Remarkably Bright Creatures

Synopsis: Tova Sullivan has lived in Sowell Bay for all of her 70 years. She’s stoic, but dealing with a lot of grief. Her estranged brother has just died (with no reconciliation between them), her husband died a few years ago of cancer, but the wound that will never heal is left by the disappearance 30 years ago of her 18 year old, only son, Erik. She fills her days with friends, and works nights at the local aquarium where she is scrupulous in her cleaning. She develops a friendship, of sorts, with Marcellus the Pacific octopus in the aquarium. Tova suffers an injury, leading to her introduction to the temporary cleaner, Cameron.

Review: My initial impression was eh, this is just OK. I thought it might grow on me over time, but it never really happened. I like a story with multiple POV, but this suffers from one cry baby/man child that is so annoying that you can’t wait to get back to Tova. I know many readers were enamored of Marcellus, but I didn’t quite feel that either. The foreshadowing was heavy handed and some parts just truly strained credulity. For instance, if you are trying to connect with a well known real estate agent, why would that be hard? It’s like the internet didn’t exist. In spite of these limitations, I did enjoy certain aspects of the book. Many of the themes are worthy of pondering, like loneliness, grief, and our need for human connection.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: Well seafood of course, but not octupus! Do you think I’m a monster? This recipe for Cioppino is from Harbor Fish Market in Portland, and includes everything BUT octopus.

1/4 cup olive ooil

2 tablespoons salted butter

1 cup finely chopped onioon

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 cup mushrooms, cut in half if large

28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

6 oz tomato paste

1 cup dry white wine

two 8 oz bottles clam juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons minced parsley

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 pounds firm fish (swordfish, sea bass or snapper)

8-10 clams or mussles

1 pound medium shrimp deveined and peeled

1/2 pound scallops

1/2 pound lump crabmeat

1) Heat oil and butter over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic, green pepper and mushrooms for 10 minutes, or until onion is soft.

2) Add tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, clam juice, lemon juice, parsley, bay leaves, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and sugar. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.

3) Add the fish and cook for 10-15 minutes.

4) Add the clams, shrimp, scallop and crabmeat. Cover and simmer over low heat until clams open.

5) Serve in shallow bowls with garlic aioli if desired.

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing

Synopsis: Author Jen Waite met Marco at work. He was the new bar manager, and she was a new waitress, working to make ends meet as she tried (like millions) to “make it” as an actress or model in New York City. She fell for him HARD, and before long they moved in together. She invested in his dream of opening a restaurant, got married, and pregnant soon thereafter. Did I mention that he was undocumented? She helped him get a green card. The dream came to a crashing end when the author discovered evidence of his infidelity within weeks of the birth of their daughter. Yikes.

Review: This memoir was definitely raw and emotional. No doubt, I felt for this poor young woman. She describes, in excruciating detail, the post mortem of the affair and marriage. The obsessive dissection of it all, the need to UNDERSTAND. It’s painful. Not to be unsympathetic, but it was a little much. It made me think of how you might have a friend, or maybe even BE the person who can’t stop talking about the problems in their relationship. It made me wonder what her daughter is going to think of this when she has the ability to read it. I kept waiting for the shocking reveal, that would explain why this warrants a memoir. Not to cast aspersions, but affairs and divorce are not that shocking. Somehow, the “reveal” never came. Still, she has the ability to write. She describes her (soon-to-be) ex husband and his new girlfriend, noting that she is well aware that THIS relationship also will not last. “They will implode on the shards of a million bad decisions.” Well. That’s a line I will never forget, and if you can write even ONE unforgettable line of prose, you have my admiration. I wish her well.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: Break up chocolate cake, courtesy of Dessert for Two. Or maybe just one, in this case.

1/2 cup all purpose flour

5 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon warm water or coffee

handful freeze dried raspberries, crushed to a powder

powdered sugar for sprinking on top

1) Heat oven to 360.

2) Spray a 6” cake pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.

3) Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

4) In medium bowl, stir the oil and sugar together. Add the sour cream and stir until blended.

5) Add egg and vanilla to the oil and sugar mixture, stir until combined.

6) Mix half of flour mixture into wet ingredients, then the water, then the remaining flour.

7) Put into prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes.

8) Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove and place on cake stand.

9) Place a heart cookie cutter in the center of the cake and fill with raspberry powder.

10) Cover the heart with papeer, and sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the rest of the cake.

The Measure

Synopsis: The world wakes up one morning with a mysterious box waiting for every single person 22 years old or older. Insite the box is a piece of string representing your life span. Hysteria ensues. Do uyou open your box? How does it change your life? society quickly segregates into “long stringers” with the luxury of knowledge of a long life span, and “short stringers” whose fate, sadly, is different. We follow eight characters to see how they grapple with the situation.

Review: It’s a rarity for me, but I did not finish this. I just completely lost interest about half way in. This book has been well reviewed by many, but I just didn’t care for it at all. AT ALL. You would think that carpe diem was an original idea based on this novel. I found this to be too message oriented, and not enough on real character development. The characters were two dimensional, the plot holes gaping, and just, honestly, NOT GOOD. At least for me. I have hated some books enough to hate read them to the end. I couldn’t even manage that degree of emotion here, so, meh.

Rating: 2/5

Recipe: Given the focus on strings, it was hard to avoid the idea of green beans, and I love this simple recipe from Ina Garten. Green beans gremolata is a little bit dressed up, and would definitely make a good holiday side.

