Rice, Noodle, Fish - Matt Goulding

A little off my normal YA, fantasy, sci-fi, fiction path.


In the next year or two, we are planning a month long trip to Japan.  As such I have been scouring the internet for ideas/recommendations etc for anything about Japan.  One website I came across was www.boutiquejapan.com.  And they had some excellent book recommendations.  So off to the library I went to find some of them, and at the moment this was the only in.

This isn't like your normal tour guide book.  It's filled with tons of useful information like phases you should know, full page color pictures and the like but what's the most interesting is the author's take and experiences.  He takes you into the side streets, the small family run izakayas (japanese pubs) and the behind the scenes fish markets.  He talks about the food culture in Japan and how it isn't just about sushi (don't get him or me wrong - Japanese sushi is/would be the best in the world) but it's about the dying art of the Shokunin (craftsman) and how these people have dedicated themselves.  It isn't about the food business or money, it about the individual ingredients.  These men and women have studied individual ingredients for decades and their understanding far surpasses just putting a piece of tuna on a bed of rice.  You may have heard it said that sushi apprentices spend 4 years or more just learning how to make rice.  And oh how the Japanese are obsessed with rice!  In Japan rice isn't about buying it from the grocery store and cooking it.  There it's about what region the rice came from, what was the weather like when that particular crop was growing, how does this particular facility process the rice THEN once the rice has been scrutinized that way it's about cooking it - rinsing it so many times, at the right temperature, with the right seasoning, cooling it to the right temperature etc etc etc.  Rice is a religion in Japan and they take it VERY seriously.  I have a newfound respect for rice now and see it in a new light.

I digress, this book was more like literary storytelling for both the intrepid traveler and armchair reader seeking adventure.  It was informative, enlightening and one I will most def be picking up and adding to my repertoire not only for my trip but also to keep coming back to re-read.  Even tho I've haven't been to Japan (yet) this book took me to the country in a way that was all encompassing - I could hear the greetings entering the establishments, shouts of kampai (cheers) from various patrons, almost smell the sizzling hot oil cooking tempura and feel the smoky coals broiling various bits meats.

If nothing else, pick up this book and make the journey.  So worth it.

The Skies of Pern

The Red star that has plaque those on Pern has been moved into a harmless orbit, and the current Threadfall will be the last.  Technology is changing the very structure of Pern society.  The dragonriders must find themselves a new way to make themselves useful.  And they are diligently working toward that.  But not everyone on Pern views the change as good.  There are some that will stop at nothing to keep Pern in the old ways.

Then once again a formidable danger threatens Pern.  And once again Pern looks to the dragonriders to answer the call.  Will F'lessen and his new friend Tia be able to survive the tragedy foreshadowing them?

I enjoyed this book but I feel in some ways that moving ahead with technology, the world of Pern loses some of it's charm for me.  I don't want them to be completely devoid of it but what drew me to the Pern series in the first place was well the rustic charm of the world.  I absolutely loved the F'lessen and Tia story line.

I will continue to read Anne's last books and her son Todd's continuation on - as I believe he wrote more going BACK and fleshing out the timeline.  This book was meant to be more of the final of the timeline - not that they couldn't write more, but when you read the last bit of the book and the final page it "feels" more like a finale.

The Fire Rose - Mercedes Lackey

The Elemental Masters series form Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite series - I own what I thought was all of them.  Little did I realize that this book is actually book 0.  So I was pretty excited to take this book on my vacation with me and read it on the beach.

Enter Mercedes elemental world of the early 1900's retelling of Beauty and the Beast -  Rosalind is a budding medieval scholar at her wits end.  Born into a  well to do family she's always had the run to do whatever she wanted.  She turned her energies to being the scholarly type - learning medieval dead languages and the like.  But when her father passes away (her mother had passed many years previous) and the debt collectors strip everything out from underneath her, she realizes she is in dire straits.  What is a woman in her position to do?  She has no other family that she can turn to and her particular set of skills doesn't translate into marriage very well.

Jason Cameron, a well off rail baron and firemaster is in a predicament.  His arrogance has gotten him into a bind and he is now half wolf half human.  Unwilling for the world around him to know his situation he dismisses his servants, leaving only his salamanders to carry on with his needs.  But salamanders cannot help him decipher ancient texts to find a way out of his dilemma.   And his apprentice is of no help at all, being a lazy arrogant man himself, Jason doesn't trust him.  Jason sends out his salamanders to find someone who will assist him with ancient texts and Rosalind is in the perfect situation to respond to Jason's call.

But will Jason's arrogance drive a wedge between their working relationship?  Just how much is he willing to show/tell her?  And when she arrives how does Jason's apprentice feel about Rosalind?

I was quite happy with this book.  It was a nice throw back to the original books in the series that played off fairytales, combining them with her elemental story line and world.   Lots of character development and action.  Classic telling of the fairytale in a new way.  I would def recommend this one.  If possible read this one before all the others.