The weather is turning chilly...so how about one last trip to the beach?
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| Cape May Point, NJ |
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| Nantucket, Mass. |
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| Cape May, NJ |
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| Nantucket, Mass. |
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| Margate, NJ |
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| Ocean City, NJ |
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Wordless Wednesday...Beaches
Review of "Talking to the Dead" [82]
Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham Delacorte Press, ISBN 978-0345533739
September 25, 2012, 372 pages.
Fiona "Fi" Griffiths, a new detective with the Cardiff, Wales police department, is a bit of an enigma to her colleagues. She has a philosophy degree from Cambridge, a bit unusual for your average cop. She doesn't drink, not even coffee and is often oddly detached in her emotions. Then there are the missing two years in her resume, when everyone knows something happened to her, but no one can find out what it is.
But no one can question that she is a good, if sometimes out of the box cop, very smart and intuitive and a bit ambitious. At least ambitious to follow the cases as she, rather than her superiors, see then, something that does not make her their favorite young detective. So she is upset that with a huge new case breaking, she is tied to doing research on another case that is about to come to trial. Her assigned work is researching the money trail of a man that embezzled a great deal of money from the local school board, but she is trying as hard as she can to get into the new investigation.
The new case involves a woman, a prostitute, and her young child that were found dead, murdered, in a particularly horrible and brutal way. A dead prostitute is not that unusual, especially when at first they think is is just another drug overdose, but the obvious murder of the child takes it a while different way. And then there is the credit card found in the hovel the bodies are found in, a place they find the dead woman was hiding out in, the credit card of a millionaire that was supposedly killed in a private plane crash a few months ago. A millionaire who, it seems, is tied to the man who Fi is investigating. Fi can not get over the connection she feels to the case, especially to the little dead girl, a connection that becomes, especially to us the readers who see what is going on in Fi's mind, more than just a bit disturbing.
The plot of this story, the mystery that Fi and the police gradually unravel, is quite interesting and with just that, it would be a pretty good book. There are lots of different threads, from a bunch of seeming different cases. But as we watch, it all get tied together and ends with a really great, thrilling conclusion, (at a lighthouse!!) Fi at the very center of pulling it all together. But what puts it over the top is the character of Fi and trying to figure out what is going on with her.
Yes, her co-workers know she rarely socializes with them and never drinks. They know about those missing two years. But they have no idea about is that she can only sleep a few hours a night and spends many evenings and early mornings sitting on her back patio smoking pot and tending her pot plants in her wee greenhouse. We will let you read on your own about her, shall be say, odd view of the dead. They don't know that she has been studying martial arts since college as a way to try and control herself and her environment, something that is a real issue for her. And they have no idea..or so she thinks..about her budding romance with a fellow cop, who is going to have to be an extra understanding fellow to have Fi as a girlfriend.
Fi has demons...and she does what she must to keep them as bay. But happily that also helps to make her a great cop, very in tune with the suffering of the victims. You will be trying to figure out the crime, but I am sure you will also be trying to figure out what is going on with Fi as well, a mystery that is much clearer by the end of the book but still interesting enough to keep you looking forward to future books in this new series.
Highly recommended!
My thanks to Amazon Vine and the published for providing a review copy of this book.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Musing Monday..The Sequel!
To those of you in the USA, Happy Columbus Day!
Now hit the sales.
Right after we check out this week's Musing Monday....
This week’s musing — courtesy of http://ladywithbooks.wordpress.com– asks… Do you have a favorite series? Do you have a favorite book out of that series?
At first I thought, "I am not a big series fan.." But, of course, as I mused..and I do muse about these questions...I realized that was a lie.
I have always been a fan of series and I guess I always will.
I have mentioned before that when I was a teenager, I was a big fan of Rex Stout's Nero Wolf series. I looked it up. There are 33 books and 39 short stories in the series, and while I may not have read them all, I bet I read most of them. And it was not the only series. Who was the detective that was always making sandwiches and eating them over the kitchen sink? Then there was Sherlock Holmes...Agatha Christie...and more..
And then one of my all time favs...The whole Tolkien Middle Earth series. Start with The Hobbit, move on to The Lord of the Rings..wind up with Silmarillion and the other lesser..in terms of length, not quality..works.A delight for a lifetime!
Present day, it is not different. I will happily read a free standing book, but many in my favorite genre. mysteries, thrillers, police procedurals and such, are parts of series, so series it is for me.
The first that came to mind is those written by Karen Slaughter. Actually she writes several series, but since they overlap to a degree, I consider them one Great Big series. And all great books!
But what others?
Who can remember?
Well, happily, once again, my dear Library Thing came to the rescue. Did you know they have a way, just one of many way cool things you can do there, that you can bring up a list all the books in your library as part of a series? So cool...
So I found I have many and I will just list a few of my tops loves..
Yes, these are just the top of the pile. I could really go on.
