Opening Sentence of the Day: Unnatural Death

"But if he thought the woman was being murdered -- "

-- Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers.

This is the third in her series featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.  I really liked the second book in the Series, Clouds of Witness (reviewed here).

Opening Sentence of the Day: Hide & Seek

"Hide!"

-- Hide & Seek by Ian Rankin, the second novel in his John Rebus series.

One word opening sentences are not my favorite. But the story takes off like a rocket from there.

Teaser Tuesday: One Was a Soldier

Clare downed half the contents in one swallow.  "Whoa, easy there Major."

-- One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming.  This is the latest in her series featuring the Rev. Clare Fergusson, an Episcopalian priest in Millers Kill, New York, and her Chief of Police boyfriend, Russ Van Alstyne.

This story picks up when Clare gets back from a tour of duty in Iraq with the National Guard (she was an Army helicopter pilot before become a priest). She's wrestling with demons and self-medicating.  Good thing she signed up for a veterans' support group.  Bad thing they start dying off . . .

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

Mailbox Monday & GIVEAWAY!

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).

Life in the Thumb is hosting in August.  Please visit Staci's fun and cheerful blog for some great reading inspiration.

I got two books last week and am hosting a giveaway for the first one:

Who in This Room: The Realities of Cancer, Fish, and Demolition by Katherine Malmo.

THE BOOK: Based on autobiographic experiences, Who in This Room is a gripping collection of creative nonfiction that pushes the boundaries of story and memoir. Kate's adventurous life is interrupted by a diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer, giving her a ten percent chance of living five years. But her story isn't just about cancer. It is a true tale of survival that is both lived and dreamt. It's about joy found in lemon trees or fly-fishing. It's about the survival instinct that helps us re-emerge and engage with the world.

THE GIVEAWAY: Thanks go to Mary Bisbee-Beek, an incredibly diligent book publicist, for providing two ARCs for a "leap-frog" giveaway.

The leap-frog part is that I have one ARC to giveaway.  The winner will get to host another giveaway for the second ARC.


The contest is open until Sunday, August 15, 2011. To enter, do any or all of the following, but you must leave a comment for each one:

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must include a way to contact you (email or website address in your comment or available in your profile). If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway. (Posting the giveaway on your sidebar is also acceptable.) Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Subscribe to my rss feed, follow me on blogger, or subscribe via email (or tell me if you already are a subscriber or follower). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

4. Tweet this post on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment with your twitter user name. (1 entry)

5. Stumble this blog, digg it, technorati fave it, or link it on facebook. Leave a separate comment. (1 entry)

There are a lot of ways to enter (maximum of five entries), but you must LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count. I will use random.org to pick the winners from the comments.

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. and Canada only. The deadline for entry is 9:00 PM, Pacific Time, on Sunday, August 15, 2011. I will draw and post the winner's name in my Mailbox Monday post for August 16, 2011.

MY MAILBOX: The second book I got last week was from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.

Wicked Autumn by G. M. Malliet.  This is the first in a promised series featuring Max Tudor, a former M15 agent turned Anglican priest.



It reminds me of a male, British version of Julia Spencer-Fleming's series featuring Clare Fergusson, a former Army helicopter pilot turned Episcopalian priest.

Celebrating Food Freedom, One Pig at a Time

This week's police raid of the Rawsome Foods co-op in Venice, California got me thinking about the black market pig in my freezer.

I don't know much about my pig -- I don't know his name, for instance.  Or even if "he" is a he.  I do know that he grew up an only pig on a very small family farm in the outskirts of Portland, and lived a happy life until he, humanely, went on to his higher calling.  And that he is tasty.

But, because I bought 100 pounds of tidily-wrapped butchered pork and not a half of a still-living pig, the pig in my freezer is, technically, contraband.

So in a defiant act of Food Freedom, I decided to make something yummy out of my illegal pig this weekend.  I decided to make homemade-sausage stuffed mushrooms using two pounds of ground pork.

According to James Beard's American Cookery and this high-sodium gem, Pork, Sausage & Ham, you make bulk sausage by grinding pork shoulder with pork fat at a roughly two to one ratio, then adding a blend of seasonings.

I didn't actually have extra pork fat in my larder, but I did have a cube of cured salt pork, so I used that.  I ran it through my grandmother's hand-crank meat grinder, and then ran it through again with the ground pork and seasonings, as instructed.

