OK, not really Paris, France, but the Philadelphia Flower Shows try at it.
I hopefully will come back with lots of nice photos!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Wordless Wednesday...Where In The World Am I?
 |
| England? |
 |
| Norway? |
 |
| Morocco? |
 |
| Japan? |
 |
| Rome? |
No, just Disney!
...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.
A review of "When No One Is Watching" [17]
When No One is Watching by Joseph HayesSynergy Books, ISBN 978-0984387946
October 5, 2010, 320 pages
Yes, Blair had been drinking, but he was not nearly as drunk as Danny, his fellow lawyer and best friend, passed out on the passenger seat next to him. How could he miss the chance to drive his friend's brand new Porsche 911, so cool, so fast, so powerful? And it was very, very early in the morning, the streets of the upscale Chicago suburb where they both live deserted as he drove them home from a victory party. But then he comes around the corner, way too fast, and in an instant, the lives of everyone there is changed forever. The driver of the other car was crashed into a tree, very badly injured. Blair's political future, his pending run for Congress, was hanging in the balance. And, in a moment of panic, his friend was framed for a crime he can't even remember.
Blair hoped that would be the end of it. Yes, Danny would pay a terrible price. He loses his wife, for whom this is the last straw after all his recent drinking. He goes to prison, he loses his license to practice law, while on the other hand Blair's life seems on a meteoric rise.
Except for that one police detective who thinks some of the fact just don't add up.
Except for a young witness who was cowering in the back seat of her daddy's car.
Just how far is Blair...and those behind him...willing to go to protect his dream, a dream that might take him as far as the Oval Office one day?
I must say that I think the idea the author had for this book is very good. Two men face a crossroad in their lives, a chance to decide what they will do with the cards they have been dealt, or in one case, the cards they dealt themselves. What will we do when everything is on the line...and no one is watching?
Sadly, I don't think that the execution is quite as good as the idea.
The characters are rather two dimensional and unrealistic. Blair is suppose to be this great politician..yet behind the scenes is so weak, such a spineless puppet. Danny, once he overcomes that little drinking issue with the help of AA, is almost a saint. Good characters, characters we can identify with, have to be a bit of a mix, and these are not, especially as the book progresses.
The writing is pretty good, but the dialogue is often stilted and unrealistic. People just don't talk like that.
And finally, while I know from the dedication that the author has a personal connection to AA, toward the end of the book it starts to read like a brochure for the organization. Maybe it needed to have been dialed back just a notch or two as it great a bit preachy.
Overall, a great idea for a book that does not quite live up to it's promise, at least for this reader.
My thanks to Newman Communications for sending me a copy of this book to review.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Musing Monday...I Need Me a Plan.
It is bright and early Monday morning and I am just home from work, off to sleep in a minute, but first, let's check out this week's Musing Monday question from Miz B at Should Be Reading.
This week’s musing asks…
What book(s) are you most excited about right now? (it can either be something you’re currently reading, or something you just bought, or a book/books that are soon to be published).
If I was better organized I might be able to answer this. I would have a nice Excel spreadsheet with my reading calendar and what books were coming out in the near future. But, since I am pretty much in a state of continual, total TBR chaos and don't even know what I will read next, it is hard to say.
I am in the middle..or actually about 3/4 done...of a book on my Nook that will not be out until July, Turn of Mind
by Alice LaPlante, while books that are already out or will be out shortly sit in a little pile. Just because it sounded really interesting...I have a couple of books from Amazon Vine that I must read shortly or be unable to request any more...and you know I crave more. No, I do not need them...I crave them.
I have a couple of books I requested from publicists that I have actually finished in a timely fashion, but not yet reviewed and a Library Thing Early Reviewer book that I have not yet read.
So it seems that I should not be reading books that are not coming out until July...even if they sound interesting. I think I need a book secretary, who would consider all these things and save me from myself, handing me the book that should be read next calming handing me a book and slapping my hand if I reached for something different.
You get the picture.
I am surrounded by stacks of books, figuratively and literally.
Many books I should have already read and have not.
Many books I should be reading very soon and have not.
But..are there books that I am still looking forward to and will start just as soon as I get my hot little hands on them?
Why yes, of course!
I have read a couple of Julia Spencer-Fleming's book recently and the next in the series, One Was a Soldier
, was just awarded to me by those nice folks at LT Early Reviewers. I think that I am particularly happy since I just finished two of them, I am caught up in the series and it is all fresh in my mind.A point unrelated to the question...I really think the ideal way the read a series is to wait until 3 or 4 or 5 books in the series are out and then read them all together, one after the other. The author may not like it, the publisher may not like it, but it is so enjoyable.
