City Social Magazine in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Issue link: https://citysocial.epubxp.com/i/793515
20 l ouisianans, (natural born and transplanted) historically embrace three of the many motives for being here: food, lsu sports, and well-told stories of intrigue and romance. a nd l ouisiana authors like n ick m ainieri, Jeffrey m arx and t i a delaide m artin happily offer their literary works that are guar- anteed to satisfy the insatiable reading appetite for these favorite subjects. In his first novel, "The Infinite", Nick Mainieri brings to his readers a contemporary story set in 2010 against the background of a New Orleans struggling to rebuild itself post-Katrina, with scenes set in parts of Mexico where the book's heroine confronts fear and violent events there. He intricately weaves a story of the two settings as they play significant roles in the lives of the book's characters, Luz and Jonah, as they battle to circumvent the heartbreaking destiny they may face. Mainieri's authentic descriptions and flawless storytell- ing transport the reader to New Orleans at some of its most romantic sites, contrasting them to areas of the city where, in reality, living in the Crescent City is more challenging than romantic. Of special praise is the author's accounts of the dark existence and the appall- ing living conditions across the border where disregard for decency and human life is rampant. Mainieri clev- erly introduces some of the Spanish dialect that is part of Luz's world. The author crafted "The Infinite" from the position of an empathetic observer during his stays in New Orleans and Mexico. "I think a lot of fiction writers have a hard time determining where their ideas come from, particularly when the characters' lives do not represent their own in the details," said Mainieri, who grew up in the loving family of his father, LSU baseball coach, Paul Mainieri and his mother, Karen, along with his siblings. For Nick Mainieri, reading literature can be understood as a journey of a kind. "Stories are devices that literally cross the borders between individuals," he noted. Embarking on a journey through the pages of the "The Infinite" is certainly one very much worth taking. "Walking With Tigers, a Collection of LSU Sports Stories" is a brilliant work of non-fiction from trans- planted Louisianan and author Jeffrey Marx, who became a devoted citizen warmly embracing everything about our culture after settling in Baton Rouge, where he now resides. It was fate and our good fortune that Marx met and married a lovely girl from Thibodaux and moved to Baton Rouge in 2007 from Washington D.C., bringing his talents as a writer and storyteller to Louisiana's pool of great hometown writers. Case in point: "Walking With Tigers, A Collection of LSU Sports Stories". "I am a fan of the LSU Tigers and my lifelong love of sports played a big role in my transition to Louisiana," said Marx, a Pulitzer Prize winner. Inspired by years of reading, he knew by the time he was in the third grade that he wanted to someday be a writer. "Walking With Tigers" not only appeals to addicted LSU sports fans but to those who enjoy reading about admired sports figures they may have known in the past or in the present. Marx's style is especially welcome to the reader who is perfectly content with the sheer act of listening to an interesting story told in non-fiction. The terrific first chapter, Bert Jones at Sixty, exposes the author's humor while dealing with his having arrived at his forties as he follows one of his LSU football heroes. Marx reveals the depth of the subject's character and personality, a feature that is often ignored in the genre of some publications that spotlight sports figures. With each chapter in the 292 pages, Marx offers his readers a glimpse into the lives and careers of LSU sports heroes during their reign in football, baseball and basketball; he also presents portraits of coaches, past and present, as they maneuvered their careers within the world of college sports. Of note, Marx does not exclude the female factor that makes LSU sports so popular— the famous Bengal Belles. Take an exciting stroll— "Walking With Tigers"! "Commander's Kitchen", written by Ti Adelaide Martin with Commander's Palace's then-executive chef, Jamie Shannon, is the cookbook you pull out when the kin folk arrive from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri, or any other state deprived of Southern cooking. These relatives have come not for just good eating, but the over-the-top food they have heard so much about. With no time planned to visit Commander's Palace, the next best thing a host can do is replicate one of the recipes found in the "Commander's Kitchen" cookbook. With a flourish, just display the impressive book with its blue cover that emulates the signature color of the famed restaurant itself; flip to any of the pages to find directions for preparing a dish these out-of-towners will still be salivating over on the long trip home. r e a d u s o n l i n e a t w w w . c i t y s o c i a l . c o m By Rosalind Tuminello 20 m ore l ouisiana a uthors Travel Into Their World