The people at Coffee House Press in Minneapolis were kind enough to send me a copy of Leaving the Atocha Station so that I could review it here. Coffee House Press is a non-profit book publisher so I was very grateful. The book was not an easy read and I was equally grateful for the challenge. The book is Ben Lerner’s first novel.

The book focuses on Adam, a young man in Spain traveling on a Fulbright Scholarship. Adam has many issues but the one most apparent to me was his inability to see himself as anything more than a complete fraud. He is often gripped by paranoia and worries that he will be stripped of his achievements and shipped back to America with the rest of us pretentious yet lazy sloths. He nervously avoids his foundation contact, not returning phone calls or emails. He tries to think of ways he can avoid having to do readings or appear on panels because of this paranoia. Instead, he pops some pills, smokes another spliff and does a lot of people watching while scribbling a few lines of poetry. The reader doesn’t really know if Adam is truly a fraud or just the victim of drug-induced anxiety and paranoia.

Adam may feel like a fraud because he is a desensitized poet. While standing in a gallery in front of a work of art, he waits to have what is known as “a profound experience of art”. This experience doesn’t come and he perhaps questions his qualifications as a poet. Poets are expected to be emotionally charged and full of feeling for all things art. If one cannot be moved by the power of art visually, how are they qualified to move people through word? On the other hand, Adam knows that so much of the art world and how we rate, judge, experience, create and curate it is essentially bullshit. He doesn’t want to be that sort of fraud either. He doesn’t want to be that person who stands in front of a painting, is overcome with emotion, has a profound experience of art but then doesn’t understand why. There is something that feels really fake about that to Adam. One would suggest Adam strip away his cocktail of drugs and experience art with a fresh perspective, but then do people always experience art straight or do drugs often help people to experience art on a higher level? Every choice Adam makes is meticulous and thought through, but often times probably not the right choice. As a reader I struggled with the feeling of wanting to pull Adam by the hair through the pages of my book and smack him into reality yelling, “Get over it!”

Lerner himself traveled in Spain on a Fulbright scholarship and studied poetry. It is probably a safe bet that Lerner experienced a lot of the same inner conflict that Adam did and then decided to write about it. Another main theme of the book is Adam’s desire to be fully assimilated into the Spanish culture. He really hates to see the tourists, American especially, behaving in the way they do and is basically ashamed of his own country. At the same time, he does think about Kansas and it is apparent he misses home on occasion. But for the most part, Adam vows to only speak Spanish while in Spain and desires to not be thought of as some spoiled American rich kid although this is essentially what he is since mom and dad are well off and he does have a credit card to use “for emergencies”. Even though this is what he is, he creates a persona for himself that would suggest otherwise. He wants people to think he worked hard to be where he is, that the opportunity wasn’t just handed to him. He tells women that his mother is dead and describes his soft-spoken lefty dad in a way that would make people think he is a dictator. The whole time this is happening Adam knows he is making a mistake and the reader struggles to understand why Adam has to make life so hard for himself. But this is what a poet is. The crux of their art is about conflict, pain, regret, etc. Adam is living what I suspect is a “normal” emotional life for a poet. It must be exhausting.

Throughout the book I found myself wanting to like Adam, but I could not. When the 2004 Madrid train bombing happens and his friends are all organizing to go out and protest, Adam is lazy. He doesn’t get into it. He wants to be fully assimilated but he never will be because he is so desensitized. And it is not because he is on the tranquilizers, he truly seems apathetic. The reader wonders if Adam ever will build a solid relationship with either of the female love interests he is currently having a dalliance with or if he will be apathetic about that as well. The reader waits to see if Adam will crash and burn, ruining everything from relationships to his reputation as a poet or if he will figure it out and pull it together, becoming a great success?

How the book ends isn’t too important. Although I couldn’t wait to get to the end to see, the book is really about more than just if Adam completes his “project” successfully. It is about the way of an artist and the pressure of an artist. Traveling in a strange land on someone else’s dollar and feeling worthy of it. Missing home but reluctant to return back to a place you see as lacking a true, rich culture one can revel in. Feeling guilty you don’t miss mom and dad as much as you probably should and most importantly, becoming an adult and realizing you need to make real choices about your future, your happiness depending on it.

The book is very well written and is not an easy read. This isn’t the kind of book you slip into your bag and read poolside while trying to keep and eye on the kids swimming. This is the kind of book you chip away at page by page. You stop to do a lot of reflection and you re-read many sentences because they can be read differently and interpreted in new ways. And that itself is poetry, making this a very beautiful (yet oftentimes painful) book.

This, my dear friends, is the papery husk of a tomatillo. A tomatillo is a fruit much like a tomato and they are a staple of Latin American cuisine.

I think they are just beautiful. I used the tomatillos today to make this:

The tomatillo husk itself is much nicer to look at, but don’t let the color of the Salsa Verde put you off. Many years ago I was at a summer party and someone had brought Salsa Verde. I spent much of the afternoon hunched over the bowl of Salsa Verrde, hoarding it. It’s one of those things you can’t stop eating because the flavor is so good. I’ve been looking for a good Salsa Verde recipe ever since and I finally found one. The flavors will linger in your mouth for hours after eating it, it really is one of those special recipes. You don’t have to eat it with just chips either. You can use it to serve with chicken too. The recipe is in this awesome book:

Put ‘em Up!

The book is put out by one of my all-time favorite publishers, Storey Publishing (they have some of the more unusual and best-designed books!).

Storey is allowing me to give away a copy of this book to one lucky reader! Just comment on this post to be entered to win. The deadline to comment will be midnight on August 26th.

