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Book a Week 2016 - BW 49: Delectable December


Robin M
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Bingo's - Check the list and if you've completed a bingo of any sort and your name is missing, let me know and what rows you completed.  

 

Ali in Or

Angel

Angelaboord

Crstarlette

ErinJ

Ethel Mertz

Jenn

Lady Florida

Laughing Cat

MomNinja

Mumto2

Nan

Stacia

Tress

Violet Crown

 

AngelaBoord and Ali in Or -- Pm your snail mail and email address to me.  I have everyone else.  

 

 

Well done, Ladies!!!! 

 

I got a blackout earlier in the year and posted it at the time, but I don't have the list any longer. I would need Kareni's magic to be able to find the post again!

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Happy Belated Birthday, Rose!

 

And Happy Saint Nicholas Day all! Anyone put out their shoes?

Yes, Happy Birthday, Rose! It sounds like it was lovely. [emoji2]

 

And happy St. Nicholas Day as well! My 3 year old has been running on nothing but chocolate coins today, and that went pretty much as you might imagine. [emoji6]

 

- Angela

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Several more bookish posts ~

 

60 Book Gift Ideas for Reluctant Readers Ages 6 to 12 by Karina Glaser

 

 

A year old article that might make you wish to live in Iceland:  The beautiful Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve

 

 

Are you a fan of steampunk?  Read This, Then That: Tara Sim’s Timekeeper and Other Fantastic Steampunk Reads  by Eric Smith

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Several more bookish posts ~

60 Book Gift Ideas for Reluctant Readers Ages 6 to 12 by Karina Glaser

 

 

A year old article that might make you wish to live in Iceland: The beautiful Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve

 

 

Are you a fan of steampunk? Read This, Then That: Tara Sim’s Timekeeper and Other Fantastic Steampunk Reads by Eric Smith

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

I suspect you knew the result when you posted this.... More books on my to be read list! ;) No room on hold lists. Some good Steampunk ideas for those who are curious.

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Rose -  I'm in the middle of listening to Emma.  I hope to finish it by the end of the year to round out my Austen reads.  I've always enjoyed Emma, not as much and P&P or S&S, but probably right behind them.  I'm not sure if it's the reader but Emma's snobbish-ness is really blatant this time around.  More than I have ever noticed before.  It has really put me out of humour with her lol.  

 

 

 

 

I thought I wasn't going to be able to find a "K" book that would interest me or that I'd want to read, when King Lear popped up on the list.  A Shakespeare I haven't yet read.  Perfect!  I went into it cold, something I always tell me kids not to do with Shakespeare, but after the initial "getting used to the language & flow" was over, I was drawn in.  Knowing that it was one of the tragedies, well, that gave away that most characters would die.  By the time I got to the 5th Act, however, I stopped reading the little summaries at the beginning of the scene and allowed the story to unfold.  Though I knew it was probably pointless, I still found myself wanting to see King Lear and Cordelia survive.  Once things settle down a bit, I would like to find a version to watch. (I had a quote but forgot to mark it and can't remember it)

 

King Lear becomes my "Play" for Bingo and my "K" book for the A-Z challenge.  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was my book published in Birth Year.  Right now I'm rereading The Strange Library for my translated book.  And John Steinbeck's The Pearl should be waiting for me to pick up at the library for my Nobel Prize Author.  And I'll be one short of the BINGO Blackout.  I have decided that I'm not going to try finishing The Odyssey before the end of the year but that would have been my Epic.

 


 

 

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I am not going to be able to finish 52 books by Dec. 31st.   I did finish reading 

 

#42. Smiley's People- John Le Carre (don't know how to add the accent mark).  A follow on to TInker Tailor Soldier Spy which I read a long time ago but watched the movie much more recently.

 

My favorite cookbook is How to Cook Without a Book.  By Pam Anderson.  Basically a book of formulas for cooking along with lots of sauce recipes.  Very useful for knowing proportions and portion sizes too.

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I came home from book club last night and checked the mail (it hadn't arrived before I left). There was a package addressed to me and although I order online regularly (usually from Amazon but other places too) I knew I hadn't placed any recent orders. When I opened it I found the two Georgette Heyer books Aggieamy said she sent me! Even though I know they can be read in any order I looked at the copyright dates and saw that The Grand Sophy was published earlier than Cotillion so decided to start with that one. I read one chapter before bed and will now add it to my currently reading list.

 

Thank you Amy!!!

 

Happy Belated Rose.

 

 

 

 

I finished The Lost Art of Dress last night. Parts of it made me bristle such as women who had degrees in organic chemistry and the only job they could get was in a Home Economics department... I guess the part I have a problem with is that women didn't have a choice about whether they wanted to work in that department or elsewhere...

 

Even now I don't think women have reached a balance of respect and value for their choices. We seem to get slammed no matter if we stay home or if we get a job outside of home. We need choices and we need respect and value to go along with those choices...

