2009(1)

WELCOME TO THE ESCAPE ZONE!

BOOKS ARE A MAGIC CARPET, a flight of imagination, a key to the treasury, a relief from too much depressing world and economic news. Without hassle, security, crowds, airline food or lack thereof, we can be transported by books to a rich emotional life, to worlds as far away as other galaxies and as close as behind a neighbor’s closed door. We can be creatively stimulated, educated, captivated, and spellbound. All of this is available in unlimited amounts without leaving the comfort of our homes. In these hard economic times, spending money for travel can be out of the question for many, something for a better day. But we can ALL explore places we dream about through armchair travel, live the life of an action hero in another era, solve mysteries, and enjoy a multitude of experiences without lifting a finger for more than turning a page. This issue, through the enchantment of words, you can be transported at the speed of thought to exotic kingdoms, live adventure through others’ tales, and, in your dreams, take the journeys yourselves!

We have some truly excellent fiction and nonfiction featured below, art books that open our eyes and minds to creative achievement, and cookbooks that share family stories and will have you in the kitchen, measuring cup in hand, before you know it! As always, for those nights when you want to skip the mundane offerings of television and view something extraordinary, stimulating, and thought-provoking, we offer films you may not have thought of or have been meaning to see. Our goal is always to offer you ideas and inspiration through culture. Please enjoy and let us know your favorites!

-- Rosemary Carstens
Editor

NOTE: For your convenience, if you run your cursor across any of the book covers, a window will open allowing you to order right then from Amazon. There are a few selections, though, that do not offer that feature, but if you click on the cover you'll go to the page on Amazon so you can order.

IN BETWEEN ISSUES OF FEAST, look for updates on books, art, food, film, and travel at our blog: http://carstensFEAST.blogspot.com

COMMENTS

FICTION THAT BLEW MY HAIR BACK:

The Girl with No Shadow, Joanne Harris. William Morrow 2008. At last! If you loved both the book by Joanne Harris and the film Chocolát, you will be as delighted as I am with the sequel! And it is beautifully, lyrically written, filled with delightful new characters as well as the ones we grew to love—Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk, and (think Johnny Depp) that sexy gypsy, Roux! Vianne and Anouk have taken on fresh identities in a small Montmartre area of Paris, along with baby Rosette. Vianne is maintaining a low profile and insists her daughters do the same—she wants to stay put this time and not draw the dark winds or the attention of the “kindly ones,” those so sure they know what’s best for everyone else. But, blown in on a gust of no good and rain, Zosie appears on the scene wearing high-heeled ruby slippers and carrying evil intent from the highlands of Aztecan Mexico. We now have a recipe for disaster and identity theft, with just a dash of chiles and magic mushrooms to spice things up! This book is for you if you like stories that carry with them more than a touch of imagination and a spark of light vs. dark, good vs. evil, all rolled into something that will melt in your mouth—

To hear a BBC interview with the author about this book: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/ram/2007_19_wed_01.ram

The Garden of Last Days, Andre Dubus III. Norton 2008. This book took about five years to write and Dubus created a complex story told from seven characters’ points of view. The story came to him when, after 9/11 he read that some of the men who had taken part in the hijackings had visited strip clubs in the south Florida area in the days before they undertook their suicide missions. This led to this multifaceted story of a group of people—a single mother and stripper, a housewife, a widow, three terrorists, a bouncer, a man separated from his wife and child because of a thoughtless act of violence, and a three-year-old girl—whose lives intertwine around events taking place in a small strip club. Some have said Dubus wrote a book sympathetic to terrorists, but it’s just not so. He wrote a book about the complexities of human beings, how all are flawed to various degrees, and the ways our actions can ripple out to affect others. For interesting background, go to http://www.bookpage.com/0806bp/andre_dubus.html

American Cream, Catherine Tudish. Scribner 2007. I love a good story, don’t you? Catherine Tudish writes well—as she should since she teaches English at the Bread Loaf School of English. This story focuses on the passing era of the family farm and what happens when a lonely widower remarries a bit too soon for the comfort of his adult children. When her father has an accident, Virginia agrees to spend the summer at the farm tending to the crops and the dairy cows—in spite of her active dislike of his new wife. She takes her city-boy son and leaves behind her doctor husband to help out “back home.” This is a book about the dynamics of strain on loving relationships, when times and people have reached new stages of life.

