Surely what you’re thinking is that this is a beach read, a summer read, something light and romancy, or just plain “light.” Nope. Altogether different. If you read the Mediterranean Summer cover’s fine print, it indicates a story about the Med’s coastal destinations. Travel book, maybe? Nope. It’s a memoir and a fascinating one. About David Shalleck, an accomplished chef already, after doing a bunch of stages in Europe (where chefs work for short stints in well known restaurants, to gain experience), decides to accept a job working as the chef on a mega-yacht, cruising around the Med for a summer.

Not wanting to give away the story, I’m just going to say that IF you’re interested in food, cooking (sometimes very difficult under sail), a bit of coastal travel thrown in, and enjoy reading about the interior running of a mega-yacht, you might be interested to read this book. Once on board, the owners (wealthy couple from Italy, but the wife did all the talking) gave him direction. Always the best quality. Always fresh food. Almost everything fish and shellfish, maybe a bit of poultry. No red meat. Use inspiration from whatever seaport we’re in. Make the meals different – i.e., never serve the same thing twice. That last one would have slayed me! And to be prepared to serve a large crowd at a moment’s notice. At one of their ports he had to prepare lavish food for 100 people. That took some creativity and planning including storing some of the food in the anchor well. I laughed a bit over that!

This isn’t a cookbook, although there are a few recipes at the end – including one chocolate cake that the owner (the wife) said yes, he could make that again – but I’ll just say I didn’t copy out the recipe because it looks to be an enormous amount of work! There are recipes for some varieties of fish not available in the U.S., although I suppose you could substitute.

It’s a charming story. Zero romance. But a very interesting read. As many of you readers know, my DH (dear husband, who passed away 11 years ago) was a sailor at heart and he hoped when we got together in 1961, that we’d sail around the world together someday. I get very seasick, so that never happened. But having spent many an hour trying to cook in the tiny galley aboard our 37-foot sailboat, always on inland waters and bays, I can certainly identify with the author about the issues regarding cooking on board a boat. After Shalleck’s stint on the yacht, he returned to the U.S. and worked with Jacque Pepin for years, and with Joanne Weir, for both, though, in the background. And I was pleased to read that he’s married, with two children, and lives in the Bay Area.

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A post from Carolyn. I don’t know about you, but over this last week, reliving the events of 9/11 have been heartwrenching. Will we ever un-see the devastation of those planes plunging into the Twin Towers? I doubt it. I remember being riveted to the TV that day back in 2001, wanting to know more and feeling further wrenched when we did, with the tumbling-down of both buildings. Knowing about all the people stuck on those upper floors. Seeing firefighters entering both buildings, seeing people streaming out, some covered in muck. On Sept. 12th (last week) I watched a documentary about it all, and found myself sobbing as I again felt the surreal impact of those planes as I watched TV. I cried and cried.

For a long, long time after 9/11 I couldn’t read a book about it. It was too painful. But I kept up with whatever news came about, but I couldn’t bring myself to read a book, and there were many. I was so proud of our country and the coming together we did as a nation. And here it is, 20 years later, and as I perused a table at my local library, there was a book about Windows on the World – the restaurant. I picked it up – I think I was the first person to check out the book.

This book, The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World: The Twin Towers, Windows on the World, and the Rebirth of New York isn’t just about what happened on 9/11 (in fact, only 10-15 pages of it, at the end, explains much about the people who were already at work that tragic morning and ended up stuck on the 106th and 107th floors) but the book is about the entire life-history of the restaurant itself. And the people who ran it and worked there.

It is about its inception, how the name came about, who designed it, the architecture of the building itself, to the architecture/design within the many restaurants in the Twin Towers, all operating under the same umbrella. Even down to the little things like the silverware and dishes. About the hundreds of people who worked there, from the chefs, sous-chefs, captains, waiters, busboys, delivery folk, the wine guy, and a lot about Joe Baum, the guy who conceived the restaurant and brought it into being with long and detailed negotiations with the Port Authority who actually financed and owned the buildings. James Beard played a major consulting role at Windows, did you know that? Imagine the procuring of all the food, and how it was stored. And it’s about the electric ranges (yes, electric – that was quite interesting – the Port Authority felt pumping gas up 107 floors was too dangerous and they were probably right), and about the charcoal grill that was allowed. About the menus, and the various food tastings that took place over the many decades. About the food reviews from various newspapers, the ups and downs of relationships – who was in charge, who gave the orders, and the various in-fighting that occurred.

