sturlington's Planning to Read Books By Women

Welcome to part two of my thread. This year I am planning to read mostly books written by women, with a focus on speculative fiction via the SFFCat. My dream goal is to read 75 books, although I do not expect them to be evenly distributed by category. I will be happy if I read 60 books, though. (For part 2, I've added a couple of new categories because they became more significant than I originally thought they would be.)

I thought I would run down my rating system by way of introduction:

5.0★ - WOW! Practically perfect in every way.
4.5★ - Excellent read.
4.0★ - Very good read.
3.5★ - Good read.
--- Anything above 3.5★ is worth reading, in my opinion. ---
3.0★ - Just OK.
2.5★ - Flawed in a significant way.
2.0★ - Major disappointment.
1.5★ - Very poor read.
1.0★ - Couldn't finish reading for whatever reason.
0.5★ - Utter waste of paper and ink; should never have been written.

I use the ratings to assess both how much I liked the book and also how significant it was in my overall reading life. Therefore, perfectly good but forgettable books may fall down to the bottom of the scale, while not perfect but very significant books may float to the top.

I stripped out all my pics because I was getting tired of looking at them, but I may add in some more as the thread goes along.

Category 1: Speculative Fiction

I am planning to read between 2-5 books per month in the following categories, corresponding more or less to the SFFCat:

Historical science fiction (January)
1. Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly (3★)
2. Black Ships by Jo Graham (4★)
3. Territory by Emma Bull (3★)

Classics (February)
1. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (3.5★)
2. Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany (3.5★)

Apocalypse/Dystopias (March)
1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (4.5★)*
2. The End is Nigh edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (3.5★)*
3. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (4.5★)
4. Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams (4★)

Fairy tales/Myths (April)
1. The King Must Die by Mary Renault (3★)
2. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemison (2.5★)
3. Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin (4.5★)

Girl Power (May)
1. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (3.5★)*
2. The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy (3.5★)
3. Unexpected Stories by Octavia Butler (4★)
4. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (3.5★)

Time travel/Alternate History (June)
1. Dominion by C.J. Sansom (3.5★)
2. New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear (3.5★)

Non-humans (July)
1. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (4★)
2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (2★)
3. Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (3★)

Other Worlds (August)
1. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (3.5★)*
2. Other Worlds Than These edited by John Joseph Adams (4★)
3. The Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper (4★)

Slipstream/Interstitial (September)
1. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (4.5★)*
2. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie (3.5★)
3. After Alice by Gregory Maguire (4★)

Supernatural/Paranormal (October)
1. Rooms by Lauren Oliver (4★)*
2.

Heroes/Quests (November)
1.
2.

Award winners (December)
1. Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta (3.5★)* -- Arthur C. Clarke shortlist
2.

*Not read in the assigned month.

Category 2: Historical Fiction
Inspired by the HistoryCAT but not following the categories. Books off the TBR or other timely reads. I hope to read 6 books from this category.

1. At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen (3★)
2. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (4★)
3. Euphoria by Lily King (3.5★)
4. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara (4★)
5. Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn (3★)
6. The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville (3★)

Category 3: Group Reads
This category includes book club picks and any online group reads I may join in.

1. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (5★) -- 2015 category challenge group read
2. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (4.5★) -- book club pick
3. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (4★) - alas, probably my only completed book for the year-long Austen group read

Category 4: Random Reads
This catch-all category includes picks for the RandomCAT that don't fit into other categories, plus random finds in the Little Free Library, Early Reviewer wins, book review assignments, and books off the TBR that don't fit my other categories.

1. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (4.5★)
2. The Water that Falls on You From Nowhere by John Chu (3★) - short story
3. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal (3★) - short story
4. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (4★) - household maintenance
5. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (4★) - creativity
6. Reading Women: How the Great Books of Feminism Changed My Life by Stephanie Staal (4★) - feminism and literature
7. The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell (3★)
8. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (5★)- walking audiobook
9. Lists of Note, compiled by Shaun Usher (4★) - Early Reviewers win
10. Finders Keepers by Stephen King (4★)
11. The Burnt Orange Heresy by Charles Willeford (3.5★)
12. What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton (3.5★)
13. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp (4★)
14. The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry (3.5★)
15. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (3★)

Category 5: Horror
Inspired by the HorrorKIT but only loosely following the monthly categories there. I hope to read at least 6 books in this category.

1. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (3.5★) - walking audiobook
2. Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells (4★) - walking audiobook
3. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (4★)
4. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (4★) - short story
5. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (4★)
6. Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (4★)
7. Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco (4★)
8. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (3.5★)
9. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (3.5★)
10. American Gothic Tales edited by Joyce Carol Oates (4★)

Category 6: Kiddie Reads
Books I read with or to my 6-year-old son.

1. Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm (4★) / Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen (3.5★) -- mostly read
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (4★)
3. My Dog May Be a Genius by Jack Prelutsky (4★)
4. The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide (4★)
5. Fudge-a-mania by Judy Blume (3★ - audiobook version)
6. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien (4★)
7. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (4.5★)
8. Superfudge by Judy Blume (3.5★)
9. Freckle Juice by Judy Blume (3.5★)
10. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary (4★)

Category 7: Cookbooks
I love to cook, so I will list my participation in the Cookbook KIT here. The goal is to use and review some of my newer cookbooks and books about food on the TBR.

January: Breakfast -- Made Country French Omelet and Sunrise Smoothies from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

February: Lunch -- Made Chicken, Mozzarella, and Spinach-Walnut Pesto Sandwich from 'wichcraft

March: Soups and Stews -- Made French Farmer's Vegetable Soup from Splendid Soups

April: Baking--Sweet -- Made Pumpkin Scones from Healing Foods

May: Main Dish -- Made Honolulu Beans from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

Bonus: BingoDOG

Here's where I'll list my BingoDOG reads.



1. The King Must Die - protagonist of the opposite gender
2. Interpreter of Maladies - chosen by someone else
3. Island of Doctor Moreau - owned more than 1 year
4. Woman on the Edge of Time -- scientists
5. A Morbid Taste for Bones -- subject you're unfamiliar with
6. The Phantom of the Opera -- translated from a language you don't speak
7. Their Eyes Were Watching God -- natural disaster
8. The Speed of Dark -- autism
9. Euphoria - bisexual main character
10. At the Water's Edge -- set in a country other than your own
11. Babel-17 -- about language
12. Herland -- published in 1915
13. The End Is Nigh -- read a CAT (SFFCat)
14. The Shrinking of Treehorn -- reminds you of your childhood
15. Bride of the Rat God -- prophecies, signs and portents are part of the plot
16. Black Ships -- based on a myth
17. Lavinia -- inspired by another piece of fiction
18. The Book of Strange New Things - correspondence or letters
19. Station Eleven - by a LibraryThing author
20. Fantastic Mr. Fox - animal is of importance
21. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - mythical creature
22. Dominion -- major historical event
23. The City Not Long After -- ancestor shares a name
24. Territory -- genre bender
25. The Age of Innocence -- outside of your comfort zone

Where in the World?

Last year, I enjoyed tracking where in the world I was reading at any particular time, so I plan to continue doing that for all my reads in 2015.


visited 14 states (6.22%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Amsterdam travel guide for Android

Canada: Station Eleven (actually takes place in both Canada and the US but the key setting is Toronto)
Egypt: Black Ships (actually takes place all over this region but Egypt is the only recognizable modern country)
Finland: Memory of Water (Finnish author)
France: The Phantom of the Opera
Greece: The King Must Die
India: Interpreter of Maladies (every story either takes place in India or is about Indian American immigrants to the US)
Ireland: The Ghosts of Belfast (mostly Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, I know, but some takes place in Ireland proper and it is about the history of Ireland)
Italy: Lavinia
Japan: A Tale for the Time Being
Micronesia: The People in the Trees
Papua New Guinea: Euphoria
South Africa: Let the Dead Lie
United Kingdom: At the Water's Edge (Scotland); A Morbid Taste for Bones (Wales); The Girl Next Door (England); Dominion (England); Mansfield Park (England); After Alice (England)

Where in the US?

Also tracking my American reads by state where they take place.


visited 9 states (18%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Amsterdam travel guide for Android

Arizona: Territory (Tombstone)
California: Bride of the Rat God (Los Angeles); The City Not Long After (San Francisco); Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Marin County); Tea with the Black Dragon (San Francisco)
Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God (Everglades); The Burnt Orange Heresy
Kansas: Dark Places
Maine: Fudge-a-mania
Missouri: Sharp Objects
New Jersey: Superfudge
New York: Dept. of Speculation (Brooklyn); Woman on the Edge of Time (New York City); The Age of Innocence (New York City); New Amsterdam (alternate New York); Burnt Offerings (New York state); Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (New York City); Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights (New York City); Rooms (upstate)
Texas: The Last Picture Show
cross-country road trip: The Price of Salt

Oceans and islands: Island of Doctor Moreau
Off-planet/Imaginary: Babel-17, The Book of Strange New Things, Herland, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Lady Astronaut of Mars, Annihilation/Authority/Acceptance, Ancillary Sword, Other Worlds Than These, The Family Tree

Women read so far this year:

• Charlie Jane Anders - short story
  
• Megan Arkenberg - short story
  
• Gertrude Atherton - short story
  
• Jane Austen
  
• Elizabeth Bear
  
• Annie Bellet - short story
  
• Judy Blume (4)
  
• Desirina Boskovich - short story
  
• Emma Bull
  
• Octavia Butler - 2 short stories
  
• Pat Cadigan - short story
  
• Beverly Cleary
  
• Katherine Dunn - except from novel
  
• Tananarive Due - short story
  
• Nancy Etchemendy - short story
  
• Gillian Flynn (2)
  
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman - novel + short story
  
• Jo Graham
  
• Sara Gruen
  
• Barbara Hambly
  
• Patricia Highsmith
  
• Zora Neale Hurston
  
• Emmi Itäranta
  
• Shirley Jackson - short story (2)
  
• N.K. Jemisin
  
• Vylar Kaftan - short story
  
• Caitlin R. Kiernan - short story
  
• Lily King
  
• Kathe Koja - short story
  
• Mary Robinette Kowal - short story
  
• Nancy Kress - short story
  
• Jhumpa Lahiri
  
• Sarah Langan - short story (2)
  
• Ursula K. Le Guin - short story (3) + novel
  
• Ann Leckie
  
• Yoon Ha Lee - short story
  
• Heather Lindsley - short story
  
• Kelly Link - short story
  
• Emily St. John Mandel
  
• Seanan McGuire - short story (2)
  
• Elizabeth Moon
  
• R.A. MacAvoy
  
• Pat Murphy
  
• Malla Nunn
  
• Joyce Carol Oates - short story (2) + editor of anthology
  
• Jenny Offill
  
• Lauren Oliver
  
• Ruth Ozeki
  
• Jennifer Pelland - short story
  
• Ellis Peters
  
• Marge Piercy
  
• Sylvia Plath - short story
  
• Melissa Pritchard - short story
  
• Mary Renault
  
• Ruth Rendell
  
• Anne Rice - novel excerpt
  
• M. Rickert - short story
  
• Vandana Singh - short story
  
• Stephanie Staal
  
• Sheri S. Tepper
  
• Twyla Tharp
  
• E. Catherine Tobler - short story
  
• Lisa Tuttle - short story
  
• Catherynne M. Valente - short story
  
• Genevieve Valentine - short story
  
• Carrie Vaughn - short story (2)
  
• Jo Walton
  
• Robin Wasserman - short story
  
• Edith Wharton -- novel + short story
  
• Kate Wilhelm - short story
  
• Hanya Yanagihara
  
• Christie Yant - short story
  

Happy new thread! I love the maps showing where your stories have taken place. What fun!

>12 mamzel: Thanks! I enjoy visually seeing where I am virtually visiting in the books I read.

Yay for your second thread. I should think about adding the maps to my thread, as I tend to forget about them since they're hidden in other groups.

>14 RidgewayGirl: Had to start a new thread so I could tweak my categories a little. :-)

Hurray, new thread! :D

Happy new thread!

Yay new thread! :)

Love the maps; off to create some of my own

Happy new thread!

Love the maps! Will have to add that in when I continue my current thread.

13. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl (1970)
Category: Kiddie reads | Rating: Very good (4★)
BingoDOG: An animal is of importance

Three mean farmers try to starve out a fox and his family, but the Fantastic Mr. Fox gets the better of them.

This is a short and funny tale, with clear bad guys -- the three farmers, one fat, one short, one lean, all with disgusting eating habits -- and clear good guys -- the fox family and the other underground critters. Mr. Fox steals chickens, geese and ducks from the farms, but we're rooting for him anyway, because he clearly is so much more sophisticated and dapper than his human foes, who only want to kill him. This story doesn't have as much substance as James and the Giant Peach or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it is great fun to read aloud and a must for all Dahl fans.

Happy new thread! So many possibilities!

>21 sturlington: I read that to my 5 year old son last year and he loved it. I thought it was pretty fun, too.

>23 japaul22: The movie is fun too, if you haven't seen it.

14. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)
Category: Group read (book club) | Rating: Excellent (4.5★)
BingoDOG: Chosen by someone else

This is a beautiful collection of short stories. Each one is nearly perfect. Lahiri writes characters very well, and her stories provide a wonderful insight into Indian and Indian immigrant culture. If there is a theme, it seems to be about loss or disappointed expectations, particularly in marriage and family relationships. Even though some of the stories were sad, the tone never came across as bleak or hopeless. In that way, they rang very true to life for me.

15. The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (2014)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Excellent (4.5★)
SFFCat: Apocalypse/Dystopia (March) | BingoDOG: With correspondence or letters

A Christian preacher travels to another planet, Oasis, to minister to the alien natives and finds himself becoming more distant from his wife, left behind on Earth where society seems to be collapsing.

This was an absorbing, thought-provoking read, not so much science fiction as a novel that employs science fictional elements to explore human needs for love, faith and something to believe in. In that way, it joins a long tradition of science fiction books that use first contact with an alien species as a way to look at our own complicated relationship with God and religion. This novel adds an apocalyptic/dystopian element to the equation, raising the questions of whether our civilization can survive and how we might undertake to build a new civilization completely from scratch. It's very interesting to explore that question from the point of view of a faceless mega-corporation employing calculated, ultra-rational techniques such as might have been developed by the HR department to populate that new civilization. But the heart of this story is a marriage--can marriage survive when partners are separated by great distances and are having radically different experiences? There is so much going on in this novel that it provides endless food for thought. I am glad to have discovered Michel Faber as a writer, and would add him to the ranks of talented literary speculative fiction writers such as David Mitchell and Kazuo Ishiguro.

