Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis

Synopsis: Consider this a biography of an American city. Oklahoma was founded in a bizarre but momentous “Land Run” in 1889, when thousands of people lined up along the borders of Oklahoma Territory on April 22 and rushed in at noon to stake their claims. Sam Anderson tells the origin story, weaving together the history of OKC with a profile of the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team of 2012-2013. Throw in other colorful characters such as Flaming Lips oddball frontman Wayne Coyne, civil rights activist Clara Luper, local meteorologist Gary England and you create a detailed and amazing urban portrait.

Review: I wish I had the words and ability to convey just how great this book is! My efforts to summarize it cannot begin to describe just how entertaining and engrossing it is. What sounds like a peculiar goulash of themes all comes together in a completely coherent, fabulous story. I thought it was going to mainly be about Kevin Durant and the Thunder, and that impression was wrong. The whole boom-bust trajectory of an oil town leads to great drama. It was a little bit about basketball, but also so much more. Read it! You’ll be glad you did. This is a stunning piece of civic history and gets an unqualified rave review!

Rating: 5/5. I’d give it a 6/5 if Corey let me.

Recipe: The Oklahoma Onion Burger is basically a smash burger with a layer of caramelized onions. Meat, onions, bun, and not much else if you’re a purist, though some add cheese, pickles or even Cole slaw. This was supposedly born out of economic necessity in the Depression, when cooks found that ground beef pressed with a pile of thinly shredded inions not only tasted good, but helped stretch the meat further. Thinly slice your onions, then allow a burger sized handful to brown for a few minutes on a flat top griddle. Smash your burger patty down on top creating a thin burger with the onions embedded and cook for several minutes. Flip the burger-onion patty to cook the other side and add cheese for melting. Place on a potato bun, and imagine you live in OKC with a tornado bearing down. Perfect!

Exhalation

Synopsis: A collection of 9 short stories, described as science fiction to which I would say, maybe. Each story is based on a thought or premise about how technology has the potential to impact our lives. For TV fans, think of this as the literary equivalent of Black Mirror. I suppose it is science fiction, though not in quite the way I usually think of that. Science fiction to me is the incredible. These stories are quite credible. They range in length from extremely short, to novella length, and all beautifully written.

Review: I am not a reader of science fiction, so I found the label a bit off-putting. However, I would encourage anyone else as close minded as I am about the genre to give this a try. My favorite story in the collection is titled The Great Silence, another name for the Fermi paradox. This essentially is a meditation on two contradictory truths. One, the idea that we represent the only intelligence in the universe is preposterous. Two, despite the increasing range of our extraterrestrial search, we have found only silence. Chiang’s story makes you question why we are so interested in finding intelligence in the stars, but so uninterested in the many species that manifest it here on earth. His story has placed in juxtaposition the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico with the endangered parrots in the forests nearby. As you might guess, the story is from the perspective of the intelligent parrot that we overlook as we scan the stars. This one is sticking with me. You have to wonder how much we overlook in the natural world, or simply fail to appreciate.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: One of my favorite stories in the collection is called the Great Silence, based in Puerto Rico. One of the most important elements of Puerto Rican cuisine (so I am instructed) is sofrito, a seasoning sauce used as the base for lots of recipes including rice, beans, stews, or sometimes even a sauce for meat or fish.

Ingredients:

1 large green pepper, finely diced

1 large Spanish onion, finely diced

5 aji dulce or 1 red pepper, finely diced

4 cloves of garlic finely chpped

3/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

5 leaves culantro, chopped (if you can get it, which I cannot where I live). This is particular to Puerto Rican sofrito apparently.

Once prepared, this can make the base for lots of other dishes. Sofrito is usually the first thing to go in the pot, sauteed as the base for rice or beans. Like a Latin mirepoix! Or sautee and use as a sauce over fish, or however you imagine using it.

Shuggie Bain

Synopsis: A debut novel by Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh “Shuggie” Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980’s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Shuggie’s mother, Agnes, is struggling with a philandering husband, an insufficient budget for her worldly tastes, and a growing dependence on alcohol. Agnes maintains her pride by attending to her make-up and beehive hairdo, all while stowing a bottle of vodka under the kitchen sink or a can of lager in her handbag. Shuggie’s older siblings manage to find a way to leave home, leaving the young Shuggie to care for Agnes. Shuggie is meanwhile trying to fit in with the other kids and be (in his words) a “normal boy.” Themes of addiction, sexuality, family loyalty and love define this working class family saga.