1 pound French green beans, trimmed

2 teaspoons minced garlaic

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

3 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil

1) Blanch the green beans in large pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Drain, and immediately immerse into a bowl of ice water. Drain, and pat dry.

2) Toss the garlic, lemon zest, parsley, Parmesan and pine nuts in a small bowl and set aside.

3) When ready to serve, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan, add the beans and saute for 2 minutes until heated.

4) Off the heat, add the gremolata and toss well. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and serve hot.

The Collector

Synopsis: Gabriel Allon is the world’s most famous spy. Living in Venice in retirement, he’s pressed back into action when the world’s most valuable painting goes missing—for the SECOND time! The Concert by Johannes Vermeer, stolen from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990, has apparently been living in a vault on the Amalfi coast. Now, it has been stolen from it’s illicit hiding place and the owner of the seaside mansion is murdered. Gabriel is asked to find the painting, find the killer, and eventually things wind their way back to Russia, a plan for Ukraine and heaven help us, can Gabriel help avert a nuclear catastrophe?

Review: I’m quite a bit late to this party. Gabriel Allon, Israeli super-spy, linguist, artist and art expert, is the protagonist of a staggering 23 novels by Daniel Silva! This is the most recent installment, but it’s my first, so I’m a novice for sure. I was attracted to this book because I am fascinated by the story of the art theft of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In the wee hours of March 18, 1990, two men in police uniforms pushed the buzzer at the Museum, stating they were responding to a disturbance and asked to be let in. The museum guards were then tied up, and 81 minutes later the fake policemen absconded with 13 works of art, most famous of which is The Concert by Johannes Vermeer. It remains to this day the largest theft of property in the world, and shockingly, also remains unsolved. There continues to be a 10 million dollar reward offered by the museum for information leading to recovery of the stolen works. This was the hook that got me interested in this book, as the painting in question here is the stolen Vermeer. For the purposes of this novel, it has been held by a shady South African shipping mogul in his Amalfi mansion in a vault. Now it has, in turn, been stolen by a shady character known only as The Collector. Readers, to prevent you from making the same mistake, if what you’re really interested in is the REAL heist, this book does not really address that, so maybe find another book. Nonetheless, it was a fast paced spy thriller, with an overlay of art history and interesting bits about art restoration. I thought the dialogue was well written, but found the plot twists a bit confusing…. one minute the book is about stolen art, the next its about Russia planning to nuke Ukraine as false flag attack, etc…. landing us squarely in espionage/spy territory. Not the kind of book I usually read, but I enjoyed it, and I would read more in this series.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: The Aperol Spritz seems to be having a moment. It originated in Italy, near Venice, as a lower alcohol alternative to Campari, and it’s beautiful shade evokes an Adriatic sunset. Served in a large wine glass, it’s the favorite of celebrities and wannabe influencers everywhere these days. The history of this drink, a Venetian staple that has become an orange tidal wave in the last 20 years, is worth a read!

Mix in a glass over 2 cubes of ice

1/2 glass of prosecco

1/3 glass of Aperol

a splash of seltzer water

garnish with orange slice or green olive

A Flicker in the Dark

Synopsis: When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing from her small Louisaiana Town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested for serial murder and put in jail. Chloe herself provided some of the evidence against her father and this traumatic event has scarred her life. Fast forward twenty years, and Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge. She’s planning a wedding and trying to enjoy the happiness she has worked so hard to achieve. Wouldn’t you know, it happens again! First one local teen goes missing, then another. Is there a connection? Is Chloe paranoid or intuitive? Who is responsible and is Chloe herself in danger?

Review: A book for the true crime aficionado. Not that this is based on a true crime, but it does have the feeling that Keith Morrison could be the narrator for the audio book. This book was OK, but I had a few issues with it. First of all, can we get over the wine drinking, pill popping unreliable female narrator? She’s everywhere! Chloe is so traumatized by her childhood that she doesn’t change her name, has not moved more than an hours drive from her home town, and gave an interview to the local TV station about how her father’s crimes inspired her career as a psychologist. Girl, you are just asking for public notoriety. Second, this wasn’t that hard to figure out. SPOILER ALERT, Chloe’s father is not the murderer, and I figured this out very early on, even figuring out who the real murderer was. I’m terrible at solving mysteries! To the author’s credit, there were a few other plot twists that I didn’t see coming, and that helped keep this from being completely predictable. On the favorable side, it was a fast easy read, and reasonably entertaining. It was described to me as an “airport book,” and this would certainly keep you engaged for a cross country flight.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: Chloe grew up in the town of Breaux Bridge, a real town which is the proclaimed Crawfish Capital of the World. Every summer at the Crawfish Festival (a real event!) you can partake of the small crustacean in all its culinary forms. We don’t have crawfish in New England, but you could easily substitute shrimp in this recipe for crawfish etouffee. Etouffee means “to smother,” which describes the shellfish being smothered or braised in a spicy sauce, served over rice. This recipe, from Chili Pepper Madness, does not use tomatoes, which some recipes do, but I’m sure there are a lot of variations out there.

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

4 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspooons Cajun seaasoning

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups chicken or seafood stoock

1 pound crawfish tail meat

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1) Heat a large pot on medium heat and melt the butter

2) Add the flour to make a roux, stirring continuously for 5 minutes.

3) Add the onion, peppers, celery and garlic. Stir and cook for 5 minutes to soften.

4) Stir in the cajun seasoning, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste, and stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.

5) Add the crawfish tails or shrimp, and simmer about 5 minutes until done.

6) Remove from heat and stir in the parsley.

