The Magic Bookcase...

The Glass Castle

2009-05-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

'I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster. It was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party where I was heading.
Mom stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags around her shoulders to keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash while her dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet. Mom's gestures were all familiar - the way she tilted her head and thrust out her lower lip when studying items of potential value that she'd hoisted out of the dumpster, the way her eyes widened with childish glee when she found something she liked. Her long hair was streaked with gray, tangled and matted, and her eyes had sunk deep into their sockets, but still she reminded me of the mom she'd been when I was a kid, swan-diving off cliffs and painting in the desert and reading Shakespeare aloud. Her cheekbones were still high and strong, but the skin was parched and ruddy from all those winters and summers exposed to the elements. To the people walking by, she probably looked like any of the thousands of homeless people in New York City.'
The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls about her strange and dysfunctional, yet somewhat happy childhood. I really enjoyed this book, at times intrigued and other times disgusted by Jeannette's parents. She has written her story through the eyes of herself as a child and is a wonderful story teller. Jeannette's Dad is brilliant, teaching the kids physics and geology while they travel around, never living very long in any one place. I would describe their Mom as a hippie-type, never content to settle in any one place either, hating housework and responsibility, and completely embracing her artistic self. She gives the kids her love of reading, teaches them to paint in the desert and to be creative. She doesn't care if they attend school, it's much more fun and rewarding to wander outside at will all day. Dad has a drinking problem and becomes violent when he drinks. One of Jeannette's earliest memories is of her dad trying to run her mom down with the car late at night in the desert. The kids learn, at an early age, to take care of themselves and each other, that they are really all they've got to lean on. As teenagers, they rise above the poverty they were raised in, bettering their lives as they get older, while their parents choose to become homeless as the kids grow-up.
This is an incredible storyand written very well. I'm sure that I'll read this one again someday.

Inkheart

2009-05-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

'Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain. Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could still hear it, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane. A dog barked somewhere in the darkness, and however often she tossed and turned Meggie couldn't get to sleep.
The book she had been reading was under her pillow, pressing its cover against her ear as if to lure her back into its printed pages. "I'm sure it must be very comfortable sleeping with a hard, rectangular thing like that under your head," her father had teased the first time he found a book under her pillow. "Go on, admit it, the book whispers its story to you at night."
"Sometimes, yes," Meggie had said. "But it only works for children." Which made Mo tweak her nose. Meggie had never called her father anything else.'
These are the first few paragraphs of Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

This is a young reader book full of magic and mayhem. I first became interested in reading Inkheart when I saw the preview for the movie - (which I haven't seen yet.) It looking intriguing, stuffed with wonderful books and a fairy-tale like quality. My sister and I were at the movies together when this preview came on. I looked at her and said "I want to see that one!". She replied, "That's the best book I've ever read. Really!" Well, alrighty then, I had better pick it up somewhere. Pretty darn good recommendation, I would say.

The story begins with a stranger standing in the dark outside of Meggie's bedroom window. She runs to get her father, who happens to know this shady character, and the journey begins. Seems that Mo has has such a magical voice that you can actually see, smell and feel the story that he is reading out loud. Turns out that he has a special talent for reading people and things OUT of their stories, which is why Meggie can't ever remember him reading aloud to her. Nine years before, Meggie's mom disappeared into a story when Mo accidentally read the villain Capricorn, his henchman, Basta and fireeater Dustfinger out of a story. Ever since that day, Capricorn and his followers have terrorized the countryside, though they seem to keep under the law somehow. Now Dustfinger has reappeared looking for the final copy of the book Inkheart, so that possibly Mo can read him back into that old life. Capricorn has grown to like this life and has other evil plans concerning his story. What can Meggie do to save her father from his evil clutches? Is there anyway to find her lost mother in that other story land?

This book is a thick one, but a really fast read, mostly because it keeps you on your toes, wanting to know what is coming next. I finished it last night and keep thinking that I need to head to the bookstore for the next one, Inkspell. Thank you, Stacey, for the good recommendation, though I don't quite think it's the best book I've EVER read. There's way to many wonderful books out there for that...

The Widow of the South

2009-04-21T18:33:00.001-07:00

'Prologue
1894

Down the rows of the dead they came. Neat, orderly rows of dead rebel boys who thirty years before had either dropped at the foot of earthen works a mile or so away or died on the floors of the big house overlooking the cemetery. Now there were stone markers, but for so many years there had been only wooden boards, weathered and warped, and tall posts proclaiming the numbers of the dead.'

