2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)
2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge
2024 52 Club Reading Challenge
2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge
2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge
2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge
Mount TBR Reading Challenge
2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge
Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge
Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge
The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge
The Life Skills Reading Challenge
Friday, January 08, 2010
The Green Goop On My Porch, Or, Why I Should Stick to Reviewing Books
Books have so many admirable qualities, not the least of which is that they're virtually indestructible. We all know they don't stand a chance against a bathtub, a swimming pool or a 5-year-old, but I'm talking about the mail. In a knock-down-drag-out fight between a book and good ole USPS, I'd put my money on the book.
Salsa is not like a book. I found this out the hard way.
I rarely use this blog to review anything other than books, but occasionally, an offer comes along that I can't refuse. MomCentral, for which I often do reviews, was offering samples of Rosarita's new line of salsas. I like salsa. The hubs likes salsa. It paid 20 bucks. Clearly, a win-win situation.
Then came Christmas Eve. The time: 5:55. Our annual family party started at 6 and I still had to cover the 15 miles to my in-laws' house. I had just plopped my 13-month-old into the bathroom sink for "hair time" when the doorbell rang. Sculpting my baby's curls into Rudy Huxtable-perfect puffs requires the kind of coordination and concentration rarely found outside a hospital operating room. I wasn't about to interrupt such a delicate procedure to answer the door. When we finally reached puffy perfection - complete with red and white striped bows - I remembered to check outside my front door. I expected fudge. Or homemade candy. A white FedEx box lay on my doormat. Nothing's better than an unexpected present, right? So, I reached down to grab it ... and the box fell apart in my hands. Blobs of gooey green stuff glopped out of the ruined box onto my porch, the doormat and my jeans. Shards of glass bit into my hand. From the smell of the goopy mess, I knew my salsa had arrived.
Cursing Rosarita, FedEx and the God of Mexican Condiments, I dumped everything into a garbage bag, wiped up the green stains with a paper towel and went on my not-very-merry way. I actually grumbled - out loud - "This is what I get for reviewing something other than books."
I got over the salsa disaster - eventually. I haven't quite forgiven FedEx yet, though. I mean, the driver transferred a soggy, dripping box from the back of his truck to my doorstep. On Christmas Eve! The nice people at MomCentral and Rosarita did send me three new jars of salsa, packaged neatly in a sturdy cardboard box. And, even though I had resolved never to look at the stuff ever again, I tested it anyway. What can I say? It's hard to hold a grudge at Christmastime.
So, Rosarita sent me three kinds of salsa - Salsa Mexicana (mild), Salsa Verde (medium) and Salsa Taquera (hot). I'm not big on spices, so I figured the first type would be the one for me. Um, no. The "mild" was hot enough to bring tears to my eyes. A lick of medium had me racing for my water glass, and the hot ... well, it was the least spicy of them all. In fact, it's the variety I ended up liking the most. Weird.
I like salsa, but I'm no connoisseur. My husband, on the other hand, is fairly choosy. Here's what he had to say:
Salsa Mexicana - Too onion-y, and I usually like onions. The taste just isn't that good.
Salsa Verde - Good stuff!
Salsa Taquera - It's more like hot sauce than salsa. The heat goes to a whole different level, like to my core. I think my bald spot is sweating.
To recap: Neither one of us was impressed with the Salsa Mexicana. I thought it was way too spicy for a "mild" salsa. The hubster didn't like the taste. The Salsa Verde burned my taste buds off, but my husband liked it a lot. Surprisingly, I liked the Taquera. It was the least spicy and the most flavorful. The hubs liked it as well.
I like Rosarita (it's the only brand of refried beans I buy), but its salsa can't touch our favorite - Safeway Select Southwestern Syle Salsa (mild). If you're feeling adventurous, pick up some Rosarita salsa for your next fiesta. It's only available in a handful of cities - Phoenix, L.A. Dallas and Denver - and only at select Wal-Mart and grocery stores. Having it delivered via FedEx is not advised.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Rosarita and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.
And since we're talking Mexicana, I should mention that I'm reading an interesting new book from Razorbill - it's called The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped. Since I don't speak Mexican Gangsta Girl, I only understand about 1/4 of the dialogue, but it's turning into an interesting book. Look for a review soon.
Buenos Noches, amigos.
Salsa is not like a book. I found this out the hard way.
I rarely use this blog to review anything other than books, but occasionally, an offer comes along that I can't refuse. MomCentral, for which I often do reviews, was offering samples of Rosarita's new line of salsas. I like salsa. The hubs likes salsa. It paid 20 bucks. Clearly, a win-win situation.
