The Remedy of Books

This Newbery award winner is a book that I read and loved as a child, but then forgot about for many years. Every once in a while something would remind me of it and I'd wonder, "what was that book with the volcano and the hot air balloons and the crazy houses?" but like a distant dream it had faded into the haze of my memory. I was SO pleased to rediscover it several years ago and to find out it was just as good as I had remembered it being.

The Twenty-One Balloons is an adventure story--including the aforementioned hot air balloons, volcanoes, crazy inventions, and daring escapes. The main character is Professor William Waterman Sherman, a schoolteacher who's decided he's had enough of people and wants to go on a year-long journey to nowhere in particular, as long as he's alone. He chooses to do it via a giant hot air balloon, which captures the attention and imagination of San Francisco society, and he takes off amid much fanfare. But to the surprise of the world, he is found just three weeks later floating in the Atlantic amongst the wreckage of twenty hot air balloons. What happened to his balloon? Where did the other balloons come from? And how did he get into the wrong ocean?

Readers will soon find out that Professor Sherman had ended up crash landing and was picked up by the "locals" on the island of Krakatoa (history buffs will already know how this is going to end). The population of the island is mysteriously wealthy, and is comprised of 20 families organized into a rather strange society which centers around an alphabetical culinary arrangement. Each family has been assigned a different letter of the alphabet and a country/nationality that corresponds to that letter (A-American, B-British, C-Chinese, etc.) Each family takes turns hosting dinner for everyone else at their home and of course the home and the cuisine also matches the family's assigned nationality.
Professor Sherman is welcomed, introduced to everyone, and shown around each home--noting that they are beautiful and full of ingenious inventions. Then he is let in on the island's big secret. Which I'm not going to tell you. Because you need to read the book.

Did I mention that Pene du Bois includes a lot of fun illustrations?

The magic of this book is in the way it inspires imagination. A secret island society hidden from the rest of the world; travelling across the ocean in a hot air balloon; crazy inventions to make life easier (such as a sheet roller for beds where you just turn a crank and new sheets roll onto the mattress); and who doesn't love the idea of society centered on sharing culinary inventions? (or is that just me?) I used to try to decide which nationality I'd pick if I had to decorate my home and cook in that style for the rest of my life (still can't decide, though Italian is a strong contender). In my mind this book belongs alongside the old films of The Swiss Family Robinson and Around the World in 80 Days - adventure stories involving a lot of ingenuity, danger, and exotic places.

For my own culinary foray, I decided to make something French to go along with this book. Not because of Pene du Bois' French name (he was actually American) but because Mr. F is the one who introduces Professor Sherman to Krakatoan society.

I chose to make clafoutis as it's 1. easy, 2. summery, and 3. delicious.
I used this berry clafoutis recipe by Honest Fare and to be honest (...) I didn't change it much at all.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ¼ cups milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups berries

First, mise en place.


Then, preheat your oven to 350 F (177C).

Next you pretty much just blend the ingredients. Easy peasy. In your blender (or if you're me, your Ninja) put the milk, 1/3 cup of the sugar (the rest will be used a bit later), eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, lemon zest, and cinnamon.


Blend.

Mmm, custardy.

Pour a quarter inch layer of the batter in a lightly buttered baking dish (I used a small pie dish) and put it in the preheated oven until batter firms up a bit. In my oven this took about 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven (don't turn off the oven) and sprinkle all your berries over the firmed up batter. Now here's where I give a word of warning: if your berries were frozen, make sure to thaw them completely and drain them. I didn't (I knew I should, but was lazy) and ended up with quite a lot of red liquid watering things down and making it take longer to cook.
Sprinkle on the remaining sugar and then pour on the rest of the batter evenly over it all.


Bake for 45-60 minutes. The clafoutis is done when puffed up and a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.
It's absolutely mandatory to serve this with fresh whipped cream.

Yesterday, one of the world's greatest authors left this realm. His wit was only matched by his ability to delve deeply into the human soul and examine, laud, or poke fun at what he found there.
Rest in peace you wonderful man.

What better time, then, to bring out a few of my absolute favorite quotes?


Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
 - A Hat Full of Sky

Mister Teatime had a truly brilliant mind, but it was brilliant like a fractured mirror, all marvelous facets and rainbows but, ultimately, also something that was broken.
- Hogfather

In Ghat they believe in vampire watermelons, although folklore is silent about what they believe about vampire watermelons. Possibly they suck back.