This is the first paragraph of Widow of the South written by Robert Hicks. This is an incredibly moving book that really opens your eyes to the horrors of the civil war. Based, and very well-researched, on a true story, The Widow of the South tells the story of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. The battle at Franklin, Tennessee raged for just 5 hours, but when the smoke cleared there were 9,200 casualties in a field just outside the town of 2,500. Carrie McGavock's plantation home was turned into a makeshift hospital where Carrie and her slave and friend, Mariah, worked tirelessly for days on end to save the wounded men who covered every inch of her house and yards. Two Confederate doctors worked away in the surgery upstairs, tossing amputated limbs out the window until a huge pile had grown. The story continues even after the men are gone and a bit of normalcy begins to take it's place. For Carrie, the war still rages on and she will tirelessly write letters to the dead men's families, so that they may know what has happened to their loved ones. The field where the battle raged and the men fell has also become their graveyard, so when, a few years later, the man who owns the field threatens to plow it over to plant crops, Carrie works to bring the men home to her plantation and several acres that her and her husband have set aside to become a cemetery for those lost men.
This is such a compelling story, written so well and with so much emotion. It will haunt your days until you finish the last page. Beautifully written and so full of history that it is very hard to put down. I know want to visit Carnton Plantation and the cemetery that Carrie worked so hard to preserve.

The Lollipop Shoes

2009-04-06T12:27:00.001-07:00

(Originally uploaded here )

Wednesday, 31st October
Dia de los Muertos
It is a relatively little-known fact that, over the course of a single year, about twenty million letters are delivered to the dead. People forget to stop the mail - those grieving widows and prospective heirs - and so magazine subscriptions remain uncancelled; distant friends unnotified; library fines unpaid. That's twenty million circulars, bank statements, credit cards, love letters, junk mail, greetings, gossip and bills, dropping daily on to doormats or parquet floors, thrust casually through railings, wedged into letter-boxes, accumulating in stairwells, left unwanted on porches and steps, never to reach their addressee. The dead don't care. More importantly, neither do the living. The living just follow their petty concerns, quite unaware that very close by, a miracle is taking place. The dead are coming back to life.

This is the first paragraph of The Lollipop Shoes, the sequel to Chocolat written by Joanne Harris.

Vianne Rocher now goes by the name of Yanne, trying to create a "normal" environment for her two daughters, Annie and Rosette. She know longer uses magic charms to add sparkle to their worlds, the wind isn't blowing them back and forth and Yanne is soon to marry Theirry, the older pompous landlord of her Parisian Chocolate shop. Soon a new friendship blossoms for Yanne and her daughters with the vivacious Zozie de L'Alba, who blows into their shop bringing sparkle and laughter and wearing the fabulous lollipop shoes that catch Annie's (Anouk) eye. But Zozie has her own brand of magic and a dark and devious nature that threatens to tear this little family apart.

This is a very good read, especially for anyone who loved Chocolat. It's almost a thriller, full of magic, deception and even a bit of evil. A fast read that you won't be able to put down. I bought my copy in a little book store in Red Lodge, Montana. I found it in their used book section and when I brought it up front, the shopkeeper couldn't find it anywhere in his computer program. He finally found it, but the program told him that this particular printing had never gone to press. Hmmmm....very interesting. A bit of magic for me, wouldn't you say? I've googled it myself have not found the same cover so far, but have found that "The Lollipop Shoes" is the title of the UK version and in the US it was published under the title of "The Girl Without A Shadow". Again, interesting...

Fall On Your Knees

2009-02-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

They're all dead now.

Here's a picture of the town where they lived. New Waterford. It's a night bright with the moon. Imagine you are looking down from the height of a church steeple, onto the vivid gradations of light and shadow that make the picture. A small mining town near cutaway cliffs that curve over narrow rock beaches below, where the silver sea rolls and rolls, flattering the moon. Not many trees, thin grass. The silhouette of a colliery, iron tower against a slim pewter sky with cables and supports sloping at forty-five-degree angles to the ground. Railway tracks that stretch only a short distance from the base of a gorgeous high slant of glinting coal, toward an archway in the earth where the tracks slope in and down and disappear. And spreading away from the collieries and coal heaps are the peaked roofs of the miners' houses built row on row by the coal company. Company houses. Company town.

Look down over the street where they lived. Water Street. An avenue of packed dust and scattered stones that leads out past the edge of town to where the wide, keeling graveyard overlooks the ocean. That sighing sound is just the sea.

These are the first few paragraphs of the incredible novel Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. I've had this book on my shelf for a while now and pulled it off to fit the "body part" category of the What's In a Name Challenge and so glad I did.

Dark and disturbing, but so well written and so real. I loved the multi generational part as you get to know the characters so well. There are so many different view points in this book that change the story and how the reader sees things as you look through the different characters eyes. The family drama and abuse are so real that I found myself almost reading with my hand over my eyes at times, just like watching a scary movie through your fingers, but this book isn't scary, only horrifying.
Even now, after I have turned the last page, I find myself still immersed in this family and thinking about these character. Haunting~

Blessed Are the Cheesemakers

2009-02-12T11:37:00.001-08:00

'The Princess Grace Memorial Blue sat on the table in front of Abbey, screaming to be eaten.'
This is the first paragraph of Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch.

