Author

Publisher: Covici Friede, 1937

Genre: Classic Fiction

My Rating: A

Summary:

Four different stories, centered around a young boy named Jody, make up this book. The stories are set on a ranch in Salinas Valley, California during the early twentieth-century. Jody is an only child and the ranch is isolated, so it’s possible to see this book as a sad downer. But – Jody is a good old-fashioned boy and his personality shines through the ups and downs of life on the ranch.

• The first story, The Gift, is about a little a red pony and a red leather saddle that is a rare gift from Jody’s father. Jody’s status among his friends at school increases and he learns the hard lessons of caring for a special animal. Jody’s eyes are also opened to the harshness of life.
• In the second story, The Great Mountains, Jody meets an old man who was born on the ranch long before it was owned by Jody’s father. The man has now come “home” to die. Jody’s father forbids him to stay for more than one night. The old man points out that Mr. Tiflin treats his old horse better than a person.
• The third story, The Promise, is about another horse. This time Jody is the one who takes their mare to another ranch to be bred with their stallion. Then Jody must wait nearly a year for the birth of what will be his horse. Again in this story, Jody must face the harsh realities of life and death.
• The fourth story, The Leader of the People, feature the stories of Jody’s maternal grandfather. The man is not welcomed by Jody’s father as he says the grandfather just keeps telling the same old stories over and over again. The stories are about how the grandfather led a group of people across the plains. Jody loves them as they spark his imagination.

My Thoughts:

The Red Pony was the book selection this month for one of my book clubs. All but one of us loved the book. Our lone dissenter thought the book was too sad and depressing. I thought it was more bittersweet. The writing is so amazing that it was a joy to read.

Steinbeck’s descriptions of people and places captivated me and I found myself highlighting phrase after phrase. Here are a few I liked. The first is a description of Billy, the farmhand:

He was a bandy-legged little man with a walrus mustache, with square hands, puffed and muscled on the palms. His eyes were a contemplative, watery gray and the hair which protruded from under his Stetson hat was spiky and weathered.

And this one describes Jody:

He was only a little boy, ten years old, with hair like dusty yellow grass and with shy polite gray eyes, and with a mouth thar worked when he thought.

And here Steinbeck describes Jody’s behavior after he receives his very own pony:

It became his habit to creep out of bed even before his mother was awake, to slip into his clothes and to go quietly down to the barn to see Gabilan. In the gray quiet morning when the land and the brush and the houses and the trees were silver gray and black like a photograph negative, he stole toward the barn, past the sleeping stones and the sleeping cypress trees.

I read this book slowly over a three week period. It’s hard to express in words how much pleasure this little book gave me. I think it may have been how the author made me see life through the eyes of a child – very plain, quite curious, and with loads of imagination.

The Red Pony was a good book club selection. Our leader dug out numerous facts about Steinbeck that really enhanced our understading and appreciation of the book. Since nearly everyone in the club is around my age, we also spent some time talking about the attitudes of “old-people” today as compared to the second story in this book. A very interesting discussion.

There were some passages, like those above, that I read, re-read and then read aloud to my husband or anyone else hanging about. John Steinbeck was truly a gifted writer. If you aren’t familiar with his work, I’d suggest starting with one of the four stories in The Red Pony. Each story stands alone, although they all feature the little boy Jody and life in the Salinas Valley.

This book count as one of the 50+ I’m reading for the Classics Club.

Christie’s challenge? How can all ten people be killed, according to the old nursery rhyme, with no outside interference? Main-landers have been instructed to leave the island alone. Besides, no one can come to the island is bad weather, and the weather is stormy.

As each guest unpacks they notice a framed copy of this nursery rhyme on the wall of each room: Ten Little Indians

Ten little Indian boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Indian boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon;

One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.

Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in half and then there were six.