 

Reading the book amazed me at what women in the past accomplished. They knew the true meaning of recycling and reusing. Our world is laughably and sadly based on disposal. It is humbling to read what women did. They may not have been allowed to work in other departments in universities after completing their degrees, but they were so good in their knowledge that the military and federal government turned to them to solve wartime problems such as as to prevent soldiers getting food poisoning and how to construct durable and easy to clean uniforms. Apparently, the oh so wise and superior men couldn't find answers...

 

And yes, I think hats and gloves should come back into fashion for daily wear as it would help prevent skin cancer. That fashion is more relevant now then it was then what with our big atmospheric hole we have.  

 

Your review was interesting to read in contrast to the book I finished this morning. The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. Author Lynn Povich was one of those who originally signed on to the lawsuit. While fashions do change, some things probably become symbols and therefore casualties of a movement. 

 

Before she gets to the late sixties and the women who eventually filed the suit, she talks about the early sixties, the Mad Men time. They were the women who lived on the cusp of huge coming social changes and they were confused. Hats and gloves may have been among the casualties.

 

-bolding in the quotes is mine

 

"We were at the tail end of the old generation," explained Jane Bryant Quinn, who worked briefly at Newsweek in the early 1960s. "We wore hats and gloves. We couldn't go to prom and parties without dates - and the men had to do the asking. We also didn't have many role models in the working world."

 

Most of us had graduated from college in the 60s when half of our classmate earned their M-R-S and got married when they graduated in June. "Our generation was raised to be attractive and smart - but not too smart," said Pat Lynden. "We were to be deferential to men, to get married, raise children, and to be ornamental wives dedicated to our husbands' careers." 

 

I think the feminist movement (called Women's Liberation at the time) changed fashion when women decided they were no longer going to be ornamental. It may have necessitated radical changes in dress style.

 

Later in the book once they start talking about suing Newsweek, their ACLU lawyer Eleanor Holmes Norton (yes her) was surprised by their naivete. They thought they could just ask their bosses to make the changes required by law and it would happen because it's the law. "You gotta take off your white gloves, ladies, you gotta take off your white gloves," she would say.

 

I know you're a feminist and you don't think the world was a better place when women wore white gloves and hats. I know for you it's about dressing nicely within one's budget as well as the lost skills women once had. I was just struck by the stark contrast of The Lost Art of Dress juxtaposed with this book. And I think you'd like this book too. 

 

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Currently free to Kindle readers ~

 

This is a book I read and enjoyed:  Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon, Book One) by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner

 

"Houston, 1962

Anne-Marie Smith wanted normal: a loving husband, two beautiful kids, and a well-kept house. But when she catches her husband cheating, she decides that normal isn’t worth it. Now in a new city with a new job, she’s trying to find her new normal—but she knows it doesn’t include the sexy playboy astronaut next door.

Commander Kit Campbell has a taste for fast: fast cars, fast planes, and even faster women. But no ride he’s ever taken will be as fast as the one he’s taking into orbit. He’s willing to put up with the prying adoration of an entire country if it will get him into space.

But Anne-Marie and Kit’s inconvenient attraction threatens both normal and fast. As the space race heats up, his ambitions and their connection collide and combustion threatens their plans… and their hearts."

 

**

 

Some other free titles that look intriguing:

 

Misfits and Heroes: West from Africa by Kathleen Rollins

 

Past the Last Island: A Misfits and Heroes Adventure by Kathleen Rollins

 

Dog with a Bone: Plus Bonus Short Story (Black Dog Book 1) by Hailey Edwards

 

Lorelei's Lyric (Southern Elemental Guardians Book 1)  by D.B. Sieders

 

Spell Slinger (Skeleton Key)  by K.N. Lee

 

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Kathy and Mom ninja.......All I can think of when I read these white glove posts is .... Do you know how hard it is to buy a good pair of white gloves these days? They are nearly impossible unless you have a covenant size. Theis is being said because hand bells requires white gloves. Amazon saved us but they aren't really right.

 

Be glad they are gone. They seem to arrive home dirty and seem to take mor than being tossed in the laundry to come clean.

 

An odd note my mom had a huge drawer of gloves. Lovely things but tiny. Dd is her size clothing and shoe wise....has a couple of antique dresses out of grandma's closet but dd's hands are so much bigger. I have always been too tall!

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It seems that December is my "catch-up" month as I try to complete the BaW Bingo and my A-Z Challenge.  This is only the 2nd time trying a Reading Bingo for a year and the 1st try at A-Z.  I needed a translated book for Bingo, and though I thought about going with a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book, I couldn't find one that was short enough to fit my goals.  I decided instead to revisit Murakami's The Strange Library, hoping the second time through would give me a little better insight.  Unfortunately, if there is a hidden meaning or theme, I'm still missing it.  The language Murakami uses to describe the world he has created is a treat.  It's still an odd little book though.  

