a review of "Seaworthy" [44]

Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea by Linda Greenlaw
(Viking, ISBN 978-0-670-02192-5)

I make no secret of a certain fondness for things of the sea, and no secret that one of my favorite author about the sea is Linda Greenlaw.
She first became know to us when Sebastian Junger's, in his 1997 best-seller, "The Perfect Storm," called her "not only one of the only women in the business ... but one of the best captains, period, on the entire East Coast." For many of us, that book was the beginning of a certain fascination with long line swordfishing and several books since then by Ms. Greenlaw have fueled our interest. Happily, with the publication of Seaworthy, we have another installment in the story.

It has been ten years since Greenlaw last captained a swordfishing boat and her life has taken some different turns. She returned to Isle au Haut, Maine, took up lobster fishing, became the guardian of a teenage girl and wrote 3 non-fiction books about fishing, a delightful cookbook with her mother and two mystery novels. But still, when she got the call offering her a position as the caption of thw Seahawk, to undertake a 2 month fishing trip in the fall of 2008 for swordfish, it is not an exaggeration to say that she jumped at the chance.

"At sea—it's more a feeling than it is a place.
It was this feeling, the state of being at sea, that I hadn't experienced in ten years. This sensation is the result of living the total contradiction of burden and freedom. I am the captain, I thought. The freedom to make all decisions, unquestioned and without input, was something that I had missed during my sabbatical. To be held ultimately, although not solely, responsible for the lives and livelihoods of a loyal and capable crew was strangely exhilarating and empowering. But high hopes and expectations were weighty loads. It's the willingness, and not the ability, to bear that burden that separates captains from their crew. Right here and right now, as the Seahawk plodded along, I was fondly embracing the burden of that responsibility. Just being on the boat made me feel good."

She signed up a eager crew of four experienced men, several of them her good friends and set out to pick up their boat. And so began the problems.

The Seahawk turned out to be...

"the rustiest of buckets, with sprung, busted and ancient equipment guaranteed to fail at any critical moment."

..and it was pretty much downhill from there. An engine breakdown that require a tow to Nova Scotia, constant equipment problems, the electrocution of a crew member and the near drowning of another...no, things are never dull on the Grand Banks. But perhaps the highlight of the story...and a great story it is...is Greenlaw's arrest by Canadian authorities, complete with handcuffs and a cell and a fine that left her actually owing money after two months work.

And yet for all that, we have no doubt that if she gets that call again, she will be packing her bag. Greenlaw is one of those few that maybe feel more at home on the deck of a boat a 1000 miles from home, waves crashing over them, than anywhere else. And that is maybe the most interesting aspect of her books for me, what makes these people, again and again, return to the sea. For all her new commitments and changes in her life, she can not get it out her blood, the thrill, the challenge of it all.

"Every time I believed I had swordfish figured out, they threw me a curve. They're clever, and elusive, and mysterious. Swordfish and I first engaged in this game of hide and seek in 1979. And thirty years later we're both still in the game."

Greenlaw wonders, at the beginning of her journey, how she will fare, captaining a swordfishing boat after a decade away, whether she will be up to the challenge. She is changed, yes. She is older, more mellow, more introspective. But she is, happily for the reader, as humorous as ever, as good a proponent of this industry as there is, and an excellent storyteller, totally Seaworthy.

Wordless Wednesday- Hudson, NY

Mural, Hudson, NY

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

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a review of "A Fierce Radiance" [43]

A Fierce Radiance by Lauren Belfer
(Harper Collins, ISBN 978-0-06-125251-8)

Most of us alive today can not remember a time when a small cut, a simple fall could be a death sentence, when a soar throat could turn septic, a case of pneumonia would leave a classmate's desk empty forever.
A time before penicillin.

It is just after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Claire Shipley, a staff photographer for Life magazine, is sent to New York's Rockefeller Institute to document the trials of a new experimental drug. The trials, led by the handsome, brilliant Dr. Jamie Stanton, are of a drug that is being grown in small quantities, in milk bottles, from green mold, a drug that the researchers think may be able to cure infections. It is a great human interest story, as she photographs a man who is snatched back from the edge of death, only to succumb when they run out of the medicine. But Claire's interest is more than professional, having lost her own 3 year old daughter to blood poisoning eight years before. Her own daughter is gone but Clair knows how many more might be saved if only a way can be found to produce this penicillin in sufficient quantities.

