Novels Now

Two Generals by Scott Chantler
Pages: 243
Ages: Adult (but easily a YA crossover)
First Published: Oct. 26, 2010
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Rating: 5/5

“I-is that you, Lieutenant?”

Reason for Reading: I love reading journals,memoirs and books based on them.

Wow! That one word could some up my complete review. Wow to the story! Wow to the graphics! Wow to the physical book itself!

Let’s start with the book. The top and bottom halves are faux leather-look, the corners are rounded on the board and the pages. The pages are a nice thick quality paper and the book virtually looks like a moleskin journal. It even has an elastic band to hold it together. Beautiful book to behold!

The story is centred on the true life WW II experiences of the author’s grandfather Lew Chantler and his best friend Jack. Little did they know it but they would end up being in the famous attack on the beaches of Normandy and be the Canadian division who recaptured Caen, France and ultimately ended up in the battle at Buron. The book spends plenty of time describing their training in England and life for the soldier not on active duty there before the meat of the story switches over to the Invasion at Normandy and the horrors of war. Examine the horror and tragedy of war the book certainly does while still recognizing the bravery and honour of the men who fought and those who died for their country. Taken up to the leadership level of majors, presidents, kings and those who plan the war, irony can often be found in Chantler’s book. This is also the story of the bond of friendship and how one doesn’t know how strong a friendship is until it is put to the test of a hardship.

The artwork is fantastic. The majority of the work is done in b/w drawing with one colour added and for the majority of the book that colour is khaki, obviously representing the army, but whenever a scene that mentions the upcoming war or its possible dangers a bit of red is added which provides an unsettling contrast. As the scenes become more dangerous the khaki is left behind and red becomes the one colour in each frame, easily representing war. But when it comes to the most barbaric scenes in the middle of battle with limbs flying and death everywhere, the scheme turns to red and a light terracotta colour and these colours clearly represent death and horror.

The author wrote his story using as source material, his grandfather’s journal, letter’s to his wife and letter’s received by him from others. Chantler was also able to track down some remaining survivors/or their families who could help him with other source materials. A brutal yet compelling story of war. One that shows the horrors of war but also shows the bravery of those who fought and the respect we owe them. Scott Chantler has done his late grandfather proud. A compelling piece of Canadian history from the point of view of one Canadian who served his country.

Call Me Russell by Russell Peters with Clayton Peters & Dannis Koromilas

Pages: 229
First Published: Oct. 26, 2010
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

When I was growing up, I hung out with mostly black kids, but every now and then, some white kid would come and hang out with us, and we’d be like, “Wow! A white kid! I’ve heard so much about you!”

Acquired: Received a review copy from Random House Canada.

Reason for Reading: I don’t usually read current celebrity’s (who are in the prime of their careers) memoirs but Russell Peters is a bit different. I think he’s the best Canadian stand-up comic out there; and he is 100% Canadian born and bred but if you’ve never heard of him and notice the book cover there you’ll notice he is also Indian. His humour is based on race and I thought his story would be interesting.

Russell Peters memoir didn’t disappoint my expectations. Some may be expecting a funny book, but this is not an extension of his act. Besides a couple of chapters beginning with a famous routine, the book is a straightforward narrative of Russell’s life experience so far. He has some funny stories to tell here and there, like when he was punk’d by the King of Jordan, but this is not a funny book in the way you might expect from a comic.

The most interesting part of this book is Russell’s childhood, which is the source of a lot of his material. His experience as a first generation Canadian to his immigrant Indian parents is as entertaining as I had expected. Russell even explains his particular cultural background of Catholic Anglo-Indian which he frequently refers to specifically and how it differs from other Indian heritages. He is proud of his race yet identifies as “Canadian”; he also identifies himself as Catholic but shows no signs of practicing. He recounts the racism he met growing up in the Canada of the 70’s and 80’s when the word “Paki” was used frequently as derogatory slang for anyone of brown colour from Indian/Arabian countries. (In fact, the word was so much a part of our culture that I admit to using it myself as a child/teenager, though never directed to a real-life person (as opposed to those on TV) as I lived in a completely white little town, with the only non-whites being the three Saudi Arabian doctors. However, personally I just thought the P- word (which is never used anymore in decent company) was a short form for Pakistani and I would correct anyone if they used it for someone I knew was from a different country, ie. our three doctors. I know, I was naive about those things.) The stories of his Dad who had more of a British accent than the Indian accent he uses in his act and his mom, who was a fair skinned Anglo-Indian who never really dealt with racism. People always thought she was what they were: Italian, Filipino, German, etc. I wish Peters had expanded on this part of his book and perhaps ended the book when he finally got his first big break in the US.

