Fun Pick: Girls Like Me

Girls Like Me
by Lola StVil
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2016
320 pages
ISBN: 9780544706743


Girls Like Me is a novel written  in verse and a series of chat room posts. Shay Summers is a high school teen who has lost both her parents--her mother abandoned the family and her father died in a car accident-- and now Shay is living with her stepmother. Shay uses food as a crutch to help her deal with her pain and loneliness. Even though Shay has two good friends, she feels alone in the world. On a whim, full of teen angst, and  bored, she answers an interesting post in a chat room.

Shay is surprised and delighted when the guy (?)  responds and their  posts to each other are fun and clever. The boy keeps pushing for a photo of her, but  Shay is terrified to send him one. Then he will know she's not the beautiful, skinny girl she knows that he imagines her to be.  Shay's self-doubt, body image and boredom make her a believable and loveable character that readers will empathize with. All teen girls struggle with doubt and  questions like: Am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Do people like me?

The social media aspect of the book drives the interchange between Shay and a mysterious boy she becomes enamored with. Readers are drawn into Shay's world and they see how funny and how beautiful she truly is. Godot (the boy) is clever and snarky. Together they are playful magic.

BFFs Boots and Dash are the type of friends every teen would want to have, but each has a huge problem/concern of his/her own. Boots is dying; she is handling it the best she can, but really, how can a teenager even think about not living to see 20 years? Dash is afraid to come out to his family; he knows that his father will not only be disappointed but he thinks his dad will never accept of forgive him.

The only drawback to this books is the cover! While it is true that readers  like to read books with characters like them; that being said, girl or boy readers with weight/body issues are  not likely to be excited about carrying around a book with a "curvy girl" on the cover and with the title Girls Like Me. One can only imagine the comments and bullying asides that would ensue.

Highly recommended for  high school readers and collections. A fun read that touches on important issues.

Not recommended for middle school: talking about sex in the chats. Sexual and mature content.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review. 

Rock and Roll Cook Book Pick: Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Cooking & Partying Handbook

Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Cooking & Partying with Sammy Hagar
by Sammy Hagar and Josh Sens
Dey Street Books
2015
303 pages, with index
color photos
ISBN: 9780062370006

Sammy Hagar might sing, "I can't drive 55!" but he sure can party and boy, can he cook! Are We Having Any Fun Yet? is a testament to the man's love of life and of food! From the first pages of the foreward written with love by friend and famous New Orleans chef and restauranteur Emeril Legasse to Sammy's own heartfelt musings of his grandfather's cooking and hunting  to recipes from Cabo, Mill Valley, and Maui, Sammy entertains readers with personal stories and glimpses into a down-to- earth, totally rocking guy. Many photos with famous friends are also included. It's a fascinating book that transcends the usual "recipe" book.

Sammy gives background to visiting  a then sleepy beach town called Cabo San Lucas and opening the Cabo Wabo, meant to be a small beach bar  and the  struggles of keeping it running in the early  years. It's fascinating to see the day to day problems  of opening a rock venue and  in a foreign country on top of that. Fast foreward to today: the Cabo Wabo is and continues to be a successful business--no doubt due to Sammy's personality and his take on fresh, clean  food done right.  From Cabo Shrimp to Lobster Burritos to Tomatillo Salsa Sammy has the goods and can hook you up. From the bar in Cabo, Sammy opened up other locations and a line of tequila and other spirits.

With culinary friends like Emeril and Guy Fieri, Sammy's kitchen rocks! If Cabo is where Sammy gets his party on, Mill Valley is where he relaxes and settles in with wine and Osso Buco. Recipes for Chorizo and Pork Loin Paella make the mouth water, with photos of food that make the soul happy and Sammy's stories, like Sammy himself, always are full of life and humor.

The last destination Sammy calls  home is his Maui residence. Oceanfront and tranquil, full of fruit trees and a bounty of vegetables, it truly is a garden of Eden sans evil  serpent. Cooking and creating with year round fresh ingredients opened up a world of food for Hagar. He includes numerous cocktail recipes, many using his own spirits.

Truly a fun read and trip through parts unknown (thank you Anthony Bourdain), Are We Having Fun Yet? asks. Well, the answer is, "Yes, this is fun!"

Highly recommended for fans of rock, Hagar fans, foodie fans, spirits fans and anyone who enjoys great storytelling. This is vintage Hagar. A great gift for anyone with a little rock and roll and a little spice!

Recommended grade 9 and up. Profanity, cocktails, rock stories, and sheer fun!

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Foodie Pick: Voracious

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books
by Cara Nicoletti
Little Brown and Company
2015
274 pages with index and recipes!
ISBN: 9780316242998

Supremely satisfying, divinely dulcet, and totally transcendent, Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books is sure to satiate the most voracious readers, eaters, and foodies.  Cara Nicoletti marries two passions of life: reading and eating. The two truly are connected after all.

