Book ~ "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly" (2000) Anthony Bourdain

From Goodreads ~ Over two decades ago, the New Yorker published a now infamous article, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” by then little-known chef Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain spared no one’s appetite as he revealed what happens behind the kitchen door. The article was a sensation and the book it spawned, the now iconic "Kitchen Confidential", became an even bigger sensation and megabestseller. 

Frankly confessional, addictively acerbic, and utterly unsparing, Bourdain pulls no punches in this memoir of his years in the restaurant business.

I don't really enjoy cooking but we just finished watching the fourth season of The Bear and we watch Gordon Ramsay's reality shows. This book has been around for years but I've never read it so I thought I'd give it a go. It looks like a crazy brutal industry to be in!

Kitchen Confidential is Bourdain’s look (it’s part memoir and part exposé) at what went on behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens ... and it sounds like he'd been in many up to this point. He started with his journey of being a young punk washing dishes to eventually becoming a seasoned chef in New York’s culinary scene. He talked about his past with drugs, the crazy (and sometimes offensive) characters he worked with and the intense and chaotic vibe of professional kitchens. 

It was interesting to find out some industry secrets  ... like why you should never order fish on a Monday or what really goes into your fancy restaurant meal. It was obvious that he did have a deep love for food and the people who cooked it. I liked the writing style and found most of the chapters interesting. If you’ve ever thought about what life in a professional kitchen is really like, you should read this book. I know it wouldn't be the life for me! As a head's up, there is swearing.

Book ~ "Splintered Bones" (2000) Carolyn Haines

From Goodreads ~ She may be a Mississippi belle but Sarah Booth Delaney is no pampered daddy's girl. Unwed and over thirty, Sarah has her own set of problems - like coping with regular hauntings by her great-great-grandmother's nanny, a busybody of a ghost who's set on marrying her off to the first suitor who comes calling. But when an old friend is in trouble, Sarah Booth doesn't hesitate to get involved.

Eulalee McBride has confessed to murdering her husband ... and she wants Sarah to dig up the dirt on the violent scalawag to prove he got what he deserved. Sarah Booth suspects that her friend is lying through her pearly whites ... but why? There's certainly no lack of suspects in Zinnia, Mississippi, including Bud Lynch, a horse trainer who arouses killer lust in the town's women. As Sarah Booth begins to put together the pieces of the case, a killer is preparing to strike again. And this time it could send one late-blooming southern sleuth into an early grave.

Sarah Booth Delaney is single, in her thirties, the last of her line, living in her family's plantation and recently became a private detective. Lee, a childhood friend, was recently arrested for murdering her abusive husband and has confessed. She asks Sarah to find information about him to justify her killing him. As Sarah investigates, she starts to think that perhaps Lee is covering for someone and advises her to come clean. In the meantime, Sarah has taken in Lee's wild teenage daughter, Kip. Plus there's a ball coming up and she has to find a date.

It is written in first person perspective in Sarah's voice. This is the third in the Sarah Booth Delaney series (there are currently 26 books in the series) ... it works as a stand alone as there is enough background provided but it's helpful if you've read the previous ones. I read the first two in the last month or so and liked them enough to keep going with the series. I thought this one was okay. I liked it better than the first two ... I found the story more interesting and there weren't as many characters (I found the first two had too many characters to keep track of). 

Sarah's mother's last name was Booth and her father's last name was Delaney and I thought it was weird that everyone calls her "Sarah Booth" rather than just "Sarah". It was odd that Jitty, the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, "lives" with her. Jitty is really annoying ... she's very negative and always putting Sarah down and nagging her about being single and childless. I could do without Sarah's dreams and her obsession with author Kinky Friedman.

Book ~ "Buried Bones" (2000) Carolyn Haines

From Goodreads ~ Private investigation isn't on the list of a southern belle's most desirable accomplishments - but it's saved Sarah Booth Delaney's Delta homestead. Now all she has to cope with is its bossy antebellum ghost who is determined to save Sarah - from spinsterhood. Then comes the perfect social occasion: Lawrence Ambrose's dinner party. 

