Beth Fish Reads

Thursday Tea: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

2012-02-09T06:01:00.001-05:00

The Book: Dead and Gone is the ninth book in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series, starring Sookie Stackhouse.

Louisiana is still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, which had a devastating effect not only on humans but on the supernatural beings as well. The vampire kingdoms have undergone new leadership and new borders, which means quite a few changes for Sookie's undead friends. But more significant for Sookie are a few other events.

First, the weres and shape-shifters decide to announce their presence to the world at large. As you can imagine, the reactions to this revelation are strong and varied. Some citizens of Bon Temps seem to have gone off the deep end, and a vigilante group is out to kill all known supernaturals. Sookie, of course, is caught up in the investigation of who's been doing the murders. Second, the fairy world is involved in a civil war, and the enemies of Sookie's grandfather are out to kill or kidnap her as way to make him surrender. So on top of everything else she's dealing with, Sookie has to stay alert to stay alive. And then there's the matter of Eric (sorry, I can't say more than that without spoiling the story--Ha!).

Dead and Gone is another fun entry in Harris's Sookie Stackhouse books. Despite the murders, blood, and vampires, the novels are light reading and a great way to escape into another world. As always, I listened to the unabridged audiobook (Recorded Books, 9 hr, 1 min) read by Johanna Parker, who is perfect as Sookie.

The Tea: I don't normally drink herbal teas, but there's one exception: I love Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea. It is so warming and has such a wonderful aroma that it's one of my go-to teas when I'm feeling sick or have a chill. This week's snowfall had me brewing a pot. Here's the company's description: "Brimming with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves, a cup of our aromatic Bengal Spice tea is like a trip to an exotic spice market in a faraway land. This adventurous blend is our caffeine-free interpretation of Chai." As always, I drink it black with no sweetener.

The Assessment: We've been through this before. It's highly unlikely Sookie would be drinking any kind of fancy tea. In fact, in Dead and Gone, I think she drank lemonade more than anything else, and I really don't see her drinking chai--herbal or traditional. Oh well, she doesn't know what she's missing.

What About You? Here's where I ask you what you're drinking this week (tea, coffee, wine?). And don't forget to tell me what you're reading.

Dead and Gone at an Indie

Dead and Gone at Powell's

Dead and Gone at Book Depository
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Thursday Tea was the brainchild of Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

Published by Penguin USA / Ace, 2009
ISBN-13: 9780441017157
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: B
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)
FTC: I buy all teas myself, I am not a tea reviewer.

Wordless Wednesday 167

2012-02-08T00:45:00.000-05:00

Urban Reflections (Bethesda, MD), 2011

Click image to enlarge. For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Today's Imprint Read: Charlotte au Chocolat by Charlotte Silver

2012-02-07T06:01:00.001-05:00

What would it be like to have grown up in a restaurant? Every night you put on your pretty dress, sit down at your special table, sip your Shirley Temple, and anticipate being served by an ever-changing wait staff. Meanwhile your parents are in the kitchen cooking for hundreds.

I grew up rich. The setting—or stage set—of my childhood was the velvety pink-and-green dining room of my mother's restaurant, Upstairs at the Pudding, located above the Hasty Pudding Club in a red-brick Victorian building at 10 Holyoke Street in Harvard Square. My life was not a child's life of jungle gyms and Velcro sneakers, but of soft lighting, stiff petticoats, rolling pins smothered in flour, and candied violets in wax paper. It was a life of manners, of air kisses, of "How do you dos," and a life for which I needed six party dresses a year, three every spring and three every winter. We were rich. Everybody knew it.

Yet we were not; we were not rich at all. For as long as I could remember, the restaurant had tottered on the brink of collapse. I always knew we would lose it one day. And we did lose it; we did. (p. 1)

—Charlotte au Chocolat: Memories of a Restaurant Girlhood, by Charlotte Silver (Riverhead Books 2012; quote is from uncorrected proofs)

Quick Facts

Setting: Cambridge, Mass., and environs
Characters: Charlotte Silver, her family, and assorted waiters and kitchen staff; the rich and famous make cameos
Main theme: Loving tribute to her mother and the sacrifices she made to keep restaurant and family running
Other themes: Food and drink, family, manners, times gone by
Genre: Memoir

Want to Know More? For a fun annotated menu from Charlotte's childhood, check out the publisher's website. For more on author Charlotte Silver, read her interview with the Boston Globe. For more on Charlotte au Chocolat, including events and news, visit the memoir's Facebook page and watch the fantastic book trailer (below). For more Riverhead Books and for news about events and great books, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Charlotte au Chocolat at an Indie

Charlotte au Chocolat at Powell's

Charlotte au Chocolat at Book Depository
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Review: The Never Weres by Fiona Smyth

2012-02-06T06:01:00.001-05:00

In the year 3088 humans have been affected by a virus that has destroyed their fertility. The last generation is now in the teen years, but still the world is debating the ethics of cloning humans, although the technology could save humanity.

Xian, Mia, and Jesse are best friends. Xian loves to explore the old subway system for artifacts from times past, Jesse likes to experiment with cloning animals (which is legal), and Mia volunteers at the senior center. After Xian starts to find evidence of long-abandoned labs hidden deep below the city, the teens combine their talents to learn the nature of the experiments conducted there. What have they discovered?

Fiona Smyth's The Never Weres is a dystopian graphic novel that takes as its major theme the issue of human cloning. Although there is plenty of action, the novel was not a success for me. First, the mystery of the secret laboratories is foreshadowed in such a way that I figured it out long before the teens. And second, I thought the ending was too quick and tidy. Nonetheless, Xian, Mia, and Jesse are smart and likeable with distinct personalities.

The scan (from page 11) is a good example of the black and white artwork, which is detailed and expressive. The target audience is middle grade readers, but some of the deeper implications of cloning, infertility, and elder care would appeal to more mature readers.

Others--such as Kirkus Reviews--had better luck with The Never Weres than I did, so if the topic or artwork interests you, give the novel a try.

I read this graphic novel to help celebrate Lenore's Dystopian February (see Presenting Lenore). This review will also be linked to Kid Konnection, hosted by Julie at Booking Mama.

The Never Weres at an Indie

The Never Weres at Powell's

The Never Weres at Book Depository
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Published by Annick Press, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781554512843
Source: Bought (see review policy)
Rating: C-
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

Weekend Cooking: Homemade Crackers

2012-02-04T06:01:00.005-05:00

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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I don't know if any of you remember one of my favorite magazines, Country Journal, which stopped publication about 10 years ago. The person who wrote and edited the cooking section was Ken Haedrich. And it was in an old issue of the magazine, oh I'm going to say in the 1980s, that I first saw recipes for making homemade crackers.

In 1990, Haedrich published his Ken Haedrich's Country Baking, and it includes many of the recipes from that original cracker article, such as the one I'm sharing today.

Why make your own crackers? Here are some of my reasons:

It's easy and fun.
You can control exactly what's in them--no chemicals, nothing you might be allergic to.
People are always impressed.
They're yummy.

So how do you make them? Basically, you mix the dough and roll it out really, really thin. Then you cut the dough, prick it with a fork, and bake. Yeah, it takes a little bit more than that, but not much more.

Mixing: I usually mix my dough in the food processor, but there is no reason not to mix it by hand.

Chilling: I always chill my dough before rolling it out, even if the recipe doesn't tell you to. The dough is much easier to roll when it's not sticky.

Rolling: This is the hardest part. You want your crackers to be 1/8 to 1/16 inch thick and as even as you can make it. Yikes! you say. Not to worry. I have two tricks. The first one I've read about in a number of books, blogs, and recipes. If your dough is on the soft side and doesn't contain seeds, you can put it through a pasta roller. The photo of the dough (below) shows what one batch looked like after it came out of the roller. I usually roll it on the widest setting, then on #2, and then sometimes on #3. Nothing is easier.