 

So I'm now wondering what a normal sized Murakami is like.  Would I like it?  It's definitely a stretch outside my fantasy/Flufferton box.  

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I'm not really done with Bingo yet, but here's where I'm at so far from left to right, top to bottom of Bingo card. Not completed yet are in bold:

 

Female Author: Erika Swyler's The Book of Speculation

Published 2016: When Falcon's Fall-C.S. Harris

Number in Title: The Eight-Katherine Neville

Dusty: The Skull Beneath the Skin-P.D. James

Picked by a friend: Everything I Never Told You-Celeste Ng

Historical: A Midwife's Tale-Laura Ulrich

Old Friend: Pride and Prejudice-Austen

Fairy Tale Adaptation: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours-Helen Oyeyemi

Birth Year: Third Girl-Agatha Christie

Play: Hamlet-Shakespeare

Picked by cover: Shelter-Jung Yuh

Over 500 Pages: nearing the halfway point of Grapes of Wrath (502 pages!)

Free space

Classic: Mansfield Park-Austen

Non Fiction: Between the World and Me-Coates

Translated: Kristin Lavransdatter III-Sigrid Undset

Banned: Looking for Alaska-John Green

Mystery: Who Buries the Dead-C.S. Harris

Color in title: Written in Red-Anne Bishop

Nobel Prize Winner: Zinky Boys-Svetlana Alexievich

Epic: Homegoing-Yaa Oyasa

Nautical: In the Land of White Death-Valerian Albanov

18th century: The Mysteries of Udolpho-Anne Radcliffe 28% done on kindle

Arthurian: King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table-Roger Lancelyn Green-need to read second half

Set in another country: A Room with a View-Forster

 

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Yes, I noted that as well.

 

Since I bought the previous Flow Book for Paper Lovers at Barnes and Noble in Phoenix, I first checked at my local B&N. They had Flow magazine but not the Paper Lovers book. Then I checked the B&N website and found I could pre-order the book--no charge for postage.

 

The book was available in Europe last month but lands on this side of the pond next week. A short wait vs a ridiculous postage charge.

 

 

Perfect! Thank you. I'll send one to my sister-in-law - and probably get one for myself too.

 

 

A year old article that might make you wish to live in Iceland:  The beautiful Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve

 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

That's lovely. 

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For our BaWers that like e-books, Neil Gaiman has a Humble Bundle available. (My ds has purchased game packages through them. They give money to charity & you can determine how the money you pay is divided out among the choices available.)

 

How it works (as copied from the website):

Give the gift of Gaiman. Neil's back at Humble with another bundle of joy! This collection is full of great finds for serious N.G. fans, but fantasy lovers, comic nerds, and short story fanatics will all find something to love. Happy Gaimandays to one and all!
 

Pay $1 or more for Adventures in the Dream Trade (essays, poems, lyrics, and original American Gods blog), Gods & Tulips (controversial 1993 speech, an essay on running signings, and a speech on comics), Free Speeches (speeches by Neil, Frank Miller, and others), Being An Account of the Life and Death of the Emperor Heliogabolous (24 hour comic, written and drawn by Neil), Ghastly Beyond Belief with Kim Newman (Neil’s rare & never republished second book of oddball quotes), A Fall of Stardust with Charles Vess (new Stardust short story & poems, illustrated by Charles Vess), Sculpture Stories with Lisa Snellings (short fiction based on Snellings’ sculpture art), and Blood Monster with Marlene N. O'Connor (rare horror story from the legendary anthology Taboo).
 

Pay $8 or more to also receive Day of the Dead (fully annotated Babylon 5 script), An Honest Answer & Other Stories (collaboration with Bryan Talbot and Dave McKean), Feeders & Eaters with Mark Buckingham (collaborations with Mark Buckingham, including a comic about Alan Moore), Angels & Visitations (first collection of prose fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), Sweeney Todd & Other Stories with Michael Zulli (Neil’s lost, unfinished, never republished graphic novel with Michael Zulli), Neil Dreams with Rick Veitch (short comics of dreams by and about Neil, done by and with Rick Veitch), Message In A Milk Bottle (never before reprinted short story with a brand new intro), Love, Fishie (poems by Neil & Maddy Gaiman, extremely limited edition), Neverwear: A Portfolio of Stories (collects Neil's sought out – and in many cases, sold out – story & art editions, featuring art by Jim Lee, David Mack, Roman Dirge, Molly Crabapple, Chris Riddell, Olivia, Jouni Koponen, Camilla D'Errico, and more), and the two controversial UK comics anthologies Outrageous Tales From The Old Testament and Seven Deadly Sins, which also feature contributions from Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Dave McKean, Bryan Talbot and more. Also included in this tier is Neil Gaiman: Live at the Aladdin, which captures an unforgettable performance from Neil's 2001 Last Angel tour, and includes dramatic readings from his short fiction and poetry, including stories from his collections Angels & Visitations and Smoke and Mirrors.
 

