Review: Parachutes & Kisses by Erica Jong

Parachutes & Kisses is the third book in Erica Jong's Isadora Wing trilogy that started with the terrifically good Fear of Flying (noted here) and How to Save Your Own Life (reviewed here).  I ate up the first one, really liked the second one, and am cool on this third one.  The writing is magnificent, but Isadora as an emotionally whirling divorcee is a less likeable and occasionally tedious, as she juggles multiple lovers, grieves the death of her marriage, and tries to talk her ex-husband into returning.

The best thing going in this book is Jong’s unabashed homage to her literary heroes, including Cheever, Roth, Bellow, Updike, Keats, Henry Miller, and Colette.  I was struck by the idea that this was her “Updike” book the way Fear of Flying was a “Roth” book and How to Save Your Own Life was a “Miller” book.  This story of bed hopping in the Connecticut suburbs is the female version of so many John Updike novels.  She even ends with an (acknowledged) appropriation of Henry Bech’s cultural exchange trip to Soviet Russia.

Although crowded with sex scenes (one that actually nauseated me), Jong’s literary reflections and several exemplary passages redeemed the book, but just.  For example:

Isadora’s generation is middle-aged. . . . They have reached the age where they meet their new lovers at A.A.; the age where some of their friends are addicts, some of the friends are bankrupt, and some other friends are dead; where their children want real horses, not toy ones, and where they no longer worry about their own pregnancies but about their daughters’.

That kind of dense summing up that crams together so many details and ideas is why I read Erica Jong.  At her best, she is right up there in the American fiction pantheon.  I would not recommend Parachutes & Kisses as a standalone novel, but for readers who loved Isadora Wing in the earlier books, there is something to be gained by finishing the trilogy.

OTHER REVIEWS

My review of How to Save Your Own Life
My review of Bech: A Book by John Updike
My review of Serenissima by Erica Jong

If you would like your review of Parachutes & Kisses or any other Erica Jong book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

Teaser Tuesday: Pacific Northwest Cheese: A History by Tami Parr

Although many artisan cheesemakers of this era learned to make cheese by trial and error, Pierre Kolisch, a former attorney, learned to make cheese by studying cheesemaking in France for two years . . . .  Kolisch then returned to his native Oregon, purchased five acres in the central Oregon town of Redmond, acquired goats, and started Juniper Grove Farm in 1987.

-- Pacific Northwest Cheese: A History by Tami Parr.  Mmmmmmm . . . Juniper Grove is one of my favorites.

Pacific Northwest Cheese is an entertaining new history of regional cheesemaking.  Tami Parr uses the stories of local cheesemakers and industry innovations to describe the early days and development of the cheese business in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

Parr is the author of Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest and the creator of the Pacific Northwest cheese project.

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, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

It looks like Bob from Beauty in Ruins has stepped in as substitute host for September.  Please visit his blog, where he specializes in reviewing and posting on science-fiction, fantasy, and horror books.

We just got back from our annual road trip vacation.  I spent two fabulous weeks disconnected from the social network, exploring the Canadian Rockies.  We did nothing but hike, read, and relax.  I saw six bears! Including this gal who was walking along beside our car.

 

One of my favorite things about car vacations is how they offer opportunities to collect new books.  I love the Take-One-Leave-One shelves at B&Bs, Friends of the Library shops at local libraries, and used book stores in little towns.  I passed along the paperbacks I read while on vacation, but I brought back an enticing little stack of books for my own TBR shelves:



Field of Blood by Denise Mina.  I recently went to a book reading by Jump the Gun author Zoe Burke. who said she loves Mina's Glasgow mysteries.  This is the first of a trilogy I was happy to find.



Deadly Appearances by Gail Bowen.  It was fun to find this mystery by a Canadian author when I was on vacation in Canada.



MacPherson's Lament by Sharyn McCrumb.  This caught my eye even though it is the seventh book in a series I've never read. If I like it, I will go back and fill in.



A Mixture of Frailties by Robertson Davies. This is the third book in his Salterton Trilogy.  I have the first one, Tempest-Tost, so now only have to find the middle volume, Leaven of Malice.  I am on a Davies roll, having just finished, loved, and reviewed What's Bred in the Bone.



The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy.  I enjoyed The Moviegoer, but haven't read any of Percy's other novels.  I intend to change that.



Bonjour, Happiness! by Jamie Cat Callan.  Might be fun. Might be stupid. 

Kitchen Remodel, Week Thirty-One: Bella Cucina!

The kitchen is finally done! I haven't posted about this remodel for a couple of weeks because the final process slowed to a crawl waiting on a few punch list items and landscaping. Also, we were on vacation, so the kitchen was out of sight out of mind for me.

But now we are finally finished! Right down to the (removable) Italian tile backsplash that my sister designed and had made in Italy from her drawing. "Bella Cucina" translates to either Beautiful Kitchen or Beautiful Cooking.  I hope to do some beautiful cooking in this beautiful kitchen for years to come.

Since our summer weather has disappeared and we are in the midst of one heck of a rainstorm, all my nesting instincts are raging. I just want to light a fire in the fireplace and curl up with the Ngaio Marsh mystery I am close to finishing.  And I've been trying to add all seven of my winter pounds in one weekend, craving nothing but casserole and cookies.

I've got some kind of chuck roast in the oven I plan to serve with roasted potatoes and a salad tonight.  I say "some kind of" because it is part of the grass fed cow from my freezer and all the package said was "beef roast" with no information about the particular cut.  Until I unwrapped it, I didn't know if I would be cooking it in a hot oven for a short time, like an old fashioned roast beef,  of in a warm oven for a long time, like a pot roast.

I still can't really tell what cut it is -- maybe shank? But it looks like the low-and-slow kind.  I turned to Lynn Curry's Pure Beef: An Essential Guide to Artisan Meat with Recipes for Every Cut, which I reviewed here, and followed some of her basic suggestions.

Most important according to Curry, is to rub grass fed beef with salt and let it sit for a while before cooking, to improve the flavor and make it more tender.  The idea is that the salt pulls the moisture from the meat, but then the meat reabsorbs the moisture, drawing the salt back in with it to flavor the meat all the way through.

We'll see if it works.  In the meantime, maybe I have time to make a pan of bar cookies. Right after I find out who killed Lord Robert Gospell on the night of Lady Carrados' ball.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginning: Pacific Northwest Cheese by Tami Parr

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's name.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

If you've visited a farmers market lately you have probably come across more than one local cheesemaker selling their wares.

From the author's introduction to Pacific Northwest Cheese: A History by Tami Parr.

Beginning as early as the fifteenth century a succession of European explorers sailed up and down the west coast of North America, searching for a variety of things including the elusive Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting Europe and Asia.

From Chapter 1, "Furs, Cattle, and Empire: English Cheese in the Pacific Northwest."

Tami Parr dug deep in the history of the Pacific Northwest to research her engaging history of regional cheesemaking, from pioneers making fresh cheese while en route on the Oregon Trail, to the renaissance of small-scale cheesemaking in the 60s and 70s, to today's artisanal cheesemaking scene.

As the author of Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest and the creator of the Pacific Northwest cheese project, Parr knows of what she writes and she writes it well. She incorporates the stories of local cheesemakers and industry innovations that bring to life evolution of the cheese business in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

This is a fun and informative history that will please Pacific Northwesterners and foodies farther afield.