tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52397718336577915942024-02-18T21:20:44.187-05:00Are There Any More Cookies?Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.comBlogger697125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-39640288106237147872022-01-01T09:07:00.002-05:002022-01-01T09:07:14.177-05:00The last books of 2021<p>I kept meaning to update this in November, and then suddenly it was December and I kept not updating because I thought I might finish another book before the end of the year, but I did not, so here we are. In October, the last time I did update, I had just my 52 books a year goal, so all of these books are gravy.</p><p>53/52: Madeline Miller's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Song-Achilles-Novel-Madeline-Miller/dp/0062060627/ref=monarch_sidesheet" target="_blank">Song of Achilles</a>: This landed on my radar because it was having a moment on BookTok and also on Gay Twitter, and it seemed like everyone was reading it so I decided I should, too. This book was excellent. Miller tells the story of Achilles and Patroclus from birth to death, but she tells it as a love story. There's no suggestion that they're lovers, as is often done in versions of the Trojan War. Instead, Miller takes it as a given and works from there. If you're familiar with "The Iliad" you already know, vaguely, where the story is going, but still, tears came out of my cryholes. This was one of the best books I read all year.</p><p>54/52: Patrick Boucheron's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Machiavelli-Teaching-People-What-Fear-ebook/dp/B07RSNBDCJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4A6DQEQD50UG&keywords=patrick+boucheron+machiavelli&qid=1641042895&s=books&sprefix=patrick+boucheron+machiavelli%2Cstripbooks%2C80&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Machiavelli: The Art of Teaching People What To Fear</a>: I bought this on an early fall trip to Washington, DC, at a bookstore near Dupont Circle that had my last name. It turned out to look more interesting than it actually was, as I was expecting a biography of Machiavelli. It was pretty light on the biographic details, and instead was more of a discussion of how to read Machiavelli and apply it to our current political climate. That's still a useful discussion, but not really what I wanted.</p><p>55/52: Jeremy Finley's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Darkest-Time-Night-Novel-ebook/dp/B077XLLL6N/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IB4OUDDIVL35&keywords=the+darkest+time+of+night&qid=1641043182&s=books&sprefix=the+darkest+time+of+night%2Cstripbooks%2C83&sr=1-1" target="_blank">The Darkest Time of Night</a>: A decent mix of suspense and science fiction. When her grandson goes missing in the woods behind the family home, Lynn is reminded of the work she did in the 1960's as a grad student in the astronomy department, taking stories from people who said their family members were taken by lights in the sky. This isn't the first time someone has vanished in those woods, and as Lynn gets closer to the truth she gets closer to sinister forces determined to keep it from the public. What are they protecting, and why? And where has Lynn's grandson actually gone?</p><p>56/52: Walter Tevis' <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Queens-Gambit-Walter-Tevis-ebook/dp/B07H185G5T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1PHPJLMX2WLDM&keywords=the+queen%27s+gambit&qid=1641043690&s=books&sprefix=the+queen%27s+gambit%2Cstripbooks%2C76&sr=1-1" target="_blank">The Queen's Gambit</a>: Like a lot of people, I got a copy of this because I watched the series on Netflix and was intrigued. If you've watched the series, you'll blow right through this, because the show is almost a page by page recreation of the book. It's still a good read and an interesting story, but neither the book nor the movie has made me want to try to become a better chess player.</p><p>57/52: Dave Quinn's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Not-All-Diamonds-Ros%C3%A9-Housewives/dp/1250765781/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34MY5W8ZHGOI8&keywords=not+all+diamonds+and+rose&qid=1641043887&s=books&sprefix=not+all+dia%2Cstripbooks%2C92&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Not All Diamonds And Rose</a>: This was entertaining, but only for a very select audience. Amazon calls it "the definitive oral history of the Real Housewives", but there are a number of former Real Housewives who refused to be interviewed. They did get a lot of producers and production team members, though, and the format of one chapter for each version of the franchise makes it easier to keep up with, so kudos on the structure. As a fan, I have a few opinions:</p><p><span> </span>1) How are you going to interview Quinn from Orange County without bringing up the time she put on a wig, claimed to be her alter ego of Roxy, and went out to bars to pick up guys? Are we all just pretending that didn't happen?</p><p><span> </span>2) The list of people who wouldn't be interviewed is at the very end of the book. It would make more sense to have a list at the beginning of each chapter, so that you're not wondering the whole time if someone is going to jump in.</p><p><span> </span>3) The DC chapter is only a few pages long, and you can tell that Bravo and Andy Cohen, who cooperated with this book, really just want to bury the whole thing. The only part of DC that they talk about is when the Salahi's crash the state dinner at the White House, and it is told entirely from the point of view of the production staff. I really wanted to hear from the DC Housewives what they thought about that incident, how they felt about being cancelled after only one season, whether being on the show had any impact on them, or really anything, but the book only spoke with a few of them and doesn't publish any of those interviews.</p><p>58/52: Jean Hanff Korelitz's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Plot-Jean-Hanff-Korelitz-ebook/dp/B08JKC299M/ref=sr_1_1?crid=N3LZRCFEMZWG&keywords=the+plot&qid=1641044613&s=books&sprefix=the+plot%2Cstripbooks%2C98&sr=1-1" target="_blank">The Plot</a>: Jacob is a creative writing teacher, coasting on the reputation of his promising early work that hasn't blossomed into a writing career, when his student, Evan, brings him a story idea that Evan is planning to write. Evan insists that his plot, and its twist, will make his book an immediate best seller, and Jacob has to admit that he thinks Evan is correct. As a few years go by, Jacob wonders what happened to Evan, and discovers that he died without publishing. No copy of his work seems to have survived, but Jacob remembers all the details of the plot, and decides to write it himself. Now he has an instant best seller, fame, talk show appearances, and movie deals, until an anonymous email comes saying, "You are a thief." Now Jacob is trying to keep everyone from finding out what he's done while also finding out where Evan, and the plot, actually came from. This was suspenseful, but when they finally reveal what the plot was, it's not that shocking or original.</p><p>59/52: Paul Tremblay's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Survivor-Song-Novel-Paul-Tremblay-ebook/dp/B07YSLZFBY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FI2G333ZFOV3&keywords=survivor+song&qid=1641045111&s=books&sprefix=survivor+song%2Cstripbooks%2C94&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Survivor Song</a>: Mutate super-rabies is sweeping across New England, turning people who are bitten into violent, mindless animals. Natalie, who is due to give birth in a few days, calls her college friend Rams, a doctor, because she has been attacked by a neighbor and she has been bitten. Now they are racing against time to get to a hospital in time to get Natalie a rabies vaccine and to give birth, but the locals hospitals are overwhelmed and the streets are overrun with the infected and with heavily armed militias insisting that the virus isn't real. I guess I wasn't in the mood for plague fiction during our pandemic, because I usually like Tremblay's work, but as soon as the militia showed up I was just kind of "Ugh" and pushed through to finish this.</p><p>60/52: Liz Brown's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Man-Shadows-Hollywood-Empire-ebook/dp/B08GJV5YRV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JF3EGM0R4USL&keywords=twilight+man&qid=1641045487&s=books&sprefix=twilight+man%2Cstripbooks%2C94&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Twilight Man: Love and Ruin in the Shadows of Hollywood and the Clark Empire</a>: Some time back (this year or last year; I cannot remember) I read "Empty Mansions", the story of the last daughter of the Clark copper empire and the slow dissolution of the Clark family fortune, so when I saw the Clark Empire mentioned here I was intrigued. Brown tells the story of her great-granduncle, William Andrews Clark, Jr., a founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, backer of the creation of the Hollywood Bowl, and noted philanthropist, and Clark's lover, Harrison Post. Brown details the constant danger Clark's lifestyle placed them both in, and how after Clark's death Post, suddenly rich, was a target of his own family's plot to exploit his wealth and bleed him dry. It's a good read, and goes to some unexpected places.</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-62308773295423540622021-10-03T09:10:00.004-05:002021-10-03T09:10:42.854-05:00All the Books I Read In September<p> When we left off, 27 days ago, I was at 38 books for the year out of my goal of 52. Since then, football season started, I got back into a regular treadmill routine, and I went out of town for a long weekend, and all of this added up to a ton more books.</p><p>39/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Survive-Night-Novel-Riley-Sager-ebook/dp/B08KZFNKXD/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=survive+the+night&qid=1633265336&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Survive the Night</a> by Riley Sager: Charlie needs a ride home from campus back to Ohio for the December break, and Josh is putting up a poster on the ride board right when she is. Happy coincidence, right? But there's something a little off about Josh. He won't show Riley the inside of the trunk. His story keeps changing and is full of holes. He seems determined to drive her somewhere, very quickly, and Riley starts to wonder if maybe, in leaving campus, she hasn't quite left the Campus Killer who murdered her roommate behind. This was suspenseful and twisty and very enjoyable.</p><p>40 and 41/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08TR798Z4/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title" target="_blank">Goal Lines and First Times</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0961DYJ5H/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title" target="_blank">Line Mates and Study Dates</a>, by Eden Finley and Saxon James: The last two books in the college hockey gay romance series I was reading. Again, they're pretty much the same book over and over, but they were very entertaining on the treadmill. Maybe I should go back and finish the 50 Shades trilogy.</p><p>42/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Only-Good-Indians-Novel/dp/1982136464/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BX9I52WAIEME&dchild=1&keywords=the+only+good+indians+paperback&qid=1633266097&sprefix=the+only+good+indians+%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Only Good Indians</a> by Stephen Graham Jones: Ten years ago, four American Indian men slaughtered a herd of elk on land reserved for the tribal elders, and left the carcasses to rot. Now, something is coming back for them and their families, looking for revenge. This was a little different, but still good and spooky.</p><p>43/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bath-Haus-Thriller-P-Vernon-ebook/dp/B08KPGSG5F/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bath+haus&qid=1633266591&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Bath Haus</a> by P.J. Vernon: Nathan and Oliver seem to have it all: a dog, a townhouse, a happy relationship, but when Oliver visits Haus, a gay bathhouse, while Nathan is out of town, things go horribly awry and Oliver barely gets out alive. Now he's caught in a game with a killer, and his lies are stacking up and about to topple. Can he save himself, his family, and the perfect life they've built? And will he want to? The tone of this book reminded me a lot of Scott Smith's books, where one thing goes wrong and bad choices keep stacking up the problems. It was a good read.</p><p>44/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TPWB26K/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title" target="_blank">Burnt Offerings</a> by Robert Marasco: Amazon suggested I read this, and since I've seen <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_Offerings_(film)" target="_blank">the movie</a> a bunch of times I figured why not read it? A small family gets out of New York City for the summer by renting a vacation home that seems too good to be true. The sprawling mansion upstate rents for the entire summer for less than a month of their apartment, and the only caveat is that they must bring food upstairs every day for the lady of the house, who keeps to her room and won't be any trouble at all. It's a slow burner, but a decently distracting read. </p><p>45/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Suicide-House-Moore-Phillips-Novel-ebook/dp/B07ZPKQDRV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+suicide+house&qid=1633267217&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Suicide House</a> by Charlie Donlea: Deep in the woods on the grounds of an elite prep school is the Suicide House, an old former faculty residence that the students now sneak into for late night parties. A year ago, a teacher murdered two students in the Suicide House, and now the other students on campus keep returning to it to kill themselves. What's happening at the prep school, and what does it have to do with a mysterious secret student society on campus? Is there a way to win the game, and survive? This was a decent mystery, but deeply exploring all the personality quirks of the various police distracted from the plot more than it enhanced it.</p><p>46/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fledgling-Novel-Octavia-Butler-ebook/dp/B00541Z8Z2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2G20DPMBDTYST&dchild=1&keywords=fledgling+octavia+butler&qid=1633267894&sprefix=fledglin%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Fledgling</a> by Octavia Butler: An interesting vampire novel with an uncomfortable undercurrent of pedophilia. Based on how the novel unfolds, you can argue that it's not pedophilia, but putting your vampire in the body of a preteen and having it have sex with multiple adults sure looks like pedophilia. The novel, like I said, is interesting, but there's a strong undercurrent of uncomfortable. </p><p>47/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Haunted-City-Unauthorized-Magical-Magnificent/dp/B000K1DDB2/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=haunted+city+new+orleans+anne+rice&qid=1633268178&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Haunted City</a> by Joy Dickinson: Subtitled "An Unauthorized Guide to Magical, Magnificent New Orleans of Anne Rice" there's a lot of meticulously researched history in here but not a lot of Anne Rice. If you want a building by building history of every structure in the French Quarter of New Orleans, this is the book for you. If you want discussion beyond a sentence or two of how these buildings and locations shaped Rice's most famous works, then you should pass on this.</p><p>48/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Calabria-Peter-S-Beagle-ebook/dp/B083G71N28/ref=sr_1_2?crid=29GZW3TLAD248&dchild=1&keywords=in+calabria&qid=1633268400&sprefix=in+cala%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-2" target="_blank">In Calabria</a> by Peter S. Beagle: Claudio lives alone, by choice, in a hillside estate in Calabria. His only regular contact with others is his weekly delivery from the mailman, and he likes it that way. Claudio's peaceful days of writing poems and caring for his animals are interrupted when he receives a strange visitor: a pregnant unicorn chooses his farm to give birth. A chance sighting during the mail delivery leaks Claudio's news to the world, and his solitude is broken by reporters, gawkers, helicopters, and other, more sinister forces. Can he protect his life and the life of the unicorn from the overwhelming attention of a world looking for a miracle? This was short, but thoughtful.</p><p>49/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/More-Happy-Than-Not-Deluxe/dp/164129194X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=339QBF7RCMI9C&dchild=1&keywords=more+happy+than+not&qid=1633268748&sprefix=more+happy+th%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-1" target="_blank">More Happy Than Not</a> by Adam Silvera: Adam Silvera will break your heart. I know this each time I pick up an Adam Silvera book, but I read them anyway, because they're good, but they'll break your heart. In this one, Aaron struggles to recover from his father's suicide, and his own attempt soon after. His girlfriend and his friends are trying to help, but he's also growing closer to Thomas, a new boy in the neighborhood, and conflicted about his feelings toward Thomas. With so many things making him unhappy, Aaron wonders if the controversial new memory-altering procedure from the Leteo Institute is what he really needs to find happiness, by wiping away everything that troubles him.</p><p>50/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Killing-My-Business-Electromatic-Mysteries/dp/076537921X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=killing+is+my+business&qid=1633269261&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Killing Is My Business</a> by Adam Christopher: This is the second book in Christopher's "Ray Electromatic" series, featuring the robot private detective of the same name, who is also sometimes a robot assassin. Ray's dual roles have him playing both sides of the same case in this book, which moves very quickly. I breezed through it in an afternoon, but it was still atmospheric and fun.</p><p>51/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Id-Die-You-Other-Stories-ebook/dp/B01KU08YZM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=i%27d+die+for+you&qid=1633269649&sr=8-1" target="_blank">I'd Die For You</a> by F. Scott Fitzgerald: As I read these 18 lost and previously unpublished stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I got the sense that I'd read them before, and think maybe I did read the hardcover when it came out. Ether way, most of them are still a good read if you like Fitzgerald.</p><p>52/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-Enough-Claiming-Matter-ebook/dp/B07JR8SBWL/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=more+than+enough&qid=1633269887&sr=8-1" target="_blank">More Than Enough</a> by Elaine Welteroth: This memoir felt like it was missing something. Welteroth is most famous for being the first woman of color to be named editor in chief of "Teen Vogue", but the book seems really scant on covering that part of her life. I was surprised to see that this won awards, but hey, good for Elaine Welteroth, I guess.</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-11722171953437192202021-09-06T12:29:00.000-05:002021-09-06T12:29:00.806-05:00A lot of books<p>It's been a really long time since I shared a book list, and they've just kind of stacked up, so I'm going to roll right in without a lot of preamble. </p><p>24/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Between-World-Me-Ta-Nehisi-Coates/dp/1925240703/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2XSZRZX4ZMVAW&dchild=1&keywords=between+the+world+and+me&qid=1630945243&sprefix=between+the+world%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Between the World and Me</a> by Ta-Nehisi Coates: I probably should have read this twice, but instead just went through a really slow reading where I'd absorb, think, go read some more, absorb, think, and go read some more again. It took me a surprising amount of time to read what is essentially a short book, but it was time well spent.</p><p>25/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Home-Before-Dark-Riley-Sager-ebook/dp/B07Z2TY6HV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=home+before+dark&qid=1630945824&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Home Before Dark</a> by Riley Sager: I'm really enjoying Riley Sager's brand of horror. In this one, Maggie returns to the house where she lived as a child, and where her father claims they were tormented by demons and the ghosts of the family that was killed there. He turned the story into a best selling book that Maggie has spent her whole life trying not to live under, and now that he's dead, she wants answers. But what if the answers are that the book is actually true?</p><p>HALFWAY/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Divas-Dames-Daredevils-Heroines-Golden/dp/1935259237/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2O72WK2B9Z935&dchild=1&keywords=divas+dames+and+daredevils&qid=1630946076&sprefix=divas+dame%2Caps%2C193&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Divas, Dames, and Daredevils</a> by Mike Madrid: An exploration of the lost female heroes from the Golden Age of comics, I found this somewhat disappointing. Each chapter has a full comic story reprinted, in some cases two, but were somewhat light on comics history or a discussion of what these characters meant in the long run, what else they influenced, or why we should remember them now.</p><p>27/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/They-Never-Came-Laurel-suspense-ebook/dp/B008L8GKFM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=they+never+came+home&qid=1630946420&sr=8-1" target="_blank">They Never Came Home</a> by Lois Duncan: I found this on my bookcase, and like most of Duncan's books it's a solid suspense novel for the age group. Reading them when older, you notice a little more that the story often depends on a lot of coincidences. In this one, Joan copes with grief after her boyfriend and her brother vanish on a hike in the mountains together. What happened to them? Where did they go? And why didn't they ever come back?</p><p>28/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Outside-Us-Eliot-Schrefer-ebook/dp/B08H262Y2V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8X4V2TJ02OR4&dchild=1&keywords=the+darkness+outside+of+us&qid=1630946673&sprefix=the+darkness+%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Darkness Outside of Us</a> by Eliot Scrafer: Ambrose and Kodiak are teenaged astronauts from rival nations, forced together into a joint rescue mission, and they have a lot of questions. Why don't they remember the launch? Why does their ship show signs of other people having been inside? And why are they picking up radio transmission from earth that don't match the information they're receiving from mission command? The two of them have to work together to figure things out and survive, but can they?</p><p>29/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cemetery-Boys-Aiden-Thomas-ebook/dp/B07TVZXQ5V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38NRT5A11EW79&dchild=1&keywords=cemetery+boys&qid=1630946965&sprefix=cemetary+boy%2Caps%2C192&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Cemetery Boys</a> by Aiden Thomas: Yadriel's family summons and speaks to ghosts, but Yadriel has never been able to participate because he is trans, and his family constantly pushes him toward the traditionally female role instead. When his cousin goes missing and is assumed dead, Yadriel takes the chance to prove himself by summoning his cousin, but instead summons Julian, the leather jacket bad boy of his high school. Now the two of them have to work together to figure out what happened to Julian and to Yad's cousin, because Yadriel's whole family is in danger.</p><p>30/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/We-Keep-Dead-Close-Harvard-ebook/dp/B085C6N1PB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2TYAIYOQ8H1Y9&dchild=1&keywords=we+keep+the+dead+close&qid=1630947236&sprefix=we+keep+the+d%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1" target="_blank">We Keep the Dead Close</a> by Becky Cooper: When Becky Cooper was an undergraduate at Harvard, she heard the whispered rumor about the anthropology grad student who was murdered in her apartment, her death scene ritualistically staged and a rising star professor suspected of the killing before Harvard covered up the investigation. Eventually she discovers that the murder was real, and spends years investigating the case, the suspects, the victim, and what it means to become a story instead of a person. I'll go ahead and spoil that the killer is discovered at the end, so the book isn't incomplete, but by the time you find out who the murderer was it may not matter anymore.</p><p>31/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Its-Becky-Albertalli-ebook/dp/B075QC5X3C/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=maybe+it%27s+us&qid=1630947489&sr=8-1" target="_blank">What If It's Us</a> by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera: Arthur and Ben have an adorable meet-cute at the post office, but is that all they're destined for? What if their attempts at first dates keep falling apart? Are they meant to be together in a classic New York City love story, or are they just two guys who bumped into each other? This was very cute, and an enjoyable read.</p><p>32/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Utopia-Drive-Through-Americas-Radical-ebook/dp/B01ARSJKN2/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=utopia+drive&qid=1630947676&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Utopia Drive</a> by Erik Reece: This road trip through America's mostly failed utopian communities should have been interesting, but reads like a textbook. I really wanted to like this, but it was a slog to get through.