Maybe my ground pork was already fatty enough, but the sausage at that stage looked like it had too much fat and not enough meat.  I didn't have any more thawed pork to add, so I re-named the "meat grinder" a "food grinder" and had fun running the mushroom stems, a half an onion, four garlic cloves, and a couple of roasted red peppers through it and blended that vegetable mix into the sausage.  Much better.

The stuffed mushrooms were delicious.  The sausage wasn't very salty, so it tasted more like a meatball than sausage.  But it didn't have any breadcrumbs in it, so it didn't have the texture of a meatball.  Between low-sodium for the Hubby and low-carb for me, maybe that is the best that can be expected.

The best part was knowing that, at least until I get caught, I was free to enjoy meat raised and processed the way I want it to be, purchased at a reasonable price agreed on between me and the farmer.  That's how every meal should be.

In the meantime, I'll continue to eat the evidence.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Food Freedom is on Facebook and twitter.

 

Review of the Day: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin is one of those classics I just never got around to reading, for one reason or another.  Mostly because I thought it would be preachy and boring.  It is neither.

That is, it is preachy, but not in a stale, pedantic way.  The anti-slavery sermonizing is refreshingly sarcastic.  Harriet Beecher Stowe aimed her acid pen at the sanctimonious but hypocritical Northerners with as much vigor as she did at the slave-holding South.  Also, she looked at the issues from a range of viewpoints, from that of the purely evil Simon Legree to the saintly Quakers operating the Underground Railroad.  By far the most interesting are the views of the characters in the middle, those either paralyzed with ambivalence or misguided by their own ideas of morality.

And there is nothing boring about it.  There are daring escapes across ice floes, midnight raids, gun fights, disguises, and ghost sightings.  Like with any good 19th-Century serial novel, there is plenty of excitement and adventure to keep the story rocketing along, which no doubt explains why it was the best-selling book in the world in the 1800s, second only to the Bible.

The drawback of the book is just how offensive it can be to modern sensibilities. Even with a high tolerance for anachronistic literature, Stowe's condescension is striking, no matter how well-intentioned.  She hit all the stereotypes and hit them hard.  She was also a big fan of sweeping generalizations, such as, "Tom . . . had, to the full, the gentle, domestic heart, which . . . has been a peculiar characteristic of his unhappy race," or "[t]he principle of reliance and unquestioning faith . . . is more a native element in this race than any other."

On balance, while these passages will make a reader cringe, they are more distraction than fatal flaw.  The book was published in 1852 and had a huge influence on public opinions about slavery – to the point that Abraham Lincoln apocryphally credited Stowe with starting the Civil War.  Uncle Tom's Cabin should be read – and enjoyed – for what it is and was intended to be, without the expectation that it will mesh completely with current opinions.

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

Uncle Tom's Cabin shows up on several Must Read lists, including the College Board's Top 101, the Easton Press' 100 Greatest Books Ever, and the Daily Telegraph's 1899 List of 100 Best Novels in the World.

Opening Sentence of the Day: One Was a Soldier

Sarah Dowling's first thought, peering through the wire-reinforced glass of the community center's door, was that they were an odd group.

-- One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming.  This is the latest in her series featuring the Rev. Clare Fergusson, an Episcopalian priest in Millers Kill, New York, and her Chief of Police boyfriend, Russ Van Alstyne.

Like all the books in the series, the story is interesting from the get-go and the sparks between Clare and Russ are still flying. 

Author of the Day: Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester writes lively histories and biographies, often using his own travels as a framework for the book. Whether he writes about volcanoes, the Oxford English Dictionary, China, earthquakes, or geography, Winchester's books are always entertaining.

Those I have read are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

Here is the list, starting with his latest release:

The Alice Behind Wonderland

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece (reviewed here)

A Crack in the Edge of the World

Lonely Planet: Simon Winchester's Calcutta

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary

The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology

The Fracture Zone: My Return to the Balkans

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time

Pacific Nightmare (a novel)

Pacific Rising: The Emergence of a New World Culture

Korea: A Walk Through the Land of Miracles

Outposts: Journeys to the Surviving Relics of the British Empire

Prison Diary, Argentina: A Falklands Story

Their Noble Lordships: Class and Power in Modern Britain

American Heartbeat: Some Notes from a Midwestern Journey

In Holy Terror

NOTES

Photo: Simon Winchester at Dinosaur National Monument in the Uinta mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah, while researching his next book about America. Photo by Setsuko WInchester, used by permission.  

