An Update

I am listening to Lindsay Davis' Alexandria as I putter around the house. Davis has a refreshing take on historical fiction. The "lingo" is today's, but Marcus Didius Falco is an AD60's Roman "informer." Davis has written 20 novels centered around Falco and his wife's sleuthing!

I just finished David Baldacci's Wish You Well and loved it. Reading it reminded me of my grandmother's stories! I've ordered the audio version for her, and I need to get it to her ASAP!

In the car, I'm listening to Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiana. I'm loving the Italian!

I'm also reading Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint and trying to make my life and diet...yup, more primal! Ha!


Ciao, for now!

Too Many Books...At a Time!

Does anyone else, like me, juggle about 5 books at a time? The minimum number of books I’m reading at one time almost has to be 3 just because I listen to one book in the car as I drive to work and around town. I also have an audio book loaded on the Blackberry that gets me through housework, gardening, etc. And, of course, I have an old-fashioned print book handy to read in bed or on the deck as the perfect form of entertainment and relaxation! Oftentimes, however, I get 2-3 print books going—hence, my total of 5 books at the moment! Here’s the run-down.


Currently Reading---In the Car


Tipperary by Frank Delaney (Random House, 2008)—Frank Delaney reads for the audio version, and his voice is delightful to listen to! Good readers make all the difference in audio books. Tipperary is historical fiction, set in Ireland in the late 1800s-early 1900s. Readers follow Charles O’Brien’s exploits throughout this segment of Ireland’s history, including the mundane and some of the country’s most important skirmishes. O’Brien even encounters Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Yeats. I am about halfway through this novel and am enjoying it immensely! I just read where Delaney likened his narrator’s encounters with events of people of his time as Forrest Gump-like! Ha!


I see that Delaney has other titles (Ireland, Shannon), so I will have to look for these also. Listening to an Irish brogue while driving is quite relaxing!


Currently Reading—On the Blackberry


Kingdom of Lies: An Inspector Keene Dunliff Mystery by N. Lee Wood (Blackstone Audiobooks, 2005, narrated by Ralph Cosham)—I spent a few hours at it, but I finally figured out how to use my Kansas State Library card to download FREE audio books. You technically “check them out” for a certain period, and you’re limited to only 10 books at a time, but that hasn’t hindered me yet! The toughest part was getting all the various pieces of the process to work all at the same time to make the event possible. It’s a great way to do housework, though!


I’m not usually a detective novel buff, but I’m always a sucker for a good accent! Publishers Weekly kind of sealed the deal with this remark: “Part police procedural and part historical with a dash of romance, SF writer Wood's debut mystery, the first of a series, should have wide appeal.” Plus, it was the right format, and it was available. The only drawback from the KSL audio book program is that many of the books are “not available.” I guess they’re checked out!


Currently Reading—The Old-Fashioned Way


New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Paperback, Little, Brown an dCompany, 2006) I am sadly behind in the Twilight series, so I must get going. My daughter is wanting me to watch the newer movies (I’ve only seen the first one!), and I insist on reading the books first. They’re easy reads; I get sucked into the plot quickly (a little vampire word choice happening there!), so it shouldn’t be too much of a hardship to “make” myself get this done! Ah, life is tough sometimes--grin!







All You Need to be Impossibly French: A Witty Investigation into the Lives, Lusts, and Little Secrets of French Women by Helena Frith Powell (Paperback, Plume, 2006) Again, I’m a SUCKER for accents, all things European (except for funky food—you know, the food made from parts of animals I don’t usually eat—or animals I don’t usually eat, for that matter!). Anyway, I gave in and ordered a slew of style/culture books I’ve had my eye on for a while. It’s a bad habit, I know, but it’s relatively harmless, and it’s a whole lot cheaper than a plane ticket overseas!


Helena Frith Powell, a regular contributor to the Sunday Times and numerous other periodicals, grew up in Britain but now lives in southern France with her family. So far, she seems to provide clear, frank insight into the nuances of French style she wasn’t even aware of when she was 100% British. So far…a fun, informative read!


