December Author in the Spotlight Wrap-Up + Giveaway

December Author in the Spotlight Wrap-Up + Giveaway.


The Giveaway for Planet Taco ends tonight at midnight.  So hurry and enter.  Find the link below.

It's time to say goodbye to December and to the year 2013.  I look fondly back at the year and count my blessings.  My son turned 15, my daughter 13, I read 83 books and made my goal. I met lots of new authors, enjoyed family time and had many new experiences.

Join me in saying goodbye to December's author in the spotlight Jeffrey Pilcher.

If you would like to win a copy of Planet Taco please enter here:  Planet Taco Giveaway

Please check out my book review of Planet Taco.  Jeffrey is a history professor and teaches classes at the U of MN on the history of food and drink.  Planet Taco is exceptionally detailed and packed full of educational information.  Included in the book are pictures, maps and recipes. Planet Taco is a great book for those willing to put in the time.  I can guarentee that you will learn a lot from reading this book.

Planet Taco Book Review

Check out the author interview with Jeffrey Pilcher.  If you are a foodie, (isn't everyone a foodie?) you need to read this interview about Jeffrey's book, Planet Taco.  Jeffrey has a cool job where he gets to teach food history classes to University students.  Read this interview to learn more about this intellectual and fascinating book that details the history of Mexican food.  He even shares a recipe for guacamole.

Jeffrey Pilcher Author Interview

Please read Jeffery's Guest post on books about food, cooking and the history of food from different regions.  Read on to learn about food from India, Japan, Mexico and more.  It will make you hungry and tease your senses.

Jeffrey Pilcher Guest Post

It has been a pleasure to work with Jeffrey Pilcher this month and I would like to thank him for being the December Minnesota Author in the Spotlight.  I met Jeffrey Pilcher at the Twin Cities Book Festival a year ago in October, 2012.  I love reading books about food and food history and Planet Taco is so interesting to me.   I'm so glad I was able to feature Jeffrey Pilcher here on BookSnob.  Please check out his book, Planet Taco.

Planet Taco by Jeffrey M. Pilcher

Planet Taco. A Global History in Mexican Food by Jeffrey M. Pilcher

Planet Taco is a scholarly look into the history of Mexican food.  Pilcher dares to ask the question, What is authentic Mexican food?  His research and travels take him into modern day Mexico and the Southwest of the United States.  Pilcher examines the Spanish conquistadors influence on Mexican food, as well as the influence of the different indigenous populations, the African slaves, and the influx of the Chinese.  Mexico doesn't seem to have a National food because their history is so varied and represented by many cultures.  Also the traditional food varies based on regional locations within Mexico and in the surrounding areas.

Planet Taco is exceptionally detailed and packed full of educational information.  Included in the book are pictures, maps and recipes.  Pilcher details the history of maize and wheat and taught me that people in the region of Mexico viewed those who ate corn tortillas as lower class (these were primarily indigenous peoples) and wheat tortilla eaters tended to be Spanish or upper class.  He details the rise of Chili Queens and Blue Corn and the American taco and so much more.

Planet Taco is a great book for those willing to put in the time and a great name for a future Mexican restaurant.  I can guarentee that you will learn a lot from reading this book.  The writing style is intellectual and studious and some people will feel like they are reading a textbook on Mexican food.  If you can put in the time to read Planet Taco, it is worth it.  This book would make an excellent companion for those traveling to Mexico for a vacation.

Caution:  This book will make you hungry for Mexican food.  I had three different Mexican style meals while reading this book.  Yum!

The Gathering by Anne Enright

The Gathering by Anne Enright
A short review

There has been a death in the family.  Veronica's brother, Liam drowned himself in the sea and now Veronica must collect the body from England and simultaneously hold herself together.  As the family of nine siblings comes together to say goodbye to their brother in the family home in Ireland, Veronica must guard her deepest secret while she is coming apart at the seams.  She fears her memories have warped and corrupted her and possibly Liam.