Six little Indian boys playing with a hive;

A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Indian boys going in for law;

One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Indian boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two Little Indian boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Indian boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

One by one each of the ten strangers begin to die. At first the reader decides there has to be someone else on the island. Then the reader becomes fascinated with how the method of each death matches the nursery rhyme. This reader then thought that, by the time there were only four people left, someone or something would intervene and save the remaining favorite characters. Finally, by the end, I was completely puzzled. I figured it had to be someone very well hidden on the island or one of the ten. But — who, and how, and why? The reader must wait for the Epilogue to explains it all.

And Then There Were None is, by far, THE BEST Agatha Christie mystery to date. Suspense fills every ounce of this story. It was impossible for me to figure out who would be the next victim and who was doing these heinous crimes. If you only want to read one of Ms. Christie’s books, read this one. It’s that good. Expect to be stumped.

I listened to the audio version of this book. It was beautifully narrated by Hugh Fraser. His voice was perfect for this story; his drawing-room accent mingled well with the creepiness of the plot.

And Then There Were None was first published in the UK in November 1939 as Ten Little Niggers. Three months later it was published in the US with the title changed to the last few words of the nursery rhyme. The story has been rewritten several times as plays, movies and a TV show. Just stick with the original story.

I read this novel as part of the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. (Click the button below for more info.) This is book number 31.

The first pick was The Glass Castle, published in 2005. This is the author’s memoir outlining her erratic childhood and early adult life.

Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly. Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn’t stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an “excitement addict.” (from the publisher)

The kindest thing I can say about the author’s parents is that they were incredibly unfit to be parents. Because of alcoholism, the father was seldom employed and the mother was so disconnected she didn’t even bother to feed her children. The abject neglect and poverty depicted in this memoir was painful. It was so painful I only made it half-way through the book. In my opinion, what the Walls did to their children was unforgivable. The author saw it differently however. She forgave her parents and seems to see them more favorably than I did.

After that introduction to Jeannette Walls I wasn’t sure I wanted to read her second book, Half-Broke Horses. But, from the first page, I loved this story. Lily was born in a dugout in 1901 and grew to be a plucky young girl who handled whatever life threw at her. Lily experienced so many incredible adventures, especially for a young woman during that time period.

Lily survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy. Half-Broke Horses is Laura Ingalls Wilder for adults. Lily learned to drive a car and fly a plane. And, with her husband, Jim, she ran a vast ranch in Arizona. She raised two children, one of whom is Jeannette’s memorable mother, Rosemary Smith Walls. (from the publisher)

Lily made a wonderful character for this fictional novel based on the author’s grandmother’s life. At several points during the book I wanted to suspend all belief. I found it hard to believe that Lily had actually done all that the author said she did. I can understand how that happened. This is, after all, an oral family history. As each person tells the story it gets changed a little bit each time. But then, if Lily only did half of what’s in this novel, she’s still an amazing person.

If you haven’t read Half-Broke Horses yet, I seriously recommend you give it a try.

Author

Publisher: Hachette Book Group / Faithwords, April 3, 2012

Genre: Christian Fiction

My Rating: A

Adam Jordan has just graduated from seminary. He’s on his way to his first job as the minister of the Christian Church in Butternut Creek, Texas. He drove his worn-out car just fine all the way from Kentucky. Just fine, that is, until he got to Austin. There, in the midst of rush hour traffic, the car died. Adam was forced to call ahead to the church to say he would be arriving late. Not a problem for the good people of Butternut Creek. One of the locals drove his flat-bed truck to Austin and picked up both Adam and the car.

Not exactly the way Adam had planned to start his new ministry. However, that act of kindness was just the beginning of the welcome Adam received. As Adam arrives at the parsonage he is surprised to learn he will be living in a massive three-story home. Also surprised are the church members who learn he has no furniture. A few of the “pillars” of the church immediately go into action and have the basics moved into the house within the day.

