California Books

Have been to Napa many times - but was unaware of the many gems this book uncovers - an incredible and fun resource for the food and wine lover! I will be seeking out these finds in the future! Highly recommended.

This book covers all the areas I was interested in learning about before our trip to Napa Valley. The reviews seem unbiased and thoughtful. We had visited Napa 18 years ago and while we already had a few ideas, reservations, etc., this guide gave us even more places to consider. I've "earmarked" so many pages and even took this guide with us. It also includes maps, addresses and phone numbers and/or websites. Some good recipes are in the back. A good companion guide.

As a regular visitor to the Napa Valley for the past 10 years, it's easy to think that one has 'seen it all.'

This book really reminded me what a special place the Napa Valley is, and how much there is to discover. Visitors and locals alike will find something new and interesting that they simply must try.

Take this book with you to the Valley, or read it before you go and find your new 'must try' discovery.

This is a must have for anyone visiting or living in the Napa Valley. Well organized and cleverly composed. I found it most useful for locating the rare-to-find places and foods that make the Napa Valley so unique. It makes a great gift for all the food lovers in your life.

The eating of food has often had a prominent place in literature because it says so much about who's doing the eating. So it's not surprising that this assemblage of well-written academic essays on cuisines and the societies that produce them captures the reader's interest so readily. The diversity of cuisines covered both in geography and time provides a real feel for the diversity of human experience at the table (or at the Neolithic hearth). Professor Freedman's book works either as a coffee table browser or a straight read. I read it cover to cover and enjoyed it all. My own preferences are the chapters on prehistory, ancient Greece and Rome, and the development of the restaurant in the 18th century. The many pictures included are great fun.

I must say I was truly fortunate to receive a pre-publication copy of this exquisite volume. Editor Paul Freedman displays all the literary deftness of an M.F.K. Fisher or Calvin Trillin, without ignoring the analytic depth of gastronomic writing since Brillat-Savarin. An academic historian, Freedman treats the history of cuisine with a refreshing clarity and seriousness in his introduction. Connecting matters of food to class and taste throughout the history of the West and its influences, the editor provides ample fodder for "foodie," academic, and lay-reader alike with his lively and engaging overview of world cuisine that opens the volume and connects its essays.

Both the UC Press edition and the Thames & Hudson edition feature lavish illustrations and elegant typography. The essays are cutting-edge without ignoring the needs of the previously un-informed or merely curious, making this an ideal coffee-table volume or holiday gift as much as it could be serious reading. Ideally shelved near Harold McGee, "Food: The History of Taste" is likely to become a cross-market classic for the near future.

I don't typically purchase hardbacks - other than coffee table books, I'll wait for paperback, check out from a library, e-book, or just borrow from a friend. Reading about the quality illustrations and photos in this book prompted me to just go ahead and click "Buy."

It arrived about two hours ago, and I've skimmed through the whole book and finished reading the introductory chapter, so I admit this isn't a complete review. However, I have to say the photos and illustrations are really beautiful. The heft of this work make me recommend this purchase as a hardback and make this an example of what can't be the same with e-books or the Kindle (sorry, Amazon!). I'm looking forward to curling up with this book with some delicacies over this lousy weather weekend! Bon appetit!

Addendum: April 11, 2008 - Well, after several leisurely sit-downs, I finished this book and have to reiterate the joy I received from reading this book. Like Art History tells a story of cultures and civilizations (usually with the Elites perspective), food tells a story through time, and with greater representation across a society/culture. Loved it!

Replaying history in the context of food makes for a very engaging read. If you are really passionate about food this book offer tremendous insight into food trends world wide.

Author John Arturo Martini also maintains a web site to update informational materials and publicity for the book. It's at http://www.fortressalcatraz.com

A former park ranger stationed at Alcatraz and a military historian, Martini takes readers into the days before "the Rock" became a prison. Starting with the first mappings of San Francisco Bay by the Spanish and English through the modern day, Martini presents an amazing number of photographs of and stories about life on Alcatraz. Particularly interesting is how designs for the fort and its armaments changed over the years from the Mexican-American War through the Civil War and through to World War II. It's quite a different look at the island that the common focus on Al Capone, the Bird Man and other inhabitants of the federal prison.

