bookshelves: poetry
I've seen Galway Kinnell read and so I've got kind of a starry-eyed fan thing going on for him. He's a GREAT, moving reader. And, I love his poetry. This book is everything I love about how he can evoke a moment, but also invest it with something transcendent (sp?). I'm not sure how he achieves the elevation of the everyday birthday party or carpentry project into something that feels like your life depends on it, but he does. Even without the incredibly moving 9/11 and Jane Kenyon poems this poetry would make you realize the importance of the the every-day.
I don't love everything he writes. I loved Mortal Acts, Mortal Words, but I only kind of liked The Book of Nightmares and while I appreciated the ghazal form in Imperfect Thirst it didn't feel like the best way for him to express himself (hmmm, who do I think I am? - anyway - I'm just being honest). This book is everything you want him to write and you'll want to read it again and again. Also, BONANZA! it comes with a CD so you can listen to him read his work, and it's, of course, superb. ]]>
bookshelves: cook-books, essays
I am a little bit weird about cookbooks and recipes. Reading them relaxes me. And, I love memoirs – it’s sort of a discreet version of voyeurism. This book comprises quite short chapters of memoirs of the author’s childhood and early adulthood. I loved the book and here’s why:
- every recipe looks amazing (the French toast: by God, that sucker will put you into a coma, but it’s amazing French toast (and, I am the tough customer in this area – it’s a long story, but trust me). Who ever heard of cooking French toast in oil for gosh sakes? Well, it’s killer. As I said, you’ll die a prolonged carbohydrate death over even a single piece, but you’ll never have better French toast (nothing wrong with just serving a single piece with fruit). The cranberry chutney is very good and the Hoosier pie is excellent.
- I love the idea of having a best recipe for a particular thing (like the author) – I don’t need 63 recipes for a particular kind of soup – just one good one.
- I realized while reading this that most of these types of books are about the author. And, that’s usually not as interesting as it could be. Most people have much more far-out family members with bigger stories across the board. This author told those stories. She’s fully in every story, but it’s not a one-note band. I liked reading about her dad, her mom, her aunt, her husband and her friends (I will say that some of her post-meeting-her–husband stories verge on the precariously twee, but she’s so charming you will be able to deal with it – and, I’m the Scrooge personified so that’s saying something). I will also say that Heartburn, Nora Ephron’s book, is sort of a one-note revenge tale, but it’s another one I’d recommend (the story, not the revenge part).
- I really like France and I don’t like meat – normally, authors cannot seem to separate French cooking from red meat and this author is able to do this successfully (thank you for not making me feel like a culinary failure for not being at all OK with red meat).
She hasn’t been blogging very much lately (having started a restaurant with her husband), but she has such a great voice and her recipes are really nice so you might want to check out her blog, Orangette, for the older entries (or, she’s a guest blogger on habit this month which is a great visual poem kind of a site, that’s very worth checking out).
While I own a copy of this book (a true tribute!), I probably will not loan it out because I see myself using it a lot and re-reading it.
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My co-workers are laughing at me because I call this the Scared Straight version of a cookbook for your family. This book is extremely informative and I found the lists of good foods, bad foods and the information about which foods offer nutrients the body can most effectively absorb to be exactly what I needed. I've made some important changes in the available snacks in our home (but, I'm still a little flumoxed about how to deal with soy allergies in a non-red meat home - it's going to take some time, because even the alternatives he suggests don't always seem healthy if you don't balance them carefully).
I think I'm the kind of mom, though, that the author really dislikes because I simply cannot implement his menus hook, line and sinker at home (and, the voice of this book is hook, line and sinker - do everything he says or you are a crazy, bad, crazy-bad person). Increasing the amount of nuts, fruits, and vegetables is not hard and we already avoid many of the other banned items in the book. But, his recipes with very few exceptions don't taste good (at all) to our family. It's hard to completely give up good-tasting food so I'm implementing some, but not all of his mandates. In the meantime I'm trying to add seasonings that will jazz things up. ]]>
You are all so nice. Whilst I was in my cranberry crisis I was reading A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg who writes the blog called Orangette. Based on your love of cooking you might like this book which is a blend of memoir and her favorite recipes. So, I made her Cranberry Chutney with Crystallied Ginger and Dried Cherries (which has Grand Marnier, Bev! - it's awesome). I'll make it again with Nancy's nuts for Christmas, and it's very much a riff on Harvey, Nancy, Susanna and Bev's comments. Thank you all - I wouldn't have made the recipe if you hadn't all validated her ingredients in advance. ]]>
by Chuck Thompson
I'm right there with you, Babe. On ALL counts. I don't need to read this; however, if you'd played up his communist leanings you might have had me.... ]]>
This is chick lit (not of the extreme variety, but guys won't like this book), but I loved it. Any of my friends who liked Come and Go, Molly Snow will find this a sure fire thing. Great characters, compelling story. And, while it's not The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay or the Great Gatsby, I was totally engaged in it. ]]>
Despite Mateo's well-taken point that this book is a very thinly veiled piece of the strongest Communistic propaganda designed to suck all parents into being groveling accolytes (sp) of Fidel Castro, I really liked it.
I'm obviously not the target audience for this book, but I like his writing so much that I read it anyway. I liked the "The Hand on My Shoulder," and the "Cosmodemonic" essays the best, but there's a lot here about relationships (failed and otherwise), personal growth (however, icky that might sound), the changing face of childhood and parenting that would, I think, be appreciated by those of the male and female persuasions.
He has a tendency to elevate topics to the universal level - which makes it meaningful. That being said, I would be remiss in not saying that I truly think the folks who will like this book the most are parents of the 35-55ish variety - that's just his journey (and, of course those of the most virulent kind of Communistic leanings will find their touchstone in this book - and, thank you, Mateo, for ensuring that I didn't neglect to reference that -although, I am mildly disturbed that you blew Michael's cover on Goodreads; however, thank you for saving the callow souls lacking depth who might just have made a quite serious politcal and social choice by reading these pieces unadvised). ]]>
Tracy O
read and liked
Mateo's
review of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism:
"A few pages into this book, I was thinking I might give it four stars instead of five, because it so clearly looked to be a work of partisan polemics. Mind you, I have nothing against a polemic against Milton Friedman and modern global hypercapital...more "
"A few pages into this book, I was thinking I might give it four stars instead of five, because it so clearly looked to be a work of partisan polemics. Mind you, I have nothing against a polemic against Milton Friedman and modern global hypercapital...more "
I liked the literary references in this book very much. And, I also liked the reflections on the characters' lives as college students. I thought the references to real people in the business were needlessly distracting because I'm one removed from some of them and it made it a little harder to focus on the story - I like my fiction to be fiction. But, more than anything I found the story's resolution shallow and utterly unbelievable. And, other than one super tangential character, I don't think I liked any of the characters at all - even the main character whom I think I was supposed to empathize with. ]]>
I can't explain why, but I kept thinking about old WC Fields and black and white movies while I read this (well, theres the time period...). You've heard the stories in this book a million times before, but you haven't heard them told better. There's love and drama a-plenty and I fell for all of it. My grandpa took me to a traveling circus in Humboldt as a kid and all of the drama of seeing the elephants, the aerialists, etc. is here (as, Ed would say, "look, it's shiny), but there's really something more - the story is told so well. I'm sure there will be a movie rip off soon enough, but read this first if you can. ]]>