Shelf Life Book Reviews

An enchanting childhood favorite

As a child, there were three things I loved more than anything else: Jesus, King Arthur, and Star Wars. Actually, as an adult I still like all those things, but that’s not the point. The point is, I used to spend hours combing the libraries at school, and three books had the power to mesmerize me over and over again. I kept returning to them, reading them again and again til I had them practically memorized, and still I couldn’t get enough. Especially when I felt sick, I would curl up under a big quilt and reach for these well-loved favorites. They made me feel better in ways chicken soup just didn’t.  When I was old enough to get a job,  I spent a great deal of time tracking to track these books down (they were all out of print by the time I was 16). Two of them I found, and one is still out there, eluding me.

So what were these mysterious books? The first was Secret Camelot: The Lost Legends of King Arthur – how could anyone resist a title like that?! The second was The D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths (that’s the one I still haunt Half Price Books for). And the third, well, that’s today’s review of choice.

Flash forward several years, and Sunday night I caught the beginnings of what turned out to be a low-grade sinus infection, caught early enough that I’ll have to take penicillin for 10 days but otherwise I’ll be fine. But last night, before I knew any of that, all I knew was that I was feeling crummy. So I walked over to my bookshelf and pulled down this one, drawing comfort and strength from its familiar pages.

Genre: fiction, anthology

Plot: Marie de France is the best medieval author you’ve never heard of. Her stories (“lays” which are confusing because that’s also the term for her source material) are elegant and enchanting in the finest Arthurian tradition. Beautiful princesses, lovestruck knights, magic and quests — it’s all here, but most of all it’s all new and fresh since most of us didn’t grow up with these stories.

Structure: A short introduction, followed by 12 chapters (one for each story, of course)

Execution and Style: I don’t just love this book because I have great childhood associations with it (although that certainly helps). I love it because translator Naomi Lewis has managed to put into prose the elegance of song. She captures so well the spirit of the stories as they were originally heard, managing to reignite the spark of childhood wonder in me no matter how old I am or how many times I’ve heard the stories before.

The stories themselves are wonderful. Some of them are remarkably sad, but all of them are quite compelling. Not in a common, Hollywood way–much too old for that (it’s eerie to think of a writer who lived over 800 years ago referring to “bygone” and “ancient” days). But they are compelling nonetheless because they touch some great part of us that still longs for good knights and pretty princesses.

The illustrations, however, are what really sold me on this book. Angela Barrett is supremely talented, giving richly detailed and moving full-page illustrations for every story plus multiple smaller ones to spice up the pages. I love how she captured a world so far in time and yet made it seem so real, like these stories really did happen a long, long time ago.

Is it the best piece of fiction out there today? No, certainly not. But this is the kind of book that’s good in a different way; not because it’s thrilling or new, not because you can’t wait to get to the climax, not even because it’s an interesting work that causes new information to be imparted. It’s good because  she speaks of childhood dreams and fantasies, seeking to reunite us with that small, usually hidden part of ourselves that used to love hearing a good bedtime story. And sometimes that’s exactly what we need.

Theme: ancient Britain/France, legend, King Arthur, knights

Read This If: my review made you want to build a fort in your living room

4 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Naomi Lewis (1911 – 2009) was the author of many children’s books, including a great number of fairy tale retellings. It appears this was her only work to deal with the more academic subject of Marie de France. Since she played such a huge role in the book, I’ll also mention that Angela  Barrett is also a prolific illustrator for children’s books. You can find both of their works on Amazon.com

If you liked this, you might also like:

John Matthew’s Secret Camelot
Ingri and Edgar Palin D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths and Book of Norse Myths
William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues

On an unrelated note, any of you readers a part of GoodReads.com? I haven’t had a chance to poke around it too much, but I’m hoping it’s more like this site and less like Shelfari. Comment if you can guide me in the right path on this.

I sit typing this at my kitchen table: cornered by a perfectly baked pumpkin pie and a looks-good-but-hope-it-tastes-good-too broccoli, cheese, and rice cassarole; covered in flour and a pink daisy apron; thankful I didn’t lose my wedding ring behind the oven permanently; and awaiting a call from my mom for her scrumptious dressing recipe, without which Thanksgiving simply could not happen. All while my husband plays a new video game (rather unsuccessfully, I’m afraid).

Ah yes, the day before Thanksgiving, the anticipation of a perfect meal softening the hours of hard work that goes into preparing such a feast. It’s fitting, then, to take a moment and discuss the most valuable book any reader can have in their kitchen: a good cookbook.

I love cookbooks; every time I’m in a bookstore, I have to stop and browse and daydream about making the beautifully photographed meals for myself. A few weeks ago, I found my own personal Holy Grail of cookbooks. The quest started three years ago in Memphis, and it ended in clearance section of a Half Price Books in Texas. This is what I sought for so long:

Doesn’t look like much, does it? It’s old, yes; this is the 1983 edition (not to be compared at all with the 1963 edition, which is total crap). The fonts are quite retro, and it’s language is quaint (“wrap tightly with heavy paper, tie with a strong cord; address in large, legible print directly on the package or on a gummed mailing label, covered with transparent tape to protect it from becoming blurred”). But for me, it’s a treasure.

