"The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it." (James Bryce)

Monday, November 22, 2010

VICTIM IN VICTORIA STATION (Jeanne Dams)

I know, I know.  I just can't stop reading about the adventures of Dorothy Martin!  This story is a bit unusual in that Dorothy is working independently, i.e. without police involvement, to solve a murder that only she and the murderers know actually happened.  After enjoying the comapany of young American businessman Bill Monaghan on the train to London, Dorothy is dismayed to learn that her new acquaintance has succumbed to an apparent heart attack.  A doctor who happens by assures her that he will take care of arrangements, so she heads to her orthopedist's appointment and scours the papers the next day looking for information about the unusual death.  She finally calls the police and is told that they have had no reports of a death in Victoria Station.  Since her husband, retired policeman Alan Nesbitt, is in Zimbabwe, Dorothy enlists the help of Tom and Lynn Alexander, her London-based American friends, and young Nigel, a computer expert, to find out who Bill Monaghan was and why he disappeared.  Dorothy arranges, with Tom's help, to work at the London office of Multilinks, Monaghan's software company, in an effort to gather information.  The combination of familiar, entertaining characters, a sub-plot of technolgical intrigue, and Dorothy's own down-to-earth investigative skills make this another appealing mystery by Jeanne Dams.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

FEED ME (Edited by Harriet Brown)

Subtitled Writers Dish About Food, Eating, Weight, and Body Image, this book of essays is a must-read for any woman, of any age, who has ever felt inadequate about herself. 

Each of the contributors writes from personal experience on subjects ranging from cultural customs, eating disorders, family pressure, shopping for clothes, feminism, grief, health food, and cooking as an expression of love.  One size 14 author recounts her experience shopping with a thin friend in trendy stores where the "plus sizes" (bigger than 6!) are stored in the back room, presumably to avoid shocking the more desirable thin shoppers.  Another describes her Jordanian family, where eating without utensils is the norm and feeding children huge, choking portions of food by hand is considered an expression of love.

One woman, whose father grew up starving in Eastern Europe during WWII, learned to eat with lightening speed in order to avoid having her father finish off her food after gobbling up his own.   After several choking episodes she finally learns as an adult to slow down  and chew.  Another writes about her arrival at college, where the astounding excesses of food in the dining hall seem like miracle to her after years of living with a mother whose cooking repertoire consisted of 4 inedible meals and who never gave a second thought to keeping enough food in the house to satisfy her hungry children. 

The most memorable essay is the story of a woman overcome by grief after her fiancé dies unexpectedly just 2 weeks before their wedding.  After consulting psychics, therapists, and medical doctors in an effort to assuage her grief, she meets a man and moves in with him after only 3 weeks.  As their relationship develops he begins to undermine her self-esteem by controlling her eating and criticizing her whenever she eats high calorie treats, but she stays with him because she is afraid to be alone.  One day she shares a dessert with a friend, taking a very small sliver of cake under her boyfriend's disapproving gaze, and he responds by asking her how she can do that to herself, be so uncaring about her weight and her looks (despite the fact that everyone else who cares has told her that she is gaunt and too thin).  Eventually she meets a man who loves her normal-sized self as she is and suggest sharing TWO desserts so they can each try both.

Feed Me is more than a book about food.  It is a book about learning to nurture body and soul, to be healthy and happy and fulfilled as a woman and a person, to accept that real beauty comes from within no matter what size you are on the outside.  I've described just a few of these often poignant, always insightful essays. I hated finishing the last one.  These are not "fat" stories or a collection of essays by people who have overcome various eating disorders, although some of them have.  They are thoughtful vignettes from the lives of real women who are not afraid to admit that they are not perfect.

Monday, November 15, 2010

CAKE BOSS; STORIES AND RECIPES FROM MIA FAMIGLIA (Buddy Valastro)

If you like TLC's Cake Boss, or even if you have never seen the show but share Buddy's Italian heritage, you will enjoy this memoir.  This is not a book designed to promote a television show.  It is a heartfelt tribute to Buddy's parents and grandmothers, an appreciation of the hard work that went into building a life in America while maintaining family ties to Italy.  It is also the story of a brash teenager who disliked schoolwork, loved hanging out with his pals, and wasn't above accepting privileges born of his teachers' concern that his family might be connected with the Mafia (it isn't).  Buddy describes his growing love of and affinity for baking and his joy in discovering that he has his father's hands, hands that could pipe frosting with precision and work various doughs to perfection.  At the age of 54 Buddy Valastro, Sr. died of lung cancer, leaving 17-year-old Buddy to drop out of high school and become a full-time baker in the family business, working alongside his mother, 4 older sisters, and various other family members.

