We’re talking food for our second May book club selection, Julia’s Child: The Novel by Sarah Pinneo. Like many parents, I first considered organic foods when my firstborn started eating solids. What happens when making organic foods for young children become your passion?  Julia, mother of two, starts a business selling her pre-cooked toddler meals with cute names like It’s Not Easy Being Green Beans and Gentle Lentils. The novel even contains recipes for kid-friendly foods.

More about the fun, light-hearted novel from the publisher:

A delectable comedy for every woman who’s ever wondered if buying that six-dollar box of organic crackers makes her a hero or a sucker.  Julia Bailey is a mompreneur with too many principles and too little time.  Her fledgling company, Julia’s Child, makes organic toddler meals with names like Gentle Lentil and Give Peas a Chance. But before she can realize her dream of seeing them on the shelves of Whole Foods, she will have to make peace between her professional aspirations and her toughest food critics: the two little boys waiting at home. Is it possible to save the world while turning a profit?
Julia’s Child is a warmhearted, laugh-out-loud story about motherhood’s choices: organic vs. local, paper vs. plastic, staying at home vs. risking it all.

For this book club selection, From Left to Write is proud to partner with Stonyfield a company that offers certified organic yogurt, smoothies, milk and much  more.  Stonyfield advocates that healthy food can only come from a healthy planet and is engaged in educating people on eating healthy.

Join us on May  24 as our From Left to Write members and Stonyfield’s YoGetters discuss Julia’s Child. Learn more about Stonyfield on their Facebook page.

We’ll also have a Q&A with author Sarah Pinneo, so if you have any questions for her, just leave them in the comments.

I seem to be on a historical fiction kick lately. My latest read was The Midwife of Venice (Gallery Books) by Roberta Rich. As a mother who wanted a midwife to attend to my second birth, I find the midwifery fascinating. (I ended up staying with my ob-gyn who I love!)

Set in 16th century, The Midwife of Venice tells parallel stories of Jewish midwife Hannah and her husband Isaac Levi. The Levis live in a Jewish ghetto in Venice, but Isaac has been captured at sea and enslaved on the island of Malta. Desperate to earn money for her husband’s ransom, Hannah breaks Papal law when she attends to a countess’ labor. A Papal edict forbids Jews from medically treating Christians, but the count is desperate after his wife labors for days without any progress. Hannah is well known for her midwifery skills and bargains for a high fee. Hannah becomes unwittingly entangled in the count’s family politics and must deal with the consequences before she can sail to Malta.

Each chapter alternates between Hannah and Isaac’s stories. I found Hannah’s story richer and more interesting than Isaac’s attempt to escape slavery and Malta. Roberta Rich describes life in Venice in great detail. The Venetians’ fear as the Bubonic plague spread throughout the city felt very real as did the rotting food that Hannah avoided as she walked down the streets.  Rich showed us the contrast between Jewish life and Christian life in the 16th century.  The Jews lived in constant fear of the Christians’ hostility. Hannah’s Rabbi warns that Hannah’s entire ghetto would be blamed and killed if the birth she attended did not produce a live baby.

Meanwhile, Isaac’s story seemed to exist just as a catalyst for Hannah’s motivation throughout the novel. I didn’t really get a sense of Isaac until halfway through the book. It didn’t mean that his story wasn’t interesting. I wanted to get through Isaac’s chapters as quickly as possible so I could get back to Hannah! Once Hannah and Isaac are reunited, I found the ending to be a bit too tidy and rushed.

There are mentions of Jewish customs that I am now slightly familiar with after reading I Am Forbidden, our most recent From Left to Write book club selection. I found it very help to have a working understanding of Jewish marital relations as well as divorce.

Books like The Midwife in Venice is why I love reading historical fiction. Roberta Rich doesn’t romanticize life in 1575, but gives her readers a realistic view of life in Venice.

I received a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Faith and religion is very personal for many of us. We have a choice in what we believe and how we practice our faith. In our book club selection I Am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits, Atara and Mila are not given a choice. Their Satmar Hasidic faith is closely intertwined with their community and family. It is a way of life for these two women. Raised as sisters, the two choose divergent paths.