Yolanda from The Mermaids Bookshelf sent me this book and I completely enjoyed it. Funny and quirky, it's a quick read and a lot of fun. The story is set in Ireland at a farm of two old Irish cheesemakers who employ singing milkmaids. The cows give their best milk to these young pregnant girls to the sounds of The Sound of Music. As in all good stories, there are some family secrets and mysteries that unravel as the story moves along. Corrie's granddaughter, Abby, has been gone from the family farm for way to many years and what really happened to her grandmother? The story also takes us to New York City to meet Kit, a stockbroker who has had his share of tragedy as well. A little bit of magic, mystery, romance, cheesemaking and a whole lot of quirkiness make this one an enchanting read.

Night Over Water

2009-01-23T19:28:00.001-08:00

'It was the most romantic plane ever made.'

And so begins Ken Folletts NIGHT OVER WATER. I am a big Ken Follett fan, my favorite being PILLARS OF THE EARTH which I read long before Oprah ever put it on her list. When I signed up for this years What's In a Name Challenge , it didn't take me long to decide that this was the book I would read for the "Time of Day" category. It was already on my shelf, just waiting to be read.
The story starts off in England, at the dock at Southhampton where people are gathered to watch the approach and water landing of the Clipper, a PanAmerican Boeing 314 passenger plane. The plane was what they called a flying boat, splashing down in the water instead of using a long landing strip. It was a luxury airliner, carrying only the wealthiest of passengers. It is September of 1939 and England has just entered the war with Nazi Germany. The passengers of this final flight of the Clipper,(due to the war), are all, for their own reasons, fleeing their country and the war. Aboard are the weathly Oxenford family. Lord Oxenford is a Facist and will be thrown in jail if he chooses to stay in Englund. His wife is from Connecticut, so they are headed to America to stay with her family for the duration of the war. Their children, Margaret and Percy, do not agree with their fathers beliefs and will do anything to get out from under his oppression and dictatorship. Harry Marks is a young lad of questionable means, but very charming, and has his eye on the upperclasses jewels. Diana Lovesey and her American lover, Mark are headed to a new life, with Diana's husband, Mervyen in hot pursuit. Eddie Deacon is the plane's engineer who is being blackmailed by a gang of thugs who have his wife held captive. Tom Luther is on board and part of the blackmailing, but Eddie hasn't quite figured out what their reasons are. Carl Hartmann is a Jewish scientist, who has been exiled from his country and is fleeing for his life.
Follett's story takes place almost entirely during the 27 hour flight across the Atlantic. It reads like a good movie with plenty of violence, intrigue and betrayal. I very much enjoyed this book, but do have to say that of Follett's work, it is probably my least favorite. Most of his work is full of history, but in this one he is really just telling a story, which is not a bad thing at all.

Happy Reading!

The Story of Doctor Doolittle

2009-01-11T15:44:00.001-08:00

'Once upon a time, many years ago - when our grandfathers were little children - there was a doctor; and his name was Dolittle - John Dolittle, M.D. "M.D." means that he was a proper doctor and knew a whole lot.
He lived in a little town called, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. All the folks, young and old, knew him well by sight. And whenever he walked down the street in his high hat everyone would say, "There goes the Doctor!-He's one clever man." And the dogs and the children would all run up and follow behind him; and even the crows that lived in the church-tower would caw and nod their heads.'

This is the beginning of The Story of Doctor Dolittle written by Hugh Lofting. My edition was published in 1948 and given to me by my sister last summer, along with another book in the Dolittle series. She knows that I have a love for the old hardback classics whether they be young readers or adult novels.
I read this book for the What's In a Name 2 book challenge. It fit rather nicely right into the book with a profession in it's title category.
Until my sister gave me these books, I had never even considered reading Doctor Dolittle, but now I'm glad I have. They are really fun stories, full of the adventures of the Doctor who can speak to animals. When the story begins, Doctor Dolittle is a very good people doctor who has many pets. His parrot, Polynesia, begins to teach him all the animal languages of the world. His office is in his house and as he acquires more and more pets, he starts loosing his clients until he has none left and becomes very poor. Polynesia suggests that the good doctor become an animal doctor since he can communicate with them so well. He takes her advice and soon becomes the best animal doctor around, with more and more animals wanting to live with him until a crocodile takes up residence in his goldfish pond. Now the farmers and little old ladies no longer want to bring their pets and farm-stock as they are afraid that the crocodile will eat them up, so the Doctor is once again without patients and very very poor again. This starts his adventures in the open-ocean, that includes pirates and monkeys. It's a very fun story, one I'm glad that this challenge prompted me to take off of my shelves and read.

Happy reading to you!

A Clearing In the Wild

2009-01-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

'Some say that love's enough to stave off suffering and loss, but I would disagree. Quietly, of course. Words of dissent aren't welcome in our colony, especially words from women. I should have learned these lessons-about dissent and love-early on before I turned eighteen. But teachings about spirit and kinship require repetition before becoming threads strong enough to weave into life's fabric, strong enough to overcome the weaker strains of human nature. It was a strenght I found I'd need one day to face what love could not stave off.'
First paragraph in A Clearing in the Wild by Jane Kirkpatrick

This is the story of Emma Wagner Geisy, a young wife in the mid 1800's who has been raised in a communal colony in Bethel, Missouri. Emma has married an older man, a pillar of the colony, against their leaders wishes. The leader chooses to send Emma's husband, Christian, off as the leader of the scouts to find a new God-chosen place to move their colony, away from worldly ways. Ever defiant Emma is sent along to Oregon territory as punishement for her outspoken ways. The scout troop settles in what is now Washington state, making way for the rest of the colony to arrive. Emma becomes her own person during this journey, learning to support her husband along the way.
Jane Kirkpatrick has taken real people and with the gift of a wonderful storyteller, brought them to life again in a way that their stories will not be forgotten. She is absolutely one of my all-time favorite authors and I will definately be running to the bookstore for the 2nd and 3rd novels in this Change and Cherish series.

