tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125616592011-10-23T09:26:59.615-04:00Fabulous food, a great bottle of wine, a good book, and wonderful friends. These are some of my favorite things. I hope you will share your favorites as well.LisaBainnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-78872795123802010342011-10-23T09:26:00.001-04:002011-10-23T09:26:59.679-04:00

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle HamiltonMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI love reading chef memoirs, but this one is so much more. Gabrielle Hamilton writes not so much about how she became a chef or what it's like being a chef as about life and love. She went from an almost idyllic childhood to a highly dysfunctional adolescence and from all that emerged

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-44199602435570194392011-08-06T12:56:00.000-04:002011-08-06T12:57:26.555-04:00

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick ForsythMy rating: 4 of 5 starsEnjoyed going back to one of the first books in this genre of political thrillers. It's obvious how much Forsyth influenced later writers. The meticulous attention to detail makes the book seem more like non-fiction than fiction. Even though I knew how the book ended (in fact, I may have read it years ago, and I'm certain that I saw

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-27406768655545933912011-06-20T17:14:00.001-04:002011-06-20T17:14:59.862-04:00

Doc: A Novel by Mary Doria RussellMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI don't know if the Doc Holliday in Mary Doria Russell's excellent novel is anything like the real Doc, but she has definitely given us a wonderfully complex character set in a fascinating historical time period. I liked it so much that I think I'll read it again, this time out loud with Garrett. View all my reviews

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-16833284857340115072011-05-26T10:52:00.000-04:002011-05-26T10:53:12.172-04:00

Room by Emma DonoghueMy rating: 5 of 5 starsI love everything about this book... the characters, the writing, the story, the voice. What makes all of the characters so believable is their imperfections. And other than the bad guy, who is really really bad, they all learn and grow as the story progresses. Emma Donoghue has gotten inside of five-year-old Jack's head... his voice is just perfect.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-21481381066422630642011-05-26T10:49:00.001-04:002011-05-26T10:49:36.528-04:00

Ten Green Bottles by Vivian Jeanette KaplanMy rating: 2 of 5 starsThis is a really compelling story that needs to be told, but the telling of it was anything but compelling. Kaplan tells her mother's story in the first person, and does an admirable job of relating the extraordinary events of her life, one incident after another in a completely linear manner. Nini, (Kaplan's mother), manages to

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-2407387876016042052011-03-07T09:45:00.003-05:002011-03-07T09:57:08.173-05:00

The love of my life is turning 60 this week, so in celebration, we had a party! It was so much fun, although very tiring even though I got a lot of help (thanks Angela, Garrett, Josh, and Laura!). I had intended to take pictures, but was so busy putting food out and talking to our friends, that not a camera was to be seen. Lots of great food, good wine, and wonderful friends... all of my favorite

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-92016227716671044162011-03-07T09:37:00.001-05:002011-03-07T09:40:44.752-05:00

I can't say I loved Lullabies for Little Criminals because it was so heart wrenching, but I will never forget the main character, Baby. Although a novel, this book reads like an autobiography and seemed very believable, even though Baby's life (up to age 13) involved one tragedy after another. Unlike Running With Scissors, which told a similar story of totally dysfunctional parenting (and which I

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-77357365073061744512011-03-07T09:33:00.002-05:002011-03-07T09:37:28.162-05:00

I put off reading The Help for a long time, thinking my book club would eventually choose it, but since they didn't I went ahead and read it anyway. I loved it, even though I was reading it with somewhat of a jaundiced eye after reading about the lawsuit that is being brought against Kathryn Stockett by the nanny who works for Stockett's brother. It may be that Stockett crossed the line in

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-32160885221676966392010-10-26T17:01:00.006-04:002010-11-10T17:24:57.765-05:00

OK, so I haven't written for a long time. The reason I write this blog is so I have small reminders of the books I have read. When I get as far behind as I am now, all I can do is jot down the briefest thoughts about these books, although fortunately I can look at highlighted passages on my kindle and at least see what stood out while I was reading. So here goes (part 1 of 2):The Little Book by

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-8798074555718623822010-07-01T16:00:00.011-04:002010-07-13T12:09:20.063-04:00

So this blog is supposed to be about my favorite things, yet I forgot to write about the best thing that happened in a very long time... my son Josh married his sweetheart Laura: The wedding was beautiful and soooooo much fun. All of my sisters were there (niece Hallie also in this picture): Entertainment was provided by Toy Soldiers (that's Noah at the far left playing the guitar):And I made

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-26818123602800894382010-06-25T16:26:00.006-04:002010-06-28T16:31:42.061-04:00

I recently sped through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, after reading and liking the previous two books of the Millenium Series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire. What can you say about the Stieg Larrson sensation? His plots are somewhat predictable, unrealistic (but who cares?) and convoluted, made even harder by the unfamiliar Swedish names and places.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-71137744715475850962010-04-22T10:56:00.003-04:002010-06-27T18:10:12.771-04:00

Just a few thoughts about The Surrendered, by Chang-rae Lee, which I just finished this morning. Thankfully. Lee writes beautifully, but I found this book to be so grim and dense that I just wanted it to end, even though Lee wrote some truly memorable characters. The story revolves around June, a refugee from the Korean War and survivor of some truly horrific experiences. An American soldier,

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-16596590924969179352010-03-14T18:18:00.004-04:002010-03-14T18:51:32.554-04:00

