The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food–Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation’s Food Was Seasonal by Mark Kurlansky

 

 

The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food–Before the National Highway System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen Food, When the Nation’s Food Was Seasonal by Mark Kurlansky (ISBN 978-1594488658)

Mark Kurlansky found the basis for this book in the National Archives and then decided to put it together in the form it was started for — a book about Regional Foods.  Information was gathered by writers in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s by FDR’s Works Project Administration.  This project stopped when Pearl Harbor occurred and it was never picked up again.

Though I listened to it on Audio CD — it is supposed to have recipes and I think that would make this book that much more interesting.   I think this is an excellent book and know that many people would enjoy this work for both its food history and regional cultural history.  It is getting to be Autumn, time for soups and slow cooked foods … at least in New England!

from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Food-Younger-Land-Food-Before-Restaurants/dp/1594488657/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255366207&sr=1-1

From Booklist
Just what we need in hard times, recipes for  ”>booya, mullet salad, Georgia possum and taters, kush, and Montana fried beaver tail. Kurlansky, the author of best-selling books about salt, cod, and oysters, discovered these gems in a two-foot-high stack of the “raw, unedited manuscripts” for an inspired but never completed WPA endeavor titled America Eats. As he explains in his invigorating introduction, the Federal Writers’ Project sent starving writers of all stripes (Nelson Algren, Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and other who qualified just because they could type) across the country to gather information about “American cookery and the part it has played in national life.” The results are vivid and playful dispatches from pre-interstate, pre-fast-food America, when food was local and cuisine regional. Kurlansky selected zesty writings, factual and imaginative, describing barbecues, fries, and feasts; profiling families; and defining New York City luncheonette slang (“blind ’em” means two eggs fried on both sides). Fun, illuminating, and provocative, this historic reclamation appears while we’re in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the one Franklin D. Roosevelt fought with his job-creating stimulus package and while we’re grappling with a plague of unsafe food and environmental woes associated with industrial agriculture. But don’t despair. Whip up Ethel’s Depression Cake, and throw a bailout party. –Donna Seaman 

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler

“The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” by David Kessler (ISBN 978-1605297859)

Forget Stephen King and other authors of horror — there is nothing more horrific than this book.  This book, thoroughly researched and well written is terrifying in the way that it is true — and no amount of fictional horror can be scarier than what marketers do for unhealthy living.  I have grown up in this culture and know what we have been taught.  Much to the amusement of a group of British friends: a woman raised in California, a man raised in New York and myself raised in Connecticut could all sing the Oscar Mayer Bologna commercial.  Advertising is king and we have been trained since our youth to listen and obey. 

Restaurants and advertisers have conspired against us — to help us over-ride natural controls that our body has to let us know when enough food has been consumed.  Now through food combinations of fat, sugar, and salt we want more even though we know we have eaten enough. 

This book is well worth reading and for anyone interested in nutrition, healthy weight and general well-being this is an excellent read.

From Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/End-Overeating-Insatiable-American-Appetite/dp/1605297852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255356272&sr=8-1

From Booklist
Kessler surveys the world of modern industrial food production and distribution as reflected in both restaurants and grocery stores. To his chagrin, he finds that the system foists on the American public foods overloaded with fats, sugars, and salt. Each of these elements, consumed in excess, has been linked to serious long-term health problems. Kessler examines iconic foods such as Cinnabon and Big Macs, all of which have skilled marketing machines promoting consumption. Such nutritionally unbalanced foods propel people who already tend to eat more than mere physical need might otherwise warrant into uncontrolled behavior patterns of irrational eating. These persistent psychological and sensory stimuli lead to what Kessler terms “conditioned hypereating,” which he believes is a disease rather than a failure of willpower. There is hope, however. Kessler identifies the cues that lead to overeating and offers some simple, practical tools to help control one’s impulses. –Mark Knoblauch

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander

The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander  ISBN 067003178X

I had been looking at this book for a year and a half before I finally picked it up and said I just have to read it. 

I am a mother of young children — so, of course I know Disney’s version of the last days of the Romanovs and the kitchen boy who runs off with a Grand Duchess.  Therefore I was curious what another person had to say about the character of the kitchen boy.

