Food, Travel, and World Lit Books

Hallelujah! the Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes by Maya Angelou

2008-10-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

“I can no more think of my own life without thinking of wine and wines and where they grew for me and why I drank them when I did and why I picked the grapes and where I opened the oldest procurable bottles, and all that, than I can remember living before I breathed.”
M. F. K. Fisher

I ordered “Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” written by Maya Angelou from my Cook Book club as soon as it was available (and I had to wait for months because there were so many orders for it that they placed mine on backorder.). I had read her poetry long ago and was very excited when she read her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning,” at President Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993. Since that time I have come to know her as a friend and mentor to Oprah Winfrey. If there ever was a renaissance woman, her name is Maya Angelou. She’s been a singer, a dancer, an author, a poet, a college professor, and a cook. When she was on Oprah’s show to promote the book, she told a couple of the stories (smothered chicken and banana pudding) and Oprah had a near orgasmic look on her face the whole time.

Story

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” is a series of twenty-eight stories from Maya Angelou’s life that revolve around food. They start when she was a young girl who, along with her older brother had been taken in by her grandmother and lame uncle. Her Momma (as they called her grandmother) was an enviable cook in their African-American part of a small Arkansas town who had pulled her own self up by her bootstraps after her husband abandoned her to raise two little boys on her own. The first story is actually one her Momma told them every time she made lemon meringue pie and tells of an old wrinkly woman who was fond of young men. She lured them in with her Sunday dinner of chicken and dumplings, lettuce and pea salad and fried summer squash followed by the tantalizing pie. She’d run through all the local men and was reduced to pouncing on strangers as they passed through town. She was finally outsmarted by a young man who had been warned by the locals. At the story’s conclusion, she sets out the recipes for the meal clearly, with plenty of room to jot down my own notes as I need.

There are six more stores from Maya’s Arkansan childhood and then she moves to San Francisco as a teenager with a baby. She reconnects with her mother who also nurtures her and her son, Guy. These are stories of having to make ends stretch until they meet and when they don’t, the ability to go back home without recriminations until she can get back on her feet. Of these seven stories, I think my favorite is how she got a job as a cook in a Creole restaurant with sheer chutzpah and a little stretching of the truth. After she got the job, she went to one of her mother’s friends who had once cooked in New Orleans. He told her that the secret of Creole cuisine was to add garlic, onion, green peppers, celery and tomatoes to every dish (and oh by the way, some spicy pepper flakes too.)

The next seven stories tell of her amazingly diverse life. From the Thanksgiving dinner in Tuscany with world leaders in the arts to a perfect onion tart with a group of acerbic artists in England to the tale of one of her writers' group members who treated them to a gourmet meal of Beef Wellington and all the trimmings by calling the renowned chef and food writer, Craig Claiborne claiming to be the wife of a Uruguayan ambassador whose staff had quit on the day of a state dinner. He provided step-by-step instructions over the phone all day and the dinner for the writers was a smashing success for this woman who ordinarily served herself and her son salad and take-out pizza every night.

The final seven stories are mostly from her personal experiences, cooking for her family and friends like Oprah, M.F.K. Fisher, and Ashford and Simpson, but the funniest story is about a woman who bought a cast iron cooking pot from the kitchen store that Maya frequented. The woman asked the shopkeeper about any special help in using the pot to cook a roast and while the woman was asking more about the roast than the pot, the proprietor of the store misunderstood and gave detailed instructions on how to season the cast iron pot in preparation for cooking. The poor woman ended up scouring her roast with a Brillo pad, among other atrocities, and then cooking this inedible piece of meat in a 120 degree oven overnight. She served it to her future in-laws who had no sense of humor.

Characters

Maya Angelou has known everyone from lodgers in a boarding house, to dignitaries like President Clinton in the White House and she carries it all off with aplomb, treating everyone with respect and consideration. The way she tells these stories, I felt as if I knew all of these characters, myself. Although her writing is clean and sparse, it also has the color of a poet and lacks nothing essential.

Setting

I traipsed along the dusty Arkansas roads, hovered around Momma’s store, smelled the hog butchering pit, and felt the damp grey fog of England. Maya Angelou is very conscious of time and place in her stories and I often felt like I could taste the chilled gazpacho or the succulent spareribs as she wrote about them. She has a marvelous ear and the words flow without any hesitation or tricky passages.

What I Like

I love the way she puts the recipes in context with the time and place as well as usually giving all the recipes for a meal. The book is ordered mostly by the chronology of her life and we see regional foods as she moves from place to place. There is a very comprehensive index listing recipes, main ingredients, and meal element alphabetically. The full color, full-page pictures are beautifully arranged and photographed. Finally, I love finding out about people and what they eat is as good a map as any in determining where they are at and where they’ve come from.

What I Don’t Like

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” has twenty eight stories, seventy four recipes and only fifteen photographs. Even though Angelou’s words paint tasty pictures, I hungered for more photographs.

Final Recommendation

“Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes” is a beautiful life story of Maya Angelou told artistically, poetically, and tastefully. I recommend this book to anybody who wants to know about her, southern cooking, penny pinching, and celebrating life with food.

Book Details
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (September 21, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400062896
ISBN-13: 978-1400062898
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches

Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

2008-10-15T07:40:00.001-07:00

“I have milked the Teats of Time, pair after pair, Wandered the world around, and rivalled al-Khadir in my circumambulations.”
Abu Dulaf, “The Ode of the Banu Sasan”

In the 1300’s, Ibn Battutah, a classically educated Muslim Berber growing up in Tangiers (in present day Morocco) began a 29 year pilgrimage to Mecca and the lands of the east. I am a great believer in synchronicities and coincidences, so also is Tim Mackintosh-Smith, a Brit who’s lived in Yemen for many years. In 2001, his book “Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah” chronicling his retracing of Ibn Battutah’s travels was published. It began with a series of synchronicities and coincidences. The first was a neighbor challenging him to come up with the origin of the Arabic word for potato—batatah. Hs friend contended that its root came from Ibn Battutah (IB). Mackintosh-Smith was shopping for a Yemeni history book, when he ran across IB’s travel diary, so he picked it up. Later that day, his friend Hasan popped in and began reading IB’s travels aloud. He stopped in mid-sentence. He was so excited because that particular passage told of IB meeting with Hasan’s direct paternal ancestor. These coincidences piqued Mackintosh-Smith’s interest and he decided to do his own trip; attempting to find places and people referenced in IB’s book.

I received this book as part of a book ring – where it is going around the world being read by a large group of people. I chose it because I’ve been broadening my world by reading books written by authors from around the world or books about other parts of the world and this one really intrigued me. I really do believe that all coincidences sign post things that are meant to be heeded. Several other books I’ve read recently touched on similar places or people as “Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah.” Since IB traveled in the 1300’s I didn’t expect that, but “Crusade” by Robyn Young is an historical novel and many of the characters and places are mentioned in IB’s Travels. Also, “A Year in the World” by Frances Mayes went to several of the same places and enjoyed some of the same foods. I’ve found that the connections I make from books I read, music I listen to, films I see, and food I eat strengthen the memories I make.

What I Liked

Even though, I probably won’t retain nearly enough of this book, I loved learning about all the people and places Mackintosh-Smith encountered as he followed IB’s path. He ate a lot of weird things (1 ¼ inch birds on a skewer, lamb brain burger, dried shark), went to places I’ve only seen on a map and actually went to a multitude of mosques, chapels, shrines and temples that were around for IB to see and touch and hear (church bells in The Crimea). I remember the awe I felt the first time I saw a painting by Caravaggio and considered how many hundreds of years ago it was painted and then was even more enthralled when I thought about Caravaggio touching paint to that canvas. Or the times I visited Monticello and Mount Vernon and thought about the great presidents living there and sitting under the trees that were still growing there. Mackintosh-Smith lets his awe shine through all the dust and bugs and discomfort of his trips when he comes across one of these historical touch points as he travels from Tangiers, across North Africa, through Egypt, Syria, Oman, Turkey, and the Crimea. It made it all worthwhile.

I also loved all the great historic quotes heading each chapter, and it was fun to find that the woman he talks about in the first chapter pops up in the last.

What I Didn’t Like

I have to admit that I’m hopeless when it comes to pronouncing Arabic, Persian, or Russian names. I had to just scan past the names of people and places sometimes and then regretted it later when Mackintosh-Smith brought them up again and I had to try to place them.

Final Recommendation

“Travels with a Tangerine: From Morocco to Turkey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah” by Tim Mackintosh-Smith is a great book for picking up a lot of history, reading about the present day issues in the Middle East, and making a new, really smart friend.

