More Non-fiction and More Food Blogging

I've read a couple of additional books this month, slowly adding to my total.  I read Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr which inspired a diet cleanse and more blogging over at Seeking White Space (yes, I probably have too many blogs...but they're all different!). I'm excited to have a new challenge and I hope to use it to get inspired in the kitchen and for blog posts across all of my various writing locations.

I also read:

• Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism by Paul Collins
• Super Freakonomics by Stephen D. Leavitt and Stevin J. Dubner

Trying to get in as much non-fiction as I can, I guess! I suppose I've been drawn in this direction these days, and it doesn't hurt that I get double credit!

Catching Up: What I've Been Reading

I'm hoping for more regular updates soon, but in the meantime, here is what I've been reading:

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
• Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
• Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Essential C-Section Guide by Maureen Connolly and Dana Sullivan
• Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr
• Empty Cradle, Broken Heart by Deborah Davis
• The Agency by Ally O'Brien

I will skip the reviews this time around, but I hope to get back to it now that I'm getting back on track. At this point, I'm well aware that I won't come even close, but I like tracking so I'll keep trying to get as close as I can. 

Catching Up: Books, Dates, Home and Family

There are so many things that I need to update on this list.  While I haven't been actively keeping track, I'm going to try and go through to update whatever I can remember. Here are a few of the categories I've been working on:

Date Nights - We've actually been doing really well on these.  It helps that we have a very liberal definition of date night, but also that we're making an effort to frame even simple nights in with a special home-cooked (or ordered) meal and a movie counts.  Last night, we went to see friends briefly for a farewell party, but then moved on to see Super 8 and eat gyros at the local Greek street fair.  I won't bore you with all the gory details, but we've had at least one night a month, and usually more, that I can fit into this category.

Books Read - Since I got pregnant, reading has been a real challenge.  I'm just too tired at night.  I've gotten some reading in on our travels, partly added by e-books on my commute.  Here are the books I can remember finishing in the past few months:

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett - This was one of the best books I've read in awhile.  It helped get me out of a slump.  It's beautifully written and thoughtful.  I literally laughed out loud, cried and marveled at how well crafted the book was overall.  The movie trailer looks like they may have done a decent job with it and I'm looking forward to it.  I definitely recommend the book first, though, since it was a great reading experience. 
• An Embarassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof - I picked this book up (after glowing recommendations from my father-in-law who lent me his copy) over the cold winter when I needed to imagine the Caribbean.  This is a beautiful memoir of the cruising life taking a couple from cold Canada through the hurricane season in the Caribbean and back.  While I also recommend this book, make sure you don't have easy access to a sailboat.  You'll be off before you know it.  The book also includes great recipes that I'm dying to try once I can get my hands on conch and can drink good Caribbean rum. 
• Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - I got this book in hardback when it first came out as a gift or gently used.  It sat around my house in the "To Be Read" pile until just before the movie came out.  I finally decided to knock it out before the movie was released since it's usually the better way to go about it for me.  I enjoyed the book, although there were aspects I didn't love.  The Depression-era circus culture was fascinating and very well written.  The modern day aspect wasn't as exciting for me, although I liked the way Sara Gruen finally brought it all together.  
• A Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - This wasn't my favorite of the Tudor stories from Philippa Gregory.  I find the back story very interesting and I knew nothing of Queen Katherine except the bits and pieces from the later Boleyn years.  I thought this book made me wonder if Gregory was finally over-fictionalizing since so much of it is assuming private thoughts and actions.  I'll have to do my own research (which is one reason I love these books - I get motivated to get to the bottom of whatever historical information is actually out there) to see where I fall.  I found the book generally overly romantic, but it is about a teenage bride becoming a widow and negotiating her way back onto the throne.  I'm sure it's hard not to be.
• The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace - I didn't know much about the wine auction world or rare antique collecting before. I can't say that now I do, but I know more and this books presents a fascinating story of wine purported to belong to Thomas Jefferson and sold for an exorbitant price at auction. Definitely a new world for me and a new way to think about these wines. 
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum - I tried to read this book in high school some time, but the minute I saw that things were not like my well loved movie version, I put it aside.  The Gregory Maguire Wicked series peaked my interest again, but I didn't do anything about my interest until I found the series free on Amazon Kindle.  I actually enjoyed the book this time, appreciating the differences from the movie and discovering the aspects of Oz that had previously escaped my notice. I'll certainly work through the series.