Last updated on April 19, 2012.

OTHER WINCHESTER FANS

If you have reviews of Winchester's books or other Winchester-related posts, please leave a comment with a link and I will list them here.

Teaser Tuesday: Very Bad Men

Rhiner yanked his pistol around from behind his back, too late.  The tire iron slapped down hard against the barrel, the sound of it sharp like the crack of a whip.

-- Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan. 

This is the second in a mystery series set in Ann Arbor, Michigan, featuring crime magazine editor, David Loogan.

I loved the first one, Bad Things Happen (reviewed here) and this one is even better.  

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).

Life in the Thumb is hosting in August.  Please visit Staci's fun and cheerful blog for some great reading inspiration. 

I got one book last week, the second novel in Ian Rankin's John Rebus series.  I am excited for this one and am planning a break from my Guilt List to enjoy it right away.

Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin

Opening Sentence of the Day: The Omnivore's Dilemma

What should we have for dinner?

-- from the Introduction to The Onmivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

Air-conditioned, orderless, illuminated by buzzing florescent tubes, the American supermarket doesn't present itself as having very much to do with Nature.

-- from the first chapter, "The Plant: Corn's Conquest."

Although it was enormously popular, I put off reading this because I feared political polemic over unbiased information.

But I am on a tear with food books now that I am on a Food Freedom campaign, so when I saw the audiobook at my library, I snatched it.

I am still in the first section on how corn has come to dominate America's food supply. It is fascinating! I'll reserve judgment on the political issues until I finish the book. So far, nothing is overtly political, so it is easy to keep an open mind.

THOUGHTS AND NOTES

This book inspired my former brother-in-law, Curt Ellis, to make the charming and quirky King Corn documentary.

This book, so far, has inspired me to stop by one of my favorite local markets,  Sheridan Fruit Company, and buy some local, grass-fed lamb chops for the grill last night. Delish!

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

I have been reading food books because I am on a Food Freedom kick, which you can like on Facebook, or follow on twitter.

This counts as one of my books for the Foodie's Reading Challenge, hosted by Margot at Joyfully Retired.

Author of the Day: Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy (1939 - 2012) was an Irish author who wrote 16 novels and several collections of short stories. 

Every now and again I want to fall into a Binchy novel and live in it. This mood usually strikes when I am hectic at work or otherwise am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Her novels are dense with details of interesting, but ordinary, people overcoming difficulties. They are satisfying the way cleaning out a messy closet is satisfying.

Below is a list of her novels.  Those I have read are in red; those on my TBR shelf are in blue.

Light a Penny Candle (1982)

The Lilac Bus (1984)

Echoes (1985) (reviewed here)

Firefly Summer (1987)

Silver Wedding (1988)

Circle of Friends (1990)

The Copper Beech (1992)

The Glass Lake (1994)

Evening Class (1996)

Tara Road (1998)

Scarlet Feather (2000)

Quentins (2002)

Nights of Rain and Stars (2004)

Whitethorn Woods (2006) (reviewed here)

Heart and Soul (2008)

Minding Frankie (2010)

A Week in Winter (2012)

NOTES

Last updated on July 11, 2018.

OTHER BINCHY FANS

If you have Binchy-related posts and would like them listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

Review of the Day: 42 States of Grace

Three years after her husband's sudden, accidental death, Maureen Hovenkotter decided to retire from her job as a Senator's aide and go on a spiritual journey, hoping to rediscover her authentic self.   A cradle Catholic with an open and curious mind for the sacred, one might expect Hovenkotter to spend time at a retreat center somewhere. Instead, she sold her house and most of her belongings, bought a large motor home, and set out for a year of "prayerful reflection" and cross-country travel.

From this very premise, it is easy to see why 42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey is not your typical coming-of-New-Age memoir. Hovenkotter may be unusually adventuresome, but she had to undertake her pilgrimage the way a regular woman would have to – she he didn't get a six-figure book advance to let her eat, pray, and love her way around the globe; she paid her own way and drove a large RV around North America with her golden retriever Charlie.

