family – Page 27 – Peaceful Reader

Bread Givers

I purchased Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska a few years back while my family and I were in Washington D.C. We toured The Holocaust Museum, which was heartbreaking but informative and well worth the tour. Afterward we spent a few minutes browsing the museum kiosk store. This book’s synopsis caught my attention so I bought it, brought it home and added it to my bookshelf. Maybe I should have read it right then but I waited four years and pulled it off just recently.

Snynopsis: Sara Smolinsky, the youngest daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, watches as her father marries off her sisters to men they don’t love. The sadness and injustice of their broken lives leads her to rebel against her father’s rigid conception of Jewish womanhood. “No girl can live without her father or a husband to look out for her,” he proclaims. “It says in the Torah, only through a man has a woman an existence.” But Sara replies, “My will is as strong as yours. I’m going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” She leaves home, takes a job as an ironer, and rents a room with a door: “This door was life…the bottom starting point of becoming a person.” Set during the 1920s on New York’s Lower East Side, the story of Sara’s struggle toward independence and self-fullfillment-through education, work, and love-is universal and resonates with a passionate intensity that all can share. (from the back cover)

My thoughts: You can see why the book appealed to me. Sara is an intense character who, as the youngest, watches all these family mistakes play out. Rather than allow her father to ruin her own life she strikes out on her own, leaving behind her mother, father and sisters. Her sisters make fun of her even as they complain about the terrible marriages their father has forced them into. Father’s love of the Torah and studying are completely (for lack of a better word at the moment) CRAZY! He takes the Torah at it’s word only as it applies to help his cause.

The struggle between family members, old and new traditions, right and wrong are so fanatical and vivid-I raced home every night to read a few more pages before making dinner. It made me grateful for my own father who was very forward thinking and giving of his time and thoughts, unlike Sara’s father, who never listens and always talks with bitterness. Not only were the characters memorable but the language was extraordinary. This book will stay with me for a long time but only in spirit because as per the Reading From My Own Shelves Project I must depart with it-I’m glad it is going to a good home. Tina graciously accepted to take it home with her.

Memorable quotes:

and this one from a particular blue day while she is living alone working hard each day to put away money to go to school:

Had a miracle happened? My father come to see me? In a rush of gladness words from Isaiah flashed before me as in letters of fire: “I will join the hearts of the parents and the children.” Never had there been any show of feeling between Father and us children. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, he put his hands over our heads to bless us. Now, as I looked at him, he seemed to me like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Solomon, and David, all joined together in the one wise old face. An this man with all the ancient prophets shining out of his eyes-my father. (she’s so happy to see him even after all the bad)

“Father,” I cried. An then my voice stopped. For I suddenly became aware of his cold, hard glance on me.

“Is it true what Max Goldstein said?” His eyes glared. “Is it true you refused him?” Not a word could force itself out of my tight throat. “Answer me! Answer me!” His voice grew louder and harsher.

“It wasn’t the real love,” I stammered, hardly aware what I was saying.

“Love you want yet? What do you know about love? How could any man love a lawless, conscienceless thing like you? I never dreamed that a decent man would want to marry you. You had a chance to make a good ending to a bad play, and you push away such a luck match with your own hands. I always knew you were crazy. Now I see you’re your worst enemy.” (204)

There is so much wonderful in this book-this newer version has a great forward and introduction written by Alice Kessler-Harris, which gave me a lot of insight into Anzia Yezierska’s life. It’s not often I wax poetic about an intro to a book but it’s a great opening. I wish this book would be mandatory reading for high school or college. It’s fits into many different themes: history, gender studies, religion, philosophy, early immigration to the U.S., and American labor in the 1920’s. It shows what it was really like to work hard and hope for a better life. I’m so glad the forces that be made me pick this book and purchase it. I’m trying to get Teen-age Boy to read it before I pass it over to Tina. Purchase this classic book from an IndieBound bookstore near year…click on the title to find it-Bread Givers

Whatever you’re reading today-I hope you are enjoying it! I’ll be reading and lesson planning while the game goes on but if I had to root for a team it would be the Green Bay Packers. Why? Because I’ve read about both quarterbacks and Aaron Rodgers wins in my book.