Miss Birdie and her friend Mercedes are known as the “Widows.” They are two of the “pillars” who are intent on guiding Adam in the way a church’s minister should behave and conduct his ministry. So, they not only furnish the parsonage, they also suggest hymns to be sung, people to be visited, and even how to clean up his office. Although Adam is a little intimidated by the “pillars,” he takes it all in stride as part of his duties. The only thing he draws the line at is Miss Birdie’s attempts to find him a wife.

There’s another bachelor who is new in town. Captain Sam Peterson has come to live in the house he inherited from his aunt. He recently lost his leg in Afghanistan, he sees Butternut Creek as a place of refuge, a place to hide out and spend his days drinking. Sam’s road to recovery begins when he meets his lovely Physical Therapist, and then a few days later, her two rambunctious little boys. The “Widows” actually believe they are the ones bringing this couple together.

The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek is a refreshing visit with these people, plus a few other Butternut Creek residents. I especially liked Adam and Sam. They were both honest characters. I also liked Adam and Miss Birdie’s connection with a little four-year-old girl who seemed homeless. And then there was Adam’s obsession with playing playground basketball and how it lead him Hector and his sister. Overall a book about people. It’s light and filled with humor while at the same time it takes a serious look at some human problems. It’s Christian fiction without being preachy. The message that comes across in a delightful way is that treating our neighbors with kindness is the right thing to do. Very satisfying.

There are two more books coming in this series: The Matchmakers of Butternut Creek (November) and The Wedding Planners of Butternut Creek (2013). I can’t wait to read them.

About The Author:

A Missouri native, Jane Myers Perrine earned her B.A. from Kansas State University and her M.Ed. in Spanish from the University of Louisville. She was a finalist in the Regency category of the Golden Heart Awards, and her short pieces have appeared in the Houston Chronicle and Woman’s World magazine. A high-school Spanish teacher as well as an ordained minister, she currently lives in Texas with her husband, who is the minister of a local Christian church.

The author’s website can be found her:  Jane Myers Perrine

It’s called a cookbook, but it’s more than that. To me it’s a combination of a memoir, a scrapbook, a photo album, a celebration of food, and, of course, a great collection of recipes. There are professional quality photos of her ranch and animals, her children, and the food she loves to prepare. Ree Drummond’s blog is famous for her step-by-step photos of her recipes. Many of those are in this book.
Pioneer Woman Cooks is organized by the following chapters:

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Soups
• Starters, Party Food, and Drinks
• Pasta and Pizza
• Supper
• Sides
• Sweets
• Canning

There are so many good recipes that I’m at a loss as to which ones to highlight. Since I’ve only tried one recipe so far, I think I’ll tell about that one: Whiskey-Mustard Meatballs. They are so yummy and unique. The meatballs are a combination of ground beef and pork, plus panko bread crumbs, eggs and spicy mustard.

After cooking the meatballs they are removed to a plate. Then a sauce is made using whiskey, beef broth, more spicy mustard, and heavy cream. When that has thickened the meatballs are put back into the sauce. I served them over egg noodles. The alternate suggestion in the book is to serve them between a split dinner roll as sliders. Next time I’ll try that.
There’s no doubt about it – this is a great cookbook. But in my mind, it also belongs outside the kitchen.  It makes a terrific coffee table book. Each page is joy to look at. I took a picture of a couple of pages so you can see what I’m talking about. This one is a great recipe for Corn Chowder on one side and the sweetest picture of her little boys at their pond.
I love this page with the pictures of a dirty kitchen. Obviously, Ree Drummond’s a real cook.
Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier, William Morrow Cookbooks, March 2012, 304 pages.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature at Beth Fish Reads. Click the button below and it will take you there.

Published by Penguin, March 2012

Last week I received two unsolicited cookbooks. They both gave me hours and hours of happy reading. Today I’d like to tell you about the first one and next week I’ll tell you about the second.

The Book Club Cookbook is a revised and updated version of the author’s original 2004 edition. The authors conducted a wide ranging survey. (I participated – probably why I got the book.) They collected information about favorite books read by book clubs along with food served at the meetings.

