a Bandwagon, But Then I Read Charlaine Harris

Yep, the header says it all. I have fallen into obsession with Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books. I started tentatively. Finally got a hold on the first one - Dead Until Dark - and read it straight through. I loved Sookie, loved her issues and her "disability" as she called it. Oh and there were vampires. I'm not a HUGE vampire fan and I was not sure quite what to expect. But in Harris' world, it seems normal and logical and matter of fact. That folks, is called good writing. She created a funky world with back story and a multitude of characters that continue to be fleshed out (no irony with that word) throughout the series.

As I have flown through the books (I admit I still have one more to go - but then there are NO more til a new one comes out and besides it is really interrupting my sleep and my grad student class), I have marvelled how creative this world is, and how Sookie is a sensitive person regardless of what happens to her. That delicacy of feeling that you find in the books makes me extremely vary of seeing the TV show made from her work (True Blood). I just don't think you can "act" that stuff.

So why am I so surprised that I like these books? These books have been hyped a lot lately, and if I had a dollar for every book that was hyped that I did not care for - well, I would be very well off indeed! But nope, I have been seduced into staying up til 2 in the morning and not caring. That my friends is what a book obsession is all about. Harris is a talented gal. I have read her other series before this and have enjoyed them as well. (I met her once at a mystery convention - very nice lady too!)

Sookie's just a waitress in a tiny town in Louisiana. People think she is stupid because she has trouble concentrating - well that's because she hears everyone's thoughts all the time. Kind of like non stop chatter in your head. When she meets her first vampire - Bill - she delightedly discovers that she can not hear his thoughts. And he and the other vampires discover there is more to her than what you just see on the surface. It is really a saga about discovering another world and being valued for the talents that others see in you. Join the adventures. Just make sure you start reading early so you can get to bed at a reasonable hour. Because you are not going to want to stop. Trust me. A very fun and good read. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Dead Until Dark (2001)
Living Dead in Dallas (2002)
Club Dead (2003)
Dead to the World (2004)
Dead as a Doornail (2005)
Definitely Dead (2006)
All Together Dead (2007)
From Dead to Worse (2008)
Dead and Gone (2009)

A Touch of Dead (2009) short stories

Another Fast Romantic Read

It is a quick read, but a fun one. Janelle Denison's book Heat Waves is a nice crisp romance. Erica has a radio show in Chicago. Her "hook" is that she talks about sex. But all her knowledge - she crams before each show - is tested when she gets a regular caller, Ian. They have a bit of chemistry on air. And when he challenges her - and the result is a date - the getting to know you part begins.

But Erica is not sure she wants Ian to see the woman behind the radio personality. Does he even want to? Ian wants to know more about this talented woman. And the rest of Chicago gets to listen in while the ratings for her show soar.

Denison does a great job giving us a pair of real people, with real problems and back stories. Everything is not solved instantly and they do have to decide how they can develop their relationship. Bringing in a bit of "on air" sexy talk adds to the humor. A fun frothy read. A keeper.

Fast Reads in Romance

I've been studying category romances with a formal genre study group and have discovered some lovely ones. Nice quick romances and a romantic suspense one, too. So here are some brief reviews.

Yours, Mine...Or Ours? by Karen Templeton
Two families come together by circumstances and finances, to help restore a battered inn in New Hampshire. The heroine is a local with two small kids, and our hero is an ex-cop with a teen-age daughter who is taking a chance on his dream of owning a B&B. A good story that mixes realism with the romance.

In Safe Hands by Linda Conrad
A fast paced romantic suspense tale. She's trying to find the relatives of the child she has fostered. He is trying to find his brother who is missing. Their quests collide and they team up to find the answers. It takes place in southern Texas near the border, and has a paranormal element in the "second sight" that runs in her family.

Once Upon a Valentine's by Holly Jacobs
She meets him when she sets her ex's couch on fire in her backyard. He is one of the first responders. She has to do community service with his fire department outreach team. She's trying to finish her nursing boards, take care of her kids, and plan the next PTA party which happens to be for Valentine's Day. A nice group of characters who take the time to get to know each other. A good mix of realism with the romance.

The Right Mr. Wrong by Cindi Myers
She is a recovering skiing champion, so what is she doing on ski patrol? He's the foreign playboy of the patrol who never dates the locals. While she's recovering trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her life, they get to know each other past the dubious first impressions. Nice details about the skiing community and their co-workers. A good story about people who have been hurt who are slowly working out a relationship.

