Review: Fatally Flaky

My driving to the pool audio book last week. I love these stories for their food, and their fun, and their narrator, Barbara Rosenblatt. This was another wonderfully fun Goldy Schulz food filled mystery. This time the story centers around the wedding of Bridezilla Billie, who keeps changing wedding plans, and thinks that the world does not revolve around the sun, rather she is the center of the planetary system. Doesn't everyone add 50 people to the guest list less than 48 hours before the wedding, necessitating not only more food, but an entire change of venue? Goldy's godfather Jack, her trusty sidekick Julian, her effervescent endlessly rich friend Marla, her previous nemesis/rival Victor and the town's retired Dr (old Doc Finn) all play starring roles. There are hot tubs, smoothie shacks, country clubs and hospitals. Lots of espresso, and a spa in need of a nutrional upgrade. As usual Davidson treats us to a good plot, quirky characters, delightful settings, interesting dialogue and scrumptious recipes. The only problem with listening to them on audio, is that I end up going to the library to copy the recipes!

Giveaway winners!

I love to give gifts--it's so much fun, particularly when someone else is taking care of all the details. So thanks again to Hachette Books for making these giveaways possible. Lucky winners have all been notified by email. They have until midnite Monday nite to send me their mailing information or we'll have to pick someone else. The winners of Anne Rivers Siddons Off Season are: Pam, Julie, Luvdaylillies, Upper West Side Writer, and Nonna Cheli Winners of My Name is Will by Jess Winfield are: nbmars at Rhapsodyinbooks, Becca, Cindy B, Glenn, and Geraldine. Congratulations to everyone! P.S. If you didn't win here, the contest is still open at State of Denmark - so you can still enter again.

Friday Favorites from the Past : Brother Caedfael Chronicles

Time for another Favorite Reads the meme started by Alyce at At Home with Books. The Brother Caedfael series, by Ellis Peters is certainly a memory worth re-visiting. I read the first one, shown here just as it first came out (mid-to late '70s), and couldn't wait to get the next. We managed to pick up the entire set at a bookstore in Hong Kong in the '80's....I'm thrilled they were paperbacks, because they weighed enough in my luggage on the way back to our then home in Japan. They now have pride of place on their own shelf in my library: we find them delightful re-reads, as well as great short video features on DVD, and I always suggest them to visiting guests who might want 'a little something' to read before bedtime. Set in the late middle ages, (the first begins in 1137), the stories depict life in Middle England, at the abbey of Shrewsbury (we even had to detour there on a drive around the UK a few years ago just to see the town.) Caedfael, Welsh by birth, comes to the monastic life at a mature age, after a life of crusading in the Middle East. Consequently, his world view and his ability to accept people as they are, even if they're different, makes him a likeable and believable character, as well as a brilliant crime solver. Often, he is even able to prevent 'crimes' by his willingness to listen and the sage advice he gives. He brought with him a knowledge of healing, and so was appointed to be infirmarian, and thus the master herb gardener for the Abbey. This job allows him more freedom of movement through the surrounding town and farmlands. He is friends with the sheriff--the chief law enforcement officer of the town--and well regarded by just about everyone. In each chronicle (there are 20 volumes in the series published between '77 and '94) there is always someone who is jealous of Caedfael's abilities, and who tries to trip him up. His quiet, deductive, intuitive sleuthing is sure to please most readers. While Peters often divulges the culprit during the story, it is always interesting to see how Caedfael reaches his conclusions. Without doing spoilers, there's even some romance in manyof the episodes, with Caedfael playing the role of fairy godfather. Well worth a try if you like good mysteries, good writing, and pleasant endings.

