Watcha Reading in February/March

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

Andrew started reading The Dragon Reborn aloud. We are now a little over 60 percent through.

I finished the The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart. There were very interesting plot points and characters. I loved the language used and the tapestry of time and place seemed authentic to me. I struggled getting through the book itself, it took me a REALLY long time to finish.

I started the The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and am on the last section. Certain parts have been science and fact heavy which I am not opposed to, however the synergy between these sections and the author's personal experiences weren't woven together as seamlessly as I would have liked. I am hoping to finish this up soon and am looking forward to posting on it as a topic since parts made me angry, parts appealed to my emotions and parts have changed how I think about sourcing my food.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I started and finished Medicine Men: Extreme Appalachian Doctoring. It is a super quick, easy, light-hearted read. It had a few grammatical and spelling errors which bothered me slightly. In all it was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon with not too much neuron firing required.

I started The Casual Vacancy yesterday. I am a bit over 1/3 of the way through.

[Andrew, Wound Up]

I finished Riddley Walker. The book is set well over 2000 years past a near total apocalyptic event. Humans are just moving into an iron age but struggling as even language was nearly eradicated.

The book is narrated in first person by Riddley in a future dialect that is a mash of misunderstood words and phonetics. The author explains that the language forces the reader to think at the same pace Riddley would have been thinking.

I didn't love the book, but I think that it is a work of genius. I struggled to move forward as it truly does make you strive to understand each word.

I am now going to get back into Cryptonomicon and it's fun loving cyber espionage and treasure hunting!

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I finished The Casual Vacancy. All in all, I didn't hate it and I didn't love it. I liked the chapter length, the ease of read and the vocabulary. The characters were not inspirational or that interesting to me. The plot fell a bit flat and seemed manipulated for effect rather than depth or truth. Characters I might have been more vested in were overlooked and inane, superficial characters were covered more closely in the story. Oddly enough, I think it was actually a really good selection for our book club as it polarized me in some way and gave me plenty to discuss.

I finished Teaching the Dog to Think and it was great. Anyone who has gone through dog training, is considering going through dog training or has dogs who are "out of control" should definitely read this book. We had recently taken our puppy Basil through basic puppy training and the ups and downs of the experience are reiterated beautifully in the content of the pages. The multi-layered, complicated relationships we have with our pets rang true in this story for me and I felt reassured that someone else had gone through the many conflicting emotions that occur while trying to "train" your pet. Everything from frustration to joy to wonderment and amazement is encapsulated in the story. Basil, are you ready for agility training yet?

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I finally finished 99 Superfoods.
The book had a lot of detailed information on all of the foods listed. I was excited to see that the list included meats, vegetables, fruits and supplements. Staying motivated to keep reading it was difficult because it felt like a fairly long compilation of student essays.

I would have enjoyed the book even more if formalized recipes were included, especially "superfood combination" recipes. I also would have loved if a cross-referenced index was included where you could look up an ailment, body system or vitamin/mineral and be directed to the appropriate food(s) (i.e. high cholesterol, immune system, Vitamin C see oranges, limes, lemons etc).

I started A Wild Sheep Chase on March 14th and am now at the beginnning of Part Seven. I have been enjoying the very quick pace and intriguing plot. It is my first Haruki Murakami book and it has been a very pleasant surprise thus far.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I finished Salads for Every Season: 25 Recipes from Earthbound Farm. It was a very good cookbook. I really enjoyed the separation of Spring/Summer Salads from Fall/Winter Salads. The book had nice introductory dialogue for each recipe, included salad and dressing recipes and sometimes additional accoutrements such as croutons, Parmesan crisps and spiced or toasted nut recommendations. The author was insightful in providing additional suggestions for leftover dressing as the salad recipes often called for only a portion of a given dressing recipe.

There was a plethora of additional information on food products not everyone may be familiar with such as Vietnamese Fish Sauce, Jicama, Sesame Oils and many others. There was additional information on purchasing Mandolines, and instructional information such as segmenting citrus and blanching food. Although not every recipe had a picture, the pictures that were included were lovely. Recipes were well written, easy to follow and concise. I also enjoyed the field green guide at the very beginning of the book.

I made the Lemon Vinaigrette from the book and it was delicious. I am looking forward to trying several more recipes in the near future.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I completed The Mushroom Book For Beginners: A Mycology Starter or How To Be A Backyard Mushroom Farmer And Grow The Best Edible Mushrooms At Home. It was a quick and easy read. There were some typographical and grammatical errors, but overall I liked it. I have twice attempted and failed to start mushrooms from kits at home and now have some real insight into why they did not work. I may just try again after reading this book. The author explains things in a very straightforward manner which is appealing for a beginner. The book provides additional links, references and even a shopping list so anyone can get started right away and will know exactly what to purchase.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I read Kick Menstrual Cramps in the Nuts. It is plum full of all kinds of bioligical and physiological information about how your body works. It was a slow read for me due to the sheer volume of information included. It outlines self-tests you can use to determine what specific system imbalances exist for your body. It then directs you to specific supplements and food suggestions and which things to avoid/limit to improve the imbalances and in turn how you feel and your general health.