Before I got my pasta roller, though, I had to roll all my crackers by hand. Now I roll just the ones that use seeds or stone-ground cornmeal. Most recipes tell you to divide the dough in half and then roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Here's a trick I haven't read anywhere; it's something I discovered on my own: I have much better luck if I divide my dough into 6 or 8 parts. Yes, it takes more time, but you'd be surprised by how much easier it is to get a fairly even thickness if you have less dough to push around.

Preparing the pan: You definitely want to line your baking sheets with parchment or a silicone mat. Not all recipes call for this, but I always line my pans. If you plan on baking crackers often, I suggest investing in silicone; you'll be going through a lot of parchment otherwise.

Cutting the dough: You can use a biscuit cutter, cookie cutters, or a pizza cutter. I use a pizza cutter and I don't worry about the ragged edges of the dough or getting each piece the same size. If you transfer the dough to the baking sheet before cutting you won't have to move each little cracker. But be careful not to cut your mat.

Docking: Be sure you poke each cracker with a fork to prevent it from puffing too much when baking.

Baking: Watch the first batch like a hawk. You may want to rotate your pan(s) halfway through the baking if your oven doesn't bake evenly. You want the bottoms to be brown and the edges to just start to get brown. If you wait too long, the crackers will burn on the bottom. Remember that they'll crisp up a little bit on the cooling rack.

Cooling: Transfer the crackers to cooling racks. If you're like me, you'll have racks with parallel bars instead of a grid. This means the crackers will fall through the spaces onto the counter. One of these days I'll buy new cooling racks, but for years I've dealt with that little annoyance.

Storage: Make sure the crackers are completely cool, and store in an airtight tin or plastic bag.

Warning: The crackers won't last long (because you'll eat them all in a heartbeat). They make great snacks and you won't believe how much better they taste than store bought.

So where can you find other recipes to try yourself? If you do a search for "cracker recipes" you'll be surprised by how many you'll find. Our favorites are these Parmesan crackers, sesame seed crackers, and wheat crackers (like Wheat Thins). The New York Times had a cracker article last year with some good recipes and King Arthur Flour has some too.

I'm sharing the recipe for the first crackers I ever made, which can be found in Haedrich's cookbook. The recipe calls for Cheddar cheese, but I usually make them with Parmesan. Either way, they're yummy.

Cornmeal Cheddar Crackers
Makes 20-30 crackers

1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup (about 3 ounces) grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 large egg
1/4 cup flavorless vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

In a large bowl, mix the flours, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and cayenne; stir in the Cheddar. Lightly beat the egg, oil, and water in a separate bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and stir in the liquid just until the dough coheres. Give the dough a shake of flour and knead it once or twice in the bowl. Flatten into a thick disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F while the dough chills.

On a lightly floured surface or long sheet of wax paper, roll the dough a little less than 1/8-inch thick; closer to 1/16 inch is actually better. Dust the top of the dough, if necessary, to keep your pin from sticking. Cut the crackers any way you like, then transfer to ungreased cookie sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness (longer for thicker crackers); when done, they'll be nicely browned around the edges. Transfer the crackers to a rack and cool thoroughly before storing in a sealed container.

Enjoy!!

Imprint Friday: Broadway Baby by Alan Shapiro

2012-02-03T06:01:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Algonquin Books. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

When I learned that Alan Shapiro, a prize-winning poet, wrote his first novel, I knew I had to take a look. Broadway Baby, the story of a woman who can't quite seem to accept the fact that she's not the next Fanny Brice, was released last week. Here's the publisher's summary:

As a little girl growing up in Boston, Miriam Bluestein fantasized about a life lived on stage, specifically in a musical. Get married, have a family—sure, maybe she’d do those things, too, but first and foremost there was her career. As a woman, she is both tormented and consoled by those dreams in her day-to-day existence with her family, including a short-tempered husband, a cranky mother, and three demanding children, one of whom, Ethan, shows real talent for the stage.

It is through Ethan that Miriam strives to realize her dreams. As she pushes him to make the most of his talent, the rest of her life gradually comes undone, with her husband becoming increasingly frustrated and her other two children—Sam, a mass of quirks and idiosyncrasies, and Julie, hostile and bitter—withdrawing into their own worlds. Still Miriam dreams, praying for that big finale, which, when it comes, is nothing that she ever could have imagined.

All ten-year-olds dream of what they want to be when they grow up. In the 1930s, Miriam Bluestein envisioned herself on the stage, singing and dancing to a rapt audience. The closest she ever got, however, was being a backstage mom to a reluctant acting son.

Poor Miriam, you can't help but sympathize with her one moment and then want to shake some sense into the next. So often she likes the idea of something (being married to a handsome GI, for example) much better than actually doing it. We've all been there, but Miriam takes it to extremes. Her biggest problem, though, is that she has trouble seeing life as anything but a play. Thus, because the appearance of her actions are all important, she never quite gets it right, no matter what her role: wife, mother, or even friend.

One of Shapiro's many talents is his ability to mix humor and sadness almost in the same breath. And really, isn't that the way life is sometimes? Broadway Baby takes readers through the ups and downs of Miriam's attempts to convince her family to play by her script.

Here are a couple of other opinions (click on the links to read the full reviews):

D. G. Martin, writing for The Pilot: "When great poets like Shapiro write their novels, they bring their powers of wordsmithery to the page. They work with their words so that they do more than simply describe the action, so that the pleasure of reading a good story is enhanced."
Pam Kelley at The Reading Life: "Sometimes, my favorite parts of a novel are its bits of nonfiction--delicious, crazy facts the author pulls from real life and weaves into the story. This is the case with Alan Shapiro’s 'Broadway Baby,' a novel studded with comic anecdotes so good it would be hard to make them up."

For a sneak peek excerpt and more about Broadway Baby, be sure to visit Algonquin: The Blog. Book clubs will appreciate the discussion questions included at the back of the book, and all readers will be interested in the author note in which Shapiro discusses the intersection of fiction and autobiography.

Algonquin Books is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For more information about the imprint, please read Executive Editor Chuck Adams's introductory letter, posted here on January 7, 2011.

Broadway Baby at an Indie

Broadway Baby at Powell's

Broadway Baby at Book Depository
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Published by Workman / Algonquin Books 2012
ISBN-13: 9781565129832

Thursday Tea: A Conversation with Author Sarah McCoy

2012-02-02T06:01:00.001-05:00

You've already read, were planning to read, already own, or are planning to buy multiple copies of Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter, right? Let me tell you right now, this novel is one of my recent favorites. I loved the characters, the settings, and especially the rhythms and aromas of the bakeries.

Just in case you've missed the premise of Sarah's new novel, here's part of the publisher's summary:

In 1945, Elsie Schmidt is a naive teenager, as eager for her first sip of champagne as she is for her first kiss. She and her family have been protected from the worst of the terror and desperation overtaking her country by a high-ranking Nazi who wishes to marry her. So when an escaped Jewish boy arrives on Elsie’s doorstep in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, Elsie understands that opening the door would put all she loves in danger.

Sixty years later, in El Paso, Texas, Reba Adams is trying to file a feel-good Christmas piece for the local magazine. . . . [Her] latest assignment has brought her to the shop of an elderly baker across town. The interview should take a few hours at most, but the owner of Elsie’s German Bakery is no easy subject. . . . As Elsie [and] Reba's . . . lives become more intertwined, [they] are forced to confront the uncomfortable truths of the past and seek out the courage to forgive.

In honor of the recent release of The Baker's Daughter and in keeping with a Thursday tradition here at Beth Fish Reads, I've invited Sarah over for a chat and tea party. We both baked plenty of goodies, so I hope you'll pull up a chair, pour yourself a mug of tea, grab a pastry, and join in the fun.

Beth Fish Reads: Welcome to Beth Fish Reads, Sarah. Sit right down and we'll have a little something to nibble on while we sip our peppermint tea, just like Reba (p. 74).

