San Francisco Book Review - Nov 09

Nov 09

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3

F R E E

NEW AND OF INTEREST

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Zaha Hadid: Complete Works, 1779-2009 One of the most influential architects today Page 4

Crush

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The blood is flowing in wine country Page 7

Saint John of the Five Boroughs

Historical Account That Reads Like Good Fiction

By Mary Germain Hountalas

Ten Speed Press, $32.50, 224 pages

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Eccentric characters, devastating disasters, lavish parties, marital infidelities, exceptional opulence and economic woes are all detailed in the book The San Francisco Cliff House by Mary Germain Hountalas.

This book isn’t a a gripping serial drama, however, but rather the actual historical account of a legendary landmark.

The stories of this popular attraction are accompanied by vintage memorabilia including breathtaking photographs, newspaper articles, postcards and reprints of menus representing each era in the Cliff House’s many incarnations.

The book also provides documentation on the growth and development of the city of San Francisco, particularly those areas surrounding the Cliff House, such as the beachfront amusement park Playland, the Sutro

Baths and the numerous rail and streetcar systems that lead locals and tourists out to those attractions.

Some of the book’s most engaging segments relate to food and libations, highlighting those that were among the most popular in this dining destination throughout history. There are also numerous recipes provided throughout the book, many originating in San Francisco, such as the Hangtown Fry or Pisco Punch.

The San Francisco Cliff House will surely be appealing to history enthusiasts, but will likely be of equal interest to anybody with even a vague curiosity about the historical accounts of one of the bay area’s most recognizable and popular attractions.

Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport

Falco delivers with Saint John Page 10

Expanded Cooking, Food & Wine Section Pages 13-18

Barbie All Dolled Up

I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world!

Page 22

Eyes Like Stars

The best theater in the world Page 27

140 Reviews INSIDE!

Technology Google SketchUp for Site Design: A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture

By David Tal Wiley, $49.95, 368 pages Google SketchUp is a 3D modeling application that has caught on like wildfire due to its usability and competitive pricing.

It is quickly becoming a tool of choice for architects, engineers, industrial engineers, and other design professionals. Especially popular with landscape architects, landscape designers, contractors and planners, these professionals need a concrete guide to get them started with SketchUp, as well as to integrate it into their work and use it in their projects, proposals and designs.

David Tal’s Google SketchUp for Site Design: A Guide to Modeling Site Plans, Terrain and Architecture is what they need.

This book illustrates a holistic approach to SketchUp, how it works and more importantly, what to do with it.

Filled with tutorials, this book focuses on the start and completion of projects that include rich detail. From modeling exterior environment elements to piecing

them together to generate a singular and expressive model, readers will learn how to approach modeling site plans, buildings, and site elements.

Google SketchUp for Site Design offers complete coverage for the landscape architect and related professionals, and shows readers how to: use the SketchUp Sandbox Tools to design conceptual grading, terrain, and elevation; design and model a variety of custom components including architectural detail, pedestrian lights, benches, and other site elements; and integrate AutoCAD and SketchUp to easily create 3D-articulated models.

With helpful tutorials and useful tips for both beginners and advanced SketchUp users, Google SketchUp for Site Design will quickly have readers creating models that are highly detailed and organized, easy to work with, and optimized for computer performance.

Architects, engineers, designers, students, teachers, professionals, and hobbyists alike will find this book to be essential in unlocking this powerful software tool for creating 3D drawings.

Reviewed by Dominique James

CSS: The Missing Manual (Fully Revised 2nd Edition)

By David Sawyer McFarland O’Reilly Media, $34.99, 558 pages Cascading Style Sheets (CCS) is a way for you to build gorgeous, professional-looking, quick-loading web pages with all the latest features. CCS gives you creative control over the layout and design—if you know what you are doing. But those who designed CSS didn’t exactly make things simple. Not to worry, David Sawyer McFarland’s CCS: The Missing Manual (Second Edition) is here.

If you’ve used styles in word processing programs like Microsoft Word or page layout programs like Adobe InDesign, CSS will feel familiar. A “style” is simply a rule describing how to format a particular portion of a web page.

A style “sheet” is a set of these styles.

Designed for both beginners and webbuilding veterans alike, this fully revised edition walks you through the important stuff you need to do. You can: learn how to think like a CSS designer when writing or editing your HTML, develop time-saving CSS practices by following step-by-step

tutorials, design elegant layouts by using CSS instead of HTML, add navigation bars and rollover links to guide visitors through your site, and learn which CSS 3 properties work in the latest version browsers. And, unlike other books, you will find the URLs of the actual, working finished pages on the Internet in each lesson so that you can compare your work with the final results.

As someone who has been building websites since 1995, David Sawyer McFarland warns that you may not gain very much by simply reading these stepby-step lessons while relaxing in your porch hammock. But if you take the time to work through them at the computer, you’ll discover that these tutorials give you insight into the way professional designers build web pages, which you yourself can eventually do.

Reviewed by Dominique James

San Francisco

Book Review 1776 Productions 1215 K Street, 17th Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph. (916) 503-1776 info@1776productions.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ross Rojek ross@1776productions.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kaye Cloutman kaye.cloutman@1776productions.com GRAPHIC DESIGN/LAYOUT Heidi Komlofske heidi.komlofske@1776productions.com COPY EDITORS Autumn Conley Diane Jinson EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Jen LeBrun Jordan Dacayanan DISTRIBUTION Reliable Distribution Mari Ozawa Sophie Masri ADVERTISING SALES Jordan Bassior sales@1776productions.com The San Francisco Book Review is published monthly by 1776 Productions. The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the San Francisco Book Review or San Francisco Book Review advertisers. All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders. All words © 2009, 1776 Productions.

November print run - 10,000 copies.

Printed by Wesco Graphics.

Subscriptions Send $18.00 for 12 monthly issues to 1776 Productions, 1215 K Street, 17th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814.

Become a Book Reviewer If you would like to review books for us, send three sample reviews in the body of an email to reviews@1776productions. com, along with the category areas you are interested in reviewing. Reviews are uncompensated, except for a review copy of the book and publishing credit. But you do get to read books before all your friends, so that should count for something.

IN THIS ISSUE Technology.....................................................2 Art, Architecture & Photography...................4 Biographies & Memoirs..................................5 Business & Investing......................................5 Current Events & Politics...............................6 Music & Movies...............................................6 Mystery, Crime & Thrillers.............................7 Popular Fiction...............................................8 Tweens...........................................................8 Historical Fiction............................................9 Home & Garden..............................................9 Philosophy......................................................9 Modern Literature & Fiction........................10 Self-Help.......................................................11 Reference......................................................11 Romance.......................................................12 Cooking, Food & Wine..................................13 Spirituality & Inspiration.............................20 Sports & Outdoors........................................21 Religion........................................................21 Travel...........................................................21 History.........................................................22 Health, Fitness & Dieting.............................23 Parenting & Families....................................24 Local Calendar..............................................25 Sequential Art..............................................26 Young Adult..................................................27 Children’s Books...........................................28 Science Fiction & Fantasy.............................30 Science & Nature..........................................32

FROM THE EDITOR Well, another fine month of reviews, and this time, we have enough of Cooking, Food & Wine reviews to keep the most avid chef busy for a month. Putting them all together was a task, but Heidi and the reviewers rose to the challenge to get something for almost every taste.

Heidi and I went to the California Lectures event in Sacramento with John Irving, and they kindly let us put copies of the October issue on their table for people to pick up. As we were sitting there in our seats waiting for John to come out, it was flattering to see so many people who picked it up and were reading it while they waited. We sometimes do get to see people reading it or picking it up at a bookstore we’re visiting or dropping copies off to, but mostly we work in a vacuum with the occasional email pointing out our errors.

Also this month, we have a great article from reviewer Susan Roberts on two Revolutionary War books and a review spotlight on Amanda Mitchell. You can see many of the talented reviewer biographies on our website in the “About Us” menu link.

Online, we also have some new Audible Author interviews: Anne Rice talking about her new novel Angel Time and Brandon Sanderson on getting the call to finish the last part of Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series.

Both were fun to do, and will hopefully give you a little more insight on the books themselves.

Thanks for picking us up, and please pass us along to someone else when you are done.

Happy reading, Ross Rojek —Editor-in-Chief ross@1776productions.com 1776 Productions

Coming Up...

Next month, we’ll have our annual Holiday Gift Guide with plenty of great art books, seasonal reviews and, of course, a bit of everything else..

November 09

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Art, Architecture & Photography Photography Unplugged

By Harald Mante Rocky Nook, Inc, $49.95, 201 Pages Just cracking open this book reminded me that photographers are a singularly offset group—folks who seem to exist mainly to remind those caught up in their busy lives that there are unique and beautiful ways of viewing the world; each snap of a shutter— above a well-aimed lens—strives to make a scene ‘new’ to the eye. The stunning quality of the photos, expressed in an ‘unplugged’ state. Unfamiliar with Harald Mante’s work, I nevertheless poured through the images with wide eyes, feeling like a child looking through my father’s large photography volumes depicting great scene from decades past. In this compilation, the German-born photographer spans Europe and parts of Africa, toying with surface calm and interplaying textures; the colors and imperfections captured tell a story all their own, and yet does so without words.

As with most photography books, there is little explanation accompanying each picture; one is left wondering about the scenes presented and how the artist stumbled upon them. Too moving to be labeled a ‘coffee-table book,’ these snapshots can be enjoyed by the entire family.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene Calatrava (Reissue)

By Philip Jodidio TASCHEN, $39.95, 528 pages The nice part about Taschen’s publishing system of first releasing a book in an exclusive edition for $150 - $1500 is that eventually they begin to release the same works in lower priced editions for different customer bases. Those interested in the many artists, architects and subjects published by Taschen sometimes need to practice patience waiting for the release at the price point they can enjoy. Calatrava Complete Works 1979-2009 is one of those books.

Originally released in 2007 as an XL Edition for $150, the latest version is now only $40, yet contains more than the 2007 release.

Calatrava is a world-renowned architect, with projects worldwide, including the upcoming 150-story Chicago Tower (which will be the tallest building in America when completed.) This is an extensive overview of his work, with commentary in English, French and German. There are hundreds of photographs and drawings, showing the process from conception to execution.

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While many of the projects are overseas, he has more than nine projects in the US, including the Redding, Calif. Sundial Footbridge. Others include the Milwaukee Art Museum, the upcoming World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City and a sculpture in Dallas for Southern Methodist University called Wave. Calatrava’s highest profile commission may be the Athens 2004 Olympic Stadium. An interesting and easily affordable coffee-table book of one of today’s interesting and successful architects.

Bla Bac Photo: The Art of Skateboarding Photography

By Mike Blabac powerHOUSE books, $49.95, 223 pages Following the DIY spirit of punk, skate, and youth culture, Mike Blabac is literally a self-made man and self-taught photographer. Bla Bac Photo: The Art of Skateboarding Photography chronicles his story through narratives, comments, captions, and most importantly gigantic, telling, and awesome moment-caught-in-the-middle-of-a-trick photographs.

A treatise on his career, the photos span from the time he was simply a skater himself taking pictures of his fellow skaters and friends to some of his first magazine shots and through his work today, which encompasses not only his regular job as the director of photography for DC shoes, but also his own pursuits photographing skaters and skating and constantly trying to push the arts of photography and skating and the fusion of the two.

Perhaps Bla Bac Photo and Blabac’s philosophy can be best summed up by the postcard pictured within the pages that Blabac got in his youth from one of his idols, Lance Mountain: “I have no info on photography except I failed in school and still do it. All you have to do is like skating, you know the angles you want to see in a photo.”

Reviewed by Jordan Dacayanan Ghosts of Harlem

By Hank O’Neal Vanderblt University Press, $75.00, 432 pages

From 1985 to 2007, Frank O’Neal, author and photographer, interviewed 42 artists who made music in Harlem during the community’s heyday and decline.

These ghost stories are personal memories of some of the jazz world’s leading musicians. An introduction is provided by Charles Rangel of New York, who talks about the musicians’ lives in Harlem, music in general, the people they new, the

Zaha Hadid: Complete Works, 1979-2009 Edited by Philip Jodidio Taschen, $150.00, 500 pages For those who don’t follow architecture all that closely, Zaha Hadid probably isn’t a recognizable name. Yet, her apparent rise to fame in the last decade is the result of twenty years of dedicated work and winning many international design competitions, but rarely had a project completed. In Zaha Hadid: Complete Works, 1979-2009, editor Jodidio traces her development though hundreds of images, rough sketches, finished drawings, and, finally, completed works. Hadid has done two projects in the U.S., the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (1998) and Eli and Edythe Broad Museum at Michigan State University (2008). The New York Times called the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art “the most important new building in America since the Cold War.” Maybe the most recognizable building Hadid as done this decade is the BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany. Her fanciful designs in the late Seventies and early Eighties pushed the limits of what could be done at the time, and as computer-aided design came available, and the construction techniques to match her vision, she began to see those fanciful designs become reality. There is also an included section on Hadid’s non-architectural art, installations and exhibitions, but comes almost as an afterthought at the end of 500 pages of architectural thought, design and completed projects. But for anyone following contemporary architecture, this is a book to collect.

places they played, and what made Harlem a city within a city.

The reader is given an assessment of a meeting with Dizzy Gillespie and O’Neals vivid portrait of Dizzy in his later life.

O’Neal visited, for example, Maxine Sullivan in her home in the Bronx on numerous occasions.

Together they talked about gigs in Harlem and on 52nd Street.

Miss Sullivan’s declaration is the recurring theme throughout this book - what you see is what you get.

The reader is taken on a stellar journey throughout world famous Harlem, USA through the eyes of a spy, photography, author, and music-producer.

O’Neal, by way of introduction to the readers, first experiences the joys of photography while watching his father print World War II pictures and family portraits in a kitchen darkroom. At age 12, he won a Brownie Hawkeye camera in a drawing and soon began making and processing his own pictures.

During 40 years in the music business and a resident of the culturally diverse Greenwhich Village, he formed two record companies (Chiaroscuro Records and

Hammond Enterprises). Also, he operated two recording studios, produced more than 200 jazz records and 100 music festivals with his partner Shelly Shier. Further, he has served on the boards of various non-profit organizations which include The Jazz Foundation of America, the Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Jazz Gallery, and the Jazz and Contemporary Programs of the New School.

O’Neal has also authored the Eddie Condon Scrapbook of Jazz (1973), A Vision Shared (1976), Charlie Parker: The Funky Blues (1995), Gay Day: The Golden Age of the Christopher Street Passage(2006), and Bereuence Abbot (2008), which deals with his long-time friend, teacher, and fellow photographer.

In closing this volume through interviews and photographs, O’Neal brings forth the very life rhythms of Harlem and is unlike any other books on jazz. A gem of a book, which belongs in any library and among jazz enthusiasts.

Reviewed by Claude M. Ury

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Biographies & Memoirs Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

By Harriet Reisen Henry Holt & Company, $26.00, 362 pages Anyone who has ever read and been charmed by Little Women should pick up this book on a rainy morn with cookies and a hot cup of tea. Riesen proves that she is a seasoned biographer, taking time to carefully and thoroughly distinguish between the writer and the individual. The May/ Alcott family histories display superior research and provide a fine prologue to the mood-filled, vibrant story of Louisa May Alcott.

With all the precision of a documentary director, Riesen takes us through Louisa’s frustrated-yet-interesting childhood, her disappointed youth, the famous writers who drifted in and out of the Alcott family’s acquaintance, and the all-encompassing release this young woman found in writing. Though it is known that Alcott wrote more books than the March Family Series (Little Women, Little Men & Jo’s Boys), to have so many of these titles actually mentioned was rare and appreciated.

It behooves the literary community to be reminded—from time to time—that great writers of the past were merely human, subject to fits of temper, made mistakes and occasionally had to drag themselves out of the mire of despair. Throughout the entire piece Reisen’s grasp of this and her regard for Alcott’s writing could not be more apparent.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene Madoff With The Money

By Jerry Oppenheimer Wiley, $24.95, 272 pages New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer drastically fails to deliver in his latest effort, Madoff With the Money.

Oppenheimer does have a breezy, easyto-read style that lends itself to a comfortably gossipy narrative. However, he fails to deliver on his promise to dig deep and to reveal Bernie Madoff, the man “behind the biggest fraud ever perpetrated.” Instead of depth, we get a light romp, a cozy chat, and about as much real analysis as you would expect from a Saturday morning kaffeeklatsch.

Oppenheimer comes closest to delivering the goods in Chapter 14, where he

does a credible job of revealing the anguish of Madoff’s victims, who range from relatives and friends to such Hollywood luminaries as Kevin Bacon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Steven Spielberg. The rest of the book is forgettable fluff.

Oppenheimer’s many fans will undoubtedly not be disappointed, as it is an entertaining book. But for depth and analysis, this one earns a pass; perhaps one would prefer a treatment that was not rushed to press in a matter of weeks.

Reviewed by Claudette C. Smith The Gift of an Ordinary Day

By Katrina Kenison Spring Board Press, $23.99, 310 pages At first glance, this memoir seemed to rely on a trite theme—author moves from suburbia to countryside and reflects on the changing seasons of life. But The Gift of an Ordinary Day showcases Kenison’s exquisite artistry in the medium of words. Her prose is hauntingly reflective. The reader enters Kenison’s story, where she is the mother of two boys living a comfortable and busy life in an established community of old friends, good schools, and a Pottery Barn home. She is also blessed with a good marriage and a fulfilling career. Amid this idyllic life, she becomes aware that her sons will soon grow up and her role as nurturing mother finding

fulfillment through her children will end.

Kenison reacts by pushing her reluctant family to move to the country. The move creates tension in her family. It results in a protracted stay at the home of her parents, the purchase of a dilapidated country cottage, and the first steps in the painful process of letting go of her old life and growing her faith in an unknown life to come. Along the way, she begins to trust her adolescent sons to find their way. She discovers the life we create often doesn’t fit who we are.

“There is no such thing as a charmed life, not for any of us, no matter where we live or how mindfully we attend to the tasks at hand. But there are charmed moments...”

The reader is treated to delightful rustic characters, the stress and joy of home construction, and the peace in nature. The Gift of an Ordinary Day is an outstanding book for soon-to-be empty nesters.

Reviewed by Grady Jones

Business & Investing Trade-Off

By Kevin Maney Broadway Books, $23.00, 217 pages Kevin Maney says that the success or failure of today’s products and services is hinged on the tension between fidelity and convenience. In his book Trade-Off, he explains why some things catch on while others don’t.

Maney convincingly shows us that almost every decision we make as consumers involves a trade-off between fidelity and convenience – between the products we love and the products we need. He says that rock stars sell out concerts because the experience is high in “fidelity” – it can’t be replicated in any other way, and because of that, we are willing to suffer the inconvenience for the experience. In contrast, a downloaded MP3 of a song is low in fidelity, but consumers buy music online because it’s super-convenient.

“People are willing to trade the quality of an experience for the convenience of getting it, and vice versa.”

Products that are at one extreme or the other – those that are either high in fidelity or high in convenience – tend to be successful. The things that fall into the middle, such as products or services that have moderate fidelity and convenience, fail to win an enthusiastic audience. Maney demonstrates that the most successful companies skew their offerings to either one extreme or the other, either fidelity or convenience, in shaping products and building brands.

This is a significant observation that he posits in Trade-Off. He has synthesized into a single powerful concept that which helps us explain what sells and what doesn’t. If only for this, through the framework of a carefully derived and constructed meaning, he helps us see and negotiate and understand a bit more the complex world of business and consumerism. Better yet, with such understanding, he helps us deal with what works and with what doesn’t.

Reviewed by Dominique James

Greening Your Small Business

By Jennifer Kaplan Prentice Hall Press, $19.95, 320 pages This is a wonderful resource for any business owner who would like to be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem. In today’s society, many people are concerned with the condition of the ecological state of our planet. Kaplan’s guidebook is a perfect manual to assist small businesses in making greener decisions, and thus, have a positive impact on the planet as well as their business.

Numerous people mistakenly believe that becoming a sustainable business or going green in their business will be very costly. Kaplan provides a concise outline on how to implement changes in your business to not only to make wise ecological decisions, but also on how your business can actually profit from greening it. For smaller businesses that cannot afford consultants, Kaplan offers many ways in which

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you can make changes for the better in your business. From recycling, to green travel services, and green marketing strategies, this is an outstanding handbook for business owners who are eco-conscious.

Jennifer Kaplan provides an amazing guide to developing and implementing “green” plans, as well as how to communicate a “sustainable” message to your shareholders and customers when outlining your mission of Greening Your Small Business.

Additionally, Kaplan not only describes many tips on how reduce waste, and be more energy efficient in the workplace; she also provides a glossary of terms for those who are not familiar with green jargon.

From greening your office supplies to greening your shipping services and utilizing green information technology, this guides easily outlines many ways in which you can make a positive change and profit doing it, while simultaneously maintaining customer satisfaction. Every business owner should consider greening their business, and Kaplan’s guide is certainly an informative resource on how to accomplish it.

Reviewed by Jennifer Ochs

November 09

5

Current Events & Politics The Khaarijee: A Chronicle of Friendship and War in Kabul

By J. Malcolm Garcia Beacon Press, $24.95, 228 pages The Khaarijee: A Chronicle of Friendship and War in Kabul is an engaging memoir that presents Afghanistan through the eyes of an American reporter and one-time social worker. Malcolm Garcia travels to Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, and makes trips to the country until 2007. He works with Khalid, a young Afghan he nicknames “Bro.” Their adventures, conversations, and moments of sadness and humor fill this memoir. Their friendship gives Garcia a personal connection to Afghans.

Is there hope for an understanding between Afghans and Americans, who lead such disparate lives?

Can a bridge be built over the chasm between the poor, ravaged of hope, and the wealthy, pampered by privilege? This book suggests there is— through compassion and friendship, not wars and missions.

This is never easy. In America, as in Afghanistan, poverty makes its presence felt in the homeless who live and die on city streets. Is friendship sufficient in the face of persistent poverty or in the face of war?

Readers who enjoy Khaled Hosseini’s novels will find that Garcia’s memoir enriches our perspectives on Afghanistan and the American presence there. What we see on TV or in newspapers can obscure the lasting tragedies of war—the loss of homes, lives and livelihoods—and the replacement of these with promises that are soon forgotten.

Reviewed by Viola Allo

The Age of Empathy

By Frans De Waal Harmony, $25.99, 291 pages There has been a spike in popular books on human evolution, all trying to describe, from a natural selection perspective, the whys of human development, behavior, etc.

Despite the ignorance of the public on the issue of evolution the theory has been adopted, and adapted, by elites of every strip.

