Weekend Cooking : E-reading Cookbooks

 Beth Fish Reads sponsors this weekly meme where we foodies can chat about cookbooks, cooking gadgets, recipes, or anything else gustatory. Be sure to stop over there to find other terrific weekend cooking posts.

This week I've been reviewing some cookbooks on my e-reader.  It's not the best format for a cookbook, but it is convenient. On my computer, using Adobe Digital editions, I get clear pages, beautiful photographs, and the ability to bookmark favorites, but I sure don't want my laptop on the counter with all that flour being sprinkled around while I'm making bread.  On my Nook I only get black and white pictures, but I get the convenience of propping the recipe up, and having it at my finger tips, but again, who wants sticky floury finger prints all over my new Nook?

The e-format is a great way to get a chance to look at these cookbooks without having a stack of cookbooks I'll probably only use for one or two recipes each.  The best one I've seen of the batch is one scheduled for publication in March.

Title: Simply Great Breads , Sweet and Savory Yeasted Treats from America's Premier Artisan Baker
Author: Daniel Leader, Lauren Chattman
Publisher/Format: The Taunton Press 03/08/2011, 160 pages, e-galley
Source: Net Galley

This one concentrates on small batches, small loaves, and breads you'll want to bake at home for a family.  I was especially impressed with the "Luxury" English muffin recipe.  I never realized that they're supposed to be 3-4" thick!  I have some jam just screaming to be oozed onto one of those.  I'm definitely going to think about taking the time soon to make a batch of these!  Other recipes I want to try are the Ham and Cheese Crescent rolls, and the Stone Fruit Beignets!  In fact, I think we're having the Beignets tomorrow -we have some beautiful pears that will make gorgeous treats to go with some nice fennel Italian sausage we'd planned to have.  There is a very nicely done table of equivalencies, simple to follow and clear instructions.  Ingredients are shown in US and metric weights as well as measurements, and there are plenty of gorgeous full page, color illustrations just begging to jump off the page. The author does not talk down to the reader, but still manages to impart an array of info that definitely would make this one I'd want to add to my permanent collection.

Bottom line on e-readers for cookbooks - I think probably not.  I'm still going to want to have that big book propped up with COLOR pictures and I want not to have to worry if I drip some melted butter, or splash coffee, or just have sticky fingerprints on the page - to me they're the mark of a good cookbook, forming a road-map for future generations to find out which one was lovingly followed over and over.

With the frigid temperatures we're predicted to have this weekend, the fragrance of good yeast bread rising on the hearth is going to be quite welcome.

Floating bodies - two mysteries - two series

This past week, our book club discussed a mystery written by a local Maine author. At the same time I was reading that one, I was also finally getting around to reading one of the latest mysteries by another author set in North Carolina. At the beginning of each of these books, female protagonists- professional women in fields other than police work-discover a body floating in the water. Both of these women choose to insert themselves into the police investigations of these deaths. Both endure scorn, physical danger, and ultimate success in their quest. There the similarity ends. One book, the 2nd in a relatively new series is just plain awful, the other, the 17th in a continually maturing saga is a treat to read on many levels.

Author: Linda Greenlaw
Publisher/Format: Hyperion (2007), Hardcover, 272 pages
Characters: Jane Bunker, Nick Dow, Clyde Leeman
Subject: Murder
Setting: Green Haven Maine
Series: Jane Bunker mysteries
Genre: mystery - amateur detective
Source: my shelves

The book club chose this because they wanted to read a Maine author, they wanted to read a mystery, and this one fit the bill.  Just barely.  Linda Greenlaw is well known here in Maine for her non-fiction works: The Lobster Chronicles, The Hungry Ocean, and her newest one Seaworthy, to name a few.  These are excellent well-written books about a subject she knows well-- deep sea fishing and lobstering.

So it was terribly disappointing to read a poorly plotted, cardboard caricatured 'mystery' story that reads like a high school freshman's first attempt at creative writing.  Everyone in the group agreed that the writing was poor- she was just trying way too hard. It was an excellent example of using 15 words when 3 would have done just fine.   I had visions of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone and her landlord Henry, visions of the Perfect Storm, visions of James Maverick and Flo ("Mel..kiss my grits") from Alice all tumbled together in a search for a killer under the guise of insurance company inspections.  Jane Bunker comes across as an immature, petulant, spineless wonder who can't seem to find herself, and who is too dim-witted to try.

I live in a small town in Maine, and I realize we may not have our own police force, but we have at least enough brains to know when to contact the county and/or state authorities, and we sure would have done so in this instance.  Nowhere in this book did I see the authorities called to investigate a suspicious death. 

Oh it was painful....particularly when I was also reading

Author: Margaret Maron
Publisher/Format:Grand Central Publishing (2009), Hardcover, 304 pages Characters: Judge Deborah Knott, Chelsea Anne Pierce, Detective Gary Edwards
Subject: murder
Setting: Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach NC
Series: Deborah Knott Mysteries
Genre: amateur detective mystery
Source: ARC from publisher (2009)

First of all, I'll say that this book did get reviewed earlier when I received it from the publisher - I had a friend who did a marvelous guest review back in September 2009.  I finally had a chance to get to it, and I'm only sorry I waited so long.  As I said above, I was immediately struck by the similarities of how the main problem was set up in each book.  A body floating in the water.  Ok...yeah....there the similarities end.  Judge Deborah Knott is a sophisticated, well-defined character who has grown on us over the series. Her ability to decide when it is appropriate to insert herself into an investigation, when to take risks, when to involve the police, when to use feminine wiles, and when to use her considerable powers of observations and deduction is sharp, well-honed, and just enough on the edge to keep the reader guessing.

Using the backdrop of the annual judicial convention in the state, Maron gives us a an entire convention of possible suspects, keeps us guessing, and keeps us entertained with exquisite vistas of rolling ocean waves, summer storms, and sand dunes.

Greenlaw on the other hand, tries to give us a techno-drama worthy of Sebastian Junger's Perfect Storm by providing an incredibly detailed (i.e., lose the reader in minutiae) description of one of the most un-believable (as in no way am I believing this one!) scenes of mayhem ever written.

I don't normally read two books in such similar genres at the same time.  In this instance, I'm glad I did. It really clarified the good and the bad in mystery writing.  I hope Linda Greenlaw continues to write her well-researched non-fiction.  She gives us an understanding of the world of fishing that few can do better.  But perhaps she should leave the dark and stormy nights to Snoopy.

A Heartbeat Away - Review and Giveaway

Author: Michael Palmer
Publisher/Format: ARC St. Martin's Press Feb 2011, galley proof, 416 pages
Subject: bioterrorism
Setting: US Capital, New York, Kansas
Genre: medical suspense thriller
Source: signed ARC from author

Michael Palmer's latest medical thriller should come with warning labels:

Warning: reading A Heartbeat Away can be hazardous to your health, producing heart palpitations, nightmares, shortness of breath, and extreme sleeplessness--at least until you finish the last heart-pounding page of this expertly crafted look at bio-terrorism.

Warning: Do Not Begin reading this book unless you can finish it in one sitting. Sleep will not be possible until you get to page 416.

