Kitchen Daughter, by Jael McHenry



I thought the 'f' words were completely unnecessary. Two espisodes, unrelated, and any other words could have been chosen. C'mon.

On the other hand, the references to warmth and heat throughout the book, and the power it has to transform, were a delightful parellel to the storyline - the power of adversity to make people into something better.

Ginny, the oldest of two girls, has Asperberger's. Her parents have cared for and protected her for her whole life, and overnight they are gone. This book is about her struggle to overcome her condition, her sister's idea of what her life should be, and her own idea of what her life will be.

I loved learning about Asperberger's from the point of view of someone with the syndrome. Learning about the family relationships and the parenting techniques was interesting, and wathcing the friendship of the two sisters develope was valuable.

All the cooking info tickled my senses, and the references to voices having the qualities of food was delightful. The author is skilled at drawing the reader in and causing one to feel for the characters and their circumstances.

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour, Volume One



Although it wsa obvious that some stories were written earlier in his career than others, most of the writing is masterful. One of the reasons I enjoy short stories is because I'm not kept till the wee hours of the morning reading through the suspenseful, action-packed core of a novel. No such luck with L'Amour- I craved his writing. I drank it up night after night, and it filled me with warmth and pleasure.

L'Amour's knowledge of Indians, locations, and the frontier life never ceased to amaze me. The lack of sex and infusion of morals and stories of great men delighted me. Here's an excerpt of Caprock Rancher:

      The money we important for reasons beyond what it could buy. Pa was always holding on about the value of a good nname, and for the first time I was faced up to what it could mean. Pa was a respected man, but if we showed up without that money a lot of folks were going to remember that I'd been swaggering it around town with Doc Sites, Kid reese, and that outfit. Some of them were going to say things about us loosing that money, and Pa would take the blame as well as me.
      We Tuckers never had much  but an honest reputation... This herd we had just sold in Kansas was... the first thing Pa had to show for twenty years of hard work . . . and the first many of our neighbors had to show. If we'd got through to the ranch with that money we'd have had an edge on the future.
      I guess it was my fault.

The coming-of-age story of this young Tucker was a delight to read. Trap of Gold made me more nervous than any reading I've done in a long time - several times I had to pause to still my nerves. The Listening Hills made me cry. The Gift of Cochise made my heart swell with joy at the goodness of men and women, white and Indian, who lived the codes they chose to live by.

After reading this collection I feel delighted and strengthened.