Postcards from Palm Beach

We've been here for over a week now and I have to say that it's been pretty darn good.

Who could argue with weather that allows uso to go out without socks - or even a sweater! When we're here in Palm Beach it's heavenly; a total pampered experience the entire time. There's NOTHING not to like. But, it's a little 'other worldly' in some ways. One of the things I've discovered is that "Plastic is Perfect" and that's no lie! "Plastic is Perfect" is actually the name of a book that's being launched down here where having 'things done' is the norm. At the hairdresser this week, while waiting for the colour to work on my roots, the young women across from me gave me advice about the lines in my face letting me know that I wasn't too badly off--all I needed to look 10 years younger was an injection of "??????" and that would do the trick for about 6 months! Oh, I said! Is that all????? Well, she went on to say that I could have a slight neck adjustment with a new non-surgical treatment that she could personally vouch for, that would tighen up some of the slack! Did I ask for advice???? NO, it was freely offered. She was 45--could I guess her age she asked--did she look too tight she asked ? I told her I thought she looked very good but that I was 65 (just for fun) and my husband liked me just the way I was. She went on to say that it's never too late to make the most of what you have--after all, you never know with these men! All I have to say is that some of you may not recognize me when I get home!

We don't need GPS

In past years, we shipped the convertible to Florida. This year, partly because of weather (the car was snowed-in in Otis) and partly because Richard and Barry found us great deals on car rentals, we decided to rent. Barry’s suggestion of a convertible, was outvoted by Christina exercising her 51% vote. Instead, we rented a little Mustang. In the end we both agreed that this was quite a comedown from having our own car to drive.

Barry also suggested we get the Hertz version of GPS – at $12 per day. We were outraged! $12 per day-- we’re not idiots! We can read a map! After all, this was the Florida coast--one side is water. How far wrong could we go?

Well, it didn’t take long to get lost for the first time. The five mile trip from the airport to the Breakers - WITH a map and written directions. We only had one turn to make and we missed it – twice! The signs were misleading, but still it’s a big ocean. Then, Saturday, we went to an Art Show at Delray Beach (awful). All we needed to do was follow the Ocean (A1A) to Atlantic Avenue and make a right! We were doing fine, cruising along with map in hand. “That’s right”, said Chris, “here’s Lake Worth Drive, we’re right on track, Atlantic is just a little further”. See how well we’re doing; we don’t need GPS, the map is just fine!

BIG MISTAKE!

As we were watching for the Atlantic Avenue turnoff to Delray Beach, we saw an exit we didn’t recognize - Jog Road. So we pulled over to check the map. We had somehow made a complete circle and were heading BACK TO THE BREAKERS! We’d crossed a bridge to the mainland and gone three quarters of the way back to the Hotel WITHOUT REALIZING IT!

At this point Barry’s suggestion of buying a portable GPS unit seemed like sound advice—unfortunately, too late!

Michael Pierce - Mamur Zapt & The Return of the Carpet

Comment

A delightful series! Good mysteries set in the time of the British Raj. A good read to take you away to different times.

Book description


Set in 1908 Cairo, this colorful mystery debut vividly portrays life in the polyglot, multicultural city ostensibly ruled by a nearly bankrupt Khedive but actually governed by the British. Captain Gareth Owen, the Mamur Zapt (head of the secret police), investigates the attempted murder of prominent politician and philanderer Nuri Pasha. Ostensibly the target of revenge by an enraged relative of his newest conquest, the attack on Pasha takes on different dimensions when the weapon turns out to have been stolen from the British Army. A case of grenades also is missing, leading Owen to fear that a terrorist organization is planning something special for a forthcoming religious ceremony marking the return of the Holy Carpet from Mecca. As Owen begins a complex friendship with the Egyptian civilian investigator, Mahmoud el Zaki, the two explore the higher and lower reaches of the city, eventually uncovering a plot to assassinate a top British official. His work highly praised in England, Pearce depicts the intricate politics and social mores among the various Egyptian societies and factions to provide authentic background for an outstandingly well-wrought and satisfying mystery

Barbara Cleverly - Tug of War

Book description:

Set in 1926 France, Cleverly's impressive sixth Joe Sandilands novel (after 2005's The Bee's Kiss) finds the Scotland Yard detective, still scarred by WWI, taking a relaxing jaunt around Provence until Sir Douglas Redmayne of the British War Office gives him a sensitive assignment: to ascertain the identity of an amnesiac war veteran who's surfaced in a French hospital speaking English. As the French government would provide a lucrative pension to the soldier's family, there's no shortage of people who claim him as their relation. Accompanied by his precocious ward and honorary niece, Dorcas Joliffe, Sandilands probes the four most likely candidates, each of whom has ample motive to lie. Before long, an old murder is uncovered, further complicating the quest to identify the soldier. Cleverly maintains the high standards set by earlier Sandilands tales, blending a sophisticated whodunit with full-blooded characters and a revealing look at her chosen time and place.

Jeffrey Toobin - The Nine - a review

I don't usually write about, or recommend books. Even though I "read" or at least begin, three or four books a week, The sad truth is my ability to "buy" books far exceeds my ability to "read" them. I rarely give any book enough time and thought to feel that I can fairly comment about it.

At least one third of the books are what I call "bubble gum" - thrillers or mysteries that are absorbing, but slide down smoothly without making much of an impression. About a third are "literature" that sounded interesting after reading a review in the Times or Bookmarks magazine. The last third are non-fiction books across a wide range of subjects ranging from Greek and Roman times to the Reformation and on to current times. It is this last category that has the highest drop-out rate. Frequently, I just love the introduction but then get bogged down in the meat of the book. Some day, the list of non-fiction books I have started will serve as a great resource to a psychiatrist. Some recent examples taken from books piled around my desk

Marco Polo - from Venice to Xanadu - Laurence Bergreen

Godel, Escher, Bach - an Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas Hofstadter

The Shia Revival - how conflicts within Islam will shape the future - Vali Masr

America at the Crossroads - Democratic power and the neoconservative legacy - Francis Fukuyama

Fair Game - my life as a spy - Valerie Plame Wilson

Curveball - spies, lies, and the con man who caused a war - Bob Drogin

This is Your Brain on Music - the science of a human obsession - Daniel Levitin

As you can see, I am somewhat unfocused in my selections. Every one of these books was something I just HAD to read. What I have learned is that the people who write introductions and the people who write reviews, are more interesting than the people who feel compelled to write 600 pages on some obscure but fascinating, to them (and me, I guess) topic!

On the other hand, I have come across some fascinating and enlightening books that delight me. One of these is "The Nine" by Jeffrey Toobin about the Supreme Court. I read a lot about the Supreme Court (most recently Supreme Conflict by Jan Crawford Greenburg). Most of these books are interesting; if you are moderately informed about the topic, but pretty dry for more casual readers. The Nine is the exception. It tells the "inside" story of the Court, focusing on the interactions between the members and the current political environment. He doesn't pull any punches in describing the Justices. I don't usually like books that seem to be pushing a point of view but this the exception. It reads like a "page turner". You can't wait to find out what's going to happen next.

The Nine

Jeffrey Toobin

James Rollins - Excavation

Book description:

High in the Andes, Dr. Henry Conklin discovers a 500-year-old mummy that should not be there. While deep in the South American jungle, Conklin's nephew, Sam, stumbles upon a remarkable site nestled between two towering peaks, a place hidden from human eyes for thousands of years.

Ingenious traps have been laid to ensnare the careless and unsuspecting, and wealth beyond imagining could be the reward for those with the courage to face the terrible unknown. But where the perilous journey inward ends—in the cold, shrouded heart of a breathtaking necropolis—something else is waiting for Sam Conklin and his exploratory party. A thing created by Man, yet not humanly possible. Something wondrous . . . something terrifying.

