Home Game or The Accidental Guide to Fatherhood by Michael Lewis

I laughed out loud throughout this book. Lewis is a best-selling author (Blind Side, Moneyball, The Big Short) but this book is about his adventures as a new father...his honest reactions, his reluctance to engage, his less than noble feelings. It is a wonderful book for those parents who finally get around to having kids in their late 30s and into their 40s. His wife is Tabitha; his kids are Quinn, Dixie and Walker. The cover of the paperback is wonderful, isn't it?

Going Rogue by Sarah Palin

I am glad I read this book, but I have to admit (coward that I am) that it was a book I didn't read in public for fear someone (yeah, like so many people are just watching everything I do) would think I was a fan. I'm not, but I respect Sarah Palin more after reading her book. I have no idea what the REAL back story is; perhaps, there is so much more that she chose not to write, and perhaps she generously edited events in her favor, but there was enough in Going Rogue to at least make me sit back and wonder about the machinations of some of the media (a lot of the media) and John McCain's advisors/managers during and after the campaign. This is her side of the stories we all heard, and about which most of us Democrats rolled our eyes. In this book, to her credit, she never once said anything negative about McCain and seemed to have the highest respect for him and his wife, and she made very few negative comments about Obama or Hillary Clinton, or even the Democrats except in general ways as she disagrees politically.

Sarah Palin truly admired Ronald Reagan. She barely mentions other Republican presidents. She believes in and knows about fossil fuel energy, and even occasionally gives a nod to alternative energy sources. She did a lot for Alaska, but I cringe to think that she COULD be President (truly a remote possibility, I hope), not because she isn't intelligent enough but because she has utmost confidence in her skewed beliefs and philosophies which, in my opinion, are way too parochial and limited, and unfortunately probably racist. It may be that she thinks what worked in Alaska would work in the country as a whole. LIving in Alaska for almost her whole life, with its land and space and resources and lack of diversity has certainly shaped her perspectives, and she has easy responses to why government shouldn't be involved as much as it is. It is hard to tell how her personal beliefs would influence her policies. Maybe not as much as we think, but then again......

I do think she is an extraordinary woman in what she has accomplished and in that she continues to have the energy and passion and (perhaps) ambition to be a catalyst for political change.

What happened when I read this book is that I admired her personally but not politically. She is a mother, a wife, a professional...she seems to handle all of it without too much ado, nor does she seem to take herself all that seriously (could be wrong here....) I did not get the impression that she was unduly bothered by the angst of most modern women. Perhaps I am naive, but Sarah Palin seems to be a very grounded modern woman, with a supportive, lively family, juggling it all. She is physically active; she is a mother and wife and participates in the lives of her kids and her husband in ordinary ways; she has a large extended family and dozens of friends, and she has a solid faith, but does not seem dogmatic or uncompassionate, or too judgmental or critical (could be wrong....)

Not that I don't have reservations and curiosity about how faithful to the truth she was in her book, but I won't be as quick to dismiss her. On the other hand, I am certainly thankful she and McCain are not in the White House.

UPDATE 08/28/2010: I am reconsidering my opinion of SP....let's see what happens today at the Mall.

Country Bread

I got up Saturday morning and quickly started in. There were still 2 recipes in the current menu that need to be made. This bread is one and the other (which I may make later today) is Cheese-Nut Pate.

It's been very hot and the yeast-knead thing is hard work. I procrastinated but I have no room in this project to skip a recipe or move ahead without making every single soup, salad, bread, dessert, etc. And yeast projects have not been particularly successful for me so far. This time it all went better. The yeast actually foamed up; the kneading was doable early in the morning; and the final product was tasty. Oat flour, rye flour, white flour, sugar, butter, salt... I still cannot imagine doing this regularly though, but perhaps that's because I am not much of a bread or sandwich eater.

Summertime by J. M. Coetzee

What is this book? Autobiography? Novel? Non-fiction? A bit of all of those. Coetzee writes about himself as if he were deceased and, in this book, a would-be biographer interviews five people who knew Coetzee in the 70s, who knew him prior to his fame as a writer. As I read the book, I would go back and forth between thinking this was written by a man who needs to stop obsessing about himself, stop the endless, wearying introspection AND thinking it was a clever and original way of writing about oneself.

I didn't know much about Coetzee except that the milieu for his books is South Africa. He was apparently raised in the stern Dutch Protestant-Abrahma Kuyper tradition, but "saved" somewhat by his Mother's more enlightened ideas about educating a child. However, that material is not in this book. Instead, there is commentary about the South Africa of Afrikaners, British, Coloured and Africans on the verge of change. These imminent changes are not the story, only the background, as the narrator tries to glean significance about John Coetzee from those he interviews.

I liked the book more as I read it, and a definite, quite precise characterization of Coetzee in that time frame is the end result. (He currently lives in Adelaide, Australia.)

