The Devil in the White City

I think a good name for an Office spin off would be The Weevil in the Dwight City.  Those TV developers better get cracking.  If there is anything I've learned after reading this book is that society has a really short memory. The 1893 Chicago World's Fair was a huge deal but I barely knew anything about it.  Maybe they had a giant Ferris Wheel?  Serial killer of the same time?  Never heard of him.  I think this phenomenon is getting even shorter.  Ten years from now, no one will remember Edward Snowden at all, he'll just be quietly crying in his borscht.

This was Erik Larson's big break and if I was in publishing during the early 2000's I would not have predicted a non-fiction book about superstar architects would be a national best-seller.  Ok, admittedly it is also about the country's first serial killer.  On the internets you can look at pictures of the fair and it looks amazing.  I don't think he does it justice as far as the scale and majesty. Electricity was new, I can't imagine what a whole huge artificial city would have looked like lit up at night.  I think it would blow my mind now...back then...destroyed.  I wonder if they had an on-site sanitarium. 

Leonardo Di Caprio bought the film rights and the movie is currently in development.  I think he likes to play any roles from the olden times where he gets to slick his hair back and wear suspenders.  I see major suspender potential in this... and big walrus mustaches and hats...maybe canes too. Ohh, I can see Leo playing Edward Snowden in a movie because Snowden has grown a big walrus mustache (I'll bet he has--I know I would). 

Drinks: The main architect has an on-site "shanty" which had a big fireplace where he would have a little drinky-poo and smoke a cigar after working all day. It sounds kind of awesome. It is getting a bit "crisp" out, so why not drink a warm drink with this book.  Honey Pot Cider:  1 1/4 cup apple cider, 1 Tbsp. honey, 1 3/4 ounces apple jack brandy.  Heat the ingredients in a small saucepan for about 5 minutes.  Put in a mug with 2 apple slices speared with a cinnamon stick and then rest the stick on the mug. 

Oryx & Crake

I caught up on some reading while suffering from food poisoning.  Why let those tainted mussels win, right?  (They kind of won a little bit).  There is nothing like a dystopian novel to make you feel better.  Hey, you may feel terrible but at least you don't have a virulent bacterial infection that will kill you, you just suspect you might. 

Oryx and Crake was the first in a trilogy by Margaret Atwood, who is awesome at all of her various genres. It's not fun-times for our narrator, although he is a kind of dipstick. Of course it is well written an interesting as you would expect nothing less from her. The trilogy is finished and this first book was written ten years ago so it is not fair to make fun of people in the future watching CD-ROMS. It does seem so stupid now. Maybe they make a comeback like vinyl records.

I know that dystopian novels are supposed to be depressing and a kind of wake up call to mend our wicked ways but why can't they have a bright side?  Why can't we solve global warming by having cute bikes or riding tricked out cable cars, have condos on the moon, nanobots that kill cancer and eat carbs without consequences.  I want to live in that future.  I think authors just do not want to envision a future that is better than the one we live in now.  They think, how dare my grandchildren live better than me--SCREW THE GRANDCHILDREN--you will be eating your own poop someday! 

Our dipstick narrator likes beer--real beer-- and who doesn't?  I truly think we are living in the golden age of craft beer so go out there and find some awesome ones.  Locally I have been enjoying Rhinegeist's Zen which is an American Pale Ale (less alcohol than an IPA), but there are some fun stuff coming out of Salt Lake City--I know! (apparently it has more heathens than you think) from Uinta Brewing Co. These lighter pale ales go with food--not tainted food--not your own poop--just decent normal food.   

1984

The real 1984 wasn't like 1984.  While there were idiots wearing overalls in the real 1984, those dummies were mostly overzealous fans of Dexi's Midnight Runners.  Also, I refuse to call overalls "dungarees," Craig.  That's just crazy. 