16. The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal (2013)
Category: Random reads | Rating: OK (3★)

In the minority, I didn't find this short very impactful or memorable. Perhaps I just didn't understand enough about the (alternate?) universe it was taking place in to get invested.

Note: I'm not counting this for the BingoDOG or SFFCat since it was only a short story.

17. At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen (2015)
Category: Historical fiction | Rating: OK (3★)
BingoDOG: Set in a country other than my own

A naive American woman travels to Scotland with her husband and his best friend during World War II in search of the Loch Ness Monster.

Well, this was a romance, pure and simple. First, I'll say what I liked about it. I liked the narrator, Maddie, which is saying quite a lot because at the beginning, I really didn't like her (all that vomiting!). She does grow and change in believable ways as the story progresses, which is more than I can say for any other character. I also enjoyed the setting. You can't really go wrong with a Scottish village, it's agreeably gothic, and a subtle touch of the supernatural keeps things interesting. The historical details about the final year of the war, while a bit heavy-handed, contribute to building Maddie's character, and it's interesting to read about what life during wartime is like for the villagers. It's a relatively fast-moving read, and the characters, while pretty much all one-dimensional, are still appealing to read about.

That brings me to what I didn't care for. The characters all fall into two camps: either saintly, salt-of-the-earth villagers or beastly, snobbish, rich Americans. Angus, the love interest, is a perfect man in every possible way, without a flaw to be seen (unless you don't like beards), which makes him a fantasy, as far as I'm concerned. By contrast, Maddie's husband Ellis is so terrible he might as well be twirling a mustache. (And I never could get a handle on his motive for marrying Maddie in the first place. Was she a beard for Ellis's too-close relationship with the best friend, Hank, who never really acted all that gay? Or was she just a naive dupe who would look pretty on his arm and put up with all his boozing and drug-taking? That aspect of the plot never gelled for me.) The melodrama is laid on thick, what with domestic abuse, anorexia, family suicides, threatened lobotomies, etc., etc. And the ending ties up just a bit too neatly for my tastes.

So, it's a highly readable romance, but romance all the same, not nearly as deep as the loch at the center of the book. I'm not a reader who normally likes romance. If I were, I'd give it another star, and I'd recommend this to anyone who does like it.

>25 sturlington: Short shories have not been much on my radar, but this one sounds great. Noted on the BB list. :)

>29 Chrischi_HH: I don't normally read short stories either. I consider myself more of a novel reader, so they have to be really good to break through for me.

Cooking Update

The next step on my family's tour around the United States cooking challenge was Alaska. This was the least successful of my dishes thus far, but I think it's because of the recipe I chose.

When I think of Alaska, I immediately think of salmon. I was able to buy wild-caught Alaskan salmon at our local co-op. I wanted to make a pretty American dish, though, so I chose a recipe for Broiled Salmon from Cooks Illustrated that has a crust of crushed potato chips, mixed with bread crumbs, mustard and dill. What could be more American than that? Well, it sounded good and it tasted fine, but the dish never really cohered. I think I have come to the conclusion after trying lots of different salmon recipes that the best way to cook salmon at home is poaching it in some sort of liquid. Otherwise, you really run the risk of overcooking and drying out the fish, and I think the flavor is better.

To showcase Alaska's ties to Russia and the Scandinavian region, I started the meal with a selection of pickles served with rye bread. This was the more successful part of the meal. I made homemade marinated beets, pickled onions and pickled green beans, and also had some jarred cornichons on hand. The beets were pretty good on the bread, but beets are one of those vegetables, along with brussels sprouts, artichokes and cauliflower, that I find to be a lot of trouble to cook at home, and the results are often spotty. However, if I do cook them, roasting, thin-slicing and marinating is the way to go, as they would be a nice addition to sandwiches.

Next step: Since it took me so long to get to Alaska, we picked three possibles for our next destination to give me a lot of options and inspiration. They are Tennessee, South Dakota and New Mexico (a favorite!).

I am very curious to see what you could find to make for South Dakota.

You've set an interesting challenge for yourself! I'll bet you end of with many new favorite recipes that you would have never tried before, even though you're an adventurous eater.

>33 mstrust: Thanks! I was hoping it would encourage my family to try new things, and me to cook new dishes. Also, we read about each state on that night, so it's a mini geography lesson for my son. I might do countries next after finishing this one (although probably not all of them).

I agree with you on the salmon. When we cook it, I poach it in the oven with lemon juice and cover the dish with tinfoil. It is then served with a creamy lemon dill sauce, heavy on the dill. ;-)

18. My Dog May Be a Genius by Jack Prelutsky (2008)
Category: Kiddie Reads | Rating: Very good (4★)

A cute poetry collection for kids--Shel Silverstein lite. Lots of puns, punchlines and nonsense. My seven-year-old thought it was pretty funny and had me read it every night until we were done.

A couple of random reads (nonfiction). Both are very good (4★).

19. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo and I are very sympatico. I also derive great pleasure from discarding. I set out to follow this book exactly without questioning it, and it has truly made a difference in my environment and also how I think about my things. Now I don't buy anything without asking myself if it sparks joy in my heart. My closet and drawers are wonderfully organized, and it actually gives me pleasure to put my clothes away. My bookcases have never looked better. And her advice on what to do with papers is so, so freeing. I also like the idea that things serve a purpose in your life, and they can be sent on their way once that purpose is served. Psychologically, that really helps me get over the hump of hanging on to something just because I might need it or it was expensive. I have to admit that I did stop the program before I got to mementos and photos. I ran out of steam. But this has been a great book for me, and one I will turn to again and again for inspiration.

A couple of wishes: I wish there had been more about reuse and recycle, rather than discard. We already throw too many things away. I try to find new homes for most things I discard. I also wish there had been more about acquiring, or rather not acquiring, or how to combat the urge to acquire. Because without acquiring, there is no need to discard.

20. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon

A short book that can be read in one sitting that collects quick tips on how to integrate being creative into your life.

I found this to be pretty inspirational. I particularly liked the advice to start a logbook and to keep a praise file. Also: "write what you like" is so much more helpful than "write what you know." I think our culture is so focused on making money, being productive and crafting a personal brand that we've forgotten how to do things just for the joy of it. This book helps bring our minds back to that first principle.

At one point he says (paraphrasing) that what you do in your free time, when you're just noodling around, is what you should really be doing. In that case, I need to figure out how to build a career on cataloguing books in LibraryThing.

>37 sturlington: Glad to hear someone speak well of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I keep almost picking that up, as decluttering sounds great. Now I will.

>38 lycomayflower: My advice if you do is to just go with what she says. Some of her ideas may seem a little silly, but they are psychological tricks that work, I think.

I love salmon and find it has such a distinctive taste that it doesn't need a lot of extras to go with it. I usually season it with lemon and dill, wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven. Of course my favorite way of having salmon is fresh off the barbeque!

My Dog May be a Genius looks great! My son loves the Shel Silverstein poems, and this looks like it might be in a similar vein.

>40 DeltaQueen50: Your method sounds like a gentler way of cooking salmon than broiling.

>41 japaul22: I think it would definitely appeal to a Shel Silverstein fan, although the poems are not quite as... subversive?

Julia Child had a recipe for salmon that I have tweaked a little. I'm not giving exact amounts since I adapt to the size of fish/number of people. Saute a mirepoix of finely chopped onions, celery, and carrots. Add a touch of salt and pepper and some tarragon toward the end. I prefer to take them a little to the caramelized stage. Skin a fillet of salmon and put it in a baking dish. Put the sautéed vegetables on top of the salmon and pour in some white wine (I use vermouth). Bake in a 375 deg. oven until cooked through (20 min.?). My extra touch was to keep the pan I sautéed the vegetables in and after removing the cooked fish, pour any remaining cooking liquids back into the pan. Bring to a boil and reduce a little. Add a couple of pats of butter while whisking to make a kind of beurre blanc. Pour over fish.

This has been a hit with my family for years.

>43 mamzel: That sounds great! I will try it next time I cook salmon. Is the original recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking?

The original recipe is called Braised Whole Fillet of Salmon in Wine and Aromatic Vegetables and is in her The Way to Cook book.

Read this morning and had to share: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/mar/22/margaret-atwood-on-game-of-t...

Who knew Margaret Atwood was a Game of Thrones superfan? Well, if George pops off before the series is done, maybe she could finish it for him. Wouldn't that be interesting?

21. The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells (1896)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)
BingoDog: Owned more than 1 year

I don't think this is Wells' best book, although perhaps if the plot had been a surprise to me instead of already familiar, I might have rated it higher. Still, Wells is a compelling writer always, and I admire his straightforward style from a time when many writers seemed to tie themselves in knots just to get out a sentence. Wells feels more "modern" because of that.

This one is a bit more grotesque than the others of Wells' novels I have read, although still not as scary as War of the Worlds. Once again, Wells proves himself an originator of tropes that now seem like cliches: mad scientist on an isolated island, conducting extreme experiments just because he can. The story does have its weaknesses. For being in the title, Moreau could have been a more well-rounded character, and it might have been more exciting if he had not died off-screen. This might be dismissed as mere pulp fiction, but Wells' writing is smarter than that. Here are two examples where it rises above: the genuinely creepy scene with Pendrick sitting in the dark among the manimals, all chanting, "Are we not men?" And the end, where Pendrick, returned to civilization, looks at the people all around him and can't help but seeing the beasts hidden within.

>46 sturlington: - I did not know that about Atwood and great idea!

I read Moreau a couple of years ago for Halloween and found it a suitably creepy read, mainly because I really, really don't like to read about animals being mistreated, so I read with such a sense of trepidation. I'm glad I forced myself to finish it and I ended up feeling that it was an admirable story.

22. The Shrinking of Treehorn by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Edward Gorey (1971)
Category: Kiddie Books | Rating: Very good (4★)
BingoDOG: Reminds me of my childhood

This is a short children's book I remember reading as a child, recently read aloud to my son. My son liked it because of the simple but fantastical plot--Treehorn suddenly begins shrinking, but figures out himself the culprit is a game he ordered from a cereal box but didn't finish playing. He also likes the unexplained cliffhanger--why did Treehorn turn green? I love it because of Edward Gorey's wonderful drawings--particularly the clothes--and because of the clueless grown-ups populating the story. The over-enthusiastic principal has to be my favorite: "That's what I'm here for. To guide. Not to punish, but to guide. To guide all the members of my team. To solve all their problems." If Treehorn wants to solve his problems, he'll have to do it himself, because no one around him has a clue. Still a super-cute book, after all these years.

23. Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams (2011)
Category: Speculative Fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Apocalypse/Dystopia (March)

A comprehensive compilation of dystopian fiction, from classic stories to brand-new ones.

Not only is this a great collection of dystopian short stories, it's a nice round-up of speculative fiction in general. It includes two of my all-time favorite stories: "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson and "Those Who Walk Away from Omelos" by Ursula K. Le Guin. There are several essential classics that I hadn't yet read, including "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick, "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison, as well as stories by Ray Bradbury, J.G. Ballard, Kate Wilhelm, James Morrow, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg, Orson Scott Card, Paolo Bacigalupi and Cory Doctorow, plus a comic written by Neil Gaiman. As with any anthology, this one can be uneven; I'm not a fan of Geoff Ryman, for instance, so I'm not sure why he's the only author with two selections. Overall, though, the quality of the writing is very high, and the ideas presented are chilling and thought-provoking, which is what a good dystopian story should be. Adams has arranged the stories more or less by theme, which is interesting, especially since all the gender-based dystopias are together. However, it might have been interesting to read them chronologically, too, to see how our societal fears have changed over the years. I'm happy to include this anthology with my small collection of short stories on sub-genres that particularly engage me: gothic, apocalyptic and now dystopian.

>51 sturlington: Ooh, I really like that Le Guin story too!

>50 sturlington: that looks great! I just bought it for my 5 year old son for Easter. Sounds like something he'll really like. I'm getting great recommendations from you for his reading (I also bought the book of poems you recently reviewed!)

>52 christina_reads: I think everyone should read that story.

>53 japaul22: I'm glad I'm being helpful. Isn't it fun when they start getting old enough to widen their reading? I have really enjoyed introducing my son to fairy tales and poetry this year.

March reading roundup:

For pleasure, I read a total of 4 full-length books, 2 audiobooks, 2 miscellaneous self-help-type books, 1 cookbook for the CookingKIT and 1 standalone short story; 2 of these were for the SFFCat. I read 3 children's books of varying lengths with my son, also reviewed. I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: Interpreter of Maladies; The Book of Strange New Things; Brave New Worlds; The Island of Doctor Moreau; Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Shrinking of Treehorn; My Dog May Be a Genius; The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up; Steal Like an Artist; Splendid Soups; The Phantom of the Opera.

For paid book reviews, I read 4 books. I've given up on counting my yearly total--it's too complicated factoring in all the different totals. So I'll just go by my total on the Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 23 so far.

Next month, I'm tentatively planning on reading: The King Must Die (already started); Lavinia; The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms; A Morbid Taste for Bones.

In personal news, my husband and I recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary. Next week is spring break so we're going on a short celebratory adults-only trip to Nashville. I've had a particularly pernicious stomach virus hanging around for more than a week now, so I'm hoping it goes away in time for me to enjoy some great Southern food this week. See you all when I get back!

Have a good trip, and I hope you feel better soon!

Hope you feel better soon & enjoy your trip!

I love Mary Renault which started when I read The King Must Die at age 11. So I am happy to see you reading this yet anxious in case you don't like it. I hate hearing that people don't like books I love even though I realize that tastes vary... I will keep my fingers crossed that you like it ;)

>55 sturlington: Congratulations on your 10th anniversary. My husband and I just celebrated our 50th anniversary a couple of days ago. As a teenage bride this was too distant to imagine. It's still hard to believe! We too are planning a short getaway to celebrate.

