A bench-eye view...
Rose Kennedy Greenway
Boston, MA
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Lowcountry Summer by Dorothea Benton Frank
From Publishers Weekly (via amazon)
Here's one for the Southern gals as well as Yankees who appreciate Frank's signature mix of sass, sex, and gargantuan personalities. In this long-time-coming sequel to Plantation, opinionated and family-centric Caroline Wimbly Levine has just turned 47, but she's less concerned with advancing middle age than she is with son Eric shacking up with an older single mom. She's also dealing with a drunk and disorderly sister-in-law, Frances Mae; four nieces from hell; grieving brother Trip; a pig-farmer boyfriend with a weak heart; and a serious crush on the local sheriff. Then there's Caroline's dead-but-not-forgotten mother, Miss Lavinia, whose presence both guides and troubles Caroline as she tries to keep her unruly family intact and out of jail. With a sizable cast of minor characters with major attitude, Frank lovingly mixes a brew of personalities who deliver nonstop clashes, mysteries, meltdowns, and commentaries; below the always funny theatrics, however, is a compelling saga of loss and acceptance.
Passages
On a hurricane meal
Orders were taken and eventually we sat down to what could be characterized as a hurricane meal, which would be one prepared with whatever could be found but with no electricity or water, having boiled the pasta in Evian on a charcoal grill or whatever we had on hand, although Trip would have been apoplectic if we had used bottled water to cook. The cost, you know.
On a new-to-me word (scrying)
"Don't make me go scrying in my bowl this morning, you 'eah me? What's going on 'round 'eah?" (Millie)
"Scrying?" Rusty said.
"The art of predicting the future by staring into water. Nostradamus did it all the time. Very handy for predicting the end of time and all that I [Caroline] said.
On mother's sending children off to wherever
...I turned around one day and saw that he had grown peach fuzz above his lip and on the sides of his face. On and on it went until he towered over me and melted my heart every time I heard his man voice say, "I love you, Mom."
"I just hate for you to leave, Eric." I couldn't help pouting.
"Yeah, me, too. But you know I'll be back as soon as I run out of clean socks."
"All over the world, mothers depend on that."
On another foodie description
For dinner today, Millie had baked a fruited ham and made red rice, deviled eggs, green-bean salad, a zillion biscuits, and brownies that were so rich and chocolaty they made you literally drool for another cold glass of milk.
Revisiting and catching up with the Wimbley family and the goings-on at Tall Pines definitely fell into the category of a good summer read. Most everyone was still doing what they do best, whether that be Millie's holding everything together or Frances Mae's wreaking havoc. Add to that the less than genteel or appreciative daughters of said Frances Mae, and you have the makings of a good family-in-turmoil story.
My only real problem with Lowcountry Summer? Where was Dr. Jack Taylor? When last we left Caroline Wimbley Levine in Plantation, she seemed to be in a committed relationship with Jack. Fast forward to Lowcountry Summer, page 3, and we are introduced to her current beau, "a wonderful guy named Bobby Mack" without so much as a fleeting reference to the fate of Jack.
Rating: 3.5/5 (Fiction scale)
Dedication: In loving memory of my sweet brother, Billy
First sentence: It is a generally accepted fact that at some point during your birthday, you will reassess your life.
Extras
Click here to visit the author's website.
For more information on the Ashepoo, Combahee and South Edisto (ACE) Basin--the setting for Lowcountry Summer and Plantation--click here.
Other Reviews & Information
Sharon's Garden of Book Reviews
Publisher's Page
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
Are you keeping track of this series? We're now at Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich...wherein we learn why Ranger keeps giving cars to Stephanie.