The Professors’ Wives’ Club by Joanne Rendell (Paperback, NAL Trade, 2008) The Publishers Weekly review on Amazon starts out, “This tepid debut novel….” Oooh. Not good. I haven’t gotten far yet, and so far the plot is not anything more than tepid, but I’m willing to give it time to develop. It is summer, after all, and the price is right. I picked this book up at our local library’s used book sale. Even if I hate it and don’t end up finishing it, I’m not out much!

This wraps up the juggling demo, and I'm off to read!

Starting Summer Off Right!

I've got just under a week left  before summer school begins, so I'd better get books posted while I have some time! Also, the blog's blocked from school internet--bummer!

I'm currently listening to Daughter of York on audio CD. I love historical fiction, and this books features Margaret of York's story as she grows from being the King's sister to international importance in the late 1400s. I haven't finished yet, but the voices are nicely done, and I'm enjoying the story.

I just finished Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. I actually discovered this title while shopping around for an audio book. It seems to be a favorite among audio book listeners! I can imagine that the voices would be very interesting, for the plot involves a codgy Englishman whose life crosses paths, and then becomes entangled with, a Pakistani woman and her extended family. The plot may sound stuffy and dull, but Simonson seems to anticipate this pothole and deftly whisks the reader down the highway. Here's her opener: "Major Pettigrew was still upset about the phone call from his brother's wife and so he answered the doorbell without thinking. On the damp bricks of the path stood Mrs. Ali from the village shop." The story never does seem to slow down!

Here are three other books that kept me busy as the regular school year was wrapping up!
Signora da Vinci by Robin Maxwell
The Scroll of Seduction by Gioconda Belli
The Last Van Gogh by Alyson Richman

Finally!

Well, it's been a while! I started this blog so that I'd be better about keeping track of books I've read, and what do I do but...quit keeping track. It's time to try and catch up!

I JUST finished Charlaine Harris' Dead in the Family (Ace, May 2010), the tenth in her Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie's a fun protagonist with her small-town Southern manners and sexy collection of vampire, werewolf, shape shifter, and fairy acquaintances. This is a series you inhale rather than read!

I seem to be unintentionally on a vampire theme because last week I finished The Historian (Little, Brown, 2005) by Elizabeth Kostova, which takes a more historical approach to Dracula. This novel contains nuances of another favorite genre, travel writing, as various historians search through the centuries and several countries for Vlad Dracul's tomb. I'm anxious to read more of Kostova's work!

Last week I also finished the audio version of Tracy Chevalier's Remarkable Creatures. I think I've read all of Chevalier's novels (Girl with the Pearl Earring and others), and I was not disappointed with this one. Remarkable Creatures is set in early 1800s Lyme Regis, England, and is based on true accounts of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, two unlikely friends battling gender and religious barriers as they explore the complex and unknown world of fossils in the cliffs and beaches of their coasts. The reading in this audio book is very well done. I loved the change in voice and dialect as the POV switched between Elizabeth and Mary.

Finally, I can't say enough good things about Kathryn Stockett's The Help (Penguin Audio, 2009), another audio book with fantastic readers. Set in Mississippi in the 1960s, Stockett's novel also depicts an unlikely friendship. Where Chevalier addresses gender, economic, and religious issues, Stockett addresses racial ones as Skeeter, a white 20-something Southern belle fresh out of college, and Skeeter's snooty friends' black maids, Aibilene and Minnie, navigates the confusing waters of the Jim Crowe, civil rights battles of the South. I love the message in this book, and I enjoyed the various historical references. The Help definitely deserves a place on the shelf right next to the beloved To Kill a Mockingbird!

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but I feel caught up, at least! Much better!

Big Fat Manifesto by Susan Vaught. Bloomsbury. 2008. Teens.

All those things you think--but don't say--about  fat, being fat, or fat people? Jamie Carcaterra says them. She calls you on them. Jamie's a senior. She's a writer. She's an actress, and she has a boyfriend. She's out to win a college scholarship with her blunt, brutal column Fat Girl in the school's newspaper.

