Friday, November 4, 2022
October 2022 Cookbook Reviews
October 2022 Reviews
A Billion Years: my escape from a life in the highest ranks of scientology by Mike Rinder
I discovered Mike Rinder through Leah Remini's show Scientology and the Aftermath and quickly came to love both of them. So, when I saw that Mike had a book coming out I quickly pre-ordered it. And while I knew a lot about his personal story from the TV show, there is a lot more detail in the book. He explains how he grew up in Scientology and then joined the Sea Org and went on to become one of the highest ranking people in the organization. But, all along there were nagging thoughts that troubled him about the religion and if they had all the answers why were the highest people (those in the Sea Org) treated so horribly. But, like any good cult member he pushed those thoughts aside and kept on doing what he was told. Once David Miscavige took control of Scientology it became harder and harder for Mike to continue pushing down his doubts. Even after he finally escaped he still believed in Hubbard and Scientology for awhile, until he started to see the truth that it was all a sham and Hubbard was just as delusional as Miscavige - just not as personally violent. All cults have similar core practices (like isolating people, us vs. them mentality, etc.), but Scientology really goes to extremes more than other cults. This was a fascinating look at Mike Rinder's personal story in Scientology and definitely worth reading.
Some quotes I liked:
"One of the punishments for those who messed up in the RPF [Rehabilitation Project Force] was assignment to the RPF's RPF. You slept and ate separately from and were not allowed to even talk to the other RPFers." (p. 106) [You know things are bad when there are punishments within punishments]
"His [LRH] demise also raised one of the most puzzling inconsistencies: though he'd had the time and foresight to clearly specify he did not want an autopsy done and wished to be cremated immediately, and though his elaborate estate planning had detailed precisely where his money was to go, he had not provided instructions or even a briefing for scientologists on what was to happen to the organization and who was to be his successor. This was the man who wrote millions of words and delivered thousands of lectures explaining everything from how to wash windows to how to cure yourself of cancer...Despite his supposed 'causative departure' from this earth as he 'discarded his body,' he neither spoke nor wrote anything that laid out his plans for the future or who would be in charge after he left or how long he was planning on being gone. To not have anything from Ron was an enormous omission that should have been a signal flare to every scientologist." (p. 117)
"One of the first things on my to-do list as PPRO Int was to get Hubbard a Nobel Prize. In the early 1980s, Hubbard had believed he deserved one for his 'discoveries' of the Purification Rundown, in which he claimed a regimen of saunas, vitamins, ingesting oil, and huge doses of niacin resulted in drug residues being 'sweated out.' This program was the cure for the planet's drug problems...I fairly quickly learned that Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously. But that was just a wog rule, according to Miscavige, and I was ordered to figure out how to get the prize committee to change their criteria - a classic example of scientology's 'make it go right' attitude. Everything outside the isolated world of scientology was invalid and could be bent to the will of the 'most ethical beings in the universe.' (p. 130-31)
"At the outset, I was enthusiastic and determined to get the truth out to counteract what I believed were lies about Hubbard perpetuated by those who sought to take him down. Ultimately, however, the task of writing a church-authorized biography of L. Ron Hubbard was a fool's errand. There were too many things that could not be ignored or explained in the man's life. If everything that was a lie, embellishment, or embarrassment was omitted, the biography would be so full of holes that even scientologists wouldn't buy it. Furthermore, if we published a book that full of lies, we opened ourselves up to being dissected by reviewers and critics...So instead of publishing a biography that risked opening scientology up to criticism, we followed the example of the LRH Life Exhibition and published issues of Ron magazine that covered carefully selected stories about Hubbard's life, such as 'Master Mariner' and 'The Humanitarian.' Each included convenient facts but left huge gaps." (p. 136-37)
"Hubbard noted in one of his policy letters that the hardest thing to see is that which is omitted, and this sums up the official scientology 'biography' of Hubbard." (p. 138)
"[David] Miscavige was the best man at Tom and Nicole's wedding on December 24, 1990, in Telluride, Colorado, where Cruise had a home. Though I was not there, my old friend Sinar Parman, Hubbard's personal chef, was flown in to cook for the newlyweds. It was the first time I became aware that Sea Org members were used as personal staff for Cruise. It was indicative of how far Miscavige was willing to go to ally Cruise. Other Sea Org members were sent to help set up the house. This became a standard pattern with Cruise. Miscavige would dispatch Sea Org members to do various tasks to 'help Tom'." (p. 139)
"You could never predict whether you would be in or out with Misavige. I think this was deliberate. It was a tactic famously used by Stalin - keep your subordinates divided, fearful, confused, and off-balance. No cabal to overthrow the king can form if no one at court is certain of their position. One minute I was digging ditches and the next I was heading up external affairs for all of scientology." (p. 147)
"Nobody lasted at the top of the pile before they were relegated to the bottom. It took me a long time to put the pieces together and realize that every single prominent executive of scientology was removed and disgraced on an almost rotational basis. Each individual instance seemed so justified - these people failed to do their jobs, so their punishment was well deserved. It also made my own failings seem less awful if everyone else was just as bad as me. There are many things about life in scientology that fit the old adage of not seeing the forest for the trees." (p. 192)
Some quotes I liked:
"One of the punishments for those who messed up in the RPF [Rehabilitation Project Force] was assignment to the RPF's RPF. You slept and ate separately from and were not allowed to even talk to the other RPFers." (p. 106) [You know things are bad when there are punishments within punishments]
"His [LRH] demise also raised one of the most puzzling inconsistencies: though he'd had the time and foresight to clearly specify he did not want an autopsy done and wished to be cremated immediately, and though his elaborate estate planning had detailed precisely where his money was to go, he had not provided instructions or even a briefing for scientologists on what was to happen to the organization and who was to be his successor. This was the man who wrote millions of words and delivered thousands of lectures explaining everything from how to wash windows to how to cure yourself of cancer...Despite his supposed 'causative departure' from this earth as he 'discarded his body,' he neither spoke nor wrote anything that laid out his plans for the future or who would be in charge after he left or how long he was planning on being gone. To not have anything from Ron was an enormous omission that should have been a signal flare to every scientologist." (p. 117)
"One of the first things on my to-do list as PPRO Int was to get Hubbard a Nobel Prize. In the early 1980s, Hubbard had believed he deserved one for his 'discoveries' of the Purification Rundown, in which he claimed a regimen of saunas, vitamins, ingesting oil, and huge doses of niacin resulted in drug residues being 'sweated out.' This program was the cure for the planet's drug problems...I fairly quickly learned that Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously. But that was just a wog rule, according to Miscavige, and I was ordered to figure out how to get the prize committee to change their criteria - a classic example of scientology's 'make it go right' attitude. Everything outside the isolated world of scientology was invalid and could be bent to the will of the 'most ethical beings in the universe.' (p. 130-31)
"At the outset, I was enthusiastic and determined to get the truth out to counteract what I believed were lies about Hubbard perpetuated by those who sought to take him down. Ultimately, however, the task of writing a church-authorized biography of L. Ron Hubbard was a fool's errand. There were too many things that could not be ignored or explained in the man's life. If everything that was a lie, embellishment, or embarrassment was omitted, the biography would be so full of holes that even scientologists wouldn't buy it. Furthermore, if we published a book that full of lies, we opened ourselves up to being dissected by reviewers and critics...So instead of publishing a biography that risked opening scientology up to criticism, we followed the example of the LRH Life Exhibition and published issues of Ron magazine that covered carefully selected stories about Hubbard's life, such as 'Master Mariner' and 'The Humanitarian.' Each included convenient facts but left huge gaps." (p. 136-37)
"Hubbard noted in one of his policy letters that the hardest thing to see is that which is omitted, and this sums up the official scientology 'biography' of Hubbard." (p. 138)
"[David] Miscavige was the best man at Tom and Nicole's wedding on December 24, 1990, in Telluride, Colorado, where Cruise had a home. Though I was not there, my old friend Sinar Parman, Hubbard's personal chef, was flown in to cook for the newlyweds. It was the first time I became aware that Sea Org members were used as personal staff for Cruise. It was indicative of how far Miscavige was willing to go to ally Cruise. Other Sea Org members were sent to help set up the house. This became a standard pattern with Cruise. Miscavige would dispatch Sea Org members to do various tasks to 'help Tom'." (p. 139)
"You could never predict whether you would be in or out with Misavige. I think this was deliberate. It was a tactic famously used by Stalin - keep your subordinates divided, fearful, confused, and off-balance. No cabal to overthrow the king can form if no one at court is certain of their position. One minute I was digging ditches and the next I was heading up external affairs for all of scientology." (p. 147)
"Nobody lasted at the top of the pile before they were relegated to the bottom. It took me a long time to put the pieces together and realize that every single prominent executive of scientology was removed and disgraced on an almost rotational basis. Each individual instance seemed so justified - these people failed to do their jobs, so their punishment was well deserved. It also made my own failings seem less awful if everyone else was just as bad as me. There are many things about life in scientology that fit the old adage of not seeing the forest for the trees." (p. 192)
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (Evening Edition book club)
I read and LOVED Jojo Moyes' book The Giver of Stars and I had several friends who had also read this one and said they liked The Book Woman better. So, when my book club decided to read this one I was curious to see which one I would like better. I did NOT like this one at all. I would have put it down after the first couple chapters with her forced marriage and the rape scene if not for my book club reading it. Cussy and her father are some of the last "blue people of Kentucky" and face prejudice in their community because they are seen as "colored" and not white. Cussy manages to get a position with the Pack Horse Librarian WPA project and that helps her feel more a part of the community. Cussy has a ton of terrible things happen to her throughout the book but does end up landing the new bachelor in town, Jackson. She also manages to adopt another blue child which seems completely ridiculous. There were so many holes all throughout the story and it really seemed like she was some kind of blue-skinned Kentucky Job with all the over-the-top bad things that happened to her.
