11 Books You Don’t Want To Miss + A Couple of Standouts

Books!  I like my books the old fashioned way – from the book store or library.  I mean, I get having a Kindle or downloading to an iPad especially for the convenience of not hauling around a thick, heavy hardcover volume.  Maybe I’ll consider this option before our next big vacation, but last year I read real books.  You may be asking “what do books have to do with a food blog?”  Good question!  The answer, “nothing”, unless of course the books are food related.  A couple of the books I finished are food related – so there!

2016 was a big year for me in the reading department!  I knocked out 11 books completely and began a 12th which I couldn’t finish before 2017 rolled in so I’ll be adding that one to my list for this year.  I’ve always loved to read and find it a wonderful and engaging way to pass time while traveling, waiting at the doctor’s office or while relaxing at home.  It’s my favorite way to unwind before bed.  I keep a running list of books I want to read.  Suggestions I’ve gotten from friends, strangers or because of a review I read.  One of the best books I read last year was on the recommendation of my gastroenterologist.  I love a doctor who can and will carry on a conversation beyond my physical or medical needs.

I admit I had more time than usual last year to get all this reading done and now I’m on a roll, not to be stopped.  First of all making 3 trips to the west coast and one to Texas, plus vacation in Maine left me with plenty of airport/plane time to flip through numerous pages.  Travel plus a few weeks of battling diverticulitis, when my doc prescribed lots of couch time surely supplied me the time to get through so many books.

Out of all those you see in the photo above there are a couple of 4-5 star tomes, a couple of 3 star reads and several solid 4 star books.  This is of course, my opinion, perspective or viewpoint.  Choose the word you like there!  Today I’ll review 6 of these books and continue with the remainder in a sequential post.  Here we go…Oh, and by the way I’ll be giving 3, 4,and 5 stars (*) to each book.  I’m entitled to my opinion!

Descent by Tim Johnston –  *** Noted as a thriller because it concerns Caitlin Courtland , an 18 year old high school track star, who is abducted during a family vacation in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. A hard concept for any parent to swallow, Descent carries us through how the family deals with her disappearance – each in his or her own way.  It caused me to consider how it would affect a family, my own family.  There were plenty of times I didn’t want to put the book down, especially when the author takes us to the confines of Caitlin’s abductor.

The book covers a couple of years of the Cortland family’s life , mother, father and brother, after her disappearance. Domestic drama (which I am not a fan of) and wilderness adventure will keep you turning the pages of this book. No spoiler alert needed here – you’ll have to read this one yourself to find out if indeed Caitlin is found – alive!

Come Spring by Ben Ames Williams – ***** This my friends is the 863 page book, 866 postscript, that I polished off and never wanted to put down.  If you’ve never been to Maine or have no interest in Maine or the settling of this gorgeous state then you won’t want to immerse yourself in this long-lasting book. I knew I would be traveling to the area that the book is set in and would in fact, visit the town of Union.

Come Spring tells the story of the 1786 founding of Union, a small Maine town.  Although written as a historical novel, the people and events were all real.  Mima Robbins and Joel Adams are the central characters in a story of survival and life in the days when staying warm in the frigid winters of Maine was certainly a challenge.  Clearing forests, erecting cabins and barns, building rafts and dugouts to traverse Seven Tree Pond, fighting black flies and mosquitos, hauling water, hunting and trapping for food and clothes, planting crops.  Dealing with rain or the lack thereof, cold, heat, a war in the distance, no doctors close by.  What it took to get by in such times was fascinating to me.  This is not a book of page turning excitement or a rollercoaster ride but a wonderfully detailed book about the settling of the wilderness that was and is Maine.  I loved this book ~ all 866 pages of it!

On a side note – when we visited Maine in summer 2016 I did visit the town of Union.  At the Union historical society I gazed at the original chairs that both Mima and Joel sat in. I had chills up and down my spine as well as tears in my eyes at the sight of Seven Tree Pond and the site where both Joel and Mima are buried.  It’s impossible to describe but having read the book gave a perspective that no one else who visited Union with me could have possibly understood.  A MUST READ if you are traveling to this area of Maine.  If you choose to read this the reason for this title will become evident!

Seven Tree Pond -Union, Maine

Mima Robbins had a large family – this is the gravesite of one of her descendants.

Gravesite of Joel and Mima Robbins Adams.

Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende – *** Tells the story of a teenager named Maya Vidal and her struggles with drug addiction, grief and her past. Although a work of fiction, the story is rooted in real-life tragedy. Three of Allende’s stepchildren have struggled with addiction, two of them have died of drug-related causes, one in 1994 and the other in 2013. Certainly life experience would shed light on her writing of a young girl caught up in bad behavior.

