Jamie's America Easy Twists on Great American Classics and More

I was beyond excited when I heard I was getting a copy of Jamie Oliver's cookbook.
It's been sitting sort of in my living room since the middle of January.  I say sort of because like the last cookbook I was to review, this one got snatched up by my mother.  I had to wrestle it back (Jay Lethal would have been impressed)


It's laid out like a scrapbook, filled with photos of the trip and personal stories on how he came across each and every recipe.
What a true cookbook should be like.

I was disappointed by the lack of vegetarian offerings in this. Don't get me wrong, there are a number of them, but sadly, like many of the recipes, they're ingredients lists contain things that are difficult to find at times where I live.
I'm still trying to figure out what to replace the alligator meat with for even a basic switch off, let alone turning something into a vegetarian version.

The book is extremely region specific, and really only appeals as a "theme" to anyone not in the U.S. or here in Canada.  But even that said, there are items in these recipes that can not be found in Canada.

I did find the paring of wines with each recipe to be a bonus.

This is one cookbook I will be coming back to and trying to figure out a few ways around some of the more interesting recipes, but over all, I was just not impressed.

100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know -Edited by Glamour Magazine

First let me say - yes! a cookbook!
Then let me say, I wasn't sure I was going to get to review this, simply because I took the book to my mother's and between her and my sister it sort of went missing for a week.

The main editor on this is Cindi Leive the Editor-in-chief of Glamour.

This is a beautifully complied collection of tried and true recipes that the magazine has run more then once over the last decade.  The most popular being the famed "Engagement Chicken"   which trust me, were I not a vegetarian I would be making every night of the week.

The book itself, has a very witty perspective, that is easy to read with tips and highlights that even the most un-cooking cook can follow.

I was delighted to see both the Meatless Mains chapter and the Sides chapter.

I have already made my own version of their "Meatless Monday Portobello Burgers". Which according to it's personal introduction, was inspired by a recipe from the McCartney's who had a campaign to go meat free at lest once a week.
Each recipe comes with it's own little personal introduction as to how the editors came to have the recipe to begin with.
The listing of people whom have written into the magazine about becoming engaged after making the chicken dish was an added bonus. As well as their address to send your personal stories.
There is even a complete menu at the back of the book, suggesting which dishes work well together and done in themes.

My copy is in fact the editor's advance copy (my cover is different)  Each recipe has a rating of 1, or 2, or 3 shoes next to it, letting you know just how difficult or time consuming it is to make.  The recipe for the Portobello Burgers had a 2 black and 1 white shoe.  (all the drink recipes have 1 black and 2 white)

 A user friendly book that you can find most of the ingredients without much time at your grocery... unless you count standing in line at the grocery.
There are a few items in here that if you are on a budget (any form of social assistance) you might have to make substitutions for, but all in all, an excellent cookbook to have on hand.

A needful kitchen basic much like a frypan and whisk.

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

Plot: Carrie is an author researching her latest novel set in the early 1700's.  Her journey started in France and quickly takes her to Scotland, to visit her editor.  Pulled by the beauty of the landscape, she decides to base part of her novel in the area.  Soon Carrie is hearing a soft female voice on the wind, which leads her to create an new lead character.  While researching the ruins of a castle, Carrie discovers the characters are very much rooted in reality and starts to wonder if she might be loosing her mind.  The locals are a friendly group who not only help her with every inch of her research, but two brothers have both decided to make a play for her.  While one is someone she trusts and thinks fondly as a friend, the other has captured her imagination in more ways then one.  Soon, Carrie is torn between her reality, her novel and her own past as everything comes crashing together on the waves just outside her cliffside cottage.


The Winter Sea is a story within a story which author Susanna Kearsley manages to weave with perfection. Like a spider dangling in the delicate center of a web, drawing you into both the modern and the historical sides of it.  The romance that blossoms between modern Carrie and Graham, roots you firmly in the here and now, suggesting a comfort that only comes around once in a lifetime. Meanwhile, the historical romance between Sophia and Moray plays out with an innocence that lives up to any fairy tale.