And on.
Seems I love good series a lot more than I thought!
But I also have some issues with series. Often, I think they start out great and then something happens. Maybe I just get bored with them. Maybe they become too much of the same thing. Maybe the author get a bit complacent. Looking at that Library Thing list, I saw many where I read maybe two in a series and then no more and that is just a few of the reasons why.
The best series, like Slaughter's, are willing to change things up and keep things fresh. The characters have to evolve. Big things have to happen. Yes, you have to be willing to do something like kill a main character off. That is one of the strengths of Slaughter's series, that the cast is big enough to do that, yet we still were involved enough with each of them to really be upset when it happens. I have read that her next book will have Lena Adams back. Hope that is true because the oh-so-damaged Lena is great!
Still, maybe even the best series has a certain lifespan. And that bring up the bravest thing a good writer of a good series can do. Even if they have a successful series on their hand, even if the publisher is clamoring for one more, a really brave writer knows when it is time to wrap a series up and move on to something else. Go out when the series is on top and don't keep it going until even the loyalist fan give up on it. Wrap it up with a Big Bang! Create another one for us please, another great bunch of characters, another great setting, another great premise that lets you explore a whole new bunch of ideas! We, your fans, will still be there!
Now hit the sales.
Right after we check out this week's Musing Monday....
This week’s musing — courtesy of http://ladywithbooks.wordpress.com– asks… Do you have a favorite series? Do you have a favorite book out of that series?
At first I thought, "I am not a big series fan.." But, of course, as I mused..and I do muse about these questions...I realized that was a lie.
I have always been a fan of series and I guess I always will.
I have mentioned before that when I was a teenager, I was a big fan of Rex Stout's Nero Wolf series. I looked it up. There are 33 books and 39 short stories in the series, and while I may not have read them all, I bet I read most of them. And it was not the only series. Who was the detective that was always making sandwiches and eating them over the kitchen sink? Then there was Sherlock Holmes...Agatha Christie...and more..
And then one of my all time favs...The whole Tolkien Middle Earth series. Start with The Hobbit, move on to The Lord of the Rings..wind up with Silmarillion and the other lesser..in terms of length, not quality..works.A delight for a lifetime!
Present day, it is not different. I will happily read a free standing book, but many in my favorite genre. mysteries, thrillers, police procedurals and such, are parts of series, so series it is for me.
The first that came to mind is those written by Karen Slaughter. Actually she writes several series, but since they overlap to a degree, I consider them one Great Big series. And all great books!
But what others?
Who can remember?
Well, happily, once again, my dear Library Thing came to the rescue. Did you know they have a way, just one of many way cool things you can do there, that you can bring up a list all the books in your library as part of a series? So cool...
So I found I have many and I will just list a few of my tops loves..
- All Creatures Great and Small- one I read years ago but still love.
- Anna Pigeon Mysteries by Nevada Barr...love the different National Park settings.
- Clare Ferguson by Julia Spencer-Fleming..Clare is a great character.
- Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles by Tess Gerritsen..read my last review for more on that pair.
- Odd Thomas by Dean Knootz..first 3-4 books were excellent. I am a Big Knootz fan.
- Ruth Galloway by Elly Griffiths..Ruth is one of my favorite characters of all time.
- Shetland Island Quartet by Ann Cleaves..love these books, love the setting. Love.
Yes, these are just the top of the pile. I could really go on.
And on.
Seems I love good series a lot more than I thought!
But I also have some issues with series. Often, I think they start out great and then something happens. Maybe I just get bored with them. Maybe they become too much of the same thing. Maybe the author get a bit complacent. Looking at that Library Thing list, I saw many where I read maybe two in a series and then no more and that is just a few of the reasons why.
The best series, like Slaughter's, are willing to change things up and keep things fresh. The characters have to evolve. Big things have to happen. Yes, you have to be willing to do something like kill a main character off. That is one of the strengths of Slaughter's series, that the cast is big enough to do that, yet we still were involved enough with each of them to really be upset when it happens. I have read that her next book will have Lena Adams back. Hope that is true because the oh-so-damaged Lena is great!
Still, maybe even the best series has a certain lifespan. And that bring up the bravest thing a good writer of a good series can do. Even if they have a successful series on their hand, even if the publisher is clamoring for one more, a really brave writer knows when it is time to wrap a series up and move on to something else. Go out when the series is on top and don't keep it going until even the loyalist fan give up on it. Wrap it up with a Big Bang! Create another one for us please, another great bunch of characters, another great setting, another great premise that lets you explore a whole new bunch of ideas! We, your fans, will still be there!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Weekend Cooking..Chicken Cordon Bleu
My mother used to make Chicken Cordon Bleu and it was very good.
And later in life, I made it a few times, but to tell ya the truth, it was a pain in the neck to make.