The author is Sherri Brooks Vinton, an author with a stunning resume. She is the founder of FarmFriendly LLC which has done great work raising awareness and finding support for local agriculture. She is a member of the Chef’s Collaborative, Women Chefs and Restauranteurs not to mention a member of the Northwest Organic Farmers’ Association. This book is about nourishing friends and family and keeping with tradition. Storey Publishing is a perfect fit for this book since they promote “country living” in harmony with the environment.

The book is divided into 2 sections: Technique and Recipes. The book spends quite a bit of time on technique so if you have never preserved anything before and have been scared to get into it, this is the book for you. It will teach you everything you need to know to preserve with confidence. If you have canned before and have been hoping to get into some newer and more up-to-date recipes, then this too is the book for you.

The book isn’t just about canning either. There are dehydration recipes, recipes for freezing, cocktail recipes, etc.

Here is a sampling of the recipes I hope to try soon:

-Berry Leather (Better than sugary Fruit Roll-Ups!)

-Olive Salad (for Muffalettas, yum!)

-Charred Chili Barbecue Sauce

-Homemade Raisins

-Chinese Plum Sauce

-Pickled Watermelon Rind with Cinnamon and Clove

If I still drank I would make the Red Hot Vodka and if I still had scapes I would make the Garlic Scapes in Oil. I don’t want to say this is a “hipsters” guide to preserving but it kind of is. The art in the book will appeal to a younger crowd as will the fresh, clean ingredients that are coming back around again in the culinary world. I give this book 5 stars!

Here is the recipe for the Salsa Verde:

Salsa Verde

From Put’em Up by Sherri Brooks Vinton

4 pounds tomatillos, husks  removed

1 tablespoon oil

1cup vinegar

1 pound onions, chopped

1/2 pound chilis, seeded

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup cilantro

1 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the broiler. Wash and dry the tomatillos.  Lightly brush half of the tomatillos with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet, stem side down. Broil until blackened in spots. Remove and cool to room temperature.

2.  Puree the remaining raw tomatillos with the vinegar in a blender or food processor and remove to a large saucepan.

3.  Puree cooked tomatillos, onions, chilis and garlic.  Add to pan.

4.  Bring to a boil, simmer 10 minutes.

5. Stir in cilantro and salt.

To can, process for 15 minutes then turn off heat and let the jars rest in the water for an additional 5 minutes. Remove jars and let sit for 24 hours. Store in a dark place for up to 1 year. Makes A LOT and is great for gifts.

Update: The winner of the giveaway is Gloria!!

Some people like to read about summery places during the winter. I am the opposite. It’s not because I am a masochist— reading about places colder than where I live actually makes me feel like I don’t have it so bad here in Minnesota where today it is 3°F (the low tomorrow predicted to be -15°F!) People from warmer climates might be wondering how it could possibly get much colder than that or how people could possibly inhabit an area such as this. But read the following books and you will see how the people from these areas don’t just survive, they thrive.

A Place In The Woods is the true story of an upper-class couple from Chicago who dreamt of living in a remote and wooded area “up north”. After years of searching, they find a property up on the Minnesota/Canadian border. When they move in, they are met with major catastrophes related to the climate and structure of their building that would make any other person immediately throw in the towel. But they don’t. They stick it out, encouraged by the show wildlife put on for them each and every day. The author, Helen Hoover, trains a weasel and gets up close and personal with fisher’s and bears. I had never even heard of a fisher before reading this book.  After doing some research, I’m convinced I would not want to get up-close and personal with the scary rat-faced squirrel-like creature. But Hoover and her artist husband Adrian loved all animals. They did not hunt and even had a hard time deciding whether or not to eat the chickens they raised. I can relate.

Most heart-wrenching for me was Hoover’s account of being low on funds and the excitement that followed upon learning that Adrian had an appointment lined up in Duluth to meet with a potential client for a big gig that would bring them plenty of money. He was to make drawings at home and could mail them in. On the morning of the meeting in Duluth, the car doesn’t start and the phone is out! When Helen asks Adrian how much the contract was for, Adrian replies $10,000. This was the 1950′s. It would have been enough money for them to live off of for several years up there. But instead of being incredibly depressed about missing out on such a contract, they do the only natural thing, which was to give up being dependent on the car and to figure out another way to make money via the mail. The nasty letter they receive from the gentleman they supposedly stood up is only more reason to live further away from people.

When I complain about having to put my coat on to walk 50 paces to get our mail on these 3° days, I can think about Adrian Hoover, walking 3 miles to pick up the mail that is delivered to them each Saturday. And he most definitely had to walk in much colder temperatures being 4-5 hours north of here!

If you too live in a cold climate and are sick to death of it already this winter, consider reading this book. I promise it will encourage you to make it through the rest of the winter. And on the flip side of things, if you live in a warm climate and are interested to know how people survive during the cold months in northern states such as Minnesota, this book will amaze, educate and delight you.

Another book I have recently read is Consumption. This book takes place on Hudson Bay in Canada. If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to live some place that is mostly iced over and is also inhabited by polar bears, this is the book for you! The story is focused around Victoria, an Inuit woman who marries a white man and the political, geographical, medical and social problems she encounters

The story starts with Victoria being sent to a southern hospital as a child to overcome her Tuberculosis. This is the 1960′s and the government frequently removed Inuit people from their villages and sent them to a hospital to be cared for by white people. When they returned, sometimes many years later, they had lost their appetite for raw seal meat and often times their family did not fully accept them back since they were so “changed”. Victoria spent many years in the hospital where she had access to a radio. When she returns home, she is distanced from her family but finds a connection with a white man living in the village who is familiar with all the same radio shows and world politics that Victoria learned about and was interested in at the hospital.

