Monday Mailbox/Review: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Monday Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted in November by  Knitting and Sundries. Anyone can play along. Just leave a link to your MM at the hosting blog and follow the links to other blogs to see what books are finding their way to mailboxes around the world.
Caveat: participation in MM can cause your tbr list to grow exponentially. *Penguin at mailbox, a copyrighted image, is used with permission from Club Penguin.*

Only one book showed up last week but what a wonderful book it is! I started it Saturday and finished up the few remaining pages yesterday.  I so hated to see it end! The title is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand , a British comedy of manners and romance by Helen Simonson.

Major Pettigrew, a somewhat fussy and old-fashioned pedantic widower,  finds himself in a world that has lost it's sense of decorum and appropriate behavior and he doesn't like it one little bit. He still lives in his own little world of responsible behavior living the way generations of Englishmen have done in the past with a sense of duty to family and country. So when his brother dies suddenly and  Major Pettigrew is on the receiving end of a small act of kindness by the local shopkeeper, Mrs. Ali, his world is turned upside down.

Mrs. Ali not only shares his grief at the loss of a beloved spouse but the love of classic books, especially Kipling's works. She is also a woman who holds duty and responsibility to family in the highest regard. Realizing how lonely he has been since his wife Nancy died, Major Pettigrew seems to relax a little bit in Mrs. Ali's company. The two embark upon a friendship that soon blossoms into more much to the chagrin of the surrounding neighborhood and the local golf club. Even their own families have their share of doubts about a relationship at their age; never mind their cultural differences. The Major and Mrs. Ali finally concede they are not ready to be put on a shelf to just live out the rest of their lives alone. Behaving a little out of character for these two sensible people, some decisive action is called for and what a delightful story ensues!

Here's just one of my favorite quotes:

"Careful, careful," he said, feeling a splash of scalding tea on his wrist. "Passion is all very well, but it wouldn't do to spill the tea." 

Oh, heaven forbid!

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is one of the most charming first novels I've read in a long time. I'm not really sure what I expected, but what I found was a comedy of manners filled with characters who felt so real to me it's as if I know them in real life. Simonson vividly brings the retired Major Ernest Pettigrew and Mrs. Ali to life on the pages and she does so with realistic dialogue and quite a bit of quiet humor. The Major's changing and sometimes strained relationship with his ambitious adult son, Roger, is an added bonus to the plot. I truly enjoyed my little sojourn in the British village of Edgecombe St. Mary and hope to get a chance to visit there again. Ms. Simonson, please give us more!
Highly recommended 4.5****

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Random House through GoodReads.

Review: Let's Eat by Denise Burroughs

Inspired by her her love of cooking and her Italian heritage, Denise Burroughs shares some of her family's most cherished recipes in Let's Eat.

One of the things I really appreciate in a cookbook is a large color picture and this book has quite a few. I think this would make a great cookbook for a beginner cook as there is a lot of info at the beginning that a novice  might not know such as baking substitutions and what equals what.

 Example: did you know a cup of cut up marshmallows is equal to 16 large marshmallows or 160 miniature?

Denise also includes a page on "is it done yet?" This is handy info if you need to know at what temperature a specific type of meat is done.  That's something I usually forget and have to find somewhere.

Most of the recipes are simple everyday recipes with virtually no exotic ingredients; no scrounging around looking for or purchasing something you might never need again. I found one recipe for "Hornet's Nest Cake" that sounds quite interesting and could be whipped up in no time. How could you not want to serve that to guests? Another recipe that sounds really good is "Grandma's Zucchini Stew" that can be cooked in a crock pot. Those are the kind of recipe I like these days!

From cornish game hens to casseroles to drinks recipes, Denise has included a nice variety of recipes. Be sure to read the "Growing up Italian" note from Denise at the end of the book. If you would like more info or to read several of Denise's recipes, you can visit her  website.

Disclaimer: A review copy of Let's Eat was provided by Pump Up Your Book!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Scituate Lighthouse



 

Scituate Lighthouse back view



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Wordless Wednesday ~ Scituate, MA (my hometown)

Lightkeepers cottage

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Cancer update

Three weeks ago I posted about my diagnosis of uterine cancer and my experience with the local doctor and the infamous PA. I just want to catch you up with what has happened since then.

The Big Guy and I trekked down to Tampa to the Moffitt Cancer Center and met with the oncologist/surgeon and we immediately liked him. He was the polar opposite of my local Dr. He was on time, knew everything about me and exuded confidence. We both felt I would be in good hands and get the best of care. We set the date for surgery and I was on my way.

The day of surgery went like clockwork; those people are the models of efficiency and caring. Every one who would be involved in the surgery in any way came in to introduce themselves and assured me they would take excellent care of me. And I felt that they did. The nurses were fantastic!

