Nov 2010 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3
F R E E
NEW AND OF INTEREST
2
Fab: The Life of Paul McCartney
Once a Beatle, always a Beatle Page 5
Fresh From the Market: Seasonal Cooking with Laurent Tourondel
5
Delicious on the table Page 9
Expanded Cooking Section
18
Booze Cakes: Confections Spiked With Spirits, Wine, and Beer By Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone Quirk Books, $16.95, 144 pages
21
Love decadent desserts? Booze Cakes: Confections Spiked with Spirits, Wine, and Beer dishes up a slice of alcohol-laced cakes guaranteed to tempt even the strictest teetotaler. Authors Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone promise that these appealing desserts are simple: just mix, bake, and buzz. “Baking is magic. Baking with booze is even more magic.” The cookbook’s introduction simplifies the baking process, breaks down the differences between beer, liquor, wine, and li-
queur, and explains how baking time affects alcohol content. Both authors stress baking should be a fun, relaxed activity, that instead of an experiment of perfection. More than 108 booze cake recipes and 32 cake shot recipes are included. Recipes include variations, tips, cocktail recipes and a booze meter that measures a cake’s alcohol content and labels it as lightweight, feeling it, or totally tipsy. These tipsy confections are divided into four types of cakes. Classic See BOOZE, page 14
Page 12
THE BACK PAGE
Does Publishing a Book Make You a Writer?
By Susan Henderson, author of Up from the Blue Page 22
Philip Roth: Novels 1993-1995 Roth wrestles Page 25
91Reviews INSIDE!
The Christmas Chronicles By Jeff Guinn Tarcher, $14.95, 736 pages Christmas definitely came early this year, and what a remarkable surprise it brought. The Christmas Chronicles collects Jeff Guinn’s wonderful trilogy of holiday tales in one volume: The Autobiography of Santa Claus, How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas, and The Great Santa Search. The first (and strongest) novel mingles history and myth as Santa dictates his extended life story and the unexpected journey that led to the North Pole, his current occupation, and his motley crew of capable companions. The second (and most interesting, in my estimation) features the rebellious misadventures of Mrs. Claus as she struggles against Oliver Cromwell and his anti-Christmas crusade. The third story regales the reader with a reality show’s hunt for the real Santa, one that pits corporate sponsors and well-meaning impostors against the man himself.
These stories are charmingly innocent in a way that most fiction shuns nowadays, as they meander between historical fantasy and goofy wish fulfillment. With curious cameos galore and engagingly detailed answers to the classic Santa questions -- Why is he St. Nicholas? How did he meet Mrs. Claus? Where did those reindeer come from anyway? -- The Christmas Chronicles offers more warm fuzzies per page than most. What a treat. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Saul Bellow: Novels 1970-1982: Mr. Sammler’s Planet / Humboldt’s Gift / The Dean’s December By Saul Bellow, James Wood, Editor Library of America, $40.00, 1064 pages Mr. Sammler’s Planet (1970), Humboldt’s Gift (1975), and The Dean’s December (1982) are unified here in one cohesive volume for the first time. Saul Bellow is a Nobel Prize winner and if you don’t own all three of these novels this book belongs in your library. The Library of America, a nonprofit publisher, is dedicated to preserving America’s best and most significant writing in handsome editions (I love each author’s
photograph on the cover against the black backdrop). Mr. Sammler’s Planet , Bellow’s favorite of his novels, tells the absurd story of Artur Sammler, a highly cultured man of seventy-plus, a Holocaust survivor, living out his latter days in the 1960’s Manhattan. Humboldt’s Gift chronicles the intense friendship of successful writer Charlie Citrine and haunted poet Von Humboldt Fleisher. The Deans’ December describers the cold war/Iron Curtain firsthand when Albert Corde travels to Bucharest to visit his dying mother. These novels are the epitome of Bellow’s vision of art as a vision of the human in the universe. Reviewed by Phil Semler
Con fused
about which e-reader to buy?
Parenting & Families Draw Plus Math By Freddie Levin Peel Productions, $8.99, 64 pages This is the kind of book that will delight youngsters in the 4- to 8-year range as they learn arithmetic through drawing. As writer and illustrator, Levin has devised a wonderful workbook full of figures, shapes and art activities that incorporate numbers, counting, patterns, graphs and data analysis. The only equipment required besides the book is a pencil, an eraser, paper, colored pencils and a comfortable place to work ... either the desk or lying prone on the floor. “Some shapes and designs can be divided into two equal halves. Each half will be a mirror image of the other. We say these designs have symmetry.” Counting involves observations of figures and adding odd or even parts to basic shapes. Learn how to draw starting with basic shapes and then add appendages that can mark individual personal touches. Special sections have “crow’s feet” shapes and
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symmetrical designs such as snowflakes or even an Eiffel Tower. Wonderfully colored pages illustrate how to draw various figures, or to manage fractions, and delightful data to arrange into red, blue and green labeled graphs. While this appears as a workbook, the reader will jump into the activities. It is a wonderful game-book for the beginning learner, especially those who love to color and draw. Reviewed by Aron Row Every Day Love: The Delicate Art of Caring for Each Other By Judy Ford Viva Editions, $15.95, 266 pages So many songs, movies and poetry have been dedicated to love. We all want love. And if you’ve experienced love, you know that in those early stages, it feels so wonderful, like you’re floating on air. But then like any relationship, you realize it isn’t always going to be easy. It takes work and dedication to reinvent love and to keep it exciting, fresh and fun. “How do you create a space for love and joy? By wanting to. By recognizing that you are capable of it. By recognizing that you are love at your core and that joy is your nature and that anger and resentment are the residue of wounds that go far back in time.”
Author Judy Ford shows you how to keep love alive in everyday living. Ford, a nationally known family counselor and inspirational speaker, shares with readers, stories and experiences that show that love is sustainable. It’s really the little things -- things that seem insignificant, that go a long way in helping love thrive and flourish. Every Day Love provides “Love Lessons” in each chapter, exercises that will give you opportunities to nurture your relationships and bring out the best in yourself and those you love. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It really does offer up simple, easy ideas to nurture relationships. I see this book as a wonderful resource, a gentle guide to keeping love alive in close relationships. Reviewed by Laura Friedkin
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IN THIS ISSUE Classics........................................................... 2 Parenting & Families...................................... 2 Children’s....................................................... 4 Biographies & Memoirs.................................. 5 Mystery, Crime & Thrillers............................. 6 Romance......................................................... 7
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Happy November, readers! It seems that Fall took forever to arrive. With the change in weather and moving the clocks back, we feel that the holidays are upon us once again. Just in time for Thanksgiving, we have our
popular annual expanded Cook-
ing, Food & Wine section that includes a two-page Food & Wine Report written by Associate Editor Kaye Cloutman. In this section, you’ll find a review and recipe
Sequential Art................................................ 8
for Pigs in a Blanket “Ritz Carlton” from
Cooking, Food & Wine............................... 9-14
Seasonal Cooking with Laurent Tourondel,
Young Adult.................................................. 15 Relationships & Sex...................................... 16 Local Calendar.............................................. 17 Science & Nature.......................................... 17 Historical Fiction.......................................... 18 Religion........................................................ 19 Travel........................................................... 19 Books About Books....................................... 19
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FROM THE EDITOR
Poetry & Short Stories.................................. 20 Science Fiction & Fantasy............................. 21 Tweens......................................................... 22 History......................................................... 23
the new cookbook Fresh From the Market: along with twenty-two reviews. In other news, we helped kick off author Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth release and book tour with an interview on Audible Authors (audibleauthors. net). Look for our review of the book on the website and in the December issue. We’re kicking off a new VIEWPOINTS column, that’s normally only on our websites, called The Back Page. It’s a column written by published authors. This issue features “Does Publishing a Book Make You an Author?” written by Susan Henderson, author of Up from the Blue. So, something inside for everyone from a bevvy of categories. Happy reading. Heidi Komlofske — Co-Publisher heidi.komlofske@1776productions.com 1776 Productions
Coming Up... Don’t miss our ever-popular Holiday Gift Guide in the December issue.
Modern Literature........................................ 24
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November 10
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Children’s Books I Feel Better with a Frog in My Throat By Carlyn Beccia Houghton Mifflin Children’s, $17.99, 48 pages Could putting mustard on your head help cure a headache? Why did doctors throughout history believe leeches could cure a fever? And why would a dead man’s skull be helpful in healing wounds? In these pages, you’ll find a diverse range of cures popular throughout history, from the expected ones like chicken soup and puppy kisses to the strangest of the strange like mummy dust or spider webs. The cures cover a diverse range of dates and cultures, focusing not only on Western medicine, but on Chinese and ancient cultures as well. Beccia’s done her homework with this one, with dates and resources provided where possible, and a select bibliography in the back. However, it’s her illus-
trations that really make the book come alive, and children will love looking at pictures from cures for sore thro at involving dirty socks or whether or not pokeweed helps cure colds. Kids who love the gross-out factor will love this one, and they might just learn something in the process. This would make a great addition to a classroom or science library, but it’s perfect for at home justfor-fun reading too. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller
Sid the Science Kid: Why Can’t I Have Cake for Dinner? By Jodi Huelin HarperFestival, $5.99, 29 pages The always inquisitive and lively Sid is back with a mouthful of inquiries. It’s his birthday, and he wants to know why he can’t have cake for breakfast (lunch and dinner too). It’s sooo tasty and good, this must mean it’s good for him, right? So the lesson begins. “There’s no cake on that nutritious food chart!” In full-page animated illustration, created by the Jim Henson Company for television, Sid and his curious gang of pals, Gabriela, Gerald, and May, set out to find the answers. Why isn’t cake part of the food pyramid? Teacher Susie, the ever-faithful and inexhaustible teacher, walks the kids through a nutrition rap session. Sid and his friends learn the importance of the food groups and where their energy sources come from. They become intrigued and collaborate in their food journals by drawing healthy meal pictures. And although Sid is bummed out that cake doesn’t make it onto the food chart, he learns that he can still enjoy sweets if he balances it. A classic (and vital) lesson for kids everywhere; parents will concur that getting kids interested in foods outside of fancy packaging and sweet flavors
is a struggle, but thanks to books (and children’s programming) we don’t have to go it alone! Reviewed by Sky Sanchez Your Body: Boogers and All By Philip Ardagh Price Stern Sloan, $7.99, 64 pages In cute cartoon style, this basic anatomy and physiology book of trivial facts will engross the preadolescent. It is filled with basic information presented in the whimsical style that attracts youthful giggles. Each section of one or two pages covers a different aspect of the human body, but it is presented in a series of amusing comic formats. Under the heading of Drool! Slurp!, a young Henry is told about the five basic tastes of sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and the savory umami. Marcus, also known as the human nose, brags that it can sniff out about 50,000 smells. However, Marcus is challenged by a miniature dog who claims the ability to distinguish 300 million different smells. Data is factually presented and spiced with witty comments. Meet Bulgie, the bodybuilder who informs us that we have about 640 muscles and we use about 30 just to smile. But the dog counters that the most powerful muscles are along the jaws, making these perfect for biting. Great stocking
science student who will share its jokes with colleagues. Reviewed by Aron Row Spork By Kyo Maclear Kids Can Press, $16.95, 32 pages Spork doesn’t quite fit in the kitchen. His mum is a spoon, his dad is a fork, and although they think he’s perfect, the other spoons and forks don’t agree. He tries to become more round for the spoons, and more pointy for the forks, but no matter what he tries he still is never chosen at dinnertime. Will Spork ever find his true place in the kitchen? Spork is a quick and cute read, with darling illustrations to match. Although the pictures tend to appear more monochromatic than colorful, they have a mixed-media feel to them that adds a bit of whimsy to Spork’s tale. Spork himself is just plain adorable, and you can’t help but want him to fit in somewhere. The ending is a bit predictable, but still satisfying. This “multicutlery” tale is a great picture book for any child who has ever had trouble fitting in, and is especially appropriate for kids from blended families. It would also make a great read-aloud book for classrooms and parents looking for something that’s just a little different from what’s out there. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller
stuffer book for kids who want to impress their cohorts with the quirks inherent in their body parts. A pleasant book that will tickle the young
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Biographies & Memoirs Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock’s Most Notorious Frontmen By Vince Neil, Mike Sager, Contributor Grand Central Publishing, $27.99, 288 pages Who would have thought the frontman of a notorious party band would be so boring? In Tattoos and Tequila Vince Neil proves that is definitely possible. The novel chronicles Vince Neil’s life in Motley Crue and their entire drug and alcohol fueled escapades. One would imagine that getting the dirt on what really happens behind the scenes would be exciting and tantalizing. In this case, one would be wrong. Neil and his co-au-
thor Mike Sager sleepily drudge through the past and offer few highlights that everyone who has paid attention to the band in the past already knows. Neil makes a lack-
luster attempt to retell his famous story and I had a hard time even making it through this book. His family is boring, his FOUR wives are boring, and he is achingly boring. I’m convinced that he wrote this on his own because there is no way a respectable author would be happy with this garbage. Compared to some of the other tell-alls that have come out from rock stars lately this is nowhere near as good. Neil claims he is sober at the end of the book but anyone who has watched the news recently knows this is not true. If this story were to have ended happily (i.e. the rock star learns his or her lesson) then it might have been a better novel. Overall this book was a snooze fest and I will be recommending people stay AWAY from it instead. Reviewed by Nicole Will Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family By Condoleezza Rice Crown Archetype, $27.00, 329 pages Regardless of your political views, religion, or ethnic predispositions, you cannot help being impressed by the simplicity of this family saga. It reads as comfortably as a favorite pair of house slippers. Condi invites us into her living room, and introduces us to her family. Glimpses of her genius, hidden within the prose, slip through unintentionally with a rare humility for a person of such great accomplishments. This is not a memoir of Condoleezza Rice, but a biography of her parents. Her victories are
the rewards of their sacrifice. In an era of the disintegrating American family, and deteriorating moral values, Condi stands out as a sterling example of amazing possibilities amid a generation adrift. This book is not exactly her debut; her dissertation was published by Princeton University Press in 1984, entitled Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army. For most of us, this story gives us an introduction to Condi. Raised in the war zone of the 1960s Birmingham race riots to become one of our nation’s most influential thinkers, Condi lays the race card face up from the very beginning with stark candidness. Her story might well have been one of tragedy instead of victory. She gives the credit to her mentors, and their goal of excellence -- to be twice as good. For those searching for a way out of the chaos, she advises, “... the important thing is to have mentors who care about you and they come in all colors.” Indeed, this is a book for mentors and students alike. Reviewed by Casey Corthron The Barn Dance: Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth, there is a place where the magic never ends . . By James F. Twyman Hay House, $14.95, 215 pages Tragedy befell author James Twyman when his ex-wife Linda, forever the lost love of his life, was brutally murdered in her apartment. Many things went unreconciled between them, things he’d felt were healing between them mere hours before her murder, when he’d last spoken with her on the phone. James decided driving back home to Oregon would be the perfect opportunity to give himself and his daughter Angela the room to decompress and work through their emotions, and to mentally prepare to re-enter whatever sort of normal life they could anticipate in the wake of Linda’s death. The journey home was anything but easy and events continued to dog them and to impact their lives. Three years later, James was drawn to retrace the path of that journey. Twyman’s faith and his religious beliefs fuel his books, and though he purports this to be biographical and true, to me it read more like a contrived story than a memoir.