Happy anniversary! Have a great trip - hopefully the nasty virus doesn't hang around.

I'm back from Nashville. It's a very friendly city, great food, and we saw a couple of good shows. I wasn't up to 100% but I managed to enjoy myself anyway. I'm sure the nice spring weather helped.

>58 VivienneR: Congratulations to you! That's an impressive achievement.

Happy anniversary, Shannon! Mine's today. I'm glad Nashville was fun, despite the bug.

>61 RidgewayGirl: and a very happy anniversary to you too!

24. The King Must Die by Mary Renault (1958)
Category: Historical/speculative fiction | Rating: OK (3★)
SFFCat: Mighty myths and fairy tales | BingoDOG: Protagonist of the opposite gender

A retelling of the story of Theseus from his boyhood through to his escape from captivity as a bull dancer in Crete.

Mary Renault has taken pains here to retell a myth as it actually could have happened. She retains all of the famous elements of the minotaur story--the labyrinth, the bull, Ariadne's thread--but reworks them so that they have plausible, realistic explanations. While there is nothing overtly supernatural or fantastic in this version of the story, the gods are highly influential; Theseus believes that the gods, and Poseidon in particular, literally guide every choice he makes. It is left up to the reader to decide whether the divine are truly present, or whether, for instance, Theseus is unusually adept at predicting earthquakes.

The beginning of the story drags somewhat, as Theseus grows up wondering who his father is and eventually sets out on a journey fraught with danger to Athens to reunite with his father, Aigeus. The writing also feels very formal and stilted. The story really picks up once Theseus and his compatriots are sent to Crete to learn to be bull dancers. This is an exciting segment, fraught with danger, palace intrigue and suspense, culminating in a terrific battle and escape scene. Renault does a particularly good job of blending the trappings of the myth with a realistic story line that refreshes and reinvents the familiar story.

A recurring theme throughout is that of the sacrificial king (hence the title) and whether the ancient tradition of symbolically killing a king after one year of rule to ensure a good harvest should be discontinued. Theseus becomes one of these kings, and obviously feels that it should. Theseus is an aggressively male character, who revels in his sexual prowess and other masculine characteristics, and the gender politics of this retelling are pretty troubling, which is why I can't give this book higher marks. Theseus believes that not only should the old traditions be stopped, but that power should be taken away from all women, and the three major women he encounters--the Queen of Eleusis, Medea and Ariadne--really have no redeeming qualities to counteract this view. The first two are power-mad, violent and devious. And Ariadne is clueless, naive, weak-willed and corruptible. Renault must be true to the story, so she has Theseus abandon his great love Ariadne by sneaking off in the middle of the night, but her explanation as to why he must do this is completely unsatisfactory. After Ariadne participates in the ritual of Dionysus, in which the king is sacrificed, Theseus sees something in her hand while she is sleeping that so disgusts him, it destroys his love for her. What it is he sees, we can guess--but Renault doesn't tell us, which makes it frustrating. And this reader can't help wondering how Ariadne felt, waking up alone the next morning, finding her betrothed gone without a word of explanation.

I enjoyed the story, but I didn't like Theseus much, and I really didn't like how women's power was presented. I am trying to read more books written by women, but The King Must Die shows that women writers are not immune to issues of gender bias.

25. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (2010)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Flawed (2.5★)
SFFCat: Mighty myths and fairy tales | BingoDOG: Mythical creatures

After her mother's murder, Yeine is summoned by her grandfather, the ruler of the hundred thousand kingdoms, to the Sky Palace, where she becomes involved in a plot to free some enslaved gods.

A competent book, but it left me feeling very unengaged. For one thing, it's extremely claustrophobic. Despite the title, the book is set almost entirely within the Palace and the cast of characters is very limited. I think I would have cared more about Yeine if I knew more about her background and her world, particularly that world's relationship with its gods. Some of the exposition in that regard was clumsily delivered and never quite gelled for me.

Also, the romance that Yeine carries on with the god of night, Nahadoth, really put me off. It just felt icky somehow. I think that's because for the most part, this reads like a young adult novel, but then Jemisin throws in some very unexpected, very adult sex. A lot of sex.

Straightforward fantasy is rarely my cup of tea, anyway. I need something realistic to hang my hat on before I'm willing to buy all the magic and mythology. Some more time spent world-building and character-building would have certainly helped. I had high hopes for this author and can't help feeling disappointed, but I won't be continuing the series.

2nd book abandoned this year: The Blackhouse by Peter May

Well, I'm really on a roll, aren't I? This one seemed ok, but it failed to engage me and I just wasn't in the mood for a bleak crime-thriller right now. I gave it to the Little Free Library after giving up on it around page 75.

Maybe I just shouldn't read when I'm sick. Except when I'm sick, all I want to do is read. I'm feeling better now, actually, but this norovirus keeps hanging on, so while I never feel particularly bad, I never feel particularly well either. And I'm never sure when I eat anything whether it's going to set off a reaction or not. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. This has been going on for more than 2 weeks, it's getting pretty tiresome!

>65 sturlington: said "Maybe I just shouldn't read when I'm sick. Except when I'm sick, all I want to do is read. "

I know what you mean -- I generally reread my favorite comfort books when I am sick. I know the plot so if my attention drifts or I fall asleep, it is no big deal. Hope you get rid of that norovirus completely soon!!

And regarding The King Must Die -- your criticisms are probably valid but are not how I recollect the book. I was thinking about rereading this but maybe I should let my good feelings about it remain unchallenged...

>66 leslie.98: Sometimes that's best for a book you read and loved when you were younger. I hope my review reflected my mixed feelings about it. I did really like how she reframed the Theseus myth.

>65 sturlington: Sorry to hear that the virus is still hanging on! It's terrible when you're sick and can't pinpoint the exact reason. And I hear you on not being able to read when sick; I thought I'd get loads of reading done in the wake of my wisdom teeth surgery (at least, once the sedatives wore off), but that totally did not happen. Very irritating. I hope the reading funk goes away soon!

I'm going to try to post more links here when I get good ones. Here is an excellent profile of Toni Morrison: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/12/magazine/the-radical-vision-of-toni-morrison.h...

Hope you feel better soon! I was also underwhelmed by The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Cooking Update

I completely forgot to update on our last stop on our culinary tour of the United States, which was South Dakota -- chosen by my son, who is fascinated by Mt. Rushmore right now. South Dakota was a tough state, as no real signature dish springs to mind, but the state dessert is kuchen, so I went with that. I had no idea what kuchen was. It turns out kuchen is the German word for "cake," and it can refer to any number of kinds of cakes, including yeasted ones and ones more like coffee cake, cakes rolled around a filling or with fruit or even something like pie.

When I am on unfamiliar ground, I turn to the authority: Joy of Cooking. It had two recipes for kuchen, both similar to coffee cake. I made one that was topped with fresh blueberries. I served it for dessert after an Easter dinner consisting of some non-South Dakota foods: barbecued chicken, deviled eggs, fingerling potatoes. The recipe was very good, light and fluffy, and adaptable because you can use almost any kind of fruit. It was good with vanilla ice cream and also for breakfast the next morning. My son really liked it, which led to South Dakota getting a pretty high rating.

Our next state is New Mexico. I'm looking forward to this one because I happen to own an entire cookbook of Santa Fe recipes.

PS I think if there was an apocalypse, I'd want to have three cookbooks with me. One is Joy of Cooking because it tells you how to cook everything. The next is Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food II, which has lots of info about growing and using different types of herbs, vegetables and greens. And the third is Mrs. Restino's Country Kitchen, which is the only cookbook I have that explains how to kill, pluck and clean a chicken. Also how to make cheese and wine.

Cooking Update 2

For the Cooking KIT this month, I read Healing Foods: Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn's and IBS.

I ordered this cookbook because my husband and I both have autoimmune diseases with associated stomach issues. I wanted help with cooking more healthfully, specifically with reducing processed foods, including refined flour and sugar. I know this cookbook is geared toward the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which I have researched but concluded isn't for us in its strictest form. However, there are many things about the diet that I do like, such as the emphasis on whole foods and removing sugar and flour from the diet. I thought this cookbook might help as a guide, although I didn't intend to follow the diet strictly.

Now that I have reviewed the cookbook, I have mixed feelings. The entree and side recipes do look very good, although not so different from how I usually cook (I guess that means I am on the right path already). Some of the condiment recipes may be useful, such as barbecue sauce and tomato paste, but more testing is required. I was honestly surprised and disappointed to see how much honey is used in many of the recipes. I was hoping that these recipes would reduce overall sugar, but in my opinion, 1 cup of honey is a lot. Honey is even sweeter than sugar (not to mention much more expensive), and it has a lot of calories, so I thought this cookbook would have gone farther in cutting back on it. I may try some of the more promising recipes but cut back on the amount of honey called for.

The other comment I have is regarding almond flour. I know that grain flour is not permitted on SCD, which is one reason why I got the cookbook--I didn't want to get a gluten-free baking book because they seem to rely on unusual flours and sugar substitutes. What I want is more real foods, not just subbing one processed food for another. However, almond flour is extremely expensive. There's is also a question of environmental impact, since almonds require a lot of water, and California, where they are principally grown, is in a severe drought. I wish some effort had been expended in suggesting alternates. If you are not giving up flour but rather reducing it, all-purpose flour can be substituted 1:1 for almond flour. My focus is more on reducing sugar than flour, at least for now.

I have already tried the scones, which turned out well, and I plan to try several of the other breads and crackers that do not require too much honey. I may also try to make homemade yogurt and the related recipes, which sound very good. I think this was overall a good buy, although its usefulness may be limited.

For the Cooking KIT, I baked the Pumpkin and Sage Scones, which only required 2 tbsp. honey. I made several substitutions. I used cooked, mashed sweet potato instead of pumpkin, even though the SCD doesn't allow sweet potato; however, it is a very healthful vegetable, much easier to find and work with than pumpkin, and I'm not cutting it from my diet. I didn't have sage, so I made these a bit more sweet by substituting apple pie spice. And I substituted 2 cups all-purpose whole-wheat flour for almond flour, leaving in 1 cup almond flour. Overall, my changes worked well. The dough, which I kneaded in the food processor was easy to work with, and the scones turned out to be really good, not at all sweet. A nice snack or breakfast pastry. Next time, I will try to shape them better and may experiment with adding in fruit.

Here's a picture--they are baked! Scones with tea, anyone?

Mmmm those look good! Your cooking adventures sound like fun :)

>73 rabbitprincess: Thanks! I'm always trying to come up with ways to keep me interested in getting in the kitchen.

I loved this essay from the New York Times Magazine this week by photographer Sallly Mann: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/magazine/the-cost-of-sally-manns-exposure.html...

Also, here's a good piece about boredom and creativity: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/opinion/sunday/the-other-side-of-boredom.html

Cooking Update

Last night we stopped at another state on our culinary tour of the USA: New Mexico! I was particularly excited about this state because I love New Mexican cuisine and because I have a great cookbook that I picked up in Santa Fe, The Feast of Santa Fe, which I highly recommend if you want to cook authentic New Mexico food.

Of course, I made enchiladas. There is always a choice of sauce: red chili or green chili. Green chili is much hotter. I chose red chili because I had some dried ancho peppers already on hand. There are many ways to doctor the sauce. I added pureed tomatoes as well as a touch of cream to mine. It was a beautiful sauce, about the color of melted chocolate. Just a tad better, which may have been due to the age of my peppers, although the bitterness was more acute when tasting the sauce straight. I made straightforward Monterey Jack cheese enchiladas with corn tortillas and just a bit of raw onion. Guacamole on the side, of course, because I'll take any excuse to make guacamole. To my husband and me, these enchiladas were delicious, pretty close to something you'd get in a restaurant. (My son, who thinks he doesn't like cheese--although he loves pizza, nachos and grilled cheese sandwiches--said these were too cheesy.) So far, I have enjoyed my North Carolina and New Mexico cooking endeavors the best, but these are the cuisines I'm most familiar with.

Next stops chosen for our tour will be Florida, Hawaii and Tennessee.

Your New Mexico meal sounds delicious! And I'm with you in that there's always room for guacamole.

>76 mstrust: Thanks! Guacamole is my specialty. Of course, it's dead simple to make, so it's a good specialty to have.

26. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (1977)
Category: Historical crime | Rating: Very good (4★)
HistoryCAT: Medieval/crime and mysteries | BingoDOG: Subject with which I'm not familiar

Brother Cadfael is settling in to a quiet life at the monastery, when he is called upon to travel to a remote village in Wales and act as translator for the prior, who wishes to bring back the bones of a saint; while there, one of the village leaders and their staunchest opponent is murdered, and Brother Cadfael must solve the crime with the help of the murdered man's daughter.

I enjoyed this first in a murder series, both for its historical detail and its characters. Peters tells a detective story that seems appropriately rooted in the distant past but doesn't feel remote. She even gives us two remarkable female characters, who come across not only as complete people but who also take action to change the course of events. In a story about monks, it would have been all too easy to forget the women. Peters injects a fair amount of humor in her story, as well as a genuine affection for most of her characters. Perhaps the Welsh villagers are all a tad too saintly, but they are also charming, and so is this novel.

I am enjoying your culinary travels! I wasn't too surprised that South Dakota was tricky. We've travelled through that state a couple of times and I found it difficult to find something to eat that wasn't deep fried. You were smart to look at their desserts and your kuchen sounded delicous. Your New Mexico meal practically has me drooling! Can't wait to see what's coming up next.

>78 sturlington: Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed your first encounter with Cadfael! I love those books, and in fact I'm planning to grab the 13th in the series from the library today. :)

>79 DeltaQueen50: Thank you, I can't wait either.

>80 christina_reads: The only trouble is that I can never stick to a series, especially a long one like some of these mystery series. There are too many other books I want to read!

I see that All the Light We Cannot See won the Pulitzer. I usually get around to reading the Pulitzer Prize winners so I guess this one goes on the to read list now.

>78 sturlington:
I've only seen the TV-series, but this first book is waiting for me on Mt. TBR - good to hear that it's enjoyable. And, it was a long time since I saw the TV-version, so I don't remember how it ended. :)

>83 -Eva-: I'll have to check out the TV series. Thanks!