Upshot: the doctor said it went very well and I would need no additional treatment. Yay! Okay, so  I am not exactly the dancing penguin yet but I'm getting there slowly. I actually felt like I had been hit by a very big truck. The only kind of sucky thing is that cancer can recur and I need to go for followups every three months for the first two years and then every six months for the next two years. As my brother said, "that's a small price to pay", and I agree with him.

This past week I celebrated my birthday. One year ago I would never have envisioned saying this year that I am a cancer survivor. I guess we just never know what life has in store for us.  Hmmmmn . . .probably a good thing!

Once again, I want to thank all of you for your wonderful thoughts, prayers, hugs, virtual flowers and e mails. It helped me tremendously and I feel so blessed to be among such caring bloggers.

As for the blog, I am still tossed up as to what to do but I  hope to start catching up with your blogs. It may take a while but at least now I feel I can sit at the computer for a bit without so much discomfort.

See y'all at chez vous!

Guest post: Susan Helene Gottfried

My guest today needs no introduction - she is the much appreciated and adored-ever-so-funny-terrific lady from West of Mars. Yep, truly, she is here for a visit! You might know her as Susan of Win- a- book. Susan doesn't just do all of us bloggers a great service, she is also a blog owner, an author and a wonderful friend to all. Today, she would like to share several of her passions with you.  Ta da!

Heeeeere's Susan!

by Susan Helene Gottfried

I need to thank Kaye and her flightless bird friends for hosting me today. Being from the city of Pittsburgh, I am a fan of penguins. I'm especially fond of the young male Penguins who pull on the city's black and gold, who tie metal blades to their feet, and who take to a specially maintained sheet of ice.

Yep, pro hockey. I could talk hockey all day long, but this is a book blog. And I am more than a hockey lover -- I am an author, as well. In fact, being an author might be a more defining trait than being a hockey lover.

I'm one other important thing, as well. I'm a music lover.

I often tell people my love affair with music began in the 1980s, with the music of the times -- and, in particular, hair metal. But the truth is that my love affair began way longer, back in the days of Donny and Marie and my dad's Carpenters records. It began when my sister would practice her flute and piccolo for hours on end and I'd be dragged to band concert after orchestra concert after band concert to hear her.

Clearly, that explains my adult love for Apocalyptica, the Finnish quartet who made their mark by converting Metallica to the cello. It explains why I'm every bit as comfortable in a fancy theater, home to the Pittsburgh Symphony, as I am in a dark bar, dressed in my jeans and trying to avoid having beer spilled down the front of my shirt by some drunken jerk I've never seen before -- and hope I'll never have to again, either.

So how did a girl raised on such benign music fall in love with what used to be heavy metal, and is now called hard rock?

I have no idea. But it happened. And when it did, I found I needed to write about it and share my passion with the world.

The ShapeShifter project -- The two Demo Tapes anthologies and Trevor's Song -- wasn't the first time I wrote about a rock band. The first time was when I was an undergraduate. I created an 80s hair band. Go figure; it WAS the 80s. The second time wasn't long after I chucked that first one under a bed. That one featured a Bay Area thrash band.

It went under the bed, too. Both books are staying there, believe me.

But my fondness for the music remains. In fact, my passion hasn't dimmed. It's grown. Just as music was an almost-constant background when I was growing up, I am almost always surrounded by music. Satellite radio in my car and when I am at my desk. Pandora coming from the laptop. And my beloved iPod for my workouts, for background music to the kids' soccer games, and anytime I need to slap my headphones on and escape into a safe, warm, cozy place.

If a place built on heavy metal and/or hard rock can be warm, safe, and cozy.

To me, though, it is. And that's what I hope to convey when I write about musicians and guitarists and bass players with attitudes I only wish I had the guts to let show. It's what I hope you'll take away when you finish reading one of my books, and what I hope you'll pass on to your friends when you rave about them.

Rock on, my friends. And as you do so, why not pick up a book or two of mine? During November and December, I'm donating at least half of my royalties to charity -- a charity that provides new and refurbished musical instruments to kids in schools that otherwise couldn't afford them. Books make great gifts for the holidays, you know. Why not help kids have great musical experiences? One day, they might be in this very space, paying it forward, themselves.

Check out the full details on my contest page: http://westofmars.com/west-of-mars/contests

or go to the Books page for details on how to get your hands on a print or e-book copy of my three books: http://westofmars.com/west-of-mars/the-books

Also, feel free to hang with me and the band as the Musical Hanukkah Celebration takes shape this year. It'll give context to your donation and let you be part of the bigger party, as well. http://westofmars.com/blog

A big thank you to Susan for this great guest post. If you can help Susan and her wonderful cause in any way, I'm sure she will be very appreciative. To some talented kids without the financial resources, this charitable effort goes a long way to bringing dreams to life.