Hodgepodge

It has been a while since my last posting and the reasons for that are myriad. For one thing, I had a cold, and for another we have had snow days which kept me at home doing things besides going online. Also, my grandmother passed away last weekend and the doings associated with that have taken up a considerable amount of time. I have managed to read a great deal though, and to try out a new recipe and that is what I wish to discuss.

First off the recipe. My father in-law sent me a great cookbook for Christmas called Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn. It was a great read and filled with recipes I wanted to try. The first one I attempted, with a great deal of help from my darling husband, was for hand-held chicken pies with a cream cheese pastry crust. They were fantastic! Many of her recipes make a large number of servings, and this was no exception. It was supposed to make ten, but I think we got our crust a little thinner than we were supposed to and we made twelve. Good thing too since Sunshine ate four for dinner and I put away three. (They aren't that big to be honest). At any rate, that only left five for the following day (today actually) so none are left to be frozen for a quick lunch one day which is what she recommends. These came into existence when one of her sons mentioned how much he had enjoyed Hot Pockets at a friend's house. Yeesh! I can't imagine telling my mother who was not a professional cook that Hot Pockets tasted good (since they don't, and they smell worse), so I shudder to think of her response to this. It worked out well for us though! I'm going to try another of her recipes tonight with the turkey burgers we are having. Parmasean topped baked fries.

I have also managed to read the following books since my last posting. I suppose I should have waited for Wednesday but what the hell. I've read: Nemesis by Agatha Christie, River of Darkness by Rennie Airth, Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. I also started A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin. I make no apologies for being an avid mystery reader, and it is not surprising that most of ones I read are either by British authors or set in England since I'm a quite the anglophile as well. However, I do wish to broaden my reading habits and read books set in other countries besides the UK and the states.

Oh, and I ran across this on the site Jezebel and thought it was fantastic! I only wish I was of the age to participate, or worked with children who were. And I would really like to meet the kids in the featured video. 90-Second Newbery.

And I really need to figure out how to insert multiple pictures.

Cooking experiment

One of the types of books that I am constantly purchasing is cookbooks. I have a LOT of cookbooks, and I realized over my Christmas break that while I read them, I haven't actually made anything (or much of anything) from many of them. Certain books are in heavy rotation while others have languished. So this year one of my goals is to make at least one thing (preferably more) from each cookbook I own.
I started this off today with The Deen Brothers Cookbook. Previously I had only made a soup from this book which wasn't particularly good. Today I made bourbon glazed pork tenderloin and goat cheese grits. The tenderloin was good, but would have been better if I had marinated it, but the grits were fantastic! I hope that for future recipe attempts that I will remember to photograph the results to share. But take my word for it, if you like cheese grits, this recipe is great.

Call for reading suggestions

While planning out my course of attack for the read the alphabet and read my name challenges I realized that I have a dearth of titles on my to be read list that start with the letters I, Y and Z. In fact, I only have one Y and one Z. This makes me nervous since if I don't like those books I would either have to admit defeat or continue reading something I dislike. And you should all know my philosophy on reading stuff you don't like. So, any suggestions? I like a wide range of books so feel free to suggest anything, as long as it isn't written by a Palin or Snooki.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

This year instead of participating in a crap ton of challenges I am only going to do three. I am aiming to read 75 books this year, as well as retrying the Read Your Name Challenge since I didn't finish that one the way I had hoped. Technically I read my first name so I could count it. Finally, I'm doing a challenge of my own making. Read the Alphabet! Each book needs to start with a letter of the alphabet for a total of 26 books. The exception being x where words with x as the second letter count, like excellent, oxen, or axiom. Qualifiers like "A" and "The" do not count towards A or T, unless you are reading A if for Alibi. I'm very excited! At first I thought I would try to do it in alphabetical order, but I am hard at work on a K and want it to count.

What are your reading challenges going to be this year?

2010 book awards

Ok, I don't have anything to actually give the authors of the books I've deemed award winning, but I like to acknowledge the books that I thought were the best in the genres I read this year.

Best cookbook: Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys by Lucinda Scala Quinn. This was a Christmas gift from my father-in-law, and while I have yet to make anything from it the book was a very good read and is filled with recipes that I can't wait to try. Runner up: Screen Doors and Sweet Tea by Martha Hall Foose

Best general nonfiction: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I found it to be really inspiring and a very entertaining read. Runner up: Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart.

Best travelogue: Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry. As fun as it is to experience another country via armchair, it is amazing what you can learn about your own as well. Runner up: A Year in the World by Frances Mayes.