Ambrose, once a famous man of southern letters, is planning a comeback: a delicious tell-all with a bitchy ex-model as his "biographer." As he taunts his dinner guests with the news that his book will blow the lid off Zinnia's darkest secrets, it becomes plain that each and every guest has a secret - and wants Ambrose to keep it. When the morning-after mess includes a bloody corpse and the manuscript of the biography disappears, Sarah Booth goes digging for answers. But many who hold them are six feet under - or soon will be - and if she doesn't tread carefully, she could join them any day now.

Sarah Booth Delaney is single and living in her family's plantation. She had recently fallen into becoming a private detective but said she's writing a fiction novel as a cover so it wouldn't be suspicious when she asks questions. Lawrence, a once famous writer and artist, invites her to a dinner party he is having. He has written a manuscript about his life and during the party, he lets his guests know that he may be revealing secrets about them. When Sarah visits him the next day, she finds him dead ... it looks like he had cut his hand and bled out before he could call for help. Lawrence's long-time friend suspects he has  been murdered, though, and hires Sarah to find out who did it. Lawrence's manuscript has disappeared so there are many possibilities of who may have done it to protect themselves.

It is written in first person perspective in Sarah's voice. This is the second in the Sarah Booth Delaney series (there are currently 26 books in the series) ... it works as a stand alone as there is enough background provided but it's helpful if you've read the first one. I'd read the first one a couple weeks ago and liked it enough to keep going with the series. I thought this one was just okay. Like the first one, I found there were a lot of characters and it was hard to keep track of them at times. I thought the story was convoluted and the ending farfetched and cheesy. 

The editing could have been better ... there were lots of double quotation marks missing. And Tennessee Williams was sometimes referred to as "Tom" and "Ted" ... his real name was "Thomas" so "Ted" is incorrect.

Sarah's mother's last name was Booth and her father's last name was Delaney and I thought it was weird that everyone called her "Sarah Booth" rather than just "Sarah". It was odd that Jitty, the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, "lives" with her ... I found Jitty really annoying because she's always putting Sarah down and nagging her about being single and childless. The numerous references in general about Sarah's womb were tiresome.

Book ~ "Irish Eyes" (2000) Mary Kay Andrews (Kathy Hogan Trocheck)

From Goodreads ~ Callahan Garrity is the owner of House Mouse, a cleaning service that tidies up after Atlanta's elite. She's also a former cop and a part-time sleuth. She and her coterie of devoted helpers can ransack a house for clues faster than it takes a fingerprint to set.

When Callahan Garrity gets caught in a liquor store holdup on the way home from a St. Paddy's Day party, one of her best friends is shot. Callahan and her House Mouse cleaning crew dive into the investigation - only to discover that her old friend might have been working both sides of the law as an accomplice in a string of robberies. It will take every trick they've got to pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding an Irish police organization and prove that the case is more than it seems. 

Callahan used to be a police officer and changed careers when she bought House Mouse, a cleaning service that she runs with her mother, Edna ... but she still does private investigating on the side.

Callahan goes to a St. Patrick Day's party with her best friend, Bucky, put on by the Shamrock Society, a drinking club for Irish police officers.  Bucky wants her to meet his new girlfriend, Lisa, who he is in love with, something that has never happened to Bucky before.  Lisa is a cop and is tied up with a case and doesn't show up.  When Bucky gives Callahan a drive home, he makes at stop at a liquor store along the way where he is shot twice in the head.  It's reported that that clerk working in the store disappeared that night with the store video of what happened and lots of money from the store safe.

Bucky is essentially brain dead and Callahan starts to investigate how this happened to her friend ... was he targeted or was in the wrong place at the wrong time?  She learns that he has been working part-time doing security at the store and other members of the Shamrock Society do security at other stores and restaurants in which the owners are eventually robbed at ATMs.  Coincidence?!