>84 sturlington:
Highly recommended. It used to be available streaming on Netflix, but it seems to be gone now. :(

>83 -Eva-:, >84 sturlington: I liked both the Cadfael books and the TV show. Derek Jacobi is great as Cadfael (but I think he is great in everything!).

>82 sturlington: I've had a copy for a few months now as I'd planned to read it for the ToB and didn't get to it. Guess I need to read it soon.

>81 sturlington: I know what you mean with long series. I started reading the Cadfael books many years ago, and I generally only read one book a year. It's very easy to dip back into the series, even if it's been a long time since you read the last book!

I've got an omnibus containing the first two books of the Cadfael series so it's good to see so much love for it here. I'll have to get around to reading it one of these days!

Count me as another fan of the TV series, and I agree with >86 leslie.98: that Derek Jacobi is terrific as Cadfael. I've enjoyed the books too, though I've only read a few.

Don't even get me started on how fantastic he was in the I, Claudius series as well!!!

27. Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin (2008)
Category: Historical/speculative fiction | Rating: Excellent (4.5★)
SFFCat: Mighty Myths | BingoDOG: Inspired by another work of fiction.

Le Guin gives a voice to the woman who becomes Aeneas's wife and helps to found Rome.

As I should have come to expect with a writer like Le Guin, this book was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a work of straightforward historical fiction with perhaps a little fantasy, the end of the The Aeneid told from a female point of view, something of a sequel to Jo Graham's Black Ships, which I read previously this year. And I got all that, but Le Guin has added an extra metafictional layer, which makes her book so much more complex and interesting.

Lavinia in this novel is not only a historical figure, but is also a fictional character, a character who knows she's a character and who even meets her author, Vergil, also a character in the book. From Vergil, she understands that she was such a minor character that she was barely more than a name, but since she did not die in The Aeneid, she is in effect immortal, and she determines to tell the story that Vergil did not. From Vergil, she also learns the fate of Aeneas--although it's deliberately unclear whether that fate was indeed historical or only fateful because the author had written it so--and armed with that foreknowledge, she is actually able to take control of her own life and shape her destiny.

Lavinia in Le Guin's hands is a fascinating character, a woman who is acutely aware of the position of women--especially the unmarried daughters of kings--in her society. What I admire about her is how she manipulates her own understanding of the world and knowledge of the future to get what she wants. She is not only predestined to marry Aeneas, but she wants to marry him, and when war breaks out over the question, she skillfully uses the people's fear of the gods and respect for oracle to bring her own destiny about. Later, after Aeneas's death, she uses the same strategy to ensure that their son remains with her and she can raise him to adulthood, in direct contradiction of the prevailing traditions. Lavinia does not struggle against the society she is born into; she is a pragmatist who works within the confines of her society in order to transcend them. Yet, the reader must remain aware that she is not a real woman at all, but a character in a poem, an immortal character who transforms herself into author to write her own story, since her author failed to do so.

This was a wonderful character study as well as a multilayered reinterpretation of The Aeneid. Le Guin is always surprising and always worth reading.

28. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1915)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Girl Power | BingoDOG: Published in 1915

Three male sexists discover an isolated country where only women live and have their assumptions about women challenged.

Herland is a utopia, and like all utopias, it is much more about ideas than plot. The three guys do make a pathetic attempt to escape at one point, but when that is foiled, they settle down to learn about the religion, philosophy and other ideas espoused in Herland, and also to eventually get married. There are a lot of interesting ideas here, especially for the time in which it was written, such as on controlling reproduction and the place of religion in society. And sure, there are plenty of times I've daydreamed of living in a world without men. But there are problems with the all-female utopia that Gilman fails to address. For instance, in Herland the women all seem asexual, which seems to ignore a fundamental aspect of our nature in favor of combatting the sexual objectification of women. Also, there seems to be no conflict, which is difficult to imagine of any group of human beings living together, no matter what their gender. Finally, and most importantly, it's not practical. We must imagine ways women can achieve equality while still keeping men around, if only for the very practical reason that we are all one species who are all in this together--or at least, we should be. Still, I'd recommend Herland, a quick read, just for its historical value as an early work of feminism, even if does end avoid some of the more difficult questions and then ends rather abruptly.

>93 sturlington: Good review! Herland is on my Kindle, maybe I'll move it up the list if it's a quick read, despite its flaws.

>94 leslie.98: You can probably read it in one sitting, if the male narrator doesn't make you want to throw your Kindle across the room. It's less than 100 pages and she is a clear writer who's easy to read.

I love following your cooking adventures! I hear you on the difficulties of non-grain flour. Does that extend to all grains - including rice? I know rice flour is more common to track down, and probably cheaper than almond flour but if rice four is not an option, that makes things rather tough. I mess around with various flours like spelt, kamut, buckwheat and red fife but they are all grain flours.

Kudos for reducing your sugar in your cooking/baking! Cutting down sugar in recipes is also something I try to do. Today I made some banana oatmeal muffins and was horrified that it called for 1 cup of brown sugar. I cut the sugar amount down by 3/4 to 1/4 cup and it worked out well. I cringe to think how sweet the muffins must be when the recipe is properly followed.

Great book reviews!

>96 lkernagh: Yes, it does extend to all grains, but I've given up on it. I do need some grains in my diet, and I don't believe in just cutting out a food altogether unless it does cause allergies or serious distress.

Sugar, though, I think we all could use less of. That's because it's hidden in everything! I'm going to follow your lead and just methodically try to cut down on sugars in recipes I'm making. I'm finding if they have fruit, that usually adds enough sweetness for me.

As a lover of penguins and books published by Penguin, I naturally love this, which I found on the Penguin tumblr:

>98 sturlington: - That is so perfect!

>98 sturlington: LOL!!

>98 sturlington: Love it!!

29. Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (2015)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)

Trigger Warning is Neil Gaiman's third collection of short fiction and poetry. I read in the introduction to his last collection, Fragile Things, that Gaiman only writes short fiction on commission, which I think is why his short stories don't seem to have the same energy or passion as his novels. While a bit of a hodgepodge (it contains a Doctor Who story, for pete's sake, and a Sherlock Holmes story, which I actually thought was quite good), I did enjoy this collection better than Fragile Things. There are a couple of genuinely creepy horror stories, a wonderful retelling of the "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tales, and a terrific homage to one of my favorite writers, Ray Bradbury. In fact, much of the work in this collection showcases Gaiman's appreciation for the storytellers who came before him, which I can also appreciate. For fans of American Gods, there is another Shadow novella at the end, which I thought was much more interesting than the Shadow story in Fragile Things. I could have done without the poetry, but as Gaiman says in the introduction, the poetry is free, meaning you don't have to read it if you don't want to, and it won't affect the overall value of the book. As in Fragile Things, Gaiman explains the origin of each story and poem in the introduction. I would recommend this collection to fans of Gaiman, certainly, but also to anyone who enjoys creepy stories, fairy tales or well-written fan fiction.

30. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)

A woman, confined to an upper-story bedroom in a creepy house for a "rest cure" following a mental breakdown, becomes obsessed with the hideous yellow wallpaper.

I have read this story a few times and I always forget how creepy and chilling it is, especially the final image. Gilman has a knack of pointing out the horrific things that society does to women. In this story, depriving the narrator of her means of expressing herself and stimulating her brain is just as terrifying as confining her to her room. I believe the narrator was suffering from undiagnosed postpartum depression.

April reading roundup:

For pleasure, I read a total of 5 full-length books, 1 novella, 1 short story and 1 cookbook for the CookingKIT; 2 of these were for the SFFCat and 1 was for the HistoryCAT. For paid book reviews, I read 3 books. I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: Lavinia; A Morbid Taste for Bones; Trigger Warning; The Yellow Wallpaper; Herland.

Total Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 30 so far.

Next month, I'm tentatively planning on reading: The City, Not Long After (already started); Ancillary Sword; A Tale for the Time Being; and Unexpected Stories.

I also recently started watching the BBC series Death Comes to Pemberley. I don't think the novel got good reviews, but I'm enjoying the series so far. I really like the actors playing Elizabeth and Darcy--not too good-looking, very practical and down-to-earth. It's available for streaming on Netflix.

I was saddened to learn of the death of Ruth Rendell. I read quite a lot of her books when I was younger and reading more mysteries. I particularly enjoyed her Barbara Vine novels.

>103 sturlington: I've had that one on my WL for years. It's weird that its never crossed my path, but I'm glad to read another great review of it.

>104 sturlington: I saw Pemberley when it first aired and liked it too. I agree about the actress playing Elizabeth. At first I didn't think she was pretty enough, but she did such a good job that she ended up being perfect for the role.

>105 mstrust: If you have a Kindle, I believe it's free. It's a short story, really, only about 30 pages--you could probably read it in a visit to the library. I recommend it.

Thanks, and I'll look for it. I actually forget about Kindle as I really don't like reading on my phone, but that one sounds short enough.

Station Eleven won the Arthur C Clarke award: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/06/arthur-c-clarke-award-station-eleve...

I like this award because it tends to reward more literary science fiction. Station Eleven is shaping up to be one of my favorite reads of the year.

Here is a list of past award winners and shortlisted books, to inspire your SFFCat reading.

Anyone interested in The Yellow Wallpaper can get the Kindle version for free, as well as the audio version (whispersync for Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Wallpaper-Charlotte-Perkins-Gilman-ebook/dp/B0082UP...

31. The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy (1989)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Girl Power | BingoDOG: Author shares the name of an ancestor

Several years after a plague has decimated the human population, a group of artists inhabit a mostly empty San Francisco, using the entire city as their blank canvas; then a woman without a name arrives to warn them of a planned invasion, and the artists must come up with a new way to wage war.

I thought this was a very interesting entry in the post-apocalyptic genre. Unlike other post-apocalyptic fiction, it rejects the notion that humans will regress to violence and savagery if civilization blinks out. In fact, this San Francisco is an anarchic utopia, marred only by elements from the outside. This is a different take on the well-worn themes of war and peace (although concluding that some violence and probably a lot of death is inevitable to avoid one and achieve the other). I appreciated the city as a major character in the book, actually intervening at certain points; these incidents of magical realism seemed appropriate for the tone and setting, and contributed some lovely images, such as blue butterflies painting the Golden Gate Bridge and golden flowers raining from the sky. A good read for post-apocalypse fans looking for something different.

>104 sturlington: I liked the "Death Comes to Pemberley" miniseries quite a bit too! I have SO much respect for Matthew Rhys after seeing him on "The Americans," although seeing him go from KGB spy to Mr. Darcy was a bit strange. :) But I liked the miniseries much more than the book (heresy, I know!).

Loving this. It is Neil Gaiman's manifesto for readers: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-readin...

Thanks for sharing this article. I forwarded it to my English Dept. and to all of the other library staff in the district. It was very inspiring.

Great article! Gaiman really has a grasp on how to create future readers, hopefully readers of physical books.

Gaiman is brilliant. I was talking to my 12 year old just today about literacy. We were talking about the libraries local to us and how some were better than others and that one of the cities near us that has the best library system is also in the top 20 cities in the country in terms of literacy. She didn't get it. I had to explain that not everyone knows how to read, that some children grow up with no books in their home and nobody to take them to the library, and it just seemed unfathomable to her. It's sad to think that a child who might become a strong lifelong reader could become discouraged because he was only given 'the right' books to read.

Thanks for that link. This is what I think, and he really knows how to put it into words.

32. Unexpected Stories by Octavia Butler (2014)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Girl power

Two never-before-published short stories from the late Butler available only as an ebook.

These two stories are unexpected, and a great treat for fans of Butler's work who have already read through her published oeuvre. Even though both stories were written early in her career, they already demonstrate Butler's command of storytelling and her willingness to explore deep themes of identity, power and the human potential to evolve. The first and longest story, "A Necessary Being," is a fantasy set in a desert land where a person's position in society is immediately apparent by the tint of his or her skin, which ranges from green-yellow to purest blue, marking the leaders. It is a fully realized alien culture that still comments on how we view skin color in our own world. The second shorter story, "Childfinder," is about the nascent development of psychic powers in people. One woman has been finding and training psychic children, trying to build a resistance movement to the government's efforts to control the psychics. Both stories are absolutely readable, bursting with ideas, and far too short. Either one could have been the opening chapter to a novel that I would have loved to read.

33. Reading Women by Stephanie Staal (2011)
Category: Random reads | Rating: Very good (4★)

Feeling adrift in middle age, Staal re-enrolls in her college feminist texts seminar and rereads the great works of feminism.

I thought this was a very interesting read, probably because I am in a similar situation as Staal was when she wrote it. I'm a mom of one, middle-aged, doing a little freelance writing but mostly a stay-at-home, wondering what my role is without a job or career, not wanting my only identity to be as mother. I am glad that Staal decided to read these feminist texts looking for answers, so I don't have to (although I have read all of the fiction that she discusses). I enjoyed most her take on the texts themselves and how she applied them to her life. I confess that although I did identify with Staal's particular time in life, I skimmed a lot of the personal in her book. She has a pretty nice life, and some readers may think she's whining, but she, like a lot of us, is just continually wrestling with the question, "Who am I? Is this who I am?"

Spoiler alert: This book has no answers. I think we readers are used to turning to books for answers. It was Staal's instinct, and it's certainly mine. But I had an a-ha moment as I was reading it: there really are no answers to life, not that anyone else can give us, anyway. I consider myself a feminist; I feel passionately that women deserve better than we get and that we should not be reduced to merely mothers, wives, or vaginas. Still, we are also individual human beings, each of us on our own life path. Even as we continue the struggle for equality, there is no one single prescription for all of us. We are all writing our own stories, and we are still writing. Reading is a terrific way to get the brain working, particularly if it's been feeling sluggish, but ultimately any answers we find, we find within ourselves.

Cooking Update

Latest stop in our 50 states cooking tour was Hawaii. Yay!

Hawaii is a great state for food because of all the fresh seafood and fruit and the Asian influence. I decided to make a traditional ahi tuna poke as an appetizer. I used a recipe very similar to this one, served with rice crackers, and it was great. The only drawback is that the really fresh sashimi-grade tuna you need for this recipe is insanely expensive, so this recipe has to be saved for special occasions. If you like sushi, though, you'll like this and it is very easy to do.

