No Place Like Home: A Novel

Book Description

In a riveting thriller from the #1 bestselling Queen of Suspense, a young woman is ensnared into returning to the childhood home she wanted to leave behind forever -- and where her hidden past emerges with a new and deadly twist.

Ten-year-old Liza Barton shoots her mother while trying to protect her from her violent husband -- Liza's stepfather. While the death is ruled accidental, the tabloids still compare Liza to the child murderess Lizzie Borden.

Liza's adoptive parents change her name to Celia and try to erase all traces of her past. Widowed after a brief marriage in which she had a son, Jack, she remarries a young lawyer. Celia is happy until, on her birthday, he presents her with a gift -- the house where she killed her mother. On moving in, they find the words LITTLE LIZZIE'S PLACE - BEWARE painted in red letters on the lawn. When the real estate agent who sold the house to her husband is murdered, she becomes a suspect. As she struggles to prove her innocence, Celia and her little son are being stalked by the killer.

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"In a riveting new thriller from America's Queen of Suspense, a young woman is ensnared into returning to a place she had wanted to leave behind forever -- her childhood home. There, at the age of ten, Liza Barton had shot her mother, trying desperately to protect her from her estranged step-father, Ted Cartwright. Despite his claim that the shooting was a deliberate act, the Juvenile Court ruled the death an accident. Many people, however, agreed with Cartwright, and the tabloids compared her to the infamous murderess Lizzie Borden, pointing even to the similarity of their names. To erase Liza's past, her adoptive parents change her name to Celia. At age twenty-eight, a successful interior designer in Manhattan, she marries a childless sixty-year-old widower, Laurence Foster, and they have a son. Before their marriage, she reveals to him her true identity. Two years later, on his deathbed, he makes her swear never to tell anyone so that their son, Jack, will not carry the stigma of her past. Two years later, Celia is happily remarried. Her peace of mind is shattered when her new husband, Alex Nolan, surprises her with a gift -- the house in Mendham, New Jersey, where she killed her mother. On the day they move in, they find the words little lizzie's place -- beware painted on the lawn, splotches of red paint all over the house, and a skull and crossbones carved into the door. More and more, there are signs that someone in the community knows Celia's true identity. When Georgette Grove, the real estate agent who sold the house to Alex, is brutally murdered and Celia is the first on the crime scene, she becomes a suspect. As Celia fights to prove her innocence, she is not aware that she and her son, Jack, are now the targets of a killer. "

Customer Reviews:

Worst book ever.......2007-08-31

I have been listening to the Audio Book version of this novel. I've never written a review before, nor have I ever listened or read anything by Mary Higgins Clark before. This book is so awful that it's laughable and I just had to go to Amazon and read some other thoughts. Surprised I was, no flabbergasted, to find good reviews! If you're at all a discerning reader/listener, you can approach this epic for a good laugh, or forget it.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME.......2007-07-30

GREAT BOOK ON CD. I ENJOY LISTENING TO IT WHILE ON LONG DRIVES IN MY CAR.

Interesting Plot.......2007-07-15

Mary Higgins Clark once again delivered an enjoyable book. It was based on a grown women who killed her mother when she was a child. The characters were well developed as was the story line. There was one part of the mystery which was apparent from almost the beginning but there were some twists.

Still the Reigning Queen of Suspense!.......2007-07-09

"No Place Like Home" suggests a novel that would take place in a cozy farmhouse with a porch swing and a grapevine wreath on the door. The scents of fresh baked bread and a slow cooker full of roast with potatoes and carrots would be wafting through every room. A cool breeze would billow Priscilla curtains, as muffled sounds of a family's joyful interaction would be heard throughout the house.

Wrong.

Mary Higgins Clark's newest mystery novel is set in a home that holds chilling memories of murder for the woman who lived there as a child.

When her new husband bought the beautiful older house for her as a surprise, he believed it would be the house of her dreams. He had no way of knowing that for twenty-four years, it had been the house of her nightmares.

Mary Higgins Clark has done it again, retaining her title as Queen of Suspense.