I do not enjoy pounding chicken, and then you had to roll it up with the ham and cheese and then somehow hold it together. You might tie them up or use toothpicks but either are a pain and the cheese oozes out anyhoo. Tell me, how are you suppose to bread the rolls with all that stuff on the outside?
So, as I was looking through my new favorite cook book, The Complete Cook's Country TV Show Cookbook and saw a recipe that promised to be easier and better, well, I had to try it! And they were right..it was way easier and very, very good. As the Sil and Bro and Niece, who were my test subjects will attest to.
Instead of all that pounding and rolling and tying, you just cut a pocket in the chicken breast and stuff it. How smart! Use a very sharp knife..and as I accidentally discovered, if the chicken is just a tiny bit frozen it is even easier. You want to cut as big a pocket as you can. Then lay out 2 oz. of ham slices..I overlapped mine, put the cheese on top..I used slices and not grated, roll it up, ham on the outside and stick in in the pocket. No need to close up the pocket really, although when you dip it in the egg and bread it, it pretty much closes it up. But since the ham holds the cheese in, it it not a big deal if it is a little open.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
25 Ritz crackers - about 3/4 of a sleeve
4 slices hearty sandwich bread, torn into quarters
6 T. unsalted butter, melted
8 slices deli ham, 8 oz. in total
8 oz. shredded Swiss cheese
4 (8 oz) boneless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup all-purpose flour
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and adjust the oven racks to lowest and middle positions .
To make the bread crumbs, pulse crackers and bread in food processor until coarsely ground. Drizzle in butter and pulse to incorporate. Bake crumbs on a rimmed baking sheets on the middle rack, stirring occasionally, until light brown, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a shallow dish. Do not turn the oven off.
Top each ham slice with 1/4 cup of Swiss cheese and roll tightly. Set aside. Pat the
chicken dry with a paper towel. Cut a deep pocket into the thickest part of the chicken breast, stuff with 2 ham-and-cheese rolls and press close. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes.
Beat
eggs and mustard in a second shallow dish. Place flour in a third
shallow dish. One at a time, coat the stuffed chicken breasts lightly
with flour, then into the egg mixture, and dredge in the bread crumbs, pressing to adhere. (Breaded chicken can be refrigerated, covered, for
one day if you'd like to make it ahead)
Transfer chicken to a baking sheet. Bake on the lowest rack until the bottom of the chicken is golden brown - about 10 minutes. Then move the baking sheet to the middle rack, lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue to bake until the chicken is golden brown and the internal temperature registers 160 degrees, about 20-25 minutes.
Transfer chicken to a baking sheet. Bake on the lowest rack until the bottom of the chicken is golden brown - about 10 minutes. Then move the baking sheet to the middle rack, lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees and continue to bake until the chicken is golden brown and the internal temperature registers 160 degrees, about 20-25 minutes.
Transfer to a platter, tent with foil, and let rest for about 5 minutes. Serve.
Doesn't that look tasty??
As to my chances, yes, there were a couple.
First, I made only one roll for each breast. 2 oz. ham...2 oz. cheese...roll, insert in pocket. Second, I had no bread, so I used Panko bread crumbs and it was excellent. I did toast them in the oven for a minute, with the crackers I had crushed in a ziplock bag and tossed with the butter. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN THEM. Just saying..not that I did it...lol..
I also made a little white sauce with a little cheese in it to serve with them and the rice, because that is what my mommy always serve with them. Rice, peas, white sauce. And you can never have too much cheese.
The coating was excellent, flavorful with that tiny bit of mustard (although I could not identify the mustard) and very crispy. The chicken was tender, even without the pounding, very juicy and I love the taste of the Swiss cheese with the ham and chicken. Yum!
Easy, delicious and pretty quick.
This one is a keeper in my book!
This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking."Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Review of "Last to Die" [81]
Last To Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen Ballantine Books, ISBN 978-0345515636
August 28, 2012, 352 pages
First his parents were killed.
Then his foster parents and their other children were horribly murdered in their Boston home.
Young Teddy Clock is the only survivor.
When Jane Rizzoli arrives to investigate, with her friend and colleague, coroner Maura Isles already on the case, it seems like it might be a robbery. It is a beautiful home, full of priceless items and quickly the housekeeper's boyfriend, an illegal alien, becomes a suspect. Well, at least in the eyes of Jane's new boss who is very concerned with quickly solving a front page crime and looking good in front of the news cameras.
But Jane is not convinced, especially when two very similar cases in other states come to her attention. First their parents were killed and then the folks they went to live with also died. And the other thing all three cases have in common is that the three children who survived two sets of murdered caregivers are now all students at the rather mysterious Evensong, a boarding school deep in the woods of Maine. We have heard of Evensong before and the rather creepy group that run it, the Mephisto Society, in a previous Gerritsen book. And by coincidence, Maura is on her way up there to visit the young man Julian who she also met in another earlier book and is now also a student there. All the children at the school are survivors of violent crime in their pasts, but it seems that these three particular children may still be targets of the killer.