Followed up with something called Honolulu Beans from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I don't know if it was very authentic, but it was tasty, especially served with King's Hawaiian sweet rolls. This dish was vegetarian, with an Asian-influenced fruity sauce; it would make a good main dish with hot dogs added. We definitely will revisit Hawaii's cuisine in the future.

Next stop on our tour is Tennessee.

34. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (2013)
Category: Random reads | Rating: Excellent (4.5★)

A writer living on a remote island off the coast of British Columbia finds a package washed ashore from Japan containing a diary and becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to the teenage girl who wrote it.

This was an absorbing, multilayered story, and I absolutely loved it. The settings were so vividly drawn that they enchanted me: a remote Canadian island frequently cut off by storms; the very strange Akiba district of Tokyo with its French-style cafes; a remote Buddhist monastery. Yet even more captivating was puzzling over whether the events being related were what was actually happening. The main character, Ruth, seems a stand-in for the author herself, but how much of the living author is actually part of the character? Was Naoko, the Japanese girl, killed in the tsunami of 2011, or did she survive? Is her diary even real or is it fictional? And if it is, who is its real writer? Perhaps it's all true, all at once. Yes, quantum theory and the multiverse does come into this, which I love, if the author can pull it off. Ozeki does pull it off splendidly--at least for me she did. This is my favorite kind of story, one that plays with reality and the conceits of fiction in new and risky ways, capturing my imagination and keeping me pondering long after I've closed the book.

>120 sturlington: This sounds wonderful! The BB has hit its _target.

>121 Chrischi_HH: I had a hard time writing that review. It's a slippery book to express exactly what I liked so much about it. I hope you like it too.

35. The Girl Next Door by Ruth Rendell (2014)
Category: Random reads | Rating: Just OK (3★)

A group of childhood friends, now in their 70s, are brought back together by the discovery of a box containing two hands hidden in the place where they used to play together.

I used to really love Ruth Rendell's books, especially those written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. I thought she had a great talent for delving into her characters' psyches and plumbing their darkest depths. On hearing of her death, I thought I'd read one of her more recent books. While this novel is very psychological, I wouldn't call it particularly dark, nor was it very suspenseful. It was mostly about getting older, which is a good subject for fiction but not what I was really expecting or wanting from this book. I found the plot itself boring and somewhat repetitive. There were too many characters for me to feel that I really got to know any of them very well, and the way one of them reacted to a confession about something his girlfriend did in childhood quite frankly repulsed me. I guess I prefer Rendell's earlier books.

Cooking Update

Well, I know I said I was going to Tennessee next in our project to cook our way through the 50 states, but instead we detoured to Florida. That's because we held a Memorial Day barbecue, which is the perfect occasion for pie, and Florida's dish is, of course, key lime pie. I have to confess a bias because key lime pie is my favorite dessert and I always get it on my birthday. This was the first time I had made it though. I took the recipe from the excellent Foster's Market Cookbook, which hardly ever lets me down and has some great dessert recipes. The pie was absurdly easy to make, with a graham cracker-walnut crust and a simple filling. I had no key limes, but regular limes worked just as well, and it tasted fantastic. Everybody loved it, so in our little contest of which state has the best dish, Florida has pulled ahead.

Next I will try to get to Tennessee, or maybe Colorado.

ETA Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.fostersmarket.com/recipe/key-lime-pie-with-walnutgraham-cracker-crust...

Mmmm, I love key lime pie too! Glad to hear your recipe was a success!

I've made key lime pie using key limes (it's my SO's favorite) and the juicing of all of those tiny grape-sized limes is time consuming. I wonder if he would have noticed if I'd just used persian limes?

I've worked for a non-profit group that brings books to kids at the start of summer vacation to prevent summer slide and one of the most important factors is providing books that kids not only want to read but are excited about reading. So, we hunt down Captain Underpants and raise money to get enough copies of the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid each year, as well as colorful sports books, WWE books and insanely obnoxious Disney princess books. And, yes, there are so many children who spend their entire summers without access to a library.

As for Ruth Rendell, I agree. Her books were fantastic until about a decade ago, when they declined sharply in quality. I'm sorry I read several of her later books as it has affected how I see her and her legacy.

And I want to read Reading Women. I'll look out for a copy.

>125 rabbitprincess: Now that I know how easy it is to make, I'm going to have to restrain myself from eating it all the time!

>126 RidgewayGirl: Try it and see!

My son's favorite series right now is Captain Underpants. He stays up late reading it. I agree with you. Kids need to learn reading is fun. Once they get hooked, then they will naturally move on to reading is a great way to learn. I hate all those movie character books but I read them to him anyway.

I had to read Reading Women once I saw the title. It fit my theme for the year so well. I found a copy in my library. It may not be the easiest book to track down, I don't know.

Key Lime pie for me too, please! I've never heard of a graham cracker walnut crust, so I must look for it.
A pie that was surprisingly easy for me to make was Chocolate Silk. I always order a slice when I go to Polly's Pies back home, and it's so rich that I always thought it must be difficult, but then I found a recipe and it turned out just like the restaurant's. I've never made it again though, because any pie that has two whole sticks of butter in it shouldn't be that easy.

>128 mstrust: Sounds like a good recipe to try next!

The crust was basically graham cracker crumbs mixed with ground walnuts and held together by melted butter. Only 2/3 stick, so healthy! If you have a food processor, nothing could be easier.

Thanks! It sounds like a versatile crust that would fit in well with a lot of fillings. I'm sorry I don't have the Chocolate Silk recipe to give you- I must have been so appalled at the deliciousness that I burned it or something. ; )

>130 mstrust: Sounds like the prudent thing to do.

Happily, I found a copy of the key lime pie recipe online: http://www.fostersmarket.com/recipe/key-lime-pie-with-walnutgraham-cracker-crust...

ETA It also looks like my Foster's Market Cookbook has a recipe for French silk pie with another easy crust. Seriously, that is my go-to cookbook for desserts.

For those of you who enjoy a little Raymond Carver, here's a chuckle for you: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/raymond-carvers-okcupid-profile-edited-by-gor...

My hubby's favorite pie is key lime too. Occasionally I'll see key limes in the market but usually I have to use the Persian ones. But that recipe looks just like the one I use. I think they're almost all about the same.

The one time I made a Key lime Pie I found a bottle of Key Lime juice with the other lemon and lime juices. I don't know about where you live but our limes are dry, dry, dry and expensive so the bottle made more sense.

You got me with A Tale for the Time Being and the Key Lime Pie. I am rather a lazy cook these days, but that recipe looks simple enough even for me to tackle and I do love Key Lime Pie!

>98 sturlington:
Love it!

>102 sturlington:
Good to know. I returned it unread to the library before I left on my vacation, so it seems it needs to come home with me again.

36. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (2002)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Girl power | BingoDOG: A book about autism

In the near future, an autistic man must decide whether to undergo a procedure to cure his autism, at the risk of losing his essential self.

An interesting book, told convincingly in the voice of an autistic. The narrative provides insight into how autistic brains function and builds empathy for people with the condition. Negatives: The book was overlong, and the autistic narration becomes somewhat repetitive and a little grating. This book is often compared with Flowers for Algernon, which I think is a more appropriate length for an experimental narrative style. Despite that, I found the shifts in point of view to non-autistic characters unpredictable and they tended to break my immersion. My favorite part was the end of the book, when Lou does undergo the procedure, but I had mixed feelings about the ending. I'm not sure what Moon wanted us to take away from it. Overall, I would recommend this, especially for readers curious about autism.

37. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (1920)
Category: Random reads | Rating: WOW! (5★)
BingoDOG: A book out of my comfort zone

In late 19th century New York City, Newland Archer, soon-to-be-married, unexpectedly falls in love with another woman, Ellen Olenska, and finds himself questioning the strictures of his society.

I was quite turned off of Edith Wharton as an English major in college (we read House of Mirth) and made the decision then not to read either her or George Eliot again. Now, later in life, I am rethinking that decision and giving these authors another chance. I believe that there is a right time in life to read certain books, and often we ruin the classics by forcing them on students before they are mature enough (or perhaps have the right life experience) to appreciate them. I listened to an excellent audio rendition of this book, and it absolutely redeemed Wharton for me. I can definitely see myself revisiting this book again, as well as trying her other novels. While on the surface, there may seem to be a lot name-dropping and eye-glazing gossip in the narrative, what Wharton is actually doing is so clever: using the conventions of society (family importance and connections) to criticize the entire structure of society. Her characters are so true to life that even today, when surely we've progressed somewhat, they are all quite recognizable, as are their concerns with appearance and propriety, which Wharton makes seem not only petty, but downright cruel. Newland's transformation is quite believable and at times his thoughts were even shocking, so immersed did I become in Wharton's world. I also enjoyed Wharton's frequent commentary on the position of women in this society, as filtered through Newland's clearly conflicted point of view, as well as her little asides about the work of writers and how writers were viewed. The ending is not tragic but sadly realistic; the lives of Newland, Ellen, and even Newland's wife May come to seem like wasted lives, which I guess is really a tragedy after all.

PS I have also promised myself that I will read Middlemarch sometime soon and see if Eliot can also redeem herself.

May reading roundup:

For pleasure, I read a total of 6 full-length books, 2 short stories, and 1 cookbook for the CookingKIT; 2 novels and 2 short stories were for the SFFCat. For paid book reviews, I read 5 books. I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: The Age of Innocence; A Tale for the Time Being; Unexpected Stories; Reading Women; The City, Not Long After; The Speed of Dark. I also recommend the cookbook: Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home.

Total Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 37 so far.

Next month, I'm tentatively planning on reading Annihilation, Euphoria and Ancillary Sword. I've already finished Dominion for the SFFCat.

It was a pretty quiet month for me, which may be why I got so much reading done. School's out next week. I'm both looking forward to and not looking forward to summer vacation. I think most parents probably understand that feeling!

I did join the Friends of my local library Board this year. It's been a rewarding experience for the most part, even though volunteer boards can get pretty nutty. It's also helped rekindle my love of all libraries in general and our wonderful local library in particular, which has really awesome programs for kids. So taking a moment to remind you to support your local library and join its Friends group if that's within your financial means. Even a modest donation can make a big difference.

38. Dominion by C.J. Sansom (2012)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Alternate history & time travel | BingoDOG: Centered around a major historical event

A crucial turning point in history: Winston Churchill does not become Prime Minister of Great Britain on May 9, 1940. As a result, Britain makes peace with Germany in 1940 and becomes subsumed by fascism.

Set in 1952, this novel imagines a very different and frighteningly realistic outcome to World War II. All the major Western European countries have been taken over by fascists, Jews have been massacred and imprisoned all over Europe, Germany has fought a terrible, unending war with Russia, America has become completely isolationist, and Japan has continued its war with China. The world that Sansom depicts is bleak and violent, and it could have been our world if there had been one small change in the course of history. Sansom is very good at world-building and has obviously done his research. His story is a spy thriller, focusing on several rather ordinary people caught up in the British Resistance and racing against time to get out of the country and protect a vital secret from falling into the hands of the Germans. The opening is definitely a hook, and the details of this world are fascinating, such as the noxious yellow fog that blankets London during a key point in the story (which actually happened). I really enjoyed and learned more from Sansom's afterword, where he describes his research, thought process, and objections to nationalism.

Criticisms: The characters all seem pretty flat and none of them act in unpredictable or surprising ways, which defuses the tension quite a bit. The book is overlong; it gets repetitive in several parts, bogging down the suspense. Overall, though, this is an enjoyable read and a worthy addition to the large sub-genre of alternate WWII stories.

Great piece today in the Book Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/books/review/does-the-size-of-a-book-suggest-s...

As I get older, I do find myself gravitating toward shorter books, realizing that the time to read is also growing shorter.

>140 sturlington: Now I'm wondering if I should re-borrow Dominion and just read the afterword. I started reading the book but had to return it unfinished because it was too bleak for my taste at the time. But the afterword sounds like it would be interesting.

>142 rabbitprincess: It gives you a sense of the historical context and why Sansom thought the alternate scenario is plausible. Also he gets political toward the end. The book is rather bleak. The grinding of endless war...

39. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (2014)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)

An expedition of four unnamed female scientists ventures into the mysterious Area X, and bad things happen.

I used to be a superfan of the TV show Lost until it broke my heart. If there was ever a book that does what Lost tried to do, and does it successfully, it is Annihilation. Area X, like the island, is a weird, unsettling, indefinable place where disquieting things happen that cannot be explained. Those who venture into it are irrevocably changed. The atmosphere in this book is thick and growing thicker. The reader is affected as well, drawn in alongside the biologist, whose journal we are reading, as she discovers that Area X is much different than she had been led to believe, while also gradually revealing the strange connection she has to the place. Though Annihilation doesn't attempt to explain away its mysteries, it does show them to the reader, and pretty quickly too. We are not allowed neat and tidy explanations. Instead we see a person succumbing to the (otherworldly?) mystery that is Area X. Clearly, there is a sequel to read, but I was still satisfied with the ending of this book. This is, in my opinion, a horror novel, and it is very effective at building disquiet in the reader, as well as a sense that reality is fundamentally untrustworthy. A quick and entrancing read.

40. Euphoria by Lily King (2014)
Category: Historical fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
BingoDOG: GLBT main character (bisexual) -- and the Bingo card is filled!

Three anthropologists in the jungle of Papua New Guinea form a love triangle while studying the native tribes.

First, I want to say that I have the paperback version of this novel, and it is a very sensual book. The cover is riotous with color, the paper is thick and almost satiny, and the font is a little larger and more curvy than most fonts. Good design, but that isn't what really counts is it? It's story we're after.

Loosely based on Margaret Mead and her two husbands, Euphoria is a romance novel with science. The love triangle is the most important part of the story, but for me the least compelling. It always stretches my belief when a character (the interloper, Bankson) falls in love at first sight. What I did like was the character of Nell Stone, who while clearly a brilliant thinker and a compassionate woman, also has a glaring flaw, in that she subsumes herself to anyone who gives her a lot of attention. That is how I rationalized her marriage to Fen, who clearly has come to resent her intellect and success, as well as her past romantic history and her turning to Bankson. It's a fascinating character trait, the contrast between her genius and her lack of real identity, that I wish King had explored properly, perhaps by telling the story from Nell's point of view. I also would have liked to see more of the poisonous dynamic between her and Fen, and how that developed, because clearly they did not start out that way. But King chooses to take the safe road, painting the husband as villain, the lover as gallant and loyal, and Nell herself as tragic. The ending was a real letdown for me; wouldn't it have been a much more interesting choice to let Nell live, as Margaret Mead actually did, and see what happens with the triangle rather than taking the cliched route of having her pregnancy kill her, and off-camera at that? Ah well, I give points to King for lovely writing, her ability to bring to life this exotic world in which I could immerse myself for a couple of days, and for tricking me into reading yet another historical romance based around a love triangle.