Since my last blog entry, I've read 8 or 9 books, but haven't been able to find the time to write down my thoughts. Since I sit at a computer all day long at work, and often at home as well when I have freelance stuff to do, finding time to write for myself is, at times, next to impossible. Garrett says I could take my computer with me on the train and write on my way to work, but that would cut

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-23583148191550710312009-11-06T15:23:00.003-05:002009-11-06T16:14:17.484-05:00

It was almost exactly 4 years ago that I wrote about Jonathon Cott's On The Sea of Memory, in which he states that “Without memory, it is exactly one’s being that is erased.” Now imagine if your short term memory lasted only 80 minutes. What does that mean for your "being" and for the people close to you?Yoko Ogawa tackles this question in her extraordinary novel, The Housekeeper and The

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-73039270109695239682009-10-31T22:57:00.002-04:002009-10-31T23:00:49.700-04:00

In 1968, the five movies nominated for Best Oscar represented a dramatic shift taking place in film making that coincided with a social and political revolution in the United States. Doctor Doolittle, a bloated musical starring the omnipresent Rex Harrison tried (but failed) to continue a long string of super-successful movie musicals culminating with The Sound of Music. Guess Who’s Coming to

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-15548175558785664452009-10-25T13:14:00.009-04:002009-11-04T16:44:53.962-05:00

Sometimes a character in a book speaks to me so personally that I have a hard time differentiating her thoughts from my own. Such was the case with Laura McAllan, in Hillary Jordan's wonderful debut novel, Mudbound. Here she is talking about her husband, Henry:"How I wished sometimes that I could join him in his stark, right-angled world, where everything was either right or wrong and there was

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-22121203996705951842009-10-12T13:44:00.001-04:002009-10-12T13:47:54.350-04:00

When my dog Ellie died a couple of years ago, I was stunned at how bereft I felt, and how long my grief lingered. “She’s just a dog,” I kept telling myself, although inside I felt like I had lost a treasured member of our family. The Wolf in the Parlor by Jon Franklin somehow made my reaction not only understandable, but appropriate. The bond between humans and canines, according to Franklin,

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-42873024684030377032009-09-12T16:03:00.002-04:002009-09-12T16:08:12.287-04:00

When I first started reading Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian, I wondered why I was subjecting myself to another holocaust book. I almost put it aside several times – the stories of atrocities committed by the Nazis and Russians were unbearably graphic and horrible. But what saves this book are the richly developed characters: 18-year-old Anna Emmerich and her family, Prussian

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-80034278620796022472009-07-29T10:06:00.002-04:002009-07-29T10:10:47.392-04:00

Julian Donahue’s life has revolved around music since as early as he can remember, beginning with stories his father told about an encounter with Billie Holiday in 1953, before he lost his leg in the Korean war. Now in middle age, Julian is adrift: "Julian Donahue married in optimistic confusion, separated in pessimistic confusion, and now was wandering toward a mistrustful divorcistan, a

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-88374620037366670762009-07-22T13:41:00.002-04:002009-07-29T15:36:27.618-04:00

Since my book club discussed The White Tiger last week, my memory is somewhat refreshed about this excellent book. Aravind Adiga uses an interesting device to tell this story of a lower caste man in India (The White Tiger, aka Balram) and how he changes his destiny. In a long letter to the Chinese premier who is coming to visit India, Balram sets out to explain the truth about Bangalore, the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-59943373489853319392009-07-21T12:49:00.004-04:002009-07-21T13:50:24.568-04:00

I'm going to catch up on the last three books I've read one of these days, but while it's still fresh in my mind, I want to write about The Right of Thirst, which I just finished and loved. This is a beautifully written novel about a middle aged man (Charles), discombobulated after the death of his wife, who wants to do something meaningful in his life, so he sets off to do earthquake relief in

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-5981642314529211962009-05-11T16:28:00.003-04:002009-05-14T11:21:08.372-04:00

Neither of these two books is explicitly about aging, but both of them made me think a lot about getting old.It started with The Madonnas Of Leningrad, by Debra Dean. About a third of the way through the book, I was so upset that Garrett was urging me to read something else. As the central character, Marina , slips into the never-never land of Alzheimer's disease, her family struggles to get a

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-10147814954590791912009-05-06T13:40:00.004-04:002009-05-06T13:46:55.483-04:00

Amazon just announced it's new Kindle DX, a bigger version that's supposed to display native pdfs and supposedly will be better for newspaper formats. The price has gone up to $489 and it won't be available until the summer. I think I'll stick with my old Kindle 1, although I can see how this could be great for people who have to view a lot of pdfs.I'd love to hear what other people think.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-43689119638428249082009-05-06T13:16:00.003-04:002009-05-06T13:40:09.568-04:00

When I heard about Cutting for Stone, it sounded like a book I was guaranteed to like. Years ago, I read and really enjoyed Abraham Verghese's memoir, My Own Country. Now he has written a novel that combines his skills as a doctor with those of a writer. I saw that it had gotten excellent reviews and was excited to read it.But I was disappointed. The plot did not really engage me until the last

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-33700411554986190402009-04-11T14:39:00.004-04:002009-04-30T22:02:01.421-04:00

