The Monster of Florence

Many of you who know me, understand that I start and stop books, eventually picking them up again.  I know it sounds weird but sometimes you are no longer in the mood for the book you are reading.  This however was not the reason that I stopped reading The Monster of Florence: A True Story, by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi.

About three years ago my mother was reading this book and I said "What are you reading, it has the 'Rape of the Sabine Women' on the cover?"  She explained that it is the true story of an author and an Italian reporter trying to solve the mystery of "The Monster of Florence."

This book is right up my alley.  I love mystery, history and crime novels.  So why did I stop with 30 pages left and leave it for so long.  Simple reason, I was headed to Italy.  I figured it would not be the best book to carry around while sightseeing.  Especially, since it does not always speak highly of the Italian judicial system.

The book follows a series of murders that occurred between 1968 and 1985.  In each of the murders a couple would be murdered while having sex in their cars in deserted areas around Florence.  Sounds like they were breaking a horror movie rule.  This murderous rampage took 16 lives.  

The book takes a turn about half way through, and begins to focus on the Italian judicial system.   Why may ask, if there are no clear suspects?  Well, the writers are finding more sensitive information and are actually accused themselves.  You can now see what it is like to be pursued by the Italian police and prosecutors in the Monster of Florence.  Mario Spezi at one point is accused of being involved in the crimes and jailed in Perugia by Prosecutor Giuliano Migini.

Giuliano Migini, may sound familiar.  He was the prosecutor in the Amanda Knox case.  There is an addendum to the story featuring research into the Amanda Knox court case.  

This book has a little bit of everything.  You will feel uncomfortable at some point in the book.  The murders are given detailed descriptions.  The accusations and jailing are equally as detailed.  The book makes you squirm and the scary part is its all real.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

For over a year I have been meaning to read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender.  Of course as many of you know I read multiple books at once and have a precarious pile of books waiting to be read.  I finally got around to this one.

The concept of the book is what caught my interest.  The main character, Rose, is a young girl who is navigating adolesence with a family of outsiders when she discovers she has an unusual ability.   Rose can taste the feelings of the people who handle the food she eats.  Imagine that some makes you a meal out of pure love and you can taste every beat of that person's heart.  On the flip side you can taste all feelings good and bad.

Rose struggles to grow into this ability.  It helps her understand her free spirited mother, but only through painful meals.  Her father is almost nonexistent to her, until the very end of the story.  I love the relationship between Rose and her brother's best friend George. However, the story line featuring her brother, Joseph, is lost on me.  I feel this is where the book went off the deep end.

I love the concept of having an extra sense that can help or hinder you.  Especially seeing Rose beginning to understand its usefulness.  I liked the book but could do without her brother Joseph and the weirdness that surrounds him.  I did not like the ending, but I don't really like endings that leave you hanging.  If you are looking for a resolution do not read this book.

I cannot really say whether or not I would recommend this book.  I did not love it and I did not hate it.  This time you must really decide for yourself.

Anansi Boys

After reading American Gods  I needed more Gaiman.  So the next logical book was Anansi Boys.  It follows one of the most interesting characters from the former book "Mr. Nancy" who happens to be Anansi from the African Folk Tales.  Gaiman brings the mischievousness of the ancient Anansi to the modern world.

The main character is Charles "Fat Charlie" Nancy, Anansi's son.  Upon his father's death Fat Charlie finds out about his twin brother Spider and his father's true identity.  This information leads Fat Charlie on a long and winding path he will never forget.  The magical world once again collides with our world.

Things will never be the same.

Book Crossing

Have you ever read a book and wanted to share it with perfect strangers?  Have you ever read a book and realized that is was not for you and now you are stuck with it?  Well then Book Crossing is the answer.

Book Crossing is an international free library.  All you do is create a user name and password.  Then you can search for books you are looking for.  Or you can release books into the wild and then track them to see where they go.  I have released books at the airport and local bookshelves in public locations.

The tracking works just like wheresgeorge.com, which tracks dollar bills. You can see when your book has been and where it ends up.

You register the book, print a label and release it.  It is that easy.  If you are a reader like me, but do not have the room for all the books you read this is the perfect way to do it.  Give it a try the more people using it, the more books available to the wide world of readers.

American Gods

I have read Neil Gaiman books many times and even waited in line to meet him.  Gaiman is a wonderful person to meet.  He took a couple of minutes with each person whose books he was signing.  Not the normal two seconds.

I some how never read any of his early books.  So on my latest trip to the bookstore I picked up American Gods.

American Gods follows a recently released convict Shadow while he tries to become a member of society again.  He is almost immediately hired by a con man, who may be more than he appears.  Throughout the book there are short stories of Gods from all religions and cultures.   You come to find out that Shadow is torn between three worlds; his own, the Ancient Gods and the New Gods.

This story is great but may take some time to get through.  Whenever there seems to be movement in Shadow's story, all of a sudden there is a story of a God.  These stories are important to the main plot but they seem to interrupt the flow.  All of it comes together in the end.

I enjoyed this books so much that I am now reading his follow up book Anasi Boys.

Heat

A couple of years ago my best friend lent me this book.  Unfortunately, since I read multiple books at once I have not finished Heat, by Bill Buford, until just recently.

Heat is the memoir of a journalist who after interviewing Mario Batali decides to join the restaurant world.  The beginning of the book starts off with a bang.  Buford starts as a kitchen slave and works his way up to an apprentice.  Anyone who has ever wondered what it was like in a NYC kitchen will get a kick out of the beginning.

Buford, gets so obsessed with following in Batali's footsteps that he actual travels to Italy and to the exact places when Batali stayed and learned.  He learns how to make pasta and to butcher all kinds of meats.  The pasta making is interesting.  Buford, also does research into the history of pasta based on what he learns.  

The Dante quoting butcher is an interesting character, however this is where the book begins to fall flat.  I know of people who stopped reading the book at this point.  Buford has run out of steam when reaching the butcher.  

The book held my attention until the final third.  If you would like to know what it could be like to work in a high pressure kitchen read the first third.  If you would like to know the history of pasta and how it is made in Italian read the second third.  I probably would skip the final part of the book.

Beaten, Seared, and Sauced

When searching for a new book I turned to Good Reads.  They suggested Beaten, Seared and Sauced; On Becoming a Chef at the Culinary Institute of America, by Jonathan Dixon.  Low and behold the same day the book was handed to me.

I will read anything food related and decided to give it a go.  It was a quick read and I finished it in two days.  However, the book hardly held my attention.

The author Jonathan Dixon was a janitor, messenger, nanny, teacher and writer for Martha Stewart Living before taking the leap to enroll at the CIA.  It took him until age 38 to make this decision.  This book follows his studies at the prestigious institute.  Beaten, Seared and Sauced contains his description of each course and the complaining that went with them.

Dixon seems to be a lost soul who even after completing his time at the CIA is still unsure of what to do with himself.  He complains he is too old for most of the book.  His girlfriend supports him during his education and honestly if I were her I would have been unable to deal with his indecisiveness and lack of direction.

This book is written like Scott Turow's One L, which describes life as a first year law student.  Turow makes you understand how it feels.  This book left me wanting more of that feeling.  I wanted more passion for the food and the art of preparing it.

This book left me wanting and basically just wanting to say Meh!