Book a Week 2016 - BW 49: Delectable December

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday dear hearts!  This is the beginning of week 49 in our quest to read 52 books. Welcome back to all our readers, to those just joining in and all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is also below in my signature.

 

52 Books blog - Delectable December 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of Bake a Book

 

 

 

Welcome to Delectable December, a month to celebrate a variety of events. From the arrival of Winter to Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, St Lucia Day, Boxing Day, and St Nicolas Day.  December is a wonderful time to curl up with a good book by the fireplace. Also a great time to gather in the kitchen, warm from baking and enjoy the results fresh from the oven. Experimenting with new recipes, fine tuning old, exploring foods unknown and chowing down on our favorite comfort food.

 

Every time I make stuffing or sauce for baked salmon or dressing for steamed artichokes,  hubby says this is the best one yet, what did you do differently this time. Make sure you write it down.  *grin*

 

Last week we talked about foodie books. Now we get to chat about cookbooks. Do you have a favorite cookbook or do you have a whole shelf of cookbooks to peruse?  Do you prefer surfing the web exploring sites such as  allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com.  Do you print recipes and keep a favorites notebook.  Are you the create it from scratch type of cook?   Do you prefer to cook alone or the more the merrier?

 

Share your favorite cookbooks, recipes, cooking traditions or pictures of your cookbooks.

 

 

Happy baking!

 

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History of the Renaissance World - Chapters 87 and 88

 

 

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Secret Santa - Throw your name in the secret santa hat and I'll draw names who gets to be whose secret santa. Let me know by the end of this week if want to participate.  PM me with  snail mail and email address and link to amazon wishlist, good reads want to read list or give a few hints from your own personal christmas wish list.

 

Shoot for mailing by the 19th to get there in time for Christmas.

 

Gift range - $10 to $25 depending on your finances and homemade gifts are great as well. 

 

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Bingo --  How many spots did you fill in?  If you got a bingo, post your results, and  pm your email and snail mail address  (if you haven't already) to me, so I can send your prezzie.  

 

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What are you reading this week? 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to week 48

 

Edited December 4, 2016 by Robin M

[Robin M]

I finished another chunky book -  Lee Child's Never Go Back and currently reading Barbara Harbison's When In Doubt, Add Butter which is quite good and had me giggling out loud.  

 

 

[Violet Crown]

Still working through Quasten's Patrology, which means at the moment reading various apocryphal New Testament writings. These are all very different; the Protevangelium of James and the Gospel of Nicodemus (incorporating the Acts of Pilate) are orthodox, though apocryphal; the former is an important source for a great deal of Christian legend and iconography, while the latter resulted in a rehabilitation of Pontius Pilate in Eastern churches, to the extent that the Copts included him in their calendar of saints. The Gospel of Thomas, on the other hand, with its notorious infancy narratives, is thoroughly Gnostic, and pretty weird.

 

I'm not reading these all from a single book - just using Quasten as a reading guide - but they're all so short I think I'm going to count them as one book when I finish and move on to the next chapter of Quasten.

 

Also, having missed somehow the Alexander Dumas week earlier this year, I'm reading Camille by Dumas fils, about the life and slow death (by consumption) of a young prostitute. I don't know which book to bring to the church potluck this evening: is it worse for Fr. N. to find me reading Camille, or Gnostic gospels?

 

They are smiling, so of course they are thinking, "Those people look nice. I hope they will be friends." : )

I suppose in reality they're certainly thinking, "How long can I hold this friendly smile before the photo shoot ends?"

 

Snort! I hate to even consider what they are thinking. Things at the village church have turned unfortunate. Our young vicar has resigned. The committee governing it have turned into a scene from a bad British mystery.....fyi, dh resigned last year so our rights are non-existent. The bell tower is probably closing. Moving to a new one which is fine...I had lunch with a large group of church ladies last week, I smiled and nattered like a pro......lunch was because of another group we all belong to and we got seated together. Obviously the gossip isn't quite out yet....we didn't go today. The thought was overwhelming and there was a Christmas Market in York.

Hugs and prayers. Changing one's worshiping community is wrenching on any terms. If I lived there I'd go join you in the pew on a Sunday morning.

Anne Taintor problably knows...

http://www.annetaintor.com/products/sale-magnets/sku01655/

 

 

Fun variety of gifts and lots of laughs!

 

Oh those are hilarious! Now I'm trying to think of captions for the book photo. Edited December 4, 2016 by Violet Crown

[Ethel Mertz]

Read last week:

 

1.     Ordained Irreverence (Elmo Jenkins #1) – McMillan Moody 

2.     Foul Play (Moose River #4) – Jeff Shelby 

3.     Some Things Never Change (Elmo Jenkins #2) – McMillian Moody

4.     The Old Man and the Tea (Elmo Jenkins #3) – McMillian Moody

5.     Pomegranate Soup (Babylon Café #1) – Marsha Mehran - loved this one! Robin, thanks for mentioning it last week. I just downloaded the 2nd book in that series.

 

The book with "December" in the title (personal reading challenge) is Back to December – Lucy Gage. I have several nonfiction books I've been working on, but I don't know as if I'll get them done before the end of the year. I'm reading lighter, faster reads this month to see if I can catch up in our family competition of bird species seen in one year versus books I've read. I'm trailing behind by 24 books. I don't think I'll be able to do this competition next year as my spouse is traveling to the Dominican Republic to help build a Habitat house and will surely see more species than this year!

[Onceuponatime]

I finished The Food of Love which was chock full of delicious Italian cuisine, sometimes served up steamy. The end of the story was relatively bland but satisfying.

 

Right now I'm reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Links, which, surprisingly, I haven't read before.

 

The cookbook I use the most is my 1982 Betty Crocker, a wedding present. (The recipes in the modern one are not the same.)Somewhere along the way the binder disintegrated and I put the pages in a new binder, but they are mostly yellowed, splattered, and falling out. I cook a lot of comfort foods and old fashioned staples, mostly by scratch. I love to make soups, pies, muffins, biscuits, etc. My favorite cookie recipe is in there, molasses crinkles. I have another binder with recipes I've gathered from various places over the years, some from the hive. Yesterday I made somebody's mini cheddar meat loaves, from two boards ago. I don't collect cookbooks because I find I will only use a couple of recipes out of each one, and they take up space that I don't have.

