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All of my reading was print last week so I listened to podcasts on my walks.
I think we saw each other at the same time 🙂
Baseball is a game that is identified with food. We even sing about it at every ballpark during the seventh inning stretch: “….buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack…” The famous song was written by Jack Norworth in 1908. From the early part of the twentieth century until the 1980s, classic baseball fare consisted mostly of hot dogs, ice cream, peanuts, and Cracker Jack. Then ballparks slowly began to sell new items. A proliferation of new food offerings during the 1990s was fueled by the opening of twelve new major league ballparks. Now, teams around the country sell a variety of exotic food. Some stadiums have gone all out to showcase unique, gourmet-style food. Many parks emphasize regional food as well as having offerings from well-known local restaurants. There are also several ballparks where retired ballplayers are shaping new careers as signature food purveyors. “The new food era has brought such a wonderful gustatory experience at the ballparks with chef-prepared masterpieces, vegetarian and kosher delights, as well as amped up riffs on the hot dog and sausage,” says Bennett. The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine begins with the history of the first hot dog at a ball game and concludes with a culinary tour of all 30 major league ballparks.
My take: If you have an avid baseball fan in your life The Joy of Ballpark Food would be an excellent choice for a Fathers Day or birthday gift. Bennett Jacobstein starts with the arrival of the hotdog in America, its place in baseball history and then moves on to the amazing culinary treats offered at the Major League ballparks. I was pleased to see my hometown Miller Park highlighted where, lately, the concessions are more palatable than the action on the field *sigh*. Any fan will enjoy paging through the book to see what other regions of the US and Canada offer in the way of concessions. Deborah Jacobstein’s photographs of various offerings brighten almost every page. The paperback edition is coffee table size and is sure to spark conversation. Recommended.
About the author: Bennett Jacobstein lives in San Jose, CA. He is a retired librarian and publisher of demographic materials. He currently works during the baseball season in the concessions stand at Municipal Stadium, home of minor league baseball’s Class A Advanced San Jose Giants. Every minor leaguer dreams of making it to the big leagues. Bennett had his dream fulfilled when he worked as a concessions stand substitute at three Oakland Athletics games during the 2013 season. He enjoys both baseball and food but considers himself a much better eater than ball player. He had a two-year Little League career in which he went two seasons without getting a hit. HIs only RBI was when he got hit by the pitch with bases loaded. When not batting or sitting on the bench, he would be found in right field praying that the ball didn’t get hit to him. The three greatest days of his life were the day he married his wife Debbie, the day his daughter Aviva was born, and the day he first successfully replaced the nachos cheese bag in the dispenser at the San Jose Giants’ concession stand. Bennett published The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine in January 2015. It is available for sale on Amazon. All of the royalties from the sale of The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine are being donated to Second Harvest Food Bank. To learn more, Go to http://www.ballparkfood.org/
GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED
Title: The Secret Life of Violet GrantMy take: When Vivian Schuyler finds in her possession a leather suitcase her life is turned upside down. Not only has she made a new acquaintance (the handsome young doctor who carried the suitcase home from the post office for her) but she discovers a relative (owner of said suitcase) she’d never heard of before.
Being an inquisitive magazine writer-in-training, Vivian is determined to learn all she can about the mysterious Aunt Violet. What she finds out is that her aunt was just as driven to achieve her dreams as Vivian is. Violet, an accomplished scientist, defied society’s norms of the day and found a position in England that she thought would give entrance to a life she sought. That job led her on a journey of twists and unexpected and dramatic turns.
Vivian also bucked family expectations and landed a magazine job after graduating college. Her determination served her well when she set off on Violet’s rather cold trail. Williams’ dual storylines of the two strong women had me turning the pages. It was a compelling tale but, I have to say, I could have done without Vivian’s “cute” dialogue/narrative that wouldn’t stop. I found it to be a distraction from the story. That said, I think fans of historical fiction (heavy on romance) would probably enjoy The Secret Life of Violet Grant.
Congratulations to
Rita W.
winner of
Title: Finding GloryMy take: Finding Glory is the third book in the Home to Glory series but it can definitely stand on its own. Gina and Reed knew each other quite well as children but then life took them in different directions. Before doing that though, Reed and Gina’s sister Crystal had a relationship that was rooted in their drug addiction. Reed was able to break free but Crystal couldn’t and then became even more ill before dying. Unbeknownst to Reed, he had fathered a child with Crystal. When he hears the news he returns to Glory, Kansas to meet his daughter Amanda Jane who now lives with her aunt Gina.
Growing up Gina had hoped Reed would notice her as more than a friend but, instead, he was drawn to her sister Crystal. When Gina’s mom died from cancer she shouldered the responsibility of caring for Crystal and then Amanda Jane. When Reed finds a way for them both to raise Amanda Jane, Gina can’t help but worry that she and Amanda Jane will be let down by him.
Thrown together so quickly they all have to learn to live as a family. There are growing pains all around but you’ll have to read the book to see if they can find glory in their new life. Although I found some of the circumstances over-the-top, I still thought Finding Glory was a good addition to the series. Recommended to fans of small town, contemporary romance.