Sarah McCoy: Why thank you, Candace, I do fancy a good cup of tea and nibbles.

BFR: There are so many aspects of your wonderful The Baker's Daughter that I want to talk about, I'm not sure where to start. Your characters were very real to me, not just Reba and Elsie but also their families and friends. One thing that struck me was that, although the two women came of age in very different times and a half a world away from each other, they are quite similar. They're both survivors, neither is afraid of hard work, and they're both people who question. Did you grow up in an atmosphere that encouraged you to question your government, your parents, and the general beliefs of society?

SM: First off, I’m thrilled the characters spoke to you and you identified so strongly with them. They are quite real to me, too. It’s as if we’re chatting about mutual friends, not just characters in a novel.

Now, to your very good question about my own upbringing: I didn’t necessarily grow up in an atmosphere that encouraged questioning of authority. In fact, one might even say the opposite was true. I am the daughter of a career Army officer. So authority was always championed and honored. We lived on a military post for years where to enter the installation, you had to show your military ID to guards with rifles slung across their chest. “Authority” wasn’t an idea to be question. It was tangible in my everyday reality. All that being said, my parents are also very spiritual and raised us to believe that there is a greater power than any human or governing precedent. There is the law of man and there is the law of goodness and love. They often go hand-in-hand, but we were taught by example that if a disparity ever arose, the latter always trumped the former. So I guess my answer is yes and no. I grew up in a home where I was encouraged to respect the world’s laws but be accountable to more.

BFR: I think that's a great way to be: respectful but not a lemming.

Although I lived in northern Arizona for a few years in the 1970s, I was oblivious to illegal immigration issues. I don't know if that's from my own self-absorption or if Mexican immigration took a backseat to Watergate and the gas crisis, headline news of the day. Of course immigration is at the top of political rhetoric these days, but it doesn't affect my daily life here in central Pennsylvania. Are the issues of illegal border crossings a constant in your life in El Paso? Do people talk about U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and policies or is it too divisive to bring up in casual conversation?

SM: Oh, no, it’s as normal as apple pie—or I guess churros might be a better analogy. There’s a Border Protection truck that drives along the irrigation ditch behind my house at least once a week. I’ve almost taken to waving to him. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is simply a part of the landscape here. Watching some of the evening news (CNN, Fox or what have you), it seems the gentlefolk in Washington, D.C. get more riled up about the topic than most borderland (El Paso–Juarez) residents. For us, we’re just neighbors—just people trying to get by day to day, make a living, feed our families, take the kids to school, get cough medicine for relatives, pay for gas . . . same as folks in Pennsylvania, I’m sure.

Most of the billboards on El Paso’s Interstate-10 are in Spanish and if you stop at a fast-food restaurant, you’ll probably have more trouble ordering in English than if you habla español. The fact that so-in-so three doors down is from Mexico is . . . well, not really any of my business. Is he here legally? Hope so, for his sake. But what if he isn’t? Well, then I bet he’s more worried about it than we, his neighbors, are. The lines are blurred between cultural and national identities, and it’s all too difficult to tell.

So that might not sound very politically correct, and I’m praying I don’t get hammered for it, but my book isn’t about politics. I’m no politician, and it’d be my personal nightmare to step a toe into the political realm. It’s not my calling. I write fiction. I write through the eyes of characters and simply relay their perspective. That’s the beauty of books. They are for you, the readers, to interpret as relevant or not, based on your own beliefs. For me, the pain and needless suffering of people entangled in this illegal immigration “issue” is what weighs on my conscience and keeps me up at night. But again, that’s my subjective response.

BFR: Oh I totally understand what you mean about separating fiction and what your characters say and do from your personal life. How crazy it'd be to think that every issue brought up in a novel was part of the author's own agenda. But The Baker's Daughter certainly made me think.

You spent at least part of your childhood in Germany but consider Virginia your home and now live in Texas; The Baker's Daughter has roots in all three locations. In addition, you have strong ties to the military thanks to your father and husband. One principal theme in your novel is the conflict some characters have between their personal beliefs and obeying the laws of their country and doing their duty. Others blindly accept what their government tells them, and still others hold strict to their own sense of human rights, despite personal danger. Among the obvious differences between being an officer in Hitler's Germany and being a USCBP officer today is the idea of choice. How did your personal experiences in Germany and Texas help inform those differences between Josef and Riki?

SM: I’ll be honest, all of my memories and experiences in Germany are rimmed in sugar crystals. However, history clearly portrays a bitter and sinister alter ego. So I suppose I was much like all of my characters—torn between feeling and fact as I wrote the novel. Having spent a good amount of time in the German community, I’ve experienced the jovial, beloved aspects of their culture and seen glimpses of the dark side. But then . . . isn’t that true of us all? The same goes for the Tex–Mex border. On one side of the line, there’s fancy boots, barbeque, and “everything is bigger in Texas,” while on the other, people live in shanties, burn their trash to stay warm in the winter and collapse from heat and hunger in the summer.

It makes you slap your forehead. Because it’s a line. Yes, a very important line but a line nonetheless. And those are people over there—breathing, feeling, hurting, loving, and dreaming. What their birth certificates state as nationality has no bearing on the worth of their lives. Only their legacies and God can make that proclamation. Here again, however, is where I’m reminded that these are my personal beliefs. Part of the greatness of our nation is that we are afforded the right to those without penalty—that wasn’t the case for citizens in WWII Germany.

BFR: It's so easy to forget that when talk about a huge historical or political event that we're talking about individuals. And each person is different and has different fears and motivations. You can't paint a whole nation with one brush.

I'm curious about the German attitude toward U.S. soldiers at the end of the war. In France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, Allied forces were cheered and citizens opened their hearts and homes to their liberators. In Germany, of course, things were different. Citizens didn't know what to expect from either the foreigners or their own desperate military, who knew they would soon be forced to justify their actions. Elsie, for a number of reasons, saw the U.S. soldiers as her personal liberators. Not everyone in her household had the same attitude. In The Baker's Daughter the GIs were respectful of the Schmidt family's bakery, and the soldiers were friendly with the townspeople. Was that common throughout Germany or were there generally more hostilities on both sides?

SM: This is where I had to rely on the documents and stories told by survivors aided by my imagination. Of course there was much hostility on both sides and many accounts of some U.S. soldiers being terribly harsh to the German people, which, to a certain degree, is understandable. I very much doubt I would be smiling and befriending townspeople after A) we just took their country by military force and B) I was made aware of the Jewish atrocities. No, ma’am. That would be extremely difficult. However, over and over, I heard accounts of U.S. soldiers not just befriending but falling in love and marrying Germans.

This, in fact, is what incited Elsie’s narrative. I was at a German Christkindlmarkt and purchased a loaf of Stollen from an elderly German woman. In casual conversation as I fished dollar bills out of my purse, I asked how and when she came “all the way out here” to El Paso. She said she married an American soldier just after the war and moved with him. It was as if lightning struck and branded me with Elsie’s entire story. I took up my German bread, left the bazaar, and never saw her again. Yet I see her every time I pick up a copy of The Baker’s Daughter. She is very much a part of Elsie’s spirit.

Hmm . . . I’m not sure if that directly answered your original question, but I hope it spoke to it somewhat.

BFR: Ha! This is conversation, not a pop quiz, you can talk about whatever you want. I have had several friends who have German mothers. They, like Elsie, fell in love with a U.S. soldier and made a new life in America. How difficult that must have been for them, just like for Elsie.

I know you like to cook and bake. Now that you live in the United States again, do you still miss European breads and baked goods? What is with Americans? Why isn't there a fabulous bakery and coffee shop (I'm not talking about national chains or cupcake shops) on every corner? The thing I miss most about Europe and the U.K. and about not living in a U.S. city with major ethnic enclaves is the family-owned bakery with the glass cases full of beautiful pastries, tarts, croissants, buns, crusty breads, and . . . well you get the picture. Is there such a bakery in El Paso or is Elsie's German Bakery just a dream?