The result is a 474 page tome that’s a listing of the best pairings of great literature and great food. This is also a great resource to help book clubs pick their book list. And yes, it has some fantastic recipes in it. Many of them are from authors and/or their families.

There is so much info in this book that I was amazed. It’s chock full of useful stuff. To show you what I mean, let me share a few books I like and the food suggestions.

• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. When talking about each book, I found several paragraphs about the story. Then the recipe(s) begins. For this book there is a pairing of Teriyaki Beef Skewers and Teriyaki Sauce. In the story, when Sayuri first met the Minister, he is eating marinated beef on skewers. So, we learn how to make the beef and the sauce. At the end there is a section called “Novel Thoughts.” Here various book clubs share their experience with this book.
• In The Secret Life o Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) I was hoping for something with honey. I got more than I hoped for. If you’ve read the book, you’ll remember the beekeeping sisters served Honey Cake to the Daughters of Mary. In The Cook Book Club the Honey Cake recipe is one that the author’s husband created just for her book’s release. There were several other clever ideas from other bookclubs, such as drinking coke with a peanut in it. Do you remember that in the book?
• Half-Broke Horses is a novel I’m reading for one of my book clubs next month. So, of course, I enjoyed The Book Club Cookbook’s discussion of the story. The protagonist’s cooking is very basic, so the recipe for Cowboy Hash was just right. It was created by a book club member in Pennsylvania. Another bookclub created the Cornbread Fritters. There were lots of very good suggestions from other book clubs.

And that’s how the whole book goes. There are 100 books covered. Imagine! In the back there are two very good indexes. One index is for the food and the other is arranged by authors and titles and then by genre. A very helpful resource, but it also makes for great reading. Thanks Judy Gelman and Vicki Krupp.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature at Beth Fish Reads. Click the button below and it will take you there.

Author

Publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1942

Genre: Mystery

My Rating: A+

I have been faithfully reading Agatha Christie’s novels in publication order. I’ve worked my way up to the late 1930s. Then I started to get bogged down. The stories were beginning to feel dark and sad. I know this time period was very sad in England and perhaps that was affecting Ms. Christie. I don’t know.

I decided to skip ten books ahead to a book that features Jane Marple. I’ve always enjoyed her lighthearted adventures. So I skipped ahead to 1942 to read this one.

The Body in the Library is a classic mystery. This one is, as you guessed, a story about a body in a library. For years Agatha Christie wanted to use this plot device. She wrote in her notebook:

 ”I laid down for myself certain conditions. The library in question must be a highly orthodox and conventional library. The body, on the other hand, must be a wildly improbable and highly sensational body.”

Ms. Christie’s inspiration for this particular story came while she was dining at a seaside hotel. She observed a young family at a nearby table. Also at the table was an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair. That’s all it took. Ms. Christie’s imagination took off from there. Here’s how the story went -

The body discovered in the library was that of a platinum blond wearing a cheap white evening gown. The library belonged to Jane Marple’s good friends, Dolly and Arthur Bantry. She knew, of course, that her friends didn’t kill the young woman. They didn’t even know her.

The police learned the young woman was about to be adopted by a wealthy man in a wheelchair. Two of the young members of his family had good reason to want the young woman dead. They had, however, excellent alibis. Plus, another young woman is discovered dead. Can they be connected?

In this case our elderly spinster, Jane Marple, was quite welcome to become involved. Dolly Bantry invited Jane to help out on behalf of her husband. (She knew people would be spreading rumors about Arthur and the blond.) Miss Marple was also included by Sir Henry Clithering, a retired head at Scotland Yard. Sir Henry loved Miss Marple’s cunning ability to see the corrolaries between village life and suspects in a murder inverstigation. The police did good work in this case but naturally, Jane Marple figured it out early. She didn’t tell anyone until there was enough evidence.

