Shelf Life Book Reviews

This weekend I had the … well, call it opportunity, to be driving for roughly 18 hours or so. Although it was worth it (I got to see friends I haven’t seen in a long time, enjoyed a lot of great food, even got a haircut for free), driving for hours on end used to be one of my most despised things. But my local library is pretty good about stocking a great selection of audiobooks, and thus I’m not so fearful of the long drives anymore (and when Nick drives, I get to play with my DS).

So, for this particular trip, I chose two books that sounded interesting (which is really all you can judge most audiobooks by – will they be interesting enough to listen to for __ hours?). The first was La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith. I had honestly no idea what the book was about, I only had the vague recollection of seeing it at a bookstore and wanting to read it. If pressed, I would have confessed I thought it was about a Vietnamese immigrant.

 Turns out it was actually about an English woman (Lavender) living in the countryside during World War II who starts an amateur orchestra as part of her war effort. Oh, and she also begins to have feelings for a Polish refugee. I won’t give it all away, but I was disappointed with plot, which I felt just fizzled even though it was fraught with potential. Also, there was a weird chapter in which La is much older and discussing the events with her friend long after they happened, but then the story jumps back to the “present” (which is actually the past, as the first chapter establishes that this is a memory). I hated that. It gave away all the tension of “will she or won’t she” get with the Polish refugee, and made the ending completely worthless.  But fans of WWII will probably appreciate the different perspective the book took from the usual WWII lineup (it is set in the English countryside, after all, hardly the bustling center of the war).

But the second book, Slumdog Millionaire (or, as it was originally published, Question and Answer) by Vikas Swarup, was absolutely amazing. I’ve been totally hooked by it; to the point that I’ve stayed in my car longer than strictly necessary to get to a good stopping place. The book’s structure is perfect! Probably one of the best examples I can think of where  a book is enhanced by its deliberate structure, where it wouldn’t be nearly as powerful or as moving if it were told a different way.

It is by turns tragic to the point of tears, humorous, amusing, intriguing – pretty much like life is. It reminds me strongly of Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta, with its almost mythic stories. It also brings to mind Carolyn Parkhurst’s Lost and Found, which was another astonishing take on the game-show-as-a-novel, with its own mix of tragedy and comedy. But it also reminded me of Sayo Matsuda’s touching Autobiography of a Geisha; both main characters experienced some of the worst poverty and abuse I can imagine, but both were able to become strong, mature individuals in spite of such conditions; they did not mope and complain, they made the best of life and gained a profound wisdom from it. I’m still not finished with the audiobook, but so far I’ve loved it. I can’t wait to see the movie!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? I have to admit most answers I heard to this cliche ice-breaker question are pretty humdrum. But not Cheryl and Bill Jamison. They said, “well, we’d go to 10 different countries and eat awesome food. Oh, and then write a book about it all.” Now there’s some people I wouldn’t mind sitting next to on a plane!

Escapism has never been so delicious

 Genre: nonfiction, travelogue/memoir

Plot: Cookbook authors Cheryl and Bill Jamison one day discovered they had a LOT of frequent flier miles. So many, in fact, that with a little planning they could actually plan to spend 3 months traveling to 10 different countries with free airfare. So that’s exactly what they did for their 20th anniversary. Along the way they enjoyed spectacular food, whichis as big a driving force in this book as it was in their adventure.

Structure: Chapter 1/the introduction is basically a logistics chapter – how did they pull it off, the planning, the packing, etc. Following that, each country gets its own chapter (Bali, Australia, New Caledonia, Singapore, Thailand, India, China, South Africa, France and Brazil, in that order) detailing their stay, their food, and their non-food related adventures. At the end of each country chapter, they also listed the contact information for the hotels and restaurants they visited, and also included a “do-it-yourself” at-home recipe of one food item they enjoyed in country. The last chapter was a wrap-up of coming home and planning their next great trip.

Execution: This was a bit of a rollercoaster for me. The beginning chapter, I have to admit, initially was pretty boring. I don’t really consider other people’s packing list entertaining reading. But in hindsight, it was an excellent guide to preparing for world-wide travel for someone who might dream of doing something similar. Some of the countries (Bali, Singapore) sounded like so much fun I wanted to go book a trip that instant. But some of the countries (Australia, Thailand, Brazil) sounded a little less interesting, either to me personally or just in what it sounded like they did. At any rate, though, I enjoyed getting to hear about these unique cultures and foods, especially from people that really appreciate such things (they constantly reviled chances to “eat like Americans” while abroad).

I was very pleased with the “nitty gritty” sections they included, making it possible for others to enjoy the same experience they did. That to me really set this couple apart from most travel writers – they wanted to help others enjoy the same things they did, either by giving great recommendations in country or providing recipes for the home cook.

However good their intentions were, though, the recipes were unwieldy and impractical. Most of them featured about a mile of ingredients, the majority of which were expensive, hard-to-find, or of inferior-quality in the US. I appreciate the thought, but there’s no way I would spend an estimated $30-40 on the ingredients for just ONE dish. So I don’t really recommend it as a cookbook. Also, I have to say I was a little disappointed with the chapter on China. After all, this is a civilization whose cuisine is so rich in tradition, history, and variation you could spend years on it. Yet they spent suprisingly little time there, and mainly focused on one incredible banquet they got to attend. But they hardly talked about the street food, or the food specific to Guangdong province, or even mentioned the great culinary traditions of the country.

