Peachy Reads

Redmond O’Hanlon seems like a somewhat unlikely candidate for adventurer-- for fifteen years he had the rather sedentary job of book reviewer at the Times Literary Supplement and holds an advanced degree in literature (his doctoral thesis was titled 'Changing scientific concepts of nature in the English novel, 1850-1920'). His journeys into some of the remotest jungle regions on earth (Borneo, the Amazon, the Congo) might be one answer to the question, “What should I do with my English degree?” In Trouble Again is the record of a trip (with a rather spurious research goal) into the upper reaches of the Amazon, the "Again" in the title referring to his first book chronicling a similar (mis)adventure in Borneo. My interest in O'Hanlon's book was sparked after reading Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder . She listed it as one of the sources she consulted while gathering background on the Amazon, and it certainly is a rollicking good read. Redmond and a motley crew...

My daughter is reading The Catcher in the Rye in 10th grade English this year, so I thought I’d pick it up again— the years have dulled my memory, and I wanted to revisit this classic, a book which some have labeled the first ever Young Adult novel. Published in 1951, the troubled adolescent voice of Holden Caulfield still rings true all these years later. Sure, the teenage vernacular has changed and changed again in the intervening years, but Holden still has a resoundingly authentic voice that surely must be one of the secrets to the novel’s seemingly eternal relevance and longevity. In spite of his impatience and immaturity, it’s Holden’s interactions with people—Ackley, Spencer, the nuns at the lunch counter, old Sally, even Mr. Antolini, that lend his character further depth and humanity. But it is his relationship with his little sister Phoebe that is so real and so touching that I don’t think the novel would have been nearly so powerful without her. The image of her dragging a ...

This novel comes from the 2005 Orange Prize winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin , a disturbing book in which a parent with ambivalent feelings towards motherhood deals with the aftermath of a Columbine-style school killing perpetrated by her son. Lionel Shriver has said that she prefers to create characters that are hard to love, and So Much for That certainly contains some flinty characters, who although they may be hard to love, are nevertheless very believable. The topic this time is healthcare in America. Shep is all ready to launch into an exotic early retirement on the island of Pemba off the eastern coast of Africa, but when his wife reveals a diagnosis of mesothelioma, he must hold on to his job to maintain family health coverage to see her through her devastating illness. His work colleague and friend, Jackson, experiences a medical dilemma completely of his own doing, which proves to be his un doing. Jackson's daughter suffers from an unusual genetic disorde...

The snail is a lowly creature, and probably one that most of us have never truly contemplated. The snail was probably a creature to which the author hadn't given much thought before a debilitating disease kept her confined to bed, practically immobile, for months and months. One day a friend put a woodland snail in a pot of violets on her nightstand. After being transported from the woods, the snail had emerged from its shell into the alien territory of my room, with no clue as to where it was or how it had arrived; the lack of vegetation and the desertlike surroundings must have seemed strange. The snail and I were both living in altered landscapes not of our choosing; I figured we shared a sense of loss and displacement. p 20 The companionship of this tiny creature is what sees her through the darkest days of her imprisonment by her horrible disease. The snail, thriving in its slow-mo existence and life of undemanding simplicity, provides interest and comfort to the author. ...

It probably goes without saying that handling books in a public library can introduce you to titles you might not otherwise come across. I tend to notice the cookbooks, especially those with mouthwatering photos of the finished recipes. Maybe it’s in the middle of the afternoon when my stomach starts to growl in anticipation of dinner when cookbooks look the most tempting. Anyway, here are a few that I’ve borrowed from the library (and then purchased when they passed the first kitchen test). Noodles Every Day: Delicious Recipes from Ramen to Rice Sticks / Corinne Trang It’s not just the Italians who can do tasty noodle dishes. In fact, there is some speculation that Marco Polo brought pasta to the Venetian Republic after one of his forays to Asia. And Asian influences form the focus of this cookbook— Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian. If you want to go beyond instant ramen with its foil flavor pack, then see if these recipes make your mouth water-- somen noodles with shrimp and...

When this book came out nearly ten years ago, it caught my eye. It's one of those books I would have read sooner if I had infinite free time, or perhaps more self-discipline (I probably could have skipped seasons 3, 4, and 5 of "Hell’s Kitchen," for example). After our brief trip to Acadia National Park this summer (and several meals of lobster quite literally “under our belts”) I decided to read this book to extend my vacation mentality. Back in Atlanta, a good five hours' drive from the salty ocean, and with temps reaching near 100 in early August, it was nice to escape with this book to the small wooded island surrounded by water that’s 55 degrees even in late summer, an island that still supports a fishing community, mostly of lobster fishermen. I’ ve been fantasizing what it might be like living in Maine year round, having unlimited access to lobster and wild blueberries, that rugged coastline with crashing waves, a profusion of wildflowers and birch forests. T...

When a Minnesota pharmacological researcher and father of three dies under somewhat mysterious circumstances at the company's research station deep in the Amazon, his colleague Dr. Marina Singh has her arm twisted by her boss (and lover) to travel to Brazil to check things out. Her journey there and her efforts to gain access to the almost-secret research compound run by the dictatorial and driven Dr. Annick Swenson prove challenging, to say the least. Eventually her efforts and patience pay off and she is allowed to enter the hidden world of the Lakashi tribe, a sort of Shangri-la where women are fertile their entire lives due to an interesting environmental phenomenon (hence the interest of the researchers). The writing is wonderful and there are some fascinating characters (with a special nod to Werner Herzog's character Fitzcarraldo who may share more with Annick Swenson than just a passion for opera), but I thought the almost sci-fi botanical curiosity that was the focus o...