Recent ReadsWhat Was Lost, by Catherine O'Flynn
This is a first novel, and it was long-listed for the Booker prize, which is a pretty major accomplishment. It has a very fresh and thoughtful narrative voice. A lonely girl's disappearance has repercussions that affect a number of intertwined lives. At first the structure is reminiscent of The Lovely Bones, as it's initially told from the girl's point of view, but I think it's a much more interesting book. Highly recommended.
Atonement, by Ian McEwan
Once again, a book where a decision made by one character affects an entire family. What interested me is how McEwan is able to present how young people form judgments based on their limited information and life experience. The book is set up in a way that's perhaps a bit too clever/precious for my taste, but a good read nonetheless. I haven't seen the movie version -- is it worth watching?
Pomegranate Soup, by Marsha Mehran (a gift from
Mia!)
This charming book is set in small-town Ireland in the 1980s. It centers around a trio of sisters who have made their way from Iran after the revolution. They're haunted by their pasts, but they're also blazing a trail for a new, more cosmopolitan Ireland as they open a restaurant and broaden the horizons of the townspeople. It's reminiscent of Maeve Binchy, but with a more exotic flair (complete with recipes).
Confusion (Vol. 3 of the Cazalet Chronicle), by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Cazalets carry on during WWII, through the war effort, marriages, pregnancies, and affairs. Howard draws upon her own experiences in these books. Seeing the changes wrought by the war in society is fascinating. WWII seems to have marked a sexual revolution in a way.I definitely came to these books with an idealized picture of England during WWII based on books from my childhood -- precocious children sent to the countryside (discovering portals to other worlds), secret gardens with sick boys hidden away, victory gardens, etc.
This
article about Howard is interesting -- I had no idea she had been married to Kingsley Amis (whose
Lucky Jim I'm reading right now). If you like the Cazalet Chronicle (or are even interested), you'd most likely enjoy
The Chamomile Lawn miniseries (initially recommended to me by
Hilary).
In the kitchenCurry pumpkin soup with a mug of hot apple cider makes a perfect autumn lunch.
Curry Pumpkin Soup
(adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, Nov. 2008)
Ingredients:2 T. butter
2 medium onions, chopped (1 cup)
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 tsp. curry powder (add more if you like curry flavor)
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 15-oz cans pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
4 C. chicken broth (could sub veggie)
2/3 C. water
1 C. half-and-half or light cream (could sub low-fat plain or Greek yogurt)
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
salt, to taste
Directions:In a soup pot melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and carrots. Cook, 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add curry powder and pumpkin pie spice. Cook and stir 1 minute. Add pumpkin, broth, and water. Increase heat to medium-high; bring to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
Option 1: Run an immersion blender through the soup until it's almost smooth but still has a few small chunks in it.
OROption 2: In food processor or blender, add one-third of the pumpkin mixture at a time, cover, and process or blend until smooth. Return all pumpkin mixture to soup pot.
Stir in half-and-half, salt (if desired), and pepper into pumpkin mixture; heat through.
Elizabeth Zimmermann's Tomten Jacket. I'm using "moss"-colored Knit Picks Swish DK from ye olde stash. Miles of mindless garter stitch ! I started one of these using some precious handspun long ago, but ran out of yarn and abandoned the project.
Ripping tufts of fluff out of her cat bed with her teeth, then spitting them out vigorously! The polyester fluff carnage is absolutely amazing. She doesn't seem to mind wandering around covered in fluff either. That girl...
The tree is up, cookies are baked, most of the shopping and wrapping is done, and it's officially winter break. Hurray! There's even a Yule party on my agenda for tonight. I still have at least two knitting projects to finish for Christmas, though, so it's not exactly smooth sailing, but close enough.
Fabulous illustrations by Edward Gorey may make this one of the best books ever.
I've determined that Kylie is a Gumbie Cat:
My Windy City Hat and Irish Hiking Wristwarmers finally saw their trial run, and Ysolda's new book arrived in today's post. My handknits kept me warm and cozy but didn't succeed fully in cheering me up. When I met one of my university friends outside the (dreadful) library today, I told her she was witnessing me at my most cantankerous. She laughed and laughed...
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Not the best looking cookies, but they taste pretty great even though I substituted vanilla extract for maple extract. My kitchen is well-stocked, but not that well-stocked. The maple extract would definitely kick up the flavor another couple notches.
It was absolutely terrible. You can tell this by just a quick plot synopsis: local teens breakdance to save the community center from a local developer who wants to build a mall. Further evidence of its crappiness is that I misremembered the teens as breakdancing to save the mall. Wow...
Pattern: Booga Bag, by Julie Anderson
Handspun yarn + a book about Charlotte Bronte + a very cute cable-knit mug = a heavenly combination! Thanks so much, Mia.
One of my favorite moments in Cold Comfort Farm comes when Stephen Fry, in the role of Bloomsbury-type intellectual (and doubtless D. H. Lawrence enthusiast) Mr. Mybug, poses the question to Flora Poste, "Do you believe that women have souls?" He later contends that Branwell Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights. ;-) Both the book and film are fantastic.
I think she was inspired by the all the bits about John Muir in the first episode of Ken Burns' National Parks PBS miniseries. Apparently Muir used to bend over and look through his knees to contemplate the "upness" of mountains:
Francis Revisited is knitting up oh so quickly! Just the cowl left to go! Great pattern, very easy to follow. I was afraid that the fit wouldn't be very good since all the directions are just so darn simple. My worrying was needless, as it looks good so far, although we'll have to see what blocking does. I know it will grow widthwise. That Eco Wool is great stuff -- affordable, natural, and easy on the hands and wrists. The "Vanilla" shade I used for the Hap Blanket is much softer than the "Mocha" shade here. Curious!
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, by Eva Rice
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
See that blue-violet pile in the top left corner? Blech, seaming up my Drop Collar Cabled Jacket is very slow going. Initially I tried to use the sweater yarn (Beaverslide McTaggart Tweed) to seam it up. Bad news -- the loosely twisted 2-ply yarn is too fragile and tends to break, plus the seam was very bulky. I rifled through the yarn stash and found some Imperial Stock Ranch 2-ply sock yarn in a similar color, and things are going better now.
I also made Baked Pasta with Homemade Tomato Sauce and Fresh Mozzarella, which turned out quite nicely. I cut back on the pasta a bit, as we tend to like our pasta dishes with plenty of sauce. Yum! Next time I might add a layer of sauteed mushrooms to the middle.
Jody's version inspired me to cast on using the long-stashed Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. I had purchased it many moons ago for Ysolda's old Cloud bolero pattern -- when would I knit with it otherwise? I plan to make another Liesl with longer sleeves and perhaps no garter ridges using my lovely new Briar Rose yarn, too.
Pattern: My Hat of Choice, by Amanda Soule
Yep, that's Kylie cat in action.
When I visit home without Paul, I revert to my old ways. Lots and lots of books.
Here's the cream of the crop from my past couple weeks of reading. All of these I highly recommended. Cryptonomicon is Paul's favorite, and Staggerford is by Jon Hassler, a Minnesota author. Alicia (Posie gets cozy) is also reading the Mary Stewart books right now. They're quite charming and definitely a product of their times.
Take 2 of my owl vest pattern