The Commoner, John Burnham Schwartz. Doubleday 2008. Schwartz creates a unique imagination of life as a commoner who marries a Japanese prince after WWII. I would love to hear the story of how the author gathered his material as there are very believable details about supposedly secret rites during the waning years of the Japanese empire’s ruling power. Haruko, the commoner, is a beautiful, educated, accomplished young woman who attracts the Crown Prince’s attention as he searches for a mate. Their “courtship” is necessarily tightly constricted by rules, rituals, and mythology concerning the history of the royal family, and so they marry without Haruko fully understanding that she is giving up her personal identity for life, that she will be under the watchful eyes of the Empress and the people of Japan forever. A fascinating tale—
http://www.johnburnhamschwartz.com

Falling Under, Danielle Younge-Ullman. Plume 2008. A fearsome childhood spent being torn between two angry parents and some traumatic romantic losses have left talented artist Mara Foster traumatized, agoraphobic, and with a paralyzing fear of intimacy and abandonment. How she fights to free herself from the past and to begin life anew is a story told with great feeling and compassionate attention to how a sensitive person can find herself alienated from everything she needs to feel whole. This is the author’s debut novel. http://www.danielleyoungeullman.com/

City of Thieves, David Benioff. Viking 2008. Benioff is a masterful writer and this, his second novel, proves it once again. This is a story of the Leningrad Siege, the suffering of the Russian people as the Germans close in, and particularly about two men on a mission. A mission for eggs! Lev Beniov is 17 and Kolya, a handsome, carefree soldier who has deserted his unit, meet in a cell at the Crossroads prison as they await execution. Through a fluke and the whim of a powerful colonel, they are given a week’s reprieve to find a dozen eggs for his daughter’s wedding cake. There are no eggs in Leningrad—what people are trying to subsist on is shocking—so they must venture behind enemy lines in their effort to save their own lives. Benioff is brilliant at creating compelling characters and at describing the context of this historic period. NY Books Q&A with Benioff by Boris Kachka: http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/47040/

The Alibi Man, Tami Hoag. Bantam 2007. What causes your heart to beat faster, your eyes to race across a page to see what happens next? That would be a Tami Hoag suspense novel. This one brings back Elena Estes, a street smart heroine from a previous book, and plunges you into the privileged, ultra-rich world of world-class polo, predatory self-indulgent wealthy men, and girls who play sex games as they hope to hit the marriage jackpot. Hoag knows how to pace her story to the drum beat of your pulse as she pounds home twist after twist with characters you fear for, would love to know, would love to know in the biblical sense, and those you can easily despise as you long for their well-deserved demise. Will the bad guys get what they deserve—you bet your sweet alligators! http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/tamihoag/

Goldengrove, Francine Prose. HarperCollins 2008. People sometimes ask “what is a literary novel?” It’s tough to describe, to point definitively to what constitutes the genre—it’s like a good meal, you know it when you’ve found it. Goldengrove is a finely written literary tale about a young girl who loses her closest and dearest friend—her sister—and what the unthinkable does to her and her family. It’s a story of becoming unmoored, of drifting rudderless through unfamiliar and unimaginable events, of learning to go on when there is a hole in your heart, in your family, that can never be entirely stitched back together again. Told from the viewpoint of Niko, a thirteen-year-old girl, Prose writes brilliantly and deeply about loss, love, and the mysteries of death.