A lot of the information made perfect sense once I read it. I always attributed menstrual cramps to family genetics. Although genetics may be causing part of the problem (in terms of how your body reacts to certain variables), changes in lifestyle may just allow people to cure imbalances and symptoms such as cramps and a lot of other problems which are also covered in the book.

Although I have not accumulated all of the testing materials required, I still have to purchase a glucometer and an 11 parameter pH kit, I have started my self-tests. I am definitely noting some areas for improvement and am striving to work on those over time.

The most appealing part of this book to me is that each person needs to find out what his/her own body chemistry is doing and that there is no single diet or fix or supplement combinations that works for everyone because we are all unique. This book helps you to become an active participant in your own health, find weaknesses in your own body and correct them.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I read Shirley Link and the Safe Case, a children's book, and it was adorable. It is a super short, fast moving detective story about talented teen sleuth Shirley Link. The characters were cute, the dialogue was catchy and I thoroughly enjoyed little plot turn.

[Andrew, Wound Up]

I finished Cryptonomicon, here's my response to a facebook friend who said it's one of their favorites:

I did like it. A bloated geek Da Vinci Code. I thought Stephenson showed much more passion for the story lines and characters set in WWII versus modern times. I didn't love the ending, I wish his editor had truncated some other sections so that the end could have cleared some plot lines up. I think I liked it better than Snow Crash, but ONLY because of those darn Sumeria soliloquies that plagued the other novel. My final criticism is that Stephenson does a superb job of meshing technical ideas into his story but isn't able to capture passion or emotion in any realistic way. The writing is pedestrian, especially if you compare it to something like A Naked Singularity which I feel is a fair comparison both in nerd culture and mathematical integration (physics). I sound less enthused than I really am, probably because I'm still pissed off about Sumeria.

I also read the Shirley Link book along with Michelle. It was a really fast and fun book, probably appropriate for about 9+ years old? I'm not the best judge of that.

[Andrew, Wound Up]

I should have mentioned - I'm back into 2666, it's just taking a bit to get into the flow.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I finished reading Make A Cake From Scratch With 31 Homemade Cake Recipes. I presume the author is British based on some really great excerpts from the book "Perfect with an afternoon cup of tea or just as good as pudding with lashings of hot custard." I also liked "Once cool you can dash your chosen choice of alcohol over each cake." There are also multiple references to "tins" and "biscuits". I really like the British sense of style and use of verbiage.

I would be interested in baking about half of the recipes included in this book. Not all of the recipes were for cakes, some were for sweet breads, muffins, cheesecakes and even Rice Crispy Treats. The recipes were clear and easy to follow for the most part.

I would have liked the book more if I could have figured out how to format it properly on my Kindle. The recipe ingredient list and the recipe pictures ended up being in an odd chart format that was difficult to read. I was also quite bothered that the pictures did not match what the recipe should look like in most cases. I would rather have no pictures than pictures of just fruit, or a cake that is clearly not a representation of the associated recipe. I appreciate that there is nutrition information listed, but it was listed for the entire recipe, not based on a single serving.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I read The Food Truck Startup - Start Your Own Food Truck - Leave the Corporate World Behind. Alas, I too dream of leaving the "corporate" world behind and serving gourmet delicacies like a nomad from a truck. I yearn to drift where the winds may take me, spreading love to the world in the most easily accepted form of good food. I quite liked the book, it did a great job of yanking me from the dreaming/wishing state of owning a food truck into the reality of what it might actually take to be a successful food truck entrepreneur. Although it was a bit sobering, I felt it was a very good introductory portrayal of what one would need to do going forward and how much work is required prior to planning a menu and serving customers. I may just need to put my food truck dreams on hold for some additional planning! One day sweet truck, one day.

I have been reading The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sixties Cookbook: More than 100 Retro Recipes for the Modern Cook for quite some time, and I FINALLY finished it. I love sixties kitsch, so this was a wonderful cookbook for me. The book is great for anyone planning a sixties themed party or anyone who longs to live on the set of Mad Men. It has menu suggestions based on the type of party, music suggestions and details for the hostess extraordinaire. I already made both the Pimiento and Walnut Cheese Ball and the Shrimp Cocktail with Bloody Mary Sauce and both were quite good. I was even inspired to whip up a Tom Collins, although not something I would normally drink, it hit the spot. I am looking forward to trying quite a few more recipes from this book. I really enjoyed the inclusion of party planning tips, food history (including the "Kitchen Time Machine"), sixties factoids, and pop culture references.

I finished A Wild Sheep Chase and I thought it was most excellent. I don't want to say too much here since it is a current topic of discussion in our book club. I look forward to reading more Haruki Murakami!