Actually, Maya Vidal, 19, is running for her life. She’s fleeing a scuzzy assortment of drug dealers, junkies, petty criminals and rapists from her crazy life in Las Vegas where she lands after fleeing a home for rebellious youth. All this happens to her after her beloved grandfather “PoPo” dies unexpectedly. A few steps behind her, in hot pursuit, are the FBI, Interpol, and a gang of Nevada thugs.  Maya has been dispatched for her own safety to Chiloé, Chile to live with Manuel Arias, a mysterious old friend of her grandmother, Nini. “Maya’s Notebook” is a story about how parents, grandparents and “friends” good or bad influence our identities.

I don’t consider this book a page turner but it held my interest.  At times maybe I struggled to be interested.  Other books of Allende’s have definitely been more appealing to me based on their epic family sagas and historical fiction.  I figured out the relationship between Maya’s Nini and Manuel Arias long before it was unremarkably revealed  at the end of the book.  You will too!  The one common denominator of all Allende’s books for me is that I’m now intrigued with traveling to Chile.

Thomas Jefferson’s Creme Brûlée by Thomas J. Craughwell -**** This obviously is one of the books which we would call “food related”.  First of all Creme Brûlée is a favorite of mine so I guess I can say the author had me with the title.  I like to think of Jefferson as not only a founding father but America’s “Founding Foodie”.

It’s no secret that Thomas Jefferson loved the good things in life, good wine, cheese, food, and company.  This guy had an insatiable appetite for learning about food and wine while on diplomatic assignment in Paris and wanted to bring back all he learned to Monticello, his home in Virginia.  Jefferson’s slave James Hemmings, 20 years younger than his master, accompanied Jefferson to Paris and began not only to learn the language but how to prepare French delicacies of the day.  Jefferson promised Hemmings his freedom for learning about French cuisine and returning to Monticello willing to teach what he learned to other slaves on the plantation.

While James Hemings was learning to be a master chef, Jefferson familiarized himself with French cuisine, wine, culinary tools and gadgets, as well as agricultural cultivation techniques. When the two returned to Virginia, they shared a colorful narrative as well as new delicacies such as French fries, champagne, macaroni and cheese, and, of course, crème brûlée.  Jefferson imported the French traditions and conveniences—along with “crates of mustard, nectarines, almonds, and olive oil, not to mention the 680 bottles of wine”—incorporating them into Monticello life upon his return.

As Craughwell writes, “Jefferson didn’t abandon his native victuals; he married them to those of France.” The story of how he did so is both captivating and fun.  We visited Monticello in May of last year, where I picked up this book.  Having visited Jefferson’s Virginia residence, peeked inside his kitchen, strolled through his gardens and seen the unusual system by which wine was delivered from the cellar to the table simply endeared me to this book.

It’s A Long Story – My Life by Willie Nelson – **** Anyone who knows me well knows that Willie Nelson and his songwriting make my heart go pitter patter.  We are both from the state of Texas and if you’re a Texan you might not love Willie like I do, but you get it!  So of course I give this book 4 stars – because I delight in reading about his life from early on, before he was the successful singer songwriter he is known as today.

It’s been a long hard road for the Red-Headed Stranger.  Willie sees songs as “little stories that fall out of our lives and imaginations”. He follows with, “If I have to struggle to write a song, I stop before I start. I figure if it don’t flow easy, it’s not meant to be”.  He describes his book as, not the Bible, not a biography of a world leader or a great philosopher. Just a story of a picker from Hill Country, Texas, who got more good breaks than bad and managed to keep from going crazy by staying close to the music of his heart.  A real story, told from the heart by the guy I wanted to be President elect last year….I love this book! I love Willie Nelson! Here’s a YouTube clip with a song about the book and some great photos of Willie.

Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins – **** I figure many of you have also read this thriller and have your own opinions.  Did you see the movie?  I didn’t after I saw the reviews…I enjoyed the book and did find it hard to put down.  I found the characters compelling and well detailed.  In fact when I saw the actors cast in their parts all but one had the appearance I’d conjured from the authors description.

A girl, Rachel, who drinks far too many gin and tonics, rides the same train past the same row of London houses everyday – consequently Rachel lived on this same street in her past marriage to Tom.  Rachel imagines that a couple (Megan and Scott)whom she sees from the train every day to be the perfect couple with the perfect marriage until one day she sees something out of the norm.  Megan kissing another man in her backyard.

Next up Megan disappears and so begins the real story and mystery of Rachel, Megan, Scott, Tom and Tom’s new wife Anna, who BTW he left Rachel for, and how their lives are craftily intertwined.  Rachel finds herself in the middle of an investigation and delves deeper into drinking, which you might guess leaves her with minimal credibility.  Hawkins novel is gripping if only to bring to light the limits of human knowledge, and the degree to which memory and imagination can become confused.  Even when I figured out “who done it” I read to the end, absorbed in the mess of it all.  I won’t spoil the read by divulging the final pages of the book and you shouldn’t turn to the end before making your way there.  Believe me it’s not hard to plow through this one!

Whew!  In one week I’ll be reviewing the remaining books – can you guess which of those I’ll give 5 stars to?  If you’ve read any of these books leave me a comment and share your thoughts!  I truly am interested to hear them!