Here is one vignette about his cousin Margot (one of those interviewed) and her husband Lukas who have a small farm but also have second jobs, and we find out that they work so hard so as to be able to "house their workers properly and pay them a decent wage and make sure their children went to school and support those same workers later when they grew old and infirm..." This sort of simple observation tells so much; it is what good writers can do.

Every Last One by Anna Quindlen

Am I glad I read this? I don't know. There are vignettes and sentences and descriptions of the dynamics of a modern family told in the skillful way Anna Quindlen can. She is an established writer with many good books already written. This novel is in the genre of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold or Cage of Stars by Mitchard. I wonder why these women write novels with such story lines? Not just for profit, right? Of course I found it compelling but also think that ultimately these novels with their nearly unbearable events add a layer to the dark distractions in our minds of disturbing images and possibilities that wait there for us in our vulnerable moments. It's just a novel, I know, but.......Of course, there is much more to this novel than the cataclysmic event, much more that is redemptive / instructive as we all try to figure out relationships with our families, with our parents, with our kids, with our friends. AQ always does well with this material. Maybe it is a matter of getting our attention in the first place. That must be getting more and more difficult in our media-saturated world.

Zeitoun by David Eggers

Zeitoun is the last name of a Muslim family who live in New Orleans and who also lived there when Katrina arrived. This is their specific story set in the general context of Katrina and its immediate aftermath. It is thought-provoking and certainly raises issues about what happens as the infrastructure fails and how quickly some members of our society (the poor and sick and those with little primary support) find themselves in survival mode. David Eggers is a good writer. In addition to the particulars of what happens to the Zeitoun family, we learn, again, about these disenfranchised as the levees fail and water pours into and over New Orleans.

Term Limits by VInce Flynn

A typical Vince Flynn political thriller. Bad guys close to the President and good guys working for the CIA, FBI, etc. A disgruntled young congressman, his Irish grandfather, retired "spooks" and Navy SEALS, etc. Lots of technology and chases and murders and meetings and deals. I read this while in Washington, DC, which was fun, as the neighborhoods and buildings and streets and geography of that area were the venues for the story. An airplane book as Bob O said, or a beach book.....

Reading this type of book always makes me wonder how much actually does happen "behind the scenes." Of course, the mayhem and resolutions did get a bit contrived at times, but still, it kept my interest to the end.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

This is the second book I have recently read about Frank Lloyd Wright. The other was The Women by T.C. Boyle which told the tales of three of Frank's love affairs subsequent to his first marriage to Catherine, the mother of six of his children.

Loving Frank is all about the second woman in his life, Mamah Borthwick, the wife of a client who had hired Frank to be the architect for a home in Oak Park, Illinois. Frank and Catherine also lived in Oak Park. Mamah's husband was Edgar, and they had two small children. She leaves Edgar for Frank and this is her story.

Obviously, some of the material in these two books cover the same characters and historical time, but both are compelling, well written, descriptive stories. Frank and Mamah were subjected to intense societal pressures but slowly were accepted by the farming community around Taliesin in Wisconsin. Still, their lives were very difficult at times, especially for Mamah. Although she was an early feminist, there are never simple solutions to the reality of abandoning a kind and considerate husband, along with two small children, of loving a difficult, highly creative, driven artist, of finding time to pursue her own literary efforts of writing and translating. Mamah was beautiful and educated and is portrayed in this book as a kind and deeply caring woman. Of course she will always be in the shadow of FLW, but she was also a strong character and this portrait of their lives together is a tribute to her.

Roasted and Marinated Green Beans with Onions and Garlic Cloves

This was delicious! Hot or cold. Green beans, several garlic cloves cut in half, and a red onion, roasted about 25 minutes with some olive oil and then sprinkled with balsamic vinegar immediately after removing from the oven. Really, this was very tasty.

Golden Pear Soup

This was more like a smoothie than a soup. It had a delightful, rather sweet taste and was made with sweet potatoes (cooked with a cinnamon stick) and pears sauteed in butter which were then blended together with a little white wine and a dollop of cream added just before serving. Easy to make. I just don't know exactly when I would serve this. Like, it doesn't seem like a soup course; it certainly isn't a main meal...Maybe just a light noon meal with a small green salad or home-made bread with butter...

(I am still not exactly a convert to blended, pureed food, though this WAS quite tasty...)

Alice Waters and Chez Panisse by Thomas McNamee

What a story! Alice Waters started her restaurant, Chez Panisse, on Shattuck Street in Berkeley, California in August of 1971. This is the story of both Alice herself and the restaurant. It is wonderfully written. I had a vague idea of who Alice Waters was, or who I thought she was, but I really didn't know much and what I thought I knew wasn't accurate. Like, I thought she was a California flower child who had a very successful vegetarian restaurant. Not exactly....