Once the government realized the success of the trials, they also realize what the production of this drug to treat injured troops could mean to the war effort. Just as most of us do not remember a time before antibiotics, most of us also do not remember a time when many Americans though the Allies might lose the war and a time when the residents of NYC thought invasion was a real possibility. Penicillin could be a weapon that would change the outcome of the war, which at the moment was looking pretty grim.

Claire's story would not be published because the government took over the trials and set about to coordinate an effort by all the major pharmaceutical companies, in secrecy, to find a method for the massive production of penicillin. Of course, the Allies' enemies had their spies in place, hoping to steal the technology, while the pharmaceutical companies, while working on penicillin, were each also trying to produce another, non-government regulated "cousin", a related antibiotic that, if successful, would mean a fortune for them. The stakes are huge..power, money, the very outcome of the war. There is a suspicious death that strikes close to home, espionage and, on a more personal level, Claire's new romance with Dr. Stanton, to round out this epic story.

A Fierce Radiance is an historical novel, a thriller and a romance...and it succeeds in each to varying degrees.

I am not usually a fan of historical novels, but this book is an exception. I think Belfer is very successful in recreating the WWII era, the mood, the fears, the shortages, the life in new York in the midst of World war II. It is a city were raw sewage still flowed into the rivers, cattle were brought into stockyards to be slaughtered and the windows of the houses of Clair's Greenwich Village neighbors were increasing filled with the Gold Stars that showed it was the home of a now dead soldier. Having Claire, a Life magazine photographer with her various assignments, at the center of the book is a wonderful vehicle for exploring these happenings and she is a fascinating character. Surprising, the whole issue of the development of penicillin is by far the most interesting part of the book and without question the story is at it's strongest when that subject is at the center.

As a thriller, the book is fairly successful. I am a great fan of mysteries and this was a pretty good one, with an interesting police detective, enough red herrings, spies and corporate intrigue to keep me interested.

But for me, the weakest link of the book was the romance between Claire and the good Doctor Jamie. Part of the problem was that I just didn't like him, from the moment, in the earliest pages of the book, when he seems to be spending more time considering how he will get Claire into his bed than tending to the dying man in front of him. Add in a few moral lapses, a dose of amnesia and a number of unexplained stupid decisions and I was not very vested in this romance.

Overall, for me, A Fierce Radiance is good book than fell just short of being an excellent book by trying to keep just one too many plates in the air at the same time. It seems just a little confused about what kind of book it is and maybe, in trying to be too many things, falls just a little short. This book is at it's best when it zones in on the real history surrounding the development of penicillin and the changed world that discovery created. When that is at the heart of the story, it is a very entertaining book.

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My thanks to Kelley and Hall for a review copy of this book.

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Musing Monday..."We Are Family ..."

"We are family
I got all my family with me
We are family
Get up everybody and READ...

OK, maybe those are not the exact lyrics, but they should be.
Let's check out this weeks Musing Monday question, as always, hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

This week’s question was inspired by an online book group I belong to…

Who in your family (both immediate & extended) are readers, and who are not?

Well, since I live alone, I guess I have no immediate family [wow, that sounds pitiful. ;-) ] Except, of course, for Kitty, my imaginary kitty, who does not read. But if we cast out nets a little further, we will catch us a whole big bunch of readers.
My brother is a big reader, although our tastes could not be more different. I read almost all fiction, he read almost all non-fiction. History, politics, the duller and more obscure the better for the Bro. I do remember him reading one fiction series, the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian, but those might be the only works of fiction he has read since he was in school...long, long ago.

The SIL is also a big reader, but her tastes in reading material is much closer to mine, fiction, leaning toward mystery and thrillers. If I like a book, I can be pretty sure she will like it too. Of course, since she bought that darn Evil Kindle, I don't get to actually see what she is reading anymore.
The Niece is a reader as well, happily. When she was younger, I am not sure that was as true as it is now but once she got into college her reading for pleasure seems to have taken off quite a bit. And of course Bandit is a reader...but only in Italian.

I wonder about the whole nature/nurture issue as it applies to something like reading. Do most people pick up the love of reading from seeing it the home when they are kids, or are we just born to love or not love books?
I have mentioned before that my mother was a huge reader. She would often have a paperback in her handbag, she would read for hours in bed every night, often into the wee hours, and she was without question the local branch library's best 'customer'. She came from a family of readers, both my maternal grandparents and I know several of her siblings, were/are readers.