The next part of the book that lists the gigs at clubs and improvs, then theatres and eventually moving up to touring on the road, then making it in the US, touring around the world, making DVDs etc. could be educational I expect for other inspiring Canadian comics. But otherwise was quite boring for me, except for the stories Russell threw in that were funny. As Russell describes his lifestyle as an adult and a stand-up comic he is fairly candid, never going into any details, but still letting us know his lifestyle was the typical male star’s life of free women wherever he looked and he shows no shame or remorse for this part of his life though he does say he is engaged now (in fact married as of the writing of this review) and wants to settle down. I sure hope the girlfriend knew about all that before she read it in the book! There is language in the book, mostly dropping the f-bomb as if it were a common adjective and the sh- word, but this should be expected from anyone who knows his act which also contains adult language but not to the point of vulgarity, imho.

All in all, an interesting story of how a Canadian kid of immigrant background and a visible minority made it big using his race as the basis of his humour and making a connection with all races in the end. As he says in the book (to paraphrase) he has lots of people from different ethnicities coming up to him and saying they totally relate to his immigrant father, *their* dad was just like him, they too had an “Indian dad”. I can relate to this myself, having immigrant parents in the late 60’s, even if they only came from England. It was the mindset of those parents to give their children a better life in Canada (not to Australia: too far away, not to the US: the civil rights violence was going on) and they brought their old-world values with them. I can soooo relate to Peters’ famous “Beat Your Kids” routine which includes the “Somebody’s Gonna Get Hurt Real Bad”. I got quite a few of those “just in case” ones myself and my dad’s words of choice were “someone’s looking for a knuckle sandwich” or “someone’s cruisin’ for a bruisin’”. He added the humour but I knew enough to smarten up! I’m glad to have read the book, but I wish he had stuck to his pre-famous days, expanded on the stories of his childhood and his parents, saving the rest for when he was old & gray and had more to tell.

Warning, this has language! But is hilarious!

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim

Pages: 300 pages
First Published: June 15, 2010
Publisher: IT Books
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

I always envy people whose detailed memories extend back to the womb.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: I’m a big fan of LHOTP. I read Melissa Gilbert’s memoir and was anxious to find out more and very excited when I saw Alison had a book out.

Alison Arngrim’s narrative is a pleasure to read. Just by reading the title we get a glimpse of what kind of attitude we can expect to find inside the covers. Arngrim is also a stand-up comedienne and with that knowledge it explains the easy going narrative style full of humour that made this book such a fun read.

Alison starts by telling of her childhood, brought up in an unconventional family, and of her s*xual abuse by her older brother. The meat of the book, though, concerns her life growing up on the Prairie and she provides fans with what was so sadly lacking in Melissa Gilbert’s book. We get a behind the scenes look at the filming and the actors. Alison is funny and no holds barred without being catty or dishing dirt. Yes, she tells what people were really like, if they were generally not liked she says so. She has many funny and sometimes just strange anecdotes to relate about the seven years she played Nellie Oleson. I really appreciated her tone. She talked about every major character on the show, all the children, and the adults that Nellie would typically have scenes with. So unfortunately Mr. Edwards, one of my favourites, was only mentioned briefly in passing. I was thrilled that Alison spoke of Jonathan Gilbert frequently and so fondly since Melissa had reduced him to a few sentences in the middle of her book. Melissa Sue Anderson gets the short end of the stick as worst personality on the show. Mary was always my favourite and I was startled that Melissa mentioned her in passing only three times in her book. Alison refers to her many more times and while never being mean or nasty does relate many instances which let us know why she was not fond of her and she outs Gilbert’s opinions of her as well. I would love Melissa Sue’s view of this but apparently her book doesn’t address any of this and is getting bad reviews so I’m not sure if I’ll read it or not, at this point. The Little House cast were Arngrim’s family and when she left the show she felt a real sense of loss without them in her day-to-day life. She and Melissa Gilbert became great friends on the show and remain so to this day.

The memoir then ends up with Alison’s life after the Prairie. Going on to her activism for AIDS, her two marriages (the second which has been successful) and her determined and relentless campaign on changing the laws on incest which at the time gave those perpetrators a loophole of not having to do any prison time. This involved her having to go public with her abuse on the Larry King show in 2004.

A very satisfying read. I always have a nonfiction book on the go and usually read a chapter, perhaps two, at night before settling in to read my current novel. But Confessions was written in such an easy, fun, narrative style that I couldn’t put it down after two chapters and read it as quickly as a novel. A great insider’s peek behind the scenes of the filming and especially the personalities who made up The Little House on the Prairie.