Too little time was spent to give readers greater insight into who Linda was, or the real truths to what broke their marriage. It was
hard to “care” for what was going on with James and Angela. Reviewed by Laura Friedkin
Fab: The Life of Paul McCartney
By Howard Sounes Da Capo Press, $29.95, 634 pages Any biography of a former Beatle is also a biography of the Beatles. And so it is with FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney. The first part of this book is dedicated to Paul McCartney’s life with the Beatles and really is as much a biography of the Beatles as it is a biography of Paul McCartney. It begins with his life as a young boy in Liverpool, his introduction to John Lennon, which leads to Paul becoming a member of John’s band, the Quarry Men. The Quarry Men’s metamorphous into the Beatles and their epic rise to super-stardom are intimately detailed. Also detailed are their sad demise and Paul McCartney’s legal battles with the three other Beatles. The second part of the book is dedicated to Paul McCartney’s life after the Beatles including his formation of Wings. His personal life with his beloved wife Linda and his four children to which he is devoted are intimately detailed. His disastrous second marriage and very public divorce from Heather Mills are discussed in great detail. This part of the book is particularly interesting to a Paul McCartney fan because this is where the author discusses many of the little-known details of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles life as a husband, father, solo performer, businessman, and musical icon. The Lennon/McCartney partnership produced many songs but not every song was written by both Lennon and McCartney. This book gives the reader glimpses into who actually wrote the songs. Also included are glimpses of the inspiration behind many of the songs written by Paul McCartney for the Beatles and for Wings. I grew up with the Beatles and, like many people, remember their performance on that Sunday night in 1964 when the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, so this book was a fascinating and nostalgic trip back to when the Beatles changed the course of music forever. Reviewed by Sharon LeBrun Oakland’s Daughter and Her Struggles to Overcome By Maria Davis Xlibris, $19.99, 240 pages If you wonder what it’s like growing up in poverty, the story of Maria Harper Davis opens the door and lets you see. Her travails occurred in the poor neighborhoods of Oakland, California. In Oakland’s Daughter and Her Struggles to Overcome, the reader gets immersed in the rough neighborhoods and tattered lives that comfortable middleclass Americans rarely encounter. Born into poverty by a young single mother, Davis describes her life in an extremely dysfunctional family. Some of it was uncomfortable to read, especially the detailed accounts of sexual molestation and rape. Davis’ problems were exacerbated at a young age by her stepfather’s drinking and his abuse of her mother. As an adult, Davis is repeatedly manipulated and abused by men in her life. Illegal drugs add to the toxic drama. Her service in the military seemed to help her mature a little by exposing her to the world outside Oakland.
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Davis projects a sharp sense of justice and fairness, which is understandable, but could be perceived as critical. Eventually, she has an encounter with God in a local church. Davis did not describe her religious conversion as immediately fixing all her problems. Rather, she continued to face adversity and made mistakes, but her faith helped her endure. This reviewer felt empathy for Davis and the unfairness in her life. Her story reveals how most of us can’t imagine what it’s like growing up surrounded by adults who continually break the law without consequences. The book could have been more effective with some deeper introspection about how God healed her heart. The prose is not elaborate and often reads like a report. This reviewer encountered some characters and situations that left me wondering why they were included. An interesting book, but not advised for squeamish readers. Sponsored Review
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Mystery, Crime & Thrillers The Best American Crime Reporting 2010 By Otto Penzler, Thomas H. Cook Ecco, $14.99, 359 pages Dubner, the coauthor of SuperFreakononmics has edited the latest volume of crime reporting in this great Ecco series. What I like about this book (as well as the previous volumes) is that as I read each story, I think to myself, you can’t make up this stuff up. But it’s non-fiction. This volume includes “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” by Kevin Gary, a profile of Helg Sgarbi, a Swiss swindler, who seduces rich women and then blackmails them. As usual with criminals, Helg enjoys recounting his crimes in a jailhouse interview. The great journalist, Jeffrey Toobin gives us “The Celebrity Defense,” an account of the many years since the rape of a thirteen-year-old girl by the then 44 yearold director, Roman Polanski, who later fled to Europe to live in comfortable exile, where he avoided prison until just this year. Toobin captures the anomalies, the lies, the justifications, the pure Hollywood B.S. of the great director’s celebrity. With another dozen stories about psycho murderers, dog fighters, wall street thieves, assassins, perverts, if crime is as part of human nature as selfishness, the sources are always quite clear in these accounts. All it takes is good writers like in this collection to add to contemporary literature, to recount our “deepest needs and darkest acts.” Reviewed by Phil Semler Redneck Country...Black Letter Law By John Russell Smith Xlibris, $23.99, 560 pages A white woman and her 12-year-old cousin are raped and left for dead in a small east Texas town. The brutality of the crime alone is enough to make one cringe, but when a black man is accused of the crime, the town is divided, and it will only take a small spark for the place to blow. The Civil Rights movement is over and we are all created equal, but there are plenty in Crownover, Texas, who didn’t get the message. Racism is rampant and for the most part, unchecked. The accused is Lincoln Johnson, the only son of Queeny Johnson, J.R. Cutler’s former maid of twenty years. Cutler, a prominent local at-
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torney and former DA, has a well-known soft spot for Queeny. He finds it impossible to say no to defending Lincoln, even though everyone he respects tries to tell him it is a bad idea. Cutler is drawn into the case with a strong belief of his client’s innocence and a belief that he is unlikely to get a fair trial or a vigorous defense in an area where bigotry, racism, and just plain stupidity are the rules of the day, not the exception. Detailed and at times nail-biting, Smith has taken a tale based partially on fact, and written a new Atticus Finch for our times. J.R. Cutler is a character who stands up to be counted in Redneck Country … Black Letter Law. Sponsored Review Pretty Little Things By Jilliane Hoffman Vanguard Press, $25.95, 360 pages Lainey Emerson represents thousands of teenagers who plug in every night, caught in a fiber optics web of lies and assumed personas. The 13-year-old-wholooks-16 meets on-screen boyfriend, Zach, IRL and learns appearances can be deceiving. When Lainey doesn’t come home for 48 hours, her mother finally notifies police, who report the troubled teen a runaway, a statistical probability in South Florida. FDLE agent Bobby Dees gets called in to investigate. Taunted by news reporter Mark Felding, Dees questions the difference between a runaway and missing child case. Felding begins receiving horrific paintings that depict a crime scene and feature a young girl. Then, the body count begins. Haunted by the one-year anniversary of his daughter’s disappearance, Dees races to find Lainey and daughter Katy before the girls become a statistic of the serial killer called Picasso. Will Dees outwit his psychotic and brutal nemesis? Or will evil destroy the pretty little things we take for granted? Pretty Little Thingsby Jilliane Hoffman is a fast-paced psychological thriller. Despite a few unexpected twists, Hoffman manages to keep readers riveted to the story by creating multidimensional characters and applying a healthy dose of reality. Pretty Little Things may be the most disturbing books that parents and children (even grandchildren) need to openly discuss. We live in a Facebook world, but crime shouldn’t be faceless. Hoffman’s novel proves that. Reviewed by LuAnn Schindler
Road Closed By Leigh Russell No Exit, $9.99, 352 pages Road Closed has a generous mix of good guys and bad ones. Geraldine is one of the good ones. She takes her position as a police inspector seriously and works hard at doing a good job. Her personal life isn’t nearly as successful. The story follows her through a complicated case of burglaries turned to murder. There’s no way for the constabulary to know which of the promising suspects are actually guilty. By the time the bad guys are caught, Geraldine is standing alone among her group of mates at the pub having definite doubts about the wisdom of keeping the job her highest priority. Leigh Russell does a good job of keeping her readers guessing, too. She also uses a deft hand developing her characters, especially the low-lifes, and the British slang with which she peppers the text is a treat. Not so fun is trying to remember the alphabet soup of acronyms she uses for police job titles. For me, she overdid the blood and gore, but all in all it’s a good read. Reviewed by Marj Stuart The Reficul Parallax: Godsquad Genesis By David Heaukulani Xlibris, $19.99, 374 pages Jewish-Hispanic detective Jake CohenGarcia is whisked away from a Honolulu Police Department ceremony to an underground job interview with the Attorney General’s special task force. Identified as a Jesus freak by his agnostic wife and son, Det. Cohen-Garcia also has a reputation as a bible-thumper at the HPD. At the covert interview, Cohen-Garcia is offered the task force position because of his reputation as a charismatic Christian. The task-force mission involves locating a mystic believed to be pivotal in preventing the biblical prophecy of Armageddon. The mystic is also suspected of using local Ilocano gangs in the worship of Satan for its AB blood type, human fetus sacrifice rituals. The book follows the task force on its missing person case from a village in Hawaii, where Jake—a former Navy Seal, has to swim with sharks to get information from a kahuna, onto Babylon where news media and mercenaries accompany him when he is threatened by an Air Force task
force investigating extraterrestrial life. It is Cohen-Garcia’s interaction with his fellow task force members, and his conversations with informants and other law enforcement personnel, which provide the conduit for the crux of the author’s religious studies theme. Be prepared for instruction in all the major theological philosophies. Along with lessons about Jehovah’s Witness, Mormonism, Catholicism, Islam, Wiccan, etc., there are cultural themes involving the importance of language in the nature of belief systems. Many of the passages are written in Hawaiian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and other languages then translated for the reader. There are also contemporary references to movies, television, homophobia, designer fashion brands, and the evolution of secular society. Heaukulani’s book contains a plethora of information. So much so, the reader may become bogged down in the extensive plot that drives the informative conversations, which can be artificial at times. Sponsored Review The Cobra By Frederick Forsyth Putnam, $26.95, 384 pages The unnamed, Obama-like President of the U.S. resolves to go after and destroy the cocaine industry that plagues the U.S. once and for all. Acting mainly through his chief-of-staff, he brings in an ex-CIA special ops man called the Cobra, to develop and execute an aggressive, bold plan to accomplish this assignment. The Cobra is given carte blanche for anything he needs for this assignment -- no boundaries, no rules, no questions asked. There are plenty of twists and turns throughout this Frederick Forsyth masterpiece, as the Cobra begins his preparation thoughtfully, then proceeds with detailed, ingenious attacks upon the Colombian drug cartels and the associated web of criminal organizations and individuals from South America, Africa, Western Europe and the U.S. One wonders where real life ends and fiction begins in this stark, cold, world of the international illegal cocaine trade, as gangsters seem to have more power and control than the political leaders of advanced nations. The Cobra ends so unexpectedly that even the most experienced thriller reader will feel a shock. That shock comes not only from the dramatic denouement, but also from the realization that there is a point where idealism falls by the wayside, trumped by political survival. Reviewed by Christina Forsythe
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Romance The Iron Duke By Meljean Brook Berkley Trade, $15.00, 378 pages In The Iron Duke, Meljean Brook steps into the world of steampunk — a Neo-Victorian world where nanotech agents rule people and where pirates rule the Iron Seas — and largely succeeds in creating a cast of fascinating characters and an even more fascinating world. The mythology behind Brook’s re-imagining of 1900s England is simple, drawing inspiration from real historical events and a stunning “what if” involving the Horde, dangerous sugar, and Victorian technology. The duke of the title is celebrated pirate and tycoon Rhys Trahaearn, who saved the English from the tyranny of their Horde captors and the Horde technology, which enslaved them. When a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his estate, Inspector Mina Wentworth is assigned to the investigation. Once Lady Mina is drawn into the Iron Duke’s world, the plot thickens, and the strong thread of suspense maintains the tension even when Rhys becomes frustratingly one-note in his pursuit of Mina.
What makes The Iron Duke incredibly readable and page-turning are Brook’s wonderful female characters and the crackling dialogue, which makes up for the plodding romantic relationship between Mina and Rhys. The Iron
Duke is fascinating in its world-building and the unique roles for women allowed within it, but it falters as a romance, since the hero is no match for the heroine. It is recommended for readers looking for strong heroines and something different. Reviewed by Angela Tate Just One Taste By Louisa Edwards St. Martin’s Paperbacks, $7.99, 335 pages Just One Taste is the third and final book in Louisa Edwards’ scrumptious “Recipe for Love” trilogy, and it gives The Market, the restaurant around which all three books centered, and its cooks and staff a satisfying conclusion. The romance between bad boy chef Wes Murphy and brainy Dr. Rosemary Wilkins is great as well. The book focuses on chemistry — between the leads
and in the kitchen — and Edwards provides plenty of plot twists. She creates wonderful, realistic characters who lift this admittedly trite premise into another stratosphere. Wes and Rosemary meet when he has trouble passing Food Chemistry 101 in culinary school, and she partners with him to conduct experiments on the aphrodisiac quality of food and eating. Of course sparks fly, but the stand-out element of the book is Rosemary, a geeky heroine who is incredibly likeable and relatable. Wes is interesting as well, having a past, but not allowing it to overwhelm his outlook on life. They complement one another, and their push-and-pull relationship mirrors the conflict between a secondary couple whose romance has been woven into all three books. Though there are a lot of elements in Just One Taste, Edwards juggles them like a pro. The addition of mouthwatering recipes at the end of the book enhances the excellent reading experience, and draws you into the world of cooks and cooking. A very enjoyable contemporary romance with plenty of bite and heart. Reviewed by Angela Tate Improper Ladies By Amanda McCabe Signet, $6.99, 440 pages Publishers insist that traditional Regency novels don’t sell, ergo, they’re dead. Very few new such stories are being published these days, but Signet, which was the pace-setter for them during the last 30 or so years, is still publishing them, just not new ones! They bundle two of them together in one volume and voilà! New books! If the discerning reader studies the copyright page, the original publishing info may be found there. Thus, Improper Ladies by Amanda McCabe, which consists of The Golden Feather from 2002 and Rules of Love from 2004. This is not necessarily a bad idea, but why can’t they at least fix the typos and/or other mistakes before re-publishing? There’s no excuse for a widow with only unmarried sons to say “I am Lady Lyndon; well, I suppose I am the Dowager Lady Lyndon now.” How can she not know who she is? However, Rules of Love was a truly delightful example of the genre. Rosalind Chase owns a conservatory for young girls, and to help her students, as well as others, she’s written “A Lady’s Rules for Proper Behavior”. The book becomes a
runaway best-seller, and everyone is quoting from the anonymous tome. Rosalind’s younger brother greatly admires Lord Morley, who lives by his own rules, until he discovers Rosalind and the very real value of proper behavior. Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz Bayou Moon By Ilona Andrews Ace, $7.99, 480 pages Ilona Andrews continues the tales of the Edge, the dangerous and hardy world between the Broken—the real world—and the Weird—the magical world—in Bayou Moon. William was introduced in the first book, On the Edge, as a fierce and cold-eyed warrior changeling, who straddled the worlds of the bluebloods and the unwanted shape shifters of the Weird. He now lives in the Edge after Rose and Declan take her brothers into the Weird, adjusting to life as a semi-outcast until his past returns in the form of an assignment for The Mirror, a secret service unit, to assassinate his arch-enemy Spider, who has kidnapped a powerful Edger couple. He joins with a reluctant woman, Cerise, whom he meets on his journey, who happens to be the daughter of the kidnapped couple.
Andrews’ skill with worldbuilding and lyrical prose returns, making Bayou Moon her most engrossing and awesome book yet.