With a plot that resonates with timeliness, a list of characters that seem right out of the pages of today's newspapers, and the all too familiar setting of the US Capital, this suspense thriller grabs the reader after only 2 or 3 paragraphs.  In a nutshell, as the President of the United States begins his annual State of the Union address, with the entire Congress, Supreme Court Justices, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a myriad of distinguished guests and news media personnel in the chamber (including his own wife and daughter), vials of a lethal virus are released into the air.

And, who'da thunk it, but the President himself, as an MD had been involved in the creation of this monstrous virus which has obviously now been stolen by terrorists.  In order to avoid panic, and the ensuring pandemic that would occur if the germs were allowed to get out of the building, he orders the Capital sealed, all communications cut, and everyone present quarantined, while he works feverishly with outside personnel to find a cure before they all die.

The story is far too riveting for me to write anything else because that would spoil the experience  of watching all the plot twists that unfold.  Written in short bursts of chapters, it is easy to read, but hard to put down.

Now for the best news: Michael Palmer has made a signed copy of the hardback available to one lucky winner. We will have the drawing on February 15th, publication day.

So if you'd like to win, here are the simple rules.

1. Leave me a comment telling me whether or not you've read this author before. Be sure you include your email address. NO EMAIL, No ENTRY.
2. Leave me another comment saying whether you're a follower or become a follower and tell me.
3. Blog about this on your blog (sidebars are OK) and leave me the link to your post.
4. I don't tweet or twitter, so you may leave one extra comment between now  and February 15th.  Just say "extra entry".  
5. Go to Michael Palmer's What If scenarios on facebook, leave a comment and leave me the link. (separate entry).
6. Maximum - 5 entries
7. US addresses only - no PO Boxes.
8. Deadline is 11:59PM February 15th EST.

Good Luck

Review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Author: David Mitchell
Publisher/Format: Recorded Books MP3 audio - 19hours;
Publisher/Format: Random House (2010) read as ebook 496 pages
Narrators: Jonathan Aris and Paula Wilcox.
Characters: Jacob de Zoet, Orito Aibagawa, Ogawa Uzaemon
Subject: feudal life in 19th century Japan,
Setting: Nagasaki  and Dejima Japan
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: public library


This is definitely going to be one of my top 5 of the year.  It has everything...lush scenery, a heart-stopping-page- turning plot, memorable characters, a sense of history, and a delicate brush of language so suitable to the Japanese temperament.  It definitely put me in mind of James Clavell's Shogun, a book I read and loved while we were living in Japan many years ago.

Mitchell gives us a love story, a warrior story, and a well-researched view of the Dutch East India Trading Company in the waning days of its prominence.  Jacob de Zoet, nephew of a Dutch pastor, has signed on as a clerk for a five year stint in the company at their office on Dejima, a small man-made island off the coast of Nagasaki.  There he meets the young Japanese mid-wife who is training under the resident Dutch doctor.  When the midwife is kidnapped by a cult living high in the mountains, de Zoet wants to rescue her.  From there we see a long struggle to find the group, and convince authorities of the atrocities being perpetrated.

The story is very involved. There are many sub-plots, a shipload of characters both Dutch, English, and Japanese, all presented realistically, often with warm humor, but without the overblown romanticism one often finds in books about feudal Japan.  Although I lived in Japan for five years, and traveled around quite a bit, I'm not an expert.  I do know enough however to be able to say this is as good as it gets for story-telling.  It's as real as it can be, and it shows us a people with an innate sense of dignity, a code of honor, and a country of exquisite beauty.  Mitchell even gives us a particularly beautiful poem to describe a setting at the beginning of chapter 39.  It is obvious why he was once again on the Booker Prize Long list for 2010.

I read this on my e-reader along with listening to  the audio book. Both formats are elegantly done and I will probably even purchase a print copy to keep in my permanent library.  I could not pass up the chance to hear the wonderful Japanese pronunciations of English words.  One of the major characters is the interpreter  Ogawa Uzaemon , and his puzzling over words and meaning brought back many fond memories of my struggle to make myself understood.

David Mitchell's prose does not have that problem.  It is absolutely perfect.

Review: In the Company of Others

Author: Jan Karon
Publisher/Format: Viking Adult (2010), Hardcover, 368 pages
Characters: Father Tim Kavanaugh, Cynthia Kavanaugh
Subject: family secrets; redemption
Setting: Ireland
Series: Fr. Tim
Genre: fiction
Source: my own shelves

I am a fan of Jan Karon's Mitford series, out of which this book and its prequel Home to Holly Hills sprang.  The gentle, fun, caring people of the town of Mitford captivated me.  And Fr Tim Kavanaugh with his goofy dog, his shy and tentative walk through life were always comfortable, interesting, and well-developed stories.

Home to Holly Hills, the first in this new "Fr Tim" series was a stretch, taking the main character out of the comfortable setting of Mitford and taking him through a gut-wrenching return to his home town to discover his long-forgotten, or kept secret past.  It was barely believable, but all of us who loved Fr. Tim put up with it.  Now comes this latest one, and it is enough to make a reader cry.  It's a poorly disguised excuse for a religious tract to offer conversion to Jesus as salvation.  Those of us who loved the Mitford series knew all about Fr. Tim's religious beliefs and didn't need the proselytizing that really pops up in this one.

It is not as well written as the previous ones, with a story inside a story that spreads confusion about what is going on, and why it's being introduced. In addition, her attempts to make a mystery story out of this family drama are annoying.  There are characters that are stereotypical Irish drunks, the obligatory loopy dog, the dying old lady itching to be saved, and people with enough secrets stored up to sink the proverbial ship.  I just couldn't warm up to this group, and can't decide whether I want her to continue this series or not. A true disappointment.

Review: As Always, Julia

Editor: Joan Reardon
Publisher/Format: e-galley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 424 pages
Subject:  life in Europe in the 2nd half of 20th century
Setting: France, Germany, Norway, Boston
Genre: correspondence
Source: e-galley from publisher via Net Galley

While I've enjoyed watching Julia Child occasionally on TV, and I own a copy of her famous cookbook, I have always felt somewhat intimidated by this matriarch of elegant meal prep.

"As Always, Julia" brings Julia Child to earth, and makes her not only approachable, but warm, human, funny, intelligent and someone you'd want to have for a next door neighbor. I had no idea who Avis DeVoto was until I read this book of letters between these two. I have not yet seen the movie in which she evidently becomes known to Americans, but she is introduced quite well in this collection of letters. Covering a span of over 30 years, Avis and Julia kept up a witty, no-holds-barred trans-Atlantic correspondence covering everything from how to poach fish, how to write, edit and publish a cookbook, the chilling impact of McCarthyism on American life, finding housing in France, Norway, Germany, to whether or not to use a pressure cooker for long simmering soups and stews.

Starting as pen-pals and continuing for several years before they had a chance to meet, the letter-writing cemented a friendship that coincidentally involved an unofficial business relationship, and reveals two well-educated, very talented women living out their lives in roles new to both of them. Their letters were at times about subjects many would consider banal, but they offer a glimpse into a world all but forgotten in today's high-tech environment.  It is a book that is big, bold, heavy and not easily read in one sitting.  Therein lies the beauty of it -- it can be read and savored, like a good wine, in small sips over a lingering period of time. For fans of Julia Child, it is a must read.