Entertaining, but a bit farfetched........2007-06-28

I could go into the plot of the book here, but I believe that there are more than a handful of reviews that have already covered it. Instead, let me give my impression of this tale. Mary Higgins Clark seems to focus the entire storyline on a little known New Jersey law that states the responsibility to reveal any disturbing facts about a house to a potential buyer. Out of this law, she has created this book.

I am a big fan of Mary Higgins Clark and this work is entertaining and surprising to say the least. But, there are just too many people with not quite a good enough memory to remember Celia/Liza. For a story of her killing her mother and seriously wounding her step-father, no one ever bothered to keep tabs on little Liza which gave her the chance to go far away and erase her past.

But, wait, there are some who do remember and there is one who fools everyone. In the end, the brave Celia who is so level-headed and has successfully established herself both economically and professionally is so easily fooled by the one she trusts the most. Sorry, but just a bit too farfetched to believe. While the story is wonderfully told, as are all MHC novels, this one borders on the line between suspense and fantasy.

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No Place Like Home: A Novel
Mary Higgins Clark
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WI868S

No Place Like Home: The Literary Artist and Russia's Search for Cultural Indentity (S U N Y Series, Margins of Literature)

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No Place Like Home: The Literary Artist and Russia's Search for Cultural Indentity (S U N Y Series, Margins of Literature)
Amy C. Singleton
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Eastern European | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Russian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Russian | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0791433994

Book Description

Explores the way that four major works of Russian literature--Gogol's Dead Souls, Goncharov's Oblomov, Zamiatin's We, and Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita--define a cultural "self" for the Russian people. Focusing on the deep cultural currents that pull Russian society in contradictory ways, Noplace Like Home also explores the writer's struggle to overcome these tensions through the creation of a literary utopia.

Noplace Like Home uses four masterpieces of Russian literature--Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, Ivan Goncharov's Oblomov, Evgenii Zamiatin's We, and Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita--to show the successes and failings in Russia's search for home and self. Interdisciplinary in spirit, Noplace Like Home introduces Russian culture for the first time to the field of "home studies," which explores human identity in terms of man's relationship with domestic space. This broad social context, together with general cultural patterns expressed in the novels, encourages readers to consider even the most current events in Russian society--where identity and stability are again key issues--in terms of "home," "homelessness," and "noplace."

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Nothing Better: No Place Like Home
Tyler M. Page
Manufacturer: Dementian Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0972080139

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This Dame for Hire/False Testimony: A Crime Novel/No Place Like Home/Twisted (Reader's Digest Select Editions, Volume 6: 2005)
Sandra Scoppettone , Rose Connors , Mary Higgins Clark , and Jonathan Kellerman
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000DT807I

Product Description

4 Exciting Mysteries

Customer Reviews:

A Great Book For Anyone in the Product Business.......2005-07-14

This outstanding book is said to be aimed at design students, professionals, or anyone else who could benefit from af uller appreciation of the design process. And yes, I have to agree, it is.

More important to me however is the presentation in this book of the essence of what design is all about. This is the kind of book that the financial people behind a new big hotel should read. It is the book that a product development engineer should read before he starts working with his industrial designer. This is the book that nearly any business manager from marketing, to engineering, to sales, should read.

The first time I travelled to Scandinavia I was struck with the simple elements of design that they do so much better than we do in this country. Simple things like the design of hotel doors, no more expensive than what we do here, just better.

And the sub-title, 'why there are no locks on the bathrobe doors in the Hotel Louis XIV' -that's a great story, it makes such eminent sense. A special problem, a great design, see page 179.

Great introduction to the meaningful aspects of Design.......1998-11-27

A must have for all Designers interested in understanding how products are ultimately judged within their context-by thier effectiveness and usefulness.The six levels of Design Caplan outlines is a great measuring stick for all disciplines of Design and Engineering.

