Dorothy_M

"The things we surround ourselves with give meaning to our lives." And for Bee Wilson, who has written several food related books, those things are kitchen objects - the things we use to make food, serve food and eat food. Given the importance of food in our lives - love, comfort, celebration, solace - it isn't surprising that for many people it is food-related objects that call forth their memories. The author begins with a story at the end of her marriage. She writes about the devastation she feels in finding the heart-shaped tin that that she used to make her wedding cake, but she looks not only at the objects that have meaning for her as she works through the divorce, the loss of her mother, her children growing and leaving and the beginning of a new relationship but at how objects have been important to others. These objects range from a tomato-shaped salt shaker to an oil dispenser to mushroom canisters and often have little intrinsic value but the emotions they call forth are immense. The book is divided into sections - charms, mementos, junk, tools, symbols, gifts, and treasures. It covers topics as diverse as the discovery of an old cocoa jug that changed the history of chocolate to a tin spoon secretly created in a prison camp, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I holding a sieve.

She looks at the poetry pottery of a slave named David Drake (which is now in museums) and at the budare pan brought out from Venezuela when her friend left for a new life in Spain. You will learn about burial plates and glory boxes and the importance of Aga's. In sharing the memories of people, she also gives you history and background so that you read about not only David Drake's incredible pottery but about his life as a slave. This isn't a read-it -straight- through book - it's a pick up and read an essay with the tea I mentioned. Much enjoyed.

This is a complicated book. James Goodhand posits that time travel exists, that it is possible with a particular brain injury for someone to live their life out of sequence with no control and little understanding of how time moves. If you move back and forth through time and you are lucky and make better decisions, can you change the future and repair the past? We meet Alex Dean as a young man set to go to Cambridge and in love with a beautiful woman who loves him in return. When we see him next as he travels erratically back and forth through his life, he is an alcoholic busker with no friends. The story that Goodhand tells is how he got there, why Alex makes such bad decisions and whether there is any way in which there might be an alternate ending. I think people who enjoyed The Midnight Library by Matt Haig will find this an interesting premise. I enjoyed this book but I found it somewhat difficult to get into. You need the patience to keep reading.

Haiti, plagued with poverty, corrupt, lawless, and brutal police, politicians and military, international interference in its government - mostly by the US - and natural disasters is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. In Devil Makes Three, Ben Fountain gives us the story of the period in Haitian history when a US sponsored coup removed Aristide, the first democratically elected president, from office. While there is a large and complex cast of characters, the voices in the story are mainly Alix, a Haitian business man, his sister Misha who is completing her PHD at Brown when the book begins, and Matt, an American who comes to Haiti as Alix's business partner in a dive shop. We also follow Shelly/Audrey, a CIA operative posing as a political attache who is convinced that since the US is the best country in the world the end justifies the means, no matter what chaos those means create - because, of course, it is always for the greater good. An important part of the story centers around the conviction that there are gold treasures in sunken ships and everyone wants a piece of them. We see the lack of control that people have when the government - or the gangs - simply walk in and take your business; when there is no reliable medical care; when an international embargo shuts down supplies and leaves people to starve. Fountain looks at the impact of voodoo in the Haitian culture and, because he is a superb writer, he makes you care about what happens to these people. This is a complicated story but it is well told and well worth your time to read. And if there is not a totally happy ending - well, it's Haiti.

I need to say upfront that I have long been a fan of Peter Abrahams/Spencer Quinn. I especially love his Chet and Bernie series - I might be considered a Chet groupie. So I was predisposed to like this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a different story than the Chet and Bernie series - there are no dogs. What it does share with that series is Quinn's trademark wit and his knowledge and acceptance of human behavior and frailties. Mrs. Plansky is a well-to-do retired widow with an overly dependent family and an overly developed need to fix everyone's problems. When she is caught up in the grandparent scam and realizes that the officials aren't going to recover her money, she decides to take matters into her own hands. What follows is a most amusing read even if it should come with the "don't try this at home" warning. Highly recommended - along with all his other books.

Lindsey Hill is dealing with the loss of almost everything in her life. Her husband is dead leaving the family bankrupt and in disgrace because of his illegal actions. What she has left is her three children and a determination to start over when she receives his insurance settlement - by buying sight unseen a small motel in rural Hawaii. And, of course, it is in terrible shape and you think you know where this is headed. But Holly Goldberg Sloan takes this book in a totally unexpected direction. It was a page turner for me and one that I quite liked.

If you cross the odd couple with Thelma and Louise you'd come up with The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise. Tanner is a young woman whose life plan to be a soccer star is derailed by a severely broken leg and who spends the next few months burning bridges. When her Mother has finally had as much as she can take she tells her to move out and find a job. While Tanner insists that living as an assistant to an octogenarian with Parkinson's isn't really a job she isn't at all prepared for Louise's unexpected past or the frantic road trip across the country.

I enjoyed this story. I liked the characters, enjoyed the humor and there is even a bit of romance along with a look at the difference between what's legal and what's right.

Twenty five years ago Andrea Barrett's short story collection- Ship Fever - which won the National Book Award included a story called the The Marburg Sisters. Since then she has continued to explore this family, beginning in Ireland during the potato famine thru her other books. Natural History, her latest story collection, ends with Rose and Bianca born in the 1950's. And in case we missed the links, there is a family tree at the back of the book. The six stories in Natural History are closely linked and - as with all her writing - deal with well researched science and history, ranging from the civil war to the beginning of the aeronautical age. The greatest gift of this book, however, is her depth of understanding of her characters and their relationships with friends and family and colleagues. Her beautifully written stories show us these people with their dreams and expectations and, often, disappointments. Highly recommended.