She delves deeper into the mythology of the Edge and the Weird, and its inhabitants, and though the plot deals with the personal issues involving Cerise’s powerful family, the pace never slackens, and the action, when it happens, is tense and exciting. Also exciting is the romantic tension between William and Cerise, which complements the supernatural world and makes the resolution of both the plot and their romance highly satisfying. Reviewed by Angela Tate The Dressmaker: A Novel By Posie Graeme-Evans Atria, $16.00, 439 pages With The Dressmaker, Posie GraemeEvans bridges the gap between the moralistic and aspiring women’s fiction of the Victorian era and modern interpretations of the 19th century through Ellen Gowan, the heroine
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of this novel. Though Ellen appears a stereotype in this sort of fiction — beautiful, poor, intelligent, and plagued by misfortunes and heartbreak on her path to success — Graeme-Evans makes it all work and The Dressmaker becomes an engrossing read. The author’s talent shines brightest when delving into the daily lives of the Victorians and the 19th century fashion industry, as well as the glittering London salons of the aristocracy. Through the highs and lows of Ellen’s life, which include her father’s premature death and her subsequent descent into poverty, her betrayal by a lover, a secret baby, and a forbidden romance, one can’t help but root for her. She maintains a plucky outlook on life and determination to achieve success and personal happiness. The story is clichéd, and at times this makes a few plot twists unbelievable, but there is something entertaining and inspiring about a book where the heroine overcomes adversity in a Horatio Alger-type of manner. The Dressmaker veers on the edge of melodrama, but Graeme-Evans’s skill with crafting true characters and writing lush description save it from a more cartoonish quality. Reviewed by Angela Tate Burning Up By Susan Andersen HQN Books, $7.99, 376 pages Sexy and sassy rock video star Macy O’James returns to her hometown, Sugarville, but her reception is less than sweet. She fears residents still blame her for an accident that occurred during high school and she’s certain neighbors whisper about her trashy reputation. Macy’s homecoming begins at her aunt and uncle’s boarding house, where the ultra-sexy fire chief, Gabriel Donovan, rents a room. Instantly, the two navigate a lovehate relationship. While Macy nurses cousin Janna back to health, Macy flirts with her feelings for Gabe. When rock idol Jack Savage comes to town, Gabe’s jealousy erupts. Ultimately, Macy discovers that secrets heal with time, some people never mature, and good people accept you for who you are. In Burning Up, Susan Andersen tries to create a metaphorically steamy romance, but the storyline falls flat. A subplot about a fireman-turned-arsonist never fully ignites. It’s solved quickly without much mention. Some dialogue seems stilted, slowing the natural rhythm. Instead of creating compelSee BURNING, page 8
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Sequential Art The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel By Diana Gabaldon Del Rey, $25.00, 224 pages If you love Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, get ready for the awesomeness that is The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel. “We’re going home, Sassenach. to Lallybrock.” The story begins in 1743, slightly before World War II nurse Claire Randall wanders through the stones. Told from Jamie and Murtagh’s perspective, Jamie has just returned home from France to the viper’s nest made by his scheming uncles and the larger political climate. His godfather, Murtagh, swore an oath to Jamie’s parents to protect their son, but this red-haired Scot makes Murtaugh’s job daunting, especially when another traveler precedes Claire through the stones, falling backward in time and joining forces with Claire’s enemy, the witch Geillie Duncan. Surrounded by enemies, Jamie’s calculating uncles and the English dragoon captain who wears the face of Claire’s husband in the future. Frank, Jamie and Claire’s passion for each other unfolds amidst political turmoil and self-serving men of power. The
story-telling magic Diana Gabaldon is lauded for seeps from the beautifully illustrated pages of this graphic novel, encircling the reader as completely as any Old One could have. Reviewed by Axie Barclay
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Fist Stick Knife Gun By Geoffrey Canada and Jamar Nicholas Beacon Press, $14.00, 127 pages The problem with gang violence is that it is rarely explored in a personal fashion, and from the perspective of the black male as a victim of his society. Fist Stick Knife Gun is an exploration of one man’s personal history with violence, and how it escalates throughout his life, finally culminating in a choice that defines who he is and where he stands. The graphic novel is an excellent personal story and has a nice flowing narrative; it is nice to see an autobiography that also works as an actual story. More to the point, it also works as a warning, as he explores his feelings toward the various escalations and why he feels that is necessary to use the particular weapon at that time, and his final rejection of that lifestyle, as it leads ultimately to death. In the afterword, he points out that the work to eliminate violence from urban culture will be long and hard, but well worth the effort. Reviewed by Jamais Jochim Library Wars: Love & War (Vol 2) By Kiiro Yumi Shojo Beat, $9.99, 192 pages Iku Kasahara continues her training as a member of the Library Defense Task Force both in the classroom and on the job. As she begins to trust her instincts and rely on her teammates, she also learns that defending the libraries and the books they contain from government censorship is a bigger job than most people realize. As she deals with suspicious temporary head librarians and Media Betterment Committee raids, Kasahara starts to come into her own. In volume two of Library Wars: Love & War, Kiiro Yumi continues to develop an engaging storyline of a girl trying to develop as a person while pursuing a deep-held
passion. Yumi’s art is clear and thoroughly enjoyable; her ability spans the entire spectrum from serious drama to light-hearted comedy. The characters may be a little stereotypical at times, but that does not prevent them from being wellrounded and likeable. The plot is becoming more intriguing in all aspects, and the romantic aspect does not detract at all from the seriousness of Kasahara’s work in the Library Defense Force. This series is shaping up to be thoroughly addictive. Reviewed by Holly Scudero Che Guevara: A Manga Biography By Kiyoshi Konno Penguin (Non-Classics), $15.00, 192 pages The life of Che Guevara is one of myths, legends, and controversy. What is his legacy? Do people who wear shirts with his picture on it even know what he stood for? College students hang up a poster with his picture and protest for revolution, but do they understand his message? The answer to these questions is that the majority of people do not know what Che stood for, or even what his message was. Instead they wear his image like a pop art icon, and espouse some nonsense about revolution for the masses. This biography is not going to help with that either. It is from Japan, and in the tradition of manga biographies such as Buddha, but unlike Buddha this falls apart. This attempts to tell the life
story of Che in a short amount of time, but the art is a disappointment with hard to follow characters and everyone starts looking
the same. Also the story jumps about randomly. If you pick this up looking for a life of Che and what he was, do yourself a favor and put it back. Reviewed by Kevin Winter
BURNING, cont’ from page 7 ling characters, they are portrayed as caricatures trapped in a contrived setting. Although Aunt Lenore’s tempting dishes and desserts are mentioned in the story, the addition of two recipes at the conclusion don’t make this a cozy romance. I want to read romance that stirs lust and desire instead of attempting to light the kindling. Unfortunately, Burning Up doesn’t fan my flames. Reviewed by LuAnn Schindler
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Nov 2010
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Cooking, Food & Wine Fresh From the Market: Seasonal Cooking with Laurent Tourondel
Pigs in a Blanket “Ritz Carlton” This is my French twist on one of the most delicious American treats I have ever had. I find it absolutely impossible to eat just one. Make sure to use a very high-quality puff pastry or try to purchase some from your local baker, as it will make all the difference.
Laurent Tourondel with Charlotte March, contributor Wiley, $35.00, 328 pages
SERVES 6
2 sheets store-bought frozen puff pastry, preferably Dufour brand, thawed 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 large eggs 2 tablespoons whole milk 6 Schaller and Weber wieners (beef and pork) 2 cups grated Roth Käse Grand Cru Gruyère cheese 1/2 cup sauerkraut, drained 1/4 cup Raye’s yellow mustard
U surface. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the pastry to a 1/4-inch thickness and cut it into nfold the puff pastry on a lightly floured, cool
6 rectangles that are about 7 x 3 inches.
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the flour in a shallow bowl and whisk together the eggs and milk in another shallow bowl. Roll 1 wiener in the flour and then dip it into the egg mixture and place it on a piece of puff pastry. Repeat with the remaining wieners. Top each wiener with 1/4 cup of the cheese and then wrap the puff pastry tightly around the wiener, pinching the ends to seal completely. Place the pigs in blankets, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet; brush them with the remaining egg mixture and evenly scatter the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top, pressing to adhere. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and completely cooked through, about 25 minutes. Slice each pig in a blanket into 6 pieces and serve with the sauerkraut and a dollop of mustard on top.
Wine Sug gestion What’s better with this American classic than a cold, frothy beer? I recommend serving a Belgian-inspired witte (wheat) beer with these addictive treats, such as Ommegang “Witte,” Cooperstown, New York.
Seasonal cooking is enjoying a renaissance it seems. A number of new cookbooks have come out this year extolling the joys and delights of following the seasons and alterations of the year in your kitchen. Laurent Tourondel’s thrown his hat into the ring with Fresh from the Market, an inspiring cookbook that provides recipes for truly beautiful and delicious food. The book is divided by season and the recipes centerpiece seasonal produce as well as iconic ingredients. A lot of the dishes focus on meat, but there are plenty of vegetables as well. The accompanying pictures are vibrant and the ingredients are both seasonal and unique. The inclusion of wine recommendations is a wonderful addition for those of us who love wine, but have failed to get the hang of pairing it with food. Keeping with the theme of the book, my wife and I decided to make a few recipes in the Fall section. Thankfully, Tourondel provided sample menus to go with the recipes in each section. After looking over the menu, we decided to make a full three-course meal and cocktail: Pigs in a Blanket “Ritz Carlton” for the appetizer; Dry Aged Roasted Prime Rib with Caramelized Onion-Pacini Bread Pudding for the main course; Honey Crisp Apple Cake with Pumpkin Spice ice cream for dessert; and Red Apple and Bourbon fizz cocktails. Looking over these recipes and others in the book, I have to admit I was a bit intimidated. The long recipes include some fancy ingredients, not all of which I was able to find at the local market, farmer’s market, or food co-op. This might not be a problem for people who live in large metropolitan areas with specialty or boutique markets, but for people in the suburbs it presents the problem of finding good substitutions. To our surprise, we discovered that while the food and the recipes looked intimidating, the instructions were very clear and detailed. Putting the meal together took five hours – you can’t make a masterpiece in thirty minutes or less – but at no time did we fumble with the instructions or find ourselves at a loss as to what to do. At this point, we were too invested in the food to be impartial; we needed an outside opinion so we invited over some of our foodie friends to help. Despite my personal worries about the food (preparing the bread pudding was definitely off-putting), everything turned out great and the meal, as a whole and each course individually, received two thumbs-up! Fresh from the Market will enjoy a place on the top-shelf of our cookbook bookshelf and in all likelihood on our friends as well! Reviewed by Jonathon Howard
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E X P A N D E D Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design By Stanley Marianski Bookmagic LLC, $19.95, 316 pages Barbeque aficionados take note: Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design, by Stanley, Adam and Robert Marianski, is a complete reference manual divided into two straightforward parts: the first focuses on smoking various kinds of meat and the second focuses on smokehouse design. The authors— a father and his two sons—have expertise in old-world style European meat smoking; their knowledge is both vast and impressive. The book seems intended to bridge the gap between the expert and the layman, though some might say it’s closer to the expert. The information is not only useful, but even surprising in some instances: along with expected information (best temperature for smoking, etc.) we get data that is lesser known, such as complete details on cold and wet smoking and things such as beneficial bacteria. The second part of the book (on smokehouse design) seems more intended for the aficionado, laying out as it does many diagrams and illustrations on the evolution of smokehouse structure. While not exactly irrelevant, this is the part of the book that seems more theoretical and less directly useful, though of course a broad appreciation never hurts. Reviewed by Aaron Stypes The Art of Making Fermented Sausages By Stanley Marianski Bookmagic LLC, $19.95, 262 pages Preparing a good sausage at home is like repairing your own crashed computer — a task best left for the expert. Yet the authors of this book hoped to persuade interested readers to make their own sausages in their home kitchen. “This book aims to convince the reader that he can make any kind of a fermented sausage and the finished product will be both safe and tasteful.”
This is a highly technical book most suitable for food scientists, though the writing is good and easy to understand. It starts with dis-
cussion of fermented, cured, dried and salted meats and sausages, reviewing their history; then proceeds systematically through fermentation, smoking, ingredients, safety and equipment. The fifty-one recipes com-
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prise sausages from international traditions, mainly from Europe, but some from Asian sausage makers. Only the most dedicated home cook would attempt these recipes; the required equipment and many hard-to-obtain ingredients would discourage most of us. Fermented and smoked sausages are also timeconsuming to prepare. The book sorely lacks good editing and errors in the text are not uncommon. Layout could also be much improved by a professional. The recipes lack page references to less-known ingredients, and some of these are missing from the index. Monochrome illustrations are only fair. Index is inadequate. Reviewed by George Erdosh The Pure Joy of Monastery Cooking: Essential Meatless Recipes for the Home Cook By Victor-Antoine d’Avilia-Latourette Countryman Press, $35.00, 271 pages Brother Victoire-Antoine defies the image of aesthetic monks who eat sparingly. Even a cursory flip through the pages show that his new book, The Joy of Monastery Cooking, is appropriately titled. Frozen peas and over-cooked cabbage are never featured and appetites, whether vegetarian or carnivorous, will be rewarded by following his recipes. He benefits from access to produce grown in the monastery gardens, but supermarkets need not be spurned if no farmers’ market is nearby.
The Jubilate loaf, Portobello’s in port wine sauce, and the surprisingly delicious parsnip-orange puree invite weekend cooks to turn their back on the television, don an apron, and prepare feasts that don’t require the expertise of a gourmet chef.
Brother Victor grew up in the French Pyrenees where his early skills included vinegar making. His repertoire has grown and while his followers know he devoted an entire book to soups, here he chops and stirs all the way to desserts, often with ingredients combined in unexpected ways. In some instances the dishes, swathed in fragrance as they cook, taste even better a couple of days later as the flavor develops. Reviewed by Jane Manaster
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Cooking with Italian Grandmothers: Recipes and Stories from Tuscany to Sicily By Jessica Theroux Welcome Books, $40.00, 296 pages
Chef and health consultant Jessica Theroux had a mission: travel throughout Italy for a year, meet bona fide Italian grandmothers, and learn from them the secrets of real Italian cooking. With little more than a handful of personal contacts—but with a clear idea of what, and whom, she was looking for—she traveled from town to town, seeking out incredible home cooks, earning their friendship, and learning their most beloved recipes. The result is a gorgeous, heavy volume rich with rustic Italian recipes; lovely pictures of Italian homes, foods, and countryside; and stories about the women who brought these recipes to life. The twelve Italian grandmothers featured in the book are generous with their time and cooking techniques, providing over a hundred recipes ranging from caramelized baby artichokes to blood orange gelato. These are not thirty-minute meals—but ease of preparation isn’t the point; this is about tradition and nourishment in their very best forms. Cooking will make readers long for an Italian grandmother of their own— but provides the next-best way to get succulent Italian food on the table. Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook By Christopher Kimball Hyperion, $25.99, 260 pages Christopher Kimball is founder of Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen, and he tackles the cuisine of the late Victorian era, as well as the social history behind Fannie Farmer, cooking, and Boston in Fannie’s Last Supper. As you read the book and look at the marvelous color photographs, you can see the monumental task Kimball had before him, and it is intriguing to see how similar and how different things are between today and 1896. The structure of Fannie’s Last Supper is great; Kimball uses each dish on the menu to explore the history behind such items as oysters, or punch, or jelly molds, as well as Fannie’s influence on the emergence of the domestic science movement. With so much information at his disposal, Kimball didn’t hold back, though at times, this overwhelmed the message of each section and chapter. He also indulged in a bit of disruptive speculation of Fannie’s talents and failed to acknowledge the role played by women in the growth of American cuisine, which lessened the impact of the information shared in the book. Nonetheless, Fannie’s Last Supper is a great addition to the library of a cook, or historian, or foodie, and the recipes provided by Kimball make
it easy to attempt to re-create a genuine Victorian meal. Reviewed by Angela Tate A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails By R. Winston Guthrie, James F. Thompson Clarkson Potter, $24.99, 176 pages A Taste for Absinthe is a visually sumptuous, informative history of a drink that most of us haven’t had the pleasure of enjoying. The authors dispel the superstitions brought on by a century of propaganda and turns absinthe into a very tempting beverage choice. The photography is gorgeous; all drinks are subtly lit so as to take the reader back in time to an old speak-easy or maybe a private corner of the Moulin Rouge. Primarily a recipe book, the instructions are clear and concise, ranging from the very simple tradition of the Absinthe Drip, to the intimidating laundry list of eleven exotic ingredients, like the Blue Rhone Fizz. Bartenders across the globe have been experimenting with absinthe. Since its recent legalization in the United States, the West Coast has a large variety of establishments to try these signature drinks and is listed in the back of the book. If you want to try absinthe in the comfort of your own living room, the buying guide on page 160 gives detailed descriptions and important pricing information for brands available in the U.S., all extremely helpful to the absinthe virgin. Reviewed by Stacy Kuning
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E X P A N D E D The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook: A New, Healthier Way to Cook Everything from America’s Most Trusted Test Kitchen By America’s Test Kitchen Boston Common Press, $34.95, 520 pages I’ve been a longtime fan of America’s Test Kitchen. My cookbook bookshelf has half a dozen or more of their magazine collections, and every recipe I’ve ever tried has not only been clearly presented and easy to do but absolutely delicious! I’d been tempted on numerous occasions to buy their all-in-one cookbook but found it too hard to justify until they released the Healthy Family Cookbook. Not only did I get a cookbook full of delicious and easy-tomake food but every recipe comes with the serving size and nutritional information covering calories, fat, saturated fats, cholesterol, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and sodium. Scattered throughout the text are tips for which utensils, store bought foods, pots and pans, and methods worked best in the Test Kitchen. Despite being full of recipes that ask for whole grain, brown rice, wheat flour, and non-fat milk, there wasn’t a single recipe I tested that didn’t taste great and elicit compliments. If you need a new, all-in-one cookbook or are looking for one as a gift, I highly recommend The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. Reviewed by Jonathon Howard The Complete Mushroom Hunter: An Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms By Gary Lincoff Quarry Books, $24.99, 192 pages The author correctly identifies most of us as mycophobes (afraid of mushrooms) while in other cultures wild mushrooms are highly prized and collected. “If you take this book along with you, a walk in the park or the local woods will no longer be a simple exercise or a way to pass time.”