Today From Left to Right members discuss I Am Forbidden with their posts inspired by the novel:

• PammyPam at An Unconventional Librarian talks Judaism on her video post
• Rebecca from Life Of An Army Wife identifies with Mila’s infertility journey
• Taylor of The Quiet Moments, Page 2 grew up wandering her library shelves
• Neena at hooey!critic honors being able to choose her path
• Catherine from everyday epiphanies discusses perspectives and paradox
• Nicki of Suddenly *Not So* Single Journey wonders about her history before her adoption
• Charlotte at I (Don’t) Know Mommy doesn’t claim any religion
• Janin Wise from Wise Ramblings wonders why faith needs a religion
• Kim Werker wants to share her Jewish culture with her son
• Alison Abbott of Green With Renvy calls for tolerance
• Brenda Bartella Peterson at Grit and Grace argues for fellow female clergy’s rights
• Tracy from Tracy’s Nook has forbidden herself from talking about her ex
• Julie of A Good Joe finds comfort in her church
• Melissa at Life with Sophia wrestled with her spiritual void
• Lisa Hanneman from Hannemaniacs is not religious, but is still faithful
• Robin (noteverstill) of The Not-Ever-Still Life carries on her grandmother’s legacy
• Jennie B at Anybody Want A Peanut? has mommy guilt and Jewish guilt
• Rachel from A Little Each Day is careful of what she says around her two-year-old
• Melanie of tales from the crib does not fear doubt
• Darryle Pollack at I never signed up for this. . . was shut out for marrying a non-Jew
• Michelle from Honest & Truly! grew up in a Catholic world
• Amy of Oh What a Life reluctantly moved home
• Thien-Kim at I’m Not the Nanny fought to choose her path
• Laura from Look What Mom Made thinks like a reader

I Am Forbidden (Hogart Press) is now available. Before you crack open the novel, check out a brief primer on Judaism and Satmar Hasidism written by book club member Robin of The Not Ever-Still Life.

Interested in reading I Am Forbidden? Our readers found it to be mesmerizing and provocative, but also steeped in a religious tradition that’s unfamiliar to many. Here are a few concepts to get you started:

• The urgency of childbearing: traditional Judaism teaches that Jews are God’s chosen people. The first commandment in the Bible comes from Genesis, in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve are told to “be fruitful and multiply.” There is an ancient and strong-rooted tradition that Judaism-as-lineage is extremely important and to be perpetrated. A Jew should marry another Jew, have many children, and teach them each to marry another Jew and have lots of kids. Until a generation or two ago (and this is still true in some facets of Judaism today), if a Jew married “out,” i.e. to a non-Jew (Gentile) or a secular Jew, parents and family would act as if the person was dead, including by completing rituals of mourning.
• Within the sanctity of marriage: because marriage is sacred, an extra-maritally conceived child such as Mila’s bears the burden of being a mamzer. The word mamzer comes from the Hebrew phrase mum zar, meaning ‘strange defect.’ The child is considered spiritually wounded because of the actions of his parents. And the defect is eternal: a mamzer can only marry another mamzer or a convert. Any child of a mamzer will also be a mamzer, carrying the stigma forward generationally.
• Which is protected by mindful contact: I Am Forbidden spends a lot of pages discussing when a husband can or cannot touch his wife and when she should invite him to resume contact. The laws of niddah (explained clearly and thoroughly here) address a woman’s purity, and therefore her husband’s, as well.
• And by modesty: The laws of tzniut, which as a word translates to something between ‘modesty’ and ‘privacy,’ emphasize that a woman’s focus is inward, on her spirituality, and shouldn’t be on her physical form. There are a lot of important pairs in Judaism: heaven and Earth; Adam and Eve, man and woman; his external foci (learning, business, community) and her internal ones (compassion, nurturing, family). Under tzniut, a woman’s inward focus begins with herself and her own spiritual growth. The female characters in I Am Forbidden fastidiously dress modestly, covering their limbs and collar bones, and, once married, their hair, as well. (Learn more about marriage and hair covering here.)
• Satmar Hasidism is one of the most theologically conservative sects of all of Judaism. Its members practice these rituals emphatically. They are an insular community who speak to each other casually in Yiddish, pray in Hebrew and only use English for dealings with the “outside” community. As a belief system, they adhere closely to these and all Jewish laws; oppose the existence of political state of Israel; and await the arrival of the Messiah, who will herald an era of redemption and of the creation of a modern Israel by God and not governments.