On the other hand, my father was not a reader as I remember. He read the newspaper..and that was about it. But then I wonder how much of that was whether he had access to books as a child. He grew up on a farm in a very rural Ireland, without electricity in his home, and most likely his only access to books was in his small local village school. I'm not sure, but if you don't catch the reading bug when you are young, is there some sort of cut off age or can an adult, who has never been a reader, become someone who really loves books? If any of you have seen that, I would be curious to hear about it.

If you are not exposed to books, if they are not around you, especially when you are a child, is it just that much more unlikely that you will catch the bug? I have said this before, but I think one of the greatest gift you can give a child is a love for reading and one way to do that is to give them books. As much as I love public libraries, and they were a beloved part of my own childhood, I think for a child to actually own a book that they love and can read again and again, a book of their own, is priceless.

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Weekend Cooking...Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli

Are you familiar with Nutella?

I must say, that in my opinion, it is one of the most tasty product out there. What is it? Well, according to their web site, it is a creamy spread made from a combination of toasted hazelnuts. skim milk and cocoa. In it's earliest form, it was created by Pietro Ferrero about 1940. At the time in Italy, there was a shortage of chocolate due to WWII rationing, so he made a spread with the very plentiful local nuts and a small amount of chocolate and so was born this wonderful substance.
I understand that it is much more popular in Europe than it is in the US and is often eaten there on bread or toast as a breakfast food. Personally, my favorite way of eating it, I must confess, is just with a spoon, out of the jar.

But if you are looking for something a little more elaborate, I will offer this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. If you have ever watched her TV show on the Food Network, you know that she too is a big Nutella fan, perhaps even more than I am.

This recipe is very easy, very quick, and makes a rather elegant, delicious dessert. She recommends a serving of two ravioli each and you can see from the recipe that she tops her with a fried mint leaf dredged in sugar. I had no mint, so I served mine with some lovely fresh berries from my garden, all dusted with a little powered sugar.
Now, she says you can keep them warm in the oven, or even make them the day before and reheat them. I can't testify to that, since mine have never lasted more than a minute or two after they were cooked. :-)

Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
16 wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten to blend
1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
Vegetable oil, for frying
16 fresh mint leaves
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
Granulated sugar, for dredging
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions
Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Place 1 wonton wrapper on the work surface. Brush the edges of the wrapper lightly with egg. Spoon 1 teaspoon of chocolate-hazelnut spread into the center of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper diagonally in half over the filling and press the edges of the wrapper to seal. Place the ravioli on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers, egg, and chocolate-hazelnut spread.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Add enough oil to a heavy large frying pan to reach a depth of 2 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat to 350 degrees F.
Working in batches, carefully add the ravioli to the hot oil and cook until they are golden brown, about 45 seconds per side. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ravioli to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Then, transfer the cooked ravioli to another baking sheet and keep them warm in the oven while frying the remaining ravioli. (The fried ravioli can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool them completely, then cover and refrigerate. Before serving, place them on a baking sheet and rewarm in a preheated 375 degrees F oven just until they are heated through, about 7 minutes.)
Spray the top side of the mint leaves very lightly with nonstick spray. Working with 1 leaf at a time, dredge the coated side of the leaves in sugar to coat lightly.

Arrange 2 fried ravioli on each plate. Dust the ravioli with powdered sugar. Garnish with the sugared mint leaves and serve.

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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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Give me a Hand Pulling My Soapbox Over Here, Will Ya?

My feeling about the Evil E-readers is most likely known to many here, although it has been awhile since I pulled out my soapbox..
And yet..I will admit that on occasion, these Evil E-reader do tempts even me, if just a little bit.

Recently I was up in NY state for the weekend with my brother and sister-in-law and the SIL is the owner of an Evil Kindle. Yes, much about it is wrong, especially the Kindle's proprietary format. But having the choice of all those books on one thin little device, where as I was limited to the one bulky book I could fit in my suitcase...yes, I can see some advantage, at least for traveling.

But I will still wait. Wait for the industry to deal with some still huge issues.

Recently there was an article in the Wall Street Journal that discussed several of the issues that we hold outs have. Bottom line, I want to be able to control the “books” that I buy. But that is not yet the case.

