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Books
Pages and pages of ideas for holiday giving
 Literature
On a recent jaunt through the bookstore, we came across one
of those Best American Writing collections that come out each
year. We’re not going to tell you which one, exactly; we’re
not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. We’ll just say that
this one was edited by a popular young writer whose Heartbreaking
Genius You Will Know by His Staggering Velocity. In addition
to short stories and essays by authors like Haruki Murakami,
Cat Bohannon, Kurt Vonnegut and George Saunders, the book
included sections such as “Best American Fake Headline,” “Best
Excerpt from a Military Blog” and “Best American Daily Show
Exchange on the Anniversary of Watergate”—the last being,
yup, a transcript of a gag between Jon Stewart and Stephen
Colbert that aired on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
Look,
Eggers (oops): We all have the Internet. Our inboxes are thick
with links to this stuff. Metafilter and YouTube and the online
version of The Onion keep us entertained all through the workday.
But does this kind of thing really deserve a special space
on the bookshelf? Is it reactionary of us to think our literature
doesn’t need to come candied up with tasty bite-sized distractions?
Yeah, OK. Probably. But it’s our Gift Guide, dammit, and we’re
prescribing a different tack altogether. So, just to set the
tone, we’ll first recommend The 1001 Books You Must Read Before
You Die (Universe, $34.95). Note: Not books we think you’ll
get a kick out of. Not most-forwarded book titles. Books you
must, MUST, read before you die. More than four centuries
worth of literature as selected by a gaggle of literary critics
and renowned academics, accompanied by author photographs,
reproductions of period dust covers, and other relevant art.
The book spans pre-1700 writers to the 2000s—Aphra Behn to
Zadie Smith, Lucius Apuleius to Chuck Palahniuk—and though
it’s a little Western-centric, especially in the early cenuries,
its stylistic breadth is commendable and provocative. The
dedicated bibliovore on your gift list will have hours of
fun just second-guessing the choices. (American Psycho? Really?)
To keep the bar high, the next recommendation is one of a
sort that folks like to sneer is more frequently purchased
than read. It’s one of those brain-clotting challenges of
a book that appear every so often and seem to have a 40-percent
chance of having been written by Thomas Pynchon: It’s Against
the Day, the new one by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press, $35).
At 1,120 pages, this is a commitment—one critic pointed out
that the book weighs only 3 ounces less than his toaster—but
for a book that runs from the Chicago World’s Fair to the
Balkans, includes travel by “hydrogen skyship” as well as
through time, and features as characters anarchists, shamans,
adventuresses, corporate tycoons and a survivor of an explosion
at the Regional Mayonnaise Works in West Flanders, that page
count seems fair. Just don’t give this one to anyone whose
attention you might need in the next six months.
If you’re concerned about your giftee’s back and would prefer
a book that weighs less than a kitchen appliance, Karen Russell’s
St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised By Wolves ($22, Knopf) won’t
herniate anyone. But the book should come with a warning,
nonetheless: These beautifully realized, fantastic tales—detailing
the secret lives and passions of gator-wrestling teenagers,
the workings of an overnight camp for troubled sleepers (narcoleptics,
sleep apneics, somnambulists), and the difficult process of
reeducating girls raised by wolves—may trigger severe envy
responses in aspiring writers. There’s something about a 25-year-old
writing stories moving and odd enough to earn the praise of
Ben Marcus, who calls Russell a “miracle,” and Gary Shteyngart,
who says, “Hallelujah!” . . . You know, I don’t want to talk
about this anymore. Next.
Speaking of Shteyngart, the author of The Russian Debutante’s
Handbook has a new one out: Absurdistan ($24.95, Random House).
It’s the story of Misha Vainberg, an obese, 30-year-old, hip-hop-loving
Russian (in fact, the 1,238th richest man in Russia) who is
desperately trying to circumvent a visa ban that prohibits
him from traveling to America. Vainberg attended college in
the States, where he fell in love with its pop culture and
a South Bronx hottie to whose urban charms he longs to return.
His attempts to finesse and “fix” the system lead him to the
titular country, a new, riotously dangerous and corrupt nation
somewhere between Iran and Russia. Imagine a Eastern European
version of Catch-22 starring Ignatius J. Reilly and you’re
somewhere in the right neighborhood.
Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die ($14.95, Dalkey Archive Press)
by Mark Binelli reimagines the famed anarchists executed in
1927 as a vaudeville-and-movie comedy team. It’s a surprisingly
touching, very funny alternate history that subtly questions
the ways in which both public and private identities are constructed.
Binelli incorporates real and fabricated film scholarship
into his work, which gives it a playful satirical bite; but
he keeps the book warm with a pronounced sensitivity and gentle,
humane grief for his characters.
David Maine is also known for his reconstructions of familiar
characters. His previous works The Preservationist and The
Fallen gave first-person accounts of Noah and his family,
and Adam and Eve and theirs, respectively. He continues his
biblical explorations with The Book of Samson ($23.95, St.
Martin’s), in which the doomed strongman is presented as a
blustery and brawling ladies’ man. Maine manages to enliven
these hoary stories, making them seem fresh and current without
shorting their symbolic freight. His writing is vital and
ambitious without being condescending or merely irreverent.
Our recommendations thus far have gone from the encyclopedic
to the biblical; we think you get the point. So, now, we’re
going to lighten up and give you something shiny: Only Revolution
by Mark Z. Danielewski ($26, Pantheon) has been called a “video
game” of a novel. The author of the cult hit The House of
Leaves has produced a follow-up to that popular pomo pastiche
every bit as quirky. Only Revolution presents the monologues
of two 16-year-olds, Sam and Hailey, each detailing the same
shared road trip. The trick is one monologue begins at one
end of the book, the other at the other, upside-down. Each
story is given 180 words per page, though font size changes
such that it is only at the middle of the book that each story
takes up an equal amount of page. To read both stories you
must turn (or revolve, get it?) the book. Stylistically, Danielewski—the
son of an experimental film maker—has been compared to all
the major literary pranksters from Sterne to Joyce to Beckett
to Borges. Graphically and textually, his lushly produced
books may have you thinking of Nick Bantock.
The gee-whiz flashiness of the whole affair may even have
you thinking that the book is as indebted to that “series
of tubes” known as the World Wide Internets as it is to any
of the high modernist auteurs; but, unless you want to be
sent to your room to read some more Aphra Behn, we’d suggest
you keep that observation to yourself.
—John
Rodat
Music
Books
The two finest music biographies of the season are Johnny
Cash by Michael Streissguth (DaCapo) and Piano by James Barron
(Times Books). With access to archives and to family members,
the former is thoroughly researched and deeply moving, carrying
itself with the same dignity as the man himself. The latter
explores the creation of one Steinway grand piano, with each
step along the way introducing the people involved and the
history of the company itself.
The Blue Moon Boys by Ken Burke and Dan Griffin (Chicago Review
Press) offers the story of Elvis Presley’s band. What ultimately
reflects the reality of the lives of Scott Moore, Bill Black
and D.J. Fontana is that considerably more than half of the
book follows the bulk of their lives after their few short
years with Presley. Black died in 1965, while the other two
have struggled through ups and downs in their careers and
health.
Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About
It (Putnam) is David Crosby’s sequel to his 1988 autobiography,
Long Time Gone. Drugs, political rants, insemination, and
even music—it’s all in there! Hallo Spaceboy: The Rebirth
of David Bowie by Dave Thompson (ECW Press) is the author’s
follow-up to 1987’s Moonage Daydream, wherein he follows Bowie’s
second ascendancy from his stalled career in the late ’80s.
Straddling jazz, blues and rock, John Hammond’s career found
him signing such pivotal talents as Holiday, Basie, Dylan
and Springsteen to Columbia Records. His life is chronicled
in The Producer by Dunstan Prial (Farrar, Straus, Giroux).
In the world of loud, there’s Let There Be Rock: The Story
of AC/DC (Omnibus) by Susan Masino, who’s been covering the
band for nearly 30 years. Martin Popoff’s Black Sabbath: Doom
Let Loose (ECW Press) not only follows the entirety of their
history but is loaded with photos and all manner of ephemera,
including a full page of custom guitar picks! Lonn Friend
edited the hard-rock magazine RIP, befriending Metallica,
Guns N’ Roses, and many others along the way. His exploits
and travels are now laid out entertainingly in Life on Planet
Rock (Morgan Road).
