Musing Monday...It's Chilly. Your Book Needs a Jacket!

Yes, it is Monday, the start of the week for most of you. For me it is sort of my Friday...but so as not to confuse you, let's just mosy over to Just one more page and check out this weeks question...

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about dust jackets.

Do you prefer books with a dust jacket? What do you do with your dust jacket while reading? Leave it on or take it off?

I like book jackets. They are pretty. And I am shallow. I have admitted it before, I judge a book by it's cover and it is easier to do so with a dust jacket.

Now, of course, every book has a cover by which I can judge it. But a book with a jacket, a hard cover book, is usually bigger, so the art is bigger. And then there are the two inside flaps, with lots of info and blurbs, which again, I admit that I like. I know some people do not like to actually read all that stuff before they start a book but I have no such concern. In fact, I will also admit to reading reviews before I buy and read a book. There are so many books out there, I have to based my decision to buy or not based on something and a nice dust jacket, full of information, helps.

Of course, this presumes you are buying a hardcover and not a trade or mass market paperback. I do prefer hardcovers...which I realize not everyone does...and I tend to buy a lot of the books that I buy on Amazon's Used books, always keeping my beady little eyes open for a cheap hardcover. With dust jacket. Second would be a trade paperback and I only buy mass market paperbacks as a last desperate move. I really, really do not like mass market paperbacks. I think they are awkward to hold and you have to usually crack the spine to actually read the type that goes too far into the center. I hate to crack the spine. And while many books are not made to the highest standards, mass market paperbacks are the worse. I have had pages start to come out on the first read.
Guess it doesn't help if I crack the spine.

Do I leave it on when reading? Sometimes...sometimes not. On many books it is annoying and I take it off and put it aside until I finish the book. On thinner books I find that the flaps can make a great bookmarker, so I may leave it on. But usually, to keep it in good shape, I take it off while reading.

Unless it is really chilly. Then I leave the jacket on so the book does not get too cold.

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A Week of Missed Opportunities....Weekend Cooking

As I sit down to write my weekly Weekend Cooking post, I find myself without a subject! No new food related book read this week. No movies watched. A number of excellent food related opportunities missed, any one of which would have made a nice post.

On Friday, my niece and my sister in law and I went to The Melting Pot for dinner, the first time I had been to a fondue restaurant. Perhaps the first time I had fondue, which is hard to believe since I grew up in the midst of the great fondue popularity of the 60's and 70's. It was all great fun and very tasty, first the cheese course, then an array of meats and veggies to be cooked in a tasty broth and then dessert. Oh, the dessert...the Flaming Turtle, Milk chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, flambéed tableside, with strawberries, pieces of pound cake, marshmallows and such to dip into it's melted, bubbling, chocolate goodness. Perhaps one of the loveliest desserts I ever had. But no picture taken...

Then, the niece and I went to Philadelphia Thursday and Friday for the Flower Show and even though we live only about an hour or so away, we stayed overnight and feasted on Asian cuisine at a couple of restaurants. For lunch, it was dim sum at the unassuming Dim Sum Garden. A variety of dumplings, including something called soup dumplings, steamed buns, a nice cold cucumber salad with cilantro, spring rolls...and the most tasty scallion pancakes. Wonderful with a dash of the vaguely named 'dumpling sauce'. Again, sadly, no pictures taken, so I borrowed these from the net. Then, after a return to the flower show and a stop at the International Wine and Spirit Festival in the adjoining Great Hall, to sample a few too many of the maybe 100 offerings (we are not going to discuss how I forgot my "water only beverage for Lent" pledge when faced with all that free booze. Really, I forgot), we went to dinner at a Malaysian restaurant, The Banana Leaf, where the niece had what she proclaims is the best pad thai in the world.
Again...I took no photographs at either and 'borrowed' one of these tasty, crispy, savory pancakes. Yum.

So, what of the flower show? Was there no food related matter? Well, the convention center is lined with food vendors, selling various food vendor foods. Hardly worthy of a post. But there was one thing, in one of the Major Exhibitor creations, that was food related. It was a display named something like Across America and so, of course, it started in Maine and portrayed one of my favorite foods...

See it there, on the right?

