December 2014 Reviews

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman

This was an interesting book. The story goes back and forth between present day Isabelle, who is in foster care because her mother murdered her father when she was a child, and Clara, a woman put into a mental institution by her family when she fell in love with the "wrong" man. Isabelle's foster parents work for a museum and when they find suitcases from former mental patients at the Willard Hospital they start looking into some of their stories. They find Clara's trunk and after Isabelle reads her journal she realizes Clara was never crazy, just a woman who wanted to marry the man she loved not the man her parents arranged for her to marry. As Isabelle digs into Clara's story she begins to question why her own mother killed her father - she never read any of her mother's letters because she hated her for taking her father away and forcing her into foster care. As the two women's stories unfold, Isabelle realizes she has more in common with Clara and finds herself desperate to know what happened to her. 

The beginning of the book was REALLY slow and in hindsight I wonder if all of the bullying Isabelle experienced was really helpful to the story - it was a major focus and then just drops off the radar. As the stories went on you definitely wanted to know what happened to Clara and her story shows the plight of many men and women who lived and died in horrific mental institutions who were NOT mentally ill. Without giving anything away the ending was pretty far fetched - a lot of things came together a little too well and very unlikely to have actually happened. I did want to find out what happened and you do pull for Isabelle and Clara, but not the best book I ever read. Good, but not great.

The Dinner by Herman Koch (Books & Banter book club)

Paul Lohman, his wife Claire, his brother Serge and his wife Babette meet for dinner at an upscale Holland restaurant. Both couples have fifteen year old sons and they've met for dinner to discuss something that affects both boys. The whole book follows this one meal, but throughout each chapter Paul looks back on other events that have happened that shape his relationship with his brother and with his family. Up until the half way point you think Paul is the more "normal" sibling, but then the story swiftly takes a turn as Paul shows his real self through a few increasingly horrifying memories. By the end of the book you don't really know what to think of either Lohman family. This was selected by one of my book clubs and it should make for a really good and interesting discussion. It's very different but it reminded me of Defending Jacob in that at a certain point you really see that a character is a sociopath with no conscience or moral fiber at all. Somehow Herman Koch creates an entire family of sociopaths and the results are unbelievable.

King's Mountain by Sharyn McCrumb (Evening Edition book club)

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. After reading the inside cover of the book it seemed like there would be a lot of characters to keep up with and it just didn't sound great, but it was really good. Based on the real Revolutionary War battle of King's Mountain, McCrumb does a great job of setting the scene for the battle and what drew these "over mountain men" into the war. A Scottish born British Army Major, Patrick Ferguson, is trying to make a name for himself in the Revolutionary war. He basically threatens the "over mountain men" militias that if they don't come to the King's side he will come to the mountains and destroy them. This moves the militia leaders to band together and go after Ferguson before he comes after them. The main character is John Sevier and his character is very likable and he's an obvious leader who does a great job with his men. I really liked how the book was laid out and how there was a lot of background given, but it wasn't overwhelming. I didn't know about this battle and it's fascinating that this was the "turning point" for the Revolutionary War that helped turn the tide against the British. Overall, it was a really interesting book and I thought the characters were really well written. There was also a lot of great dialog. My only complaint was that there was also a few sections of chapters from the perspective of Virginia Sal, a washerwoman who helped Ferguson, and Virginia Paul, who seemed to have a long history with Ferguson, but that was never made clear. It's kind of implied that Virginia Paul is a ghost or something, but her whole part in the book did not make any sense and could have been left out. Virginia Sal's sections were helpful and gave a voice to what was probably a large percentage of the population who didn't care which side won - they were just trying to survive either way. Overall, a really solid, interesting book.

Operation Christmas Child by Franklin Graham

I'm a big fan of Samaritan's Purse and the great relief work they do around the world. I've been participating in the Operation Christmas Child shoebox collection since 1997 or 98 and it's become one of my favorite holiday traditions. I look for things for our shoeboxes throughout the year so that I can get some really nice things to pack. This book walks through the history of OCC and how it continues to grow and change lives around the world. There are some real tear-jerker stories in here about the countless children who's lives have been touched by a simple shoebox of gifts. I was amazed at how many churches were started because of families and communities inspired to change their lives because of the OCC shoeboxes. There are also some really cool miraculous events that show just how much God's hand is on this organization and on these shoeboxes. One of my favorite stories from the book was at one shoebox distribution event they realized there were more kids than shoeboxes and they turned up 14 shoeboxes short. Then one of the distributors went back and was looking in the container and found an overlooked box with exactly 14 shoeboxes that were for the gender and age range of the kids who were waiting. If you're a fan of Samaritan's Purse and OCC then it's definitely worth reading this book. My only complaint was that I felt like the writing was a little choppy - the chapters are very short usually only a page or two. It was hard to get a feel for the overall history when it was written more like a collection of short clips of stories. There were lots of great and miraculous stories, but I didn't think it was written very well. I would still recommend it though.



All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris where he works for the Museum of Natural History. When she is six she loses her sight and her father helps her learn her way around by building a scale model of their neighborhood. When the Nazis invade France they must flee to the countryside with a valuable artifact from the museum. They end up at her great-uncle's house where he's been a recluse since he fought in WWI. On the other side of the war Werner and his sister grow up in a German orphanage. Werner is brilliant with electronics and radios and quickly gains the attention of the academy for Hitler Youth. Werner quickly realizes that the academy is training the young Hitler Youth to be brutal, heartless killers and wants no part of it, but he knows once you're in there is no way out. Werner and Marie-Laure's stories come together in the small, walled seaside town of Saint-Malo. While their lives only briefly intersect the impact they have on each other is astounding and long-lasting. This is an incredibly beautiful book. The main character's stories are so compelling and you just can't put this book down because you can't wait to find out what happens to everyone. This novel shows the devastating affects of war, but also how beauty can still be found even in the midst of horror and devastation.



Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

This was a pretty crazy book. When Natty Wainwright's younger daughter requires surgery while away on a school trip, she is relieved to know that it coincided with her friend Eve's visit from the US. Natty is glad that Eve is there to help her husband Sean and their older daughter Alice. She is only gone for 10 days, but when she gets back home her entire life is turned upside down. Eve has seduced Sean and he asks Natty for a divorce. She is devastated, but tries to keep it together for her daughters. Then she gets a note that says Eve has done this before - with dire results. Natty starts looking into her friend's history and is surprised to find that everything Eve told her was a lie. What she discovers is disturbing and Natty has to figure out how to outsmart Eve and get her family back. This is a fast-paced thriller that keeps you reading to find out what happens next. I liked that the story seemed realistic and everything didn't get neatly wrapped up at the end. Not quite as well written and disturbing as Gone Girl, but in the same vein. Definitely worth reading.



The Wild Truth by Carine McCandless

I really liked Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer which tells the story of Chris McCandless. So, I was really excited to read this book by his sister Carine. In The Wild Truth Carine recounts her childhood with Chris in their incredibly abusive home. Her father kept two families for awhile and even tried to get both families to live together! Chris and Carine were born while their father was still married to his first wife. They had an unbelievably dysfunctional childhood and after reading this there should be no surprise why Chris chose to get as far away from his parents as possible. Carine had a pretty tumultuous young adulthood because she left her parents home the minute she turned 18. She had 3 failed marriages and made lots of mistakes. But, in this book she owns all her mistakes and fully understands that her family caused dysfunction in her life too. I think it's great and amazing that she has such a close relationship with her other siblings from her father's first wife. Those kids could have hated her and Chris, but they saw that they were all in the same boat. Her siblings are what helped Carine get through her hardest times - just like Chris did when they were growing up. You can feel her love for him through the pages of this book. Once she realized that trying to protect her family by minimizing the abuse and the real reasons why Chris left was actually hurting Chris's memory, she decided to write this book to clear things up. It makes you wonder what Chris would have been like if he had made it out of Alaska, of course if he had we would never know since his death is what led to these books. This is really a beautiful tribute to the love between siblings.

November 2014 Reviews

In the Name of God by Cameron Stauth

In the Name of God is an epic book that describes a series of landmark legal cases that changed the way faith-healing churches operated. Faith-healing churches believe that God is the ultimate healer and therefore if they have enough faith they will never be sick. They won't go to doctors or take their children to doctors even if they're dying. Christian Scientists are the most commonly known faith-healing church, but there are many offshoots. In 1977 a woman named Rita Swan lost her son to bacterial meningitis because she and her husband were members of a faith-healing church. It devastated them both and that tragedy turned them away from faith-healing. But it also inspired Rita to fight religious shield laws that allowed churches to get away with what she considered child abuse and murder by allowing their children to suffer and die from common ailments that could be easily treated with medical care.

This book gives a brief history and overview of the Christian Science faith and how it's transformed over the years. The majority of the book focuses on The Followers, an off-shoot of the Christian Science Church, based in Oregon City, Oregon. After far too many children are dying needlessly every year in the Followers church, an insider named Patrick calls the police. He becomes a crucial informant to the police who rarely find someone willing to do what Patrick does by continuing to live in the close-knit Followers community, but working as a double-agent informing the police of sick and dying children. Because of Rita Swan's relentless work to change religion shield laws, the authorities in Oregon City are able to arrest the parents of 4 children who either died or were disabled because of their parent's lack of medical care. These cases shook up the Followers church enough to finally enact some long-overdue theological changes.

While this book is pretty long at 450 pages and the subject matter is not exactly happy, but it is so fascinating and horrific that you just can't put it down. It's truly amazing what people will do in the name of God, but even more amazing is when just one person stands up what can result from that act of courage. A fascinating book about when religion goes wrong and how a few people fighting for what's right changed history and saved countless lives.

A quote I really liked:

"The Followers were pleasant people, Lewman thought, but most of them seemed to be brainwashed. They'd forgotten one fundamental fact: Freedom of religion must include freedom within a religion - freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and the freedom to follow your conscience - or it's not a religion at all." (p. 48)

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan (Books & Banter book club)

I was really looking forward to reading this one, but it was disappointing. The actual story is really interesting and unique, but the way the book is structured makes for frustrating reading (for me anyway). Each chapter has about a page or so from different women who lived and worked at Oak Ridge and following each chapter was a few pages about the history of splitting atoms and understanding atomic energy. The pages about atomic energy could be hard to follow and were very technical. I enjoyed the women's stories, but because you got so little from each woman in each chapter it was hard to remember who was who and keep their stories straight. 

The two biggest things I got from this book was how incredibly secretive this whole operation was and how that could almost never happen today. And how many of the women agreed to jobs where they didn't know where it was, what they were doing, who they were working for, etc. and yet they signed up in droves! And it never occurred to many of them to ever question anything - not how most women are today for sure. Overall, the story was interesting and I did like aspects of the book, but thought the book was overly detailed and it could be hard to keep each woman's story straight. 