Enright has created an unreliable and creative narrator in Veronica.  While reading it, several times I found myself confused and thought this book is crazy and it doesn't make sense, until I figured out that Veronica was verging on major mental illness and trying to make sense out of a past that didn't make sense at all.  By golly, I got it.  The lightbulb in my brain went off.  Enright is pure genius.
My book club did not agree and many just skimmed while I perused the book.  Maybe it's because I related to the main character, Veronica and saw myself in her crisis that the book held meaning for me.  I'm frankly not sure.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"History is only biological - that's what I think.  We pick and choose the facts about ourselves - where we came from and what it means." pg 162

"I am all for sadness, I say, don't get me wrong.  I am all for the ordinary life of the brain.  But we fill up sometimes, like those little wooden birds that sit on a pole - we fill up with it, until donk, we tilt into the drink." pg 175

I liked (not loved, but truly liked) the book and thats all I can say.  You must read it and decide for yourself.  Go on now.  Give it a go.

The Gathering won the Man Booker Prize in 2007.

Shelter by Sarah Stonich

Shelter by Sarah Stonich
A short review.

Sarah's family once owned a nice piece of property in northern Minnesota.  Her father wanted her to have the cabin experience but leased the land.  After her father died, Sarah wanted to give her son a legacy, a piece of land on a lake to call their own and to continue to the family tradition of the cabin experience.  So she head up north to Ely, Minnesota, where her ancestors are from, to look for land.  She settled on a piece of land on a small lake with tall pines and rocky cliffs.

For almost every Minnesotan, it is a wish to have a cabin on a lake.  Sarah is able to make her dream come true with a lot of muscle and hard work.  Unfortunately the state has other plans and decides to build a public road right through the middle of it.

This is the first book I have read by Sarah Stonich and I wish I would have read her fiction first.  Sarah's fiction garners exceptional acclaim and I hear nothing but great things about her as a writer.  Shelter is interesting but probably not her best book.  Stonich's writing is picturesque as she evokes the beauty of the northern Minnesotan landscape perfectly.  The storyline is like a lazy day at the lake waiting for the fish to bite.

If you have a cabin, Shelter would be a good addition for your bookshelf.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Audio Book Review

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

12 hrs and 53 mins
Short Review

Italy, 1962. Richard Burton and Liz Taylor are making the film, Cleopatra.  A young American actress in the film learns she is dying and escapes to Porto Vergogna, a small seaside village to rest.  There Dee meets the innkeeper, Pasquale and they form an immediate and deep connection.

Fast forward 50 years and Pasquale arrives at the director's film studio in California with the desire to find Dee.  The storyline alternates, Italy 1962, with modern day Hollywood studios.
Each character is well developed and is literally a Beautiful Ruin.  The book is aptly named.

The narrater of Beautiful Ruins is amazing.  His perfect diction and Italian accent had me at hello.  Hello! As an audio book, this ranks as one of my favorites of the year.  It was entertaining, full of popular culture with a touch of mystery and several stories, within the main story.  Yet, it is easy to follow.  The ending is so sweet that it makes you believe in love and fate and it will make you exhale a long sigh.

Ahhhhh.

• 
  

Jeffrey M. Pilcher Author Interview + Giveaway

Jeffrey M. Pilcher Author Interview + Giveaway

Jeffrey Pilcher is the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Book Snob during the fabulous month of December.  If you are a foodie, (isn't everyone a foodie?) you need to read this interview about Jeffrey's book, Planet Taco.  Jeffrey has a cool job where he gets to teach food history classes to University students.  Read on to learn more about this intellectual and fascinating book that details the history of Mexican food.

Hi Jeffrey,

1.    Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a professional historian and a foodie. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to make a career writing about something I love.

2. What inspired you to write to Planet Taco, A Global History of Mexican Food?
Twenty years ago I wrote my Ph.D. dissertation about the history of Mexican food, but I didn’t stop to think that Mexican American food had a place in the story. It turns out I was wrong, and this is my attempt to explain why we should worry less about whether food is authentic and more about whether it tastes good.

3. How did you decide what cities and places to travel to and write about in your book?
Social scientists will tell you that careful research design is crucial to the success of any project, but
to be perfectly honest, this book came about pretty randomly. Wherever I happened to be traveling, I looked for tacos. It turned out they were everywhere, but not always what I expected.

