Rose City Reader: 05/01/2024

Thursday, May 30, 2024

Warming Up Julia Child: The Remarkable Figures Who Shaped a Legend by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz -- BOOK BEGINNING

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Warming Up Julia Child: The Remarkable Figures Who Shaped a Legend by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz

Thank you for joining me for Book Beginnings on Fridays. Please share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. You can also share from a book that caught your fancy, even if you are not reading it right now.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Julia Child was a person of great intelligence, drive, and accomplishment, but she did not work and achieve alone. This is a book about friendship and collaboration.

-- from Warming Up Julia Child: The Remarkable Figures Who Shaped a Legend by Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz.

Last week, I finally visited the Smithsonian Museum of US History and saw Julia Child's kitchen. I'm a huge Julia Child fan, so this visit has been high on my list for a long time. It was well worth it. Very cool!

I bought this book at the Smithsonian gift shop and started it immediately, I've read many books by and about Julia Child. This one is a little repetitive -- they all are -- but it focusses on the people who helped Child create and launch Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her tv show, The French Chef. The author draws heavily from archived primary sources, mostly personal correspondence. It makes me feel like I was right there with Child and her team of helpers. I love it.

I'm not so keen on the title, but that doesn't detract from the book. To me, Warming Up Julia Child sounds like she's leftovers. Or was left out in the cold.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

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THE FRIDAY 56

The Friday 56 is a natural tie-in with Book Beginnings. The idea is to share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of your featured book. If you are reading an ebook or audiobook, find your teaser from the 56% mark.

Freda at Freda's Voice started and hosted The Friday 56 for a long, long time. She is taking a break and Anne at My Head is Full of Books has taken on hosting duties in her absence. Please visit Anne's blog and link to your Friday 56 post.

MY FRIDAY 56

-- from Warming Up Julia Child:

After apologizing that she, not Bernard, was writing in thanks, Avis [DeVoto] stated, “I am green with envy at your chance to study French cooking.” With this she opened the conversation that the two would sustain for as long as Avis lived.

This book makes me long for the days of letter writing! The speed and convenience of email has cost us a valuable historic record.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Warming Up Julia Child is behind-the-scenes look at this supporting team, revealing how the savvy of these helpers, collaborators, and supporters contributed to Julia's overwhelming success.

Julia is the central subject, but Helen Horowitz has her share the stage with those who aided her work. She reveals that the most important element in Julia Child’s ultimate success was her unusual capacity for forming fruitful alliances, whether it was Paul Child, Simone Beck, Avis DeVoto, Judith Jones and William Koshland (at Knopf), and Ruth Lockwood (at WGBH). Without the contribution of these six collaborators Julia could never have accomplished what she did.

Filled with vivid correspondence, fascinating characters, and the iconic joie de vivre that makes us come back to Julia again and again, Warming Up Julia Child is essential reading for anyone who adores Julia and her legacy.

Lost & Found: Public Theology in a Secular Age by Michael A. Milton -- BOOK BEGINNING

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY

Lost & Found: Public Theology in a Secular Age by Michael A. Milton

Some argue the case from anecdotal evidence and others from social research.

— from the author's introduction to Lost & Found: Public Theology in the Secular Age by Michael A. Milton (2024, WIPF and Stock Publishers).

The content of Lost & Found: Public Theology in the Secular Age is presented with a primary concern for the glory of God and the good of His creation.

—from the author's Preface.

The Lord instructed Isaiah to cry aloud and spare not: the truth of God applied to the presenting issues in the most public form possible.

— from chapter one, Cry Aloud and Spare Not: The Meaning of Public Theology and the Secular Age.

I gave three teasers from the beginning of this book to try to introduce it properly. Lost & Found is a new nonfiction book aimed theologians — pastors, professors, seminary students, etc. Still, even though the target audience may be professionals, or professionals in training, it is interesting for any Christian looking for a biblical response to social issues.

The book sounds interesting to me, so I am happy to get a review copy. My first step was to look up what "public theology" means because it is not a term I am familiar with. The clearest definition google found for me says public theology is "a critical reflection on faith and its implications for society." Wikipedia has a pretty good article explaining public theology.

Michael A. Milton is a Presbyterian minister, retired US Army Chaplain, professor, and author. Lost & Found also includes contributions from theologians John Frame, George Grant, Peter Lillback, and John Panagiotou.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

MY FRIDAY 56

—from Lost & Found:

Economics and the pursuit of monetary gain have become idols and an end unto themselves. The Church Fathers, earlier, and Calvin, later, taught economics and wealth-building as a means to the end of advancing the Kingdom of God.

Food for thought, for sure!

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

No one doubts we have quickly moved to what Charles Taylor called "a secular age." How do Christian pastors, professors, seminary students, and others respond to the myriad issues now facing the Body of Christ? Following on a biblical and reformed understanding of public theology, Milton along with trusted theologians . . . not only provide biblical responses to the issues of our time but in doing so give the Church a method, a way, to conduct faithful Gospel ministry in an increasingly hostile post-Christian world. A must for classes on ethics, sociology of religion, pastoral theology, and serious-minded Christians seeking insight that they might "Understand of the times."

Thursday, May 23, 2024

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable

MY BOOK BEGINNING

She only waned to get out of town.

-- from A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable.

