Lori's 2014 Half Challenge Reading Menu - Third Thread

Hi everyone! Welcome to my third - and Spring thread - for 2014!

2014 will be my year of halfs because I have no idea how easy or crazy the year will be and I want to tackle some big chunksters. I have decided on 7 categories with 7 books in each category as my challenge. As I cannot live on books alone - wish I could but sadly not - food is the theme for this challenge. The menu board lists the categories:

1. World Cuisine
I am a curious foodie who likes to try new dishes, especially if they are cultural dishes from countries I have not traveled to yet. As I am doing the Commonwealth Challenge and need help to motivate me with that one, this category is for books read that are set in or by authors from British Commonwealth member countries.

1. Bahamas - Hotel Paradiso by Gregor Robinson - (review)
2. Bangladesh - This Innocent Corner by Peggy Herring - (review)
3. Barbados - Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl by Kate McCafferty - (review)
4.
5.
6.
7.

2. Ye Olde Traditional Fare
You know what I am talking about here. Those well loved recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation (like my grandmother's poppyseed cake), and the literature classics I want to read this year, like Dumas' d'Artagnon Romances, or pretty much anything else that has been published prior to 1901, thanks to Project Gutenberg!

1. The Conventionalists by Robert Hugh Benson - (review)
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens - (review)
3. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père - (review)
4. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - (review)
5.
6.
7.

3. Lunch to Go
Sometimes you just want to pick up food (or a book), bring it home and consume it later... sometimes much later, but eventually you have to either eat the food (read the book) or throw it away (hide it behind other books). Hopefully, this category will help me read the books that have come home with me over the years that are still cluttering up my TBR bookcase.

1. The Gatekeeper of Lies by Anthony Bruce - (review)
2. The Innocent Mrs. Duff by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding - - (review)
3. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - (review)
4. Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi - (review)
5. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon - (review)
6. G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton - (review)
7.

4. Petit Fours
No, this isn't a category for short stories or novellas, although it may be next year! Petit fours cater to my sweet tooth where I just cannot stop after one and will represent those sequences of books that make up a group - those series, sequels, prequels and trilogies that I cannot get enough of and clog my future reading lists!

1. Always Love a Villain on San Juan Island by Sandy Francis Duncan and George Szanto - (review)
2. The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley - (review)
3. The Dead Shall Not Rest by Tessa Harris - (review)
4. Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard - (review)
5. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen - (review)
6. Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard - (review)
7.

5. Two Can Dine
Twice as much food for the same price is a great deal when shared but a bit ominous if you are buying just for yourself. This is pretty much how I view those really big books..... love to buy them or check them out from the library but once I get them home I am a little daunted by their size. This category is for all those books over 500 pages in length.

1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton - (review)
2. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - (review)
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

6. Scottish Pub Fare
Pubs always strike me as the perfect place (besides a greasy 24-hour diner) for a gritty detective/investigator to grab a bite to eat and a drink while on the case. Scotch eggs and ale seems like the perfect compliment for this category of Tartan Noir books.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

7. Smorgasbord
I could have called this one 'buffet' but I just like the word "Smorgasbord"! The idea of a bunch of different foods on a large table where people can serve themselves was the obvious choice for my catchall category!

1. The Curse of Malenfer Manor by Iian McChesney - (review)
2. The Secrets of Casanova by Greg Michaels - (review)
3. Blue by George Elliott Clarke - (review)
4. The Club at Eddy's Bar by Zoltán Böszörményi - (review)
5.
6.
7.

MY 2014 Reading Bingo Challenge:

I have decided to add to my reading challenges this year by attempting the Retreat by Random House Reading Bingo Challenge 2014. They are offering two bingo challenges this year: an original and a YA version. I have chosen to tackle the original card. Both cards for the Reading Bingo Challenge 2014 can be found HERE.



Wish me luck!

Reading BINGO 2014 books read:
B1 - Bleak House by Charles Dickens
B2 - The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
B3 - Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi
B4 -
B5 -
I1 -
I2 - Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
I3 -
I4 - The Secrets of Casanova by Greg Michaels
I5 -
N1 - The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père
N2 -
N3 - FREE SQUARE
N4 - A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
N5 - Hotel Paradiso by Gregor Robinson (2000 pub date)
G1 - The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley
G2 - This Innocent Corner by Peggy Herring
G3 - The Curse of Malenfer Manor by Iian McChesney (Europe)
G4 - The Dead Shall Not Rest by Tessa Harris
G5 -
O1 -
O2 - Always Love a Villain on San Juan Island by Sandy Francis Duncan and George Szanto
O3 -
O4 - The Innocent Mrs. Duff by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
O5 - Blue by George Elliott Clarke

Thanks for stopping by my reading and culinary adventures thread. This thread is now open for business!

Am I first? Happy new thread!

My, my. What a shiny new thread you have?

Happy new thread!!!

Good time for a new thread!

*waves* Found you!

The burger in that Lunch to Go picture always makes me hungry! Mmmmmm burgers. Happy new thread! :)

Just stopping by the new thread. Great progress on your Bingo card!

>11 cbl_tn: - You are first Carrie, and I don't even have a prize for you. What kind of a thread hostess does that make me? ;-)

>12 andreablythe: - Why thank you Andrea.... a little spring cleaning and 'voila!' shiny new thread!

>13 -Eva-: - Thanks, Eva!

>14 hailelib: - Perfect timing... that other one was getting a little on the long side. ;-)

>15 mstrust: - Yeah! Glad to see you found the new thread!

>16 rabbitprincess: - Burger.....? What burger? Ooohhhh.... that burger. Yeah, it does look good. Darn it, now I am hungry and I swear I just finished eating dinner.

>17 mathgirl40: - I am amazed a how well the Bingo is falling into place. There will be a couple of square that will be a bit of a struggle for me.... and have you noticed, not a single Bingo yet. ;-)

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Last night my other half and I engaged in entertainingly bad TV viewing. Anyone here remember the Gothic vampire soap opera series from the late 1960's - early 1970's called Dark Shadows? Not the recent movie remake starring Johnny Depp and crew but the original black and white TV series?



I remember watching re-runs of that show as after school TV viewing in my teens and loved it then so when I discovered that the local library has the complete collection on DVD for borrowing, I had to check out the first DVD for nostalgic purposes. My other half had never heard of Dark Shadows before last night and I have to say, I don't know what was more entertaining - watching the dated no special effects drama with a cheesy script that an actor can memorize in less than eight hours or my other half's running commentary of what he was watching on the screen. The show is so bad it is actually hilariously good. ;-)

Lovely spring weather today with indications that it will continue tomorrow so I have charged the batteries for my camera and tucked it into my purse for so spring photo opportunities. If I capture any snaps that are post worthy, I will post them here.

I've been meaning to check out the original Dark Shadows. I remember my older sister being into it (she was probably still in elementary school) but I was too young to grasp it. I just think a vampire soap opera must have been, uhhm, unique.

I think Dark Shadows was probably very unique for the time. As much as my other half complained about how corny the script is, he is the one chomping at the bit to watch more episodes. I may have created a monster..... ;-)

Ooh, Barnabas Collins! I'll have to see if I can find it on Netflix!

My local library actually has a set...

I may have to watch an episode or two just for the heck of it.

>18 lkernagh: I loved Dark Shadows when it was on. I used to watch it at my grandmother's house when I stayed with her.

I only saw the so-so Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version of Dark Shadows. I keep meaning to check out the original.

Now the libraries will wonder why a forty year old show keeps flying off the shelves.

>25 mstrust: I checked and our public library didn't have it. I looked at the Amazon.com pricing for the full set and decided that I won't be getting that one. It's not one I think I'd really want to own, but I wouldn't mind a nostalgic moment or two from time to time.

Happy Thursday, everyone! I am especially happy today as I am now about to start a 4-day weekend. No holidays or anything special, just some scheduled time off from work. Nothing special planned but I am already thinking about 4 days of reading, shopping, running errands, some spring cleaning and probably start another project.... we shall see. Some of that time will also be spend on my Coursera course, so I do have plans for this wonderful downtime.

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>21 cbl_tn: - Now, be honest with me Carrie, is it just me or is Barnabas Collins an unusual mix of creepy attractiveness? He is polite and well mannered and everything....

>22 hailelib: - It is worth a free "look-e-lou", as I like to say but I must warn you: As much as my other half found the first couple of episodes worth watching and commenting on, ten episodes in he has decided that he doesn't want to watch any more.

>23 thornton37814: - The show does have a addicting element to it, but watching it in today's world of special effects and glitz, I am not sure I could re-watch all the episodes all over again.

>24 andreablythe: - I was really saddened to see that the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version was such a flop. I am guessing they tried to change too much of the atmosphere of the original series and turn it into more of a The Addams Family or The Muensters/ I must investigate the remake.

>25 mstrust: - Nothing like keeping the library systems guessing where the demand will be! I like to think they are used to unusual spikes in borrowing activity....;-)

>26 thornton37814: - Does your library system subscribe to Hoopla or one of the other online services? We borrowed a DVD but I have now discovered that Hoopla - an online service my library system subscribes to - has the entire first season (50 episodes) for 'borrow'.

You know, the problem with the remake is that it turned into just another Tim Burton movie in which Johnny Depp was being Johnny Depp in a Tim Burton movie. I'm convinced that those two Gould not work together any more because, however much fun their having, it feels like they're in a creative rut.

ETA: It's sad, because I'm actually a huge fan of Tim Burtons work and loved/liked several of the things he's done with Depp. *sigh*

I hear you...I love Tim Burton's stuff - and the fact that he is married to the equally dramatic Helena Bonham Carter, who was absolutely fantastic in Sweeney Todd IMO - makes me sad when his work with Johnny Depp starts to have that "same old, same old" quality to it.

Yes! Dark Shadows! My husband and I watched the first few years up to Victoria time traveling and Angelic being introduced into the storyline on Netflix last year. Netflix took the show off after Johnny Depp's movie bombed. My husband gave me the movie "The House of Dark Shadows" for Christmas. It's the original cast in a feature film retelling the origin story of Willie Loomis letting Barnabas loose from his coffin. I also have the Angelic storyline in comic books from Dark Horse.

I feel the same way about Burton and Depp (AND Bonham Carter because while I love her more than almost anything she's always in Burton's films and it's getting repetitive and boring).
They've made some really great films together but I think they need to break it off now. Or at least spend a few years apart.

My library is not subscribing to Hoopla. I doubt that they will do so until the state buys a package. That's the only reason we have e-books. Sometimes the wait can be rather long for some e-books.

Ooh, my hometown library has Hoopla! This could be dangerous, depending on their offerings.

33> They're good with current music and audiobooks, but movies and TV shows are more than 3 years old.

Our library uses Overdrive, and we currently have a good selection of audiobooks and e-books but not many current videos. Hoopla sounds great. Maybe they will pick it up someday. The library recently got Freegal (music from Sony) and I've started using that.

Ooo! Hoopla has Season 1 of Inspector Gadget! Definitely going to have to check that out at some point :)

Happy Saturday, everyone! Friday was a jam-packed day of getting things done and enjoying sunny springtime weather. I finally finished making my Easter cards for mailing, so I can now tick that item off my to-do list, but I still need to make a birthday card for my Dad, and probably should start thinking about Mother's Day and Father's Day cards.

I see by our local newspaper that the US chain store Marshalls has now opened a location here in Victoria, so, of course, I must go and investigate. I wasn't impressed when Target opened locations here in Canada - the overall impressions of locals who have cross boarder shopped is that the Canadian Target stores are very different from the ones in the US for the merchandise their carry and no-one was impressed with what the Canadian Target stores were offering.

On today's agenda is some shopping and whatever else strikes my fancy.

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>30 craso: - Victoria time-travels? Why can't I remember that.... looks like I might have to continue my Dark Shadows viewing! I was a little disconcerted to see that the DVD collection's first disk starts at episode 210. Who starts a show off on episode 210? Most confusing, especially as the whole Willie Loomis thing really confused me.

>31 PawsforThought: - That is a great suggestion! I tend to prefer Burton's animated movies - I still love The Nightmare Before Christmaas - and wish he would do more things like that.

>32 thornton37814: - Well, darn. I can see where a library system, unless it is a big metropolitan one, would want to wait for the state to buy the package.

>36 rabbitprincess: - LOL! Now I have the theme song for Inspector Gadget playing in my head!

>33 rabbitprincess:, >34 BookLizard:, >35 mathgirl40: and >36 rabbitprincess: - this is such a great discussion!

I love learning about the different on-line services different library systems have subscribed to. I will admit to being somewhat spoiled by the Greater Victoria Public Library system - the GVPL source for some of my books read - and that I haven't been making full use of the GVPL digital services, like I could be. I do make full use of both my local library system and the province-wide ebook and audiobook downloadable collections that operate on the Overdrive system. I have yet to use Freegal and have so far only surfed to offerings available through Hoopla and the newest online service, 3M Cloud Library. Not sure how much use I will make of Hoopla and the 3M Cloud Library but it is nice to see more and more of these types of services coming available. As >34 BookLizard: mentioned, they are limited in the movie and TV shows that they offer so I will continue my TV binge watching via the library's DVD collection. I have Disk 4 of Season 1 of Elementary for this weekend's TV viewing. ;-)

The discs start at 210 because that's the beginning of the Barnabas storyline. Before that it must have been pretty boring. The Netflix episodes started at 210 as well. I figure it was a plan old soap opera until then.

Victoria time travels to see how Barnabas became a vampire and how Josette died. Don't want to give too much away. :-) I'm guessing you haven't gotten to the color episodes.

>38 craso: - Well, that explains why it felt like we were starting the story in mid-stream! ;-)

We have pretty much stalled at episode 218 as my other half decided he wanted to re-enjoy our DVDs of 'allo, 'allo!. Definitely lighter comic fare than Dark Shadows is. ;-0

Book #16 - The Dead Shall Not Rest by Tessa Harris - audiobook narrated by Simon Vance
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category
2014 Category: Petit Fours
Reading BINGO square: The Second Book in a Series
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: December 24, 2012 (audiobook release date: January 8, 2013)
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 352 pages / 10 hours, 23 minutes listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.70 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: From the amazon.com website:

It is not just the living who are prey to London's criminals and cutpurses. Corpses, too, are fair game - dug up from fresh graves and sold to men of science for dissection. Dr. Thomas Silkstone's unscrupulous rival, Dr. John Hunter, has learned of the imminent death of eight-foot-tall Charles Byrne, known as the "Irish Giant," and is obsessed with obtaining the body for his research. When Dr. Hunter is implicated in the horrific murder of a young castrato, Thomas must determine how far the increasingly erratic surgeon will go in the name of knowledge. For as Thomas knows, the blackest hearts sometimes go undetected until it's too late...

Review:
Book two in Harris' Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mystery series, and the series in general, would probably appeal best to readers of historical mysteries who fascinate in reading about 18th century historical medical and forensic science. If you are in any way squeamish about detailed descriptions of dissections of the human body, don't read this series. The same holds true if you cannot stomach any depravity of moral values when it comes to respecting an individual's rights and the treatment of their bodily remains. We are talking about a time period where grave robbers did lucrative business delivering 'bodies' for the dissecting tables of anatomists. Harris does an amazing job bringing the nasty realities of the 18th century to life in this series - the good, the bad and the downright ugly. She does this unflinchingly, with no apologies and rightly so, as she is basing her story on the factual realities of anatomists of the time period.

Soooo.... my likes and dislikes? I love the medical and scientific detail as well as the description of the time period. The mystery is good and give a great example of how the 'devil is in the details'. Sadly, I have more trouble with the whole romance angle between Thomas and Lady Lydia. The whole 'mystery' around Lady Lydia, and its subsequent revelation, didn't do much to enamor me to that aspect of the story. I guess I am just a love-jaded reader who does not read these books for their 'romance' qualities. Give me the mystery and the thrill of the investigative hunt and bunt the romance to the side stage where it belongs, I say. ;-)

... and before I forget, for historical fiction fans out there, this particular story pulls a number of its characters directly from history: The legendary giant Charles Byrne, the fervent anatomist Dr. John Hunter and the Polish dwarf Count Józef Boruwłaski.

Overall, while I found the plot lagged a fair bit in the middle, it is the characters and the ending that managed to pull it all together that has convinced me to consider reading the next book in the series: The Devil's Breath.

Food Discussion:
No real surprises mentioned here. As the story has a focus on forensic murder scene investigations and detailed anatomical dissections of the human body, food doesn't really hit the forefront while reading this one. What I did find interesting to note was mention that a favorite meal of our lead character, Dr. Thomas Silkstone, is boiled plovers eggs and stewed carp. According to The Old Foodie website plover's eggs are esteemed for their rich flavour and with a good brown gravy or some béchamel sauce they make a dainty breakfast dish. As for the "stewed carp", that appears to be a traditional British recipe for a broth and port wine based flavourful fish soup, and not a thick fish stew like a beef stew my mind tried to conjure up. I haven't seen any carp in our local markets but it looks like the 'stew' could use almost any kind of fish as a base so I have added this to my future cooking experiments.

My local library has those books. I might have to try one...eventually!

Late to add my best wishes for your new thread and to say I've also enjoyed watching reruns of the old Dark Shadows, too. We're also getting a Marshall's built in my town. We already have 2 Targets, one Walmart, one Kohl's, and one Ross. Lots of cheap clothes to be had.

Happy Monday! It's back to work tomorrow for me but in the meantime, I do have a new weekend project from yesterday that I can report on (with pictures) as well as a reading update and responses.

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>41 hailelib: - I tend to breath a sigh of relief when I discover my local library has books for a series I am interested in reading. The pressure is then off for buying those books!