Joan Reardon has done a yeoman job of editing and compiling the correspondence to make it interesting, engaging, and compelling.

Special thanks to Houghton Mifflin for making the e-galley available for review.

Mailbox Monday - January 10

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at The Printed Page, is now on a blog tour! Rose City Reader kicks off 2011.  Please stop on Rose City Reader  and see what everyone else got this week.  As a bonus, she's also featuring a giveaway. I got behind reporting my deliveries over the holidays, and this concludes the catch-up I started last week.

There were several ARCs I received from Hachette Book group in the past few weeks.  The first was

Hell's Corner by David Baldacci..

The fifth adventure of the Camel Club and the seemingly invincible Oliver Stone.  I've seen mixed reviews of this one, so I'm anxious to get into it myself to form my own opinion.  I may have to go back and read one of the earlier ones since it's been awhile but I'm going to be sure to get to this one.  It's been a favorite series of mine all along.

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Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron

 This one arrived shortly before Christmas and I put everything aside to read it.  I wanted something comfortable, engaging and fun and it didn't disappoint.  My review was posted back on December 30th.  At that time I said that you didn't necessarily have to read it as a holiday story....it would be good any time of the year.

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The Sherlockian by  Graham Moore

 I'm always up for a good mystery.  This one arrived just last week and it's going to be one on the 'sooner rather than later' pile.  Here's the blurb:

In December 1893, Sherlock Holmes-adoring Londoners eagerly opened their Strand magazines, anticipating the detective's next adventure, only to find the unthinkable: his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle, had killed their hero off. London spiraled into mourning -- crowds sported black armbands in grief -- and railed against Conan Doyle as his assassin.

Then in 1901, just as abruptly as Conan Doyle had "murdered" Holmes in "The Final Problem," he resurrected him. Though the writer kept detailed diaries of his days and work, Conan Doyle never explained this sudden change of heart. After his death, one of his journals from the interim period was discovered to be missing, and in the decades since, has never been found....
Or has it?....
When literary researcher Harold White is inducted into the preeminent Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society, The Baker Street Irregulars, he never imagines he's about to be thrust onto the hunt for the holy grail of Holmes-ophiles: the missing diary. But when the world's leading Doylean scholar is found murdered in his hotel room, it is Harold - using wisdom and methods gleaned from countless detective stories - who takes up the search, both for the diary and for the killer.

And finally I received an autographed copy of

A Heartbeat Away by Michael Palmer.

You'll be hearing more about this one very soon.  The publication date is in early February, and I'm going to have an extra autographed hardback edition (not an ARC) to giveaway to one of my lucky readers.  So check back here often for details.

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To wrap up the mailbag news there was an audio book from a contest win at Metroreader:



Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace.

Here's what they're saying about this one:

Published when Wallace was just twenty-four years old, The Broom of the System stunned critics and marked the emergence of an extraordinary new talent. At the center of this outlandishly funny, fiercely intelligent novel is the bewitching heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio. Lenore’s great-grandmother has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau, and boss, Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous, and her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psycho- babble, Auden, and the King James Bible. Ingenious and entertaining, this debut from one of the most innovative writers of his generation brilliantly explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.  This sounds perfect to keep me awake on a long drive I have planned for next month.

What did you find in your mailbox this week?

Review: Room

Author: Emma Donoghue
Publisher/Format: Hachette audio 10 hours 45 min, 336 pg equivalent
Narrators:  Michal Friedman, Ellen Archer, Robert Petkoff, Suzanne Toren
Characters: Jack, Ma, Old Nick
Subject: kidnapping, abuse, captivity
Setting: Room and Outside
Genre: fiction, suspense
Source: public library audio download

It is easy to see why this was such a talked about book in 2010 and why it was on the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize.  The writing is exceptional, the story compelling, and the characters so well portrayed that the reader feels they are living the story with them.  The story is told entirely in Jack's words, a point of view that brings a fresh and engaging yet terrifying perspective.

ROOM is Jack's world.  Jack is a 5 year boy, imprisoned in an 11x11 shed with his mother.  Ma was abducted 7 years ago by Old Nick who visits periodically bringing supplies, and especially the "Sunday Treat." Because Jack knows only what is in ROOM, his world image is limited. They have rug, matress, chair, table, shelf, stove, toilet, bath, wardrobe and rocker, to all of which Jack attaches almost anthropomorphic characteristics.  They watch TV, but, with the exception of Dora the Explorer, he views that as "OUTSIDE" and scary, and mostly not real. He cannot conceive of 'others' as real people.  The pair bonds in an extraordinary fashion, and while Jack's intellectual development and vocabulary bloom from all the games they play and the TV they watch, his social development is non-existant. He has never spent a minute separated from his mother.

Reading this book is a chilling experience, but one that is very, very satisfying in the end.  Having the story told from the viewpoint of a 5 year old whose only experience of the world is through the prism of TV, the five books his mother has managed to con out of Old Nick, or whatever memories his mother chooses to share is what really makes this such an incredible story. I really don't want to give away anything because the tension needs to build for the reader (or listener) to enjoy the full impact.  I listened to the audio where Jack's voice is perfectly done. The cadence is perfectly for a five year old.  I intend to get a print copy to add to my permanent collection, but feel this is one book that is just as good in audio (if not better) than print. It is my first 5 star read of the year.

Review: The Thirteenth Tale

The Thirteenth Tale

Author: Diane Setterfield
Publisher/Format:Simon and Schuster audio: 14 discs 432 page equivalent  Characters: Vida Winter, Margaret Lea, assorted twins and foundlings
Subject: family relationships and secrets
Setting: early 20th century England ???
Genre: mystery, Gothic drama, story-telling, ghost story
Source: public library

This one defies description.  It can be a ghost story, a fictional biography of a story-teller, an unfinished collection of short stories, a mystery, a gothic tale of horror ala Jane Eyre, but whatever genre the reader tries to fit this one into, it will defy characterization.   A New York Times best seller in 2006, this was chosen by our local book club for the January selection.

It's a many layered story in which Vida Winter, a recluse and aging author of twelve tales of her life over the years, has finally decided to allow the thirteenth to be published, and the world is waiting.  She chooses Margaret Lea, a quiet biographer working in her father's bookstore,to help her write the final story.  Margaret has her own hidden childhood riddle to uncover .  As Ms Winter dictates her story to Margaret, we find stories buried in stories, ghosts flying in and out, foundlings, governesses, tales of twins separated and reunited, mad relatives in attics, bumbling but loving household help, the ubiquitous British solicitor, and surprise after surprise.  It's not the kind of book I normally would be attracted to, but I found myself unable to stop reading it once it began.The setting, the exquisite characterization, the unraveling of clues leading to more mystery, all held me rapt.

In my book club last night, only one person in the group gave up on it, the others read it and all agreed they thought it was worth reading. Several found it confusing to follow in parts, several found that parts of it were rather contrived, and we all had trouble nailing down the time frame in which the story took place and in assigning a specific genre to it.

We all agreed it's an intriguing book that could have done with a trim here or there (there were several sub-plots nominated for elimination) but all things said we can recommend it to anyone who wants to pick up an engrossing book.