Victoria becomes pregnant and marries the Kablunauk (white man), drawing scorn from her community. Victoria’s children, being of mixed race, eventually each choose one ethnicity to identify with and this divides the family somewhat but what really divides the family is the South African diamond mining company and Victoria’s husband’s connection with the company.

Victoria’s life isn’t exactly a happy one. She is met with many disappointments in her life but the story feels real and raw, just as our own lives can sometimes be. The fact that it takes place in one of the coldest places in the world adds to the desperation and loneliness already felt through the characters. The children try to find their own way in a world infected with MTV, the doctor has his own nasty little habit and to top it all off, somebody of prominent importance is murdered.

It’s not a total downer. I was definitely glad I read the book, especially during  this winter we are having. It reminded me that although it is colder than anything I have ever experienced in my life right now, people near the Hudson Bay are going on hunting trips and staying overnight in dwellings made of ice and snow. I think I can survive a few more months in my cozy little home.

I celebrated the first day of winter by starting what I hoped to be the first of many books I read during the cold months here in Minnesota. Four days later, I had finished The Lake of Dreams and felt as though I had gone on a mini vacation to the Finger Lakes region in New York. I usually choose to read books that will “transport” me (at least mentally) during the winter months and this one is perfect for anyone looking for that winter escape in the form of reading.

The Lake of Dreams is written by Kim Edwards who is well-known for her first book, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. The book is a casual read that doesn’t much differ from a snowball rolling down a hill in that it gains speed and gathers more and more substance as it goes on. I read the first half of the book over the course of 3 days and then finished the second half in one day, staying up well beyond my bedtime and straining my dry eyes just to find out what happens.

Lucy is a successful young woman who has traveled the world for work and pleasure. The reader makes their own assumption as to if Lucy is “running” in order to not have to deal with the death of her father (which happened her senior year in high school) or if it truly is the lifestyle she wants to live. She does visit home and keeps contact with her family and while visiting during her most recent visit, she learns her brother along with extended family members are all planning to build high-rises on marshland that should be protected and preserved rather than drained. Add in a romantic twist— the rekindling of the relationship between her and her high school sweetheart and you’ve got a somewhat interesting plot. But what makes this book a delight to read, magical even, is the description of the Finger Lakes area and the description of the glass arts.

The old flame, Keegan, is a glass artist who works in blown glass but also does consulting work for stained glass. The descriptions of the stained glass works of art are so precise I could visualize them in my head. All of the places Lucy visits— Keegan’s studio, the old church, the museum. . . all possess works of art and Edwards does an amazing job of making you feel like you are standing right there with Lucy, staring up at these creations. Describing works of art isn’t easy, but Edwards does it well.

The description of the area is magical. The town is called The Lake of Dreams and it’s described as a quaint little tourist town stuck in time. Mostly I pictured Bayfield, Wisconsin, but if I remember correctly, The Lake of Dreams had a bit more development. There is nothing corporate in Bayfield. Part of the point of the book is that the people there in The Lake of Dreams have something truly unique and special. Some want to preserve what they have and some want to develop it, put in a Pizza Hut so that more families will come vacation there. It isn’t entirely clear what side of the fence Lucy is on. She is far from being an activist but she has her doubts about the development. I would have liked to have seen a stronger point of view come from Lucy or more vocalization on the matter and that was frustrating.

I did have a few “complaints” about some things but mostly they are minor things. First of all, the title of the book, the name of the town, “The Lake of Dreams”. It’s easy to associate the title of the book with a place, but it’s hard for me to believe that The Lake of Dreams could actually be the name of a town in real life. I have this problem with movies too. When something seems unbelievable to me, it throws me off for the duration. It’s hard for me to “believe” anything in the book or movie if I feel something is askew even though I know the work to be fiction from the start!

The only other thing I found annoying while reading the book was the heavy emphasis on technology, but then errors in how that technology is communicated. Lucy Jarrett is, I believe 28 years-old in the book. I don’t know any 28 year-olds that say they have “sent an email message”. The “message” part of that is known. We just say we “sent an email”. Lucy also says that her email mailbox was almost full from having pictures sent to her. I would think the Lucy Jarretts of the world would have heard about Gmail by now. Also, “e-mail” is usually not hyphenated by the younger, more tech-savvy crowd who know better and “”Web site” is one word without the capitalization of the “W”. These of course are minor annoyances but they do wreck the relationship the reader creates with the characters in the book. I believed Lucy was real, and then when she started talking about technology, I was convinced she was really a woman in her 50′s in disguise.

All in all, the book is an excellent winter read. A dazzling escape that brings art, travel, history and politics into the mind of the weary reader battling seasonal depression. I’m confident this would be a fabulous summer read as well, for anybody while on vacation in a place such as The Lake of Dreams or anybody wishing to be on vacation in a place such as The Lake of Dreams. And if you don’t read the book for the art or travel descriptions, read it at least for the extremely informational historical tidbits on feminism and women’s politics. The information is truly astonishing and you will be thankful for the new perspective if you were once ignorant to women’s history from a political standpoint. I would definitely read this book again, it’s definitely a treasure on my bookshelf.

