What I thought I knew

Cohen has written an intensely honest memoir in What I thought I knew. She had a wonderful adopted daughter, a great boyfriend and as she entered her forties a settled life. Then she finds out that she is six months pregnant and she's been taking her medicine, which may have hurt the baby. Cohen takes readers on the emotional roller coaster ride with her. At times I got angry with her, but always understood her. A powerful memoir of love, live and change.

Fred Astaire taps again

When I was little I wanted to grow up to dance with Fred Astaire. I didn't realize that he had grown old or that my ability at formal dancing would be so limited. Putting on the Ritz is a well researched biography on Astaire.

Because (unlike today's stars) Astaire was a private person, the book is doesn't give you a very personal view of Astaire. However I found the information on his dancing fascinating

Makes you want to cook at home

Bourdain started a new genre with Kitchen Confidential - the gritty soap opera of the restaurant kitchen. Sheehan's Cooking Dirty tells the tale of less prestigious kitchens. His tales of the adrenaline, drugs and the cooktop are good, but you may not want to eat out soon.

Thunderbolt kid rides again

Bill Bryson has written a warm and funny memoir of being a boy in 1950s/60s Des Moines. It was a time before the chain homogenization of American and towns had their own character. It was also the era of the baby boom and there were a million other kids to play with and get into mischief with. Fun read. Check out The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: a memoir.

Good classic comedy

Love on a branch line by John Hadfield is a gem of civil servant comedy. Jasper Pye is ready to thow off the shackles of civil servantdom after hearing his girl say he is boring. Before he can actually resign, he finds himself shuttled off to Arcady to close down a WWII research tank housed at an old estate. Instead he get sucked into the whirlwind of Flamborough Hall and the Lord's tempting daughters. Just a delightful book.

Outwitting History

Outwitting History spins the tale of a young idealist, Aaron Lansky and his friends, who set about to save Yiddish books in the 1980s. As the speakers and readers of Yiddish were passing, the libraries they used and their personal books were disappearing into dumpsters because the younger generation couldn't read them.

Lansky and his friends go forth collecting the books and stories of these fascinating seniors. Their quest has now saved over a million books and just in time as a new generation is wanting to read them. To see their work check out the National Yiddish Book Center
http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/

As I read the book, I could hear Mrs Haskell saying, "Such a nice boy and a good family, I wonder if he has a brother you could meet?" She always told me to marry a mensch.

Bad Mother

Ayelet Waldman has written about the guilt women flog themselves and other mothers with. We stay at home. We go to work. We do scrapbooks for baby one. We have two snapshots of the last child. Etc.

The Bad Mother is a funny and poingnant book in turns. It is evident upon finishing though that I am not being nearly unkind enough to myself and perhaps Waldman needs to be kinder to herself.

Cooking with the master

With the new movie Julie and Julia, Child is back in the spotlight. The Way to Cook is one of my favourite cookbooks by her. It is more accessible that Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but Child continues her tradition of teaching the details that make the dish successful. One of Child’s goals is for cooks to learn a “master recipe” which then spins off into other dishes.

It is that attention to detail that is important. My mother was an excellent, intuitive cook with a great mastery of formal cooking technique. That gift is not genetic. With Child guiding me through the step by step, I have created any number of dishes from this book that are actually beyond my skills. :)

Some cookbook experts consider this her finest cookbook.

Lacking something

I read Ruth Reichl's new book Not becoming my mother and was somewhat disappointed. Reichl has spent most of her adult life telling amusing stories about her mother's crazy antics. This book is a penance of sorts and a rediscovery of her mother. Her mother's life was stiffled by the conventions of society and she drives Reichl to break those bonds. I wanted to like this book more than I did. It seemed to lack some heart or something.

Calabria revisited - Stolen Figas

I first read about the area of Calabria in a memoir by Annie Hawes. Calabria is Italy's unloved stepchild, but I don't know why. Calabria is the poor southern end of the boot of Italy and held in some contempt by the rest of the country.

After reading Rotella's ode to the area and its history, you will think differently. Rotella's family comes from this area and he recounts his visit and meanderings around the area. a really pleasant trip. Stolen Figs is a wonderful stolen moment.

two paths that blend well

Recently I read about the Wee Mad Road. While reading more on the net about it, I ran across Warren Rovetch's The Creaky Traveler in the North West Highlands of Scotland. I read the first Creaky Traveller guide and will be looking for his guide to Ireland.

The book is the story of he and his wife travelling in the North West Highlands. It is also a book with tips for travel when you are "the mobile but not agile." He blends these two goals well.

An enjoyable read even if you aren't creaky yet.

Northern Scotland

The sign read Wee Mad Road. How could you not travel down a road with a sign like that? The road less travelled changed the lives of Jack and Barbara Maloney. They found a B&B to stay on in Coigach.
Several years later the daughters are out of the house and they take the plunge. They sell their house in Minnesota and chuck it all. They return to Coigach for two more years. This is the story of their life in a community in transition between old ways and new.

The telling of the story alternates between Jack and excerpts from Barbara's diaries. Barbara is an artist and her work is through out.

I found myself putting the book down. I didn't want to finish it because then it would be over. Wander down the Wee Mad Road with them. It is worth the trip. You can have a taste at their site http://www.theweemadroad.com/