Book Review: The Scarlet Pepper by Dorothy St. James

Title: The Scarlet Pepper by Dorothy St. James
Published: April 3, 2012 by Berkley
Series: A White House Gardener Mystery #2
Genre: cozy, mystery
Objective rating: 4/5

Though I found the White House gardener Casey Calhoun a little off centered when it comes to solving mysteries, she clearly is a dedicated gardener, devoted to excellence in tending the vegetables in the First Lady's organic garden.

Casey thinks she has discovered the killers of two reporters in the White House Press Corps and pursues that trail relentlessly. In the meantime, she tries to find out who is sabotaging the vegetables in the White House garden, discovers the secrets of another female reporter who narrowly escapes death in a hit and run, and attempts to put all the facts together, putting her own life in danger.

Far from being the crafty sleuth, however, Casey seems to fall into the solution to the crimes by accident.

An enjoyable cozy if you don't mind being exasperated with the main character at times. I enjoyed reading about the White House garden itself, the Secret Service personnel, and the press corps, assuming that the details are true to life - their duties, methods of work, volunteers at the White House, etc.

I rated this a 4 out of 5 and hope to read the first in the series as well. (I received a complimentary review copy of this book.)

Book Review: Lucky Child by Loung Ung

"...I have come to accept that I might never see Chou again. I know that somewhere in Cambodia, the remainder of our large family is waiting to join Meng and me in America, but missing them has become too difficult. And so I've begun to think of myself as the only sister, even though I remember being part of a big family. That life is gone and no matter how I wish it, it will never be so again." (ch.16)

Title: Lucky Child: A Daughter of Cambodia Reunites with the Sister She Left Behind
Author: Loung Ung
Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 11, 2006), paperback
Genre: memoir

Comments: To the general reader, the importance of this memoir by Loung Ung, the second of three books on Cambodia and life after the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese invasion, lies not only in its historical value but in the heartfelt story of a family destroyed and separated by war.

We see life through the eyes of a young 10 year-old-girl who is chosen by her oldest brother Meng to leave Cambodia with him and his wife, escape to Thailand, and then travel as refugees to Vermont, U.S.A. Loung is haunted by the memory of her older sister Chou, whom she left behind, and the two brothers also left in Cambodia. She also is haunted by the memory of her parents, both killed by the Khmer Rouge while she was still a young child in Cambodia.

 Lucky Child is the story of the two sisters, living and growing up in two different countries - the U.S.A. and Cambodia, about their eventual reunion, and their experiences in between the time they were separated as children and the time they were reunited in Cambodia as adults.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book and the others, First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers and Lulu in the Sky to anyone wanting to know more about the period 1975-1979, when Cambodia was turned into the Killing Fields under the Khmer Rouge who murdered millions of its own people in order to establish their power. The book is also a story of survival, immigration and adjustment of refugees to life in the United States, eventual reconciliation of Loung's family, and their lives after a war of devastation.

About the author: Loung Ung was born to an affluent Cambodian father and Chinese mother, and was only 5 years old when the Khmer Rouge stormed into her native city of Phnom Penh. Four years later, in one of the bloodiest episodes of the 20th century, some two million Cambodians – out of a population of seven million – had died at the hands of the infamous Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime. Among the genocide victims were both Loung’s parents, two sisters, and 20 other relatives.

Today, Loung has made over 30 trips back to Cambodia. As an author, lecturer, and activist, she has dedicated 20 years to promoting equality, human rights, and justice in her native land and worldwide. To find out more about her work, visit her at http://loungung.com/

You can see the complete tour and other reviews of this book, thanks to TLC Book Tours.

I received a complimentary review copy of this book for the tour.