I’ve never worked in a restaurant, so have no first-hand knowledge of the hierarchy of a restaurant other than what I’ve picked up by reading Anthony Bourdain (gee, I miss that TV show of his too) and from watching the Food Network. Even if you come from a restaurant background, I expect this Windows book would be delightful reading. I always wanted to eat at Windows but never did. Not sure why – just never got around to it. (Of course, living in California had something to do with that!).

The writer of the book, Tom Roston, did a masterful job of bringing all the disparate parts of the story together, with enough personal-interest stories about the people, to make you want to keep reading. I think this book would make a great gift if you have someone in your family in the restaurant business. Or read it yourself if you have interest in Windows. Maybe you did eat there and have good memories of it. Well worth reading. I devoured it. There are no recipes in the book, just so you know, although there were mentions of a famous Venice Wine Cake (a well kept secret by Rozanne Gold, and never on a Windows’ menu) and a variety of comfort foods like Irish Stew, and plenty of international foods that lived a long or short life on the Windows’ menus. Also an interesting story about Blue Trout. All very interesting.

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Oh my goodness. Where does one begin explaining this book. It’s positively mesmerizing. I could hardly put it down. I wanted to snatch up my Kindle at all hours or day and evening to find out what was going to happen next. My favorite kind of read.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a treasure. Not only the story itself – about a girl (very young) who is basically abandoned by her mother first, then a couple of  years later by her drunken and abusive father, yet she survives by herself, living on the edge of civilization (in the hinter marshland in North Carolina near the ocean), yet only a mile or so from a small town. In a primitive shack. But that’s not really the story. From the time Kya was a child she was interested in the wildlife in the marshy lands near her home. She became one with nature – the birds would mingle like one with her. She collected things, she observed the birds, lizards and insects in how they lived, mated, died. She collected shells and weeds and flowers. And she learned to harvest some food. And sell mollusks to buy more food to survive. She didn’t go to school.

Oh, but I’m giving away the story, and I can’t do that. You just have to read this book. The author is a naturalist/scientist by profession and has written other books, like Cry of the Kalahari. Many years of Owens’ life she and her husband lived in Africa, as scientists, studying the desert. I have that book on my Kindle and haven’t ever read it. I bought it to read while I was on safari some years ago, and never got around to it. Shame on me! I will now.

The author has a way with words – they’re lyrical – they’re poetic – they’re haunting. I highlighted many paragraphs on my Kindle to go back and read again later. Such beautiful writing. If you enjoy that kind of read, you’ll be doubly happy reading this book.

It’s difficult to categorize this book – probably 60% of it is about Kya’s growing up, her coming of age, and she does make a couple of friends. I can’t tell you more. There is a murder mystery involved, but this book is nothing like a common mystery novel. There’s also some poetry intermingled in the text. I must thank my reader Peg K for recommending this book to me. Thank you so much, Peg, for the suggestion. This has leaped up in my own list of favorites. I almost want to buy the hardcover just so I have it in my book collection. The book was published in 2018, so it’s still pricey in any form if you purchase it. Maybe you can find it at the library. Put it on your amazon wish list. But you’ve got to read it. Reese Witherspoon is going to produce a movie – I can’t wait.

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In case you might be thinking about a book to give to someone in your life who is a book lover, THIS is the book for you! Or for her/him.

The Library Book – I bought my copy at Costco, but so I hear, it’s mostly sold out already. I’m glad I have the hard copy. It’s a book I want in my personal collection.