I haven't read any of Susan Vaught's work before, but the characters she's created in BFM and her head-on tackling of issues that many shy away from has made me curious. According to her web site, Vaught is a practicing psychiatrist, as well as a full-time writer. Vaught also candidly shares pics regarding her own body transformation on the site, so I'm sure she's speaking, at least partly, through experience through several characters in her novel. According to the publisher's site, BFM has received several awards or citations--deservedly so!

I'm now anxious to read some of Vaught's other works, particularly Fat Tuesday and Trigger!

Love You Hate You Miss You

I just finished this Elizabeth Scott YA novel. It's Spring Break, so I've had the luxury of starting it this morning in bed and finishing it before lunch. I won't spoil the plot for you, but the novel touches on the Lord-of-the-Flies behavior we know that kids are so good at! They're beasts, and I think the beastliness starts younger and younger. Who knows...preschool probably already has clicques! I'm not saying adults aren't also beastly. We definitely don't grow out of it. It's just that adults have a bit more armor at the ready than do tikes. So, really, this novel spoke to me more as a parent than as a female (victim, I might add, of the beastliness...and occasional disher-outer of the beastliness...maybe more than "occasional," to be honest!). Anyway, the novel spoke to me as a parent because the crisis in Amy's life stems partly/mostly from her parents' absence in her life. They're in Amy's life physically, but they're not there poking, prodding, hovering...all those things that really tick off teens, and yet those things that are vital to warding off as much evil and danger as possible during that time in their lives. It's not a pretty time, and your teens are going to momentarily hate you for monitoring and checking and pestering. And you can't guarantee their safety, but you do your best. And most of the time your teens forgive you later. That's what this novel said to me. It said, "Parents, wake up! You HAVE to make your kids mad to truly be doing your job. Don't take the easy way and tell yourself that a quiet kid is a happy kid, a safe kid. 'Quiet' is an awfully good cover!"

Marriage--Surprise After Surprise!

Having been married for 25 years, you don't have to tell me that marriage is complicated, beautiful, frustrating, satisfying, and...complicated. Knowing this, I was hesitate to wade into Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. After reading Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, which I enjoyed, I was afraid that Gilbert was going to poo-poo marriage as a subversive institution that oppressed women and sabotaged relationships. I won't spoil the book for you, but I will share two morsels that were eye-opening for me. One is that marriage is NOT a Christian institution, at least not historically. The early Christians actually spoke out against marriage, preaching celibacy instead, but eventually relented when partnering up just wouldn't go away. The other tidbit is that marriage and family might actually be a rebellious act. Yes! Amazing, isn't it? You'll have to read the book for yourself to hear the full arguments, but I think you'll enjoy the journey!

Reading and Gardening--Two of My Great Loves

Happy Valentine's Day! I know we're still deep in the throes of Winter, but Valentine's Day--for me--always marks the turning of the corner towards Spring! With that in mind, here's a run-down from a book I read a few years ago. I found my notes during a cleaning spree this weekend!

Great Garden Shortcuts, ed. Joan Benjamin, Roadale Press, 1996:

Animal Pests

• Flashtape--set it out only as fruit ripesn because the birds become used to it
• Sticky balls--cover red balls with plastic bag and "gooey stuff" (quite a technical term!), like Tanglefoot; 1 = dwarf tree, 3 or 4 = semi-dwarf or regular size

Asparagus

• Plant 4" deep
• Thicker spears = better
• Mulch wit h3-4" sawdust
• Fertilize heavily
• You don't have to wait to harvest--you can harvest in the first year

Corn

• Plant corn in trenches and cover with gutter protector while small
• Fill trench in as plants grow

Cukes

• Plant between rows of sunflowers for afternoon shade

Disease

• Verticillium wilt = chopped African marigolds

Fertilizing

• (and tomato staking!) 2" PVC pipe 5 feet long
• Drill holes into end going into ground to deliver fertilizer into the soil
• Drill holes at intervals to thread twine/wire to stake plant

