State of the Blog, Part Three: The Authors

Summer is finally here in Portland, so it is time for my quarterly, three-part, progress assessment. The first part addressed the book lists. Part Two covered the challenges I joined this year. Part Three, here, takes a look at the author lists.

So far this year, I have only read 12 books by my listed authors this year. I need ot make time for my favorites. 

THE AUTHORS

Kingsley Amis
Books read so far: 8/48
Books read in 2010: four (or two, depending how you count compilations):

1. One Fat Englishman (reviewed here); and
2. Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis (reviewed here), which includes the complete, previously published volumes:
• On Drink;
• Every Day Drinking; and 
• How's Your Glass

Books I hope to read in 2010: probably no more
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Kate Atkinson
Books read so far: 2/8
Books read in 2010: one (Case Histories, for the Typically British Challenge)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

• One Good Turn
• When Will There be Good News?

Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Cara Black
Books read so far: 2/9
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one, if the one on my TBR shelf is the next in order
Books on my TBR shelf: one

William Boyd

Books read so far: 3/16
Books read in 2010: one (The New Confessions, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: one more (A Good Man in Africa)
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

James Lee Burke
Books read so far: 13/17 (Dave Robicheaux series only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 or 3 -- I'm almost done with them
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Lee Child
Books read so far: 12/14
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2

• Gone Tomorrow
• 61 Hours

Books on my TBR shelf: zero

A. J. Cronin

Books read so far: 1/25
Books read in 2010: one (Three Loves, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: that may be it for this year
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

M. F. K. Fisher
Books read so far: 4/27
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2, but I have not decided which ones
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

F. Scott Fitzgerald
Books read so far: 8/13
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: probably zero, this is a future goal
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Penelope Fitzgerald
Books read so far: 2/9
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (The Bookshop, for the Bibliophilic Books Challenge)
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

Richard Ford
Books read so far: 5/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: undecided
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Dick Francis
Books read so far: 4/47
Books read in 2010: two

1. Second Wind (reviewed here); and
2. Under Orders.

Books I hope to read in 2010: probably no more
Books on my TBR shelf: 4

Jim Harrison
Books read so far: 20/20 (prose only)
Books read in 2010: one (Farmer's Daughter, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: no more
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Nick Hornby
Books read so far: 2/11
Books read in 2010: one (The Polysyllabic Spree, reviewed here)
Books I hope to read in 2010: 2 more

• Housekeeping vs. the Dirt
• Shakespeare Wrote for Money

Books on my TBR shelf: 3

John Lescroart
Books read so far: 16/17 (Dismus Hardy series and spin offs)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (A Plague of Secrets)
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Elinor Lipman
Books read so far: 4/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Then She Found Me)
Books on my TBR shelf: 2

David Lodge
Books read so far: 2/15 (fiction only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least 2, but I don't know which ones
Books on my TBR shelf: 9

Ian McEwan
Books read so far: 5/13
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I do not have any on my TBR shelf
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Jack Ohman
Books read so far: 5/10
Books read in 2010: one (Angler Management, but I haven't reviewed it yet)
Books I hope to read in 2010: no more

Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Anthony Powell
Books read so far: 13/32
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Venusberg)
Books on my TBR shelf: one

Philip Roth
Books read so far: 8/30
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I haven't decided which one
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

Martin Cruz Smith
Books read so far: 6/6 (Arkady Renko series only)
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: zero, unless I get my hands on Three Stations,
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Julia Spencer-Fleming
Books read so far: 5/7
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (I Shall Not Want)
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

William Styron
Books read so far: 2/10
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: probably zero
Books on my TBR shelf: 3

Anne Tyler
Books read so far: 4/18
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: one (Breathing Lessons, for my Pulitzer pick for the Battle of the Prizes challenge)
Books on my TBR shelf: 5

John Updike
Books read so far: 8/26
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: at least one, but I do not know which one
Books on my TBR shelf: 9

Andrea U'ren
Books read so far: zero/2
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: hopefully both of them
Books on my TBR shelf: zero

Simon Winchester
Books read so far: 5/16
Books read in 2010: zero
Books I hope to read in 2010: two

1. The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
2. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

Books on my TBR shelf: one

Teaser Tuesday: Small Island

"The English woman was still looking at me when I entered the hallway. Perusing me in a fashion as if I was not there to see her stares."