Home, Marilynne Robinson. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2008. Robinson’s Gilead won a Pulitzer and I loved it’s slow pace and thoughtful exploration of end-of-life issues. So when Home came out, I was eager to read it. I was not disappointed—it’s beautifully written and, once again, explores deep family issues that often plague us all. The pace is slow, as is needed to develop some of her themes that can’t be addressed in a sound bite, so it’s not the read for everyone. But, if you are willing to linger over excellent writing and character development, I promise you a thought-provoking book you’ll long remember. This is a story about the conflicts of love when children are not who we think they should be, when a child feels alien in a family even though it’s a loving one. Robinson explores the struggles of a minister to love all of his children equally, even his prodigal son. And her key character, the man’s youngest daughter, finds herself a bridge between father and son even as she fears she may have to let go of her own long-held dreams to give them hope. For a lot more detail about this wonderful writer: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article4774827.ece

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski. HarperCollins 2008. We don’t often review or feature best-selling books on FEAST, not because we’re against them, but because many fine, unique books never become bestsellers due to missing promotional budgets. But this book is so unique, by an incredible writer, that we had to include it. It has been nominated for several awards and is an Oprah pick (if that matters to you)—it is also a damned good story! It’s monumental in length at 561 pages and is not a book you race through for story only—it’s stories within stories, each to be savored, if for no other reason than the writing, the descriptive prose, the deft handling of words. The overall plot is of a boy and his dog, but oh, so much more. Edgar Sawtelle is mute from birth and grows up on a remote farm, an only child, using a personal sign language to communicate with his parents. The Sawtelle’s raise dogs and over generations have created a breed of superior intelligence, temperament, and training. What happens when Edgar’s father dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances and a domino fall of events, including a disliked uncle offering his mother comfort as she grieves, leads Edgar to run away from home with three of his pups trailing behind. The depth of discussion about the dogs, their training, the North Country landscape, and the exploration of love, grief, and loneliness will stay with you long after the last page. This author has great promise and I personally look forward to his next effort. Author's website: http://www.davidwroblewski.com/

The Madonnas of Leningrad, Debra Dean. William Morrow 2006. A delightful discovery! One of our favorite things at FEAST is to revisit books that didn’t stay around long enough to get discovered or read by many who would love them. This is such a book. While this is ostensibly a story about one young woman’s dire circumstances during the Siege of Leningrad, it is more deeply a story about the power of the mind, the richness that can still be present when all else fades away. Carefully researched, it provides remarkable detail about the lives of a small group of workers who stayed on throughout the siege at the Hermitage Museum, the deprivations they suffered, the efforts of some to retain “memory palaces” of all the magnificent art that once hung on its walls, and the effects on all of a once vibrant city brought to its knees by the Germans during the harshest winter on record. For the story behind the book: http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=1281

COMING UP AND NOT TO BE MISSED IN 2009

Angelology, Danielle Trussoni. This debut novel caused a huge stir in publishing circles and was jumped on by Viking. Although not confirmed, rumors say this manuscript got an advance well into six figures. Word has it that this Da Vinci Code style story follows a young nun in upstate New York who, in uncovering correspondence between the former mother superior and Abigail Rockefeller, unwittingly reignites an ancient war between a society of angelologists (a group that studies angels) and the Nephilim (the monster-like descendants of angels and humans). The book pulls from a variety of religious and mythical histories and, if you are into that kind of thing, should be an entertaining read!

JUST THE CAPTIVATING FACTS - RECOMMENDED NONFICTION:

In Search of Hope: The Global Diaries of Mariane Pearl, Mariane Pearl. Conde Nast Publications 2007. Mariane Pearl, widow of murdered investigative journalist Daniel Pearl, decided that the best way to show their young son that there is more than just violence in the world was to take on a project of hope. This book contains thirteen stories about women around the world, in some of the most desperate of situations worldwide, who are actively seeking peace and protection for others. They are activists against great odds, risking death and, in some cases, torture to fight for a better world. With a foreword by Angelina Jolie (who portrayed Mariane in the film version of her memoir A Mighty Heart), this is a heart-rending, powerful collection of stories that reinforces the notion of the power of an individual’s actions. For more about The Forgiveness Project: http://www.theforgivenessproject.com/stories/mariane-pearl

The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul, Patrick French. Knopf 2008. V. W. Naipaul is arguably one of the world’s best writers, but those who have come in personal contact with him can tell you he’s not the best liked of all people. It’s not surprising to find a writer, artist, or other creative person who has a fabulous talent but will never win any personality awards. What IS surprising in this authorized biography is the access that Naipaul gave to Patrick French, that he read over the final draft and asked for not a single change even though it reveals many unlovable traits. As French says, “Of all the people I spoke to for this book, he [Naipaul] was outwardly the frankest. He believed that a less-than-candid biography would be pointless, and his willingness to allow such a book to be published in his lifetime was at once an act of narcissism and humility.” This book is well written and insightful about a talented, complex writer who we love and hate, perhaps, in equal portions. For blogging buzz about the author, see http://en.wordpress.com/tag/patrick-french/

The Girl from Foreign: A Search for Shipwrecked Ancestors, Forgotten Histories, and a Sense of Hope, Sadia Shepard. Penguin 2008. A beautifully crafted memoir by a young woman, half Muslim/half Christian, who discovers that her beloved grandmother was Jewish before marriage. Raised in a US household where stories about life in Pakistan were common ground, as Sadia grew up she felt drawn to one story in particular—her grandmother, who had begun life as Rachel Jacobs, was a descendent of the Bene Israel, a tiny Jewish community whose members believe that they are one of the lost tribes of Israel, shipwrecked in India 2,000 years ago. On her grandmother’s death bed, Sadia promises to follow this history back to its source. With the help of a Fulbright Scholarship, she arrives in Bombay full of energy and hope only to confront numerous dead ends and complexities in fulfilling her mission. This is that story. Author's website: http://www.sadiashepard.com/

The Last Gifts: Creative Ways to Be with the Dying, Jillian Brasch. Andrews McMeel 2008. I thought at first this book might be so depressing that I wouldn’t be able to read and review it. I was wrong—true, it is a book on a difficult topic, but it is inspirational and comforting to a surprising degree. Brasch is an occupational therapist who works with hospice patients from all walks of life, of all ages, and of all temperaments. Her openness to people in their last days has allowed her to learn from, enjoy, and receive in situations where we might have thought only she would be doing the giving. Each vignette allows us to see how a change in approach, in point of view, can make days spent with a dying person richer, and not just for them. Since we will all take our turn on both sides of that encounter, I found that The Last Gifts shines a light on the path.

Out of Captivity: Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle, Marc Gonsalves, Gary Brozek, Tom Howes, and Keith Stansell. HarperCollins 2009. On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American civilian contractors went down in the mountainous jungle of Colombia. Shaken and injured, they emerged from the plane amidst a barrage of gunfire and were taken prisoners of the FARC, a Colombian terrorist and Marxist rebel organization. For the first time, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes tell about their five-and-a-half-year ordeal as hostages. That they survived at all is remarkable. They were forced to endure isolation, brutality, and often extremely meager circumstances, and the psychological effects were even more challenging as they grappled with feelings of guilt, fear, and anxiety for the families and lives they'd left behind. This is a story of brotherhood and survival, mental fortitude, and physical stamina against all odds during one of the longest civilian hostage crises in United States history. You will not be able to put this down!

Earthlings: The Paintings of Tom Palmore, Susan Hallsten McGarry, foreword by Adam Harris. University of Oklahoma Press 2008. Tom Palmore has taken the 1970s photorealist movement in new directions, to include not only detailed portrayals of the animal kingdom but a wonderful, humorous spin on the critters’ inner lives and vanities. No one who views his gorillas, foxes, cougars, or chickens, among many others, can fail to appreciate his ability to render each perfectly right down to their last hairy toe nail; you almost expect them to jump from the canvas. But Palmore has a feeling for what he calls these “earthlings with whom we share this planet.” Each portrait incorporates incongruous juxtapositions of the real and unreal, of drawing-room settings or unlikely, whimsical companions—such as the fox with the chicken wallpaper behind him. This is art all can appreciate, for its technical virtuosity as well as its imaginings of animal’s personalities. Tom Palmores website: http://www.flyingpaintbrush.com/

Geoffrey Holder: A Life in Theater, Dance, and Art, Jennifer Dunning. Harry N. Abrams 2001. A glorious book about the amazing creative life of Geoffrey Holder, a man who lives fully, richly, and focuses on cultural pursuits in a way that is quite unusual today. As he says about his growing up years in Trinidad, “If you played under this tree as I did as a child, you too would believe in fairytales.” Holder is a larger-than-life figure in every way. His whole philosophy is that “you should do everything” regardless of age. Born in 1930 on the cusp of one of America’s most creative moments yet one of its most economically deprived times, Geoffrey grew up “dancing, singing, painting, and designing clothes . . . danced his way out of Trinidad and on to New York City.” A tall black man with a magnificent body and ready, joyful smile, Holder’s style in everything he does is bold and colorful, from his dancing to his design and choreography for such productions as The Wiz, to his dynamic, masterful portraits and imaginative art works. This book inspires us all to grab life, hold on tight, but let your feet fly out behind you as the ride begins!

An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators, and Designers, Danny Gregory. HOW 2008. Ever visit an artist’s studio and find his or her sketchbooks laid out alongside the exhibit? Sometimes these books are more fascinating than the finished pieces, or at least equally so. An Illustrated Life is filled with sketches and doodles, ideas and inspirations, by dozens of artists, and accompanied by a discussion of how each of them has used sketchbooks over many years, their meaning and importance. For anyone who constantly doodles, artist or not, this is a delightful gathering of ideas, words, images, and introductions to materials and techniques and to the world of artistic journaling. You are guaranteed hours of enjoyment. Author is on sabbatical at present--gone drawin'--but there is a wealth of information on his website, as well as an interesting short video about this book: http://www.dannygregory.com/

Iron-Jawed Angels (2004). For 8 years in the early 1920s, a group of determined suffragettes led by Alice Paul (played beautifully by Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O’Connor) organized to pressure the US government to adopt a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. The abuse and mental and physical challenges they faced are heartbreaking and an important part of our history that should not be overlooked or forgotten. Entering WWI under the guise of bringing democracy to other countries when so many in the US were still disenfranchised is hypocrisy that continues today. The brutality against these women who only wanted some say in their own destiny and that of their children is shocking. But this is no boring, dry documentary, as some are, but instead a beautifully crafted and dramatic film with strong acting that makes the story real for a greater number of people. Not to be missed! An HBO original drama directed by Katja von Garnier, available on DVD. To view the trailer, click HERE.

Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005). Frank Gehry’s friend and director Sydney Pollack made what could have been a dull tale of history and buildings into a more intimate portrait of a man and his creations. I found it fascinating! Gehry’s story about his life and how he came to create imaginative, magnificent buildings that gleam against their landscape is one of hardship, anti-Semitism, and determination to follow his own dream. Since Pollack was neither knowledgeable about architecture nor a documentarian at the time, he brings a very personal sensibility to the film that I, as a layperson, found totally appealing. Pollack’s recent passing makes this ode to his friend even more poignant. To view the trailer, click HERE.

The Painted Veil (2006). Based on the classic novel by Somerset Maugham, the title of this film is taken from Percy Bysshe Shelley's sonnet that begins “Lift not the painted veil which those who live/call life.” The Painted Veil is a love story set in the 1920s that tells the story of a young English couple, Walter (Edward Norton), a middle class doctor, and Kitty (Naomi Watts), an upper-class woman, who get married for the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai, where she falls in love with someone else. When he uncovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and forces her to come along. Their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in a remote and wildly beautiful region. This film is not only visually breathtaking, it is a touching story well acted. To view the trailer, click HERE.

