Book Beginning: The Things You Would Have Said

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.  Please remember to include the title of the book and the author.

Leave a link to your post.  If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.




MY BOOK BEGINNING

 

I have spent the last few years collecting letters from complete strangers.

 -- The Things You Would Have Said: The Chance to Say What You Always Wanted Them to Know, edited by Jackie Hooper.

This is the book edition of the popular blog by the same name.  It contains letters written by real people to others who have passed out of their lives -- parents, friends, enemies, their childhood selves, etc.  The letters are incredible.

This has huge Mother's Day potential.

What Are They Reading? Dressed for Death

Authors tend to be readers, so it is natural for them to create characters who like to read.  It is always interesting to me to read what books the characters are reading in the books I read. Even if I can't say that ten times fast.

Usually, the characters' choice of books reflects the author's tastes or, I sometimes think, what the author was reading at the time.  But sometimes the character's reading material is a clue to the character's personality, or is even a part of the story. 

This is an occasional blog event. If anyone wants to join in, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your related post. And feel free to use the button.  If this catches on, I can pick a day and make it a weekly event.

Dressed for Death by Donna Leon



In this third installment in Leon's Venice-based series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti, both Guido and his wife Paola are reading some pretty heavy tomes.

Paola is on vacation with the kids in the mountains, escaping the August heat of Venice.  Apparently she is a big Henry James fan and is reading his novel, The Sacred Fount.  Paola and I are going to have to agree to disagree about James.  He will never be one of my favorites, as I discussed here and here.

Stuck in the city to solve a mystery, Guido draws inspiration from Tacitus, reading the classic author's History of Rome.

Whew!  Maybe Paola and Guido need to take a break and read a good mystery!

Review: BabyLit Books

 

These BabyLit books are adorable!  I have Little Master Carroll and Little Miss Brontë in front of me, but there are several more available in Jennifer Adams's new series for budding bibliophiles.

The Alice in Wonderland adaptation is a "colors primer"; the Jane Eyre a "counting primer." Both incorporate imaginative, beautiful, captivating images by Alison Oliver inspired by the classics they emulate.  They are not summaries of the plots by any means, giving only the merest nods to the originals.  But they are baby picture books, after all, not graphic novels. 

I don't have a baby or a toddler to read them with, and can't speculate as to what holds a wee bairns's attention, book-wise.  The boards seem plenty sturdy for little teeth and slick enough not to absorb drool, which seems like a good endorsement for a baby book.

For me, the point of these is that they are super cute for adults trying to indoctrinate tiny readers early into a book culture -- either those adults actually reading to the little tykes or, like me, those looking for something fresh and clever to give as gifts to the newborns we come across. 

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your reviews of these or other BabyLit books listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

Teaser Tuesday: Bamboo Farmer Wisdom

Most are stopped by the start.  Identify your bamboo and start watering.

-- Bamboo Farmer Wisdom: 101 Inspirational Thoughts by Greg Bell.

This is a little gift-book companion to Bell's excellent Water The Bamboo: Unleashing The Potential Of Teams And Individuals, which I reviewed here. 

Bell uses the metaphor of bamboo farming as a formula for success.  The basic idea is that discipline and steadfastness towards a goal will achieve enormous results over time.





Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

This month, Mailbox Monday moves north, to somewhere near Quebec, where Cindy at Cindy's Love of Books is hosting.  Please stop by to visit her blog and join in the fun.

A lot of books came into my house last week, thanks mostly to a Multnomah County Library Friends' sale. 

A few of my favorites are:



The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver



Picked-Up Pieces by John Updike (essays and criticism)



The Flood by Ian Rankin (his first book, reissued; not a John Rebus novel)




Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (a cool, Modern Library edition with dustjacket!)



Nobody Move by Denis Johnson (great cover and I really liked Tree of Smoke)

Opening Sentence: On the Town in New York

American history books do little to describe the plight of New York City during the Revolution for the simple reason that it was an enemy base.

-- On the Town in New York: The Landmark History of Eating, Drinking, and Entertainments from the American Revolution to the Food Revolution by Michael and Ariane Batterberry.

So begins this classic culinary history of New York City, from 1776 to when the book was first published in 1973.  The 25th anniversary edition that I have adds a chapter on the era from about 1970 to 1998. 

So far, I'm up to the Civil War era.  As the title suggests, the book is mostly about restaurant and hotel dining, not home cooking and not New York's agriculture or food production.  This is about how people ate when they were On the Town.

I first read about this book when Anthony Bourdain recommended it in Kitchen Confidential. 

It is the first book I am reading this year for the Foodie Reading Challenge. hosted by Margot at Joyfully Retired.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginning: Bamboo Farmer Wisdom

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.  Please remember to include the title of the book and the author.