4. Do you have a favorite type of Mexican food?  If so, what is it and why?
Mexican food varies tremendously from one region to the next, just like Italian or Chinese foods. Some of my favorites are the Mediterranean-inspired seafoods of Veracruz, the rich indigenous mole sauces of Oaxaca, and the pozoles of the West Coast. But anywhere you go in Mexico you can find amazing cooks.

5. Do you have a recipe you can share with us?
I make a very simple guacamole: just chop up a tomato, some onion (I cook it because my girlfriend doesn’t like raw onion; it’s not authentic, but that’s okay), a chile serrano, cilantro, and at the last minute, mash up the avocado and mix it in. The beauty of Mexican food is that it doesn’t have to be fancy to be really good.

6. Can you tell us why or when you decided to become a writer?
I started writing fiction in high school, but the stories were pretty forgettable. With the history of food, I definitely found my voice.

7. Tell us a little bit about the other books you have written.
I’ve written two other books on Mexican food. ¡Que vivan los tamales! (my dissertation) looks at the history of Mexican food from a national perspective. I tell the story of the encounter between indigenous maize and European wheat. My second book, The Sausage Rebellion, looks at meatpacking in Mexico City, sort of like Upton Sinclair’s classic, The Jungle. It was fun to write once I decided to approach it like a noir detective story. I wrote a very brief book called Food in World History. For every chapter, I tried to cook foods from the time and place I was writing about. The recipes for medieval Arab cuisine reminded me a lot of Mexican cooking. My one non-food book was a biography of the Mexican movie star Cantinflas.

8. Do you like to read?  What authors or books influence you?
I read so much professionally that I rarely have much time or energy for anything beyond the newspaper and The New Yorker. To get away from work, I like to read P. G. Wodehouse.

9. What are one or two lessons you want the reader to take away from your book, Planet Taco?
People often think of Mexico as being completely different from the United States, and we appreciate Mexican food for being primitive and authentic, the opposite of fast food like Taco Bell. But the fast food taco shell was actually invented by Mexicans, not by Glen Bell. He just packaged it for gringo audiences. I dream that food can help to bridge the Rio Grande and bring our two countries closer together.

10. In one sentence tell readers why they should read Planet Taco?
As Socrates might have said, the unexamined taco is not worth eating.

Thanks Jeffrey!!

If you would like to win a copy of Jeffrey's book Planet Taco, please enter here:  Planet Taco Giveaway

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory

The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory
The Cousin's War.  Book Two.

Margaret Beaufort is the mother of Henry Tudor and she never doubts, not even for a second, that Henry is the rightful heir to the throne and the true King of England.  The Red Queen begins in the Spring of 1453 when Margaret is betrothed to the King's half brother, Edmond Tudor, (a man almost 3 times her age) at age 9.  She marries at 12 and gives birth to a son, her only child, when she is 14.  She is promptly widowed.

Margaret Beaufort is a devout Catholic and a deeply religious woman who has a vision that her son will be King one day and that the House of Lancaster will be restored to the throne.  Margaret Comes of age during the Cousin's War between the Lancasters, Yorks and Tudors.  The York's wrested control of England away from their cousin, mad King Henry VI.  Edward of York reigns as King with his sons and his brothers, George and Richard as future heirs.   Margaret duty is to put her son on the throne and the odds are against her but she knows God is on her side.  Even though God is on Margaret's side, she truly creates her own destiny and that of her son, by ruthless cunning, scheming and sacrificing her own happiness.

After Philippa Gregory wrote The White Queen about Queen Elizabeth of York she wanted to tell the other side of the story in the Cousin's War (also known as The War of the Roses) and she wrote Margaret Beaufort's story in The Red Queen.  I truly am addicted and in love with reading Gregory's books about this period in history.  So far I have read three book is this series.
The Lady of the Rivers
The White Queen
The Red Queen
The next book in the series for me is The Kingmaker's Daughter about the Neville girls Isabel and Anne who married King Edward of York's brothers, George and Richard.


