An engaging gastronomic presentation of French history and culture.
This sequel offers French family stories—and recipes—from Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Normandy and Brittany on the Atlantic coast, the Loire Valley, and Auvergne.
With tape recorder and notepad in hand, Bumpus—traveling with Josianne, her French-speaking friend and guide—first interviewed Veronique for this collection. Veronique lived east of Dunkirk in the Monts de Flandres area, close to the Belgian border. Madame Pund, Veronique’s mother, served “her famous Potjevlesh”(meat pot), a Flemish specialty. Historically, the dish was prepared from leftover meats, such as “rabbit, chicken, and pork…all roasted with a lot of herbs.” Fearful of stirring tragic memories, the author cautiously asked Veronique whether her mother would mind talking about World War II. With Madame Pund’s permission, Veronique launched into the story of her father, whose family escaped the German bombings of Dunkirk. He was 9 years old when his mother and aunt decided to flee. With the men out fighting the Germans, his aunt, who did not know how to drive, became the designated driver. She “could barely reach the pedals…and didn’t know how to use the brake.” To stop the car, Veronique’s father would “jump out and put a block of wood in front of the wheels.” When German airplanes strafed the line of cars, they would “all jump into the ditch.” In Normandy, Bumpus visited the Cathedral of Our Lady in Bayeux, consecrated in 1077, to see the church where a 200-foot-long tapestry depicting “the entire story of William the Conqueror…woven into the cloth” originally resided. The author’s straightforward narrative delivers vivid imagery of both the surroundings and the people: “The air was crisp and sparkling as we drove along the beach”; Madame Pund “moved through the room with some discomfort yet carried herself in a regal manner.” As a poignant illustration of Bumpus’ belief that the trauma of war permanently changes lives, she introduces a French grandmother who had barely survived in Paris during World War II. Upon hearing of 9/11, the woman ordered 500 kilos of potatoes, just in case. All of the recipes discussed and sampled are included in this enjoyable work.
An engaging gastronomic presentation of French history and culture. (maps)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63152-896-5
Page Count: 376
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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