>42 mamzel: - I have never heard of Kohl's. When I did a Google search I thought they had some Canadian stores but the Vancouver store is located in Vancouver, Washington, not Vancouver, BC. Ross sounds familiar but again, no Canadian stores so far, or at least not on the west coast.

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Reading Update: I am currently 198 pages into Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi. I am quite enjoying this story set in 1920's Boston and Philadelphia. It has kind of the feel of The Alienist to it but instead of being embroiled in the hunt for a serial killer, the hunt is on to try and determine whether or not Philadelphia "social psychic" Mina Crawley is a fraud.

Weekend Craft Project: Yesterday afternoon and evening was a relaxing one spent in front of the TV watching episodes of Bletchley Circle and Mr. Selfridge and beading. At the end of the evening I had completed the following two necklace and earring sets:



I have been meaning to make something with these pink/white/gold flecked glass beads for some time now. the combined inspiration of Spring weather and the TV shows I was half paying attention to was what I needed to decide on making a double stranded choker style necklace with dangling earrings to match.



The gold paint drizzled medallions are beads I purchased last year and never got around to deciding how I wanted to make them up. The second shot above give a better indication of the gold paint drizzled look of the medallion beads. When I realized I had the perfect coffee-toned beads, brass accents and small marbled beads that matched, I decided a longer 29" single stand necklace would be perfect. Of course, I love dangling earrings so a matching set of earrings was also made.

I have similar medallion beads in a smoke grey-blue colour I am now looking forward to designing another necklace-earring set from but first, I have some other beads I think I have an idea for.

Lovely! :) What season of Bletchley Circle were you watching? I think Season 2 just started on PBS but I'm waiting for the library to eventually acquire the DVD. I watched Season 1 last week and really love the concept.

We re-watched series one of Bletchley Circle. I am chomping at the bit for the second series to come out on DVD. Good news is that series two will be released on DVD in Canada on April 15th, just one week after the DVD gets released in the UK. Sooooo excited!!!!!

Nice necklaces and earrings. The pink one is very "springy".

>46 dudes22: - Thanks Betty. I like how the pink one is 'springy". ;-)

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I am working towards finishing Inamorata when I came across the following quote made by a cellmate:

"-and they can't leave me alone with what little business I have left? They gotta come on a Saturday night and load my customers in the wagon and drag the women off to morals court to be sentenced to six months in the workhouse?"

Okay, so the story takes place in 1920's Philadelphia with bootleg gin and all that but I have no idea what they mean by "morals court". Can someone please explain?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19161010&id=vOwbAAAAIBAJ&...

>48 BookLizard: - That is such a great article! Thank you for finding it and posting the link. Of course, I am trying to figure out if they are 'coddling' the women because they need assistance to learn how to behave properly or if it was just to separate the minor vice crimes from being handled in the same court as other more serious crimes. The phrase "unfortunate women" and that they should be "given the opportunity to see the errors of their ways" makes me wonder....... ;-)

What beautiful jewelry!

Lori, your jewelry is beautiful. The gold-drizzled medallions look exotic. You are so talented.

The necklaces and earrings are lovely! Very nice work.

You made me curious, and I had to look up plover eggs. I love eggs but have tried only hen, duck and quail eggs.

>50 andreablythe: - Thanks!

>51 VivienneR: - I don't know about talented but I do love coming up with combinations of beads to produce the finished product. The medallion one I have already worn to work. ;-)

>52 mathgirl40: - Thanks! Plover eggs is a new on for me as well. I don't even think that is something I could come by if I was to search them out.

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The weekend has been a glorious one weather-wise which moved my Spring-cleaning fever into high gear. Two days later and we have got clean windows, moved furniture and steam cleaned carpets, and even dealt with a panic moment for me when my computer monitor suddenly decided to act up mid-Saturday. The monitor is 7 years old and has been used extensively so I was prepared for the dreaded computer shopping experience for a new monitor. Thankfully, after some diagnostics testing, my other half has been able to ascertain that it is probably capacitors on the board of the monitor that are either blown or dying and need replacing. Looks like we will be doing some electronics repairs with new parts and then things should be right as rain. I do love having an electrical engineer as my personal in-house technician for my computer needs. I have even promised to no longer bemoan the 'spare' items he has cluttering up our storage space since it was because of a spare monitor - and the spare laptop - that he was able to figure out that the monitor wasn't completely dead, just limping along a little. ;-)

On the reading front: I am still reading Inamorata. I love the story, I just haven't found the time to sit down and read this past week. Only 47 pages left to go in this one. Maybe I will buckle down and finish it this evening sitting outside enjoying the lovely weather. I started listening to the audiobook for The Canterbury Tales last week but after two false starts, I am hoping the third time is the charm and I can start getting into it.

I look forward to your review of Inamorata. I am fascinated with the spiritualism movement of the late 19th and early 20th Century.

Loving the jewelry!!

>53 lkernagh: My brother is an electrical engineer. Once or twice a year I call him with computer questions. I'd hate to know how much he'd charge me if I was a paying customer!

So we both had computer mutinies this weekend. You are lucky to have an electrical engineer in the house! Our "expert" is the son of a friend.

>54 craso: - The good news is that I finished the book this evening and have thrown together a review of sorts.

>55 -Eva-: - Thanks!

>56 cbl_tn: - Great to see you here, Cindy! I agree.... it really does pay to have in-family tech support like that!

>57 mstrust: - I was over on your thread earlier this evening and I saw mention of the 'smoking' computer. Not good. Something has definitely decided to pack it in. At least you have a connection via a friend, that is something... ;-)

Book #17 - Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category, ROOTs
2014 Category: Lunch To Go
Reading BINGO square: A Book With a One Word Title
CAT(s): N/A
Source: TBR
Format: Trade Paperback
Original publication date: January 22, 2004
Acquisition date: March 17, 2012
Page count: 336 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.90 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: From the amazon.com website:

It is 1920s Philadelphia, a time when the feverish popular obsession with the paranormal is confronted by the inevitable ascendance of the scientific method. With everyone from Houdini to Arthur Conan Doyle weighing in on the existence of parapsychological phenomena, the media is as fixated on the sensational debate as scientists and would-be psychics. Indeed, in 1922, Scientific American offers five thousand dollars for evidence of "conclusive psychic manifestations."

Inspired by this real-life event, Inamorata follows Martin Finch, a twenty-three-year-old Harvard graduate student and member of Scientific American’s investigative committee, on the case of a lifetime — an attempt to determine whether Mina Crawley, a beautiful Philadelphia socialite, is able to contact the spirit realm. In the tiny upstairs room of the Crawleys’ elegant Rittenhouse Square townhouse, Finch is prepared to debunk a fraud. But instead the man of science breaks the cardinal rule of psychic investigation: Never fall in love with the medium...

Review:
For a debut novel, the writing style is well-honed, with a polished investigative style to it, even if the plot has its odd hiccups. This story has a lot of the journalistic flavour and the wonderful team dynamics of Caleb Carr's The Alienist, the differences being that instead of tracking a serial killer in cosmopolitan New York City in a race against time, the investigative team in this story is trying to debunk a possible society psychic fraud in Quaker-based Philadelphia, all in the interests of science and ensuring that the prize money goes to an actual psychic. For me, this story has pluses that made it an enjoyable read. For starters, Martin isn't as naive as he comes across. Hapless when it comes to love, but he still retains a good scientific mind that just keeps analyzing and paying attention to the little details, even when his heart is trying to get him to stop thinking. The clues and insights are doled out in a slow, steady fashion in pace with the plot, so I was able to settle in, enjoy the story and not feel rushed by events or a sudden landslide of information to digest. The historical elements of the time period are captured well here giving the story an interesting balance of history and science that seems to work well. You don't have to be a believer in Spiritualism to enjoy this one... if anything, Gangemi may slightly tug at your shirt sleeve to lead you into wondering what is real and what is all a charade. The following quote from the master of illusion himself, Harry Houdini, brings it all home:

"I have read with keen curiosity the articles by leading scientists on the subject of psychic phenomena... The fact that they are scientists does not endow them with an especial gift for detecting the particular sort of fraud used by mediums, nor does it bar them from being deceived."

Food Discussion:
You know a character is about as skint as one can get when the story starts off by mentioning our protagonist is down to his last $1.30 - this is the 1920's - and has for the last three nights been subsisting on ketchup sandwiches. Wow. This book is such a great story for food discussion fodder. Mention of "scrapple" caught my eye, as did a vegetable marrow farcie, lady cake and peaches in Chartreube jelly and a snapper soup which I was to learn was made from an aggressive bred of tortoise and not the fish that I know by that name. Pepperpot soup I had heard of before and have even tried on a trip to Philadelphia, although I doubt the one I had tasted exactly the same as the one Martin consumed. Based on the Wikipedia article for Scrapple, I can understand why this dish did not appeal to our lead character as a breakfast food item. Vegetable Marrow Farci, on the other hand, sounds really good and I have made a note of this recipe to try out some time. I am always on the look out for recipes for zucchini.

What really caught my attention was the repeated mentions of the Horn & Hardart Automarts, where it is reported one could purchase items such as macaroni and cheese, baked beans and creamed spinach. At least the characters in Inamorata confined their food consumptions to eggnog and sticky buns, having exhausted the Automart's selection of homemade pies and sworn off the "bottomless" coffee. ;-) I was also fascinated by the following recipe (for bathing not consumption):

two pounds of barley, a pound of rice, six pounds of bran, two pounds of oatmeal, and a half pound of lavender boiled in two quarts of water and mixed with an ounce each of borax and bicarbonate of soda.

>59 lkernagh: Scrapple's not so bad, really...it's basically in the same family as sausage. :)

Inamorata sounds like a great read, especially since I love that crossing of science and spiritualism that happened during that time period. BB!

Sounds like quite a lot of interesting food going on in this one, not much I would be interested in eating, though it wouldn't hurt to try.

I was relieved that Scrapple is much more like a sausage than what I thought it was - Headcheese! Just the thought of cheese made from heads makes me shudder. I know it's all in the name but still...

>59 lkernagh: When I saw the book you were reading I did a little research. Sounds like the plotline matches the true story. This one goes on the wish list. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

The Horn & Harts Automarts sounds interesting. Scrapple doesn't sound to bad. Kinda yummy!

Inamorata sounds like an unusual, and interesting book. Not sure if it will make it to the tbr list, but looks like an different book than what I've seen that's set in the 1920's.

Inamorata may need to be on my "look for" list...

>60 christina_reads: - Yah, I have a bit of an issue with sausage - well, really pork based sausages in particular - because I don't as a general rule eat a lot of pork and it didn't help that in the story Inamorata they make a joking comment that scrapple contains "everything but the squeak" when it comes to the pig. That didn't win me over to scrapple. ;-)

There is a local market in town that makes it own in store fresh sausages and I do love those sausages... tonight for dinner we had their garlic and rosemary lamb sausages. Soooo good. They also make beef chipotle sausages, and a lovely bison sausage. I have to admit, when it comes to pork, I will eat bacon but that is about it.

>61 andreablythe: - I can recommend Inamorata, Andrea! The romance angle is a bit flaky but the science and spiritualism bits - as well as capturing historical Philadelphia - is really well done. I am still a little surprised how easily my mind gravitates to any mention of food in the books I am reading. You mean I cannot interest you in an Automart homemade pie? ;-)

>61 andreablythe: - Unfortunately Judy, I am still thinking that scrapple is more like headcheese than sausage, or at least it may have been back 100 years ago, which is still cringe-worthy, IMO.

>62 DeltaQueen50: - Even better! I am still amazed that the journal Scientific American actually ran a spiritualism contest and that they had an investigative team to check out the would be prize winners. I am really fascinated by the Automarts. They really put vending machines and cafeterias of today to shame. I absolutely love this picture I found on the web:



Self-service in the 1920's.... brilliant!

>64 bookwormjules: - Inamorata was one of my impulse buys that would still be sitting on my TBR bookcase if it hadn't been for the March Random Cat (read a book with a bird on the cover). The story worked really well for me - in fact better than I was expecting/hoping, but Spiritualism does tend to give a story an unusual slant. It is brilliant as a 1920's period piece as I do know the author captured a number of things about Philadelphia of the time period correctly.

>65 hailelib: - It was a surprisingly good read.

I am having a difficult time accepting the fact that it is already the middle of April and the Easter long weekend is almost upon us. Where does the time go?! Now that the sunrise occurs before I leave home in the mornings - and the weather is improving - I am back to my usual routine of walking to and from work each day. I love my walking commute. It is 30 minutes of walking (3km) each direction so of course, I am back to listening to audiobooks to keep me entertained. I did notice that there are not as many early morning walkers but that might pick up we approach summer.

On the Reading Front: For audiobook, I am listening to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffry Chaucer as narrated by Fred Williams. Not sure I am grasping all that I listen to, given as it is poetry, but so far I am able to keep abreast of the stories. I have finished The General Prologue and hopefully will be finished The Knight's Tale tomorrow morning. Seriously, The Knight's Tale is one long tale and filled with a lot of references to Greek (or is it Roman?) mythology, but I am grasping the gust of the tale. ;-)

For my real book read, I am currently reading Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and really feeling a connection with the lead character, Christopher.

On deck for April reading, I have George Elliott Clarke's book of poems Blue and I hope to start reading The Keeper of Lost Causes this weekend.

Lori, I'll look forward to hear what you think of The Keeper of Lost Causes. I loved it, but then hated the next one in the series.

I too tried an audiobook of The Canterbury Tales but gave up pretty quickly - I could practically hear the swoosh as it went over my head. It was one of my first audiobooks. I'll look forward to your opinion of that one too. Maybe I'll just have to give it another try.

I'd like to try the Caterbury Tales, but it's definitely a read that would be a lot of work, even for those who often read poetry.

>59 lkernagh: Reading that recipe for the bath soak had me thinking "clogged drain clogged drain...". I make my own lavender bath soak and lemon scrubs and such, but that recipe sounds like it's for feeding cattle (minus the borax, of course).
But the book looks very interesting, so thanks for the review!

>69 andreablythe: Yes, it's not an easy read but, for me anyway, it just didn't convert well to an audiobook. Print is a must for Canterbury Tales.

>68 VivienneR: - Well, now I am really curious to start the series! Parts of The Canterbury Tales is going over my head - I really don't know much about Greek/Roman mythology even though I did take a course on that subject back in my Uni days - but so far, listening is working better than reading for me. Of course, it helps that the reader is reading in a nice even pace that allows my wee little brain time to try and assimilate all that is going on. I was rather surprised to see how bawdy, or "ribaldry" the story is!

>69 andreablythe: - You can always do like I am right now and just let the stuff that doesn't make sense just float on by! There is no way I could read or listen to The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. The audiobook I am listening to is a translation from Middle English that was done by J. U. Nicolson and it is for the most part, easy to follow. I have now resorted to just reading the explanatory footnotes in my e-book to help explain certain things.

>70 mstrust: - I know! At first I thought "Well, that sounds really messy." and then I got to wondering about an old fashioned wash tub but in the 1920's there was indoor plumbing so you right, that would make one heck of a mess in the drains! I like your bath soak better. I love lavender and citrus, be it lemon, orange or grapefruit!

Happy Easter long weekend for all who celebrate!

Today is a lovely sunny day, and supposedly the only day without rain that we are to have this 4-day long weekend, so I went out this morning for a long walk. During the walk I can across a wonderful patch of tulips, pulled my camera out and proceeded to take the pic you see above. I have washed the picture a bit through my photo software program to remove some of the excess lighting - is there such a thing as too much sunshine when taking a picture? - and then used the water colour effect to 'pop' the image. I am quite happy with the end result as decoration for my LT threads.

On the Reading Front: I am continuing to listen to the audiobook of The Canterbury Tales. I am finding the audiobook format works better for me than attempting to read the e-book copy I have. I tend to struggle a bit with poetry and listening to it, it comes across more like a series of tales in a rhyming prose that is easier for my mind to process and follow. I have to admit I wasn't prepared for The Cook's Tale to abruptly end like it does. That jolted me to a stop during my walk! I knew The Canterbury Tales is an unfinished work but for some reason I had just assumed that it would flow without hiccups until the point where Chaucer stopped writing. I am currently listening to The Man of Law's Tale - the audiobook refers to it as 'The Lawyer's Tale' - and I was quite amused to discover that the Man of Law tells his tale on April 18th.... which is today! ;-)

I am continuing to enjoy The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, I am now at the bit where Christopher is trying to catch the train to London and should be finished this one later today.

Next up, I will be starting The Keeper of Lost Causes for the April MysteryCAT Nordic Mysteries.

A happy Easter to you, too, Lori! :D

>71 VivienneR:
I'm tempted to try to do both when I get around to finally reading it and listen and read chapter by chapter with the idea that maybe the combination of audio and text would help with understanding.

>72 lkernagh:
I would definitely have to do a translation, though I like to be able to listen to bits of Middle English after completing old texts like Caterbury Tales. It's cool just to hear the sounds read aloud.

That's a gorgeous photo! The flowers have been slow to come up in our part of the country.

I enjoyed your review of Inamorata. That sounds like a very interesting book. I once took a terrific history-of-science course that involved reading a number of very old Scientific American articles.

Great photo. I need someone to help me take better pictures.

>72 lkernagh: I once saw a series of plays on tv and yes, the Tales were very bawdy. Funny though.

>74 andreablythe: Ahh, maybe that's the secret - listen while you read.

Gorgeous picture!

Happy Easter!