Review: The Girl in the Green Raincoat

The Girl in the Green Raincoat

Author: Laura Lippman
Publisher/Format: Harper Collins Advanced Reader'se-proof, 176 pages 
Characters:Tess Monagham, Crowe, assorted dogs
Subject: missing persons
Setting: Baltimore
Series: Tess Monagha
Genre: private detective mystery
Source: e-galley down loaded courtesy of NetGalley

A great way to start the new year....a novella featuring one of my favorite private sleuths, Tess Monagham of my hometown, Baltimore MD.  In this one we find Tess pregnant, confined to total bedrest, and absolutely unhappy about life in general, lack of wine, lack of sleep, lousy food, and not being able to stick her nose into everything she's used to doing.  As she stares out the window each day, she notices a Girl in a Green Raincoat walking a greyhound, and becomes fixated on her.  When this mysterious green lady doesn't show up, and the dog is running loose, Tess' fertile mind spins all kinds of scenarios.

In a story reminiscent of the Hitchcock thriller Rear Window, and the Josephine Tey story Daughter of Time, Tess sets out to solve the mystery, directing her minions from her sickbed.  The ending is spectacular, surprising and edifying.  It's a quick read--originally published as a serial in the New Yorker.

Many thanks to Harper Collins for making this available through Net Galley.

Mailbox Monday - January 3rd

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week.  Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists!

Mailbox Monday, created by Marcia at The Printed Page, is now on a blog tour! Rose City Reader kicks off 2011.  I haven't been too good about posting deliveries for the past month, so I'm going to catch up here.  Please stop on Rose City Reader  and see what everyone else got this week.  As a bonus, she's also featuring a giveaway.

The very "bestest" thing in my mailbox was the gift of a Nook from my daughter.  I've been wanting an e-reader, now have one, and I'm finding I love it even more than I ever would have imagined.

Over the past three weeks, I've received several books for review.  Many of these are coming now as e-books, so  my e-'mailbox' has filled up with goodies to load onto my Nook for reading and review.  Among those I've gotten are

As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto
edited by Joan Spearman.
Here's the blurb:

With her outsized personality, Julia Child is known around the world by her first name alone. More than 200 letters exchanged between Julia and Avis DeVoto, her friend and unofficial literary agent open the window on Julia's deepest thoughts and feelings. This riveting correspondence, in print for the first time, chronicles the blossoming of a unique and lifelong friendship between the two women and the turbulent process of Julia's creation of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, one of the most influential cookbooks ever written. 

 I can't wait to dive into this one.  I love memoirs, letters and food...and this has it all!

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The Boo by Pat Conroy

Bestselling author Conroy's debut novel, now being re-issued.  I just finished reading and reviewing his latest book My Reading Life, and wanted to look at this one to see how and if his writing has progressed and/or improved over the years...   Set against the richly drawn military school backdrop that Conroy would return to in his bestseller The Lords of Discipline, The Boo is an unforgettable story of duty, loyalty, and standing up for what is right in the face of overwhelming circumstances.
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The Girl in the Green Raincoat

by Laura Lippmann

In this modern twist on Rear Window, Tess Monaghan has been put on bed rest for the last two months of her pregnancy.  Day after day she watches a girl in a green raincoat in the park with her greyhound, until one day Tess ominously notices the dog running loose. Convinced some harm has befallen its owner she  becomes dangerously obsessed with learning her fate.

As a native Baltimorean, I'm always anxious to read the latest from one of Charm City's best...
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My Christmas mailbox (gifts from friends and family) brought me

Rainwater by Sandra Brown

I confess I've never read anything by Sandra Brown.  She is enormously popular in our small town library where I work, so I'm looking forward to seeing what all the excitement is about.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ford Country by John Grisham
Returning to the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill, longtime bestseller Grisham presents seven short stories about the residents of Ford County, Miss.  Each story explores different themes-mourning, revenge, justice, acceptance, evolution-but all flirt with the legal profession, the staple of (former attorney) Grisham's oeuvre.
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These two came from my secret book Santa in an online book group I belong to.  THANK YOU THANK YOU KIM

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

The blurb:

Lacey Yeager is young, captivating, and ambitious enough to take the NYC art world by storm. Groomed at Sotheby's and hungry to keep climbing the social and career ladders put before her, Lacey charms men and women, old and young, rich and even richer with her magnetic charisma and liveliness. Her ascension to the highest tiers of the city parallel the soaring heights--and, at times, the dark lows--of the art world and the country from the late 1990s through today.

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When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Julie Otsuka’s commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese internment camps unlike any we have ever seen. With crystalline intensity and precision, Otsuka uses a single family to evoke the deracination—both physical and emotional—of a generation of Japanese Americans. In five chapters, each flawlessly executed from a different point of view...she has created a small tour de force, a novel of unrelenting economy and suppressed emotion. Spare, intimate, arrestingly understated, When the Emperor Was Divine is a haunting evocation of a family in wartime and an unmistakably resonant lesson for our times. It heralds the arrival of a singularly gifted new novelist.

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And yes....there were also print books received from publishers for review...I'll give you a rundown on those next week.  In the meantime, my new year is off to a rip-roaring fun start.

Ongoing Challenges

The Everlasting TBR Shelves

At the end of the year I did a re-cap of all the challenges in which I participated during 2010.  This year I have made a different challenge resolution.  I'm challenging myself to avoid formal challenges and instead make as big a dent as possible in the current TBR pile.

That's not going to be as easy as it sounds.  I have five full shelves of books sitting here physically staring me in the face.  That's over 100 books right here in this room alone.  That doesn't count the ones in the bedroom, the guest room, the living room, or the attic. And I have over 35 audios waiting, and about 10 ebooks from Net Galley for reviews (and I can get many many many more of those if I want), and I have been told by my darling daughter that my new NOOK is in the mail and should be here any time.  That will be great for perhaps handling some of the more than 250 books I have listed on my Goodreads account which I use to track those books I see recommended by you my fellow bloggers or by my buddies on LibraryThing.com.

Last year I got almost 90 free books, either as ARCs or winning contests (thank you fellow bloggers). So even if I restrain myself from entering contests and requesting review copies, I still figure I'll have 50 more to add to the pile, and then I have to stay out of libraries, and stay off the internet.  Not going to happen!!!

SO......I going to try something different.  I always have at least 4-5 books going at once.  Always at least one audio (I do a minimum of 1.5-2 of those a week), I now want to have at least one ebook going, and there are two book clubs a month where the books are picked for me.  So I've listed all the physical books I want to pick from this year in a spreadsheet, I have another list of all the wish books I've seen and want to read, and I'm going to let Random.org pick from those lists to get me to read them.  So every month, I'm going to read 2 ebooks, 4 audios, 3 from the shelves, 2 bookclubs, 3 from the TBR list (books I can get from the library,on the NOOK etc), and 3 ARCs.  I usually can read at least 15 a month, so this should be do-able.

Oh...I almost forgot -- I have a list of at least 12 books I've read before and want to re-read.  Hmmmm....maybe one a month!

And....there are three ongoing challenges I'm still participating in:

• The US Presidential biography challenge: I've finished through Madison, and would like to get to at least through Millard Fillmore this year.
• Fifty States (Fiction or non-fiction) challenge: I've finished 25 of the fifty states.  I'd like to check off another 5-8 as I read this year.
• The Dewey Decimal Challenge:  This one will take until I die.  I've read 70+ of the 800+ currently used subcategories.  I just keep adding them as I find them.