This story takes place right across the Columbia River from our home. One of my favorite passages in the book is about our crazy coastal winters. Here Emma is trying to convince her husband to stay in the land they have chosen:

'"It isn't disloyal to follow your heart," I said. "Karl didn't go with Wilhelm to Portland because he believes there is something here worth staying for. Everything about it here, except the rainy winters, is an Eden. We'd appreciate the blooms and beauty less if we had nothing to contrast it with, and therein lies the joy of the rainy winter months, the dark heavy clouds that shadow our days and promise sunshine in due time. I never thought I'd say such a thing, but I mean it, Christian. I do."

What's In a Name Challenge 2

2008-11-30T21:26:00.000-08:00

Here's my list for the What's in a Name Challenge 2. I had all of these on my shelf and didn't have to buy a single book for this challenge. That tickled me to death!

1. A book with a "profession" in its title. ~ The Story of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting(1948 Hardback version)

2. A book with a "time of day" in its title. ~ Night Over Water by Ken Follett

3. A book with a "relative" in its title. ~ Daughter of Fortune

4. A book with a "body part" in its title. ~ Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald

5. A book with a "building" in its title. ~ The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

6. A book with a "medical condition" in its title. ~ A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

It's really fun to go through your stacks and find books that meet the criteria of the challenge. Can't wait to get started, but must wait until January 1.

2008 Back To History Challenge

2008-11-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

Good Grief!! I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on this blog. I've been reading since July - I really have. Can't remember what all I've read but I'm going to try to list some of the Back to History Challenge books that I've read but not done a post on. I think I've read the twelve we were supposed to, although I know I haven't stuck to my original list very well (or at all!)

9) The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (Really Good!)
10)Little Britches: My Father and I were Ranchers by Ralph Moody (another good one)
11)Judge Sewall's Apology - The Salem Witch Trials by Richard Francis (good, interesting, only a little dry)

Dang. I can't remember. Going to have to go and look through my read stack...

Ah, I remember now, even though it's no longer in my stack since I've passed it on already...

12)Washington's Lady . Another about Martha Washington and Very Good!

Yeah, challenge completed.

Now I'm going to participate in the second year of What's In a Name. I'll post my list soon....
Happy Reading!

Mount Vernon Love Story

2008-07-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

"March 4, 1797
11:45 A.M.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
It was a windswept, raw March morning and the city looked bleak and dreary as it shivered under the overcast sky. But the man who stood at the window of his study in the large house on Market Street didn't hear the rattling of the wind against the panes or even feel the persistant draft that penetrated between the window frame and sill. He was staring unseeingly into the street."
First paragraph of Mount Vernon Love Story by Mary Higgins Clark

I read this as my 8th book for the Back To History reading challenge and really enjoyed it. This was Mary Higgins Clarks first book, written long before her fame as a murder mystery writer and published afterwards. It is written very well, really gave me so much more information on this first family then I was ever aware of and reads like a good story.
Two thumbs up!

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith

2008-07-02T22:21:00.001-07:00

"Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York. Especially in the summer of 1912. Somber, as a word, was better. But it did not apply to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Prairie was lovely and Shenandoah had a beautiful sound, but you couldn't fit those words into Brooklyn. Serene was the only word for it; especially on a Saturday afternoon in summer."

I've had this book on my shelf for several years now and the What's In A Name challenge gave me the push I needed to read it, fulfilling the Place category. What a fun, sweet and light read. I absolutely loved it. The version I have is not the one pictured, but a hardback Reader's Digest version that came with a paper insert flyer about the author. This was Betty Smith's first novel and it is autobiographical. Betty grew up in a tenement house in Brooklyn, eldest daughter to German immigrants, with a Chinese sumac tree growing outside of her window. At age 11, two of Betty's poems were published in a local newspaper. Her father died the next year and Betty had to quit school to work and help support her family. We read about those jobs in Betty's novel. Just like in the book, Betty was accepted into the University of Michigan's writing course without her high school diploma. There she met and fell in love with law student, George Smith. In 1938, Betty had two kids and was divorced, but continued to write, starting A Tree Grows In Brooklyn in 1939 and finally getting it published in 1943 to great success. Betty also wrote three other, much lesser known, novels.

