California Books

Other reviewers have already been descriptive. My opinion...the food is delicious. It is also what I call "clean" and "architectural"...it isn't covered with gloppy sauces. It is arranged on the plate clearly and attractively. We "eat" with our eyes and nose before our taste buds. You will be happy to have it in your library AND your purchase is supporting a good cause...a win/win situation. Rare in this era!

These recipes are for elegant, delicious dishes to serve your friends and family. They all reflect the ethnic and culinary influences that make up California cuisine, including tips from such people as Arnold Wong and Alice Waters. All of the food is fancy, but not everything is complicated: the Cambazola Apricots are an easy-to-make appetizer, while the Blueberry French Toast can be whipped up the night before for brunch. This is a must-own for anyone who loves food or who loves San Francisco.

Best cook book I ever used. it so easy to follow, you just prepare the incredients as directed and followed the directions. you can't go wrong. I tried using other cook books but only get frustrated trying to follow the instruction, but this book has simple and clrear instruction, anyone can follow it. one thing lacking limited pictures of what you are cooking, but not important.

I've had this book for over 2 years and have loved every recipe I've made from it, many of which have become standards in our house. Try the delicious and easy apple cake with hot caramel sauce, the chicken breasts with wild mushrooms and balsamic vinegar and the awesome chicken pot pie with sage biscuit topping. Easy to follow directions and nice tips from the chefs who submitted the recipes.

I concur with the other reviews on this site. This is my favorite cookbook, and I have quite a collection. The recipes are well-written, good cooking and preparation techniques are given in conjunction with the recipes, and the results always earn me kudos! Can't ask for too much more.

I have given this cookbook as a gift several times and have recommended it to my friends who love to cook.

SIDEWAYS IN NEVERLAND: LIFE IN THE SANTA YNEZ VALLEY, CA depicts life and culture in a part of California which typically receives rare mention - the Santa Ynez Valley, midway between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. In a series of essays Etling describes life as an extra on the 'Sideways' set, gathering up his bi-weekly editorial treatments of life in the Valley, blending memoir with travel and social insights. A lively series of personal and social vignettes evolves in a fun survey of stars and casual people alike.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

"FIVE STARS: For Sideways in Neverland, a collection of engaging essays on the Santa Ynez Valley by gifted wordsmith Bill Etling...covers everything from the Hollywood invasion to an eerie hike to the fog-shrouded lighthouse at the tip of Point Conception. Sideways in Neverland is perfect bedtime reading, for you, or even better, to your children."

After Michael Jackson was arraigned in a Santa Maria courtroom, the King of Weird invited hoards of strangers to party at his sprawling Santa Ynez ranch. As Etling describes it: "Middle-aged white men like myself were as unusual as the three-foot-tall gentleman walking beside me as we approached the first of an extensive network of ponds and waterfalls, including four geysers, shooting thirty feet in the air."
It gets weirder. And, fortunately, Etling (brother of Bert Etling, who edits the Cambrian, a Tribune weekly) has a keen eye for detail.
In a series of essays, Etling deftly describes life as an extra on the "Sideways" set (he was promoted from "bathroom walker" to "diner," though instructed not to eat the food), the chilly waters of Jalama Beach and the pitfalls of being a Realtor. ("I'm a Realtor. Mind-numbing boredom is my life.") The career might be boring, but some of his funniest writing is about people's reactions to housing prices in a market gone berserk.
Patrick S. Pemberton

Etling has lived in "the West of legend, with Danish pastry" since 1966; these columns from the Santa Barbara News-Press have nothing to do with wine, little to do with movies and everything to do with an enchanting landscape and its residents, past and present.

Michael Jackson, Fess Parker, Ronald Reagan and Matt LeBlanc are among those residents, but surfers, cowboys, artists, veterans and settlers get the most affectionate treatment. Etling takes us not only to Jackson's fantasy estate and the sets of "Sideways" and "Seabiscuit," but to Highway 246 on California Cleanup Day, a university lecture on gophers and numerous local festivals.

Though this is not truly a guidebook, Etling tips readers to wildflower fields, surfing spots, cave paintings and museums. Readers will forget "Sideways" and head south to eat with cowboys and celebrities at the Longhorn Cafe, watch a missile launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base and ski on Figueroa Mountain.

What the professional reviewers are saying about Sideways in Neverland:

The collected "Santa Ynez Notebook" of a Santa Barbara News-Press writer.
Etling's delightful bi-weekly editorial dishes on all things Santa Ynez Valley, an area of tiny towns near Santa Barbara, Calif.

This compilation of almost three years of work covers a wide variety of topics, including community events, regional history, locals both famous (Michael Jackson, anyone?) and not-so, and the author's personal life.

