Food for Drama

New Blog Location

2011-05-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to continue at http://foodfordrama.com. Hope to see you there! Ursula

Sofi Oksanen: Purge

2011-02-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

This very dark novel about Estonian life from the 1930s to the 1990s, especially from the female point of view.

The story pictures two sister, envy that leads to betrayal and the Gulag, failure to communicate that leads to more suffering and ultimate loneliness.

It is interesting to read how the Russian occupation was perceived, and how the communists, both Russian and Estonian, took control of the people.

The connection is then made from the communist oppression machine to the modern day Russian mafia, with many players just changing roles, especially viewing women then and now as disposable. The forced prostitution part is quit graphic,hard to read, it is that painful.

Interesting also the description of Estonian lifestyle in the 1990s: The countryside population is so very poor compared to the Western standard of living, but don't see it that way. Foraging of mushrooms and herbs (for medicinal purposes) is a way of life, a boiled pig ear a nutritious dinner.

Sophie Hannah: The Dead Lie Down

2011-02-04T21:13:00.000-08:00

The book was slow to start, and I was annoyed with that everybody seemed to be so crazy and disfunctional, the police just as much as the people who were talking about murders that apparently didn't even happen.

However, it pulled me in, and I couldn't figure the story (even after glancing over the end), and by the time I managed to read the first half, it actually became interesting and compelling. It helped that after a while, the crazy people became human, as more personal background was revealed.

The story is set in small town Britain, not too far from London. Fascination with art, no, obsession with art, and also with controlling people to the extreme, a lot of damaged personalities, be it through their upbringing or through abuse later in life, make this crime novel interesting.

Mushrooms at Point Lobos

2011-02-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

Point Lobos, a park close to Carmel, in Northern California (or more like close to the middle) used to be a major whaling and abalone fishing location. Located at the whale migration path, if was ideally situated for killing whales, a sad and brutal operation (just look at the weapons in Point Lobos' whaling museum).

Nowadays, the park with stunning views of the ocean is a major destination for tourists. We were lucky to get wonderful weather in January. Additionally to the picturesc views, many mushrooms were sprouting in the woods. Why do people kick pretty mushrooms when they see them? If you can identify a mushroom, please leave a comment, and I'll annotate!

Pretty, earmushroom like!
Is it a Phaeolus schweinitzii?

The yellow version of the Fly-agaric (Fliegenpilz). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_agaric

Dark cap, white stem, gills

Death cap? I don't think so, there were many parasols in the area.

Another fly agaric.

Very pretty cluster.

And yet another fly agaric.

And finally, a bolite (Steinpilz).

Rosenkohl and Butternut Squash

2011-02-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's called Brussels sprouts in English, but I find the word Rosenkohl (rose cabbage) much more fitting.

Rosenkohl always has been a treat for me. My mother used to steam it, season it with nutmeg and toss it in butter or bechamel. In America, I learned how to pan fry Rosenkohl with bacon, which adds a whole other set of flavors.

Recently, after picking up our vegetable box, we had dinner at the excellent restaurant Incanto in Noe Valley (San Franciso), where they served Rosenkohl with course mustard, a tasty combination. They even sold the mustard (Boccalone, made in Oakland), delicious and actually cheaper than the mass produced German version from the German store. I adapted the recipe, and altered it to my liking:

Ingredients: about 20 Brussels sprouts, 1 strip of bacon, a splash of white whine, a tablespoon of course mustard, pepper.

Clean the sprouts by removing the outer layer. Bring one inch of water in a smallish pot to boil (with a steamer insert, if you have one). Add the largest sprouts, and then every minute the next largest, until you have them all in. Steam with closed lid for about 5-7 min total. The time starts when you put the first sprout into the pot.

The sprouts are now very close to being cooked. If you prefer them a little more crunchy, reduce the steaming time. At this point, you can just put them into the fridge until you are ready to finish them up later in the day or the next day, which just takes a few more minutes in the pan.

Chop bacon and fry in small frying pan. When the bacon is close to being crispy, add the sprouts, reduce the heat, stir and leave alone for a couple of minutes, until the bottom of the sprouts turns a little bit brown. Stir again to give the top part a slight browning, add pepper and mustard, stir, serve and enjoy!

We also had Butternut squash in our recent vegetable box from Mariquita, which we enjoyed together with the Rosenkohl and a nice rib-eye steak last night. Microwave squash until it is a little soft. Cut in half, clean out the innerts, and cut in one inch slices (peeling is not necessary). Since the (gas) grill was already going, G. barbecued the squash, after marinating it with thyme, a little mint, olive oil and lime juice. While on the grill, she basted the squash with a honey/lime juice baste, to give it more flavor. This is not necessary on a charcoal grill - plenty of smokey flavor from the coals. Highly recommended if you like Butternut squash!

I have been neglecting my blog for a while. However, I recently added a number of new book reviews to goodreads (see side bar). I might post a summary here later.

Smita Jain: Kkrishnaa's Konfessions

2010-07-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Kkrishnaa, the protagonist, is a screen-writer for an Indian soap, and observes the inhabitants of a neighboring luxury apartment building with a telescope to find ideas for her soap (she suffers from writers block). The most bizarre things happen over there, but apparently not bizzare enough, because Kkrishnaa decides to stirr the pot and add a little pseudo-blackmail. After she witnessed a murder, her life is in danger. Incidentally, most people who live in the building are connected to the murdered woman. The police is very forthcoming to share their findings with K. and eventually, she solves the murder. Kkrishnaa is a witty, ruthless, not very likable but amusing person mostly interested in advancing her career, and surrounded by career-related intrigue. Plenty of examples of her screen-writing are given in the book, with insight into the values these soaps want to convey and the way Indian TV is written ("faints, repeat three times from different angles in slow motion"...). Interesting and fast paced, quite over the top exaggerations (I hope) of modern Indian life.

According to the author, this is a chick-lit. First time I heart this term, I guess I am out of touch (or maybe, not a native English speaker).

SFOpera: Gounod's Faust

2010-07-02T18:08:00.000-07:00

The conclusion (for us) of the 2009/2010 opera season at the San Francisco Opera was yesterday's Faust (Gounod). It started in a high-note: The lecture (by Clifford Cranna, Director of Music Administration) was excellent. In just under half an hour, he gave a great overview of the origins of the Faust legend, and highlighted the most important plays that influenced Gounod, talked about the history of this opera itself, in the various incarnations, and told the story, illustrated by recordings, while giving us information on the musical styles that Gounod used. I wish they always had high quality lectures like this.

Now to the opera itself: The Faust legend in Gounod's interpretation has its emphasis on Marguerite (Gretchen), who has probably the largest part to sing, beautifully portrayed and sung by Patricia Racette.The production has traditional, with nice period costumes, and pretty scenery.
The other big part was Mephisto (John Relyea), whose characterization of Mephisto was quite believable and lively. He did remind me of the Pied Piper of Hamelin with a colorful costume in the second act, and the use of his violin in manipulating people. I wished that his voice would be a bit fuller and warmer.
I never liked the character of Faust, in neither Goethe's play nor the other Faust operas I have seen (Dr. Faustus from Busoni, Mephistophele from Boito). Stephano Secco did a good job, and to me came over as the jerk he is supposed to portray. Siebel (Daniela Mack) and Marthe (Catherine Cook) were both quite wonderful. Brian Mulligan as Valentin stood out despite the bizarre lightning during his aria (The stage changed colors constantly, for no apparent reason). The performance was interesting and engaging, but lost some of its impact in the last scene. After four hours (including two intermissions) we were happy to go home.

R. E. Conary: Life's a Bitch. So am I. Rachel Cord, P.I.

2010-06-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

I bought this book because of the title: It promised an entertaining novel, and it actually was entertaining:

PI Rachel Cord tries to find a missing girl, and to solve a number of gay bashing incidents. At great personal expense, she solves it all, mostly through talking to the right people, and uncovers a crime ring. One wonders why the police wasn't able to do this, since they had more resources, and had all the information at hand, however, part of the solution to the crimes explain the inactivity of the police as well.

I am conflicted about this book. It has a lot of stereotypes, language reminds me of Sam Spade etc. I didn't appreciate at all a very explicit rape/torture scene. On the other hand, I couldn't put the book down.

Denise Mina: Resolution

2010-06-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

The one thing they had in common was their victimhood, and that mantle was a negation of all the wonders in life, a license to brutalize without compunction.

How true this sentence is, that to me sums up not only this novel, but also so many issues in all of our lives. I am sadly observing the development from victim to offender in several people close to me, fortunately none of them in a criminal sense but in a human sense. They don't see that with their actions, they don't just make their surroundings miserable, but also destroy their own lives.

This last book from the Garnethill trilogy is just as strong as the first one. Demonstrates how abuse and prostitution often go together and threads through all layers of society, and how lenient laws about prostitution are instrumental in keeping the abusers on the street.