Billed as “A Compendium of Thoughts On the Icon of an Era,”
John Lydon: Stories of Johnny (Chrome Dreams) anthologizes
a range of critical writings on the erstwhile Johnny Rotten.
There are pieces by Greil Marcus, Legs McNeil, Clinton Heylin,
and many others, presented chronologically and covering the
Sex Pistols, PiL, and the entirety of his three decades of
endeavors in the public eye.
Just a few short years after the publication of Kurt Cobain’s
diaries, here are his widow’s. Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of
Courtney Love (Faber & Faber) is a lavish artifact, full
color throughout, as punkish attitude meets glossy hardcover
artifacts. The cover itself is a marvel, as the brash immediacy
of Scotch tape is rendered in printer’s varnish.
In Tougher Than the Rest: 100 Best Bruce Springsteen Songs
(Omnibus), June Skinner Sawyers makes a case for what she
considers the finest, combining historical information for
a book that offers one articulate fan’s journey through the
entirety of his recorded output. Barney Hoskyns’ 1993 book
on the Band, Across the Great Divide (Hal Leonard), has been
updated with a few new entries, including a 1998 article on
Levon Helm, an obituary of Rick Danko and an interview with
Robbie Robertson, who still comes off as the self-serving
careerist who, while penning the bulk of their songs, also
was the reason for the ensemble’s demise. Laurel Canyon by
Michael Walker (Farrar, Straus, Giroux) documents the legendary
Los Angeles neighborhood where music flourished as musicians
including Joni Mitchell, John Mayall, and Frank Zappa took
up residence in the ’60s.
There are worthy new titles by musicians who also embrace
other forms of expression. Nashville Radio by Jon Langford
(Verse Chorus Press) offers paintings, writings, and a CD
of newly recorded music by the founder of the Mekons. His
visual art mirrors his music, melding musical portraits with
mythology and various effluvia from 19th- and 20th-century
history and culture. South of the Pumphouse (Akashic) is the
first novel by bass player Les Claypool, leader of the band
Primus. It combines fishing, drugs and murder, owing its style
in part to Quentin Tarantino’s films and Hunter Thompson’s
hallucinogenic writings. Titled Artificial Light (Akashic),
James Greer’s novel is set in the alternative-rock scene of
the previous decade. Drawing from a world he knows well, Greer
has both written about and been a member of the band Guided
by Voices
Jake Austen’s TV a-Go-Go (Chicago Review Press) is a blast.
It’s a history of rock on television, from American Bandstand
to American Idol.
A couple of new reference books offer overviews of two genres.
American Big Bands (Hal Leonard) by William F. Lee is divided
by decades (with 1970-99 all being in one chapter, pretty
clearly delineating the changing eras and economics). It covers
everyone from the familiar groundbreakers to such lightweights
as Mitch Miller. American Singing Groups by Jay Warner (Hal
Leonard) covers the whole of modern pop era, from 1940 to
the present day, from doo-wop to Motown, CSN to ‘NSync.
Memoirs from a pair of music writers each offer their own
rewards. Karen Schoemer’s Great Pretender (Free Press, 248
pages, $25) is an exploration into her affection for 50s pop
music, and its parallel inquiry into her relationship with
her parents and the nature and power of cultural touchstones.
But I Like It by Joe Sacco (Fantagraphics) chronicles this
justifiably lauded comic artist’s life as a fan of live music,
including a stint as roadie for the Miracle Workers (and a
CD of them live in Germany is included in the book).
On the large-scale photo book front there’s Somewhere There’s
Music (Damiani). This is an utterly riveting tour through
the photos of Larry Fink. From the Heath Brothers to Leroy
Jenkins, Lightning Hopkins to Bob Dorough, his ability to
capture these moments can only be the result of truly loving
music. Glam! by Mick Rock (Omnibus) is an eyewitness account
as documented by this British photographer. Besides live and
studio shots the expected players of the era, there are other
performers who don’t really fall under the glam heading, such
as Roy Wood (with his face painted, of course), Blondie and
the emerging late-’70s scenes. High points include a shot
of Truman Capote with Andy Warhol, with the latter dressed
as Santa Claus. Every Day Is Saturday (Chronicle) offers the
photography of Peter Ellenby, as he catches bands such as
American Music Club and Flaming Lips playing live in fan-filled
venues.
Beasts and Priests collects a range of portraits drawn by
comic artists Jim Blanchard (Fantagraphics), a range of celebrities
and other notables, including, on the musical front, Duke
Ellington, Shane MacGowan, Lemmy Kilmister, Robert Wyatt,
and Ennio Morricone (among others). Vintage Rock T-Shirts
by Johan Kugelberg (Universe) looks at the brightly colored,
logo-festooned marriage of music and fashion. A visual history
is here laid out with examples that are sometimes dazzlingly
perfect in design, other times boldly iconic and brash. Sex,
Rock & Optical Illusions is a feast of the work of Victor
Moscoso (Fantagraphics). San Francisco posters from the ’60s,
comics, and a life in visual art that continues to this day.
There are new anthologies of by a pair of important and contrasting
jazz writers. The Andre Hodier Jazz Reader (University of
Michigan Press) finds the classically trained Frenchman bearing
witness to the emergence of bebop and everything that followed.
Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz by Stanley Crouch (Basic
Books) is contentious, passionate and deeply thoughtful, all
the while being as stylish in its prose as the music he loves.
Jazz Consciousness by Paul Austerlitz (Wesleyan University
Press) looks at the impact of jazz globally. Subtitled “Music,
Race, and Humanity,” the book challenges prevailing trends
in cultural studies of the art form, which tend to divide
along racial lines, asserting the transcendent powers of the
music.
On the quieter side, Darker Than the Deepest Sea: The Search
for Nick Drake by Trevor Dann (DaCapo), finds the short-lived
British singer-songwriter retaining much of his mystery more
than 30 years after his death at age 26. Steel Drivin’ Man
by Scott Reynolds Nelson (Oxford University Press) traces
the enduring legend of John Henry. Known through the familiar
song that’s been associated with W.C. Handy and Tennessee
Ernie Ford and countless hootenannies and campfire singalongs,
the actual man was a young Virginia convict who died in the
1870s while working on the first railroad line through the
Appalachian Mountains. Millennium Folk by Thomas R. Gruning
(University of Georgia Press) explores the ins and outs of
folk music since its heyday in the ’60s.
Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories by David Whiteis (University
of Illinois Press) offers portraits of 11 performers, along
with additional chapters that document the scene itself through
some of its longstanding venues. Living in Chicago, Whiteis
has been writing about the blues musicians there for decades,
and his familiarity with them adds a warm resonance to the
writing.
Let’s not forget about Hanukkah! The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s
(Chicago Review Press) is Steven Lee Beeber’s history of Jewish
punk (Joey Ramone, Lenny Kaye, Chris Stein, etc.). This isn’t
merely a look-who’s-Jewish tour, but an exploration of Jewish
identity in the second half of the 20th century.
Edited by Herb Jordan, Motown in Love (Pantheon) is simple
and straightforward: lyrics to 112 songs from the golden era
of the label. It’s not poetry, but it sure sounds like music
when read aloud!
—David
Greenberger
 Children’s
There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away. Although
never a huge fan of Emily Dickinson, I have to admire her
ability to so perfectly define the experience that reading
gives us. What better gift this or any holiday season than
a book, which of course provides something far beyond the
scope of words typed on a page, delivering hope, excitement,
yearning and best of all, the sense of possibility. Below
are some of this year’s best options for young readers.
The Enchanted Dolls’ House, by Robyn Johnson (Handprint Books).
You know how there all those big tomes about wizardry, pirates,
sorcerers, etc., which feature tabs and pockets and all sorts
of hidden bounty, sure to entice the reader? Well, now there’s
a new addition to the genre, only it’s decidedly girlish and
definitely delightful. The Enchanted Dolls’ House by Robyn
Johnson features pop-up doll houses from a variety of time
periods, along with pages and pages of detailed information
specific to each era about wardrobe, dinnerware, floorplans,
musical instruments, innovations, and so on.
The WandMaker’s Guidebook by Ed Masessa, illustrated by Daniel
Jankowski and designed by Bill Henderson and Daniel Jankowski
(Scholastic). In the spirit of books that include all sorts
of pull-outs and what have yous, there’s The WandMaker’s Guidebook,
an extensive and fascinating journal about magic, the constellations,
and all things powerful in nature. In the course of encouraging
the imaginative reader to use the tools and information therein
to become a successful wandmaker, it imparts valuable lessons
and fascinating history.
The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, compiled and illustrated
by Jackie Morris (Barefoot Books). Think of The Barefoot Book
of Classic Poems for when you want to give a really special
book, something that will transcend this holiday season or
birthday, and grow with the child—or, for that matter, the
entire family. Poems like “The Stolen Child,” “Tartary,” “The
Wild Trees,” by authors as diverse as Kathleen Raine, Edgar
Allan Poe and Lewis Carroll—all, no matter their vintage,
persist in being new. Please, please, read the selections
aloud to get the most out of this exquisite package.
Cranium FunFolio (LB Kids). For those kids who like to doodle,
journal, scribble and otherwise create (especially those who
might be about to embark on a long trip), this is a real winner.
With fun activities like the Cowpoke Poetry Word Maker, the
FunFolio enables kids to draw, design, act, play, laugh and
make their individual mark on each page.
Peter Pan in Scarlet, by Geraldine McCaughrean (McElderry
Books). Peter Pan fans, rejoice! Peter Pan in Scarlet is the
first-ever authorized sequel to J. M. Barrie’s masterpiece.
Set in 1930s London, when the ravages of World War I are still
resonating throughout Europe, this book offers an intriguing,
poignant glimpse into how our favorite manchild fares as times
change and concepts like magic and innocence risk fading into
oblivion.
Pancakes for Supper, by Anne Isaacs and illustrated by local
artist Mark Teague (Scholastic). In this brilliantly illustrated
story, an update on the classic Little Brave Sambo, little
Toby must face the demons of the forest when she is literally
bumped sky-high from her parents wagon. Pancakes has a real
frontier look and feel about it, which will only enhance kids’
interest in Toby’s resourcefulness.
Steven Caney’s Ultimate Building Book, by Steven Caney (Running
Press Kids). What is a structure? What are the right tools
and how do we use them? How can I build with rods and connectors?
What’s the world’s tallest building? And what piece of playground
equipment was inspired by a spider’s web? Steven Caney’s Ultimate
Building Book is the ideal present for the kid who is interested
in design, construction and invention. And not only will your
budding architect learn a lot, he or she will also be inspired
to try the many, many projects that Caney includes.
G Is for One Gzonk! An Alpha-Number-Bet Book By Tiny Diterlooney,
actually by Tony DiTerlizzi (Simon & Schuster). You know
that if a book is inspired by and dedicated to the memories
of Dr. Seuss and Edward Lear, it’d better deliver. No need
to worry, as G Is for One Gzonk is one of the best finds of
the year. Even kids who already know their alphabet will delight
in words like Cootie-Noodle, Neenel-Nonnel, and Queasy Quapp.
There is great originality and, best of all, tremendous humor
on each and every page.
The Night Before Christmas, as told and illustrated by Will
Moses (Philomel Books). Every Christmas season deserves a
retelling of the Clement Moore classic, and in 2006, that
version could well be Will Moses’ folk-art interpretation
of it. Done in the style of his own mother, Grandma Moses,
this book evokes the warmth and wonder of the holiday.
The Fairy Tales, by Jan Piernkowski, translated by David Walser
(Viking). Piernkowski’s exquisite silhouettes and faintly
goth renderings are just one of the reasons The Fairy Tales
should be in somebody’s stocking this Christmas. Four of the
most beloved European fairy tales by Charles Perrault and
the Grimm Brothers are retold in a way that will induce wonder
and enchantment, while making one forget the usual pastel
prettiness of some retellings.
Escape! The Story of the Great Houdini, by Sid Fleischman
(Greenwillow). A fresh, witty biography of the most famous
bamboozler sincer Merlin. Author Fleischman enriches his warm
homage to the magician Harry Houdini with insider information
and unmaskings. And yet, while unearthing the truths behind
the facade, he fuels a sense of excitement, wonder and good
humor. Escape! features many never-before-seen photographs
that further let the reader delve into a time gone by.
The American Story: 100 True Tales From American History,
by Jennifer Armstrong and illustrated by Roger Roth (Knopf).
A real family treasure, The American Story offers lively retellings
of 100 historical tales, including the midnight ride of Paul
Revere, the true story of Typhoid Mary, the development of
the atom bomb, and Billie Jean King’s defeat of Bobby Riggs.
This is a great introduction to the history of our country
that should inspire older kids to investigate other historical
books, fiction or nonfiction.
—Laura
Leon
 Cookbooks
Let’s all give thanks to the Food Network for reminding us
that good cooking resists the enforced theatricality of a
TV experience. You can no more learn to cook well through
television than you could learn to play the flute or ride
a bicycle. TV events are distractions the sole purpose of
which are to hawk products.
Cooking
takes place in real time, not TV time. Work with a book and
you work at the pace that makes sense. Therefore, the joy
of cookbooks will never fade, even if we have to push beyond
the barrage of titles featuring so-called celebrities with
chemically whitened teeth.
And it all starts with the array of ingredients that you’ll
soon transform into something toothsome and nutritious. Don’t
be dismayed by the size of Aliza Green’s Starting With Ingredients
(Running Press); it’s a thousand-page monster with a hundred
chapters, each devoted to a single ingredient (blue crab,
chicken, lentils, limes) or a family (greens for cooking,
game meats and birds) and even one titled X-tras that imparts
helpful info about bread, stock and other basics. Recipes
a-plenty here, but most useful are the overviews and tips
that make up much of the book. It’s my kind of beach reading.
The Bon Appétit Cookbook (John Wiley & Sons) starts out
with tips and techniques, but quickly heads into something
beyond 1,200 recipes over the course of its 800 pages. Longtime
editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild famously described a typical
Bon Appétit recipe as “a sophisticated twist on a beloved
classic, and it’s easy to make.” Although the magazine has
put its imprimatur on many a book during its 50 years, this
is the first all-out effort to collect a broad sampling—a
sampling that also happens to be recent enough to satisfy
the current palate. And it includes a free subscription to
the magazine!
Bon Appétit named Michael Mina chef of the year last year;
he runs an eponymous restaurant in San Francisco and has a
hand in others around the country. Michael Mina: The Cookbook
(Bulfinch) is one of those handsome, outsized volumes that’s
easier to pore over than cook from, but the unusual and fresh
flavor combos he suggests will propel you into the kitchen.
What’s termed a master recipe then branches into three variations
that will leave you with a thorough knowledge of spices.
Michel Richard starts off his boutique collection, Happy in
Kitchen (Artisan), with an all-crust potato gratin, a wafer-thin
variant on the ideal breakfast accompaniment. He goes on to
describe the potato as “the Fred Astaire of vegetables” because
it makes anything it’s paired with “that much better.” I like
his enthusiasm, his easy-to-follow prose and the absurdity
of recipes like “frizzy halibut on eggplant couscous” and
foie gras brûlée. Nice step-by-step instructions, with photos
where needed.
It’s a confluence of identities that wrought an identity all
its own, and Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (Ten-Speed Press)
is Andrea Nguyen’s love letter to her native country, which
she was forced to leave at the age of 6. After taking you
through the essential ingredients and techniques, she offers
“Gifts to the Mouth,” as the chapter on starters is titled—but
it describes the whole of the book. Items like lemongrass
and rice paper, not to mention fish sauce, are readily available.
And there’s even a section on charcuterie that includes a
pork-based “garlicky sandwich meat.”
Nothing seems to give Mexican food a worse reputation than
Mexican restaurants, if you’re thus led to believe it’s all
about tacos and burritos. Doña Tomás is the name of a restaurant
in Oakland, Calif.; it’s also the title of a book (Ten-Speed
Press) by chef-owners Thomas Schnetz and Dona Savitsky, who
will teach you the basics like tortilla making, then take
you into very unusual and worthy variations on Mexican themes
like duck and hominy soup with tomatillos and (an item I recently
prepared) sweet potato and poblano chili enchiladas.
My favorite cookbook of the year is The Soul of a New Cuisine
(John Wiley & Sons), because it chronicles author Marcus
Samuelsson’s journey through the food of his native Africa.
Samuelsson grew up in Sweden and opened the successful Scandinavian
restaurant Aquavit in New York; this book, with its evocative
photos and a couple hundred recipes, collects stories and
cooking techniques from across the continent. Even simple
ingredients like black-eyed peas become meals in themselves
when Samuelsson’s through with them.
Another New York City institution is Magnolia Bakery, as seen
in Sex and the City. Co-founder Allysa Torey now spends most
of her time a little upstate in Sullivan County, and brings
a nice sense of country home to At Home With Magnolia (John
Wiley & Sons), a collection that goes beyond desserts
to a full range of courses. Pasta e fagioli gets a tasty turn
in these pages; yellow split pea soup with smoked ham hock
is all about winter comfort.
When you’ve been publishing recipes for any length of time,
it’s all the easier to collect something impressive, and The
New York Times Dessert Cookbook (St. Martin’s) culls from
a decade of sweet stuff, as edited by “Dining & Wine”
reporter Florence Fabricant. I knew this was a winner when
I spotted the recipe for “official tarte tatin,” which turns
out to be as perfect a version as I think you can get of this
classic dish. And there are 439 more recipes, along with a
frosting of color plates to guide you through the more challenging
confections.
Finish those desserts with a professional touch with Professional
Cake Decorating (John Wiley & Sons) by Toba Garrett. Start
with frosting and piping and then learn to make complicated
flowers and drapery—all edible, all amazing looking. How’s
that for a sweet finish?
—B.A.
Nilsson
 Bush-Screwed-Up-Iraq
Books
It’s dangerous to make any comments about the state of the
war in Iraq these days, mostly because the “state of the war”
seems to get worse by the hour. It isn’t exactly festive holiday
reading, but you could do worse than give someone who may
not have kept up on current events one of these guides to
how George W. Bush led the country down the highway to hell
in Iraq.
Fiasco:
The American Military Adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks
(Penguin). Fiasco is widely considered the gold standard of
Bush-screwed-the-pooch chronicles, because author Ricks is
such a highly respected military reporter for the Washington
Post, and his reporting for this was so extensive. Notoriously
picky New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani praised Fiasco
for giving the reader “a lucid, tough-minded overview” of
the war.
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III, by Bob Woodward (Simon
& Schuster). You knew Bush was finished politically when
Official Washington, in the venerable person of journalist-to-the-mighty
Bob Woodward, judged his prosecution of the war an abject
failure. The style is the same as his earlier books: Lots
of insider detail and long quotes without attribution. (Trust
in Bob.) Woodward’s earlier Bush books praised the boy emperor;
this one buried him.
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation
of Iraq, by Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor (Pantheon).
Cobra II focuses on the successful U.S. invasion of Iraq,
taking care to notice assorted signs of eventual doom along
the way.
The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq, by Christopher
Scheer, Lakshmi Chaudhry and Robert Scheer (Seven Stories
Press). With so many lies to choose from, one wonders how
they narrowed the list to just five? Publishers Weekly praised
this extended argument in book form for its “deft” synthesis
of a wide variety of information.
Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling
of the Iraq War, by Michael Isikoff and David Corn (Crown).
Isikoff and Corn dedicate their efforts to chronicaling the
Bush administration’s political build-up to the war. You know,
the way they “sexed up” the evidence to convince the country—specifically,
Congress—that Iraq had WMDs, and the mushroom clouds over
Washington, D.C. were in the near future. It’s also worth
noting Hubris’ arresting cover shot, which features Condi
Rice, Dick Cheney, W. and Rumsfeld under a bright blue sky,
walking side-by-side toward the camera. The obvious reference
is the iconic image of William Holden and his gang in the
classic film The Wild Bunch; unfortunately, this crew would
be better characterized as the four douchebags of the apocalypse.
—Shawn
Stone
2006
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