Food and Books

My two favorite pastimes are anything to do with eating and anything to do with reading. I love to cook, eat, sample, nibble, grow edibles, explore food markets (not necessarily the super kind) and check out new recipes. 40% of magazine subscriptions to this household are culinary in nature. A couple of my virtual reading friends and I have been having a discussion on reading about food over on LT. I even had considered creating a Food category in the 999 challenge, but alas, my challenge categories are pretty full for the year, so instead I joined the Anything Culinary Book Group on LT to discuss some of these wonderful books. What tipped me over the edge was the comment from Kristen of BookNaround telling me I'd won the Giveaway of the $64 Tomato. This came after the following arrived this week in my mailbox (or should I say shopping basket?): The Christmas Cookie Club, The School of Essential Ingredients, Julie & Julia, and Alone in the Kitchen with Eggplant. And I just checked out Diane Mott Davidson's Fatally Flaky, for my daily audio ride. Mind you, these are not cookbooks...there may be recipes in most of them, but they are books about food, about people who grow food, prepare food, sell food, eat food. I'm getting hungry just thinking about them. The widget shows those on the list. Feel free to send me more suggestions. We could really enjoy this. Happy eating.

Review: Deadly Nightshade

A great little mystery with wonderfully motivated and developed characters. Set on Martha's vineyard, the harbor master's assistant's grandma hears someone being murdered. Thus begins a good who-dunnit set against a faint backdrop of visiting POTUS and a island swarming with FEDS; there's an assortment of surly teenagers, a platoon of caricatures of New England fishermen, a retired NYPD cop, a mysterious computer expert, some hard-working stereotypical assertive females, a second murder and whoa - a third??? The grandma, Victoria, the amateur sleuth is old and wise enough to know when to butt in and when to back off. Unlike some of the other amateurs featured in some current mystery series, she's not about to do anything stupid, and still manages to help. NO SPOILERS....the plot and characters were well enough developed that the audio got me through several hours of rigorous gardening. HOWEVER, as an audio, it has a serious flaw. The book is set in New England - not OLD ENGLAND. With Davina Porter as the narrator, you must disassociate from Martha's Vineyard because her very high class English accent really gets in the way. I really like her narrations...and listen to them whenever I see them, but her voice doesn't work for this setting. It's even worse when she uses various English accents for the dock workers. I doubt seriously if they came from Scotland, or Cornwall, etc. Truly disappointing in an otherwise acceptable book. If you like cozies with a little zip, you'll like this one.

Passing the Magic Wand

Last month Gwendolyn at Sea of Books awarded us the True Fairy Tale Award. I'm embarrassed that it has taken so long to gather my thoughts and pass on the magic. So here on a sunny Maine summer afternoon are my nominees for this accolade: Cathy at Kittling: Books - the magic of her posts always gives me a positive feeling. Jasmyn at Jasmyn's Stuff- Jasmyn has just started blogging and her blog promises to be a beautiful one. So a sprinking of magic goes to wish her luck and lots of friends. A Novel Challenge is the place to go for a sprinkling of encouragement to start a new book challenge. Whenever you're feeling a bit blase about reading check out Wendy's latest- she's always coming up with new ones.

Literary blogger awards

The Literary Blogger Award acknowledges bloggers who energize & inspire reading by going the extra mile. These amazing bloggers make reading fun & enhance the delight of reading!! I've taken way too long to pass this on, but here are my nominees. And the winners too! Gwen Dawson at Literary License short reivew with real opinions and a very diverse and eclectic list of books. I never miss what she has to say and often put her suggestions on my TBR pile. She's also 'spot on.' Miscellaneous Musings -Caty's wonderful blog full of reviews, links, memes, challenges, and an obvious love of books. Shhhhh I'm Reading Melissa's selection of books always has me adding more to my TBR pile. She writes intelligent and thoughtful reviews of a wide variety of genres.

Review: Little Fingers

This is one of the most confusing books I've ever read. It is also one of the best. My head is still spinning from the extraordinarily long paragraphs (some as long as 10 pages) and I think I understand "what happened' in the end. The story is about a town in Rumania where a mass grave of bodies is discovered. Various personalities have theories about the who, when, and why of all these bodies, but it isn't until a team of Argentinian soccer players who happen to be forensic archaeologists shows up (and they are an entire sub-story) that the story seems to resolve itself. The characters--their stories and conversations--are the strength of the book. I felt at times that Robin Williams had invaded James Joyce's brain...the stream of conscious, free wheeling, long, long sentences with lots of paragraphs, left me breathless. There is the young anthropologist Petrus, his slightly nutty Auntie Paulina, her daughter Jo-Jo (she whose anatomy always brought to his mind various ripe fruits); there's the Orthodox monk with the hair that had to be trimmed every 8 hours and the visions of the Holy Mother telling him what to do, who transcribes the Bible on birch bark, and hears confession via hidden letters left in a rose bush; there's the police chief with the missing little finger,and the photographer with his camel Alladin; the list goes on. There is no way to describe the plot. The book is a free fall of ideas about the mystery of the mass grave. It's an easy read if you sit down and stay with it, but it is also a hard read. One well worth undertaking. Last note: The translator Alistair Ian Blyth did a masterful job. The book was named the Best Debut Novel of the Romanian Writers Union, 2006, the Best First Novel of Romania literara, 2005, and won the Best Debut Novel Award of the National Union of the Romanian Employers, 2005.