[JennW in SoCal]

The internet has now become my favorite cookbook. I've just put soup in a crockpot for tonight, and am about to make the dough for chocolate chip cookies, and both recipes were found thanks to my good friend, google. ;) Oldest ds and dh are off to a football game this afternoon while I'm playing the big holiday concert at church. But I've got friends and my nephew coming to the concert so my solos will be appreciated by someone! Anyway, the soup is for when we all gather tonight to decorate our tree. 

 

Speaking of tree decorating...  For those of you interested, or who have kids who would be interested, here is a link to a video of Disneyland being transformed for the holidays. My ds is part of the team that transforms the park, and there are glimpses of him on the cherry-picker lifts. It was 6 weeks of graveyard shifts and overtime to put the sparklies on the castle, hang garland and lights and build that tree!  We won't be seeing him the next several weeks because that same team has to maintain all those lights, trouble shoot electrical problems, and work regular tech shifts in the parks. 

 

On the reading front, I just finished my annual re-listen to Hogfather :-)  And last night I also finished The Janissary Tree, the mystery set in Istanbul of the early-mid 1800s. It is a very atmospheric novel, and features lots of cooking and drinking of coffee, but it was a little clunky as a mystery. But I will read others in the series and think Jane and Lady Florida, possibly Mumto2 would also enjoy it. 

 

Can't remember what I all I wanted to comment on from last thread, but count me in for a Murakami read along in January. 

 

 

[JennW in SoCal]

.Also, having missed somehow the Alexander Dumas week earlier this year, I'm reading Camille by Dumas fils, about the life and slow death (by consumption) of a young prostitute. I don't know which book to bring to the church potluck this evening: is it worse for Fr. N. to find me reading Camille, or Gnostic gospels?

 

 

Oooh -- I just played a production of La Traviata, the Verdi opera based on Camille. When you finish you should watch it. There is a great version on Youtube with Renee Fleming as Violetta.

[Mom-ninja.]

Thanks for posting those magnets. I just bought gifts from that site for my mom, mil, sister, and both sils. Score!

 

 

All the books I'm wanting to read at the moment are all on hold. I am one space away from total blackout on BINGO but the last book is still not available. 

Edited December 4, 2016 by Mom-ninja.

[ladydusk]

I'm a bit of a cookbook junkie. I love beautiful cookbooks with easy, yet elegant recipes. I loved Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine and the coordinated cookbooks. Nigella Lawson and Ina Garden take up a lot of room on my shelves (yes, plural).

 

My go-to cookbook is America's Test Kitchen 1000 Best Recipes. They're good recipes, and I like the explanations as to how they came together. I've learned much from that cookbook.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Negin]

Last week we talked about foodie books. Now we get to chat about cookbooks. Do you have a favorite cookbook or do you have a whole shelf of cookbooks to peruse?  Do you prefer surfing the web exploring sites such as  allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com.  Do you print recipes and keep a favorites notebook.  Are you the create it from scratch type of cook?   Do you prefer to cook alone or the more the merrier?

 

Share your favorite cookbooks, recipes, cooking traditions or pictures of your cookbooks.

Robin, what a fun question! I love allrecipes.com and specifically, Chef John who's on allrecipes as well as on his blog. I print out recipes that work and try to keep them as organized as possible. I do have a few cookbooks, but I have found that the internet is the most helpful. I need to cook alone and cannot stand too many people getting in my way. :) I've recently bought some new cookbooks and will likely review them soon. 

 

I read Gone with the Wind - 5 Stars - If I could, I would give this book an endless number of stars. This is my favorite book of 2016 and it will rank way up there as among my all-time favorites. I’m sure that I’m in the minority in that I had never read or seen the movie until now. I wasn’t particularly interested, incorrectly thinking that it would be a sappy, romantic story about a spoilt Southern belle. I was quickly proven wrong. Anyway, had it not been for my daughter, I don’t think that I would have ever read it. This is among her favorite books also. As I was reading it, she was continuously asking me where I was in the book and whether or not I liked it. I will someday miss those funny memories. She said that she loved re-reading the book vicariously through me. We had a blast!

Since I did not grow up in the U.S. and regrettably never took a U.S. history course while in college (it wasn’t required for my degree), my knowledge of the Civil War and especially its aftermath is quite limited and one-sided. Margaret Mitchell did a wonderful job educating me, especially with regards to the frustrations of Reconstruction.

My three favorite characters are Rhett, Scarlett, and Melanie, although all of the characters were truly memorable, thanks to Margaret Mitchell’s writing. Rhett was entertaining and put on no airs or sense of pretension. Scarlett had plenty of flaws, of course, but she also had many qualities that I admired – being able to cope during difficulties, and so on. Melanie annoyed me at first, but then I admired her so much.

This book was powerful and incredible. I told my daughter that I will be forever grateful to her for pushing me to read it! Once I finished the book, we sat down and watched the movie. This is seldom a good idea to do right after finishing a book. Let some time pass, I say! The movie was good and they did what they could, given that time period, but the book is far, far superior. I’m quite sure that any book I pick up will pale in comparison for quite a while.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.â€

 

“Hardships make or break people.â€

 

“Like most girls, her imagination carried her just as far as the altar and no further.â€

 

“Don’t holler – smile and bide your time.â€

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

Edited December 4, 2016 by Negin

[Robin M]

Nan:  Robin, I have been counting audiobooks. I hope that is ok? I,ve been read aloud to my whole life so I never lost the ability to escape into them.

 

Yes, audiobooks count.   :coolgleamA:

 

 

Murakami in January - Check!  

 

Violet Crown: Also, having missed somehow the Alexander Dumas week earlier this year, I'm reading Camille by Dumas fils, about the life and slow death (by consumption) of a young prostitute. I don't know which book to bring to the church potluck this evening: is it worse for Fr. N. to find me reading Camille, or Gnostic gospels?

 

S'okay, I missed the Dumas read myself.  

 

Hmmm? Camille or Gnostic Gospels at potluck.  Either one will be a conversation starter, that's for sure.   :laugh:

 

OnceUponATime: The cookbook I use the most is my 1982 Betty Crocker, a wedding present. (The recipes in the modern one are not the same.)