The Easter weekend was better weather-wise than predicted or expected and proved to be, surprisingly, a rather relaxing and productive weekend. On the reading front, I haven't accomplished all that much. I have finished the curious incident of the dog in the night-time and continue to make progress with The Canterbury Tales, but not much else. Replace the "R" in reading with a "B" and you will have a good idea how my weekend was spent! Saturday and Sunday I went on a bit of a beading jag - I even did something I haven't done in over ten years - I pulled an all-niter beading while first watching movies, then listening to The Canterbury Tales. More details on my recent beading projects can be found below. My other half was up late mucking around with some electronics repairs so the two of us were quite happy working on our projects and enjoying just how quiet the city gets in the middle of the night. In case you are wondering, I made it through the night and even saw the sunrise before climbing into bed at 7 am... at which point, I promptly crashed. ;-)

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>74 andreablythe: - Thanks, Andrea! I wonder if there is an audiobook of The Canterbury Tales read in Middle English? There must be some demand for such an item.

>75 mathgirl40: - Thanks, Paulina! Winter never really hit us on the island this year, which makes me wonder is we are in for a sub-par summer - nature is all about balancing - so my rain gear remains at the ready. I love trolling through the archives of some magazines. I haven't trolled through the archives for Scientific American but I see the on-line goes back to 1845, but I require a site license to access the digital copies of these articles, which is crazy because their copyright term has already expired.... a long, long time ago. sighs.

>76 dudes22: - Thanks! I need a better camera. Right now I am using an older Lumix point and shoot and even though it has a Leica lens, it doesn't handle some of the clarity I would like. Time I started to hint to my other half what would make a perfect Christmas present. ;-)

>77 VivienneR: - Bawdy is such a fun word, and works great to describe some of the stories contained in The Canterbury Tales!

>78 BookLizard: - Thanks!

Easter Long Weekend Craft Project: I am getting the bug to buy new beads but after a look at my current stash, I decided I really needed to make something of what I have on hand before I can shop, guilt-free, for new beads.



This picture above gives a bit of a closeup of the finished products in their storage containers. I don't have a normal jewelery case. I have way too many items purchased or made by yours truly any jewelry box to store. Instead, I use organizer units like my dad would use to keep various nuts, bolts and screws in. I just line the plastic drawers with a compact foam lining. The little see-through plastic drawers, that vary in size, are perfect for organizing my collection, and I love how different organization units have different sizes of drawers.... in combination, they can accommodate small delicate stuff just as easily as the bulkier beaded items.

Since it can be difficult to get an idea of what I have made from the picture above, below is one with the various items laid out.



My personal favorite is the Easter egg lariat-style necklace. This is my first attempt at making a lariat-style necklace and yes, I did have Easter on my mind - and bright colours of summer - when I made this one. It will go perfectly with a solid colour top or T-shirt. I have the perfect fitted navy blue top that this necklace will dress up nicely. Below is a close up of the floral eggs:



I can now go bead shopping, guilt-free, and I now have a bunch of new fashion jewelery for work and casual wear.

Book #18 - the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category, ROOTs
2014 Category: Lunch To Go
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: TBR
Format: Trade Paperback
Original publication date: May 18, 2004
Acquisition date: May 14, 2011
Page count: 240 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.2 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: adapted from the book back cover and the amazon.ca website:

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the colour yellow. At fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour’s dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer, and turns to his favourite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with things he had no knowledge of before now.

Review:
How does one get inside of the mind of an autistic 15 year old boy so that a believable character comes to life? For Haddon, his work with autistic individuals may have been something that he relied upon when he was creating the character of Christopher. I found Christopher to be a very life-like personality and one I was able to connect with, more so than I have with some other characters. Christopher doesn't come across as some wooden, two-dimensional paper doll character: he is complex, loveable and a frustrating puzzle to understand. While the story starts out as a mystery that needs to be solved, navigating the complex and very chaotic world we live in through Christopher' eyes is what made this such a fascinating read for me. I will never say that I understand what an autistic individual thinks and experiences, because I can never place myself in their shoes, but after reading this book, and experiencing what Christopher experiences, I now have a better appreciation for why some individuals have such a strong, compelling need for logic and order in their lives. The plot of the story has its interesting diverging tangents, following the logic and thought patterns of our narrator. At first, the very limited information about the other characters really bugged me. Once I remembered that I am supposed to be viewing everything as Christopher sees and experiences it, the lack of emotional information started to make more sense to me. I also love the fine details that went into this book, like having chapters numbered after prime numbers, not the usual cardinal numbering system, and including math formulas, diagrams and timetables. Some might call that gimmicky. but I like it, a lot! I also loved the fact that the story is based in Swindon (as well as London). I have wonderful memories of a family trip to Europe one summer when I was still a teenager. During that trip we stayed with family friends who lived just outside of Swindon in an old farm house (with a converted barn) that was surrounded by fallow land. They kept trained hawks that were absolutely fascinating to behold, but I digress.

This book would have probably continued to languish on my TBR bookcase if it hadn't been for the April Autism Awareness group read over on the 75 Group. Overall, a great story full of heart and awareness, that Christopher sums up quite nicely:

". And it's best if you know a good thing is going to happen, like an eclipse or getting a microscope for Christmas. And it's bad if you know a bad thing is going to happen, like having a filing or going to France. But I think it is worst is you don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing which is going to happen."

Food Discussion:
So, I am typing up this review while munching on a Cadbury's coconut cashew chocolate bar... the whole London/ Swindon story had my cravings for good old British chocolate going. YUM! On to the food review of the story.

Christopher has a breakfast of Ready Brek with a hot raspberry milk shake. I get the Ready Brek but I am still analyzing the idea of a "hot" milk shake, and a raspberry one for that matter. Now, if we were to add chocolate to that drink and make it a hot raspberry chocolate, that I can understand, like I can understand the idea of hot milk, so I guess a hot raspberry milk shake is not so hard to fathom, I just need to stop thinking of a milk shake as a cold drink made with ice cream. Still, the paragraph mentioning Ready Brek and raspberry milk shakes is a ponder-able one, and not just for the food combinations mentioned:

"For example, this morning for breakfast I had Ready Brek and some hot raspberry milk shake.

But if I say that I actually had Shreddies and a mug of tea (keeping in mind that ne wouldn't have Shreddies and tea because they are both brown) I start thinking about Coco Pops and lemonade and porridge and Dr Pepper and how I wasn't eating my breakfast in Egypt and there wasn't a rhinoceros in the room and Father wasn't wearing a diving suit and so on and even writing this makes me feel shaky and scared, like I do when I'm standing on the top of a very tall building and there are thousands of houses and cars and people below me and my head is so full of all these things that I'm afraid that I'm going to forget to stand up straight and hang on to the rail and I'm going to fall over and be killed."

Mentions of orange squash in the story brought back fond memories for me, especially how, as kid, we thought we were being so 'sophisticated' if we had our orange squash with club soda to make it all fizzy. So did mention of how Christopher doesn't like the different foods on his plate to touch. While not like Christopher, I do have my own eating foible: When we have curry, I always dish up so that my curry is on one side, the rice on the other and I use my fork to gather the amount of rice and curry I want.... I don't like the ingredients blended in advance. I absolutely love the description of what a Battenberg cake is based on Christopher's conversation with a neighbor, Mrs. Alexander:

"It's a kind of cake. It has four pink and yellow squares in the middle and it has marzipan icing round the edge."
And I said, "Is it a long cake with a square cross section which is divided into equally-sized, alternately colored squares?"
And she said, "Yes, I think you could probably describe it like that."
I said, "I think I'd like the pink squares but not the yellow squares because I don't like yellow. And I don't know what marzipan is, so I don't know whether I'd like it."
And she said, "I am afraid marzipan is yellow, too. Perhaps I should bring out some biscuits instead. Do you like biscuits?"
And I said, "Yes, Some sorts of biscuits."
And she said, "I'll get a selection."

When Christopher goes to the zoo with his dad, his dad made him "some sandwiches with white bread and tomatoes and lettuce and ham and strawberry jam for me to eat". I was okay with everything listed until the strawberry jam got added..... not sure I am brave enough to attempt a sandwich like that. In this story, Christopher does not consume any food items that are yellow or brown. When his Dad makes him a dinner of Gobi Allo Sag - which sounds really yummy now that I know what it is - Christopher adds red food colouring to this otherwise yellow dish. This concept of liking or disliking food based on its colour isn't totally foreign to me. My older sister went through an interesting phase when we were growing up of wanted to eat "blue food". Once you get past the obvious food choices of blueberries, blue smarties and not much else, I found it interesting that there are individuals whose consumption of food is very dependent upon the colour the food item is. For me, purple is a rather difficult colour to accept as a food item unless it is in the form of a fruit. It took me forever to get around to eating eggplant and for some reason I felt a lot better knowing that it is just the outer skin of the eggplant that is purple in colour, not the fleshy part of the fruit that one consumes. That is about the only colour-based food issue I have - notice I didn't say 'had'. ;-)

>80 lkernagh: - Lori - ....I am getting the bug to buy new beads but after a look at my current stash, I decided I really needed to make something of what I have on hand before I can shop, guilt-free, for new beads.... I'm the same way with my fabric stash. There's always something new and exiting to buy. I like your necklaces; you can wear a different one every day. My sister-in-law beads and I find that's a nice gift to bring her back when we go on vacation - doesn't take up a lot of space in my luggage either. (And better than a Tshirt ;))

On the book front, I loved the curious incident of the dog in the night-time when I read it. A friend of mine also recommended 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster which I haven't read yet but is a similar style book.

You definitely have more stamina than I do! I couldn't pull an all-nighter in college, let alone these many years later! The one you identified as your favorite is the one that drew my eye, too. It's got a springy/summery look to it. I predict you'll get lots of compliments every time you wear it.

I loved The Curious Incident when I read it a few years ago. In some ways my current audiobook, Once, has reminded me of that one. Although the main character isn't autistic, he's a child trying to make sense of the Nazi treatment of Jews in WWII Poland, and he reaches conclusions that make sense to him but are nowhere near reality.

You were busy over the weekend. Look at all that lovely jewelry. You also read Curious Incident which I loved several years ago!

Gorgeous, gorgeous jewellery! :D I love the green necklace and the blue earrings especially.

Gorgeous jewelry!

I remember enjoying the curious incident of the dog in the night-time quite a bit when I read it. The author handled the voice very well.

Interesting food discussion. It sounds like these foods are specifically things the character likes as opposed to the average population (i.e. the sandwich with strawberry jam).

Fabulous beading Lori. My favourite is 3rd from the left in the shot where they are spread out. All of them are beautiful. What a clever storage idea.

And I loved your review of Haddon's book. I will definitely read that one.

>82 dudes22: - Well, I have to admit that it doesn't take much for me to get the bug to buy new beads but I am happy to learn that I am not alone when it comes to wanting to splash out on craft supplies! One thing I do love about beading is when I tire of a design or bead arrangement, I just dismantle the necklace and can then use the beads for some other beading project. I have dismantled 4 necklaces so far this year..... these were necklaces I had made when I first took up beading and didn't wear very often, if ever. I think the fact that your bring your sister-in-law beads as a gift from your vacations is a wonderful idea.... you probably come across some pretty amazing beads that cannot be readily purchased at home! I have made a note of the Lancaster book. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

>83 cbl_tn: - Thanks! I pulled more than my share of all-niters in college, but it was actually during summer vacations while I was a teenager that I loved to stay up all night on the porch reading. I don't have the stamina for that anymore. ;-)

I am looking forward to seeing what you think of Once when you finish reading it!

>84 thornton37814: - What is crazy is the weekend was so relaxing. No running around getting errands done or anything like - it really helps that all the shops, including the grocery stores were closed on Easter Sunday - so I guess you could say I slowed down enough this weekend to spend time creating something instead of just doing something.

>85 rabbitprincess: - Thanks! The green one is one of the few green toned necklaces I have which is a bit surprising considering my wardrobe has a lot of earth tones in it.

>86 andreablythe: - Thanks! Haddon really did seem to get inside his character in a wonderful way. I think you are right. The foods are supposed to be specifically thing the character likes but I still have trouble with the strawberry jam with tomatoes, lettuce and ham. ;-)

>87 VivienneR: - I have worn that set you like already and I can see it working with a number of items in my wardrobe so that will probably became one I wear on a somewhat regular basis. As for the storage system for all my beaded and costume jewelry, well, they do say that necessity is the mother of invention! I am always amazed at what I can find in a hardware store that I can make use of the average hardware store shopper wouldn't consider.

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I am mentally still adjusting to my short work week and the fact that it is already Thursday. No complaints from me. I am always happy when the weekend arrives!

I am still plugging away at The Canterbury Tales. As a rough guess, I am almost three quarters of the way through. I am noticing that there appears to be quite a lot of advice/ opinions on wedlock and how a wife should behave in these tales. Its a good thing the Wife of Bath tale is there to present the female viewpoint on this topic! Some good adventure stories and even one with an Arthurian legend aspect to it but not quite on par with the Tales of the Arabian Nights. Instead of starting The Keeper of Lost Causes I decided to read Blue, a collection of poems by George Elliott Clarke. I am keeping the Adler-Olsen book for mt weekend reading.

This talk of beading has made me think that I'll try to find some beads to take my sister-in-law when we go visit for the weekend in May.

>88 lkernagh: I remember when shops were closed on Easter here too. Now they are too greedy for whatever business they might bring in.

Love the jewelry! But I don't agree with having to use your current stash before buying new. If that were a rule, I'd have virtually no Mt. TBR!

Oh, wait, maybe that would be a good thing....

>90 dudes22: - Brilliant idea!

>91 thornton37814: - Do they at least have reduced holiday hours, like 11 to 5? I have to admit that, as an early riser, I find it very frustrating when I cannot go shopping, especially in the summer months, until after 10 am. Grocery stores here open at either 7 or 8 am with a couple that are 24-hours (but not convenient for me to frequent) with Walmart being one of the exceptions (they open at 7am). Few stores are open before 9:00 am - most start at 10am - and most retail stores are closed by 6pm on Saturdays and 5pm on Sundays. Apparently, the retailers in my area are not greedy for whatever business they may bring in, except for the movie theaters which happen to be one of the few businesses that are open on Christmas Day, and quite frankly, I blame Hollywood for that and their Christmas Day theater releases. ;-)

>92 -Eva-: - LOL! But I do need to use some of my stash (not all) before I buy more, if only because I then find myself in a storage crunch situation - same with my books. ;-)

I am about the break that rule, yet again, as our city's annual book sale happens in three weeks time, and I am out of storage space on my current TBR bookcase. What is a girl to do...... I cannot give up going to the sale because all proceeds go to promoting literacy so that is a good cause but to help promote literacy, I need to buy books. Hense, my dilemma. ;-)

What a great weekend and how sad to see it already coming to a close. The weather was lovely and - even better - my second favorite sign of Spring was visible: Lilacs bushes are now in bloom, or blooming, here on the island!



I absolutely LOVE lilacs and will continue to be in a happy, giddy mood while these wonderful blossoms are in bloom. This weekend has been a mix of chores, crafting, book reading (and reviewing) and TV viewing.
On the TV front, we are continuing to work our way through Series 1 of The Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries. This is one series I cannot bead in front of because I love the mysteries, I adore the costume pieces - seriously, I was born in the wrong era! - and I want a house just like Phryne's with that wonderful widow's walk with red painted wrought iron railing!

On the crafting front, I finished making both my Mother's Day and my Father's Day cards, so they are ready for posting. Very happy about that!

On the reading front, I have now finished reading/ listening to The Canterbury Tales and a poetry collection, Blue by Canadian author and poet George Elliott Clarke from my TBR bookshelf for the 2014 Category Challenge April Poetry RandomCAT and my ROOTs reading. Reviews written and will be posted below.

Currently Reading: I am 27 pages into The Keeper of Lost Causes and because I need something to offset all the drama and angst I have suffered through with my last two reads, I have decided something fun and entertaining is in order for my next audiobook read, so I will be starting Johannes Cabal the Necromancer tomorrow morning during my morning commute to work.

Book #19 - Blue by George Elliott Clarke
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category, ROOTs
2014 Category: Smorgasbord
Reading BINGO square: A Book With a Blue Cover
CAT(s): RandomCAT (Poetry)
Source: TBR
Format: Trade Paperback
Original publication date: April 30, 2001
Acquisition date: October 18, 2012
Page count: 157 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.1 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: from the book inside cover:

This incandescent book subscribes to the adage that "Good poems should rage like a fire, burning all things." Blue is black, profane, surly, damning - and unrelenting in its brilliance. George Elliott Clarke writes: "I craved to draft lyrics that would pour out like pentecostal fire - pell mell, scorching, bright, loud: a poetics of arson."

Review:
I read this collection of poems for the April Poetry RandomCAT over on the 2014 Category Challenge Group. This is the only book of poetry on my TBR bookcase so I read it so that I could add another book to my ROOTs reading. This was a book randomly purchased one rainy day based solely on the author's name as I had a copy of Whylah Falls already at home should so I figured it would be a fitting read as part of a 'random' read, IMO. ;-)

The majority of the poems contained in this collection are raw, both for the emotions they transmit off the pages and the crude, almost guttural words that pepper a number of the poems. Clarke admits that he wrote these poems in the later half of the 1990's as a reaction to "The Great Republic's fiery liberty" - I have no idea what he is referring to with that statement - and obviously with the purpose to kindle a fire within the reader. He dives into the depths of black history, social demographics, political events and love affairs with a cuttingly honest, bare-all approach that made me feel like I was being hit repeatedly with an emotional battering ram. While Clarke labels these poems as "black, profane, surly, American", Clarke's years growing up in Nova Scotia and his Canadian life come through in these poems with references to Red Rose tea, Canadian politics and the Nova Scotian landscape. That being said, it is the passion that connects these poems, sometimes subtly and sometimes as the ringing force behind the words. My favorite poem in the collection is Elegy for Mona States, a moving poem of love and admiration for a cousin who has committed suicide. That poem is absolutely beautiful, but at 7 pages in length, I won't be reproducing it here. Instead, here is a shorter poem that I quite like:

Ecclesiastes 12

I remember God during these liquored years -
While the penniless, pensioned days are far,
And the stars birth sunflowers in a black garden,
And the moon shellacks the river with teal light,
And the young bride sleeps and the greyed husband
Stands in the doorway and stares at the night,
And entrepreneurs turn, blinded, from windows,
And banks are flung open to assassins,
And lawyers moan, giving birth to money,
And vipers quarrel in the bowels of priests,
And statues wear away, leaving musick,
And the plump, elegant girls pluck apples,
And the pimp jollies his quarry with wine,
And desire fulfills each luscious limb,
And dragonflies darkle, gleaming through soot,
And the daughters of musick rise and go,
And the river shambles home, leaking stars,
And my poems are illuminated by many.