A few quotes I liked:

"The Project liked high school girls, especially those from rural backgrounds. Recruiters sought them out relentlessly, feeling young women were easy to instruct. They did what they were told. They weren't overly curious. If you tell a young woman of 18 from a small-town background to do something, she'll do it, no questions asked. Educated women and men, people who had gone to college and learned just enough to think that they might 'know' something, gave you problems. The Project scoured the countryside of Tennessee and beyond looking for recent graduates." (p. 69)

"There had been plans for an entire Negro Village, one that would have resembled the main Townsite with construction like the white homes, separate but essentially equal. But as housing became limited throughout CEW in 1943, it was decided that the Negro Village would become East Village - for whites. Lieutenant Colonel Crenshaw, who was in charge of the program, explained why. Negroes didn't want nice houses, he wrote. His office had received virtually no applications for the village. The negroes felt more comfortable in the huts, that was what was familiar to them - or so went Crenshaw's rationale...The hutments remained, no matter one's marital status, earnings, or seniority, the only housing for black workers." (p. 91)

"The Project probably never saw this coming. The government wasn't interested in social experiments, didn't give a second thought to the cultural-anthropological ramifications of the world they had set in motion. The Project had put all the pieces in place: single young men and women from all over the country. Wives. Mothers...A bond formed among them. For those who chose to stay, there was going to be a community and family,planned or otherwise, like it or not. The military may have been in charge, but the irrepressible life force that is woman - that was well beyond their control. The only thing that would be temporary was the war." (p. 98)

"Over in the hospital, care had taken a disturbing turn for the automobile-crash patient HP-12, formerly known as Ebb Cade. He had been set on a new course of treatment not related to his immediate injuries: The injections had begun April 10, 1945. The first dose that was administered to HP-12 was 4.7 micrograms of 49: plutonium. Years later, a Dr. Howland would state that he had initially objected to the instructions he'd received to inject HP-12 with plutonium. There was no consent given from the patient to proceed with the injections. But he stated he performed them in any case, because he said he was given a direct order from his supervisor, Dr. Friedell. This was an order that Dr. Friedell, for his part, later claimed never to have given. Indeed, Dr. Friedell said HP-12's injections were administered by a Dr. Dwight Clark. This has never been resolved. The doctors made plans to collect biological samples - tissues, urine, feces - all of which would be tested for the presence of plutonium, to see how it would travel, how much of it would remain in the body, and what effect it might have on HP-12...As for HP-12's broken bones, they were not set until April 15, 20 days after the crash. The doctors felt it would be easier that way, considering the tests that needed to be done...The doctors had previously noted tooth decay and inflammation of the gums in the patient. So the doctor - Clark or Howland, depending on who later was relating the story - decided that in addition to the bone samples, they would remove 15 of HP-12's teeth." (p. 221-2)

"Early reports that the atomic bomb could keep killing long after its blast had subsided were dismissed by the US military as propaganda. The Allied occupation of Japan, from the end of the war through April 1952, made it easier to censor news reports. For this reason, both the Japanese and American public were slow to learn of the longer-lasting consequences of this new weapon." (p. 291)

"Ebb Cade was not the only test subject. It turned out that between 1945 and 1947, 18 people were injected with plutonium, specifically: 11 at Rochester, New York, 3 at the University of Chicago, 3 at UC San Francisco, and 1, Ebb Cade, at Oak Ridge. Several thousand human radiation experiments were conducted between 1944 and 1974. In 1994, President Clinton appointed the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments (ACHRE) to investigate these and other experiments funded by the United States government. Their final report was published in 1996." (p. 293)

"Once her kids were a bit older, Dot took a job at the museum [of Atomic Energy in Oak Ridge] as a docent. She had enjoyed it at first, being able to share the work she had done as a cubical operator. Veterans and civilians alike were proud of their contributions to World War II. Why shouldn't she be?...But one woman in particular strode up to Dot, glaring, and asked, 'Aren't you ashamed you helped build a bomb that killed all those people?' The truth was, Dot did have conflicting feelings. There was sadness at the loss of life, yes, but that wasn't the only thing she felt. They had all been so happy, so thrilled, when the war ended. Didn't any of these people remember that? And yes, Oak Ridgers felt horrible when they saw the pictures of the aftermath in Japan. Relief. Fear. Joy. Sadness. Decades later, how could she explain this to someone who hadn't lived through that war, let alone in Oak Ridge? Dot knew the woman wanted a simple answer, so she gave her one. 'Well,' she said, 'they killed my brother.'" (p. 304-5)

All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

Allison Weiss has a perfect looking life - she loves her husband, they have a huge beautiful home outside Philadelphia, she has a smart and beautiful 5-year-old daughter, and her "on the side" blog has become incredibly successful. So why does she feel like she's drowning? When Allison hurts her back at the gym her doctor prescribes Vicodin she describes it "like that scene in The Wizard of Oz where everything goes from black-and-white to color." And from that moment on she begins to rely more and more on the pills to get her through the day. Soon she is quickly going through a 30 day supply in half that time, then a week, then a few days. Allison thinks no one notices anything different about her, but her friends and family see her change. When she has an incident at her daughter's school, her husband steps in and demands she go to rehab. But, someone like Allison doesn't need rehab - she's not using illegal drugs and isn't prostituting herself to pay for a fix. She decides to "fake it" to get through rehab so she can get back to her life. But, will she be able to "fake it" or will she really turn her life around?

Jennifer Weiner does an excellent job portraying a "normal" woman's slip into prescription pill addiction. This is another fantastic book by one of my favorite authors.

Unlikely Heroes by Jennifer Holland

This is another great collaboration of animal stories. Instead of animal friendships like the previous books, this one is a collection of stories about animals that acted in heroic ways. The book is divided into 3 sections - Superheroes, Everyday Heroes, Big-Picture Heroes. There are some really great stories and if you're an animal lover you will love this book! Each story is only a few pages and includes lots of pictures, so it's a really quick read. Another great collection from Jennifer Holland!

Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them by Isaac Fitzgerald

I was disappointed with this book. I love tattoos and hearing the stories behind them, so I thought this would be a really interesting book. One of the authors explains the artwork in the book as "A tattoo, whether an ornate full back piece or a scratcher job done in somebody's living room, is art. A photograph of a tattoo never quite captures it; here, art represents art, art representing stories, stories representing life." (p. x) So each story is a drawing of a person and their tattoo(s). Some of the stories are for older, first tattoos, so a photograph might not do it justice, but that's what I would have rather seen. Some of the stories were interesting, but some were just a line or two without much of a story. Overall, it was disappointing and I wouldn't recommend it.

Swimming in the Moon by Pamela Schoenewaldt

This was a unique book that captured a definitive time in America's history. In 1905 Lucia is living in Italy with her mother, Teresa, as servants in the villa of a Count. Teresa can be "difficult" and "moody" so from a young age Lucia learns how to help calm her mother down. But, one day Teresa goes too far and attacks the Count, a fellow servant helps them escape to America. In America Teresa and Lucia find a life of factory drudgery awaits them, until Teresa's voice is discovered by a vaudeville producer. Soon she is travelling all over the US as a vaudeville act while Lucia stays in Cleveland to finish high school. But, all too soon Teresa's demons catch up with her and she has a nervous breakdown. Lucia must give up her dream of college to care for her mentally ill mother. Will Lucia ever break the cycle of poverty and live the American Dream?

My only complaint about the book was that the first half was pretty slow and while a LOT happens in the second half everything wraps up a little too neatly for Lucia. I do think the overall picture of immigrant life in America seemed pretty accurate and Lucia's struggles seem realistic too. The author also does a good job of incorporating labor issues and reform pretty seamlessly into the storyline. Overall, a good but not great book.

October 2014 Cookbooks

Brown Sugar Kitchen by Tanya Holland

Brown Sugar Kitchen is a collection of recipes from a restaurant of the same name in Oakland, CA. The author and chef owner of the restaurant was inspired by her Southern grandmother's cooking, but also her culinary training in Paris, France. Her food is a reinvention of Southern classic dishes. There were quite a few recipes I'd like to try and I'd love to be able to check out the restaurant one day. I love any cookbook with Southern or Southern inspired dishes and this one fits the bill.

Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen by Dana Cowin

I thought this would be a really interesting and helpful cookbook, but I was disappointed. The author works for Food & Wine magazine and was always embarrassed that her home cooking wasn't better since she had such good resources through her job. In the cookbook she works with various chefs to learn how to correct her kitchen mistakes. There were a few good tips (let baking ingredients come to room temp, read a recipe all the way through before you start, etc.), but overall it was disappointing. There weren't any recipes I wanted to try either. Overall, it did have some good tips, but not a great cookbook.

My Prairie Cookbook by Melissa Gilbert

This is part cookbook and part photo book/memoir about Melissa Gilbert's time playing Laura Ingalls on the TV show Little House on the Prairie. Throughout the books are tons of photographs and memories of Gilbert's time on the TV show. Some of the recipes are ones inspired by the show and others are just some of Gilbert's personal favorites. Overall, it was an interesting book particularly if you were a fan of the Little House on the Prairie TV show. There are a few recipes I'd like to try, but nothing ground-breaking or super creative in my opinion - good, but not great.

My Perfect Pantry by Geoffrey Zakarian

I love watching Geoffrey Zakarian as a judge on Chopped and on Iron Chef, so I was excited to check out this cookbook. The basic premise is that by stocking your pantry with good staples it makes cooking good meals regularly easier. Zakarian goes over the pantry staples he would recommend and gives a few recipes for each staple. There are definitely a few recipes I'd like to try from this one. Overall, not a new cookbook premise, but worth checking out.

October 2014 Reviews

Motherland by Maria Hummel (book club)

This is one of those books that I would have never read if not for my book club. Just on the face of it I thought it would be another hard, depressing read about World War II. While parts of the book were hard and depressing it was really interesting and much better than I thought it would be. The story follows a German family during WWII. Frank Kappus' wife died in childbirth with their third son. He remarries to Liesl shortly before he is drafted - Frank is a surgeon who's called to treat injured soldiers. While Liesl tries to take care of her three step-sons back home, the middle child Anselm begins to act strangely. Liesl thinks it's grief from the loss of his mother and worry about his father being away, but soon Anselm draws the attention of a prominent doctor who threatens to take Anselm away to Hadamar, the infamous institution for "unfit" children. From what little Liesl knows of Hadamar she does not want Ani being sent there. She takes great pains to keep all of her step-children safe during the war. Meanwhile, Frank is struggling being away from his family and having to try to treat the horrific wounds of war. The story is told from both Frank and Liesl's perspectives which helps give a more well-rounded story. 

The most interesting thing about this book is that it's about WWII from the German perspective, but never mentions the Holocaust or any of the more well-known and infamous parts of the war. Hadamar is mentioned, but most people didn't know the extent of the euthanasia of "unfit" children that took place there. I think the author is trying to make the point that not every German knew the horrors that went on during WWII, but history paints it like the whole country knew and supported Hitler's plans. Overall, an interesting look at WWII from the German citizen's perspective.

A Farm Dies Once a Year by Arlo Crawford

This was a disappointing farm read for me. Arlo Crawford's parents were "back-to-the-land" hippies who decided to try to make a living farming vegetables - and they've been successful. Arlo and his sister were raised on the farm, but never wanted to come back and help run it or take it over from their parents. This book is about Arlo coming back when he's in his early 30's and between jobs and isn't sure what he wants to do next. He works the summer on the farm with his girlfriend Sarah. When Arlo was 12 his parents good friend Bert, who was also a farmer, was murdered on his farm by a drunk neighbor. A lot of the book is about that incident and how is affected Arlo and his family. Obviously, it was a shocking, terrible event, so it's understandable why it's brought up, but it does become the focus of a lot of the book. 