Celtic Treasure: Unearthing the Riches of Celtic Spirituality by Liz Babbs

Pages: 80 pages
First Published: Sept 1, 2009
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

I keep a box of ‘treasures’ in my attic.

Reason for Reading: I am Catholic and am interested in the early Church, especially the Saints.

Well, honestly, I didn’t know what to expect from this book. What was Celtic Spirituality? Was it some new age thing or Christian? Upon opening the little book I was immediately met with Scripture and St. Patrick’s Breastplate along with stunning photography of Christian ruins from the 1st millenium in Ireland and Scotland. This is a lovely, hand-sized gift book printed on quality paper. A delight to read and look at. The book is about the history of the Celtic Christians in the first millennium and though it is never mentioned this is, in other words, the early history of the Catholic Church in Ireland and Scotland. Everything that is mentioned, the history, the saints, the prayers, the places, the way of life are all from the beginnings of the Church in this part of the world, when the Celts were converted to Christianity. The book is full of scripture and Saint’s prayer’s (my favourite part), and even quotes from C.S. Lewis and Chesterton. The author herself has written her own prayers and poems which are very nice and full of Christian love. A nice book.

When I was finished I googled one of the modern day communities mentioned in the book that practiced Celtic Spirituality, just to know what it was. It’s not something I’m interested in but I’m happy we share the same history. My church is decorated with Celtic crosses on it’s outside architecture as our patron saint is Saint Patrick and we have his Breastplate inside the church.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann

Pages: 334 pages
First Published: Mar. 9, 2010
Publisher: Doubleday
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Reporting, like detective work, is a process of elimination.

Reason for Reading: I loved David Grann’s debut book “The Lost City of Z” and really wanted to read this when I heard about it.

An extremely interesting book on a variety of different topics. A collection of previously published articles mainly from “The New Yorker” magazine, with three being from other magazines. These are investigative journalism where the author goes out to meet the people involved, shadow them as they go about their business, and interviews criminals in jail, in search of the truth behind a mystery that has never been solved or never quite to satisfaction or just why somebody would do what they do. It makes very fascinating reading. Each article gives a small one liner to let you know the topic of the article and to me personally, some of them I was eager to read, while others didn’t seem like they’d be my cup of tea.

However, out of the twelve stories there was only one I didn’t enjoy and that was one that was about a baseball player and the game. I don’t like sports and that story just had nothing else to offer so for me it was a dud. Otherwise, whether I initially thought the subject would interest me or not, I was fascinated with the remaining eleven articles. Even one which is about the old water tunnel system below New York City and the building of the third tunnel. Sounds like something engineering folks might like but I was fascinated with the history of the building of the tunnels which have been worked on since the early 1900s, the dangers, and the personal stories of the men who work down there, often generations of the same family. Other stories include the mysterious murder of a famous Sherlock Holmes scholar, a Frenchman who serially poses as orphaned teenage boys, trying to track down the truth of a man about to be executed for murdering his children who swears he is innocent, a man who was obsessed with capturing the first live giant squid, and the life story of a stick-up man who committed his last robbery at age 79 but who enjoyed escaping from prison more than committing the crimes, and so on.

The mysteries and murders I was immediately pulled into, knowing I’d enjoyed those stories. But even the first couple that made me wonder whether they’d be my thing also pulled me in quickly as David Grann is a wonderful writer. From that point on I was eager to read each and every story. He gets up close and personal with his subject; he follows the people he is writing about and he gets in there with them doing the things they do (or standing beside them, watching) and explaining how he feels. He’s been in more than one situation where he’s admitted that he was scared. He can also pick up on all the different angles of a story so that no matter where a reader’s interests lie they will find an angle that interests them. Most of the stories were riveting, the rest were very interesting, and, for me, I struck out with the baseball story. (There just was nowhere else Grann could go with that one and I realise that.)

I read the book slowly. Reading one story a night, taking the time to savour and appreciate each story. David Grann is certainly a talented writer who has a way with engaging his reader, and I do hope he is currently working on another book length story for us.

Rating: 4 Stars (Very Good)

Source: Review book provided by the publisher, Hawthorne Books.

I wake up earlier than the others, usually around 5 a.m., to perform the one household duty I have mastered. After posting the morning’s word, emptying the dishwasher, setting the table for the children’s breakfasts, and pouring the MultiGrain Cheerios or Froot Loops or Apple Jacks or Special K or Fruity  Pebbles, I prepare toast. I take out he butter to allow it to soften, and put three slices of Pepperidge Farm Hearty White in the toaster oven. Bubbies and I like plain buttered toast; Sammy prefers it with cinnamon, with the crusts cut off. When the bell rings, I shift the slices from the toaster to plates, and butter them.