Review: When other reviews use words like “bleak,” “harrowing,” or “tragic,” usually I steer clear by a mile! My day is hard enough without bringing extra misery to the table. However, I’m one of those people who still has some faith in the experts, and this book received rave reviews. After it was announced as the winner of the Booker Prize in 2020 and a finalist for the National Book Award, I decided to be brave and face the trauma. Dear friends, it was so so worth it. The novel encompasses Shuggie’s life from about 6 to 17. His older siblings get out of Dodge as soon as they can, leaving the youngster to try and keep Mom out of trouble. Agnes makes a lot of wrong choices, and is full of vanity, self loathing and inarticulate yearnings, yet is still somehow a sympathetic character. I was really rooting for both of them! I was kept in suspense for most of the novel: will Shuggie survive his painful childhood? What is in store for him? Will Agnes ever be able to stay sober? The novel ends with a bittersweet but believable conclusion, though no spoilers here. Definitely worth your time.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Beer Can chicken

I doubt that Agnes would sacrifice her beer to make a chicken, but short of providing a cocktail recipe, this seemed most fitting.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons of your favorite spice rub

1 can of beer

1) Rinse and pat chicken dry. Rub lightly with oil, salt, pepper and seasoning.

2) Take a half full can of beer. If you cannot decide what to do with the other half can of beer, call Agnes.

3) Place the bird cavity over the beer can.

4) Transfer the bird-on-a-can to your grill, balancing the bird on its 2 legs and the can like a tripod.

5) Cook over medium high, indirect heat with the cover on for about 1 1/4 hours, or until the internal temperature is about 165 degrees in the breast, or 180 degrees in the thigh.

6) Remove from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes before carving.

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

Synopsis: A short story collection by Deesha Philyaw, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies was critically well received and ultimately quite successful. Nine stories in the collection feature four generations of characters who are Ladies of the Church, but also figuring out where they really stand in the world. Themes of religion, sexuality, infidelity, racism, sexism, feminism, lots of -isms, family strife and more are contained in these stories.

Review: Disclosure: I love short stories. The ability to craft a short, compelling story, with characters that resonate and leave you wanting more, that’s an amazing skill. This collection of stories was perfect. Each story delivered something just a little different, and many times unexpected. The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes frank, and sometimes touching. Philyaw’s characters are certainly trying to live their true lives, but in the shadow of an institution that might not be compatible with their desires. I would have a hard time picking a favorite, but “Peach Cobbler” was outstanding.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Uh, Peach cobbler, of course

Filling:

5 small peaches, cut into slices (about 5 cups)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Batter:

1/2 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk, at room temperature

1) Put peaches, sugar, cinnamon, salt and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. cook until sugar is dissolved and the peach juices begin to boil. Lower to a simmer and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

2) For the batter: put the butter in a 2 quart baking dish and place in the oven while it preheats to 350 degrees.

3) Whick together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the vanilla and milk into the dry ingredients while whisking until well combined.

4) Remove the pan from the oven. Pour the batter over the melted butter. spoon the peaches along with the juices over the top of the batter. Bake until the cobbler is golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 35-45 minutes.

American Dirt

Synopsis: Lydia Perez is living my fantasy life of being the owner of a small bookstore in the seaside tourist town of Acapulco. She seems to have a picture perfect life with a loving husband who is a journalist for the local paper, her eight year old son Luca, and extended family nearby. She develops a friendship with one of her customers, Javier. His erudite, charming exterior hides the reality of his life as the chief of the local drug cartel. When Lydia’s husband writes a tell all profile of Javier for the paper, life takes a dramatic turn, with Lydia and Luca forced to flee their home. She decides that their only hope for escape from the retribution of the cartel is to travel as quickly and surreptitiously as possible to the United States.

Review: This book certainly generated a lot of buzz! The pre-publication phase saw publishers vying for the rights to this novel, and was highly anticipated. It was an Oprah pick for her book club, for heaven’s sake. Then the push back started….. LOTS of folks weighing in on whether this particular author should be the one to tell this particular story. For a lot of people, the idea of a white author writing this novel felt inauthentic, culturally insensitive, and wrong. Finally, I wanted to see what all the controversy was about! If the worst thing that can be said about the book is that the author is not brown enough? I agree that the lack of diversity in publishing is appalling, but I can’t embrace the idea that authors are limited to topics defined by their nationality or ethnicity. So, was it a good book? On the whole, I enjoyed it. The fear, desperation and danger were palpable. By turns, heart breaking and heart warming. I might find a little fault in some of the characters, which were a bit too Hollywood for me. The drug lord villain was sophisticated to the point of parody. Still, I’ll recommend it.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Chicken “Enchiladas”

OK. These are not authentic in any way shape or form. Very much a Paula Deenification of the traditional chicken enchilada. So in that sense, maybe a good accompaniment to this book? I am reasonably certain that in Mexico they would be baffled by the use of cream cheese, heavy cream or Greek seasoning. Still, I’m going to say I think they are delicious, even if not authentic.

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon Greek seasoning blend

1 t olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 four oz can diced green chiles

16 oz shredded Montery Jack cheese

2 10 oz cans green enchilada sauce

16 8 inch white corn tortillas

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Poach the chicken with greek seasoning and when cool, shred to make about 3 cups. Or use a rotisseries chicken, who’s to know?

2) Het oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Sauce onion and cumin until tender, about two minutes.