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Not Free SF Reader
Schizophrenia - Pure, Simple, And Brilliant
Sorry - my opinion differs
Speculative fiction of the highest quality
Let's Pray For A Sequel

There Are Doors
Gene Wolfe
Manufacturer: Orb Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312872305

Book Description

There Are Doors is the story of a man who falls in love with a goddess from an alternate universe. She flees him, but he pursues her through doorwaysinter-dimensional gatewaysto the other place, determined to sacrifice his life, if necessary, for her love. For in her world, to be her mate is to die.

Customer Reviews:

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Another Wolfe oddity. An ordinary man discovers that there are
passageways to other places and worlds. He becomes obsessed with a
superior specimen of woman, a goddess. Unlike Garth, for example, who
has a similar relationship, but is basically a superhero.

There is a question though of whether this is all real, or
something that is just in his head. So one of those stories where the
sanity of the protagonist is in quesiton.

Schizophrenia - Pure, Simple, And Brilliant.......2007-01-30

From the point of view of the schizophrenic, there is only occasional and fleeting doubt about their reality principle, and to the outside world those are the moments of clarity and hopefully the beginning of the return to normalcy. Apart from those moments, the person's worldview is as airtight as language itself - self-referencing and reinforcing.

Though the narrative of "There Are Doors" is third-person, the narrative only questions Adam Green's life and thinking when he does - which only comes with electric shock, and still are fleeting moments. The end result for the reader is that there is no independent point-of-view from which to verify or repudiate Adam's thinking, his questions and conclusions and behavior. The reader is stuck with Adam willy nilly, beginning to end.

It's a wild ride of a read that takes you from department store break room to bizarre underground theater, from talking barbie dolls to drives in big black limousines with Presidential Cabinet members. This, I think, is a testament to Wolfe's brilliance as a writer: he's committed to describing the world from Adam's point of view alone, to tying it all together in a mad, coherent whole. Either it all hangs together, or none of it hangs together. That's what makes this story what it is. That's what the story is, period. And it's a great story.

For those interested in this kind of story: it's more truth than fiction, if you take the word of the author of "Operators and Things" - another out-of-print book, unfortunately. Barbara O'Brien (apparently a pseudonym) gives her ostensibly autobiographical account of her own schizophrenic episode and spontaneous remission. It reads much like "There Are Doors", and certainly they have in common the almost suffocating circular reasoning of the main character. For a quite different take on mental illness, one not quite as locked into the mind of the patient but just as jarring, is "Scandal" by Shusaku Endo.

Bravo Gene Wolfe!

Sorry - my opinion differs .......2005-11-29

Sorry my opinion differs greatly.

I cannot believe I see all those 5 stars! 5 stars to me is for Austen's Pride and Prejudice or Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. 4 Stars would be for Stephen King's Carrie or Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy. I cannot see how this book is deserving of anything more than a two tops!

I did completely fall for the character and his love for all different people he encountered, not just Lara. Even with that being said I think he really needed to pull open that hidden compartment of the desk and find a spine! Not Tina!!! How wishy-washy can one man be when it comes to matters of the heart yet be so fearless when saving another man's life?

Although I felt completely robbed at the ending and wished for the couple weekends back that it took me to read this book, I would not buy a sequel if there were one.

I wouldn't classify this book as Science Fiction Fantasy at all - I would call it delusional at best.

Speculative fiction of the highest quality.......2003-09-10

I rarely praise any book quite so highly as I am about to praise this one. A great novel is one that, in addition to telling a good story, gets better on every re-reading and rewards its readers more and more as their understanding grows. This is a terrific story that holds a great wealth for the reader to discover, and thus I'm forced to admit that I do think this really is a great novel.

The style, if not the content, is definitely influenced by Kafka - there are deliberate references thrown in and even a character unmistakably based on Kafka himself. This is far from a retread of "The Trial", however.

The protagonist is led on a surreal chase through another dimension in search of "the Goddess", who he has fallen in love with after a short tryst in his own dimension. This other world is strange, yet familiar: it runs a bit slower in time (the clock, one might say, has gone by now about 40 years slow), but the major difference is that here, for unexplained reasons, human males inevitably die after mating. This creates a (significantly) bee-like social structure with childbearing women (queens, if you will) in the positions of power; the men are for the most part skittishly subservient, but with a dangerous revolutionary undercurrent.

