Cynical Optimism

Mr. Peanut

2010-09-03T20:17:00.005-05:00

Wednesday night i finished Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross. Super short recap. David Pepin's wife dies, he says it is suicide. She's allergic to peanuts and ate some in front of him. Two detectives, one of whom is Dr Sam Sheppard, (i've watched too much LOST, i first wrote Jack Sheppard), the guy who The Fugitive is based on, think Pepin forced her to eat the peanuts. We jump around in the Pepins' lives, as well as getting Sheppard's story and the story of the other detective's marriage.

Essentially, this book is about how men suck ass and women can't explain themselves. and after thinking about it for 2 days i still haven't decided if i like it or not. It has the unreliable narrator thing going on, times 3. and the women characters are disappointing. Especially the detective's wife who just goes to bed for months. It is creepy and chilling in the way events circle around and repeat among the characters. And i did want to find out who killed whom and how. So the book succeeds in that way. So i will give it a 5.

Happiness!

2010-09-01T20:17:00.001-05:00

More Murakami

2010-08-31T14:04:00.000-05:00

Reading Haruki Murakami is strange. His writing evokes this dreamy weirdness that you don't really stop reading, you just wake up from. Kafka on the Shore is no exception.

It is rather difficult to describe without giving too much away or not explaining enough. Kafka Tamura is a 15 year old boy who runs away from his father's home. He's just suffered too much neglect and emotional abuse to stay any longer. The town he runs to has a public reading library where he begins to spend his days. In another storyline, an old man Nakata has never recovered from a strange coma he suffered as a child. He woke with no memory and has never been able to learn to read or write. He can talk to cats and as he's searching for a lost cat he meets some sort of shape changer who asks Nakata to murder him.

it's weird. But i loved it. a 6. and i really need to read more of Murakami's work. and this counts for the 1% Challenge and is a 1001 book.

Currently: wishing i wasn't at work.

WHEEE! R.I.P V Begins!

2010-09-01T09:45:00.002-05:00

Carl over on Stainless Steel Droppings has announced Readers Imbibing Peril V! As summer ends, theoretically i guess as it is far too warm here to think about fall, the book blog world turns darker and creepier. We all switch from happy summer reads to gothic mysteries and heart stopping horror!

I'm going for to do Peril the First, reading at least 4 books. And i am sure i'll be throwing in a few short stories and movies as well! Here's my pool of possibilities:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins- old school Victorian mystery
The Meaning of Night and The Glass of Time by Michael Cox- historical weird mystery
Feed by Mira Grant- YA dystopia sorta-zombies, i think
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Peter Suskind- non-fiction
The Year of Disappearances by Susan Hubbard- YA vampires
Beloved by Toni Morrison- Well, it is about a ghost!
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers- classic mystery
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist- foreign zombies
House of Mystery, Vol. 1 by Matthew Sturges- Graphic Novel

I've also got three books on my library hold list that, if i get them in time, will count for this challenge too!

The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases by Mike Capuzzo- Non-fiction
The Walking Dead, Vol 12 by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard- Graphic Novel
The Fall: Book 2 of the Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan- obligatory BIG Bestseller :)

So i have lots and lots of choices here. I'll be packing and moving apartments but surely i can get through 4 books!

Speaking of moving, I'll be doing that over the weekend of Oct 8-10, which is also the weekend of the Southern Festival of Books here in Nashville and the weekend of Dewey's fall read a thon! eek! I guess i'll have to get a little bit of everything done.

What's your peril?

a wordle

2010-08-30T20:15:00.001-05:00

B likes this.

Weekly Geeks- Connections

2010-08-29T12:47:00.001-05:00

So first i'll post a quote of a quote (of a quote i think really):

This is the phrase

“We didn't get any reading done tonight. I told Jack we must read some tomorrow! It connects us somehow. I can't explain it, but it does. It's good to do things together”

Shayne © This and That

and the questions for this week are:

Firstly, have you come across a phrase recently that has made just such an impact. And secondly – who do you read with, if you don’t read with anyone –WHY NOT?

ok, i promise not to gush about B after this post for at least, hmm, 72 hours. B is really the first person i've read with since i lived with my family, not counting studying in the library or dorm in college. We don't read out loud to each other but we'll be reading at the same time and it's kind of nice. guys i have dated previously didn't like it when i read, mainly because i am not aware of my surroundings and don't hear when people talk to me. I'm sure some of it had to do with the perception of reading as a solitary, and even selfish, pursuit. When you are reading you are in the book's world and you aren't concerned with entertaining other people. Some guys don't respond well to that. but B is cool. He reads. so we'll both be lounging in the living room, in our own books, no one feeling neglected, except maybe the dog :)

movies, part 5ish?