SF Opera's original Spaghetti Western

2010-06-25T18:20:00.000-07:00

Puccini's "La Fanciulla del West" is not one of the main-stream operas. I have never seen it before (but auditioned for Wowkle, the Indian maid, once, ugh). The setting is in the Sierra Nevada Foothills, during the gold rush. The protagonist is Minnie, the owner of the local saloon, and only woman the miners have contact with. She acts as a surrogate mother and object of desire. Especially the sheriff is lusting after her, but she won't let any man come close, until Johnson shows up, the local bandit planning to rob the place. Through love, Johnson gives up his thiefdom, Minnie rescues him from the noose, and they live happily ever after.

There are a few issues with this opera that probably make it less popular than most of the other Puccini operas:

The awkward setting in the Sierra foothills, during the gold rush (who would want to hear about the gold rush in Italian?)
The lack of memorable arias
The need for first class singers

San Francisco Opera's production had a lot of potential. The closeness in location (everybody here know the Sierra foothills and the history of the gold rush), a first class opera company, great staging, world class singers. Unfortunately, while mostly entertaining, this production didn't quite live up to its potential.

Several of the charactors' names were familiar names from the area. The Wells Fargo agent, Ashby, was reminicent of one of the first settlers of Berkeley, William Ashby, now mostly familiar through Ashby Avenue, a major street in Berkeley. Wells Fargo (the present day bank) should have financed the whole production, considering that "their" agent played a good sized part. A miner's name, Sonora, most certainly came from the city of Sonora, a gold rush town on Route 49 (see picture on the right), a very busy town that we visited last on our trip to Knights Ferry.

The orchestra, under the baton of Luisotti, sounded great, wonderful sound, very musical. But this is opera, and overpowering the singers, so much that several times, I didn't realize somebody was singing, doesn't do justice to the music, no matter how beautiful.

I have seen Deborah Voigt in many productions, mostly at the Met. She always impressed me with her soaring, beautiful voice, and her wonderful portrayal of the characters. I don't think, Minnie is the best role for her. Her portrayal was quite wonderful, she was a very convincing Minnie, but the beauty of her voice was hidden in the many "conversational", recit-like parts of her role. She was shining in the upper middle part of her voice during long legato lines, too bad there weren't more of those.

I saw Salvatore Licitra years ago, when he was flown in from Italy to take over what was supposed to be Pavarotti's final Tosca at the Met. He was promising at the time, and yesterday, he showed that he has developed into a solid performer, interesting voice, interesting characterization. However, he unfortunately hasn't figured out yet, how to connect the high notes to the rest of the voice.

Maya Lahyani, a new Adler fellow, sounded very beautiful as Wowkle, I am sure we'll hear more from her in the future. The other men were good, but again, the orchestra drowned them out at times.

The staging was mostly entertaining. Minnie riding in on a horse lost a little bit of its impact by the two guides making sure the (very sweet) horse doesn't run into the pit. But this was the second opera in a row with animals on stage (after the dogs in Walküre), and with real fire (here a campfire). What are we going to see in Faust next week?

Yvonne Eve Walus: Murder @ Work

2010-06-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Neurotic mathematician Christine Chamberlain, working at a consulting agency Pretoria, South Africa day-dreams of killing her boss. She really wants to work and gain recognition as a mathematician, and is thrilled having been invited to a Math conference in Greece based on the research she has been doing in the evenings.
Unfortunately, her boss dies, and Christine is the obvious culprit, since she has shared her sentiments with her coworkers, and had access to the murder weapon. In a hurry, she has to figure out the truth by herself, so that she can attend the conference. To the leading detectives ire, she sticks her nose into everything, and eventually puts the puzzle together, and makes it to the plane.

Entertaining, short, interesting read about South Africa in the late 90s. I like particulary, how she gives us the different perspectives of people of different class and color, demonstrating how insulting it can be, when somebody complains about a small hardship in front of a person that has a much more difficult life, and no choice.
Why Walus, a mathematician/author from New Zealand, writes about South Africa escapes me, but she obviously knows a lot about the country, and writes engagingly about it, so I am glad she does! Maybe, I will create a wikipedia article about her, and others can fill in the blanks.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir: My Soul to Take

2010-06-21T06:46:00.000-07:00

My soul to take is the last line of an eighteen's century children's prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the lord my soul to keep;
if I die before I wake,
I pray for God my soul to take.

It reminds me of a German good-night song: Guten Abend gut Nacht.

The first verse of the German song implies that the person singing it will only wake up in the morning, if it's goods will. The English prayer asks for saving the childs soul, if it might die. Both sentiments must be very difficult to understand for a small child, and can be disturbing.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's crime novel "My soul to take" starts with a young girl, being buried alive in a cave, being told to keep praying until God takes her to her (dead) mother.

Spool forward a few decades, attorney Thóra Gudmundsdóttir is asked by a client to find out about a ghost (a crying child, both been seen and heart) at his new-age resort. A couple of murders later, for which the client is held by the police, it becomes obvious to most people involved, that the ghost issue is not the main problem here. Not so Thóra, who rightfully insists that there must be a connection. After stubbornly proceeding with her unveiling of the resort-turned-ranch's history, much to the dismay of her visiting boyfriend Matthew, she eventually figures out the truth about both the murders and the ghost. Unfortunately not as strong as its predecessor "Last Rituals", Icelandic rural life, WWII antics, and small town animosities make this still an interesting and entertaining novel.

Denise Mina: Garnethill

2010-06-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, Aaron Vargas from Fort Bragg, California, got sentenced to 9 years in prison, for killing his childhood abuser. His friends and family are outraged at this high sentence. The judge argued, that not having him go to prison would encourage others to take the law into their own hands, instead of going through the justice system.

Is this also a feminist issue? Would there have been an outcry like this, if the killer would have been a woman, and would this woman have been sentenced to life in prison instead? It seems like violating a man/boy is perceived as more serious, because women/girls are violated all the time, anyway.

Denise Mina's book Garnethill is a crime novel with a protagonist (Maureen), who is still living through the nightmares of having been abused by her father as a child. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the family doesn't believe that it ever happened, an all to common occurrence, so additionally to having these crippling memories, Maureen also gets ostracized by her sisters and verbally attached by her mother. A great situation to be in, when discovering the dead body of her boyfriend, and further discovering that he probably got killed by a skilled an shrewd rapist, who targets women that are already so damage by previous abuse that they won't ever talk about it, to avoid reliving the whole thing over and over again. Maureen now has the choice of unveiling this to the police and causing more suffering to the abused women, or trying to bring the man to justice in different ways. I was happy that she didn't choose Aaron Vargas' solution.

Martin Edwards: The Coffin Trail

2010-06-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

Daniel, a history professor from Oxford and his journalist girlfriend Miranda from London decide spontaneously to give up their busy lives and settle in the Lake District, hours away from more populous parts of England.

Incidentally, the house they buy has a history: the son of the owner was suspected of a gruesome crime, but died before things got investigated properly. David used to know him as a boy, but doesn't bother to tell Miranda. It also turns out, that David's late father (with whom he didn't have contact for decades) used to be a detective in the area, and was the investigator for this crime. So, the spontaneous decision was more on part of Miranda, and David obviously had an agenda. So it comes to no surprise, that David wants to solve the murder, even if it alienates a lot of people in the tight-knit community.

Systematically, the author misleads the reader with all evidence pointing to one person, but then David pulls all his brains out of the hat, and it turns out to be somebody quite different. Unfortunately, his ego doesn't allow him to share this information with the police, so he barely escapes death himself.

Nicely written, beautiful language. I liked to read about the area (Lake District in Northern England). I didn't care too much for the story and the protagonist.

Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson

2010-06-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

This novel portraits a number of people either working in Antarctica, or having connections to Antarctica, their lives, their philosophies, their friends. Through their stories, the author also recaps the history of the continent, namely the early explorations (Scott, Amundsen, and others). The story then culminates in dramatic events, that bring all protagonists together, and surprisingly ends happily.

Most of the Antarctic story takes place in NSF research facilities (that's the National Science Foundation of the US). The usual dichotomy of scientists (here called "Beakers") and regular people is nicely described. Also, the author succeeded in vividly describing the cold of Antarctica. What a difficult place to live!

First I thought, that the story is situated in the presence, but later it became obvious, that it's actually more like science fiction, in the near future. Especially the gadgets (satellite wrist-phones, solar-heated cold-suits) were probably not quite available in 1997.

This novel, while not that long, too me a long time to read. I found the book informative and interesting, if a bit slow, not a lot suspense, so other things in my life became more important. I was disappointed in the ending, where sabotage leads to a better world (in Antarctica). That was way too smooth, easy, harmonious, to be believable.

Die Walküre

2010-06-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

Unlike the common prejudice, women singing Wagner don't always wear horns!