Book Review: Pilgrimage to the End of the World by Conrad Rudolph

Title: Pilgrimage to the End of the World: The Road to Santiago de Compostela
Author: Conrad Rudolph
University of Chicago Press, May 19, 2004
Genre: travel, culture, memoir
Source: free ecopy from publisher

"Traveling one thousand miles through southern France and northern Spain, Conrad Rudolph made the passage to the holy site of Santiago de Compostela, a popular and important pilgrimage destination for Westerners today. In this chronicle of his travels, Rudolph writes a book that is at once travel guide, literary work, historical study, and memoir." (book description)

"The pilgrimage to Santiago can begin from anywhere. But...there are said to be four classic starting points....By far the most beautiful is the one from Le Puy, in the heart of the Massif Central....  (Doing the Pilgrimage, pp. 95-100)

Comments: I've fascinated by this pilgrimage that many people take, walking to the holy site of Santiago de Compostela, the Spanish city where the remains of the apostle Saint James the Greater is said to reside in a large and impressive cathedral. The walking trip from Le Puy, France, through the Pyrenees mountains, and through northern Spain is about a thousand miles and took the author two and a half months to complete.

I first heard about the pilgrimage from  two people I once worked with, who resigned their jobs, walked the pilgrimage and then decided to stay in Spain and run one of the refugios or pilgrim's hostels that line the long route along the way to Santiago de Compostela.

It was interesting to learn from the book that pilgrims from all over the world, mostly Europeans, range in age from their twenties through late sixties, some even in their seventies. I imagine the older pilgrims take one of the shorter routes that start closer to or in Spain and skip going through the Pyrenees in France.

About the book: The book was a free download from the University of Chicago Press, which offers readers a free digital book each month. Their recent offer, Pilgrimage to the End of the World, came out in print in 2004.

The title shows that the author took the pilgrimage route beyond Santiago de Compostela, a hike of three days more to Finisterre, where land ends at the Atlantic Ocean and the "End of the World." This book has maps and photographs of the pilgrimage route, of monuments and churches and some of the small villages along the way. It suggests a detailed and specific list of items pilgrims should take with them, plus a warning to pack light. The author suggests vigorous hiking training for several months to prepare for the long and challenging walk along the pilgrimage route to the holy site.

I recommend the book to anyone wishing they could make the trip and of course, to those who are thinking about doing it and need background information as well as helpful tips and other recommended reading. The author made the trip in the mid 1990s and published the book in 2004. I did find that a couple of his links to web cams in Santiago de Compostela and along the route no longer work.

Conrad Rudolph is a professor of medieval art and chair of the art history department at the University of California, Riverside. This is his fourth book.

Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? by William Poundstone

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB and asks you to choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

"Perhaps success is a matter not so much of being smarter, but of being less entitled. And tenacity is a big part of creativity. That is the unstated thesis of today's interview by ordeal. As one former Google interviewer said, "The goal is to find out where the candidates run out of ideas."  (ch. 10)

Title: Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?  Trick Questions, Zenlike Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles, and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You Need to Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy.
Author: William Poundstone
Published January 4. 2012; Little, Brown and Co.

Publisher's description: "You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and thrown in a blender. The blades start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do? If you want to work at Google, or any of America's best companies, you need to have an answer to this and other puzzling questions.

ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH TO WORK AT GOOGLE? guides readers through the surprising solutions to dozens of the most challenging interview questions. The book covers the importance of creative thinking, ways to get a leg up on the competition, what your Facebook page says about you, and much more. "

I received this as a complimentary review copy.

In The Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddy Ratner

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? This Monday meme is held by Sheila at Book Journey. Tell us what you are reading or plan to read during the week.

I'm reading and enjoying the ARC of The Fear Artist by Timothy Hallinan, a Poke Rafferty thriller set in Thailand, sent to me by the author and to be released by Soho on July 17, 2012.

Publisher's description: "An accidental collision on a Bangkok sidewalk goes very wrong when the man who ran into Rafferty dies in his arms, but not before saying three words: Helen Eckersley. Cheyenne. Seconds later, the police arrive, denying that the man was shot.

