books in review, 2010

i had set a goal for myself to read 50 books last year. I did not make that goal--mostly life got in the way! we bought a condo and then we got a dog. neither of these things allowed for the amount of time i needed to be able to read 50 books in 2010. i continued on my english literature education path and enjoyed plenty more books in that genre (perhaps reading about 2000 pages of annotated sherlock holmes also did not help me get to my goal of 50 books!). i now feel that i've read enough english literature to make up for that lack in my high school experience. i do think i'm done with that for now, though! i don't know if i'll have a theme this year... but here's the definite list, with my star ratings on them:

1. dracula by bram stoker--english literature, 5 stars
2. work by louisa may alcott--read for work, 3 stars
3. yellow journalism: scandal, sensationalism, and gossip in the media by daniel cohen--read for work, 3 stars
4. the last american man by elizabeth gilbert--saw her speak at the ala midwinter in boston and so checked out this book (surprisingly a really good read!), 4 stars
5. we two: victoria and albert: rulers, partners, rivals by gillian gill--read for work, but also gave me a lot of context into the english lit i had been reading, 4 stars
6. alice's adventures in wonderland by lewis carroll--english lit, 4 stars
7. mennonite in a little black dress: a memoir of going home by rhoda janzen--hilarious, but plotless, 3 1/2 stars
8. dissolution by c.j. sansom--historical fiction that takes place in england during henry VIII, so kind of contemporary english lit and fun, 1st book of the "matthew shardlake series," 3 stars
9. a history of the wife by marilyn yalom--saw it on the shelf at work and was intrigued, 4 stars
10. dark fire by c.j. sansom--2nd book of the "matthew shardlake series," 4 stars
11. jacques cousteau: the sea king by brad matsen--i like good biographies, but this one made me realize that jacques was an asshole, 3 stars
12. the new annotated sherlock holmes (v. 1) by sir arthur conan doyle, edited by leslie s. klinger--the first 1000 pages, so much fun!, 4 stars
13. we beat the street: how a friendship pact led to success by the three doctors--i read as part of the promising pals program, 3 stars
14. i am nujood, age 10 and divorced by nujood ali with delphine minoui--i find so many interesting books for free after the cs monitor reviews them (they get thrown on a table and are up for grabs), heart-rending but good, 4 stars
15. king arthur and his knights of the round table by roger lancelyn green--english lit, 5 stars
16. georgiana, duchess of devonshire by amanda foreman--english history, 5 stars
17. murder of a medici princess by caroline p. murphy--another free monitor throw-away, 5 stars
18. scratch beginnings: me, $25, and the search for the american dream by adam shepard--yup, another monitor book, 4 stars
19. the blue sweater: bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected world by jacqueline novogratz--we bought it for the library at work, fantastic but another book that makes you feel like you need to give more in your life, 5 stars
20. a walk in the woods: rediscovering america on the appalachian trail by bill bryson--because we hiked 30 miles of the appalachian trail, 5 stars
21. the new annotated sherlock holmes (v. 2) by sir arthur conan doyle, edited by leslie s. klinger--the rest of it!, 5 stars
22. spymom: the true story of a soccer mom turned private eye by val agosta--said something about nancy drew on the back, 3 stars
23. the greatest english classic: a study of the king james version of the bible and its influence on life and literature by cleland boyd mcafee--for work, 3 stars
24. god's secretaries: the making of the king james bible by adam nicolson--for work, snoozer, 3 stars
25. in the beginning: the story of the king james bible and how it changed a nation, a language, and a culture by alister mcgrath--for work, but these kjv books fit nicely into my english lit/history year, 4 1/2 stars
26. the life of elizabeth i by alison weir--english history and just a great read!, 5 stars
27. mapping the world: stories of geography by caroline & martine laffon--i love maps and map books, but this sucked, 1 star
28. madame bovary by gustave flaubert--loved it, 5 stars
29. inferno by dante alighieri--one of my favorite books, 4 stars because i didn't like this translation as much
30. purgatorio by dante alighieri--don't really like this translation, same as the inferno and we have it at work, 3 stars
31. laika by nick abadzis--a great graphic novel, but it made me sad, 5 stars
32. the diary of a teenage girl: an account in words and pictures by phoebe gloeckner--a little too gratuitously graphic for my taste, 3 stars

so there you have it. 32 books, 13 of them from the genre of english literature or history, 13 fiction, 19 non-fiction, many of them free books that i picked up for free from the christian science monitor offices.

here's to trying to read 50 books in 2011!