A few years ago, the Mariinsky Opera company (formerly Kirov) from St. Petersburg performed the Wagner's Ring cycle at the Met in NYC. I scored a last minute ticket to Rheingold, and while waiting outside, my friend and I admired the many audience members wearing horns and similar accoutrement. So one could say that the horns now migrated to the audience.

At yesterday's opening night of Die Walküre (San Francisco Opera), I didn't notice any audience members wearing horns. That was quite disappointing, but maybe due to the fact, that we didn't hang out before the show, due to rush hour traffic on the Bay Bridge.

The opera was a memorable success. The production (Francesca Zambello) was quite wonderful. The mortals were in the forest or in a dump underneath a highway (with real dogs running accross the stage), Wotan looking like a CEO overlooking the skyline of a big city, the Valkyries were jumping from the sky in parachutes (great effect, even it these were supers and not the actual singers). A fair amount of pyromania and a bunch of lively singers guaranteed an entertaining night.

Now to the music: Donald Runnicles, the former Music Director of SFOpera was back for this production. Whenever he came out into the pit, he was greeted with ovations by the audience, and rightly so. The orchestra sounded fabulous, an pit and stage were harmonious.

The musical star of the evening was in my opinion Eva-Maria Westbroek as Sieglinde. Her clear substantial voice has a wonderful golden timbre, and she was very believable in her characterization. Additionally, I could understand her words very well.

Nina Stemme, in her debut as Brünnhilde, sang very well, sounded appropriate, and was also a very engaging actor. I'd have preferred a Brünnhilde with a little bit more oompf, but she certainly lived up to the role.

I was looking forward to hearing Mark Delavan ever since he was interviewed in the Classical Singers Magazine, describing his difficult journey of his career. He sang very well, and portrayed Wotan in a very likable way. Unfortunately, he sounded tired and exhausted in the third act, and only just recovered for the ending.

The valkyries were impressive, especially one of them, who was significantly louder than all the others, with a wonderfully warm timbre. I don't know the opera well enough to know, which one it was, but it was somebody to look out for.

The evening ended quite dramatically, with fire all around the stage, much like the fire operas at the Crucible in Oakland. The railings probably got hot. Wotan put on gloves before climbing down the back of the stage. After nearly 5 hours, this was welcome entertainment!

Spirits in Alameda

2010-04-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

Alameda is an island in the San Francisco Bay, accessible from Oakland via a couple of small bridges and a tunnel, the "tube".
Alameda is a conflicted island. On one side, the city of Alameda with picturesc Victorian houses, on the other side a decommissioned Navy base, that is in the process of being turned over to the city of Alameda.

We heart about a vodka distillery in the former Navy yard some time ago. It was time to check it out, when we realized that there is a winery next door.

On our way to the hangar area, where the spirits are located, the conflicted nature of the former base became apparent. On one side of the road an upscale development with beautiful landscaping. On the other side military housing behind barbwire. Abandoned warehouses, laboratories, factories. Streets so wide that it was unclear where the middle divider was. And at the end, a row of old hangars and a beautiful view of San Francisco.

Our first stop was at the Rock Wall Wine Company, an urban winery that houses Rock Wall Wines, and a number of additional boutique wineries that don't have their own wine making facilities.

The tasting room isn't actually a room. It is a table on the side of a huge hangar, surrounded by wine barrels. We were lucky that the "door" was open, and we could enjoy the view of the city.

The wines were also not to be missed. We especially liked the Rock Wall Zinfandels, and the 2007 JRE Napa Valley Cab (and no, that's not Java Runtime Environment!).

Right next door is St. George Spirits. Having never been to a vodka tasting, I had no idea what to expect.

St. George fortunately had quite an array of spirits, from the famed Hangar One vodka via Rasberry and peach spirits to Absinthe.

Some of the infused vodkas were quite delicious, especially the mandarin flowers, and the winter mix (orange with spices). I'll definitely try to make the Buddha's hand infused vodka, like limoncello without the peelingo of the lemons, and without the sugar.

Never having had Absinthe, I was curious what to expect. To my surprise, it just tastes like a high class pastis. The defining ingredient for Absinthe is wormwood, which grows in St. George's front yard.

Sylvia Maultash Warsh: To Die in Spring

2010-04-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

Dr. Rebecca Temple, a physician in Toronto, gets an unexpected office visit from a patient she is treating for paranoia and psychoses. Thinking that she has her worst episode, yet, she calms her down, assures her that nobody is trying to kill her, only to find out next day, that she indeed had been killed that night.
An intriguing story that starts in Nazi-occupied Poland, and continues in Argentina during the military regime, finds its conclusion in Toronto.

This is the first in the Rebecca Temple series of Sylvia Maultash Warsh. I read the second one first, and I shouldn't have. It liked this one as well, but got a bit bored with the recounting of her history, that I was already familiar with from "Find me again".

Two Sentences Tuesday

2010-04-06T09:20:00.001-07:00

The rain was blowing hard from the ocean, coyotes started hauling in the distance; leaning against a rock, with the cliff descending steeply towards the water, Kate wondered whether she'd get out of this place in one piece. Dragging her injured ankle, she tried crawling through uphill through the mud towards the trail, hoping to avoid the fate of her companion, who lay motionless at the shore.

The Women of Mystery encourage blogging two sentences on Tuesdays. Those are my first two sentences. Maybe, the story leads to something? I cheated a little by using a semicolon.

Osterbrot

2010-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

And here is the last variation on the Easter theme: Easter bread.

I baked three breads for Easter: one regular yeasted wheat bread, which I baked using my favorite "easy" recipe (adapted from Jim Lahey as featured in the New York Times): The secret ingredient is a huge cast-iron pot, high temperatures and time. Otherwise: easy peasy!

The other two breads are twins, two traditional German Easter braids.

On the left, you see a picture of the risen, unbaked product, freshly braided and equipped with egg-shells, so that the final eggs have a place to go. The bread is made of flour, milk, butter, apricots, raisins, vanilla, ginger, sugar and salt. This year, I used fresh yeast, which gave a significantly better result than last year's dry yeast.

I cheated with "coloring" the eggs: A Russian store around the corner sells cellophane egg-coloring wraps. Slide the egg in, put in hot water for three seconds, the wrapper will shrink-wrap itself around the egg.

Osterfeuer

2010-04-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yrsa Sigurdardottir's book, and the season, made me think of a pagan tradition that I grew up with. The Osterfeuer is the German name for a traditional Easter Bonfire, a probably saxon tradition that is still practiced widely in Northern Germany (as well as in the surrounding countries). In the region where I grew up, each village would have an Osterfeuer, mostly comprised of small trees, branches, everything that accumulates at spring cleanup. On either Easter Saturday or Sunday night, depending on village tradition, the fire would be lit on a field, and everybody would come to get some warmth from the fire, mulled wine or beer and Korn (a German version of vodka). Sausages and pea and lentil stews are very popular as well.

My family would drive to the area where my mother grew up, the Ottensteiner Hochebene, a high plane between Pyrmont and Bodenwerder in Lower Saxony (Bodenwerder is famous for one of its former citizens, Münchhausen).

The area is not very populated, and the lack if ambient light also makes it a wonderful area for star gazing. We would sample several fires and enjoy the night.

Another town close to Pyrmont, Lügde, practices a variant of the Easter fire. Large oak wheels are stuffed with straw, lit, and rolled down a hill. It is used as a oracle for next year's harvest: When the burning wheels roll all the way down the hill, the harvest will be great. This Easter wheel tradition can be traced to the 8th century, when Charlemagne was visiting the area, but is probably even older. The Easter wheel celebration is much more spectacular than the regular Easter fires, however, it also attracts a lot of visitors. I prefer the intimacy of visiting a village fire.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir: Last Rituals

2010-03-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

I had this book on the shelf for a few weeks, saved it as a treat. It was recommended by a friend, who's recommendations are always excellent. And again, she was right: this is a great crime novel!

Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a lawyer in Reykjavik, Iceland, is being asked by the family of a murdered German student to research the circumstances, and to find the motive and the killer. The police already settles on somebody, so they couldn't care less. Mutilation of the body, both while living and after death, and the subject of the student's studies (comparative witch hunts) point to rituals, which Thora and the private detective Matthew (an import from Germany, despite his English name) decipher by retracing the victim's recent activities and getting familiarized with the subject of his studies.

The story covers many areas of typical Icelandic live, from the difficulties of a single mother to description of the countryside, from the difficulties in pronouncing Icelandic names to caves and volcanos.

If you like witches, the history of witch hunts, magic symbols, strange rituals, all bundled into an intricate crime novel, you should read this wonderful book!

Knights Ferry in the Sierra Nevada Foothills

2010-03-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Last Friday's Cesar Chavez holiday is somewhat of an obscure holiday for most of the world. It is only observed by eight US states, and not by many employers in these states. However, it was a great holiday weekend to drive into the Sierra Foothills. Our destination was Knights Ferry, a tiny town that most people pass on their way to Yosemite.

