Friday, July 29, 2022

The Joy of Drinking by Barbara Holland

                                                          

Today we are re-running a review by a former staff member.  She read widely and had not only a wicked sense of humor but a wonderful way with words.  Enjoy!

Reviewed by Nancy


In her book, The Joy of Drinking, author Barbara Holland traces the history of fermentation from its earliest beginnings to the present. She relates the manner in which people in various parts of the world discovered that if they allowed certain organic substances to ferment, and then drank the liquid that was produced, it made them forget their troubles for a while.

According to Ms. Holland, ancient people were motivated to stop roaming and cluster together in tribes so that they could grow crops for fermentation. Apparently it was more fun to ferment things and dance around together than it was to throw rocks at other families and forage for tidbits.

Apples, peaches, cashews, sugarcane, barley, rice, berries, honey, grapes, potatoes, milk, cactus, coconuts - there is a long list of organic substances that can be fermented, and mankind seems to have tried them all.

The milk mentioned in the previous sentence is mare’s milk (yes, as in horses) fermented by nomadic Mongolians in Central Asia into a beverage called airag. Fermentation was achieved by sewing the mare’s milk up tightly in a horsehide and beating it or tying it to a trotting horse. In modern times airag is made in vats which are stirred frequently by jolly family members and friends.

Marco Polo tried this beverage and maintained that it possessed “the quality and flavor of white wine;” however, a more recent traveler reported that it tasted like “warm sake filtered through a dirty horsehair sock.” I think maybe I don’t need to know the real truth on this one, and will not be traveling to Mongolia to find out.

The author, a resident of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, leads us through the evolution of brews and the settings for consuming them, with descriptions of taverns, pubs, speakeasies, home beer brewing, Chinese rituals centered on the drinking of wine, Greek dinner parties and feudal mead halls.

Ms. Holland's musings on taverns and public houses in England made me sad that we live in a time in which many of us are so engrossed in our use of electronic devices that we barely need to look at one another, much less go to the tavern and get to know the neighbors. But, way back in the way back when that’s what people did. After a day of labor they flocked to the neighborhood tavern or pub to enjoy good companionship and beverages. Ms. Holland speculates that it was the need for companionship, rather than the desire for drink, that drove these individuals out into the night and across the empty countryside since they brewed beer at home and probably had plenty of it there.

We learn about the consumption of beer soup for breakfast in Germany; beer soup was the standard breakfast for German families until the end of the eighteenth century. I include here a summation of the beer soup recipe in case you want to try it at home. What a great way to fortify yourself before a taxing day. Say you have a job interview, or a court case; have double portions so you’ll be especially smart and strong, as well as relaxed.

Beat two eggs in a saucepan. Warm some beer in a separate sauce pan, adding a chunk of butter to the beer. Then pour cold beer into the warm beer to cool the warm beer (?) and add a small amount of salt. Next pour the beer mixture into the eggs and whisk again. Then pour that mess over bread or rolls or whatever starchy thing you have. The recipe states that you should use “a roll, white bread, or other good bread.”  I question the “good bread” part. Considering what you’re pouring over the bread, I don’t see how it could possibly matter whether or not the bread is good. At the final stage the whole affair can be sweetened with sugar to taste. Maybe the addition of the sugar is what pulls it into focus.                   

There is a chapter in the book, appropriately titled “The Following Day,” that covers various hangover cures, and also explains how the body metabolizes alcohol. Most of the hangover cures sounded pretty wicked to me. I offer one now, for your perusal. It was the favorite hangover cure of the English novelist, Evelyn Waugh. “Take a large lump of sugar, soak in Angostura (bitters) and roll in cayenne pepper, then drop into a generous glass and fill with champagne.”

I believe I would die if anyone ever made me drink this concoction.

I am sure most of us are familiar with the theory of hangover cure that involves “hair of the dog that bit you,” meaning, of course, “drink some more booze.” The National Insistutes of Health refer to this as re-administration, and do not recommend it. The next time you drink a bloody mary on the morning after, remember: you’re not just throwing down some more booze. You’re re-administrating!

