http://www.goodreads.com/review/list_rss/146946 en-US Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:01:44 -0700 60 http://www.goodreads.com/ 200 41 http://www.goodreads.com/images/layout/gr_logo.gif 2346807 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:01:44 -0700
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 06/08
date added: 06/22/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12499092 Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:01:41 -0700
author: Cathy Crimmins
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 06/08
date added: 06/22/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 20480333 Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:21:13 -0700
author: Marisa de los Santos
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 04/18/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12498865 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:19:34 -0800

Ruth Reichl has done it again -- completely mesmerized me with a book I found hard to put down.


The current editor of Gourmet magazine goes from food critic a New West Magazine to the LA Times in this, the sequel to her first memoir, Tender at the Bone. How she reinvents herself from a hippie living in a commune in Berkeley cooking for her housemates to being one of the most respected food critics in the country is told with her usual candor, intelligence, humor, and poignancy. Her essay toward the end about her struggle with infertility left me weeping. An unbearable heartbreak for Ruth and Michael had me so emotional I had to put the book down at one point. But then an act of extraordinary kindness on the part of some of her dear friends several pages later made me sigh.


Thank goodness I had already read her bio and knew that in the end things turn out well for her, but I was struck by how hard it must have been for her to write about some of these episodes and she addresses this in her acknowledgements at the end of the book.


I enjoyed the stories she shares of how difficult it is for one to open a new restaurant and was particularly interested in the story of Wolfgang Puck's wife Barbara (who we met briefly at her now-defunct Seattle restaurant several years ago).


Another excellent read from Ruth Reichl. Her third book, Garlic and Sapphires is next. I can hardly wait!]]>
author: Ruth Reichl
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2002
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:



Ruth Reichl has done it again -- completely mesmerized me with a book I found hard to put down.


The current editor of Gourmet magazine goes from food critic a New West Magazine to the LA Times in this, the sequel to her first memoir, Tender at the Bone. How she reinvents herself from a hippie living in a commune in Berkeley cooking for her housemates to being one of the most respected food critics in the country is told with her usual candor, intelligence, humor, and poignancy. Her essay toward the end about her struggle with infertility left me weeping. An unbearable heartbreak for Ruth and Michael had me so emotional I had to put the book down at one point. But then an act of extraordinary kindness on the part of some of her dear friends several pages later made me sigh.


Thank goodness I had already read her bio and knew that in the end things turn out well for her, but I was struck by how hard it must have been for her to write about some of these episodes and she addresses this in her acknowledgements at the end of the book.


I enjoyed the stories she shares of how difficult it is for one to open a new restaurant and was particularly interested in the story of Wolfgang Puck's wife Barbara (who we met briefly at her now-defunct Seattle restaurant several years ago).


Another excellent read from Ruth Reichl. Her third book, Garlic and Sapphires is next. I can hardly wait!
]]> 12498884 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:18:25 -0800
Filled with stories of her life as a critic, reviews of New York restaurants—well known and some not as well known, as well as recipes, this book is absolutely unputdownable. Imagine, if you will, how Ruth discovers, on a trip to NYC that her photo is plastered on bulletin boards in restaurants all over the city and decides that that she’s not going to be able to go to restaurants as herself and fairly do a critique. Instead she devises a plan. She will go incognito. Ruth enlists an old friend of her mother’s who was an acting coach and with her help she becomes Molly, a middle aged woman from the Midwest; Brenda a vivacious and friendly woman; the sexy Chloe; Betty a plain elderly woman, and even Miriam her own cantankerous mother. As one can well imagine, these women get very different treatment from one another and VERY different treatment from Ruth Reichl, the food critic.

My mouth was watering as I read of Ruth’s experiences in restaurants that I can only dream of eating at in NYC (although I do admit that I will attempt some good sushi again after reading how it is properly eaten) and I know that many a fine eating experience will be enhanced.