John Martini's well-thought-out work gives a very readable, historically accurate look at the "fort period" of Alcatraz Island. John brings the old fort to life, and gives a visitor to Alcatraz a new perspective on the historic site. A real treasure are the numerous photographs John was able to obtain through painstaking research - most were mislabled in the Archives! As a total package, the book is very enjoyable and informative - a very good read.

For the first time, the fascinating story of the U.S. Army's nearly 90 years on Alcatraz comes to life - coastal guns, Civil War and San Francisco, army family life on the island, and tales of the military prison. John Martini describes the Rock in a lively manner and gives us an exciting history, well-illustrated with rare 19th-century photographs." Erwin N. Thompson Historian

Krovetz haas written a book that will help those involved in thinking about how to make our schools work for all children. The idea is that if we create a nurturing yet academically challenging culture, we can provide a climate in which all chiildren can flourish. Through the case studies we see how each school has encated the ideas, bringing them to life, and showing us the possibilities as well as the difficulties.

As the author, I hope that you will find Fostering Resiliency to be the book for l999 that makes you reflect deeply on the public schools you know well and that helps you ask why the schools in your neighborhood are not more like the seven schools described in this book.

Martin Krovetz published "Fostering Resiliency" with subtitle "Expecting All Students to Use Their Minds and Hearts Well." As a retired administrator and teacher I see his book striking at the heart of what all educators should be doing. This San Jose State U. professor gives narrative with examples of students and happening schools, and he integrates first lists and step-by-step procedures for winning over students of all ages so that they can be taught. The book has incredible import for balancing vital aspects of our children's education. No aspect, e.g. curriculum, assessment, nurturing, can be isolated in schools for students nor all other adults in students' lives. Mr. Krovetz builds the case for fostering resiliency in everyone. It could be the next handbook for restoring a full education to students, including the "basics" which is on everyone's wish list these days. It is a book to be studied. Is it on the shelves at Amazon?

Fostering Resiliency: Expecting All Students to Use Their Minds and Hearts Well, is a well written and easy to read resource for teachers and administrators. Martin Krovetz provides concrete examples of schools which have developed into resilient learning communities for both students and staff. It will leave you with a deeper understanding of what a "good school" does and hopefully, the inspiration to take on the work of making your school a more resilient community.

I really enjoyed the book Frodo Franchise. I must have because I got two of them. Actually, I was curious about how a movie got made, especially one that I loved as much as Lord of the Rings. But I don't know why I got two.

DVDs can be stamped out in seconds, while VHS tapes are slower to produce because they have to be recorded in real time. Time is money, and so the movie industry's movers and shakers acted decisively to all but eliminate the VHS format - by charging video rental stores exorbitantly high fees for the rights to offer VHS rentals and much lower fees for the rights to offer DVD rentals. Author Kristin Thompson (Honorary Fellow in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison) traces how this and numerous other profit-driven directives have permanently changed the modern film industry in The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood. Central to The Frodo Franchise is the story of Peter Jackson's celebrated three-film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings", and the lasting impact it has had on cinematic and entertainment culture. "The Lord of the Rings" was utterly groundbreaking in that it was, from Jackson's initial vision, a commitment to three full-length movies to be released over a short period. Yet the success of the film itself is virtually eclipsed by the immense profits of the franchise label - toys, video games, movie-related books, collectibles, and countless other Lord of the Rings licensed merchandise. The Frodo Franchise examines this franchise phenomenon and its repercussions on modern cinema (where the real money to be made lies in a film that will spawn profitable sequels and merchandise, rather than one-shot stories), with especial attention paid to the construction of "The Lord of the Rings" trailblazer trilogy. Accessible to lay readers and cinema scholars alike, and illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs as well as an inset section of color plates, The Frodo Franchise is an utterly fascinating, completely unbiased behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" movies and their effect on both the body of Tolkien's famous mythology and cinema as a whole. Highly recommended.