Overall, it was disappointing to me because while Arlo seems to genuinely love the farm and enjoy working there, he still doesn't want to take over from his parents. There is such a huge need for more small, sustainable farms that I hope his parent's farm doesn't fulfill the title one day and become A Farm Dies Once a Year. There are a lot better farm memoirs out there than this one.

California by Eden Lepucki

I had been looking forward to reading this book for a long time and it did not disappoint! Cal and Frida left the remains of L.A. behind and are now living in a shack in the wilderness. They work hard every day just to survive. For the most part they are content with their small world of just the two of them, but when Frida gets pregnant she starts to realize that they may not be able to raise a child on their own. Cal and Frida leave their shack and start looking for other people. When they find a fortified settlement they feel like this community can offer them protection and friendship. But this settlement is full of secrets and soon Cal and Frida realize they are not sure who they can trust - including each other. In flashbacks the reader gets both Frida and Cal's back stories, which help round out the story.

Like many dystopian novels California explores what lengths people will go to when it comes to survival. It's interesting to see how this small community comes together for the "greater good," but also what tears them apart. Overall, this was a really interesting book and seemed pretty realistic when it comes to what life would be like in those circumstances. This is Lepucki's first novel, so I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.

Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck by Amy Alkon

This book is hilarious! Amy Alkon made me laugh out loud throughout this book. As the title implies, this is a book about manners for "real" people who may occasionally drop the f-bomb. If you're reading this book or thinking about reading this book you probably already have basic manners, so this is not an Emily Post-type book of etiquette, but rather how to deal with common lack-of-manners situations and also how to recognize your own possible lack of manners in certain areas. The chapters each focus on a particular situation such as traveling, dating, cell phones, etc. There are also some hilarious photos of manners "fails." Alkon is a proponent of manners "shaming" where you call someone out (in a calm and courteous way) for their lack of manners - either in person or by photographing a situation and posting it online. Overall, there is a lot of great advice for dealing with rudeness from friends and strangers alike - all written in a hilarious and fun way. 

Here are a few quotes I really liked:

"But, in general, my ire at the rude blithely taking advantage of the rest of us overwhelms my fear of being gutted with a kitchen implement, and has ever since I started looking at rudeness for what it really is: theft. If somebody steals your wallet, it's a physical thing that's there and then gone, so you get that you've been robbed. The rude, on the other hand, are stealing valuable intangibles like your attention (in the case of cell phone shouters who privatize public space as their own)...Letting the rude get away with robbing you emboldens them to keep robbing you - and the rest of us. We all need to start identifying the rude as the thieves they are, which is what it will take for more people to get mad enough to get up on their hind legs and refuse to be victimized." (p. 12-13)

"Happy people tend to be kind or, at least, uninterested in tearing other people down. Miserable people often want to lash out at the world - and there you are, so conveniently located as a target for their hate. When one of these spitebags hurls a put-down at you, they expect that you'll either try to fight back or just stand there blinking and wishing you could disappear. Instead, you should do the last thing they'd expect: Look straight at them for a moment, and coolly call them on their rottenness with a remark like 'Clearly, you must have had a pretty bad day to feel the need to say something so nasty to me. I hope you feel better.' (Sincerity is not required here - just believability - so say it devoid of anger, and sound like you mean it.)" (p. 40-1)

"What the doomsaying hysterics fail to see is that the Internet is a tool, same as a paring knife. The paring knife can be used to cut up an apple for a baby, to carve 'B.L. love M.C.' on a tree, or to stab somebody 300 times. Likewise, the Internet itself doesn't alienate people. It's the most amazing connector of humans we've ever had - that is, providing those of us on it have the guts, imagination, and good manners to use it that way." (p. 117-8)

"It's seriously cool that a whole bunch of people can get into a big metal tube in Los Angeles, hurtle through the sky, and be in New York five or six hours later. We're all so used to airplane travel that we mostly forget to be amazed by it. Of course, these days, we're sometimes just too angry to be amazed by it. Just getting through the airport to the gate is an ugly ordeal, thanks to the 'security theater,' security expert Bruce Schneier's term for our wildly wasteful and idiotic pretend security that treats every American with a plane ticket as a plausible suspect." (p. 177)

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

Jojo Moyes is my new favorite author! Every book she writes is even better than the one before. In One Plus One the lives of single mother Jess, her math genius daughter Tanzie, her goth step-son Nicky, and tech millionaire Ed all collide on a crazy road trip trying to get Tanzie to a math Olympiad. While Jess and Ed couldn't have less in common on the surface, they have each been hurt by their ex's. Jess has been raising two children with no help from her ex because he's too depressed to work, while Ed is now facing potential jail time and ruin for insider trading with his ex-girlfriend. Just when it seems like Jess and Ed might work out another secret comes to light. Will they be able to work past this new problem or will their relationship be over before it even started? Lots of surprises at the end and the whole time you just can't put the book down because you have to know what happens next. Another incredibly great book from Jojo Moyes!

September 2014 Cookbooks

Urban Pantry: Tips & Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable & Seasonal Kitchen by Amy Pennington

This is a unique cook book in that it is more than just a collection of recipes - it's a guide for stocking and creating a pantry that makes it easier to cook from. The author was inspired by a friend of hers who loved to eat her homemade food, but kept next to nothing on hand in his apartment. She started creating a list of pantry essentials for him that eventually turned into this book. Each chapter goes over a staple or staple category like whole grains, beans, eggs, etc. and each chapter has recipes that incorporate or focus on those staples. There are also chapters on small batch preserving and growing a "pantry garden." Overall, I liked it and there were a few recipes I'd like to try out plus it inspired me to revamp my own pantry soon.

