Fiction | Book Chatter

The School of Essential Ingredients
By Erica Bauermeister
(Berkley Trade, Paperback, 9780425232095, January 2010, 272pp.)

The Short of It:

The School of Essential Ingredients is the panacea for all that ails you.

The Rest of It:

What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said? Well, coming from a person who prefers heavier fiction over cozy reads, I can tell you that I would not have picked it up on my own, had it not been for the wonderful reviews its received. Additionally, I heard Bauermeister speak at a local bookstore and I liked HER. Does that ever happen to you? You like the author as a person, so then you pick up his/her book? I admired the easy, effortless way she read and her characters seemed to have heart.

In School, Lillian owns a restaurant. A lovely little thing, with cozy, intimate spaces that open to a gorgeous garden. Each Monday, once a month, she teaches a cooking class. The participants change regularly, but each group brings with them, memories of lost loves, heartache, the awkwardness of a first kiss, the warm scent of a freshly washed baby. As the students learn the importance of experiencing their meals and not just cooking them, the reader is treated to little bit of history on each participant.

There are many, wonderful characters but I identified the most with Claire. A mother of two and happily married, Claire lost a little piece of herself when she had her first child. That page and a half where she talks about her loss and what she gained in return, nearly brought tears to my eyes. I think a lot of women have probably felt that way at one point. I know I did. That moment where you realize that you are now responsible for this other person, and that you will never, ever be the same. It’s wonderful yet also a little bit sad.

Ultimately, this is a feel-good book. It’s warm and inviting and incredibly satisfying. At one point, it seemed almost too good to be true but I took my critical hat off and just enjoyed it for what it was. If you read this book, and I suggest that you do, you MUST have food on hand. After finishing the book, I spent an entire weekend cooking and savoring delicious meals. This book is so popular that I’m surprised it wasn’t followed up with a cookbook. Or, some sort of cooking retreat. I’d be the first in line to reserve my spot.

To the more serious readers, I dare you to read this book and not feel good about it afterward.

Source: Borrowed

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Annabel
By Kathleen Winter
(Grove Press, Black Cat, Paperback, 9780802170828, January 2011, 480pp.)

The Short of It:

Annabel is incredibly moving. It will touch you, and steal your heart.

The Rest of It:

The story is simple. In a small seaside town, a baby is born a hermaphrodite. Jacinta and Treadway must decide how to raise the child. Should they raise a boy, or a girl? As Jacinta holds her baby, she knows deep down, that the baby is a girl; a beautiful daughter whom she feels a deep connection to. But Treadway has always wanted a son, and so the child is named Wayne and raised as a boy. Although this goes against everything Jacinta believes the world to be, she does not voice her feelings and goes along with it.

Jacinta’s close friend, Thomasina, also the women who helped bring Wayne into the world, knows that the child will have a complicated life down the line. These decisions are never easy ones to make, and although Wayne’s parents love him dearly, Thomasina also looks out for him, and supports him in ways his own parents can’t. Wayne’s parents do not clue him in to what’s going on with his body. It’s after it becomes medically necessary, that he finds out and it’s not even his parents who explain it to him. It’s their dear friend, Thomasina.

Wayne’s struggle to find himself is so painful at times, that I just wanted to reach into the book and give him a hug. Each character is so vividly drawn and deeply complex and wonderful in their own way. The parents are good parents. Treadway is distant as a father, but he loves his son and he has a deep sense of duty to his family. The decisions he makes, are (in his mind) for the good of the family. I cried for Jacinta. She knew from the moment she held that baby that Wayne should have been Annabel, named after Thomasina’s daughter who died with her father in a hunting accident.

What I truly appreciate, is that Winter does not shy away from the tough topics. Wayne’s upbringing affects the family as a whole, but each member of that family quietly falls apart before they become whole again. Nature vs. Nurture is a huge theme here and you see the devastating effects of both. But what makes this a very hopeful story, are the good friends Wayne meets along the way and the fact that his parents love him. The love they provide is what holds him up.

I loved this book. I adored it. My moods continued to shift as I read it and it wasn’t until the end that I began to breathe easy again. Annabel is everything that a good book should be and it’s a book that everyone should read and discuss.

Source: Borrowed