</p><p>33/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Night-Visitors-Novel-Carol-Goodman-ebook/dp/B07B7L2RZJ/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=carol+goodman&qid=1630947782&sr=8-5" target="_blank">The Night Visitors</a> by Carol Goodman: In the same way you know what you're getting when you open a Mary Higgins Clark or Tom Clancy novel, you know what you're getting with Carol Goodman: endangered woman with a complicated past, central New York location that's referred to as upstate because it's above Westchester but really there's like seven more hours of New York state above it where the actual real upstate is, and at least one secret baby per novel. They're still interesting, and fun reads.</p><p>34/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sky-Blues-Robbie-Couch-ebook/dp/B08BZVL955/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+sky+blues&qid=1630948017&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Sky Blues</a> by Robbie Couch: Sky Baker is openly gay in high school, but doing his best to be invisible and just get through his four years. At the same time, he wants to invite his crush, Ali, to prom, but his plans are shattered when a homophobic email about him goes viral at school. Now, all eyes are on Sky and he only has 30 days to decide if he's going to fight back or vanish quietly away.</p><p>35/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Blows-Simon-Snow-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B08FGTZ1D7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BGL473AZE40H&dchild=1&keywords=any+way+the+wind+blows&qid=1630948490&sprefix=any+way+t%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Any Way the Wind Blows</a> by Rainbow Rowell: In the final book of the Simon Snow trilogy, we say goodbye, but what does that mean? What happens after the chosen one and his friends graduate from magical school and have to be adults? Where do they go? What do they do? And who do they want to be? This was a long goodbye, but a good one.</p><p>36 nd 37/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BB88RDC/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title" target="_blank">Power Plays and Straight A's</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JH574ZL?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks" target="_blank">Face Offs and Cheap Shots</a> by Eden Finley and Saxon James: I am reading this quartet of books on the kindle while I treadmill. It was recommended to me by Amazon as a gay romance, and... yeah. So far the books are pretty similar: there's at least one hockey player who accidentally falls in love with another guy, who may also be a hockey player, and I'm not sure how Amazon classifies "romance" or what happens in straight people romance books, but all of a sudden there are a lot of parts going in a lot of places in extensive detail and should I have been more of a hockey fan in college?</p><p>38/52: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Final-Girl-Support-Group-ebook/dp/B08MBQKTTQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=362DYN7GPD9IS&dchild=1&keywords=the+final+girl+support+group&qid=1630949083&sprefix=the+final+girl%2Caps%2C282&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Final Girl Support Group</a> by Grady Hendrix: They are the Final Girls, the sole survivors of various massacres, and they meet regularly for group with their therapist until the day that one of them doesn't come to group, because she's dead. And then they're all in some sort of trouble, and threats are coming from all sides. Someone is out to kill the Final Girls, but is it someone from outside, or someone they've shared all their secrets with all along?</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-30172227417356662182021-05-02T18:48:00.001-05:002021-05-02T18:48:32.619-05:00All Five Books I Read in April<p> I didn't read quite as many books in April as I did in March, which is odd since I read an extremely long book in March, but I also did a lot more outside walking instead of treadmill walking, so I didn't read as much on the Kindle as I did in the colder months. Still, I finished five books, which puts me almost at the halfway mark for the year, so it's not like I've fallen behind.</p><p>Also, oddly, I seem to have accidentally had a theme for the month, which was thriller/horror. Two of the books were from the same author, though, so maybe not that surprising.</p><p>Anyway...</p><p>19/52: In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Later-Stephen-King-ebook/dp/B08F4GYM8W/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=later+stephen+king&qid=1619995894&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Later</a>, by Stephen King, Jamie is a young teen who sees dead people. They tell him things if he asks them questions, but his single mother has convinced him that he needs to keep his gift to himself, and he does until they day they have to use it to survive. Now a policewoman who knows his secret draws him into a confrontation with a dead serial killer, but the dead can't really hurt you, unless it turns out that they can. This was a fast read, but a good one. Stephen King wrote some real clunkers for a few years there <b>*stares in Dreamcatcher*</b> but his recent ones have mostly been good, and a return to his classic level.</p><p>20/52: In Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Are-All-Nice-Here-ebook/dp/B08BZX22NF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+girls+are+all+so+nice+here&qid=1619996591&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Girls Are All So Nice Here</a>, the girls are not actually that nice at Ambrosia's ten year college reunion. Instead, they have questions, which they've had all along since the night during freshman year when Amb was involved in some sort of incident that unfolds during flashbacks. Somebody wants to know what happened that night, and what happened leading up to it, but Ambrosia doesn't want to share, especially when it becomes clear that someone doesn't just want the truth. They also want revenge. </p><p>This was a pretty good book, but I was irritated by one thing: it's not clear at the beginning who died on the fateful night, and this is obscured throughout the first half of the book. That's not what I object to, though. Part of the way the death is concealed is that one of the people Ambrosia describes seeing at the reunion isn't actually there. Ambrosia is seeing her face on memorial posters. It feels like a cheap trick rather than a plot twist to keep saying you see someone's staring eyes, but then once the flashbacks reveal they're dead to start adding, "On the memorial posters all over campus". </p><p>21/52: I could not stop reading Riley Sager's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lock-Every-Door-Riley-Sager-ebook/dp/B07J4719TX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lock+every+door&qid=1619997485&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Lock Every Door</a>. Jules, broken up with and also broke, takes a job as an apartment sitter in one of Manhattan's most famous buildings, the Bartholomew. Jules is excited to move into the setting of one of her favorite novels, even more so when she finds out that the author of the book still lives there. Broke and needing this job, Jules ignores the stories about the building, but why isn't she allowed to tell anyone she's living there? Why are the residents so secretive and standoffish? What happened to Ingrid, the apartment sitter from downstairs who moved out in the middle of the night and can't be reached? And what happened to the apartment sitter before Jules? Will Jules figure out what's happening at the Bartholomew, or will she be the next story posted online in the middle of the night? Like I said, I could not stop reading this, and plowed through it in a weekend.</p><p>22/52: In Camilla Sten's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Village-Novel-Camilla-Sten-ebook/dp/B08BYCMH48/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+lost+village&qid=1619998147&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Lost Village</a>, Alice and three friends travel to a remote Swedish mining town to spend a week filming a documentary on the famous "lost village". In 1959, everyone in Silvertjarn vanished, including Alice's grandmother's entire family, and the mystery has haunted Alice for her entire life. As soon as they arrive, though, things start to go wrong. Are they accidents? The supernatural? Sabotage from within the film crew itself? Or something none of them could have guessed? Alice is determined to find the secret of the lost village, but it may be the last thing she finds. This book was translated from the author's native language, so it can feel a little bit stilted at times, but that also just adds to the feeling of weirdness and things being just a little bit off kilter that pervades the tone of the book. I really enjoyed this.</p><p>23/52: I ended up grabbing the other Riley Sager book on my unread shelf, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Time-Lied-Novel-ebook/dp/B076GNTWQM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+last+time+I+lied&qid=1619998788&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Last Time I Lied</a>, because I enjoyed the first one so much, and I enjoyed this one, too. During Emma's very first summer at Camp Nightingale, she got put into a cabin with three older girls. Adopted as a kind of younger sister by Vivian, the group leaders, Emma follows her cabinmates everywhere, right up until the night the three of them vanish into the woods and are never seen again. That night haunts Emma and her work as a painter for the next fifteen years, so when she is invited to return to a newly reopened Camp Nightingale as an art instructor, she takes the chance to find out what happened to her friends and finally close that chapter of her life. Someone else has returned to camp, though, someone who knows the truth and doesn't want Emma to find out, someone who will be more than happy to make Emma disappear, too. I really liked this book, too, although I read it a little slower than the one before it.</p><p>Coming up in May: I don't know. More books?</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-71517318919571437442021-04-03T18:53:00.002-05:002021-04-03T18:53:26.064-05:00All the books I read in March<p> I didn't realize that I'd forgotten to write up the books I read in March until this morning when I finished a book and thought, "Why is that stack of books still on the coffee table?" </p><p>Ooops.</p><p>I'm pleased to report that I am already way ahead for the year. To hit 52, I only need to read a book a week, four a month more or less, but at the end of February I was already at 11 books for the year and now I'm even further ahead, so I feel comfortable saying I've shaken off the slow reading slump I fell into at the beginning of the pandemic, and am back to a more normal speed for me. It bodes well for hitting my goal.</p><p>Anyway, here's how March went:</p><p>12/52 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Modelland-Tyra-Banks/dp/038574059X/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=modelland&qid=1617490746&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Modelland</a>, by Tyra Banks, is probably going to count as the worst book I read this year, and is honestly in the running for the worst book I've ever read. It's hard to pick out, specifically, what's wrong with it but in broad strokes the world-building is inconsistent, Banks can't decide what the tone of the book should be, and the plot is often just dull.</p><p>13/52 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=four+lost+cities&ref=nb_sb_noss" target="_blank">Four Lost Cities</a>, by Annalee Newitz, was fascinating, and I couldn't stop reading it. Newitz travels to four ancient cities, participating in archeological digs and interviewing the archeologists themselves, to tell the reader how the cities rose, how the common people in them lived, and how a city becomes "lost", if it really can at all. Travelling to Catalhuyuk, Pompeii, Angkor, and Cahokia, Newitz explores why people began to live in cities and why they still do, and writes in a way that makes it fully accessible to non-archeologist readers. </p><p>14/52 - I didn't realize that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Under-Suspicion-Novel-ebook/dp/B07CL94K1G/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=you+don%27t+own+me&qid=1617491667&sr=8-1" target="_blank">You Don't Own Me</a>, by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, was part of a series, as it reads like a stand alone mystery. I'll definitely want to look for the others, though, because this was a sharp, quick, entertaining read. Laurie, producer of a true crime show, is investigating Kendra, widow of a murdered doctor. While Kendra is obviously keeping secrets, do they have anything to do with the man following Laurie who almost kills her? And if Kendra didn't kill her husband, who did? And what will they do to stop Laurie from finding out and broadcasting it to the world? Like I said, this was solid entertainment.</p><p>15/52 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Do-You-Dream-Terra-Two-Temi-ebook/dp/B07MNH9RMW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=do+you+dream+of+terra+two&qid=1617492087&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Do You Dream of Terra Two?</a>, by Temi Oh, is a long book, but a fast, absorbing science fiction story. Terra Two is an earth-like planet in a nearby solar system, and ten astronauts are going to leave on a 23 year mission to fly there and begin colonization for the waves of people who will come after them. Four are veterans of the space program and colonization of Mars, and six are teenagers who have trained for this mission for most of their lives. They think they're ready, but a tragedy just before launch casts a shadow over a mission that isn't going exactly as planned. Will they still reach Terra Two? And will they even want to? This book and "Four Lost Cities" are tied for best book I read this month.</p><p>16/52 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ararat-Novel-Christopher-Golden-ebook/dp/B01LYYHDNF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ararat&qid=1617492611&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Ararat</a>, by Christopher Golden, is a fast-reading horror novel. An earthquake on Mount Ararat opens a cave that's been sealed for thousands of years, and competing teams of archeologists rush to be the first inside to explore the wooden ship inside. Believing they've found the remains of Noah's Ark, the archeologists waste no time prying open the sarcophagus they find on the lowest level, but discover the mummy of horned, inhuman creature rather than a lost prophet. Now, as a storm descends on the mountain, the archeologists, their documentary crew, and a UN science team are trapped in a cave filled with secrets and something that wants to be sure they never leave. This was a fairly standard horror novel, and would probably be fine as a distraction for a trip or vacation.</p><p>17/52 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZC84CNJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1" target="_blank">Admission</a>, by Julie Buxbaum, is a novel about the recent College Admissions Scandal, and tells the story of the family of a former sitcom star who tries to buy her daughter's way into college and is totally not Lori Loughlin even though she totally is Lori Loughlin. This was well written, and asks some hard questions about wealth and privilege, but it's a little too sympathetic toward the perpetrators for my taste.</p><p>18/52 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Standard-Hollywood-Depravity-Electromatic-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01J1EAA6Y/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=standard+hollywood+depravity&qid=1617493532&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Standard Hollywood Depravity</a>, by Adam Christopher, is really more of a novella than a novel. It's another entry in his Ray Electromatic mystery series about the last robot in Los Angeles, who works both as a private detective and as an assassin for hire. Ray has arrived at a club in Hollywood to kill one of the dancers, but the club is full of gangsters and the dancer isn't who she seems. What else is going on, and can Ray turn it to his advantage, or will he find himself in over his head and out of batteries before he can wrap everything up? This was entertaining, but I think I read it in one sitting.</p><p>So, that's it for March. I thought I'd read eight books, but it turns out that I can't actually count.</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-35993734288641398932021-02-28T20:51:00.002-05:002021-02-28T20:51:21.532-05:00The Books I Read In February<p> I started out strong in January, knocking out seven books in a month, but I did not maintain that pace in February. I don't really have a reason why, other than it being warm and me walking outside more instead of treadmilling, but I still finished a decent four books. One a week is better than a lot of people accomplish, and still keeps me on track for hitting 52 this year.</p><p>8/52 - Kristen Biggs and F. Scott Fitzgerald's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Great-Gatsby-Undead-Kristen-Briggs/dp/B08SGWTC4J/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1XRSQJEK1YIJ3&dchild=1&keywords=the+great+gatsby+undead&qid=1614561596&sprefix=the+great+gatsby+u%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-4" target="_blank">The Great Gatsby Undead</a> - When Gatsby passed into the public domain this year, it was only a matter of time before we started getting prequels, tie ins, and reimaginings, and this was one of the first out of the gate. Imagine if, in addition to his secret past and the mystery of how he got his wealth, Jay Gatsby had another, even deadlier secret. Imagine if Jay Gatsby was a vampire.</p><p>This wasn't as bad as it sounds. Biggs manages to keep the melodrama under control, and once you get past the absurdity of scenes like Jay Gatsby breaking into an asylum in the middle of the night and just embrace the story, this turns out to be a decent little vampire adventure. It even managed to have a few surprising twists.</p><p>9/52 - Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Mansions-Mysterious-Huguette-Spending/dp/0345534530/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=empty+mansions&qid=1614562030&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune</a> - I guess I was on a "big mansions and tragic reversals of fortune" kick, because I started reading this after letting it sit for seven years on my unread books shelf. (It's not even the book that's been there the longest.) I remember buying this because it sounded interesting and because a coworker's husband was distantly related to the Clark family. The Clarks are mostly forgotten, but the family founder was a copper mining magnate and peer of the Rockefellers and Carnegies, and this book tells the story of his youngest daughter, who withdrew from society completely in the 1950s but maintained houses across the country.</p><p>From a historical perspective, this was interesting, but the overall story is also somewhat sad. Huguette's money seems to have made her happy, but she definitely seems to have been taken advantage of by her caretakers in her final years, something that happens to a lot of older people. </p><p>10/52 - Karen M. McManus's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cousins-Karen-M-McManus/dp/0525708006/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+cousins&qid=1614562697&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Cousins</a> - Continuing on my rich people, big houses, and mysterious pasts kick, I read this tale of the Story family on the treadmill. Aubrey, Milly, and Jonah Story have never met their rich, reclusive grandmother because she disowned all four of her children before the cousins were born. Their parents claim not to know why, and when she writes to invite the cousins to work for her at her island resort for the summer, the parents let them know that they're taking the offer, no questions asked. When they arrive, the resort manager who hired them has vanished, their grandmother doesn't seem to have known they were coming, and they quickly find themselves caught in a web of murder and secrets that they may not survive.</p><p>This was a pretty good distraction read on the treadmill. There were twists and turns, mostly believable, but the four narrator structure sometimes distracted from the story more than it helped to tell it. Overall, though, this was entertaining.</p><p>11/52 - Emma Cline's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Daddy-Stories-Emma-Cline/dp/0812998642/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KOM9E0UBGXFI&dchild=1&keywords=daddy+emma+cline&qid=1614563118&sprefix=daddy+emm%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Daddy: Stories</a> - Based on the reviews, I'm one of the few who didn't like this short story collection. It wasn't bad, and sometimes had interesting characters, but a day after finishing it I can barely remember what any of the stories were about, with vague recollections of two and the other eight just being a blank. These were well written, but often felt incomplete.</p><p>So... onward to March, and more books!</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-30310307080775803682021-02-07T20:32:00.001-05:002021-02-07T20:32:04.182-05:00New Year, New Books<p>We're five weeks into the new year, and I've read more than five books, so I guess I'm ahead. Some of this is because I've been trying to get back into a more regular treadmill schedule, and I read the Kindle on the treadmill to make me forget that I'm on the treadmill, but also I've read a few interesting books that I kind of flew through.</p><p>1) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Void-Star-Novel-Zachary-Mason-ebook/dp/B01LZUDPGV/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=void+star&qid=1612742641&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Void Star</a>, by Zachary Mason - I must have read about this in an article, because it was sitting on my Amazon wish list when I logged in to spend my holiday gift cards, so I ordered it. It takes place in the near future, where sea levels are rising and vast AIs serve tech millionaires. Irina, who has a cybernetic memory implant, reads a secret in her employer's glasses and finds herself in danger while Kern, a thief and street fighter, is hired to steal a phone and finds himself pursued across the planet. Meanwhile, Thales tries to recover from injuries he received during an assassination attempt on his father, and all three of them end up on a collision course with each other in surprising ways. This was interesting, but also felt a little hollow. I liked it, but it felt like something undefined was missing.</p><p>2) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Mariah-Carey-ebook/dp/B087ZXNM2R/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3T77GX9DK1SDV&dchild=1&keywords=mariah+carey+book&qid=1612743173&sprefix=mariah+carey%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Meaning of Mariah Carey</a>, by Mariah Carey - I'm just going to go ahead and say at the front end that I underestimated Mariah Carey. Even knowing that she writes her own songs and is not an unintelligent person, I was still expecting this to be a fluff book, and it was anything but. I was definitely not expecting a compelling discussion of racism and classism, not just in the entertainment industry but also just in every day life. There are a few parts where things are clearly glossed over, notably any part that would reflect poorly on Mariah, but most of this is honest, entertaining, and sometimes heartbreaking. If you like stories about other celebrities, there's enough of that to entertain, too. This was a really good book.</p><p>3) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Red-White-Royal-Blue-Novel/dp/1250316774/ref=sr_1_1?crid=10F6DJ0QDRM8H&dchild=1&keywords=red+white+and+royal+blue&qid=1612744181&sprefix=red+white+and+%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Red, White, and Royal Blue</a>, by Casey McQuiston - The son of the American president and the younger prince of the UK (not Harry, because this is fiction) have been tabloid rivals for years, and after a disastrous incident at the royal wedding of the crown prince, the two of them are thrown together in a goodwill tour. And then they're in a very hot and heavy secret affair. Will the Crown accept a gay prince? Will the scandal sink the President's reelection? And will the relationship survive when the whole thing blows wide open? This was a cute little fantasy, and a very entertaining read.</p><p>4) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Dark-Phoenix-Stuart-Moore-ebook/dp/B07DZHXC35/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=stuart+moore+dark+phoenix&qid=1612744889&sr=8-1" target="_blank">X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga</a>, by Stuart Moore - I knew, going in, that this was an adaptation. Movie and comic adaptations tend to take the main story, and embroider a little. There will be things that add some depth, give some background, or show you what characters were doing when they weren't featured. For example, the novelization of the final episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "All Good Things", includes a scene with Dr. Pulaski that wasn't in the show. It fits in the book because thematically, it felt like it should be there. </p><p>This is a long way of saying that good adaptations add to the story instead of subtracting from it, and that this book is not a good adaptation. Some of the changes are to update the story, as cell phones and the internet didn't exist when the original was written, but some of them make no sense whatsoever, and add nothing. Professor X is absent for most of the novel, the subplot with Dazzler is removed entirely, and a subplot of Jean and Emma Frost fighting over Scott is added in, decades before that happened in the comics. Overall, this book was kind of a mess and you should skip it.