Rating: 
Summary: What a great book!
Review: All those with a real passion for Japanese food and culture (are these two concepts really separate?) will fall in love with this book. It's not yet another cooking book about Japan and its food, but the lively account of the year the author spent in Kyoto to learn 'tea kaiseki'. The author takes you there, and she makes you feel as if you were sharing the real experience with her. It is amazing to be able to read about the subtle nuances of Japanese cuisine, as they are experienced through the eyes, senses and culture of a curious, intelligent Western person. I couldn't recommend this more.
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this while you're hungry!
Review: and after you do read it, you'll need to find a Japanese grocer in your city, because you'll be inspired to hunt all over for soba sauce and azuki bean paste.What a delight this book is! It veritably sparkles like diamonds and rubies, and in fact she compares tea kaiseki with jewels. I borrowed a copy from a friend to read, but now I'm inspired to buy my own copy so I can re-savor it and also contribute to Victoria's royalties. She deserves so much for this splendid book. Her insights into the spirituality of food, even simple things like wrapping packages carefully like the Japanese do, make it a book that you can apply to your daily life, even if you never attend a tea ceremony. My *ONLY* gripe, and I really hate to say this, is that her connection with Zen Buddhism was tenuous. She does go to Mount Hiei toward the end of the book and tries to sit with the monks, but she spends a lot more time talking about recipes again. But really that's okay because her main emphasis is not to meditate until satori, but to appreciate the food connection. I can't think of anyone who would not fall in love with this book! Thank you, Bi-cu-to-ri-ha! (That's Japanese for her name, as heard from the lips of children.)
Rating:
Summary: Don't read this while you're hungry!
Review: and after you do read it, you'll need to find a Japanese grocer in your city, because you'll be inspired to hunt all over for soba sauce and azuki bean paste. What a delight this book is! It veritably sparkles like diamonds and rubies, and in fact she compares tea kaiseki with jewels. I borrowed a copy from a friend to read, but now I'm inspired to buy my own copy so I can re-savor it and also contribute to Victoria's royalties. She deserves so much for this splendid book. Her insights into the spirituality of food, even simple things like wrapping packages carefully like the Japanese do, make it a book that you can apply to your daily life, even if you never attend a tea ceremony. My *ONLY* gripe, and I really hate to say this, is that her connection with Zen Buddhism was tenuous. She does go to Mount Hiei toward the end of the book and tries to sit with the monks, but she spends a lot more time talking about recipes again. But really that's okay because her main emphasis is not to meditate until satori, but to appreciate the food connection. I can't think of anyone who would not fall in love with this book! Thank you, Bi-cu-to-ri-ha! (That's Japanese for her name, as heard from the lips of children.)
Rating:
Summary: Welcomed journey
Review: I am generally drawn to first-person narratives by women and found this book approachable and highly informative. The descriptions were apt and the writing style crisp and playful. The author seems to manage the austere, ritualized topic of kaiseki with her own humanity. I appreciated her spirit and courage in searching out knowledge, her grappling with a relationship as well as her ability to notice nuances both externally and internally in her new world. I entered a place I would never have knowledge of and felt like I was traveling with a friend. This is a great, peaceful vacation read. Its style reflects the tranquil nature of Japan.
Rating: 
Summary: No big revelations...
