Archive for September, 2009

Cookbook review: California-American Cookbook

Saturday, September 19th, 2009

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No recipe I’ve ever tried from this cookbook has ever gone wrong.

I’m not the neatest cook, so my results don’t always look beautiful, but everything I’ve made according to these recipes has tasted wonderful.

Take, for example, this Blackberry Sour Cream Pie:

Even the crust came out well, and I am not any good at pie crust. This crust rolled out without ripping. It was flaky on the sides and the bottom absorbed lots of delicious blackberry juices. Amazing.

The blackberries were volunteers, found on the side of a road. They were on the tart side, so I marinated them in a bunch of sugar before I went on and followed the recipe. Oh, and, nowhere near the requisite 3 – 4 cups of blackberries had volunteered. So I threw in some cherries and plums who volunteered earlier this summer and had been frozen. But just a few.

Anyway, the pie did not last long.

Other really excellent recipes in the cookbook that I’ve cooked include:

  • Lemon-Caraway Green Beans
  • Basil Pasta With Two Salmons
  • Mixed Mushrooms With Vermont Cheddar
  • Guacamole Soup

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Book review: The Kite Runner

Friday, September 18th, 2009

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Author:Khaled Hosseini
Reading Level (Conceptual):Sophisticated readers
Reading Level (Vocabulary):Sophisticated readers
Genre:fiction
Year of publication:2008

An amazing book, but sooooo sad... I wish Hosseini could have given it a slightly happier ending. I think it is cool that we were able to see an up close and personal view of Afghanistan, even if it was not really a joyful thing to see. It shows how ignorant, I at least, am about the rest of the world.

I like how we get to see Amir's understanding of his life change as he grows up and figures out his needs and how to solve them (his need for forgiveness, of freedom of choice, and ideas, revenge...)

--Fizzy, age 14


If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Kite Runner, The

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Posted in Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, History, Reading level: Sophisticated reader | Comments Closed

Book review: The Mercy Rule

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

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Author:Perri Klass
Reading Level (Conceptual):For grown-ups
Reading Level (Vocabulary):For grown-ups
Genre:Fiction, parenting
Year of publication:2009

The Mercy Rule is a rule instituted in some amateur sports leagues that requires that if one team is so far ahead in points as to be uncatchable by the opposing team, the game is ended earlier than it otherwise might.

In this extremely gentle, wise, moving story, Lucy, a physician who is also a mother and a graduate of the foster care system, unconsciously applies this rule to her family and work life.

Just about every character in the story, no matter how poorly they behave, has a sweetness and realness. For example, Lucy's pre-teenage daughter is mostly embarrassed by her mother and especially by her probably autistic-spectrum brother. And yet, she Does the Right Thing by them when crunches come. It's also the Right Thing in that it's probably not the thing that the mom would think of having Isabel do.

Anyway, if you are having one of those existential weeks, one of those where you know that you are actually a very lucky person, but you are feeling ungrateful and unhappy nevertheless, reading this book might cheer you up a bit. It did that for me.

-- Emily

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Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Grown up, School | Comments Closed

Book review: Eat, Drink, and Be From Mississippi

Monday, September 14th, 2009

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Author:Nanci Kincaid
Reading Level (Conceptual):For grown-ups
Reading Level (Vocabulary):For grown-ups
Genre:Fiction
Year of publication:2009

Sweet story having to do with making lots of money, holding friends, family, and even former spouses close, and continuing to be able to trust both strangers and those you love while spending freely.

Perhaps coming from a small town in Mississippi helps with that?

The story mostly takes place in the Bay Area of San Francisco, there's lots of Bay Area geography to parse.

Not at all deep, but I found it relaxing to read.

After all, how often do you read a story in which, after the warning music pulses and the protagonists steel themselves for a confrontation with danger, everyone (including the scary lurker) jumps in a metaphorical hot tub (actually, they go fishing) and has a heart-to-heart?