The Frodo Franchise is a MUST-HAVE for anyone who is passionate about: The Lord of the Rings movies, Peter Jackson and how he and his fellow creative geniuses revolutionized the movie industry, New Zealand, the LOTR fan world, etc. It is an engaging, carefully researched and very detailed work about all aspects of the PJ/LOTR phenomenon. It includes great photos, important interviews, fascinating information about the way films are marketed and how LOTR took that to a new level, etc. The title tricked me--for some reason I thought it would be a negative book; however, it is clear Thompson is a Tolkien fan who was at first skeptical about the films but then grew to love them. This book is an in-depth look at all things LOTR and, much to this reviewer's delight, it is clear the LOTR phenomenon is not going away anytime soon. Thank you, Kristin Thompson, for this wonderful and important book!

This book is an intimate look at the creation, filming, and deployment of The Lord of the Rings movies. It discusses all the key participants, the role of New Zeland, how fans influenced the movies over the Internet, and how the film industry is fundamentally changing because of this project. It is well documented and close to the events because the author had access to everyone involved, producers, director, actors, techis, the works. The book is also a great action-packed read. Maybe the best film book we have seen this year!!

This little gem of a book should be on the shelves at every library. Aside from the likable Sarah, the wonderful social history is very absorbing for those interested in women's lives during the 1850's. Even if you are not particularly interested in the Gold Rush, you will be interested in the experiences of one of our formothers. Buy this as a gift for your daughters.

Joy Melcher, Civil War Lady Magazine

Sarah with husband and daughter, Mary, move to California in 1849. Trusting the God of the Bible, the Royces experience life (and almost death) on the trail to California. Second to the last party to complete the trip into northern California before winter, they eventually settle in Grass Valley. Her son, Josiah Royce, becomes the famous Harvard historian and philospher with new ideas (Royce Hall of UCLA), but his mother, Sarah, retains her faith in the God of the Bible. First hand look at San Francisco and northern California in the 1850's. Sarah is my great-great grandmother and Mary, the little girl in the story, is my great-grandmother. Easy reading and great book to take on a plane. We buy and give these books to many guests at our company ...they are very popular.

I selected this book from a list given in my college English class. The list of books were all nonfiction so I knew it would be a book based on fact. I knew nothing more. As I read, I could not put this book down. The story takes place beginning in Iowa the year 1849. "Gold fever" was born. The Royce family was on the move from their home to the great golden state of California. Sarah has more passion, faith, and drive than I've ever seen in a book. She is an example indeed of strength and inner peace throughout many challenges in a small amount of time. I was so grateful to see this book is still in print! It was first published in 1932 never meant to be a book at all. It was Sarah's gift to her son. She wrote about her journey using her journal she kept as they traveled. I will buy this book not only for my children, but for gifts as well. By the way, Sarah and her family end up living here, in the Sierra Foothills, and that is where I live! I've never read a story about the Gold Rush or the 49er's. I always thought it would be too depressing. There are sad times in this book, but as you read you can't help but believe with Sarah that they will beat all the odds.

As a historian an author of the book: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MISCELLANY, I rate this book with 5 stars for its excellent overview and in-depth look at the true lives of women who came to California during the Gold Rush. This is not a book filled with the fanciful notions of a romantic's point of view. No, this is a gut-wrenching look at the realities of pioneering California and the women who tamed the wild land and the wild men!

Ms. Peterson's book was right on target for our extensive homeschooling needs...I was very pleeased with the easy layout & cross-referencing of the book. Sooooo many things to do and never enough time. We do unit studies and have found this gem of a book to be quite the treasure that we need to guide us on last minute field trip ideas, outtings, and just all-around fun! One thing always relates to another and i usually can include both children (9 & almost 15) in the same activities/events. I truly appreciate the effort Ms. Peterson has put into this book...I got it from my AAA club...and from one resourceful homeschooler to another (Ms. Peterson), I whole-heartedly THANK-YOU!...

If you have kids and live in southern California you will be very happy you bought this book. The "Road Games" chapter alone is probably worth the price of admission and that's before you even get to the actual 'places.'