Harris usually spends half the night in Bubbie’s little bed. When I go upstairs, around 6 a.m., Bubbies hesitates, but I give him a knowing look and he opens his arms to me. “Toast?” he says. - from Making Toast, page 17 of the ARC -

Roger Rosenblatt’s 38 year old daughter Amy – a pediatrician, wife and mother of three very young children – had a heart defect which went undiagnosed until it took her life, suddenly and unexpectedly, just weeks before Christmas in 2007. Rosenblatt and his wife Ginny responded in the only way they knew how – they packed up their things and rushed to Maryland to help their son-in-law Harris raise their grandchildren. Making Toast is Rosenblatt’s memoir of the weeks and months following Amy’s death as the family struggles to make sense of their loss while moving steadily through the daily events of a life which continues without her.

Written in a series of vignettes rather than a straight forward narration, the book is non-linear in nature. At first, I didn’t like this scattershot approach which seemed to keep emotion slightly distant. It felt disconnected to me. But, as I continued to read, the style began to make sense. For what is grief but memories of the brief slices of a life lived? What is recovery if not the simple act of getting up each day and sharing another person’s life? How do we see hope for the future except through the eyes of our children or grandchildren? For Rosenblatt, who clung to his anger against God and the fact that his only daughter had died from something which affects ‘less than two thousandths of one percent of the population,’ his one consolation was that he was doing what Amy would have him do – caring for her family.

Making Toast is heartbreaking, and yet its sadness is fleeting. I found myself laughing at the simple, every day moments which Rosenblatt shares. I found myself marveling at the depth of love that he and his wife had for not only their grandchildren, but Amy’s husband Harris. The human spirit is nothing but resilient in the face of tragedy – and yet it is still amazing to see it in practice.

Rosenblatt shares his grief without telling us outright that he is grieving. Time after time he declines to listen to Amy’s voice on a telephone answering machine, so when her recorded words show up in the narration toward the end of the book, we feel Rosenblatt’s pain. This is Rosenblatt’s style – to show us moments which transcend words.

Making Toast is about patience, love, faith (and the lack of it), grief, and the slow, torturous process of recovery. But perhaps it is mostly about what it means to be a family. Rosenblatt’s simple prose and his matter-of-fact presentation is surprisingly moving in the context of the story. It is a beautiful tribute to a daughter.

Highly recommended.

The Mayo Clinic Diet isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. Using clinically tested techniques, it puts you in charge of reshaping your lifestyle by adopting healthy new habits and breaking unhealthy old ones. – from The Mayo Clinic Diet, Introduction -

I don’t diet. Ever. I hate the idea of measuring out portions, following rigid guidelines, and being limited to a specific number of calories per day. I also know all the statistics that show that diets don’t work over the long haul.

So, I was very happy to see that The Mayo Clinic Diet is not like other diets out there. The weight experts at the Mayo Clinic have put together a book which is not only colorful and easy to read, but makes losing weight more about lifestyle changes than about hard and fast dieting.

The book is separated into three distinct parts.

The first section is a two-week “jump start” program that requires little preparation but claims to help you lose 6-10 pounds in two weeks. Essentially it sets you up to add five healthy habits (including things like eating breakfast every morning, adding whole grains to your diet and eating healthy fats), getting rid of five unhealthy habits (such as not watching television while you eat and not eating in restaurants), and adopting five bonus habits (things like writing down your goals and keeping an activity log).

The second section is a healthy lifestyle section which is focused on the long-term lifestyle changes which will help you maintain your weight (or continue to lose at a slower rate). Things I liked about this part of the book included visual representations of food servings (so you don’t need to measure out serving sizes), and a list of calorie burning activities to add to your life.

The final section of the book covers things like determining YOUR healthy weight, understanding nutrition and weight control, and barriers to weight loss (including motivational issues). There are some simple recipes and menus included in this last section as well, as well as a great section on adapting recipes for healthier eating.

All sections include colorful, simple diagrams or photos, and easy to understand language. The book has an accompanying journal to track your progress and activity.

Readers who have struggled with weight loss, or who don’t want just another fad diet, will most likely find information in The Mayo Clinic Diet which will appeal to them. Some may find it almost too simplistic, but I see that as more of a strength of the book than a weakness.

“Good race,” someone says.

“Thank you,” I say, because it was a good race. It wasn’t fast – the scoreboard referee writes my time on the board as two minutes and thirty-six seconds, exactly two minutes slower than the leading time – but it was a good race. Really good. I see Lydia’s mom. She smiles at me. I look around. No Lydia. It doesn’t matter. After this race I am sure I will be able to make the Paralympic team, sure I can keep training and trying and getting back up until I actually get that uniform[...]