SM: Amen, amen, amen! Bakeries in Europe are like 7/11s here—there’s one on every corner! Little mom and pop shops selling homemade breads with a cup of coffee or tea. As you pointed out, they aren’t simply in major metropolitan areas like our Au Bon Pains or Starbucks shops. They’re nestled into the neighborhoods—residential homes and businesses overlapping— so that whole streets smells like heaven. Usually there’s a meat and cheese shop next door. It’s like that nursery rhyme: the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker. And they’ve all been neighbors for generations. It’s magical.

I happened to have the opportunity to experience this kind of setting at the beginning of my marriage. My husband and I lived in an apartment above a mother and daughter-run bakery in Norfolk, Virginia. Particularly on rainy days, they’d bake up a storm and our whole apartment smelled of cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and butter. No need for a scented candle! It was delicious. So I certainly used those memories to conjure the sensory descriptions.

In El Paso, we have a handful of lovely bakeries that I’ve frequented on occasion. Many of them are Mexican and bake the most unique confections I’ve ever seen. Of course, there are German bakeries. That’s where I cultivated Reba’s storyline. When I first moved to El Paso, I was asked to write a feature article for the city magazine about the German community. I went to Marina’s German Bakery to interview the staff, poke around the kitchen, meet the owner, Herr Michael Groemling, and chat with faithful patrons. I also took home quite a bit of brötchen, sesame see rolls, farmer’s bread and other items. My husband thought he’d died and gone back to Garmisch.

BFR: Oh no! I feel the need to get baking. I bet it was wonderful to live above a bakery. Sigh . . . Oh, yeah, let me ask you one more question: If I came to your house for a weekend, what kinds of foods and drink would we be indulging in? What fun it would be to share a kitchen with you.

SM: You, my dear, have an open invitation. We’ve been friends for many months now. You’ve had my peppers in your kitchen, on your table and your taste buds. We’ve shared stories of our husbands, our cooking, our love of pajamas, tea, and books. I feel as if I’ve known you for years, and I’m grateful to the Twitter-verse for bringing our stars together.

BFR: Awwww. Now I'm blushing but you know the feeling is mutual.

SM: If you came to my house, we’d most certainly have tea, as we are now. Since we’re having an herbal sip at your house, I’d brew us something rich and dark. A good, stout Bewley’s Irish Afternoon or Breakfast. And while both Reba and Elsie are more “sweets” ladies, I’m a salt lover. I could suck a saltlick and be happy as a toddler with a lolly. So for your visit, I’d probably stuff some roasted peppers with a bit of goat cheese and a sprinkle of sea salt on top. Easy does it, yet so scrumptious!

Oh, and I might make us a batch of kale chips. Just recently, I’ve been infatuated with making them. Have you ever had any? My Twitter friend Julie Klam gave me a recipe and I’m sold—they’re vegetable crack, and I can’t stop myself. I’ve made them ten different ways: garlic kale chips, Italian seasoning kale chips, Parmesan kale chips, chili pepper kale chips, etc. I think my favorite are the simple sea salt with a spritz of butter-flavored non-stick cooking spray. That keeps them light but crispy. I promise to make those on your visit west.

However, on my visit east to Beth Fish Reads, I baked up some pumpkin-cranberry-nut muffins. I apologize that I only have ten in my basket now. My husband gobbled two straight out of the oven and gave them a rave review, so I hope you enjoy too.

BFR: *mumble mumble swallow* Sorry, my mouth was full. Yummy muffins. I love pumpkin and cranberry. They go nicely with the crumb cake I baked in honor of Elsie. And um, wow. I'm packing my bag so we can share some good eats.

SM: One of the magical aspects of this novel is that in a way, we are sharing a kitchen. We’re in The Baker’s Daughter’s kitchen together. When you make Elsie’s “Lebkuchen Hearts” recipe, it’s as if she and I, by virtue of having invented her, are there beside you, measuring, mixing, rolling, laughing, baking and sharing.

BFR: Thanks so much for stopping by, Sarah. I had a great time chatting with you and I hope everyone else did too. Oh, can I just have one more muffin? Mr. BFR would love to have it for breakfast tomorrow.
__________

Sarah McCoy's The Baker's Daughter is available at a bookstore near you and at an Indie, Powell's, and Book Depository. (These links lead to affiliate programs.) My review of The Baker's Daughter will appear on the SheKnows Book Lounge site later this month.

Wordless Wednesday 166

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

The Two of Us, January 2012

Click the image to enlarge. For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Review: The Whistleblower (Movie)

2012-01-31T06:01:00.001-05:00

When Lincoln, Nebraska, cop Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) accepts a temporary position in Bosnia as part of the U.N. peacekeeping team, she knows it will be tough work but she needs the money so she can fight for custody of her kids. Once on the job, Bolkovac is told to interview two young women who are in Bosnia with fake passports. When Bolkovac discovers they were victims of a sex-trafficking operation, she vows to protect the girls. The deeper Bolkovac digs, the more dangerous it becomes, not only for herself but also for the victims.

The Whistleblower, directed by Larysa Kondracki, is based on a true story. Although the beginning of the film, when we are introduced to the principal characters, is a bit slow, once Bolkovac arrives in Bosnia, the action picks up, and I was totally hooked. From the moment the sex ring is uncovered to the twists and surprises that are revealed as Bolkovac continues her investigation, I couldn't look away.

It's not an easy film to watch, but it's an important film. The women are tricked into prostitution, and the way they are treated is almost incomprehensible; the movie doesn't sugar-coat the situation. Suspense is high because, like Bolkovac, we don't know whom to trust on the U.N. team or which of the civilians hired to help rebuild Bosnia's infrastructure are good guys. Some the men Bolkovac worked with were willing to go to any extreme to keep the sex ring thriving and bringing in money. Bolkovac's determination and personal dedication to the victims were acts of bravery.

David Strathairn, Benedict Cumberbatch, Monica Bellucci, David Hewlett, and Vanessa Redgrave also star in the film, which came out on DVD and BluRay last week. The bonus material includes interviews with the cast and crew and the real-life Kathryn Bolkovac.

This is not a movie for the whole family, but it's one I recommend. Note that some of the movie is subtitled, but most of it is in English.

Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for the review copy of the BluRay.

Book Club Booster Giveaway: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

2012-01-30T06:01:00.002-05:00

The Book: I'm sure you've been hearing the buzz surrounding The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. The novel made many, many best-of-2011 lists. Just in case you aren't quite sure what the book is about, here's the publisher's summary:

At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.

Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.

As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment--to oneself and to others.

So far, I've read only the first 50 pages of The Art of Fielding, so I can't review the book, but from the description and from reviews I've read on other book blogs, I can tell that it would have wide appeal. I'm usually attracted to books about relationships of all kinds, and Harbach's novel has promise.

To learn more about the The Art of Fielding and author Chad Harbach, you can check out the Facebook page or read an excerpt.

The Giveaway: If you are a resident of the United States and belong to book club, then I have great news. Little, Brown & Company's Book Club Booster promotion is sponsoring a fantastic giveaway of the Art of Fielding for your group. Yes, I said group.

One of you has a chance to win up to 10 copies of The Art of Fielding for your book club. All you have to do is fill out the following form and I'll pick a winner via random number generator on February 7. Little, Brown will send all the books to you or will send one book (up to 10) to each member of your book club--you can pick whichever method would work best for your group.

Now wait! That's not all! This giveaway is being hosted by different bloggers. Once all the winners are picked, Little, Brown's marketing department will use a random number generator to pick one book club that will also win a Skype chat (or call-in) with author Chad Harbach. That's right, one of the winning book clubs will be able to chat with the author.

