Author Archives: Sarah

More Questionable Advice

Too much of the condiments, especially pepper, vinegar, and mustard, may have an unwholesome effect on the cells of the stomach and some of the other organs.

Tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, beef tea, and alcoholic drinks are called stimulants because sometimes they hasten the action of certain organs. They are all discussed later in this chapter with the exception of beef tea. This contains very little nourishment, but is of great value in setting the digestive glands to work, and thus preparing for the true food which should follow later. The use of much beef tea is harmful.

The Human Body and Health: A Text-Book of Essential Anatomy, Applied Physiology, and Practical Hygiene by Alvin Davison, M.S., A.M., Ph.D. American Book Company, 1908.

(assorted beef tea recipes, or buy some Bovril)

Citation Needed

Numerous experiments and observations made by business men and scientists prove that alcoholic drinks, such as beer, whiskey, and wine, form the greatest single factor in the making of criminals and paupers in this country.

The Human Body and Health: A Text-Book of Essential Anatomy, Applied Physiology, and Practical Hygiene by Alvin Davison, M.S., A.M., Ph.D. American Book Company, 1908.

May Reading

Americus, MK Reed and Jonathan Hill
On the surface, a book challenge in a small town, but underneath is all of the difficulties in living in a town that demands conformity in belief and appearance. Lots of heart and great characters. I liked it a lot.

Government Issue: Comics for the People, 1940s-2000s, Richard Graham
An astounding array of comics (many with the full contents, some with only covers or excerpts) published by Federal or local government agencies to convey important information. Lots of cool weird stuff and a surprising variety of artistic styles from artists both famous and anonymous. A fascinating collection.

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917, Walker
Well told and unsettling. How the explosion came to happen, the astounding power of it (the biggest until Hiroshima), and the people who were killed and injured. Most telling is that none of the adults would ever speak about it again– all of the stories are from the children and the primary sources and artifacts from the time. The grief is almost palpable.

Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller, Lambert
Not only a well-told biography (better even because it is limited to a shorter span of time than Sullivan’s whole life) but the visual aspect conveys the significance of Keller’s eduction in allowing her access to the world beyond her own skin. The trials part is an accusation of plagiarism and possibly fraud in a story that Keller wrote, an issue left unsolved in the story but that allows the complications of relationships to show. I liked that Sullivan’s and Keller’s handwriting styles were used for their own voices. Big thumbs up on this one.

April Reading

Dar, volumes 1 and 2, Erika Moen
This will be the first of many entertaining books I bought at ECCC. Gene had recommended her work, and it is indeed delightful diary comics with some nitty gritty talk about sexuality and sex (and even messier, love). The series ends with her moving on to work on fiction, so let’s all look forward to that. Three stars.

Strange tales II.
Just read Kate Beaton’s pieces and she’s great as usual! Four stars.

Nano House : Innovations for Small Dwellings, Phyllis Richardson
9780500342732
Skipped the architecture text, enjoyed the pictures of innovative tiny houses. Three stars.

Planesrunner, Ian McDonald
Overall, a good book. First in a series, excitement, parallel London, math, intrigue, and good cooking. I did have to write an extended screed about the things I didn’t like about it in order to write a positive review. These complaints may be unique to only me, since the reviews are pretty unanimously positive. Someday you may see that screed. Three stars.

Johnny Wander 1
Johnny Wander 2
The deceptively simple and evocative art plus the humor in daily (artistic) life combine to make one of my absolute favorite webcomics. I recommend the collections, though there are some strips from the web that didn’t make it. Four stars.

East Dragon, West Dragon, Robyn Eversole
Have I already mentioned how much I like all of the action going on in Scarry’s Busytown? All of the great detail and more is in Scott C.’s illustrations in this book. Enjoy it on your own or with a kid. Four stars.

Zombie in Love, Kelly S Dipucchio
Another one illustrated by Scott C. This one demands to be read aloud and the moldy hero is delightful. Also: worm pals in bow ties for the big dance. Four stars.

Science Ink, Carl Zimmer
A collection of science tattoos, explanations of the science behind them and why they are important to the person sporting them. Proof that the science field is brimming with intellectual passion. Do read Mary Roach’s foreword and marvel at its rat underpant diagram. Four stars.

Follow Your Art, Roberta Gregory
Gregory knows how to travel (though has more trouble sleeping away from home than I do) and shares stories and some useful info I will be storing away for future trips (apparently I may need to visit the towns in Spain and Sweden she went to). Good stuff. Three stars.

Edible Secrets: A Food Tour of Classified US History,
Mia Partlow & Michael Hoerger
Get your conspiracy theories right, dudes. A for premise and illustrations, F- for checking your data and spelling. Boo.

TigerButtah, Becky and Frank
Good job recreating (on a very small scale) the look and packaging of a Little Golden Book, but the story isn’t anything to be thrilled with. Two stars.

Bigfoot, Pascal Girard
The same cheeks-burning evocation of awkward teenitude that made me love Freaks and Geeks. Ohhhhh. The memories. Three stars.

The Poetic Mixmaster

From the delightful book by Laura Shapiro, Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America (which I highly recommend for other food history and home ec history nerds like me), a poetic mixer interlude:

“Back in 1940, while [Gertrude] Stein and [Alice] Toklas were living in the country house where they spent the war years, a package had arrived from Chicago. Samuel Steward, an American writer they had befriended, had decided to send them a Mixmaster. ‘Gertrude had said she liked things that went around–gramophone records, whirling grouse, eggbeaters, and the world,’ he wrote later in a memoir. ‘The Mixmaster seemed like the perfect gift, a useful to Alice as well.’

Stein and Toklas were ecstatic. ‘The Mix master came Easter Sunday, and we have not had time to more than read the literature put it together and gloat, oh so beautiful is the Mix master, so beautiful and the literature so beautiful, and the shoe button potatoes that same day so beautiful and everything so beautiful,’ wrote Stein. She ended her letter, ‘Alice all smiles and murmurs in her dreams, Mix Master.’ Ten days later she wrote again: ‘Day and night Mix master is a delight….Now Alice works it all alone and it saves her hours and effort, she can write a whole advertisement for Mix master she is so pleased.’ Toklas was using it for everything she could think of, including spoon bread and mashed potatoes. Then disaster–Toklas dropped the bowl, and it shattered. Stein begged Steward to send a replacement:’…you see you can use other bowls but they do not twirl around in that lovely green mix master way and when they do not twirl their contents instead of staying down rise up and spill and therefore the mix master will have to be a mix master still.’ Steward couldn’t send a new bowl until 1945. He also sent new beaters, for Stein reported that the originals ‘got busted.'”