Most of the struggle in this book, however, is internal, as neither the reader nor the protagonist himself has a firm grasp on his own identity. What is his real name? Is he really an "alcoholic"? Is he mad? Is he, perhaps, a god?

A bit of knowledge about ancient myth will greatly expand the scope of your experience with this book - it is a good story regardless, but looking up some myths (if you don't know it already) will open up a whole new dimension to things. A knowledge of mythology and the world of myths itself will take you even further. Reading Campbell - or better yet, Robert Graves - is a great help in appreciating the artistic depth in much of Wolfe's work, and especially this book. Hopefully "There Are Doors" will encourage you to check these out, if you haven't already. But all this aside, this was a tremendous novel and I recommend it highly.

Let's Pray For A Sequel.......2002-07-04

I have always wished for a continuation of this story. The way the story logic is left only partially revealed is beyond cruel! There's a lot more that can be done with these ideas...

Is Your Bed Still There When You Close the Door?

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Is Your Bed Still There When You Close the Door?
Jane Healy
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Family Activities | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Accessories:

ASIN: 0385417624
Release Date: 1992-05-01

Where the Wild Things Are CD: In the Night Kitchen,Outside Over There, Nutshell Library,Sign on Rosie's Door, Very Far Away

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Where the Wild Things Are CD: In the Night Kitchen,Outside Over There, Nutshell Library,Sign on Rosie's Door, Very Far Away
Maurice Sendak
Manufacturer: HarperChildrensAudio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0061227404
Release Date: 2007-05-29

Book Description

Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are was published in 1963 to great critical acclaim. Brian O'Doherty of The New York Times said that Mr. Sendak's work, "disguised in fantasy, springs from his earliest self, from the vagrant child that lurks in the heart of all of us."

Where the Wild Things Are is the first book in a trilogy that includes In the Night Kitchen, published in 1970, "a profoundly engaging fantasy that ought to become a classic" (The New York Times) and Outside Over There, published in 1981, which Newsweek called "extraordinary... triumphantly moving."

BARBIE AND KEN: My Friend the Pioneer; Happy New Mr. Christmas (One act play); The Friendship Club; The Boy Next Door; The Rose and the Thorn; The House of Cards (One act play); Sing Along With Ken; There's Something About A Soldier

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BARBIE AND KEN: My Friend the Pioneer; Happy New Mr. Christmas (One act play); The Friendship Club; The Boy Next Door; The Rose and the Thorn; The House of Cards (One act play); Sing Along With Ken; There's Something About A Soldier
Cynthia; Maybee, Bette Lou Lawrence
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HK6CKA

BEYOND THESE DOORS ... There Is No One To See Except Who You Are

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BEYOND THESE DOORS ... There Is No One To See Except Who You Are
Francis A. Love
Manufacturer: Samadhi Cave and Hermitage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Pamphlet

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000N5ZR6O

The Boy Next Door: There is Nothing Average About ...

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The Boy Next Door: There is Nothing Average About ...
Meggin Cabot
Manufacturer: Avon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739428225

By the Sunset There's a Door: Poetry, Prose and Essays Celebrating Nature and Humanity

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By the Sunset There's a Door: Poetry, Prose and Essays Celebrating Nature and Humanity

Manufacturer: Sun Sings Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0972142959

Story Magazine [Autumn 1999] (Story Magazine)

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Story Magazine [Autumn 1999] (Story Magazine)

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F1ZYU0

Product Description

My Story (Aryeh Lev Stollman); A genealogy of Longing (Lan Samantha Chang); The Harp (Carol Shields); The Gleaners (Pinckney Benedict); Clearing God's name (Nathan Englander); Touch and Go (Elizabeth Graver); Reyes (Abraham Rodriguez); Swans (Rick Bass); Nothing (R.O. Blechman); A Hero of Chickamauga (Chris Adrian); God is a Short Word (Max Steele); Bones of the Inner Ear (Kiana Davenport); The Mystery (Carolyn Ferell); The Deaf Girl (Barry Lopez); The Barter (Joyce Carol Oates); As if There Were Trees (Colum McCann); Otis is Resurrected (Brady Udall); The Door (Andrea Barrett); Flaca (Junot Diaz); The Story (Amy Bloom); Index of all contributors to Story Magazine