- from Just Don’t Fall, page 194 -

Josh Sundquist was only nine years old when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma – a rare type of cancer which typically attacks the bone. In Josh’s case, he was given only a 50% chance of survival. He underwent a year of chemotherapy, spending most of that time in a hospital, and eventually lost his left leg to the disease. But he survived.

Just Don’t Fall is Josh’s story beginning shortly before his cancer diagnosis up to the 2006 Olympics. It is an inspirational story – not because Josh survived cancer and a leg amputation, but because of who he is as a person and how he got there. Raised in a conservative, Christian home and home schooled until his freshman year of high school, Josh Sundquist was surrounded by parents and siblings who loved him and a community who stepped up and gave their support when the Sundquist family needed it. Even still, the challenges were huge – financial, emotional, and physical. Josh’s mother, Linda, later was diagnosed with an incurable form of Lymphoma and his brother Matt struggled to find his own place in the world after growing up in the shadow of Josh’s cancer. Josh struggled to feel accepted by his peers as he grew from small boy into young man. Despite these challenges, Josh Sundquist had a dream. He had always imagined himself as a well known athlete, and becoming a ski racer on the Paralympic Team was the goal he set his sights on. In 2006 he skied for the United States Paralympic Team in Turino, Italy – an amazing accomplishment and a testament to courage, heart and perseverance.

I read Just Don’t Fall over a few short days and found myself completely charmed by the honest, heartfelt prose of a kid who overcame the odds to follow his dream. Josh Sundquist is funny, endearing, and genuine. In his memoir, he captures the innocent voice of his childhood which then evolves into the awkwardness of adolescence and finally into the insight of a mature young man. Just Don’t Fall is not only a story about how an individual overcame obstacles to become an accomplished athlete…it is about a family and a community, and the impact on them all with the devastating diagnosis of cancer. It is also a story of faith and doubt, and how one comes to terms with the fears and traumas of life while still believing in a larger purpose.

Josh Sundquist writes from the heart, and in doing so he pulls his readers deeply into his life. You will find yourself laughing, crying and eventually celebrating his accomplishments.

Recommended reading for those who enjoy well-written, touching memoirs with a message.

Listen to a guest Vlog by the author here on Caribousmom

It’s an old, old story: I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and we shared that, too. -from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 1-

Years ago I read Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs by Caroline Knapp which is a memoir about Knapp’s recovery from alcoholism and the dog that helped her through it. I remember at the time being unable to put the book down for long. Knapp wrote with an honesty and insight that pulled me into her world…and her relationship with her dog Lucille resonated with me.

Gail Caldwell was Knapp’s best friend. They were drawn together through their mutual love of dogs (in Caldwell’s case a Samoyed named Clementine), their similar battle with alcohol and a need that neither one knew they had at the time…to find a friend who would balance their own strengths and weaknesses.

Finding Caroline was like placing a personal ad for an imaginary friend, then having her show up at your door funnier and better than you had conceived. Apart, we had each been frightened drunks and aspiring writers and dog lovers; together we became a small corporation. - from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 13 -

When later Knapp was diagnosed and quickly succumbed to metastatic lung cancer, Caldwell was faced with what seemed the impossible – to go forward with her life without her best friend at her side. Caldwell’s memoir encapsulates the years of friendship she shared with Knapp – the long walks with their dogs, the hours of rowing on the Charles River in Boston, the late night phone calls – and the grief Caldwell waded through when Knapp died. But it is also a story about the importance of friendship in our lives, the depth of love we have for others (people and animals alike), and the risk of loss when we decide to love another.

Caldwell’s prose is wise and elegant. The passages she shares about her relationship with Clementine made me laugh and cry. When she wrote about bringing her puppy home for the first time, I felt my heart clench with memory of when I first brought Caribou into my life.

After the first sleep deprived  twenty-four hours of her invasion, I sat on the  back porch with her sprawled  asleep in my lap – she has white eyelashes! I thought – and tears started streaming down my face. I had had animals all my life, but never had my heart been seized with such unequivocal love. – from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 37 -

I consumed this slim book in just over 24 hours, often with tears flooding my eyes. I could not seem to stop turning the pages even though dread sat on my shoulders. This was a tough book to read in many ways – sad and heartbreaking. But don’t let that stop you from reading it. It is also confirmation of the human spirit and our strength in the face of what feels like unbearable loss. We have all had loss in our lives – people who have been ripped from our lives before their time, spouses who have walked out on us, pets who have died – and it always feels insurmountable. Caldwell’s memoir is about surviving loss and moving forward; about embracing life; and about the special friendships that come into our lives when we least expect it but need them the most. This book is about taking risks of the heart and about discovering one’s inner strength.