A year from now, I'll be very happy if I have accomplished half of what I said here.  But one can always dream.   Just please all of you make a New Year's Resolution that you will NOT run any neat contests, you will NOT offer up delicious reviews of irresistable books, and you will NOT entice me to add to my TBR pile. YEAH  ........ RIGHT......

I wish all of you a year of good health, lots of happiness, and beautiful reading to bring a smile to your face and warmth in your bones.  Happy New Year!

It begins...

May you have a year full of peace, health, happiness and as many books as you want.

2010 Challenges = Part II

Many of us here in bloggerville can't seem to resist the challenge of the challenge. That is -- one of us says "I'm going to read 350 comic books this year, how many can you read? Let's have a challenge."

Well Tutu joined a lot of these challenges for 2010, and they were in fact a lot of fun. They were also a lot of work to keep track of and I'm not sure I linked to all the linkies and posted all the appropriate info at the right time. To my fellow bloggers who hosted and posted, thank you for making my reading experience such a full one this past year, and my apologies if I didn't fill in all the blanks correctly. Here's how I did on the challenges that were limited to this year.

Support your Local Library

Goal - "Just my size" - read 50 books from the library
Finished reading - 104
I read so many from the library that I just never got over to J. Kaye's blog to repost.  Thanks so much for hosting this for so many folks!

TBR Challenge
Goal - read 12 in my possession (and on a list) January 1, 2010
Actually read - 3
I obviously didn't do as well on this one--- too many new ones kept creeping into my mailbox and library bag.  I'm going to keep trying to whittle down the TBR list, but it's like the loaves and fishes....I seem to put 2 new ones on the list for every one I take off.  I have a solution I'm going to try on this for 2011, so stayed tuned because I'll be talking about it in January after I figure out exactly how I'm going to handle the ever growing pile.

War through the Generations
Goal-- originally set at "dip": 5 books
Actually read --I got to the "wade" level - 7 finished
This one really scared me.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish anything about war, but found when I got into it, I really appreciated having a framework to use to learn more about this important chapter in our history.  The 2011 challenge to read about the civil war doesn't have as much appeal for me, but I do have two or three other Vietnam books I intend to read this year.

Audio books
Goal - obsessed level - 20
Actually read -70
also downloaded 5 "epub"
Royal Reviews hosted this one, and I can tell you for me it was a no-brainer.  I love audio books, and really enjoyed playing in this one.

Thriller-Suspense mystery
Goal - 12 books in 12 months
Actually read - 57
Book Chick City hosted this one.  It was the first one I completed .  My first twelve mysteries were done by February. I truly love mysteries in almost all of the 38 different genres involved.  I will certainly be continuing these throughout 2011.

Advanced Reading Copies/Early Review challenge
Goal - 12
Actually read - 47
Thanks to Teddy Rose for hosting this one.  And many many thanks to all the authors and publishers who honored me with review copies.  I'm just sorry I couldn't get to each and every one of them I received.

Reading from my Shelves
Goal - minimum of 20
Actually read - 20
Diane of Bibliophile by the Sea hosted this last year and is doing so again for 2011.  This is the only challenge I'm tempted to join for the new year because it helps push me to read more of all those yummy books that continually scream 'pick me, pick me!' every time I walk into my office/library.

Medical mysteries
Goal= 6
Actually read - only read one - Completely abandoned this one early!!!  I just couldn't get into this one, and I don't know whether it got crowded out by all the others or whether I just wasn't getting the right books, or I just wasn't looking. Wendy of A Novel Challenge is hosting it again this year if anyone is interested.

Typically British Reading challenge
Goal -"Gordon Bennett" level- read 4
Actually read -12
Another great challenge hosted by Book Chick City....I originally joined just because I couldn't resist the bull-dog on the button.  Lots of fun, and I read I lot more than I thought I did at the end.  As with the others, I just plain forgot to go post my linkies...

Books Won Reading challenge
Goal - read 6
Actually read - 9
Another hosted by Teddy Rose at Rose City Reader

So the year of the challenge is over. Even though I'm not entering any formal challenges for 2011, I do have a reading plan laid out for next year.  I'll be discussing that one tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening festivities, stay warm, dry and safe, and we'll see you in the New Year.

Happy New Year Glitter Pictures

2010 Challenges - How'd we do?

This was the year of the challenge...and I really got carried away. I enjoyed each and every one of them, even those I abandoned. I read books I might never have read, I cleaned a few off the TBR shelf, but I suspect like most of you, there are now more books then ever on the growing out of control list of those I'd like to read.If there is any truth to the saying that God created me to accomplish a certain number of tasks before I die, and if one of those tasks is reading the books I want to read, then I'm going to live forever!!

Because I had so many challenges, and reporting on them will involve a lot of linking, I'm going to break up this end of year stats report into several posts:

1. Basic stats for the year
2. Limited to 2010 Challenges
3. Ongoing lifetime challenges

So here's the basic Stats:  199 books picked and begun.  186 completed

• Print 124
• Audio 70
• Ebooks 5

• From library 104
• My own         95 (includes ARCs received)

• Fiction          138
• Non-fiction     43
• YA/Juv             5
• Abandoned     13

All in all it was a pretty good year.  I have put 6 of the abandoned books back in the TBR pile for another look later on.  The others were hopeless.

Next up I'll give you the scoop on how I did with my challenges.  Keep on reading!

Last memoir of the year - a Review: Here if You Need Me

Author: Kate Braestrup
Publisher/Format:Little, Brown and Company (2007),Paperback, 211 pages; also audio read by the author
Subject: grief, Maine Game warden service, dealing with death
Setting: Maine - various locations
Genre: memoir
Source: my own shelves- paperback; audio from the library

Kate Braestrup, one of the first chaplains ever appointed to the Maine Warden Service, only became a chaplain after her husband, a Maine state trooper, was killed in a freak auto accident.  It had been his intention to become a Unitarian Universalist chaplain when he retired from active police work, so following his dream, she enrolled in Bangor Theological Seminary, and was eventually ordained to the ministry.

Her exquisitely written memoir entwines a portrait of widowhood with the story of the Maine Warden service and presents the reader with a hopeful, vibrant, and uplifting story.  Using altered names and locations, she relates stories of searches for missing persons-both young and old; rescues and recoveries of those trapped below the ice or lost in the vast Maine wilderness; and heart-wrenching scenes of notify next-of-kin about deaths.  Throughout, she weaves stories of helping her four young children progress to young adulthood.  The story of learning that her son could play drums, and hearing him in the band at school, was such a delight--any mother who has ever raised a teenager through the band phase of life will be able to relate easily.

Her explanations and stories about the Maine warden service are exceptionally informative.  Many people don't realize that Maine game wardens have law enforcement duties in addition to tending to Maine's gorgeous wildlife and scenery.  The image of this petite woman with her clerical collar and keflar vest under her LL Bean jacket brought a giant smile.