This beautifully produced book is not only pretty, it provides fascinating reading and is a good mushroom identification guide. Of
the hundreds of wild mushrooms a mushroom hunter is likely to encounter, about 20 edible, 19 poisonous and 12 medicinal mushrooms are listed. This guide was meant to give correct identi-
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fication for specifically those mushrooms. Serious wild mushrooms hunters never rely on a single book — mushrooms vary in their characteristics and for an absolutely positive identification they look identifying features and illustrations in two or three good guides. This book is an excellent choice to be one of those guides. Color photo illustrations are excellent and with each mushroom you find a good description of where that mushroom grows and what it may be mistaken for. In a comprehensive mushroom identification book, dozens of mushroom characteristics are described for each mushroom that an identifier goes through as a checklist. In this book, a mere three to five of those are listed. This is a particularly good book for beginners. Reviewed by George Erdosh Dessert: Recipes from Le Champignon Sauvage By David Everitt-Matthias Absolute Press, $36.95, 160 pages Dessert is a book suitable for adventurous cooks and will likely be a bit intimidating for the average home cook. The recipes blend both traditional and modern techniques, flavors and presentations and, more often than not, contain a handful of obscure, difficult to obtain ingredients. Chef David Everitt-Matthias, highly regarded for his culinary creativity, has no formal pastry training, yet has gained notoriety
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for his use of unusual flavors and his passion for foraged ingredients. His recipes are not terribly complicated, nor do they generally require highly advanced equipment, and while many do incorporate intimidating ingredients such as carrageen powder, agar agar, and soy lecithin, most of these are simple to use and are probably more difficult to procure, than they are to incorporate into the recipes. Some recipes are more basic, as with a pistachio and dried apricot tart or upside down plum cake, while others are modern twists on classics like lemon meringue tart or warm chocolate mousse. There are also a number of recipes that focus on savory ingredients, such as jerusalem artichoke cheesecake or white asparagus creme caramel, and a section devoted to wild and foraged ingredients. Recipes are written in metric measurements and many will contain ingredients not familiar to non-British readers. Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour By Kim O’Donnel Da Capo Lifelong Books, $18.95, 237 pages Author Kim O’Donnel had heard about the “Meatless Monday” movement, and was eventually inspired to try it out when she learned how big of a difference it could make for the environment. As a blogger and columnist, she challenged her readers to try it too, and began offering recipes designed to satisfy even the staunchest meat lover; those recipes and more have been collect-
S E C T I O N ed in her new cookbook, The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook. O’Donnel makes
no apologies for her love of eating meat, but simply encourages readers to step out of their comfort zones and try one her satisfying recipes. They are seasonally organized,
with each section offering recipes and meal plans that highlight the fresh produce available at that time of year. Try Rocket Lasagna in spring or Black Bean-Sweet Potato Chili in winter. Savor summer with Sesame Rice Noodles & Melon-Herb Salad, and warm up on a cool fall evening with a Mushroom-Spinach Scramble. The author specifically labels certain dishes as being kidfriendly, or vegan, or even dishes where the leftovers taste just as good tomorrow. This cookbook surely contains recipes that appeal to everyone on the dietary spectrum. Reviewed by Holly Scudero Opus Vino By Jim Gordon, editor-in-chief DK Publishing, $75.00, 800 pages Opus Vino, a full-color, 800-page doorstopper, is the ultimate reference book for wine lovers, from the most knowledgeable wine aficionado to the curious wine drinker eager for new ideas. This beautiful volume includes maps, photographs, recommendations, listings, and explanations of wines,
See OPUS, page 14
A Perfect Gift for t he Holidays!
“...a good working cookbook for chefs interested in expanding the use of alcohol in their dishes.”
! w o n le b a l i a Av 5 $14.9
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--San Francisco Book Review Sacramento Book Review
November 10 11
the FOOD & WINE report By Kaye Cloutman THE FLAVOR SCOOP - This month’s gastronomic
PHOTO BY LULU DEL ROSARIO
picks are filled with recipes that evoke nostalgic memories that every kitchen aficionado will truly appreciate. Stock up on these titles this month to ensure a hearty gourmet feast for the holidays. The Filipino Cookbook | Miki Garcia
A Feast at the Beach | William Widmaier
Tuttle Publishing, $18.95, 112 pages
3L Publishing, $14.95, 144 pages Widmaier will warm his readers’ hearts with beautifully poignant narratives in every chapter of this food travelogue and memoir. The wonderful Provençal recipes included in each chapter are a tribute to his grandparents where he spent some of his fondest childhood summers. Live life through the inspirational stories of Widmaier and discover your own joie de vivre. Recommended recipes: Le Pesto et Le Pistou, Lemon and Olive Chicken with French Green Beans.
Gooseberry Patch Keepsake Cookbook | Gooseberry Patch
Miki Garcia whets the appetite with some authentic Filipino recipes in her latest volume that is guaranteed to transport your taste buds to the many regions of the Philippines. From north to south, she delivers a smorgasbord of the celebrated vegetable, seafood, noodles, poultry and meat dishes this country is known for. Readers will truly enjoy the eclectic mix of flavors and spices within the pages of this read – a mix brought about by the Philippines’ colonization by many countries in the past. Recommended recipes: Pininyahang Manok, Chicken Adobo and Lumpiang Shanghai.
Bobby Flay’s Throwdown! | Bobby Flay
Oxmoor House, $27.95, 420 pages
Clarkson Potter, $27.50, 272 pages
From a mail-order company started by two moms at the kitchen table, Gooseberry Patch has evolved into a powerful brand. This wonderful collection of treasured heirloom recipes compiled in an adorable ring binder will make the perfect gift for any home cook this season. We can’t have Paula Deen cooking up a storm in our kitchen but the country-like charm this cookbook provides is the next best thing. Recommended Recipes: Easy Chicken Pot Pie, Fiesta Beef Fajitas and Red Velvet Cake.
Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That? | Ina Garten
Travel across the country with this ultimate companion cookbook to one of America’s favorite food shows. Home cooks and fans can recreate their own Throwdown! moments and whip up savory assortment of dishes perfected by some of America’s talented culinary heroes. It’s a backstage pass and an invitation to see if you can outdo the dishes of the featured personalities and Flay himself in your very own kitchen. Recommended recipes: Tony Luke’s Traditional Philly-Style Cheesecake, Roberto Guerra’s Stuffed Pork Shoulder and Nessa Higgins and Andrea Day-Boykin’s Cuban Crepes.
Clarkson Potter, $35.00, 256 pages This beloved Food Network star is one of my real favorite TV heroines. Her aura and demeanor on cam is so pleasant, 30 minutes watching her is enough to put me into a tranquil state. And that is exactly what this book is all about. Stressfree, easy and fabulous! Garten shares her quick, reliable and favorite recipes that will definitely help reduce the pressure of celebrating and preparing feasts this season. Recommended recipes: Easy Parmesan Risotto, Roasted Shrimp Salad, Easy Cranberry & Apple Cake.
Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook | Sheri L. Wetherell, Barnaby Dorfman & Colin M. Saunders Andrews McMeel, $19.99, 216 pages Food bloggers around the world unite! Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook is a hodgepodge of recipes and photographs from talented culinary bloggers around the world. Foodista.com is the web’s premiere source for collaborative cooking, with the goal of building the world’s largest high quality food-related encyclopedia. This is an ideal gift filled with fascinating photos, stories, recipes and tips that will charm not just the cyber-foodie but any home cook as well. Recommended recipes: Chanterelle Mushrooms with Blue Cheese Pie, Scallop Sandwiches & Carne Brasato alle Cipolle.
A Moveable Feast | Don George Lonely Planet, $14.99, 296 pages
Life-Changing Food Adventures Around the World presents a collection of never-before-published travelers’ tales set around the globe, written by a well known and broad spectrum of contributors, including celebrity chefs and best-selling travel writers. The theme served up in this multicourse concoction is the inimitable ability of food to inspire our serendipities, satiate our senses and enlighten our journeys — in short, to transform the planet into an endless buffet for mind, soul, and stomach. Contributors include Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, David Lebovitz, Alexander Lobrano, William Sertl, Jan Morris, Simon Winchester, Pico Iyer and Tim Cahill.and edited by the legendary Don George.
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the FOOD & WINE report
A Tale of Three Wine Regions
NAPA
DECANTING NAPA VALLEY
by Michelle Higgins, Foreword by Peter Jacobsen
DWC-LLC Publications, $45.00, 388 pages
Decanting Napa Valley is a remarkable piece of work that is a beautiful tribute to the winemakers, farmers and personalities of the Napa Valley region. It includes the wonderful articles and savory recipes of Michelin-starred restaurateurs like Thomas Keller and Dave Cruz (Ad Hoc) Ken Frank (La Toque) & Richard Redington (Redd). Author Michelle Higgins has truly captured the essence of the Valley at its core and entire superb glory. Why you’ll love it: This is an impressive collaboration featuring all the Napa –based folks I admire so much, but most importantly because it is a testimony of their great effort which is evident in their prominence today. This is the perfect gift for any wine lover.
THE BAY AREA COOKBOOK EVENT
SCENE
Organizers: Book Passage Cooks with Books Featured Author / Book: Tyler Florence / Family Meals Location: Wayfare Tavern, San Francisco Powerhouse Chef and TV personality Tyler Florence celebrated his newly released cookbook Family Meals by preparing some of the most to-die-for home style dishes served up in wonderful platters and paired with divine bottles of his signature wines. A sold-out event, his three– story restaurant was packed with fans, supporters and food personalities in the Bay Area. Florence didn’t merely address the crowd but instead he went table to table, signing all the attendees books while getting to know each intimately during the process; and that’s not an easy task to do if you have three floors and 200 people to talk to!
SONOMA
LODI
THE WINEMAKER COOKS by
LODI ON THE LABEL by Debra Anne Ristau, Richard Hockett D & DR Books, $27.95, 160 pages
Experience the lifestyle in the town of Healdsburg in Sonoma County and the many flavors the seasons bring with Christine Hanna’s new volume in which she also features food and wine pairings from her very own winery and picturesque vineyard. The photography and layout is simply stunning and readers will appreciate how she opens up her doors to her abode by sharing cherished homecooked meals that her family has enjoyed doing together all these years.
This lovely guidebook is all you need if you’d like to explore the wonderful wines of Lodi. Debra Ann Ristau takes time to introduce you to all the winemakers, proprietors, vintners and families behind the wines of this terroir and by doing so achieves a collection of personal stories and historical information which readers will truly appreciate. The photography of Hockett sincerely captures the friendliness of these down-to-earth folks.
Christine Hanna, Sheri Giblin Chronicle Books, $35.00, 239 pages
Why you’ll love it: The chapters have sections which includes frequently asked winemaker question in which Christine explains clearly.
Organizers: Book Passage Cooks with Books Featured Author / Book: Michael Chiarello / Bottega Location: Left Bank Brasserie, Larkspur Despite the negative publicity and controversy that loomed behind the award-winning chef lately, my team and I will admit that this was one of our favorite author events. We were all beyond impressed with the charismatic author/chef. The intimate dinner prepared by Chef Sean Canavan wowed the palates and served generous portions that truly spoiled everyone's taste buds. Chiarello was engaging, approachable and overall very passionate about his profession. I loved and tried some of the recipes and most especially appreciate the acknowledgement of the key relationships of the people responsible for who he has become through the years within the pages of this exquisite book. It was a perfectly nostalgic night and Chiarello’s inscription on my Bottega copy warmed my heart immensely. Left Bank owner Chef Roland Passot deserves a standing ovation for his over-the-top graciousness too!
(L-R) Book Passage Staff Dorothy Vandersteel, Margarita Castanera, Karen West with Chef Michael Chiarello, Chef Roland Passot and SFBook Review Associate Editor Kaye Cloutman
Why you’ll love it: Ristau gives you a primer on old vines vs. new vines, sustainable farming in this territory, a schedule of their notable events, a local directory of the wineries and guide to other attractions. A great coffee table book as well!
Organizers: Welcome Books Featured Author / Book: Jessica Theroux / Cooking with Italian Grandmothers Location: Pizzaiolo Oakland If you can imagine a train crashing into a pile of books and a restaurant, this would be the one. Just a total wreck! The organizers did not consider that the pizzeria hosting had their priorities on customers than guests/press. Arranging an interview with the author at 4:30 pm when the actual party was at 7:45 pm that evening was infuriating. The plates of the dishes for food shots were dirty, had thumb prints all over and even included a platter of Panna Cotta that was half eaten! My team and I were asked to sit outside the empty / dirty patio of the closed restaurant beside Pizzaiolo to wait. This felt like Panna Cotta for Persona non Grata. No offer of drink or hor’s doeuvres, and when it finally got dark and pretty obvious that the crickets wanted to join our party, we headed inside the restaurant to order food. The waitress told us to just look for a place to sit at the back of their dining patio and handed the pizza to us with an irritated tone “Ok, I have other customers to attend to.” Already exasperated and starving, we found another empty table to sit at, but yet another waitress exclaimed ”Ok who actually told you guys you can stay here? There’s the bench.“ We were treated like we were a nuisance and got no attention from the chef-owner Charlie whom I interviewed earlier. The author was busy attending to her friends (some who had tables with no food or cocktails). We paid for our untouched food and stormed out. Now I totally understand how Rosa Parks felt! Their slogan is Pizza so good, it’s worth the wait, they failed to indicate it was a 3 hour wait!
Photo credits: Martin Delfino, Michael Kagan, Auey Santos and Castello Di Amorosa
To read the full articles go to www.sanfranciscobookreview.com/publication/viewpoints/book-it/
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E X P A N D E D regions, and winemakers around the world, from Napa to Navarra, Bordeaux to Bulgaria. Detailed regional breakdowns help readers differentiate between, say, wines from Mendocino County and Carneros. Specific information on vintages helps clarify what one might expect from particular bottles. There are profiles of outstanding vintners, copious images of labels, and lists of the grapes that each region produces. If this book weren’t such a back-breaking behemoth, it would be an ideal wine-store companion. One of Opus Vino’s most impressive attributes is its thoroughness. For example, the California section goes well beyond Napa and Sonoma to cover Lake County and areas inland, and many of the wineries listed offer no visitor facilities — in other words, though this may inspire wine-focused road trips, it isn’t intended to be a tourist guidebook. Instead, it gives wine fans the rare opportunity to hold the world of wine in their hands. Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell Cooking Light First Foods: Baby Steps to a Lifetime of Healthy Eating By Editors of Cooking Light Magazine Oxmoor House, $19.95, 144 pages Are you looking to introduce your baby to solid foods, but have no idea how to get started? Are you intrigued by the idea of preparing baby food at home, rather than buying it in jars from the store? You’ve come to the right place!Cooking Light First Foods is designed to help you to feed your child delicious, nutritious homemade foods, from the beginning all the way through age three or so. The basics of baby purées are covered here, including mixture ideas such as Spinach and Sweet Potatoes. The next chapter covers adding variety in tastes and textures, with recipes such as Cheesy Broccoli Potatoes.