Sadly, the only part of the theory that has been grasped is the “red in tooth and claw” variety of natural selection, forgetting that natural selection can also select for empathetic and sympathetic traits. The Age of Empathy is Frans De Waal’s attempt to correct this imbalance. De Waal’s studies apes and monkeys, specifically, how emotionally “developed” they are, what “human” emotions they have, and how such things as empathy could evolve in a species. De Waal goes out of his way to show how human emotion is a bottom-up process and that our advanced ethical reasoning is built up from structures and behaviors that we use that are found throughout the animal kingdom. Frans clearly and lucidly show all the ways animals, and humans, are inheritors of a peaceful and cooperative genetic legacy that is the polar opposite of the “dog eat dog” mentality that misconceptions of human evolutionary biology have helped create in our culture.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard

You Can’t Predict a Hero: From War to Wall Street, Leading in Times of Crisis

By By Joseph J. Grano Jr. with Mark Levine Wiley, $27.95, 223 pages Usually, a book about leadership is a recounting of the experiences of several men and women who have made an impact in a context or work industry that they have been immersed in most of their lives. What makes You Can’t Predict a Hero: From War to Wall Street, Leading in Times of Crisis different from the other well-known leadership books is that it tells about the leadership experiences of Joe Grano across various settings—as a Green Beret volunteer in Panama, an infantry commander in Vietnam, a Merrill Lynch executive, the president of PaineWebber, the producer of The Jersey Boys—with a glimpse of how he could lead the country out of the current financial crisis if given the chance.

“Too many executives start believing their own bullshit when they reach the corner office. They fall into the trap of thinking the position they hold is more important than the function they perform. They forget the skills that got them to the top as the position begins to overtake their persona. They … start worrying about appearances and wanting to rub elbows with the ‘right people.’

These aren’t good leaders.”

Using “Six Precepts of Leadership” as starting points for his leadership stories, Joe Grano more than recounts his experiences, as he also highlights the lessons he has learned and gives advice on how similar situations can be handled in the future.

What I truly like about this book is that despite the business jargon, Joe Grano’s love for what he does shines through, clearly showing that however and whatever the situation, a true leader always prevails.

Reviewed by D. Harms Crude World

By Peter Maass Alfred A. Knopf, $27.00, 276 pages The topic of oil has always been a controversial topic, no more than now with all the talk about climate change and running out of oil fields. In his latest book, Crude World, Peter Maass takes a look at how oil has affected the countries it has been found in.

He takes a look at the many different countries that have oil fields, and the notion of the “resource curse”…the concept that having abundant oil fields is not beneficial to the community. Mr. Maass tackles the questions that arise, ranging from outright bribery of government officials, to the pollution from a lack of environmental and safety standards around the globe. He provides the reader with a first person account of what he is seeing on the ground and from interviews with people involved in the business of oil.

This book is not so much about bringing new ideas of how to get off oil to the table, but instead he tells the reader of the damages of oil to a nation’s economy and overall health. He writes from his own perspective and what he has seen, and does not delve too deeply into the history unless he is giving the back story of an important person or oil field. There have been other books about oil written in the past couple of years; this is an average effort.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter

Music & Movies Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues

By William Ferris The University of North Carolina Press, $35.00, 315 pages Professor William Ferris, a folklorist throughout the 1960s and 1970s, toured his home state of Mississippi, documenting the voices of African Americans while they spoke about and performed the diverse musical traditions which are the authentic roots of the blues. This book puts forward a selection of the artistically and very rich voices from this invaluable documentary record. The book features more than twenty

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interviews relating frank, dramatic and engaging narratives about black life and blues music in the heart of the American South.

In this volume are stories of artists who have long memories and speak in an eloquent way about their lives, and blues musicians representing a wide range of musical traditions. These selections are concerned with one strand instruments, bottleblowing and banjo to spirituals, hymns, and prison work changes. The reader is guided

through such celebrities as B.B. King and Willie Dixon, along with performers known best in their neighborhoods, expressing the full range of human and artistic experience which were joyful and gritty, raw and painful.

In an autobiographic introduction, William Ferris, who is Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History and Senior Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reflects on how he fell in love with the vibrant blues culture that was all around him, but considered off limits to a white Mississipian in a very troubled era. This beautiful study il-

luminates blues music, the broader African American experience and certainly the history and culture of America itself.

Blues and jazz readers should be aware that the stories in this volume are America’s most treasured gifts to the world. These powerful stories bring us face to face with the blues, reminding us that this music has been used to survive while in the face of adversity and terror.

This book should entertain all those interested in the blues by the selections which are joyous, powerful and authentic.

Reviewed by Claude M. Ury

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Mystery, Crime & Thrillers Blood Game

By Iris Johansen St. Martin’s Press, $27.99, 352 pages Iris Johansen’s fans will undoubtedly thrust this latest in the Eve Duncan Forensic Thrillers series to the top of the bestseller charts. And, perhaps, not undeservedly.

Eve Duncan is a likable heroine with a devastating personal backstory, as the loss of her only daughter to a serial killer has led her on the path of tracking the fate of other missing and/or dead children. The quest for her own child’s killer has informed the series, and Eve’s life, for years.

Johansen writes competently, and her characters are often sympathetic and human. When she sticks to police procedural and Eve’s life, we even occasionally see brilliance in her writing.

But in this outing, it seems her reach exceeds her grasp as she attempts to bring the bizarre into the realm of the ordinary, with ghosts appearing to Eve’s long-suffering husband, Joe Quinn, along with other elements of the supernatural imposed on the reader in an otherwise rather gripping thriller.

However, one of the ghosts is that of Eve’s daughter, Bonnie. Her appearance to Joe Quinn may signal that a deeper, more emotionally satisfying relationship between Eve and Joe is on the horizon.

Johansen fans will not be disappointed, as she delivers her usual enjoyable read.

Reviewed by Claudette C. Smith Bloodroot

By Bill Loehfelm Putnam Adult, $25.95, 336 pages “When blood laws and human laws contradict,” one of the characters in Bloodroot tells the narrator, Kevin Curran, “blood laws rule.” Kevin has always been aware of his blood ties to his troubled, heroin-addicted younger brother, Danny. Although he hasn’t seen Danny for years at the beginning of the novel, he still feels guilty and torn about Danny’s descent into addiction and selfdestruction: “People tell me letting Danny go was the right decision and I pretend to believe them. I play along with the idea that I let him go when, in reality, he left me…

But I could have done a better job of chasing him. I’m his older brother. It was my job to catch him.” But when Danny abruptly reappears back in his life, off the drugs but involved with ruthless men and on a lawless personal quest of vengeance of his own,

Kevin discovers just what letting blood laws rule means and what it may cost, both for him and for Danny.

Kevin is a mediocre college history teacher with few ambitions and even fewer friends. When he is reunited with Danny, he is happy, even when it becomes apparent that Danny is engaged in some decidedly underhanded goings-on. It’s his brother, right? Kevin rationalizes. After having lost his brother for so long, Kevin doesn’t want to jeopardize the relationship now. Soon, Kevin discovers that his brother has more than shady friends to reveal – Danny tells Kevin that they are not blood brothers at all, that he was adopted by their parents from the Bloodroot Children’s Hospital, an institution infamous for abusing and neglecting abandoned and orphaned children. When Danny hears that the history department chair of Kevin’s college wants to turn Bloodroot into a museum, he is determined to stop it from happening. And he wants Kevin’s help in doing this, whatever the cost.

Bloodroot is just the sort of tome to appeal to fans of Michael Connelly or James Patterson. It features strong, largely honorable male characters, a bit – but not too much – thrilling terror, and just a hint of romance and sex. Mr. Loehfelm deftly weaves the story of Kevin and Danny’s parents, their mother’s slowly progressing Alzheimer’s disease, and their father’s care and love for her in and out of the more horrific portions of the narrative. The story wobbles somewhat on a few plot points and some conversations, particularly those between Kevin and his new girlfriend, Kelsey Reyes, as they seem more the stuff of primetime dramas than serious novels. It’s tough not to wish that Mr. Loehfelm had spent more time on the Bloodroot Children’s Hospital parts of the story and less on the development of Kevin and Danny’s relationship.

Despite that, Bloodroot is a solid addition to the thriller genre.

Reviewed by Michelle Kerns Yesterday’s Rain: Legend of the Blue Buffalo

By R.E.Haney Blue Buffalo Publishing, $10.99, 308 pages Yesterday’s Rain is a generational story, beginning in 1922 with a black outlaw named John Mayberry. Adopted into a Oklahoma Cheyenne tribe, Mayberry learns about the legend of the Blue Buffalo, an Indian spirit that protects the souls of those that believe in it if they are killed at the hands of another and keeps them safe until their death was avenged. It is a tattoo of a blue buffalo found on the shoulder of an unidentified female murder

Crush

By Alan Jacobson Vanguard Press, $25.95, 400 pages After the runaway success of Jacobson’s first Karen Veil novel, The 7th Victim, our impressive FBI profiler is back in the fantastic follow-up, Crush. While the pressure may be on Jacobson to make his second Karen Veil Mystery be just as good as his first, in my opinion, Crush is better.

Jacobson is now comfortable in writing Veil and lets her explore her boundaries and limits, coupled with having the agent be in a foreign place.

At the start of the book, Veil is on vacation in the beautiful wine country of Napa and Sonoma counties. After the stress, pressure, and neardeath experiences of The 7th Victim, Veil can certainly use the break, and has been so ordered by her ASAC. But as Veil and her boyfriend, Detective Robby Hernandez, are about to enjoy a very expensive wine tour, they are told it’s been canceled and they’ll receive full refunds. Veil’s curiosity gets the better of her and she soon finds that a dead body is the culprit. Her profiling skills automatically kick into gear as she strategically maneuvers herself onto the task force, leaving Hernandez by the wayside. But this is who she is.

Now on the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force, Veil teams up with Investigator Roxxann Dixon, as soon more bodies are discovered each with telltale signs of the “Crush Killer.” Then the killer begins contacting Veil, threatening not just her life but that of her son, if she doesn’t do exactly what he says. But the wine industry is an important part of the nation’s economy, and the political issue of whether to release the details to the press creates more enemies for Veil. Ultimately, it will be up to her to manage and keep the task force together, and catch this Crush Killer before he gets to anyone else.

Jacobson has not only written a full-throttle thriller that will keep readers hooked to the very end, but also educates them in the niceties of wine tasting and drinking, as well as some of the different kinds of wines offered by our wine country; not to mention the number of real locations used the in the book. Crush is a story that will have you entranced, causing your mouth to dry up in a craving for that tasty red liquid; and after finishing the book you’ll feel the urge to check out Napa and Sonoma counties to see if they really are as beautiful as Crush says they are.

Check out Episode 19 of BookBanter featuring a recent interview with Alan Jacobson. Go to http://www.bookbanter.net.

Reviewed by Alex C. Telander

victim in 1948 that links the mystery story line with the back story of Mayberry and the Blue Buffalo. Homicide detective JD Pearson has to piece the events together, eventually leading him to Mayberry’s story, and the vengeance of the Blue Buffalo’s spirit to on the murdered woman.

The writing, at times, is rough, but overall, the story flows well with a good sense of pacing and dialog. The mystical aspects of the Indian spirit fit into the feel of the story and provide a spiritual aspect to a murder mystery that isn’t often included.

The characters are well-developed and the settings feel natural. Blending the current story in the 1940’s while developing the back story in alternating chapters keeps the information coming without having to bog it down by explaining too much at any one point. Haney should be able to increase his strengths in story telling, and also smooth out his writing as he continues to write.

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November 09

7

Popular Fiction LOCAL AUTHOR! Sounds Like Crazy

By Shana Mahaffey Penguin Group (USA), $15.00, 400 pages Sounds Like Crazy is the debut novel of local author Shana Mahaffey. A few years ago I was in a writing group with Shana and had the opportunity to read several chapters as she worked on finding the best way to communicate the cacophony going on in the head of a woman with a mental disorder, allowing the reader to experience the craziness and yet keep all of the characters separate and distinct. I am happy to report that I think she’s pulled it off.

Holly, a Northern Californian transplanted in New York, is barely making ends meet. Jobs (and boyfriends) seem to come and go at an alarming rate, but she gets by with the financial support of her family, the (not unconditional) emotional support of her sister Sarah, and,

Tweens Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

By Jeff Kinney Amulet Books, $13.95, 224 pages In this book, Gregory starts his summer by playing games all night inside his house, curtains closed and being lazy while the other children are outside doing the total opposite, enjoying the sun. Gregory’s mom tries to convince him to be more active and entice him to read more, but that doesn’t work out very well either. His best friend Rowley, on the other hand, is having a lot more fun than he is, and that gets him really jealous. Eventually Gregory joins Rowley in their country club which is actually owned by Rowley’s father. Unfortunately, Greg gets himself into some financial nuisance while at the club and that ends up with Rowley’s dad knocking on Gregory’s door giving him a bill.

Gregory’s mother and Rowley’s father both agree that both their sons should pay for it and in order for them to do that, they need to earn it.

After a few days, Gregory is finally convinced to go to the town pool. There, he sees the cutest girl in high school that he’s been crushing on--Heather Hills; this prompts him to go to the town pool more, of course!

8 November 09

for the past five years, twice weekly visits to her shrink, Milton.

New York is a tough place to live. It’s even tougher when you suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which Holly does, and which Milton tells her was likely the “result of severe and repeated trauma.” What it means for Holly is that she has, in addition to her own (understandably vague) personality, another five personalities living in her head. There is the Boy, the Silent One, Ruffles, Sarge, and Betty Jane, which Holly refers to collectively as The Committee.

Holly seems somewhat accepting of the status quo--of not living up to her potential-perhaps in part because she derives “…a certain pleasure from imagining [her] mother trying to explain [her waitress] career to her friends.” But maybe status quo is the wrong term to use for a person who has so little control over herself. When the Southern Belle, Betty Jane, manages a hostile takeover and launches a career as a voice-over artist, all Holly and The Committee can do is go along for the ride.

Mahaffey has taken on a rather large task in a first novel by dealing not only with numerous personalities in one body (and keep-

ing them all straight) but by adding various psychological layers to the causes and the consequences. Mahaffey has infused the book with keen insights into human nature and the complexities of life that challenge all of us. Also present is her dry sense of humor, which lightens what could have otherwise been a depressing read. Sounds Like Crazy is a novel that should appeal to anyone who has ever wondered about that little voice in the back of their head.

Reviewed by Bruce Genaro

Suddenly, summer feels all right until his dad gets a dog! Not only does Gregory feel dethroned because of the new favorite in the family but because he also has to deal with his doggie issues! This was not so humorous compared to the previous books in the series, but I like how it promotes the value of reading, consequences and hard work.

As always, I recommend this book to children who love sequential art and comedy.

Jeff Kinney never fails to provide his readers with entertaining pictures coupled with witty and funny dialogues as well. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days was such a great read, you’ll definitely finish reading it in one sitting.

Reviewed by Amber Guno Cloutman

ther, she has a donor, and no amount of love from the family she does have can make her feel truly complete. So when Leah finds the Lyons Sibling Registry online, she discovers that she has more siblings, including a sister her own age! Leah is determined to meet her, even if she has to lie and keep it a secret of her own.

My So-Called Family is Courtney Sheinmel’s first novel and a uniquely modern coming-of-age story. She tackles the difficult concept of donor banks with gusto and heart, creating well-defined characters and believable scenarios. Leah is a typical teenager dealing with a not-so-typical problem, and the author has captured her spirit perfectly, defining her character with surprising detail in this short novel. This is a great book for young readers, especially those dealing with unusual family situations.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero

My So-Called Family

By Courtney Sheinmel Simon & Schuster Children’s, $6.99, 194 pages What constitutes a real family? The only thing thirteen-year-old Leah knows is that her family is anything but normal. Leah just moved with her mom, stepfather, and halfbrother to New York, and all she wants is to fit in. That means not telling anyone the truth about her father. The truth is that she doesn’t have a fa-

Stardust

By Joseph Kanon Atria, $27.99, 512 pages In the late 1940s, just after the war and at the dawn of the McCarthy era, army filmmaker Ben Collier travels to Hollywood when he learns of his brother Danny’s tragic accident. Others assume it was a suicide attempt, but Ben suspects foul play, even as he learns more about his admired older brother than he ever suspected. And the longer he stays in Hollywood, the more Ben finds himself involved in things he thought he’d left behind in war-torn Europe.

In some ways, Stardust is as satisfying as the juiciest bit of film noir. All the icons are there—even the mysterious, foreign femme fatale—and there are several thrilling, nail-biting action sequences. The supporting cast of characters are each fantastic, and even features real golden era celebrities like Paulette Goddard.

It’s the main character, one-dimensional Ben who falls flat here, which is a shame, because the reader spends an awful lot of time inside of his confused (and confusing) head. There’s some satisfaction at the end, though there’s no telling if anyone will want to stick around that long.

Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell

were beaten, when they were torn apart when family members were sold, and when harsh and demeaning words were spoken by whites.

This is a hero story.

After reading how everything was dead set against the chances of any kind of success in life, we learn how Henry Bibb is driven to escape. We also learn that he got caught five times when he tried to rescue his wife and daughter. After his final escape, at age 27, he campaigned for black civil rights and became a dramatic speaker, sharing his personal experiences and moving his audiences to tears. He founded The Voice of the Fugitive, Canada’s first black newspaper.

Reviewed by Susan L. Roberts

My Name is Henry Bibb: A Story of Slavery and Freedom

By Afua Cooper Kids Can Press, $16.95, 160 pages My Name is Henry Bibb offers an opportunity to live the life of a slave. Author Afua Cooper does an excellent job portraying the life of slaves in the early 1800’s. Many pieces of slave life, from food, to clothing, to play, to day-to-day thoughts, are seamlessly woven into the story. We read how slaves bore their misery year after year, when slaves

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Historical Fiction

Home & Garden

Gratitude

By Joseph Kertes Thomas Dunne Books, $26.99, 496 pages Hungary allied itself with Nazi Germany in 1940, thereby sheltering itself and its people for the majority of the war. Then, in 1944, when Hungary tried to withdraw its troops from the front, Hitler’s army invaded, and Hungary’s citizens—primarily its Jews—suffered the same fate as many other Europeans.

This is where Joseph Kertes’ Gratitude begins, on March 19, 1944, when a young woman named Lily barely escapes capture by the invading forces but emerges from her hiding place to find that her entire village has disappeared.

When Lily escapes and makes her way to Budapest, Gratitude picks up the story of the wealthy Beck family. When their patriarch, one of the few Jewish mayors in Hungary, is murdered, other members of the family truly realize the danger of their situation.

With the help of a Swedish citizen, some obtain false papers. Others go into hiding.

Still others are captured and killed. And throughout the disturbing and complicated narrative, Kertes masterfully weaves in bits of devastating beauty. Gratitude may tell a story with which most of us are already painfully familiar, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a story worth telling over and over again.

Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell

Feng Shui for Success

By Kurt Teske Tarcher, $14.95, 263 pages For a serene, functional, and successful life, start with Eckhart Tolle’s Practicing the Power of Now, add Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan’s Apartment Therapy and complete your kit with Feng Shui for Success. In this trade paperback that’s just the right size, author Kurt Teske captures the essence of feng shui and gently leads the reader through numerous meditative exercises that are designed to awaken his or her sensory and psychological awareness. These exercises assist the reader in discovering what makes for an environment that fosters health and success. Don’t expect elaborate pages of graphs, charts and diagrams like those that comprise many feng shui books. Yes, the book does contain a few well-drawn illustrations that provide a measure of focus for readers who need more than a narrative alone. Notably absent are the gimmicks, cures or fixes prominently featured in feng shui magazine articles.

Author Teske builds on a foundation of ancient beliefs while blending in Christian references a la Tolle. He emphasizes the value of good energy flow, ch’i, and truly knowing your space much as does Gillingham-Ryan. The value of this book is provided in the well-articulated discussions of the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water) along with the natural patterns of change Recommended for reading and long-term study.

Reviewed by Ruta Arellano

Under This Unbroken Sky

By Shandi Mitchell Harper Collins/Harper, $25.99, 346 pages When Teodor Mykolayenko traveled from Ukraine to northern Canada in the 1930s, he was seeking a better life for himself, his wife, Maria, and their five children. Not all went as planned, however, and he was unjustly imprisoned for a year. Unbroken Sky begins when Teodor returns from prison and starts the arduous process of rebuilding his life on the farmland he shares with his sister, Anna, and her scheming husband, Stefan. Slowly but surely, Theodor manages to plant wheat, glean a modest harvest, and build a sturdy home for his family; for a brief while, they find the comfort and happiness they’ve been seeking. When Stefan conspires to take away everything Teodor has worked for, however, life on the prairie quickly unravels, sending both families into a downward spiral of violence and tragic loss.

Mitchell’s prose is as stark as the winterfrozen fields and cold floors of the family’s home, and her tight, concise sentences leave no room for sentimentality even at the most wrenching moments. “Merciless” might be the word that most aptly describes both her style and her story, and her conclusion suggests that even the most hard-working and virtuous souls don’t always win the redemption they deserve.

Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell

Philosophy Nothing: A Very Short Introduction

By Frank Close Oxford, $11.95, 157 pages The Oxford series of Very Short Introductions has a long list of small books (with respectively small print), and Frank Close covers the concept of nothing, or more specifically whether or not a void or vacuum did, can, or will ever exist. Beginning with creation mythology and the discussions of Greek philosophers and concluding with the paradoxes and intriguing complications of quantum physics, this introduction covers every base available with the superficial gloss of survey information.

“Everything may thus be a quantum fluctuation out of nothing.”

Being that I’ve never taken a physics class in my life, I found the work to be easy to follow and appropriately challenging on more

complicated issues. Among the things discussed within this quick work are air, gravity, light, electricity and magnetics (absolutely connected, by the way, through positive energy and negative sink), Pythagorean triangles on threedimensional landscapes, the possibility of dimensions we cannot experience, atomic particles, the speed of light, electrons, protons, wave particle duality, time travel, time-space continuum, the expansion of the universe, Newton, Einstein, Hawking, Elvis, roulette, life, the big bang, and everything.

So in conclusion: “Everything may thus be a quantum fluctuation out of nothing.” So, uh... yeah, seize the day, my friends.

Reviewed by Joe Atkins

Do-It-Yourself Organizing for Dummies

By Sandra Munson Wiley Publishing, $19.99, 200 pages Starting off the book, Munson offers a sound bit of reason: “Back in the day, it wasn’t that challenging to maintain a tidy household, as people didn’t have many belongings...” With the general cost of consumer goods locked in affordable ranges, it is no wonder that folks have acquired more things than they can handle—items which cannot be found when they are indeed needed—thus the birth of a billion-dollar industry: home organization. This book touts that folks can be the masters of their clutter and save money by doing it themselves.

Unlike many other books in the same genre, this handy yellow volume provides step-bystep pictures and full descriptions of the tools and materials being used.