I adore Philippa Gregory and her historical fiction novels. I can't get enough of history told from the perspective of the women and the political intrique behind the rulers who wear the crown. History is told and written by the winners and so often women voices are left out of the historical narrative. Philippa Gregory recreates that written historical record with meticulous research and shares English history from a different point of view. I always learn so much when I read Gregory and she makes it interesting and memorable. It is not like learning history from a textbook, it is definitely more fun than that. She has written more than 20 books on English history based in the Tudor period and The Cousin's war period.

Write on Philippa Gregory!

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

In the middle of a gas station hold-up, Shandi falls in love with a guy who looks like the Norse god Thor.  Will is his name and first he saves her life and then she saves his.  This tumultuous event has thrown Will and Shandi together.

If Shandi had a Facebook page she would label her relationship status; complicated.

If Shandi was writing an ad for the personals it would read:
21, single female, college student, looking for a man who can entertain and love a brainy 3 year old boy.  Who won't be jealous of male, poet best friend, can handle warring parents of two different religions and a wicked step-mother.  Please apply if you look like a superhero and act like one too.

If Will was writing an ad for the personals it would read: Nada. Zilch.
Forget it, William is not looking for love, he is hiding from it.  He lost his one true love, his wife, and their daughter in a car accident.  He is in survival mode and his best friend Paula is helping him forget.

Someone's Else Love Story is a romance with a twist of lemon and a shot of tequila.  Joshilyn Jackson is the queen of the written one liners.  Her sentences are so awesome and smashingly interesting that you need to read them more than once.  She makes you smile and think and she actually makes you want to compose awesome sentences that roll off your tongue and cause everyone to listen up too.  Jackson is creative and most people who read her books fall in love with her characters, who tend to be a little on the wild side, mixed up and unforgettable.  This is the second book I have read by Jackson, Gods in Alabama being the first.  Reading Jackson is like saying a prayer and having it answered on the same night.

Need a date for Friday or Saturday night?  Pick up Someone's Else Love Story, pour yourself a glass of wine, settle into your favorite comfy chair and fall in love.

Jeffrey M. Pilcher Guest Post + Giveaway

Jeffrey M. Pilcher Guest Post + Giveaway


Jeffrey M. Pilcher is the Minnesota Author in the Spotlight here on Book Snob during the wonderful month of December.  Jeffrey is a food historian and he has written a guest post on books about food cooking and history.  Read on to learn about food from India, Japan and Mexico.  It will make you hungry.

Jeffrey Pilcher's Guest Post

As the holidays approach and we think about presents for family and friends, it seems like there is always somebody on the list who would enjoy a book about food. It’s amazing how many cookbooks are available these days, and how specialized they can get. It seems like as if there is a recipe out there for just about anything you could possibly imagine cooking.

But as a historian of food, I am pleased to say that there are a growing number of scholarly works and historical documents that are at the same time quite readable. One good example of these works is Jean Bottéro’s social history of food in ancient Mesopotamia. He shows that master chefs and snooty diners have been with us since the beginning of written history. The book even contains recipes, translated from ancient cuneiform tablets, for such delicacies as gazelle broth and pigeon baked in pastry.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Oldest-Cuisine-World-Mesopotamia/dp/0226067351

Another interesting book is Lizzie Collingham’s history of curry, which puts India at the center of world historical movements in trade, migration, and colonialism. She shows how Indian cooks absorbed the foods of successive invaders—Mughals, Portuguese, British—and went on to conquer

their former rulers, making curry a global icon.
http://www.amazon.com/Curry-Cooks-Conquerors-Lizzie-Collingham/dp/0195320018

Eric Rath has written a fascinating account of what samurai did and did not eat before the Emperor Meiji started Japan on the path to modernity. Not only were many national dishes, like sushi and tempura, absent from the table, but chefs spent much of their time carving inedible food sculptures of fish and fowl for diners to contemplate artistically.
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Fantasy-Early-Modern-Japan/dp/0520262271

James McCann uses jazz as a motif to understand historical African cooking as an improvisational art form built around deep structures of technique and taste. Moving fluidly between the cuisines of Ethiopia, West Africa, Southern Africa, and the Diaspora, he draws connections and highlights regional distinctiveness.
http://www.amazon.com/Stirring-Pot-History-African-Cuisine/dp/0896802728