I'm pretty excited about being one of the hosts of this Book Club Booster giveaway because I think the book will make a great book club selection. To help you get the conversation started you can check out the Reading Group Guide, available through the publisher's website.

Don't hesitate to enter here even if you've entered on another blog. Entering in two places increases your book club's chance of winning! Please remember that this giveaway is open only to those with a U.S. mailing address.

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Weekend Cooking: Mourad: New Moroccan by Mourad Lahlou

2012-01-28T06:01:00.001-05:00

_______

When a cookbook opens like this:

Some people set out to learn to cook. They pursue it. They look for teachers. They go to cooking school. They practice and study. I became a cook in a way that could scarcely have been more different from all of that, in a place so far from where I ended up that it feels like a beautiful, brightly colored dream. I learned to cook from memory. Let me tell you how. (p. 1)

How can you not fall instantly in love? Mourad Lahlou's Mourad: New Moroccan, is a gorgeous cookbook: glossy paper with full-page photos that capture the food, colors, and ambiance of Morocco. It has everything that helps a cookbook stand out from the crowd, such as descriptions of ingredients, suggested brands, personal introductions to most recipes, mail-order sources, "Chef-to-Chef" tips, and a well-thought-out index.

And Mourad is a winner, but it's a winner mostly for ambitious cooks who live in California or a big city or who have the funds and inclination to mail order uncommon ingredients. I absolutely love the flavors in Lahlou's recipes: aromatic chiles, preserved lemons, cumin, seeds, and fresh herbs. In addition, this is a book I'll turn to again and again to learn about Moroccan cooking, dishes, techniques, and spice mixtures.

On the other hand, although I would order a dish like Steamed Lamb Shoulder with Saffron Butter and Cumin Salt in a heartbeat, I don't think I'd ever make it, despite the fact that I always have lamb in my freezer. And here's why.

The recipe is well written and very easy to follow, and Lahlou provides ample information about the hows and whys. But before I can make this recipe, I first need to make

Aged Butter
Lamb Stock
Clarified Butter
Chicken Stock
Cumin Salt

No matter how willing I am to spend a day or two in the kitchen, I'm not going to make five recipes before I can make one dinner. Many recipes rely on preserved lemon (yum!), but you must prepare the lemons a month in advance before you can use them. Yikes! I don't plan a day ahead, let alone a month.

Other recipes call for particular types of fresh figs and peppers, things like yuzu juice and liquid glucose, lovely citrus such as Meyer lemons and blood oranges, and other wonderful ingredients unavailable in my small town. It's a shame, really, because if I lived in New York or San Francisco, I'd be more inclined to give many of the recipes a try.

To be fair, if you were going to make a study of Moroccan cooking, then the time spent up front to make stocks, spice mixtures, and preserved lemons would be well worth it. You also would be willing to ship in what you couldn't get at home. But for a cook (like me) who wants make a Moroccan dish maybe every other month, the payoff drops off quickly.

Again, let me stress that Mourad is jam-packed with great information about Moroccan traditions and cuisine. It's a book I'll cherish because of the personal writing style and the look into a culture I know little about. Further, there are, in fact, a number of recipes that are straightforward and use readily available ingredients. The bread chapter calls to me, as do the soups and salads.

Here's a yogurt spread that looks delicious and easy to make.

Yogurt-Herb Spread
Makes 2 cups

2 cups (476 g) whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 small or ½ large cucumber, preferably Armenian
1 tablespoon (15 g) fresh lemon juice
1½ teaspoons (4.5 g) kosher salt
1½ teaspoons (2.2 g) grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon (1.5 g) ground white pepper
1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane
2 teaspoons (2 g) chopped dill

To drain the yogurt: You'll need a deep bowl or other container and a wooden spoon or dowel. Line the bowl with a double thickness of cheesecloth. Spoon the yogurt into the center of the cloth and pull up the edges to form a pouch. Tie the ends around the spoon or dowel, adjusting the length so that the pouch is at least 2 inches above the bottom of the bowl. Refrigerate overnight to drain the excess liquid.

For the spread: The next day, remove the yogurt from the cheesecloth and put it in a large bowl. Discard the liquid.

Peel and seed the cucumber. Grate it on the medium-fine holes of a box grater to produce a pulpy mush. Put the cucumber pulp on a piece of cheesecloth, pick up the edges, and twist the cloth over the sink to remove as much liquid as you can.

Stir the cucumber into the yogurt, along with the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days before serving.

To serve: [Lahlou] likes this best with warm grilled flatbread or pita chips.

Mourad was an Indie Next pick for December 2011. For more on Mourad Lahlou's type of cooking visit the website for his restaurant, Aziza.

Mourad: New Moroccan at an Indie

Mourad: New Moroccan at Powell's

Mourad: New Moroccan at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Published by Workman / Artisan, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781579654290
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: C+
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

Imprint Friday: Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

2012-01-27T06:01:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Ecco books. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

After Jude Keffy-Horn loses his best friend to a drug overdose, he gets clean but ultimately finds a way to use his new lifestyle as an act of rebellion. Eleanor Henderson's Ten Thousand Saints, out this week in paperback, focuses on Jude's discovery of straight edge and much more.

Here's the publisher's summary:

Adopted by a pair of diehard hippies, restless, marginal Jude Keffy-Horn spends much of his youth getting high with his best friend Teddy in their bucolic and deeply numbing Vermont town. But when Teddy dies of an overdose on the last day of 1987, Jude’s relationship with drugs and with his parents devolves to new extremes. Sent to live with his pot-dealing father in the East Village, Jude stumbles upon straight edge, an underground youth culture powered by the paradoxical aggression of hardcore punk and a righteous intolerance for drugs, meat, and sex. With Teddy’s half-brother Johnny and their new friend Eliza, Jude tries to honor Teddy’s memory through his militantly clean lifestyle. But his addiction to straight edge has its own dangerous consequences. While these teenagers battle to discover themselves, their parents struggle with this new generation’s radical reinterpretation of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll and their grown-up awareness of nature and nurture, brotherhood and loss.

Moving back and forth between Vermont and New York City, Ten Thousand Saints is an emphatically observed story of a frayed tangle of family members, brought painfully together by a death, then carried along in anticipation of new and unexpected life. With empathy and masterful skill, Eleanor Henderson has conjured a rich portrait of the modern age and the struggles that unite and divide generations.

Because I haven't lived in a city in a long time, I was never that familiar with straight edge, which seemed a strange way to rebel and find a place separate from one's parents. Curiosity about that odd combination of teen anger and clean living will bring readers to the door, but it's Henderson's writing and characters that will draw them inside and keep them there until they've learned the whole story.

Henderson's skill at characterizations is evident in this brief reading. In just a couple of minutes, we already have a sense of Jude's mother:

As you can tell from the reading, Ten Thousand Saints is about more than Jude and his friends and straight edge. One of the major themes of the novel is parent-child relationships and way different generations struggle to find their unique place in the world. Henderson also explores grief, young love, fitting in, growing up, and how the decisions we make every day can have far-reaching effects.

Ten Thousand Saints has been showered with praise. Here are just a few examples (click the links for the full reviews):

Stacey D'Erasmo writing for the New York Times: "Henderson does not hold back once: she writes the hell out of every moment, every scene, every perspective, every fleeting impression, every impulse and desire and bit of emotional detritus."
Adam Langer writing for the Washington Post: "Her characterizations demonstrate Henderson’s greatest skill. Even the ones who receive comparatively little stage time are always precisely defined."
Diane writing at BookChickDi: "Great fiction can open up your mind and heart to characters and new ideas, and Ten Thousand Saints is great fiction."

The hardcover edition of Ten Thousand Saints was an Indie Next pick for July 2011 and made it to many best-of-2011 lists. To learn more about the Eleanor Henderson, visit her website.