In my opinion the Jojo Moyes book is WORLDS better than this one. Richardson was born in Kentucky so she does have that connection and she did include the blue people which was a real, unique part of that time and place. But, overall my first impression of the book was right - a book with a main character named Cussy is not going to be for me. There was also some controversy around The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes and this book, but after reading both I could not see any plagiarism. They are two books about a very specific time and place with the Pack Horse Librarians in Kentucky, but the main characters are VERY different and any other similarities seem like a product of the historical time they were trying to convey. Other than both books coming out within a few months of each other, I don't see any major issues. In my opinion Moyes does a much better job with her story and I really had to force myself to get through this one.
In my opinion the Jojo Moyes book is WORLDS better than this one. Richardson was born in Kentucky so she does have that connection and she did include the blue people which was a real, unique part of that time and place. But, overall my first impression of the book was right - a book with a main character named Cussy is not going to be for me. There was also some controversy around The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes and this book, but after reading both I could not see any plagiarism. They are two books about a very specific time and place with the Pack Horse Librarians in Kentucky, but the main characters are VERY different and any other similarities seem like a product of the historical time they were trying to convey. Other than both books coming out within a few months of each other, I don't see any major issues. In my opinion Moyes does a much better job with her story and I really had to force myself to get through this one.
Raising Lazarus: hope, justice, and the future of America's overdose crisis by Beth Macy
I read Dopesick in early 2019 and it was an extremely eye-opening look at how the opioid epidemic was created and encouraged by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. While Dopesick looks at how this whole thing started, Raising Lazarus is supposed to be about "hope, justice, and the future of America's overdoes crisis" per the subtitle. But, there wasn't much of any of that in Raising Lazarus. Macy covers grassroots "harm reduction" efforts in some of the areas hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, but she also intersperses coverage of a bankruptcy hearing for the Sackler family that would shield several billions of their profits from future lawsuits. While a chapter or two about the bankruptcy would have added to the book, going back and forth between the bankruptcy and the heart-breaking stories of people trying to help addicts just felt very choppy and all over the place. This book didn't feel like it had a clear trajectory - it was just a bunch of random stories about people trying their best to fight this huge epidemic in their small towns with several chapters of VERY specific bankruptcy information.
She was also very political and clearly believes that Republicans are the problem and why this opioid epidemic is still raging. Despite the fact that Obama had two terms during the height of things his lack of effort is barely mentioned, while other Republican leaders are blasted repeatedly. Let me be clear - I am NOT a Republican or a Democrat, but every one of the people in federal government are responsible for taking money from lobbyists and creating laws around their pet issues (or whoever gives them the most money) with zero regard for the public they are supposed to be serving. Her blatant political agenda got old for me really fast. This is an extremely complex issue with no quick or easy answers from politicians or anyone.
Reading this book really reminded me of the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Most people were afraid and felt like the people who had AIDS (or opioid addiction) did it to themselves and they should suffer the consequences. There were lots of grassroots efforts to help AIDS patients that did eventually help turn the societal tide toward more understanding and less hate and fear. I think this is similar. Many of the people doing this hard, grassroots work with addicts are former addicts or family members who lost someone to overdose. To me this is also a huge missed opportunity for the Church to show people who are hurting the most the love of Christ. I believe Jesus would be helping AIDS patients and addicts (and prostitutes, drug dealers, etc.) if He were around today. This is hard, uncomfortable work and Macy does do a good job of highlighting the people who are really making a difference in their work around this issue. But, it's by no means a hopeful book. Yes, there are a few programs that are really working that could be replicated around the country - will they? I don't know. Again, there are no easy answers to this. And while I didn't love this book I would still recommend it because this is a HUGE issue that is still often swept under the rug.
Some quotes I liked:
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than a million Americans have died from drug overdose since 1996, the largest factor by far in decreasing life expectancy for Americans...Within the first pandemic year, the overdoes count was 29 percent higher than the year before, and the numbers kept climbing. By late 2021, it was clear that addiction had become the No. 1 destroyer of families in our time, with almost a third of Americans reporting it as a serious cause of family strife, and drug overdoses claiming the lives of more than 100,000 Americans in a year - more than from car crashes and guns combined." (p. xiii)
[On the inspiration for the title of the book] "As with the disciples who unwrapped a raised-from-the-dead Lazarus at Jesus's command, Rev. [Michelle] Mathis explained, 'it doesn't always smell like flowers, and you might get a little something on you. But the people who are willing to work at the face-to-face level get to see the miracle and look it in the eye.'" (p. xvii)
"Lest you think the two weren't in bed together, Purdue Pharma executives literally rented a suite of hotel rooms down the road from the Rockville, Maryland, FDA headquarters in 1995 - for the express purpose of collaborating with FDA officials to speed up the OxyContin medical review...the drug's FDA approval officer, Dr. Curtis Wright, went to work for Purdue soon after, earning $379,000 a year." (p. 60)
"Insys [the maker of the fentanyl lollipop] was maybe even more brazen in its sales practices than Purdue, though, at one point hiring as a sales rep a stripper who gave the doctor a lap dance as enticement for him to prescribe more of its products." (p. 74)
"...by the time the first cohort of the Courts Addiction & Drug Services (CADS program) graduated, not a single person had overdosed. Thirty-four out of fifty-one had completed the program with no issues; of the third that had relapsed, half reengaged immediately with treatment. When Nikki presented the results to her doctoral dissertation committee, she noted that 97 percent of her patients had co-occurring mental illnesses and 76 percent had documented PTSD. Overprescribed benzos and opioid pills had been by far her patients' biggest gateways to heroin and meth use...When Nikki asked the first CADS cohort to name a short-term goal, one man said he wanted a second pair of pants. Another wished to taste salmon for the first time. She was stunned how common hunger was...'A lot of SUD [Substance Use Disorder] programs just tackle the SUD, but they don't do anything with the underlying trauma and co-occurring mental health disorders. So it becomes, 'Don't do drugs, don't do drugs.' Well, they already know that! Our program's focus is, how do we get you to a place where you can cope with the things in your life?'" (p. 93)
"While [Duane] Slone remained an outlier in rural law enforcement, he was also a powerful reminder of what enlightened elected officials could do when they worried more about doing the right thing than about winning their next reelection campaign." (p. 205)
"It takes time to soften people who are traumatized, the Kentucky activist Robert Gipe said. 'There's still a lot of anger mixed in with the grief when it comes to the SUD sufferers in a family,' he said. 'Yes, SUD is a disease, but those with that disease don't just cough and sneeze and ask you to bring them a glass of water. They steal and lie and fuck up Thanksgiving and break our hearts.'" (p. 274)
She was also very political and clearly believes that Republicans are the problem and why this opioid epidemic is still raging. Despite the fact that Obama had two terms during the height of things his lack of effort is barely mentioned, while other Republican leaders are blasted repeatedly. Let me be clear - I am NOT a Republican or a Democrat, but every one of the people in federal government are responsible for taking money from lobbyists and creating laws around their pet issues (or whoever gives them the most money) with zero regard for the public they are supposed to be serving. Her blatant political agenda got old for me really fast. This is an extremely complex issue with no quick or easy answers from politicians or anyone.
Reading this book really reminded me of the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Most people were afraid and felt like the people who had AIDS (or opioid addiction) did it to themselves and they should suffer the consequences. There were lots of grassroots efforts to help AIDS patients that did eventually help turn the societal tide toward more understanding and less hate and fear. I think this is similar. Many of the people doing this hard, grassroots work with addicts are former addicts or family members who lost someone to overdose. To me this is also a huge missed opportunity for the Church to show people who are hurting the most the love of Christ. I believe Jesus would be helping AIDS patients and addicts (and prostitutes, drug dealers, etc.) if He were around today. This is hard, uncomfortable work and Macy does do a good job of highlighting the people who are really making a difference in their work around this issue. But, it's by no means a hopeful book. Yes, there are a few programs that are really working that could be replicated around the country - will they? I don't know. Again, there are no easy answers to this. And while I didn't love this book I would still recommend it because this is a HUGE issue that is still often swept under the rug.