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Munson does not make the mistake of merely showing how to gain a neat “look,” but points out the most essential facet of organization: pre-planning. A “goal” for the room should be decided and the nonfunctional “things” in the room taken out.

This accomplished, the practical furniture/ shelves/nooks can then be visualized and assembled. In addition to improving the organizational process, Munson provides some inexpensive “green” ideas such as using a reclaimed interior door, painting it and laying it across two short file cabinets to make a surprisingly good-looking (and functional) desk. With an emphasis on personal discipline and cutting down waste, this how-to book comes off as entirely useful.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Renewable Energy for Your Home

By Harvey Bryan and Brita Belli Alpha, $19.95, 314 pages Get ready to explore the vast world of wind, water, sun, and corn! There’s a whole new trend taking place toward renewable energy, and this Complete Idiot’s Guide will help get you on board. You’ll start off learning the basics. What’s the difference between “renewal” and “sustainable” energy?

How do they all work?

Who’s already using them? This helpful guide includes definitions to complicated terms that get thrown around, like LEED, Class-3 Ratings, and even basics like watts versus kilowatts.

If you’re interested in making a shift in your household energy use but don’t know where to start, this book is a great place to begin. Each chapter walks you through a different energy form (wind, water, solar, etc.), providing tips and diagrams to help you assess what’s best for your home and your specific energy needs. You can tackle it all at once or jump straight to the chapter that interests you most. This is an overall guide to reducing your home energy footprint on the planet. You’ll find a helpful glossary of terms, tips for saving energy at home, and instructions for working with contractors.

This book is practical, easy-to-use, and chockfull of good sense.

Reviewed by Amber K. Stott

November 09

9

Modern Literature & Fiction The Beijing of Possibilities

By Jonathan Tell Other Press, $14.95, 208 pages The Beijing of Possibilities is a short story collection exploring the realities of modern life in Beijing, from the perspective of locals, illegal residents, visiting foreigners and even the occasional era-transcending character.

Throughout the twelve stories that make up this collection, author Jonathan Tel brings his readers into the complex, urban, everchanging world of modern-day Beijing, an exciting city undergoing a strange transition, a city experiencing capitalist growth in a communist country, an urban megaforce peopled by both the affluent and the impoverished. Tel takes his readers into the lives of people from all of the social spheres that exist in modern Beijing, from the businessman to the prostitute and the scam artist. He wants us to understand the complexity of this enormous, historical city—both its past significance and its current role in the life of China.

The stories in The Beijing of Possibilities are written with wit and style, and while some may fall flat, they nonetheless provide a good primer to Beijing, a city that is at once steeped in thousands of years of history and also rushing into the 21st century full-throttle.

Reviewed by Ashley McCall The Children’s Book

By A.S. Byatt Alfred A. Knopf, $26.95, 675 pages A.S. Byatt’s magical new novel spans the years between 1895 and the First World War, a golden period of fairy tales and utopianism lost to the trenches – there would “never [be] such innocence again,” in Philip Larkin’s words. Fiction and cultural history combine in this expansive, satisfying book, which begins six weeks after Oscar Wilde’s trial, and features writers, craftsmen, puppeteers, vegetarians, theosophists, anarchists, and the odd businessman negotiating the changing social tides of the turning century.

Although Byatt’s focus is ultimately on a whole community and culture in flux, her character, Olive Wellwood, author of children’s fairy tales (and based on the writer E. Nesbit) is a primary thread in this tapestry. Olive has fled an impoverished and tragic childhood as a miner’s daughter to marry the Fabian

10 November 09

socialist Humphry Wellwood and to preside over the Arcadian splendors of Todefright, their Kentish farmhouse perfectly evoked in the lush description of a Midsummer’s Eve party. But as in a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, domestic harmony is a dangerous illusion built upon secrets kept from the various Wellwood children.

“A writer made an incantation, calling the reader into the magic circle of the world of the book.”

Olive’s decision to take in a runaway boy named Philip, found sketching in the bowels of what will become the Victoria and Albert Museum, initiates other narrative strands and introduces us to other artistic households: Philip will become an apprentice to the talented, yet frighteningly bipolar potter Benedict Fludd, whose wife and daughters seem paralyzed under a terrible enchantment. Nearby, Arthur Dobbin and the Rev. Frank Mallett, followers of Edward Carpenter, Victorian champion of the so-called “intermediate sex,” keep house together and look out for Philip. We meet the feminist / theosophist Miss Dace, the nudist Methleys, the tutor and anarchist Joachim Susskind, and the German puppeteer Anselm Stern. Readers who feel they need a scorecard to keep track are advised to be patient and keep reading.

Olive’s fairy tales, both the private ones she writes for her children, and the ones she publishes, function as the dark heart of this novel. Like Fludd the potter, Olive extracts her art from the lives of her children, but at what cost? In the story Tom Underground, which Olive writes for her favorite son, a rat steals the shadow (or soul) of Tom, and we are left to ponder the destructive, selfish nature of the artist, plundering life for art. This theme weaves together the various stories into a meditation on the relationship between artist and audience: “A writer made an incantation, calling the reader into the magic circle of the world of the book.”

The Children’s Book creates a seductive illusion, pulling the reader into its magical, lost world, and leaving us blinking, disoriented, when the spell ends.

Reviewed by Catherine Hollis Ferris Beach

By Jill McCorkle Algonquin Books, $13.95, 368 pages Note to readers: when it comes to the list of “new books” being released, it pays to read the fine print. This trade paperback edition of Ferris Beach is actually a reissue of Jill McCorkle’s 1990 novel timed to coincide with the publication of her latest work, Going Away Shoes. There’s nothing wrong with that, although it’s a bit like releasing a Greatest Hits collection when a band puts out a new album.

Saint John of the Five Boroughs

By Edward Falco Unbrindled Books, $16.95, 432 pages

Avery had just begun her last year at Penn State when Grant Danko, a 37-year-old performance artist giving a guest lecture on campus, suddenly steps into her life.

Their disturbing encounter causes Avery to question her past and the superficiality of her college life, and who she really might be inside. Realizing her life at Penn State will no longer satisfy her, Avery asks Grant to take her to Brooklyn where she can hopefully live life her way.

Upset by her sudden decision, Avery’s mother, Kate, her Uncle Hank, and Aunt Lindsey decide to embark to the Big Apple to bring Avery home and make her realize what a mistake she is making by not finishing college. However, a recent death in the family and secret affairs begin to weight heavily on the three as they realize it’s not Avery’s move that’s the problem, causing their own lives to quickly change.

Saint John of the Five Boroughs is a highly recommended read for anyone. Edward Falco, author of several books and director of Virginia Tech’s MFA program, creates an amazing story in Saint John of the Five Boroughs that will captivate readers, and have them curious to read more of his work. Falco seamlessly weaves together each characters individual tale, bringing them to life. Readers will be able to understand each character’s painful mistakes and dreams, as the story unfolds their respective pasts.

One character that Falco was able to truly bring a real personality to is the mother, Kate. Many books have too often portrayed mothers as part of the background and are rarely they given any substance. Kate, on the other hand, is a complex individual that will have readers asking how well do they know their own mother’s mind. In parts of Saint John of the Five Boroughs, readers are able look into Kate’s mind, and begin to see how her loneliness and hope for Avery’s future causes Kate to make a decision she may not come back from.

Yet that is not to say that Kate steals the show from Avery. Avery, too, has real substance along with the others. Readers will be able to really connect with Avery as she comes to that point in her life where things need to change in order to find herself, and that she has the power to do so.

Saint John of the Five Boroughs is highly recommended. It is one book that readers can enjoy again and again over the years.

Reviewed by Robyn J. Oxborrow

So how does the novel hold up? Not badly, actually. The label “coming-of-age novel” is starting to get trite, but it fits this saga of a teenager growing up in a small Southern town. Kate Burns is in the tradition of young Southern heroines conjured up by authors like Harper Lee, Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers; like them, she experiences the pangs and joys of adolescence with a combination of innocence and precociousness.

McCorkle has that bred-in-the-bone gift of so many Southern writers when it comes to knocking words around: you can practically reach out and touch the canna lilies. And, as she proved in an earlier novel, Tending to Virginia, she has a wicked, quirky comic sense, especially when it comes to dealing with her eccentrics

and small-town busybodies.

That’s the good news. The not so good is that McCorkle sometimes falls into the same trap as so many current novelists who seem to just plain lose control of their material. I don’t know if it’s the influence of too many movie screenplays, confessional memoirs, or Oprah shows, but there’s a depressing tendency toward padded-out, over-the-top melodrama and preachiness in a lot of contemporary fiction, and McCorkle doesn’t entirely escape it. The later parts of the novel sag under the weight of rape, murder, sudden death, house fires, and domestic abuse, and those bits strike me, at least, as “absolutely extraneous,” to quote one character.

McCorkle also has a puzzling way of dumping on the most appealing members of her cast, especially Kate’s cousin Angela. Angela may be sluttish and shallow, but she’s got more vitality--and provides Kate with more excitement--than most of the other characSee FERRIS, page 11

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FERRIS, Con’d page 10 ters put together; I was simply unconvinced by the scene in which she breaks with Kate so that Kate can return to her prim, worrywart mother. It’s too Hollywooden, and too much of a put-up job. I mean, if you gain the world but lose your sense of humor and effrontery, is it really worth it?

Still, there are compensations: the town’s hypocritical wicked witch Mrs. Poole, “known for her do-gooding and her Lincoln Continental”; Kate’s jokester father, with his deft zingers and hilarious “last wishes”; the yearnings of the teen heroine for someone to talk to about the meaning of it all, to whom she could “lean down and whisper an answer as soft as duck’s down.” In these passages McCorkle soars far above the level of that God-awful buzz phrase, “chick lit” (what’s the male equivalent-- “bubba lit?”). I may prefer works by other Southern women novelists (The Member of the Wedding, Lee Smith’s terrific The Devil’s Dream) to this particular novel, but I’m not knocking McCorkle’s talent. At her best, she’s one of our finest middle-of-the-road writers, and that’s not a putdown: sometimes middle-of-theroad isn’t a bad place to be.

Reviewed by Jim Vasser

Self-Help The 7 Connections to Happiness and Harmony

By Shirley Desai Shared Step Press, $15.95, 145 pages Desai combines anecdotal stories, fundamental psychology, and politics with the Eastern system of energies called chakras.

If yours is a mere curiosity of the chakra paradigm, Desai does an excellent job of explaining it. Much like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the chakras fit into modern psychology in a rudimentary way. If you are hoping for a concrete “how-to” on decision making, however, you might be disappointed in the text—though the worksheet pages in the back of the book are helpful.

The book falls short of its title promise of how to use the chakras to make decisions easily. The dots are too far apart for most people. It also fails to explore the different kinds and types of decisions, and to parse out the type of decisions the book addresses. Would you want to explore your chakras every time your cell phone contract expires?

It does offer insight into basic human behavior, much like an introductory psychology text, but in an abbreviated format.

Reviewed by Sheli Ellsworth

Something Missing

By Matthew Dicks Broadway, $14.00, 292 pages To coworkers and acquaintances, Martin Railsback, Jr. is a fastidious and quirky barista, but in reality, he is an expert thief who specializes in stealing only what people won’t miss, like a roll of toilet paper or a few cups of laundry detergent.

His meticulous attention to detail and numerous self-imposed rules have thus far kept him from being discovered, but as Martin grows more invested in the lives of his “clients,” he may soon find himself abandoning his carefully crafted routine in order to do what’s right.

Featuring a very charming protagonist in an enjoyable, if somewhat unfocused narrative, Something Missing is a tremendously fun novel. Although Martin’s elaborate preparations before each visit can become a bit tiresome, for the most part, his adventures (and misadventures) keep you turning page after engrossing page. And while it’s a thoroughly engaging read from start to finish, Something Missing will still leave you wondering the next time you can’t find an extra coffee filter or cup o’ soup.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

How To Rule the World from Your Couch

By Laura Day Atria, $24.00, 240 pages I’m not going to sugarcoat How to Rule the World from Your Couch like Atria’s publicity department has: this is not a business book, a weight-loss book, or even a run-ofthe-mill self-help book. This book deals specifically with skills of intuition such as gathering insight, getting into others’ thoughts and bodies, telepathy, precognition, and healing. These are skill areas that likely garner much doubt from the average reader, but advertising the book with bland, vague descriptions in order to gain more readers is NOT the way to go. In a friendly, engaging voice, Day describes specific processes that the reader can use to cultivate the skills she calls “intuitive.” The book and beliefs within it are intriguing, although, at times, confusing. Those interested in these skills (metaphysical skills, intuits, faith healing) will be quite pleased with Day’s simple, actionable practices and written exercises. The book has the potential to be of great interest to the right audience, but that audience isn’t well-targeted by Atria’s book jacket or publicity materials. Overall, an engaging read presented with great clarity on the author’s part.

Reviewed by Allena Tapia

Reference The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English

By Henry Hitchings Picador, $17.00, 440 pages The Secret Life of Words is a tantalizing account of the history of the English language.

In this book, Hitchings offers a wide array of meanings of English words, which he traces back to their original tongue. History buffs, as well as fans of linguistics, will find this book to be rich with facts and resources as well as very readable, as the author makes for a very illustrative presentation.

There are many accounts of historical figures, such as King James of Britian, as well as references to others such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. Hitchings offers a wide variety of researched words, contributing to the readership appeal of his book.

For instance, he explores the word “cappuccino” – its meaning today in America and in Italy, accompanied by a story of how Starbucks began. The word “blizzard” is explored as it relates to storms occurring back in the 1800s and how we have come to use the term today. Some words have come to be part of our English language simply through serendipitous circumstances. It is truly fascinating to discover some of these wonderful anecdotal tidbits of history. Hitchings eloquently conveys his fine writing skills as he expounds upon his findings in this short chronicle of the English language.

From the age of discovery to trade and colonization up to our present day democracy, Hitchings traces words, their meanings, and, at times, the reinvented meanings from their original tongue. Hitchings provides a delightful work in which he gleans fascinating facts and presents them with vivid details to the reader. His notes and indexes in the back of his book illustrate the time and detail he put in to researching his sources, making The Secret Life of Words a very credible, well-researched book about How English Became English.

Reviewed by Jennifer Ochs The World’s Easiest Astronomy Book

By Hitoshi Nakagawa One Peace Books, $12.95, 115 pages It’s more than a little bold to declare your latest work The World’s Easiest Astronomy Book, but having read a great many introductory texts on the subject in my time, I can safely say that Nakagawa’s book undoubtedly qualifies.

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Considering the wide range of topics covered – including everything from the age of the universe and the Big Bang Theory to aliens and shooting stars, from zero-gravity and living on the moon to modern rocketry and why the sky is blue -- Nakagawa’s handbook is refreshingly straightforward and charmingly designed to put the reader at ease. There is no fear of being overwhelmed or left behind by the subject matter.

The few issues I had with the book are very minor, and do little to detract from the reader’s experience. The translation from Japanese makes for a few clunky sentences here and there, but for the most part, it remains as easy to digest as advertised.

Astronomy is a field defined by its unimaginable vastness, but The World’s Easiest Astronomy Book does an admirable job of condensing the universe and its countless aspects into a bright, enjoyable and informative guidebook.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas Living Green: The Missing Manual

By Nancy Conner O’Reilly, $19.99, 300 pages Going “green” has become very popular recently. Publishers have been keen to cash in on the trend and bookstore shelves have begun to sag underneath the weight of this new area of DIY. These books purport to show readers how to be more green or, alternatively, how they too can get rich off of the Green movement. I’ve browsed through a number of these titles, and have found that most offer little that the reader doesn’t already know or can’t discover for themselves with five minutes and Google. Thankfully, this was not the case with O’Reilly’s Living Green: The Missing Manual, this reference wok not only tells you, in depth, how to green your entire life, it explains the whys as well. Conner covers everything from natural cleaners to vermicomposting to corporate carbon offsets and charity giving! Reading through the book gave me several new ideas on how to be more sustainable now but also provided direction on acting on them. For those concerned about global warming, agribusiness, and the sustainability of Western Culture, Living Green will prove indispensable. The book has already found a prominent, permanent location on my bookshelf.

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Romance Obsession: An Erotic Tale

By Gloria Vanderbilt Ecco, $16.99, 160 pages Obsession is one of those erotic tales that made a mark in my psyche and emotions.

The story begins by presenting us with Talbot and Priscilla Bingham - a perfect couple, envied and revered by most, each having reached the pinnacle of their profession and reputation in their respective fields. But then Priscilla’s perfect world shatters when her distinguished architect husband dies unexpectedly. In addition to the burden of grief and loss Priscilla experiences, she must pick herself up as well as continuing to preserve his legacy at the estate they built together, his architectural masterpiece on the Maryland coast.

Priscilla’s very painful experience is further aggravated when she comes across a trove of neatly bundled erotic letters from Talbot’s secret mistress. Suddenly, she finds herself questioning her sensuality and her ability to provide passion and love. Although seething and enraged with the fact that her husband has lived a double life all these years, Priscilla becomes drawn to Bee, the woman behind the letters, and vicariously lives a life of sexual adventure through her. Bee’s overall mystique along with her submissive and provocative persona consumes Priscilla. As if in a parallel world, Bee is equally obsessed with her Master’s wife and the throne Priscilla possesses that a mistress like her can never have. As the letters and stories unfold, the lives of these two women converge as in a dream, each resenting the other and at the same time obsessed with Talbot’s promiscuity and power over them. The story’s conflicts are gently and tenderly resolved, delivering a beautifully written and passionate ending.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman

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Barely Bewitched

By Kimberly Frost Berkley Trade, $14.00, 320 pages Welcome to Duvall, Texas, a town full of witches, warlocks, vampires, fairies, and werewolves plus normal, average, everyday people who have no idea anything is amiss in their small town.

In this sequel to Would-Be Witch, Tammy Jo Trask, returning resident to Duvall, is having a rough week. All she wants to do is be a normal pastry chef but thanks to her spell-wielding, she’s gained the attention of the World Association of Magic (WAM). The brand new witch has no choice but to pass an Initial Challenge or face imprisonment or even worse, death. Furthermore she’s banned from seeking aid from Bryn Lyons, a suave debonair local mage. Even ex-husband Zach isn’t much help, as he insists Tammy seek therapy to deal with her “misguided” belief in the supernatural.

However, when a spell leads to an accidental spill of pixie dust, Tammy Jo has no choice but to do whatever is necessary to keep the town from imploding. While usually normal citizens are dancing in the streets, Tammy Jo is battling an attraction to the handsome Bryn and old dormant feelings for sexy and charming good ole boy Zach. Trying to control her misfiring magic, however, is the greatest challenge of all.

Full of action, romance and humor, Barely Bewitched will keep you reading from page one to the very end. Tammy Jo Trask is downright delightful. This reader will be picking up Would-Be Witch as soon as possible to carry me over until the sequel comes out.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed

By Mitzi Szereto Cleis Press, $16.95, 322 pages Author Mitzi Szereto infuses new life in the familiar fairy tales we grew up with.

Part anthology of erotic tales, part history lesson, /In Sleeping Beauty’s Bed updates the classics, including Little Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty, amongst others, by adding a grown-up twist. Gone are the sanitized versions of modern times and in their place stands short stories of sexual titillation and desire.

As enjoyable as the stories themselves are the bonus introductions. Both informative and entertaining, the background information could serve as a stand-alone book. Obviously well researched, the author provides a brief history and a peek into the sexual customs of the time at the origination of each tale.

This reader found herself eager to move from one tale to the next less for the salacious content and more in pure anticipation for Mitzi’s unique take on these familiar childhood tales. From a prince with a shoe fetish in Cinderella to a rapping Rapunzel, In sleeping Beauty’s Bed will surprise and delight readers. Warning: These re-tooled tales are not suitable for the faint at heart. The various forms of sexuality explored in each tale are as varied as the tales themselves. The twist and turns will keep readers enthralled to the very end.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley Demon Ex Machina

By Julie Kenner Berkley Trade, $14.00, 320 pages Mix Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Desperate Housewives and you’ll get the newest installment in the Tales of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series. When Kate Connor was pulled out of retirement, she had no

idea just how crazy her life would get. As the only Level Four Demon Hunter in coastal San Diablo, California, Kate dispatches the minions of hell from their mortal hosts, all the while balancing a life at home. Between play-groups and temper tantrums, training her family in demon-slaying, teaching the women of San Diablo self-defense, and her nightly patrols, Kate does not have time for any more drama.

She thought her life would get easier once she didn’t have to keep her night-time activities secret from her second husband, Stuart. Unfortunately between her unresolved feelings for her dead first husband Eric, whose spirit she accidentally resurrected into the body of teacher David Long, and Stuart’s smothering, this loveable stay-at-home mom is pushed almost past her abilities to juggle it all.

Added to her to-do list is to find a way to release the demon possessing her first husband Eric without killing him…again.

Because if the demon within gets free, hell will literally break loose on Earth.

Although fifth in the series, Julie Kenner’s fresh and fun dialogue keeps the reader engaged and entertained. Long-time fans of the series will not be disappointed. Perhaps Ms. Kenner’s greatest gift is her ability to seamlessly merge the supernatural with the mundane. Real-life mothers can easily relate to the sometimes overwhelming demands on Kate, while others will enjoy the fastpaced action. Demon Ex Machina is a fun, quick-paced tale leaving this reader chomping at the bit for the next installment.

Reviewed by Lanine Bradley

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Cooking, Food & Wine The New Thanksgiving Table: An American Celebration of Family, Friends, and Food

By Diane Morgan, Photographs by Leigh Betsch Chronicle Books, $24.95, 224 pages

In an age when fast food-style convenience is often traded for quality and a complete “Thanksgiving dinner in a bag” can be purchased at the supermarket, Diane Morgan has written a cookbook that proves great cooking doesn’t have to be a hassle. Full of friendly advice, bits of trivia and helpful tips, The New Thanksgiving Table: An American Celebration of Family, Friends, and Food is written for cooks of all skill levels. The author explains in detail how to put the recipes together, as well as what steps can be completed ahead of time. The photography is beautifully done, illustrating what the dishes should look like while making a simple pudding with whipped cream look rich and decadent. The introduction includes descriptions of and selection tips for foods that may be unfamiliar to some, as well as a primer on kitchen equipment. The star of most Thanksgiving dinners is not neglected. Instructions on how to buy, thaw, and prepare a turkey for cooking are included along with mouthwatering recipes for the entire meal.

This is a uniquely American cookbook with a focus on regional cuisine and specialties. Just reading the title for each recipe will make your mouth water. And, while this is a seasonal holiday cookbook, many of recipes would be appropriate for everyday or weekend menu planning all year round.