Pie Love by Warren Brown

This book will inspire you to make a pie or multiple pies! This book is full of awesome pie recipes. There are only 5 chapters - piecrusts, sweet pie fillings, tart crusts, sweet tarts, and savory pies. I really liked how the author had multiple different pie crust recipes that he then paired with different fillings. I already have a pie crust recipe I like, but I definitely want to try the vanilla bean and chocolate pie crusts. He also includes gluten-free and vegan pie crust recipes. This is just a great cook book to inspire you to try some new pie variations. Since we're heading into fall I think I'll try some new recipes out soon.

September 2014 Reviews

How to Catch a Frog: and Other Stories of Family, Love, Dysfunction, Survival, and DIY by Heather Ross

Heather Ross grew up in a very dysfuctional and unconventional home. She never learned what a happy marriage looked like, how to pay bills, or the importance of a career to support yourself. Many of the adults in her life never worked and the priorities were keeping beer and cigarettes in stock not food. Heather and her twin sister Christie were born on land in Vermont that their grandfather owned. Their parents split up shortly after their birth and they lived with their mother who was supported monetarily by her father. As an adult Heather quickly begins to realize just how much she was neglected as a child and how different her upbringing was from most of her peers. How to Catch a Frog is a collection of stories from Heather's childhood into adulthood and becoming a parent herself. The stories are interesting, but in my opinion they get better and better as the book goes on. The later half of the stories are from when Heather is an adult trying to figure out her life. 

I laughed out loud when I read this quote in the book:

[After finding out she's pregnant] "The next day I called my father, who was genuinely thrilled for me. This gave me new hope and motivated me to get dressed and walk to the bookstore, where I bought a stack of books about pregnancy and newborns. They sat next to me, in a neat pile, on the table. Every few days I would try to pick one up and read through whatever chapter seemed relevant to me at that stage, but I would instantly feel such a bitter anxiety beginning to grow out of the pit of my stomach and into my chest that I would have to put the book down immediately and reach for the remote control. I watched episode after episode of 16 and Pregnant, each one filling me with a sense of competence that no book could provide." (p. 223)

Mary Coin by Marisa Silver (Books & Banter book club)

I really enjoyed this book. It creates a fictional story around the famous Dorothea Lange Depression photograph "Migrant Mother." The story is told from 3 people's perspectives - Mary Coin, the subject of the photograph, Vera Dare, the photographer, and Walker Dodge, who's family owns some of the citrus groves in California that hired migrant workers. All three of these people's lives are intertwined in ways they never expected. After reading about the famous photograph I realized that the author stayed true to the basic facts about the "Migrant Mother" in this story, she just adds fictionalized details to round out the story. I liked that it was told from 3 different perspectives because you got to see all sides of the same story. Overall, it was definitely an interesting book that highlights the incredible hardships many families endured during the Great Depression.

Guests on Earth by Lee Smith (book club)

I didn't really have any preconceived ideas of this book, but it wasn't great. The story follows Evalina Toussaint who was born to an exotic dancer in New Orleans. Her mother takes up with a married man and they have a child together, but after the child dies Evalina's mother commits suicide. Her married lover's family takes her in, but soon sends her off to the Highland Hospital in Asheville, NC. While Evalina is not mentally ill, she has obviously endured a lot in her short life. She does come to heal emotionally and mentally, but because she really has nowhere else to go she is in and out of Highland as both a patient and eventually a staff member for most of her life. The main thread of the story is Evalina's interactions with Zelda Fitzgerald who is also an on-again, off-again patient at Highland. But, Evalina doesn't have a lot of one-on-one interaction with Zelda - she does however make LOTS of friends with the various patients and staff that come through Highland. Many of the patients like her come back multiple times over the years. The story ends with a devastating fire that broke out and killed many patients at the hospital. After the fire Evalina is able to move on and goes back to New Orleans.

I think one of the things Smith is trying to point out is how many women during this time period were deemed "crazy" or "sick" that were really depressed housewives or abused in terrible ways, yet somehow at fault themselves. In Evalina's case her problem is that she's an orphan, not that she's mentally ill. I also didn't like how Evalina kind of played two guys at the hospital - one a doctor on staff and the other a patient. She was sleeping with them both and claimed to love them both, but neither of them knew about the other. You do like Evalina's character, but she does make some poor choices throughout the book. Overall, it was OK. I almost felt like a mental patient while reading it because it seemed all over the place and there were so many characters that it was hard to keep up with them all. I only read this book for my book club, and this is one that I wouldn't have missed if I hadn't read it.

North of Normal: a Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both by Cea Sunrise Person

Cea Person was born when her mother was only 17. She and her mother moved with her mother's parents and siblings into the Canadian wilderness living in Tipis on Indian land - sometimes with permission and sometime without. Cea's grandparents were true hippies and there was constant sex and drugs EVERYWHERE when she was growing up. Everyone in the family was mentally ill or a drug addict. When Cea was 5 she and her mother moved to be with her mother's boyfriend Karl. Karl made a living either growing and selling pot or robbing lake vacation cabins. When Cea starts school she quickly realizes how unconventional her home life is. She has to beg her mother to put clothes on and not smoke pot when she invites friends over. When Cea is 8 her mother takes up with a new boyfriend, Barry, who molests Cea - and her mother knows but does nothing about it. By the time Cea is 13 she is done with her crazy family. She enters a modeling contest and wins and that begins a 20 year international modeling career. Even though she has escaped her chaotic home life the dysfunction has taken a toll. She has 2 failed marriages before she finally finds true, functional love. By the end of the book she has also managed to forge new relationships with her parents and has 3 children of her own.