Some quotes I liked:
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than a million Americans have died from drug overdose since 1996, the largest factor by far in decreasing life expectancy for Americans...Within the first pandemic year, the overdoes count was 29 percent higher than the year before, and the numbers kept climbing. By late 2021, it was clear that addiction had become the No. 1 destroyer of families in our time, with almost a third of Americans reporting it as a serious cause of family strife, and drug overdoses claiming the lives of more than 100,000 Americans in a year - more than from car crashes and guns combined." (p. xiii)
[On the inspiration for the title of the book] "As with the disciples who unwrapped a raised-from-the-dead Lazarus at Jesus's command, Rev. [Michelle] Mathis explained, 'it doesn't always smell like flowers, and you might get a little something on you. But the people who are willing to work at the face-to-face level get to see the miracle and look it in the eye.'" (p. xvii)
"Lest you think the two weren't in bed together, Purdue Pharma executives literally rented a suite of hotel rooms down the road from the Rockville, Maryland, FDA headquarters in 1995 - for the express purpose of collaborating with FDA officials to speed up the OxyContin medical review...the drug's FDA approval officer, Dr. Curtis Wright, went to work for Purdue soon after, earning $379,000 a year." (p. 60)
"Insys [the maker of the fentanyl lollipop] was maybe even more brazen in its sales practices than Purdue, though, at one point hiring as a sales rep a stripper who gave the doctor a lap dance as enticement for him to prescribe more of its products." (p. 74)
"...by the time the first cohort of the Courts Addiction & Drug Services (CADS program) graduated, not a single person had overdosed. Thirty-four out of fifty-one had completed the program with no issues; of the third that had relapsed, half reengaged immediately with treatment. When Nikki presented the results to her doctoral dissertation committee, she noted that 97 percent of her patients had co-occurring mental illnesses and 76 percent had documented PTSD. Overprescribed benzos and opioid pills had been by far her patients' biggest gateways to heroin and meth use...When Nikki asked the first CADS cohort to name a short-term goal, one man said he wanted a second pair of pants. Another wished to taste salmon for the first time. She was stunned how common hunger was...'A lot of SUD [Substance Use Disorder] programs just tackle the SUD, but they don't do anything with the underlying trauma and co-occurring mental health disorders. So it becomes, 'Don't do drugs, don't do drugs.' Well, they already know that! Our program's focus is, how do we get you to a place where you can cope with the things in your life?'" (p. 93)
"While [Duane] Slone remained an outlier in rural law enforcement, he was also a powerful reminder of what enlightened elected officials could do when they worried more about doing the right thing than about winning their next reelection campaign." (p. 205)
"It takes time to soften people who are traumatized, the Kentucky activist Robert Gipe said. 'There's still a lot of anger mixed in with the grief when it comes to the SUD sufferers in a family,' he said. 'Yes, SUD is a disease, but those with that disease don't just cough and sneeze and ask you to bring them a glass of water. They steal and lie and fuck up Thanksgiving and break our hearts.'" (p. 274)
Four Seasons in Rome: on twins, insomnia, and the biggest funeral in the world by Anthony Doerr
The day after Anthony Doerr's twins are born he receives word that he's a recipient of the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This gives him a stipend and an apartment in Rome for a year to work on whatever academic project - the book that will eventually skyrocket him into literary fame, All the Light We Cannot See. When his twins, Owen and Henry, are six months old Doerr and his wife move to Rome. This book is his musings on spending four seasons in Rome while also learning to be a parent and struggling with insomnia. While I thought it sounded like an interesting book, it was pretty slow and boring. It's well written and extremely descriptive, but not very interesting in my opinion). I absolutely LOVED All the Light We Cannot See so I was also hopeful that he might write more about how he wrote the book or got his ideas, but it's mentioned very little in this book. Overall, I think he's a great author, but I didn't love this one.
Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David Grann (Evening Edition book club, re-reading)
On re-reading October 21-26, 2022:
It had been awhile since I read this book and I wanted to re-read it before my book club discussed it. In reading it a second time I found it a little harder to get into until about halfway through the book when the arrests are finally happening. I had also forgotten all the additional murders the author discovered that weren't tied to Hale - just showing how many people were killing Osage Indians for their money. It really is a mind-boggling and infuriating story. I think even worse than all the murders and fear the Osage must have felt during this time is the helplessness - the government wasn't going to help you, the law wasn't going to help you, and you literally could not trust anyone. Everyone hated them both for being Native Americans and even more so for being rich Native Americans. I'm thankful that this book brought attention to yet another hidden chapter of evilness that most people probably weren't familiar with before now.
Some quotes that stood out to me this time:
"The nature of the murders also gave some insight into the mastermind: the person was not an impulsive killer but a connoisseur of plots who was intelligent enough to understand toxic substances and calculating enough to carry out his diabolical vision over years." (p. 114)
"One government study estimated that before 1925 guardians had pilfered at least $8 million directly from the restricted accounts of their Osage wards. 'The blackest chapter in the history of this State will be the Indian guardianship over these estates,' an Osage leader said, adding, 'There has been millions - not thousands - but millions of dollars of many of the Osages dissipated and spent by the guardians themselves.' This so-called Indian business, as White discovered, was an elaborate criminal operation, in which various sectors of society were complicit. The crooked guardians and administrators of Osage estates were typically among the most prominent white citizens: businessmen and ranchers and lawyers and politicians. So were the lawmen and prosecutors and judges who facilitated and concealed the swindling (and, sometimes, acted as guardians and administrators themselves)." (p. 154)
"The Osage were also able to retrieve at least a portion of the oil funds mismanaged over decades by the U.S. government. In 2011, after an eleven-year legal battle, the government agree to settle a lawsuit brought by the Osage for $380 million." (p. 252)
Breadsong: how baking changed our lives by Kitty and Al Tait
When Kitty Tait was 14 she suddenly fell into a deep depression with extremely high anxiety. Her parents were trying to find anything to help her get outside her own head with little success. Then one day her Dad, Al, decided to make bread from scratch and it got Kitty's attention. Soon she started making bread herself and trying new recipes. Baking bread was the only thing Kitty could do that helped calm the anxiety and gave her enjoyment. But their family could only eat so much bread. So, first they started giving bread to their neighbors, then they started a subscription service and that led to some pop up shops in borrowed spaces, and eventually they opened their own storefront of Orange Bakery. Throughout the two year journey, Kitty found ways to cope with her anxiety and was able to get mostly back to her old self but still credits bread baking with what turned things around for her. This book is half memoir (written by both Kitty and Al) and half cookbook. There are definitely a few recipes I'd like to try out and the book is full of gorgeous photos of all the yummy bread.
In reading the memoir side I did feel a little bad for her older siblings during Kitty's breakdown and the beginning of her bread obsession. Her parents focused almost 100% on trying to help Kitty (which is understandable), but also let Kitty take over the whole kitchen. The family had always made a point of eating dinner together, but they let Kitty get rid of the dining table for more baking room/supplies. And the first Christmas during her bread obsession they basically didn't celebrate much because it was too overwhelming for her. While I can't imagine what that time was like for Kitty or her parents, I still felt bad for the older siblings who just seemed like they were on their own. And while Orange Bakery became a huge success, it was definitely a gamble for her parents to put so much time and money into something like that. It was an interesting story and I'm sure Kitty will go on to do amazing things in the baking world.
In reading the memoir side I did feel a little bad for her older siblings during Kitty's breakdown and the beginning of her bread obsession. Her parents focused almost 100% on trying to help Kitty (which is understandable), but also let Kitty take over the whole kitchen. The family had always made a point of eating dinner together, but they let Kitty get rid of the dining table for more baking room/supplies. And the first Christmas during her bread obsession they basically didn't celebrate much because it was too overwhelming for her. While I can't imagine what that time was like for Kitty or her parents, I still felt bad for the older siblings who just seemed like they were on their own. And while Orange Bakery became a huge success, it was definitely a gamble for her parents to put so much time and money into something like that. It was an interesting story and I'm sure Kitty will go on to do amazing things in the baking world.
Gwelf: the survival guide by Larry MacDougall
This is a unique book that written as a guidebook for the land of Gwelf. The entire book is written as a guide for a visitor and gives information about the types of inhabitants, villages and terrain, where to stay, where to eat, what to bring/pack, and unique landmarks. The land of Gwelf has the good inhabitants - Sparrows, Mice, Otters, Foxes (our narrator), Rabbits, Badgers, and Racoons and the evil inhabitants - Ravens, Ragteeth, and Rats. The inhabitants are locked in a battle of magic so the guide is helpful in how to navigate these types of magic and not be caught off guard.