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Description
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (June 8, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0812971647
ISBN-13: 978-0812971644
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches

All that Matters by Stef Ann Holm

2008-10-13T14:24:00.001-07:00

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
Henry David Thoreau

Okay, you caught me. I picked up “All that Matters” by Stef Ann Holm because I judged a book by its cover. It’s autumn and the picture on the cover of the book sucked me in; a bakery with pumpkins and fall leaves and all of those yummy looking pastries. I’ve been immersing myself in various forms of romance novels this year because I intend to write one of my own and a combination of food and romance was too tempting to pass up.

Chloe Lawson is single (divorced ten years earlier), turning forty, finally making a real go of her Boise, Idaho bakery when she gets a letter out of the blue; the company managing the lease on the bakery property not only turned down her application to take the empty space next door so she can expand, they let her know that her lease won’t be renewed in seven months because a large grocery chain wants her space as well as all of the open spaces near her. One of her customers pleads her case with his brother, who finally decides to help her push back against the grocer even though he knows she doesn’t have a chance. John Moretti (widowed for three years) drops by for a blueberry muffin before letting her know he’ll help her and immediately falls in love with the muffin and the beautiful baker.

Not only is Chloe’s business concerning her, but suddenly she’s getting a lot of phone calls where the caller hangs up after Chloe answers. All of these things have her on edge, and John just might be the guy to help her out.

What I Liked

Holm creates characters and a setting that feel genuine and give a nice flavor of Boise. I loved all of the family dynamics—John with his two teens as well as his extended Italian family—Chloe with her grandma Ethel who raised her when her unstable mother dumped her off and split with her bohemian friends. It all works, even when Chloe finally realizes that the young construction worker who comes in each morning for black coffee and a walnut muffin and advice about his dad, ends up being John’s son.

I also (ahem) love all the food talk. I so want a blueberry muffin and a glass of milk now. Or maybe some of Chloe’s marbled pumpkin cheesecake.

The romance itself is fairly tame without anything getting too explicit; lots of well described kissing and a little bedroom intimacy.

What I Didn’t Like

The only thing that was a little annoying was Holm’s use of repetition. I don’t need to read the same information multiple times from each character’s point of view or even to have it reiterated by one character overthinking a situation. It makes me feel like she’s filling space.

Final Recommendation

Overall, “All that Matters” is a nice light romance; just right for a Sunday afternoon. I laughed, I cried, I sighed with relief.

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: HQN Books (November 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0373773137
ISBN-13: 978-0373773138

The Icarus Girl by Helen Oyeyemi

2008-10-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

“Booksellers are the most valuable destination for the lonely, given the numbers of books that were written because authors couldn't find anyone to talk to.”
Alain de Botton

I first saw Helen Oyeyemi, the author of The Icarus Girl interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning or the Saturday Early Show and was absolutely entranced by her and her story. I kept the book on my wish list for quite awhile and when it was added to my online book club—Quality Paperback Books—I immediately ordered it. I picked it up off of Mt. To-Be-Read and dove into new and unexplored depths. It read quickly and very enjoyably.

Author

Helen Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria and moved to England when she was four. Oyeyemi is quite remarkable in that she is still just 21 years old and going to college, yet she’s written a bold, textured tale as if she were someone who has lived and experienced so much more. I expect to see many more stories in the future.

Characters

The Icarus Girl, Jessamy Harrison (Her grandfather has given her the Nigerian name of Wuraola and calls her that exclusively) is eight years old, half Nigerian and half English, half black and half white. She often feels like she is only half of something and not whole. She has alienated herself at school by pitching screaming tantrums whenever she gets angry or scared and there are a lot of things that can scare her. She has a huge imagination and is very articulate for a child her age, unless she is asked to explain what it is she is feeling and why. Jessamy has a propensity for eating very interesting concoctions like cheddar cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches.

Sarah Harrison is Jessamy’s mother, a writer who left Nigeria to attend college in London in order to become a doctor and go home to heal her people. Her father has not forgiven her for going her own way. She becomes very scared of Jessamy and her own inability to parent this wild child.

Daniel Harrison is Jessamy’s father, a caring man who often sees things from Jess’s point of view and tries to intercede when his wife gets exasperated.

Titiola is a mysterious girl who makes friends with Jess when she and her parents go to visit family in Nigeria for the summer. Jessamy thinks she is just the perfect friend and is amazed at some of the impossible things her friend can do. Her name is difficult for Jess to pronounce so she calls her TillyTilly. When the Harrisons go back to England, Jess misses her terribly and amazingly she shows up in the neighborhood.

Setting

Most of The Icarus Girl takes place in a city in England though about a third of the story takes place at Jess’s grandfather’s compound in Nigeria. Jessamy lives in a dreary small house with a postage stamp yard and attends a school where a girl who is bullied at home—Colleen—bullies the kids on the playground and in the classroom. The weather is always damp and friendless Jess often plays or reads indoors by herself. Her grandfather on the other hand, lives in a large house in Nigeria surrounded and shaded by the houses in which his children and their families live. It is hot and dusty and they continually worry about the electricity being shut off by the poorly run government. Jess is surrounded here by her Nigerian cousins, but she feels just as lonely as home because she can’t speak Yoruban with them.

Story

In “The Icarus Girl” Jessamy scuffles through life looking down at the ground because she is afraid of being spoken to and having to carry on a conversation. She spends a lot of time in her own imagination without any friends and is delighted to finally find the perfect friend (almost like a sister) when she visits her grandfather in Nigeria. TillyTilly knows just what to say and has some remarkable abilities. Jess accepts these mystical happenings because she is so lonely and then things begin to turn ugly. Shortly after Jess and her family return home, TillyTilly moves into the same neighborhood and seems to know whenever a person has slighted Jessamy in any way. She pledges to “get” the wrong-doers and though Jess feels a little guilty about it, she doesn’t really mind that her classmates and acquaintances are hurt physically or mentally until her own dad is “gotten.” Jessamy learns a secret about herself that changes everything and a darkness falls deeply over Jessamy and her family. In order to set things right, Sarah takes her ailing family back to Nigeria the following summer and her father determines what must be done, if it’s not already too late to save his beloved granddaughter from the evil that threatens to snuff her out.

What I Like

The Icarus Girl rings true for anybody who has ever felt lonely, different or not accepted by the rest of the people around them. It also shows the lengths some will go to in order to secure friendship and loyalty from others. Even though the story is written about 8-10 year old children, I never felt like I didn’t belong in the conversation. The language is colorful and articulate, but not flowery or overdone. The characters are full and rounded. Though some of the action gets very metaphysical, it is still believable and overall the story is quite enjoyable. I finished it, hoping that I will find out more about Jessamy or characters like her in future novels. I would recommend this to mature teenagers and adults. I’m not sure but think that the mystical bits might be too scary for a child younger than that, though they’ve been reading Harry Potter and seem none the worse for wear.

What I Don’t Like

The only thing that I could complain about The Icarus Girl is that most of the threads of the story get woven together toward the end except that the family is all left a bit raw and damaged. Sarah never fully dealt with her tragedy, nor did Jessamy completely resolve her rift with her mother. I’d be interested to see how their lives move forward.

Final Recommendation

The Icarus Girl is an enchanting tale of a lonely girl who feels like she is only half a girl and whose new friend teaches her to fly until she goes crashing disastrously to the earth.

Book Description
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Anchor (April 11, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 140007875X
ISBN-13: 978-1400078752
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches

Blood Orange Brewing by Laura Childs

2008-10-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

“It pleases me so when I sip orange pekoe/ such color with taste crisp and clean”
Robert Ford, “Tea”

I‘ve loved mysteries since I was a little girl. My Gramma introduced me to the joys of Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner and over the years, I’ve added to many sleuths both amateur and professional to my bookshelves. Laura Childs has a series of murder mysteries set in Charleston, South Carolina’s historical district and presided over by Indigo Tea Shop owner, Theodosia Browning. “Blood Orange Brewing” is the seventh book in the series. Each of the books are peopled with Theo and her tea shop assistants, Drayton and Haley. Haley is a gifted baker and Drayton is a tea-blending wizard. Like most cozy mysteries, you need to watch out for those business people who are new to town, and it is probably best if you don’t befriend Theo, because your murder might be next on the list. People around her do not have a good track record.

In this particular story, The Indigo Tea Shop folks are catering another fund-raising event at which one of the guests will be murdered. This time, it is for the Historical Society and retired businessman and full-time philanthropist, Duke Wilkes appears to have meddled where he shouldn’t have as he gets stabbed with a Civil War era dirk just before the tea sandwiches and blood orange tea is served.

What I Liked

One of the things I like about Laura Childs’ writing is that it is clear and easy to read, while imparting tea knowledge, recipes, Charleston history and flavor, as well as dealing with news topics of the day. Since it would spoil the surprise ending, I won’t get specific about the current events.