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All we need is some nice melted butter... ;-)

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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a review of "Catching Fire" [15]

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
(Scholastic Press, ISBN 978-0-439-02349-8)

If you read my review of The Hunger Games, you will know I very much liked the book. Finally, my turn came up in the very long "hold list" at the library and the second book in the series, Catching Fire, came into my greedy little hands.

Now, I must admit, I was a little anxious starting it. Sometimes you love the first book and the second does not live up to expectations. Happily, this was not my experience with Catching Fire. I read it straight through in a day and thoroughly enjoyed it.

First, if you have not read The Hunger Games, do not even consider starting with this one. Stop readin, go to a bookstore or library and get the first one. Yes, this is a series that must be read in order, since it is one long continuing story and while maybe you could figure out what is going on in this book, it would be a lesser experience. One of the pleasures of Catching Fire is seeing what happens to all the characters we came to know and care about in the first.

Once again, we are in the 12th District of the Nation of Panem and I will tell you this much if you are new to the story. Our heroine Katniss has survived the deadly game of the first book, a battle to the dead of 24, 2 contestants drawn from each district...but has done so with a very unique twist. A unique twist that, it seems has started to foster discontent and possible rebellion in all 12 district. And that is not a situation the Capitol is willing to put up with.

As Katniss is about to start the traditional tour of the nation by the winner of the games, she is approach by the very evil and very creepy President Snow and told that since she is, at least in part, responsible for this growing feeling of rebellion, she will have to, by her behavior on the tour, do all she can to quell it. If she is unsuccessful, the lives of those she loves will be on the line. Needless to say, all does not go as the president desires, so he comes up with a new and shocking alternative that will lead to an even more shocking ending.
Ending of this book, but not the story, as we fans anxiously await the third and final book.

The books in this series are listed as YA book, but certainly, as many can attest, these are books that can be totally enjoyed by adults. They are well written, with interesting, likable characters inhabiting a dystopia world that is a combination of the recognizable and the some of our worse fears come to life.

A great fun read, full of twists and turns, that I found a totally enjoyable read.

I wonder if it is too soon to put my name on the list at the library for volume three, due out this summer...because I just have to know what happens next!


Yes, once again my thanks to the local library for the loan of this book.

Wordless Wednesday- Ceilings in D.C.

Union Station

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The Metro

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

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Bandit Loves His Toys

I have never known a doggie who loves his toys more than Bandit. And because he is so very cute, people tend to buy him toys..which he then proceeds to eat and destroy. But you have to forgive him, because he is soooo cute.

Yes, that is someone's sock there on the left. To you a sock. To Bandit a new toy!!


He has made a choice...for the moment.

Musing Monday..Better Late Than Never.

I am a bit late today posting my musing. I took a quick unplanned trip to Washington D.C. this weekend, got home late and had to go to work very, very early. Gee, I hope this muse makes some sense. I am very sleepy...So lets head over to Just one more page and check out this weeks question.

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about a story format.

How do you feel about books written in a differing format –whether this be journals or letters (epistolary), verse novels, or any other form? Is this something you enjoy? Or do you prefer straight forward chapter prose.

It is very easy to get in a reading rut. As with many things in life. We tend to go with what we know, what seems comfortable and familiar. For many of us, it is also true of what we pick to read.

I have mentioned before that my first love, my comfort reads, are mysteries. I could probably even pin down my tastes more. I like police procedural perhaps best, especially ones set in interesting places. Well, interesting to me, like Iceland or Scotland, the Pacific Northwest, New England...or anyplace cold and near the water.
Is that a little too confining, do you think? Even I think it is..lol

One of the thing I like most about blogging and having access to books and reviews of books I would never have read in the past, is getting me out of that rut. Part of that rut is the format. Yes, I feel most comfortable with a straight prose book. But I am willing to venture out and in the hands of a good writer, it should not be an issue. In the hands of a bad writer, I think it can be a mess.
I have read a couple of books set in an epistolary format and liked them quite fine. In fact, one of my favorite books last year, 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', was set in the form of letters and I think it worked perfectly for that book. Still, I admit I remain rather conservative in my book format taste. Stream of consciousness leaves me rather cold usually. Finnegan's Wake comes to mind. I am sorry Mr. Joyce but I did not get that book at all. Personally, I think you may have been playing a joke on us. A bit of it in a book is fine and even a whole book if the author is up to it. But it is not my first choice.