It took me a long time to read this book.  The book opens with an old man who is writing a letter of instructions to his grand daughter for after he dies.  It frustrated me to have the grandfather keep disrupting the flow of the novel — the grandfather in the “Princess Bride” helped the story along but somehow this grandfather was annoying.  I kept thinking to myself that’s it, I won’t finish it.  Yet for some reason I kept going back and finished it and did indeed enjoy it.  It was a book that may not be a thriller that you can’t put down … but it persistently hung on you making you want to finish it despite the fact that you thought you knew how it ended.

It was a harsh time in world history and it is sad to see the passing of tradition and history in so cruel and inhumane a manner — I did like the use of letters and diaries to add to the realism of the book and think just possibly … what could have happened?

From Amazon.com:

From Booklist
The final days of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family are still a fascinating mystery. There is no one left to bear witness to what happened at the execution. Or is there? Alexander takes a very real, but forgotten and overlooked, potential witness, a young kitchen boy, and creates an amazing fictional account of what may have transpired. Leonka was working as a kitchen boy to the Romanov family when the Bolsheviks captured them, exiled them to Siberia, and imprisoned them in their house. Because of his lowly position in the household, Leonka was able to see and hear secret things. And he does keep them secret until decades later, knowing he is ready to die, he reveals all he knows about the imperial family and their horrific death. Alexander includes as much historically accurate information into his fiction as possible, and he includes actual letters and notes attributed to the Romanovs, which add a touch of authenticity. He also renders the plot beautifully with one final jaw-dropping and satisfying twist. Carolyn Kubisz
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis

Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis ISBN 9780061349232 (HarperTeen)

 

“Never Cry Werewolf” is your typical high school paranormal fantasy.  However, after saying that, it was a fun book to read.  It had the “evil step-mother”, the young woman mourning her dead mother, a handsome “beast” in need of saving and really, what young princess doesn’t want to save the day? 

The heroine: one Shelby Locke who was caught kissing past curfew next to the evil stepmother’s prize roses.

The scene: “Brat Camp” where all the children of celebrities and wealthy go to “change into better people”. 

The hero: Austin Bridges the third son of the famous rock musician Austin Bridges of Broken Bridges, who comes from a long line of people with a problem.  Oh and his mother died of mysterious circumstances a few years ago.

So if teen romance and quirky paranormal is up your alley, this is definitely your book and well worth the time!

click on the link below to take you to Amazon.com to learn more about this book…

http://www.amazon.com/reader/0061349232?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=sib%5Fdp%5Fpt#noop

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

“The Host” by Stephanie Meyer  ISBN 978-0-316-068048

 

When I first bought this book for the library one of the first patrons to read it returned it saying, “Well, this was really science fiction and I don’t like science fiction”.  So it stayed and circulated a fair number of times but there was never a reserve list or people waiting eagerly for it to return.  I finally got to check it out — (I like science fiction usually) and even more miraculously it somehow got to the top of the pile of “Books to Read” at home. 

At first, I thought it was a little hard to get into … too many memories and people to be introduced.  However, after that first bit I was thankful that I stuck it out because I did enjoy the story.  It is part romance, part utopian occupation, and part adventure.  The Souls, an alien society that live within life forms of the planets they occupy, are a peaceful race that enter through a small incision made in the back of the host body.  The Souls have found the cure for disease, poverty, and war: yet they lack the passion for creative art and diverse culture.

Rebels fight against the take-over of the Souls and through the memories of the host Melaney (a specifcally resistant host) Wanderer, who has lived in 9 different worlds finds her way to the heart of a rebel stronghold.  At first she is threatened and treated poorly, but over time the rebels learn that she is not going to betray them and she truly wants to help them. 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won’t surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie’s memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body’s longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it’s unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story’s end leaves the door open for a sequel–or another series. –Mari Malcolm

From Publishers Weekly
In this tantalizing SF thriller, planet-hopping parasites are inserting their silvery centipede selves into human brains, curing cancer, eliminating war and turning Earth into paradise. But some people want Earth back, warts and all, especially Melanie Stryder, who refuses to surrender, even after being captured in Chicago and becoming a host for a soul called Wanderer. Melanie uses her surviving brain cells to persuade Wanderer to help search for her loved ones in the Arizona desert. When the pair find Melanie’s brother and her boyfriend in a hidden rebel cell led by her uncle, Wanderer is at first hated. Once the rebels accept Wanderer, whom they dub Wanda, Wanda’s whole perspective on humanity changes. While the straightforward narrative is short on detail about the invasion and its stunning aftermath, it shines with romantic intrigue, especially when a love triangle (or quadrangle?!) develops for Wanda/Melanie. 10-city author tour. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Laughter is the Best Medicine…

