Ruby's Juke Joint Americana Cookbook / Ruby Dee Philippa

Part of what distinguishes national cuisine from food that is served up all around the world and that tastes more or less the same no matter where you are is the sense of pride and identity that those who are native to that country feel in their culinary skills in preparing those particular dishes. That is the exact sense that declares itself triumphantly from each and every page of Ruby Dee’s Ruby’s Juke Joint Americana Cookbook (Bando Press; ISBN: 978-0-9837824-0-7). That she takes sheer delight in cooking and preparing food no matter whether she is at home or on the road with the rest of her Snakehandlers band, you can be rootin’ tootin’ sure that, as soon as she can lay her hands on some down home natural and fresh ingredients with which she can whip up a tasty morsel or two, she’ll do so. Her cookbook proves the point.

Packed with colorful photos, with a glossy format and an appealing, well-laid out spread, Ruby’s Juke Joint Americana Cookbook is both entertaining and thrilling in the way that Ruby Dee has counterpoised each recipe with her own expertise in cooking the dish. That Dee has a professional grounding in concocting mouth-watering delights is borne witness to by her having built, owned and operated three well-received restaurants in Seattle. She not only offers you clear instructions on how to prepare ingredients that you’ll be able to source with ease anywhere in the US of A, but she also regales you with enticing snippets of information from her days on the road. For instance, she illustrates her recipe for Chest Nut Loaf with a pointer that could be useful for anyone setting out on a long road trip: “When we hit the road on tour, we always pack an ice chest with homemade sauces, spreads, and sandwich fixings so we don’t get homesick too quickly.” Dee’s book of culinary delights is sensibly organized under such appropriate headings as “starters” and “poultry,” and ends with seven recipes specifically aimed at Thanksgiving Dinner, followed by a comprehensive index.

In addition to providing a Bonus Recipe Card or two, Ruby Dee includes a CD with her cookbook that is billed as “Americana Music to Cook By,” including such appropriate tracks as “Deep Fat Fry” by Jim Stringer, “Eat My Words” by Marti Brom and Her Barnshakers and the track specially written to accompany this book, “Home Cookin’,’’ by the very same Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers. So, whether you’re stringing beans or shaking barns, or, yes, even wrestling that there rattler to the ground, you’re bound to find yourself at home with this scrumptious and succulent read.

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]   

Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity - My Own and What it Means to be a Woman in Chaos / Manal M. Omar - Book Review

Despite her family’s opposition to Omar’s assuming the position of country director in Iraq with Women for Women International, a group that helped female survivors of war to rebuild their lives, she quickly took up the reins of such a position, proving her worth in her many encounters with those women whom she helped free from a life of degradation and fear. The dichotomy of her status, as both Arab and American, born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian parents and raised in the American South, as a Muslim and a woman, she was in an ideal position to negotiate the hazardous and diverse microcosm of Iraq, still trying to recover from the ravages of Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime. In this moving memoir, she describes how she was among the first international aid workers to arrive in Baghdad in 2003. Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity - My Own and What it Means to be a Woman in Chaos (Sourcebooks; ISBN: 978-1-4022-3721-8) tells of the two years that she spent working with Iraqi women as they struggled to create a new nation and a new identity for themselves.

Omar describes her daily battle to overcome prejudices in the society, which were present in many forms. She not only had to suppress her own misgivings about having to work sometimes in close conjunction with the US-dominated Coalition Provisional Authority, but also to persuade her Iraqi colleagues of the integrity of her intent. She asks a telling question at the outset of the memoir: “Who was better equipped to adapt within a country experiencing a period of tumultuous change than someone who had been raised with an ever-shifting identity?”

The redemptive nature of this tale, both on a personal and broader societal front, conveys a central message of hope overcoming what might so easily have been a position of despair. The uplifting and youthful approach which Omar takes to her subject matter is as captivating in the fluency and ease of her writing as it is in the way in which she is able to navigate her position among the many diverse segments of Iraqi society. No matter whether you view the US occupation of Iraq as unwarranted or as totally justifiable in terms of their acting as a liberation force, Barefoot in Baghdad should be of interest to you. Giving both an insider’s and an outsider’s view of the unfolding drama of Iraq, the memoir should prove worthwhile reading for anyone who has a keen interest in developments in the Middle East.

