Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert
Yes, I'm a woman and I loved Eat Pray Love. What woman in or out of her right mind wouldn't want to take a year's sabbatical to find herself and replenish her exhausted spirit? But Ms. Gilbert writes straight from her heart and her funny bone, and while she's an accomplished author, she is as human a woman as I've ever met. She loves, she hurts, she cries and then she picks herself up and starts all over again, all the while making me literally laugh and cry.
My copy of her book is dog-eared, and underlined. One of my favorite quotes: "I am burdened with what the Buddhists call the "monkey-mind"--the thoughts that swing from limb to limb, stopping only to scratch themselves, spit and howl".......and then this: "I think you have every right to cherry-pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. I think you are free to search for any metaphor whatsoever which will take you across the worldly divide whenever you need to be transported and comforted".
A fitting sentiment, indeed, for me and my monkey-mind.
by Craig Claiborne
No collection of Coffee-Stained Books would be complete without my ultimate, all-time favorite, The New York Times Cookbook. Not the new updated edition (which I also have), but the original 1961 edition.
This was my bible as a young bride way back in, well, a long time ago. Even though I had basic cooking down (thanks, Mom) I didn't know a Bechamel from a Baguette. Many years later this is still a go-to source for many of the yummy foodstuffs that come from my kitchen.
I was absolutely blown away by Simmons' fictional account of the lost Franklin Expedition! Over 100 men sailed from England in 1845 in two ships, Erebus and the HMS Terror, to search for the Northwest Passage. The two ships became trapped in pack ice in the Canadian Arctic, and the expedition disappeared off the face of the earth until remains of the longest-surviving members were found many years later. (You can read more about it here: The Franklin Expedition). Simmons historical fiction reconstructs the story through historical fact, fantasy, horror and science fiction. Sailing off into the relative unknown for these men was not unlike taking off into outer space. The brutal conditions of the arctic (for which the men were not prepared), take their toll quickly. Some men perish from disease, infection and lead poisoning,others from the cold, and still others from botulism traced to tinned food purchased from the lowest bidder.
This was an utterly compelling read. The fact that Simmons creates stunningly descriptive fiction out of known historical fact makes it that much more interesting. His descriptions of life in a vast, inhospitable and unknown terrain are so vivid that you really do become part of the story. With close to 800 pages this is a great book to read when the snow's flying and you're sitting inside next to a cozy fire!
