tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-369805662024-02-07T23:11:02.148-07:00Snax On Line | Books, art, food, film, and travelTo whet your appetite for books, art, food, film, and travel in between issues of the award-winning online magazine FEAST . . .Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-25832684272801661742010-12-08T14:04:00.000-07:002010-12-08T14:04:46.357-07:00BEST OF FEAST 2010 - NONFICTION<b style="color: red;">GIFT WRAP AN EXPERIENCE!</b> Give a book this year at the holidays. Books inform, educate, entertain, encourage, and open doors to new ways of thinking, fresh ideas, and an expanded view of the world and its people. It is truly a gift that can continue to give long after the first reading of the last page. All year long, FEAST suggests books you might enjoy, share, pass along; books you might otherwise miss. This time of year we like to bring you the BEST of FEAST to consider for your gift list. Here, in our five categories, are some of this year’s favorite features! <br />
<br />
Wishing you happy holidays and a new year filled with good reads! Watch for a new and exciting format in our next full issue—<br />
<br />
Rosemary Carstens, Editor<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdulUwYb9kVVQlLREoSip2vxkA3rvhlv8Rl9RQ30MvclfjBjulXkOnK6WXyEe_1P4ueYfDythsKLf5e3bAXDVtu7aJW2AR_gpt23GO9AUvfRV1hoYyvFbkdGCNEl7LikMbqx-PmA/s1600/spiritplaces.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdulUwYb9kVVQlLREoSip2vxkA3rvhlv8Rl9RQ30MvclfjBjulXkOnK6WXyEe_1P4ueYfDythsKLf5e3bAXDVtu7aJW2AR_gpt23GO9AUvfRV1hoYyvFbkdGCNEl7LikMbqx-PmA/s1600/spiritplaces.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">IN THE PLACES OF THE SPIRITS</b>, David Grant Noble with a foreword by N. Scott Momaday. SAR Press 2010. Noble has been a fine art photographer and writer for forty years. Beyond that he has been an explorer of history and a detective of the past. He has recorded and interpreted the finely honed messages portrayed by the land and the clues to be found there about the lives of its ancient peoples. The author has woven a magical tapestry of images and personal reflections interspersed with historical and anthropological detail. As he explains his fascination with this region: “The places we know can be infused with memory and spirit, and landscapes can have soul.” This beautiful book features 76 duotone plates and 5 additional photos focused on the Southwest’s most mysterious and compelling sites. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb21JsldmNcxeHizbRXxZoDn4-ZBYeR3Tu2wBw74U01OLsskgCFFSCAfdPsI8LzLo72pjbqm_mihSXXPKqbl2won-xdZpJdIrlFwJPUNgNHvGZTSeD7SYXmAXTxFCHZ1_m73UFg/s1600/tears_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVb21JsldmNcxeHizbRXxZoDn4-ZBYeR3Tu2wBw74U01OLsskgCFFSCAfdPsI8LzLo72pjbqm_mihSXXPKqbl2won-xdZpJdIrlFwJPUNgNHvGZTSeD7SYXmAXTxFCHZ1_m73UFg/s1600/tears_cover.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">TEARS OF DARKNESS: The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath</b>, Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2009; paperback March 2010. What a story! This book is a very readable, astounding accomplishment based on ten years of research, thousands and thousands of travel miles, hundreds of interviews, and the support of numerous scholars and ordinary people to bring it to fruition. Most of us have heard about the Bataan Death March, of course, but the details set out here, often using quotes from among the 76,000 US and Filipino captive soldiers that were on the march, tear at the soul. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Don’t think for a moment that this is a one-sided presentation dolled up to make the US look good and Japan look savage. The Normans spent countless hours digging among Japanese archives and interviewing Japanese military survivors so they could include accounts both sides perhaps comprehend the enemy’s mindset. This book grips like a novel, probably because the authors used the story of one young Montana cowboy, Ben Steele, who survived the march and is one of the few from those days still living, as a vehicle for telling the story of thousands of others. As readers, we connect with Ben—the story becomes so much more than just facts and figures, a bunch of history dates, or military battle reports. Weaving personal recollections of specific people on each side of the conflict helps us to see these historic events through the lenses of individuals. As in all wars there were botched plans and ill-conceived communications, chaos, and personal egos and agendas influencing outcomes. This is the kind of quality journalism we should see more of in the publishing world and this book should be required reading in Washington.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbihM5w5AFSrMqQgPAYmeoo_OZS7XYlP_SmgYwnhzdSMNWUMg2SNjBdtQ-Rfq8hNw7TMt-k5jmVUO2YqTwZewQy46BrpoJvAOnxaLNMI7dDWTy46K5F75Ihc7BsfDZP_5qScuDQ/s1600/strengthinremains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixbihM5w5AFSrMqQgPAYmeoo_OZS7XYlP_SmgYwnhzdSMNWUMg2SNjBdtQ-Rfq8hNw7TMt-k5jmVUO2YqTwZewQy46BrpoJvAOnxaLNMI7dDWTy46K5F75Ihc7BsfDZP_5qScuDQ/s1600/strengthinremains.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">STRENGTH IN WHAT REMAINS: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness</b>, Tracy Kidder. Random House 2009. Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes, is a thorough professional and an engaging writer of nonfiction. He picks the hard topics and struggles to portray his subjects without bias, to tell their story instead of his—an exceptional quality in times when personal spin has gained greater acceptance in society. This is an astounding story of one survivor of genocide in the small African country of Berundia—against all odds and through providential events—who manages to escape the violence and come to the United States. The story of Deogratias (Thanks to God) puts an individual human face on events so massive, so brutal, as to be nearly incomprehensible. It is, indeed, a story of a people’s terror and loss, but it is also a story of regeneration and of hope that such stories can one day end.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lhsBeMi5dz1HmW3gMLzVEWfn03jhlHF76FiIBuoDnhPAXoAPKdznG5dWn90xhMKRQIiYr-W_U0yfsn3K3R_8Cl5jz8iBLGKqgDkWy2wLuTO5WSzR2qpbvvxIOZtEMOZSzUXMWg/s1600/eaarth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lhsBeMi5dz1HmW3gMLzVEWfn03jhlHF76FiIBuoDnhPAXoAPKdznG5dWn90xhMKRQIiYr-W_U0yfsn3K3R_8Cl5jz8iBLGKqgDkWy2wLuTO5WSzR2qpbvvxIOZtEMOZSzUXMWg/s1600/eaarth.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">EAARTH</b>, Bill McKibben. Times 2010. McKibben packs a powerful punch. He discusses with considerable clarity how we have fatally transformed our planet’s environment through unsustainable practices deeply rooted in our dependency on oil, through an emphasis on corporate farming aimed at profit-right-now at all costs, and, particularly in the developed world, through an unceasing focus on bigger, more acquisitive lifestyles. His view, simplified, is that we are living on a fundamentally altered planet and we had better get ready to hunker down to a different way of thinking about and using our resources in order to survive both now and in the future. The first part of the book focuses on what might seem to some a “doomsday” discussion, but McKibben fills the second half of the book with examples of successful, hope-filled, viable means for holding back the tide of environmental changes that can only lead to our planet’s demise. Essential reading for anyone who wants a realistic picture of the effects of climate change and some proposals for what we, as individuals, can do to make a difference in our own spheres of influence.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sKpnFiM1YBnB6AYQzPU6UjYO6ROeKpuQO7S9RUCfGL-E_SLAv9_wPZI458aY1_fjjLSGU6P5nWaa8d6aq3xTwRKAq8O1z6t5vttiwTWbe7V6Bv406OFHFFIlx7yV8v5LOe1k7A/s1600/oysters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sKpnFiM1YBnB6AYQzPU6UjYO6ROeKpuQO7S9RUCfGL-E_SLAv9_wPZI458aY1_fjjLSGU6P5nWaa8d6aq3xTwRKAq8O1z6t5vttiwTWbe7V6Bv406OFHFFIlx7yV8v5LOe1k7A/s1600/oysters.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">STILL LIFE WITH OYSTERS AND LEMON</b>, Mark Doty. Beacon Press 2001. This small book (only 70 pages) is a literary gem I plan to read and reread often. Doty weaves his experience of falling in love with a still life painting throughout a book that reveals his life and human loves, and he does it with truly lovely, elegant use of language, description, and imagery. I highly recommend this as a read to savor, rather like a perfect meal accompanied by just the right wine and companion. Perfect for the art lovers on your list!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2n8LkdPt-uYfofrtZ90mPq4QNAg_VU2HucoGOIa7OvJsY3aHGGAlH4UBn6lIRzsbaf8aiGpN-DrXpfPLBiRafKgiHQuoZVSwx3wTwBpQybLyHAV711CvxgSh20KQte6NNlHsKQ/s1600/resilience.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2n8LkdPt-uYfofrtZ90mPq4QNAg_VU2HucoGOIa7OvJsY3aHGGAlH4UBn6lIRzsbaf8aiGpN-DrXpfPLBiRafKgiHQuoZVSwx3wTwBpQybLyHAV711CvxgSh20KQte6NNlHsKQ/s1600/resilience.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">RESILIENCE</b>, by Elizabeth Edwards. Broadway Books 2010. I usually avoid “celebrity” books like I do cow paddies in a pasture—for all the symbolic reasons that simile evokes. But this book is deeply sincere and human as Edwards places herself right there in the mess of life along with the rest of us. She speaks candidly for the most part about her son’s tragic death, her terminal diagnosis, and even about her husband’s shocking infidelity. Nevertheless, addressing those issues is just one small part of this book that is aptly subtitled: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities. I think there’s something here for anyone to consider and I came away with an even deeper respect for this woman whose challenges would overwhelm most of us and would, as of this month, take her on her final journey way too soon.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAB7tk9pFro0DF1TlO1mPXG1J9NGlPb_IYupZcf2yj5SVjRdAgWDaFlJPSq6KQZCE6VEscyayIIyzfFr7ORMjOifGbdTp7vweuN-GtXHE_Tj5zHi633EgLHaKNCkyZf8Av_oo8GQ/s1600/pearl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAB7tk9pFro0DF1TlO1mPXG1J9NGlPb_IYupZcf2yj5SVjRdAgWDaFlJPSq6KQZCE6VEscyayIIyzfFr7ORMjOifGbdTp7vweuN-GtXHE_Tj5zHi633EgLHaKNCkyZf8Av_oo8GQ/s1600/pearl.jpg" /></a></div><b style="color: red;">A PEARL IN THE STORM: How I found my heart in the middle of the ocean</b>, Tori Murden McClure. Collins 2009. Sometimes life is more exciting, more compelling, than anything a fiction writer could imagine. McClure’s story about how she became the first woman to row alone across an ocean grips like super glue and doesn’t let go until the last page. Adventurous physical challenges are not new to this woman—she was also one of the two first women to ski to the south pole. She is fit, athletic, smart as a whip, and was as prepared as any human could be when she set out in her 23-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail to row from the US northeaster coast to France in the worst hurricane season on record in the North Atlantic. Within days she lost all communications. Reading about her physical and emotional challenges is harrowing, her survival miraculous—you are in the boat with her every step of the way, struggling to breathe. An astounding adventure!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pMEJKfb-JQ0ak7Sy-0nxuWbBFs9SZihV_gRhom6EwVWTqwnH8GRT2rSjb7gRt3gYKSvCyb12fqjw6-bzP7GmCAHr_U9pcwafplACYSK4cYk5unp-UoJpsjSttvocheyGRH4Tgw/s1600/pomegranates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9pMEJKfb-JQ0ak7Sy-0nxuWbBFs9SZihV_gRhom6EwVWTqwnH8GRT2rSjb7gRt3gYKSvCyb12fqjw6-bzP7GmCAHr_U9pcwafplACYSK4cYk5unp-UoJpsjSttvocheyGRH4Tgw/s1600/pomegranates.jpg" /></a></div><b style="color: red;">TRAVELING WITH POMEGRANATES: A Mother-Daughter Story</b>, Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. Viking 2009. This book about the power of travel to birth spiritual connections and inspire creativity is jointly written by this mother-daughter team, giving us a generational perspective on a series of events they experienced during travel to France and Greece over a period of years. Sue’s journey begins as she approaches her fiftieth birthday and begins to realize she is ending an era as a younger woman and entering a period of transition that will move her toward her eldest years. She finds herself seeking spiritual guidance through feminine symbols and icons, hoping for new directions in her work, greater understanding and closeness to her daughter, and a graceful entry into the next stage of her life. Ann’s journey is also a period of transition, one from loss and rejection that culminates in a search for the work she is meant to do. It’s an inspiring book, thoughtfully written. It provides a framework for seeking transitions and destinations for any woman who wants to enhance the meaningfulness of her years.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoU9aXmj17NRgSbIKJlQ6ikQggOKETtCbdt_ZB9XB0-2tVO-l0rS8XQlMiz0vszMp3jDtjDqjzqyPBcUlNs6df4Qhroqi8pwKZKpneosY-z4caSeB1IGALU6onB7z7Ut2t9WDbsw/s1600/kook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoU9aXmj17NRgSbIKJlQ6ikQggOKETtCbdt_ZB9XB0-2tVO-l0rS8XQlMiz0vszMp3jDtjDqjzqyPBcUlNs6df4Qhroqi8pwKZKpneosY-z4caSeB1IGALU6onB7z7Ut2t9WDbsw/s1600/kook.jpg" /></a></div><b style="color: red;">KOOK:</b> <b style="color: red;">What Surfing Taught Me About Love, Life, and Catching the Perfect Wave</b>, Peter Heller. Free Press 2010. I love a book that is part travel adventure, part learning about someone taking on physical challenges in unexpected ways. At an age when most people are settling for quieter sports, acclaimed author Peter Heller gets sucked up into the undertow of learning to surf, coming face-to-face with the ocean’s seductive beauty and endangered existence. Some men buy red sports cars and sport twenty-somethings on their arms when they enter their middle years, but Heller resolves to throw himself whole heartedly into a six-month effort to go from beginner—“kook”—to mastering a big-hollow wave as he and his girlfriend explore the surfer’s life from southern California and down along the coasts of Baja and mainland Mexico. Along the way he finds, often to his surprise, that not everything in his relationships with surf, sea, and girlfriend is controllable, that at times he must simply hope to survive until he can breathe freely again. A great adventure that made me wish I wasn’t far past the age to take up surfing!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0HphYZGmGbZL2uTQsCfNTyxx6NEO9kJSrcKab4MJ-xRsyuu10_xfUm63gohVoXK78RPfvt4V5JUGPMSL4DQMlxpl-hh62T_NnZnS0ZccUv0prGBqiuHW4D2u989LXk5TB-XJxQ/s1600/breadofangels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb0HphYZGmGbZL2uTQsCfNTyxx6NEO9kJSrcKab4MJ-xRsyuu10_xfUm63gohVoXK78RPfvt4V5JUGPMSL4DQMlxpl-hh62T_NnZnS0ZccUv0prGBqiuHW4D2u989LXk5TB-XJxQ/s1600/breadofangels.jpg" /></a></div><b style="color: red;">THE BREAD OF ANGELS: A Journey to Love and Faith</b>, Stephanie Saldaña. Doubleday 2010. Stephanie Saldaña, who now lives and teaches in Jerusalem, spent years traveling the world, partly to escape what she thought of as a “cursed” family history and partly because she was inevitably drawn to see new landscapes and immerse herself in alternative cultures, especially those of the Middle East. As a poet, Saldaña found herself attracted to the language and poetry of the Arab-speaking world. In 2004, a Fulbright fellowship took her to Damascus for a year to study the prophet Jesus. She arrived as the United States was solidly boots on the ground in Iraq and the streets of Damascus were filled with Iraqi refugees, while anti-American rhetoric abounded.<br />
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Saldaña truly seeks to understand how Islam and Christianity intersect and the source of faith; she questions the purpose of her own life and religious beliefs’ place in it. As her friend Frédéric expresses it, “I think that the thirst for something greater than us is human, not Christian . . . I searched for the meaning of my life for many years, but eventually I always hit a wall. But then I felt something on the other side of that wall . . . I guess I call that space God.”<br />
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One of the most interesting aspects of this book is its discussion about language. To some, Arabic is the language of romance and poetry, to others it evokes fear of violence. Although I’ve never heard English described as a romantic or poetic language, for some in the world it certainly does evoke fear of violence and domination. In this volume, Saldaña struggles to not only learn the words and grammar of Arabic, but also the nuance, the emotional content. I particularly enjoyed her description of translation: “. . . there is a certain tragedy in translation: the sense of diluting what was once a powerful drink, of tearing a small plant from its roots and trying to place it in a soil and climate where it does not belong.”<br />
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In many ways, The Bread of Angels is about words, about stories. As Saldaña says, “We each meet the text— and who we are and the text together create a unique event. We change for it and it changes for us, the act of reading becoming an essential way of transforming ourselves. We can only bring to the text what is inside ourselves—even if the story is a story of death, if we contain life, we will find life.”<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-60511534109023237242010-12-05T14:00:00.001-07:002010-12-05T14:06:10.931-07:00BEST OF FEAST 2010 - FICTION<b style="color: red;">GIFT WRAP AN EXPERIENCE!</b> Give a book this year at the holidays. Books inform, educate, entertain, encourage, and open doors to new ways of thinking, fresh ideas, and an expanded view of the world and its people. It is <b>truly a gift that can continue to give long after the first reading of the last page</b>. All year long, FEAST suggests books you might enjoy, share, pass along; books you might otherwise miss. This time of year we like to bring you the BEST of FEAST to consider for your gift list. Here are some of this year’s favorite features! <br />
<br />
Wishing you happy holidays and a new year filled with good reads! Watch for a new and exciting format in our next full issue—<br />
<br />