Home and Projects - I've kept up on trying to declutter and keep everything tidy around the house.  It's been harder with a less energetic me and a less-often-home Austin.  But I'm moving forward.  I've also made progress on one of my embroidery projects.  It's a big crib cover for the baby's room which is taking me forever even when I am working on it.  I can't count it anywhere near done, but I'm making progress. 

Family and Friends - I started on my birthday cards this year.  I have to get through 10 to get credit, but  I do have plenty of birthdays coming up to get me there.  Hopefully focusing on this one more closely will help set up a good habit.

I do have more areas - loads of Netflix (my one constant) watched and maybe some others, but this gets me up to date on some of the ones that I was procrastinating.  More to come....

A Day of Jodi Picoult

It's now been at least one full weekend since my indulgent day of reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult in bed for most of a morning and finishing off the evening watching My Sister's Keeper (the movie based on Jodi Picoult's book of the same name).  I didn't mean to be quite so focused on one author, but as I've mentioned before, Jodi Picoult's books are like Lifetime movies and I can always get into one.  They read very quickly and I think I've gotten more or less out of my reading slump.

The movie, on the other hand, was sort of a waste of time.  I am glad that I watched it because it's another DVD sent back to Netflix, but, as with most novel-turned-movies, the movie was just not that good.  Lesson learned.

I was even more indulgent since I watched 2 more DVDs worth of TV shows (Damages and Brothers and Sisters) since it was a long weekend.  I may not be getting much else done, but at least I'm moving along on my couch potato activities!

Everything else, another round up

I topped up a few categories over on the list, but I only have a couple that I will write up here.  I am going to try to make regular visits back here as I move forward on my projects, so this won't become too much of a habit.

For a lot of reasons, I haven't been reading much at all in the past two and a half months.  I'm in the middle of two non-fiction books (and really six if you count reference books, but I won't take credit for those unless I work all the way through) now, so I will catch up hopefully on that count.  I did read two fiction novels in my time away:

• Let Me In by John Ajvide Lundquish - a Swedish vampire story that is very engaging, if a bit graphic at points. A young boy meets a curious young girl next door who never seems to change.  A group of drunk friends starts to watch its own go missing, or go extremely bizarre.  It was apparently made into a movie which I am going to sit down and watch on Netflix streaming if I can ever get Austin to watch a scary movie with me.
• Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb- This novel sells itself as a Ya-Ya sisterhood of sorts, and I suppose that is a decent description.  A young woman escapes an abusive relationship and a history of neglect to her aunt's house and finds an unexpectedly diverse group of women and, of course, love.  I don't think it ever got far enough below the surface to really win me over, but the characters were interesting, if predictable.

Even when I'm not reading, cooking or doing much of anything else, I have been getting as much as I can out of Netflix. We've watched some bits and pieces of series, so I didn't really count those.  Here is a summary of what we have been watching: 

• Damages, Season 2
• Dexter, Season 3
• South Park, Greatest Hits (sometimes I let Austin pick)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 3
• Kick-Ass
• Big Love, Season 3
• Mamma Mia (such a disappointment!)
• The League, Season 1
• Whip It! 

That's the rough update.  The rest will come more closely to real time, I hope!

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Fingersmith is a typical Sarah Waters' novel in that she has written a Victorian-style novel set in historical England with interesting female characters, a lesbian love story and a complex plot line.  The complexity, however, of the plot of this novel far outstrips the others that I have read so far.  In Fingersmith, a young orphan, Sue Trinder, is raised by a baby farmer Mrs. Sucksby in a squalid flat in London.  A con-artist gentleman with a gambling problem comes into the house with a plan to swindle a country girl, Maud Lilly, out of her inheritance.  Sue follows the gentleman (known to his friends as Gentleman) to execute the plan and from there, everything is as you expect, until it isn't anymore.

I can't explain more without spoiling the twists and turns, but I will say that I haven't read a 500 page novel this quickly in a long time.  Knowing that there will be twists pushes you through the somewhat unsurprising first third of the book.  This section raises some questions and keeps you guessing, but the real drive comes in the latter two-thirds.  I will leave it at that - this is a provocative suspenseful Victorian novel that you never see coming.

Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire

You may have heard of a little Broadway show called Wicked.  It was originally created from a book by Gregory Maguire who has made quite a name for himself re-telling fairytales and classic stories. I have had Mirror, Mirror on my to-read list for several years and finally got to it over the holiday weekend.

