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Hundreds Hall, a once-grand estate in rural Warwickshire, frames the setting of Sarah Waters' newest novel. Post WWII, the house is declining rapidly: the masonry is crumbling, the wallpaper is peeling and weeds have entirely choked out the garden. Roderick Ayers, who has returned wounded from the War, is desperate to hold his home together for the sake of his mother and his sister, Caroline. As Dr. Faraday, the narrator who treats Roderick's injured leg, becomes entwined with the Ayeres family, disturbing occurrences within Hundreds imply that the house has taken on a life of its own. Indeed, the Hall seems possessed by something sinister, something determined to upset the lives of all the Ayeres'.

I have now read all five of Sarah Waters' novels and I maintain that she's an ingenious storyteller who never allows the reader's attention to falter. She does an especially good job of developing her characters and brilliantly takes on the point of view of an (intentionally) irritating and unreliable narrator. However, this wasn't my favourite of her books (I'd place it somewhere in the middle) mostly because it has an uncharacteristically linear plot and because it lacks the shocking twists and turns for which Waters is famous.

Summer Celebrating

Now that my thesis defense and Jean's LC exam are both behind us, we can enjoy these summer days more freely. On Tuesday, Mom and I braved the heat and went down to Cook St. Village, where we found these very funky and retro chairs for Mom's living room. They're very comfortable and I love the orange wool upholstery.

Yesterday was much more temperate (a mere 25 degrees!) and Mom and I had a lovely al fresco dinner: smoked salmon with buttermilk-dill bread and two salads. Brownies and cherries for dessert...yum! We were only sad that Jean wasn't feeling well enough to join us.

Mom surprised me with this great oil painting in honour of completing my thesis. It's by Grant Leier who, along with Nixie Barton, has an amazing gallery up in Yellow Point. The painting will make a fun addition to our office walls.

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What effects do one ambivalent parent and one overly optimistic parent have on a child? Is nature or nurture to blame for creating a sociopath? What might drive a teenager to remorselessly commit murder? Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin poses these difficult questions and many more. The narrative, which leads with horrifying inevitability to the day when Kevin massacres seven of his schoolmates and a teacher at his upstate New York high school, is told as a series of letters from Kevin's mother, Eva, to her apparently estranged husband, Franklin. This method both affords the reader deep insight into Eva's consciousness and enables Shriver to pull off a huge and crushing shock at the end of the book. The novel is harrowing, psychologically astute and even darkly humourous; it proves the tenuousness between blame and empathy, retribution and forgiveness.

Conquering the Chilkoot

Jean and I just got home yesterday from a wonderful trip to Whitehorse. We went up for a week but I spent 2 1/2 days of that hiking the Chilkoot with Fred. The 53km Chilkoot Trail winds through the Coast Mountains, starting in Dyea, Alaska and finishing in Bennett, BC. During the Klondike Gold Rush, the trail was a major traffic route: prospectors would climb over the pass (multiple times in order to transport all their goods), build boats and float north down the Yukon River (accessible from Lake Bennett) to Dawson City. This was no mean feat and plenty of gold rushers died or turned back because of the harsh conditions. Today, the trail is a National Historic Sight and it boasts some amazing scenery. It starts out in coastal rain forest, climbs upward (about 3000 feet) into alpine terrain and ends up in boreal forest so the views and the vegetation are always changing. Of course, our experience was made even better by perfect weather and by overtaking all the groups of hikers who left camp before us. Not that we're proud or anything...

Climbing up the "golden stairs"

Pretty alpine terrain between the summit and Happy Camp

Heading towards Deep Lake

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Oddly enough for an arts major, one of my favourite classes at McGill was a chemistry elective: The World of Chemistry - Food. The course focused on food science and included lectures on artificial sweeteners, chocolate, cholesterol and much more. I found it fascinating, especially since the three co-professors seemed so engaged in the material and so eager to pass on their knowledge. One such prof, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, recently gave a lecture at UVic, which Jean and I attended and thoroughly enjoyed. An Apple A Day is Dr. Schwarcz's most recent book; it aims to dispel nutrition myths, to offset fear-mongering (think BPAs, GMOs etc), and to generally preach "informed common sense."

