Lafourche DA seeks death penalty in woman’s death
September 1, 2010
Officials tout public’s participation in recycling
September 3, 2010WEIRD LOUISIANA
By Roger Manley Sterling Publishing, $19.95
Among the more fascinating things Manley finds weird are the Rip Van Winkle Gardens where some have seen green balls of fire hovering over the Jefferson mansion; the Ghosts of Susie Plantation near Centerville; the Abita Mystery House and UCM Museum in Abita Springs, north of New Orleans; Holy Mary Shrine in Golden Meadow where miracles reportedly have occurred; the World’s Smallest Church in Iberville, big enough for only the priest and altar boy to fit; and there are many more.
Time to take a trip.
LOUISIANA & NEW ORLEANS REMEMBERED
Turner Publishers renowned for its series of “Historic” photograph books now offer two: “Historic Photos of Louisiana” by Dean M. Shapiro ($39.98 Hardcover) features a collection of outstanding black and white photos as varied as the locales where they were shot: Ruins of Napoleonville; LSU campus 1909; 1886 Fireman’s Parade, Thibodaux; Oyster Shuckers at Dunbar; and Drexler Motor Company’s employees, Thibodaux; and “Remembering New Orleans” by Melissa Lee Smith ($16.95 paperback) reflects on a visit from President William Howard Taft for Mardi Gras; the country’s oldest hunting and fish club, the Tally Ho; Mardi Gras Indians; and many more. Here’s Louisiana history in pictures with brief but instructive captions.
Louisiana Rocks: The True Genesis of Rock & Roll
By Tom Aswell Pelican Publishing, $29.95
This encyclopedic book not only offers short bios of major and minor R&R artists who got their start in Louisiana, but serves as a tribute to the man most responsible for their early success, Cosimo Matassa.
Matassa’s J&M Studios in New Orleans provided fledgling young artists like Roy Brown, who recorded “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” a song considered, the book argues, as “the first rock and roll” record, well before Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock.”
Fans of Rock and Roll will especially appreciate the extensive listing of recordings in the appendix.
EVANGELINE
By Ben Farmer Overlook Press, $25.95
Lovers of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem about the star-crossed lovers, Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lejeunesse, will relish this engrossing retelling of the pair who were separated on the eve of their wedding by the British as they drove the French out of Nova Scotia.
Farmer’s debut novel fleshes out the characters and their stories: of love found, and lost; of Evangeline’s 10-year quest in search for Gabriel, journeying through wilderness, the French and Indian War and on to New Orleans, in the company of illegal trapper Bernard Arseneau and Father Felician Abadie.
This is historical fiction at its best.
BLEEDER
By John Desjarlais Imagio, $14.95
Professor Reed Stubblefield, recovering from his wife’s death and wounds suffered in a shooting at his school, checks into a cabin in a small town in Illinois where he hopes to rest and complete his book on Aristotle. Instead of a peaceful and quiet retreat, he finds the town crowded with sick and crippled people seeking a miracle from the new, young priest, Father Raymond Boudreu, who, it is claimed, bears Christ’s stigmata.
The priest and professor become fast friends and when Father Boudreu bleeds to death on Good Friday in front of horrified parishioners, police decide it is murder and make Stubblefield the prime suspect.
This is a surprising mystery thriller with unexpected twists and turns, enlightened by selected bits of Aristotelian wisdom.
HUNGRY TOWN
By Tom Fitzmorris Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 24.95
In this appetizing history, Fitzmorris takes us back to the origins of New Orleans’ great culinary restaurants.
In an especially attractive book, Fitzmorris, the Crescent City’s eminent gourmet, divides his book in two sections; pre- and post-Katrina.
In the “old world of dining” he introduces us to the creators of such classic dishes as Oysters Rockefeller, Whole Flounder Stuffed with Crabmeat and Barbeque Shrimp; as well as the creations of the new kids on the block Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme and many others.
His description of the city after Katrina, however, is a gripping portrait of a place many thought would never return but did, even bigger and better than before the storm with food leading the way. The included recipes will have you hurrying to the kitchen.
Bon Appetit!