“I’ll show you how quickly I can marry off the girls when I put my head on it.” “Yah,” sneered Mother.

“You showed me enough how quickly you can spoil your daughters’ chances the minute you mix yourself in.

If you had only let Mashah alone, she would have been married to a piano-player.”“Did you want me to let in a man who plays on the Sabbath in our family? A piano player has no more character than a poet.” “Nu-Berel Bernstein was a man of character, a man who was about to become a manufacturer.”

“But he was a stingy piker. For my daughters’ husbands I want to pick out men who are people in the world.”
“Where will you find better men than those they can find for themselves?”
“I’ll go to old Zaretzky, the matchmaker. All the men on his list are guaranteed characters.”
“But the minute you begin with the matchmaker you must have dowries like in Russia yet.”
“With me for their father they get their dowries in their brains and in their good looks.” (71)

Rocky Road Brownies

I did make the brownies. They are delicious. I groaned three times while eating my one little square. I forget all the time to photograph my cooking but this time I snapped two pictures as we were dishing them up. Here for your viewing delight…

They are yummy dense squares of chocolate delight. I will make them again. My kids ate them even though they had pecans on them. My daughter and I shared a second one quietly in the kitchen. It’s been a good day and now I’m going to bed, to read. See last post for recipe.

Ninth War (excellent middle grade read)

by Jewell Parker Rhodes

2010

217 pages

Hurrican Katrina swept through the city of New Orleans almost 6 years ago. Wow. I remember watching it unfold on the news every day and wishing I had the means to get there and help-do anything. Even though I watched it I can’t imagine what it would be like to be there-this book gave me the feeling of being there. If I had been there I would have wanted to be with Lanesha.

Synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in tight-knit community in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward. She doesn’t have a fancy house, like her uptown family, or lots of friends, like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya’s visions show a powerful hurricane-Katrina-fast approaching, it’s up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.

My thoughts:

This is the powerful story of Lanesha, raised by Mama Ya-Ya, able to see ghosts, especially her dead mother. Her mother died in childbirth and Mama Ya-Ya, the mid-wife, raised Lanesha as her own, loving her and filling her with knowledge of signs and the world around her. The relationship between Lanesha and Mama Ya-Ya is strong and both of them have special talents that set them apart from their neighbors. Even though Lanesha has had trouble fitting in she is now in a new middle school and she’s met a new friend as well as a teacher who sees talent in her. She is busy dealing with her day-to-day life when Mama Ya-Ya senses the storm’s arrival. Lanesha shines as she takes the predictions seriously enough to get her and Mama Ya-Ya to the upstairs bathtub where they live through the hurricane. Lanesha’s strength shows through as she gets them to higher ground and takes the neighbor boy with them to the attic. The scene in the attic is amazing as Lanesha figures out what she must do and is able to leave behind everything that is familiar to her.
Ninth Ward made Katrina come alive for me as a reader. I could feel the water rise and Lanesha’s panic as well as her ability to see what they had to do to stay alive. She figures it out step-by-step like a math problem; something to be solved and move on to the next step. Students will love reading about Lanesha’s struggles with friendship even as she conquers the rising flood waters. I’m so glad to have read this story-I feel richer knowing more about how this time in New Orleans unfolded so quickly.

Perfect Quote:

“Do you know why your momma is still here?” (Mama Ya-Ya)
I swallow.
“She wasn’t sure you were going to be all right. The world can be a hard place sometimes, Lanesha. You have to have heart. You have to be strong. Not just any strong, mind you, but loving strong. Your testing should’ve come much, much later. But when it came, you shined with love and strength.”
“You’re my strength,” I say, confused my Mama Ya-Ya’s words. I’m not sure what I’m feeling. It’s not pure happiness, but something sour. Bittersweet. (144-145)

Other thoughts:
Stacy at Welcome to my Tweendom.
Tanya at books4yourkids.
the Kid’s Book Club has Lanesha’s recipes.
Jewel Parker Rhodes website

What a holly, jolly Christmas so far

The holidays started officially for us yesterday (thursday) as we hosted 6 young girls, ready to do some holiday baking. Groovy Girl had her first cookie bake-off. They poured, measured, cracked the eggs, learned the “scoop and sweep” flour method as she took them through her mini-baking lesson. This is the same girl who two years ago “hosted” her own cooking show, which I taped but never got uploaded to a computer because the dog ate the Flip camera.Yes, that was not a very merry moment. Her friends had a wonderful time as they made cookies and watched The Polar Express while they cut out, baked and decorated the cookies. Decorating and eating ranked the highest in fun factor. I think gumdrops were being eaten as fast as I could cut them up. I love to listen to children talk; they are generally so uninhibitated and yesterday was no exception as they shared their own baking experiences and knowledge with each other! Hopefully, we’ve begun a new tradition with this holiday party.