2010-08-27T20:21:00.001-05:00

I feel like i'm watching plenty of movies now. B being around my place now has increased my movie rate i think.

Jumper: 4, not bad but not that good. and i can't stand the OC girl and Anakin so bad casting. I will look into reading the book though.

Red Cliff, International Version: 6, this one is loooong. the first 3rd of the movie really, really dragged. the second half was really good though so i am going with a 6.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox: 6. funny!

The Blind Side: 5. ok. I liked the movie but i kept feeling like i shouldn't, that it, while a true story, was a Dickens story set today. though...i may read the book. still ambivalent.

Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog: ok, so i was tipsy when i watched this. a 5. which leads to...

The Guild, Seasons 1-3: 6, funny stuff, really liked it. If you've ever played World of Warcraft or Everquest and the like you'll find so much to laugh about. Great characters too.

High Fidelity: 6. I managed to somehow miss this before. i really liked it. Does John Cusack kinda play the same guy all the time?

Public Enemies: 3. Johnny Depp is pretty and all but this was way too long. When you start wishing the hero would just get shot already, you know you're done with a movie. I was also trying to hear the whispery dialogue over two dogs chomping on bones so i may have missed some spoken word that would have made the movie awesome.

Kick Ass- funny and very cool. 6.

i'm also watching gobs of soccer right now, and preseason football when i can find it.

OK, now I DEFINITELY want to be a librarian

2010-08-25T11:28:00.004-05:00

Reading this book clinched it! This Book is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson made me really completely think that i would enjoy that job for another 30 years. Even with going back to school and being broke for a while and being 37 when i got finished with school i really think it would be worth it to do something i would find a lot of fulfillment in.

There are two main themes in the book: that librarians are defenders of knowledge, history and freedom and they are becoming even more relevant as the world goes digital. The digital section is a great anthropological study of the online librarian community. I've never played Second Life but i am curious now to see these online places Johnson describes.

She also describes the differences between librarians (finders) and archivists (keepers). I'm really in the middle myself. I love digging up stuff and researching things, even if i never particularly liked writing papers. And the preservation of artifacts fascinates me as well. I would really do college so much differently now than when i went the first time, keeping that anthropology degree but taking a bunch of Library and Info Science classes instead of some of that hard science i did for that medical school ambition i thought i had. Ah, well.

This book gets a 6 from me. I'm passing this library book on to B and I'll be getting an NYC public library card as a souvenir the next time i go to New York! according to Johnson, anyone can!

How Fiction Works

2010-08-24T20:48:00.003-05:00

I finished a little book and i want to reread it and take notes. How Fiction Works, by James Wood, describes all the ways authors, and readers, create novels. I'll let his preface explain.

In this book I try to ask some of the essential questions about the art of fiction. Is realism real? How do we define a successful metaphor? What is a character? When do we recognize a brilliant use of detail in fiction? What is point of view, and how does it work? What is imaginative sympathy? Why does fiction move us?

He does a very good job, both of explaining the questions and answering them. I didn't know what free, indirect style was until this book. I loved the chapter on metaphor. I learned about register and characterization and gobs of other things. I have put this on my list to buy now so i can have my own copy to mark up and refer to. A warning, he does seem to give away a good many plots to various classic novels so the whole book should really have a big spoiler warning. a 6.

Hardboiled Hollywood

2010-08-23T13:21:00.000-05:00

This book was interesting on its own but not what i was expecting. Hardboiled Hollywood: The True Crime Stories Behind the Classic Noir Films by Max Decharne talks mainly about the way the writers and directors turned books into movies. a few chapters, on Little Caesar (Al Capone), Psycho (Ed Gein) and of course the ones on Bonnie and Clyde and Dillinger, do discuss the criminals but most chapters describe how the writer wrote the original book and how that was changed for the movie version. The early chapters also talk about the censorship rules of the 1920s-1940s and anti-Communist hunt in the 50s, which i didn't know much about. It isn't a bad book; it just didn't give me the information i wanted. a 4.