In the meantime, Mac, Callahan's longtime boyfriend has been offered a job five hours away in Nashville and he wants Callahan and Edna to go with him.  Edna's psyched but something is holding Callahan back from making the move.

The writing was okay.  It is written in first person perspective in Callahan's voice.  Because it was originally written in the late 1990s and is set in the late 1990s, they are still using pay phones, answering machines, cheques, VCRs, etc. Some of the terms used are now cringe-worthy such as the "N-word" and "coloured" which makes the book seem racist.  As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.

This is the eighth (and last) in the Callahan Garrity Mystery Series. Though part of a series, it works as a stand alone as there is enough background provided.  It wasn't a great series but I read them all.  This book ended really depressingly rather than happily as most series do, which was surprising.

Book ~ "Terry Fox: His Story" (2000) Leslie Scrivener

From Goodreads ~ Terry Fox, the one-legged runner from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, made an indelible impression upon people across Canada and around the world. An outstanding athlete with a stubborn and competitive spirit, he lost his leg to cancer at 19, but said “nobody is ever going to call me a quitter.”

On April 12, 1980, Terry Fox set out from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to begin the run across Canada that he named the Marathon of Hope. His ambition was to raise a million dollars for cancer research. It wasn’t easy. Initial support from communities varied from terrific to nothing at all. His prosthetic leg was painful to run on, and there were always traffic and extreme weather conditions to deal with. But by the time he reached Ontario – a journey of more than 3,000 kilometres – word of his achievement had spread and thousands cheered him and followed his progress. Terry’s spirits soared and now he hoped to raise $22 million dollars – one dollar for every Canadian. He succeeded in this ambition but the Marathon of Hope ended near Thunder Bay, Ontario on September 1, 1980. The cancer had spread to his lungs and, after running 24 miles in one day, on the next he could run no further.

When cancer finally claimed his life in 1981, Canada mourned the loss of a hero but the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope lives on. The Terry Fox Foundation raised more than $17 million in 1999, and support for the event nationally and around the world is growing.

Terry Fox was an ordinary young man living in Port Coquitlam, BC.  He was athletic and enjoyed running and basketball.  When he was 19, they discovered he had a cancerous tumour and his right leg was amputated at the knee.  With an artificial leg, he began running again and played wheelchair basketball.

On April 12, 1980, Terry began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research.  He hoped to raise one dollar from each of Canada's 24 million people.  He began in St. John's, NF, in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day.  On September 1, 1980, he was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay because the cancer had spread to his lungs.  He headed home to BC immediately to begin treatment and passed away in June 1981.

This book is Terry's story.  It starts with his childhood, finding out he had cancer and dealing with his artificial leg, details the Marathon of Hope (including quotes from Terry's diary), the second bout of cancer, his death and what has happened since then.

I was 17, in grade twelve and living in Sydney, Nova Scotia, when Terry started his Marathon of Hope.  Though he came through Sydney in the beginning of May after making his way through Newfoundland, I don't have any recollection of that, which I thought was strange considering what a big deal it was and still is.  Then I read in this book that when he got to Sydney ... "there were only two or three people from the Cancer Society waiting for us ... here we are in Sydney and there's nothing, absolutely nothing.  Nobody even knew.  It wasn't even in the media."  In hindsight, that's really sad.

One of Terry's earliest supporters was Isadore Sharp, founder of the Four Seasons Hotels, who proposed an annual fundraising run in Terry's name.  Terry agreed but insisted that the runs be non-competitive.  The first Terry Fox Run was on on September 13, 1981 ... over 300,000 people took part and raised $3.5 million.  The Run has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research ... over $750 million has been raised (as of January 2018).

I got this book last week at a fundraising meet 'n greet for our neighbourhood Terry Fox Run with Fred Fox, Terry's brother, in attendance.  I'd walked 5km in this Run last year for the first time.  This year, in addition to again walking 5km, I'm also volunteering (our Run is this Sunday).