The author herself -Kearsley- manages to bring together the idea of time travel and past life regression into a buyable plot line, with the help of science, metaphysics, and a healthy dose of romanticism. Giving  the novel a chance to cross from one genre (science fiction) to the other (historical romance) seamlessly.

You find yourself breathless at times with the way she describes the setting of the castle at Slains, to the point you can almost hear the waves themselves crashing against the edges of the cliff.  In fact, the wind and clouds that hover endlessly through most of the modern setting are a character unto themselves, delivering a voice and dream like quality to the writing muse that "Carrie" must follow.

Divided into chapters within chapters, you soon forget you're reading a whole novel and begin to think of it as the author's -Kearsley- diary and manuscript. As it brilliantly combines the two worlds.

From the moment I picked up this novel I was intoxicated by the idea of finding not just a muse but true love by pure accident. The introduction of both Graham (the modern setting) and Moray (the historical setting)  in their respective sections are subtle hints at how love can sneak up on you when you're not looking for it and grab you fully.  And how a hero can appear out of the shadows.
The other subtle traces of the historical characters turning up in the modern setting (Kirsty the maid in the historical section having a modern twin in the form of the librarian,  the Countess having a modern twin in the editor) helps to bind your believing that the lead "Carrie" is meeting her soul family for a purpose, following a trail of breadcrumbs down a delicious rabbit hole.
Instead of giving off an unsettling feel that some past life stories have done in other novels/movies, you are gifted with a sense of rightness.  When you are reading the parts about the return of King James to his crown you never feel like you are being mislead or talked down to; but instead like you are truly reading research notes.
Sophia's feelings of loss and desire come through as clear and honest as if you were reading actual letters  from her place in history.
Making Graham a history professor helped to fill in areas that would have otherwise seemed too unrealistic for the modern scenes.

The balance that the author -Kearsley- gives her leads in both time frames, is an extremely potent one. Having her females Carrie/Sophia and the Countess/Jane being strong independent women and the men Graham/Moray being emotionally available is something too many writers try but do not always nail. Kearsley gets it and manages to keep the flow even through out the two parallel worlds.
Another nice touch I found, was the addition of having "Carrie"while in Scotland, keeping in constant touch with her father in Canada. As the male elements were running strong in the modern setting and the female elements running strong in the historical one another balance was found without being too obvious.

A book not to be missed, The Winter Sea will have you believing in love at first sight as well as wanting you to move to Scotland for the spring.

The Forever Queen by Helen Holick- review

Plot:  Emma, at age 13,  has been promised by her brother, to the current King of England. AEthelred, a coward king. A middled aged man with children older then herself. On sight, Emma is filled with disappointment and feelings of betrayal which soon turn to shear loneliness. Abused and humiliated at the hands of her husband, Emma still fulfills her duty as a Queen, baring children before she's out of childhood herself. The death of the King brings with it relief and fear mixing itself to one solution if she wishes to keep the crown for herself and the lives of her children safe, marry the man who defeated her husband.  Her second marriage to Cnut, is lighter, happier and filled with love and even more children. 


Cnut too brings with him grief from the death of his second wife and their only daughter, who soon is taken by accident leaving him in despair. Emma is Cnut's third wife, his first having been a forced arrangement to AElgifu, a woman who would plague Emma her entire life. 


Both Emma and AElgifu claim the legal rights of their sons for the crown of England. But it is Emma who has earned the love and respect of the people, who has herself stood with the armies over the years to protect and defend the land; with her first husband, then with her step-sons, then her second husband and finally with their own son.  


In her long life, Queen Emma outlasted three generations of men to stand tall and serve England.

This historical fiction covers 50 years in the life of Emma, and contained in a volume of 616 pages. The cast of characters it welds spans from Normandy to England to Sweden to Rome and back again, filling up your imagination as it pulls you to it, engulfing you.