Two handy appendices follow the text. Appendix A gives a few recipes for fruit wine, and Appendix B offers rudimentary instructions on how to build a still, just in case you want to make the stuff for yourself.

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Nevermore: Patrimony, Jezebel, Unknown Beloved

 


Reported by Garry

 

Following up on last week’s Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern, Patrimony: A True Story by Philip Roth is another book about the relationship between fathers and sons. In this memoir, Roth recounts the time he spent with his 86-year-old father, Herman, as the elder Roth fought, and ultimately lost, a battle with brain cancer. Roth’s father, a vibrant, charming, brilliant man, was raised in Newark and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the many families of the Jewish immigrants who formed the backbone of the Newark community. Initially diagnosed as benign, Herman’s tumor turned out to be anything but. Philip accompanied his father through all the medical tests and treatments he faced during the years of his decline, experiences he unflinchingly records and dissects in this award-winning memoir.  PC

 

Jezebel by K. Larsen. This thriller features a plot that can best be described as Hitchcockian and is best not spoiled, besides the fact that no one is who they appear to be and little to nothing is as it seems. Our reader was blown away by how the threads of the various characters wove together over both time and space and very highly recommends this exceptionally well written novel of murder, betrayal, and hidden identities.  SH

 


The Unknown Beloved is a mash-up of romance, historical fiction, and murder mystery. Written by best-selling author Amy Harmon, the story is set in Chicago and Cleveland in the first half of the last century. Ten-year-old Dani Flanagan arrives home and finds her parents brutally murdered. Michael Malone, the patrolman on the case, is told by his superiors to keep his mouth shut and the case goes cold for more than fifteen years. Then, Malone is summoned to Cleveland, Ohio to solve a series of murders and encounters Dani again, and quickly realizes that Dani has a special “gift” that could help him catch the killer before he strikes again. Our reader says that this book is so well-written that she could not put it down, and read it in one sitting.  ML

 

 

Also mentioned: 

 

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders by Dennis C. Rasmussen

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

A Daughter of the Land by Gene Stratton-Porter

A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris

A Dance for Emilia by Peter S. Beagle

No One Noticed the Cat by Anne McCaffrey

Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Anthony Del Col

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew by Anthony Del Col

Monday, July 25, 2022

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

 




Reviewed by Jeanne

Historian Diana Bishop is researching a collection of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library in Oxford when one of the manuscripts seems to glow at her touch.  Being a witch, Diana isn’t quite as flummoxed as some mere human might be, but it’s definitely something very strange.  She decides to quietly send the manuscript back until she can make sense as to what has just happened.

But this incident hasn’t gone unnoticed.  Diana has just attracted the attention of a number of witches and other creatures, including a vampire--a very alluring vampire.

I’d heard a lot about this book, the first in a trilogy, and even more after it was turned into a well-reviewed TV series.  Harkness does a marvelous job of creating a world filled with strong non-human characters and complex societies.  There are three basic groups:  witches, vampires, and daemons, most of who regard other creatures as suspect at best and deadly enemies at worst.  There is a ruling council composed of three representatives of each species, and they are in charge of interpreting the rules and policing behaviors that might be detrimental to the creatures’ existence.  Most of the rules are in place to keep humans from finding out that the various creatures do exist. Running afoul of the Council can lead to severe consequences, including death.

Harkness also does a splendid job of incorporating history into the books.  Given that vampires can live a very long time, there are characters who can claim acquaintance with, say, Shakespeare, and who can remember what it was like to live through historical time periods from the Black Death to Nazi Germany.

While some would find it odd, there’s also a strong scientific thread running through the book as some of the characters seek to find reasons why the various creatures are failing to reproduce. And of course, vampires are always very interested in blood….