And I must admit that I draw the line at verse. In fact, if an author throws a short bit of verse or a poem in an otherwise prose work, my eyes tend to just pass right over it. I am not sure why, but I am not a fan of poetry. My experience and enjoyment of poetry is limited and will in all likelihood remain that way.

Come to think of it, I am pretty darn comfy when I am in my little prose mystery rut.

Weekend Cooking... or at Least Weekend Steeping

I love tea. I love the smell of tea. I love the taste of tea. I love the habit of tea. Picking the tea, brewing it, picking a cup to put it in, holding the warm cup in my hand as I drink it.

Did I mention I gave up tea for Lent. Not just tea, but all beverages except water...but it is the tea I miss. I admit...I crave it. Not just the caffeine, although I am also used to the little boost the shot of caffeine can give you. But the tasty tea itself.

Did you know that tea is the most consumed beverage in the world, except water.

"Tea is the most popular drink in the world in terms of consumption. Its consumption equals all other manufactured drinks in the world — including coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, and alcohol — put together. “

All tea, all the various types of tea, come from the same plant, leaves of Camellia sinensis. With some minor variations, the newly picked leaves are all the same. The major differences between the types is determined by how it is processed once it is picked.

"Leaves of Camellia sinensis soon begin to wilt and oxidize, if not dried quickly after picking. The leaves turn progressively darker as their chlorophyll breaks down and tannins are released. This process, enzymatic oxidation, is called fermentation in the tea industry, although it is not a true fermentation. It is not caused by micro-organisms, and is not an anaerobic process. The next step in processing is to stop oxidation at a predetermined stage by heating, which deactivates the enzymes responsible. With black tea, this step is executed simultaneously with drying. “

“Tea is traditionally classified based on the techniques with which it is produced and processed.[16]
White tea: Wilted and unoxidized
Yellow tea: Unwilted and unoxidized, but allowed to yellow
Green tea: Unwilted and unoxidized
Oolong: Wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized
Black tea: Wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidized
Post-fermented tea: Green tea that has been allowed to ferment"

I am most fond of black tea, although on occasion I will drink green. Not as an everyday tea...no, that would be black. Maybe an Earl Grey, which is a black tea flavored with the rind of the bergamot orange. At work, I usually use tea bags for convenience. Granted tea bags from Ireland, Barry's Irish Breakfast tea, not some nasty Lipton. At home, I usually brew the tea from loose leaves. here is a picture of a few loose teas from my 'collection'.The little pellets, in the front left, are gunpowder tea, green tea from the Guangdong province of China. Gunpowder tea, as the name implies, is made up of leaves hand-rolled into tiny pellets. These resemble gunpowder, and give this tea its distinct name.
Then, going clockwise in the picture, the larger balls are black dragon pearls.Hailing from the Yunnan province, this black tea version of the popular Dragon Pearl is naturally sweet and smooth with a touch of earthiness. Comprised of only the highest quality leaves and buds, expertly rolled into a large pearl-like shape.
The more curly leaves are xue ya ballad, an early spring harvest green with fruit-like, mellow sweetness with a delicate yellow cup color, and last, the straight leaves are kai hua crescendo, one of the top ten most famous teas in China, its name meaning "Dragon Peak", with lovely orchid notes and a light bodied, semi-sweet character. Or so Adagio teas, form which they can says.
And then last, in the front, are some ordinary black tea leaves, this one and Irish Breakfast blend.

I rarely order tea when I am out because Americans do not know, or care to know, how to brew tea. First, for black tea, the water must be boiling, not the less than boiling tea they get from the coffee maker. If it is not boiling many of the tastes are not extracted. But then they use such nasty tea bags it might be best. No, when out I usually order coffee..or nothing.

I was straightening out my various boxes and cans of tea the other day. I admit, I took of the lid of a can or two and sniffed them. If you are curious, here are the teas in the boxes and cans in the pics.
Oh, they smell so nice.



