I need to find a book group. I'm trying to go to the one at my local library, but I haven't managed to get the right book and have it read in time for the meeting, and I've been trying for the last three months. The book for October was The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I'm listening to the audiobook, and it's just…soooo…long. I'm on disk 16 of 18. I tried desperately to finish before they met last Tuesday, but I just couldn't take any more and had to take a break. I don't know what the problem is, I've listened to books that were even longer, and there is a lot to like (although there are some very unlikable characters, of course). I think there are just some books that are easier to read and some that are fun to listen to, and this is in the former category. 

So, for my break from the never-ending audiobook, I read Sarah's Key , about which I have been hearing all sorts of good things. And now I need to have a book discussion about it, so I just thought I'd have it here, and if anyone else has read it, please talk to me in the comments! Be warned, there are going to be spoilers, so if you haven't read it yet, stop right now, I don't want to ruin it for you! And also, I didn't like it much, so I'm really sorry if you loved it. Please feel free to explain why, if you did. I'm open to other opinions! 

Okay, let's chat about this. I really wanted to like this book, I feel like I've read quite a few WWII/Holocaust books lately, and they have been among the best books I've ever read (The Book Thief, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, just to name a couple), and I've seen some excellent documentaries on the same subject (The Rape of Europa was a fascinating look at the loss of art, particularly from Jewish-run galleries and collectors as well as from museums. Highly recommended!), so I'm already in this WWII mindset, and just fascinated with it.

So, it starts out alternating between two stories, that of a young girl from a Jewish family in Paris in 1942, and that of a 40-something American woman in modern day Paris. I found the quick transitions between the two stories in the beginning really jarring, and just when you have really connected with this young girl, and really want to know more about her experience, the story shifts solely to modern times. 

I really had a hard time with Julia. I'm reading all about this horrific event, where families are rounded up, crowded into a velodrome under deplorable conditions, and then torn apart and sent to different camps, and, of course killed. It just made me not really care about her first world problems. Also, I really couldn't understand her difficulty in making a decision about having an abortion. As soon has her husband said that's what he wanted, the marriage was over. That kind of ultimatum, to me, is the end of any relationship. If she went through with it, how could she live with this man who would ask such a thing of her? I thought it was just a cheap dramatic ploy. Ugh! And then the whole attraction between her and Sarah's son, I just didn't see it, it was like a cheese-y romance novel. I did like the development of the character of her father-in-law, and I thought Mamé was someone I would have liked to know more about, but they were the only ones in the modern Paris that I liked. The rest just seemed so underdeveloped and little more than caricatures. 

I think there was enormous potential here, and rather than having the two POVs of Julia and Sarah, I would have loved to have read some other character's perspectives, like the policeman that let Sarah escape, the older couple that took her in, and even Sarah's husband and son, and seeing how the grown-up Sarah coped with her past. Oh, and one other thing that I didn't understand was the author referring to Sarah as "the girl" until she tells the older couple her name. As if we don't know who she is. The name of the book is Sarah's Key, I think we all know what her name is. Was it a literary device that I am too dense to have gotten? 

Okay, I'll stop here, but please, oh please, if you have read this book can we have a discussion in the comments? I would so appreciate it! 

 

 

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It happens every summer, I just have to take a break from the computer, and so the blog suffers. Mostly I've been cooking and reading, and trying to stay cool up here in the mountains. Sadly, I haven't been taking many pictures, so  you will just have to imagine the following: fresh pea risotto with lemon zest (this would also work well with frozen peas. My secret ingrediant? Just add a couple tablespoons of cream at the very end); apricot yogurt popsicles (apricot nectar make surprisingly delicious popsicles, I highly recommend it!), white chocolate layer cake with apricot filling (there will be more on this at a later time, I am attempting to learn to make Italian buttercream, and my first go-round was a 
complete failure), and pasta salads (one with fresh tomatoes, fresh corn, fresh basil, and a lime-cumin dressing. Another, using orzo, with pesto, pistachios, golden raisins and green olives). I'm pretty 
sure I'll be making all of these things again soon, so there may be pictures and official recipes someday. Oh yes, I did manage a pizza photo:

But it seems that my photography mojo is temporarily lacking. I'm hoping it will be back soon.

So, the pizza. It's a summer favorite I like to call bruschetta pizza. Roll out some dough, drizzle with olive oil, rub with a cut clove of garlic and bake just until it starts browning and is cooked through. As soon as you take it out of the oven, top with a mixture of diced tomatoes, fresh basil, salt & pepper and olive oil & vinegar to taste. I used some lovely heirloom tomatoes, and a little balsamic vinegar. Then you can top that with a salad lightly dressed with more oil & vinegar. I even added some crumbled feta to this one. I especially like an arugula salad, but this spring mix was delicious too. 

