Category: Books

The Spice Merchant’s Daughter by Christina Arokiasamy

- Ann Leave a comment

Open your kitchen and cooking to the spices of Malaysia. You’ll quickly discover that exotic flavors such as star anise, turmeric and saffron add a new level of complexity that the whole family will enjoy – and incorporating them into your meals is simple and straightforward.

In The Spice Merchant’s Daughter, Christina Arokiasamy shares her story of growing up in Kuala Lampur where her mother ran a spice stall. She also shares the secrets of her family’s spice recipes and advice on how to build flavors layer by layer. While Arokiasamy trained as a corporate chef (she currently runs a cooking school in Seattle), she also understands the daily task of cooking for a family using American ingredients.

Though many of the 100 recipes are dense with flavor (such as Braised Pork in Caramelized Soy Sauce or Rice Noodles with Seafood and Basil) they are also relatively easy to make. Arokiasamy is an excellent teacher and offers tips and guidelines, including make-ahead spice rubs, pastes and other seasonings and a discussion of essential pantry items.

What makes The Spice Merchant’s Daughter especially wonderful though is Arokiasamy’s evocative memories of growing up surrounded by the sights and smells of her native country. You’ll want to checkout this book for the recipes, but you’ll also want to read it for it’s window into another, exotic world.

Piled higher and deeper

- Bill Leave a comment

At one time the current quandry wasn’t the transition to hi-def TV, or television at all for that matter. What’s “stereo” mean, sonny?

On the Illinois side of the river was a signal at 1230 AM, the entire run from 1946-1983 is detailed in WQUA: Moline’s hometown station. It’s a delight to read about a simpler sonic time, when the day (choppy as it may have been formatically) was filled with personalities and public service blasting out of downtown Moline with a mere 500 watts of monophonic glory. Draw your own comparisons to todays offerings.

Toward the end you’ll recognize a few names of today’s local senior statesmen of radio and television.

Marvel at this 1950’s stunt from Ed Grennan’s Problems and Solutions program…

“One time a man from the sewer department called and said he had a large quantity of human waste that had been processed into fertilizer. Evidently it was good for gardens. The city was giving it away for free, but the people had to bring their own buckets and shovels. I’m not kidding you…I had 500 people out there shoveling ****.”

Tony Hillerman

- Ann 1 Comment

Acclaimed mystery writer Tony Hillerman passed away recently. In a series of books set in the Four Corners area (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet) of the United States, Hillerman wrote beautifully about the land and the people who lived there, as well as crafting complex, believable murder stories that would keep you guessing until the end. I don’t know of any other writer who could so completely capture the “feel” of a place – not only the physical landscape, but the atmosphere, the quality of light, the unique everyday qualities of a particular location.

Hillerman also wrote respectfully of the many peoples and cultures that live in the Southwest – Navajo, Pueblo, Mexican, white. While he won many awards including the Golden Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, he often said he took the greatest pride from his Special Friend of the Dineh award from the Navajo Tribal Council.

Although he wrote more than 30 books, Hillerman is best known for his Leaphorn-Chee series. His first novel, The Blessing Way, introduced Joe Leaphorn, an older, experienced police-officer who understood but did not follow his people’s traditional beliefs in the spirit world. People of Darkness introduced Jim Chee, a young police officer who was also training to become a Navajo shaman. Hillerman’s breakthrough novel was Skinwalkers, when he brought both characters together in the same novel (they do not always get along) Their divergent views bring depth and understanding to the conflict between cultural assimilation and the pull of the old ways.

The entire Leaphorn-Chee series is recommended for their spare, evocative writing, fascinating cultural insights and suspenseful mysteries.

  1. The Blessing Way
  2. Dance Hall of the Dead
  3. Listening Woman
  4. People of Darkness
  5. The Dark Wind
  6. The Ghostway
  7. Skinwalkers
  8. A Thief of Time
  9. Talking God
  10. Coyote Waits
  11. Sacred Clowns
  12. The Fallen Man
  13. The First Eagle
  14. Hunting Badger
  15. The Wailing Wind
  16. The Sinister Pig
  17. Skeleton Man
  18. The Shape Shifter

Hannah’s Dream by Diane Hammond

- Ann Leave a comment

Everyone has a dream, even an elephant.