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THERE ARE DOORS
Gene Wolfe
Manufacturer: TOR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P0TRC2

Book Description

With over a quarter million copies in print, You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! is one of the bestselling books on attention deficit disorder (ADD) ever written. There is a great deal of literature about children with ADD. But what do you do if you have ADD and aren't a child anymore? This indispensable reference -- the first of its kind written for adults with ADD by adults with ADD -- focuses on the experiences of adults, offering updated information, practical how-tos and moral support to help readers deal with ADD. It also explains the diagnostic process that distinguishes ADD symptoms from normal lapses in memory, lack of concentration or impulsive behavior. Here's what's new:

The new medications and their effectiveness

The effects of ADD on human sexuality

The differences between male and female ADD -- including falling estrogen levels and its impact on cognitive function

The power of meditation

How to move forward with coaching

And the book still includes advice about:

Achieving balance by analyzing one's strengths and weaknesses

Getting along in groups, at work and in intimate and family relationships -- including how to decrease discord and chaos

Learning the mechanics and methods for getting organized and improving memory

Seeking professional help, including therapy and medication

Customer Reviews:

You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder.......2007-08-17

This is a must-have for people with ADHD or those who interact with an ADHD individual. I have gotten to understand myself better from reading this book, and I feel a sense of relief now that I know I am not "Lazy, Stupid or Crazy!" I actually had a hard time putting this book down, it was easy to read after a long day at work - I was surprised to find it so humorous and entertaining - something that I haven't found too often in a book of this sort. It is by far the best book on ADHD that I have read; I highly recommend it.

Excellent book on Adult ADHD.......2007-01-24

An excellent book on the subject of adult ADHD. If you think you have it, or have been recently diagnosed, this book will give you a great deal of insight into the disorder, and offer loads of self-help advice. Written by two women who themselves have adult ADHD, they really know what they're talking about. Buy it today!

Finally it's mine!.......2007-01-23

I checked this book out from my local library and was amazed as I read it. They were talking about me! I checked it out again a year later and began rereading it. I saw so much more that time. I renewed it the maximum amount of times and had to return it. After I checked it out for the third time I got around to buying it. Now I can read again --- but this time make all kinds of notes in the margins. Thank you for a wonderful reference, a lifesaver for me.

you mean I'm not lazy, stupid or crazy.......2007-01-15

I was not disappointed in the condition of the book, and it arrived within in a timely manner. No complaints - good service.

You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?.......2007-01-11

Easy to understand. A help in understanding the problem people have. I helps the victim and the victimized.

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You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy.
Kate and Peggy Ramunndo. Kelly
Manufacturer: Scribner Pub.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NGRAMM

You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! A Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder

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You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! A Self-Help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder
Kate Kelly; Peggy Ramundo
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QY9UJW

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You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: A Self-Help Book for Adults With Attention Deficit Disorder
Kate; Ramundo, Peggy Kelly
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RABTUS

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You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid Or Crazy?! A Self-help Book For Adults With Attention Deficit Disorder
Kate and Ramundo, Peggy; Foreword by Silver, Larry B., M.D. Kelly
Manufacturer: Fireside / Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K0BBW6

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You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!

Manufacturer: SIMON & SCHUSTER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GR0YF8

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Not too thrilled

Beats the Restaurant dishes at first try!

Vege Thai to Love

Excellent Introduction to Thai Vegetarian Cuisine.Buy It.