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Summer is around the corner so I thought I’d post some books I’ve enjoyed so far to read by the pool, at the beach, or on the patio. Click each cover for more information. I’ll be back with Part 2 in a few weeks.
Congratulations to
Myra C.
winner of
#FitReaders is hosted by That’s What I’m Talking About and Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
Except for the weekend I had a good week of walking. The weather was nice (50s and 60s).
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Title: The House of Hawthorne: A NovelMy take: The House of Hawthorne is the story of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sophia Peabody Hawthorne. She was a painter and he, of course, a writer.
Erika Robuck’s novel takes the reader from Cuba to Massachusetts to England to Italy and back to Massachusetts. Their daily life included visits by people such as Emerson, Thoreau, the Alcotts – to name just a few. The House of Hawthorne is a story about love between two people who understood the other so much so that words were not always necessary. That’s not to say life was perfect or easy. Sophia had health issues and he seemed to suffer from occasional bouts of depression. They struggled financially most of their lives and yet managed to travel and live where they chose. There were times of great joy and deep sadness and their relationship carried them through it all.
I loved learning about the Hawthornes. I knew virtually nothing about Nathaniel other than his books. I think Robuck probably got to the core of his true character – at least it felt that way to me. He was very fortunate to find Sophia and that she returned his love and admiration. Not all marriages at that time were a love match and these two appreciated that theirs was. It’s what held them together, I’m sure, when life was hard.
For some reason the book had a slow start for me but after several pages I was swept up in the story of Sophia and Nathaniel. I think fans of historical fiction and 19th century American writers would like The House of Hawthorne as much as I did. I was grateful for the Author’s Note that brought me up to speed with the Hawthornes at the end of the book. I’m also curious about their son Julian’s book about his parents that is listed in the bibliography.
Q&A with Mary Kay Andrews (provided by the publicist)
New York Times bestselling author of BEACH TOWN
http://marykayandrews.com/the-books/books-by-mary-kay-andrews/beach-town/
https://www.facebook.com/marykayandrewsauthor
https://twitter.com/mkayandrews
Q: The main character in Beach Town, Greer Hennessey, is a movie location scout. What made you choose to write about Hollywood and the movie business?.
A: I’m the nerd still sitting in a darkened theatre waiting for the location credits to roll at the end of every movie. I’ve always been a big movie buff—and I’m always as intrigued by the real settings of films as I am with the film itself. Also, my daughter Katie issues filming permits for some of the dozens and dozens of film, television and advertising shoots that take place every year in our town.
Q: What research did you do into the movie business and the various roles on a movie set when writing Beach Town?
A: I actually went out to L.A. to research the places where Greer lived and worked. I took the Paramount Studio tour, visited a movie costume house, and shadowed a film location scout during a shoot in Atlanta. I interviewed three location managers and the hair and make-up artist who became the inspiration for CeeJay in the book.
Q: Is Cypress Key a real place? If not, is it based on any place particular?
A: Cypress Key is based on the real, charming Florida town of Cedar Key. I fictionalized the town heavily in the book which is why I didn’t call it Cedar Key.
Q: How did you settle on the FL Gulf Coast as the setting for Beach Town?
A: I wanted a sleepy, virtually untouched town for the setting of the book—which the fictional movie producer Bryce Levy describes as “a cross between the town in Jaws and Body Heat. Most of the East Coast is so heavily developed, I thought the Florida Gulf Coast was virtually the last frontier. Just as Greer does in Beach Town I started looking for my setting in the Panhandle, in Panama City Beach, and then worked my way down the coast until I discovered Cedar Key.
Q: Did you run away from home again when writing this novel? Where did you go this time?
A: I actually ran away to Cedar Key, FL! The first time I stayed in a tiny tourist motel somewhat like a mini version of the fictional Silver Sands Motel in the book. The second time when I came back I rented a tiny cottage overlooking the Gulf. I find “embedding” myself in the inspiration setting helps put me in the world of the book when I’m writing. But the largest portion of the book got written at our Tybee Island vacation home, Ebbtide, which is named after a beach house in an earlier novel, Summer Rental.
Q: In Beach Town, Eb Thibadeaux is the mayor, town engineer, and owner of the grocery store, motel, and boat yard. What or who inspired this small-town Jack-of-all-trades? Have you known folks like Eb?
A: I’ve lived in a couple small towns where it seems that a small number of people take responsibility for making things run. In my own town in the Atlanta area, years ago the city manager was also the chief of police. Eb is purely a product of my imagination, but I wanted Eb to be the kind of person who sees what needs to be done, then rolls up his sleeves and makes it happen. He’s an entrepreneur as well as a do-gooder.
Q: There is a dachshund in Beach Town. How did you select this breed? Tell us about your own pets.
A: I liked the idea of having an outdoorsman like Eb having a small rescue dog—because Eb is a rescuer. And dachshunds just strike me as funny. Golden retrievers are the Heidi Klums of the dog world—and dachshunds are the Amy Poehlers. Our own dogs are English Setters—bird dogs, although the only thing they hunt these days are hand-outs around the supper table.
Q: What qualities make up the ideal beach town for you?