Pay $15 or more to receive all of the above plus Duran Duran (Neil’s first and rarest book!), A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff (out of print and collectible book of short fiction, essays, and poems), A Calendar of Tales (brand-new 55 page ebook with art by Paul Roman Martinez), Warning: Contains Language (Neil's first audio performance disc from 1995, featuring dramatic readings of stories and poems accompanied by music from Dave McKean and the Flash Girls), and Speaking in Tongues (dramatic readings from 2004 including the 41 minute tour-de-force "The Facts In The Case of the Departure of Miss Finch").
 

Pay $1 or more. This bundle is full of rare, priceless books you won't find digitally – or anywhere else. Here at Humble Bundle, though, you name your price of $1 or more!
 

Read them anywhere. The ebooks and comics are available in multiple formats, so they work on your computer, e-readers, iPads, cell phones, and a wide array of mobile devices! Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.
 

Support charity. Choose where the money goes – between the publishers, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency). For details on how this works, click here. If you like what we do, you can leave us a Humble Tip too!

 

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So I'm now wondering what a normal sized Murakami is like.  Would I like it?  It's definitely a stretch outside my fantasy/Flufferton box.  

 

I love Kafka on the Shore, but I'm not sure if you would like it.

 

I think A Wild Sheep Chase might be a good place for you to start if you want to give one of his novels a try.

 

It would be cool if you did the Murakami read-along in January! I think we're reading Norwegian Wood (?). I haven't read that one yet but I know it is one of his most popular books. I would also like to read his non-fiction work Underground.

 

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Your review was interesting to read in contrast to the book I finished this morning. The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. Author Lynn Povich was one of those who originally signed on to the lawsuit. While fashions do change, some things probably become symbols and therefore casualties of a movement. 

 

 

Think I'm sticking this on my Audible to-read/listen list. Thanks!

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Finished my audiobook, The Miniaturist, by Jessie Burton. The ending was sad and sober but befitting the themes laid out in the book as well as the story's cultural context--seventeenth century Amsterdam, a city of both wealth and oppressive religious edicts. This tension was mirrored in several of the characters which made the journey feel contained and of a piece, as though both the city and its people were coming face to face with questions of the soul, of destiny and purpose. It was well done and moved at a leisurely pace and the narrator was very good, always a plus with an audiobook. I've got several other print books on the go but am not sure which one I'll devote my full attention to next. 

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I'm nearly finished with my Bingo card blackout. I had three spots open: play, birth year, and Nobel prize winner. I'll post more on my weekly update Sunday, but I just wanted to praise Toni Morrison. I'd read Beloved in high school, but never picked up another one of her books until now. I was browsing the library and chose Song of Solomon.

 

Wow.

 

I love her voice, her cadence, her descriptions. I read the book slowly and savored every word. I finished then started up at the beginning right away so I could catch what I'd missed the first time. Though much of the book is set in the US North, it has a Southern Gothic feel and the South is prominent in Milkman's search for his family's history. The scene where Pilate threatens a man had such a beautiful rhythm to the dialogue that I could hear her speaking in my head. I could go on, but I'd like to save it for the weekly update (I keep them in my personal files). 

 

I likely would have gotten around to reading her again as every few years I go on a literary kick, but it would have been some time before I discovered the book. This is why Book of the Week Bingo is such a great idea. I highly recommend Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It's my favorite book of 2016 and giving The Remains of the Day a run for my all-time favorite.

Edited by ErinE
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Happy was-birthday to Rose and Amy! And yes, all the girls put out their shoes (some of those shoes are getting big...) and were excited to get nuts, fruit, and gold-chocolate coins. They're always so breathlessly surprised, as if St N. didn't give the exact same things every year. :D Whew, have I caught up to Current Day yet?

 

I'm all for hats and gloves. My recent scalp surgery forced me into head coverage for two weeks and I came to like my new hats. No luck with gloves though; my fingers are short and stumpy and I can find no unlined gloves that fit. How well I remember my grandmother's Isotoner driving gloves, which she kept in the glovebox, naturally. But she had long, elegant fingers. Maybe if nice clothes made a general comeback, there would be more size options.

 

Finished Camille by Dumas fils. Middle Girl insists I now read something by père; any suggestions? Three M's; Iron Mask? I doubt I'll read more than one so it should be a good one. I also read Jerome K. Jerome's hilarious Three Men in a Boat (And Don't Forget the Dog!); very Wodehouse-y, and in fact apparently there is somewhere a recording of Hugh Laurie reading it aloud. Very recommended, and a nice quick nautical read for anyone still missing that bingo square.

 

Middle Girl and I read and discussed the O'Connor short story "Everything That Rises Must Converge," leading me to an O'Connor re-read, so that's on right now.

 

I don't have any cookbook recommendations but have to put in a good word for the Homesick Texan cooking blog.

