Ten years ago, Laura Bush, in conjunction with the Library of Congress, started the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. As I learned in her book, "Spoken from the Heart," it was something she also started in Texas while that state's First Lady. I first became aware of it in 2005. I like to watch Book TV on C-Span during the weekends, and every year they feature the authors from the History and Biography Tent. In 2005, David McCullough, my favorite author, did a presenation on his book "1776." I spent a good portion of that weekend watching the other history and biography authors, and now every year I look to see who will be presenting. Some day, I want to actually go myself rather than rely on C-Span. If McCullough is ever there again, I'm there as well. I figure he's due to publish another book sometime soon!
There are state and regional book festivals all over the country. The Wisconsin Book Festival takes place in October, although I've never had the opportunity to go. I have been to the Fox Cities Book Festival though, and really enjoyed it. I saw a panel of speakers talk about reading classics, and I talked to a few authors who were there promoting their work. A regional festival doesn't always have the caliber of authors the National Book Festival does, of course. I bought one book that sounded really interesting, but turned out to be absolutely horrible and poorly written. But I also found a cute children's book that I gave to my godson that year. It's fun to have a book autographed by the author!
There are book festivals everywhere -- find one near you in the next year! You might have a chance to see your favorite author or discover a new one!
27 September 2010
23 September 2010
"The Man Who Ate The World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner" by Jay Rayner (2008)
You may have seen Jay Rayner as one of the judges on "Top Chef Masters" on Bravo. He is a restaurant critic from London who has been published in several newspapers and food magazines. Appropriately, this is the book I have been reading during my lunch break. It is a memoir of Rayner's year-long global search for "the perfect meal." He visits cities all over the world (New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Dubai and Paris, among others) and documents what he eats a long the way. Some of the meals are extraordinarily good, while others are just the opposite. Regardless, they are always very expensive.
To be honest, many of the foods he ate sounded pretty unappetizing to me; others I had never heard of before. Of course, I have never eaten in a Micheline star-rated restaurant, which most of the places Rayner visited were. I'm sure I never will eat in any of those places. None of that matters, because Rayner knows how to talk about food -- that much is certain. You are almost able to see, smell and taste what he is eating through his descriptions of the food. You get a real sense of the ambience of each restaurant -- some of them pretentious and some holes in the wall. This book is a great read for the foodie in all of us.
That said, let me tell you about two of my favorite restaurant meals of all time. The first was at Tre Scalini in Rome in 1994. The restaurant is located on the Piazza Navona, and we ate in the outdoor area right on the piazza. To be honest, 16 years later I don't remember a lot of the details. But there are three things I do remember. One was the steak. It was fantastic. In fact, after eating that steak I didn't feel like eating steak again knowing any other steak would pale in comparison. Eventually, I lost my taste for steak altogether and almost never eat it now. The second thing I remember was the dessert -- their well-known tartufo, a chocolate ice cream dessert. The third thing was our waiter, Rafaele. He took the time to translate for us and helped us out a lot with what to order. This was not a cheap meal, but it was worth it. Well, actually, I didn't pay -- my parents did -- so maybe you'd have to ask them if it was worth it.
My second greatest restaurant meal was at the Bodega Castaneda in Granada, Spain in 2003. This was a very small place with a few tables inside and a few more outside. You had to get there really early to get a table. I ate there twice while in Granada. Both were good experiences, but one stands out as even though it was very simple: the albondigas (meatballs). These were the best albondigas I'd ever eaten. I think I commented on every bite I took, as if it was a surprise that each bite was as good as the last. It's not expensive, so definitely check it out if you are ever in Granada.
And so ends my attempt at being a food critic. I think I'll leave that to Jay Rayner from now on.
My review: 3.5 stars out of 5
To be honest, many of the foods he ate sounded pretty unappetizing to me; others I had never heard of before. Of course, I have never eaten in a Micheline star-rated restaurant, which most of the places Rayner visited were. I'm sure I never will eat in any of those places. None of that matters, because Rayner knows how to talk about food -- that much is certain. You are almost able to see, smell and taste what he is eating through his descriptions of the food. You get a real sense of the ambience of each restaurant -- some of them pretentious and some holes in the wall. This book is a great read for the foodie in all of us.
That said, let me tell you about two of my favorite restaurant meals of all time. The first was at Tre Scalini in Rome in 1994. The restaurant is located on the Piazza Navona, and we ate in the outdoor area right on the piazza. To be honest, 16 years later I don't remember a lot of the details. But there are three things I do remember. One was the steak. It was fantastic. In fact, after eating that steak I didn't feel like eating steak again knowing any other steak would pale in comparison. Eventually, I lost my taste for steak altogether and almost never eat it now. The second thing I remember was the dessert -- their well-known tartufo, a chocolate ice cream dessert. The third thing was our waiter, Rafaele. He took the time to translate for us and helped us out a lot with what to order. This was not a cheap meal, but it was worth it. Well, actually, I didn't pay -- my parents did -- so maybe you'd have to ask them if it was worth it.