3) combine the shredded chicken, onion mixture, cream cheese and chiles, 3 cups of chicken and 1 can of enchilada sauce in a large bowl. Mix well. Place e about 1/3 cup chicken mixture in each tortilla, and roll up. Place filled tortillas, seam side down, in a 13 x 9 baking dish. Pour remaining c an of enchilada sauce over the tortillas and top with heavy cream. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly, 35-40 minutes.

Just Mercy

Synopsis: Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit law office in Montgomery, Alabama dedicated to defending the poor, the incarcerated and the wrongly convicted. The backbone of Stevenson’s book is the sad story of Walter McMillian, falsely accused of murder. This case was only the beginning of his committed work to provide representation to the poor, and especially to women and children accused of serious crimes.

Review: I came late to this book, published in 2014. I didn’t see the movie it inspired, but the movie did bring it to my attention, and I was curious. This was a powerful, scary book. It raises important and difficult questions about our justice system, the death penalty, and the price of being poor. “The opposite of poverty is not wealth. In too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice.”

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Banana pudding is a southern classic, and hard to resist. I grew up on the classic recipe from the side of the vanilla wafer box, and I loved it! This recipe from Kardea Brown is a little more complex, but still easy, and the caramel sauce was a great addition. For best results, this should sit overnight so the cookies can soften.

Ingredients:

14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

5.1 oz box of instant vanilla pudding

2 cups very cold half and half

1 cup sour cream

pinch sea salt

One 12 oz tin or 16 oz box of butter cookies

1 cup prepared caramel sauce

6 large bananas, slice

1) whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, pudding mix, half and half, sour cream and the salt in a large bowl.

2) In a large bowl, or individual serving dishes, layer cookies, half the caramel sauce, half the bananas, then half the pudding. Repeat the layers with the same ingredients.

3) Top with whipped cream and cookie crumbles for garnish.

4) For best flavor, lit sit overnight

Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story Remaking a Life from Scratch

Synopsis: A girl is born and raised in Freedom Maine, population ~ 750, and described as “the middle of nowhere.” She learns to cook in her father’s diner, and later opens a small restaurant called The Lost Kitchen. The restaurant quickly achieves national, if not global fame. Who is Erin French, and how did this happen? Like most life stories, this was a journey with a few left turns, ups, downs, and ups again. Ms. French tells a candid story of her personal struggles, and rising above them to pursue her dream of The Lost Kitchen.

Review: I started this book with some trepidation. Full disclosure, I have never eaten at The Lost Kitchen. The only way to get a reservation (supposedly) is to mail in a postcard with your contact information. Your postcard is then mixed into the other 20,000 postcards received and some drawn randomly (again, supposedly) for the privilege of getting a table in the 40 seat restaurant that is only open seasonally in Maine. Has she never heard of Open Table? For this reason, I came to the book with some annoyance with Erin French and her pretentious reservation system. I wasn’t sure I was going to be an objective reader. I knew nothing about Erin French as a person, nor about her life story. An unplanned pregnancy, a poor choice in marriage, a stint in rehab for prescription drugs and alcohol—definitely some drama and good material for a memoir! The writing was beautiful and evocative, raw and intimate. Erin, I still hate your reservation system, but the writing was excellent. I wanted to know more about how exactly her little restaurant in tiny Freedom Maine caught fire and found international acclaim, and that wasn’t really addressed. She had an axe to grind with her ex, her father, and even her sister, and I wonder if those relationships were more nuanced than she describes. Still, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Naturally I had to try something from The Lost Kitchen cookbook! These mussels make a great appetizer, and are simple and elegant.

Ingredients:

2 pounds fresh mussels, cleaned

4 stalks rosemary

one small handful fresh lavendar

one stick of unsalted butter

2 limes, halved

1) Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat

2) Add the mussels in a single layer, sprinkling the lavender and rosemary over top, heating 2-3 minutes until they start to open.

3) Add the butter to the pan, shaking the mussels as the butter sizzles and creates a broth. cook 2-3 more minutes until the mussels are completely done.

4) Squeeze the fresh lime juice over the mussels

5) Serve with good crusty bread for dipping.

The Plague and I

Synopsis: Tuberculosis. In the pre-antibiotc era of the 1930’s, this was as terrifying as cancer is now. It meant entering a sanitarium for treatment, leaving her family and her children. And what if she didn’t recover? One might think this is not the stuff of comedy, but one would be wrong. Betty MacDonald spent 9 months at “The Pines,” in real life the Firland Sanitorium in Seattle. She published this second volume of her memoirs in 1948, a follow up to her better known volume the Egg and I.