Years ago, the women who would become my mother-in-law today had baked a delicious chocolate coconut bar. This being the morning of a summer break, and this also being well before the time my then-boyfriend Nicholas graced the morning with his presence, I asked her about the recipe, mostly to have something to talk about.

She pulled out her own edition of this book and told me how as a young bride, her extended family had given her this book to fulfill her new husband’s sweet tooth. For years she had been drawing inspiration and recipes from it, and they have a happy, healthy marriage almost 30 years old.

Enchanted, I started my own quest for this cherished book, dreaming of when I too could make some of my husband’s favorite recipes by turning to a well-worn friend. I looked everywhere for this book; every book store I went to for years had the older edition, but no one had the 80s one I was looking for. But one night, perusing the clearance cookbooks at Half Price Books on my haunches, I found it and squealed with joy. Knowing I had been looking for it for such a long time, Nicholas agreed to buy it for me. We were delighted when it rang up for only a dollar, and I hugged it to my chest like a child, grinning from ear to ear out to the car.

The truth is, though, this is hardly my only cherished cookbook. My love affair with cooking, and cookbooks, is relatively recent, and developed sometime in my college years, when I’d watch Food Network while working on Greek homework. In fact, food and cooking was one of the first topics that my best friend/Matron of Honor, Renee, and I talked about, and one that sealed our friendship. She has taught me a new appreciation for vegetables (I was not a fan as a child), and deepend my love of cooking, which has become–second to reading and watching the television show Friends–one of my life’s great passions.

I got my first cookbook for Christmas 2006. It was the Better Homes & Gardens’ New Cookbook, given to me by my parents. It is a monster of a cookbook, and occupies probably the most space on my counter. But it’s also one of my favorites, filled with very practical, very helpful recipes that helped me develop some tried-and-true favorites (like Chicken Parmigiana, which I could probably make in my sleep). That same year, they also gave me Japanese Homestyle Cooking, a book that uses so many foreign ingredients and techniques I’m surprised it’s in English. I have sadly never had the chance to make anything from this one, mostly because the specialty tools and ingredients are a little above my college student/newlywed income. But someday, someday.

Another Christmas–I guess they got the hint from my delighted, effusive thanks–I got a wonderful set of Gifts from the Kitchen books. These wonderful, Martha-Stewart-esque books teach you not only what food gifts to give on what occasion (and how to make them), but how to wrap them with charm and elegance. I longed to find someone with a new baby so I could make them a homemade casserole in a new pan wrapped with tea towels and raffia. The book also inspired me to make Nicholas Valentine’s Day truffles and mail them to him in St. Louis; he adored them and has spoken of them lovingly since.

I love clearance sections. They are the one area of a book store that can utterly fill my appetite without busting my wallet (if I’m not careful, I will turn out like Erasmus). The summer I worked at Blockbuster making next-to-nothing was the year I discovered Quick Pasta Recipes and New Asian Cooking in the sale bin at Borders. Both were produced by an Australian company, Confident cooking, and so both featured measurements in mililiters and grams. That made it interesting. But they were easy, appealing dishes, photographed well and planned for new cooks like me to navigate. I also picked up Cookies and Bars and Chocolate Holidays at bookstores on sale. Can you guess that I am a baker at heart? Someday, I will work up the courage to make the Croquenbush or Jacob’s Hats promised to me in Chocolate Holidays.

I relied on these, and the BH&G New Cookbook, heavily to construct my very own cookbook one summer. I guess cookbook is a little bit of a stretch, since I didn’t actually invent the recipes; a cooking anthology is probably more accurate. That year, my boyfriend Nicholas was going to be moving to Arkansas for an internship and living in an apartment on his own for the first time in a long time. He was used to being fed dorm food while working on his master’s degree, and had confessed to being a little nervous about cooking for himself. Thus my challenge was clear: find, gather, and copy nicely (I am also an amateur calligrapher) recipes that Nick could make for himself that were healthy, cheap, and of a good variety. I spent most of May and June 2007 working on this book, writing down recipes that fit my criteria (not too hard, not too expensive, ingredients that could be used often, good variety) and then carefully, very carefully, copying them into a blank journal I bought for this purpose while listening to Friends on DVD. I gave it to Nick on our second anniversary, right before he was set to move, and he was overjoyed that I had made him something so special and unique. He declared it an heirloom right there on the spot.

I’ve received two church cookbooks so far in my life, and both are to church I have never attended. One was from Faith Lutheran in Knob Noster, Missouri, where my mother-in-law and extended family had submitted recipes to a church Nick’s grandfather had founded. It was a common gift that year, and I felt honored to have been included in the family’s women. The other was to Russell Memorial United Methodist Church in Tyler, Texas, where my grandparents attend regularly. My grandmother, knowing I was engaged, bought one for me to “help the new bride get started.” Both these books have Southern traditional cooking in them, which is a big part of my life, and both were given with a lot of love and care.