</p><p>5) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Severance-Novel-Ling-Ma-ebook/dp/B078X1KJ28/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=severance&qid=1612745313&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Severance</a>, by Ling Ma - Candace Chen works in the publishing industry in Manhattan, and keeps coming in to work as Shen Fever spreads throughout the city and the world. Moving into the office as the city empties and shuts down, she finds herself completely alone until she finally leaves New York and ends up with a group of survivors led by Bob from IT, who is leading them to a mysterious Facility in Chicago where they can survive. Bob isn't what he seems, and neither is the Facility, but by the time Candace realizes that, will it be too late? This was entertaining but a little bit sad, making it maybe not the best thing to read during a pandemic.</p><p>6) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Night-Mannequins-Stephen-Graham-Jones-ebook/dp/B082RTDL2S/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2RSN3A9U87GZC&dchild=1&keywords=night+of+the+mannequins+by+stephen+graham+jones&qid=1612746901&s=books&sprefix=night+of+the+m%2Cstripbooks%2C189&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Night of the Mannequins</a>, by Stephen Graham Jones - Sawyer and his friends wanted to play one last senior year prank on their friend, sneaking Manny the mannequin into the movie theatre where she works. It all seemed like fun and games until Manny got up and walked out with the rest of the crowd at the end of the movie, vanishing into the night, and then Sawyer's friends started to die. Is the supernatural at work, or is there a problem a little more grounded in reality? In the end, as the deaths circle closer and closer to Sawyer, will it even matter? This was a short, fast read made even faster by how quickly it ratchets the tension up, and I enjoyed it.</p><p>7) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Invention-Sound-Chuck-Palahniuk-ebook/dp/B083J15DPM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+invention+of+sound&qid=1612747418&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Invention of Sound</a>, by Chuck Palahniuk - Gates Foster has been searching for his missing daughter for 17 years. Obsessed with tracking pedophiles across the Dark Web, his life and sanity are on the verge of disaster. Mitzi Ives is one of the leading Foley sound engineers in Hollywood. If you want the sound of a man being eaten by rats or a woman screaming as she's stabbed to death, you call Mitzi, but where does she get her authentic sounds from? As the two of them head closer and closer to each other, will they bring each other down, or will they expose the terrible truth about Hollywood and the value of human suffering? This wasn't Palahniuk's best or his worst, but it did feel kind of skippable.</p><p>Having finished all of these, I'm reading a fictional book about a rich family with dark secrets on the treadmill, and a nonfiction book about a rich family with dark secrets off the treadmill. I guess maybe I have a theme for February?</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-2413990063738851902021-01-01T16:04:00.003-05:002021-01-01T16:04:57.697-05:00<p> It's January first, which means it's time to tally up how many books I read this year. The answer, which I won't know until I reach the end of this entry and do some actual tallying, is probably going to be lower than most of my friends would assume. I may not even have made 52, which is my yearly goal. </p><p>A lot of my friends assumed that I spent most of the pandemic reading on my couch like a "Twilight Zone" character who has time enough at last, but I spent most of the pandemic trying to distract myself. There was a lot of cooking, a daily regimen of Facebook posts, setting myself up to work from home, hanging pictures on my walls after living in my apartment for a year, a three week period when I contemplated making a plate wall out of vintage Pyrex tableware, deciding to go low carb in quarantine (I've lost a little over 30 pounds since March), and a weird stretch for a couple weeks when I didn't read anything. Every time I sat down to read, I just fell asleep, so I ended up playing video games while binging Netflix instead.</p><p><a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2020/01/i-read-some-books-and-stuff.html">Last year</a> I ended up with a tally of 40 books for the year. Not bad, but not my goal of 52 (one book a week). This year I swore I was going to do better and get back to my normal reading level, but like I explained above, 2020 didn't turn out quite like anyone planned. When I last updated on my reading <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2020/11/i-read-bunch-more-books.html">in November</a> I was up to 36 books. I've read at least four books since then, but did I read enough to get to 52?</p><p>Let's tally up the rest of my November and December reading and find out!</p><p>37) Stephen King's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Full-Dark-Stars-Stephen-King/dp/1501197940/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=full+dark+no&qid=1609531527&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Full Dark, No Stars</a>. I've been getting back into Stephen King this year, after a stretch when I found his work kind of self-derivative and less entertaining than I had for the past couple of decades. The stories in this book, like the title suggests, tend to be a little on the darker side. They're definitely not happy endings, which may not be for everyone in the current circumstances, but I found them engaging and at least one of them is still sticking in my head this many weeks later.</p><p>38) Edgar Cantero's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Supernatural-Enhancements-Edgar-Cantero/dp/0804168733/ref=sr_1_1?crid=249HVDHKPS7NC&dchild=1&keywords=the+supernatural+enhancements+by+edgar+cantero&qid=1609531726&sprefix=the+supernatural+en%2Caps%2C244&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Supernatural Enhancements</a>. I remember this book getting a lot of fanfare when it came out, as groundbreaking and exciting. A man and his companion inherit an estate, which may be haunted, and may also be the meeting grounds of a secret society. The house is full of mysteries that they must unravel, which the author presents in the form of riddles, codes, and puzzles. I can see how people thought this was fun, but there has to be a clever story beneath the clever storytelling, and that didn't really happen here. When everything was said and done the actual plot was kind of dull, and I was reminded of that time someone told me that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Special-Topics-Calamity-Physics-Marisha/dp/0143112120/ref=sr_1_1?crid=F8I54JLZSB9W&dchild=1&keywords=special+topics+in+calamity+physics&qid=1609532000&sprefix=special+topics+in%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Special Topics in Calamity Physics</a> was as good as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-Donna-Tartt/dp/1400031702/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+secret+history&qid=1609532052&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Secret History</a> and it really, really wasn't.</p><p>39) Octavia Butler's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Kindred-Octavia-Butler/dp/0807083690/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KGGNF2BH5IVO&dchild=1&keywords=kindred+octavia+butler&qid=1609532262&sprefix=kindred+o%2Caps%2C179&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Kindred</a>. Before the pandemic I'd been at the used bookstore and realized that I hadn't read any of Butler's work since I was in college. I wanted to add more work by people of color to my reading, so I grabbed this and left it on my "unread books" shelves for a while. Oddly, the week after I decided to read it, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/books/review/dolly-parton-by-the-book-interview.html" target="_blank">Dolly Parton mentioned that it is one of her favorite books</a>, so I guess <i>Kindred</i> was having a bit of a moment there. It's a really good book about a modern black woman who keeps being summoned through time to save her ancestor from death, with the complication being that she's being pulled to the antebellum South and the ancestor is white. He has enslaved her other ancestor, and she is forced to keep saving him so that he can father the child that she'll descend from. Butler doesn't shy away from the horror of the situation, and she gives it a realistic (within the circumstances) resolution when she could have given a more romanticized, expected one.</p><p>40) Tom Parker Bowles' <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Year-Eating-Dangerously-Adventure-Culinary/dp/0312373783/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+year+of+eating+dangerously&qid=1609532827&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Year Of Eating Dangerously</a>. I was halfway through this book before it occurred to me to read the author information on the jacket and realize the author was Camilla's son from her first marriage. I binged "The Crown" during the pandemic, so I was mildly surprised to realize I had a book vaguely connected to the royals here in my house this whole time. It's weird to read a book about travel during the pandemic, when we cannot (or at least should not) be out traveling. The author spends a year hopping around the globe eating food that is dangerous or taboo, or that is produced in dangerous settings. To his credit, he tries to temper the stunt eating with visits with locals and guides to also work in some of the culture and traditional cuisines of the places he visits, but most of this was just a long list of foods I won't ever eat.</p><p>41) Budd Schulberg's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Disenchanted-Fesler-Lampert-Minnesota-Heritage/dp/0816679355/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=the+disenchanted&qid=1609533345&sr=8-3" target="_blank">The Disenchanted</a>. A fictionalization of F. Scott Fitzgerald's time in Hollywood at the end of his life, this story had me wishing, as I so often do when I read books about Fitzgerald rather than by Fitzgerald, that he would hurry up and die already. I love my imaginary literary husband very much, but the sloppy drunken self destruction is eventually overwhelming, and I just want it to end. I imagine Zelda and I had this in common. </p><p>42) S.K. Tremayne's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ice-Twins-Novel-S-K-Tremayne/dp/1455586064/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+ice+twins&qid=1609533600&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Ice Twins</a>. At first it seems like we're only dealing with one mystery in this book. Reeling from the loss of their daughter, a married couple and the surviving twin move to a remote Scottish island that they just inherited, hoping to rebuild their lives. As soon as they get there, their daughter starts telling them that she's the other twin, and that they held a funeral for the wrong one. Did they make a horrible mistake? And why is the husband so angry, and what's he hiding in his locked chest of drawers? And why does the wife have gaps in her memory? And is the dead twin a ghost back for revenge? This was a nice, tense read on the treadmill all the way up to the end, when the story falls apart completely and you're denied witnessing the actual climax.</p><p>43) Anna Kendrick's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Scrappy-Little-Nobody-Anna-Kendrick/dp/150111722X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=scrappy+little+nobody&qid=1609533956&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Scrappy Little Nobody</a>. This was funny, and kept me from realizing that I was working out on the treadmill. It was a fun read that would probably also be good for a trip, if we can ever get on an airplane again.</p><p>44) E. Lockhart's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Fraud-Lockhart/dp/0385744781/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=genuine+fraud&qid=1609534084&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Genuine Fraud</a>. The basic premise here is "What if <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Talented-Mr-Ripley-Patricia-Highsmith/dp/0393332144/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+talented+mister+ripley&qid=1609534179&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Talented Mr. Ripley</a> was bout women instead", but it's well written. The story unfolds in reverse, which made it pretty interesting, because it starts out seeming like one kind of book, and slowly unfolds into being a completely different one.</p><p>45) Rebecca Fishbein's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Good-Things-Happen-People-Hate/dp/0062889982/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3L3VQ45YUI87I&dchild=1&keywords=good+things+happen+to+people+you+hate&qid=1609534562&sprefix=good+things+happen+to%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Good Things Happen to People You Hate</a>. A collection of essays billed as "hilarious", I found this entertaining, but wouldn't go quite as far as hilarious. There are some funny parts, but it's not a funny book.</p><p>46) Mariko Koike's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Graveyard-Apartment-Novel-Mariko-Koike/dp/1250060540/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+graveyard+apartment&qid=1609534729&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Graveyard Apartment</a>. Why not round out the year of not being able to leave your homes with the story of a Japanese family that wants to leave theirs and may not be able to. They thought the apartment in the brand new high rise was a great place to grow into their lives and move past their marriage's dark beginnings, and sure, it's next door to a graveyard, but worrying about that is just superstitious nonsense, right? Nope. Not at all, actually, and the worse things in the building get the more it looks like they may never leave.</p><p>So, to wrap up the year, I ended up six books ahead of last year, but six books behind my goal.</p><p>Maybe in 2021 we can do better.</p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-81688156869066001072020-11-19T11:18:00.001-05:002020-11-19T11:18:39.233-05:00I Read a Bunch More Books<p> It's been a while since I checked in, but I've used that time to read several books. Since I want to be able to do my traditional count at the end of the year (I did not fill out an excel sheet this year, but really should have because <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-year-in-books-and-year-without-books.html" target="_blank">doing it in 2019 gave a lot of interesting data</a>), it's time we caught up on what I've been reading.</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Revival-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1476770395/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=stephen+king+revival&qid=1605798649&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Revival</a>, by Stephen King - I've found some of King's newer work to be less enjoyable, but this is a good, solid return to a more classic sort of King novel with hard times, supernatural menace, but the real stars of the story being regular people in irregular situations. I read this fairly quickly, but mostly because it was good and I wanted to see what would happen.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Date-Bryson-Keller-Kevin-Whye/dp/0593126068/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605798849&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Date Me, Bryson Keller</a>, by Kevin van Whye - This was below my reading level, but cute and charming. Bryson Keller, popular senior, has agreed to a bet where he must date the first person who asks him out on Monday morning for a week at a time. Kai Sheridan didn't think the bet would apply to boys or that Bryson would say yes, but now they're dating for a week even though Bryson is straight and Kai is about to get his heart broken... but maybe not?<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Boy-His-Dog-End-World/dp/0316449431/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605799139&sr=1-1" target="_blank">A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World</a>, by C.A. Fletcher - This post-apocalypse novel is actually the last book I bought in a Barnes and Noble in the Before Time, back in February, so it was interesting to finally get around to reading it deep into social distancing. Griz lives with his family and his dogs on a remote island off the coast of the United Kingdom (maybe off of Scotland? I'm bad at UK geography) many years after the end of civilization. They sometimes interact with another family many islands away, but for the most part keep to themselves until the day a trader comes, and leaves with one of Griz' dogs. Chasing after him in one of the family boats, the thief leads Griz on a chase through the remains of our world and an unexpected final twist. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that the author leans heavily into a "serialized story" kind of writing, where every chapter ends with an ominous mention of something terrible coming up.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Strange-Weather-Four-Short-Novels/dp/0062663119/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605799837&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Strange Weather</a> by Joe Hill - This was the first in a string of short story collections over the past couple of months. I enjoy Hill's writing, and these stories were pretty entertaining. My favorite was one about a sky diver who crashes onto the top of a UFO disguised as a cloud, but everything in this book was pretty good.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/October-Boys-Adam-Millard/dp/1947522027/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+october+boys&qid=1605800012&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">The October Boys</a> by Adam Millard - A friend suggested this, but it wasn't that great. In 1988, four boys are out trick or treating when they are pursued by a rusty ice cream truck in the middle of the night, and only three of them make it home. 27 years later, they are seeing the truck and hearing its jingle again, and they know the Ice Cream Man is coming back. There was an interesting idea here, but it doesn't feel like an original idea, and the back quarter of the book jams in a lot of sudden backstory to flesh the whole thing out. This isn't a bad book, but I forgot pretty much everything about it as soon as I was finished, and just had to read the summary on Amazon to remember the basics of the plot.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Look-Behind-Duncan-Thrillers/dp/0316126586/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=don%27t+look+behind+you&qid=1605801234&s=books&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Don't Look Behind You</a> by Lois Duncan - Somehow I had this on my unread books shelf, so I plowed through it in about a day, if that. This story of a family in witness protection, pursued by a hitman, would probably make a pretty good Lifetime movie since the teenage daughter is a brat who repeatedly compromises them and endangers their lives through her tantrums, and Lifetime loves bad teenagers. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Just-After-Sunset-Stephen-King/dp/1501197657/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605801400&sr=1-2" target="_blank">Just After Sunset</a> by Stephen King - Another King book, and another short story collection. There are 13 stories here, and while they're not all about the supernatural they are all disturbing in some way. Again, in classic King tradition, the real monsters tend to be regular people, but there are also some good old fashioned monster monsters, too. I enjoyed this collection. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Halloween-Season-Lucy-Snyder/dp/1947879219/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=halloween+season&qid=1605801659&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Halloween Season</a> by Lucy Snyder - A collection of stories and poems related to Halloween (some of them only loosely), this book is short but impactful. If you're familiar with Snyder's work (you should be, if you like short horror stories), then some of these will feel a little thematically familiar, but the writing is good and the stories are entertaining. Snyder has a skill for doing a lot of world building in a short amount of space without it feeling forced, and it leads to some very interesting tales.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Museum-Dr-Moses-Mystery-Suspense/dp/0156033429/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605801938&sr=1-2" target="_blank">The Museum of Dr. Moses</a> by Joyce Carol Oates - I wasn't kidding when I said I went on a little "short story collection" binge. There's definite tension in these stories, and they're well written. The title story was, to me, one of the least interesting in the book, but overall this was a nice, diverting read.<br /></p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Party-Novel-Lucy-Foley/dp/0062868918/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1605802352&sr=1-2" target="_blank">The Hunting Party</a> by Lucy Foley - I impulse bought this at the store because I had heard a lot of good things about it, and it turned out to be a good mystery. A group of old college friends gets together every year for New Year's, and this year the celebration is taking place at a remote Scottish lodge, deep in the woods. By the end of the first chapter one of them is dead, but this is a double mystery, in that you spend most of the book trying to figure out who died and trying to figure out who killed them. You're pretty far into the story, told in the present day and in flashbacks to three days before, before you even get a pronoun on the corpse, but this approach works well. There are plenty of people in here who maybe should be murdered, and plenty of reasons for murdering them.<br /></p>Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-6062527983252281442020-09-13T10:20:00.002-05:002020-09-13T10:29:05.041-05:00I read some more booksSometimes I think about January. Remember January? It might be hard since it was about 85 years ago for many of us, but I remember that it was a completely different world where I went out to eat and got in my car and drove places and made plans to get on airplanes and went to movies and plays in theatres (possibly in theaters, as I am never sure which word I should use), and generally things were very different. One of the things I swore to do in January was get back to regular blogging, but doing so implies a regular existence, and it turns out that one thing is kind of hard without the other. <br />
<br />
I also haven't been reading as much as I usually do during the pandemic. I have read a few things since the last time I updated, though, and there's very little else going on in lockdown (even though we're not officially in lockdown anymore; I'm just still staying home as a high risk person), so let's talk about the things I've read since the last time I talked about the things I've read, shall we? <br />
<br />
I've always liked Dominick Dunne's books, so I read Robert Hofler's <a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Money-Murder-Dominick-Dunne-Several-ebook/dp/B06WWHPRBN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=32O0XILIO4IZX&dchild=1&keywords=money+murder+and+dominick+dunne&qid=1600007204&sprefix=money+murder+and+d%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1"
target="_blank"
>Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne</a
> thinking, "Oh, this will tell me more about his life while he was writing various things, and will offer insight," and it kind of did. It also told me, repeatedly, that Dominick Dunne had gay sex. A lot of gay sex. All the time. So much gay sex that Hofler seemed compelled to include as much of it as he could, even in places where including it was odd. You'd just be reading about him moving to a new city and buying a new apartment, and then all of a sudden it's like, "Dunne got a vintage designer living room set for the space at a Sotheby's auction, and then later wrote in his diary about doing lines of coke off of a male hooker's back before getting railed on the ottoman. He had lunch with Faye Dunaway the next day, and only ordered a salad." I know Dunne was gay, and I know that repressing that shaped his life and the way he wrote about some people, but wow, there was a lot of sex in this biography. As I said to a friend while reading it, "This biography of Dominick Dunne reads like a book by Dominick Dunne," and maybe that was the point. <br />
<br />
I was picking over my "unread books" shelf and thought, "I've had this copy of Peter Straub's <a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Night-Room-Novel-Peter-Straub/dp/0345491327/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1VGXUXO4ML6G1&dchild=1&keywords=peter+straub+in+the+night+room&qid=1600007838&sprefix=in+the+night+room+pet%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-1"
target="_blank"
>In The Night Room</a
> for a while. Maybe I should read it." As it turns out, based on the receipt I found tucked in the front cover, "for a while" means I bought this book 14 years ago in 2006, when I still lived in Albany. Talk about the world being very different... Anyway, I got kind of bored reading this. There are Peter Straub books that I like and immediately get into reading, and there are Peter Straub books that feel like I was assigned them for a class I don't want to be in, and this was definitely the second kind. Even the twist, which I should have found interesting, just landed kind of flat. <br />
<br />
On the other hand, maybe I couldn't get through that book because I knew that Stephenie Meyer's <a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Sun-Stephenie-Meyer/dp/031670704X/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=midnight+sun&qid=1600008510&sr=8-3"
