Francesca’s Kitchen

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Francesca’s Kitchen by Peter Pezzelli

Francesca Campanile is a classic Italian-American widow. Her youngest child has reached adulthood and doesn’t live at home any more, and her older children have moved to opposite ends of the country and have families of their own. Needing to feel needed, she answers an ad for a single mother looking for a nanny. What she finds is a new family.

The mother, Loretta, works too many hours, and the kids, Penny and Will (one wonders if the other was a fan of <i>Lost in Space</i>, have no structure. Francesca changes that, becoming a mother figure to Loretta and a grandmother-figure to the kids. When Loretta hits it off with Francesca’s unmarried son, the family unit is cemented into one.

What could be a cheesy tale is made real by the validity of the various character’s emotions: Francesca feels old and useless, Loretta feels like a failure as a mother, etc.  That Italian food and home cooking are prevalent themes only makes the book stronger, for the kitchen is the heart of any home. And that’s what this book has plenty of: heart.

Warning: may make you crave baked ziti.

Love Walked In

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Love Walked InLove Walked In

I picked up this book at the airport in Dallas on my way to San Jose a few weeks ago, because I realized I’d forgotten to pack a book to read. I ended up not reading on the flight out there at all, but then started it in the hotel later that night. By the time I was home a few days later I was finished. In any case, it was an impulsive choice – the least offensive of the airport fare – and hey, the main character, Cornelia Brown, was the owner of a cafe. I like cafe stories.

As it turns out,  Marisa de los Santos’s novel is really two stories – there’s old-movie loving Cornelia’s search for romantic bliss, and then there’s the parallel tale of precocious young Clare, daughter of Cornelia’s new boyfriend Martin, who is looking for emotional stability and a sense of home.

Naturally both stories merge, but with a twist that makes this more than just chick-lit, and closer to general romance, though not in the Silhouette sense of the word.  It’s a gentle tale with vivid characters. Great for bathtub reading.

Thursday 13 #1

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Thirteen Rec ommendations from Bibliotica

13 Children’s Books You Have to Experience

  1. Fletcher and Zenobia Edward Gorey and Victoria Chess combined their talents to come up with a magical tale of adventure and friendship. I bought a copy for $60 at a used bookstore several years ago, to replace the copy I lost in one of many moves. If you ever have a chance to read this – take it.
  2. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad DayAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Judith Viorst’s classic tale of a kid’s awful day. The cadence of the language will make you want to read it out loud. Often.
  3. Where the Wild Things AreWhere the Wild Things Are Is there anything more classic than this bedtime tale of monsters and mayhem? Maurice Sendak is amazing!
  4. In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection)In the Night Kitchen (Caldecott Collection) Another Sendak offering. This is a great trip through a kid’s imagination.
  5. Ghosts I Have BeenGhosts I Have Been Meant for older kids (I think I was eight or nine when I read it, but even ten-year-olds would like it) this book is spooky in the same way that campfire tales are spooky. And Blossom Culp is quite the character.
  6. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. FrankweilerFrom the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Claudia and James run away from home and hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art – where they decide to solve the mystery of a statue’s real origins.
  7. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking GlassAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass For adults, I recommend the annotated version, but any version of the original tale will do – so NOT what Disney animated.
  8. Madeline, Reissue of 1939 editionMadeline, Reissue of 1939 edition So quintessentially French and utterly precocious. Not to be missed.
  9. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Books of Wonder)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Books of Wonder) If you enjoyed the movie, but haven’t read the book, you’re missing a lot. And then, there are the other 14 books in the series…
  10. The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-PoohThe Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh From the first *bump* to the last “Oh, bother,” this should be required reading. Pooh before he was Disnified.
  11. A Child's Garden of VersesA Child’s Garden of Verses He might be better known for Treasure Island, but Robert Louis Stevenson’s collection of poetry is charming and effervescent. I’m never sure if my favorite is “The Swing” or “My Shadow.”
  12. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and DrawingsWhere the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings Sometimes creepy, sometimes funny, always worth a second look.
  13. The Chronicles of Narnia (Box Set)The Chronicles of Narnia (Box Set) It may be cheating a bit to include a boxed set, but really, all the Narnia books are wonderful, not just The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
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Bitsy’s Bait & BBQ

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Bitsy's Bait & BBQBitsy’s Bait & BBQ

When Kate Dodson bought Bitsy’s B&B on ebay, she thought she was buying a bed and breakfast in the Ozarks. Well, the Ozarks part was right, but Kate, her sister Emma, and her young son soon find themselves running a bait shop and barbecue restaurant, where their cooking is so bad, their speciality becomes all you can eat toast.