Best novel: The School of Secret Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. It was a delightful read, the only drawback being that it makes you hungry. Runner up: The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Best mystery: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant. I kicked myself for not figuring it out. Great creepy read. Runner up: Dead Woman's Shoes by Kaye C. Hill.

Best children's book: A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. Why on earth did I not read this as a child? Runner up: Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones.

I read 67 books in 2010, which is well shy of my goal of 100, but not too far off of 75 which is the most I've read when I've kept count. I completed all but two of my book challenges (read my name and the 100 book challenge) which I think is quite the accomplishment considering I got married. How about you? What are your favorite books from this year?

Four Christmas Reads

Christmas books are a tricky thing. Sometimes the setting is only secondary to the plot which makes them not truly a Christmas read. Other times the author goes too overboard with Christmas and it winds up being overwrought. Typically my favorite holidays literary passages are one chapter in a children's book such as A Year Down Yonder or the Four Story Mistake. However, I have found a few Christmas books that are quite fun to read.

Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson. Yes, this is technically a cookbook, but Lawson's style is heavy on the narrative, and it is well written entertaining narrative at that. I don't know how many recipes I will make from this book considering I don't have ready access to goose fat and have no desire to eat a steamed pudding. It is a delightful read though.

Immoveable Feast by John Baxter. This is another food related book, but it is not a cookbook. It is a memoir of one Christmas where the author prepares the Christmas feast for his wife's French family. Each chapter focuses on the journey to obtain ingredients for a specific course along with related stories from Christmases past. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it, unless you have food issues in which case you might want to pass it by. It will make you hungry.

Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore. I've blathered on about how much I enjoy this book in an earlier post ages ago, but it deserves another plug. It is a sort of Christmas Story for the literary set. (Yes, yes I know, that's actually a book too! But Schwartz goes on to die in the book and who wants to endure that?) Only with zombies, profanity and lots of sex. Delightfully wicked. The extra bit in the 2.0 edition doesn't really add anything, but it is nice to spend more time with the characters.

The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John Updike and Edward Gorey. At a scant 32 pages, and predominantly illustrations this book is a delightful little truffle of naughtiness. Many things at Christmas are cloying, and the expectations to do so many things and do them perfectly can leave folks overwhelmed to say the least. This book skewers many of those traditions in Gorey's well known macabre way.

W3dnesday

It has been a while so this one will be interesting!

What have you been reading? Since my last post I have read the following books: A Year in the World by Frances Mayes, Clara's Kitchen by Clara Cannucciari, A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee, Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall, Stephen Fry in America by Stephen Fry, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones, A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant, and Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas.

What are you currently reading? I started Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve last night. I'm enjoying it, but not loving it.

What will you read next? I have the following books checked out: A Natural History of Love by Diane Ackerman, Dead Woman's Shoes by Kaye Hill, and one other mystery who's title escapes me.

5x5: First Holiday Edition

Five Christmas Songs I Love
1. I Saw Three Ships performed by the Bare Naked Ladies
2. Step Into Christmas performed by Elton John
3. Christmas Wrapping performed by the Waitresses
4. Merry Christmas from the Family by Robert Earl Keen
5. Linus and Lucy performed by Vince Guaraldi


Five Christmas Songs I Hate
1. Feliz Navidad (mainly because it gets stuck in my head)
2. Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (do I really need to elaborate?)
3. Is That You Santy Claus? (This one isn't a bad song, but it was playing in every store my sister and I went into when we were doing all of our Christmas shopping in one night back in college.)
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas (it makes me cry)
5. Twelve Days of Christmas (again, because of the ear worm effect, but also because of the aggravating repetition.

So how about you? What are your holiday musical loves and hates?

Challenge Updates!

I have completed my Fantasy reading challenge and the 1st in a series challenge.

Fantasy:
1. Bite Me by Christopher Moore
2. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
3. Soulless by Gail Carriger
4. Savvy by Ingrid Law
5. Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
6. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

1st in a Series
1. Still Life by Louise Penny
2. The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
3. Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan
4. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
5. Haunting Jordan by P.J. Alderman
6. Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

Still working on Reading My Name (only two more letters to go!) and What's in a Name which is proving to be very tricky.

Some food for thought

This is taken from an article in Crosscut a daily guide to local and Northwest news based out of Seattle, on the recent banning of the book Brave New World at a local high school. The defenders of this action are saying it isn't a ban, just the the book is suspended from the curriculum until teachers have more training on how to teach it with more sensitivity. Ahem.

"Huxley imagined a world of genetically engineered, pharmaceutically controlled drones who wouldn't know much about books and literature, or anything unsanctioned, save consumerism and sensuality. The idea wasn't to ban books, but make them irrelevant, to suspend any interest or engagement with them (and much else). "

Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I think I'm going to make a point of reading tonight.

and this is why we are such a perfect match

Here is a snibblet of a conversation my husband and I had the other day.