Rosemary Carstens, Editor<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"># # # </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLjW2mq2dl0BtGy2TSrRu2Cu2cE8PogMtY5idfqRFZ9ZRTb_WnXVX0pkQbcSu5SHFs8JC4vLIH8ma3SkJQQzX9wn2A151cfUfdsk88v3udY-RnJY8OiBp8dLrOij8SQ0BsX4ALw/s1600/bluedress2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfLjW2mq2dl0BtGy2TSrRu2Cu2cE8PogMtY5idfqRFZ9ZRTb_WnXVX0pkQbcSu5SHFs8JC4vLIH8ma3SkJQQzX9wn2A151cfUfdsk88v3udY-RnJY8OiBp8dLrOij8SQ0BsX4ALw/s1600/bluedress2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">GIRL IN A BLUE DRESS</b>, Gaynor Arnold. Crown Publishers 2008. Longlisted for the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize, this engaging historical novel was inspired by the life and marriage of Charles Dickens and presents a very believable and thought-provoking view of the most celebrated author in the Victorian world. This is his wife’s side of the story, an examination of what it is like to be the mate of someone famous, beloved, and absolutely captivating in public—a man who is much more complicated in private and much more fallible.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKjddMnH0hI3VzYHsRDt5aVuoGNUiJnEWhAoLsaXobmQI6vmyRodIIQl8Zi2poPD8IkWDlnrMQXNNxNMkpHidN8X8NalrewiNcZWEwfraGFN7ssPPctmI3m9EkaFUBaYWIePcng/s1600/willowfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKjddMnH0hI3VzYHsRDt5aVuoGNUiJnEWhAoLsaXobmQI6vmyRodIIQl8Zi2poPD8IkWDlnrMQXNNxNMkpHidN8X8NalrewiNcZWEwfraGFN7ssPPctmI3m9EkaFUBaYWIePcng/s1600/willowfield.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">THE WILLOW FIELD</b>, William Kittredge. Knopf 2006. William Kittredge’s epic first novel spans the twentieth century and uses the personal story of one cowboy and his family to discuss everything from settlers’ experiences and the plight of Native Americans and cowboys to gamblers, whores, and ordinary men and women. It’s the story of the old West told with grit, in plain language. Kittredge knows this Montana land he writes about—its dust has settled deep into his own skin and soul and he brings it to life for his readers.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0I8YE2AWiUhfV5n9aXoPBw8JNOm5sG2jk5nXlkQbo2BMYliNXf3CPZ2hrnuzlE19CT_Qavv6zgeut9w3SbMKiEEJHNuHhEeGYNuafoFAwwcZr9AS_D9tbl9d3vL8sIMUBK8PCg/s1600/italianshoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0I8YE2AWiUhfV5n9aXoPBw8JNOm5sG2jk5nXlkQbo2BMYliNXf3CPZ2hrnuzlE19CT_Qavv6zgeut9w3SbMKiEEJHNuHhEeGYNuafoFAwwcZr9AS_D9tbl9d3vL8sIMUBK8PCg/s1600/italianshoes.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">ITALIAN SHOES</b>, Henning Mankell. Translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson. The New Press, in English 2009. There is some fine writing coming out of Sweden, some fresh yet often universal perspectives. In this book, Frederik Welin, a man well past middle age, lives on a tiny Swedish island surrounded by ice three feet thick, alone except for his equally aged cat and dog. Each day, just to prove to himself that he is still alive, Frederik hacks through the ice to the sea and jumps naked into the frigid water. Haunted by memories of a terrible mistake in his past, one day a woman he abandoned forty years earlier appears suddenly on his island and the protection from the outside world he has so carefully assembled begins to crumble. Beautifully written and translated.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0_w1ibC3M6dcIiAogNncsQ8ZIxpGBgjpNWsbQqHbISGt7iU50M3XCXCb0IObByGVcWj9L_XA1yv9TdS0UmQ2AENgMOazvknexs-xRZ0UF4WP0AqmqaWGpblOakCXn4ip_ZJBeg/s1600/bennyshrimp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0_w1ibC3M6dcIiAogNncsQ8ZIxpGBgjpNWsbQqHbISGt7iU50M3XCXCb0IObByGVcWj9L_XA1yv9TdS0UmQ2AENgMOazvknexs-xRZ0UF4WP0AqmqaWGpblOakCXn4ip_ZJBeg/s1600/bennyshrimp.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">BENNY AND SHRIMP</b>, Katarina Mazetti. Translated from Swedish by Sarah Death. Penguin 2009. A delightful small book with some big wisdom packed into it. Two lonely people meet in a cemetery and find themselves deeply attracted to one another. The author moves back and forth between the two points of view and deftly reveals the miscommunications and confusion of two good people from two different worlds, struggling to bridge them because of love and chemistry.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeuUVg9hbE8TyewDP64z3_g-uJmUeHJihVGVBsXeI4q7ZCia2tqDtFZdWIUXkXDUJ9yrRYdWXnV8N5zMklvRL4hq8e7u_KK98mxlkLKw8QjG6srVuu9K_zZv31TZ9OrBu857bPg/s1600/eleventhman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeuUVg9hbE8TyewDP64z3_g-uJmUeHJihVGVBsXeI4q7ZCia2tqDtFZdWIUXkXDUJ9yrRYdWXnV8N5zMklvRL4hq8e7u_KK98mxlkLKw8QjG6srVuu9K_zZv31TZ9OrBu857bPg/s1600/eleventhman.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">THE ELEVENTH MAN</b>, Ivan Doig. Harcourt 2008. Doig, best known for This House of Sky and The Whistling Season, turns once again to his Montana homeground in this story about a group of boys who played football together at State University and became small-town heroes in an undefeated season. Then comes WWII and each joins up and is scattered across the globe to his own piece of the war, sees action, sees more death than anyone ought to, and struggles to make sense of it all. The backdrop of major battles in both Europe and the Pacific Basin makes for interesting reading about history, especially as contrasted with present-day fighting in the Middle East. It’s a powerful story about men, their women, their moral fiber, and their friendships with one another.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVK9z0aTuGkKg64auWkXQi3QrY2MVS1qC4zElgQnPTVIDzeTjf7QBd96lKNXWZkdvWYJCjcX9ZXhqGZTHiGpokj81p5-yd3V-y6EVWcbxN4CsWZf197cS49LmH9l981iGVUSzNg/s1600/bakingcakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVK9z0aTuGkKg64auWkXQi3QrY2MVS1qC4zElgQnPTVIDzeTjf7QBd96lKNXWZkdvWYJCjcX9ZXhqGZTHiGpokj81p5-yd3V-y6EVWcbxN4CsWZf197cS49LmH9l981iGVUSzNg/s1600/bakingcakes.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">BAKING CAKES IN KIGALI</b>, Gaile Parkin. Delacourt Press 2009. In Parkin’s debut novel she creates a unique voice in Angel Tungaraza—mother, cake baker, keeper of secrets, matchmaker. Readers are lured into the heart of modern-day Rwanda with the amazing sweets Angel bakes daily and they are soon hooked by the lives of a people who have endured unimaginable heartbreak in their history yet found ways to survive, to thrive, to love again. Angel moves through her days as a “professional somebody,” weaving together her customers’ stories in magical ways as she searches to heal her own broken heart. Parkin tell this story lightly and entertainingly, filled with details that bring Kigali to life—yet it floats like crème fraîche on the darker depth that lies below.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUbvw0snzkyNDvJs31ylCc1e7bWayRXh5S4ApfaJ-Cw-Yv4V8VDiHLjg6YNrOx9hQazQbxUbxgsHfu3n27g8H6_DJznpty5x7Ghe3H8lALRwLlS5vq4fsqnMo0KR4ChR9x31tJAA/s1600/matterhorn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUbvw0snzkyNDvJs31ylCc1e7bWayRXh5S4ApfaJ-Cw-Yv4V8VDiHLjg6YNrOx9hQazQbxUbxgsHfu3n27g8H6_DJznpty5x7Ghe3H8lALRwLlS5vq4fsqnMo0KR4ChR9x31tJAA/s1600/matterhorn.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">MATTERHORN</b>, Karl Marlantes. El León Literary Arts and Atlantic Monthly Press 2010. Marlantes' 600-page literary tour de force about the Vietnam War absolutely blew me away. I think it’s the best book I’ve read this year. It took Marlantes, a Vietnam vet, thirty years to complete and it's sure to become a classic. It is being referred to as the Great American Vietnam War Novel, up there with Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms and Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead. It has important pertinence today as we consider what is asked of our armed forces when our country goes to war, how war takes our beautiful young men and women into its maw and then spits them out, the course of their lives forever changed. This is a powerful, gripping tale that reveals so much of the boots-on-the-ground reality of the Vietnam War—its strange savage mixture of love and friendships formed under fire, the obscene waste of lives and potential, the heart-searing irresponsibility of politically motivated "leaders." This is tough stuff, but as someone of the generation whose men went to that war, it filled in blanks that support my view of war as a tool of ambitious, driven politicians and brass, who are either indifferent to or have insufficient understanding of the effects of their decisions. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNTcv9WHvKt_ThsbLFT2YXHLxiSK0_WoC3NPwkmwjzXD1SS-phD-nYsVpHXX3oL_E6xnImh-jJ2JyNOHUdbc_zUxt1KgrOqySgnNxwrYbRDIcwB2ywdpGVuj13nvcawL9b1DnQBg/s1600/spacebetween.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNTcv9WHvKt_ThsbLFT2YXHLxiSK0_WoC3NPwkmwjzXD1SS-phD-nYsVpHXX3oL_E6xnImh-jJ2JyNOHUdbc_zUxt1KgrOqySgnNxwrYbRDIcwB2ywdpGVuj13nvcawL9b1DnQBg/s1600/spacebetween.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">THE SPACE BETWEEN US</b>, Thrity Umrigar. HarperCollins 2005. This finely written book is about the gap between reality and the preconceived ideas or unthinking reactions we all share about race and class. Focusing on two women who live dramatically different lives in modern-day India, Umrigar casts them in sharp, telling detail. The two are close friends in spite of their differences: Sera Dubash, an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the quiet terror of her abusive marriage, and Bhima, her stoic illiterate maid hardened by a life of despair and loss. Bhima has worked in Sera’s household for more than 20 years. Each character reveals prejudices at various times based on nothing more than feelings. A beautiful, poignant, and compelling story brought to us by one of the finest writers of our time. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjY7LyQQqdgC3GkgBRYPvft_XQ8rxwNrSIRaEQv8SVSl6hEs7-jFEmed0f-NmFoEYxHfImUeH5rsPAiXBmfXIuqqbl0Bzi2RIV-JcTfgOZmPcxh780MjlBGxvMvqyBnOWiPVc2g/s1600/buddha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjY7LyQQqdgC3GkgBRYPvft_XQ8rxwNrSIRaEQv8SVSl6hEs7-jFEmed0f-NmFoEYxHfImUeH5rsPAiXBmfXIuqqbl0Bzi2RIV-JcTfgOZmPcxh780MjlBGxvMvqyBnOWiPVc2g/s1600/buddha.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">BREAKFAST WITH BUDDHA</b>, Roland Merullo. Algonquin 2007. What a gem of a book! Sort of an EAT, PRAY, LAUGH Till You Cry. A middle-aged man with a successful career in publishing, Otto Ringling’s parents have died suddenly in a car crash and now he must head from his urban, east coast life out to settle things at the remote North Dakota farmhouse where he grew up. He decides to drive so that his sister—who he thinks of as “flaky” and lives an alternative lifestyle—will travel with him since she won’t fly. When he arrives at his sister’s home, he finds she is not going to accompany him but convinces him to give a ride to her guru, a crimson-robed Skovorodinian monk to whom she plans to give her half of their inherited 2,000-acre farm. As the two very different men strive to find common ground as they wind their way in anything but a direct route across the country, there are snorts, giggles, and laugh-out-loud sections and some thoughtful insight into living our lives with meaning.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQXYgZqbpweFIKx1fUnXuN2nDg08oxKclMKiCOaWAX-u_ci_zFsx_dCAvb2VZSkdGYJMhrqFc6AF8c3q-PGLTi0cDEXkCmNj9BwkYjLBYZI1vj_nJlzP_8wDk-84wjKuxOygHvg/s1600/girlwhofell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQXYgZqbpweFIKx1fUnXuN2nDg08oxKclMKiCOaWAX-u_ci_zFsx_dCAvb2VZSkdGYJMhrqFc6AF8c3q-PGLTi0cDEXkCmNj9BwkYjLBYZI1vj_nJlzP_8wDk-84wjKuxOygHvg/s1600/girlwhofell.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="color: red;">THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY</b>, Heidi W. Durrow. Algonquin 2010. Winner of the 2008 Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice. One of the key things about this novel is the author’s striking mastery of what is called “voice.” Durrow writes from several points of view in this story of a girl of mixed ethnic heritage—“white” and “black”—whose mother steps off a high-rise roof holding her baby and taking the girl and her brother with her. The girl is the miraculous survivor. Her voice as she tries to leave her painful past behind and become what she calls “the new girl,” is unique and clear and the perfect vehicle for exploring how race plays out in American society. Having been raised the first ten years of her life in Europe where her heritage was not an issue, she goes to live with her grandmother in an impoverished, all-black area of Portland, OR, and is forced to absorb differences in language and culture that are at once painful and torturous. The story addresses very real issues of what it is to be perceived as nonwhite in the United States, of poverty, drugs, alcoholism, and the enduring ties of blood and love. A small book with a giant story to tell.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</a> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-54246894219976625472010-11-30T13:48:00.000-07:002010-11-30T13:48:52.699-07:00Champagne at the holidays—nostalgia, history, mythology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErOXK-aF8fl-tkTmEe3RWMpgDRYCV4WCt-eTtOAalefvpfo9B0U9eOxjURrRm7F7EU7jssZ-kw2Peujb1UmftExQlWniazq4Sp7DxDpLdN6NBHOqrW0kSqmxERBaoPC8ZnRbiQQ/s1600/french75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErOXK-aF8fl-tkTmEe3RWMpgDRYCV4WCt-eTtOAalefvpfo9B0U9eOxjURrRm7F7EU7jssZ-kw2Peujb1UmftExQlWniazq4Sp7DxDpLdN6NBHOqrW0kSqmxERBaoPC8ZnRbiQQ/s1600/french75.jpg" /></a><b style="color: red; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Nothing like war to make a fellow crave a good drink.</b><a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/luf.htm" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> Gervais Raoul Lufbery</b></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> (1885–1918) was a French-American flying ace in WWI. He served in both French aviation and, later, the US Army Air Service, but all but one of his more than 17 combat victories came while flying for the French. He was </span><b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">famous for his pet lion cub</b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> named, appropriately for the topic of this post, <b style="color: red;">Whiskey</b>. Lufbery is often credited with having created a most delightful drink called the French 75, purportedly named after WWI’s powerful French 75mm howitzer artillery piece because the drink blew you away like you'd been shelled by one. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiasEOTk0C6cmPZQhqzly2ZR70qpX8V0xlB29T3bmXqBb-z6BPyt4EGXvu5XCb1aIJrIxU1WErFz6EsHNWt9PT7qy1rlq9qWHNvC-Jzn11LzHYZW_UDq_reY-Kpi_d_XC_EROSHhA/s1600/lufbery.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiasEOTk0C6cmPZQhqzly2ZR70qpX8V0xlB29T3bmXqBb-z6BPyt4EGXvu5XCb1aIJrIxU1WErFz6EsHNWt9PT7qy1rlq9qWHNvC-Jzn11LzHYZW_UDq_reY-Kpi_d_XC_EROSHhA/s1600/lufbery.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lufbery - 94th Aero Squadron</td></tr>
</tbody> </table><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJN1dm1tbeJE8SSC2Zus2XO2h-6Ce3v4NxddPEzoOPoapMqzy4_L_4tbATbs2b5TG92UmlUBYo_xB7Ok5MyCZJ3YltfpgL2W5L8arXdiI1pu6pMb1dtX-UUqiOzmKdbTxpPglJIQ/s1600/stilettos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Other sources claim the drink was created earlier in 1915 by Harry MacElhone, owner of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry%27s_New_York_Bar">Harry’s New York Bar in Paris</a>. The original version contained a potent combo of champagne, gin, lemon juice and sugar. It was popularized in America at New York City’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stork_Club">famous Stork Club</a>. For another note of nostalgia, in the classic movie <i>Casablanca</i>, Yvette is drinking French 75s at the bar. <br />
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<b style="color: red;">Now I can’t drink gin—can’t even stand the smell of it</b>—but a variation arose at some point in its evolving history that replaced the gin in a French 75 with cognac, and that’s the drink I remember drinking back in the days <b>when holding a cocktail in one’s hand seemed the height of sophistication</b>. Now it just seems like a good beginning to a celebration or a well-deserved ending to a tough day. I love a glass of very dry champagne at any time, but there is something very party-ish about making it a French 75 or a Kir Royale (adding crème de cassis)—<b style="color: red;">sort of like adding red stilettos to that traditional little black dress!</b></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
<b>Cheri Loughlin</b>, who writes the Intoxicologist blog, wrote a nice piece about French 75s, including her <b style="color: red;">personal favorite recipe</b> for the drink, at <a href="http://intoxicologist.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/tweaking-the-french-75/">http://intoxicologist.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/tweaking-the-french-75/</a>. That could be a place to start if you want to try this holiday drink at home or instruct a young bartender on how you’d like one made. <br />
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<b style="color: red;">What are your favorite holiday drinks</b>—alcoholic or not—that you traditionally serve or imbibe this time of year? The holidays can be stressful and/or joyful—I say, whatever the character of yours, <b style="color: red;">PARTY ON!</b> <br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: right;">-- Rosemary Carstens</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-69917044756340396042010-11-08T11:57:00.001-07:002010-11-09T11:14:05.237-07:00Roux Memories: A Cajun-Creole Love Story with Recipes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAfFwM2l0pYSohPePtul0qa5gEkRzIWoEh7WkGtpIUAACMQzN5iDqVA4Z4Hhy1oKd5r1JISzrh9eb9qXuUkgb_Gn3UVVwLeTxBcemag7IxgvluLTwzobtXgqAWm852DaTAGndSQ/s1600/rouxmemories.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAfFwM2l0pYSohPePtul0qa5gEkRzIWoEh7WkGtpIUAACMQzN5iDqVA4Z4Hhy1oKd5r1JISzrh9eb9qXuUkgb_Gn3UVVwLeTxBcemag7IxgvluLTwzobtXgqAWm852DaTAGndSQ/s200/rouxmemories.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">This delightful book from Louisiana native Belinda Hulin opens a window on Cajun and Creole cooking and the family memories</b> that surrounded the author’s life as the gumbo pots bubbled, women sat with big bowls in their laps shelling peas, and crawfish, shrimp, jambalaya, pork cracklins, dirty rice, and an array of other foods were prepared in the kitchen. Not to mention those melt-in-your-mouth pecan pralines that cause us to sigh with sweet-lovers’ satisfaction!<br />
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Roux Memories (Lyons Press 2010) offers up more than 250 home-tested recipes along with her family’s tales of four decades rooted in New Orleans’ food and culture. <b>Her mother and father, Audrey and A. J. Hulin, were married for 46 years, raised five children, welcomed grandchildren, experienced life’s ups and downs and, through all those years enjoyed what Hulin calls “some of the best food on earth.”</b> Generations of relatives contributed recipes and stories to this cookbook and we are the lucky recipients!<br />
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<b style="color: red;">There are so many things that are lost in a devastating crisis that you never think of until you need them</b>. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed homes and neighborhoods and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, bonds were stretched, and many recipes lost. Imagine the consternation on any holiday if you couldn’t lay your hands on that time-worn, stained recipe for the special traditional foods your family has enjoyed as long as you can remember! <br />
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Hulin tells the story about being at her mother’s house in suburban New Orleans about a month after Hurricane Katrina, shoveling wet, moldy bits of unrecognizable belongings out on the lawn. It was a sad time, seeing all that had been destroyed and lost forever. <b style="color: red;">Checking back through the house, imagine her joy when she found, just above the high water mark, her mother’s dry, undisturbed recipe box!</b> The thought of all those recipes not written down, not surviving, throughout the region, set the author on the path to writing this book. It’d make <b>a great gift for any coo</b>k--<br />
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For more details and a sample recipe: <a href="http://www.rouxmemories.com/">http://www.rouxmemories.com/</a><br />