Besides the historical and the fantastical, there are romances and complex family connections. The characters are passionate, devoted, loyal, devious, and occasionally frightening.  As a reader I got caught up in their worlds and was up early turning pages to see what would happen next.

The second book is Shadow of Night, followed by The Book of Life.  There is a fourth book set in the same world with some familiar characters, Time’s Convert.

Friday, July 22, 2022

When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Mysterious lights, strange manifestations of power, memory loss, unusual scarring which changes shape and size. And that big thing in the sky…could it be an alien spacecraft?

The cover of When the Sky Fell on Splendor absolutely screams Stranger Things—the Netflix original show, or possibly E.T.—the 1982 sci-fi film. The outline of an alien spaceship has a beam spreading down to the ground, filled with lights, hovering over teenagers riding bikes down a country road. I was all set for an exciting read fully imbued with the nostalgia of the 80s. I was (mostly) not disappointed.

Seventeen-year-old Franny and her friends have banded together as misfits who have a lot in common. Five years ago, the steel mill exploded and almost everyone in small town Splendor, Ohio, was affected. Franny and her twin brother Arthur had their family torn apart when their older brother Mark was struck down in the explosion. Remy (or “Handsome Remy”, as he is known) is the son of the local sheriff who is still dealing with his own injuries from that day. Levi, Sofia, and Nick all have their own issues as well. The six teenagers call themselves The Ordinary, and like to make YouTube videos of weird and/or unexplainable things. (Okay, so it’s not actually set in the 80s, but it still has that vibe.)

When The Ordinary goes running after strange lights and sounds one night, they find themselves waking with no memory of what just happened. Could they have truly have had an alien visitation? Scars appear on their skin, and some of them seem to have gained unnatural abilities.

When the Sky Fell on Splendor is one of Emily Henry’s earlier books. While possibly intended for a young adult audience, I enjoyed the spooky/supernatural/extraterrestrial atmosphere behind the plot, as well as the threads of friendships which naturally evolved throughout the story. As soon as I sorted out who was who in this multi-player cast of characters, I found it to be a quick, light piece of entertainment perfect for summer reading.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Nevermore: Sh*t My Dad Says, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, Count Down, The Bear

 



Reported by Garry

 

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern is the funny collection of tidbits of strange and straight-up hilarious advice that Justin recorded after moving back in with his father, Sam, after being dumped by his longtime girlfriend. Irreverent and full of heart, seventy-three-year-old Sam has advice for every occasion and topic no matter how taboo, and is not afraid to share it. Brutally honest yet also sweet and oddly endearing, our reader found this book to be very, very funny and quite thoroughly enjoyed it.  MC


 

Daughter of the Moon Goddess is the debut novel by Sue Lynn Tan, based on the Chinese myth of Chang’e. Xingyin is a young woman who lives on the moon, unaware that her mother, the Goddess of the Moon, has been banished by the Celestial Emperor for stealing his elixir of immortality. Xingyin’s own magic becomes known and she must flee the Moon in order to save her life and that of her mother, and a cosmic adventure and quest ensues. This is the first in a duology that weaves ancient Chinese mythology with a high-fantasy action adventure (with a side of romance thrown in for good measure.) Our reader, who is a voracious consumer of fantasy novels, says that this is a really good book that kept her attention and sparked her imagination.  MH

 

Count Down: How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race by Shanna Swan. Today’s review shorter is than the title: “We’re doomed – just not in our lifetimes.”  CD

 


The Bear by Claire Cameron is a modern-day novel set in the Canadian Algonquin National Park, taking its inspiration from a real-life bear attack that left two adults dead in 1991. In this novel, five-year-old Anna awakes in the night to the sound of her mother screaming as she is attacked by a bear. Anna escapes with her three year old brother, and then must not only survive the wilderness, but guide their way back to safety. Told in the voice of Anna, our reader thought that this slim adventure thriller was exceptionally well written and engaging.  AH

 

Also mentioned:

 

LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia by Jeff Mann and Julia Watts

Fears of a Setting Sun: The Disillusionment of America’s Founders by Dennis C. Rasmussen

The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie by Julia Haart

How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks about Being Sick in America by Dr. Otis Webb Brawley

Querencia by Steven Bodio

Bill Bryson’s African Diary by Bill Bryson

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

Shopgirl by Steve Martin

Remarkable Changes: Turning Life’s Challenges into Opportunities by Jane Seymour

Prayer by Philip Kerr

Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman by Nuala O'Faolain

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories by Naomi Kritzer

The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened by Bill McKibben

 

Monday, July 18, 2022

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen

 We have always been here


Reviewed by Christy

            Dr. Grace Park is a psychologist who prefers the company of artificial intelligence over humans. On board a ship headed to explore the icy planet Eos, Park is tasked with checking in on the crew to make sure their mental health is stable. The crew resents her prying questions, not to mention her apparent allegiance with the androids onboard. After the ship is stuck in a radiation storm, the crewmembers start to have waking nightmares while the androids begin to behave strangely. Something unusual is happening, and Park tries to figure out what it is.

            The premise for this book intrigued me. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it much. It is very slowly paced, to the point I struggled picking it back up. There just wasn’t really much here to grab me. Sometimes a slow novel works if you care deeply about the characters but that wasn’t the case here. It had a lot going on while simultaneously it felt like very little happened. I can’t say it was a badly-written book; it was just very Not for Me, and I cannot recommend it.

Friday, July 15, 2022

Eight Faces at Three by Craig Rice

 



Reviewed by Jeanne

As the story opens, Holly Inglehart awakens, confused.  She’s had an odd and unsettling dream about being hanged.  Thankfully, a clock had awakened her—but why had a clock gone off in the middle of the night?  Her own clock has stopped at 3 a.m. but it seems later than that, so she checks another—only to find it had also stopped at 3 a.m.  Every clock in the house seems to have stopped at that time. Then she hears the alarm again, coming from her Aunt Alex’s room.  Aunt Alex is there—but she is very cold and very dead.

How’s that for an opening scenario? I was immediately hooked by the oddness of it all and anxious to figure out the mystery.  What I didn’t expect was how delightful the company was going to be along the way.

Craig Rice was an acclaimed mystery writer in her day, making the cover of Time magazine. And yes, that was her real name, though there was a Georgiana in front that she dropped. Her books were mysteries married to screwball romantic comedies, full of clever phrases and witty repartee, and were a lot of fun.

This is a reprint of her first novel and introduced her series character John J. Malone, a rumpled lawyer who can play a jury like a master violinist.  I love Rice’s description of his attire, which included the observations that his suits were appeared to have been slept in, probably in the floor of a taxi cab and that his “ties and collars never really became close friends, often not even acquaintances.”

I have to say, though, that a couple of the supporting characters stole the show as far as I’m concerned. Former journalist Jake is a promoter and manager for Dick Dayton-- a band leader and newly minted husband of Holly—who is a suspected in the murder of Aunt Alex.  At the Inglehart mansion, Jake encounters Helene Brand, an heiress who knows how to make an entrance. One look at her, stepping out of the wintry Chicago night wearing blue pajamas, a fur coat, and galoshes, while barging into the scene of a murder, and Jake is smitten.

Given that the book came out in 1939, there are a few things that will give a modern reader pause, such as certain turns of phrase. There is also a lot of drinking, and I do mean a LOT. Quite a bit of spilling too, especially when Helene decides to learn how to slide beer the length of a bar and into a customer’s hand. 

As for the plot, there were some things I would have questioned if I hadn’t been so entertained.  Some very good twists and turns were introduced.

Mostly, I’m still trying to cast the movie version in my head.  I’m thinking Lauren Bacall for Helene but I could be persuaded to go for Bette Davis.  Maybe Bogart for Malone?

