Today I am reviewing Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Maman’s Homesick Pie is a memoir written by the well known chef, Donia Bijan. Beautifully written, it tells the story of Bijan’s Iranian family, who had to flee Iran during the revolution of 1978 and eventually settled in California. Both of Bijan’s parents were in medicine. Her father was a well respected doctor who founded a hospital and her mother was a nurse who worked at his side. They were sophisticated, well-educated and loved food. Her father would immediately search for new markets when they traveled, declining restaurant food and filling their hotel rooms with fresh fruit and cheeses. Her mother loved cooking and creating meals for her family and friends as well as the hospital patients. Food is the running theme throughout this memoir. It is while on vacation in Majorca that the Bijans hear about the revolution and realize they can no longer return to their beloved country.

Bijan writes movingly about this drastic change in their lives and how each of her parents cope with this wrenching loss in very different ways. Her mother enthusiastically embraces the American culture, yet her father cannot. And Donia finds herself coping with being a girl from Iran when anti-Iranian sentiment in this country is very high. Through it all, Donia gains inspiration and support from her beloved mother, eventually making the decision to enroll in Le Cordon Bleu to study to be a chef. The cooking lessons given to her so many years before by her mother, the reverence for food instilled in her by her parents, the scents and flavors of Persian and French cuisine – all of it contributes to a singular focus on learning from and apprenticing under as many chefs as possible so that she can master her craft.

There’s so much more to this memoir: love of family, eventual understanding of and compassion for a father’s fears, finding one’s way in a new country, loss of a homeland and detailed descriptions of life in Iran before the revolution. Bijan is a wonderful writer. She lovingly writes about food – the textures, the smells, the creation of a meal – with beautifully chosen words.

I really loved this book. It’s a wonderful read.

I am giving away 2 copies of Maman’s Homesick Pie. Just leave a comment and I will pick two names on Saturday evening.

About the author:

Donia Bijan graduated from UC Berkeley and Le Cordon Bleu. After presiding over many of San Francisco’s acclaimed restaurants and earning awards for her French-inspired cuisine, in 1994 she opened her own restaurant, L’amie Donia, in Palo Alto. She now divides her days between raising her son, teaching and writing.

Today I am reviewing Motor City Shakedown by D. E. Johnson for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Motor City Shakedown is a fascinating story. Part noir mystery, part historical novel, this novel takes place in Detroit in 1911. Detroit had just begun making the cars which would later define the city’s industrial complex. Unions were trying to move in. Mobs were jockeying for position. The protagonist, Will Anderson, becomes a murder suspect. He is determined to find the real killer. At the same time, he gets caught up in a web of dirty cops, union organizers, bribes and the mobs that are trying to help the Teamsters take over his father’s electric car company. Anderson, who is fighting a morphine addiction due to a terrible injury to his hand, must find an answer before his family and loved ones are killed.

 The story is told using both real and historical characters. For instance, the protagonist, Will Anderson is the son of the owner of Detroit Electric (a maker of electric cars.) In fact, the character of Will’s father was a real person but had no son. His close friend is Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford, who also appears, as do the founders of the big three car manufacturers andThomas Edison.

I was drawn to this novel because I was born in Detroit, raised in Dearborn (headquarters of the Ford Motor Company and where my high school was named after Edsel Ford) and then lived for several years in Detroit in my young adult years. I was immersed in the car culture – it was a part of our everyday life. So, I found the references fascinating. Streets I know well, buildings I remember clearly; some still standing and some long gone, all of the detail helped to create the Detroit I never knew. I enjoyed getting to experience this slice of early 20th century Detroit, the Detroit my grandparents lived in. (My paternal grandfather helped build radiators for the automotive industry.)

One thing I sometimes find with historical fiction is that the wealth of detail sometimes overshadows the story. It must be a tricky balance. It happens occasionally in this book. That’s not really a complaint, just an observation. D. E. Johnson’s research is impeccable and he paints a vivid picture of Detroit, its people and its industry in 1911.

I really enjoyed Motor City Shakedown. The story is compelling and very well written. And, by the way, it is the second in a series. I haven’t read the first one yet. It is entitled The Detroit Electric Scheme. I know you’ll enjoy this wonderful mystery.

If you’d like to win an autographed copy of this novel, visit the author’s website and enter!

About the author:

D. E. (Dan) Johnson, a graduate of Central Michigan University, is a history buff who has been writing fiction since childhood but had to hit his midlife crisis to get serious about it. His first novel, a historical mystery entitled The Detroit Electric Scheme, was published in September 2010 by St. Martin’s Minotaur Books. The Detroit Electric Scheme has garnered excellent reviews (including being named one of Booklist’s Top Ten First Crime Novels of the year) and also won a 2011 Michigan Notable Book Award.

Motor City Shakedown, the first sequel to The Detroit Electric Scheme, will be published by St. Martin’s in September 2011. Dan is married, has three daughters, and lives near Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Today I am reviewing Just My Type, a book about fonts, for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

My review: I am fascinated by fonts, typography and graphic design. I had a feeling I would like this book and I was right. What a fascinating subject! Simon Garfield is the perfect guide; he takes us on a journey from Gutenberg to the present. He writes about specific fonts that have influenced our world,  various font designers, the way certain companies have branded their advertisements with a special font and the history of typography. Garfield moves easily from a chapter on the history of fonts to a chapter on the newest designs to a profile of a font designer to what he calls ‘Fontbreaks,’ in which he writes about a specific font. This makes for a lively read. I loved reading about font experts; those people who can identify any font or can tell you that a movie set in a specific time period has perfect period detail except for the use of a font that wasn’t invented until years later.

And there’s so much more. Years ago, an average person (like me) didn’t know a whole lot about fonts. With the emergence of Apple, Microsoft and the personal computer with a drop-down font menu, fonts have become something that everyone has an opinion about. I have my favorites and I bet you have yours. Garfield will help you understand why a font may be your favorite and why some fonts are ubiquitous and others fall by the wayside. Fonts can be a passionate subject for some; according to Garfield, there was quite an uproar when IKEA changed their font from Futura to Verdana. Imagine the credits in a Woody Allen movie in anything other than the Windsor typeface he has always used. Impossible.

Garfield writes about his subject matter with clarity and humor. I read the chapters in order, but you could just as well pick up the book and read a chapter at random. Just My Type is entertaining and informative. I highly recommend it.

If you’d like to win a free copy of Just My Type, leave a comment on this blog post and I will draw the name of the winner on Thursday evening.

About the Author: Simon Garfield is the author of twelve acclaimed books of nonfiction. He lives in London and St. Ives, Cornwall, and currently has a soft spot for Requiem Fine Roman and HT Gelateria.