7) Serve over rice, and don’t forget the hot sauce.

A Suitable Boy

Synopsis: Mrs. Rupa Mehra intends to fulfill her parental duties by arranging a marriage for her 19 year old daughter Lata with “a suitable boy.” Set in a newly post-independence, post-partition India of 1951, we see the clash of customs as Lata most definitely does not want to be influenced by her domineering mother or opinionated brother Arun. The reader spends the next 18 months with the Mehra family, along with a cast of thousands as Lata considers potential suitors and India continues to define itself as a newly independent nation.

Review: Think War and Peace, but instead of Imperial Russia, it is 20th century India. It’s a beast at 1,488 pages, and simply holding the book for an extended period can become a workout. I was inspired to read it after reading The Reading List. If you missed that blog post, The Reading List involves a mysterious list of “must read” books, and of those books, the only one I had not yet read was A Suitable Boy. Challenge extended, challenge accepted! Friends, it was well worth it. India is so vast and multi-faceted. Ethnic conflicts, religious conflicts, castes, the partition of India and Pakistan, not to mention the obvious clash of traditional values with developing modernity. I will admit, some parts were a bit slower than others. I’m sure I would have benefitted from having more familiarity with Indian history, but in spite of my rudimentary understanding, it was still quite fascinating. The story begins with the wedding of Lata’s sister, and ends with Lata’s own marriage. Between these weddings came a thousand subplots and characters, weaving a detailed narrative tapestry. Was Lata’s husband a suitable boy? I will let you read it to find out! I would definitely like to make a suggestion that this monster be divided into several volumes just so its not so cumbersome to hold and read. Sadly, it was not available on Kindle, which would have been another attractive solution.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Indian food is just as complex as it’s history. There are so many regional variations, and I’m certainly no expert. I only know that I love Indian food, and there isn’t an Indian restaurant within an hour of my house, so it’s usually up to me to try and create it. I can enthusiastically recommend the Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre. Her recipes are clear with simple instructions, a manageable number of ingredients, and most importantly, they are delicious. Jhinga Nariyal Wala, or shrimp coconut curry, comes together in no time.

1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined (26-30 count)

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne peppeer

1 teaspoon Garam Masala

1 cup unsweetened cocunt milk, or more to taste

2 cups water

1) Place the shrimp in a bowl that fits inside the inner cooking ot of the Instant Pot. Add the ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt, cayenne, garam masala, and coconut milk. Cover the bowl with foil.

2) Pour the water into the Instant Pot and place a trivet on top. Set the covered bowl on top of the trivet.

3) lock the lid in place, select Manual and adjust the pressure to low. Cook for 3 minutes.

4) When cooking is complete, use quick release method to release the pressure.

5) Unlock the lid. Add a little extra cocunut milk if you like, stir well and serve with rice or the side of your choice.

The Haunting of Hill House

Synopsis: This 1959 gothic thriller concerns four man characters: Dr John Montague, an investigator of the supernatural; Eleanor Vance, a shy young woman who has spent most of her young adulthood caring for her recently deceased, disabled mother; Theodora, a bohemian artist, and Luke Sanderson, the heir to Hill House. Montague hopes to find scientific evidence of the existence of the supernatural, and rents Hill House for a summer of paranormal exploration. Hill House is reputed by the locals to be haunted, so Montague feels sure SOMETHING exciting is going to happen. A variety of spooky events occur including unseen noises, ghosts roaming the halls, strange writing on the walls and other unexplained events. Eleanor seems most in tune to it all. Or maybe she’s just losing touch with reality?

Review: I give credit to Shirley Jackson for writing The Lottery, one of the scariest short stories I’ve ever read. So with spooky season upon us, it seemed a great time to dive into her famous ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House. This novel has been adapted into several movies, a play, and a recent Netflix series, but I’ve seen none of those things, so my thoughts pertain to the book only. On the surface, this is a story that feels quite familiar, but in an unexpected twist, we’re left wondering: is the house haunted, or is Eleanor just a bit too fragile in her control of her faculties? I love an unreliable narrator, and Eleanor is clearly a bit unbalanced! Sisterhood is a major theme in the book. At the beginning of the novel, we see Eleanor’s dysfunctional relationship with her sister before she leaves to spend the summer at Hill House. We have the orphaned sisters who lived in Hill House back in the day, and the Eleanor and Theodora who quickly become like sisters. All those relationships are complicated and fascinating, with jealousy simmering below the surface. I’m guessing Jackson either didn’t have a sister, or had a bad sister relationship. It’s a short book at barely 200 pages, so a quick Halloween read, and well worth it.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: I love an easy Halloween food hack, and these Ghost Cookies from Food Netwrk Kitchen couldn’t be easier. Dressing up a store bought cookie is quick and easy, and leaves more time for making your costume. Use any oval or peanut shaped cookie you like, such as Nutter Butter or Pepperidge Farm Milano.

2 cups white chocolte chips

3 tablespoons cocnumt oil

24 oval cookies

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment

2) Combine the white chocolate chips and coconut oil in a double boiler, and melt over simmering water. Stir until smooth.

3) Dip cookies into the shite chocolate until almost completely coated and lay on the prepared bakaing sheet. When all the cookies are dipped, refrigererate until the white chocolate is sete, about 15 minutes.

4) Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler and stir until smoth. Transfer to a piping bag, and pipe 2 oval eyes and a slightly larger oval mouth on each ghost cookie. Return to the refrigerator until set, about 10 minutes.

