Category: BookLust II

House of Sand & Fog (w/ sorta spoiler)

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House of Sand and FogDubus III, Andre. House of Sand and Fog. New York: Vintage, 2000.

The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking two things. First, why can’t these people communicate, and how much am I missing because I’m not understanding the culture? What’s getting lost because I’m lost on the psychology? I kept mentally screaming, “you simply are not getting it!” first at one character, then another and another.

From the very beginning of this novel I felt as if I were a puppet – being played by both and all sides. I felt sorry for everyone involved and couldn’t decide who deserved my sorrow more. The Iranian family because Father had to work two jobs and they lived beyond their means behind a veil of pride and culture? The down-on-her-luck girl who lost her house because she wasn’t on top of her A game? The cop who was stuck in a loveless marriage and displayed Robin Hood crookedness whenever he saw fit? Everyone in our society who can’t pronounce Middle Eastern names? The drowning in paperwork county that messed everything up in the first place?

It’s the story of misunderstanding. When Kathy Nicolo loses her house to the country for owed taxes on a business she never had the miscommunications begin. When her house is sold to Massoud Amir Behrani the misunderstandings continue. Things become further complicated by Lester Burdon, a deputy sherrif who does things his own way. Caught in the web are Behrani’s family. Innocent and slightly less obsessed.

When people start to die, I decided I was sorry for everyone involved. Most of all I was sorry for the lack of communication whether it was complicated by culture or not.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust (p.129): Included in the chapter “It Was a Dark & Stormy Novel.”

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

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Hazan, Marcella. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. New York: Knopf, 1992.Essentials

I’ll admit it, I’ve never been big on expensive, take my whole paycheck cooking. While I love the authoritativeness of Hazan’s cookbook, I’m not turned on by the all-or-nothing dramatics. Take balsamic vinegar – it’s the champagne of Modena. Hazan says it’s “never inexpensive” and only sold in “perfume bottle” sized containers (p. 11). The attitude is absolutely nothing else will do. Modena or bust. Maybe so. I realize that champagne that comes from anywhere other than Champagne, France is a sparkling wine, but we still toast with the fraud and call it champagne. Same with balsamic vinegar. What we have in our pantry may not be the authentic born and raised Modena babe, but we still use it and we call it balsamic. It will do.
Aside from thinking I don’t have the right balsamic in my pantry, I loved reading through Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I enjoyed learning the classic names of techniques (battuto, soffritto & insaporire); I appreciated the education on pasta (it makes me want to make my own from scratch); I liked the conversational tone Hazan used throughout the entire book. The illustrations are beautiful and informative. My all-time favorite chapter is called, “At Table: the Italian Art of Eating” (p 649). It includes menus for elegant, classic, holiday, and rustic meals – just to name a few.

Book Lust Twist: From More Book Lust, Pearl says, “A whole category could be devoted to good books on Italian cooking, but the one you must read (and drool over, while thinking ahead to great meals) is Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” (Book Lust, p.49). I think I’ll agree more when I get a bigger paycheck!

Breads

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Clayton, Bernard. Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads.New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987.

I wish I baked more. When I was a teenager my mother taught me how to make a white bread with a cup of mashed potatoes that was amazing. It was the most perfect carb I could create. Grilled cheese sandwiches were heaven with this bread. I always pictured my adult wholesome self, kneading and sifting on a Sunday morning, flour dust rising in clouds around me. I don’t know what happened to that “from scratch girl” but, Clayton’s book makes me want to jump in the car, rush to the baking aisle and buy dry yeast. In bulk. This 748 mammoth of a cookbook is cover to cover baking knowledge. There are no glossy photos to fill space. Even the illustrations are small and unobtrusive. It’s all about the bread. And Bread there is. From rye bread to crackers and everything in between. My favorite chapters were, “baking for dogs” (p 715), “little breads” (p 517), and “vegetable breads” (p 409). But, I can’t forget my other favorites like potato, croissant and cheese. Of course Clayton goes over equipment, technique, ingredients, and what went wrong should something go wrong, but he also includes storing, freezing, and there’s even a chapter on homemade ovens.

I would even go so far as to say this book demonstrates culture. In addition to all the different recipes Clayton gives a little history on the more unique ones, “…In Portugal, the bread is served warm or cold with a famous dish of peas and eggs, and a potato- sausage soup” (p 183). Now I want to go out and find that recipe for the soup!

BookLust Twist: One of the reasons why I love reading Book Lust and More Book Lust is quotes like this, “For me the best part of baking bread is theupper-arm exercise involved with kneading, and the times that you can curl up on the couch with a good book while the dough is rising.” Pearl goes on to say, “I’ve used Bernard Clayton’s bread books since the first one was published in 1973, and have never found a bad recipe” (More Book Lust p72).

Africa News Cookbook

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Africa News Service, Inc. The African News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Kitchens. New York: Penguin, 1986.African cookbook

Another BookLust pick. There is something magical about this book. Maybe it’s from the introduction, “Cooking by the book is not the African way” (p.xiii). It’s romantic to learn the ingredients, forget the recipe and go with the heart; that’s what this book seems to be telling me.
On a serious side it’s crammed with interesting facts usually not associated with a cookbook. For starters there is a list of African nations and their capitals. Because this cookbook focuses on a geographical location there are maps. Because it focuses on a culture there are stories about African Women and food, and even how to eat with joy.
Probably my favorite aspect of this cookbook is the recognition of the origin of each recipe. From Malawi comes Masamba; from Algeria comes Dess b’l-besla. I think of Aubrey from Malawi who would write letters on onion paper and dream of traveling to Algeria.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust under the category of, “Africa: A Reader’s Itinerary” (p.2)

A Child’s Delight

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Perrin, Noel. A Child’s Delight. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1997.