Grapes

• Easy to grow! Choose disease resistant cultivars

Ground Covers

• Add clematis to low-growing juniper for surprising flowers; don't have to be trellised
• Use house plants for shady spot ground cover
• Use clay flue tiles to corral aggressive plants, like mint or oregano

Herbs

• You can root basil in water like philodendrum

Intensive Gardening

• Use differently sized bottles as spacing guides; use the bottoms
• Plant lettuce, etc., under taller crops like corn
• Also use lettuce around other crops as a living mulch

Melons

• Don't rush to plant melons; wait for the soil to warm
• Seed melons directly; don't attempt to transplant them
• Hold off water 8-10 days prior to harvest to develop sugars that provide taste

Peas

• Ignore usual spacing guidelines on seed packets and plant them extra thick
• Plant peas early in large container like whiskey barrel (I actually tried this one year. I planted peas, lettuce, etc., in large pots on the south side of the house. They did great!)

Perennials

• Pre-germinate seeds: Use an unbleached coffee filter and a plastic container with a clear lid. Spray the filter and seeds with water (no puddles). Place it on top of the fridge, and check seeds in 3-4 days.

Potatoes

• Sometimes potatoes planted too early merely rot in the soil. Avoid disease by planting early in containers.

Season Extension

• Sink heat lovers in bottomless plastic pots

Seeds & Seedlings

• Create seed mixess-custom

Soil Prep

• Turning the soil actually encourages weeds because you expose weed seeds to light, etc.

Spinach

• Boost germination by throwing cardboard over after planting and watering; take it off when spinach has sprouted

Squash

• Plant a ring of radishes around squash plants

Vegetables

• Don't furrow. Push seeds/sets into ground with finger.

These are some good ideas. I can't wait to try some of them out in a few months! It's also nice to be able to get the notes someplace where they'll be helpful, rather than sitting in the abandoned school bag.

Upcycling!

I ran into the term "upcycle" the other day shopping on Etsy. I can't remember what I was initially looking at, maybe scarves or jewelry, but I ran into a site offering "upcycled" glasses, coasters, and other things made from old bottles. I have a fondness for crafts like this as my father, a retired shop teacher, had his students making glasses from coke bottles and things in the 70s. Cutting glass is a lot harder than you might imagine, and Dad explained that they used the welder and wires or something to create the cut. Anyway, I love the glasses and coasters on the site.

Wikipedia defines upcycling as "the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value." While I don't upcycle on quite as grand a scale as YAVA Glass on Etsy.com, I do have my moments. Here are pics of my efforts (with a lot of help from family!):


These are "upcycled" cheese boards my aunt made in her pottery kiln. The one laying flat is a gorgeous cobalt blue. The jars are my own upcycling efforts--not nearly as exciting as my aunt's! I cleaned up my junk drawer and needed small containers for safety pins and Christmas ornament hangers. I luckily remembered jars that I had just washed up and saved, knowing a non-cluttery woman would just go ahead and recycle them. I couldn't bring myself to because these two jars are just too cute! The shorter one is a pesto jar that comes in an adorable Atlas jar with measurements along the side. The taller jar is a Polaner All Fruit spread jar that has gorgeous facets. Here are close-ups:



Another "upcycled" piece I have is an olive oil bottle I use for dish soap. I guess I really like glass, and I have a difficult time getting rid of bottles and jars that are unique, cool, or pretty!

Here I Go!

I think...alot...too much. Sometimes I exhaust myself. I talk in my head until I'm tired and must rest. It's ridiculous! Maybe a blog will help. Maybe a blog will help me compartmentalize, segregate--a time for thinking and a time for not thinking. We'll see!


I named the blog Currently Reading because I seem to always be reading when I should be doing something else. I should be grading papers or cleaning or cooking supper, but I'm reading. I've been known to read the telephone book!



Lately, I've been reading a lot of travel nonfiction: Frances Mayes, Peter Mayle, and others. I especially enjoy reading about France. Today I went to the library and got copies of French Women for all Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, & Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano (nonfiction) and Anything Considered by Peter Mayle (fiction).