What am I reading these days?

2005-07-03T15:35:00.001-04:00

picked at random at the library...

2005-07-03T15:35:00.000-04:00

Hurray that Maeve Binchy has not retired!

A Fortune Teller Told Me part 2

2005-06-01T19:15:00.000-04:00

I found this book oddly compelling. Having now finished it and absorbed the places the author visited and people he met, I have a few more quotes to share.

This one really sums up the dissonance the author feels. He has just been told a somewhat dubious yet magical story of a young woman who through her clairvoyance was able to find a historical temple some two hours into an overgrown jungle:

"I could not bring myself to ask him what I did not want others to ask me: 'Do you believe it, then?' If he had said yes, I would have taken him for a fool. If he had said no, I would have been sorry, because it is, all said and done, more pleasing to live with the thought that such a story might be true." (p175)

Near the end of the book, Terzani learns to meditate as many during the year have advised him to attempt. He really struggles, especially having trouble with clearing his mind. Finally he has a breakthrough, really achieves a state of calm peacefulness:

"This experience reinforced my theory that our exclusive faith in science had cut us Westerners off from another sphere of awareness, that we had embarked on the high road of scientific knowledge and forgotten all the other paths we had once known. Here was the proof: pain was not merely a physical phenomenon to be controlled by a pill. By training the mind one could achieve the same result." (p362-3)

And this one pretty much sums it all up:

"It seemed to me that the point of traveling is in the journey itself, not in the arrival; and similarly in the occult what counts is the search, the asking of questions, not the answers found in the cracks of a bone or the lines in your palm. In the end, it is always we ourselves who give the answer." (p318)

Following Fake Man

2005-05-29T13:57:00.000-04:00

Emily recommends... and I agree! I read probably more than my share of children's literature so let me say this is a highly enjoyable book. Meant for 10 and up, Following Fake Man is the story of a 12-year old boy finding bravery for the first time in his life, and reaping great rewards. It also has good stuff for kids like spying and suspense!

A Fortune-Teller Told Me

2005-05-26T19:35:00.000-04:00

Thought-provoking. Tiziano Terzani has written a great book. A Fortune Teller Told Me is his personal journey between the 2 sides of himself - his Western skeptical side (he is Italian by birth) and his increasingly Eastern half (he has lived in various parts of Asia since the 1970s). A fortune-teller in 1976 tells him in 1993 he must not travel in any planes for the whole year. He decides when the year arrives to heed that advice, partly as an experiment in looking at the world from a new perspective (as a journalist he is constantly hopping on planes to write stories) and partly to explore the parts of himself that wonder if there is any truth to the prediction.

Terzani is full of big thoughts and slowing down to travel by train, bus, taxi, etc. he sees a different world he has been missing by rushing around. I am only about a third of the way through the book and have already marked several pages that have memorable quotes. Here are a few. And thanks Eden for lending it to me!!

"Or have we all, through some monstrous deformation, lost the instinct for what life should be: first and foremost, an opportunity to be happy. Are the inhabitants (of rural Burma he refers here) happier today, gathered in families chatting over supper, or will they be happier when they too spend their evenings mute and stupefied in front of a television screen?" (p55)

"Is there such a thing as chance? I was coming to believe that a lot of what seems to happen 'by chance' is in fact our own doing: once we look at the world through different glasses we see things which previously escaped us, and which we therefore believed to be non-existent. Chance, in short, is ourselves." (p78)

"Travel is an art, and one must practice it in a relaxed way, with passion, with love." (p109)

Frommer's Toronto 2005

2005-05-21T17:40:00.000-04:00

My favorite guidebook - if Toronto is in your future, I recommend this guide. Good maps, useful recommendations, well organized.

Sleeping Over

2005-05-21T17:39:00.000-04:00

Not what I expected...

I expected Sleeping Over to be a bit of brain candy, a light, fluffy, romance novel. And while it does have its share of romance it is more the story of the women, the friends in the book and their lives, good, bad and ugly. Some parts are so realistic you think you're there. Honestly I don't know if it's because I live in a house with men (my husband & son) but I found this scene amusing:

Harrison and I rush up the stairs to his condo, pained expressions on our faces.

"Me first!" yells my beloved, throwing off his coat as he hurries down the hall, leaving me pacing and sweating in the living room.

"Hurry up, mister, or you're in big trouble!" I yell after him.

We've just returned from dinner with Mark and Gemma at Geja's on Armitage, truly one of the best places in Chicago. A dark quiet boite with the feel of an old wine cellar, Geja's has been doing proper fondue for ages, and the classical guitarist accompanying the delicious food makes it one of the ultimate romantic meals of all time. Unfortunately for us, we had much wine and water with the meal, and coffee after, and then got stuck in traffic on the way home, so by the time we got here, we both had to pee something fierce. (p245)

A Trip to the Beach

2005-05-21T15:02:00.000-04:00

Reading this book made it clear to me that I am not a risk taker. A Trip to the Beach: Living on Island Time in the Caribbean chronicles Melinda and Robert Blanchard's life as they decide to sell their home in Vermont and build a restaurant on the beach in Anguilla. They have no experience building or running a restaurant but that does not deter them. (I am the opposite - I can't even go to the grocery store without a list and a plan!!) I enjoyed hearing how they transitioned to "island time" and the way the community in Anguilla embraced them.