Coincidentally, the story takes place in early autumn, which it is as I am reading and I find the fall flavors and scents to be quite mouth watering. The food and tea serve almost as another character and are given prominence throughout the story. Conveniently, several of the recipes for items served in the tea shop during this story are included in the special section in the back of the book. I can’t wait to try out the sweet potato muffins and the low country black bean soup.

Although series stores can begin to sound alike and there s always the need to reintroduce continuing characters and plot lines, Childs does this very unobtrusively and “Blood Orange Brewing” could easily be read as a stand alone.

What I Didn’t Like

Since food and drink play such a major role in Childs’ books, I always finish them not only hungry for more of her writing, but also for food; lots of food. In this book alone they catered the fund-raiser, a political campaign tea party, attended an oyster roast, as well as setting the menu for day to day operations of the tea shop. I need food and I need it now!

Final Recommendation

“Blood Orange Brewing” is a fast paced murder mystery with plenty of twists, turns, and red herrings. I learned more about Charleston and tea. And Theo helped catch the killer, much to the dismay of her detective friend, Officer Tidwell. Well done!

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Description
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (March 6, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 042521057X
ISBN-13: 978-0425210574
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches

The Book of Proper Names by Amelie Nothomb

2008-10-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible."
Jonathan Swift

Since the end of 2005, I have been participating in a reading challenge whereby the participants are attempting to read a book by an author (or if there isn't one translated into English, about the country) for each of the 200+ countries participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics. We have until the end of the Beijing Games to finish our reading, and I will apparently need every minute of that time as I've only read books representing 25 countries so far. The twenty fifth of these is "The Book of Proper Names" by Belgian author, Amelie Nothomb.

Nothomb is being hailed as a bright new voice in French literature."The Book of Proper Names" is set in France and is a twisty tale of a little girl who starts out very wrongly. Lucette was 19, 8 months pregnant, living off her parents' money when she realized that she'd married a mediocre man who would drag her exceptional unborn child down to his level of mediocrity. In order to save her unborn daughter she murders the average Joe, gives birth in prison and bestows (against the wishes of all concerned) upon her child the hideous name "Plectrude" before hanging herself with bed sheets. Providentially, Lucette has an older sister who graciously adopts her niece as her own daughter.

Plectrude finds her way in the world despite many obstacles until she stumbles upon the details of her birth. It is a block that may do her in prematurely.This is a brilliant story told by turns in fantastical wit and then stark reality and absurd conclusion. I recommend this funny tale especially to mothers of girls as a cautionary one.

Book Details:
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Faber and Faber; New Ed edition (May 5, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0571223443

On Love: A Novel by Alain de Botton

2008-10-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

“Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas

I have been faithfully reading books from the “1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” book written by Dr. Peter Boxall and at the same time I’ve been fulfilling another challenge to read books from around the world. Therefore, “On Love: A Novel” by Alain de Botton killed two birds with one stone. de Botton is a British writer, but was born in Switzerland, so I could claim another country down and one more of the “must reads” accomplished. While reading it, I kept wishing I had an appointment with the dentist for a root canal or maybe for road construction to begin in the street outside in order to dull the pain of reading this short book. As with many things (spinach, orthopedic shoes, liver and onions, braces on the teeth) I was glad to be on the other side when I finished and could see the value of the experience. At least that’s what I tell myself.

The narrator is a smart, witty young British architect (with superb vocabulary) who hasn’t had the greatest success in relationships. Then he meets by chance, Chloe, a graphic designer. In fact he works out the odds of that chance encounter with a cute cut-away drawing of the Boeing airplane that British Airways assigned to that flight from Paris to London, the mathematics of it all, and further analysis. He’s deliriously in love, but can’t just leave it at that and enjoy love, life, Chloe, or himself.

And so it goes. He analyzes every twist and turn in the nearly year-long relationship. And then re-examines the analysis. If he and his thought processes are indicative of men or even some men or some men’s thoughts, then it’s a wonder men and women get together long enough to marry and have children at all. On the other hand, this does seem to explain a lot that I didn’t want to accept before. Despite having been with the same man for 32 years, I admit that the male of the species is sometimes simpler than I give them credit.

What I Liked

I liked the fact that this was an extremely quick read, what with all the witty banter and funny pictures thrown in. And of course, it is always funny to watch a couple implode. They only had themselves to blame and it was like watching an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos where a parent gives a child a plastic bat and is immediately rewarded with a shot to the crotch. It hurts, but we laugh superior laughs to indicate that we would never do something so stupid.

What I Didn’t Like

If you aren’t already feeling my pain, let me chart it out for you. The book is broken down into chapters and each represents another step in the progression and then meltdown of a relationship. Each paragraph is numbered from one to whatever at the end of the chapter. He explained in detail each plus and minus. “Few things are as antithetical to sex as thought.” That is the first sentence in the fifth chapter entitled, “Mind and Body.” Let me add: few things are as antithetical to romance as analysis. He’s a buzzkill. But then I repeat myself.

Final Recommendation

“On Love: A Novel” by Alain de Botton is actually very well written if looked at from a writer’s viewpoint. And, it gave me great insight into how unromantic the male psyche can be. It is mercifully short, but filled with angst and a desire to prove that true love really can’t exist. Sometimes I doubted that it was a novel and considered hunting up all of the author’s former girlfriends to see which one he was skewering. Read it with a glass of wine and just laugh at it as if the narrator is one of your former lovers, come to call and complain about his freshest bit of pain and suffering and remind yourself that he deserved every bit of it.

Book Description
On Love: A Novel (Paperback)
by Alain de Botton
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Grove Press; Revised edition (January 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802142400
ISBN-13: 978-0802142405
Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.6 inches

At Swim Two Boys: A Novel by Jamie O’Neill

2008-10-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

“I confess that I do not see what good it does to fulminate against the English tyranny while the Roman tyranny occupies the palace of the soul.”
James Joyce

For the last several years, I have been reading books from Dr. Peter Boxall’s list of 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die and one of the more memorable selections from this list is "At Swim Two Boys: A Novel" by Jamie O’Neill, an Irish author.

"At Swim Two Boys" is set in Ireland in 1915. Two 16 year old boys, Jim and Doyler reacquaint themselves after Doyler’s return from the sanctuary of a relative’s home (hiding out after he got in a spot of trouble). At this very troubled time Irish voices are calling for a break from England, the British are enlisting Irish boys (Jim’s brother being one) for the war, and the two boys determine to swim out to an island in ice cold Dublin Bay on Easter of 1916. This date also becomes important as the Republicans plan to attack the British stronghold then and it looks like Doyler who’s taken up with the IRA may not make it to the swim.

Each boy has blocks in his way and their very survival is often at risk. Doyler’s dad is a drunken, TB riddled beggar, barely keeping his rag tag family alive (and wouldn’t if it weren’t for his wife doing laundry for the lady of the manor). Jim’s dad is a pro-British shopkeeper who is denounced by the pro-Republican bishop, which fairly ostracizes him from many of his customers. Each boy is also pursued and groomed by adult pedophiles in their lives, so different, but so alike. Jim’s priest has a proclivity for privately tutoring boys he fancies while a wealthy young lord who’s recently returned home from a stint in a British prison for indecent liberties takes a shine to Doyler.

O’Neill weaves in many bits of Irish history and the story is richly layered with a lot of the dialogue filled with Irish dialect and colloquialisms. The first bit of the book was very slow going for me, but reading bits out loud helped me get the flow.

What I Liked

Though achingly heart breaking, this story is so genuine that I often shivered from the cold water the boys swam in and could smell the peat burning on the hearth. The situations, while harsh at many points, were none-the-less realistic. The bleakness of the time was mercifully sparked with some lighter moments.

What I Didn’t Like

This is definitely not a book for children and I’d be reluctant to recommend it to teens. There are several graphic episodes of grooming by pedophiles, molestation, alcoholism, and mental instability. The other issue that bothered me (but obviously not enough to quit reading) are the scenes of violence and civil unrest. Not that I’m always opposed to dissent, but I wish there was a way to deal with conflict without weapons.

Final Recommendation

Despite having to ease into the dialect and deal with harsh realities, this is a really well constructed novel with memorable characters, brutal plot honesty and enough allusions to literature and history to entertain while informing. None of the unpleasant bits are merely gratuitous, but are absolutely necessary for the novel as a whole. It helped me understand the Irish conflict, unwed pregnancy within the Catholic Church, pedophilia versus curiosity, and the cruel conditions of poverty at that time. I recommend it, but not for the faint of heart. The quote by Joyce above, is absolutely apropos to the tenor of the story.

