lkernagh's 2015 Reading Charter - 1st Section

Magna Carta Mundi - Nicholaus loannis Vischerius (circa, 1670)

Hello Everyone! I am back for another fun-filled year of reading, crafting, baking and pretty much whatever else that may crop up on this thread. If you are wondering about the choice of thread topper picture, well, 2015 marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, so I thought it would be fun to start each of my threads in 2015 with images loosely related to this historic event.

Most of my 2015 reading will be focused around all of the various reading challenges I have committed to, here in this group with the British and American Author Challenges as well as my continued efforts to read books off my TBR bookcases for my ROOTs Challenge and my ongoing tour of Commonwealth countries with my Commonwealth Challenge, and of course, I cannot forget my 2015 Category Challenge. ;-)

As I had so much fun tracking my books read and pages read in 2014, I have brought back my "Luck 'O the Irish" Race to see which horse will come in first in 2015. Will it be books read "Pot of Gold" or will the reigning champion from 2014, pages read "Lucky Shamrock" command the track? It is anybody's guess!

"Luck 'O the Irish" Race






As with last year's race, the finish line will be considered crossed whichever comes first: 75 books or 25,000 pages read.

Top 10 Reads in 2014:




Little, Big by John Crowley
The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire
Man by Kim Thuy
The Golem and the Jinni by Helen Wecker
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Quick by Lauren Owen
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Laidlaw by William McIlvanney
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

My 2015 Category Challenge (Art theme):

1. Street Art - Alternate Reality / steampunk / fantasy / dystopian themed books
2. Happening - Books that fit the 2015 Category Groups CATs, KITs and DOG challenges
3. Minimalism - Books with one word titles
4. American Realism - Books that fit the American Author Challenge
5. The London Group - Books that fit the British Author Challenge
6. Books made into Art - Books that fit my ROOTs Challenge
7. Edingburgh's Commonwealth Games of Art - Books that fit my Commonwealth Challenge
8. Art - Books that fit my 75 Group Challenge (aka my "catch all" category!)

My 2015 Category Challenge discussion thread can be found here.

American Author Challenge list:

January - Carson McCullers - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
February - Henry James - The Aspern Papers
March - Richard Ford
April - Louise Erdrich
May - Sinclair Lewis
June - Wallace Stegner
July - Ursula K. Le Guin
August - Larry McMurtry
September - Flannery O' Connor
October - Ray Bradbury
November - Barbara Kingsolver
December - E.L. Doctorow

Books read:
JAN: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers -
FEB: The Aspern Papers by Henry James -

British Author Challenge list:

January - Penelope Lively & Kazuo Ishiguro
February - Sarah Waters & Evelyn Waugh
March - Daphne Du Maurier & China Mieville
April - Angela Carter & W. Somerset Maugham
May - Margaret Drabble & Martin Amis
June - Beryl Bainbridge & Anthony Burgess
July - Virginia Woolf & B.S. Johnson
August - Iris Murdoch & Graham Greene
September - Andrea Levy & Salman Rushdie
October - Helen Dunmore & David Mitchell
November - Muriel Spark & William Boyd
December - Hilary Mantel & P.G. Wodehouse

Books read:
JAN: The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively -

Books Read:

JANUARY
1. Alphabetique by Molly Peacock -
2. The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri -
3. The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively -
4. August Heat by Andrea Camilleri -
5. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers -
6. The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri -
7. The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt -
8. I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton -
9. The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke -

FEBRUARY

10. The Aspern Papers by Henry James -
11. As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley -

MARCH

Currently Reading:


Audiobook:
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri; narration by Grover Gardner
ebook:
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Physical book:
The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke

January 'Planned' Reading:

I don't as a general rule give my reading much advanced thought or planning so this is just a list of some of the books that I have lined up as possibilities for reading in January, time permitting:

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (AAC)
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively (BAC)
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro (BAC)
The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid (Commonwealth)
The King's Man by Pauline Gedge (ROOT)
The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt (ROOT)

Next one's yours! This thread is now open for business!

Dropping off a star, Lori!

I like the Magna Carta theme. Looking forward to more beer reviews as well.

Best of luck with your challenge, Lori.

Hi Lori! I too love your thread topper theme, mostly because I love maps. The one you have chosen for this thread is especially beautiful. Looking forward to following along in 2015!

Welcome back! I love the maps too. Have you read A History of the World in 12 Maps?

Nice new thread and opening theme, Lori! I had the great fortune of visiting Rochester Castle, located 30 miles SE of London, this past June with three other LTers. The castle came under siege during the First Barons' War (1215-1217), which was a direct result of King John's refusal to accept the terms of the Magna Carta. The castle fell under siege and was heavily damaged, and damage to the window mouldings are still visible, as you can see in this photo that I took as we walked towards it:

Lori, I love this map. Dropping my and wishing you happy reading in 2015.

Hi Lori! You are very organised :-) Have a great reading year.

Love your top 10 list, Lori. The Road is probably on my all time favourite list and it seems like The Martian is making a lot of favourite lists. Well deserved.
Plenty on your list that I've still yet to read but that is what the New Year is for. Looking forward to keeping up with you again! :)

Fabulous opening image, and impressive reading plans, Lori. So organized! Dropping a star, and a wish for a wonderful 2015.

Starred, of course!

>9 lkernagh: Ohh, I love the stripey mat :)

>14 kidzdoc: Rochester Castle is one of my favourites. Perhaps we should try and co-ordinate a visit to Bodiam Castle when you're next in the UK Darryl? Given that I have a car, I can easily fetch and carry people, and Bodiam is fairly near my cousins' house so it could all be combined.

Love the image up top. I'm looking forward to seeing what you read in 2015!

Beautiful thread topper! And great thread! Good luck.

Hi Lori! Just dropping my star. I love the thread topper, too!

Hi Lori! I am back for your thread in 2015, and you never know... I am sorely tempted to present myself at your front door some day (I cook, and I'll bring beer).

I LOVE your thread topper! I love maps and antique maps. We have several antique maps of Cyprus framed in our family room. That will make me happy every time I visit.

Happy New Year to you!

>1 lkernagh: Lovely way to start the new year, Lori.

I also read Laidlaw in 2014 and, whilst, it doesn't make my top ten, I did think it very good.

>20 lunacat: Good idea, Jenny!

I have been busy trying - unsuccessfully, I might add - to try and stay on top of the various threads and have had to remind myself that this time of year and double the groups means a heck of a lot more threads on the go! ;-)

I am so happy to come back to home base and see such wonderful greetings awaiting me.

>10 DorsVenabili: - Ha, the beer reviews will continue, in some form and on a schedule yet to be determined. I am afraid -really I am afraid - that I have only scratched the surface of what appears to be a bottomless cavern of craft brews. ;-)

>11 majkia: - Thanks, Jean!

>12 Cobscook: - I find maps fascinating, even if I am not very good at navigating with one, as a family trip in Europe before the dismantling of the Berlin Wall can attest to. Nothing like suddenly finding yourself suddenly visiting countries that were not on the trip agenda! ;-)

>13 drneutron: - No, I haven't read the Brotton book but the good news is my local library has a copy so I have placed a hold on that one. Thanks for the rec, Jim!

>14 kidzdoc: - OMG, I love that you were able to visit Rochester Castle! Castles, and their various roles in the history still shapes us today, is what I find so great about Europe. What a perfect day to visit the castle, based on the clear blue sky in the picture.

>15 Ameise1: - Lovely star, Barbara!

>16 susanj67: - Really, it is all smoke and mirrors. Behind these wonderfully organized posts is pure chaos, I assure you! ;-)

>17 jolerie: - As grim and bleak as The Road is always portrayed as being, I found the story to have a strong resonance of hope throughout it, which is probably why I still find it such a memorable read and one that will stay with me. The Martian is just darn good adrenaline pumping fun!

>18 lit_chick: - Oh, Nancy, It thought you knew me by now. I can only dream that I will continue to be this organized come mid-January.... forget the rest of the year! ;-)

>19 katiekrug: - Hi Katie!

>20 lunacat: - I have come to the conclusion that Google is the perfect shopping companion: Knows all the latest fads and fashions and stays quite if you like something that is questionable.

>21 Kassilem: - Thanks Melissa!

>22 PawsforThought: - Thanks Paws!

>23 cbl_tn: - Hi Carrie!

>24 AMQS: - Anne, you and your family would be a welcome surprise here on the island. I am with you on the love for antique maps. I love how creative the cartographers would get.... I have a rather difficult time understanding topography, rasters and such that comprise modern digital maps (as a few of my work colleagues can attest to). ;-)

>25 PaulCranswick: - Thanks Paul! MacIlvanney set the scene in strong detail and really brought home in Laidlaw what is now the historical reality of the story. I tend to find the more modern crime/thriller authors don't pay that much attention to the details of setting the scene like MacIlvanney did.

>27 lkernagh: We had a splendid day in Rochester this past June, Lori, as that Sunday's gloomy forecast didn't come to pass. Bryony (@BBGirl55) served as a perfect tour guide for Claire (@Sakerfalcon), Caroline (@Caroline_McElwee) and myself, and we spent a very full and unforgettable day there. I took over 100 photos, which I compiled into a Facebook album. I think the album is public; here's a link to it if you're interested in seeing more photos of Rochester Castle, Rochester Cathedral (where we attended an afternoon service), and the Eastgate House and Gardens, which includes Charles Dickens' Swiss Chalet House:

Rocheter UK June 2014

Lori, I'm happy to be following along with your most interesting thread once again. Thanks for throwing out that colorful welcome mat. I like your top ten list and see some old friends there!

Duly starred, Lori. Happy 2015!

>30 kidzdoc: - A visit to castles (and cathedrals, another of my favorite things about Europe!) with an LT tour guide sounds truly memorable! I still continue to shake my head in amazement that Dickens had that Swiss Chalet House, where he did his writing. Back in the day even a writer's writing space seems to have been something pretty special. ;-)

>31 Donna828: - Donna, so lovely to see you here. I just came back from visiting and starring your 2015 thread. I am getting so excited for the new year now!

>32 jnwelch: - Hi Joe! Is the cafe open for business yet or should I venture over to the 'other side' for a pick em up?

I've had enough folks clamoring for the new cafe that I may have to open it soon, Lori. I'd been hoping to keep the old one open until the new year, but that may not happen.

>34 jnwelch: - Sounds good! No pressure, or anything. Just wanted make sure to check out the new one if it was open. ;-)

Hi Lori,
wonderful start to mark the New Year! With the history of the Magna Carta. I am curious how your other thread toppers will reflect this historical event!

I thought I grace your New Thread in 2015 with a lovely steampunk outfit I saw and which me reminded me slightly of the one you showed us, not too long ago!



I thought this looks really cool :)!

Lori - starred your thread. Looking forward to following you in 2015.

If I hadn't been planning to star your thread already, you would've gotten me with the map!

Hello Lori, and welcome back! I love your opening image. What a great way to start the beginning of the 75 challenge for 2015. May it be a great year for you!

Happy New Thread, Lori! Looking forward to sharing another great reading year, with you. I LOVE seeing The Complete Essex County on your best of list. That just made my day! I have read a few hundred GNs, over the past few years and that still remains my favorite.

Hi Lori! Just dropping a star and wishing you Happy New Year. I love the thread theme.

Dropping my star, Lori. Wishing you a New Year that is filled with fabulous!

Dropping off a star, Lori. Happy new year!

Hellos back to Bianca, Rhian, Katherine, Linda, Mark, Jenn, Jenny, Mamie and Micky! Lovely to see all of you here!

>36 drachenbraut23: - I love that steampunk outfit, Bianca!

>40 msf59: - The Complete Essex County is a keeper, that is for sure!

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For all my wonderful visitors, I look forward to following your reading adventures in 2015!

May all your wishes come true.

Lovely thread topper/theme. The Magna Carta made it to Boston this past summer, so I especially appreciate the thought.

I've so enjoyed meeting you this year, Lori. you've been such an excellent source of smiles, encouragement and book bullets!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

I know I tend to lurk more than talk on your thread, but I am dropping my star so I won't miss out on any of the lurking!

What an impressive topper!Was that map made around 1670, if so, I didn't know that they had figured out that much of the New World by then. Have a Happy New Year, Lori.

Lori,



Happy New Year from your friend in Kuala Lumpur

Happy new year Lori!

Hi Lori. Thanks for popping over to my 2015 thread. Hopefully there will be more to see in 2015. Looking forward to following you and your progress this year :)

Happy New Year, Lori!

Looking forward to another year of reading, reading, reading, crafting, reading.......................

Happy New Year, Lori!! Wishing you a year full of happiness on every page of it!

New Years was lovely. Fireworks courtesy of the web (no fireworks display in Victoria) entertainment with champagne flowing at midnight. I tend to be an early to bed kind of gal so I prepped so that I would be able to stay awake long enough to chime in the new year. I am pretty sure at some point today I am going to need a nap. ;-)

I hope all of you had equally wonderful evenings, spent the way your like to welcome to new year in.

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

>46 Ameise1: - Thanks Barbara! As my wishes for 2015 are of the global variety of health and happiness for everyone, I would love it for my wishes to come true.

>47 michigantrumpet: - Marianne! Great to see you here! The Magna Carta made it to Boston this past summer. Well, now I am jealous - you got the opportunity to actually see the Magna Carta. Wow! I am still going through the slow process of locating everyone's 201 threads, but I will track down your's!

>48 thornton37814: - Lurking in good, Lori! I know I tend to lurk on threads when I cannot think of anything to say or add to the conversation going on. Posting comments also takes time that I usually don't have so lurk away and just say hello when you feel like it!