A guide to the joy of meatless cuisine

Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style
Chat Mingkwan
Manufacturer: Book Publishing Company (TN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Thai | Asian | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Vegetables & Vegetarian | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Real Vegetarian Thai

Indian Vegetarian Cooking at Your House

The Greek Vegetarian: More Than 100 Recipes Inspired by the Traditional Dishes and Flavors of Greece

Flavors of India: Vegetarian Indian Cuisine

Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East & North Africa

ASIN: 1570671613

Book Description

Here is a great collection of Thai recipes in terms of taste and execution for the home cook, adjusted to please Western vegetarian tastes. Enjoy salads, soups, stir-fries and curries, beautifully illustrated with full-color photographs. The author regularly appears as a guest chef at major culinary schools.

Customer Reviews:

Not too thrilled.......2007-10-02

I've made 3 recipes from this book, and all of them were edible, although the Tom Kha required some alterations before I was willing to serve it.

I think the problem here is that the author is not himself a vegetarian (according to the intro) and therefore is not familiar with typical substitutions. The Tom Kha recipe omitted the usual fish sauce--just omitted it without any replacements. Could we use a konbu soupbase for a fishy flavor? Maybe some of that fermented bean paste? Something was missing. I'll have to attempt my own substitutions.

The Phad Thai recipe also just omitted the fish sauce without replacements. It had a pretty good flavor though. My husband thought it was great.

The author seems to use mushrooms in place of meat in most recipes. I like mushrooms, but if you don't, be warned.

I am familiar with good Thai flavor--there was a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant near where I used to live. The walls of the restaurant were decorated with framed magazine articles naming that restaurant as the most authentic Thai restaurant in the western United States. The food was excellent. The recipes in this cookbook are just close enough to remind me of that Thai restaurant, but far enough to make me really miss good Thai food.

The first time I opened this book, it made a cracking sound and now the pages are falling out; inferior binding, but the other books I own in this series are not falling apart.

Beats the Restaurant dishes at first try!.......2007-09-18

I did not expect so much from this book and was worried I would never be able to find all the ingredients listed here, but boy was I wrong. I was able to find most of the ingredients at 99 ranch (Chinese market) and the book also lists colorful pictures and descriptions of the major ingredients listed in the recipes. I just made Phad Thai & Red Curry from scratch using this book and they were absolutely amazing. I'm a novice at cooking but these dishes were in some ways even better than some of the Thai restaurants I've been to, not just because it's less oily and less salty but very tasty! I can't wait to try rest of the recipes to add to my home cooked vegetarian meals. Definitely recommend it.

Vege Thai to Love.......2005-08-20

A very good local Thai restaurant had recently closed and my wife and I were looking for some replacement when we found this cookbook in a vege zine. The recipe's are great and easy to follow. We made the Tom Yum which is a lemon grass soup and it was excellent, just like the restaurant.

Excellent Introduction to Thai Vegetarian Cuisine.Buy It........2005-03-05

`Budda's Table' by Chat Mingkwan looks like a typical `little cookbook' you commonly see published by Chronicle Books, some of which are decent and some of which are a waste of money compared to other titles available for a similar price. This book, published by a house with the incredibly modest name of `Book Publishing Company' out of Summertown, Tennessee, has lots to offer, even if it isn't published by Alfred A. Knopf, Harper Collins, or Artisan.

Unlike the dominant cuisines of India, Thai cooking is not inherently vegetarian, and yet Buddhism, a religion with strong vegetarian tendencies is the most important religion in Thailand. This gives rise to the book's title and subtitle, `Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style'. This means that fish sauce, one of the most important Thai ingredients, has been removed from all recipes. This is probably about as dramatic as removing anchovies from all Italian dishes. Fortunately, the wealth of southeast Asian fermented bean pastes are up to filling in the gaps left by removing the famous `Nam Pla' from all recipes.

This is not to say Chat Mingkwan has abandoned Thai traditional cooking. He begins his book with an excellent little guide to Thai ingredients which is no replacement for good references such as Bruce Cost's `Asian Ingredients', but it is an honest coverage of the field with a firm commitment to the belief that there are a lot of Thai ingredients with which you cannot substitute and expect to achieve the right Thai taste. Foremost of these in my mind is galangal, a rhizome with some resemblance to ginger. But, based on the scientific names of the two plants, they are not closely related. They certainly do not belong to the same genus. Another unmistakable and unreplacable ingredient is tamarind. While I have never knowingly tasted galangal, I have tasted tamarind and can think of nothing in the western pantry that comes close to its taste. It is sharp, but its bite is somewhere between cassia (Asian cinnamon), licorice, and vinegar.