Robin, a middle-of-the-road Jew who has never covered her hair, feels entirely unqualified to write this summary but hope it helps you understand this compelling book. You can usually find her writing much more lightheartedly at her personal blog, The Not-Ever-Still Life; or on Facebook or Twitter.

One of the reason I enjoy reading is that books allow me to time travel, all from the comfort of my couch. Laura Moriarty’s latest novel The Chaperone is a historical fiction about Louise Brooks. Before reading The Chaperone, I knew nothing about the 1920s dancer and silent movie star Louise Brooks. Apparently she made the classic 1920s bob haircut famous.

The Chaperone tells the story from the point of Cora, an older married woman. Cora takes challenging job of chaperoning a fifteen year old Louise Brooks to New York to study with  the Denishawn modern dance company, a forerunner to the modern dance movement. Louise’s rebellious nature might not seem so bad to us in present day, but Cora and Louise were living during the Prohibition era. Showing your calves gave your neighbors plenty of gossip fodder. Louise’s bold, flirty manner was considered improper by many.

Cora has ulterior motives for taking on chaperoning duties. She has come to New York City to search for her past. Soon, Louise is accepted into the Denishawn company and goes on tour and Cora returns to quiet Witcha, Kansas. Cora’s experiences in New York has changed her in more ways than she expected. Throughout the years, Cora follows Louise’s career from Witchita.

Moriarty does a great job showing the contrasting views of a nation on the cusp of change. Wichita residents are being wooed by Klu Klux Klan members at assemblies while Louise tricks Cora into seeing a performance of Shuffle Along, the first musical to be written, produced, directed and performed solely by black people. Prohibition versus moonshine. Older women attempting to scare drugstores from selling prophylactics to the general public, i.e. young impressionable teenagers.

Instead of taking the easy way out and telling the story from Louise Brooks’ point of view, Moriarty shows Louise’s life through Cora’s eyes. Seeing Louise through Cora’s compassion makes the actress more likable. Louise becomes a flawed but real person and not a famous, bratty actress dealing with her fifteen minutes of fame.

For me, The Chaperone had a slow start until I learned Cora’s true reason for going to New York.  After that, I didn’t want to put the book down.

The Chaperone is available for pre-order and will be released on June 5. Learn more about Laura Moriarty and visit her Facebook page.

This review is part of the TLC Book Tours. Thanks for sending me a copy of the book!  Affiliate links are included in this post.

Honeycomb Kids by Anna M. Campbell

Just in time for Earth Day, I received a copy of Honeycomb Kids: Big Picture Parenting for a Changing World and to Change the World! by Anna M. Campbell to review.  I was really excited about this book; I love ideas about raising conscious and aware children that can become productive members of society.  Normally, I find parenting books in and of themselves to be off putting (I’ve checked out more than a few that seem condescending, and mundane).  Happily, I immediately clicked with this author’s relaxed writing style and obvious devotion to her children and family.

Here’s the official synopsis of the book:

Honeycomb Kids is a parenting book for the 21st Century. Including more than 300 practical ideas and activities, it comes with two priceless benefits: not only does it help you prepare your children for an uncertain tomorrow, it also helps you shift to a better family life for today. Reading this book will empower your family to make the most of a world increasingly defined by over-population, rising prices, poor health, fast depleting natural resources and an unstable political, social, environmental and financial landscape. Feeling daunted by these realities? Don’t be! This book shows you how to nurture the timeless values and resilience your children will need to become contributors, not just consumers.