>49 Familyhistorian: - Hi Meg! Happy New year to you! The information I have regarding the map is that they are not 100% certain of the exact date of the map, but they do claim it is around 1670's..... some years after the signing of the original Magna Carta. I agree with you, they hadn't figured it all out by then - I see that Australia seems to be depicted as the continental mass we now know to be Antartica and have placed it directly below India and the African continent. ;-)

>50 PaulCranswick: - Thank you, Paul! I hope you had a wonderful New Years!

>51 The_Hibernator: - Thanks, Rachel!

>52 ronincats: - That beach scene says it all, Roni! Thanks!

>53 NicolePatrick: - Hi Nicole, 2015 should be a rocking great year if the current activities of the threads are anything to go on. ;-)

>54 drachenbraut23: - Ha, I love that heartshaped umbrella, Bianca, and you are correct, there will be some crafting in between all of my reading. ;-)

>55 Carmenere: - Thanks, Linda! "Happiness on ever page" of the year is a beautiful way to express it!

>56 lovelyluck: - Thanks, Jennifer!

Love your thread topper, Lori. Happy New Year! I can't wait to see what you'll be reading, baking and crafting this year. I just acquired The Baking Bible and am slowly reading through it and salivating as I read. I will be trying out some of the recipes through the year for sure.

Happy New Year, Lori!

Happy new year, Lori! I'm looking forward to seeing what you read this year.

Happy New Year, Lori!

Hi Lori! I hope to follow your reading a bit more closely in the coming year.

Wishing you all the best in 2015!!

Popping in to say how much I love that map. I bought a map for one of my kids from the people who do Awesome Maps though it is no where as glorious as that.

Happy new year!

Happy New Year Lori. Hope it is a great one for you.

Happy new thread and New Year, Lori! See, delurking on my thread got me over here to follow your happeneings. Spreading the love around.

Happy New Year!

Did I star your thread and not post yet? Sorry for that and Happy New Year!

So far Canada's leading poster of 2015!
Have a lovely weekend, Lori. xx

>59 cameling: - Happy New Year, Caroline! oooohhhh.... the Baking Bible looks enticing. Definitely something to slowly read and savour. I will be sure to make frequent visits to your thread for any recipe testing/reviews you may engage in.

>60 scaifea: - Happy New Year, Amber!

>61 cushlareads: - Hi Cushla! Happy New Year! Let the reading fun begin!

>62 DorsVenabili: - Happy New Year, Kerri!

>63 EBT1002: - Hi Ellen! Happy New Year! Love the Peanuts image!

>64 Oberon: - Lovely to see you here, Eric! Happy New Year to you and your family! I must check out Awesome Maps! I think a map is a great gift for a kid.... really opens up the world of possibilities!

>65 banjo123: - Happy New Year, Rhonda!

>66 calm: - Happy New Year, calm! So happy to see you here!

>67 leahbird: - Hi Leah! Happy New Year to you! De-lurking is a great way to meet people and get around. ;-)

>68 inge87: - Happy New Year, Jennifer!

>69 Deern: - Hi Natalie, in these crazy new year thread times, I am pretty sure I have forgotten to star some threads and forgotten to post on others so you are not alone. Happy New Year and very happy to see you here!

>70 PaulCranswick: - Happy New Year, Paul! Ha, that probably has something to do with Judy not having a thread in the group, but I blush all the same. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
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Two days into the new year and I have finished reading two books and have reviews for both ready for posting. I have been busy this past week working on a refurbishment project that I will be posting as my first craft project for 2015. Will probably be posting about that sometime during the weekend. Anyways, onwards to the reviews.....

Book #1 - Alphabetique by Molly Peacock - with illustrations by Kara Kosaka
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category
Category: Minimalism
Reading BINGO square: About Language
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: Hardcover
Original publication date: November 4, 2014
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 141 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.40 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from the amazon.ca website:

Molly Peacock has written a new classic, a book of magical tales inspired by the lives of the letters of the alphabet. These 26 charming, incisive, sensual stories of love, yearning, and self-discovery are complimented by Kara Kosaka's layered, jewel-bright collages.

Review:
In Alphabetique, Peacock has taken what I have always viewed in passing as our functional but otherwise blasé alphabet and breathed life into it. My first thought was that I was going to experience some playful, adult Dr. Seuss styled stories. Not quite Dr. Seuss, although some of the fun play on words does exist here. Instead, something much more inviting, invigorating and thought provoking was found. Peacock exhibits a playful side with her unique letter characters and her clever use of words that start with the same letter, giving life to the character personalities and their experiences. Peacock's poetic side shines here as the stories have a delicate fluidity and elegance to them. Some of the stories are fairy tale like in quality while others take on a more modern aspect. Common themes running through these stories - apart from the alphabet as the anchor theme - are internal question, quandary or personal choice challenges that needs to be answered or overcome. While charming on the surface, these stories resonate with wisdom, insight and longing. They also showcase Peacock's skill at fleshing out and putting in words a myriad of very human qualities and conditions. I marvel at the characters she has created: the determination contained within young e, the 'soon to be a new parent' worries of A, the identity searching/ denial/ realization of D, the caring quietude of C, the Hollywood legend aura of L and the burden of family guilt weighing on y. If the stories are not enough to capture your heart and your imagination like they did mine, the wonderful visual collages created by designer and illustrator Kosaka to pair with each story, makes this book a visual delight to behold. After reading this wonderful collection of short stories, I have now become a bit of a letter/font nerd.

Overall, a pleasantly surprising read for both the stories and the artwork.

Book #2 - The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri - audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category
Category: Art
Reading BINGO square: Translated from a language you don't speak
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 2008
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 264 pages / 5 hours, 41 minutes listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.60 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: taken form my local library's catalogue listing:

The latest installment of the popular mystery series finds the moody Inspector Montalbano further beset by the existential questions that have been plaguing him of late. But he doesn't have much time to wax philosophical before the gruesome murder of a man—shot at point-blank range in the face with his pants down—commands his attention. Add two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, some dirty cocaine, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters, and things soon get very complicated at the police headquarters in Vigàta.

Review:
Another good installment in the Inspector Montalbano mystery series. This time, the story takes more of a focus on the crime under investigation and Montalbano's continues internal ponderings of the question about aging. the usual cast of support characters - Augello, Catarella, Fazio, Ingrid and Livia - make token appearances. I did get a good chuckle over the continued conversations Montalbano had to engage in with the Commissioner's secretary, Dr. Lattes but the overall focus of the story did not stray from the crimes and Montalbano. This almost became a lower 3.0 rating, because I found the crime didn't seem to have all of the usual twists and turns to it that I have grown to enjoy in the previous installments but happily, Camilleri came through in the end and dropped some nuggets of information to bump the rating up.

Onwards to the next book in the series.

Lori, I wish you a fabulous weekend full of reading.

Wow, Lori. Way to hit two BINGOs in 2 days!

Wow, Lori. All this thread organization and books completed too! You are one of our 75 phenoms for sure.
I'm late, but the Happy New Year is not less enthusiastic for that.
And now I'm off to read!

Wow, Lori, you go! You're moving right along in the Montalbano series : ). Paper Moon is where Library2Go ceases to have audiobooks available to me; the last one I can get is Patience of the Spider. Hoping this will change …

Can't wait to see your refurbishment project!

>73 lkernagh: Hmm, you've piqued my interest a bit with that one. Putting it on the mental list.

Happy New Year, Lori! You have a nice thread here, and a good start for 2015 reading.

I really need to give the Montalbano series another try . . .

Look at you go with two books read already! Good ones, too, it would seem.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

>73 lkernagh: Very good review! While it doesn't sound like something I'll be seeking out, it does sound intriguing and I'm glad things like it exist.

>74 lkernagh: I had no idea there were so many Montalbanos! Is she still alive and writing them?

>75 Ameise1: - A fawn! How adorable! I want to gently rub her nose. Not much reading so far this weekend but a good weekend all the same. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Barbara!

>76 The_Hibernator: - ... and neither of them were planned reads! I love seeing what books fit the Bingo challenge, without no planning. ;-)

>77 LizzieD: - Thanks Peggy and Happy New Year to you!

>78 lit_chick: - Thanks Nancy! Work in progress is about to be posted.

>79 MickyFine: - I borrowed my copy from my local library so here is hoping your library has or is in the process of purchasing a copy. It's is a wonderful book and perfect for a library to have on hand!

>80 tymfos: - Thanks Terri! As for the Montalbano series, I think this is one that I enjoy in audio format and may not have appreciated as much as a physical read.

>81 AMQS: - Hi Anne, lovely to see you here!

>82 DorsVenabili: - I am happy that Peacock wrote Alphabetique as well. As for the Inspector Montalbano series, "he" didn't start writing the series until he was in his 70's. Go figure... decides in his 70's that he wanted to become an author. There is hope for all of us! There are currently 23 books in the series, 19 of which have been translated into the English language. Camilleri is still alive and I hope he continues to churn out these wonderfully fun crime stories. ;-)

Happy first Saturday of 2015, everyone! I promised an update on my current craft project and an update it will be. Sadly, we have dark overcast skies today which makes things really dark for picture taking so I thought I would atleast provide background for the project and some "work in progress" pictures. For those of you new to my threads, craft projects tend to crop up here, along with book reviews and my continuing baking/cooking experiments. ;-)

Craft Project:
I should start this off by saying that I love steamer trunks just about as much as I love books and book cases. Steamer trunks are so functional and usually really well built to stand the test of time. We still own the first steamer trunk we purchased back in 1995 as a find at a local auction. At that time, it had some wear and tear through use and we in turn subjected it to a couple of transportations trips of our own. Sadly, with time, the exterior of the trunk has faded - quite considerably - and was really looking like the shabby wreck we would hid behind the sofa in the living room, out of sight of interested eyes.

Slight segue as to why I have chosen now to refurbish the trunk. My reading lamp behind the sofa has been sitting upon about 2 years of old Instyle magazines, on top of the trunk. As part of our annual 'de-clutter' activities, I have decided to read through the huge backlog of magazines I have continued to purchase and not read. I will now get rid of them once I have read them. That means my magazine supply propping up my reading lamp needs to go as well. I figure, standing the trunk on its side will work wonderfully as a lamp stand, but the old girl is going to receive a thorough treatment before she resumes her new position.

Anyways, back to the refurbishment project. The trunk still has good bones on her, she just needs a bit of sprucing up. Thankfully, one all purpose craft store (Micheals), one specialized painting store (Island Blue Print) and one hobby craft store (BC Shavers and Hobbies) later, and I have all the materials I need to fix up the girl:



I had thought that I was buying an indigo blue for the trunk panels so I was a bit surprised when the paint turned out to be a brighter, more royal blue colour, but I have to say, I am now glad that the former navy blue trunk shows spark and life through its brighter blue colour. Because I forgot to take any initial pictures before I started painting, below are two transition shots that really show the before and after look of the trunk:



The before and after is pretty obvious in these shots. You can't see it in the photos, but the metal corners, fastenings and trim work were badly tarnished, scuffed and banged. You can see in the first picture a bit of the scoring down the red stripe in the center of the trunk lid. These photos only show the new blue paint on the panels, minus the UV protecting varnish coatings that I have applied, and minus the fixes to the various trim work. I now need to flip the trunk over so that I can work on the bottom and the lower metal corners, so I will post back here - when I have better sunlight to capture pictures of the refurbished trunk - of the finished product.

>83 lkernagh: He?! I always thought a woman wrote the series. Well, there you go! Learning new things. :-)

>84 lkernagh: Oh, my goodness! That is the exact style of trunk we use at work to pack for conferences. I have one sitting in my office right now. I love what you've done with the color!

Lori, where is your 2015 bingo from?

>85 DorsVenabili: - With a name like Andrea that was my first thought as well! As for the trunk, the new vibrant colour is really growing on me. I couldn't go back to blah indigo blue/black now.

>86 AMQS: - Oh, good grief, I never did explain the 2015 Bingo Challenge. Last year I did a Bingo challenge using the Random House created bingo card. This year, the category challenge group created it's own bingo categories and bingo cards. All of the cards created are amazing and each card re-orders the bingo squares. I chose the cartoon styled bingo card which I will post below.

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2015 Reading Bingo: If anyone is interested in a reading bingo challenge, the 2015 Category Challenge has created a number of bingo cards. General information about the selection of the bingo card squares can be found here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/180134.
The wonderful bingo cards created based on the square categories can be found here and here. I went for the cartoon/GN styled card, as posted below.

2015 Bingo Challenge:
Instructions for my own reference: When filling a block, add the number of the block after 'green=' and add more using a dash between each."

I am going to attempt the Bingo the same way I did in 2014 - I will just read books and if they fit, great! At a minimum, I should be able to complete a line.



1. ...With a protagonist of the opposite gender - August Heat by Andrea Camilleri -
2. ...Chosen by someone else
3. ...you've owned more than one year - I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton -
4. ...with scientists
5. ...on a subject you are unfamiliar with
6. ...translated from a language you don't speak - The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri -
7. ...with a natural disaster
8. ...about autism
9. ...with an LGBTQ main character
10. ...set in a country other than your own - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers -
11. ...about language - Alphabetique by Molly Peacock -
12. ...published in 1915
13. ...read a CAT - The Aspern Papers by Henry James -
14. ...that reminds you of your childhood
15. ...where prophecies or portents are part of the plot - The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively -
16. ...based on a fairytale or myth
17. ...inspired by another piece of fiction - The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt -
18. ...with correspondence or letters
19. ...by an LT author
20. ...where an animal is of importance - The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri -
21. ...with a mythical creature
22. ...centered around a major historical event
23. ...whose author shares an ancestor's fist name
24. ...that is a genre bender
25. ...that is completely outside of your comfort zone

Thanks, Lori! I love the pirate card:) One more question (probably a dumb one): what is read a CAT?

