Book

I don't read as many cookbooks (print or electronic) as I used to now that so many recipes can be browsed and shared online, but, Breakfast for Dinner caught my eye.  The authors have put together an eclectic group of recipes that really do channel the spirit of breakfast through to dinner.  The recipes are inventive and original but not too fussy.  So many niche cookbooks are neat to look at but the recipes themselves are too ingredient intensive or require you to dirty every pot, pan and appliance in the house and spend $40 on saffron.  Not this one.  I made two recipes from the book: the Cornflake-Crusted Chicken Tenders with Buttermilk Ranch Sauce (pretty good, the dipping sauce was fabulous) and the Shakshuka (which was also good).  There were many more I wanted to make, in fact, I have the book open to the Maple Bacon Cupcakes and they are looking pretty good.  There's also a very nice Asparagus Pastry Tart so...I might have to renew this one!

If you want to learn more about Shakshuka there is a great post on Smitten Kitchen with more riffs on ingredients.  The Asparagus Pastry Tart reminded me of a recipe on another cooking blog you might want to check out (be forewarned, this author uses some colorful language).

And if you are like me and find yourself with more recipes from cooking blogs than you can possibly make in a lifetime, how do you organize them?  I have been using Paprika on my iPad and Mac and I absolutely love it, but I know there are other alternatives out there.

Our June meeting at Jimmy's Pub to discuss Into Thin Air was another great discussion with the consensus being none of us want to be that miserable for that long! Summiting Mount Everest takes a lot of money, time and more risks than any of us is willing to take. For more information about Mount Everest and the controversy of the climbing industry, check out these links.

Outside Online - Take a Number

List of people who died climbing Mount Everest

National Geographic - Everest

Everest season ends on a high note

Join us July 9, 6:30pm at Jimmy's Pub to talk about This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. 

The death of Judd Foxman’s father marks the first time that the entire Foxman family—including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister—have been together in years. Conspicuously absent: Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public. 

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together. In the same house. Like a family.

This Is Where I Leave You is Jonathan Tropper's most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny, emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind—whether we like it or not.

Belong to a book group or just looking for a good book to read? Here is a list of the most popular book club books in May from Bookmovement.com. The popularity of the new Great Gatsby movie has pushed that classic to the top of the list!

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
3. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail by Cheryl Strayed
4. Unbroken: A World War II Tale of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
6. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
7. Defending Jacob by William Landay
8. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
10. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout is more than the story of a dysfunctional family, it also deals with religion, race and cultural issues in a small town in Maine after a large number of refugees from Somalia relocate there.

The personal and psychological struggles of the main characters stem from childhood traumas. Each gives insight into how their lives were shaped by the things they believed to be true from childhood interpretations; things that are never spoken of as adults. A personal success doesn't necessarily mean that someone is good, or a failure that someone is bad.  The twists and turns will pull you along to the final pages of this story.

In our time of old and new Great Gatsby movies, The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty offered another perspective on the 1920's clash between conservative restrictive morality (like corsets) and the crazy free-living ways of the flappers.

One society woman from Wichita, Kansas, who fought for women's suffrage, has reasons to believe that she is free from most prejudices of her time.  She volunteers to chaperone an eccentric rebellious teenager to a month-long competitive dance class in NYC and learns more about the world than she expects, and lots of this she learns from the live-wire child she is trying to protect.

I enjoyed watching the pseudo-liberated woman try to explain the defensive sexual attitudes of her time to the wild-child in her care.  Watching her interact with her more conservative and more eccentric peers in Out-West conservative Wichita was fascinating as fodder for imagining how new ideas slide into mainstream culture.

Perhaps too many prejudice-breaking issues are tied together in this book, but I admired Moriarty's efforts to show some of the many ways our fore-mothers stretched into the freedoms of the new century.

Our Out of This World book for June 26 is John Scalzi's Redshirts. John Scalzi is best known for the Old Man's War series and for taping a piece of bacon to a cat.

Escape from North Korea, by Melanie Kirkpatrick, a Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute, tells the harrowing tale of people who try to escape the harsh regime in North Korea by traveling through China.  Both the escape from North Korea and the route through China are fraught with peril.  This book tells the tale of people who have survived the trip and the challenges they faced, as well as stories about people who have been caught and the consequences of their attempts.  This is a very readable non-fiction book that tells the truth about living in the totalitarian regime that is North Korea.