The column's buoyant tone and warm voice make for a charming read-"I still love the beach. If I had a tail, I'd wag it when I'm near the water." As a teenager, Etling moved to the area with his family, and it's clear that he has adored the area ever since.

More than just a love letter to his hometown, however, Sideways provides affecting reading for all-Etling is all over the board, from what happens when a small town kid goes to war to the peril of navigating a highway crossed frequently by deer to a Hollywood invasion, when suddenly everyone's an extra on the set of Seabiscuit.

Fruitful subject matter, a likable host and evocative writing make for an enjoyable guide to this nook of California.
-Kirkus Discoveries

The beauty of this book is that so many letters, reviews, interviews etc. about/by so many artists are conveniently gathered in one place. On the whole, there isn't anything in here that you can't find elsewhere, such as in biographies of the individual artists. For example the letters contained in the opening section on "Post-Impressionism" from both Cezanne and Van Gogh are included in just about every biography on them.

The over-riding reason for buying this book is that so many are collected together. So, even for an artist that you might not like enough to go out and buy their biography, atleast you get an insight in to their thoughts/motives etc. In some cases this may spark your interest in a previously less favoured artist and appreciate their works from a new perspective.

Chipp covers all the main "isms" of modern art from Post-Impressionism (Cezanne) onwards. Each movement opens with a treatise detailing the main theories/artists/concepts/techniques that made it unique. This is followed by a comprehensive selection of articles/letters/interviews etc. concerning the main players i.e. the section of Expressionism includes writings from Nolde, Kandinsky, Kokoschka, Kirchner, Marc, Klee and Beckmann. One of my favourite pieces is by Stuart Davis. He's responding to a critic's recent review..."in your review you speak of your enthusiasm for my work and call me a "swell American painter". This attitude on your part I heartily approve, but you further state that my style is French and that if Picasso had never lived I would have had to think out a style of my own. Now is that nice Mr. McBride?" and off Davis goes in his defence. Superb.

Rather than reading about these various "isms" via the well meaning but often biased views of a expert art historian, here you get the views from the artists themselves.

For any art historians dealing with the modern art period this book has to be essential. And for general appreciators of art, as well as artists themselves, this book contains a wealth of information, and pays dividends to both intense study or just random browsing.

Since it's first publication in 1968 this book has formed the foundation of any respectable art library. I just checked the bibliography of more recent books on art history - this book is referenced extensively. In my opinion, if anyone is looking for an interesting and enjoyable introduction to the world of "Modern Art" they could do a lot worse than start here. And given the way that any one "ism" owes it's existence to the "isms" that came before it*, this almost reads like a novel.

*Regardless of Dali's utterances about Surrealism being a unique movement, unfounded by anything that came before, just go and have a look at the works of Hieronymous Bosch to see that wasn't the case.

Recommended!

Even if you are not interested in the arts but simply in thought process- I think you will find this book very interesting. You could say this is the history of modern art without pictures (although there are some pictures)- bringing the reader facinating insights into how different types of artists came to their philosophies of art, and of course, the world. Documented through personal letters, manifestos, and articles, the varity of different thoughts and beliefs catapolts just what art can be. To me it shows that art is a never ending universe of ideas- all connecting but all very individual just the same.

I just wanted to respond to the person before me. It sounds like contemporary art is way over your head. Please do not waist our time with long reviews about things you clearly do not understand.

How often had I looked at a painting of Van Gough and wondered what exactly was this great man thinking when he conceived and painted such a picture. Now by reading thru this excellent book, I can claw into the mind of artists themselves.

Not only educational, but inspiring. I not only learned about each artist and what when on during their time of certain artworks, but I was able to get inside their head. The words of the artist's in their letters were captivating. I was caught up in the reading. I especially enjoyed Matisse and Kandinsky. Kandinsky is very spiritual about his writing and gives a deep explanation of colors. Anyway, it is a great read. It was required for my history course, but I enjoyed it. Not very many in my class could understand what they were reading. I guess you not only need intellect, but sophistication. I liked it!

I thought this book was extremely enjoyable. Women are often neglected in the historical narrative. So, it was nice to read a book that told the story of these women of the gold rush through their own words and through a colorful narrative by Jo Ann Levy. My only criticism is that minority women are rarely mentioned in this book, which gives an incomplete picture of the history of California women during the gold rush.

In her book, They Saw the Elephant: Women in the California Gold Rush, Jo Ann Levy weaves letters and journal entries into a picture of the lives of women during the California gold rush.
Coming by covered wagons or ships these women wrote about their journeys' across mountains, deserts, oceans, and jungles. The excitement of an adventure and the beauty of the land was not the whole story however; misery and death joined them on their journey. Inadequate provisions, brutal storms and sickness were common themes. And once these women reached the promise land of San Francisco, the streets were not paved in gold as they dreamed, but littered with trash.
The belief that there were only prostitutes or actresses was also not true; many women ran boarding houses or mined for gold. Some left after the gold ran out, but many women stayed in the cities that they helped create.
Though this book it is not organized in to one story, it is an insight into the women who came to California during the gold rush. You will be amazed by their bravery as they left their comfortable lives and uprooted their families for adventures unknown.

