Leslie Zemeckis's Blog

“The four winds have blown us here, people from all across the country, to the very end of this great land.”

For those of us in Montecito we are all too familiar with land we love, though lush and verdant it has on occasion “betrayed” us with drought, fires, mudslides. Still, California is the land of “milk and honey,” a place of opportunity, agricultural abundance and temperate climates.

Kristin Hannah’s compelling new novel “The Four Winds” is set during the Great Depression. Elsa Martinelli is living in Texas on her family’s farm struggling on land that has turned on them. Year-after-year they endure dust storms that blow for days, choking everything. While their livestock starve, so does the family. Hope diminishes. To stay is unendurable. With her two children, one who is desperately sick, Elsa sets off, crossing the Great Plains in search of the American Dream.

“Our kind are hardworking Americans who have hit hard times,” Elsa says, but the people in her new California town don’t want her kind; dirty, poor migrants. Searching for work, she instead finds xenophobia; locals aren’t happy to see a thousand a day “Oakies” pouring into California. No one will rent Elsa a room. No one will hire her.

I spoke with Hannah who explains when migrants arrived here, it was “a time of
great tension and mistrust… when most Californians were already suffering.”

Elsa sets up “home” in a crowded migrant camp, sleeping on dirty floors. Eventually, she secures work at a large labor camp picking cotton, renting a cabin, with real floors, buying food from the company store. All on credit. With low wages and no labor protections, Elsa spirals deeper into debt.

“The Four Winds” is a sweeping story about the strength of a woman discovering how to be brave. It is as much a story about the migrants, and the injustices they faced, as it is a story about love of family, and who we call family, about a community that pulls together to feed, cloth, nurse the sick. As our community here has often done.

I found myself chocking up over several heart wrenching scenes, hospitals that turn away sick migrants, schools that don’t want their children. As much cruelty as is displayed there is also love and the coming together of community to help one another in Hannah’s emotional novel. Her prose is lyrical, her novel epic and it is one of those stories you will sink into. Elsa discovers she is courageous. As she is reminded, as we can all be reminded these days, “Hard times don’t last. Love does.”


More stories: “Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember” by Christine Hyung-Oak Lee, an extraordinary memoir about a 33-year-old aspiring writer who loses her short-term memory and her words. If you like thrillers check out Rachel Hawkins’ “The Wife Upstairs.” Jane’s new boyfriend might or might not have anything to do with the mysterious disappearance of his last wife. Lots of great twists in this one.

What starts out as an interesting premise
quickly turns into silliness. Was the author really so comfortable living the life of a Park Avenue Mommy and "deceiving" her "friends"? Ultimately it didn't matter.

Try a silly drink with this
champagne
grenadine
lime juice
splash of vodka.

Fascinating history of murder, prostitution, and corruption in Crescent City during the early-twentieth century. Though difficult to read, and a bit slow the characters are worth the wading through.
This one deserves a pairing with a twist on the classic Hurricane:
rum
orange juice
lime juice
fresh passion fruit or syrup
splat of melted butter
serve over ice and read about corrupt politicians, and how the free wheeling color blind New Orleans became a place of divided race and economic lines.

I learned so much from this book by Leslie Smith Dow. The beautiful daughter of Victor Hugo was cultured, privileged and ultimately schizophrenic. Her end was sad. Surprisingly Adele is considered a feminist role-model because of her independence and thwarting of women's traditional roles.
Settle in with a Hugo:

Champagne
fresh lemon juice
a sugar cube
dash of absinthe

Fast-paced, loveable, engaging. Settle back for a quick read with some seriously flawed characters:

A twisted lemon drop:
1 1/4 oz vodka - chilled
1/4 oz triple sec
1/4 oz lemon juice
a dash of bitters
garnish with a sprig of rosemary and lemon

You'll enjoy this book even while you pretend to hate it.

Niece Dean Faulkner Wells' book about her Uncle is "light" on Faulkner history deep on southern charm and nostalgia. The author doesn't delve too deeply into moments of darkness in the genius Faulkner's life. Still it is entertaining and a fast read. Pull up a Classic:

gin
tonic
cucumber
fresh lime juice
lime garnish
pour over ice and pretend you're feeling the warm breezes of Charleston

Mix yourself a Twins:
Tequila
fresh lime
agave syrup
muddled cucumber
muddled basil

With this drink you'll immediately belong to this family of "freaks" the Binewskis. From Siamese Twins (think Bound by Flesh - the film) to "Freaks" film caterpiller man, this book is an original. This is my second time through the book and I was engaged, repulsed and devestated by narrator Oly, the albino hunchback who will go to any lengths to save her daughter. Not spoiling this at all with plot. This writer is a marvel. I wish she had written something after this. Oh well, we'll always have Geek Love

The Kenyan: 1 1/2 oz rye whiskey
1/4 oz grapefruit juice
1/4 oz lemon
dash of cinnamon
dash bitters
pour over ice and slip into the exotic world of journalist Aidan Hartley's engaging memoir of his years through many heartbreaking wars in his beloved Africa. I read this while on safari in Kenya, but even for arm-chair safari's this book is adventurous.

The only drink appropriate for this astounding - long-ago written book, that I wasn't ready to read til now is a cold acid, sweet bitter beautiful glass of water.
There really is nothing more that can be said for Morrison's gorgeously written book (1987)- oh towards the end I could not not put this book down.
it is everything and more

As always keeping this light - with no plot giveaways. After reading Edward Rutherfurd's gorgeous Paris, I've ordered all his books. So clearly I've become a fan. I recommend a sassy champagne cocktail with this thick - worth it Paris bio.
40 ml dry gin
20 ml lemon juice and a dash of lime
simple syrup to taste
the rest champagne

Will make this well-woven multi-generational book worth the trip. You'll feel as if you've gotten a healthy dose of French history without the aftertaste.