Book ~ "1st to Die" (2000) James Patterson

From Goodreads ~ The Women's Murder Club pits four San Francisco women professionals against a serial killer who's stalking and murdering newlyweds. 

Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector who's just gotten some very bad news. She deals with it by immersing herself in her newest case and soliciting the personal as well as professional support of her closest friend, who happens to be the city's medical examiner. The two women, along with an ambitious and sympathetic reporter and an assistant DA, form an unlikely alliance, pooling their information and bypassing the chain of command.

Lindsay is a homicide detective who has a lot going on.  There is a serial killer murdering newly married couples.  Because of the high profile of the case, she is assigned a new partner who she begrudgingly has to work with.  On top of all that, she discovers that she has a life threatening disease.

Lindsay thinks it would be a good idea to form an informal group to get difference perspectives to try and solve the murders.  The Women's Murder Club is formed with Lindsay; her good friend, Claire who is a medical examiner; Cindy, a reporter; and Jill, an assistant DA. Just when Lindsay thinks the case has been solved, she comes across new evidence that might prove otherwise.

This is the first in the Women's Murder Club series.  I'd read the 13th one in March and liked it so thought I'd go back and start at the beginning.  Though it is part of a series, it does work as a stand alone, especially since it's the first in the series.

I enjoyed the writing style and it went at a good pace. I liked the short choppy chapters. The point of view shifted ... it was first person perspective when the focus was on Lindsay and third person perspective when the focus was on everyone else ... but it was easy to figure out.  As a head's up, there is swearing, violence and adult activity.

As I was reading it, though, I got the sense that it was written by a woman ... so I don't know if Patterson had a female ghostwriter and took the credit for it or if he did indeed write it himself.

I liked the different twists in the story but thought the last one was kind of silly.  There was the death of one of the characters that I didn't think was necessary.

I liked this one and will continue to get caught up in the series.

Book ~ "Toronto Sketches 6: The Way We Were" (2000) Mike Filey

From Goodreads ~ Stories of Old Toronto never lose favour with the city's nostalgia buffs, and as long as Mike Filey continues to provide us with his "The Way We Were" columns, no one's appetite will have to go unsatisfied.

When Mike's Toronto Sunday Sun columns were first brought together in Toronto Sketches, demand was so high that it prompted a second collection ... then a third ... and a fourth ... and a fifth.

Now, for 2000, Mike has once again brought together some of the best of his Toronto Sunday Sun columns for "Toronto Sketches 6", the latest installment in the wildly popular series. This time around, Mike takes us to a performance at the Royal Alexandra Theatre by Al Jolson, the opening of Sunnybrook Hospital, a game between the baseball Leafs and the Havana Sugar Kings - with Fidel Castro throwing out the first pitch - and many more famous, notorious and entertaining episodes in the history of this great city.

Mike Filey had a column in the Toronto Sun for about 30 years and I read it for many years (I like learning about the history of Toronto) ... this book is a compilation of some of his columns.  In this book, we learn more about Casa Loma, the Commercial Bank of the Midland District Bank, Al Jolson, cruise ships, Joy gas stations, Santa Claus, etc.

Built in @1845, the Commercial Bank of the Midland District Bank is on the
left side of Wellington Street W, in front of the building with all the signs

The facade was dismantled and reassembled in BCE Place (now called
Brookfield Place) - I worked in BCE Place about that time (early 1990s)

Even though the book was published in 2000, it was still an interesting book because it dealt with many historical events in Toronto.  Plus since it was published in 2000, it was interesting to see what was going on back then and what has changed. For example, Bay Street from College Street to Bloor Street used to be called "auto row".  I bought my first car from Addison on Bay in the early 1990s which was in the old McLaughlin Building.

The building opened in 1925 as the McLaughlin Motor Car Showroom
and is designated as a heritage site

When the author wrote the book, it was still Addison's ...
it's now being developed as condos

If you live in Toronto or are from Toronto, you should check it out. 

