Leni Zumas's writing crackles. Her books are sharp, bleak, funny, and possibly dangerous. When her collection of short stories, Farewell Navigator,...
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I began this huge book as an ice-storm moved in and cut the electricity for eight days at the edge of the earth in W. OK. I read Byatt's deftly plotted story of the late nineteenth century becoming the twentieth century with the constant concern that I would not have enough batteries for my lantern. Byatt's prose is expansive. I was without the internet and went to maps and the dictionary frequently. Byatt stated in a radio interview that she filled seven notebooks with research notes for this book. I was only 50 pages away from page 675 ending the book when the power came on. I read to the end before taking the first hot shower in eight days. Byatt told an engaging story about relationships at the turn of the last century: women and men; fathers, mothers, and children; well-to-do and less-well-to-do; nations with other nations.
Elif Shafak has bravely crafted a story intertwining a Turkish family in Istanbul and an Armenian family in San Francisco that is spiced with food and forbidden subjects--genocide, rape and incest. Shafak was accused of public denigration of Turkishness in Turkey but later acquitted.
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Food is my religion and I was appalled when my daughter gave me this cookbook. Cooking with a crock pot seemed like sacrilege, but I became a convert. The recipe for Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Mushrooms on p. 285 is worth the price of the book, especially on a hot and humid August day.
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(4 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
Surviving the peace takes courage and stamina and Grass tells his story with courage and humor of surviving the last days of WW II as a young German soldier. But his memory of surviving the peace with the Allied Occupation is revealing and provides insight into Grass's fiction, especially _The Tin Drum_ and _The Flounder, two of my favorites.
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Myra has commented on (4) products.
The Children's Book (Vintage International) by A S Byatt
Myra, January 11, 2011
I began this huge book as an ice-storm moved in and cut the electricity for eight days at the edge of the earth in W. OK. I read Byatt's deftly plotted story of the late nineteenth century becoming the twentieth century with the constant concern that I would not have enough batteries for my lantern. Byatt's prose is expansive. I was without the internet and went to maps and the dictionary frequently. Byatt stated in a radio interview that she filled seven notebooks with research notes for this book. I was only 50 pages away from page 675 ending the book when the power came on. I read to the end before taking the first hot shower in eight days. Byatt told an engaging story about relationships at the turn of the last century: women and men; fathers, mothers, and children; well-to-do and less-well-to-do; nations with other nations.The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
Myra, June 11, 2008
Elif Shafak has bravely crafted a story intertwining a Turkish family in Istanbul and an Armenian family in San Francisco that is spiced with food and forbidden subjects--genocide, rape and incest. Shafak was accused of public denigration of Turkishness in Turkey but later acquitted.(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)
Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
Myra, April 9, 2008
Food is my religion and I was appalled when my daughter gave me this cookbook. Cooking with a crock pot seemed like sacrilege, but I became a convert. The recipe for Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Mushrooms on p. 285 is worth the price of the book, especially on a hot and humid August day.(4 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass and Michael Henry Heim
Myra, February 3, 2008
Surviving the peace takes courage and stamina and Grass tells his story with courage and humor of surviving the last days of WW II as a young German soldier. But his memory of surviving the peace with the Allied Occupation is revealing and provides insight into Grass's fiction, especially _The Tin Drum_ and _The Flounder, two of my favorites.(2 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)