Four days ago I needed to make a treat for my daughter’s school party; luckily we still live in a school district that allows homemade snacks and that no one in her class is allergic to peanuts because we whipped up these delicious Double Peanut Butter Cups thanks to Kathy at Bermudaonion. I didn’t take a photo of mine (there is one with the recipe at Bermudaonion) but the Christmas platter came home empty and she told me several students had seconds.

In my family it is tradition to have oyster stew on Christmas Eve but my husband is allergic to certain types of shellfish so when I got married I had to throw the tradition out. We’ve done clam chowder for the last few years but I’m never quite satisfied with what my clam chowder tastes like compared to what I’ve eaten on my travels to the East Coast. This year I tried a brand new recipe from Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook, which I also discovered thanks to a Weekend Cooking post at Bermudaonion. As soon as I read her post about this cookbook I knew it was the perfect Christmas gift for my mother-a cookbook collector and brunch lover. I found one last copy sitting on the shelf at my local Barnes and Noble, which, sadly, is our own local bookstore. Local trumps indie when your making that last dash for gifts. My family is totally okay with receiving books for gifts that have been “test” read by the giver so I spent hours perusing the contents of this fabulous book. I still plan to give it to my mom with the straight up knowledge that I may have to borrow it from time to time. I’ve already tried two recipes from it-both were delicious and I just ooooh’d and aaahhhh’d as I looked through it. This will be on my list of must-eat eateries when I visit NYC. Thank you Kathy for brightening my holiday cooking TWICE!

If you missed out on getting yourself something merry this season, buy it here-Clinton St. Baking Company Cookbook

Enjoy the ~~video~~ (never did get the video to upload after three days of puttering with it)now, photos of the baking party. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day, filled with roasting fires, a few perfect presents, time to read and a dinner table filled with good food. Don’t you just love a young girl who bakes in a huge string of pearls.

German Pancakes

My sister-in-law made thee most delicious German pancakes for us while we were visiting over Thanksgiving. My kids loved them and she said they were easy to make so I googled and found a great recipe on a blog called Adventures in the Kitchen by Cheri. I read around a bit on her blog and found other recipes I liked so now you can find her on the right-hand side bar Food and Wine section. Thank you Cheri-I used your recipe tonight and my children ate them all up.

We did have a very relaxing holiday with my mom and two of my brothers (oldest and youngest) and their families. My youngest brother and I love to cook-a skill we attibute to both our mother and grandmother. Throughout my childhood we had Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at my grandmother’s house (over the snow and through the woods to Amity Drive we go) and she cooked up a storm. She used an old gas oven in the basement to keep up with the demandsof cooking a turkey, sweet potatoes, bread and pies for many of us. It has always been tough to get down her timing of getting everything to the table at the same time. We did it this year though between my mother, sister-in-law, brother and myself. Yeahhh, Grandma Bruch-we did it. And then we sat down and ate it (almost) all up.

The holidays of my childhood will live on through this yearly celebration but I still miss her and her cooking terribly. My grandmother was somewhat of a health nut but she was definetely a meat and potatoes women. She balanced it out with oatmeal every morning. My brother and I tend to cook more vegetarian now but we did have a 13 # locally-raised (right here in Iowa) turkey so the little ones, my husband, teenager and my oldest brother’s family would not miss the big bird. It was yummy-all of it. Yes, I tasted a little of everything. Even the dressing was worthy (thanks Mom).

Okay, I digressed from German Pancakes to our holiday time but we did have such a good celebration and it was all food-related. I didn’t blog once while gone as I just enjoyed my extended family. I hope you had a lovely holiday time as well.