From Booklist (via amazon)
Stephanie Plum, half-Italian, half-Hungarian, a shrewd mixture of smarts and dumb luck, works for her cousin Vinny as a bail bondswoman in Trenton, New Jersey. Vinnie, however, is in deep fecal matter, owing too much money to the very scary guys who have kidnapped him. Stephanie, office manager Connie, and Lula, plus-sized and focused (if not on the job at hand), manage to spring Vinnie (more than once) and find a lot of money to pay what he owes. Along the way, they facilitate a cow stampede and an alligator escape; are assisted by a bunch of Hobbit con-goers; and find their office going up quite thoroughly in flames. Stephanie wrecks the usual car and ping-pongs between the hot and dangerous Ranger and the hot and domestic Morelli. In the first few pages, Evanovich both catches readers up on the hilarious and cockeyed history of the preceding 15 books and gives fans a little more of everything they want, including the return of beloved stoner Mooner. Funny, scary, silly, and sweet.
Passages
On Ranger
Ranger was my mentor when I first went to work for my cousin Vinnie. I suppose he's still my mentor, but now he's also my friend, my propector, from time to time he's been my employer, and on one spectacularly memorable occasion, he was my lover.
On home (Stephanie reflects on her parent's house)
The house hasn't changed much over the years. A new appliance when needed. New curtains. Mostly, it's overcrowded with comfortable nondescript furniture, cooking smells, and good memories.
On Lula's "one of" diet
Minutes after Ranger left, Lula hauled herself up into the Jeep. "The best I could do was blueberry," Lula said. "They didn't have no vegetable doughnuts. And I got a strawberry jelly-filled, and a pumpkin spice, and a banana scone. Wait a minute. Is pumpkin a vegetable? Does that count?"
"You must have eight hundred calories in that bag." (Stephanie)
"Yeah, but the diet says I can have one of anything."
"One doughnut! Not one of each kind." (Stephanie)
"You don't know that for sure," Lula said.
On the kind of Italian restaurant we all know (even if we don't live in the Burg)
Pino's serves Italian food Burg-style. Greasy pizza you have to fold to eat, meatball subs, sausage sandwiches, spaghetti with red sauce, worthless uninteresting salad with iceberg lettuce and pale tomatoes, Bud on tap, and red table wine. It has a dark, carved, mahogany bar and a side room with tables for families and couples who don't want to watch hockey on the television hanging over the liquor collection.
On relationships
...I was in a state because I had two men in my life, and I had no clue what to do with them. I loved them each in different ways, and I was too traditional and Catholic to just enjoy them. How sick is that? I wasn't a practicing Catholic, but I had guilt. And I was stuck with all these rules about relationships. And then there was my mother, who I suspect was mortally afraid I'd end up with Ranger. And my grandmother, who probably thought I was an idiot to to be sleeping with both of them. And my father, who didn't think there was a man alive who was worthy of me.
Team Joe vs. Team Ranger heats up. Lula's wardrobe gets more outrageous. Vinnie's in BIG trouble. Rex just keeps that wheel movin'. And then there's that lucky bottle inherited from Uncle Pip....
Rating: 3.5/5 (Mystery Scale)
Dedication: Thanks to Laura A. Koppe for suggesting the title for this book.
First Line: My Uncle Pip died and left me his lucky bottle.
Extras
Click here to link to author's website.
Other Reviews
I'd So Rather Be Reading (I do disagree with reviewer's saying this is appropriate for younger audiences!)
Bookreporter.com
Friday, July 16, 2010
Library Riches
Amazing thing, that inter-library loan. Just go on line, login to your library account, enter a book title, click once, and it's added to your reserve list. Then you sit and wait, and wait, and wait some more. And then the email alerts hit your Inbox. First just one. So you go to pick up that book, and there are two other books waiting for you. (Plus I just couldn't pass up the Judi Dench biography.) Then two more email alerts. Again, you go to the library to pick these up only to find that, yes, the books ready for pickup have multiplied in the time between logging off your computer and driving the 2.3 miles to the library.
Here's Wednesday's books
Here's Wednesday's books
Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson
Darling Judi by John Miller
A Little Bit Wicked by Kristen Chenoweth
Lowcountry Summer by Dorothea Benton Frank
And today...
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
Dead Head by Rosemary Harris
The Search by Nora Roberts
The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin
Hannah's List by Debbie Macomber
Fortunately, the forecast for the weekend is hazy, hot, and humid--perfect for planting myself in my favorite chair with an ice cold beverage at hand, putting the AC on medium high, and enjoying the riches given to me from the library.
