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• Title: The Empress of Weehawken
• Author: Irene Dische
• Publisher: Picador
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Pages: 307

This novel is written in the style of a memoir, but the narrator is the author’s grandmother, Elisabeth Rother. Before the story begins, the author’s note reads: “Certain events and characters in this novel were inspired by real people and events. But the actual events, characters, and dialogue depicted are fictional.” The story spans the majority of the narrator’s life, including many details about her granddaughter, Irene Dische, which may or may not be true.

Right from the first sentence, I was hooked. Within Part One (out of five), I found the narrator’s cynicism and complexity of her character endearing. I knew I would enjoy the novel from that point, and I was right. It begins by explaining that the story really is about Irene, the granddaughter: “the hows and whys of her, a kind of True Confession I have decided to write for her since she has just reached a spot that is as lonely as a vacuum” (p. 5). Despite her goal, the story is really about the narrator, and what she did and why she did it. She is flawed by her own ignorance and manipulative personality, yet she is easily lovable in her own way.

The narrator often explains that the men in her life are weak, and that the women are the real backbone of the family. Evidence to that statement is presented time and time again, and it becomes apparent that the narrator, her daughter Renate, and her granddaughter Irene are the strongest people in the family.

I enjoyed Dische’s narration through her grandmother. The story took on a conversational tone, referring briefly to episodes that would happen eventually, and then explaining, “I’ll get to that later.”

The author succeeded wonderfully with her character development, plot, and tone. This was really one of the best novels I have read in a while. (5/5)

Thank you, LibraryThing Early Reviewers and Picador, for this free copy of The Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische!

• Title: Alice Waters and Chez Panisse: The Romanic, Impractical, Often Eccentric, Ultimately Brilliant Making of a Food Revolution
• Author: Thomas McNamee
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Pages: 351

I don’t remember what exactly drew me to this book, other than the cover and the title, but I was drawn to it one day when we were in the bookstore looking for the Bouchon and French Laundry cookbooks. I didn’t get it then, but when I saw it at the ALA Annual Expo in Anaheim for $5 (2 for $10, actually), I had no other option. I had to get it.

Truth be told, I never heard of Alice Waters or Chez Panisse before reading this book. Before this summer, I was pretty ignorant of the foodie scene. I always enjoyed eating, and I sometimes enjoyed cooking, but I was pretty uninformed. Then I was given a copy of Phoebe Damrosch’s Service Included less than a week before our reservations at the famous Per Se in New York City in May. I hadn’t even known much about that restaurant or its proprietor, Chef Thomas Keller, before reading Damrosch’s book. I finished that book in a couple of days, just in time for it to intensify my dining experience at Per Se. And it really did!

I had an image of what to expect at the restaurant thanks to Damrosch. What may have otherwise been completely overwhelming and intimidating became an immensely pleasurable journey through food. I hadn’t known much before, but my eyes were now opened. I wanted more.

Luckily, shortly after that experience, I spent four weeks in California. (Food tastes very different in California.) (more…)

• Title: Be Good
• Author: Stacey May Fowles
• Publisher: Tightrope Books
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Pages: 183

Be Good is a tale told in turn by several characters: Morgan, Hannah, Estella, Finn, Jacob, and Mr. Templeton. A web of lies is spun and the reader has a hard time deciphering the truth. At the end, it is plain to see that the truth doesn’t really matter anymore.

This book is the size of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and similar in the way it seems to speak to young adults with a depressing tone throughout and self-effacing denouement. There was no happy ending in either story. Both also reminded me of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. As someone who didn’t enjoy The Catcher in the Rye (when I read it in high school nor when I read it in college just to solidify my opinion), I somehow found myself enjoying Perks when I read it, and I enjoyed Be Good, as well. I think I would have loved both had I read them in high school instead of Catcher.

That kind of story has lost its luster for me now, as someone in her mid-twenties, and I think people my age would come to the same conclusion. This book would be ideal for mature high school students and young college-aged students. I think they would have an easier time relating to this book than I had.

The writing style is not challenging, but it is good at hooking the reader in. The unpretentiousness of the conversational tone the author takes in every chapter is comforting and makes for a very easy, relaxing summer read. (3/5)

Thanks to MiniBookExpo for Bloggers and Tightrope Books for sending me this free signed copy of Be Good!