This book is great!
A person wouldn't even need to be interested in history of the gold rush days to thoroughly enjoy reading this book. I don't have alot of free time to read, so when I pick a book it has to be worth my while. This certainly was. And it's an easy book for reading a few pages at a time, like I do just before going to bed. I love how it organizes the accounts and groups the stories into chapters of a particular theme. Fascinating!

In They Saw The Elephant, Jo Ann Levy has combined women's journals and letters with newspaper articles of the gold rush era into an articulate, shining gem of historical writing. Her purpose was to dispel many of the common assumptions and general characterizations made in earlier histories about the women who participated in the California gold rush. A number of the early twentieth century histories of this monumental American event imply there were few women in California, and that a majority of those women were of questionable social standing. Levy's placement of her chapter on prostitution is wisely situated in the second half of her work. She admits there is little written record concerning the lives of these women, particularly those of Chilean and Chinese descent who came to the gold fields. The author does not fill in the blanks with supposition or fiction. By the time the reader gets to the chapter on prostitution, it is already clear that women were contributing far more to the Gold Rush than physical pleasure for males.

The Oregon Trail opened in 1847. Levy includes some of the women's stories from this trek even if their final destination was not the gold fields. This is a plus. The reader understands that women had started emigrating west for reasons other than gold and the journals and letters used to demonstrate life on the trail were vivid.

The variety of women discussed in this book was a cross section of society at the time. I laughed out loud while reading about how some of the highbrow, educated women reacted to the primitive society of San Francisco. These women adapted, and most made a good living as boarding house keepers and cooks.
Levy does an excellent job showing us the ingenuity of the women who went west. Living aboard abandoned ships in the bay, renting out rooms in, and using wood and goods from those ships are details about day-to-day life often lost in the telling of the human experience of the gold rush.

Perhaps the strongest statement Levy makes in her book is found in the Postscript. Women who went west during the gold rush continued their lives long after the three- year bonanza. Most didn't stay in San Francisco. Most didn't even stay in California. Their toil was but another blip on the radar screen of their lives. They didn't crawl back east to their families as broken women. They had seen the elephant, but had no desire to own the circus.

Several of the accounts made me chuckle and realize how little life has changed. One letter describes how quickly houses were being built in San Francisco. It goes on to describe the shoddy workmanship including gaps in the walls large enough to see through. I live in the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country. Houses go up over night here, literally. We joke about housing developments growing as quickly as mushrooms in the forest. The only reason the cracks in the walls don't allow light in now is chicken wire and stucco. Little has changed in the last 150 years.

Women civilized the wild California gold rush society. Some used the money they had made from the miners and started churches, schools, and hospitals. Others became heavily involved in various societies. In general, they went west with their husbands, to support their husbands in search of a better life, and they brought their civilized mindset with them.

This is an excellent book, appropriate for all audiences. It flows well, and contains a great deal of authentic information

As a writer of both fiction and non-fiction, I found tremendous value in "They Saw The Elephant." For the general reader of non-fiction, this book reads like a novel! The stories of these valiant women grab the reader and never let go. You feel that you are with them, as they face the unknown perils and triumphs of the Gold Rush in California of the mid-19th Century. The words of these wonderful women have the special ring of Truth to them. I cannot overstate my admiration for the author and her work in presenting this important book.

Although it's been a number of years since I read it, The Thousand Mile Summer captured my imagination like very few other books. Colin Fletcher was that very rare hiker / backpacker who was not only technically skilled, but keenly observant AND could write interestingly about what he observed and experienced ... and he observed better than most!

The Thousand Mile Summer is about (for virtually of us) the outlandish initiative to walk the lengh of Califoria, from South to North, just for the experience. His descriptions about the desert, seemingly merely hot, dry and inert, but in reality completely alive with activity, especially at night, are vivid, exciting, and very memorable. I'll never think of the desert the same way again.

Fletcher seems to me somewhat like Bill Bryson at his best, but this one's distinctly better than any of Bryson's that I've read to date. Highly recommended for all who 'live' in the city but who are 'alive' when in nature ... especially for when you can't be there!

