The Art of Living according to Joe Beef
The Art of Living according to Joe Beef by Frederic Morin, David McMillan & Meredith Erickson - a cookbook of sorts - is a feast for the senses… it’s beautiful to look at, fascinating to read, and it’s full of delicious food. I don’t usually recommend cookbooks, but at this time of year if you’re looking for a Christmas gift for someone who loves food (they don’t even need to love to cook, - just eat), and who loves Montreal, you won’t score higher points with any gift. Trust me! The recipes are almost secondary here, it’s the joie de vivre feeling that comes across for Montreal that is uppermost in the writing, photography (yes! gorgeous photos) and even in the recipes. I’m not sure whether this book belongs on the coffeetable or in the kitchen, it’s that type of book. It’s part travel log, history lesson and biography as well as cookbook. And how could I not recommend a book, a cookbook no less, that has a chapter called Trains! Even the chapter on how the name Joe Beef came to be is an interesting read. The menu and wine list are written on blackboards, the dishes are mismatched, the clientel a hodgepodge of Montreal cultures, and the food deliciously prepared by chefs who, up to the writing of this cookbook, never had written recipes. And the menu changes daily so you can imagine how many recipes they have. The restaurant is located in Little Burgundy, in the southwest part of the city. It’s an area that has seen better times, but those in the know realized the potential of this neighbourhood and are now flocking to this area not only to eat, but to live there as well. Yes, everything old is new again. Reservations are definitely required , and I think you should reserve a copy of this fantastic ”cookbook of sorts”, for your favourite foodie this Christmas. It’s delicious!
On Monday Dec. 5th Shelagh Rogers interviewed David & Fred on her show The Next Chapter on CBC radio. You can listen to the interview if you checkout her show online. It’s a great interview – a bit quirky, just like the guys and the book.
Thanks to Leslie at my favourite local bookstore for recommending this book. She was bang-on – I really liked it. The Villa Triste by Lucretia Grindle (published by McArthur & Company) is divided into two parts, one takes place in the past ( during the war in Italy in 1943) and the other in present day Italy. It’s like reading two books in one. Usually I don’t like books that flip back and forth in time, but this one is so clever – the past is written in a different typeface than the present so you automatically know where you are in time when you see the print. Smart, and helpful. Which is what you need when you’re reading a book that is 562 pages long. During the war sisters Isabella and Caterina Cammaccio become part of the Partisan movement in Italy helping people escape the Nazis. They become very skilled at their efforts, Caterina is a nurse and is able to move about a little more freely than most people and Isabella uses her love of hiking and knowledge of the outdoors to the movement’s advantage. Fast forward to the present day and 3 members of the Partisan movement are killed, one by one, and Alessandro Pallioti, a senior police officer in Florence soon realizes that their deaths must have something to do with their involvement in the Partisan organization during the war. It’s the only thing the 3 have in common. He sets out to find as much as he can about the past and how it could be connected to the present. At one point in the book, about 2/3 along I though it began to drag a bit (remember it’s 562 pages), but by then I was so intrigued and hooked on knowing what was going to happen, I kept going. And I’m glad I did because the story picked up, and definitely didn’t disappoint in the end. My only criticism was that many people had aliases during the war, and I got a bit confused with who was really who, especially with all the Italian names, but that didn’t matter. This is really a wonderful book. I’d never heard of Lucretia Grindle before, but I’m desparate to read her other book called The Faces of Angels - it was chosen by BBC’s Front Row as one of the six best thrillers of the year.
The Boy in the Moon by Ian Brown (published by Random House) is a truely touching book. It isn’t new, it was published in 2009, but I decided to read it when I noticed a recommendation for it on the Canada Reads website. This is the story of Walker Henry Schneller Brown. He’s Ian’s handicapped son. Ian, as you know, is a wonderful writer and journalist and his ability to create the picture of life with a handicapped child is exceptionally well drawn. You can feel his tiredness and his frustration, but also his compassion and love. You know the expression “it takes a village to raise a child” well, when you have a handicapped child it’s more like an entire city. Plans need to be in place, schedules have to be adhered to, and there needs to be a constant supply of caregivers to keep things flowing as they need to be. In addition to which, there’s always the constant overwhelming tiredness. I don’t know where Walker’s family got the energy to carry on as they did. But they made it work. And finally when Walker was too old, and too big to deal with on their own, they made the heartwrenching decision to put him in a group home with other handicapped children. There, much to their surprise, he adapted really well and even fluorished. This is an amazing book. It highlights the negatives (dealing with the social services, the doctors, the school, and the unbelievable expenses) and the positives (being able to communicate in their own special way with Walker, and realizing how much he loved to be outdoors). Everyone should read this, especially those who know someone with a handicapped child. You’ll come away with a better understanding of the hardship and sacrifices the families make, as well as the immense joy that these children bring to their families.