The Cabbage and Carrot Coleslaw with Lemon Mayonnaise is perfect for a summer picnic. The Silky Parsnip-Potato Soup with Crisp Diced Bacon makes a great rainy day dinner paired with the Heartland Cottage Cheese Dill Bread and one of the refreshingly light salads. A wide selection of dessert recipes is included, ranging from variations on traditional holiday pies to Honey-Roasted Bosc Pears with Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream. The book concludes with suggested menus and valuable planning tips. The traditional turkey leftovers are remade into tempting entrees, such as the Turkey Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce. The tips are practical and especially helpful for someone not experienced with entertaining a large group of people. The New Thanksgiving Table: An American Celebration of Family, Friends, and Food is an easy to follow cookbook offering a wonderful tribute to Thanksgiving culinary traditions.

Reviewed by Laurie Racca

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November 09 13

E X P A N D E D Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook

By Jasper J. Mirabile, Jr. Andrew McMeel, $19.99, 176 pages For more than 55 years, Jasper’s Restaurant has been a Kansas City institution: a family-run Italian restaurant specializing in traditional recipes perfected over time. In Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook, current chef and owner Jasper J. Mirabile, Jr., whose father and grandfather started the restaurant, shares a variety of Jasper’s recipes—and anecdotes and stories related to the restaurant, his family and, of course, the food. With recipes ranging from simple antipasto dishes to more complex main courses, Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook provides a nice starting point for anyone who is interested in learning some solid Italian recipes. Each recipe in the book features a little aside from the author, whether in relation to the history of the dish or his personal experiences with it. Like the stories about his family and the restaurant, this makes Jasper’s Kitchen Cookbook feel homey and comfortable. The only downside, however, is that most people outside of Kansas City really don’t know what Jasper’s is, so the book, which doesn’t feature glossy pages or beautiful food photos, is likely to be overlooked by many. Still, it’s a compact cookbook featuring a good variety of delicious-sounding recipes. What’s not to like?

Reviewed by Ashley McCall America Eats! On the Road with the WPA: The Fish Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chitlin Feasts that Define Real American Food

By Pat Willard Bloomsbury USA, $16.00, 320 pages In the mid-1930s, the Federal Writers’ Project employed thousands of laid-off writers through the Works Progress Administration. One of the WPA’s projects was America Eats!, a close-up look at the role food played in American society and culture. Most of America Eats! never made it into print. In this book, Ms. Willard reproduces many of the original pieces alongside her own attempts to relive the church suppers and fish fries described.

“The food we think of as truly American -- think pies and barbecues, thick stews, a good roasted chicken, a tender slab of steak -- did not romantically develop over hundreds of years from the rustic charms of peasant fare through to the haughty demands of imperial refinements. Instead, our cuisine. like much of American life, developed on the fly, in a rush from one place to another, in a great confluence necessities, contrasting agendas, and, most important, unprecedentedly varied cultural influences.”

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Ms. Willard gives the endeavor a hearty stab, but even the kindest eye would be hard pressed not to get just a little annoyed at her (mostly) suppressed hoity attitude towards what the unwashed masses of Americans eat. The finest parts of the book aren’t Ms. Willard’s at all, but often the anonymous pieces. Their writing is unselfconscious, earthy, witty, and full of the joy of fundraising dinners, rural fairs, and crabapple jelly.

Ms. Willard’s thoughts are emphatically those of an outsider. It’s tough not to wish that a writer more sympathetic to the cause of plain American food as something to eat rather than study had written this book – Jane and Michael Stern, say, or the late, great Laurie Colwin. Still, it’s worth reading, just to relive the long ago joys of the American table.

Reviewed by Michelle Kerns Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy

By Lidia Matticchio Bastianich Alfred A. Knopf, $35.00, 411 pages Unlike a mere-how-to book of cold print on white paper, the very first page of this cookbook casts a heart-warming feel over the entire piece; in it, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich expresses a brief but very moving tribute to her father, whose favorite dishes she included in this compilation. Such a beginning voices well the focus on family gathering which is so much a part of cooking in Italy; having married into a Sicilian-American family, I found much of this book pleasantly familiar in the authentic recipes as well as its traditional feel. The recipes themselves are—like Italy—divided by region; the result is a tantalizing array of dishes to prepare: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls from Lombardy, Beef Braised in Beer, Whole-grain Spaetzle of Trentino-Alto Adige, Veal Scaloppine from Umbria, Calabrese Onion Soup and Sardinian Pasta “Pearls” and Flatbread Lasagna. The “General Reference” recipes were a welcome addendum to the book, including the basic building blocks of Italian cuisine, such as chicken stock and marinara sauce.

A cook with several published recipe books and a television series, Lidia Bastianich (with the help of her daughter Tanya) presents treasured recipes from her own family and her travels, including charming pictures taken along the way, as well as mouth-watering photographs of select dishes. This is a must-have book for any kitchen inhabitant.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene

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Cooking the Cowboy Way

By Grady Spears with June Naylor Andrews McMeel, $29.99, 222 While cooking delicious meals may be the overt focus of Cooking the Cowboy Way, it also offers insights into ranches, restaurants, and cuisine from various regions.

Numerous The Cowboy Way inserts also provide an insider’s look into the people and foods of different regions through the eyes of cowboy cooks.

“Sourdough biscuits are probably the most difficult thing to master in the world of the chuckwagon cook. It’s a sciene that only be mastered by trial and mucho error.”

Recipes for steaks, ribs, and other meaty fare can be found in these pages, as can ways to concoct cowboy-style beans and sourdough bread and biscuits. Mama Elick’s Kolaches (a Czech pastry), Parmesan Cheesecake, Wild Mushroom Fired Taters, Shepherd’s Pie, and Wild Mustang Salad are among the many Western-flavored delights found within these pages. Chapters are based on locations, such as the Bellamy Brothers Ranch in Florida and the Lonesome Pine Ranch in Texas. Each group showcases enough recipes for a great and flavorful gathering.

The expected glossy color photos of mouthwatering main courses, side dishes, desserts, and drinks are part of this recipe collection from across North America. An unexpected treat, though, are the two-page spreads and a variety of other photos showcasing the people and country from where these recipes come. Cooking the Cowboy Way is a great source of ideas for barbecues, family gatherings, or any outdoor cooking experience.

Reviewed by David Reynolds Champagne & Collard Greens

By Maxi B. Maxi B., $19.99, 200 pages Here’s a cookbook that will remind you of those basic black and whites sold by your local PTA club. Yet this is written exclusively by caterer Maxi B., who prepares home cooked meals on set for Hollywood stars.

Maxi B. has an interesting story to share about her Hollywood catering, but you’ll find only recipes here—no tales from the kitchen. Her recipes focus on “down home comfort foods,” including Oven Pot Roast, Crispy Cajun Fried Chicken Livers, and Granny Smith &

S E C T I O N Cheddar Au Gratin Potatoes. You’ll find beverages, salads, soups, main dishes, sides, and a few desserts.

“These beans are the reason why I’m even in business. My first clients were Johnny Gill and Sinbad... Every Thursday, Johnny’s music director would call to order these beans because their guests were so fond of them.”

You’ll also find some unique creations, such as Fried Sardines with Spicy Tarragon Mustard and Rosemary Skillet Bread. Maxi B. graciously includes the recipe that made her popular: My My My BBQ Beans. The secret ingredient is vanilla, which the author uses in some other uncommon places, such as her Cranberry Sauce and Mint Lemonade.

The recipes are well written with preparation methods any home cook can follow.

They also use standard ingredients, making this a user-friendly book—yet you won’t find a recipe index of any kind, making it difficult to navigate.

Reviewed by Amber K. Stott Bread Matters

By Andrew Whitley Andrews McMeel, $34.99, 373 pages It is not often that one reads an “activist” manifesto which includes baking squiggles, humor and a throng of mouth-watering recipes. British baker and entrepreneur Andrew Whitley informs the reader of his long-held peeve against industrial, “cheap” breads worldwide, yet he manages to prove his many points in a rather sane--even scientific--fashion.

“Even if you understand all the terms used on a bread label, you still might be in the dark...”

Building a statistical bulwark in the first chapter, the author artfully pulls the reader into the swirling circle of events which caused him to open his own “real bread” bakery in the late ’70s. Cited foremost was the general lack of interest in England for “good bread”--bread without “industrial” additives that apparently cause severe digestive issues and food allergies; emphasized with tact is the importance of making one’s own bread using local, sustainable grains and also a natural fermentation process, which allows bread to be healthfully digestible.

Whitley penned this book with zeal, taking care to include wry observations on eating habits and just a bit of fun with his “illogical” recipe directions. If the many cited studies, specialist opinions and data were not enough to convince readers of why they should enter

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E X P A N D E D the pleasant realm of bread-baking, the tried-and-true recipes and hunger-inducing photographs should send consumers scampering to the natural food section of their markets for stone-ground whole grains and various natural mix-ins. Whitley makes such treats as holiday Stollen or the oftenelusive “sourdough’ attainable for even the average kitchen.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene Cooking Dinner: Simple Italian Family Recipes Everyone Can Make

By Rima Barkett and Claudia Pruett Mega Productions, $34.95, 256 pages Don’t read this book on an empty stomach! You’ll want to cook it all as you turn the appetizing pages of this Italian cookbook.

This isn’t your typical recipe tome. It was created to be used by the whole family.

The recipes are light, healthy, made with fresh ingredients, and easy enough for beginners. In fact, the authors intended it as a teaching tool for children, and to reintroduce family dinners to the American table.

“We know that time spent with our kids is irreplaceable. The kitchen is a wonderful place to teach lifelong skills, pass on traditional recipes, bake a memory and decorate a dream.”

This innovative book offers menus and grocery lists to help you plan a week’s worth of meals. Each recipe includes a “Helping Hands” segment, providing suggestions to involve children. You’ll also find tips, nutrition information, and ideas for varying recipes.

You’ll discover new cooking secrets in an appendix that offers a range of tips from storing cheese with a sugar cube to making a brightly-colored boiled egg—one of the many highlights of the book. Packed full of delightful, classic recipes with modern twists, you’ll find Spinach Torta, Pasta e Fagioli Soup, and Strawberry Tiramisu—to name but a few. The only drawback? That you can’t cook them all at once! This is a mustown cookbook for any family collection.

Reviewed by By Amber K. Stott Eat Your Feelings: Recipes for SelfLoathing

By Heather Whaley Hudson Street Press, $25.95, 240 pages Serve yourself some equal portions of comfort food, sarcasm, and gut-busting humor. Author and actress Heather Whaley stirs up a new kind of cookbook with this

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original. Sure, you might enjoy the recipes, but you’ll want to read this book for its guaranteed laughs. It’s the kind of book you bust out at a party. It’s a sure-fire way to get folks giggling.

“Set alarm clock two hours earlier than you would have to get up if your car weren’t a piece of junk. Put chicken breasts in a plastic bag filled with buttermilk and place in the refrigerator.

Once in driveway, pause at vehicle to kick it thirteen times or until your aggression has been sufficiently satisfied.”

Take, for instance, Whaley’s recipe titled Pepperoni Pizza for Agoraphobes: “Put yeast in a warm bowl and pour in water and sugar.

Mix well with a fork and leave until yeast starts to foam, about 5-10 minutes. (Leave the mixture—you don’t actually have to leave the house, no need to panic just yet.)”

No one is safe from Whaley’s hilarious attacks. She’s got recipes to mock women with stretch marks, folks who failed their GED, bullies, the lovelorn, and pretty much every type of emotionally sapped character. Even better, she’s got the perfect recipe to cure what ails them: “You are Overqualified for Your Job and They Make You Get Donuts Super Veggie Dog,” “He Likes Your Roommate Key Lime Pie,” or “Dead Broke Dumplings.”

Laugh your heart out—and buy this book!

Reviewed by Amber K. Stott The Bizarre Truth: How I Walked Out the Door Mouth First... and Came Back Shaking My Head

By Andrew Zimmern Broadway Books, $24.99, 270 pages Grab your suitcase and a fork. This book will have you boarding the next plane to the middle of nowhere just to taste a rare morsel. Perhaps you’re interested in tasting a fox-sized fruit bat? Or maybe it’s exotic fruit that you’re after? Or, it might just be the pure sense of adventure.

If any of the above get your pulse racing, you’ll love The Bizarre Truth. You can devour the book like a hungry hiker who hasn’t seen anything but a granola bar for days—the book is that good. Or, you can sit back and savor each individual escapade one bite at a time.

“I am a traveler. I am not a tourist. Occassionally, I do touristy things. But I have spent about ten weeks’ total time in the People’s Republic of China and never seen the Great Wall. Go figure.”

You’ll follow author Andrew Zimmern all over the planet, experiencing high-drama adventures and mouth-watering moments bold and simple. You’ll find guns, cliffs, and

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Jamie’s Food Revolution

Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals

By Jamie Oliver Hyperion, $35.00, 347 pages

You know you’ve found a gem of a cooking book when you find yourself consulting it for any complex dish you’ve been dying to make! Jamie’s Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals is an informative, accessible and delightful addition for any chef’s collection!

With a wide variety of recipes, both traditional and exotic, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s newest gastronomic gift to the world is a must-have. Oliver’s book made even some of the typically more daunting recipes seem easy as pie!

There is a nice spread between soups, main dishes, desserts, stir-fries, breakfast dishes, salads, fish dishes, curries and more. In addition, there are picture pages throughout with brief paragraphs on non-professional chefs who have enjoyed learning the art of cooking from Jamie Oliver. Bon appetit!

Reviewed by Susie Kopecky muscle-bound men. You’ll find fruit stands, traffic jams, and hillside villages.

With each climactic chapter, you’ll itch to strike out on your own journey of the world and its marvelous ingredients. Zimmern is a smooth, revealing, and suspenseful writer.

The only tidbit I found lacking were his descriptions of the meals, which he defies all odds to claim. Then again, it’s hard to taste with your eyes. But I sure had fun trying!

Reviewed by Amber K. Stott Michael Symon’s Live to Cook: Recipes and Techniques to Rock Your Kitchen

By Michael Symon, Michael Ruhlman Clarkson Potter, $35.00, 256 pages Live To Cook, the first cookbook by chef Michael Symon, is chock full of enticing recipes and engaging stories chronicling his evolution from line cook to James Beard award-winning restaurateur to Food Network superstar. This book goes beyond the hype to reveal the true Michael Symon, a down-to-earth guy who has obvious zeal for his profession, a definitive philosophy about cooking and an unwavering devotion to his family and his hometown, Cleveland, Ohio.

The recipes in the book illustrate the impact that a lifetime of memorable food experiences have had on who Symon is as a chef today. This is seen with the Beef Cheek Filled Pierogies, made with a dough that he learned as a teen from his grandfather, the Poached Foie Gras Bratwurst, his delicious tribute to a home-

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town favorite, as well as with many other recipes. Symon’s passion for meat, particularly bacon, is evidenced by its predominance throughout the book, as is his love for pickled and spicy foods. Also apparent in most of the recipes is Symon’s mastery for creating dishes that are layered with multiple, complementary flavors. A recipe for Duck Confit with Pickled Cherries and Endive is one of many that exemplifies Symon’s skill for combining contrasting ingredients in such a way that they at once shine on their own, as well as enhancing each other.

Live To Cookoffers accessible, creative recipes for cooks of every skill level and offers a candid look inside the real life of a superstar chef.

Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport More Vegetables, Please!

By Elson M. Hass, MD and Patty James, MS New Harbinger Publications, Inc., $21.95, 264 pages Eating three to five servings of vegetables a day as the food pyramid recommends isn’t so easy when our busy lives demand fast meals dominated by pasta and bread, meat, and dairy products. More Vegetables, Please! is both a cookbook and vegetable primer that hopes to teach people how to make vegetables a diet staple.

There are over 100 ve ge t a ble - fo c u s e d recipes in the book that cover everything from sauces to entrées. With a holistic nutritionist (Patty James) and a doctor (Elson M. Hass) as

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E X P A N D E D authors, the recipes in the book are healthful and include a breakdown of nutritional information. The authors were considerate in designing the recipes with ingredients that can be found at the local grocery store rather than choosing exotic, expensive ingredients.

A unique aspect of this cookbook is that James and Hass, who encourage readers to include children in the preparation of food, have special sidebars next to many of the recipes that detail how children can help.

Also valuable are the book’s subsections with great information such as instructions for growing spouts and a glossary that pairs several spice suggestions with each type of vegetable.

Reviewed by Megan Just Ciao Italia

By Mary Ann Esposito St. Martin’s Press, $29.99, 150 pages Ease of recipe navigation is a revered quality in any cookbook, let alone one promising “good” Italian food. A TV chef on PBS, Esposito uses her well of knowledge to serve up a book-bound nod to busy Americans, with a surprising twist: each meal in Ciao Italia is prepared using just five ingredients.

In concise terms, the reader is informed that quality components are the secret to

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great cuisine, not necessarily the number of them or the complexity of their preparation. The authentic names of each dish (and subsequent English translations) will be quite helpful should one visit a good Italian restaurant. The author’s use of “timesaving” basic stock items (like frozen prepared pizza dough and canned tomatoes) may raise a few eyebrows, warranting pause in serving said dishes to visiting Venetians.

However, the recipes sampled proved they were indeed simple to prepare, surprisingly delicious, and useful for fresh-made dinners and casual parties.

Among the various dishes to choose from shone out unique takes on traditional favorites: Fontina-Stuffed Meatballs, Mushroom, Spinach & Cheese Tart, Spinach & Pear Salad, and Almond Crisp Cookies. Despite the minimal number of ingredients, Esposito’s recipes bring home the fact that good, quality food is not only easy to make, but often the healthier alternative to fast food. This upcoming holiday season, it may behoove folks to bring a bit of Italy into the kitchen.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene

Meet the authors of the books you love!

Anne Rice Angel Time

Brandon Sanderson The Gathering Storm

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The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book

By Camilla V. Saulsbury Sourcebooks, $24.99, 404 pages Finally! This is the kind of cookie cookbook I have been looking for. 745 easy cookie recipes fill the pages of this must-have book. With everything from bar cookies to biscotti, to re-creations of your favorite store-bought cookies, and many new favorites, there is something in here for everyone.

The winner of the Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown Best Cookie Recipe is also included in this book. I can’t stress enough how easy the recipes are and how little baking experience you need. The holidays are a very busy time yet we want things to feel as homey as possible. There’s no better way than filling your home with the scent of freshly baked cookies. Your guests will think you spent all day in the kitchen but with a shortcut in every recipe you’ll be spending more time with your loved ones instead. Some of my favorite recipes are the chocolate-chip cherry cheesecake tartlets, and the sour cream brownies with chocolate velvet frosting. The

S E C T I O N Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book would make a great gift for the holidays or be a wonderful addition to your own library.

Reviewed by Jennifer LeBrun Make It Fast, Cook It Slow

By Stephanie O-Dea Hyperion, $19.99, 443 pages Dust off your slow cooker (also known a crock pot)--there is a new cookbook in town.

Stephanie O’Dea’s Make It Fast, Cook It Slow is a refreshing new cookbook dedicated to slow cooking. The author started 2008 with a resolution to use her slow cooker every day for a year. She accomplished that goal, and this book includes all the recipes that were “keepers.”

Unlike other slow cooking cookbooks, this book does not use creamof-something soup as the main ingredient in every recipe. There are recipes from every genre of cooking, from beverages to desserts and everything in between. In addition, many of the recipes are gluten-free. Most of the recipes are simple and use ingredients commonly found in a home pantry or easily found at the local grocery store. I highly recommend this book - and I plan to get out my

Robert Hicks A Separate Country Sharon Lee & Steve Miller Fledgling

Jarrett J. Krosoczka The Lunch Lady Series

James Dasher The Maze Runner

www.sacramentobookreview.com/audible_authors.php

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E X P A N D E D slow cooker to make the cheeseburger soup one day very soon. Enjoy!

Reviewed by Sharon LeBrun Thursday Night is Hearty Meat

By Editors of Woman’s Day Hachette, $12.99, 96 pages If you like meat, don’t have time to cook, and are into simple not special, then Woman’s Day Thursday Night is Hearty Meat is the cookbook for you. If you’re more of the versatile, interested, Food Network-nut type, then slip this book back on the self and head for something a bit more elaborate.

A few high points to the newest installment in the Woman’s Day cookery line are the glossy, appealing illustrations as well as the unadulterated, natural ingredients. There is nothing fatty, complicated or, heaven forbid, bad for the environment (that is if you don’t count the meat). Most recipes have less then ten ingredients and take only a few minutes or a couple hours in the slow cooker. Cuban Ropa Vieja and Sauerbraten offer some flair while classics like Shepherd’s Pie and Mini Meatloaves keep it cozy. For a busy family with hungry boys to feed I suggest adding this cookbook to your collection, but only if those boys can’t taste the difference between the hamburger from the diner down the street and the one at the five-star restaurant.

Reviewed by Natalie Fladager The Baking Answer Book

By Lauren Chattman Workman Publishing Company, $14.95, 384 pages Dessert baking is a daunting task that becomes all the more unnerving when you don’t have the right ingredients or when recipes don’t turn out as they’re supposed to. Can granulated sugar be replaced with brown sugar? What is the difference between a convection and conventional oven?

Why do cheesecakes often crack on top?

In The Baking Answer Book, Lauren Chattman takes on your every baking question, and troubleshoots your less than perfect outcomes so that you garner a better understanding of the mysteries behind baking and don’t repeat your errors. The book features chapters devoted to ingredients, equipment, the science of baking and the similarities and differences between the various types of ovens.

The chapters go on to cover individual categories of baked goods and breads, as well as sections on metric equivalents and high-altitude baking.

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While this book is oddly laid out in that it is mostly just questions and answers, it does contain a small collection of recipes that illustrate many of its points. These include an Apple Tart with a tender cream cheese crust, decadent Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies with the surprising crunch of sea salt and a time and labor saving Food Processor Puff Pastry that almost rivals that rolled out by hand.

The Baking Answer Book is a valuable reference to have on hand for those times when you have a question, or if something doesn’t turn out as it should have.

Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport My Bread

By Jim Lahey and Rick Flaste Norton, $29.95, 224 pages Who doesn’t love the smell and taste of freshly baked bread? Baking bread at home, however, is just too intimidating or labor intensive for most people… until now. In the new book, My Bread, Jim Lahey shares an incredibly simple, foolproof technique so straightforward that even those who have never baked before can become proficient in no time.

The breads in this book require no kneading, and anybody with a large pot and a working oven can produce artisanal style breads at home with surprisingly little effort.

The book begins with a basic recipe for a thick crusted, chewy, Italian-style loaf. Once you have mastered this dough, Lahey shows you how to elaborate on it by incorporating a variety of different ingredients such as olives, walnuts, fruit juices, and even chocolate. The book then advances to recipes for things such as rye bread, Irish brown bread, baguettes, and ciabattas.