It is this realistic normalness that makes the book so wonderful. Hovenkotter's self-analysis will strike a chord – and sometimes raise a chuckle – with most women, who will recognize something of themselves in her. She blends her spiritual musings with anecdotes about Charlie, her traveling companions, and the people she meets, and with travelogue describing the Maine coast, South Dakota's Black Hills, Sedona, Florida beaches, and other places she visits. She tries to use whatever comes her way – from bad weather, to impossible-to-negotiate-in-an-RV turns, to difficult boyfriends – as guideposts on her road to personal growth.

Hovenkotter shows by example how it is possible to find God's grace simply by stepping out of your normal routine so you have time and space to encounter God in the present moment, "in just being and waiting." She shares the lesson she learned during her year-long retreat that "life is truly beautiful and abundantly rich in opportunities, forgiveness and do-overs."

A good reminder, that. This is a beautiful book that reminds the reader, over and over, to look for -- or wait for -- God's love in ordinary, daily activities.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Very Bad Men

There's a necklace in my office, a string of glass beads.

-- Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan.

This is the second in a mystery series set, so far, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, featuring crime magazine editor, David Loogan.

I loved the first one, Bad Things Happen (reviewed here) and can't wait to dive into this one.  I've recommended the BTH to about 12 people who were just looking for something good to read.

Teaser Tuesday: 42 States of Grace

I should know as well as anyone; life can be completely changed, for good or not so good, in one breath.  It is in the present moment that we encounter God, in just being and waiting.

-- 42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey by Maureen Hovenkotter.

This is a beautiful book that reminds me over and over to look for -- or wait for -- God's grace in ordinary, daily activities.A good reminder, that.


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

Mailbox Monday and GIVEAWAY

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).

A Sea of Books is hosting in July. Please visit Gwendolyn's wonderful blog for great books ideas.

I got one book in the mail last week, from Sasquatch Books, just in time for a quickie summer giveaway (see details below):

Oregon Trail: The Road to Destiny, a graphic novel by Frank Young and David Lasky (published by Sasquatch Books).



PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: Based on extensive research into personal accounts of the Oregon Trail, comic authors David Lasky and Frank Young have created a graphic narrative of one family's epic journey. The main character is an 11-year-old girl whose family is setting course for the west to seek new opportunities and to escape the "overcrowded and filth" of the eastern city where they had been living. Revealed is all of the planning, equipment, and logistics involved in such a trip. The book features a series of two-page spreads detailing a visual inventory of everything the family has with them — the parts of a covered wagon and a personal annotated map of the trail. Readers get a ground-level feel for what it was like to be part of this storied migration west — not a dry recitation of dates and facts, but an immediately memorable living history.

GIVEAWAY

This is a quick givaway.  If you have a blog that features children's or YA books and promise to review this one, please sign up to win.  Leave a comment with your blog link or email address.

Tomorrow morning, I'll randomly choose a winner using random.org.

Review: American Terroir

"Terroir" means "taste of the place" and is a popular concept among wine enthusiasts. In American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields, Rowan Jacobsen considers how the same ideas apply to a broad range of agricultural products.

Chapter by chapter, Jacobsen explains how certain combinations of geology, climate, and geography unite with human efforts to produce superior maple syrup, coffee, apple cider, honey, mussels, wild plants, oysters, avocados, salmon, wine, cheese, and chocolate.

The book is a thoroughly entertaining combination of food and travel writing, taking the reader from a Yupik Eskimo community in the Yukon to a remote Venezuelan village renowned for producing the world's finest chocolate. Jacobsen is witty, observant, and enthusiastic about his subjects.  He is also able to captivate his audience, even when explaining the science behind the story.

He focuses as much on the people involved as the weather and soil that create the raw materials, with interesting profiles of wild honey specialists, forest foragers, and avocado farmers capable of identifying which tree produced a particular avocado. As Jacobsen explains:

[Terroir is] a partnership between person, plant, and environment to bring something unique into the world. The soil and climate set the conditions; the plants, animals, and fungi respond to them; and then people determine how to bring out the goodness of these food and drinks.

Jacobsen and the people he writes about are not utopian food-fantasists -- the book also addresses the practical side of food production, especially in the chapters on biodynamic wine making and artisanal cheese production.  As Mateo Kehler, raw milk cheese guru from Jasper Hill Farm, told Jacobsen, "If it is not economically viable, it's not terroir. It's ego gratification."  That is a good lesson to remember.