Down East

Synopsis: The author follows five young girls through their formative high school years, sharing stories of growing up in remote Down East Maine. For those not familiar, this would be the farthest northeast county of Maine where lobster fishing dominates, and opportunities are limited. We are vicarious witnesses to academic and athletic success, domestic abuse and difficult home lives, and everything in between.

Review: This was an interesting slice of life for those who are familiar with teenage girls and their struggles, with the overlay of rural life. It seemed a bit like Hillbilly Elegy for the coastal folks. I thought the depiction of the young ladies was nuanced and generally sympathetic. It would have been easy to veer into caricature, and I was happy that this did not occur. Where I struggled with this book was understandng, what is the point the author is trying to make? It’s not really that political (phew), nor is it really answering the question of the growing gender achievement gap in American schools. It ended up feeling uncomfortably voyeuristic without deeper meaning.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: There is nothing else to consider for this book except lobster! Lobster fishing plays such a large part of this story. This recipe from Bobby Flay is awesome, keeps lobster the star, and I love the smoky flavor from the grill.

1 pound unsalted butter

1/2 cup basil chiffonade

4 whole lobsters

2 tablespoons olive oil

1) Combine basil, butter, and salt and pepper to taste in a food processer. Blend until smooth. Transfer to a ramekin and refrigerate until needed.

2) Split the lobster in half lengthwise. Brush the bodies with olive oil and grill on low-medium heat for about 8 minutes.

3) Remove from the grill and slather with the basil butter.

Women We Buried, Women We Burned

Synopsis: Rachel Louise Snyder is an author, and journalist. You might be familiar with her through her work on NPR, or books such as No Visible Bruises. Her focus in this book is her own traumatic childhood and chaotic trajectory to adulthood. We first meet Rachel at the age of eight when her mother sadly dies of breast cancer. Her father’s reaction to this terrible loss is to remarry, become an evangelical Christian and uproot the family to the mid-west. Rachel’s reaction to this is ….. not great. She rebels at home, she rebels at school, and eventually gets kicked out of both. Somehow, she manages to get through it all.

Review: “Cancer took my mother. But religion would take my life.” There is just so much going on here! Fortunately, Snyder is an amazing writer with the ability to share her story in all it’s complicated glory. It surprised me that, in spite of what I would describe as abuse disguised as religion, Rachel was not estranged from her father. They were able to continue to have some kind of relationship, even while she spent years couch surfing and living out of her car. There is a tacit acknowledgement that, while this is HER version of events, her father might have a different perspective. Ultimately she went to college, became a journalist, and has traveled the world reporting on women’s issues. This memoir reminded me quite a bit of Educated by Tara Westover. Similar to that, I found it horrifying to think of her childhood, but inspired by her ability to forgive and forge new relationships with her father and siblings.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: One of Rachel’s first jobs was bussing tables at a local Mexican restaurant, El Dorado. She notes with pragmatism that this was an ideal job for a homeless teenager, because at least she got fed. Other than that, dinner might be Campbell’s mushroom soup straight from the can, and we surely do not want that, so Mexican it is! This recipe for shrimp tacos is from the Food Network. In a pinch, you can also substitute crunchy fish sticks and make it a fish taco instead.

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1-1.5 teaspoons Sriracha

2 limes, 1 juiced and 1 cut into wedges

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup fresh cilantro

3/4 pound medium shrimpt, peeled, deveined and halaved crosswise

one 14 ounce package coleslaw mix

1 mango, peeled ad sliced into thin strips

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

kosher salt

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

12 hard taco shells

1) Finely mince 1/4 cup cilantro, and mix with mayonnaise, Sriracha, lime juice, sugar and 1 tablespoon water.

2) Place the shrimp in a bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of the dressing and set aside

3) roughly chop the remainder of the cilantro, toss with coleslaw mix, mango, red onion and the remainder of the dressing. Season with salt.

4) Heat the vegetable oil in a large non stick skillet and saute the shrimp over medium high heat, about 3 minutes.

5). Heat the taco shells. Serve with the shrimp and slaw, and additional lime wedges.

Women Talking

Synopsis: One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. They have finally learned they were , in fact, drugged and raped by a group of men FROM THEIR OWN COMMUNITY. Now these women need to figure out how to keep themselves and their daughters safe. They are illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside the borders of their community, and don’t even speak the local language. Do they stay in the only world they have ever known, or try to escape?

Review: I became aware of this story a couple of years ago, when a film based on the novel was released. However, even though a novel, Women Talking is based on true events. It is by turns shocking, infuriating, harrowing, and depressing. The patriarchal structure of the Mennonite community is well described. Women are kept in submission—and servitude— by depriving them of education and the basic tools needed to survive in the world. This novel explores how a group of women try to determine if they are better off entering a world that is completely unknown to them, or to stay and try to “forgive,” which is an important part of their faith. The novel is ostensibly the “minutes” of their meeting in the hay loft, an interesting device, though I don’t think it necessarily adds to the story. If you can brace yourself for the discomfort of knowing that these events actually happened, I would recommend this novel.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Mennonite cuisine is based on the notion of self sufficiency, using what the earth provides and making the most of God’s gifts. Interestingly, they have no dietary restrictions at all. Apple butter is not butter, but essentially super concentrated, super smooth cooked down apples. This was a regular feature of the breakfast table in my childhood, and easy to make with a slow cooker (not that Mennonites would use this if they don’t use electricity!). Use a combination of apple varieties for the best flavor. this recipe is from My Baking Addiction.