Ridley Pearson - Killer Weekend

Book description:

Bestseller Pearson's workmanlike thriller, the first in a new series, has all the right ingredients: a down-to-earth hero, sheriff Walt Fleming; a neatly focused venue in the form of a weekend business conference at an Idaho resort; and a sense of impending danger in the form of a threat on the life of Elizabeth Shaler, the New York State attorney general, who's about to announce her candidacy for U.S. president. Shaler knows what it's like to be a victim. Eight years before the killer weekend of the title, she was attacked in her Sun Valley, Idaho, vacation home and saved by Fleming, then a patrolman. Fleming takes the present threat very seriously, but Shaler's handlers and the event's organizer, billionaire Patrick Cutter, won't cancel her speech. Fleming doggedly struggles to identify the assassin, who cleverly (if incredibly) overcomes massive security to infiltrate the event, but the motive for the threat is never satisfactorily explained. Pearson (Parallel Lies) tries hard to give his characters depth using an inventive array of backstories, but only the capable Fleming really comes across

Tony Hillerman - The Shape Shifter

Book description

A picture cut from a glossy magazine, Luxury Living, draws retired Navajo tribal policeman Lt. Joe Leaphorn into a hunt for a soulless killer in bestseller Hillerman's enthralling 18th Leaphorn/Chee whodunit (after 2004's Skeleton Man). The picture's sender, Mel Bork, another cop retiree, wonders if the distinctive Navajo rug shown in the picture is the same one Leaphorn described to him long ago, a rug supposedly destroyed in a fire the two officers investigated that took the life of a person identified as among the FBI's most wanted. Bork's subsequent disappearance and murder herald the dangers awaiting Leaphorn from a most formidable enemy. As Leaphorn searches for evidence to confirm his suspicions, he enlists the aid of Sgt. Jim Chee and his bride, Bernadette Manuelito, just back from their honeymoon. Only Hillerman could so masterfully connect such disparate elements as an ancient cursed weaving, two stolen buckets of piñon sap and the Vietnam War. The conclusion is sure to startle longtime fans of this acclaimed mystery series.

Lawrence Block - When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes

James Lee Burke - The Tin Roof Blowdown

Book description:

In Burke's meticulously textured 16th Dave Robicheaux novel (after 2006's Pegasus Descending), Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath provide the backdrop for an account of sin and redemption in New Orleans. When Detective Robicheaux's department is assigned to investigate the shooting of two looters in a wealthy neighborhood, he learns that they had ransacked the home of New Orleans's most powerful mobster. Now he must locate the surviving looter before others do, and in the process he learns the fate of a priest who disappeared in the ill-fated Ninth Ward trying to rescue his trapped parishioners. Burke creates dense, rich prose that draws the reader into a web of greed and violence. Each of his characters feels the hands of both grace and of perdition, and the final outcome of their struggle is never quite certain. Burke showcases all that was both right and wrong in our response to this national disaster, proving along the way that nobody captures the spirit of Gulf Coast Louisiana better.

Laura Lippman - In a Strange City

Book description:

Edgar, Shamus, Anthony and Agatha award winner Lippman (Charm City; Butchers Hill; The Sugar House) pays homage to the inventor of the mystery form in this masterly contemporary mystery, set in Baltimore and replete with her trademark dry, sardonic wit. Every January 19th, in honor of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a loyal clique waits in the small hours for the "Visitor," also known as the "Poe Toaster," to approach Poe's tomb. He wears a formal cape and carries three blood-red roses and a bottle of cognac as tribute. For some reason the press keep their distance, as do bystanders. This year, for the first time, PI Tess Monaghan is present, too, along with her boyfriend, Crow. Having been roped into attendance by a would-be client, Tess awaits the coming of the Visitor in the freezing winter night. Suddenly, two caped men with roses and cognac show up. A shot rings out one man lies dead, the other runs off. A deliciously complex story follows that brings Baltimore center stage and delves anew into the mysteries surrounding Poe himself. Tess finds her own life in danger, and becomes a primary player in a story she'd intended to view only from the periphery. The author offers a host of Poe-esque thrills, from multiple murders to a woman buried alive. In the denouement, the clock ticks rapidly while Tess matches wits with the killer in order to rescue the victim from her tomb before her air runs out. Lippman shows in this, her sixth novel, that she's indeed deserving of all the kudos she's received. (Sept. 11)Forecast: With national print advertising, a 15-city NPR campaign and a six-city author tour, this novel will be well positioned to climb the genre bestseller charts

Ian Rankin - Bleeding Hearts

Not really worth it. A dissappointing effort from a first rank author.