41. Lists of Note, compiled by Shaun Usher (2015)
Category: Random | Rating: Very good (4★)

When I opened the package that contained this book, which I won through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, I was at once impressed with how absolutely gorgeous this book is. It is large, heavy, and filled with full-page photos of various lists and writers of lists. I used to love leafing through tomes like The Book of Lists, and Lists of Note is like a sophisticated, grown-up version of those bathroom books. The lists seem to be arranged almost randomly -- perhaps more examination might reveal some themes -- with examples from writers, celebrities, artists, musicians, scientists, politicians, and history, both ancient and recent. The photos that accompany them are glorious. Some of my favorite lists were of course penned by writers, such as Mark Twain's ordering of people to save from a boardinghouse fire or F. Scott Fitzgerald's list of things to do with a whole turkey. Having only been through it one time, I have not yet dived deeply into this collection of lists. This is book meant for browsing, not reading straight through, and it will offer hours of browsing enjoyment to anyone who is fascinated by lists.

Cooking Update

Our family has traveled to another state in our tour of the best American dishes: Tennessee! For this meal, I made barbecue sauce, which we slathered onto chicken and grilled. While North Carolina's barbecue sauce is vinegar-based and tangy-sour, Tennessee's is based on ketchup and is sweeter with a little heat. I also added bourbon for more authenticity, which gave it a nice smoky flavor. The basic sauce recipe came from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, and it was both easy and tasty. Alongside I served cornbread (naturally) and a tomato and cucumber salad. It was a great meal and earned a solid rating.

Next up is California, I believe.

That sounds like a delicious meal! And I look forward to seeing what you come up with for California, my home state.

>146 sturlington: That sounds like a good one- you got me with a BB.

>148 mstrust: it will be hard to narrow California down to just one dish, that's for sure

I wonder why I have this sudden craving for BBQ? Your dinner sounds delicious.

I have both Annihilation and Euphoria on my wishlist and really enjoyed your reviews on both. You've got me wanting to get to both of those ASAP.

The Lists of Note sounds intriguing as well.

>150 DeltaQueen50: They are both very quick reads, and we'll suited to steamy weather, if you're having that where you live.

I just got How to Cook Everything for a friend who is getting married - great book!

Food and books makes your thread a dangerous one to visit.... in a good way!

I'm behind on the Sansom series but I do hope to get caught up sometime.

>140 sturlington: I had never head of this book by Sansom so I visited his page and holy smokes! I missed the finale of the Shardlake series, Lamentation. How did that happen??

>152 -Eva-: That is the perfect wedding gift.

>153 lkernagh: Thank you!

>154 thornton37814: and >155 mamzel: This is the first book by Sansom I have read. What caught my attention was that Stephen King tweeted about it.

Well, to be fair, Stephen King tweets or reviews or writes a positive blurb for about half of the books being published on any given day. I admire his dedication to supporting new authors, but I don't use his endorsement as a guide to what to read.

>157 RidgewayGirl: Yes, I have a joke about that: If I had to read every book Stephen King recommended, then I would have to read every book.

His tweet caught my eye, though. I think it was because of the alternate history angle, and he was really effusive in his praise.

42. Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (2014)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Other worlds

After confronting the galactic emperor in Ancillary Justice, Breq is made captain of her own ship and goes to the Athoek system to help keep the peace and make amends to Lieutenant Awn's sister.

I think Sword has a case of middle-book syndrome. I actually would have probably liked this better as a standalone novel, since it's so different in scope and story from Justice. I kept expecting the conspiracy story to continue here, but it really didn't. I also couldn't help comparing the two. Many of the things that I thought were so excellent in the first book seemed to fall flat here. For instance, Breq is commanding a ship with a human crew, not ancillaries (although they like to pretend they are ancillaries); to recreate that sense of first-person omniscience, the ship keeps showing Breq scenes from the crew members' points of view, but because Breq is only an observer and not a participant this time, the effect isn't nearly as cool or engaging. Breq's observations are also sometimes frustrating, as she makes a lot of assumptions, and since I am not intimately familiar with Radch customs (and forgot many of the details from the first book), I got a little lost from time to time. Also, I felt that the climactic disaster was a bit too neatly telegraphed. Otherwise, I enjoyed the character development, especially the introduction of a new Lieutenant who has similar identity problems as Breq. The story ends on a cliffhanger and with a mystery; I probably will continue on, as I really want to see these sinister aliens that keep threatening.

43. New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear (2007)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Alternate history & time travel

This collection of interconnected short stories--reading more like an episodic novel than anything--is set in an alternate universe where the American colonies never seceded and vampires and magic exist. The stories combine paranormal fantasy, steampunk, detective stories, and alternate history in an agreeable mishmash of very readable--but I suspect ultimately forgettable--fluff. The two detective main characters are a vampire and a forensic sorcerer. There are some steamy scenes I could have done without (I may be the only person who doesn't find vampires all that sexy). The alternate universe is full of interesting details and fun to inhabit for a while. The first story takes place on a dirigible! I think I would have liked less of the old-fashioned mystery plotline and more political intrigue, but I all told, I found this an entertaining and quick read.

Cooking Update

Our latest stop on our culinary tour of the 50 states was California. This state has so much great produce and so many distinctive dishes, that it was hard to decide what to make, but I finally settled on the well-known Cobb salad as it features California produce and it's a nice summertime dinner. I love Cobb salad and order it in restaurants frequently, but it is kind of a pain to make since there are so many different components. I used the recipe from The Cooks Illustrated Cookbook, which was a good one--not too complex, with a really tasty dressing. I served it with sourdough bread (of course), followed by a lime sherbet (recipe also from Cooks Illustrated) to highlight California citrus. I was surprised that my 7-year-old actually gave this the highest rating, since I have never known him to eat salads willingly. He used his bread to make a deconstructed Cobb salad sandwich! The leftovers kept really well and made a nice lunch the next day. A good recipe to make when there are leftovers, although bacon, avocado and blue cheese are essential ingredients, in my opinion.

I'm not sure where our next stop will be--stay tuned!

New Amsterdam was my very first experience reading steampunk/paranormal. I quite liked the story - enough to get me on the steampunk reading bandwagon, anyways! - but I haven't read the next two books in the New Amsterdam series. I have read book four, Ad Eternum, which I thought was an okay read but not as good as New Amsterdam.

I love ordering ordering Cobb salad's in restaurants but have never attempted to make one at home before. Sounds like it was a huge success!

>162 lkernagh: It's pretty easy to make as long as you don't mind cooking the chicken, frying the bacon, boiling the eggs. I spread the prep out over the whole Sunday.

I too love Cobb salad and order it frequently. Liove reading about your cooking adventures. Since my husband is Italian, sometimes on a hot summer night I'll make a big antipasto we'll have for supper with bread. Kind of an Italian Cobb.

>161 sturlington: Good choices for both California and a hot summer dinner. And I've been on a lime kick lately, so lime sherbet sounds good to me.

>165 mstrust: Sherbet is super easy to make, too. This recipe called for whipping the cream before adding to the ice cream maker, which I think made it very light and fluffy.

44. Finders Keepers by Stephen King (2015)
Category: Random reads | Rating: Very good (4★)

I actually liked the follow-up to last summer’s crime novel, Mr. Mercedes, even better. That’s because it’s about readers and how obsessed we can get with our favorite books, writers, and characters. It’s also a page-turner — just what you’d expect from King.

You can read this without reading Mr. Mercedes first. The continuing characters--Hodges, Holly, and Jerome--are actually rather unnecessary except to advance the plot, and they don't undergo any real character development. King does briefly bring back the villain from the first book and set us up for the final installment, which seems likely to have a more paranormal plot than the first two.

45. Authority by Jeff VanderMeer (2014)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)

NO SPOILERS.

I tore through Annihilation not that long ago, and the sequel did not disappoint me. It’s very different in terms of character and style of book, but just as disquieting, atmospheric and weird. Also, there’s this one part… Well, let’s just say I yelped when I read it. Already got the last book, Acceptance, on hold at the library.

Hmm, I am reading so fast these days that I am getting burned out on writing reviews. They keep getting shorter and shorter. Soon it will just be "yep!" or "nope!"

>167 sturlington: Yay! I really liked Mr Mercedes so am glad to hear that the sequel is even better.

I'm reading Mr Mercedes and I'm enjoying King's foray into another genre. Glad to know that the next book is also strong - I especially liked Holly and how she was accepted by Jerome and Bill, despite her not being attractive or socially adept.

Obviously King is a passionate reader and I enjoyed some of the things he had to say about the power of books and reading in Finders Keepers. I'm sure you'll both enjoy it.

June reading roundup:
On a personal note, I really find it hard to believe that this month is already over.

For pleasure, I read a total of 7 full-length books and 1 coffee table book; 2 of these were for the SFFCat. I lost track of how many books I read for paid book reviews; this was a big reading month for me. I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: Annihilation; Authority; Finders Keepers; Lists of Note; Ancillary Sword; Dominion; Euphoria; New Amsterdam. Hey, I didn't read a bad book this month!

Total Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 45 so far.

Next month is beach reads month! I plan to finish up the Southern Reach trilogy with Acceptance and to read a bunch of books I picked up from the used book shelves and don't mind getting sandy and wet. I am currently reading The People in the Trees. Let the great reading continue!

Don't forget your sunblock!

46. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara (2013)
Category: Historical fiction | Rating: Very Good (4★)

On an expedition to a remote island in the South Pacific, a scientist discovers that the native people have significantly increased their lifespan by eating a rare turtle, but their immortality comes at the price of severe mental degeneration. After winning the Nobel Prize for his discovery, he is convicted of sexually abusing one of his 43 children, adopted from the island.

Hmmm. This is a book that one admires rather than enjoys. Yanagihara has meticulously crafted this novel in the form of memoir (complete with footnotes), and she has created a terrific sense of place with her remote island setting. Very few people in the book like the narrator, Dr. Norton Perina, and certainly the reader does not like him either, but we are compelled to keep reading. It's like watching a car accident take place in slow motion. Perina's editor (and author of the footnotes) proves himself no more a reliable narrator than Perina, excising key bits from the memoir, one of which he chooses to show at the very end. It's not a twist in that the astute reader will certainly see it coming. Rather, we keep saying to Yanagihara, "Don't go there; don't go there," but she of course does go there. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take away from this book. It is not dark in an illuminating or entertaining way, but in a soul-crushing way. Its portrayal of humanity, both in the quote-unquote unspoiled natives and the relentless, invading westerners who destroy everything they touch, is bleak and fatalistic. If you care about animals, if you care about children, if you have any optimism about humanity, I cannot really recommend this book. On the other hand, Yanagihara has done her job well, in the sense that I've never read a book quite like this.

If you have read the book, raise your hand if you think Norton killed Tallent as a result of his obsession with him. The clue is in the timeline at the end.

Cooking Update

Latest stop on our culinary tour of the 50 states was Idaho, and I'm sure you know what that means: potatoes. For a crowd-pleasing dinner, I made crispy potato skins. The surprisingly easy recipe came from my cooking bible, Joy of Cooking, and got a good rating, served with leftover grilled chicken and a salad. Well, who doesn't love potato skins with all the toppings: cheese, bacon, scallions, sour cream, and salsa, if you're so inclined.

Next stop will be Iowa, for which I will make a dish featuring summer corn, probably for our Fourth of July cookout this weekend.

This is a great piece by Ursula K. Le Guin on the impossibility of choosing just one book that changed your life.

Excerpt:

"What books didn’t influence me?

If only someone would ask that! I’ve been waiting for years to answer it. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, I will say, had absolutely no influence on me except to cause hours of incredulous boredom. I thought in all fairness I ought to try The Fountainhead. I gave up on page 10."

47. Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (2014)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Creatures and Critters (July)

The last book of the Southern Reach trilogy wraps everything up and explains all mysteries... um, no.

I guess I wasn't really expecting it to, not with the weird tone and ambiguity having been set of the first two books. I both love and hate the ambiguity. Love it because I know I can return to this series again and find all new mysteries to ponder. Hate it because, well, it's ambiguous!

The final installment brings in two more points of view, in addition to the biologist (Ghost Bird) and Control: the psychiatrist and Saul, the lighthouse keeper. The psychiatrist fills in the gaps leading up to the twelfth expedition (the subject of the first book). Her parts open and close the book, and are written in second person, which I found mostly distracting, although I think toward the end it works, as "you" becomes not just the psychiatrist but all of us reading.

The lighthouse keeper was by far my favorite character. He is there when the shit goes down, and his scenes are the scariest and most effective. I kind of wish he had gotten a whole book just to himself. Although Area X remains a mystery, and that's pretty much fine with me, I wish we could have gotten a few more answers regarding the tantalizing S&SB conspiracy.

As for Area X, though, I have to wonder, based on the biologist's experience with the owl, whether the characters are somehow creating the place and its denizens with their own minds--Saul down in the tunnel with the Crawler, Control with his leviathans. Not sure--will have to further explore this question on a reread.

I rate my reading experience with these books very high. VanderMeer succeeds at creating a wonderfully weird world that the reader just falls into, like Alice down the rabbit hole.

48. Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco (1973)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)

A family takes possession of a rundown estate for the summer and weird things happen.

So the moral of this story is: If it seems too good to be true, run away as fast as you can. This is a twist on the classic haunted house story. Here the house itself does the haunting, somehow feeding on the youthful energy of the rubes duped into living in it in order to restore itself. Competently written and a little unsettling but never truly scary, this is an interesting entry in the genre and a worthwhile read. Burnt Offerings was published in 1973, and there is a wonderful '70s vibe to it, which was a great decade for horror altogether.