Back to the question. Somewhere, the other day, I noticed that the fourth book in the series about one of my all time serial killer favs, Gretchen Lowell, is back with the newly released Chelsea Cain book, The Night Season
. How I did not just go ahead and order this the other night when I saw it is beyond me, because I will admit I am not known for my self control either.Poorly organized, out of control, book lover. That's me!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Weekend Cooking..A Review of "Slow Cooker Revolution" [16]
Slow Cooker Revolution
by The Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press, ISBN 978-1933615691
February 15, 2011, 336 pages
Yes, I am a fan of America's Test Kitchen. I love their TV show on PBS, I love their magazine, Cook's Illustrated, and I love their cookbooks. And there is none I love more that their new one, one that takes on the slow cooker. If you are a fan of the slow cooker...or someone who has one gathering dust on a pantry shelf...this is a book you will like. For fans, it will add a wide variety of well tested recipes to the favorites you are already making. For those of you that are not using your slow cooker at much as you might like, for any number of reasons, this book will answer all the questions that may be holding you back.
In that very particular, rather geeky way that I love, ATK starts at the beginning with how to buy a slow cooker and the keys that will make your recipes a success. Then it is into the 200 recipes, broken down into categories- Soups, Stews, Braises, Chilies, Barbecue, Pasta Sauces, Meatballs and Meatloaves, Enchiladas and Tacos, Casseroles (Mac and Cheese, using uncooked pasta), On the Side, Eggs and Brunch, Desserts (Nutella Bread Pudding..oh, be still my heart) and ends with Basics, which covers things like jam, applesauce, gravy and four different broths. There is quite a range of recipes here, and since the vast majority use fresh ingredients, some prep is needed in many. But there is also a number marked "Easy Prep" that are, well, easy prep.
This is a very attractive book, every each recipe on a full page, many with a full page, full color photograph opposite. I tell you, if you look at the photos in this book, there is no way you will not want it.
But this is ATK, so you know they are going to throw in a lot of practical, useful information as well. A nice full page article of how to use the microwave to help out that slow cooker, others like "All About Herbs" and "Pasta 101" are a couple of other examples. Many pages, in addition to the recipe, will have one of ATK's "Smart Shopping Tips", like the best brand of canned beans, jarred tomato sauce or coconut milk, and "Quick Prep Tips", showing the best way to cut stew meat, prepare your hearty greens or use lemon grass. And many recipes will have a nice little On The Side box on the page, giving a quick, easy recipe for something that would go perfect with the slow cooker dish, like Easy Mashed Potatoes, Caesar Salad or Cheese Toasties. Golly, they sounds so good....
And I love that ever recipe starts with a paragraph explaining "Why This Recipe Works", where they show what they learned in testing. Why use high or low heat in this recipe, why add this or that ingredient, and techniques to use that will really make the dish turn out it's best.
I have a long way to go with my slow cooker. Soup, especially a great sound onion soup with a surprise ingredient, may be my next attempt. Then something I would never think of, like the delicious cooking Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna (they use a foil collar and foil sling for easy removal of their lasagnas, like the sausage one on the cover). Or how about Coconut Rice Pudding? Did I mention the Nutella Bread Pudding, which a reviewer on Amazon said was excellent?
But I am a bit of a coward...and I love pork...so the first recipe I tried was yummy sounding, more classic, braised Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange.
If my SIL posts a comment, this can be her's for Sunday dinner!
Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange
1. Dry pork with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in 12- inch skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Brown pork well on all sides, 7-10 minutes.
2. Stir cranberry sauce, cranberries, orange juice, orange zest, and cinnamon into slow cooker. Nestle browned pork into slow cooker. Cover and cook until pork in tender and registers 140 to 145 degrees on instant read thermometer, about 4 hours on low.
3. Transfer pork to cutting board, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for 10 minutes. Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon. Discard orange zest. Transfer braising liquid to saucepan and simmer until reduced to 2 cups, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Remove twine from pork, slice into 1/2-inch-thick slices, and arrange on serving platter. Spoon 1 cup sauce over meat and serve with remaining sauce.
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.
by The Editors at America's Test KitchenBoston Common Press, ISBN 978-1933615691
February 15, 2011, 336 pages
Yes, I am a fan of America's Test Kitchen. I love their TV show on PBS, I love their magazine, Cook's Illustrated, and I love their cookbooks. And there is none I love more that their new one, one that takes on the slow cooker. If you are a fan of the slow cooker...or someone who has one gathering dust on a pantry shelf...this is a book you will like. For fans, it will add a wide variety of well tested recipes to the favorites you are already making. For those of you that are not using your slow cooker at much as you might like, for any number of reasons, this book will answer all the questions that may be holding you back.In that very particular, rather geeky way that I love, ATK starts at the beginning with how to buy a slow cooker and the keys that will make your recipes a success. Then it is into the 200 recipes, broken down into categories- Soups, Stews, Braises, Chilies, Barbecue, Pasta Sauces, Meatballs and Meatloaves, Enchiladas and Tacos, Casseroles (Mac and Cheese, using uncooked pasta), On the Side, Eggs and Brunch, Desserts (Nutella Bread Pudding..oh, be still my heart) and ends with Basics, which covers things like jam, applesauce, gravy and four different broths. There is quite a range of recipes here, and since the vast majority use fresh ingredients, some prep is needed in many. But there is also a number marked "Easy Prep" that are, well, easy prep.