From Amazon.com:
"Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive. Betty Smith's poignant, honest novel created a big stir when it was first published over 50 years ago. Her frank writing about life's squalor was alarming to some of the more genteel society, but the book's humor and pathos ensured its place in the realm of classics--and in the hearts of readers, young and old. (Ages 10 and older) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. "

The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank

2008-07-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

"Sunday, 14 June, 1942
On Friday, June 12th, I woke up at six o'clock and no wonder; it was my birthday. But of course I was not allowed to get up at that hour, so I had to control my curiosity until a quarter to seven. Then I could bear it no longer, and went to the dining room, where I received a warm welcome from Moortje (the cat)."

The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank is the 7th book that I have read for the Back To History Challenge. Again, this is a book that I would have sworn I read in school, but it must have just been pieces and parts because I know now that I have never read the full book before.

Anne's diary opens on June 14, 1942, just two days after her 13th birthday. She recieved a blank diary as one gift for this momentus birthday as well as a fun birthday party with her friends. Anne and her Jewish family live in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during WWII and within just a few short weeks of her first diary entry find themselves in hiding with a second family, and a middle-aged dentist that joins them shortly. Anne is in many ways a typical teenager, hating her mother, jealous of her sister, with very scathing remarks about the others around her. At anytime it would be hard to live in such close proximity to 7 other people. In war time it would be almost unbearable ~ not being able to go out of doors, not having enough to eat, outgrowing your clothes and having no private space of your own, amongst many other complaints. The residents of the Secret Annexe had to spend much of their days making absolutely no sound so as to not get caught. What a hard life. Anne's wisdom and belief that all would turn out good in the end are amazing under such circumstances. Don't get me wrong, she most certainly fussed and fumed about all sorts of issues in her diary, but she was also a very remarkable writer for her age. I think anyone who reads Anne's diary eye's will be opened to the horrors that so many people faced during those horrible years. This is a book each and every one of us should read, so that we never ever forget.
Thank you, Anne...

Luscious Berry Desserts

2008-05-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

Both my husband and I love to cook, sometimes fighting over whose turn it is in the kitchen. You can often hear a voice raised in mock anger in our house, "Get out of MY kitchen!", and an arm pointing straight and strong to the other room. Just leave, go, I'M cooking today. Our kitchen is fairly small so it's not often that we squeeze around, doing the kitchen dance to cook together. Riff is the breakfast king and I generally always bow to him when breakfast is in the works, but I am the baking queen, standing tall over my domain. Anyway, (I'm getting away from my point here), I was tickled to death when I saw the post on Ex Libris site for the Soup's On Challenge. Oh, what fun! Another reason to pull out a few of my cookbook's, read them from cover to cover, and maybe add a couple of new one's to the mix. Wa-hoo! I joined right up. Next stop was Powell Books in Portland where I picked up Luscious Berry Desserts. I thought this one was really appropriate for us here in the Pacific Northwest with our abundance of berries and I was not disappointed. Mmmmm....you should see some of these recipe's. Delicious!

Being early spring, Strawberries are starting to be available in our local grocery stores so the first recipe I picked is Roasted Strawberry Shortcakes with Vanilla-Scented Biscuits. I had never roasted strawberries before, but they turned out so good. The roasting just inhances the sweet juicy flavor. And those vanilla-scented biscuits? Yum! You need to serve them warm, just as the recipe says, and they don't keep well, so gobble them all right away. I took pictures, but they came out dark and blurry, so I don't have a visual for you today.

Roasted Strawberry Shortcake with Vanilla-Scented Biscuits
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tblsp. granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
1 tblsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream, plus additional cream or milk for brushing
2 tsp. pure vanilla paste or vanilla extract
2 pints small ripe strawberries, hulled
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tblsp. confectioner's sugar

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 425 F. Butter a large baking sheet.

Step 2: Whisk together the flour, the 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, the baking powder, and the salt in a medium bowl.

Step 3: Beat 1 cup of the cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large deep bowl just until it holds soft peaks when the beaters are lifted. Beat in the vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the whipped cream, and stir the mixture with a fork just until it begins to form a dough.

Step 4: On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough several times, just until it is well combined. Pat it out to 1/2 inch thick. With a 3-inch cutter, crinkle-edged if you have one, cut out 6 rounds; gather the scraps together and pat them out again if necessary. Brush the biscuits with cream and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Place on the baking sheet.

Step 5: Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on the pan on a wire rack. Increase the oven temperature to 450.

Step 6: Meanwhile, toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Transfer to a baking sheet with sides. When the biscuits are out of the oven, roast the strawberries, stirring twice, for about 12 minutes, until soft and fragrant.

Step 7: Just before serving, beat together the remaining 1/2 cup cream, the sour cream, and confectioners' sugar with an electric mixer on medium sped in a large bowl until the cream forms soft peaks when the beaters are lifted.

Step 8: Split each biscuit with a fork and place the bottom halves on 6 serving plates. Spoon a generous portion of warm berries over each one, add a dollop of the cream, add the tops, and drizzle with the juices on the baking sheet. Serve immediately.

You're going to love these!

There's a long introduction in this cookbook where the author talks about her love of berries. Really fun to read. A great cookbook for any berry lovers shelves.