“Reading devices like the iPad, Kindle and Nook will come and go, but you'll likely want your e-book collection to stick around. Yet unlike music, commercial e-books from the leading online stores come with restrictions that complicate your ability to move your collection from one device to the next.”

Things seem to be getting a little better, be opening up a bit. Apple, using some free apps, allows you to open your Amazon purchased Kindle books on a number of different devices now, like the iPhone and a PC. Also books purchased from Sony's bookstore and Borders Kobo can be opened on some other devices using Adobe Digital Editions to transfer them. And I am sure there are also some less than fully legal methods out there to even open up the Amazon software...but why does it have to be so complicated? I want it simple. Buy what I want, where I want, read it with any device I like and do with it what I will. Is that too much to ask?

As I see it, there are two separate issues. First, you want to decide which device you want to buy. Which is easier, nicer to read, most versatile, what is the cost...just like any other devices you buy.
Second, you want to decide where, at what e-bookstore, you buy your “books”. Again, who has the best selection, are easiest to download, has the best prices. I want to buy my books and do with them what I want. Read them on any device I own, loan them out, give them away, just like I can with a “real” book.
Why should one decision have anything to do with the other?
Why, oh why, should it be so complicated, so restricted?

But perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel, as the WSJ says, a way that Google seem to be exploring in it's soon to be release commercial service.

“Google, which plans to launch an e-bookstore later this year, says customers will be able to access its books through apps on popular devices and through a Web browser on any device—including a phone or computer. Google's argument is that we shouldn't lock ourselves into one bookstore if it is going to offer titles that are dependent on special apps or devices.”

The simply answer is that all the e-bookstores except the industry standard of the e-Pub format, without adding their own restrictive DMR (digital rights management) software, just as the music industry finally had to except the m3p format. But...

“For now, the e-bookstore choice comes down to which compromises readers are willing to accept.”

How about none? So, in the meantime, I will still be waiting.

a review of "Plainsong"[42]

Plainsong by Kent Haruf
(Knopf, ISBN 978-0375406188)

I know that I first heard about this book, which was published in 1999, by reading a review of it recently on some blog...but I can't remember where, and now, I can't find it. So whoever you are..thank you. Because this was a very enjoyable book and I thank you for pointing it out to me.

Holt, Colorado, the town Plainsong is set in, may seem on the surface to be a quiet, peaceful little town, but of course some issues are simmering below the surface. High school teacher Tom Guthrie is a solid, reliable man, raising his two young sons, Ike and Bobby, but these days he must do it without the assistance of his wife. In her depression, she has retreated to the guest room to spend her days in darkness. Soon she will move out of town, leaving behind her two confused young sons.

"Here was this man Tom Guthrie in Holt standing at the back window in the kitchen of his house smoking cigarettes and looking out over the back lot where the sun was just coming up. When the sun reached the top of the windmill, for a while he watched what it was doing, that increased reddening of sunrise along the steel blade and the tail vane above the wooden platform. After a time he put out the cigarette and went upstairs and walked past the closed door behind which she lay in bed in the darkened guest room sleeping or not and went down the hall to the glassy room over the kitchen where the two boys were."

At work, Tom is in a confrontation with a star football player, refusing to follow the principal's suggestion to just pass him along even if he is failing. Tom will pay a price for trying to hold the boy to some standards.

Then there is 17 year old student Victoria Roubideaux, who finds herself pregnant, deserted by the child's father and locked out of her house by her mother. Desperate, with no place to go, she turns for help to teacher Maggie Jones, who while herself dealing with an aged father who suffers from dementia, is a calm, strong force in our story. Maggie makes what at seems a very strange suggestion for the girl. She arranged for Victoria to move in with two elderly rancher brothers, Harold and Raymond McPheron. Orphaned quite young, they have spent their entire lived working the family cattle ranch, a good distance from town, never marrying. At first we may think it is an odd choice, but it seems Maggie understand somehow that providing a home for the girl will fulfill some void in the brother's lives as well. I must say that the McPheron 'boys' were simply delightful characters, so rough on the exterior and yet so sincere, so funny and ultimately oddly insightful.

And finally we have Maggie. She cares for her father without complaint, is a teacher at the school and living a quiet life, yet it seems she has had her own unfulfilled dreams that may still come true. Her role in the book is not that big, but in a way she is the linchpin in the lives of all these folks.