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I came home from book club last night and checked the mail (it hadn't arrived before I left). There was a package addressed to me and although I order online regularly (usually from Amazon but other places too) I knew I hadn't placed any recent orders. When I opened it I found the two Georgette Heyer books Aggieamy said she sent me! Even though I know they can be read in any order I looked at the copyright dates and saw that The Grand Sophy was published earlier than Cotillion so decided to start with that one. I read one chapter before bed and will now add it to my currently reading list.

 

Thank you Amy!!!

 

Happy Belated Rose.

 

 

 

Your review was interesting to read in contrast to the book I finished this morning. The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. Author Lynn Povich was one of those who originally signed on to the lawsuit. While fashions do change, some things probably become symbols and therefore casualties of a movement. 

 

Before she gets to the late sixties and the women who eventually filed the suit, she talks about the early sixties, the Mad Men time. They were the women who lived on the cusp of huge coming social changes and they were confused. Hats and gloves may have been among the casualties.

 

-bolding in the quotes is mine

 

"We were at the tail end of the old generation," explained Jane Bryant Quinn, who worked briefly at Newsweek in the early 1960s. "We wore hats and gloves. We couldn't go to prom and parties without dates - and the men had to do the asking. We also didn't have many role models in the working world."

 

Most of us had graduated from college in the 60s when half of our classmate earned their M-R-S and got married when they graduated in June. "Our generation was raised to be attractive and smart - but not too smart," said Pat Lynden. "We were to be deferential to men, to get married, raise children, and to be ornamental wives dedicated to our husbands' careers." 

 

I think the feminist movement (called Women's Liberation at the time) changed fashion when women decided they were no longer going to be ornamental. It may have necessitated radical changes in dress style.

 

Later in the book once they start talking about suing Newsweek, their ACLU lawyer Eleanor Holmes Norton (yes her) was surprised by their naivete. They thought they could just ask their bosses to make the changes required by law and it would happen because it's the law. "You gotta take off your white gloves, ladies, you gotta take off your white gloves," she would say.

 

I know you're a feminist and you don't think the world was a better place when women wore white gloves and hats. I know for you it's about dressing nicely within one's budget as well as the lost skills women once had. I was just struck by the stark contrast of The Lost Art of Dress juxtaposed with this book. And I think you'd like this book too. 

 

She does talk about civil rights and the women's movement and how it changed dress. She did mention that hats and gloves were most likely the victims of the change. Pants becoming more popular was also due to the 60s and the super mini. Women started wearing more pants because they were the only fashionable alternative to wearing super short dresses/skirts in which one did not have freedom of movement, and when wearing these minis a woman was not taken seriously by men. So pants became made a huge leap into fashion. 

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:party: belated Happy Birthdays to Rose & Amy!
I finally read Baking With Less Sugar by Joanne Chang. Impulse buy when it was on sale and I had just finished The Obesity Code. We aren't a sugar-free family by any stretch but I am pleasantly surprised by how well they are doing with less. Without making them obsess, they've been good sports about keeping track of our sugar intake. Anyway, the cookbook intro was nice -- reminded me to try making  crème fraîche and calibrate my oven. The measurements are given in metric as well, and I printed a few recipes to try. A lot of them are no-go because of severe allergies and it would be impractical to substitute for a lot of them but I am glad I read it.

That's the third book about reducing sugar I read this year -- earlier I borrowed A Year of No Sugar by Eve Schaub.

Also read The Waste Free Kitchen Handbook by Dana Gunders. I grew up with a bad relationship with food and hated cooking so some of the no-brainer info in here was useful to me. 

I was thinking about The Cardamom Trail by Chetna Makan because my kids are huge GBBO fans and one of them loves cardamom. Not sure if I'll get it or not.

Other reading -- finished Frankenstein in print and listened to half of it on audio. Almost done with The Open Boat and other stories by Stephen Crane.

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Rose -  I'm in the middle of listening to Emma.  I hope to finish it by the end of the year to round out my Austen reads.  I've always enjoyed Emma, not as much and P&P or S&S, but probably right behind them.  I'm not sure if it's the reader but Emma's snobbish-ness is really blatant this time around.  More than I have ever noticed before.  It has really put me out of humour with her lol.  

 

 

 

 

I thought I wasn't going to be able to find a "K" book that would interest me or that I'd want to read, when King Lear popped up on the list.  A Shakespeare I haven't yet read.  Perfect!  I went into it cold, something I always tell me kids not to do with Shakespeare, but after the initial "getting used to the language & flow" was over, I was drawn in.  Knowing that it was one of the tragedies, well, that gave away that most characters would die.  By the time I got to the 5th Act, however, I stopped reading the little summaries at the beginning of the scene and allowed the story to unfold.  Though I knew it was probably pointless, I still found myself wanting to see King Lear and Cordelia survive.  Once things settle down a bit, I would like to find a version to watch. (I had a quote but forgot to mark it and can't remember it)

 

King Lear becomes my "Play" for Bingo and my "K" book for the A-Z challenge.  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was my book published in Birth Year.  Right now I'm rereading The Strange Library for my translated book.  And John Steinbeck's The Pearl should be waiting for me to pick up at the library for my Nobel Prize Author.  And I'll be one short of the BINGO Blackout.  I have decided that I'm not going to try finishing The Odyssey before the end of the year but that would have been my Epic.