She offers her insights not only from the perspective of  "chaplain" but from that of wife, mother, friend, and member of the law enforcement community.  It is not a long book, but it is one to be re-read and savored.  It brings hope with the tears, soothing with anxiety....just what one would expect from a chaplain.

Review: Christmas Mourning

Author: Margaret Maron
Publisher/Format:Grand Central Publishing (2010), Hardcover, 304 pages
Characters: Deborah Knott, Dwight Bryant and a zillion kissing cousins
Subject: teenage drivers, drugs, booze, homicide
Setting: fictional - Colleton County North Carolina
Series: Deborah Knott Mysteries
Genre: law enforcement/crime solving
Source: review copy from Hachette Book Group

This one arrived just before Christmas, and since it belongs to one of my favorite series, it had the word Christmas in the title, and I had recently finished another Deborah Knott book, I dove right in.  Like the previous ones in the series, the reader is immediately returned to a family of convoluted and epic proportions. Maron's inclusion of a family tree in the beginning of the volume is an enormous help in getting each character in place quickly.

After a popular cheerleader is killed while driving home one evening, controversy swirls when her father refuses to believe the coroner's report showing alcohol in her system.  Shortly after this accident, two young men who had frequent flyer status with the local law enforcement establishment are found murdered.  Is there a connection between these two happenings?  Deborah and her husband Dwight (the local sheriff) sacrifice a planned for romantic evening celebrating their first wedding anniversary to investigate leads about what really happened. 

It's a well written, well plotted, enjoyable read.  While it is set during the Christmas time period, it is not necessarily a holiday story and can be enjoyed at any time of  the year.  I'm looking forward to reading the others of the series I haven't yet gotten to.  Stay tuned in 2011.

Another Brunetti Mystery

Through A Glass, Darkly

Author: Donna Leon
Publisher/Format: Audio Partners Publishing Corp -audio; 272 pg equivalent
Characters: Guido Brunetti, Inspector Vianello, Signorina Elletra
Subject: ecological ethics, murder
Setting: Venice
Series: Commissario Brunetti mysteries
Genre: police procedural detective mystery
Source: public library

A truly different story for Guido Brunetti.  This one is almost more concerned with illegal dumping of dangerous chemicals by the glass making factories in Murano than with solving the murder of the night watchman at the factory.  Brunetti, the urbane sophisticate with a professed (and almost disdainful) ignorance of any and all scientific or modern technological information, must get up to speed on glass-making and hazardous waste disposal. While giving the reader short courses on these subjects, Leon also has Brunetti exploring Dante's Inferno for clues. The juxtaposition of the old with the new, in a centuries old setting, makes for a very different story than previous ones in the series.  Brunetti has always had more of a social conscience than others of his profession, though he seems to take his time acknowledging that. Less food, less banter with Paola, but definitely another well-done episode in a series that continues to delight me.

I'm gradually working my way through this delightful series--this is #15 of 19, so you'll be seeing a few more during the new year.  I somehow got out of order and need to read 10,11,12 and 19, but that is one of the delights of this series in that the individual books can be read in any order without the reader feeling disoriented.
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Tongue in Cheek Weekend Cooking - The Gallery of Regrettable Food

The Gallery of Regrettable Food

Author: James Lileks
Publisher/Format: Clarkson Potter (2001)Hardcover, 192 pages 
Subject: Advertising in cookbooks
Genre: humor, cookbook critiques
Source: public library

I laughed so hard, my sides hurt! This is an absolutely SNL-like expose of all that 'interesting' food those of us growing up during the Ozzie and Harriet days experienced in our youth. It is actually difficult to describe or review because it's really the pictures that make the book.  The author has an absolutely smart-ass take on the descriptions, ingredients, and attitudes that can be found tucked into all those food pamphlets our mothers, grandmothers and aunties collected after 'the war.'  I actually have several of these in my personal 'collection' --they were the building blocks of a cookbook collection for the proper 1960's bride.

Lileks' book makes for great weekend browsing although I'd never want to cook anything I saw in there.  And with the exception of the jello items, I don't think my mom ever cooked any of them either.

My personal favorites include Balls on Picks from the booklet "500 Snacks - Bright Ideas for Entertaining"; the chapter about Aunt Jenny explaining the miracle of a product called "Spry" (I think something like Crisco?); and the pictures and comments on "Victory Meat Extenders" - a pamphlet published during WWII featuring "Creamed Brains on Toast", "Tongue Rolls Florentine" and "Ham Shanks and Cabbabe" (described by Lileks as "Pig Ass with the Bones Still in It. Or, perhaps Chunker Cheeks"

The very best is a picture of some sort of pie type casserole from the Good Housekeeping Casserole Book called Monday Pie. Lileks comments:

"The recipe calls for lamb, gravy, and MSG. What an excellent start to the week eh? Fried Strips of albino flesh cunningly blended with Scottish terrier testicles. "

 Hmmm....I was looking for a recipe to use that leftover lamb from our Christmas dinner.  I wonder............

Christmas Greetings!!

Photo from the Knox County Village Soup

Just in case you didn't notice, Tutu lives in the mid-coast area of Maine, near this gorgeous tree in the lobster capital of Maine (and we like to think the world!).  Almost every one of my neighbors has a pile of lobster traps in the front yard, strings of buoys hang in the trees, and lobster trucks pass us on the main road every day. 

So, it is not at all unusual that the town chooses to erect this spectacular tree made from those traps every year in the Marine Park.  It is lit at night from inside the pyramid, the buoys are contributed by local lobstermen (and women) and king lobster bestows holiday cheer to one and all from high atop the "tree." We have horse drawn carts roaming with carolers, lighted floats in the Annual Parade of Christmas lights, merchants offering hot chocolate and cookies, and kids making and stringing ornaments.

We have chosen the more traditional tree for our home, although I can't help but smile every day as I drive by this one.  It really gets me in the holiday spirit.  The weather has cooperated, and we have a nice coating of snow for a White Christmas with more expected early next week, along with visitors from down South.  YEAH!

So as the last frantic package wrapping, carol singing, cookie baking, and firewood piling get finished, Mr. Tutu (aka Bob) and I head off to sing joyously at two Christmas Eve masses - (our 'parish' now consists of 7 different churches).  We will be praying for blessings on each and every friend and family member.  May your holidays be peaceful, your New Year be healthy, your celebrations joyous. Thanks to all my faithful readers who have graced us with your comments this past year.  My visions of sugar plums are actually piles of books to read and share with you during 2011.

May your wishes all come true when you wake this Christmas morn.  May all of us in this world struggling to achieve the peace we were promised on this wonderful day, have a New Year in which that struggle ends.  Blessings and best wishes to all of you.

Christmas Glitters Graphics

Review: You Know When the Men Are Gone

Author: Siobhan Fallon
Format: Advanced galley from  Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam , 225 pages
Subject: Military life during deployments
Setting: primarily Ft Hood Texas
Genre: Short stories
Source: Publisher via LibraryThing Early Review program

This book struck close to home.  As a military wife, I spent 29 years watching my husband go off to sea, waiting endlessly for letters or phone calls and for the day the ship would return to port.  So I could relate very personally to Fallon's stories about military life during our country's current war on terrorism.

At the time my spouse was on active duty, we did not have women serving in combat, so my relations with deployed spouses were single sex. Now the military family group is more diverse, although the spouses featured in this volume are mainly female.

