Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Kim Sunee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kim Sunee. Show all posts

Friday, March 20, 2009

Friday Finds 3-20-2009






Christine Falls by Benjamin Black I found quite awhile ago over at Blog.Literarily. It is the first book of the Quirke series, with the second one being The Silver Swan.



In the Pathology Department it was always night. This was one of the things Quirke liked about his job...it was restful, cosy, one might almost say, down in these depths nearly two floors beneath the city's busy pavements. There was too a sense here of being part of the continuance of ancient practices, secret skills, of work too dark to be carried on up in the light. But one night, late after a party, Quirke stumbles across a body that shouldn't have been there...and his brother-in-law, eminent paediatrician Malachy Griffin - a rare sight in Quirke's gloomy domain - altering a file to cover up the corpse's cause of death. It is the first time Quirke encounters Christine Falls, but the investigation he decides to lead into the way she lived - and the reason she died - disturbs a dark secret that has been festering at the core of Dublin's high Catholic society, a secret ready to destabilize the very heart and soul of Quirke's own family...










Blessed are the Cheesemakers by Sarah-Kate Lynch I found over at bfishreads.

Blessed are Corrie and Fee, for theirs is the kingdom of the world's tastiest farmhouse cheese. Tucked away in a corner of Ireland, the lifelong friends turn out batch after batch of perfect Coolarney Blues and Golds, thanks to co-operative cows, non-meat-eating fecund milkmaids, and the wind blowing just so in the right direction. Add to this mixture Corrie's long-lost granddaughter Abbey, fresh from a remote but by no means backward island where her husband has been on a mission - although not quite the kind which Abbey had imagined. And stir in New Yorker Kit Stephens, heart-broken, burned-out and permanently hungover, and you have a recipe for disaster. The magic that Corrie and Fee weave in and out of the cheese vats is legendary, but can they use their powers to turn bitterness and betrayal into love - or will the secret ingredient be lost to Coolarney cheese forever?







Revenge by Mary Stanley was discovered over at She Reads and Reads.


Millicent McHarg, an eccentric and forthright novelist, is adored by her three granddaughters. When the eldest, Prunella, nicknamed Plumpet, is found hurt and bewildered in her own bed on Christmas morning following a party the night before, her family must at once deal with the emotional pain, and try to solve the mystery. With Plumpet's sisters' help, Millicent prepares to take a grandmother's revenge...




The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry was found over at Christian Fiction.

As a young woman, Roseanne McNulty was one of the most beautiful and beguiling girls in County Sligo, Ireland. Now, as her hundredth year draws near, she is a patient at Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital, and she decides to record the events of her life.

As Roseanne revisits her past, hiding the manuscript beneath the floorboards in her bedroom, she learns that Roscommon Hospital will be closed in a few months and that her caregiver, Dr. Grene, has been asked to evaluate the patients and decide if they can return to society. Roseanne is of particular interest to Dr. Grene, and as he researches her case he discovers a document written by a local priest that tells a very different story of Roseanne's life than what she recalls. As doctor and patient attempt to understand each other, they begin to uncover long-buried secrets about themselves.

Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an epic story of love, betrayal, and unavoidable tragedy, and a vivid reminder of the stranglehold that the Catholic Church had on individual lives for much of the twentieth century.


And - just for fun, if you have read this far and can tell me how all these books are related (book by book - please be specific) - send me an email at - kherbrand (at) comcast (dot) com - and I will enter you in a drawing for the book Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee. (My review is here) This drawing will take place when the next Friday Finds post goes up.




What great books did you find this week?? Stop over at Should Be Reading and share yours!

*all descriptions are from Fantastic Fiction

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee (Book Review)


Title: Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home
Author: Kim Sunee
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir

First sentence: Let me start by saying where I am.

From the cover:
Kim Sunee was abandoned in a Korean marketplace at the age of three and raised by adoptive parents in New Orleans. But by the age of twenty-two, her life was totally transformed - she found herself the companion of a French mogul, and mistress over his homes in Paris and Provence. Yet despite the glamorous trappings, Kim never felt quite at home. It was only in the kitchen, where she encountered exotic ingredients and fed crowds of friends, that she felt she truly belonged. Trail of Crumbs is a compelling personal narrative of the search for home pursued among the tastes, aromas, and sensuality of food across three continents.

This book was beautifully written! It led you through Kim's life - most of it centered in her 20's after she had moved out of the United States. It showed such a deep yearning to try to understand where she fit in, where she belonged, that you just wanted to reach into the book and take her in your arms to let her know that it would all be okay. By being "lost" by her mom, she grew up always searching, never quite feeling "at home."

I interpreted the title "Trail of Crumbs" to be a metaphor for two things. First, she used to have a dream about her and her brother as Hansel and Gretel, just waiting for the moon to come out so they could see the trail of crumbs - only to find out that they had been eaten by the birds. Secondly, how she seemed to feel most comfortable in the kitchen, regardless of where she was, cooking wonderful dishes for friends. So as she traveled, she left her own 'trail of crumbs'. Her book is doctored with tales of wonderful foods in exotic (to me) places. At the ends of many of the chapters are recipes of what sound like delicious dishes. I hope someday to have the courage to try some of them. (There is an index in the back of the book listing these recipes.)

You must read Kim's story of loss and loneliness as she loved, in her way, Olivier, but could not come to accept the life he created for her.
"Somehow, I thought, he'll never realize that the everything he wants to give me will never take away the nothing that I've always had." (p66)
Join her as she searches for acceptance and family and discovers a strength to let go of what cannot be changed and move forward.

About the author: Kim Sunee has been featured in the New York Times, Ladies' Home Journal, People, Elle, and Glamour. She is the founding food editor of Cottage Living and the host of "Local Flavor with Kim Sunee" for MyRecipes.com. You can visit her website at http://www.kimsunee.com/.

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