For Tomorrow We Feast!

I'm going out to dinner on Thanksgiving. My brother is coming to visit and I told him I'd be happy to take him out for a fine turkey day meal (my cooking tends toward "quick & easy"). Thinking about what I might feast upon put me in mind of a few food books I've come across recently. Not necessarily cookbooks; rather about where food comes from, buying food locally, nutritional value in today's food, and why one cookie never seems like enough:

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

Eat This, Not That!: The Best (& Worst) Foods in America by David Zinczenko

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

All Creatures Great and Small

It's nice to read a book that feels like someone is telling you a story. Just as if you were listening to a friend chat away by the warmth of the fireplace, or sitting on a front porch on a lovely afternoon. Tales are told that are happy and sad, joyful and a little romantic.

All Creatures Great and Small takes the long and winding road to tell the tale of country veterinarian and author James Herriot (the pen name for James Alfred Wight). Set in 1940's Yorkshire, the book begins with Herriot joining the practice of Siegfried Farnen and his younger brother Tristan. His work encompasses both farm and domestic animals and he describes much of the animal care in correct medical terms (aka "a little gross"). But it's all part of life in the country, including some of the oddball characters he introduces us to- I just love Mrs. Pomfrey and her pampered little dog Tricky-Woo! This is the kind of book that the word "heartwarming" was invented for. Look for other books in the series, as well as James Herriot's Dog Stoires and James Herriot's Cat Stories.

I would also recommend watching All Creatures Great and Small the BBC TV series, filmed in the 70's, but still highly enjoyable and entertaining to watch.

Girl With a Pearl Earring

Have you ever looked at a picture and made up a story to go with it? I sometimes do this with friends when we walk through museums. We will see a portrait, or a painting of people gathered together, and there may be a descriptive title and information about the picture which can be interesting. But sometimes we choose to create a background for these painted people ourselves, or consider what stirred the artist to capture a particular moment. I find such fabrication delightful!

Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring is inspired by the famous painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. Little is known about Vermeer or who the actual girl in the painting was. In the novel, Chevalier has created young Griet, sent to work for the painter and his growing family as a maid and laundress. However, as she cleans Vermeer's studio and watches as his paintings evolve, Griet begins to understand the use of colors, and has an eye for balance in the images. In time, Vermeer teaches her to grind paint colors and has her stand in as a model. Finally, he responds to the demand of his most reliable (and lecherous!) patron who wants to possess a painting of Griet. In a scandalous move, Vermeer insists Griet pierce her ears to wear his wife's pearl earrings for the portrait. And Griet knows that though she may lose her position, she must wear them to make the portrait complete.

EssentialVermeer.com has a wonderful online catalog of his work, including Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Mystery Fan Highlights

Once a year, mystery authors and fans converge on a city to stage the World Mystery Convention, also known as the Bouchercon (rhymes with “voucher.”) This year’s event was held in Indianapolis from October 15-18. It’s hard to sum up how much fun this event is, but we’ll try to hit the highlights in just a few sentences:

Awards: Bouchercon attendees vote on the Anthony awards in several mystery categories. Michael Connelly won the Best Novel award for The Brass Verdict, a terrific bookl that pairs his long-running hero Harry Bosch with his newest anti-hero Mickey Haller. Stieg Larsson was posthumously awarded the Anthony for Best First Novel for his blockbuster The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Supernatural Stuff: Add a vampire to your mystery, and presto, you’re a genius. Heather Graham, Charlaine Harris, and Carolyn Hart shared a common experience: the large number of readers who come up to them, claiming to be vampires. Genial and unassuming Harris (Club Dead, Dead Until Dark, etc.) was the star of this show; her Sookie Stackhouse vampire series is the basis for HBO’s “True Blood.”

Discovering New Authors: Meeting new authors is always great fun. Everyone was abuzz over noir revival writers such as Sean Chercover (Big City, Bad Blood and Trigger City) and Megan Abbott (Bury Me Deep and Queenpin). Queenpin is not for the queasy, but, wow, what a book.

~ Contributed by John Graham, Adult Services Coordinator at the Mary Ann Mongan Branch