The author's notes give up the fact that the real history of Emma is but a footnote, even though she was one of the first- if not indeed the first- to have her life penned in a biography.  Which is still unproven to be a loyal truth or a biography of semi-fictions.

For me, this novel was both breathtaking and difficult.  Even with the maps, timelines and pronunciation guide, because so many of the book's characters had similar names I found it difficult to keep everyone straight.
As working with historical fiction is never an entirely easy task, Forever Queen  manages to keep it's pace steady and forgiving for it's readers.

Emma is a woman's woman. She's been delivered into a life that is little more then slavery for the first half of her years. Having been  abused, mocked, raped, mentally tortured (seeing her pet dog killed at the hands of her first husband) and even silenced, she some how managed to rise above it all and find her own strength as well as a voice. One that would trickle down though the centuries to find itself in a present day novel.  You can't help but wonder what heights she would have risen to had she been alive today.
What I found most interesting about her character, was her lack of motherly instincts for half of her children. The connection she has or more properly the lack of connection she has with her sons from her first marriage, really start to show a great amount of residue from the years of abuse.
Speaking as a woman who has chosen not to have children myself, I found the intricate emotional tug of war between her devotion and duty to her country and to her own self to be brutally honest, to the point of  asking myself would I have been able to go through what she did just to be Queen?   The fact Emma sees no alternative but to be the physical embodiment of the title of queen is at times both desirable and horrific. 


I also found myself cheering for some of the unlikely players in this novel, namely Cnut and Edmund.

Cnut, I thought was a more suited match for Emma as well as a more interesting man. He is played as a very human hero, when kings were seen as being gods.  The twists his character goes through would give any modern movie hero a run for his money.
We meet his character as a angry teenager who not only represents the "generation me" aspect of things, but you know from the first meeting between Cnut and Emma that sparks will end up flying. It graciously foreshadows his arch throughout the rest of the novel.
When his character dips into despair, folding back and forth on his own trustworthiness; you find yourself forgiving him. There seems to be a sampling of innocence through his adulthood with his three marriages, such as when he can't turn his back on his first wife even when he knows she's going to be his destruction.

Edmund is the perfect hero. From start to finish he embodies everything you would expect the hero to be.  He learns at the feet of not his father but Emma and her personal knight. His devotion to his family is something to be held as he puts all aside for the good of England.
Edmund is written with a sly smile, as if the author knew in the back of her mind he would be the one to catch your eye and hold it.

Forever Queen  could easily be a complete work of modern fiction just by replacing the Queendom of England for a President of a Multi-million dollar company, the court for a boardroom, and the wars for ad campaign. Power, trust, jealousy and betrayal stays the same no matter what century it's brought out in.

It will be interesting to see how she weaves the remaining story of Edmund's legacy in the next installment.

Save the Assistants by Lilit Marcus

Lilit Marcus, co-creator of the website Save the Assistants, has turned her own career ups and downs into a complete editorial on living with a job you hate.  A simply must have book for anyone fresh out of college or thinking of doing an internship at an office building.

The book is peppered with humour and pop culture references that help to drive the book home.  (Warning: If you are like me and have never seen the movie Office Space or television show The Office you will be as lost on the references as I was )
With everything you would need to identify the different  boss-stress types,  to how to take a personal day, to how to hunt for a better job; Save the Assistants is a handbook for the modern worker.

One of the best tips I feel the book's author gives is a simple one "Get Your Job Description Clarified" 
How often have many of us gotten to day one of a job only to get bowled over by it not being what we thought? Or worse, being there for awhile only to have it change on us in a bad -not a promotion- way? as talked about on page 16 under the Buzzword heading of Combo Job.

The addition of  personal stories from the STA blog readers,  was a great way to make the points on a personal and universal level, while the pop quizes I found reminded me too much of something you'd find in a fashion magazine,  the splattering of buzz words were entertaining as well as useful, (and proved how out of the loop I am) as were the movie/music lists where were added for an extra lightness.