Steve Lopez is a really good writer and has one of the most interesting jobs you can imagine. He wanders the streets of Los Angeles (he used to wander in Philly) looking for a good story. He found one such story when he came across a homeless man playing a two-string violin on Skid Row. Lopez got more than he bargained for. He did some digging and found out that 30 years earlier, the violin

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-40563440215303077862009-04-11T14:21:00.002-04:002009-04-11T14:39:05.406-04:00

I was disappointed when I heard that Majolica in Phoenixville was closing down, and happy when it turned out that they were retooling with a more affordable menu. They now have a $25 prix fixe menu, as well as a number of less expensive items. When we visited recently, I had the prix fixe, Garrett ordered off the menu. My dinner was excellent and a good value.They started us out with a small

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-57843507372345204132009-04-03T16:57:00.002-04:002009-04-03T17:31:28.645-04:00

So many times I have written about how a book transports me to a different part of the world, or a different period in history. The Passion of Tasha Darsky by Yael Goldstein Love transported me in a different way -- to the world of a virtuoso musician who lives wholly in her art. So even if this hadn't been a really good story, full of romance, heartbreak, difficult family relationships, exotic

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-62388767519660788332009-03-26T13:49:00.003-04:002009-03-26T14:01:30.586-04:00

With some of our favorite restaurants closing down, we were delighted to "discover" Jasper Restaurant in Downingtown. Last night we went for their weekly prix fixe dinner, and it was yummy. At $35 it wasn't TOO expensive, but more than we usually want to spend on a weeknight dinner. Here's the menu:Avocado with champagne mango and micro cilantro - this was such a lovely combination of flavors,

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-44122526200183375772009-03-20T16:36:00.005-04:002009-04-05T11:06:04.336-04:00

I chose my next book, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón in anticipation of an upcoming trip to Barcelona. Garrett and I tacked a short vacation onto a freelance assignment I had there in early February. So while I was learning about a planned EU-US collaboration on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, Garrett was exploring this beautiful city. But I had already begun exploring it in

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-35126900603693463412009-03-18T17:56:00.002-04:002009-03-18T18:12:08.802-04:00

Ok, now's the time for those of you who actual read this blog to add some of your own thoughts. I know at least two of you also read this book and I would love to have your contributions to the blog. Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's third book. I've really enjoyed all of them, but I think The Tipping Point was my favorite. That may be primarily because it was so fresh. Now Gladwell has used the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-78474677172914303412009-03-02T09:33:00.003-05:002009-03-02T09:40:59.607-05:00

Anita Diamant's The Last Days of Dogtown is a book I would not have selected had it not been for my bookclub. The subject matter -- a dying town in Massachusetts in the early 1800s just did not sound that appealing. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the book. Diamant creates many wounderful quirky characters, somewhat reminiscent of Cold Mountain, which I also really liked.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-73997006530131122582009-02-25T21:04:00.002-05:002009-02-25T21:55:21.489-05:00

Epic and romantic were some of the descriptors that attracted me to Simon Montefiore's Sashenka. And the book did not disappoint. The story begins in 1916 as the Russian revolution is about to erupt. Sashenka is a young, beautiful, wealthy teenager who rejects her bourgeois upbringing and becomes a Bolshevik activist with the code name "Comrade Snowfox." Cut to 1939, and she is married to a party

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-45562136651235383502009-02-25T16:10:00.002-05:002009-02-25T16:31:17.011-05:00

I decided it was time to read something that wasn't about some horrible war going on around the world... but it turned out not to be as easy as I thought it would be. I chose Out Stealing Horses by Per Pettersen, which is about an older Norwegian man named Trond living a quiet contemplative life in a remote part of Norway. It sounded nice and peaceful, but I should have noticed on the Amazon

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-82306469619966070072009-02-17T16:27:00.004-05:002009-02-28T16:58:31.922-05:00

The books I've been reading over the past year or so have taken me all over the world and across time. My next stop: Sarajevo during the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s. I am embarrassed to say that my recollection of this horrific event is vague, even though I have a good friend who came to the United States from Bosnia as a political refugee about that time.Now, thanks to The Cellist from

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-87467778442243700042008-12-18T15:19:00.003-05:002009-01-02T16:00:31.267-05:00

In the past couple of weeks, I've read a lot in the news about Zimbabwe -- the cholera epidemic, continued political turmoil, and the near collapse of the social and economic fabric that has been getting progressively worse since 1980 when Robert Mugabe took power. What led me to stop and read the news stories about Zimbabwe was a book I just finished, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-58006838097030494032008-12-14T12:27:00.005-05:002008-12-14T12:49:09.875-05:00

When I finished reading Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, I went to his website to read a little more about him, and I was delighted to learn that this is the first book in a trilogy. While it’s hard to imagine a book better than this one, Ghosh has such a fertile imagination and writes so beautifully that I’m certain he can pull it off. And what a fascinating group of characters he has created; a

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-52113261923541416102008-12-14T12:21:00.002-05:002008-12-14T12:27:12.315-05:00

I almost always read books to completion, even when I don’t especially care for them. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle compelled me to break this rule. Even though I have really enjoyed all of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels, and I am a strong proponent of the ideas she espouses in AVM, after a few hundred pages I simply got tired of being harangued by her constant lectures and self-important ruminations.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-51677460920503347492008-11-15T18:02:00.001-05:002008-11-15T18:04:27.609-05:00

