Harriet's Corner
The Bi-Monthly Newsletter of What to Read
Issue #3: In which she still has Paris on her mind...
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Bonjour mes amis....
This month brings a shortened version of my newsletter because I have become a complete and total political junkie in the last six weeks or so. I can’t seem to get enough of the newspaper editorials, the pundits on TV and and other media jabbering.....I can’t even begin to discuss the panoply of political books this season...but trust me...they are all available at the store.
However, there is a book that you absolutely cannot miss...a book that MUST be read:
Samantha Power’s A PROBLEM FROM HELL America and the Age of Genocide. This brilliant Pulitzer Prize winner takes us through the genocidal horrors of the twentieth century...from the Turkish destruction of their Armenian population to the recent systematic killings in Kosovo. The focus of this books is not a tale of horrors in the countries at issue....it is a tale of the United States foreign policy during the course of this past century....why American leaders who systematically vow “never again” fail to stop genocide. Historical figures totally come to life as they struggle (more or less) with the US response to unspeakable crimes. Throughout this, Ms.Power is amazingly judicious in her portraits of those favoring and opposing intervention....she is so even-handed that “her indictment of the U.S. policy is therefore all the more damning.” To get us through all of this, the author has a certain ease to her writing......this book is entirely readable. Richard Holbrooke’s take on this book: “It’s one of those rare books that can change one’s thinking. I think it’s going to have a lasting impact. It’s very painful reading, but it has to be read.” Absolutely!
OK.....now I’ll lighten up a bit.
Colette Rossant is a writer and lover of food who has written two lovely memoirs. She was born in Paris to a French mother and an Egyptian father. In APRICOTS ON THE NILE, Ms. Rossant tells us of her life after the Nazi occupation of France when as a young child she was sent to live with her grandparents in Cairo to be out of harm’s way. Her love of food began in the warmth and acceptance she found in her grandmother’s kitchen with the beloved family cook, Ahmet. Her writing allows us to smell the spices and see the vibrant colors of the street markets......but we also see a vulnerable little girl whose family is torn apart as she is torn by country, culture and religion. The next chapter of her life is chronicled in RETURN TO PARIS when she moves back to Paris after the war. The differences between the hot, chaotic, exotic, technicolor vibrancy of Cairo and the austere grayness of post-war Paris overwhelms the ten year old Colette who is now left to live with her French grandparents. This time in her French grandmother’s kitchen with the family chef, Georgette she finds the warmth and tenderness that she craves. RETURN TO PARIS is truly one of the most charming memoirs I have ever read. Her difficult grandmother, her mother who behaves like the Wicked Witch of the West, her kindly uncle and then the love of her life all swirl around her central theme of food and cooking. Interspersed throughout the narrative in both books, are some of her recipes. I have tried three of the recipes so far and they are simple to follow and delicious! As I write this, her recipe for lentil soup is simmering on my stove. Both of these slim volumes are available in paperback.
Since we are talking about food, the exciting news this fall is the upcoming publication of Cristina’s cookbook, CRISTINA’S OF SUN VALLEY. There has already been a lot of buzz about this book and we know it will sell fast.....so if you want to reserve yours for the December first pub date, just call or email us at the store (726-1564, toll free:877-726-1564 or orders@iconoclastbooks.com). Her book will make a fabulous holiday gift....we can have it gift wrapped and waiting for you.
**For those of you who are on my mailing list but not familiar with Sun Valley, Cristina has an extremely popular, excellent restaurant in Ketchum which has pretty much of a cult following. Her food is divine and the opportunity to have some of her recipes is most tantalizing!
I know, I appear to be totally obsessing over food this month, but I just have to tell you about the most divine dessert cookbook I have ever come across.....this is not all gooey chocolate (which I adore) .....but Jacques Pepin’s SWEET SIMPLICITY, a fruit cookbook. Each chapter is a different fruit, or family of fruits, the recipes are easy and the results are amazing. Truly, every time I make one of these desserts for dinner company, my guests order the book....after many months of patient waiting, the book is finally available in paperback. Sadly the hardcover is out of print...but if you NEED the hardcover, Darren can surely find one for you. My all time favorite recipe: Tender Pears in Caramel Sauce....ymmm!
Bear with me as I recommend another memoir....a life experience as different from Colette Rossant as Ann Coulter is from Michael Moore.....THE ZANZIBAR CHEST by Aidan Hartley. Born into a family of British Colonialists, Mr. Hartley has Africa in his blood. His father’s generation brought the western world to Africa. Mr. Hartley in a way exported Africa to the world when he became a stringer for Reuters news service. Hartley weaves his father’s story into his own....and when he isn’t following the trail left by his father’s diary, he is covering the horrors of Rwanda, Sudan and Ethiopia. In tracing his father’s past we get a bit of insight into the allure and inexplicable romance of the Dark Continent. While following the author’s own life, we are devastated by the senselessness and futility of war and death in Africa. The writing is wonderful....this is not just a journalist’s reporting.....this is someone who is opening his heart. Living a comfortable life in my cocoon (known as Ketchum), it is hard to imagine someone daily putting himself in harm’s way. For what? To tell the world a story no one wants to hear. At one point, Mr. Hartley was livid because the British papers had no room to print his stories of starvation and death in Ethiopia....the papers were filled with stories of Charles, Camilla and Diana. An insightful and very moving book.
Alors, now do you want a really good airplane read? You will find it in the pages of THE WHITE RUSSIAN by Tom Bradby. A historical mystery set in St. Petersburg in 1917...right on the verge of the abdication of the Tsar...chief police investigator Sandro Ruzsky just returns from a stint in exile in Siberia. He is immediately thrown into a grisly case of murder...the bodies of a young couple are found on the banks of the frozen Neva River just opposite the Tsar’s palace. Bradby gives us a meticulously researched book (I know my Russian History) which allows us into the lives of the doomed Royal Family as well as revolutionaries converging on the city. It is a thrilling story set at the crossroads of history with more than a little of that famous dark, Dostoeyevskian angst.
In early December, I will send some holiday gift recommendations along with a couple of my new “must reads”.....if you do not wish to continue receiving my newsletter, just send me an email at harriet@iconoclastbooks.com. Please pass this on to friends if you so desire and/or send along their email addresses for my mailing list. If you wish copies of my past newsletters, send me an email at the store.
Happy Reading! (and cooking)
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