That's an appropriate Book Beginning for me because I took this book out of town with me. It is about an art appraiser (specializing in antique furniture) sent to Paris to value an apartment full of old furniture and art. The apartment had been locked up for 70 years, owned by someone who didn't live in Paris. When she died, her heir called in the appraisers to prepare the contents for auction. This was a good pick for my trip because I'm in Washington, DC, visiting a lot of museums, and seeing a lot of art.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

THE FRIDAY 56

-- from A Paris Apartment:

Marthe's flat was so thick with museum-quality furnishings one could hardly walk through without stumbling. April's flat was so sparse she wondered if there were enough places to rest both her backside and her computer simultaneously.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

April Vogt, Sotheby's continental furniture specialist, is speechless when a Paris apartment shuttered for seventy years is discovered in the ninth arrondissement. Beneath the cobwebs and stale perfumed air is a goldmine, and not because of the actual gold (or painted ostrich eggs or mounted rhinoceros horns or bronze bathtub). First, there's a portrait by one of the masters of the Belle Epoque, Giovanni Boldini. And then there are letters and journals written by the very woman in the painting, Marthe de Florian. These documents reveal that she was more than a renowned courtesan with enviable decolletage. Suddenly April's quest is no longer about the bureaux plats and Louis-style armchairs that will fetch millions at auction. It's about discovering the story behind this charismatic woman.

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Riders by Jilly Cooper -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Riders by Jilly Cooper

Because he had to get up unusually early on Saturday, Jake Lovell kept waking up throughout the night, racked by terrifying dreams about being late.

-- from Riders by Jilly Cooper. We can all relate to that opening sentence!

I had never heard of Jilly Cooper until I saw this cover on Instagram last week. It is one to catch the eye! I went down a Jilly Cooper rabbit hole and can't believe the fun I've been missing. Her books sound like pure, escapist fun, especially the Rutshire Chronicles series, of which Riders is the first of 11. Riders was first published in 1985, but not with this racy cover from the 2015 reissue.

You can buy Riders on the US amazon site, but it is expensive. I got this brand new copy from Blackwell's Books in England for a very reasonable price, including free delivery to the US. And it got here in about a week.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

THE FRIDAY 56

The hostess was kind, but too distraught about gate crashers to introduce Tory to more than two young men, who both, as usual, danced one dance, then led her back and propped her against a pillar like an old umbrella, pretending they were just off to get her a drink or had to dance with their hostess. Thinking about Jake non-stop didn't insulate her from the misery of it all.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

Set against the glorious Cotswold countryside and the playgrounds of the world, Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles . . . offer an intoxicating blend of skulduggery, swooning romance, sexual adventure and hilarious high jinks.

Riders, the first and steamiest in the series, takes the lid off international showjumping, a sport where the brave horses are almost human, but the humans behave like animals.

Thursday, May 9, 2024

The Royal Secret by Lucinda Riley -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

The Royal Secret by Lucinda Riley

"James, darling, what are you doing?"

-- from The Royal Secret by Lucinda Riley. I have not read her books before, but this one looks like a fun adventure involving the Royal Family. Although I admit the opening sentence is a little unsettling for me because my husband's name is James. What's going to happen?

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add the link to your Book Beginnings post in the box below. If you share on social media, please use the #bookbeginnings hashtag.

THE FRIDAY 56

The next was a large, creased brown envelope, addressed in spidery writing so indecipherable she was amazed it had even reached her. She tore it open and took out its contents.

That's a good tease! I can't wait to find out what's in the letter!

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTIONWhen Sir James Harrison, one the greatest actors of his generation, passes away at the age of ninety-five, he leaves behind not just a heartbroken family but also a secret so shocking, it could rock the English establishment to its core.

Joanna Haslam, an up-and-coming reporter, is assigned to cover the legendary actor’s funeral, attended by glitzy celebrities of every background. But Joanna stumbles on something dark beneath the glamour: the mention of a letter James Harrison has left behind—the contents of which many have been desperate to keep concealed for over seventy years. As she peels back the veil of lies that has shrouded the secret, she realizes that she’s close to uncovering something deadly serious—and the royal family may be implicated. Before long, someone is on her tracks, attempting to prevent her from discovering the truth. And they’ll stop at nothing to reach the letter before she does.

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Outsider in Amsterdam by Janwilliams van de Wettering -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS

Outsider In Amsterdam by Janwilliams van de Wettering

The Volkswagen was parked on the wide sidewalk of the Haarlemmer Houttuinen, opposite number 5, and it was parked the way it shouldn't be parked.

-- from Outsider in Amsterdam by Janwilliams van de Wettering. I love Soho Press's "Soho Crimes" imprint because they specialize in mystery series set in different countries. I also love the candy colored spines. Whenever I find any at library friends shops or the like, I snap them up, especially if, like this one, they are the first book in a series. My dream is to one day read all the Soho Crime books I collected, straight through.

This book is the first in the Grijpstra & DeGier series, also known as the Amsterdam Cops series, probably because no one can spell or pronounce Grijpstra.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

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THE FRIDAY 56

-- from Outsider in Amsterdam:

The accountant sucked pensively on his cigar and began to cough. He looked ferocious and the saggy cigar stub was killed with savage power.

FROM THE PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION

On a quiet street in downtown Amsterdam, the founder of a new religious society/commune—a group that calls itself “Hindist” and mixes elements of various “Eastern” traditions—is found hanging from a ceiling beam. Detective-Adjutant Gripstra and Sergeant de Gier of the Amsterdam police are sent to investigate what looks like a simple suicide, but they are immediately suspicious of the circumstances.

This now-classic novel, first published in 1975, introduces Janwillem van de Wetering’s lovable Amsterdam cop duo of portly, worldly-wise Gripstra and handsome, contemplative de Gier.

I have no idea why the names are spelled differently in the description than they are on the cover of the book! Other than they are spelled in a more difficult way on the cover. Perhaps the publisher simplified them in a later edition.

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