Are you a born to be a chef? What would you sacrifice for three Michelin stars? Long time foreign correspondent for Forbes, Richard Morais, has created a moving, sharply revealing, often amusing novel of a raucous upwardly striving tribe of larger than life eccentrics – Indian and French -- told through the reminiscences of Hassan Haji – the first foreign born chef to receive Michelin’s three stars. A cook and passionate gourmand, as well as a seasoned journalist, Morais seems to know as much as any exile or cook what it means to be an exile and a cook. And it isn’t just scents of spicy fish curry and “lip puckering crème de cassis” that will keep you hungrily turning these pages, it is the scent of rotting forest, the warmth of bread carried home from the boulangerie, the “fecund aroma of orchids and suckling pig,” the heat of love-making in the hours between lunch and dinner service. Certainly he is a keen observer of obsession. His imagined culinary nun, Madame Mallory, is the enraged nemesis of the Haji family and their exuberant Maison Mumbai in a quiet Alpine village directly across the street from her precious and perfect two-starred Le Saule Pleureur. She is both a fiery avenger and the demanding mentor of the teenage Hassan. Of course she dissolves into tears as she first tastes the young cook's Indian food, “letting the flavors roll sensuously across her tongue.” And it is she who directs Hassan’s fated passage from student to commis to cook, insisting he absorb everything she knows before he can even touch a paring knife in her kitchen. I stayed an hour late in my office Sunday night to finish the book, unable to stop before Hassan's dessert, savoring the bite of the author’s observations that emerge through his narrator: As he remembers the dismissiveness of Mallory toward Maison Mumbai, “the look of icy disdain that I would see many times again as I made my way through France in the coming years. A uniquely Gallic look of nuclear contempt for one’s inferiors.” I can’t recall ever agreeing with any of the usually toxic pronouncements of Anthony Bourdain. But he’s right about “The Hundred-Foot Journey” (Scribner $23) being “heavily larded with the lushest, most high-sex food porn since Zola.” For him it’s “easily the best novel ever set in the world of cooking.” Views: 63
On The Frontier There Was One Rule:Learn To Kill, Or Prepare To Die. . .Christopher Guthrie was bred by money, educated by Harvard, saved from the Civil War by an oak desk in Washington D.C. Towering, fierce Wolf Riker was honed by a kind of suffering Guthrie could never imagine. Fate throws these two men together when a stagecoach from Baton Rouge is set upon by killers. The price for Guthrie's survival is joining Riker's trail drive to Kansas, a mad, brawling charge of longhorns and backstabbers. Guthrie is soon bound by Riker's rules, surrounded by his kill-crazy crew, surviving one danger after another and protecting a beautiful young woman as he goes. And it will be here, amidst floods and battles, cut off from his past and civilization, that Christopher Guthrie will emerge a different man. . .for better or worse. As for Wolf Riker, he is running from demons from which only God Himself can save him. . ."Crackling with the fury of a desert storm." --True West on The Rebel: Johnny YumaReview"A good, rousing story with well-defined, involving characters and plenty of action."--Variety on *Tom Horn and the Apache Kid *"A satisfying variation of a familiar theme in an unfamiliar locale."--True West on Double EaglesAbout the AuthorFenady is both a screenwriter and a producer. His credits include Chisum (1970) starring John Wayne, Hondo (1967 TV series), The Sea Wolf (1993) starring Charles Bronson, Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966) starring Chuck Connors, Broken Sabre (1965) starring Chuck Connors, (1965 TV series), and The Rebel (1959 TV series) starring Nick Adams. A member of Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science, he has produced, written, and/or acted in 28 TV series and movies. Fenady has won numerous awards, including an Edgar Award, an Owen Wister Award and the Golden Boot for his contributions to the Western genre. He is also a Spur Award finalist. His previous Westerns were published by TOR, Berkley, and Zebra. Views: 63
Just My Type is not just a font book, but a book of stories. About how Helvetica and Comic Sans took over the world. About why Barack Obama opted for Gotham, while Amy Winehouse found her soul in 30s Art Deco. About the great originators of type, from Baskerville to Zapf, or people like Neville Brody who threw out the rulebook, or Margaret Calvert, who invented the motorway signs that are used from Watford Gap to Abu Dhabi. About the pivotal moment when fonts left the world of Letraset and were loaded onto computers ... and typefaces became something we realised we all have an opinion about. As the Sunday Times review put it, the book is 'a kind of Eats, Shoots and Leaves for letters, revealing the extent to which fonts are not only shaped by but also define the world in which we live.' This edition is available with both black and silver covers. Views: 63
Compelling modern fantasy that sees modern-day London threatened by sinister ancient forces On his first trip to London to stay with his glamorous aunt and uncle for Christmas, Ivo Moncrieff steps off the train and stumbles into a nightmare. As he is waiting on the tube platform, a stranger thrusts a mysterious object into his hand, desperately muttering some unfamiliar words to him. On-board the tube moments later, the carriage next to Ivo's is overcome with panic and when they enter the next station the passengers disembark to find that the stranger's body has been brutally dismembered. Ivo guesses that perpetrators must want the object, and if they find out he has it, he will be their next target. But the attack on the tube is part of a larger scheme to bring chaos to the heart of London. As the capital seems in danger of sliding into anarchy, Ivo faces a race against time to break the ancient power of the Liberators, a power that has lain dormant for centuries but now... Views: 63
Maggie Pickwick is a lifetime away from her days as head cheerleader and the mistakes she made in high school. Twelve years later, this single mom has traded pompoms for an auctioneer’s gavel, popularity for peace and quiet, and strives to be a good example for her daughter Devyn. She’s keeping it together just fine, too—until an old flame moves back to her little North Carolina town.Renowned artist Reece Thorpe wants nothing to do with Maggie—not after what she did to him in high school—but he might also be Devyn’s father. Fed by her own pride and fear for her daughter’s happiness, Maggie finds herself on a slippery slope of white lies as she attempts to convince Reece that she’s changed. But the truth has a way of making itself known, and now Maggie’s past and present mistakes could ruin her chance at love. Views: 63
Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. She doesn't have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street. But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya's visions show a powerful hurricane--Katrina--fast approaching, it's up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.Ninth Ward is a deeply emotional story about transformation and a celebration of resilience, love, friendship, and family--as only love can define it. Views: 63