This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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a review of "Fireworks Over Toccoa" [14]

Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff
(St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-58158-9)

I had read some reviews that compared this book to the work of Nicholas Sparks. And while I have only read a couple of his books..or was it just one that seemed like a couple...I can't say his books are really my cup of tea. But I also read some reviews that totally loved this book, so I decided to give it a try. Read on to see the outcome....

WWII is just coming to an end and the world is about to change. Thousands and thousands of soldiers will be coming home, often after years away, often very changed by their experiences. But things have not been standing still at home either. The people, their families, their wives, that they left behind have changed in these years as well. Homecoming will not be without problems.

Lily Davis was only 17 when she married Paul Woodward, just weeks before he left for the war. He was the perfect man. At least as far as Lily's mother, Honey, was concerned. Handsome, from a good family, on the fast track at his job at Coca-Cola, where Lily's father is an executive. But now the war is over and in just a few days Paul, a man she realizes she barely knows, will be home after more than three years. Lilly is feeling uneasy, uncomfortable in her place as the daughter of a prominent family in Toccoa, Georgia, not sure that the life that she see ahead, a life very much like her mother's, is what she wants.

Meanwhile, the ladies of the town of Toccoa have hired a firework company to put on a huge display on the 4th of July to celebrate the return of the troops. Of course, they will not be the only fireworks in this book. The man who has arrived for the job, with his big truck full of chemicals and mortars, is Jake Russo. He is the son of the owner of the fireworks company, himself just back a few weeks from the war in Europe. And Jake too is a changed man, changed by what he saw in the war.

"And Jake came home. But home wasn't the same, not for Jake Russo. He wasn't the same. Despite what those in Lawrence Country had read and thought they knew, they could never know what was now onside Jake Russo. He returned a stranger."

Seeing some test fireworks being set off in a nearby field, Lily heads off to check it out and the two, very soon-to-be lovers meet, have dinner of risotto and a bottle of wine over a camp stove and the rest, as they say, is history. Of course, there is the pesky matter of that returning husband, flying home in days. So Lily faces a choice...true love or duty.

"What was happening? Yesterday morning her life was perfect. She knew exactly what she wanted, husband and house on the hill. And she had it. She had it all. But that had changed. In a flash, in a few clicks of the minute timer, all her desires had changed and she wanted something else. But how could she be with this beautiful passionate dark-haired man and keep the rest of the world intact? She couldn't and she knew that."

What to do...what to do?

Freeport, Maine, not Toccoa, Georgia
So what is my take on this book? Well, it is mixed. There is quite a bit to like about it. Mr. Stepakoff is a beautiful writer...way better than Mr. Sparks in my opinion. His description of this small southern town, the capture of the culture just as the war is ending, seems perfect. His description of the hot summer days, the fireflys, the Cherokee roses, the kudzu growing over abandoned cabins and the legends of Indian princess are lovely. And his characters are quite good, perhaps my favorite being Lily's parents. There is a lot more I would like to know about those two actually.
I also found the parts about fireworks very interesting. I love fireworks, I admit it it, and would have been happy to have read a great deal more about the history and science of them.

My problem is believing in the "luminous love story", as one blurb describes it. Lily and Jake know each other one day before she decides to start an adulterous affair with a man who, while handsome and charming and no doubt a fine fellow, is really a stranger. What is she going to do, run off with him, living out of the back of that fireworks truck. Hmmmm...sorry, I couldn't quite buy it. Lilly is in many way a child, a spoiled child, who is drunk with the romance of her affair and not someone I could really like, which is usually fatal for me and a book. As she herself says,

"Being so near such ardor gave Lily a heady feeling, as though some kind of intoxicant was flowing into her bloodstream."

That is not love, it's being drunk and when you are drunk you often wake up to reality sick, with a very bad headache.

I think Mr. Stepakoff is a very good writer and I will be anxious to see what he writes in the future. His feeling for the south, for a certain culture, holds great promise, one I did not feel was fulfilled in this story.

This title will be released on March 30, 2010.

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A few other, perhaps different, takes on this book...

Tutu's Two Cents
All The Pretty Pages
Educating Petunia
Pop Culture Junkie

My thanks to Amazon Vine for this book.

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Wordless Wednesday...In Honor of the Olympics

In honor of the Winter Olympics, being held in the very beautiful city of Vancouver B.C., a few more pictures from last year...