A bonus is that the book is peppered with recipes including this one I am excited to try.

"Banana Cabanas

"To make two banana cabanas, put 1/2 cup Coco Lopez into a blender. Add 1/2 cup Baileys Irish Cream, 2 ripe bananas, 2 cups ice cubes, and if you like, 2 ounces white rum. It's great with or without the rum. Blend on high speed until smooth and creamy."

Books to Read

2005-05-14T18:36:00.000-04:00

Once again my to-be-read pile is getting higher than my return-to-the-library pile. Too busy traveling and hosting parties!!

Here are few interesting books I hope to get my hands on.

Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Elaine Weiss' Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free.

Amy & David Goodman's The Exception to the Rulers - big fan of the radio show Democracy Now- listened often in Houston on KPFT. (In the late 90s I read everything I could get my hands on about the conglomeration of power in the media in the US (best on the subject are Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly and Project Censored's annual Top 25 Censored Stories of the Year books) and changed my viewing and listening habits accordingly. Only a handful of companies control everything you see and hear - support independent media!)

Laura Flanders, editor The W Effect: Bush's War on Women.

How to cook a tart

2005-04-27T20:31:00.000-04:00

I just finished How to Cook a Tart: A Novel by Nina Killham - an entertaining read. Hard to characterize though - not quite a romance, not altogether a revenge story, not quite a comedy (though parts are laugh-out-loud funny), not a cookbook though it is rife with food. The characters are 3-dimensional (so is the food) but it's almost as if it takes place in an alternate universe where food is text and not subtext. Obviously food is everywhere in our lives, and plays a big role for all of us - but in this book, attitudes about food and everyone's relationship with food is the central-most part of their character. An interesting way to look at the world.

The descriptions of food and recipes being prepared are very realistic!! The food as metaphor works well also. Here is a passage I particularly enjoyed:

It was all about absorption, Jasmine thought. In cooking as in life, the more you absorbed of life and the world and flavors around you, the richer you would be. The better tasting you would be philosophically. But Jasmine had been careless. At the last minute, unsure of herself, she had sprinkled in too much salt. Maybe in life she had been careless too. Maybe she had not absorbed enough of what was going on in her own household. Maybe someone close to her was simmering with troubles and she had tossed in too much salt. Instead of testing and tasting and finding out what was really going on.

Almost French - more

2005-04-23T21:33:00.000-04:00

A quick excerpt from Almost French and a funny story:

In France, Paris in particular, it is not common for strangers to look you in the eye and insult you. The author struggles with not having a pithy retort pop into her head when she needs it - until this encounter:

The day of the dinner party, walking into the patisserie to buy a quick snack, I passed a smartly dressed elderly gentleman with a superior sneer. He look like he lived on some stodgy avenue in the 16th arrondissement. I was loaded with my shopping bags and Maddie trailed behind me on her leash. He'd glanced at Maddie then stared at me with cold contempt.
"Tiens," he said to his wife, his accusing eyes not leaving mine, "un chien dans une patisserie." Fancy that - a dog in a bakery.
Now, either this fellow was in a foul mood and wanting to take it out on someone or else I'd happened on the only Frenchman in the world who objects to dogs in food shops. At this particular patisserie, my regular, Maddie is a favored client. But what riled me much more than his message - which might have been reasonable had it been delivered differently - was his supercilious manner. For once surprise didn't render me speechless. I didn't miss a beat.
"Tiens," I mimicked, my eyes beaming back murderously, "un con dans une patisserie." Fancy that - a dickhead in a bakery. I added an icy smile for effect.
As replies go, it was very rude - and very effective.

You have to love it when you get the last word!! A friend and I were at a popular local French restaurant a week ago for drinks and a light (and we hoped) quick dinner. The hostess had sneered at us when we announced we didn't have a reservation but had seated us anyway at an available table on the lawn. Our server then proceeded to ignore us. She walked past us twice to the table next to ours (the couple had been seated there right after we had; they also had no reservation). Assuming she must not be in charge of our table we flagged down another server who took our drink order. Our server then appeared with a tray that included our drinks and again walked past us to serve the other table. This couple proceeded to admire our choice of beverage (poinsettas - cranberry juice with champagne - very attractive in tall flutes garnished with lime) and in fact to suggest that they take them off our hands. At this point we had been at the restaurant for 20 minutes and our server had not yet approached our table even once. I was not about to let our drinks get away. The man called over "I'm the king's official taste tester," to which I replied, "Too bad I'm not the king."