Book Description


First published in the U.K. in 1994 under the pseudonym Jack Harvey, this routine thriller from Edgar-winner Rankin tells the story of Michael Weston, a fastidious British assassin whose life gets complicated when Hoffer, an American PI, starts to close in on him. The novel opens with Weston's carefully choreographed hit on London TV journalist Eleanor Ricks, but Hoffer is chasing Weston for another assassination, in which the antihero mistakenly shot a young girl. The plot takes a convoluted journey to the United States, to a weapons dealer in Texas and on to a quasireligious cult near Seattle. The nonstop action, copious violence and arcane details about weaponry and forensics will please thriller junkies, but fans of Rankin's masterful John Rebus series (Fleshmarket Alley, etc.) may not find this pre-Rebus book to their taste

Laura Lippman - Baltimore Blues

Book Description

Downsized ex-reporter Tess Monaghan spends her days working part-time at the bookstore owned by sexy Aunt Kitty and trying not to fall into the disgustingly polluted Patapsco from her city-owned boat. When rowing buddy Rocky pays her what looks like a fortune to follow his fiance, the trail leads to murder with Rocky the prime suspect. "Uneven" is the word for this first novel-hometown and newspaper backgrounds are alive from page one, but characters are cartoons until chapter 15 (out of 30) when Tess investigates the victim. Suddenly the story perks up to a believable pageturner. If Lippman continues the promise of the second half of Baltimore Blues while adhering to advice attributed to Elmore Leonard to cut out the parts people won't read, mystery fans can anticipate an engrossing series.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc

Lee Child - Echo Burning

Laurence Bergreem - Marco Plo

Book Description:

As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from the acclaimed author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe (“Superb . . . A first-rate historical page turner”—The New York Times)—comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history. In this masterly work, Marco Polo’s incredible odyssey—along the Silk Road and through all the fantastic circumstances of his life—is chronicled in sumptuous and illuminating detail.

We meet him as a callow young man, the scion of a wealthy Venetian merchant family, only seventeen when he sets out in 1271 with his father and uncle on their journey to Asia. We see him gain the confidence of Kublai Khan, the world’s most feared and powerful leader, and watch him become a trusted diplomat and intelligence agent in the ruler’s inner circle. We are privy to his far-flung adventures on behalf of the Khan, living among the Mongols and other tribes, and traveling to magical cities, some far advanced over the West. We learn the customs of the Khan’s court, both erotic and mercantile, and Polo’s uncanny ability to adapt to them. We follow him on his journey back to Venice, laden with riches, the latest inventions, and twenty-four years’ worth of extraordinary tales.

And we see his collaboration with the famed writer Rustichello of Pisa, who immediately saw in Polo the story of a lifetime; enlivened by his genius for observation, Polo’s tales needed little embellishment. Recorded by Rustichello as the two languished as prisoners of war in a Genoese jail, the Travels would explode the notion of non-Europeans as untutored savages and stand as the definitive description of China until the nineteenth century.

Drawing on original sources in more than half a dozen languages, and on his own travels along Polo’s route in China and Mongolia, Bergreen explores the lingering controversies surrounding Polo’s legend, settling age-old questions and testing others for significance. Synthesizing history, biography, and travelogue, this is the timely chronicle of a man who extended the boundaries of human knowledge and imagination. Destined to be the definitive account of its subject for decades to come, Marco Polo takes us on a journey to the limits of history—and beyond.

Sue Grafton - T is for Trespass

Book Description:
The 20th Kinsey Millhone crime novel (after 2005's S Is for Silence), a gripping, if depressing, tale of identify theft and elder abuse, displays bestseller Grafton's storytelling gifts. By default, Millhone, a private investigator in the small Southern California town of Santa Teresa, assumes responsibility for the well-being of an old neighbor, Gus Vronsky, injured in a fall. After Vronsky's great-niece arranges to hire a home aide, Solana Rojas, Millhone begins to suspect that Rojas is not all that she seems. Since the reader knows from the start that an unscrupulous master manipulator has stolen the Rojas persona, the plot focuses not on whodunit but on the battle of wits Millhone wages with an unconventional and formidable adversary. Grafton's mastery of dialogue and her portrayal of the limits of good intentions make this one of the series' high points, even if two violent scenes near the end tidy up the pieces a little too neatly.