The illustrations are absolutely stunning. I put this book on hold after I saw the cover because it reminded me of the Mouse Guard graphic novels. While this is definitely not a graphic novel it's a really unique fiction book. It would make a great coffee table book as well with all the great illustrations. I definitely hope there are some sequels or further books about Gwelf.
The illustrations are absolutely stunning. I put this book on hold after I saw the cover because it reminded me of the Mouse Guard graphic novels. While this is definitely not a graphic novel it's a really unique fiction book. It would make a great coffee table book as well with all the great illustrations. I definitely hope there are some sequels or further books about Gwelf.
Friday, October 21, 2022
September 2022 Cookbook Reviews
The Red Truck Bakery Farmhouse Cookbook by Brian Noyes
I put this cookbook on hold at my local library because I remembered liking the first Red Truck Bakery Cookbook that came out in 2018. This cookbook is a follow up to the first cookbook. Author Brian Noyes talks about how regular customers complained when some of their favorite dishes from the bakery weren't in the original cookbook. So, he decided to write a second cookbook during the beginning of the COVID pandemic that would bring in some new recipes and several fan favorites that hadn't made it into the first one. I liked that at the beginning there are tips for pantry items to stock and kitchen tools that are good to have on hand - neither of which includes any crazy out there items. There is also a section on "kitchen advice" that's very handy like don't crack eggs directly into your batter and tips for measuring sticky things like honey (his tip is to spray the measuring cup with nonstick cooking spray first). There are definitely several recipes I'm looking forward to trying.
Simple Pasta by Odette Williams
This is a really comprehensive homemade pasta cookbook. The author covers different kinds of homemade pasta dough, how to make various shapes/kinds of pasta, and several kinds of pasta sauces. Then she gets into seasonal recipes. All the recipes are organized by season - spring, summer, fall, and winter. I really like that it's a seasonally focused cookbook. While I think this is a good cookbook overall, there weren't that many recipes I wanted to try. I do think it's great for someone who is interested in starting to make pasta from scratch or someone who has the basics down and is looking for a few more options with their homemade pasta. My next step is ravioli and I did get some good tips from this cookbook.
A Dish for All Seasons by Kathryn Pauline
I really love the concept of this cookbook. Kathryn Pauline takes 25 staple recipes and gives each one a seasonal spin. So, for each staple she'll include a basic recipe, then 4 additional recipes that focus on seasonal ingredients. The recipes are organized like a basic cookbook with breakfast, appetizers & sides, mains, etc. But, I just love that by giving a basic staple recipe then showing how it can change with what's in season this could help people understand seasonal cooking/eating better. While I love the overall concept, there weren't tons of recipes I wanted to try. But, I do think this is a great cookbook for a home cook who's wanting to step up their cooking game or try to eat more seasonally.
September 2022 Reviews
The Rooted Life by Justin Rhodes
I wasn't familiar with Justin Rhodes until we discovered the Homesteaders of America organization. After the Joel Salatin and Mother Earth News falling out we sided with Joel. We had been going to the MEN fairs for several years (which I found by following Joel), but after that we decided we were done with MEN and happened upon the virtual HOA conference in 2020. We made it out to the in-person conference in 2021 and that's when I discovered Justin Rhodes. After the conference I started following several of the presenters (including the Rhodes family) on social media. We also plan to use his Chickshaw model for when we add egg chickens to our homestead. When I saw he had this book coming out I bought it right away, which is something I rarely do as a librarian. But, this is a great book for the beginner homesteader. It weaves together their personal story with tips on how to grow/raise more of your own food. There are definitely some good tips - the only thing I thought was missing was on sourcing land/property. The Rhodes family is lucky in that his family already owned this 75 acre plot that they can now use/live on. But, not everyone is so lucky so at least a chapter or part of a chapter on finding land/property would be helpful. But, it's a great overview and inspiration if you're looking to start homesteading or maybe up your homesteading game.
Wastelands: the true story of farm country on trial by Corban Addison
Eastern North Carolina is home to more pigs than people. These are rural areas you may drive by on your way to one of the NC beaches and not think much of it. But in the past two decades huge industrial hog farms have set up shop all over Eastern North Carolina and have contributed to huge amounts of pollution and nuisance to their unfortunate neighbors. Many of these neighbors are poor African-Americans who have lived on their land for generations. When these hog farms came in they tried every resource they could think of to try to combat it with no help. Until 2013 when a law firm in Salisbury, NC was asked to take on some nuisance lawsuits for clients living near these industrial hog farms. These cases would drag on for 7 years and read almost like fiction for all the underhanded dealings of the hog industry tycoons and their cronies in the NC Legislature. And while I don't want to give anything away it becomes very much a David vs. Goliath legal case that will deal a serious blow to Smithfield Foods (currently owned by China).
This book is the story of the legal battle between Smithfield Foods and several dozen residents of Eastern NC, but it still highlights the horrific practices of the industrial food industry. The only people profiting from Smithfield Foods are the executives - the land, the pigs, the farmers, the neighbors, and the people eating this food all lose. This book also perfectly illustrates the proverb that the love of money is the root of all evil. Which is the motto of the industrial food industry anyway. I was also FURIOUS at the men in power in the NC Legislature that lied, cheated, and paid big money to try to legislate protection for Smithfield. As a native North Carolinian I wanted to throw all those men into one of these hog waste lagoons by the end of the book. It's infuriating to me that these people run under the guise of protecting "family farms" which is NOT protecting family farms, but corporations like Smithfield and their own pockets. This book does give an overall look at how awful industrial hog farms are even though that's not the main point.
Reading this book made me wish I had become a lawyer. This is like the hog farm version of Erin Brockovich. A few reviews complained that it was overly descriptive or overly written and I agree there were a few spots of that, but the overall story was just so compelling I could look past that. My only other minor complaint (that couldn't be helped) was that there were just SO MANY people and names that it was sometimes hard to keep track of who everyone was in the narrative. But, overall I thought this book was AMAZING and I'll be buying a copy. It should be required reading for every NC resident as well.
Some quotes I liked:
"It [the lagoon and spraying system for hog waste] was a colossal exercise in magical thinking. Between lagoon spills and flooding from storms and hurricanes, the industry has despoiled waterways across eastern North Carolina and befouled the air and land in dozens of communities. Yet the corporate hog barons - Smithfield chief among them - have never been held to account. Rather, they have raked in profits by the billions." (p. 27)
"There are nine million hogs in the state, nearly one per person. If humanity suddenly went vegan, almost every North Carolinian could have a pig for a pet. All but a nominal fraction of these hogs are concentrated in the vast expanse of coastal plain east of Interstate 95. In Duplin County alone...there are nearly thirty-five hogs for every human being, a density higher than any other place on earth. Yet this truth has remained largely hidden...North Carolina is famous for many things, but being home to the pork capital of the world is not one of them. Quite conveniently - for the tourist bureau, at least - the hog kingdom is tucked away in a rural region of the state invisible to outsiders and forgotten by most North Carolinians, except when they make the drive down Interstate 40 to the port of Wilmington." (p. 30-31)
[When NC Representative Cindy Watson tried to introduce legislation to help combat industrial hog farms she received death threats] "But informing the FBI was not enough. The following day, Cindy told her colleagues on the floor of the House. 'I have a little tape in my hand. Some of my hog farmers aren't real happy with me. They've threatened to kill me, to drown me in the Cape Fear River. I just want you all to know it. I want to make a public record, Mr. Speaker.' No one on the floor moved. No one spoke. But the message got through. The hog farmers left her family alone." (p. 87) [But, they backed her opponent and she didn't get re-elected during the next election]
"John [Hughes - one of the lawyers fighting Smithfield] wades through court record and finds the contract. It's the first grower agreement he has ever seen. He reads it with fascination. He knew the relationship was lopsided, but the full extent of the imbalance blows his mind...The relationship is purely provisional. The grower must live with the constant risk of total loss, all to earn a subsistence income of a few dollars per marketable hog. Murphy-Brown, meanwhile, collects the fully grown hogs from its farms, slaughters them at its slaughterhouse, packages the meat for sale - or exports it to China or elsewhere overseas - and rakes in around a billion dollars a year in profit. The growers, in effect, are modern-day sharecroppers." (p. 127)
[A photographer and scientist are permitted to test and photograph the inside and around some of the hog farms. There are several pages around how long the smell clung to things and how hard it was for the people who were there to get rid of the smell.] "At Corey's Christmas party, he shows off his camera to a few of his buddies. The smell of the hog barns is like a halo around it. One of his friends suggests he file an insurance claim and purchase a replacement...[he] tries an experiment first. He places the camera outside in the golden Colorado sunshine. He gives it time, allows the intense solar radiation to burn the VOCs and bioaerosols off the glass and plastic surfaces. The experiment was successful. The camera is saved. After two months in the sun." (p. 183)
"The $473 million award - reduced to $94 million by the statutory cap - accomplished what Mona and Mike had hoped: It forced the Murphy men to change. That autumn, Smithfield made sweeping improvements to its production practices, installing refrigerated dead boxes, replacing high-powered spray guns with subsurface injection and low-pressure irrigation, and limiting its trucking schedule to daylight hours. Smithfield also announced the planned conversion of 90 percent of its lagoons into covered biogas digesters. The company's publicists spun these changes as an outgrowth of a broader sustainability initiative designed to cut greenhouse emissions across its supply chain, not a concession to the cudgel of $550 million in jury verdicts. But the targeted nature of the improvements, the tens of millions of dollars required to deploy them, and the timing of the announcement suggest otherwise." (p. 344)
This book is the story of the legal battle between Smithfield Foods and several dozen residents of Eastern NC, but it still highlights the horrific practices of the industrial food industry. The only people profiting from Smithfield Foods are the executives - the land, the pigs, the farmers, the neighbors, and the people eating this food all lose. This book also perfectly illustrates the proverb that the love of money is the root of all evil. Which is the motto of the industrial food industry anyway. I was also FURIOUS at the men in power in the NC Legislature that lied, cheated, and paid big money to try to legislate protection for Smithfield. As a native North Carolinian I wanted to throw all those men into one of these hog waste lagoons by the end of the book. It's infuriating to me that these people run under the guise of protecting "family farms" which is NOT protecting family farms, but corporations like Smithfield and their own pockets. This book does give an overall look at how awful industrial hog farms are even though that's not the main point.