6 1/2 pounds apples peeled, cored and sliced

1 cup sugar

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1) place all ingredients except vanilla in slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low heat for 10 hours.

2) Remove lid, stir in vanilla and cook another 2 hours.

3) Use an immersion blender and puree until smooth.

4) Refrigerate up to two weeks, or freeze.

And Poison Fell from the Sky

Synopsis: Marie Therese Martin shares her memoir of growing up in Rumford, Maine in the 1950’s and 60’s. Rumford is a mill town in the Androscoggin River Valley, the home of exquisite natural beauty and paper mills. Her early life is characterized by her father leaving the family, and she experienced the stigma of divorce in a small Catholic community. She was inspired by her mother to become a nurse, and upon her arrival at the local hospital was soon romantically involved with a local physician. Marriage and many children later, Terry and her husband sound the alarm about the health effects of living in a mill town, a town now called “Cancer Valley” due to the high rates of malignancy.

Review: This is, in many respects, very similar to Mill Town, recently reviewed by cookingthebooksblog.com. Terry is a generation older than our previous author Kerri Arsenault, and her story reflects the challenges women faced in that era. I was completely taken in by Martin’s strait forward account of her life and marriage, and was captivated by her writing. She doesn’t sugar coat things. She seems very much like a woman who makes the best of what life brings her way, even if it isn’t always easy. This was a much more readable narrative than Mill Town and to my assessment, a better book. Environmental activisim came late to her life, but feels like a natural progression of her life and not a tangent. If you only have time for one narrative about Rumford, Maine and the local mill, I would recommend this one.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: In 1990, Terry wrote a book entitled Le Visage De Ma Grandmere (My Grandmother’s Face) which is a short history of French Acadia (what is now called Nova Scotia), the deportation of the Acadians in 1755, and included recipes from her Acadian forbears. Tourtiere is a French Canadian meat pie, traditionally served as part of the Christmas holidays. Variations differ a bit between regions, and my experience with tourtiere is usually with ground meats flavored with warm spices. This is described as an “authentic Acadian recipe,” and a bit more pared down.

3 pounds of pork shoulder

1 pound of stew beef cut into small bite size pieces

2 good sized onions

salt and pepper to taste

1) Place in kettle, covering meat with water. Simmer slowly for about 2 hours adding water if necessary.

2) Roll out pie crust of your choosing and place meat pie filling between two crusts.

3) Cook at 425 until crust is done.

Mill Town

Synopsis: Part memoir, part environmental expose, Kerri Arsenault describes growing up in Mexico, Maine. This community has revolved around the local paper mill for over a century, and now has earned the nickname of “Cancer Valley” due to high rates of childhood and adult cancers. Arsenault attempts to understand how a community accepts the Faustian exchange of health for a paycheck, interweaving her personal memoir, stories of Acadian migration and more.

Review: I very much wanted to like this book. I generally love memoirs. This is a community that I know fairly well. In full disclosure, I am an oncologist who has treated many residents of Mexico over the last 30 years, so I think I have an informed background for the subject matter. Sadly, I just didn’t care for this book. There are a lot of threads here, between the personal memoir, the mill/cancer story, geneology, history of Acadian migration, or the current topic of Nestle tapping into local aquifers. Thematically, it’s just all over the place. The timeline of the book is confusing, without a strong narrative to pull the story together. At the end, I just couldn’t figure out what this book wanted to be.

Rating: 2/5

Recipe: Chicken Fricot is a classic Acadian stew, fricot meaning “feast” in Normand dialect. It’s basically chicken and dumplings which is great in any language.

Dumplings

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup cold water

Fricot

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

12 cups water

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon summer savory

5 cups potatoes cut into bite size pieces

1) In a large stock pot, cook the chicken pieces in butter until golden brown, remove and set aside.

2) Saute onions, carrots and celery, adding more butter if needed.

3) Add water, chicken, salt and pepper to taste, and savory. Simmer until chicken is tender

4) Add the potatoes and cook another 20 minutes.

5) Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Gradually add cold water.

6) Drop dumpling mixture into the fricot one spoonful at a time about 7 minutes before ready to serve. Keep covered until the dumplings are cooked through.

The Toll Road North

Synopsis: Dee returns to her hometown of Lewiston, Maine with her son Ari for a college visit. She hasn’t been back in a long time, and seems to have gone to some effort to put some distance between herself and her roots. While grabbing a quick lunch at Luigi’s Pizzeria, they become involved in a hostage situation, and Dee recognizes the young gunman. The novel uses this event as the focal point to explore Dee’s childhood, and the legacy of her childhood trauma. What IS she running from?

Review: The premise of this debut novel is that Dee, after being taken hostage at Luigi’s (and released), makes a decision to reveal her past to her husband, family and friends. It’s portrayed as something very shameful, and certainly, as we gradually hear the story of her childhood, there are betrayals, abandonment, and secret pregnancies. Small town life in the 1960s and 70s is colored by class divisions and misogyny. The book explores the idea that we create our adult persona, and that sometimes those closest to us know us the least. As a Maine resident who lives adjacent to Lewiston, there was a warm familiarity in the cultural background and local color which was well described. Character motivations did feel slightly melodramatic and forced, but overall, this was an impressive debut.

Rating: 3/3

Recipe: Much of the action in the novel takes place at Luigi’s, a local sandwich shop. They are known for the Fergy, which is essentially a ham and cheese sandwich on sliced Italian bread. While it is locally well known and loved, it’s not really recipe worthy. As the name suggests, you can also get Italian favorites at Luigi’s such as pizza or other Italian specialties. I’d probably go for a calzone, pizza on the go! Roll your pizza dough into a circle, add fillings of choice on one half, fold over and tightly crimp the edges. Brush with oil and bake at 475 for about 15 minutes, or until done. You can buy pizza dough, but it’s not hard to make your own.