laika

i'm kind of obsessed with soviet things. now that's not to say that i think soviet things are "awesome" or that i'm a communist (though my husband thinks so...). i understand truly what people in eastern european countries went through during communism--having family that experienced this first-hand, but also having lived in hungary myself and getting to know what life was like there from friends. interestingly, things were still pretty similar even when i lived there in 2000.

that being said, you can't help but be in awe over some of the things that the soviets accomplished, and just the extreme timetables and task-mastering that occurred. personally, i am particularly interested in the space race! even on the web today was this story about about how soyuz is still going strong and will soon be the only way to get to the international space station. WOW!

in comes laika. i am in love with laika and have been for a long time. her story makes me so sad. if my dog had been white and brown, i would have named her laika. so when i went to the somerville public library the other day and saw a comic book about laika, i had to check it out.

what a great story! part fact, part fiction--so nicely illustrated and even though i know the story of laika and know what happens, i almost cried! i recommend it if you like graphic novels at all. it was such a quick read and so worth it. he was really able to infuse the story with humanity. and his bibliography at the back of the book was quite extensive. i think i'll check out some of those books as well (because of my obsession, of course!). i enjoyed it enough, too, to check out some more of nick abadzis's work--i'll keep you posted if i find something else of his to read at the library.

so here's my tribute to laika--to spread her story to those i know. especially if you are an animal lover, it will break your heart (but you should still read the book!). so laika, rest in peace among the stars...

3 weeks with violet

well, we've been with violet for 3 weeks now, and it's been a crazy 3 weeks. i never really, truly realized how much my life would have to change for a puppy.

• i now get up between 2 and 4am every day to take her out for a leak.
• she gets walks at 6:15am, 12:30pm, 5pm and 9pm every day
• she gets fed at 6am, noon and 6pm--these times are not always convenient for me...
• her crate is very ritualized so that she can learn to become comfortable with it and might go into it someday on her own
• we have to watch her like a hawk to prevent messes and potty training is mixed--some days are good, some not

anyway, we've also had some fights: violet and me, not lee and me. she somehow told herself that lee was the alpha and that she didn't have to listen to me. i was to love, but not to respect. we've been working on that, and she's seeing me as more of an authority these days.

all in all, i'm beginning to enjoy it. no--i did not always enjoy her company at first. but we're getting there! and here's 3 weeks of photos to prove it :)

she learned to fetch by the end of day 1. unfortunately, she chewed the hell out of this little ducky (and yes, it was a teething toy of sorts) and so it was thrown out at the end of week 1. she has also completely chewed through 2 nylabones.


wrestling with lee on the floor. she won!


she has claimed our kitchen mat as her own bed... i then bought her a bed and she has been way to excited by it to actually use it--she scratches it, chews it, throws it around, but she does not lay on it. so for now, the kitchen mat is hers. we'll try the bed again in a few weeks...


and this shows what she'll look like if she gets german shepherd ears...


look at those jowls! i think her face looks like a muppet's :)


the first time she voluntarily got into her crate was when we gave her a puppy kong filled with peanut butter. she drooled and immediately ran to her crate to keep it from us. that has not happened again, but tonight she got into her crate on her own when she smelled that our dinner was done! we always put her in the crate during dinner and it worked! don't know if she'll do it again, but yay for conditioning!


when we got her, she was 11 lbs. in three weeks, she has gained 6 lbs. we think she'll be bigger than we originally thought. who knows what went on with her at the rescue--there were a lot of dogs there, so maybe she didn't get enough food or something. but look how much she's grown!

successful food freak dinner club :)

i have no excuse, but i forgot to take pictures. and that's a shame, because we had delicious food! so just a textual teaser today:

glutino crackers, almond thins and a variety of cheeses opened the meal
mulled and spiked cider

for the main course: lobster newburg
served with: pumpkin dumplings over sauteed bok choy and oven roasted asparagus

dessert: pear and cranberry crumble with pumpkin ice cream

all homemade, and all delicious! thanks to beth for sending me a link to a new york times blog with gluten free/vegetarian thanksgiving recipes. that's where the pumpkin dumplings came from--though they were served over sauteed radicchio. i couldn't find radicchio or even endive, so went for baby bok choy and it seemed to do the trick. mmm, mmm... they were a hit, as was everything else. we all licked our plates clean and had NOTHING left except lee's pumpkin ice cream. because, well, homemade ice cream makes a lot, and i don't like it and the other folks just weren't the champs they were supposed to be...

anyway, looking forward to many more meals with these folks :)

some food and holiday misanthropy

lee and i used to be in this fantastic vegetarian dinner club. we met with beth, trinity, paul, sylvie and miriam about once a month. whoever was hosting cooked an entire vegetarian meal--sometimes themed for an upcoming holiday, sometimes a celebration of an event in one of our lives, sometimes just simple food. one meal i'll always remember is when beth had just moved into a new apartment we had veggie burgers and root beer floats. these were great times!