Review and Pics

2010-08-22T11:23:00.001-05:00

I finished The Neutronium Alchemist, Part 1: Consolidation by Peter F Hamilton. It has been a while since i started reading a series that is already completed. It is really refreshing! Besides the fact that B has the books i know that i'm not going to have to wait if i feel like finishing the story up.

You can't start this book cold. You have to read the first 2 parts, titled The Reality Dysfunction. In the first part of that book, we get all the setup. You meet a dozen or more characters, get lessons in the galaxies politics, history, technology and geography. Towards the end, the conflict gets started. The dead begin to possess the living on a colony world called Lalonde. In the second part, the big hero characters become aware that something is happening on Lalonde. the action goes into high gear with space battles and ground fights as the Confederation of Planets tries to take Lalonde back.

Now, I would say this first part of The Neutronium Alchemist is another setup book. All our various characters get a bit of time to recover, refit their ships, and take stock of the situation. Several different possessed characters made it off Lalonde to different worlds, where they begin to spread the possession. Coolest plot twist on that? Al Capone comes back and ends up running a planet called New California. His is a fun perspective to read. My favorite characters, Syrinx and Ione, didn't have huge parts in this book but i expect Syrinx will be extremely important in the next book. Overall, a strong 5 which counts for the Chunkster Challenge. Which finishes off that challenge for me. wOOt!

Pictures of food and stuff now! I sent B shopping for groceries last week with a list. I always buy bananas but B bought like 10 so i had to make banana bread.

the batter

Done! I had banana bread french toast for breakfast.

And i made pesto for dinner. It smelled delicious.

Dinner! With salad and bread and wine...mmmm.....

with B! He's so cute.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

BTT for 8/19

2010-08-19T12:08:00.011-05:00

Booking Through Thursday has a long question list today.

1. Favorite childhood book? I've been thinking about this question a bit anyway recently. I reread the Great Brain series many times as a child so I will say those books right now.

2. What are you reading right now? How Fiction Works by James Wood, The Neutronium Alchemist Part 1 by Peter F Hamilton, and on my phone's Kindle program Cades Cove by Aidan James

3. What books do you have on request at the library? bunches. I have a full list at 10, including Mockingjay, Packing for Mars, and The Fall: Book 2 of the Strain Trilogy.

4. Bad book habit? I turn corners on mass market paperbacks.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Only 6! The new Atemis Fowl book, How Fiction Works, Jumper by Stephen Gould, Johannes Cabal: the Necromancer by Jonathan Howard, Hardboiled Hollywood by Max Decharne, and The Great Influenza by John M Barry.

6. Do you have an e-reader? Sort of. I have a new smartphone, the Samsung Vibrant which has google android on it. I downloaded the Kindle application and am trying it out.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? usually a couple at once. I just can't read two similar books at the same time or i get confused. I can read a modern sci-fi and a victorian classic at the same time and be fine.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Challenges! and i try to read more classics now and am less haphazard.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year? ok, i'm listing 3. The Book Thief, The Elegance of the Hedgehog and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? I don't know that i have a comfort zone exactly. I read a bit of everything except chick lit

12. What is your reading comfort zone? Hmm, i guess everything but chick lit?

13. Can you read on the bus? If i rode a bus yes. i don't get carsick if that's what this question means.

14. Favorite place to read? My bed or my couch.

15. What is your policy on book lending? I will but frequently don't get them back.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books? non-library paperbacks i will

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? Of my own i will sometimes

18. Even with text books? I haven't been in school for a while but i was a highlighter

19. What is your favorite language to read in? I only read English. There was a really really short period in high school that i could speak and read French but i've lost it now.

20. What makes you love a book? Not sure i can explain that in a little questionaire

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? Loving it! or at least thinking another person may love it.

22. Favorite genre? I have to lead toward classics or literary fiction.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) really can't think of one.