Maybe this is the point: to embrace the core sadness of life without toppling headlong into it, or assuming it will define your days. The real trick is to let life, with all its ordinary missteps and regrets, be consistently more mysterious and alluring than its end. – from the ARC of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, page 180 -

Let’s Take the Long Way Home is a book which will stick with me. For those readers who are not afraid to open their hearts and immerse themselves in another person’s pain, but also their joy, this book is a must read.

Like memory itself, this book wanders back and forth between old recollections and new. Food is the thread that connects them, for food has always been my lens and my prism, my eye on the world. I may write about the smell of asparagus, the color of polenta, or the taste of figs still warm from the sun, but all of it is a personal shorthand for weighing hunger and love, health and nourishment, secrets and revelations, illness and survival, comfort and celebration, and perhaps above all, the joy and gift of being alive. – from Keeping the Feast, page 6 of the ARC -

When Paula Butturini and John Tagliabue met as foreign correspondents in Rome, they had no idea what the future held for them. Four years later, married and living in Poland during a time in Eastern Europe when communist rule was falling and violence was erupting, their lives were suddenly changed. As Butturini writes: ‘A single bullet started it all.‘ Recovering from a near fatal beating in Czechoslvakia only days earlier, Butturini was stunned when she received a phone call on Christmas eve that John had been shot in Romania, an event which led to a life threatening infection, repeated surgeries and months of hospitalization…and served as the catalyst for a slide into a debilitating depression.

Keeping the Feast, Butturini’s memoir of the years following the shooting, is a stunning, beautifully written celebration of how our traditions surrounding food, and the memories and comforts those bring, can speak not only to our physical cravings, but to our souls as well.

Italy still celebrates one of the most primordial rituals of the human community, the daily sharing of food and fellowship around a family table; what better place to take ourselves to heal? – from Keeping the Feast, page 15 of the ARC -

Keeping the Feast is not just about the horror of John’s injury and his slide into deep depression…at its core, this book is about the impact of our food traditions on memory, healing, and finding quiet comfort. Butturini begins each chapter with a childhood memory around food. Her descriptions are mouth-watering, consoling, and beautifully wrought. Who among us has not turned to a favorite childhood meal to find peace in a time of crisis?

To eat a food reminiscent of some childhood treat, to eat a food that nudges strong childhood memories, is to return to the country, town, neighborhood, and family – the very dinner table where we first encountered the edible world. – from Keeping the Feast, page 165 of the ARC -

For Butturini and her husband, a return to their genetic roots in Italy, where they had met and fallen in love, was the key to rediscovering peace and recovery. The simple ritual of getting up and walking to the local market to buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and meat was the balm for Butturini’s psychic wounds. The act of making a healthy meal of pasta and sitting down daily to share three meals a day proved not only a calming activity for Butturini, but also just what John needed to find his way out of the dark recesses of his depression.

I found myself completely engrossed in Butturini’s story. I have long found solace in food and its preparation. The first thing I wanted to do for my sister when she was diagnosed with cancer was to make her comfort food that would heal her body and soul. Food represents so much more to us than simple nourishment – it represents our family traditions, our nationalities, and the joy of being with others around a table. Butturini’s wonderful prose captures the joy and healing food can bring to our lives.

Keeping the Feast is an honest, heartfelt exploration of one couple’s journey from depression to wholeness. Its stunning depictions of Italy (and Rome specifically) will satisfy the reader who enjoys travel writing. Butturini’s love of food and her mouth watering descriptions of it will delight those readers who consider themselves “foodies.” It is Butturini’s ability to unite all three of these subjects into a cohesive, compelling story that will have readers praising this book.

Highly Recommended.

Read a guest post by the author (with recipe!) on my TLC Book Tour of this book.

My Word is My Bond, The Autobiography by Roger Moore, with Gareth Owen

Pages: 330 +index
First Published: Nov. 2008
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

For years, people have said to me ‘Write your book,’ and for years I said, ‘No, there are too many people I’d have to write about, and eve if they’re dead, what I might say would be an intrusion on their privacy. And apart from that, I’m too lazy.’

Acquired: Borrowed a copy from my local library.

Reason for Reading: Roger Moore is the Bond I grew up with, the one I went to the movies to see as a teenager.

