Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
If Ruth Reichl published her grocery lists, I’d read them. I’ve enjoyed all her books and remember many editorials/stories from her days prior to and at Gourmet magazine. She’s high on my list of someone I’d to meet – although I’m sure I would say nothing to make a positive impression.
Delicious! is Reichl’s first work of fiction. Previously, her focus was nonfiction, but a story teller as good as Reichl can make words and images come alive no matter the genre. The novel blends Reichl’s knowledge and passion for food with the publishing business, restaurant world and thriving culinary scene of New York City. The story follows Billie Breslin as she lands her first job as an editorial assistant with Delicious!, a Gourmet-like magazine with an expansive history.
Billie has secrets, including an aversion to cooking despite having a palate that easily identifies all the ingredients in whatever she tastes. Billie is the focus, but Reichl also introduces a diverse cast of characters, including, James Beard peripherally. Billie and a colleague discover letters written to Beard by Lulu Swan, a young girl from Akron, Ohio. As Lulu’s story unfolds it’s not just her correspondence with Beard that grows, but Billie does, too. She evolves from a self-deprecating young woman to a more confident and lively person. Billie’s transformation from ugly duckling is predictable, but still enjoyable.
The fun continues as Billie embarks on a quest to discover what happened to Lulu and recognizes the richness of her own life.
Delicious!
Four+ Bookmarks
Random House, 2014
380 pages
Hate crimes, altruistic youth, deception and not fitting in are themes driving James Klise’s The Art of Secrets. Although this falls into the young adult genre, there’s no age limit to the ideas behind his novel.
Fifteen-year-old Saba Kahn is a first generation American of Pakistani descent. Her family’s two-bedroom apartment and all its contents are lost in a fire, believed to be a hate crime. Saba is a scholarship student at a Chicago private school, where the student body rallies behind two fellow students who conceive of a fundraiser to help the Kahns.
Klise is masterful in the way the story unfolds. His characters are vivid, thanks to each sharing his or her perspective and unique voice. Each chapter is told either through the use of a diary, emails or in separate one-sided conversations with a reporter, the police and an insurance adjustor. It’s clever and effective. Beginning with Saba’s diary entry a few weeks after the fire, the story follows the fundraising efforts, with asides from school administration and their not-so-subtle efforts to appear open-minded. Saba, a bright, gifted student, is suddenly the center of attention. Those who had previously walked past her in the hall suddenly see her. She’s somebody. Meanwhile, Javier, an exchange student from Spain, is nearly invisible to those around him, including his host family who insist on calling him “Savior.”
This poignant story, with a twist, is filled with humor as Klise demonstrates the ease of believing something we want very much to believe.
The Art of Secrets
Four Bookmarks
Algonquin, 2014
255 pages
Camilla Lackberg’s The Ice Princess is my recent discovery in Scandinavian crime genre. She’s touted as Sweden’s version of Agatha Christie. While I might not go that far, I did enjoy the mystery set in Fjallbacka, a Swedish fishing village turned tourist community north of Goteborg.
It’s no surprise that within the first few pages a body, an apparent suicide, is discovered. The twists come in the form of small town connections. Erica, the second (living) person on the scene is a childhood friend of the victim, Alex. The two had lost touch with one another long ago, but Erica has fond memories of their friendship.
Erica, an author of biographies, is asked by Alex’s parents to write what amounts to an expanded obituary. They are convinced Alex did not kill herself. The more Erica learns of her estranged friend, the less likely it seems that Alex would have taken her own life.
Plenty of characters populate Lackborg’s novel, and surprisingly few are extraneous. Besides Erica, a major player is Patrik, a local police officer. They, too, had known each other as kids. As a boy, Patrik was enthralled by Erica. Alex’s death brings them together in more ways than one.
Lackberg doesn’t rely on the mystery; she includes romance, domestic violence and long-held secrets. The result is an engaging story that moves at a comfortable pace. It’s not necessarily a rapid-page turner, but is likely to keep you reading later at night than you might like.
The Ice Princess
Four Bookmarks
Pegasus Books, 2010
393 pages
Maeve Binchy died in 2012. Since then, two posthumously published works made their way to readers. And as much as I’d like to keep reading her poignant, if often overly-sentimental, stories, enough is enough. I previously reviewed A Week in Winter here. It was typical Binchy full of coincidences, lessons learned and colorful characters; it was fun to read. Unfortunately, I am less enthralled by Chestnut Street, a collection of unrelated vignettes – or chestnuts, if you will.