Review: It’s remarkable that Betty MacDonald is not more widely known, since she is a true national treasure. Imagine a place where you spend months at a time forced to lie in absolute silence all day, every day, where your windows are always open rain or shine, hot or cold, and that you are not permitted to read or write. That’s The Pines Sanitorium, where people actually felt lucky to be accepted for treatment of this disease! The regimen of total bedrest, fresh air, and (sometimes) surgical intervention sounds barbaric by today’s standards, but they had no antibiotics, so maybe these things were helpful? Macdonald has a deliciously wicked sense of humor, and her descriptions of her often eccentric fellow patients, and the tyrannical staff are hilarious. Her roommate, Kimi, was equally dependable in contributing her dark humor to the tale. Kimi (real name of Monica Sone), went on to become a writer herself. The daughter of Japanese immigrants, Kimi/Monica wrote her own memoir titled Nisei Daughter—still in print! I’ve not yet read it, but plan to. It seems strange to say that this was a light and funny book, given it’s subject, but I guess that’s the genius of Betty MacDonald.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Teriyaki glazed salmon is a nod to Kimi, and the setting of the Pacific Northwest. Easy and delicious!

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons water2-3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon water

Green onions and sesame seed for garnish

1) Mix garlic, ginger, soy cause, 2 T water, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil in medium bowl

2) Add half the marinade to a zip lock bag, and the other half in a small saucepan.

3) Marinate salmon in the zip lock bag for 30 minutes.

4) Simmer the reserved marinade for 5-10 minutes. Mix the cornstarch a 1 T water to make a slurry, and add to the marinade. simmer until thickened.

5) Place salmon fillets on a foil lined sheet pan, and brush with the reserved sauce

6) Bake at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

The Four Winds

Synopsis: Elsa Wolcott is the oldest daughter of a well to do merchant in small town Texas. At 25, she is living life as a sheltered semi-invalid. A reckless night leads her into marriage, and a new foreign life on the farm of the Martinelli family. Years of drought ravage the farm leaving Elsa, her husband Rafe, and their children Loreda and Anthony near the point of starvation. When Rafe abandons the family, Elsa and her children must decide whether to stay and fight for the farm they love, or leave. They decide to migrate to California in search of a better life, and become part of the millions who tried desperately to flee the Depression and the Dust Bowl.

Review: Kristin Hannah has worked out a pretty good formula for literary success: strong female protagonists set in sweeping historical settings at a time of dramatic change. In The Nightingale, Hannah transported us to war torn France in WWII, examining the complex relationship between two sisters with opposing political ideologies. The Four Winds takes the same formula, but swaps sister drama for a mother-daughter relationship set in the Dust Bowl of the early 1930’s. Similar to the The Nightingale, one woman wants to be an agent of change, while fear paralyzes the other into complacency. I enjoyed getting a better picture of this slice of American history, but found this book a bit of a let down. I really really liked The Nightingale, and I merely liked The Great Alone, my next Hannah novel. I found the Four Winds could be a bit aggravating at times. There were so many one dimensional evil people in Elsa’s path, with not enough nuance to make them seem believable. Certain plot elements strained credulity. Still, it was OK.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: Did you know that Montery County grows 80% of all the artichokes consumed in the United States? California keeps the produce aisles of our grocery stores stocked! Artichokes with a spicy lemon caper aioli is a perfect spring appetizer.

Ingredients:

2 large artichokes

6 tablespoons mayonnaise

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon hot sauce

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1). Cut the bottoms off the artichokes so they stand up in the steamer basket. Steam over boiling water for 30-35 minutes.

2) Mix remaining ingredients for a spice dipping sauce.

3) Enjoy!

Born A Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

Synopsis: In his 2016 memoir Born a Crime, comedian Trevor Noah recounts his childhood in South Africa under the apartheid government and the first few years of democratic rule by the nation’s black majority. Born in 1984 to a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss expatriate father, Noah is not merely an anomaly in apartheid South Africa—his existence is actually illegal because the regime outlawed relationships between people of different races. Noah’s memoir interweaves vignettes from his childhood and adolescence with reflections on the history and culture of South Africa.

Review: This book far surpassed my expectations of a celebrity memoir. Growing up as a mixed race child in apartheid was dangerous! Yet, Noah uses his unusual childhood to mine comedy gold. He tackles a lot of difficult subjects along the way: colonialism, apartheid, religion, gender roles, and domestic abuse. His mother was abused, and ultimately shot by her second husband, so this is not all grins and giggles. The culture of South Africa was such that men who abused their wives faced no consequences, all leading to a shocking (yet happily not fatal) conclusion. His description of his grief at that moment is incredibly tender and powerful. However, most of the book is funny. Laugh out loud kind of funny! I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author, and it was superb.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Bobotie sounds like a version of shepherd’s pie, except instead of potatoes, it’s topped with an egg custard. I' must admit, I haven’t gotten around to trying this yet, but plan to.

Fifty Words for Rain

Synopsis: In 1950’s Kyoto, an eight year old girl is left alone at the doorstep of her grandparent’s home. Nori has never met her grandparents, but her mother has abandoned her here with the parting words of “obey your grandparents.” Nori is the illegitimate daughter of a married Japanese woman of noble lineage, born of an affair with an African American GI in post war Japan. Nori’s very existence is an embarrassment to her grandparents. She is hidden in the attic, subjected to chemical baths in an effort to lighten her skin, and ignored (when she is not being beaten.) This sad existence is altered by the arrival of Nori’s half brother Akira. He becomes her first, and for a time only friend, exposing her to music and allowing her to imagine a life beyond the attic. The novel covers Nori’s coming of age and search for identity.