Comments: Right from the introduction Mr. Moore states that he will not be ‘dirt-dishing’ nor telling ‘tittle tattle’; he wants to write a fun book filled with memories the way he saw them and the wonderful people he met in his life but he promises that does not mean it will be a ‘fluffy book’ either. Roger Moore lives up to this statement giving the reader a very enjoyable look inside his life without trashing anyone. He does mention a couple of names that he simply hates with a straightforward reason why, he tells stories leaving the irritating one unnamed and he mentions names and follows the “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all rule” frequently. But Roger Moore is a charming fellow, very easy going, loves a prank or two, and can take a joke on himself as well so his book is filled with people he adored and those who adored him back.

Moore spends a good part of the book on his early life in England; his childhood, days in the army, acting on stage, becoming an actor in British movies. This was all very interesting and it’s hard to believe that Roger Moore is really that old to have been in WWII! Even when acting in Britain the famous names start knocking about such as David Niven (a lifetime friend) and Michael Caine. Then he comes to America and makes a name for himself on the small screen starring in Maverick (replacing James Garner as his British cousin), then his famous Simon Templar as The Saint and finally The Persuaders with Tony Curtis. Not until we are closing in on page 200 does Roger Moore get to James Bond and the book has been so interesting up to this point that Bond is not the vital part of the book. Even if you started to read the because of the Bond connection. I won’t go into any more details but from their Moore continues on with Bond, his wives, his other movies and work, ending finally with his long association with UNICEF.

Moore comes across just as I had expected him too. He keeps his debonair, suave, gentlemanly air about him but he also has his tongue firmly planted in cheek at the same time. Even as a child he behaved this way, he calls himself on it frequently saying “ever the poseur”. He tells some wonderful memories and anecdotes as he’s been with all the greats throughout his career: Elizabeth Taylor, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Noel Coward, Stewart Granger, Richard Burton and countless others.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the book was the last few chapters which mostly focused pretty heavily on his UNICEF activities that it began to feel like an infomercial. I will state I don’t support UNICEF for conscience reasons but I did enjoy hearing of the travel and good work he accomplished. But then it just seriously devolved into three chapters about UNICEF with Roger as the emcee. Otherwise, I had a very enjoyable read and certainly learned a lot more about the man who I previously only knew as The Saint and James Bond.

Paul McCartney: A Life by Peter Ames Carlin

Pages: 340 pgs. + notes, index
First Published: Nov. 3, 2009
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Paul McCartney is almost home.

Reason for Reading: I like the Beatles but I love Paul.

Comments: Normally, I steer away from biographies, trying to read memoirs instead unless the person in question is dead and never wrote their own auto-biography. Well, Paul is neither, but given his extremely private nature I find it doubtful he’ll ever write a memoir and if he did it would not be in-depth but more like musings of good memories. So I jumped on this book when it came out.

Again, I find when reading these types of biographies one has to be wary as the authors are often out to dig up every piece of dirt they can on the celebrity or they don’t particularly like said person and simply enjoy writing a book that trashes them. This is not what I want. I want to read a respectful, true account of the celebrity’s life and author Peter Ames Carlin delivers on all accounts.

Right from the start one can tell that the author respects his subject and throughout the book when the controversies arise he shows the reader a ‘pro-Paul’ position. But this does not mean that he paints a fake rosy picture. Paul McCartney is exposed here warts and all. He was egocentric during the Beatles days, always being the leader, creating rifts among the other members and yet not realizing it until years much later. The intensely close relationship between him and John Lennon is examined from all sides even during the years they publicly shunned each other and Yoko Ono’s influence over John. George and Ringo are given very little space in the book. The book is about Paul and his relationships with these two do not stand out much more than ‘mates’. Though we do get at inside look at Paul’s brotherly affection to George, which was not always appreciated.

Past the Beatles, the rocky years with Wings are covered in detail, Paul’s true love, once in a lifetime relationship with his beloved Linda, his semi-success in the 80s as a solo singer, his disaster of a marriage with the vengeful Heather Mills and his eventual settlement into simply being Paul McCartney, the last of the Fab Four (as nobody really counts Ringo). We also see Paul’s reactions to nthe deaths of both John and George. A very interesting, funny, informative look inside the life of a brilliant, sensitive, egocentric, perfectionist, caring, simple-life loving man who is one of the 20th century’s most recognizable and influential musicians.

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Didier Lefevre & Emmanuel Guilbert. illustrated by Frederic Lemercier, introduction and translated by Alexis Siegel

Pages: 267 pgs.
First Published: May, 2009 (English translation) (2003-2006 orig. French)
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

“I say good-bye to everyone.”