 

Yep, I have my 70's good housekeeping and a recent edition.  So very different!  More fat in the old one.   :lol:

[mumto2]

Changing one's worshiping community is wrenching on any terms. If I lived there I'd go join you in the pew on a Sunday morning.

 

That would be lovely! I wish it could happen...

 

I finished Holy Terror in the Hebrides by Jeanne Dams. This cozy series is a good one! :) Amy, you may want to read this one as research....

[ErinE]

I have way too many cookbooks even though I've culled them down over the years. For dinner, I usually go straight to the internet, but for baking I like to use my cookbooks.

 

Most of my cookbooks are in my bookshelves, but these are the ones I keep in the kitchen:

 

• Cook's Illustrated. I've subscribed to this magazine for over ten years. The editors don't accept advertisements and there's only a few recipes per issue. Each one is simplified, as uncomplicated as can be, and explained in detail. I keep them close, because I love to browse them. It recently lost the founding editor Christopher Kimball so I'm nervous about its future direction.
• Cook's Country. A similar philosphy to Cook's Illustrated with an emphasis on quicker home cooking, I've subscribed since its founding. I love the USA regional recipe discussions. The writer visits an area, tastes a specialty dish, and attempts to recreate it for the home. There's usually a sidebar with a historical overview.
• How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. My go-to for quick recipes. I usually modify his recipes as he doesn't seem to spend as much time on the best recipe, but most are adequate for my needs.
• The New Best Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. A collection of tested recipes. The editors go into sometimes painful detail, but the recipes are specific and they work. I learned so much about the science of cooking from this cookbook.
• Baking Illustrated from Cook's Illustrated. Like the above cookbook, but with an emphasis on baked goods.

I may actually get a full Bingo card. I think I need to read a play before the end of the year to finish it. I have a few Shakespeare plays in my TBR pile so I need to get on it.

 

Books read:

• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame (Volume I) edited by Robert Silverberg. Science Fiction. A historical short story anthology, the collection was tough to embrace. Though it might have had historical value, the literary merit was less clear. I had started reading, but didn't complete before it was due, The Big Book of Science Fiction a few months ago and found the stories more memorable. I had originally selected the book because it was recommended by a science fiction MOOC, but I didn't bookmark the course and couldn't find it while I was reading the stories.
• Friction by Sandra Brown. Romantic Thriller. A Texas Ranger is caught up in a shooting while in court for his little girl's custody hearing.
• The Chimes by Anna Smaill. Science Fiction. The people of London lose their memories if they don't keep them close; do the songs that play every evening play a part? This felt more like a short story than a true novel. The author is a poet and a musician and it shows in her voice. I thought the worldbuilding, structured around music, was very interesting.
• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. Biography. The US was in desperate need of human computers during World War II and the space race that followed. Black women made up a vital part of the mission for NASA and its predecessor.I wish there had been photos as the author spends time in several instances describing photos not included and I felt it moved too quickly through the women's histories.  Those quibbles aside, I thought this was an interesting look into a little known part of US history. I kept dwelling on the indignities these women suffered. Bathrooms were divided by race, but a bathroom for black women might be on a distant floor or across campus. Black and white worked side by side, but when it came to eating lunch, they were divided again. The engineers working with the women recognized their intelligence, but not their humanity.
• The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. Fantasy. An elderly couple set out from their village to seek out their son while Britain is covered in a mysterious, memory-stealing mist.

 

This week, I hope to finish my BINGO card and start a weird fiction short story anthology.

 

ETA: I have book shelves! Woo hoo! We moved over a year ago and have held off on unpacking the books due to work and relocation concerns. I finally decided enough was enough and picked up a few cheap bookshelves. We found so many old favorites packed away. It was like a party unwrapping all the lost books. My older two have already read through several and picked out more for their to-be-read lists.

Edited December 4, 2016 by ErinE

[Kareni]

 This is the beginning of week 49 in our quest to read 52 books.

 

Wow, week 49 already.  Where does the time go?    (For what it's worth, I note that the thread title does not include the number 49.)

 

 

  Do you have a favorite cookbook or do you have a whole shelf of cookbooks to peruse? 

 

 

I'm someone who doesn't care to cook, and I am fortunate that my husband does.  He doesn't care to do the dishes while I don't mind doing them.  We have a nice symbiotic relationship.

 

That said, I like to check cookbooks out of the library from time to time.  I look through them and then send recipes my husband's way to see if he's interested in trying them out.  I also send him recipes from threads on the WTM board.  Tonight's dinner will be a first attempt of a recipe garnered from the host of my last book group meeting -- it's a curried soup containing chickpeas, tomatoes, and coconut milk amongst other ingredients.

 

 

Secret Santa - Throw your name in the secret santa hat and I'll draw names who gets to be whose secret santa. Let me know by the end of this week if want to participate.  PM me with  snail mail and email address and link to amazon wishlist, good reads want to read list or give a few hints from your own personal christmas wish list.

 

Shoot for mailing by the 19th to get there in time for Christmas.

 

Gift range - $10 to $25 depending on your finances and homemade gifts are great as well.

 

Are books from our own shelves or from a used book store acceptable?

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

Also, having missed somehow the Alexander Dumas week earlier this year, I'm reading Camille by Dumas fils, about the life and slow death (by consumption) of a young prostitute. I don't know which book to bring to the church potluck this evening: is it worse for Fr. N. to find me reading Camille, or Gnostic gospels?

 

I suppose in reality they're certainly thinking, "How long can I hold this friendly smile before the photo shoot ends?"

 

 

 

 

S'okay, I missed the Dumas read myself.  

 

 

There was a Dumas week?  This is my Dumas week or the continuation thereof.  Fortunately  I have slogged through the first four chapters of The Black Tulip and the accompanying footnotes, the historical set up for the story which finally takes off in chapter five. Thank goodness.

 

I did not intentionally play Bingo this year and I am wondering if I should see if my 2016 reading fits into the card.  Or is that not the point?

 

Robin, one suggestion that I have for 2017 is to have a week with a poetry challenge--not an anthology but a work by a single author so that the overarching themes of a collection are seen--not just the individual poems. 

