Crazy in the Kitchen

Crazy in the Kitchen (2004) by Louise DeSalvo. Subtitled Food, Feuds and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family, this book explores the dynamics of a recent Italian-American family, DeSalvo's own, and also harks back to the old country, where her grandparents lived in extreme poverty in the southern Puglia region of Italy. The place they came from, DeSalvo's grandfather told her, was like a parent who wouldn't feed its hungry children. It was a wild place, a savage place, a place her grandparents swore they would never return to, not even to visit. But DeSalvo herself did return to visit, to try to trace her roots, and her adventures in Italy are a foody's delight to read. Also engrossing is the section of the book devoted to her stepgrandmother and her mother, their wild feuding as they were forced to share a house and a kitchen. This book was a delightful discovery and I recommend it highly. Grade: A-

The Fry Chronicles

The Fry Chronicles (2012) by Stephen Fry. The England-bred author, whom I had never heard of, describes his career at Cambridge and his subsequent rise in the world of entertainment. Among his friends he counts Hugh Laurie, star of House, and Emma Thompson, star of numerous motion pictures. I recognized their names and faces, so that was something, but most of the people and places name-checked in this book were unfamiliar to me, so I missed out on the flavor of the writing. In fact, I got tired of reading it and quit about 3/4 of the way through. For certain people, I'm sure this will be a wonderful, enjoyable book, but for me reading it was more work than pleasure. Grade: B-

Northwest Corner

Northwest Corner (2011) by John Burnham Schwartz. In Northwest Corner, Schwartz picks up again the story started in his earlier novel, Reservation Road. It starts with Dwight's son, Sam, getting in trouble during a bar fight after striking out during the college baseball championships. Sam travels to California, where Dwight has relocated, but Sam seems unsure of why he's come. Ruth, his mother, comes and fetches him back to Connecticut, where he must face the consequences of his actions in the bar fight. The story is very well told, with the point of view shifting among the several characters throughout the book, and with only Dwight's part of the story told in the first person. It's quite good, really, but somehow I couldn't quite get engaged completely with the story. Probably more my fault than the book. If you've read and enjoyed Reservation Road, you will very likely find Northwest Corner quite rewarding. Grade: B

The Family Fang

The Family Fang (2011) by Kevin Wilson. Creative, original, funny and tragic -- these are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind after reading this book. It's about the Fang family -- Caleb and Camille, the parents, and Annie and Buster, the kids. As a group, they are performance artists, although Annie and Buster are just doing it to appease their parents. They like to stage happenings at malls, where there are large numbers of gullible strangers that they can dupe. They arrange little dramas, where they pretend not to know one another but act in concert to create as much chaos as possible. And they make sure that someone, usually Annie or Buster, is on hand with a camera to film the action. If you're wondering how Fang is pronounced, I'm pretty sure it's fang, as opposed to fong. They are not Asian. I greatly enjoyed this book, and it ends in perhaps the only way it can. Not necessarily a happy ending, but a satisfying one. Grade: A-

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea (2012) by Morgan Callan Rogers. This is a beautifully told tale, set on the Maine seashore, of the coming of age of a girl named Florine. About forty pages in, the book grabs you by the heart and won't let go. Twelve-year-old Florine worships her mother, Carlie, which makes it all the more painful when, on a short vacation with a friend, Carlie disappears. Florine and her father spend the next several years in agony, always wondering what could have happened to Carlie -- did she leave them, or was she taken from them? Meanwhile, Florine goes through all the mixed-up times of growing from a girl of twelve to a woman of 18. She lives with her beloved grandmother, Grand, after her father takes up with Stella, a horror of a woman who moves into the picture shortly after Carlie disappears. I found this book compulsively readable and could hardly put it down until I had finished it. Grade: A

Wishful Drinking

Wishful Drinking (2008) by Carrie Fisher. The daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher is the product of what she calls "Hollywood in-breeding." She suffers from bipolar disorder, and is an alcoholic and drug addict. These are the shocking facts about the actress who played Princess Leia that are revealed, not for the first time, in this book. Her writing style is at times amusing, at times scattered. I had a feeling that the book should have been delicious reading, but her telling of her story is so acerbic that it is almost unpleasant to read. She certainly doesn't seem to have reached any "happy ending." Nevertheless, it is nice to know what finally happened to Princess Leia. Grade: B

Wild Abandon

Wild Abandon (2011) by Joe Dunthorne. At a commune in England, people talk and argue and generally get on each other's nerves. It's a back-to-basics community, and the core family is Don and Freya and their children Kate, 17, and Albert, 11. The book introduces us to various primitive aspects of the commune, and we experience the different loyalties and the people who are not well liked. At the end of the book comes an apocalyptic party, all run by battery power generated by solar energy. It's a fairly interesting book, but it seemed to run slightly off the rails in the last 50 pages or so. I was somewhat disappointed in the ending. Grade: B

The Art of Fielding

The Art of Fielding (2011) by Chad Harbach. The Art of Fielding is a novel that is more about people than about baseball, but baseball plays a key role. Henry Skrimshander is a shortstop, and the book revolves around him. He has a natural talent that inexplicably deserts him halfway through the book, when he starts overthinking his throws to first. He is recruited to Westish College by Mike Schwartz, a talented motivator who happens to see Henry playing one day during his senior year of high school. Intertwined with the lives of Henry and Mike are the lives of Guert Affenlight, president of Westish College; Affenlight's daughter, Pella; and Henry's roommate Owen Dunne, an openly gay member of the baseball squad with whom President Affenlight falls in love. I found this to be a highly readable book, involving and enjoyable all the way, except for the pain a reader naturally feels when a superman like Henry loses his powers. The love affair between Guert and Owen seemed a little forced, since Affenlight had been a heterosexual for all of his 60 years up till then, but I decided it might be possible. The book ends on a positive note, and I think it is a book I will remember. Grade: B+