The novel re-tells the classic story of Snow White.  Maguire sets the story in the early 1500s with appearances by Cesare Borgia (the inspiration for Machiavelli's The Prince) and his sister Lucrezia.  Though he brings in history (which he admittedly takes liberties with for the sake of the drama), there also is a layer of the fantastic when it comes to the dwarves.  This re-telling was very entertaining and brought perspective to the tale we know so well as told by Disney.  The way that the mirror, for example, works into the story - a creation by the dwarves with magical elements, but maybe not quite the same magic as we thought - makes Snow White fresh, and almost possible.

I've enjoyed each of Gregory Maguire books from the Wicked series to his retelling of Cinderella (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister).  Finally getting to this one was worth it, both for the story itself and to remind me to keep up with Maguire's latest books.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

I list Jasper Fforde among my favorite authors whenever I get a chance.  He wrote the Thursday Next Eyre Affair series and the Nursery Crimes series.  As many reviewers pointed out, he sort of defies genre and does it in an incredible way.  He creates a fabulous alter-universe which is ridiculously complete and makes you want to run away and hide there. 

His latest series, Shades of Grey, takes a very different turn in similar territory.  In his latest universe, he creates a future world where people are separated into a rigid social structure based on color.  The color, however, is not our present-day focus on the color of one's skin, but rather the color in Fforde's latest book is to be perceived by the eye.  People can only see one color (or two in the case of compounds like Greens and Oranges) and are ordered by the ROYGBIV scale.  There is a whole mythology and history that is created throughout the story to (sort of) explain how the world has gotten to be this way.

Because it is the first of a planned series (at least a trilogy if the book jacket is to be believed), this book is really setting the scene.  There is only a hint of a conflict at the beginning and there is much to dig through before you get to the real mystery and action.  I almost put the book down impatiently, but with faith in Fforde, I carried on and all in all was not disappointed.

Also because of the scene-setting, I can't reveal too much of the plot without ruining the story (the book jacket itself gives away something that happens in the last third of the book. although as you might expect from Fforde, the story itself is still full of twists and turns), but I can say that a young man about to come of age in this strange world is sent to the Outer Fringes of society to learn a lesson (with an official Chair Census to conduct to learn humility).  He learns many and opens all sorts of doors that the powers that be, prefects and the Chromatagensia, want to keep shut.

The Thursday Next books are by far my favorite, but I will look out for future Shades of Grey books.  The witty style of Jasper Fforde makes all of his stories compelling and well worth the read.

Catching up on Reading

I've also been reading in the background and while I wanted to write these up individually, life gets in the way.  I've got a post in the works for one of the books since that is part of a bigger portion of the project (stay tuned!) and the book I'm reading for my October non-fiction will definitely get its own writeup with more exciting things to come from that as well.

• Peony in Love by Lisa See
• Triumph by Carolyn Jessop
• Black Boy by Richard Wright (separate post coming)

The Teaberry Strangler by Laura Childs

Another guilty pleasure! This one is a mystery series set in Charleston, SC with the added fun of a tea shop owner and her buddies planning tea-related events throughout the historic district.  It also includes recipes, although they can be hit-or-miss in terms of my own personal taste (but who doesn't love scones, cakes and tea sandwiches of any combination?).  The Teaberry Strangler had the least amount of actual detective work in the story, but succeeded, as most of the books do, in making me want to do-not-pass-go straight to Charleston.  Or at least sip on some tea.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

The third book in this trilogy is, for me, easily the best of the set.  Larsson picks up where the second book left off (don't listen to anyone who says you can read these out of order! It's a much better experience if you read them through and the last two have to be read in order for sure.) and the story moves at a faster pace than the others.  There are overly detailed digressions as is par for the Stieg-Larsson course, but they flow through the story and keep things moving along (and keep you guessing).

I'm very sad that there will be no more books in this series, but they finished with a bang and I really enjoyed them all.

More Than It Hurts You by Darin Strauss

This book got me thinking about what exactly makes a good story.  Unequivocally, I enjoy a book that completely absorbs me and leaves me wanting more at its end.  I love being surprised and engaged.  And I'm sure there are other things that make up the reasons that I prefer certain books over others, but I don't often go through asking myself why. 

More Than It Hurts You earned itself a spot on the recommendations list, although at times I found myself distracted and wondering if it was more than any other decent modern fiction novel.  It tells the story of a young couple and their infant son going up against a single mother doctor who is handling her own issues with her father.  The jacket sets your focus on the husband, Josh Goldin, and his active choice to be ignorant and happy.  Events in the novel challenge that, as you might imagine, and he rather openly thinks about this issue in a way that is sort of believable but a little heavy handed. 