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can you find the three boats?

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

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My Latest E-Book Rant...I Know You Were Waiting.

Those of you that are regular reader here no doubt have noticed that I have issues with e-books. Not any particular e-book, not even with the specific issues of any one software, but with the entire idea.
Yes, I am a dinosaur.
Yes, I am fighting the inevitable.
Perhaps. But I am not alone in my concerns.

Two articles, in the 2/22/2010 Shelf Awareness, focused perhaps my biggest concern. The first, in the New York Review of Books by Jason Epstein, while detailing many of the positives of the digitization of books, his ultimate conclusion is that

“Digital content is fragile. The secure retention, therefore, of physical books safe from electronic meddlers, predators, and the hazards of electronic storage is essential. Amazon's recent arbitrary deletion of Orwell's 1984 at its publisher's request from Kindle users who had downloaded it suggests the ease with which files can be deleted without warning or permission, an inescapable hazard of electronic distribution.”

While he admit his own bias toward printed books...and I have to say I started to fall in love with Mr. Epstein when he talked about his floor to ceiling books...he feels confident that no matter what the positive factors of e-books, the importance of the printed word will remain strong.

“The huge, worldwide market for digital content, however, is not a fantasy. It will be very large, very diverse, and very surprising: its cultural impact cannot be imagined. E-books will be a significant factor in this uncertain future, but actual books printed and bound will continue to be the irreplaceable repository of our collective wisdom.”

From your mouth to God's ear Mr. Epstein, because it is that fragile, changeable aspect of e-books that concerns me the most.

We all are aware of the Amazon event he references, when a book was removed by the company from the e-readers of people, without their permission or knowledge. There was an uproar. The company promised not to do it again. Not that they can't, but that they won't. And certainly we can all trust Amazon...right?
But what of books being changed, sections deleted or certain alterations made, by hackers, cyber-trouble makers...or say, in certain countries, by people in power, as acts of censorship?

The second article, referenced right below Mr. Epsteins, is from the NY Times, and is entitled Textbooks That Professors Can Rewrite Digitally

“Macmillan, one of the five largest publishers of trade books and textbooks, is introducing software called DynamicBooks, which will allow college instructors to edit digital editions of textbooks and customize them for their individual classes.
Professors will be able to reorganize or delete chapters; upload course syllabuses, notes, videos, pictures and graphs; and perhaps most notably, rewrite or delete individual paragraphs, equations or illustrations.”

Ok, so I, the author, write a textbook and it is published...and then any professor out there can make whatever change she or he wants, so that it agrees with what the professor or the school or whoever thinks? Oh my, am I the only one to find this unbelievable and a totally terrible idea. So, how far is it from a little rearranging of a textbook to some teacher or school board removing certain words from Huck Finn that they find offensive or any other sort of censorship. Will there be thousands of 'versions' of "Of Mice and Men" floating around some day? Oh, that will never happen, you might say. Well I say, first we will make it possible and then someone, somewhere in the world, will do it. And perhaps worst, if there are no more books, real books to compare it to, how will be ever know?

Oh don't worry, I have heard people say, 'There will always be printed books'. Really? Well, I too am biased and I sincerely hope so. But I also know publishing is a business and it is cheaper, in so many ways, to 'publish' an e-book. And cheaper means they make more profit. So their motivation would be....what? No, it will not happen tomorrow. Books that exist today will continue to be out there in circulation for many years. But what will the future of books, for future generations, be?

Bandit Tuesday! He Is Invisible!

I am hiding. Pretend you can't see me!

Musing Monday...and The Best Laid Schemes o' Mice an' Men

Another week...another musing...so let's head to Just one more page and check out these week's Monday Musing question...

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about a keeping books.

Do you keep all the books you ever buy? Just the ones you love? Just collectibles? What do you do with the ones you don’t want to keep?

Gosh, this touches a nerve for many of us I think.

Once, in my pre-blogging days, this was a minor issue. Now, I admit, it is becoming a problem. I tried, I have really tried, to cut down on the number of new books I acquire. I have started to use the library more. But still, someone reviews a book that sounds so good and the library does not have a copy...hey, wht is a girl to do? Or a publicist offers a great sounding book, or I see the offer of an ARC that sounds great...really, how can I say no. So now, new books are till coming in and I am borrowing books from the library. To quote Robbie Burns, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft agley..."

