It’s time once again for the annual Pierce County Reads program– a one community one book program which this year has selected as the book that everyone will read Ruth Reichl’s 2005 memoir  Garlic And Sapphires–  the stories of Reichl’s experiences as the restaurant reviewer for The New York Times.   Ms. Reichl is a wonderful writer and her tales of donning disguises in order to visit restaurants incognito is genuinely entertaining.   I found myself quite enjoying Reichl’s adventures as she transformed herself into a number of much older lady characters and conducted her research visits to restaurants both famed and humble.

I am,  however, a bit uncertain as to the appropriateness of this book for the annual one book program.     While last year’s selection,   Greg Mortenson’s  Three Cups Of Tea seemed to me the sort of universally appealing book that is ideal for a one book program,  Ms. Reichl’s memoir seems quite light by contrast.   It is not at all clear to me what lessons or experiences the people of Pierce County are to learn or draw upon  from reading Ms. Reichl’s book.   That criticism of the program aside,   I am confident that foodies and those with an interest in New York City will find Garlic And Sapphires highly entertaining.    Recommended.

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It’s rather a Clintonian dilemma.    It all comes down to the meaning of the word “we”.     On the dust jacket blurb, editor Ruth Reichl states that we aren’t cooking and eating in the ways we used to.    As such, she says,  we need the all new Gourmet Today cookbook.     A collection of more than 1,000 recipes, spanning fully 1,008 pages,  Gourmet Today seeks to be today’s version of the appetizer to desserts,  always ready reference sort of cookbook  which every kitchen needs at least one of.     And depending on your tastes, preferences and budget  Gourmet Today could be the one for you.

If you do all of your shopping at Whole Foods  (which is to say if your budget is at least three times what mine is),  if you love both vegetarian and Thai food and if you genuinely lament the passing of the printed Gourmet magazine,   Gourmet Today may be just what you’re looking for.   Well organized chapters begin with Drinks and range through Hors D’Oeuvres,  Soups, Salads, Pastas go on to Grains, Meats, Seafood and Vegetables and fully Six chapters of sweets from Cookies to Puddings to Frozen Desserts.     Some of them even appealed to me, although mostly the dishes seemed overly labor-intensive and far too skewed to an emphasis on Thai, Vietnamese and vegetarian dishes for my tastes.

As always,  my test for a cookbook that includes recipes for classic Louisiana dishes is how well those recipes stand up.    The recipe for Louisiana Seafood Boil on page 383 is workable,  although no Louisianian would ever omit celery from the pot,  and Old Bay seasoning is a Maryland and east coast thing and not something used in Louisiana cooking.    The recipe for crawfish etouffee on page 387 honestly struck me as the sort of thing someone who has only  read about Cajun cooking might think up, not knowing how the dish is actually prepared.    (Hint– there is no roux in etouffee.)      If you are as described above a wealthy Whole Foods shopper and a fan of Gourmet magazine,   Gourmet Today is mildly recommended.    Folks from Louisiana and those who wish they could still shop at Schwegmann’s  would best look elsewhere.

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Timing is everything, they say.   And I would expect that author Mark DiVincenzo would agree.   DiVencenzo,  whose 2009 release Buy Ketchup In May And Fly At Noon is a very comprehensive collection of brief, well-researched answers to questions like “What is the best day of the week to ask for a raise?” or “What is the best time to fire someone?” (Friday in both cases) has penned quite a collection.  From the best time of day to have surgery?  (first thing in the morning) to the best time to get pregnant (August) this volume’s got your covered.  You will learn when Not to have surgery (Friday),  when to be admitted to the hospital (Monday–Wednesday),  when to buy mustard, ketchup and relish  (in May,  when it’s on sale at the year’s lowest prices) and a score of other questions about just When, exactly, is the best time to do something.    In these difficult economic times,  it pays to know when is best.   After all,  timing is everything.    Buy Ketchup In May And Fly At Noon is Recommended.

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The “fall of civilization as we know it”.     Once upon a time,  under its acronym  “focawki” this dreadful event was regularly predicted by members of a certain Compu$erve forum,   simply because other members were allowed to be members.     The 1980’s.    Looking back it seems in retrospect almost an innocent time.    Tim Flannery’s  Now Or Never also warns passionately about impending “focawki”.     The trouble this time is climate change and a growing number of scientists, like Flannery,   say we’re very almost out of time to fix the mess we’re in.

In a very concise and easy to read 110 pages,   Flannery very simply explains the latest observations of where planet earth is in terms of climate change and quite clearly and convincingly argues that the earth is between a “tipping point” at which the effects of climate change begin to be felt and a  “point of no return”  at which it will be too late to act to make the planet all of us humans call home hospitable for us and our posterity.       Flannery’s theme is, honestly,   rather frightening.

Back in 2005,  Flannery wrote a much more detailed book about global warming, titled The Weather Makers.    This book was well-received,   though those who read that previous volume should be aware that  Now Or Never is a short and sweet appeal for urgent response that is necessarily many times over more simplistic than The Weather Makers.     An interesting feature of  Now Or Never is that eight prominent thinkers– from the worlds of business, politics and science have provided a series of “reactions”   to Flannery’s essay,   after which Flannery is given a final word in a section labeled  “reply”.     The most interesting of these discussions is with another climate scientist who believes that human beings will save the planet from global warming,   not by a just in time drastic change of our fossil fuel habits,  but by using our ever increasing knowledge of how earth and its climate work to manipulate things directly to suit our needs.

I don’t know how realistic this last bit is,   but I do believe that Tim Flannery has made a very clear and compelling case for all of us to take action immediately to re-mediate climate change.    Honestly,  it’s Now Or Never–  Very Highly Recommended

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At first,  Jennie Shortridge’s novel When She Flew seems to alternate between stories of a homeless girl and her Iraq War veteran father and a policewoman named Jess who has a lot of hang-ups about her daughter.    After a bit the two stories become one and the pace really picks up.     According to my tweets, it was around page 160 when things really got moving and I then read avidly through to the pitch perfect ending.

In the early chapters I was quite taken by the story narrated by Lindy,  the young homeless girl who is in some ways caring for her Iraq War veteran father (called in the novel Pater,  a little touch of Latin that I personally loved) as they live in a secluded outdoor home in a state park just north of a fictional Oregon city,  Columbia,  that bears a striking resemblance to Portland.    One day Lindy goes chasing after a blue heron and is sighted by a hiker,  whose report to the Columbia Police Department will soon bring a troop of cops into her life.     I was, honestly,   considerably less interested in police officer Jessica’s ruminations and regrets about her relationship with her daughter,  Nina.

In the later chapters,  Shortbridge does an excellent job of moving the story along,  from the police’s first encounters with Lindy and her father,  to the pivotal moment when officer Jess will disobey orders and return Lindy to her father rather than deliver her into the foster care system to the subsequent involvement of a prominent but publicity shy church with friends in many high places.   The conclusion,  in which the reader learns that Jess did indeed get away with it, and seems to be on an improving course in her troubled relationship with Nina and perhaps even on the road to romance with a fellow police officer.

I was very impressed by Shortbridge’s ability to make me care about the police woman,  who initially came across rather unsympathetically to me.   And indeed by the final chapter I was well hooked and most pleased with the ending.    If you enjoy contemporary fiction,   When She Flew by Jennie Shortbridge is Recommended.

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