24. Favorite biography? none

25. Have you ever read a self-help book? i have before but don't know the last one i've read

26. Favorite cookbook? I think How to Pick a Peach counts as a cookbook. it has recipes.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? The Book Thief i think

28. Favorite reading snack? Oreos and milk!

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. I'm not saying i would have ever liked The DaVinci Code but if i hadn't heard so much about it i may not have hated it as much.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? hmm, not sure. the problem i have is that i don't read the reviews after i've read the book so i really can't say.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? I don't have a problem with it. I don't do too many negative ones as i usually just stop reading the book.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? French again, or Russian

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? The Elegant Universe

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? Moby Dick

35. Favorite Poet? can i just say Poe since i think that's the only poetry i've read the last few years? Oh, wait, never mind. Shakespeare!

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? About 5 or so.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread? probably 1/4 the time

38. Favorite fictional character? Just 1? no way. Lyra from His Dark Materials, Harry Potter, Gandalf, Lisbeth Salander, Locke Lamora, Elizabeth Bennett.

39. Favorite fictional villain? Voldemort

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? Whatever is due back at the library next.

41. What is the longest you've gone without reading? like at all? um, birth to age 4?

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. I've still not finished The Historian.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? other people's loud music

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel? Watchmen, Sin City, Pride and Prejudice

45. Most disappointing film adaptation? Well, it isn't from a novel but the X-men movies left a lot to be desired when compared to the story of the comics.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? probably about $50 on myself at once. I might have gotten a bit higher buying Christmas presents though.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? i don't normally skim much.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? boredom is the fastest way to make me stop reading.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? They are everywhere really. not much organization.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? Some i keep, some i sell to McKay's.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? well, I haven't jumped into Dickens yet so i guess i've been avoiding him.

52. Name a book that made you angry. The Last Narnia book. really ticked me off.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? Madame Bovary

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t? This year? Beautiful Creatures and Stories

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? All my reading is guilt free!

Saturday Farmer's Market and Book Buying!

2010-08-21T17:27:00.010-05:00

Ok, here we go!

Strawberry drinkable yogurt and chocolate milk. Delicious.

The box o' goodies! Watermelon, yellow squash, peppers, eggplant, Italian eggplant, corn.

What didn't fit on the box anymore. Basil, tomatoes, okra, jalapenos, and some other sort of peppers. We will be having pesto for dinner tonight!

These are not from the farmer's market. My best friend D's partner's niece (her niece if she and her partner could be married in my state!) has chickens and since i gave her like 15 egg cartons i got some free eggs! B and i eat a lot of eggs.

Now, i haven't bought books in...a few months. May 30th! I went to the thrift store today and found several. And i only spent 4.87!

I found a copy of the first Lone Wolf book! the previous owner filled in the first character page in pen! *gasp* but otherwise the book is in pretty good shape. I have a copy of Space Merchants already but this one is in much better shape so i'll keep it. This store had a ton of old sci-fi books. i may have to drag B and see if he finds any he wants.

Last night B and I were discussing Vermont geography so today i recognized where this book, Aaron and the Green Mountain Boys, must take place. it was a library book at an elementary school and the checkout card is still in the book!

Speaking of libraries, last Sunday was the first day i volunteered at a local branch here in Nashville. i spent three hours shelving children's easy books. I honestly enjoyed it! The task required such focus without extraneous thoughts it was almost like meditation. And i got a nice sense of accomplishment seeing how many fewer books were left to be shelved at the end of my shift. I will be heading back next weekend. No news on the job front yet though :(

Disproving

2010-08-16T21:49:00.001-05:00

The second book i read on my phone's Kindle application is Disproving Christianity: Refuting the World's Most Followed Religion by David G. McAfee. I bought it because it was inexpensive and i wanted to see how reading non-fiction would work on my phone.

The text itself was fine though i had heard much of it before in other atheist books. There are gobs of contradictions in the christian bible and plenty of things that modern people just choose to ignore. Those contradictions are part of why i find it difficult to believe that people actually believe in that book. how do they reconcile that they really should be stoning their unmarried daughters to death for having sex with a caring, loving god? it baffles me.

one thing i didn't like about reading it on my phone was how the end notes worked. while there was a little link to the note, once you jumped to the note there wasn't a way to go back to exactly where you were before. At least i couldn't find one. You could go back to the previous bookmark but not the exact page.

I give this one a 4, mainly because i have read a good bit of this before. if you haven't then you may enjoy it more.

Frankie Landau-Banks

2010-08-14T19:34:00.002-05:00

I finished up The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Frankie is a sophomore at an exclusive prep school. She hears her father's stories of his days at the school, hinting about his involvement in a secret society, the Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds. Frankie finds out her new senior boyfriend, Matthew, is a member as well. As she overhears their rather lame attempts to come up with an idea for a Halloween prank, she realizes she'd be a much better Bassett than they are.

