Tufts Magazine Archive Summer 2004

BOOKSHELF

The Book Club Cook Book
Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors
Judy Gelman, J84, and Vicki Levy Krupp
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam

From Marcel Proust’s madeleines to the sumptuous feast prepared in Isak Dinesen’s Babette’s Feast, food and literature have a long relationship. Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp have taken the connection one step further, compiling The Book Club Cook Book, with recipes for dishes to accompany various book club selections. Tackling Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina? How about serving wild mushrooms on toast? Reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies? Why not dish up Mrs. Lahiri’s hard-boiled egg curry in mustard sauce? Gelman discusses how some of the recipes were chosen.

"In pairing recipes with books, we looked for foods that were central to a book’s theme or that played a role in a pivotal scene. Sometimes the inspiration was right on the page. For example, in the novel The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Amy Tan locates a scene in a real San Francisco restaurant, and the owners contributed their recipes for dishes mentioned in the book. In Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn, the protagonist craves chicken shwarma sandwiches, and we contacted a Middle Eastern restaurant in Brooklyn, which provided their authentic chicken shwarma recipe."

“Many authors of the books we feature gave us family recipes. For example, we have Leif Enger’s recipe for the cinnamon rolls with coffee frosting described in his novel Peace Like a River. Lalita Tademy, author of Cane River, gave us her family recipe for peach cobbler.

“Book clubs provided many recipes, such as mango jicama salad paired with Love in the Time of Cholera and seafood chowder to complement Ahab’s Wife.

“Sometimes books and recipes called for historical research. The angel food cake paired with Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time is the recipe used by the White House chef during FDR’s time.

“Stories with a scarcity of food, such as Alfred Lansing’s Endurance, the true story of the crew of a ship stranded on the Antarctic ice for more than a year, presented a challenge. They ate a lot of seal meat; we opted for an oatmeal biscuit recipe based on provisions on board the Endurance."

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The Summer I Dared
Barbara Delinsky, J67
Scribner

In her new novel, perennial New York Times best-selling author Barbara Delinsky asks, What comes after the moment that changes your life forever? This is the question that haunts the three survivors of a horrific boating accident off the coast of Maine. Julia, a 40-year-old wife and mother, has always done exactly what others expect of her. From her brush with death, however, she discovers that there has to be more to life than obedience. Feeling strangely connected to Noah, the divorced, taciturn lobsterman who helped save her life, and to Kim, a 21-year-old whose role in the aftermath of the accident—and subsequent muteness—are a mystery, Julia begins to explore her feelings in ways she never has before.

Animals in My Mailbox
Joseph Golden, A51
Coastal Villages Press

This newest collection of musings by Joseph Golden, a regular contributor to the Beaufort (South Carolina) Gazette, is subtitled “And a bunch of other silly, satiric & test commentaries on the quirky, heroic or dumb behavior of human beings.” In these essays, the author seeks to educate and inspire through his poignant lessons on living, while gently poking fun. From his wife’s love of animals that encourages every animal organization in existence to overfill their mailbox with pleas for money to how to handle your son’s request to be a dancer to what the author misses after quitting smoking, readers will find something to relate to and savor.

Ribbons of Highway
A Mother-Child Journey Across America
Lori Hein, J79
Booklocker.com

The summer after September 11, a mother and her two children set off on a 12,000-mile road trip through America, discovering their country’s majesty and humanity along the way. Lori Hein, a freelance writer and newspaper correspondent, writes of her family’s three journeys tied together by ribbons of back roads and byways. A narrative that takes readers off the interstate and into the country’s small towns and proud, quiet places, it is also a journey that confirms America’s resilience and resolve. Finally, it is a family’s exploration of the love and respect that bind together a mother and her two growing children.

London Goes to Sea
Restoring and Sailing an Old Boat on a Budget
Peter Baumgartner, A71
Sheridan House

London Goes to Sea is a candid account of restoring an aging fiberglass sailboat over the course of four years and then reintroducing the craft to its native New England waters. Peter Baumgartner’s precise records illustrate every trial and triumph of the restoration process, and his careful attention to errors made along the way provides crucial insight for anyone considering a similar endeavor. Whether refining a new nautical skill, learning about the life cycle of a jellyfish, or narrowly avoiding a collision with a cruise ship off Cape Cod, Baumgartner and his unflagging joy and enthusiasm for his old Cape dory shine through on every page.