While browsing for a good read the other day that would both make me think and empower me in my line(s) of work, I came across this book by Douglas Rushkoff. It’s called Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age and is published by OR Books. The title caught my eye since I have finally been teaching myself some computer programming this year, but what made me want to order it is that the author,  Douglas Rushkoff, is an extremely forward-thinking intellectual and I trust him to tell the truth about where the world is headed as far as technology and mass media.

The book is definitely for the thinker, or somebody who likes to be challenged to think while reading. I had to re-read several sentences more than a few times and it’s not because I have a hard time reading, it’s because Rushkoff writes a book with only sentences that have meaning. The book is on the small side, but it is full of substance. There is no “filler” material or misplaced wording. There are plenty of “shockers”, pieces of knowledge that were interesting to me, information I was unaware of and stunned to learn. At the time I wished he would have expanded on them, but looking back now I realize then that  the book would have careened off track and lost its focus. The book is clear and concise. Rushkoff makes his point and if hungry for more, you can peruse the “Essential Reading” list at the end of the book, wondering which on the list you should read first like I did.

The book is structured into 10 chapters. Each chapter offers a piece of advice— a rule to live by while living in this digital age. The book does not take a side and say, “Oh all this technology is bad for our kids” or “Oh all this technology at our fingertips is making us superhuman”. Instead, he has given us a guidebook, more like a “how to live” with all this technology and then offers ideas regarding where to go in the future. This “guidebook” should be read by parents and teachers but more importantly by the users of technology today. We all know we have access to the technology, but most of us have never really learned how to use it past building a farm or sending a text. Rushkoff explains to us why it’s important to do more.  The introduction breaks down his simple thesis, “When human beings acquired language, we learned not just how to listen but how to speak. When we gained literacy, we learned not just how to read but how to write. And as we move into an increasingly digital reality, we must learn not just how to use programs but how to make them.” And he goes on to explain why, “In the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software. It’s really that simple: Program, or be programmed. Choose the former, and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make.”

Based on this, I imagined the entire book was going to be about teaching our kids and ourselves how to program. But I was wrong. The book encourages us to think about how much time we spend using technology. Are we “always on”? How many times do we see people paying for something at the grocery store, ignoring the cashier as they busily check their text messages or email on their phone. And then there is the texting and driving. We need to understand why we feel the need to  “always be on” or if not ourselves, our students and children. This book helps us understand.

I was also able to interview Rushkoff— a huge honor. I’m a major fan of his Frontline work on PBS. I asked him some questions regarding teen/young adult behavior online. I am constantly trying to better understand my students, but also the at-risk teens I work with in a group home setting— many of which whom use media to isolate. I asked Rushkoff if people who relate to others mostly through online social networks feel more lonely than those who relate with people face-to-face. I asked him this because in his book, he talks about a socialite who travels from party to party. At each party she texts and updates various statuses but never really interacts with anybody on a face-to-face basis. I wanted to know how this makes a person feel. Rushkoff’s response is surprising: “They have to [feel more lonely], because the human being evolved to receive cues in the real world. Our mirror neurons only fire when we see people nodding, or see their irises widen. Without these cues, we don’t experience connection or reinforcement – at least not in the same way.”

To me, this information is astounding.  Basically it means that one can have 500 “online” friends, but if they never actually get to interact with them face-to-face, they might actually still feel lonely. So in dealing with the depression of at-risk youths I can point out that just because they are social online, this doesn’t necessarily count. They need to actually be social with peers in a real-life setting not just in cyberspace. It’s not just at-risk youth either, there are plenty of adults who are unemployed, depressed and find comfort in online gaming, etc.– only, is this the kind of social interaction they really need in order to feel better? Sometimes what we think is helping us can really be hurting us.

I also asked Rushkoff about the tendency teens have nowadays to be involved in exhibitionist behavior online. His response is another indication of the struggles teens face and their desire to “be heard”. Rushkoff says:

I think it’s an almost counter-phobic or compensatory reaction to disconnection. You can feel it when you do stuff like that. At  least a little.  The more obvious reason, of course, is simply that it gets a reaction. When you’re trained to judge your success, and your very existence, by the number of people who have clicked on you, you will do whatever it takes to get the click. Nothing improves hit count like exhibitionism. That, and cruelty.

Of course it makes sense that their actions might be based on disconnection. If one feels disconnected from their family or peers, it makes sense that there would be a “cry for help”. We see it in girls who cut or refuse to eat. And although certainly not ALL of these teens who behave this way online are “crying for help” much like a cutter does, there is definitely something else going on underneath everything that is saying, “Hey. Look at me.”

The book discusses how our children are affected but it also discusses how adults are affected, businesses, and the economy as well. Chapter 4 covers the idea of complexity. Rushkoff points out that everything programmed is binary. Everything is either yes or no. On page 54 he writes, “. . . At the end of the day, digital technologies are saying either yes or no. This makes digital technology– and those of us using it— biased toward a reduction of complexity.” This is proven by the popularity in the use of search engines. Of course everyone appreciates the time-saving advantages that using a search engine provides, but how many of us, after entering a term and unhappy with the results, actually take a new approach at finding the information we are looking for? I’d bet not many.

In fact, I’d reckon many people use search engines for things they aren’t even intended to be used for. How many people, knowing that it’s easier to click their mouse in the upper right-hand corner of their screen and enter a word– “eBay” for example, do this rather than click in the URL address bar and type out the address they have memorized. Maybe it’s easier to type it in as a search and just click it. It’s less complex yet it doesn’t always give us the information we need which then results in the “dumbing down” of our culture. Typing “eBay” in my search bar right now gives me a link to a news story about Meg Whitman within the top 10 results. Did I want to read up on California politics or buy a new cake pan? Learn how to use the technology— program or be programmed.