I borrowed the three Ruth Reichl books from the library, but will be buying copies of my own for my keeper shelf. I am not sure if I will eventually try any of the recipes, but I sure want to. The only thing that disappointed me was that after reading these three books, one right after another, that there are no more Ruth Reichl books to read. I guess I am going to have to satisfy myself with a subscription to Gourmet magazine and hope she has another book in her future with which to entertain her legions of fans.
]]>
author: Ruth Reichl
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:
The title of Gourmet magazine editor Ruth Reichl’s third food memoir comes from TS Eliot’s Four Quartets and is courtesy Ruth’s husband, Michael but the reader doesn’t understand his reasoning for the quote until near the end of this delightful collection of tales of Reichl’s time as food editor of the New York Times.

Filled with stories of her life as a critic, reviews of New York restaurants—well known and some not as well known, as well as recipes, this book is absolutely unputdownable. Imagine, if you will, how Ruth discovers, on a trip to NYC that her photo is plastered on bulletin boards in restaurants all over the city and decides that that she’s not going to be able to go to restaurants as herself and fairly do a critique. Instead she devises a plan. She will go incognito. Ruth enlists an old friend of her mother’s who was an acting coach and with her help she becomes Molly, a middle aged woman from the Midwest; Brenda a vivacious and friendly woman; the sexy Chloe; Betty a plain elderly woman, and even Miriam her own cantankerous mother. As one can well imagine, these women get very different treatment from one another and VERY different treatment from Ruth Reichl, the food critic.

My mouth was watering as I read of Ruth’s experiences in restaurants that I can only dream of eating at in NYC (although I do admit that I will attempt some good sushi again after reading how it is properly eaten) and I know that many a fine eating experience will be enhanced.

I borrowed the three Ruth Reichl books from the library, but will be buying copies of my own for my keeper shelf. I am not sure if I will eventually try any of the recipes, but I sure want to. The only thing that disappointed me was that after reading these three books, one right after another, that there are no more Ruth Reichl books to read. I guess I am going to have to satisfy myself with a subscription to Gourmet magazine and hope she has another book in her future with which to entertain her legions of fans.

]]> 12499773 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:11:52 -0800
“I can’t read a word on the menu. I can’t read a word in the weekly television listings, I can’t read a word in the cookbook. I can’t do the puzzle. I can’t read a word anything at all unless it’s written in extremely large type, the larger the better. The other day I pulled up something I wrote years ago, and it was written in something so mall I can’t imagine how I wrote the thing in the first place. I used to write in twelve point type; now I am up to sixteen and thinking about going to eighteen or twenty.

And this

“Reading is bliss. But my ability to pick something up and read it—which has gone unchecked all my life up until now—is now entirely dependent on the whereabouts of my reading glasses. I look around. Why aren’t they in this room? I bought six pair of them last week on sale and sprinkled them throughout the house, yet none of them is visible. Where are they?”

My other favorite essay is one titled, On Rapture -- having to do with the spending several days in rapture with reading a book. It was then I knew, that despite her millions, her thinness, her cosmopolitaness, and her fame, that we were soul sisters.

“I have just surfaced from spending several days in a state of rapture—with a book. I loved this book. I loved every second of it. I was transported into its world. I was reminded of all sorts of things in my own life. It was in anguish over the fate of its characters. I felt alive, and engaged, and positively brilliant, bursting with ideas, brimming with memories of other books. I’ve loved. I composed a dozen imaginary letters to the author, letters I’ll never write, much less send. I wrote letters of praise. I wrote letters relating entirely inappropriate personal information about my own experiences with the author’s subject matter. I even wrote a letter of recrimination when one of the characters died and I was grief-stricken. But mostly I wrote letters of gratitude: the state of rapture I experience when I read a wonderful book is one of the main reasons I read, but it doesn’t happen every time or even every other time, and when it does happen, I’m truly beside myself.”

What avid reader hasn’t felt this way??

It was these two essays that convinced me that I had to own this book. No, I still didn’t pay $20 for a copy but I did fine a pristine used copy at Amazon.com so I can read these essays again and again. And enjoy them again and again. Maybe, as I grow even older I will find that I have even more in common with the author. Highly recommended! ]]>
author: Nora Ephron
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 09/07
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:
I had heard about this book for quite awhile before I ended up reading it. It wasn’t that it didn’t appeal to me. It did. Very much. I just couldn’t justify paying $20 for a 137-page book. Even after seeing the author on Oprah and laughing out loud several times, I didn’t buy the book. Les’ review almost convinced me though. I still couldn’t see how a millionaire socialite could speak to me. How could I identify with her? Eventually I checked the book out from my local library. I was sorry I hadn’t read it earlier. I found out we were alike in more ways than we were different. She is a little older than me, but I am experiencing some of the same issues she is regarding aging. However it wasn’t the essays on the physical aspects of aging that spoke to me the most. I loved her essays on life and friendships and child raising. But two of my favorite essays were the ones to do with reading --- one had to do with being unable to read, the decline of eyesight and having to place cheater eyeglasses all over the house (oh how I can relate!)