1 1/4 cups warm water, 105-110 degrees

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 tablespoon fine sea salt

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1) Mix together water, salt and honey. Sprinkle with yeast and set aside 5 minutes then stir.

2) Pour water mixture over your flour and stir to combine, then knead by hand for 2 minutes. Cover and let rise for 4-5 hours at room temperature.

3) Transfer to a floured surface and divide in half. Fold each piece of dough 8 times and form a ball. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 7 days. Your dough is done!

Tom Lake

Synopsis: Lara Nelson is enjoying the company of her three adult 20-something daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell. It’s the spring of 2020, and circumstances have led to these adult children coming home to roost for a few months, and thank goodness! Lara and Joe Nelson own a cherry farm in northern Michigan, and there are cherries to pick. The girls have always known that Lara once dated Peter Duke, an actor who would later become famous and win an Oscar, but the details provided have been sketchy. The girls want to know What Really Happened and demand to know everything. Lara must spill. The narrative alternates between present day Michigan and the same state in 1988, when Lara spent a summer not so far away at Tom Lake, where she starred opposite the young Duke in a summer stock production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.

Review: I’ve been late coming to the Ann Patchett party. She has many previous books of note (Bel Canto, State of Wonder, Commonwealth), but my only previous Patchett read was The Dutch House. This book convinced me that I need to be a Patchett disciple! While this is set during the pandemic, it is most definitely NOT a pandemic novel, for which I was grateful. In the novel, Lara becomes a young actress playing the lead role of Emily in Our Town, first in high school and then in college. Her fledging acting career leads to a summer theater gig in Michigan at Tom Lake. In many ways the novel is an homage to Our Town, and I was inspired to read it, though its not necessary to thoroughly enjoy this book. This novel covers it all: comedy, tragedy, drama. It’s a meditation on love in all its forms, young love, married love, love for our children, love of a place. You honestly feel like you are sitting at the kitchen table listening to your mother or aunt tell stories about their youth! It’s about choices made, and the urging to enjoy life in the moment and appreciate what is yours. I could go on and on but will simply say, READ THIS BOOK! Or listen to it, as I did. Meryl Streep reads the story in the audio version, and she is amazing.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: For a novel centered in a cherry orchard, we have to make a cherry pie, of coursee!

Ingredients:

4 cups fresh or frozen tart cherries

1-1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Your favorite pie crust (mine comes from the refrigerator section in the grocery store)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, to dot

1 tablespoon sugar to sprinkle

1). Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over medium heat until they release their juice. Mix sugar and cornstarch into hot cherries and mix well. Add almond extract. Return to stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool. If filling is to thick, add a little water, if too thin add a little cornstarch

2) Heat oven to 375 degrees.

3) Place one crust in an 8-9 inch pie pan. Poor the cooled cherries into the crust. Dot with butter. Place the top crust on and flute the edges of the crust. Make a slit in the center of the pie for steam to escape. Sprinkle the top with extra sugar.

4) Bake for 50 minutes, or until done. Cool on a rack, then serve.

Trust

Synopsis: Four stories within a story here. Andrew Bevel is an investment wizard. He and his wife Mildred live in New York and accumulated great wealth during the 1920’s. By shorting the market, he amassed an immense fortune during the Crash of 1929 and Great Depression and let’s just say the average Joe was not impressed. He became villified in the press as being the force that CAUSED the crash. Trust begins with the fictional “novel within the novel” that is the work of the Harold Vanner. While given pseudonyms, the characters are clearly based on the Bevels, and Andrew is NOT HAPPY at his portrayal in this successful novel. Part two is a manuscript outline, notes and an unfinished autobiography of Andrew Bevel with which he hoped to tell his version of his life. Part three is a memoir of Bevel’s ghostwriter and part four the diary of Mildred Bevel. So not four stories, but maybe four versions of the same story. Phew. A complicated post-modern novel!

Review: Well, not exactly a strait forward narrative. There are many intriguing ideas being examined here—who gets to tell a story, what gets included and what gets left out. This is also an exploration of wealth and misogyny. Ostensibly, it is a tale of a pedigreed titan of finance and his struggle to protect his mythic image in perpetuity. I think its really about relationships and power, and what constitutes true greatness. This novel did require some focus and attention, and probably is not for everyone. The patience required of the reader though is rewarded greatly in the end.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: Mildred (and her alter ego Helen) spend time at a sanitorium in Switzerland. The super rich liked to take their “cures” in the clean air of the Swiss Alps, though regrettably it didn’t have the desired outcome. Rosti is considered a Swiss staple—not just hash browns, or latke wannabes, these are made with a cooked potato base which changes the texture and flavor.

Ingredients:

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes

Kosher salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1) In a medium saucepan, covere the whole potatoes with cold water. Season with salt and bring to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender. Drain and allow to cool, then refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 8 hours and up to 3 days before you plan to make the rosti.

2) Grate peeled, cooked potatoes on the large holes of a box grater, season with salt to taste.

3) In a 10 inch non stick or cast iron skiller, melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium high heat until foaming. Add potatoes and form into a disc about one inch thick. Cook until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Lower heat if needed to prevent scorching.

4) Slide the rosti onto a plate, invert onto a second plate, then back into the pan with the remaining butter to cook the other side.