This is a very attractive book, every each recipe on a full page, many with a full page, full color photograph opposite. I tell you, if you look at the photos in this book, there is no way you will not want it.
But this is ATK, so you know they are going to throw in a lot of practical, useful information as well. A nice full page article of how to use the microwave to help out that slow cooker, others like "All About Herbs" and "Pasta 101" are a couple of other examples. Many pages, in addition to the recipe, will have one of ATK's "Smart Shopping Tips", like the best brand of canned beans, jarred tomato sauce or coconut milk, and "Quick Prep Tips", showing the best way to cut stew meat, prepare your hearty greens or use lemon grass. And many recipes will have a nice little On The Side box on the page, giving a quick, easy recipe for something that would go perfect with the slow cooker dish, like Easy Mashed Potatoes, Caesar Salad or Cheese Toasties. Golly, they sounds so good....
And I love that ever recipe starts with a paragraph explaining "Why This Recipe Works", where they show what they learned in testing. Why use high or low heat in this recipe, why add this or that ingredient, and techniques to use that will really make the dish turn out it's best.I have a long way to go with my slow cooker. Soup, especially a great sound onion soup with a surprise ingredient, may be my next attempt. Then something I would never think of, like the delicious cooking Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna (they use a foil collar and foil sling for easy removal of their lasagnas, like the sausage one on the cover). Or how about Coconut Rice Pudding? Did I mention the Nutella Bread Pudding, which a reviewer on Amazon said was excellent?
But I am a bit of a coward...and I love pork...so the first recipe I tried was yummy sounding, more classic, braised Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange.
If my SIL posts a comment, this can be her's for Sunday dinner!
Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange
- 1 (4 1/2 to 5- pound) boneless pork loin, trimmed and tied at 1 inch intervals
- Salt and pepper
- 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
- 1 (14-ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 (3-inch-long) strips orange zest, trimmed of white pith
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. Dry pork with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in 12- inch skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Brown pork well on all sides, 7-10 minutes.2. Stir cranberry sauce, cranberries, orange juice, orange zest, and cinnamon into slow cooker. Nestle browned pork into slow cooker. Cover and cook until pork in tender and registers 140 to 145 degrees on instant read thermometer, about 4 hours on low.
3. Transfer pork to cutting board, tent loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest for 10 minutes. Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon. Discard orange zest. Transfer braising liquid to saucepan and simmer until reduced to 2 cups, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Remove twine from pork, slice into 1/2-inch-thick slices, and arrange on serving platter. Spoon 1 cup sauce over meat and serve with remaining sauce.
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.
Friday, March 4, 2011
A Review of "I Shall Not Want" [15]
I Shall Not Want: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery
by Julia Spenser-Fleming
Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0312334871
June 10, 2008, 336 pages
Things are never quiet in Miller's Kill, NY, usually with the Reverend Clare Fergusson in the center of the action. In this, the sixth book in the series, there is no break from the pattern...and that is a good thing for we fans.
At an interfaith luncheon, Clare meets an elderly Catholic nun who has been sent by her order to the area to start an outreach program among the many Hispanic migrant workers, many illegal, who have sought out work in the area's dairy farms. Dairy farms that include the one owned by chief of police Russ Fergusson's own sister and brother in law. Of course, this is just the sort of program that Clare sees as important for her parish to get involved in, and when Sister Lucia, transporting a number of the men in her van, gets shot at and wrecks her vehicle, Clare is fast on the scene, as so often happen in this series, to help out.
As police arrive, they see a number of the men running from the van, fleeing into the woods to evade capture because of their illegal status. But the north woods of the Adirondacks are no place for possibly injured men to be hiding, so a search party is formed. They don't find the men, but they do find a dead body...and it will just be the first of several that they find in the coming weeks. Miller's Kill may be a rural spot, off the beaten track, but it seems even they can't escape the gangs and druglords and the huge sums of money at stake in the type of crime that plagues the nearby big cities. Chief Fergusson and his force will certainly have their work cut out for them, and it is deadly dangerous work as we see in a flash forward scene at the beginning of the book where we find Russ shot and on the edge of death.
