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For her fascinating debut, Canadian journalist Urquhart spent three years documenting the lives of teenage runaways who traverse America as part of a freewheeling counterculture. Urquhart’s warts-and-all book vividly captures a subculture that rejects the materialist trappings of capitalist society in favor of a rootless communalism characterized by poverty and a devotion to spirituality and self-sovereignty. Urquhart began her cross-country trek at the 2009 Gathering of the Rainbow Family in New Mexico. Tens of thousands of rootless “Rainbows” have amassed at these events every July 4 since 1972 to live communally in forests and pray for world peace. Broken homes force some of the “dirty kids” into nomadism. Others, such as the punks Urquhart meets in Michigan, choose nomadism out of an anarchist, anticapitalist ethos. The nomads’ existence is no utopia. Urquhart hears women’s accounts of being sexually abused by men at Rainbow gatherings or by transients on the road. Others battle drug addiction and other mental illnesses. The rovers nonetheless seek an alternative society united by “the pursuit of sovereignty outside of established channels.” Urquhart and photographer Cahana take readers on a revealing journey outside the bounds of mainstream America. Photos. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

Veteran chef and restaurateur Butters debuts with a gorgeous cookbook so full of sumptuous photos that readers may be tempted to keep it on their coffee tables. But he writes, “I want you to get this book dirty.” The book celebrates the region where Butters lives and works: British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, known for its salmon, wine, and abundant fruits and vegetables. The recipes range from simple ones for novice cooks—homemade granola, a sockeye salmon BLT with made-from-scratch mayo—to complex ones that will challenge advanced home chefs, including venison carpaccio and bamboo-steamed fish in curry. They all represent Butters’s farm-to-fork philosophy and deep appreciation of flavorful combinations. Each recipe begins with an informative paragraph on how and why it came about, what it’s good for, and why it includes some ingredients. For example, Butters writes that “the oddest ingredient in [a turkey and nut burger] has to be the peanut butter. Trust me on this one: it works.” These conversational notes bring Butters’s personality into his readers’ kitchens. The recipes also contain suggestions for pairing dishes with beer or wine. This is a fun book that will encourage home cooks to try something new. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

In this complex scholarly study, Blake and Holman (Canada’s Game: Hockey and Identity) ask readers to look beyond the popular view that the Montreal Canadiens define hockey in Quebec. Although this work can be challenging, it provides an insightful view of Quebecois nationalism and the complicated relationship between Quebec and the rest of Canada as reflected on the ice. “We both speak of it as our national game, and yet our notions of nation contrast markedly,” they write in the introduction to 10 essays that take readers from early organized hockey in Quebec through to representations of the sport in literature, theater, and the long-running TV show Lance et compte. It is evident that for every Maurice “The Rocket” Richard, who is “a rare Canada-wide reference point,” there’s a whole Quebecois subtext that fans elsewhere might miss: in Quebec, statistics such as the ratio of anglophones to francophones on the Canadiens or the Quebec Nordiques (when the team existed) were carefully tracked, and in the early 1980s, the French-language newspapers started calling the anglo-heavy Canadiens “Les Maroons,” in reference to “the Canadiens’ erstwhile anglophone rivals from 1924 to 1938.” But despite such insights into the political climate, the book is too narrowly focused to appeal to many readers beyond serious, erudite hockey fans. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

With his three sons drafted into the NHL (superstar defenseman P.K., goalie Malcolm, and up-and-comer Jordan), Subban, a school principal who was a university-level basketball player, candidly shares how it all happened, stressing there is “no such thing as a hockey gene.” His own story of emigrating from Jamaica to Sudbury, Ont.; falling in love with basketball and hockey; and then meeting his wife, Maria—the other coach of “Team Subban”—is eminently readable. As two daughters and three sons arrive, he bounces between stories on hockey, parenting, school, and life with ease. The Subbans believe in “lifeguard parenting,” encouraging kids to think for themselves. They gave their children room to grow and find what they excelled at, and didn’t push them as stereotypical hockey parents do. Subban is a teacher and administrator, and toward the end, the book reads like a product to be sold at motivational speaking engagements, with catchphrases and acronyms such as “the four Ts—time, task, training, and team.” Nevertheless, hockey fans will find plenty of insight into how the Subbans have risen through “the hockey pyramid,” from minor hockey maneuvering to the Ontario Hockey League and the NHL, and the rest of Subban’s story and advice is well worth reading. Agent: Carolyn Forde, Westwood Creative Artists. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

This fun and instructive guide from Kawasumi, one of Japan’s most highly acclaimed sushi chefs and a principal lecturer at the Japanese Sushi Institute, teaches home cooks to create exquisite maki and sushi that are almost too striking to eat. This is a complete guide, beginning with the basic tools needed, best practices, and professional tips for handling, rolling, and cutting. His expert tutelage starts with simple rolls and shapes including squares, triangles, and raindrops. Shaped rolls are combined to form flower rolls; patterns made with various colored and shaped ingredients eventually become more detailed and awe-inspiring. Rolls shaped like smiley faces and clowns are whimsical and accessible; samurai, penguins, and reindeer require more precision and patience. Kawasumi provides a step-by-step cutting guide, complete with photos, to show differentiations between preparing tuna, whitefish, and squid, and to explain rice-shaping basics and decorative knife work. There are instructions for sculpting squid in the form of cherry blossoms, rabbits, and peacocks as well as guidelines for experimenting with such toppings as roe and nori. Kawasumi has provided an excellent guide that’s perfect for those looking to step up their sushi game. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