 

 

 

 

Yes, I really paid close attention to Emma's character development this time, and you are right, the closer you read, the more you are struck by her snobbery. Emma learns a lot about herself over the course of this book, and she learns some humility and how to be a better friend. For sure. 

 

I read Lear for the first time a few years ago while embroiled in the midst of a crisis with my parents. Which is ongoing, but not as crisis-y as it was. It was an interesting headspace to be in to read the play, I found myself more sympathetic to Regan and Goneril than I think I would have been otherwise. Yes, yes, they are villains, but didn't you feel for them, a little bit? Dealing with a manipulative, entitled and delusional parent who pretended that things would be one way while always intending something different?  Not the majority reading of the play, I'm sure! But it is all about conflict between adult parents and children, a very mature play, for grown-ups. 

Edited by Chrysalis Academy
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Happy Birthday, Amy! Which day is yours? Mine is the 5th.

 

I read Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the story that the film Arrival is based on. It's a really good story, complementary to the film but not the same work. They are good to read in parallel and actually the story wouldn't be too bad of a spoiler for the film, they are different enough.  The film affected me on a very emotional, visceral level, and I realize now that I misinterpreted one aspect, but my misinterpretation worked fine so I'm not too fussed about it. The story is much more cerebral, and really delves into the question of fate vs. free will. It pairs nicely with Oedipus which we're reading right now, so I think we'll add this story and film to that discussion. The whole question of what free will even is, and what it depends on, is fascinating.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the stories in this collection.

 

I also started The Whispering Muse, and will have more to say about it when I finish. Fascinating meld of Greek and Norse myths, though.  And lots and lots of satire! Austen-worthy satire, even, and a totally unreliable narrator. it's entertaining.

 

ETA: I abandoned The Mothers. Perfectly fine story. I realize that I don't really like contemporary fiction that doesn't have something "other" going on. Stories about dysfunctional families living in the contemporary world just don't do anything for me, which is so much of what modern fiction is, I feel like. Throw in a post-apocalyptic setting or a financial collapse or a plague or a murder or something totally unexpected and out there, and ok! I'm with you. But I feel like I end up abandoning most contemporary fiction that I pick up if it doesn't push the boundaries of the real world a little bit.  Perhaps because with contemporary fiction, I'm reading to escape rather than to educate myself, and it just ain't escape if it's all about real people and their real problems? I dunno.  

Edited by Chrysalis Academy
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And yes, all the girls put out their shoes (some of those shoes are getting big...) and were excited to get nuts, fruit, and gold-chocolate coins. They're always so breathlessly surprised, as if St N. didn't give the exact same things every year. :D

 

Yes! It's funny, isn't it? One time the gold-chocolate coins were in the store at an unusual time of year. My daughter was thrilled. I almost told her to put them back, she couldn't get them. What stopped me was the discussion that would follow which might raise the eyebrows of our fellow shoppers...

 

One does not simply buy gold-chocolate coins. One finds them in one's shoes.

 

 

 How well I remember my grandmother's Isotoner driving gloves, which she kept in the glovebox, naturally. But she had long, elegant fingers. 

 
One of my most vivid memories of my favorite aunt is of her gloved hands on the steering wheel. She *dressed* long after it was typical. Many found her out of date and out of touch with reality. I found her glamorous and in touch with herself. She wasn't taken in by whatever the current trends were. She had a classic look and reminded me of a black and white film star. (Even though her life was much more mundane...)  I always felt that to her, life itself was an event. It was worth the effort of dressing well -- even if you were just going down the hill to feed the goats...
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I'm nearly finished with my Bingo card blackout. I had three spots open: play, birth year, and Nobel prize winner. I'll post more on my weekly update Sunday, but I just wanted to praise Toni Morrison. I'd read Beloved in high school, but never picked up another one of her books until now. I was browsing the library and chose Song of Solomon.

 

Wow.

 

I love her voice, her cadence, her descriptions. I read the book slowly and savored every word. I finished then started up at the beginning right away so I could catch what I'd missed the first time. Though much of the book is set in the US North, it has a Southern Gothic feel and the South is prominent in Milkman's search for his family's history. The scene where Pilate threatens a man had such a beautiful rhythm to the dialogue that I could hear her speaking in my head. I could go on, but I'd like to save it for the weekly update (I keep them in my personal files). 

 

I likely would have gotten around to reading her again as every few years I go on a literary kick, but it would have been some time before I discovered the book. This is why Book of the Week Bingo is such a great idea. I highly recommend Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It's my favorite book of 2016 and giving The Remains of the Day a run for my all-time favorite.