“I can’t read a word on the menu. I can’t read a word in the weekly television listings, I can’t read a word in the cookbook. I can’t do the puzzle. I can’t read a word anything at all unless it’s written in extremely large type, the larger the better. The other day I pulled up something I wrote years ago, and it was written in something so mall I can’t imagine how I wrote the thing in the first place. I used to write in twelve point type; now I am up to sixteen and thinking about going to eighteen or twenty.

And this

“Reading is bliss. But my ability to pick something up and read it—which has gone unchecked all my life up until now—is now entirely dependent on the whereabouts of my reading glasses. I look around. Why aren’t they in this room? I bought six pair of them last week on sale and sprinkled them throughout the house, yet none of them is visible. Where are they?”

My other favorite essay is one titled, On Rapture -- having to do with the spending several days in rapture with reading a book. It was then I knew, that despite her millions, her thinness, her cosmopolitaness, and her fame, that we were soul sisters.

“I have just surfaced from spending several days in a state of rapture—with a book. I loved this book. I loved every second of it. I was transported into its world. I was reminded of all sorts of things in my own life. It was in anguish over the fate of its characters. I felt alive, and engaged, and positively brilliant, bursting with ideas, brimming with memories of other books. I’ve loved. I composed a dozen imaginary letters to the author, letters I’ll never write, much less send. I wrote letters of praise. I wrote letters relating entirely inappropriate personal information about my own experiences with the author’s subject matter. I even wrote a letter of recrimination when one of the characters died and I was grief-stricken. But mostly I wrote letters of gratitude: the state of rapture I experience when I read a wonderful book is one of the main reasons I read, but it doesn’t happen every time or even every other time, and when it does happen, I’m truly beside myself.”

What avid reader hasn’t felt this way??

It was these two essays that convinced me that I had to own this book. No, I still didn’t pay $20 for a copy but I did fine a pristine used copy at Amazon.com so I can read these essays again and again. And enjoy them again and again. Maybe, as I grow even older I will find that I have even more in common with the author. Highly recommended!
]]> 5251175 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:09:32 -0800
Then I read that Sean Penn was finally making a movie adapted from the book and filming in Carthage. I thought it would be really interesting to see Carthage on the big screen. The first day it was showing in our little theater here in town I Shanghaied my husband (who really isn’t a movie goer, in fact if you ask him, on a scale of 1-10, that he’d suggest going to a movie as a form of entertainment he’d probably tell you –2) into going with me for the matinee. Now John had seen the Oprah show where Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch (who portrays young McCandless in the film) were guests along with author Jon Krakauer and didn’t think too much of McCandless so he was even less excited than usual about seeing this film. If he had known ahead of time that it was 140 minutes long he’d probably had left the theater after his first carton of Milk Duds. But the trooper he is, he persevered for my sake.

The movie adequately told the story of young Christopher McCandless who after graduating from Emory University, took off on a two year road trip, calling himself Alexander Supertramp. Very early on his car was destroyed and he abandoned it, burned what little money he had left and took off on foot. Some one say he was idealist others an adventurer, but others just reckless. Everyone seems to have his or her own opinion. What is clear is that he was found two year later dead in an abandoned bus just north of Denali National Park in Alaska. However his adventures along the way and the people he met tell a very interesting story. And the just how he died is still fodder for speculation although Krakauer does give his theory. Hirsch as McCandless is wonderful – his portrayal deserves an Oscar nomination as does that of Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz, the elderly recluse who befriends him. Told mostly in flashbacks, the movie suffers from uneven editing. I was also disappointed in the cinematography—the Alaskan scenes could have been brilliant but they were just average. That said, the South Dakota prairie was breathtaking. And it was fun to see Carthage. I think the entire town was filmed.