LW: You know who would be great to have in the zombie proof fortress? Pyro!
Sunshine: Ooh yeah! He could just torch them!
LW: Jean Gray and Cyclops would be very useful too.
Sunshine: Don't forget Wolverine!
LW: I don't think that would be a good idea! I mean, obviously we would want him in the fortress, but not as a fighter. What if he got bitten?
Sunshine: Don't you think his healing power would stop him from turning zombie?
LW: I don't know, but would you really want to risk it? Then we would need Magneto.
Sunshine: And nobody wants Magneto.

From the Shelves: Stephen Fry in America

I read Stephen Fry in America this past weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is potentially risky to read a comedian's take of your country, particularly when you know that there is much to criticize or mock. However, while the book was funny, the humor was in no way mean spirited. Fry has a genuine affinity for the US but the book also wasn't fawning. He really did an amazing job of highlighting different elements about each state and giving pertinent historical information where applicable. I can honestly say that I managed to learn new things about each state and about my fellow countrymen. I will never get over the picture of a six year old riding a sheep at the junior cowboy rodeo he visited. (I will double check the book to get the exact name and location).

I did find it disappointing that he didn't truly visit three states (Delaware, Ohio and Idaho), and that he only visited Arlington Cemetery in Virginia and Asheville in North Carolina, but I realize that he did have time constraints. I'm sure anyone reading his book from other states will also point out things he missed in their home states. I do hope he does a sequel (I can give him tons of recommendations for Virginia and North Carolina), and I would love to see the footage he shot for the BBC special that was the point of the whole trip. At any rate, the book was a lot of fun and if you teach sixth grade social studies or state history in elementary school it would be a great place to start to discuss what he missed in his visit to either the country as a whole or a state in particular.

Random Thoughts

This is a rather disjointed post, as I am feeling a wee bit disjointed myself.

1. We just got the DVD Lust for Life in at work and every time I see it (it is in my office waiting to be cataloged), I get the Iggy Pop song stuck in my head. Sadly, I only know the tune and that one lyric. Grr argh.

2. It is almost Halloween and I don't live some place that is considered tropical. It should not be 80 degrees!

3. I am having a horrible time finding plain ground pork in my town. It makes no sense, and I need it to make meatballs.

4. Christopher Nolan's third Batman film finally has a title. I was less than excited by it, but I eagerly anticipate the movie.

5. China's gross population imbalance (it is roughly 120 boys born per year to 100 females according to MSBNC) is going to cause a lot of problems in the near future. One that is minor in comparison to the others is "how will they craft their female sports teams with so few girls?" Granted, it probably won't matter that much considering the sheer astronomical size of their population, but it is something to think about.

6. I wish I could bring my dog to work.

Musing Mondays

This question comes from the blog Should Be Reading.

Do you prefer hardcovers, trade paperbacks (the bigger ones), or mass market paperbacks (the smaller ones)? Why?

I vastly prefer trade paperbacks to either hardbacks or mass market paperbacks. They are the ideal weight and size, and fit nicely into the front pocket of my backpack that I routinely use as a carry-on bag when flying. Also, they are better quality than mass market and a better price than hardback. That being said, there are some books that I want in hardback to withstand the multiple re-reads. I am longing to get the Melendy Family books by Elizabeth Enright in hardback, and if they ever release Ballet Shoes and Dancing Shoes in hardback I will jump on those as well. But overall, I prefer trade paperbacks.

W3dnesday

What have you been reading? I finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. I really enjoyed The Help, but I loved The School of Essential Ingredients. I gave up on The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber.

What are you currently reading? I am currently reading A Year in the World by Frances Mayes. I'm really enjoying it, but man does it make me hungry! All of those luscious descriptions of food.

What will you read next? Yesterday I checked out the following books: How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen, Clara's Kitchen by Clara Cannucciari, The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall, and A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee. I'll see which one strikes my fancy first after I'm done with the Mayes. If anyone has any suggestions for books whose titles start with either V or L I would greatly appreciate it.

W3dnesday

No cute picture today, as my computer is being cranky.

What have you recently read?
I just finished reading Red Sky at Night by Jane Struthers and The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan.

What are you currently reading? I checked out The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber on Monday when I had to go the Social Security office to change my name. I'm finding it hard to get into.

What will you read next? I should read The Help which is this month's selection for my book club, but I might go with The School of Essential Ingredients.

Updates!

I've managed to read 51 books so far this year, and my to be read list has swollen to 574. You might remember that when I first posted about my reading challenges that it was around 491. Never enough time to read!