target="_blank"
>Midnight Sun</a
> was waiting patiently for me on the coffee table, and I couldn't wait to throw myself back into the world of vampire insanity. Let me tell you: everything you hated while you were hate-reading the entire Twilight saga (except "Good and Evil", which we are apparently all politely ignoring based on the back of the book: <br />
<br />
<a
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title="Twilight Saga"
><img
src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50337754952_a50a36e9d6.jpg"
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/></a> <script
async
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<br />
) is still here for you to hate, but also... THERE'S EVEN MORE! I'm going to just split this out into some highlights: <br />
<br />
1) There's still no reason why Edward and Bella fall in love. If you remember reading the original and thinking, "Why does she just suddenly love him?", then wait until you read this story from Edward's point of view and find out that he doesn't know either. They just meet in biology class and they're in love, and that's it. <br />
<br />
2) Edward really hates Mike and Jessica. Like, a lot. He hates them so much that his mental monologue sounds like Joe thinking about Peach Salinger on <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80211991" target="_blank">You</a>. I don't remember if he ever mentioned to Bella in the original series how much venomous bile (not to be confused with the venom that constantly floods his mouth around Bella because they're in love) he has for those two, but he hates them to a level that even I, a person who checks my high school yearbooks to see if someone has a black X over their face before I accept friend requests, was amused and concerned. 95% of this book is really about how Edward, a 100 year old man deeply in love with a literal child, needs pyschological help way more than he needs a girlfriend. <br />
<br />
3) Bella smells so good, intoxicatingly good, to Edward, but he never tells us exactly what that smell is like even though he mentions it on every page, sometimes multiple times on the same page. Since he's a vampire and he's smelling her blood, is it food based? Like she smells like maple syrup? Merlot? Buttercream (my all time favorite discontinued Yankee Candle scent)? We'll never know. We'll just know she smells. Also, because he's smelling her blood and is suddenly in love with her, all I can think about every time he says it is Margaret White ranting to Carrie about, "First comes the blood, then the boys, comin' for that smell! To find out what that smell is!" and I doubt that's the feeling Meyer was going for. <br />
<br />
4) The cover design is terrible. I get the whole pomegranate metaphor (if I didn't, Edward spells it out in literal terms in the story, because that's the reading level these books are designed for), but it's visually unattractive. The front of the book is not appealing. In short, this already deeply flawed "romance" is not improved by knowing what Edward was thinking the whole time. <br />
<br />
I wanted a palate cleanser from garbage, so after the Twilight book I read Mitch Landrieu's <a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Statues-Southerner-Confronts-History/dp/0525559469/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=in+the+shadow+of+statues&qid=1600009803&sr=8-3"
target="_blank"
>In The Shadow of Statues</a
>, which seemed especially fitting in light of recent events. Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans and lieutenant governor of Louisianna, talks about his lifelong journey toward understanding racism and his part in it, culminating in his long and ultimately successful battle to remove Confederate monuments from the streets of New Orleans. He also talks a lot about Hurrican Katrina and the aftermath, which opens a discussion about racism and classism in politics, and how the two are almost always linked. This was an interesting read. <br />
<br />
I wrapped up my recent reading with Maria Sherman's <a
href="https://www.amazon.com/Larger-Than-Life-History-Bands/dp/0762468912/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Q8DXKAG45TQU&dchild=1&keywords=larger+than+life+maria+sherman&qid=1600010215&sprefix=larger+than+life+m%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1"
target="_blank"
>Larger Than Life</a
>, a fun history of boy bands from the 1950s up until now, which my friend Kristin sent me. A breezy, entertaining read, there actually is a lot of history of the music business in here, some fashion and marketing critique, and an interesting discussion about how product consumed mostly by young women is viewed by society. I liked this a lot, too. <br />
<br />
Now I'm halfway through a Stephen King book, because my friend Jackie went on a Stephen King kick, so I guess I'll be writing about that eventually. Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-34729443908741657792020-07-05T19:27:00.002-05:002020-07-05T19:27:36.323-05:00More Lockdown ReadingI swore that this was the year I was going to get back to blogging, but it turns out that being in lockdown and going on a low carb diet where you rarely cook anything fun or exciting doesn't really leave a lot to blog about. My friends think that I'm reading a ton, but I have to admit that sometimes it's been a little difficult to focus on reading. Sometimes I just sit and watch TV, something I never used to do, and sometimes I just go to bed at 9 PM because I'm just done for the day.<br />
<br />
I'm still reading some stuff, though, so here's a list of the books that I've read since April and a few thoughts about them:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Norse-Mythology-Neil-Gaiman/dp/039360909X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1593992586&sr=8-3">Norse Mythology</a>, by Neil Gaiman, is exactly what it says it is: a collection of stories from Norse mythology. Most of the reason I read this was as a companion to <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-comics-of-lockdown.html">that reading of "The Mighty Thor" that I did a few months ago</a>. I like the Thor movies, and I love "The Mighty Thor", so it was nice to read something that adds a little depth to both of those things that I already liked, and Neil Gaiman's writing is always a pleasure.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Things-Other-Stories-Tremblay/dp/0062679139/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2T1345LJIAR7R&dchild=1&keywords=growing+things+and+other+stories+by+paul+tremblay&qid=1593992828&sprefix=growing+thin%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-2">Growing Things and Other Stories</a>, by Paul Tremblay, was a collection of somewhat unsettling, often disturbing short stories. Some of the stories tie into his novels, which I've started to become a fan of, but most of them are stand-alone short works. Oddly, I thought the title story was one of the weaker ones, but overall this was a decent collection of things to read in small bites, and might be great if you like horror but have trouble concentrating right now. On the other hand, we're starting to live in a story that could be in this book, so maybe it's not really the best idea.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Some-Hell-Novel-Patrick-Nathan-ebook/dp/B0796XD1VW/ref=sr_1_2?crid=359X9OZRFYY8U&dchild=1&keywords=some+hell+by+patrick+nathan&qid=1593993001&sprefix=some+hell%2Caps%2C234&sr=8-2">Some Hell</a>, by Patrick Nathan, tells the story of a family dissolving after the father's suicide. He leaves behind a collection of notebooks, and as the family members secretly read them to try to understand, they spiral in different, but equally destructive, directions. I'm going to go ahead and give a spoiler about the ending, though, so skip to the next paragraph now if you don't want to know what I think. OK, if you're still here, I have to tell you that the ending is a huge let down, because it feels like the author didn't know where to go. Everyone is at a crisis point, and then they suddenly all die in an earthquake, and that's the end. <br />
<br />
I've never read fiction by Roxanne Gay before, and I didn't read the dust jacket for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Difficult-Women-Roxane-Gay/dp/0802127371/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3BE2ZIEQ68DAA&dchild=1&keywords=difficult+women+roxanne+gray&qid=1593993731&sprefix=difficult+women+ro%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-2">Difficult Women</a>, so I didn't realize that this was a collection of short stories. The first one is told in the first person, and I was reading it thinking, <i>"Oh my God, I had no idea she survived this kind of trauma. How did this not come up when I read that other book by her?"</i>, but then someone used the narrator's first name and I was like, <i>"Oh. I'm stupid."</i> The women in these stories are labeled difficult, but most of them were just women trying to live their lives in the face of adversity. <br />
<br />
I went into <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ballad-Songbirds-Snakes-Hunger-Games/dp/1338635174/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2KBN89WXIRBJ6&dchild=1&keywords=the+ballad+of+songbirds+and+snakes&qid=1593993987&sprefix=the+ballad+of%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-3">The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes</a>, Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" prequel, with reservations, because I was worried that this story was going to be an attempt to paint President Snow, one of the villains of the previous books, as sympathetic and misunderstood. At first, it seems like that is the story that Collins is telling, on the surface, but the deeper into this you get, the more you see that she subtly chips away at that message. Snow talks continuously about how the wealthy Capitol citizens suffered through the war, trying to put them on the same level of sympathy as the poverty stricken Districts, but there's also a constant series of references to an incident where one of his rich neighbor families eats their maid. The rich literally eat the poor to survive, and Collins makes sure you never forget that through the book. Snow is lauded for being well-bred and honorable, but he also cheats, lies, and sells out his fiends at every turn, convincing himself that he's doing it in service of a higher good. Snow might come out of this book thinking he's a good person, but the reader doesn't, and I'm ok with that.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-You-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0345807111/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=beautiful+you&qid=1593994391&sr=8-3">Beautiful You</a>, by Chuck Palahniuk, had a lot of sex, but you can't really tell the story of a Steve Jobs type who tries to take over the world with nanite-infested sex toys without a lot of sex. Most of the sex is very clinical, and some of it definitely borders on distasteful, but it's a Palahniuk book and in this case it's also kind of the point. <br />
<br />
Now, let me do you a favor: don't bother buying or even reading the free version of John Bolton's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Room-Where-Happened-White-Memoir/dp/1982148039/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1BSDRGD7R7K0S&dchild=1&keywords=the+room+where+it+happened+john+bolton&qid=1593994562&sprefix=the+room+where%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-2">The Room Where It Happened</a>. It's dull. All the good parts have already been covered by the media, leaving behind 500 pages of boring.<br />
<br />
This weekend I finished Carol Goodman's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Lost-Girls-Novel/dp/0062852027/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2JMHRKLMBTOTA&dchild=1&keywords=the+sea+of+lost+girls&qid=1593994810&sprefix=the+sea+of+lo%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-2">The Sea of Lost Girls</a>, and it was comforting in the same way that Mary Higgins Clark's books are comforting. If you've read a few, you know what you're getting: a solid, entertaining read with a few themes in common with her other books. There's always a mysterious death in the past that has some sort of ties to a death in the present, a female protagonist is always in danger, things are never what they seem, and there's usually a secret baby somewhere along the way. All the books don't have these elements, but they have enough of them that if you like them, you like each book the author gives you, and I like Goodman's books. Oddly, I always think, "This would be a great read for a plane," but I don't think I've ever read one while traveling. <br />
<br />
Now, we're halfway through the year and I'm only at 21 books. I'm going to have to pick things up a little if we're getting to 52, but I'm on track to beat last year's total, so... fingers crossed, but not crossed so much that I can't turn pages.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-25219039080165563092020-05-17T19:01:00.003-05:002020-05-17T19:01:56.435-05:00The Comics of LockdownNew comics are about to return the comic store, after several weeks of absence during the current lockdown situations. My store mailed me the last couple of weeks' worth of books before publishing and delivery ceased, and I supported them during the closure by purchasing a large gift card to help keep money coming in. Now that things are starting up again, the gift card will give me a few more weeks worth of books, which they will also mail, but this long absence from reading new books has given me and my comic reading friends some time to catch up on beloved older books or to check out books that we hadn't read before. <br />
<br />
So, what have I been reading? Well, in no particular order:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Check-Please-Book-Sticks-Scones-ebook/dp/B085X9DJRM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=98RRWBXEKKE9&dchild=1&keywords=check+please+sticks+and+scones&qid=1589756994&sprefix=check+please+st%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-1">Check, Please! Book 2</a>, by Ngozi Ukazu. Even though this is a web series, I somehow held out from reading the series and instead have been waiting for this book since my friend George sent me <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GVC83DX?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_0&storeType=ebooks">the first one</a> a year or so ago. This was worth the wait, and I'm not kidding when I say I laughed, I cried (a lot; this thing had my emotions all over the place), and I read it again as soon as I finished.<br />
<br />
The series follows the four year college journey of Eric "Bitty" Bittle, the figure skating son of a football coach. He's an expert baker, and walks onto the university hockey team due to his speed and spins, but is also hampered by his fear of physical contact on the ice. There are mixed reviews on Amazon, because some people are jackholes about profanity and gay relationships, but as a person who enjoys hockey, college settings, baking, and dynamic art styles, this book is wonderful. Reading the first one made me happy, and reading the second made me happier. I really cannot say enough good things about this.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gotham-High-Melissa-Cruz-ebook/dp/B086H78KG8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3SHVH9UF5OFQM&dchild=1&keywords=gotham+high&qid=1589757644&sprefix=gotham+high%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1">Gotham High</a> by Melissa De La Cruz. Boy was this a lot of noise about nothing. A reimagining of the Batman universe as a high school where Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, Jack Napier, and Harvey Dent are students, the racist and homophobic portions of the Bat-universe fanbase were all up in arms before this came out because a) almost every character is a racial or sexual minority in the story, and b) it was originally reported that many characters in the book would be sexually fluid, and that Bruce and Jack (Batman and the Joker) would "cross boundaries" during a threeway with Selina (Catwoman). That doesn't actually happen in the book. Really, this is just a regular Batman story of kidnappings, robbery, forgery, and other crimes both petty and major, in a slightly different setting. The art is decent, and the story is entertaining, but I was hoping for all the allegedly shocking controversy, so I was disappointed.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thor-Vol-Goddess-Thunder-2014-2015-ebook/dp/B00VU2BKQA/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=the+mighty+thor&qid=1589758131&sr=8-8">All</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XZD7E62?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks">seven</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Thor-Vol-Thunder-2015-2018-ebook/dp/B01ETWG83W/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=the+mighty+thor&qid=1589758269&sr=8-2">paperbacks</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Thor-Vol-Midgard-2015-2018-ebook/dp/B01M74JYHW/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+mighty+thor&qid=1589758311&sr=8-1">of</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Thor-Vol-Asgard-Shiar/dp/1302903098/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=the+mighty+thor&qid=1589758339&sr=8-4">the</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Thor-Vol-War-2015-2018-ebook/dp/B077ZG37BP/ref=reads_cwrtbar_1/141-0508596-4349947?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B077ZG37BP&pd_rd_r=c405d046-1132-49ee-a052-963c6f225280&pd_rd_w=mYKH8&pd_rd_wg=pIqeU&pf_rd_p=f7e50e46-03c7-4eda-9ad4-faa4a79972b4&pf_rd_r=THQ5EZHMACS821E4Q0R5&psc=1&refRID=THQ5EZHMACS821E4Q0R5">Mighty</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D556CJW?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_4&storeType=ebooks">Thor</a>, by Jason Aaron. Some of this was prep for the next Thor movie, and some of it was just because this is an outstanding run of comics. If you're not familiar, at the start of the run the Odinson has lost the power to lift Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. Things are looking dire, when suddenly a new Thor appears and she's lifting the hammer just fine. Who is she? Where did she come from? Since this series is now a few years old, I'll go ahead and give the rest of the spoiler:<br />
<br />
The new Thor is Dr. Jane Foster, and she has a problem. She's dying of cancer, and every time she lifts the hammer and becomes Thor she is healed of her chemotherapy, which means that being the mighty Thor is slowly killing her. This puts a ticking clock on the whole series, even as a ticking clock is also placed on Thor and the gods of Asgard, as the destroyer of gods is slowly coming for them. All that stands between them and oblivion is the mighty Thor, but she also stands on the brink of death. This is a story of heroism, sacrifice, family, and acceptance, as well as good old fashioned superheroes punching things. Also, the loss of his hammer leaves the Odinson with a costume of cape, pants, and no shirt, so there's also a lot of this:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49907038076/in/dateposted-public/" title="Odinson and friends"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49907038076_ae236a653a.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Odinson and friends"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Truly, a comic with something for everybody. I can only hope this is the costume they go with for Chris Hemsworth in the next movie.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Straczynskis-Midnight-Nation-Vol/dp/1582404607/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=midnight+nation&qid=1589759344&sr=8-1">Midnight Nation</a> by J. Michael Straczynski. This was a reread of the first comic I ever bought monthly that wasn't about superheroes. It's a story of loss and redemption starring police officer David Grey, who sees something unexplainable on a call and finds himself on a journey across America's forgotten underside to save his soul, accompanied by a woman who might be an angel or might be a devil meant to lead him to his fate. This was right when Gary Frank's art was in the "very realistic" phase but right before it slipped into "everyone has a grinning rictus of terror and looks at least 40 years older than they should" phase, so it tells the story well. I don't see this book referenced a lot, which is sad because it's really well done.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Orbiter-WARREN-ELLIS-ebook/dp/B00J4ZTA3A/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dc+comics+orbiter&qid=1589759770&sr=8-1">Orbiter</a>, by Warren Ellis. The space shuttle Venture, missing in space for ten years, crash lands in Florida. It's covered in alien technology, and only one mute crew member remains inside. Where have they been? What happened to them? Why have they returned? Can the trio of specialists brought in to discover the truth solve the mystery? What does it mean for humanity if they do? This is a good science fiction story, and Colleen Doran's art is great. Again, I rarely if ever see people talk about this book, which is sad because it's good.<br />
<br />
As for what's next on the comic reading list, I haven't decided yet, but I have a few more things sitting around waiting to be read.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-33048503526860359092020-04-19T10:14:00.001-05:002020-04-19T10:14:19.329-05:00Books and a Snack"You must be reading so much during quarantine!"<br />
<br />
Someone said this to me the other day, and I'm not sure that all of my friends get that "working from home" doesn't mean "laying around on my couch reading books". I am reading some, though, and the last time I counted up books for my year end tally was at the end of February, so here's everything I've read since then:<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Movies-And-Other-Things/dp/B07XGDKS12/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T383MFXKOIBR&dchild=1&keywords=movies+and+other+things+shea+serrano&qid=1587304973&sprefix=movies+and+o%2Caps%2C249&sr=8-1">Movies (And Other Things)</a></b> by Shea Serrano is a funny walk through a bunch of movies that Shea and I apparently have in common as favorites. Each chapter asks a question (Who had the worst death in "Kill Bill"? Did the Rockford Peaches make the right decision trading Kit? If all the high school movies were one movie, who would Regina George's friends be?) and then argues the way to the answer along with some funny illustrations. There are some thoughtful points here, and also some reminders that I should see some of these movies again if it's been too long since last time I did.<br />
<br />
I like Robert R. McCammon, but <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Greystone-Bay-Robert-McCammon/dp/158767596X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2R9HHHG16QWXC&dchild=1&keywords=tales+from+greystone+bay&qid=1587305294&sprefix=tales+from+greys%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1">Tales from Greystone Bay</a></b> is too short. Each of the short stories here is a little interesting, but there are only three in the whole book, so I read it in less than a day. All three stories could have been fleshed out a little more, into novellas, and this would have been a lot better.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Harbor-John-Ajvide-Lindqvist-ebook/dp/B004YD36FU/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=harbor+john+lindqvist&qid=1587305652&sr=8-1">Harbor</a></b>, by John Ajvide Lindquist, is an odd sort of horror story, starting out with an ordinary family and slowly building to ancient god-monsters, ghosts, human sacrifice, and destruction. In the middle of Scandinavian winter, Anders and Cecelia take their daughter, Maja, across the frozen channel to see the lighthouse. Somewhere on the way home, in clear weather and with their backs turned for only a second, Maja vanishes. Anders returns to the island a few years later, drunk and broken, and discovers that Maja isn't the only one to disappear from the village, but instead that one person disappears into the sea every year, and has for hundreds of years. There's also a weird subplot about a magic symbiotic insect that lets the host control water, which is the part of this that was really odd. This was marketed as horror, but not really scary or disturbing.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fortress-at-End-Time-ebook/dp/B01JZ6SJ8E/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=fortress+at+the+end+of+time&qid=1587306149&sr=8-1">The Fortress at the End of Time</a></b>, by Joe McDermott, was much more interesting. The entire novel is a long confession from Ronaldo Aldo, an Ensign from Earth stationed at the Citadel, the farthest human colony. Humanity is connected by the Ansible, a faster than light link that lets them transmit things and people along its length, sort of: patterns are sent along to Ansible and then assembled out of raw materials at the other end, so Aldo is actually a clone of Aldo, and if he gets promoted off of the Citadel, the Aldo sent to the next colony will be another clone, leaving the original and the Citadel clone behind. The Citadel is the last outpost of a century old galactic war, forever listening for the enemy's return, and Aldo will do anything to escape from it. As his confession unfolds, we find out exactly how much of anything.<br />
<br />
Lev Grossman's <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Warp-Novel-Lev-Grossman/dp/125009237X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1N5JI7MEMJ8YU&keywords=warp+by+lev+grossman&qid=1587306712&sprefix=warp+lev%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1">Warp</a></b> is a non-event. The story of Hollis, a recent college graduate still living near his school and struggling to force himself to get a job and become an adult, is like a worse version of "Catcher in the Rye", a feat I didn't think possible.<br />
<br />