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]   

How to Talk to Children about World Art / Isabelle Glorieux-Desouche - Book Review

Imagine that you are a child, agog with wonder, attending an exhibition of art from around the globe. You have as your guide a loving and well-informed mentor, who is only too pleased to answer your every question with a highly accessible and relevant answer. Would you not be thrilled?

Well, such is my response (and, I am sure, will be that of every mentor of children, too) who opens the pages of How to Talk to Children about World Art (Frances Lincoln; ISBN: 978-0-7112-3091-0). Taking key examples of art from around the world, which are all illustrated with full-page color photographs, answers are provided to all those questions that children are most likely to ask from age 5 to 13.

The helpful format of the book, starting with what art really is, and debunking preconceived ideas about arts and crafts, takes one through the gamut of featured artifacts in ordered sequence, starting in North America. The culture trail then moves to South America, and on to West and Central Africa. The art of Central Asia and South East Asia is then considered, before exploring that of Oceania and Easter Island. In place of a standard index, in keeping with the graphic nature of this guide, a world map is presented on which the origin, and a thumbnail image of the picture, of each exhibit is indicated. The work concludes with an invaluable bibliography, proposing additional reading for both adults and children, as well as visits to relevant websites, films and museums.

Details of the original source, as well as of the dimensions and the current location, of each exhibit is given as a caption beneath each photograph (imagine what you would be likely to see on an information plaque in a museum). A number of questions and comments follow, which are graded in terms of the age group most likely to ask, or pass, them. The responses in each case are informative and trenchant, with the initial topic sentence providing a synoptic answer, on which the rest of the paragraph expands. (One cannot help but compare this approach to that which is so often taken in museum guidebooks, where the focus tends to lie on an expansion of the intellectualism and knowledge possessed by the compiler of the guide concerned – children want ready access to information, and not to be bored with tedious explanations.)

The delight-filled voices of children can be heard throughout this text, ranging from the outright curiosity of the 5 to 7 year olds (such as asking, in the case of the sculpture of a Dogon couple, “Are they men or women?”), to the slightly more searching questions of the 8- to 10-year-olds (such as asking, in the case of the Mandu Yene Throne of Bamum King Nsangu, “Did all kings have such impressive thrones?”). As the inquirers themselves would, no doubt, be quick enough to point out, the questions of 11- to 13-year-olds tend, in contrast, to reflect the desire to classify and contextualize within an existing framework of knowledge (such as asking, in the case of the Fang reliquary figure, “Why did Alberto Magnelli buy this sculpture?”).

Art teachers and all those who are involved in stimulating the creativity of the young (as well as that of the young at heart) are likely to benefit from this incisive and inspirational introduction to the world of global art.

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]   

The Spiritual Significance of Music / Justin St. Vincent - Book Review

Not an esoteric text that is accessible only to the enlightened, this paean to the spiritual significance of music is written in such a way that you might easily think that you are reading a series of articles from Rolling Stone Magazine. This collection of interviews with both music-makers and writers from around the world is aimed at finding their answer to the question: ‘What do you believe is the spiritual significance of music?’ This intimate and, at times, deeply profound study of individual beliefs about the interconnection between spirituality and music is presented verbatim in the words of each artist him/herself, without the inclusion of any questions that the editor might have addressed to the interviewees concerned and without the addition of editorial comment. Such a presentation allows the pure and authentic voice of the musician or author to emerge in all cases.

The unbiased reportage in The Spiritual Significance of Music (Xtreme Music; ISBN: 978-0-473-15690-9) allows for the juxtaposing of interviews with adherents to the more traditional faiths, such as Christianity and Hinduism, with others with those who adhere to more alternative practices, such as Satanism. The wide range of beliefs that is reflected in these pages also encompasses agnosticism and the spiritual questioning of such musicians as Michael IX Williams. Covering such sub-themes as the anthropological, cultural and historical roots of music, as well as its therapeutic and universal appeal to the emotions, The Spiritual Significance of Music should be of interest to a wide range of music-lovers.

By arranging the entries alphabetically, according either to the names of the artists, or to the names of the groups or bands to which they belong, Justin St. Vincent is able to express his lack of bias towards the musicians concerned. The reader is, accordingly, free to respond to what each of the interviewees has to say on a personal level.