Leave a link to your post.  If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

A bamboo farmer buries a giant bamboo seed deep in the earth and waters it day after day.

-- Bamboo Farmer Wisdom: 101 Inspirational Thoughts by Greg Bell.



This is a little gift-book companion to Bell's excellent Water The Bamboo: Unleashing The Potential Of Teams And Individuals, which I reviewed here.



The Wisdom book did indeed come with a Water the Bamboo wristband.  My cats immediately disappeared it.

Pin This!

Uh oh. I jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon.  It is too fun to skip.

I'm there as Gilion Dumas.  So far, I've created boards that tie in with Rose City Reader, like Favorite Author boards, book review boards, and a board for the reading challenges I'm doing.  But I also added a couple of house, food, travel, and general interest boards.

If you are on Pinterest too, please leave a comment with your Pinterest user name so I can find you. Or follow me on Pinterest so I can find you and follow you back.

You know, now that I think of it, the same goes for twitter.  You can find me there @GilionDumas.

Teaser Tuesday: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents

FDR was famous for his fierce attacks on big business and "economic royalists."  But those who pose as his liberal heirs forget, if they ever knew in the first place, his equal concern for middle class opportunity and his endorsement of individual enterprise. 

-- The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama by Steven F. Hayward.

This book is a lot of fun and perfect for this election year.  

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

This month, Mailbox Monday moves north, to somewhere near Quebec, where Cindy at Cindy's Love of Books is hosting.  Please stop by to visit her blog and join in the fun.

I am on a roll with Ian Rankin's John Rebus series.  I just finished The Black Book, the fourth novel in the series, which I reviewed here.

So I was pleased as Punch to find a copy of Set in Darkness on my branch library's free paperback shelf.

Review: 100 Poems to Bestill Your Young Heart

100 Poems to Bestill Your Young Heart is an exuberant collection poetry by Portland writer Kenneth Woods.  Woods -- who is still in high school himself -- writes with the passion and pathos of every teenager with a wild heart and alert perception.

Some of the poems are funny, others are tender, a few overwrought, and all demonstrate an honest willingness to expose and examine the life of an American teen. It is a collection that would appeal to Woods's contemporaries, but has plenty to offer older generations.

One of my particular favorites is a short poem called "Can't Put My Finger On It" because I love the idea of "clarity of mind" coming together with "clarity of time":

Why do all my good ideas
Come to me
When I don't have
Anything to write
Them down with?

Why can I never
Have the clarity of mind
When I have the clarity
Of time
And space and
All other things that
Allow me to put them to
Any good use?

NOTES

April is National Poetry Month, so a great time to support young poets. 100 Poems to Bestill Your Young Heart is available on amazon, in paperback or kindle. It would make a great graduation gift, especially for creative types.

Review: The Black Book

 

The Black Book is the fourth novel in Ian Rankin's Edinburgh-based series featuring hard-bitten police detective John Rebus. This one finds Rebus poking into a five-year old mystery involving an unidentified body burned up in a hotel fire.

The series really hits its stride in this book. The first one, Knots and Crosses, is a good story in itself, but the mystery is too personal to Rebus to be a proper kick off for a series – it's a sprint, not the start of a marathon. Hide and Seek is better, but still a little thin. The third one, Tooth and Nail, finds Rebus seconded to Scotland Yard to find a screamingly improbable serial killer. It has the markings of an early manuscript dusted off to appease an eager publisher.

But The Black Book has none of these flaws. Rebus has filled out as a character, as has his supporting cast, and there are about 50 more pages, which gives Rankin the space to develop the main and side stories. Edinburgh's history and environs shape the story and provide plenty of color.

Completists should start the series at the beginning, but for those just looking for a great mystery, jump right in with The Black Book.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would ike your review of this or any of Rankin's other books listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it. 

NOTES

This counts as one of my books for the TBR challenges I am doing this year.

Book Beginnings: The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.  Please remember to include the title of the book and the author.

Leave a link to your post.  If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The Founding Fathers would be appalled by the modern presidency.

-- The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents: From Wilson to Obama by Steven F. Hayward.

This is exactly what I need for a refresher course on 20th+ Century Presidents. Hayward is as witty and irreverent as ever. And he gets right to the point with his system of grading US Presidents on how strictly they adhered to their oath to uphold the Constitution.  I'm learning while I'm laughing.

Opening Sentence: A Month of Sundays

Forgive me my denomination and my town; I am a Christian minister and an American.

A Month of Sundays by John Updike.

This rather coy beginning is understandable when the narrator, the Reverend Tom Marshfield, goes on to explain that he is spending a month in a rest home of sorts for disgraced clergy.   The novel takes the form of his daily journal entries describing, for the most part, his sexual exploits with the women in his congregation.