But in addition to shootings and car chases and all manner of crime, as in all the books in the series we have the push and pull storyline of the Clare/Russ relationship. Now, if you read my review of one of the earlier books, Out Of The Deep I Cry, you know that I was getting a little tired of the two of them playing with fire. Well, in this book, they are out of frying pan and jumping into the fire with both feet. I will not give more spoilers, since you REALLY MUST read the previous book, To Darkness and To Death before you start this one, but let's just say their circumstances have drastically changed as this book begins. Not that it seems to make anything easier for the pair. What do they say..the course of true love never did run smooth. Perhaps not smooth but very engaging for readers.
And I must say that while I found the entire book very interesting and attention holding, probably my favorite of the series so far, it really worked itself up to a wonderful, climactic ending, a true cliff hanger.
The good news is that I am finally up to date with this series. The even better news it that Spenser-Flemings's next, One Was a Soldier, will be published shortly, on April 12th.
by Julia Spenser-Fleming
Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0312334871
June 10, 2008, 336 pages
Things are never quiet in Miller's Kill, NY, usually with the Reverend Clare Fergusson in the center of the action. In this, the sixth book in the series, there is no break from the pattern...and that is a good thing for we fans.
At an interfaith luncheon, Clare meets an elderly Catholic nun who has been sent by her order to the area to start an outreach program among the many Hispanic migrant workers, many illegal, who have sought out work in the area's dairy farms. Dairy farms that include the one owned by chief of police Russ Fergusson's own sister and brother in law. Of course, this is just the sort of program that Clare sees as important for her parish to get involved in, and when Sister Lucia, transporting a number of the men in her van, gets shot at and wrecks her vehicle, Clare is fast on the scene, as so often happen in this series, to help out.As police arrive, they see a number of the men running from the van, fleeing into the woods to evade capture because of their illegal status. But the north woods of the Adirondacks are no place for possibly injured men to be hiding, so a search party is formed. They don't find the men, but they do find a dead body...and it will just be the first of several that they find in the coming weeks. Miller's Kill may be a rural spot, off the beaten track, but it seems even they can't escape the gangs and druglords and the huge sums of money at stake in the type of crime that plagues the nearby big cities. Chief Fergusson and his force will certainly have their work cut out for them, and it is deadly dangerous work as we see in a flash forward scene at the beginning of the book where we find Russ shot and on the edge of death.
But in addition to shootings and car chases and all manner of crime, as in all the books in the series we have the push and pull storyline of the Clare/Russ relationship. Now, if you read my review of one of the earlier books, Out Of The Deep I Cry, you know that I was getting a little tired of the two of them playing with fire. Well, in this book, they are out of frying pan and jumping into the fire with both feet. I will not give more spoilers, since you REALLY MUST read the previous book, To Darkness and To Death
before you start this one, but let's just say their circumstances have drastically changed as this book begins. Not that it seems to make anything easier for the pair. What do they say..the course of true love never did run smooth. Perhaps not smooth but very engaging for readers.And I must say that while I found the entire book very interesting and attention holding, probably my favorite of the series so far, it really worked itself up to a wonderful, climactic ending, a true cliff hanger.
The good news is that I am finally up to date with this series. The even better news it that Spenser-Flemings's next, One Was a Soldier
, will be published shortly, on April 12th.From my personal library.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
A Review of "Sing You Home" [14]
Sing You Home: A Novel
by Jodi PicoultAtria, ISBN 978-1439102725
March 1, 2011, 480 pages
Music therapist Zoe Baxter and her husband Max, want desperately to have a child and all their failing attempts are starting to take a huge medical, financial and emotion toll on their marriage. When she suffers a heartbreaking stillbirth well into her last pregnancy, it is the final straw for the marriage and Max walks out of the house and out of their life together. Dealing with both these losses, very depressed, Zoe finds herself turned around by the friendship of a counselor at one of the schools she works at, a friendship that turns quickly (perhaps too quickly to be really believable) into a romance. Add to that the fact that her new love is a woman, Vanessa.Suddenly I am seized by a cramp so intense that all the breath rushes out of my body and I jackknife forward.“Zoe?” My mother’s voice seems far away. I struggle to my feet.Twenty-eight weeks, I think. Too soon.Another current rips through me. As I fall against my mother, I feel a warm gush between my legs. “My water,” I whisper. “I think it just broke.”But when I glance down, I am standing in a pool of blood.
Quickly (maybe too quickly again) married in Massachusetts, the couple decide to get use the frozen embryos Zoe and Max have to try and have a baby together, with Zoe's new spouse carrying the child. But when she goes to Max to get permission, she finds herself in the middle of a court case, being sued for custody.
While I admit I have not read a lot of Ms. Picoult books, I totally loved My Sister's Keeper...and not just for the amazing ending. So when I read that she had a new book coming out, and the topics sounded so interesting, so timely, I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy. I opened the package and started reading it immediately.