July 31 Update: Finished Lowcountry Summer and The Search. Bookmarks still working their way through Darling Judi and A Little Bit Wicked (both were renewed). Did the 100-page test on Backseat Saints and couldn't really get into it. Weed That Strings... got almost halfway through; put on my list to check out again when it goes of the 14-day list; same for Dead Head. Wasn't in the mood for either The Mountain Between Us or Hannah's List, although The Mountain Between Us does deserve a second try. And when I went to return these yesterday, The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert and This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia (a local author) were waiting for me.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Bookticipation
This novel seeped into me slowly, but ultimately, I was as utterly absorbed in it as it was in me. Goodman skillfully mingles high-tech IPOs, motherless daughters, tree-sitting environmentalists, mystical Judaism, foodie sensuousness, and three distinct love stories--and all with none of the usual head-spinning associated with that list. I was rapt, and truly delighted.
--Becky Dayton, The Vermont Book Shop, Middlebury, VT
Release Date: July 6, 2010
July 13 Update: The Cookbook Collector is sitting on my reading table. I've fondled it, read some random pages, and my bookmark is now making its way through the pages.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Plantation by Dorothea Benton Frank
From Publishers Weekly (via amazon)
...this colorful contemporary romance effortlessly evokes the lush beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry while exploring the complexities of family relationships. When Caroline Wimbley Levine learns that her mother, Miss Lavinia, has supposedly gone mad, she leaves the big city bustle of Manhattan and returns to Tall Pines Plantation. Caroline originally left Tall Pines to escape her feisty, eccentric mother and her drunken brother, Trip, but when Miss Lavinia dies, Caroline is forced to come to terms with her family's troubled history as well her failing relationship with her husband. As Caroline reminisces about her past rebelliousness and her childhood, she realizes that her father's sudden and tragic death many years before served as a catalyst for the family's disintegration. Caroline and Trip also learn that their seemingly selfish and self-assured mother was not so uncaring after all. While most of the story is told from Caroline's point of view, journal entries written by Miss Lavinia open several of the chapters, providing the narrative with additional texture and warmth. Although the novel is short on plot, readers will enjoy immersing themselves in the lives of these deftly drawn, heartfelt characters.
Passages
On bookshelves
Turning out lights, I looked around at what Richard and I had built in the last thirteen years. We had six rooms of travel memorabilia from our wanderings. Our bookshelves were crammed with learned opinions on every area of psychology and psychiatrics in and out of print. Those were Richard's. They were his library and his weapons. My books were on textiles from around the world, Japanese gardens, obscure religions such as the cargo cultures of West Africa. Sometimes it seemed that he focused on the mind of man whereas I studied the spirit and what man held sacred. Our bookshelves were as good a starting place as any to see the differences between us.
On a doctor's office
His walls were covered with diplomas and citations and photographs of what appeared to be open-air-market people in Istanbul and Greece. He apparently liked to travel and to read. In addition to bookshelves of reference materials on various skin diseases, he had a small collection of leather-bound old books--classics--probably first editions. He treasured books. He couldn't be all bad.
On appreciation and simplicity
But when the red ball of the sun slipped under the Edisto River that evening, I was pretty sure that life didn't get much better than being in the place you loved most, surrounded by the people closest to your heart.
Plantation was a story of a family finding its true self again after years of misinterpretations and misunderstandings. I enjoyed seeing Caroline Wimbley Levine find her heart and home, although it seemed at times that she certainly was taking a lot of needless side trips along the way. I have put Lowcountry Summer on my library reserve list; however, I see from many reviews that this follow-up to Plantation is getting some of the same bad reviews as did Return to Sullivan's Island. Sometimes, unless it is clear that the author set out to write a series, characters may be best served by our remembering them as we last knew them in print or as we, the readers, chose to imagine what happened next.
Rating: 3.5/5 (Fiction Scale)
Dedication: For Peter
First Sentence (from Prologue): This story I have to tell you has to be true because even I couldn't make up this whopper.