Teaser Tuesday: Understanding the Abuse of Adults

Quite often, by the time the relationship becomes sexualized, the victim is already deeply immersed; she has already heavily invested her heart in the relationship.  Many victims/survivors consider the religious leader to be a close friend; others have fallen in love with him/her, believing that s/he is "the one and only."

--  Understanding the Abuse of Adults by Catholic Clergy and Religious by Kathryn R, Byrne.

This book is a very well-written, accessible, and thoughtful discussion about a problem traditionally ignored.  It is a very good book.

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

This month, Mailbox Monday moves north, to somewhere near Quebec, where Cindy at Cindy's Love of Books is hosting.  Please stop by to visit her blog and join in the fun.

I got two quirky but cool books from OSU Press last week.   I love how they publish some offbeat stuff.



The Wet Engine: Exploring Mad Wild Miracle of Heart by Brian Doyle.




Wild Delicate Seconds: 29 Wildlife Encounters by Charles Finn.

Review: The World of Herb Caen

Herb Caen was San Francisco's legendary newspaper columnist. Barnaby Conrad describes Caen's prodigious work product in his introduction to The World of Herb Caen: San Francisco 1938 – 1997:

For almost six decades staring on July 5, 1938 – and except for yearly vacations and a 3 ½-year stint in the Army Air Force during World War II – Herb's column appeared, appeared, sparkling and infallible, to entertain and enlighten San Franciscans half a dozen times each and every week. In a typical year, he dropped 6,768 names, got 45,000 letters, 24,000 phone calls. If laid end to end, his columns would stretch 5.6 miles, from the Ferry Building to the Golden Gate Bridge. . . . It is an astounding and unduplicated feat, by far the longest-running newspaper column in the country.

Conrad – an author, restaurateur, and longtime friend of Caen's – compiled samples of Caen's columns, snippets from dozens of others, photos, and anecdotes about San Francisco's favorite newspaper man. The book is pure delight for Caen fans or any lover of "Baghdad by the Bay."

One of the best parts is seeing collected many of the "Herbisms" Caen invented, many of which have become common lingo in and out of San Francisco. He coined "beatnik," "glitterati," and "Berserkeley," for example. And all San Franciscans recognize "The Washbag" (Washington Square Bar & Grill) and "Da Mayor" (Willie Brown), among others. Some of Caen's clever word plays haven't stuck, but are still entertaining, like "the car-strangled spanner" for the Bay Bridge or "Skid Rogues" for the panhandlers on Market Street.

The only drawback to the book is that it is too short at only 126 (oversized) pages, many crammed with photographs of Caen, celebrities, and city scenes. Perhaps if it had been organized by decade instead of its four thematic chapters, it could have included more from Caen's own columns. As it is, it is funny and charming and leaves the reader wanting to spend more time in Herb Caen's world.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

This counts as one of my books for the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf challenges.

Book Beginnings: Understanding the Abuse of Adults

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.  Please remember to include the title of the book and the author.

Leave a link to your post.  If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.


MY BOOK BEGINNING

Awareness of the problem of the sexual abuse of minors by clergy within the Catholic Church moved to the forefront at the beginning of this century.

--  Understanding the Abuse of Adults by Catholic Clergy and Religious by Kathryn R, Byrne.

In my law practice at O'Donnell Clark & Crew, I work with many people who were abused as children by clergy and other trusted adults.  I do not usually work with people who were sexually abused as adults, which is what this book addresses.  I am interested to learn more. 

Review: Tinkers

 

Tinkers is a short book, but irritated me in a way that usually takes a longer book to do. I wanted to like it because I liked the idea of a dark horse Pulitzer winner, but it didn't do anything for me. I can't write an impartial, third person review, because the reasons I didn't like the book are more personal.

First, I wasn't absorbed by the story. George Crosby is dying and recollecting his life. It could be an interesting life the way a seemingly ordinary marriage and career (as a clock fixer) can be made fascinating in a good novel. But I never felt engaged with his story.

Second, the story confused me. George remembers his own life, but he also remembers the lives of his father and grandfather as if he was those men, not just remembering what he had learned about them. The narrative moves among the lives of the three men indiscriminately. It was hard to know which story was happening when. Some scenes are so obscure I could not understand if they were descriptions of events or deathbed imaginings.

Finally, I didn't like George. He cheats his clock customers. He isn't very nice to his family. He has charming moments, but I never warmed to him.

There were bits and pieces I enjoyed – little glimmers of humor, scenes that were clever, a few endearing family moments. But overall, the book rubbed me the wrong way.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you  would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Tinkers counts as one of my two Pulitzer picks for the Battle of the Prizes, American Version.  It also counts as one of my books for the Audio-Book Challenge.

We read this for my book club.  The opinions were somewhat mixed, although most people didn't care for it.