Generally I'm not a re-reader. I know some people have favorite books they read again and again and there are even some (somewhat obsessed) people like Christopher Lee who religiously re-read the same book every year (Lord of the Rings, for the record). It's not that I don't read some awesome books that are well worth re-reading, it's just that if I find myself with time to read, I'd rather embark on a new adventure than one I've already been on.
That said, I do have a few long-time favorites that I have read multiple times and enjoyed just as much each time. I think for someone who is generally not a re-reader, that says something about these books.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
I first read this book as part of a Robert Louis Stevenson collection (which included his less-famous but still good Black Arrow) and though I liked it, I think my image of the book was heavily shaped by the various movie adaptations I'd seen (the best of which remains Muppet Treasure Island) and I didn't digest it as well as I could have. However, several years ago I re-read it in preparation to teach it to my high school class. I am convinced there is nothing so good as studying a book to help one to appreciate it like-new. Sitting down and examining to characters, their development, the plot flow, etc. all gave me a completely new view. I've since read it again, and likely will in the future. It is the quintessential pirate book (treasure, adventure on the high seas, mutiny, hostages, ghosts, gun fights, murder, maroonees!) and even more than 120 years later I think the story appeals to adventurous people of all ages.

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
When I was a very young child my dad read these books to me and my older brother. We got them from our church library one at a time, and he would read a couple chapters to us each night. Let me tell you, having to wait until the next day to find out what happens in the next chapter was both agonizing and fun. But I was too young to read them myself and imagining what might happen next was part of the fun. I don't think much of the stories themselves sunk in for long. They took on a specialness due to my dad's excitement as he read them, but I was left with good if fuzzy memories of the books.
It was many years later (I was probably 12 or 13) that I re-discovered the books. A friend gifted me with the whole set and I read through them in record time. They remain some of my favorite books and some of the easiest to re-read when I need something magical in my life.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Firstly, let's get the travesty that is Miyazaki's interpretation of this book out of the way. The movie took characters and elements from Jones' wonderful book, and, as much as I generally like Miyazaki I have to say, he completely ruined them.
Now the book on the other hand is one of my all-time favorites. I've both read it multiple times as well as listened to it brilliantly read by Jenny Sterlin (great Welsh accent) and enjoyed it just as much each time. Something about Diana Wynne Jones' writing makes me happy. Her stories always have a fun magical atmosphere and keep you reading--I usually finish her books quite quickly because I enjoy the worlds she creates so much that each time I pause my reading (for something mundane like going to bed, or going to work) I want to get back to them as soon as I can.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
I've read other writing by Bram Stoker and have to say that based on his other writing it almost seems that Dracula must have been written by someone else. The other books and stories are rather a mess. The biggest puzzle to me was The Lair of the White Worm which not only appears to have been written by someone with multiple personalities, but also while they were on drugs.
However he did it though, Stoker really struck gold with Dracula. One of the older vampire books (though not the first) Dracula is wonderful at making vampires not only scary but truly evil. Stoker's brilliant use of religious imagery corrupted and distorted into something evil makes for the creepiest and best vampire book I've ever read.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

I think part of what makes Alice such a re-readable and beloved book is that you can get as much out of it as you like. If you read through quickly and focus on it as a story you get to adventure through some very strange places and meet some truly ridiculous characters. If you read through with a bit more concentration you get to appreciate Carroll's wordplay, puns, and wit. He was rather brilliant and liked to try out words in many different ways as he could. I definitely missed a lot the first time I read through it (I was rather young as well) and the second time I read it I realized how much he was playing with words and phrases linguistically.
The book is great for quotations as well...

"'Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
'I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, 'so I can't take more.'
'You mean you can't take less,' said the Hatter: 'It's very easy to take more than nothing.'"

I won a free copy of the audio book at the Brooklyn Book Fair this past September and am in the middle of listening to it. Jim Dale is very good as the narrator, but I do find his Cheshire Cat voice quite creepy.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

This book is SO good. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are two of my favorite authors and are my hands-down favorite living authors. Each time I read this book it's just as funny as the first time. As with many books in which Pratchett has had a hand, there are so many cultural references and in-jokes you're sure to find new ones each time you read; I've had many "oh, that's what that's from!" moments.
It's currently being made into a radio play (due out this Christmas) and I couldn't be more pleased.