Cooking Update

For the Fourth of July, we visited Iowa in our USA culinary tour, and of course that means corn! This is the best time of year for corn, of course, and we'd already been eating a lot of it, mostly just grilled on the cob with butter. For our Fourth of July cookout, though, I made Iowa Corn au Gratin (recipe online here), which is very similar to a traditional corn pudding, but with cheddar cheese and more veggies. As corn pudding is one of my favorite things, I loved this dish! It was a great hit with all the diners and there were no leftovers. It's easy to make and can be done with either fresh or canned corn. It would be perfect for a holiday table or potluck.

Next step on our tour: not sure. Maybe Alabama, as the tomatoes are starting to come in, and I want to make fried green tomatoes.

Corn au Gratin looks really good and it's a new one for me, so thanks for posting the recipe!

>179 sturlington: That might be a good one for me, as I'd be able to picture Oliver Reed and Bette Davis all through it, and that's a plus!

>181 mstrust: Wow, Bette Davis! I'll have to track down the movie now.

>177 sturlington: LOL!! Just another reason to love Le Guin :-)

Your culinary tour sounds interesting. I love fried green tomatoes!

49. Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney (1955; revised in 1978)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Disappointment (2★)
SFFCat: Creatures and Critters (July)

A familiar story from the four (!) movie adaptations, this version was revised and updated to coincide with the 1978 movie release. I found the revisions superficial and anachronistic as the general tone of the novel is very 1950s and not at all 1970s (the movie remake did a better job there). That took away from the experience of reading it, and I would recommend seeking out the original version instead, or perhaps just watch one of the first two movie adaptations (the later two are not worth watching, in my opinion). In this case, though, I think over-familiarity with the general story takes away from the sense of horror and unease this novel must have produced when first published. Also, the "pod people," while now iconic, don't really make a lot of sense as explained in the novel, and the ending seemed too pat.

50. The Burnt Orange Heresy by Charles Willeford (1971)
Category: Random Reads | Rating: Good (3.5★)

An art critic gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to interview the world's most famous and reclusive artist, but the catch is that he has to steal one of the man's paintings for an obsessive collector.

This novel reminded me a lot of Pick-up, the other Willeford novel I've read; the loner narrator who's kind of a loser (one an artist/alcoholic, the other an art critic/failed artist), involved with a woman who kind of drives him crazy, and things get out of control, leading to murder. This version of the story stood out for me a little more, mainly due to the character of the artist Debierue, who is world-famous despite no one ever having seen one of his paintings. This was intriguing for the first half or so of the book, but the misogyny displayed in both these Willeford novels has worn a little thin for me, and I won't be reading another.

51. Fudge-a-mania by Judy Blume (1990)
Category: Kiddie reads | Rating: OK (3★)

We listened to this in the car. Another in the Fudge series: Peter, Fudge, and Tootsie go with the family on a three-week vacation in Maine, but they have to share a house with that annoying Sheila. Enjoyable gentle humor as in all the Fudge books, although not quite as funny as the first two in the series (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge).

52. Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn (2010)
Category: Historical fiction | Rating: OK (3★)

In the sequel to A Beautiful Place to Die, Emmanuel Cooper, no longer a detective, is working undercover for his former major when he stumbles across the body of a young boy; he can't resist working the case, which results in his being framed for three murders, and he must work against the clock to identify the real killer.

This is more of a thriller than a mystery/police procedural, as A Beautiful Place to Die was, although they should be read in order as characters and plot points from the first book are important in the sequel, and a reader new to the series would probably feel lost. The historical setting of Durban, South Africa, in the mid-1950s was vividly portrayed, playing up the awful racial stratifications of the country at the time. However, the plot wasn't as compelling as I would like, despite the "race against time" aspect of it, because it unwound more as a spy thriller than a mystery, and I wasn't that invested in the outcome. I probably won't continue with this series.

Well, it was a bit of a disappointing selection of beach books this year, but I do try to pick books that will be easy quick reads and that I don't mind leaving behind for the next reader, and I'd say I succeeded at that.

Lots of beach time also give me a chance to work out my 2016 challenge! Well, I guess it's never too early, right?

>189 sturlington: It's never too early! I have 2016 ready to go, and may also have 2017 lined up as well...

>185 sturlington: Did not realize that was originally a book! And I probably won't be seeking it out.

>190 rabbitprincess: Agree, it's never too early!

No need to seek it out, unless you're terribly interested in the origin stories of sci-fi tropes. :-)

>190 rabbitprincess: Ack!! you have 2017 lined up already! I am just starting to idly think about next year...

>189 sturlington: If nothing else, you've made me feel better about getting my Autumn/Halloween stack ready! You're just ultra-organized.

>192 leslie.98: What can I say, I love coming up with themes :D

53. Tea With the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (1983)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: OK (3★)
SFFCat: Creatures and Critters

When Martha Macnamara's daughter calls her to San Francisco to help her with some unspecified trouble, she meets and is intrigued by the enigmatic Mayland Long; Martha then goes missing, and Mayland has to find both her and the daughter before it's too late.

PS Mayland is a dragon in human form.

This book and I just don't get each other. I don't feel like I know enough about Chinese dragons to appreciate Mayland's character (or at least I don't know as much as I felt the author was expecting me to know). And the suspense aspect of the plot was too thin to make up for this.

54. What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton (2014)
Category: Random reads | Rating: Good (3.5★)

Note: read in part.

A compendium of blog posts about Walton's rereads of books, not necessarily all science fiction and fantasy.

I won't say that I read this entirely in one afternoon. I did skip the sections on books I hadn't read yet, because spoilers abound. (Walton includes the name of each book discussed in the title of the essay so the spoiler-y ones are easily avoided.) These are blog posts originally published on Tor.com, so they are short, breezy, and quick to read. Walton is such a prodigious reader, averaging a book or more a day (I wonder that she finds time to write!). She shares many interesting insights into the whole act of reading, as well as the genres of science fiction and fantasy here. For instance, she talks about the phenomena of I Want to Read It, which I call immersion, and the Suck Fairy visiting once beloved books, particularly children's books. Particularly enlightening for me was the idea that people who grow up reading science fiction and fantasy have internalized over time the special rules of the genre, while primarily mainstream writers may feel at sea when they try these genres; the flip side is authors who try writing genre who haven't read a lot of it, and fail miserably. I also used the table of contents to discover new-to-me books to read. I'm sure I'll return to this to check Walton's take on these books once I've read them. All of this content is available free online if you want to hunt it down, but it's handy to have it in book form, and it's of special interest to anyone who loves reading, whatever they may read. She's certainly convinced me that rereading your favorites (and not-so-favorites) is worthwhile.

"easy quick reads and that I don't mind leaving behind for the next reader"
Excellent definition of a beach read. Sorry you didn't enjoy them more yourself, though.

July reading roundup:

For pleasure, I read a total of 8 full-length books; 3 of these were for the SFFCat. I also listened to 1 children's book on audio. Another big reading month, and I lost track of what I read for paid book reviews again. I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: Acceptance; The People in the Trees; Burnt Offerings; What Makes This Book So Great; The Burnt Orange Heresy

Total Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 54 so far.

Next month, I get to take a break from paid book reviews. I'm planning another easy reading month, as we will be traveling some and school starting always makes everything so busy. I just acquired Go Set a Watchman but I don't know if I'll start reading it yet; I want to go into it with as few preconceptions as possible, and that's been difficult with all the publicity it's been getting.

I am also planning to start a new project in the next few months. I'm going to reread some of my favorite sci fi and horror by women, and also some new books that are related, and write about what I read. I'll probably get started on that in September or October, so watch this space for updates.

55. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien (1971)
Category: Kiddie Reads | Rating: Very good (4★)

When Mrs. Frisby's son Timothy falls ill with pneumonia and the mouse family has to move out of the garden before the spring planting, risking Timothy's life, she discovers a colony of intelligent rats living on the farm who agree to help move her house.

I absolutely must have read this as a child--I can't imagine missing it--but I didn't remember it. I recently read it aloud to my 7-year-old son. Very well written, this classic still holds up. It starts out slow but gradually draws you in. The story of how the rats of NIMH were experimented upon and then escaped from the research lab is fascinating. It's the kind of old-fashioned story that hearkens back to the classic books I remember from my childhood. This seems to cry out for a sequel: Timothy goes to find the rats in their new home.

56. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp (2003)
Category: Random reads | Rating: Very good (4★)

Some very good advice on fashioning a creative life. I actually took extensive notes, which I will post to my blog. Update: posted at http://shannonturlington.com/2015/08/24/notes-on-the-creative-habit/

57. Other Worlds Than These edited by John Joseph Adams (2012)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Other Worlds

This is a nicely balanced selection of short stories about traveling to and among parallel worlds, with a good mix of classic and new writers. I preferred the science fiction (multiple universe theory) stories to the fantasy (portal to magical worlds) ones, but all of the stories were entertaining. Standouts were: "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link; "Porridge on Islac" by Ursula K. Le Guin; "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" by Stephen King; "The Goat Variations" by Jeff VanderMeer; and one that absolutely blew my mind: "a ghost samba" by Ian McDonald. (touchstoned because the brackets are actually part of the title)

Cooking Update

Our latest stop in our culinary tour of the United States was Alabama for friend green tomatoes, because this is the time of year for it. I looked at a lot of recipes for this one, but I ended up on settling on old reliable, Joy of Cooking, primarily because the breading included cornmeal, and I thought that sounded both tasty and authentic. I used green tomatoes from my garden. They were indeed tasty, but I do not like to fry (it is always messy, despite my best efforts), so I doubt I will make this again. I prefer to get my fried foods on the outside. I loved the fresh, slightly tart taste of green tomatoes, though, so I will have to look for other recipes that incorporate them but do not involve frying. Suggestions welcomed.

Next up: not sure. We are going to Pennsylvania next week, so that might influence my choice. Dutch Amish cooking!

58. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (2009)
Category: Horror | Rating: Good (3.5★)

When she was 7, Libby Day was the only survivor of the brutal murders of her mother and sisters, a crime her teenaged brother was convicted of. As an adult, almost out of money, Libby connects with a group who thinks her brother is innocent and who will pay her for access to key witnesses--and Libby starts questioning her own assumptions about the murders.

A good thriller, with really well-defined characters, especially the damaged Libby. The ending twists pushed the edges of unbelievability, but altogether this was an entertaining novel that I enjoyed more than Gone Girl.

59. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006)
Category: Horror | Rating: Excellent (4.5★)

Camille, whose childhood left her so damaged that she carved words all over her body, returns to her hometown as an adult journalist to report on two murders of young girls and is thrust back into her very dysfunctional family: a distant mother, a seriously disturbed half-sister, and the specter of a dead younger sister.

This is my favorite of Flynn's books, a seriously twisted thriller that takes the "unlikable female character" to a new level. Ineffective men, banality of evil, fairy tale allusions, the meanings of the words Camille carves into her own flesh, mothers and daughters, and the societal roles of women--there's a lot to unpack here. It's also a compelling read with a nice twist.

60. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (1972)
Category: Kiddie reads | Rating: Excellent (4.5★)

Peter Hatcher deals with the trials and tribulations of having a precocious younger brother.

One of my favorites from childhood, reread to my son, who now loves the Peter and Fudge books as well. There were several sequels, but the first is still the funniest. Fudge knocks out his two front teeth, films a television commercial, and then in the shocking final chapter, swallows Peter's turtle. Blume endures.

61. The Family Tree by Sheri S. Tepper (1997)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Other worlds

The first half of this book takes place in two timelines: present-day America, told from the point of view of Dora, a police sergeant who is finally leaving a loveless marriage, and in a fantasy world, told from the point of view of Opalears, who is accompanying her prince on a quest to fulfill a prophecy, picking up fellow travelers along the way. The two stories seem unrelated except that in both times, the trees are acting strangely, growing up in great numbers and rebelling against people. Although both stories are very readable, the high contrast between them is very disorienting--until they come together with a very neat but completely unexpected revelation. Toward the end, Tepper's hand becomes a little heavy; the authorial point of view--her frustration with the destruction of the earth's resources, her strong feminism--intrudes just a bit too much. Overall, though, this is a well-crafted adventure story that's pretty hard to put down.

Cooking Update

We made another stop on our culinary tour of the 50 states: Colorado. Of course, the classic Denver omelet comes to mind, but I chose to serve it as a "Western sandwich" instead of just as an omelet. A Western omelet is not a complex recipe; I followed the one in The Joy of Cooking. Simple recipes are often the best, though, but to be fair, you can't really go wrong with putting an omelet on a sandwich. Adults loved, kid was not quite as crazy about, but all in all, this one was an easy success.

I agree with your ranking of Gillian Flynn's novels. Sharp Objects is so memorable. I'm worried that the success of Gone Girl will keep her in that wheelhouse, rather than returning to the tighter, more personal and (IMO) more impactful Sharp Objects.

>208 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, I'm planning to write a longer piece about Flynn's women and why I think Camille was a much more compelling character than Amy. I agree that she is in danger of being pigeonholed. I hope her success will enable her to take risks and try something new, although I think I read recently she is now writing a TV series.

Oh, no! I have never seen any author's work improve once they've started writing for the screen.

>206 sturlington: Nice review of The Family Tree -- I liked that one a lot (and still occasionally worry about the unnecessary space in my condo disappearing! *grin*).

>211 leslie.98: I feel a bit like Dora. I'm not sure I would mind.

>207 sturlington: - I remember the Denver omelets my Mom would make! I can totally see that as a sandwich. Good choice.

August Reading Roundup:

For pleasure, I read a total of 9 full-length books; 2 of these were for the SFFCat and 3 were books read aloud to my son. I abandoned one book that was chosen by my book club: The Perfect Son--it was just not my thing. I took a break from reading for paid book reviews and I enjoyed the break, because the quality of most of the books I get to review is sadly not great. I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: Sharp Objects; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; The Family Tree; The Creative Habit; Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH; Dark Places; Superfudge; Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights. I also acquired a new Edward Gorey book for my collection: A Halloween Treat.

Total Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 63 so far.

I feel like next month should be October--I'm already planning my Halloween reads! But we must not rush September, which is one of my favorite months of the year. I love fall and school being back in session and having the house to myself again in the mornings. I have some autumnal reads planned, including the new Gregory Maguire novel and Memory of Water (already started) and possibly Go Set a Watchman.

