Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 31, 1991 TAG: 9104030040
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jeff Smith strikes again with another delightful book which appeals as much to our sense of a shrinking world as it does to our appreciation of fine cuisine. Here are 35 sections of recipes, each beginning with an overview of the ethnic region considered, ranging from Armenia to Yugoslavia. The theme of the book, obviously, is the "Immigrant Experience" and its influence on American cooking and custom.
As ever, Smith's recipes are clear and detailed. Among the several I have tried, Chicken Vindaloo from India stands out as does the Persian Kuku Sabzi, an herbed spinach omelet served with yogurt. The latter is nicely accompanied by Persian Salad, a mixture of chopped cucumber, tomatoes, onions and parsley dressed with olive oil and lime juice. The book is handsomely illustrated with drawings by Chris Cart. A wealth of wonderful tastes and ideas from around the world awaits the reader/cook here. - HARRIET LITTLE
In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish Priest.
By Paul Wilkes. Random House. $19.95.
"In Mysterious Ways" is a biography of Father Joseph Greer, pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Natick, Mass. Author Paul Wilkes explores the fears and frustrations of this parish priest as he nears retirement and battles bone-marrow cancer. Simply stated, the book is excellent.
Aside from Greer's physical battle against age and disease, Wilkes' book is a window into the inner sanctuary of a man who, in the face of death, re-evaluates life. For Greer, the struggle exists purely in the spiritual realm as he must reaffirm his calling to the priesthood and his service to the Roman Church. These questions go far deeper than just being a career assessment, for they cause Greer to ask the ultimate questions of life and living.
Wilkes leaves the work with no neatly drawn conclusions, and perhaps this is as it should be. To have done so would have allowed the reader to escape the responsibility of dealing with the same basic issued faced by Father Greer, and therein lies the value of "In Mysterious Ways"
- NELSON HARRIS
Bret Harte's California. Edited and with an introduction by Gary Scharnhorst. University of New Mexico Press. $22.50.
This is a collection of columns written by Bret Harte for two Eastern newspapers in 1866 and 1867. Harte, of course, later became famous for his humorous poems and stories about the West, such as "The Outcasts of Poker Flat."
The book is a series of snapshots rather than a comprehensive overview of California in the 1860s. Scharnhorst, a professor at the University of New Mexico, acknowledges that the essays are like "raw ore . . . obviously not finished coin." The result is pretty heavy going for the general reader, even for someone with an interest in the West. Most readers are not going to care about contemporary state politics or about how closely the sabbath was observed in San Francisco in the 1860s. This book will be of interest mainly to Western historians and Harte scholars. - RANDY WALKER
Park Plaza.
By Richard Cox. St. Martin's. $18.95.
"Park Plaza" is one of those novels where you know what is going to happen but you stick around to see how the author is going to arrange for all the plot lines to get there at the same time.
There's an elegant London-based auction house run by an oddly matched philandering husband and his angry yet devoutly religious wife, the mistress, a venal German aristocrat or two, a female German terrorist, an Irish explosives expert and our heroes . . . an unhappily married ex-Marine security guard and an equally unhappy female assistant hotel manager. Everyone gets tossed together on the eve of an important jewel auction to be held in the Park Plaza.
This is a pleasant, gossipy little novel. But the operative word here is "little." It's like reading a script for the old "Hotel" TV series. - JUDY KWELLER
by CNB