Short Review: "Brew it Yourself"

I am an enthusiastic home brewer, and I've accumulated a large number of books on the subject, so when I saw this "Brew it Yourself" book, I wondered whether they could come up with anything new.

Yes, they did. This book goes over the fundamentals of making alcoholic beverages of many kinds (wine, beer, cider, sparkling drinks, liqueurs) from just about ANYTHING edible: dried figs to coconut to dandelions to lavender. They also have several recipes where they start with a purchased drink (whisky, for example) and add things like fruit or vegetables to it. The authors, both Brits, are avid gardeners, so this makes more sense than you might think. They note, for example, that one might get really tired of rhubarb crumble (a dessert) after harvesting a bumper crop, but leftover rhubarb makes excellent wine. Need to make sloe gin? Orange bitters? Marrow (squash) rum? Ginger beer? Boozy Dandelion Soda? Stinging Nettle Beer? This is the book for you.

Although I don't generally associate the word "brew" with all this (do you "brew" wine?), that's just semantics. It all uses yeast and it results in alcohol, so yes, it's all brewing. The explanations are clear, but if you're a first time brewer you might want to pick up a copy of John Palmer's "How to Brew," which goes over the actual process steps for the beer recipes in very fine detail.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: "The Porcelain Thief"

Huan Hsu is an American of Chinese descent (an ABC - American born Chinese), so there are multiple layers of confusion when he takes a break from his career to return to China to investigate the whereabouts of a treasure his several greats grandfather Liu buried during China's upheavals in the early 20th century. Huan does not speak Chinese very well, but he does not look like a foreigner to the Chinese either, which causes problems. The grandmother he hopes will help him has her own agenda and doesn't want him raking up the past.

What struck me, however, is how very American his behavior is - brash, impatient, occasionally angry and sometimes unreasonable, but absolutely determined to figure out the mystery. In lesser hands this might have been unpleasant, but here he skillfully meshes a fascinating history of the last Chinese dynasties with his family's trials through several wars. (The porcelain is really just the McGuffin - the real story is his family's cultural history, and the tag line for the title shows this: Searching the Middle Kingdom for Buried China - literally and figuratively.) I learned quite a bit - highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Short Review: "Create, Narrate, Punctuate: How to Fashion Exquisitely Styled Sentences"

This is a non-fiction writing textbook disguised as a meditation on the use and abuse of language, and a pretty good one, too. Reminds me of Edwin Newman's "On Language," or Richard Lederer's "Less than Words can Say" but with end of chapter questions and answers. Not a dry recitation of grammar rules (although virtually all the rules are spelled out clearly), but rather an argument for good written communication, using quotes from famous writers and wry remarks on the state of English these days (poor, generally) to get his point across.

The author, Ramy Tadros, teaches at the college level (in Australia...much of the book uses British spelling) and does some editing on the side. Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from StoryCartel in exchange for a review. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.

Full Review: "Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir"

Frances Mayes is well-known for her many books on Tuscany, particularly "Under the Tuscan Sun," (which was eventually made into a movie.)

A lush, evocative, perceptive writer in any event, she outdoes herself with "Under Magnolia," a memoir of growing up in the deep South. Sometimes you can go home again, even though you remember every detail of the racist, dysfunctional, eccentric, but somehow still loving and supportive family that you grew up in. We learn about her parents, her grandmother, various neighbors and other relatives, but the most moving portrayal to my mind is her close relationship with their black servant, Willie Bell, who guided her through some difficult times, took care of her, and whom she eventually lost touch with, to her continuing distress.

Mayes now divides her time between Tuscany and Hillsborough, NC, and she compares the two frequently in "Under Magnolia", noting similarities and differences of thought. She also notes that the South has improved dramatically in several respects (particularly racial relations.)

Highly recommended meditation on home and what that means.

I obtained a free copy of this book in return for a review, from Blogging For Books. The image above links to the book's Amazon page.