approaches, this thorough account will
appeal to fans of true crime, especially
those familiar with New England.
(BookLife)
Lifestyle
Food
Korean Food Made Simple
Judy Joo. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $30
(288p) ISBN 978-0-544-66330-5
Joo, host of the Cooking Channel’s
Korean Food Made Simple, brings her unique
style to Korean cuisine in this delightful
and original book. Joo was raised in New
Jersey by Korean parents and trained at
the French Culinary Institute, and her
recipes reflect this fusion of cultures and
flavors. Her main focus remains on Korean
cuisine, but she adds her own modern
twists to reflect her complex palate. Kimchi
pulled-pork disco fries, ultimate KFC
(Korean fried chicken), and kimchi and
bacon brioche are just a few examples of
her appealing innovations. She provides a
useful section on pantry staples and includes
recipes for essential components of many
Korean meals, including kimchi, pancakes,
and dumplings. Crispy anchovies, kimchi
fried rice, and “krazy” Korean burgers
(made with ginger, pancetta, soybean paste,
and seltzer) exemplify the wide range of
combinations that Joo embraces. Soy-glazed
tofu salad, “magical” chicken ginseng
soup, and spicy pork belly cheesesteak
are all big on flavor and use easy-to-find
ingredients. Joo notes that traditional
Korean desserts don’t translate well to a
Western palate, so she’s revamped traditional
offerings to create tempting combinations
such as caramel doenjang ice cream, spicy
molten chocolate lava cakes, seaweed
shortbread, and Korean coffee brownies.
Cooks looking to make a first foray into
Korean cooking or those wishing to
enhance their knowledge will delight in
Joo’s uncommon approach and her tasty
creations. (May)
Whole World Vegetarian
Mari Simmons. HMH/Martin, $23 (320p)
ISBN 978-0-544-01845-7
With a simple premise—that culinary
inspiration in a global society comes from
all around the world—Simmons (The Good
Egg; Fresh & Fast Vegetarian) offers this
against declining sales by working closely
with franchise owners; Pirch, a small home
fixture retailer chain that focuses on cus-
tomer experience; and Buffalo Wild Wings,
which defied the downward trend for the
“casual dining” industry. These examples
demonstrate that brand value increases
through a company’s actions. Engaging
and informative, this succinct book sheds
important insight on the operational
value of a company’s brand and shows how
it can take an organization from good to
great. (BookLife)
Perfection to a Fault:
A Small Murder in Ossipee,
New Hampshire, 1916
Janice S.C. Petrie. Seatales, $7.99 e-book
(154p) ISBN 978-0-9705510-0-9
Children’s book author Petrie’s crisp,
quick-moving true crime account details
the gruesome 1916 murder of Florence
Arlene Small at the house she shared with
her abusive husband, Frederick Small, in
Carroll County, N.H. The victim’s body
was found shot,
bludgeoned,
and strangled in
shallow base-
ment water after
a fire burned
down the pri-
mary structure
of the Smalls’
Ossipee Lake
cottage. Petrie
starts the book
in 1955 with her own link to the case (as a
child she spent a night in the restored
cottage where the murder took place),
then goes back to Florence’s last day of life.
She also examines the court record to
provide a diligent account of the trial to
convict Frederick for premeditated murder.
Evidence against Frederick mounted: his
manipulative past; the inventory of what
he took with him to Boston after the
murder, including a traveling satchel with
the house deed; pieces of a timed incendiary
device; proof of a recent purchase of kerosene; and a new life insurance policy on
Florence. Petrie (Something’s Tugging on My
Claw!) expertly puts details into historical
context and annotates each chapter with
newspaper and court documentation.
Written in 2000 but even more intriguing
as the 100th anniversary of the crime
Family History of Fear: A Memoir
Agata Tuszyanska. Knopf, $27.95 (400p)
ISBN 978-0-375-41370-4
Tuszyanska, a poet who grew up in
Poland in the years after Hitler decimated
its Jews, wrote this bleak memoir after she
learned, at age 19, that she is half Jewish.
Her Jewish mother was determined to
hide her identity because she believed
silence was safer: “You never knew when
they would come after you again.”
Learning all this startles Tuszyanska
into a quest to discover every family
member’s history, and her reporting ends
up producing too much detail about too
many characters. At times, her narrative
has the feel of someone else’s grandmother
telling you what each of the long-dead
people in her black-and-white photo collection ate for breakfast. But at her best,
when Tuszyanska is describing life under
Hitler and her search to find the people
who knew her family, she writes horror
with great power in spare prose: a synagogue burns, a two-year-old Christian
child is killed and Jews are accused of the
murder, and a man saves her mother and
grandmother from anti-Semitic bullies
and then delivers them to the Gestapo.
Under the piles of research, a patient and
determined reader will find a tragic story
about a woman’s search for identity. (May)
Extraordinary Experiences:
What Great Retail and Restaurant
Brands Do
Denise Lee Yohn. Denise Lee Yohn, $2.99
(81p) ISBN 978-0-692-54218-7
Yohn (What Good Brands Do), an expert
on branding, passionately and convincingly argues that—contrary to media
reports—branding is not dead. Instead,
she asserts, it has evolved to stand for
much more than mere image. She states
that while most companies think of their
brand as a fixed word, phrase, or image,
organizations with great brands use them
as tools to direct each and every step they
make. To show how this is done effectively,
Yohn includes fascinating case studies from
the restaurant and retail industries, which,
she writes, enjoy a uniquely direct relationship with their customers. She is quick
to stress, however, that the book’s lessons
are accessible and applicable to any industry
or organization. She highlights Popeyes
Louisiana Kitchen, which fought back