“Dumbing down” can happen and will happen if we don’t learn how technology works and take control of it. According to Rushkoff, “. . . the less we know about how it works, the more likely we are to accept its simplified models as reality”. So my phone wants to give me directions using a GPS application. In my mind I’m thinking it might be wrong because the route it is giving me is filled with bright orange detour signs, but I go with it. It’s a smartphone after all! My thermometer says it’s 40 degrees outside right now but my homepage on my computer says it is 35. My computer must be right, it’s a machine after all! Some people will trust technology over science and maybe that shouldn’t be the case unless we understand how the technology works. Again, program or be programmed.

While reading this book, you will be surprised by Rushkoff’s facts about fantasy baseball players hired in managerial roles for real, major league baseball teams, scare the crap out of you with his personal story of what it’s like to be attacked by a hacker (although he makes it sound like it was no big deal), and explain to you why, from an evolutionary standpoint, we feel so strongly about increasing our number of friends on various social networks. Then, if you are not totally convinced why it is important to program or be programmed, he lets us know how our nation’s programming skills stack up against countries like Iran and China.

The book is small, but it’s filled with big ideas and very useful information. I especially recommend it to teachers, parents, those that work with at-risk youth and anyone who uses a computer and social media on a daily basis. You will find the information scary, compelling and ironic, but mostly I think you will find it helpful as we all get used to using this technology or sharing our space with people who use this technology.

Oh, and in case you were wondering at what age Rushkoff thinks we should be teaching our children programming like I was, here is how Rushkoff responded to that question during my interview, “I’d think around 4th grade. Right after long division. Long division is a really good teaching tool, because it’s the first algorithm most of us learn. Once you understand how to do something using the algorithmic shortcut, you have a better understanding of how to develop logical processes to accomplish tasks.”

And so, I know what I am buying my kid for his next birthday: Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners Seriously, after reading this, I’m ready to start him young!

Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

Algonquin Books were generous enough to send me a copy of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey, a bedridden observer of nature who is given a snail in a pot of violets and decides to keep it as a pet. The illness that Bailey experiences makes it extremely difficult for her to sit up even for seconds at a time. This terrible turn of events in Bailey’s life results in a small blessing in which she is given large amounts of time to observe the snail and conduct research on it, resulting in this magical book about one of nature’s tiniest wonders.

Another book came to mind when reading this, The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson. Both books have the ability to transfer the reader to a specific place and/or time in nature and to me, there is no other more relaxing subject matter to read. Bailey tells us what she sees, but she also gives an explanation by referring to Darwin, Dawkins and many more so we get to hear Bailey’s account of what the lip of the snail’s shell looks like where it connects to the body, but then we learn why it is shaped that way. It is more than a book about an illness and an observation, but a book about natural history.

Most interesting to me is the explanation and description of the cupid’s arrow courtship ritual. Bailey did not see this herself since she only had one snail but she learned about it through her readings and shares her information with us. She writes, “The ‘love darts’ Durrell describes are tiny, beautifully made arrows of calcium carbonate, and they look as if they’ve been crafted by the very finest of artisans. They are formed inside the body of the snail over the course of a week and can be as much as one-third the length of the shell.” Amazing! I’m not sure why knowing this information changed my life, but in a way it is cool to know strange and cryptic Jeopardy-question type of facts just for our own personal enrichment. Of course if I bring up in casual conversation at work that snails shoot homemade darts at each other before making love it will only renew everyone’s assumption regarding my mental status but what is important is that I know this information and it has made my own existence in this world more enjoyable.

You do have to admit while reading this book that Bailey’s situation is sad. Imagine going from perfectly healthy thirtysomething year-old to bedridden and unable to sit up. Although the last thing Bailey wants her reader to do is to feel sorry for her (she focuses more on the snail than her own illness) it would have been nice to go a little deeper into her psychological process. I understand this is difficult for some people to do and Bailey wanted the book to be about the snail and not about her but with a little more explanation this book could have been the best self-help book of all time. Bailey talks about the similarities between the lone snail and it’s hermit life and her own. As the illness progresses, more and more people stay away, eventually causing Bailey to feel as though she no longer exists, but is only a ghost or a shell of herself. I think a lot of people who are bedridden can relate and would appreciate a book like this.

I give Bailey a lot of credit for being able to turn a devastating situation into something as lovely as this book. It would be very easy to give up on life, or nature in general. To become absorbed in the television and to lose oneself in the vast mindlessness that is cable television. But she doesn’t do that, she stays true to what she knows and loves which is the natural world and then shares it with millions of readers. What a gift she has given us.

My only disappointment with this book is its length. It’s short (I read it over Labor Day weekend, in a matter of hours) and seems to only scratch the surface. One might ask, “Well, how long can you talk about a gastropod before it becomes a textbook?” True, but as mentioned above, I would have liked to have learned more about Bailey, but also more about the snail. I would have liked to have kept reading longer. Maybe somebody can convince her to write another by offering up another pot of violets, this time with two snails on board.

I am sending this book (US only please) to one random person who comments below. Winner will be chosen Sunday, September 19th and notified via email.

It’s the time of year (at least in Minnesota anyway) when the gardeners are all in limbo. The cold crops can go into the ground but nothing else until May 15th! What do we do while we wait? We need something to make the time go by faster- something that has to do with gardening so we can be outside and at least pretend we are tending to our garden. Most of us have the soil prepped, containers, etc. lugged out, washed off and ready to go. What else can we do that has to do with gardening? Ah-ha! Let’s build something!