'One of my most memorable mornings ever was picking strawberries with my friend Barbara on a warm summer day in Maine. We literally lay down among the berries, picked dozens, and ate more. We were giddy and exhilarated at the thought of actually getting all the strawberries we wanted, and slightly guilty at the pleasure.'
Lori Longbotham

Across Five Aprils

2008-05-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

'Ellen Creighton and her nine-year-old son, Jethro, were planting potatoes in the half-acre just south of their cabin that morning in mid-April 1861; they were out in the field as soon as breakfast was over, and southern Illinois at that hour was pink with sunrise and swelling redbud and clusters of bloom over the apple orchard across the road. Jethro walked on the warm clods of plowed earth and felt them crumble beneath his feet as he helped his mother carry the tub of potato cuttings they had prepared the night before.'
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt

Read as my 6th book for the Back to History Challenge.

Across Five Aprils is a book that our 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Pawlson, read aloud to us. I don't remember actually paying attention to it then, but I have just read it for myself many years later and found it a very good read. As the story opens, Jethro Creighton is a 9 year old boy living on his families farm in southern Illinois. The civil war is starting and there is much heated discussion around the dinner table of right and wrong. All of Jethro's older brothers end up going off to war and the only news is the occasional letter and accounts of battles written in the local newspapers. Five years pass, with Jethro having to take on the farm work at any early age. The story touches on brothers fighting on both sides of the war, desertion, death and politics. It hit home to me with one passage how times have not changed so much in the way that we think and talk about the leader of our country. Read on:

'Ed Turner wiped the sweat from his eyes with an angry gesture. "I got no use for McClellan. I don't know what Ol' Abe means - tuckerin' to him like he was some little sawed-off king."
Then Tom Marin from Rose Hill spoke up. "If you ask my opinion of McClellan, I'll tell you I don't think he WANTS to win. I don't think he's EVER really goin' to move in on the Rebs, because their way of thinkin' is his way of thinkin'."
"Oh, I reckon he ain't THAT low. Ol' Abe must not be quite that pore in pickin' his head men," Israel Thomas objected.
"Maybe Ol' Abe aint' losin' HIS breath to lick the Rebs either - did ye ever think of that? Why is it he ain't freed the slaves? Is he afeared of hurtin' the feelin's of some of his woman's kinfolk down in Kaintuck? Why does he put up with this no-account that's runnin' the Army of the Potomac? Does he LIKE seein' Bobby Lee run over us? I got a lot of questions about Ol' Abe that I'd like an answer to."
"Youre doubts ain't goin' to make me down on Ol' Abe, Tom," Israel Thomas answered angrily. "Things is tough right now, but this war is a big thing. It's middlin' easy fer us farmers and the big editors and the abolitionist preachers to run the job of bein' president. Ol' Abe is doin' all he KIN do, I say, and I'm fer him - all the way."'
Sound familiar?

I was really interested to find in the author's notes that this is the story of her Grandfather, written years after he passed away. A very good read told from the viewpoint of a young boy left to take care of the farm while the fighting raged around him.

I remember this same teacher reading us Up a Road Slowly by this author as well. I think I'm going to head over to Amazon and find it...

The Shape-Changers Wife

2008-04-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

'Until Aubrey arrived in the village to study with Glyrenden, he had no idea that the great wizard had taken a wife. At the time, drinking an ale in the warm, lightless tavern which was situated at the very center of town (in fact, the heart of the small community), he did not think it mattered one way or the other. Nonetheless, he was surprised. From what old Cyril had told him, Glyrenden did not seem like the kind of man disposed toward the softer passions. But then, it was obvious Cyril did not like the court magician, and perhaps his unflattering words could be traced to professional jealousy.'
First paragraph of The Shape-Changers Wife by Sharon Shinn

This is a fairy-tale story about Aubrey, a young magician sent to study with the cruel wizard, Glyrenden. Warned by his former mentor to always be on gaurd around Glyrenden, Aubrey enjoys his first months at the dusty strange castle, especially his time spent with the shape-changers wife, Lilith. But there is something very strange about the inhabitants of the castle, including Lilith. Can Aubrey unlock their secrets? A fun little magical read that I think should be in the young readers category. This one isn't as predictable as so many other fairy tales, so was quite enjoyable.

"But magic, I have discovered, is like any skill. It is not inherently good in itself. And some of it - yes, some of it is inherently evil. There are wicked spells, savage spells, enchantments that are so black that even to know them withers the heart a little, taints the soul. And yet to be a great magician, to be a sorcerer of any ability or renown, those spells must be learned as well. For if a magician does not know them, they can be used against him - and what is magic, after all, but a man's power to change the world while it is incapable of changing him?"