Review: Suggested by my long time friend Beth, I had no preconceived notions of this book before beginning. This definitely hit some high notes for me! I love good character development, and it’s common knowledge that this period of history is one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the tension and conflict of traditional Japanese culture and emerging globalization and modernization. Nori has a lot to endure, though unlike some tragedy porn books (ahem, A Little LIfe?) it stops short of feeling gratuitous. Like other reviewers, I was surprised and not in love with the ending. Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop me from giving this novel a good review.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Nori forges a very special bond with her half brother Akira. He occasionally takes her to local fairs or festivals, a special treat as she rarely gets to leave the house. A special treat for her is the yakitori chicken the she enjoys on those outings. Basically, it’s a skewer of grilled chicken with an Asian glaze, so what could be bad about that?

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup mirin

1/4 cup sake

2 tablespoons brown sugar

4 large cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger root

2 pounds of chicken thighs

1 bunch of scallions, trimmed

1) Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, brown sugar, garlic and ginger in a small pot, bring to a boil and thicken for a few minutes.

2) Cut the chicken and scallions into bite size pieces and thread onto skewers.

3) Grill, basting with sauce until done

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Synopsis: John Carreyrou tells the story of Theranos, a Silicon Valley start up founded in 2003 by 19 year old Stanford dropout Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos promised to deliver a novel blood testing technology. Wth a simple finger prick, dozens if not hundreds of blood tests would be performed in minutes in your local pharmacy and ultimately, even in your home. Theranos raised over $700 million in investment at a $ 9 billion (yes, with a b) valuation. Elizabeth Holmes was, for a while, the most successful woman entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. The problem? It was all fake. The premise was scientifically dubious, efforts to develop the technology were rushed and ultimately Theranos committed wholesale fraud in an effort to keep the myth alive. Carreyrou tells the story of how the Theranos deception got so far, and ultimately, how it was exposed.

Review: This tale of naked greed and ambition really got under my skin. It completely boggles the mind that the con known as Theranos was able to become so successful with no basis for that success. Elizabeth Holmes is clearly very intelligent, but one year of chemical engineering at Stanford does not provide the scientific background to create the novel technology she claimed. Flimsy excuses for her failure to deliver the promised technology abound. Production delay due to an earthquake in Japan? She might as well tell her investors the dog ate her homework, yet they accepted it and then INVESTED EVEN MORE MONEY. Business schools will surely be studying this case for decades to come. While she is no scientist, she’s definitely a grifter and master con artist who finally got caught, and will be on trial in August 2021. This compulsively readable book felt like a script for a thriller movie, and I’m sure a film is in the works.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: I think if I were one of the 800 employees of Theranos, I’d like to go to an upscale coffee shop and get an overpriced avocado toast for breakfast. Sounds very California to me. The beautiful thing about avocado toast is that it’s not complicated enough to need a recipe. Coarsely mash some avocado, add a squeeze of lemon juice and olive oil, spread thickly on bread of choice (a nutty artisan bread seems right), and top with flaky sea salt. Top it with whatever else you like—cherry tomatoes, everything bagel seasoning, smoked salmon, you name it. I was skeptical, but now I’m interested in investing in avocados.

Leave the World Behind

Synopsis: Amanda and Clay are an upper middle class professional couple, residents of Brooklyn with two teenage children. They rent a luxury home in a remote part of Long Island (there’s a remote part of Long Island?) to enjoy some sun and sand. It’s an idyllic and peaceful vacation until an older black couple shows up at night, identifying themselves as the house’s owners. They explain that there’s been a blackout. Amanda is initially suspicious of them and is skeptical of their claim. However, it turns out that George and Ruth are wealthy Manhattanites who wanted to wait out the blackout in their country home. Although they have no cell service, TV or Wi-Fi, it slowly dawns on the two couples that the blackout may be a sign of a larger global emergency.

Review: Another apocalyptic story with high tension, family drama, and class/race differences to add to the mix. This is not a horror story, perhaps more of a psychological thriller. The author, Rumaan Alam, does an amazing job of creating a sense of anxiety and tension. I read this book a few months ago, and the feelings created by being isolated at home felt familiar! At the beginning of the novel, it is not at all clear what is going on with the blackout, what caused it, or how big the impact is. The reader is just as much in the dark as Amanda and Clay. As the story progresses it becomes a bit more clear, and let’s just say, it’s not good. I’ve read that this is being adapted for Netflix, starring Denzel Washington as GH and Julia Roberts as Amanda—great casting!

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Amanda stocks up at her local grocery store with all the essentials for a week at the beach: strawberries, hummus, Chardonnay. She makes a lovely pasta dinner which sounded delicious, but what, no seafood? You’re at the beach! If I were cooking a pasta dinner, I’d choose something like this Pasta with Shellfish, recipe courtesy of Alison Roman.