Robert LIttell - Vicious Circle

Book Description:
Veteran espionage writer Littell, whose 1973 debut, The Defection of A.J. Lewinter, prompted critics to compare him to such British masters as Eric Ambler and John le Carré, stumbles a bit with his take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, set in a near, post–George W. Bush future. An unnamed woman, who will remind many of Hillary Clinton, is president of the U.S., while, less plausibly, the Palestinian Authority is led by Arafat's successor, who's also nameless. Given Hamas's electoral victory in early 2006, the plot, which centers on yet another U.S.-brokered effort to create a lasting Middle East peace, has already been overtaken by events. The relationship between a terrorist leader and his hostage, a right-wing rabbi and agitator, may intrigue those who can overlook the dated scenario.

Jeffrey Toobin - The Nine

Book Description:
It's not laws or constitutional theory that rule the High Court, argues this absorbing group profile, but quirky men and women guided by political intuition. New Yorker legal writer Toobin (The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson) surveys the Court from the Reagan administration onward, as the justices wrestled with abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, gay rights and church-state separation. Despite a Court dominated by Republican appointees, Toobin paints not a conservative revolution but a period of intractable moderation. The real power, he argues, belonged to supreme swing-voter Sandra Day O'Connor, who decided important cases with what Toobin sees as an almost primal attunement to a middle-of-the-road public consensus. By contrast, he contends, conservative justices Rehnquist and Scalia ended up bitter old men, their rigorous constitutional doctrines made irrelevant by the moderates' compromises. The author deftly distills the issues and enlivens his narrative of the Court's internal wranglings with sharp thumbnail sketches (Anthony Kennedy the vain bloviator, David Souter the Thoreauvian ascetic) and editorials (inept and unsavory is his verdict on the Court's intervention in the 2000 election). His savvy account puts the supposedly cloistered Court right in the thick of American life.

A great night at Bouley

We went to Bouley last night to commemorate Chris birthday. Unlike me, she is still having them. I decided, at age 50, that I had had enough birthdays. Fortunately, Scott's plane back to SF was cancelled so he and Jory were able to join us. We really look forward to having them around because they get as excited and enjoy 'good eats' as much as we do. Not having had any children, I'm really enjoying the Step-Father experience! Scott is at an exciting age where the opportunities and risks are at a peak. It really brings back memories of those years. Fortunately, in many cases, Scott seems to be making better decisions than I did.

Bouley has always been one of my favorite restaurants - food, service and ambiance are all extraordinary. For example, I was struggling with the choice for appetizer between the "Seared whole Foie Gras" and the "Panache of Three Salads" which included Scallops and Shrimp with a Foie Gras Pate. I much prefer the whole Foie Gras and had this discussion with our server. When I chose the Panache because it seemed more interesting than the "simple" seared Foie Gras, the dish came with the Foie Gras I preferred. I called the waiter over to point it out, thinking he had made a mistake - but rather he had seen my hesitation and switched it in the kitchen. I was delighted.

Chris started with the small Kumamoto Oysters that she loves and was not disappointed.

Jory had the "Return from Chiang Mai" which included Lobster and Serrano Ham with Mango.

For the main course, my "Baby Pork Loin was so tasty, I was reluctant to share. Chris's "Squab stuffed with Foie Gras wrapped in savoy cabbage a top some artichoke puree was truly unusual. With all that Foie Gras we were equally 'artery' challenged.

Scott and Jory shared the "Breast of LI Duckling with turnips, porcini mushrooms and Lima beans" and the "Rack of Lamb with ricotta gnocchi". This all worked well with a very nice 2004 Cote Roti.

Normally, we (Chris and I) avoid desserts. But this was a special occasion and Scott and Jory's combined sweet tooth, especially when it comes to chocolate, influences us both. It's a good thing we didn't all order dessert because our server also brought a sampler of every dessert we hadn't ordered plus the typical Petit-Fours with coffee. It was dizzying--but when all was said and done, the plates were clean.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening and I thought the prices were reasonable for what we got. My only complaint was the $20 cab ride from our apartment. We discovered that parking is generally available in the neighborhood so my advice would be to drive!

120 W. Broadway (at Duane St.)

212-964-2525