Back in 1986, the main library in downtown Los Angeles nearly burned to the ground. It was a catastrophic event. As thousands of books burned, microfiche files, precious collections, people from all over were affected. The day after the fire, with smoke still eddying from here and there, hundreds of people (not experts, not fire authority employees, just ordinary people who wanted to help) came to the library and with thousands of books at peril from smoke or water damage (mold) people lined up and thousands of books were packed into boxes and carted to places all over the city. Some into restaurant refrigerators or purveyor’s walk-ins (to keep mold from forming) and others just to have a place to keep them until the city could figure out what to do. I smiled at the thought of boxes of books sharing the shelves with leeks and tomatoes, saffron and cream.

Susan Orlean, the author of The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession (Ballantine Reader’s Circle) has written an amazing book about the library fire. From nearly the first page I was taken in with Orlean’s lyrical writing, her adept use of words and phrases, conjuring up the devastation, the fire itself, and the aftermath. And the mind of the man who allegedly started the fire, Harry Peak. Never convicted of the crime, even his mostly wasted life is explored in this book.

You might think, what could I possibly learn from reading a book about a fire? But this was no ordinary fire since tens of thousands of books burned, countless thousands more suffered severe damage from the smoke and/or water. You’ll learn all about how fire works – the physics of fire and what it can do it an old-old building like the library. And you’ll learn about all of the various one-of-a-kind collections the library had. Many now gone.

You’ll learn about the employees, who all survived the fire. The library had periodic fire false alarms –  everyone went outside until the fire department came to explain about yet another false alarm. But this time it was for real, and the heartbreak was palpable as everyone watched the library go up in fire, smoke and water.

Many years ago I was privileged to take a tour of the Los Angeles Central Library – after it was rebuilt. It’s very impressive. As is this book.

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If you’re not a reader, you may want to skip on over this post, as it’s all about a book. A marvelous book. However, If you aren’t a reader, but know someone who IS a reader of literature, then buy the book as a gift.

Pat Conroy was not exactly a prolific writer – he wrote a number of books, but they took him years to complete as he threw so much of himself into all of his writing. There was always travail and angst with each one. Sadly, Pat Conroy died in 2016 of pancreatic cancer. His wife collected a bunch of his writings, speeches, articles, etc. and published a book posthumously, A Lowcountry Heart: Reflections on a Writing Life I’ve ordered that one, but haven’t read it.

To understand Pat Conroy means a journey through a very tumultuous military brat childhood being abused both emotionally and physically by his tyrannical father, a Marine fighter pilot. His mother and most of his siblings received the same. He wrote a novel about his upbringing, about his father –The Great Santini: A Novel – which angered legions of people in his life, including his family, because up to that point they’d all been stoically silent about the father’s abuse. To understand Pat Conroy means watching how he elevated himself out of the miasma of his childhood, not always successfully. He suffered from depression. He had a hard time writing sometimes, though he was gifted from the get-go. Teachers took him under their wings, mentors mentored him. He was married three times, and he suffered terribly from the breakup of the first two.

I don’t remember which of his books I read first. It might have been Beach Music: A Novel. Then I read several of his other books. I even owned his cookbook, The Pat Conroy Cookbook: Recipes and Stories of My Life, but I think I discarded it in my last iteration of giving away books (one of about 400 last year). His cookbook was fun to read, but I found that the Southern cooking style he used was too heavy and fat-laden for me to experience much in my own kitchen. But his novels. Oh my goodness. What treasures they are.

