Succulent River Cuisine

Every now and then a book with a snazzy cover or title catches my eye! The library recently purchased The Paddling Chef: A Cookbook for Canoeists, Kayakers and Rafters, by Dian Weimer. Being a canoe and kayaker myself, I was intrigued when this book was cataloged and made available for checkout. The author was born and raised in Vancouver, and is a big fan of adventure kayaking, which she does all over Canada. Whether you are an experienced paddler, or strictly a beginner, you will love this book! In a friendly, non-nonsense manner, Weimer explains how to plan your menus, whether you are taking a two-day or a seven-day trip, and how to organize your food in dry bags (pack the frozen meat on the bottom and place the cheese on top of it so it will stay cool as the meat unfreezes) or in plastic tubs. She also gives great tips on how to pack your items so that your veggies receive the least amount of bruising and you don't have to empty your whole pack each time you make a meal. The best part of the book are the recipes included: from meat to pasta to vegetable and dairy recipes, the recipes range from easy to hard and include helpful advice about how many pans or pots you need to prepare the recipe. I especially enjoyed the dessert and saucy companions recipe sections. I agree with Weimer--the right sauce can cover up any mistakes made by overcooking your meat on a camp stove you can't regulate properly! Weimer also includes a section on drying food for longer trips and several anecdotes about disasters and successful meals she has prepared on her paddling trips. This is a great book for any paddling or camping enthusiast!

Unwrap a Christmas Story

Lakeshore Christmas by Susan Wiggs is part of the Lakeshore Chronicles. Prim librarian Maureen Davenport is finally getting her chance to direct Avalon’s annual holiday pageant, and she’s determined to make it truly spectacular. But it might just require one of those Christmas miracles she’s always reading about. Former child star Eddie Haven can’t stand Christmas, but a court order from a judge has landed him right in the middle of the merry-making as Maureen’s co-director. Maureen and Eddie spar over every detail of the pageant, from casting troubled kids to Eddie’s original and distinctly untraditional holiday music. Is he trying to sabotage the performance to spite her? Or is she trying too hard to fit the show into her storybook-perfect notion of Christmas? This was a pleasant Christmas story. I read this author when she wrote historical romances and enjoyed those. This is my first modern day story by her. I think I picked this one up because the heroine is a librarian. And one thing the blurb did not mention was the fact the town library was due to close due to lack of funding. The town rich person wants his nephew to star in the pageant and for that he would establish the necessary funding. All Maureen has to do is cast the nephew, whether he is perfect for the role or not. This part hit really close to home. With the recent economic downturn, I can see a community having to decide between police, fire, or the library. And it seems that there is often someone who wants to put on a display of power and call the shots. One of best parts of this book is the fact that the denoument occurs at a fundraiser at the New York Public Library!

Holiday Grind by Cleo Coyle continues the adventures of New York coffee shop owner Clair Cosi. She is looking forward to the holidays and seeing her daughter Joy, who is studying at a culinary school in Paris. She’s also hoping to spend sometime with her new boyfriend, Police Detective Mike Quinn. However as often happens in Clair’s life, her plans go awry, starting with finding the body of a friend who is a traveling Santa Claus. She soon becomes embroiled in the case vowing to find out why her friend was murdered and who did it. Joy calls and says she’s staying in Paris and Mike is assigned a cold case that promises to keep him busy the whole holiday. She decides to focus on the case and in the process is stalked and attacked. Then she hears Mike is seeing someone else. Will things ever be merry and bright? Just in the nick of time, Clair, with the usual suspects—her ex-husband, Matt; her ex-mother-in-law, Madame; and her ever faithful baristas--unravels not only the Santa Claus murder but opens doors to Mike’s cold case. With every book, this series gets better and better. I love the interplay between Clair and her daughter and the way her ex-husband keeps popping back on the scene. Her romance with Mike Quinn is developing, but the appearance of his ex-wife is a bit jarring, if true to life. Madame is still one of my favorite characters, even though she only has a minor part in this book.

The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson is another pleasant Christmas read. After all—any story combining a dog and Christmas, well, enough said. Betty Kowalski isn’t looking forward to the holidays. She just can’t seem to find Christmas in her heart. Maybe it’s because her husband is gone. Maybe it’s because she’s missing her grown children. Or maybe it had something to do with her obnoxious new neighbor, who seems to be tearing his house apart and rearranging it on the lawn. But when a mangy dog appears at her doorstep, the stage is set for Betty to learn what Christmas is really all about. Melody Carlson is primarily a Christian writer and the cover photo of the scruffy dog looking through a window caught my fancy. While the characters are pretty standard and stereotypical, this is a short and enjoyable read if you are looking to de-stress from the holidays.