The Vegetable Gardener’s Book of Building Projects would definitely make a good Father’s Day present! Women that can swing a hammer will appreciate it’s simplicity but really it was the men in my life who, when found this book laying on their respective countertops, instantly picked it up and began thumbing through it. My dad said he wanted to build something over the weekend and decided to make the potting bench on page 58. He emailed me later in the day and said this:

This project was easy as pie.  It took about 1/2 hour to build the frame, and another 1/2 hour for the rest of it.  I substituted 1×6″ deck boards for the 2×6″ they called for and it still came out pretty good.  The instructions called for about 100 screws, but I bought a small box that had 80 in it, and I used EXACTLY 80.

Here are his photos of his potting bench:

The frame

Completed!

He used old boards from part of the deck he just dismantled. I think you can see that it turned out pretty good and you don’t even necessarily have to use all new materials!

There are some easy projects in the book and some that are more advanced. There are a lot of things in the book like the T-Pea Tower, Compost Bin, Raised Beds and Sifter are projects of things  that we already have and so we wouldn’t need to make them. But there are still plenty of things in the book that we don’t have yet (there are 39 projects included) like the A-Frame Bean and Pea Support, Window Box Planter, Welcoming Arbor and SOLAR DRYER!! Also, there is a even a blueprint for a Flower Press- something I have wanted for a very long time now! I’m sure this book could keep us busy for several years. It is well worth the price.

All of the projects have great photos and illustrations that accompany each description. It’s a very well thought out book and is not at all confusing. The phrase “Simple and easy to use” comes to mind when flipping through the book. I think my dad’s example of what he made in an hour shows how easy the book is to use. Granted he does have some power tool knowledge but is by no means a professional carpenter.

My son had his own project going on this weekend. He wanted a gate for his garden like we have on our garden (yes, he has his own garden). Luckily on pages 78 and 81 there are plans for a garden gate and gate latch. We used the plan for the gate latch since we had to make him a dude-sized gate.

Here’s the back of the gate:

And the front:

We already have some Adirondack chairs but they are plastic. I’d rather have some wood ones to go with the rest of the hand-made things we have around the yard. Maybe my husband will put some together using the plans in the book. They sure would make a nice Mother’s Day present!

Storey Publishing gave me a copy of this book to giveaway. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment below sharing with us whether or not you have ever built anything for your yard or garden.

I will pick one winner at random next Sunday night, April 25th so the deadline will be April 25th at 5pm CST. Good luck! Contest is open to US residents only, sorry!

UPDATE: Congrats to the winner- Angela!

In some ways, the title Spoon Fed: How Eight Cooks Saved My Life is misleading. When I first came across the book on Amazon, I didn’t know who Kim Severson was (I’m not really a foodie and I don’t regularly read The New York Times) so I pictured the author to be someone who had been raised by several nannies, private tutors, boarding school instructors, etc. The old television show Silver Spoons came to mind and honestly I thought this was about a woman who had been raised by other women, silver spoons in hand, spoon feeding her. I was very pleased when after reading the 3rd paragraph in the book my preconceptions were completely shattered. I smiled as I read Severson describe the agony of being passed by a fancy car as she chugged her  rust-bucket of a car up a daunting hill. I instantly knew this was the kind of woman I could relate to because I have definitely been there.

The book is a memoir and includes bites from childhood as well as a few nibbles from the college years, but most of the memoir takes place during the critical time in a woman’s life when she is just establishing her professional career. Severson, who admits to being in love with booze for a portion of her life, spares us the nasty details and coaxes us to trust her, that it was bad. Coming from that sort of tangled past myself, I was sort of hoping for a little more on the subject. However, now that I think about it, I’m not sure I would be willing to uncork that bottle in a tell-all book myself. In fact, as a woman working on establishing my own professional career right now, I know Severson was right to skip the gory details. It shows class.

The book is extremely interesting to me because I am pretty much obsessed with the city of Berkeley and San Francisco, the culinary scene there and Alice Waters in particular. Severson offers several juicy tidbits on what Alice Waters is like in person. I was somewhat afraid to read all of it because Alice Waters is currently my biggest hero. I was worried that I might read something that would bring that all crashing down. Did I? Not quite but it did get a little scary! Alice is after all just a person and this is one of the great points Severson makes in the book. No matter how high a pedestal you put someone on, no matter how much you look up to them or are intimidated by them, always remember that they are just people and that we all started somewhere. No use getting our panties in a wad over semi-celebrity broo-ha-ha when we meet these people. Most likely if your expectations are as high as Mount Everest you will eventually be disappointed. Nobody is perfect.

My second day of reading the book, I found myself using an analogy with my students influenced by a particular part of the book. My students are not culinary students but I think we can all learn many lessons from all thing cooking-related. Severson tells a story about tasting chocolates for four days so that she can write a review on boxed chocolates for Valentine’s Day. After tasting chocolates non-stop the staff has to take a break from their sugar comas to taste a little braised rabbit for another assignment. Severson recounts speaking up that she felt the mustard sauce served with the rabbit was much too strong. She feels proud as her fellow colleagues all agree with her. That is until her boss Michael pipes up that the rabbit needed to be retested in the morning. He tells them it’s not the sauce, it’s their palate. The sugar had altered it. In the morning the rabbit in mustard sauce tastes perfect.