Overall, Clarke's poems are more accessible for a non-poetry reader like me than are some other collections I have attempted to read in the past. Clarke writes his poems with a story-telling prose-like quality, so struggling to understand or follow what he is communicated is not a big challenge. I am not a big fan of crass and crude language that was used here, to drive home the message, even though it does so, very effectively. I have mixed feelings about this collection. Some of the poems are absolutely beautiful, some resonated with me in a way I won't forget but most of the poems left me wondering what I was missing or why the a particular turn of phrase was utilized. I came away feeling this was just an average reading experience for me. I preferred his earlier prose work Whylah Falls better.

Food Discussion:
I have got nothing to mention except the mention of Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale which is a okay beer, IMO if you are in a food establishment and their beer and wine selection leaves much to be desired. It is not something that I actually purchase for home. ;-)

Book #20 - The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - translated into modern English by J.U. Nicolson (audiobook narrated by Fred Williams)
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category
2014 Category: Ye Olde Traditional Fare
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): RandomCAT (Poetry)
Source: Project Gutenberg / GVPL
Format: e-book / audiobook
Original publication date: Unknown (J.U. Nicolson translation first published in 1934)
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 627 pages / 18 hours and 20 minutes of listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.8 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: adapted from various sources:

Written at the end of the 14th century, this epic unfinished work - referred to as the author's magnum opus, - is a collection of stories presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of 29 pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return, with the Innkeeper, along for the journey and appoints himself to be the judge of the best tale told.

Review:
I am happy to start off this review by saying how glad I am to be finally finished with this one! I did find the audiobook made it easier for me to keep on plugging away at it but Good Grief, after a while it really started to drone in my ear as each tale seemed to keep to the same theme of marriage, deceitful behaviour and harsh judgements. "Epic" is a good term to describe this one, even if this unfinished work only contains 24 tales, and not the 120 tales - 4 tales told by each of the pilgrims - that would have made it a complete work. What I did find fascinating is the religious and social commentary the tales make of Chaucer's 14th century England. For some strange reason, I didn't expect some of the tales to be so full of bawdy sex, vulgarity, lowbrow humour and rancour. The Canterbury Tales is really quite the unrated adult version of The Arabian Nights, even though The Arabian Nights were in fact originally presented to an adult audience, and not meant for children's bed-time reading material. As with any collection of tales, I liked some better than others. The Knight's Tale was a great story of love, chivalry, contest and honour with a wonderful moral ending. The Miller's Tale and The Reeves Tales were good for a chuckle or two but had me wondering just what I was in for with the rest of the tales. The Man of Law's Tale reminded me the most of the tales from The Arabian Nights . Of course, I was intrigued to hear The Wife of Bath's Tale - 5 husbands and willing to consider taking husband #6! - and liked the perspective presented there.... I grew rather tired of how the women in the tales seem to fall into only two categories: women of virtue who suffer greatly (or are willing to commit suicide rather than lose their maidenhead) or slatternly whores who are the sole reason that men have no control over their 'passions'. I know this was written in the 14th century but "Wow" on some of the statements made! The Clerk's Tale had quite the jaw-dropping conclusion and angers me a bit that that tale is in the collection. The Physician's Tale is an interesting moral allegory - a reprehensible one, to be sure, but an allegory all the same. I did rather enjoy The Nun's Priest's Tale and the change of pace of having a rooster as the lead character in her tale. It was a wonderful reprieve as I was really getting bogged down by the various moralizing of the previous tales!

Overall, while I can appreciate that this work captures the attention of literary scholars for examination and debate and probably will continue to do so until the end of time, I wasn't all that impressed with the tales. After a while I found I wasn't really paying attention to the stories I was listening to and had no urge to rewind to re-listen to what I might have missed. What continues to baffle me is why Chaucer wrote that retraction at the end, even though the work was unfinished. Maybe he decided that he could not continue with it for whatever reasons - religious persecution, making faith with his God, etc and wrote the retraction in case the works were discovered. A mystery that remains unsolved. I am glad that I have now read this one. Maybe in a few years' time, I may revisit some of the tales to see if I can glean further insight from them but for now, this can be shelved as completed.


Food Discussion:
I have got nothing for you guys. Sorry!

I love the smell of lilacs. Somewhere, buried under other things, I have a lilac bush. Someday I'll win the lottery and hire a landscaper to bring things back to order.

Congratulations on finishing CT!!! Well done! I got bogged down (and/or distracted) in the Knight's Tale.

I'm going to put Blue on my poetry TBR list (which is growing quite long), because I enjoyed the poem you quoted.

Kuddos to finishing the Canterbury Tales! I wonder about the moralizing tales, whether there's some mockery for the moralizing. Because my understanding is that the only character who Chaucer fully presented as noble and just was the knight, while all the others showed some level of mockery of the character, especially if they believe themselves to be more moral/good than other people.

>93 lkernagh:
Altruistic pursuits are always worth the sacrifice. :)

>94 lkernagh:
Those current reads are both great - hope you enjoy!

Great pictures of those lilacs. I love them, but we barely have buds around here. This am's news said we're 10-15 degrees below normal temp for this time of year and I believe it.

When I ran out of room in my TBR bookcase, I took part of a closet shelf, and then part of another closet shelf, and then books in bags on the closet floor.....

I love visiting your thread ... great book reviews and gorgeous jewellery and flower photos!

Congratulations on finishing The Canterbury Tales. That's one of the works I've always meant to read but just haven't been able to motivate myself to do so. Your review is helpful, even if it's not pushing me to get to the book any faster. :)

>97 mamzel: - Lilacs rank up there as one of my favorite flowers for scent so of course I am excited at the fact that you have a lilacs bush, even if it has been buried under other things. ;-0

The Knight's Tale is one of the longer tales, that is for sure. I will admit to getting a bit glassy eyed over the detailed description of the preparations for the feast day. I think that took up half of the tale, if I am not mistaken........;-)

>98 andreablythe: - I would be happy to mail my copy of the book to you, Andrea. If interested, drop me a PM with your address.

"mockery for the moralizing"..... I think you are on to something there. The knight was the only character that came across and noble and lily white in virtue of all of our pilgrims. Even our lovely religious pilgrims held some hard fast beliefs that really didn't appear to speak to an acceptance of other people's belief systems and values.

>99 -Eva-: - I hope you have a lovely trip home and look forward to seeing you posting when you are back.... I should be finished both reads by then, as well as some more!

>100 dudes22: - Wow. 10-15 degrees below normal temps is not a good sign. Here is hope you have an amazing summer to make up for the unusually cold spring.

I would love to store my excess books in part of a closet but my other half has already beat me to those spaces for all of his technology 'stuff'. At least he is more than willing to keep an eye out for another bookcase.... we got such an awesome deal on the last one we purchased - bought it at one of the weekly auctions in town - that he has turned it into a game to see if he can acquire another bookcase at such a great price. He knows I won't settle for just anything but at least he has an excuse to go check out the auctions on a weekly basis. ;-)

>101 mathgirl40:- Thanks, Paulina!

As I won't finish any more books tonight, here is the monthly recap.

APRIL RE-CAP:

BOOKS READ (ranked from most to least favorite):
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon - 4.20 /
Inamorata by Joseph Gangemi - 3.90 /
The Dead Shall Not Rest by Tessa Harris - 3.70 /
Blue by George Elliott Clarke - 3.10 /
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer - 2.80 /

Largest Book read: The Canterbury Tales at 627 pages
Smallest Book read: Blue at 157 pages
Books still in progress at the end of the month: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard on audio and The Keeper of Lost Causes, first book in the Department Q series by Jussi Alder-Olsen as a physical book read.
Interesting Fact: Nothing of interest comes to mind.

2014 Category Challenge: (as of April 30th)
World Cuisine - 3/7
Ye Olde Traditional Fare - 4/7
Lunch to Go - 5/7
Petit Fours - 3/7
Two can Dine - 2/7
Scottish Pub Fare - 0/7
Smorgasbord - 3/7

My "Luck 'O the Irish" Race (books read versus pages read): Given the chunksters I plan on reading this year, my 75 group challenge will be considered completed whichever comes first: 75 books read or 25,000 pages read.



As of the end of March, my 'pages read' shamrock still has the lead, but has dropped back a bit in this year long race. No chunkster reads planned for May so we may be back to a 'neck in neck' race soon.

April Planned Reads
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard - started in April
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen - started in April
The Club at Eddy's Bar by Zoltan Boszormenyi - an LTER book form teh February batch that I really need to read and review
The Twilight Time by Karen Campbell - so I can start making a dent in my Tartan Noir reads, which I have been sadly neglecting so far this year.
.... and whatever else I find time for.

>102 lkernagh:
Really? Thank you!

>104 andreablythe: - Yup, really. I will drop it in the mail in the next couple of days. Besides, I have a feeling you will appreciate the poems more than I did..... ;-)

My weekend is off to an interesting start. I was so tired Friday night that I actually went to bed shortly after I got home from work. I then woke up at 12:30, refreshed after a 6 hour sleep and pretty much the reason why I am now online and posting on LT in the middle of the night! ;-)

My physical book reading has been very limited this past week so I am just past the 100 page mark in The Keeper of Lost Causes. Walking is about the only time I have for listening to audiobooks. Luckily, I have been able to walk to and from work all week and get out during my lunch break so I am almost finished my audiobook read Johannes Cabal the Necromancer.

Plans for this weekend: I may start a herb garden but that all depends on the outcome of conversations I will have with the gardening shop folks as some of you already know, I have no green thumb when it comes to gardening so I want to talk with the experts and confirm I am not setting myself up for failure by attempting this.

I posted these pictures over on the 75 Group an thought I would also post them over here. I love how certain older building have turned boarded up windows into art. The following pictures are window art that cover the side of a building that currently is a flower shop that I recently snapped pics of while walking in town last week:

. .

How cool! I love the window art.

Beautiful windows! You have some great incentives for walking!

Really cool!

Happy Saturday everyone! The rain that was predicted for today didn't really happens so I managed to get a lot of my usual Saturday errands done without getting drenched. A little drizzled upon, but not enough to count as rain.

On the reading front, I have finished Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. Review is ready for posting. I now need to decide on my next audiobook read.

-------------------------
>107 andreablythe: - I am a huge fan of 'window art'.... more so than wall graffiti as the artist is usually working on a smaller canvas, since windows are a lot smaller than the sides of buildings. They also blend in very nicely with the surroundings. I took some more shots of the back side of a building in downtown Victoria that has really stayed true to the idea of "window art". I will post those pics once I move them off my camera.

>108 cbl_tn: - Thanks, Carrie! I now carry my camera in my purse at all times, because all I have to do is turn a corner and a great photo opportunity presents itself. Between that and the audiobooks, I intend to get in a fair bit of walking this spring/summer!

>109 dudes22: - Betty, my personal favorite is the window on the left. Don't know why but there is just something about the statue that attracts my eye.... something about the symmetry.....

Book #21 - Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard - audiobook narrated by Christopher Cazenove
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category
2014 Category: Petit Fours
Reading BINGO square: A Book With Non-Human Characters
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: Jul 07, 2009
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 291 pages / 10 hours and 48 minutes of listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.2 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: from the amazon.com website:

Johannes Cabal sold his soul years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. Now he wants it back. Amused and slightly bored, Satan proposes a little wager: Johannes has to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. This time for real. Accepting the bargain, Jonathan is given one calendar year and a traveling carnival to complete his task. With little time to waste, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire to help him run his nefarious road show, resulting in mayhem at every turn.

Review:
Ever been to a traveling carnival? Was it a fun experience? For me, clowns are creepy and after two hours of all the noise, activity, flashing lights, crush of crowds and the excess consumption of fat and sugar-laden carnival foods, I am anything but the picture of someone having fun. Even though I don't like going to carnivals in real life, I do like them as part of a story and I really enjoyed Howard's debut novel. Howard presents such a wonderful, darkly comic carnival experience. This is NOT The Night Circus for all of you who may be wondering about that. We are talking apples and oranges here. As for Johannes Cabal, what a fantastic character! Yes, he is rude, arrogant, obnoxious and has no moral compass - WHATSOEVER - but anyone that has the balls to march up to the gates of hell without an appointment, thumbs his nose at the bureaucratic red tape in place to stop him or anyone else and proceeds to demand to speak to Satan, NOW, while looking disdainfully over the rims of his blue-lens sunglasses.... Well, one can't help but respect that kind of gumption. The dry, sarcastic one-liners that zing off the pages - or in my case, zinged through my ears - really go a long way in turning what could have be a macabre horror story into an entertaining black comedy. Horror - No. Comedy - Yes. The first chapter or two were full of witty repartee and biting digs at the underworld and bureaucracy in general. Great stuff! If only Howard had been able to maintain the same level of creative and engaging writing the story starts out with, this would have been one of my best reads in a long, loooong time. As it is, it was still a very solid and engaging read for me, even with the slower bits.

I listened to the audiobook as narrated by Christopher Cazenove and I have say Cazenove did a fantastic, pitch perfect job as the voice of Johannes Cabal and the rest of the cast of characters. Mr. Bones being another favorite character he captured beautifully. Johannes brother Horst is the perfect foil to balance out Johannes 'deficiencies'. Not that I would want to encounter any of them in a dark alleyway or anything but they are fun characters to read. If you ever thought operating a traveling carnival would be fun and hassle-free, Howard's book and the various situations Cabal and the carnival find themselves in will, if anything, make you think that Satan probably isn't who you want as a business partner, wager or no wager.

Overall, this was the perfect change of pace I needed. While the story won't appeal to all readers, if you like dark comedies, don't mind stories with a bit of contractual soul-stealing and like stories that blend horror with humor, necromancy with magic and evil versus... well.... evil, this may appeal to you. I should probably mention that the book ends with a bit of a 'reveal' - a teaser to entice one to move on to Johannes Cabal the Detective, book two in the series - which worked on me: I already have book two ready to go.

Footnote: This book has been tagged by a number of LT readers as being steampunk but no, I don't think that just because the carnival train is potentially powered by a steam engine counts this one as steampunk read, IMO.

Food Discussion:
As dead 'things' don't as a general rule eat food - and our lead character was more the madcap scientist than food connoisseur - I still managed to find some interesting food comments to make here. At one point in the story, when Johannes actually felt slightly peckish, steak tartare is mentioned. I have never consumed steak tartare, which isn't all that surprising when you find out that I prefer my beef to be cook medium.... if there is any pinkness to the meat, it is very slight. The Wikipedia article mentioned that the chopped or minced meat that makes up steak tartare is often served with, among other things, capers. I love capers but have never considered them to be something I would add to a beef dish. Fish, yes. Beef.... hum, interesting idea but not something I would consider in a restaurant setting as the capers could offset any flavours that would indicate that the meat is slightly 'off'.

I did enjoy reading about Johannes first encounter with root beer and how he thought his brother was asking him to drink detergent. Now, I have had good root beer and I have had bad root beer. When we were youngsters, my mom went through a phase of making root beer at home for us. I was too young at the time to remember what it tasted like, so this is more of an interesting tidbit from my past than anything that raises an opinion. I can see where the taste of root beer may not appeal to some - my first encounter with sarsaparilla left me a little taken a back by the stronger and rather unique taste, but root beer floats made with rich and creamy vanilla ice cream and consumed out of ice-chilled mugs are a summer favorite of mine. SUPER YUM!!!! Going back to the sarsaparilla, I was surprised to read in the Wikipedia article that in the 19th century, it was considered to be a remedy for skin and blood problems.

Other than those interesting food mentions, the last food items occurred in a tea shop. The food items themselves are not unusual for a tea shop to offer - brewed hot tea with scones and clotted cream - but what did catch my attention was how Johannes just assumed his tea companion would take his tea with lemon. I don't recall the type of tea they consumed being mentioned, but it was probably some form of black tea. With herbal teas, I tend to take them with honey or honey and lemon added. For black teas, I take it with just a splash of milk. For Chai teas, I actually like milk, honey and cardamon. I know, you would think I would find the Chai tea already has enough in it but the problem I have with Chai teas is that they all seem to smell so amazing and then disappoint me in the flavour department.

I don't cook. Not at all. But I do love those old spiral-bound cookbooks that you find at most used book stores. They are the kind that were usually "crowd-sourced" and included recipes handed down from generation to generation. Today, while I was at a garden expo (ironic since I don't garden either, but this is what married life is like sometimes...) I came across this:



What's really interesting about this book, especially in relation to the topic of squirrel entrees earlier, is that there are at least a dozen recipes for squirrel, raccoon, rabbit and moose! The recipes were collated in 1967 and this was the 12th printing (1974.) For whatever reason, I thought the whole squirrel, raccoon, rabbit thing would have been an Appalachian thing, not Down East!

I do cook and rather than a t-shirt for a souvenir, I've purchased a few cookbooks from various places. I like seeing what local foods are used and have tried some recipes if I can find the ingredients.

I also love the window art. It looks so lovely. That cookbook you found certainly sounds interesting. It probably doesn't have pictures like today's cookbooks do though. That would have made it even more interesting.