Rarely have I been so disappointed in a book. Not for the controversial subject matter, no, not at all! In fact, just the opposite. No, what disappointed me is that Sing Me Home presents these topics in such a one sided, unfair, incomplete way, so less than what they deserve.
I have seen a number of rave reviews for this book in the last few days. I can not agree.
Picoult is a fine writer...and she does know how to create a good ending. I will happily give her that. And I must say that the book got off to a good start. The parts about the husband and wife's infertility, their marriage falling apart, her finding love in a totally unexpected place, was very good and I was hopeful that I was going to like this book. Then, for me, it fell off a cliff.
I may suggest that part of the problem is that this books wants to take on just too many controversial questions in one book. These are interesting and very important questions presented in this book, questions no doubt decided in many a court case these days. But these issues deserve better than the one sided, one dimensional portrayal Picoult gives us.
On Zoe's side, the characters are almost saints, noble, good, selfless people. Even her lawyer, who will soon be getting a halo no doubt, is just such a nice person. How can you not agree with her? Zoe and Vanessa are so nice, how can we not want them to win?
On the ex-husband's side, everyone is evil and conniving, with totally selfish and nasty motivations. Max is a weak fool, with a reoccurring drinking problem, being used by others for their own, selfish, evil reasons. His lawyer is so loathsome that he only lacks a waxed mustache to twirl as he laughs a creepy laugh, to be complete. Yes, it is hard to portray people we really disagree with as decent people, with valid arguments..so much easier to paint them with a broad, ugly brush...and results in a book that could have been so much better.
As I said, I think this books starts by exploring some serious and timely topics that deserve better than the caricatures that the author descends into in the last half of the book. I don't think we get far in a discussion, as individuals or as a society, by just painting 'the other side', whatever that might be, as fools or idiots or evildoers. If you agree with the author's point of view and just want that reinforced, you may like this book and not see a problem. If you really want a fair and comprehensive exploration of some of this issues, something that makes you think, maybe makes you take another look at both sides, you will have to look elsewhere.
Rarely has a book disappointed me so much for what it could have been and was not, because the author decided to take the 'easy' way out.
My thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Musing Monday..Let Me Grab My Rose Colored Glasses
I am late on my Musing today.Jury duty is over...justice has been done, and it is back to work...and let me tell ya, I had a lot more time to read and muse and blog when I at jury duty!
So late, but here is the question this week...as always from Miz B at Should Be Reading.
This week’s musing asks…Which do you prefer: Adult -or- Young Adult books? Or, both? Why?To tell you the truth, before I started blogging and reading a lot of book blogs, I was not really aware that there was this whole genre called Young Adult or YA books. Now I have read some, but I wondered if there was some sort of definitive explanation of what makes a YA book and who better to ask than Wikipedia! So what do they say. Well, pretty much that it is a very wide and rather fluid term. It can be science fiction or mysteries or fantasy but a great deal of it falls into a contemporary fiction with a sort of 'coming of age' spin. Usually the protaganist is a young person and very often, especially in the ones of the last couple of decades, "has portrayed teens confronting situations and social issues that have pushed the edge of then-acceptable content."
I know many of my fellow bloggers may disagree with me. I know many read a lot of YA books themselves and like them a great deal, but I can't really say I share the same enthusiasm. I guess this whole issue of how these edgy topics, this 'acceptable content' is handled is where I begin to have a bit of a problem with some, maybe a lot, of these YA books. The author of the entry in Wikipedia goes on to list a large number of books in this genre and the issues the books deal with...sex, incest, rape, drugs, depression, alcohol, kidnapping, drug trafficking, self-mutilation, suicide, abuse, violence...the list goes on and on. Charming...
I touched on this idea in a YA book I reviewed awhile back...it was a book that most bloggers loved and I surely did not. Yes, I am not naive enough not to know that some of these things, some of these issues, will actually effect some young people. A sad and tragic situation, but really, is it so common, so pervasive that kids have to be exposed to it again and again? Am I naive to think that the world they experience in books might be unlifting and nobel and hopeful...at least sometimes? Is it wrong to think that even kids that are having a hard time in their lives might not find in books an escape, a vision of a better world?
Kids are not fully formed. Their view of life is limited. You know the idea that we are what we consume? Well, we are...we are what we eat, and how we spend our days, and what we watch on TV and the games we play, and the sites we surf on the internet and the books we read. All these things form who we are, how we see the world. I am afraid that with young people it is even more powerful, they they are even more vulnerable to all these negative, 'edgy' images and they might really draw young people down instead of helping to lift them up.
And I really wonder if most parents even know it is an issue. They might worry about what their kids might see at the movies or experience in a video game, and often with cause. But they see them reading a book from the library and think that is great and never consider that maybe the parents should be checking the books out before their child reads it.