When I write out a bit of the outline of the plot, it sounds a bit soap-operaish, but the reality could not be further from the truth. This is a rather slow, deliberate book, all these going-ons presented in a very straightforward and even at times, stark way, each characters presenting their own point of view in separate chapters. As all these lives begin to intersect, it never seems forced but rather just inevitable and very right. These are all people whose natural families have in ways been destroyed and yet come to form their own, new connections. This is a story about the day to day struggle of ordinary people to live their lives, to make a living and raise their families while trying to do what is right and deal with the trials life has given them with dignity.

Plainsong is described in the opening of the book as “the unisonous vocal music used in the Christian church from the earliest time; any simple and unadorned melody or air.” Yes, simple and unadorned, all the various notes coming together to form a harmonious song, describes this book as well. Haruf's clean, direct and often very funny style is a pleasure to read. To a reader who has tired of one too many overblown, over elaborate books, the restrained writing is so refreshing to read. Plainsong is a moving, quiet and, at times, quite amusing book, with some memorable characters, a refreshing style and a story that will sneak up on you.

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Again, my thanks to my local library for use of this book.

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Wordless Wednesday- Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge

Atlantic City in the distance...

Great Egret

Diamondback terrapin

Black Skimmers

Osprey

 

 

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

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Bandit Tuesday...Settling In

"Ok, I think I am all set. I am in my bed...I have my blanket and my fuzzy toy and my squeaky toy and a snack...Did I forget anything? I hate to have to get up again."

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Musing Monday

I am all confused today. I was away for the weekend, off for a little trip to the Catskills in NY and..I was totally without the Internet! Yes, barely three days and yet I have hundreds of e-mails and countless posts on my Google Reader.
So that is what I blame for the fact that I forgot it was Monday and that I need to Muse! Not too late, so off we go to check out this week's question at Should Be Reading...

Where is your most often used (favorite) reading spot? Do you have more than one? What makes your favorite spot just that?

Share pictures if you have them!

My very, very favorite place to read is...wherever I am with a book and a bit of time!

Which is why you should always have a book on hand. You never know when an opportunity may arise and you should be ready. Otherwise you may waste the time!

At home, I usually read either in my recliner or a living room chair. I rarely read in bed just because I tend to fall asleep and if I fall asleep, damage might occur to my book! If I am horizontal, I am soon asleep and the book might end up anywhere. If it is nice out, I sometimes read outside in my hammock, but there again there is a danger of book injury due to dropping after falling asleep. But at least the distance to the ground is small and the grass is soft.

I read at work. I have mentioned this before, but when I work nights and weekends I have a fair bit of 'free' time, as I monitor things, when I get get some reading in.
Honestly, I often get my best reading there because away from a lot of everyday distractions and tied to my desk, I can concentrate.

But then you have the many serendipitous reading opportunities, never to be missed. A doctor's appointment, an oil change, waiting for a prescription to be filled, even a long line if you can read while standing...

a book plus some free time is the best place to read!

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Faith'n'Fiction Saturday Roundtable- Peace Like A River [41]

Today, we have something a little different here on the blog. In May, I was a participant in the Faith'n'Fiction Saturday Round Table, hosted on the last Saturday of the month by My Friend Amy. As you may notice, we are a bit late, being as it is actually June, but do not quibble, because, in my opinion at least, we had a very fine book to read and discuss. I thank Amy for asking me to be a part of this discussion because it introduced me to a very nice book, a book that I enjoyed a great deal and not necessarily a book I might have happened upon otherwise.

This month's book was Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, and I will give you the Amazon description of the book...

“Dead for 10 minutes before his father orders him to breathe in the name of the living God, Reuben Land is living proof that the world is full of miracles. But it's the impassioned honesty of his quiet, measured narrative voice that gives weight and truth to the fantastic elements of this engrossing tale. From the vantage point of adulthood, Reuben tells how his father rescued his brother Davy's girlfriend from two attackers, how that led to Davy being jailed for murder and how, once Davy escapes and heads south for the Badlands of North Dakota, 12-year-old Reuben, his younger sister Swede and their janitor father light out after him. But the FBI is following Davy as well, and Reuben has a part to play in the finale of that chase, just as he had a part to play in his brother's trial. It's the kind of story that used to be material for ballads, and Enger twines in numerous references to the Old West, chiefly through the rhymed poetry Swede writes about a hero called Sunny Sundown. That the story is set in the early '60s in Minnesota gives it an archetypal feel, evoking a time when the possibility of getting lost in the country still existed. Enger has created a world of signs, where dead crows fall in a snowstorm and vagrants lie curled up in fields, in which everything is significant, everything has weight and comprehension is always fleeting. This is a stunning debut novel, one that sneaks up on you like a whisper and warms you like a quilt in a North Dakota winter, a novel about faith, miracles and family that is, ultimately, miraculous.”