62. Superfudge by Judy Blume (1980)
Category: Kiddie reads | Rating: Good (3.5★)

Peter is faced with the twin challenges of a new baby sister and moving to Princeton for a year.

I thought I read this as a kid, when I would have been at least 10 years old, which is surely the _target age Blume was aiming for. I have always had fond memories of the Fudge books, and now my 7-year-old son loves them too. We got this book on audio for a long car trip; it's very funny and really captures the feelings of a 6th-grade boy going through some pretty big upheavals in his life. However, if I did read it as a child, I had either forgotten or wasn't that affected by the fact that Blume drops the bomb that Santa is made up in this book. As a reader, I don't blame her; she writes for kids in a way that lets them know that books are wonderful, dangerous things that can reveal truths your parents may not have told you. However, as a parent, I selfishly want my son to believe as long as possible. Fortunately, my husband and I realized what was happening and were able to cut off the audio before the beans were spilled. "Uh, the CD broke!"

Updated: My son liked this so much that he wanted me to read it aloud to him. I elided the troublesome chapter with no noticeable effects. Overall, this is a funny, lighthearted book with a somewhat abrupt ending, not quite as good as the first in the series but better than its successor, Fudge-a-mania.

63. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie (2015)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Slipstream and Interstitial

In the twelfth century, a female jinn (a jinnia) called Dunia fell in love with a philosopher and bore many children, whose descendants were part-jinn, part-human. A thousand years later, the slits between earth and the world of the jinn reopened, sparking a battle between the dark jinn (the ifrit) and Dunia and her children. It was also a battle of philosophies, between reason and faith. Reason wins.

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, this is the first novel by Rushdie that I have read. There was a lot to enjoy in it. Rushdie's writing is often very funny, and his philosophical ideas are intriguing. I was particularly intrigued by the future he envisions, a golden age of reason and equality; this story is actually being narrated by humans living one thousand years from now, in which time these events have become legendary as they were the beginning of this age of reason. I wish he had spent more time developing the philosophy. I'm not sure if this novel is typical of Rushdie's style, but that was the biggest problem for me. His prose is purposefully circuitous and repetitive, in a manner of oral storytelling, but for me it lacked focus and full development of his ideas. This was a tantalizing book that was almost, but not quite, great.

64. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1814)
Category: Group reads | Rating (Very good (4★)

Fanny Price realizes that if she just does nothing for long enough, all her dreams will eventually come true.

I'm working my way through Austen's novels. This is the next-to-last I have to read, and I really enjoyed it. It was a mature, multi-layered story that completely drew me in. While I can't say that I particularly liked any of the characters, I really felt like I got to know them well, as people. There was no perfect man, no Mr. Knightley or Mr. Darcy to swoon over. These were more like real people, warts and all, many of them growing up quite painfully. Along with Persuasion, Mansfield Park struck me as a one of Austen's more psychological novels. Oh yes, it's also funny, and cutting, and there are some shocking bits toward the end. A rewarding read.

For all you Austen fans, this site marries stills from Austen movies with headlines from The Onion, with hilarious results. Here's one from Mansfield Park:

Fanny Price realizes that if she just does nothing for long enough, all her dreams will eventually come true.

I never thought about this before, but you are SO RIGHT!

>217 sturlington: Thanks for the link! Those were great.

>217 sturlington: I finished rereading Mansfield Park just a few days ago. While you didn't say anything I disagree with, I found both Fanny and Edmund's sense of morality stifling. I much prefer Persuasion!

>220 leslie.98: I guess you could say they deserve each other and they get what they deserve.

I enjoyed your reviews of the Blume books. My kids liked them very much when they were younger, and when I was a preteen myself, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret was one of my favourites.

My favorite Judy Blume book growing up was Here's to You, Rachel Robinson. But I haven't read it in years, so I'm wondering how I would feel about it now!

65. Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta (2012)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Good (3.5★)
SFFCat: Award winner | RandomCAT: Weather (climate change)

In a far future where water has become scarce due to climate change, a young girl tries to master the tea ceremony while keeping the family secret of the underground spring hidden near her house.

This short dystopian novel was well written, slow and elegiac, musing on water and the loss of snow in what was formerly the Scandinavian region. Not a lot happens, but neither does the story unfold exactly the way I expected. While I greatly enjoyed the writing, I found myself wishing the world had been a bit more fleshed out. Clearly China has achieved some kind of global dominance in this future vision, but the details are hazy, perhaps purposefully, since a lot of history has been lost following a general collapse of civilization. Still, there is an obsession with the past; mining the dumps for bits and pieces of old junk that can be reused, Noria and her friend discover an old CD that they figure out how to play and learn about an expedition farther north where there may be water. They also learn a terrible secret, which is never revealed in the text, but which I assume is that the climate change they suffer under was caused by people. Even though the vagueness could be frustrating, I thought this was a rewarding read, quite different from other dystopians featuring a teen protagonist.

66. Freckle Juice by Judy Blume (1984)
Category: Kiddie Reads | Rating: Good (3.5★)

A boy desperately wants freckles, so he buys a recipe for freckle juice, with disastrous results.

This is a very short book, not really a novel (even my son said it was short). That would probably make it a good pick for independent reading for new readers. Not as memorable as other Blume books, though.

67. After Alice by Gregory Maguire (2015)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Slipstream and interstitial

Alice wasn't the only one who fell down the rabbit hole; her friend Ada, passingly mentioned in the original Alice in Wonderland, followed her down and had her own set of adventures, while on that same day, Charles Darwin visited Alice's father in the above-ground world.

This book was slow to get started for me, but once it got going, I enjoyed it. Ada turns out to be a very interesting character, a little more grounded than Alice, who has to overcome the effects of having a disability and being a neglected child while trying to catch up with her friend Alice in Wonderland. She encounters some of the same characters as Alice did, as well as some new ones. I also enjoyed the scenes set in the "real world," focusing on Alice's older sister Lydia, who is half-heartedly looking for the missing girls while Charles Darwin, a handsome young American, and the American's ward Siam (a former slave boy) visit with her father. Siam also finds his way into Wonderland, through the famous looking-glass, and meets up with Ada there. This is clearly a book for grown-ups who also loved Alice's adventures (there is some disturbing content regarding Siam), and it's a terrific tribute to Oxford, Victoriana, and the power of storytelling. I'm not entirely reconciled with how Maguire chose to end the book, with what I suppose is intended to be an explanation of what really happened to Alice on that day (it wasn't just a dream, I guess). But for the most part, I enjoyed this retelling.

68. American Gothic Tales edited by Joyce Carol Oates (1996)
Category: Horror | Rating: Very good (4★)

A selection of tales about the strange and uncanny written by American writers, ranging from classics to contemporary.

For the most part, this is a terrific collection of stories, but do they deserve the label "gothic?" The earliest stories most definitely do, and they are probably the strongest in the collection, beginning with the classic Legend of Sleepy Hollow and featuring selections by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Henry James, H.P. Lovecraft, August Derleth, a wonderful ghost story by Edith Wharton, Gilman's classic The Yellow Wallpaper, and the timeless Southern gothic story A Rose for Emily by Faulkner. This is a terrific representation of classic American gothic writing. After a standout story by Shirley Jackson, "The Lovely House," which was probably my favorite of the anthology, more contemporary writers are featured, and the stories become less gothic for a time. While Raymond Carver and John Cheever are justifiably well known for their short stories, I don't think they can be called gothic. And science fiction is pretty much the opposite of gothic; while I enjoyed those selections by Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin, among others, they just didn't fit the theme for me, other than that they were strange. The most modern writers do, for the most part, return to secure gothic ground, with great selections by Stephen King, Peter Straub, Lisa Tuttle (an outstanding story called "Replacements"), and Nancy Etchemendy's disturbing "Cat in Glass." Nicholson Baker rounds out the collection with a fun piece called "Subsoil" that makes potatoes seem frightening. It's a solid collection of stories on the whole and well worth seeking out, despite the intrusion of the non-gothic into the collection.

I'll have to look for After Alice. I've enjoyed Maguire's take on fairy tales.

>228 RidgewayGirl: Gorgeous cover, too. It may not be out yet.

>228 RidgewayGirl: Me too, sounds great! :)

69. The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville (2009)
Category: Historical fiction | Rating: OK (3★)

Fagen, a former member of the IRA, is haunted by the 12 ghosts of the people he killed who want him to take revenge on their behalf.

I originally picked up this book because I wanted a little more context on the Troubles in Northern Ireland.* I got that, at least in terms of atmosphere (and after consulting a couple of Wikipedia pages to clarify who all the different groups are). This is a very masculine book, though. There is a lot of fighting, and generally I find fights to be better suited to the movies than to books; there's only so much I care to read about fists slamming into flesh and bone. There is only one real female character in the book, and her only purpose is to be threatened or rescued, so this totally fails the Bechdel test. And really, I had no feeling for the protagonist. I was kind of hoping he would shoot himself in the head. The only element that kept me reading was the ghosts, which provided an ambiguous, mysterious element to an otherwise standard thriller plot. But I can safely say, this is the last book of this type I'm going to read if I can help it. I'm just so tired of the whole pointless, blood-soaked, violence-reveling genre.

*My original lofty plan for the year was to read, along with the HistoryCAT, a book about Ireland for every time period. That failed miserably. Historical novels can be so long! This was the only one of the list that I actually bought and read. It's still a neat idea for a reading project, though.

>231 sturlington: That is indeed a great idea for a reading project! Making a note of this...

70. The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry (1966)
Category: Random Reads | Rating: Good (3.5★)
RandomCAT: In the steps of a friend... (October)

A coming of age story about a boy's last year of high school in a dying Texas town.

I saw the movie version of this a couple of times before reading the book, and my overall impression was that it was one of the most novelistic movies I'd ever seen. Ironically, though, I think I liked the movie better than than the book, mainly due to the terrific acting, which brings a lot of depth to these characters. McMurtry's writing style flattens the characters, making it hard for us to really care about them. They are just so beaten down and have so little to look forward to. As with the movie, the character I understand most is Ruth Popper, but I just wish that when she gets angry, she would stay angry. McMurtry is a good writer, and he really does make the bleakness of this pathetic town seem real. It's a good read, but a terribly depressing one, without the power of Lonesome Dove. See the movie, though.

>233 sturlington: That is an excellent movie! Not only are the actors great but the cinematography is wonderful as well. Glad to know that I am not missing anything by not reading the book though!

71. Rooms by Lauren Oliver (2014)
Category: Speculative fiction | Rating: Very good (4★)
SFFCat: Supernatural and Paranormal (October)

Rooms is a different take on the classic haunted house story. The house in question is haunted by two women whose spirits have essentially merged with the house and can observe--even experience, in a sense--everything that happens inside. When Richard Walker, who owns the house, dies, his estranged, extremely dysfunctional family returns to clean up the place. There is a suicidal teen, his sex-addicted sister, and their alcoholic mom. Essentially, this is a family drama with ghosts--not scary, more sad.

The overall theme is the need to let go. Not letting go of their hurts and mistakes has caused all the current dysfunction of the living as well as trapped the ghosts in the house. About midway through the story, two new characters show up: another ghost, this time a young girl, and a manic pixie dream girl type. Their purpose is to demonstrate to the others how to let go. Oliver hits us over the head with this message quite a few times, as she does with the "rooms" metaphor--essentially, we are all spirits trapped in our own haunted houses, our bodies, which are full of rooms, and rooms can conceal secrets even from ourselves. But the writing is quite good, the house itself is a fully realized character, and the end is satisfying. Oliver may be best known for writing young adult fiction, but this is an adult novel, a meditation on what we regret doing and not doing in our lives.

72. Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary (1950)
Category: Kiddie reads | Rating: Very good (4★)

Henry adopts a homeless dog, Ribsy, and they have comic adventures together.

I read this aloud to my 7-year-old son. Not quite as "deep" in terms of addressing growing-up issues as the Fudge books by Judy Blume and becoming a trifle dated now, but still lots of laughs to be had. My son insisted we move immediately on to the next book in the series, always a good sign.

73. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (1952)
Category: Random reads | Rating: OK (3★)

When 19-year-old Therese first glimpses Carol in the department store where she works, the attraction is immediate; this coming-of-age story describes how their affair blossomed on a cross-country road trip at a time when being a lesbian was not an option.

Highsmith is a precise writer, but I think she is still developing her skills in this early novel. She leaves a lot unsaid between Carol and Therese, which I found frustrating at times, because it was difficult for me to grasp what their feelings truly were for one another. Was it really love for Therese, or just a young girl's crush, for instance? Their affair ends up hurting Carol, causing her to lose custody of her young daughter, and I wonder how she can get past that, even if does truly love Therese (which was not obvious). What this book does well is clarify how lesbianism was perceived during its time based on the differing attitudes shown toward Therese and Carol, particularly by the male characters. It also illustrates yet another way that life choices were so curtailed for women. I thought this worked very well as a coming-of-age story; by the end, Therese seems to understand and accept herself more, and she even seems to accept Carol's choices. She's giving up her immaturity and self-centeredness. However, the ending didn't ring true for me. Once we have that pivotal first relationship, can we ever really return to it? Or is it necessary to move on? And I'm not sure I understand why Carol still wants Therese after everything that happens. They just seem mismatched.

A promising book that didn't carry through in a natural way for me.

September Reading Roundup:

For pleasure, I read a total of 10 full-length books; these included 2 books for the SFFCat (September and October), 2 books read for the RandomCAT (September and October), 1 audiobook finally finished (Mansfield Park), and 2 books read aloud to my son. I abandoned one audiobook newly started: Wives and Daughters, 25+ hours of boring. I also reviewed a couple of new favorite cookbooks: Pizza Dough and Dinner: The Playbook. I did not count paid book reviews.

I recommend any books that I rate 3.5 stars or higher, so I recommend the following in order from top-rated: Mansfield Park; American Gothic Tales; Rooms; After Alice; Henry Huggins; Memory of Water; The Last Picture Show; Freckle Juice.

Total Books Read in 2015 list, which doesn't include paid book reviews but does include stand-alone short stories and kid's books: 73 so far.

And now, I think it's time for a new thread!

What a great cover on The Price of Salt!

>239 RidgewayGirl: Yes, I love that retro cover, and also the one on Rooms.