My Little Afternoon Tea Book

 My Little Afternoon Tea Book
More than 80 Irresistible Recipes
editor: Liz Malcolm
2012
255 pages, hardback

The recipes in this cookbook are each beautifully illustrated and look delicious.  I like how it is set up for bakers in several different countries by the way the ingredients are measured by weight (both grams and ounces) and by cups.
I have already tested one recipe (Chocolate Mud Biscuits on page 171) and the results have been wonderful!  A great gift to receive, a great gift to give.  Thank you Joy...fun baking with you!  If you would like the recipe for the Chocolate Mud Biscuits please go to http://minickmenus.blogspot.com/ 

The Bone People

The Bone People
by Keri Hulme
1983
450 pages, paperback

The Bone People is the third book now that I have read about New Zealand.  As the first two books were more about New Zealand facts, I was ready for a novel that combined facts along with a story that I found hard to put down.  This is a griping novel that is meant to be read slowly, in my opinion, slowly enough to take the time to look up the Maori meanings to words and phrases in the glossary at the back of the book. 
Kere Hulme does an incredible job of character development, bringing to life on the page, three people whose lives intersect to form a type of a family.  Abuse is a major theme throughout the story and because of this, I was unsure if I would be able to read it, but it was also filled with devoted love, a fascinating description of the New Zealand wild country, birds, trees, sea-life, food, and a wide range of language (poetic imagery, profanity, slang, and Maori). 
Kerewin, the main character, is a poet, artist and somewhat of a hermit.  She is intellectual, brave and drinks way more than is healthy.  She is a pale-skinned Maori, very independent, quick-witted, and gets great pleasure from playing the guitar.  Her home is a tower by the sea. 
Joe, a Maori with dark skin, is a young widow, works in a factory, rides a motorcycle and spends lots of time in the local pub.  His extended family live near-by and they are woven into the story just enough to provide more texture.
A young boy named Simon brings Joe and Kerewin together.  Simon is a sole survivor of a boating accident, has golden-white hair, green eyes, a small frame and is mute.  Joe becomes his foster father and devotes his life to caring for Simon's many unique needs yet disciplines Simon far beyond what is good. 
The book is not an easy read for many reasons; the punctuation is challenging, the use of Maori words add depth yet makes one need to concentrate more on the flow of story, thoughts are recorded as if they were conversation, poetry is intertwined, and the Maori belief of the spiritual realm shows up at various times. So the reader really needs to stay committed to keeping everything straight. 
However, I really liked the book (it was winner of 1885 Booker Prize). I did find the ending to be a bit too abrupt.  I would have liked a few more of the novel's questions answered more fully.  I'm not sure who to recommend this book to.  It gave me plenty to think though concerning how people think, respond and interact to each other, to crisis, to loneliness, to life, to death.  A friend from the Grove loaned me her copy of The Bone People and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to read it, especially after time in New Zealand.  Thanks Leanne!

New Zealand

New Zealand

Photographs by Graeme Matthews
2001
128 pages, hardback

A charming photo collection of a variety of places throughout the North and South Islands of New Zealand was given to us upon our arrival from good friends whom we had the joy to visit.  I have enjoyed looking at the scenery and reading the captions and getting a better visual idea of vastness of this stunning country.  I especially liked the photos of Queenstown from where most of our memories of New Zealand are formed.  Truly a majestic-type place and the air, so fresh, i wish we could breathe it in with each page turned.  I will be happy to share this book with anyone who wants to hear of the good time we had in New Zealand! (October 2013).

Slipping into Paradise

Slipping into Paradise

Why I live in New Zealand

by: Jeffrey Moussaifeff Masson

2004

248 pages, hardback

With the hopes of learning about the land we were to visit, I asked on facebook if anyone had a novel about New Zealand that they would recommend.  Unfortunately, it was late in the game, and the books I requested to be mailed to our local library arrived after my ability to collect them for our journey.  I did however have a successful trip to the downtown Library where I checked out three books and very happy that I chose Slipping into Paradise as the first one to read.  The author loves New Zealand!  At the time of writing the book, Jeffrey Masson was not yet a citizen of the country yet his enthusiasm for his new "home" is apparent with each page.  The book is a great resource. It is written from a personal point of view of a man who had lived in many diverse places and in his sixties, with a young wife he adores and two young children, he describes a land that Jared Diamond claimed is "as close as we will get to the opportunity to study life on another planet" (page 132). Masson is a journalist who has written several books and I can tell he likes words, and detail and story.  Intertwined with his own history and present, he gives chapters to the two Island's intriguing history (some things that stood out to me: c.1000 arrival of first people but they did not remain, but the rats they brought with them did, perhaps the first mammals, other than bats that are indigenous to New Zealand, to live on the Island.  c.1350 about 200 people arrived with coconut plants, sweet potatoes and a pregnant dog.  First missionary arrived in 1814 along with horses and cattle.  Sheep and the imported grass they needed to graze came from England in 1834.  Lots of history is covered in a readable way and there are also chapters dedicated to trees and birds (the national bird is the kiwi.  Kiwi fruit is also grown here and New Zealanders are present-day called Kiwis) and a chapter on Maori people and a brief glossary of both New Zealand words and phrases as well as a glossary of words in the Maori language, which now along with English are the two official languages of New Zealand. The book also mentioned two other books that I'm interested to read about new Zealand one being the Bone People (I have it with me) and the other is The Whale Rider (which is waiting for me at the Heights Library).  After just a few days in New Zealand, I too can see why it could be very easy to slip into this paradise.  I would recommend this book to those like me who have the wonderful opportunity of visiting what is known by  locals as "Godzone". 

Come on Shore and we will Kill and Eat You All

Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All

A New Zealand Story
By Christina Thompson
2008
260 pages, hardback

This is my second book about New Zealand.  The first was written by a man, who in his 60's, has made New Zealand his home and he is ecstatic to tell his readers why, and along the way he shares a bit about how he sees New Zealand's history, its landscape and people and a general sense The book is called Slipping into Paradise.  And now this one is from the view point of a white, privileged, intellectual woman from Boston, who while studying in Australia visits New Zealand, charmed by its differences, marries a handsome Maori man and from that perspective continues to research the history and customs of the land.  It is only when I came to the end of the book that I realize to whom the book is primarily written: to the three young sons that will one day grow up to see that the gift their parents have to offer is their interesting history that will become the heritage for each of the boys.  

Christina Thompson does a good job at using narrative to breathe life into people who have long ago lived, fought and have died from both the perspective of the conquers and of those being conquered.  Although most of the Maori people alive today are living on the Northern Island, and we have spent our time in New Zealand on the Southern Island, I experienced enough rustic hikes in which I tried to image what life here was like before sheep, electricity or a vast variety of delicious restaurants.  What was it like for the Maori to first come to this land, perhaps as the first people to inhabit these beautiful and yet harsh mountains?  What did the Maori think of the first "others" to come and how have their lives changed drastically since those days?  And how do the assimilation and the mixture of ideas, culture, dreams, and opportunities continue to play out many years later in the lives of the author's family in particular?  

The book covers a wide range of topics including history, development, the growth and decline of a particular people, and how the change for good and for bad continues to effect the physical land.  

As I read Come on Shore... what also stood out was the process of how some children grow to adulthood; some move about and take on bits from the places they have been and the people that have influenced them. All along choices are made and each choice directs the next path and consequently the next choice. Although many of the book's pages seem remote from how life is lived presently, the very thought that life is lived in certain ways today is because of the choices made by others years ago.  Whether with Europeans inhabiting New Zealand and displacing the Maori or Europeans doing the same to those first living in the Americas, personal and societal choice affect the generations living in these lands today.  Just as the choices I have made affect the lives of my children and so will it be with each generation yet to come. This book did not come to me through a personal recommendation, but when I looked on the internet for options to read about New Zealand, the title caught my attention and then later I saw it in the library so I chose it as a good option for our trip.  The title actually is explained on page 112ff about the voyage of Charles Darwin aboard the Beagle and how he formed his initial opinion of the Maori from a misunderstanding of what was written about what Cook (an early explorer) had written years before.  

Foreign Body

Foreign Body
Robin Cook
436 pages hardback
2008

Foreign Body is one of many that Robin Cook has written in the Medical Thriller genre.  A fellow Menchie worker told me that he liked Robin Cook books so I went to our local library and there were only 2 on the shelf (neither of which were the titles that he had read).  The one on medical tourism caught my attention and it was set in India.  The story started out pretty fast-paced for the first chapter or so, then it became a bit of a labor to read and I found the characters lacking depth.  The ending, although predictable, again picked up in pace but there were a lot of pages in the middle when the same situation was being described time and again from person to person.  I found it hard to really connect with any of the characters and yes the bad guys were clearly bad, but the good guys were neutral and when I finished the story I did not find myself missing anyone like I sometimes do with a really good read.  The book does seem authentic enough with its use of medical terms and those desiring a glance at India will not be disappointed and I liked the intent of the last sentence (but writing it out would give away the ending).  Over-all, it was too many pages for the good that came from it, I hope that does not sound too harsh.  Robin Cook is known as a #1 New York Times bestselling author and has written at least 27 novels so maybe i just did not pick his best work.

Lethal Harvest

Lethal Harvest
by: William Cutrer, M.D. and Sandra Glahn
Paperback, 407 pages
2000

Dr. Bill Cutrer taught Russell and I in our newly marrieds Sunday school class, rescued Hannah and Sophie from traumatic birth experiences and was recovering from his own heart surgery at the time of Isaiah's birth.  A remarkable man in so many ways that when he died recently in Kentucky where he and Jane had moved to after their Dallas years, I found myself missing him very much.  His first medical thriller novel, Lethal Harvest, I had read years ago, but it was a joy to reread it and get a fresh glimpse at an old friend.  The meaningful funeral in the opening of the story made me wonder about Dr. Bill's own funeral.  In this novel he drew heavily on his own personal experiences as a doctor, a husband, father, missionary and a man of great care for the needs of others and reading the book helped me to see this all over again.  The story dealt fairly with the ethical questions of life and research particularly as it affects cell stems and the medical part of Dr. Bill shown brightly in the writing, even with the fictitious disease.  The love-story part of the novel was believable as well and made for a nice balanced read.  The on-going mystery concerning a law-suit, made me more aware of various aspects of a doctor's world and motives that can drive people to action.  So, the general setting: 3 doctors at 1 clinic over about a 7 month period of time told in modern day (modern for 2000, when computer use was just becoming more available for normal people).  There is decent character development and an intriguing plot.  Somewhere toward the end of the book I remembered that there was a sequence to the novel but I was very satisfied at this story's conclusion.  I have a feeling that down the road I will read Deadly Cure (#2 in the Bioethics Series) or maybe one of his books on marriage.  Thank you Dr. Bill for putting some of what God has gifted you with down on paper so that many can be blessed by reading what you have written.  You are an inspiration to me!