--  Small Island by Andrea Levy.


Although I started Small Island last week, I have only read a few pages because I got sucked back into Up in the Old Hotel.

But, since I left Up in the Old Hotel in the locker room at the gym (I've lost track of how many times I have done this -- I need to tattoo a reminder on the back of my hand), I have turned to Small Island for my teaser. From the first chapter, when Hortense first arrives in London.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

Mailbox Monday

I only got one new book last week, and it did not come in the mail. I found it at a garage sale. So I have another very short list for Mailbox Monday.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. This one got so much buzz that I finally decided to read it.

Cookbook Library: Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook

Probably no cookbook maven inspires the love/hate reaction that Martha Stewart does.  I don't think I am alone in this. I have at least nine of her cookbooks, not to mention a box of the little "Dinner of the Month" cards from her magazine that I have ripped out and saved for years, but I seldom cook from any of them.  I find that the recipes are either needlessly complicated (fine if you have staff on hand to help) or just go wrong, like she hides a booby trap in there designed to destroy the amateur's cooking confidence.

But, being determined to make at least one new recipe from every cookbook on my shelves, I turned to Martha Stewart's Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook.  I had a whim to make pâté for a little backyard picnic, now that the weather has finally turned nice.  But the Silver Palate recipe I usually use is a little time-consuming -- mostly because it requires final oven cooking in a bain-marie.  Martha's recipe was simple and pretty quick, although I skimped on the soaking stage:

1/2 pound chicken livers, cleaned
1/4 cup brandy
1 tablespoon minced shallots
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
salt & pepper

A summary of instructions:

Soak the livers in the brandy for 3 to 4 hours in a cool place (I did this for one hour).Drain, but save the liquid.

Saute shallots in half the butter. Add livers, sage, salt and pepper and saute until livers are not pink inside (about 5 minutes).

Transfer to food prosessor, add remaining butter, and process until smooth. Add the brandy liquid. Proseess another 30 seconds.

Transfer to an earthenware bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

She recommends using a "Pullman loaf pan" and even provides the dimensions (good thing, because what is a Pullman loaf?): 16" x 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". Wait a minute. Look at the ingredients. There is, at most, one cup -- eight ounces -- of material involved in this recipe. If you poured it into a 16-inch long pan, even if only 3 1/2 inches wide, you would end up with a very thin, flat slab of pâté. I doubled the recipe and it still fit in a small crock not much bigger than a ramekin. 

OK. Having avoided the booby trap of the Pullman loaf pan, the recipe was easy enough and straightforward. I like a little cognac in pâté, so this seemed to be the recipe for me. I thought I had finally found a Martha recipe I would use often.

Oh, was I wrong. The cognac flavor was so overwhelming you could almost see the fumes rising off the cracker. Instead of tasting like pâté with a hint of brandy, it tasted like a liver-infused cocktail -- which is disgusting even to type.

Once again, Martha let me down. It was inedible. Our backyard picnic was heavy on cheese and olives.  The pâté went down the garbage disposal. 



NOTES

I am interested to know if anyone has ever had luck with Martha Stewart recipes. Anyone? Anything? Please share! I want to know the secret.

Beth Fish Reads hosts a weekly event called Weekend Cooking.  It dovetails nicely with my goal of making one new recipe from all the books in my Cookbook Library.

Opening Sentence of the Day: Small Island

"I thought I'd been to Africa."

-- from the Prologue to Small Island by Andrea Levy.

I've been hearing very good things about this book and am excited to finally start reading it. It is about Jamaican immigrants to Britain after WWII.

Oddly, the inside cover of my edition describes this as "an encapsulation of the most American of experiences: the immigrant's life." "American"? Oh well, the author didn't write the book jacket, so I'll have to let go of that one and not let it color my reaction to the book.

This book won the Orange Prize and the Costa Book of the Year. It is my book club's upcoming book and counts as one of the books I am reading for the Book Awards challenge. So I'll get to scratch this off several lists when I finish it -- how satisfying.


NOTE

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday fun "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Post the opening sentence of the book(s) you started this week and see what other books people have going.