The lists of bad celebrities vs good celebrities who are famous or infamous as the case may be, for their treatment of their assistants was both endearing and point on.  This really gives you a sense of how good your job can be even if you are just the average person at an average job.

I have to admit something here,  this book threw me for a bit.  I wasn't expecting a strict how to book; and I've been puttering around for a full week on just how to tackle a review for it, which included me listing off every job I have had in the last twenty years on my personal blog.  As when I first was offered a chance to review it, I'd never heard of Lilit Marcus or the website and was expecting more of a satire.

The book proved to be more then good, it's essential.

But in this case, do not take it from me, hit up your book store and get one.  Actually get two, one for your house and one for your office library, trust me your co-workers will thank you for it.

Fearless Female Journalists by Joy Crysdale

This is part of a series by Second Story Press  called "The Women's Hall of Fame Series"

It's a thin volume of 118 pages.  But do not let that fool you.
This entry to the series packs a punch.  It gives a brief overview of the hardships that many of the women who dared to become a voice of their generation had to battle.

From Mary Ann Shadd Cary who wrote about ending slavery, to Margaret Bourke-White who was one of the first photo-journalists, to sports journalist Pam Oliver to many others, this book is a brief history of women in the media for the last 200 years.

I received this book about two and a half months ago, and have been carrying it around with me ever since, trying to get to it but having deadlines on other books, and it kept getting put back into my pile.  Or more rightly, my purse, as I did carry it around with me while I did my other reviews.  I finally had a chance this morning to get to it, and was more then glad I did.

Thought provoking, touching, enlightening and over all powerful.  It made me remember why I had started my own career in Broadcasting so many years ago.  The only difference is I did not have the guts to stick it out, unlike the courageous women who broke down the barriers and crashed open the doors for the rest of us.

Joy Crysdale has managed to turn a collection of biography profiles and essays into a collection of strength and dignity.

Interview with Liane Shaw

Liane Shaw author of thinandbeautiful.com  over at Second Story Press was kind enough to do a short interview with me last week.  You can read my review of the novel here 




Me: I know the author's notes lists you as having survived your own battle with an eating disorder, what made you decide to use this as a story plot?


 Liane Shaw :My reasons are threefold.  First of all, as a teacher of mostly adolescent aged students, I was very worried about the extreme emphasis on body size I was seeing in both girls and boys.  I was particularly concerned when I had a student in my class who was quite thin and the other students were teasing her by calling her "anorexic".  It seemed to me that using that term as an insult indicated a real lack of understanding of the seriousness of the issue.  Secondly, as the mother of two young women, who were teens at the time I started this project, I was worried about the influence of media and societal expectations.  My youngest was trying to fit into size 0 pants...what does that mean anyway!...and I started researching current thoughts on eating issues.  That's when I tripped, literally because I'm not too techno savvy, over the Pro ana movement.  Which brings me to reason 3...I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to me when I was young if I had had the kind of "support" that the sites can accidentally provide....the kind that encourages rather than discourages eating issues.  When I had an ED, few people even knew what is was, and certainly no one encouraged me to keep losing weight.  Putting the three reasons together, I wanted to do something to share what I felt about ED, the internet and body image...to find a way to "teach" about it while reaching as many young people as I could.


Me:  You chose to do this in diary form, was there a reason for that?

LS : Yes.  I realized that everyone's actual experience of having an ED would vary, and that young girls today are dealing with a very different world than I was as a teen.  But I thought that the feelings would probably be much the same and that's what I wanted to convey.  I thought a diary was the best way to really delve into feelings.   I worried that it was a bit trite, but overall I think it worked.

Me:  Your use of the internet, it was as if it were a character all it's own. Was that on purpose or just simply a way to make the story more hinged in modern culture?