Beth Fish Reads is proud to showcase Ecco books as a featured imprint on this blog. For more information about Ecco, please read the introductory note from Vice President / Associate Publisher Rachel Bressler, posted here on July 15, 2011. Find your next great read by clicking on Ecco in the scroll-down topics/labels list in my sidebar and by visiting Ecco books on Facebook and following them on Twitter.

Ten Thousand Saints at an Indie

Ten Thousand Saints at Powell's

Ten Thousand Saints at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Published by HarperCollins / Ecco, 2012
ISBN-13: 9780062021212

Review: Wingshooters by Nina Revoyr

2012-01-26T06:01:00.003-05:00

In 1974, rural Wisconsin was a few years behind the times, especially in terms of civil rights, child protective services, and women's liberation, When Michelle LeBeau, half-Japanese, arrives in Deerhorn to live with her paternal grandparents, she can tell right away she'll never fit in. Only her dog's companionship and her grandfather's devotion sustains the fourth-grader, who was abandoned first by her mother and then by her father.

When the first black family moves to town, Michelle is initially relived to be out of the spotlight, but as the town's bigotry begins to escalate, everyone in the tight-knit community must take a side, pitting husband against wife, brother against brother, friend against friend. That was the year Michelle learned that who people seem to be on the outside does not necessarily match who they are on the inside.

Nina Revoyr's Wingshooters captures one kind of American small town in the post–civil rights era. That the novel is set in the upper Midwest and in the 1970s makes the betrayals, small-mindedness, and violence particularly difficult. The citizens of Deerhorn don't leave home unless forced to (as when men are drafted) because no one who goes away ever comes back the same. And being different, changing, is bad.

Although the other kids have shoved her and have even thrown stones at her, Michelle manages to maintain some of her innocence. While it's true that even the priest has never warmed up to her, she feels safe and secure in her grandfather's love and protection. When trouble brews over the black couple, who not only have the audacity to move to Deerhorn but are more educated than most of the locals (she a nurse; he a teacher), the girl sees the horrifying results of blind hate.

Other prominent themes in Wingshooters are child abuse (nonsexual), marriage, and gender roles. Michelle's love of the outdoors, her dog, and baseball rounds out her personality, making her more than just the witness to harsh realities. Revoyr's moving coming-of-age story will have wide appeal and is not to be missed.

Wingshooters was the recipient of several awards, including a Booklist Book of the Year 2011, a 2011 Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and the first annual Indie Booksellers Choice Award. It was also an Indie Next pick for March 2011. For more on Nina Revoyr, visit her website, where you'll also find a very thoughtful reading guide, or follow her on Facebook.

My review of the unabridged audio edition (Recorded Books; 6 hr, 50 min) read by Johanna Parker will be available on the AudioFile magazine website.

Wingshooters at an Indie

Wingshooters at Powell's

Wingshooters at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Published by Akashic Books, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781936070718
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: A
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

Giveaway: The Big Year (movie)

2012-01-25T06:15:00.000-05:00

Last week I reviewed the movie The Big Year, starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and Jack Black. The BluRay / DVD version is due out on January 31 and will appeal to the whole family.

Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, I'm able to offer one of my readers a chance to win a copy of the DVD. This giveaway is open to anyone with a U.S. or Canada mailing address (no PO Boxes) and will be mailed out by studio's publicity team.

Just fill out the following form, and I'll pick a winner via a random number generator on February 1. Good luck!

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Wordless Wednesday 165

2012-01-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Startled Visitor, January 2011

Click image to enlarge. For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Today's Imprint Read: Poser by Claire Dederer

2012-01-24T06:01:00.003-05:00

What could possibly make a 21st-century supermom start to feel okay about the fact that she weaned her daughter at only 10 months? A Seattle control freak took a tentative step into a yoga class to heal a sore back and soon discovered the road to peaceful imperfection.

The next day Lucy and I were slated to go to baby co-op. This was a highly desirable baby class run at the neighborhood center. I had applied right after Lucy was born. At this cooperative preschool, babies socialized with one another while volunteer moms helped run the school. . . .

I dressed carefully, in my one really expensive striped T-shirt, my most flattering jeans, and a pair of Dansko clogs, the official footgear of overeducated liberal moms. Lucy sported a tie-dyed T-shirt . . . a pair of overalls, and a hand-knitted beret, a form of headgear which I felt sent the right message. I didn't plan to tell anyone that I had not knitted it myself, that it was a hand-me-down from a friend who actually did knit for her child. But its obvious handmadeness would imply that I was a craftsy type. It was quite a house of cards I was building with that knitted pink cap. (pp. 28-29)

—Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses, by Claire Dederer (Picador 2012)

Quick Facts

Setting: North Seattle ("a first cousin of the Upper West Side") and beyond, modern times
Characters: Claire; her husband, Bruce; her daughter, Lucy; her son, Willie; their extended family; and a handful of friends, yoga teachers, and fellow travelers
Yoga: Not a yoga how-to and not a yoga manifesto but one woman's realization that although she "couldn't be bothered to learn the right way to do yoga" she would still "continue doing it to the best of [her] ability."
Themes: parenting, spirituality, self-awareness, control, letting go, acceptance, clarity
Genre: memoir

Want to Know More? Watch the embedded video of Dederer on AM Northwest (below). Visit the Picador website to find another video, audio interviews, an excerpt, a reading guide, and more. Check out author Claire Dederer's website and Facebook page.

Poser at an Indie

Poser at Powell's

Poser at Book Depository
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Introducing Book Passages at SheKnows Book Lounge

2012-01-23T14:06:00.002-05:00

I'm excited to announce that I'll be writing several monthly features for the She Knows Book Lounge. One of my regular columns is a teaser roundup.

This month I feature a variety of genres, including historical fiction, mystery, coming-of-age, and women's fiction. Click on through to see my debut "Book Passages" article.

While you're there, check out the She Knows book club, book reviews, hot book of the day, and other features for book lovers.

Imprint Extra: Alex George on The Right Job for a Family

2012-01-23T06:01:00.002-05:00

In my last Imprint Friday post, I introduced you to Alex George's A Good American, which I called "a near-perfect novel."

The book has three constants: music, the Meisenheimer family, and food. Almost by accident, the family finds themselves owners of a speakeasy. As the twentieth century progresses, so does the restaurant, morphing from bar to town diner to Tex-Mex over the course of decades.

I asked Alex if he would tell us a little bit about role food and the restaurant play in his A Good American.

The Right Job for a Family

One of the challenges that confronts all novelists is choosing the right jobs for their characters. In my novel, A Good American, the issue was complicated by the fact that, to provide a measure of continuity to the narrative—the story spans four generations of a single family—I wanted a business that could be passed on from one generation to the next.

Now, my family loves to cook, and to eat. My mother was a professional cook and caterer, my father, a skilled amateur. Their cookbook collection is vast and legendary. They have passed their enthusiasm on to my sisters and me (if not their talent, in my case). The old adage has it that you should “write what you know,” so it was an easy decision to have my fictional family be involved with food: They run a restaurant in a small town in rural Missouri.

What I hadn’t anticipated when I began was how the restaurant became a character in the story in its own right. The book begins with Frederick and Jette Meisenheimer as they emigrate to America from northern Germany. As their family integrates into American life, generation by generation, so the restaurant goes through its own metamorphosis which reflects a similar journey. The original establishment serves starchy German cuisine, although it soon acquires a more exotic edge of Louisiana flavors and spice. The next generation re-creates the restaurant as a quintessentially American culinary institution—the old-fashioned diner. Finally, and perhaps somewhat ignominiously, in its last incarnation it becomes a Tex-Mex place of questionable authenticity.

Although I’ve never worked in a restaurant, I’ve eaten in a fair few (the best kind of research, in my opinion). I enjoyed writing about food—it’s a challenge to convey smells and tastes in the comparatively arid medium of print. My research involved scouring ancient Mennonite cookbooks, poring over wonderful photographs of diners from across the country, and reading countless recipes for gumbo online. I did do some cooking too—but my culinary skills are nowhere near as accomplished as those I give my characters. (One of the benefits of writing fiction is that the world I create in my head is often better than real life.)