A CAT is a "Category and Theme" read over on the 2015 category group. Each month there are different CATs. It is kind of similar to the TIOLI here in the 75 group except that we have predetermined monthly CATS focused on subtopics. for 2015 the chosen CAT topics were history, science/speculative fiction and the random or wildcard monthly CAT. The RandomCAT is created each month by a member designated for that month based on a subject/topic of their choosing. I think it is safe to call the CAT square the 'free' square, if one is not participating in the category challenge.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

Fabulous refurbish project, Lori! I LOVE the trunk. My mother had one in a navy/indigo blue which looked identical to this. I remember it as a child and through my young adulthood, but don't know what happened to it at last.

Oh, very cool trunk project! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

>73 lkernagh: Adding that one to the BlackHole. Thanks for the recommendation, Lori!

A belated Happy New Year to you, Lori! I love your thread topper and the pictures of the trunk you are refinishing. That blue is stunning! I'm looking forward to following your 2015 reading adventures as much as I can.

Happy New Year, Lori! Excellent work on that trunk - wish I could get my brain around refurbishing a lovely old thing and giving it a new lease on life. Unfortunately, I can barely keep up with the housework, let alone adding in projects. :) Looking forward to your "finished" photo!

Thanks for the Bingo information, Lori. I love having the different looks in cards to choose from. Like others, I am waiting to see the finished trunk. I hope you take it out of hiding behind your sofa when it's completed! Love that vibrant blue!

Wow! Crafts and books too. Can't wait to follow your thread this year.

Molly Peacock looks to be an very interesting author. I just one clicked on amazon for her other book, The Paper Garden. When we were in London in November, I saw some of the paper cuttings done by the subject of that book in the British Museum.

>92 lit_chick: - Thanks, Nancy! The trunk is becoming a labour of love, I will admit. How cool that you remember your mother having a similar trunk! if it was anything like the trunks we own, it was well used. Our other two trunks are metal so I cannot do any fancy refurbishment project with them like I can with the wooden one.

>93 scaifea: - Thanks Amber! Even my other half is starting to take a keen interest in my current craft project. If I know him, he will now keep an eye out at the auctions for more trunks that I can "refurbish". ;-)

>94 alcottacre: - Your most welcome, Stasia!

>95 rosalita: - Happy New Year to you, Julia! I am now 100% happy with the new blue colour. Anytime you find to stop by is good with me. I am looking forward to visiting you 'back in time'. ;-)

>96 LauraBrook: - Hi Laura! Happy New Year! I rather lucky that my other half appreciates my crafty habits and helps out with the housework when needed. In the case of the trunk, he gets to benefit from the refurbishment as much as I do, which makes, as he puts it, a nice change from the beading I like to do.

>97 Donna828: - Thanks Donna, and enjoy the Bingo. The category challenge members who created the cards did such an awesome job!

>98 arubabookwoman: - Yup, crafts, books and baking will be showing up here. I agree about Molly Peacock. I have had my eye on her book The Paper Garden. If I remember correctly, that book also has wonderful illustrations and lovely high quality paper. I am not much of a poetry reader but I find that I tend to gravitate towards and enjoy the works of poets who have transitions over to fiction writing.... authors like Helen Humphreys is part of this group of writers, with Peacock.

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Last night was my first night of insomnia so I ended sitting up and finished reading another book. Review will be posted below. Other than that bit of oddity, Sunday was a busy day making bread, crackers, tackling some laundry and continued work on the trunk. It was a wet day outside so a good day to be indoors doing indoor things.

Book #3 - The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category, BAC
Category: The London Group
Reading BINGO square: Prophecy, signs, or portents are part of the plot
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: Trade paperback
Original publication date: 1973
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 256 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.70 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from the amazon.ca website listing:

James is fed up. His family has moved to a cottage - with grounds that are great for excavations, and trees that are perfect for climbing - and stuff is happening. Stuff that is normally the kind of thing he does. And he's getting blamed for it. But it's not him who's writing strange things on shopping lists and fences. It's not him who smashes bottles and pours tea in the Vicar's lap. It's a ghost - honestly. Thomas Kempe the apothecary has returned and he wants James to be his apprentice. No one else believes in ghosts. It's up to James to get rid of him. Or he'll have no pocket money or pudding ever again.

Review:
What a delightful, fun ghost story. What I really enjoyed about this story is not so much the ghost aspect - which was still fun - but the great way that Lively captures the wonderment of being a young boy and living with his parents and sister in an old cottage in a small Oxfordshire town. Its a quaint, more simplistic life than is presented on the pages than the hustle and bustle of today and I can see why this book would be a popular one for children young and old..... I consider myself one the old ones. ;-)

As for the writing style, I love that Lively does not dumb down or talk down to her reading audience, which give the story such a great audience age range. It also has a somewhat timeless quality to it. Even the small town of Ledsham is going through its growing pains, with the older center of town finding itself being surrounding by newer housing communities, leaving James' sister Helen pining to live in one of the newer houses like her friends do and not the centuries old East End Cottage her family now calls home. This book reminded me of fun, childhood days when we would visit my maternal grandparents, and the fun we had climbing the crab apple trees, watching the trains in the train yard across the street and the glorious fun of playing in tree lined streets that only saw occasional vehicle traffic.

Overall, a quick and rather enjoyable read.

3 books already plus a craft thrown in as well!?! Way to go Lori! :)

I should get off LT and do some actual reading at some point today...haha!

Ha, ha.... I hear you on the read LT/ read a book quandary..... really, I do. ;-)

When I consider that I didn't want to read any Lively this month and now started one and keep being hit by more Lively-BBs... LT is really a bit dangerous that early in the year. :)

I love the Bingo idea and thought about participating last year but then RL got in the way. Now I am undecided, having already planned 4 monthly GRs. But I could just try working these into the Bingo.

Love the trunk project! I lack skill for all those things and wish they'd offer something like a "crafts for dummies" evening class here.

>84 lkernagh: Love your trunk project. Looking forward to see it completed. Don't you think it is soo much fun to make something new from something old? The same with your clothes, Lori!

I also love the Bingo card idea and I really like this years designs. However, I am taking part already in 3 challenges, which is quite a chunk for me.

>101 lkernagh: Great review of The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, Lori. I still have to finish The Ruby in her Navel and Gracefully Grayson, after that I will move on to Carson McCuller and Lively.

You are busy with great projects, both reading and crafting I see! Enjoy!

Hi Lori! The Ghost of Thomas Kempe looks like a good one! I enjoyed your review. Hope you get some sleep!

>88 lkernagh: That is a super cool Bingo card! And I love how you are able to put the green dots on the squares you have completed!

>89 AMQS: I was thinking the same thing!!! :)

Your trunk looks awesome! What will you put in it? We have one as a toy box, and when we go camping it is filled with camping and kitchen gear and then used as a a table which handily stores away stuff each evening. I love trunks!

I have The Ghost of Thomas Kempe waiting for me at the library, when I can get over there, so I'm glad to read your positive review, Lori. And great work on the trunk.

You are off to a much busier reading start than I am. I'm behind because of everything that has caught up with me this week. I'm just trying to get somewhat caught up so that maybe I can do a little reading in a bit.

I love the color you closes for the steamer trunk. It's nearly nautical and I always picture trunks being loaded on a ship. My parents had two big trunks in the attic which probably came over from Ireland. I wish I knew.

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe sounds good. I need to look for it!

>101 lkernagh: Interesting! I've heard she has written children's books, but this is the first title I've been introduced to. Perhaps a good idea for great-niece/nephew gifts, so thank you! I tend to be clueless when it comes to books for young people, but I would feel good giving a child a Penelope Lively book.

>84 lkernagh: That is an awesome blue.

Lori, I wish you a fabulous weekend.

Apologies for the extended absence from my own thread. January has been crazy busy so far with something on the go most evenings. I tend to get rather energized at the start of the new year so when we are not out with friends, household projects and other activities are on the go. I am peeking into LT tonight and just about fell off my chair when I saw that I had 6 pages of threads in my Talk with unread posts. 12 days into the new year and I am already so far behind with threads that I will never catch up. I will slowly make the rounds but I may be a very occasional visitor to my own thread for the next little while. In the meantime, thank you everyone for stopping by and posting here!

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>104 Deern: - I know that feeling! Between the AAC and the BAC, I see this year as both dangerous and exciting to be able to read multiple reviews for books and get a real feel for the stories. I thought about not doing the Bingo this year but all of my reads so far seem to fit a Bingo square so I don't feel as overwhelmed as I first did. That being said, I am going to keep expectations low. I will be happy if I just complete a line. No pressure that way. ;-)

Thanks! There are a lot of crafts projects that daunt me... luckily things that just involve a 'lick o' paint' and some protective coating is up my alley.

>105 drachenbraut23: - Thanks Bianca! I have finished to trunk but I never seem to be home when I can get a picture with some good natural sunlight for lighting so it may be a while before any pictures get posted.

I am hoping that this year doesn't prove too challenging to juggle all of the challenges. 3 challenges is a lot for anyone, including me. While I will be reading books for both the AAC and BAC, I do not have any plans to be 'pure' (read a book by each author listed) for either of these challenges.... If I tried to do that, I would be a wreck before spring! ;-)

I have had my eye on Gracefully Grayson. I look forward to seeing what you think of that one!

>106 sibylline: - Thanks, Lucy! I just need to figure out how to get more hours in the day so that I can spend more time reading and crafting and less time with RL commitments. ;-)

>107 AMQS: - Hi Anne! I think you would enjoy The Ghost of Thomas Kempe. I am sleeping better now, thank goodness. I don't do insomnia very well.... I have been informed that I become rather cranky and a bit difficult to live with when I don't get my proper amount of sleep. ;-)

>108 Cobscook: - Hi Heidi! I know.... LShelby did an awesome job with the technical stuff that makes it easy to add the markers and PawsforThought make such great designs. Some many awesomely talented people here on LT!

>109 LovingLit: - Yes, another interested reader for The Ghost of Thomas Kempe! Well, considering we took out of the trunk a bunch of spare computer parts, a dismantled chandelier we currently are not using and other 'stuff', I am afraid it will probably continue to store most of those items for us.

What a great idea to use your trunk while camping! I particularly like the table and storage aspect.... brilliant idea!

>110 ronincats: - Thanks, Roni! I hope The Ghost of Thomas Kempe is a good read for you. It is YA but lovely YA in that wonderful old fashioned kind of way.

>111 thornton37814: - I may have read a couple of books but I still think starting the year off with a vacation was a stoke of genius on your part, Lori. I need to swing by your thread to see if you have posted any more news.

>112 Copperskye: - Steamer trunks and ships - the big ocean liner type - are an automatic connection in my mind too! Trunks with wonderful histories of travel just adds to the romance of these otherwise utilitarian items. ;-)

>113 DorsVenabili: - Good idea, Kerri! Book gifts are the best. Lively has a great writing style and has made me feel a bit nostalgic for some of the books of my childhood reading.

>114 banjo123: - It is, isn't it!

>115 Ameise1: - Awe.... kitty cat makes a new friend! I love that image, Barbara! So cute!

Book #4 - August Heat by Andrea Camilleri - translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli; audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category
Category: Art
Reading BINGO square: With a protagonist of the opposite gender
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 2009
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 5 hours, 42 minutes of listening time / 278 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.40 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from the amazon.ca website listing:

When a colleague extends his summer vacation, Inspector Salvo Montalbano is forced to stay in Vigàta and endure the August heat. Montalbano's long-suffering girlfriend, Livia, joins him with a friend-husband and young son in tow-to keep her company during these dog days of summer. But when the boy suddenly disappears into a narrow shaft hidden under the family's beach rental, Montalbano, in pursuit of the child, uncovers something terribly sinister.

Review:
This installment started out with a rather interesting twist on the idea of a vacation rental nightmare. I was started to get all geared up for a Sicilian vacation version of the seven plagues of the apocalypse but we do finally get to what I will categorize as the main crime... the discovery of a body. Back on sure footing once again - or so I thought - I settled in to see how the peripheral crimes in the story tie in with this discovery. As with previous installments, this one was an interesting blending of police procedural crime fiction with a more personal, introspective and life evaluating story as Montalbano continues to deal with relationship issues and coming to terms with growing older. This story had a bit more of a soap opera feel to in than previous ones, more so for the nature of the entanglement Montalbano finds himself in and his internal conflict. At this stage in the series, Camilleri assumes all of his readers are up the speed with the various personalities of his characters, so anyone who thinks this is a good time to jump into the series will not understand the character dynamics.

An alright story with an interesting crime to solve and a, surprisingly, rather good ending.

Oh, I love that Montalbano series, Lori. I jump on every new one that comes out. Nice review of this one.

Woot! Thanks for another great Montalbano review, Lori. I have you to think for discovering the Inspector Italien for me!

Hi Lori, sorry it's taken me so long to drop by your thread, but I'm finally all caught up! I see you've sailed ahead of me on the Montalbanos. I was keen to rush through them this summer, but sort of dropped off that project when autumn arrived, and now have yet to pick up August Heat myself. I see we both picked up the cartoon bingo card and you remind me I need to go fill out a few squares on mine! We certainly have some fun challenges in this group this year, glad you enjoyed the P. Lively!