Here is the status of my reading challenges.

Our Mutual Read: The Victorian reading challenge is done!
Fantasy: 5/6
First in a Series: 5/6
Read My name: 11/14 All I need is a Y, a V, and another L
What's in a Name: 3/6 I'm still missing a food, body of water, and a title
Typically British: 6/6!!! Hooray! Another challenge is complete. I read the following books for this challenge.
Red Sky at Night by Jane Struthers
Serpent's Tale by Arianna Franklin
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Bellfield Hall by Anna Dean
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

So Bob's Your Uncle!!!

5x5

Five reasons I want to move to Asheville:
1. They still have four seasons there! You know, instead of cold, hot, and hotter.
2. Cultural opportunities abound. Music, theater, art, dance.
3. They have fabulous resturants. I miss having a choice of nice places to go to eat.
4. The downtown area is pedestrian, bicycle and dog friendly.
5. It is a great fit politically for us. I didn't see a single Palin sticker the whole time I was there, and I saw a number of things promoting buying local and recycling.

Five reasons to stay where I am:
1. The cost of living is much cheaper.
2. I would have to find a new hairdresser, dental hygenist, massuese and OB/Gyn if I moved. Don't laugh, good ones of those are hard to find.
3. My job is here.
4. We have a support structure in place here.
5. I would have to give up my book club and my dance class.

W3dnesday!

After a month long hiatus, I return! The reasons for the break are copious, and don't truly need to be elaborated on beyond the fact that I am getting married this Saturday. So what have I been up to since my last W3dnesday post? Quite a lot actually.

What have I recently read? I read: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, The Serpent's Tale and Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin, A Fatal Grace and The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Never Trust a Thin Cook by Eric Dregni, Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart, and Flow: The Cultural History of Menstruation by Elissa Stein (which I will review after the wedding-it will be a doozy!) I also started, but did not finish Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (I just wasn't in the right mood for it, but I plan to return) and A Yank Back to England by Denis Lipman because it got fairly repetitive and I found the author to be a tad annoying. I might return to it. This brings my total to 51 books counting picture books.

What am I currently reading? I am currently reading The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan, although I have temporarily set it aside because I was finding that bits and pieces were sneaking into my dreams when I read it before bed and the results weren't pretty. I typically have weird and vivid dreams anyway, I don't need any help there.

What will I read next? I have The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister packed in my overnight bag for the mini-moon.

5 x 5

This week's topic: Five literary characters you hate/love

Five characters I hate!
1. Dolores Umbridge, from the Harry Potter series. Of all the villains in this series I loathe her the most. She is concern only with retaining her power and obtaining more. She cares nothing for the truth or fairness, and what's worse, she pretends to be sweet while doing horrible things. Plus, the bitch escapes punishment. HATE her.

2. Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Another person who is only concerned with her own power and who misuses it.

3. Fudge, first appearing in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I feel like I am alone on this one, since so many reviews of these books talk about how he is a typical little boy and how funny he is. I completely disagree. I think he is a horrible brat.

4. Debbie van Pelt, the Sookie Stackhouse series. She is a character with no redeeming qualities whose death can't come quickly enough.

5. Tinkerbell, from Peter Pan. I know that Tink commits an act of great self-sacrifice, but this is after a great deal of extremely bad behavior, including trying to murder Wendy. I don't find her sympathetic in the least, and am shocked by how many people seem to think she is wonderful.

Five characters I love!
1. Flavia de Luce, first appearing in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is a precocious and entertaining narrator and sleuth. She's also a little scary at times which adds to her appeal for me.

2. Fred/George Weasley, from the Harry Potter series. Yes, I know that they are two characters, but as they are always together in the books I'm counting them as one unit. Fred and George provide the best examples of comic relief in the books, and I think that Rowling's choice to kill Fred in book seven is highly unacceptable and flat out wrong.

3. Miranda Melendy, first appearing in The Saturdays. When I was younger I harbored a desire to either be her, or at least be friends with her. To this day, I would like to be friends with her.

4. Gen, first appearing in The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. It is difficult to discuss why, precisely, I love Gen without giving away major plot points. Suffice to say that he is clever and talented, loyal, brave and very complex. If you haven't read this book you should. It is the first in a trilogy, but after what happens in the second book I became furious with the author and thus haven't read the third. The first book, however, is brilliant.

5. Abby Normal, first appearing in You Suck by Christopher Moore. This little goth teenager is one of the funniest narrators I have ever come across and two of her more colorful catch phrases (Fucksocks and Fucktard) have wormed their way into my vocabulary.

So what about you? Who do you love and hate? Or love to hate?