Agatrha. Christie had a good time writing this one. It was very clever. She even added her own name into the story. A young boy was talking with one of the police detectives. The detective asked him if he had a natural interest in the murder. The young boy answered:

“You bet. Do you like detective stories? I do. I read them all, and I’ve got autographs from Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie and Dickison Carr and H.C. Bailey. Will the murder be in the papers?”

I had a good time readng The  Body in the Library. The most puzzling question was how the body got into Dolly and Arthur’s library. I didn’t see it. Overall, I’m counting this as one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels. There were lots of twists in this one and I will strongly recommend it as a good mental exercise.

This is book number 30 for my Agatha Christie Reading Challenge sponsored by Kerrie at Mysteries In Paradise.

Some things have changed since those days. For one thing, I no longer deep-fat fry the tacos shells. It’s not because we didn’t like them that way or because we were attempting to de-fat our diet. It was a lot of work and made my stove a greasy mess. Today we use good quality tortillas and warm them in the microwave or briefly on a grill.

When I had the chance to review a new book titled Just Tacos, at first I thought I’d pass. I figured I had a good grasp on the subject. But something was nagging at me to give it a try. I think it was the subtitle: 100 Delicious Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. It was a tease. Can there really be 100 different ways to make tacos?

The answer is yes, there really are 100 ways to make fantastic, good tasting tacos. And they are so much more than your everyday taco-bell, taco-truck tacos. These easy to make and  easy to eat sandwiches are gourmet level tacos.

The beginning of the book gets us going with an excellent basic chapter on tortillas, including several recipes for corn and flour tortillas as well as flavored tortillas. There are beautiful pictures and detailed instructions for handmade tortillas. It’s important because a poor quality tortilla can ruin a taco. It pays to buy the best or make them yourself.

A look at the table of contents gave me a look at the wide variety of tacos in this book. There are Vegetable tacos, Seafood Tacos, Chicken, Turkey, and Duck Tacos. In addition I found Pork and Beef Tacos and Breakfast Tacos and Quesadillas, Sopes, and Tostadas. Nothing is left out as far as I can tell.

Let me list a few of my favorite recipes so you can get an idea of the variety and quality of the recipes in this book.

• Swiss chard and potato tacos
• Lobster with mango salsa
• Shredded chicken with onion (my husband’s favorite)
• Chorizo and Potato Tacos
• Lamb Braised in Guajillo Sauce
• Fried eggs ranchero style

There are so many salsas tucked into this little book as well as little tricks and interesting tidbits of culinary history and lore. If you love Mexican food as much as I do, this will be a great resource.

About the author:

Shelley (Shelton) Wiseman is a multi-lingual food editor, teacher, and cookbook author. She developed recipes for Gourmet magazine for 12 years. Shelley has cooked professionally in France, Mexico, and the United States for 25 years, is co-author of The Mexican Gourmet Cookbook, and has hosted her own radio program in Mexico City, The Creative Cook.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature at Beth Fish Reads. Click the button below and it will take you there.

It’s lemon season here in northern California and they are plentiful. Here are some of my favorites: lemon chicken, lemon pie, lemon muffins, lemon bars, lemon anything.

I was thinking about lemon cake as I finished listening to the audiobook, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Amy Bender. The author was asked if she had a recipe for Lemon Cake and she did. Here’s what she had to say about her lemon cake and her book:

This is a recipe for lemon cake, similar to the one in my book, but different in some crucial ways. So, the cake in my book is also a lemon cake, but it comes packed with other stuff — the main character, Rose, requests a lemon cake for her ninth birthday, and I liked the idea of her wanting a type of cake that is sweet and sour at once. As soon as she bites in, that cake wakes up a certain new capacity in her, where she can taste the unknown feelings of the chef in the food prepared, and what is normally one of the most lovely and innocent parts of childhood comes packed with complication. 