Then came Christmas Eve. The time: 5:55. Our annual family party started at 6 and I still had to cover the 15 miles to my in-laws' house. I had just plopped my 13-month-old into the bathroom sink for "hair time" when the doorbell rang. Sculpting my baby's curls into Rudy Huxtable-perfect puffs requires the kind of coordination and concentration rarely found outside a hospital operating room. I wasn't about to interrupt such a delicate procedure to answer the door. When we finally reached puffy perfection - complete with red and white striped bows - I remembered to check outside my front door. I expected fudge. Or homemade candy. A white FedEx box lay on my doormat. Nothing's better than an unexpected present, right? So, I reached down to grab it ... and the box fell apart in my hands. Blobs of gooey green stuff glopped out of the ruined box onto my porch, the doormat and my jeans. Shards of glass bit into my hand. From the smell of the goopy mess, I knew my salsa had arrived.
Cursing Rosarita, FedEx and the God of Mexican Condiments, I dumped everything into a garbage bag, wiped up the green stains with a paper towel and went on my not-very-merry way. I actually grumbled - out loud - "This is what I get for reviewing something other than books."
I got over the salsa disaster - eventually. I haven't quite forgiven FedEx yet, though. I mean, the driver transferred a soggy, dripping box from the back of his truck to my doorstep. On Christmas Eve! The nice people at MomCentral and Rosarita did send me three new jars of salsa, packaged neatly in a sturdy cardboard box. And, even though I had resolved never to look at the stuff ever again, I tested it anyway. What can I say? It's hard to hold a grudge at Christmastime.
So, Rosarita sent me three kinds of salsa - Salsa Mexicana (mild), Salsa Verde (medium) and Salsa Taquera (hot). I'm not big on spices, so I figured the first type would be the one for me. Um, no. The "mild" was hot enough to bring tears to my eyes. A lick of medium had me racing for my water glass, and the hot ... well, it was the least spicy of them all. In fact, it's the variety I ended up liking the most. Weird.I like salsa, but I'm no connoisseur. My husband, on the other hand, is fairly choosy. Here's what he had to say:
Salsa Mexicana - Too onion-y, and I usually like onions. The taste just isn't that good.
Salsa Verde - Good stuff!
Salsa Taquera - It's more like hot sauce than salsa. The heat goes to a whole different level, like to my core. I think my bald spot is sweating.
To recap: Neither one of us was impressed with the Salsa Mexicana. I thought it was way too spicy for a "mild" salsa. The hubster didn't like the taste. The Salsa Verde burned my taste buds off, but my husband liked it a lot. Surprisingly, I liked the Taquera. It was the least spicy and the most flavorful. The hubs liked it as well.
I like Rosarita (it's the only brand of refried beans I buy), but its salsa can't touch our favorite - Safeway Select Southwestern Syle Salsa (mild). If you're feeling adventurous, pick up some Rosarita salsa for your next fiesta. It's only available in a handful of cities - Phoenix, L.A. Dallas and Denver - and only at select Wal-Mart and grocery stores. Having it delivered via FedEx is not advised.
I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Rosarita and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.
And since we're talking Mexicana, I should mention that I'm reading an interesting new book from Razorbill - it's called The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Kidnapped. Since I don't speak Mexican Gangsta Girl, I only understand about 1/4 of the dialogue, but it's turning into an interesting book. Look for a review soon.
Buenos Noches, amigos.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Unique Coal Mining Story Deserves Better
(Image from Barnes & Noble)Life in The Patch is not easy - not for the men and boys who spend their days mining coal, not for the wives and mothers who pray constantly for their safety, and not for the children who swallow toxic coal dust with their every breath. For the McCaffertys and the other immigrant families, ekeing out a living in northeastern Pennsylvania beats starving in their native Ireland. But only just. Not only are the patch families barely scraping by, but the miners' jobs are becoming more and more dangerous as wealthy mine owners scrimp on safety precautions in order to fill coal carts more quickly. The shriek of the breaker whistle comes too often - "accidents" maim, kill, and orphan.
Call Me Kate, Molly Roe's debut novel and the first book in a projected trilogy, starts with the siren's wail. When her best friend charges into the schoolroom one morning, 14-year-old Katie McCafferty knows it can mean only one thing - her father has become the mine's newest victim. Although he survives, his injuries leave him bedridden. Although she loves school, Katie has no choice but to leave the classroom and find work as a servant. When she lands a coveted position in the household of Ario Pardee, a rich mine owner, Katie must prove herself to the demanding houskeeper. Any missteps could mean termination, which will equal no income for her family back in The Patch.