Darin Strauss uses a few techniques to make this book different than a typical soul searcher or contemplation of your average privileged suburban couple enduring life's hardships.  The first, however, I believe to be more of a distraction (and part of the reason I was reluctant to admit that this really was a good book).  The characters in the novel talk just like you and I do.  That is to say, with abrupt jarring sentences, incomplete sentences and even incomplete thoughts.  Yes, I have read novels where I thought characters were too well planned, too thoughtful in their speech (and that's often the case in movies).  Here, I found it too much of an attempt to be real and distracting from the story.  I understood that these people were just like me, but I didn't need it to be so in my face. 

The other things that Strauss played with include the story structure and how he brings each part of the story to light, the method of story telling (embedding news articles about the characters to get background information in front of the reader) and pacing.  These elements were what set the book apart.  Ultimately, I believe the book is about perspective.  Not just Josh's, but everyone's perspective, including the reader.  As the story moved on, I found myself winking back at Strauss when I realized that he had even played with my perspective based on the choices he made in setting up the story.  Every author does this, but Strauss does it with just a heavy enough hand to punctuate his message and enhance the entire experience. 

So, I can't tell you more without ruining your experience, but this book surprised me, engaged me and definitely left me wanting more. 

High Five by Janet Evanovich

As fun quick-read mysteries go, I have a couple of series in my arsenal.  I've already come out of my bakery shop mysteries and hinted at the tea shop ones which fall into the same cheesy, light and recipe-laden mysteries.  The other series that I mix in when I need something on the lighter side is the Stephanie Plum series.  Stephanie Plum is a former lingerie-buyer turned bounty hunter in 1990s New Jersey (near Trenton).  Her family and her adventures are hilarious.

The fifth book, High Five, follows the fairly predictable Stephanie Plum plot scheme - a small-time bounty assignment or family assignment (in this case both) leads to a series of dangerous and funny escapades.  I think this one is, so far, the funniest of the bunch.  I actually laughed out loud several times (which was difficult since I'm sore and laughing did not feel that awesome) and raced through the book in just a couple of hours.  As many Stephanie Plum readers will acknowledge, Stephanie's grandmother, Grandma Mazur, was the source of 95% of the laughter.

I love these books and have the next couple on standby to mix in with other things.  They're so much fun.

(Note: I'm pretty behind on updating books, so there will be plenty more to come in the next couple of days.)

All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison

I convinced myself that there was a film, in addition to Kiss the Girls, with Ashley Judd based on this book.  I almost always prefer reading the book first and so I ordered the book from PaperbackSwap and had it on my list for quite some time.  That was before I took the time to notice that it was written in 2007 and realized how unlikely that might be.  But it was also after I read the book and I'm not sorry about that.

I figured out the mystery in this thriller fairly early on.  Still, I wasn't sure and J.T. Ellison kept serving up just enough details to keep me unsure and even lead me down slightly different paths.  If I hadn't had an inkling, I would say this book had some interesting twists.  If you're suspicious from the start, it's still an enjoyable read.

Depending on how you look at it, there is one significant fallout from my mistake about the movie.  Apparently, this is the first book in a series about Detective Taylor Jackson.  As noted in my confessional about cozy mysteries, I have a tendency to stick through a series.  I already ordered the second book in this series (there are three so far that I have found) and will give it a shot.  Austin might kill me for getting started on a new series when I have so many books waiting, but it's always good to have another one in the wings.

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

I finished this book much earlier in the month and have a lot to say, but time has sort of faded the rush of things I wanted to share about this book.  Bear with me as I give it a shot.

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc went to court to report on the trial of a drug dealer from the Bronx.  That trip turned into a detailed book looking at the lives of a handful of women, their children and some of the men surrounding them trying to get by both in the Bronx and Troy, New York.  First, she follows Jessica, one of the drug dealers girlfriends, and sets up the neighborhood and the cast of characters.  Her brother Cesar meets a young girl, Coco, who falls for him and ends up with two kids by him as well as others.

The author has incredible detail and insight as she combed through court documents, personal letters and even went to live with the women she was writing about for this book.  She reports on their lives without judgment, tying together the stories of mothers, grandmothers and children repeating each other's patterns in their desperate attempts to change and start down a new road.

I found this book fascinating and bewildering and, at times, depressing.  I definitely think this book is worth digging into and discovering.