"Eat salmon. It's full of good omega-3 fats. Don't eat salmon. It's full of PCBs and mercury. Eat more veggies. They're full of good antioxidants. Don't eat more veggies. The pesticides will give you cancer." This is the kind of contradictory information that bombards consumers/newspaper readers everyday. And it demonstrates why we need Joe Schwarcz! First describing how food affects human health, his book examines the compounds in tomatoes, soy, broccoli etc. that, though not panaceas, can help maintain health. Then Dr. Schwarcz investigates how corporations manipulate our food supply, delving into the science of food additives and exploring how we might benefit from adding bacteria to certain foods. He sheds light on contaminants, examining everything from pesticide residues to remnants of antibiotics to trans fats to toxins that may leach into food from cookware. Finally, he takes a studied look at calorie consumption and debunks the "science" behind popular diets.

This is an amazing book for anyone concerned about nutrition who feels overwhelmed by conflicting media reports and manipulated by advertising. Dr. Schwarcz presents sound evidence and facts in a scientific (but not too scientific), lighthearted manner, reminding us that "science can never guarantee safety, it can only demonstrate harm." Check out his office's website too: www.oss.mcgill.ca

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It takes a rare and particular talent to write captivating short stories; the author must perfectly craft every word, every sentence, in order to develop character, plot and intrigue in a limited space. Jhumpa Lahiri may just be the best short story writer I've ever read.  Her first collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer in 2000 but I think her newest collection, Unaccustomed Earth (2008), is even more phenomenal.  Lahiri's stories always feature characters of Bengali descent who reside in America but they are far from formulaic.  In the title story, Brooklyn-to-Seattle transplant Ruma frets about a presumed obligation to bring her widower father into her home, a stressful decision taken out of her hands by his unexpected independence. In another, the alcoholism of Rahul is described by his elder sister, Sudha, who struggles with her own disappointment, bewilderment and sense of duty.  And in the loosely linked trio of stories closing the collection, the lives of Hema and Kaushik intersect over the years, first in 1974 when she is six and he is nine; then a few years later when, at 13, she swoons at the now-handsome 16-year-old teen's reappearance; and again in Italy, when she is a 37-year-old academic about to enter an arranged marriage, and he is a 40-year-old photojournalist. Lahiri's stories are surprising, aesthetically marvelous and shaped by a sure and provocative sense of inevitability.  I can only echo what Amy Tan wrote in a review: Lahiri is “the kind of writer who makes you want to grab the next person you see and say, ‘Read this!’” 

Happy Birthday Jean!

We had great fun celebrating Jean's birthday yesterday.  The weather cooperated so we met Keely and Damon at Butchart Gardens in the afternoon and enjoyed the blossoming roses.  Then we had a lovely dinner at Mom's along with Dad, Marna, Nin and even Emily, who's up visiting all week. 

Blue Poppies en route to the Japanese Garden

This strawberry-banana cake comes from my favourite baking book, In the Sweet Kitchen; it's easy, fresh and not overly sweet.

Cake:

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups mashed banana (about 3)

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup sour cream or buttermilk

Cream butter and sugar, then mix in egg, vanilla and banana.  Add half the dry ingredients, then the sour cream/buttermilk, then the rest of the dry.  Divide batter between two greased/floured 8" pans and bake at 350 for about half an hour.

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1 - 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

vanilla

1 quart strawberries

Cream butter and cream cheese, then add icing sugar to taste and vanilla.  Place one cake layer on cake plate and spread on a layer of frosting.  Cut about half the strawberries in thirds from hull to tip and arrange on top of frosting in a single layer.  Then place the second layer on top and ice entire cake.  Decorate cake with remaining strawberries as desired!

Serves 10-12