 

I made some progress on HoRW last week! Huzzah!

 

I have a lot of cookbooks, too many I turn to for a single recipe.  I also use Our Friend Google.  My favorite cookbook this time of year is Lane Morgan's Winter Harvest cookbook.  We are seasonal eaters so this is the cookbook that guides me through using the local harvest of root crops and greens. 

[ErinE]

I did not intentionally play Bingo this year and I am wondering if I should see if my 2016 reading fits into the card.  Or is that not the point?

 

Robin, one suggestion that I have for 2017 is to have a week with a poetry challenge--not an anthology but a work by a single author so that the overarching themes of a collection are seen--not just the individual poems. 

 

 

I didn't start out reading BINGO, but realized a few weeks ago that I'd hit most of the spots, enough so that now I am trying to black it out.

 

I love your idea for a poetry collection read. I've been on a short story kick, and those chosen for a specific anthology have a deliberate flow and structure.

[Robin M]

Wow, week 49 already.  Where does the time go?    (For what it's worth, I note that the thread title does not include the number 49.)

Whoops! Knew something was missing but couldn't put my finger on it.   :laugh:   Thanks! 

 

Are books from our own shelves or from a used book store acceptable?

 

Gently used are practically perfect in every way! 

Edited December 4, 2016 by Robin M

[Chrysalis Academy]

My favorite book about cooking and food to read is An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace although the funny thing is, I've never made it to the end of the book. I start it, get inspired, go off on tangents, then put it aside, then when I pick it back up, I want to start over again. I keep getting a little further each time. Some day I'll finish it!

 

My favorite cookbooks are Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (even though I'm not one) and The Joy of Cooking, which I can't let go of for those basic, staple recipes.  I do use the internet for specific recipes more often than not, but these are books I return to again and again for inspiration and techniques.

 

The food/cookbook I most want to read, but haven't, is MFK Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf.

 

In other reading news, I finished Penhallow, and I'm currently still at work on Emma, Americanah (audio), and Aristotle's Poetics for Screenwriters.  I recently started A Short History of Africa, 1066: The Year of the Conquest, Lab Girl, and The Mothers. I've had very little time to read recently, and don't anticipate having much in the near future, unless I get called for jury duty this week and have to set around the courtroom a bunch! But hopefully over the holidays - I've had some book orders come in and some library books arrive, and I'm eager to devote some time to reading!

[Nan in Mass]

Maybe we could all get together and write a story. Everyone could add to it then pass it to someone else.

 

Nan

[mumto2]

In terms of cookbooks, we own a stack but they are mainly boxed and stored. For immediate needs I google and print after if it was good. I also have a messy stack of all my favorites that I copied to move to the UK. I also spent ages going through my collection of cooking magazines and clipping my favorites, taping them by category to paper, and copying my pages before the move. My copies, my mom's Friendship Club Cookbook, and Little Rock Cook's are all I keep accessible. https://www.jllr.org/junior-league-of-little-rock-cookbooks/little-rock-cooks/

 

I love looking at cookbooks but I tend to do that via Overdrive now.

[Kareni]

I managed to read Margaret Drabble's The Dark Flood Rises yesterday, through severe sinus infection pain + wisdom tooth pain. That's dedication!

 

I hope you'll soon be pain free.

**

 

I recently finished Blank Spaces (Toronto Connections Book 1) by Cass Lennox which was an enjoyable read even though some of the happenings in the book strained credulity..  It's the second book I've read recently that features an asexual character.  (Adult content.)

 

"Absence is as crucial as presence.

 

The decision to stop dating has made Vaughn Hargrave’s life infinitely simpler: he has friends, an excellent wardrobe, and a job in the industry he loves. That’s all he really needs, especially since sex isn’t his forte anyway and no one else seems interested in a purely romantic connection. But when a piece is stolen from his art gallery and insurance investigator Jonah Sondern shows up, Vaughn finds himself struggling with that decision.

 

Jonah wants his men like his coffee: hot, intense, and daily. But Vaughn seems to be the one gay guy in Toronto who doesn’t do hookups, which is all Jonah can offer. No way can Jonah give Vaughn what he really wants, not when Jonah barely understands what love is.

 

When another painting goes missing, tension ramps up both on and off the clock. Vaughn and Jonah find themselves grappling not just with stolen art, but with their own differences. Because a guy who wants nothing but romance and a guy who wants nothing but sex will never work — right? Not unless they find a way to fill in the spaces between them."

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mothersweets]

 currently reading Barbara Harbison's When In Doubt, Add Butter which is quite good and had me giggling out loud.  

 

Oooh! I've had this on my amazon list for the longest time and am so glad to hear it is a good one! Thanks for the reminder!

 

 

 

I read Gone with the Wind - 5 Stars - If I could, I would give this book an endless number of stars. This is my favorite book of 2016 and it will rank way up there as among my all-time favorites. I’m sure that I’m in the minority in that I had never read or seen the movie until now.

 

GWTW is one of my all-time favorites, too! I first read it when I was 10 and have since re-read it about 13x and have gotten more and different things out of it as I've grown older. Such great writing and characters. Rhett has so many funny lines - much more than in the movie. Last time I read it I had to set it aside for a few days once I got to the part where Melanie is giving birth and Scarlett is 'helpin'. Yikes.  The quote about girls and their imaginations leading them to the alter is one I definitely remember from my last reading - it's sadly true sometimes. Happy to hear you enjoyed it so much!!

[Kareni]

 lol, I'm feeling worried for Jonah and Vaughn now. Tell me there's a happy ending ?!

 

There is a happy ending.  I suspect though that many real life Jonahs and Vaughns could only wish for such a resolution.  I'd be happy to share details if you're REALLY worried.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Mothersweets]

Last week I read:

 

Beastly Bones (Jackaby #2) by William Ritter. Fun read, not quite as engaging a story as the first one.  I did set it aside several times so that might have spoiled it a bit for me. My dds enjoyed it, I think my 16yo still needs to read it.

 

Finally finished my 4th (I think?) voyage with the crew of the Surprise where we ended up on Desolation Island.  I'd be stranded with Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin in a heartbeat (throw in Lieut. Pullings and that would seal the deal).