Seriously Selling Books

(My organic, buy-local hero, Alice Waters)

One of my dear friends is the brains behind our (now 2nd) annual Christmas Bazaar. Last year she made me make chocolate covered pretzel sticks and cookies. This year she asked if I would be in charge of a used book sale as part of the bazaar. Well, that is right up my alley so it took about two seconds to say yes.

So here I’ve been for the last three hours, selling books at rock-bottom prices. We are a church filled with readers so the book selection is stellar-really! I have a stack right next to me of excellent titles I just couldn’t pass up. Two are cookbooks: Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Remolif Shere with a preface by Alice Waters and illustrated by Wayne Thiebaud. I’m buying it because I trust Ms Waters so much but also because it has recipes like Nutmeg Geranium Ice Cream, Langues De Chat and an entire chapter on just chocolate.
The other cookbook is a spiral-bound book called Screen Cuisine with a really silly illustration on the front. I couldn’t find an image of it and I don’t have a fancy phone to snap a picture to share. I happened to browse through it and discovered it was published by the National Film Society. The list of recipes arefrom a cornucopia of famous people such as Rosemary Clooney’s Viennese Goulash, Newman’s Own Marinated Steak, Carol Burnett’s Fresh Peach Souffle and Dean Martin’s “Dean’s Chix Dish.” Wow-this is a classic. After each recipe is their “signature.” I have to buy it just for the amusement. Only at a church bazaar could you find two such amazing recipe books. My husband, of course, rolled his eyes at the amount of books I brought home! You can’t beat 50 cents a book.

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking. She reviewed The Wine Trials; 2011-a fantastic book about blind taste testing a variety of wines and their rankings. I know it is a useful book because I have the first edition-2008. My thoughtful husband gave it to me as a birthday and I still use it. A gift that keeps on giving! Even though I haven’t tried all the wines in my version I’d love to take a look at this newer version. Thanks Beth Fish for a great reveiw!

Om Baby-Green Books Campaign

by Shamet Horsfield

2010

This is a bright and colorfully-done book with a small, elfin-like, one-eyed creature. “Hi, My name is Om Baby. I am an Om Being from a small community called Omville. I have only one eye because I see the world and all beings as one.” Om is the Sanskrit word and symbol meaning “all that is.” The book has a beautiful fluidity to it, with each picture accompanying simple text.

Om Baby is peaceful.

Om Baby is kind.

Om Baby believes in the power of his mind.

I like what Horsfield was going for but I wanted more. Even the youngest reader can understand so much more and I felt she was just touching the surface of this one-eyed beings feeling toward the earth and the world around us.

I loved this one:

Om Baby eats his greens.

Accompanied by a picture of a green garden, growing carrots, sunflowers, radishes or beets, corn, pumpkins with a sun blazing down. Om Baby is shown eating his greens-like arugula!

Check out Shamet Horsfield’s interesting website. You can sign a petition for peace while you there. She has a good story to tell and as someone on the outside edge myself, I can understand her need to create a book that represents her philosophy. I hope she continues to create, pulling more peaceful ideas into a deeper story.

This review is part of the Green Books Campaign. Click on Green Books to find the list of 200 books being reviewed by participating bloggers today.
This review is part of the Green Books campaign.

Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

Weekend Update

What a glorious day we had yesterday! The weather was beautiful. My daughter decided to rake in order to have a pile of leaves to jump into, over and over again. My dad used to rake up piles for me to jump into so I got up out of our hammock, where I had been reading Slaughterhouse 5-my book club book for tonight, and helped her rake. Feel the joy…

Then she had to change clothes to match the leaves…

When the sun started to disappear we headed inside and we made Shrimp Pad Thai from her Around the World Cookbook. It was yummy and everyone loved having it for dinner!

Oh, and here she is on Saturday after we put together her “Ladybug Girl” Halloween costume!

Reading-wise I’m almost finished with Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. I can’t wait to get back to Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. I need to post about The Sorceress by Michael Scott.

I’m almost finished with the hat I’m knitting for my husband-I just learned how to knit with circular needles and I love it! Oh, and we went to a fantastic concert on Saturday (just by chance when friends called and offered us free tixs) featuring Pieta Brown (daughter of Greg Brown) and

Brandi Carlisle-it was part of our local symphony’s pop night! It was pretty rockin’!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend as well!