Healthier, faster, and simpler are the driving principles of this cookbook from Iserloh, a health coach and recipe developer. Iserloh focuses on superfoods and “adaptogens” (stress-reducing herbs), and organizes recipes under chapter headings such as “Detox and Calm” and “Rebuild and Strengthen.” Each recipe introduction explains the health benefits of the ingredients: strawberry beet soup, for instance, is categorized as a “strength” recipe and is rich in B vitamins and folate, and the Pinch of Cinnamon Bolognese (under “Circulate and Stabilize”) melds the heart-healthy spice with grass-fed beef and pasture-raised pork for a hearty, wholesome version of the Italian pasta sauce. Iserloh’s flavor combinations are smart and approachable. Halibut filets are crusted in pepitas for fish tacos, and chicken is prepared with feta cheese, olives, and pickled peppadew peppers. The recipes are simple, call for easy-to-find ingredients, and should—thanks to the ease of the slow cooker process—appeal to even novice home cooks interested in adding anti-inflammatory dishes to their repertoires. Photos. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

Former Democratic National Committee chair Brazile (Cooking with Grease) refuses to concede that, during her time at CNN, she aided Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign by leaking a question in advance of a town hall with Bernie Sanders; this omission tarnishes her self-serving insider account of the campaign. Although elsewhere Brazile has publicly stated she made a mistake, here she resists that being an admission of guilt and resorts to equivocation (“I still didn’t recall sharing questions with Hillary’s campaign”). That lack of transparency will lead to skepticism about some of her dramatic revelations—especially her assertion that she nearly chose someone else to replace Clinton as the party’s candidate for president. Those surprised that the DNC chair holds such unilateral power will find their reaction validated when Brazile later states that she would have needed to consult with party leaders before making such a drastic decision. Her account of what happened after Clinton nearly fainted during a 9/11 memorial service amounts to a few hours of her internal debate, making clear that the entire episode has been overhyped. Odd sentences (“Women of Hillary’s era, like Eleanor Holmes Norton, are thinkers”) and inconsistencies only further diminish the value of what could have been a warts-and-all postmortem of one of the greatest political upsets in American history. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

From the first page of the opening story “The Bacchae,” when readers learn that “Loki sleeps in alleys... Mars runs a hedge fund that preys on distressed companies... [and] Dionysus makes sex dolls in a Los Angeles warehouse,” it is clear that this collection is an off-kilter treat. Darbyshire (The Warhol Gang) delights in mashing pop-culture genres together, exposing profound truths beneath classic tropes in ways at once hilarious, weird, and heart-breaking. In the titular story, an aging superhero reclaims his lost sense of purpose on the day when angels begin to fall from the sky. In “Deja Yu Makes the Pain Go Away,” an executive discovers that “the second-worst thing about being dead is you have to keep working.” “The Calling of Cthulhu” has H.P. Lovecraft’s tentacled god working for a temp agency because “god of war, gateway to the apocalypse, and earth devourer are no longer acceptable callings.” A hit man is assisted by a talking blow-up doll in “You Shall Know Us by Our Vengeance.” Molox, “the Infernal Gatekeeper to Hell…[now] known as the Processing Clerk, Department of Admissions and Exits,” struggles with the paradox of “The Only Innocent Soul in Hell.” What is most impressive in Darbyshire’s wild tales of demons, ghosts, zombies, and deity salesmen is his clear understanding of what it is that makes humans so human. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

This illustrated collection of fictionalized vignettes by the late Nobel Prize–winning playwright Fo (The Pope’s Daughter) is a touching ode to the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Fo opens with an introduction that lays out the purpose of the fables: to revive a version of the saint based on historical materials, many of which the Vatican destroyed in order to present a docile, sanitized Francis for the canon. (Fo’s information is based on the work of historian Chiari Frugoni, who draws on sources, such as Thomas of Celano, that escaped censure for centuries in Italian churches and libraries.) Fo’s Francis is irreverent, antiauthoritarian, creative, and devoted to the poor and his faith. The fables themselves are told largely via dialogue, translated into contemporary-sounding (albeit somewhat clunky) English by Pirovano: “He really was a bona fide jester with all the tricks of the trade up his sleeve.” Though these lengthy exchanges sometimes seem better suited to the stage, they effectively convey Francis’s grandiose, comic personality and the lively society that surrounded him. Readers will follow his adventures communing with animals, persuading the pope to allow him to preach, combating traditional hierarchy and violence, and outsmarting objections to his approach to Christianity. The tales are aided considerably by Fo’s bright, distinctive illustrations, which both pay homage to and transcend the stories’ 13th-century setting. Readers may not be left with a substantive understanding of St. Francis’s biography, but Fo succeeds in bringing him to lasting, appealing, revisionist life. Agent: Domitilla Ruffo, Agenzia Danesi Tolnay (Italy). (Dec.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink

With mixed results, Hunter (The Convenient Groom) considers themes of trust and the corroding power of secrets in this weighty family drama wrapped in a winsome reunion tale. After five years away, Zoe Collins returns to Copper Creek, Ga. with her daughter and her protective boyfriend, Kyle, to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Soon Zoe learns that her grandmother left her the farm as well as a peach orchard. Instead of returning to Nashville with Kyle, Zoe decides to stay in Copper Creek and reboot her life. Old friendships are quickly rekindled and Zoe begins to make amends for her recent distance from her family. But the one thing Zoe didn’t plan on is her old flame, Cruz Huntley, being the orchard manager. Pieces seem to be falling almost too neatly into place until Cruz learns a secret about Zoe’s daughter that’s been kept hidden for years. Hunter creates characters that are loving but also determined and single-minded—leading to situations that escalate beyond the scope of reason. Overt references to God are few and far between, with faith informing the characters’ upbringings but not their behavior. Hunter admirably eschews any lightweight resolutions in favor of a heart-pounding story with dramatic twists. Agent: Karen Solem, Spencerhill. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 11/17/2017 | Details & Permalink