Book Details:
Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: Scribner (February 25, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743222954
ISBN-13: 978-0743222952
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches

East Toward Dawn: A Woman’s Solo Journey Around the World by Nan Watkins

2008-10-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go”
Robert Louis Stevenson

I’ve lately become enamored of travel memoirs, particularly those written by women. “East Toward Dawn: A Woman’s Solo Journey Around the World” by Nan Watkins jumped out at me because she went mostly to see specific people and took months to plan out all of the legs of her trip. I barely know a handful of folks who live outside the US, but Watkins has had a very busy and blessed life. It began with time in Germany as a foreign exchange student, studying with and rubbing elbows with a lot of influential people. She took the time while she was in Europe to visit other places as the opportunities arose. As an adult she and her former husband were attached to universities and gave of themselves to host their own foreign exchange students. Many of these students came from Nepal, India, and Bhutan, so her travels focused in that direction.

Like Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) and Rita Golden Gelman (Tales of a Female Nomad: Living Large in the World) whose books are reviewed in previous blog entries, Watkins had lost her relationship with her husband. Their son had suddenly died from a previously undetected medical condition and after years of grieving in their own ways, Watkins had continued to grieve while her husband had begun moving on. This caused a rift. This trip was often cathartic for her as she thought of her son or her family.

Unlike Gelman she did not crisscross the globe without knowing whom she’d stay with, but instead had to follow an airline itinerary that went in one direction circling the planet in order to take advantage of a cost-saving ticket. I’d never known such a ticket existed before. She chose to continually travel eastward, starting in New York City and stopping off in: Germany, Austria, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Singapore and Hawaii, usually staying with friends, and families of friends before returning home.

Like Gilbert, Watkins took this year out for herself as a way of healing loss and it was fantastic to see that it gave her time out of her usual life and helped her to grow and move on.

What I Liked

Watkins seems fearless at times and often goes into wild or dangerous places with her hosts in order to truly get an understanding of the people, cultures and neighborhoods that she visited. I felt like I was seeing the splendor of Himalayas and temples right along with her.

What I Didn’t Like

I realize that one of Watkins’ motivations to travel was to step out and find a way to move on from her son’s death, but her loss and pain were with her and permeated the story. As a mom of a son of a similar age, it made me uncomfortable knowing that it could happen to me and caused me to dwell on that sometimes instead of the fabulous trip.

Final Recommendation

“East Toward Dawn: A Woman’s Solo Journey Around the World” by Nan Watkins is a richly told story of lives connected through shared experiences. I’m glad that I made the connection as well. Watkins is a great writer and wonderful storyteller and they helped me feel like I was right there with her.

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Description
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Seal Press; 1 edition (March 22, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1580050646
ISBN-13: 978-1580050647
Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches

Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan

2008-09-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

"Few men who have liberated themselves from the fear of God and the fear of death are yet able to liberate themselves from the fear of man."
Lin Yutang

One of my reading goals is to read all of the books on Dr. Peter Boxall's list of 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die. I used to think that I was well read and I am beginning to feel that I am merely a voracious reader of books that "don't count." I read a lot of mysteries, romances, and science fiction and have left enormous gaps in my self education by missing many improving novels; those which make a difference in our hearts and minds and change our lives. I decided that I've got enough years left in me to make a difference and have undertaken to read books from any number of 'must read' lists, Boxall's among them. Number 81 on the list is "Amsterdam" by Ian McEwan.

I downloaded "Amsterdam" from Audible.com and found it to be a most enjoyable four hours.

Molly Lane's funeral brings together her old friends Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday. Both were former lovers of Molly's, but not the only ones. There was also Julian Garmony, the notorious right-wing foreign minister in line to become the next prime minister. In the next few days, Vernon and Clive hastily make a fateful pact, and Garmony suddenly finds himself fighting for his political life. I fear sharing more of the plot would either be confusing or would spoil it, so I'll stop here.

This short novel is amazingly funny in its very dark manner. It seems that there's more happening behind the scenes than any of the characters are aware-somebody seems to be pulling strings, and getting all the players to dance to his tune. I loved all the twists and as the end became inevitable, I trembled in horror at what befell Linley and Halliday. McEwen's writing is taut and quite suspenseful and I recommend this book to anybody who likes Edgar Allen Poe.

Book Details:
Author: Ian McEwan
Date: 01-JAN-1999
Narrator: Maxwell Caulfield
Provider: The Publishing Mills
Running Time: 4 h 11 min

Summer in Baden-Baden by Leonid Tsypkin

2008-09-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

“Writing without hope or prospect of being published—what resources of faith in literature does that imply?”
Susan Sontag

I have been faithfully reading books from the “1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” book written by Dr. Peter Boxall and at the same time I’ve been fulfilling another challenge to read books from around the world. Therefore, “Summer in Baden-Baden” by Leonid Tsypkin was effectively killing two birds with one stone. It is a slim volume and yet, I didn’t have a good motivation to read it so I put it on a list of books to trade with my friends and waited for one of them to pick it. When it was selected, I immediately went to the table where I thought I’d last seen it. Vanished! Gone! I panicked, but was sure it would be found. Our apartment is less than 1000 square feet and I seldom leave it. But…I have over 3000 books and it could be hiding somewhere under or behind another book to be read. Two months later I discovered it in a box of books the househusband had stored to declutter the living room. Now I felt compelled to read it quickly so I could get it in the mail. And here I ran into my next problem. Even though it only has 146 pages, it begs to be read slowly, almost analytically. I’ve read it and will post it off. But now I wish I could keep it, at least for a while.

I don’t usually read book forewords (at least until I’ve read the book) because I like to read with an open mind, but my eye caught a few words as I was attempting to bypass it and I was forced to stop and read the entire piece by Susan Sontag detailing the troubles Tsypkin had in trying to emigrate from Russia, living as a Refusenik, trying to smuggle his work out to be published, and that in 1980, just one week after the first installment was printed in a Russian-émigré weekly in New York, on his 56th birthday, Tsypkin died of a heart attack in his home.

Leonid Tsypkin was a doctor—a medical researcher, not an author of fiction by trade, though he published in many medical journals and wrote poetry on the side. He was also a lover of the writings of Dostoyevsky. In fact he was part of a cadre of Dostoyevsky lovers—Jewish Dostoyevsky lovers. And of course Dostoyevsky was not a lover of Jews or anything Jewish. I say this as if I already knew that. I didn’t and one of my regrets as I read “Summer in Baden-Baden” is that I have not read any of Dostoyevsky’s works.

“Summer in Baden-Baden” is the fictional story perhaps loosely based on Tsypkin and people in his life whereby an unknown narrator gets on a train a December snowstorm, traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg to make a pilgrimage to the Dostoyevsky museum. While riding on the train, he is reading a diary written by Anna, Dostoyevsky’s widow, which details some of their travels over a four year period, particularly a summer in Baden-Baden where Dostoyevsky lived day to day, coin to coin between their apartment (begging Anna’s forgiveness, pleading for just one more coin) and the casino where he was addicted to the roulette wheel. In between times of looking out the train windows and reading the diary, the narrator apparently dozes off. He dreams a few minutes here and there; fantastical bits about himself and Dostoyevsky with a few religious bits thrown in. The last third of the story chronicles the narrator’s attempts and final success in finding the museum.

What I Liked

Once I finished, I felt a deep satisfaction that I’d not only read and understood some of what Tsypkin was trying to get at, but that when I read works by Dostoyevsky, I will have some imagery and stories to look for. It also gave quite a few insights into the pain of gambling addiction as well as that of living with epilepsy in the 1860’s. The househusband has epilepsy that has been controlled for almost fifty years by drugs he must take every day and as I shared these parts with him, he could easily relate.

What I Didn’t Like

I didn’t like being unprepared. I felt like I should have already read and understood some of the major works by Dostoyevsky. That is my loss. I also had a difficult time with the structure of Tsypkin’s writing. Each paragraph is a single sentence, filled with adverbs, adjectives, clauses, commas, and many, many dashes. Some paragraphs went on for several pages. Since the period is the punctuation mark which allows the reader to stop and take a breath, I felt at first like I was reading while under water, without a snorkel or scuba gear or the gills of a fish. I got over it.

Final Recommendation

When all was said and done, the ribbons of Tsypkin’s imagination, Dostoyevsky’s writing, and Anna’s diary were tautly woven together into a brilliant fabric. The insights into each are valuable nuggets that I treasure. “Summer in Baden-Baden” by Leonid Tsypkin is a wonderful read and I wish I were as good as a reader.

