Non-fiction.
Erin trades her stiletto heels and short skirts for the gear she needs to work with Island Creek Oysters, an oyster farm off the coast of Massachusetts. This is her story. If you like oysters and are curious about how they are grown, from seed to slurping, you will enjoy her story. Predictably, she barely survives the first few weeks of hard work, but perseveres and lives to tell us about oysters and those who farm oysters, the salt water, the sea, the sky, the clouds, the tides....
There are recipes at the end of every chapter (Crispy Oysters with Fried Brussels Sprouts and Russian Dressing or Oyster-Mussel Chowder with Pancetta, Sunchokes and Almonds), and a very memorable visit to Per Se, a high-end restaurant, where Erin spent a day in the kitchen watching and learning how to make their signature dish, Oysters and Pearls before settling into the restaurant proper for dinner:
"We were moved on to more complex dishes, like the butter-poached lobster "mitt," a chunk of flawless lobster meat settled over a bed of tiny tortellini. I practically beamed when I saw the slivers of trumpet mushroom laid tenderly across the dish. The same went for the cod shank which was touched with...Ethan's pulverized pepper agro dulce. Next up we got walloped by actual white truffles...."
There are also oyster offering/shucking events in places like Nantucket and Miami, which are parties full of wine and beer and songs and laughter, rewards for the days and days out in the cold wet weather. Still, most of the book is the subtitle: Life on a New England Oyster Farm.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Book: Shock Wave by John Sandford
Another Sandford novel.
I love the way this writer does dialogue and characters. I love the Up North milieu (for the most part). The plots are varied and Sandford researches enough so they are credible (sort of and most of the time).
This book is about a Walmart-type chain with a proposed new store in a small Minnesota town. But, deadly bombings begin, targeted against Pye Mart. That's the main story, but I also was drawn to the concomitant threads of how a Pye Mart will affect the established local businesses, of selected details in the lives of those who live in small Midwest towns, of the interactions between law enforcement agencies.
Sandford's books are just plain entertaining.
Hardcover at your local library or the paperback edition at bookstores and airports, etc.
I love the way this writer does dialogue and characters. I love the Up North milieu (for the most part). The plots are varied and Sandford researches enough so they are credible (sort of and most of the time).
This book is about a Walmart-type chain with a proposed new store in a small Minnesota town. But, deadly bombings begin, targeted against Pye Mart. That's the main story, but I also was drawn to the concomitant threads of how a Pye Mart will affect the established local businesses, of selected details in the lives of those who live in small Midwest towns, of the interactions between law enforcement agencies.
Sandford's books are just plain entertaining.
Hardcover at your local library or the paperback edition at bookstores and airports, etc.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Book: The Night Crew by John Sandford
Another JS book with a female protagonist, Anna Batory, who heads the night crew in LA. Their job is to catch on video, first before anyone else, the trauma in the big city...and then quickly sell the tape to the highest TV station bidder. One night they get both an animal rights event and a jumper. Immediated subsequent to this night, people connected to Anna start getting hurt, even murdered. Anna realizing she is being stalked and has no idea why.
This is one of Sandford's better novels with good characters and what I like best about this author: a degree of subtlety usually lacking in other writers of this genre and the natural credible dialogue between the characters.
This is one of Sandford's better novels with good characters and what I like best about this author: a degree of subtlety usually lacking in other writers of this genre and the natural credible dialogue between the characters.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Books: Off to Big Star with no Internet so only titles at this point...
Dark of the Moon - John Sandford (Virgil Flowers)
Broken Prey - John Sandford (Lucas Davenport)
The Translator - Daoud Hari (Darfur)
Family History - Dani Shapiro (author of Devotion)
The Territory - Tricia Fields (Mexican cartel/Texas border town)
These are library books and need to be returned before I go up north. My reading has strayed to easy fiction lately, books I can read in a night, fortunately or unfortunately...it is what it is...
Broken Prey - John Sandford (Lucas Davenport)
The Translator - Daoud Hari (Darfur)
Family History - Dani Shapiro (author of Devotion)
The Territory - Tricia Fields (Mexican cartel/Texas border town)
These are library books and need to be returned before I go up north. My reading has strayed to easy fiction lately, books I can read in a night, fortunately or unfortunately...it is what it is...