Now, I don't want to paint with too broad a brush. I have read a few YA books that I liked and thought were good and would be happy to see a child reading. Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy was, I though, entertaining and explored some important ideas in a pretty positive way. Yes, they were pretty violent in places...but I don't really think they were ever negative. And then take the books of Jacqueline Woodson, several of which I liked a great deal. They are books that, yes, deal with some of those 'edgy' topics. But they do so in such a sensitive, almost quiet way, and are so beautifully written that even while they can be sad, they are still positive and hopeful.
Bottom line, I am not very impressed with a lot of what falls in the YA category...and if I were a parent, I would be carefully checking it out before little Johnny or Susie reads it. Maybe getting them some copies of Anne of Green Gables or Treasure Island or The Yearling...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Weekend Cooking..The Perfect Cheesesteak?
I am really not a big sandwich eater, but if you read my blog, you might not know that. Several times over the course of my Weekend Cooking posts, it seems that I have written about favorite sandwiches and this week are we going to take a look at what is maybe my very favorite...The Cheesesteak.
To my mind there is a Philadelphia style cheesesteak, which is ok, and then there is a perfect cheesesteak, the White House cheesesteak, which is very, very good.
Some things are the same. The meat used is usually very, very thinly rib-eyed steak that is fried on a griddle, usually chopped up with a metal spatula as it cooks. Sometimes it is cooked on a bed of onions, so the meat does not dry out and become overly done. But from the minute that you put it on bread, the differences take over. In Philly, they use a softer, torpedo shaped roll, a soft roll, often the Amoroso brand. Eeek! No, a really good sandwich deserves a really good roll and in the Atlantic City area that means a fine, fine bread like those found at Formica's Bakery, conveniently located just down the street from the White House. A whole sub will use the full, thin, long loaf of bread, a 'half' will be...well, half a loaf, about 12 inches long. Firm, chewy, delicious and able to stand up to the hot, moist ingredients of a cheesesteak without falling apart.
Then there is the cheese. Many places in Philly offer Cheese Whiz or American cheese on their cheesesteaks. Oh, heavens, that is so, so wrong. The cheese must be real provolone cheese. Period. Cheese Whiz is an abomination.
Perfection!
The White House is an Atlantic City institution, with photos of countless celebrities that have eaten there over the decades lining the walls. And speaking of lines, you will often find one in the summer, winding out the door as people wait to snag one of the booths inside. The pace inside can be frantic and to tell the truth, I often find the people who work there rather intimidating. Best to call in your order ahead when they are busy, and have someone circle the block in the car as someone else runs in to get that fragrant paper bag, full of cheesesteak goodness.
Did I mention perfection?
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.
Friday, February 25, 2011
A Review of "Maisie Dobbs" [13]
by Jacqueline WinspearPenguin Books, ISBN 978-0142004333
May 25, 2004, 320 pages
From the opening paragraphs of Maisie Dobbs we realize we have in this young woman, for whom the book is named, a bit of an enigma. The newspaper vendor, who is observing her as she leaves the tube station of London in 1929, noting her appearance, her bearing, and assume she is from old money. But when she stops to buy a paper and speaks to him, he realizes his assumption is not quite right. From the familiar way she deals with him he know that while, yes, she certainly is a young woman with a certain presence, she is not from old money. As we follow her to the office where she will be setting up her private detective agency, quite the unusual occupation for a woman in the 20's, we can not help but be intrigued about what her story might be. Happily, in this, the first book in the Maisie Dobbs series, we are going to find actually that out.
Maisie is not from a wealthy family, in fact quite the opposite. Just 13 years old when we meet her, her mother dead from an illness that depleted the small savings of her father who sells vegetables from a horse drawn cart, the future her parents saw for her appears gone. Maisie is a smart girl, a very smart girl, and they hoped to be able to save enough money to continue her education. But that dream gone now, she is sent to work as a maid for a very wealthy family in their beautiful London home, a home that contains what is for Maisie something she can not ignore...a wonderful library. The young girl starts rising in the very early hours of the morning so she can spend an hour or two in secret, reading all these wonderful book.
When she is discover by the Lady of the house, she fears she will be fired, but in fact, realizing what an exceptional mind Maisie has, Lady Compton allows her to start a program of study under the tutelage of family friend, Maurice Blanche. Maurice is a man with an extraordinary perceptive nature, his own rather mysterious background and quite the education it will be. This arrangement will continue for years, finally culminating in her admittance to Cambridge. But all will not go quite so smoothly because across the Channel, war, the Great War, is breaking out and soon Maisie will be in the thick of it as a nurse.