 

Do read-alouds with my kids count? I finished Johnny Tremaine (for the 3rd time) with my youngest two dds. Some of my older kids didn't care for it but they both liked it a lot - me, too! There were several parts that I had completely forgotten about. I'm also listening to Calico Captive with 4 of my dds and will probably finish this next week.

 

I love reading through cookbooks and own too many really. I find that I tend to use 1 or 2 recipes from each (large) cookbook and seem to get most of my recipes from the internet nowadays.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Mothersweets

[Stacia]

Cooking & cookbooks.... I do not enjoy cooking.

 

Even so, I do have some cookbooks. The two that live in my kitchen are:

 

 

I figure Loesje & Tress might know the Ons Kookboek. (I don't use that one but my dh does, esp. for making crepes. I can't really read it as it's in Dutch.) The Fannie Farmer book was given to me by my mom when I first got married. Dare I admit how many times (including recently) I have looked up how to boil eggs?  :tongue_smilie:  I like that it's basic enough that it actually covers *how* to boil eggs. That's my kind of cookbook! :lol:

 

On a different shelf (not in my kitchen), I have my other cookbooks. I have actually used them once in awhile.

 

S

 

Surprisingly, I used to own a lot more cookbooks, but gave away oodles of them years ago & have others sitting in a give-away pile right now.

 

If I found Aladdin's magic lamp, I think one of my wishes would be for a personal chef (that includes meal planning & grocery shopping too). Or a lifetime supply of Totino's Pizza; that could hold me over too. Lol.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Stacia

[Stacia]

I always feel weird because I'm from the South, yet I've never managed to make it through Gone with the Wind. I did see the movie at the Fox Theater in Atlanta when the movie was celebrating its 50th anniversary. I've tried starting the book a couple of times but never make it very far. My dd was the same way (though she made it about 75% of the way through the book before stopping).

 

I'm still working on Alain Mabanckou's Broken Glass. It would be a good one to read in one sitting (but I haven't been able to do that) because the style of writing & punctuation (all commas, no periods), makes it read in an almost breathless, fast manner. It's interesting, but is also filled dark humor, sharp barbs, & some pointedly sad commentary & observations. In that respect, I find it similar in tone to his other book I read (Memoirs of a Porcupine) even though the storyline is completely different. (By the way, Nan, I do not think this is a book for you.)

[Nan in Mass]

I cook from a pack of hand written recipe cards from many people in my life. I treasure the ones written out for me by my long gone grandmother. I had the forethought to get my mother to write some out for my sons. Some are old family recipes, some Fannie Farmer recipes, some from the package of something (like the peasoup), some ones people made up, including me. In theory, they live in a file box, but in reality, the ones I use all the time live in the clothes pin stand my oldest made for me many moons ago. For cookbooks, I use an old Fannie Farmer. I have a few others, but I only open them when I am really bored with cooking. Most of my cooking is so simple that I don,t need a recipe. Put some kind of starch in one pot to cook, make a cheese sauce or put olive oil, onion, mushrooms, some other vegetables, and some spices in another pot. Dump one on top of the other. Or make something involving eggs and/or cheese and bread. When I was trying to cook in a more meat based way, I needed more recipes. Then I converted my husband to my starch based way of eating and things got way easier. Not necessarily healthier, mind you, but much easier. We also got thinner.

 

Nan

Edited December 5, 2016 by Nan in Mass

[Just Robyn]

Mum2, Stacia and anyone else, I am in for the January Murakami read. Judging by what I see on Goodreads, maybe none of us has read Norwegian Wood? Of course, if we all read a different book, that's fun too. Just throwing it out there.

 

 Do you have a favorite cookbook or do you have a whole shelf of cookbooks to peruse?  Do you prefer surfing the web exploring sites such as  allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com.  Do you print recipes and keep a favorites notebook.  Are you the create it from scratch type of cook?   Do you prefer to cook alone or the more the merrier?

 

Share your favorite cookbooks, recipes, cooking traditions or pictures of your cookbooks.

 

 

I use cookbooks, the Internet, Clean Eating magazine, sometimes eMeals. Cookbooks I have and like are 

 

The Just Bento Cookbook (We don't have bento boxes; we just like some of the recipes.)

 

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups

 

And after checking it out from the library and making the brownie recipe, I'm sure the next cookbook I'll buy is Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.

 

On the Internet, I often just type in what I'm looking for and see what pops up. Sometimes it's from allrecipes.com. Sometimes it's some blog I've never heard of. I don't subscribe to or frequent any food blogs except A Spicy Perspective,though I'm sure there are a lot of great ones. But dh and my kids and I all love to watch the Tasty videos. In fact, my middle ds and I were just watching some and planning what to bake for Christmas goodies.

 

 

[Angelaboord]

I love cookbooks and own far too many of them. I usually have to put some in the giveaway pile every year so I will have room for new ones. Most of them I use for only a few recipes, though. Some of my favorites:

 

A reproduction of the 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook. The cake section is wonderful and all the recipes I've tried have converted nicely to my GF flour blend. Our go-to birthday cake is in there. Plus, I like the food groups and the menu pages. The amount of food they considered a "light" meal vs. a "full" one is eye-opening! All I can figure is that everybody walked more or the portions were very small.

 

The Joy of Cooking - for pancakes, muffins, coffee cakes, and quick breads, though I alter those, too.

 

Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day - I just use my GF flour for the regular recipes and it works pretty well, although there's a GF section as well.

 

Most of my other books aren't in heavy use, but I like to read them. One of my favorites to page through is Washoku:Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen. Beautiful photography. And I used to reread Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking every year before getting really sad about how she died and how young she was and then I would go make her gingerbread. Her gingerbread is the best.

 

 

-Angela

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Violet Crown]

Oooh -- I just played a production of La Traviata, the Verdi opera based on Camille. When you finish you should watch it. There is a great version on Youtube with Renee Fleming as Violetta.

 

 

I saw it years ago locally, but I was so tired that night I nodded off repeatedly and shamefully. YouTube version noted!

 

  

There was a Dumas week?  This is my Dumas week or the continuation thereof.  Fortunately  I have slogged through the first four chapters of The Black Tulip and the accompanying footnotes, the historical set up for the story which finally takes off in chapter five. Thank goodness.