>112 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - What a great find! I don't collect cookbooks but my Mom has a huge stash of them that she has amassed over the years (and inherited from her mom). She has bought a number of those 'community' coil-bound recipe books. Of course, none of them contain recipes for squirrel, raccoon, rabbit or moose. Oh wait, there might be a rabbit recipe or two but I would have remembered if I saw one with squirrel or raccoon. I am more surprised to see that the recipes in the book you found were collated in 1967. It appears that hunting might have been more of a mainstay food gathering activity in the mid-1900's than I would have expected. ;-)

>113 dudes22: - Nice souvenir idea, Betty!

>114 Roro8: - Thanks Roro. I wonder how appetizing the dishes would have looked. I remember growing up on 'comfort foods' that tasted really good but would have looked more like slop if a picture was taken. When I cook I do pay attention to the colour presentation as well as the taste, but I don't think that was at the forefront of a number of harried cooks trying to get the family meal on the table. ;-)

>112 Tanya-dogearedcopy: & >115 lkernagh: I suppose it's telling of where I'm from but I think I'd be hard pressed to find a standard cookbook that doesn't include recipes for rabbit and moose (or elk, as it were). Squirrel isn't eaten by people around here and we don't have raccoons but if we did I'm sure they'd be included too. Don't most cookbooks have a game section that includes that sort of thing?

>116 PawsforThought: - Good point! From the various cookbooks my mom has, the only one that seems to have a game section are the older ones that were compiled by farming communities. The more urban community cookbooks seem more concerned with ensuring that appetizers and drinks sections are included.... those contributors would have cringed at the thought of a game section. I can just see the following reaction occurring: "What? You want me to prepare something with ingredients that I cannot purchase from the grocer?" ;-) My personal favorites are the cookbooks that the schools come up with and sell to raise money for a band trip or some other such school outing.

>117 lkernagh: Game is pretty trendy over here so I'm pretty sure it'd be included even in more urban-focused cookbooks.

I have a cookbook (Soul Food Cookbook from 1969) that has a recipe for Roast Possum with Sweet Potatoes and also two recipes for squirrel plus the more usual rabbit and wild fowl selections.

I love the window art, Lori. What amazing work!

That's such marvelous window art!

I just pulled a bunch of cookbooks at random from our shelves (Granted that I don't have the most extensive cookbook library but this is the only reference I've got to work with on a Sunday night) to check out game recipes. I found two rabbit recipes, one each in two Jaimie Oliver books, but no squirrels or moose recipes. Nothing in the Pierre Franze, any of the Rozanne Gold or La Madeleine French Countryside cookbooks. I did find one pheasant and one quail recipe. Where I am finding game recipes (rabbit, squirrel) in frequency are in the older cookbooks (mid-century and earlier) and in the multi-generational collections (e.g. La Cucina.)

It's also interesting that I see more references to "oleo" in 1950s collections (later it seems, it becomes "margarine") and that as cookbooks become more current to now, the measurements are more precise, e.g. "6 oz tomato soup" vs "1/2 can of tomato soup."

>122 Tanya-dogearedcopy: When I say "standard cookbook" I don't mean ones by particular well-known chefs. That'd be "celebrity cookbooks" or something to me. A standard cookbook to me is the kind of general "everything from how to boil an egg to how to make a wedding cake" type book. Usually incredibly heavy, aroung 6-700 pages long.

We only have one "standard" cookbook, the iconic red and white checker covered, Better Homes and Gardens 75th Anniversary Edition 1930-2005; but no rabbit or squirrel in that one either :-(

(LOL, As I was rummaging through the shelves, DH glanced over and looked a little worried when I explained what I was looking for but not why! ;-) )

I checked in my Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices cookbook by George Leonard Herter from 1960 and it has a recipe for Corned Moose (like Corned Beef) and also one for moose liverwurst - if you need them, let me know - LOL!

I just love old cookbooks!

My standard cookbook (aside from the ubiquitious NZ staple, the Edmonds Cookbook) is Stephanie Alexander's the Cooks Companion. It is an encyclopedia and a half and is so so good.

I love the window art! About chai teas ... when I was growing up, I had two Indian friends and their moms would make me chai tea from scratch on the stove-top. Nothing compares to it, and the kitchen smells wonderful while it's cooking!

I am really behind but I loving the reviews with food commentary! I was veyr relieved what was discussed with The Road though (yes I was that far behind :) Love the window art too.

Great review of Johannes Cabal the Necromancer! Looks like my kind of read.

I also like those old spiral bound cookbooks and while I also don't cook, it's fun to look through them. I don't think I'd ever cook squirrel except in a survival situation, though.

My mom has an old spiral cookbook from Alaska, which has recipes for moose and caribou and other Alaskan plant and wildlife. We find the book hilarious because it has recipes listed as from my grandmother, even though she never cooked a one of these things in real life. Hehe.

You've been busy! Lots of reading, beading, and enjoying the weather. Thanks for sharing all the pictures.

>130 andreablythe: I have one of those spiral cookbooks with recipes that I supposedly contributed. My mom used a culinary loophole because she didn't think that her Midwestern, Lutheran church cookbook contained enough vegetarian recipes (or recipes without canned soup as the number one ingredient). So for the new issue she submitted the max number of recipes for herself and her three daughters : )

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Thank you for keeping my thread going. I love the cookbook game discussion and the interesting finds hidden in some of these cookbooks.

Something I ate - either Sunday or Monday - did not agree with me so Monday night was one of those stomach churning nights. I was still somewhat queasy this morning with a nasty acidic problem but things appear to be finally settling down. A mild diet of camomile tea and watermelon for the last two days may have helped things along on the recovery front.

I am starting to get very excited for the weekend. This weekend is the annual book sale sponsored by our local newspaper. I already have my list of books that I own prepared and updated so I don't purchase something I just haven't gotten around to reading yet. I managed to upload the list to my iPod so I can easily reference it while milling through the tables of book.

On the reading front, I have finished The Keeper of Lost Causes, and the review is now ready for posting.

..... but first, replies to my visitors.

>118 PawsforThought: - I love game but it can be hard to come by where I am, unless it is in the form of ranched game like bison or ostrich. I always bemoan the fact that I live on an island and my landlocked parents have access to a better selection of fresh seafood than I do.... there is something wrong with that.

>119 hailelib: - For some strange reason, Roast Possum with Sweet Potato sounds somewhat appealing.... I am still not sure about squirrel though. The darn things are so tiny!

>120 DeltaQueen50: - I know...such beautiful stuff!

>121 tymfos: - I don't think the artist signed the windows but I plan on taking a closer look the next time I walk by. Usually, there is a date created and signature somewhere in one of the corners.

>122 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - Oh, pheasant. I would love to try pheasant, but that is one of those birds that I seriously doubt are local to the island! I don't think I have ever seen quails in the stores either, but quails appear to be smaller birds which means fussy work like when trying to prepare a dish with Cornish game hens. I love the older recipe books and the 'vague' measurements, even if it was frustrating trying to understand what they were referring to.

>123 PawsforThought: and >124 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - That is the standard cookbook my mom has only her's is a plan blue cover (I think it probably had a slip cover but that is long gone!).

>124 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - LOL! My other half is siding with your DH.... if I told him I was on the hunt for a squirrel recipe without telling him why, e would be very concerned, mainly because we have a family of squirrels that have recently started nesting in the tree outside our bedroom window. ;-)

>125 mysterymax: - Moose liverwurst?! I didn't see that one coming as a published recipe! ;-)

>126 thornton37814: - Isn't it amazing what is lurking between the pages of those older cookbooks!

>127 LovingLit: - It sounds like The Cooks Companion is similar to the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook Tanya mentioned above. Those cookbooks are a godsend. I think the only my mom has has an extensive section on canning, pickling and preserving that would grab my attention when I would flip through the pages.

>128 mathgirl40: - Oohhhhh..... Chai tea from scratch. Their houses must has smelt amazing!

>129 clfisha: - That food discussion for The Road could have gone a couple of different ways but I decided revolting wasn't going to be one of the options. ;-)

>130 andreablythe: - If I haven't convinced you, Andrea, just go check out the reviews by some other members of the group (Eva and Pete are the first two to come to mind but I know others have read it). Was the old cookbook from Alaska one of those community sourced projects? I have always wondered is the contributors actually used the recipes they contributed so it is amusing to learn that you know some who didn't make use of the recipes they submitted!

>131 aliciamay: - Busy and tired, but in a happy tired kind of way. ;-)

Book #22 - The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category
2014 Category: Petit Fours
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: TBR
Format: Trade paperback
Original publication date: 2007 (Danish) / July 31, 2012 (English re-print edition)
Acquisition date: May 4, 2013
Page count: 416 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.80 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: from the amazon.com website:

Carl Mørck used to be one of Copenhagen’s best homicide detectives. Then a hail of bullets destroyed the lives of two fellow cops, and Carl—who didn’t draw his weapon—blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing he expects. But Department Q is a department of one, and Carl’s got only a stack of Copenhagen’s coldest cases for company. His colleagues snicker, but Carl may have the last laugh, because one file keeps nagging at him: a liberal politician vanished five years earlier and is presumed dead. But she isn’t dead … yet.

Review:
I don't as a general rule read police procedural or gritty crime novels. I watch them on TV but usually I don't read them. My attention is prone to wander when a crime novel gets bogged down in details that don't interest me. Having finally gotten around to reading the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy last year, I can see where some novels of this type has a certain appeal. While Larsson and Adler-Olsen each place their own stamp on the crime novels they have written, they do have similarities that made it easy for me to make a side-by-side comparison of their first books. One characteristic both books share is the focus on the person and not the process. My preference is to read about complex characters and not the actual nitty-gritty of police work. Adler-Olsen provides my psychologically-driven mind with enough information to keep my mind in analysis mode regarding Carl's very dark and moody persona and his damaged past while at the same time providing a rather entertaining assistant in Assad, a political-refugee immigrant with a mysterious past of his own.

Adler-Olsen takes his time in framing his characters and the crime for the reader. The reveals are gradual, one piece of information at a time, and the story progresses at a more moderate, dare I say, sedate pace. Now, I like a story that has a slow build and takes it time with me. It makes it a lot easier for me to read the book in intervals spread out over time and not feel as thought I have to backtrack and refresh my memory when I do come back to it. I also like stories that are a bit of a mental puzzle to figure out. If I were to compare book one of the Larsson trilogy with this first book in a series I would have to say that while I prefer Larsson's characters, in particular the enigmatic Lisbeth Salander, Adler-Olsen has provided a better crime puzzle, IMO, to mentally analyze and figure out. For me, reading The Keeper of Lost Causes fit into my comfort zone as a read because I found it to be an interesting blending of the Larsson books with one of my favorite British TV series New Tricks, a cop show that follows the work of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad for the London Metropolitan Police as they investigate old unsolved crimes.

For those of you who haven't already read this one, the ending makes the rather slow pace of the story worth while. Adler-Olsen has also left a lot of unfinished business as it relates to Carl Mørck, a character I admit to having difficulties to warm up to. While I wasn't riveted to the story, I found it to be a very satisfying read and I will continue with the series as I want to see how things progress in Department Q with Carl and Assad.

Best of all, this one contains the following fantastic book quote:

"She'd been lying on the floor thinking about books. That was something she often did in order not to think about the life she might have had, if only she'd made different choices. When she thought about books, she could move into a whole different world. Just remembering the feeling of the dry surface and inexplicable roughness of the paper could ignite a blaze of yearning inside of her. The scent of evaporated cellulose and printer's ink. Thousands of times now she'd sent her thoughts into her imaginary library and selected the only book in the world that she knew she could recall without embellishing it. It was not the one she wanted to remember, not even the one that had made the greatest impression on her. But it was the only book that had remained completely intact in her tortured memory because of the liberating bursts of laughter she associated with it.

A great big smile came to my face when the I discovered what book was being referred to by this quote.

Food Discussion:
Not much jumped out of me in this one until I came across a drink called retsina, which, apparently is a Greek white wine that, through its bottling process, infuses the wine with a pine resin aroma. I love the smell of pine trees, having grown up surrounded by them, so I am very curious to see if I can purchase retsina locally in any of the shops. The other thing that caught my eye was mention of pizza with lettuce on top. As a lover of spinach pizza, lettuce doesn't sound so unusual but I was intrigued by the mention that "Ole like them with lettuce on top, and it's not much fun when the lettuce has a chance to sink into the cheese." Given that the spinach pizzas I have consumed have always had the spinach under the cheese, I think I might just chalk this one up as something I don't quite understand.

>131 aliciamay:
Lol. That's funny and a clever way to get more diverse recipes in there.

>135 lkernagh:
I assume it must have been a community book. I never asked my grandma about those recipes (and no one in my family ever will), but I suppose it's possible that she got the recipes from her mom or other family member even though she never made them herself.

>136 lkernagh:
Hmmm. The pine resin wine sounds interesting. Makes me imagine PineSol cleaner. If you find it and try it, let us know how it is.

I've read that retsina is an acquired taste...

>134 lkernagh: I have three standard cookbooks, each from a different publisher. The only one I really miss is one of the two giants of the field (I have the other): "Vår kokbok" (Our Cookbook). That one and "Rutiga kokboken" (The Chequered Cookbook) are ones were if you own one of the two and you follow the instructions, you don't need any other cookbook for the rest of your life.
I was hoping it'd be part of the annual book sale this year but alas! (There were two great, more specialized, cookbooks that were on sale but I didn't manage to pick up a copy in time).

(Rutiga kokboken's baking-focused "sister book", "Sju sorters kakor" ("Swedish cakes and cookies", lit. "Seven kinds of cakes and biscuits/cookies") is the staple of all staples when it comes to baking. It has everything. I wouldn't give mine up at gunpoint.)

A few years ago, a Greek restaurant opened in the town where I live. I was terribly excited as I really miss the Greek diners and food that can be found in almost any American city. Unfortunately, this place is bad. Really bad. Dried out chicken, overdone lamb... We went there twice, always willing to give a place a second chance, but really, it seemed to only get worse. Anyway, retsina was on the wine list the last time and, because I will always try anything once, I decided to order a glass. It was smooth. Delicious. Very light. I had another glass. Actually I ended up drinking a whole bottle. I also ended up really really really drunk without getting "buzzed!" So I can only caution those who haven't tried it but want to: It's very sneaky! #oompa!

It is Friday evening, the work week is over, the sun is shining and even better....... tomorrow is the BOOK SALE!!!! Yes, I am excited to troll through all those books. Of course, I am looking forward to all the fiction books like I do every year but this year will be the first year that I will be joining the crowds congregated around the cookbooks. I am looking for cookbooks for bread baking. This week I decided to get back into baking my own bread. It has been over 15 years since I have baked bread so this past week has been a bit of a learning curve - bread baking isn't quite like riding a bicycle! Given my habit of not really following recipes - I use them more as an informational resource for ideas - it probably won't surprise anyone here that my first two attempts were not even worth putting into the oven to bake. Trust me to think I didn't need to add the small amount of sugar in the recipe that actually helps to activate the yeast!

The good news is my third attempt - which was last night - was a success. I was proud enough to pull out my camera and take the following picture at 10 pm after my other half and I had carved into it to taste it:



For anyone interested, the bread is a blending of oat bran, whole wheat and spelt flour, with roughly half of the flour being spelt. So, I am now on the hunt for bread recipe ideas. I don't have a bread making/baking machine and have no intentions of investing in one.... it is traditional bread making for me!

On the Reading Front: I am currently half way through the audiobook Johannes Cabal the Detective.... yes I could not resist finding out what crazy business Cabal finds himself in and so far I am pleasantly amused by the complete change of pace this story is from the first book, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. For my print book, I am reading The Club at Eddy's Bar, and ER win from the March batch that I really need to get read and reviewed. I may start one of the e-books currently stored on my iPod tomorrow morning while in the book sale line up.

Well, that is enough about what I am up to at the moment.

>137 andreablythe: - Recipes handed down from family member to family member brings great memories to me. My gran was the type to write down recipes on any scrap of paper she had at hand in an interesting shorthand that baffled most of us. I do remember her poppy seed cake recipe was amazing! I must attempt to recreate it at some point.

LOL the Pine-Sol image the mention of retsina brought to your mind! I cannot see something with an overpowering pine flavor selling so I will be on the hunt to find out what I can and hopefully even try it.

>138 hailelib: - .... So, it might have a rather strong flavour to it? Hummmm..... I must think this through.

>139 PawsforThought: - A cookbook that essential should be guarded!

>140 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - Hey, great idea! We have some Greek restaurants here in town. If I cannot find the retsina in the first couple of wine/liquor stores I check out, going out for dinner is always an option. I never say no to going out for dinner! ;-)

I think the sugar also helps the bread attain that delicious brown color!

Mmmm that looks like good bread! I've decided I want to try making Irish soda bread. It's supposed to be very easy to whip up.

Your bread looks yummy!
I started baking bread for the first time a few months ago. I've used some easy recipes from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads and it's turned out very well. It's a thick book but the recipes I've used are super easy and can be done completely by hand.

>143 mamzel: - I didn't think about that. That makes sense!

>144 rabbitprincess: - Irish soda bread..... I could totally go for that! That, and potato bread..... I love potato bread. If I can figure out how to make a sourdough potato bread, I would be in heaven!

>145 mstrust: - Thanks! I love experimenting with the ingredients, since bread is such a versatile food item. I will keep the Clayton book in mind.