After passing the Altamont Pass, from where we could see the snow of the sierras in the distance, we drove through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a flat, farming area, with miles and miles of orchards.

Knights Ferry, between Oakdale and Sonora, was founded in 1842. Soon after, it had its short boom during the gold rush era, only to fall back into its sleeping beauty state. Knights Ferry is a cute little town, in the middle of beautiful countryside. It is sleepy and seemingly far from the world. A pretty and quiet place to take a break on the way to the Sierras. At one point, the number of people living in Knights Ferry was an order of magnitude higher, however, there is little evidence for it today.

It's claim to fame is a covered wooden bridge from 1862, spanning the Stanislaus river. Covered bridges were apparently common in the 19th century, because the cover protected the wood from the elements, and contributed to the longevity of the bridges. This particular one was a toll bridge, and is now a museum.
A bit of trivia about Stanislaus: He was native American, raised by missionaries, then fighting against them, but asking for forgiveness later. He is believed to be the real Zorro.

Knights Ferry's prison was built in 1912, when an influx of workers (and I have forgotten the project, maybe a new bridge, or a road, or farming work?) was followed by a rise in the crime rate. The prison was fortunately only used for a few years. It is a big metal block, and reminds me of middle age torture chambers.

More cheerful is a view of the town center. It was early in the year, so the ice cream parlor was only open on the weekend. It seemed to be a popular meeting point for motor-cyclers, who were out en masse on this first beautiful weekend of spring.

We were supposed to see a civil war reenactment event, but missed it. However, we didn't miss to have a peek into the gun shop, which carries rifles that were reminiscent of the civil war.

On the way to the ruins of the former mill, a barrel on wheels was permanently parked on a road corner. To me, it looks like a "Güllefass", a barrel to distribute manure on the fields.

Next to the ruins of the mill, at the river, we found evidence of old-style milling: grinding holes from native Americans. Nowadays, this is a popular river rafting spot.

At night, I explored historical pamphlets and collections about Knights Ferry, collected by the family of our host. The pride and care of the community for its history is heartwarming. The similarities in research and presentation of the history in my hometown, even though on a different scale, was astonishing.

Algae and Lichen

2010-03-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

In the post Animals, Mushrooms and Plants, I visited the phylogenetic tree of Eukaryotic organisms. Since I especially like algae and lichen (Algen und Flechten), I dug up some photos of those.

The first one shows lichen-covered stones on Mount Desert Island in Acadia National Park in Maine.

Quite a different color is the red lichen at Point Bonita in the Marin Headlands. I didn't have my camera with me, but check out the link for a picture on Flickr.

On the beach (here at Point Reyes), algae are abundant. They look like big snakes, and are hollow.

Point Reyes is worth a visit any time of the year. A special treat is a hike to Tomales Point during the mating season of the Tule Elk. The best time of the day is early in the morning, when few hikers are on the trail, and the Elk are close by.

On the top of the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, the ornamental cherry trees are covered in lichen. they are exposed to a lot of wind, and the lichen hides on the eastern side of the tree trunk.

The next pictures shows trees at Alpine Meadows, a ski resort in the Lake Tahoe area. While I don't ski, I enjoyed snow-shoeing the area.

Additionally to the liken-ed trees, I saw a dead one, that looked like a spiral. The poor tree spiraled it's whole life in search of the light, until it smothered itself to death.

Kel Richards: The second Death

2010-03-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

As my first Australian book in the Global Reading Challenge, I read The second Death from Kel Richards.

The novel is about Australian radio host Mark Roman, who gets entangled in one of his callers' issues (Liz), and solves the connected crimes.

I found the book quite boring, and wouldn't have finished it, if it weren't so short anyway. First of all: It really annoys me, when I guess the main message of the story within the first 40 pages.

The story-line has a lot of potential, but the characters are too black and white and not really developed. It would have been nice to get the point of view of the villan, Liz, for example, without having to guess.

Also, the protagonist (Mark Roman) does a lot of thinking, but doesn't enlighten me, the reader, about his thoughts until later, rather describes his surroundings while thinking, thinking, thinking.

And it's inconceivable that the police would have been as passive as they were described in a high profile murder case.

All in all, unfortunately not recommended. I'll have to hunt for more Australian mysteries ...

Next will be The last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. I am really looking forward to it, since it has been recommended by a friend with excellent taste and finding skills.

Brazil in December (crime novel)

2010-03-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza: December Heat

The crime novel is set in Rio de Janiero, Brazil: A retired cop looses his wallet, and in the same night, his hooker girlfriend gets killed. This set off a whole slew of killings of street people, which are all somewhat connected to each other, but the killings are for no apparent reason. The cop that investigates is described as a loner, not a lot of police support is visible. The author can't resist adding a couple of explicit sex scenes. The story is a bit convoluted and the ending is not at all satisfying. A lot of loose ends are untied, and I was left by the impression, that the real bad guys will not even get pursued. Overall, the story is a bit too macho for my taste.

It's interesting to read about the Brazilian culture. Especially the lack of referring or even mentioning the race, skin color, etc. of the protagonists is very different from what I experience reading US-American mysteries. That reminds me of a former colleague from Peru, who said once that the black population in Peru is declining. He was then asked whether it's because they leave. He said: Quite the contrary, they mix.

One thing kind of puzzled me in a historical sense: Everybody in the book depends on telephone land lines. Cell phones don't seem to exist, not even for the wealthy bad guys. The novel was published in 2002, so I guess, it was written about 2001/2000. I didn't know that many people in the US with cell phones at the time, but they were a lot more common already in Europe.

Trains and Bridges

2010-03-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated by the dramatic beauty of industrial constructions. Here, I want to share a couple of pictures of trains and bridges.

The first one on the right is made from the driving car (I was the passenger) on our way from Lake Tahoe to the low-lands. It was great weather, and I got a fair amount of good "cloud" pictures.

I shot the picture of the George Washington Bridge in New York from Fort Tryon Park, on our way to the cloisters. The park's garden didn't quite show its beauty in January, but it was still a peaceful, pretty place.
The cloisters are certainly a great place to visit. Built by the Rockefellers, and completed in 1938, it is a collection of monastery buildings and religous art from Europe. It has been donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I found the train on the right in the town of American Canyon, in Napa County. We saw it hidden between a shopping center and development, while trying to get a close look of an old hops kiln. Everything was fenced up, and the only visible "landmark" was this colorful train.

The other bridge in San Francisco: The Bay Bridge, spans from SF to Oakland. This is an unusually photo, probably from Sunday morning. When I drive over at rush hour, the bridge is packed with cars.
The picture shows the western span on the bridge, between Treasure Island and SF. The Oakland side of the bridge is very different, and much less stable. During the Loma Prieta earthquake, the upper deck fell on the lower. The Oakland span of the bridge is finally getting rebuilt. Construction will finish probably in 2013.

For my European readers: A typical American firetruck! Not a train, but pretty, too. To me, it looks incredibly old-fashioned.

And finally, a picture of the Golden Gate bridge, from the Presidio to the Marin Headlands.

Edited later:
Another bridge: The Penobscot Narrows bridge in Maine is not only a bridge but also an observatory. Unfortunately, I got vertigo and had to leave immediately. If you don't suffer from it, visiting the observatory is highly recommended!

Praise to Mariquita

2010-03-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

Once every two weeks, we can get a vegetable box from Mariquita Farms. They grow organic vegetables, mostly for their CSA and for restaurants. Every other Thursday Julia comes to San Francisco with a truck full of boxes, and parks at one of the restaurants they sell to. The boxes are preordered, and soon the place gets busy with pickups.
For us, this system works better than a CSA, because 1. we haven't found a CSA in the East Bay that has veggies as interesting and fresh as Mariquita; 2. we don't have to commit to a weekly box.
Check out their web-site and also Andy's blog (he is the farmer).

The picture shows the contents of last week's box: Little carrots and big carrots, escarole, rapini, other kind of broccoli, a savoy cabbage, mustard greens, swiss chart, garlic greens, sprint onions, leeks, spinach, fennel, and I am sure I forgot something. Everything is super fresh, organic and very tasty.

When the season is right, we go tomato picking and make sauce, we get a case of apricots and strawberries from a neighboring farms and make jams. Or we get delicious bacon avocados from yet another neighbor. We love the Pimiento de Padron so much, that they will probably soon grow in our own garden. Thank you!

New York in the 19th century

2010-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

After reading most of Anne Perry's books, I started reading the crime novels of Victoria Thompson. They have a similar theme: Independent woman solves crimes in a 19th century metropolis. Thompsons first books were mildly dissatisfying to me, because of a lack of complexity. However, since I lived in NYC, and they were otherwise pleasing, I continue to read her novels. Since she only writes one a year, I was pleased to find another author with a crime novel serious of a similar kind.

Rhys Ryan's Molly Murphy novels are utterly delightful. They are easy to read, but interesting and funny. Molly is the only woman of the books of the genre (at least of the ones I read), in which the protagonist actually calls herself a professional detective.