Although Katie works in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, her thoughts are never far from The Patch. With the enactment of the Northern draft (October 1862), tensions are running high between the immigrant miners and the nativists. Rumors of her best friend's involvement in the resistance movement alarms Katie enough to risk her job - not to mention her life - to save him. Can a young lass like her really make a difference in the increasingly dangerous conflict? Can she rescue her friend from his own hard-headedness? Does she have the strength, the courage, to carry out the subterfuge necessary to accomplish the impossible task?
Call Me Kate brings this tumultuous period of history to life, blending period detail with the fictional (but historically accurate) adventures of Katie McCafferty. It's a fascinating glimpse into the stark realities of life as a miner in the late 19th Century. The story's compelling in and of itself, which is a very good thing since Roe's characters leave much to be desired. With little personality; stiff, unnatural conversations; and no real depth, Roe's story people might as well be cardboard cutouts. It doesn't help that the author spends most of the novel telling rather than showing. The tale is rich, exciting, compelling - the characters and storytelling need to be equally so. Flat characters and lackluster prose weigh down what could otherwise be an excellent novel. Molly Roe has a unique story to tell - let's hope the next two novels imbue it with the richness it deserves.
Grade: C
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for some violence
To the FTC, with love: Tribute Books send me a complimentary copy of Call Me Kate for my review. The "price" of the book didn't influence my opinion in any way.
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Marketing Schmarketing: Evolution Is What It Is ... Fascinating
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
I prefer my family sagas thick and juicy, so reading Diya Das' "fictional family history" was a bit of a departure for me. The Evolution of an Identity isn't thick (it's a slim 72 pages), it's not really fiction, and it's not all that juicy (dang it). It is interesting, though, and definitely a unique read.
Das began researching her family tree as part of a project for a high school American studies course. She wanted to chronicle her own experiences as a first-generation immigrant in the United States, but found the task wouldn't quite fulfill the requirements of the assignment. So, she began digging into her family's history. Although Das was born in India, her parents emigrated to the U.S. when she was still a baby. They left all family behind. At least, that's what Das believed until a discussion with relatives in India led to the discovery that she did, indeed, have some family living in the United States. Communicating with long-lost kin gave Das a much broader sense of her family's history. Finding the writings of two ancestors was especially helpful, as they shed much light on the experiences of early Indian immigrants. For the school project, Das used the diaries she found as well as excerpts from her own journal to offer glimpses of Indian-American life over three generations. Like every story, hers had gaps - she filled the missing spaces using research and her own imagination.
Even though some parts of the book are fictionalized, The Evolution of an Identity is not a novel. It's basically a memoir - although all the details don't come from direct familial experience, they are generally truthful. Most importantly, the accounts Das presents provide a meaningful snapshot of the Indian-American experience. It shows the changing face of Indian immigrants - from poor, uneducated migrant workers in the early 1900s to wealthier, better educated career people in the 1960s and '70s to today's Indian-American teens. It examines more than just the evolution of an identity, but also the evolution of an attitude. Das explains how the earliest Indians put up with low-paying jobs, racial slurs, and great ignorance about their religion and culture, focusing only on returning to their native land with money in their pockets. Years later, young doctors and scientists entered the U.S. because their knowledge and skills were in high demand. Along with them came a wave of non-professionals who set up shops, restaurants and services specifically designed to cater to this wealthy new class of Indian-Americans. Unlike their predecessors, these immigrants practically shouted, "We're putting down roots. We're here to stay." Representing Indian-Americans of the 21st Century, Das describes her own attitude toward her "double heritage" (60). Since Das dwells in both worlds, she must assume a split-personality disorder, acting more Indian in the Indian community and more American with the outside world. She accepts both sides of herself while at the same time admitting to feeling intruded upon by "Americans" (read: white non-Indians) who come to Jackson Heights (New York's "Little India") to gawk during religious festivals. She acknowleges the irony, saying, "It is somewhat hypocritical that I wish for the acceptance of Indian culture but have an aversion to explaining it to others ... I do not feel as if I have the patience or the time required to explain what it is to be Indian American to someone who cannot possibly understand conflicting value systems and cultural behaviors" (58). A bold statement for someone whose peasant ancestors spent their time kowtowing to the kin of these same American "intruders."
The Indian immigration experience isn't something I've read much about, so I found Das' account fascinating. It's a quick read, but one that inspires a great deal of thought. My biggest complaint about the book has little to with the book itself and more with the way it's being marketed: The Evolution of an Identity is not a historical novel for teens. Young adults are not going to grab this one off the shelves. I'm not saying they shouldn't, I'm just saying that this marketing tactic is not going to work. The book is a serious work, with a personal, but very non-fiction-y feel. If you're interested in Indian history and culture, or just in another perspective on the immigrant experience, pick it up. But don't expect a novel, or a rich family saga. It is what it is, and what it is is fascinating. It's a quick, thought-provoking read that will appeal more to adults than teenagers. And that's okay.