Saturday and day one of the book sale - it runs both Saturday and Sunday - are winding to a close. A great day and a lot of fun. I went to great pains to restrain myself at the book sale, mainly because I am currently out of shelf space to store the acquisitions, and still came away with 36 books, all in great condition. I was super happy the find a number of bread cook books to keep me happily engaged in my new bread baking hobby:



The new book of favorite breads from Rose Lane Farm by Ada Lou Roberts
The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown
Breads by Jean Pare, Company's Coming cookbook series
Easy Baking With Instant Yeast! by Deborah CollingwoodSmell That Bread: in Search of the Smell that Bread by D'oyly Rochfort
Muffins Scones and Breads by the Australian Women's Home Weekly
Breads & Pizzas by the Canadian Living's Best
The Complete Bread Book by Lorna Walker

... and because I do need some inspiration for meal ideas, I couldn't pass up these two cookbooks:

Fast and Fabulous by the Australian Women's Home Weekly
Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook for All Seasons

No, I did not forget the real reason I was in attendance, which is more books for my TBR bookcase! Here is a snap of the covers of the fiction (and one non-fiction) books that I purchased today:



- Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks - Caught my eye as an intriguing read
- Midnight in St. Petersburg by Vanora Bennett - Love the cover and the idea of a novel set in 1911 Russia, at the start of the revolution.
- I Married the Klondike by Laura Beatrice Berton - The Klondike days of Canada's past are a fascination for me so of course, I picked up this book of Yukon Klondike life written by the mother of one of Canada's premier historical writers, Pierre Berton.
- The White Trilogy: A White Arrest, Taming the Alien, and The McDead by Ken Bruen - I have never heard of this author before but a trilogy contained in one volume with back cover quotes like "Hip, violent and funny" I figured I had nothing to lose by acquiring this one.
- Death Comes for the Archbishop, My Antonia and O Pioneers! by Willa Cathers - Huge Cather love on LT is what lead me to grab these three books, all from the same print run so they have coordinating covers.
- True Canadian Ghost Stories by Robert John Colombo - I love ghosts stories, even if they do cause the hairs on the back of my neck to rise up and make me a bit skittish for a couple of days. I am curious to see if I know any of the stories or if they will all be new to me.
- The Malice of Fortune by Michael Ennis - Historical mysteries are my favorite reads, and one set in Renaissance Italy doubles the appeal for me.
- The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye - I thought I already owned a copy of this one but my list - and LT - both said otherwise so the Caleb Carr fan that I am grabbed this one.
- World Without End by Ken Follett - I seem to be collecting Follett books. I thought, for some reason, that this was book two in the Century Trilogy - I already have the first book,
- Fall of Giants, but no, this is actually book two in his Kingsbridge series, so I now have two series to complete.
- The Yard by Alex Grecian - LT love and my own fascination with it lead me to dive on the copy I found.
- Benediction by Kent Haruf - Completes my Plainsong trilogy.
- The Lost Souls of Angelkov by Linda Holeman - Another Russian novel full of liaisons, treachery and longing.... sounds like my kind of read!
- The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson - I have been searching and searching for a second hand copy of this examination of the the 1854 cholera epidemic in London, England. I almost cried with joy when I found this one in amongst the books.
- The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan - Love the cover and went "Oooohh" when I read the premise.
- The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss - I keep on meaning to read one of Liss' books so finding a perfect condition trade paperback was all the encouragement I needed to pick this one up.
- Between Silk and Cyanide by Leo Marks - My fascination with war is the behind the scenes code makers and code breakers, not that actual in the trenches activities, so I snatched this copy up super fast.
- The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay - I really enjoyed McKay's first historical novel, The Birth House so I figured I should probably add her second book to my future reading pile.
- Books Burn Badly by Manuel Rivas - Okay, I admit I picked this one up strictly based on the cover art.... I don't think I even know what the premise is.
- Dissolution by C. J. Sansom - I bought book four in the Matthew Shardlake series at last year's book sale. Now I have the first book in the series and can get started reading it!
- The History of the Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago - I love Saramago's writing and didn't have this one. I do now.
- The Great Karoo by Fred Stenson - A Governor General Finalist, so this one had to go into my bag.
- The Trade by Fred Stenson - A Giller Prize Finalist, this story is focused on the frontier times of Canada's past when the Hudson Bay Company was a key trader between the old world and the new. More Canadian historical fiction for me to enjoy.
- A Matter of Justice by Charles Todd - I have read great things about Todd's Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries series so when I saw book one staring at me, it was mine!

.... Saving the best for last: That very boring looking red book cover in the bottom right hand corner of the picture above is a small hard cover pocket book edition published by Collins' Clear-Type Press of Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers, with illustrations, I might add. The love here on LT for Trollope's works had me very excited when I came across this gem tucked away in with the literature. No publication date but it strikes me as an early 1940's edition. It just seems right to read something like this in an older published print edition and it will now grace my bookshelves with the older book finds from my parent's basement.

I will be going back to the book sale tomorrow to see what was hiding under the tables during my visit today.

Great haul, Lori. I am a fan of Ken Bruen, I am reading his Jack Taylor series and "hip, violent and funny" sounds like the right adjectives to describe his work. I have the Linda Holeman book on my shelves and since I have enjoyed other books by her, I would assume this one will be good as well. And I have to comment on the beauty of the Willa Cather cover's, they caught my eye right away.

Have fun again tomorrow!

Ooooo what an excellent haul! Looking forward to your thoughts on Between Silk and Cyanide and the Ken Bruen books. My parents have been watching the Jack Taylor series and I'm keen to try his work.

You found some great books!

We always make our own pizza dough. Much better than store bought. Currently we are using a bread machine version but have had really good results with a totally by hand recipe as well. Once you have a little experience even the fancy ones are doable.

Wow! Looks like you found some great books! Looking forward to reading all your reviews!

What a haul! Great job!

You hit the jackpot with bread books! The others should keep your busy for a month or two. Willa Cather is one of my favorite authors! Congrats!

That is an AWEsome haul!!

I see Gods of Gotham in your haul. I loved that book, one of my best reads this year actually.

>147 lkernagh: Wow, what a haul! I can't even tell you how excited I am that you bought Between Silk and Cyanide...that one is on my TBR list too! Can't wait to see what you think of it!

>148 DeltaQueen50: - I had a wonderful time at the second day of the book sale.... I even scored books I had missed on Saturday. I like going on the Sunday because it is a lot quieter and you can take your time digging through the books without finding people breathing down your neck.

I always worry about the quick quotes on the back of books and how accurate they are so it is a relief to see your confirmation for the Bruen book. I love the Willa Cather book covers so I will now be checking the used books stores in town for other books from the same print series to complete it.
>149 rabbitprincess: - I know! I am really excited that I took the time and focused on what I wanted to bring home. It is so tempting to just grab a bunch of books without any thought or reason, but my shelf space was lacking - was being the opportune word - but I don't feel as though I walk away from something I should have grabbed when I had the chance.

The Jack Taylor series has been adapted for TV? I must investigate...... thanks for the heads up!

>150 hailelib: - Homemade pizza dough sounds perfect to me. I have to admit that while I make a lot of our meals from scratch, I need one or two days during the work week where I can just pull something out of the freezer and with some added fixes and a quickish bake time, we are good to go. Once I get better at the whole bread making, I may make and freeze dough that I can thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and make pizza out of it. I am getting better at the dough preparation - the new loaf is baking in the oven as I type this - but I think I need to experiment a little more and get the feel for the elasticity of the dough and all that.

>151 craso: - Thanks!

>152 mstrust: - Thanks!

>153 mamzel: - Now I just need to find the time to go through the bread books and find recipes I want to try to make! I am looking forward to the Willa Cather books. These purchases are probably the encouragement I needed to take the plunge.

>154 andreablythe: - Thanks!

>155 Roro8: - Well, now I am super excited that I decided to add that one to my pile.

>156 christina_reads: - Really?! The Between Silk and Cyanide may find itself on my reading list for later this year... I will let you know when I get to reading it!

Well, Sunday pretty much flew by for me. I went to the second day of the book sale - came home with another 22 books - had a wonderful conversation with my mom and my other half surprised me by coming home with a used and in very good condition four shelf Ikea Billy bookcase, one of the older styles that is 15 inches deep, so books can be shelved two deep with room to spare. Suffice to say, my Sunday afternoon was spent rearranging all of my books with this lovely new shelf space. I was even generous enough to inform my other half that the 'half shelf' I had allowed him for his own books has now grown into one and a half shelves.... he was quite happy about that, really he was!

Anyhow, here is a list (and book cover images) of the acquisitions from Sunday:


- The Complete Enderby by Anthony Burgess - I have no knowledge of the Enderby stories but omnibus books seemed to be the rage this year and it looked interesting.
- The Clydesiders Trilogy by Margaret Thomson Davis - another omnibus that looks promising.
- The Last Cavalier by Alexandre Dumas - Everyone following this thread should have by now an inkling that I am a fan of Dumas' works. I have never read this one but according to the book cover, it follows in the tradition of Dumas' other works, which is all I needed to know.
- The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - continuing my collection of Follett's works, this now completes my KIngsbridge series.
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - I have been waffling about this one but at $2.00 I figured I might as well acquire the copy and then decide if I want to read it or not.
- 11.22.63 by Stephen King - this is the second acquisition that made my Sunday return visit to the book sale worthwhile. This is one of the books I was hoping to lay my hands on and I now have a trade paperback copy, which should make reading that chunkster a little easier on my wrists. ;-)
- The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - another book I have had my eye on.
- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra - LT recommendations made this a must purchase
- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell - Still undecided if I want to read this one but at least I now own a copy of my own.
- A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys - another omnibus book.
- The Complaints by Ian Rankin - for my Scottish Noir reading pile
- Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin - also for my Scottish Noir reading pile
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe, Morality for Beautiful Girls, The Kalahari Typing School for Men, The Full Cupboard of Life, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Blue Shoes and Happiness, The Good Husband of Zebra Drive and The Miracle of Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith - Yup, you read correctly, I manages to snag the first 9 books in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series in one go. I even managed to snag copies that came from the same series publication run so they coordinate.
The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith - Oh, this one looked really good when I read the premise!

I can now settle back and wait for next year's book sale.

Oh, how I loved The Thousand Autumns of Jacob deZoet! It was simply beautiful in an elegant and unexpected way. I wistfully sighed after finishing the story, which you will totally understand if you decide to read it :-)

Yay! Ian Rankin! And I've read the first Enderby novel, but it was several years ago so I don't remember much. Suffice to say it's very different from A Clockwork Orange ;)

You've gotten some great books at the sale. 50+ books sounds good to me. I'm trying to restrain myself this year although, since there have only been a couple of sales so far, I been pretty good.

You must have very literate people in your town to have such excellent cast offs for sale! I'm hanging on to my Precious Ramotswe books so you won't find them in our book sale!

Excellent! And I have many of this day's haul on my shelves too, so I can see how you would snatch up the Rankins and the Larson.

Wow, what an incredible book haul! I thought that The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was absolutely wonderful, so I do hope you'll decide to give it a try.

I've also been baking a lot of bread this past year, and I've had lots of success with the Black Beer Bread in A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook. The recipe is freely available here. It's an easy and very reliable recipe, and its fun to try variations (different beers, molasses instead of honey, different grains, etc.).

Happy Tuesday! The sun is shining and the current temp, at 7:20 pm, is 19'C (66'F), which is exactly where I like it, with a mild breeze blowing in from the water. I wore the wrong shoes to walk to a meeting today and now have two blisters trying to form on my foot. Soaking in Epson salts is helping but I cringe at the thought that I have another meeting to walk to tomorrow. These meetings are in the downtown core and do not warrant the use of transportation from A to B so I am now on the hunt through my shoe collection for the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. Time for shoe shopping, I think! ;-)

---------------------
>160 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet has a lot of LT love and having you describe it as being simply beautiful in an elegant and unexpected way is a further enticement to move it closer to my reading pile!

>161 rabbitprincess: - I am struggling to remember A Clockwork Orange and can only pull odd clips from the movie forward in my mind! Now I am curious to read Enderby. As for Rankin, I really do need to read one of his books so having a couple of books readily accessible should help me out. I wa rather surprised to see that the Rankin books were not in overflowing supply at this year's book sale,..... makes me a little nervous that I should have jumped on the books last year when all I saw was a sea of Rankin novels. Oh well, we all live and learn. This year the overflowing number of books available were the Stieg Larsson trilogy, which couldn't be had for love or money at the book sale just two years ago. Everything ebbs and flows..... ;-)

>162 dudes22: - This is my big spurge of the year so I can now relax and not feel as though I am running out of books to read.... like that will ever happen! ;-)

>163 mamzel: - Victoria has a huge reading population, which is also why Victoria and Sydney - which is a smaller community up the peninsula on the way to the ferry terminal - have an amazing number of used book stores. Even the charity shops have rather large book sections. The book sale in question has been an annual event for 17 years now and a number of residents stockpile the books they have read strictly for donation to the book sale. That being said, the fantasy fiction fans in town hold on to their books for dear life so I have never seen any Mieville, VandeerMere or hardly any other fantasy fiction I have my eye out for at the book sale. ;-)

>164 mstrust: - It is funny how each year I find different books that I gravitate towards! For some reason, this year omnibus books were capturing my attention - along with the other books that I just dove on!

>165 mathgirl40: - Thanks, Paulina! Two visitors chiming in on The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is all the encouragement I need to add it to my "must read" list.

Oooooohhh.... black beer bread.... I must try that out! Thanks for providing the link!

Since pictures of bookcases filled with books are eye candy for a number of people here on LT, here are the pictures of the bookshelves that house the 332 books that comprise my "To Read" library, and some books and journals my other half collects:

. .

The bookcase on the left is the new bookcase and the one on the right is the older one, with room for more acquisitions!

O.O

Preeeeeetty.

Nice bookcases - I really need to find some room for another one. I've been mentioning off and on that we need to reorganize the den and I think I'm making some headway.

Seems appropriate to mention here that there was an article in the paper this am about a new book Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literatue's Most Memorable Meals by Dinah Fried. She pairs a dish with the appropriate passage from the book. Obviously you were on to something with your category choice this year.

Impressive book buying weekend! Lots of books that are in my TBR stack too - interested to see how you like them.

Just desperately trying to catch up on threads and have been spending a lot of time on yours after your great weekend at the book sale. Congratulations! You really picked up a lot of winners. Thanks for posting the covers, I examined them closely before reading the titles beneath. And I love photos of bookshelves, yours are beautiful. The Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks are wonderful, I have a couple too and have had great success with their recipes.

Very impressive haul!

>169 andreablythe: - ;-)

>170 dudes22: - My other half did have an ulterior motive for buying me the new bookcase. He has had his eye on a very functional 'assemble at home' 4 shelf table I purchased strictly by chance three years ago on a trip to Walmart of all places. I had called him and asked him at the time if he thought I should buy two - they were going for $20 - but he said we didn't need two. When he saw it set up, he saw it as the perfect system to accommodate our three printers..... I know, who needs three printers. Well, apparently, we do, but I digress. Anyways, by then Walmart was sold out of the tables and they have never brought in any more of that product. My other half was informed that he could not have that table until we had a replacement table for the phone and where I can drop my keys,etc. The bookcase he bought is 50" in height so I can still use the top of it for the phone and other incidental uses. Last Sunday when I was happily re-arranging my books, he was happily setting up his 'printer hub'. ;-)

I must check out that book!

>171 LittleTaiko: - Even being super selective I was surprised at the number of books I managed to come home with. ;-)

>172 VivienneR: - I love book covers so I am happy you enjoy looking at book covers too! Good to know you have had success with the recipes you have made from your Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks! I feel my menu planning at home is getting into a bit of a rut so I will be looking for inspiration in those cookbooks.

Happy Saturday everyone, and Happy Long Weekend for all my Canadian visitors! This is the first day of a mini-vacation for me as I have booked next week off from work. No travel plans although we may make an impulsive mid-week trip over to Vancouver or Seattle. Other than that, plans are to paint the kitchen, more bread making experimentation, possibly some sewing and of course, book reading. This is the weekend of the Highland Games here in Victoria but the weather isn't being very accommodating so we may pass on attending this year.

On the Reading Front: I finished listening to the audiobook Johannes Cabal the Detective and review is now ready for posting. I am still working my way through The Club at Eddy's Bar and I am struggling with it a bit. I am going to take advantage of the time off to get it finished so I can get this ER book reviewed.

Book #23 - Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard - audiobook narrated by Robin Sachs
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category
2014 Category: Petit Fours
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: Audiobook
Original publication date: July 13, 2010
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 304 pages / 12 hours, 51 minutes listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.70 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: From the amazon.ca website:

When an attempt to steal a rare book turns sour, Johannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, finds himself in a foreign prison awaiting execution. A crafty plan -- as horrific as it is cunning -- allows him to steal the identity of a government official and make his escape aboard a luxurious aeroship heading out of the country. But what should be a perfect getaway rapidly becomes complicated by the bizarre disappearance of a passenger, an attempt on Cabal's life, and an unwelcome face from the past. Trapped aboard with a killer, can even Cabal's open-razor of a mind save him?

Review:
While not as good as the first book, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, I was still rather pleasantly surprised to see how Howard is able to write a black comedy full of biting wit and sarcasm and then turn around in this next book and provide readers with a rather good 'locked room' mystery. Cabal is still the unfeeling, self-serving erudite cad he was in book one, but we are now starting to see tiny chinks in his otherwise impenetrable facade. This man just may be capable of feeling something after all! Even better, and what made this story a delight to read, is Howard brings a character from book one to this story to act as both verbal foil for Cabal and to provide some assistance when Cabal, somewhat reluctantly, starts to poke around in the details of the mystery. An reluctant detective more interesting in preserving their own neck then in solving the case is always a fun character to throw into a mystery story, IMO, and Cabal plays that role perfectly. The mystery itself is a somewhat implausible one based on the method that is revealed, but I was more interesting in seeing Cabal's character development so I was focused on the mystery part of the story. The audiobook I listened to is not narrated by the same reader as the first one was, but one my ears adjusted to the new voice of Cabal, it was clear sailing from there.