The newest one "In a gilded cage" has Molly Murphy investigate the ancestry of another professional woman, who works at a drugstore. In spite of being college educated, she is not allowed in the lab (which she would have loved) but has to work as a sale person.

Then another case showed up (connected to the first one), with the Poindexter family in the center. The client and women die, all somewhat connected. It appears to be the flu (I don't think that in the 19th century, people would have talked about "a particularly vicious strain of influenza", one of the rare historical mistakes), but Molly and her friend Emily are suspicious.

Molly's beau, a police captain, incidentally investigates overlapping crimes. Information that lead to nothing for Molly helps him to solve his cases, while she is not taken serious, but manages in the end well on her own.

Interesting features of the Molly Murphy series are the constant reminders of the status of women of the times, the differences between the classes, the vivid description of life in NYC of the times. In this particular book, it's mostly about the women that loose all independence once they are married, and a little bit woman's suffrage. Previous books in the series covered among other themes sweat shops, workers rights and more woman's lib.

The Wine Road

2010-03-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

The wine road is an organization of Sonoma County wineries, mostly in the Russian River area.

When Alaska was owned by Russia, Russian settlers as well as Alaskans were living in Northern California with the purpose of growing food to be shipped to Alaska. However, the food growing experiment failed, because the settlers didn't know how to deal with the climate and with the wild-life, especially the gophers that destroyed their crops. Fort Ross, at the Sonoma coast, is a state historical park of one of the old settlements. In the early 1840s, the properties of the Russian American Company were sold to a rancher from Sacramento, and most of the Russian settlers left the area. What remains of them is the name of the river: the Russian River.

Once a year, the wine road organizes a barrel tasting event. About 100 wineries participate. For one small fee, one can drive from winery to winery and taste their wines. Even the designated driver gets something out of it: sometimes a gift, sometimes a juice, a lot of times gorgeous views and food. The lucky ones see some wild-life can bee seen on the side of the road (Turkey on the left).

Many wineries bring out the barrels from their not-yet-released wines. We got our tastings from a huge pipette directly from these barrels.

Here are a few pictures from some of the wineries:
Russian Hill Estate had wonderful Pinots. They are located on a hill (surprisingly), with great views of the area.

One winery was growing bell beans, a variation of fava beans, on a field in preparation for planting Chardonnay grapes. Legumes enrich the nitrogen content of the soil.

Hop Kiln Winery sells a lot of food items additionally to their wines: mustards, vinegar, salami, dips and chips, and you can borrow plates and knives for a picknick on the beautiful grounds.
As the name indicates, the winery used to be a hop kiln. It looks like the area evolved from beer to wine (also, a hop kiln is seen in the picture above from Russian Hill).

Chalk Hill is an upscale winery with a huge estate and wonderful Chardonnays. You see their stainless vats on the left.

Graton Ridge Cellars was our first and last stop on the wine road. They had the best Petite Syrah, and one of us had to buy a bottle. They also had a bunch of chickens running around in their vineyard that ran away as soon as I got my camera out. Oh well, the truck is pretty, too!

I was lucky that I was able to make these pictures, since I hadn't charged my camera. Every picture I took was threatening to be the last. I didn't get anything from Twomey, one of our favorite wineries in the Napa Valley, that also has an estate close to Healdsburg. Twomey is the best deal in town in Napa Valley (close to Calistoga). They are the sister winery to the high-profile Silver Oak, and originally specialized on Merlot (made in Calistoga). Now, they also make great Pinots and Sauvignon Blancs at the Russian River. In Calistoga, they used to charge $5 for a tasting and we'd get the glass (a very nice Schott/Zwiesel glass) to take home. Now, tastings are free. Not to be missed!

The other wineries that were our favorites on this trip where Pellegrini (great deal on half bottles Sauvignon Blanc) and Russian River Vineyards (wonderful desert wine, not yet bottled).

Animals, Mushrooms and Plants

2010-03-12T19:50:00.000-08:00

This post is an answer to http://waibakram.amelibecht.de/#post77 who wrote:

Pilze sind Organismen, die nicht eindeutig tierisch oder pflanzlich zugeordnet werden können. Sie sind gewissermaßen eine Mischung aus Beidem. (freely translated: Mushrooms are organisms that are not definitely animal or plant, but something quasi in-between).

This prompted me to make a picture of parts of the phylogenetic tree of some of my favorite organisms. Mushrooms, in the fungi clade, are genetically a little bit closer to animals than to plants. The main difference between animals and fungi, and between animals and plants, is the structure of the cell wall. Unlike animals and fungi, plants can make chlorophyll, thus get their energy from the sun and not from other plants or animals.
For a more detailed and scientific view of the tree, please go to the NCBI Taxonomy Browser.

Animals:

Fire Salamander - Feuersalamander
The Fire Salamander has a special place in my heart. I had one for 15 years when I was a kid (they can live 25 years). An irresponsible teacher gave it to me in 5th grade. His name was Hermann, and it still bothers me that I didn't take care of him better. I couldn't let him go free, because he was not used to the wild, and considered humans his food source.

Wolverine - Vielfraß
2008, the first wolverine have been seen since 80 years in California. He is still around, and marking the territory like crazy, probably looking for a mate. According to genetic testing, he came from Idaho. Did he walk all the way, or did he get kidnapped?

Human - Mensch
Hmm, what are those?

Turkey Vulture - Truthahngeier
Prolific in California, great to look at in the country.

Snake - Schlange
Snakes have a bad reputation, but I think they are quite lovely. We have them sometimes in the garden (look like a little red garden hose). They make me happy when I see them in the wild.

Jelly Fish - Qualle
At the Baltic sea, the beaches are often swamped with jelly fish. Fortunately, it is usually not the poisonous type. The Monterey aquarium has an amazing exhibition of pretty jelly fish.
Dried jelly fish in Chinese food is a bit tasteless, the sauce it usually comes with is utterly important!

Fungi:
Chanterelle - Pfifferling
Most wonderful mushrooms in risotto!

Oyster Mushroom - Austernpilz
The only mushroom we see when we look for Chanterelles.

Baker's yeast - Bierhefe
In German, it's more commonly called "Beer yeast", talk about priorities!

Plants:
Wheat - Weizen
What's not to like about a good bread (unless you are gluten intolerant, in which case you should buy your bread from Mariposa Baking).

Beech - Buche
The tree of my childhood. Beech trees are prolific in northern Germany.

Crowfoot - Hahnenfuß
How I hated this weat!

Horsetail - Ackerschachtelhalm
Pretty, old, nice ...

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

2010-03-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

Das Kindermädchen by Elisabeth Herrmann

Unfortunately for the English speaking audience, this author has not (yet?) been translated to English.

This book is another example of present day dealing with "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" (process of coming to terms with one's past, one's country, family, parents, spouses, etc), that is quite common in present day Germany. Even Germans that are born too late to take the blame (blessing o late birth or "Gnade der späten Geburt") often struggle a lot with the country's past, and particularly with the (sometimes assumed) guilt of the parents and grandparents. And then others are deeply offended even by questions about these times. My sister is trying to get information about my family's life during Nazi times, but her very legitimate questions are readily perceived as hostile, and it is difficult to get answers. This leads to the suspicion that they have something to hide. But it just might be that they are afraid that somebody will find something embarrassing, and the easiest way to avoid it would be, not to talk about it at all.

This is the second book I read in the last few months, that cover similar issues that my sister researches: The lives and recognition of forced laborers in Nazi Germany, from Eastern European countries like Ukraine, is the main theme of the book. These particular forced laborers come from a barely known group: Nannies and housekeepers in wealthy, well connected households. The girls were young, between 12 and 16 years old. Working hours were 16 hours a day (as regulated by the authorities). Many were treated well by the families, many were not. They often formed a close relationship with "their" children.

The novel takes place in present day Berlin. In a quite entertaining way, a small demand of a former nurse, to be formally recognized by the family, so that she can collect a very modest pension, and the persistence of the leading character Joachim Vernau, leads to the unraveling of two families, the discovery of a number of war crimes (stolen art), murder, love and betrayal, and the return of Vernau to the class of mere mortals after a discourse into the world of the "ruling class/quasi nobility" (at least in their perspective).

Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge (Snow white)

2010-03-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

On the weekend, I saw (probably first time in my life) Disney's Snow White. What a wonderful movie! The animation, the expression and movements of the people, animals and plants were just exquisit!

Since I am currently re-reading (after decades) Grimm's fairy tales, I jumped ahead to number 53, to compare the Disney version of Snow White with the Grimm's version. True to their name, the Grimm brothers have a much more "grim" story than Disney.