No, I’m not talking about that O, but when I think of my favorite things, the election of Barack Obama will forever be at the very top of the list. But here, I’m talking about Oscar Wao, who lives in a space set aside for strange, quirky, and unforgettable characters like Oskar Schell and Owen Meany. Yet while Oscar Wao certainly qualifies as a quirky character, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-63478579663689168652008-11-15T18:00:00.001-05:002008-11-15T18:02:16.939-05:00

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng illuminates an aspect of WWII that was unfamiliar to me and probably many other people, that is, the occupation of Malaya by the Japanese. The story is told in retrospect by an elderly Phillip Hutton, the half-Chinese son of a man who owns one of the largest businesses in Penang. Growing up, Phillip was an outsider, connecting with neither his British father and

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-9291995503837078892008-10-28T13:26:00.001-04:002008-10-28T13:28:35.023-04:00

I thought my book club had sworn off reading any more holocaust books, but someone snuck in this one, and I’m glad they did. Markus Zusak has created a memorable and important book with many richly conceived characters (including Death, the narrator). The protagonist, Liesel, is sent to live a with a foster family in Molching, Germany (near Munich) under somewhat unclear circumstances. On the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-51189614006362818772008-10-28T13:23:00.002-04:002008-10-28T13:26:35.444-04:00

Lucette Lagnado was just a child when her charismatic father’s life started to crumble in Cairo. Anti-Jewish sentiment after the Suez war forced their family (and indeed, almost all of Egypt’s Jewish community) to leave everything behind and resettle in the United States, where they had no standing, little money, and no vibrant supportive community to rely on. Lagnado, who is now a reporter for

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-40891087452046592182008-10-01T16:34:00.001-04:002008-10-01T20:30:35.117-04:00

Yikes! I have read a lot of books since my last entry. Now I just have to try to remember what I liked or didn’t like about them.Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi AliAyaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia, raised Muslim (a horrific childhood), emigrated to Holland, and became a member of the Dutch Parliament. Infidel is basically an intellectual memoir of how she came to understand and reject Islam,

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-51558366929051921302008-07-25T17:21:00.002-04:002008-07-25T17:51:27.500-04:00

For Americans, the most momentous thing to happen in Iran in 1981 was the release of the hostages after 444 days of captivity. Dalia Sofer has another story to tell about Iran in 1981, about normal Iranians who were imprisoned, tortured, and many times killed by the Islamic fanatics who came to power after the Iranian revolution. The Septembers of Shiraz begins with Isaac, an Iranian Jew, taken

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-5057791336300651582008-06-30T11:00:00.004-04:002008-07-25T17:21:43.760-04:00

Last night, Garrett & I watched an amazing movie, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. Everything about this movie is terrific - it tells a compelling (but sad) story about a remarkable man, the filmmaking is beautiful, the score is lovely, the acting is great. Director Julian Schnabel is a genius. The story is about Jean-Dominique Bauby, who suffered a brain-stem stroke and was paralyzed from head

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-90013968857661528682008-06-25T16:29:00.002-04:002008-06-30T10:59:51.215-04:00

Having grown up listening to Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and to a lesser extent, Carly Simon, I was thoroughly captivated by this triple biography by Sheila Weller. The title tells it all: Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- And the Journey of a Generation, although I was born a little too late (and with no musical talent) to experience life in the '60s as they did. The book

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-86206320343873391772008-06-12T12:55:00.000-04:002008-06-12T12:56:57.372-04:00

I know a lot of people love Anne Tyler, but I am not one of them. Her latest book, Digging to America, did not change my opinion. The premise of the story holds a lot of promise: two very different families are brought together when they each adopt baby girls from Korea. One of the couples is Iranian-American, the other middle-class white Americans. The cultural differences between the families

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-82266737859773760112008-06-12T12:41:00.001-04:002008-06-12T12:44:04.903-04:00

When I bought my Kindle, I chose a new book by one of my favorite authors as the first read. Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell did not disappoint, although I did not love it nearly as much as I loved The Sparrow, on of my all-time favorite books. Dreamers, like her previous book A Thread of Grace, falls into the genre of historical fiction (a favorite of mine), and Russell delivers with a

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-17204720565476790492008-06-12T12:21:00.001-04:002008-06-12T12:24:04.415-04:00

Greg Mortensen deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, or maybe sainthood. The work he has done and continues to do in Pakistan and Afghanistan is truly inspirational, and this book does a fantastic job of telling his story. I had a little trouble at first getting used to the book being written in the third person (by co-author David Oliver Relin) although it was clear that Relin was not there for most

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-67154624818912041832008-05-23T15:30:00.001-04:002008-05-23T15:33:54.662-04:00

As much as I loved Omnivore’s Dilemma, I found Michael Pollan’s follow up book, In Defense of Food, to be flat and uninspiring. He makes the case that most of what the “experts” tell us about how to eat is wrong – based on flimsy or non-existent evidence and the wrong-headed, reductive way of thinking about food as a combination of individual nutrients that can be consumed in isolation from whole

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-51798787089416543322008-05-23T15:28:00.001-04:002008-05-23T15:30:26.286-04:00

There are many things to recommend this book. First, I think, are the characters. Lionel Essrog ranks up there with Oskar Schell and Owen Meany. And it's not only his Tourette's syndrome that makes him memorable; he is a good guy trying to the right thing despite the fact that the whole world sometimes seems to be against him. And he is surrounded by other equally interesting characters. Second,