Like her more complete novels, Binchy’s characters reflect humor and insight into human failings and triumphs. The stories touch on lost loves, personal sacrifices and family relationships. However, the residents of this fictional neighborhood need further fleshing out. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.
The title, Chestnut Street, is what ties everything together, but the strands are too loose. The collection reads as if someone simply went through and identified a place to insert the name of the fictional Dublin road. It doesn’t work. All the characters share an address, but no one has a connection to anyone else. The stories are short, more like sketches. Just because they bear a faint semblance to her style, doesn’t mean they’re book-worthy. What’s next, a compilation of her shopping lists or recipe file?
Binchy was prolific. My suggestion is to read the works she completed, and if you have already done. Start over. That will be far less disappointing than trudging along Chestnut Street.
Chestnut Street
Two-and-a-half Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2014
368 pages
Jess Walter takes satire to a new level in The Financial Lives of Poets, a look at marriage, social media, unemployment and breaking the law. Matt Prior is an unemployed financial journalist and a would-be poet. His senile father lives with Matt, his wife and their two young boys. Matt is convinced his wife is having an affair. When he isn’t busy writing poems about the direction of his life, he stalks his wife’s online activities.
Walter instills humor and pathos in his characters. In fact, these elements are so evenly balanced it’s difficult to choose a preference. It’s funny that Matt meets two young hoods late at night at a 7-Eleven; it’s pathetic when he continues the relationship. It’s amusing when Matt comes up with an idea to save his home from foreclosure; but it’s sad to realize the extent of his debt and desperation.
The novel’s title comes from another of Matt’s bad ideas, although this one is completely legal: a website with financial news written in blank verse. Matt left his job at the local paper to pursue this not surprisingly unsuccessful venture. It’s not that the poetry is weak, only that, for better or worse, poetry simply doesn’t appeal to everyone; and as it turns out, particularly not financial types.
The Financial Lives is suggestive of a Breaking Bad Lite. The motivation for making ill-conceived choices is understandable, even if it cannot be condoned. The farther Matt sinks, the less intriguing the story. It wears thin.
The Financial Lives of Poets
Three Bookmarks
HarperCollins, 2009
290 pages
The story of David and Goliath is so familiar making it the perfect set up for Malcolm Gladwell’s examination of beating the odds. In David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Gladwell blends storytelling with psychology and hard cold facts.
In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t read Gladwell’s book; I listened to the audio version. I’ve read most of his other works, and enjoy his essays in The New Yorker. Although Gladwell is not the reader on the CD version, his is a unique voice. He shares insights about what makes us tick and manages to find common ground making it easy to relate to his thesis: even in daunting situations it’s possible to achieve success.
This concept may come as no surprise, but many of Gladwell’s examples might since some are contrary to preconceived ideas. His stories focus on personal experiences of others relating to higher education, dyslexia, loss of a child, and even sports. Parenting and financial success are among several subpoints.
What makes this work unique isn’t that Gladwell acknowledges the triumphs of the often-minimalized, but he shows that their accomplishments do not always emerge from the usual places. He acknowledges that making the most of situations certainly contributes, but it’s necessary to consider more than the obvious. For example, he discusses class size and its impact on academic prowess. We might think small class size is better, but, like other points in the book, Gladwell shows why this is faulty.
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
Four Bookmarks
Recorded by Jared O’Donnell
Little Brown Hatchette Audio, 2013
Unabridged, 7 hours
When I mentioned to a friend that I was reading Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, she was surprised it was new to me. It is, after all, a book for booklovers and a mystery, two aspects I find appealing. There is also a sense of the gothic, which typically doesn’t grab me. Yet, I had trouble putting the book down.
This story within a story is compelling on many levels. There’s Margaret Lea, a reclusive woman whose companions are the books in her father’s antiquarian bookshop. Although close to her father, her mother is distant, practically absent from family life. Margaret had a twin sister who died at birth, an event from which Mrs. Lea never recovered.
Margaret receives a letter from Vida Winter, considered one of Britain’s most prolific and beloved authors. Despite her popularity, Vida has creatively maintained her privacy. However, in poor health she summons Margaret to write her biography. In the process, dark secrets emerge.