Reading this book made me wish I had become a lawyer. This is like the hog farm version of Erin Brockovich. A few reviews complained that it was overly descriptive or overly written and I agree there were a few spots of that, but the overall story was just so compelling I could look past that. My only other minor complaint (that couldn't be helped) was that there were just SO MANY people and names that it was sometimes hard to keep track of who everyone was in the narrative. But, overall I thought this book was AMAZING and I'll be buying a copy. It should be required reading for every NC resident as well.
Some quotes I liked:
"It [the lagoon and spraying system for hog waste] was a colossal exercise in magical thinking. Between lagoon spills and flooding from storms and hurricanes, the industry has despoiled waterways across eastern North Carolina and befouled the air and land in dozens of communities. Yet the corporate hog barons - Smithfield chief among them - have never been held to account. Rather, they have raked in profits by the billions." (p. 27)
"There are nine million hogs in the state, nearly one per person. If humanity suddenly went vegan, almost every North Carolinian could have a pig for a pet. All but a nominal fraction of these hogs are concentrated in the vast expanse of coastal plain east of Interstate 95. In Duplin County alone...there are nearly thirty-five hogs for every human being, a density higher than any other place on earth. Yet this truth has remained largely hidden...North Carolina is famous for many things, but being home to the pork capital of the world is not one of them. Quite conveniently - for the tourist bureau, at least - the hog kingdom is tucked away in a rural region of the state invisible to outsiders and forgotten by most North Carolinians, except when they make the drive down Interstate 40 to the port of Wilmington." (p. 30-31)
[When NC Representative Cindy Watson tried to introduce legislation to help combat industrial hog farms she received death threats] "But informing the FBI was not enough. The following day, Cindy told her colleagues on the floor of the House. 'I have a little tape in my hand. Some of my hog farmers aren't real happy with me. They've threatened to kill me, to drown me in the Cape Fear River. I just want you all to know it. I want to make a public record, Mr. Speaker.' No one on the floor moved. No one spoke. But the message got through. The hog farmers left her family alone." (p. 87) [But, they backed her opponent and she didn't get re-elected during the next election]
"John [Hughes - one of the lawyers fighting Smithfield] wades through court record and finds the contract. It's the first grower agreement he has ever seen. He reads it with fascination. He knew the relationship was lopsided, but the full extent of the imbalance blows his mind...The relationship is purely provisional. The grower must live with the constant risk of total loss, all to earn a subsistence income of a few dollars per marketable hog. Murphy-Brown, meanwhile, collects the fully grown hogs from its farms, slaughters them at its slaughterhouse, packages the meat for sale - or exports it to China or elsewhere overseas - and rakes in around a billion dollars a year in profit. The growers, in effect, are modern-day sharecroppers." (p. 127)
[A photographer and scientist are permitted to test and photograph the inside and around some of the hog farms. There are several pages around how long the smell clung to things and how hard it was for the people who were there to get rid of the smell.] "At Corey's Christmas party, he shows off his camera to a few of his buddies. The smell of the hog barns is like a halo around it. One of his friends suggests he file an insurance claim and purchase a replacement...[he] tries an experiment first. He places the camera outside in the golden Colorado sunshine. He gives it time, allows the intense solar radiation to burn the VOCs and bioaerosols off the glass and plastic surfaces. The experiment was successful. The camera is saved. After two months in the sun." (p. 183)
"The $473 million award - reduced to $94 million by the statutory cap - accomplished what Mona and Mike had hoped: It forced the Murphy men to change. That autumn, Smithfield made sweeping improvements to its production practices, installing refrigerated dead boxes, replacing high-powered spray guns with subsurface injection and low-pressure irrigation, and limiting its trucking schedule to daylight hours. Smithfield also announced the planned conversion of 90 percent of its lagoons into covered biogas digesters. The company's publicists spun these changes as an outgrowth of a broader sustainability initiative designed to cut greenhouse emissions across its supply chain, not a concession to the cudgel of $550 million in jury verdicts. But the targeted nature of the improvements, the tens of millions of dollars required to deploy them, and the timing of the announcement suggest otherwise." (p. 344)
The Comfort Book by Matt Haig (Books & Banter book club)
Matt Haig wrote this book during Britain's COVID lockdown to remind himself of good things during that difficult and anxious time. With no real order or chapters it's a collection of short observations, stories, and quotes about surviving and thriving during difficult times. At the beginning of the book he gives the following guidelines for reading it, "You can read it how you want. You can start at the beginning and end at the end, or you can start at the end and end at the beginning, or you can just dip into it." (p. ix) But, it would be easier to "dip into it" if there was any kind of structure or topics. The book is divided into four parts, but the parts don't seem to designate any topic or theme. It was a random collection of feel-good thoughts, quotes, and stories. It was basically exactly what I expected and exactly what I hated about The Midnight Library. The best part was it's a pretty quick read so I was able to finish it over the course of one day. I personally wouldn't have read anything else by Haig after The Midnight Library, but this is for my book club and I couldn't find any discussion questions. So I forced myself to read it so I could create some discussion questions. Since my book clubs both LOVED The Midnight Library I'll be curious to see what they think of this one. Not having personally experienced severe depression or being suicidal I can't say for sure, but I just feel like this would not help someone in that situation and almost seems to make light of it - which is also how I felt about The Midnight Library. Overall, I would not recommend this one or anything else by Haig.
Blood Orange Night by Melissa Bond
Melissa Bond was already dealing with losing her newspaper job during the 2009 recession and having a special needs infant, plus recovering from a traumatic birth when she suddenly couldn't sleep at all. She was getting maybe an hour or two a night. Then she found out she was pregnant again, so when she went to the doctor they couldn't prescribe anything since she was still in the first trimester. But, later in her pregnancy she found "Dr. Amazing" who was supposed to be more of a holistic doctor, but still a real MD. He prescribed her Ativan and quickly upped her dosage from 2mg to 6mg within a few months. And yet she still wasn't sleeping much. Then she began to experience other troubling symptoms - stomach cramps, dizziness, muscle weakness, olfactory hallucinations, muscle pain and spasms. Only after almost two years of taking Ativan daily did she start doing some research on the drug and almost immediately found out that it's not recommended to take longer than 4 weeks due to being highly addictive. So, all of Bond's mystery symptoms were actually "withdrawal tolerance" even though she continued to take the medication daily her body was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. And stopping cold turkey could actually result in psychosis. Yet, very few doctors understand benzodiazepines enough to help someone get off them. Bond was lucky enough to find one not too far away from her and started the excruciating process of weaning off these high powered drugs. Unfortunately through the process her marriage couldn't handle the stress of two very young children, one of which has special needs, and the physical and emotional toll of the benzos and trying to get off them. But, Bond shines a MUCH needed light on how terrifying these drugs are and how often doctors over prescribe them (and also terrifyingly don't seem to understand just how addictive they are either).
I think what's most terrifying about benzodiazepines is that it is a surprise addiction. It's not like painkillers where people often did abuse them because they felt so great taking them. It's also incredibly hard to get off of them. It's not a short 30-day detox and maintenance, the withdrawals are not just physical, but emotional/mental as well and many people become suicidal while trying to get off them.