For more about author Belinda Hulin: <a href="http://www.belindahulin.com/bio.htm">http://www.belindahulin.com/bio.htm</a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Rosemary Carstens, Editor</div><a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</span></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-27126805554073349642010-09-30T14:42:00.000-06:002010-09-30T14:42:09.300-06:00SPOTLIGHT ON BOOKS: Two Novels of Interest<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">READ, READ, READ! That’s my motto and I enjoy every syllable of it.</b> My whole life it has been such a special pleasure to open a book with anticipation and to find myself drawn into the story, the characters, the writingm from the very first page. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Some books take a little longer to capture my attention.</b> For example, I’ve noticed that books by US authors often try to reach out with maximum impact from the first sentence, as if our short American attention span must be grabbed by the throat and yanked into the story immediately or all will be lost. <b style="color: red;">Of course, I am excited when that opening sentence is something so cool that I just know I’m going to love the book</b>, but I’ve found that novels written in other countries often take a slower approach, building interest more gradually with greater emphasis on character development, setting, or backstory. For me, <b>either approach can be appealing as long as the writing itself is good</b>. It’s similar to how I love Hollywood films and independent foreign films with subtitles equally, though differently, if the stories are exciting, thought-provoking, and engaging. Recently, though, I found myself setting aside a book I had anticipated enjoying because there were so many typos and other editing errors that they constantly distracted me. I couldn’t immerse myself in the tale. I felt, “Why should I care about this story when the author and publishers clearly did not care enough about me, the reader, to present the very best product they could?”</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><b style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What have you noticed about approaches to fiction in other countries as compared to here in the US? How do you feel about poorly edited books? I’d love to hear your comments—</span></b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Here are a couple of my recent finds </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">since the last issue of FEAST was published</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">, both are written by European writers. I hope you enjoy them:</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;"> </b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZeuu9nutyZl8hvAt5ce1R0BudMq1GORUq2mlY1JRsiZtqBywmpiXVpJlPv7MED2G7c7hmb08IV84IgZGn0yZVdPk2tvzEAtKkIl2sQWgTcc-yxbixs7scb3owzxnba717KdfToQ/s1600/bluedress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZeuu9nutyZl8hvAt5ce1R0BudMq1GORUq2mlY1JRsiZtqBywmpiXVpJlPv7MED2G7c7hmb08IV84IgZGn0yZVdPk2tvzEAtKkIl2sQWgTcc-yxbixs7scb3owzxnba717KdfToQ/s200/bluedress.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Girl in a Blue Dress</b>, Gaynor Arnold. Crown Publishers 2008. Longlisted for both the </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize, this <b>engaging first novel by British social-worker-turned-author Arnold was inspired by the life and marriage of Charles Dickens and presents a very believable and thought-provoking view of the most celebrated author in the Victorian world</b>. This is the <b style="color: red;">wife’s side of the story</b>, an examination of what it is like to be the mate of someone famous, beloved, and absolutely captivating in public—a man who is much more complicated in private and much more fallible. It’s a familiar story in its way (we’ve seen it recently in our own press)—a man becomes powerful, rich, and a celebrity and succumbs to the tantalizing pitfalls of such a position. What’s most interesting here is how true the story rings when examined from the viewpoint of those most intimately acquainted with the person. It’s a cautionary tale in a way—<b>all one sees in a person in public is not necessarily, maybe never, what it seems.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;"> </b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ziJAeckTkG9gt1Dar81pPWjU25ohUHDrL5mtwtOQwF1zyqjw4Of-k7AY67T0a01RMzvpoZG9Eh0y7ctFCG_vBN3nsK0hhJ4bM8LryxW0TDzzpZcTOV5EnfcVut_2JeiDQzj5Sw/s1600/prime.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ziJAeckTkG9gt1Dar81pPWjU25ohUHDrL5mtwtOQwF1zyqjw4Of-k7AY67T0a01RMzvpoZG9Eh0y7ctFCG_vBN3nsK0hhJ4bM8LryxW0TDzzpZcTOV5EnfcVut_2JeiDQzj5Sw/s200/prime.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">The Solitude of Prime Numbers</b>, Paolo Giordano. Viking translated edition 2009. An international best seller, <b>this book won the Premio Strega</b>. Its author is the youngest-ever winner of Italy’s prestigious literary award, and his debut novel has been translated into more than 30 languages worldwide. <b style="color: red;">Giordano’s use of prime numbers as a metaphor for two lonely young misfits—Alice and Mattia—who each suffered traumatic childhood events that forever changed their lives, is brilliant</b>. One of my favorite parts is the author’s discussion of the rare occurrence of two prime numbers, so-called twin primes, which occur “close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching . . . .” <b style="color: red;">This is the story of two such lonely figures who long to be close, who tremble at the possibility, but who do not know how to span the distance.</b> A beautifully conceived meditation on the weight we all carry forward from our childhoods, the efforts of even the most solitary to seek connection and love. <b>This book transcends borders.</b></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Happy reading!</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Rosemary Carstens</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com </a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-57437110876247516852010-08-16T10:50:00.002-06:002010-08-17T08:42:37.996-06:00The Beauty, Craftsmanship, and Unique Character of Wayne Henderson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYqBKSbYz697KNLPRV7mOx7bpSVEHHaZSAirOHkR87kOK_Yn7uCVtJMRYv6xH3ZqWapwqbUfD2W3nvoVhZ3fGYahsx1l4e-RTZTvCQjx5zvJ9qv5LYxtUleZ_e-o1kgJwfHnt8A/s1600/Clapton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYqBKSbYz697KNLPRV7mOx7bpSVEHHaZSAirOHkR87kOK_Yn7uCVtJMRYv6xH3ZqWapwqbUfD2W3nvoVhZ3fGYahsx1l4e-RTZTvCQjx5zvJ9qv5LYxtUleZ_e-o1kgJwfHnt8A/s200/Clapton.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhquHd89a6O3q6MWC67u7GgfX2Olj5D16cZIoD65ImFHga4ll8fsK3ocKFPPlJ3vw2W3jvMsqXlOGwS4Db4oqhh_W4Chn5qg4PfrsVToX4OmoPngmfsNIHsPZbjuJnkPMR1QNCBw/s1600/henderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">CLAPTON'S GUITAR: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument</b>, Allen St. John. Free Press 2006. I could not put this down! I’ve often thought certain, well-used inanimate objects, like musical instruments, could tell us some amazing stories if they only had a voice: Van Cliburn’s or Ray Charles’s piano, Miles Davis’s trumpet, Eric Clapton’s guitar. Imagine the tales! <b>Musicians form intimate relationships with their instruments; they pour their souls into them and, with the best, their souls are reincarnated and rise into the air as music that makes our hearts soar.</b> Bestselling author Allen St. John takes us on a personal journey to watch retired rural mail carrier Wayne Henderson, one of the world’s greatest guitar builders, make such an instrument. <b style="color: red;">Henderson employs experience, creativity, and more than a little down-home ingenuity—and there’s a 10-year waiting list for his heirloom acoustic guitars.</b> St. John writes with poetry and passion, but also with a clear eye about the process—part magic, part music, huge helping of craftsmanship in a world where friendship, laughter, old-time music, and homemade lemon pies and barbeque count for more than who has the big bucks. <b>This book is special if you care about music and craftsmanship.</b> A great gift idea.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhquHd89a6O3q6MWC67u7GgfX2Olj5D16cZIoD65ImFHga4ll8fsK3ocKFPPlJ3vw2W3jvMsqXlOGwS4Db4oqhh_W4Chn5qg4PfrsVToX4OmoPngmfsNIHsPZbjuJnkPMR1QNCBw/s1600/henderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhquHd89a6O3q6MWC67u7GgfX2Olj5D16cZIoD65ImFHga4ll8fsK3ocKFPPlJ3vw2W3jvMsqXlOGwS4Db4oqhh_W4Chn5qg4PfrsVToX4OmoPngmfsNIHsPZbjuJnkPMR1QNCBw/s200/henderson.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wayne Henderson</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Read more about <b style="color: red;">WAYNE HENDERSON</b>, his music and his craftsmanship, plus all about the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition held each year in Grayson Highlands State Park, Wilson, VA.: <a href="http://www.waynehenderson.org/">http://www.waynehenderson.org</a> .</span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For more about the author <b>ALLEN ST. JOHN</b>: <a href="http://www.allenstjohn.com/">http://www.allenstjohn.com/</a></span><a href="http://www.allenstjohn.com/"><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /></a></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">May the last days of August be filled with good music, good friends, and great art! </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span><br />
<a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-64248525228261454292010-07-04T11:07:00.000-06:002010-07-04T11:07:00.955-06:00Preserving the taste, color, and memory of summer . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB-TTMErVIzWIRJvQUzYLFPMD5g4wkJit4MIKaooeykpNELO1bUvnA2AKDlpO2NjnZLvmgKmC0QSNU9y1IO_MdwKgZAsqS-HOYR131yATAMjRstOLaJ82h_SzeIeI38KfnCyepg/s1600/garden-produce-300x225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB-TTMErVIzWIRJvQUzYLFPMD5g4wkJit4MIKaooeykpNELO1bUvnA2AKDlpO2NjnZLvmgKmC0QSNU9y1IO_MdwKgZAsqS-HOYR131yATAMjRstOLaJ82h_SzeIeI38KfnCyepg/s200/garden-produce-300x225.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Lipstick-red tomatoes plump with juice</b>; green slices ready to crisp up in oil for a tart, crunchy hors d’oeuvre; pear-shaped yellow ones to delight the eye; and cool salads dotted with <b>cherry tomatoes as sweet as honey on the tongue</b>. Chilled green, gold, and red melons, refreshing as shade on a blistering day. Raspberries, strawberries, light-as-air whipped cream on a slice of angel food cake. Fresh greens, a half-dozen varieties of garlic, spicy red and white radishes, more tomatoes, a toss of fresh basil, a dash of balsamic, a quick grate of hard cheese. These are only <b style="color: red;">a few of the luscious, sensuous pleasures of summer here in Colorado</b>. The season came in with a roar this year, going from spring to ninety-degree weather in a matter of days. I try not to think about how quickly it’ll all pass and sprigs of yellow will begin to show themselves on our trees. <b>How to preserve at least a smidge of all that glory from the garden or your local farmer’s market? Canning is one answer.</b></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Each June of my childhood</b>, daddy carried my sister and brother and me outside in our jammies in the middle of the night, to return to sleep in the back of our fifties Plymouth station wagon. <b>He and Mom would sip coffee from a thermos as we headed east from Southern California to try to cross the Arizona desert before worst of the blistering heat, then north to Moab, Utah, where daddy’s mother lived</b>. My paternal grandmother and my aunt and uncle, plus a passel of cousins, were all Mormons. They were also farmers and both life-shaping pursuits meant that <b style="color: red;">summers were spent churning butter, whipping cream, picking fruits and vegetables, canning and preserving all that could be processed as each season peaked</b>. While it was never much of a vacation for my mother, who was expected to pitch in with the work while the men sat at ease at the end of their days, for me it was glorious. I loved the wonderful, heavily laden table we sat down to for every meal, the seemingly unlimited quantities of whipped cream, the homemade ice cream, the fruit right at hand in the fields if I wanted a snack when I hid in a haystack reading hot afternoons away. We always took home boxes of canned tomatoes, carrots, venison, okra (which I still hate to this day), pearly baby onions, and an assortment of pickles and relishes. <b style="color: red;">Those gleaming, filled Mason jars seemed like art to me and their memory still shines so many decades later.</b> They were a symbol of rootedness, of the land, of bounty, and even of love as those were happy times for me.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSXs5icNHhReernG-whthg8Fv5fDZBlEe2LKAfpx9-VyzRXu1rRVmOCW2TN1wyoDuWQWxxZl3hCKKWLWKvCFi70YdCiLZETiSxUL2ys9caE2Necug0ERH9TwEuAr4zsLSpV3JAQ/s1600/canning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSXs5icNHhReernG-whthg8Fv5fDZBlEe2LKAfpx9-VyzRXu1rRVmOCW2TN1wyoDuWQWxxZl3hCKKWLWKvCFi70YdCiLZETiSxUL2ys9caE2Necug0ERH9TwEuAr4zsLSpV3JAQ/s320/canning.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Today people don’t can so much, but it’s all there to be done and not as hard as one might fear. <a href="http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/">Sterling Publishing</a> has a new book out in their <b>Homemade Living Series</b> that is filled with simple step-by-step directions, tips, and cautions—from tools of the trade to ingredients and resources, plus how to create a range of pickles and preserves, jams and jellies—and recipes, of course. <b style="color: red;">CANNING & PRESERVING: All you need to know to make jams, jellies, pickles, chutneys & more</b> by Ashley English is the ideal roadmap to keeping summer’s vibrancy alive long into the cold, stark months.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Take the challenge—you’ll love the results!</span></b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--Rosemary Carstens</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com</span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-10819776706733961502010-06-14T16:27:00.001-06:002010-06-14T17:03:37.609-06:00Schooner: Boating Dreams on Martha’ s Vineyard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrwmOKlURqgtdfGKzxr2zWUQxHFoAOlwn_hspllsQfK1HTwccniG0K7Kd1sn03USiEtGSAQ0TLohkDWBjuyHYzntP30j6Og9r1lbKdtrvk0e-FeV_R_IMvpvsDgM3ZfYhX6uCe1A/s1600/schooner2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrwmOKlURqgtdfGKzxr2zWUQxHFoAOlwn_hspllsQfK1HTwccniG0K7Kd1sn03USiEtGSAQ0TLohkDWBjuyHYzntP30j6Og9r1lbKdtrvk0e-FeV_R_IMvpvsDgM3ZfYhX6uCe1A/s320/schooner2.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Love boating? Always dreamed of building your own by hand?</span></b> The careful, skilled craftsmanship required for the task are beautifully documented in this new book from <a href="http://www.vineyardstories.com/">Vineyard Stories</a> : <b style="color: red;">SCHOONER: Building a wooden boat on Martha’s Vineyard</b> written by Tom Dunlop with photographs by Alison Shaw.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><i>Rebecca of Vineyard Haven</i></b>, a 60-foot wooden schooner designed and built by the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway was, at the time of her construction, <b>the largest sailing vessel built on the island of Martha’s Vineyard since the election of Abraham Lincoln</b>.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhidITCF-8Pd5IBP02r8sKLm_cGdqyU5LrD8aWt4EAUVuCF3zqVyqYp5wsdETNDfB_uQCxPTXEsp5ibpR_6i_I4XXZJhNBxoEpL_3n-57EOMFMCH_f50ktzU7carIxJNWY5YgsawQ/s1600/gannon-benjamin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhidITCF-8Pd5IBP02r8sKLm_cGdqyU5LrD8aWt4EAUVuCF3zqVyqYp5wsdETNDfB_uQCxPTXEsp5ibpR_6i_I4XXZJhNBxoEpL_3n-57EOMFMCH_f50ktzU7carIxJNWY5YgsawQ/s320/gannon-benjamin.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Ross Gannon, left, and Nat Benjamin, the boat builders</div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While you might expect a book about building a boat to be a calm, step-by-step story, proceeding logically from drawings to launch, <b><span style="color: red;">this is no ordinary tale. Drama abounds</span></b> as <i>Rebecca </i>navigates her way through bankruptcy court, a two-year work stoppage, a change of owners due to a court-ordered auction, and many an other “high sea” on her voyage to completion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">Beyond the telling of the difficulties of taking this schooner from dream to the sea, this is a celebration of the artistry of boat builders Nat Benjamin and Ross Gannon who have thirty years of experience behind them.</span></b> Theirs is one of the very few full-time boatyards in the United States devoted exclusively to the design, construction, repair, and maintenance of classic, plank-on-frame wooden boats. Nearly every part of <i>Rebecca </i>is built or cast or fashioned by hand.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">SCHOONER </b>goes beyond just relating how a dream of a wooden boat came true, it is a love story—about boats’ magical appeal through the ages, men and women’s longing for the sea, and, perhaps most of all, about a deep appreciation of creating things the “slow” way, hands on, in a world gone mad with its desire for instant gratification.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For more on Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway: </span></b><br />
<a href="http://www.gannonandbenjamin.com/index.php"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.gannonandbenjamin.com/index.php</span></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span><br />
<a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com</span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-38043094511997806582010-05-10T09:56:00.000-06:002010-05-10T09:56:09.984-06:00BOOKS TO BLOW YOUR HAIR BACK: Thrity Umrigar’s The Space Between Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOdTCOsGoH0qdG4OCPs__jB_RAolvdNV-4J1AU8gQYas04w2AlzyLPaI55R1m6259JE1P-5JVYTLAaFwFOdurvav_u_6WofsD7f2E2rgGu0vceJyn46uvXhJXKIKveI_y47D01Q/s1600/SpaceBetweenUs-pb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmOdTCOsGoH0qdG4OCPs__jB_RAolvdNV-4J1AU8gQYas04w2AlzyLPaI55R1m6259JE1P-5JVYTLAaFwFOdurvav_u_6WofsD7f2E2rgGu0vceJyn46uvXhJXKIKveI_y47D01Q/s320/SpaceBetweenUs-pb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Don’t you just love it when you discover a fine book in some “accidental” way?</b> Not through media hype or bookstore in-your-face placement, but through the recommendation of a friend who wants to share something special, because you are roaming around the library dipping into books here and there and one grabs you, or, perhaps, even because you have nothing else to read and find one left behind on the bus or subway? I think these are magical finds and somehow all the more special because of it. <b>One such discovery for me was <i>The Space Between Us</i> by Thrity Umrigar (HarperCollins 2005). </b></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Umrigar is an Indian-American writer, born in Mumbai, who immigrated to the United States when she was 21 and now lives in Cleveland, OH.</b> She is a journalist, author, and assistant professor of English at Case Western Reserve University where she teaches creative writing and literature. She has written for the Washington Post and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, among other newspapers, and regularly writes about books for The Boston Globe. <b style="color: red;">Since her first novel, Bombay Time, Umrigar has received critical acclaim for her ability to vividly immerse us in India, its people, its customs, and its geography—both of the land and the mind.</b> Because I had just read The Space Between Us and The Weight of Heaven, I made a point of attending a panel she sat on at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Denver last month. She is impressive in person, too.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><b style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Space Between Us</i> dives into the chasm between our lived relationships with people from different classes or ethnic groups and the preconceived ideas or unthinking reactions we all carry forward from our childhoods about race, class, and difference. </span></b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruguBlWUbtsnNrG_IFgUEAjLG7_rAHwK0x3I9T13oBxfi7BwYx6DU3irff_tW5q0pijtBPFKC1Z2Zu4c0mDAviDdnUAoAW8dCA3uQesQr7yhvURhxgHer27-KC1hfo3wod46rYg/s1600/thrityumrigar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruguBlWUbtsnNrG_IFgUEAjLG7_rAHwK0x3I9T13oBxfi7BwYx6DU3irff_tW5q0pijtBPFKC1Z2Zu4c0mDAviDdnUAoAW8dCA3uQesQr7yhvURhxgHer27-KC1hfo3wod46rYg/s320/thrityumrigar.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Focusing on two women who live dramatically different lives in modern-day India, Umrigar casts them in sharp, telling detail.</b> She is a master of showing rather than “telling” her readers what to pay attention to and she knows the landscape of Indian culture like the back of her hand. The two women in the story are close friends in spite of their differences: Sera Dubash is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose comparatively privileged surroundings camouflage the reality of her abusive marriage, and Bhima is her stoic illiterate maid, worn into compliance by a life of despair, loss, and poverty. Bhima has worked in Sera’s household for more than 20 years. For each woman the other is her closest friend; each is isolated within her particular circumstances from other intimate relationships, but each also knows the other’s secrets and deepest trials. Despite their closeness, throughout the book we see flashes of class barriers, ingrained prejudices each is not comfortable crossing—Sera, for example, cannot accept Bhima sitting on a chair at her table or drinking from a household cup. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When Bhima’s granddaughter, her last living relative, who she prayed would complete an education and escape the slums, returns home pregnant, Bhima’s feelings fluctuate between rage and despair. Sera is there for her, as Bhima was for her when she suffered at the hand of her cruel husband and devious mother-in-law, but, again, <b style="color: red;">the hand of fate cranks the wheel and Thrity Umrigar exposes the complexity and flawed nature of human beings</b>. A poignant and compelling story brought to us by one of the finest writers of our time. </span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">For more about this book:</span></b><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Book Club Girl interviews Thrity Umrigar online: <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/book-club-girl/2008/05/22/book-club-girl-talks-to-thrity-umrigar-author-of-the-space-between-us">http://www.blogtalkradio.com/book-club-girl/2008/05/22/book-club-girl-talks-to-thrity-umrigar-author-of-the-space-between-us</a></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>For more about the author:</b> <a href="http://www.umrigar.com/">http://www.umrigar.com</a></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com</span></a><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Follow me on Twitter: @tweets2go</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-38027666656802878202010-04-21T11:14:00.002-06:002010-04-21T11:49:47.663-06:00Bill Varney’s imaginative pairings provide a taste adventure . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9PNomRJ3zhQcuikqQ_twQ4mNkKKAKtZyuZF4ADQnp7lKwnyupGj9ppz9JAtRXkv8IAQrXUELnChC8MOovhyLvoL8hV50YhhqHN8J8wdmu8H9Os2Z7EsIpAIZhBTb9zf22aspZw/s1600/Bill+in+the+Greenhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW9PNomRJ3zhQcuikqQ_twQ4mNkKKAKtZyuZF4ADQnp7lKwnyupGj9ppz9JAtRXkv8IAQrXUELnChC8MOovhyLvoL8hV50YhhqHN8J8wdmu8H9Os2Z7EsIpAIZhBTb9zf22aspZw/s320/Bill+in+the+Greenhouse.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Strolling down Main Street in Fredericksburg, TX, you might stop in at <a href="http://www.fromagedumonde.com/"><b style="color: red;">FROMAGE DU MONDE</b></a>, known for its fine cheese and gourmet market—and the creative cookery of general manager <b style="color: red;">BILL VARNEY</b>! Varney doesn’t just walk into a room, he fairly bounces—<b>he exudes enthusiasm and good will and meeting him just brightens any da</b>y. He is enormously knowledgeable about herbs and is the former owner of Fredericksburg Herb Farm where he honed his skills in raising herbs and learning how to use their delightful array of flavors in surprising ways to enhance any meal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">The day I lunched at Fromage du Monde, we topped off a meal of quiche and fruit with an unusual but delicious summer dessert.</b> If you’d like to serve something different that your guests will love and ask you to repeat again and again, try this:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihoMN-x4vUlpdlIsf2pAOkcOFHeI9G3dlfYrj65PTxxTRg9hS3ijknx-ZqfNwRotKu2yIuqMYXvLYlPPw_GeHAG6f8td5Yf3zI8BbrToEA7SDpGG7kH5i8_9k1rzEEZVVJaGDMqw/s1600/peach+cobbler+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihoMN-x4vUlpdlIsf2pAOkcOFHeI9G3dlfYrj65PTxxTRg9hS3ijknx-ZqfNwRotKu2yIuqMYXvLYlPPw_GeHAG6f8td5Yf3zI8BbrToEA7SDpGG7kH5i8_9k1rzEEZVVJaGDMqw/s320/peach+cobbler+005.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lemon Verbena Peach Cobbler with Habanero Cheddar*</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">4 to 6 cups sliced peaches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">1 cup sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">½ cup butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">¼ cup sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">2 tablespoons lemon verbena leaves</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Zest of 1 lemon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A cup flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">¾ cup sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">1 cup milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">¼ teaspoon salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">2 teaspoons baking powder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cinnamon to taste</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">1 cup grated habañero cheddar cheese</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mix peaches with 1 cup sugar in bowl and set aside. Melt butter in 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Mince ¼ cup sugar, lemon verbena leaves, and lemon zest in food processor. Combine flour, remaining ¾ cup of sugar, milk, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and mix well. Stir in the lemon verbena mixture. Pour over the melted butter in the prepared baking dish. Spoon the peaches over the batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Then sprinkle with the grated haba</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">ñ</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">ero cheddar cheese. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until bubbly and lightly browned.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yields 10-12 servings</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">*© 2010 by William Varney</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fromage du Monde is located at 226 W. Main Street, Fredericksburg, TX – (830) 992-3134</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Bill Varney’s latest venture is UrbanHerbal</b>, an online source for information about herb gardening and their use in food, home, health, and beauty: <a href="http://www.urbanherbal.com/">http://www.urbanherbal.com</a></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">--Rosemary Carstens</span><br />
<a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-83017036722896872272010-04-07T10:16:00.000-06:002010-04-07T10:16:43.697-06:00BLISS: Breathtaking Landscapes and Cultural Conflict<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIxFYbVID28GDHoUf9423jA4BuCXzKJKTWrkgZIBcZb4nCK97H5JeSWqA_QpmpUSPHUlppOAFJAo1BD6ncY4HVfsIsFBNdIrZHHUNmdYu4V1A2ZVhZsxvl40BMtY1MLbgiTSAMsA/s1600/bliss_125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIxFYbVID28GDHoUf9423jA4BuCXzKJKTWrkgZIBcZb4nCK97H5JeSWqA_QpmpUSPHUlppOAFJAo1BD6ncY4HVfsIsFBNdIrZHHUNmdYu4V1A2ZVhZsxvl40BMtY1MLbgiTSAMsA/s320/bliss_125.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;"><i>BLISS </i></b>(Turkish w/English subtitles, 105 minutes, released by First Run Features Feb. 2010). Based on the acclaimed novel by Zülfü Livaneli and filmed in some of Turkey’s most awe-inspiring natural settings, <b>Bliss is a riveting tale about love, honor, freedom, and redemption</b>. <b style="color: red;">When 17-year-old Meryem’s virtue is called into question after she is found unconscious and disheveled by the side of a lake, the village’s elders gather and demand that the family uphold an ancient moral imperative to kill her.</b> A distant cousin is ordered to carry out the sentence, but, instead, Meryem and Cemal embark on a surprising journey.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cemal is a deeply troubled young man, just returned from war and experiencing flashbacks of the violence he encountered. Meryem, too, is experiencing flashbacks to the violence she endured. Both are stoic in their attempts to deal with their emotional trauma and to meet their cultural obligations. When they encounter a professor who is also seeking peace and clarity in his life, Cemal and Meryem begin to see each other and their traditional lives in ways that provoke deep inner conflict and force them to reexamine their futures.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The landscapes chosen to serve as backdrop for Bliss are incredibly beautiful and provide glimpses of Turkey I’d not seen before. <b style="color: red;">The stark contrast between nature’s grandeur and the vast dichotomy between traditional and modern Turkey heighten the emotional impact of this poignant, deeply affecting film. </b></span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">See a trailer: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnEMhcaLTuM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnEMhcaLTuM</a></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</span></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-90428771882274248822010-03-07T14:38:00.000-07:002010-03-07T14:38:41.551-07:00Lessons on War: Bataan Death March Not Old News<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxrPAOnPliuL960EGUZKnjbmGejC1NMBqwlHIW_zZU0ZE0gmQzgsiolIfs5Znlj-JuD1XfOWiuucpnRsh5YNRPXMnzgpNclf4vBi7uBve9mbQU0qq1QSTbrzdRcAH6LvWxab8bQ/s1600-h/tears_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCxrPAOnPliuL960EGUZKnjbmGejC1NMBqwlHIW_zZU0ZE0gmQzgsiolIfs5Znlj-JuD1XfOWiuucpnRsh5YNRPXMnzgpNclf4vBi7uBve9mbQU0qq1QSTbrzdRcAH6LvWxab8bQ/s200/tears_cover.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath</b>, Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2009) (out in paperback March 2010). <b style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">What a story!</span> </b>This book is a very readable, astounding accomplishment based on ten years of research, thousands and thousands of travel miles, hundreds of interviews, and the support of numerous scholars and ordinary people to bring it to fruition. <br />
<br />
I had always heard about the Bataan Death March, of course, but <b style="color: red;">the details set out here, often using quotes from among the 76,000 US and Filipino captive soldiers that were on the march, tear at the soul</b>. That our US servicemen were treated so brutally, starved, tortured, and murdered for the least imaginable “offense” is so unacceptable that it can never be forgiven. <br />
<br />
<b>Don’t think for a moment that this is a one-sided presentation dolled up to make the US look good and Japan look savage.</b> The Normans spent countless hours digging among Japanese archives and interviewing Japanese military survivors so that they could include accounts from that side of the war as well and perhaps comprehend the enemy’s mindset. An impossible task, in my view. The Japanese treatment of prisoners of war <i>was </i>savage and <b style="color: red;">there is something to think about in this book about the nature of war as it is being conducted today and who it is that truly bears the suffering in all wars. </b><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUBxiN6sxM2Gd_Bsgjw0AMROg5QnHGLDdQ9XyS1kpiBjK_06IGr7q07iST0DgJz0tH1GgwH7ewutIE5PuSog6ePF88fNJ6P5VJ-qh8a-2HfjyNTPuSJap4fhM5AUxVV4oBJPFApw/s1600-h/bensteele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUBxiN6sxM2Gd_Bsgjw0AMROg5QnHGLDdQ9XyS1kpiBjK_06IGr7q07iST0DgJz0tH1GgwH7ewutIE5PuSog6ePF88fNJ6P5VJ-qh8a-2HfjyNTPuSJap4fhM5AUxVV4oBJPFApw/s200/bensteele.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>This book grips like a novel</b> and I think one key reason is that the authors used the story of one young Montana cowboy, Ben Steele, who survived the march and is one of the few from those days still living, as a vehicle for telling the story of thousands of others. As readers, we connect with Ben—the story becomes so much more than just facts and figures, a bunch of history dates, or military battle reports. <b><span style="color: red;">The Normans wove personal recollections of specific people on each side of the conflict and help us to see these historic events through the lens of individuals.</span></b> The book details and investigates a figure we’ve all read about in the history books—Douglas MacArthur—and reveals him as a man more concerned with saving his own ass than with performing his duties as a leader. <b>MacArthur was no hero, but a deeply flawed, narcissistic coward and liar.</b> As in all wars there were botched plans and ill-conceived communications; chaos; and personal egos and agendas influencing outcomes.<br />
<br />
One of this book’s strengths is that it widens the focus from just the circumstances of the march to include events that led up to it, the post-march conditions for the captives, and an account of the US trial of two war criminals when the war was over. Ben Steele, who upon his return to Montana after the war became a professor of art, contributed the poignant illustrations throughout the volume. <b style="color: red;">This is the kind of quality journalism we should see more of in the publishing world and this book should be required reading in Washington.</b><br />
<br />
To read more about the book: <a href="http://www.tearsinthedarkness.com/">http://www.tearsinthedarkness.com</a><br />
<br />
Go here to see a 5-part video series of Ben Steele telling his story: <a href="http://www.tearsinthedarkness.com/video-book">http://www.tearsinthedarkness.com/video-book </a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;">-- Rosemary Carstens</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-16850755141562505922010-02-11T10:51:00.000-07:002010-02-11T10:51:47.103-07:00IMPACT: Doug Preston’s latest science-based, action-packed thriller . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgb536Jq1Tfj76z2lHma65psXaR6-AkbTAsaLm7_uHmRw6w52_Vv2r0wzEFgagvWTjttDTPvRLyn9hurNGw73YVwjAfyMven6gnENkIG1qG7zQXi5pg5dLg19FbuHbmq4u2iN6Q/s1600-h/impact.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgb536Jq1Tfj76z2lHma65psXaR6-AkbTAsaLm7_uHmRw6w52_Vv2r0wzEFgagvWTjttDTPvRLyn9hurNGw73YVwjAfyMven6gnENkIG1qG7zQXi5pg5dLg19FbuHbmq4u2iN6Q/s320/impact.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="color: red;">Doug Preston takes “what ifs” to a whole new level.</b> In his latest exciting thriller <b><i>IMPACT</i></b>, the author strikes gold once again. Preston, who achieved worldwide recognition for his and Lincoln Child’s Pendergast series of novels (including such best-selling titles as <i>The Book of the Dead</i>, <i>The Wheel of Darkness</i>, and <i>The Relic</i>), deftly <b>mixes controversial real science with characters and storylines that keep you breathless to the last page. </b></span><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="color: red;">What do an amateur astronomer in a small fishing community on the Maine coast, a slave-labor mine hidden deep within the Cambodian rain forest, and a determined young scientist at the National Propulsion Facility have in common?</b> The connections are, literally, out of this world. Former monk-turned-CIA-operative Wyman Ford, previously seen kicking ass in Blasphemy, signs on to pull the pieces together in his stylish and highly imaginative, action-packed way. It’s fun, it’s inventive—it takes real events, extrapolates their possibilities, and <b>has you looking up into the night sky wondering what’s really out there, watching</b>.</span><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b style="color: red;">The inspiration for this story came from an edgy experience in the author’s own life.</b> In 1996 NASA flew a special reconnaissance mission over the largely unexplored region of northwestern Cambodia. The data it gathered was fed into a T3D Cray supercomputer at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California and a startling discovery was made. <b>Buried deep in the jungle was a previously unknown12th century temple covering almost a square mile of land! </b></span><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When an expedition prepared to go to the temple, Doug Preston was working for National Geographic magazine and maneuvered a spot on the trip led by Elizabeth Moore, head of the Department of Art and Archaeology at the University of London and an authority on the ancient Angkor civilization. It proved to be a rugged endeavor. <b style="color: red;">There were no roads to the temple and the trails were flooded from the monsoons and still heavily mined from the war—not to mention that it was located in heavily armed Khmer Rouge territory, with kidnappings and violent killings occurring regularly.</b> It was, as Preston says, <b>“one hell of a journey,”</b> and he always knew that one day he’d weave the details of his thrilling personal adventure into one of his novels. That day is now and <b>the result, with more twists and turns than a gold medal snowboarder—and just as nerve wracking—will keep you entertained from start to explosive climax.</b></span><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Visit Doug Preston’s website and read the first two chapters:</b> <a href="http://www.prestonchild.com/solonovels/preston/impact/">http://www.prestonchild.com/solonovels/preston/impact/</a> </span><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><a href="http://feastofbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">http://FEASTofBooks.com</span></a><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-16554488130299378752010-01-31T10:04:00.000-07:002010-01-31T10:04:13.379-07:00Divakaruni brings us One Amazing Thing . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrWPHVrx80GmF5Ozz-mzPgAzHPY3MjHFSAfIgdL3alc15nyn-YLqB458bsTe-S0ToMWbJ75YQF6Re12DGJOjBNbO8DuJn1AcnpZtOFkYUrxwLrVuSekRpKRU5POAbbG29Rjqh1Hg/s1600-h/one_amazing_thing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrWPHVrx80GmF5Ozz-mzPgAzHPY3MjHFSAfIgdL3alc15nyn-YLqB458bsTe-S0ToMWbJ75YQF6Re12DGJOjBNbO8DuJn1AcnpZtOFkYUrxwLrVuSekRpKRU5POAbbG29Rjqh1Hg/s200/one_amazing_thing.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni</b> knows how to weave a story out of disparate threads, bringing them together in an intelligent and compassionate human tapestry. In her latest book, <i><b style="color: red;">ONE AMAZING THING</b></i> (Hyperion 2009), the well-regarded author of <i>Sister of my Heart</i>, <i>The Palace of Illusions</i>, and <i>The Mistress of Spices</i>, brings together a cast of nine characters spending a long, tiring afternoon in a passport and visa office. <b>Each has their reason for going to India, and each holds him or herself privately away from the others, focusing inward as they wait. When a violent earthquake rips through their building and traps them, the nine must struggle together for survival.</b> As hopes for rescue seem to dim, each shares the story of a most compelling moment, a turning point, in their lives—something that shaped and molded them into who they are today.<br />
<br />
The literary device of stranding a group of very different and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQR1IT-fdkxiP7_DCSlR-0iQsJ_Q6S8lF6JPWMsgB57wMgGyOFhmthwZjU80U02LJ4KDVacoW5vuua5PiButzqimc1gFwLdjoQcTrg2GjLDG5w0iFpeHUHp0Ofk9qp0gTm04dOkg/s1600-h/divakaruni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQR1IT-fdkxiP7_DCSlR-0iQsJ_Q6S8lF6JPWMsgB57wMgGyOFhmthwZjU80U02LJ4KDVacoW5vuua5PiButzqimc1gFwLdjoQcTrg2GjLDG5w0iFpeHUHp0Ofk9qp0gTm04dOkg/s320/divakaruni.jpg" /></a>unassociated people together in a situation like this, forcing an intimacy that would never happen under ordinary circumstances, has often been employed by writers to create a stage upon which human frailties can be revealed. <b style="color: red;">Divakaruni has taken this device and made it her own—primarily with her ability to portray characters with such clarity that readers can identify compassionately and quickly care about the outcome of their imagined lives.</b> As in our own lives, each has their secret grief and loss, joys and pleasures; each has experienced the indifferent cruelty unintentionally visited upon those around us; and each, when life is squeezed down to survival mode, often realizes what they value most.<br />
<br />
Author’s website: <a href="http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/">http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/</a><br />