Each character is transformed through the story telling. Margaret becomes softer as she learns about Vida’s mysterious and startling past. Vida, whose strength diminishes day by day also begins to demonstrate warmth and concern. The more Vida reveals about herself and her dysfunctional family (long before the term was coined), the more engrossing the tale becomes.
Vida tells about the twin sisters, Adeline and Emmaline, and just when the reader is certain to have determined who is who and what is what, Setterfield adds more ingredients into the tantalizing mix.
The Thirteenth Tale
Four Bookmarks
Washington Square Press, 2006
406 pages
If Michael Gibney’s writing is anything like the food he prepares, I’m ready for him to make me a meal. In Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line Gibney provides a life in the day of, you guessed it, a sous chef. By definition, the kitchen’s second in command.
Beginning at 9 a.m. on a cold December Friday in New York City, Gibney offers a behind-the-kitchen-door view of what it takes to get dinner on the table. The particular night he recounts does 300 covers (servings). The restaurant is never named, but judging from the food descriptions, it’s an upscale eatery.
Gibney relies on second-person voice, which is awkward at times. The point must be that even though this is his story, it is universal to all sous chefs. Gibney’s attention to detail is strong, and interesting. He explains each person’s role, the type of prep work necessary to ensure a smooth service, the hierarchy among the staff and preparation of several dishes.
From the moment Gibney arrives at the restaurant, and before he puts on his chef whites, he’s in kitchen mode. He describes the quiet, almost serene, atmosphere before others arrive to begin their shifts. Slowly, as the day progresses, that serenity evolves into controlled chaos.
By the time Gibney’s shift ends, it’s after midnight. He has to be back in eight hours. Nonetheless, he and his colleagues meet at a local bar. Eventually, Gibney makes it home, although the kitchen is never far from his thoughts.
Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line
Four Bookmarks
Ballantine Books,2014
214 pages, including “Selected Kitchen Terminology”
* A sautoir is a shallow frying pan
Attempting to describe Kate Atkinson’s most recent novel, Life After Life, is like sharing a recipe that’s undergone several transformations or tweaks here and there. The end result may be familiar, but the process is not.
Jumping from pre-war Germany to the halcyon country life of the Todd family to London in various parts of the first and second World Wars, Atkinson takes the Groundhog Day concept of redoing things – life – until they’re done right, or at least differently. Paying close attention to the chapter headings is essential.
Ursula Todd’s personal history is told with variations beginning with several involving the day she was born. These range from death at childbirth to the family doctor arriving in time to ensure her survival. The Todd family remains constant, as do most of the other characters and events. Some are slightly altered, while others undergo major conversions, but all are interesting, some uncomfortable and a few are actually happy. Even the Veal ala Russe, a favorite of the Todd family cook, Mrs. Glover, makes recurring appearances, but none reflect an improvement on the dish.
The underlying theme of the novel is to question what happens if one had never been born. Or, what if Ursula had been more assertive at certain points in her life, or what if she shared troubling observations with those around her? Of course, no one ever knows, which is what makes Atkinson’s work so intriguing; she offers a slew of possibilities right up to the final pages.
Life After Life
Four Bookmarks
Little Brown and Co., 2013
529 pages
Anyone planning a wedding in the next few months, or ever, might consider avoiding Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead; but they would be missing a fun, albeit satirical, and poignant look at families under stress.
Shipstead’s debut novel focuses on Winn Van Meter, father of the bride-to-be, in the three days prior to the ceremony. Winn is a banker, a Harvard man whose greatest disappointments are that he didn’t have sons and has yet to be granted membership in a private golf club. His daughter Daphne, seven months pregnant, is marrying Greyson Duff. That name alone suggests privilege, which is an apt description for the entire wedding party.
The nuptials are taking place on a fashionable island off the New England coast. The Van Meters have long had a vacation home there, although, as it turns out, the Duffs have their own island. Yet, the only character concerned with one-upmanship is Winn. And, perhaps, his younger daughter, Livia, who was recently dumped by her boyfriend, Teddy Fenn – whose father, Winn surmises, is responsible for obstructing admittance to the private club.
Shipstead’s multiple talents lie in her ability to create distinct voices and flaws for each of her characters. The cast of which include friends, family, and the Fenns. Biddy Van Meter, Winn’s wife, is the voice of reason while humoring her husband. However, her patience and fortitude wane as his attraction to one of the bridesmaids waxes.
In Shipstead’s hands, humor and heartache are worn with the ease of a properly fitted cummerbund.
Seating Arrangements
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
302 pages
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