And so begins Rose’s odyssey through the world of food tastes. Her brother’s friend George, a science geek, helped Rose experiment with food and her feelings. He took her to various restaurants, had her taste the food, and tell him what the cooks were feeling when they made the food. Then he asked the cooks what was happening when they were preparing the food. Their answers always matched Rose’s. Rose’s childhood was marred by her strange affliction. The only comfort she found was in manufactured food.

I’m sure most readers of this book have done what I did – tried to guess the cook’s feelings as we tasted various foods. Nothing happened for me, thank goodness. My feelings remained with the ingredients. I decided to try Amy Bender’s Lemon Cake recipe. I sincerely doubted I would feel sad. The result was just the opposite. As you can see, I took the liberty of changing the name of the cake so it tells you how it made me feel.

Happy Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

• 10 tablespoons butter, plus a little extra for greasing the pan
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus a little extra for flouring the greased pan
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus 1 heaping tablespoon if you decide to make syrup
• Grated zest of 1 organic lemon
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup milk, warmed in a small saucepan
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)

Directions:

1. Dice the butter and melt it in the microwave at low power.
2. Use a pastry brush to grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch round cake pan with butter. Sprinkle the pan with flour, turn it all around to spread the flour evenly, and tap out any excess.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
4. Sift the sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon zest. Mix the sugar and zest well with your fingers, then whisk in the eggs. When the eggs and sugar are thoroughly combined, whisk in the melted butter and warm milk. Add the flour and baking powder, whisking constantly throughout.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 8 minutes. Lower the heat to 300°F and cook about 40 minutes more. The cake is finished when the blade of a knife inserted in its center comes out dry.
6. Remove the finished cake from the oven, unmold it onto a cooling rack, and let cool.
7. Just after cooking you can, if you like, use a pastry brush to coat the cake with syrup. Just boil 4 tablespoons water with 1 heaping tablespoon confectioners’ sugar for a couple of minutes. Allow it to cool, then stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Brush the syrup on the still-warm cake.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

It really is a happy cake. I didn’t think it needed frosting at all. I hope you’ll gice it a try with all the fresh lemons available right now.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature at Beth Fish Reads. Click the button below and it will take you there.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2007

Genre: Mystery

My Rating: B+

Summary (from the author’s website):

Isabel Spellman, the uncompromising—okay, obstinate—twenty-eight year-old San Francisco private eye in Lisa Lutz’s riotous debut novel, THE SPELLMAN FILES has her share of problems. And those problems all happen to be named Spellman.Her parents, Albert and Olivia, co-owners of Spellman Investigations, think nothing of placing their daughter under 24-hour surveillance simply to find out if she has a new boyfriend.

David, her perfect older brother, who escaped the family business by becoming a lawyer, is hypercritical of just about everything Isabel says, wears, or does. Fourteen-year-old sister Rae lives on sugared snacks, considers recreation surveillance her favorite hobby, and believes that life is one endless opportunity for intra-familial blackmail. And good-natured Uncle Ray, a former cop and health food nut, now embraces gambling and drinking; and when he’s not in battle with his niece Rae over the whereabouts of his favorite shirt, must be rescued from “lost weekends.”

My Thoughts:

The reason I wanted to read this book was because I had a chance to meet the author at a panel discussion at the  Santa Rosa Book Fair last Fall. She was so charming and funny and a little sarcastic that she had the audience chuckling a lot.

I had a hunch the author’s personality would come through in her stories. It certainly did. In my opinion she was the main character, Izzy. I could imagine the expressions on her face and the sparkle in her eyes. On top of that, Izzy tells the story in the fiirst person, so it’s even easier to see Lisa Lutz as Izzy Spellman.

The Spellman Files is the first book in the author’s series. It was an excellent introduction to the family of investigators. I enjoyed meeting everyone and learning about Izzy’s background. It was also fun tagging along with Izzy as she followed people and conducted her investigations. There was no big mystery throughout the book. I’m assuming that will come in the next few books. If you’re looking for a fun series set all around San Francisco, check out the Spellman Files.