So, the books I'm reviewing today have almost nothing in common, except that they describe different cultures, two are novels and one is non-fiction...
The first, Neil MacFarquhar's The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes you a Happy Birthday, is an amazing book. This should be required reading for any American diplomat or newsperson working in or with the Middle East. He lays out, clearly, why the US has such a huge problem in this region of the world. He even lays out some ways we could improve our image. He also, in part because he grew up in Libya, and speaks Arabic fluently, 'gets' a lot of the cultures, the humor, the mindset. So often, the Middle East is portrayed as this dangerous place, full of terrorists, where women are muffled under scarves and draperies... and he really shows some of the true facets of the Middle East. The mentality, the humor, the coping mechanisms.... and he ends, literally, on a note of hope.
The second, a novel, by Sarah Dunant, called Sacred Hearts, is a fabulous book. I felt hesitant when starting it, just because I could not imagine how powerful it would be, how ultimately uplifting. Set in 1570 in the convent of Santa Catarina, in Ferrarra, Italy, it is an incredibly moving book, in part about the power of faith, but also the power of friendship, love, and hope... I would never have dreamed that a book about nuns could be so finely crafted, and so evocative of the lives and times depicted...
The third, The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, is just a sweet book. A love story, in some ways, but also very telling and clarifying of the culture... It just offers a wonderful glimpse into a way of life that doesn't really exist for white-Anglo-Saxon women. You get to see how different arranged marriages are, and just the different ways people are coupled... and how people can grow into a perfect match as well as falling in love. It gives a picture of life for the middle (and upper middle) classes in India. As well as how modern life is impacting. Just a thoroughtly charming book, full of love and hope.
So really, all three of these books have a common theme, as well as that of different cultures, its hope.... they are all uplifting books in the end...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Not Robert Jordan after all....
Of course, I am talking about S.M Stirling's latest novel of The Change, The Sword of the Lady. This series actually began with a trilogy of books about the Island of Nantucket, which got sent back in time to the Bronze Age. He then wrote a couple of other things, and then started the Change series, adding up to three trilogies. This one I really enjoyed because you got to see more re-imagining of how other traditions/cultures survived the Change, which, frankly, I enjoy more than the battle series. Stirling could end the series here, and I would be content. There was enough 'foreshadowing' in the book to satisfy the 'what happens next?', even though the ending came quickly and seemed rather abrupt. It did start feeling, while reading the third trilogy, the length of time it would have taken them to cross the US... I did feel that it was dragging a little at times, although this one had a better pace to it than the previous book.
If I had one criticism of Stirling, it would be that he didn't bring enough sense of other cultures onto the books... but he does do a great job with what he does.
If I had one criticism of Stirling, it would be that he didn't bring enough sense of other cultures onto the books... but he does do a great job with what he does.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Sisters Who Would Be Queen
This book could be alternatively titled, "How History Gets Rewritten". A fascinating biography of the Grey sisters. We all have heard of Lady Jane Grey, but not so much about her sisters. It actually even turns out that what we thought we knew is so much less than the bigger picture....
and the status and marriages of the Grey sisters were, in part, what influenced Elizabeth not to marry.
I found it a fascinating look into some of the political points and counterpoints of the end of the Tudor reign, and also an interesting look into the education and upbringing of a new generation, of the first real generation of Protestant women, and how that factored into their lives...
It is also very readable. A lot of histories can get cluttered up with the same people who have different names, or other issues.... and this one avoids a lot of that. She also has family trees in the book, making it possible to look back and follow who a certain person is and what their relationships are to one another.
Its a very well-written, concise, thoughtful book about the impact one family had....
and the status and marriages of the Grey sisters were, in part, what influenced Elizabeth not to marry.
I found it a fascinating look into some of the political points and counterpoints of the end of the Tudor reign, and also an interesting look into the education and upbringing of a new generation, of the first real generation of Protestant women, and how that factored into their lives...
It is also very readable. A lot of histories can get cluttered up with the same people who have different names, or other issues.... and this one avoids a lot of that. She also has family trees in the book, making it possible to look back and follow who a certain person is and what their relationships are to one another.
Its a very well-written, concise, thoughtful book about the impact one family had....
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Fat, Cakes and Good Eats.
So, I've been on a cookbook binge recently. (These are all library cookbooks, btw, so I don't own them, yet)
fat: an appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient, with recipes
by Jennifer McLagan
This was a fascinating cookbook. As a result of reading it I went out and hunted down real leaf lard to play with. It is structured differently than other cookbooks, with recipes by fat source, rather than dessert or appetizer. She begins with butter, the most commonly available fat, moves on to pork, then poultry (including duck fat, mmmmm) and beef and lamb fats. It also follows in the traditions of books like the Omnivore's dilemma, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in demystifying something that has become fraught with negative connotations.
Some of the recipes seemed a little over-the-top to me, as I really wonder if anyone would make bacon baklava, it seemed as if, in some ways, she was searching for more unusual ways to use an ingredient, but on the whole, it was a fascinating cookbook. I'm not sure that I would render lard in order to deep-fry, but apparently it does not create an odor, and can be reused! She does have a section on deep-frying with lard. With all the information we now have on quality fats, it really shows that less-processed (ie unhydrogenated) fats do have a place in our lives. This is one cookbook that would be a great buy for any meat-eating foodie on your list!
Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Berenbaum
This is a fabulous baking book. She has a section on gluten-free (or almost so) cakes and desserts, where the gluten component can be removed and the dessert will still be successful. She goes by weights as well as cups in the book, so it is a little different from the cookbooks I grew up with. She also seems to understand that while baking is somewhat chemistry, it is also somewhat intuitive as well. The other thing I loved about this cookbook is that it has fantastic resources. Resources for all the ingredients/decorations that a lot of other cookbooks use, and then forget where to tell you to buy them. She also has a section on cakes made with oil, which do require a different mentality to make. I do wish she had mentioned (and maybe she didn't realise this) but cakes made with Wondra or pastry flour are easier to convert to gluten-free, since both/either are low-gluten flours. Cheesecake and flourless chocolate torte are wonderful, but g-f people can get a little tired of those! It was still nice to have some mainstreamed options in a cookbook dedicated to baking.
Good Eats, The Early Years, by Alton Brown.
This is a fun compilation of the first six seasons of Good Eats. The one quibble I have with this cookbook is the footnotes. On the one hand, its cute, on the other, I found myself finding the footnotes box first, and reading through the episode with an eye on the footnotes because they were odd footnotes. Often on ingredients, or methods, or the history. Some of them would have been better served as being notes at the end of the recipe, or simply incorporated into the text. That being said, that was really my biggest issue with the book. It was fun reading about the different episodes, seeing the recipes in one place, and seeing what they would have added if they'd had time. I loved the little nuggets of trivia (and I think that was what annoyed me about some of the footnotes, is that they would have done better as trivia).
fat: an appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient, with recipes
by Jennifer McLagan
This was a fascinating cookbook. As a result of reading it I went out and hunted down real leaf lard to play with. It is structured differently than other cookbooks, with recipes by fat source, rather than dessert or appetizer. She begins with butter, the most commonly available fat, moves on to pork, then poultry (including duck fat, mmmmm) and beef and lamb fats. It also follows in the traditions of books like the Omnivore's dilemma, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in demystifying something that has become fraught with negative connotations.
Some of the recipes seemed a little over-the-top to me, as I really wonder if anyone would make bacon baklava, it seemed as if, in some ways, she was searching for more unusual ways to use an ingredient, but on the whole, it was a fascinating cookbook. I'm not sure that I would render lard in order to deep-fry, but apparently it does not create an odor, and can be reused! She does have a section on deep-frying with lard. With all the information we now have on quality fats, it really shows that less-processed (ie unhydrogenated) fats do have a place in our lives. This is one cookbook that would be a great buy for any meat-eating foodie on your list!
Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Berenbaum
This is a fabulous baking book. She has a section on gluten-free (or almost so) cakes and desserts, where the gluten component can be removed and the dessert will still be successful. She goes by weights as well as cups in the book, so it is a little different from the cookbooks I grew up with. She also seems to understand that while baking is somewhat chemistry, it is also somewhat intuitive as well. The other thing I loved about this cookbook is that it has fantastic resources. Resources for all the ingredients/decorations that a lot of other cookbooks use, and then forget where to tell you to buy them. She also has a section on cakes made with oil, which do require a different mentality to make. I do wish she had mentioned (and maybe she didn't realise this) but cakes made with Wondra or pastry flour are easier to convert to gluten-free, since both/either are low-gluten flours. Cheesecake and flourless chocolate torte are wonderful, but g-f people can get a little tired of those! It was still nice to have some mainstreamed options in a cookbook dedicated to baking.
Good Eats, The Early Years, by Alton Brown.
This is a fun compilation of the first six seasons of Good Eats. The one quibble I have with this cookbook is the footnotes. On the one hand, its cute, on the other, I found myself finding the footnotes box first, and reading through the episode with an eye on the footnotes because they were odd footnotes. Often on ingredients, or methods, or the history. Some of them would have been better served as being notes at the end of the recipe, or simply incorporated into the text. That being said, that was really my biggest issue with the book. It was fun reading about the different episodes, seeing the recipes in one place, and seeing what they would have added if they'd had time. I loved the little nuggets of trivia (and I think that was what annoyed me about some of the footnotes, is that they would have done better as trivia).
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Warbreaker.
This book, by Brandon Sanderson, (who, incidentally has been chosen to finish up Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series) is superb. It is a well-imagined, well-crafted world. He pulls us into it very artfully, explaining some of the basic concepts we need to understand the natural laws of that world). Unfortunately, there is a little spoiler on the back cover, which, fortunately, I didn't read until afterwards.
It has not one, but two heroines, who start to blossom at the beginning of the book, and really grow into their characters and become really strong women. Its refreshing to see such well-written women who are strong, not vapid, but who are trying to find their footings in strange circumstances. There are gods, men, evil men, plots within plots, and Sanderson gently leads us down the garden path...