And this book, My Reading Life, is a treasure beyond compare. What Conroy did in this book was tell stories about the people in his life who influenced his reading. It began with his mother, who never got to go to college, but she was a reader and instilled it in her children. One of Conroy’s sisters is a poet and poetry looms large in this book too (sadly, I’ve never been much of a fan of poetry except for Billy Collins).  And it included early teachers, then later on men and women who came into his life and recommended books. As an example, he said that the first page of Look Homeward, Angel was the best first page of any book he ever read in his life. That got my attention and I’m going to look for a used copy of that book soon. The Russians also captured his attention – War and Peace (Vintage Classics) was a particular favorite of his because of the writing style. He read that book over and over during his life, gleaning gems to help him in his own writing (as have countless other authors). Conroy was a master story-teller. About his family and even his closest friends. I laughed out loud so many times as I read this book. I attached little plastic flags in many places so I can go back and re-read them. One was about a praying mantis he observed and his mother’s very clever one liner. Oh so very funny. Then about the Japanese man, Mr. Hara, who’d had his passport stolen (this was in Paris while Conroy was trying to finish one of his books) whose English was “velly bad.” I roared reading that one. And about a librarian in a Beaufort elementary school who was not a mentor (Conroy escaped into the library at lunchtime because he knew no one and wanted to hide – – and yes, he wanted to read). He got the last laugh with her too once he became a teacher at that school.

I just can’t recommend enough that everyone who enjoys reading, should read this book. I must thank my friend, Jean P, who recommended we read this book in one of my 3 book clubs. I’m so sad that cancer has stilled Conroy’s voice forever.

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You can always check on my most recent book reading on the left sidebar of my blog. I usually keep about the last 3-4, maybe 5 books I’ve read with a short blurb about it. Once they’re gone from that place, the list is gone – I don’t keep a running log of the books I read. I should have started that years ago, but I didn’t, and somehow, at my age, I’m not about to start now. I update the sidebar every month or so.

Having just read The Distant Marvels by Chantel Acevedo, I thought I’d actually write a post about it. One of my book clubs read the book, and we were meeting at one of our members’ homes. Peggy and her husband (along with their son) own a great little eclectic coffee store and small vegetarian restaurant (combined) in Orange, near where I leave. It’s called Mead’s Green Door. And within the same building is a cute, little fancy cake establishment, called Creative Cakes.

I think I heard that Peggy and Gary (her husband) bought Creative Cakes recently – as if they need more things to do. Oh my goodness. But what was fun, was that Peggy had an adorable cake at our book club meeting, all about this book. Peggy is a superb baker, so I’m not sure if she made the cake, of if she had the employees at Creative Cakes make it – it was SO delicious.

Isn’t it cute, though? Notice that the color scheme on the cake comes from the book’s cover. We hated to cut into that cake it was so adorable!

Anyway, the book . . . it’s about Cuba and weaves an intricate tale spanning a lifetime of the woman pictured. She lived during very tumultuous times in Cuba, including the Spanish revolution in the early 1900s. Her life was hard. Very hard. Certainly, this book is about relationships (what novel isn’t?). She has a loving, but troubled one, with her mother. She found love, but it was a somewhat taboo relationship – he was a rebel and he was black. Not common, most likely, in Cuba at that time. From Amazon, it says: “Maria Sirena tells stories. She does it for money—she was a favorite in the cigar factory where she worked as a lettora—and for love, spinning gossamer tales out of her own past for the benefit of friends, neighbors, and family.” A lettora was a “reader” or a storyteller, and although she began reading from books to the workers in the cigar factory, she eventually began telling the story of her life over the course of time. And in the book, decades later, living alone in one of Cuba’s coastal villages, a hurricane is headed toward them. Maria is old, and really doesn’t want to go to a safe house to weather the hurricane, but she’s swept there anyway by officials, despite her protests, to spend many days in an old, abandoned, but sturdy palace near her home. And it’s here that the myriad women housed there during the hurricane and its aftermath, begin telling stories of their lives. And Maria tells hers. And quite a story it is. Chapters go back in time as she re-lives the many escapades of her youth. And finally unburdens her own soul in the telling.

It was a wonderful book – you feel great compassion for Maria Sirena (from the older woman’s voice, you learn that she’s ill and likely dying, but that’s only a tiny backdrop), the struggles she had, the great love she experienced. Worth reading for sure.

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Visiting the library some weeks ago (getting books on tape to play in the car while I took a 5-day road trip to Northern California to visit family) I decided to look at new books on the shelves. And here was this book with an unusual title, The Thousand Dollar Dinner: America’s First Great Cookery Challenge by Becky Libourel Diamond. She’s a journalist and food historian.