After watching the movie, I was compelled to read the book again. At only 207 pages it’s a fairly quick read. It was even more meaningful after watching the movie. I read many passages out loud to my husband and told him I thought he might change his opinion of McCandless. He is now reading the book. I don’t have the absolutely negative opinion of young Chris as many people have. He was a bit reckless, that’s for sure. But no more than many young men. As Krakauer mentions late in the book, it’s that attribute of daring that contributes to many young men signing up for the military—particularly in times of war. Yes, he did some things wrong. But don’t we all. The only reason that we’re reading about him was that he made some little mistakes that ended up killing him. He was actually a smart kid and I found a lot in him to be admired. It was sad he had to die. Any loss of life is sad. And that is what bothers me the most. That a parent lost a child, that a sister lost a brother, that a world lost a promising young man. There are lessons to be learned here, of course, but was the price too great? ]]>
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 10/07
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:
I first read Into the Wild ten years ago when it first came out after finding out that parts of it are set in Carthage, Miner County, South Dakota pop. 187, a town where my mother has family and where her cousin was once mayor. My great-grandmother is buried in Howard, the Miner county seat. So that was the book and movie’s initial appeal. I mean this town is the true “blink-and-you-miss-it” town. That is, if one would ever even happen to drive through it as it isn’t on a main road. So I wondered, how young Chris McCandless, the subject of the book and movie ended up in Carthage in the first place.

Then I read that Sean Penn was finally making a movie adapted from the book and filming in Carthage. I thought it would be really interesting to see Carthage on the big screen. The first day it was showing in our little theater here in town I Shanghaied my husband (who really isn’t a movie goer, in fact if you ask him, on a scale of 1-10, that he’d suggest going to a movie as a form of entertainment he’d probably tell you –2) into going with me for the matinee. Now John had seen the Oprah show where Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch (who portrays young McCandless in the film) were guests along with author Jon Krakauer and didn’t think too much of McCandless so he was even less excited than usual about seeing this film. If he had known ahead of time that it was 140 minutes long he’d probably had left the theater after his first carton of Milk Duds. But the trooper he is, he persevered for my sake.

The movie adequately told the story of young Christopher McCandless who after graduating from Emory University, took off on a two year road trip, calling himself Alexander Supertramp. Very early on his car was destroyed and he abandoned it, burned what little money he had left and took off on foot. Some one say he was idealist others an adventurer, but others just reckless. Everyone seems to have his or her own opinion. What is clear is that he was found two year later dead in an abandoned bus just north of Denali National Park in Alaska. However his adventures along the way and the people he met tell a very interesting story. And the just how he died is still fodder for speculation although Krakauer does give his theory. Hirsch as McCandless is wonderful – his portrayal deserves an Oscar nomination as does that of Hal Holbrook as Ron Franz, the elderly recluse who befriends him. Told mostly in flashbacks, the movie suffers from uneven editing. I was also disappointed in the cinematography—the Alaskan scenes could have been brilliant but they were just average. That said, the South Dakota prairie was breathtaking. And it was fun to see Carthage. I think the entire town was filmed.

After watching the movie, I was compelled to read the book again. At only 207 pages it’s a fairly quick read. It was even more meaningful after watching the movie. I read many passages out loud to my husband and told him I thought he might change his opinion of McCandless. He is now reading the book. I don’t have the absolutely negative opinion of young Chris as many people have. He was a bit reckless, that’s for sure. But no more than many young men. As Krakauer mentions late in the book, it’s that attribute of daring that contributes to many young men signing up for the military—particularly in times of war. Yes, he did some things wrong. But don’t we all. The only reason that we’re reading about him was that he made some little mistakes that ended up killing him. He was actually a smart kid and I found a lot in him to be admired. It was sad he had to die. Any loss of life is sad. And that is what bothers me the most. That a parent lost a child, that a sister lost a brother, that a world lost a promising young man. There are lessons to be learned here, of course, but was the price too great?
]]> 12499031 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:03:04 -0800
author: Phoebe Damrosch
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12498757 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:00:46 -0800
author: Patricia Wood
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12495017 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:31:06 -0800
author: Barack Obama
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 01/14/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 12408135 Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:42:39 -0800
author: Molly Gloss
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 01/13/08
shelves:
review:

]]> 5492998 Sat, 01 Sep 2007 13:51:37 -0700
author: Ruth Reichl
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at: 01/08
date added: 09/01/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5400588 Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:10:26 -0700
author: Tracy Chevalier
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.62
book published: 1999
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/30/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251253 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:04:40 -0700
author: J.K. Rowling
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251242 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:04:29 -0700
author: Kim Edwards
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.39
book published: 2005
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251238 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:04:23 -0700
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251225 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:04:03 -0700
author: Helen Hooven Santmyer
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251223 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:04:01 -0700
author: Helene Hanff
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1987
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251218 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:03:53 -0700
author: Lynda Van Devanter
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251210 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:03:46 -0700
author: Anne Tyler
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251189 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:03:30 -0700
author: Olive Ann Burns
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1984
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251162 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:03:12 -0700
author: Harper Lee
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.39
book published: 1960
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251158 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:03:11 -0700
author: Truman Capote
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1965
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251154 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:03:08 -0700
author: Susan Isaacs
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251139 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:02:52 -0700
author: Sarah L. Delany
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251133 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:02:45 -0700
author: Mitchell Smith
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251126 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:02:38 -0700
author: Sue Bender
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1991
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251115 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:02:31 -0700
author: Kathleen Norris
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251031 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:01:08 -0700
author: Jon Krakauer
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2004
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5251009 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:00:46 -0700
author: Rebecca Wells
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250948 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:51 -0700
author: E.B. White
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1952
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250947 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:49 -0700
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250946 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:47 -0700
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.20
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250939 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:44 -0700
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250937 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:42 -0700
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1953
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250933 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:40 -0700
author: Betty Smith
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1943
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250902 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:13 -0700
author: Robert Morgan
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250891 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:59:00 -0700
author: Anne Frank
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1947
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250878 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:58:44 -0700
author: Rebecca Wells
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.33
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250860 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:58:29 -0700
author: John Steinbeck
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1939
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250847 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:58:14 -0700
author: Arthur Golden
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1997
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5250831 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:58:03 -0700
author: Sue Monk Kidd
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 08/28/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 5207507 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:49:50 -0700
author: Anthony Bourdain
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 08/27/07
shelves: dnf
review:

]]> 5207425 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:45:43 -0700

I delved into this book with great anticipation. The author is only a few years younger than my mother and the area she writes about in rural Iowa is just 50 miles east of where my grandfather was born.




There were many things to like in this book that combines anecdotes from the 1930s with recipes and how to do things the old way. I enjoyed the anecdotes and would have enjoyed the book if it had been sprinkled with less of the recipes and more of the stories from the 1930s--stories which ranged from poignant to laugh-out-loud funny. Her stories range from such events as box socials (and giving a complete explanation of what one is for those who may not know) to how to gather honey from bees (and what happens if you do it the wrong way). She tells of how hard work it was it was back in the day, but does recall there was time for a bit of leisure as well.

At once a memoir, a how-to book, and a cookbook, Kalish tells her story with enthusiasm but with a bit of pompousness that was a bit unnecessary. She acts as if she was the only person ever to know how to do some of these things described and that her way was the only way. Heck, I am 25 years younger than she is and I can remember doing many of the same things at my grandparents' farm in North Dakota two decades later, and even do some of these same things today. Although the subtitle mentions "hard times" it is clear that due to help from her grandparents and a self-sufficient farm, Kalish and her siblings never really went without anything on her farm during the depression so anyone who is reading this book and expects it to be a true hardship tale best look elsewhere. It is a great look down memory lane for those from Kalish's generation who I am sure will enjoy reading and reminiscing about another time and place. It seems though that most of the time the author is writing for an audience who hasn't lived through any of these events, remembers none of these times (stoking an old wood fire, splitting wood,making head cheese, butchering a chicken, making May Day baskets). That said, it is quick interesting read but recommended with reservations as although a memoir, how-to book and cookbook, it doesn't completely succeed at any of these. ]]>
author: Mildred Armstrong Kalish
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 08/07
date added: 08/27/07
shelves:
review:



I delved into this book with great anticipation. The author is only a few years younger than my mother and the area she writes about in rural Iowa is just 50 miles east of where my grandfather was born.