While reading this it obviously reminded me of The Glass Castleby Jeannette Walls, and in the acknowledgments at the end of the book Cea thanks Jeannette Walls for writing The Glass Castle since that gave her the courage to write her own story too. But, I think Jeannette Walls life seems like a fairy tale compared to Cea's - her life was beyond chaotic and there was a lot of sexual abuse and dysfunction that really messed her up for a long time. It's an incredible story made more incredible by the fact that it's true. A must read for fans of The Glass Castle and similar books.

Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good: a Memoir of Food & Love From an American Midwest Family by Kathleen Flinn

I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars - it was absolutely fantastic! I already loved Kathleen Flinn's other books, The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry and The Kitchen Counter Cooking School, so I was VERY excited about this one because she explores her family history and where her love of cooking and food comes from. Kathleen was the youngest of 5 children and her parents were both from large families. When Kathleen's parents were first starting out they didn't have a lot of money, so they always had a large garden and kept chickens for awhile. Kathleen's mother canned fruit and vegetables they grew and always made homemade bread. One of the funniest scenes in the book is when Kathleen's older sister convinces her mother to buy TV dinners for them, she was jealous of friends who ate them regularly. When they made them they were all disgusted by the food since they were so used to the homemade, home grown food! This book is at times hilarious and at times heartbreaking. It's amazing some of the things her family went through, but no matter what they never let circumstances beat them down. They all loved each other and her parents were so proud of all their children. You can also clearly see how Kathleen's love of food comes from generations of great home cooks. She also includes plenty of recipes from her family as well. This is one of the best food and family memoirs I've ever read. Kathleen Flinn does an amazing job with this book. I can't wait to see what she writes next!

The Big Tiny: a Build-it-Myself Memoir by Dee Williams

When Dee Williams was diagnosed with a heart condition it made her re-evaluate her life and her priorities. A few years earlier she had bought her first house, but it was a constant money pit and time suck. When she happened upon an article about a man who built a tiny house and lived in the backyard of his "big" house that he rented out, she immediately contacted the guy and went out to visit him and his tiny house. After that she decided to build her own tiny house even though she had virtually no construction experience. After selling her house and moving into the new tiny house full time Dee finally feels "at home." She now co-owns a business helping people design and build their own tiny houses and does speaking engagements with her tiny house in tow.

While I appreciate her re-evaluation of her life and priorities, I don't know that I could live in such a tiny house. It is very impressive that she built this whole house with no experience. Overall, I did like the book, but I wasn't blown away.

The Roommates: True Tales of Friendship, Rivalry, Romance, and Disturbingly Close Quarters by Stephanie Wu

I just happened to flip through this book at the library and it looked pretty funny so I decided to check it out. Ironically, I've never had a roommate other than my husband which is completely different. Some of the stories are hilarious, some are sad, and some are happy endings with the roommate becoming a best friend or even spouse. It was definitely an entertaining and quick read, most of the stories are only 2-3 pages long. Overall, it was a fun, quick read.

August 2014 Reviews

Delancey: a man, a woman, a restaurant, a marriage by Molly Wizenburg

Molly Wizenberg's husband, Brandon Pettit, was always becoming interested in a unique topic or interest and then dropping it for the next one he comes across. So when he says he wants to open a pizza restaurant she thinks this is just another passing interest that will get dropped for the next thing, except it doesn't. Soon Brandon is signing a lease on a space and Molly is helping him renovate it to get it ready for the restaurant.Delancey is the story of Brandon's pizza restaurant of the same name, but it's also about how Molly had to learn to adapt to life as the wife of a restaurant chef (long, long hours most days), and how she came to understand who she truly is and who her husband truly is. He is great at running the restaurant and as much as she wanted to help and loves to cook - Molly is not cut out to be a restaurant line cook, that's just not who she is. Once she worked through all this she could finally enjoy Delancey for what it is and what it means to her husband. I admire Molly's honesty in this book about her mixed feelings about the restaurant and about her process for dealing with it and learning from it. This is a great book for any foodie readers out there. I loved Molly's first book A Homemade Life and I loved this one too! She also includes a few recipes either from the restaurant or just some of her favorites. I actually read this book in one day flying home from vacation - it's a quick, enjoyable read that will make you want to go grab a slice of pizza at your local pizza restaurant.

Real Food: what to eat and why by Nina Planck

I was so excited to read this book after reading Planck's cookbook The Real Food Cookbook, but it was kind of a let down. While I completely agree with everything she says about how real, traditional food is better for you than processed food, the book was very, very scientific and just had way too much statistics and facts bogging you down. While some of that is necessary in a book like this I just felt like it was so much science and data that it just became a chore to keep reading it. I really wanted to like it because I think she has a great message and obviously a LOT of data to back up her points, but it wasn't very interesting and engaging for me. I would still recommendThe Real Food Cookbook and eating a more traditional, real food diet that supports local farmers in your area.

A few quotes I liked:

"When a raw milk ban was proposed in New York City in 1907, a coalition of doctors, social workers, and milk distributors defeated it, arguing that safe milk should be guaranteed by inspectors, not pasteurization. In 1908, however, a panel of experts appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt concluded that raw milk itself was to blame for food-borne illness. That was the final blow. In 1914, New York required pasteurization of milk for sale in shops. Other states followed suit, and by 1949, pasteurization was the law in most places." (p. 73)

"The Journal of Dairy Science reported that 30 to 80 percent of conventional cattle carry E. coli in their stomachs, but when cattle were switched from a high-corn diet to hay, E. coli declined a thousandfold in only five days. In other words, a mere five days of feeding grass and hay to beef cattle before slaughter will restore the stomach to its normal acidity and kill E. coli, which would prevent many cases of contamination in the slaughterhouse. Unfortunately, this sensible, inexpensive practice has not been widely adopted by feedlots." (p. 102) [This is why you should support your local farmer for all your meat!]