bookfriends - pass it on...

As I promised earlier, I'm reciprocating the honor bestowed by Caty at Miscellaneous Mumblings when she handed me the Bookworm's Award for Bookfriends. Blogging has been a wonderful way to make new friends so here are my friends who can continue the link.

• Mary K. at Just One More Page. Her variety of reading, contests, and musings is truly awesome.
• Peter at KyusiReader. I love the international flavor of Peter's postings, and can always count on him to befriend me with a comment or two just when I think no one is tuning in!
• Kristen at BookNaround - in spite of her recent boating difficulties, she manages to provide us with hints about good reading, fun giveaways, and lots of interesting musing.
• Laura at Musings has consistently provided wide panapoly of reviews and ....well....musings! I love her blog.
• Jules is my kinda woman...a true book friend who takes care to give used books a home. Her blog Jules' Book Reviews is a treasure trove

Review: Executive Privilege

A light weight suspense thriller I listened to on audio while I was driving...even kept my attention while gardening the other day. It's the standard story: hard working lawyer in Oregon gets lucky, is handed a career building (or busting) case he doesn't want; on the other coast, a female PI (police drop out due to horrible experiences while undercover) discovers evidence that can be matched up with Oregon boy that may in fact lead to the President of US as a serial killer????? OK...at that point I had to suspend belief, but the story was well plotted enough to keep my interest til the somewhat surprising end. Good airport/beach/doctor's waiting room read.

Favorites from the Past :Ragtime

This week Peter at KyusiReader also brought back memories with his post on Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, another book I firmly enjoyed. Be sure to see his thoughts -and he's even got links to the music from the show based on the book. Thanks Peter for the memories.

Review: American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House

Before I read this book, I knew that Andrew Jackson was the 7th president, he led the army in victory at the Battle of New Orleans, and there was a great deal of scandal/ dispute over his marriage to Rachel Donelson. After I read this Pulitzer Prize winning discussion of his years as President, I now know all I ever wanted to know (and a WHOLE lot I could have done without) about the ladies dispute over 'receiving' Mrs. Margaret Eaton, wife of his secretary of war. It seems Margaret was regarded as a rather loose woman by many of the grand dames of Washington, and the author chose to spend literally 100's of pages discussing the reactions to her and Jackson's insistence that the Eatons be treated with respect. Meacham's theory seems to be that Jackson was sympathetic to the couple since he had undergone the same kind of shunning when he married Rachel. Consequently, we are given short shrift on some of the more vital aspects of Jackson's life and presidency. For instance, Jackson's views on slavery are fairly glossed over. There are exactly 5 pages devoted to his ownership of slaves (he owned 150), and the fact that he did not ever free any of them. We hear nothing of his actual views of this abominable practice. We are treated to his denunciations of the US Bank and pages upon pages of everything he did to try to disband it, but for those of us with a lack of indepth knowledge of the issue, we are never given a good reason WHY he wanted to disband the bank. Again we are treated to many many pages of personality conflicts of all the players in this debacle, but scant delineation about the issue itself. We hear of Jackson's views on nullification and secession, and very his often conflicting views about the Native American population---I definitely would have liked to have had a much more indepth discussion of this vice the ladies tea party debates. Jackson's policies led directly to the Trail of Tears -- the forced expulsion of the Cherokees to western lands, but nowhere do we see how he reacted to it. We are given speeches in which he identified himself as the Great White father, and some indication that he felt justified in breaking treaties, but the subject deserves much more if this book were to truly explain Jackson's achievements. Meacham posits that because Jackson was orphaned so young, he deeply missed having the opportunity of belonging to family. He saw the American people as his family, and used his popularity to enforce his views. He believed in a powerful executive. He was the first American president to have used the veto simply because he disagreed with a bill Congress had passed. Prior to Jackson, presidents had only vetoed bills they thought were unconstitutional. If you were white, you were entitled to the full protection of the government. If you were black or Native american, (or Mexican--we mustn't forget the few pages devoted to the Mexican wars), you didn't deserve the liberties spelled out in the Constitution. Meacham sums it:

(Jackson) also proved the principle that the character of the president matters enormously. Politics is about more than personality; the affairs of a great people are shaped by complex and messy forces that transcend the purely biographical. Those affairs, however, are also fundamentally affected by the complex and messy individuals who marshal and wield power in a given era. Jackson was a transformative president in part because he had a trancendent personality.....he gave his most imaginative successors the means to do things they thought right. The great often teach by their failures and derelictions. The tragedy of Jackson's life is that a man dedicated to freedom failed to see liberty as a universal, not a particular, gift. The triumph of his life is that he held together a country whose experiment in liberty ultimately extended its protections and promises to all--belatedly it is true, but by saving the Union, Jackson kept the possibility of progress alive, a possibility that would have died had secussion and separation carried the day.

Jackson certainly changed the role of the Presidency. Whether those changes were good or not so good is impossible to determine from reading only this book.

Bookfriends

Oh my! Caty over at Miscellaneous Mumblings has befriended me with the Bookworm's Award for Bookfriends. I knew I liked blogging for the book ideas, but I like it even more for the wonderfully friendly and helpful people I've "met" online. These awards give us a chance to let our fellow bloggers know they're appreciated. I'll be passing out awards over the weekend, so stay tuned, and meantime THANKS CATY.

A new challenge for 4th of July!

As we get near the end of the annual celebration of our nation's birthday, I have to pause and be thankful for all the blessings we enjoy as Americans. I've been particularly blessed in my life...my first house was less than 15 minutes from Ft McHenry where the Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key, I've lived less than 5 minutes from Mt Vernon (George Washington's house in Virginia) on land that actually belonged to George. I've celebrated the 4th on the National Mall in DC for the bicentennial in 1976, I've been to the Boston Pops 4th in Boston, I've watch 4th fireworks in California, Hawaii, on the beach in Florida, on the ocean on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, on the river in Maine; we've done the 4th in Texas, in Phildelphia, in Rhode Island, in Connecticut, and in a small town I can't remember the name of in New Hampshire. I've been to 4th of July celebrations overseas with Navy friends and family, and everyplace I've always felt a glow of pride and thankfulness for everyone who has ever been part of building this nation and keeping us free. Profound thanks to all of them. We all may define freedom differently, and we may not always have everything we want, but when Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture starts playing, and fireworks start bursting, we are all Americans and I dare you not to tear up! To celebrate our great country, a group of my reading buddies on LT and I have formed a new reading group/Challenge. We're going to read our way through all 50 states. You can join us if you want, we're not having prizes, and there's no deadline. We're reading fiction and non-fiction, but just discussing and helping each other find great reads about or set in every one of our wonderful, different and unique states. Just go to LT, set up a free account and join the group. Can't wait to see you there. Happy Reading and Happy 4th!

Review: All Other Nights

I'm don't usually read much Civil War material. I often find the non-fiction overwhelming with all the gruesome battle details and the fiction often cloyingly romantic or just plain unbelievable. This book held my attention however, and I found myself very involved in it before I even realized it. Dara Horn has taken the Civil War setting and viewed it fictionally from the perspective of a New York Jew, Jacob Rappaport, who runs away from his family to avoid an arranged marriage and joins the Union army. His Jewish background and language skills land him in the role of a secret agent smuggled into New Orleans to kill his uncle who is involved in a plot to kidnap and/or kill Lincoln. He is so successful at that undertaking (killing the uncle), that he is next assigned to go to Danville Virginia to marry a young lady who is suspected of being the member of another Confederate spy ring. The story has many plot twists, making it often necessary to go back and see who's working for whom. Several times, there are awfully convenient occurences that seem to pull the fat from the fire just in time. And the reader is constantly questioning Rappaport's motivation since he is constantly questioning it himself. The supporting characters are well drawn, and each has a very specific role in the unfolding of the story. I can't even say I won't do spoilers. I just finished this, and really will have to go back and re-read a bit because I'm not sure what happened, or how the story ends. There are certainly questions in my mind about the ending, not so much that I didn't like what happened (I'm not sure I did) but that I'm not sure whether the story really ended, or the reader is left hanging. If so, why? All in all, if you are a civil war fan, you may enjoy this account of the involvement and role of Jewish soldiers and families on both sides of the conflagration. If you're looking for Gone With the Wind, this isn't it, but it's still worth a read.