I completely disagree with the blurb on the back, saying that at 16 Frankie is possibly a criminal mastermind. She never gets to 16 in the book and her actions aren't criminal, they are more politically based civic disobedience.

Reading this book reminded me of the first time i listened to "just a girl" by No Doubt. Very girl power, very strong. I just wish it had ended on a bit of a happier note. I've added it to my possible present list for my 16 yr old sister as i am always on the lookout for good examples for her. I say it's a 5 and it counts for the YA challenge.

The Bloody Chamber

2010-08-13T17:14:00.001-05:00

I have an interest in short stories but i never feel i read enough of them. I'll pick up a volume of stories by mulitple authors but rarely read a whole book of short stories by the same person. I usually enjoy those books when i do read them.

The Bloody Chamber, by Angela Carter, is a book of folk tales retold. Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Puss in Boots, Bluebeard, and Red Riding Hood get some dark twists. Carter writes such drippy, gothic prose you can almost taste it. It is gorgeous stuff. I would have to say my two favorites were the longer ones, "Puss 'n Boots" and "The Bloody Chamber" which is the modern Bluebeard.

I just wish i'd known a couple of the tales Carter's stories were based on. I've got no idea what was going on in "The Erl-King". I must not know the basis behind a few others because i think there were 2 "Beauty and the Beast" stories and 3 "Red Riding Hood"s. But i may be wrong. Overall a 6. And now i have to read more by Angela Carter!

BTT for 8/12

2010-08-12T11:49:00.006-05:00

I haven't done BTT in a long while. I just haven't been jazzed by the questions i guess. This week's question is one that i've actually been thinking about but still don't know that i have any real clarity on it.

Have your reading choices changed over the years? Or pretty much stayed the
same? (And yes, from childhood to adulthood we usually read different things,
but some people stick to basically the same kind of book their entire lives,
so…)

I would say...sorta?

When i was in middle and high school, i read big historical fiction novels (Gone with the Wind was a yearly reread), fantasy (LOTR, Dragonlance), some sci-fi (Douglas Adams, Piers Anthony), my mom's romance novels (ok, i was a teenager, i wanted to read about sex!), some of my dad's thrillers (probably the same reason), and mysteries (loved me some Sherlock Holmes and I read almost all the Agatha Christie books). Oh, and i read comics and a choose your own adventure type series called Lone Wolf.

Now? I read big fantasy and sci-fi series, lots of graphic novels when i can get them. I read waaaaay more non-fiction now. No more romances and less historical fiction. Thrillers and mysteries less too. I hate the term "literary fiction" because it sounds so damn pretentious but technically i think that is the category i read a lot of now. Also, YA books. YA was an itty-bitty category when i was younger; i pretty much skipped right past what there was and went to adult novels.

The biggest thing that has changed is how i find books to read. Back then, in the late 1980s and 1990s, i would just wander through the appropriate section in the bookstore, or browsed the shelves at the library. Sometimes a friend would recommend something (that's how i started reading Anne Rice) or i would stumble on an author and then just go and read everything i could find by that person. I also hardly ever bought books; i spent my money on comics.

Now i get new book ideas everywhere! Blogs, 'zines, the 1001 Books to Read list, amazon and librarything. ACK! and McKay's is so cheap and amazon has free shipping. it is great but also has led to me having a ridiculous number of books now. I should probably try to purge some as Bandiaremovingintogether.

B reads fantasy too. We both love the Song of Ice and Fire series and last night we were discussing that, if the next book ever comes out, we'd have to buy 2 copies. Neither of us wants to have to get stuck being the second person to read the book! ok, we're book geeks, i will admit it.

Southern Festival of Books

2010-08-11T11:30:00.001-05:00

Ok, yes, there is a free book fest in my town every year and I've never managed to go. NOT THIS YEAR! Barring new job issues, i intend to go for as much as i can. The Southern Festival of Books is in its 21st year now and is going to be from October 8-10 this fall.

who's going to be there? Audrey Niffenegger, Adam Ross (Mr. Peanut), Fred Thompson (he was our senator for a while but did movies and Law and Order), Michael Sims, Helen Simonsen (maybe I'll have Major Pettigrew's Last Stand read by then), Louis Sachar, Dr. Bill Bass (runs the Body Farm at UT), and Harold Ford. And lots of others of course. EEK!