Strange, bad things are happening in those dark Maine woods and Maura and Jane will be right in the midst of it all.
Let me say, first of all, that I am a big Gerritsen fan.
I have read all her books, even the ones before the Rizzoli/Isles series and I have enjoyed them all. Some I loved and some I liked...and this one is in the 'liked' group. It is a good book, but not the best she has written.
Rizzoli and Isles are both great characters and their friendship and working relationship, not without it's ups and downs, has always been interesting. Happily, nothing like the gal pal and way too joke filled one of the TV show loosely based on this series. But in this book their interplay seemed to play an oddly small role. And the little subplot of the adventures of the always interesting Rizzoli family was just dropped with no conclusion. Not to mention the almost total lack of mention of Jane's FBI husband, a character that always adds a great twist, a calm grounding element, to the stories. I love their relationship and Jane's interaction with their daughter and I missed that in this book.
But most of all, while good, the plot was not up to the very clever and very intricate level of many of Gerritsen books. It was good but not with all the dark twists and turns Gerritsen usually includes, the dark twists and turns I love. And as much as I hate to say it, because there is nothing I dislike as much as a bloated book, it seems rather short.
Let me just repeat, Gerritsen is a great writer and the Rizzoli/Isles series is a very good one. If you have never read it, really, you should. But I have to think that maybe it is time for Gerritsen to take a break from the girls and treat us to a another freestanding book. Fans will, I think, enjoy this one but new readers should start with the earlier books in the series and watch the characters develop.
My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Monday, October 1, 2012
Musing Monday...Get Those Priorities Straight!
I was about to post a Fake Musing Monday, but I will save that for another day, don't you worry.
So what is the real question this bright and shiny Monday Morning?
This week’s musing asks… What distracts you when you really “should be reading”?
The answer?
Very, very little. I am very, very good at ignore things. It is one one my strongest abilities. I would say my strengths but it is not really a good thing, is it ignoring things?
I watch very little TV at home, so if I am reading there, it is not usually on, not a distraction. I live alone, well, except for Larry the Giant Kitty, so that is not an issue either. No one is running in, demanding my time. And Larry tends to keep to himself in the daytime, at least after he is fed in the morning. Now at night, it is a different matter. Not with the distractions, but with Larry.
I do not usually read in bed at night. Mostly because I tend to fall asleep very quickly if reading and that can get dangerous to my iPad. Dropping a book is bad, but dropping an iPad could be tragic! But it is also becoming difficult because of the Giant Kitty. He never used to come in my room, never jumped on my bed. Now, he is showing up every night as soon as I lay down, positioning himself right next to my leg and demanding that I rub his belly. He closes his eyes, purrs and purrs, and extends his front legs, reaching one out and opening his toes and then pulling it back and does the other. He seems to have no limit to how long he wants this. OK, I am a soft touch, but after months of him running away when I came close, I don't have the heart to not rub his belly. But one hand on the kitty belly makes reading difficult, so we watch TV...he likes My Cat From Hell.
So what about "Real Life"? Does that distract me? Not often enough maybe.
Like today.
I am off work.
I should go to the supermarket and there is a pile of laundry to do. I need to do some cleaning and I have a couple of errands to run. There are bills to pay and a couple of things to fix. But as I write this, I am considering what book I should read next instead! I finished one yesterday afternoon and have to pick a new one. So all those little tasks will need to wait a bit. At least for a couple of hours.
You have to get your priorities straight!!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Weekend Cooking....The Classic Jack Rose...With Homemade Grenadine
“At five o’clock I was in the Hotel Crillon, waiting for Brett. She was not there, so I sat down and wrote some letters. They were not very good letters but I hoped their being on Crillon stationery would help them. Brett did not turn up, so about quarter to six I went down to the bar and had a Jack Rose with George the barman.” ..from The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Mine was when I was a little too young to be reading Hemingway.
As I have mentioned, my family owned a bar when I was a wee Caite..and a teenage Caite..and a college graduate Caite. By that time it was more of a shot and beer place, but when I was young there were actual cocktails being served sometimes.
On a Saturday night, my mother would go there in the evening, a wee Caite in hand, Lawrence "Champagne Music" Welk on the TV, while my father, in a crispy white shirt and tie, was one of the bartenders.
My mother's drink was the Jack Rose and Caite had a Shirley Temple. "An extra cherry please!"I think there is something so nice about a cocktail, a calm and sophisticated way to start the dining experience. And according to The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks by David A. Embury, first published in 1948, that is the classic purpose of the cocktail a pre-dinner drink.
"Embury first outlines some basic principles for fashioning a quality cocktail:There are a few theories as to where the Jack Rose got it's name. Some say it was named for the pink "Jacquemot" rose, others say for a Newark, NJ restaurateur. Or maybe just because it is made with Applejack and is rose colored.