Two very different books where the only consistency is in our lead character, the witty repartee Cabal engages in and the knowledge that something is bound to go wrong at some point in the story. If mysteries are more your thing and if you were put off by the premise for Johannes Cabal the Necromancer because you don't like black comedies or the idea of reading a book where Satan and the underworld are key players, you may be happy to learn that these books can be read as stand-alone novels, so feel free to bypass book one and dive directly into book two.

I am now super curious to find out where Howard takes the story in book three, Johannes Cabal the Fear Institute and what kind of mess Cabal manages to find himself in.

Food Discussion:
Bar snacks! I haven't been to a bar that has bar snacks in I don't know how long. I do remember being fresh out of high school and going to a bar aptly called Peanuts where patrons had unlimited access to unshelled peanuts...... you can just imagine the state of the floor in that place at the end of the evening! For the most part, when we go out, we go to pubs that offer a selection of kitchen prepared dishes, and not places that offer patrons a bowl of nuts or the ability to buy a bag of potato chips / crisps, so I was rather intrigued by the bar snacks discussion that cropped up more than once in this story - one of the passengers aboard the aeroship was plugging his business ideas for revolutionizing bar snacks. A mixture of dried fruit and nuts sounding very similar to a type of trail mix was mentioned in passing but I was rather amused when the passenger managed to corner Cabal and had Cabal sample his revolutionary idea before telling him what it was he was eating. The bar snack in question was revealed to be pork scratchings, also known as pork crackling, pork rinds or Scrunchions. Nothing very revolutionary or odd about that but it got me wondering if anyone here has been to a bar or knows about a bar that offers something other than the ubiquitous bowl of bar nuts to its patrons for free.

Happy long weekend! Enjoy your vacation. I hope the weather clears up (or has cleared up) for the games. Will try to send over some of the sunshine we had in Scotland earlier this week. That ought to work, right, since both are Scottish? ;)

The narrator of Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, Christopher Casenove passed away in 2010 and Robin Sachs, the narrator of the second book, Johannes Cabal the Detective passed away last year. If I were the narrator asked to read the next book in the series, I think I would certainly give pause!

Regardless, the books sound fascinating and I think I'll try the first-in-series! :-)

#bb

>176 rabbitprincess: - whatever you did worked, RP! The clouds cleared away by noon and the afternoon, while somewhat windy, was pleasant for going out and about. ;-)

>177 Tanya-dogearedcopy: - I didn't know that both narrators have since passed away. That is a little creepy......

The books are great escapism reads! I am curious to see what else Howard has written.

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Saturday was a day of errands, some laundry and an afternoon spent out and about. No reading occurred but not sure if reading will be on the agenda today. I bought a really cute summer dress yesterday that I can wear at work and I now have plans for making a coordinating beaded necklace to wear with it, so that is part of my plans for today.

Yesterday I attempted to make a pumpernickel rye bread for the very first time, using the following Dark Pumpernickel Rye Bread recipe as my resource. Of course, I tweaked the recipe a bit. My proportions of rye to whole wheat flour was more like 40-60 than the recipe called for and I added caraway seeds because I love caraway combined with rye! I also left out the cocoa powder as I didn't have any in the house and I figure that is what gives the bread its dark colour - that and the brewed coffee, which I did use.

I am quite happy with how it turned out but Wow, it has quite the strong rye flavour, and it is a bit on the salty side. I figure it will go well with the potato leek soup I plan on making for dinner tonight but the next time I make this bread I will tone down the salt and add some cocoa powder, as maybe that offsets the salt. Here is a picture of my pumpernickel rye caraway loaf:

It looks good! Your soup plus this bread sound like like a delicious dinner.

Oooh. That looks delicious. I love good rye bread!

>175 lkernagh: Not that I visit bars very often, the only thing I have seen available for free is chilled water. Of course, they usually have a lovely selection of bar menu food that you can order and enjoy.

>179 mstrust: - The bread did go well with the soup!

>180 andreablythe: - Me too! One of my favorite hot sandwiches is a Reuben..... I could go for one of those sandwiches right now, I just don't have all the fixings in my kitchen. ;-)

>181 Roro8: - I really struggle trying to remember any bar I might have visited in the past 30 years that had anything different than free bar nuts or free peanuts on offer and I strike out. Not that I mind. My favorite bar/pub snack foods to test a 'new to me' establishment is how well they prepare calamari and dried ribs. I love to order foods that I will not prepare at home and those two items are at the top of my 'eat when out' foods list. ;-)

Sunday pretty much flew by - as has today - but we did get out to enjoy the wonderful weather. I am not much of a crowd fan so we stayed home this morning instead of venturing downtown to watch the Victoria Day parade. Still managed to hear the artillery guns going off at noon in celebration of the holiday.

Bread making continues to captivate my interest and, rather surprisingly, my other half has developed a keen interest in the bread making process, so much so that he actively participated in yesterday's bread making - he was asking questions about the order of the ingredients and insisted on being able to knead the dough. Well, if he is going to jump in and insist on doing all the hard manual labour aspect of bread making, who am I to complain? ;-)

Saturday's bread was an experiment as we attempted to make a Kamut, Spelt and Whole Wheat bread. It turned out rather well - a little deflated on top, which might have something to do with the larger bread pan we were using the bake the bread in and the proofing time - but it was super tasty this morning toasted with marmalade. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that one, but I am sure everyone is getting sick and tired of seeing pictures of our bread making experiences.

On the Reading Front: I have dived back into a reliable palette cleanser for my current audiobook: G is for Gumshoe. Experiencing 1980's California through Kinsey Millhone - can anyone say 'jumpsuit'? - is the pure escapism I need to help me through my current paper book read, The Club at Eddy's Bar. The Club at Eddy's Bar isn't an out and out bad book worthy of the Pearl Rule but I am having a difficult time keeping focused. The story shifts an awful lot, and that says something because usually I don't have a problem with shifting narrations and plots. I am now over the halfway mark - at page 262 of 425 - and if this wasn't a LTER book, I would probably abandon it for a later day. My marching orders for this evening are to see if I can get through this one, or make huge headway in getting it finished.

Glad you've enjoyed the Cabal books. I still haven't managed to pick up #3 yet either. I need to get around to doing that sometime soon.

>184 AHS-Wolfy: - Hi Dave, now I completely understand the attraction of the Cabal books! What a brilliant and yet socially inappropriate character Cabal is. ;-)

Book #24 - G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton - audiobook narrated by Mary Peiffer
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category, ROOTs
2014 Category: Lunch to Go
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: TBR
Format: Audiobook
Original publication date: Oct 18, 2005
Acquisition date: July 14, 2013
Page count: 320 pages / 8 hours, 10 minutes listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.10 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: From the Librarything book description:

Good and bad things seem to be coming in threes for Kinsey Millhone: on her thirty-third birthday she moves back into her renovated apartment, gets hired to find an elderly lady supposedly living in the Mojave Desert by herself, and makes the top of ex-con Tyrone Patty's hit list. It's the last that convinces Kinsey even she can't handle whoever's been hired to whack her, and she gets herself a bodyguard: Robert Dietz, a Porsche-driving P.I. who takes guarding Kinsey's body very seriously. With Dietz watching her for the merest sign of her usual recklessness, Kinsey plunges into her case. And before it's over, she'll unearth the gruesome truth about a long-buried betrayal and, in the process, come fact-to-face with her own mortality. . . .

Review:
I loved this one. It is my favorite Kinsey Millhone book so far, and I am not just saying that because it is a change of pace from some of my recent reads. The plot in this book is more intricate - we have Kinsey's case, the hired killer out to get her and a potential love interest for Kinsey, all rolled up in one tidy little package. Some of the regular characters from previous installments are present - Rosie and Henry - as well as Kinsey's friends Vera and Doris from the insurance company where she has a working arrangement for office space. What I really loved about this one - besides the obvious ability to relive the 1980's in all its jumpsuit and big hair/peacock makeup glory - is that Kinsey came across as a slightly more mature character... not that turning 33 suddenly makes one act differently. It is refreshing to see Kinsey admit when she needs outside help, even if it cramps her style a bit. I also love the literary references to Agnes Grey, which worked really well with this story.

Overall, this is my favorite book in Grafton's Alphabet Mysteries series so far, and I am looking forward to listening to the next book in the series, H is for Homicide.

Food Discussion:
Oh, where do I begin! this story is a food lover's delight! Everything from comfort foods like fresh out of the oven cinnamon buns; meatloaf; burgers, fries and cherry pies; coffee, pancakes and bacon to the entertaining, like Kinsey cringing her way through a fine dining experience and interesting menu items like squirrel soup and menudo. Menudo?! Luckily, the story goes on to elaborate: Menudo is a Mexican dish made with tripe. My entire body shuddered at the mention of tripe. I love Mexican foods so mention of Kinsey enjoying Chili verde with fresh cilantro I am all for, as well as tortilla chips with spicy salsa and oven fresh tortillas, but tripe.... Noooo, not tripe!

Book #25 - The Club at Eddy's Bar by Zoltán Böszörményi
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2014 Category
2014 Category: Smorgasbord
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: LTER / TBR
Format: Trade Paperback
Original publication date: 2009 (Original Hungarian) / April 30, 2014 (English translation)
Acquisition date: March 17, 2014
Page count: 440 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.85 out of 5 /

Book description/summary: From the amazon.ca website:

In the last years of the Cold War, the Club at Eddy's Bar is a magnet for the elite of a city in the Carpathian Mountains. They keep one another's secrets, even the truth about a brutal murder. When a young journalist learns too much, he has to flee the country. Forced to leave behind his wife and children, he is admitted to Canada as a refugee. He brings with him the notebook in which he has kept his account of the crime, hoping to publish it when his family is safely with him. But as he struggles to start a new life in Canada, he finds as many secrets and lies are being concealed by those with power and money in the new country as in the old.

Review:
I struggled with this one. On the positive side, this story has a very European feel to it. The characters are somewhat two-dimensional and don't really form into solid characters that I was able to connect with but that may be due to the translation and because of the effort that probably went into creating the shifting points of view and the story within a story. Complex plot and style overtaking character development. Usually that will work for me but this time it didn't. I would have preferred if the story had stayed anonymous in its descriptions of both the European city our young journalist, Tamas escapes from and the Canadian city he immigrates to as a refugee. The Calgary of this story is not the Calgary I know or recognize except for its proximity to Banff. References to 'streetcars' as a form of public transit in Calgary generated a "huh?" reaction out of me and I was a bit bugged when the story mentions three students from the University of British Columbia as being "students visiting from a nearby university". Closest UBC campus to Calgary is their Okanagan campus in Kelowna, BC and even that one is still a 600 kilometers drive from Calgary. By Canadian standards, it is really just one province over but from a European perspective, 600 kilometers is a whacken distance and not something 'nearby'. Also, the Canadian political system mentioned in this story, outside of reference to a conservative party, was alien to me, with mentions of a National Assembly in Ottawa and other political details that just do not jibe with my layperson understanding of the Canadian federal political system and political parties. Again, the politics and Canadian political system came across as more European than what it really is. As a study of a foreign society from the point of view of a recent immigrant who doesn't speak the language and is trying to figure out the labyrinthine bureaucratic refugee system, this story is very insightful and well written. Unfortunately, I went for this story expecting a "gripping murder mystery". I didn't get that. Yes, there is a murder to be solved but it is buried beneath the refugee immigrant story and a whole lot of self-serving characters too busy chasing power and sexual proclivities to save themselves from their own demons. The following quote sums this story up quite nicely:

"What is this supposed to mean?" Markus Frankel, the cultural affairs editor, asked, poking a finger at Vilmos's manuscript. "What your wrote about is erotica and passion."
"It means," Vilmos replied, raising his voice slightly, "it means that erotica has nothing to do with sexuality."

Overall, an interesting story but one I wasn't expecting and I had a difficult time getting past the incongruities mentioned above. This one may prove to be a bit of a daunting or frustrating read for readers who prefer straightforward, linear stories.

This book was courtesy of Librarything's Early Reviewer Program.

Food Discussion:
This one was pretty sparse on the food discussion, although I did perk up at the mention of linden tea. I am always on the look out for a new tea to try and linden tea sounds like a good one to try out. I am curious to find out what it tastes like. Does anyone know if it has a lime/ citrus flavour to it? The other food item that caught my eye was the homemade meal of roast rabbit tenderloin. The idea of a University aged girl living in downtown Calgary being able to get her hands on rabbit so she can make a roast rabbit tenderloin takes me back to the previous discussions on this thread about game meats. Now, Calgary does have wild rabbits that roam within the city limits.... my Mom even mentioned the pack of bunnies / rabbits in the neighbourhood when we last chatted so maybe our young student has a connection, because there is no way her character - or her parent characters - went hunting. ;-)

Hi, Lori, I received the copy of Blue. Thank you!

I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to food, but tripe is one thing I have no interest in. My husband convinced me to try a bite of it when we were in Spain some years ago but I spit it back out. It's a textural thing.

>188 andreablythe: - Awesome!

>189 dudes22: - I struggle to understand how tripe - regardless of how it is served - can be appealing unless it is hidden and there is no way I would know I was eating tripe. ;-0

Totally agree about the tripe, it makes me shudder. We went to Dim Sung a while ago and I was game for anything on the menu EXCEPT the deep fried chicken's feet and the tripe with ginger.

>191 DeltaQueen50: - I am with you in choosing to not eat the chicken's feet,or the tripe with ginger. Something things just cannot be made better with ginger. ;-)

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A wet Friday here in this part of the world and I am okay with that. My current read is Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before for the Umberto Eco group read. I struggled with his book The Name of the Rose way back when - all that Latin going over my head made it too frustrating a read for me to enjoy - and I haven't ventured near another Eco book since, until now. I am actually pleasantly surprised with my current read and I am looking forward to a hopefully lazy afternoon of reading.

Lori,
The Prague Cemetery has loads of food references. The narrator loved good food and gave good descriptions of the gourmet meals he enjoyed. He uses lots of French in this book but since it refers mostly to food you should have no trouble understanding the references.

The Dim Sum place we go to has chicken feet also and my hubby usually orders them. Says it's like eating mostly chicken skin in sauce. Not that that makes it more appetizing. But I have to say that, treated correctly, they do make great chicken stock. I usually get some bags of them when my brother has his chickens killed so I know at least where they are coming from.

>193 mamzel: - It is great to know that if The Island of the Day Before doesn't grab my attention, there is a good chance The Prague Cemetery will! Go figure, I am now adding books to my future reading list based on the food references they contain. ;-)

>194 dudes22: - Eating something that is like eating chicken skin in sauce doesn't exactly appeal to me..... is there any meat at all on chicken feet? And then we get to the real sticking point, what about the bones in the feet? I am assuming chicken feet have some structure to them, be it bone or some type of cartilage. I will admit to being lazy when I make my soups.... I used either dried soup seasoning or commercial liquid soup stocks as the base. I am guessing that the chicken feet cook down to nothing while the stock simmers?

--------------------

What a weird Saturday this has been. City transit buses either not showing up or, even better, just driving on past my stop when I wanted to get off, even though I had pulled the cord to request the stop. What with my "Hey, I wanted that stop back there." and the couple beside me commenting that they were hoping the driver was going to stop at the next stop, because that is the one they wanted, the bus passengers did have a good chuckle about it all. Given the 6km I walk weekdays to and from work I wasn't overly put out that my stop was missed - the driver did stop at the next stop - and everyone on board had a good chuckle when I suggested that if this was a guided tour I will settle back down in my seat and enjoy it.

Painted the bathroom ceiling this afternoon. I hate painting ceilings. I love house painting in general - my favorite summer job as a teen was when my older brother and SIL hired me on July to paint the fence and exterior of their home. I don't mind painting ceilings in larger rooms but smaller spaces like a bathroom are challenges that I grit my teeth and just get done. The fact that it is a textured ceiling just made the job all that much more enjoyable. How did Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? He got to lie on his back while on the job, right? ;-)

Chicken feet do have bones/cartilage in them so they don't cook down to nothing. I think it's because of the cartilage that the stock they make is very rich and "thick" (gelatinous) and has a somewhat stronger chicken flavor which can be thinned out with more water. Although they're feet, it's not a lot different than using the carcass of a roast chicken to make stock.

I too am not a big fan of painting ceilings either. There's something about holding your arms over your head that is very wearying. Not to mention paint drips in your hair.

>195 lkernagh: Ah, inattentive bus drivers. Happens fairly often for me, that they forget to stop at my stop. I just shout out "Hey, stop!" and they usually do, right then and there. But I don't live in a city so it's okay for them to do that. Would be more of a pickle if it was in the middle of a city centre.

>196 dudes22: - Good to know. If I ever get adventurous enough to make my own chicken soup stock, I will probably start out by using the chicken carcass from one of the store roasted chickens we buy from time to time. I am sure if I looked, I could get chicken feet in Victoria's chinatown.

Luckily the paint drips were minimal.... probably because I went to the effort of using a huge drop sheet to cover the lower half of the bathroom with. No drop sheet and the paint would have gotten everywhere, I just know it. ;-)

>197 PawsforThought: - LOL, I have no idea how the driver would have reacted if I had yelled "Hey, stop!". He was an older driver and kind of reminded me of my rather frail maternal grandfather. Now, if it had been one of the younger drivers that missed my stop because they were too busy yacking with one of their buddies at the front of the bus, I would have had no qualms of hollering to get their attention. ;-)

-----------------------

Sunday evening, the end of a lovely week off from work and it is back to the grind tomorrow morning. ;-)

Took it easy today and managed to make good headway on The Island of the Day Before. The story was good before but now 150 pages in, it is starting to get really interesting! For my audiobook 'read', I have decided I will get a jump start on the June group read of ScFi/Fantasy by female authors and start the audiobook version of The Golem and the Jinni.

