January's Reading

The Magicians--This was my book group's selection for January. It's billed as an adult Harry Potter, which indicates how completely the speaker missed the attraction of Rowling's world. True, there is magic and even a magic school, but it's a magic school inhabited by apathetic young adults with no sense of direction. And yet, although I had a hard time caring about the characters, I found myself picking up the book again and again. Grossman is a brilliant writer, with subtle cultural references reminiscent of Stephen King.

This is a great book for anyone who has ever wished to go into a book, and for anyone who has ever looked around and wondered where all the promise of youth has gone.

"I will stop being a mouse, Quentin. I will take some chances. If you will, for just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your read life. Stop waiting. This is it" there's nothing else. It's here, and you'd better decide to enjoy it or you're going to be miserable for the rest of your life, forever." page 333

2001: A Space Odyssey--Like Childhood's End by the same author, which I read last year, 2001 has sparse language and intriguing ideas. I enjoy reading Clarke's predictions with the advantage of hindsight. He foresaw greater advances in space exploration than we have achieved, but he did not envision the media spread of the last twenty years. His 2001 lacks cell phones, the Internet, and iPods, although it does have the Newspad, a folio-sized device which allows you to read newspapers from around the world. But the biggest argument I have with Clarke is his view of food:

"More food was produced by chemical processing systems and algae culture. Although the green scum circulating through yards of transparent plastic tubes would scarcely have appealed to a gourmet, the biochemists could convert it into chops and steaks only an expert could distinguish from the real thing." page 59

I side with Michael Pollan. Give me some real food, please.

The Lightning Thief--NB and IM have been wanting me to read this book for years, and I finally got around to it. Eh. Unlike Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, this is not a book that grabbed me. I see why the kids like it, and I like the references to mythology, but I won't be continuing the series.

Like Water for Chocolate--I missed this one back when everyone else was reading it. Another eh. I'm not a fan of magical realism. (And yes, sometimes I do think my literary tastes are too Anglo-centric.)

I'm continuing to plod slowly through The Brothers Karamazov. My target completion date is imitating a software release date and slipping steadily back. I have to finish it by the middle of April because I refuse to have this be my beach read in Costa Rica.

Sometimes the Guests Say It for Me

Sunday morning, I asked a woman what she wanted for breakfast. She looked at the menu and asked, "What's the difference between fried eggs and scrambled eggs?"

As I bit back what I wanted to say and began explaining the difference, her traveling companion turned to her in disbelief and said, "Is it your first day on the planet?"

Sunday Soup 4

This week's soup was Ribollita--The Tuscan Minestrone. Essentially it's a vegetable soup with one cup of white beans added. It had onion, leek, carrot, celery, garlic, tomato, Savoy cabbage (a wrinkly little vegetable I never would have picked up on my own), potato, zucchini and Swiss chard. The soup is served with toasted, day-old bread and Parmesan cheese.

It's easy to make, although not quick. I spent about 40 minutes chopping vegetables, but after that it was simply a matter of adding the correct ingredients to the pot every hour or so.

I thought it was delicious, which is convenient because Michael gracious let me eat all the leftovers.

My two least discriminating eaters (EM and IM) gave it thumbs up. NB gave it a neutral thumb, but I think only because he was being polite.

Michael said it was his least favorite of the soups so far, but tasty. When I asked, he said it would be fine if I made it again next winter. However, I think the lack of enthusiasm for the leftovers indicates his feelings more clearly than his words.

We didn't have a side dish this week because I misjudged the amount of life left in the lettuce.

Sunday Soup 3

I'm changing the order of the soups a bit for the next month so I have quick soups during two busy Sundays in February.

This week I made Cream of Chicken and Fennel Soup with Roasted Pear, Walnut, and Feta Salad with Baby Greens and bread on the side.

I really like this soup. The fennel flavor is layered nicely--chopped fennel cooks in chicken broth and then you add crushed fennel seeds as well. The soup also has carrots and snow peas, which I always enjoy.

The salad was yummy as well. IM helped me prepare the pears for roasting by brushing on the balsamic vinegar and olive oil mixture.

Leaving out the impossible eater, both the soup and the salad got a perfect score.

Five Reason I Prefer Cross-Country to Downhill

1. No lifts. Some people find the ride up the mountain peaceful. I imagine plunging to my death.
2. The boots! Who knew that ski boots could be so comfortable, and so easy to put on.
3. No goggles. I hate goggles, but feel they are a safety requirement when skiing downhill. Speaking of which . . .
   