Since I finished writing the book, I have pined after some of the characters; they feel like old friends to me now. But almost as much, I miss the food. The Meisenheimer family and their restaurant provide fuel and sustenance to their neighbors over an entire century. All that bratwurst, meatloaf, and jambalaya nourished me too.

And me too! I loved how the cuisine changed as different individuals and generations took over the Meisenheimer business. And you know what a foodie I am—I'm ready to walk into the joint, pull up a seat, and see what kind of food they're serving today.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Alex.

Amy Einhorn Books is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For more information about the imprint, please read Amy Einhorn's open letter posted here on January 25, 2010, or click the Amy Einhorn tab below my banner photo. To join the Amy Einhorn Books Reading Challenge, click the link.

A Good American at an Indie

A Good American at Powell's

A Good American at Book Depository
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Published by Putnam / Amy Einhorn Books, February 7, 2011 (preorder it now!)
ISBN-13: 9780399157592

Giveaway Reminder

2012-01-22T06:01:00.000-05:00

In a couple of days, I'll be hosting a giveaway of one copy the movie The Big Year, which I reviewed last week. As a fun way to help you remember to have a big year in 2012, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has this mini checklist, which you can grab, resize, and print out.

Put it on your refrigerator or in your office, and don't forget to follow your passions.

Weekend Cooking: Street Food by Carla Diamanti and Fabrizio Esposito

2012-01-21T06:01:00.001-05:00

_______

Some food books are for cooking from, some are to read, and some take you to exotic places in the world. Carla Diamanti and Fabrizio Esposito's Street Food does all three.

Every page of this informative book is chockfull of photos of mouth-watering foods from around the world. The dishes aren't from 5-star restaurants but are from the carts, booths, and food trucks you find on the streets of almost every city in every country.

Street Food is divided into sections by area (Europe, Chindia, Middle East, for example), and then by country and/or city. The introduction to each region and city gives us some culinary history, describes typical meals, and tempts us with descriptions of flavors. We not only learn what dishes to seek out but also how to eat the food properly.

[Lebanon's fuul soup] is served in ceramic bowls to patrons who eat standing outside the shop and in cardboard bowls to those in a hurry. (p. 80)

Regardless of whether we're talking about street food or a restaurant meal, Japanese etiquette is very strict about eating. (p. 113) [the text includes advice]

The authors also name streets, squares, and other specific locations to seek out the best of the best in street food. Whether you're traveling to a big city in America or to small town in Senegal, you'll want to check out Street Food before you go.

The book includes about two dozen recipes for typical street foods. It appears that the recipes were chosen to be accessible to most people, wherever you live. No very strange ingredients are called for, though you'll want to go to a well-stocked supermarket. Frankly, I was less interested in cooking from Street Food than I was in reading it and looking at the beautiful photographs. Here are some of the recipes:

Arancini (fried rice balls) from the Mediterranean
Baklava from the Middle East
Dragon's beard candy from Chindia
Samosa from Africa

My only complaint about the book is that the pages are dense. There is no spacing between paragraphs and paragraphs are set flush left (no indentation), so the text is solid on the page. Of course, there are two to four photographs on every spread, so readers aren't faced with acres of type, but it does make the book slow going.

Recommended reading for travelers (armchair and literal) and food lovers.

Street Food at an Indie

Street Food at Powell's

Street Food at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Imprint Friday: A Good American by Alex George

2012-01-20T06:01:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Amy Einhorn Books. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

From the very first line ("Always, there was music") to the very last, Alex George's A Good American had my heart in its hands. It still does.

Here's the publisher's summary.

An uplifting novel about the families we create and the places we call home.

It is 1904. When Frederick and Jette must flee her disapproving mother, where better to go than America, the land of the new? Originally set to board a boat to New York, at the last minute, they take one destined for New Orleans instead ("What's the difference? They're both new"), and later find themselves, more by chance than by design, in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. Not speaking a word of English, they embark on their new life together.

Beatrice is populated with unforgettable characters: a jazz trumpeter from the Big Easy who cooks a mean gumbo, a teenage boy trapped in the body of a giant, a pretty schoolteacher who helps the young men in town learn about a lot more than just music, a minister who believes he has witnessed the Second Coming of Christ, and a malevolent, bicycle-riding dwarf.

A Good American is narrated by Frederick and Jette's grandson, James, who, in telling his ancestors' story, comes to realize he doesn't know his own story at all. From bare-knuckle prizefighting and Prohibition to sweet barbershop harmonies, the Kennedy assassination, and beyond, James's family is caught up in the sweep of history. Each new generation discovers afresh what it means to be an American. And, in the process, Frederick and Jette's progeny sometimes discover more about themselves than they had bargained for.

Poignant, funny, and heartbreaking, A Good American is a novel about being an outsider-in your country, in your hometown, and sometimes even in your own family. It is a universal story about our search for home.

All Americans (except Native Americans) were once immigrants. For some of us, the path to becoming a good American is still fresh, is still told at family gatherings. We have black-and-white photos of grandparents and great-aunts—hand over heart, posed in front of a flag—taken on the day of their citizenship. Alex George's A Good American is their story . . . and our story.

George has crafted the near-perfect novel. It's an immensely emotional tale in which the characters become a part of your life. You cry over the Meisenheimer family's tragedies, you chuckle at their foibles, and you are shocked at their secrets. You want to eat in the family's restaurant (speakeasy, diner), and you want to listen to their music (jazz, blues, jukebox). In fact, you already know the Meisenheimers because A Good American is the true story of our country in the twentieth century. It's about the journey from Europe to the United States, from being poor to doing okay, from being constrained by old ways to having the freedom to choose.

A Good American is likely the best book I'll read in 2012. Don't just take my word, here are some other opinions (click for the full reviews):

Publishers Weekly: "[George] evokes small-town life lovingly, sometimes disturbingly, and examines the ties of family, the complications of home, and the moments of love and happiness that arrive no matter what."
Michael Magras of Many Thrones, One Pretender: "The novel is a showcase not just for George’s obvious passion for music—in a lovely phrase, he refers to the blues as “the cracked holler of remorse”—but for his encyclopedic knowledge of it."
Alabama Booksmith: "Every staff member at The Alabama Booksmith has read or is reading this amazing book, and Jake has already gone on record as stating that 'This is the best book I’ve read in years.' "

Imprint Extra Alert: Stop back on Monday to read a post from Alex George, written especially for the readers of Beth Fish Reads.

A Good American is an Indie Next Pick for February. To learn more about Alex George, visit his website or Facebook page or follow him on Twitter. Book clubs and other readers will want to see the reading guide, available on the publisher's website.

Amy Einhorn Books is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For more information about the imprint, please read Amy Einhorn's open letter posted here on January 25, 2010, or click the Amy Einhorn tab below my banner photo. To join the Amy Einhorn Books Reading Challenge, click the link.

A Good American at an Indie

A Good American at Powell's

A Good American at Book Depository
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Published by Putnam / Amy Einhorn Books, February 7, 2011 (preorder it now!)
ISBN-13: 9780399157592

Thursday Tea: Dead Low Tide by Bret Lott

2012-01-19T06:01:00.003-05:00

The book: Charleston, South Carolina, is the seat of Southern charm, naval history, and the wealthy community of Landgrave Hall. The rags-to-riches Dillard family is having trouble fitting in with their new neighbors, and it doesn't help that Huger and his father are repeatedly caught on the links at 2:30 AM. They do this because Unc Dillard is too vain to let anyone see him hit the ball; it's not easy to play golf when you're blind.