F. Paul Wilson's <b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Keep-Novel-Adversary-Cycle-Repairman-ebook/dp/B0763RTZMN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=23FNBLZ6E5791&dchild=1&keywords=the+keep+f+paul+wilson&qid=1587306863&sprefix=the+keep+f%2Caps%2C202&sr=8-1">The Keep</a></b> pits evil against evil in the Romanian alps of World War II. A garrison of Nazi soldiers is warned by the village not to spend the night in the Keep, the ancient fortress towering above them, but the soldiers pay them no mind. By the end of the first night, two soldiers are dead, and another dies each night, killed by an enemy that moves through shadows and drains them of blood. Trapped in the middle of the struggle, a Jewish professor of folklore and his daughter must decide whether to side with the evil of the supernatural or the evil of humanity without becoming monsters themselves.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Masked-Lou-Anders/dp/1439168822/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=masked+lou+anders&qid=1587307621&sr=8-1">Masked</a></b>, a story collection edited by Lou Anders, is a fantastic set of superhero stories, written by some of the biggest names in the industry. Authors include Gail Simone, Bill Willingham, Mike Carey, Peter David, and more, and all of the characters are originals. There are some great stories in here, and the one that finishes the book was amazing.<br />
<br />
Like I said at the beginning, though, reading isn't all I've been doing. I've also been sitting at my new desk a lot for work. Since my new desk is right next to my kitchen, a problem a lot of my friends are having (I'm not naming names, but one of my friends set up her work from home station on the second floor so that every time she contemplates getting a snack she has to decide if it's worth a trip up and down the stairs), I'm struggling with the idea of having snacks only feet away. I'm also trying to eat better in isolation, going lower carb and looking for healthy snacks, and I landed on nuts. I'm allergic to some kind of nuts, but I love peanuts and cashews. In perusing the nut selection at Kroger, though, I discovered that getting spiced, flavored nuts adds a dollar or two per can, and I can just do that myself for cheap.<br />
<br />
So...<br />
<br />
<b>Homemade Spiced Nuts</b><br />
<br />
1 egg white<br />
2 cups nuts (unsalted or lightly salted)<br />
1 tablespoon brown sugar (the recipe called for 3, but like I said I'm trying to cut back on carbs)<br />
4 tablespoons total of spices<br />
<br />
You can use whatever kind of spices you want. The recipe wanted oregano, thyme, parsley, and chili powder, but again, this is up to you and what you have in the cabinet. This time, I wanted something mustard based, and a lot of recipes pair mustard with cinnamon, so I went with dry mustard, cinnamon, nutmeg, and Chinese 5 spice:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49789397712/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade spiced nuts"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49789397712_0b32e2f4f3.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade spiced nuts"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Preheat your oven to 250 F. <br />
<br />
Mix the egg white into the spices:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49789084876/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade spiced nuts"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49789084876_a74cfa3d4f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade spiced nuts"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and then add the nuts and stir them around to get them really coated:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49789397777/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade spiced nuts"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49789397777_5a4372ba4f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade spiced nuts"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Spread your nuts out on a cookie sheet:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49789084841/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade spiced nuts"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49789084841_e2e48dcb86.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade spiced nuts"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Bake for 15 minutes, then stir them around a little on the sheet (some of them might be stuck together, so break them up a little with the spatula), bake for 15 more minutes, stir again, then bake for 15 more minutes and take them out. They'll be hot and soft, so leave them alone on the cookie sheet for 15 more minutes, then put them into a container:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49788541343/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade spiced nuts"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49788541343_a3a84bcc09.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade spiced nuts"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and you have homemade spiced nuts. The recipe said they will keep for 5 days as long as you keep a lid on your container, but these aren't going to last five days.<br />
<br />
If you're wondering how mine turned out, they're good, but I can't taste the mustard at all, and it might have been a bit of a waste. They're still good, though, and I've been munching a handful every time I pass my desk even though they are supposed to be for work this week. <br />
<br />
For the next batch, I'm thinking of going for an Indian sort of mix, with curry, ginger, and garam masala. That should be low key delicious.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-35242270877619494342020-04-12T10:14:00.001-05:002020-04-12T10:14:54.271-05:00The Rainbow Ribbon MoldWe get Good Friday off from work. We don't call it Good Friday, because there's a separation of church and state, so instead we actually get Spring Recess off. It's a floating holiday that always just happens to land on Good Friday every year, but never happens to land on Passover, Purim, Vesak, or any other religious holiday that occurs in Spring. There also aren't any floating holidays on our calendars that land on those days, so we don't get them off. <br />
<br />
Since we had Friday off, for whatever reason, I spent the morning assembling a desk to take zoom calls at, rather than taking zoom calls. Working from home has been an interesting experience so far, but I really needed a work space, rather than a recliner and TV tray. I don't have a dining room set, because I live alone, so I ordered a folding table from Amazon. Amazon shipped my folding table from Indianapolis to Nashville, and then lost track of it on the three hour drive from Nashville to Knoxville, so after they refunded it I ordered a desk that I put together on Friday morning. I only hit myself in the head with a piece of the desk one time, so assembly went fairly well.<br />
<br />
Now that I have a desk, I've suddenly started eating at it, and feeling like I need to sit at it and do projects and things. Since I didn't want to do work on the weekend, as I am trying really hard to separate work activities and home activities while both are taking place in the same place, I looked around my apartment for other projects I could do at my desk.<br />
<br />
Rather than write a novel, I decided to make Jello.<br />
<br />
Like most totally normal home cooks, I have ten Jello cookbooks, dating back several decades. In reading them at my desk, I noticed two important things:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49764419917/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49764419917_3034e684d3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
1) Almost all of them feature the Rainbow Ribbon Mold, and<br />
<br />
2) the Rainbow Ribbon Mold only requires two ingredients, which I have here in the house during lockdown.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.kraftcanada.com/recipes/jell-o-rainbow-ribbon-mold-84113">Rainbow Ribbon Mold recipe</a> calls for 5 flavors of Jello and sour cream, although you could make it in five layers with the same flavor of Jello as long as you have five boxes. The only real challenge to the recipe is the time and patience required, and God knows that now is a great time to work on patience.<br />
<br />
I assembled my five boxes of Jello (I had six, in case the mold turned out to be bigger than I thought, but it turned out to be smaller, so I only got through ROYG, rather than ROYGBV) my mold, a Tupperware Jello mold that my friend Donna sent me a few years ago, when <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2015/06/blair-witch-jell-o.html">I was experimenting with Jello more often</a>, and a collection of measuring cups of various sizes for easy microwaving and pouring.<br />
<br />
The recipe is fairly easy: you make a box of Jello (using less water than the box instructions specify so that your Jello stays firm), and then half of it goes into the mold to set in a layer. The other half gets mixed with a few tablespoons of sour cream, to make a color-tinted creamy layer, and when the first half is set you spoon the creamy layer on top of the clear layer. After the creamy layer sets, you repeat the process.<br />
<br />
Being an impatient person who needs to learn patience, I tried to rush the first layer setting by putting the mold in an ice bath. The mold would float evenly, though, so I had to give up on this idea or else end up with badly crooked layers.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49764419612/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49764419612_e21e7bc962.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Instead, I got a book, and started setting the timer, over and over, figuring out from the red layers how long it would be:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49764419517/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49764419517_e0633f127b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
After the red layer, I fell into a routine:<br />
<br />
1) Microwave water for clear layer. Mix in Jello, and put that container in the fridge for about twenty minutes.<br />
<br />
2) Check consistency of foam layer by dropping one droplet of clear onto it. If it's ready, measure out clear layer, then carefully add it to the mold. Do not pour it directly into the mold, because the force of the pour may punch through the foam layer. Either spoon it in, or pour it onto a spoon over the mold to blunt the pour.<br />
<br />
3) Put the rest of the clear in the fridge for ten minutes. Microwave and mix the next color, and let it cool on the counter for a bit.<br />
<br />
4) Take out the rest of the current clear layer and mix in the sour cream to make the next foam layer. Set timer for ten more minutes, but do not put foam layer back in fridge or it will firm up too much.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49764094531/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49764094531_c71aa00c7c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49763561228/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49763561228_8d5d67b26b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
5) Check consistency of the clear layer in the mold, and add foam layer. Set timer for ten more minutes.<br />
<br />
6) After ten minutes, put the next color in the fridge and set the timer for ten more minutes. Wash the measuring cup you used for the foam layer you just added. I used a 4 cup and an 8 cup to mix the Jello in, and a one cup for other measuring.<br />
<br />
7) You're now back at Step 2. <br />
<br />
The mold stays in the fridge almost the entire time, and after the first layer the setting time between layers is a little shorter because you're putting the Jello onto a cold surface. Even with all that, you may need a few extra minutes on each set based on your fridge. When I finally finished all the layers, I put the lid on the mold and ignored it for six hours.<br />
<br />
And then it was time to unmold.<br />
<br />
To unmold, you dip the mold into a bowl of hot water for a few seconds, but that's the tricky part: too long in the hot water, and your Jello starts to melt. Too short, and it won't release from the mold. You have to try to guess as best you can in an interval of only 5 to 10 seconds, and sometimes you hit it and sometimes you don't. I dipped, put a plate over the top of the mold, and turned it over.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49763561168/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49763561168_b203fbc0df.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Layers! Red, orange, yellow, and green! If I'd used my Bundt pan, which is deeper, I would have gotten blue in there, too. The mold still wasn't out of the mold, though. Would my layers survive?<br />
<br />
I didn't quite dip long enough. A little of the green foam, which was the bottom layer on the plate after being the top layer in the mold:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49763560573/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49763560573_23d844dc6d.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
came off and stuck to the mold. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49763560923/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49763560923_401cea55de.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Still, I think I was pretty successful with my showstopper.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49763561183/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49763561183_374707b490.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49764419532/in/dateposted-public/" title="Jello mold"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49764419532_cf8b4a067c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Jello mold"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Several friends asked how it tastes, and it just tastes like fruity Jello. The sour cream has no flavor at all, most likely because the flavor of Jello is so strong, and you can't really taste the individual Jello flavors when you're getting several in each bite. If you use the sugar-free Jello, this probably even counts as diet food.<br />
<br />
Just be sure you have a book and a lot of time to sit around between settings. Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-86694993817487911032020-04-04T13:01:00.000-05:002020-04-04T13:01:00.697-05:00Dueling Bread BakesAre you making banana bread this weekend? <br />
<br />
I'm asking because it seems like everyone's quarantine bananas went past ripe at the same time this week, since five people I know were making banana bread yesterday. I found out because I was also making banana bread yesterday, and when I mentioned it in texts or on social media, everyone else chimed in. My friend Kathryn and I compared recipes, and ended up both using the same one, <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe-1969572">a basic, easy to follow recipe from the Food Network</a>. Kathryn decided to put chocolate chips in hers, and I opted not to, but other than that we both followed the same recipe.<br />
<br />
When we compared breads, though, an odd thing happened.<br />
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Kathryn's bread:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49735612942/in/dateposted-public/" title="Dueling bread bakes"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49735612942_07971475db.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Dueling bread bakes"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
is much lighter in color than my bread:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49735612882/in/dateposted-public/" title="Dueling bread bakes"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49735612882_7730871e5c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Dueling bread bakes"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Both of us were very intrigued by this, so we started comparing notes.<br />
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<b>Pan</b>: Kathryn used a metal pan, and I used a vintage glass Pyrex pan. I don't have any metal loaf pans, and Kathryn doesn't have any glass ones.<br />
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<b>Baking time</b>: I baked mine for an hour and ten minutes, and Kathryn baked hers for an hour.<br />
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<b>Cooling time</b>: Kathryn cooled hers for fifteen minutes in the pan, then for 45 minutes on a cooling rack. I cooled mine for an hour in the pan.<br />
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Other than those three things, we couldn't spot any other differences, so today we turned to our friend Stacy, a much better and more experienced baker than me and, possibly, Kathryn. (I don't want to say for sure that Stacy is a better baker than Kathryn because I've never directly compared, so we'll just say she's better than me and leave it there.) Stacy offered the following ideas:<br />
<br />
1) Different baking times are definitely a factor.<br />
<br />
2) Even though we both set our ovens to what we think is the same temperature, our ovens are not precisely calibrated, and there may actually be differences. This never occurred to me, but it makes sense.<br />
<br />
3) One of us may have had riper bananas, which would have more sugar.<br />
<br />
4) The chocolate chips increased the volume of Kathryn's loaf, so we should have had different baking times. Stacy thinks Kathryn should have had a longer baking time, not a shorter one, which could support the idea that our oven temperatures are a little different, or raises the possibility that mine may actually be a little bit overbaked. (I raised that possibility. Stacy did not.)<br />
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Both of us agree that our bread tastes good, but we both live alone, so there are no second opinions. <br />
<br />
You'll have to take our word for it.<br />
Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-49954297992249414382020-03-29T19:10:00.001-05:002020-03-29T19:10:47.738-05:00"Gotta use up this flour..."Back at the beginning of the month, which seems an incredibly distant time in light of current circumstances but turns out to be less than 30 days ago, <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2020/03/books-and-baking-banana-bread-for-brunch.html">I baked a fancy banana bread</a> for my friends. They enjoyed it, and ate it all, but it used up almost all of the flour I had in the house. I added flour to my grocery list without a second thought, but that was the week when Knoxville decided to start panic buying, and it has taken until this past Wednesday to have flour in stock at Kroger again.<br />
<br />
The last bag of flour.<br />
<br />
It turned out to be a 5 pound bag, which is larger than my flour cannister will hold. I'm sure there are people who just sit the bag of flour in their cabinet and think nothing of it, but I'm always worried that if I leave the flour just sitting in the bag then bugs of some kind (weevils? mites? centipedes, which are not a bug but are an arthropod?) will get into it, even though I've never seen a bug in my kitchen. Unwilling to leave this flour just sitting out as an insect buffet after I waited almost a month to be able to buy it, I decided that I would use it up this weekend instead.<br />
<br />
The first thing I made was scones. I've been using the same scone recipe <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2011/09/peppered-scones-with-pear-and-goat.html">since 2011</a>, but my recipe is for pear and goat cheese scones, and I didn't have any pears in the house. I did have an apple, though, so I decided on apple cheddar scones instead.<br />
<br />
I chunked up my apple:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713252026/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713252026_891e4143e4.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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peeled and finely diced it, and lumped everything into my scone batter:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713258516/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713258516_0c8b999364.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and baked them. I didn't bother shaping them, and instead just made them like haystacks of dough:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713257241/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713257241_5f42807237.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and they came out fine.<br />
<br />
That didn't use up enough flour, though, so I thought about what else I could make, and decided on a quick bread. Years ago, Food Network Magazine published a <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/packages/baking-guide/quick-breads-muffins-and-more/mix-and-match-quick-bread">50 Quick Breads</a> recipe guide in the magazine, and I've never gone wrong using it. I looked around the pantry and saw half a bag of dried figs leftover from when I made a flatbread with figs on it and an almost empty bottle of honey (I had a spare right behind it), so I decided to make the honey bread (number 30) and add the figs to it. Calling this a bread is misleading, though, because it's really a fig and honey poundcake. <br />
<br />
The batter came together quickly and fairly easily, and then I decided to try something new. Every time I make a bread with things in it, most of the things sink to the bottom. I've seen people on Food Network talk about how you have to toss your add ins in flour, so that they suspend in the dough rather than sinking, but I've never actually tried it. I saved back an eighth of a cup of the flour that was supposed to go into the batter and tossed the diced figs in it:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713578367/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713578367_c2880dfe0a.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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The figs were folded into the batter, the batter went into the loaf pan:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49712721758/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49712721758_c50593a901.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
(Look! You can see figs floating near the top!) and it worked:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713258386/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713258386_13b2448fed.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Fig and honey bread with figs in pretty much every bite. I can't really taste the honey, but I can taste the figs, and I love figs, so this is delicious. Next time I have dinner at a friend's house I might even bring this as dessert.<br />
<br />
I figured this was enough baking, and decided to pause until Sunday.<br />
<br />
This morning I was originally planning to make chocolate chip cookies, but they called for a lot of eggs, and I was worried about using up too many eggs in one weekend. I also used a crap ton of butter this weekend between the baking and a lemon pasta dish, but I had extra butter in the freezer, so I wasn't as worried about that. Changing gears, I decided to make shortbread cookies instead, because I've made them once before, they use the same amount of butter and flour as the chocolate chip cookies, and they only use one egg.<br />
<br />
I couldn't remember what recipe I used when I made these before, but a quick google search turned up <a href="https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a24687595/shortbread-cookie-recipe/">this really easy one</a>, and it mostly worked with one minor snag.<br />
<br />
After mixing up the dough:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713578197/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713578197_3236462fd1.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
I went to eject the mixer blades so I could get the dough out of them, and I accidentally hit spin instead. Little pieces of dough, all over the counter and the stove:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713256611/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713256611_b14c952eae.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
I guess it got mixed a little more than I intended it to.<br />
<br />
I got the dough back together in the bowl, pressing it into a ball with my hands, and then dumped it onto my floured countertop. Learning from my recent <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-greek-tragedy-on-pi-day.html">troubles with piecrust</a> I floured my rolling pin and rolled the dough out to the right thickness. Once that was done, I used my hands to shape it into a square to cut out evenly sized cookies:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49712722853/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49712722853_dc74676034.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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I cut them into triangles and got them to the cookie sheet with a minimum of trouble, then separated an egg to make an egg white wash for the top:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713577637/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713577637_775dfc2479.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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The recipe said to put sanding sugar on top, but I didn't have any. I did have leftover gold colored sugar from making Unicorn Fudge a few years ago, so I used that instead, and it actually came out really pretty:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49713254166/in/dateposted-public/" title="Weekend baking"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49713254166_dd0d324161.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Weekend baking"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
It's sparkly and shiny, and gave the tops a nice crunch.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow night, I'll probably make some banana bread, because I have bananas to use up, too.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-61811140771790581062020-03-15T10:39:00.000-05:002020-03-15T10:39:03.915-05:00A Greek Tragedy on Pi DaySo many of the best Greek tragedies, and really tragedies in general, rest on the idea of hubris. Generally one thinks of hubris, if one thinks of it at all, as a folly of youth, but I'm here to tell you a tale of hubris from yesterday morning, starring me and a pie crust.<br />