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-42494576041139060802008-05-23T15:23:00.002-04:002008-05-23T15:28:35.308-04:00

During a long drive to Washington DC and back, I listened to A Golden Age by Tahmina Anam, which was read by the actress, chef, and cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey. The story takes place in Bangladesh as the country struggles for independence from Pakistan in 1971. As the book begins, Rehana has lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. In a culture where a widow is powerless and seemingly

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-73613524210474778932008-05-01T11:59:00.003-04:002008-05-01T12:13:39.114-04:00

I have lots of books to write about, although I haven't had time to post anything for awhile. But I'm still reading, now on my new Kindle! It's pretty cool and I've found that I read more slowly and carefully since their is so much less text on the page with more space between lines. Downloading books in 10 seconds, browsing the Kindle store, and looking up words I don't know as I'm reading are

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-82694884911588747572008-03-21T15:31:00.003-04:002008-03-21T15:43:00.855-04:00

I can't think of a word strong enough to convey the fabulousness of the tasting dinner we had last night at the Birchrunville Store Cafe. Instead, I'll just share the menu and say that EVERYTHING was outstanding. I wish we had taken pictures because the presentation was almost as impressive as the food. First course: Ahi tuna and calamari tartare Seafood course: trio of Diver sea scallop with

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-16518467740402962572008-03-21T15:24:00.001-04:002008-03-21T15:28:55.109-04:00

In the world of historical fiction, nobody does it better than Geraldine Brooks. In saying that, I’m reminded of how much I loved the novels of Rose Tremain and Pat Barker. But in my mind, Brooks’ new novel People of the Book is the quintessential historical novel because it combines interesting and important historical facts across several centuries and countries with wonderful fictional

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-15467259400180346342008-03-06T08:48:00.000-05:002008-03-25T11:56:50.414-04:00

As anyone who reads this blog will know, I am forever catching up on reviewing the books I've read. Today I'm determined to catch up, if only because the book I'm just about to finish is so fantastic that I want to get everything else out of the way. Not that some these books haven't also been great:I started the year with three books about my favorite topic: food. The Omnivore's

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-8315673552727816282008-01-16T17:37:00.000-05:002008-01-16T17:49:15.102-05:00

I thought I should start fresh in 2008 since I got so far behind writing about the books I read in 2007. Briefly, I really enjoyed Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. This is an unusual addition to the historical fiction genre in that Nemirovsky wrote it as a contemporary novel in 1940 or so before she was carted off to Auschwitz, where she was murdered. She gives us a fascinating glimpse into

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-41574112889355526942007-11-20T14:47:00.000-05:002008-06-30T10:39:42.491-04:00

A Perfect Match by Jodi PicoultLike many of Picoult's books, this one is a bona fide page turner. But also like some of her other books, it left me feeling sort of empty. I've thought a lot about why this is and I think it's because her characters are so one dimensional. The plot is gripping and moves along rapidly, with some interesting usual twists and turns (some of them completely implausible

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-13907127863060710972007-10-15T15:21:00.000-04:002008-06-30T10:39:42.549-04:00

Since I finished The Other Boleyn Girl on the way to Dresden, I needed to pick up another book in the Frankfurt airport for the return flight. I chose The Zahir, by Paulo Coelho. I had liked (but not loved) The Alchemist, and The Zahir struck me in much the same way: both are about the quest for enlightenment and spirituality, and both are somewhat heavy handed. The Zahir at least has a more

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-26295748713579035852007-10-10T17:01:00.000-04:002008-06-30T10:39:42.593-04:00

We had a fabulous dinner at Cafe Mosaic the other night, or at least I did. We go there frequently and usually it's very good, sometimes excellent, and sometimes just so-so. On Friday I had their szechwan pepper crusted ahi, with soy glazed spinach, lomi-lomi tomatoes, and wasabi vinaigrette. It was memorable... so delicious I was practically speechless. Mike almost always has ahi tuna on the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-77369968167294196352007-10-05T12:13:00.000-04:002008-06-30T10:39:42.633-04:00

This will be the first short restaurant review on my blog. I've been meaning to do this for awhile, because we seem to have an increasing number of good restaurants out in our neck of the woods. Saturday night, Garrett and I headed to Fioravanti in Downingtown. Except for a few quibbles, I thought it was very good. I started with a salad of tomatoes, spinach, arugula, blue cheese crumbles, and

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-43241596346543864942007-09-19T17:15:00.000-04:002007-09-19T17:22:00.193-04:00

September 12. I am on an airplane returning from Dresden where I attended the World Congress on Huntington’s Disease. Since I have eight hours ahead of me with nowhere to go and no internet access, I thought I would take the opportunity to catch up on my reading, or rather on writing about the books I have been reading. Catching up seems to be a constant theme with this blog. One of the great

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-34926020119849060162007-08-25T17:23:00.000-04:002007-08-25T17:43:29.821-04:00

After finishing Water for Elephants, I wanted to read something less sprawling, and my next two books really fit the bill. First I read Astrid and Veronika, by Linda Olsson. What I liked most about this book was the sense of place. The story is set in a small Swedish village, where Veronika, a writer, has returned after the sudden death of her fiance to write a novel about the great love of her

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-41071127965213556332007-08-13T14:43:00.000-04:002007-08-13T15:32:20.454-04:00