Book ~ "Transformation Soup" (2000) SARK

From Amazon.com ~ Since the early 1990s, SARK's playful, sympathetic style has made her an immensely popular author of self-help and creativity books. Like her past works, this vividly illustrated guide speaks to the reader's "inner child," aiming to free the imperfect, fearful, sad, funny and creative aspects that adults usually hide. This time SARK addresses the process of healing, inquiring, "What Hurts?" and gently leading readers to places (gardens, Zen retreat centers, bed) and activities (meditation, massage, creative expression) that promote recovery. With dark tales of her own experience of incest, and goofy ones including one about Rosie O'Donnell's chin hair, SARK's book reflects the "friendly disorder" of being human, covering a wide range of topics, from the trauma of broken relationships to body image and aging. Along with her heartfelt ruminations, SARK offers book referrals, transformation stories and a reference list of healers, including massage therapists, hairstylists, musicians and authors. In one fanciful section, she imagines the lessons a healing school might teach, including intuition, "non-competitive play," "accepting success" and "identifying patterns of self-defeat." All the while, she pushes readers toward their own creative expression through exercises such as "turning [inner] critics into allies" and marrying oneself. SARK's unpretentious effort illustrates her fundamental theme that "we are all swirling in the soup together" and that "whatever healing work we each do contributes to the healing of all of us."

A quick read ... I first read it in the summer of 2001.

It's a good reminder to not dwell on things, let them go and move on and experience life.

If people would tell the truth about what they are truly willing to do, there would be room for all of us to help each other in many more ways.

SARK

Book ~ "Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale" (2000) Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff

From Amazon.com ~ It was love at first sight. Amid the frenzied barking and prancing of a house full of Great Danes, one pup was shivering in the corner. Gracie. But when Dan Dye reached her, she struggled to her feet like a clumsy foal, raised her forehead to his, and announced, as clearly as if she had actually spoken the words, "You know I'm the one. No get me outta here!"

By turns funny, moving, tender and inspiring, Gracie's tale is a treat for every dog lover. There is Gracie's first morning, racing around Dan in the snowy yard. Gracie's first determination to prove to her stepsisters, Dottie the Dalmation and Sarah the Black Lab, that she's one of the girls. Gracie's defiant romance with a pint-size charmer named Byron, a Boston Terrier from the wrong side of the fence.

Then born of necessity, the eureka moment: When Gracie's delicate constitution starts turning into anorexia, Dan teaches himself how to cook, and in three days is baking her the cookies that will spur her appetite, launch Three Dog Bakery and transform their lives forever.

Courage. Compassion. Kindness. Soul. Tenacity. And joy, above all, joy. These qualities Gracie possessed in abundance, and shared with everyone, human or canine, who had the good fortune to cross her path.

Excellent book! If you are a dog lover, you should definitely read it! Such a fabulous story!

Three Dog Bakery has been a success and now has many locations. There are three in Canada, with one in Toronto (Queen Street E).

Book ~ The Provincial Asylum in Toronto (2000) - Edna Hudson

I read an interesting book today called The Provincial Asylum in Toronto edited by Edna Hudson.

It was interesting to me because the Provincial Asylum, now known as the Centre of Addictions and Mental Health, is in my neighbourhood ... I take KC for walks there quite often.

I did skip over some of the book as I was more interested in the history of the hospital and the neighbourhood that the details of the architects.

Book ~ "Mr. Commitment" - Mike Gayle (2000)

From Goodreads ~ After twenty-eight years of shirking responsibility, Duffy's finally realising that he can't extend his adolescence forever. 

His low-paid temping job is threatening permanency. His gradually receding hairline is depressing him greatly. And if that's not enough, his long-suffering girlfriend, Mel, wants to get engaged. Trips to IKEA, dinner parties with married couples and talk of babies, however, are giving Duffy cold feet. He doesn't have many worldly goods to share - apart from the remote control for his TV, the beers in the fridge and his record collection - but can he really put his hand on his heart and say "I do'? 