Embury stresses frequently that the drink will never be any better than the quality of the cheapest ingredient in it, and hence he stresses constantly the need for the highest quality spirits, liqueurs, cordials, and modifiers (fresh squeezed lemons, etc.) He also repeatedly stresses that a cocktail, in the classic sense (a before-dinner drink) should have no more than the slightest touch of sweetness to it, and deplores the use of drinks like the Brandy Alexander as pre-prandial cocktails, as they dull rather than sharpen the appetite. He does not denigrate sweet drinks per se, pointing out that they are excellent after dinner or mid-afternoon drinks "in place of a half-pound of chocolate cookies", but they are anathema as a "cocktail" before a large meal.
- It should be made from good-quality, high-proof liquors.
- It should whet rather than dull the appetite. Thus, it should never be sweet or syrupy, or contain too much fruit juice, egg or cream.
- It should be dry, with sufficient alcoholic flavor, yet smooth and pleasing to the palate.
- It should be pleasing to the eye.
- It should be well-iced.
Embury's six basic drinks are the Martini, the Manhattan, the Old Fashioned, the Daiquiri, the Sidecar, and the Jack Rose." ..from Wikipedia
I am pulling for the Newark connection.
Regardless, it was a hugely poplar drink in the 20's and 30's..and I am trying to stage a comeback.
Everywhere you go, order "a Jack Rose, bartender!"
Now, on to the ingredients.
They are simple.
Applejack. The liquor, not the kid's cereal.
Lemon or/Lime juice
Grenadine
Once again, here we have a New Jersey connection.Applejack is made by Laird and Co., which was established in 1780 by Robert Laird in the tiny community of Scobeyville, NJ. It was America’s first commercial distillery, and still going strong. Applejack is traditionally made by distilling apple cider and as well as Applejack, Laird's also make several aged apple brandies. In the spirit of the finest ingredients, I would have used the better Apple brandy...they make a 100 proof, a 7 1/2 year and 12 year old aged Apple brandy...if I could have found a bottle locally.
But I could not.
So let's use the best quality with the other two ingredients.
Fresh fruit folks. Not stuff from a bottle or a plastic squeeze 'fruit'. Real fruit.
Some recipes use lime. Some recipes use lemon. What to do? Pick your favorite. Not the Laird website uses lemon, and they should know, right?
But the grenadine, that is another matter.
Many of you may have a bottle of grenadine in the frig. No doubt Rose's, by far the most common brand.
Throw it out! Go ahead!!
It is colored sugar water, nothing more. Corn sugar, water, red dye. No!! No, I say.
So we will make our own. Don't worry, it is simple.
Grenadine
One Part Pomegranate juice
One part super fine sugar.
Mix.
Now, some recipes boil the juice to reduce it my half, take it off the heat and add the sugar, stirring to melt. Or, just use superfine sugar, which will dissolve easily in liquid, and shake.
You can keep it in the freezer, or in the frig for a month. Or..as I did...add about an ounce of vodka and it will keep longer. And a little vodka never hurt.
If using for the kid's Shirley Temples, you might not want the vodka. Or maybe you do. Who am I to judge?
Use it over ice cream..or in whipped cream...or in tea.
So, what about that promised Jack Rose?
Again, easy.
Jack Rose
2 ounces Applejack (or apple brandy)
1/2 oz. Lemon juice
1/4-1/2 oz. Grenadine
Shake well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass or serve over ice.
And one more drink, from the Laird's website, since you now have that bottle of Applejack on hand. It is the fittingly named the Jersey Girl. Sort of the love child of a Jack Rose and a Cosmo...
Jersey Girl
1 1/2 oz. Laird’s Applejack
1 oz. Cointreau
1/2 oz. Fresh lime juice
2 dashes of cranberry juice
Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
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| The classic Jack Rose |
This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking."Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Review of "Jellicoe Road" [80]
Harper Teen, ISBN 0061431850
March 9, 2010, 432 pages
"In this lyrical, absorbing, award-winning novel, nothing is as it seems, and every clue leads to more questions.
At age eleven, Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother. At fourteen, she ran away from boarding school, only to be tracked down and brought back by a mysterious stranger. Now seventeen, Taylor's the reluctant leader of her school's underground community, whose annual territory war with the Townies and visiting Cadets has just begun. This year, though, the Cadets are led by Jonah Griggs, and Taylor can't avoid his intense gaze for long. To make matters worse, Hannah, the one adult Taylor trusts, has disappeared. But if Taylor can piece together the clues Hannah left behind, the truth she uncovers might not just settle her past, but also change her future."
This is one of those books I have seen mentioned again and again in BlogLand, making top 10 lists after top 10 lists among the reviewers I have read.
I read My Friend Amy's review and I read Rhapsody in Books' review and others and saw the great rating on Library Thing.
So I figured it was finally time to pick it up and to give it a go.