So. After giving up All Souls Rising, I have switched to something lighter, more innocent if you will: essays on children’s classic books. Really. I needed a break and this has been the perfect remedy. This is going to sound all too punful, but this book is delightful. My word of advice though, ignore the preface. If you are like me, you don’t need a chart of what children’s stories you haven’t read much, less even heard of. I resent the list as if it insinuates I had a poor upbringing because I was in the 93rd percentile who has never heard of E. Nesbit”s The Phoenix and the Carpet. Never mind that Disney made a movie out of it. No matter. I’ll read it now. But. But. But, because of the preface I am constantly aware of what I don’t know. I actually find myself overly proud when I’ve read a Noel Perrin choice (like The Borrowers Series by Mary Norton or The Story of Ferdinand by Monroe Leaf).

Anyway, I’m taking notes on Perrin’s picks. I’m thinking my niece and nephews could benefit from my new-found knowledge of “classic” books for kids.

BookLust Twist: In Pearl’s More Book Lust under “Dewey Reconstructed, the 000s” (p.62).

All Souls’ Rising (with Disappointments)

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Bell, Madison Smartt. All Souls’ Rising. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.

I’m having a love/hate relationship with this book. Only 110 pages into it I waiver between devouring it and chucking the whole thing across the room. The first chapter opens with a description of a women nailed to a pole. She is being punished for killing her child. She drove a nail through her newborn’s skull. Lemme back up – she’s a slave and she was raped on a ship bound for Haiti. The year is 1757. Need I say more? When the woman finally dies, her feet, hands and head are chopped off and displayed as an example for other slaves. Some example! As a rule, I don’t get “into” historical fiction, especially those with such a political, violent underbelly. However, this is a Booklust book and I’m bound to at least give it a try. When I started this venture I agreed to Pearl’s 50 Page Rule (stop reading if by 50 pages you can’t get into it). In All Souls’ Rising‘s case, when I got to page 50 I was in the love phase and couldn’t put it down. C’est la vie.

Booklust Twist: Pearl labels this, “novelistic history” of Haiti (More Book Lust p55)

12/30/06: Update~ I am admitting defeat with Bell’s book. After the slave uprising it has been nothing but vivid descriptions of violence. I think this book is responsible for my week’s worth of nightmares about war. Here’s an excerpt. I warn you, this is one of the tamest scenes of cruelty!

“He cut a bracelet all around Maltrot’s wrist, just above the thong that bound it to the branch. He made a vertical incision into the palm and turned back the flaps of the skin from the whitish fatty layer underneath and began peeling it back towards the fingertips as if he were slowly taking off a glove…” (are you getting the picture?)…”Maltrot ground his teeth and bit his lips until the blood ran freely, but finally he could not contain the scream and when it came it was large and loud enough to split the sky.” (p235)

I realize flaying, raping, torturing, murdering, baby impaling, etc is common in times of war. It’s happening today. My problem is Bell. He is such the amazing storyteller that not only do I believe every eye gouging, I can almost feel it too!

BookLust Twist: Found in Pearl’s More Book Lust under the chapter, “The Contradictory Caribbean: Paradise and Pain” (p.55). She wasn’t kidding.

Travels with Charley

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Steinbeck, John. Travels With Charley: In Search of America. New York: Viking Press, 1962.

Charley This could easily be my favorite Steinback story. Maybe because it’s a true one. Maybe because it hasn’t left me wanting to slit my wrist by the last page. Maybe because Steinbeck writes about something I am interested in: traveling the country. His humor and DownToEarth voice make reading easy. I was thrilled when, by the 26th page, Steinbeck had already mentioned Deerfield, MA and my father’s school (the Eaglebrook School). His own son had attended there, hence the shout out.
Steinbeck does a wonderful job describing the small towns, the set-in-their-ways locals who inhabit each place, and the passing autumn into winter scenery. Like all his other tales (fiction or not), he makes the people and places come alive with vivid realism. My favorite part: Steinbeck wants to see the birthplace of Sinclair Lewis. He asks some locals about finding the small town of Sauk. They know the sign, “Birthplace of Sinclair Lewis” but it’s obvious they have no clue who Lewis was.

Booklust Twist: Pearl hides this gem in a chapter called ‘The Beckoning Road”, (More Book Lust, p.20)

BookLust

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Pearl, Nancy. Booklust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. 2003.

I think I have gone mad. I have decided to read every book mentioned in Booklust. Here’s why: I have the Nancy Pearl action figure. Nancy is a librarian and being a librarian myself it’s almost mandatory I call Nancy my “hero” but, I hadn’t even read the book that made her famous. Never even knew what it looked like (aside from the little plastic version that came with Plastic Nancy and that’s not saying much). The combination of a) deciding to get back to reading fiction, b) finding librarything, and c) needing guidance on what to read (because I’ve missed out on so much) led me to this challenge, this madness.
Booklust is cool. If I actually get through this challenge I will have read books on every subject imaginable: from novels written by Alice anybody (Adams, Dark, Hoffman, McDermott, and of course Walker) to books on Zen Buddhism and everything in between. I will read books about cats, black holes, Ireland, and yes, I’ll even read stuff called “chick lit” (her words, not mine). I am dreading the books specific to things like bombs and primates, though. Thankfully, she has nothing suggested for hippos, centipedes or mayonnaise!

UPDATE: I am nearly finished adding all BookLust recommendations to LibraryThing and guess what I’ve gone & done? Ordered More Book Lust, Nancy’s second book of recommendations. I think I’ve lost it. I’ll be in my coffin, still trying to read. My ghost will sit up and say, “Do you mind not closing the lid? I can’t see the page I’m reading!”