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Book review: The Book Thief

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

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Author:Markus Zusak
Reading Level (Conceptual):Sophisticated readers
Reading Level (Vocabulary):Children 12 and up
Genre:Fiction
Year of publication:2007

Good book. About a girl during the Holocaust, but on the side we don't usually hear: She is German, but suffering as well. In the very beginning of the book Liesel's brother dies, and she is shipped off to live with "scary" foster parents. And by the middle her family is trying to keep a Jew hidden, and still "Heil Hitler" everyone they see.

The story is told by Death, which is a little bit spooky sounding, but Zusak makes Death surprisingly compassionate. As Liesel has to face the terrors of WW2, Death adds his two cents every once in a while, giving the story an interesting edge, especially because he tells us the climax of the book in the beginning, and makes us read all the way through for an explanation.

-- Fiz, age 14

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Book review: The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

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Author:Irving Stone
Reading Level (Conceptual):Sophisticated readers
Reading Level (Vocabulary):Children 12 and up
Genre:Fiction, biography
Year of publication:1961

Reading this novelized biography of Michelangelo just now, after so recently reading the non-fictionalized Dancing To the Precipice was probably a mistake.

I did read The Agony and the Ecstasy to the end and found it mostly interesting, but -- so many unexplained wars, duplicate names, minor characters, changes of venue. Seems to me if you are going to fictionalize, you might want to streamline. If there are three characters named Ludovico, maybe rename one to be Vico?

I did learn a lot of facts, or at least I think they were facts, about Michelangelo's life and the history of the Papacy and the Italian city states. What I did not learn, and missed, was a bit more of an explanation about why this talented, obsessed artist allowed himself to be so taken advantage of? And why did the patrons who claimed to admire him so much abuse his gifts rather than help nurture them? I understand that they might need to use their enormous wealth to pay their armies, but -- Why the law suits? Why did so many popes ask the impossible when they clearly wanted Michelangelo to do great work for them?

The story felt to me like a history text, but because the text was labeled "fictionalized", I was never sure which parts were factual.

Seems like Irving Stone's message to us about Michelangelo is that his obsession with working marble led him to make foolish business decisions. But if he had not been so totally obsessed with working marble, would he have had the fortitude to keep on struggling given the financial strain he was under his entire life? On the other hand, maybe if he had refused to take on some projects until they were funded, he would have found himself under less financial strain?

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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Agony and the Ecstasy, The: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo

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Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed

Movie Review: Hans Christian Andersen

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

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Definitely OUR kind of movie: Powers of two, musical with great and memorable songs, precocious kid who takes care of his imperfect father (figure), fairy tales, impressive dance, classical music. What’s not to like?

Powers of two
Inchworm is a song for the ages. It helped our kids learn the times twos, plus, it’s sad and funny and about nature. John Leithgow’s performance of this is almost as good as Danny Kaye’s is in the movie.

Musical
Songs and music by Frank Loesser, who also wrote Guys and Dolls (another favorite).

Precocious kid
Every child-like adult needs one, and anyone who writes fairy tales this good is obviously child-like, despite how nearly universally sad those tales are.

Fairy tales
You know that we are obsessed with fairy tales, right? Although, because H.C. Andersen’s are just about unremittingly depressing, although beautifully written, they are not our faves. The ones featured in the film are mostly the happier ones (The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina). The Little Mermaid is featured in its gorgeous, original (un-Disney-fied) sea-foamy format and presented as a simply beautiful ballet.

Impressive Dance / Classical music
The movie does not stay true to Andersen’s life. One of the ways it diverges is by making the object of Hans’ desire a ballerina with the Royal Danish Ballet. One of the dances is performed to one of the pieces my daughter is currently learning — Shubert’s Rosamunde Overture. We wished they’d danced all night. What was the stage designer thinking with that marriage of puce green and purple in the first dance though?

Highly recommended.

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