What I remember about this compelling narrative, read thirty years ago one hot Southern California summer, is a simple scene. Hiking towards Death Valley across the Mojave desert, Fletcher's hat blows off. You can imagine the terror he felt from this loss. I'll leave it to you to find out more. It's an example, one of many, of the intriguing vignettes scattered through this account, from a time when backpacking (the journey takes place in the early 1960s) lacked so much of the hi-tech GPS, lightweight fibers and metals, and the advantages that allow many today, even if they do not dare to follow so far in his footsteps, to take more of our life into the empty places. The same places where Fletcher sought to escape the full places where most of us live.

This book reminded me of John Muir, a century earlier, when it entered into the Sierras; Fletcher's northbound journey, of course, takes him from Mexican to Canadian borders. The sylvan settings, however, became for me more muted in memory as compared to the evocative, harsh, and unforgiving sandy stretches that captured more of my imagination in recalling the power of this engaging narrative. It might not have gained the amount of acclaim (compare the number of Amazon reviews) that worthy books that came later, like Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" earned, but the late Fletcher preferred to stay away from the spotlight, one senses from this early account of the walks that later made him a pioneer among those today who seek solitude in deserts and mountains across America.

Fletcher may have prefigured a bit the countercultural movement. Perhaps he missed out on the big-name recognition, but he gained respect among those who also preferred retreat rather than spotlights. But if you read of his own wish to escape the routine and do what back then far fewer would have even known how to do, you see his prescience. Like Abbey and Muir and Thoreau, Fletcher reminds us how much of America waits beyond the sodium-strip mall and the big-box chain store and the red-tiled roofs of the subdivisions-- even as these continue into what once were quieter forests and chaparral where Fletcher once walked alone.

While living in the Seattle area during the 90's, I ended up reading Fletchers 1000 Mile Summer. Each Winter to avoid depression, I found myself re-reading this book. One question kept coming to my mind, "why in 1956 would anybody walk through California when they had cars back then?" Thinking and hoping that I may be able to contact Colin and find the answer, against all the naysayers and friends it was not possible. I attempted to contact Colin Fletcher. That in itself was a two year adventure.

Finally, one day he returned my call, and thus started a series of questions and answers that to this day I am still fascinated with.

The quick answer to my question "who would walk?" is really found by walking the length of California, not in reading his book. So in 1999, while everyone was packing for the end of the world, I was packing for "my" 1000 mile Summer walk through California. I now have the answer to my question.

I have read all of Fletchers books, most articles written about him and have spoken with him several times both in letters and in phone conversations. What a fascinating character!

Though he and I disagreed with life and our purposes in it, I certainly found a kindred spirit. I wish him the best wherever Death's travels take him.

Also, "The Man From The Cave," was in my opinion one of his best books and would recommend reading it as well.

Was a sad day for me when I read he had passed, walking "his 1000 mile walk" was life changing for me and hoping one day YOU will be writing a review about MY book when it is published.
Hersh

Colin Fletcher managed to escape civilization with a simple plan. He would walk the length of California, including the Mojave Desert. The Ranger in Death Valley worried a great deal about him, but Fletcher's knowledge and understanding of the environment kept him safe and alive. In fact he enjoyed the "walk". Colin Fletcher is an excellent writer and this book is, in my opinin, is one of his best. I think I have read them all. He notices and describes details in vivid language. The clouds, the wind, the color of the valley, the trout, even the beetles and spiders don't miss his eye or nose.
He also describes the details of his hardships and joys, equipment failures and successes. He makes you feel as if you are with him on the trip, and often you may wish you were there. Some very well composed pictures are included. The trip took exactly 6 months. In the end he says "Then I walked down through the trees toward the road that would take me back to San Francisco and everything the city now offered."

I recommend the book to anyone. It is a good story, great adventure, and written by an unusual person. (He would like being called "unusual", I think.)

Colin Fletcher had a simple solution to the tedium of civilized live. He simply decided to walk the length of California from south to north. Including the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. He doesn't miss anything. He recorded the signts, sounds, people and his successes, failures and fears in wonderful detail. He found the purpose of the walk as he went along. The desert revealed its secrets to this man who took the time to experience the place on foot. Fishing in a creek, or climbing a mountain, or sleeping under the stars, Fletcher makes you feel as if you were there with him. A great writer and explorer, Fletcher is a joy to read. I have read most if not all of his books and this is perhaps the best. Whether you wander on foot or in you mind, you will, I think, love this book.