I shoulda been French. (ha ha).

Almost French

2005-04-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull offers keen insight into what it's like to live in Paris as an expat. She is from Australia so many of the hazards/conflicts she faces (wearing shorts and jogging pants in public, laughing out loud, being too chatty) are things I as an American could identify with!

I have always wanted to visit Paris - this book really captures some of the magic of the city but not in a wholly romantic way. Her first few years in France are fraught with difficulty - cultural issues mainly and she dissects each of these and the adjustments she makes along the way, in some cases to fit in and in others to adjust her thinking knowing that she'll never fit in.

The only criticism I offer is that the book could have been more tightly edited - it occasionally goes on for pages repeating the same idea but otherwise it is an enjoyable read - plus I learned a lot!

Robin Pilcher

2005-04-12T12:00:00.000-04:00

I am huge fan of Rosamunde Pilcher - mostly because Shell Seekers is such a great book so it was a nice discovery that Robin Pilcher is her son.

I've read A Risk Worth Taking and Starting Over and both are nice gentle books with great characterizations. You really feel the people in the stories are real and can feel what they are feeling as they sort out their lives - both the books are essentially coming of age stories but the people coming of age are middle-aged, or there approaching.

Millionaire's Row

2005-04-12T11:46:00.000-04:00

I referenced this book in another post but didn't know the author, who is Peggy Murphy Petkus. The book is out of print (published in 1989) but you can find it on half.com and at some libraries. It is set in Cleveland at the turn of the century through the 1940s. A portion of the book at the beginning is strikingly similar to Emilie Richards' Whiskey Island - the same conditions for Irish immigrants in Cleveland, a church in the same location, a woman who marries a man out of convenience. Anyway from there Millionaire's Row requires a deliberate suspension of disbelief as the story takes you to of all places Tasmania. I did manage to get sucked in though and wanted to know how it all would end!

And it does have many Cleveland landmarks, streets, events chronicled so if you are in/from/a fan of Cleveland you may enjoy it. Mark Winegardner's Crooking River Burning is WAY better in that regard (following the history of Cleveland very closely).

I Don't Know How She Does It

2005-03-24T19:14:00.000-05:00

subtitled The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson.

Just started this one - great quote on page 18:

"With work memos out of the way, I can get to the real e-mails, the ones that matter: Messages from friends, jokes and stories handed around the world like sweets. If it's really true what they say, that mine is the time-famished generation, then e-mail is our guilty snack, our comfort food. It would be hard to explain how much sustenance I get from my regular correspondents."

The Boy Next Door

2005-03-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

I am a sucker for a funny quirky romance novel and I just finished one by Meggin Cabot (mostly she writes for a younger audience - her most famous books being the Princess Diaries series). The great thing about The Boy Next Door is the entire story is told in emails!! Love that use of technology! Our young heroine is from the Midwest so that adds to the fun.

Marian Keyes

2005-03-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

I tend to find an author I like and then read everything he or she has written. My latest is Marian Keyes. I had seen her books, mostly in airport bookshops (they generally have cute chick lit covers, bright colors with cute trendy women). I was at the library looking for a particular Sophie Kinsella book (Can You Keep a Secret?) and noticed The Other Side of the Story. This is her latest - a good read. Keyes is definitely all about seeing things from someone else's point of view. Her recent books have 3 main characters who are friends or work together or used to be friends so you see the story unfolding from three perspectives (as from chapter to chapter each one is the main voice). Unexpected things happen and they are fairly meaty (nothing worse than a book you can read in under 2 hours).

I picked up Sushi for Beginners and enjoyed that as well so on my last trip to the library I found Rachel's Holiday and Angels.

Rachel's Holiday is by far the best one she has written. It is part of a trilogy about 5 sisters (hmmm maybe there are more than 3 books?) - the first is Watermelon, second Rachel's Holiday and third Angels. The Walsh family is firmly dysfunctional but funny and warm and in the end they win so all is well. These books have 1 main character each and in Rachel's Holiday at least, part of the story is told in flashback. I probably would not have voluntarily picked a book about a drug addict and her recovery (I make it a point not to read book jackets except in bookshops), but this was told in such an interesting way and the worst parts of it come so gently (you know they must inevitably come and begin to dread it as you are reading) that you don't mind. I highly recommend it.

More of my to-do list

2005-02-25T17:55:00.000-05:00

Move Over Skinny by Dave Sedaris. Recommended by my friend Jennifer!

My to-read pile of books

2005-02-25T06:47:00.000-05:00

I am working on Pledged by Alexandra Robbins for the MTM book club. Can't wait to discuss it since I have a lot to say.

My friend Eden lent me 2 books -

A Fortune-Teller Told Me
by Tiziano Terzani

Mountains Beyond Mountains
by Tracy Kidder

My Mom recommends Millionaire's Row (which I just looked up and there are about 7 different books by this name so I will have to get the author's name).