<br />
Our story begins, as so many do, with a tiny act. See, a few months ago I bought my friend a Harry Potter spatula at Williams Sonoma, and let them email my receipt rather than printing a paper one. Since that day, I receive one to three emails from Williams Sonoma a day telling me about sales and reasons why I should rush to their store to by four hundred dollar toasters and hundred dollar mixing bowls. Yesterday morning, for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_Day">Pi Day</a>, they sent me one about "6 Pie Essentials", which I casually deleted and then tweeted about.<br />
<br />
<i>Thanks for your thoughtful email, Williams Sonoma, but I don't really need 6 pie-making essentials right now.<br />
<br />
Please email when you have toilet paper.</i><br />
<br />
The stage is now set to move on with our story. <br />
<br />
Around lunch time yesterday, after a morning of cleaning, laundry, reading, and video games, I realized that I didn't have any pie to celebrate Pi Day. I thought about running to the store to pick up a small one, but then remembered that I'm supposed to be practicing social distancing right now, and trying to stay in my apartment instead of running out to the store whenever the impulse hits me. <br />
<br />
<i>"What if I just made a pie?"</i> I thought, surveying the contents of my cabinets. Mixed in with a dozen boxes of Jello, I noticed a box of instant chocolate pudding and pie filling. <i>"All I need, really, is a pie crust. People make pie crust all the time. How hard can it be? I mean, I own a hundred cookbooks. One of them must have a recipe."</i><br />
<br />
So, hours after casually mocking the idea that there are pie essentials that I might need help with (making pie crust is probably one of them), I decide to make a pie.<br />
<br />
Hubris.<br />
<br />
Now, on with our tragedy. I started by surveying the book case where I keep most of my cookbooks:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49662222977/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49662222977_6611fbb812.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
My parents got that bookcase as a wedding gift. It has survived a dozen moves over the years, and the only damage is a chip in the corner of one of the sliding door panels. It holds most of my cookbooks, although there is a shelf of overflow cookbooks in the second bedroom, which I sometimes grandly refer to as The Library. I picked through for a few minutes, and found a basic recipe for pie crust. I had all the ingredients, so I preheated the oven and got started on the pie crust.<br />
<br />
The recipe said that the butter needed to be really cold, so I cubed it and then put it in the freezer for ten minutes:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661943281/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661943281_9788c00734.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Then I prepared to cut the butter into the flour and salt:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661943901/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661943901_fe3bedc9cc.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
After adding the ice cold water, the recipe insisted that I now had pie dough. <br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661402038/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661402038_c6abe99aae.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
It didn't look like pie dough. It looked like a pile of sad ruins, but I had now used butter and flour on it during our time of social distance, which meant I shouldn't waste it to just make pudding. I soldiered onward, and followed the instructions, which said to roll out my dough.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661402073/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661402073_9947564b90.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
The recipe gave no indication that the dough could stick to the rolling pin. When I talked to my mom this morning about it she casually said, "Oh, you didn't put enough flour on your rolling pin," but the recipe didn't say to put any flour on the rolling pin. I pointed this out, and mom added, "Everyone knows you put flour on the rolling pin."<br />
<br />
I guess everyone doesn't know, but maybe it was one of the six essential tips that I, in my hubris, deleted and mocked.<br />
<br />
Eventually, I gave up on trying to roll out the dough, and just plopped it into the pan and pressed it into shape with my fingers.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661401623/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661401623_6c9dc92e6a.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
This is not ideal pie crust. <br />
<br />
I baked it anyway and it came out even worse.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661401808/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661401808_ec30f23c52.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Actual bakers are probably staring at that in horror, but I was all in at this point. I waited for it to cool, then filled it with my newly mixed chocolate pie filling and put it in the fridge. The finished product looked mostly like a pie, with sloppy edges.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661401793/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661401793_131a287df9.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
It sliced right up, though:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49662222907/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49662222907_7fbd2f5349.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49661401498/in/dateposted-public/" title="Homemade chocolate pie"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49661401498_96fbd69534.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Homemade chocolate pie"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and it tastes fine.<br />
<br />
It would probably taste a little better if I'd followed those six essential pie tips, though.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-8236898646834022382020-03-08T13:06:00.001-05:002020-03-08T13:06:41.415-05:00Water into Wine(flavored)We live in exciting times, as far as food goes. Or, more correctly, as far as "food" goes, as I'm not sure some of the things I am often excited about in the grocery store actually qualify as "food", technically. I'm not talking about things like exotic fruit from the far side of the world or a soup you've never tried or a new sauce for chicken. I'm talking about things like <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2016/03/i-drank-peeps-milk.html">Peeps milk</a>, or <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2009/11/cheelows.html">Cheelows</a>, or the return to popularity of <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-new-joys-of-jell-o.html">exotic Jello molds and desserts</a>. And, yes, I'm also talking about Wal-Mart's wine-flavored water enhancers.<br />
<br />
Earlier this week a friend posted <a href="https://www.delish.com/food-news/a30079342/rose-wine-water-enhancer/">an article about them</a> on Facebook, but the article didn't seem to know that Rose Wine isn't the only flavor. When I made an actual trip to Walmart on Friday night (because that's the kind of fun we get into around here on a Friday night), I discovered that they also make a Berry Sangria flavor. As a person who drinks water all day long at my desk, and a person who likes wine, I decided that I needed to try these.<br />
<br />
But also that I needed some actual wine to compare them to, in order to properly evaluate the flavor.<br />
<br />
I'm told that day drinking wine alone in your apartment on the weekend is a sign of several different but severe problems, so I immediately rationalized two good excuses:<br />
<br />
1) I have to drink this in order to properly blog about it. I am performing a service for my few dozen readers. Taking one for the team. Some kind of sports metaphor. I'm not day drinking alone on the couch. I'm [SPORTS METAPHOR HERE] for my friends and readers.<br />
<br />
2) If you have wine with a cheese plate, you're not drinking; you're <i>fancy</i>. The $5 and under cheese bin at Kroger was happy to help me with this, so I assembled a cheese plate with some crackers and accompaniments (by which I mean jelly, to keep the cheese from sliding off the cracker) and prepared for my taste test.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49635344466/in/dateposted-public/" title="Wine flavored water"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49635344466_611f01157d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Wine flavored water"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Said preparation consisted of letting the cheese sit out for an hour and getting out two glasses.<br />
<br />
Like I said, <i>fancy</i>.<br />
<br />
I decided to start with the Rose Wine flavor, as that was the one discussed in the article. <br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49634822983/in/dateposted-public/" title="Wine flavored water"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49634822983_e4b9a02090.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Wine flavored water"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
(If you're wondering why the wine glass has a bicentennial design on it, all of my barware comes from a matched set that was in my Nanny Maggie's house. No one else wanted it, and I have successfully move it three times now without breaking any.)<br />
<br />
I wasn't sure how much flavoring to add to just one glass of water (at work I have a water bottle, so I'm flavoring a much larger quantity), so I figured for a proper test I would go ahead and add flavoring until it was about the same color as the actual rose wine spritzer I bought at Walmart. <br />
<br />
(Yes, I bought wine at Walmart. As I said, <i>fancy</i>.)<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49635344501/in/dateposted-public/" title="Wine flavored water"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49635344501_3291e8a01b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Wine flavored water"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Before sipping, I attempted to savor the bouquet, but the rose-flavored water had no smell at all. It really did taste like wine, although without the noticeable bite/sting of alcohol. I'm not saying it tasted like good wine, mind you. It tasted more like I imagine the wine that Schmendrick makes in "The Last Unicorn" tastes; weak, non-offensive, but definitely something wine-flavored. If you were blindfolded and given a glass of this, I'm fairly confident you'd be able to guess "wine" as the flavor, but not a specific kind of wine. <br />
<br />
Satisfied that I had properly evaluated the rose flavor, I slammed the remainder of the glass of rose and cleansed my pallet with several bites of cheese and crackers. Then we moved on to the Berry Sangria flavor:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49634823088/in/dateposted-public/" title="Wine flavored water"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49634823088_7314f23d06.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Wine flavored water"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Like the first test, I added enough until the colors matched:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49634823053/in/dateposted-public/" title="Wine flavored water"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49634823053_7c83e72c31.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Wine flavored water"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and then sipped the actual wine, and then the water, to compare.<br />
<br />
The berry sangria water has a faint smell of berries. I wondered if maybe I hadn't added enough flavor to the first one, or if maybe I was tipsy from the first round. (Confession: I drank all the wine from the first round, but only a couple sips of the water.) Even more importantly, though, it definitely tasted like the sangria. Out of the two flavors, I would say this one is definitely the better choice if you want to sit at your desk and pretend that you are slowly drinking your day away. <br />
<br />
Or if you just like the taste of wine. <br />
<br />
It's also good for that.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-55464345603501925112020-03-01T18:02:00.000-05:002020-03-01T18:02:09.449-05:00Books and Baking Banana Bread for BrunchEarlier in the week I saw <a href="https://wishesndishes.com/reeses-peanut-butter-banana-bread/?fbclid=IwAR0xXMcb_B9Z70Rfh-TOivO4dR8g-o5AQKrIOqzdpYvlbySVmeEWMP9icjc">this recipe</a> for chocolate peanut butter banana bread, and was intrigued. I shared it to Facebook, and the reaction from my friends ranged between also intrigued and concerned. My friend Sean expressed doubt about the flavor combination, and I pointed out that peanut butter and banana sandwiches were Elvis' favorite.<br />
<br />
And also killed him.<br />
<br />
Technically, that's probably more the fault of the sandwich preparation than it is the fault of the flavor combination. After all, according to the potholders for sale at the Graceland gift shop, every sandwich took an entire stick of butter.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/4683367131/in/photolist-88UGGN-88UHiy-88RttM-88RtTa-88UGxY-88UH1Q-88Ruak-88UG97-88UGhj-88Rt4M-88RrUB-88UFTN-88UFeu-88UFCS-88UFn1-88UEX5-88RsyV-88UFLd-88Rsc8-88UEgu" title="peanut butter and banana sandwiches"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/4014/4683367131_bb944a6696.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="peanut butter and banana sandwiches"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
That's why Elvis is dead. Four or five sticks of butter a day.<br />
<br />
Anyway, by a happy coincidence I had some friends coming in from out of town this weekend, and they rented an entire house from Airbnb and invited many of us to brunch today. This offered the perfect opportunity to bake the bread but then not have the bread hanging around my house waiting to be eaten all week, so this morning I got to work.<br />
<br />
When cooking anything, I like to take out all of the ingredients first, and then put them away as I go. <br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49606741752/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49606741752_8cfb95529a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
I bought those bananas, the ripest ones at the store, on Wednesday so that they would be soft by this morning. After preheating the oven, I mixed up the dry ingredients:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49606490841/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49606490841_0ff2484d78.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
then mashed up the bananas:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49606741652/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49606741652_4cc0a238d5.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and mixed everything together:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49605979958/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49605979958_85861d3610.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and put it in a bread loaf pan:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49605980113/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49605980113_470654de8b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and popped it into the oven for an hour.<br />
<br />
While it's cooking, let's talk about the books I read in February, since it's also the end of the month. I only made it through two books this month, mostly because things were busy at work and I was often too tired when I got home to stay up and read. <br />
<br />
The month started with the news that Mary Higgins Clark passed away, and I realized I had <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Beauty-Stories-Higgins-2015-04-28/dp/B01FIYGG6E/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OMSZI7OBHK8V&keywords=death+wears+a+beauty+mask+by+mary+higgins+clark&qid=1583102845&sprefix=death+wears%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1">Death Wears a Beauty Mask</a> on my shelf of unread books. It's a short story collection featuring the title novella and other stories, some of which are interesting, but some of which seem like they could have used a little more work. Overall, the collection was a mixed bag, but reading it still felt like a nice sendoff to a beloved author. I've been reading Mary Higgins Clark's books since I was in high school, when I received several of them in a box of books my grandmother gave me. While my library has been a little pared down over the years, I still have all of those.<br />
<br />
The other book I read this month was a reread of Donna Tartt's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Secret-History-Donna-Tartt/dp/1400031702/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+secret+history&qid=1583103257&sr=8-1">The Secret History</a>, one of my all time favorite books in the world. Throughout the month of February I tried to figure out if I was rereading the book because I was melancholy, or if I was melancholy because I was reading the book, but that may be an unanswerable question.<br />
<br />
Enough about books, though, because the bread was done:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49605979943/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49605979943_085b704554.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
I think I might need to lower the racks in my oven, because the top of that is really brown and I think it might be too close to the heating element. By the time I got it to the house and sliced it, though, it seemed fine:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49606491086/in/dateposted-public/" title="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49606491086_e917f4c39e.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Chocolate peanut butter banana bread"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and my friends ate all of it. <br />
<br />
I brought home an empty loaf pan.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-74801895362515737222020-02-23T16:20:00.001-05:002020-02-23T16:22:45.659-05:00"Would you or your dog like a postcard?"It's been three years since Trump was elected. In those three years, I have posted on social media, I have donated to Democratic candidates, I have written to legislators (even though I live in Tennessee and asking our state legislators to do anything against Trump is about as useful as slamming my hand in the car door on purpose), I've gone to marches, I've gone to protests, I've cut people out of my life, and very little has changed. Yes, Democrats were able to take back the House in the last election, but they're not actually able to do anything there with Republicans in control of the Senate, but that's all we've gotten accomplished and it hasn't been enough.<br />
<br />
For the past several months, I've had a feeling building in me that I have not done enough. <br />
<br />
We all know that I'm not having kids, ever. Some of my friends have kids, though, and someday those kids might look at me (they'd be in their thirties at this point, past the age of jam hands and acting out in restaurants) and say, "What did you do to help stop Trump?" and I feel like I wanted to be able to give some kind of an answer besides, "I tweeted a lot," so when the Warren campaign called me and asked if I wanted to volunteer, I said yes.<br />
<br />
And that's how I ended up knocking on doors alone in 27 degree weather at 9 AM on a Saturday.<br />
<br />
The call to volunteer didn't come out of nowhere. Both the Warren and the Sanders campaigns have been texting me. I've been having a lot of really good conversations with the Warren texters about health care, student loan debt, consumer protection, actually taxing businesses, saving the middle class, and salvaging the remains of the Presidency, and I've been avoiding conversations with the Sanders people by staring awkwardly at the phone and hoping they believe that I'm just really super busy and can't talk right now but totally might text them back later. While texting with the Warren people they mentioned that there are opportunities for volunteers, like canvassing, texting, and phone banking, and I eventually said, "Sure, go ahead and have someone call me about that."<br />
<br />
I'll admit, I tried really hard to get phonebanking or texting, but they had plenty of people to do that already.<br />
<br />
"What we really need are canvassers. To knock on doors."<br />
<br />
"Just random doors? Like, knocking on strangers' doors?"<br />
<br />
"No, no. There are lists of people who have polled as Democratic voters, or donated, or expressed interest in Democrats online, so you're not knocking on hostile doors. We really, really need people to canvass before Super Tuesday."<br />
<br />
"I..., well, I..."<br />
<br />
<i>FLASH FORWARD:<br />
<br />
It is 20 years from now, and one of my friends' kids who is now an adult but I don't know their age in twenty years because I have no idea how old they actually are right now looks at me with big, wide eyes and asks, "What did you do to help stop Trump?"<br />
<br />
"Oh, you know, they wanted me to talk to strangers but it was supposed to be cold on Saturday so I just tweeted out some early voting location information, and that's how we ended up in a fascist theocracy like in 'V for Vendetta'. Now, eat your Soylent Green, and I'll tell you about how we have always been at war with EastAsia."</i><br />
<br />
"I'LL DO IT. I WILL CANVASS ON SATURDAY FROM 9 TO 11."<br />
<br />
"Great! I'll send you some instructions this week, and then call to confirm."<br />
<br />
The instructions were to go meet up at a campaign volunteer's house near me, and being the person that I am I got there twenty minutes early while they were still setting up signs in the yard and the guy's wife was still in her robe. I also met my first dog of the day, their rescue, who has a bit of a short term memory loss and thought I was a new person to meet each time she left and re-entered the room. It was delightful. I've never canvassed before, but in my head it was going to involve clipboards and checkmarks. This turns out not to be the case. Instead, you download an app onto your phone, and it tells you where to go and then who to ask for. We ran through it a couple times, and then I got a stack of informative postcards and was ready to go.<br />
<br />
"Who's going with me?"<br />
<br />
"Nobody else is signed up for the 9 AM shift."<br />
<br />
"I'm going to talk to strangers by myself?"<br />
<br />
"It'll be fine! Come back at 11!"<br />
<br />
For a minute, as I walked to my car, I was nervous about knocking on strangers' doors, interrupting their Saturday mornings, and then trying asking them questions and trying to tell them about the Warren campaign. What if they got mad? What if they all decided they were voting for Trump instead? What if, this being Tennessee, they had guns and tried to chase me off their suburban land? I took a deep breath, remembered that I am from New York and have talked to a number of hostile residents of New Jersey as if they were actual human beings, and set out to canvass.<br />
<br />
It actually went pretty well. In many cases, there were multiple houses on the same street, so I could park in the middle and walk up and down. I met a ton of dogs, all of whom were friendly, and I ended up peering at a ton of Ring doorbell cameras and pointing at my Warren postcard for people who would not come to the door. Several people thanked me for being out canvassing, but out of 30 or so people that I actually got to speak to (a lot of people had cars in their driveways but no one would answer the door; I marked them as "not home" so that someone would call or knock on their door again in the future), only two had decided on Warren. One had decided on Trump, although she didn't seem like an evil fascist racist wall-builder, two were set on Bernie, and everyone else said they were undecided. Many of the undecideds also said they were planning to early vote, so I hope they make up their minds soon.<br />
<br />
Only one person closed their door on me while I was trying to tell them about early voting. They smiled when they did it, but that doesn't make it less rude.<br />
<br />
Overall, it was a good experience. <br />
<br />
But I told the volunteer that I'm probably busy next week and won't be able to do it again.<br />
<br />
Next weekend is someone else's turn.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-3254620371231517262020-02-02T12:51:00.002-05:002020-02-02T12:51:43.699-05:00All The Books I Read in JanuaryIt's February, which means I have to tally up all the books I read in January before they end up sitting in a big pile on an end table, waiting for the end of the year. I only made it through four books this month, but if I'm going to make it through a book a week this year then I'm right on track. <br />
<br />
1) I started the month and, I guess, the year with politics. As the election approaches and the field of Democratic candidates narrows, I've read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shortest-Way-Home-Challenge-Americas/dp/1631494368/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OWDD5DO1OV2T&keywords=the+shortest+way+home&qid=1580663210&sprefix=the+shortest+wa%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1">Mayo Pete's book</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Truths-We-Hold-American-Journey/dp/0525560718/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12EZAWDKD0FK5&keywords=kamala+harris&qid=1580663253&sprefix=kamala+h%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-1">Kamala Harris' book</a>, a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Never-Dies-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/1683690397/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=hope+never+dies&qid=1580663316&sr=8-1">book about Joe Biden</a>, and now Elizabeth Warren's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/This-Fight-Our-Battle-Americas/dp/1250155037/ref=sr_1_2?crid=25MTBQLAW7DIT&keywords=this+fight+is+our+fight+by+elizabeth+warren&qid=1580663146&sprefix=this+fight+is+ou%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-2">This Fight Is Our Fight</a>. Warren does a good job of clearly defining the problems facing the American middle class, and lays out defined, logical policies for addressing them. Right now I'm planning to vote for her in the primary, and really hope that Harris gets a vice president nod from someone, or maybe becomes attorney general.<br />