so i've tried to recreate something of this with other friends. my friend, ashley, is allergic to wheat. i thought: maybe we can do a little dinner club and some of my more adventurous friends won't mind cooking restrictions? we'll even make it a pot luck to lessen the burden of cooking gluten free. well, i've pulled it together, but not without difficulty. i have a great pal at work who loves a cooking challenge and we've gotten together for dinners before with our husbands/boyfriends. but other friends have turned the invitation down :( i had hoped people would just like to have a meal with friends once a month! it has made me little sad.

katie and ashley both asked for a list of what i could not eat. here's what i sent them--i've never enumerated it in this way before! it astounded even me a bit:

in the gluten category:
wheat
semolina
barley (this includes malt flavoring or syrup)
rye
spelt
durum
triticale (whatever this is...)
kamut
oats--unless they specifically say GLUTEN FREE
texturized vegetable, soy or any kind of "fake" protein
soy sauce or other asian sauces unless it specifically says GLUTEN/WHEAT FREE
couscous
"normal" pasta and breads
tabbouleh
wheat berries
beer
whiskey, scotch, cognac (all other liquor is okay)
anything with caramel coloring
check packaged broths--many are NOT GLUTEN FREE

in the non-gluten category, i have other problems:
walnuts and pecans--this is where i should also say that nuts make me panic so i stick to cashews, almonds, pinenuts, and peanuts...
quinoa--i am apparently allergic to this magical gluten free food :(
soy and other bean flours--no problems with other soy products or beans, just if something (usually a baked good) is made with soy or other bean flour

we were also invited over to share thanksgiving dinner with friends of ours. they didn't think that i couldn't eat ANYTHING at a traditional thanksgiving table. of course i don't eat turkey, but now--no stuffing, biscuits, cornbread, gravy, not even green bean casserole. just the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. they're super easy to work with, but i basically will be cooking an entire thanksgiving dinner and then have to cart it all the way out to the suburbs to reheat. it made me sad to think it's just easier to eat by ourselves at home!

so i'm sorry for the rant. tomorrow night is the first gathering with the new dinner club, that we have affectionately dubbed "food freak dinner club." we are a cozy group of 5, and i just hope it works out. i'll post some pictures and some recipes i hope. i'm just wishing for some quality dinner time with some great friends again and i really hope this works!

welcome home, violet

lee and i just got a new puppy. her name is violet. most of you have seen her pictures on facebook, but here's she is again:

violet is doing pretty well on her crate training. although i've got to say that people keep telling us that she'll eventually love her crate and see it as her special place. i feel like they're lying. she goes into it, but only if we make her. and she lays down and goes to sleep, but only after a resigned sigh. if she actually uses this on her own ever, i'll be surprised.

housebreaking is a different challenge. she's just not speaking to us. we know when she has to go do a number 2 because she gets fidgety and barks or groans. but peeing is a different story. we'll be playing or something, and she just drops the toy and pees. we've tried to get her to ring a bell when she needs to go outside but it's not working yet. so this will take some patience.

walking on a leash is going fantastically though! she's great at this and loves to walk--which is good because she gets about 3 or 4 walks per day. she has so much energy and loves to walk, so we do this and she's sleeping like a baby at night. she gets up between 2 and 3am for a leak, but otherwise sleeps well without even a whine in the crate. also, once she gets settled down in the house (after walks or playing) she also goes right to sleep in one of our laps. this is helping us keep our sanity. because otherwise she barks a lot. and i hate barking. she barks so loudly that lee and i had to buy earplugs. we're hoping this is just separation anxiety and will go away. if not, we'll be remedying the situation with anti-barking methods...

anyway, violet is a puppy and also chews a lot. i'm waiting for this to end as well. but all in all, she's a sweet animal and we can't wait for her to settle down a bit and be the kind of dog we can take for hikes and more. she has a great disposition and is super friendly, so she won't make a good watch dog :) but that's ok!

i'm so glad we found violet.

i can't do it!

read the kjv, that is.

i've basically given up :( it's cumbersome, it puts me to sleep, i pay attention to everything else that is going on around me when i'm reading the book EXCEPT the book itself. to really illustrate how difficult this book has been for me to read, and really show why i've given up--i shamefully admit that i have only finished genesis and exodus.

yes folks, that is only the first two books of the bible. oh, and i've been reading it for about a month and a half now.

i did, however, finish madame bovary and it was lovely. so while attempting to read the holiest book in christendom, i finished and loved a book filled with amorality, lust and lies. :) i recommend it!