On Saturday evening, the 19th instant [1851] thirty gentlemen sat down to a dinner at J. W. Parkinson’s, South Eighth St. below Chestnut [Philadelphia], which for magnificence outvied anything ever seen in the United States. . . . Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 1851.

Perhaps the richest, most elegant, elaborate and poetical entertainment ever gotten up in this country, was achieved in this city last week by the accomplished confectioner and caterer, James W. Parkinson. . . . American Courier, April, 1851.

At 6:00 am, the morning of April 20th, the satiated group of men finally decamped. It had been an extraordinary evening, with 17 courses served. [I can’t imagine sitting down for an all-night eating of that many courses.] It had come about as a bet, a wager, that no Philadelphians could possible prepare as sumptuous a meal as New Yorkers (the guests were half from each city).

1 – OYSTERS – Raw,  on the half shell – Nearly every first class dinner back then started with oysters, and the Philadelphia area was loaded with oyster reefs. They would have been served with bottles of sweet Sauternes. Since the early to mid-1900s, as many of you know, the oyster business disappeared. So very sad. My DH’s (dear husband’s) family was from Bivalve, New Jersey, (also Mauricetown, pronounced like morris-town) which was one of the hubs of the oyster business back in the day (20s, 30s and 40s). In the 1950s the oyster population developed a deadly parasite called MSX, which wiped out nearly all the oyster business in the Delaware Bay.

2 – SOUPS – Green Turtle and Potage a la Reine [a type of French chicken soup] – The book goes into much detail about the purveyors of turtles (mostly the Caribbean) and in what high demand they were. Over-fishing also nearly ended turtle soup as a delicacy except perhaps IN the Caribbean. Some restaurants in Philadelphia still offer turtle soup made from a local snapping turtle harvested on Pennsylvania shores. The turtle soup was usually served with sherry or Madeira; Parkinson apparently served both soups with Cognac.

3 – FISH – Fresh Salmon with Lobster Sauce and Baked Rock [a striped bass], a la Chambord – the salmon came from Maine. The bass was caught by privately hired anglers who were sent to Virginia the day before and rushed the fish back to the restaurant; it was stuffed with forcemeat, larded with bacon, braised in white wine and seasoning, finished off with decorative skewers of fish quenelles and cooked crawfish, then served with a rich Chambord and Espagnole sauce. Apparently James Beard described this recipe as one of the most elaborate dishes in all of cookery. This course was served with a Riesling from the area of Steinberg, Germany (founded by Cistercian monks mostly).

4 – BOILED – Turkey, Celery and Oyster Sauce; Chicken and Egg Sauce; and Beef Tongues – Much of this chapter of information was about the early-times methods of cooking meat (boiling), even tracing back to the Pilgrims. This course was served with Champagne, Haut Brion and Cote Roti.

5 – COLD DISHES – [this one’s a lot to read . . .] Galantine de Dinde a la Gelee; Jambon Decore; Salade a la Russe en bordure de Gelee; aspic huitres; Boeuf a la Mode; Mayonnaise of Lobster, Salad de Volaille, a la Mode Anglaise; Aspic de Volaille aux Truffles. What all that most likely says is: tenderloin of beef garnished with vegetables, boned turkey and capon, ham stuffed with pistachios and truffles, aspics, pates and terrines of all kinds, foie gras, smoked tongue well glazed and dressed in pyramid form, chicken mayonnaise, ducks’ livers a la Toulouse, young rabbit a la mode, and salad a la russe. Everything was sculpted and presented in high form (mostly prepared by the young chefs), and prepared some in advance. All these were served with an Amontillado (pale sherry) from Spain.

6 – ENTRÉE #1 – Filet of Beef with Mushrooms; Vol-au-vent; Veal with Tomato Sauce, Lamb Cutlets; and Chicken Croquettes – Although it was designated as an entrée, meals back then weren’t what we’d would call an entrée (the main course) but a side dish, really. And they probably weren’t served with anything else – maybe just a bite of two of each with its own sauce or gravy.