There’s romance, of course, in the form of Kate’s ex-husband who lets his rich mother rule his life, but really just wants Kate back, and there’s also a cast of locals to add color.

This is a fast read, good for a slow afternoon in the sunshine, with a glass of cold sweet tea, and author Pamela Morsi does an excellent job of making the setting seem familiar enough that it could be the lakeside town you drove through last summer.

I’ve Been Around

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I've Been Around

Tania Aebi first sailed across my personal horizon years ago, with her book Maiden Voyage, the first-person account of her
solo circumnavigation of the world, and the people and places she encountered during here year or so asail with her intrepid cat, Tarzoon. While I may fantasize about doing something similar, the reality is that I’m much too fond of internet access, espresso bars, and regular showers to really enjoy such an experience. Still, reading about it let me escape for a few hours, and I heartily recommend that book, as it’s the perfect thing to read while tucked up in a warm quilt on a cold, stormy day. (I also recommend strong tea and crisp apples to go with the experience.)

This book, I’ve Been Around, is not a narrative, the way Ms. Aebi’s first volume was, but rather a series of essays about her life on and off the water, many of which were written for sailing-related magazines, most specifically, Latitudes & Attitudes. It’s enjoyable, thoughtful, and often entertaining, and while it is not the cozy stormy-day read that Maiden Voyage was, it is a lovely glimpse into the author’s life since then. (It’s been at least a decade, possibly two.)

Aebi’s conversational tone and obvious love of both her crafts (writing and sailing), make this an excellent read.

Carpe Demon

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 Carpe DemonCarpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom

I picked up Carpe Demon while on a lengthy visit to a local Half Price Books with my husband and brother-in-law, and read half of it while we were there, but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I ordered it from Amazon.com along with its sequel.

I was hooked at first by the tag line, about how the protagonist, Kate, was something like an adult (as in grown up, not as in XXX) version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but while the whole “California girl fights demons” think does make their stories seem similar, Kate is not not at all like Buffy. For one thing, Kate has a husband, two children, one of whom is a teenager, and a minivan. As well, her demon hunting doesn’t seem to be mystical calling, as much as a choice made when she was largely choiceless.

Still, the snappy dialogue, humor-laced action sequences, and fast-paced plot made this book an enjoyable and entertaining read, and I’m currently in the middle of the sequel.

Upcoming 11 February 07

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11 Feb 07 Upcoming titles: 27 February – Shopaholic & Baby, hardcover; 3 April – The Good Ghoul’s Guide to Getting Even, trade paperback; 15 April – The Earth Knows My Name, trade paperback; 1 May – Bright Lights, Big Ass, trade paperback; 5 June – The Harlequin, hardcover; 3 July – Demons are Forever, trade paperback; 21 July – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hardcover.

Welcome

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Welcome to Bibliotica. I had a bookblog at one of my other sites, but felt the need to have a domain name that was a little more bookish. Comments are welcome, but are screened the first time anyone posts. Reviews are my own opinion, but I’d love to hear yours.

My Keyboard for a Cutting Board

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My Kingdom for a Cutting Board: Adventures in a French Kitchen v1.0, by Laura Pauli

Part luscious food-porn and part letter home from abroad, Laura Pauli’s first book is both engaging and compelling, telling the story of her initial experiences cooking in France after leaving a corporate cubicle job in Silicon Valley. Culled from her blog, and letters she actually wrote to friends and family, it shares her story – including descriptions of food that make the mouth water, and far less appetizing descriptions of things like the shoebox apartment she rents, that could fit inside one room of her former residence in the Bay Area.

Originally Reviewed 13 September 2006

Bitter is the New Black

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Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office

Originally reviewed 13 April 2006.

I’ve read Jen Lancaster’s blog for years, so I was eagerly awaiting her first book, “Bitter is the New Black,” and after reading it (in fits and snatches over the last week) I can say I was not disappointed.

If you’ve ever been faced with the choice between re-doing your roots or paying the electric bill, if you’ve ever found yourself committing couch envy, if you’ve ever been between jobs and unable to support yourself in the lifestyle you’d become accustomed to, this book is for you.

Jen makes no apologies for her snarky, funny, manner of living, and while some of her choices aren’t the same I would make, reading about her fall and subsequent struggle to rise again made me nod my head (at times), laugh out loud (a lot), or cry real tears.

If you liked The Devil Wears Prada, if you enjoyed The Nanny Diaries, you will LOVE Bitter is the New Black.