Sweet Tooth: The Bittersweet History of Candy

 

 The title: Sweet Tooth: The Bittersweet History of Candy
The author: Kate Hopkins
Publication: St. Martin's Press, 2012
Got it from: The library

With a name like Sweet Tooth: The Bittersweet History of Candy, and an enticing-looking chocolate on the cover, I couldn't not check this book out of the library.   Kate Hopkins is a food blogger (see her website Accidental Hedonist) and she attempts to trace the history of candy while visiting the places where sweets got their origins.  Her travels take her to Italy, where delicious torrone was invented (among other treats), Great Britain, the home of "grandma" candy as well as Cadbury's, and to her native US where she visits an early confectionery store in Boston and experiences the childlike heaven of Hershey, Pennsylvania - an entire town devoted to all things candy.

The author's premise is to find the simple childhood joys of candy, but the "bittersweet" truth is that when researching its history, she runs up against troubling issues.  Sugar's history has been intertwined for centuries with slavery that still exists today in parts of Africa.  Still, the author's tone never gets too dark, and interspersed with the history we get little fun facts, such as descriptions of various candies accompanied by their "candy exchange rate," always valued against a York Peppermint Pattie.  For instance, she describes candy corn: "A waxy fondant shaped like corn kernels, candy corn was created in the late 1800s as a means to disappoint future generations of children as they went door to door treat or treating," and calls its taste, "little more than candle wax with autumn colors added."  (Candy exchange rate?  1,476 pieces of candy corn = 1 York Peppermint Pattie.)

As someone who was obsessed with sweets as a child and still gets a bit gushy over the likes of Lindt chocolate and Jelly Bellies, I enjoyed this book very much.  It certainly gave me a new appreciation for how candies are made and their long history in Western culture.

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World

The title:  Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World
The author: Matthew Goodman
Publication: Ballantine Books, 2013
Got it from: The library

I was MIA in April because I was buried deep in five books I was book-talking for a library program (and all of you librarians know how nerve-wracking book talks are).  One of the books was Matthew Goodman's Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World.  

Now, I did read Jules Verne's book a few years ago, and I think Nellie Bly is pretty boss, so how did I not know that she once raced around the world?  If you don't know Nellie Bly, look her up - she was a scrappy female reporter in Gilded Age New York who did some pretty awesome things. (She also has her own mystery series, which will show up here in future reviews).  In 1889, she set out to beat the record set by the fictional Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and circumnavigate the globe in 75 days.  Meanwhile, another reporter, Elizabeth Bisland (a literary critic who was none too pleased to be told she had to travel in a moment's notice) also set out to race against her, albeit in the opposite direction.

It was the perfect age to travel in.  Both of the ladies had rich newspaper companies paying their first-class fares the whole way around, and Britain was at the height of its empire.  They barely had to step foot off British soil, even though they stopped at ports around the world to change transportation.  Nellie Bly headed east, suffered horrible seasickness on the Atlantic, met Jules Verne in France, bought a monkey in Ceylon, and fended off would-be suitors who thought she was rich.  Elizabeth Bisland went west, encountered a hair-raising train trip through the Rockies, charmed everyone on board her Pacific steamer and fell in love with Japan.  Both women got a bit cranky (as you do when you're traveling at breakneck speed for over seventy days) but only one ultimately emerged triumphant, breaking the world record and becoming a national heroine. 

This book isn't a quick read.  There's a lot of dense text and tons and tons of historical detail that interrupts the narrative of the race itself.  If you don't mind that sort of thing and are curious about what the world looked like in the late 19th century (at least through the eyes of two kinda racist but good-hearted women), you'll love Eighty Days.

Anne of Windy Poplars

The title:  Anne of Windy Poplars
The author: L.M. Montgomery
Publication: McClelland & Stewart, 1992 (originally 1936)
Got it from: PEI, early 1990's

I always consider this to be the "orphan" book of the Anne series because it was written out of order and often doesn't get included in the boxed sets.  Also, outside of North America is was published as Anne of Windy Willows, as apparently nobody would know what a poplar was.

It's hard to believe it's been about twenty years since I last read this book, and I had forgotten most of it.  As always, reading anything by Montgomery is a pleasure.  If you've seen the TV mini-series Anne of Green Gables: the Sequel from the 1980's, you'd probably recognize a lot of the characters and story.  But of course the original book is much, much better.  Instead of Kingsport, Anne is actually teaching in Summerside and she is principal at the high school instead of Katherine Brooke.  Speaking of Katherine with a "K," she's not nearly as horrid in the book as she is in the movie.  The Pringle family are, of course, Anne's chief problem.  But Jen Pringle, who was an absolute bitch in the movie, is more just petty in the book and easily won over.