Her love of food prepared with the very freshest ingredients became a food philosophy that has earned her plaudits all over the world from all sorts of food critics and chefs. As the restaurant (finally) became profitable and her staff (the Chez Panisse famille) were able to carry on without her presence all the time, she began to travel and speak and devote her restless energies into projects like The Edible Schoolyard (gardens in schoolyards, starting with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley), the Slow Food movement, or trying to convince Bill and Hillary Clinton to have gardens at the White House and to openly endorse her passion in trying to arrest the the processes, both of how food is chosen and consumed in the US and how it is produced. She is such a presence in the world of foodies, even though she does not like that term. A dinner at Chez Panisse in 2010 probably costs nearly $100 but most of the diners find the experience and taste memorable and worthy of that price.

The book is a treat in itself, as the author follows the staff, all the changes and Alice herself through the last 50 years. She is now 66 years old and continues to live life to the fullest, always intending to live with more grace and reflection and serenity but probably not succeeding very often.

There are a few haphazard recipes in the book, mostly just complementing a particular chef or staff member or illustrating Alice's way of explaining how she thinks of food..never precise measurements, always open to experiment, taking advantage of whatever is available and fresh. The author nicely balances the tales of Alice's personal life with her public life. He tells the tales without malice and without too much adulation, always acknowledging the amazing tenacity, creativity and vision of Alice Waters. She does have detractors and the author also includes some of the comments from those less enchanted with Ms. Waters, but mostly this chronology is a tribute to her.

Now, having said all that, I am left with how complicated it SEEMS to cook, eat and live this way...the foraging all over our "neighborhoods" for local, clean food, the time needed to do this and then to prepare (think peeling dozens of baby root vegetables) these meals, the education necessary to reach the millions who drive through the fast food franchises each day opting for a super-sized meal, the total commitment to slowing down as we eat with our families and friends. Not that I don't agree with and totally admire her efforts...I guess we do what we can, each of us, in whatever small or large ways that we are able.

Anyway, Thomas McNamee has written a book about which Jim Harrison says, "Over and above Waters's obvious leadership in the food revolution, McNamee's work is as compelling as a very good novel."

Cage of Stars by Jacquelyn Mitchard

This is a novel of a Mormon family, murder and mental illness. I learned about Mormonism while the events unfolded, Mormonism without apologies and without drama, but also as a powerful guiding force in this family and their community. Mitchard is a deft and compelling writer. The story is narrated through the voice of Veronica (Ronnie) Swan, the oldest daughter of Cressie and London Swan. An unimaginable tragedy befalls this family, and the book describes how they continue to go on with their lives. In a way, this is another book about faith and how the individual has choices, and how these choices effect very different outcomes.

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

This is a lovely little book about faith, specifically about a Jewish rabbi who asks Mitch Albom to do the eulogy at his funeral. Mitch feels he must learn about the Reb before he can agree to do this and so he begins visiting and talking with him. Concomitantly, he tells the tale of an African American man who left the high life of money, drugs and crime in NYC to become the pastor of I Am My Brother's Keeper church in Detroit.

Mitch is like many of us, raised in a religious faith but no longer as much involved. So this is his story and our story too. It is journey of faith for Mr. Albom and, when read with an open mind, a challenge to all of us, gently probing and questioning what faith means.

Superbug - The Fatal Menace of MRSA by Maryn McKenna

MRSA is methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This book is a warning. The author is sure that MRSA will keep developing resistance to antibiotics and that it could "be the most frightening epidemic since AIDS." For awhile there was MRSA one usually acquired while a patient in a hospital. And then there was also a community-acquired MRSA that seemed to come out of the blue, but was devastating to those who were afflicted. The hospital staph was more resistant to antibiotics, but the community staph often had more dire consequences and worse infections. The author tells of several horrific cases; some patients died and others had long debilitating treatments, usually after their infection was fulminant.

Now, these various staphylococci strains are converging and thus the alarm raised by this author. The staph bacterium cleverly and quickly mutates so that antibiotics quickly become ineffective. Perhaps a vaccine can be developed in time to prevent an epidemic, but that has not yet happened. What is interesting is that many of us are colonized with MRSA and can be carriers and infect more compromised patients..newborns, the elderly, immunocompromised patients, those recovering from or having surgery, etc. There are cases where healthy surgeons or nurses have infected several hospitalized patients.

The overuse of antibiotics must be addressed in our healthcare systems since often these are prescribed for a viral illness and have no effect whatsoever on the causative virus, but any bacteria in our bodies are then exposed to the antibiotic and continue to develop resistance. This book gets moderately technical but is readable by the interested lay person. We should all at least be aware that this is happening and not expect or take antibiotics every time we have a viral illness. We should practice good hygiene like hand-washing. We should be proactive with our healthcare providers if we have a skin or soft tissue infection that seems not to respond to prescribed antibiotics. There are still drugs to treat MRSA, but this author feels in the not too distant future, none of our current antibiotics will cure MRSA.