Review: World Without End

World Without End is the sequel to Ken Follett's spectacular Pillars of the Earth. Pillars takes place in the 1100s, during the construction of the fictional Kingsbridge cathedral; World takes place 200 years later, also in Kingsbridge, but lacks a single event as a unifying focus.

It is the lack of focus that makes World disappointing. It is entertaining, but a pale shadow of Pillars. The story starts with the need to build a new bridge for Kingsbridge. Roughly the last third of the story is about the plague coming to England. There are ongoing storylines about the conflicts between the honest and hardworking heroes and heroines and the greedy, corrupt, or violent villains.

But it often feels like Book Without End, as the storylines drag on and repetitively on for over 1,000 pages. Pillars was long too, and had plenty of soap opera-like side stories, but was grander in scope and it provided loads of interesting historical information along with an exciting tale. World, on the other hand, feels like a modern story involving characters with very modern sensibilities crammed into a Medieval setting.

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book posted here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

World Without End counts as my first book for the Tea & Books Challenge (books over 750 pages), as well as one of by books for the following challenges: TBR Pile, Mt. TBR, Off the Shelf, and Chunkster.

Teaser Tuesday: Light on the Devils

As late as March, the Klamath still flowed high and muddy, still churned with rocks and snags and root wads.  In that month, Happy Camp's deputy sheriff drowned, victim of his own hubris and the terrible indifferent power of the river.

-- Light on the Devils: Coming of Age on the Klamath by Louise Wagenknecht, published by OSU Press.  This is an incredible, well-told story about growing up in a remote lumber town in the 1960s and '70s. 

Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia at A girl and her books (fka The Printed Page), who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring meme (details here).

This month, Mailbox Monday moves north, to somewhere near Quebec, where Cindy at Cindy's Love of Books is hosting.  Please stop by to visit her blog and join in the fun.

I got two books last week, both through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program:



Ronald Reagan in Quotations: A Topical Dictionary, with Sources, of the Presidential Years by Ronald Reagan, compiled by David B. Frost.  I already know that this will be the perfect Father's Day gift!



The Wisdom of John Muir: 100 Selections from the Letters, Journals, and Essays of the Great Naturalist by Anne Rowthorn.

Happy Easter!

Weekend Cooking: German Cookbooks & Zwetschgendatschi

There are three German cookbooks in my cookbook library.  Given my Bavarian roots, I would think I'd have a few more.  But given the . . . um . . . limited range of German cooking, perhaps three is all anyone really needs.

I have:



The German Cookbook: A Complete Guide to Mastering Authentic German Cooking by Mimi Sheraton.  This is my authoritative (wait, it's German, maybe "authoritative" goes without saying), go to book when I want to make a sauerbraten or one of the other standby dishes I really do love. 



The Cooking of Germany - Foods of the World Series by Time Life Books. This offers 1960s, Americanized versions of my childhood favorites, with kitchy pictures.



Bayerisch Kochen by Brigitta Stuber. This is a cute little book my cousin gave me, in German, of Bavarian recipes.

The problem is that none of these books has a recipe for my favorite Bavarian treat, a zwetschgendatschi -- a flat yeast-dough cake covered with sour plums.

My sister just moved back to Portland from Bavaria, where she has been working as a chef at a five-star hotel outside of Munich for the last two years.   I could have asked her to make any number of fancy dishes for Easter, but what I really, really wanted was a zwetschgendatschi.  I even froze the plums last summer for just this moment.

Luckily, I found a recipe on-line and she made me what I wanted (we tweaked it to make it the version we prefer).  I looks terrific and tastes even better.  We kicked off Easter weekend with 'datschi and coffee this morning.

BAVARIAN PLUM CAKE: ZWETSCHGENDATSCHI

1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. warm milk
1 1/2 pkg. active dry yeast
3 c. flour
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
2 lb. plums
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
4 - 8 more tbsp. softened butter
About 1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon


Stir a pinch of sugar into warm milk and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand 5 minutes or until the surface is frothy. Stir gently to moisten any dry particles remaining on top. Sift flour, remaining sugar and salt into a medium bowl.

Melt butter; cool slightly. Lightly beat butter and eggs into yeast mixture. Pour into floured mixture, beating to make a dough. On a floured surface, knead dough lightly. Cover and let rise in a warm place 1 hour. Grease a 13 x 9 inch cake pan.

Wash and pit plums; cut lengthwise into halves. Knead risen dough lightly; roll out to fit cake pan. Place dough in greased pan. Pierce dough all over with fork. Arrange plums cut sides up in rows on dough. Sprinkle nuts on top, more between the plums then on them.  Dot each plum half with a dab of soft butter.  Let rise in a warm place 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until plums are wilted and yeast pastry is puffed up and golden between plums. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon while still warm. Cool slightly in pan, then cut into squares.

YUMMY! Or, as they say in Bavaria, schmackofatz!

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads