HOMETOWN APPETITES : THE STORY OF CLEMENTINE PADDLEFORD, THE FORGOTTEN FOOD WRITER WHO CHRONICLED HOW AMERICA ATE
by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris

Before James Beard and Julia Child, there was Clementine Paddleford, the most important food writer that nobody has ever heard of. Born in Kansas, on a 260-acre farm, in 1898, she became a most formidable journalist, eventually writing for the New York Herald Tribune and This Week magazine. Clementine wrote in "florid prose" about regional American food and eventually traveled 800,000 miles, in the United States and later, overseas, visiting housewives in their kitchens for "word-of-mouth hand-downs from mother to daughter" recipes.
In 1953, Paddleford was named "Best-Known Food Editor" by Time magazine.
She had her own inimitable style of fashion wearing capes, hats and a velvet choker around her neck with a tube attached. In her thirties, she had throat cancer, but that didn't stop her. She continued working and searching for the best recipes for millions of her readers.
Hometown Appetites is fascinating and a delight to read. Recipes are immersed throughout every chapter. Photographs of Paddleford and samples of menus that she kept (700 to be exact), plus how the two authors got together in the first place makes the book even more interesting.
Highly recommended for all food enthusiasts.

QUEEN OF THE OIL CLUB : THE INTREPID WANDA JABLONSKI AND THE POWER OF INFORMATION
by Anna Rubino

Wanda Jablonski was an investigative reporter who unraveled the secret world of oil from the 1950s through the 1980s. She was nicknamed the "midwife" of OPEC and was very influential, behind the scenes, in its creation, due to her sources.
A petite woman, Wanda boldly went to exploration sites in the Middle East, the Venezuelan jungle, entered male-only boardrooms in London and New York and interviewed King Saud in a Saudia Arabian harem. She was able to retrieve information from CEOs of the oil giants and high political figures in such a way that had never been done before by anyone.
In 1961, Jablonski started her own newsletter, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, which was dubbed the "bible" of the oil world.
Queen of the Oil Club is a fascinating story of a remarkable woman who by the power of information was able to influence the petroleum industry.
A great story and an important read.

TITANIC'S LAST SECRETS : THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHADOW DIVERS JOHN CHATTERTON AND RICHIE KOHLER
by Brad Matsen

In August of 2005 shipwreck divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler discovered new evidence on what had sunk the Titanic. Working with a forensic marine analyst they were able to uncover archival information that had never been seen by any historian.
Brad Matsen writes a meticulously, spell-binding story of the great ship's construction and of its demise. There were compromises made that would, in the end, doom most of the passengers and the crew.
The conclusion is a real shocker.
Matsen did his own research, which can be found at the end of the book, by the Notes and the extensive Bibliography he used.
Titanic's Last Secrets is a terrific read.
Highly recommended.

THE FORSAKEN : AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY IN STALIN'S RUSSIA
by Tim Tzouliadis

There is a photograph, from 1934, of young men on a baseball team. They are all from cities across America. One team is the Foreign Workers' Club of Moscow and they're playing against the Autoworkers' Club from nearby Gorky. They smile for the camera.
Thousands of families left the United States for the Five-Year Plan of Soviet Russia in search of a better life. Being unemployed during the Great Depression they were lured by the promise of jobs, plenty of food, a place to live.
They thought they were going to the "Promised Land."
Four years later most of these men will be arrested along with the rest of the Americans and become victims of Stalin's Terror. Some will be killed immediately. Others will be sent to labor camps where they will starve and be worked to death.
The book is an indictment of both Communism and the American government. Roosevelt was deaf, dumb and blind when it came to his dealings with the Soviets. His American Ambassador, Joseph Davies, was totally clueless, naive and oblivious who totally admired Joseph Stalin.
The Forsaken is a superb story of forgotten history. Tsouliadis captures the horrors, the guilt and the innocence in a meticulously researched epic tome.
Highly recommended.

WALKING THROUGH WALLS : A MEMOIR
by Philip Smith

Lew Smith was an interior decorator for the rich and famous in Miami during the 1960s. He was well known for his designs and anybody who had money (including the president of Haiti) wanted their residences decorated by him. But this was not his true calling. His real work was as a psychic healer who cured thousands of people. Exorcisms, seances, talking spirits were daily occurrences.
In Walking Through Walls Philip Smith describes his unusual coming of age story of a father with supernatural powers. It is hilarious, bizarre, and a terrific read.
Highly recommended.

THE GIRL FROM FOREIGN : A SEARCH FOR SHIPWRECKED ANCESTORS, FORGOTTEN HISTORIES, AND A SENSE OF HOME
by Sadia Shepard

Half-Muslim, half-Christian, Sadia Shepard grew up in Boston, the daughter of a Protestant father from Colorado and a Pakistani mother. Her parents had plenty of stories to tell her about their backgrounds and customs. But, her maternal grandmother's legacy was the most complex. She was not Muslim, but had started her life as Rachel Jacobs, descending from the Bene Israel, one of the lost tribes of Israel, who were shipwrecked in India thousands of years ago. Before her grandmother dies, Sadia promises her that she will travel to India to learn about her ancestors.
Armed with film equipment, she takes off for Bombay.
The Girl from Foreign is a fascinating tale of three cultures. Shepard, seamlessly, weaves together the story of her grandparents' secret marriage and a little-known Jewish community. At the same time, she is trying to discover where she, herself, belongs.
I absolutely loved this book. It is so beautifully written. From the prologue to the end, you are swept away into its clutches.
Very highly recommended.

IN THE LAND OF INVISIBLE WOMEN : A FEMALE DOCTOR'S JOURNEY IN THE SAUDI KINGDOM
by Quanta A. Ahmed

Before 9/11, Ahmed, a British-born Muslim of Pakistani origin, leaves the U.S. and goes to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to practice medicine. It was an opportunity that she couldn't pass up. She believes that because she is Muslim, she will have no problem fitting in. Instead, she finds an environment filled with contradictions and a clash between modern and medieval.
The book opens with Ahmed's first patient, an elderly Bedouin woman lying naked on an examining table, with her face veiled, which is required by the Kingdom.
Women must be covered at all times in public even in the hospital where Ahmed worked as a doctor. It is a suffocating and oppressive existence.
Men are free to go wherever they please, to drive, to walk around. Not so for women. They must be always chaperoned, are not allowed to drive, have to be careful no matter where they are.
Ahmed lived in Saudi Arabia for two years and learned how to re-create herself. In a society that is extremely racist and intolerant, she found honesty and love.
In the Land of Invisible Women is a journey that most people will never take, but it's important to know about.
A fascinating and revealing memoir.