Here is a short summary of Grimm's Schneewittchen:

First the name: Schneewittchen's mother was spinning some wool, when she stang herself with the needle. A drop of blood fell on the ebony window sill, which was also covered partially by snow. So the queen wished to have a daughter that is "Weiss wie Schnee, rot wie Blut und schwarz wie Ebenholz" (white like snow, red like blood, black like ebony), hence the subsequent birth of Snow White with white skin, red lips and black hair. This description gets repeated frequently throughout the fairy tale, one of the numerous sentences from the Grimm's that I can recite.

The queen dies in childbirth, and a stepmother steps in her shoes, a vain mean person, who checks on the superiority of her beauty frequently through a magic mirror (Spieglein Spieglein an der Wand, wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?). When the mirror declares her the fairest, the queen orders the hunter to kill her. She of course gets away, and finds the house of the seven dwarfs. Schneewittchen then stays on as the house keeper, the queen finds her through the mirror, and eventually quasi-kills her with a poisoned apple. The dwarfs put her into a glas casket, a prince sees her, and she comes back to life.

This short summary leaves out a number of details, because they are different in the two version:

Version	Disney	Grimm
Age	Teenage	Seven
First Assassination	Hunter can't do it	SW pleads for life
Proof of death	Bring heart to queen	Bring liver and lung to queen (who eats them)
Dwarfs' house	Dirty, SW cleans all	Clean, SW messes things up
Queen	Once with poisened apple	Successful third time with poisoned apple
Awakening	Through kiss from Prince	Through clumsiness from Prince's servants (SW falls out of coffin, poisened apple falls out of mouth, SW wakes up)
Punishment of Queen	Falls off a cliff	Has to dance until death in red-glowing hot iron shoes

I was especially surprised by the difference in the first scene in the dwarfs' house. It is very dirty in the Disney version, SW spends a lot of time and effort in the cleaning process, quite the opposite of her behavior in the Grimm version, where everything is very tidy, and she goes from chair, to table, from plate to glass, from bed to bed, and tries everything, makes it all a little messy. As my GF points out, this part is very similar to "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", a children's story first recorded by Robert Southey in 1837.

According to wikipedia, Goldilocks also evolved quite a bit. It the Southey version, and in an earlier version from Eleanor Mure, an old woman finds the house of a "Little, Small, Wee Bear, a Middle-sized Bear, and a Great, Huge Bear", eats their food, breaks their chair, and sleeps in their bed. Already in 1853, the old woman got replaced by a girl, to make the tale more attractive to children, and the best known version was published in 1904 in "Old Nursery Stories and Rhymes" with Goldilocks as the girl (or maybe, the name was created by Flora Annie Steel in her "English Fairy Tales" from 1918). Additionally, there are various other permutations of the "Three Bears" story, and a connection of Snow-white with this one has been suggested before.

Apparently, even the Grimm's version evolved. Initially, it was the mother and not the step-mother, and she took her to the forest herself. This has been toned down to me more suitable for children, just as it has been done for Hansel and Gretel (which also had the evil mother first, then the step-mother that sent them into the forest).

The fairy tale has been known since the middle ages in many European countries, in different variations. It seems to change to reflect contemporary taste and preferences. I found a recent major work that tells Snow White's tale: Schneewittchen (the opera) by Heinz Holliger, premiered 1998 in Zurich, based on a dramolett from Robert Walser (~1900). The dramolett (and subsequently the opera) try a psychological evaluation of the circumstances around SW, apparently difficult to stomach both musically and content-wise. This is certainly not a beginners opera, and not a children's opera either.

Japanese Crime Fiction and Edogawa Rampo

2010-02-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Edogawa Rampo's 1934 novelette The Black Lizard came bundled with a shorter one: Beast in the Shadows, and also with an introduction about the author and Japanese crime fiction in general.

Edogawa Rampo (the pen name of Hirai Taro) was instrumental in bringing crime novels to Japan. His name is supposed to sound similar to "Edgar Allen Poe", as a homage to Poe, who Taro adored.

Rampo's Black Lizard is a peculiar novel. The main purpose of the story is to demonstrate how two rivals, the black lizard (a female thief, as she is described, but I'd rather say a head of a mafia-like organization) and the master detective Akechi Kogoro try to out-whit each other. In complicated sequence of disguise and deception the black lizard manages to kidnap the daughter of a rich man, but Kogoro's foresight made it possible to free the girl in the process. This prompts an even more intricate plan, to not just kidnap the girl, but gain a precious piece of jewelry as well. This time, Kogoro counters with smarter disguise and quasi magical deception, and ultimately defeats her gloriously.

At lot of the peculiarities are probably an artifact of cultural differences, and the translation. For example, "ha ha ha" accompanies jokes commonly to make sure, the audience understands it. Also, especially in the beginning, the author explains to the reader complicated sections in the beginning of the following chapter, so that everything is clear. In the last third of the book, the speed of the story picks, the explanations become less obvious (more embedded into the story), and the whole writing becomes more interesting. However, the whole novel to me lacks characterization, and doesn't bring the individual players to life. I am curious, how this beginning of the Japanese section of the genre develops, and it made me interested in scooping out more modern novels.

This is my first book from Asia for the Global Reading Challenge.

In the Graveyard

2010-02-27T17:23:00.000-08:00

A lot of mystery and drama is buried in Olmsted's Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland. A number of the rich and famous of their times have been buried here in large mausoleums, most notably in Millionaire's row. More interesting stories might be hidden behind the withered gravestones, gnarly trees, and overgrown graves tell stories of the forgotten inhabitants. The graveyard reminds me of Brahms' song "Auf dem Kirchhofe", based on a poem from Gustav von Liliencron, which has always been one of my favorite Brahms songs:

Liliencron: Auf dem Kirchhofe

Der Tag ging regenschwer und sturmbewegt,
Ich war an manch vergessnem Grab gewesen,
verwittert Stein und Kreuz, die Kränze alt,
die Namen überwachsen, kaum zu lesen.

Der Tag ging sturmbewegt und regenschwer,
auf allen Gräbern fror das Wort: Gewesen.
Wie sturmestot die Särge schlummerten,
auf allen Gräbern taute still: Genesen.



I'll attempt a translation:
The day was heavy of rain, and moved by storms,
To some forgotten grave I had gone. 
Withered stone and cross, with aged wreaths,
The names overgrown, barely to read. 

The day was moved by storms, heavy of rain,
On all the graves the frozen word: all over.
How dead of storms the graves were slumbering,
On all the graves it melted quietly: all healed.

South Africa during Apartheid

2010-02-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn

When I grew up, we boycotted all goods from South Africa. At one point, I got mad at my father for buying Kruger Rand coins, because their sale supported the regime.

When a theatre group from Soweto, a town ship close to Johannesburg, visited my home town and gave a performance in the local church, I was impressed by their energy, their beauty, and their determination to make their stories known. The performance was a combination of traditional African dance, and realistic theatre, to demonstrate live in the townships. I was a kid, and at that point, I didn't quite comprehend that the play was not telling just stories, but events that were happening in the present.

Although the novel doesn't focus on the African community, and the townships were created a few years later, the crime novel "A Beautiful Place to Die" reminded me of these childhood memories. It is set in 1952 rural South Africa, a few years into the Apartheid regime/rules. A white (boer) police captain, a pillar of the community, is found murdered. The unraveling of this crime by a detective from Johannesburg reveals an intertwining of the "races", deeply ingrained in the people, that is in sharp contrast to the racial segregation laws of the National Party, the ruling entity in South Africa.

The setup of the crime aspect of the story is a bit too much Chandler like for my taste (lone damaged detective), but the setting in South Africa, the description of the different ways people are dealing with the new segregation laws, make the book not just an interesting and entertaining read, but also educational. It reminded me, that I know very little about African history. I was not aware of the parallels of the National Party of South Africa with the Nazi regime in Germany. Just like the latter, the South African party justified their racial atrocities pseudo-religiously (the one chosen volk). Both enforced their power by establishing a omnipotent secret police force. It seems inconceivable that the South African regime lasted as long as it did, but then, they didn't start a Word War.

This is my first African book for the GlobalReadingChallenge.

Revisiting Sara Paretsky

2010-02-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

I was an early fan of Sara Paretsky's V I Warshawski crime novels, initially in German translation. At that point, I learned a lot about American culture and politics, the most shocking being the health system.

She took a break from Warshawski for a few years, which coincided with my first few years living in America, and I just forgot about her books, and pick her up again a couple of years ago starting with Hard Time, another very political book, amoung other themes touching on private security firms and the atrocities committed in private prisons.

Bleeding Kansas is a recent novel, which is nice to read, but to me lacks the intensity and speed of her Warshawski novels. On the other hand, it is an interesting portrait of the life and bigotry in rural Kansas.

I recently finished reading Paretsky's autobiographical book Writing in an Age of Silence, yet another book from her, that is not just entertaining but also highly political. It's a collection with a lot of biographical information in the first chapters, and essays and speeches in the later ones. Includes essays about the development of the American individualism from the time of the early settlers, in politics and in literature; and about politics and individual freedom, women's rights, and the effects of the patriot act.