There were many things to like in this book that combines anecdotes from the 1930s with recipes and how to do things the old way. I enjoyed the anecdotes and would have enjoyed the book if it had been sprinkled with less of the recipes and more of the stories from the 1930s--stories which ranged from poignant to laugh-out-loud funny. Her stories range from such events as box socials (and giving a complete explanation of what one is for those who may not know) to how to gather honey from bees (and what happens if you do it the wrong way). She tells of how hard work it was it was back in the day, but does recall there was time for a bit of leisure as well.

At once a memoir, a how-to book, and a cookbook, Kalish tells her story with enthusiasm but with a bit of pompousness that was a bit unnecessary. She acts as if she was the only person ever to know how to do some of these things described and that her way was the only way. Heck, I am 25 years younger than she is and I can remember doing many of the same things at my grandparents' farm in North Dakota two decades later, and even do some of these same things today. Although the subtitle mentions "hard times" it is clear that due to help from her grandparents and a self-sufficient farm, Kalish and her siblings never really went without anything on her farm during the depression so anyone who is reading this book and expects it to be a true hardship tale best look elsewhere. It is a great look down memory lane for those from Kalish's generation who I am sure will enjoy reading and reminiscing about another time and place. It seems though that most of the time the author is writing for an audience who hasn't lived through any of these events, remembers none of these times (stoking an old wood fire, splitting wood,making head cheese, butchering a chicken, making May Day baskets). That said, it is quick interesting read but recommended with reservations as although a memoir, how-to book and cookbook, it doesn't completely succeed at any of these.
]]> 5207397 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:44:27 -0700
We meet and learn to love the patients in the practice such as the eccentric Miss Hiawatha and the kindly Mike who doesn’t hardly know he is handicapped. And then there are the two friends Obie and Kermit. You never know what kind of predicament they are going to get themselves into next and what kind of injuries it’s going to cause. Each time they come through the clinic door it’s going to be something totally different. The big question on everyone’s mind is, will Carolyn stay in eastern Tennessee where she earned $0 in one year or return to her high-power, six-figure job in Washington, DC?

It was recommended I get this book via Amazon’s Customers Also Bought feature after I had purchased another book. I clicked on it and read the description. As a long-time medical office employee it sounded right up my alley. But it would appeal to anyone who enjoys sweet stories with quirky characters such as the Mitford series by Jan Karon or anyone who loves the TV series Northern Exposure or Ballykissangel. But these are very real people here, not those from fiction. I laughed and I cried, I read passages out loud to my husband, and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row to finish it. I can’t recommend this book enough. You will want to buy one for yourself and another as a gift for someone you care about. ]]>
author: Carolyn Jourdan
name: Maudeen
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 08/27/07
shelves:
review:
When Senate Counsel Carolyn Jourdan returns to the mountains of eastern Tennessee from Washington, DC after the sudden illness of her mother, she has no idea how long she’ll be needed to fill in her role as receptionist for her father, the kindly country doctor. She figures at first it will just be two days. But readers can be glad that it wasn’t as in Heart in the Right Place, Jourdan takes the reader on a true journey of the heart to the people of eastern Tennessee and through all the trials and tribulations of a small country one-doctor medical practice. One where he might be paid in even a fox carcass if he charged his patients anything at all.

We meet and learn to love the patients in the practice such as the eccentric Miss Hiawatha and the kindly Mike who doesn’t hardly know he is handicapped. And then there are the two friends Obie and Kermit. You never know what kind of predicament they are going to get themselves into next and what kind of injuries it’s going to cause. Each time they come through the clinic door it’s going to be something totally different. The big question on everyone’s mind is, will Carolyn stay in eastern Tennessee where she earned $0 in one year or return to her high-power, six-figure job in Washington, DC?