Obviously this is Bond's story and told from her perspective, but her husband seemed like a HUGE jerk. Instead of being worried about her health issues he seemed irritated that more was expected of him with the kids, yet he also didn't want his mother to help them (and she was VERY willing to help) because he didn't get along with her (and you never know why, I don't even think Bond knew why). Obviously, he had a role in creating these two children, yet he seemed irritated and mad that he had to come home from work everyday and you know, be a parent to his kids. He also seemed to think she was either exaggerating or making up her symptoms. I wasn't surprised when they were separated by the end of the book. It made me wonder if he would have been more sympathetic if she had had cancer or something else that wasn't seen as being her own fault. Even before she was prescribed benzos he wasn't sympathetic AT ALL when she wasn't sleeping and was trying to deal with a special needs baby all day on no sleep. I'm in no way suggesting this wasn't hard for him as well. Even just having a special needs 14 month old and a newborn would be a huge struggle for any parents without the benzo addiction/illness thrown in. But, he really came across like a huge dick throughout the whole book. Luckily, she did have some amazing friends who really stepped up to help her and she managed to find a nearby doctor who was one of the few doctors in the country who could help her. Definitely an eye-opening and terrifying book.
Some quotes I liked:
"Neither of us can believe there isn't more information out there, more doctors who understand what it takes to pull benzos safely from the brain. There are innumerable doctors and clinics specializing in opioid addiction treatment, but this is because the explosion in opioid abuse came with an explosion of overdoses. Part of the horror of opioids is the immense and sudden mortality. Benzos dismantle the brain over time. Instead of a swift and sudden death by overdoes, there's a slide into disability. Cause and effect are harder to track down because the horror is stealth. Instead of a fire burning your house down, benzos are the thief that steals everything you own a piece at a time." (p. 171)
"If I went to a doctor with complaints of numbness or weakness, electric shock sensations and tremors, they'd likely suspect multiple sclerosis or some other neurodegenerative disorder. If I told them I couldn't eat because my stomach cramped and burned, they'd look toward Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome. If I hadn't discovered what was happening, I could be on a terrifying medical track or on terrifying new medications meant to remedy a disorder that was never a disorder at all." (p. 218)
[Bond is contacted by ABC about filming a piece for World News with Diane Sawyer. When she's told it's going to air it ends up being bumped off that night and never ends up airing.] "Len stops calling me after the first week. Two months later I call ABC about the piece. I'd love a copy of the footage, I say. It wasn't run but it means something to me. I'm told that Len is no longer working with ABC and that producers typically take the footage if it isn't aired. I look Len up on LinkedIn a year later and discover he's taken a job with a pharmaceutical company. The piece wasn't run, he likely has the footage, and now he's working for Big Pharma. It's like a bad movie with me as the walk-on." (p. 252)
"In the first year of my withdrawal, I reported Dr. Amazing to the only state agency having a criminal unit for investigation into physician malpractice. A narcotics agent interviewed me and called both Dr. James and Dr. Kate just once, leaving messages. He spoke to neither of them, despite their calls back to him, and the case was quietly closed. Dr. Amazing remains in practice to this day." (p. 265)
I think what's most terrifying about benzodiazepines is that it is a surprise addiction. It's not like painkillers where people often did abuse them because they felt so great taking them. It's also incredibly hard to get off of them. It's not a short 30-day detox and maintenance, the withdrawals are not just physical, but emotional/mental as well and many people become suicidal while trying to get off them.
Obviously this is Bond's story and told from her perspective, but her husband seemed like a HUGE jerk. Instead of being worried about her health issues he seemed irritated that more was expected of him with the kids, yet he also didn't want his mother to help them (and she was VERY willing to help) because he didn't get along with her (and you never know why, I don't even think Bond knew why). Obviously, he had a role in creating these two children, yet he seemed irritated and mad that he had to come home from work everyday and you know, be a parent to his kids. He also seemed to think she was either exaggerating or making up her symptoms. I wasn't surprised when they were separated by the end of the book. It made me wonder if he would have been more sympathetic if she had had cancer or something else that wasn't seen as being her own fault. Even before she was prescribed benzos he wasn't sympathetic AT ALL when she wasn't sleeping and was trying to deal with a special needs baby all day on no sleep. I'm in no way suggesting this wasn't hard for him as well. Even just having a special needs 14 month old and a newborn would be a huge struggle for any parents without the benzo addiction/illness thrown in. But, he really came across like a huge dick throughout the whole book. Luckily, she did have some amazing friends who really stepped up to help her and she managed to find a nearby doctor who was one of the few doctors in the country who could help her. Definitely an eye-opening and terrifying book.
Some quotes I liked:
"Neither of us can believe there isn't more information out there, more doctors who understand what it takes to pull benzos safely from the brain. There are innumerable doctors and clinics specializing in opioid addiction treatment, but this is because the explosion in opioid abuse came with an explosion of overdoses. Part of the horror of opioids is the immense and sudden mortality. Benzos dismantle the brain over time. Instead of a swift and sudden death by overdoes, there's a slide into disability. Cause and effect are harder to track down because the horror is stealth. Instead of a fire burning your house down, benzos are the thief that steals everything you own a piece at a time." (p. 171)
"If I went to a doctor with complaints of numbness or weakness, electric shock sensations and tremors, they'd likely suspect multiple sclerosis or some other neurodegenerative disorder. If I told them I couldn't eat because my stomach cramped and burned, they'd look toward Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome. If I hadn't discovered what was happening, I could be on a terrifying medical track or on terrifying new medications meant to remedy a disorder that was never a disorder at all." (p. 218)
[Bond is contacted by ABC about filming a piece for World News with Diane Sawyer. When she's told it's going to air it ends up being bumped off that night and never ends up airing.] "Len stops calling me after the first week. Two months later I call ABC about the piece. I'd love a copy of the footage, I say. It wasn't run but it means something to me. I'm told that Len is no longer working with ABC and that producers typically take the footage if it isn't aired. I look Len up on LinkedIn a year later and discover he's taken a job with a pharmaceutical company. The piece wasn't run, he likely has the footage, and now he's working for Big Pharma. It's like a bad movie with me as the walk-on." (p. 252)
"In the first year of my withdrawal, I reported Dr. Amazing to the only state agency having a criminal unit for investigation into physician malpractice. A narcotics agent interviewed me and called both Dr. James and Dr. Kate just once, leaving messages. He spoke to neither of them, despite their calls back to him, and the case was quietly closed. Dr. Amazing remains in practice to this day." (p. 265)
The Marmalade Diaries by Ben Aitken
The premise of this sounded really interesting - the reality? BORING. Ben Aitken was looking for a new apartment/roommate and went through a company called Share and Care Homeshare that matched him with a recent widow named Winnie. Winnie is 85 and has been widowed for slightly less than a year when Ben moves in. Part of his low rent is helping around the house for Winnie. But, to say Winnie is demanding is an understatement. She is stingy and particular and less than appreciative as well. I do think Ben and Winnie come to appreciate each other, but based on Ben's telling of it it seems much more one sided (his side). Winnie seems to be like many older people who are aging and unhappy about all they've lost. I don't want to sound like she didn't have reasons to be sad or frustrated, but none of that was Ben's fault and I think he put up with WAY more than the average person would. In fact her son and his family moved in with Winnie at the beginning of COVID and only lasted 6 months and there were STILL hurt feelings between Winnie and her daughter in law over it. And after reading this book I wasn't surprised. She seemed pretty awful and that never got better. I kept reading because I thought their relationship might become more of a reciprocal relationship and less landlady and servant. Overall, I was unimpressed and almost wish I had quit reading after the first few chapters.
Saturday, September 17, 2022
August 2022 Reviews
Never Simple by Liz Scheier
Liz Scheier grew up in Manhattan as the only child of her single mother, Judith. Judith was extremely charming and outgoing and would do anything for her only child. But, she was also mentally ill with borderline personality disorder and could be terrifying in her rages. When Liz was eighteen her mother casually told her two bombshells: 1) she was currently married to someone Liz had never heard of and 2) that the man she claimed was Liz's father was completely fabricated (she had a biological father who was dead, but all the details she'd told Liz were made up). This was the beginning of Liz's search for not only who were father actually was, but also how much of her childhood was lies and what exactly was the truth. Once Liz is out of her mother's house she begins to figure out that her childhood was anything but normal and starts to figure out how to create some boundaries with her mother. But, it takes her having children of her own to really create and enforce some hard boundaries with her mother. At the end of her life Judith was mentally ill, dealing with dementia and other physical health issues, and about to be evicted from her apartment. Liz has to sort through the painful emotions of how to help her mother without becoming too entangled again and still maintaining a safe home for her own children. A darkly humorous account of a daughter's struggle with a mentally ill mother.
Some reviews I read said that the memoir focused too much on Liz's personal life and not her relationship with her mother, others said she came across like she was trying to justify not helping her mother more at the end of her life. I think the memoir was well-balanced in that Liz's whole life was about trying to figure out her mother and also herself. With no real parental guidance in her life Liz was on her own for her whole life. To me it made sense that a big chunk of the book was about Liz's 20's and 30's and you can see how she was trying to figure things out. The beginning and the end were more about the realities of living with a mentally ill parent (as a child and then later as an adult and parent herself). Overall, I thought it was very well done. I would tentatively compare it to The Glass Castle but more from the perspective of the child in their 20's and 30's instead of childhood. It's similar to The Glass Castle in that I think Jeannette Walls father and Liz Scheier's mother very much loved them, but were severely handicapped as parents by mental illness and/or addictions.