Books in 2010

2010-02-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

List of books I read in 2010, including author, title, date published, country, continent, original language of author, gender of author. I'll update the list as time goes on.

Mary Higgins Clark: No Place Like Home , 2005, USA, North America, English, Female
M.R. Hall: The Coroner , 2009, California, USA, North America, English, Male
David Downing: Zoo Station , 2007, Great Britain, Europe, English, Male
Sylvia Maultash Warsh: Find Me Again, 2003, Canada, North America, English, Female
Linwood Barcley: Too Close to Home , 2008, Canada, North America, English, Male
Louise Penny: Still Life , 2006, Canada, North America, English, Female
Jamie Ford: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet , 2009, Washington, USA, North America, English. Female
Sara Paretsky: Writing in an Age of Silence, 2007, Illinois, USA, North America, English, Female
Malla Nunn: A Beautiful Place to Die, 2009, South Africa, Africa, English, Female
Edogawa Rampo: The black Lizard, 1934, Japan, Asia, Japanese (in English translation), Male
Elisabeth Herrmann: Das Kindermädchen, 2005, Germany, Europe, German, Female
Rhys Bowen: In a Gilded Cage, 2009, California, USA, North America, Female
Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza: December Heat, 2002, Brazil, South America, Male
Kel Richards: The second Death, 1997, Australia, Male
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir: Last Rituals , 2005, Iceland, Europe, Female

Reading the end - cheating or not?

2010-01-31T12:02:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine told me about a complaint her brother had about Dan Brown's The lost Symbol: The book lied to him, making him believe that Langdon is dead. This didn't happen to me, because by the time I reached that section of the book, I had already read the end.

There seems to be a lot of controversy about reading the end first. Most people yell at me, when I do this, saying that it's cheating. However, the few that do it too (like my friend) find it normal.

I see reading a book similar to watching an opera. If I know the opera well, I can enjoy the music and the story much more, because I know what it happening, and am not distracted by suspense. When I don't know the opera, I concentrate too much on the development of the story to be able to actually listen to the music properly, and enjoy it. This happened recently, when I was seeing Stiffelio at the Met. Stiffelio is a fairly unknown Verdi opera written shortly before Rigoletto. I had never heart of it before, however, it had been produced by the Met once before, in 1993. The music is gorgeous, the singers were great, it was a very enjoyable performance. However, I would have to see it again to be able to say more about the music, because I concentrated too much on the development of the story (a weird story about a protestant minister in Austria that had issues with his wife, who got seduced by some slimebag).

When seeing an opera a second time, or third or fourth .... I notice more and more nuances of the piece, also because every performance and production is different.

I don't have the patience to read books two times in a row. There are too many books, there is not enough time, it takes much longer to read a book than to see an opera.

When I am about one third through, I therefore often read the end, so that I can enjoy more of the development of the story, and understand the little hints the lead to the end. And when I finally arrive at the end the old-fashioned way, it feels like I reacquainting myself with an old friend.

My Global Reading Challenge Status

2010-01-29T09:51:00.000-08:00

A while ago, I posted about the Global Reading Challenge from Dorte Jakobsen.

I upgraded since to the Expert group, and added two novels from Antarctica. I am continuously updating this page for the planning stage and the reading stage. (s) for "on the shelf or ordered", (r) for "read", (p) for "in progress".

The Expert Challenge
Read two novels from each of these continents and two novel situated in Antarctica in the course of 2010:

Africa

Mala Nunn: A Beautiful Place to Die (r) (South Africa)
Benjamin Kwakye: The Sun by Night (s) (Ghana)

Asia

Rampo Edogawa: The Black Lizard (r) (Japan)
Smita Jain: Kkrishnaa's Konfessions (s) (India)

Australasia

Kel Richards: The Second Death (r) (Australia)
Yvonne Eve Walus: Murder @ Work (r) (New Zealand)

Europe

Yrsa Sigurdardottir: Last Rituals (r) (Iceland)
Denise Mina: Garnethill (r) (Scotland)

North America (incl Central America)
Sylvia Maultash-Warsh: Find me again (r) (Canada)

South America

Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza: December Heat (r) (Brazil)
Guillermo Martinez: The Book of Murder (s) (Argentina)

Antarctica

Kim Stanley Robinson: Antarctica (r)
Andrea White: Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 (s)

Try to find novels from twelve different countries or states.

Canadian Vacation Reading

2010-01-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Finally, I have been able to read a bit more, since I am on vacation. It didn't occur to me until now, that all three authors are Canadian. Should have gone to Canada. Here are a couple of reviews:

Sylvia Maultash-Warsh: Find me again (a Rebecca Temple mystery)

This book has two parallel story lines from two different centuries: WWII Poland in one of them, and in the other, 18th century Europe including a larger number of countries, especially Britain, Poland and Russia. The latter is mainly about the life of young Catherine the Great and the politics around her. The two stories have a surprisingly similar ending, and become intertwined and unraveled in 21st century Canada. I find the inter-culturalism very appealing (Jewish/Christian, Polish/Canadian, Communist/Capitalist). The book is very entertaining, and touches several areas of my interest, including European history and opera singing. I guessed one of the two ending-surprises very early on, but I don't really mind, because I often read the ending after the first third of a book anyway.

This is my first North American Book for the 2010 Global Reading Challenge.

Linwood Barclay: Too close to home
It's creepy when your neighbors are getting killed. It's even creepier, when the killer made a mistake, and meant to kill you. Great stand-alone mystery situated in a small college town in upstate NY. It has it all: the egocentric politician, the controlling and overbearing college president, the trophy wife, the difficult teenager, the genius, the thief. Nice picture of small town life and politics.

Louise Penny: Still Life (The first chief Inspector Gamache Novel)

The first book written by Louise Penny. Great characterizations bring people to life, and describes the meticulous process her protagonist goes through to solve a crime. Situated in a French-Canadian town, it also gives insight into the Anglo/French frictions.

There even is a lesson in the book, coming from a disillusioned ex-shrink. I summarize it here, because I really think that it is an important lesson for many of us in all kinds of situations:

There are two types of patients: the ones that want to get better, and are prepared to change their life and their attitudes, and the ones that are so involved with their problems, quirks, issues and hang on to them for dear life, that they are not willing to change. The first group, if in therapy, changes fast, gets out of therapy, and gets better within months. The second group, however, lingers in therapy forever, because it is an outlet and an opportunity to have a captive audience, and just doesn't want to change, because it is not comfortable.

Grimms Märchen

2010-01-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

The last time I read all of Grimm's fairy tales was probably about 35 years ago, when I was a child. We had a big, green hardcover book, printed in small font, with strange lithographs accompanying the tales, and I found it quite intimidating, but nonetheless, I read them all.

Re-reading the complete Grimm's, I find them just as gruesome as I did as a child. There are about 200 tales, and I am right now at #12, already observing one strange trend: the kings and queens can do whatever they want, if they repend, they will stay rich and happy. The little people are the ones that usually end up screwed by fate. Especially enlightening was the tale of cat and mouse, which shows, that if you do what you are supposed to, and be a honest and nice person, you'll get eaten, so better lie and be mean.

I am looking forward to reading the rest. One or two before going to sleep is perfect. I am curious, whether the trend is going to continue, and whether there are more strange things to observe.

On Poetry

2010-01-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

Poetry is a strange animal.

Reading poetry for me needs a lot of attention, and I find it hard to read and enjoy it with my usual impatient mind.

The poetry I like has been set to music. What I don't like reading, I like singing, listening to.

The change of speed, and the added expression when poetry and music merge brings poetry to live.

Clarity of Night 2010 Writing Contest

2010-01-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

In the Graveyard
(my entry to the contest, see details below)

Good, I made it before the gate closes. The graveyard is such a wonderful place at twilight. The view over the town and the Bay is exceptionally spectacular tonight. The fiery sunset behind the mountains is breathtaking, and reminds me of the unimportance of my own being and dramas. However, this place also confronts me with my deepest fears.

A large bird flies above me. Is he looking for prey, or is he like me just enjoying the quiet evening?

Am I the prey or the hunter? I thought I escaped you, but still you hunt me as if you were alive. Stay under your stone, and don’t bother me!

Why didn’t we stay friends, play in the fields, and dream together about a future of getting away and exploring the world? I loved you, and I trusted you.

Why did you turn against me, forcing me to kill you? You did this to yourself, you bitch! You didn’t let me love you as you promised me!

I taught you, now you know that you didn’t suffer enough. Don’t you worry, I’ll live.

Debra is just wonderful. Soon she’ll keep you company, and then you are not alone anymore.

What a wonderful evening, reconciling with my little girl. Time to go home.

“Are you leaving, we are closing!”

Thank you officer, have a great night, (and a gruesome morning)!