Mama Dearest

It was with great sadness that I learned that author E. Lynn Harris died suddenly several months ago, at the age of fifty-four. He has been one of my favorite authors for several years, as he has the ability to make his characters leap of the page. When you read Harris' books you start thinking, "Hey, that Yancy character acts exactly like my sister's best friend" or other similar thoughts. A ten-time New York Times bestselling author and a #1 national bestselling author, E. Lynn Harris wrote twelve novels before his untimely death this year. If you want to learn more information about E. Lynn Harris, visit his website at http://www.elynnharris.com/. E. Lynn Harris' last novel Mama Dearest, was published in October 2009 and stars one of his most memorable characters, Yancy Harrington Braxton and her scoundrel of a mother, Ava Middlebrooks. Set in New York, the book stars a wide cast of African American men and women, trying to make their way in the world. Yancy is a down-on-her-luck actress who has suffered some major rises and falls in her life and is trying to made amends and follow the right path in order to revive her acting career. Life is moving along for Yancy until her mother, Ava(recently released from prison), drops back into her life and starts wreaking havoc. Harris is known for having several plot lines that twist and turn around each other until they meet and join together at the end of the book. In this aspect, Mama Dearest will not disappoint any fan of Harris' books. This book is a fitting tribute to the full writing career of an author that will be missed.

How to Catch a Falling Star

(The following is another guest blog entry from library patron Ashley N. Please e-mail Jennifer at jensmith@warren.lib.ms.us if you'd like to become a guest blogger too!)

It’s a bird, no..it’s a plane; no…it’s a Star! Read Stardust by Neil Gaiman and join Tristan Thorn as he searches for his Star; a star he promised to his love, Victoria Forester. Tristan's city of Wall has everything a simple country boy could ever want, except adventure! There is a guard posted at the only opening in the wall that separates the city from the forest to the east. Tristan has served as tje guard several times; however, he has often wondered about the world beyond the wall. One night, while confessing his love for Victoria, a star falls from the sky beyond the wall. Victoria agrees to marry Tristan on the condition that he retrieves the star. Tristan figures out how to pass the guard and discovers the magical town of Faerie right before his eyes--though he has never seen the likes of this magical place, Tristan is determined to find his love’s fallen Star. What Tristan does not realize is that his father, Dunstan Thorn, had started a similar journey seventeen years prior to retrieve a gift for his love, Daisy Hempstock. When Tristan finds the Star, he quickly realizes that she will not easily become someone’s gift. Yvaine, the star, tells him how she was knocked out of the sky by something and how she is going to find herself a magic black traveling candle to get her back to her home in the sky. Tristan uses this quest to coax Yvaine into coming with him, with the promise that he will give her his remaining candle if she helps him win over Victoria, and she agrees. What the pair don't know is that there are several people searching for Yvaine, to use her for their own dark purposes. Three witches collectively known as the Lilim, are after her to regain their youth by eating her heart; the living sons of Lord of Stormhold are searching for her because they all want to be the next Lord, and since the current Lord is on his death bed, they try to kill each other while searching for Yvaine. This novel is full of suspense, mystery, and magic, and the characters are very colorful and well written. Stardust won the Alex Award in 2000, given by the American Library Association. In 2007, Stardust was made into a movie; starring: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Michelle Phillips, and narrated by Ian McKellan. This novel was Neil Gaiman’s first solo prose novel.

Vincent Calvino Strikes Again

Christopher G. Moore has written another hard-boiled mystery laced with humor in his latest book, Paying Back Jack. Fans of Elmore Leonard will love reading this series, starring Private Detective Vincent Calvino, that are set in Bangkok. Moore does a great job of making the reader feel as if they are in Bangkok, following Vincent as he barrels through the city, searching for clues to solve his cases. The books are a real blend of "East-West encounters" and are a wonderful way to discover the culture of Thailand. Paying Back Jack is a pulse-pounding tale of human trafficking, mercenaries, international conspiracies and revenge--these events are made more real because they are set against the lovely and sordid streets of Bangkok, where anything can be purchased for the right price. Vincent Calvino is a disbarred American lawyer, who helps a retired General with a non-paying tenant and gains more trouble than he thought when his solution to the problem plays on a powerful Thailand superstition. Calvino develops some dangerous enemies and must get out of town to avoid them. Paying Back Jack is a fast-paced book that is sure to gain Moore some new fans.