Hello Beautiful

Synopsis: William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. He seeks refuge on the basketball court and lucky for him, he’s tall! He leaves his New England home to attend Northwestern on a basketball scholarship, subsequently meets and becomes engaged to Julia Padavano. Julia is the oldest of four sisters in a loud and boisterous Italian-American family. They welcome him and ease his loneliness, but you can’t really get away from your problems. William’s issues surface, a family rift develops, and the sisters have to make choices.

Review: Is it possible to like a book when you don’t really like the characters and the plot seems a little far fetched? I guess so, because, I DID really like this book! But many of the characters were hard to like (I’m looking at you Julia and Mom), or a bit one dimensional. If you can give a one word description of what each character is like—the Artist! the Nurturer! the GirlBoss!—then maybe they have been reduced to a stereotype. I found some of the decisions made by these people extreme and hard to believe. The central theme of the book is love, and how its presence or absence defines our lives, but there were SO MANY opportunities for forgiveness and redemption that went unfulfilled. I guess that is true IRL as well. In spite of these small criticisms, the writing was beautiful, and I would happily explore other books in Ann Napolitano’s body of work. My book club was a bit mixed on this one, but I would recommend.

Rating: 4/5

Recipe: This novel is set in Chicago, and while not necessary to the plot, that’s great because there’s a lot of good food in Chicago! Italian beef sandwiches are one of my favorites. This easy version is done in the crock pot with only a few ingredients which is always a plus.

3 lb chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into large hunks

1 envelop Italian salad dressing mix

8 oz pepperoncini slices, plus extra for serving

8 oz giardiniera, plus extra for serving

1 can beef broth

provolone cheese slices

Sub rolls

1) Place chuck roast in crock pot, sprinkle with salad dressing mix. Add the peppers, a splash of juice from the jar, giardiniera and beef broth. Stir together

2) Cook on low for 9 hours, or until meat shreds easily with a fork. Shred, then put meat back in the crockpot to cook on low for an additional hour.

3) Serve the meat on a split bun, topped with provolone cheese. Top with additional peppers and giardiniera.

The Dirty Tricks Department

Synopsis: If you’ve ever wondered about the real life inspiration for James Bond’s “Q”, this book is for you. Author John Lisle chronicles Stanley Lovell’s leadership of the OSS Research and Development Branch during World War II. Lovell, an industrial chemist, was recruited to come work for the government to help develop the weapons and tools needed for espionage. Chapters are devoted to weapons, devices, forgeries, and efforts to develop drugs for mind control, among others.

Review: This was a fascinating look at a creative mind trying to figure out new ways to kill people. By turns, this was both horrifying and hilarious. Cat bombs, rat bombs and bat bombs. Suicide pills, fluorescent foxes and cigarette pistols. Disguises and forged documents. Nothing made me giggle more than one proposed weapon of psychological warfare, the fart spray entitled “Who, me?” Unfortunately, it’s not all Mad Magazine antics. The patriotic desire to defeat the Nazis comes with the moral dilemmas raised by biologic weapons and the atomic bomb. There is a brief section of the book devoted to MKULTRA, the infamous project of the CIA devoted to developing procedures and drugs to use for brainwashing and psychological torture—NOT a project of Stanley Lovell, though his previous work may have laid the groundwork. While it was a compelling read, it does leave one with the depressing thought that war is ubiquitous, and our search for more ways to annihilate each other will never end.

Recipe: Food wasn’t mentioned much in this book, but one thing was noticeable: spies do seem to like a good cocktail. A classic cocktail, just right for summer is the gimlet. Gin, lime juice and simple syrup. I might have suggested pairing this with another book in the blog, but if so, don’t hold it against me, just have another!

3/4 ounce simple syrup

2 ounces gin

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

zest from one fresh lime

1) combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Pour into chilled coupe or martini glass

Stay True

Synopsis: Hua Hsu is the son of Taiwanese immigrants, and now a Pulitzer Prize winning memoir author. He grew up in California, ultimately attending Berkeley. He describes his friendship with Ken, and Ken’s shocking murder a few years later in a robbery.

Review: As a teenager, Hsu seemed to define himself mainly in opposition to what he wasn’t—he liked to view himself as an iconoclast, eschewing anything mainstream. At first glance, you would think that he and Ken (a Dave Matthews loving, Abercrombie wearing, frat boy) would have little in common. Yes, they are both Asian, but that’s about it. Nonetheless, they developed a bond, arguing about music and film, and discovering a fondness for cigarettes. In the spirit of the author, I can say what this book is not, easier than to describe exactly what it is. It’s not really a book about growing up in an immigrant family, nor is it about taking a deep dive into the Asian-American experience. It’s a specific examination of this friendship and how a random horrific crime can reverberate through your life, but also a very universal story of youth and self discovery. If you’ve ever been a teenager trying to figure out who you are, this autobiography might touch a chord.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: This sesame cucumber and avocado salad from the New York Time Hetty McKinnon is a new favorite for me. A little bit Asian, a little bit California, and a lot of easy deliciousness!