I don't want to miss a really good one.
And then I almost put it down again pretty fast.
But I did not, happily, because while it may take a bit of effort to get into, it paid off.
Why did I almost put it down.
Well, because as you start it, I think that you, as I, will have no idea at all what is going on. And that is a little disconcerting. All this talk of Townies and Cadets and battles and territory..did I wander into some sort of end of the world story? What in the world was this all about?
No, this one is firmly planted in the present day, at a boarding school and town in the Australian bush. Well, excepts for the parts we find out about that took place some years ago, mostly from Taylor reading the manuscript her guardian Hannah has been writing. This is the same Hannah's whose mysterious disappearance from her house near the school is at the heart of this story. And heart is what this book, as it gradually unwinds and becomes clearer to us, is all about. Friendship and family and love..and aren't they in many ways the same thing?
I will not tell you any more about the plot. Yes, the first third or so of the book is rather confusing and I bet more than a few readers have given up. Especially in it's targeted YA audience. But stay with it and listen for the clues. I promise you it will gradually all become clear and all start to make sense. Still, it will be right until the very end that it is all spelled out and all those clues get tied together. But by then I think that I can promise that you will be enchanted.
You will spill a tear. Or two.
You will have met some great characters with a great story.
As a small aside, let me just say that while this is listed as a YA book, it is certainly a book that adults will enjoy as well. Which is why I often find putting books in categories like that, while the intention may be good, somewhat misleading. As, I think, in this case, is the cover, with that cute, crooked font, which I think might lead you to believe the book will be something other than what it is. This book isn't cute. But is it interesting and clever and touching and, in the best possible way, sweet.
People of whatever age will like what they like to read and dislike what they dislike. Except for the fact that many, but not all, of the characters are teenagers, the themes tackled in Jellicoe Road are universal and appeal to ever age.
So don't let that...or what may be a slow and confusing start...keep you from reading this one.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wordless Wednesday...Red Again
There is red all around.
Sometimes you just have to look a little closer.
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| Istanbul |
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| Burpee Farm, PA |
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| ..On Holland America cruise |
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| Jersey Shore.. |
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Review of "Miss Buncle's Book" [79]
Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson Sourcebooks Landmark, ISBN 978-1402270826
September 1, 2012, 304 pages.
Times are tough for Barbara Buncle. The world wide Depression of the 1920's and 30's has reach Miss Buncle's little English town of Silverstream and especially her bank balance. Her investments are not producing as they once did and she is going to have to find a way to make some money. She decides she has two choices, to keep chickens or write a book. Happily for us, she goes with the book.
But what to write? She claims she has no imagination, so she decides to write about her little village and especially the interesting cast of characters that live there. She sets to work, then packs it up and takes it to a publisher, the charming Mr. Abbott, who is intrigued with both the book and it's author. He is not sure, after reading the book, whether Miss Buncle is totally naive or a clever satirist, but either way he finds her and her story delightful. But trouble is lurking because, much to Miss Buncle's amazement, the book is a bestseller.
Isn't that a good thing? Yes, it is great for her bank balance but causes great turmoil in Silverstream. Because everyone in the village see themselves, not too well disguised, in the book's characters and some are very happy with what they see. And they set out to discover who among them is the mysterious author, Mr. John Smith.
For some the book is a chance to look at their lives and make some very positive changes. For them the book itself become like the Golden boy who appears in the latter part of Buncle's book, magically allowing people to do what they dream about. But it also, for a tiny bit of intrigue, brings out the worst in one or two. Happily for us, it takes the villagers a long time, and in fact the publication of Miss Buncle's second book, to figure out who the author is. In the meantime we get to watch what happens when someone holds up a very clear mirror and people get to see themselves as they really are.
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| Dorothy Emily Stevenson Peploe |
You know when you finish a book, turn that last page and slam the cover shut and one word just comes to mind. Well, the word here is delightful! This book is charming without being sugary sweet, very clever and often very, very funny. And oddly modern in it's feel. Ok, I missed it when I heard about this book and did not realize that this was the republication of a book that first came out in 1938. It could have been written yesterday...well, if you are a very talented writer.
I am so happy that this book has been reissued and, come November, the second in the series, Miss Buncle Married, will be reissued as well. Oh my, a spoiler...lol! Hopefully the third and last in this series, The Two Mrs. Abbotts, will not be far behind. Not to worry when you finish that one either, because I understand many of her other books intertwine with each other and a number of your favorite characters may make an appearance in one or more of them.
Hopefully these new editions will open Stevenson's books to a whole new audience. They deserve it!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Musing Monday...Color Me Capricious
Let's check out this weeks Musing Monday question, as always, from the desk of MizB at Should Be Reading...Let me answer the second question first. No, I do not collect anything. I have seen too many episodes of "Hoarders" and it strikes fear in my heart.
Now the subject of hobbies is a different matter.