I've been doing lots of reading this summer, so just in case you're looking for something good to read, here are a few suggestions for you: 

• Blessed Are the Cheesemakers by Sara Kate Lynch (Artisan cheesemakers in Ireland, a long, lost granddaughter, a Wall Street trader, down on his luck, and lots of other quirky characters, very cute!)
• The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon Novels) and The English Assassin  by Daniel Silva (The beginnings of a series featuring Gabriel Allon, art restorer and former Israeli super-spy. They're pretty decent thrillers. I'll continue the series when I'm in the mood for a satisfying thriller, but I'm not so invested in the characters that I have to finish one and immediately pick up the next)
• Bruno, Chief of Police (Vintage) by Martin Walker (A small town in Provence, a police officer who avoids making arrests, villagers avoiding EU health inspections of their cheeses, sausages and patés, lovely descriptions of food, oh, and a grisly, mysterious, murder. What could be better? First in a series, and I'm eagerly awaiting the second installment from the library)
• The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (Flavia De Luce Mystery 2) by Alan Bradley (I love 11-year-old sleuth, Flavia.)
• The Spellman Files: A Novel (Izzy Spellman Mysteries) , Revenge of the Spellmans: A Novel , and Curse of the Spellmans: A Novel by Lisa Lutz (I actually listened to all these while driving to and from work, I love the narrator, Christina Moore, and the books are so fun. I was laughing out loud while stuck in traffic, and didn't want to get out of the car. They're just a fun, light read. If you're a Stephanie Plum fan, you'll probably enjoy these as well)
• This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George (I've been reading the Inspector Lynley series for quite awhile. The last few books have not been as good, so it was nice to see the series improving a bit with this latest novel. There was a character I didn't really like, and hated seeing them hooking up with one of the regulars. I also listened to this one, and it was all I could do to not yell at them to knock it off. But that's only a small portion of the book, the mystery itself is quite good, lots of little twists at the end)
• Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy Bundle: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (So suspenseful! Very dark, but also compelling! Who hasn't read these yet?)
• Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel by Helen Simonson (So charming! But it also deals with issues like racism in a small English village, so it's not just fluff. There's also some lovely romance which I enjoyed, and I really liked the characters)
• The Hunger Games , Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) , and Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins (thankfully, I only heard about this trilogy shortly before the final book came out last month. I would have hated to wait! These are so, so good. Don't let the fact that they are being marketed as Young Adult books deter you, or the fact that they are sort of sci-fi/fantasy. These are the sort of books that will stay with you for a long, long time. They are brutal, but there is so much depth to them. I'm still thinking about Katniss and all the other competitors in The Hunger Games, and the world they live in. There's just so much to consider)

There's more, but that will do for now. I added that little amazon widget to the sidebar, over there to your right, and I've put some of my favorites there, so if you did happen to want to get them (or anything else from amazon, for that matter) it would be ever so lovely to shop from here. I'll earn a tiny bit of cash, and you'll get a good book. Win-win! I like this better than the Blogher ads I had there before. They got on my nerves, so I finally took them down. 

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I have a whole bunch of recommendations for you in this post, but mostly I want to talk about the book in the photo up there. I was quite lucky to be offered a copy from the publisher to read and review quite a little while ago, and I finally managed to site down and read last weekend. 

The Butcher and the Vegetarian was written by Tara Austen Weaver, author of the lovely Tea and Cookies blog, which I don't know how I've missed all this time, but it's now bookmarked in my cooking folder. In her book she tells her story of her encounters with meat (recommended by her doctor to help her overcome some health issues) after a lifetime as a vegetarian. There are a lot of books out there these days about our food supply and eating responsibly, and I've found some of them to be rather preachy and alarmist, but this was much different. Tara is very balanced in her book, and she writes with warmth and a little self-deprecating humor that I really connected with. I have actually been thinking about eating less meat, and eating better, more humanely raised meat when I do. I especially liked the sections  where she visited some smaller farms where the farmers are doing just that, and I definitely want to start looking for some sources for those types of products in my area. I was just the sort of thing I've been wanting to learn more about.

I think a lot of this thinking on my part has come from having my chickens for the last three and a half years. I love gathering and cooking their eggs, knowing that they spend their days wandering wherever they please, pecking and scratching and eating a diet with such variety. Those girls are spoiled, I tell you. They get fruit and vegetable scraps from the little café at work, all sorts of bugs, a handful of scratch every morning, and also their regular chicken feed. When I hear about factory egg farms, and how the birds are treated I know I never want to have a store bought egg again. 

So anyway, I highly recommend The Butcher and the Vegetarian, it's a good read, particularly if you are thinking about improving the way you eat.

So here are some other things I recommend right now:

• In my continuing quest to drink more water, I've started filling a pitcher with water filtered in our Brita filter and then adding ribbons of cucumber sliced lengthwise and a few sprigs of mint. So much better than plain! I'm not sure why, but I think it is much more thirst quenching.
• Netflix has all eight seasons of McLeod's Daughters, and I've been totally addicted. It's an Australian series about a bunch of women ranchers. I have to say, however, it went downhill into soap opera territory the last couple seasons. I loved the first three seasons the best. 
• I've reviewed a lot of cooking apps for the iPhone over at APPlesauce, and now that I've been trying them all out for a little while, the Epicurious app seems to be winning as my favorite. It's free, which of course earns it bonus points, but I would have paid for it if I had to. 
• My current favorite podcast (well, videocast, really) is Working Class Foodies. They're quick, just six or eight minutes, and full of all sorts of delicious recipes and tips, and everything is fresh but also cheap.