Later chapters contain simple recipes for pizzas, focaccias, and mouthwatering sandwiches. There is even a chapter devoted entirely to using up stale bread in dishes such as bread pudding or tomato and bread soup, but chances are, you’ll eat up your delicious creations long before they have the chance to get stale.

For those of you who love freshly baked bread but have never considered baking your own, this book is sure to be a godsend, providing you with enough confidence to quickly become a masterful home baker.

Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport Simply in Season

By Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert Herald Press, $19.99, 368 pages “The average food item travels more than a thousand miles before it arrives on our tables,” writes Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert in the preface to their

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Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures: A Hudson Valley Cookbook

By Peter G. Rose New York State University Press, $14.95, 138 pages Step away from the glitz of popular food trends with this cookbook. Written by author Peter G. Rose, known for her research and writing on the diet of Dutch settlers in New Netherlands, Summer Pleasures, Winter Pleasures combines her knowledge with the recipes she enjoys in her personal kitchen.

The book packs a lot of disparate ideas into one short text. Some recipes are included because the author enjoys them while traveling in her RV; others are linked to Dutch heritage, while still others rejoice the use of abundant, seasonal ingredients. You’ll also find a few selections from favorite restaurants.

“This is another one of my summer standbys that is well liked. It is particularly handy on a boat or for happy hour at the end of a long day in the RV.”

The recipes are the highlight of this book. These are meals you might prepare at home for your family. The recipes offer several basics, like hot sauce, peach coffee cake, and herb spread. They are short, using standard, seasonal ingredients, and don’t call for fancy equipment or hours of your time. They have also been well tested. Yet, disappointingly, you won’t find any photos of the dishes.

If you’re interested in adding some recipes to your

collection, this book will bring some fresh ideas. But if you want a cookbook that you can read by the fire, you might be disappointed.

Reviewed by Amber K. Stott

“Picking your own berries, peaches, or apples can be combined with sightseeing to make a day’s outing.”

newly expanded version of Simply In Season, a cookbook that aspires to combat this dilemma by offering tasty, seasonal recipes the home cook can prepare using fresh, local-grown ingredients. It is an indispensable guide to those who frequent farmer’s markets or seek out the freshest produce available at the corner grocery store.

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“Each food purchase we make is like a vote for the way we want food to be produced - and for the world in which we want to live.”

An attractive spiral-bound hardcover book, Simply In Season is user-friendly thanks to its color-coded end tabs. Broken up by season, it is further subdivided into categories including breads and breakfast, soups, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, and extras. It is easy for one to plan an entire menu based on the harvest of the mo-

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E X P A N D E D ment. A springtime stop at the farmer’s market for seasonal produce, for instance, could yield a meal encompassing Spring Celebration Soup, Strawberry Spinach Salad, Lemon Asparagus Pasta, and Rhubarb Pie. The recipes are straightforward and simple enough to appeal to cooks of all skill levels, and are interspersed with essays, anecdotes, and nutrition tips, adding a touch of personality that is lacking in many cookbooks.

Simply In Season is the perfect choice for those who believe fresh and local is a philosophy they’d like to embrace.

Reviewed by Mark Petruska Confections of a Closet Master Baker: A Memoir

By Gesine Bullock-Prado Broadway Books, $24.00, 240 pages This very lovely first book (I hope there’ll be more) by Gesine Bullock-Prado is titled as a memoir, but it is also a handbook, poetic and practical, on creating balance and joy in work and life. Gesine understands what is important in life: those whom she loves.

She also appreciates their profound influence upon her and how a soul-sucking job, even one undertaken for the best of reasons, saps and diminishes one’s time on earth. So, she takes her remarkable heritage, an unstoppable work ethic, and her old sidekicks, Butter & Sugar, and conquers much more than her little portion of Vermont. She deals with issues of family love and duty, with the loss of a parent, with encountering all the crazies on the planet with sincerity and humor.

This is 226 pages of remarkable richness describing childhood divided between Europe and the U.S., the creation of a small business, the move from metropolis to rural community. It contains just enough Hollywood dish to satisfy the reader’s baser leanings and it offers plenty of true insights to encourage and uplift the reader, whatever their path. Two additional features make Gesine (also her bakery’s name)’s book a delight and an excellent gift choice: Raymond Prado’s amazing illustrations remind me of the best-beloved books of my childhood, and almost every chapter has a splendid recipe to accompany it! There are 18 wonderful, wholesome, straightforward, REALLY GOOD recipes that make this amazing little treasure an honest-to-goodness cookbook as well. This is one you will want to share with the people you love.

Reviewed by Shelby Kopecky

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Love Soup: 160 All New Vegetarian Recipes

By Anna Thomas Norton, $22.95, 528 pages Who loves soup? It may be challenging to think of a steamy cup of corn chowder at this blistering time of year, but think of crisp fall or chilly winter peering around the corner, blowing their biting breath down your neck. Yes, the time will come, and Anna Thomas has created a cornucopia of flavors and recipes in Love Soup:160 All New Vegetarian Recipes, a beautiful addition to her previous title The Vegetarian Epicure.

And yes, there are soups that are served best in spring and summer--a rich asparagus bisque with fresh dill, for starters. The book itself is a simple and elegant array of treats, and each season is purposefully assigned a chapter outlining the freshest choices and how to choose them, making ingredient shopping hassle-free and, in fact, fun. Although the title lends itself to the vegetarian diner, any meat-loving soup eater will devour these dishes. Not sure what goes with Christmas Eve Porcini Soup? She has it covered, a menu with the soup as the main dish, creative salads, and even dessert are offered. Flipping through this cookbook feels a lot like being in the kitchen with mom on a lazy Sunday afternoon, the ease of a hearty conversation (her warm voice effuses throughout), the sage advice, and eventually, if you stick around, the fruits (and veggies) of success.

This book is a guide to follow, a narrative to infuse in, and an invitation to partake.

Reviewed by Sky Sanchez The Silver Spoon Pasta

By Editors of Phaidon Press Phaidon Press, $39.95, 336 pages Pasta lovers looking to shake up their repertoire are going to be captivated and enlightened by The Silver Spoon Pasta, the successor to the celebrated Italian cookbook, The Silver Spoon.

The book is divided into two main categories, dried and fresh pastas, which are further classified from there by shape. Descriptions include a translation of each pasta’s name, the type of flour it’s made from, which Italian region it comes from and a suggestion for sauces that best complement it. There are also instructions and recipes for making fresh, homemade pasta doughs in a variety of flavors.

Many of the book’s 350 mouth watering recipes can be whipped up in minutes with pantry staples, as with Penne Arrabbiata, while others require con-

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siderably more time and ingredients, like Artichoke Cannelloni. There are plenty of recognizable recipes, such as classic lasagna or pasta Bolognese, but there are also a good number of uncommon recipes, like Bucatini with Green Tomatoes and Tuna or Cocoa Taglierini, a fresh pasta made with cocoa powder. Sauce recipes run the gamut, from tomato and meat based to those featuring olive oil, cream, saffron and even yogurt.

You might be fooled by recipes that appear understated, containing just a few ingredients, but those often turn out to be the most interesting, built upon layers of flavor that when combined, provide a complexity far greater than their individual parts.

As is the case with many cookbooks that have been translated from another language, there are some awkwardly worded sentences and a few recipes that lack clarity, such as one that calls for “1/2 cup of low fat cheese” without any further description.

That said, most of these glitches are minor and if anything add to the charm of this illuminating cookbook.

Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport The Cheese Chronicles

By Liz Thorpe Ecco, $15.99, 376 pages The Cheese Chronicles represents one woman’s passion for cheese, and the coming of age of the cheese movement in America.

Once regarded as inferior to Europe’s product, Thorpe demonstrates – through a quirky storytelling style that will have you chuckling while simultaneously teaching you the nuances of cheese and the cheese making process – that American cheese is no longer just the prefabricated, cellophane wrapped, mass-produced and flavorless product it once was.

“Everyone I meet really likes cheese. It’s a food that moves people and engages them...everyone has a favorite, everyone has a story, everyone asks if I know that cheese, the white-and-soft-andreally-good one.”

Thorpe, who works at the esteemed Murray’s Cheese in New York City, is the perfect spokeswoman for a dairy product that has become increasingly trendy and respected over the past decade. Young and hip, she accomplishes the impossible, making cheese seem sexy. Thorpe’s passion for cheese shows clearly in the pages of The Cheese Chronicles; her finely tuned palate enables her to come up with fantastically dense descriptions of a myriad of different cheeses. In her words, they are “lemony, milky whirls” or “pungent, salty, woodsy perfection.”

The Cheese Chronicles is educational, covering the differences between cheese made

S E C T I O N from the milk of cows, goats, and sheep, and explaining what to look for in a cheese and how to hone your own sense of taste.

Even better, it’s entertaining, chock full of vignettes delivered in a monologue that is equal parts humorous and down to earth.

Reviewed by Mark Petruska The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Preserving Food

By Karen Brees, Ph.D. Alpha, $18.95, 362 pages The best way to learn safe, effective food preservation techniques is by taking a Cooperative Extension Service course. But for busy people who lack the time for a lengthy course, this is a good introduction to the topic. Using simple, direct terms augmented by graphical tips and pointers, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Preserving Food covers all major food preservation methods. Techniques include freezing, canning, fermented foods, fruit spreads, plus drying, smoking, and salting. Chapters are devoted to common foods such as meats, vegetables, and fruits. Sections within these chapters point out differences for some foods, such as freezing grapes versus lemons and limes.

A few recipes are also provided at the end of each chapter.

People looking for extensive, detailed ways to preserve foods will want to take a Cooperative Extension class or look elsewhere. However, this book does an excellent job of providing an overview on ways to improve your health by preparing and preserving your own food, instead of buying pre-processed meals.

Reviewed by David Reynolds The New Portuguese Table: Exciting Flavors from Europe’s Western Coast

By David Leite Clarkson Potter, $32.50, 256 pages Portuguese cuisine is rarely given the same consideration as the food of other European countries, but David Leite’s book, The New Portuguese Table, illustrates that it clearly deserves a closer look.

The recipes in the book are enhanced by engaging stories, detailing their history as well as many of the chefs and cooks who created them. Generally succinct and straightforward, the recipes highlight the balance that exists between Portugal’s rich culinary history and its burgeoning modern food scene. Old world dishes like Caldo Verde, a flavorful soup made with potatoes, greens and spicy sausage, are classically simple, featuring traditional ingredients. In contrast

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E X P A N D E D are the contemporary dishes that are either new to the culture entirely or presented anew by way of flavor twists, uncommon ingredients and non-traditional cooking techniques. A recipe for Grilled Chicken Breasts with Spicy Coconut Sauce demonstrates how this country’s cuisine is now heavily influenced by Africa, Asia and beyond, while another for Salt Cod Sandwiches offers a playful variation on an age-old, popular ingredient. Many recipes accentuate the Portuguese people’s fervor for spicy foods and include components like piquant sausages, fresh and dried chiles and the ubiquitous Piri-Piri sauce. Neophytes will be comforted by a detailed pantry section that includes suggestions for substitutions for difficultto-find ingredients.

In addition to the recipes, there is a concise but detailed “gastronomic tour” of Portugal’s major provinces offering the reader a bit of insight into the history, geography, and the vast cultural diversity that exists throughout this tiny country.

Reviewed by Andrea Rappaport Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking: Traditional and Modern Recipes to Savor and Share

By Paula Wolfert Wiley, $34.95, 352 pages Paula Wolfert, author of several previous cookbooks on Mediterranean cooking, has taken much of her expertise and focused it on the art of cooking in clay pots. While there are numerous variations of clay cooking pots, she focuses on just a few, and provides recipes from around the Mediterranean for each. Many can even be produced in a standard Crockpot, but will lose the “earthiness” that Wolfert finds clay, stone or earthenware can impart to recipes. One of the upsides to cooking in a pot is, often, most of the meal cooks all at one time; the downside is that many of the recipes are involved and require some time in prep. Nor are many of them easy for beginners. A case in point would be the Pork Daube with Wild Mushrooms, which requires preparing the pork on a skillet, and baking the final dish twice. The good news is that for the patient cook, these dishes will provide a taste of Mediterranean cooking at its freshest and most flavorful. The book is mostly black and white pages of recipes and commentary, with several pages of inset color photos of some of the final dishes.

There is also an excellent section on finding and caring for clay pots of all sorts and an afterword with sources for the many pots and ingredient discussed, and a two page bibliography for cooks interested in further explorations of Mediterranean cooking.

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The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide

By Wai Hon Chu; Connie Lovatt William Morrow Cookbooks, $35.00, 432 pages Many varieties of dumplings are easily recognized and enjoyed, but preparing them is often passed up by many cooks as too temperamental or difficult to maintain quality. But, as dumplings can be found in many cultures, they should be seen as an essential part of any good cook’s repertoire.

The Dumpling covers not only the standards, but some more unusual cultural variations on the theme, including tamales, mochi from Japan, and plantain dumplings from Peru.

In all, there are about 130 dumpling recipes, and 60 stews, soups and sauces to cook them in and with. The book is organized by months, trying to find dumplings best suited to the season and available ingredients.

You can find easy-tofol low-and-ma ke potato dumplings and tapioca balls stuffed with pork and peanuts. There are not a lot of color photos in the book; the main focus being a variety of recipes and clear instructions. There are also some good illustrations of how to wrap and fold dumplings around their center in a variety of ways. Overall a pleasing book on a subject often overlooked.

Gourmet Today Edited By Ruth Reichl Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $40.00, 1024 pages It must be bittersweet for Ruth Reichl to release an excellent and best-selling cookbook based on the many recipes from its namesake magazine, just as publisher Conde Nast decides to cease publication of Gourmet. Gourmet Today is a wonderful legacy to leave on, with will more than 1000 recipes in 19 different categories. Many of the recipes have appeared in the magazine and are available online, but most seem to be unique to the book itself. The book starts Drinks and Hors D’Oeuvres and wanders through Soups, Salads, Pastas, and all the usual Meats and Desserts. There are some strong chapters on Vegetarian Main Courses, Grains and Beans, and Grilled Dishes.

There is a strong international flavor to many of the recipes, necessitating access to a good grocery store, or in the event you don’t have one nearby, Reichl included a five-page directory of sources for many of the more unusual ingredients. Many of the recipes are designed for the timepressed cook, and can be prepared in about 30 minutes. There are plenty of suggestions for substitutions within the recipes for greener, more sustainable or locally

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Wine, A Gentleman’s Game

By Mark Miller SUNY Press/Excelsior Editions, It all started in the late 1950s when Mark Miller and his wife purchased a modest vineyard in Marlboro, New York that later became the award-winning Benmarl Winery. Their temporary residence in the Burgundy region of France afforded them the expertise to apply to their own venture. The couple, together with their sons, was a family who epitomized the struggle for the American Dream.

Professional illustrator by trade, the author’s propensity for grape cultivation became a catalyst for the unification of Hudson Valley vineyards. This, in turn, encouraged a virtual renaissance in the wine industry of upstate New York. Miller lobbied for fair legislation of licensing, which eventually led to the passage of the Farm Winery Act of 1976 and won him the respect of the winegrowing community. His investigation of the sociological paradigm shift in national wine consumption gained him international recognition.

The technical knowledge this book contains is enhanced by historical photographs and charmingly detailed illustrations by Miller himself. Moreover, this man’s talents extend to colorful, yet accurate prose with strong metaphors that reflect his positive outlook; most memorable are those that compare painting and the production of wine as similarly creative endeavors. This memoir on the art of winemaking is truly a labor of love.

Reviewed by Richard Mandrachio available options. There are no pictures of the finished dishes, just hundreds of high-quality recipes and some hand-drawn illustrations, either to provide some color or to illustrate the technique being explained at the moment.

At more than 1000 pages and almost five pounds, Gourmet Today is a substantial book, probably necessitating a book stand on your counter for easier reference. But, due to the breadth of coverage, you can easily find yourself using it every week for a quick middle-of-the-week meal or for a wellplanned dinner party on the weekend.

Reviewed by Ross Rojek Earth to Table: Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm

By Jeff Crump; Bettina Schormann Ecco, $34.99, 336 pages Chef Jeff Crump learned the art of local foods and seasonal menus at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and The Fat Duck in Brey, England.

Now the chef at the Ancaster Old Mill restaurant in Ontario Canada, he was also the founder of Slow Food in Canada. His restaurant focuses on locally grown foods, served during their peak season, for full freshness and flavor. Earth To Table is a collection of recipes from Crump and his

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pastry chef Bettina Schormann, organized by seasons, and including chapters relevant to food collection and preparation Spring includes a How-To on foraging and composting, Summer has Canning and Preserving. The recipes, while not hard, are probably not for an inexperienced cook and are well worth the extra effort of finding the freshest ingredients of the season from either local farms, farmers markets, or a grocery store sourcing from local suppliers.

There are profiles of other Slow Food chefs, including The French Laundry’s Thomas Keller and commentary from Crump on his local sources of ingredients.

Highly recommended, especially the MileHigh Pumpkin Pie recipe for Thanksgiving.

Reviewed by Ross Rojek

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Spirituality & Inspiration The Wisdom of Tuscany

By Ferenc Máté Norton, $24.95, 271 pages Is it just me, or does it seem like Americans become collectively fascinated with a different culture every few years or so?

Japanese people are some of the longestlived in the world, so, several years ago, we wanted to live like them, eat what they ate, adopt their philosophies, etc. Parisians have a certain “je ne sais quoi,” so we spent about a year trying to figure out how we could be more French. I suspect the next place Oprah and the Today Show (and subsequently the rest of us) will focus on will be the northern Italian region of Tuscany.

And having read Ferenc Máté’s latest, The Wisdom of Tuscany, I can see the appeal.

But then I could also see the appeal of being more like the Japanese and the French, at least as far as the books written about them represented those cultures. I work long hours, come home, shove something into the microwave, read or watch a little TV, go to bed, and repeat the steps four more times each week. The idea of slowing down a little, interacting with friends and neighbors on a daily basis, eating fresh food, and surrounding myself with picture postcard-worthy scenery seems like a dream. I don’t even know my neighbors. Honestly, I couldn’t pick them out of a line-up.

The Tuscan village Máté calls home seems to exist in another universe entirely. Families eat dinner in front of their houses on warm evenings, neighbors share food and gossip and good news, meat, vegetables and bread are bought fresh every day, there are no cars or pollution, and everyone knows everyone. Through anecdotes and some absolutely mouth-watering recipes, Máté celebrates the warmth and simplicity of his adopted homeland.

The Tuscany celebrated by Máté appeals to me on several levels, as I’m sure it will appeal to many of you. The problem is that I don’t necessarily see myself inserting the Tuscan way of life into my uniquely American stress-bomb, though that’s definitely the message intended by the occasionally Luddite author. No, instead I want to find a way to abandon everything I have here and

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move to Tuscany. Since this is hardly practical, I’ll have to console myself with the fact that there are actually a lot of decent Italian TV dinners out there these days.

Reviewed by Amanda Mitchell One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity

By Debbie Macomber Howard Books, $22.99, 214 pages The secret to a better life is in the giving—that’s what Debbie Macomber says in her book, One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity. In this collection of vivid, heart-warming stories that begins with a young boy who volunteered his fishes and loaves to Jesus in Galilee and saw his meager gifts multiplied many times over to feed five thousand, Macomber is convinced that we can live open-handed and be amazed at what we, with the grace of God, can accomplish in our lives through simple acts of generosity.

While Macomber’s conviction on this simple but profound “lesson” is based on the bedrock of a biblical story, her own life experiences and that of many others, souped up with motivating messages, serve as irrefutable proof that it works for the good not only of those on the receiving end, but most specially, to those on the giving end. The way she overcame dyslexia and the doubts of nearly everyone in her life to become a bestselling author, from the early days of typing on a rented typewriter to today’s fan-frenzied book events—her own story bears witness to its veracity.

REVIEWER SPOTLIGHT

Amanda Mitchell Kidnapped by gypsies at an early age and subsequently abandoned by the gypsies, Amanda Mitchell spent her formative years moving cross-country, from Los Angeles, California, to southern Florida to northern Wisconsin. All of these moves taught her what was really important: clothes, toys, even siblings could be replaced once you moved into your new house, but nothing could take the place of a well-loved book. Amanda’s father blames his chronic back problems on the boxes of her books he personally carried up and down dozens of flights of stairs during Amanda’s childhood.

All this reading eventually led to some writing, which eventually led to a weekly humor column for a regional Wisconsin newspaper. (To this day, no one’s really sure how that happened.) Amanda’s since given up the column, though she still writes from her new hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And she still reads. A lot. Her favorite books include Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and Christopher Moore’s Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. Amanda’s blog can be found at Non Skweeter.

“When we find something we love, we want to share it with others and spread the joy.”

You’ve got nothing to give? Of course you do, Macomber says. You don’t need to dig deep in your pocket. You can give many other gifts—time, encouragement, hope, laughter, prayer, hospitality, service, and, even forgiveness—all of which often have lasting and life-changing impact, not only on the recipient of such gifts, but on the giver as well.

So, if you want to prime your own “dry well,” Macomber’s One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity may just be the answer you’ve been looking for.

Reviewed by Dominique James

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Sports & Outdoors Religion The Score Takes Care of Itself

By Bill Walsh Portfolio, $25.95, 242 pages I wonder if Mike Singletary will read this book. Bill Walsh has been an impossible act to follow, and as time passes, his brilliance may be recognized even more fully. The qualities of inspiration, strategic thinking, and leadership he brought to the NFL remain pretty much unsurpassed…so says a football fan from Northern California!

This book reveals the characteristics of Bill Walsh’s approach to leadership.

He favors simple, consistent focus on high expectations, ongoing teaching and encouragement, and unwavering respect for conferred without regard to station or pay.

Walsh intends the book as a leadership guide, not a memoir, as evidenced by the topics and a detailed useful index. However, what makes the book exemplary is that it is well written, by insiders, in Bill Walsh’s voice. Vignettes from well-remembered games featuring much admired coaches and players infuse the narrative with warmth and ground Walsh’s high aspirations in details of football lore.

Bill Walsh was not only a great leader.

He brought a new sensibility to the game of football. Early football reeked of a meat locker approach: recruit very strong men, even mindless ones, arouse their excitement, pits them against one another, see who falls. Bill Walsh’s comment from the book on What I will Miss the Least: “The cruelty of the sport, both mental and physical was almost repellant to me---the brutal attitudes and practices…treating players in a thug like manner, working them to death in practice, pitting them one against another disrespecting their intelligence, dehumanizing them. It seemed a crude model of leadership.”

Contrast this with his reflection on What I Will Miss the Most: “…the strategy and tactics of the game---designing plays and seeing them work. …Creating something that you’re sure no one else has ever seen or thought of and have it succeed. Then later to see it become a commonly used devise throughout football….”