While it's impossible for this book to be as comprehensive as the ground it covers, it does a terrific job at trying. It lists all of the amusement parks, many more pay 'n play places than I knew existed, museums that are kid friendly, a selection of kid-friendly restaurants, beaches, parks and more.

While I got much more than my money's worth, I wouldn't mind seeing a little more material aimed at parents of toddlers. Fast food indoor playlands are a must for me and my two little girls, with summers too hot and winters too chilly to sit out of doors, so exploring where these are located would be a plus, as well as mentioning the moms groups that exist in most towns but don't advertise (I've discovered two in Corona only through bumping into them at a neighborhood park). But these are just hints for the author -- she's done a terrific job with this book.

I've been using this handy reference book since the first edition in 1995. My kids and I have visited many of the places contained in the book. By and large, I agree with the author's assessment of each place we visited. I found the information provided on hours of operation, special program times and fees to be very accurate. The book really helped me expand my children's horizons as well as my own because we visited some great places we probably would have never known about without it.

Wonderful fieldtrip ideas - - we have gone on at least 50 outings based on this book's suggestions. We use this book at planning meetings to organize our calendar each year. Lots of wonderful activities for school-aged children. Details from the common destinations (zoos, public museums) to less common destinations (ex: lollipop and candy cane factories, Casa de Tortuga) and private museums (ex: the Holyland Exhibition). Our homeschooling experience has been enriched by this guidebook!

I couldn't put this book down, as was the case with it's prequil, The Cape Anne. Gardenias is a great journey through the lives of real characters. Their dreams, loves and heartaches are made tangible by Ms. Sullivan's ability to write, with clarity, in her raw and gripping style. You will fall in love with Lark, the child through whom this world is lived. You will become acquainted with the perplexing nature of humans in their struggles to find happiness.

The long-awaited sequel to Cape Ann has finally arrived.

Lark Erhardt, her mother Arlene, and Aunt Betty arrive in San Diego in 1942, breaking away from their Depression-era lives in Harvester, Minnesota with abusive, gambling Willie Erhardt.

Aunt Betty is still suffering from the death of her baby and the abandonment of her husband, Stanley.

Arlene holds the family together, finding housing in a wartime project and a job as a secretary at Consolidated Aircraft. Betty finds work as a clerk in a big department store.

Lark must cope with a gang of violent and ruthlessly vicious boys who threaten her. She deals with it by mostly staying at home, writing and hiding.

Lark finds a magical painting of a cabin in the woods, and imagines it is in Minnesota and that she is living there. She starts fourth grade and is terribly alone, only her writing to hold on to. She misses Minnesota, but not her father. They attempt to make a home, planting a gardenia bush and some daisies that Lark carefully waters every day.

Betty and Arlene befriend lonely sailors, giving them home-cooked meals on the weekend. Shirley, another misfit girl, finds food, praise, and a safe haven with Lark's family from her own very dysfunctional family life. Shirley is prickly and even sometimes nasty to Lark. Almost a second child in the family, Shirley takes piano lessons from Aunt Betty, and the family helps clothe her and finance her further musical education. For Shirley, music is an escape--just as Lark's writing is a refuge.

Upheavals come in many forms: Willie comes to California to demand their return; Uncle Stanley shows up, telling them he has enlisted. Neighbors in the project become dear friends, as Lark learns their stories and tells them hers. Finally several events shatter all their lives, and change them forever.

Armchair Interviews says: Sullivan is a wonderful and evocative storyteller, making the 1940s and wartime San Diego, the labor movement, the death of Roosevelt, and social upheaval of women in the workforce, the music and the fear, all come alive.

I loved GARDENIAS. I could not put it down. With consummate skill and grace and the easy mastery of a mature writer, Faith Sullivan creates and populates a world that lives and breathes. The novel is funny and moving and suspenseful and deeply wise--both a pageturner and a literary classic. Read this novel, give it to your friends, pass it on to your children.