The work ends with brief overviews of the main work of each of the musicians and authors involved, including their web site addresses, the details of when and where each interview took place, and the names and web site addresses of the photographer concerned.

As an indexer, I would have loved to have seen an index broadly split up into pertinent categories, expressing the major concerns of each of the musicians and writers. However, at the moment one may choose either to read the interviews conducted with those artists who have made the deepest impression on one’s life, or take pot luck and start reading at any point in the text (you might be pleasantly surprised by the serendipitous findings that you make). Of course, there are also the black-and-white photographs of each artist interviewed, so that if you are particularly interested in female music and writings, for instance, you might choose to read all those interviews conducted with women. However, no matter how you choose to read this text, you are bound to learn more about the main theme: the spiritual significance of music, as personally experienced by more than one hundred contributors, many of whom are extremely well known.

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]   

Good Night & God Bless: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Accommodation in Europe. Volume One. Austria, Czech Republic, Italy / Trish Clark - Book Review

The index to this guide to convents, monasteries, open houses and spiritual retreats of Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy gives one but the barest outline of the wealth of contents of Good Night & God Bless. Apart from answering the usual questions of where, what and how much, a sense of cultural and historical awareness permeates the text. Want to know where Empress Elizabeth was assassinated, where to seek out the most awe-inspiring classical music or liveliest disco, or where to buy locally grown organic fruit and herbal teas?  Look no further than Good Night & God Bless: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Accommodation in Europe (Hidden Spring; ISBN: 978-1587680533).

A neat pocket guide to the best alternative tourism routes through three major European countries, this logically structured work is a soothing panacea to the overwhelming plethora of travel books that pulsate off the shelves in ever increasing numbers. Presenting her work in pleasingly demarcated paragraphs, Trish Clark describes the accommodation, ranging from the relatively simple to the discretely luxurious, provided by religious houses that have found the need to become financially viable amid the increasing commercialism of the 21st century.

A brief introduction to each country and region, including a map and a few color photographs of the most distinctive sites, is followed by a few pages on each of the leading open houses. Trish describes exactly what a tourist is likely to experience while staying there. Venturing beyond a brief overview of the services and specialties provided, she explores the surroundings of each open house in turn, suggesting which places of interest, food and drink and sporting and cultural events the prospective traveler might most enjoy.

For those of a more contemplative frame of mind, Trish describes the spiritual retreats and pilgrimages that can be undertaken in Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic. She also provides the contact details for additional accommodation, so that the array of potentially spiritually uplifting accommodation is reasonably extensive. 

Good Night & God Bless: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Accommodation in Europe is the ideal guide for those seeking more than the conventional tourist fare – make the most of your next trip to Europe by contemplating the contemplative and return home refreshed and spiritually restored. Volume Two of Good Night & God Bless covers the accommodation provided in the religious houses of France, Ireland and the United Kingdom.  

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]     

Let's Make a Difference: We Can Help Orangutans / Gabriella Francine, with Solara Vayanian

This reader on orangutans is the first to emerge from the BBM Books stable, which was begun in 2012 with the intention of providing, among other educational and stewardship aids, books geared towards teaching children about the need for caring for endangered species that, without human intervention, would inevitably die out. Although the basic reader in this case is directed at conveying a sound ecological message, which will be of dire consequence if we do little, or nothing, about it, the tone of the work is far from somber. In fact, one gains the idea that the author and her team have gone out of their way to make reading Let’s Make a Difference: We Can Help Orangutans (BBM Books; ISBN: 9781938504006) an enjoyable experience to share with friends and family alike. Getting the whole family involved is the key to expanding a positive outlook in terms of the environmental movement, after all.

All except for the single page of Let’s Make a Difference: We Can Help Orangutans, which provides a list of “some organizations that work to protect the orangutans and their homes, the rainforest”, are in full color. Many of the numerous photographs picture the young as they go about their daily activities of eating, sleeping and playing. The many different ways in which they resemble human children are emphasized both in the drawings and photos, as well as in the text itself.

Just enough is said about orangutans on each page to make you eager to continue reading, making this book really enticing. Even on pages that largely feature illustrations, an “Orangutan Fun Fact” is included in the form of an inset. An example of such a “fun fact” is “Orangutans can get mosquito bites, too! Since they don’t have fly swatters in the wild, they use branches to drive them away.”