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Description
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation (September 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811215482
ISBN-13: 978-0811215480
Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches

Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence

2008-09-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

"What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead."
George Bernard Shaw

One of the things I really enjoy is collecting miniature, or at least very small, books. Most of them are about two and a half inches by three inches, are hardcover, and have a dust jacket. Many of them are full texts of larger books, while some just contain excerpts. I have so many that my Househusband had to build me a bookcase to hang on the wall which holds these special treasures. Over the years, I have received many of them as gifts for birthdays, Mother's Day, or Valentines, and a great deal of them have been found in my Christmas stocking like "Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is edited by Brian Perrin; the chocolates are supplied by Aux Petits Delices of Wayne Pennsylvania (Proprietor, Patrick Gauthron); the recipes come from the book "Cocolat" published in 1990, written by Alice Medrich; and it is filled with beautiful photographs by Maggie Wochele.

Text

"Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is organized with an introduction and five sections: In the Introduction, there's a quick history of chocolate, its mythology, uses, and travels through history. The other five sections are: The Quintessential Indulgence; Chocolate Cravings; Snack Break; Chocoholics; and Chocolate Culture. Snack Break includes recipes for three delicious desserts: Walnut Squares, Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Tart, and Chocolate Decadence. These are comprehensive recipes that include lists of special equipment needed, ingredients, the process for making the dessert, and ways to serve it. The other four parts are filled with quotations from chefs, celebrities, politicos and writers that pertain to the topic at hand such as in The Quintessential Indulgence-my favorite quote is from Elaine Gonzalez, a 20th century artist, "Chocolate! Now that is a word that conjures up describable ecstasies. Truffles, bon bons, peppermint patties, lollipops, cakes, cookies and more. Breathes there a man, woman or child who has not lusted after it, devoured it, and moments later, dreamed of it still?"

Illustrations

"Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is truly as tantalizing as the chocolate confections within its pages. The pictures by photographer Maggie Wochele, are beautiful. The cover is a glossy color photograph of beautifully crafted chocolates sitting on a gold marbleized surface. The top and bottom of the picture is adorned by a gold band and the title is set in a lovely scripted font. The page edges are gold leaf on all three exposed sides. The end papers are photographs of a surface sprinkled with cocoa. There are full page (and some double pages) photos of desserts and chocolates throughout as well as small images of the same spotted with recipes and quotations. This book looks almost good enough to eat.

Who is the Intended Reader?

"Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is the perfect book for anybody young or old, male or female, friend or foe, who likes to eat chocolate, savor chocolate, look at chocolate, read about chocolate, or dream about chocolate in its many forms. It is a great size to slip into a Christmas stocking, goodie bag, or greeting card such as a Mother's Day card, perhaps?

What I Like

"Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is a beautiful book about the most beautiful food and is just the right size to carry along or display like I do on a special shelf with my other miniature books. In addition, this book is calorie free-that is until it spurs you to stop at the chocolate shop for some of the real stuff.

What I Don't Like

The only thing that I don't like about "Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is that there are 73 pages out of the 128 that have no image of chocolate on them whatsoever. I know it would probably be overkill, but I would not hesitate to put a picture of chocolate on every page should I write such a book.

Final Recommendation

"Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence" is the perfect size to fit into a Christmas stocking or greeting card (Mother's Day cards comes to mind), and would be especially appreciated by anybody looking to add some more chocolate to their life.

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Details:
"Chocolate: The Exquisite Indulgence"
Running Press, 2001
Hardcover (with dust jacket), 128 pages
Gold-leaf edges
ISBN 1-56138-621-9

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman

2008-09-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

“The paradox of my independent, liberated life is that I could not live it without the love and support of many, many people.”
Rita Golden Gelman

I have been exploring the world recently through both literature and travel journal stories by adventurous people. I browsed through Borders, just grabbing anything that looked interesting. It has helped me to feel connected to people and places near and far. Surprisingly, many of the books have also made connections with each other. Several of the female travelers are near my age, which has been an additional connection for me. One book that really touched me was “Tales of a Female Nomad: Living Large in the World” by Rita Golden Gelman.

Gelman in 1985, decided that her life needed the enrichment of travel and as an author of over 70 children’s books, she had the wherewithal to do it, but realized that her husband wanted no part of it. She went back to school at UCLA to get a degree in ethnology and when she was finishing the program, she and her husband began to have troubles in their relationship. This spurred Gelman to ask for a two week break to get perspective, which her husband jumped on and one-upped her by asking for two months instead. This separation led to an eventual divorce and Gelman decided that it was the perfect time to shed all of her material possessions and start seeing the world instead of just studying and reading books about people and places.

Each place that Gelman goes to, she becomes part of the life in the town, cooking with the locals, playing and reading with children, experiencing local festivals, rites and celebrations. She stood side by side with women, doing what they do in order to build connections.

What I Liked

I loved reading about the nitty gritty of daily life in so many different places. Gelman crisscrosses the globe (see the book cover), stopping in: Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Israel, Galapagos Islands, Indonesia, Canada, New Zealand, Thailand and even my home town of Seattle, Washington. It really helped me see that we all are so much more alike than we are different. Another fun thing was seeing how differently a single woman travelling alone is treated by men versus women. The women often come to her rescue, keeping the men at a distance.

Another interesting thing is that Rita studied with a guru of sorts in Bali. Although it doesn’t seem like he could be the same man named Ketut who helped Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray Love) because I believed he died before Gilbert traveled to Bali (there are only four traditional names in Bali meaning first, second, third and fourth and given in order to children as they are born) but it brought me up short that both women received meditation training from an older man named Ketut in Bali.

What I Didn’t Like

I wanted Rita to be sitting in the chair next to me so I could pick her brain and hear even more details about her journeys. One book is just not enough.

Final Recommendation

If you are looking for a good tutorial on how to travel the world so that you get to really know the people and places, “Tales of a Female Nomad: Living Large in the World” by Rita Golden Gelman is the perfect book to read.

Book Description

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Three Rivers Press (May 28, 2002)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0609809547

ISBN-13: 978-0609809549

Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert

2008-09-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

“No matter what happens tomorrow or for the rest of my life, I'm happy now.”
Phil Connors, Groundhog Day

As I perused the listings on Audible.com’s site for an interesting audio travel book in the same vein as Peter Mayle’s books on Provence or Frances Mayes’ books about Tuscany, I came across Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir called “Eat, Pray, Love.” In it she chronicles a year that she gave to herself to indulge in three necessities of her life in the ultimate places in the world to experience them—Italy to restore her body with beauty and good food, India to get in touch with her soul, and tropical Indonesia where she hoped to fall in love. It sounded interesting, so I added it to my shopping cart.

Elizabeth Gilbert needed to take a year off to get her equilibrium back after a messy divorce. She felt beaten down and bereft of all energy. Since she’d previously gotten some answers to life’s questions from her guru, she decided to spend a third of that year in India at her guru’s ashram. A few years earlier, Gilbert had been to Bali while writing a magazine article about spa vacations. When she was there, she connected with an Indonesian healer who expressed his wish that she come back to help him with his English in trade for teaching her his way to meditate. He also prophesied after looking at her palm that she would find love there in Indonesia. She definitely needed to spend a third of her sabbatical year in Indonesia. The years of depression leading up to Gilbert’s divorce, left her feeling physically depleted. She had been taking Italian language lessons and decided that her remaining third of a year would be spent indulging in the beautiful language and tasty food of Italy.

It is remarkable how little time it took her to get her groove back when she practiced mindful relaxation and acceptance of abundance. After a year of focusing on “I” (Italy, Indonesia, and India) Gilbert found she was able to rejoin the community of “we.”

I loved the author’s narration of her exploits and relationships through this year of wonder. I vicariously experienced her large meals, resplendent journeys and supportive friends and family and felt like I’d taken my own sabbatical from real life while listening to this astounding audiobook. Gilbert has a great, quirky sense of humor and the ability to laugh at herself when she’s made a disastrous mistake. She wonderfully changes her voice to imitate her Texan friend’s drawl, her Italian men’s romantic accents and her Indonesian friends’ use of a pidgin English.

I highly recommend “Eat, Pray, Love” to anyone needing to take a break from the hectic pace of their own life. It reminded me that we can never indulge ourselves too much.

Audio Book Details
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Narrator: Elizabeth Gilbert
Provider: Penguin Audiobooks
Running Time: 12 h 50 min

Book Details
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143038419
ISBN-13: 978-0143038412
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

2008-09-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

“Here (in Pakistan and Afganistan) we drink three cups of tea to do business. The first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third you join our family, and for our family we are prepared to do anything – even die.”
Haji Ali, Korphe Village chief, Karakoram Mountains, Pakistan

The current strife in the Middle East has prompted me to find ways to see things differently, to find good people ho are doing good things, who are trying to make the world better. One such person is Greg Mortenson. I stumbled across bits and pieces of his story on television, the internet, and in the newspaper and then one day found his memoir. It surprised me that this nurse and mountain climber would have ties to my home town, but then it really shouldn’t. Several of the world’s most renowned climbers are from here. “Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” is an inspiring, frustrating, and ultimately happifying tale that made me heart sing despite my tears.

“Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” begins when Mortenson makes an attempt to summit K2 in 1993 and on the trip down from this failure, stumbles off the path being led by one of his fellow climbers and a Sherpa guide, and literally lands in a mountain village where they nurse him back to health over the course of several weeks. His gratitude is overwhelming and as he spends his recuperation playing with the village children, he realizes that they aren’t in school. Because there is no school. He vows to return and build a school. He returns to the States, tries to find people in alignment with his vision and ultimately reaches out to the climbing community through a small ad in a climbing newsletter. Thus begins his trials and triumphs with fund raising, dealing with the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the outlying Northwest Territories which has become home to Al Qaida in recent years, but has also been home to remote tribes and the Taliban (primarily financed by Muslims in Saudi Arabia) wishing to control the area (educating boys only in religious madrassas and not allowing girls to be taught anything).

He also has to deal with fragile relations between tribes, builders, suppliers of building materials, avalanches and rock slides that destroy the roads on the way to get his building supplies to these remote villages, as well as traditions that forbid women to be taught. He creates a core group of project managers to assist him when he has to return home as he is only allowed to be there for a short time on each visit.

What I Liked

“Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” is so inspiring! Despite all of the hardships and setbacks, (two fatwas were issued against him by a jealous builder which have been subsequently struck down in shariat court) Mortenson and his team have built 55 schools and with each one, they push back Muslim extremism, bring water and medical care, and strengthen the villages as a whole.

In addition, I felt like I was really there, struggling to breathe in the thin air, marveling at the immensity of the Himalayas, feeling frustrated by roadblocks, being encouraged whenever there is success. The insights into the land, people, cultures and governments are very enlightening. This is not an easy story to take in, but it is well worth the effort. What started out as an adventure trip for Greg Mortenson and his friends has turned into his life’s passion.

What I Didn’t Like

What I don’t like actually has little to do with the book, but more that there are just a few people like Greg Mortenson who are sticking their necks out to do good and promote peace while there are so many ready to squash every attempt and who create strife. I wish there is more that I can do.

Final Recommendation

If you have a heart for the world, its children, and peace, give a short time to read “Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time” and get involvedFor further information, check out these websites:

http://www.threecupsoftea.com/
http://www.penniesforpeace.org/
http://www.ikat.org/
http://www.gregmortenson.com/

2008 © Susan K Barton

Book Description
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (January 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0143038257
ISBN-13: 978-0143038252
Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches

I Was in Hog Heaven!

2008-09-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Me carrying a briefcase is like a hotdog wearing earrings."
Sparky Anderson

On Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Martha Stewart did a whole program on hot dogs! Her comedic sidekick, Joey, served hot dogs to the audience from a street vendor cart similar to the one his father used during lean times in the past.

Two vendors provided gigantic ingredients – 14 foot bun and a 15 foot hot dog , chefs from several hot dog restaurants in the tri-state area dropped by to show off their wares, a vintage photograph slide collector took us down memory lane, the president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council talked about the history of hot dogs, and Martha and her staff taste tested 60 different hot dogs to come up with their favorites. There was even a wiener dog (dachshund) there for adoption.

It was a hoot watching Martha try to figure out what was on each of the dogs. One of them had “white stuff” that nether Martha nor Kevin could identify. It turned out to be cubed potatoes! Their guesses were all over the map. Kevin’s favorite was one that was covered with a really rich home made macaroni and cheese. Martha seemed to enjoy the one with coleslaw on it and it sounded like she’d never had one that way before.

In July, for National Hot Dog Day, I posted an article at Because of all the Sandwiches There about some of my fave dogs and oddly enough, I too had never tried a slaw dog, so it was one of the first varieties that we ate. I LOVED it!

Anyway, suffice it to say, I was craving frankfurters, wieners, dogs, or whatever you care to call them. So what do you like on your dog?

A Hot Dog Program (DVD Review)

2008-09-26T13:09:00.000-07:00

I have something to confess. I love food. My mom was not a great cook and my Gramma taught me most of what I knew by the time I got married. I’ve learned a lot more since then, of course. I like to eat, but I also like to read about food, watch cooking shows, and talk about food. I’ve enjoyed the recent chef competitions on television like Hell’s Kitchen and Cooking under Fire. I also feel it important to celebrate all national food days, weeks and months. July is National Hot Dog Month and before it closes out (a repost from another blog), I thought I’d share one of my favorite videos, A Hot Dog Program. Rick Sebak at WQED, the public station in Pittsburgh, has created a variety of fun shows and I think A Hot Dog Programis my favorite. I dare you to watch it without having to go get a hot dog after it’s finished.

SETTING

Sebak narrates this fun trip as he takes us all across the country and back again, highlighting hot dog Meccas. One point he makes is that there’s never been a large national hot dog chain (though Nathan’s Famous and Der Wienerschnitzel are trying hard) that’s standardized how we eat hot dogs, so the way they are made and served has retained a distinctive regional flavor. Here are some of the iconic dog palaces around the country:

Fairfield, Connecticut: Super Duper Weenie is a truck in a parking lot just off the freeway. The young owner is a graduate of the Culinary Institute if America who developed his own relishes. Be forewarned—he doesn’t believe in selling diet soft drinks with his indulgent dogs.

In Chicago there are more independent hotdog places than McDonalds, Burger Kings and, Wendys combined: The independents include: Bill’s dresses them with everything but the kitchen sink—relish, celery salt, onion, tomato, pickle, and peppers. Superdawgs was founded in 1948 and serves theirs with neon green relish, mustard, pickled tomato, and peppers, but no ketchup (won’t do it!);They have a standard greeting for all of their drive in customers– “Hi ya…” There are a plethora of shops with dog names like Poochies and Demon Dogs – where they have a guy wearing a tux welcoming patrons on Saturday mornings. The owner of Demon Dogs also manages the rock group Chicago, so the walls are covered with gold records and memorabilia; Portillos, on the other hand, has 25 shops around town.

Clifton New Jersey: Rutt’s Hut makes deep fried hot dogs with names like the “in and outer” (dipped in and pulled out), the ripper (the hot oil splits them open) and the cremator (cooked well done all the way through).

Los Angeles, California: Pinks on LaBrea and Melrose is famous for its star pix on the walls and its very long lines all day and into the night. The record for eating dogs at Pinks is owned by Orson Wells, who ate18 at one sitting. I watched Martha Stewart feature Pinks on her show a few years ago and they created a signature dog for her while she was there.

Van Nuys, California: Lawdogs have dogs with legal names and dispense free legal help on Wednesday.

Anderson, South Carolina: Skin Thrashers is in an off the beaten path spot and they slit their buns on the top and lay the weenie in its bed.

Columbia, South Carolina: the aptly named Frank’s has slaw dogs in a natural casing with good chili. For late night franks, Frank’s sets up a trailer near the University of South Carolina. After the bars close, they start selling $5 bags to clean out their inventory. Hey knotheadusc, have you ever eaten there?

Atlanta, Georgia: the Varsity Jr. near Georgia Tech sells 17,000 dogs a day (50,000 during football season). They dress them with slaw and or pimento cheese and chant “What’ll you have?” as the customers approach the counter. Interesting story here is that originally, women never went inside; they were always served at the drive-in portion of the restaurant.

Las Vegas, Nevada: the Slots a fun casino sells huge dogs—a half pound for 99 cents. It’s a loss leader to keep the gamblers there, filling lots of slots.

Anchorage, Alaska: On the 1st Saturday in March is the start of the Iditarod race; it takes 2 hours to get all of the teams on the trail. A hot dog cart that is usually only open during the summer, serves reindeer dogs.

New York City, New York: the Papaya King (started as a fresh fruit stand and added the special dogs with their own secret recipe) Gray’s Papaya started as a copy to Papaya King and sells 11,000 a day with papaya drinks.

Coney Island, New York: Nathan’s Famous, home to the annual hot dog eating championship on the 4th of July. It’s amazing how many dogs are eaten in 12 minutes.

PLOT

The humble hot dog came to America as sausages with European immigrants with its names like frankfurter and wiener (Frankfort and Vienna both lay claim to the origin of this savory morsel and in 1987 Frankfort-am Main celebrated the 500th birthday of the frankfurter.). A New York cartoonist often drew them as dachshund dogs; starting the hot dog term and another cartoonist is thought to have coined the term “red hot.”