Intriguing, right?  I know!!  Demonstrating her dedication to her family, Campbell and her husband abandoned the fast paced city lifestyle and moved to a farm in the country (oh how I’d love to do that….I live in a rural area, but not a great community! I wish we could move to a farm!).  The book opens with a comprehensive overview of challenges facing our children and world today; she goes on to share what they might have to look forward to if changes don’t happen.  I really liked that with each specific challenge presented, facts and studies were included to back the information up.  It is helpful to have the resource material to learn more about the topics, to both educate ourselves and our kids.

An interesting concept Campbell presented was the concept of the hive.  As noted at the beginning of Part Two:

“A successful beehive is a place of cooperation, industriousness, shared decision-making, planning, determination to survive together, reverence for nature, yummy stuff, and a little bit of magic!  Kind of like the ideal human family!”

Exactly!  I loved it when I read it – I smiled out loud.  Another thing that resonated with me was her discussion of the problem with “helicopter parenting”, and not allowing our children the space (or providing them with the tools) to deal with and overcome adversity.  It is possible to be too encouraging (kids need realism too – maybe they really CAN’T sing, or they DID play poorly in a soccer game).  There’s nothing wrong with giving kids some responsibility to young kids – my six year old can absolutely handle making her pb&j for her lunch at school each day; doing so provides her with a sense of pride and accomplishment (and she knows how to forage in the pantry!).  It does children a disservice when parents try to be superheroes, and handle every minute detail of their little lives.  Just like kids need to get dirty, and play outside, they need to be taught how to handle real-life issues, stresses, and problems.  (No, I’m not saying you should boot them out in the street.  But isn’t it better for you to be the person that teaches them how to handle adversity, rather than the inevitable day come when they have to fend for themselves, and don’t know how? Like the author, I’d much prefer my children learn from me, in a setting I can have some input towards.)

At the close of each chapter, Campbell provides “Thought Launchers and Conversation Starters”.  I enjoyed these sections immensely.  I will admit, often the suggestions were not at all practical for the area I live in (no way would a “time bank” work in my community), but by and large they at least contained a nugget of something we could adapt and use for our family.  And since reading the book, I find myself stopping to think about the way I’m preparing to phrase a question, so that my daughter will benefit the most from the ensuing discussion (my two year old son only participates if we are talking about trains, or Batman!).

I certainly didn’t mean for this review to be so opinionated, or so wordy.  Thanks for sticking with me!  Here’s what you should take away from what I’m saying about this book: it’s definitely a keeper.  It’s an easy read, full of thought-provoking discussions and ideas on raising well-rounded kids.  The author is someone I wish I was friends with, and I’m so grateful she shared her life experiences in this book!

Quick Facts:
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Cape Able (April 6, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0980747503
ISBN-13: 978-0980747508
Author Bio: Anna M. Campbell

*I received a complimentary copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own; no other compensation was given.

For our May book club selection, our members are reading I Am Forbidden, a new novel by Anouk Markovits.  Raised in France in a Satmar home (a sect of Hasidism), Markovits broke from the fold when she was nineteen to avoid an arranged marriage.  I Am Forbidden shows its readers what life in a Hasidic society is life. We then find out what can happen when a young woman decides to live her life differently.

Here’s the synopsis from publisher Hogarth Press, a new imprint from Random House based on the ideals of Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf’s press of the same name:

 Sweeping from the Central European countryside just before World War II to Paris to contemporary Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I Am Forbidden brings to life four generations of one Satmar family.
Opening in 1939 Transylvania, five-year-old Josef witnesses the murder of his family by the Romanian Iron Guard and is rescued by a Gentile maid to be raised as her own son. Five years later, Josef rescues a young girl, Mila, after her parents are killed while running to meet the Rebbe they hoped would save them. Josef helps Mila reach Zalman Stern, a leader in the Satmar community, in whose home Mila is raised as a sister to Zalman’s daughter, Atara. As the two girls mature, Mila’s faith intensifies, while her beloved sister Atara discovers a world of books and learning that she cannot ignore. With the rise of communism in central Europe, the family moves to Paris, to the Marais, where Zalman tries to raise his children apart from the city in which they live.
When the two  girls come of age, Mila marries within the faith, while Atara continues to question fundamentalist doctrine. The different choices the two sisters makes force them apart until a dangerous secret threatens to banish them from the only community they’ve ever known.