It may seem that I have taken the summer off from reading — but I truly did not.  I had a friend going through a summer of chemo treatments and decided that re-reading some old favorites might be better to have some common ground to talk with her.  My friend, is one of those serious readers — she reads books full of angst, death and deep meaning yet when her blood counts were low and she was suffering through nausea another friend of hers said that is enough.  My friend is a Jersey girl and her friend sent her all 15 of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books.  She was hesitant at first because this was not her typical book, but after the first one she decided that the laughs were enough to keep her going.  I, of course, had to support my friend and reread all 15 so that I could laugh with her over the telephone and emails. 

But I am now back on track and looking forward to reading lots of different things to keep this going!

Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman

Aquamarine by Alice Hoffman ISBN 0439098637

I saw this book as a patron returned it and I was attracted by the cover and so read the jacket cover.  I discerned it was about 2 girls — one of whom was moving and their last weeks together.  I thought to myself that it sounded interesting and I checked it out.

Often times it is hard when good friends move and so parents will come in and ask for help in easing the transition.  This book is an excellent resource and a very fast read.  I finished it in one sitting in a very short amount of time and when I looked up at the end I was seriously wondering what to do next for it was such a complete short story it didn’t need anymore — but I wanted more.

This book has it all — good friends, beaches, problem solving, team work, and love.  I highly recommend this book for youth and people with a youthful spirit.  Everyone can get by with a little help from friends!

Amazon.com Review
This wide-eyed, magical tale by distinguished author Alice Hoffman reflects the pale blue hue of two 12-year-old friends about to be parted at summer’s end. Hailey and Claire have lived next door to each other and have been best friends all their lives, but now Claire’s family is going to move away to Florida. The two hang out at the neighborhood beach club in the blistering heat, dreading the end of things. The Capri Beach Club, too, is coming to an end–neglected and shabby, due to be bulldozed at the end of the season.

Despite the girls’ fear of change, everything shifts with a summer storm. At the beach club the next morning, Hailey and Claire find that the storm has left its mark, filling the cloudy waters of the swimming pool with jellyfish and seaweed. Hailey boldly dives in and discovers that the waves have also brought a delicate blue and white mermaid who is extremely grouchy at her predicament. The girls scheme to return the fish-woman to the sea, but she obstinately refuses to leave the vicinity of Raymond, the handsome boy who runs the gift shop. Alarmed at the mermaid’s growing weakness, Hailey and Claire extract her promise to go back to the sea in exchange for one evening with Raymond. They set up a blind date, dress her in a long blue dress to hide her tail, and take her to the rendezvous in a wheelchair. But the next morning the dying mermaid is in love, and the patio is full of partygoers. Can the girls sneak her past all those eyes to save her life? And will she let them? Young teens will be entranced by the strange dreaminess of this poignant little story about love and loss. (Ages 10 to 14) –Patty Campbell –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
AQUAMARINE Alice Hoffman. Two best friends share a mysterious secret: a mermaid at the bottom of the pool. PW wrote, “Hoffman creates an apt metaphor for that twilight time between childhood and adolescence when magic still seems possible and friendships run deep and true.” Ages 10-14.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The Year My Life Went Down the Loo by Katie Maxwell

The Year My Life Went Down the Loo by Katie Maxwell ISBN 0843953136

This is an amazingly funny account of an American girl who is uprooted by her professor father and moved to Great Britain.  The book format is ingenious because it is written as a series of emails to her friend back home and so it is indeed a journal of the life of a teenage girl who starts off very upset about the move and slowly adjusts to life in a foreign country as well as adjusting to being a young woman.

From Amazon.com:

From Booklist
Gr. 10-12. Transplanted from Seattle to an English hamlet called Piddlington-on-the-Weld, 16-year-old Emily Williams braces herself for a year abroad. Life in a country “that still has discos!” really “irks her pickle.” No makeup is allowed at school, and the uniforms are “gacky”; at home, a poltergeist haunts her panty drawer, and her parents are generally appalling. Emily vents her frustrations in wickedly funny e-mails to her best friend, spiced with British slang and her own idiosyncratic coinages. Sex is a major theme here (the cartoonish cover belies content that is solidly YA), but despite Emily’s air of worldliness, her essential naivete becomes obvious when she falls in with a more experienced crew–for whom drinking and sex are apparently common leisure activities. The plot is utterly formulaic: girl has sleazebag love interest and then boots him for not respecting her personal boundaries. But like her spiritual cousins Georgia and Bridget, appealingly anguished Emily will have girls wanting to embrace her as their uber-coolio new best friend. Three more visits with Emily are in the works. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Begging for Change: the dollars and sense of making non-profits responsive, efficient, and rewarding for all by Robert Egger with Howard Yoon