Take note… Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (published by Vintage) is one of the best books I’ve read all year, and I’ve read some amazing books. It’s the story of Shiva and Marion Stone, twins whose parents are an Indian nun, Sister Mary Joseph Praise, and British surgeon Thomas Stone. Their mother dies in childbirth and their father flees the country leaving Shiva and Marion to be adopted by Hema, the gynecologist who delivered them, and Ghosh, a surgeon in residence at Missing Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (It’s really Mission Hospital, but how it ends up being called Missing Hospital is a story all on it’s own.) The book spans decades (46 years and 4 months), and takes the reader from Addis Ababa to New York and back again. Quite naturally I guess, the twins have a shared fascination with medicine and this is one of the themes of the book. It’s also about love and hate, belonging and longing, history and revolution. It is a grand book, and Verghese has pulled it off magnificantly. There are so many interesting characters and sub-stories to this book that I can’t even begin to write about them. His description of how the meskel flowers turn the hillsides into gold on page 1, and how “It was Matron’s intent that Missing resemble an arboretum, or a corner of Kensington Gardens, or Eden before the Fall.” set the stage for the reader’s imagination to fall victim to the well crafted, very intriguing, really well written 667 pages to follow. Verghese is himself a doctor so the medical facts are intricate and really fascinating, and I can only imagine the research and amount of info on Ethiopia he had to sift through to cull everything into this really, really well written story that will stay with you long after you’ve read it. Now, the hard part is finding something to read after this. ***** for this book!
I love it when I discover a gem of a book all on my own that I’ve never heard of before. It confirms that my book radar is still working. I picked up a copy of Sisters of the Sari by Brenda L. Baker (published by Penguin) to take on holiday, and once I started I couldn’t put it down. Kiria Langdon, the CEO of a major company, arrives in Chennai, India on holiday and discovers that her luggage somehow made its way to Beijing. Her reaction… “Well, this sucks”. Right off the bat I knew this was going to be a good book. When you’re left with no clothes, other than the totally inappropriate ones you’re wearing, the first thing you want to do is go shopping. Circumstances go wrong from the get-go, Kiria is robbed, and left standing on the street, with no way to get back to her hotel. She’s rescued by Santoshi… a short woman in a frayed green sari with a skeletal body and no teeth who looks about 60. She takes control of the situation, escorts Kiria back to her hotel on the bus (which she pays for) and then takes her leave. Kiria is determined to pay this woman back. And that’s how the story starts, all in the first few pages. When Kiria sees that Santoshi lives in a shelter for women, she becomes obsessed with the idea of building decent housing for the poor, working women in India. Reluctantly Santoshi agrees to help Kiria, and the New Beginnings Women’s Hostel slowly emerges. There’s a host of other interesting characters, situations, and descriptions that all make this a really wonderful read. Lots of humour too. As you can imagine, nothing goes according to plan. Each woman ends up on a personal journey of discovery, Kiria through Indian culture, and Santoshi when she realizes there’s a world outside the shelter. In “real life” Brenda worked in the computer field, then moved to India, where she volunteered by writing funding proposals and teaching English to women in shelters, and now she’s back living in Ontario. She’s walked the walk, and now she’s talking the talk. Her book is a definite must. Read it before the summer is over – you won’t be disappointed.
The End of The Wasp Season (published by McArthur & Company) is the first book I’ve read by Denise Mina but it won’t be my last. I’ve been meaning to try one of her books for ages, and when I saw the title I thought the timing was perfect. It’s a great mystery, set in Scotland, with DS Alex Morrow, who is heavily pregnant with twins, leading the investigation into the murder of Sarah Erroll. Sarah, recently returned from New York, and is found bludgeoned to death at the bottom of a staircase in her mother’s home. With her mother having recently died of alzheimers, it means a host of ”carers” (a word I hadn’t heard before) have been trouping in and out of the house for ages, providing ample suspects for Alex & her gang of officers to investigate. Add to this the suicide of millionaire banker Lars Anderson, which may or may not be linked to Sarah’s death, and you’ve got a multi-level mystery, full of intrigue, that never lets you down. Her characters are well written, and the internal troubles at police headquarters certainly add background to the tension already in the air. Ditto Alex’s personal life. My only complaint is that her description of the victim was a bit too graphic, but I just ploughed through and kept going. It’s a really good book, right to the very last page. And of course, with a title like this, it’s the perfect summer read. Check it out.
Finally!! I’ve got something new to recommend. I’ve been going through a very dry spell this past month or so. Nothing I’ve read was worth mentioning, and some of the books I never even finished. But Tampered by Ross Pennie (published by ECW Press) is just what the doctor ordered (that’s an “in joke” people – Pennie is a doctor). I loved his first book, Tainted, so when I discovered he had a new one I rushed right out and got it… but I didn’t want to read it right away – yes, I’m weird like this. I just wanted it there – waiting, something to really look forward to during the short, hot summer. Then… It got hot, and I just couldn’t wait any longer. So… The characters and the setting are the same as in his first book - Dr. Zol Szabo, Hamish Wakefield, Caledonia Medical Centre, and even the city of Hamilton (which I love - for personal reasons), they’re all back. This time there’s trouble brewing at Camelot Lodge, a facility for seniors where the octogenarians are falling like bowling pins from a bout of what looks like listeria. Combine that with some C Difficile and Dr. Zol and Hamish are up to their eyeballs in trouble, trying to discover where the nasties are coming from. Add to this cocktail questionable medication that some senior’s are taking and you’ve got a giant problem that needs to be solved pronto before anyone else dies. This book is so current – C Diff is in the news right now in Southern Ontario, and last year there was this epidemic of listeria that made everyone shun deli meats for months. Don’t be put off by the fact that this is a medical mystery, it’s not a blood & guts book (way less so than a Kathy Reichs’ books), just really great writing with a medical theme. It’s a fantastic read, full of info that certainly made me wonder about the medical system, and now I’m sorry I’m finished. Check it out – Pennie is one author who deserves way more attention than he gets.