I refuse to be sucked into another series. I refuse to! Oh, well it doesn't hurt to peek at the library and see what they have....... ;)

Hmmm....yet another one who are reading Montalbano. I find it increasingly harder to avoid this Italian detective. I love when we also get some private life introspection of a crime investigator.

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend, everyone! I have had a week of interesting challenges that have keep me busy, in a good way. I am also looking forward to my sister coming out for a visit next week and have just realized we have a couple of major milestones to celebrate in my family this year so now I am starting to think about vacation plans with those events in mind.

Still managing to find snatches of time to read.... thank goodness for audiobooks! They are my salvation! Now if I can just figure out how to quite being attracted to all the lovely shiny books when visiting threads, and stop placing holds on shiny books the library has on offer, I may, just may, be able to read the books I already have set aside for reading. ;-)

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>121 jnwelch: - It is a goody, Joe, I will say that. There are time where Montabano continues to annoy me but that is okay as I prefer flawed characters over perfect ones!

>122 lit_chick: - The series just keeps on going from strength to strength, Nancy! I usually fall off of a series after reading the first three or four books. This is one of those rare exceptions where I don't need to take a break between books or grow tired of the characters and the plots.

>123 Smiler69: - Hi Ilana! Given my lack of ability to keep up with thread traffic, I am just happy when you are able to make your way over here. This is going to be a good reading year, I just feel it in my bones. ;-)

>124 jolerie: - That the ticket, Valerie! Denial works wonders for me as well.... until I discover the online/download content, that is. ;-)

>125 ctpress: - Carsten, it is lovely to see you stopping by. Montalbano is one of those wonderfully hidden complex characters. He comes across pretty shallow and easy to understand on the surface but underneath the shell... well... he is a very interesting persona. I don't like getting bogged down in the grime seedy underbelly of crime. Camilleri does a great job of bringing levity, with a conscientious observer approach, to some many things. Reading his Inspector Montalbano series is almost like receiving an inside glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of a Sicilian, if that makes any sense.

Book #5 - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category, AAC
Category: American Realism
Reading BINGO square: Set in a country other than your own (United States)
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: e-book
Original publication date: 1940
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 371 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.65 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from neabigread.org reader guide summary:

Set in a small Georgia mill town in the late 1930s, this story centers around John Singer, a deaf mute who rents a room in the Kelly house after his fellow deaf companion, Spiros Antonapoulos, is sent away to an asylum. The amiable Singer is a confidant for four of the town's misfits—Mick Kelly, a teenage girl who dreams of becoming a trained musician; Benedict Mady Copeland, the town's black doctor; Jake Blount, an alcoholic socialist; and Biff Brannon, the owner of the local café.

Review:
There are so many well written reviews already posted by others, so I will just provide my very brief thoughts here. McCullers debut novel - impressive, worldly writing for a young 23 year-old woman! - resonates with me on a number of different levels. Her focus on the inner psyche of her characters is wonderfully accomplished. Their pains, frustrations, insecurities and indecisions are raw. McCullers makes interesting choices, using words and phrases that work and really bring home the image she is trying to conjure up for the reader. It is a story to be experienced, not just read. There is pain in the story.... a struggle and muted hopelessness that seeps out and slowly pulled me in to experience their emotions with them. There is also at times a rather frenzied pace to the writing, almost as if McCullers was racing to get the story down on paper. For me, reading this story made me think of Burghess' Olive Kitteridge, McCarthy's Suttree and Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.... all great stories with wonderful writing and in the case of Suttree and Fried Green Tomatoes, evocative southern gothic stories of poverty.

A enduring story that will stay will me for a long, long time.

Happy weekend. :)

Lori, I wish you a relaxed weekend.

Hi Lori! I picked up Horrorstor from the library yesterday and I'm looking forward to it. I hope you have a good weekend :-)

Nice review, Lori! SO glad you loved it! Wishing for you a weekend filed with fabulous!

Nice review of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Lori! I'm glad that you loved it as well.

Ah, you express this so well, Lori: Now if I can just figure out how to quite being attracted to all the lovely shiny books when visiting threads, and stop placing holds on shiny books the library has on offer, I may, just may, be able to read the books I already have set aside for reading. Btw, if you figure it out, do pass it on ASAP please, LOL!

>129 nittnut: - Happy weekend to you, Jenn!

>130 Ameise1: - Thanks, Barbara! I could use a relaxing weekend. Hopefully, your weekend is also relaxing. ;-)

>131 susanj67: - I cannot wait to see what you think of Horrorstor, Susan! Such a fun horror story!

>132 Crazymamie: and >133 kidzdoc: - Thank you both! I have added McCullers to my authors lists for future reading, since The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is the only book I have read of her's so far.

>134 lit_chick: - Will do, Nancy, if I ever figure that out! ;-)

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I keep forgetting just how dark it can be during the daytime when the overcast days of winter are upon us. We have had to turn on the lights indoors and its noon! My other half - God love him - decided to inform me this morning, AFTER I had come back from grocery shopping, that he wants to try going vegetarian for a month. Now, I don't mind this idea... I just wish we had had this conversation last night before I went grocery shopping. I am also not sure just how committed he is to this idea. One month is not a long time but it does mean some interesting changes to our diet. I have already discussed with him that if we go vegetarian for a month, I can't have him turning up his nose and refusing to eat things like lentils, chick peas etc (things that he hates) because we need to ensure that we are eating balanced meals that take into account the necessary fat and protein we need to keep in our diets. Good news is two of the meals I had shopped for this morning are vegetarian anyways but I now need to figure out what to do with the previously frozen calico scallops I purchased for the seafood chowder I was planning on making. I will probably still make the soup.... I can always freeze the soup and take some to work next week for one of my lunches, but I am now struggling to come up with vegetarian ideas. Any suggestions? Do any of you have great tasting and easy to prepare vegetarian recipes that you can share here?

>135 lkernagh:

All these are UK recipes so you'd need to convert but these are some things my best friend (veggie) makes regularly.

Easy one step spinach lasagne

Ingredients
Serves: 6
750g ricotta cheese or fromage frais
125g Parmesan, freshly grated
1 large egg
1 litre chunky tomato pasta sauce
220g (12 sheets) no-precook egg lasagne
600g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
250g mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas 4). Mix together the ricotta, Parmesan and egg in a large bowl.

Spread 250ml of the pasta sauce over the base of a lightly oiled, large baking dish, measuring about 23 x 33cm and about 7cm deep.

Arrange three of the lasagne sheets side by side in the dish. Spread with a quarter of the ricotta mixture then top with a third of the spinach. Repeat layering twice more with the sauce, lasagne, ricotta mixture and spinach.
Top with remaining three sheets of lasagne.
Spread the remaining ricotta mixture and sauce over the top, then gently press the lasagne sheets down into the dish, so the sauce comes up around the sides. Cover the dish with foil.
Bake for 35 minutes, then uncover, sprinkle with the mozzarella and bake for a further 20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
Allow to stand for 10 minutes before cutting into rectangles to serve warm.

Parmesan cheese
Parmesan cheese is not truly vegetarian, as it contains animal rennet. To make this dish 100% vegetarian, omit the cheese or find a suitable vegetarian substitute made without animal rennet. In supermarkets look for the 'parmesan style hard cheeses' which are suitable for vegetarians.

Butternut squash and spinach curry

Ingredients

1 butternut squash
1 packet fresh spinach
1 onion
1 thumb-sized knob of fresh gingerroot
2 tablespoons oil
4 bruised cardamom pods
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups vegetable broth
quarter of a tin coconut milk

Method

Peel, de-seed and cut butternut squash into chunks. Peel and slice onions into thin half-moons. Finely dice/mince ginger.
Heat oil and gently cook onions until they are soft and starting to take on a little colour. Add ginger and spices, and cook for a further minute.
Add butternut, and enough stock to cover the veg, but not vast amounts so that it is swimming. Simmer gently until squash is tender.
Add coconut milk - enough to add some creaminess, but not so much that the coconut milk swamps everything. About 1/4-1/3 of a can.
Add spinach and gently stir in, so that spinach wilts. When all is tender, heated through and spinach is wilted, it is ready to go.

Cheesy veggie hotpot

3 leeks, trimmed, washed and roughly sliced
large knob butter
½ small Savoy cabbage, shredded
8 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
4 tbsp crème fraîche
3 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small vegetarian Camembert or other rinded soft cheese, sliced with the rind on
1 tbsp thyme leaf

In a shallow microwavable dish toss the leeks in half the butter and cook on High for 5 mins until they begin to soften. Stir in the cabbage and mushrooms and add the crème fraîche. Lay the potato slices over the vegetables pressing them down with a fish slice.

Dot the potatoes with the remaining butter and microwave, uncovered, for 15-20 mins on High until they are done. Scatter over the cheese and thyme, and either microwave on High to melt for 2 mins, or grill until crisp and brown. Leave to stand for a few mins and serve straight from the dish.

Tagliatelle with vegetable ragu

1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 carrots, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp each tomato purée and balsamic vinegar
250g diced vegetables, such as courgettes, peppers and mushrooms
50g red lentils
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes with basil
250g tagliatelle (or your favourite pasta)
2 tbsp shaved parmesan (optional)

Tip the onion, celery and carrots into a large non-stick saucepan and add 2-3 tbsp water or stock, if you have some. Cook gently, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft.
Add the garlic, tomato purée and balsamic vinegar, cook on a high heat for 1 min more, add the diced veg, lentils, tomatoes, then bring up to the boil.
Turn to a simmer, then cook for about 20 mins. Meanwhile, cook the pasta following pack instructions, then drain. Season the ragu and serve with pasta and Parmesan on top, if you like.

Minestrone soup

1l hot vegetable stock
400g tin chopped tomatoes
100g thin spaghetti, broken into short lengths
350g frozen mixed vegetables
4 tbsp pesto
drizzle of olive oil
coarsely grated vegetarian parmesan-style cheese, to serve

Bring the stock to the boil with the tomatoes, then add the spaghetti and cook for 6 mins or until done. A few minutes before the pasta is ready, add the vegetables and bring back to the boil. Simmer for 2 mins until everything is cooked.
Serve in bowls drizzled with pesto and oil, sprinkled with parmesan.

Artichoke and roasted red pepper omelette

5 eggs, separated
2 whole eggs
½ can artichoke hearts, drained, quartered if whole
1 whole roasted pepper from a jar or can drained, patted dry and roughly chopped
50g vegetarian Parmesan-style cheese
10 large basil leaves, shredded
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil

In a large bowl, lightly beat together the 5 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs. In a separate bowl, use an electric whisk to beat the egg whites until stiff. Add whites to the yolks and fold together carefully, keeping it light and fluffy. Fold in the artichokes, pepper, half the cheese, the basil, salt and pepper.

Heat grill to high. Heat a medium non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the butter and oil. When the butter has melted, add the omelette mixture and spread evenly. Cook until golden underneath, about 5 mins. Scatter over remaining cheese, then place the pan under the grill and cook for a further 2 mins. Slide the omelette onto a board or serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve.

Spicy tomato baked eggs

1 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
small bunch coriander, stalks and leaves chopped separately
2 400g cans cherry tomatoes
1 tsp caster sugar
4 eggs

Heat the oil in a frying pan that has a lid, then soften the onions, chilli, garlic and coriander stalks for 5 mins until soft. Stir in the tomatoes and sugar, then bubble for 8-10 mins until thick. Can be frozen for 1 month.
Using the back of a large spoon, make 4 dips in the sauce, then crack an egg into each one. Put a lid on the pan, then cook over a low heat for 6-8 mins, until the eggs are done to your liking. Scatter with the coriander leaves and serve with crusty bread.

Jenny, you are a lifesaver! He loves curries and that butternut squash recipe looks really good! They all look good. Many thanks to you and your friend!

Jenny to the rescue. May e I can convince my husband to go vegetarian with some of those yummy recipes. I'm glad all is well in your world, Lori. Life gets busy, doesn't it? I am starting to incorporate audiobooks into my routine as well. That may be the only way I can make my 100-book goal this year!

No problem, I'll have a look for some of the other curry recipes we use regularly and post them tomorrow.

Hi Lori! Just checking in to see what's up in your world. Busy and challenging can be good, family visits can be fun, and vegetarian husbands are something I will probably never encounter!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

You'll need to convert the measurements but here's one of my favourites:

Creamy daal

1 yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
250g/3 dl red lentils
2 dl water + vegetable stock cube
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
2 tomatoes
1 bag (at least 70g but more is fine) baby spinach
Salt + pepper
(Fresh coriander)

Chop onion and garlic. Fry until softened in oil along with cumin + coriander. Add lentils, water, stock and coconut milk and simmer for 10 min (no lid). Roughly chop tomatoes and add along with spinach. Simmer for another 5 min. Add salt and pepper and a handful of chopped fresh coriander (if you don't have any, you can just increase the amount of ground coriander). Serve with yoghurt and pita or naan (or something else similar).

Also, I love soups so I make lots of it. I don't have any recipes for them as I make them more or less off the top of my head. But butternut squash (peeled, roughly chopped, oven roasted) makes for a great soup. Just mix it with (fried) onion, garlic and some spices (I like ginger) and go crazy with the mixer. Might need to dilute it with vegetable broth or something like coconut milk or milk/cream.
Cauliflower is also great. If you want to make a soup just cut it into florets, boil carefully until soft. And then do like with the butternut squash (onion, garlic, mix, etc.)
Cauliflower is also great as an alternative to rice or potatoes (mash or ) if you want to cut down on carbs.
Make for great "burgers"/"steaks" too. Just cut the cauliflower into thick slices and fry in a pan. Needs some seasoning.