7 – ENTRÉE #2 – Braised Pigeon with Madeira Sauce; Lamb Chops Milanaise; Chicken; Turtle Steak, Chicken Fricasee; and Calipash, a presentation of turtle hearts and livers – most often all the entrees served all together, but Parkinson veered off course here. Wines served with both of these entrée courses was champagne by Moet.

8 – ROAST – Spring Chicken on Toast, Spring Lamb with Mint Sauce – it seems that all the food up to this point was leading up to THIS, the most important course of all, the roast! The meat was likely roasted on a spit. Wine served here was a Moselle from Scharzberg, Koblenz.

9 – PIECES MONTEES and VEGETABLES – [elaborate sugar sculptures served alongside garden vegetables] – seems very odd to our modern sensibilities, but it was all high art of the time

10 – COUP DU MILIEU – Sorbets – made from nothing less than Hungarian Tokaji wine. It was a sorbet never eaten before, Parkinson’s idea, and was noted as quite magical by the diners.

11 – GAME – Jack Snipe; teal duck, woodcock, plover, rice birds, celery hearts and Saratoga potatoes – all the small game birds were done on an early version of a rotisserie, and they’d have been studded with lard. This course was served with a pale rose wine.

12 – DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN – the terrapin was a common enough turtle found in brackish waters along the Eastern Shore. They were also called “bay tortoise.” It was probably a sort of stew with a creamy sauce. And it was served with roasted potatoes. This course was again, served with Amontillado sherry from Spain.

13 – PASTRY – Puddings, Pies, Meringues, Cakes, Creams and Cookies – too many to name here. Parkinson was quite fond of both lemon pudding and coconut pudding, both served at this meal. There are pages and pages in this chapter about the style of preparing and serving all kinds of special sweet treats from that era. The sweets were served with old, mellow sherry, Madeira and Port.

14 – CONFECTIONERY – Mint Drops, Raspberry Balls, Chinese Almonds, Nougat, Cream Candy, Burnt Almonds, Port Wine Drops, Sugar-Coated Celery Seed and Brandy Drops – all things to showcase Parkinson’s skill in the kitchen.

15 – ICE CREAMS AND WATER ICES – Biscuits Glace, Caramel, Harlequin, Lemon, Buttercream, Vanilla, Strawberry, Orange Water Ice, Champagne Frapee – all innovative items (so the book says) from Parkinson’s kitchen. He was most definitely ahead of his time

16 – FRUITS AND NUTS – Apples, Figs, Walnuts, Pecans, Orange, Raisins, Almonds and Filberts – some of the explanation in this chapter is about the etiquette of eating fresh fruit at the table. Kind of hilarious, really. The wines served here were Rhenish Marcobrunn and a Medoc (highly tannic).

17 – CAFÉ NOIR – Black Coffee, Maraschino and Curacao (liqueurs) – back in this time, in a fine restaurant, only really strong, robust coffee was served using a French Press (still a highly prized method – I had some that way just last week). It was thought that a strong cup of coffee at the end of a meal enhanced digestion.

When it was all said and done, the diners smoked cigars, probably groaning, and were eventually escorted to their carriages and off to their homes or to a local hotel to sleep off the calories. Oh my.

A really interesting book – each of the courses comprised a chapter in the book, and each chapter is about 5-12 pages long, depending on the complexity of it. You learn history, the how and wherefores of acquiring such food then and now, and about the presentation itself. Astounding meal for sure!

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The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 has held a traumatic place in history. It was a relatively newly built passenger liner and despite direct threats from the Germans that they could/would sink any military or merchant vessel, the Cunard line felt that cruise ships would be left alone and not bothered by the warring nations. Pipe dream, that.

Probably I’d never have read this book if it hadn’t been chosen by one of my book clubs. But that’s one of the joys of belonging to a book club with people of varied interests – you’re asked to read books that you might not ordinarily choose.