For the Sesame Dressing:

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

For the Salad:

2 ripe avocados, cubed

1 pound cucumbers (Persian or English) trimmed and thinly sliced

2 green scallions, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and black pepper

toasted sesame seeds for topping

1) Combine all ingredients to make the dressing. Add 1 tablespoon water and whisk until emulsified

2) When ready to eat, toss the avocado gently with the sesame dressing. Add the cucumbers and scallions and toss together. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with sesame seeds

Olive Kitteridge

Synopsis: Published in 2008, Olive Kitteridge is an unconventional novel-in-stories by Elizabeth Strout that interlinks 13 tales about the people of Crosby, Maine. On the surface, this seems to be a collection of short stories, but the unifying thread is the titular character of Olive. Olive is a retired math teacher in this small Maine town, married to Henry, the local pharmacist. She is a cranky misanthrope, while Henry is kind and affable. Sometimes Olive is front and center in the chapter, sometimes she merits barely a mention. Through this exploration of small town life, Strout focuses on the nuances of what brings people happiness, or causes someone to be kind or unkind. A Pulitzer Prize winner in 2009, it was also made into an HBO miniseries featuring Frances McDormand.

Review: I first read this when it was published in 2008, and recently re-read it for a local book club. I don’t often read a book twice, but this was well worth it. Olive has no filter. She is blunt, erratic and some might say caustic. She perceives herself as a no-nonsense truth teller, but constantly humiliates her husband and criticizes her son in ways that make him feel worthless. Yet, there is a softer, more empathic and caring side to Olive as well. What I found so interesting is that due to the structure of chapters and multiple POV, the reader actually gets a more complete sense of Olive, as compared to her neighbors, students, or heaven forbid her daughter-in-law. I found her to be even a little endearing, if also exasperating. Thematically, Olive Kitteridge is an exploration of loss. Loss of youth, loss of relationships, and loss of the illusions that life experience make difficult to maintain. However, Strout balances this serious topic with deft comedy.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: Olive has a bit of a complicated relationship with food. She likes her comfort food, but is not happy that as she proceeds through later life she is becoming a large woman. Several of the stories revolve around getting breakfast at the diner down at the marina. Olive enjoys her doughnuts (and the extra doughnut holes she gets at Dunkin’, but I would favor this blueberry ricotta breakfast cake from Ina Garten, and the blueberries are definitely a Maine vibe.

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 extra large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup whole milk ricotta

2 tablespoons sour creaam

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

kosher salt

1 pint fresh blueberries, divided

Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

1) Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan, shaking out any excess flour

2) Place the butter and granulated sugar in a bowl and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. with the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time, then add ricotta, sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest and mix well.

3) In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter, mixing until just incorporated. with a rubber spatula, fold in 8 oz of blueberries. Transfer the batter to the springform pan, and smooth the top. Scatter the remaining 4 oz of blueberries on top, pressing in slightly.

4) Bake 45-55 minutes until done. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. When ready to serve, remove the sides of the pan, and lightly dust the top with confectioner’s sugar.

Son of Elsewhere: a Memoir in Pieces

Synopsis: Elamin Abdelmahmoud writes a series of essays, or “a memoir in pieces,” describing his journey from Sudan to Canada at the age of twelve. The essays are not chronologic, but cover the full range of his young life including his early years in Sudan, his family’s move to Kingston Ontario (“the whitest city in Canada”), teenage years of searching for identity, and young adulthood with a wife and daughter. The normal teenage task of separation from your parents becomes more fraught in an immigrant household, and his story is told with humor and grace.

Review: Before moving to Canada, Elamin never thought of himself as black. Rather, as a native of northern Sudan, he and his family thought of themselves as Arabs. Once he arrives in Ontario, he realizes that now he needs to learn what being black means in this hemisphere. He very much wants to fit in with his peers, and pop culture was his vehicle. He developed a passion for wrestling, because even if you don’t know much English, it’s easy to tell the heros from the villains, and you can enjoy it with friends regardless. I had NO IDEA about wrestling fan fiction competitions, which he used to develop his writing skills. He covers topics as diverse as the history and culture of Sudan, the challenges of being a Muslim teen in the post 9/11 world, to country music or how The O.C. helped him learn about relationships. There were many poignant and beautifully captured thoughts. His story is moving, and he tells it with humor, honesty and love. This had many similarities to Sigh Gone, another memoir about the unique struggles of trying to assimilate as an American teen with immigrant parents. Both authors contemplate the common theme of our desire to have community, a tribe to belong to, and clarity of purpose. I really enjoyed this, and hope to see more from this author in the future.

Rating: 5/5

Recipe: This sheet pan “tagine” seems like a good choice to pair with this book. It has all the flavors of a North African tagine—fragrant spices, olives, dates and lemons, but the westernized ease of sheet pan cooking. This recipe comes from Melissa Clark in her cookbook Dinner in One.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon tomato paste

3/4 teaspoon turmeric

3/4 teaspoon paprika

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

large pinch of nutmeg

3 pounds bone in skin on chicken pieces

1/2 pound carrots, halved lengthwise (or quartered if thick)

1/2 pound sweet potatoes cut into wedges

1 lemon, quartered

1/2 cup pitted dates, sliced

1 cup mixed olives

1/2 cup torn fresh herbs (cilantro, mint, parsley, or a combination)

1) Heat oven to 425

2) In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, the tomato paste and remaining spices. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and rub the paste over them, including under the skin. Arrange the chicken on a rimmed sheet pan.

3) In the same bowl, toss together the carrots, sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Arrange the vegetables on the pan with the chicken. Add the quartered lemon to the pan. Roast for 20 minutes.

4) Remove the sheet pan from the oven, then scatter the dates and olives in an even layer around the chicken among the vegetables. Drizzle with a little more olive oil then return to the oven and finish cooking, about 15 more minutes, to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

5) To serve, transfer to a platter, squeeze the roasted lemon over top and scatter with herbs.