Join our bloggers on May 8, when I Am Forbidden is released, as From Left to Write members discuss religion, family, marriage, or any of the themes from Markovits’ novel.

Pre-order your copy of I Am Forbidden. It will be one of the best novels you read this year.

Tip: Don’t read Sharp Objects in the dark of night when your apartment is quiet, except for the random creaks and bumps from your neighboring walls. I mean you could, but I was totally creeped out as I read Gillian Flynn’s description the murder of two preteens in a fictional Midwest town.

Let me rewind a bit.

Protagonist Camille Preaker’s first big assignment is to return to her hometown to cover the murder of two young girls for her Chicago newspaper. For someone who has avoided their hometown for eight years, Camille carries more than her fair share of baggage. The longer Camille stays in town, the more she reverts to her old self. She must rely on what she learned from her recent stay at the psych hospital in order to discover the preteens’ murder.  Besides her challenging work assignment, she must also deal with her estranged relationship with her mom and half-sister.

Besides taking a reading break because I was so creeped out by the murders, I could hardly put the novel down. Flynn fed me bits and pieces of Camille’s past, and I devoured each page, searching for more details. I can’t tell you much more without giving the away important parts of the novel.

Flynn does a fantastic job illustrating emotionally (and physically) wounded characters and weaving their worlds together in this thriller. All I could say after the last page was: WOW.  A thriller needs a good satisfying conclusion and Sharp Objects did not disappoint.

I received a copy of Sharp Objects from publisher. Thanks Crown Publishing!

Just click on the button above to vote for From Left to Write in the adult fiction category. While you’re there, vote for your favorite book bloggers in the other categories: Young Adult and Children’s Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, and Publishing Industry.Don’t forget, voting ends tonight at 11:59 PM Eastern time.

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Falling in love with a monk probably isn’t on anyone’s bucket list. That’s exactly what happened to Katherine Jenkins as she shares in her memoir Lessons from the Monk I Married.  On her journey to find herself, she takes an English teaching in South Korea. She crossed paths with Buddhist monk Seong Yoon Lee by chance more than once.

Seeking a life of purpose, Jenkins pursues a path of meditation and soul searching. She turns to the her new friend the monk for direction. Along the way, the two fall in love, but obviously their relationship is not simple. Her memoir covers the ups and downs of their relationship.

Before I picked up Lessons from the Monk I Married, I glanced at Jenkins’ blog of the same title. After reading her blog, I expected more lessons on spirituality and less romance.  Then I realized that the book was more about the back and forth battle between  her future husband’s Buddhist calling and his love for Jenkins.  So I adjusted my expectations.

When Jenkins described her first encounter with Seong Yoon Lee, I was curious as to how their romantic relationship began. I really wanted to know, how does a monk fall in love with a civilian? An American one at that? (I won’t give you any spoilers on the how.)

Once the two finally did began their secret relationship, I began to lose interest. The rest of the book reads a lot like an episode of a sitcom. They were together. Then they broke up. Together. Apart.  Their cyclic journey might have been more interesting that it was on paper, but I couldn’t tell. I found the writing a bit flat and unemotional. Reserved might be a better description.

Breaking up with one’s soul mate is not an easy thing to do, but I never really got a glimpse of Jenkins’ turmoil.  Even the author’s journey to seek inner peace through her meditation and retreats had the same reserved tone. I imagine that a 30 day, mostly silent, mediation retreat is life transforming for anyone. I never felt Jenkins’ rush as she was able to ground herself and find her inner peace during her retreat.

I had to push through to finish the last few chapters. I had already spent so much time reading it, I might as well finished it. I admit I was a bit disappointed with the book. At a glance, Katherine Jenkins’ story sounded inspiring. Here is a woman who traveled the world and learned many things about herself.  Or so I thought.

I’m actually more interested in Katherine Jenkins’ blog than her memoir. Did you read Lessons from the Monk I Married?

I received a copy of the book for review. All opinions are my own. This post includes affiliate links.