This is a lesson we can all learn from. For my students who are training to be graphic designers, I proposed that their own body of work was the chocolate- their comfort zone. All day, week after week, using the same stand-by colors, the same fonts, all of it begins to taste the same. When they suddenly introduce something new without readjusting their palate or taking a step back, the taste can be shocking. Instead, I suggest they have a little chocolate, but be sure and lay off the chocolate every now and then. Take a break, step back, breathe. Introduce something new slowly. See if it works. Also, don’t judge a new idea blindly. Sleep on it, give it a fresh taste (or “fresh eyes”) in the morning. Don’t be so quick to judge- see what the more experienced people in the room think first. Learn from them.

I learn from the more experienced people in my life everyday. Back to Alice Waters, who inspires me to care about what we eat and more importantly what our kids eat, is a major force behind the White House initiative to get our kids to eat healthy. Severson gives credit where credit is due. As much as I admire the First Lady, it was really Alice that has pushed and pushed for our government to take responsibility for what our kids are eating at school. Before there was Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution there was Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard. I am grateful that so much of this book is dedicated to her and I encourage Severson to write an entire book dedicated to Waters.

Chapter 4 is titled Popular Girls. And what woman did not want to be a popular girl at some point in her life? Severson writes:

I had one brief, glorious run as a popular girl in the early 1970s, when life was all Pixy Stix and slumber parties. Me and my girls ruled Thornbranch Avenue, one of several cul-de-sacs that punctuated a new subdivision on the western edge of Houston. My mom had a tricked-out shag flip that approximated Florence Henderson’s in her later Brady Bunch period. . .I was fully engaged in the carefree life of a child in the 1970s, when a girl could travel without seat belts, play on the street until well after dark and purchase Tareyton cigarettes for her dad without one question from the man at the Stop-n-Go. We felt invincible, running out the screen door every morning with the kind of freedom I would crave the rest of my life. We climbed onto our banana seats, grabbed the chopper handlebars and rode without worry, leaving our bikes on the front lawns when it got dark, knowing they’d be there in the morning.

I’ve only read a few other authors who, when I read their words, a movie instantaneously plays in my head. Hunter S. Thompson comes to mind. Severson, here, is on the same level. Maybe it’s because I can relate (Severson is a good 10 years older than me but because I was raised in Nebraska, always a decade behind the times, our childhoods were similar). But the stories here are ones that make me nod my head, smiling to myself, and the lessons learned make me wish I would have read this book in my 20s and not my 30s.

I’m always on the lookout for stories coming out of post-Katrina New Orleans and there is one included in this book. Severson talks about Mrs. Chase and the 2-year shutdown of her famous restaurant, Dooky’s. To this day, I really don’t think people realize just how bad Katrina changed that great city. And what’s more heartbreaking is that I don’t think many people actually care about the aftermath or progress. Severson describes what it was like walking around New Orleans soon after Katrina happened. She introduces us to Mrs. Chase, an amazing woman who is the most “glass half full” person I have ever read about. she’s truly inspiring. Anybody that can see the positive in such a disaster is truly an amazing person. Reading about Mrs. Chase’s opinion on Katrina and its aftermath is incredibly inspiring.

Throughout the book, it almost seemed as if somewhere, somehow, my path must have crossed with Severson’s at some point. Maybe it was the day I walked past the San Francisco Chronicle when I was visiting my brother in 2002. Maybe it was when she was interviewing Miss Edna Lewis in Atlanta, Georgia and I was there traipsing around Buckhead on one of my day trips from Montgomery. Perhaps it was at the Minneapolis Airport when she was flying in to visit relatives up around her homeland of Cumberland, Wisconsin. Maybe that’s what I like so much about this book. We’ve been to a lot of the same places, have a lot in common and admire the same people. All it seemed except maybe one. . .

I was a fan of Rachel Ray for about a month. Then it seemed like she turned into this behemoth overnight- new show, lots of new books, cookware line, olive oil line, etc., etc. It’s hard for me to trust what someones motives are when it is so much so quick. I’m the last person to jump on a fad bandwagon. In fact, if something is popular I tend to resist it on principle. The somewhat “last straw” for me with Rachel Ray happened when I was watching her show and I noticed that every time something “exciting” happened on the show (look at how this dish turned out!) the same male voice would yell, “WOO!” or “YEAH!” and then the audience would follow. I immediately associated it with canned laughter and realized it was most likely a floor director or perhaps even a straight-up hired yelp man whose job was simply to drum up fake enthusiasm. I realize it’s TV and all but still, it seems a little dishonest, shallow or fake. I just couldn’t get over it and therefore stopped watching. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s an honest gal, I just don’t think the theatrics are necessary. But I guess I never realized where and what Rachel Ray came from. After reading her background in this book I have to admit, my opinion of her has changed. I think she deserves it all. She’s worked for it.

Summing up what I’ve read is easy. It’s an excellent book. Juicy tidbits, great story-telling, yummy recipes as an added bonus at the end of each chapter. . . it’s everything I desire in a book. Most importantly, it’s about strength. The strength to get over these hang-ups we women sometimes face. For example, I was completely nervous when sitting down to write this review. I worried about reviewing a book written by someone who writes for The New York Times. Then is dawned on me that if I was nervous about that then the entire point of the book was lost on me. I was forgetting what Severson was saying so clearly- quit worrying about being good enough. Stop trying to keep up with the Jones’. No more comparison between you and that person you really admire! You will only drive yourself insane! You look up to them and they look up to someone else and them to someone else and on and on . . break the cycle! Be yourself, be free and you will be happy.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I really like finding and supporting smaller publishers. You have to respect what they do. By publishing lesser known writers, they are providing us with a true cross-section of what our world is like. More opinions= a freer society in my opinion. I came across Storey Publishing a few months ago. I love their mission statement:

To serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Storey Publishing publishes a lot of well-known gardening books but I wanted to find something a little different. I found Don’t Throw It, Grow It!: 68 windowsill plants from kitchen scraps and knew I wanted to give it a try. Free plants from scratch? Yes, please!
My first impression of the book was that from a design standpoint, it’s well done. The use of color,  illustrations, typography and layout is top-notch. That being said, I wish they could have incorporated at least some photographs. I would love to see what a Meyer Lemon tree looks like when grown indoors. In a way, it almost makes it seem unbelievable that these seeds can be grown indoors without the “proof” of pictures. This is a minor complaint but I am always a sucker for good color photography.