One of the coolest things about this book is the way it encourages parents to feed children the same foods that they eat for dinner. Reci-
pes such as Spinach and Butternut Squash Lasagna make a full-fledged adult meal but also include instructions for creating a baby-friendly portion at the same time. As children get older, the recipes progress to including ideas on how your toddler can help in preparation, encouraging a lifelong love of cooking healthy food. This book is full of ideas that many parents can benefit from. Reviewed by Holly Scudero Ribs, Chops, Steaks & Wings By Ray Lampe Chronicle Books, $19.95, 132 pages I felt my arteries slamming shut just looking at the cover of this fine, unpretentiously written and very well illustrated treatment of the prepa-
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C O O K I N G ,
ration of big hunks of dead animals. Joking
aside for a moment, Ray Lampe does a fine job covering the basics of grill preparation, stovetop treatment, and other elevations of our specie’s favorite foods. Leigh Beisch’s photography is so good that it is almost necessary to hold a napkin to one’s lips to avoid drooling on the pictures. Beginning with basic tools, procedures, and safety, Mr. Lampe delves into the competition between charcoal and wood, electric and gas grills (they can’t compete), and adds some sanitation precautions. Many of his recipes are hauntingly familiar. Those of us who love meat have all probably done some treatment close to what he illustrates and explains. However, with his careful instructions as to actual technique, formulas for dry rubs, sauces and garnishes, this is a basic cookbook the way a Maserati is a basic automobile. Many of the dishes explained herein use sugar, molasses, honey, and other things verboten to me, ordinarily. I will sin. I will enjoy it. You will too. Remember that napkin. Reviewed by David Sutton The Lost Art of Real Cooking: Rediscovering the Pleasures of Traditional Food One Recipe at a Time By Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger Perigee, $18.95, 256 pages Cooking is currently trending in two opposing directions: leaning on one side toward molecular gastronomy, a radical, modernist style of cuisine; and on the other side, toward a simple, return to basics. The Lost Art of Real Cookingfalls into the latter category and is described in its introduction as “a new old fashioned approach to food.” This book guides the reader through the simple pleasure of preparing foods from scratch, exchanging trivialities such as precise measurement or speed of preparation, for more meaningful concepts such as truly connecting with your food and deriving pleasure and satisfaction from preparing it yourself. While many of the recipes do require patience, and are far more laborious than unwrapping a package or opening a can, what they don’t require is special equipment, a great deal of kitchen space or hardto-find ingredients. There are recipes for duck confit and cultured butter, wild sourdough and kimchi, and for pickles, preserves, beer and wine, to name just a few. If you’re caught up in the fervor of artisan producers and food blog-
F O O D
&
W I N E
S E C T I O N
The New Connoisseurs’ Guidebook to California Wine and Wineries By Charles E. Olken, Joseph Furstenthal
University of California Press, $ 27.50, 480 pages Charles Olken is the editor and publisher of the Connoisseur’s Guide to California Wines, a monthly newsletter that for 35 years has been the authoritative voice of California wines. Focusing on just the California wine industry, Olken has a depth of knowledge and understanding of the grapes, growers and winemakers that make up the state. All of that is collected in The New Connoisseurs’ Guidebook to California Wines and Wineries, highlighting some 500 wineries with information about the winemakers, the styles produced, and Olken’s evaluations of the wines. Additionally, there is a good overview of the California wine regions, the history of wine in California and a detailed survey of the types of grapes grown throughout the state. New Connoisseurs’ breaks the state into eight major regions, and a catchall chapter for the AVAs (American Viticultural Areas), and regions that don’t quite fit into the rest. Napa and Sonoma each get, and deserve, their own chapters, while the rest often cover multiple AVAs or growing districts. The wineries highlighted are all some of the best from each region, with a header to each entry that includes website, phone number, county and AVA, and info about tastings (many do not have open tasting rooms, or are by appointment only). While all appear on regional maps within the book, one major flaw is that the actual addresses for the wineries are omitted, so anyone using the book as a guidebook will need to either research each winery online, or use a secondary mapping source to find them. That said, New Connoisseurs’ is a musthave for any wine professional, or the serious enthusiast. Reviewed by Ross Rojek
gers focusing on this type of cooking, but have yet to try it yourself, this book is a perfect launch pad. Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport The Golden Book of Desserts By Carla Bardi, Rachel Lane Barron’s Educational Series, $29.99, 608 pages From gilt edges to the multitude of color pictures, The Golden Book of Desserts is a pleasure to wander through. While there are plenty of dessert cookbooks, this one collects not only the standards, but explores variations and less widely known desserts. There are eleven major categories, ranging from baked goods to frozen desserts and custards and creams. The majority of the recipes are simple to follow and easy to produce; the book uses a one-to-three scale of difficulty, and those most difficult ones have well-detailed instructions to get the aspiring chef producing at the next level. All the recipes have a full-color picture of the final product, though with some it may have been helpful to see the intermediate steps. The only serious flaw is the size, at
600 pages, it is hard to keep open for recipes in the first or last third of the book without a book stand or something heavy. And as it is a well-designed and packaged book, you may not want to have it sitting on the counter next to spill-able ingredients. But you will want to either give this as a gift to the chef in your life, or get a copy for yourself (or both). Reviewed by Ross Rojek
BOOZE, cont’d from page 1 booze cakes feature recipes that traditionally contain alcohol, like Black Forest Cupcakes. Cocktail Cakes are based on mixed drinks and cocktails. Tequila Sunrise Cake highlights tinted cake batter. Cake shots combine cake and jelly shots for a snacksize treat. And in Cakes with a Twist, sinful favorites, like Chocolate Lava Cake, get spiked. Full-color photographs will leave readers, cooks, and connoisseurs lusting for a nightcap of cake. Homemade liquor and treats sections offer kitchen secrets, from making a tasty liqueur to infused frosting. Definitely decadent, definitely tasty, definitely time to let them drink cake.
Reviewed by LuAnn Schindler
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Young Adult Firelight By Sophie Jordan Harper Collins Children’s, $16.99, 336 pages If you are looking for something different from all the vampire, fairy and werewolf books out there this is the one to pick up. Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of dragons, with the rare talent of fire breathing. After Jacinda breaks one too many rules her mother takes Jacinda and her twin sister, Tamra, and flees the pride to avoid the punishment the pride intends to inflict on Jacinda. For Tamra this is a dream come true as she was never able to manifest in dragon form and hated life in the pride. Jacinda is miserable living away from the pride until she meets Will, whose family happens to be made up of draki hunters.
I loved the storyline and the idea of dragon descendents. The
tension between Jacinda and her mother and sister who both want Jacinda’s dragon half to die is gripping and you can’t help but feel sorry for all involved. To add to her troubles Jacinda is caught between Will and the heir to leadership of her draki pride, Cassian. This first book in the series was a wonderful debut and leaves you eagerly awaiting the next book. Reviewed by Debbie Suzuki
Three Quarters Dead By Richard Peck Dial, $16.99, 193 pages All Kerry’s ever wanted is to fit in at her new high school. Her life comes alive when the three coolest girls at school--Tanya, Natalie, and Mackenzie--invite her into their clique. Everything goes wrong when the three girls die in a car accident that spring. Kerry feels three quarters dead…until she gets a text from Tanya telling Kerry to come meet her and the girls in New York on the next train. But people can’t text when they’re dead. Can they? With so many paranormal books currently on the book market, it’s always nice to find something that’s a little different. What makes Peck’s tale different is that it focuses on character rather than the supernatural. Plenty of teens will be able to relate to Kerry’s strong desire to fit in at school, and the fate of her three friends will also ring true for many high schoolers. Kerry herself makes an engaging narrator, allowing readers to
understand her motivations without being blinded by the same things. This also helps conceal the mystery of Tanya’s actions right up until the end, making for a satisfying and perfectly spooky conclusion. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller The Dark Deeps: The Hunchback Assignments 2 By Arthur Slade Wendy Lamb Books, $16.99, 310 pages Arthur Slade has created an equally heart-racing sequel to the Hunchback Assignments. Readers join Modo again in his quest to fight Dr. Hyde and his quest to breach the boundaries of biological science, where the line between moralities and scientific advances becomes frighteningly fuzzy. Unfortunately, Hyde does not seem to care for such lines and begins to churn out hybrids that carry strange side effects and don’t appear to look remotely from the planet Modo knows. Not that Modo himself is normal. In fact, the disfigured shape-shifter constantly loathes his own appearance and constantly cloaks it while traveling along side his attractive partner, Octavia. This time the teens must cross the Atlantic to uncover the mystery behind the Icíteneo—who is behind it, and more importantly, what it is. New characters and the reappearance of familiar old characters ensure that fans will be eager to dive into the world of Modo yet again.
The Dark Deeps displays the great imagination and pull Slade has on readers. From the hor-
ribly fascinating creations of Hyde to the intrigue of Mr. Socrates, there is no doubt that while answering some questions, The Dark Deeps will leave readers hungering for more answers. An excellent read! Reviewed by Alex Masri
As You Wish By Jackson Pearce HarperTeen, $8.99, 298 pages Viola has felt empty and alone since she and her longtime best friend/boyfriend broke up because he realized he was gay. They’re still good friends, but she just feels broken. One day, sitting in Shakespeare class, Viola wishes she didn’t feel invisible. And all of a sudden, she starts getting visits from a strange boy. It turns out the stranger is a jinn, better known as a genie,
the kind who give three wishes to humans. And Viola is expected to make three wishes, by golly. The sooner the better, too, because the jinn can feel himself aging every moment he spends here on Earth, away from his home of Caliban. Of course, it’s just not as simple as it should be. Viola doesn’t really know what to wish for, and after a while, she becomes so used to having the jinn around that she doesn’t want to make her third wish and have him leave forever. And he doesn’t want to leave, either. They’re friends, or more than that, and it’s a feeling he’s never had before. As You Wish is a delightful teen romance, one that is as original as it is charming. Reviewed by Cathy Carmode Lim The Teen’s Guide to World Domination: Advice on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Awesomeness By Josh Shipp St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99, 285 pages When I picked up this book, I was expecting a tongue-in-cheek guide for teenagers on how to emulate their favorite super villains and stage a victorious global conquest. While that book might have been entertaining, it wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive or satisfying as Josh Shipp’s The Teen’s Guide to World Domination. The world he wants you to dominate is your own, the sphere of influence that encompasses your choices, your goals, your future, and most importantly, how you view yourself. He identifies the threats to your self-esteem and your decisionmaking abilities, and offers tools on how to neutralize those threats. And thankfully, he does so without an ounce of patronizing, condescension, or bull. He doesn’t offer humbug or nonsense. This is a man who has made plenty of mistakes in his past -- mistakes he deftly uses as examples of poor choices -- and who wants to help people avoid those same pitfalls. Not out of self-justification, but out of
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a genuine desire to see others succeed. Shipp is funny and insightful, making the entire book feel like a conversation with the reader. I’m well past my teens, and I still found it a wonderful and inspiring read. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes By Lisa Greenwald Amulet Books, $16.95, 304 pages When a February blizzard hits NYC, three thirteen-year-old BFFs decide to save Valentine’s Day. How? By giving out handmade fortune cookies to everyone in their apartment building. It’s perfect -- until they hit a few snags: boys, secrets, and tears. Will they be able to create a happy V-Day and be the “three musketeers of the seventh floor” again? Sweet Treats & Secrets Crushes packs fast-paced drama into just 24 hours, with many intertwining minor plots and characters. In other words, a typical tween’s life! The book shifts viewpoint as each chapter is told by one of the girls. When each reveals her thoughts about the day’s events, readers can better understand the girls and their misunderstandings. Kate, the sassy member of the trio, was distinct but at times Georgia and Olivia, both shy and quiet, seemed too alike. Occasionally, readers may have to flip back a few pages to keep Georgia and Olivia straight.
Lisa Greenwald seems to perfectly portray a tween’s constant seesawing between child and teenager. Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes is the ideal books for moms and daughters to read together. Reviewed by Jodi M. Webb
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Relationships & Sex Smooth: Erotic Romance for Women By Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor Cleis Press, $14.95, 204 pages Smooth, erotic stories for women compiled by Rachel Kramer Bussel, bares it all. From naked in the snow to naked at a partner’s feet, these stories explore the possibilities and potentialities of being smooth. Bare, stripped, naked, smooth, participants or voyeurs, whether tattooed or virgin skinned, these women display not just bare skin, but bare spirits and souls. In “Rapunzel,” the narrator discovers what it’s like to be stripped of her hair and be truly naked. In “Shower Fittings,” a woman and her man are discovered bare in a bathroom. Unfulfilled just to let sex happen, these women are active participants and explore every sensory experience, especially those to do with that largest and most erotic organ: the skin. Sensuality exists alongside the animalistic, showing both sides, indeed many sides, of being bare. “Ultimately, this book is about getting to know your body from the outside in, about… knowing the power the naked body holds.” It’s just like an old cowboy told this reviewer once: That “thing” women have down there has a lot of power. And so does their skin. Reviewed by Axie Barclay Passion: Erotic Romance for Women By Rachel Kramer Bussel, Editor Cleis Press, $14.95, 226 pages Passion, Editor Rachel Kramer Bussel’s collection of twenty stories by twenty skilled erotica authors, sweeps the reader up in a whirlwind of eroticism in this latest erotic romance for women. Couples at every level of their relationship explore passion, the range of lust, greed, desire, and love that exists between couples within their complex, sometimes hidden, lives and passions. From couples who argue about absolutely everything, to couples who measure their sexual experiences by the size of the bed, to others who slowly work their way through every room of the house in sensual escapades, this is smart, sensual erotica at its finest. Whether it’s big bed sex, a visit to the National Finals Rodeo, a heavy silver belt, or an expert at efficiency in the bedroom, Passion spells erotic from beginning to end. The authors also represent a range in their skills, varying from experienced to
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just starting out in the genre, displaying not only an array of couples, but a luscious and steamy selection of storytelling. For more Passion, go to passionromance.wordpress. com. Reviewed by Axie Barclay Finding The Right Man For You: Dating Advice For Women By Lawrence Danks Helpful Media, $13.95, 246 pages If this book was titled You don’t Have to Be Lonely! and contained only the information between chapters 12 and the first half of 27, I could recommend it wholeheartedly. Or, it might also have been titled Finding the Right Mate for You and could then apply equally well to men and women. The first several chapters are bogged down with quotes from apparent experts in every field. There is a quote in nearly every
paragraph, many of which appear to be a stretch, or else “filler.” The first six or so deal with ending an existing relationship. Oh? And one — 12½ pages worth — is How Do I Look? There’s way too much emphasis on cosmetic appearance. However, once the author gets to the subject of online dating, the book takes off and just zips right along. Primarily, this is because the author is relating his own experiences (or that of friends) and this individuality coupled with sincerity and history compel the narrative. Danks offers solid, sensible, practical advice, consisting of do’s and don’ts to keep your identity private and yourself safe.