A: I love an old-school feeling. No high-rise condo towers, no fast-food joints. Just a couple of narrow, sandy roads where families meander down to the beach or ride bikes to the ice cream shop, rows of beat-up wooden cottages, a couple of good hang-out type restaurants with ice-cold beer and good seafood, and of course the beach—preferably wide with sugar white sand.
Q: What is your all-time favorite beach town and why?
A: I suppose the beach town I grew up near—Pass-A-Grille, in St. Pete Beach, FL is my all-time favorite. It’s where my siblings and I learned to jump into the waves from my father’s broad, sunburnt shoulders, where my teenaged girlfriends and I hung out summers, slathered in baby oil and iodine, and where I went “parking” with my very first boyfriend, necking in the front seat of his mother’s Dodge Valiant. It’s also where I got very drunk on under-aged purchased beer the weekend of high-school graduation—with my now-husband.
Q: What can you tell us about your next book?
A: It’s set on an imaginary barrier island off the coast of North Carolina, and I’m actually considering throwing a murder into the plot, just to keep things interesting.
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Title: The Guest CottageMy take: When Sophie Anderson discovers her husband of sixteen years plans to ask for a divorce she takes up a friend’s offer for her and the two kids to rent a rambling Nantucket cottage for the summer. So she’s completely caught off guard when Trevor Black and his young son arrive at the same time to rent the same cottage. They decide to make the best of the situation and the two families form an unexpected bond. The Guest Cottage is a perfect beach book. It’s about family and love (on a few levels), finding new freedom and moving forward. Nancy Thayer’s descriptive prose made me feel like I was relaxing on one of the Nantucket beaches enjoying a wonderful holiday. Toss this book in the beach bag this summer. You’ll be glad you did!
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A much improved week for walking – mostly outdoors.
Book Synopsis: An instant bestseller when it was first published in 1987, The Shell Seekers is an enduring classic which has touched the hearts of millions of readers worldwide. A novel of connection, it is the story of one family, and of the passions and heartbreak that have held them together for three generations. It is filled with real people–mothers and daughters, husband and lovers–and inspired with real values. Now for the first time in trade paperback, this magical novel—the kind of reading experience that comes along only once in a long while—is the perfect summer read, whether you are returning to it again, or opening the cover for the first time. At the end of a long and useful life, Penelope Keeling’s prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather’s work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer…and it lies in her heart. Author Info: ROSAMUNDE PILCHER has had a long and distinguished career as a novelist and short-story writer, but it was her phenomenally successful novel The Shell Seekers that captured the hearts of all who read it and won her international recognition as one of the most-loved storytellers of our time. The Shell Seekers was followed by September and then by Coming Home and Winter Solstice, which also became worldwide bestsellers. She lives in Perthshire, Scotland.
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My brief take: (read in 2009)
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Title: The Sound of GlassSynopsis: It has been two years since the death of Merritt Heyward’s husband, Cal, when she receives unexpected news—Cal’s family home in Beaufort, South Carolina, bequeathed by Cal’s reclusive grandmother, now belongs to Merritt.
Charting the course of an uncertain life—and feeling guilt from her husband’s tragic death—Merritt travels from her home in Maine to Beaufort, where the secrets of Cal’s unspoken-of past reside among the pluff mud and jasmine of the ancestral Heyward home on the Bluff. This unknown legacy, now Merritt’s, will change and define her as she navigates her new life—a new life complicated by the arrival of her too young stepmother and ten-year-old half-brother.
Soon, in this house of strangers, Merritt is forced into unraveling the Heyward family past as she faces her own fears and finds the healing she needs in the salt air of the Low Country. (publisher)
My take: When Merritt inherits her late husband’s ancestral South Carolina home she leaves Maine and moves to Beaufort. It’s the perfect opportunity for the fresh start she seeks. What she finds is a home in need of repair, curious neighbors and family she didn’t know she had.
Merritt and the rest will discover their strengths as they learn some of life’s truths and solve a complicated (I thought unbelievable) mystery along the way. They will also come to appreciate the significance of sea glass. I love sea glass and could almost hear the sound as I read Karen White’s novel.
The Sound of Glass contains so much of what I enjoy in a novel: evocative writing, heartfelt characters, and a gorgeous, hot and humid setting on the water. And it left me wanting to read what happened next in the lives of the main characters. I continued to think about Merritt, Gibbes, Loralee and Owen long after I turned the last page. That’s my sign of a good book.
Recommended to fans of the author and Southern Fiction.
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Title: Second Chance Friends: A novelMy take: On an early September morning four women witness or are part of a terrible traffic accident. That experience brings together the women whose paths otherwise would not have crossed.
Each woman is living her own personal drama that is close to boiling over. When they are drawn back to the diner near the scene of the crash they form an unusual friendship that will become stronger with each meeting. Each will feel support from the others and ultimately learn the meaning of true friendship.
I enjoyed Jennifer Scott’s story even when I was frustrated with one or two of the characters’ actions. Each time that happened Scott managed to bring me back to the supportive friends theme which I really liked. I appreciated the epilogue that answered all of my questions and wrapped the novel up perfectly. Recommended to fans of the author and novels about women’s friendship.
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