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

One of my guilty reading pleasures is the cozy mystery genre.  These quick uncomplicated mysteries often have some nexus to a hobby (I like the ones with recipes, but I've read others including scrapbooking and gourd carving of all things) and follow a general format: a non-detective ends up finding a body and getting involved in a mystery, often to absolve another innocent character, and does so with the help of a friend who actually is a detective.

This one was particularly light on the investigation, but is light fluff and a quick read for hot summer nights when there isn't much going on.  I'll keep reading as long as they keep putting out the series, but these are not must-reads unless the idea is interesting to you.

Diary of a Anorexic GIrl by Morgan Menzie

So, I really am stretching it by calling this one non-fiction.  I generally include memoirs even though that's usually a completely different genre.  This time, I chose a based-on-a-true-story diary which means that it is a lot embellished or fictionalized and certainly crafted more than a chronicle. But since I had to read three  this month to catch up, I say it counts.  For August, I'll step it back up a notch.

As the title suggests, this book is the diary of a girl throughout middle school and high school dealing with your typical teen angst issues - fitting in, finding a boyfriend and trying to figure out who you are - as well as her process pretty much from start to finish of dealing with anorexia.  The diary certainly hit the nail on the head when it comes to that self-aware intelligent teen with a flare for the dramatic writing for herself.  I'm fairly certain if I went back to my diaries, I'd find a very similar style and even the sporadic letters to the future and side commentary to the reader.

Because the character was so familiar, it was easy to get absorbed in Blythe's world and even start to believe her worldview made just a little bit of sense.  This leaves you a little bit shocked when all of a sudden the outside world breaks in and you realize just how unhealthy Blythe has gotten.  This book was heartfelt and honest and an interesting way to present the issue.

It looks like it is in a series of religious teen help books which I didn't realize when I picked it up.  Blythe's school is a Christian private school and she does write about her issues with faith throughout her worries about boys, friends and clothes, but it doesn't overwhelm the book.   There are some very very brief guides in the back about how to get help if you have an eating disorder and how to help a friend with one.  My jury is still out on whether this book would help someone who was struggling themselves, but it might give a bit of insight to someone worried about a friend or child.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book to just anyone.  I don't think it was ground-breaking or so provocative that it should make it onto people's lists.  But there is a right time and a place for everything. It might be educational in certain situations and then I would say it's worth a read.

Escape by Carolyn Jessop

I am fascinated by the FLDS culture - both non-fiction and fictionalized.  I've read a handful of books and articles and of course watch Big Love.  This is the first real account that I've come across and it was fascinating.  Carolyn Jessop escaped the Colorado City FLDS community in her early thirties with eight children (including one with serious medical needs and a preemie) and managed to secure her freedom from one of the most powerful men in the FLDS community run by Warren Jeffs.

Warren Jeffs is the one that most of us heard about in the last couple of years, on the run and capture in Vegas with wigs and a stash of cash.  Carolyn spent enough time in the Colorado City community to be able to reflect on the changes over thirty years from a seemingly more open and liberal society to the fanatical conservative compound that Warren Jeffs created in Texas.  Her awakening and realizations about the ways religion was corrupted by greedy men as mind control are captivating.

Carolyn Jessop's personal story is at once fascinating and terrifying.  The book itself could use some serious editing, but it strings you along nonetheless.  The tales of abuse are intense and the relationships between the Jessop family members alone are incredible.  Carolyn's struggles to protect herself and her children are inspiring.

There are too many more adjectives I could bring out to describe this reading experience.  The mind boggles, as they say.  I highly recommend this one.

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Did you read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? If you have any interest, you probably should.  Then read this one.  It's the second in the series about Lisbeth Salander and another insane mystery.  There's been some pushback because of the hype, but I really got into these books.  The second one is even more interesting to me because the scenery has been set and the reader gets to delve further into Lisbeth's character.  She is endless fascinating and a very interesting drama evolves throughout the book.  I am counting the minutes until I can read the third (and sadly final) installment.

This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin

 I haven't been keeping up with my non-fiction reading this year, but that's because this book took me the last two months to read.  Partly I wasn't giving enough time to it, but also this book is fairly technical and in-depth, so it was slow going.

Overall, I found the book interesting - I think a lot more research has to be done, but reading about some of the theories and studies was engaging.  My main complaint is that it sells itself as the answer to some very intriguing questions like why a song gets stuck in your head and plays over and over.  In the end, that was one part of one page and I wasn't really satisfied.