As the book opens, it is a decade after the end of the war, but her very first case, a husband who thinks his wife may be unfaithful, will soon lead to another mystery..then another, and before she knows it Maisie..and the reader...are being drawn back to the battlefields of France. It is an experience that left Maisie, and the countless men who came home wounded in body and in mind, some horribly disfigured, and so many who never came home, changed forever.
I first read about this series in a review by She Is Too Fond Of Books who is taking part in the “I’m Mad for Maisie” Readalong at Book Club Girl’s site. I may be late to the read-a-long but this is certainly a series that I will be continuing in my own time, because this was a very enjoyable book. At the heart of that enjoyment is the character of Maisie. She is very smart, very clever and like her mentor Maurice, very perceptive. Yet she is also still a bit of a mystery, with some questions that will, no doubt, be explored in future books in the series. Honestly, I am not usually a fan of historical novels, but the author is able to make Maisie's experience in the War so personal that the reader can not help but be drawn in and shocked by what we 'see'.
And while this is in part a mystery story, it is also very much an exploration of personalities, and families, and friendship. We see her with her charming and loving father Frankie, her mentor Maurice, her benefactor Lady Compton, her friends at Cambridge and as she starts her business and finally, most tragically, with Simon, loved and 'lost'. Each is a relationship that, no doubt, we will see more of in future books, much to the reader pleasure.
A good story, with an interesting if not too complicated mystery, a fascinating setting, wonderful, unusual characters, great writing..what more can a reader want?
Well, how about six more books with the eighth, A Lesson in Secrets, that will be published by HarperCollins in March 2011. I have a lot of catching up to do! So many books...so little time....
Borrowed from my local public library.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
I Will Be Back...
Of course, I got picked. I always do...
But I am happy to do my duty and fulfill my obligation as a citizen.
Well, pretty much.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A review of "Out of the Deep I Cry" [12]
Out of the Deep I Cry (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery)
by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Minotaur Books, ISBN 978-0312312626
April 26, 2004, 336 pages
In this, the third in the Fergusson-Van Alstyne series, once again we are back in the Adirondack Mountains of NY, in the town of Millers Kill. We will soon be pursuing mysteries of the past and of the present and following the latest development in the relationship of the Reverend Clare Fergusson, ex-military helicopter pilot and present day Episcopal priest of St. Alban's Church and Russ Van Alstyne, himself a retired career military man and now the town sheriff.
When the roof of the historic church springs a very bad leak, threatening to damage the stained glass windows and the beautiful interior and soon bring the roof in on their heads, Clare realizes they will have to come up with a good sum of money and come up with it quickly. So it seems like a godsend when one of the vestry members, Lacey Ketchem Marshall, offers to liquidate a trust fund that was left to her by her deceased mother to pay for the repairs. But Clare is not quite as happy to find that it will mean a loss of some of the funds that go to support the local free clinic, a clinic that was also founded by Mrs. Marshall's mother.
And that woman, Jane Ketchem, is also at the center of one of the mysteries in this book, a mystery that reaches back to the 1920's. She was a woman surrounded by tragedy, with the loss of 4 of her young children to diphtheria and then the loss of her husband, who just appears to have wandered off one evening, leaving not a trace. She was a woman who was a bit feared by some but also an admired woman, for her gifts to the town of the clinic, her gift of paying for the education of the doctor that has worked there for the last 30 years and leaving a trust that has helped support the clinic to the present day. But Clare can not help but wonder how a widow, seemingly a woman of modest means, with no job, was able to pull off that financial trick.
And it is that clinic doctor, Dr. Allan Rouse, whose disappearance is at the heart of the present day mystery. Everyone says he had been upset recently, maybe depressed, so did he kill himself, just wandering off on to the half frozen lake. Or did he make someone so angry that they lost control and did the unthinkable. It does not take the police long to find one very obvious suspect..but what happen to the body?
And then, of course, as with all the books in this series, we have the developing relationship between Clare and Russ. There is the problem that Russ is married, and actually in love with his wife, the wife that Clare actually gets to meet in this installment. But neither Clare nor Russ can deny that what they are feeling is more than friendship. Clare knows that she is playing with fire, and they both try to do the right thing...but doing the right thing is often easier said than done.
This is a series that really should be read in order...which attentive readers may have noticed I am not. Do as I say, not as I do!
But because of that, I know some of the developments in the whole Clare/Russ saga that take place in future books in the series, but worry not, I will spill no beans!
Still, what do they say...the course of true love is never smooth, and I must say that I find their relationship just a little annoying. They are always walking a fine line, with occasional trips over that line. Maybe Clare, the Good Reverend, needs to reread that part in the New Testament about how he..or she...who lusts in the heart commits adultery. I guess I should be happy in a book these days that the issue of being faithful to one's vows is considered important at all but still...