Erik Larson is the very well-respected author of several books, most notably The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America and In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin. What Larson does is collect the facts, copious amounts of them, and cull them down to write a very engaging story – the truth – about what really happened. Many information archives (both British and German) are now available for public perusal, and that in itself makes for very interesting reading, telling the true minute by minute action that occurred that fateful day off the Ireland coast when 1,198 people were drowned in the very rapid sinking of this flagship of the Cunard line. And the weeks leading up to the sinking. Many people survived, and its from them that even more information is known about exactly what happened on different decks or sides of the ship. About who acted well, and who didn’t. The Captain of the ship was presumed drowned, as he stayed with the ship until the ship sunk below the surface. He never expected to live, and only came to hours later. His career was marred because no one stood up for him, to share that he had no knowledge. It wasn’t his fault. Cunard had instructed the ship to reduce speed to save fuel (when speed could have saved them, yet the Captain did as he was instructed). No one told him to go north to avoid detection. A big snafu from everyone around.

Reading such a book now, with the kind of technology we have from radar and sonar, and satellite, makes this book and the lack of knowledge for both the ship and the U-Boat amazing reading. I was riveted to the chronology, the messages (or lack thereof) between the Admiralty, the Cunard line to its Captain and the secret department in the British military who were deciphering coded messages from the U-Boats. Yet the information was never shared with the merchant ship for fear of disclosing the fact that the Brits knew of their intent. It could have changed the course of the war had they known. The woman who reviewed the book for us made a really interesting comparison about the sinking of the Titanic vs. the sinking of the Lusitania. So different in every aspect. Made for very interesting contemplation.

The book is on the best seller list, and rightly so. It’s a really good read, though the part detailing the passengers who drowned, fell overboard or had any variety of accidents in trying to save themselves was heartbreaking to read. If you buy this, be sure to scan through the last 40-50 pages of footnotes – they make fascinating reading all by themselves. It tells you, again, how thorough Larson was in researching the material.

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About a  year ago I wrote up something about a book – one I’d read that I just loved. One that a friend had recommended to me and since I’ve trusted her suggestions in the past, I bought a used copy and and fell in love with it in the first chapter. That book was written by Nevil Shute – Trustee from the Toolroom. Of all the books I’ve read in the last several years, it was/is a standout. The book is hard to get – the books are almost collector’s items – Shute’s books are no longer in print, so hardbacks are a bit on the precious side. Libraries have them, though, and most, if not all, are available on Kindle. Nevil Shute died in 1960, unfortunately. I never wrote up a post about that book; it just appeared on my left sidebar after I read it, and I raved about it.

Recently, though, I was reviewing my notes on to-read-books (my list is incredibly long, and I keep a running litany on Evernote, on my iPhone) I was reminded of this book on my master list. This one is also by Nevil Shute. Several people told me it was very good. A Town Like Alice (Vintage International) is a walk down a history road, partly in Malaya, and partly in Australia. Shute was an Aussie, and the country or its people populated many of his books. I haven’t researched this, but my understanding is that really the events happened in Sumatra, but Shute decided for some reason to re-write it for Malaya. It doesn’t really make any difference, because it’s about the Japanese invasion anyway.

What I’ve learned is that I really like Nevil Shute’s writing. It’s easy reading. It’s very descriptive, and you get a real sense of place as  you read his books. He also does magnificent character studies. And he keeps you wondering where the story is going next. That was particularly the case with the Toolroom book, which was almost a mystery in a way, but not like today’s mysteries. This book isn’t a mystery, either. It’s really a love story, but you don’t discover it’s a love story until you’re nearly half way through the book. It’s not sappy, or pulp fiction. It’s literature.

The heroine is a feisty young English woman who has a very interesting youth, partly living in Malaya. The story is told from the voice of her attorney. A bit of a fusty older, single Londoner, you sense his wistfulness of what might have been had he been younger. But the story is really about the woman . . you learn about her parents and her brother. Suffice to say that she’s in Malaya (now Malaysia, I assume, although I’ve not consulted a map) when the Japanese invade and she’s taken prisoner. I’ll say no more about that, except that she meets a young Aussie man during this time period and never forgets him. His story is deep, poignant and excruciating.