My first notice of the band Crowded House came when I heard their song "Don't Dream It's Over" about 5 or 6 years ago and thought it would be a perfect song for Josh's A Capella group, Dischord, to sing. After that I bought their "Greatest Hits" album and Garrett loaded it onto the slim server. We would be listening to a playlist he created, and every now and then a song would come on and I would

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-39737434261235475412007-07-22T17:14:00.000-04:002007-07-22T17:51:53.272-04:00

Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants has everything that I hope for in a novel: a great story, wonderful characters, romance, history, a bit of a mystery, and a twist at the end that brings it all to a richly satisfying ending. The storyteller switches between the past, when 23-year-old Jacob Jankowski, by a stroke of luck (good or bad) joins the BENZINI BROS MOST SPECTACULAR SHOW ON EARTH, and the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-90016450221440770482007-07-06T16:39:00.000-04:002007-07-10T16:52:58.668-04:00

I've read five books I read since my last entry, two during our trip to California for the Bain Family Reunion in Morro Bay. Since our trip home took a total of about 30 hours, I probably could have read a couple of more books if I had them with me and wasn’t so exhausted. Anyway, just so I don’t get too far behind, I’m going to give a quick rundown of the first four, with the final one to

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-53365182952847195292007-06-08T12:34:00.000-04:002007-06-08T13:26:40.441-04:00

These are the two words that come to mind about the book I just finished. The Girls, by Lori Lansens is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read. The story itself is extraordinary: a fictional autobiography with conjoined twins (joined at the head) as the protagonists. Rose starts the book this way:"I have never looked into my sister's eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never stood

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-12746918911563495272007-05-30T16:32:00.000-04:002007-06-03T17:45:51.524-04:00

In the last couple of weeks, I enjoyed reading two books that were very different but both quite enjoyable. First, I read Money Ball, which tells the story of how some nerdy statisticians figured out how to build a winning team with one of the lowest payrolls in the major leagues. And how one general manager, Billy Beane, bought into the whole scheme and has used it successfully for many years to

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-50498100827781740722007-05-25T08:32:00.000-04:002007-05-25T08:48:07.160-04:00

Had a great week last week with more of my favorite things (or rather, people). First of all, Noah graduated (cum laude) from Temple. To help celebrate, my Dad came out from California, so we had a nice little group (including Garrett, Josh, and Laura) of proud family members to honor Noah's achievement. We had a fantastic dinner at Gnocchi. The waitress recommended going family style, which we

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-68494178275340291242007-04-20T14:34:00.000-04:002007-04-20T15:04:44.894-04:00

Since my last post, I got bogged down for some time reading Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. I had wanted to read it for some time, particularly after I read Reading Lolita in Tehran, which I think I enjoyed more. Of course, Nabokov's writing is gorgeous. I was mesmerized by the way he chooses words and puts them together to convey so much of a character's personality. The problem is with the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1175094933432090802007-03-28T11:56:00.000-04:002007-03-28T12:15:33.456-04:00

I haven't had time to write about the many great books I've been reading, but I'm going to try to get in the habit of jotting down a few notes. I loved Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. It's the story of two girls (Lily and Snow Flower) growing up in the Hunan area of China during the 19th century. Despite the fact that they come from different social classes, they are "old sames" or "

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1159820027615207512006-10-02T16:09:00.000-04:002006-10-02T16:13:47.630-04:00

Lizzy, the main character in Any Bitter Thing, by Monica Wood, has a lot to be bitter about. Her parents died in an airplane crash when she was 2; and her Uncle Mike who raised her was taken away for obscure reasons when she was 9, leaving her in the care of an aunt who quickly shipped her off to a Catholic boarding school. When we meet Lizzy at age 30, she’s been left on the side of the road

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1157549475466147742006-09-06T08:58:00.000-04:002006-09-06T09:31:15.776-04:00

I have thoughts about so many books stored in my head now and they are busting to get out. But if I keep waiting until I have time to write about them, they will be forgotten before they see the light of day. So.... I'll just write (briefly) about the book I just finished, which was an excellent, satisfying read.The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea tells the fictionalized true story

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1156544109150427652006-08-25T18:03:00.000-04:002006-08-25T18:15:09.170-04:00

While on our vacation this year, Lisa and I took a sunset kayak tour off the coast of Orcas Island. After a quick demonstration of how to wear the spray skirt and lifejacket we were given a five minute explanation of how to ride and paddle a kayak. Three minutes later we were in the water. Admittedly somewhat shaken by the possible threats of problems in a kayak, we persevered and within

Garrettnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1152793925376191742006-07-13T08:13:00.000-04:002006-07-13T08:32:05.413-04:00

Since the last time I posted anything other than that last brief note, I have read five and two-thirds books and gone on a great trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, so I have a lot to talk about. Unfortunately, I have a lousy memory, so my recollection of the books I read, other than the one I finished yesterday, is not great. On the other hand (an editor told me never to say that if you haven’t

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1150132185497133522006-06-12T13:03:00.000-04:002006-06-12T13:09:45.513-04:00

Work, work, work, has kept me from posting for a looonnnng time, but I'm hoping to be able to catch up soon, because we have been doing some interesting travelling and I've read a couple of great books. For now, I just wanted to mention a fabulous dessert I made last night, Boca Negra Chocolate Chipotle Cakes served with Sweet Tomatillo Sauce and vanilla ice cream. Unusual but very tasty. It