Some reviews I read said that the memoir focused too much on Liz's personal life and not her relationship with her mother, others said she came across like she was trying to justify not helping her mother more at the end of her life. I think the memoir was well-balanced in that Liz's whole life was about trying to figure out her mother and also herself. With no real parental guidance in her life Liz was on her own for her whole life. To me it made sense that a big chunk of the book was about Liz's 20's and 30's and you can see how she was trying to figure things out. The beginning and the end were more about the realities of living with a mentally ill parent (as a child and then later as an adult and parent herself). Overall, I thought it was very well done. I would tentatively compare it to The Glass Castle but more from the perspective of the child in their 20's and 30's instead of childhood. It's similar to The Glass Castle in that I think Jeannette Walls father and Liz Scheier's mother very much loved them, but were severely handicapped as parents by mental illness and/or addictions.
The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore
Most people don't recognize the name Elizabeth Packard, but we should. Elizabeth was shipped off to an insane asylum in 1860 when her husband of 21 years decides he doesn't like the fact that she's become vocal in disagreeing with his theology. She's taken away from her 6 children and dropped off at the state insane asylum. She initially thinks the asylum director, Dr. Andrew McFarland, will recognize that she isn't insane, but she soon realizes he is very much in cahoots with her husband and had no intention of recognizing her sanity. Elizabeth spends three long years in the state asylum - much of that time she's put in the ward with the worst patients (those who are likely actually insane and violent) as a punishment for fighting for her freedom. When she is released - basically because the director is sick of her and she's riling the other patients up - her husband immediately locks her in their home and is planning to ship her off to another asylum where her lifelong commitment is guaranteed. At this time in history women are seen as the sole property of their husbands and have no right to their own personal freedom, money, property, or children. Once Elizabeth is out of the state asylum she makes it her sole purpose in life to change that - and she does. "By her own reckoning, she secured the passage of thirty-four bills in forty-four legislatures across twenty-four states. She campaigned for women's equal rights and for the rights of the mentally ill - the former, tellingly, usually a much harder sell than the latter. And she achieved widespread, long-lasting change, including, for example, the establishment of independent bodies that inspected asylums with the power to go above boards of trustees. Remarkably, in certain states, she was even successful in insisting that a female inspector be included." (p. 437) Sadly, her story, while not totally lost to history, is marred by the fact that she was accused of being insane and was committed to an insane asylum. The same accusation that continues to be thrown at women who stand up to injustice or demand equality - although thankfully today we can't be committed against our wills as easily.
While this book is long, it is a quick read. After reading the first few chapters I actually cheated and Googled her to make sure she did actually get out of the asylum! Elizabeth Packard was a woman ahead of her time and sadly like many trailblazers she took the hits forging a new path to benefit future generations of women. She took what her husband intended for harm and turned it into a cause that changed laws and the future for women. I was continually amazed at her strength and grit to not only survive, but thrive and make the asylum better while she was there. This is truly a name every woman should know.
Some quotes I liked:
"'As soon as [the allegation of insanity] has been whispered abroad, its subject finds himself...viewed with distrust,' explained a leading nineteenth-century psychiatrist. 'There still lingers something of the same mysterious dread which, in early times, gave him the attributes of the supernatural.' It was not so many years since the whisper would not have been 'insane' but 'witch.'...(p. 16)
"'The working of this Institution is so carefully covered up,' she thought, 'and so artfully concealed from the public eye, that the external world knows nothing of the 'hidden life of the prisoner' within.' If only, she thought, someone could reveal it. Perhaps that person could be her...'It shall be one of the highest aspirations of my earth-life, to expose these evils for the purpose of remedying them,' she announced. 'It shall be said of me, 'She hath done what she could.'" (p. 151)
"If only she wasn't so persuasive. So damn compelling. She had, McFarland thought, a 'more than lawyer-like ability to put her own case.' And in the only court available to her - his asylum - she seemed to have the jury of all its residents, sane and insane alike, in the palm of her hand." (p. 172)
"Back in January, she'd been given a binary choice by her lawyers, the latter option really just a joke. 'The only way I could secure any rights at all,' she'd been told, 'was either by a divorce, or by getting the laws changed.' Now, Elizabeth said fiercely, 'I chose the latter.'" (p. 357)
While this book is long, it is a quick read. After reading the first few chapters I actually cheated and Googled her to make sure she did actually get out of the asylum! Elizabeth Packard was a woman ahead of her time and sadly like many trailblazers she took the hits forging a new path to benefit future generations of women. She took what her husband intended for harm and turned it into a cause that changed laws and the future for women. I was continually amazed at her strength and grit to not only survive, but thrive and make the asylum better while she was there. This is truly a name every woman should know.
Some quotes I liked:
"'As soon as [the allegation of insanity] has been whispered abroad, its subject finds himself...viewed with distrust,' explained a leading nineteenth-century psychiatrist. 'There still lingers something of the same mysterious dread which, in early times, gave him the attributes of the supernatural.' It was not so many years since the whisper would not have been 'insane' but 'witch.'...(p. 16)
"'The working of this Institution is so carefully covered up,' she thought, 'and so artfully concealed from the public eye, that the external world knows nothing of the 'hidden life of the prisoner' within.' If only, she thought, someone could reveal it. Perhaps that person could be her...'It shall be one of the highest aspirations of my earth-life, to expose these evils for the purpose of remedying them,' she announced. 'It shall be said of me, 'She hath done what she could.'" (p. 151)
"If only she wasn't so persuasive. So damn compelling. She had, McFarland thought, a 'more than lawyer-like ability to put her own case.' And in the only court available to her - his asylum - she seemed to have the jury of all its residents, sane and insane alike, in the palm of her hand." (p. 172)
"Back in January, she'd been given a binary choice by her lawyers, the latter option really just a joke. 'The only way I could secure any rights at all,' she'd been told, 'was either by a divorce, or by getting the laws changed.' Now, Elizabeth said fiercely, 'I chose the latter.'" (p. 357)
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara is an AF or Artificial Friend who is extremely observant and interested in everything going on around her. She is purchased for Josie who is a sickly child. As she tends to Josie and tries to help her in any way she can, Klara learns more about human emotions and needs. Josie's next door neighbor Rick seems to be her only real-life friend and their time together is limited because Rick isn't "lifted" or genetically enhanced. AFs are solar powered so to Klara the Sun is almost godlike in it's power to her. When it seems like Josie is getting sicker, Klara decides to make a deal with the Sun to heal Josie. But Josie's mother has another idea for Klara and her role with Josie which stretches the boundaries between people and AFs.
I didn't really have any expectations for this going in and I felt like the storyline was compelling enough that I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen. I do wish a few more things had been spelled out - what exactly did "lifting" entail? How big was Klara supposed to be - like an American Girl doll or the same size as Josie? Where was the story taking place? I felt like two things stood out as very odd - 1) Klara's belief that the Sun was person/deity-like and had healing powers. As an AF she was incredibly skilled and smart and that seemed so child-like that it seemed unrealistic for an AF. 2) that Paul, Josie's father, would help Klara carry out her "mission" to the Sun so it would heal Josie. It seemed odd that he would help with this obviously non-sense mission when he clearly didn't like Klara and the plans Josie's mother had for her and Josie. And the ending was kind of a let down too. I'm not really sure what the author's point was - that robots can never replace humans? or that messing with human genetics isn't a good idea? It's not really clear what happens to Klara either other than she's become outdated now that Josie is going off to college, but if this is supposed to be the future couldn't she be refurbished or something? Just an odd ending to an overall odd book.
I didn't really have any expectations for this going in and I felt like the storyline was compelling enough that I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen. I do wish a few more things had been spelled out - what exactly did "lifting" entail? How big was Klara supposed to be - like an American Girl doll or the same size as Josie? Where was the story taking place? I felt like two things stood out as very odd - 1) Klara's belief that the Sun was person/deity-like and had healing powers. As an AF she was incredibly skilled and smart and that seemed so child-like that it seemed unrealistic for an AF. 2) that Paul, Josie's father, would help Klara carry out her "mission" to the Sun so it would heal Josie. It seemed odd that he would help with this obviously non-sense mission when he clearly didn't like Klara and the plans Josie's mother had for her and Josie. And the ending was kind of a let down too. I'm not really sure what the author's point was - that robots can never replace humans? or that messing with human genetics isn't a good idea? It's not really clear what happens to Klara either other than she's become outdated now that Josie is going off to college, but if this is supposed to be the future couldn't she be refurbished or something? Just an odd ending to an overall odd book.