I have shown you photos of the piles before. I have shown you the double stacked shelves on the bookcases. Room, sheer room, is an issue. But more than that, I have some to realize that I have many books I don't really want to keep long term. I have read them, reviewed them in most cases and now they need to just get out of here. Go find themselves a new home. I have told them this...but they seem unmoved, just sitting there in their piles. So, I showed them! At Christmastime, I took these read, reviewed books and put them in a big plastic tote box and put the box in my pantry.
Where they now sit.
This does not really seem like a good plan.
Not to mention I need another box.

I have books I will never part with.
But I have many more that need to get out of here.

In the past I tried Book Mooch. I was not thrilled. Had one set of books sent off supposedly "lost". Had difficultly finding any books I wanted in the available to Mooch lists. I have considered giving Paperback Swap a try but have not done so yet.
Some books, the ones I liked, I have given away to friends or family..and hope, in the vast majority of cases, that thay never find there way back. I guess I could sell them but I don't really know of a used book store around here and doing so online, while possible, does not seem worth the effort.

I have considered making a list of them, posting it and having a huge giveaway here on the old blog. That is still a possibility. And on occasion, someone will make reference in a comment that they would love to read a book I review...and I will send it to them. The book is happy, to go to a home where they are wanted, I am happy for it to be gone and yet to someplace it will be appreciated and with little fuss.

So people, remember, if you like the sound of a book I review, be sure to speak up and say so in a comment and you might get a pleasant surprise!

Weekend Cooking...Is There a Rule in Blogland About This...Well, I Don't Care

Ok, is reposting cheating? Is there some sort of bloggers list of rules? Well, even if it is against the rules, I am reposting this review that I posted shortly after I started my blog, almost two years ago. But I happened upon it the other day and I remember how much I LOVED this cookbook, what a very attractive book it is and how nice the photographs were. Since it was posted when I think I had two readers...and one was my niece...I though it deserved a bigger audience. Also, I have given up all beverages except water for Lent and without my tea, I can't stay awake long enough after a 12 hour work week to write something else. So, without further ado....

Recipes From A Very Small Island
by Linda Greenlaw and Martha Greenlaw
(Hyperion, ISBN 9781401300739)

Having read all of Linda Greenlaw's, she of "Perfect Storm" fame, other books and having enjoyed them a great deal, I ordered "Recipes from a Very Small Island" to sort complete the Greenlaw set! Well, not really...at least not totally. But I though "it's just a cook book".

So you might be able to imagine my delight when this book arrived and I started to look through it. First of all, the book is just lovely to look at. The photographs of the food by Joseph Deleo and of Isle au Haut, Linda and her parents by Sara Gray are beautiful.

Second, while I admit I have not tested any of the recipes yet, since it just arrived, they look very promising. Many are classics you might expect from a cookbook from 'a very small Maine island' like blueberry pie, chicken pie with herb biscuits, maple flavored baked beans and her mom Martha's famous lobster casserole. But then there are a number of interesting sounding surprises...crab madeleines, braised lamb shanks with dried apricots, grilled salmon with blueberry corn salsa....beef stifado.. Actually, there is not a recipe in this book that does not sound interesting and worth trying.

Another very nice part of the book is that each recipe is preceded by a brief introduction from either Linda or her mother Martha. Sometimes, it is just a few lines and sometimes it is an amusing little story about some incident with the dish in the past. Every one enhances the recipe that follows.

If you are a fan of Ms. Greenlaw's other books, especially "The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island", I think you will find the ten or so short essays throughout the book, filled with Ms. Greenlaw's ever present dry humor, a lovely addition. The subjects range from "The Beginner's Guide to Clambakes or How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Lobster" to an introduction to "The Pie Lady". Delightful....lol

I am sure this will be a treasured book in my library, not just for the food but for another of Ms. Greenlaw's charming views into life and family on a very small island on the beautiful coast of Maine.

and now, as a reward for reading an old review...I will include one of her favorite recipe. And also because I love lobster.