Encarnación Pinedo’s splendid cookbook offers a unique first-hand account of nineteenth-century California Mexican cookery. It is also an eloquent contribution to Latina literature by a woman dedicated to preserving her culture after ‘49ers lynched eight of her relatives, one of them twice.
http://www.amazon.com/Encarnacions-Kitchen-Nineteenth-Century-California-Encarnación/dp/0520246764

Before Julia Child there was Margaret Yardley Potter, who loved American food, farmer’s markets, and ethnic groceries. If you think you know what women were cooking during what has been called the “Golden Age of Food Processing,” think again. This book could have been written yesterday, by a woman with a sly sense of humor and a generous spirit of entertaining.
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Range-Margaret-Yardley-Potter/dp/1936365898

Warren Belasco explores the ways people have thought about the future of food, from the Jetson’s meal-in-a-pill to Malthusian fears of mass starvation. By analyzing the long history of debates between industrial food optimists and pessimists, he provides needed perspective on the contemporary “good food revolution.”
http://www.amazon.com/Meals-Come-History-California-Studies/dp/0520250354

If you would like to win a copy of Jeffrey's book Planet Taco please enter here:  Planet Taco Giveaway

Once by Morris Gleitzman

Once by Morris Gleitzman
Audio Book Review
Narrated by Morris Gleitzman
3 hours and 8 minutes

Felix is a young orphan living in a Polish hilltop orphanage.  His Jewish parents dropped him off for safe keeping and said they'd return for him. and when Nazi soldiers show up at the orphanage and burn the nuns books, Felix panics and decide to find his parents and warn them to save the books.  The search for Felix's parents leads him on a perilous journey to the Warsaw ghetto.

Narrated by the author, each chapter break has a musical interlude.  The story starts out a little slow as Felix is very naive and innocent.  His parents owned a bookstore so Felix's mind is filled with stories that he uses to explain things he doesn't understand.  Once picks up as Felix starts to figure out what is really happening around him during the war with Germany.  Felix in his naiveté reminds me of the Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
There are 3 more books in the series.

Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

Letter From Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
Audio Book Review
Read by Dion Graham
51 minutes

Marting Luther King Jr's Letter From Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation

King sits in a jail arrested on Good Friday for standing up for his rights and the rights of others.  On April 12th he is smuggled a newspaper and sees the headline "A Call To Unity" written by 8 clergyman criticizing King and his methods, calling him an "Outsider".  King wrote his reply on April 16, 1963 on anything he could find to write on, the newspaper, scraps of paper and eventually a notepad.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly… Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider."  Every American should read or listen to this letter.  It is one of the most powerful essays ever written.

Dion Graham's voice lent itself to Dr King's cadence and had me imagining that I was actually listening to King recite his essay.  The power of the pen as a means for change is strongly evident in Martin Luther King's eloquent words.  MLK is truly a hero for the people.

The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom

The First Phone Call From Heaven. A Novel by Mitch Albom

In a small, northern Michigan town a miracle has happened, people are receiving phone calls from Heaven.   Coldwater isn't used to crowds of people or publicity but when Katherine announces in church one Sunday, that her dead sister Diane has been calling her every Friday, the world pays attention.  People from all walks of life make a pilgrimage to Coldwater and camp out on Katherine's lawn hoping for their own miracle, the chance to talk to a loved one who has passed on to the other side.

Not everyone believes this is a miracle, some people believe it is a hoax and plan to prove it. Sully has recently lost his wife and his young son misses his mother so much that he desperately wants her to call.  Sully knows it won't happen and begins an investigation into what is really going on.

A gem within The First Phone Call From Heaven is the chronicle of Alexander Graham Bell and the invention of the telephone.  Album juxtaposes Bell's story with that of the characters.  The little historical tidbits were so interesting and added to the story.

The First Phone Call From Heaven is a gift to the reader.  What person hasn't wished to talk to a loved one who has died?  Album creates a believable story of faith, miracles and love.  He also includes the mystery that surrounds miracles as there are always doubters.  Album does a great job of looking at all sides and angles of miracles.