One night as Huger and Unc moor their boat before teeing off, they discover the mutilated body of a woman floating in the water. With the help of the gated community's security guard, they report the murder to the proper authorities. But before the coroner can arrive on the scene, the Dillards are confronted by naval officers from a nearby base. Very soon, Huger and Unc are entangled in an investigation that involves friends and neighbors from both sides of the tracks as well as civilian, federal, and military law enforcement.

Although Dead Low Tide is a follow-up to an earlier Bret Lott novel (The Hunt Club), the book stands alone nicely. Readers are given enough background information to understand how the Dillards moved from a double-wide in the woods to their 4,200-square-foot "cottage" off the seventh green and how they wound up as people of interest.

The circumstances behind the murder are complex and have deep roots. As a consequence, the reader--like the Dillards--is unsure whom to trust, and Lott keeps us guessing all the way to the end. A consistent thread throughout the novel is Huger's personal growth, which has him shaking off long-held guilt and fear to clear the way to a satisfying future. His prospects leave Lott space to revisit the family again.

There's a lot going on in Dead Low Tide besides finding a solution to the murder, which makes this literary thriller a good choice for book clubs. Topics for discussion include family secrets, physical handicaps, social class differences, immigration, and the power of the military.

For my review of the audiobook, visit the Audiofile magazine's website.

The Tea: In November I told you about Adagio's Ginger Tea, and this week I gave it another try. I still love the spicy aroma of this flavored black tea. It's very warming on a wet winter afternoon. Here's how the company describes it: "ginger is renowned as one of our favorite teas, combining the fresh, warming heat of ginger with the rich tang of Ceylon black tea."

The Assessment: Although Dead Low Tide takes place in Charleston, tea isn't mention very often--or maybe I just didn't notice because I was caught up in the story. I'm sure some of the hoity-toity Landgrave Hall residents have fancy teas in their cupboards, but the Dillards likely stick with the grocery store brand. They may be living on the correct side of Broad, but their hearts aren't that far out of the woods.

What About You? You know the drill--here's where I ask you what you're drinking this week. Oh, and you know I also like to hear what you're reading.

Dead Low Tide at an Indie

Dead Low Tide at Powell's

Dead Low Tide at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Thursday Tea was the brainchild of Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog.

Published by Random House, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781400063758
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: B
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)
FTC: I buy all teas myself, I am not a tea reviewer.

Wordless Wednesday 164

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

Full Moon, January 2012

Click image to enlarge. For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Review: The Big Year (Movie)

2012-01-17T06:10:00.002-05:00

For serious North American birders, having the opportunity to take a "big year" is a lifelong dream. The idea is for competitors to spend from January 1 to December 31 crisscrossing the continent to see how many different bird species they can spot or hear during that time.

In Twentieth Century Fox's The Big Year, Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) is the current reigning champion determined to hold on to his record. Stu Preissler (Steve Martin) is retiring from big business and treating himself to a year of birdwatching, and Brad Harris (Jack Black) is a computer programmer who is scrapping together both vacation time and money to check off as many birds as he can. The Big Year follows the three men as they pursue their goal of being the best birder in the world.

The movie stars three great comedic actors, and viewers are in for treat. One of the pleasant surprises about the film, however, is its depth. Not only is the scenery beautiful and birding aspects of The Big Year fascinating but the message to not give up on your dreams is universal. Kenny, Stu, and Brad learn, each in their own way, that success has many meanings. Follow your passion, and you cannot help but grow and learn something about your true self and what's most important in your life. A bonus is the fun bird-filled soundtrack.

The film is directed by David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me) and includes a cast of many recognizable faces, including Angelica Huston, Brian Dennehy, Rashida Jones, and Kevin Pollak. The Blu-ray and DVD will be available on January 31.

Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for the following information and photos about some famous birders.

Famous Birders

Brad, Kenny and Stu are not the only people fascinated by ornithology. They are joined by a well-known bunch of famous faces including Daryl Hannah, Paul McCartney & Prince Philip. Here, we’ll take a fun look at the array of celebrities who have a passion for feathered friends much like our leading men.

The Duke of Edinburgh is an accomplished bird photographer, writer, and wildlife advocate. Due to his extended time spent on the royal yacht, Prince Philip began photographing rare seabirds. In 1962, he published Birds from Britannia, a collection of pictures of some of the world’s rarest birds. Additionally, Prince Philip later became president of the World Wildlife Fund.

Daryl Hannah isn’t just an actress--she’s also an environmentalist and a birdwatcher! It is unknown whether Hannah is an avid or casual birdwatcher, but she has stated in interviews that she enjoys bird watching. Regardless of her level of activity in the bird watching arena, Hannah is a fierce advocate of the environment and of various species, birds included.

As a teenager, Paul McCartney was a big fan of the BBC nature show Look--he even wrote to its host (wildlife artist Peter Scott) asking for “the drawings of them ducks, if you’re not doing anything with them.” Since his youth, McCartney has been a passionate advocate for birds and other wildlife, including the endangered skylark, which he used to watch in Liverpool as a child.

Former president of the United States of America Jimmy Carter is an avid birder! Jimmy and his wife, Rosalyn, have birded throughout the world. Rumors in the birding community speculate that their combined life list is around 1,500 species! In interviews Jimmy has spoken about checking out bird ringing stations in Israel and searching for African Hoopoes in Zimbabwe.

You don't have to be compiling your life bird list to enjoy The Big Year. It's a well-acted film that will make you want to spend time on your own hobbies, enjoy life, and--of course--keep your bird feeders full.

Givaway alert: Stop by next week for a chance to win a copy of the The Big Year. Thanks to Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment for a review copy of the film.

Review: The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak

2012-01-16T07:34:00.004-05:00

Varvara Nikolayevna, the orphaned daughter of a immigrant bookbinder, is taken in by the Russian court to serve the royal seamstress. After Empress Elizabeth's closest advisers realize the girl can read and speak several languages, she is given another, secret job. Varvara is to become a spy for the empress, revealing all she sees and hears in the palace, in return for serving Grand Duke Peter.

When the Lutheran Sophie arrives at the Winter Palace, rumor has it that the young princess is meant to marry the grand duke. To help Empress Elizabeth decide on the betrothal, Varvara is ordered to befriend Sophie and show her the ways of the Russian court--and to report her every movement to the empress. As Varvara gets to know the future Catherine the Great, she begins to have torn loyalties, putting her own life and future in jeopardy.

Eva Stachniak's The Winter Palace is a very well researched historical novel of the rise of Catherine the Great from guest of the royal court to her seizure of the Russian throne. The story itself is told through the eyes of a servant girl, who is at times an unwilling participant and at others an active manipulator of the affairs of the court.

It's Varvara's insider/outsider perspective that makes The Winter Palace shine. The girl is privy to inner workings of the palace, and she knows how to uncover the most guarded secrets. Varvara sees all and reports what she must her to various masters, while also acting in her own best interests.

Here in the Russian court, I could have warned the pretty newcomer from Zerbst, life is a game and every player is cheating. Everyone watches everyone else. There is no room in this palace where you can be truly alone. Behind these walls there are corridors, a whole maze of them. . . . Every word you say may be repeated and used against you. Every friend you trust may betray you. (p. 6)

Stachniak's subject--the story of Catherine's rise to power--is an exciting one all on its own, as was made clear by recent the Massie biography. Still, the novel brings a freshness to Catherine's transformation from minor nobility to Russian empress and manages to do so without twisting the facts in any glaring way. It's important, however, to remember that The Winter Palace is a novel with Varvara at its hub and the workings of the Russian court as its arena.

Varvara is a likeable witness, and readers will be as taken up in her life as they are in Catherine's. The Winter Palace will appeal to readers just getting to know about Russian history in the years of Elizabeth's reign. For those who are already familiar with Catherine's rise to power, the novel will flesh out the facts, providing a more personal perspective.

The Winter Palace at an Indie

The Winter Palace at Powell's

The Winter Palace at Book Depository
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