It was recommended I get this book via Amazon’s Customers Also Bought feature after I had purchased another book. I clicked on it and read the description. As a long-time medical office employee it sounded right up my alley. But it would appeal to anyone who enjoys sweet stories with quirky characters such as the Mitford series by Jan Karon or anyone who loves the TV series Northern Exposure or Ballykissangel. But these are very real people here, not those from fiction. I laughed and I cried, I read passages out loud to my husband, and I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row to finish it. I can’t recommend this book enough. You will want to buy one for yourself and another as a gift for someone you care about.
]]> 5207295 Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:42:35 -0700
However this book isn’t, as I had first thought, simply full of anecdotes of Kate’s involvement with search and rescue attempts. Oh no, it is much, much more than that. There, are plenty of interesting anecdotes that’s for sure but it is a story of Kate’s life as a single mother, as a spiritual woman, as a spiritual leader, and as a caring human being. It is a book full of the essays of a talented writer giving her take on life, death, and heaven, all in a gentle way where it is easy to imagine the skill in which she is able to minister to those in need. She does so without judging anyone be they a fundamentalist, atheist, agnostic, or of any other belief.

There is the story of a young suicide victim whose brother she counsels and consoles as he is worried she will be unable to have a Christian burial because of the way she died, there is the story of the parents Kate spends the night consoling with after their daughter goes missing, answering the atheist mother who says, “It’s so cool that the warden service has a chaplain to keep us from freaking out,” by responding,”I’m not really here to keep you from freaking out. I’m here to be with you while you freak out.”

And here is the story of Kate, the mother, helping her four children get over the death of their beloved father, all the while in deep mourning herself. Kate who loved her husband so deeply. So very deeply that she does for her husband what few new widows will ever do in this modern age.

All I can say is WOW. I don’t know when I have been so moved by a book.


The reader will be moved to tears, laugh out loud, begin a spiritual awakening – and keep the book nearby for re-reading of Kate’s essays again and again. You will wish she was your friend, your pastor. You will wish you had the honor of having her wisdom nearby on a daily basis. But since you don’t reading this book will have to suffice. The world would be a better place if there were more Kate Braestrups in it. God bless you Kate and thank you for sharing a part of your world and your wisdom in this magnificent read.]]>
author: Kate Braestrup
name: Maudeen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 08/07
date added: 08/27/07
shelves:
review:
As a mother of four and wife to Maine State trooper Drew Griffith, Kate Braestrup thought her life was in order as a wife, mother, and writer. Drew’s plans though were to go to school to become a Unitarian minister. Suddenly though, Kate becomes a widow and then decides to pursue Drew’s dream. She becomes a Unitarian minister and begins working with the Maine Game Warden department, mainly ministering to the families of those involved in search and rescue attempts – the hikers, the lost snowmobilers, the swimmers falling over a waterfall, the despondent young women, the lost children.

However this book isn’t, as I had first thought, simply full of anecdotes of Kate’s involvement with search and rescue attempts. Oh no, it is much, much more than that. There, are plenty of interesting anecdotes that’s for sure but it is a story of Kate’s life as a single mother, as a spiritual woman, as a spiritual leader, and as a caring human being. It is a book full of the essays of a talented writer giving her take on life, death, and heaven, all in a gentle way where it is easy to imagine the skill in which she is able to minister to those in need. She does so without judging anyone be they a fundamentalist, atheist, agnostic, or of any other belief.

There is the story of a young suicide victim whose brother she counsels and consoles as he is worried she will be unable to have a Christian burial because of the way she died, there is the story of the parents Kate spends the night consoling with after their daughter goes missing, answering the atheist mother who says, “It’s so cool that the warden service has a chaplain to keep us from freaking out,” by responding,”I’m not really here to keep you from freaking out. I’m here to be with you while you freak out.”

And here is the story of Kate, the mother, helping her four children get over the death of their beloved father, all the while in deep mourning herself. Kate who loved her husband so deeply. So very deeply that she does for her husband what few new widows will ever do in this modern age.

All I can say is WOW. I don’t know when I have been so moved by a book.


The reader will be moved to tears, laugh out loud, begin a spiritual awakening – and keep the book nearby for re-reading of Kate’s essays again and again. You will wish she was your friend, your pastor. You will wish you had the honor of having her wisdom nearby on a daily basis. But since you don’t reading this book will have to suffice. The world would be a better place if there were more Kate Braestrups in it. God bless you Kate and thank you for sharing a part of your world and your wisdom in this magnificent read.
]]> 4564975 Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:57:17 -0700