Of Lard Sandwiches and Licensing Parents

The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls

Here's a sad observation: if prospective parents had to pass a qualifying test to have children, as they must do to get a driver's license, there'd be a lot more childless people among us. In one specific case I can think of, the book The Glass Castle would never have been written, because no one in his right mind would have allowed Rex and Rose Mary Walls to breed. But breed they did, not just once but four times – and second-eldest daughter Jeannette (freelance writer and one-time commentator on MSNBC) has captured a strange and sorrowful childhood within the pages of her memoir.

The Apocalypse is Coming, and It Wants Your Brain

World War Z - Max Brooks

It's been said that "armies prepare to fight the war they just finished," which seems borne out by recent history: WWII vs. Korea; Korea vs. Vietnam; Vietnam vs. the "War on Terror"... perhaps the military mind can only learn the hard way. We can forgive the military this time, though, for there was never a way to prepare, at least not for a war like World War Z. After all, how can you prepare for an enemy that knows no fear? for an enemy that can't feel pain? for an enemy that can't die, because he's already dead?  That's the story of World War Z, where "Z" is for "Zombie."

When Romantic Mysteries Go Awry

Pathogen - Jessica L. Webb

On the one hand, we have harried ER physician Kate Morrison, MD. On the other hand, we have upright RCMP sergeant Andy Wyles. They just happen to be in love. Great love life or not, Kate’s work life is miserable right now, so when Andy’s superior officer asks for her help with a case in which a medical question may be tangentially related, the good doctor jumps at the chance to spend a couple of days in a wealthy enclave in British Columbia’s primo ski country.

People in Hidden Valley have been coming down with a killer flu. So why’s the RCMP involved? Apparently one of the wealthiest of the wealthy is running for Parliament and “a journalist” asked him a disturbing question about his constituents’ health. Thus, Andy, with Kate in tow, head for the hills.

Cookbook Writers Need Editors, Too

Instant Pot Mini Cookbook - Laurel Sanchez

If last year’s “must-have” holiday gift was the InstantPot cooker, then this year’s must have been a cookbook for the darned thing. Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the one you should get… here’s why:

Since there are just the two of us, we chose the small InstantPot cooker; the 3-quart size. Lo and behold, the recipe booklet packed with the cooker was for the 6-quart size (InstantPot "help"¹ took six weeks to explain to me that they didn't have recipes specifically for the mini). After a couple of abortive attempts to use the pressure cooker – we ended up having to dump everything into a saucepan and cook it on the stove – we relegated the Mini Lux to making rice on days we forgot to use our regular rice cooker.

In All Honesty, Smith Should Stick to Diet Books

The Ancient Nine - Ian K. Smith, MD

Spenser Q. Collins made his way from the mean streets of South Chicago to the ivy-covered halls of Harvard on the strength of his valedictory address and his jump shot. Now in his sophomore year, the young African-American premed student is flabbergasted to be “punched”¹ by a “final club”² - in fact, the finest of them all, Delphic. Upon hearing he’d been punched, Spenser’s best bud, filthy-rich Dalton Winthrop some number-or-other, informed him that Delphic is not just the best Harvard club, it’s also the most mysterious: some kid disappeared into their palatial clubhouse one night in 1927 and has never been heard from again. Ooooh: a mystery.