Personal note: Lavinia Boswell Wimbley took a fancy to the poetry of Rod McKuen.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father's Day
John Murphy, the original "Owl"
(Rockport, MA ~ October, 1965)
In one of the stars I shall be living.
In one of them I shall be laughing.
And so it will be as if all of the stars
were laughling when you look at the sky at night.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Deadly Dance by M. C. Beaton
What can we say about Agatha? You may like her, you may dislike her--either way, she's a bit addictive as a character. You want to know more about her and her men. You want to zero in on those characteristics that make her so very unlikeable--the same characteristics that keep her loyal friends close to her despite constant rebuffs and slights.
In The Deadly Dance, there is this one sentence that portrays Agatha to a fine point: "Dripping with sweat and bad temper, Agatha erupted into the entrance hall." Erupted: Yes, that's Agatha!
This fall, The Agatha Raisin Companion will be published in the UK. Early blurbs promise a celebration of all things Agatha--recipes, biographies, the Cotswolds, and, of course, Agatha's men. I'm just wondering about those recipes...those of you know know Agatha know that if it can't be microwaved, she doesn't cook it--not to mention the disasterous results when she does try to cook. How many kitchens have fallen prey to her attempts to cook a turkey?
The Deadly Dance--a quick, easy read and an enjoyable hour spent in the Cotswolds.
Rating: 3/5 (Mystery Scale)
Dedication: For Richard Rasdall of Stow-on-the-Wold, his wife, Lyn, and children, Luke, Samuel and Bethany, and with many thanks to Richard for freeing up Agatha's brain.
First line: The thing that finally nudged Agatha Raisin into opening her own detective agency was what she always thought of as the Paris Incident.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Seaworthy by Linda Greenlaw
From Publishers Weekly (via amazon)
After a 10-year hiatus from blue-water fishing, Greenlaw went cautiously to sea, seeking a payday and perspective on her life. Thanks to The Perfect Storm phenomenon (both book and film), she was celebrated as America's only female swordfish boat captain. She was now also a mother and an author who relished a new challenge, traveling 1,000 miles from her Maine home with an eager crew of four guys—three of them experienced sailing buddies—looking for swordfish on the 63-foot, six-and-a-half–knot steel boat Seahawk on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. It was a 52-day trip—and a sensational misadventure. Nearly everything that could go wrong, did, including her arrest for illegally fishing in Canadian waters. Greenlaw chronicles it all—a busted engine, a malfunctioning ice machine, squirrelly technology—with an absorbing mix of nautical expertise and self-deprecation. After inspecting the Seahawk, Greenlaw calls it rough, but stable and capable. Then she writes, "Although I was referring to the boat, I couldn't help thinking the same could be said of her captain." From mishaps to fish tales, Greenlaw keeps her narrative suspenseful. Between bad luck and self-doubt, she moves from experience to wisdom, guiding both crew and readers on a voyage of self-affirmation.
Passages
On returning to the sea
The obvious risks inherent in commercial fishing--like those to life, limb, and livelihood--are concerns of mere mortals. Real fishermen risk other things that are less easily explained. In my present situation, the risks involved in returning to something I'd once felt so passionate about were many and not as tangible as fears for personal safety or pocketbook. I risked falling out of love with fishing itself. I'm good at catching fish. Is this why I like to do it? What if I were to suddenly realize that I did not enjoy the hunt? What if I were absolutely turned off by blood and guts? What if my heart didn't race with the tugging of a fish on the line? And, God forbid, what if I'd lost the ability to catch fish? My entire identity and self-definition were at stake. Disillusionment, should it occur, would hit hard. The half-full glass was not my style. Perhaps the same scenario could be seen as enlightenment. Either way I spun it, learning the truth was worth the risk, I concluded.
