friday january 09
Take one mildly obsessive food writer who grew up in New Jersey surrounded by sacred mountains of Italian food, especially "the Christmas Ravioli", which requires hours and hours to make by hand. Author Laura Schenone explores her family's past to find the exact recipe, no small feat since certain members of the family have not been on speaking terms with other members of the family for a couple of decades. The desire to connect with her culinary heritage is so strong that Schenone travels to the Italian region of Liguria where her great-grandparents were born so that she might learn how to create that ancestral pasta, eloquently described as 'gossamer' when it hits the palate. The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family (2008) not only provides a good read, but a heartfelt look at a small coastal section of Italy and those treasured family recipes as well.
In addition to her travels, Ms. Schenone did some intensive research on the authentic cuisine of northern Italy. These related titles, which are included in Schenone's bibliography, are available in the Library's collection:
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wednesday january 07
When Katniss Everdeen volunteers to be a tribute for the Hunger Games in place of her sister, it is an honor only in the eyes of the Capitol. The Hunger Games are an annual game of survival for children living in the Districts surrounding the Capitol as punishment for an uprising almost 75 years ago. Every year, a raffle for children ages 12-18 is conducted to see who fights to the death on national television for the entertainment of all citizens.
But the poor have a higher chance of their names being drawn - because if you put your name in more than the single entry required by law (which increases every year), you can earn extra food for your starving family. Even though some Districts produce food, people are still starving due to strict theft laws.
So when Katniss volunteers, she does so with the full knowledge that she will probably not survive, but at least she has saved her sister for another year. But the knowledge that her government continues to condone the killing of children for entertainment leads to a new twist on the game...
Suzanne Collins, author of the popular Gregor the Overlander series, has outdone herself with this stunning portrayal of true survival of the fittest. The Hunger Games is a fast-paced thriller set in an oddly familiar world, where killing your neighbor may be your only chance to survive.
Some books pull you so deep inside the lives of nonexistent people that you have to shake yourself when you come up for air in real life again. Philip Hensher’s The Northern Clemency is one of those.
The story begins in 1974, as Katherine Glover throws a cocktail party for her neighbors in the northern English coal town of Sheffield. It’s a slightly unusual social occasion for the street, so everyone except the teenagers has on their party manners.
What they don’t know (and the reader gradually learns) is that their hostess’s bright chattiness is because she has invited Nick, her boss at the flower shop, with whom she is infatuated. And their host’s gentle but equally artificial pleasantness is because he believes that Katherine has taken Nick for a lover.
The way Hensher skims among the thoughts of the party guests and hints at the complicated relationships in the Glover family should set you right up for this rich, sympathetic, comic and tragic novel.
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