Snow Falling On Cedars

2008-04-19T23:42:00.001-07:00

'The accused man, Kabuo Miyamoto, sat proudly upright with a rigid grace, his palms placed softly on the defendant's table - the posture of a man who has detached himself insofar as this is possible at his own trial. Some in the gallery would later say that his stillness suggested a disdain for the proceedings; others felt certain it veiled a fear of the verdict that was to come. Whichever it was, Kabuo showed nothing - not even a flicker of the eyes. He was dressed in a white shirt worn buttoned to the throat and gray, neatly pressed trousers. His figure, especially the neck and shoulders, communicated the impression of irrefutable physical strength and of precise, even imperial bearing. Kabuo's features were smooth and angular; his hair had been cropped close to his skull in a manner that made its musculature prominent. In the face of the charge that had been leveled against him he sat with his dark eyes trained straight ahead and did not appear moved at all.'
First paragraph of Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson

I read this book as part of two different challenges. The first being the What's In a Name Challenge for the plant category and the second being my 5th book for the Back to History Challenge .

What an excellent read, emotional on so many different levels. The author writes so well that you can smell the musty ancient cedar forests as the rain drips onto the ferns. The warm sun beats down on us as we squat with the characters to pick juicy red strawberries from the local fields. This novel takes us to San Piedro Island in the Puget Sound of Washington State for a murder trial in 1954. Kabuo Miyamota, a gill-netter of Japanese descent stands accused of the murder of fellow fisherman and childhood friend, Carl Heine. Carl has been found dead in his own nets with a blow to the head. To understand why Kabuo is accused of this horrific crime we must go back in time to the days of their boyhood and the townsfolk around them. The story is narrated by Ishmael Chambers, the local newspaper man who also grew-up on the island beside the two other men. Ishmael had a long standing first romance with Hatsue Imada, who is now the accused man's wife, so this is also a tale of forbidden interracial love that ends abruptly when Pearl Harbor is bombed and the Japanese-Americans from the island are sent to interment camps in Montana and California.
Many of the local boys join the service, including those of Japanese descent, to defend our country. On returning, things have changed. The war has left many scars behind, both visible and invisible.
This is a novel of murder, mystery, racism, world war II, interment camps and forbidden romance. One that I will keep on my shelves and recommend many to read. Very, very good.

'One hour later, inside the cedar tree, she brought this matter up with Ishmael. "We've known each other forever," she said. "I can hardly remember not knowing you. It's hard to remember the days before you. I don't even know if there were any."'

Book Lovers Mail

2008-04-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

JenClair over at A Garden Carried in the Pocket , was getting rid of some of her stash and I was the lucky winner of last weeks giveaway. Wa-hoo! I'll be reading The Shape-Changer's Wife really soon. It's next on my stack ~ moved it right to the top.

Thanks, Jen!

The Mistress of Spices

2008-04-14T15:07:00.001-07:00

The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
'I am a Mistress of Spices.
I can work the others too. Mineral, metal, earth and sand and stone. The gems with their cold clear light. The liguids that burn their hues into your eyes till you see nothing else. I learned them all on the island.
But the spices are my love.
I know their origins, and what their colors signify, and their smells. I can call each by the true-name it was given at the first, when earth split like skin and offered it up to the sky. Their heat runs in my blood. From amchur to zafran, they bow to my command. At a whisper they yield up to me their hidden properties, their magic powers.'

This book is a magical fable, written in a very poetic prose. It tells the story of Tilo, a girl born in India with the sight of a seer. This very power gets her kidnapped by pirates and eventually leads her to a magical island where she is taught the mystery of the spices and by the Old One. Once her education is complete, Tilo is made immortal and sent through time to an Indian spice shop in Oakland, California, in the body of an old woman. Here she administers the spices as a balm and healer for her customers. As a Mistress, there are many rules that Tilo must follow in order to stay in the good graces of the spices, but life and love call and Tilo finds herself breaking these rules.
This was a fun read, one of magic and mystery, that I did enjoy, but will probably not keep on my shelves to read again later.

'We are laughing but there is a raw edge to it, a laugh that knows how easily it could have turned to weeping. A laugh like this, when you share it, loosens the knots in the heart.'

I'm now off to spend sometime on San Peidre Island off the Washington Coast, beginning in 1942...

Drums of Autumn

2008-04-04T19:12:00.001-07:00

"I've never been afraid of ghosts. I live with them daily, after all. When I look in a mirror, my mother's eyes look back at me; my mouth curls with the smile that lured my great-grandfather to the fate that was me."
First paragraph of Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

I read Drums of Autumn as my 4th book for the Back To History Challenge , jumping into this chunkster with both feet, not realizing that it was actually the 4th in the "Outlander" series. For some reason when I picked it up, I thought I was going to be immersed in the civil war. I was completely wrong. This book is set in Pre-Revolutionary America and is a continuing time travel saga. I hadn't read the first 3 in the series, so know that there are things that I missed and somethings that I didn't quite know what had happened, but for the most part it read very well as a stand-alone book. The author did a good job of filling in details from the former novels.
A story of timeless love and adventure. Claire is a 20th century doctor who somehow (in the first novel) has traveled through time via an ancient stone circle in modern day Scotland. There she meets and falls in love with Jamie, an 18th century Scottish Highlander. Fast forward 20 or so years to our novel, where Claire and Jamie are living in 1770's North Carolina and their daughter, Briana is in 20th century Boston. Claire had traveled back through the circles while pregnant with Briana during the Scottish uprisings, given birth and raised her in modern day America. Claire has since re-joined Jamie in the 18th century and left Briana, a grown woman, to her own devises. Briana and her boyfriend, Roger, come across an old document that tells them that Briana's parents died prematurely in a fire, so Briana, unknown to Roger, heads through the circles to find her parents and try to change history. Roger figures out what she has done and follows her into the past. Much adventure follows.
It really was a good book and held my attention well, through most of the 1070 pages. At the end I was ready to be done and move on to the next book on my shelves. I did enjoy this one, but will probably not read the others in the series, though the reviews that I checked out on Amazon are all very positive.