On making decisions
Maturity can't hold a candle to youthfulness. Unless, I considered, it's a mental/emotional thing. This endurance test would certainly go beyond physical. Mentally I needed to be stronger and wiser. Decisions were once based on gut reaction. I'd often made the right decision for the wrong reason. I'd done things purely from the strength of knowing that I could. Now maybe I would be more thoughtful with the realization of the possibility that perhaps I could not. I hoped that the past ten years had taught me something. I must be smarter now than I was when I'd last captained a swordboat. But what about quickness of mind? Would I react to emergencies fast enough? I had always prided myself on my mental reflexes in the face of danger or disaster. I had always been confident beyond reason. Maybe it was healthier to be wiser, more mature, and less confident.
On swordfish (vs. clams)
When I say "I love swordfish," I am not necessarily commenting on them as a meal, although I surely do enjoy them in that capacity. Swordfish are the most interesting creatures! They are fascinating and intriguing in their unique combination of fish and sword--like a unicorn, but real. The facts and figures surrounding swordfish perhaps explain what makes them so worthy of my life-time pursuit of them. The speed at which they travel, the distances they cover in their migration, and their strength all contribute to the quality most frequently attributed to them, elusiveness. I can't imagine a life spent digging clams or trapping slime eels--they're just so...ordinary. What's to know about a clam? You traipse around the clam flats looking for holes in the surface of the mud. One hole, one clam, as my Aunt Gracie used to say. You see a hole, you dig, and you find a clam. Big deal. A clam does not possess the ability to dodge the digger. Swordfish, in contrast, are mysterious and challenging and sexy. You never hear stories about the giant clam that got away. Clams have no personality. You've seen one clam, you've seen them all.
On a relationship with fish
This game is a dance of sorts, or a collaboration. We, the fish and I, both have our jobs to do. Any given day it's a toss-up which of us is doing our job better. Sometimes I feel like a gallant saltwater cowboy busting broncos. Other times I just wait for my horse to be shot out from under me. Damn fish. I laughed to myself. Our relationship is weirder than any I'd had with humans of the opposite sex. And I'd had some weird ones.
On a sunrise
Darkness waded in cautiously and headed west. Hesitating waist-deep, then plunging into the murky chill, the diving night splashed light onto the opposite horizon, which swam like spawning salmon up the riverlike sky. The sun hatched as if it were a baby chick, pecking from within the shell until fully risen, yellow and warm, and as unsure as I was. Quite a grand entrance....
Ahhh phrases
Ripe and one sliver shy of full, the cantaloupe moon shone a flashlight beam along our path as we steamed east through the Gulf of Maine.
Far from worrying, I didn't have a care in the world as the Seahawk glided effortlessly along, bobbing slightly as if nodding her head or tapping a foot to some unheard music.
My mood wasn't made any lighter by the bickering that rose from below. The crew sounded like young brothers in the backseat on a long car ride.
When he sang a ballad about the hardships of life at sea and harsh treatment by superiors, I felt as transparent as the gal in "Killing Me Softly."I am a fan of Linda Greenlaw's writing and have attended three of her book readings/signings. Each time as I sat in the audience, I marveled at the tenacity and strength of this seemingly slight woman standing in front of me. She fishes, hauls lobster traps, cooks, manages crews of salty fisherman (some loyal and hardworking; others, not so). And, she writes--from the most technical details on commercial fishing and seamanship, to the mysterious escapades of Jane Bunker, and finally to a turn of phrase about the moon or the ocean that causes you to stop reading and just be in the moment of that phrase.
Yes, if Linda Greenlaw writes it, I will read it.
Rating: 4/5 (Non-fiction Scale)
Dedication: This book is dedicated to the hardworking men of the Seahawk: Arthur Jost, Tim Palmer, Dave Hiltz, Mike Machado, and Nate Clark.
First line: The cell door closed with the mechanical, steely sound of permanence.
Books by Linda Greenlaw
THE HUNGRY OCEAN: A Swordboat Captain's Journey
ALL FISHERMEN ARE LIARS: True Adventures at Sea
THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES: Life on a Very Small Island
Jane Bunker Mystery Series
SLIPKNOT
FISHERMAN'S BEND
Co-written with her mother, Martha Greenlaw
RECIPES FROM A VERY SMALL ISLAND
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