Thai cuisine is an ancient fusion of Indian and Chinese cuisines, jolted to an entirely new level with the addition of the capsicum chilies from the New World. I know less about Indian cooking than I do on just about every other major cuisine you can name, but it seems to me that the primary transformation from Indian to Thai cuisine seems to be the shift of curry mixtures from powders in India to pastes in Thailand. This generalization may be all wet, but it is quite true that virtually all curry bases described in this book are pastes, making the mortar and pestle a very important tool in the Thai kitchen. I agree entirely with the author and millions of Mexican home cooks and Jamie Oliver and everyone else who wants to weigh in on the subject that the mortar and pestle is simply a superior tool for making pasty mixtures than any modern blender or food processor. If you want to make serious use of this book, get a good, heavy set and find yourself a good source of Thai ingredients.

To reinforce this point, the author opens with a 15-page chapter devoted to chili and curry sauces. These recipes also reinforce the fact that you will not succeed with these recipes unless you can find a source for galangal, Kafir lime leaves, and lemongrass. Most of the other ingredients should be no problem in Mittelamerica. In my darkest Pennsylvania, my local farmers market carries fresh lemongrass and cilantro with roots and my local megamart has all the chilies, bean pastes, and tamarind you want.

The next chapter on salads and snacks includes easy recipes with that oh so distinctive Thai taste based on peanuts, lemongrass, chiles, cilantro, and tamarind. This chapter includes a recipe for the famous Pad Thai salad, where, unlike many famous French salads, the only difficult task is finding all the ingredients. The chapter also presents rice as a salad ingredient, something rather uncommon in western menus. And, if rice isn't your dish, there is always tofu.

The chapter on soups brings back my most indelible memory of eating Thai food when I asked for clear Thai soup to be done `spicy'. It was very, very, very spicy hot! Chef Mingkwan immediately scored points with me when I saw his vegetable stock recipe. My fussiest and most highly respected French sources on stocks insist that vegetables are simmered no more than an hour in a stock, and Chef Mingkwan puts his daikon and cilantro and chiles to the hot water for no more than 45 minutes. This chapter also includes a great foodie talking point recipe with a `Hunter's Soup'. This is the Thai vegetarian version of the soup one makes when the hunting has not gone too well.

The next chapter deals with stir-frying, one of the strongest influences from China on the cuisines of Southeast Asia. I have seen street food people from Burma to the Philippines use woks with almost exactly the same techniques as you may see in Shanghai or Beijing. The introduction to this chapter is a fair example of the author's sense of humor as he points out that uses for the wok include steaming, smoking, deep frying, floating on flood waters and sledding in the snow. While the stir fry recipes are very good, this book is no primer on stir-frying technique or stir-frying equipment. If you are not familiar with the wok through experience with Chinese techniques, I suggest you check out Ken Hom's `Quick Wok'. I suspect Martin Yan's earlier books are also good sources, but I have not gotten around to reviewing them yet.

This is a sample of the good Thai cooking experience available to you in this book. The value of this little book is capped with an excellent bibliography that oddly omits a reference to the definitive new work `Thai Food' by David Thompson.

A recommended easy intro to Thai cooking for vegetarians.

A guide to the joy of meatless cuisine.......2005-01-06

Written by a professional restauranteur and Thai native, and printed in binding specially designed to lay flat for easy reference in the kitchen, Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style is a guide to the joy of meatless cuisine, focusing upon food styles from all four regions of Thailand. Recipes such as Crispy Noodles, Tofu Patties, Mung Bean Wraps and more are complemented with information on how to properly prepare Thai produce, spices, noodles, wrappers, and rice for those unfamiliar with Thai ingredients. A handful of color photographs enhance this superb and easy-to-use addition to any vegetarian cookbook shelf.

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