I'm not a vegetarian, but am going to play the devil's advocate here and post two recipes I love, which are full of lentils and chickpeas! Your other half can thank me later, LOL!

Lentil Soup

Ingredients
¼ c olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp red pepper flakes

1-398 ml can crushed tomatoes
2 c dry lentils
4 c water
4 c vegetable broth
½ c spinach, rinsed and thinly sliced
2 tbsp vinegar
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Preparation
1. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery; cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in next six ingredients; cook for 2 minutes.

2. Stir in lentils, and add water/broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve stir in spinach, and cook until it wilts. Stir in vinegar, and season to taste with salt and pepper, and more vinegar if desired.
_______________

Rockin’ Moroccan Stew

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1 c chopped onion
½ c each diced celery and chopped green pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp grated ginger root
1 tsp each ground cumin, curry powder, ground
coriander, and chili powder
3 c vegetable broth
3 c peeled, cubed sweet potatoes
1-540 ml can diced tomatoes, drained (19 oz)
1-540 ml can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (19 oz)
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ c raisins
2 tbsp each peanut butter and minced, fresh cilantro

Preparation
Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, celery, green pepper, and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add ginger root, cumin, curry powder, coriander, and chili powder. Cook for 30 more seconds.

Add all remaining ingredients except raisins, peanut butter and cilantro. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Stir in raisins, peanut butter, and cilantro. Mix well. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Serve hot.

Servings: 6
Per serving: 253 calories, 5.3 g total fat (0.8 g saturated fat), 8 g protein, 44 g carbohydrate, 6.9 g fiber, 0 mg cholesterol, 355 mg sodium

>143 lit_chick: Those both sound delicious. I'll have to leave out the peanut when I try the second one, so hope it won't be a make-or-break ingredient.

>139 Donna828: - Jenny to the rescue is exactly what I was thinking, Donna! Tempt him with a couple and see how he reacts. I probably should be happy that my other half is exhibiting a keenness towards vegetarianism, but some advance notice would be helpful. ;-) Audiobooks continue to be my salvation, with roughly 50% of my reading time being my audiobook reads.

>140 lunacat: - Thanks, Jenny!

>141 katiekrug: - LOL! Always lovely to see you stopping by, Katie! I hear you on the vegetarian husband thing. At least it is unlikely that he will suddenly hit you with a drastic dietary change! :-)

>142 PawsforThought: - I have never heard of daal but that recipe looks both easy and delicious! Soups are my salvation in the winter but most of the soups in my repertoire have some form of meat, chicken or fish to them. Experimentation is going to be required. Grated and stir fried cauliflower is what we use instead of rice when we have rich curry dishes.... I just wish cauliflower wasn't $4-$5 a head where we are.

The meat lover that I am is going to have to get creative with portabello mushrooms to give me that 'eating meat' flavour and sensation. I am kind of looking forward to that. Thanks for all of the wonderful suggestions!

>143 lit_chick: - I love lentils and chickpeas so you are right, Nancy, he is just going to have to thank you later for these wonderful recipes! Maybe I can convert him.... He did perk his ears up when I mentioned Moroccan Stew. He doesn't really need to know what goes into the meals. ;-)

>144 PawsforThought: - ;-)

Since everyone has been sharing such amazing recipes, I thought I would share the vegetarian recipe I made for this evening's dinner. It is something I came up with on my own and make from time to time, so bear with me for not having it organized.

Baked Spinach Mushroom in Phyllo Pastry

Preheat oven to 325'F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Take:
7 large mushrooms (roughly 200g) of your choice, diced (I used white mushrooms this time but love mixing thing up with shitake, crimini and portabello)
Half of a medium onion, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic (roughly three cloves)
1 Tablespoon of butter

Saute the above ingredients in sauce pan over medium heat until mushrooms are cooked. Set aside.

Melt equivalent of 1 Tablespoon of butter. Set aside.

Wash and chop the equivalent of three cups of fresh spinach. Place in mixing bowl. Drain mushroom/onion mixture through sieve (Important, otherwise it gets too runny!) then add drained mixture to spinach.

Whisk one egg. Add half of whisked egg to spinach/mushroom/onion mixture and blend ingredients together.

Take four sheets of thawed and unwrapped phyllo pastry. Lay across baking sheet, one at a time, gently brushing each layer with the melted butter. Repeat for each layer. Once all four layers have been laid on top of each other, take spinach/mushroom/onion mixture and pour on top of pastry in the center of the pastry, leaving enough room so that you can wrap the mixture in the pastry, like you are wrapping a package, with no exposed sides or top. Take cheese of your choosing - for this recipe, I used soft, unripened peppercorn goat cheese, so I layered it on top of the spinach/mushroom/onion mixture. When I use firmer cheese, I grate it and mix it in with the spinach/mushroom/onion mixture. Now, wrap the mixture, with the cheese, covering the top and tucking in the sides. Brush top and sides of pastry with remaining whisked egg.

Bake in oven for roughly 25 minutes, until golden brown on top and smells cooked. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into the pastry. Serve with tossed salad.

I just wish we had had this conversation last night before I went grocery shopping

Oh, it's so easy to make these statements when you're not the one shopping and cooking (but you are the one complaining about lentils:)

One of my goals is to increase the number of vegetarian meals we eat. Here are some favorites:

Potato and Goat Cheese Spanish "Tortilla" (from The Six O'Clock Scramble by Aviva Goldfarb)

2 medium potatoes (Yukon gold or russet), peeled and diced
2-3 TBSP olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh or dried rosemary (I often substitute thyme or other herb, depending on what I have)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
5 eggs
1/4 cup skim milk (or whatever % you have)
3 tbsp crumbled goat cheese

In a medium bowl, sprinkle the potatoes with water. Lightly cover them and microwave on high until they are fork-tender: about 3-5 minutes. Drain excess liquid.

Preheat broiler and set the rack 4-5 inches from flame.

Heat olive oil in heavy-bottomed oven-proof 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute them until they are soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the softened potatoes (plus any optional ingredients such as sliced mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, etc), rosemary, salt, and pepper, and saute the mixture for a few more minutes.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and cheese, and pour it over the potato mixture in the pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the eggs start to harden, about 2 minutes.

Place the skillet under the broiler and cook until it is golden brown on top, about 3-5 minutes. Watch carefully or it will burn. Remove from oven, let cool, and cut into wedges.

Artichoke, Spinach, and Feta Stuffed Shells (adapted from Cooking Light)
1 jar good-quality marinara or other tomato-based pasta sauce
8 oz shredded provolone, divided
8 oz crumbled feta
8 oz cream cheese, softened (can use reduced fat or fat-free)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cans artichoke hearts, chopped (or 2 9-oz pkgs frozen)
10-oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 cloves garlic, minced
12-oz pks jumbo pasta shells, cooked
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375
Combine 1/2 of provolone with the next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Spoon about 1 1/2 tbsp of the cheese mixture into each pasta shell, and place stuffed shells into a large baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon marinara sauce over shells, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated and cheese melts.

Penne with Eggplant, Olives, and Feta (adapted from Bon Appetit)
5 tbsp olive oil
1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 eggplant, unpeeled, cut into 1/2 cubes
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes in juice
thinly sliced basil (I omit if I don't have this in my garden)
1/2 cup halved Kalamata olives, pitted
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lb penne pasta, cooked al dente
1 8-oz package feta

Heat olive oil in heavy large pot. Add bell peppers, garlic, and crushed red pepper, and saute 3 minutes. Add eggplant and oregano. Reduce heat to medium low and cook, covered, until eggplant softens, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Stir in tomato with juices, basil, olives, tomato paste, and vinegar. Cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes.

Stir cooked pasta into vegetable mixture. Transfer to 9x13 glass baking dish brushed with olive oil, and bake at 350 until heated through, about 20 minutes. Stir in crumbled feta.

Spicy Vegetable Cousous, adapted from The New Basics by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced yellow summer squash
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
3 cups cooked couscous
1/4 chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a large skillet, and saute the squash, zucchini, onion, and garlic for 5 minutes. Stir in garbanzo beans and spices. Gently stir in couscous and cook until hot. Garnish with parsley. To serve Cyprus-style, serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

Also: Spicy peanut-crusted Tofu
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/peanut-crusted-tofu-triangles

Lori, your thread is making me so hungry! Love all the recipes; now I just need to find someone to cook them for me. :-)

Mushroom and potato curry

1 tbsp oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 large potato, chopped into small chunks
1 aubergine, trimmed and chopped into chunks
250g button mushrooms
2-4 tbsp curry paste (depending on how hot you like it)
150ml vegetable stock
400ml can reduced-fat coconut milk
chopped coriander, to serve

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and potato. Cover, then cook over a low heat for 5 mins until the potatoes start to soften. Throw in the aubergine and mushrooms, then cook for a few more mins.

Stir in the curry paste, pour over the stock and coconut milk. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins or until the potato is tender. Stir through the coriander and serve with rice or naan bread.

Spicy root and lentil casserole

2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
700g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 carrots, thickly sliced
2 parsnips, thickly sliced
2 tbsp curry paste or powder
1 litre/1¾ pints vegetable stock
100g red lentils
a small bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
low-fat yogurt and naan bread, to serve

Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Tip in the potatoes, carrots and parsnips, turn up the heat and cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring, until the vegetables are golden.

Stir in the curry paste or powder, pour in the stock and then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, add the lentils, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are tender and the sauce has thickened.

Stir in most of the coriander, season and heat for a minute or so.Top with yogurt and the rest of the coriander. Serve with naan bread.

Vegetable curry (this serves 8 but freezes really well)

1 large potato, diced
1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
1 aubergine, diced
6 tbsp tikka masala paste
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, sliced
680g-700g jar tomato passata
400g can coconut milk
2 red peppers, sliced
2 courgettes, diced
few coriander sprigs, to serve
rice or naan bread, to serve

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Toss the potato, squash and aubergine with 2 tbsp curry paste and 2 tbsp oil in a large roasting tin. Season, then roast for 30 mins.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. Fry the onions in the remaining oil in a large pan until softened and golden – add a splash of water if they start to dry out. Stir in the remaining curry paste, cook for 3 mins, then add the passata, coconut milk and 100ml water. Simmer for a few mins.
When the vegetables are roasted, tip them into the sauce with the peppers and courgettes. Simmer for 10-15 mins until tender. Scatter with coriander and serve.

Holy moly, look at all of these recipes! And they all sound so good!

Yum!

Hi Lori! Thanks for all the recipes! The Ghost of Thomas Kempe sounds really good. Happy weekend!

I am truly overwhelmed at the wonderful recipe suggestions that have been posted here! Thank you so much Anne and Jenny!

>147 AMQS: & >148 AMQS: - OMG! These look so good! I love artichokes, and spinach and feta and eggplant and olives.... let just say my mouth is salivating just reading these recipes! I like cooking couscous but haven't experimented much... the spicy vegetable couscous looks so easy! Tofu will be a bit of a challenge with my other half but if I can disguise it under a peanut sauce I may be able to pull that off! Thanks Anne!

>149 rosalita: - Don't they look amazing! LOL, I am still trying to train my other half in the kitchen. Maybe I will now succeed since the vegetarian diet is his idea. ;-)

>150 lunacat: - My other half likes the idea of a mushroom and potato curry, so I think we will attempt that one before I try to get him to accept lentils. ;-) I think all three recipes look fantastic. Thanks again for posting the recipes, Jenny!

>151 scaifea: - I get hungry just reading them!

>152 tymfos: - Ditto!

>153 The_Hibernator: - Anytime Rachel!

Talk about one crazy wet and windy night last night! I ended up staying in bed until 10am this morning because the wind storm kept me awake most of the night. A good day tackling indoor projects and baking a new batch of chickpea crackers. The weather was so uninviting today there was no way I was venturing out to the grocery store, so the originally planned seafood chowder - before the announcement of a month of vegetarian eating was made - was turned into a vegetarian chowder of roasted potatoes, green beens, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach in a cream soup base. Now, to be honest, the soup base was chicken as I didn't have any vegetable soup base in the house but still, predominantly vegetarian. ;-)

Wow, I'm hungry now!

Oh, wow...I missed these recipes entirely! I'll look at them in detail later this week.

Wow!! Look at all these yummy recipes and all and in one convenient thread. :)

I wish I could offer some as well, but as my lovely other half is a die hard carnivore, vegetarian meals at our house is probably never going to happen...ha!
I'll be curious to hear about your 1 month changes and see if you can see any effects of it??

I'm working on getting caught up with the threads from the beginning of the year as well!

What's a KIT? And a DOG? And I'm embarrassed to say I keep forgetting what a ROOT is, too.

>159 Morphidae: A KIT is an unofficial CAT (Categories and Themes, a set of three joint/open/group challenges in the Category Challenge group - this year the CATs are History, Sci-Fi/Fantasy and the recurring Random (new theme every month). CATs are voted on by the interested CC group members and if there are ideas that don't get enough votes to be chosen as an official CAT, they sometimes become KITs instead. Some of the KITs for this year are Food/Gastro, Alpha, Biography and Horror (in it's own group).
The DOG is the Bingo challenge, new for this year. It doesn't stand for anything, some people just thought it'd be nice to have a DOG to even out the CATs.
ROOT is short for Read Our Own Tomes, I believe. It's the sort of new name for the Books Of My Bookshelf (I think that's what it was called, the acronym was BOMBs) - reading books you have at home rather than buying new ones or borrowing from the library.