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1145054002737451492006-04-14T18:23:00.000-04:002006-04-15T19:42:58.726-04:00

Our mini-vacation to Las Vegas got off to a bad start last Thursday night, when our flight from Philly to Phoenix was delayed and we missed our connecting flight to Las Vegas. The airline put us up in a hotel and got us on the first morning flight, so we didn’t end up losing too much, other than a good night’s sleep and the cost of the hotel that I had prepaid in Vegas. In the morning we rented a

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1144113284853444992006-04-03T21:04:00.000-04:002006-04-03T21:14:44.866-04:00

I just finished Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos, a wonderful debut novel by a very promising author. It’s not a perfect book, but I found it easy to overlook the few things I found annoying (for example, too many coincidences) because the characters were fascinating and the story compelling. On top of all that, it has a (relatively) happy ending, which I don’t seem to see too much of these

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1143555559363788002006-03-28T09:13:00.000-05:002006-03-28T09:19:22.226-05:00

It’s been ages since I’ve written anything here. I’ve been wanting to write about two recent books I read, but I’m stuck on how to get started or what to say. Both books deal with abandonment, in a sense, but the protagonists in these novels react in totally opposite ways. The first book is easier to describe. Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante tells the story of a woman, Olga, whose husband

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1141347960286231772006-03-02T19:58:00.000-05:002006-03-02T20:08:27.790-05:00

Continuing my efforts to learn more about memory and memory impairments, I just finished The Forgetting by David Shenk. Shenk explores the early, middle, and late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, drawing from history, literature, science, politics, and the personal experiences of people with AD and their caregivers. Shenk is an excellent reporter as well as skilled writer. Take this description of

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1140538964833867442006-02-21T11:16:00.000-05:002006-02-21T11:27:37.226-05:00

A great city, but oh so cold. We braved the frigid temperatures on Saturday to see a bit of the city. I can say from personal experience that Millenium Park is more fun in the summer, when the fountains are flowing, but it still has a certain je ne sais quoi in the Winter. The Museum of Contemporary Photography had a great exhibition on industrialization in China. If you happen to be in Chicago

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1140138363573879522006-02-16T19:56:00.000-05:002006-02-16T20:07:43.960-05:00

I am not much of an adventurer, but I do like reading about the experiences of other people who push their levels of endurance beyond what I would even consider. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, is a book that fits into this category. For the life of me, I can’t understand why someone would subject himself to the tremendous risk and agonizing physical conditions that are a part of climbing Mt.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1139797498824262232006-02-12T21:19:00.000-05:002006-02-12T21:24:58.846-05:00

The snowstorm threatened to derail our food-filled weekend, but although out Saturday plans for a Shiraz tasting and dinner were postponed, the Sweetheart’s Wine and Food Tasting at Café Mosaic was held as planned. Unfortunately, we thought it began at 6 although it actually began at 5. Fortunately, Kristen (co-owner of Mosaic) called us when we hadn’t arrived by 5:30, and the staff slowed down

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1139323488549852962006-02-07T09:41:00.000-05:002006-02-07T09:44:48.720-05:00

If Kazuo Ishiguro had set his most recent novel, Never Let Me Go, in the future, it would have seemed liked a cautionary tale about where science is taking us, but we would have been able to dismiss it as science fiction or fantasy. Instead, he sets it in the present (actually, the 1990s), transforming the story into something frighteningly real and current, despite the fact that the science upon

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1138761339459323152006-01-31T21:29:00.000-05:002006-02-01T08:12:36.446-05:00

I finally finished A Tale of Love and Darkness, by Amos Oz. Noah asked me what it’s about. Here’s my answer:It’s a coming-of-age tale about an extraordinary young boy growing up in Israel.No, that’s not it… It’s a story about the birth of the nation of Israel.No, that’s not it either… It’s a story about the making of a writer.No, that’s still not it… It’s a story about mental illness and the

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1138205313007531152006-01-25T11:01:00.000-05:002006-01-25T11:10:54.680-05:00

I have been remiss in not updating my blog, especially with so much going on. Our cooking class continues to be a lot of fun, and we have gotten a lot of great tips. Even better, last weekend, we had two wonderful dinners with exceptional people. On Saturday, Ethan and his friend Cristin joined us for a dinner of Chicken Marbella (from The Silver Palate Cookbook, one of my all time favorites)

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1137118956064216682006-01-12T21:20:00.000-05:002006-01-13T15:18:02.876-05:00

Garrett and I had our first of four cooking classes on Monday at Café Mosaic. I know everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that we are finally going to learn to cook! The class, titled “Stocks, Soups, and Sauces with Chef Mike” is taught through the adult school. We only got into the third section because, as regulars at the restaurant, we were given preferential treatment (thanks, Mike!) Our

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1136293274305031072006-01-03T07:54:00.000-05:002006-01-03T08:01:14.326-05:00

"...being a hero comes from respecting your parents and all others, from helping your neighbors and strangers, from loving your spouse, your children, your neighbors and your enemies, from honesty and integrity, from knowing when to fight and when to walk away, and from understanding and respecting the differences among the people of the world."--Paul E. Schroeder, whose son, Lance Cpl. Edward "

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1135119866413191462005-12-20T17:58:00.000-05:002005-12-21T08:24:51.436-05:00