My newest cookbooks, besides the one I acquired tonight, were both given to me at a wedding shower held by friends from my parent’s church. Food Network’s How to Boil Water is an introductory-level cookbook that’s filled with interesting recipes to try and helpful advice–like how to plan seating at a party, how to poach an egg, and the mechanics of soup. Sometimes I literally sit down to read it cover to cover like any other book, hoping to improve my skills. The other was the Better Homes and Garden’s Ultimate Cookbook Collection–Biggest Book of Grilling, Biggest Book of 30 Minute Meals (eat that Rachel Ray!), and Five Ingredient Recipes. Someone sure was thoughtful. I haven’t delved very deeply into it yet, but I feel quite excited about learning how to use my new kitchen gadgetry. This week, in fact, we are having toasted ravioli and prosciutto-arugula wraps, both from this book.

Cookbooks have a very special place in my heart because they combine two of my favorite things: cooking and reading. Putting on my apron, firing up my stove, and turning to my burgeoning library is one of my favorite parts of the day, when I can feel like a happy new bride who can’t wait to fill up the hearts and stomachs of her friends and family. And I’m sure my Christmases, birthdays, and anniversaries will be filled with new additions to love for many years to come.

A week ago Shelf Life relaunched on my new site, and I hope you have enjoyed the week of updates and theme lists in celebration. Here is my final theme list posting, unless you comment and specifically ask for more. Enjoy!

My Desert Island Five
1.      Snow Falling on Cedars
2.      The Time Traveler’s Wife
3.      Til We Have Faces
4.      The Iliad
5.      Church History in Plain Language

Sensuality, sexuality, and spirituality in perfect harmony

Most of you readers know that my sweet husband Nicholas and I tied the knot just a few short months ago in August, so many of you may be surprised I’m reading something like this. I want to reassure all of you that just because I’m a newlywed reading a sexual/intimacy relationship book doesn’t mean we’re having problems; if anything, I consider it preventative care.

But I bet more of you are surprised that a book like this even exists. It’s a frank, blatant, explicit, Christian sex book. Yep, you heard me, such a thing exists (actually many do; check the “if you like this”). But unlike some other Christian authors, Dr. Leman isn’t interested in just the theoretical, spiritual side of sex; he brings it back down to earth and your own bedroom by giving plenty of practical examples, ideas, and solutions to problems that aren’t usually addressed in similar titles (such as, what to do on your first night if you’re both virgins, or what to do if your husband isn’t in the mood but you are). But most of all, he does it all with a solid biblical background and a healthy sense of humor.

Genre: non-fiction, self-help/relationships

Synopsis: Dr. Leman believes that good sex isn’t divided from the rest of your marriage; it’s a quality of and a reflection of the whole. In his words, “sex is about the quality of your entire  love life, not just the alignment of your bodies.” Thus, he explores a wide range of topics, from sex in your fifties and beyond to new ideas to try tonight. Best of all, though he is a Christian author, this isn’t a stuffy, prudish, boring book; it’s a joyful, exuberant celebration of one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity, and how husbands and wives can make the most out of it.

Structure: 16 chapters arranged thematically between a prologue and an epilogue

Execution and Style: By all accounts, this is a great book. What I loved most was the refusal to pander to hyper-Victorian Christian sensibilities; Dr. Leman laid it all out there in a frank, explicit way that was meant to encourage openness and lines of communication between couples. It was also quite thorough in scope, ranging from engagement/pre-marital issues all the way through to sex in your fifties, and covering a large array of topics like women and body image, suggested positions to try, solutions to common bedroom problems, etc. It wasn’t all groundbreaking material, but it was nice to see such a compact yet comprehensive title. And, as a student who spent a great deal of time studying the Bible and theology, I can tell you this guy is solid; much more so than the other sex-and-Christianity related book Sex God by Rob Bell.

The humor also helped a lot, especially if this were to be used in a large class setting or even just between a shy couple. I do have to admit though, I was a tad annoyed by the persistent penile nickname “Mr. Happy.” But that’s a minor, personal quibble. Speaking of personal quibbles, I hate the word spouse. It rhymes with louse, and that’s the last image I want when I talk about my husband.

Overall, this is a book I’d give to my sister at her wedding, with no shame and nothing but happy wishes for the new couple; it’s also one I’d keep in my own house for reference.

Theme: Christianity, sexuality, marriage

Read This If: you are half of a Christian couple or curious about what Christians really think about sex

3 out of 5 stars.

Other Works:
Dr. Leman is a reknown psychologist and speaker who has appeared on numerous TV programs. Just a few of his other titles are:
The New Birth Order Book
Making Children Mind without Losing Yours
Bringin Up Kids without Tearing Them Down
Sex Begins in the Kitchen

If you liked this, you might also like:
Dr. Emerson Eggerich’s Love and Respect
Dr. Ed Wheat’s Intended for Pleasure (covers much of the same material but from a medical standpoint)
Linda Dillows’ Intimate Issues

Since today’s book had a lot to do with husbands, I thought I would make mention of mine in today’s theme list
Five Non-fiction Books My Husband Loved
1.      Blink by Malcom Gladwell
2.      This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin
3.      The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout
4.      The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating by Steven Kerry Brown
5.      Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do & What It Says About Us by Tom Vanderbilt