Toots (2007). Walter Cronkite said about this bio pic, “One of the most compelling, yet forgotten stories of the 20th century.” Produced and directed by Toots Shor’s granddaughter, Kristi Jacobsen, this story of the legendary Manhattan saloonkeeper reveals a man who was father, brother, gambler, bum, friend to the famous, a crook to the feds, a notorious and colorful figure in an earlier day. This self-made man with more than a few rough spots could verbally burn you to the ground or alternately give you the shirt off his back. He attracted politicians, gangsters, sports and movie celebrities such as Sinatra, Gleason, Dimaggio, Ruth, Costello, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Warren to his famous establishment on New York’s West 51st street, and drinks and food regularly arrived with a side of zingers. As Time Out NY said when this film came out, “A gin-soaked valentine to New York City in its heyday.” To see the trailer, click HERE

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006). Nicole Kidman stars as the controversial photographer Diane Arbus in this sometimes bizarre but ultimately intriguing fable. This is the story of how it might have been, of circumstances right out of Pan’s Labyrinth that turned Arbus from her husband’s studio helper into a photographer on her own pursuing an unusual, often disturbing, body of images. The longer you watch, the more you are drawn into a world of “freaks” and weird pleasures—it is bold, colorful, and a journey through wild imagination. To view the trailer, click HERE.

Geoffrey and Carmen (First Run Features 2009). This inspiring documentary pays homage to artistic achievement, celebrating the lives of dancer, choreographer, and actress Carmen DeLavallade and her über-creative husband of some fifty years, Geoffrey Holder. Fully devoted to one another and to their international endeavors in dance, theater, and the world of studio artist in Geoffrey’s case, here is a chance to view on film some vignettes of their fabulous, extremely well-lived lifestyle. You’ll be attempting high kicks (careful!), turning pirouettes, and running for your paint brush by its end! For more about this film, go to http://firstrunfeatures.com/carmenandgeoffrey_synopsis.html.

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg. (Simon & Schuster March 2009). Here’s a narrative cookbook coming to you from the hugely successful, award-winning blog Orangette (http://orangette.blogspot.com) straight to your heart! Overwhelmed by the death of her father, Molly feels unable to return to graduate school in Seattle and heads instead for Paris, the scene of so many memories of time spent there with him. Instead of working on her dissertation, she finds herself wandering open markets, pouring over recipes, visiting patisseries, and sampling cheeses. She realizes it is not the academic life that calls her, but food, the kitchen. The blog that was born out of that discovery developed a loyal following and a book deal followed. In this delightful story/cookbook, Molly shares life with her family, a new romance, a change in lifestyle—all interspersed by recipes guaranteed to find new fans!

HERE's a link to the blog post that contains one of my favorite recipes from this book, Gâteau au chocolat fondant de Nathalie.

Doesn't it look absolutely YUMMY? It's a dense, rich, practically flourless chocolate cake that cries out for vanilla ice cream or whipped cream topping !!

The Backyard Homestead, Carleen Madigan, ed. Storey Publishing 2009. With food prices rising, money tighter than a tic on a new-found meal, and growing concerns about food safety, becoming a locavore has greater and greater appeal. Whether you have acres of ground or just a couple of raised beds on your back patio, this new book is filled with tips for how to grow your own fruits, vegetables, and grains—and even, if you have the space, your own meat animals. Step-by-step, Madigan, former managing editor at Horticulture magazine and organic farmer, carries you from seed to the table, from bee to honey, and chicken to chow. It’s a great resource and proves you can start small yet gain enormous satisfaction and better nutrition, often with the special byproduct of time together as a family.

For another article on the topic by Carleen: http://www.terrain.org/columns/18/guest.htm

As promised, here is a list of armchair travel books—all new this year—to carry you through the recession and help you formulate plans and sketch out routes for your next real journey!