So that's exciting. Wanna come up?

Father of Forensics

2010-08-10T15:02:00.008-05:00

I liked this book a lot, so much so that i was attempting to explain complex medical junk to B while watching his eyes glaze over. Somehow, i alway manage to overestimate everyone else's interest in forensics, especially old school cases. Everyone isn't familiar with Dr. Crippen? Impossible! The definition of adipocere isn't universally known? Crazyness! "Archaeology of Death" isn't a required college class? *shakes head*

The Father of Forensics: The Groundbreaking Cases of Sir Bernard Spilsbury and the Beginnings of Modern CSI by Colin Evans is very good. I had never heard of him and I've read a lot of books about forensics, going back to my college curriculum. And yes, i did take "Archaeology of Death". As he's British and began working at the turn of the 20th century i suppose that may be why i wasn't familiar with him.

Spilsbury was a great pathologist but a superb witness. Previously, medical experts had lectured or talked down to juries, which juries, of course, didn't react well to. Spilsbury explained, in regular language, what he found in his autopsies. He made sure the prosecution, or the defense, passed pictures of the injuries he spoke of. In one trial he asked for a microscope to show the jury slides of a bruise, as well as comparison slides of how normal skin looks. His expertise and style lead directly to convictions, as well as acquittals when he sided with the defense.

You do feel sorry for Spilsbury at several points. He's a quintessential workaholic, achieving great fame and prestige as a medical mind, even being knighted. Those achievements didn't lead to a comfortable finanical situation or happy home life. Like many Britains during that time he lost family members to the Great War and World War 2. By the end of his life, even the cases had changed, moving from crimes of passion or money to child murders and serial killers. As a true story, the end is particularly shocking.

I give this one a 6. It isn't for everyone as i know some people would find it boring. The book isn't graphic so those with sensitive stomachs shouldn't worry.

Saturday Farmer's Market 8-7

2010-08-07T15:12:00.000-05:00

So far today i've

Had a fabulous lemonade
took 2 books back to the library
picked up the CSA box as well as chocolate milk and half and half from the Farmer's Market
took out the recycling and the trash
filled up my car with gas
swept and vacuumed, even the couches!
applied for a couple jobs

Not that this will surprise anyone but one job i've applied for now is at the library. I've got my fingers crossed.

Here's the pic of the food

You can't see the two cantalopes that are under the top layer of stuff, nor the okra. More corn, peppers, little tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers and zucchini. Some new peppers, jalapenos and whatever this one is. It smells spicy.

I'll be freezing the okra and peppers i think and passing one of the canatalopes to my friend D.

On a completely different note, if i can ever get a decent picture of B i'll post one. He has an annoying habit of moving at the last minute, turning his head away from me or blurring the shot whenever i try to snap one. He's cute, i promise! Here's his dog, Toorah.

Changing subjects again, i'll be headed to see the Nashville Rollergirls tonight. Never been to a roller derby match so I am unsure what to expect.

Short Stories

2010-08-06T20:56:00.004-05:00

I always hate when i am really really waiting for a book and then find that, as i read it, i'm really not liking it. I had Stories, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, on my library hold list for the longest time. I thought the concept was great: sci-fi/fantasy short stories that don't have to be about the same plots and concepts and characters.

The problem is that many are boring and most are unmemorable! Going back through the titles i am remembering the good: Joe Hill's "Devil on the Staircase", Gaiman's "The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains" and "Human Intelligence" by Kurt Anderson. For several titles I can't even remember what happened and the others i do remember i didn't like. I certainly won't read any Jodi Picoult based on her one story and i think Fight Club may be the only thing i ever enjoy written by Chuck Palahniuk. "Juvenal Nyx" is ok but i'm getting over vampires and "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon" wasn't bad but i feel like i missed something important. Overall, i gotta say a 3 for me.

Waiting On Wednesday

2010-08-04T18:35:00.003-05:00

Breaking the Spine hosts this meme. Here are the books i'm waiting for! While they are not all brand new or unreleased, these books are the ones that i have on my hold list at the library.

