6 Days to Christmas!

Book Beginning: For Keeps

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

My mother's eyes follow the lines of my dress, and I can tell my body passes inspection this time, because my hair receives more attention this time.

-- from "Every Eyelash, Mole, and Freckle" by Carrie Kabak, the first essay in For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, edited by Victoria Zackheim

This is the last book that I am reading for my personal 2014 TBR challenge. I love the exuberance of the cover!

7 Days to Christmas!

8 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: Learning to Like Muktuk

Sometimes the children expressed a desire to taste food prepared for the staff and different from theirs. In the case of olives, they said, “Whitemen’s food doesn’t taste good.”

-- Learning to Like Muktuk: An Unlikely Explorer in Territorial Alaska by Penelope S. Easton, published by OSU Press.

Easton first went to Alaska after serving in WWII. She was working as a "dietary consultant" for the Alaskan Health Department and was fascinated by the foods of indigenous Alaskans, such as muktuk (strips of whale skin and blubber). She learned about Native Alaskan peoples and their food cultures, appreciating that public health personnel should know and honor the dietary traditions and adaptations of the region. Easton became an advocate for preserving native food customs.

Using her detailed field reports, photographs, letters, and personal memories, Learning to Like Muktuk provides a rare description of native Alaskan foodways from the period between the end of WWII and statehood.

I love these kind of "random memoirs" about ordinary people doing interesting things. Easton returned to Alaska for further reasearch from 1996 through 2005. She now lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she wrote this book, her first, at the age of ninety-one.

GIFT GUIDE: I'd recommend Learning to Like Muktuk for those interested in Alaskan history, indigenous food, and adventure travel with a vintage vibe.

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