Gone Fishin'

Our groovy girl playing dress-up on stage!

I feel sometimes like I need a sign I can post “gone missing,” or “be back soon” like I work in a coffee shop and have just gone around the corner.I feel bad when it has been a whole week since my last post. My family is filled with drama right now and by that I mean the theatre. My husband is directing a production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and he cast our eight-year-old groovy girl as one of Ichabod’s young scholars. Invitational dress was last Thursday, Friday night was Opening Night ( a party with delicious treats followed the show) and we had friends and family come to town for the weekend shows.

My friend V traveled from Arkansas to Iowa to see the play and visit with us and it was so fantastic to spend time with her. Not only did she drive 10 hours to see us but she came with her two children: both young and super cool. Friends of Japhy’s from our brief years living in The Natural State-all three children loved reconnecting, which in kid terms meant lots of playing and laughing and joyful noise!! Highlights were watching V’s little “lump” ice skate for the first time, watching rock and roll boy play carpet ball on Sunday morning, kite-flying on Saturday, even though we were cold and spending time at my favorite coffee shop-which luckily carries lots of vegan goodies. I was sad to see them leave this morning but the play goes on this weekend and as V reminded me as we said good-bye in my driveway-I have more guests arriving this Thursday for the next set of shows. Life is never, ever dull around here and I’m glad for life’s fullness. Plus you’ve got to love friends who are willing to drive two whole days to spend a crazy weekend with you!!

Up-date:

Am reading The Sorceress by Michael Scott, to finish this series.
Am still reading The Reliable Wife by Goolrick.
Am behind in my challenges
Am really behind on my posts.

Our friends backstage at the theatre. Thank you for making our weekend!

Hope your week has been peaceful and filled with good friends!

One Crazy Summer

by Rita Williams-Garcia
(2010)
215 pages

It’s 1968 and LBJ is president, the Vietnam War rages on and Robert Kennedy’s funeral takes place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC. The Yippie Movement lead by Abbie Hoffman is in East Coast while on the West, the Black Panthers lead their own movement. While they protest Huey Newton’s arrest and the death of young Panther, Bobby Hutton, the Panthers also run a summer camp of sorts, a free health clinic and provide breakfast for thousands of children in the Oakland neighborhood. It was fascintating stuff learning more about this organization, generally shadowed in a negative light.

The book opens with three sisters, Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, flying from NYC to Oakland, CA where they will meet their mother-the mother who abandoned them years earlier when Fern was a baby. She chose poetry over her own children but their father feels it is important for the girls to see her.

The meeting:

The stewardess marched us on over to this figure. Once we were there, face-to-face, the stewardess stopped in her tracks and made herself a barrier between the strange woman and us. The same stewardess who let the large white woman gawk at us and press money into Fern’s hand wasn’t so quick to hand us over to the woman I said was our mother. I wanted to be mad, but I couldn’t say I blamed her entirely. It could have been the way the woman was dressed. Big black shades. Scarf tied around her head. Over the scarf, a big hat tilted down, the kind Pa wore with a suit. A pair of man’s pants. Fern clung to me. Cecile looked more like a secret agent than a mother. But I knew she was Cecile. I knew she was our mother….

Cecile finally turned as she got to the glass doors and looked to see where we were. When we caught up, she said, “Ya’ll have to move if you’re going to be with me.” (18-19)

It is an amazing summer of connections but not between Cecile and her girls but the community and the girls; a world far away from their sheltered life with Big Ma and their Pa. Here they go to get dinner for themselves from the Chinese restaurant on the corner. They become part of life at the Black Panter Community Center. As they move into the larger picture of the world, Cecile realizes a thing or two about these girls she does not claim.

My thoughts: I loved reading about this era and felt Rita Williams-Garcia did a great job of portraying this very hip, yet dark time in our history. Each character had very distinct qualities and even Cecile had some hidden treasures with in her odd personality. Even though I despised her abandonment I know in my heart many women are just not mothers. The sisters are loveable and fiesty-how could Cecile not love them fully-and end up understanding her despite her shortcomings as a mother. I think this one will win an award or two!

Other Reviews:

Stacy at Welcome to my Tweendom
Nicki at Dog Ear
Jennifer Represents…
Sommer Reading

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