American Terroir is a celebration of place and palate sure to inspire greater examination of ingredients often taken for granted. Jacobsen is sure to make food terroirists out of his readers.

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

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

I have been reading food books because I am on a Food Freedom kick, which you can like on Facebook, or follow on twitter.

This counts as one of my books for the Foodie's Reading Challenge, hosted by Margot at Joyfully Retired.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Uncle Tom's Cabin

Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P__________ , in Kentucky.

-- Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

This is one of those classics I've never read, for one reason or another.  Even when I found the audiobook at the library several years ago, I loaded it on to my iPod and then ignored it.

But now's the time.  I am going to get this one finished, once and for all.  It shows up on several lists I'm working on: the College Board's Top 101, the Easton Press' 100 Greatest Books Ever, and the Daily Telegraph's 1899 List of 100 Best Novels in the World.

I'm now about a quarter of the way through it with mixed reactions.  One is how offensive it is to my modern sensibilities. I have a high tolerance for anachronistic literature, but Stowe's condescension is striking, no matter how well-intentioned.  My other reaction is how gosh darn entertaining this is.  Like any good potboiler, the action is non-stop.    

Teaser Tuesday: 42 States of Grace

Maybe those opportunities were there if I took the time to recognize them, reach out and grasp them.  Maybe it just required getting off the treadmill and stepping out onto the sand, being willing to get my feet wet, looking out at the vast and ever-changing ocean and realizing life is truly beautiful and abundantly rich in opportunities, forgiveness and do-overs.

-- 42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey by Maureen Hovenkotter.

That concept of forgiveness and do-overs is wonderful. That last part has stuck with me since I read it last week.


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).

A Sea of Books is hosting in July. Please visit Gwendolyn's wonderful blog for great books ideas.

I got two books from the Friends of the Library book sale shelf at the Hillsboro, Oregon library:

Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin (the third in his John Rebus series)



A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

Food Freedom!

I've been a little distracted from my books lately, and particularly slow with the book reviews. My mind has been busy thinking -- and my fingers typing -- about Food Freedom.  (For where my fellow book bloggers come in, see the end of this post.)

In particular, I have been developing a Food Freedom campaign for my law firm, because many of us in my office are interested in these issues, as are our clients.  We represent a lot of farmers, food producers, restaurateurs, trade associations, and other agricultural or food-related entities.

We also want to reach other potential clients to let them know we share some of their concerns and understand the issues.

So in the last week or so, I have set up a Facebook page for Food Freedom Oregon, got us going on twitter @FoodFreedomOR, and arranged to sponsor the Portland showing of Farmageddon on July 22 and 23.   

WHAT IS FOOD FREEDOM?

Food Freedom is the rallying cry for those committed to free choice in the foods we eat and feed our families.

The general idea is to keep all food choices legal – whether healthy, unhealthy, local, global, fresh, frozen, or french fried.  The goal is to limit government regulation that comes between your fork and your mouth.

Although the general idea is broad, supporters of Food Freedom tend to be particularly interested in certain issues, and these issues tend to focus on smaller producers and local markets.  These issues include:

• RAW MILK: Each state regulates the sale and consumption of raw milk and raw milk products like cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc.

• In Oregon, it is only legal to purchase raw milk directly from a farm (a farm with three or fewer cows and/or seven or fewer goats).  It is illegal to purchase raw milk from a grocery store, restaurant, farmers’ market, or other retail outlet.
• Other states, such as California, allow the retail sale of raw milk and raw milk products.
• It is the FDA’s position that all consumption of raw milk should be prohibited – no person should consume any raw milk or raw milk product, period.

• FARM-DIRECT MEAT: Many people want to purchase meat directly from the farmers who raised the animals. Many of these are concerned about the treatment of animals raised at “industrial” facilities and the ethics of certain slaughtering methods. Many believe “farm-to-table” or “farm-to-fork” meat has superior flavor and quality.
• In Oregon, it is illegal to buy meat slaughtered by the farmer and not at a USDA slaughter house. But it is the treatment and feeding of animals at the USDA slaughter house that farm-direct fans want to avoid. 
• But, in Oregon, it is legal to slaughter your own animal for your own consumption. So consumers and farmers can get around these rules by colluding in the fiction that a consumer buys a percentage of a cow or a pig when it is alive and then, when the farmer slaughters it, the consumer is, in fact, eating his own animal.