 

Thank you, Erin.

 

I'm making plans for my 2017 reading lists and this bumped Song of Solomon (a long time dusty on my shelf) right on it :D.

 

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I'm all for hats and gloves. My recent scalp surgery forced me into head coverage for two weeks and I came to like my new hats. No luck with gloves though; my fingers are short and stumpy and I can find no unlined gloves that fit. How well I remember my grandmother's Isotoner driving gloves, which she kept in the glovebox, naturally. But she had long, elegant fingers. Maybe if nice clothes made a general comeback, there would be more size options.

 

All this talk of hats and gloves. I can remember wearing a hat and gloves to church on Easter Sunday when I was a little girl. I can remember my mother always having gloves, too. My brother's date at prom in 1969 wore long white gloves with her dress. And I had an elementary school teacher, who didn't allow girls to wear "dungarees" in her classroom!!  Can't remember if she meant all pants or not, but my recollection is we had to wear dresses all that year. 

 

Am going to have to Good Girls Revolt....

 

VC -- I have a very old pair of lined isotoner driving gloves in my car. Not sure if they were my mom's or not, but they are fantastic. No it doesn't get very cold in Southern California, but it is cold enough at 7am to wear gloves when I'm driving to church and need fingers functional enough to play violin!!

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I finished Grace Harlow Overseas.  It is free on Libravox and I am grateful to the Australian woman who did the reading.  I enjoyed her.  The writing is ... interesting in spots.  It moves very fast and is unreal-y preachy in places.  I grew up reading my Grandmother's and Grandfather's books, so this is a return to a familiar world.  I did think about the two books others here are reading, the ones about how things have changed for women.  Or not changed.  I would have thought of it as "running it by" rather than "asking permission", but I would have been just as worried as Grace about going overseas without asking my husband first and would have apologized, just as Grace did. In my marriage, it goes both ways, though. I would be pretty upset if my husband enlisted without telling me, the way Grace's husband did.  Grace is just relieved, having suspected her husband of being scared. Grace is presented as a spunky "modern" woman and although there are situations that would make a reader now-a-days do a double take, if I were being honest, I couldn't say that I would really feel any differently if I landed in most of them.  I would most definitely think, "Oh good!  Here come some men!  They will be able to haul my car out of this ditch for me!"  Or "Oh good!  Here is a male friend!  Maybe the French authorities will be willing to believe him, since he's a man in a position of authority and they usually have better luck being listened to than I do."  I deal with the pully-hauly of balancing married life with my own interests.  I don't put on driving gloves to drive, though.  On the other hand, I can't repair my own car as Grace can, either.  If I could, I might want those gloves.  : )

 

Nan

 

ETA - Or New Zealand.  I wouldn't know the difference. : )

Edited by Nan in Mass
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I read an entertaining romance that had me trying to stifle my laughter in bed and on the bus.  I'd recommend it.  Now I'm curious to read more by this author to see if her other books are equally entertaining.  (Some adult content)

 

Now That It's You  by Tawna Fenske

 

"Talented chef Meg Delaney hasn’t spoken to her cheating ex-fiancé, Matt Midland, for two years. Ditching him at the altar after blurting out “I can’t†instead of “I do†would sour any relationship. But now, just as Meg is finally ready to bury the hatchet, she learns closure is permanently off the menu. And the kicker? Matt’s brother, Kyle, is back in her life, stirring up feelings that are equal parts guilt and lust.

 

Meg was the best thing that never happened to Kyle. He couldn’t make a move on his brother’s girlfriend—even if Matt didn’t value her nearly enough. The situation is even more complicated now that Meg’s bestselling aphrodisiac cookbook has spawned a legal battle with the Midlands. Maybe he should stay away. But love, like family, plays by its own rules. And the one woman he shouldn’t want might be the only one who’s perfect for him."

 

**

 

A couple of posts from Tor.com ~

 

Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2016

and

 

Five Books Featuring Improbable Twists on History and Myth  by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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And a book that is currently free to Kindle readers.  This is romantic suspense.

 

False Identity: A Romantic Suspense Novel  by Jennifer Youngblood and Sandra Poole

 

"Believe in miracles … believe in hope … believe in love.

It's Christmastime, and Chancy Hamilton can’t bear the thought of spending the holidays without her late husband Max who died in a plane crash. When Chancy and her teenage son, Travis, have an argument, Travis storms out of the house and ends up in the wrong part of town where he is attacked by a group of thugs. When a homeless man comes to his rescue, he invites the man home to have a meal with his mom and little sister.

Gabe Jones is not like any other homeless man Chancy has ever seen—he’s confident, intelligent, and devastatingly handsome. Jake, Chancy’s boyfriend, takes an instant dislike to Gabe and warns Chancy to stay away from him. Nevertheless, their lives become intertwined, and Chancy is soon thrown into nightmarish events caused by a betrayal of trust and a chilling deception where nothing is as it seems, bringing a terrifying aftermath that threatens not only her but the lives of her children."