And speaking of snow, Winter's Heat is a fun anthology with stories from Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jade Lee and Anna DeStefano. It asks the question - just what happens to people who win a free all expenses paid romantic weekends to a brand new skiing resort? Especially if they entered as a joke, don't have anyone to come with them, or bring their gay best friend since they don't have a boyfriend. Problems arise when the press and a guest celebrity complicates matters. Will this weekend be fun? Or just a disaster?

Death Will Get You Sober

Sometimes a book will take you into a subculture that you have never really paid that much attention to before. And the reason for the non-attention may just be that it never touched your life or your family or was even brought to your notice. (We humans are really a self-absorbed group.) So Death Will Get You Sober by Elizabeth Zelvin is not your average mystery set in New York City. It's main character, Bruce, is a recovering alcoholic. We first meet him in the detox unit at the Bowery. He's just starting to get out of his latest bender. It takes him awhile to realize that the two deaths happened while he was there (one of which was his roommate who seemed "perfectly" fine) were not deaths by natural or in this case known chemical causes. The deaths were dismissed as the casualties of a lifetime of drinking. But were they really? And what about those other deaths of long time alcoholics at those other detox centers? Were these people just being written up as the latest statistic?

Zelvin (who is a practicing psychotherapist) has run a detox center. She knows of what she writes about and she does it with respect, and manages to bring a bit of humanity to both sides of the detox situation - both the workers who trying to get the alcoholics sober and the alcoholics themselves. There are no "bad guys/good guys" here. And who knew that there were so many AA meetings throughout NYC?

I really enjoyed the characters and founding myself rooting for Bruce as he struggled through his multiple AA meetings. His pals, Jimmy and Barbara are quirky couple: him with his obsession with computers and her trying not to be an enabler. I found Barbara's character very compelling because I felt that I knew people who were like her - one who never said no and never wanted to make a scene. I found myself by the end of this really nicely paced read, wondering what happened in next book to these people. And will Bruce make it being sober? Looking forward to the next one. A very good read.

Murder in the Marais

Cara Black starts off her series with lead character Aimee Leduc in the book Murder in the Marais. What starts out as a simple and overpaid job of hunting down a encripted website, ends up becoming a case of murder. Aimee finds the body and sets in motion an investigation that goes all the way up to the top level of French politics.


The Marais is the traditionally Jewish section of Paris. And this is where the French Jews were rounded up during the occupation. Memories are long for injustices, and Aimee finds she is sifting through the history of the occupation in order to find out who would want an elderly Jewish woman murdered and who wants her to stop investigating.


This is a fast paced story but Black gives the reader enough time to get to know Aimee and her unusal background. Black hints at the fact that Aimee has secrets of her own that will be revealed in later books. Aimee is a tough character who has been trained by her recently deceased father in the art of detection. And it does not take the reader long to admire her tenacity and skill at going undercover to figure out the case. I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series. A good mystery and a very good read.

Blow Me Down - a Virtual Romance!

What if you got trapped in a virtual reality game? Would you panic? Would you be able to support yourself as you went through the "game?" Just what are the rules in this new world? Kate MacAlister deals with those issues in her book, Blow Me Down.

Amy is just trying to relieve some tension by playing her daughter's virtual reality game. She just thinks she is playing the part of a wench in this pirate world called Buckling Swashes. And she doesn't realize she is trapped until she meets up with Black Corbin who recognizes her as a fellow real person and not a game character. He thinks she is great even when she bests him in a duel. She thinks he is arrogant but realizes he knows the rules since he was one of the games programmers. And he thinks he know how they got trapped in the game.

On a island filled with pirates, taverns, and houses of ill repute, Amy finds herself using a sword again, learning how to sail a sloop, and trying to organize a finance system for a local brothel. And teaming up with Corbin leads her to wonder - if he likes her in the VR world, will he like her in the real world? A fun and frothy good time.

Fool's Puzzle

When you are reading the first book in a series, you hope for the best. The best would be that you are interested enough in the character, her surroundings and situations to continue reading the rest of the books in the series. The worst would be that nothing touched the reader enough to bother looking up the next book in the series. I'm here to say that Earlene Fowler's Fool's Puzzle has brought out the best.

Benni Harper is a widow who has taken up the job of a director of a small town folk-art museum. The museum also rents out studio space to various artists. Benni happens to stumble upon one - a dead one - when she is supposed to be setting up for her first quilt exhibition. Was it a former boyfriend? A stranger? Blackmail? Benni keeps getting hints from the local police chief to leave it alone. But as she asks more questions, she keeps finding more clues about what happened the night her husband died.