Album is the type of writer that every reader would enjoy, even reluctant readers.  He gives the reader a lot to think about and his books are typically fast, enjoyable reads that aren't overly complicated.  They tend to be just right.  Album's characters are soul searching and interesting and they leave you feeling inspired to live a better life.

So who are you waiting to hear from?  Do you have an important phone call to make?

“The news of life is carried via telephone. A baby's birth, a couple engaged, a tragic car accident on a late night highway - most milestones of the human journey, good or bad, are foreshadowed by the sound of a ringing.”

Planet Taco GIveaway

Planet Taco. A Global History of Mexican Food Giveaway


Jeffrey M. Pilcher is the December Author in the Spotlight here on Book Snob and he is giving away one copy of his book, Planet Taco. A Global History of Mexican Food to Book Snob followers.  This contest is open internationally. Yay!

Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

Planet Taco asks the question, "what is authentic Mexican food?" The burritos and taco shells that many people think of as Mexican were actually created in the United States, and Americanized foods have recently been carried around the world in tin cans and tourist restaurants. But the contemporary struggle between globalization and national sovereignty to determine the meaning of Mexican food is far from new. In fact, Mexican food was the product of globalization from the very beginning -- the Spanish conquest -- when European and Native American influences blended to forge the mestizo or mixed culture of Mexico.

The historic struggle between globalization and the nation continued in the nineteenth century, as Mexicans searching for a national cuisine were torn between nostalgic "Creole" Hispanic dishes of the past and French haute cuisine, the global food of the day. Indigenous foods, by contrast, were considered strictly d class . Yet another version of Mexican food was created in the U.S. Southwest by Mexican American cooks, including the "Chili Queens" of San Antonio and tamale vendors of Los Angeles.

When Mexican American dishes were appropriated by the fast food industry and carried around the world, Mexican elites rediscovered the indigenous roots of their national cuisine among the ancient Aztecs and the Maya. Even this Nueva Cocina Mexicana was a transnational phenomenon, called "New Southwestern" by chefs in the United States. Rivalries within this present-day gourmet movement recalled the nineteenth-century struggles between Creole, Native, and French foods.
Planet Taco also seeks to recover the history of people who have been ignored in the struggles to define authentic Mexican, especially those who are marginal to both nations: Indians and Mexican Americans.

Contest Rules:
Fill out the Rafflecopter form.
Open Internationally
Ends 12/31 at Midnight.
Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Joyland by Stephen King

Joyland by Stephen King
Audiobook Review
Narrated by Michael Kelly
7 Hours and 33 Minutes
Crime Noir.

Joyland is a amusement park in North Carolina near the ocean.  Devon Jones is a college student in need of a summer job and he gets one working at Joyland.  The year is 1973 and Devon arrives with a broken heart, in need of a distraction.  He learns of the rules of the park from the true carnys.  He makes new friends, wears the fur and learns of the legend the ghost who still haunts the funhouse.  This promises to be one interesting summer.

When the summer ends, Devon decides to stay in North Carolina and work at Joyland instead of returning to college.   He decides to launch his own investigation, along with a friend, to try and figure out who killed the woman in the funhouse of fear.  He makes a visit to the fortune teller who tells him his "future", a future that includes saving lives.  What ensues is an absolutely wonderful story, page-turning story.

The narrator of Joyland is awesome and I absolutely loved his voice and his telling of the story.  Joyland is part mystery, part ghost story, part love story and one damn good audio book.  The characters are colorful, and unique and the setting is perfect.  Stephen King has a reputation for scary and this book was not scary (which is good, I hate scary).  There is a definite softer side to this story that propelled me to keep listening.  Listening to the audio of Joyland was a great experience.  I didn't want to get out of my car.

King is a master storyteller.  I have now read two books by King.  The Green Mile (amazing) and Joyland (really good).  Hmmm, which King book should I read/listen to next??

Original Fire by Louise Erdrich

Original Fire. Selected and New Poems by Louise Erdrich

Lately, I have been reading poetry.  It sounds crazy, I know but poetry was my first love.  I loved poetry before I knew I liked to read.  I wrote poetry before I knew that I liked to write.  Then I went to college and quit reading and writing poetry.  Fast forward 20 years and poetry has popped back into my life in a new and significant way.