Fallon writes exquisitely of the loneliness experienced by those left behind, and by those who serve.  Those at home are afforded the 'luxury' of going home to family to wait out the deployment, they have a never-ending series of outings, potluck suppers, craft classes, and in some cases, civilian employment to fill the days.  The present day military has gone to great lengths to provide support groups, Family Readiness groups, and mentors for new spouses.  Still, nights are harder, and all too often may be filled with mind-numbing substances to escort a lonely soul to the next dawn.

Those who are serving can be just as lonely, and often have fewer outlets to assuage the loneliness.  The soldiers on watch, on patrol, the sailor looking out to sea at night, the airman with her eyes glued to an instrument panel, cannot go home to family to wait it out.  They often cannot escape annoying company mates, or obnoxious buddies. Their minds must blank out loved ones for hours on end and learn to cope with the buddies who may ultimately be in a position to save their lives.

The short story format used in this book is an exceptional one  to show the many facets of family trauma being experienced now and the future effects of PTSD incidents we will be looking at for years to come.  Her stores are believable, melancholy, tightly plotted, and offer us characters that could inhabit any military base in America today.   They also could have inhabited any military base in the last century.  Not much has changed in the past 50 years at least.

The stories are particularly powerful in that Fallon does not try to politicize her stories at all.  She speaks to the lives of the characters as they are without commenting on the whys of military deployments.  Military families learn early on that questioning why is counter-productive to getting through the night.  By including stories about the deployed servicemembers as well as their families left behind, we are given a fascinating glimpse of both sides of the family dynamics involved.

This is a book that can be appreciated by anyone who ever served in the military as well as those who have not but want to learn more about that very honorable and distinct way of life. Fallon's prose is strong, clear, and superb, making this a book that is readable, compelling and sure to be talked about both in and outside the military.

Cozies for holiday de-stressing

The past week has been quite stressful...one of my favorite Aunts died, so we had to make an unplanned trip from Maine to Baltimore for her funeral,  a warm loving affair where we got to see dozens of cousins we only ever seem to see at weddings and/or funerals anymore.  After staying with my mom for the first three nights, we then managed to squeeze in early Christmas visits to children and grandchild, a visit to another sister recovering from surgery, and then tore back to Maine to beat a threatened storm that fizzled out. At least I had done almost all my Christmas baking before I left, so I was able to deliver the cookies in person instead of mailing them. Now we have only to put up the tree, and bake some biscotti and we're ready for Santa.

At least the long drive (11 hours each way) was good for reading time, but after some of the more intense books I'd been reading, I knew that I needed something light and up-lifting. These two were perfect to put me in a warm and fuzzy mood.

Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher/Format: Berkley Hardcover (2010), Reissue, Hardcover, 304 pages; also audio narrated by Teresa Plummer
Characters: Aurora Teagarden, Robin Crusoe, Arthur Smith
Subject: murder in a small town
Setting: Georgia
Series: Aurora Teagarden Mysteries
Genre: mystery- police procedural
Source: public library

Another mystery in the Aurora Teagarden series...A few weeks ago, I read the 2nd book in this series and was interested enough to want to go look at the beginning of Aurora's amateur career in solving murder mysteries.  In this debut episode, Aurora Teagarden, a librarian by day, belongs to a group of mystery aficionados known as the Real Murder club.  Every month, members meet and take turns analyzing  old mysteries, either real or fictional, looking at victims, murder weapons, who-dunnit, etc.  When actual murders begin occurring in the town, and each murder seems to be a copy-cat of a murder previously happening someplace else, attention turns to the members of the club.  Is one of them purposely acting out murders they've studied?  After an attempt on Aurora (or was her mother the intended victim?) and several other strange 'clues' begin appearing, "Roe" starts to feel she may be the target.

In addition to  the murder aspect, Roe finds herself juggling two different romantic interests in the person of author/professor Robin Crusoe and detective Arthur Smith, who also happens to belong to the Real Murders group.  The surprising climax was one that pre-disposes the reader to look for more.  There are  nine altogether, so I know there are more fun adventures that I can reach for when I want a good mystery, with little violence, some interesting but fairly innocent romance, and a feel-good ending.

I was very pleased to have this one in audio, because there is so little daylight these days, that I didn't lose any reading time after it got dark!

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Another great cozy read I indulged in this week is the 2nd of Gail Fraser's terrific Lumby series:

Author: Gail Fraser
Publisher/Format: NAL Trade (2007), Paperback, 329 pages
Characters: Pam and Mark Walker, monks of the St Cross Abbey, Dana Porter, Charlotte Ross
Subject: life in small town USA
Setting: town of Lumby, Northwest US
Series: Lumby
Genre: fiction
Source: personal copy

The saga continues. In this particular volume, the story centers around a stolen painting, a stolen barn (trust me! the barn disappeared overnight), a midnight bovine Iditarod, and a hostile takeover bid for the monk's rum sauce company.  Got your attention yet?
I continue to be enthralled with the characters of this delightful town.  The setting, the people, the quirky characteristics of the inhabitants (human, bovine, equine, feline, plastic, etal), are reminiscent of a combination of the town ofThree Pines in Louise Penny's books (without the murders), the old TV series Northwest Exposure, and the solid feel-good humanity of the Mitford series.  You know a trip to Lumby will be time well spent.  A few hours of life in this town can lower anyone's blood pressure, put a smile on your face, and calm any stress from too much shopping, too many cookies, unmailed cards, and icy roads.  If you haven't tried this series, please give yourself a gift and try them.  I've yet to find anyone who doesn't want to go to Lumby.

Review: Eliza's Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Journal

Author: Jendine Nolen
Publisher/Format: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, e-galley-160 pages
Characters: Eliza,
Subject: slavery, Underground Railroad
Setting: Virginia, Maryland, New York, Canada

Genre: fictional memoir

Source: Advanced e-galley from Publisher (publication date slated 1-4-11)

This book is specifically written for young adults about ages 9-12.  I wanted to see if it was something my grand-daughter, who is 10, would be interested in and able to read.  It's perfect!  Eliza is an 11 year old slave living in Virginia when she begins her diary. Taught to read by a very enlightened mistress who was losing her sight, she begins the journal as a way of coping with the loss of her mother who had been sold to another plantation.

She gives us a simple but realistic picture of what life was like for young slave women in the period 1855 to 1867. While her mistress is gentle and kind, the master is not, and Eliza lives in constant fear of being ripped away from her remaining friends. The author uses the journal genre to show the process by which the "Friends", led by Harriet Tubman,  were able to lead many escaped slaves on a journey from Virginia north to freedom in Canada via the 'underground railroad.' The process involved many dangerous escapades, much privation, and all too often, the painful lifetime parting from friends and relatives.

Before her mother left, Eliza's mother gave her daughter a picture quilt containing 12 squares.  Each of the first 10 squares contained a 'story' which she told her daughter, and which Eliza repeated many times to reinforce it in her memory and to relate to others.  The final two squares were left blank, so that Eliza could complete them with her own story when she got old enough.  Her mother even left her a piece of blue satin cloth -material to be used to show a 'freedom-blue' sky.  Eliza telling of these stories is interspersed throughout the book, and serve as examples of how slaves coped with their lives. For instance Eliza used the story of the fox and the rooster in a barnyard to help quiet a young boy's fears about a fox getting into a henhouse, and whether he'd be blamed.  Another square shows Moses leading his people away from Pharoah to the promised land, a story often repeated and relished by American slaves.