Artemis Fowl #7: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer- I've liked the previous books and really love how Artemis has grown over the course of the series, i'm 10 of 15
Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross- written by a local author, which is why i'm branching out to a modern murder mystery, I'm 9 of 114
Hardboiled Hollywood: The True Crime Stories that Inspired the Great Noir Films by Max Decharne- sounded cool. i'm next!
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonsen- I added this onto my list recently, i feel like another blogger recommended it, i'm 17 of 27
The Fall: Book Two of the Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro- I read the first book last year when it came out. while i'm just 3 of 3, this one isn't released yet.
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins- ok, yeah, i'm in on this. but i'm 104 of 107.
Nomad by Ayan Hiirsi Ali- i read her previous memoir and i can't exactly say i liked it because it's a rough, shocking book. I guess i would say i appreciated reading about a life and experiences so radically different from my own, i'm 4 of 7
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell- I enjoyed Black Swan Green and i think i added this book in from another recommendation, i'm 7 of 25.
This Book is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson- Rec'd by Andi and possible background info for a possible grad school application, 2 of 8
Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream by William Powers- don't know where i saw this book. i'm first but the library doesn't have it yet.

ok, that's it. The library will only let me request 10 books at a time. i could list another few that i've got wishlisted on amazon but that would just get boring! Should i mention that i've already checked out 9 books? EEK! ok, off to read!

Sunday Farmer's Market, kinda

2010-08-01T12:06:00.006-05:00

I didn't go to the market this week. I didn't need to pick up my box and I had so many veggies i just had to do something with them. Just making some tomato sauce on zucchini and ravioli wasn't going to cut it. I found out that you can freeze bell pepper as well as shredded zucchini for bread. and since you can mix yellow squash in with zucchini to make bread, i made a mixture.

I managed not to shred a finger. Excellent. :)

Here's the recipe i use for zucchini bread. I got it from my CSA's biweekly email.

MIX TOGETHER:
1CUP VEGETABLE OIL

2CUPS GRATED ZUCCHINI
2CUPS SUGAR

3 EGGS
1TBL VANILLA
SIFT TOGETHER 2 CUPS FLOUR, 1 TBL CINNAMON, ½ TSP. SALT, ¼ TSP. OF BAKING POWDER, 2 TSP. BAKING SODA. BLEND INTO THE ZUCCHINI MIX. ADD NUTS OR RAISINS, IF DESIRED.
POUR INTO A GREASED LOAF PAN AND BAKE AT 350 FOR 1 HOUR

Makes 1 really thick loaf or two thinner ones.

I ended up with 3 bags of future bread mixings out of several small yellow squash, a couple small zucchini and part of that big one. Here's a pic with one of the survivors. It was a temporary reprieve though as that one ended up in the tomato sauce.

I also made kale chips. B seemed to like them once he tried them but i know he was apprehensive. There are recipes all over the web but don't over cook as they get a little burny flavored which isn't as good. opening the container this morning they smelled just like good potato chips!

I succeeded in cleaning out my crisper drawer for the first time in about 2 months. I've only got a few tomatoes and cucumbers, a little honeydew melon, and one eggplant that i'll be using for dinner tonight. YES! but i'll be getting more veggies next week. eek!

Inception was Amazing

2010-07-31T09:49:00.002-05:00

B and I went to the movies on his bday this last week. We saw Inception and i absolutely looooved it. Great story, awesome effects, superb actors. I managed to avoid spoilers; i went in just knowing it was about invading people's dreams, that Leo and comp. recruit Ellen Page as a new thief. That was it and it made the movie so much better. There were several huge GASP moments for me. If you like Christopher Nolan's non-Batman stuff (Memento, The Prestige) and David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club) and the Matrix movies you will enjoy this one!

Anyone want to talk about that last shot in the comments! There may be spoilers there!

That Means What?

2010-07-29T11:39:00.004-05:00

I finished How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C Foster on Wednesday. It is a pretty fast read for non-fiction. Essentially, Foster breaks down some major tropes, allusions and symbols for the lay reader. A big part of the book was a refresher of things i'd learned waaaay back in AP English Lit my last 2 years of high school, which i am glad i remembered. Foster mentions a lot of other books so my TBR has extended itself, again. *sigh* a 5 i would say. I've got Reading Like a Writer around here somewhere; maybe i'll read that soon. I've got 9(!) books from the library right now that i need to get through though.