Bill Walsh attributes his success to the standard of performance he details in this book. It is interesting to read that at the penultimate moment of his achievement, the “Drive of the Superbowl XXIII,” Walsh experienced as a surreal detached moment, observed as if from afar. All the performance standards he instilled over the years were coming to fruition and he was merely an observer of the success.

This book is not only a must-read for every Forty Niner fan, but also for anyone in-

terested in inspiring a team of individuals to unite in common purpose. The Walsh plan: take the book and make a 20-play scripted model any leader can run to achieve success for their organization.

Reviewed by Marcia Jo Always Compete

By Steve Bisheff St. Martin’s Press, $25.99, 256 pages Always Compete offers the purchaser an inside look at Pete Carroll and the USC football powerhouse. The promised profile of Coach Carroll is never delivered, nor is there much here about the personalities of the members of the 2008 team. Instead, this is a basic day-to-day/game-to-game (‘Game Four: Setting the Tone for the Rest of the Season”) newspaper-style report on a college football team that receives daily coverage in several southern California papers. Perhaps if you were a Trojan fan without internet access some of this would be new. But $25.99 is a bit much to pay for last year’s news, yesterday’s papers.

This reader actually wanted to know more about Coach Carroll and his coaching style, but it’s just not in here. Bisheff does touch upon the team’s now annual loss to a “far less talented Pac-10 rival.” This year’s early season loss to Washington may dampen this book’s sales to the team’s biggest boosters (Disclosure: this reader is one of them).

This book lacks an appendix, which hurts its credibility, and offers not a word about the four years that Pete Carroll spent as a student-athlete at UOP in Stockton.

Reviewed by Joseph Arellano

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Three Wise Cats

By Harold M. Konstantelos and Terri Jenkins-Brady Berkeley, $18.95, 198 pages Three Wise Cats parallels the traditional Christmas story about the birth of Christ and the visit of the three wise men bearing gifts. The story is told from the perspective of three cats who journey together on a quest to find the Messiah. Their quest begins after their mentor, a wise old cat named Ptolemy, observes a star in the night sky, shining brighter than the others. Ptolemy shares the prophecy about the three finding the one with his young charges, Kezia, Abishag, and Ira. Adding intrigue and tension to the quest is

the presence of a miscreant rat who decides to tag along against the wishes of the cats.

During the journey, the cats have several adventures and eventually come under the care of the actual three wise men on their pilgrimage to Bethlehem.

Anyone who’s owned a cat that’s gone missing for a long time will appreciate this book. In fact, any cat lover will likely warm to this cute story. Unfortunately, this reviewer found it difficult to determine if Konstantelos and Jenkins-Brady were writing for children or adults. Ultimately, it appeals to both, though children might be the primary audience. Three Wise Cats has a corny feel at the beginning, but once the story gets going, it gets more engaging. A clever, quick book for the Christmas season.

Reviewed by Grady Jones

Travel Korean at a Glance (Second Edition)

By Daniel Holt and Grace Massey Holt Barron’s, $8.99, 338 pages Let’s suppose you’ve been called to do some business in South Korea, a country you’ve never visited before. As an “accidental tourist”, Korean at a Glance is just the guidebook you’ll need!

This is, first, a phrasebook that shows how to pronounce useful words and phrases in Korean. It also shows what these phrases look like in writing. Just as importantly, this book is divided into twentysix sections such as Food and Drink, Shopping, Communications, and Driving a Car. These will help you do as the Koreans do during your visit to Seoul and elsewhere.

Most impressive are the colored maps of Central Seoul and the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system that are found inside the front and back covers. Also, this little guidebook comes in a nice plastic cover to help prevent it from getting dirty or damaged during your sojourn.

Kudos to Daniel Holt and Grace Massey Holt of Sacramento (friends of this reviewer) for doing such a great job of updating this guide that was first released in 1988.

Kimchi to all!

Reviewed by Joseph Arellano

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Napa & Sonoma Encounter

By Alison Bing Lonely Planet, $14.99, 208 pages Lonely Planet has once again published a great addition to any oenophile’s travel catalog. Napa and Sonoma Encounter is a wonderful take-along read and guide which will truly make your vacation to Wine Country a divine one. Packed with 5-star recommendations, you will find that every minute of your stay in this region of California will be spent in leisure thanks to its presentation of a wide assortment of seasonal activities and year-round events.

Whether it be drinking cabernet while admiring abstract paintings, sliding down into a warm volcanic mud bath before your massage, canoeing past sunning turtles and herons on the lazy Russian River or even just passing around Sonoma goat cheese and a plummy Rosé at a pond-side picnic, Napa and Sonoma Encounter will pave the way to a revitalizing weekend retreat for any couple, family or even if you’re just going solo. I appreciate how expert author Alison Bing includes a section with a primer on wine tasting basics for the uninitiated drinker. This book, my GPS and I will definitely be a fun threesome on my long-awaited visit to Napa and Sonoma.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman

November 09 21

History No Quarter: The Battle of the Crater, 1864

By Richard Slotkin Random House, $28.00, 432 pages Richard Slotkin, one of the country’s best voices on the Civil War, returns to a battle he knows well with No Quarter. The battle was the backdrop for one of his novels, and he returns to it with this deeply researched investigation into the battle itself as well as broader political and social themes.

General Grant, Lincoln’s commander of the Union forces, had been on a difficult offensive for months.

Volunteer soldiers on both sides had long anticipated an end to hostilities, and subordinates of Grant and Lee were openly questioning orders. With Lincoln facing reelection against an invigorated party of peacedemocrats willing to sacrifice the core issues of emancipation to end the war, the entire country was hanging in the balance as the Union and Confederate armies surrounded Petersburg. What followed was not at all what Lincoln had in mind.

Slotkin’s heartbreaking account of the Battle of the Crater is not for those new to the Civil War; the depth of detail is often staggering. But the story it tells, not only of the Civil War but of the true mentality of troops and civilians on both sides, is worth the effort.

Reviewed by Margo Orlando Littell The Natural History of Unicorns

By Chris Lavers William Morrow: An Imprint of Harper Collins, $26.99, 244 pages The unicorn is generally accepted as a mythological creature. In The Natural History of Unicorns, Chris Lavers ingeniously tracks the history of unicorns throughout time and across the globe, spanning a 2,500year time line, giving the reader an understanding of the unicorn’s unique history.

Interestingly, the unicorn can be found all over the world. In fact, Lavers does a remarkable job indicating how prevalent this animal is in history.

He does an outstanding work by detailing its specific connection to Christendom. The symbolic nature of this creature and its allegorical significance in relation to Christ is also discussed. For instance, the unicorn is usually perceived to be a creature connected with purity and love. Furthermore, Lavers intricately conveys the miscellaneous animals that have contributed to the creation

22 November 09

of the unicorn as we know it today. From a goat, to a rhinoceros, to a cow, to the onehorned white horse that we portray as a unicorn today, it is tracked and traced throughout history in a scholarly fashion.

Lavers brilliantly presents a truly amazing work of research and offers insight into the phenomenon of the appearance of the unicorn throughout history, from ancient writings in ancient civilizations and artwork through our present day culture and society.

The Natural History of Unicorns is a delightful, enjoyable and easily readable book.

Reviewed by Jennifer Ochs The Girls of Room 28

By Hannelore Brenner Schocken, $26.00, 336 pages Hannelore Brenner’s The Girls of Room 28: Friendship, Hope and Survival in Theresienstadt brings us the beautifully crafted memoir of a group of survivors of the “model” camp of Theresienstadt.

From its beginning in 1942 until the closing of the camp in 1944, thousands of children passed through the Theresienstadt interment camp. Immediately separated from parents and family members, most were sent to “children’s homes” and were assigned caretakers and counselors. The majority of these children were eventually transported to concentration camps and died there. Only a few hundred of the thousands who passed through Theresienstadt survived the war.

The survivors whose stories are recounted here credit their survival, in large part, to the efforts of their caretakers and counselors to obtain food and medical care for their charges. ”Room 28” was all girls, mostly between the ages of twelve and fourteen. Of the hundreds of youngsters who passed through Room 28, ten of the survivors have contributed diaries, memoirs, photos, artwork, and personal recollections to this poignant, searing work.

With this book first published in Germany in 2004 and now available in English, Brenner, a journalist, has crafted an unforgettable work that deserves wide readership.

Reviewed by Claudette C. Smith The War that Killed Achilles

By Caroline Alexander Viking Adult, $26.95, 296 pages The Illiad is the most iconic work of western literature. While most people will never read it, we are all familiar with its story. So powerful has this epic been that it has transcended time and place, the Blind Poet’s work is read and studied in almost every

Barbie All Dolled Up Celebrating 50 Years of Barbie

By Jennie D’Amato Running Press, $29.95, 128 pages

Barbie celebrates the big 50 with Barbie All Dolled Up, which captures how her life evolved through her five-decade career of occupying and making dreams for all those adoring little girls. Seriously, I don’t think I have ever come across any female who did not have a Barbie Doll in her toy collection. Jennie D’Amato earns many props for a wonderful scrapbook compilation of all the wonderful trivia, styles, fashion, memorabilia and branded merchandise associated with our beloved character. In the fifty years since Barbie debuted, this doll has truly done and worn it all! From being a 50’s homemaker to an astronaut, firefighter and President of the United States, Barbie is a true symbol of women empowerment and evolution, clearly presented here in the different chapters which chronicle the key eras of Barbie’s development.

“It thrills me to walk into an airport and see a child carrying her Barbie Doll. I am humbled by the thought that we could have that much influence, and yet know that we did” - Ruth Handler, creator of Barbie Doll.”

The works of noted celebrities and fashion designers who have contributed to the Barbie trendy lineup also appear in this wonderful read, including Christian Dior, Diane Von Furstenberg, Versace, Bob Mackie, and Vera Wang, along with many talented Mattel designers. Whether you are a 9-year-old child or a woman in her forties, this book is a real treat and will make a lovely gift for any Barbie collector and aficionado.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman

language. The story of Achilles’ anger has been deconstructed and analyzed by every generation, who have sought in its pages justification and rational for their ideals in ancient wisdom. Caroline Alexander returns to the epic in The War that Killed Achilles and makes a powerful case that the message of this poem was, and has always been, the horrors of war. Alexander beautifully marshals Homer’s own words, textual analysis, and history

to show how Homer subverted the epic form of poetry, created to extol martial excellence, to delivery a vivid anti-war message that is as true today as it was then.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard Roman Warfare

By Jonathan P. Roth Cambridge University Press, $19.99, 310 pages There have been many different ways to talk about Roman civilization. Some authors look from the social angle, some from the economic angle. Jonathan P. Roth takes a look at Ancient Rome from the angle of See ROMAN, page 23

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ROMAN, cont’d from page 22 warfare, how warfare built up Rome. This book looks at the entire Roman civilization, from the beginning until the fall of the western half. He looks, quickly, at the many different wars, rebellions and uprisings. He never goes into much depth except for the Punic Wars, and a few campaigns around the time of Octavian. Instead what we get is a pretty basic look at the history of Ancient Rome through the eyes of the army.

The best chapters are the ones about the army specifically, including how they operated, armed, and the tactics they used, both during the time of the Republic and Empire. Besides that, the rest of the book is just your general Roman history, information an educated reader would already know. Mr. Roth does not feel it is needed to take sides when he says the evidence could give two different answers.

The writing is not bad, it is just that there is nothing new outside of a few chapters.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter The American Revolution 100

By Micheal Lee Lanning Sourcebooks, Inc., $24.95, 374 pages Entering any bookstore, one can find a myriad of history tomes stacked on tables having to do with the Founding Fathers or the American Revolution; this book, however, does not tout to harbor facts which are “the best, greatest, largest, most powerful or even the most famous.” Instead, Lanning chronicles—by order of importance— the leaders, battles and events which had the most influence upon the war itself. It is no surprise that George Washington as an American general occupies the top slot.

“The American Revolution ranks as the most influential conflict of all time.”

Focusing on the influential side of the war, versus the timeline of events, allows for a more in-depth look at the entire revolution and gives a picture of the war as the sum of many moving parts. This reader appreciated the soundly researched look into the more lesser-known personages and happenings which had so much to do with the birth of this great nation. Lanning says just enough about each item on his “list” to intrigue and even incite further research in some dedicated patriots. The sections on the naval battle at the Chesapeake Capes, on Sept 5th, 1781, for instance, let one view the battle from above; the pages apprise the reader of why this was so pivotal a battle, earning it the number thirteen spot. This book instills in one a quiet sense of wonder in reading of the people and occurrences whose signifi-

cance and stories transcend the numbers attached to them.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene

cessfully ties this obscure Italian into our understanding of Renaissance history.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard

To Wake the Dead

By Marina Belozerskaya Norton, $25.95, 308 pages I took two or three archeology/anthropology courses as an undergraduate and not once was Cyriacus Pizzicolli of Ancona mentioned, despite the fact that he is apparently a “big deal.” Thankfully, Marina Belozerskaya has rescued this fascinating and influential man from the dustbin. Cyriacus was one of if not the first medieval man to look up at his surroundings and ask questions about all the ruins surrounding him. He was the first to ask “Why were these built, and by whom?” He was also the first to travel the Mediterranean uncovering, memorializing, and pushing to preserve these physical remnants of the past.

Cyriacus pulled himself up out of mere merchant mediocrity to mingle with Popes, Princes, Kings, Emperors, and Sultans--the man even managed to get a Crusade started! Belozerskaya is an entertaining writer, if a little excitable and judgmental. When she isn’t cheering Pizzicolli for his 21st century morals she’s condemning him for his lack of them--as if a 15th century man can be held to modern standards? This merely distracts from an otherwise worthy work that suc-

Germany 1945: From War to Peace

By Richard Bessel Harper, $28.99, 522 pages Given the library of World War II – not to mention its distinction as being the only historical event with its own dedicated cable station – you might think that there was nothing left worth writing. In the annual avalanche of books on the topic, on occasion one appears that actually illuminates. Historian Richard Bessel’s Germany 1945: From War to Peace is one such work that, while not exactly covering new ground, does offer a fresh and interesting perspective.

From the outset, Bessel has one question: how did this most miserable of years lay the foundation for the transformation of a militarist totalitarian society into a vibrant democracy? In his search for answers he examines a wide range of topics, and most point to the utter despair and exhaustion among average Germans at the war’s end, compounded by hunger, economic moribundity, staggering homelessness (both as a result of the destruction of housing stock and, in the west, a massive refugee population that fled the Soviet Zone), the total breakdown of law and order, as well as an occupying force that, to paraphrase Eisenhower,

came not as liberators but as victors.

Among its several praiseworthy aspects, Germany 1945 does not belabor the author’s thesis, instead relying on its copious data and primary source citations (it includes more than 100 pages of end notes and bibliography) to prove its point. Bessel proves persuasive in his contention that the combination of physical and social exhaustion, the discrediting of National Socialism, and the incorporation of militaristic East Prussia into Poland, all contributed to laying the groundwork for a democratic Germany.

Further, while writing of German suffering, Bessel never becomes maudlin, nor imagines that misery constitutes amends.

Given that this book focuses on America’s greatest success in “nation-building,” it casts more than a few unspoken aspersions towards our current, and to date less successful, efforts in that particular enterprise.

A few years back, certain “experts” made the plainly fallacious claim that post-war Germany bore similarities to the violent chaos reigning in Iraq; readers should look to this work and ponder why that was so plainly not the case. It is a shame that Bessel’s history was not around to be read in the Pentagon before those wars began.

Reviewed by Jordan Magill

Health, Fitness & Dieting Simple Skin Beauty: Everything You Need to Know

By Ellen Marmur, M.D. with Gina Way Atria Books, $27.00, 356 pages We wash it. Caress it. Pick at it. Curse it.

Admire it. Worry over it. Kiss it. Abuse it.

What is this highly acclaimed thing we fuss over so, you ask? Skin.

While we all have it, not many of us know how to treat this largest organ of our body and while it is the first thing we often notice, it is most often the last thing we remember to care for. Skin is resilient and delicate, and though it has been with us our entire life we often don’t know the first thing about treating it with the respect to move us well into our later years. Thank goodness for Dr. Ellen Marmur, along with Gina Way, and their solutions guide to great skin, Simple Skin Beauty. Marmur breaks down the unpronounceable ingredients (many of

which are quite toxic and/or unnecessary) slathered onto our skin daily, dedicates whole chapters to the importance of sunscreen and skin check-ups, and answers questions based on skin types, which she promises there is no such thing as! Dr. Marmur’s easy narrative has the feel of finally meeting the doctor you’ve been waiting for-insightful, myth-busting, and entertaining.

Reviewed by Sky Sanchez Muscle Medicine

By Rob DeStefano Fireside, $16.99, 272 pages This collaboration between a chiropractor and orthopedic surgeon is actually a self-help program in a book. Their merged expertise provides the layman with a holistic philosophy of the workings of the musculoskeletal system as well as a strategy for treatment.

Through stretching and strengthening exercises, this manu-

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al offers a hands-on approach to treating a plethora of injuries by its focus on prevention and healing independent of drugs or surgery The application of pressure and performance of specific movements are depicted by user-friendly, step-by-step illustrations and photographs that concentrate on the basic mechanics of the human body.

One section is dedicated to troubleshooting certain ailments and negotiating “hot spots.” Although especially helpful to those who engage in sports or strenuous actions, Muscle Medicine does not restrict itself to age, body type or activity level and, as such, could be just as beneficial to someone who spends much time sitting at a computer.

This book would make an excellent addition to anyone’s home library.

Reviewed by Richard Mandrachio See DOCTOR’S, page 25

November 09 23

Parenting & Families Organizing the Disorganized Child

By Martin L. Kutscher and Marcella Moran Harper One, $12.99, 157 pages What comes to mind when you hear “children” and “organization”? A typo? An oxymoron? It doesn’t have to be a clash of realities; the two can coincide in happy harmony, leaving you, as the frazzled parent, with a renewed confidence in yourself and your child. There is hope. In organizing the disorganized child, Martin L. Kutscher and Marcella Moran are guiding children, along with their parents, to an organized backpack, a binder that resembles more of a home-base than an origami project gone awry, and a study space that actually promotes success and achieves results.

“The fault does not lie in the child’s wilfullness. It’s the brain.”

With these simple techniques your student, and you, will feel the anxiety lift like an early morning fog, leaving a sense of accomplishment and responsibility. There are short quizzes and tool recommendations to help define and instill the style of organization your child will most benefit from.

Crammed with suggestions and tips, relief is nearby, even if a bit redundant. It is written like a study guide too, with a summary at the close of each chapter, so feel free to skip ahead and go back as you need. Just be sure to keep highlighters on hand. Imagine...less time fighting the battle of homework and studying, and more time for...well, everything else.

Reviewed by Sky Sanchez

24 November 09

The Superior Wife Syndrome

By Carin Rubenstein Touchstone, $26.00, 340 pages The Superior Wife Syndrome is a typical research-based sociology book, unless you happen to be a superior wife, in which case, it might just be a lifesaver.

Rubenstein’s study of thousands of wives worldwide reveals the syndrome--a “do it all” attitude that gives a free pass to lazy husbands and counts on wives to run the world. It details how and why women shoulder the responsibility of running the home, the marriage, the social calendar, the children, etc., all while holding down jobs that are equal to or more than their husband’s, and this expository beginning alone is a downright exhausting read.

Rubenstein does eventually go on to detail solutions to the syndrome, but getting to that point was hard; some of the example couples’ stories were downright infuriating, and all were tiring. Still, it is these examples and vignettes that make these types of research-based books readable and relatable, and Superior Wife had some good ones.

“My husband is in charge of dinner only on Friday night. And every single Friday night he calls me and says, ‘What do you want me to order for dinner?’”

The book caps off with 21 specific ways to fix the Superior Wife syndrome, and although most of the ideas are solid, some of them equate to the types of ruses you would use to get children to do something, such as bribery and presenting choices. Of course, the old standby of offering sex in exchange for favors is also included. Fortunately, there are a few adult men in the world that don’t need such coaxing in acting like an adult, but

for those who aren’t, this book may be taken as slightly offensive. For example, one subsection is called “Are Men Incompetent?”

The book does lack some readability--it is full of metaphors to the point of being confusing at times, but some of the advice is sound, and women who suspect that they may be doing the lion’s share of the work in the household might want to take a look.

Reviewed by Allena Tapia To the Rescue: Found Dogs with a Mission

By Elise Lufkin, Photographs by Diana Walker Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., $19.95, 160 pages This is a collection of 53 individual stories of dogs (and one cat) adopted from shelters or rescued from unacceptable situations. These dogs blossom in their new homes and find renewed purpose helping people in many different ways. Elise Lufkin expands the formal definition of a service dog to include activities as varied as bomb or arson detection, search and rescue, and therapy, as well as animals performing the traditional disability assistance tasks. The stories are genuinely touching. For those with pets, it is an occasion to reflect on what companion animals can teach us and how they improve our quality of life. To the Rescue: Found Dogs with a Mission reminds us that animals have the ability to live in the present instead of dwelling in a sometimes cruel past. The people in each of the stories are equally remarkable, ranging in age from pre-teen to octogenarian, and with a wide variety of backgrounds, including prison inmates, attorneys, medical professionals, and writers.

The book ends with a short but comprehensive discussion of what to consider when thinking about adopting a dog, along with a

great list of resources for further reading and finding activities to enjoy with your pet.

Reviewed by Laurie Racca Hands Off My Belly

By Shawn A. Tassone and Kathryn M. Landherr Prometheus Books, $18.00, 272 pages Whether or not you’ve actually had a baby or just been around friends or family that has, you’ve most likely heard a myriad of pregnancy myths; these range anywhere from cultural sayings, pregnancy fears or straight out old-wivestales. A large sampling of the most common of these are explored and explained in this book by two doctors.

The chapter subjects range from infertility issues to menstrual myths all the way through to trimester superstitions, along with a mystery grabbag of the non-categorical oddities which have surfaced in the two doctors’ practices.

Laughter being the best medicine, Tassone and Landherr included some downright hilarious examples which provide a good belly laugh, yet also alleviate the sometimes irrational fears which can plague new moms-to-be. The last section features the “seven habits to a highly enjoyable pregnancy” which started out listing the Biblical seven deadly sins; the doctors compared these nicely to some of the avoidable pitfalls of pregnancy like “envying” a slim family member who “just didn’t gain anything” during her pregnancy, or gluttony (curing depression by overeating). I especially enjoyed the advice “be nice but don’t listen to Grandma,” as anyone will who’s ever been inundated with unconfirmable pregnancy advice by the unofficial matriarch of the family.

Reviewed by Meredith Greene

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DOCTOR’S, cont’d from page 25 Doctor’s Orders: 101 Medically Proven Tips for Losing Weight

By Kent Sasse, M.D. 360 Publishing, $14.95, 160 pages In Doctor’s Orders: 101 Medically Proven Tips for Losing Weight, Dr. Sasse has provided a compilation of small changes that anyone can incorporate into their daily routine in order to promote weight loss.