LS :What a great question!  To be absolutely honest, at the very beginning I wanted to find a hook that would, as you so aptly put it, hinge the story in modern culture.  However, the deeper I went into the pro ana, thinspiration etc sites the more I wanted to really shine a light on the internet as a potential factor in the perpetuation of ED for some people.   It was obvious to me that these young people were not intending to hurt anyone, least of all themselves, but unfortunately the potential for harm seemed overwhelmingly clear.
In retrospect, I think I could have made the internet an even stronger "character".

Me: My attention was grabbed by Wolf. The male character you gave the illness to. What was it that made you choose to add a man to the rehab center ? Have you met many men who have had this illness over the years, as I know it's wide spread but rarely talked about (the fact boys suffer from eating disorders too)

 LS: Another great question.  I have had equal parts praise and criticism for adding Wolf to the "cast".   I have dealt very directly and personally with young men struggling desperately with their body images.   More attention is gradually being given to the presence of ED in males, but it is still not enough in my opinion.

Me:  You left the end of the story slightly open, was that because you wanted to give the impression that she would be dealing with this for the rest of her life, or just hoping for a sequel?

LS:  Actually neither.  I wanted to leave the impression that the most important step is the first one, recognizing the issue and being willing to look at getting help.  I believe that's the part of the story that is the same for everyone but I think the next chapter would be radically different for each person dealing with this issue.  I do think some people deal with ED for most of their lives but I don't know if this is true for everyone.   I had an agent a long time ago who wanted an earlier version of the novel to be tied up with a neat bow of healing at the end.  I felt this was unrealistic and disrespectful to anyone actually dealing with an ED so I refused to change it.  That was the end of that relationship /and/ the novel until I re-wrote it a couple of years ago with the ending I thought most appropriate and found a publisher who understood what I was trying to say.

 Me:  As a teacher, do you see that the illness is developing in younger and younger students or is it something that is only apparent with middle to older teens?

LS:  I don't have any data on this question and my personal experience hasn't really given me a clear perspective.  I worked with grades 6 and up for the most part, and really felt that my 11 and 12 year olds were far too worried about their weight at an age where adolescence had barely had time to kick in.  In terms of the illness itself, I have certainly read articles that support concerns about development in younger children.

 Me:  When doing your research for the websites that you modeled thinandbeautiful.com  on, did you find there were more that lean towards caution or more towards the risks (pro sites) of the illness?

 LS: The most concerning aspect for me was trying to tell the difference.  Most of the sites I researched seemed to offer positive advice and medical information...on the surface.  However, with many of them, a little clicking on headings led me directly to chat rooms and other types of advice...how to lose more, and purge more easily for example...and to pages with ultra thin images that seemed to be there for young people to aspire to.   Beyond the concerns over how many sites I found, was the ease with which I found them.  There are many really positive sites out there as well.  I have tried to include lots of them on my blog and as I find more, I will continue to add them.


Me:  There were moments when you almost seemed as if you were going to move away from Maddie your lead, and follow her family member's story more closely, was there a purpose to your not going that route?

 LS:  I do think that family is a huge part of the process but I was really attempting to focus on Maddie and her personal journey.  Maddie was very absorbed in her own struggles and her own emphasis was on herself.   I was trying to find the balance between the reality of how wrapped up in yourself and your body you become when dealing with ED, and trying to find ways to demonstrate the impact on those around you as well.


Me:  Getting back to the internet side of it, you managed to address another subculture with the fact you had your lead feeling closer to her internet friends then her real life friends. I know myself, my relationships with my internet friends are as close if not closer then my offline ones, was that done to show Maddie's feelings of loneliness or just a natural by product of modern society?