<br />
2) My parents got me Rainbow Rowell's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Carry-Rainbow-Rowell/dp/1250135028/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/136-9512336-0746707?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1250135028&pd_rd_r=a03fc2ff-762d-4648-89ab-eec879c3b304&pd_rd_w=guk02&pd_rd_wg=iez9b&pf_rd_p=fd08095f-55ff-4a15-9b49-4a1a719225a9&pf_rd_r=HJ1TAQXDT9GJ8KA827R7&psc=1&refRID=HJ1TAQXDT9GJ8KA827R7">Carry On</a> for Christmas, and I enjoyed it, so I ordered the sequel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wayward-Simon-Snow-Rainbow-Rowell/dp/1250146070/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/136-9512336-0746707?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1250146070&pd_rd_r=3ea84df7-7cfd-46f0-af79-f1864d45d504&pd_rd_w=9lVZo&pd_rd_wg=LGduz&pf_rd_p=fd08095f-55ff-4a15-9b49-4a1a719225a9&pf_rd_r=GDTPTHXQXXGD02MA45XM&psc=1&refRID=GDTPTHXQXXGD02MA45XM">Wayward Son</a>. It finds our heroes, Simon, Baz, and Penny in a road trip across America in a convertible, finding wild magic, dragons, vampires, monsters with goat heads, and maybe themselves? What does the hero do the summer after he fulfills his destiny? <br />
<br />
I enjoyed this, but the end makes me want another sequel and it took a few years to get this one, so now I'm a little bit sad about it.<br />
<br />
3) Stephen King's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Elevation-Stephen-King/dp/1982102314/ref=sr_1_1?crid=K1P5FYY1RCTW&keywords=elevation+stephen+king&qid=1580664984&s=books&sprefix=elevation%2Cstripbooks%2C164&sr=1-1">Elevation</a> was a novella, rather than a novel, and probably would not have gotten full hardcover treatment if it came from a less established author. Scott is busy fighting with his neighbors, a married pair of lesbians who moved to town to open a struggling restaurant, over their dog pooping on his lawn. Scott is also, a few pounds at a time, becoming immune to the effects of gravity, a secret that he'll only be able to keep for so long as his scale slowly counts down to zero. This was an interesting character study, but really should have just been part of a larger collection.<br />
<br />
4) On the last day of the month I finished Mike Pearl's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501194143/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+day+it+finally+happens&qid=1580665382&s=books&sr=1-2">The Day It Finally Happens</a>. Pearl is a disaster thinker, and this book walks through a number of world-shaking scenarios: the day Saudi Arabia runs out of oil, the day the internet fails, the day we verify the existence of extraterrestrials, and even the day we build Jurassic Park, among other things. What was a little surprising is that even though Pearl is a worst-case thinker, he manages to sound rather optimistic and hopeful. Overall, he thinks we'll get through it.<br />
<br />
So, like I said, I'm on track for reading in January. Let's try to keep it going in February or, possibly, maybe even get a little ahead.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-11843503431800039892020-01-26T08:44:00.002-05:002020-01-26T08:44:30.929-05:00Magical Adventures in PuddingYesterday, I ate a unicorn.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49444002997/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49444002997_3d0964bd4e.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
No, not that unicorn. That's the unicorn skull I bought at the grocery store on clearance after Halloween, and then stuck on my bookshelf like any other normal, grown adult. No, yesterday, I ate this unicorn:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443778651/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443778651_5087be5849.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
I was at the grocery store, where I bought juice but somehow left the juice in my cart in the parking lot and now will die of scurvy, and as I was sliding down the snacks aisle looking for something else, I saw that pudding. The colors stood out in the middle of the pudding display, a wall of browns, beiges, and sometimes pale yellows, and then when I got closer I saw, "Naturally flavored".<br />
<br />
<i>"What natural flavors taste like unicorns? What does a unicorn even taste like? Maybe I could ask that guy from Harry Potter?"</i> I thought to myself, and then thought, <i>"I should buy this."</i><br />
<br />
So I did. It turns out that the pudding cups are not actually that terrible for you, as prepackaged entirely processed foods go. They don't contain high fructose corn syrup and they're only 100 calories per cup, so you can eat one and feel like you had a decent little dessert. Although the ingredients don't say so:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443779286/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443779286_316cd01daf.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
the unicorn pudding is also made with fairy dust and princess kisses (Am I going to get princess mono from eating this?), and tastes like joy and rainbow sparkles:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443297923/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443297923_efce874b43.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Oh, there's also star dust in there:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443779536/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443779536_0b5c92b21c.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Since every atom inside us, and inside the unicorn pudding, was once part of a star, this statement is actually correct.<br />
<br />
Anyway, after dinner, I decided it was pudding time:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443298358/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443298358_f1df2bc3da.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
and the pudding was sort of interesting.<br />
<br />
The pink:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49444002432/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49444002432_b79b41a480.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
smells like Play-Doh. So does the blue. Neither of them has a specific flavor that I could isolate, but my notes say that they tasted vaguely of some sort of berries. The taste is either very slight, or the Indian food I had for dinner destroyed my taste buds and everything was numb. <br />
<br />
This morning, since I have to take my morning medicine with food and I decided to pretend that this was food, I turned my attention to the dragon pudding. While it claims to be made with "dragon magic":<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443779551/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443779551_e8941f694a.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
it is apparently made from rocks. Rubies and emeralds, to be more specific. <br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443780016/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443780016_eae690587d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
No fairy dust or princess kisses here.<br />
<br />
The dragon pudding is aggressively colored, and would not look out of place at Christmas:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443779981/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443779981_1f45f69542.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Before you start to think, "Why would you even eat something that color?" you need to know that the clear plastic cup is muting the green. Once you open it, it's even brighter and greener (more emerald?) than it looked:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49443778391/in/dateposted-public/" title="Magic pudding adventure"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49443778391_523d1deef3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Magic pudding adventure"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
My body's natural response to that color was "SHOULD NOT GO IN MOUTH", but let's face it: if I listened to my body, I wouldn't keep getting on the treadmill, so I ate it anyway. I ate the red pudding first, though. Like the unicorn pudding, the red pudding was vaguely fruit-flavored in some way. My brain kept telling me it might be artificial cherry, but I also wondered if my brain was just suggesting that because of the color, and it was really just "Undefined Fruit #77" flavor from a chemical plant in New Jersey.<br />
<br />
The green was even less flavored. It smelled of nothing, and initially tasted of nothing, but as I spooned it into my gaping mouthhole there was a little bit of an aftertaste. It was sort of like mint, but also sort of like a menthol cough drop. Either way, it wasn't very strong. Maybe these taste differently if you have youthful taste buds?<br />
<br />
Either way, I now have two packs of these to finish.<br />
<br />
And I have to go back to the store for juice.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-17219270671532546402020-01-20T17:32:00.001-05:002020-01-20T17:32:37.486-05:00FudgemasChange has come into my life since last year. I have a chronic health condition, I moved after 13 years in the same apartment, and I went home for two weeks at Christmas because work was closed for a week and I stacked a week of vacation on top of that. Because I was out of town at a time when I am normally here, another change happened, and it upset several of my friends:<br />
<br />
I didn't make fudge last year. <br />
<br />
I'm not a candy maker. I don't make the kind of fudge that people talk about and look forward to because it's so delicious that oh, God, it's like a chocolate bird laid a chocolate egg in your mouth. No, instead, <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2010/12/elizabeth-says-its-really-easy.html">since 2010</a> I have made the kind of fudge that makes my friends look forward to how bad it's going to turn out and how bad I'm going to feel about it. These adventures include peanut butter fudge that never set and stayed liquid forever, Velveeta fudge that sweated out an undefined liquid and turned spongy, fudge that was somehow sticky if left out of the fridge too long, fudge that was flakey, fudge that was gritty, fudge that actually turned out ok, and one constant: every year I make fudge from the Carnation Famous Fudge boxed kit, and this year my friends were annoyed that a Christmas tradition came and went.<br />
<br />
Well, friends, it's Christmas in January, I guess, because guess what I did today?<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49416260386/in/dateposted-public/" title="Fudge Jan 2020"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49416260386_d01848d507.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Fudge Jan 2020"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
I bought the kid in early December, but just didn't get around to making it before I flew out of town, so I've just been walking past the box as it sits on the side table by my kitchen counter, silently daring me to tear it open.<br />
<br />
As I said, change has come into my life, and that change affected this year's fudge process in two ways:<br />
<br />
1) I have a different stove. For ten years I've made fudge on the same stove, but now I would be using a different stove.<br />
<br />
2) I have different pots. When I moved into my first apartment in 1998, my mom gave me her pots and pans, which she and my dad had received for a wedding gift in 1970. I've replaced some of them over the years (the frying pan went first, because Dad warped it by constantly sticking it in cold water as soon as he was done cooking in it to make sure nothing stuck to the pan), and when I moved this summer I realized that the nonstick coating was finally starting to come off and maybe it was time for these 49 year old pans to go. That means that, for the first time ever, I would be making the fudge in a new pot.<br />
<br />
Would the change in my life lead to changes in fudge outcomes?<br />
<br />
Things started out relatively unchanged. I brought the butter, sugar, and condensed milk to a boil, and stirred vigorously:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49415783268/in/dateposted-public/" title="Fudge Jan 2020"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49415783268_e96b200e37.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Fudge Jan 2020"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
This happens every year. <br />
<br />
I removed the mixture from heat, and there was a slight delay of a few seconds while I tore open the marshmallow bag, dumped them in, then tore open the chocolate chip bag and dumped those in. After that, I stirred until both were melted, and something happened that has never happened before any time that I've made the famous fudge kit:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49416260361/in/dateposted-public/" title="Fudge Jan 2020"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49416260361_785280727b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Fudge Jan 2020"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
The fudge came together into a ball, like dough. Every other year I have to pour it into the pan and then scrape the rest off the sides, but this year it all came out in one piece, kind of the consistency of warm taffy, like I imagine a melted Tootsie Roll would. Recipes online always say that fudge has to be cooked until it reaches the soft ball stage, and had I somehow done that? Did my fudge spontaneously form a soft ball?<br />
<br />
Was such a thing even possible? <br />
<br />
Had change come to my fudge making?<br />
<br />
I poured it into a round cake pan (Not the pan I usually use, but since I was changing everything else I figured why not change the dish it cools in, too?), smoothed the top with a spatula, and put it in the fridge to cool. Two hours later, I pulled it out, and it looked like it usually does on good years:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49416470607/in/dateposted-public/" title="Fudge Jan 2020"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49416470607_c15616477b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Fudge Jan 2020"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
Not glossy, but not gritty and wrinkled like an old pioneer woman's face.<br />
<br />
I lifted the foil out of the dish and let the fudge sit for twenty minutes, because I feel like one of the other reasons it seems hard and gritty sometimes is that I slice it when it's rock hard and half frozen, and I needed to just be patient and let it rest. See how much I'm changing and growing as a person? Anyway, I sliced, and got this:<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/49416259871/in/dateposted-public/" title="Fudge Jan 2020"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49416259871_0f2a6468df.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Fudge Jan 2020"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
<br />
It's pretty good. It's solid, creamy, not gritty, and tastes fine. It's not the fudge on the box, but it never will be because the fudge on the box is made of wax and modeling clay and sprayed with oil by a food stylist so that it photographs well.<br />
<br />
Merry Fudgemas, friends.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-25779049663032678892020-01-01T11:45:00.001-05:002020-01-01T11:45:11.332-05:00I read some books and stuffI didn't mean to take a year off from blogging. Actually, if we're being accurate, I've taken almost two years off, which, again, I did not mean to. It just kind of happened, and then it kept happening, and I kept swearing I would pick it up again and not getting to it. I don't even have a good excuse, really. I had some health issues, and I moved, and work got busy, and so here we are. I don't know if you can call it a New Year's Resolution, but I'm going to actually get back to blogging, and the best way to start is to do my traditional year end book review.<br />
<br />
Which may be a little difficult because I did not keep track of what I was reading this year.<br />
<br />
This is weird because I usually keep a list, and last year I kept that <a href="https://arethereanymorecookies.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-year-in-books-and-year-without-books.html">very extensive spreadsheet</a> so that I could track all sorts of data on what I read and who wrote it. This year I didn't keep a list, but every couple months I took pictures of what I'd read because I was totally going to get back to blogging and writing about them. This means that right now, at the beginning of this entry, I have no idea of how many books I finished and I don't have any memory of some of them.<br />
<br />
My first photo of books shows up in April. It represents everything I'd read so far this year, and it looks pretty far behind my usual tally. There are only 11 books in it, and at that point in the year there should be about 16.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/City-Behind-Fence-Tennessee-1942-1946/dp/0870493094/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YFCY9OW5UEDE&keywords=city+behind+a+fence&qid=1577888540&sprefix=city+behind+a+%2Caps%2C237&sr=8-1">City Behind a Fence</a>, by Charles Johnson and Charles Jackson, was about the building of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I've read other books on the subject, but this one actually went more in depth into what the houses and facilities were actually like, what the stores stocked, how people got assigned to housing, and focused less on the personal stories of the people involved, so it provided some balance to the other things I'd read.<br />
<br />
Megan Abbott's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Give-Your-Hand-Megan-Abbott/dp/1509855696/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=give+me+your+hand&qid=1577888688&sr=8-1">Give Me Your Hand</a> was a story about women in science, past friendships, academia, and murder. I remember this being a very tense, fast read that I enjoyed, but don't really remember anything specific.<br />
<br />
Jim Munroe's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Angry-Young-Spaceman-Jim-Munroe/dp/1568582080/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=angry+young+spaceman&qid=1577888881&sr=8-1">Angry Young Spaceman</a> took a pretty typical story of male post-collegiate angst and stuck it at the end of the galaxy on a non-human world. I liked this.<br />
<br />
The fun part of Parker Posey's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Airplane-Self-Mythologizing-Parker-Posey/dp/0735218196/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=you%27re+on+an+airplane&qid=1577888981&sr=8-1">You're On An Airplane</a> is that, in my memoir, the time I met Parker Posey would be a pretty good story and would take up a page or two, but in her memoir I don't appear at all. A lot of other people do, though, and this is ultimately an entertaining, if light, read.<br />
<br />
Even though it's been months, I strongly remember Mary Crockett's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/How-She-Died-Lived/dp/0316523828/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1SO9R0A3PKR4S&keywords=how+she+died+how+i+lived&qid=1577889088&sprefix=how+she+died+how%2Caps%2C208&sr=8-1">How She Died, How I Lived</a>. A high school loner texts five girls he goes to school with one night, and only one texts back. He meets up with her, and then brutally murders her. This is the story of how the other girls feel afterward, and how it impacted their school, their town, their friends, and the rest of their lives as they slowly approach both high school graduation and the killer's trial. Even though this came from the Young Adult section at Target, it was a very interesting read.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gwendys-Button-Box-Stephen-King/dp/1587676109/ref=sr_1_1?crid=27TINALTQEFUJ&keywords=gwendy%27s+button+box&qid=1577889304&sprefix=gwendy%27s+bu%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1">Gwendy's Button Box</a>, by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar, was ok. It only took a day or so to read, and honestly wasn't that interesting. I don't know Chizmar's work, but I know King has done better.<br />
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Carol Goodman, who usually just writes murder mysteries involving secret babies, added supernatural elements to her typical formula with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/By-Carol-Goodman-Incubus-Paperback/dp/B00RWP66OA/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1R9YPG7QTQ5I9&keywords=incubus+by+carol+goodman&qid=1577889536&sprefix=incubus+carol%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-7">Incubus</a>. I remember that it was vaguely entertaining, but little else.<br />
<br />
My friend Leo wrote something about Ben Dolnick's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Notebooks-Novel-Ben-Dolnick/dp/1101871091/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+ghost+notebooks&qid=1577889612&sr=8-1">The Ghost Notebooks</a>, but I can't remember specifically what it was. She seemed to like the book, though, and I did, too. Short and disturbing, it tells the story of a couple who move to a tiny museum somewhere in New England (maybe upstate New York?) and the wife's sudden disappearance that seems to echo past events at the house.<br />
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I really enjoyed Madeline Miller's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/CIRCE-New-York-Times-bestseller/dp/0316556343/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=circe&qid=1577889760&sr=8-1">Circe</a>, which retells several Greek myths from the perspective of Circe, rather than the heroic Greeks. It ultimately becomes a story of love, loss, motherhood, and revenge, and it was a good read. This is everything Disney wanted "Maleficent" to be, but without selling out Circe to make her more sympathetic or a victim.<br />
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Paul Tremblay's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cabin-End-World-Novel/dp/0062679112/ref=sr_1_1?crid=21VIE5333IJDC&keywords=the+cabin+at+the+end+of+the+world&qid=1577889993&sprefix=the+cabin+at+the%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1">The Cabin at the End of the World</a> tells the disturbing story of a family on vacation. A group of strangers approach their cabin, explaining very reasonably that the world will end if the family doesn't do certain things, but those things involve murder and torture. Are the strangers just a crazed cult, or is what they're saying true? And how does the family survive?<br />
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Babe Walker's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/White-Girl-Problems-Babe-Walker/dp/1401324541/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=white+girl+problems&qid=1577890144&sr=8-1">White Girl Problems</a> wasn't nearly as funny and satirical as it thought it was.<br />
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My next photo of books shows up in August, and only has eight books in it, bringing my total for the year at that point to 19.<br />
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I'm not sure how or why I picked up Kieron Connolly's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Civilisations-Kieron-Connolly-author/dp/1782746676/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZH3UTJJTEVFA&keywords=abandoned+civilizations&qid=1577890454&sprefix=abandoned+civi%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-1">Abandoned Civilizations</a>, but it gave capsule descriptions of 90 or so ancient civilizations from around the world. It had a lot of pictures, but served as the kind of book that made you want to go look up more about these places in other books.<br />
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My friend Kristin sent me <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Into-Mist-Disaster-Misfortune-Mountains/dp/093720787X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=into+the+mist&qid=1577890576&sr=8-1">Into the Mist</a> by David Brill, and it told all about deaths, injuries, and disasters in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since I visit the park fairly often, this was an interesting read.<br />
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Craig Child's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Lost-World-Travels-America/dp/034580631X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=URHJRCBU1YBJ&keywords=atlas+of+the+lost+world&qid=1577890676&sprefix=atlas+of+the+lost%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-3">Atlas of a Lost World</a> was supposed to be about Ice Age America, but turned out to be more about Child's travels to Ice Age archeological sites. It needed way more archeology and way less about Child.<br />
<br />
Pete Buttigieg's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Lost-World-Travels-America/dp/034580631X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=URHJRCBU1YBJ&keywords=atlas+of+the+lost+world&qid=1577890676&sprefix=atlas+of+the+lost%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-3">Shortest Way Home</a> was the first book I read this year to try to better understand the 500 or so Democratic presidential candidates. It talked about Pete's life and experiences, and was the first step in my long disenchantment with his candidacy.<br />