Having said that, I have one suggestion for 18-year-old Diya Das: write a real novel. In a lot of ways, I think a nice, thick saga based on her family's unique history would have been more compelling and satisfying than this thin, essay-type volume. I would definitely be interested in a more fleshed-out, historically-rich story exploring the plight of the Indian immigrant from the early 1900s until now. Indian-American authors are sorely underrepresented in popular literature. It's just a suggestion, Diya, but I think it's a pretty good one.
Until Das becomes a best-selling novelist (who owes all her fame to moi), you can purchase her work here on Tribute Books' website.
Grade: B
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for themes of persecution, revolution, and racism
To the FTC, with love: I received a copy of this book from Tribute Books in exchange for this review. The fact that I got it for free didn't influence my opinion in the least.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Pregnancy Guide Too Much For A Fuddy Duddy Like Me
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
The other day as I scanned the stories in the online edition of my hometown newspaper, I gasped aloud. An announcement in the "Births" section indicated that a kid I vaguely remembered from way, way back when had just become a father. "I just can't believe he's old enough to have a baby," I told my husband. "And you're too old to have any more," came his less-than-sensitive reply. Indignant, I retorted, "I'm only 34!" C'mon, I spend my days chasing a 13 month old around - I may have one foot in the ground, but I'm not dead yet.
Still, as I read Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? by Claire Mysko and Magali Amadei, I began to think my husband may have a point. Perhaps I have been in the trenches too long. Eleven years of full-time mommyhood has turned me into a practical, no-frills kind of girl. So, reading about how to create a stylish maternity wardrobe, when to schedule preggo pictures, and how to deal with celebrities getting their pre-baby bodies back within 6 weeks of giving birth made me want to scream. I mean, seriously, who cares? Not me. I appreciate the authors' tell-it-like-it-is approach to the nitty gritties of pregnancy and childbirth, but I think I've been there enough times to know the drill. In fact, having birthed three babies and adopted one, I've got a whole lot more experience than either of the authors. I'm not saying I don't have more to learn - of course I do - but I'll take my advice from veterans not amateurs, thank you very much.
I don't mean to devalue the message Mysko and Amadei are trying to spread. They yearn to convince women with negative body images to come to terms with the problem before they become pregnant. They encourage potential mothers to toss out the scale, practice intuitive eating and seek professional help before their body misconceptions get dangerous (i.e. in pregnancy). This is where the book offers something unique - a look at the connection between negative body image, especially severe cases, and pregnancy. I've never seen this issue addressed in any kind of literature, so I found the sections dedicated to this topic to be fascinating. Since both Mysko and Amadei suffered from eating disorders, they have an insider's perspective. Here, they speak with authority. Here, they write with passion. I would have gladly skipped the chapters on accessorizing maternity tops and battling au pairs over a child's lunch to read more about how anorexic/bulemic women deal with pregnancy and childbirth.
Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? rubbed me the wrong way for several reasons. Some of the material just seemed beyond ridiculous for an old fuddy duddy like me; many of the comments from "real women" were so frank as to be almost offensive; and lots of the topics covered weren't relevant to a practical, no-frills gal like me. I do like the message the authors are sending. I think it's important, especially for women who have struggled with eating disorders, to seek the help they need without feeling unworthy or ashamed. I also agree that women need to stop beating themselves up and accept the fact that there is no perfect mother, no perfect body, and no perfect woman. Ignore the tabloids. Focus on your health, your kids, your real life. Amen.
Every woman has body issues - I'm no exception. Still, this book is not for me. It might be for you, though. If you need a little pick-me-up, some inspiration or a resource for help, check out the authors' websites, 5resolutions.blogspot.com and http://www.insidebeauty.org/ . You can find more opinions on Does This Pregnancy make Me Look Fat? by following the authors' virtual tour with TLC Book Tours. Click here for a schedule.
Grade: C
If this were a movie, it would be: PG-13 for language, graphic images and sexual content
To the FTC, with love: TLC Book Tours provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for a review.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)
Reading
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
Listening
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth
Followin' with Feedly
-
-
Top 5 Tuesday ~ Thankful1 hour ago
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Design by:
2024 - Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
2023 - Middle Grade Fiction
2022 - Middle Grade Fiction
2021 - Middle Grade Fiction
2020 - Middle Grade Fiction