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Book: The Innocent Man by John Grisham
or Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
The town is Ada, Oklahoma, and Grisham spares no words in describing the errors and sloppiness that occurred in nearly every aspect of this case, involving lawyers (prosecution and defense) and the law enforcers (police) in Ada. It is a true story that is sad, outrageous, compelling and nearly unbelievable. John Grisham had "never heard of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz" while the events in this story were taking place but saw an obituary in The New York Times which started him thinking and wondering about what had really happened. He began asking questions; he travelled to Ada and other towns, researched the facts, interviewed dozens of people and then wrote this book.
Ron and Dennis spent time on death row for a murder they did not commit. Especially before DNA testing became widely available, "wrongful convictions" did happen. As Grisham notes, the Innocence Project has exonerated 180 prisoners through DNA testing at the time this book was published.
There are heroes in this story too, or Ron and Dennis might never have been released from prison. Perhaps they would have been executed. Grisham tells of the dedication and integrity these men and women exhibited as a habeas corpus appeal brought the case to their offices. Finally, the egregious mistakes were acknowledged and the mishandling of the case exposed.
Throughout Ron's long incarceration, he was examined repeatedly, but sporadically, by mental health experts as he became increasingly unstable. This is another system that failed as Ron had issues of lack of followup, noncompliance when taking prescribed psychotropic medications, varying diagnoses and often a complete disregard of obvious and significant mental illness.
And there is the rather poignant tale of Ron as a promising young athlete, potentially a player in baseball's major leagues, and how that dream fell apart, and how through all the years, his sisters Annette and Renee supported him as best they could.
The town is Ada, Oklahoma, and Grisham spares no words in describing the errors and sloppiness that occurred in nearly every aspect of this case, involving lawyers (prosecution and defense) and the law enforcers (police) in Ada. It is a true story that is sad, outrageous, compelling and nearly unbelievable. John Grisham had "never heard of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz" while the events in this story were taking place but saw an obituary in The New York Times which started him thinking and wondering about what had really happened. He began asking questions; he travelled to Ada and other towns, researched the facts, interviewed dozens of people and then wrote this book.
Ron and Dennis spent time on death row for a murder they did not commit. Especially before DNA testing became widely available, "wrongful convictions" did happen. As Grisham notes, the Innocence Project has exonerated 180 prisoners through DNA testing at the time this book was published.
There are heroes in this story too, or Ron and Dennis might never have been released from prison. Perhaps they would have been executed. Grisham tells of the dedication and integrity these men and women exhibited as a habeas corpus appeal brought the case to their offices. Finally, the egregious mistakes were acknowledged and the mishandling of the case exposed.
Throughout Ron's long incarceration, he was examined repeatedly, but sporadically, by mental health experts as he became increasingly unstable. This is another system that failed as Ron had issues of lack of followup, noncompliance when taking prescribed psychotropic medications, varying diagnoses and often a complete disregard of obvious and significant mental illness.
And there is the rather poignant tale of Ron as a promising young athlete, potentially a player in baseball's major leagues, and how that dream fell apart, and how through all the years, his sisters Annette and Renee supported him as best they could.
Book: Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry has written many wonderful books and this is one of the best.
It is set in the countryside near the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. It is Hannah's story and is a satisfying tale, full of nostalgia for a bygone era, that of the second half of the 20th century. It is the story of farming folk and hard work, of families bound by friendship and neighborliness. Hannah reminds me of my first mother-in-law, Virginia Phelps, a truly remarkable woman whose farm home was always a welcome respite from any trouble.
"I was beautiful in those days myself, as I believe I can admit now that it no longer matters. A woman doesn't learn she is beautiful by looking in a mirror, which about any woman is apt to do from time to time, but that is only wishing. She learns it so that she actually knows it from men. The way they look at her makes a sort of glimmer she walks in. That tells her. It changes the easy she walks too. "
Hannah raises her children and lives her life on the land, always appreciating what she has. It is a story of life in the country shortly before "screens" began to dominate our lives.
"Danny grew up with the knowledge of the old economy of the natural world that, for nothing and for pleasure, yielded in its seasons game and fish and nuts and berries and herbs and marketable pelts."