About the Clarity of Night contest

The Clarity of Night blog owner Jason Evans is sponsoring the Silhouette Short Fiction Contest for short fiction inspired by a picture that he provides. The picture depicts a bird (raven, craw, eagle, ?) flying at twilight through branches of wood.

I am not new to writing itself, but until now, I have mostly written scientific publications, which are completely different animals. With the exception of a number of weird poems in German, written in times of depression and despair a long time ago, my contribution (also pasted below) to the contest is my first serious effort on writing creatively.

Here are a few things that I learned from this exercise:

It is good to have a concept of a story before starting to write
Don't be surprised if the concept changes drastically as the writing goes on, because it develops on its own, and doesn't necessary go where it is supposed to go
Don't give in to the temptation to add cheap effects (I should have omitted the last few words).
This is fun!

I didn't make it to the top group, but it is a good start, and I learned from the comments and especially from Jason's criticism.

Mushrooms

2010-01-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

Inspired by a blog post from http://chezpim.com, I have been thinking about mushrooms. Is there a more dramatic food? Wonderfully flavorful and potentially deadly?

My mushroom history goes way back to my parent's honeymoon. They stayed in a village in the Harz mountains in Germany, renting a room in a Pension (something similar to a B&B). There is nothing to do but hiking, and on every hike they went, they found wonderful mushrooms. My mother couldn't let a good mushroom stand, so soon, to my father's annoyance, their room was full of strings with mushrooms to dry. According to legend, these were mostly Steinpilze (porcini, king bolete, whatever you call them).

When I was little, we usually would go to the forest on Autuum weekends, to hunt mushrooms. My mother was an expert, knew all of them and all about them, a side effect of growing up in wartimes. Most of the time, we would collect mushrooms that are quite ordinary (honey fungus (Hallimasch), sheathed woodtuft (Stockschwämmchen), Puffball (Bovist, only edible when very young),Parasols, etc.), since we mostly went to beech forests, where the prime species didn't grow as well.

We were taught to harvest the edible ones, but always leave a few so that there are enough spores for next year, and to admire the poisonous ones, not destroy them. The prettiest mushrooms are certainly the fly agaric, a mushroom we encountered several times.

I remember once finding a death cap. She used gloves to get it out of the ground, and showed us its unique properties, so that we wouldn't accidentally collect it, when being on our own.

I recently saw a death cap in St. Helena, Napa Valley, right next to the Twomey winery. They are very pretty, with an iridescent color.

By the time I got interested in mushroom hunting on my own, Chernobyl happened. That put a hold to all mushroom hunting in many parts of Europe for a couple of decades, because mushrooms mistake Caesium for Calcium, and the radioactive rain from Chernobyl contained a lot of Caesium. When I moved to the US, I was told that nobody eats wild mushrooms. When I later married a mushroom lover, I had to learn to identify mushrooms all over again. I still only know how to identify the most common edible ones: chanterelles, boletes (to some extend), oyster mushrooms, morels.

A mushroom that is prolific in our neighborhood, is probably the yellow russula. The coloring is similar to chanterelles, but the gills are white, and they grow in clusters. Also, the gills don't go down all the way on the stem. They are supposedly edible, but not very tasty. I have not taken a chance.

Brot

2010-01-10T18:42:00.000-08:00

I love bread, and what's not to love? After all, bread used to be a synonym for all food. Baking my own bread has been a joy, and experimenting with different kinds from frustrating to a deep sense of satisfaction. For my favorite breads, I use a modified version of the No Knead Bread, I just substitute the flour partially with whole rye flour, to give it more substance.

While testing different kinds of white flour, I have gotten the best results using the unbleached white flour from the Old Mill of Guilford, a place where the have the most wonderful biscuit and scone mixes, and great grits and polenta.

Gender of Mystery Writing

2010-01-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

My last post raises the question on gender in fiction-writing. I for one tend to try an unknown female writer more easily than a male writer. This is on some level quite illogical, since my favorite writers include a lot of males, like Lion Feuchtwanger and Klaus Mann.

However, for mystery writers, I always think I prefer female writers because they more often write from a female point of view, and frankly, not so many women die. However, there are a lot of male mystery writers, most of them Scandinavian, that I just love (e.g. Henning Mankell,Stig Larsson), and a lot of female writers that I got tired of (Anne Rice: too religious, Patricia Cornwell: too obsessed with serial killers).

Which brings me to the latest mystery I read: M.R. Hall's The Coroner.

Great book, complex plot and background story, totally from a woman's point of view. Good thing the author decided to use his initials only. Otherwise, I'd probably not have picked it up. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

The Coroner's protagonist is, surprise, a coroner. Since she just starts out in this position, she teaches herself, and the reader, on the duties and rights of the coroner as needed, and as the investigations proceed, a point of view that I knew little about before I read this book.

The combination of the crime story, and political issues like private prisons and the difference between punishment and rehabilitation, together with a background story of a woman struggling with mental issues, makes this book a wonderful read.

The Gender of Writing

2010-01-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

I just came across a blog post on copyblogger from
James Chartrand.
James is a successful freelance writer, making a good living from it. When his blog, that is essential for him to get writing jobs, made the top ten list of writer's blogs, and additionally somebody outed him, he decided to go public about his/her gender.

This writer has chosen a male name for economic reasons. With a male name, she could get more and higher paid jobs. With a male name she got more respect from clients. With a male name the clients were happier with her work. Working under a male name enabled her to provide for her children and become financially stable.

This in itself is a wonderful example on how much work there still is cut out for feminism. Additionally to the article from James, the comments and related blog posts are quite revealing.

Reading James' blog, and a blog post from Tiger Beatdown (http://tigerbeatdown.com/?p=671), raises the question whether it is really just the name change that made James so successful. The blog design makes a distinctly male impression. James created a whole male persona by making references to his (either invented or modified) real life. Many posts include sexist remarks.

Since it is common for bloggers to write about their personal life, and the followers feel like they know the real person, be familiar with it/him/her, the creation of a persona would in my opinion help getting jobs and income. But does it have to be so blatantly male and sexist?

There are several things that come to my mind:

James got a kick out of being perceived as an alpha male
James rejects her femaleness secretly
No matter what, this is in retrospect a great social experiment
Will the writing and the perception of the blog change now?

I am looking forward to further writings from James.

2010 Global Reading Challenge

2010-01-04T20:46:00.000-08:00

Check out the 2010 Global Reading challenge:

http://2010globalchallenge.blogspot.com/

That's a great way to explore novels/mysteries from different continents. My reading has been way too Euro-centric and America centric, so I decided to participate.
Last year's list didn't include anything from other continents (except one Jo Nesboe that took place in Australia, but I think that's cheating since she is Norwegian). And I guess, S.J.Rozan's mysteries that take place in Hongkong don't count either.

I wonder which continent Island belongs to. One of the books on my wish list is from Yrsa Sigurdardottir, sounds quite interesting. Also, I have seen a lot from Arnaldur Indridason, which probably means that he should be on the list for this year.

An interesting list of Brazilian authors can be found at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~gjdemko/brazil.htm.

For Antarctica, Robert Masello's Blood and Ice sounds interesting.

Holiday Break 2010

2010-01-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

After reading the last eight novels of Nevada Barr in December and a wonderful mystery from Tana French (The Likeness), I started the new year with the remnants of my bookshelf: Zoo Station by Dan Downing and No Place like Home from Mary Higgins Clark. Both of them don't come close in entertainment level to the Tana French mystery, which had some issues, mainly that the story was not very believable, but still was my recent highlight.

Mary Higgins Clark: No Place like Home

I nice mystery about a woman with a hidded past that is threatened to be exposed. A grand house in New Jersey with it's posh country club surroundings, in an in-bread small town atmosphere, with envy, greed, gossip, all the good things you see in close communities.
It's entertaining, a nice easy read.
This book reminds me a lot of the 1944 movie "Gaslight". These two have several overlapping features: The house with a secret; the sane husband and the insane wife, which turn into the insane, greedy husband and innocent wife; the prosecuter that comes to the rescue; I kept thinking that I read this book before.

Dan Downing: Zoo Station

A spy novel set in 1939 Berlin. This is also nice read, however, I was wishing it would be a bit more complex. The story is interesting, as far as I can tell well researched, but is not very gripping (Es plaetschert vor sich hin). It is a good reminder of Nazi brutality, and describes the information level and the consequences drawn from it between different groups of people (polititians in foreign contries, regular people, business people, etc). I liked the way the protagonist listed all the streets and places he passed, because I know most of them, having lived in Berlin for a while. However, for somebody who doesn't know the city, the enumeration of streets might be a bit cumbersome. I'll probably read the sequel: Silesian Station.

Food for Drama

2010-01-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

Since I have been reading a lot of mysteries recently, this blog is part of an effort to organize my reading a bit, as much for my own book-keeping as for a source of reviews for others, in case anybody is interested. I primarily am looking to create an outlet for the 2010globalchallenge, and will throw in other books, food related posts, photographs, and other drama and fun.