Hi everyone, thank you so, so much for keeping my thread going in my absence and for the wonderful recipes! I had a great visit with my sister and brother-in-law, which involved dining out in the evenings so, as per my caveat further up this thread, I was off the vegetarian experiment. Back on it now and looking forward to trying out the amazing recipes that have been posted here! On the reading front, I have one book finished and a second one that I hope to finish later this evening so I should have some book reviews reading for posting some time this weekend.

>156 ronincats: - LOL, me too!

>157 kidzdoc: - The recipes will continue, as I intend to update this thread with any new vegetarian recipes I try out. ;-)

>158 jolerie: - Awe, come on Valerie.... I am the carnivore in my household and I am adapting to this change rather well.

..... of course, Monday and Tuesday were dining out nights and I strayed a bit from the whole vegetarian thing but I will stay on track when eating at home. ;-) I have started a reporting log over on my 2015 category challenge thread to track my progress on this vegetarian adventure I have embarked upon. I will replicate the recipes prepared here on this thread... trying to minimize duplication across threads.

>159 Morphidae: & 160 - Hi Morphy and thank you Paws for answering Morphy's question in my absence! Much appreciated!

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

I have tried out two new recipes I thought I would report here for anyone collecting recipes and meal ideas. As I don't have time to grocery shop until tomorrow evening, my Wednesday and Thursday vegetarian menu ideas were pulled directly from the web based on the ingredients I already had on hand. last night I made this savoury Lebanese-Style Green Beans With Chickpeas in Olive Oil. The only substitution I made was to replace the onion with leeks. This was so good.... my other half went back for thirds. An easy simple recipe but try and prep all the ingredients before you get started. I was generous with the cumin seeds and paprika. Highly Recommended. It is even better the second day.

Tonight the focus was on something to use up the fresh spinach I had in the fridge. I made a modified version of this Spinach Lentil Stew recipe this evening. I had my doubts as I was cooking it - it seems really watery - but it did turn out okay. I added extra carrots and used roughly 3 cups of washed and chopped fresh spinach (which I didn't add until the stew was almost ready for serving). I had to add some extra seasoning to it - I like strong, flavourful meals - and I added the remaining tomato paste that was not included in Wednesday's recipe, but overall, a decent recipe.

I am now looking forward to going shopping with the ingredients for some of the wonderful recipes that have been posted here.

The Lebanese green beans look great! Isn't there an Italian recipe a lot like that as well?

>161 lkernagh: That looks tasty! I love all the ingredients, so maybe I'll try it this weekend.

The green beans, that is. I like the idea of the leek substitution.

OMG - this thread will stay starred through the year until I am through with all the veggie recipes!

I might add some of my own at a later point (sorry, I am a bit short of time now), just wanted to say that there were lots of lentil recipes on the kitchen thread this month, most of them vegetarian. I tried two and both were deliclous. Not to forget Darryl's (kidzdoc) now LT famous crispy gnocchi with brussel sprouts, asparagus and mushrooms.

Eating vegetarian can open a new world of recipes for you, I made that experience just a year ago. I had planned a month, then I said "until Easter" and when Easter came I still didn't feel like having meat and prepared a vegetarian feast instead for my mom (who was visiting at that time) and me.
My food has become very colorful and that increases the fun of preparing it.

I made just one mistake and that was overdoing it with the cheese in the first weeks which quickly adds more calories and animal fats to a meal than a piece of meat ever could. It felt like my arteries were clogged - and they probably were. But I do enjoy lentils and chickpeas a lot, so as soon as I cut down on the cheese I felt better again and didn't once have those iron-loss-triggered meat cravings.

Books that helped me were Ottolenghi's Plenty and Angela Liddon's website and blog Oh She Glows.
Ottolenghi's recipes often have many ingredients and take time, but everything I tried was absolutely delicious.

The Liddon book/blog is vegan, but you can easily use real sour cream/ real cheese instead of the few substitutes. Most of her recipes are really quick and easy and there are lots of recipes for healthy cakes and cookies, quick lunches, pasta dishes, etc.

The Lebanese-style green beans recipe looks interesting; I'll give that a try soon.

I tried that spinach lentil stew recipe last Sunday. I liked it after I made it, but it was a bit bland when I had it again on Wednesday. It definitely needs some other ingredients to give it more flavor.

>162 banjo123: - Good question! I don't know if there is an Italian recipe that is similar, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is.

>163 TadAD: - I hope you enjoy it. I love easy to prepare foods that taste so good, and are filling. ;-)

>164 Deern: - You are right, eating vegetarian does open up a whole new world, and in a good way! Thank you for posting the Ottolenghi book and mentioning the blog site, Natalie! I find that it does take longer to cook the meals but as you have said, it is worth the effort.

>165 kidzdoc: - The green bean recipe is a keeper, IMO. I hope you enjoy it! I tend to sample as I cook - which means a lot of teaspoons end up being used! - and the spinach lentil stew recipe was the first one so far where I had to 'fix' it a bit.

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

Happy weekend, everybody! I promised myself no alarm clocks this morning and a long lie in bed so, of course, I am wide awake at 6:00 am. Maybe I will take a nap this afternoon. I have managed to write a book review so I will be posting that. Plans for today involve mundane tasks like grocery shopping and some kitchen cupboard reorganizing.

Last night I made the mushroom and potato curry Jenny (lunacat) posted above. I couldn't find any coriander in the store so I decided to add some chopped fresh spinach just before serving. The potato took forever to cook - I used a russet potato that just did not want to soften - but once I finally got the potato cooked, everything else went swimmingly with the recipe. I had enough vegetables in it that by the time it was ready for eating, it was more like a curried stew so we didn't bother with any rice. My other half loved it (he finished it all, so no leftovers). Definitely something I will make again. Thanks Jenny!

Book #6 - The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri - translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli; audiobook narrated by Grover Gardner
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category
Category: Art
Reading BINGO square: where an animal is of importance
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 2009
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 231 pages / 5 hours, 27 minutes listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.90 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: reproduced from public library catalogue listing:

"Things are not going well for Inspector Salvo Montalbano. His relationship with Livia is once again on the rocks, and, acutely aware of his age, he is beginning to grow weary of the endless violence he encounters. Then a young woman is found dead, her face half shot off, and there is no hint of her identity except a tattoo of a sphinx moth. The tattoo links her to three similarly marked girls, all victims of the underworld sex trade, who have been rescued from the Mafia night-club circuit by a prominent Catholic charity. The problem is that Montalbano's inquiries elicit an outcry from the Church--and the three other girls are all missing"

Review:
This installment was just an okay read for me. While the crimes had some interesting nuances to them, and I continue to enjoy how Camilleri makes connections between separate crimes in these stories but for the most part, this was a story about the bureaucracy and the struggles of departments trying to do their jobs without things like money for gas for the department cars, etc. This one almost felt as though Camilleri was churning the story out and was not giving the plot and character focus the previous books convey. Even the usual supporting cast of characters seemed to be just going through the motions this time. This is the eleventh book in a series that has seen all eleven books released over a six year period, with two book a year being released for three consecutive years, so some form of writers burnout should probably be expected. One thing I will mention in passing is that while I try to not take sides with the characters in the books I read - because, I mean, really, why would I?! - I have to admit to totally being in the Livia camp now. Seriously. I continue to enjoy the Inspector Montalbano series but I think I have finally reached saturation point with my back to back audiobook reads. I need a break from the series, but I will come back to it.

I forgot to mention that Random House has finally posted their Reading Bingo for 2015. I may tackle it after I complete the Category Challenge Bingo or I may save it for next year. I am rather excited about it because this year their bingo card is all about Canadian Literature.

>166 lkernagh: Lori, isn't that always the way with weekends - waking up early when you don't have to? But just think of the uses you can put those extra hours to.

I read Horrorstor and thought it was very well done - a fun read!

Appreciate your excellent review of The Wings of a Sphinx, Lori. I've been going back-to-back with Montalbano audio, too, but I'm only on book 4. But will keep in mind your thoughts regarding a break. In fact, I expect long before I get to Sphinx, I'll be looking for a change. Are you planning to watch any of the Montalbano DVDs?

Yay, I'm glad to see you liked one of the recipes. And that hubby liked it as well! I'm not a fan as I don't like potato but housemate cooks it a fair amount. I'm just not cut out to be a vegetarian!

Oh, I have a ton of recipe ideas, but most are in cookbooks and not easily transferred. Here's one from my favorite cookbook author though, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, from her blog. Snobby Joe's: http://www.theppk.com/2009/11/snobby-joes/

>168 lkernagh: Thanks for that, Lori. I might try that one out when I finish my current challenge.

>169 susanj67: - LOL, so true! I am so happy to see you enjoyed Horrorstor! I never thought I would see the day were humour and horror went hand in hand so well. ;-)

>170 lit_chick: - I do want to watch the Montalbano DVDs, Nancy. They sound like a lot of fun based on Joe's comments. I just don't know when we will find the time. I am looking forward to watching new episodes of Foyle's War starting Feb 2nd, but the Montalbano's DVD's do stay on my "to watch" list.

>171 lunacat: - I didn't think I was cut out to be a vegetarian either but I am finding it to be a rather enjoyable experiment. I definitely could not go vegan.... I like omlettes too much!

>172 DorsVenabili: - Vegetarian sloppy joes! Who knew that was even possible! Thank you for providing the link to her blog, Kerri! Bookmarked!

>173 MickyFine: - It looks fun! I really like how they tried to capture all of the regions of Canada - although I did notice that they seemed to have forgotten about Quebec.... ;-)

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

A busy but otherwise good weekend so far. Saturday was spend finally shopping for the various ingredients for our continuing vegetarian adventures. Because we are now storing more canned goods in the kitchen - Coconut milk, chick peas, black beans, tomatoes, olives, artichoke hearts, etc - part of yesterday was spent rearranging where things are stored. I also took the opportunity to clear out my spice cupboard and made a list of spices I need to replenish tomorrow when I am in town. Both my other half and I continue to enjoy our vegetarian adventures. It helps that we haven't encountered a dud recipe yet. ;-)

Wet and otherwise miserable weather on Saturday made for the perfect setting to try out the Rockin' Moroccan Stew Nancy (lit_chick) posted above (below the Lentil Soup recipe). OMG, this was sooooo good! The only substitution I made was to substitute red bell pepper for green. I love how the sweet potato softens without losing its texture. Next time I make this I plan to add more raisins. The best news is that it made a big enough pot that we actually have leftovers, so I don't have to cook dinner one night this week. Thanks, Nancy! That one is a keeper!

Book #7 - The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category, ROOT
Category: Happening
Reading BINGO square: inspired by another piece of fiction
CAT(s): SFFFCAT - Steampunk
Source: NetGalley / TBR
Format: ebook
Original publication date: February 26, 2014
Acquisition date: December 25, 2014
Page count: 352
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.70 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from the amazon.com website:

Welcome to London. A city of fog and snow, filled with airships, steamcars and metrotowers soaring into space.

Before his parents died Jack Mason was an acrobat, travelling around England in the circus. But when the world-famous detective Ignatius Doyle comes looking for a young assistant, Jack's new training begins. And when Scarlet Bell's father disappears, they are all plunged into a mystery so baffling that the future of the whole world may be at stake.

Review:
I enjoy steampunk as a genre. Such a fun way to escape day-to-day realities! In The Firebird Mystery, Pitt pays homage to the Sherlock Holmes novels I enjoyed reading in my youth, and in true steampunk fashion, spins the concept on its head by creating a fun mashup character in the rather eccentric Ignatius Doyle. Even Doyle's lodgings on the top floor of 221 Bee Street excite imagination, filled to the rafters with curiosities, including a tarantula named Bertha and a personal steamship parked on the roof. Filled with Nazies, MI5, a secret society, and a nefarious character in Professor M, Pitt keeps the plot moving forward at a good clip. The historical fiction reader that I am enjoyed all the references to Leonardo Da Vinci's works and seeing General Winston Churchill as a character, strutting across the pages. I like that Pitt has created in Scarlet a feisty young suffragette to match wits with Jack. The world build is also pretty good. I really liked the idea of the metrotowers and all the various methods of travel. A possible downside of the book for me was that the characters came across to my adult reading mind as rather flat and flimsy, lacking complexity or development. As the first book in a planned series, it is hoped that the characters will further develop in future books. The story also takes on a 'telling' rather than 'showing' approach that made it come across less vividly to me, but that probably does not matter for a younger reading audience.

Overall, this is a fun bit of YA adventure reading and may appeal to readers who enjoy Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy.

A copy of this novel was provided courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ah, I watched the new episodes of Foyle's War too, Lori. Very much enjoyed : ). Hope you and your other half will as well.

>176 lit_chick: - I was so happy when we learned that they had pulled Foyle's War out of discontinuation and made more episodes. What a fantastic period piece it is! I heard somewhere that Micheal Kitchen, who plays Foyle, made it a condition of his involvement in the show that he does not promote or talk about the show. No talk shows or pandering to the press for Kitchen. ;-)

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

Tonight's dinner was the first 'meh' experience of this food journey. I decided to make the following Quinoa Kale Bowl with Mushrooms and Asparagus. I have a couple of quibbles about the recipe. First, the recipe states to gently simmer the quinoa for about 14 minutes. I have since discovered that cooking time for quinoa is similar to that of rice - roughly 20 minutes - and that it needs more than just a gentle simmer to cook. Lesson learned: cook the quinoa first and cook it like I cook rice. Luckily, I decided to not follow the instructions for cooking the asparagus and mushrooms. Instead, I gently sauteed the asparagus, garlic and oil for a few minutes and then added the mushrooms to have the vegetables finish cooking at the same time. I also go creative with the dressing, making my own version. Overall, the resulting produce wasn't bad, but my other half agrees that this would be a good warm salad base for a batch of garlic sauteed prawns. ;-) If I had followed the instructions to the letter, I probably would be disappointed with the recipe so this one just gets a neutral rating and a caveat to probably use your own judgement when preparing this one.