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I picked up Shelly Laurenston's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Lost-World-Travels-America/dp/034580631X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=URHJRCBU1YBJ&keywords=atlas+of+the+lost+world&qid=1577890676&sprefix=atlas+of+the+lost%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-3">Hot and Badgered</a> because it had a hot guy on the front and sounded insane. It was a fairly entertaining, but also fairly shallow, love story between were-grizzly bears, were-honey badgers, and the international assassins trying to keep them apart.<br />
<br />
Bobby Hall's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Supermarket-Bobby-Hall/dp/1982127139/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=supermarket&qid=1577891132&sr=8-1">Supermarket</a> was derivative of lots of other books and movies, and I don't remember anything else about it except thinking, "Other people have done this better."<br />
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Paula Johnson's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Restaurants-Knoxville-American-Palate/dp/1625859538/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1MU2KEGUQ84HT&keywords=lost+restaurants+of+knoxville&qid=1577891264&sprefix=lost+restaurants+of+kno%2Caps%2C167&sr=8-1">Lost Restaurants of Knoxville</a> was an interesting tour of local history.<br />
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I read a second Carol Goodman book this year, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Other-Mother-Novel-Carol-Goodman-ebook/dp/B0727TNDFM/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+other+mother&qid=1577891389&sr=8-3">The Other Mother</a>. A return to Goodman's more traditional murder mysteries, this one features a typical Goodman secret baby, an isolated location with a mysterious past, and a protagonist who might be the murderer but might also be insane and pretending to be the murder victim. This was a good read even if some of the ending is a little dependent on coincidence more than it should be.<br />
<br />
And now we come to a stack of books that are still on an end table in my living room, because they are waiting to be shelved, taken to the used bookstore for credit, and counted. I was holding on to them because I was going to get back to blogging again, and here we are, finding out how close to 52 books we're going to end up getting this year.<br />
<br />
#20 - Carla Yanni's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Living-Campus-Architectural-American-Dormitory/dp/1517904560/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=living+on+campus&qid=1577892616&sr=8-1">Living on Campus</a> is an architectural history of dorms, residence halls, and fraternity and sorority houses at American colleges and universities. The intended audience for this is probably rather narrow, but if, like me, you work in higher education or have an interest in it this might interest you. I liked it a lot, but there are points when it gets a little dry, as it's more of a textbook than it is popular reading.<br />
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#21 - Josh Malerman's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inspection-Novel-Josh-Malerman/dp/1524796999/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=inspection&qid=1577892770&sr=8-1">Inspection</a> was a good book. 26 boys lived at a special school in the forest, never leaving campus or knowing the outside world. They were dedicated to their studies, to art, and to being the best boys that boys could be. J wonders what's beyond the forest, and whether their teachers are keeping things from them, and then one shocking day meets something else, someone that's not a boy. This other being, K, is something different, something called a girl, and she lives with 25 other girls at a special school, deep in the forest. I enjoyed this book a lot.<br />
<br />
#22 - In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/So-We-Read-Gatsby-Endures/dp/0316230065/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=so+we+read+on&qid=1577893111&sr=8-1">So We Read On</a>, Maureen Corrigan discusses "The Great Gatsby", and how it came to be an American classic. This is not another Fitzgerald biography, but is instead a biography of the book itself, explaining how it went from critical and commercial failure to being taught in high schools and colleges and becoming the beloved novel that it is today. This was a very good read about my historical literary boyfriend, F. Scott Fitzgerald.<br />
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#23 - The previous book mentioned noted jerk Ernest Hemingway discussing F. Scott in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Moveable-Feast-Restored-Ernest-Hemingway/dp/143918271X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=a+moveable+feast+hemingway&qid=1577893644&sr=8-1">A Moveable Feast</a> so I read that, too, confirming that noted jerk Ernest Hemingway is, indeed, a jerk. I'd say I want to punch him in the face, but he'd probably just write another one of his terrible novels about that, too, the jerk.<br />
<br />
#24 - I count Tom King's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Complete-Collection-Tom-King/dp/1302920553/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+vision+tom+king&qid=1577893780&sr=8-1">The Vision</a> as one of the best comic books of the decade, so I finally got around to reading his novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Once-Crowded-Sky-Novel/dp/1451652011/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=a+once+crowded+sky&qid=1577893932&sr=8-1">A Once Crowded Sky</a>, and it confirmed the sad truth: Tom King shouldn't be writing comic books. Tom King sees no joy in being a superhero, no wonder. He sees only sacrifice, and cost, and trauma, and pain, and everything he's written since "The Vision" confirms that, as does this book. Tom King only has one superhero story to tell, and it's not fun.<br />
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#25 - Remember when I said Stephen King was capable of better than "Gwendy's Button Box"? <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Institute-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1982110562/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IF5I1J87WANJ&keywords=the+institute&qid=1577894088&sprefix=the+intst%2Caps%2C157&sr=8-1">The Institute</a> is one of his best novels in years. A science fiction story of geniuses, psychics, killers, and conspiracy, this was difficult to put down, even when parts of it break your heart.<br />
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#26 - Austin Grossman's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Austin-Grossman/dp/031619851X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=THK06ZDWS63H&keywords=crooked+austin+grossman&qid=1577894267&sprefix=crooked+aus%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1">Crooked</a> tells the story of Richard Nixon, America's last sorcerer-president, and his secret war to keep the US safe from eldritch forces and supernatural powers. I enjoyed this a lot.<br />
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#27 - Peter Clines' <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ex-Isle-Novel-Ex-Heroes-Peter-Clines/dp/0553418319/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ex+isle&qid=1577894365&sr=8-1">Ex isle</a> was the fifth book in his series about superheroes living through a zombie apocalypse. If you like the others, you'll like this one, but these are definitely not stand-alone books where you can pick up any of them and get a full story.<br />
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#28 - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Fright-Stephen-King/dp/1587676796/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=fight+or+flight&qid=1577894459&sr=8-4">Flight or Fright</a> was a collection of horror stories related to flying by various authors. Some were good, some were bad.<br />
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#29 - Jennifer Pozner's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Fright-Stephen-King/dp/1587676796/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=fight+or+flight&qid=1577894459&sr=8-4">Reality Bites Back</a> tried very hard to convince me that reality television is bad for women, families, and society in general. She makes strong arguments, and is probably actually right, but I love my garbage TV too much to give it up.<br />
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#30 - Bill Bryson's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/One-Summer-America-Bill-Bryson/dp/0767919416/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=one+summer&qid=1577894629&sr=8-1">One Summer</a> is a wild US history lesson about the summer of 1927, when Babe Ruth is in a home run derby, Charles Lindbergh is crossing the Atlantic, we're about to fall into the Great Depression, and the United States is never the same. This was a very entertaining, educational read.<br />
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#31 - Sarah Waters' <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Little-Stranger-Sarah-Waters/dp/1594484465/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+little+stranger&qid=1577894779&sr=8-3">The Little Stranger</a>, a moody British ghost story, is a little long and ultimately unsatisfying.<br />
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At 31 books for the year (which I did not know at the time), I left to go visit my family in December, and read a bunch of books while I was home. Was it enough to get to 52?<br />
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#32 - Erik Asphaug's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Earth-Had-Two-Moons/dp/0062657925/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YQ3N5B6RFMXM&keywords=when+the+earth+had+two+moons&qid=1577895223&sprefix=when+the+earth+had+t%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1">When the Earth Had Two Moons</a> was a pretty entertaining book about solar system and planetary formation, and whether our system should be considered unusual or common among the millions and billions of other solar systems in the universe. <br />
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#33 - Back in the 1990's, before current college first year students were born, Kris Pulaski was the lead guitarist of a metal band just about to make it big. Instead, their lead singer went solo, buried their breakout album, and went on to global stardom while the rest of the band ended up in their personal versions of hell. In Grady Hendrix's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/We-Sold-Our-Souls-Novel/dp/1683691245/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=we+sold+our+souls&qid=1577895336&sr=8-1">We Sold Our Souls</a>, Kris finds out what really happened: Terry did way more than just breaking up the band, and now Kris has to find him to save herself from eternal damnation. I really like Hendrix's writing, and this does not disappoint.<br />
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#34 - Gregory Maguire's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hiddensee-Tale-Once-Future-Nutcracker/dp/0062684388/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=hiddensee&qid=1577895645&sr=8-1">Hiddensee</a> tells a holiday story of a nutcracker, a rat, a princess, and a very complicated series of families. It's better than some of Maguire's books, but not as good as others.<br />
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#35 - Kamala Harris's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Truths-We-Hold-American-Journey/dp/0525560718/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+truths+we+hold&qid=1577895789&sr=8-1">The Truths We Hold</a> makes me wish her presidential campaign was still running. I really hope she ends up as someone's vice president or attorney general pick.<br />
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#36 - Jared Diamond's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Third-Chimpanzee-Evolution-Future-Animal/dp/0060845503/ref=sr_1_1?crid=D9NSNQGOL4A5&keywords=the+third+chimpanzee+by+jared+diamond&qid=1577895959&sprefix=the+third+chim%2Caps%2C-1&sr=8-1">The Third Chimpanzee</a>, about the evolution of human beings, was interesting but, at times, also a little dry and boring.<br />
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#37 - Andrew Shaffer's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Never-Dies-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/1683690397/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=hope+never+dies&qid=1577896040&sr=8-1">Hope Never Dies</a>, a murder mystery starring a rambling, annoyed Joe Biden who sits at home resenting that Barack Obama never calls, is pretty much exactly how I imagine Joe Biden behaves. <br />
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#38 - Rainbow Rowell's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Carry-Rainbow-Rowell/dp/1250135028/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LPSUOO169PGU&keywords=carry+on+rainbow+rowell&qid=1577896266&sprefix=carry+on+rainbow%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-1">Carry On</a> was a kind of Harry Potter homage, but with actual gay people and no slaves. I liked it.<br />
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#39 - As a collector of vintage Pyrex, I was intrigued by Sarah Archer's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Midcentury-Kitchen-Workspace-Dreamscape-1940s-1970s/dp/1682682285/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RYR6IL6B15DK&keywords=the+midcentury+kitchen&qid=1577896640&sprefix=the+midcent%2Caps%2C-1&sr=8-1">The Midcentury Kitchen</a>, which talks about the growth of kitchen and appliance design and the changing roles of women in society in midcentury America. There are a lot of pictures, and sometimes not as much substance as I would have liked, but overall it was a good read.<br />
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#40 - Dan Savage's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Savage-Insights-Slights-Politics/dp/0142181005/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=american+savage&qid=1577896814&sr=8-1">American Savage</a> is a series of essays on marriage, love, sex, and the state of the US with regard to LGBTQ+ people. It was a good read, but being a few years old is also somewhat outdated.<br />
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It's also the last book I finished in 2019, which means I did not make my goal of 52 books, and actually came in as low as I have since I started counting this. Maybe in addition to getting back to blogging I can get back to reading more.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5239771833657791594.post-91402264150580387742019-01-01T14:34:00.001-05:002019-01-01T14:34:44.984-05:00The Year in Books and the Year Without BooksLast December, I looked around my living room and noticed that I had a problem. There were unread books under both end tables, and under the coffee table. While this has been pretty normal for my living room the entire time that I've lived in this apartment, a new development was troubling me: there were also multiple stacks of unread books next to the coffee table, enough of them to reach the height of the coffee table and extend its length by almost two feet. Those books were there because I ran out of room under the tables.<br />
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When was I going to read these books?<br />
<br />
And why was I still buying more books, pretty much every weekend?<br />
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I decided that I needed to address the situation, so I made a New Year's Resolution: I would not buy any books in 2018. I needed to read books and get them out of the apartment, so I made myself some rules.<br />
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1) I could buy one book during the year. I knew I would need an out at some point during the year, but, unfortunately for me, I burned my one book before the end of January, when I found out that <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614877/">Chad Michael Murray</a>, the actor, wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Drifter-Thriller-Heather-Graham/dp/0765374870/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546367973&sr=8-1&keywords=american+drifter">a book</a> with Heather Graham, a legitimate author. <br />
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I regret nothing, because this book was a hilarious shitshow.<br />
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<i>American Drifter</i> introduced us to River Roulet, a young US army veteran trying to put the horrors of war behind him by backpacking through Brazil. While in Rio, he meets a beautiful woman, but she is the girlfriend of a powerful drug lord who rules Rio with an iron fist. So River and Natal, the beautiful woman, are on the run from the henchmen of her drug dealer boyfriend. They take trains and busses and hide in abandoned houses, but the men always seem to find them and River and Natal keep getting separated but their love is so strong that they always find each other again even in the extremely crowded streets of Rio.<br />
<br />
Except that there is no Natal. <br />
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I know I'm not supposed to laugh, but Natal was his wife who was killed while he was deployed with the army. They always wanted to go to Brazil, so when he gets discharged for PTSD he goes, drops off the grid to become a handsome drifter, and the entire book is just his PTSD hallucination. The men constantly chasing him are the private investigators his parents hired to find him. In the end they take him back to America and he is institutionalized.<br />
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Except he also actually really did fight a Brazilian drug lord. And burned down his heavily armed compound. While hallucinating that he was rescuing Natal.<br />
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2) My other exception was that I was allowed to buy any copy of Joan Crawford's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/My-Way-Life-Joan-Crawford/dp/1631681141/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546368395&sr=8-1&keywords=joan+crawford+my+way+of+life">My Way of Life</a>, because I've been looking for that thing for years and I was not about to pass it up. In August, I found out that with the popularity of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feud_(TV_series)">Feud</a> someone put the book back into print, so I ordered one, but haven't read it yet.<br />
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Other than those two books, I only slipped one time during the whole year. I was in Pittsburgh in October for a conference, and I spotted this for fifty cents in a bin at a comic store:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75001512@N00/46558464301/in/dateposted-public/" title="Elvis sightings"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7888/46558464301_b4c80c7964.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Elvis sightings"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
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How could I not want that?<br />
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Yes, I broke my resolution, but I guarantee that book is worth it.<br />
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I made a second book-related resolution this year, which was to keep track of the books that I read and data about them in a spreadsheet, so that I could draw a picture of my reading habits at the end of the year. I usually just keep a running list of summaries, but I was curious about what this could tell me, and started tracking on January 1. I used the following columns on my spreadsheet:<br />
<br />
1) Title<br />
2) Author<br />
3) Author Sex<br />
4) Publication Year<br />
5) Format<br />
6) Author Race<br />
7) Days Spent Reading<br />
8) Fiction/Nonfiction<br />
9) Stars Out of Five<br />
10) Genre<br />
11) Page Count<br />
12) How Was it Acquired?<br />
13) Any Awards?<br />
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So, what did we learn?<br />
<br />
<b>Title and Author</b> I read 51 books this year. This is low for me, but there was a period from late July to late August where I just stopped reading. I stopped doing a lot of things about halfway through the year, like updating this blog regularly, staying on diet, getting all my steps regularly, and eventually reading for fun, but by November I was turning most of that around. Hopefully that means I will be back to my normal reading levels soon.<br />
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<b>Author Sex</b> If I couldn't find a record of the author self-identifying, I went with the one that they appeared to be. I may have misgendered someone, for which I apologize, but statistics allow a margin of error, so it doesn't matter much one way or the other if I got a few wrong. Two of the books I read this year had multiple authors, so I have 53 authors for 51 books. Of those 53 authors, I read 20 women and 33 men. It's not an even split, but it's not horribly out of balance. Maybe I'll try alternating this year, to see if I can get it more even.<br />
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<b>Publication Year</b> I'm not sure why I thought this was information that I needed to track, but 47 books were published in this century, and 4 were published in the last one. The oldest book I read was published in 1955.<br />
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<b>Format</b> I didn't finish a single book on my Kindle this year, and I don't listen to audiobooks, so my only formats are paperback and hardcover. I read 14 hardcovers and 37 paperbacks.<br />
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<b>Author Race</b> Like the category of Author Sex, I did my best with this one. While I have 1 unknown, the majority of authors I read this year appeared to be white. And when I say the majority, I mean 47 out of 53. I need to make a more conscious effort this year to seek out voices other than white ones. <br />
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<b>Days Spent Reading</b> It takes me an average of 4.7 days to finish a book.<br />
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<b>Fiction or Nonfiction</b> I read 34 works of fiction, and 17 nonfiction. <br />
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<b>Stars Out of Five</b> I am apparently somewhat stingy with my stars. Here are the books that I gave five stars to:<br />
<br />
Rob Rufus' <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Die-Young-Me-Rob-Rufus/dp/1501142623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546370256&sr=8-1&keywords=die+young+with+me">Die Young With Me</a><br />
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Tina Fey's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056898/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546370316&sr=8-1&keywords=bossypants">Bossypants</a><br />
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Margaret Lazarus Dean's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Orbit-Notes-American-Spaceflight/dp/155597709X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546370362&sr=8-1&keywords=leaving+orbit">Leaving Orbit: Notes From the Last Days of American Spaceflight</a><br />
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M. R. Carey's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Girl-All-Gifts-M-Carey/dp/0316334758/ref=sr_1_3_twi_pap_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546370429&sr=8-3&keywords=the+girl+with+all+the+gifts">The Girl With All the Gifts</a><br />
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Michelle Obama's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Michelle-Obama/dp/1524763136/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546370496&sr=8-1&keywords=becoming+michelle+obama">Becoming</a><br />
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Adam Silvera's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/They-Both-Die-at-End/dp/0062457799/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546370541&sr=8-1&keywords=they+both+die+at+the+end+by+adam+silvera">They Both Die At The End</a><br />
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That's it. Everything else I read was somehow disappointing in some way, and it cost them at least one star. I didn't read any books that I only gave one star two, but four only got two stars. <br />
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<b>Genre</b> Genre was all over the place. The category I read the most of was science fiction, and second place was a tie between horror and memoir. Some people would argue that those are the same category. I tried to mark what a book mainly was, even though several of them would have fit in multiple categories.<br />
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<b>Page Count</b> The shortest book I read was 152 pages, and the longest 678. My average page count was 353.<br />
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<b>How Was It Acquired?</b> I borrowed one book, and found two in free book piles in the Communications Building hallways. Out of the rest, 25 were gifts, and 23 were books I bought for myself.<br />
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<b>Any Awards?</b> This section may also be inaccurate, as it was hard to track down the information. Amazon, GoodReads, Wikipedia, and Google Books are all inconsistent about listing a book's awards, so I did my best to research. As near as I can tell, seven books that I read this year won awards.<br />
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I'm planning to track the books this way again this year, and while I am not resolving not to buy any, I am going to be conscious of what I am purchasing and when I actually plan to read it.Joelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16401310219858196387noreply@blogger.com2