Her blog: <a href="http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/blog/">http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/blog/</a><br />
<br />
See a video interview: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi_-ZYmt28U">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi_-ZYmt28U</a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: right;">-- Rosemary Carstens</div><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</a></div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-27127927630912673792010-01-21T13:59:00.000-07:002010-01-21T13:59:35.719-07:00Stuff You Never Knew About Slow Cooking . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SEmzm-y2dspbjeRPTMnUL9Fg6vVqtzKil2hAP7gPf31VIbtOFAobvO9BhVxa43KLt7zuZFGgAg1Oy46-tIcAytCe-HQhBdOPAOWIi0XZSIWKeaZzQTBxQejf9RrQWGWuwfYf6Q/s1600-h/makeitfast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_SEmzm-y2dspbjeRPTMnUL9Fg6vVqtzKil2hAP7gPf31VIbtOFAobvO9BhVxa43KLt7zuZFGgAg1Oy46-tIcAytCe-HQhBdOPAOWIi0XZSIWKeaZzQTBxQejf9RrQWGWuwfYf6Q/s200/makeitfast.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I recently sat down to look over a copy of <b style="color: red;">MAKE IT FAST, COOK IT SLOW: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking</b> by Stephanie O’Dea (Hyperion 2009). This is not a book about gourmet cooking with tiny, cleverly arranged dabs of food on a big plate, often sprayed or drizzled with swirls of some sort of exotic liquid for artful effect. This is <b>a great book for us regular cooks who want quality meals with less fuss that can be eaten and enjoyed by all, from kids to the fussiest of palates</b>.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">In 2008 Stephanie O’Dea vowed to use her slow cooker </b></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD96-jlQJfOgFLxyQkeDajvY1mEr_GF_0GRDmFtH7S8XZaaJypJq9dk5IXhY8S06Beu_uhBkEjabYzLnbI2-d2lbeOC3sk1gz2m8gInGqe7DFMH6LV6sKEEmPgZfq2Zq7IOoYGuQ/s1600-h/odea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD96-jlQJfOgFLxyQkeDajvY1mEr_GF_0GRDmFtH7S8XZaaJypJq9dk5IXhY8S06Beu_uhBkEjabYzLnbI2-d2lbeOC3sk1gz2m8gInGqe7DFMH6LV6sKEEmPgZfq2Zq7IOoYGuQ/s320/odea.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">every single day for a year</b>, reporting highlights and disasters on <a href="http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/">her blog at http://crockpot365.blogspot.com</a>. Amidst her <b>spectacular discoveries: crème brûlée!</b> Have you ever imagined you create anything beyond a good stew or roast, or maybe a soup, in a slow cooker? This success <b style="color: red;">led to a guest spot on The Rachael Ray show</b>. Stephanie was inspired to expand her efforts even more imaginatively and, with the input of a growing following and many experiments (both duds and delights), this cookbook was born. Visit her blog for a sneak preview of what’s in store.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">I’m amazed at the range of offerings</span></b>, from beverages, breakfast, baked goods, casseroles, seafood, and meatless mains to snacks and fondue, desserts, and nonfood fun stuff. <b><span style="color: red;">All recipes are gluten free</span></b> and have been tested on her own family and friends.</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>If you constantly wake each morning wondering, “What am I going to fix for dinner,” this cookbook may be the answer</b>. It’s timesaving without resorting to fast food takeout; you just throw a bunch of ingredients in the pot, then walk away to tend to your day’s bigger challenges, sitting down at meal time to something guaranteed to appeal. <b style="color: red;">I can’t wait to try it!</b></span><br />
<br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Happy eating and cooking in 2010!</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">http://www.FEASTofBooks.com</span></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-78983841543555058892009-12-29T17:01:00.001-07:002009-12-29T17:04:04.698-07:002010—Balancing Body, Brain, and Spirit<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR-_tUnD32YZavs47kM_NuJApipc2m0d0mVzJOyeDZbBIxOAf2BwhI4ubd4zbYe4XZ5-LrfTBkndQ8Lx32WD_2UOH97kaBGYiSa4Qf28_ElBbRVc6O7h31DRK1PPC49t_QrKoMiA/s1600-h/RCarstens.au.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR-_tUnD32YZavs47kM_NuJApipc2m0d0mVzJOyeDZbBIxOAf2BwhI4ubd4zbYe4XZ5-LrfTBkndQ8Lx32WD_2UOH97kaBGYiSa4Qf28_ElBbRVc6O7h31DRK1PPC49t_QrKoMiA/s200/RCarstens.au.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">This is my last post of 2009.</b> I’ve been lucky in that my work has gone well this year. With this economy and the seemingly chaotic state of the world today, I feel grateful that I still have a home, creative work that I love, and that those who matter most to me are doing well. <b>It’s also been a year of personal challenges</b>, with family members fighting illnesses, dealing with my own not-as-reliable body, trying not to be overwhelmed with anxiety about the future. <b style="color: red;">It’s time to reflect on the past 12 months and plan for the months to come.</b> I hope when you’ve read this, you’ll take a moment to comment and let me know at least one thing you plan to strive for this coming year. <b style="color: red;">Put it out there and make it happen!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Many people tell me they don’t like to make New Year’s resolutions because they just feel they’ve failed when they don’t carry through. <b>I’ve always made resolutions, but see them more as an attempt to shape my life’s direction, not as an imperative.</b> And I’m flexible about them—if I start ambitiously down a path and see it’s not for me, I turn back and take another route. <b style="color: red;">Agility not rigidity is the way to go.</b></span><b style="color: red;"><br style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" /></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">The key word for me in 2010 is “BALANCE.”</b> Some years I have burned out completely from too many hours at the computer, too many projects with pressured deadlines, <b>too much “monkey brain” thinking about things I cannot control</b>. In those times, I let my physical fitness slide, don’t paint or draw, scan books instead of absorbing them thoughtfully, drink and eat too much, and <b style="color: red;">leave my spiritual life sitting on the roadside waiting for a long-overdue ride</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It’s said that speaking or writing about your goals helps to solidify them, so here are mine in the three areas I want to balance:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red;">1. </span></b><b style="color: red;">BODY:</b> I used to work out five days a week. Now I can’t or the body protests and I end up with injuries. But I’ve worked out a pretty good, doable plan that I’ll try to hold to in 2010. Beginning the week with an active-style yoga, which keeps me pretty much pain free, rest a day, work out in my home gym for an hour, including 30 minutes of aerobics, free weights, abs and pushups, plus stretches at the end. Rest a day, then wind up the work week with either a long walk, a Latin Aerobics class, or some other keepin’-a-move-on activity. And, oh yes, I want to do more motorcycle riding in 2010. Right alongside this admittedly moderate program is its important twin, diet. More fruits and vegetables, less red meat, avoidance of processed foods.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">2. BRAIN:</b> Even though I’m blonde, I still want a high level of brain action to go with a functioning body! I get a pretty strong mental workout with my writing and editing and all the books I read to review in FEAST. I edit a lot of scholarly topics, so I’m always learning from experts about topics I’d otherwise know nothing about. But I’d like to take another class, maybe something like Photoshop that requires both brain and hand and eye coordination, something fun but challenging!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">3. SPIRIT:</b> This is the one that always seems to slip to the side when I’m busy—and yet it’s probably <b>the most important one</b>. For me, this is not about religion, but <b style="color: red;">it IS about finding ways to find beauty in ordinary things, being inspired to be more content with living more simply, taking in the wonder of the outdoors, listening better, supporting those I love, coming closer to the bar when it comes to living up to my beliefs.</b> I try to feed this part of my life through reading inspirational books, hanging out with people I admire and can learn from, avoiding negative people and activities, looking beyond myself to see if I can make a difference in small ways. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh, I know, this looks like a ton of stuff to try to do, but it’s pretty much the same things I put on the list every year. I never get it all just right, but just like with motorcycling, the journey’s the thing, not the destination. <b style="color: red;">I love this journey and hope it continues to shape me, show me the ropes, excite me, and carry me forward for all the years to come!</b></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now, tell me your dreams for 2010!</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Happy New Year!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Rosemary Carstens</span><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com</a><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-84717115804009712952009-12-22T15:40:00.000-07:002009-12-22T15:40:09.830-07:00Movie Time: 2009's Best DVDs featured in FEAST<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Winter and the quieter time following the holidays--what better time to curl up with a bowl of popcorn and your favorite person and spend an afternoon or evening watching movies</b>. Here are six of my favorite DVDs, featured in FEAST this year, to give you ideas. These are not meant to be "movie of the year" selections, but films that might have had a smaller distribution, been relatively unknown, or perhaps you missed them because they were not surrounded by Hollywood hype. <b>I hope you find something to entertain you--</b><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUlbYPFRxM9Rh0B-lXaXnMhiFv1ZwkRbNdWHIG_p7WdbqDFhqWbFJ4cxATvGs_rW3UKB6Gkj3cEZ2emTODGkEy9t-Bh9llkVp14K4MRiErt6QVSePw9CMPEHxx4vodU9z6LJKo6w/s1600-h/ironjaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUlbYPFRxM9Rh0B-lXaXnMhiFv1ZwkRbNdWHIG_p7WdbqDFhqWbFJ4cxATvGs_rW3UKB6Gkj3cEZ2emTODGkEy9t-Bh9llkVp14K4MRiErt6QVSePw9CMPEHxx4vodU9z6LJKo6w/s320/ironjaw.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Iron-Jawed Angels</b> (2004). For 8 years in the early 1920s, a group of determined suffragettes led by Alice Paul (played beautifully by Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O’Connor) <b>organized to pressure the US government to adopt a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The abuse and mental and physical challenges they faced are heartbreaking and an important part of our history that should not be overlooked or forgotten. </b>Entering WWI under the guise of bringing democracy to other countries when so many in the US were still disenfranchised is hypocrisy that continues today. The brutality against these women who only wanted some say in their own destiny and that of their children is shocking. But <b style="color: red;">this is no boring, dry documentary, as some are, but instead a beautifully crafted and dramatic film with strong acting</b> that makes the story real for a greater number of people. Not to be missed! An HBO original drama directed by Katja von Garnier. Available on DVD.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIonS6T42ac3ayNDX3xRF0_w8e-OR-wgO_x1MIcjQsf_N1qP3GxiF2GxHDOYpSOmynIeF3FaJ5SFZ_G-TJaJsSU-HOVGJ9c4Jhb_BlVHmvnuGAY4Ok7EAMGOytFjObKp_Fjvbuzw/s1600-h/frankgehry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIonS6T42ac3ayNDX3xRF0_w8e-OR-wgO_x1MIcjQsf_N1qP3GxiF2GxHDOYpSOmynIeF3FaJ5SFZ_G-TJaJsSU-HOVGJ9c4Jhb_BlVHmvnuGAY4Ok7EAMGOytFjObKp_Fjvbuzw/s320/frankgehry.jpg" /></a><b style="color: red;">Sketches of Frank Gehry</b> (2005). Frank Gehry’s friend and director <b>Sydney Pollack made what could have been a dull tale of history and buildings into a more intimate portrait of a man and his creations</b>. I found it fascinating! Gehry’s story about his life and how he came to create imaginative, magnificent buildings that gleam against their landscape is one of hardship, anti-Semitism, and determination to follow his own dream. Since Pollack was neither knowledgeable about architecture nor a documentarian at the time, he brings a very personal sensibility to the film that I, as a layperson, found totally appealing. <b style="color: red;">Pollack’s recent passing makes this ode to his friend even more poignant.</b><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">The Painted Veil</b> (2006). Based on the classic novel by Somerset Maugham, the title of this film is taken from Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet that begins <b>“Lift not the painted veil which those who live/call life.”</b> The Painted Veil is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter (Edward Norton), a middle class doctor, and Kitty (Naomi Watts), an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and forces her to come along. <b style="color: red;">Their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in a remote and wildly beautiful region.</b> This film is not only visually breathtaking, it is a touching story well acted.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOcNPe6Nmfk7BKvXg5we6W1DfZa-kvJQ4144k49p0-ciPCuoRX3QXGeG2Mov8QbdxBfyWJ_yjPamGtJzX94jy2ixMTdvVyMUXLuMvPJE1H7c0hvbUF-USSZhMJf4fvrIx2-u3PQ/s1600-h/herb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpOcNPe6Nmfk7BKvXg5we6W1DfZa-kvJQ4144k49p0-ciPCuoRX3QXGeG2Mov8QbdxBfyWJ_yjPamGtJzX94jy2ixMTdvVyMUXLuMvPJE1H7c0hvbUF-USSZhMJf4fvrIx2-u3PQ/s320/herb.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Herb & Dorothy</b> (2009). Directed by first-time filmmaker Megumi Sasaki. To see Herb and Dorothy Vogel today, you’d never guess they have built <b>one of the most important contemporary art collections in the United States</b>. Oh, you say, well, those who have it can do it. But that’s not the case here, which is part of what makes their collection and the two of them so very unique. This is a love story. Herb spent his working years as a postal clerk and Dorothy as a librarian. <b style="color: red;">By living on her paycheck alone, they were able to indulge their interest in Minimalist and Conceptual art by spending his salary on works of unknown artists that they liked.</b> They had two rules: the piece had to be affordable and it had to be small enough to fit into their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. As time went on, the second of the rules became a challenge as by the time this film was made there was little furniture and only “paths” winding among the more than 2,000 pieces they had accumulated—and <b>they shared the space with 19 turtles, a school of fish, and at least one cat</b>. What they “liked” proved to be prophetic as the chosen artists became better and better known, now sought after at significantly higher prices by other collectors. <b style="color: red;">Today their collection’s value runs into the millions. It’s an uplifting, amazing story and the film has won award after award at the festivals!</b><br />
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<b>Trailer:</b> <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2910339/herb_and_dorothy_movie_trailer/">http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2910339/herb_and_dorothy_movie_trailer/</a><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="color: red;">Swimmers</b> (2005). An indie film set in coastal Maryland. Eleven-year-old Emma needs an expensive operation, which puts mounting pressure on a family barely making ends meet. When underlying tensions start pulling her parents and brothers apart, Emma turns to an emotionally haunted young woman for friendship. <b style="color: red;">This is a fine story about good people who make some bad decisions, and the healing that irreversible family feeling can bring about.</b><br />
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<b>Trailer:</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD-qhHDGuCs">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD-qhHDGuCs</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFkl3HIEsz7RSXlneXrGPj4A0H2G_K4xqnR7oTW6gGqXI2lsJGTzseeImb1Zbp8tnY4CBXy0ea0haoCgamYpyxjP5kJveuIC4YknQyt2FYpk7sVak29bw_aOK9Oyvs2jT8GcOTQ/s1600-h/secretlife.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTFkl3HIEsz7RSXlneXrGPj4A0H2G_K4xqnR7oTW6gGqXI2lsJGTzseeImb1Zbp8tnY4CBXy0ea0haoCgamYpyxjP5kJveuIC4YknQyt2FYpk7sVak29bw_aOK9Oyvs2jT8GcOTQ/s320/secretlife.JPG" /></a><b style="color: red;">The Secret Life of Words</b> (2005). Directed by Isabel Coixet, starring Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins, with a small part by Julie Christie. <b>A hearing-impaired factory worker, a refugee from former Yogoslavia, gives up her first holiday in years when she volunteers to nurse an accident victim on an oil rig off the coast.</b> Josef (Robbins), who was temporarily blinded during a fire on board, tries to get to know his taciturn nurse. Slowly a strange sort of intimacy develops and they share secrets, lies, truths, humor, and pain, from which <b style="color: red;">neither will emerge unscathed</b>.<br />
<br />
<b>Trailer:</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dAJUEngedA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dAJUEngedA</a><br />
<br />
<b>Detailed introduction by director Isabel Coixet:</b> <a href="http://www.irct.org/news---media/latest-irct-news/the-irct-in-the-media/the-secret-life-of-words/video-isabel-coixet-introducing-the-film.aspx">http://www.irct.org/news---media/latest-irct-news/the-irct-in-the-media/the-secret-life-of-words/video-isabel-coixet-introducing-the-film.aspx</a><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: right;">-- Rosemary Carstens<br />
</div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Editor, <a href="http://www.feastofbooks.com/">FEAST</a></span><br />