Because Danks is sharing his own adventures online, he no longer relies heavily on the quotes. This section is lively and engaging – too bad the entire book doesn’t read so well. Overall, it’s reasonably well-written, although on occasion, Danks does get himself lost in a long sentence. It’s interesting to have a male viewpoint for women seeking to find the “right man” (as though such a thing really exists!) but it might have made more sense to concentrate on what men think they want — and why. Along with caution, he advises using both honesty and common sense, which too often can be ignored in the “rush” of the process. Sponsored Review
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Local Calendar 7
Author Appearance – Janis Bell, “English for Life” 12:00–2:00pm Book Passage - 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Author Appearance – Ted Kerasote, “Pukka: The Pup After Merle” 2:00– 3:00pm Book Passage - 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Author Appearance – Ram Dass & Rameshwar Dass, “Be Love Now: The Path of the Heart” 4:00–5:00pm Book Passage - 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Author Appearance – Thea Cooper, “Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle” 7:00– 8:00pm Book Passage - 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera
Author Appearance – Joseph Telushkin, “Hillel: If Not Now, When?” 7:00–8:00pm Marin Jewish Community Center - San Rafael
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Author Appearance – Daniel Pinchbeck, “The Return of Quezalcoatl” 7:00–7:30pm City Lights Bookstore - 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco
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Author Appearance - Rebecca Solnit, “Infinite City” 6:30–7:30pm Main Library, Lower Level, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), SF Author Appearance – Lady Antonia Fraser, “Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter” 8:00–9:30pm Herbst Theatre - San Francisco
11 Author Appearance – Summer 16 Author Appearance – Barry Brenner, “My Life in Clothes” 7:308:30pm Pegasus Books Downtown - 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
13 Author Appearance - Angie
Chau, “Quiet As They Come” 2:30– 4:00pm Orinda Books - 276 Village Square, Orinda, CA 94563
14 Author Appearance - Henry
K. Lee, “Presumed Dead: A True Life Murder Mystery” 1:00–3:00pm Main Library, Lower Level, Latino/ Hispanic Community Meeting Room, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), SF
Spector, “Madness At The Gates Of The City: The Myth Of American Innocence” 7:30–8:30pm Pegasus Books Downtown - 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
17 Author Appearance - Mike
Weiss, “Double Play: The Hidden Passions Behind the Double Assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk” 6:00–7:00pm Main Library, Lower Level, Latino/ Hispanic Community Meeting Room, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), SF
18 Author Appearance - Jannell
Moon, “Salt and Paper: 65 Candles” 6:00–6:30pm Main Library, Third Floor, James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center -100 Larkin Street (at Grove), SF
Science & Nature Doable Renewables: 16 Alternative Energy Projects for Young Scientists By Mike Rigsby Chicago Review Press, $16.99, 195 pages Mike Rigsby’sDoable Renewables: 16 Alternative Energy Projects for Young Scientists is full of illustrative photographs, straightforward explanations and probing questions. The questions serve to push the young scientist to understand each project and focus on shifts that might occur: what else changes? Such prompts serve the book well, helping a student to fully comprehend the end results and any alterations along the way. Doable Renewables is not for a youngster unaccustomed to listening or following safety instructions. These experiments often require safety equipment. However, for those who have access to the materials, tools and safety gear, this is a fascinating book. In his introduction, Rigsby explains the excitement of exploration, which can often begin with the humblest of instruments. Rather than expecting students to build full-scale solar panels to power their own schools, Rigsby points out that the assignments are to be thought of as seeds to germinate other ideas. Among the 16 undertakings, Doable Renewables contains instructions on con-
structing a simple heat engine, a solar cell with concentrated sunlight, a windmill, and a heat-powered fan. While these are geared toward the young scientist and novices, all should tread carefully. Reviewed by Elizabeth Humphrey Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation By Simon LeVay Oxford University Press, $27.95, 412 pages Analyzing a wealth of biological, psychological and neuroscientific evidence in his latest book, Gay, Straight and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation Simon LeVay ambitiously explores the deepest question of human sexual orientation: What causes a child to grow up straight or gay? He constructs his argument well, illustrating the importance of defining sexual orientation and combining decades of research by global experts. His conclusion that sexual orientation is decided by the complex interaction of biological processes at birth involving genes, sex hormones and the cells of the developing brain is certainly well defended, and the evidence is sure to provoke. Although LeVay presents his evidence concisely, summarizing specialist findings
in genetics, cognitive psychology and family demographics, it was ultimately the writing style that weakened this book. From the comparative studies of brain responses, cognitive traits to personalities across gay and straight individuals, the difficulty of compiling all of the latest findings and making it intelligible is clear. The repetitious style and the frequent cross referencing between chapters proves distracting and reads more like a textbook or transcribed lecture rather than offer the charm of a popular science book. Reviewed by Wendy Iraheta The Moral Landscape By Sam Harris Free Press, $26.00, 291 pages The best-selling author on atheism now has written an ethics book based on his philosophy dissertation, which makes the audacious claim that science can be the basis of morality. “If god does not exist, then everything is permitted,” wrote the famous novelist and theist Dostoevsky. Indeed, without the supposed authority and rewards and punishments of religious belief, most atheists would agree that morality is impossible and even illusory since not only are we determined, without the necessary free-will, but morals are always cultural inventions and temporally dependent. Take, for example, the wearing of burkas, genital mutilation, corporeal punishment in
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schools, and even liberty. Science can say nothing about morals. As a neuroscientist, Harris is adamant that reason and science determine morality. Our well-being depends on events in the world, and on the human brain. What are the scientific truths about this? The book has a simple structure with chapters on moral truth, good and evil, belief, religion, and the future of happiness. Consider the degree racism in the United States has diminished in the last hundred years, Harris says. Doesn’t this tell us there is moral progress? Isn’t even morality part of evolution? The history of slavery and subsequent racism will always show we failed in our commitment to the common good. Morality is a genuine sphere of human inquiry. This is how women’s equality in the world will be achieved, condoms distributed in villages decimated by AIDS, homosexually no longer an abomination, and wealth distributed to all. Harris only mentions the great Spinoza once but it is Spinoza who said: “Whatever things hinder man’s perfection of his reason, and capability to enjoy the ration life, are alone called evil.” Reviewed by Phil Semler
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Historical Fiction Dark Moon of Avalon: A Novel of Trystan & Isolde By Anna Elliott Touchstone, $16.00, 448 pages Dark Moon of Avalon is the second book in Anna Elliott’s Twilight of Avalon trilogy. In this installment, Isolde and Trystan are reunited in a diplomatic mission to assist King Madoc. Isolde has developed a plan for an alliance that will oppose the Saxon warlords and their allies. As she and Trystan embark on this mission they face the dangers of travel across a war torn countryside and pursuit. Also, both are fighting to overcome the trauma of their recent pasts even as they try to reconcile the impossibility of their feelings for each other. Elliott does a very good job of evoking sixth century Britain, and Isolde’s position as a healer and the Lady of Camelerd brings the reader close to many situations people in the time period would have faced. Unfortunately, the development of the plot is slowed considerably by the recurring flashbacks and internal monologues. The narrative would have been much stronger had the story developed in a more natural way. Additionally, the chemistry between Isolde and Trystan was disappointingly lackluster. Reviewed by Rachel Wallace Emily Hudson: A Novel By Melissa Jones Pamela Dorman Books, $25.95, 368 pages Half The Portrait of a Lady and half A Portrait of the Artist, Emily Hudson is a work of historical fiction loosely based on novelist Henry James’s relationship with his cousin, Minny Temple. Emily is an irrepressible free spirit, orphan, and proto-artist in Civil War-era America, expelled from boarding school for an “extravagant friendship” with another girl. Sent to live with her strict Bostonian relations, she finds a spark of creative sympathy in her novelist cousin William. William, however – very much a Jamesian character – is something of an aesthetic parasite, seeking living material in Emily’s passions and flaws. His ultimately controlling, vampiric nature is exposed early on in the novel, which leads to a certain amount of readerly frustration as Emily continues to trust him despite ample evidence that he is not trustworthy.
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Jones’s novel is most successful as a portrait of the claustrophobic prison that educated women in Victorian America lived within. Emily’s flight to art school in London, and ultimately to the artist’s life in Rome, shows how work and independence lead to a happier ending than the tacked-on wedding offered here as an afterthought. Reviewed by Catherine Hollis Corrag: A Novel By Susan Fletcher W. W. Norton & Company, $24.95, 367 pages Susan Fletcher’s first two novels, Eve Green and Oystercatchers, gave us fascinating, vivid female protagonists moving idiosyncratically through life, billowing along on Fletcher’s poetic prose. Her first novel won her the Whitbread First Novel Award, and her second significant praise. Her third novel, Corrag, thankfully follows this pattern, although it goes back a few centuries in time to do so. The plot revolves around the infamous Massacre of Glencoe in 1692, a slaughter of thirty-eight members of the Scottish MacDonald clan by British troops as punishment for not immediately pledging loyalty to Britain’s new monarchs, William and Mary. We first encounter Corrag in a prison cell, a lifetime wanderer accused of being a witch. Sought out as a witness to the massacre by a man eager to restore the deposed James II by implicating William, Corrag agrees to help him if he will listen to the story of her life and thus preserve her in memory. It is not hard to see why Corrag is accused of being a witch; unearthly and hypnotic, what her contemporaries find threatening about her the reader will find riveting. Her life story, told in Fletcher’s haunting nearpoetry, is as well. Reviewed by Ariel Berg The Golden Mean By Annabel Lyon Knopf, $25.00, 292 pages A young Alexander – before he was “The Great” – and Aristotle, warrior and philosopher, are two of the key characters in Annabel Lyon’s riveting and lively novel of ancient Greece. They swear, sweat, eat, fight, and have sex (not with each other), even as Alexander trains to become the next King of Macedonia and his tutor Aristotle struggles with mental demons while writing his Poetics. The Golden Mean spans the seven years these two historical figures shared a classroom together, and their tussles—both emotional and intellectual—offer a fresh light on a time most often boringly enshrined as “the classics”. Aristotle’s pursuit
of knowledge, of everything from marine biology to women’s anatomy, is a fascinating window into the birth of western civilization; while Alexander’s teenage virility, his shortcomings and sweetness, suggest the conqueror he will go on to become. Readers may argue about Lyon’s choice to categorize Aristotle as suffering from bipolar disease and Alexander from “soldier’s heart” (post-traumatic stress disorder), but she represents these illnesses realistically, as part of their characters, and ultimately convincingly. Already a Canadian best seller, The Golden Mean deserves the same kind of success in America. Reviewed by Catherine Hollis Siegfried Follies By Richard Alther Regent Press, $18.00, 316 pages Franz has been raised to be the ideal Aryan in a Nazi group home. When he finds a small, dark boy thrown from a train with nothing but a violin and the letter “J” carved into his arm, Franz feels compelled to save him. Later, when Franz and “J” flee the Munich bombings, they form a bond they believe will last a lifetime. But when J leaves for Israel and Franz—now Frank— seeks success in the United States, the separation may prove too much for their relationship. And later, when J lands in New York and he and Frank are eventually reunited, the trauma and mysteries of their collective past threaten to tear both men apart. Nazi Germany holds a fascination like few other periods in history. Some authors simply assume we will read anything with a swastika on the cover, and they seem to be right. But other authors inject real human drama into what can be an overwhelming
narrative. Richard Alther has done this in Siegfried Follies. He’s framed the whole book in the narrative of Hitler’s Germany, but he’s created beautifully detailed characters within. While this isn’t a perfect novel, its flaws are easy to overlook. Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell Turbulence By Giles Foden Knopf, $25.95, 315 pages Young Henry Meadows, a meteorologist for the Meteorological Office, is called into service during World War II to help the Allies determine the optimal date to invade Europe. Meadows’s task: befriend the reclusive, pacifist Wallace Ryman, whose brilliant Ryman number can make sense of the turbulence in weather systems, identify calm periods within chaotic storms, and help the Allies find the perfect date for D-Day — a date the Germans will never expect. Though Meadows succeeds in getting close to Ryman, his task is complicated by Ryman’s wife, Gill, whose strange behavior both attracts and confuses him. A weather experiment gone horribly wrong sends Meadows’s mission—and life—in directions he never would have expected, and when D-Day finally does arrive, Meadows finds himself not on the sidelines, analyzing numbers and patterns, but in the heart of battle, tied so closely both physically and emotionally to the historic events taking place that he will never fully recover. Foden creates suspense and intrigue through an abundance of meteorological detail, and his portrait of wartime Scotland — and of life before The Weather Channel — provides an interesting new perspective on a pivotal event in World War II, in which weather predictions really were a matter of life and death. Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell
The End of a Trail of Tears A story of three families from entirely different cultures and with entirely different hopes versus the harshness and coldness of reality which they encountered upon their coming to mid-America during the mid-1800's.
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Religion Beyond Tyranny & Narcissism: Jesus Incarnates Leadership; Why do we fail to follow By Benjamin Williams Xlibris, $19.99, 234 pages Why can’t people just do what Jesus would do? Why do so many leaders in America exhibit unfettered desire for power and adulation; tyranny, and narcissism? And what can be done about it? Williams and McKibben define the problem as abuse of power, and they have an idea for another way. Not just an idea: a guidebook. These authors ardently believe that leaders must understand not only that happiness cannot be bought and that consumerism poisons the soul, but that change demands programs and people, not just talk.” For this, the authors turn to historic
Christianity: “A great undiscovered wealth and traditional teachings of the Christian Church is found in Eastern Christianity.” The faith and practice formulated during the first millennia of Christianity is distinct in orientation from Western Christianity. Fascinating detail. This book is a toolkit: Chapter headings map the terrain: “What is Leadership, Why Does it Matter?” “Historic Christian Leadership: Not Inborn but Developed,” and “Leadership and Organizational Stewardship.” There is also a valuable glossary that in-
cludes new ways to define leadership, management, stewardship, and empowerment. Finally, eighteen illustrations, flow charts, and other diagrams help communicate their concepts. The book’s organization assists the reader as the authors connect standard leadership advice (i.e., the need for clear vision statements, to their Christ-centered leadership model (how is God’s vision of the Kingdom imbued in your leadership?). Benjamin Williams has a Masters in Theology and has many years of experience in Christian ministry and works as Director for Strategic Accounts for Welch Allen. Michael McKibben has served in various Christian leadership roles and has written other practical guides for Christian leaders. This book is thoroughly researched and well organized in presentation. However, it
is not an easy book to read. Readers can expect to be challenged as the authors present both details of theology and the complex mechanics required to enact and embody effective leadership. The nexus between theology and leadership is truly well drawn, so the reader who applies the effort will not be disappointed. For those who genuinely want to change their style and believe that Christ is the model, this book provides the chance to reap significant leadership transformation. Sponsored Review
Leather-clad motorcyclists cruise through the Southwest. So you’d think with such a broad demographic it would be difficult to compile a travel book with routes that would interest everybody, yet Lonely Planet did exactly that. This book is much more than “99 Themed Itineraries Across America.” It has music play lists, ways to extend your
trip or combine routes, suggested detours, trip information, all of which are communicated through tight, easy-to-read prose (although it is sadly lacking in color pictures, with the exception of a few at the start). The table of contents is separated into geography, theme, season, and expert-recommended trips so it’s easy to plan your route no matter what you’re looking for. And the places that they recommend are the same hotspots you would get from locals. There may even be a few treasures that the locals
don’t know about, so keep the book handy for when you get home! Reviewed by Kayli Crosby
Travel USA’s Best Trips By Sara Benson, Amy Balfour, Alison Bing, Jennifer Denniston, Lisa Dunford, Alex Leviton, David Ozanich, Danny Palmerlee, Brandon Presser, Karla Zimmerman Lonely Planet, $24.99, 712 pages There is something almost universally attractive about hoppin’ into the ol’ Chevy and hitting the open road. Freshly retired couples inch their way across America in campers. Kids go on road trips after high school graduation. Families with jammedpacked SUVs travel miles to national parks.