January 'Planned' Reading: - Update

Thought I would check and see how I am doing with my 'planned' January reading. In a nutshell, not bad, but not great. I have managed to read a book for both the AAC and the BAC, and finally finished a ROOT read but other than that, I can see that planning my reading is pretty much "hit or miss" with me. ;-)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (AAC) - Completed
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively (BAC) - Completed
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro (BAC) - returned unread
The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid (Commonwealth) - still pending
The King's Man by Pauline Gedge (ROOT) - not happening this month
The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt (ROOT) - Completed

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

Currently Reading:


Audiobook:
TBD
ebook:
The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas - It has been so long since I last read this one I will probably have to go back to the start.
The Witch of Napoli by Micheal Schmicker - interesting premise made me download a copy from NetGalley.
Physical book:
The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke - I seem to be stuck on page 11 - yup, on page 11. And it is a LTER book. *sighs*

>178 lkernagh: not bad, but not great
Two challenges and a ROOT? Looks pretty good to me.

OH my! Not only is this a dangerous place for BB's but now recipes! I favorited many posts in order to come back and revisit them.
I wishlisted Alphabetique but I would be surprised it my library has it. We'll seeeeee.

>175 lkernagh: Your description has me on the fence about adding it to The List. I do love steampunk and the Leviathan series but some of your quibbles and (I must admit) the cover leave me hesitant.

The comparison to Leviathan definitely makes it more intriguing. I loved that series!

>178 lkernagh: Getting stuck on Page 11 is not a good sign! I hope for your sake that it picks up quickly.

>166 lkernagh: I made the green beans and they were a huge hit with the family. I originally intended them to a be a side dish but, once I saw the quantity it produced, we made some brown rice and just ate a vegetarian meal that night. I think maybe "1½ lbs. green beans" should have been a clue to me, but I wasn't paying attention.

>177 lkernagh: Hi Lori, I thought Kitchen must have made some such an agreement about pandering on talk shows. When I looked for him on YouTube there was no such thing. Honestly, I think I enjoy the show MORE, not less, because of it. Good on him.

>179 qebo: - Well, when you put it that way, it sounds like I have had a pretty good reading month! I will remember to track you down the next time I want to positive spin on something I am not happy with. ;-)

>180 Carmenere: - Books and food dangerous?! Surely not.... You have probably noticed I have had no time for crafting.... the vegetarian adventure has temporarily taken over my crafting time. ;-)

>181 MickyFine: - The cover is bad... like, really bad. I know the book is targeted for a YA audience but seriously, wouldn't a YA reading audience be more intrigued with airships (that are not on fire) and metrotowers on the cover instead of the damaged airship and what appears to be a rather large floating hat? Bad art design, that is all I can say about that cover.

>182 jolerie: - Westerfeld's Leviathan series is awesome! While Pike's story doesn't take the crown away from Westerfeld for best YA steampunk book series, he has enough elements that work to make it a fair substitute.

>183 rosalita: - The good news, Julia, is that I have finally managed to get past page 11 - I am now on page 96 - but I have to say, I am really not sure where the story is going. doesn't bode well... and I love offbeat, quirky stuff!

>184 TadAD: - Excellent! So happy to see the recipe was a hit! I know, the 1 1/2 green beans, on top of everything else that gets added, makes for a pretty substantial amount of food. ;-)

>185 lit_chick: - I know.... it is almost a 'Foyle' thing to do, don't you think? ;-)

Lori, just catching up and wishing you a lovely weekend.

Hi Lori, I wish you a lovely weekend.

>187 PaulCranswick: - Lovely to see you stopping by, Paul.

>188 Ameise1: - Thanks Barbara!
-------------------

Happy Saturday! I have had such a great week. The weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny, which put a happy step in my walk. The cherry blossoms and snow drops are already blossoming - a tad early, these usually don't show up until mid to late February - and people I have encountered are just in a happier mood. Not much planned for today except some shopping and to finish my current read so that I can then write up my monthly wrap up.

Glad to hear that the first blossoms are coming up at your place. Here it's still winter.

I am just afraid that we might see a turn in the weather and slide right back into the weather we usually have at this time of year - cold, dark, damp and windy. ;-)

Thinking positive that it won't happen.

We tried the lebanese green beans last light and they were delicious!

It's unseasonably warm here as well, which is nice, but also kind of unsettling.

I hope it's not a "false spring", Lori. That always seems particularly cruel of Mother Nature...

And gah! I keep forgetting about the Lebanese green beans - I really want to try that dish.

Happy Sunday, Lori!

>128 lkernagh: wonderful review, Lori. I enjoyed this book as much as you did and had similar thoughts about it.

Love all the recipes on here, have to steal some to try them out.

How wonderful to have already some spring weather. Our current weather changes almost on a daily basis between snow and rain, seriously odd. You get up in the morning and the world is covered in the most beautiful white, by the time it is early afternoon it has wormed up as much that the snow is gone again.

Happy Superbowl Sunday to everyone who will be tuning in the for game. I will be taking advantage of the quiet to curl up with a book this afternoon.... a girl has to take advantage of reading time when it crops up! I did manage to finish not one but both of my current reads yesterday so today is one of those rare days where I get to greet a new month with new reading books - no carryovers.

>192 Ameise1: - Good suggestion, Barbara. Thinking positive thoughts!

>193 banjo123: - Happy to see the recipe was a hit in the Banjo household, Rhonda! We can both hope that Mother Nature doesn't have any nasty tricks hidden up her sleeves.... ;-)

>194 katiekrug: - Agreed. I think we need to take a closer look at Mother Nature's contract.... oh, wait.... she doesn't have a contract. She is a free agent. *sighs* Given the positive feedback here on this thread, I think the Lebanese green bean dish is something that will be a hit for you as well.

>195 drachenbraut23: - Hi Bianca! Glad to see we are in agreement on the McCullers. She was quite the writer.... makes me feel rather shabby when I think about what I was doing when I was in my early twenties. Nothing as accomplished as she was, that is for sure! I am always a bit disturbed when winter has that fleeting "here one minute, gone the next" affect on surroundings... that, add the quick melting always makes for nasty road conditions when night falls and the temperatures drop.

Book #8 - I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category, ROOT
Category: Books made into Art
Reading BINGO square: you've owned more than one year
CAT(s): N/A
Source: TBR
Format: Audiobook
Original publication date: 1992
Acquisition date: July 14, 2013
Page count: 352 pages / 9 hours, 13 minutes reading time
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.40 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: from my local library online catalogue listing:

Five years ago David Barney was acquitted of the murder of his rich wife, Isabelle. Now, Isabelle’s ex-husband, Ken Voigt—who is suing Barney for her estate—is claiming the jury made a fatal mistake... Enter P.I. Kinsey Millhone, who takes the Barney case over from a former colleague…and comes up with more questions than answers. Why are Mr. Barney’s witnesses denying ever having spoken to him? Why did Isabelle have so many enemies—including but not limited to her best friend, Voight’s second wife, and her own twin sister? But the most troubling question of all is: Why is it that everything David Barney has to say about his beloved Isabelle still checks out? Now it’s up to Kinsey to figure out who’s getting away with murder….before she courts her own.

Review:
It is always nice to slide back into a comfort read series after an extended absence. I don't know if it because of my recent binge audiobook reading indulgence of Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series or the book itself, but it took me a bit of time to warm up to the story and settle my feet - and mind - back in circa 1980/1990's California, sniffing out the details of Kinsey's latest assignment. As with previous installments, I love the attention to detail Grafton puts into her stories, be it the description of the surroundings, the subtle details about the characters and the intricacies of solving a case, P.I. style that continue to bring me back for more. This particular mystery proved to be a rather good one, including the suspense build near the end, but the reason I really enjoy these stories is the fact that they are so entrenched in the late 1980's - early 1990's time period, I almost feel as though I am traveling back in time as I read them. great reminders of pop culture items like the magic 8 ball and the day to day realities of pay phones and land lines as opposed to cell phones are just some examples of the wonderful details Grafton includes in her stories.

Overall, another good installment.

Book #9 - The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category, ROOT
Category: Books made into Art
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: TBR/LTER
Format: Hardback
Original publication date: November 4, 2014
Acquisition date: October 24, 2014
Page count: 352 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 2.70 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from the amazon.ca web listing:

When Jens Baedrup was asked to draw a cartoon depicting in some way or other the controversy what were infamous cartoons of Muhammad, he didn't expect his cartoon to prompt protests, arson and even an assassination attempt. Forced to flee his home town of Skagen under the protection of the CIA, Jens also didn't expect to find himself being protected by a CIA agent who appears to go rogue and relocates him to a small town in upstate New York where he is given a new identity and a job as a high school guidance counselor. What can possibly go wrong in a small New York town, thousands of miles away from where Jens problems had begun? Well, an awful lot when Jens finds himself falling in love with the wife of the high school principal, who himself is trying to get over the effects of a misguided love affair in a town where virtually every other person is a spy or a spy wannnabe.

Review:
I struggled with this one and had to read a number of reviews to see if I was the only one having difficulties with the story. I am assuming that the story is supposed to be a social satire of sorts crafted in a weird blending of a spy thriller styled version of Kill Bill meets Get Shorty.... does that make any sense? It has been a number of years since I watched either movie but that is what comes to mind when I think about the shifting scenes and the overall senselessness of the story. You have an entire cast of what I can only call hapless misfits - and dangerous misfits at that - with a complete lack of grounding who inadvertently trigger events through their misapprehension, paranoia and overall ability to take a situation, completely blown it out of proportion based on misinformation, and as a result, cause events to occur that have no reason for occurring in the manner they happen. The premise itself has great potential and I will admit that I am fond of books filled with quirky characters, comedy of errors and satirical attacks on events and situations, but there still needs to be some level of normal connection to give the story some grounding. Even though this story starts out with blatant foreshadowing, I still found it difficult to follow the rather random pieces as the story unfolded and I really do not see the point of the various internal monologues some of the characters engage in.

Overall, while a good premise with wonderful potential, in the end this one just came across as a flat read that was too far out there in the world of improbable for me to enjoy it. Maybe it would work better as a movie.... or maybe not.

Is there a catchy name for books to avoid, similar to our BBs? Because that's what >198 lkernagh: is, and I appreciate those as much as I do the BBs! It's a public service, really:)

Hope you're having a great weekend, Lori. I imagine your home must be so beautiful right now with things blooming. Early Feb. just seems so early for things to be blooming.

>199 AMQS: Duds ducked? Dunces dodged?

>197 lkernagh: I started reading them in the 1980s so I have next to no memory of each installment. I'm caught up through W.

>199 AMQS: & 200 - LOL, I see Jenny has some good suggestions for non-BB books! ;-) I am always happy to provide a public service when it comes to weeding out good books from bad.

>201 qebo: - Reading the stories in the time period they apply to makes me wonder how readers felt when they read the serialized stories of Charles Dickens and the like. I probably shouldn't age the Grafton books like that but we have seen such huge changes in technology in such a short time period that it tends to seem dated to read books that talk about typing up reports on a typewriter, using land lines for phone calls and relying on Xerox machines that take forever to make a copy, compared to today's standards. I like visiting those simpler times when you picked up a phone and talked to someone or visited an office in person when you need a response. Now we all expect immediate responses to emails, text messages and the like. :-)

JANUARY RE-CAP:

BOOKS READ (ranked from most to least favorite):
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers - 4.65 /
Alphabetique by Molly Peacock - 4.40 /
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively - 3.70 /
The Firebird Mystery by Darrell Pitt - 3.70 /
The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri - 3.60 /
August Heat by Andrea Camilleri - 3.40 /
I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton - 3.40 /
The Wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri - 2.90 /
The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke - 2.70 /

STATS:
# of Books Read: 9
# of Pages Read: 2,597
Average pages read per day: 83.75
Original Publication Date Range of books read: 1940 - 2014
Largest Book read: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter at 371 pages
Smallest Book read: Alphabetique at 171 pages
Books still in progress at the end of the month: None.
Interesting Fact: Without even trying to, 8 of the 9 books fit bingo squares in my Bingo Challenge.

CHALLENGES:- as of January 31st
ROOTs Challenge:
Books read this month: 3
Books still to go: 22

Reading Bingo Challenge:
Books read this month: 8
Books still to go (if I go for a blackout): 17

Commonwealth Challenge:
Books read this month: 0
Books still to read to complete my challenge: 41

Category Challenge: Each category completed when 8 books or 2,015 pages read is reached
Street Art - 0 books / 0 pages read
Happening - 1 book / 352 pages read
Minimalism - 1 book / 141 pages read
American Realism - 1 book / 371 pages read
The London Group - 1 book / 256 pages read
Books made into Art - 2 books / 704 pages read
Edingburgh's Commonwealth Games of Art - 0 books / 0 pages read
Art - 3 books / 773 pages read

75 Books Challenge: - My "Luck 'O the Irish" Race (books read versus pages read): Bringing this fun reading snapshot race back, my 75 group challenge will be considered completed whichever comes first: 75 books read or 25,000 pages read.



It is still early days in this race, so not surprised the see the two horses pacing themselves, and maintaining their strength. Let's see if one of the horses makes a move to break into the lead over the next couple of months.