As ubiquitous as the hot dog is in America, the way it is dressed—ketchup or no, yellow or brown mustard, slaw or chili or both, the regional differences are what make it unique among foods.

There is a short Vienna Beef factory tour where we see them making skinless and natural casing (sheep intestine) hot dogs from beef brisket. The flying saucer shaped machines that puree the beef are absolutely fascinating.

CAST/CHARACTERS

The best part of A Hot Dog Program were all the “man (and woman) on the street” stories and interviews. I especially liked the story of the woman in labor who left the hospital to eat a Super Duper Weenie and then go back to give birth. The cocky 6 year old aficionado of Nathan’s Famous knew his hot dog history and the veggie-costumed protestors at Nathan’s contest had signs that were very punny. It’s fun to note that the Japanese champ of the hot dog eating contest only eats hot dogs once a year at the competition. I got a real kick out of the guy with a black square over his face because he didn’t want his wife to know he was eating a hot dog. Ruth Buzzi, the actress and comedienne, showed up at Pinks while they were filming and marveled that even if she goes there at two in the morning, there’s a line.

WHAT I LIKE

Since I love to watch food programs, this one has a lot of meat for me to chew on, while helping give me some insight into the psyche of the different American regions. I wish the Pacific Northwest had some signature way to eat hot dogs, but we don’t. We just copy everybody else.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

It doesn’t bother me, but my husband gets irritated with having to make a run to the store for hot dog fixings every time I watch A Hot Dog Program. Though to be fair, even though I watch it every time it’s shown on our PBS station, he’s the one who bought the tape for me.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

A Hot Dog Program is a great film to watch on the 4th of July, during National Hot Dog Month, or whenever you get a craving for a little, baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie—Americana at its finest.

Product Details
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating:
Studio: WQED Multimedia
DVD Release Date: August 31, 2004

A Night in Tunisia by Art Blakey (Music Review)

2008-09-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

Even though I’ve been listening to music since I was born, played in the orchestra for five years, and sang in various choirs for about ten years, I find that there is so much music in the world that I sometimes feel woefully unexposed and undereducated. We have a music history that is thousands of years old and in this lifetime, I’m barely scratching the surface. One of my other loves is Starbucks coffee and one day while in Starbucks, I picked up a jazz compilation album that they were selling – drink their coffee while you listen to music – was the message. I recently loaded ALL of my CDs on to my computer so that I could more easily listen to them. I hadn’t listened to the Starbucks album in a long time and gave it a spin while I was ripping it to my computer. There were two tracks by Art Blakey (Dat Dere and Monologue—A Cooking Session). I really liked them so the next time I ordered my featured selection at BMG music club online, I ordered A Night in Tunisia as one of my three free selections. Wow! I had no idea what I’d been missing all these years.

THE ARTIST

Art Blakey is the bandleader of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He started playing piano in church as a young boy and had paying gigs by the time he was in his early teens. According to the biography on his official website, he was forced off the piano bench and behind the drumset at gunpoint when a club owner wanted a different pianist. He performed in a number of groups over the years and as back up with other jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, and Billy Eckstine.

He started the group with his friend Horace Silver in 1956. Horace moved on a couple of years later and until his death in 1990 at the age of 71, Art led the group with an ever changing group of master jazzmen. Some of my favorites—Chuck Mangione Keith Jarrett, and Wynton Marsalis among them are graduates of the “Art Blakey School of Jazz” as the Messengers were lovingly called. The members of the Jazz Messengers at the time of this recording are: Lee Morgan on Trumpet, Wayne Shorter on Tenor Sax, Bobby Timmons on Piano, Jymie Merritt on Bass and Art Blakey on drums, which he always played with a focus only on rhythm.

MUSIC

The Jazz Messenger’s style and sound are as fresh and vibrant as any jazz combo of today, yet this was recorded 45 years ago. Its energy and precision are infectious and I catch what they have every time I listen to it. My blood gets pumping and my mood lifts. There’s no way to stay down listening to this album. Each piece is about seven minutes long, giving each instrument a chance to shine.

A Night In Tunisia

This piece is the band’s signature. It is eleven minutes of furious hot jazz that starts out with a minute and a quarter of drum solo. It was written by Dizzie Gillespie and he said that when he finished, it reminded him of a hot night in Tunisia, the one-time French protectorate on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. It has opportunity for each of the band members to improvise in a solo spot. It starts at 90 mph and builds from there. What a thrill ride! Art Blakey often said that they could play this piece every night for five years and there’d never be two performances alike.

Sincerely Diana

This piece is driven more by the tenor sax as it was written by sax man Wayne Shorter. It still displays solos for the trumpet, piano, and drums, after the initial tenor sax stylings. It just fades off as if somebody might still be playing it, but we just can’t hear it.

So Tired

This Bobby Timmons tune features the sax and trumpet fairly prominently and his piano plays percussion under each of the soloists with a different rhythm for each voice, It finally has a solo piano which flies sweetly with lots of trills before returning the floor to trumpet and then fading off.

Yama

Lee Morgan’s trumpet leads this song that he wrote. He hands it over to the piano before taking it back. The sax then takes it for a spin. This piece was one I actually recognized, though I don’t know why. It does have a more distinctive melody than the others.

Kozo's Waltz

Another Lee Morgan triumph, it also begins with Art Blakey and a drum solo, then adds each instrument—bass, trumpet, piano, and sax, layer by layer until it is rich and complex. Trumpet, of course, then gets a nice solo bit where he improvises his socks off. It’s followed by piano and drums, before all come back together with trumpet leading.

When Your Lover Has Gone

This is a bonus track that wasn’t chosen for the original album. Thank goodness it was stashed in the vault to pull out. It was written by Einar Swan and trumpet gets first turn at solo. Sax takes over with a powerful show. Trumpet gets it back. Piano chimes in with a fun series of tickling runs. They come back together with trumpet leading. Bass strongly supports the other instruments throughout this piece—more than any of the other tunes.

Sincerely Diana (Alternate Take)

This is another bonus track. They recorded two takes of this piece at the studio and the one above was the only one included on the original LP. Personally, I have a hard time telling the differences between the two. The liner notes indicate that Art Blakey had a so-so turn as soloist in this version and was stellar in the first. I guess he went more nuts the first go around.

WHAT I LIKE

This album just begs me to get up and dance my fool head off! I’m afraid I’d have a heart attack if I did, but oh my! This is hot jazz, straight ahead, pedal to the metal, balls to the wall, full speed ahead and charging hard. This not an album you should listen to when you’re getting ready to go to sleep, though it might be a good one for bedtime activity. I also like the fact that they included both the original liner notes from 1961 and an updated review of the album as a whole with a look at the bonus tracks.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

I wish I understood jazz better. I love listening to this and I think if I knew more about the music, I’d appreciate it even more. When I listen to it I feel like the country bumpkin eating a gourmet meal, just shoveling it in without knowing what it is or how to eat it properly, unable to taste the subtleties.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION

Are you ready to party? Get your dancing shoes on or at least grab a mop or broom. This album is not meant to be sonic wallpaper. It jams! It travels around the room. It flies to the moon. And it doesn’t have a warm up or cool down.

TRACKS

01. A Night In Tunisia
02. Sincerely Diana
03. So Tired
04. Yama
05. Kozo's Waltz
06. When Your Lover Has Gone
07. Sincerely Diana (Alternate Take)

A Night in Tunisia
Art Blakey (for more info - www.artblakey.com)
Copyright, 1960 (2005 Reissue) Blue Note
CD (with 8 page booklet pf photos and liner notes.)
Total playing time: 51:44

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children by John Wood

2008-09-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

“I confess that I do not see what good it does to fulminate against the English tyranny while the Roman tyranny occupies the palace of the soul.”
James Joyce

Living close to Microsoft, I often hear about former employees who have left the corporate world to become philanthropists and reading is one of my favorite obsessions, so when I first heard about “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World,” I jumped at the chance to find out more about John Wood and his organization, Room to Read.

The book is fun, fast paced, and filled with stories of individual children and villages that have benefited from Wood’s vision and non-stop activism. Wood has an incredible energy and passion for the children of developing countries who lack basic tools for education and though his original goal was to build one library for a school in Nepal that only had a handful of castoff books, in just 8 years he has led Room to Read to build in six countries over 2300 libraries, 200 schools and 50 computer and language labs; and to provide long term scholarships for over 1700 girls.

He brings the business principles that he learned in the corporate world together with his passion and that makes for very lively reading.

Reading “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” was like being seated next to the liveliest dinner guest and being regaled with brilliant stories and I was at a loss when the book ended. I realize now that it is time to stop reading and I am inspired to put what I’ve learned into action—either to raise funds for Room to Read or create my own philanthropic project.