Reading novels is one of my greatest pleasures in life. Thus, I am somewhat thrown by a book like Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee, which won the 1999 Booker Prize for fiction. The central character in the book, David, is immensely unlikable. His daughter, Lucy, portrayed through David’s eyes, is distant, aloof, unknowable. Yet their story, for all of its brutality and ambiguity, I suppose reflects at

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1134357624191254082005-12-11T22:16:00.000-05:002005-12-11T22:20:24.213-05:00

Between 1998 and 1999, Jonathan Cott received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT… shock treatments) 36 times for severe depression. The repeated delivery of some 200 volts of electricity though the frontal lobes of his brain permanently erased 15 years of memory, save a few “flashbulb” memories of emotionally charged events. He no longer recognized good friends, no longer remembered films he saw,

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1133924408571483232005-12-06T21:55:00.000-05:002005-12-06T22:00:10.756-05:00

I have been trying to figure out what it is that I liked so much about Sightings by Susan Trott. It doesn’t have great character development, which is usually what snags my interest. And it isn’t written with the kind of richly detailed descriptions that I love to read over and over, hoping that by osmosis I will absorb the talent to write like that. I did not have to look far to remember that

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1133184591225794842005-11-28T08:19:00.000-05:002005-11-28T08:29:51.226-05:00

Sue Miller, who has written many wonderful novels, has written an interesting, terrifying, and deeply heart-felt memoir about her father’s descent into Alzheimer’s disease, and her experience in trying to care for him and understand the meaning of his life and illness. The Story of My Father succeeds at a number of levels. First, as anyone who has read Miller’s fiction would expect, this memoir

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1132765360762676022005-11-23T11:54:00.000-05:002005-11-23T12:11:46.890-05:00

Janusz Bardach was just 21 years old when he was drafted from his hometown in Poland into the Red Army. As a Jew, he was eager to fight the Nazis, but only a year later he became a prisoner of the Stalinist regime after accidentally rolling his tank. He was forced to dig a grave and sleep in it before he was sentenced to death; but was rescued by a NKVD officer (NKVD was the precursor to the KGB)

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1132350055474143332005-11-18T16:06:00.000-05:002005-11-18T16:40:55.500-05:00

My friends at work gave me a wonderful cookbook called Cooking From the Heart, which features stories and recipes contributed by 100 well-known chefs as a benefit for Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger organization. Two of my favorite things in one book: food and stories! In the foreward to the book, Richard Russo (who wrote, among other great books, Empire Falls) wrote this: "Who has not had

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1130519953172368082005-10-28T13:10:00.000-04:002005-10-28T13:19:13.186-04:00

Haven Kimmel is a good writer and she creates interesting characters. Nonetheless, for some reason I never got caught up in Something Rising (Light and Swift). I think part of the reason is that most of the characters are not all that likable… they’re just a little strange. The central character, Cass, grows up surrounded by family members who aren’t all there, either literally (her father is

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1129483461006739222005-10-16T13:07:00.000-04:002005-10-18T10:50:23.610-04:00

Almost anyone who has talked to me over the past 3 weeks has heard me wax rhapsodically about the 885 greatest albums countdown going on at WXPN, my favorite radio station. If you haven't had a chance to be a part of this wonderful event, you still have time (and you can listen on line*)! Right now (Sunday, 1 p.m.) they are playing #13, Blue, by Joni Mitchell. This album was on my top 10 list so

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1128992712926712592005-10-10T21:05:00.000-04:002005-10-10T21:16:48.630-04:00

Ever since I got the cookbook Baking with Julia, I’ve been wanting to make this dessert, Chocolate Napoleons. Not only is it a fun dessert, but it’s also really delicious and an intriguing combination of tastes and textures. The scaffolding is created by crispy chocolate phyllo layers (the only really challenging part of this recipe). Layered in between these crisps are poached pears, chocolate

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1128711809503617682005-10-07T14:58:00.000-04:002005-10-07T15:03:29.516-04:00

Yesterday, I read an interesting (and to me, surprising) news item in New Scientist, which claimed that chronic diseases (heart disease, cancer, and diabetes) are the biggest global killers, far outshadowing infectious diseases as killers of people in low and middle-income countries. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet opined that “Without concerted and coordinated political action, the gains

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1128042131993380672005-09-29T21:01:00.000-04:002005-09-29T21:21:05.056-04:00

Check out some of our pictures from England & Scotland. Rather than bore you with all 200+ pictures from our trip, here are just a few highlights.

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1127393860964440142005-09-22T08:00:00.000-04:002005-09-22T08:57:41.013-04:00

Here it is, the autumnal equinox (at 6:23 p.m.) The days are getting shorter and outside our bedroom window, all the leaves have turned yellow. Yesterday seemed like a good day to go for a walk, so Garrett and I headed out in our hiking boots and long pants to ward off the pricklers in the woods. We thought we would walk along the Horseshoe Trail, which runs along the back of our property and

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12561659.post-1126280940441383212005-09-09T11:23:00.000-04:002005-09-09T11:49:01.923-04:00

We're still having a blast but have continued to have driving challenges. After leaving Inverness (not a very interesting place), we decided to drive along the more "tranquil" east side of Loch Ness. That meant long stretches of curvy single track roads, which means the road is only wide enough for one car. When a car approaches in the other direction, one or the other of you have to pull off

LisaBainnoreply@blogger.com0