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-26528711419942276452009-12-13T10:55:00.003-07:002009-12-13T11:15:16.023-07:00NONFICTION for the holidays . . .<span style="font-family: verdana;">Here are <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">six nonfiction books that are among the best featured in FEAST in 2009</span>. Any one of them would make a welcome gift for those that love this genre!<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyb8yxuH6NIDyg3qCglEESez4659u208Pz0lfE25frx3ygypEqRD5Yr8Dbnlf7n4Lejk3gHYjCqeF9yxq_m_PNN8M_xQu5FRpF6DYz5vk7F-2LJ29ouIOAVTMQYhQiRSBr0Yw-DA/s1600-h/winn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 106px; height: 161px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyb8yxuH6NIDyg3qCglEESez4659u208Pz0lfE25frx3ygypEqRD5Yr8Dbnlf7n4Lejk3gHYjCqeF9yxq_m_PNN8M_xQu5FRpF6DYz5vk7F-2LJ29ouIOAVTMQYhQiRSBr0Yw-DA/s200/winn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414782323873262978" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Central Park in the Dark: More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife</span>, Marie Winn. Picador 2009. Remember the story of the Pale Male, the Red-Tailed Hawk in New York City that drew the attention of so many? Marie Winn wrote the book Red-Tails in Love. Now she explores <span style="font-weight: bold;">further details of a natural world that flourishes in the midst of a massive city, a world of nocturnal beasts, insects, and slugs, a dark teeming ecosphere hidden twixt and tween the bright lights and traffic of Fifth Avenue and Central Park West</span>. As Elizabeth Royte of the New York Times, says, “I’d follow Winn into the park at any hour.”</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkegfbK7Oy2VpOx53O5HGUJIKXAmx3F5HI4o50bvGsOkkpk6yZVwBXiqQzw8KB4t1ST_wQ1XU7QIg-FxNP2edjWxyJs9QR6foANcCy_hmczAoTSIuVyWs-XGmAR5d1h-CXye0vQ/s1600-h/power.bmp"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 110px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqkegfbK7Oy2VpOx53O5HGUJIKXAmx3F5HI4o50bvGsOkkpk6yZVwBXiqQzw8KB4t1ST_wQ1XU7QIg-FxNP2edjWxyJs9QR6foANcCy_hmczAoTSIuVyWs-XGmAR5d1h-CXye0vQ/s200/power.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414781947881968290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Power in the Blood: A Family Narrative</span>, Linda Tate (<a href="http://www.ohioswallow.com/author/Linda+Tate">Ohio University Press</a> 2009). This fascinating new book traces the <span style="font-weight: bold;">author’s journey to rediscover the Cherokee-Appalachian branch of her family and provides an unflinching examination of the poverty, discrimination, and family violence that marked their lives</span>. Although it is a memoir, Tate had to “imagine” some of the details of her search for her family’s story. She did it beautifully. With all the facts and memories woven in, her research over many years in Appalachia made the imagined parts more informed than not. She also used pseudonyms for some family members who may not have wanted their stories shared. But, in essence, this is Linda’s story, her life, and her family through generations. The writing is lively and compelling and at times she is painfully honest about childhood events. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">But it is the spare beauty of that honesty that makes this book extraordinary. </span></span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Krnl5nQmt3dlRTdiPCfHUFqpEraIRgqMt2O2vn7cn5zEbvuDZLa1Zk3orVSAwZ8b9MWhdkN6IYbEtdWWaOVQuMACkrmbvnWJjAR0m9LKJHxGNFexy07MQNIetgPIcWT-hhiYRg/s1600-h/williams.PNG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Krnl5nQmt3dlRTdiPCfHUFqpEraIRgqMt2O2vn7cn5zEbvuDZLa1Zk3orVSAwZ8b9MWhdkN6IYbEtdWWaOVQuMACkrmbvnWJjAR0m9LKJHxGNFexy07MQNIetgPIcWT-hhiYRg/s200/williams.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414781944469561874" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Finding Beauty in a Broken World</span>, Terry Tempest Williams. Pantheon 2008. Terry Tempest Williams has written an artful book, fashioned like the mosaics she uses throughout as analogies. At first it may seem that she is writing of disparate topics, yet as the volume continues, the reader begins to see they are all related, all are essential pieces of the whole. She <span style="font-weight: bold;">writes openly and honestly about some very difficult personal and global issues</span>—from environmental challenges and prairie dogs at risk of extinction in the United States to repeated genocides in Rwanda, from life-risking efforts to save lives to global indifference at human suffering—and she frames it in terms of the healing that can come from art, love, and compassion. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">A truly lovely book that provides insight and much to contemplate</span>. For more information on this author: <a href="http://www.coyoteclan.com/">http://www.coyoteclan.com/</a></span><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlK-QFuiPXgsaxoXVXPddn2pcacMFJuDlGGkMySMoXroq6ACCWz2Z6SDlvvOCzLe-0R0R72VblfbbvJ-66JE8Gf9VXMGzu2qrz0eOGTMm0rUSUtf4xLhh-qq0byOxWTitvZHM4Dw/s1600-h/brier.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 79px; height: 119px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlK-QFuiPXgsaxoXVXPddn2pcacMFJuDlGGkMySMoXroq6ACCWz2Z6SDlvvOCzLe-0R0R72VblfbbvJ-66JE8Gf9VXMGzu2qrz0eOGTMm0rUSUtf4xLhh-qq0byOxWTitvZHM4Dw/s200/brier.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414781936312099890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man’s Obsession led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Mystery</span>, Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin. HarperCollins 2008. This is an absolutely fascinating story about how French Architect Jean-Pierre Houdin and his wife became obsessed by the mystery of how the Great Pyramid was built. Using advanced 3-D modeling, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Houdin worked ten hours a day for five years to finally discover evidence that the pyramid, contrary to all previous theories, had been built from the inside via a mile-long, corkscrewing ramp, unseen for 4,500 years!</span> I could not set this story down. Through forensic architecture, Houdin and a team of others (who joined the journey as his ideas became known) made discoveries that supported the mounting evidence. The technology alone that is used is amazing and what it will continue to reveal next makes the imagination fly. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Easily readable, not at all dry, if you get into this book, don’t skip the appendices OR the end notes—both just add to the experience</span>. A case of truth being stranger (and more absorbing) than fiction.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EsagQ3ZpoojArGwjbf4iK0_FVYU-mYhoj0S0LfrSPKxMBgbJ2uM8HpXCdXtQ3ygItgNbIdBNq72LnXRmwm_ecbV7YcK1zjAAyLt2D8Lwo2Yi2gt9np-8Kqd1UIFZdj7ejLAieQ/s1600-h/kidder.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EsagQ3ZpoojArGwjbf4iK0_FVYU-mYhoj0S0LfrSPKxMBgbJ2uM8HpXCdXtQ3ygItgNbIdBNq72LnXRmwm_ecbV7YcK1zjAAyLt2D8Lwo2Yi2gt9np-8Kqd1UIFZdj7ejLAieQ/s200/kidder.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414781933953464594" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness</span>, Tracy Kidder. Random House 2009. Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes, is a thorough professional and engaging writer of nonfiction. He picks the hard topics and struggles to portray his subjects without bias, to tell their story instead of his—an exceptional quality in times when personal spin has gained greater acceptance in society. This is <span style="font-weight: bold;">an astounding story of one survivor of genocide in the small African country of Berundia—against all odds and through providential events—who manages to escape the violence and come to the United State</span>s. Kidder writes a deep exploration of what horror can do to the human psyche, the fight to remain human and to achieve a measure of success in spite of one’s past. The story of Deogratias (Thanks to God) puts an individual human face on events so massive, so brutal, as to be nearly incomprehensible. It is, indeed, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">a story of a people’s terror and loss, but it is also a story of regeneration and of hope that such stories can one day end</span>.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: verdana;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQogiX8FoRmfI5K9miPYxJNzgAH32jTVtw3RXVgutNTz6WCUuAnlPVvNf0b-O_uPlKdS7SjkiF6Ak74QvWFcEGgMS_ANOQk9P-y_sGVVhMFEHnAbOoh-WeH3tDrrb8Ww1dGWq-cQ/s1600-h/pomegranate.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQogiX8FoRmfI5K9miPYxJNzgAH32jTVtw3RXVgutNTz6WCUuAnlPVvNf0b-O_uPlKdS7SjkiF6Ak74QvWFcEGgMS_ANOQk9P-y_sGVVhMFEHnAbOoh-WeH3tDrrb8Ww1dGWq-cQ/s200/pomegranate.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414781927239830018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story</span>, Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. Viking 2009. This book about <span style="font-weight: bold;">the power of travel to birth spiritual connections and inspire creativity</span> is jointly written by a mother-daughter team, giving us <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">a generational perspective on a series of events they experienced during travel to France and Greece over a period of years</span>. Sue’s journey begins as she approaches her fiftieth birthday and begins to realize she is ending an era as a younger woman and entering a period of transition that will move her toward her eldest years. She finds herself seeking spiritual guidance from feminine symbols and icons, hoping for new directions in her work, greater understanding and closeness to her daughter, and a graceful entry into the next stage of her life. Ann’s journey is also a period of transition, one from loss and rejection that culminates in a search for the work she is meant to do. The icons and symbols that guide her are different from her mother’s but in their mutual search they discover each other anew as adult women. It’s an inspiring book, thoughtfully written, and one I very much enjoyed. It <span style="font-weight: bold;">provides a framework for seeking transitions and destinations for any woman who wants to enhance the meaningfulness of her years</span>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Happy Holidays to all and happy reading in 2010!</span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Editor, <a href="http://www.FEASTofBooks.com">FEAST</a></span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-63686981548202016982009-12-04T11:39:00.008-07:002009-12-04T12:25:05.263-07:00Come Bearing Books at the holidays . . . FICTION<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Low-tech gifts may not be in fashion, but the gift of a book opens the gate to another world and allows the most amazing interactive computer of all history—our brains—to enter other worlds, live other lives, and enrich our knowledge of the universe.</span> Through books we can fly far beyond our daily concerns, solve crimes, fall in love, be an adventurer, gain greater understanding of ourselves and others. Books are gifts that require</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> no batteries, have </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">no plastic </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">parts to </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">break off or malfunction, and they remain ever-ready to tell us stories again </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">and again.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Throughout each year, FEAST online magazine su</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ggests books for your enjoyment a</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">nd we strive to remind </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">you of gems that </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">have fallen from the headlines in a rapidly moving publishing world. We hope you’ll buy books for family, friends, AND yourself this holiday season.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Here ar</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">e a few of our favorites in FICTION for 2009.</span> Check back next week for our recommendations in nonfiction. <span style="font-weight: bold;">If you have others to recommend, please leave us a comment!</span></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAvdMV7LNk4nuQitt_Bbb0GeE3Z7CJccPA938TqYj8d4UXJRSSxInxOP0odFE6RIgetrkULGJOc4QUiWgaQA2OZb3tO2T3y32MoEWjftcZBg1A_76A4_GpKUKmWtb9kQVvABRmcw/s1600-h/sawtelle.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 88px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAvdMV7LNk4nuQitt_Bbb0GeE3Z7CJccPA938TqYj8d4UXJRSSxInxOP0odFE6RIgetrkULGJOc4QUiWgaQA2OZb3tO2T3y32MoEWjftcZBg1A_76A4_GpKUKmWtb9kQVvABRmcw/s320/sawtelle.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411463271154073202" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The S</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">tory of Edgar Sawtelle</span>, David Wroblewski. HarperCollins 2008. A unique </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">book</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> by an incredible writer, it’s monumental in length at 561 pages and is not a book you race through for story o</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">nly—it’s stories within stories, each to be savored, if for no other reason than the writing, the descriptive prose, the deft handling of words. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edgar Sawtelle is mute </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">from birth and grows up on a remote farm, an only child, using a personal sign language to communicate with his parents.</span> The Sawtelle’s raise dogs and over generations have created a breed of superior intelligence, temperament, and training. What happens when Edgar’s father dies sudd</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">enly under mysterious circu</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">mstances and a domino fall of events, including a disliked uncle offering his mother comfort as she grieves, leads Edgar to run away from home with three of his pups trailing behind. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The depth of discussion about the dogs, their training, the North Country landscape, and the exploration of love, grief, and lo</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">neliness will stay with you long after the last page.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjsCGxXfWiL168kFbp8pilnhOnow7bh8avi48zHcvewGe4DU1IeNg38477by3Ee25BPkTbyaWRcl3frq3NFpWBWMuIOQwnFisDbVVJiKWqRoAd6aQPN3RNB6h_hfYnxpkzeM1RhQ/s1600-h/grove.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 82px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjsCGxXfWiL168kFbp8pilnhOnow7bh8avi48zHcvewGe4DU1IeNg38477by3Ee25BPkTbyaWRcl3frq3NFpWBWMuIOQwnFisDbVVJiKWqRoAd6aQPN3RNB6h_hfYnxpkzeM1RhQ/s320/grove.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411463281047012338" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">Goldengrove</span>, Francine Prose. HarperCollins 2008. Goldengrove is a finely written li</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">terar</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">y tale about a young girl who loses her closest and dearest friend—her sister</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">—and what the unthinkable does to her and her family. It’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">a story of beco</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ming unmoored, of drifting rudderless through unfamiliar and unimaginable events, of learning to go on when there is a hole in your heart, in your family, that can never be entirely stitched back together again</span>. Told from the viewpoint of Niko, a thirteen-year-old girl, Prose writes brilliantly and dee</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ply about loss, love, and the mysteries of death.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWucJmIVfobHPONMcQkVHQLfQjVqSpmJ9PcMxRhFTDzF-1fgm1N9AQc3mVjwEC68URYAtijX8l4HK1JncB0RnVQ2q75ADcRljhxBpR2_Z1zFCjzJxXNaCBgEv9R4Mhu97IDjJ4EQ/s1600-h/verghese.PNG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWucJmIVfobHPONMcQkVHQLfQjVqSpmJ9PcMxRhFTDzF-1fgm1N9AQc3mVjwEC68URYAtijX8l4HK1JncB0RnVQ2q75ADcRljhxBpR2_Z1zFCjzJxXNaCBgEv9R4Mhu97IDjJ4EQ/s320/verghese.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411463282430619170" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Cutting for Stone</span>, Abraham Verghese. Knopf 2009. An engaging family saga. Even at more than 500 pages from</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> its opening prologue to the very last word of h</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">is attributions, this author will capture your attention. He framed his story of this family in two unique ways: through the history and culture of Ethiopia and through </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">the history and development of certain aspects of medicine. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Not only is this the story of two boys born to a nun, fathered by a surgeon, and left behind to grow up in a warm adoptive family as part of a medical community in a country at war with itself, but it is the story of becoming a stranger in your own land.</span> These are well-developed characters you care deeply about, yet at times despise their weaknesses. It is a story of compassion, betrayal, family love, and, above all, the flawed but magnific</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ent qualities of being human. Author’s website: <a href="http://www.abrahamverghese.com/">http://www.abrahamverghese.com</a></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrPFKC3ZAyIcE9WZVy7arV30IGij5Ut28t3aRJRglJL6HM2fXf2IwGRHCkzlGfhZwtFO_Ej003rGanKu8txb6iUHhDBd1teX53GO0Xi9Nh_O93PU9ZY7NsppIkikIBLWeD-PGOQ/s1600-h/home.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 86px; height: 129px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrPFKC3ZAyIcE9WZVy7arV30IGij5Ut28t3aRJRglJL6HM2fXf2IwGRHCkzlGfhZwtFO_Ej003rGanKu8txb6iUHhDBd1teX53GO0Xi9Nh_O93PU9ZY7NsppIkikIBLWeD-PGOQ/s320/home.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411462301866788370" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Home</span>, Marilynne Robinson. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2008. If you love to linger over excellent writing and character development, I promise you a thought-provok</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">ing book you’ll long remember. <span style="font-weight: bold;">This is a story about the conflicts of love when children are not who we think they </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">should be, when a child feels alien in a family even though it’s a loving one.</span> Robinson explores the struggles of a mi</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">nister to love all of his children equally, even his prodigal son. And her key </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">character, the man’s youngest daughter, finds herself a bridge between father and son even as she fears she may have to let go of her own long-held dreams to give them hope.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEeeUtyQbexBPq9eMhQ_GftuzSMm2_O88XKLpNaSLgab4wt42666riovpmgwMbX7mBTdMMsMe0irNztx4bzZvN6yXj0keEmMKp5ch5icD0tDNpPcnw5bqQjJt8b00gY0Dc3rrRA/s1600-h/madonnas.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 91px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEeeUtyQbexBPq9eMhQ_GftuzSMm2_O88XKLpNaSLgab4wt42666riovpmgwMbX7mBTdMMsMe0irNztx4bzZvN6yXj0keEmMKp5ch5icD0tDNpPcnw5bqQjJt8b00gY0Dc3rrRA/s320/madonnas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411462306234002626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The Madonnas of Leningrad</span>, Debra Dean. William Morrow 2006. A delightful discovery! While this is ostensibly a story about one young woman’s dire circumstances during the Siege of Leningrad, it is more deeply a story about the power of the min</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d, the richness that can still be present when all else fades away. Carefully researched, it provides <span style="font-weight: bold;">remarkable detail about the lives of a small group of workers who stayed on throughout the siege at the Hermitage Museum, the deprivations they suffered, the efforts of some to retain “memory palaces” of all the magnificent art that once hung on its walls</span>, and the effects on all of a once vibrant city brought to its knees by the Germans during the harshest winter on record.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Lit</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0bObWxRPYbqYtOcNXTtk-7w1I92ppnz7jrhoEGqRL8KXQ4nhQjBW0-cVQTfc8kbDjVR-E1lksjnfdb8xaxU_M_buftlYe45YBg1OfDajeN6xYKn7lYoMuxn1fm8R_yWUhIHJMg/s1600-h/cleave.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0bObWxRPYbqYtOcNXTtk-7w1I92ppnz7jrhoEGqRL8KXQ4nhQjBW0-cVQTfc8kbDjVR-E1lksjnfdb8xaxU_M_buftlYe45YBg1OfDajeN6xYKn7lYoMuxn1fm8R_yWUhIHJMg/s320/cleave.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411461090376252850" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">tle Bee</span>, Chris Cleave. Simon & Schuster 2008. <span style="font-weight: bold;">An unusual story of life </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">and payback, sacrifice and self-interest, woven around a violent chance meeting b</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">etween two women on a beach in Nigeria</span>. Chance can test your mettle, polish it or tarnish it—the tale of how these two women’s lives intermingled and the complexities of survival will give you plenty to think about long after the outcome is kn</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">own. Cleave leads readers to reach a specific conclusion about events and then, drop by drop, bit by bit, provides detail that forces a reevaluation. Deep and provocative, a complete page turner. Author’s website: <a href="http://www.chriscleave.com/">http://www.chriscleave.com</a></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WyLi08xbCm0Jr2zyR9ZoXvubanSiTkTg1w8s1uQuFwIaPp2EzWWuSI0cObxll7qkmW8of0I2PEt3IGm5O6ZGWUnDru0mft_FbQZmSWTQik0AguFUu43XLOv7PGIyz8AvVXc7mA/s1600-h/garner.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WyLi08xbCm0Jr2zyR9ZoXvubanSiTkTg1w8s1uQuFwIaPp2EzWWuSI0cObxll7qkmW8of0I2PEt3IGm5O6ZGWUnDru0mft_FbQZmSWTQik0AguFUu43XLOv7PGIyz8AvVXc7mA/s320/garner.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411461083310388658" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The Spare Room</span>, Helen Garner. Henry Holt 2008. This small book is a rare jewel. Although fiction, it is written so directly, and so honestly that it rings with truth. Naming the main character “Helen,” the author makes us believe this is her story, and maybe it is. Maybe it is potentially the story of all of us. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Helen’s friend Nicole comes to Melbourne to stay for two weeks and seek</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> alternative therapy for serious illness. Becoming nurse, advisor, perhaps protector of Nicole are not roles Helen relishes and she finds her emotional and physical energy depleted as her reactions swing from outright rage to unbearable grief.</span> Here a caretaker speaks openly about feelings we seldom hear discussed, using fiction as a vehicle for discussing our universal difficulties in dealing with death. Very moving, very compelling—a story beautifully told.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrEA8JS303FAcAbAy1HQaRRl7Tx79md8-CQcja9YjRdEIZEecbNav1_KVKmDeU0Ygsn6uL3TBDDL1Sblf-aOKQQ13pYObVImH_1aIIUlclGr_fCPhG0bE0hyp0lxUcT02mB63w0w/s1600-h/Ford.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 125px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrEA8JS303FAcAbAy1HQaRRl7Tx79md8-CQcja9YjRdEIZEecbNav1_KVKmDeU0Ygsn6uL3TBDDL1Sblf-aOKQQ13pYObVImH_1aIIUlclGr_fCPhG0bE0hyp0lxUcT02mB63w0w/s320/Ford.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411459744329424322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet</span>, Jamie Ford. Ballentine 2009. Story, story, story—combined with skillful writing, it is story that draws people in and makes them care about a book’s characters. Beyond that, a new spin on a topic long discussed can make us think freshly about historical events and their impacts. Jamie Ford does all of this in his debut novel about <span style="font-weight: bold;">a young Chinese boy, whose father is vehemently against all things Japanese because of brutal Japanese attacks on his homeland, and a young Japanese girl whose family becomes caught up in WWII internment raids in Seattle</span>. In the opening scene, Henry (the boy, now in his fifties and a widower) is sharply reminded of an earlier era when a b</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">asement full of Japanese belongings is discovered during a construction project at the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. Following Henry’s story as Ford moves agilely back and forth between present and forty years earlier, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we gather insight into the difficulties for all families of Asian descent in a country at war and the extreme tactics employed to “defend the US against attack.”</span> A marvelous story—warm, insightful, and filled with hope that love can survive against all odds. Author’s website: <a href="http://www.jamieford.com/">http://www.jamieford.com</a></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyK1Bv5n_kFrIwIhqVYmGvYJqzErVIdngPTciPp0ekrrr4SjUa1fSnKRifhh9Iusex1r7Av0oTF37LvH83lwD7yjXA_dGEqpKWkMUHuEVkisNlcT8_hJWq2gGwHV-GD4xzFA2MQ/s1600-h/lalami.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 87px; height: 136px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyK1Bv5n_kFrIwIhqVYmGvYJqzErVIdngPTciPp0ekrrr4SjUa1fSnKRifhh9Iusex1r7Av0oTF37LvH83lwD7yjXA_dGEqpKWkMUHuEVkisNlcT8_hJWq2gGwHV-GD4xzFA2MQ/s320/lalami.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411459740012410994" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Secret Son</span>, Laila Lalami. Algonquin 2009. Raised in the slums of Casablanca, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Youssef El Mekki has been told all his life his father died when he was very young. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Youssef longs for a father’s love and influence in his life and dreams of a future when, with an education, he can escape the stench and poverty of his neighborhood</span>. One day, by chance, he discovers that his father is not dead, but instead a wealthy, married businessman who abandoned his mother when she became pregnant. Youssef, too, abandons her as he moves toward what he thinks will be a brighter future under the guidance of a suave and sophisticated father. But events and vested interests beyond his control or knowledge reverse his circumstances and he is once more back hanging around on the street corner with his unemployed childhood friends. <span style="font-weight: bold;">What happens to a young man who has seen the careless extravagance of wealth and privilege in a society with deep class divisions, where the poor bear the burdens of indifference?</span> Lalami explores this highly pertinent issue in a story that will answer questions about the seemingly siren call of extremism at the same time that it breaks your heart. Author’s website: <a href="http://www.lailalalami.com/">http://www.lailalalami.com</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">HAPPY READING!!</span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">-- Rosemary Carstens<br /></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Editor, FEAST</span> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-10218857970496013812009-11-21T09:34:00.013-07:002009-11-21T10:14:21.888-07:00Cooking Up Holiday Gifts . . .<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">COOKBOOKS MAKE GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTS</span> for those who love to entertain or are simply interested in the joy of preparing fine, interesting food for their families. Often, a cookbook tells stories (<span style="font-weight: bold;">my favo</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">rite kind</span>) about the author and the recipes, the countries and people the recipes originated with, or the experiment that yielded a favorite meal. Others are guides to ingredient sources along with creative recipes. Available through any independent </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">bookstore, here are five that I especially en</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">joyed th</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">is year and will include among the gifts I give:</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHcTykxR8wWpy2o2KA-72-nmEICttSMZkSrihYxxa7uMyYFffJXBIYEsWjd2CJJleo2FQ-KLHJNT7KLtUd9qqirnJB5YsMzIVuYgH2fqu-zcZNwF764yOh9Q7TyXBzsiWDX7O0Q/s1600/taniscover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGHcTykxR8wWpy2o2KA-72-nmEICttSMZkSrihYxxa7uMyYFffJXBIYEsWjd2CJJleo2FQ-KLHJNT7KLtUd9qqirnJB5YsMzIVuYgH2fqu-zcZNwF764yOh9Q7TyXBzsiWDX7O0Q/s320/taniscover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406605889981723890" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">A PLATTER OF FIGS and Other Recipes</span>, David Tanis (Artisan Books 2009). Six months of each year, David Tanis is head chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA, where he’s worked since the 1980s for legendary Alice Waters. The other half of the year he’s in Paris preparing meals in a 6x10-foot galley kitchen in his 17th-century apartment. <span style="font-weight: bold;">This book was conceived from his belief that the best meals are simple, easily prepared, and served without too much fuss.</span> I blogged about this book earlier this year at <a href="http://carstensfeast.blogspot.com/2009/07/platter-of-figs-joy-of-eating.html">http://carstensfeast.blogspot.com/2009/07/platter-of-figs-joy-of-eating.html</a>. Check out his <span style="font-weight: bold;">recipe for festive, juicy Scallops a la plancha.</span></span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU1f04EZ48xK-iw7S_mzVZgTqS5oMmONFsC8ehnh4C53XCaotKLeOPqH1RzQvSPdaY6byfB60JmQsqFyE_awG6EfyWfRUkgpUUIw1cCPwwPLsUDT5ZQ65IhfqkibSp5_sJlkW6Q/s1600/cleanfood.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinU1f04EZ48xK-iw7S_mzVZgTqS5oMmONFsC8ehnh4C53XCaotKLeOPqH1RzQvSPdaY6byfB60JmQsqFyE_awG6EfyWfRUkgpUUIw1cCPwwPLsUDT5ZQ65IhfqkibSp5_sJlkW6Q/s320/cleanfood.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406605736409452658" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">CLEAN FOOD: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source</span>, Terry Walters (<a href="http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/">Sterling Epicure 2009</a>). Thinking it’s <span style="font-weight: bold;">time to break away from proces</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">sed foods loaded with pres</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ervatives and other chemicals?</span> Walters has written an easy-to-follow guide to eating closer to food sources, cooking and preparing meals based on the best and freshest locally grown ingredients. Includes an introduction about various foods to <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">help you understand why c</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">hoosing organic over conventionally produced foods is more healthful</span> and how even small changes, over time, can make a difference in how you feel. The recipes are the frosting on the cake! To learn more about Walters: <a href="http://www.terryskitchen.net/">http://www.terryskitchen.net</a> and click <a href="http://terrywalters.net/2009/08/roasted-squash-with-fennel-and-asparagus/">HERE </a>for a delicious recipe for Roasted Squash with Fennel & Asparagus.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-Q1GijmrX_4H7Wb-5BI2YbOj_yK0xRUWd7pjQBRaPNAkwX9GS4sGMtVi2q5ZcfJNh97kIPyEZPAev0sN3WfaFbGqR5ozlNt12P6Z1ajQVw2TeQKV4ANf4zLZgxIS5kKQR3AUaQ/s1600/wizenberg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-Q1GijmrX_4H7Wb-5BI2YbOj_yK0xRUWd7pjQBRaPNAkwX9GS4sGMtVi2q5ZcfJNh97kIPyEZPAev0sN3WfaFbGqR5ozlNt12P6Z1ajQVw2TeQKV4ANf4zLZgxIS5kKQR3AUaQ/s320/wizenberg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406605539432030578" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">A HOMEMADE LIFE: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table</span>, Molly Wizenberg (Simon & </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Schuster 2009). This entertaining narrative cookbook comes to you from the enormously successful, award-winning blog Orangette (<a href="http://orangette.blogspot.com/">http://orangette.blogspot.com</a>) and is a <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">heartwarming tale of Wizenberg’s family, her search for the right career, and a new romance</span>. It comes laced with mouth-watering recipes, clearly set forth and easy to prepare </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">for even the beginning cook. This book was featured in <a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/FEAST.2009%281%29.html"><span>FEAST</span></a>; you can access a scrumptious deep chocolate cake recipe <a href="http://orangette.blogspot.com/2004/08/and-then-cake-came-forth.html">HERE</a> </span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj90ZVcuwRFe-Wvdmch8wU7E3rh8trAC9eR761xVPCh9X0pBvkE6-mL6Xiqb43nDx8YPVYNFOkQgxucG8quXxRUvLiPbEU1Y2BBGYzZWPhRgx3c9E2Jo5LuBAPVieIaWPOxupZAA/s1600/rawenergy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj90ZVcuwRFe-Wvdmch8wU7E3rh8trAC9eR761xVPCh9X0pBvkE6-mL6Xiqb43nDx8YPVYNFOkQgxucG8quXxRUvLiPbEU1Y2BBGYzZWPhRgx3c9E2Jo5LuBAPVieIaWPOxupZAA/s320/rawenergy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406605264840917970" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">RAW ENERGY: 125 Food Recipes for Energy Bars, Smoothies, and Other Snacks to Supercharge Your Body</span>, Stephanie Tourles (<a href="http://www.storey.com/">Storey Publishing 2010</a>). This book is due out in January, so may not be available yet, but can be pre-ordered. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eating raw has been shown to be a positive addition to a healthy lifestyle</span>, and even if you don’t want to completely leave cooking and meats behind, this book provides <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">a roadmap for combining ingredients to create “enzyme-rich and irresistible organic foods of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables, sprouted seeds, nuts, and legumes.”</span> Tourles is a licensed </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">holistic esthetician who has been practicing and teaching healthy living for more than 20 years. Her website: <a href="http://www.stephanietourles.com/">http://www.stephanietourles.com/</a></span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />Another book, about that <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Queen of Cooks, Julia Child</span>, has risen to the top of a lot of reading lists this year as a result of the resounding success of the film Julia/Julie with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I think anyone who loves food and books would enjoy finding this one under their tree</span>:</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QzxsyFlQjCCIkV7v1VhwHhBJ_xAGBmsP8L5hMHQf1esjcTkdVcpopPNNYUr6dyVSz5fgL500dbRInLrU6jRLGy_6t8TtXWMMd-_w1rT6KkNmVb8Vq4gH1sgZR82NNcWoEnh6rw/s1600/juliachild.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QzxsyFlQjCCIkV7v1VhwHhBJ_xAGBmsP8L5hMHQf1esjcTkdVcpopPNNYUr6dyVSz5fgL500dbRInLrU6jRLGy_6t8TtXWMMd-_w1rT6KkNmVb8Vq4gH1sgZR82NNcWoEnh6rw/s320/juliachild.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406604836874445266" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">MY LIFE IN FRANCE</span>, Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme (Reissued by Knopf 2009). The totally fascinating story of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Julia Child’s years in France, where she fell in love with a country and discovered her professional destiny</span>. It’s a tender story in many ways about a woman who finds her way, sometimes humorously, sometimes against great odds, always with the support of her loving husband Paul, to become one of the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">best known celebrity cooks of all time</span>. This book is now available in various editions plus audio.</span> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br /><br />HAPPY HOLIDAY COOKING, readers!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">I’d love to know </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">what cookbooks are on YOUR gift list this year—??</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">-- Rosemary Carstens</span> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-4008946690477981182009-11-02T14:15:00.005-07:002009-11-02T14:29:54.833-07:00The Artistry of Painter Kevin Red Star & Earth Magic Media . . .<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlu0un2Z96jGREA8mlcw9tgaIKPTs8AAsKfc2_7pBM5BP_PI7dmjBAxrR9SzPQDYtsEYpF7nahFq3n5c-Tm6w_op-qnk4xncUz7MDlV4yGMYiPshMNeQqvofh-mH1GvZCtesdcw/s1600-h/Kevin+Red+Star+8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlu0un2Z96jGREA8mlcw9tgaIKPTs8AAsKfc2_7pBM5BP_PI7dmjBAxrR9SzPQDYtsEYpF7nahFq3n5c-Tm6w_op-qnk4xncUz7MDlV4yGMYiPshMNeQqvofh-mH1GvZCtesdcw/s320/Kevin+Red+Star+8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399618537518297666" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The 34th Annual American Indian Film Festival will take place in San Francisco, November 6-14, 2009.</span> National American Indian Heritage Month is celebrated every year in the month of November to honor and recognize the original peoples of this land, and, since 1975, the American Indian Film Festival <span style="font-weight: bold;">has displayed over 2000 films providing inspiration and support for Native film projects</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:verdana;" >The festival encourages filmmakers to present Native voices, viewpoints, and stories</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> that have been historically excluded from mainstream media</span>; to develop Indian and non-Indian audiences for this work; and to advocate tirelessly for authentic representations of Indians in the media. <span style="font-weight: bold;">This year the festival will premiere over 80 new feature films, shorts, public service announcements, music videos, and documentaries</span> from US American Indian and Canada First Nation communities.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYlt1RhFY46pSSw15lzcupJYUnlkM0dFeSLggyRnlqR15oYfqhmF6LeBuyF0MHaroRGX_bXttcRQZACEj07Gs5ewvTIr_5wSv7mBFs4j8OOM2G8yiZYvg3xOROQE3g2YgtB647jg/s1600-h/Kevin+Red+Star+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYlt1RhFY46pSSw15lzcupJYUnlkM0dFeSLggyRnlqR15oYfqhmF6LeBuyF0MHaroRGX_bXttcRQZACEj07Gs5ewvTIr_5wSv7mBFs4j8OOM2G8yiZYvg3xOROQE3g2YgtB647jg/s320/Kevin+Red+Star+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399618715936725474" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">A highlight of this year's events</span> will be a 24-minute</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> documentary short</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> on </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">American Indian artist <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">KEVIN RED STAR</span> created by <a href="http://www.earthmagicmedia.com">Earth Magic Media</a>, a Canadian film company. It is one of seven half-hour documentaries produced for the <span style="font-style: italic;">From the Spirit</span> series III.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Kevin Red Star film is the first about a US Native American and the team is thrilled it was selected for festival screening.</span> Earth Magic’s team consists of <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Raymond Yakeleya</span>, an award-winning Dene television producer, director, and writer originally from Tulita (formally Fort Norman) in the central Northwest Territories; <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bill Stewart</span>, a producer, writer, and director based in Edmonton with over 35 years experience in the film and television industry; and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Carol Chapelski</span>, production coordinator, with over 12 years of experience in the television industry.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kevin Red Star, a member of the Crow tribe, was born and lives and paints today in Lodge Grass, Montana.</span> This film traces his journey as an artist from Montana to Santa Fe's American Indian Art Institute, to the San Francisco Art Institute and 1969's Woodstock, and back home to Montana. He works primarily in acrylic, ink, and collage, and, as can be seen by the photo above, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">creates bold, evocative images (with a contemporary twist) of his ancestral Crow tribe, culture, and history</span>. His work is available in galleries across the western United States (a listing of representatives and many original works and prints can be seen by visiting his <a href="http://www.kevinredstar.com">website</a>. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Kevin Red Star film will screen Wednesday, Nov. 11, 7:00 p.m.</span> at the Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinema. Prices are $8 general / $7 students and seniors.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">For a full schedule of events, go to <a href="http://www.aifisf.com">http://www.aifisf.com/</a><br /><br /></span> <div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">-- Rosemary Carstens<br /></span> <a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Carstens Communications</span></a><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-49482746031960718272009-10-20T16:04:00.005-06:002009-10-20T16:20:03.610-06:00Warm Winter Dreams . . . Mexico says “Hola!”<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTNbYlY-Kf853LCR_iZKUN-BNgHvEv-_o40OWINThwHP8Dn1c6yz1Eck7Wbdk_0ciCFdCLW3AG1wWvPn2fO6MsjgzotkMHe9ulixpzbdm94daMgsFXsCLX3wgY5_asoRx9lpJBA/s1600-h/_propCun.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 58px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTNbYlY-Kf853LCR_iZKUN-BNgHvEv-_o40OWINThwHP8Dn1c6yz1Eck7Wbdk_0ciCFdCLW3AG1wWvPn2fO6MsjgzotkMHe9ulixpzbdm94daMgsFXsCLX3wgY5_asoRx9lpJBA/s400/_propCun.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394810217502190930" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">I don’t know about you</span>, but as I sit here at my computer today, the skies outside are darkening and a winter snow storm is moving into the Rocky Mountain foothills. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Brrrrr—I’m not ready!</span> As every year, I begin to dream of warm, turquoise waters, powdery white sand beaches, icy margaritas served in a pool-side cabana, and hot, tropical nights under a vast panorama of star-studded sky. <span style="font-weight: bold;">For me, this means it’s MEXICO time!</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Among the ideal choices for a resort vacation in the Yucatan</span> region of Mexico are the all-inclusive <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">REAL RESORTS</span>. They have two resorts in Cancun and three in Playa del Carmen, each with its own special vacation options—<span style="font-weight: bold;">from family fun to a romantic escape for two, or a well-earned, quiet retreat just for you.</span> What they all have in common is great service, attention to detail, and staff with a genuine desire to please.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cancun </span>there is the <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GRAN CARIBE REAL</span>, a deluxe 5-star beachfront property catering to families and offering a plethora of activities for all ages—all served up in a luxurious atmosphere. The <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">ROYAL </span>offers casual elegance for adults only and romance is on the menu 24/7. Indulge you and your significant other in their outstanding facilities and exceptional amenities—relax, dream, renew.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGhYxSWvuA6kg5JVYH-P6OvUGzjBgJG030mzBPV3gAyOfI5AKVIyXL5sVTKej93S5P1Uv5TAtZKLCu4VoiUkjY4wR4H5-NqlW53Z9U3LFJsGtpLiB7fAHX0oqJTAk7gHiJNUnMw/s1600-h/_pSpa.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 129px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGhYxSWvuA6kg5JVYH-P6OvUGzjBgJG030mzBPV3gAyOfI5AKVIyXL5sVTKej93S5P1Uv5TAtZKLCu4VoiUkjY4wR4H5-NqlW53Z9U3LFJsGtpLiB7fAHX0oqJTAk7gHiJNUnMw/s200/_pSpa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394808279172439858" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">In <span style="font-weight: bold;">Playa del Carmen</span>, there are three resorts to choose from: the 4-star <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">REAL </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">PLAYA DEL CARMEN</span>, a traditional Mexican-style hotel in a village setting; the 5-star <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GRAN PORTO REAL RESORT & SPA</span>, architecturally reminiscent of a fine hacienda and located steps from elegant shops and restaurants; and the ROYAL <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">PLAYA DEL CARMEN</span>, with all the warm hospitality offered by all of the Real properties <span style="font-weight: bold;">plus the spectacular SPAzul</span>.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br />These five destination resorts shimmer in the sun; each has its own unique character and beckons those who love luxury and fine service.</span> All offer all-inclusive programs and those exceptional qualities that bring visitors back again and again.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br />Ah, yes—dream on. Sorry, old man winter—guess I’m on the next flight south!<br /><br /></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">For full information, rates and programs:</span> <a href="http://www.realresorts.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.realresorts.com/</span></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">--Rosemary Carstens<br /></span> <a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Carstens Communications</span></a> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-14398713738730665832009-10-06T13:58:00.009-06:002009-10-06T14:28:22.528-06:00Pomegranates and Greek Goddesses . . .<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfnH-CAHTLG_HvqTS5oDR9kprLNFvPqyob_7IXxIqnZ_WxTKEry8TAVvMtGIcuD8x94F12QneUb8UsP3BPlk2OMjoFvYXS7hBuNLqeOShcaxu7LBDZF6nCjPMfQmEJ13z_sI6Ow/s1600-h/pomegranate.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfnH-CAHTLG_HvqTS5oDR9kprLNFvPqyob_7IXxIqnZ_WxTKEry8TAVvMtGIcuD8x94F12QneUb8UsP3BPlk2OMjoFvYXS7hBuNLqeOShcaxu7LBDZF6nCjPMfQmEJ13z_sI6Ow/s200/pomegranate.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389586005545401618" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">There are times in our lives when we feel restless</span>, without purpose or direction. Often these occur at decade-birthday milestones—most of us remember how OLD it felt to turn THIRTY! We find we are reevaluating how we spend our time, wondering what we should be doing to extend our achievements beyond ourselves to include a spiritual dimension. We </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">question how quickly the years are passing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">In her new book, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">TRAVELING WITH POMEGRANATES: A MOTHER-DAUGHTER STORY</span> (Viking 2009), <span style="font-weight: bold;">Sue Monk Kidd</span>, author of best-selling <span style="font-style: italic;">The Secret Lives of Bees</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Mermaid Chair</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">has collaborated with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor</span>, to write a fascinating m</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">emoir an</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">d travel journal. Their story <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">explores the power of travel to birth spiritual connections and inspire creativity</span>, and it gives us a generational perspective on a series of events the two experienced during travel to France and Greece over a period of years. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozS7hSSM0Ij_1GbyyiK1b3NtpXWGCMUpeucdpVEJ3rmI38eaLH3MwW3Gmvxj4CO7rh6KzOEsQrpsJ7g_ZmXNRctLuyvFYHAmLq2e-9psYhyxKosZVx5fyh_jppWgqM8zKgls9tA/s1600-h/suemonkkidd.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozS7hSSM0Ij_1GbyyiK1b3NtpXWGCMUpeucdpVEJ3rmI38eaLH3MwW3Gmvxj4CO7rh6KzOEsQrpsJ7g_ZmXNRctLuyvFYHAmLq2e-9psYhyxKosZVx5fyh_jppWgqM8zKgls9tA/s200/suemonkkidd.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389586009655713330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">S</span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">ue’s journey begins as she approaches her fiftieth birthday</span> and begins to realize she is ending an era as a younger woman and entering a transition period that will move her toward her eldest years. She finds herself <span style="font-weight: bold;">seeking spiritual guidance from feminine symbols and icons</span>, hoping for new direction</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">s in her work, </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">greater understanding and closeness to her daughter, and a graceful entry into the next stage of her life. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">She writes about how she came to write <span style="font-style: italic;">The Secret Lives of Bees</span> after years of writing nonfiction.</span></span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br />Ann’s journey is also a period of transition</span>,</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8YJwTBMbJVq8kkFWtTHPVWGvWcSMdBonlODrkyS88-Wmhd8_tAjeOC9DdnQzF5HBrGdqVXD5GJWHderBgOWGQoezzpgE1kkvfafyMfwhdR9N1LEYNapGPgHJ4p3g0Lwr_5mpfQ/s1600-h/annkiddtaylor.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 151px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU8YJwTBMbJVq8kkFWtTHPVWGvWcSMdBonlODrkyS88-Wmhd8_tAjeOC9DdnQzF5HBrGdqVXD5GJWHderBgOWGQoezzpgE1kkvfafyMfwhdR9N1LEYNapGPgHJ4p3g0Lwr_5mpfQ/s200/annkiddtaylor.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389584066032786674" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">one from loss</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> and rejection that culminates in a search for the work she is meant to do, to finding her path a</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">midst many. The icons and symbols that guide Ann are different from her mother’s but in their mutual search <span style="font-weight: bold;">they discover each other as adult women</span> and find surprising fresh means of communication and friendship. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Traveling with Pomegranates</span> is an inspiring book</span>, thoughtfully written, and one I very much enjoyed. It provides a framework for seeking transitions and destinations for any woman who wants to enhance the meaningfulness of her years.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >For more on the two authors:</span><br /><a href="http://www.suemonkkidd.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.suemonkkidd.com/</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.annkiddtaylor.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">http://www.annkiddtaylor.com/</span></a> <div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">--Rosemary Carstens</span><br /><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/"><span style="font-family:verdana;">Carstens Communications</span></a> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-57174756745488161512009-09-13T16:52:00.004-06:002009-09-13T17:04:38.543-06:00Horses Reign: From conquistadors to cowboys, to Western culture<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOshD7aoWnpoU1ks8Z196P428Fv8bTFNCS0F3zgSMm5aECKokUFeTPRK42pyyfX54kR4wQmiewfV3zyYc_yXwSuiu2zrLuTpaUqjIAmfcPCB2pIc_Kab5_1jiXcfoExCEKgSDhQ/s1600-h/Spanish-Mustang.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwOshD7aoWnpoU1ks8Z196P428Fv8bTFNCS0F3zgSMm5aECKokUFeTPRK42pyyfX54kR4wQmiewfV3zyYc_yXwSuiu2zrLuTpaUqjIAmfcPCB2pIc_Kab5_1jiXcfoExCEKgSDhQ/s200/Spanish-Mustang.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381090930435481506" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Horses are synonymous with most of the world’s perceptions about the American West. </span>When Spanish explorers reintroduced them in North America in the 1500s, horses had not been on the continent for thousands of years. But once reintroduced, <span style="font-weight: bold;">they quickly became highly prized and admired for their strength, speed, and innate intelligence, not to mention their natural beauty</span>. They changed Native American cultures, played an important role in the opening of the West to immigrant settlers, and, since those days, they have often served as iconic images in film and fiction. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The presence of horses that still run wild and free in some pockets of the West fires imaginations and animal rights advocates even today.</span></span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Celebrated equine photographer <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">JOHN S. HOCKENSMITH</span>’s new book, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Spanish Mustangs in the Great </span></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">American West: Return of the Horse to America</span> (<a href="http://oupress.com/">University of Oklahoma Press</a> 2009) features stunning, full-color photographs of modern horses that “carry the distinctive traits of their Spanish, Arab, and Barb forebears.” Hockensmith captures these moving, dramatic images in the Rocky Mountain region and on the rolling grassy plains of the West, and <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">focuses a spotlight on their magnificence and continued presence</span> even as many oppose the wild horse herds and others fight to maintain them.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOJokCldfyy87nhjtOVVxfFcrvZJf0ru2p6ClcTKYvhJiZaFHa9fAoAb6E4UtevSAzzxyjUhhiPkC0nNhXuRVzL-dkWOxgvFakIDk60Vya09ZTZIcdBvLjAdWze0X7CgZ9jBTtw/s1600-h/hockensmith.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOJokCldfyy87nhjtOVVxfFcrvZJf0ru2p6ClcTKYvhJiZaFHa9fAoAb6E4UtevSAzzxyjUhhiPkC0nNhXuRVzL-dkWOxgvFakIDk60Vya09ZTZIcdBvLjAdWze0X7CgZ9jBTtw/s200/hockensmith.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381090936147118018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;">Not only is Kentuckian John Hockensmith an inspiring photographer, but he paints and sculpts, writes both prose and poetry. He’s garnered </span><span style="font-family:arial;">significant recognition in all categories. His co-writer, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Michele MacDonald is a professional journalist and media relations consultant who has been devoted to horses all her life</span> and international racing is her best known venue. This is her second collaboration with Hockensmith. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I have to say, they are a winning team!</span></span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />This is a <span style="font-weight: bold;">must-have holiday gift</span> for any horse lover, or for anyone who feels strongly about preserving wild life.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />For more on <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.finearteditions.net/">John S. Hockensmith</a></span> <div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family:arial;">-- Rosemary Carstens<br /></span> <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://carstenscommunications.com/"><span style="font-family:arial;">Carstens Communications</span></a> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36980566.post-58664432800147822132009-08-26T14:54:00.007-06:002009-08-26T15:19:44.134-06:00The Little Book and Farm That Could . . .<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFXzzDidjQVpHD7ecSlX5Sv_XSJ6UfTSH8EvF8g2QlM5d1ZPfAyWeegrwWpofpHk90NSBDjrZdr8jdYQ_9_24u-hmXm8bQDyko7gNT4EDfWNPipnzkKOlGklGkTNorJu_Hm3D8Q/s1600-h/morningglory.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyFXzzDidjQVpHD7ecSlX5Sv_XSJ6UfTSH8EvF8g2QlM5d1ZPfAyWeegrwWpofpHk90NSBDjrZdr8jdYQ_9_24u-hmXm8bQDyko7gNT4EDfWNPipnzkKOlGklGkTNorJu_Hm3D8Q/s200/morningglory.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374381417986244994" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">JAN POGUE</span> and her husband, John Walter, now deceased, had more than seventy years combined experience in editing and publishing when they founded their small publishing company, <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.vineyardstories.com/">VINEYARD STORIES</a>, in 2005. Well suited for the task and highly familiar with the importance of excellence in books, they had held high-level editing job</span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >s at such </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >well-regarded newspapers as USA Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. In addition, Ms. Pogue had fifteen years in book publishing. As she expresses it:<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><blockquote>Vineyard Stories is a full-service publisher, creating high-quality books for and about Martha’s Vineyard. . . . We are focused primarily on telling Island stories. To do this, we pursue outstanding writing, editing, photography and illustration, design and manufacture. Then, to make sure your book is seen and read, we offer distribution and promotional services.</blockquote></span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >Recently <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">MORNING GLORY FARM and the family that feeds an island</span>, text by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom Dunlop</span> and photos by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Alison Shaw</span>, one of Vineyard Stories very special books, <span style="font-weight: bold;">went global</span>—or at least national—<span style="font-weight: bold;">in a surprising series of events that included the attention of Michelle Obama and coverage in the New York Times</span>. The book is about the Athearn family’s Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown, MA, and features 70 recipes organized by season. As Pogue says, <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">“They were sus</span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">tainable before there was sustainable.”</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span><span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span><span><span><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXgtqZhV3DNrDY50WCvd2twIwyW8nRMHJa88Lxk2_asv-EpxuFNfVnlsAJhGtrxHPAaM48BxQITJSkIf-LJvoynEwB5S_padRUqjx_Fy_GJMx1mWA3W5kK2KzRbIk8trX3Ah8qiA/s1600-h/morning.oldtractor.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXgtqZhV3DNrDY50WCvd2twIwyW8nRMHJa88Lxk2_asv-EpxuFNfVnlsAJhGtrxHPAaM48BxQITJSkIf-LJvoynEwB5S_padRUqjx_Fy_GJMx1mWA3W5kK2KzRbIk8trX3Ah8qiA/s200/morning.oldtractor.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374381424084706594" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">This wonderful story opens when</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">a young husband and wife, from very different backgrounds and disparate world views, </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">begin battling the woodlands near Martha’s Vineyard to plant and harvest what turned out to be a crop of wormy corn</span>. Thirty years later their farmstand is the source of a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, prepared dishes and baked goods and people come from all around to stand on line waiting </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >to stock up. <span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><br /><br />This book is an homage to eating sustainably and nutritiously and to the glory of beautifully prepared food consumed </span></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">surrounded by family and friends. </span><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWRfeyx0mZZZn6irqq6AdiGHjxQODaU7zJDAht9o20CcFpK7mtm841KaIOl-p_WkSztzwlo-auZoKmfpcVzWw1k2AxSYIlBT-TeeThMBJcAnSS-IWLMzObDAZP5t9AhT58LYTzg/s1600-h/morning.new.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWRfeyx0mZZZn6irqq6AdiGHjxQODaU7zJDAht9o20CcFpK7mtm841KaIOl-p_WkSztzwlo-auZoKmfpcVzWw1k2AxSYIlBT-TeeThMBJcAnSS-IWLMzObDAZP5t9AhT58LYTzg/s200/morning.new.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374381985667429330" border="0" /></a></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" >For more information and images:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.vineyardstories.com/">http://www.vineyardstories.com</a> </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.morninggloryfarm.com/"><br />http://www.morninggloryfarm.com/</a><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: right;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">-- Rosemary Carstens<br /><a href="http://www.carstenscommunications.com/">http://www.CarstensCommunications.com </a></span> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript">var _sttoolbar = {}</script><script src="http://w.sharethis.com/widget/stblogger.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script type="text/javascript">stBlogger.init("http://w.sharethis.com/button/sharethis.js#publisher=9aefa17b-b322-4d43-a22f-96aedaa3a1da&type=blogger");</script></div>Rosemary Carstenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18078731575772645930noreply@blogger.com5