Such is Mr. Berry's talent that every page is soothing as Hannah recalls her life, of raising her children, of being a young widow, of marrying again, of living each day close to nature, of her faith and friends and family. The decency and basic goodness of these lives is offered to us, reminding us of what we can be.
PS: I bought this as a used book at a resale store somewhere. There is an inscription in the front:
Dear Nan,
I know you and Ike liked to read out back in the summer. I thought you might appreciate this beautiful story about loss and love and gratitude. The narrator, Hannah, reminds me a lot of you.
Love Mark
It's that kind of book.....
It is set in the countryside near the fictional town of Port William, Kentucky. It is Hannah's story and is a satisfying tale, full of nostalgia for a bygone era, that of the second half of the 20th century. It is the story of farming folk and hard work, of families bound by friendship and neighborliness. Hannah reminds me of my first mother-in-law, Virginia Phelps, a truly remarkable woman whose farm home was always a welcome respite from any trouble.
"I was beautiful in those days myself, as I believe I can admit now that it no longer matters. A woman doesn't learn she is beautiful by looking in a mirror, which about any woman is apt to do from time to time, but that is only wishing. She learns it so that she actually knows it from men. The way they look at her makes a sort of glimmer she walks in. That tells her. It changes the easy she walks too. "
Hannah raises her children and lives her life on the land, always appreciating what she has. It is a story of life in the country shortly before "screens" began to dominate our lives.
"Danny grew up with the knowledge of the old economy of the natural world that, for nothing and for pleasure, yielded in its seasons game and fish and nuts and berries and herbs and marketable pelts."
Such is Mr. Berry's talent that every page is soothing as Hannah recalls her life, of raising her children, of being a young widow, of marrying again, of living each day close to nature, of her faith and friends and family. The decency and basic goodness of these lives is offered to us, reminding us of what we can be.
PS: I bought this as a used book at a resale store somewhere. There is an inscription in the front:
Dear Nan,
I know you and Ike liked to read out back in the summer. I thought you might appreciate this beautiful story about loss and love and gratitude. The narrator, Hannah, reminds me a lot of you.
Love Mark
It's that kind of book.....
Book: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander
A collection of stories about Jews and the Jewish experience, some set in Israel and others in the United States.
In the United States, I feel that the farther one lives from the east coast or a large city, the less likely one is to know many Jews, and it seems there is often a wariness or a mind set we non-Jewish people have when talking about Jews. This book throws light on what it means to be Jewish, which is reason enough to read it, and how can being Jewish today is tied to the Holocaust for so many.
In one story, Josh is the director of a summer camp on a lake, one side for young kids; the other sort of an Jewish Elder Hostel:
"John's office door is indeed perpetually open.....To anyone with any problem at all. Because of this, the air conditioner stays off--a waste. And because the old folks, at the best of time, can't hear anything Josh is saying, he's also forced to avoid the whir of a fan. This leaves the office sweltering, a nice touch that Josh appreciates, for people visit to complain, but no one dares stay long."
In my family, we were brought up to avoid those "not our kind" and when that becomes a part of one's psyche, it is often not easy to dislodge. But it is important we do. Reading books that describe other cultures and the different ways of living and dreaming can start the process of opening our minds to an understanding and acceptance of diversity in the faith, customs and choices of those sharing our global village in the 21st century.
In the United States, I feel that the farther one lives from the east coast or a large city, the less likely one is to know many Jews, and it seems there is often a wariness or a mind set we non-Jewish people have when talking about Jews. This book throws light on what it means to be Jewish, which is reason enough to read it, and how can being Jewish today is tied to the Holocaust for so many.
In one story, Josh is the director of a summer camp on a lake, one side for young kids; the other sort of an Jewish Elder Hostel:
"John's office door is indeed perpetually open.....To anyone with any problem at all. Because of this, the air conditioner stays off--a waste. And because the old folks, at the best of time, can't hear anything Josh is saying, he's also forced to avoid the whir of a fan. This leaves the office sweltering, a nice touch that Josh appreciates, for people visit to complain, but no one dares stay long."
In my family, we were brought up to avoid those "not our kind" and when that becomes a part of one's psyche, it is often not easy to dislodge. But it is important we do. Reading books that describe other cultures and the different ways of living and dreaming can start the process of opening our minds to an understanding and acceptance of diversity in the faith, customs and choices of those sharing our global village in the 21st century.
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