I'm off now to San Francisco to spend a little time with the Mistress of the Spices...

Heidi

2008-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

'From the old and pleasantly situated village of Mayenfeld, a footpath winds through green and shady meadows to the foot of the mountains, which on this side look down from their stern and lofty heights upon the valley below. The land grows gradually wilder as the path ascends, and the climber has not gone far before he begins to inhale the fragrance of the short grass and sturdy mountain-plants, for the way is steep and leads directly up to the summits above.'
The first paraghraph from Heidi by Johanna Spyri
My copy is a Rainbow Classics edition published in 1946 by The World Publishing Company

I had not read Heidi since I was young and don't honestly think that I had ever read the full book, just an abridged version. Heidi is a classic and should be on the shelve of any classic lover. I really enjoyed my re-visit to the Swiss Alps and romping with Heidi, Peter and the goats through the mountain meadows. I felt sad for the little girl who was taken away to the city and rejoiced for her when she was allowed to return to her mountain home.
A wonderful book!

Mr. and Mrs. Cugat: The Record of a Happy Marriage

2008-02-29T17:25:00.001-08:00

"Mr. Cugat was a little older than Mrs. Cugat, so that there had been a period of several years during which he, full-fledged and out in the world, sportively tried his wings while she pounded the playing fields of Westover."
Written by Isabel Scott Rorick. First published in 1940 ~

This was an enjoyable book. Quite the little comedy that takes us through some very comical times in the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cugat. The chapters are each named for a part of the wedding vows, the first chapter being called "...forsaking all others..." In this chapter the newlyweds are invited to a party because Mr. Cugat's ex-girlfriend will be there and would love to see him. Mrs. Cugats jealousy overtakes her (as it should!) and the story reads reminiscent of a I Love Lucy episode. The book was fun and quick, but not one that I will read over again. This edition did have some very cute illustrations to go along with the story.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

2008-02-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

"Let us begin with two girls at a dance."
Written by Maggie O'Farrell

I really enjoyed this book ~ when I had to put it down it was on my mind until I could pick it back up again. The story is told of two sisters, one growing up "proper", the other being a bit of a rebel, in the days when a Father could decide that it was in a girls best interest to put her in an asylumn for awhile. In this case Esme was left there, virtually forgotten, for over 60 years until the institution was closing down and the nearest relative had to be contacted. From here, we go 60 years into the past, to a world of family secrets and lies. A wonderful book, one that I'll keep on my shelf for some time to come.

The President's Lady

2008-02-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

The President's Lady by Irving Stone is the 3rd book that I have read for the Back To History Challenge and I absolutely LOVED it. This was a book that I just couldn't put down and found myself thinking about during the day. It is a biographical novel, written in 1951, about the lives of Rachel and Andrew Jackson, told from Rachel's viewpoint. The author took great pains to research the Jacksons lives, thus the story is authentic, yet not at all boring. It does not read like a documentary but like a good story.

Rachel and Andrew met at her family plantation just outside of present day Nashville. Rachel was married but living back home because her insanely jealous and mentally abusive husband had turned her out, denouncing her and sending for her family to take her home. Andrew was a young lawyer who lived in one of the family cabins while building his practice. Rachel tryed, time and time again to reconcile with her husband, who would be repentant, wanting her back only to accuse her of the same flirtations once again, sending her back home. When word came that Rachels husband had secured a divorce, the first in the territory, Rachel and Andrew married. Two years later it came to light that the divorce was never granted. It was finally finished, with Rachel being accused of adultery because of the two years that the Jacksons lived as husband and wife. A second wedding ceremony took place immediately, but those two years would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Rachel was shunned by the vindictive town women, who thought she wasn't good enough to join their little clubs. Andrew was away from home more than half of their marriage, serving on the sentate, running for office or fighting in the war, so Rachel spent her time running their plantation, The Hermitage, and caring for any sick neighbors, her support and love for her husband never failing.

She was a remarkably strong woman in many ways. I found that I really liked Rachel Jackson. The author did a fantastic job of bringing her personality and who she was through in his writing. I sympathized with her, cried with her, hurt for her. What a wonderful historical novel.

I've had this book in my stacks for a couple of years now, picked it up at a thrift shop, but don't know when I ever would have gotten to it if it wasn't for this challenge. So glad I was prompted to read it. I've just heard that there was a movie made and now I'm on the hunt to find it...