Slurp : Drinks and Light Fare, All Day, All Night by Nina Dreyer Hensley, Jim Hensley, & Paul Løwe

This review refers to an advanced copy received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Slurp is the kind of "casual living" book that would be at home in a Crate & Barrel or a Pottery Barn. It's bold, glossy color photographs, modern glassware and exotic ingredients speak to suburbanites trying to add a touch of glamour to their parties. Unfortunately, that glossy exterior belies the impracticality of trying to incorporate these recipes into your event.

The book is divided into times of the day with appropriate food and drinks for hosting during those times. While they use the terms Morning, Daytime and Evening, the recipes are really geared towards a Sunday Brunch, Casual Lunch, and Cocktail Party. I've evaluated each section based on ease of preparation, availability of the ingredients, party-friendliness and host-friendliness. Party-friendly recipes should be versatile and allow guests to relax and enjoy themselves. Host-friendly recipes should be easy to prepare in advance, translate easily into larger quantities for a sizeable party, and allow the host to participate in the party, not just serve guests.

The Daytime grouping is really successful in terms of a summer lunch party. The carrot and ginger soup could be prepared early and reheated (or served cool), and any of the refreshing salads can be stored until needed. The drinks featured, such as lemonade, iced tea, sangria and daiquiris, can be made in large batches and kept tableside for easy guest access. The frozen coffee granita would be a nice summer dessert. I only have a quibble with the omission of gin from their Long Island drink recipe (unforgiveable!). It's a good grouping overall.

In the Morning section, the recipes are promising, though some are problematic. The standout foods are the zucchini and feta omelet, Moroccan pancakes and baked plums, all of which will work well with a small group. The drinks are an issue. Several drink recipes call for the use of a juicer, which can be a pricey investment. Several of the important ingredients, such as watermelon, papaya, passion fruit and mango, are only available seasonally, or not at all, in some markets. The coffee drinks all require use of espresso and another equipment investment, albeit a more useful one than a juicer.

The Evening grouping is the least successful part of this book. Again, I evaluated this as though I were hosting a cocktail party - the food is not substantial enough for dinner, unless served as appetizer. A cocktail party has different constraints from a lunch party. Portability is a big concern. Also, the food must be able to hold up well. The host shouldn't have to run in and out of the kitchen all night.

There were some bright spots with the food. The return on investment with the spiced nuts, sweet potato chips, marinated olives and gazpacho are great. They show the gazpacho being served in a martini-sized glass, but that creates portability problems, especially if you have a real martini in the other hand and a small plate of food. I would add an ounce of vodka to the recipe (boast the flavors), then serve it in shot or cordial glasses. Then guests can get the flavors and carry the glass on their plate. The tuna slices on cucumber are also nice. They can be prepared ahead of time and kept on trays in the refrigerator. The shrimp skewers, which they pair with the gazpacho, would work well, but they call for it to be served warm. Unless you're serving these at an outdoor barbeque, that means you'll need a chafing dish.

The spring rolls, mini focaccia, and goat cheese tartlets all sound great, but they all have to be served warm. Unless you can afford a caterer to bake these and serve them hot thoughout the party, skip them and enjoy the party.

The drinks in this section are completely uninspired. A Cosmopolitan? Is there anyone who doesn't know how to make that? They also do not translate well into pitcher-size mixes, which would lessen the need to play bartender for your guests and allow the host to control expenses (have a reasonable variety of pre-mixed drinks instead of buying a ton of liquor to fit every individual taste).

While this is a pretty book with a well-intentioned concept, it fails the practicality test. A good cookbook or drink guide should give more information on interesting recipe variations, pitfalls to avoid, and techniques to use. For example, the watermelon and mint salad on p. 53 could become a fantastic summer salad by adding sliced cucumber and tossing the ingredients with some gin. Noting that the authors are two photographers and a food stylist, I suspect the recipes are not their own creations and were chosen for aesthetic reasons.

Thank you to LibraryThing and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to review this book!

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on April 11th, 2008.

The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret by Seth Shulman

The Telephone Gambit is journalist Seth Shulman's chronicle of his delvings into history and a remarkable tale of intrigue and deceit at the heart of the telephone invention story.

While researching for a book on Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, Shulman ponders Bell's great imaginative leap from his telegraphic research to a working model of the telephone. Curious, he studies Bell's hastily drawn diagram of the telephone and later discovers its indisputable source: the "secret" caveat filing of rival telegraphic genius Elisha Gray at the U.S. Patent Office.

What follows is an interesting evaluation of the motives, means and opportunities behind one of the boldest thefts in the history of science, and Shulman's thoughts on what this says about our accepted wisdom.

All in all, it's a quick and very pleasant read to stimulate the thought. While some might appreciate a more "academic" treatment of the material, I found this journalistic approach related better to a modern lay-historian trying to understand the past. I freely recommend this to anyone with interests in the history of science or inventions.

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on March 25th, 2008.

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

This review refers to an Advance Reading Copy and may not reflect the final published edition.

Bonk: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex is author Mary Roach's latest meandering exploration of the weird world of scientific research. Within its pages, Roach pokes, prods and penetrates the often bizarre and hilariously funny aspects of sex research. In a new twist, she gets first-hand observations not previously possible in Stiff or Spook - those of the research subject.