In my lifetimes I have had a number of hobbies most of which that have come and gone.
And I blame the good sisters at East Orange Catholic High School, where I received my secondary education.
They had a good idea. See, at the end of every semester, exams would be given and then there were one or two additional weeks of scheduled attendance. What to do? So they offered the chance to teachers and administrators to give a little mini-class in any subject that interested them and we students could sign up for a couple. I remember I took a class in making stained glass, my first chance to use a soldering iron! And I remember another in card games. The tiny, little old nun that taught it loved Bridge and tried, pretty unsuccessfully, to pass that on to us. But Gin Rummy...and Canasta...oh, we were fans and I and several of my pals spent many hours of our free time in the following years snapping them cards.
And yet today, I never play cards. Maybe because Canasta, especially the best kind with four players, is a rather long and complicated game full of rules that no one is ever willing to learn.
But it is also that I am a fickle and capricious hobbyist. For awhile I am very interest in something...and then I lose interest.
Perhaps it is like my feeling about TV shows. I can watch a show every week, love that show..and yet after a few seasons, I have usually just had enough. It may still be a good show but I have moved on.
In the world of hobbies, I have a similar history and hobbies, there have been a few. I remember a short interest in crocheting. I had a few zig-zag afghans and pillows to show for it. No idea what happen to them! There is that very big...and I must say, very well done...dollhouse in my basement. Wood siding, cedar shake roof, all to perfect scale. But after a couple of years, my interest in miniatures waned. Even vegetable gardening, something I did for years, just does not grab me like it once did. As my sad tomato plants this year were witnesses to that.
These days I guess this wee blog is my hobby. It certainly takes enough time to be a hobby.
Will this one last longer than others have?
Actually, it has already
And then there is the fact that it ties into reading, the one hobby that has lasted my entire lifetime, more than half a century now. And it has peaked two other interests, cooking, with the Weekend Cooking meme that I take part in, and photography with Wordless Wednesday. Maybe I need the pressure to come up with something weekly to keep me on track.
Or maybe one week I will just pack it all in.
On the bad side, I recently read an article (or part of an article..to quote that funny commercial) online that listed the top 10 most expensive hobbies. What was number one? Photography. Leave it to me!
The good news is that if I ever loose interest, there is actually a market to sell my new camera and lenses online.
Oddly, there is not one for my old crochet hooks.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Weekend Cooking ....Taiwanese Braised Pork Noodles
I love noodles.
Of all sorts.
With all sorts of sauces.
So when I saw a recipe for this dish, my interest was peaked!
Pork...a flavorful sauce...noodles!
OK, it seems this dish, which is referred to as classic, everyday dish that every Taiwanese mother has her own version of, can be served on either rice or noodles. But, as much as I like rice, yes, I went with the noodles.
You could use any sort you like. I happened to have a wide 'lo mein' dry noodle on hand, so I used that. But you could use linguine, or egg noodles or any sort of Asian noodle, udon, rice, ramen, fresh or dry. Or, yes, even rice.
For most of the recipes I saw, the sauce is fairly similar. Soy, vinegar, a little brown sugar and the wonderful smelling five-spice powder.
Shallots or onions, garlic, ginger again, usually appear. Many recipes call for Chinese fried onions, which I admit I made no attempt to find. On the other hand, I doubled up the mushrooms when I realized I had bought both the dry and fresh. In my mind, the more mushrooms the better and it was certainly not too many in relation to the pork.
In my mind.
Taiwanese Braised Pork Noodles
Ingredients
1. In a small bowl, combine the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, five spice powder and brown sugar. Set aside.
2. Heat a wok or large saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl in the cooking oil. Add in the shallots and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in the ground meat and cook until brown, breaking up large pieces. Push aside the shallots and ground beef to one side of the pan to create a small spot to fry the garlic, red pepper flakes and ginger for 1 minutes until fragrant. Add in the bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Toss everything in the pan together.
3. Pour in the broth/soy sauce mixture and pork and bring to a simmer. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Check liquid level and if it become dry add additional broth or reserved mushroom liquid. Stir in the green onions just before stirring.
4. While pork is simmering, cook the noodles or rice according to package instructions.
5. Serve the ground beef mixture over the noodles or rice, garnished with chopped cilantro if desired.
They say it freezes well, the perfect thing to have on hand for a quick dinner.
I don't know because over a few days, I ate it all.
The last day, I actually made a soup of it, with the noodles, the thick saucy meat, a bunch of shallots and some stock I had on hand. It was tummy warming yummy!!
This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Of all sorts.
With all sorts of sauces.
So when I saw a recipe for this dish, my interest was peaked!
OK, it seems this dish, which is referred to as classic, everyday dish that every Taiwanese mother has her own version of, can be served on either rice or noodles. But, as much as I like rice, yes, I went with the noodles.
