What's in a Name 5: Sign Up

Welcome to the fifth What's in a Name challenge This challenge was originated by a young blogger named Annie, who hosted it for two years. When she decided to give up on being the host, I took over the challenge.

I credit this challenge with being one of the prime reasons for my becoming a blogger, so I am thrilled to be its new host.

Here's How It Works

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
2. A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
   
4. A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
   
5. A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
6. A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking
   

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.

Other Things to Know

• Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
• Books may overlap other challenges.
• Books may not overlap categories; you need a different book for each category.
• Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed but encouraged.
  
• You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
• You do not have to read through the categories in any particular order.

On January 1, I'll publish 7 posts, each with a Mr. Linky (one for each category and one for your wrap-up post), on this blog so you'll have a place post links to your reviews (bloggers) or leave comments (non-bloggers) as you finish up each category. You'll be able to find these posts during the year by clicking on the button in the sidebar. (I'll create those links on January 1.)

Tip: If you're ever struggling to find a title to match a category, check out what other people have read so you can get ideas or be inspired. And remember to be creative.

To join in, sign up with Mr. Linky below. If you aren't a blogger, just add a comment. If Mr. Linky ever disappears, either try again later or click on Email Icon in the side bar and send me your information, and I'll add the link myself.

To use Mr. Linky: put your name or your blog's name in the top box and the URL (web address) of your blog in the bottom box. If you don't have a blog, use your tumblr account, your Facebook page or simply mention your intent to join the challenge in the comments.

Thanks to @DogEaredCopy, @marny_h96, @Zetablue, and @SuziQoregon for suggestions for, inspiration for, and confirmation of this year's categories. Feel free to suggest ideas for 2013 in the comments.

It's never too late to join!

I hope you like the categories! Have fun and good luck.

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Weekend Cooking: Molto Batali by Mario Batali

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

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Whenever I pick up a celebrity chef cookbook, I'm always worried that the techniques will be fussy, the ingredients hard to find, and the equipment too expensive. Mario Batali's Molto Batali is thus a breath of fresh air; it suffers from none of these flaws. The cookbook is truly for the home kitchen.

Printed on heavy, glossy paper and filled with stunning photos of almost every dish, Molto Batali is a book you'll turn to again and again throughout the year. In a very brief introduction, Batali explains that this book emphasizes seasonal cooking and features vegetables and grains. Meat plays second fiddle here, making this a versatile resource for both vegetarians and omnivores.

The cookbook is divided by months, starting (naturally) in January. Batali's no-nonsense style is refreshing. Nothing cute here, just good solid recipes with basic ingredients and straightforward directions. All but the most rural of readers will be able to find the majority of ingredients easily. A few, like soft-shell crabs, may be difficult in the heart of the country, but home cooks won't be frustrated by unavailable items.

A couple of things I love: the varieties of pestos, many of which are not herb based, and the desserts, which are blessedly simple in presentation and not too sweet. I also like the easy to follow directions, and it's fun to spot the occasional nuggets of Batali's personality--for example (from his Brussels sprouts with pecorino and thyme recipe):

4 ounces Pecorino Romano, cut into 1/4-inch cubes as best you can
Carefully add the Brussels sprouts to the pan (they will cause a spattering ruckus) . . .

The back of the book contains a glossary of ingredients, a list of mail-order sources, and a very usable index.

Here are some dishes that call to me:

• Rabe, Potato, and Ricotta Ravioli
• Semolina and Lemon Torta
• Wilted Arugula with Pine Nuts and Lemon
• Cellentani with Kale and Sausage
• Warm Polenta with Spinach and Robiola

The other thing I love is that my dishes look pretty much exactly like the photos in the book. The other night, I made a small leg of lamb roast inspired by a recipe in the cookbook; I served it with Batali's turnip recipe, which I followed almost exactly (I threw in a couple of parsnips I wanted to use up). To the left is a photo of my dishes and the photos above and below are scanned from the book (click to enlarge). Not too bad, eh? By the way, if you don't like turnips, try this pesto on potatoes, pasta, or toasted peasant bread.