Mary Roach writes in her familiar style: quick, witty, and never meeting a tangent she didn't like. Considering the subject, the jokes are rampant. While amusing, the asides and footnotes occasionally have a stultifying effect on the narrative. I sometimes found myself losing interest in the subject. Fortunately, Roach changes tack frequently enough that another, more interesting subject is always on the horizon.

Speaking of subjects, they are plentiful: male and female arousal, erections, orgasms, vibrators, and that sexual equivalent of body-building, the Kegel exercise. But, the most interesting subject is Roach herself, who takes a turn being observed by researchers and brings her (very understanding) husband along for the ride.

Roach wanders from subject to subject in a rather free-floating way, so consider yourself advised that there is no "point" to this work. As in other works, her approach is journalistic: she reports some new things learned about sex research, then throws in an editorial wink-and-a-smile. However, one does regret she didn't follow up with the same final page as in Stiff: "How to Donate Your Body to Science."

NOTE: A very great "Thank You!" to W.W. Norton and LibraryThing for the opportunity to review this book.

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on March 16th, 2008.

Tipperary by Frank Delaney

This review refers to an Advance Reader's Edition and may not reflect the final published edition. Relevant plot points are noted below, so be advised.

Tipperary Castle lives a life of its own as events unfold in this story: it sits decrepit, rotting and structurally unsound, it undergoes a magnificent renovation, and then it lies in ruins. Ironically, it is a metaphor for the novel, Tipperary, itself.

The primary fault in the novel revolves around an over-complicated and confusing narrative structure. The narrative voice switches among several people, all speaking in the first person, and across historical timeframes with little or no warning. The effect is particular jarring for the first half of the book where interruptions by the modern narrator are frequent and unnecessary. (i.e. We should "see" the history, not be given an irrelevant overview.) Still, there are the bones of a good story in the Charles O'Brien narrative. I liken this to pre-restoration Tipperary Castle.

Once the restoration of the castle begins, the narrative is allowed to progress a little more naturally, though still with multiple voices. Again, the modern narrator is interruptive, especially with his repetition of the other narratives. Despite that, the story becomes interesting and plot lines are fleshed out a bit. One actually starts to care about the outcome of the characters' lives. This I liken to Tipperary Castle in all its splendor.

In the end, however, the "modern narrator as character" plot device comes home to roost in the ruined shell of Tipperary Castle. The multi-faceted end to the unsuspenseful mystery of the modern narrator is laid out with the abruptness of a lightning strike on a roof. The novel lies in ruins.

The "historic" components of the story would be wonderful on their own, even presented as a series of letters and journal entries. The mysteries of the April Burkes and the characters' veiled personalities would have been so much richer, both in the set-ups and the revelations. As the novel currently stands, I cannot recommend it.

NOTE: Thank you to Random House and LibraryThing for the opportunity to review this book!

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on August 22nd, 2007.

Visual Shock: A History of Art Controversies in American Culture by Michael Kammen

American culture is founded on fiercely cherished principles of individual freedom coupled with a democratic process that values the vox populi. It should come as no surprise that these principles have frequently found themselves at odds in the course of our nation's lifetime. Where individual expression meets the public sphere controversy is bound to erupt.

Michael Kammen's Visual Shock is an ambitious attempt to weave a coherent history of art controversies from several divergent threads that center around the interaction of art with the public sphere. Beginning in the 19th century, he traces social changes in the way Americans view art, in the way artists view art, in the functions of art museums, in the democratization of art, in the role of public art, etc., and shows how these changes have played a role in significant art controversies in the United States. Omnipresent in this history are the political battles fought over particular works and the resultant fallout. Readers will recognize many such battles (i.e. Jesse Helms vs. the National Endowment for the Arts) and be introduced to many others.

How well is Kammen's history woven? The book is certainly well-researched and provides ample citations. His writing style is pleasant and easily understood(despite too frequent use of the word 'contretemps'). The narrative structure of the book is less successful, I think. While chronological organization is not always the best device for a history, a heavy dose of it would have been useful here. Kammen chose to organize the work thematically, and this leads to frequent repetition of events (and personalities involved) that would be better understood if addressed in a single, comprehensive manner. In other words, he should have woven the themes through the chronology rather than tracing the chronology in each theme.

Criticism aside, this is a book worth reading. It's a broad look at issues in our culture that are too quickly forgotten, if they were ever noticed at all.

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on August 22nd, 2007.

Feast: A History of Grand Eating by Roy C. Strong

Feast is akin to a dinner party on a Wednesday evening: it's nothing extravagant and it will not provide fodder for cocktail party conversations, but it's still better than eating at home. Strong's book analyzes the history of dining among the upper echelons of European societies from antiquity through the Edwardian period. It gives great attention to the effects of such innovations as forks and industrialization on dining trends, and maps those trends across time and regions. One drawback of this trend-following tactic is that it gives the work a disjointed feel. Strong's writing is also fairly dry and academic, which frequently led to my falling asleep. Minor criticism aside, it is a very informative book and an adept history. I would especially recommend it to anyone writing (or filming) period pieces.

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on May 29th, 2007.

Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of A Man Who Rescued A Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky

In the period from 1939 - 1945, most of the Yiddish-speaking world was destroyed in the Holocaust. A language with a thriving literary tradition virtually disappeared. The books that survived this period suffered an ignomious fate: to be ignored by the non-Yiddish speaking children of Holocaust survivors. Outwitting History is a compelling memoir of a man who saved Yiddish books from destruction and neglect, and thus saved an important part of Jewish history.

Originally posted @ LibraryThing on June 5th, 2006.