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Books About Books The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder By Erin Blakemore Harper, $19.99, 200 pages Of all the books about books I’ve read, this one manages to convey with the most clarity that many authors tend to write their own hopes and dreams into their characters’ lives, and that some of the best heroines ever written of are gloried representations of the writers themselves; spawned from tragedy, depression, and loneliness, the best of these rise above the fallacies of their very human counterparts to become inspiring literary figures. The “advice” contained therein stems from how the characters behave. I often
open the well-worn covers of my copy of Pride and Prejudice simply to re-learn from Elizabeth’s Bennett’s mistakes. However, Blakemore’s use of the word “naughty” here to describe Austen’s most famous heroine struck me as incorrect, as the character remains a lady in both word and behavior. I strenuously disagreed with Claudine or Scarlett O’Hara being cast as heroines at all, the latter being a vacuous, flighty creature whose selfish actions and unchanging, silly philosophies (“I’ll think about it tomorrow”) evaporate what credulity is conjured up by Mitchell’s prose. Blakemore did make up for these by writing a lovely section titled “Simplicity”, showcasing the hard work and self-denial of Laura Ingalls Wilder and then describing the “steadfastness” of Jane Eyre with an unstinting pen. The darker moments experienced by some of the included authoresses prove to be the greatest life lesson in this book, reminding the reader with vivid intensity that
one can indeed avoid heartache by learning from history, and not repeating it. Reviewed by Meredith Greene Bound to Last: 30 Writers on Their Most Cherished Book Edited by Sean Manning Da Capo Press, $15.95, 240 pages Bound to Last is a book lover’s book. If one ever suspected that books change people’s lives, the essays in this collection confirm that. The (ex) head of the Gambino crime family spends eight and a half years reading in prison, beginning with Les Miserables. A young college student in Iran risks his safety by purchasing and keeping a copy of Marx’s Das Kapital. A young wom-
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an marries the man who initiates her into the pornographic world of Naked Lunch. A precocious child reads the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy in attempt to understand his father’s heart attack and, unsurprisingly, grows up to become a doctor. As diverse as the writers in this collection are, as are their tastes and writing styles, some may be harder to penetrate than others. Nick Flynn writes about The Shadow of the Sun in fragmented prose with numbered sections, while Ed Park launches readers into an odd world of game rules and 100 possible paragraphs or sentences that one might read based on throwing dice and following his rules, Dungeon Master-style. Whether one’s taste is traditional or postmodern, a book lover will most likely love this collection. Reviewed by Yu-Han Chao
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Poetry & Short Stories Mystery Montage: A Collection of Short Story Mysteries By Patricia Morin Top, $14.95, 217 pages Crafting a good short story is a challenge. The author has less time – and space – to build a plot and develop characters. When done poorly, you are left feeling like you’ve nibbled on a snack, hungry for something more substantial. Patricia Morin’s collection of short-story mysteries, Mystery Montage, feels more like a full-course meal. Morin’s stories are diverse and exotic, spanning the globe from Atlantic City and San Francisco to Honolulu and, even, a small village in Africa. It’s these far-flung settings that keep things interesting and vibrant; each story immerses the reader in a new world. Morin’s voice changes with each locale; she’s got an uncanny knack for creating wildly differing characters and, yet, infusing them all with enough personality to bring them to life and make them believable. Whether she’s writing about an elderly woman who discovers a ring in the sand beneath a boardwalk, a young rapper who will stop at nothing to win a recording contract, or a chocolateloving Hawaiian widow saddled with her husband’s secret gambling debts, her characters jump off the page. They feel real and are surprisingly fully-developed. If there’s one criticism, it’s that they occasionally shy away from common sense. One of the high points of Mystery Montage is the fact that each story feels completely unique; no two are alike, either structurally or in tone, giving the collection a fresh feel. It reads like an anthology filled with works from a variety of authors – a difficult feat for one person to pull off. Morin takes the basic mystery genre and hacks it up into various sub-genres, from the noirish feel of Rap Sheet to the hilariously screwball Who Killed Horatio T. Adams? Stories range in length from 51 pages to three (for Homeless, an impressive exercise in brevity). Never too complex, but always entertaining, Mystery Montage delivers good storytelling in easily digestible chapters. Let’s hope Morin is hard at work on MM2. Sponsored Review Marbles of Pearl: Tale of the Satyr By Bruce Wayne Xlibris, $19.99, 114 pages From the lofty view of a gawking gargoyle to a rocky ride in choppy waters led by a famous bow, Bruce Wayne guides his readers on a voyage through a legendary poetic expedition. Marbles of Pearl is a tribute to mythological characters, lively humans and
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the age old love of language, Old English, in particular. One of the most interesting, and entertaining, exercises are Wayne’s crafty blends of humor illustrated by his Minor and Major Dedications at the beginning of each poem. Each poem he has devoted to major players in both the real world and the mythological realms: “Major Dedication to John Cheever” “Minor Dedication to Orpheus.” Some of them are rather intriguing, Humphrey Bogart, Johnny Depp, Napoleon Bonaparte. Instead of having to slow my reading down to research the names of the dedicated, I would have preferred a brief explanation to guide the reader into the cadence. Written in the form of a play, effectively, with a Prologue, Six Acts, an Epilogue and a Curtain Call, the work has a balanced, rhythmic flow and a unique form (not often utilized in today’s modern poetry). Wayne’s work models his inspiration, ancient Greek epic poetry, through his use of symbolism, metaphor and assonance, “On high one Pilot Idol Heeds his captive ring, She sends a ship with bosom crew As her offering In desperate oath She lay Her trust Her trust in mortal king On the wings of Avarice Treasure to redeem The king and crew do sail on through War both fair and keen While praying to Her ivory bust Her bust above the beam” This collection of verse is an endeavor indeed. At times, I felt overwhelmed by the subject matter and history, almost as if there was a secret code that I was not privy to. I would recommend this to those brave and adventurous code breakers. Sponsored Review Pima Road Notebook By Keith Ekiss New Issues Poetry & Prose, $15.00, 75 pages After reading Keith Ekiss’ debut poetry collection, Pima Road Notebook, you will know his world intimately. It is a world of fluid boundaries, where ancient and new, inside and outside, city and suburb and desert all intersect, commingle. It is a dangerous, stark, yet gorgeous world evoked by Ekiss’ barbed and beautiful voice. In writing a new west, Ekiss takes necessary time to negate clichéd images of cowboys and Indians in poems such as “Comic Book West,” “If Avedon Photographed
My Father,” and “Pima Houses (c.1850).” But thankfully, he doesn’t spend too much time on them. Instead, his poems travel down mineshafts, into canyons, up mountain peaks, and through abandoned houses, searching for a true Southwest in the detritus and scrub. What he finds — a rattler, shards of bone, monsoons, a girl stroking the snout of a horse — is all strangely familiar. Like fairytale archetypes, they are buried in us for Ekiss to excavate. Each of his images, whether scorpion or broken home, stretch of freeway or creosote, warns of a danger which seems to live, glistening like an arrowhead, just below the surface of normal life. Reviewed by Katie Cappello Crave Radiance By Elizabeth Alexander Graywolf Press, $26.00, 256 pages In the poem “Passage,” Elizabeth Alexander movingly tells the story of a slave who escapes his master by hiding in a coffin; elsewhere she captures the outsider experiences of contemporary blacks, as in “Apollo,” when a black family pulls over in New England to watch TV footage of the first moon walk, their blackness strangely unnoticed because the astronauts are “stranger, stranger even than we are.” With her expressive feel for the texture and rhythms of its culture, Alexander is a lyric historian of African American life, peopling her poems with artists, athletes, statesmen, heroes and poets of different times and places: photographer James Van Der Zee, painter and collagist Romare Rearden, singer Josephine Baker, boxer Muhammad Ali, Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Al, musicians Ornette Coleman and Thelonious Monk. Alexander also draws on her middle class upbringing in Washington, D.C., but there is much here, too, about becoming an adult, a wife, and a mother. Following Robert Frost, poet of John Kennedy’s brief presidency, Alexander delivered a poem at Barack Obama’s inauguration. Chair of African American Studies at Yale, she has published steadily since The Venus Hottentot in 1990. Crave Radiance includes poems from each of her five books, plus 15 new poems. Reviewed by Zara Raab
Night & Day: New and Selected Poems (1975-2010) By P.J. Laska Xlibris, $19.99, 146 pages “O the fabulous histories of fleeting things remain each once and ever instant effervescent, like the faces you’ll remember years hence when the hills are mythic fictions of the night sky—a moon will rise in memory over Morgantown, and you’ll be thinkin what if what if what if…” P.J. Laska ‘s collection of poems are a tour de force in the examination of a disappearing homeland, the government’s gross and compulsive negligence, and the way back to a place of home through philosophical musings. Laska has portrayed a fertile landscape of a working-class citizenship; coal miners, janitors, salesmen across the rich diversities of the Appalachians. But it could be anywhere, anywhere there is history and the undying thirst to regain its story. Night & Day is a revolutionary documentary shaped by Laska’s skill and free-thinking awareness. He has crafted this collection into three very distinct and thought-provoking sections, each lending a vivid picture created on a palette of carefully blended “anti-lyrics.” His style reaches from haiku to epigrammatic dialogue to philosophical conversations to a one-act play. The different forms make for a seamless flow and keep the reader engaged in an almost voyeuristic indulgence. The images are seen, felt, and experienced, “Quickdipping their heads, they roll silvery drops down their backs then shimmy the dust from their wings.” His eye for the senses is clearly evident, a profound craftsmanship on each page. The main theme points to loss and the restitution of a culture, a reinstatement of what has vanished, what has been taken, or rather, an intense look back at a sober lingering. The government’s involvement is one of disdain, but what strikes me is the search for meaning through philosophical traditions, the hope for a return to nature, and what is whole from a place of drought. In many ways, these poems are odes and pieces of the subject’s soul. This is a call, an invitation, to query. I accept. Sponsored Review
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Science Fiction & Fantasy Lands of In-KO-8: Trilogy By Edward Fisher Xlibris, $23.99, 430 pages Science fiction will always be a weird animal to get down; no other genre has had quite the same level of diversity, as there are an infinite ways of telling a story. Land of In-KO-8: Trilogy represents a hybrid of different ways. Inchoate is a planet inside another planet. It is made of dark matter, which doesn’t really interact with normal matter, and yet formed along with the planet in which it resided. There are various humanoid races of various green and blue shades, as well the mysterious and alien Progenitors. Also, the animals are on a sliding scale of sentience, ranging from “just barely” to almost humanoid, such as the jackalopes. The technology is a fun mix of steampunk and futuristic technology. The majority of the book is about how the planet was moved, how it was moved back, and the issues that the moving causes. It is told in a style reminiscent of a Russian novel, where what is described is as after the fact. Even when action is happening in front of us, it is told in a very detailed fashion that tends to slow things down. It’s an interesting story; it just needs better pacing. There are also some problems in handling exposition. There are some nice appendices and an index in the back if you really get lost. Nonetheless, the setting is interesting and it is fun to see the various cultures interact. The story is solid; it is just sort of like watching a thoroughbred being held in place by chains. Some of those chains needed to loosened so that the horse can fly down the track. Sponsored Review The High King of Montival: A Novel of the Change By S.M. Stirling Roc, $25.95, 481 pages Rudi is coming home, left-handed now in sword work, edging into the otherworld in battle. Stirling’s richness of language and reach has never been better. Some will quibble with the extended use of stage and persona; others wonder when the saga will ever end. I, personally, am content, with this gifted author, to dwell a while in familiar battlegrounds and with now-beloved characters. Why waste the development and the daydreams?
“. . . . to this oath I bind my successors in the line of my blood forever, until the sky fall and crush us, or the sea rise and drown us, or the world end. So mote it be.” Returning from the mystic isle of Nantucket, the band of seekers re-encounter cultures and mythos, resolving relationships with battles and treaties. Artos edges into the otherworld, never named as Shiva, just as the sword of the Lady is never named Excalibur. The realities of the grounding legends are obvious, the battles glorious, full of blood and burst bowels. For those who have been with this series since its inception, this is just a continuation; familiar scenes, people, action, evolution of alternate technology. Anyone stumbling upon this book as their entry into the saga will be totally at sea. By all means, do not buy this book as your first Stirling. Go out and buy all of them! Reviewed by David Sutton Deadman’s Road By Joe R. Lansdale Subterranean, $40.00, 272 pages The Reverend Jebidiah Mercer is a most unlikely man of God. Mean as a rattlesnake, tough as nails, and armed to the teeth, the Reverend wanders the Texas landscape under God’s unforgiving thumb, dispatching the worst of humanity and the cruelest of demons in equal measure. The gun-toting monster slayer will confront the undead, the fiendish, the feral, and the indescribable, armed only with his wits, his Bible, and his Navy revolver. Someone should warn those monsters. Joe R. Lansdale is the undisputed master of East Texas gothic horror, and his dime novel sensibilities make this marriage of westerns and horror stories a perfect fit. Deadman’s Road features Lansdale’s trademark dark humor and skin-crawling mastery of description, steeping these stories in both historical detail and stomachchurning intensity. In the same vein as Lansdale’s previous collection The God of the Razor, Deadman’s Road compiles all of the Reverend’s adventures to date in one place, including the never-before-seen story The Dark Down There. If Universal horror monsters crossed paths with Lovecraft’s darkest designs on a western set, you might have something approximating one of the entertaining stories in this quintet. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas
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How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe By Charles Yu Pantheon, $24.00, 239 pages To call How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe unusual would be an understatement. Ostensibly a work of science fiction, it is also a tale of familial alienation, a self-help guide to finding one’s place in the world, and a survival manual for time travel and other science fictional activities. In other words, it is one of a kind. “I’ve prevented suicides. I’ve watched people fall apart, marriages break up in slow motion, over and over and over again.” The author and narrator/main character of How to Live ... is Charles Yu. Yu is a lonely time machine repairman who, when not making repairs, floats outside of time in his own private mini-universe. His mother has been placed in a time loop where she serves him dinner over and over, while his father has simply disappeared. The plot of the book, such as it is, involves Yu trying to find his missing father. The narrative moves backward and forward through time and events. It is recursive and self-referential, with Yu the narrator constantly stepping outside the flow of events to comment or muse on what is occurring. He addresses some interesting concepts, science fictional and otherwise, in ways that are often poignant, sometimes humorous, and other times just plain odd. How to Live ... is engaging and quirky, but will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Reviewed by Doug Robins
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The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg: Volume Five: The Palace At Midnight By Robert Silverberg Subterranean Press, $35.00, 478 pages Giant, hulking Skandars; sexually complicated fuxes; warty Hjorts; pungent, reptilian Ghayrogs with human arms and legs: these are some of the creatures springing from the fertile imagination of science fiction writer Robert Silverberg. The planets they inhabit are equally intriguing: Medea whose advanced human civilization is in flight from a cataclysm that will return it to its original inhabitants; Narabal where the aphrodisiac thokka plant grows beside rubbermoss and bubblebushes; Sempsanga, renowned for its physical beauty—and a sexually transmitted disease that quarantines for life anyone foolish enough to contract it. In the title story, Silverberg imagines a West Coast divided into warring city states with the Empire of San Francisco ruled by Emperor Norton—based on a real life figure from the Gold Rush era. Silverberg spins tales of time travel, human transmogrification, and––offering a new slant on the old story of Romeo and Juliet––romance between humans and aliens. He’s a master storyteller, even if some of his sci-fi devices, meant to seem far-fetched, such as airplanes responding to voice activated commands and persona cubes, seem perfectly plausible 30 years later. Silverberg’s prefatory notes offer insights into the publishing world of the 1980s, when the short story was still a cash cow for talented writers. Reviewed by Zara Raab
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Tweens Binky to the Rescue By Ashley Spires Kids Can Press, $16.95, 64 pages Binky is back, and now he’s an official space cat. Sworn to protect his house from alien invaders (aka bugs), he accidentally falls through a window and lands in the backyard for the first time. Binky enjoys his time exploring the great outdoors, until a wasps’ nest puts an end to his fun. It isn’t until after he gets inside that he realizes he’s left his mouse, Ted, outside. Now Binky’s on a mission to get Ted back before the aliens can harm him. After all, no mouse gets left behind! Filled with the same expressive artwork as the first Binky book, Binky to the Rescue will be just as loved by Binky’s adoring fans. Spires does a good job of balancing humor in the text with visual jokes, and telling her stories from Binky’s view gives the story a unique quality that often lends to its funniness. Binky’s attempts at rescue are creative, and the flow of action from panel to panel is well done. It’s simply amazing how much an overweight house cat like Binky can work his way so easily into your heart. This one will be a hit with current Binky fans, and a good choice for young graphic novel readers new to the series as well. Reviewed by Alyssa Feller The Daily Comet: Boy Saves Earth from Giant Octopus! By Frank Asch Kids Can Press, $16.95, 32 pages Roger Palmer works at The Daily Comet, one of the city’s premiere sources of tabloid sensationalist “news,” but his son Hayward thinks The Daily Comet is jam-packed with nothing but nonsense. So, on Go to Work with a Parent Day, Roger tries to convince the skeptical Hayward that the world is just a little bit stranger than he believes. Will Hayward be able to explain away everything he sees, Sasquatch cab drivers and all, or will he finally encounter something that boggles the rational mind? The Daily Comet: Boy Saves Earth from Giant Octopus! is really a story about the intersection of fact and imagination, and Asch populates his story with all manner of joyful weirdness that evokes the childhood wonder most of us lose as we get older. (The fact that Roger still has it while Hayward doesn’t is a very interesting switch.) That would be enough right there, but the art seals the deal. It is absolutely won-
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derful, like newspaper photos rendered in gray-toned watercolors, and they add real panache and style to an already charming story. Kids will enjoy it, and parents will enjoy reading it. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas How to Train Your Dragon Book 6: A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons By Cressida Cowell Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $5.99, 177 pages In A Hero’s Guide to Dragons a trio of young Vikings: Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Camicazi attempt to steal a book locked up in the Viking Library—along the way they ride a Stealth Dragon, swordfight with the Librarian, evade Red Hot Itchyworms and a host of other horrors. “An attack by Red Hot Itchyworms feels as if every single nerve ending in your entire body is being tickled at exactly the same time. It is infinitely worse than having ants in your pants.” Author Cressida Cowell could have easily created a cookie-cutter predictable set of books for this series. However Book 6 not only introduces new characters and settings but also has a different pace and feeling—slow and eerie rather than the breakneck speed of Book 7. Despite having questionable ethics (lying, cheating, and stealing) and grammar, the characters are loyal, smart, and safety conscious (who knew dragons had seat belts?). Kids will love them. Parents, if they focus on the negatives, might not. This series is growing on me. The descriptive language, nonstop action (or in this case suspense), memorable characters, and doodles throughout the book will have kid’s devouring this book and searching for the next in the series. Along with the main story you get an added bonus of 30 pages of Dragonese dictionary and Dragon Identification. Reviewed by Jodi M. Webb
Does Publishing a Book Make You
a writer?