 

I did not intentionally play Bingo this year and I am wondering if I should see if my 2016 reading fits into the card.  Or is that not the point?

 

Robin, one suggestion that I have for 2017 is to have a week with a poetry challenge--not an anthology but a work by a single author so that the overarching themes of a collection are seen--not just the individual poems. 

Am I hallucinating about the Dumas week? Maybe so. I've never read père; those hefty tomes are too intimidating. I second the call for a poetry challenge. And maybe an ancients - 500 AD or earlier - challenge? Grandparental birth year?

[Angelaboord]

Forgot to say - I could go for a Murakami read along. I've only read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and have been meaning to read one of his novels... just not sure where to start.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Just Robyn]

I finished listening to a book of essays by Jack Zipes: Fairy Tale as Myth/Myth as Fairy Tale. This is a set of essays that are not really linked, though each is focused on a particular fairy tale and the author shows how a certain version of the tale became a sort of myth - became embedded in our culture and is thought of as -the- version no matter how many times the story is successfully revised or retold. Because I was listening to these while running and they would require me to read a little slower than I might be able to read a novel, I feel like it's possible these could be way better or way worse than I perceived them to be, but I found them both interesting and entertaining. Among others, there was an essay on how Robert Bly took the Iron Hans fairy tale and made a self-help book (Iron John) out of it that encouraged men to be more manly and claimed to respect females for their femininity, and there was one on how Walt Disney sort of made himself into a mythical figure when he put his name on the big screen. My favorite was an essay on Rumpelstiltskin that argues that the story is not so much a story about Rumpelstiltskin himself and the power of names, but more about women and spinning, as can be seen by how the story changed over time to reflect different views on women and spinning as men and machines took over and cotton become more popular/common than linen. That one can be read for free here.

 

I also read the last Narnia book, which I really didn't like until the end.

 

I started reading What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver, short stories or vignettes that are quite grim and sometimes a little surreal. I got to clicking around on Ambleside Online for a while and, as a result, started reading The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin. I have only read the first chapter so far, but I'm intrigued. And I started listening to Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut, which is, you know, Vonnegut. I think it's very funny; I'm sure many people disagree.

 

 

I agree with the suggestion for a non-anthology poetry week and will repeat my suggestion for a Bradbury month (one book of poetry, one book of essays, one book of short stories), which could include the poetry week followed or preceded by an essays week and a short stories week.

[Just Robyn]

Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day - I just use my GF flour for the regular recipes and it works pretty well, although there's a GF section as well.

 

 

That sounds great! Do you find the "five minutes a day" claim to be accurate? 

[Loesje22000]

Cooking & cookbooks.... I do not enjoy cooking.

 

Even so, I do have some cookbooks. The two that live in my kitchen are:

 

 

I figure Loesje & Tress might know the Ons Kookboek. (I don't use that one but my dh does, esp. for making crepes. I can't really read it as it's in Dutch.).

I own 'Ons Kook Boek' :)

It is a Flemish cookbook, and I bought it when we just moved to Belgium.

My first supermarket visit was a shock and made me really wonder what people were eating in this country. So I bought the cook book, hoping it would help me to figure out what to eat here.

 

Where we live now, we have a Dutch Brand of Supermarket (this not correct English, but I'm not sure how to say it otherwise) so we went back to our regular style of eating.

 

I wonder what your husband still likes to make

[mumto2]

I own 'Ons Kook Boek' :)

It is a Flemish cookbook, and I bought it when we just moved to Belgium.

My first supermarket visit was a shock and made me really wonder what people were eating in this country. So I bought the cook book, hoping it would help me to figure out what to eat here.

 

Where we live now, we have a Dutch Brand of Supermarket (this not correct English, but I'm not sure how to say it otherwise) so we went back to our regular style of eating.

 

I wonder what your husband still likes to make

 

The first grocery store visit in a new country was a huge shock. Especially since I needed to get food to feed my family. For me it was not just brands but organized oddly. For instance all sugar is in an aisle near the tea never by flour etc. Eggs can be anywhere. Meat cuts have different names. I've gotten so totally used to it that I wander quite hopelessly when I go home now. The brands/packaging have changed over the years and I missed the adjustment period! ;(

 

Now I want to go to a grocery store in Belgium. I have been in France many times but don't think I have been beyond an Aldi or a small Carrefour in either Belgium or Holland.

[Loesje22000]

The first grocery store visit in a new country was a huge shock. Especially since I needed to get food to feed my family. For me it was not just brands but organized oddly. For instance all sugar is in an aisle near the tea never by flour etc. Eggs can be anywhere. Meat cuts have different names. I've gotten so totally used to it that I wander quite hopelessly when I go home now. The brands/packaging have changed over the years and I missed the adjustment period! ;(

 

Now I want to go to a grocery store in Belgium. I have been in France many times but don't think I have been beyond an Aldi or a small Carrefour in either Belgium or Holland.

It was just the lack of vegetables:

Cabbages, leek,potatoes and soup-vegetables-kits.

That was in a 'Delhaize'.

 

The Colruyt is a whole different experience:

It looks like a mill hall without machines.

And in one corner a 'walk in cooling / fridge'.

 

Where we lived first was in a - we are not used to foreign food - area.

[Faithr]

I've discovered (or rather a friend told me about!) the Medicus series by Ruth Downie.  I'm on the third book in the series.  Light, absorbing reads.  I am really enjoying them so far.

 

https://ruthdownie.com/books/

 

 

[Nan in Mass]

I own 'Ons Kook Boek' :)

It is a Flemish cookbook, and I bought it when we just moved to Belgium.

My first supermarket visit was a shock and made me really wonder what people were eating in this country. So I bought the cook book, hoping it would help me to figure out what to eat here.

 

Where we live now, we have a Dutch Brand of Supermarket (this not correct English, but I'm not sure how to say it otherwise) so we went back to our regular style of eating.

 

I wonder what your husband still likes to make

Style is the word you want, I think? A Dutch style grocery store? I found that dealing with foreign grocery stores when you are feeding a family somehow really seems to hit you in the gut. I can,t think of a nonpunny way to say that. I don,t mean it to be funny. Interesting, of course, but things can only be but so interesting before they become a obstacle.