4. It doesn't feel dangerous.
   
5. Less muscle burn.

Sunday Soup 2

Today's soup was Cold Weather Potato Chowder with Caraway Cheese (although I was unable to find havarti with caraway seeds in our small town and had to use plain havarti). The side dish was Roast Beef and Watercress with Horseradish Cream on Dark Bread.

The soup received 5 thumbs up. The sandwich received 4 thumbs up, although it would have had five if the red onion hadn't been so potent.

(We exlude LW from voting on the grounds that he fails to meet the basic requirement of tasting the food. He wouldn't even eat the crispy bacon on top because it was touching an onion.)

The chowder is pretty basic, except for the havarti. It also had a different thickening method than I've used in the paste--stirring in a paste made of room-temperature butter and flour at the very end of the cooking process.

As for my cooking skills, I've decided I need to chop faster. Maybe I should follow Julia Child's example and spend a day simply chopping.

Sunday Soup

For Christmas, Michael followed my extremely detailed hint (can sending an Amazon link via ICQ count as a hint?) and bought me Sunday Soup.

I'd seen it in a local store around Thanksgiving and fell in love with the idea. One soup recipe for every week of the year, divided by seasons. Since I love soup, cook dinner on Sundays, and aspire to eat more food in season, this book seemed like a great fit. I've decided to cook my way through the book this year.

According to the author, Winter starts in December and lasts three months, but since March feels nothing like spring around here, I've decided to cook the winter soups in January, February, and March and push the other seasons back one month each.

Today I made White Bean Soup with Chorizo and Kale with Arugula Salad Tossed with Olive Oil and Lemon on the side. (Yes, the book even recommends side dishes and provides recipes.)

Overall, I'd give this soup two thumbs up. NB wasn't thrilled, but he's my pickiest normal eater. EM and IM both had seconds.

2010 Reading Catch-up

I knew I was behind on blogging about my reading, but I am shocked at how far behind. These will be quick summaries.

The Help--Possibly the best book I read this year. All three narrators have great voice, and the subject is fascinating.

Life Skills--Mindless fluff by my favorite fluff author.

97 Orchard Street--A serendipitous find in August about the inhabitants of a NYC tenement that is now a museum (and which was already on the itinerary for my September trip). A look at how the various immigrant waves changed the food of America.

The Town that Food Saved--A look at how the locavore movement changed one town in Vermont. Motivating.

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen--I had completely forgotten about this book until I saw it on the list. Pleasant, but clearly not memorable.

Mockingjay--The book I was most anticipating this year. A satisfying conclusion to this great trilogy (although I wanted Katniss to end up with the other guy), but not as strong as the other two books.

The Tapestries--Interesting story set in early twentieth-century Vietnam. Compelling, but overly graphic at times, which made it a tough read for me.

Childhood's End--Classic science-fiction at its best. Interesting premise, sparse language. Haunting.

Eat, Pray, Love--Not as annoying as I feared it would be. (I read this for book group.) I liked Eat and Pray better than Love.

When the Emperor Was Divine--YA novel about one family's experience in a Japanese internment camp in Utah. Notice the use or lack of names. The scene where the woman kills their old dog the night before they leave made me cry.

The Message--A verse-by-verse paraphrase of the Bible. I'd been wanting to read the Bible cover to cover in a short period of time to get a better sense of the overall structure and flow, and with The Message I finally found a version that I could read quickly enough to accomplish that. Ninety days, give or take. I liked the paraphrase best for the history and prophets. It bothered me more in the New Testament. Reading the Bible always raises more issues than it resolves for me, and this was no exception.

Nomad--Fascinating look at the issues raised by Muslims immigrating to the West, by a former Muslim (now atheist) immigrant. I'm not convinced that converting to mainline Christianity is a key part of the solution--it seems to me that Islam could moderate itself just as mainline Christianity has done--but I agree with many of her other points. The final chapter is the weakest part of the book.

Murder in a Mill Town, Murder on Black Friday, Murder in the North End, A Bucket of Ashes, Still Life with Murder--Several years ago, I accidentally read book three in a six-book mystery series set in Gilded Age Boston. Michael gave me book two for Christmas, and I then found electronic versions of the other four books. They remind me a bit of early Anne Perry novels.

Water for Elephants--I started reading this right before I began The Message and finished it in December. Despite my disjointed reading of it, I really like this book. The narrator has a great voice, and the look at Depression-era circuses is interesting.

There. All caught up. I'll try not to get so far behind again.

I'm currently reading The Lightening Thief and The Brothers Karamazov.