Ingredients:

8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced, fronds reserved

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, crushed

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved if large

12 oz dried linguini or fettucini

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 lb littleneck clams or mussels, scrubbed and soaked

1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled or unpeeled

1/2 cup toasted pistachios, very finely chopped or ground

Flaky sea salt

1 lemon, halved

1) Put a large pot of water on to boil

2) Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add garlic and fennel, season with S&P. Cook until lightly browned and tender, 8-10 minutes.

3) Add fennel seeds and crushed red pepper, stirring to toast. Add the tomatoes, cook 10-12 minutes until the tomatoes break down a bit. Crush them a bit to encourage if needed.

4). Cook the pasta and drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water.

5) Add the wine and cook until reduced b y half, 4-5 minutes. Add the clams, and if the skillet has a lid, put it on to help them steam open. Once they just start to open, add shrimp, season with S&P, toss and continue to cook until all the clams have opened and the shrimp are opaque, about another 3-5 minutes.

6) Toss pasta and the seafood mixture in the largest bowl you have, adding some of the pasta water as needed to keep things loose and saucy. Season with S&P and more red pepper flakes if desired.

7). Transfer to a large serving bowl (or serve it straight from the mixing bowl) and top with the pistachios, flaky sea salt, fennel fronds, and, if you like, more fennel seeds and crushed red pepper flakes. Offer the lemon halves alongside for squeezing over.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz

Synopsis: Erik Larson provides an account of Hitler’s first year as Prime Minister during the Blitz of London. This is not new material, but the focus is not just on Churchill, but on his family and surrounding players. On Churchill’s first day as Prime Minister, Adolph Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, HItler would wage a relentless bombing campaign killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally. This story is told through the eyes of Churchill, his youngest daughter Mary, his wife Clementine, and son Randolph.

Review: It’s hard to believe that there could be any new, fresh ways to write about World War II and Winston Churchill, but here it is. I have to admit that I had no idea how truly eccentric Winston Churchill could be! This book made me appreciate the value of leadership. Through sheer determination, Winston Churchill was able to rally the British people to withstand devastating loss and hardship. Capitulation to Hitler would have been so easy, and you get the sense that would have happened had anyone else been Prime Minister at that critical moment in history. Churchill was not universally loved at that time, and had plenty of detractors, so it was truly remarkable that he was able to hold the British people together. I’ve read many books by Erik Larson, and he always has a knack for bringing history to life. This book was one of my favorites by this author.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Yorkshire pudding seems like a quintessentially English food, and these popovers are similar, just in individual portion sizes. I also learned that Churchill loved picnics, so these would be nicely portable too!

Popovers:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven AND popover pan (or muffin tin) to 450 degrees. Spray with nonstick spray and pour batter into the pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn heat back to 325 and bake additional 20-25 minutes.

Hamnet

Synopsis: Welcome to an imagined backstory to one of the most famous plays in the English language. The death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet from bubonic plague is the central event of this novel. The novel follows the relationship of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they deal with their grief over the death of their son and the rising arc of Shakespeare’s career. In the end, Will writes the play Hamlet as a farewell to his son—not a spoiler to point out it’s a play where the father dies instead of the son and the ghost’s final line is “Remember me.”

Review: I was completely engrossed by this fictional account of Shakespeare and his wife. While Shakespeare is probably the most famous playwright in history, very little is known about his life, so there’s pretty much free reign to make up what you want. Maggie O’Farrell made good use of that in her brilliant story telling of how a child’s death devastates the entire family. The novel centers much more on Agnes than Will, plumbing some serious emotional depth regarding maternal love and grief. While completely coincidental, I think the current pandemic also is referenced in the passages about how the plague travelled from place to place, spread quickly and took many lives in the process. People process their grief differently, and the friction created in that process is well described here.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Several pivotal scenes take place in the apple storage shed of Agnes’ home: a first kiss, later followed by the conception of Will and Agnes’ first child! Thinking about how the apples were stored to keep them as fresh as possible made me think of my mom’s apple cake, one of my childhood favorites.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon apple pie spice

3 cups flour

3 cups fresh peeled and diced apples

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

1) Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla

2) Combine dry ingredients

3) Mix dry ingredients into the egg mixture

4) Fold in apples, raisins and walnuts

5) Pour into greased and floured Bundt pan

6) Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees until it tests done.

Disappearing Earth

Synopsis: On a lovely August afternoon in the Kamchatka province of Russia, two young sisters are abducted. The novel proceeds, month by month, exploring the ways this event impacts a variety of characters, all connected by this horrific crime. Each chapter, occupying one month after the event, is told from the perspective of different characters. While each story is unique, they are interlinking in ways that sometimes the narrators don’t even appreciate. Through different perspectives, we see how the disappearance of the girls affects many different people, and how that changes over time.