I was very surprised that several of our original participant did not really like this book, and that of the remaining, there was definitely a mixed opinion. For myself, I thought it was a very nice book, in a way a magical book. It is a book full of miracles and grace that touch the everyday lives of some everyday...and extraordinary...characters and in that way it reminding me a bit of the stories of Flannery O'Connor. Since I love the stories of Ms. O'Connor, from me that is high praise indeed.

I hope you will take a minutes to check out some of the e-mail discussion we participants had and that it may lead you to check out this charming book if you have not already read it. If you have read it, I would love to hear your own opinion on it.

My Friend Amy--Introduction
Devourer of Books--Expectations
Wordlily--General Impressions
A Lovely Shore Breeze--Davy Part 1
The Fiddler's Gun--Davy Part 2
Melanie's Musings--Other Characters

Melanie:  Often when reading a book where one of the character's is a murderer, the
murderer is portrayed as a completely dark and evil person.  While I was
reading this, though, I knew Davy wasn't, completely anyway, and there
were a few times when I honestly didn't want him to ever be caught even
though I knew what he did was wrong and by law he deserved to get caught
and imprisoned.

Hannah:  Melanie, you touched on something I'd been aiming at pinning down. In Peace Like a River Enger doesn't undermine moral absolutes, but he does clearly illustrate how some ambiguity can sneak in, how in a black and white world there's plenty of grey.

Amy:  Melanie, I think you bring up an excellent point about Davy.  I have to admit I was surprised when the book took that turn and in fact that's when it started to grab my interest.  I also sympathized with him and saw him entirely through Reuben's eyes, which is to say I never wanted him to be caught and "brought to justice" at all.  Of course, I also never really felt the humanity of his victims, either.  I think that's probably an accurate and true to life way that we see things, but at the same time, I do believe all life is sacred and while what they did was wrong, I'm not sure it warranted death.  I would love to hear other's thoughts on this, though.

Caite:  I am not a great Davy fan. Ok, yes, he wanted to protect his family and that is a noble thing, but he lost me when he fired that third shot. The man was no danger and he decided to execute him with that shot. That was not about protecting his family anymore. And then, when we find out who he taunted them to break into the house and was waiting to kill them...hmmm...no, I did not feel for him and would have had no problem with him being 'brought to justice'.

In my mind, he represents the other view of the world from his father. It is a world without faith, without miracles, without God. "Davy wanted life to be something you did on your own; the whole idea of a protective, fatherly God annoyed him." [p.56]
And that is what he got...a life on his own, on the edge of the margins.

Amy: Intellectually I knew what Davy did was wrong, and yes I got that he represented this other world view. But because I was inside Reuben's head, I couldn't help but feel that sort of sorrow when someone you love faces something very bad, whether or not they earned it.

Be sure to check out the full discussion on the other participants blogs, and my thanks again to Amy for asking me to be a part.




“Is there a single person on whom I can press belief?
No sir.
All I can do is say, Here's how it went. Here's what I saw.
I've been there and am going back.
Make of it what you will” Peace Like a River p.311

Weekend Cooking...Caite's Chocolate Cake in a Cup

Sometimes, you know, it's going to happen. There you are, hanging around the house and you just need something chocolate...maybe a chocolate cake. But that is such a production. But what if you could make one in just 5 minutes, all in one cup? Well, supposedly you can, according to proponents of The Five Minute Chocolate Cake in a Coffee Mug.

Now, as I looked around the internet, I found any number of takes on this and comments on the results that range from the best thing they every tasted to a horrible, rubbery mess. So I set out to give it a try.
I read about a dozen recipes, took an idea here, an idea there and came up with...