Trekking California is a beautifully presented book, with amazing photos, enticing descriptions and a selection of some of the finest treks in the Sierras and California. Everything that is said in the other reviews is true. The maps are beautifully rendered in shaded relief and great for planning, but they are inadequate for actual use. Bring a 7.5' topo of the area you are planning to explore. The on-trail segments are great; these trails are popular enough to be well-maintained and well-traveled. Please be cautious about the cross-country sections described in this book. For the most part, descriptions are very accurate, telling you how to circumnavigate cliff-outs and identifying landmarks. Yet, we found some descriptions completely underestimated. For example, in the Minarets area (Trek 10), the drop-down from Lake Catherine to the N. Fork of San Juaquim Riv. is very well described, and adequately labeled as Class 2. However, the hike back up through Ritter Pass was briefly mentioned, with no rating level. We found it to be Class 2 talus that was extremely loose and pretty steep; this can be verfied from TRs around the internet. It's true that other books around provide even less information (i.e. Secor, Moynier), but at least Secor rates it adequately as Class 2. But Richins presents a book that appears approachable to beginners, yet can potentially get you into trouble. I would suggest obtaining more beta for the cross-country sections through other sources from people who have done the trip you are planning via Richins.

Regardless, this is an amazing book; filling a niche of selecting some of the best long treks in California. The side-trips, variations to add or subtract mileage, and mountaineering options make this book invaluable to the experienced weekend warrior.

Great book with useful information for those wanting a little more out of their trips in backcountry of CA. Most of the book concentrates on The Sierras, which for me is a good thing. This book gives all the usefull information needed for making you trips a success. The book covers all the basics, but also touches upon going light, and proper nutrition which most guide books don't touch upon. Alot of the treks in this book has cross-country variations as well as side trips that will make your trips more interesting than the average trail type trek. The photos in this book are outstanding, and the easy nature that Paul writes makes the book very enjoyable to read. I will be using this book on many backpacking, oooppsss I mean trekking journeys this summer and many more to come. Buy it!

THE SPECTACULAR COLOR PHOTOS, THE CLEAR NARRATIVE AND THE WELL DRAWN MAPS ENTICE ME INTO THE HIGH SIERRA. THIS TREKKING GUIDE BY PAUL RICHINS HAS PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR VARIED ROUTES INTO THE SPLENDID MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA. I LOOK FORWARD TO FOLLOWING SOME OF HIS SUGGESTIONS.

For a long time I thought Paul Richins' Mt. Whitney trail guide was the best contemporary Sierra guide book I had ever used, but along comes the deceptively titled "Trekking California" (also by Paul Richins) that establishes a new high water mark.

The title notwithstanding, this 285 page book covers 15 high sierra hikes of 7 days or less and 5 other trips in the Trinity Alps and along the northern coast. The routes cover both established trails (Class 1) and cross country treks (Class 2/3) and many incorporate a combination of the two. The book is organized with the standard "what to expect", "what to take", "what to do, if" type of information that either provides new and insightful tips or just takes up book pages depending on one's experience level; some might consider it superfulous.

What isn't superfulous, however are the beutifully rendered maps incorporated throughout the book, really some of the best for trail use (and I mean established trails, not cross country routes) I've seen. Coupled with the outstanding color photography this guide really surpasses the more comprehensive Sierra North/South series which had been the benchmark for years. Most of the trips include interesting side treks that can be mixed and matched to extend the journeys to 10 days or more without making them feel like a walk-in camping trip. I'm familiar with many of the southern sierra trips and have taken them in similar form. To my knowledge the information is accurate, though one must remember that a Class 1 trail route doesn't mean "easy walk"....some of these trips include significant elevation gain (and loss) within single days, so while the trail may be maintained and clear there will still be plenty of huffing and puffing involved; and most are at higher elevation trail heads to begin with. All would be advised to camp at least the first night at the trail head to aclimate to the altitude. While the trail maps included in the book are clear one shouldn't fail to take (and know how to use) appropriate USGS topo maps of the relevant quadrants.

The guide covers some of the most spectacular wilderness country still with us and the book is a wonderful intro to many of the most rewarding trips. This is one of those books that I would recommend getting two copies of....one to keep at home and read for planning purposes and another to "tear apart" and carry the relevant maps and information pages in your map case (or plastic freezer bag). Really, it's that good.

Most of the treks are in the High Sierra, a place I am well familiar with. The book is a great list for ideas, saving experienced people the effort of poring over maps to develop tentative plans and make decisions. For novices, the book includes all the standard information and advice: on gear, food, weather, going light, mountain maladies and treatment, lightning and bears.

And the pictures! More than just snapshots of the country one would see, they provide a stimulus and motivation to get out there right now. I have traveled on parts or all of 12 of the 20 treks; now I am anxious to do more of them.

This book goes on my bookshelf, next to Moynier & Fiddler, Secor, and Croft.

This book was most enjoyable--An historical and literary voyage through history until it capsizes--here, at our feet and on our shores on the California-Mendocino Coast.

WOW what fun, work and incredible research the author had to dive through. THIS IS GREAT READING!

The Voyage of the Frolic is a readers dream. Bostonian History, Maritime life, Chinese trade, the Coast of California and our indigenous Indians all rolled into one well written and enjoyable read. Thank you Professor Layton for unraveling the past and placing it in a wonderful china bowl for all of us to peruse and get to know.