You could use any sort you like. I happened to have a wide 'lo mein' dry noodle on hand, so I used that. But you could use linguine, or egg noodles or any sort of Asian noodle, udon, rice, ramen, fresh or dry. Or, yes, even rice.
Shallots or onions, garlic, ginger again, usually appear. Many recipes call for Chinese fried onions, which I admit I made no attempt to find. On the other hand, I doubled up the mushrooms when I realized I had bought both the dry and fresh. In my mind, the more mushrooms the better and it was certainly not too many in relation to the pork.
In my mind.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cooking oil
- 3 shallots, thinly sliced
- 1 pound ground pork (or ground beef/chicken/turkey)
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 1-inch piece of ginger, grated
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- One 8-ounce can bamboo shoots, drained and diced
- 4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, diced
- or/and 4 oz. dried shiitake, soaked in boiling water, drained and sliced. Retain soaking liquid
- 2 stalk green onion, chopped
- 1 pound noodles or rice of your choice
1. In a small bowl, combine the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, five spice powder and brown sugar. Set aside.
2. Heat a wok or large saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl in the cooking oil. Add in the shallots and cook about 2 minutes. Stir in the ground meat and cook until brown, breaking up large pieces. Push aside the shallots and ground beef to one side of the pan to create a small spot to fry the garlic, red pepper flakes and ginger for 1 minutes until fragrant. Add in the bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Toss everything in the pan together.
3. Pour in the broth/soy sauce mixture and pork and bring to a simmer. Lower heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Check liquid level and if it become dry add additional broth or reserved mushroom liquid. Stir in the green onions just before stirring.
4. While pork is simmering, cook the noodles or rice according to package instructions.
5. Serve the ground beef mixture over the noodles or rice, garnished with chopped cilantro if desired.
I don't know because over a few days, I ate it all.
The last day, I actually made a soup of it, with the noodles, the thick saucy meat, a bunch of shallots and some stock I had on hand. It was tummy warming yummy!!
This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking."Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Wordless Wednesday...Just a Few Jersey Views
Just a few random photos from around the southern part of the Garden State.
Review of "The Last Victim" [78]
Ballantine Books, ISBN 978-0345535405
August 7, 2012, 336 pages
When Charlotte Stone was a teenager, she witnessed her friend and her friend's family murdered by a serial killer. She was hidden and escaped, the only victim of the Boardwalk Killer to escape. She did not see his face, could not identify him and he was never caught, although his killing stop.
Now it is 15 years later and Charlotte is now Doctor Stone, and a leading expert on the minds of serial killers. She working on a study in a prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, when the FBI come to request her help. It seems the Boardwalk Killer is back and she is in a unique position to assist them. She seems to have insights into crimes that are beyond her medical and psychological training and which could give her and the FBI the advantage they desperately need to try and save the life of the latest girl he has taken but they believe may still be alive.
And they are right. Charlotte has a very special 'gift', one she does not control and does not even want. She sees dead people...wooooo hooooo..people who have died violent deaths and not yet totally 'passed on' and who can sometimes give her clues into what happened to them.
But there is one more twist to the story before she heads out from the prison. As she is talking to Special Agent Tony Bartoli in her office, the inmate, convicted serial Michael Garland, who she was just interviewing for her study, get attacked. He is stabbed by another inmate and, as she goes to help, dies in her arms. And now it seems his ghost, his rather creepy, charismatic, violent ghost is 'attached' to her, popping up all the time, until he is forced to move on.
Wow, there are so many reasons why I should have hated this book. So many reasons that made me wonder why in the world I ever requested the ARC of this book. When I saw this was listed as a paranormal novel, and a romance, I was totally sure I was going to hate it. The cover is even one of the sort of book that I don't really like. When I saw the very mixed reviews on Amazon, I thought this was going to be bad. Bad.
And ya know what?
I was wrong! No, I actually though it was a very good book, totally enjoyed it and whipped right through it to it's exciting conclusion. Regarding most of those bad reviews...I think they totally missed one HUGE point that makes all the difference to their issues with this story. One huge point which I can totally not explain to you without giving away the whole story. Sorry, but if you read this book, and I do recommend that you do so, you will know what I mean. Is that confusing enough?
The paranormal was not what I expected, the romance was not what I expected and the whole book turned out quite differently than I expected with a clever little twist at the very end that I loved.
Yes, it is about a serial killer and a bit scary and dark, but parts of it, especially Charlotte's conversations with herself and her conversations with her ghostly companion are very funny at times. And the investigation, with a few clues Charlotte picks up from her own brand of witness, is smart and face paced.
Have you ever started a book, sure that you would dislike it, sure you would hate it, and then just the opposite ended up being true.
Well, The Last Victim is such a book and if there is a sequel..and I feel a sequel coming on...I will be grabbing it up.
For me, that is the best recommendation you can get.
My thanks to the publisher and Library Thing Early Reviewers for my copy of this book.
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