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Anne McLeod

I'm the librarian at Moon Lake Community Library in Mentone, Alabama. I read a wide variety of books and write about them here. Reviews are also posted to https://www.goodreads.com/cannemcleod.

Follow BRB - I'm Reading to find out about the library's latest books, as well as some that are not yet published but will eventually land on our shelves.

The cover photo above was taken by Kelly Smith Leavitt when we visited the amazing Richland Library in Columbia, SC, as part of a Creative Placemaking Summit in 2019. It was an honor to meet the Wild Things. 
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No Recipe? No Problem!: Pull Together Tasty Meals Every Time with Confidence by Phyllis Good

3/31/2022

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​I have reviewed a number of digital books, courtesy of NetGalley, a site that sends ebooks to librarians in the lead-up to their publication. The idea is to encourages book reviews and hopefully purchases for our libraries.  This is the first NetGalley book that I ordered a personal copy of before I even finished  reading the galley. No Recipe, No Problem by Phyllis Good does an excellent job of capturing the methods of improvisational cooks like me. (The joke in my house was always, "Any resemblance to the original recipe is purely coincidental.") My choice to buy the book was based on a need to see the photos in color! The Kindle version just wasn't doing it for me.

Phyllis Good was the creator of the "popular Fix-It and Forget-It" cookbook series. She also pulls in a circle of other accomplished improvisational cooks to share their expertise. The book contains a handful of recipes as jumping off points, with plenty of tips on how to use the dressing or sauce in a variety of combinations or how to take it off in a completely different direction by substituting different ingredients. For the most part, however, Good explains how to make soups, salads, egg dishes, sheet pan dinners, roasts, and other main dishes, using what is on hand.

There are enough pro tips thrown in that even an experienced cook will find gems about how to give soups and sauces a bright finish or how to use unexpected flavor combinations.  But another audience for this creative cookbook would young people who are just starting out cooking and who may have followed recipes slavishly with good results and who want to take a more off-the-cuff approach. It would be a good fit too for people focusing on local foods or who have their own garden. The author expects cooks to have a decently stocked pantry, but she also discusses how to use an abundance of specific veggies and how vegetables harvested at the same time of year tend to make for solid flavor combinations. 

The library has purchased a copy and it is available for checkout. Checking out cookbooks can be a way to try one out to see if you too need your own copy, or if it might make a good gift for a wedding shower or graduation. 

No Recipe, No Problem by Phyllis Good was published April 21, 2021 by Story Publishing, LLC. 


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The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher

3/29/2022

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The Kennedy Debutante grew on me as I got deeper into this historical novel about Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy. When her father Joseph Kennedy, Sr., was ambassador to England in the run-up to WWII, Kathleen was a hit on the London social scene and was named Debutante of the Year in London.

Fresh, stylish, and witty, she wasn't afraid to spread her wings a little bit, but, like all her family, was ever mindful of her Irish Catholic roots. In those days and in the crowd Kathleen ran with, this meant always being a little self-conscious about being different from most of the British aristocrats she socialized with. She often dated friends of her brothers, Joe, Jr., and Jack.

When she met William Cavendish, the Marquess of Hartington, the attraction was almost immediate. Kick and "Billy" downplayed their romance though, concerned about religious differences. Those differences and the impending war meant nothing would be simple or easy. Their off-again, on-again romance survived ultimately, although it ended tragically, with Billy's death close to the end of the war.

For me, the book picked up as the war began, forcing Kathleen back to the US and introducing more uncertainty into her relationship with Billy. She didn't just love him, she loved London as well, and her separation from her beloved city was agonizing. Never content to be just a socialite, she channeled her energy into work, always hoping to get back to England and to assist as best she could with the war effort.

Author Kerri Maher did a monumental amount of research into Kathleen Kennedy's life. Kathleen is one of the more obscure Kennedys, if there can even be such a thing, largely because her life was so short. She died in a plane crash before the age of thirty. Maher studied as much as she could about this younger sister of JFK, letting Kathleen's light shine as she aspires for a life of love, faith, and purpose.
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The author's dedication to her subject comes through and will inspire readers to Google more about these star-crossed lovers and also about Kathleen's older sister Rosemary, whose own story was even more tragic than Kick's. There is a biography of Rosemary in the Moon Lake collection. 

I started reading the book knowing little about Kathleen Kennedy beyond the fact that she'd died in a plane crash years before her brother's run for the presidency in 1960. While this was a novel, and a first novel at that, I came away from it with an appreciation for a young woman whose dedication to faith and family were often at odds, but who ultimately found her own way to be herself in an imperfect and impermanent world.

The Kennedy Debutante was published October 2, 2018 by Berkley Books and is available for checkout from Moon Lake Library. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

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The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice by Benjamin Gilmer

3/28/2022

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Dr. Benjamin Gilmer began his medical practice in a rural  clinic in the mountains, just outside Asheville, North Carolina. Coincidentally, the clinic's previous doctor was also Dr. Gilmer, first name Vince and no relation to Benjamin. Vince was in prison, sentenced to life for the brutal murder of his father.  

Although he'd initially been unconcerned about sharing a name with the man he'd replaced, Benjamin's feelings shifted over time. The more he heard about Dr. Vince, the more mystified he became. Why did the easy-going country doctor kill his father and then show up at the clinic for the next few days, seeing patients as usual? And his patients had been devoted to him. By all accounts, he was a kind and giving person, a little quirky at times, but never cruel. 

What was the truth then? Had Vince been hiding violent tendencies for years? Was he a psychopath? A sociopath? How might such a disturbed individual feel about the new Dr. Gilmer? Benjamin found himself jumping at shadows, irrationally fearful that Vince might somehow return to seek revenge on the man who'd taken over his practice. At that point Benjamin decided the best way to settle his nerves was to visit Vince in prison. 

That first tentative visit was the beginning of an unusual friendship between the two Dr. Gilmers. Benjamin came away from it little more insight into the murder. What he did recognize was that the man in the prison jumpsuit was seriously ill, shuffling his feet, struggling to speak. He appeared decades older even though the two Dr. Gilmers were just a few years apart in age. His brain, Vince said, wasn't working, probably due to coming off SSRI antidepressants. But that had been years earlier. Benjamin thought it unlikely that Vince's current symptoms could be explained solely by that. So began his journey to find out what had caused the other Dr. Gilmer's symptoms and to seek help for him. 

This story had been featured several years ago on the podcast "This American Life," and I happened to have caught the remarkable episode, though I'd forgotten some of the details. If you want some spoilers, you can listen to journalist Sarah Koenig's hour-long collaboration with Dr. Benjamin. Even if you do, be sure to read the book for the latest updates on the story of the two doctors. Benjamin Gilmer is an excellent writer, but also uniquely suited to take on this cause. Raised by parents and step-parents in the helping professions, he was unable to turn away from a prisoner who needed medical attention and someone who simply cared. 

The Other Dr. Gilmer is a true crime/medical mystery but also a critical look at the failures of prison and healthcare systems in the US. The struggle to get a definitive diagnosis of Vince's condition and then to get him even minimal treatment raises questions about states' responsibilities to incarcerated people. 

The Other Dr. Gilmer was published March 1, 2022 by Ballantine Books, and is available for check out at Moon Lake Community Library. 



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