Layton is a master at pulling you in and teaching you a thing or two. I'd love to learn more about the Chinese connection.

A model of the Frolic is on display at the Cabrillo Lighthouse, Mendocino, CA. Before you visit the area, read this book. The book covers the entire history of the Frolic, those who built it, the course it took for its short 6 year life -- before sinking off Pt. Cabrillo. Its history includes its involvement with the Opium War, American incursions in China and exciting trade run with opium, Chinese ceramics and silks. A must read if you're interested in international history and the ships that created commerce and connection with the rest of the world.

Oddly enough, our book group chose Voyage of the Frolic and what great fun and an education it has been. I've always dreamed of going on an archeological expedition and here, without the dirt, pan, screens and brushes, I've discovered another layer of the past. What an eclectic history California has.

Pam Ward has weaved a tale about a girl name Trudy that is set on getting revenge on her ex boyfriend Lil Steve. She comes up with a plan to get her out the hood and at the same time pay him back for giving her a bad name.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it! This author is so detailed that you feel as though you are one of the characters!

I read alot of books, but this one so far is my FAVORITE! I took this book everywhere with me and every chance I got I read it, but at the same time I tried not to read too much because I didn't want it to end. Trust me, this book is that good!!!

There are alot of characters in this story, but you'll have no problem keeping up with them. I can't wait to read her second book thats due out this month, Bad Girls Burn Slow.

I had a girlfriend suggets this book to me and I was surprised to find so many well written male characters inside. The male dialogue in " Want Some Get Some" really discribes how men think. Who is this woman Pam Ward and how did she get so much information on us. I can't wait to see what she will do next.

I like how you're inside the words immediately. The characters excite and scare. Little Steve is righteous in his beliefs. Trudy struggles in her journey of revenge and gets some on the way. The club where everyone eventually winds up is phantasmagoria of life. The pace is hectic and heartfelt. I enjoyed it in the fast lane on the 101.

I always glance inside a book to read a few paragraphs before making a purchase - just to get a feel of it. Well, let me tell you, I was hooked on this one before I even walked out of the store! In a story with so many characters, it could be easy to lose track of them - but not here. The author paints each detail with such expertise that you feel like you're in the story - watching from the sidelines and sweating with them in the L.A. heat.

This story is raw and it's street. It's also refreshing that Trudy wasn't living "ghetto fabulous" which has become too common a lifestyle in today's urban fiction. She wasn't regarded as street royalty, driving around in the latest cars, and dripping in diamonds (so bored with those stories). She's a girl who is trying to make her way out the best way that she knows how; getting even with a hustler who did her wrong is just gravy!

I loved this gritty tale and can't wait to hear more from this author!

Street tale novelists better move over and make room for this gritty and edgy debut novel by Pam Ward! Want Some, Get Some is an urban tale that centers around Trudy aka Trudy with the Booty, a twenty year-old woman who knows that the streets of South Central LA are not all that life has to offer and wants out of living her daily nightmare.

Life has truly dealt Trudy a funky deck of cards. Her slick and shady ex-boyfriend, Lil Steve, hustled her into a relationship and making a sex tape only to turn around and sell it around the neighborhood, leaving her to face constant ridicule and unwanted sexual advances. Trudy's mother, Joan, turns her back on her only child and kicks her out of the house, leaving her to face life on the streets, living in seedy apartments and with even more seedier people. Joan tries to use the excuse of the tape as the reason for kicking Trudy out, but it is really her own personal motives that she puts first instead of her daughter. Trudy finds the only thing that keeps her sane is singing on stage at Dee's Parlor, a rundown juke joint that serves as a true black hole for all the shady players, hustlers, ballers, and shot callers.

Trudy knows that revenge is truly best served cold so she drums up a bank heist plan to not only get out of her nightmare but get back at Lil Steve. Working at Dee's Parlor surrounded by some of the best of the best in the underworld gives her a perfect opportunity to put this plan into action. The only thing Trudy did not think about was that everyone has something that they want and will do whatever it takes to get it.

Pam Ward writing is very blunt and not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of characters in this novel that might confuse you at first but as the story progresses all of them intertwine to create one firecracker of a novel. Not only is there plenty of action and suspense, but there is also a hint of romance. Readers might need to buckle their seat belts and hold onto their seats, because this novel will take you on an intense ride that you will surely not forget!


Reviewed by Angelique
APOOO BookClub

In War Orphan in San Francisco, Phyllis Helene Mattson tells the engrossing story of her childhood spent in San Francisco where her mother managed to send her in 1940, in the final window of opportunity for escaping the Nazi occupation of Vienna. Initially Mattson stays with an aunt and then in foster homes and orphanages. Her mother, never able to secure the necessary papers that would allow her out of Austria, worked as forced labor. Mattson's father was thrown out of Vienna late in 1939 by the Germans and then spent the war in an Australian internment camp when England, his temporary home, declared war on Germany and he became a prisoner of war.