I found it a truly enjoyable novel, in the best tradition of a fantasy novel, as it has all the elements of a traditional one, but combined in unexpected ways.... he even includes a magic sword!
It has not one, but two heroines, who start to blossom at the beginning of the book, and really grow into their characters and become really strong women. Its refreshing to see such well-written women who are strong, not vapid, but who are trying to find their footings in strange circumstances. There are gods, men, evil men, plots within plots, and Sanderson gently leads us down the garden path...
I found it a truly enjoyable novel, in the best tradition of a fantasy novel, as it has all the elements of a traditional one, but combined in unexpected ways.... he even includes a magic sword!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Bitter and the Sweet.
Its Not That I'm Bitter by Gina Barreca.
This was interesting and humorous. I'm not usually a person who laughs out loud at books, but I did at this one at various points. In some ways, it really does describe the life of a modern woman, of the pitfalls and inconsistencies of modern life. She had me nodding in agreement when she asked where Carrie Fisher is... where are the spunky female movie heroines? Its true... Leia gave as good as she got, and more so, in the Star Wars movies... her mother? Got pregnant and died. (disclaimer here, I have never seen the 'prequels', never wanted to, but even I know that Anakin's mom was a wimp in the movie, let alone Padme Amidala...) You are preaching to the choir here, Gina... we haven't really had a good, spunky female heroine since Star Wars. Even in TV land. She also addresses the myth of Prince Charming, who "marries Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and for all we know he's also knocked up Mother Goose." (30) And, hey, we all have a little 'crazy astronaut lady' in us...
Its a book that rings true, about the "I'm not bitter, but COME ON..." pitfalls of daily life as a modern feminist woman...
The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz.
Some parts of this book ring so true... you do get dressed, in Paris, to take out the recycling/trash. Some things ring less true for me, but that may be because I'm a French speaker, so hadn't run into that particular issue, ever. I'm also not a gay man (surprise!), but on the whole, it was a tres amusant petit livre. With some wonderful looking recipes... Its a funny little memoir of an American in Paris, and his culture shock.
This was interesting and humorous. I'm not usually a person who laughs out loud at books, but I did at this one at various points. In some ways, it really does describe the life of a modern woman, of the pitfalls and inconsistencies of modern life. She had me nodding in agreement when she asked where Carrie Fisher is... where are the spunky female movie heroines? Its true... Leia gave as good as she got, and more so, in the Star Wars movies... her mother? Got pregnant and died. (disclaimer here, I have never seen the 'prequels', never wanted to, but even I know that Anakin's mom was a wimp in the movie, let alone Padme Amidala...) You are preaching to the choir here, Gina... we haven't really had a good, spunky female heroine since Star Wars. Even in TV land. She also addresses the myth of Prince Charming, who "marries Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and for all we know he's also knocked up Mother Goose." (30) And, hey, we all have a little 'crazy astronaut lady' in us...
Its a book that rings true, about the "I'm not bitter, but COME ON..." pitfalls of daily life as a modern feminist woman...
The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz.
Some parts of this book ring so true... you do get dressed, in Paris, to take out the recycling/trash. Some things ring less true for me, but that may be because I'm a French speaker, so hadn't run into that particular issue, ever. I'm also not a gay man (surprise!), but on the whole, it was a tres amusant petit livre. With some wonderful looking recipes... Its a funny little memoir of an American in Paris, and his culture shock.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Two Biographies...
each alike in integrity, setting a scene in wildly different locales, yet both resonated with me.
First comes Love, then comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite.
This was a fantastic book. A real-life love story and adventure, which I did not want to end. It had a bit of a rough start, which did initially put me off the book a little... the beginning felt a little too superficial somehow, and while I understand that this was for contrast with the later portions, it could have been achieved a little more smoothly. The book does recover quickly from a shaky first chapter and plunges you into the story of her experiences, first in the Peace Corps in Ecuador, and then in Uganda. I just really enjoyed reading about the people, places, and experiences she had. Some of them evoked my own childhood in Egypt.
Not Becoming My Motherby Ruth Reichl.
Reichl takes an unusual tack in this book about her mother... she talks, proudly of not becoming her mother, but of becoming what her mother wanted her to be. She talks about this in the context of her mother's own life and experiences and thwarted desires...
First comes Love, then comes Malaria by Eve Brown-Waite.
This was a fantastic book. A real-life love story and adventure, which I did not want to end. It had a bit of a rough start, which did initially put me off the book a little... the beginning felt a little too superficial somehow, and while I understand that this was for contrast with the later portions, it could have been achieved a little more smoothly. The book does recover quickly from a shaky first chapter and plunges you into the story of her experiences, first in the Peace Corps in Ecuador, and then in Uganda. I just really enjoyed reading about the people, places, and experiences she had. Some of them evoked my own childhood in Egypt.
Not Becoming My Motherby Ruth Reichl.
Reichl takes an unusual tack in this book about her mother... she talks, proudly of not becoming her mother, but of becoming what her mother wanted her to be. She talks about this in the context of her mother's own life and experiences and thwarted desires...
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