Review: I didn't hate this book, but I didn't really like it that much either. I gave it two stars because its non-offensive and if you want to learn about Japanese culture and cuisine it is somewhat informative. (Though a cookbook would be better and then at least there would be pictures of the food.) However there just is not enough drama in the book and the descriptions of places are fairly flat. I had a difficult time imagining any of this - the locations, the people. I didn't dislike the author, but she didn't pull me in to the experience that much either. I felt like she purposefully distanced herself, like she felt she was above it all. I read the book and sent it back for a refund because honestly, there was no one I could think of to give it to to read - it just wasn't engaging enough. I'm glad everything worked out for the author though. Like Frances Mayes (of the Tuscany books) who ends up with a great husband, living in San Francisco and Tuscany and having a tremendously fabulous life, I'm glad that no one who takes these "sojourns" in foreign countries ever comes up a loser like the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: The Serendipity of Kyoto
Review: I loved this book. I've never been to Japan, but Victoria Abbott Riccardi's keen eye for detail and luminous imagery lured me into Japanese culture, ritual and customs quite unexpectedly. She led the reader with her to a new place, so different from the West, where every gesture has meaning, often more subtle than the Western mind can comprehend. I traveled with her through the back streets of Kyoto, saw the fruit trees in bloom, met the friends she met, worked with and lived with, and shared her cooking. The book almost becomes an etiquette manual, so detailed is it on how non-Japanese must behave to be accepted. Riccardi explains the mysteries of the tea ceremony and her particular experience with tea kaiseki which precedes tea so clearly that the reader is almost a participant in the ritual. I particularly loved Riccardi's analogies that explained things Japanese by comparisons to what Americans can understand. For example, she likens an octopus to a rubber bathtub mat with its suction cups! The recipes at the end of each chapter beg to be tried and happily the ingredients can be found in the United States. With an overlay of humility, humor and empathy the author takes the reader on a delightful journey of understanding, of maturation, soul-searching and personal peace. I recommend this book to those interested in food, the subtle and often unfathomable culture of Japan, and to anyone who wants to enjoy the vicarious adventure of a curious, energetic and open-minded American woman in Japan.
Rating:
Summary: A delectable book
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I've never been to Japan, but after reading Untangling My Chopsticks, I felt like I had a true feeling of what it is like. I loved the descriptions of the tea ceremony. So well-written, and with such telling detail. The tea ceremony is so different than anything in America, with its emphasis on symbolism. Every action, every item served in the tea ceremony has meaning, and I enjoyed learning about it all. Also, I loved reading the recipes in this book, even though I'm not a cook. This book is to Japan what "Under the Tuscan Sun" is to Italy. Definitely worth reading. Beware, though, that it will leave you craving Japanese food!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book to savour slowly
Review: I so enjoyed reliving Victoria Abbott Riccardi's year sojourn in Kyoto. I cannot wait to go to an authentic tea ceremony next time I am in Japan (my friends in Tokyo told me it must be in Kyoto). The Japanese do everything beautifully but until I read Untangling My Chopsticks I was not really aware of how much thought and detail go into the visual and tactile presentation of food. The texture of the food, of the dish, the color, the shape, the season, the spiritual message. A book worth writing and reading.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book to savour slowly
Review: I so enjoyed reliving Victoria Abbott Riccardi's year sojourn in Kyoto. I cannot wait to go to an authentic tea ceremony next time I am in Japan (my friends in Tokyo told me it must be in Kyoto). The Japanese do everything beautifully but until I read Untangling My Chopsticks I was not really aware of how much thought and detail go into the visual and tactile presentation of food. The texture of the food, of the dish, the color, the shape, the season, the spiritual message. A book worth writing and reading.
Rating: 
Summary: OK Book, but what's up with the weight comments?
Review: I've just read about 120 pages of this book. Fun, light reading, cruised through it in a couple of hours of Sunday afternoon lounging. It's an interesting read, but lacking in details. So far, it doesn't seem that the author has actually *eaten* any of the food she's prepared. Which begs the question of: why? She's offered opportunties to take things home and inexplicably turns things down. Huh?
In general, that's the weakness I've seen with the book so far. There's just not enough detail. Just interesting fluff.
And what's up with the weight comments? I'm only halfway through the book, and three time (count 'em, three!) the author has commented on someone's "rice belly" or some other way of saying that someone is a bit portly because they like to eat. I can't see the point of complaining about someone's size. Not because it's not PC, but because it takes away from the story. Either a detail is relevant (in which case, make it relevant, tell me why I should care about some Japanese woman's weight). Or it's irrelevant and it distracts from the story. In which case I'd much rather hear about why the author isn't eating the food she prepares. To be work for hours on this labor of love that you came to Japan to learn, and then not eat the food! That must be torture.
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