Book Details
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Collins; 1 edition (September 4, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061121088
ISBN-13: 978-0061121081
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches

Because of all the Sandwiches There

2008-09-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it, this is a review of a site that I manage at Gather.com, but it's really fun and I think you should pay it a visit -- here is a repost of an article I wrote to publicize some of the great sandwich articles my members have written

~~~~~~~~

“When I was a boy there were only three kinds of sandwiches in common use - the ham, the chicken and the Swiss cheese. Others, to be sure, existed, but it was only as oddities. Even the club sandwich was a rarity, and in most eating-houses it was unobtainable. The great majority of people stuck to the ham and the Swiss cheese, with the chicken for feast days and the anniversaries of historic battles.”
H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Welcome to our Open House!

Because of all the Sandwiches There is a group for posting favorite sandwich stories, images, videos, and recipes, as well as restaurant sandwich reviews, sandwich cookbook reviews, and sandwich film reviews.

From the time the Earl of Sandwich first put meat between slices of bread to keep his hand clean while playing cards, folks have been putting foodstuffs between bread and calling it a Sandwich. I am an aficionado of the sandwich; so much so that I formed a group, Because of all the Sandwiches There (The name comes from an old riddle on the back of the cereal box that read Q: why don’t nomads in the desert ever go hungry. A: Because of all the sand which is [sandwiches] there.) to post my creations and hoped that others would join me. It is indeed gratifying to me to be able to find such creative sandwiches whenever I feel like it.

Recently one of our more prolific sandwich creators, Shannon W.. allowed me to borrow some of her brilliant sandwich photos to create the new icon and banner for the group. I’d like to honor her at this time by highlighting some of her delicious creations:

What's for Dinner? Chipotle Grilled Chicken with Avocado Mayo on Homemade Ciabatta and Black Eyed Pea Salad

What's for Dinner? Mexican Chicken Tortas

What's for Dinner? Fried Cod Sandwiches on Fresh Bolillo Rolls

Spicy California Shrimp Wraps

Please drop by the group and check out Shannon’s sandwiches as well as this representative list of other sandwich articles (and there are scads of photos as well):

Regional Favorite: What's for Dinner? Sausage Po'Boys

Wrap Sandwich: What's for Lunch? Smoked Turkey Wraps

Breakfast Sandwich: What's for Breakfast? The McShannon

Burger: Flickering Fame: Bacon/Parmesan Pork Burger

Grilled Sandwich: Grilled Chicken Cordon-Bleu Sandwiches

A Contest Winning Sandwich: Turkey, Artichoke and Mushroom Sandwiches

Sandwich baked into the Bread: Ham and Cheese Bread

Even a failed sandwich: Madame Donna's Failed Sandwich

A DVD Review: Movie of the Day ~ A Hot Dog Program

A Book Review: Book of the Day ~ Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern

Restaurant Review: Philly Food Joys , National Cheeseburger Day

Oh, and here’s how I make the Open Face Mini Croissant Sandwiches:

Split several mini croissants in half, spread each half with cream cheese, top them with a variety of meats or veggies such as turkey, tuna, chicken, ham, cucumbers, tomatoes. Garnish with parsley, cilantro or radishes and season with salt, pepper, and Dijon mustard as desired.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

2008-09-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

The American Library Association celebrates Banned Book Week this week (September 27-October 4, 2008) and as I feel that book choice lies with the individual (and parents for their children), I am opposed to any action that limits the availability of books to the general public. A book is challenged in writing by an individual who believes a book should be removed from a particular library. This s a repost of my 2006 review: since it relates to food - it is a perfect fit for this blog. The list of most frequently challenged books in 2006 includes the following list with the reasons why they were challenged:

“And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
“Gossip Girls” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
“Alice” series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
“The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“Scary Stories” series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
“Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group; and
“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

As you can see, many of these books are written about or for young adults. When our son was young, we always allowed him to choose books for himself, and we bought a great number of books for him as gifts. Once he had a grounding in the mechanics of reading, we told him that he could read any book and we meant it. We believed that we’d taught him a degree of morality and knew that if we for forbade books, he would question our belief in the Bill of Rights.

As a way of exercising my right to free speech and celebrate Banned Books Week 2006, I chose to buy and read one of the books on the list—“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier.

The version I bought was on audio and had an introduction by the author. He indicated that the story was based on questions that arose in his mind when upon moving to a new city and school, one of his sons chose not to sell chocolate in one of the school’s fund drives. He worried (needlessly) about how his son’s teachers and peers would react to the boy’s decision and as therapy for his own mind, wrote a story revolving around his own fears. He didn’t intentionally write it for young adults, but instead about them and didn’t even realize that there was such a category of book writing. Cormier used language and situations typical of kids that age without sanitizing them and though some of that may seem too rough and raw for some people, it seemed altogether natural for boys the age of the characters in the book to say and do those things. To disagree, is to be burying one’s head in the sand.

“The Chocolate War” focuses on a boy named Jerry Renault who has moved to a new neighborhood and school with his newly widowed father. They are both missing Jerry’s mother terribly, but it is not the main point. Each of the peripheral characters in the story including the assistant headmaster, Brother Leon; the head of the secret club called the Vigils, and his assistant, Archie; and Jerry’s friend nicknamed “the goober” are all well rounded and each have their own motivations to participate or not in the selling of chocolate. Emotions run high when characters exploit one another for personal gain, prestige, power, or pure greed and things turn ugly in the end, not unlike the events in “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding where boys are abandoned on an island to form their own society.

I recommend “The Chocolate War” not only as a beautiful piece of literature, but also as a great starting point for conversations of “what if” with a child of your own. It gives a great platform for discovery of beliefs, discussion of doing the right thing, and strengthening of resolve. I’m sure the author was happy that he’d satisfied his own questions of what if, but as responsible grown ups, it is incumbent upon us to find out what questions kids have in response to reading a book like this and to answer them as honestly as we can. It was a quick read, but covered so much ground.

I challenge you to exercise your right to free speech and to read one of the challenged books on either the current top 10 list presented here or go to the American Library Association’s website to discover more books on the list of most challenged books from 1990-2000 and read one of those. Too many of America’s rights are being abrogated under the umbrella of national security and I hope that this right is one we uphold.

Book Details
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; 30 Anv edition (September 14, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375829873
ISBN-13: 978-0375829871

Welcome to the Food, Travel and World Lit Books Blog

2008-09-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

I've posted my first book review to this blog and welcome your comments. I'll be posting a wide variety of reviews - books, magazines, music, movies, websites, but mostly books.

I can't travel anymore, so I do all of my exploring from my dusty blue Lay - Z - Boy in the corner of my living room. I have a great view of the outdoors from my window, the tv is across the room, my PC is to my left and my wireless keyboard is on my lap.

I look forward to meeting other fans of travel, reading, eating and exploring. I'll be back with another review very soon.

Abyssinian Chronicles: A Novel (Vintage International) by Moses Isegawa

2008-09-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

"Every man has his own destiny: The only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him"

Henry Miller

Since the end of 2005, I have been participating in a reading challenge whereby the participants are attempting to read a book by an author or about the country for each of the 200+ countries participating in the 2008 Summer Olympics. “Abyssinian Chronicles: A Novel” the debut novel by Ugandan author Moses Isegawa.

Isegawa was born in Kampala, the capitol of Uganda and emigrated to The Netherlands in 1990 where he now resides.

The story of “Abyssinian Chronicles: A Novel” takes place in the chaotic Uganda of the 1940’s – 1990’s. It relates the saga of narrator Mugezi’s life and family in the midst of a splintering country. Uganda was shattered by multiple regime changes, differences among practitioners of Protestant, Catholic and Muslim religions, animosities between clans in the north and south/east and west, and ethnic strife among Africans, British and Indians. Mugezi is a survivor – first of his despotic parents, then of his taskmasters at the seminary, the guerilla warfare and finally of the utter breakdown of his family, village and nation. The tale is told amidst the backdrop of love, sex, AIDS, and death. Despite the cycles of destruction, people just want to live a life of peace and hope.

It was astonishing to me how quickly many Ugandans went from living tribally in mud hut enclosures to living in cities with schools, doctors, police and apartments. “Abyssinian Chronicles: A Novel” seemed like it could be a fictionalized account of Isegawa’s life and because of that the horror of the violence, war, crime and political atrocities hit me hard. I feel like I have been sleep walking for the last 40 years without seeing what is happening to my brothers and sisters around the world. I have to admit that without the challenge to read books from around the world, I wouldn’t have noticed this since I don’t see many books from Africa getting very much press.

I recommend “Abyssinian Chronicles: A Novel" to anyone wanting to understand some of the origins of the strife in Uganda.

Book Details:
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Vintage (November 13, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375705775