Buddy Valastro has a talent for dealing with people that has served him well in the family business.  He is hard-working, creative, and dedicated, motivated solely by his love of family and tradition.  His love for his wife and children and for the family he grew up in shines through in this enjoyable book.  I would recommend it!

A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS (M.C. Beaton)

Unlike most of Hamish MacBeth's adventures, this one does not include a murder.  Instead, Hamish is called to investigate a set of stolen Christmas lights in a town where celebration of the holiday is frowned upon.  As usual, Hamish is brilliant and Blair is a stupid jerk, just the way we like it!  This will get you in the mood for the holidays!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

MALICE IN MINIATURE (Jeanne Dams)

Yes, I know, I can't seem to stop reading the adventures of the delightful Dorothy Martin.  She and Chief Constable Alan Nesbitt are now newlyweds and living in Dorthy's almost- restored cottage in Sherebury.  Ada Finch interrupts their tea time with the news that her often inebriated son, Bob, has been arrested for stealing a miniature tea set from Brocklesby Hall, where he is employed as a gardener.  The charges are dropped, but Dorothy becomes  intrigued by the monstrous Brocklesby Hall and the Museum of Miniatures housed there.  Sir Mordred Brocklesby, the museum's owner, is a strange little man who is obsessed with miniatures and surrounded by even stranger characters, so when his formidable housekeeper is found poisoned there are a plethora of suspects to be ruled out.  Since Alan is away, Dorothy investigates (with his blessing) and manages to uncover another murder in the process. This cozy includes some very interesting twists and turns, a few red herrings, and an adorable late-in-life marriage that warms the heart.  I can't waitr for dorothy's next adventure.

THE TALE OF HALCYON CRANE (Wendy Webb)

Back in the day, when my hair was still brown and I could climb stairs without a handrail, I couldn't get enough of the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker.  Frank Langella (remember him in "Dracula"?) was sexy and "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dark Shadows" were a required viewing for anyone who appreciated campy, quality horror.  Since then my tastes have run the gamut of classic literature, suspense, medical thrillers, chick-lit, women's fiction, and cozies, but I 've been interested in very few ghost stories, until now.

Today's young adults thrill to sexy vampires and shape changers, so this story might not interest them.  The Tale of Halcyon Crane is a good, old-fashioned ghost story with just the right combination of terror and practicality, enough to make it almost believable.  Webb unfolds her story with precise timing and just the right amount of suspense. The reader leaps to one conclusion, then to another, only to be lulled back to reality before being confronted again with the possibility that maybe they really are out there, watching and waiting.

Thirty-something Hallie James was raised by her father Thomas in Bellingham, WA after the tragic death of her mother in a house fire 30 years before.  As her father is dying of Alzheimer's she receives an envelope in the mail from Will Archer, an attorney on Great Manitou Island, Minnesota.  Inside the envelope are a letter from Archer informing her of the death of Madlyn Crane along with a letter to Hallie from Madlyn Crane, written just before her recent sudden death from a heat attack.  In the letter Madlyn tells Hallie that she is her mother and that she has believed for 30 years that her daughter and husband died in a tragic boating accident.  A chance picture of Hallie and her father in a newspaper article led Madlyn back to her daughter.  When Hallie arrives on Great Manitou after the death of her father, she meets with suspicion and apparent dislike on the part of many of the island's inhabitants.  She soon discovers why: her father was the main suspect in the death of Hallie's childhood friend, Julie, disappearing along with Hallie before he could be arrested for the crime.  Hallie decides to stay on the island for a few days to live in the house she inherited from her mother, the house that she lived in as a child, but of which she has no memory.  She soon starts hearing voices and experiencing disappearing jewelry, touches from unknown hands, and TV and lights turned inexplicably on and off.  She also discovers that she has inherited a very old housekeeper, Iris, who smells vaguely of dirt and rose petals and claims to have know her family for almost 100 years!

I won't tell you any more about the plot, but suffice it to say, I couldn't put this book down until I finished it.  It's perfect reading for a rainy November day.  It might be even better during a blizzard.  If you are looking for gore and guts, skip it, but if you like a gripping psychological thriller complete with graveyards, mediums, and ghosts, try this one.