Review: This was a 5 star winner for me. Not just a literary thriller, but a thoughtful meditation on culture, race, sexuality and small town politics. The tension between the native people of the region and the ethnic Russians was familiar. The correct response to the ending of this novel is a gut wrenching expletive. I wish I had kept a little journal of characters, as they do all ultimately sort of fit together. This is a novel brimming with stories of women who are trying to figure out how they fit in the world. The slow progression, month by month, revealed how the crime was slowly receding from public memory, but never far from those it hurt the most.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Penne alla Vodka is not a Russian food, but vodka is Russian, so, sort of. I thought of this since this story resurrected a memory for me of playing Risk with medical school classmates. We used to joke about Kamchatka, as that was a province on the board, with no meaning to us other than that it was also the name of a cheap brand of vodka. So there is a weak link here!

Roasted Tomato Penne alla Vodka

3 pounds plum tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

4 cloves minced garlic

1 onion, finely chopped

1 cup vodka

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 cup mascarpone

Generous handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

1 lb penne

1 cup diced fresh mozzarella

1 cup parmigiana-reggiano

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Halve the tomatoes and arrange on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper.

Toast 1 hour and 15 minutes, let cool.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pot, add garlic and onions, season with S&P. Cook until soft but not caramelized, 12=15 minutes. Add the vodka, reduce by half. Add the chicken stock and roasted tomatoes. Heat, stir in the mascarpone, then puree until smooth using an immersion blender.. Add the basil.

Toss cooked pasta with sauce, top with mozzarella and parmesan, bake for 45 minutes covered, then 15 minutes uncovered.

Rest for 10 minutes, then serve.

The Nickel Boys

Synopsis: Elwood Curtis is a black teenager growing up in segregated Tallahassee in the early 1960’s. Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the strait and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood has plans to attend the local black college. Unfortunately, Elwood was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and one innocent mistake was enough to get sent to the Nickel Academy, a reform school. The Nickel Academy turned out to be a chamber of horrors where boys were terrorized and abused, and society turned a blind eye. Colson Whitehead based his novel on the true story of the Dozier School in Florida that operated for over 100 years.

Review: Horrifying, infuriating….. those don’t sound like the words for a rave review, but this short novel packs a punch. I had previously read Underground Railroad by Whitehead, so was a little surprised at the relatively strait forward narrative structure of this book. It is perhaps not as unique or inventive as Underground Railroad, but the story is one that has as much or more to say. This novel is not about the abuse of children as much as it is about Elwood’s reaction to that. Elwood is an admirer of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and struggles with his admonition to love your oppressor, and tries to make sense of that. In spite of adversity, Elwood continues to imagine that if he does the right thing he will survive, and even flourish. Elwood’s naïveté will cost him, and it leaves the reader wondering how to reconcile American idealism with it’s tragic history.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: No kind of food or beverage makes this story go down easy. With that acknowledgement, Food52 does highlight a “virtual pot luck” each February for Black History Month. This has introduced me to chefs and food bloggers that I didn’t know before. This recipe for Pimento Cheese comes from Immaculate Bites.

Ingredients:

8 oz softened cream cheese

1 cup grated sharp cheddar

1 cup grated Gouda

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 teaspoon garlic powder

1/3 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 seeded diced jalapeno (optional)

4 oz diced pimentos, drained

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Mix thoroughly to combine. Serve with crackers, veggies, on sandwiches or burgers.

A Children’s Bible

Synopsis: Twelve children are forced to spend an extended summer vacation with their parents and alternately feel smothered and neglected. The parents, old college friends, have rented a large lakeside home and spend their time immersed in drugs and alcohol. The children range in age from about 8 to 19, but most are teens who are happy to be ignored by their parents. The action comes to a head when a severe storm strikes, taking out power and society begins to break down.

Review: To be clear, this is not a bible, nor is it about religion. This dystopian `novel by Lydia Millet is ultimately an indictment of the adults of society who are ignoring the looming disaster of climate change and leaving it to the next generation to figure out. There are plenty of biblical allusions of course. Twelve children, a devastating flood, three wise men who arrive with gifts and more. This felt more like a parable, with extreme cartoonish characterization, all meant to serve a story and a moral message. And even though I get that this might be intentional, I just didn’t care for it all that much. It wasn’t lengthy, and parts were good, but in the end I was left feeling let down.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: A vegetarian burrito bowl, made mostly with things you can store in your doomsday pantry: rice, canned beans, corn, tomatoes and spices. The goat cheese I sprinkled on top is not vegetarian of course, but if you read the book, you’ll understand the reference. I did this in the Instant Pot, but if the apocalypse comes and you don’t have electricity you could do it on the stove or even over a fire.

1 onion diced

1 carrot diced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1.5 cups long grain rice

2 cups vegetable stock

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can corn

1 can beans of your choice

For the avocado crema:

1 avocado

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons water

1) Heat some oil in the instant pot and saute onions, carrots and salt for about 3-4 minutes.

2) Add spices, rice, and stock and stir well. Put tomatoes on top but don’t stir them in (important as tomatoes on the bottom sometimes spark a burn notice.)

3) Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes, then manual release.

4) Stir in corn and beans

5) To make the avocado cream, combine avocado and all ingredients in food processor, or mash to desired consistency.

6) Serve rice and beans, garnish with halved cherry tomatoes, cilantro, roasted red peppers and the avocado crema.

Deacon King Kong

Synopsis: New York City in September 1969, a cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Housing project in Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in broad daylight shoots the project’s drug dealer at point blank range. Remarkably, Deems Clemens, the dealer, survives the shooting, and now everyone wonders when Deems will take his revenge. Sportcoat is an elderly deacon, but he is also an alcoholic whose beverage of choice is a homemade hooch called King Kong. No one, not even Sportcoat, really understands why he committed this crime, but now the fallout is going to connect a group of people from vastly different backgrounds including the local Irish policeman, the Italian mob, and the local church ladies.

Review: What a fun reading experience this was! Unique, full of humor, and packed with a huge cast of characters. Everyone has a nickname, including Pudgy Fingers and Hot Sausage. In addition to being a deacon and an alcoholic, Sportcoat is a gifted gardener, and a handyman. His sidekick Hot Sausage is in charge of distributing the cheese to the residents that is delivered on a monthly basis. It doesn’t seem like this should work: too many characters, too many subplots, and a slightly implausible story line. Yet, James McBride makes it work beautifully. The community really comes to life, and there is equal amounts light hearted humor and pathos of the misery of poverty and heroin (the new slavery). The writing flows, with themes of redemption, loyalty, trust and faith. Deacons, church ladies, mobsters, moonshine, cheese, ghosts, gossip, looting, shooting and more. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: One food that makes its way into this book on a regular basis is cheese. Thinking of cheese, a book set in 1969, and well, fondue seemed obvious. I can say with near certainty that Sportcoat and his friends probably have never eaten fondue, but it was my choice here. If the pandemic ever ends, maybe we will get to take our trip to Switzerland for the real thing, but in the meantime, this will work!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Swiss cheese, shredded

1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 garlic clove, peeled

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cherry brandy, such as kirsch

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

pinch mustard

Assorted dippers

1) In a small bowl, coat the cheese with the cornstarch and set aside. rub the inside of the fondue pot with garlic and then discard

2) Over medium heat, add the wine and the lemon juice and bring to a gentle simmer. Gradually stir the cheese into the liquid and melt slowly. Once smooth, stir in cherry brandy, mustard and nutmeg.

3) Serve with assortment of dippers including chunks of bread, cooked potatoes, sausages, cornichons, sliced apples or pears, or whatever you like.

The Vanishing Half

Synopsis: Desiree and Stella Vignes are identical twin sisters, raised in the small town of Mallard, Louisiana. It’s an African American community, two hours north of New Orleans, not really found on a map. Desiree and Stella run away from home at the age of 16, with Stella leaving her sister a year or two later. Desiree ultimately returns to Mallard, while Stella has moved on, secretly passing as a white woman. The lives of these sisters, while separated by distance and racial identity, remain very much intertwined.

Review: Wow. I really, really liked this book. I might even say I loved it. There are so many layers here, and a lot to think about. Many people in this book are “passing,” or trying to hide a part of themselves. While I am well aware of the history of “passing,” I honestly never gave much thought to the cost. Loss of family relationships, loss of old friends, the emotional toll of living with secrets that you can’t tell even those you love the most. Desiree and Stella each have daughters, and their paths cross more than once. One is an actress, the most obvious form of passing imaginable! The other is in love with someone who is trans, also living a “passing” life. Beautiful prose and deep characterization with complex and flawed characters, it’s everything a novel should be: entertaining, thought provoking, and ultimately hopeful. This is my first novel by Brit Bennett, and I will definitely look for more of her work in the future.

Rating: 5/5

It is comically predictable and cliche to pair this book with classic Black and White cookies. I resisted the notion, but finally had to accept that it really just fit the themes of the book. This cookie seems to be a classic New York thing, commonly traced to Glaser’s Bake Shop found in 1902 by Bavarian immigrants. This recipe is from my all time favorite Ina Garten. A little more cake like than cookie, but delicious.

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 extra large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sour cream

For the glazes:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

5 oz semisweet chocolate

1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Cream butter and sugar 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well.

3) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl.

4) With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream in thirds and mix until just combined.

5) With a standard ice cream scoop, place 5 level scoops of batter 2 inches apart on 2 sheet pans lined with parchment.

6) Bake for 10 minutes, rotate, then bake 6-8 minutes more.

7) Cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely

8) For the chocolate glaze, place butter, chocolate and coffee in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second increments until melted. Stir vigorously until smooth.

9) glaze half the cookie, allowing it to set for 30 minutes.

10) For the vanilla glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of cream, adding drops of cream as needed to make the glaze smooth, thick, and barely pourable.

11) Glaze the other half of the cookie, allowing it to sete for 30 minutes.