  

 
 
I bought some tiny Forelle pears, just because they were so pretty. 

 

 

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I've been going on and on about me, me, me, but I am also finding so much inspiration out there in the world at the moment. I just thought I'd acknowledge and share some of my favorite things lately. My favorite album at the moment (other than Good Night Human, of course), is Lisa Hannigen's Sea Sew. I'm loving this song so much: 

I also love the cover she hand-stitched herself: 

 

And for a little more handmade goodness, be sure to watch the video for Lille, the video director also made the pop-up books, which are so great!

I know this is everywhere in blogland, but if you haven't had a chance to look at Weekend Sewing, I would suggest you head to the bookstore this week and take a peek.

 

I'm pretty particular about the craft books I bring home, because 1) I only have so much shelf space, and there's not much left, and 2) I already know how to sew, so how-to books not really necessary. I love this one the inspiration and the fact that Heather Ross so creative and such a great writer on top of it all. Her blog is so much fun to read, just for the stories she tells. I am also really hankering for some of her new fabric after seeing this little project (scroll down to see the finished quilted kimono and dress). 

And one last bit of inspiration is this sweater. I'm not sure if it would be flattering on my busty self, but I sure do love it, and may have to make it regardless.

Okay, now I'm off to do some sewing myself. See how inspired I am!

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Miss Cara Lou!

I’ll send you an e-mail, Cara, to get your address. I hope to make it to the post office sometime this week, so your book will be on its way very soon. And, for the rest of you, the good news is that you can still read The Book Thief for free, just by going to your local library. Speaking of my library love, tomorrow if you show your library card at your local Chipotle (if you have a local Chipotle) you can have a free burrito or bowl! Guess where I’m going for lunch tomorrow?

I hate that feeling I get when I finish a book that’s so good it makes me want to keep reading and I realize I have nothing waiting in the wings. I feel like I have quite the treasure trove of books to read now, so I won’t have to worry about that feeling for awhile. Thank you all so much for your recommendations!  I’ve already requested a few from the library. And thanks for the GoodReads friends adds too! Now I feel a little bit more popular :o)

This is mostly for my own reference, but maybe some of you will also find it helpful. I’m listing all the recommended books right here (with some additional comments from me, in italic)

Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Schienmann

London by Edward Rutherford

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Nature Photography Field Guide by John Shaw

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (recommended by my adorable nephew)

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (I actually listened to this one on cd and really enjoyed it. I also liked his other book, A Spot of Bother)

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer

In My Hands by Irene Gut Opdyke

On Hitler’s Mountain by Imgard A. Hunt

The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (two recommendations! And since Debbie has bossed me, much like I bossed everyone into giving me recommendations, I’ve already requested it from the library!)

Night by Elie Wiesel

Molokai by Alan Brennert

When Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holithe

The Kommandant’s Girl by Pam Jenoff

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks (Melissa, if you like books about survivors, I highly recommend Endurance, by Alfred Lansing. It’s the true story of an exploration ship on its way to Antarctica, trapped in the ice and how they survived. It took place in 1914, and even pictures they took on their adventure survived. It’s a fascinating story)

The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (I’ve read this one too, and liked it, but not enough to rush out and read other books by the same author. I do like historical fiction, though, so I’ll probably read some of her others eventually)

Brother Cadfael books by Ellis Peters

First There is a River by Kathy Steffen

The Train to Estelline, A Place Called Sweet Shrub, and Dance a Little Longer…(A strong young schoolmarm in early day west Texas.) all by Jane Roberts Wood (This reminds me of another book I love, Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. It’s not fiction, however, but her actual letters to a friend after moving to Wyoming with her daughter. She eventually marries the man she works for, but also claims her own homestead. I love that tough-woman, can-do, self-sufficient pioneer spirit, and this woman has all those qualities.)

The Bare Naked Bride by anonymous (I can’t find this one anywhere Hatti, are you sure about the title? It sounds intriguing!)

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares

These is My Words by Nancy Turner

Jim the Boy by Tony Earley

The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat

No County For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (I’ve read All the Pretty Horses, his stuff is good, but dark. I sort of liked the movie, but how can you actually like a movie like that? I don’t think that’s the right word. It was good but disturbing)

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

Quiet Please: Dispatches From A Public Librarian by Scott Douglas

In the meantime, I’ve also finished reading I am the Messenger, by Marcus Zusak, the author of The Book Thief. It’s quite different than The Book Thief, but it was so very good. I really liked it. I also read Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull. I liked that too, but some of the dialogue was a little stiff and it reminded me a bit of The Spiderwick Chronicles (the movie, I haven’t read the book or books?). But it was the first of a series, and I’m looking forward to reading the later books to see if the author has loosened up a little :o)

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