Nicoletti shares each book and her own thoughts about the food found within and what it brought to the characters, tone, and plot of each novel. From Nancy Drew to Charlotte's Web and Where the Red Fern Grows  to Les Miserables to the Aeneid to Middlesex, Nicoletti delivers  up her dish on great books and the culinary creations they inspire.

To Kill a Mockingbird impacts many readers with its message of defending the underdog. The novel is full of food (as is the South). Nicoletti regales readers with descriptions from the book: "....scuppernongs, dewberry tarts, peach pickles, hickory nuts, cherry wine, butter beans and Lane cake..." I thought I was the only reader on the planet who was bothered by some of these foods. I was fourteen when I read To Kill a Mockingbird, and I took to the dictionary for a definition of scuppernongs--this was a  pre-Google, pre-Internet era. I discovered scuppernongs are a variety of grapes that grow in the South. I looked everywhere for someone who could tell me what the heck a Lane cake was. Finally I found an old Southern lady on the golf course--where else?--who told me Lane cakes are popular in the South and loaded with booze ("shiney"--i.e. moonshine). To Kill a Mockingbird brought the South to life for readers everywhere. Biscuits are a staple of every diet in the South. They are so prevalent In Maycomb, Calpurnia shines Scout's shoes with a biscuit. In honor of Harper Lee's classic, Nicoletti provides a recipe for Biscuits with Molasses Butter. She also gives cooks helpful tips throughout. For example, you can freeze pre-formed, unbaked biscuits.

For The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Nicoletti writes about the description of Ichabod Crane and his "insatiable and all-consuming hunger." Ichabod is  a lowly school teacher, not a wealthy landowner. He salivates over Katrina Van Tassel's family table and their hearty meals. Everywhere Ichabod goes, he sees an abundance of food, "...he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn..." In honor of Ichabod, Nicoletti offers up Buckwheat Pancakes to which you can add toppings of maple syrup, peanut butter, bananas, honey, or smoked salmon which she admits with humor,  "I've tried them (the pancakes) with all of these toppings, for research purposes, of course."

Rebecca, my all time favorite Gothic read, gets full literary and culinary treatment here. The food abounds in this novel. There is literally food everywhere and it is shocking to see the depth and breadth of it. For breakfast they dine on: "...scrambled eggs and bacon, fish, boiled eggs, porridge, and ham...and entire table of condiments for the toast and scones--jam, marmalade and honey--as well as dessert dishes and mountains of fresh fruit." The narrator in Rebecca never reveals her name which makes this  novel all the more creepily Gothic and romantic.  For Rebecca, Nicoletti gives a nod to our nameless heroine and creates an ambrosia called  Blood Orange Marmalade.

Readers will devour every recipe and anecdote with gustatory glee. This novel is a treasure trove for the eye, the mind, the soul and the palate. Truly a rare find!

Highly, highly recommended for foodies, readers, cooks, chefs, and eaters everywhere. If you know a foodie, this book is a delectable gift that they will treasure! This is one book I will return to again and again for the food and for the stories!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Foodie and Book Club Pick: My Berlin Kitchen

My Berlin Kitchen
By Luisa Weiss
Viking
2012
302 pages with recipes

Fans of Luisa Weiss’s blog, The Wednesday Chef, are in for a real treat—her own true story of cooking, living and loving. Weiss was a young child when her parents divorced, her father relocating to America and her Italian mother living in Berlin. She traveled between the two continents throughout her childhood and teens, never feeling truly at home or belonging to any country. She remembers the long flights and the Christmases away from either her father or her mother, but never Christmas with both of them.

The only place young Luisa felt safe was in the kitchen, the aromas and colors of familiar food welcoming her into its open arms. Luisa soon associated certain foods with certain family members or places. Her father gave her a recipe for the family’s Tomato Sauce—great comfort food handed down from her Italian grandmother (maternal). Whenever Luisa prepares it, she remembers her father and her grandmother, and she hopes to pass it along to her children someday. She points out that everyone needs a great tomato sauce.

From her uncle Pietro, Luisa includes a delicious recipe for Pizza Siciliana, a Sicilian treasure topped with escarole, anchovies, provolone and grape tomatoes. Serious foodies will love recipes for Erbsensuppe (German Pea Soup), Braised Leeks and Meatballs in Tomato-Chipotle Sauce.

Luisa’s story is shared by countless numbers of career women on the fast track. Through their 20’s and 30’s, they are building a career and not thinking about marriage or children, and suddenly, they hear that biological clock ticking faster. They nearly panic. It’s time! Their clock keeps reminding them. Find a husband. Settle down. Start a family. And like Luisa, they may fight the clock; they may walk away from love. Only to discover it has always been there.

My Berlin Kitchen is a charming and winsome read with wide appeal. It’s a love story, a coming of age story, a food story, a family story, a life story. Like Eat, Pray, Love, this novel will captivate and capture hordes of hungry new fans (pun intended).

Highly, highly recommended for foodies, romantics, and book club members everywhere. Mature content. Wide appeal for high school libraries. Teens will be enthralled by Luisa’s “jet-set” lifestyle.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.