It also drives me nuts that Clare is still driving that totally impractical car in the snowy mountains in this installment. If she has to call AAA or get someone to tow her out of the snow one more time, I am going to scream...lol
But these small annoyances are far outweighed by a very well written and very engaging story, with a couple of good mysteries for the reader to figure out. The book takes us back and forth in time, from Jane Ketchem's story in the 1920's to the 1950's, to the present day, and back again, revealing the information we need bit by bit.There are a number of interconnected plot lines, from the past and the present. This could have been confusing, but I think the author pulls it off very well. As in all the books in this series the author also weaves in a few timely issues, in this one foremost is the question of the safety of vaccinations and the storyline presents a conclusion that you may or may not agree with, but which is always interesting. And finally, as always in Fleming-Spenser books, at the heart of the mysteries are the stories of some great characters, well told, stories laced with guilt and heart breaking decisions and very real human emotions.
A very good series...and yes, one best read in order.
by Julia Spencer-FlemingMinotaur Books, ISBN 978-0312312626
April 26, 2004, 336 pages
In this, the third in the Fergusson-Van Alstyne series, once again we are back in the Adirondack Mountains of NY, in the town of Millers Kill. We will soon be pursuing mysteries of the past and of the present and following the latest development in the relationship of the Reverend Clare Fergusson, ex-military helicopter pilot and present day Episcopal priest of St. Alban's Church and Russ Van Alstyne, himself a retired career military man and now the town sheriff. When the roof of the historic church springs a very bad leak, threatening to damage the stained glass windows and the beautiful interior and soon bring the roof in on their heads, Clare realizes they will have to come up with a good sum of money and come up with it quickly. So it seems like a godsend when one of the vestry members, Lacey Ketchem Marshall, offers to liquidate a trust fund that was left to her by her deceased mother to pay for the repairs. But Clare is not quite as happy to find that it will mean a loss of some of the funds that go to support the local free clinic, a clinic that was also founded by Mrs. Marshall's mother.
And that woman, Jane Ketchem, is also at the center of one of the mysteries in this book, a mystery that reaches back to the 1920's. She was a woman surrounded by tragedy, with the loss of 4 of her young children to diphtheria and then the loss of her husband, who just appears to have wandered off one evening, leaving not a trace. She was a woman who was a bit feared by some but also an admired woman, for her gifts to the town of the clinic, her gift of paying for the education of the doctor that has worked there for the last 30 years and leaving a trust that has helped support the clinic to the present day. But Clare can not help but wonder how a widow, seemingly a woman of modest means, with no job, was able to pull off that financial trick.
And it is that clinic doctor, Dr. Allan Rouse, whose disappearance is at the heart of the present day mystery. Everyone says he had been upset recently, maybe depressed, so did he kill himself, just wandering off on to the half frozen lake. Or did he make someone so angry that they lost control and did the unthinkable. It does not take the police long to find one very obvious suspect..but what happen to the body?
And then, of course, as with all the books in this series, we have the developing relationship between Clare and Russ. There is the problem that Russ is married, and actually in love with his wife, the wife that Clare actually gets to meet in this installment. But neither Clare nor Russ can deny that what they are feeling is more than friendship. Clare knows that she is playing with fire, and they both try to do the right thing...but doing the right thing is often easier said than done.
This is a series that really should be read in order...which attentive readers may have noticed I am not. Do as I say, not as I do!
But because of that, I know some of the developments in the whole Clare/Russ saga that take place in future books in the series, but worry not, I will spill no beans!
Still, what do they say...the course of true love is never smooth, and I must say that I find their relationship just a little annoying. They are always walking a fine line, with occasional trips over that line. Maybe Clare, the Good Reverend, needs to reread that part in the New Testament about how he..or she...who lusts in the heart commits adultery. I guess I should be happy in a book these days that the issue of being faithful to one's vows is considered important at all but still...
It also drives me nuts that Clare is still driving that totally impractical car in the snowy mountains in this installment. If she has to call AAA or get someone to tow her out of the snow one more time, I am going to scream...lol
But these small annoyances are far outweighed by a very well written and very engaging story, with a couple of good mysteries for the reader to figure out. The book takes us back and forth in time, from Jane Ketchem's story in the 1920's to the 1950's, to the present day, and back again, revealing the information we need bit by bit.There are a number of interconnected plot lines, from the past and the present. This could have been confusing, but I think the author pulls it off very well. As in all the books in this series the author also weaves in a few timely issues, in this one foremost is the question of the safety of vaccinations and the storyline presents a conclusion that you may or may not agree with, but which is always interesting. And finally, as always in Fleming-Spenser books, at the heart of the mysteries are the stories of some great characters, well told, stories laced with guilt and heart breaking decisions and very real human emotions.
A very good series...and yes, one best read in order.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)