Friday Favorites from the Past : Clan of the Cave Bears

Oh I remember being almost repulsed when I first came across this book. My neighbor (the same one who introduced me to Confederacy of Dunces) was positively raving about this one, and I thought she was positively raving mad! I could not imagine how reading about cavemen could possibly be the least bit interesting. I was wrong! It's been years since I read this gigantic chunk of fictionalized anthropology and fell in love with a little girl named Ayla and cheered, cried, and sighed my way through her adventures living in the world of Neanderthals. Jean Auel's research into Stone age tool making, living skills, societal culture and norms is world renowned and exquisitely easy to read. If you haven't read Clan of the Cave Bears, don't pass it up. I still see copies at book sales all the time, so it's readily available. To make it even more fun, this was the first of 5 books in the "Earth's Children" series. So look for Valley of the Horses, (a fascinating account of how man might have tamed these beautiful animals), Mammoth Hunters (this one I had to suspend some belief on but I think the science is still accepted - I'm not the expert tho), Plains of Passage, and Shelters of Stone. Each one can be read on its own, but read in succession, they're really fun. Enjoy your weekend. I think I'm going to spend the 4th quietly re-reading the U.S. Constitution.

The View from the Attic

I think summer has chosen to skip us this year. I should be reading, but since the weather refuses to warm up (it's still in the 50's here in coastal Maine and we haven't seen the sun in over a week.) I decided to take advantage of the cool weather and climb to the attic to work on the 65 cartons of books that remain to be unpacked, cataloged in LT, and shelved someplace (YIKES!). It's perfect weather for the attic--not too hot, not too cold. My wireless laptop works fine up here in the tree tops and sits on a work table by a window where I can see lots of fog on the river thru the trees and sometimes, if I'm lucky, the Bald Eagle comes to sit on the branch right in front of the window. Yesterday I cataloged some books we inherited from my Dad: Samuel Eliot Morison's entire History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. My husband has coveted those ever since he met me, and Dad left them to him when he died back in 2007. I'm also working on the Great Books of the Western World set we got from him. Today, I grabbed a box we inherited from hubbie's great aunt who died at age 92 in 2000. She was an incredibly well-read woman and going thru her boxes always yields up treasures. I found three I was especially pleased with. The first two were real finds for my "Things Portuguese" category in the 999 challenge: These Portuguese by Manuel Cabral, a 1930's self-published monograph written in English and Portuguese that describes the Azores islands for descendants of Azorean immigrants so they would know about their heritage; and A History of the Azores Islands by James H. Guill--this one is listed on Alibris and Amazon as selling for over $150!!! (It's considered 'very rare'.) WOW. Both of these are going downstairs onto the TBR shelf. The final find of the morning is an incredible volume (1585 pages!!) : An Anthology of World Prose, edited by Carl Van Doren. The tome has selections (in translation thank goodness) from Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Arabian, Persian, Hebrew, Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Scandinavian, Russian, English, Irish, and American literature. I had to wonder why Auntie chose it since it had no Portuguese!!! It was published in 1935 by Literary Guild and is a real masterpiece. I figure if I can read one selection a week, I might finish it before I die. Come to think of it, it would make an incredible challenge for my fellow LTer's. Hmmmm...... Maybe if I make Treasures in the Attic a weekly post, I'll be forced to get through these cartons in another year or so.