My second greatest restaurant meal was at the Bodega Castaneda in Granada, Spain in 2003. This was a very small place with a few tables inside and a few more outside. You had to get there really early to get a table. I ate there twice while in Granada. Both were good experiences, but one stands out as even though it was very simple: the albondigas (meatballs). These were the best albondigas I'd ever eaten. I think I commented on every bite I took, as if it was a surprise that each bite was as good as the last. It's not expensive, so definitely check it out if you are ever in Granada.
And so ends my attempt at being a food critic. I think I'll leave that to Jay Rayner from now on.
My review: 3.5 stars out of 5
20 September 2010
Reading the Classics
This past weekend, my mom and I went to see a performance of "To Kill a Mockingbird" at St. Norbert College. It was an excellent performance, but as the end neared, I realized that I only had a vague idea of how it ended because I've never read the book. It seems like one of those books everyone would read in high school. Maybe it's the racially charged language (the n-word is uttered more than just a few times) that prevents it from being read in school. Obviously, I've heard enough about it to know the general theme of the book, but that was about it. If fact, I'm almost ashamed to admit there are a lot of classics that I haven't read.
Barnes and Noble sells classics at a pretty low price, and the library is free, so there should be no excuse for not reading them. However, I think many of us look at the classics as the books we are forced to read while in high school but which we never actually enjoyed. I know I intensely disliked having to read "The Scarlet Letter" in high school. I wonder if I should try it again now as an adult. It certainly can't be any worse than I remember!
There are several lists of the top 100 books of all time. The New York Times version can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/072098best-novels-list.html. Of this list, I have read four. Interestingly, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is not on this list. Regardless, I think it's time for me to get reading!
Barnes and Noble sells classics at a pretty low price, and the library is free, so there should be no excuse for not reading them. However, I think many of us look at the classics as the books we are forced to read while in high school but which we never actually enjoyed. I know I intensely disliked having to read "The Scarlet Letter" in high school. I wonder if I should try it again now as an adult. It certainly can't be any worse than I remember!
There are several lists of the top 100 books of all time. The New York Times version can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/072098best-novels-list.html. Of this list, I have read four. Interestingly, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is not on this list. Regardless, I think it's time for me to get reading!
01 September 2010
"The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge" by David McCullough (1972, 2001)
Whew! I finally made it through another book -- 518 pages this time. I think I might need to add a new rule to my list of how to pick the next book to read: don't read two huge books in a row!
David McCullough is one of my favorite authors. In fact, he is my favorite author of nonfiction books. His biography of John Adams is my very favorite nonfiction book, and it has lead me to read several other of his books. Truth be told, I would never have picked up a book about a bridge if it wasn't written by McCullough!
The author's introduction at the beginning of the book tells why he wrote a book about the Brooklyn Bridge. His first book was about the Johnstown flood -- a book I have yet to read but is on my list! After that book's success he received several requests to write about things such as the Chicago fire and the San Francisco earthquake. However, he didn't want to be pigeonholed as a disaster writer, so he sought something completely different. This book was the result.
I have to admit that I am probably not the best audience for this book. The engineering discussions went over my head for the most part, and I've never been to that part of New York so the references to landmarks were lost on me. I've therefore never seen the bridge in person, which might have made the book come to life a bit more for me. Despite that, I enjoyed the book for the parts that did appeal to me: the biographies of those involved in the design and construction of the bridge; the danger associated with the construction due to issues such as "the bends" and the heights (and depths) involved; and the politics and corruption of the time (think Boss Tweed). As usual, McCullough's writing makes it a quick and interesting read, even for a book of this length. It doesn't reach the levels of his Adams or Harry Truman biographies, but I didn't expect it to given the topic of the book. If I had more interest in engineering, it might have rated it a little higher.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.
David McCullough is one of my favorite authors. In fact, he is my favorite author of nonfiction books. His biography of John Adams is my very favorite nonfiction book, and it has lead me to read several other of his books. Truth be told, I would never have picked up a book about a bridge if it wasn't written by McCullough!
The author's introduction at the beginning of the book tells why he wrote a book about the Brooklyn Bridge. His first book was about the Johnstown flood -- a book I have yet to read but is on my list! After that book's success he received several requests to write about things such as the Chicago fire and the San Francisco earthquake. However, he didn't want to be pigeonholed as a disaster writer, so he sought something completely different. This book was the result.
I have to admit that I am probably not the best audience for this book. The engineering discussions went over my head for the most part, and I've never been to that part of New York so the references to landmarks were lost on me. I've therefore never seen the bridge in person, which might have made the book come to life a bit more for me. Despite that, I enjoyed the book for the parts that did appeal to me: the biographies of those involved in the design and construction of the bridge; the danger associated with the construction due to issues such as "the bends" and the heights (and depths) involved; and the politics and corruption of the time (think Boss Tweed). As usual, McCullough's writing makes it a quick and interesting read, even for a book of this length. It doesn't reach the levels of his Adams or Harry Truman biographies, but I didn't expect it to given the topic of the book. If I had more interest in engineering, it might have rated it a little higher.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.
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