I LOVE this book!  It is a perfect picture book and, therefore, I could share it with children everywhere I go, hundreds of times, and never tire of it—ever.  I read a lot of picture books.  I like and appreciate many of them for many different reasons but, once in a while, a perfect one comes along and I feel compelled to share it with everyone I know.  What makes a perfect picture book?  It’s a little different with each one, but the main factor, for me, is that I want to read it again and again and find it equally compelling each and every time.  I view the picture book as a challenging art form, so I truly appreciate what it takes to create one that impresses children and adults alike and I am always especially impressed when the author is also the illustrator.  Penguin and Pinecone is one of those rare gems!

Salina Yoon won me over with the first two pages when Penguin meets Pinecone and adventure ensues. Penguin’s altruistic attempts to take care of his new friend eventually lead him to discover that being the best kind of friend means being apart from Pinecone, even though it is clear that Penguin misses Pinecone considerably.  I don’t want to give away the best parts, so I will just say that Salina Yoon manages to share a tale of unconditional love and its power, through the perfect pairing of humorous illustrations and simple words, without the slightest hint of overdoing it (which sometimes happens in picture books).  If I were to sum this picture book up in one word, it would be charming (though adorable and hilarious are close contenders).

After Steve Jobs passed away in October 2011 at the age of 56, many biographies were written about this complex man who made most everyone in the world desire every product he created or influenced. His name is associated with many successful companies or products such as: Apple, Pixar, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad. While he was considered a genius, he was also extremely difficult to work with and was once fired from the top spot of his own company, had very different ideas about hygiene and diet, and at times had troubles with personal relationships with friends and family. This is a fascinating book about a very "different" man.

Although housed on the children’s shelves, this biography by Karen Blumenthal is aimed at readers ages 12 and up. It is very well-written and researched with added photos, a time line, author's notes, a bibliography, chapter notes, a glossary, and an index. It was an American Library Association 2013 Young Adult Library Services Association Finalist for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults as well as an American Library Association 2013 Children's Notable Book Selection for Older Readers.

Are you a fan of Jo Nesbo’s sensitive-yet-flawed Norwegian detective Harry Hole?

Reading cookbooks is one of my ways to relax. However, nowadays with all the food network chefs and celebrity chefs there are so many choices. "It's All Good" attracted my attention because I remember seeing a TV series called Spain.....On the Road Again in which Gwyneth Paltrow traveled throughout Spain with Mario Batali. I was impressed, Gwyneth really seemed to enjoy food both as an experience and as creative endeavor.

•               A Body Builder Week
•               A Detox Week
•               A Family Friendly Week
•               A Vegan Week
•               A Just Great Healthy Everyday Eating Week

•             Lee's Chopped Vietnamese Salad with Vietnamese Dressing
•             Spring Vegetable Soup - the Italian Version
•             Instant Berry Coconut Frozen Pops

All of these were full of flavor and very easy, a big hit with the family, friends and a few staff here at ELPL. With the temperature in the eighties today, I've included the recipe for the frozen pops, so simple and quite refreshing. It makes one pint.

Here's a list of what we'll be talking about this summer at Books on Tap. 

June 11 - Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
July  9 - This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper
August 13 - Manhunt by James L. Swanson

September 10 - The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers - This year's One Book, One Community selection.

We have new people drop in every month! So if you have been looking for a place to meet and discuss books, stop by Jimmy's Pub the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Have a drink and join the discussion!

Reading Blood river: a journey to Africa's broken heart is a tense and thrilling adventure that will leave you with a better understanding of this forgotten country in central Africa. Author Tim Butcher strives to recreate explorer Henry Morton Stanley's nineteenth century route along the Congo River from Lake Tanganyika to the Atlantic Ocean which cuts through two-thirds of the African continent. Along the journey you discover how the Congo is the only place in the world where technological advancements go backwards and grandparents can tell their grandchildren about inventions they can't even dream of. The Congo has so many resources and a people desperate for peace yet so many obstacles stacked against their success. You also learn about the efforts of the United Nations and other aid organizations and why so little is being done to help the people faced with massive institutionalized corruption. Butcher's book shines a spotlight on a country the world seems to have given up on and a people just hoping for a fair chance.