Caite's Chocolate Cake in a Cup!

you will need-

• a microwave
• a large coffee mug, in which you mix...
• 3 Tbs. cocoa
• 2 Tbs. flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking power
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 Tbs. oil
• 2 Tbs. egg (1 whole egg is too much, so scramble one up and just use 2 Tbs.)
• 3 Tbs. milk
• 3 Tbs. chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar

Mix it all well in the cup and pop it in the microwave.
Now the key, I think, is not to overcook. It should still be moist and a little gooey even. For most modern microwaves, that is not one your mother bought in 1980, I think you are looking at about 1 or 1 and a half minutes. Err on the side of undercooking or you will have a dry, brown rock.

The result? It was pretty good, moist and very chocolaty, perhaps best eaten while it is still warm. It is very cool to watch it rise up in the cup. A fast and fun little project, maybe something fun to do with a child.Or for those of us who are children at heart.
Or if you just need some cake...and you need it fast!

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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 "The Poacher's Son" [40]

The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron
(Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0-312-55846-8)

If you read my post Monday about key words that make me pick up a book, I must confess to missing one category. A book set in the New England states! Especially Maine.
So when I read an excellent review of this book on Rhapsody In Books' blog, realized it was set in Maine and was written by the editor-in-chief of one of my favorite magazines, Down East, well, I just had to get my hands on a copy. And I am very glad that I did.

The book introduces us to young Mike Bowditch, a fairly new Maine Game Warden. His territory is the mid-coast Knox county, but his formative years were spend in the wilder Northwoods of Maine. He lived there with his parents, in a state of what his mother called "downward mobility" until, when Mike was nine, his mother left, taking him along. She'd had enough of his father Jack's drinking, womanizing, fighting and any number of illegal ways of making a very poor living, including the poaching mentioned in the title, and left for the more civilized Portland. When Mike last saw his father a couple of years ago, having been newly accepted as a Game Warden, his father commented on what a strange job that was for a poacher's son. Actually, as we learn, it was not that strange, since both father and son share a love of the wilderness of Maine and descriptions of that love are one of several great elements of this book.

At it's heart, this is a mystery. Mike arrives home one evening to find a brief message on his answering machine from his father, who sounds quite upset. In the background he hears the voice of a woman talking to Jack...but then the ladies all loved Jack. When Mike finds out the next day that a police deputy and the vice president of a timber company were shot and killed after a very hostile meeting with the residents of the remote area where his father lives and that his father is the number one suspect, he understand the reason for the phone call. He and his father have a bit of a love/hate relationship, and while he knows his father can be violent and brutal when drunk, he can not believe that Jack is capable of a planned, cold blooded murder. Few, if anyone, share his conviction, especially when Jack escapes police custody, injuring a policeman and takes off for the woods. Innocent men don't run, everyone says.

Even if it may cost him the job he loves, Mike feels that he must head back up to the woods, deal again with some people he has less than fond memories of,  and try to prove his father's innocence. Happily, he does not have to go it alone but gains the assistance of a retired warden, Charley Stevens. Charley is the man Mike credits with his desire to become a game warden and a man who knows the woods almost as well as the fugitive Jack. And they are both going to needs every bit of knowledge and skill to get out of this alive.

It seems this this is the first in a new series with Game Warden Mike and I for one, am looking forward to the next already. The author has introduced some great characters that I certainly hope will be back, first among them Charley and his wife Ora. And while I had a few issues with Mike at first, (he broke my cardinal rule of doing several stupid things), by the book's end he seems to pull his wits together and started to grow on me. Even his on again/off again romance with his college sweetheart Sarah (she does not envision being married to a poorly paid warden and rather he go to law school) seemed to have a future. For all their flaws, and they do have some, every characters in the book is totally realistic in how they behave.

The book has an excellent plot, a fine cast of suspects and a thrilling, unexpected ending and is a fine mystery novel. But, to go back to my original point, about the setting, The Poacher's Son has something extra as well. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this book are those wild Maine woods the author describes, a wilderness that Mike and Charley...and you...fear may well be disappearing, replaced with summer homes and housing developments. If you have visited the state, but hung close to the beautiful coast as many of us do, the inland wilderness is a very different place, but a place we get a small taste of in this book, a place with mile after mile of trees, mountains and countless beautiful lakes...and a very different way of life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it a strong recommendation.

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My thanks to my local library for the loan of this book.

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Wordless Wednesday-NYC from the Rainbow Room

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

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Bandit Tuesday...Dreaming

...and I was in a beautiful field, full of soft grass...and bright red fire hydrants. so many fire hydrants. and there was a stream...and bowls of tiny Milk Bones, because I love the tiny Milk Bones....awwwww..."