Turnips in Green Olive Pesto
Serves 8 to 10 as a side dish

• 2 tablespoons salt
• 3 pounds of turnips, peeled and cut into 8 wedges each
• 1 cup pitted large or jumbo green olives, such as Acolana or Cerignola
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh marjoram leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a soup pot, and add the salt. Drop the turnip pieces into the water and cook until tender but al dente, about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the olives, onions, pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor, and blend for 1 minute. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until it forms a thick, smooth paste.

When the turnips are done, drain them well in a colander and immediately toss them into a mixing bowl. Add the olive pesto, marjoram, parsley, and lots of black pepper, and mix gently. Allow the turnips to cook, and serve at room temperature.

Beth Fish Reads is proud to showcase Ecco books as a featured imprint on this blog. For more information about Ecco, please read the introductory note from Vice President / Associate Publisher Rebecca Bressler, posted here on July 15, 2011. Find your next great read by clicking on Ecco in the scroll-down topics/labels list in my sidebar and by visiting Ecco books on Facebook and following them on Twitter.

Molto Batali at an Indie

Molto Batali at Powell's

Molto Batali at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Published by HarperCollins / Ecco, October 2011
ISBN-13: 9780062095565
Source: Review (see review policy)
Rating: A
Copyright © cbl for Beth Fish Reads, all rights reserved (see review policy)

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Imprint Friday: Fante: A Memoir by Dan Fante

Welcome to Imprint Friday and today's featured imprint: Harper Perennial. Stop by each week to be introduced to a must-read title from one of my favorite imprints. I know you'll be adding many of these books to your wish list.

On Tuesday, I gave you hint of what to expect from Dan Fante's memoir Fante. If you read the teaser quote I shared there, then you already know that Dan didn't grow up basking in the easy life as the son of Hollywood screenwriter and novelist. Dan traces his family's love of drink and fisticuffs from eighteenth-century Italy to twenty-first-century California.

Here's the summary:

No two lives could have been more different, yet similar in a few essential ways than John and Dan Fante′s. As father and son, John and Dan Fante were prone to fights, resentment and extended periods of silence. As men, they were damaged by alcoholism. As writers, they were compelled by anger, rage and unstoppable passion.

In Fante, Dan Fante traces his family′s history from the hillsides of Italy to the immigrant neighborhoods of Colorado to Los Angeles. There, John Fante struggles to gain the literary recognition he so badly craves, and despite the publication of his best known work, Ask the Dust, he turns to the steady paycheck of Hollywood, working as a screenwriter to support his family. We follow Dan through a troubled childhood to his discovery of life′s vices through work as a carnival barker and later as he hitchhikes to New York City, where he drives a taxi for twelve years. While John Fante′s rage over his perceived failures as a writer and his struggle with debilitating diabetes make him more and more miserable, Dan struggles with alcoholic blackouts, suicidal thoughts and what he deems a broken mind.

John was a writer whose literary contributions were not recognised until the end of his life. Dan was an alcoholic saved by writing, who at the age of 45 picked up his father′s old typewriter in order to ease the madness in his mind. Fante is the story of the evolution of a relationship between father and son who eventually found their way back to loving each other. In straightforward unapologetic prose, Dan Fante lays bare his family′s story from his point of view, with the rage and passion of a writer, which he feels was his true inheritance and his father′s greatest gift.

Yes, that's a long summary, and yes, it tells you the basics of the Fante family story. What it doesn't tell you is how complicated, sad, and difficult life can be when you fail "to dodge the family bullets of booze, gambling, and depression." From his first drunk at age four until his last drunk in early middle age, Dan fought the external demons of his father and older brother and the internal demons of self-loathing, anger, fear, and suicide.

Although this is not what I would call an inspirational memoir, the fact that Dan has survived to publish his own novels and poetry and write the story of his life is surprisingly moving. I say surprising because I didn't quite realize how much I cared about Dan's journey to sobriety and inner peace until the last few pages. My tears were of relief, of admiration, of hope, and of thankfulness for someone I've never met and a person who spent most of his life being someone I'm not sure I would have wanted to know. Real life is a tricky thing, and Dan's has been trickier than most.

In addition to his own story, Dan introduces us to the turbulent life of his father, John, and some of the many famous authors with whom John drank and gambled. Dan reveals the darker sides of the likes of William Saroyan, Darryl Zanuck, and William Faulkner, but not in tabloid fashion. All such tales are a means to help us see the reality of life with the Fante men.

Ultimately, Dan Fante's memoir is not so much about drinking, gambling, and fighting but a story of how love and forgiveness can help repair relationships and families, even "after a rocky thirty-year start." And, as the summary mentions, how writing can save lives.

The reason I write is not to change you but to let you know that you can change. I write about living and dying and falling love and throwing it all away--then surviving it. I write about madness and death. I write for the survival of my heart. I am swallowed by, and in love with, the miracle of the human condition. My heroes are real people struggling to find their place on a planet. A planet where fitting in has become a disease as powerful as cancer. (pp. 380-381)

Here are two other opinions (click the links to read the full reviews):

• Publishers Weekly: "[Fante's] anecdotal, spare narrative is full of fine, pointed writing and searing memories."
• The Los Angeles Times: "The book is frank and funny. Dan does not lionize or demonize his father, nor does he indulge in the self-pitying or self-gratifying aspects of memoir. It's an achievement in tone and delightful to read."

For some insight into Dan Fante, don't miss his playlist on Largehearted Boy's blog, you may be surprised by some the choices. For more on Dan's other work, visit his website. The P.S. section of the Harper Perennial edition of Fante: A Memoir includes a couple of John Fante's letters and some of Dan Fante's poems.

Harper Perennial is a featured imprint on Beth Fish Reads. For information about the imprint, please read Erica Barmash's welcome note posted here on June 18, 2010. I encourage you to add your reviews of Harper Perennial books to the review link-up page; it's a great way to discover Good Books for Cool People. And don't miss the The Olive Reader, the Harper Perennial blog.

Fante at an Indie

Fante at Powell's

Fante at Book Depository
These links lead to affiliate programs.

Published by Harper Perennial, 2011
ISBN-13: 9780062027092

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Book Blogging Community: Something for Everyone

Every year around now, I like to take the time to let you know of all the great book blogging events you can look forward to during the holiday season. Here's what's coming up:

First I'd like to remind you that there's still time to nominate your favorite reads for the Indie Lit Awards. Visit the website and let us know which books deserve special recognition in the following categories: biography/memoir, GLBTQ, fiction, mystery, nonfiction, poetry, and speculative fiction. Don't be shy. Here's a chance to make sure a fantastic book or author gets some deserved recognition.


For the second year, Chronicle Books is hosting its Happy Haulidays giveaway. One blogger has the chance to win $500 worth of books plus one of that blogger's readers can win the same books plus the blogger's favorite charity can also win the books. So three winners, including a charitable donation. A pretty neat way to celebrate the season. You have until December 2 to enter; see the website for the rules.

You have until tomorrow to sign up for the Book Bloggers' Holiday Swap. This is loads of fun and an annual tradition. You can chose to swap with someone in a country other than your own or opt to stay domestic. It's a great way to make a new friend and get an exciting holiday package at the same time. Don't miss out. Visit the website and fill out the Goggle form.


Another fun event is the Book Bloggers' Holiday Card Exchange. This is an inexpensive way to share holiday cheer with book bloggers from around the world. You can offer to send to and receive cards from up to five bloggers. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Sign up by November 30; see the website for more details.

Don't forget to start haunting the Novel Challenge site for all the fabulous reading challenges coming up in 2012. I swear there are several new and creative challenges every single day. If you look, you'll find something just right for you. Don't forget to check out the perpetual challenges too. If you're relatively new to blogging, let me clue you in: reading challenges are a great way to get to know other bloggers, to stretch your reading, and to have some good fun.

Finally: come back next week when I announce the categories for the What's in a Name Challenge 5. I've been working hard on the WIAN5 categories, and I think you're going to love them. I can't wait to share. If you haven't yet finished up the 2011 challenge, no worries--you still have a few weeks until the end of the year.

Note too that there will be a 2011 Virtual Advent Tour, which will be officially announced any day now. This is a tradition that is much loved by book bloggers. Anyone can participate--it's nondenominational and you can make your post religious or not. It's all about celebrating the holiday season, winter, and your family traditions. Spread the feeling of goodwill with the book blogging community. For more information, check out last year's site.

Are you participating in all of these activities or only a few? Which is your favorite? If I missed any other events, be sure to let me know in the comments.

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Wordless Wednesday 155

Ghost in the Window, Greenwich Village 2011

For the full effect, click to enlarge; for more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

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