USA101: A Guide to America’s Iconic Places, Events, and Festivals, Gary McKechnie. National Geographic Society 2009. Now’s the time to explore our own country, in person or aboard your favorite recliner! Here’s a listing of 101 quirky, wholly American, historic or hysteric destinations, events, and celebrations from the Statue of Liberty in the east to the Golden Gate Park in the west—and all stops in between. If you can’t find something to entertain here, you might as well sell that armchair on E-Bay right now!

Walking the Camino: A Modern Pilgrimage to Santiago, Tony Kevin. Scribe Publications 2009. Tony Kevin, an overweight 63-year-old former diplomat sets off on an eight-week trek armed only with a small backpack and a walking stick. He makes his way along two historic trails to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, Europe’s most famous center of pilgrimage. He’s not alone, neither the first nor the last, as tens of thousands of people of all nationalities and beliefs have made this long, exhausting journey across the cold mountains and hot tablelands of Spain. Kevin’s adventure leads to a deep meditation on the nature of modern life, plus practical advice for others thinking of following in his footsteps, whether on a religious or personal quest at an important crossroads of life.

Mona Lisa’s Pajamas: Diverting Dispatches from a Roving Reporter, A. Craig Copetas. Union Square Publishers 2009. If you are something of a Walter Mitty, here’s a round-trip ticket for a journey to distant destinations most will never visit but can thoroughly enjoy daydreaming about. Copetas writes of exotic locales, zany business ventures, artisan winemakers, and an entertaining lot of eccentric characters that will thoroughly entertain, make you chuckle or gasp. His vivid storytelling brings it to life through rich detail.

Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey, William Least Heat-Moon. Little, Brown 2009. For those of you who, like me, have always been drawn around every curve of the road in search of adventure, you may recall Least Heat-Moon’s classic Blue Highways (Little, Brown 1982), in which he chronicled his journey along the trail of Lewis and Clark. It’s been a long while since then, but Least Heat-Moon is back on the road again, this time with his lady, tracing the lesser-known Dunbar-Hunter Expedition of 1804 through the southern half of the Louisiana Purchase, searching out the head of the Ouachita River in Arkansas. He’s older now, but he’s still stopping in along the way at small towns on roads to nowhere in particular, meeting folks that complete the texture of the American landscape in ways urbanites may have forgotten or never known. It’s rewarding to tag along and rediscover how people in our country live out their individual dreams. For an interesting radio interview with the author: http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/11/william-least-heat-moon/

Invisible China: A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands, Colin Legerton and Jacob Rawson. Chicago Review Press 2009. Legerton and Rawson traveled more than 14,000 miles by bus and train to the farthest reaches of China, to meet the minority peoples who live there, talk to farmers in their fields, monks in their monasteries, fishermen on their skiffs, and herders on the steppe. Recording the daily lives around them, they experience a “visit with an old Catholic fisherman at a church that has been without a priest for 40 years; hike around high-altitude Lugu Lake to farm with the matriarchal Mosuo women; and descend into a dry riverbed to hunt for jade with Muslim Uyghur merchants.” This story reveals there is much yet to be discovered in the vast territories that comprise China, political conflicts that don’t make the news, and groups of people living in traditional ways they’d like to retain. It’s a remarkable look at an extremely complex society.

Central Park in the Dark: More Mysteries of Urban Wildlife, Marie Winn. Picador 2009. Remember the story of the Pale Male, the Red-Tailed Hawk in New York City that drew the attention of so many? Marie Winn wrote the book Red-Tails in Love. Now she explores further details of a natural world that flourishes in the midst of a massive city, a world of nocturnal beasts, insects, and slugs, a dark teeming ecosphere hidden twixt and tween the bright lights and traffic of Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. As Elizabeth Royte of the New York Times, says, “I’d follow Winn into the park at any hour.” Author's website: http://www.mariewinn.com/