Mattson found herself as the primary link for the scattered family from the time she was ten until her father came to the US when she was seventeen. She used the treasure trove of letters, long stored in a box in the garage, to help tell her story.

As a woman's memoir writing coach, I read memoirs at multiple levels. I examine each story for its strength in writing, in engaging the reader and in providing ideas to other women who are writing their memoirs. Mattson's book gets stars on all of these dimensions. In addition to being well written and engrossing (I tried to figure out how I would handle a similar situation and could not envision that I would be as strong as she was), I especially liked the way she used her source documents.

If you are working on your memoir consider: Do you have documents or records that may shed light on your story? Family records? Letters? Legal documents? Medical records? How might you use them? As background information? Selected brief quotes? Organizing themes for chapters? Reproduced in full? The Internet offers many opportunities to research elements of your story even when you don't have copies of documents and records.

Mattson writes, "As I told my story, I told it as through it happened to another child, factually without emotion, a way to distance myself from the tragedy that I had experienced..." Again, as a memoir writing coach, I value how this book raises the question: How close or how distant do you need to be from your story in order to tell it? Many women with difficult, even tragic stories, need to find enough distance from the story to write it, yet show enough closeness that the reader shares in her experience. Mattson has gracefully achieved both of these goals.

I loved reading Phyllis's story; it provoked every emotion in me.

She tells her story of separation from her family and living in a strange country with strange people in a very insightful manner with perceptions very mature for a young girl. Throughout her ordeal she grows through lifes' stages well adjusted and content despite experiencing dire circumstances. The love that stretched across the miles held her steady to refute bitter scars and rebellion.

The thoughtful retelling of her youth made me laugh as I had recalled similar attitudes growing up but in much different circumstances.
Her spunk as a teen in San Francisco is high spirited and joyful. The written teasing with her father, so many miles away, .... is truely endearing and inspiring. Her deep love and longing for family back in Europe emanates from the pages. And the answers to her life long questions made me sob.

Phyllis writes her wonderful story of courage and inspiration. Young and adult readers will enjoy her heartfelt story.

Imagine yourself in an old attic. A dusty trunk beckons from the corner and you crawl over to it, aware that the attic and the trunk don't belong to you. But your curiosity overpowers your propriety and you open it to discover it brimming with intimate letters and photographs of a family from a time and place foreign to your own. Such is the wealth of experience awaiting you in Phyllis Mattson's memoir of her childhood surviving the Nazi holocaust.
She sets the scene - Vienna just before Nazi takeover - and introduces us to her humble, but proud Jewish family. As a child she witnesses the march of Nazis into Vienna and hears the "Christkiller" chants. A dark cloud of fear settles over her family and friends as parents begin desperate efforts to get their children out of Austria on a Kindertransport - to the safety of Britain or the US. Through letters and photographs, we wake with Phyllis to the terrors of Kristallnacht, as her family is dragged from their apartment by Hitler's SS. When her father is taken to prison the real horror starts. Her mother frantically pleads with relatives in San Francisco to take Phyllis in and, when they agree, mother and daughter part at the train station, never to see each other again. Phyllis arrives in New York and struggles to learn a new name, a new language, a new country, leaving behind all her traditions. Five days alone on a train, unable to communicate to anyone, finally brings her to San Francisco.
Only letters bind this extended family across oceans and time and Phyllis makes you eager to turn the page, read the next words from father, mother, friends and relatives, and her own letters. In a quiet child's voice you hear the resilience of the human spirit, to not just survive, but to thrive in a new home of challenges.
With a teacher's objectivity, Phyllis recalls world-shattering political events through her own ten year-old eyes. She frequently admits her adult memories either clash with her own written words as a child, or don't exist at all. Her own awareness that she has psychologically buried memories makes the child's letters even more poignant.
I strongly recommend this book to any student of WWII, but I believe all freedom-loving people would be touched by this story of survival and the bond of family.

I have known Phyllis for about a year, have heard her speak to middle and high school students several times, and thought I knew what would be in the book.

I was wrong.

This is a story of a young girl growing up in the most unstable of times. It is written with truth and honesty, and makes Phyllis a three-dimensional person to the reader. I highly recommend it!

You wouldn't expect a war story to leave you smiling, but that is what Phyllis Mattson's "War Orphan in San Francisco" does. It is a surprisingly upbeat story of 10-year-old "stateless" Felicitas Finkel sent to safety in the U.S. by her parents in Austria in WWII. It is drawn from letters and a few photos kept for years in a box in the garage, a box like many of us probably have in a corner somewhere, with stories too sad or scary to bring out very often--but when we do, we find stories of adventure, bravery, growth, dreams, and all the joys of life mixed in with the sad, scary parts.