I never read 1984 in high school, but I should have, I suppose.  That would have been a good time to read it.  Now, well…. there is no doubt that this was an incredibly important book at the time but I feel like dude, we get it.  The huge manifesto the protagonist reads to us… I got it.  That may not be fair, since Orwell wrote this, society has lived through China's Cultural Revolution, Kim Jong Il and the juggernaut that is One Direction. 

One of my favorite things about reading books from the past about the future is the predictions.  He predicted something like Siri called speakwrite but in 1984 they were at least discreet when they used it. Now Siri involves a lot of shouting: SIRI, WHERE IS THE NEAREST CHIPOTLE?  One thing Orwell didn't predict was that we would stop using the word "counterpane" for bedspread.  Or as most of us call it, "the covers." Sir, mind the counterpane! You are soiling it!

Drinks: In 1984 they drink Victory Gin which apparently is kind of nasty. Normally I don't like to suggest a drink that is so "on the nose" but I can't resist this gin based drink from my friend Rob.  The Communist: 1 oz. London Dry Gin, 1 oz. orange juice, 3/4 oz. lemon juice, 1/2 Cherry Herring.  Stir in a glass with ice, strain and serve straight up.  Apparently there is an old Czechoslovakian communist slogan that was "No Grain to Waste."  Indeed.

Last Night in Montreal

I absolutely love Montreal.  Of course I went in the summer because in the winter it is all about the Vortex Poliere.  I don't speak French but it wasn't a big deal as we only interacted with two people who couldn't speak English.  Even that wasn't a problem because when you smile, nod and hand people a wad of money, everything seems to always work out.

Last night in Montreal is partially set in Montreal. It is a "sort-of" mystery (not really) about a girl abducted by a non-custodial parent and her issues as an adult.  The plot also includes all the weirdoes that become obsessed with her. This book is ok.  I could relate to the characters  that felt cold because I work in an overly-air-conditioned-kill-the-environment-and-kill-me-while-you-are-at-kind-of-places.  I don't understand why it is 90 degrees and I can't feel my fingers.  I have not ruled out that I may be dead inside. 

The author, Emily St. John Mandel, is an adorable pixie girl who studied dance.  She is exactly the type of girl a guy would travel 14 hours on a train ride just to see one more time.  I, however, cannot get my husband to walk 14 feet to come to the kitchen to get something off a high shelf.  Usually, I am forced to climb the kitchen cabinets like some kind of spider monkey.  C'est la vie. 

Montreal has some amazing cocktail bars (Canadians + France = glug glug) and I'm pretty sure I need to go back there to do more "research."  How about a Frenchy cocktail you can sip wherever you live? (Provided you have a very well-stocked liquor cabinet)  The Lumiere: 1&1/2 ounces of gin, 1 ounce St. Germain, 3/4 ounce lime juice, 3/4 ounce Chartreuse, dash of orange bitters.   Combine the ingredients and stir with ice.  Strain into a coupe and garnish with a lime twist. 

All the Light We Cannot See

Comedy nightmare topics in All the Light We Cannot See include a young Nazi soldier (I'm no Mel Brooks) and a young blind French girl in occupied France during WWII.  Louis C.K. could do something brilliant with that formula but he's a genius. Needless to say, this is not a comedy.

Set during the year just before and during the war, the story also includes an agoraphobic eccentric uncle and a mysterious giant diamond. It is probably the best contemporary fiction book I've read this year even though the snacks are few and far between.  The writing is excellent but not particularly flashy.  There is hope for contemporary fiction.  What is contemporary fiction?  Anything written after Benedict Cumberbatch became famous.  I realize using BC might be confusing so maybe it is best to use CE as in the Cumberbatch Era. Written in 2014, this is a fine CE4 novel.

Anthony Doerr is some sort of nature lover.  There are lot of snails, or whelks, in this book--and believe it or not--not as snacks. (I know, France!)  The Whelks sounds like a good name for a sports team.  But no one wants to be named after a snail (even if they seem well-adjusted and have a pretty shell).  Well, maybe Stanford.  Stanford doesn't even really have a mascot so they have a guy dressed as giant tree that runs around the football field.  A snail at least moves, not much, but MORE THAN TREES. 