 

Nan

[Loesje22000]

Style is the word you want, I think? A Dutch style grocery store? I found that dealing with foreign grocery stores when you are feeding a family somehow really seems to hit you in the gut. I can,t think of a nonpunny way to say that. I don,t mean it to be funny. Interesting, of course, but things can only be but so interesting before they become a obstacle.

 

Nan

I think I've got it:

A Dutch supermarket chain.

Like walmart is typical American, and has a lot of stores.

[Ellesmere]

I have missed a few weeks of threads but wanted to peek in and say hello! I made a couple new friends on Goodreads and it reminded me to get back on here.  

I grew up with a mom who ADORES cookbooks. She is my #1 resource for recipes and has written out a lot for me. We had tons of magazines stashed just because of recipes. And I not only had severe food issues, but I also disliked cooking and thought recipes were boring. My poor mom, but she now has the joy of grandchildren who adore cookbooks. Since we have outside activities today, they are coincidentally all lounging and reading cookbooks at this moment while I procrastinate about getting ready. 

Anyway, I do use one of my mom's books that she let me have a few years back -- Fannie Farmer's Baking Book. I usually use King Arthur recipes when I bake but I like that this book told me in the intro how the flour was measured when it was developed. My mom bakes intuitively (and better than I do) and doesn't weigh her ingredients. I'm obsessive about using my scale and being precise because I have no instinct and never remember how the dough or batter should look.

I have a King Arthur book but I learned to bake using their blog. They teamed up with the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes authors for this blog post, which is how I learned that sort of bread. I was so happy when I made it and my dad said it was like what his mom used to make.

Someone mentioned Chef John, who I love to watch. I will hear our kids saying "Enjoy" just like he does when serving something. On our bookshelf, we also have some Cook's Country, Mark Bittman, Tasha Tudor, and Alton Brown. I should get Nigella's for my mom sometime. Ina Garten got me to eat broccoli and make risotto. 

One blog I read regularly is Simply Recipes. I also follow Mel's Kitchen and Sally's Baking Addiction.

I picked up Baking With Less Sugar when it was on Kindle sale, but I haven't read it and the price is back up. I have a kimchi-fan relative that wants Edward Lee's Smoke & Pickles cookbook but none of it appeals to me. But it sounds like fun to read. I have a long wishlist of other cookbooks for myself, too, but I usually end up not buying because I'm trying to be good and keep my cookbook collection under control.



 

[Lady Florida.]

From last week - Ouch Nan! I hope your arm is feeling better by now.

 

I finished A Royal Pain audio book and am now listening to A Man Called Ove. I love it so far. 

 

Earlier this morning I finished reading The Snack Thief from last week's foodie category. The food descriptions are a wonderful part of the Inspector Montalbano series. Just one example from this book -

 

"The pasta in crab was as graceful as a first-rate ballerina, but the stuffed bass in saffron sauce left him breathless, almost frightened". A few pages later he describes the cook of this dish as "directly inspired by the Madonna".

 

I also didn't realize that the inspector has synethesia and associates odors with colors - "The office was filled with an unpleasant odor of musk and garlic, which Montalbano saw as rot-green" Apparently it's been mentioned in some of the other books too, but I just didn't notice it before (and this is only the 3rd book so I'm sure I'll see more of it as I progress in the series).

 

My library Kindle copy of The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace came in, and I started reading it. 

 

aggieamy, I haven't given up on When Christ and His Saints Slept. It's getting better, but still doesn't have the appeal of The Sunne in Splendour.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Lady Florida.

[Lady Florida.]

I admit to being taken aback when I saw the number 48 in the thread. Why it just now hit me that the year is almost over I have no idea. Yes, I know it's December. :) Somehow seeing that number and realizing how close it is to 52 just slapped me in the face.

 

Bingo - I only got one actual BINGO and that was the top row across. 

 

B - Female Author  - I've read 22 by female authors and am currently reading 2 that I know I'll finish before the end of the year. Some were fiction, some non-fiction including biographies and memoirs

The Sunne in Splendour - This is going to end up on my favorites of 2016 list and my top 100 list. 

 

I - Published in 2016

Homegoing

 

N - Number in the Title

Ready Player One

 

G - Dusty - Because I read mostly on my Kindle and because no matter what format I choose I mostly borrow from the library, my definition of dusty is a book that's been on my TBR list for a long time, not necessarily one I own. 

Things Fall Apart

 

O - Picked by a friend. There are several that fit this category, but I chose one that we read in my IRL book club. The person who chose it has actually been trying to get me to read it for several years now. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I didn't love it. It's one of her favorite books of all time.

The Art of Racing in the Rain

 

 

I've read a number of other categories but none that give me any type of BINGO. The ones that tripped me up and kept me from getting Bingo are Fairy Tale Adaptation, Arthurian (the two I just couldn't bring myself to read), Color in the Title, Play, Written in Birth Year, Picked Based on the Cover, and Revisit an Old Friend. Without at least one of these I couldn't get any more Bingo.

 

I've read at least one (often more) books in all the other categories:

HIstorical

Over 500 Pages

Classic

Non-fiction

Translated

Banned (challenged actually)

Mystery

Nobel Prize Author

Epic 

Nautical

18th Century

Set in another Country

 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yeah, let's not do Written in Birth Year again! I've pretty much exhausted all the possibilities for 1971.  :001_rolleyes:  :lol:

[mumto2]

Mum2, Stacia and anyone else, I am in for the January Murakami read. Judging by what I see on Goodreads, maybe none of us has read Norwegian Wood? Of course, if we all read a different book, that's fun too. Just throwing it out there.

 

 

 

Norwegian Wood is the Murakami I was thinking of as I typed my post. ;) Obviously I 'm happy with that one but my overdrive now has a pretty good collection so willing and hopefully easily able to read whatever you folks pick. If people want to read different books by Murakami thats fine too.

[fastweedpuller]

Congrats to all you Bingoists!  And I am realizing that if I do it for this year, it will be in a hammer-to-fit kind of way...in other words, I haven't read terribly broadly this year (e.g., nothing Arthurian or play-like)

 

VC:  how interesting.  I had always wondered about the grand "what if?" in the Gnostics...like some alternative universe.  When we studied the history of the church/Nicene council for school, DD was all like "you mean they got to choose (what to put in)?  Like a popularity contest?" 