Hannah has been living at a tiny, second-rate zoo in Washington state since she was brought there when she was two years old. She has not seen another elephant in 40 years. And although she has received kind and loving care from her devoted zookeeper Sam, the poor conditions of the zoo is seriously affecting her health. But the arrival of Neva, a new assistant elephant keeper, begins to shake things up. Neva knows of an elephant sanctuary in California that might be able to take in Hannah, but they need to find a way to transport her, pay for her maintenance and, hardest of all, convince the hard-hearted zoo director – who sees the elephant only as a source of revenue – that moving Hannah is the right thing to do.

Fun and inspiring Hannah’s Dream will keep you on the edge of your seat as Hannah’s friends fight the odds with a little help from a legacy from the past.

Because dreams can come true. Even an elephants.

Ghost Stories for Grown-ups

- Ann Leave a comment

Even if you’ve outgrown trick-or-treating, you can still get into the spirit of the season with some great, ghostly reads.

More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon. Looking back on the events of the summer she was 17, elderly Hannah Grey recalls her memories of love and loss, and of the ghost who haunted her and the boy she loved. Set on the Maine coast, this evocative novel is a “humdinger of a ghost tale”.

Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey. Motherless Eva has been lovingly raised by her father and sister, but she is still often lovely. When she’s visited by invisible companions, she takes comfort in their presence. However, keeping them secret cuts her off from others. Who these companions are and their roles in Eva’s life form the center of this intriguing story.

Sleeping with Schubert by Bonnie Marson. Brooklyn lawyer Liza Durbin is possessed by the spirit of composer Franz Schubert – and her life will never be ordinary again. Follow along as Liza takes a leave of absence from her law firm to prepare for her Carnegie Hall debut, struggles with a media frenzy and her quirky family for a fun and entertaining read.

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult. Ghost hunter Ross Wakeman wants nothing more than to be reunited with his dead fiancee, but nothing he does can bring her back. Sent to a small Vermont town to investigate possible paranormal phenomena leads him to an ancient murder and possible redemption. The intricate and suspenseful ghost story will keep you enthralled to its powerful conclusion.

A Gracious Plenty by Sheri Reynolds. Disfiguring scars from a childhood accident has made Finch Nobles an outcast in her tiny Southern town. After her parents die, Finch takes over her father’s job as a gravedigger, where she befriends not the living but those who haunt the graveyard and control the seasons. This lyrical novel is sure to charm.

Witches, Goblins and Ghosts, Oh No!

- Ann 1 Comment

Halloween is fast approaching, and of course this makes an ideal time to read some of those gory horror books. However, if you’re not a big Horror fan (like me) you might enjoy these titles of a kinder, gentler nature.

Brida by Paul Coelho

Well, I should’ve known better. This popular Spanish author, Paul Coelho, has written other books about witches (The Witch of Portobello most recently) but from the title and the cover art, I guess I was expecting something different. And, really, it’s more of a light romance. The main character, Brida, is a 21 year old Irish lass who wants to become a witch, so the story line revolves around her search and/or efforts to become one. There’s some pulling together of Christian and spiritualist themes which I personally didn’t understand, but then, I kept reminding myself that it was a work of fiction.

Mozart’s Ghost by Julia Cameron

As for ghosts, I’m just finishing up Mozart’s Ghost, by Julia Cameron. This, also, has turned out to be a light romantic story. Here, the main character is Anna, a 30-something “medium –medium” as she calls herself. Anna moved to New York a few years ago in part to escape the conservative Midwestern views present in her home town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. In order to pay the rent, she teaches school by day, but her main focus is to establish herself as a medium, someone who helps others contact recently departed loved ones (i.e. – ghosts). When a struggling young pianist moves into her apartment building, she finds his constant practicing very distracting. Even more disturbing, though, are the frequent intrusions she gets from Mozart’s ghost, who is anxious for Anna to “help” the pianist correctly interpret his complex musical compositions. I’m not going to spoil the ending for you. Besides, as I said, I haven’t finished it – yet!

Unfortunately, I really haven’t read any goblin stories recently – but if you’d like to recommend one, I’d certainly give it a shot. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these “Halloween Light” suggestions.