Overall, it was a fun escape. Getting to live someone else’s dream vacation is, in some ways, just as much fun as taking one yourself. It’s not without its flaws, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Theme: food, travel (see the countries listed above)

Read this if you’re one of those people with a beach photo on your desktop — a cubicle monkey who dreams of getting away.

3 out of 5 stars

Other works:
Numerous cookbooks and hotel guides

If you liked this you might also like:
Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations (basically a photo scrapbook of the show of the same title)
Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love (of course!)
Anything by J. Maarten Troost

I first heard about this book from a Asian cooking community I sometimes glance over. The title really intrigued me, as did the poster’s (is that the right word?) claim that she lost 15 pounds with it (though she didn’t specify in what time frame). So with a curious but expectant mind I gave it a try. Was I disappointed? Well, see what you think.

A great primer for Japanese home-cooking

 Genre: nonfiction, health and nutrition

Plot: Of all the world’s many cuisines, studies have shown the “Asian diet” of rice, fish, soy, and vegetables to be the healthiest: the Japanese people have the lowest obesity rates anywhere in the world, and the longest lifespans. But Naomi Moriyama didn’t realize how crucial her traditional Japanese diet had been until she came to America for a year in college. While eating just like her classmates in rural Indiana, she managed to gain 25 extra pounds. But by eating her mother’s traditional Japanese home cooking and returning to the Tokyo lifestyle (lots of walking, smaller portions) she was able to lose it all again. When she relocated to America as an adult, she made an effort to keep eating traditional Japanese foods and turned the idea into this book.

Structure: After the introduction, 6 lengthy chapters follow. Each chapter was an interesting mix of history, biography, quotes, health reports, and recipes.  Chapters 1-3 were really long introductions to the basic concepts of the Japanese diet–basically, why it’s so much healthier than the American diet.  Chapter 4 was a really helpful and practical guide to the equipment and ingredients used in Japanese cooking. I for one never understood the difference between dashi and bonito until this chapter, nor did I realize that it wasn’t strictly necessary to buy all the special equipment/plateware. Chapter 5 was the undisputed core of the book (see below), while Chapter 6 was an interesting historical detour that while engaging, really had very little to add to the overall book. The epilogue was one of the most moving pieces of the whole book, and an unexpectedly passionate end to what is essentially a healthy eating/nutrition guide. There were several helpful indexes in the back as well.

Style and Execution: I haven’t read any books like this before, so my opinion could be a little off to an expert. Most of what Moriyama said was common knowledge – eat more fruits and vegetables, whole wheat, and fish; get lots of exercise; etc. But she did succeed handily in demystifying the aura that surrounds Japanese food. I for one thought that making Japanese food at home would be expensive, difficult, untenable as a lifestyle, complicated, and repetitive. She really broke through all of those negative expectations by revealing 1) a lot of the ingredients are the same as what you already have at home, or are easy to find and 2) you already have most of the tools you need. The recipes seemed very clear and straightforward, and many of them sounded very good. In fact, I tried a Japanese meal at home yesterday–but more on that later. The heart of the book was really chapter 5, the 7 Pillars of Japanese Cooking (fish, rice, soy, tea, vegetables, fruit, and noodles, by the way, but not in that order). Each “pillar” had its own section prefaced by scientific research and completed with 2 or 3 recipes to try.

Was the book a success? It depends on what you expected. If you were looking for strictly a cookbook, probably not; the recipes were well-written and varied, but were only a good starter. The culinary/dietary insights weren’t really that ground-breaking. Almost every adult knows to eat better, we all just struggle with the actual eating. I found the history of Japanese food and the personal stories a great addition to most boring, dispassionate treatises I’ve read on nutrition. So I guess if you’re interested in knowing more about how to cook Japanese style and get your feet wet with the concept, it’s a great first resource.

As I mentioned earlier, I tried some of the food for myself this weekend. It was a mixed success. To serve rice, grated daikon, teriyaki-style tilapia, instant ramen soup (we didn’t have any miso handy) and jasmine green tea took about 2 hours of preparation. The rice I wanted to “jazz up a bit” so I added some rice wine vinegar and sugar - not a good idea. I should have left it plain like the book said, so that one is all me. Now my guinea pig husband Nicholas absolutely loved the fish and the daikon. He thought it was restaurant-quality good and really adored it. I did not; I thought the fish was too “fishy” and sour, and that the daikon just had a salty flavor too. The only thing I really liked was the ramen! I was pretty upset over that, but after some reflection I think Nick’s words are true: “don’t give up on it. It will take experimenting to find what you like, but it will only make you a better cook.” Plus he really enjoyed it, so maybe it was just my super picky tastebuds.  

Theme: diet, nutrition, healthy eating, Japanese food, Japanese history

Read this if you’d like to try things other than sushi for Japanese food — it really is easier than you think! Just be prepared for a higher time commitment than you probably make now.

3 out of 5 stars

Other works:
This is Moriyama’s first book

If you liked this you might also like:
I’m afraid I don’t have any suggestions for you, dear readers. This is the first book I’ve read like this, so you’ll have to tell me!