 

Jenn, I had to laugh at your friend Google.  We're studying the origins of Baroque and Classical these last couple weeks for school, so ballet and of course opera have shown up too...good times. 

 

Negin, I adored GwtW when I read it...in high school!  And I loved that she of course had children from all her husbands, because that is what happens, biologically.  But I love the movie too.

 

Rose, you are a freak.  those are MY cookbooks that *I* was going to post.  But as far as beauty and thoughts go, Nigel Slater's Tender and Ripe are quite lovely...and his Kitchen Diaries a nice bio. read.  I will list those instead.  (But I always thought that when DD goes to college, she's going with The Art of Simple Food)  

 

Sadie, all I am reading lately is about aging, death, and war and finance.  No fun. 

 

Nan, I inherited my gran's cards, they're quite precious to me (but not anything I would normally prepare much less eat)

 

Mumto2, I would love to do any Murakami.  I have only read 1Q84 and I adored it.  Then Patti Smith mentioned shadowing his haunts in Tokyo...and how much she loved The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, but I am up for anything.

 

And for me, book-wise, I have turned Airport mode on and put all other holds off hold so I can consume what's in the stack.  I only managed to finish Alison Gopnick's The Gardener and the Carpenter this week.  I had read--and quite enjoyed--reading her book The Scientist in the Crib when my dd was a babe, there's tons of "actionable" information in that tome.  This one, not so much.  I agree with a part of her premise (that the children you have are who they are, not bits of play-dough in your hands that you sculpt) but I found her to be entirely too full of herself and her own opinions to be, well, anything other than a book of opinions.  Not that *I* am one of those over-scheduling parents trimming my kid's wings this way or that...it's just that this book was not footnoted well, and terribly blind in some spots, like The Internet Is Good Always For Kids (er, what about kids' access to porn?) etc.  Ugh.

 

[Nan in Mass]

I think I've got it:

A Dutch supermarket chain.

Like walmart is typical American, and has a lot of stores.

 

Yes! That sounds not only correct but normal. : )

[Tress]

Norwegian Wood is the Murakami I was thinking of as I typed my post. ;) Obviously I 'm happy with that one but my overdrive now has a pretty good collection so willing and hopefully easily able to read whatever you folks pick. If people want to read different books by Murakami thats fine too.

I can read Norwegian Wood too. That and Kafka on the Shore are the only ones I own (courtesy of my lovely neigbourhood free library). Norwegian Wood isn't going to make me go......blech, right? Right?

[Nan in Mass]

I have missed a few weeks of threads but wanted to peek in and say hello! I made a couple new friends on Goodreads and it reminded me to get back on here.  

I grew up with a mom who ADORES cookbooks. She is my #1 resource for recipes and has written out a lot for me. We had tons of magazines stashed just because of recipes. And I not only had severe food issues, but I also disliked cooking and thought recipes were boring. My poor mom, but she now has the joy of grandchildren who adore cookbooks. Since we have outside activities today, they are coincidentally all lounging and reading cookbooks at this moment while I procrastinate about getting ready. 

 

Anyway, I do use one of my mom's books that she let me have a few years back -- Fannie Farmer's Baking Book. I usually use King Arthur recipes when I bake but I like that this book told me in the intro how the flour was measured when it was developed. My mom bakes intuitively (and better than I do) and doesn't weigh her ingredients. I'm obsessive about using my scale and being precise because I have no instinct and never remember how the dough or batter should look.

 

I have a King Arthur book but I learned to bake using their blog. They teamed up with the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes authors for this blog post, which is how I learned that sort of bread. I was so happy when I made it and my dad said it was like what his mom used to make.

 

Someone mentioned Chef John, who I love to watch. I will hear our kids saying "Enjoy" just like he does when serving something. On our bookshelf, we also have some Cook's Country, Mark Bittman, Tasha Tudor, and Alton Brown. I should get Nigella's for my mom sometime. Ina Garten got me to eat broccoli and make risotto. 

 

One blog I read regularly is Simply Recipes. I also follow Mel's Kitchen and Sally's Baking Addiction.

 

I picked up Baking With Less Sugar when it was on Kindle sale, but I haven't read it and the price is back up. I have a kimchi-fan relative that wants Edward Lee's Smoke & Pickles cookbook but none of it appeals to me. But it sounds like fun to read. I have a long wishlist of other cookbooks for myself, too, but I usually end up not buying because I'm trying to be good and keep my cookbook collection under control.

 

 

 

 

 

a friend showed me how to make that 5 min bread. unbelievably good. unbelievably easy. definitely one of my all time favourite recipes. i think i will write it out to put in all my nieces'and nephews'stockings. when i can write again.

nan

[mumto2]

I can read Norwegian Wood too. That and Kafka on the Shore are the only ones I own (courtesy of my lovely neigbourhood free library). Norwegian Wood isn't going to make me go......blech, right? Right?

I know Kafka on the Shore is a Blech book in one scene which really upset some when we did it as a group read but I don't know about Norwegian Wood. Anyone read it already?

 

Fastweedpuller, I know several here have already read Wind Up Bird because it was our January Murakami read a couple of years ago. Last year a small group of us read Sputnik Sweetheart https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5766426-sputnik-sweetheart together while others read ones that they had missed. It worked fine. Truly everyone should pick what they want to read.

 

I'll be honest here and say I am just really happy so many of you are willing to read a Murakami in January. It's become a bit of a BaW tradition.

[Lady Florida.]

 

I read Gone with the Wind - 5 Stars -

 

My GWtW connection -

 

I once had a dog I named Tara because I found her as a stray puppy hanging around Jonesboro Middle School where I taught for 2 years. Jonesboro is in Clayton County where the book is set and I had just recently read the book, so Tara seemed the perfect name for my new canine companion. 

 

While living in the Atlanta area I tended bar for a while after I quit teaching (long story but I eventually went back to teaching after I moved home to Florida). My female boss and the bar's half owner with her husband is distantly related to the man who was driving the car that hit and killed Margaret Mitchell.