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken

- Ann Leave a comment

I’m going to give you a warning about this book right from the start: a baby dies in this book. It is, in the words of author Elizabeth McCracken “the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending”.

McCracken was an award winning author (one of her books, Niagara Falls All Over Again, was the All-Iowa Reads choice in 2004), happy with her career and her status as a self-described spinster was in her mid-30s when she suddenly fell in love. Within a couple years she was living in France with her husband awaiting the birth of their first child. Everything was perfect, until her ninth month of pregnancy when her baby boy died.

What follows is a touching, heartbreaking story of love and grief, of struggling to go on without forgetting what happened. Told with warmth, humor and generosity, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination is a powerful and beautifully written memoir, a literary gift to us all.

The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory

- Ann Leave a comment

Philippa Gregory does it again with her latest historical novel – another compelling story of a Tudor queen. This time, however, the queen is Mary, Queen of Scots whose very existence threatens Elizabeth’s tenuous hold on the throne.

The Other Queen is told in three voices – Mary, George Talbot and his wife Bess. The Talbots have been commanded by Elizabeth to host Mary but in fact, they are her jailers. Mary had fled to England on the promise that she would be given sanctuary, but instead she becomes a prisoner.

At first honored by Elizabeth’s request, George and Bess soon discover that Mary’s demands and large household (she continues to live in luxury fit for a queen) will bankrupt them and that their home has become the center of the intrigues and rebellions of Mary and her followers, bringing the very loyalty of the Talbots into question.

George falls in love with the Scots queen, Bess, an astute businesswoman, struggles to keep her lands and her marriage and Mary longs for – and plots for – freedom. These three viewpoints bring this distant historical period vividly and fully to life.

Energy Management — Improve Your Home

- Ann Leave a comment

October is a great time to get your house ready for winter. You know the drill — have your furnace checked, caulk up those drafty holes, clear out those gutters. But with heating bills sure to rise, it may also be time for an energy audit. In the Quad Cities, Mid-America supplies both gas and electric energy to most homes, but they also offer this service, called EnergyAdvantage Home Check. You do need to make an appointment, but they will come to your home and offer energy-saving suggestions. At my house, the person doing the energy audit not only gave us new lightbulbs and low-flow showerheads, he actually took the time to install them! I don’t know if this is standard service or not, but I was very impressed with this service.

In the meantime, if your looking for other ideas on how to save energy around your house, check out these new titles at the library:

Greening Your Home: Sustainable Options for Every System in Your House by Clayton Bennett. This slim paperback is loaded with ideas for changing your lifestyle, as well as for using new technology (such as low-flow faucets) to save time, energy and money.

50 Simple Steps to Save the Earth from Global Warming is another easy-read paperback with very practical tips. For example, Step #8 – Unplug your chargers. Did you know that 95% of the energy used by mobile phone chargers is wasted? I didn’t.

Energy Crossroads: a Burning Need to Change Course. This is a new DVD that, according to the cover jacket, “comprehensively covers the key aspects of the energy/environment/economy dilemma.”

Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas

- Ann 1 Comment

I’m reading the funniest book! It’s called Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas. I picked it up at the last Women’s Connection (TWC) meeting, but the library does have copies at both buildings. Dumas, an Iranian-American, is the featured speaker at the November 5 TWC meeting, when the group traditionally hosts an international author. If you can go, do — but be prepared for some belly laughs!

This book is laugh-out-loud funny. There’s one scene in particular, in which the author describes a time she is waiting in a crowded medical clinic, when the receptionist mispronounces her name. Badly mispronounces it! Now with a first name like “Firoozeh,” you would probably expect some of this, but in this case, both her first and last name (her husband is French) are really butchered.

The author freely admits that her first experience in the United States, at the tender age of seven, was a very favorable one, and that people were very kind to her and her family. She’s quick to note, however, that this was before the hostage takeover of the embassy in Iran, and that later Iranian immigrants often faced open hostility.

There are lots of anecdotes that many can identify with — her father attempting to teach her how to swim, her not-so-fun experience at summer camp, and the seemingly endless supply of relatives coming to visit. More importantly, though, this book goes a long way in gently educating us Americans that Iranians are human, too. Not to mention funny.

Dumas has also written Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American at Home and Abroad. Enjoy!