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Alright, my dears. Prezzies are on the way and should be hitting your mailboxes within the next few days.  Glad you all had so much fun playing 52 Books Bingo.  

:hurray:  :party:  :wub:

 

Tress, I still need your email address.  Please pm to me. 

 

 

Whoever wants to participate in Secret Santa, if you haven't already, let me know by tomorrow, please. 

 

 

 

9d9ba7dce05ffb7b84b6329fa827d484.jpg

 

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Well, I now realized I finished a book before Smiley's People but forgot to write it on my list.

 

43. McNally's Gamble by Lawrence Sanders.  Set in south Florida, Archy McNally is Chief of DIscreet Inquiries at his father's law firm.  A well to do widow is encouraged to buy a Faberge egg as an investment.  Point is that she has only seen a photo of it and is supposed to give the money to the investment advisor and he will buy the egg in Paris for her at a ridiculously low price of half a million dollars while the egg is worth three million.    It had good descriptions of food and that added to my pleasure in reading this mystery.

 

Since I am leaving tomorrow night to drive to Nashville for our early morning flight to Phoenix where we are going to see our middle daughter graduate and also enjoy Phoenix and then the Grand Canyon, I stocked up with kindle books (Free prime readers) and hopefully they will keep me interested on the flights and when I have down time. 

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Finding myself resisting starting another book. The atmosphere of The Miniaturist lingers...of linen, muted earth tones, damp, sober speech, hush, spices, wool, half-light, water, beeswax polished wood, marriages built on silence and conformity, women whose artistic vision can only flourish obliquely, behind closed doors, in the between places. All of it filtering through me like smoke as I go about my day. 

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Finding myself resisting starting another book. The atmosphere of The Miniaturist lingers...of linen, muted earth tones, damp, sober speech, hush, spices, wool, half-light, water, beeswax polished wood, marriages built on silence and conformity, women whose artistic vision can only flourish obliquely, behind closed doors, in the between places. All of it filtering through me like smoke as I go about my day.

Maybe you should bake some bread.

 

Nan

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Dd just had to read Vermeer's Hat for an art history class she is taking & she really enjoyed it.

 

 

She might be interested in the fascinating movie, Tim's Vermeer All of us enjoyed it immensely as a family. 

 

From Wikipedia :: "Tim Jenison, an inventor, engineer and art enthusiast, becomes fascinated with the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, a 17th-century Dutch painter, whose paintings have been oft cited to have a photographic quality to them; Jenison, spurred by the book Secret Knowledge by British artist David Hockney and Vermeer's Camera by British architecture professor Philip Steadman, theorizes that Vermeer potentially used a camera obscura to guide his painting technique.

 

His initial idea, that Vermeer used a simple light projection to paint, is quickly discarded after concluding that painting over a projection makes it nearly impossible to match the colors correctly. Jenison then has an epiphany of using a mirror to monitor parts of the picture. Jenison becomes convinced that he is able to reproduce The Music Lesson as a painting with this technique, and plans to physically recreate the original scene. 

 
After seven months, Jenison finally finishes painting the picture, and after adding a layer of varnish, he has an emotional moment taking a final look at his work. Observing the results of his work, Steadman and Hockney both feel confident in their theory that Vermeer has been using the same (or similar) tools to create his paintings, noting that "the painting itself is a document". The final shot of the film is Jenison, with his copy of The Music Lesson above his fireplace."
 
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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.

Wow! That's quite a connection! 

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She might be interested in the fascinating movie, Tim's Vermeer All of us enjoyed it immensely as a family. 

 

From Wikipedia :: "Tim Jenison, an inventor, engineer and art enthusiast, becomes fascinated with the paintings of Johannes Vermeer, a 17th-century Dutch painter, whose paintings have been oft cited to have a photographic quality to them; Jenison, spurred by the book Secret Knowledge by British artist David Hockney and Vermeer's Camera by British architecture professor Philip Steadman, theorizes that Vermeer potentially used a camera obscura to guide his painting technique.

 

His initial idea, that Vermeer used a simple light projection to paint, is quickly discarded after concluding that painting over a projection makes it nearly impossible to match the colors correctly. Jenison then has an epiphany of using a mirror to monitor parts of the picture. Jenison becomes convinced that he is able to reproduce The Music Lesson as a painting with this technique, and plans to physically recreate the original scene. 

 
After seven months, Jenison finally finishes painting the picture, and after adding a layer of varnish, he has an emotional moment taking a final look at his work. Observing the results of his work, Steadman and Hockney both feel confident in their theory that Vermeer has been using the same (or similar) tools to create his paintings, noting that "the painting itself is a document". The final shot of the film is Jenison, with his copy of The Music Lesson above his fireplace."
 

 

 

I've seen this - it was fascinating!

 

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