By Susan Henderson, author of Up from the Blue Back when my son was in second grade, I volunteered for Career Day to talk about being a writer. On the day of my talk, I came into the classroom with the four literary magazines where I’d published my stories and stood them on a table beside me. As the magazines toppled over and I continually but unsuccessfully tried to stand them up again, I spoke about the things I knew best: how to bring a character to life, how to tune in to the feel and smell of everyday objects, how to train your ear for rhythm and storytelling by constantly reading good books. And then I took questions. “Did you write ‘The Cat in the Hat’?” “No, I didn’t.” “Did you write ‘Harry Potter’?” “No, not that one either.” Every hand shot up with another guess until the teacher stepped in and said, “Mrs. Henderson, please tell the students what books you did write.” “Well,” I said slowly, suddenly feeling like an impostor and unable to speak the words that I hadn’t written any books at all, “I really just write for adults.” My talk came to a quick end, and only as I stood in the hall outside the classroom did I realize that the teacher had interpreted my strange answer to mean she’d brought a porn writer to speak to her second grade class. When I went home, the humiliation I felt had me questioning more than my performance that day. How could I call myself a writer when I was never paid for my work, when most of my stories were unfinished, and the completed ones were gathering rejection slips? Even those closest to me, who tried to be supportive, were baffled how I could write so slowly, how the things I’d published were so hard to find, and why I kept at it when so much about writing made me miserable. There were so many reasons to quit, but I couldn’t. I continued to wake up in the middle of the night to jot down the mysterious beginnings of stories and characters and scenes. I carried around typed pages, crossing out words, circling others, and drawing arrows here and there. I sent my stories to editors and agents who, if they wrote back at all, explained why they didn’t love them enough to say yes. Common sense told me to stop. I kept going because some inner voice demanded to be heard. Last month, I stood before an audience, reading from my debut novel. And afterward, as I signed a stack of books, including one to my son’s second grade teacher, I thought of that day six years earlier with the now-defunct magazines toppling over and the deep sense of shame I’d felt. Was I now suddenly a writer because of this book and these people standing in a line to have me sign it? What had changed, I realized, was only the sense of external validation, but what made me a writer was not the book. I had been a writer long before it existed. A writer is someone whose senses are wide awake—who notices the person sitting alone at a party, the sound of an acorn falling on the roof of a car, the unusual item a stranger sticks in his pocket. A writer can imagine something in such detail that it comes to life, can see a scene from all points of view, can choose words and put them in such an order that they sound like music. The qualities that make a person a writer are not defined by outside success but are embedded in the soul and carried out by the pen. As I travel from one bookstore to the next for readings, I hear the unmistakable voice of other writers in the audience. Their questions hint at their difficult and knotted first drafts, the unraveling that can happen to a story during revisions, the rejection letters that strike too close to the heart, the part of them that feels beaten down by the process, and something deeper that refuses to stay quiet. So here’s to you who are still waiting for recognition. Here’s to your stamina and your faith. Here’s to listening to your inner voice that urges you, against all common sense, to tell your story.
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History Madness at the Gates of the City: The Myth of American Innocence By Barry Spector Regent Press, $22.00, 520 pages When was the last time you looked at current events through the lens of Jungian archetypes, or perhaps looked for clues and meaning to history through the lens of mythology? Never? Same here, which is why I found Barry Spector’s Madness at the Gates of the City so fascinating… Mr. Spector is an historian who approaches the field “from the perspectives of myth, indigenous traditions and archetypal psychology” and by doing so attempts to illuminate our current society through Greek mythology revealing our nation’s unhealthy obsession with innocence and its shadows: ignorance, violence and greed. Spector’s argument is that American culture, a descendent of Greek culture, has become so abstracted that the people who live in it find themselves cut off from “authentic” living. The repression of a vast part of human behavior (the feminine, the creative, the uncontrollable, transitions for life stages, social interactions and institutions) has complicated the matter of our existence and perpetuated our shallow worship of both war and greed. Spector diagnoses America with madness, one which can only be treated by an acceptance of guilt. Vastly different from anything I’ve ever read, puzzling and persuasive at the same. Reviewed by Jonathon Howard Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius By Colin Dickey Unbridled Books, $15.95, 308 pages Who would have thought a book about grave robbery could be so romantic, as well as educational? Colin Dickey explores the phenomenon of cranioklepty, or skull theft, with a novelist’s panache. The story of the intrepid Joseph Rosenbaum and his gutsy wife, Terese, unfolds like a Victorian romantic thriller. Together they stymie both her mother and Prince Nicolas II in their attempts to keep them from marrying. Later the couple stole and kept hidden the skull of beloved composer and close friend, Franz Joseph Haydn.
“…the human skull was the inalienable proof of the unchallenged suitability of the white male for dominion over the entire world.” The practice of “skullduggery” is traced back to the pseudo science of deciphering various aspects of a personality by measuring and reading the bumps on the head, or phrenology. Phrenology is exposed as not just bad science, but over time as a thinly disguised excuse for racism, slavery, and colonization; setting dangerous stereotypes that still exist today. In order for phrenology to become officially sanctioned, the “scientists” needed skulls, and lots of them, sometimes resorting to theft. Cranioklepty is a very entertaining as well as informative history of a strange crime that reflects our human nature to discover our true nature, even beyond death. Reviewed by Stacy Kuning Calaveras Big Trees By Carol A. Kramer Arcadia Publishing, $21.99, 128 pages This book is about the giant sequoias of California that grow along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. They are, as the authors so aptly put it, “the last vestiges of a long-ago age.” Like most other grand, natural phenomena fallen into human hands, these extraordinary trees have barely survived our discovery. In this book, there are one hundred ninety-five, black-and-white photographs, most of them depicting people around one or more of these ancient trees in a historical succession that gives the reader the feeling of looking through someone’s old family album. Every photograph is informatively captioned. An innate sadness accompanies these pictures. Thoroughly researched, the authors tell of the struggle for survival these great trees have fought against greedy lumber industrialists and curiosity seekers. For the nature lover, it begs the question: How is it possible for mortal man to claim ownership of any living thing thousands of years old -- ownership that costs the creation its very life? Half of the proceeds from the sale of this book go to an association dedicated to preserve these natural wonders. Yet, I despair because of the book’s small size and homey format. Having walked among these giants in quiet awe, I know firsthand how utterly impossible it is to capture their majesty on film or describe them in any human language. However, I believe a larger hard cover
coffee table book might better serve the purpose. Reviewed by Casey Corthron At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance -- A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power By Danielle L. McGuire Knopf, $27.95, 324 pages This book is perspective-changing and eye-opening. We are taught in school that Rosa Parks was just a quiet, older black woman, too tired to give up her bus seat causing her to defy Jim Crow in 1955. To the young, this was painted as a solitary and spontaneous act that gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement. They were wrong. Rosa Parks was investigating cases of rape on black women by white men since 1944 for the NAACP. Long before, she became the patron saint of the bus boycott, she was a militant woman, great investigator, and virulent anti-rape activist. She fought in the trench es, hard. We have heard about lynching and even fictional cases where a black man is accused of raping a white woman, but the reverse, white men raping black women, was even more prevalent and yet we seldom hear a thing about it. At the time, there was no way a white jury of good old boys was going to convict a white man for that. Slavery may have been gone, but black women still did not own their own bodies. Women are the focus of At the Dark End of the Street. The leaders, the victims, the instigators are women, and the book paints a picture of them as the driving force for the Civil Rights Movement. Reviewed by Gwen Stackler The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills That Shaped the American Economy By Hardy Green Basic Books, $26.95, 264 pages The company town was a place of hard work for low wages. You lived, worked, and often died in the same town after toiling for the only employer. The boss ran everything from your work schedule, to where you lived, and what you could and could not do after work. You could not quit
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your job unless you wanted to be evicted, and you couldn’t complain about working conditions. These were places that exploited workers, yet they helped give rise to American capitalism, according to Hardy Green. Green takes a look at the history of the company town from its beginning in Lowell, Massachusetts, to the modern day equivalents of Google, Corning, and Microsoft. The author brings a pro-company town slant to the book. Besides the coal towns that sprung up in Appalachia and the West, company towns were not that bad. They often provided subsidized health care, rent, and a YMCA. At times Mr. Green refuses to dig any deeper and glosses over problems at the company towns. This reads more like an annual report than a critical history. Reviewed by Kevin Winter Battle of the Bulge (General Military) By Steven Zaloga Osprey Publishing, $25.95, 286 pages December 16, 1945: Hitler’s army, aiming to capture the port of Antwerp and thus rout Allied forces, launched an attack on overextended American defenses in the Ardennes. Badly weakened in forces and supplies, the Wehrmacht assault was halted January 3, as American reinforcements arrived and “Lightning Joe” Collins’ VII Corps rushed heavy armored divisions against the Panzer troops. But the Panzer divisions had managed to open a gap in American lines as far as the Meuse River — the “bulge” – and encircle the critical road junction at Bastogne. It took another month of hard fighting in the snow-covered fields of the Ardennes for the Americans to erase that bulge. Historian Steven Zaloga has collected documentary photographs of troops in the field, officers, tanks and guns, and the inevitable wreckage of war, as well as casualty charts and maps, and an array of helpful reader aids: a detailed chronology, glossary, bibliography, and index. In workmanlike prose, without attempting to convey the terror and excitement of battle, Zaloga analyzes both Allied and German strategies, leadership, squabbles among generals, problems in supplies and terrain, and other factors leading up to and culminating in the defeat of German forces by the Allies in the decisive Battle of the Bulge. Reviewed by Zara Raab
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Modern Literature Habit of a Foreign Sky: A Novel By Xu Xi Haven Books, $15.00, 281 pages As a child, Gail Szeto slept in a wooden bed with no mattress in a shabby part of Hong Kong. Now in mid-life, she moves in jet-setting global circles as a highly paid investment banker. With colleagues, she’s known for her creative deals, but outside work she’s selfrighteous, controlling, and confrontational. She often flies between New York and Hong Kong, and she’s up in the air about career, family, and sex, especially since the breakup of her marriage and the death of her young son two years earlier. When her mother is suddenly struck dead by a truck, Gail, too, comes crashing down. By chance, she meets Zavier, a suave lover of mixed background who’s raising a child under peculiar circumstances. Gail’s sudden passion leads her to confront for the first time her complicated and surprising past, her Chinese mother’s hidden life, and her own relationship to the wealthy American playboy who is now her only family. Deciding whether to accept a top job in New York, she meets new colleagues and players, who provide an insider’s view of a 21st century global life style in this, Xu Xi’s seventh novel, a finalist for the Inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize. Reviewed by Zara Raab Radiant Daughter: A Novel By Patricia Grossman Triquarterly, $29.95, 261 pages Mental illness and how it affects a young woman and her family is the theme of this readable novel. Elise Blazek is a bright, straight-A student, who shows signs of bipolar disease just as she’s ready to attend Princeton University. Her mother Irena, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, cannot accept that her promising daughter could be less than perfect, and expects her to snap out of it.
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Meanwhile, Elise distances herself from her family as she struggles to live her life. Although she manages to get an advanced degree and a teaching position at a university, she goes through several bouts of extreme highs and lows, mostly when she’s off her medication. She becomes paranoid and unreasonable, loses jobs and men, and makes impulsive decisions. While her mother tells her friends that Elise is successful, Wiley, her best friend from college, tries to keep her on track. Elise’s family finally comes to understand her mental illness during a dramatic climax, but not in the way readers expect. In her unstable periods, Elise is extremely disagreeable, yet surprisingly sympathetic. The author creates a realistic portrayal of mental illness without being preachy or overdramatic. This is a novel worth reading. Reviewed by Leslie Wolfson The Einstein Enigma: A Novel By José Rodrigues Dos Santos William Morrow, $25.99, 485 pages The Einstein Enigma can be described in one word: frustrating. The book had a great concept and a deep philosophical layer that was enjoyable, but the plot falls flat on its face. The story follows that of Cryptologist Professor Thomas Noronha as he stumbles into Einstein’s last manuscript that Einstein wrote before he died. The only reason he is even in the story is because he is the best at unlocking codes and puzzles, otherwise he’d be at home all day. The Iranian government asks him to solve a puzzle in Einstein’s manuscript and our CIA asks him to be a double agent. This all sounds so exciting but the action is slowed down by talking heads and a questionable plot device. The majority of the book is people sitting around and drinking coffee while they have one-sided dialogue. The book finally picks up the pace when Thomas is captured by Iranians
and is thrown in jail. I didn’t like Thomas that much; he came off as whiny and impotent in the story. All the characters actions seem forced and wooden, like puppets on strings instead of real people. Even the “spontaneous” romance that develops between Thomas and the Iranian scientist feels forced and awkward. The Einstein Enigma still has a beautiful message and interesting outlook on religion, but is that message worth sifting through that many pages? Maybe that’s the real “Einstein’s” enigma. Reviewed by Kevin Brown Getting to Happy By Terry McMillan Viking, $27.95, 400 pages Getting to Happy is set fifteen years after Terry McMillan’s Waiting to Exhale. Bernadine, Savannah, Gloria and Robin are still in Phoenix and still trying to navigate the everyday trials of relationships, children, jobs, and the unexpected turns life delivers. As the story opens each woman is faced with a challenge that forces her to re-examine her life and actively decide how she will move forward. Getting to Happy is very character centric, with much of the story told through conversation and remembered events. The pacing is not always even but, ultimately, this does not get in the way of the story. Additionally, McMillan makes it very easy to relate to this group of friends with her knack for illustrating the immediacy of everyday choices. McMillan made an interesting choice in depicting the group as having lost touch a bit in the past decade as life came between them. Seeing the depth of their friendships as they pull together
again will keep readers turning pages. Those drawn to character-driven novels will likely come away satisfied. The experience will be even richer for readers who enjoy stories focused on everyday life. Reviewed by Rachel Wallace Philip Roth: Novels 1993-1995: Operation Shylock / Sabbath’s Theater By Philip Roth, Ross Miller, Editor Library of America, $35.00, 842 pages The 1990s were the decade of the Internet, cell phones, and video gaming, but it was also the decade of the Spice Girls, Sex and the City, and Monica Lewinsky, and it was the decade of Yitzak Rabin’s assassination, Rwandan genocide, and the Oklahoma City bombing. Philip Roth’s novels included in this Library of America volume–– Operation Shylock and Sabbath’s Theater–– while not as important as his later trilogy (with American Pastoral and The Human Stain), reflect the sexual and political frenzy of the era. In Operation Shylock, a character named Philip Roth encounters another Philip Roth who goes around announcing that Israel, founded as a safe haven for Jews, is the most dangerous place they could be, and urging Jews of European descent to return to their “homelands” in Europe. When a Holocaust survivor donates a million dollars to the cause of Diasporism, the fun is just beginning in this madcap primer on ArabIsraeli relations. Roth wrestles with his doppelganger as Jacob wrestled with the angel in the Hebrew Bible, and as Sabbath’s Theater’s exuberant and unquenchable Mickey Sabbath, aging puppeteer, wrestles with the ghosts and puppets of his past. The Library of America edition includes a detailed chronology of the ingenious writer’s life and work. Reviewed by Zara Raab
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