LS:  A little of each.  My youngest daughter is very much a part of the modern, electronic social communication age and I am fascinated watching her deal with people online as if they are right in front of her.  Arguments and making up via text and facebook...so far from my personal experiences but so interesting to watch with a new generation.  I wanted the novel to be something young people could relate to and this is so much a part of their lives I felt it had to be there...besides my daughter told me I /had/ to have it in there or the novel would suck (her word not mine!).
In terms of Maddie's loneliness, absolutely.   Her feelings of being misunderstood by those in her "real" life are what led her to find new friends online.  I really believe that I would have done the same thing if I had the chance when I was young.  I also believe that the lack of "understanding" I had...literally no one understood what was going on with me...might have helped me on my way to recovery in a strange way.  No one told me what I was doing was "normal" or "OK" so at some point, I started to wonder myself.  If I had others like me, even online, I might have kept on going further down the path than I did.


Me: This is a brave topic to begin with, did you have any outside pressure to not tackle the topic?

  LS: Not in my personal life.  Family and colleagues were totally supportive.  However, there were critics and bloggers who questioned the book before it was even formally released, wondering if it was going to be harmful to young people....which upset me of course as that would be the exact opposite of my dream when writing it in the first place!  My dream was to help people better understand what someone with an ED is going through and to perhaps encourage even one person to seek help.  I do have to admit, it's a tough topic to start a writing career with.  Some of the negative responses (thankfully few in number!) to the novel seem to come as much from passionate opinions about the topic itself as about my ability to write about it.

Read, Remember, Recommend by Rachelle Rogers Knight

I was sent this by Sourcebooks the other week.

It is a complete guide to award winning books up to this point, with a break down of award by country and genre.

A lovely jumping off point for building your own library, or for sharing titles you might not have thought of before.

This however, is not all that Read, Remember, Recommend has in store, it in fact is a very thought out book club diary. With sections for your ever expanding "To Read" list, your groups "Read" list with discussion pages, the "Recommend" list, a section for keeping track of books you have lent out or borrowed and the final chapter/section is an overview of internet based sites for online book clubs and internet awards.

This is a well researched diary for anyone just starting out with a book club or who might be wanting to look into what sort of writing awards they might be eligible for.

Rachelle Rogers Knight has put hours of dedicated work into her latest offering, and it's companion diary for teens. The diary is available this week and you can visit her at her website http://www.bibliobabe.com/

The Book of Spells by Michael Johnstone

This book of shadows is designed to look like a cookbook.

But don't let that fool you.

At 384 pages, this is book covers almost every type of ritual you would be looking for in an easy to understand layout. The introduction covers the basics for anyone not familiar with spellcrafting, including a brief overview of the Wiccan holidays.

The Book of Spells, is one you should have in your collection if you are a practicing Pagan.

Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs

I read this book back when it first came out two years ago, and had thought I reviewed it.

This is a year and a half long journey that the author found himself on where he followed the laws as they are listed in the bible.

It made for some interesting trials. At first, I wasn't sure I could get into a book about religion, but found myself glued to it. AJ Jacobs uses humour and personal errors as the jumping off point for his quest.

Could modern man be able to live up to the "moral code" laid out in both the Old Testament and New Testament?

Maybe.

Can enlightenment and spiritual purpose be found in someone who has never really seen themselves as being spiritual or religious?

Yes.

This is a book that anyone having questions about their personal spiritual beliefs should pick up.

The Pagan/Witch Challenge

Pagan Girl is hosting her first challenge.

You can find out about it on her blog here

You can read about my challenge choices here

It runs from Yule (Dec 21st 2009) until just before Hallowe'en (Oct 21st 2010)

Vampires the Occult Truth by Konstantinos

This book was first released in the mid 1990's, but has since been re-printed, so don't let the cover art fool you into thinking this is fluff because it is not.
A non-fictional look at the world of vampires, this volume combines historical case studies with modern studies on energy use and manipulation.
A great guide through some theories linked to astral projection and how much of a threat that can be for some people.
The last half of the book focuses mostly on the psi vamp and with good reason.
Anyone interested in psi vampirism, mythology, psychology, astral projection should enjoy this volume, but if you are looking for something in the "gothic subculture" then look somewhere else.

Originally posted on my blog Alucard's Rose on June 15 2008