Fowler sets up a series filled with an interesting location - a farming/cattle area in small town California, quirky characters - her best friend Elvia is a stitch, and a question of romance between the Hispanic police chief and Benni. She leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next to these folks. A good read.

Going Overboard

Some publishers have a sneaky way of having a story blurb on the back of a book that is supposed to be a mini peak at what the storyline is. Some have a paragraph that turns out to be nothing like the book inside. Talk about snarky! When you like the book - it is fine - but when you don't the consumer/reader might get a tad irritated. They are lucky this one was a good book.

I chose Going Overboard by Christina Skye as part of a book discussion on contemporary romance. I was interested in the setting a Caribbean cruise ship. I have always have wanted to go on one so this seemed like a way to enjoy one with out leaving my living room. (And that made it a bit cheaper on expenses, too.) Well, I think we are on the cruise for about the first third of the book and then it is on to all over the islands. This is no placid ride. This is a romance adventure.

It starts out simply enough. Photographer/Video Director Carly Sullivan needs a buff looking guy for her shoot that needs to take place during the cruise. It is an ad for the cruise line. The model they got was a bit flabby and she needs a last minute replacement. She starts scouting on board and finds Ford McKay who says he is a rancher from Wyoming. A very buff rancher. They start working together. And when the bullets start flying on a location shot on an island, Ford is definitely not just a rancher. (Hint - he's a Navy SEAL.)

There's intrigue, kidnapping, terrorists threats, assignation attempts and murders. (And you thought this just was a nice boat trip.) And through it all Carly and Ford learn about each other's strengths, desires and fears. They want each other but can their jobs and current situation keep their love alive?

A fast paced adventure from island to island with some great characters. A good read.

Death Swatch

Death Swatch is the newest book in Laura Childs' scrapbooking series. It has a great setting - Mardi Gras time in New Orleans - and some great characters in Carmela and her girlfriend Ava. It even has a great mystery - a float designer who has connections to some of the highest crewes that parade, is killed at a Mardi Gras party. (A dark humorous scene is everyone coming to the funeral when they are all hung over from their various Mardi Gras parties from the night before.) He also was an amateur historian interested in maps and Jean Lafitte's treasure. Who has the map and who killed him for it? And is there a treasure? Carmela gets more than she planned for in this hectic and fast paced adventure.

I was actually thrilled that this series finally seems to have hit it's stride. The story is strong and the characters are too. I loved the part where Carmela and her women friends have created their own female crewe. I just wish the author would move the interpersonal relationships forward. Carmela and her ex have been hanging on too long and it seems to be dragging the series and the character development down. I hope this gets taken care of in the next book. A fun read.

Through a Glass, Deadly

Sarah Atwell's Through a Glass, Deadly is her Agatha nominated first book in the glassblowing series. Emmeline Dowell has created a life for herself as a glass artisan in Tucson. She is happy living above her studio and shop, selling her glass pieces and teaching classes in the ancient art of glass making. Finding a body in her furnace is a big surprise. Even more astonishing is the fact that this body was the husband of someone she just met. And this husband was involved with the mob. Em just wants to find the murderer so that things can get back to normal. Having the police over means her ex boyfriend, the chief of police, Matt will soon be by.

Atwell gives us a great exploration of glassblowing - maybe more that you wanted, but I always thought it was a fascinating art - and of the Tucson area. Em is an interesting artist and it is great to see her passion for her work. She is an appealing character, there are great secondary characters and it is a good start for a new series. I'm looking forward to the next one. A good read.

Bright Lights, Big Ass & More

What can you say about Jen Lancaster's books? They are funny. They are relatable. And sometimes she says those not so nice things that you were just dying to say!

Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? is her sequel to Bitter in Black and it continues the tale of money and job woes and their slow recovery. It also tells the story of Jen's book deal which happens whiles she's in temping hell. And then there are those wacky neighbors? They never have those on the glam TV shows!

Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest to Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big or Why Pie is Not the Answer is a story about losing weight. But it also the story of someone trying to accept their body, make it healthier, and figure out how she got that way and make some changes in her life. She makes the working out horror story seem funny, and brings a great "everyday" woman appeal to the typical "trying to change myself" memoir. If it is on thing you learn - Jen is not typical. Very funny and inspiring.

Lancaster's next book is supposed to be a memoir about growing up. I can't wait to see her perspective on it. And to laugh about it. Her books are very good reads.