"
In this solid collection of comfort-food classics, Baltimore caterer Dunnington (This Book Cooks
, Tasting the Seasons
) offers a practical approach to cooking. Organized by event (happy hour, dinner, etc.) rather than the seasons as implied by the title, Dunnington's selections are surefire hits for dinner parties as well as weeknight meals. She suggests simple, flavor-packed updates on classics (lemon-rosemary chicken wings, pork tenderloin with roasted coffee and allspice, pineapple upside-down pancakes), as well as more inventive dishes such as wild-rice salad with cherries and feta, fire-roasted seafood chili with shrimp and crawfish, and a clove-spiked red-plum cake. Dunnington brings to the table thoughtful vegetarian options such as quinoa cheeseburgers with curried cucumber yogurt sauce; gingered coconut and celery soup; and almond cookies, which only call for sugar, almond paste, and an egg white. Dunnington's instructions are simple and direct, and ingredients are pared down to just the essentials without sacrificing flavor. Novice cooks can easily source ingredients, and veterans would also do well to peruse this welcoming title, as they're sure to pick up a few new ideas. (BookLife)"
"
The Splendid Baron Submarine is a summer adventure story full of unexpected danger and wacky surprises, and is funny from its first page to its last.
"The story begins with Waldo, better known as W.B., finding himself stuck in the corner of his classroom with the dunce cap on his head, in trouble for telling tall tales. Except W.B. was actually telling the truth about his summer vacation-it just sounds over the top.
"Two thugs showed up at the Baron estate, you see, and took the family to see the vice president, who had been challenged with retrieving the lost treasure of Captain Affect to pay off the country's debt. The family decided to head to the site of the pirate's shipwreck themselves, in the submarine that W.B.'s father invented. So their adventure began.
"Every time it seems like the plot can get no more outrageous, something new and unexpected happens. Still, it's the characters who truly bring the story to life. W.B.'s mother, M, is wonderfully logical, and his father, P, is just a bit crazy. Rose is the inventor's assistant-bright, capable, and fitting perfectly into the family.
"W.B. is the most appealing character of all. He is chubby and clumsy, and has a bit of an inferiority complex. "The fun always stops when I get my head stuck in the fireplace," he proclaims early on-a sentiment that sums up his personality quite well. He has great admiration and respect for his family but a fairly low opinion of himself, which makes his contributions to the family adventures all the more satisfying.
"Illustrations by Agnieszka Grochalska are sprinkled throughout the book. These simple ink drawings highlight some of the story's funnier moments. Drawings of gears serve as section breaks and add a nice touch.
"The Splendid Baron Submarine is delightfully absurd, imaginative, and fun-a wonderful book for middle-school children to read on their own, and an even better book for families to read aloud together.
"
"
The infamous frontier woman Calamity Jane stumbles into the role of surrogate mother for two orphaned youngsters.
"There's a smallpox epidemic around Deadwood, South Dakota. From a canvas-sided cabin "in the gulch near the creek," 12-year-old Jimmy Glass loads his pox-stricken father into a ramshackle wagon and pulls him into town, bringing his little sister, Flower, along. There, the youngsters meet Calamity Jane, who has them carry their father to the "pest tent." Jane then installs the children in her own room at Dora DuFran's bar, restaurant, and house of ill repute. As much as this is historical fiction (several characters are real persons reimagined) and a coming-of-age story, it's primarily an attempt to humanize the outsize legend of Calamity Jane, a woman who's pugnacious, vulgar, and a touch feminist. That summer, the year of Jane's lover Wild Bill Hickok's death, Jane can be found at "at the pest tent, passed out drunk by the outhouse, or drinking at Dora's saloon." Jimmy sees the real Jane and knows she shares his worry over the fragile Flower, his half Lakota sister, whom he calls "mine to care for, mine to watch over." Flower seems to have autism: "She talks to me, but normally doesn't with other people," Jimmy tells Jane. "She don't much like lookin' at people, either." Amid the Deadwood dangers, Jimmy, already capable, grows in emotional maturity as well, finding love among Diddlin' Dora's ladies in the wise soul of teenage Missy, who always smelled of cinnamon. Set against the background of rough-and-tumble Deadwood, probing the legend of Calamity Jane to discover the true heroic frontier woman, Rene's (
I Once Knew Vincent, 2014) focused narrative never strays from its themes.
"Compassionate and insightful, authentic and poignant."
"Working in a newsroom is not as glamorous or exciting as most people imagine.
"In fact, it can be downright boring. Just ask the staff at The Best in the West, a small-market Arizona television station where anchors Jean Ann Maypin and Tom Carter mindlessly read a teleprompter several times a night and periodically cut to local reporters Ellen Peters and Frank Kowalski. On slow news days, the journalists report on PTA meetings, social functions, and government wrangling. It can be pretty ho-hum, but every so often they get to cover a more significant issue-a uranium spill at a remote mine, a health crisis among Native Americans, the spike in homelessness. You'd think that this would impress the station's New York City-based owners and encourage them to devote additional resources to investigative stories, but you'd be wrong. The bosses' interests are strictly financial: profits and ratings are all that matter. Though this likely sounds like a contemporary tale, it's set in the late 1970s, long before there was an expectation of political correctness in the workplace; explicit racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic comments are newsroom staples. This shocks Debbie Hanson, a young and enthusiastic recent hire. As Ellen takes the newcomer under her wing, she discovers that her protégée has periods of mental instability. This provokes constant speculation among Debbie's co-workers and leaves the young reporter feeling increasingly isolated and pressured. Unfortunately, although the novel raises important political concerns, the newsroom staffers are too clichéd to resonate as real people. Likewise, the money-hungry station owners and narcissistic anchors are so one-dimensional that they read like caricatures. At the same time, anyone doubting that we've made progress over the past 40 years need only read this to be reassured.
"A fast-paced, but familiar, story of a bygone era."
(12/03) Interview with
In the Arena. Interview will air during the 8am (ET) hour and during the 8pm (ET) hour
on WOR 710AM.
Galileo Revisited9781621641322
(11/27) Review from Catholic Book Reviews Monthly.
Excerpt:
"Fr. Paschal Scotti's new book Galileo Revisited: The Galileo Affair in Context provides a fresh look at the oft-told story, one where the Catholic Church comes across as a much more sympathetic force, and one which calls a lot of the traditional elements of the narrative into question."
"
The Lost Mandate Of Heaven describes Ngo Dihn Diem as a man who, though conflicted, wanted nothing other than to keep his nation safe from the growing threat of communism in the region. The book is interesting, thorough, and provides a better understanding of the historical backdrop of the events leading up to the Vietnam War."
"This book explains the vital role that priests have played in Western Christendom and culture since Christ founded the Church, and it does so with history to prove it. Without priests, I shudder to think where our society would be today, or if it even would be. It is for that reason that I encourage you, no implore you, to buy this book and read it. We must appreciate our priests again, help our priests to be the best that they can be, and foster vocations for new priests."