What the book is, really, is a sketch of Summerside at the end of the 19th century, and the quirks and foibles of the townspeople told mostly through Anne's letters to her fiancee, Gilbert.  Montgomery does a wonderful job of lovingly skewering her society with all the wit of a Canadian Jane Austen.  Over the course of three years Anne manages to tame the Pringles, helps two long-time lovers finally come together, teaches a sulky family patriarch a lesson, baby-sits two terrors "with disastrous results," is inadvertently (un)helpful with two sets of stupid young couples and manages to thoroughly charm her two landladies, Aunt Kate and Aunt Chatty, and the down-to-earth housekeeper Rebecca Dew.  The storyline that runs throughout the book is the sad story of her young neighbour Elizabeth (whom the character of Emmeline Harris is loosely based on), who is left in the strict care of her unfeeling grandmother.  Anne and Elizabeth are instantly kindred spirits and of course Elizabeth gets the Montgomery fairytale ending.

Need I even tell you how much I enjoyed it all?  Reading Anne is like coming home to me.

The Wilder Life

The title:  The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie
The author: Wendy McClure
Publication: Riverhead, 2011
Got it from: Overdrive

One of the many pleasures of owning an iPod touch is getting to download free audiobooks from the library.  In the last two years I've been able to visit several favourite children's books that I wouldn't have had time to read otherwise: Little Women, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne's House of Dreams, Five Little Peppers, and now I'm about to start on Sidney Taylor's All-of-a-Kind Family.  But I also have been enjoying some non-fiction as well: Betty White's hilarious autobiography If You Ask Me..., Joseph Ellis's biography of John and Abigail Adams, First Family, and most recently Wendy McClure's entertaining The Wilder Life.

Wendy McClure was a big fan of the Little House books growing up in the 1970's.  I remember reading and enjoying them too, especially Little House in the Big Woods for its famous sugaring/country dance scene.  But I was more of a Lucy Maud Montgomery fan.  Montgomery's world was my world - a rural Maritime one - albeit separated by a gulf of 100 years.  I couldn't quite relate to Laura Ingalls Wilder's can-do prairie family, which seemed almost impossibly hardworking. 

In this book, McClure makes it her mission to try and find "Laura World," a sentiment I can fully relate to as I spent a significant portion of my childhood trying to find "Anne World."  She tries her hand at making butter in an old-fashioned churn, twisting hay at the original Ingalls homestead, and in one hilarious chapter, takes part in a homesteading weekend that turns out to be a haven for creepy religious "end-timers."  She also researches the original Ingalls family and discovers that the "Little House" world is part fact, part fiction.  I loved the author's writing style.  The narrator of the audiobook seemed to inhabit her voice and I found myself laughing out loud at some of her turns of phrase.  When describing rival Nellie Oleson, whom Laura based on several real-life girls, she calls her "some kind of blond Frankenstein assembled from assorted bitch parts."  

McClure also visits several of the real-life Ingalls sites in her quest for the real Laura experience.  Sometimes she succeeds, sometimes she doesn't.  Along the way she meets other people just as obsessed with the details of pioneer life - bonnets, butter churns, corn cob dolls and all.  She even converts her real-life boyfriend to Laura World - sort of.  

Some of the reviews for this book say it's only for diehard fans, but I disagree.  I was only a mild fan, but I loved the whole idea of this book and enjoyed it from start to finish.  Anyone who has ever longed to visit inside a book as a child will love the author's adventures trying to do just that.

The Map of Time

The title:  The Map of Time
The author: Felix J. Palma
Publication: Atria Books, 2011
Got it from: The library

I finished this book awhile ago and put off writing anything about it, because there is just so much to say that I don't think I'm going to do it justice.  This book was originally published in Spanish and was such a huge bestseller that it was translated for the English-speaking market.  I was drawn to this book because I am fascinated by time travel.  And as it turned out, this book was nothing like what I expected.  First of all, the cover copy purports that the book is about H.G. Wells investigating the disappearance of classic novels in time.  In truth this is only a small part of the book, and not even the way you expect.

The Map of Time is essentially three long novellas with three separate but inter-related plots.  Several characters, including H.G. Wells, make appearances in all of them.  The best way I can describe the stories is that they are nesting dolls that reveal more and more with each new chapter.  

The first story is about Andrew, a dissolute young man who is drawn to a prostitute named Mary Kelly.  Anyone with a passing interest in Victorian history will recognize her as one of Jack the Ripper's victims.  When she is murdered, Andrew becomes consumed with grief and seeks a chance to rectify the past through time travel.  In this story we first encounter Wells and the mysterious and sinister Gilliam Murray, whose story and motives become more clear throughout the novel.

The second story is set up like a classic romance novel.  Claire Haggerty has a chance to travel to the year 2000 on one of Gilliam Murray's expeditions to the future.  She becomes infatuated with the hero of the future, Captain Shackleton, whom she sees defeat the automaton armies.  I can't say too much more about this story because it will ruin the pleasure of the surprise, but it builds on the reader's knowledge from the first story, so that we are aware not everything is as it seems.  