Review: Sacred Hearts

A well-researched piece of historical fiction. Unless you are cold stone hearted dead, this work will definitely have an emotional impact.I’m not sure how men will receive it, but most 21^st century women will finish the book, take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and send prayers or thoughts to whatever supreme deity is in their lives with thanks that they did not have to live through anything like this. The story line is fairly straightforward: In 16^th century Italy, the bride price (or dowry) for women had gotten so high that families could only afford to marry off one daughter. The rest were consigned to convents –along with whatever endowment the family could give to the abbess to take care of the unfortunate girl for the rest of her life. The life was one of almost complete silence, little if any contact with relatives on "the outside" (all letters were read by a censor before the recipient was perhaps allowed to receive it), plain food, lots of fasting, and life regulated in every aspect by the observance of the liturgical hours (starting at 2:00am with Martins).

Some women welcomed this life—especially if the alternative was to marry some man not to her liking—others were literally dragged (drugged?) into the convents totally against their wills. Sacred Hearts is the story of Isabetta, a young girl who wanted to marry her music teacher, but who was instead dispatched to the convent of Santa Catarina. The Abbess is keen to have her since she reputedly has an angelic voice, and the convent choir’s performances for the towns people and the surrounding countryside bring much needed patronage and money for the Abbey.

Once inside, we meet the stern, uber rule enforcing novice mistress, Umiliana; the wise, crafty, and holy abbess Madonna Chiara; the dispensary mistress Zuana, and several anorexic (in those days they were called holy mystics) ancient dying sisters fasting and waiting to meet Christ.

Isabetta, renamed Serafina, immediately sets the convent on end by such loud screaming her first night that Chiara sends Zuana to calm her down.Zuana herself had come to the convent reluctantly 16 years priorThe daughter of a prominent widowed doctor, who taught her everything he know about medicine and herbs, she was not considered marriage material (no man would want a woman so smart!) and with no large dowry or estate, she was sent to the abbey to live. Seeing much of herself in the young novice, Zuana befriends Serafina, (having to drug her first to calm her down) and convinces the abbess to assign Serafina to work in the herb garden and dispensary with her.

At this point, the plot twists begin. The book is to be published next week, and I urge you to get a copy. This is a superbly written story of young love, betrayal, mistreatment of women, women bonding with other women, and the horrible, horrible treatment of women by the Italian society of the day. While it is the story of the helplessness of women on the one hand, I must point out (with as little spoiler as possible) that it is also the story of the courageousness, talent, and cunning of women who solve problems themselves.

Many thanks to Random House for making the review copy available.

It would make a wonderful book discussion group read.

Review: Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's

Here's the Amazon description:

The Constitution was two years old and the United States was in serious danger. Bitter political rivalry between former allies and two surging issues that inflamed the nation led to grim talk of breaking up the union. Then a single great evening achieved compromises that led to America's great expansion. This book celebrates Thomas Jefferson and his two guests, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and the meal that saved the republic. In Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's, you'll discover the little-known story behind this pivotal evening in American history, complete with wine lists, recipes, and more.

I was frankly disappointed in this book...very little about the dinner when Jefferson was Secretary of State for Washington...lots of politics, lots of conjecture on the part of the author, references to more well known and respected authors such as David McCullough, but if you're looking for a book about dinner, and wine and recipes, this isn't it. It does give an easy to understand description of some of the struggles Washington went through with his cabinet; the "two surging issues" referred to in the book blurb were the formation of a National Bank, and the designation of Washington D.C. as the nation's capital; it discusses Jefferson' differences with Hamilton; it paints Hamilton as a brilliant politician well loved by Washington; it drops in glimpses of Madison, and Henry Knox, but if it's history you're after, this isn't it either. If you have limited reading time, this wouldn't be a book I'd recommend spending it reading.

Rainy Sunday brings another Award!

Donura of Donura Reads just blew me away by presenting this blog with the Literary Blogger Award.

The Literary Blogger Award acknowledges bloggers who energize & inspire reading by going the extra mile. These amazing bloggers make reading fun & enhance the delight of reading!!

What I like most about receiving these nominations is that now I can bestow them on other bloggers. Both with this and the True Fairy Tale award, I'm going to wait a few days and look around before choosing my nominees. Once again thanks to all Tutu's faithful readers, and welcome to new ones. I hope you will continue to find dreamy reading, musings and other wish fulfillment here well blended with literary excellence. (blushing at previous typos now corrected) I'm having fun and I hope you are too.