• PASTURED POULTRY: The idea of “pastured poultry” appeals to people who do not like the chicken factories that produce – in pretty disgusting conditions – most of our poultry.  Current regulations make raising pastured poultry difficult and expensive.  One-size-fits-all regulations are geared towards mega-producers to the disadvantage of smaller ag entrepreneurs trying different approaches.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH A BOOK BLOG?

Well, for starters, it is a bit of a distraction, like I said. But I hope to do a few tie-ins.  For instance, I am thinking about the following:

• I am very interested to know what other book bloggers share some of these interests.  Which is why I am posting this on Weekend Cooking -- I figure this is a target-rich crowd.  If anyone is interested, please leave comments with blog links, twitter handles, Facebook pages, or book recommendations. Thanks!

• I'd like to come up with a list of books about some of these Food Freedom issues.  I just read American Terroir by Rowan Jacobson that touches on some of these topics.  And Joel Salatin's Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal: War Stories From the Local Food Front is on my TBR shelf now.  Since I can't resist a list, this project appeals to me. 

• Other ideas? 

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Opening Sentence of the Day: Decider

OK, so here I am, Lee Morris, opening the doors and windows to gusts of life and early death.

-- Decider by Dick Francis.

Dick Francis is like book crack to me. I can't get enough of his books these days.  I particularly enjoy the audio versions, but I'll pack along a paperback as well.

Love them.

This one is about an architect who specializes in restoring ruins and renovating them into habitable, if unconventional, homes.  He finds himself in the middle of a dangerous family squabble among the heirs of a racecourse.

Opening Sentence of the Day: 42 States of Grace

To paraphrase Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism, the first step in my journey of 25,000 miles was a year of prayerful reflection.

-- 42 States of Grace: A Woman's Journey by Maureen Hovenkotter.

I wish I had gotten to this book sooner, because it is really beautiful and I am relishing every page.

Teaser Tuesday: American Terroir

"If it is not economically viable, it's not terroir.  It's ego gratification."

-- American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of Our Woods, Waters, and Fields by Rowan Jacobsen, quoting Mateo Kehler, raw milk cheese guru from Jasper Hill Farm.

 

I just finished this and loved it.  I am on a Food Freedom kick, which you can like on Facebook, or follow on twitter, and I would appreciate greatly!

This counts as one of my books for the Foodie's Reading Challenge, hosted by Margot at Joyfully Retired.

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).

A Sea of Books is hosting in July. Please visit Gwendolyn's wonderful blog for great books ideas.

Two books came into my house last week. One is a treat from my husband to distract me from the three new car manual books he bought himself.

Playing With Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book by Jason Thompson.  Creative inspiration.




Nat Tate: An American Artist: 1928-1960 by William Boyd. This is a reprint of a funny little book Boyd published as a spoof of the New York art world. I got it from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. 

Review of the Day: Locations

I do not much like the songs of Edith Piaf, the boulevards of Baron Haussman, the furniture of Louis XIV, the sound of Gertrude Stein, the vainglory of Napoleon or the conceit of Charles de Gaulle. I distrust, at one level, people who turn ideas into movements; at another, ideas themselves too pressingly articulated.

So begins Jan Morris's explanation of the "insular prejudices" that limit her visits to Paris. It is an example of what makes her travel writing so very, very good -- an extraordinary gift of analysis and observation and a willingness to express blunt opinions.

Locations is a collection of previously published magazine pieces Morris wrote mostly in the 1980s. They are profiles of cities or other areas that highlight the character of the place as experienced by Morris. They are not travel guides, but ruminations on what makes the place itself, which is why they are entertaining and worthwhile even a few decades after they were written.

Morris is best known for her encyclopedic history, The World of Venice. Her clear eye and deft wit let her put a finger on exactly what makes a place tick. She does love a list, which can start to seem a little lazy and irritatingly rhythmic, but so often one of her lists can make a reader laugh with delight for bringing together all the incongruous parts that illuminate the whole. Take, for instance, her observations of life in a Texas border town along the Rio Grande:

The very presence of that southern bank, looking so often enough so much the same as the northern one, seems to speak of looser morals, freer ways, more bribable officials, less dependable mail deliveries, dirtier streets, better food, hotter sex, more desperate poverty, more horrible prisons, and an altogether better chance of adventure.

It is writing like this that inspires travel, which is why Morris's essays will never go out of date.

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