The third story is quite science fiction-y.  After the twists and turns of the first two stories, the reader isn't quite sure what is true.  This story involves a time-traveller from the future who is trying to prevent the theft of a trio of classic Victorian novels all being written at the same time.  Again, I can't say too much, but by now the reader has learned a valuable lesson not to trust anyone in the story.  

My feelings really changed as I was reading this story, and it's hard for me to discuss what I loved about it without giving anything away.  The first story was the most difficult for me to read, as the descriptions of Jack the Ripper's killings were gruesome and awful.  I loved the romance story the most.  The first two stories were really more about human nature and the Victorian fascination with time travel after the publication of The Time Machine than they were about actual time travel.  The third story goes more into the consequences of our actions and their outcome on the future (and possibly past, in the case of time travel).  Even though the book was about 700 pages long, I found myself completely engrossed and turning the pages quickly.  I highly recommend this strange, intriguing book to anyone.

The Bad Luck Wedding Night

The title:  The Bad Luck Wedding Night
The author: Geralyn Dawson
Publication: Pocket Books, 2001
Got it from: Fremont Books, 2008

I haven't read any of the other books in the Bad Luck Wedding series or anything else by Geralyn Dawson, but I picked this one up because it sounded interesting.

Sarah and Nicholas Ross have the most dreadful wedding night ever.  She's a 16-year-old shrinking virgin, he's an inexperienced 18-year-old, and let's just say it doesn't end well.  After a big misunderstanding (and a painful sex scene), Nick ends up leaving his bride in Texas to inherit his family title in England (duke? earl? I can't remember).  He ends up becoming a British spy while Sarah teams up with a bunch of other women to run a wedding planning business.  Yes, you guessed it - the other women all get their own novels!

For the most part I enjoyed this book.  I loved how the beginning is taken up with some of Sarah and Nick's letters over the course of eight years,and how they get to know each other and fall in love this way. (Confession: I am a huge sucker for epistolary novels.  Even more so ones where people fall in love through letters).  I really liked the development of Sarah's character, how she goes from being a frankly annoying 16-year-old to an independent and self-assured woman.  Nick's character I'm not so sure about, he was a bit overbearing at times.  He has his redeeming moment when he realizes he isn't going to be able to woo Sarah in person so he decides to woo her through sexy letters that he leaves for her at night.

Here's the thing about this book: holy crap there are a lot of sisters.  See, Nick was raised by a Scottish family and he has a bunch of adopted Scottish sisters and he also has a bunch more of his real  English sisters.  Which makes approximately 98 sisters.  The sisters were great and I enjoyed the way they sided with Sarah, but man I had a hard time keeping them straight.  Add to the fact that later on Sarah's girl friends from Texas show up and I was completely lost.  Also, there's a subplot about an attempt to blow up Queen Victoria that has a really, really, and I mean really silly resolution.  Oh yes, and throw in a revenge storyline where the sisters try to get rid of Nick's supposed fiancee, the bitchy Lady Steele.  (Sarah hilariously and purposefully calls her by the wrong name throughout the book: Lady Iron, Lady Brass, etc.)

I would probably rate this book a B+.  It was quite entertaining even if the plot was kind of crazy and there was a lot thrown in there.  It's funny and light and didn't cause me too much angst.

Honor Bound

The title:  Honor Bound
The authors: Mary Alice and John Downie
Publication: Oxford University Press Canada, 1971
Got it from: Hannelore's, 2009

The Loyalist immigration to Canada is the backdrop for this delightful 1970's children's book.  Miles and Patience Avery are persecuted for their family's loyalty to King George III in their home town of Philadelphia at the end of the Revolutionary War.  When their father returns from fighting, the family has to flee in the night.  The first part of the novel is a travel adventure as the Averys try to make it safely to the Canadian border.  Their journey is fraught with danger, including a run-in with a two-faced Rebel innkeeper.  Once safely in Cataraqui (now Kingston, Ontario) their troubles are not over.  A conceited and vengeful army captain tries to make life as difficult possible for them, and the spectre of their land's former owner, a notorious thief named Grimble, hangs over them.  There is a lot of description of the incredible hardships of early settler life, but there is also joy such as a pioneer Christmas celebration and when a local boy is taught to read.  And there is the continued search for the Averys' missing sister, Honor, from whom the book gets its name.

I have actually been interested in reading this book for a long time.  The first chapter was presented as a story in one of my elementary school readers.  (If you went to school in Canada in the 1980's and 90's, you might remember it).  For some reason, I was never able to find a copy until I stumbled across one at a used book store a few years ago - ironically, a discarded school library book.  The story is quick and enjoyable with lots of fascinating details about what life was like for the poor Loyalists who had to give up beloved homes to eke out a living in the wilderness.  Being told from the children's perspectives helped soften some of the harshness of their conditions, as kids are always able to make fun and play wherever they are.    Still, it wouldn't be the life for me, unless it's safely from my armchair.