I have a new time suck that will probably cut into my reading time: We signed up with Acorn TV this weekend and enjoying all the great shows they have on offer for instant streaming. Taking advantage of the fact they let you know what shows will soon be removed from the subscribers' list and watched two episodes of The Helen West Casebook last night. Will be watching the third and final episode this evening. I refuse to have cable TV in the house - we don't watch enough TV to get our money's worth out of a cable subscription - and we haven't jumped on the Netflix bandwagon yet. Acorn TV has a number of my favorite shows, including all of the Midsomer Murders so I think we are set for our TV viewing for this year.

Your pumpernickel rye bread looks wonderful! I'm also enjoying all the dim sum discussion here. My parents are Cantonese, so I grew up going out for dim sum every Sunday. I'm used to chicken feet and tripe but I don't really care much for them. I prefer Chinese seafood dishes, and the more exotic, the better. ;)

I'm still working on Foucault's Pendulum and I hear what you're saying about the Latin and other languages he uses. I can understand some of the French, but that's about it.

>198 lkernagh: Psh! It's the driver's job to stop the bus when a passenger wants to get off the bus and if he/she doesn't, they deserve to get hollered at! (That sounded more rude than I meant it.)

>198 lkernagh: Good to know about the AcornTv subscription. I've seen they have plenty of trailers on Youtube and I've been wanting to see the tv series of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie' because John Castle is in a couple of episodes. I've never heard of "The Helen West Casebook".

OH NO why did I click on the Acorn TV link?! That looks wonderful. I see they have the very-short-lived series of Dirk Gently, so maybe in June I should pick up my free month and watch that.

Edit to add: AND Jack Taylor!

Jack Taylor quite caught my eye as well. First off I loved The Guards and have been meaning to get back to the Jack Taylor series. Secondly, the actor who plays Jack Taylor has a major role in Game of Thrones and I have a slight crush on him. :)

I watched the Jack Taylor stuff a while ago and they're not bad adaptations. Book #10, Purgatory, should be arriving onto my tbr shelves soon though I doubt its stay there will be very long.

>199 mathgirl40: - I hope to make the pumpernickel rye again, maybe with a little less rye.... have to experiment with the recipes to get them where I like them. I am with you on the seafood dishes! YUM! Okay, maybe not the "more exotic the better" as I have no stomach for eel, sea urchin or other 'mushy' seafoods, but I am game for any kind of crustacean or fish!

As much as I love the widely educated writers and the content and knowledge they bring to their books, I do wish they would realize that a peasant reader like me feels like my head is swimming in a swirl of knowledge with nothing to grasp onto. ;-)

>200 PawsforThought: - LOL, that is exactly what my other half says so I don't think there is anything rude about it! I am a rather forgiving sort.... unless I have had a bad day, in which case I can get a bit snappy. On a Saturday when I don't have to be anywhere, I go with the flow.

>201 mstrust: - I admit I had never heard of the Helen West Casebook before signing up with AcronTV. My other half thinks the two main characters - the Helen West, solicitor and her policeman chief superintendent Bailey (no first name) - as annoying because part of the story involves their relationship and he found the show rather sexist. Since they only aired three episodes, viewers obviously weren't that drawn to it, but I wanted to watch it before they pulled it, since it wasn't going to cost any more to do so.

>202 rabbitprincess: - Heeheehee...... so happy to see you have been drawn in to the Acron web. Enjoy!

>203 DeltaQueen50: - That makes two Jack Taylor mentions and I have no idea what the show is even supposed to be about, but I do love my crime TV so adding it to the future viewing list.

>204 AHS-Wolfy: - Another Jack Taylor rec! Good to know about the shows.

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Not much to report from my end except for the fact that both my current physical book read- The Island of the Day Before - and audiobook - The Golem and the Jinni - are both keeping me captivated. I am still aiming to finish the Eco book before the end of the month but I don't think any other books will be finished before June hits us.

It's a national holiday here in Sweden today, and my turn to sleep in. I've just spent a lovely half hour leafing through all of your latest thread. I am so sadly behind on LT now. Work, a bit of activism (Swedish elections coming up, and I'm in a network trying to raise climate awareness) and a new passion for hama beads has been eating my time. I can't wait for the holidays to really get back in the saddle again.

I love the chatty tone here, how you invite us into all aspects of your life! I'll eagerly follow your new passion for baking bread too - fresh bread is the main reason why I could NEVER go Lchf...

>205 lkernagh: Well, you don't have to be/sound rude when calling them out. I like to think I sound rather friendly. Bus stops in my area are rather far apart and I have to walk long enough as it is from my regular stop, I don't feel much like walking twice as long...

>207 GingerbreadMan: I just wanted to say that you for doing your best with climate awareness. Well done (and considering the results of the EU elections, you probably did a good job).

195 & 197> Could be worse . . .



That's hanging over the Interstate, by the way. It happened on a bus route I sometimes use, but thankfully I don't go over that part. 8 people were hurt and the driver lost her license and was fired. She had a cell phone in her hand.

That bus photo is pretty shocking! It sounds like the driver got what she deserved. Hopefully the bus company use this as an example during their orientation of new staff so they can be more conscientious.

It takes a lot of cockiness to think you're capable of driving a bus full of people one-handed.

>207 GingerbreadMan: - LOL, the 75 Group seems to be wearing off on me. Now that is one chatty group! Sorry to see that busyness continues to occupy most of your time, Anders, so I will join you in cheering for your holidays to arrive so that you have more free time.

The bread making has been a fun experiment! Not all loafs turn out - we had some left over potatoes I attempted to make a potato bread with but something went very wrong. It 'poofed' up nicely and baked well. The ends were great but trying to slice the middle section, it was just a crumbling mess on the counter. I obviously did "something" wrong, but just what that something was, well, not really sure. ;-)

Right now I am trying to perfect my Oatbran, Spelt and Whole Wheat Bread. The last loaf didn't rise very much but I think it was because I was using too much oat bran (which has no molecules that can add the dough rising process) and not enough flour. Attempt number two for this week is currently rising/proofing on the counter. So far, so good. One thing I really love about bread making - the traditional way of kneading the dough by hand - is that I actually find it a very relaxing way to unwind after a day at the office. Now, if I had a job that involved more manual labour I probably wouldn't see kneading bread dough as a relaxation technique. I should probably stop talking about bread making now.... at least for this post. Bread talk will continue for the rest of this year over here..... along with other equally important things, like books. ;-)

Great to see you here, and kudos for your work on raising climate awareness, Anders!

>208 PawsforThought: - Good point. If they miss my stop near home I only have to walk two blocks (about 5 minutes) to get home from the next stop. I would.

>209 BookLizard: - YIKES! Good thing that fencing was in place.... I don't even want to thing about what would have happened if that fence wasn't there. She had a cell phone in her hand. Wow. We have no driving while distracted legislation for what she was doing... and you probably have something similar in place where this happened. People are getting just so darn comfortable and dependent upon their cell phones it is frightening. I remember when my other half had a hands free system installed in his car back in 1990 - Yup, back in 1990 when cell phones where not something you could just slip into your pocket and the battery pack was just as big as the phone - and even then, when call came in while I was driving I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped before answering. The world we live in these days.... I will step down off my soap box now. ;-)

>210 Roro8: and >211 mstrust: - Agreed.

I received a link to the What Kind of Book Nerd Are You? with my latest Random House email. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to take the quiz and share it with everyone here. Interesting result. Apparently my score classifies me as "Matilda":

She may be small, she may be young, but that girl has read more classics than most (larger) adults. If you're this type of reader maybe you have a Miss Honey guiding your reading education -- do you? -- or maybe you're still in school and you literally have a teacher guiding your reading. Or you're the rare breed who chooses to read mostly classics all on your own. Maybe open up a book written this century -- it's new, but the talent runs deep.

I am no Rory Gilmore - according to the quiz - but that is okay with me. ;-)

You can access the quiz clicking the link above or using the one below:

http://www.retreatbyrandomhouse.ca/2014/05/what-kind-book-nerd-are-you/

So...what kind of book nerd are you?

I'm a Matilda, too...my only quibble...they didn't have my reading beverage of choice: tea.

>215 kac522: - I admit I had a hard time with the reading beverage of choice question as technically I would select "all".

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Acorn TV Alert: I thought I would settle in a watch the first episode of Jack Taylor this evening, only to discover I couldn't find it in the available listings. I thought that was rather odd since I had seen on the website and it wasn't one of the items listed under "Leaving Soon". Couldn't find it and out of frustration watched the next Miss Fisher Murder Mystery. Still bugged by the disappearing Jack Taylor I checked out the website without signing in. Lo and behold, there it was displayed as a viewing option but once I signed in and browsed all available listing.... no Jack Taylor. Odd. Just wanted to mention that to anyone considering Acorn TV for the Jack Taylor episodes.

>202 rabbitprincess: - Acorn TV still has the Dirk Gently shows available, but not Jack Taylor.

>208 PawsforThought: I'm in Föräldravrålet, which is a non-party organisation trying to gather parents/parental figures with climate worries from the whole political spectrum. Which is fine. At the moment, I'll join any group with a good potential of growing big enough to make a difference. I can't take credit for the high number of green votes in the EU elections, though. I've been involved with a campaign film that is yet to be produced :)

I hope I remember to take the book quiz later. It would not work via iPad. Probably Flash-driven.

I remembered to look. I will be honest there were at least a couple where none of the answers really fit me, and I had to choose something. In other words, I'm not sure how accurate it is. I got:

Sawyer
You're not very discerning when it comes to what you're reading. You'll pick up anything that you can get your hands on. Maybe because you have to -- on a desert island, you don't have a lot of choice for reading material -- but maybe you're just the type to try anything at least once. We say good for you!

>214 lkernagh: I'm like Daria. I'm good with that.

>219 thornton37814: I got Sawyer too (who?). And yes, It's true, I will read anything*. One summer holiday I actually sat and read the dictionary because I'd run out of books to read. Don't remember getting very far, but you get the idea...

* well almost anything. I don't like horror or excessive amounts of blood & gore, but that's just because I'm wet.

>221 Helenliz: Sawyer from Lost.

I'm a Matilda too - though I'm not sure how accurate it really is. I love books from all centuries.

Rory Gilmore
You read everything and anything that comes highly recommended. From classics to contemporary books from fiction to non fiction and almost everything in between. You're only picky in terms of quality, you're not tied down to one genre. Way to be open minded!

I always admired her character. I thought she really brought smart (if only in books) to TV. Sure outshined her mom!

hahahahaha - I'm Don Draper! Probably because the last book I read was made better with a hard beverage and I answered these questions accordingly : ) "You like writers of a certain era, things were on the brink of change then. Maybe you're trying to get those feelings back. Maybe you just like how these books pair with your scotch. But we know one thing for sure -- you should read a book written by a woman this year. Try it, you'll like it." Love that last bit.

>224 mamzel: I love Rory too, but her fondness re: Ayn Rand will always taint her taste in books for me.

Thanks for the heads-up re the lack of Jack Taylor! That's very weird that it's showing on the website for people who aren't signed in. Ah well have to find it elsewhere.

Question 7 on that quiz was hard! All of them had at least one book I wasn't interested in. I got Don Draper too, but I thought it was because I picked the book list with The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

>224 mamzel: I got Rory Gilmore too. Does this mean I should start watching reruns of The Gilmore Girls. Never actually watched the show.

>219 thornton37814: What she said. And I also think tea should have been one of the beverage choices.

Sawyer (aka cbl_tn)

>228 craso: Yes, you should. It's a great show.

>229 cbl_tn: Yeah, I couldn't believe tea wasn't included. I chose coffee because it was the next best things but really, there's nothing like tea when reading.

>229 cbl_tn: >230 PawsforThought: I think I chose water because I generally only drink coffee in the mornings, and I tend to read at night. It wasn't a really good fit.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Today was a beauty of a day and sooo hard to be indoors working, even with the large windows in our office space that can be opened to let in the fresh air.

My reading has been distracted for the past two days and I really want to finish my current Eco read before June starts so I may take advantage of the fact that I don't have any big plans for tomorrow and will just settle in and get the book finished.

This thread is starting to get rather long so I will post a new thread once June kicks in.

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>219 thornton37814: - I found the choices for some of the questions difficult to match with my reading habits too. Cool, our first Sawyer on this thread and over on my 75 group thread!

>220 PawsforThought: - a Daria.... that is also a first for both of my threads. Most responders over on the 75 group got Rory Gilmore.

>221 Helenliz: - A second Sawyer. Not sure who Sawye ris supposed to be. Since the names are based on characters, could it be Tom Sawyer? Dunno.

I love the fact that you actually sat and read the dictionary. I have never done that. The closest I have come was reading part of an encyclopedia but a dictionary - wow!

I am not a big fan of blood & gore either.

>222 PawsforThought: - Ah..... Don't have a clue about that Sawyer.

>223 LittleTaiko: - Another Matilda.... Yay! I am pretty sure there is nothing accurate about the quiz. Not enough questions and some of those answer choices really don't provide much insight into a reader. I just love doing these quizes to see what pops up.... kind of like playing with a wigi board.

>224 mamzel: - We have a Rory! I haven't seen very many episodes of The Gilmore Girls but based on the ones I have seen, Rory was one intelligent and observant girl.

>225 aliciamay: - I seriously need to Google Don Draper.... seriously, the character from Mad Men is one of the reading geeks for this quiz? you should read a book written by a woman this year. Try it, you'll like it. That is perfect!

>226 PawsforThought: - I have never read any Ayn Rand books.... I am guessing they are overrated?

>227 rabbitprincess: - And I was so looking forward to checking out Jack Taylor! *super sad face*

Was question 7 the "if you are stranded on an island" question? Yah, I had serious trouble with that one too. I ended up choosing the classics route with P&P.

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I love the diversity in responses that are being posted here for the quiz. Over on the 75 group, they were all coming up as Rories. Seriously! Diversity rules in the Category Challenge group!

Tea would have been a good beverage choice. I was rather surprised they had coffee on its own.

>222 PawsforThought:, >232 lkernagh:, yup that would be another contemporary cultural reference that completely passed me by!

>232 lkernagh: Yeah, well, I'm special. ;)

I'm a Matilda too! :)

I also tried to get my Eco finished before the end of May but there's no way I can do it. Good luck with your attempt this weekend!

I got Sawyer also, apparently that means I'm not very discerning and will read anything I can get my hands on. I will admit that I am a bit impulsive with my reading choices at times. It was a bit af fun, thanks for sharing Lori.

Well, there's no way for me to catch up properly on the 132(!) posts since I was last here...

>111 lkernagh:
Happy to hear you enjoyed Johannes Cabal the Necromancer! Johannes is such a great character. And, I totally agree, it is definitely not steampunk! :)

>136 lkernagh:
Hope you continue with the series - it gets better and better and the characters are always worth the time.

>147 lkernagh: & >159 lkernagh:
Excellent loot!!!

Loving your baking experiments!

Well..... I thought I would sit down and enjoy a day of reading and I haven't even cracked a book so I guess it is time to admit that all the books I will complete for the month of May are completed. Monthly recap - and then a new thread - to follow, but first responses to visitors:

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>234 Helenliz: - Oh good, it wasn't just me asleep at the wheel! That is a relief. ;-)

>235 PawsforThought: - You are going to become my go-to for all info, trivial or otherwise!

>236 mathgirl40: - Yay! I was starting to worry that I was the only person to get Matilda. I have had to bail on my planned day of reading so my Eco read is also going to roll over into June.

>237 Roro8: - I wish I could meet the people that make these quizzes and choose the profiles that answers will generate. Glad to see yo find them as fun as I do.

>238 -Eva-: - Welcome Back!!!! Did you have a lovely trip? I am looking forward to getting caught up with what you have been up to for the past month.

Thanks on all counts and the baking is proving to be an interesting diversion... unfortunately it is also impacting my reading but I say that "one cannot live by book alone." I need sustenance for my reading pleasure. ;-)

MAY RE-CAP:

BOOKS READ (ranked from most to least favorite):
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard - 4.20 /
G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton - 4.10 /
The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen - 3.80 /
Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard - 3.70 /
The Club at Eddy's Bar by Zoltan Boszormenyi - 2.85 /

Largest Book read: The Club at Eddy's Bar at 440 pages
Smallest Book read: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer at 291 pages
Books still in progress at the end of the month: The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco as a physical book and The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker as my audiobook.
Interesting Fact: All books completed fit the May Murder and Mayhem group read.

2014 Category Challenge: (as of April 30th)
World Cuisine - 3/7
Ye Olde Traditional Fare - 4/7
Lunch to Go - 6/7
Petit Fours - 6/7
Two can Dine - 2/7
Scottish Pub Fare - 0/7
Smorgasbord - 4/7

My "Luck 'O the Irish" Race (books read versus pages read): Given the chunksters I plan on reading this year, my 75 group challenge will be considered completed whichever comes first: 75 books read or 25,000 pages read.



Not much change from April. Shamrock is still in the lead but I am starting to worry about my ability to complete my challenges so might need to re-think the books I will be reading this year. Or not.

May Planned Reads
The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco - started in April Won't make it as a May read for the Umberto Eco May group read but should be finished early June
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker - started in April listening to the audiobook for the June = Female Fantasy / Science Fiction Month
Hot Ticket by Janice Weber - a Belize read for my Commonwealth Challenge
.... and whatever else I find time for. Thankfully, the June MysteryCAT is police procedural so hopefully that will help me get started with my much neglected Scottish Noir category.

Thanks! Yes, I had a great trip, but it was over too soon, obviously. :)

The best trips are always over too soon... darn it all! ;-)

New thread is now open for business. Come on over!