Many of these tips will be familiar to the veteran dieter: write down what you eat, don’t go back for seconds, read labels, and so on. However, Dr. Sasse is an engaging writer who provides an explanation of why these tips work, along with references to the scientific studies that back him up. There are no magic bullets here. Exercise and eating right is what gets the job done.

“Sugar is a poison that acts in very slow motion.”

Dr. Sasse provides an exercise plan that can be followed at home with no special equipment, and he emphasizes a low refined carbohydrate (i.e. no junk food), low sugar diet. The appendices include recipes created by a classically trained chef, as well as a list of resources. The text incorporates references to websites where you can get more information, although some of the links promote Dr. Sasse’s weight loss center and products.

The book is conveniently formatted so that each tip stands alone. If you are interested in losing weight, read one or two of the tips per day, and then try them out to see what works for you.

Reviewed by Laurie Racca

Local Calendar 13 5:30-7 pm, Dark Carnival

3086 Claremont Ave., Berkeley Greg Bear Author of MARIPOSA: a Quantico Novel 7 pm - Palo Alto City Library, Palo Alto Art Center Auditorium, 1313 Newell Rd., Palo Alto Keith Raffel, Author of Smasher and Dot Dead

14 7:00 pm

Borderlands Books, Variety Preview Room, Hobart Building, 582 Market Street, SF S.G. Browne and Jeff VanderMeer - SF in SF

15 7:00 pm - Book Passage,

51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan talk about Breaking The Sound Barrier

19 6:00 pm - Book Passage, 1

Ferry Plaza, San Francisco Donald McDonald Author of Golden Gate Bridge: History and Design of An Icon

4236 Piedmont Avenue Oakland, CA 94611 | 510.428.2881 Eclectic stock of used and new books, original artwork, collectibles and surprises.

Alexander Book Store

7:30 pm - Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Andre Agassi Signing - Open: An Autobiography Ticketed Event

50 Second Street San Francisco, CA 94105 | 415.495.2992

7:30pm - Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley Lierre Keith, Author of The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability

William Stout Agricultural Books

20 6:00 pm - Books Inc., Opera

Plaza, 601 Van Ness, San Francisco Andre Agassi Signing - Open: An Autobiography

22 6:30 pm

3:00 pm - Clayton Books 5433 Clayton RD #D, Clayton Jeff VanderMeer Author of Booklife and Finch

Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Melanie Gideon, Author of The Map that Breathed; Pucker; and The Girl Who Breathed

17 7 pm - Revolution Books

23 7:00 pm - Books Inc., Laurel

2425 Channing Way, Berkeley Veronica Chater Author of Waiting for the Apocalypse: A Memoir of Faith and Family

Village, 3515 California St., San Francisco Ann Seymour Author of I’ve Always Loved You

18 6:30 pm - Hayward Main

30 7:00 pm - Books Inc, 1760 4th

Library, 835 C St. @ Mission Blvd., Hayward Autobiography Book Discussion Group: “The Soloist”

Black Swan Books

804 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94133 | 415.391.6757 Books on architecture, design, and art, both new and rare. M-F 10-6:30, S 10-5:30

Green Apple Books

506 Clement Street San Francisco, CA 94118 | 415.387.2272 New & used books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, journals, cards & more!

Street, Berkeley Jeffrey Haas Author of The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther

1:00 pm - Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera Barbara Kingsolver Author of The Lacuna 7 pm - 14 Hills: The SFSU Review, Space Gallery San Francisco, 1141 Polk Street, San Francisco D.W. Lichtenberg THE ANCIENT BOOK OF HIP Release Party - Ticketed Event

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November 09 25

Sequential Art Little Lulu: The Bawlplayers and Other Stories

By John Stanley & irving Tripp Dark Horse Books, $14.95, 200 pages Little Lulu is a classic comic character, having debuted in 1935, the creation of Marge Buell. For the past 70+ years, this charming, clever, innocent character has been bringing smiles to children and adults alike with her G-rated adventures. In Little Lulu: The Bawlplayers and Other Stories, Lulu and the gang, her friends Alvin, Tubby and others are present to engage in misadventures, sneakiness and rollicking good times.

Whether the boys and girls are engaged in psychological warfare or Tubby is trying to steal Lulu’s ice cream, the book presents 200 pages of charming vignettes that will amuse children and help transport adults to a simpler time in their lives—or, perhaps, in the world.

The Bawlplayers and Other Stories is a collection taken from original Little Lulu comics, which have aged well and retained their charm even after decades. It is a well made and attractively packaged book harkening back to the days of innocence, not smugness, in comics. It’s a nice escape.

Reviewed by Ashley McCall If You Lived Here You’d Be Home By Now

By Ed Briant Roaring Brook Press, $17.99, 32 pages Here’s a children’s book with which the parents must take artistic license when “reading” it to their kids. There aren’t any words. It’s a cute idea that initially revealed to me just how dependent upon the written word I’d become when reading something. A story told merely in a stream of pictures had become a little foreign to me – like a movie with no sound. Upon further and more careful inspection this book is a refreshing break in children’s literature. I can read this story to my little boy, and embellish it any way I like since I’m the one putting words to the pictures. Of course, I have to get the point of the story, but that wasn’t hard once I conditioned myself. The artwork is really endearing and has a 1950s-style texture to it that reminded me of the work of James Thurber, especially the critters in the forest.

In this case I liked the message contained in the pictures as well, so I’m sure I’ll have fun “reading” this one to my little boy, and look forward to more kids’ books along these lines – they allow for or stimulate creativ-

26 November 09

ity from the reader in a refreshing way and made me feel a little younger in the process.

Cool.

Reviewed by John Cloutman The Big Kahn

By Neil Kleid NBM Comicslit, $13.95, 184 pages The only thing more devastating than losing a father, a well-respected and important figure of the religious community, is finding out that everything you know about him is a lie. Rabbi David Kahn was not Jewish, despite having lived the last forty years of his life as one. This revelation leads his oldest son, Avi, to doubt his life and his faith, even as the rest of the congregation does the same. Lea, Avi’s sister, finds herself re-examining the religion she herself has strayed from, while Eli, the younger brother, gets into trouble at school while defending his father’s legacy. A secret this deeply kept can only cause devastation for everybody.

The Big Kahn is a story about the foundations of faith, of family, and of life itself.

Neil Kleid’s characters are realistically portrayed in their responses to the big secret, while artist Nicolas Cinquegrani does an admirable job bringing the story to visual life.

The story is both interesting and surprisingly gripping as we watch the characters make mistakes while trying to figure out how to handle what life has thrown at them.

A thought-provoking piece of work.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero Happy Hooligan

By Edited by Jeffrey Lindenblatt, Introduction by Allan Holtz Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing, $24.95, 111 pages Frederick Burr Opper retired from cartooning in 1932, yet many of his characters are recognizable today. Allan Holtz provides a wonderful introduction to Opper’s prolific career, while providing insight into the early history of mass produced art. While Opper started out as a junior cartoonist drawing political cartoons for the comic weekly Puck, he reinvented himself as a newspaper cartoonist by studying the budding comics sections of popular daily papers. Part of the Forever Nuts Classic Screwball Strips series, this book focuses on one of Opper’s most popular creations reproducing Happy Hooligan comic strips from the time period 1902-1913. Happy is a loveable and good hearted soul who almost always seems to end up on the wrong end of

his good intentions. He is always trying to impress the ladies or do a good deed, yet his clumsiness causes offense. Occasionally, Happy manages a victory at the expense of his brother, Gloomy Gus. Reading through the strips is a reminder that good humor has universal appeal even across generations and decades.

Reviewed by Laurie Racca Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader

By Neil Gaiman, et. al DC Comics, $24.99, 128 pages Neil Gaiman, bestselling author and writer of the renowned comic book series, Sandman, was asked to write a two-part series about Batman and was given control over the choice of what story he could tell. In his introduction, Gaiman talks about how Batman was one of the first TV shows he watched as a kid, and this was then the first comic book he ever read, and regardless of all the comic books he read after, and all the characters he created, he always had a special spot for Batman. Because Batman never gave up, no matter what.

In Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader, Gaiman does the story of what happens when Batman finally dies and can rest at peace. Brilliantly illustrated by Andy Kubert, and inked by Alex Sinclair, they perfectly capture the noir, colorful look of Batman, while combing the styles of all the different artists who have illustrated for Batman before. The deluxe hardcover edition also features Gaiman’s four other Batman stories, the most entertaining of which is A Black and White World featuring Batman and The Joker behind the scenes waiting to go on.

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader blends the fantastic world of Batman with all the familiar characters, combining Gaiman’s writing skill and some incredible artwork, making it a must for any Batman fan.

Reviewed by Alex C. Telander Fables Deluxe Edition Vol. 1

By Bill Willingham; Illustrated by Mark Vertigo, $29.99, 264 pages Fables is Bill Willingham’s reinterpretation of classic fairy tales, starting by removing from Fairy Tale Land, and into our modern world, refugees from the Adversary who has taken over their homeland. Those that can pass as human live in New York City, while the rest have to live at the Farm in upstate. In the first story arc, the Big Bad Wolf is now the sheriff and has to investigate the

death of Red Rose, and determine whether it was done by either her ex-lover, Bluebeard, or her current one, Jack the Giant Killer. Then in story two, Snow White has to deal with a developing revolution at the Farm, incited

by Goldilocks, who has found her calling as a Communist agitator. The many side appearances of classic characters in new and unusual situations is a pleasure to discover, and often leads to digging out a book of fairy tales to refresh oneself on the original story. The series started in 2002, and has previously been collected in several softcover books. This edition follows DC’s somewhat recent trend to repackage classic and well-selling series into nicer hardcover collections. While the Deluxe Editions aren’t as upscale as the Absolute Editions, they do come in a nice dustjacketed hardcover package, a little bit larger than the original comics. Fables Deluxe Edition is a good addition to a fan’s collection, or for a new reader to step aboard one of the most original series in the last few years.

The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb

By Robert Crumb Norton, $24.95, 224 pages It would be easy to dismiss the graphical adaptation of the book of Genesis by an underground comic artist as most likely a parody or satire. But, with Robert Crumb’s (Zap Comix) multi-year project to literally illustrate every verse from the first book of the Bible, it shouldn’t be done. Using his highly recognizable style, Crumb has taken the story and words from the King James Version and presented them, warts and all.

There is little interpretation or commentary (though the three sons of Noah do look a little more like the Three Stooges than random chance would allow), just the stories that everyone has read.

This is a masterpiece of work, from one of the great comic artists. There is a warning on the cover “Adult Supervision Recommended for Minors,” which is necessary in certain parts, which can easily be glossed over when reading the text, but when seen in illustration may raise questions or concerns for some children (staying faithful to the text can raise some issues with certain stories). In a year with many truly great comic releases, The Book Of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb is one of the best, whether you like it for the art, or the faithful adaptation of Genesis.

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Young Adult Positively

By Courtney Sheinmel Simon & Schuster, $15.99, 224 pages Positively is a story about Emmy Price, an HIV positive young girl, who is dealing with the death of her mother from AIDS. Emmy feels like no one can truly understand how she feels having to deal with this illness every day of her life, never knowing what her future will hold for her. To help her cope her father and stepmother send her to Camp Positive where she has the chance to meet other HIV positive girls.

I hate saying this but this book left me feeling rather indifferent. I did not hate it and did not love it. It was an interesting story and balanced nicely, portraying Emmy living as an HIV positive young girl without making the book too depressing. I just did not find myself drawn into the characters. They were a little bland and I would have liked to see more selfdiscovery at Camp Positive for Emmy. Her turn of heart seemed sudden when she was not showing much enjoyment at camp and then it seemed like one talk is all it took to change her outlook on life. That said the book presented a very interesting topic, and I could not imagine what I would be like if I were in Emmy’s situation.

Reviewed by Debbie Suzuki The Day of the Pelican

By Katherine Paterson Clarion Books, $16.00, 160 pages Eleven-year-old Meli Lleshi and her family are Albanians living in Kosovo. Although her mother and father try hard to protect Meli and her four siblings from the increasing violence breaking out between the Albanians and the Serbs, they are helpless to resist when forced to flee their home and live in a refugee camp, barred from entering Albania and not allowed to return to Kosovo. When the family is sponsored by a church in Vermont, they travel to America and begin the difficult process of adjusting to a new life and culture.

Despite its sympathetic subject matter and Ms. Paterson’s skill as a storyteller, The Day of the Pelican is a difficult book to like.

As a straightforward narrative about the difficulties of families living in dangerous and uncertain times, it is excellent; however, Meli and her family are too shallowly portrayed to become memorable as individual characters. Instead of living, breathing peo-

ple, they come across as flat representatives of the Typical Albanian Refugee. The book is undeniably useful as an introduction for young people to the terrors of Kosovo, but it is unlikely to be a story that will stay in their hearts and minds for very long.

Reviewed by Michelle Kerns Sphinx’s Princess

By Esther Friesner Random House, $17.99, 365 pages Golden sands, lustrous, balmy weather (provided that it’s not the scorching summer), a strip of blue water glimmering in the distance, and pyramids in the place of hills—that’s what identifies Egypt nowadays. But if you take a look into Esther Friesner’s Sphinx’s Princess, the people are the main point. She has chosen a revered but obscure character in Egypt’s past: Nefertiti. Although the bulk of it is imagination, it does include thickly loaded passages on the culture and lifestyle of Ancient Egyptians.

At first it takes place in Akhmin, which is Nefertiti’s birthplace. Her father, Ay, is married to her nursemaid, Mery (now stepmother), and consequentially has Nefertiti’s little sister—Bit-Bit or Mutnodjmet. As Nefertiti grows older, she grows more isolated, to girls in particular, as a result of attention to Bit-Bit. But the isolation does not take much toll on her attitude or beauty, for she is recognized in the land as one of the most beautiful people and is quickly seen by her Aunt Tiye, who is the High Queen of Egypt. As part of a threat from Tiye, she moves, temporarily, to Abydos, to be wed to Thutmose, but befriends his awkward brother Amenophis. Then she moves again to Thebes, where a disliking is gaining between Thutmose and her, and a relationship between herself and Amenophis. As I said before, the thick of the book is imagination. No one knows what really happened between Nefertiti and Thutmose/ Amenophis. They don’t even know if she was really beautiful (there is speculation on whether the famous bust of Nefertiti was a hoax or not). But Friesner does a pretty good job of filling in the blanks. I found, though, the all-righteous, judgmental attitude of Nefertiti somewhat annoying. In the conditions that she has had, it is extremely improbable that she would be so kind and caring, her father so rich in forgiveness, and her relationship with her sister, especially, so blithe and happy. My question is, is she supposed to be an angel or a human? But to keep it on a positive note, it is chronically well written between the first and last page, although Friesner seems to have inhibitions towards creating a character with flaws.

Reviewed by A. Masri

Eyes Like Stars

By Lisa Mantchev Feiwel and Friends, $16.99, 352 pages Beatrice Shakespeare Smith has lived her entire life in the theater. But she’s certainly no actress.

And the Théâtre Illuminata is certainly not a normal theater. After an unfortunate backstage accident, Bertie is told to contribute or get out. Beatrice is unwilling to leave the only home she’s ever known, and she stubbornly sets out on a quest to find a way to contribute to the stage. What she finds in the process may just be a little more than she bargained for.

One of the best things about this book is its uniqueness. The idea of a living theater where the performers aren’t just acting, but actually are who they play may sound strange, but it’s pulled off with sparkling reality. Bertie is a spunky character whose determination will easily win readers to her side. Several other characters provide plenty of comic relief, but not enough to overpower the story or its serious moments. Mantchev also plays with conventional dramatic and prose style to create a story that is certainly one of a kind. Although you don’t need to know anything about theater to enjoy this book, those who do know about things like Shakespeare and what it takes to put on a show will get even greater enjoyment out of it. It is an excellent choice for fantasy lovers and drama geeks alike.

Reviewed by Alyssa Feller

Meridian

By Amber Kizer Delacorte Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 320 pages In this book, a teenage girl named Meridian is sick of seeing living things die around her. She grew up feeling like she was a freak too because, like an empath, she picks up on the emotions and feelings around her. When something dies, she feels sick. But on her 16th birthday, she witnesses a terrible accident that makes her feel like she is slowly dying. This prompts her parents to send her to Auntie who lives in Colorado. Her aunt is a Fenestra – a half human/half angel who helps escort dead people to Heaven when they die, and Meridian finds out that she herself is a Fenestra too. Most Fenestras die at the age of 106, the current age of Auntie, which means she could die at any time. Tens, Meridian’s protector who lives with Auntie, tells her about what is about to happen, and so helps Meridian understand and carry out her mission to help the dead move on to go to the light. But there’s one problem.

Reverend Perimo, a cruel priest that is part of the Nocti, started rumors about Auntie saying that she’s a witch. Soon, Auntie dies, which means that Tens and Meridian are on their own. Tens and Meridian run away from their home and hide in the forest, hoping nobody will be able to spot them, but they meet trouble. If you’d like to find out what happens, read on! I was so absorbed with the characters in this book and loved that the plot is fast paced. Teens who are into dark romance and drama will take plea-

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sure in reading this story since it involves a lot of the emotions and situations they definitely can relate to. Amber Kizer is a great author who has an amazing imagination.

Two thumbs up!

Reviewed by Amber Guno Cloutman Hannah: Daughters of the Sea

By Kathryn Lasky Scholastic, $16.99, 176 pages Orphan Hannah has always known that she was different from other girls. She has always felt a connection to the tumultuous waters surrounding Boston, and when she’s forced to travel west from the coast she falls desperately ill, shedding scale-like salts from her body. At fifteen years old, Hannah finds employment with a wealthy Bostonian family, and begins to embrace her role as a scullery girl. But soon Hannah starts to discover more clues about her past and heritage - in the elaborately painted vases her employers own and in the music of the sea she can feel in her very bones. Hannah stands at the precipice of the ultimate journey of self-discovery, and must choose: either the land, or the ocean.

The first book of a planned trilogy from Ms. Lasky, Hannah makes a lasting impression with its clever depiction of class struggles, as well as with its title character’s coming-of-age journey.

Though this gothic, romantic fable is sure to resonate with younger readers, older teens might yearn for more maturity and depth.

Still, though it probably should be marketed as a Middle Grade book, Hannah manages to delight with its engaging plot and heroine.

Reviewed by Thea James

November 09 27

Children’s Books There’s No Place Like Space

By By Tish Rabe/ Illustrated by Aristides Ruiz Random House Books for Young Readers, $8.99, 48 pages There’s No Space Like Space is part of the The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library, which is a series of nonfiction reference books for readers ages 5 to 8 years. It features the Cat in the Hat, Thing One, Thing Two, Dick and Sally as they visit the stars, the sun, the moon and each of the planets. Originally published in 1999, this book is being re-issued this year to reflect a major correction in our knowledge of space -- the de-categorization of Pluto as a planet.

As with any Catin-the-Hat book, the strengths of this work are the rhymes and resulting singsong tone. It’s a book that’s meant to be read aloud, and preferably with another person. The glossary of terms at the back of the book does a good job of explaining the words’ meanings that might otherwise be lost in the rhymes. For the more advanced reader, the recommendations (for further reading) will ensure that learning about space doesn’t stop after closing this particular book.

Reviewed by D. Harms Creature ABC

By Andrew Zuckerman Chronicle Books, $19.99, 112 pages What I like most about Creature ABC is that it fulfills the reading needs of young, first-time book browsers with BIG, BOLD visuals. In spite of their two-dimensional style, the pictures are so stunning in their detail that a child can feel the scaliness on an alligator’s legs, the fine hairs on an elephant’s ears, and the slickness of a hippopotamus’ broad back. Despite the title denoting that the book is about only an alphabet book, this work can actually be regarded as a storybook.

Adults reading or showing the book to a child should be prepared to answer questions like: Why is the hippo smiling? How can the giraffe bend its neck like that?

Why is the dove angry?

For young children of today who have the capacity to learn more in a shorter period of time, this book provides just the right amount of stimulation. It’s not too simplistic (gone are the days when “A is for Apple… B is for Boy… C is for Cat”), it has real pictures (not just illustrations), and its teaching style encourages young learners to think beyond the usual (check out “N” for an example).

Reviewed by D. Harms

28 November 09

Randy Kazandy, Where Are Your Glasses?

By Rhonda Fischer, Illustrated by Kim Sponaugle Whim Publishing, $19.95, 32 pages The story starts out by introducing Randy Kazandy, a really happy boy who grows like a weed but gradually finds himself constantly stumbling, tripping over and bumping into things. Mom gets worried and brings our poor little lad to Doctor Bee, who tells them that Randy has poor eyesight and will need new glasses to be able to see clearly. I picked up this book because I have a 12-yearold daughter who is in denial that she is visually challenged and it’s comforting to know I’m not the only parent who struggles with getting a child to wear their glasses.

This is a fun and lighthearted story for readers of all ages--especially because we get to see all the crazy antics that Randy pulls to get rid of all his glasses!

“Off came the glasses! He tossed them up high And wished those new glasses Would stay in the sky.”

I recommend this book not only because of the fun, rhyming, subtle and non-threatening message of the importance of having great eyesight but because it is illustrated so as to be awash in vibrant colors, appealing to its intended audience. Look for the hidden glasses, too, between the pages of this book.

If you don’t see them, then maybe it’s time for you to set an appointment with Doctor Bee too.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman The Yellow Tutu

By Kirsten Bramsen; Carin Bramsen Random House Books for Young Readers, $15.99, 34 pages Margo had a birthday present at the end of her bed--the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. A yellow tutu for a girl with an imagination gone wild. She danced, she sang, and it was a dream come true for Margo, who wanted to be like the sun. She loved it so much that she wore it proud as a peacock to school. Will the kids at school make fun of Margo for wearing her tutu on her head? You must pick up this book and find out what is in store for Margo and what she encounters trying to be her innocent self.

It has a gentle message of self-acceptance; even when you get hurt by other children, you might find a friend who loves you just the way you are. There are laughing moments and tearful moments in the story.

The illustrations are captivating and beautiful. Margo has a Shirley Temple look, with

beautiful expressions and beautiful curly hair. The illustrations have almost a 3-D look to them. This is a fun read.