Without giving away the plot, I’ll not give you any additional info, except that this book is such a good one. The “Alice” refers to Alice Springs in central outback Australia (I’ve been there). When I suggest you’ll feel a sense of place,  you truly will understand the Aussie outback a whole lot better when you’ve read this book. It’s a real winner. You’ll feel the same way about the Malaya jungle too. And you’ll be led along a very interesting story line that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.

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Only once in awhile do I write an actual blog post about a book – when a book is particularly worthy. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, then you already know that my reading list is on the left sidebar of my home page. That’s where I write up blurbs of what I’m currently reading, or have just finished reading – about the last 2-4 of them.

For now I don’t own any animals, but for most of my life I’ve had a dog. You can be a dog or a cat lover and not be enamored with the entire animal kingdom, I guess, but I’m a sucker for a good animal story. And oh yes, this one is wonderful. True story. I watch Nature on PBS. On occasion I’ll just turn on Animal Planet and leave it on.

Well, anyway, a couple of friends recommended this book, The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild , by Lawrence Anthony, and I’m so glad they did. Just now, as I’ve been finding these two photos did I realize that Anthony died in 2012. Much too young (age 61, heart attack).

Anthony devoted his entire adult life to the conservation of the African animal kingdom. He was a native to South Africa. A very gentle man, he always preferred to let the wild animals be wild, to do their predatory thing, because that’s what animals do in the wild. Thula Thula is the gigantic game reserve (preserve) he founded in Zululand (that’s in South Africa) many years ago. It took him decades to introduce the animals back into the area as they’d been hunted to extinction in that part of South Africa.

His story about this elephant herd began when he received a frantic phone call asking him to “take” a herd of wild elephant from another reserve, that were “difficult.” He did, and the book documents the extremely dangerous process of even transporting elephants across many hundreds of miles, and acclimating them to this new area. It’s a fascinating story. Every page.

In the photo above (the book cover) I’m assuming the photo is of Nana, the matriarch of the herd, and the astounding friendship he had with her and the herd. Understand, this herd was never tamed, they were strictly wild elephant, and subject to their own trials and tribulations, but Nana and a couple of the other elephants became his friends. He was extremely cautious around them and only rarely did he allow or did they approach him without an electric fence between them, but often Nana would put her trunk over the top of the wire and smell and fondle his face and chest – a sign of friendship. He didn’t exactly “whisper” with them (as the title says), but he talked to them, called to them (and they would usually come), calmed them (normally his voice would immediately relax the herd). With a huge 5,000 square mile preserve, he had to go to find them first, then he’d stop the Land Rover and call to them. Only on a rare occasion would he be out on the open ground (as the book cover shows) without the protection of the sturdy Land Rover (it probably was just to the left of him). He and his wife built a safari lodge on the reserve, and that helps keep the reserve in operation. Some of the story is also about the verbal battle(s) between the native people who think that any wild animals can be hunted for meat, and the poachers who still encroach and kill for the tusks or even the thrill of the kill. Gradually, though, with friendships between the conservationists and the native tribal chiefs, they’ve carved out a huge chunk of land that now comprises a bigger area for all kinds of wildlife.

Anthony wrote several books – one about the saving of most of the animals in the Baghdad Zoo – that book’s called Babylon’s Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo. He also wrote a book (his last one) about the white rhino – The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Creatures. I haven’t read either of those, but I sure do recommend this one. It’s a touching story and well written (he had a co-author, so I assume he’s the so-called ghost writer, but his name was also listed.

When Anthony died, the herd “knew.” Amazing. The entire herd came to the house and crowded as close as they could get beyond the fence and mourned him. Elephants do mourn – they actually weep and they communicate with each other through specific rumblings in their digestive systems (yes, really). When Anthony would be gone on business trips, the elephants would be invisible to the family and the game reserve crew for days or weeks, but before he returned (how could they possibly know?) they would be gather at the fence to greet him. But they knew. That happened over and over again. Anthony truly believed Nana could understand him in some way. Beautiful book and amazing story.

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