That night, Rafferty is interrogated by Thai secret agents who demand to know what the dead man said, but Rafferty can't remember. When he's finally released, Rafferty arrives home to find that his apartment has been ransacked. In the days that follow, he realizes he's under surveillance. The second time men in uniform show up at his door, he manages to escape the building and begins a new life as a fugitive.

As he learns more about his situation, it becomes apparent that he's been caught on the margins of the war on terror, and that his opponent is a virtuoso artist whose medium is fear."

There is an author who has written a novel based on her experiences in Cambodia during the war,  In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner, published in 2012.  A literary work of poetic, lyrical beauty, this novel is based on the real experiences of the writer as a child living through the time of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the writing, the author's use of poetic words and descriptions to tell this story of survival, loss, and emotion.

The book has received wide recognition and won numerous awards; details are on the author's website: http://www.vaddeyratner.com/banyan/

From the publisher's description:

"For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war in the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. Soon the family’s world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus.

Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labor, Raami clings to the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. Raami fights for her improbable survival. In the Shadow of the Banyan is testament to the transcendent power of narrative and a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience."

Both these books are highly recommended. 

Sunday Salon: Earth Day Today/World Book Night on Monday

Welcome to the Sunday Salon.

Happy Earth Day! The robin I wrote about last week that was trying unsuccessfully to make a nest in a bush with too few branches - my husband got some straw and made a nest for her in the same spot. She examined the ready made nest twice and then flew off, never returning. She has started to build another nest on the other side of the house, this one successfully. I guess it's only the cuckoo bird that will take another's nest for its own.

I'm slowly reading The Scarlet Pepper, a White House Gardener Mystery by Dorothy St. James and enjoying this cozy mystery. I've also started Jane Green's The Patchwork Marriage, (published by Michael Joseph, which is the same book titled Another Piece of My Heart, published by St. Martin's Press), and plan to begin reading Lucky Child soon for a book tour.

Here are some other books on my TBR list:
Hounds Abound (A Pet Rescue Mystery) by Linda O. Johnston
The Dog That Talked to God by Jim Kraus
The Sacred Thread: A True Story of Becoming a Mother and Finding a Family - Half a World Away by Adrienne Arieff
A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
Access: Thirteen Tales by Xu Xi


On Monday, I'll be handing out 20 free copies of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, books courtesy of World Book Night  and will let you know how it went on Tuesday! I hope to find some light or non readers to accept the books for reading. Anyone else volunteering to give out books?

How did this weekend's Read-A-Thon go for those of you who participated?

Book Review: More Like Her by Liza Palmer

"Hey, Frannie." Ryan. Ugh. Ryan. It's as if someone has thrown a bucket of cold water on my face and I'm frozen in the doorway, mascara trailing down my cheeks....

"Hey," I say, my eyes scanning the room. Jill. On the balcony.  (ch. 3)

Title: More Like Her by Liza Palmer
Harper Collins, paperback; April 17, 2012
Genre: contemporary fiction

Comments: I see that lots of readers on Goodreads gave this book four stars and some loved the writing. I felt the book was written in a jerky conversational style, which made me impatient with the book as I prefer much smoother prose. Overall, the plot was interesting, however, - involving a new high school headmistress whom the young teachers begin to idolize but whose personal life gives them a shock later in the book. There is also a love story with the main character, a shy self-effacing speech teacher Francis, moving on after her lover Ryan leaves her for another. I gave this a rating of 3 out of 5.

Book description: In Frances's mind, beautiful, successful, ecstatically married Emma Dunham is the height of female perfection. Frances, recently dumped by her boyfriend, aspires to be just like Emma. So do her close friends and fellow teachers, Lisa and Jill. Yet sometimes the golden dream you wish for turns out to be not what it seems--like Emma's enviable suburban postcard life. And in the shocking aftermath, three devastated friends have to come to terms with their own secrets . . . and somehow learn to move forward after their dream is exposed as a lie. (publisher)

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.