Faith Sullivan has written two previous novels set in the fictional small town of Harvester, Minnesota. Her first, THE CAPE ANN, was published in 1988 and focused on six-year-old Lark Erhardt, who narrated the story of her mother's desire for a better life and her father's repeated shattering of those dreams. Readers who fell in love with Lark's combination of innocence and observation, as well as with Sullivan's old-fashioned storytelling abilities, have had to wait a long time to find out more about Lark's story. Now, with GARDENIAS, the wait is finally over.

The novel begins in 1942, as nine-year-old Lark and her newly separated mother and aunt Betty travel by train from southern Minnesota to San Diego. Eager to obtain war work and as much distance as possible from her estranged husband, Lark's mother finds a good office job and a small house. While her mother concentrates on making a comfortable and beautiful home, and her aunt focuses on her rapidly advancing career in fashion, Lark comes to know the motley group of residents, many of them Midwestern transplants, inhabiting their housing project.

Among these neighbors is Shirley, a girl who's Lark's age. Although the bossy, overbearing girl often clashes with Lark, the adults in Lark's life warm quickly to Shirley. Neglected at best and abused at worst, Shirley also shows promising musical talent when she takes piano lessons from Lark's mother and another neighbor. Uncomfortably wise beyond her years, Shirley clues the more innocent Lark into the ways of the world.

During her few years in San Diego, Lark loses much of her innocence, in the wake of the war, her mother's secret love for another man, and her father's increasingly menacing letters. Her narrative voice, which combines a childlike impressionability with keen observation, is still winning, and readers can observe Lark growing into the writer she is obviously meant to become.

Although Sullivan's portrayal of wartime San Diego lacks some of the intimacy of her portrayals of her native southern Minnesota, her affection for the Erhardt family remains and will once again draw readers new and old into the lives of this small, determined and loving family.


--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Gary Gwilliam's story is a compelling tale of self-disclosure and personal growth. The simple sincerity of his friendly voice keeps you turning pages. He's a role model for what's good and right about lawyers: how they can serve; and the compassion that drives them. This book is filled with lessons for everyone, but especially lawyers and their clients. If you need a champion you can find a template of what to look for in this book! Stewart L. Levine, Esq. , author, "Getting to Resolution;" "The Book of Agreement;" co-author "Collaborate 2.0."

In sharing his unique story, Gary provides an insightful, inspiring and motivating read. This book perfectly captures the thoughts and feelings that so many trial attorneys have on a daily basis, and it demonstrates just how a dedicated and caring attorney can overcome adversity and personal difficulties to pursue his clients' causes with zeal and passion. The book has left me more inspired and it has strengthened and reaffirmed my commitment to my family, to my clients and to a trial lawyer's work. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a must-read for every trial attorney and for anyone who genuinely wants to understand the heart, mind and soul of a trial attorney.

Most great trial lawyers bare their client's souls in their quest for
Victory, but few bare their own in their personal struggle be real. Gary lays
it all out in the dramatic story of his life - the good, the bad and the
ugly. His pain throbs as he reaches the bottom, and his joy abounds as he
learns to live with success and the love of his life. This journey, one
that few of us have the courage to travel, much less admit, has made him a
greater champion of the powerless and a better person.

I just got this book, and I've enjoyed reading it so far. I like being a voyeur into the life of an attorney, and reading about Gwilliam's experiences is really encouraging and optimistic. I'll post an updated review when I'm done reading the book.

Great research and an enjoyable early history of the early communities making up Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties

My Parents bought land off Loma Prieta Ave. in the Santa Cruz Mountains back in 1973. My Family still resides here. I grew up in these Mountains, they were my stomping grounds. I am just starting to dig into the rich History behind these incredible mountains! I am half way through this book and I am glued to it. Very cool read!

I lived in the South Bay and visited the Santa Cruz area on a weekly (or more) basis. I had no idea that during that drive along Highway 17, I was surrounded by so much history. I learned much from this book, about the history of the area, and how many of the cities came to be.

Ghost Towns Of The Santa Cruz Mountains is a human and cultural history of the region covers the California mountains from 1850 to the middle of this century, examining the lives of early settlers in a lively manner which reads like newspaper stories. Individual chapters cover various aspects of mining and logging, the rough living conditions, and is well written treatise that will appeal to anyone with an interest in regional California history and culture.