Cults: inside the world's most notorious groups and understanding the people who joined them by Max Cutler
I wasn't familiar with Max Cutler or his podcast about cults, but stumbled on this book because I am interested in all things cults. This book is a sampling of 10 of the cults that Cutler has explored on his podcast. I do wish he had given a little more reasoning as to why he chose these 10 as there were a few I'd never heard of (and I'm pretty well read on this topic). For each cult he gives a keyword that he feels sums up that cult or leader like Shame, Exploitation, etc. In each chapter he gives as much background about the cult leader as he can and how that may have led to what they became. There is history of the cult and how it ended. I felt like it was an interesting look at a few unique cults. There were kind of mixed reviews about this one, but I really liked it. I felt like each chapter covered the cult and it's leader very well and highlighted some of the reasons why it started, how people were drawn in, and why it ended. I'm not a huge podcast listener, but this made me want to check out his podcast to see what other cults he's covered that I may not know about.
Some quotes I liked:
"It may seem like a dangerous contradiction, but one of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of the psychopath is that, on a good day, people tend to enjoy being in their company." (p. 16)
"It started innocently enough, with a ranking system (Raniere had been inspired by Scientology's eight levels of Operating Thetan) made visible to everyone enrolled in ESP, and later NXIVM, by sashes that Espians were expected to wear around their necks. The sash system determined where a person stood in the hierarchy...To move from one color to the next, a student had to first earn four stripes on the sash they currently possessed. This was another studied variation of Scientology, which offers a graduated path they term the 'bridge to clear.'...During EM [Explorations of Meaning] sessions, a coach would take a student through an analysis of a thought or behavior to find the root cause of the student's negative emotional responses...In this way, Explorations of Meaning were very similar to Scientology's auditing sessions." (p. 286-87)
[On Credonia Mwerinde and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God cult in Uganda] "Viewed on its own, her behavior stands out for its exceptional ruthlessness, but in a country whose history has been soaked in bloodshed, her cruelty had plenty of precedents." (p. 321) "In total, at least 1,055 people were killed in the Movement's final weeks, making it the deadliest cult in the history of the modern world." (p. 343)
Some quotes I liked:
"It may seem like a dangerous contradiction, but one of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of the psychopath is that, on a good day, people tend to enjoy being in their company." (p. 16)
"It started innocently enough, with a ranking system (Raniere had been inspired by Scientology's eight levels of Operating Thetan) made visible to everyone enrolled in ESP, and later NXIVM, by sashes that Espians were expected to wear around their necks. The sash system determined where a person stood in the hierarchy...To move from one color to the next, a student had to first earn four stripes on the sash they currently possessed. This was another studied variation of Scientology, which offers a graduated path they term the 'bridge to clear.'...During EM [Explorations of Meaning] sessions, a coach would take a student through an analysis of a thought or behavior to find the root cause of the student's negative emotional responses...In this way, Explorations of Meaning were very similar to Scientology's auditing sessions." (p. 286-87)
[On Credonia Mwerinde and the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God cult in Uganda] "Viewed on its own, her behavior stands out for its exceptional ruthlessness, but in a country whose history has been soaked in bloodshed, her cruelty had plenty of precedents." (p. 321) "In total, at least 1,055 people were killed in the Movement's final weeks, making it the deadliest cult in the history of the modern world." (p. 343)
Mala's Cat by Mala Kacenberg
Mala Szorer grew up in a small village in Poland. While she and her family didn't have much materially they had a loving family and enjoyed the simple pleasures of life. Mala's entire village was Jewish. She was 12 when Hitler came into power in Germany and because she was a child she didn't understand or think much of the rumors she heard about him and the Nazis. But when all the Jewish children were no longer allowed to attend school she knew things were getting bad. Mala was strong willed and as soon as the restrictions on Jews began she defied them. She routinely took off her yellow star and left her village to beg and find food. That was how she survived when her whole family was killed. She was out looking for food and when she came home she saw that everyone had been rounded up to the center of the village and were shot. She and her cat Malach hid in the surrounding woods for several weeks. Mala used her looks and intelligence to her advantage. She was blond-haired and blue-eyed so she didn't "look" Jewish and could convince people that her mean stepmother had thrown her out and they would take her in for awhile. Eventually she obtained fake papers and went to work in Germany. For six years she survived on her wits and with the help of her cat. Malach often sensed trouble before Mala did and helped her avoid capture and find good people who would help her. When the war ends Mala reveals her true identity to the people she was working for in Germany and thankfully they were sympathetic to her and let her stay on for awhile. Eventually she did find some distant relatives and emigrated to London where she met her husband Meir Kacenberg. They went on to raise 5 children together and as two survivors of the Holocaust Mala wanted to tell her story to world in this book.
Mala's story is amazing and highlights how it's often luck and grit that allowed her to survive when so many others didn't. She was strong willed, but after her whole family was murdered she wasn't afraid of death so she often took risks that others may not have. She also credits her cat Malach and thinks she may have been an angel sent to help her. Mala claims she never saw Malach eat or drink and Malach always found her even if they were separated by long distances. And once the war was over Malach disappeared never to be seen again. My only complaints were 1) the story is written in a somewhat choppy way - I think because English was Mala's fourth or fifth language. But, it sometimes makes the story not flow as well as it could. And 2) I find it slightly hard to believe that she had 3 different families offer to adopt her seemingly VERY quickly. Maybe that was commonplace then, but it seemed odd and not what would be the norm during wartime. But, it's overall a very interesting book about one woman's miraculous survival during the Holocaust.
Mala's story is amazing and highlights how it's often luck and grit that allowed her to survive when so many others didn't. She was strong willed, but after her whole family was murdered she wasn't afraid of death so she often took risks that others may not have. She also credits her cat Malach and thinks she may have been an angel sent to help her. Mala claims she never saw Malach eat or drink and Malach always found her even if they were separated by long distances. And once the war was over Malach disappeared never to be seen again. My only complaints were 1) the story is written in a somewhat choppy way - I think because English was Mala's fourth or fifth language. But, it sometimes makes the story not flow as well as it could. And 2) I find it slightly hard to believe that she had 3 different families offer to adopt her seemingly VERY quickly. Maybe that was commonplace then, but it seemed odd and not what would be the norm during wartime. But, it's overall a very interesting book about one woman's miraculous survival during the Holocaust.
Dinner for One: how cooking in Paris saved me by Sutanya Dacres
Sutanya Dacres met her future husband on a night out with a friend when she was home in New York visiting her family. He was French and was in town on vacation with a friend. They exchanged contact info and started emailing. Soon they were emailing daily and talking on the phone too. When Sutanya goes to Europe on a trip with some friends she meets up with The Frenchman (as he’s known in this book) in Paris and knows this is it. After three years of long distance dating they get married in 2013 and she moves to Paris. But what seemed like a fairytale romance quickly fades under the stress of living together full time and for Sutanya the struggles of adjusting to France and trying to learn a new language. Within three years of their wedding they are getting divorced. Sutanya really struggles with the divorce and what to do with herself. She loves Paris so she decides to stay and finds that rediscovering cooking for herself is what starts to heal her. The last section of the book is a collection of recipes.
I didn’t love this memoir. I honestly didn’t like Sutanya very much. I also thought based on the description of the book it would be more about food and cooking. It was more about all the dozens of men she hooked up with and how much she partied and self-medicated (both before and after her divorce). I was expecting more The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry and got the hookup diaries Paris edition. Overall, I would not recommend this one.
I didn’t love this memoir. I honestly didn’t like Sutanya very much. I also thought based on the description of the book it would be more about food and cooking. It was more about all the dozens of men she hooked up with and how much she partied and self-medicated (both before and after her divorce). I was expecting more The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry and got the hookup diaries Paris edition. Overall, I would not recommend this one.
Monday, August 8, 2022
July 2022 Cookbook Reviews
Super Simple Homemade Pasta by Aliza Green
This homemade pasta cookbook cover the basics of making your own pasta dough and various ways to shape/cut it. The first section covers making/shaping dough and a few recipes for different types of dough. The second section covers recipes for various types of pasta dishes. I was hoping to find some recipes for ravioli or other recipes using fresh pasta. I didn't really find any recipes I wanted to try and overall just didn't feel like this was a very helpful cookbook overall.
The Wellness Principles: cooking for a healthy life by Gary Deng, M.D.
I was interested in this cookbook since it's written by a medical doctor. I liked that in the introduction of the book he talks about being frustrated that as a doctor he wasn't really making his patients well he was treating their problem/issue only for them to keep coming back with the same problems/issues over and over again because other things weren't addressed like diet, sleep, etc. He included a section called "healthy living beyond the plate" that covered things like exercise, stress, sleep, social environment, etc. But, what I didn't like right from the start is that he was pushing a plant-based diet. Milk, red meat, and butter and NOT the dietary problems. Especially if you source those products from local farmers who are practicing regenerative farming. Fake milks and meats are NOT the answer to dietary or environmental concerns. So, I was already turned off by that and honestly didn't see any recipes I wanted to try. I wouldn't recommend this one at all.
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