Louise Erdrich is a writer on fire and her poems in this volume, Original Fire, are amazing.  Poetry speaks to each reader differently.  Some poems seemingly have no effect and others knock your socks off.  Many of the poems in Original Fire knocked my socks off and made me think and made me say Wow.

This collection of poems was a combination of some of her poems from two previous volumes of poetry with about 20 new poems not previously published added in.  The poems are broken into five sections titled, Jacklight, The Potchikoo Stories, The Butcher's Wife, The Seven Sleepers and Original Fire.

I started reading a poem or two a day this fall and I look forward to my stolen moments with a poem.  It was especially hard to only read one or two of Erdrich's poems.  I was compelled to keep turning the pages but I wanted to savor them and so I read them slowly to give my mind time to process them before I moved on.  The ending two sections of Original Fire are my favorite and the poems packed a powerful punch.  I loved the Buffalo Prayer,  Advice to Myself, The Seven Sleepers, The Sacraments and many others.

Here is the beginning of The Sacraments

I. Baptism

As the sun dancers, in their helmets of sage,
Stopped at the sun's apogee
and stood in the waterless light,
so, after loss, it came to this:
that for each year the being was destroyed,
I was to sacrifice a piece of my flesh.
The keen knife hovered
and the skin flicked in the bowl.
Then the sun, the life that consumes us,
burst into agony.

Have you read any poetry lately??

Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day Giveaway Winners.

Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day Giveaway Winners.

Hometown Track, Minnesota Author in the Spotlight for November, Doug Mack is giving away 2 copies of his travel memoir Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day, to Book Snob followers.  I am excited to announce the winners of this European adventure.  And the winners are...

LeAnn from Minnesota
Tia from Indiana

Congratulations Ladies and enjoy your new book/travel adventure.

Here is an excerpt from my book review of Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day:

Mack is a witty writer and Europe on 5 Wrong Turns a Day is well-researched and a interesting look into the history of travel, Frommer style.  It also contains some of the post war history of the European countries and cities that he visits.  It is very entertaining and I found myself getting a strong case of wanderlust and reminiscing about my travels in Europe and wanting to go back, like, right now!

December Author in the Spotlight

Announcing the December Author in the Spotlight.

Happy December.  Tis the season to eat and shop and be merry.  Tis also the season to finish all your goals for the year, create new challenges for yourself and to read as much as you can.  I love this time of year.  The dark days and the cold winter nights make an occasion for a warm fire, tea and a good book perched on a table nearby.  This month the main book on my nightstand is Planet Taco.  A Global History of Mexican Food by Jeffrey M. Pilcher, who is the December Author in the Spotlight.

Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:


Planet Taco asks the question, "what is authentic Mexican food?" The burritos and taco shells that many people think of as Mexican were actually created in the United States, and Americanized foods have recently been carried around the world in tin cans and tourist restaurants. But the contemporary struggle between globalization and national sovereignty to determine the meaning of Mexican food is far from new. In fact, Mexican food was the product of globalization from the very beginning -- the Spanish conquest -- when European and Native American influences blended to forge the mestizo or mixed culture of Mexico.

The historic struggle between globalization and the nation continued in the nineteenth century, as Mexicans searching for a national cuisine were torn between nostalgic "Creole" Hispanic dishes of the past and French haute cuisine, the global food of the day. Indigenous foods, by contrast, were considered strictly d class . Yet another version of Mexican food was created in the U.S. Southwest by Mexican American cooks, including the "Chili Queens" of San Antonio and tamale vendors of Los Angeles.

When Mexican American dishes were appropriated by the fast food industry and carried around the world, Mexican elites rediscovered the indigenous roots of their national cuisine among the ancient Aztecs and the Maya. Even this Nueva Cocina Mexicana was a transnational phenomenon, called "New Southwestern" by chefs in the United States. Rivalries within this present-day gourmet movement recalled the nineteenth-century struggles between Creole, Native, and French foods.
Planet Taco also seeks to recover the history of people who have been ignored in the struggles to define authentic Mexican, especially those who are marginal to both nations: Indians and Mexican Americans.

This month you can expect a book review, an author interview, a contest and a hopefully a guest post.

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