Begging for Change: the dollars and sense of making non-profits responsive, efficient, and rewarding for all by Robert Egger with Howard Yoon ISBN 9780060541712

I am ashamed to say that this book was in my house for almost a year before I actually opened it.  I had heard about it from Faith Middleton on National Public Radio and thought, “My, this sounds great!” So it was purchased and arrived at the library in February … no one checked it out and I finally did take it home in August.  I just started it less than a week ago and it is now finished.  I am amazed at why I didn’t read it earlier, for it was wonderfully refreshing and shares great insight into the non-profit community.

You can tell that Mr. Egger is very passionate about his field and his experience.  He has personal, vibrant anecdotes about all that he does.  In his exuberance for homelessness and hunger, he may sometimes be less than logical or thought out; however, one of his premises is that you can’t force someone to change their mind, you make suggestions and then hopefully they will have a “calculated epiphany”.  You share a life story or anecdote and hopefully a donor will eventually see the situation in a different light. 

This was a wonderful quick read talking about our society and how it is changing — our youth are doing more in the volunteer field because of school graduation requirements.  With organizations like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps — our college graduates have done more to help and gain experience in wide realms of global spheres yet when they return and seek job opportunities they cannot find jobs that suit their expectations.  The world is changing and yet non-profits, especially older and more established non-profits, do things the way they have always done them.  Mr. Egger suggests that this is the 21st century and non-profits tend to be acting in an early 20th century model.

Non-profits can’t be operated in the same way as for-profit companies — but they can be inovated and creative.  All non-profits should look at why they exist and who do they serve.  How can they best serve the community in which they live?  Is hunger the only issue?  Does the non-profit need to address the whole person?  Do the people they serve need a secure and safe neighborhood?  Food, so that the parents can be assured that their children are well and the parents can focus on work?  A vehicle or mode of transportation so they can get to work on time and then to grocery stores and food banks for when the paycheck doesn’t last as long as the month does.

This is a great book and if anyone has anything to do with a non-profit this should be a highly recommended book.  I am also tempted to say that every high school student should read it before graduation.

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton ISBN 978-0312939168

I had never read any of the Agatha Raisin stories but they had come highly recommended by a number of patrons — so I thought I would try one.  Agatha is a middle aged woman who retires young from her own public relations firm and moves to a small village where she had vacationed once.  She is a woman who had fought her way to the top and held tight with a firm hand.  She had a very hard time fitting in with tea parties and Ladies Society Meetings.  This book is how she uses her acute business sense and stubborn attitudes to find a place in a small village while trying to avoid being murdered in her quest for truth.

This is a great book with funny scenarios and wonderfully strong characters.

From Amazon.com:

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this highly promising launch to a new mystery series, Beaton turns from the adventures of her Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth to introduce the redoubtable Agatha Raisin. At 53, Agatha, whose personality is a piquant combination of brusque competence and fallibility, sells her London public relations firm to retire to the picturesque Cotswold village of Carsely. Determined to gain acceptance among the villagers, the undomestic Agatha enters a local bake-off. The judge, Reg Cummings-Brown, not only snubs her entry but later dies, poisoned by cowbane in Agatha’s killer quiche. Of course Agatha is innocent: her “homemade” entry came from a Chelsea delicatessen. Knowing news of her cheating will light up the village, Agatha hopes to save face by proving Reg was murdered, even though the police think it was all a ghastly accident. But was Reg or Agatha the target? And why would anyone want to kill the popular Reg, whose wife was only one of “quite a lot of ladies . . . sobbing into their handkerchiefs” at the inquest? While the murder is occasionally overshadowed by Agatha’s settling-in problems, Beaton’s ( Death of a Snob ) playful depiction of village life makes it all a delicious romp.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“- ‘Beaton’s dry sense of humour and her unflattering but affectionate portrait of gruff, often adolescent acting Agatha make this… tale a bloom worth picking.’ – Publishers Weekly – ‘Engaging’ – Booklist –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.