Throughout the book, the orangutans are portrayed not only in relationship to one another, but also to their environment. The stressing of the role that humans have played in the shrinkage of their habitat, as well as what they can now do to protect the few thousand still living on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra is done in such a way as to rouse the enthusiasm of children to participate in the conservation effort. From the smallest task of collecting coins to place in a money jar, through to visiting the orangutans at the Indianapolis and San Diego zoos (and even abroad, if you are one of those fortunate enough to travel to Indonesia, and are within range of a care center), the reader is encouraged to invest their resources, no matter how little, in a way that will make a difference for this endangered species.

For anyone who is keen on inculcating a love of wildlife and great causes in their kids, Let’s Make a Difference: We Can Help Orangutans, is an extremely worthwhile investment. A copy should also be made easily accessible through all school and public libraries, so that the message of conservation reaches even those whose parents are not environmentally enlightened.

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]   

The Box from Braunau: In Search of My Father's War / Jan Elvin - Book Review

In her preface, Jan Elvin writes how, by writing The Box from Braunau: In Search of My Father's War (AMACOM; ISBN: 978-0-8144-1049-3), she got back the father she had lost years ago. As the sole custodian of her family history, she recognizes herself as one of the children of the “Greatest Generation”, who have shared an inheritance of silence and hidden wounds for far too long. This war memoir gives access to the front-line experiences of Americans who fought in what might be regarded as the most soul-destroying conflict of the twentieth century.

Jan’s father, as she came to know him, was William John Elvin, Jr., more familiarly known as Bill, a newspaperman for the Washington Evening Star, and a decorated combat veteran of General George S. Patton’s Third Army, 80th Infantry Division. When Jan was ten years old, he bought the McLean Providence Journal, a weekly newspaper with which he was associated for the rest of his life.

Jan tells how her father’s passionate ambition to write for a newspaper was first given voice in his associate editorship of the University of Michigan’s highly regarded Michigan Daily. While working in the personnel office of the local Celanese plant, however, World War II broke out, leading to him volunteering for the Officer Candidate School. Jan includes excerpts from her father’s journal that he wrote up in 1945 from notes that he had kept during his first three months in combat during the previous year. 

   

Even when enmeshed in the trials of life at the front, Bill retained a sharp sense of humor and sound outlook on life, as when he recalls fellow infantrymen getting soaked from sleeping under the stars, having neglected to pitch a tent. However, thoughts of his family were never far from his mind, leading him to write a letter, the text of which is included in The Box from Braunau, to his son, Jay, to be read only if he died in battle. Well referenced newspaper clippings from the time help to contextualize the journal entries, which are couched in a lively, credible style, marked by its immediacy. Often poetic and ennobling in tone (such as where he describes the dawn arriving “with a gentleness and assurance that changed every man from a fearsome, groveling worm to a warm, self-respecting human being”), the power of Bill’s writing presages his later prowess as a news reporter.

Returning from the ever-present dangers of the front line to a secure life in suburbia was not easy for Bill, who never fully recovered from his wartime experiences. Jan cites his war journal description of avoidance of incoming artillery, “Tight, tight, tight, and down, down, down”, as being equally applicable to his emotions. Over vigilant regarding the safety of his family, he distanced himself emotionally from them, preferring to bury himself in his work than to busy himself with their concerns. Eventually the strain on his marriage became so dire that Jan’s mother, Jane, moved out.

The aluminum box, referred to in the title, was given to Jan’s father by a prisoner interned in the German-run forced labor camp in Braunau, when his Division freed its inmates near the end of World War II.  When first brought home, he used it merely for personal notes and phone bills. However, when Jane moved out, he replaced its original contents with his army medals and the Bible his parents had given him as a boy.

Well illustrated with black and white photographs, and supplemented by a comprehensive index, bibliography and glossary, this part history part memoir is of importance to scholar and general reader alike. In addition to helpful guidelines on how to search for wartime personal histories, information sources and address details of support organizations relating to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans are listed. The Box from Braunau: In Search of My Father’s War provides accessible and informative reading for all those interested in journalism and the social dynamics of warfare.

[My thanks go to renowned online publisher, Norm Goldman, for his inclusion of this review on his http://www.BookPleasures.com website.]