As an English teacher, I am interested in letters. They record events and feelings and reflect our growth. They catalog our special story and place us in the world. They are evidence that we lived.

As I sit at my computer writing email that is delivered instantly, I appreciate the time and effort people spent writing letters to maintain ties. They wrote during war when paper and pencil were difficult to get, going from edge to edge on pages of thin paper, knowing that the messages might take weeks or months to arrive, and might arrive with pieces cut out, or not arrive at all. They wrote because the connections were important to them. And they are important today because they record the world as it was, with the dailiness and details of how people survived, and suggest where we might go next.

Felicitas / Phyllis's mother told her not to cry, to be brave, and to "write to me and Papa weekly, giving all the details." Phyllis's letter writing started in 1940, when she arrived in San Francisco, and continued through 1946, when her father was finally able to join her in San Francisco. Her mother's letters stopped in 1942, and the reader feels 12-year-old Phyllis avoiding the obvious conclusion, stepping around the larger-world facts, and continuing to write to her Papa, "giving all the details," while avoiding the big picture.

Reflections by the adult Phyllis are wonderfully insightful. The adult wonders why she and her father never mentioned the lack of letters from her mother. Even years later, things hinted in the letters remained unresolved. Sometimes the letters give the bare bones of what was happening, and details are filled in by Phyllis today; sometimes, there is nothing beyond the letter. In her first year, Phyllis went from speaking no English to speaking, reading, and writing English and her mother, in a letter, implored her to not forget her German. Today, Phyllis has published articles and a technical book in English yet had to get a German translator for her treasured letters written in German.

The family always signed their letters with endearments--love, hugs, lots of kisses, millions and millions of hugs; yet other everyday feelings are side-by-side in the letters, as when her father wrote:
"... Much as I like reading your letters, however there is always something in it that I do not like. For instance in today's letter the language used by you ... is shocking... All my love and heaps of kisses from your Daddy."

Interaction at a distance is not perfect but as the saying goes, it beats the alternative. Letters were better than nothing at all. They buoyed the young girl alone in San Francisco as she moved in and out of foster homes. As the adult Phyllis observes, her early success in moving on alone led her eventually to new experiences all over the world. "War Orphan in San Francisco" is a reflection of and tribute to the human spirit finding and upholding values in life, building bridges in hard times, through one of mankind's oldest ways of communication. It will make you want to sit right down and write a letter.

This book is an in-depth and thoroughly detailed discussion of the various features of Painter X. But more than that, it is also an excellent step-by-step how-to for using these features to create a very satisfying painting from a photograph - with almost limitless potential variability. While artistic effects are certainly involved, this is not a book for the graphic artist who has the ability to create a painting starting from scratch on a blank canvas. For that one might consider Painter X Creativity: Digital Artist's Handbook by Jeremy Sutton, or the Painter X Wow! Book by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis.

The only flaw is one found in the otherwise useful accompanying CD. While most tutorials were easily viewed, some were obscured by a red screen, with an error message stating that the problem was due to an error using Macromedia Projector.

But don't let this one flaw deter anyone interested in this book. The book is excellent.

The author also writes for the San Diego U&T; many of these trips are culled from his archives.
He knows the area, and he has an adventurous spirit. He maps out routes that are out-of-the-way, ones that you wouldn't think of yourself, like out to a desert town, but also more urban trips. The attention to detail is key; miles, times, markers, etc.

A great guide if your new to the area, or, if you've lived here for awhile and want to experience a part of San Diego you've missed.

I had the chance to see and hear this author at a local community college. In addition to his appearances on a local television station, he has written for the Travel section of the San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE. No other county in the United States offers beach, mountains and desert all within its boundaries. And such treasures as a historic gold-mining town turned picturesque destination, an almost-unspoiled desert, a world-famous observatory, an authentic Mexican village. the first California mission are also contained here. One can almost spend a week or more on a vacation without traveling far from San Diego and still feel that he has been to unique places.

This book is great! We have done one drive so far and it left from our front door. We did everything he instructed and had a GREAT time! We went to a restaurant he suggested and it was awesome. My advice is to call ahead if you plan to go to a restaurant he has suggested because some close early. If you are a local and want a great book to liven up your weekends, this is it. You will explore San Diego and have a blast while doing so. All in your backyard!!

My husband and just got home from one of the trips in the book, "Russians, Wineries and the Real Baja," which goes from Ensenada, to Tecate, Mexico. We had a wonderful time. It is so beautiful and we saw a side of Mexico we never expected. I highly recommend this book.