"But there are some questions about vitamin supplements. The results of trials with supplements isolated from whole foods range from unhelpful (smokers taking beta-carotene had higher rates of lung cancer) to promising (vitamin E prevents second heart attacks) to merely equivocal (another vitamin E study on heart disease showed no effect). However, studies consistently find that diets rich in antioxidants from whole foods lower risk of heart disease and cancer." (p. 161)

"One dogged researcher, Mary Enig, helped to get the word out. The author of Know Your Fats, Enig waged an often lonely battle. I'm afraid her efforts were not always welcomed with bouquets of roses. In 1978, Enig wrote a scientific paper challenging a government report blaming saturated fat for cancer, in which she pointed out that the data actually showed a link with trans fats. Not long after, 'two guys from the Institute of Shortening and Edible Oils - the trans fat lobby, basically - visited me, and boy, were they angry.' Enig told Gourmet magazine. 'They said they'd been keeping a careful watch to prevent articles like mine from coming out and didn't know how this horse had gotten out of the barn'." (p. 201)

Lost Girls: an Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker

I wanted to read this book after watching the Disappeared episode with Shannon Gilbert - the investigation into her disappearance is what uncovered 10 bodies buried in Long Island that are most likely the work of more than one serial killer. While officials don't think Shannon was the victim of a serial killer - like the other identified victims she was a prostitute who marketed herself on Craigslist. In Lost Girls Kolker explores the backgrounds of Shannon and the first four victims discovered on Long Island - Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello. All these women had hard lives that led them to a life of drugs and prostitution, but that's not to say they weren't missed by their friends and family. If anything good came from any of this it's that a few of their friends who were also prostitutes decided to get legitimate jobs after their friend was murdered - one said she'd rather be broke than dead. Kolker does a great job of really digging into these women's lives and families. He also explores a few of the main theories about the serial killer(s) and whether they are local Long Island residents. 

Obviously this is a sad book about women working as prostitutes who were killed by a serial killer, so some of it is hard to read because their lives were very hard and terrible. My only complaint was that the very end of the book got into more of the in-fighting between Shannon Gilbert's mother Mari and some of the other victim's families. At first they all came together to support each other, but over the years Mari alienated many of the other family members and while it is relevant it also felt like drama and gossip that could have been left out. Also, because these murders are still unsolved it's a little bit of a let down at the end that the case is still open. Overall, it was a very interesting book and it definitely made me appreciate my own life and family a lot more!

Gone Feral: Tracking My Dad Through the Wild by Novella Carpenter

I read and liked Novella Carpenter's previous book Farm Cityabout her and her boyfriend farming on an abandoned lot beside their apartment building in Oakland, CA. So, I was excited to read this one about her relationship with her father. When Novella gets a phone call that her dad is missing, as in an official missing person, she freaks out and tries to find him. Soon he reaches out to her (he had just gone out of town without telling anyone), but she realizes that her father is getting older and now is the time to re-establish a relationship with him. Her father wasn't in her life much growing up and the few adult interactions with her dad hadn't been great. After he went missing she visits him and quickly realizes that he's not just a hermit who likes living a simple life in the wilderness, but very likely he's mentally ill. Novella has to work through the idealized image she had of her father with the reality - especially as she is trying to get pregnant with her first child. Novella also has to explore traits of her father that she has and what that might mean for her future as well.

This is an honest memoir of a daughter trying to work out her relationship with her difficult father. It wasn't as apparent (as least from what I remember) in Farm City that she is basically living in poverty, although it seems by choice - apparently that runs in the family as well. I'm far from wealthy myself, but her whole family seemed to be living hand-to-mouth, but on purpose which seems so bizarre to me. It was interesting, if somewhat sad, but in the end she does have hope for her future and she's made peace with her relationship with her father too.

The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar by Martin Windrow

Martin Windrow became fascinated with owls after his older brother got into falconry and also kept a pet Tawney Owl. After one failed attempt with a Little Owl who never bonded with Windrow and escaped, he adopts Mumble a Tawney Owl. Mumble was hatched in captivity and came to Windrow a few weeks after birth. They bonded instantly and living with Mumble would completely change Windrow's life. The personal aspects of the book about Windrow and Mumble's activities was very interesting, but there was a lot of general information about owls and it seemed like too much to me. Obviously you need some background about owls for a story like this, but there were whole chapters just on owl history, biology, etc. that I could have done without. Windrow also mentions that after the first year or so Mumble no longer tolerated visitors well - she would attack them unless Windrow put her into her cage. He never really talked about how that affected his social life, which I'm sure it did in a big way. Overall, it had interesting parts, but it wasn't great. I liked Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien much better.

Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love and the Perfect Meal by Ava Chin

Ava Chin is approaching 40 and is still single, her beloved grandmother is dying, she struggles with her relationship with her Mom, and her relationship with her Dad is non-existent. To deal with all this she escapes into foraging for wild food in New York City. She even lands a column in The New York Timeswriting about being an "urban forager." In foraging for wild food Ava learns how to navigate the tough circumstances she's dealing with - and later her foraging even leads, finally, to true love.

This was a quick read that was interesting. Chin's personal stories/problems don't overwhelm the book and each chapter also includes a recipe using wild food. I did like it, but it wasn't fantastic. Since it was such a quick read I would recommend it to anyone interested in foraging or food issues.