Reviewed by Rhonda Fischer This is Australia

By M. Sasek Universe Publishing, $17.95, 64 pages Did you know that Australia is the smallest continent – only about the size of the United States? Or that most of the early European settlers were English convicts? Can you imagine that Sydney’s Harbour Bridge is 440 feet high and that 150,000 vehicles cross it every day? Did you know that there is more than one type of kangaroo – tree kangaroo, rat kangaroo, and wallaby? Didn’t know that Australia’s largest bird was the emu and that Australia has penguins, did you? You’ve probably heard of the kookaburra bird – which laughs but cannot sing – but have you heard of the echidna, which is a spiny anteater? How about the platypus, which has a beak like a bird, swims like a fish, has fur like a kangaroo, and lays eggs? Or the koala – who is really not a bear – that only eats leaves from certain specific gum trees? And what about the Tasmanian devil? These and many more items of interest are covered in This Is Australia by M. Sasek.

This is an outstanding book, full of facts and well illustrated. Younger children will be interested in the birds and animals. Others – including adults – may be interested in history, cities, and buildings.

Reviewed by Douglas McWilliams Find My Feet!

By Salina Yoon Robin Corey Books, $6.99, 12 pages Seven adorable little animal friends need our help to find their feet! You and your kids can come to the rescue by turning the wheel – but wait, those silly combinations can also bring lots of laughter! Don’t be afraid if you can’t get it right on the first try. Frankly, Cow would probably enjoy jumping around with Froggie’s legs and Duck would probably take pleasure in a day of running around with Horse’s legs. In addition to building animal identification skills, Find My Feet is a great and entertaining guide to educate children about colors and even animal sounds! I highly recommend this fun-filled, sturdy, interactive and informative board book to children ages 1-5. Find My Feet is a great addition to any daycare and preschool book collection too.

Reviewed by Kaye Cloutman

A Book of Sleep

By Il Sung Na Random House Children’s, $15.99, 22 pages A Book of Sleep is a not-to-be-missed book of beautiful and imaginative texture. The book takes a tour through dusky nighttime backgrounds of midnight blues, where a watchful owl observes the quirky habits of various sleeping animals. We see a koala bear in a tree, an elephant, a trio of ponies, a whale underwater, three powerlines of pigeons, a fish, a giraffe, and a flock of penguins on ice. When the sun comes up, the animals wake up and play while the watchful owl goes to sleep.

The words are few and simple, with Il Sung Na’s endearing illustrations being the focus of the pages. Each of the solid areas of color are subtly shaded and textured. The blue backgrounds, for example, look like topographic maps of the ocean floor while the gray body of the watchful owl looks like sidewalk cement. After the base layers, Il Sung Na adds whimsical wallpaper designs of flowers and curlicues.

A Book of Sleep is a delightful, artistic book that is sure to become an instant favorite with both young children and their parents.

Reviewed by Megan Just Testing the Ice : A True Story About Jackie Robinson

By Sharon Robinson Scholastic Press, $16.99, 40 pages Testing the Ice, by Sharon Robinson, is the true story of how Jackie Robinson ventured out into unknown territory and broke the color regulations in Major League baseball. “ That was Jackie Robinson. And that was my dad. Big, heavy, out there alone on the lake, testing the ice to be sure it would be safe for us. And he did it--even though he couldn’t swim!”

Told from his daughter’s point of view, this book illustrates the amount of courage and determination with which Robinson faced the world. II This story is well written and beautifully illustrated. The metaphor of “testing the ice” might be lost on the younger audience, but the theme of courage and determination will not be.

Reviewed by Kim Hudson Raffanelli

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The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum

By Candace Fleming Random House Children’s, $18.99, 151 pages He was the consummate showman, a master of marketing, a pioneer in amusement, and the man whose name became synonymous with wonder, spectacle, and humbug. P.T. Barnum, much like his eponymous museums and circus shows, was larger than life. The Great and Only Barnum is a detailed chronicle of his life, from humblest beginnings to soaring heights of fame and fortune, with all the ups and downs in between.

Peppered throughout with rare photos and terrific explanatory interludes, Fleming’s book is at once a biography, a tribute, and a window into a simpler and more fantastic period in history. Despite the plain and accessible writing style, even true Barnum devotees will be pleased by Fleming’s efforts to debunk some of the more tenacious myths surrounding the man. In one notable instance, she refutes that Barnum was the type to declare “there’s a sucker born every minute,” providing a mountain of evidence to support his respect and affection for the audience. Perfect for children and adults alike, The Great and Only Barnum is a marvelous glimpse at an icon and the myriad ways he changed the face of entertainment forever.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear

By David Bruins and Hilary Leung Kids Can Press, $16.95, 30 pages Ninja, Cowboy, and Bear are your average group of friends. They do everything together, and enjoy each other’s company very much. One day, a debate ensues over who is better. It begins as friendly competitions between each other until they eventually decide to go their separate ways. During their reflection time they realize that though they have their problems, they don’t want that to come in the way of their priceless friendship.

Friendships can be a tricky. Children have one little spat with a classmate and declare they hate them and never want to talk to them again. I see The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear as a tool to teach children about friendships and forgiveness. Because the main characters are vastly different from each other, it can also teach about diversity and finding common ground with others who may not look or dress just like they do. David Bruins keeps the language simple and easy to understand.

Hilary Leung brings the characters alive in a unique way. There is also a game of “Ninja Cowboy Bear” at the end (much like the more familiar rock, paper, scissors).

Reviewed by Jennifer LeBrun

Two Books on the American Revolution: One’s a Hit, One’s a Miss

By Susan Roberts Upon Secrecy

By Selene Castrovilla Calkins Creek Books, $17.95, 32 pages

By The Sword

By Selene Castrovilla Calkins Creek Books, $17.95, 40 pages

T

his Fall, Selene Castrovilla introduced Upon Secrecy and By the Sword, two books with little-known stories from the American Revolutionary War. While Upon Secrecy is a hit, a riveting, must-read action book, you can pass on By the Sword, a passively written collection of facts.

Upon Secrecy documents the most important—and dangerous—mission of the Culper Spy Ring, a secret group used by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. This small group of little-known, everyday people obtained much-needed military intelligence that was critical to his success. The story is written in an active voice, and the author masterfully sets the tension and carries it throughout the story. When Castrovilla described Washington’s army, “They’d Upon Secrecy Illustration gone from fighting for survival to spotting fear in their enemy’s eyes,” I hungered for more poignant passages, and she delivered.

The story covers a critical juncture in 1778, when Washington had to remove the redcoats’ advantage. French allies were about to arrive in Newport, and Washington needed to know if the British knew of their coming and, if they did, what they intended to do. He called upon the Culper Spy Ring.

At the heart of the ring was Robert Townsend, a merchant and newspaper writer for a loyalist newspaper. As a Quaker, he was opposed to war and above suspicion. So perfect for the job, British soldiers actually brought him information to see their names in print. But the covert work brought torment to Townsend’s heart. Castrovilla artfully shows the internal struggles of conscience he faced as he meticulously fulfilled Washington’s requests.

Using the most advanced technology of the day, Townsend drafts the message in invisible ink. On the back side of the note, he pens a bogus letter, lest the message fall into the wrong hands. Courier Austin Roe slips the letter in his pouch, moves past the British sentries and rides all night. Highway robbers shoot at him, but he survives with only a bullet hole in his hat. Castrovilla brings alive each person’s contribution and the risk they undertook, as the message moves through many hands en route to Washington.

When Washington receives the information, his suspicions are confirmed. He paces the floors debating his next action. Then, in a brilliant move, he produces detailed plans for a “fictitious” full-scale invasion of British-held New York. He arranges for a courier to “drop the plans in mud” and hopes someone will find them and turn them over to the British. Will the ruse work and will the British be fooled?

Skillfully packing in elaborate details of this little-known spy ring, Castrovilla held my attention from her first sentence announcing “George Washington needed spies” to the last rich morsel of information found in the Author’s Notes.

After completing Upon Secrecy, I couldn’t wait to read Castrovilla’s By the Sword. Its first paragraphs promised insights on what it feels like to be in a war. But this book fell flat of that promise.

Written in a frustratingly passive voice, the documented battle scenes never allowed me to experience the same riveting tension I felt reading Upon Secrecy. I felt Castrovilla tried to string a few ideas into a story, but the protagonist, Benjamin Tallmadge, never shined.

In general, I found the illustrations more compelling than the text. In one illustration, award-winning artist Bill Farnsworth shows Tallmadge deep in battle, firing his musket, the flintlock flaming inches from his face. I am in battle with him. Whereas the author’s passively written attempt to show Tallmadge’s repulsion about taking a life dragged on for so long that it didn’t move or inspire me.

Building up to the final scene where Tallmadge returns across By the Sword Illustration the river to save his horse, the author makes numerous references attempting to show the relationship between owner and animal.

But horses weren’t just pets, like they are today. She would have been much further ahead providing a brief description on the advantages a soldier-on-horse had over a foot soldier, not to mention how a horse was key to survival in the 1700s.

I found the book riddled with passages that didn’t hold up. When I read, “After the trouncing the British had given them,…”

I shook my head and asked, “What trouncing?” I literally flipped back to see what I missed. She “told” us of the action, rather than showed us; I missed it. Today’s sophisticated readers experience more tension watching cartoons than they’ll find in this book about a soldier in war.

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November 09 29

Science Fiction & Fantasy Diving Into the Wreck

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch Pyr, $16.00, 269 pages Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Diving Into The Wreck brings us an engaging heroine and a complex mystery in a science fiction setting.

Our heroine, Boss, is a diver. She “dives” deep space wrecks. Upon discovering a 5,000-year-old derelict far from where it should be (and, according to Boss’s calculations, far from where it COULD be), Boss hires a crew to explore the wreck. The adventure takes off from there in this wellcrafted work by a veteran author at the top of her form.

Rusch’s writing transcends the genre. If you enjoy complex characters in a unique environment, suspense, and a rollicking good story, you’ll enjoy this book, and you’ll undoubtedly be hoping to run into Boss again, and soon!

Reviewed by Claudette C. Smith The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction

By Gordon Van Gelder IPG/Tachyon Publications, $15.95, 475 pages In today’s day and age, it’s not always easy to sit down and read an entire book from cover to cover. Life, all too often, gets in the way. Fortunately, there is still a lot of great literature out there for those of us who don’t have the time to devote to lengthy novels.

The 60th anniversary anthology of short stories, The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction, is the ideal way to read some truly amazing stories for those who don’t have a lot of time on their hands.

“Now watch me become what I can become!”

Gordon Van Gelder has done a masterful job of editing this anthology of some of the very best Science Fiction and Fantasy stories ever written. It’s hard to go wrong with some of the absolute masters of the craft and their amazing short stories, including Stephen King’s The Gun Slinger, Neil Gaiman’s Other People and Ray Bradbury’s All In a Summer Day. The absolute highlight is Kurt Vonnegut’s iconic story Harrison Bergeron, a tale of a world in which there is mandatory equality and one man’s hunger to rise above. There’s

30 November 09

something for everyone in this amazing anthology, and it will certainly provide hours of entertainment for anyone who reads it.

Reviewed by Albert Riehle Noonshade

By James Barclay Pyr, $16.00, 423 pages Noonshade, the second volume in the Chronicles of the Raven, picks up after the spell of the Dawnthief has been cast. Used to save the world, the Dawnthief has left a rip in the sky to the dragon dimension and as it grows bigger, so does the threat to Balaia. The Raven, a small band of mercenaries, now have been charged with finding a way to close the portal before enemy dragons come pouring through. But first, they must get past the invading Wesmen who are bent on destroying the colleges of magic.

Showing great improvement in this sequel, author James Barclay uses multiple perspectives to tell his story. From the dragon allies fighting a battle in their own dimension to the mages trying to save the home of their magical lore, the story builds layer upon layer and reveals significant growth in Barclay’s use of characterization. What had seemed to be an abundance of ideas that were loosely tied together now comes across as a well-plotted fantasy full of originality.

Fans of the first book will be pleased as this sequel and eagerly looking to pick up the next volume.

Reviewed by Theresa Lucas Dark Slayer

By Christine Feehan Penguin Group, $25.95, 361 pages Ivory Malinov, the only sister among five Carpathian brothers, was thought dead after being shredded to pieces by vampires at the orders of the evil Xavier. Yet now she runs with a pack of wolves as her only family, and she is determined to destroy Xavier and prevent him from harming anyone else.

Razvan Dragonseeker is thought to be the ultimate betrayer to the Carpathian race and, raised as a follower of Xavier, is found

by Ivory as he flees Xavier. As they come face to face they realize they have found their life mates. Together can they overcome Xavier?

I was not a fan of the earlier Dark books but I have become enthralled with the series since I read Dark Celebration. The books following just seem to get better and better. Dark Slayer

immediately draws you into the fight that Ivory and Razvan face to prove they are not traitors to the Carpathians, find a cure for what is killing the Carpathian children and destroy Xavier. Razvan is a far cry from the typical Carpathian males we have seen so far and will still grab your heart. This is another great addition to the Dark series.

Reviewed by Debbie Suzuki

Langdon St. Ives. This is a welcome adventure for all readers. Fans of James Blaylock will be delighted. Blaylock builds the interest and intrigue throughout the story, and he brings it home with a delightful conclusion. The bit with the quicksand alone is worth the price of admission, and this book comes highly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Sherry

Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit

By Mercedes Lackey Daw, $25.95, 401 pages Mercedes Lackey gives her own spin to the Arthurian legends with Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit. Some legends hold that King Arthur had three queens by the name Gwenhwyfar, and this novel tells the story of the third and youngest one. Gwen is born with the Power inside her, but she instead chooses to follow the warrior’s path, becoming a respected scout and war chief in the army of her father, a Celtic king. But her princess past cannot be escaped, and Gwen is eventually made to wed High King Arthur, though there is no love between them.

Soon after, Arthur’s illegitimate son and his wife (Gwen’s sister) set into motion a plan to take his father’s place, and the events will suck in Gwen and everyone close to the King.

Overall, Gwenhwyfar is a great, well-told story. Lackey’s tale is told with spirit and heart, and Gwen is a wonderful and loveable character, one you want to believe might have existed once. The landscape of ancient Britain is beautiful and lush; one can see the green hills, feel the cold of the winter snows, and breathe in the mist on the sacred lake. A gripping novel you’ll want to immerse yourself in.

Reviewed by Holly Scudero

Fledgling

By Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Baen, $24.00, 384 pages Lee and Miller have written a number of books set in the Liaden Universe, the last of which, I Dare, introduced Theo Woodley at the very end attempting to explain herself with the statement of “It’s complicated.”

During the publishing hiatus, the previous publisher ran into financial problems, leaving Lee and Miller needing to find a new source of income, but all the rights to the Liaden Universe were still tied up with that publisher. So early in 2009, they offered to post a chapter a week of a new book about Theo on their website each time donations reached $300. Quite quickly they had a commitment for several months of chapters, and needed to finish the story themselves.

Theo is a young girl, living on the Safe World of Delgado, home of one of the premier educational institutions, and finds herself at odds with her surroundings. She is physically awkward in a world that sees that as anti-social, and socially awkward when her mother moves her from her childhood home back to the apartments within the college itself. Her mother has decided that living apart from her colleagues is hurting her advancement within her department, and when moved away from her father, Theo finds herself longing for her old life. When her mother finds a need to track down the truth of falsified scholarship, she takes Theo along with her, introducing her to a universe not as protected as the Safeworld she grew up on. Fledgling is a coming of age novel, set in a science fiction universe much like Robert Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars. While the extensive background of the Liaden Universe may seem overwhelming to new readers, much of it can be pieced together as Theo discovers much of it herself. Readers of the previous books will enjoy this addition to the story--especially seeing the conclusion to I Dare’s hanging story ending).

The Ebb Tide

By James Blaylock Subterranean Press, $35.00, 132 pages After a twenty-year break, James Blaylock returns with a new Langdon St. Ives adventure. St. Ives is the hero of two previous novels and several stories, a scientist and an explorer. This is a story of a missing map, a Victorian-era submarine, an arch nemesis, and quicksand.

The Ebb Tide is the epitome of an excellent adventure. Despite being a novella featuring a well established character, The Ebb Tide is accessible to readers who know nothing of

SFF, cont’d next page

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How to Make Friends With Demons

By Graham Joyce Night Shade Books, $24.95, 256 pages The story in Graham Joyce’s latest book is a bit difficult to follow. It jumps from the present times to the past when the main character was in college, and it jumps back two other times for one other character.

Besides that the story seems to be about William Heaney, who lives in modern London and has the ability to see demons.

Every few chapters we skip back to when William was in college and gained the ability to see demons, though how this happened is never explained in detail. The story is about confronting your own personal demons and overcoming them so you have a brighter future. We meet William’s friends, all of them with their own demons, plus one person whose demons he helped purge.

The writing is very British and at times very pretentious. It feels like the writer is talking down to the reader, that we are not good enough to read this work. The best parts are when we go back in time, the early history of the main character. These are the best written and a better style, than the hard bitten take-no-prisoners feel in mod-

ern London. The best part is reading the last testament of the veteran towards the end; it is the most interesting, and the writing is at its best. Not really fantasy, unless you count the occasional reference to demons and the occult.

Reviewed by Kevin Winter Prospero Lost

By L. Jagi Lamplighter Tor Books, $24.99, 347 pages L. Jagi Lamplighter’s debut novel Prospero Lost is the first in a trilogy dealing with the characters that Shakespeare made famous in his play The Tempest. Prospero Lost suffers from two problems. The first being that the novel uses already defined characters from The Tempest, in doing so destroying the ending and part of the message and meaning of the play. The second, is being the first in a trilogy; where we’re merely introduced to a few of the essential characters, with the rest being dangled as enticement to purchase the second book in the series.

Lamplighter’s book is good: it’s a fun fantasy novel set in the modern day that is beautifully realized, so much so that I wonder why she found it necessary to crib from Ol’ Will. Prospero Lost takes the characters of The Tempest (the

important ones, anyway) and transplants them to our day where Miranda, the daughter of the great Wizard Prospero, now runs her father’s multinational magic company, Prospero Inc. Trouble is, no one has seen her father in three months and all signs point to foul play, and Hell is involved.

Miranda must gather her dysfunctional family around her and find out just what has happened to her father. Prospero Lost could be the a good start to a good series and a fantasy writer worth following; here’s hoping that in the future she can find her own creations to tell it with.

Reviewed by Jonathon Howard The Fatal Child

By John Dickinson David Fickling Books, $17.99, 560 pages Princess Atti, the titled Fatal Child, is a beautiful but haunted princess. When she goes to Ambrose, the Prince Under the Sky, demanding an end to the king’s brutal reign, he falls in love with her, and for her he turns to dark magic to take the throne and bring peace to his cursed land. In this final novel of the trilogy, Ambrose and Atti’s tale is told through the perspectives of Atti’s advisor Thomas Padry and Queen’s hand-

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maiden, peasant girl Melissa, in all its violence, triumph, splendor and heartbreak.

This final installment is a fitting, sweeping ending to an epic, beautiful work of fantasy. Blending a unique religion and cutthroat politics with a hard, gritty realism, Mr. Dickinson’s worldbuilding is as always superb. But the true strength of The Fatal Child lies with its nuanced, ever-changing characters. In particular, the commoner Melissa, makes this book shine through the simplicity and practicality of her narrative. Rich prose, careful detail and epic scale make The Fatal Child a truly remarkable novel, to be loved by readers of all ages.

Reviewed by Thea James

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November 09 31

Science & Nature The Wolf in the Parlor

By Jon Franklin Henry Holt, $25.00, 274 pages Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jon Franklin delivers a thoughtful account of his search for the nexus of human and dog.

His exploration begins with two events.

Firstly, Franklin sees a photograph depicting an ancient grave at an archaeological dig.

A man’s skeleton reaches out to the skeleton of a small creature, perhaps a puppy. Secondly, Franklin proposes to his girlfriend, Lynn, who upon hearing it asks, “Does this mean I can get a puppy?” Lynn accepts Franklin’s proposal after he accepts her c o u nt e r - p r o p o s a l .

Charlie, a black standard poodle, becomes the third member of their new family.

Soon, Charlie works his way into Franklin’s life. Their relationship triggers a decadeslong academic and emotional search for how and when wolves became dogs - man/woman’s best friend.

Over many years Charlie and Franklin go for long daily walks in the Oregon woods exploring nature via Charlie’s nose, eyes and ears. All the while the image of the ancient

man and his small companion lurks in the back of Franklin’s mind. As a science writer he has access to the best and the brightest, and makes very good use of this access through interviews with top-notch academics. He learns that, “While humans may be unique in some respects, we can’t afford to set ourselves apart from other animals. If we do, we’ll never understand ourselves, or what happened to make us what we are.”

This lesson and others add texture and meaning to our otherwise everyday lives.

Reviewed by Ruta Arellano Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality

By Helen Scales, Ph.D. Gotham, $20.00, 261 pages Good books can turn up on the unlikeliest of subjects. Helen Scales, a marine biologist with a plethora of other interests, has taken a small topic (literally and figuratively) and turned it into something rich and strange.

Poseidon’s Steed is basically a series of joyous riffs— not just on seahorses, but on creation myths, ancient history, traditional Chinese medicine, and British rock

groups, among other things. Along the way, Scales passes on the usual clever tidbits (pregnant males, the use of seahorse potions

by Romans to treat baldness and impotence, and so on), but she also provides a few sneak lessons in genetics, evolution, and marine preservation without getting the least bit ponderous or pretentious. In fact, the best thing about the book may be its style: it’s filled with wonder and enthusiasm for its subject, but it’s also no-nonsense without sinking into either nature documentary somnolence or Disney-like cuteness. Scales is also blessedly non-judgmental; she understands the concerns of Vietnamese shrimp trawlers, as well as those of environmentalists. My only regret is that the publisher didn’t include color photos to accompany Scales’ detailed descriptions of these colorful critters. I’m a science enthusiast anyway, but who knew a book on seahorses could be this entertaining?

Reviewed by Jim Vasser The Cave and the Cathedral: How a Real-Life Indiana Jones and a Renegade Scholar Decoded the Ancient Art of Man

By Amir D. Aczel Wiley, $25.95, 242 pages Scholar Amir Aczel has proven himself to be a winning author capable of rendering obscure topics into accessible, provocative

books. The Cave and the Cathedral is no exception. Aczel paints a compelling picture in this concise examination of prehistoric cave art, providing readers with detailed views of intriguing and mystifying images, signs, and symbols buried deep inside labyrinthine galleries. It is a subject Aczel clearly loves, and he details his own visits to caves in France, Spain, and beyond in search of answers about who the artists were, why they drew what they did, and what it all means. Aczel synthesizes years of research, explains various conflicting theories, and provides keen insight into the origins of Paleolithic cave art. Aside from a contrived subtitle that has virtually nothing to do with the book (there is only one mention of Indiana Jones, and it is never made clear exactly who the “renegade scholar” is), The Cave and the Cathedral is a worthwhile read. Readers looking for an indepth scientific exposé that provides the definitive key to cave art may be disappointed, but for those with a passing interest, Aczel does an admirable job, providing an interesting primer to the subject.

Reviewed by Kelli Christiansen

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