Proposed February Reading:
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley - just cause
Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey - Commonwealth Challenge
The Aspern Papers by Henry James - AAC
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - BAC/ROOT
..... and anything else that crops up.

>200 lunacat:, ooh, I like duds ducked. Well done!

Sorry you didn't like your last read, Lori! Hopefully your next one will be more to your liking!

Happy February Lori, and the map at the top of your thread is very striking. You remind me that I need to get back to the Inspector Montalbano series.

*waving hello and drooling over more recipes

Woah, great stats for this month, Lori. I like the idea how you just don't say how many books and pages you read, but which of your book was the longest and shortest.

>199 AMQS: >200 lunacat: Great idea for the term of "books to avoid" and I like DD's maybe we can start using it.

I started listening to The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, but have Fingersmith on my TBR as well.

Terrific reads for this month, Camillieri is so much fun!

Good to hear praise for Foyle's War - we're thinking of giving it a try. Love to hear of Michael Kitchen's intransigence too!

Lori, twice I've tried to post on your thread and each time I have somehow bumped my computer, so let's hope that this time my post goes makes it! I've not read any Camellieri, but since everyone on LT is reading it, my time will come! I really enjoyed The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- and I will rate it at 4 stars. I read Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively and I see you read a different book by the author. I did not enjoy Moon Tiger much but I've enjoyed two of her other books How It All Began and Family Album. You've got some yummy recipes on your thread! Okay -- I'm going to leave your thread before I bump this entry away again!:)

You know how I love my Flavia de Luce series! :) I think you will very much enjoy
As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust . I actually pre -ordered that one from amazon ca I was so eager to read it. It takes place in Toronto , so it's a bit of a change, but a fun one!

>205 The_Hibernator: - Duds happen... it is just sad when duds are LTER books that I really wanted to win based on the 'blurb' provided. I fell so let down and deflated. ;-( Good thing I have the latest Flavia book to pick me back up again! :-)

>206 AnneDC: - Thanks Anne and lovely to see you here! Inspector Montalbano is such a breath of fresh air, even when he is being annoying. ;-)

>207 nittnut: - *waved back*

>208 drachenbraut23: - Thanks, Bianca! Stats can be fun, especially when they reveal interesting tidbits of information. I have not read The Paying Guests. I am looking forward to seeing what you think of it!

>209 sibylline: - Camilleri is fun! Foyles is one of my favorite historical fiction TV series. Great stuff. I cannot remember if you have watched Bletchley Circle.... another great bit of historical viewing.

>210 vancouverdeb: - Your computer doesn't want you to post on my thread? I am crushed! Kidding. Glad to see you here and posting now, De and happy to see The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was a good read for you. Carson was quite the writer.

>211 vancouverdeb: - Flavia is a treat to read and you are right, I am enjoying As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust. I had my doubts about the whole transition the story was going to take but now that I am 50 pages in, I getting pretty comfortable, as is Flavia!

>203 lkernagh: of course, because I am perverse, I wanted to see about The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke and why it scored your lowest rating :) I liked your review of it, and I have to say just looking at the books tags (which can often give an accurate picture of a books cohesion if nothing else) it looked muddled.

Lori and Lucy, just here to put in another plug for The Bletchley Circle. That was excellent! I've finished all of that series, and all of Foyle's War, too.

>198 lkernagh: Hi, Lori! Thanks for taking one for the team! That's definitely one I'll avoid.

ETA repeatedly to get the post reference to #198 right. I had the arrow backwards, the numbers reversed . . .)

>215 lit_chick: Yes, The Bletchley Circle is fantastic. I'm so sad it's been cancelled.

Yes, thanks for both DDs and BBs. :D

Here's another recommendation for The Bletchley Circle. Cancelled? Darn.

>219 BLBera: Yes, sadly. They got two series and then ITV pulled the plug. For some unknown reason, because as far as I know, it was well-received, had good viering figures and the cast wanted to stay (I believe Rachael Stirling campaigned for it to continue).

Happy weekend, all! This past week has been busy, and exhausting. My sleep patterns are completely out of whack which has not helped matters any. By Thursday, I was completely bagged and was in bed by 7:30. Good news is that this is a long weekend for me and I spend yesterday reading and sleeping whenever I felt tired.... which is why I am now up at 4 am on LT. ;-)

>214 LovingLit: - Muddled is a good way to describe the Clarke book!

>215 lit_chick: - I am always sad when I am all caught up on great shows like Bletchley and Foyle.

>216 tymfos: - Anytime!

>218 jolerie: - DDs and BBs.... cracks me up!

>217 PawsforThought:, >219 BLBera: and >220 PawsforThought: - Cancelled? Darn it all...... why is it always the good shows that get cancelled?

Book #10 - The Aspern Papers by Henry James - audiobook narrated by Campbell Renton
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category, AAC
Category: American Realism
Reading BINGO square: read a CAT
CAT(s): RandomCAT - Books turned into movies
Source: GVPL
Format: audiobook
Original publication date: 1888
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 96 pages / 4 hours, 43 minutes listening time
Decimal/ Star rating: 4.40 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from the amazon.com web listing:

In this classic 1888 novella, an anonymous narrator relates his obsessive quest to acquire some letters and other private documents that once belonged to the deceased Romantic poet Jeffrey Aspern. Attempting to gain access to the papers, the property of Aspern's former mistress, he rents a room in a decaying Venetian villa where the woman lives with her aging niece. Led by his zeal into increasingly unscrupulous behavior, the narrator is faced in the end with relinquishing his heart's desire or attaining it an an overwhelming price.

Review:
I really liked this one. Having never read any Henry James before, I figured it was best to start out with a novella, just to see if I would like the writing style. Not only did I like the writing style, I really enjoyed the calm, serene manner in which the story unfolds in that wonderful Italian city, Venice. James does a first rate job communicating the experience of Venice as a warm, delightful one to behold while at the same time shrouding the elderly Miss Bordereau and her spinster niece, Tina under a darkened veil of mystery. The story has no jarring elements to it. Instead, it has a beautiful fluidity to it that made me want to curl up in a chair and just let the story wash over me. Keeping in mind that the story was written well over 100 years ago, the increasingly unscrupulous behavior of our narrator would probably not even cause an eyebrow to be raised today but James does a great job conveying how inappropriate our narrator's thoughts and actions are, making me resent his almost single-minded mission to inveigle his way into the Misses Bordereau's home. It wasn't until the very end before I realized what a wonderful game of cat and mouse has played out in this story.

This story is praised as being a brilliant work of psychological fiction, and I believe it is exactly that. A perfect introduction to Henry James' works, for me anyways, and I am now quite happy to add him to my list of classic authors I am slowly working my way through.

As a footnote to this review, I was rather surprised - and intrigued - to discover the various adaptations that have been made of this particular work, including a stage play, an opera performance (1988) and a modern 2010 movie adaptation, setting the story in Venezuala, instead of Venice. A work that makes itself open to a wonderful variety of adaptations!

Book #11 - As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley
Challenge(s): 75 Group, 2015 Category
Category: Art
Reading BINGO square: N/A
CAT(s): N/A
Source: GVPL
Format: Hardcover
Original publication date: January 6, 2015
Acquisition date: N/A
Page count: 384 pages
Decimal/ Star rating: 3.30 out of 5 /
Book description/summary: adapted from local library catalogue listing:

Hard on the heels of the family's renewed grief, Flavia, for her indiscretions, is banished from her home at Buckshaw and shipped across the ocean to Miss Bodycote's Female Academy in Toronto, her mother's alma mater, there to be inducted into a mysterious organization known as the Nide. No sooner does she arrive, however, than a body comes crashing down out of the chimney and into her room, setting off a series of investigations into mysterious disappearances of girls from the school.

Review:
Yes, I approached this most recent installment in the Flavia de Luce series with some trepidation. One just never knows how things are going to play out when an author decides to take his books 'to the next level' and departs from what has worked in the previous books in the series. Thankfully, Bradley does not mess around with his lead character. Flavia is still Flavia - impetuous, devious and full of headstrong determination. The mystery was better than some of the previous ones. As a girl who grew up reading English boarding school novels, I found it rather fun to be reading about Flavia's adventures at Miss Bodycote's. On a downside, I found the story really jumped around an awful lot, even with the new setting and characters to introduce to the reader. It never settled into a smooth rhythm to keep my undivided attention as some of the previous stories had.

Overall, another fun Flavia read, but not one of my favorites.

Happy Saturday, Lori! Great review of The Aspern Papers. I was not familiar with this title but now I am. You should share this on the James AAC thread. Spread the love.

Woot! You've introduced me to a Henry James I'm not at all familiar with in The Aspen Papers, Lori. Sounds like one I'd enjoy.

I so hear you about needing (at least) a day to read and sleep whenever I feel like it. Am renovating a bathroom right now, hands on with a friend who's in the know. So when I'm not working full-time, I'm working demolition/construction.

>223 lkernagh: - Hmmm, I've been wondering how the next Flavia would be, given the changes. I will give it a go on audio when it's available at the library...

Hope you are catching up on rest and having a good weekend!

>222 lkernagh: I really liked this one when I listened to it a few months ago. Particularly since I read Muriel Spark's biography of Mary Shelley a couple of years ago, where Byron and her step sister (or half sister?) were among her circle of friends and associates. Your audio version had a different narrator than mine.

>223 lkernagh: You captured my own feelings about the latest Bradley novel - Flavia is still Flavia, but this won't be one of my favorites in the series.

>227 cbl_tn: If you're referring to Claire Clairmont, then she was Shelley's stepsister. As far as I know, she had no other siblings. Clairmont was present when the Shelleys and Byron spent time in Switzerland and had their famous ghost story contest (when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein).

Maybe I should take a break from The Wings of the Dove and get into a better James mood with The Aspern Papers first..

>222 lkernagh: Looks like a wise choice for the Henry James read, Lori. I am going to do What Maisie Knew for mine as it is not so long either - first couple of sentences already have a daunting edge to them though.

Have a great Sunday. xx

Great review of The Aspern papers, Lori. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed my James this month too. Looks like I'll be looking for more of his books in the future.
Have a great Sunday!

>224 msf59: - Thanks Mark! Saturday was lovely. For the most part, I just puts around and took things easy. Post has been made over on the AAC thread with a link to the review. I am really having a lot of fun with both the AAC and the BAC this year! Not sure if I will be a purist for the AAC.... we shall see.

>225 lit_chick: - Nancy, not only do I predict that you will enjoy The Aspern Papers but that you will find am audio version to listen to. I think the story works really well as an audiobook. Here is hoping that your renovations go smoothly and kudos to you for tackling the work yourself!

>226 katiekrug: - Its not a bad story, Katie but not one of my favorites. I did enjoy the school angle of boarders misbehaving (be out and about when they are supposed to be in their rooms, playing with a Ouija board, etc). Weekend is going good and I am having fun taking naps whenever I feel tired. If this is what retirement is like, I could really enjoy it! ;-)

>227 cbl_tn: - Oh, that would have made The Aspern Papers an intriguing read! The weird thing about the audiobook I listened to is that Hoopla lists the story as being read by David Thorn but at the start of the book, the reader introduces himself as being Campbell Renton. I figure the reader knows his own name so I listed that instead of what Hoopla has listed.

Here is hoping the next Flavia is better!

>229 Deern: - I haven't heard of that one, Natalie. The Aspern Papers is short at under 100 pages, but beyond that, I am not going to be of much help for you. ;-)

>230 PaulCranswick: - Hi Paul, it was a good choice, thanks to the library offerings narrowing my options down. ;-) Oh, daunting edge sounds good! Looking forward to seeing what you think of What Maisie Knew.

>231 Carmenere: - Thanks, Lynda! James is shaping up to be a pretty good author... who knew! ;-)

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Happy Sunday, everyone! I am looking forward to another day of taking things easy. Probably some reading and I may get around to starting a new thread as this one is starting to get a tad long.

We started Bletchley and I can't think why we stopped. In part I think because we got swept up in some other programs. Must get back to it!

>222 lkernagh: The Aspern Papers
Never heard of this one, that I recall.

>222 lkernagh: I hadn't heard of this one, but after reading your review, I may now may consider it as an alternative to Washington Square. It will only be my second James novel - I've read The Turn of the Screw.

THe Aspern Papers sounds like a good choice. I like Portrait of a Lady so far, but it's going to be a slow read.

>234 sibylline: - We tend to get wrapped up in other shows and forget the ones we enjoyed watching previously. Bletchley was a bit of a weird duck. If I remember correctly, there were three episodes in season one and then three episodes in season two. What made it challenging at first for us was the lead character had already moved on so season two did feel as though it was missing something for the first episode. Still worth watching but strange when things like that happen.

>235 qebo: - I can think my local library for bringing The Aspern Papers to my attention. Otherwise, I probably would have read Portrait of a Lady.

>236 DorsVenabili: - I do love reading books that appear to be off the beaten path for LT readers.... although it is a little unnerving to discover The Aspern Papers are that far off the beaten path!

>237 banjo123: - I think it was a good choice! Can't go wrong when you reach for a novella. If it is not great or just plain bad, it is still a short read. ;-)

Craft Project - Update

I am ready to start a new thread but before I do, it has occurred to me that I never did post pictures of my completed trunk restoration/refurbishment project mentioned back in >84 lkernagh:. Time to fix that omission before moving on.



I am super happy with the end result. The trunk now stands on its end and does service as a lamp stand. Even better, I have all of the supplies should I need to give the trunk a touch up at any point in the future.

New thread is up! Come on over!