He knows Mel's the one for him, so why is it he'd feel happier swapping "Till death us do part' for "Renewable on a four year basis'? But the choice is: All or nothing. Now or never. Mel or no Mel. So after a lifetime as Mr Irresponsible, does Duffy have what it takes to become Mr Commitment?

I've been reading a lot of Gayle's books in the last couple months. Though I enjoy his "lad lit", I'm glad this is the last I have of his to read. Though I like his style, they are starting to sound the same. So I need a break.

Having said that, I enjoyed this book and I would recommend it.

Book ~ "Fall Down, Laughing : How Squiggy Caught Multiple Sclerosis and Didn't Tell Nobody" (2000) David Lander

From Amazon.com ~ In the summer of 1999, David Lander revealed publicly that he suffers from multiple sclerosis - a secret he'd kept for fifteen years even while living and working in Hollywood's celebrity fishbowl. Diagnosed with the illness after filming the last episode of Laverne and Shirley, Lander continued to develop his film and television career while hiding his illness. His success was a testament to his physical and emotional strength and his determination to prove that those with M.S. can still enjoy fulfilling and challenging lives. Over the years, Lander tried everything to improve his condition: exercise programs, alternative medicine, support groups, the latest crop of designer drugs. Weaving his experiences against a backdrop of entertaining celebrity anecdotes, Lander offers a message of affirmation that will provide information and hope to millions of M.S. sufferers, their friends and caregivers.

Quick interesting read. Very inspiring!

Book ~ "Storm: A Motorcycle Journey of Love, Endurance and Transformation" (2000) Allen Noren

From Amazon. com ~ It's clear reading Allen Noren's travel memoir, Storm, that some trips just weren't meant to be. Yet take a really good writer, expose him to adverse conditions, toss in tragically bad weather, and what do you get? In this case, a beautifully written, stirring story that gets better and better as the journey worsens. A diehard traveler, Noren had been exploring the far corners of the world for years when he and his girlfriend, Suzanne, plotted out an adventurous, three-month route around the Baltic Sea. They considered traveling by kayak, by car, and eventually settled on the idea of riding a motorcycle (or rather, Noren settled on the idea and managed to convince his girlfriend that the bike would be the way to go). While Noren is completely exhilarated by the challenges presented by their used BMW, and indeed, feels totally one with the machine, Suzanne hates it from the get-go. Screaming down the Autobahn in the driving rain at 85 mph, stumbling upon a motorcycle rally full of crazed, alcohol-induced biker revelers, and camping out nightly after long days on the road doesn't hold the same appeal for her that it does for him. The tale works on many levels, but at its best Storm is a poignant account of two people whose dreams have begun to diverge. It is also an exploration of the reasons we travel, how those reasons can change, subtly at first, and then more dramatically, as we do. And finally, it is a descriptive travelogue, full of wonderful passages that bring the landscape of Sweden and Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland to life.

Interesting journey about the places they went and the people they met. It’s a trip I’ll probably never make.

Book ~ "Shitting Pretty: How to Stay Clean and Healthy While Traveling" (2000) Jane Wilson-Howarth

From Amazon.com ~ International travel is rewarding and a great deal of fun but sometimes it exacts a price. Activities we take for granted--eating, bathing, and going to the bathroom--can range from challenging to risky in unfamiliar territory. Dr. Wilson-Howarth knows plenty about these quandaries, having spent eleven years running health clinics and doing research in the Himalayas. In Shitting Pretty, she takes a humorous, sympathetic approach to one of the most basic human activities, interweaving anecdotes from fellow travelers with sensible tips and techniques for how to avoid diarrhea, parasites, and scary diseases such as malaria, typhoid, and hepatitis. Dr. Wilson-Howarth covers the basics of how to eat and drink safely, explains symptoms and cures, and also tells why gastrointestinal diseases--the traveler's most common complaint--occur.

Quick read about how to protect yourself when you are travelling. The actual experiences of people are funny.