Understanding Spanish
Speaking South Americans
Skye Stephenson, F83, F86
Intercultural Press, Inc.

So much the same yet so different, the nine Spanish-speaking nations of South America are both united by similar cultural themes and differentiated by ethnicity and race, degree of European immigration, geographical influences, and temperament. Skye Stephenson, director for Latin American and Caribbean studies at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, weaves the dual threads of Spanish political and religious history, often referred to as the sword and the cross, into a tapestry of cultural insights for these diverse countries. Personalisimo, class, gender, identity, dignity, and the importance of appearances are a few of the themes covered.

T. C. Murray, Dramatist
Voice of Rural Ireland
Albert DeGiacomo, G93
Syracuse University Press

Albert J. DeGiacomo, assistant professor in the English and theater department at Berea College, assesses T. C. Murray’s contribution to the Irish dramatic movement, drawing on the archives of libraries in Dublin, New York City, and Boston. One of the “Cork realists” of the Abbey Theatre, Murray wrote 17 plays in one, two, and three acts. A prominent National Teacher and a seemingly apolitical playwright in the Irish Literary Revival, Murray expressed nationalistic aspirations in his peasant tragedies. His characters’ drive for self-determination and their religious consciousness mark Murray’s dramatic landscape.

Rising Above Sweatshops
Innovative Approaches to Global Labor Challenges
Laura Pincus Hartman, J85, Denis G. Arnold, Richard E. Wokutch, eds.
Praeger Publishers

How do multinational enterprises benefit from the economic advantages of a global labor market while respecting workers’ rights? Laura Pincus Hartman, a professor of business ethics at DePaul University, and her co-editors introduce the current global labor milieu and the dilemma in which basic rights often appear to conflict with the economic and commercial needs of both developing nations and multinational efforts. Creative approaches are needed if the rights of workers are to coexist with commercial success, or even survive, and this collection showcases innovative solutions.

Who’s Afraid of the WTO?
Kent Jones, F79
Oxford University Press

Who is afraid of the World Trade Organization (WTO)? The list is long, from workers and the unions that represent them, who claim that WTO agreements increase import competition and threaten their jobs, to human rights advocates who are ready to violate WTO rules by imposing trade sanctions in defense of human rights. Kent Jones, professor of economics at Babson College, addresses the various arguments leveled against the WTO and explains the reasons for establishing the agreement to promote world trade and the consensus-based structure of its enforcement mechanisms.

The Jewish Dream Book
The Key to Opening the Inner Meaning of Your Dreams
Vanessa Ochs, J74
Jewish Lights Publishing

This informative bedside companion will help you explore your dreams and discover the meanings they may hold for you. Vanessa Ochs, the Ida and Nathan Kolodiz Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Virginia, invites you to integrate the spiritual wisdom of Judaism’s past into your life today by honoring your dreams and striving to uncover their hidden messages. Exploring the Bible, Talmud, and other ancient sources, the book introduces readers to inspiring, easy-to-use rituals and practices.

Health Smart
Hospital Handbook—Get in. Get well. Get home.
Dr. Joseph Sacco, A79
Alpha Books
Millions of Americans require hospital stays each year—and most are unprepared for the experience. The modern hospital is a wonder of medical technology and expertise, but it is also a place where sick people can get sicker. Dr. Joseph Sacco, medical director of the Family Practice Inpatient Unit at Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center in New York City, gives an invaluable, no-nonsense guide to maximizing the benefits of a hospital stay. Included is clear information on when you do and do not need a hospital stay, a step-by-step description of the hospital experience, and inside advice on how to advocate for yourself or your loved ones in the medical bureaucracy.

Boston Sites & Insights
An Essential Guide to Historic Landmarks In and Around Boston
Susan Wilson, J69
Beacon Press

Whether you’re looking for a history of one of Boston’s world-class museums or for a fascinating story about the city’s popular North End, Susan Wilson has it covered. Wilson provides nearly everything the modern visitor or resident needs to know to enjoy the multicultural city of Boston, Massachusetts. She describes all the well-known sites, such as the Freedom Trail and Fenway Park, but also writes about lesser-known landmarks like the Abiel Smith School on Beacon Hill, built in the 19th century for the city’s growing population of African-American children, struggling in a time of segregation.