The story is perfectly written for young adults who can relate to the emotions of the age. It will help them become acquainted with the hardships endured by earlier citizens of this country, and the bravery of many to overcome this institution. Additional material in the book includes synopses and background of the stories Eliza weaves into the material, and several other suggested readings to help young readers learn more about the era.

Many thanks to Simon and Schuster Galley Grab for making this available. Please note that the cover shown here may not be the final cover on the release.

Review: Columbine

Author: Dave Cullen
Publisher/Format: e-book Hachette Book Group 1st e-book edition, 441 pages; also audio book (Blackstone Audio) 14 hours
Narrator: Don Leslie
Subject: Killings at Columbine High School
Setting: Jefferson County Colorado, April 1999
Genre: news reporting; non-fiction
Source: both formats were downloaded from public library

Unlike many momentous events that have occurred in the past 20-30 years, I don't specifically remember where I was or what I was doing when the Columbine massacre occurred.  I think I was probably out of the country on a business trip, because I can't believe that I wouldn't have been glued to my TV had the opportunity presented itself to me.

Dave Cullen was one of the original on-site reporters who covered events, and realized that the whole story, the motives, the people, the aftermath, have never been comprehensively put together for the public.  Many of the police reports were withheld, many important witnesses or others involved had never been interviewed or given the opportunity to speak about what they knew or saw.

He culled through literally thousands of pages of interviews, police reports, evidence, photos, autopsy reports, psychologist statements, and follows up with as many of the people involved as would make themselves available to him in order to write this story.  The result is a tour de force: a cohesive, exhaustive, comprehensive and thoughtful examination of what happened, why it happened, how it was reported, and what the aftermath entailed.  He debunks many myths that arose from false or inadequate interpretation of early reports; he spends a good deal of time trying to get into the minds of the two killers and helping us try to understand why they did what they did, and he gives us a much needed factual account of the event that has come to be known simply as "Columbine."

The events of that fateful day shaped in many ways responses to subsequent mass shootings, but the fact that such shootings continue shows that while we may think we have a handle on what happened, we have yet to figure out how to stop it from happening again.

Review: Too Many Murders

Author: Colleen McCullough
Format: Simon & Schuster (2009), Hardcover, 371 pages
Characters: Detective Carmine Delmonico, Desdemona Delmonico
Subject: murder and espionage
Setting: small town Connecticut
Series: Carmine Delmonico novels
Genre: Mystery- police procedural
Source: public library

Aptly titled, there were almost too many murders to keep track of in this mystery.  At first I thought I'd never be able to keep all the players straight without a scorecard, but that proved to be an unfounded worry.  Suddenly on April 3rd, twelve people are murdered in the small town of Holloman Connecticut.  Police detective Captain Carmine Delmonico is faced with not only trying to solve each of them, but trying to figure out whether the police are dealing with one murderer or twelve totally unrelated deaths.  Each murder was separate in place, method, and discovery. Some of the victims worked together, but others seemed to have no connection to any of the others.

McCullough uses some very interesting police investigative techniques that allow the reader to track these crimes and the police who are tasked with finding the answers.  In doing so, we are quickly and aptly able to follow all the separate threads.  It was a tightly woven story that kept me on the edge of my chair, and surprised me several times.  Even the very ending is a surprise.  I will not spoil it any more than that.  And I will definitely be going to look for others in this series.  In fact, according to FictFact there's a new one due out later this month!  I'm off to find it.

Another Memoir Review: The Bucolic Plague

How Two Manhattanites became Gentlemen Farmers

An Unconventional Memoir

Author: Josh Kilmer-Purcell
Format: Harper (2010), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 320 pages
Subject: goat farming in rural New York, middle year life changes
Setting: Upstate New York
Genre: memoir
Source: public library

Two gentlemen with great New York City jobs--one, Dr. Brent Ridge, works for Martha Stewart, the other--the author--is an advertising agency rep, when they decide on an impulse to buy an old mansion they discover while on their annual apple picking trip. They take on the task of re-doing the mansion, putting in a huge garden, and also take on 70 goats and a goat farmer to tend them.  The plethora of goat milk leads to a booming online business selling hand-made goat milk soap.  Ahh....the bucolic life is wonderful ....except...

They are the stereotypical gay yuppie couple trying to have it all--living at the mansion on the weekends while still working full time in the city, driving and training  back and forth, weeding, painting, pickling,  weeding, canning, entertaining, weeding, sweeping flies (you gotta read the book), slaughtering a home grown turkey for a REAL Thanksgiving, etc etc etc.  They are spending so much time trying to be perfect, that their relationship begins to suffer.  When Brent is 'pink-slipped' by Martha, and  Josh becomes disgusted with the advertising world and quits his job, they suddenly find themselves without a steady income, with a business that is severely impacted by the economic downturn that cost Brent his job, and with emotions they are not used to dealing with. They are in danger of losing everything---the mansion, the farm, themselves and their relationship.

Told with compassion, wit, and a unexpectedly deep understanding of human emotion and vulnerability, this is a well-written memoir of middle-aged reflection and contemplation.  On his thirty-ninth birthday, spent alone in his garden, Josh reflects that

Flowers don't blossom then disappear into thin air.  They fade.  Then the plant drops its leaves. Then the stem browns. And then the whole thing topples over.  I figured I was lucky to have been as colorful a bloom as I had been.... pg 225.

Their ability to see the beauty and positives in their lives, including the friendships they formed in the small town,  allows them to muddle through and arrive at the other side of their troubles with a recommitted relationship, a re-energized business, and  a future that bodes well.

I especially appreciated the respect that he shows for the rural life style and his neighbors. In the front of the book he states:

This is a memoir of a certain time in my life.  The names of the characters have been changed, and some are composites of various people, experiences, and conversations...If you think that unfair, you've obviously never lived in a small town and written a memoir about your neighbors.

I live in a small town, and my only regret is that we don't get Planet Green on our TV....the two now have their own show The Fabulous Beekman Boys.  At least Dr. Brent has his own blog about the farm and their enterprise so we can keep up with what happens next.  It's a delightful story told with candor, humor, love and respect.

Go Navy---Beat Army

Bill the Goat

 

No books today.  Just a fun weekend with friends to watch the annual Army-Navy Game.  We've been to several of these in person, and always try to gather with other Navy fans, (hubbie is a graduate of USNA) so we can cheer on our favorite mascot.  It certainly is as cold here in Maine as it was when I last attended a game live - December 2003.  Of course both teams are used to functioning in wicked cold, and they are both heated up good and raring to go.

The food is ready, the beer and sodas are iced down, the TV has been tuned, the guest room is ready, the WooPoo b-robe ready to be donned (it's an insider thing).  We are unplugging the phones at noon today (or as soon as Judy and Norm arrive).  Norm, a fellow USNA alum, was an usher at our wedding 43 years ago, and it's great to be able to celebrate victory with dear and long-lived friends.

BEAT ARMY!!!