Anyway, I think Craig Rice’s reputation in mystery circles is well deserved and I recommend you give her a try.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Nevermore: Best of Me, How We Do Harm, Brazen, Girl with No Shadow, Last Days of the Dinosaurs

The best of me

Nevermore June 21, 2022

 

The Best of Me by David Sedaris is a hilarious, biting, and deeply insightful look at the development of Sedaris’ writing, spanning 25 years. This collection of essays, chosen by Sedaris as his “greatest hits” volume was loved by our reader who pointed out not only how funny Sedaris is in his exceptionally clear-eyed examinations of the absurdities of every-day life, but his bravery is laying himself bare - his ups and downs, victories and defeats, all for public consumption.  CD

 How we do harm : a doctor breaks ranks about being sick in America

How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks about Being Sick in America by Dr. Otis Webb Brawley. This searing exposé by the head of the American Cancer Society takes an unflinching look at the current state of healthcare in America and the conflicts and hypocrisies that prevent the vast majority of Americans from receiving proper medical care. Crawley calls for rational healthcare, healthcare drawn from results-based, scientifically justifiable treatments, and not just the peddling of hot new drugs. Our reader was at turns frustrated and amazed by this book – frustrated by the way that the medical system is driven by money, to the detriment of the patients, and amazed by the insight and forceful, thoughtful arguments for change that Dr. Brawley sets forth.  CD

 Brazen : my unorthodox journey from long sleeves to lingerie

Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey from Long Sleeves to Lingerie by Julia Haart is a memoir by the head of one of the world’s largest talent agencies tracing her escape from an extremist ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect of New York to become a world famous shoe designer, to the head of the Elite World Group. Our reader was shocked and repulsed by the level of control forced upon Haart and her children, but was also inspired by Haart’s relentless pursuit of personal freedom and self-actualization even when faced with being shunned from the family and community that had been her entire world.  NH

 The girl with no shadow : a novel

The Girl with No Shadow is the second book in the Chocolat series by Joanne Harris. Magic, deception, chocolate, and winter in Paris all come together in the tale as Vianne Rocher wanders from Lansquenet-sous-Tannes (the location of Chocolat) to the wind-blown streets of Paris. Vianne has set up a new chocolaterie but is unhappy and feeling stagnant. The shop is not doing well, her daughter Anouk, is being bullied in school, and depressed Vianne no longer wishes to make high-quality chocolates. Into their lives comes vibrant, vivacious Zozie de L’Alba who starts to turn their lives around. But at what cost? Our reader, who loves magical realism novels, says that Joanne Harris is her new favorite author and highly recommends this book and the others in the Chocolat series.  MH

 The last days of the dinosaurs : an asteroid, extinction, and the beginning of our world

The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by Riley Black is a fascinating look at what the latest science tells us happened to the dinosaurs and how their disappearance affected all other existing and emerging species in the days, years, and millennia after the dinosaurs’ extinction. 66 million years ago, a 6-mile wide asteroid travelling at 44,700 miles per hour slammed into the Earth in what is now Chixulub, Mexico, leaving a crater over 110 miles wide and 12 miles deep. The shockwave and super-heated air blasted the atmosphere with hundreds of billions of tons of sulphur, dust, rock and debris, instantly setting fire to the land for thousands of miles in every direction and creating oceanic waves more than a mile tall. The blast produced a world-wide blackout and freezing temperatures that lasted at least a decade, and overnight wiped out nearly half of all life on Earth. The resulting changes allowed for the evolution of mammals and avians (birds) as well as thousands of other species that had been stifled by the dominance of the dinosaurs for over 100 million years.

 

Also mentioned:

 

Open Season by C.J. Box

LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia by Jeff Mann and Julia Watts

The Lawless Land by Boyd and Beth Morrison

The Book Woman’s Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson

About Grace by Anthony Doerr

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth

Child Zero by Chris Holm

A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen—America’s Most Damaging Russian Spy by Lis Wiehl

Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert