I have been a fan of the unusual my entire life.  For example, I was endlessly fascinated with books on haunted houses, UFOs, psychic powers, ancient civilizations, geeks, freaks and Ripley’s Believe it or Not.  Every year I would beg my mother to purchase the new edition of the Guinness Book of World Records and I would be engrossed (and blissfully grossed out) by the strange, bizarre and grotesque feats of those human beings for days on end.   I mean, who really needs fingernails that are more than 24 feet long and why, oh, why would anyone consume more than two pounds of metal a day?  Whether or not it made sense, these strange feats always intrigued me. They still do to this day.

When I heard about Roger Manley’s Weird Louisiana, I was immediately interested in the book. Although it isn’t quite as detailed as I hoped, I was still not disappointed by the strange things Manley uncovered. It incited a desire in me to travel this great state more widely and do a little investigating on my own.

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One of the most difficult adjustments I have had to make since moving to New Orleans is the proliferation of roaches.  In California, I had seen the pencil-eraser-sized German cockroaches, but never in my life had I been exposed to what is called a “palmetto.”   These enormous cockroaches grow as large as 1½ inches in length (I swear I’ve seen larger), form wings in adulthood (oh yes, they can fly) and are considered one of the fastest running insects.  In a study at UC Berkeley in 1991, they were clocked at a record speed of 3.4 mph!  I can’t tell you how many times palmettos have eluded my attempts to stomp them to death, only to scurry off into an invisible crack underneath my kitchen cabinets.

Never did I expect to find a children’s book about roaches, but not too long ago I discovered Madame Poulet and Monsieur Roach by Dianne de Las Casas, author of The Cajun Cornbread Boy.  She is a local writer and recording artist, residing in Harvey, Louisiana who has received critical acclaim from the American Library Association and is a performer at arts-in-education programs all over the state.

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When it comes to Mardi Gras, the annual celebration for which New Orleans is world-renowned, few people know what it’s all about better than Arthur Hardy. A Carnival historian, archivist, memorabilia collector, reporter for WDSU-TV Channel 6 during Carnival Season and publisher of the annual Arthur Hardy’s Mardi Gras Guide since 1977, Hardy recently reissued his popular coffee table book, Mardi Gras in New Orleans: An Illustrated History.

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Considering the recent proposed legislation on the sale of Gulf Coast oysters in the warm-weather months and the criticism that followed, it seemed a perfect time for us here in New Orleans to tout our love of the almighty mollusk.  What better way to embrace our favorite shellfish than to release a cookbook honoring the family that has been bringing us fresh oysters for over 130 years?  We should all put our hands together for the timely release of The P&J Oyster Cookbook, lovingly created by Kit Wohl and the Sunseri Family with special thanks to contributing local restaurants and chefs whose recipes were included in this spectacular, mouth-watering tome.

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I am a huge fan of Poppy Z. Brite, so you can imagine my delight when her publisher sent me a review copy of her latest book, Second Line, that had been released this October.  I have read several of her novels and, although I enjoy her macabre tales like Drawing Blood and Wormwood, I really love her Rickey & G-Man stories.

The Ricky & G-Man plotlines in her novels Liquor, Prime and Soul Kitchen, revolve around two young chefs in New Orleans. Brite has a unique point of view of the restaurant industry, partially due to the fact that her husband Chris DeBarr is, in fact, a chef.

DeBarr actually recently opened a new restaurant called The Green Goddess, located on Exchange Alley in the French Quarter.  Anyhow, if you are enamored of New Orleans cuisine and the voice of Poppy Z. Brite, there is no way you can go wrong by picking up a copy of Second Line.

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Not too long ago, it was brought to my attention that Skip Horack, author of The Southern Cross, was appearing at Octavia Books.  For some reason, the title pulled at me and I just knew I wanted to read it.  I was pleased to discover it was a collection of short stories all set in the Gulf South.

From small towns all over Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Texas, Horack draws stunningly vivid pictures of life, love, hope and disappointment in a variety of forms.  I felt close to these characters in such a short period of time, some stories only spanning a few pages.  Unique to the American South, the tales resonated with me and opened my eyes to a world that is still so new to this California-born girl.  Each story was simple yet evoked so much passion and emotion.

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As you could probably tell from my first tribute piece, there was a lot of excitement, as well as apprehension, concerning The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.  Since Sanderson undertook completion of the Wheel of Time series after Jordan’s death, I have been really worried about how Sanderson’s voice and pace would affect the feel of the series as a whole.  As it turns out, I had absolutely nothing to fear.

Sanderson stunned me to silence after only the prologue and I was unable to put the book down until I finished it.  It was a long night and I was exhausted the next day, but for me, it was totally worth it.  Sanderson’s voice was almost eerily similar to Jordan’s yet the pace was intense and the plot progression was incredibly satisfying.  I realize we are nearing the end of the series, but the resolution of so many major events in this book was immensely gratifying.

 

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Released in October 2005, the long-awaited Knife of Dreams was the last Wheel of Time book published before Robert Jordan’s unfortunate death in September 2007.  I thought this novel was a big upgrade from the one before it as things actually come to a head in Knife of Dreams.

One of my favorite scenes in this book is when Mat finally asks Thom about the letter he has been reading over and over.  Mat discovers that Moiraine sent the letter to Thom before she attacks Lanfear and dies quite a few books ago in The Fires of Heaven.  The letter states that she might be alive and Mat and Thom are the only ones who can rescue her from the Aelfinn and Eelfinn by seeking out the Tower of Ghenji.

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Have you ever wished that boring parts of your life like sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room or waiting in line could pass like a montage?  You would only experience brief clips of events and thus, time would pass quickly.  I know it took Robert Jordan more than two years to write Crossroads of Twilight, but to me it could have been a montage.  It seemed like Jordan had to show what was happening every second of the seemingly drab period between Winter’s Heart and Knife of Dreams.  Like the faithful fan I am, I dragged myself through this novel, but I was disappointed.

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Winter’s Heart was released in November 2000, a little more than two years after A Path of Daggers.  I remember how anxious I was for the ninth book in the Wheel of Time series to be released because I wanted to know what was happening with Mat Cauthon.  Was he alive?  Wounded? Captured by the Seanchan? Hopelessly wrapped around Queen Tylin’s pinky finger?  The answer was all of the above…

Winter’s Heart begins with Perrin’s hunt for Faile after she was captured by the Shaido Aiel along with Morgase (no longer Queen of Andor and hiding as a serving woman) and the Queen of Gheldean who just swore fealty to Perrin Aybarra seeking the protection of the Dragon Reborn from the Prophet.  Perrin is determined to rescue his wife from almost insurmountable odds considering the Aiel that captured Faile number in the tens of thousands.  But, as we have already discovered about Perrin, he is not one to give up easily, if at all.

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Seventeen months after the release of the seventh book, Jordan released The Path of Daggers in October of 1998.  This is the only book in the series I really didn’t like that much.  The plot tends to drag and my favorite character, Mat Cauthon, is AWOL for the entire novel. Leaving Mat, who is very likely severely injured, in Ebou Dar after the Seanchan invasion seemed like an unfair abandonment, but I still pushed on through.

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Compared to the fast track he was on for the first six books, Jordan slowed down considerably after publishing Lord of Chaos.  It took him 19 months to release book seven in the Wheel of Time series, A Crown of Swords, and with so many complicated plot lines and tons of additional characters, it is not hard to see why.  Jordan had created such a detailed world in the first six books that pulling the series down the far side of the story’s curve seems to be proving a daunting task indeed.  Although A Crown of Swords was certainly far from my favorite novel in the series, many fascinating events take place which help pull the whole epic in the right direction within a surprisingly short number of pages.

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