Reason for Reading: Cybils nominee

Summary: Photographer Didier Lefevre was offered to accompany the MSF (the original French version of Doctors Without Borders) on a 3 month mission to Afghanistan in 1986 when the Soviet-Afghan War was raging. The book tells of his journey from Pakistan to the mission site in Afghanistan, his stay and his decision to make the journey back to Pakistan alone which almost cost him his life.

Comments: An incredibly brilliant, powerful work of art! At first I thought this was going to be about current affairs in Afghanistan, so was quite surprised to find the memoir taking place during the Soviet era invasion of Afghanistan. The graphical presentation, the artwork is phenomenal. A very unique combination of cartooning and photographs have been combined together which at first, I admit, put me a bit off kilter but once I got used to the presentation I found myself seeing real life images even when I was looking at an illustration. An odd sensation but extremely well done. The authors/illustrator portray so much on the journey: the beauty of the land, the terror of illegally crossing the border, traveling under cover of night, watching for Soviet planes to drop bombs on them if sighted.

Then at the medical camp there is the large amount of local people coming for help for such things as a humongous cancerous tumour on a toe, a foot that is so rotted the man has pulled it off that morning and asks if they can put it back on for him; then the war wounded come in: a child with half his face blown off, a man with shrapnel in his back, a paralyzed girl with one tiny piece of shrapnel that has severed her spinal cord. The photographs, the text, the illustrations capture the spirit, the agony, the willpower, the drive of the doctors who come to work here in non sterile makeshift tents to treat these people, sometimes just so they can die with dignity.

Didier’s journey back is even worse than coming as he has had enough at the end of the three months when he finds that the team is going to be staying an extra week so with some guidance to a nearby town where he will be certain to get a guide he sets off on his to journey back to Pakistan. Didier finds that without the resources and experiences of the “pros” he accompanied on the way out there he is a walking target and with exposure to criminals, crooked cops and the elements he almost loses his life. A magnificent, compelling story that concentrates on human relations and interactions without getting political. The political situation is discussed in the beginnings of the book to set the reader in the situation as it is happening but the focus of the book is people, how they treat each other both good and bad in situations both large and small. Highly recommended!

High on Arrival by Mackenzie Phillips with Hilary Liftin

Pages: 292 pgs.
First Published: Sept. 23, 2009
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

In the mid eighties, when I was on tour with the New Mamas & Papas, a porter brought two packages up to my hotel room.

Reason for Reading: I enjoy reading celebrity memoirs and was a big fan of One Day at a Time when the show was on. I had read Valerie Bertinelli’s recent memoir and knowing Mackenzie Philips’ checkered past figured she would have a very interesting memoir.

Acquired: I received a review copy from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Comments: Mackenzie Phillips is the daughter of John Phillips (the mastermind of the famous singing group The Mamas & The Papas) and is best known for her role as Julie Cooper on One Day at a Time. In this book Mack tells her own story from birth to the present. She was born into the psychedelic world of the sixties, partially raised by a man addicted to a plethora of drugs who let her and her older brother do as they pleased. Their exposure to drugs lead them both to become users as children, happily supplied by their father. Mackenzie’s life was to continue to be run by drugs for many, many years until she finally became clean for 15 years only to end up addicted to pain killers which led her straight back to the monster until she was arrested for possession in 2008. Once again clean, and pain free, Mackenzie tells all in this well-written biography.

Mackenzie’s voice is very down to earth and makes for an easy read. She tells her whole life story without leaving out the ugly parts. She has secrets to reveal and does name names most of the time. One can tell right from the start though that she has not set out to trash anyone. This is her story and she accepts all responsibility for all the wrongs she’s done in her life but also tells the wrongs done to her without attempting to blame anyone. I’m sure everyone knows the secret she reveals about her father (though I won’t mention it, in case you haven’t heard) and it is one of the creepiest, saddest, disgusting things one can read about and Mack’s journey from violated victim to drug induced willing participant is an uncomfortable story to read.

The book is written with respect to all; she doesn’t leave out parts, as in other memoirs I’ve read recently, about her siblings in so far as they concerned her life story. She stops at some point with each of them saying that it is that individual’s story to tell, not hers, but at least the family dynamics are fully explored. Much time was spent on the One Day at a Time years which I fully appreciated as I was sorely disappointed in that aspect of Valerie Bertinelli’s book.

Mackenzie has lived a hard life and excepts responsibility for it. Her son is the driving force behind her sobriety and staying clean. She shows how her life started on this route with the upbringing she had but as an adult she excepts making her own bad choices. It’s a miracle she has pulled through this life and come out the other side. A very interesting read about the sixties/seventies drug culture, the eighties coke obsession, filled with famous names but centering on the life of a little girl who had to grow up in the middle of it all. Recommended.