The book is 150 short pages and divided into 6 chapters. There is a little how-to basic gardening in the beginning and then the book is divided according to vegetables, fruits and nuts, herbs and spices and the regions of Latin America and Asia. The author warns in the introduction that most seeds grown outside of the US that have been imported have gone through an irradiation process, killing the DNA and therefor making the seeds sterile. In my neck of the woods, we don’t have a lot of fruits available for purchase that are not grown outside the US so my options are a little limited.

There are some tips I’ve heard before such as growing and eating your own bean sprouts (yummy and cheap) and then some I have not heard before (sweet corn sprouts, anyone?). There are plenty of plants discussed in the book that I have never heard of before (loquat, litchi, daikon, etc.) so it is educational, however, I’m not sure how I would ever get my hands on something like that in my region.

Who this book is for:

• People in urban areas who want to grow a few houseplants for free.
• People who have children and are very interested in teaching them about how plants grow but don’t have a garden.
• Retired folks with a lot of time on their hands who want to grow something exotic.
• People with patience, space and access to a lot of interesting fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts and spices (non-imported).

I definitely want to get my hands on a Meyer Lemon and grow one of those indoors. It would be neat to take it outside in the summer and bring it indoors over the winter like we do our 5-year old Habanero.  According to the book, it may bloom in its 4th year. Wow- that’s a long wait. But I think it would be worth it!!

Storey Publishing was very kind in providing me with a copy of this book to giveaway on my blog.

Because I am mailing the book myself, I can only open the contest to U.S. readers at this time. The winner will be announced Friday morning, April 9th. Deadline to enter is Midnight, Thursday night.

To enter, please leave a comment below telling me if you have ever started anything indoors from seed with kitchen scraps. (If you haven’t, just tell me what you would like to try to grow indoors from kitchen scraps.)

Good luck!

**Update** The winner of this giveaway via Random.org is #3, Jessica. Congrats!

I ordered a couple of new gardening books this year as I usually do every year. It seems like I am usually disappointed with the books I’ve received in the past because the books never really say anything new or maybe it’s just that the pictures aren’t as good as they should be. Mostly it’s probably because the style the book is written in doesn’t fit me. But I have finally found a gardening book that fits me perfectly and it’s put together beautifully!

Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces is a great book for beginners or intermediate gardeners geared towards those who want to do it organically and are working with smaller spaces. But even if you have the space, the book still applies to you- it’s just a bonus for those of you that want to do it on your deck. There are tips on what to grow, how to grow it, troubleshooting and oh yes, even recipes and long-term storage. The pictures will make you swoon first, and then make you jump online so you can order up everything from various seed stores so you can grow what she’s growing.

The author, Gayla Trail (@yougrowgirl on Twitter) won me over instantly in the introduction when she began talking about sustainability and urban farming in Cuba. I’ve known about this for a while now but I don’t think most people would have guessed how good the Cubans have it. She writes, “Right now, all over the world, urban gardeners are successfully contributing to local food economies in inspiring ways. In Havana, Cuba, a reported 50 to 80 percent of the city’s fresh produce is grown in urban gardens- all of it organically grown!” Think about that! The people of Havana, Cuba are eating better than most people in the U.S.! I don’t know about you, but I want to give my family the best and that is why we garden.

With this book, there are no excuses. Trail even has examples of things you can grow inside. One of her ideas is growing earthy sprouts indoors on a windowsill in a recycled container. I planted the seeds Sunday. . . it is now Tuesday. . . I am not even kidding you- look what happened in 48 hours:

I’m so excited! Soon I am going to have micro-greens to just snip and toss into my salad. Yum! Super easy and super healthy.

The author takes a lot of the guessing work out of it for you and makes numerous suggestions on what things to plant together. One combination I will be trying for sure is a suggestion shown on page 21: violas, strawberries and “Purple Ruffles” basil all in a strawberry jar. The look is very antiquated which I sometime like to go for but if that isn’t your style she has plenty of contemporary suggestions as well.

She tells you how to make new plants from cuttings (very easy), how to harden your seedlings off, how to grow an edible windbreak, how to understand light, and on and on and on. I guess what I like best about this book is she tells you the basics in plain English and then moves on. There aren’t entire chapters dedicated to each and every single pest problem, disease, etc. imaginable complete with Latin translations and all that other boring stuff. I get bored with that sort of thing. If I have a problem I Google it. I don’t dig out my gardening encyclopedias and search page after page. Also, I didn’t major in Latin or Botany for a reason- I have a short attention span!

This book is great for people who are creative, want to learn the basics or a little more about gardening and appreciate Rage Against the Machine and other musical references (there’s a section in Chapter 6 titled Know Your Enemy).

This is definitely going to turn into my worn-out “old stand-by” gardening book. I really do love it and highly recommend it. Now get growing!