Drinks: Brittany is known for its sparkling apple cider.  I have never had Breton cider but it comes in a fancy wine bottle ('natch) and looks delicious.  Plus I'm sure it is refreshing when your city is under siege and you are really really thirsty because you are trapped in a building that has collapsed and may or may not be on fire.    

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Weird sex stuff? Check. Mystical dimensions and vision quests? Check. Spaghetti making? Check and check.  This Murakami book, written in the mid-nineties features a vaguely nebbishy 30 year old guy named Toru and lots of sexy ladies doing sexy but sometimes creepy things.  But that is typical Murakami.  And making snacks.  In his books someone is usually making a snack or drinking coffee, or maybe a beer.  Apparently Murakami used to own a coffee shop.  If you write what you know, I think he must have also had a multi-dimensional sex shop.  I'm pretty sure it was called String Bikini Theory Sex Shoppe.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is shorter than 1Q84. I think this would be a good introduction to his work. I found it wasn't a page turner because of all the side stories but it is possible that I have surrealism burnout.  For some reason psychic prostitutes and sadistic death obsessed neighborhood girls just aren't enough for me to stay up late reading.  Maybe I just have Murakami burnout.  I totally needed to organize that closet anyway. Don't mind me, all other weirdoes (like me) like this book.  He's still an awesome writer and his philosophical and bizarre images stick with you like flying toasters, which is perfect for the mid-nineties. I found out that those flying toasters are copyrighted so THAT is why you are not seeing them everywhere. Trust me that stuff is back.  Well, not all of it.  Having an AOL email address is not back. 

Drinks: Toru likes beer.  In fact his neighborhood liquor store delivers a case of beer to his house and then bills him later.  Wow, this must be another dimension because that doesn't happen in my world.  Anyway, if you are not having a cold beer, maybe try a Pink Flamingo for a bird themed drink? Here is just one variation: 2 ounces rum, 3/4 ounce lime juice and 3 ounces good quality pink grapefruit soda.  Add the rum and lime juice to a shaker with ice shake and stain into a highball glass with ice, top with the grapefruit soda and garnish with a lime wheel or a long lime peel twist. 
 

The Catcher in the Rye

What is a chiffonier?  In the olden times, like those in The Cather in the Rye, that is what they called a chest a drawers.  Ok, I don't even know how to pronounce chiffonier, much less know when it is appropriate to use that word.  Also, when things are great they used to say things are "grand." Um, no.  You say or shout "THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!" (At least that's what I say....or shout).  It makes me think that 70 years from now people won't be calling everything awesome, although I will be fine with dropping YOLO.  In fact, I will be quite comfortable getting rid of that, of course I will be dead by then ...because you really only do live once.

I first read The Catcher in the Rye when I was a teenager just like our protagonist Holden (sounded like a rich kid's name then and still does). My book club picked it and while I rarely re-read books because there are more books in the world than years left in my life, it turns out I remembered almost nothing. I can't figure out if that is exciting or disturbing.  I remembered liking it, but I was worried, has my taste changed? No, I'm good...I kill me.

You've probably already read this book. One thing I noticed when I was re-reading this is that Holden, our sixteen year old semi-depressed teenager, enjoys interacting with kids because they are a refreshing tonic in a cynical world.  But what is weird is that he approaches kids in Central Park that he doesn't know and starts talking to them, even "helping" one kid on a teeter-totter.  Today, he would be arrested.  Seriously.  Helping a kid on a teeter-totter puts your hand right next to his butt.  Inappropriate.  Apparently things were more innocent in the 40's and 50's.  Things were gay.  Wait, gay means something different now.  Grand.

Drinks: Holden likes to drink cocktails even though he is underage.  One obvious one would be a Manhattan made with Rye (which is my new favorite way to drink it).  But I've given you that recipe.  So, how about another rye cocktail?  The Oriental: 1&1/2 ounces of Rye whiskey, 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth, 3/4 Cointreau, 1/2 ounce lime juice. Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a cherry.