miscellaneous debris

When I was 12, Mom & I watched the Bears' first 1985 preseason game, having heard they'd be good that year, and they just kept winning right through the Superbowl.  We watched every game.  I watched The Superbowl Shuffle video over and over, reveling in the characters that comprised this unique team. I think I've watched less than a dozen football games since.

When I saw this book (due out in hardcover in October 2013), I picked it up out of nostalgia, thinking I'd read a few chapters and lose interest.  Now I'm 5 chapters in and learning all sorts of stuff about the history of the NFL, the Bears organization, Papa Bear Halas and his innovations.  The writing is engaging, and my limited knowledge of football hasn't hindered my enjoyment. 

Fans of Jenny Lawson and The Oatmeal will enjoy this. It includes some hilarious writing about depression that also rings very true.  If you like the site, you'll love the book!

I devoured this book. I loved taking this journey with Alex, with all its wacky twists and turns and philosophical meanderings. I chuckled all the way through. Though it has its serious moments and themes, the overall tone is lighthearted. As a Kurt Vonnegut fan, I was skeptical of an author who would use his works as a plot device, but it works here and does justice to Vonnegut's ideas.

I just finished reading Molly Wizenberg's forthcoming (Spring 2014) memoir Delancey, and it made me want to read Homemade Life, which I've been hearing about for ages.  Her style in Delancey is personal and fun, and the restaurant scenes took me back to my years behind the line.  Her passion for food shines through, and all of the recipes sound delicious.  I love the introductions to the recipes, which lean heavily toward altering quantities and ingredients based on what's on hand or in season.  This isn't just a book about food, though; her marriage and internal life carry equal weight with the development of the titular Seattle pizzeria.

(Advance Reader Copy)

I read Watson's Montana 1948 many years ago, and I have always meant to read more from him. 

I'm about halfway through this short novel and I'm completely absorbed. The taciturn characters inhabit a vivid hardscrabble setting on the plains of North Dakota and Eastern Montana, where men are tough and women tougher. The straightforward prose pairs perfectly with the single-mindedness of a couple desperate to keep their only remaining family within reach. 

I had some hits & some misses with the recipes in this book, but the hits were big hits and the misses were delicious, just not pretty.  The peanut butter nougat was absurdly good, but my attempts at layering candy bars were a frustrating but tasty mess.

I picked this up just to see what it was about and ended up devouring the first 50 pages before I realized I was still sitting in an uncomfortable chair.  The narrator's clear, strong voice is immediately engaging, and the situations and problems feel realistic, his reactions to them honest and introspective.  I love that the author doesn't shy away from using a smart, adult vocabulary in conjunction with teen slang and rock star dreams.  

The homemade Oreo cookie recipe in this book is so dang good...

I'm about halfway through, and I'm enthralled. The dark cover and grim-sounding synopsis made me wary and almost prevented me from picking up this book. The dark, sometimes desperate mood of the story is balanced by a setting that is mostly sunshine and beaches.  The fractured timeline and the protagonist's mysterious origins swirl around the reader in clear, streamlined prose. 

I've had this book on my kitchen table for a week or so, and I pick it up now and then and read for a few minutes.  The writing is engaging and personal, and Orkin's story is unusual. I would recommend it to fans of good food writing or memoir, especially anyone who enjoyed Momofuku by David Chang and/or Lucky Peach magazine.