MARTHA GREENLAW'S LOBSTER CASSEROLE,
my mom's famous recipe:

My mom taught me how to make this one: "I've never made this for less than six, so you'll have to cut it down. Cook and pick twelve lobsters, or sixteen if they are very soft. Linda, do not boil lobster in my large Le Creuset." Oh, you mean the one in the sink? The one that I have been soaking for two days to get the burned spaghetti out of? The one that I may have to take to Billings' to be sand-blasted? "In fact, do not use abrasives on any of my good pots and pans. I told you that before, right?" Oh, you mean like scraping with a metal spatula? Too late. Somewhere, through all of the marching orders and in the midst of many asides, I managed to pull a list of ingredients from my tight-jawed mother, but had to guess at amounts and temperatures. She was certainly less than forthcoming. The following is what I ended up with, but lacked the confidence to actually try by the time my mother was done with me:

* 8 tablespoons butter
* 8 tablespoons flour
* 4 cups light cream
* a couple of egg yolks
* 1 handful minced onion
* 1 generous splash Madeira
* a little fresh minced parsley
* some salt
* some pepper
* 1 tablespoon celery seed
* 1 good dash cayenne pepper
* 12 cups lobster meat, sautéed
* 4 cups fresh bread crumbs
* Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter, and blend flour, cooking over low heat. Add cream and stir until thick. Remove from heat and whisk in egg yolks. Add onions, Madeira, parsley, and other seasonings. Add lobster meat that you have previously sautéed in butter. Pour into large casserole dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese. Place dollops of butter on top and bake uncovered until you think it's done (about 20 minutes at 400 degrees).

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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a review of "Blacklands" [13]

Blacklands- A Novel by Belinda Bauer
(Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-1-4391-4944-7)

About 18 years ago, little Billy Peters went out to the store in his village and was never seen again. His mother waited by the window, waiting for the return that would never happened. It was presumed he was another victim of the serial killer that was caught and convicted of the death of several young boys and girls, their bodies buried in the nearby moor, but Arnold Avery never admitted that he had killed Billy and his body was never found.

While Billy's mom still waits at the window, her family is fracturing around her. So, 12 year old Steven decides he will find the body of his uncle, end his grandmother's vigil and bring his family back together. At first, he decided to wander around the moor in his free time, digging holes, hoping to be lucky and find the bones. In time though, he realizes how hopeless that idea is and decides upon a more direct approach. He decided to write to the killer, Avery, in prison and ask him where the body is buried. After almost two decades in prison, as a child rapist and murderer on the bottom scale of even the worse prison, at first Avery in amused and entertained by the notes he receives in the mail, signed only with "SL", asking for help in finding "WP", William Peters. For Avery, it is just a game, a game that feeds his sick fantasies about the murders.

"Avery could almost smell the moor. The rich, dap soil and the fragrant heather, combined with the faint odor of manure from the deer and ponies and sheep.
He thought first of Dunkery Beacon, where all his fantasies centered, before spreading like bony tendrils across the rounded hills. From there he would almost be able to identify the individual gravesites- not from the newsprint graphics but from the actual memory, the memory that had sustained him throughout his imprisonment and which still had the power to feed his nighttime fantasies. The thought alone brought saliva to his mouth, and he swallowed audibly."

But when Steven accidentally reveals a vital piece of information, the game takes on a much more frightening and deadly aspect.

This is Bauer's debut novel and a fine debut it is. It is not a complex book, not so much a mystery as a thriller following this one, obsessive idea. Bauer writes, in an "Author's Note" at the end of the book, that this novel grew out of the idea for a short story, of how a crime like a murdered child, could effect a family for years, even lifetimes. But what if someone in that family tried to break the bond that killer had on the family..and suddenly the whole thing just spirals out of control. That is the story of Blacklands, of a great character, young Steven, smart and brave, but still just a little boy, who, in an attempt to heal his family, sets a deadly chain of events into action, culminating in a taut and frightening ending.
I will certainly be watching for more of Bauer's work in the future.

My thanks to the reviews of Bibliophile By The Sea, Farm Lane Books and Scribbles, whose reviews...reviews that, no doubt, you will want to check out as well...led me to this book.
And to my local library that loaned it to me to read.

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Wordless Wednesday..A Snowy Day in Ocean City, NJ

A little different than the view on a summer day...

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...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

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