Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Tasha at Book Obsessed is hosting in July. Please stop by Tasha's busy blog, where she focuses on romance novels, with some mystery and suspense thrown in.

I got three books last week from the champion book publicist Mary Bisbee-Beek.  Thanks to Mary and the publishers, I will be hosting giveaways in the near future for all three books.  Check back on Friday for the first of the giveaways.



The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman: "In this utterly charming debut—perfect for fans of Cecelia Ahern’s P.S., I Love You and Allison Winn Scotch’s Time of My Life — one woman sets out to complete her old list of childhood goals, and finds that her lifelong dreams lead her down a path she never expects."



Drive by Raymond Ahrens: "Willie Easelman, 86, born in Brooklyn and a perennial finalist in the American Dream Sweepstakes, is committed to the Morningside Nursing Home by his daughter, Anna. Cunning, despite his dementia, Willie sneaks behind the wheel of his '86 Impala and escapes, heading north along America's roadways . . ."



Cleans Up Nicely by Linda Dahl: "When twenty-something artist Erica Mason moves from laid-back Mexico to Manhattan in the mid-1970s, she finds a hard-edged, decadent, and radically evolving art scene."

I also got one book from the LibraryThing Early reviewer program:



Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.

Kitchen Remodel, Week Twenty-One: A New Home for the Cookbook Library

Definitely one of my favorite things about our new kitchen is the bookcase under one bank of windows. I can finally keep all my cookbooks in the kitchen with me. They didn't all fit in these shelves, but 80 percent of them did. The rest are in one of the cupboards under the island, which is good enough. At least they are all in the same room.

Ella Fitzgerald, one of our two Jazz Cats, loves the new book case.  In the summer, she can smell the outside through the open windows and keep an eye on the crows.  In the winter, the steam radiator (hidden behind the black screen on the left) will warm up the soapstone counter she's sitting on. I suspect she will spend a lot of time there.

At a neighborhood potluck last night, I got a tip about a plum tree at a vacant house a couple of blocks away. So I went this morning with my next-door neighbor, the wildly creative interior designer Marketa Rogers, to do some urban gleaning.

I'm not quite sure what to do with these.  They are the little round kind, not much bigger than a Bing cherry.  They are deliciously sweet and tart and very juicy.  They would make a great pie, but I'm trying to shed a few pounds and pie won't help.  I think I'll either make a few jars of jam, or pit and freeze them to make a pie later when I have more calorie capacity for eating pie.

Any other plum ideas? For now or to use with frozen plums later.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginning: Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.


EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The fifth Brandenburg. Somewhere, some place, every moment, an orchestra is playing the fifth Brandenburg concerto.

-- Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively. That is a lovely thought, probably true, and it made me want to listen to the fifth Brandenburg concerto, which you can hear right here.

Teaser Tuesday: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters

"It's just that for three years Michael has rejected every idea I bring in as being too dark, too expensive, too period . . . not commercial enough. Then you come in yesterday with – no offense – the darkest, least commercial, most expensive period film I've ever heard about, and he loves it."

-- Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (ellipses in original). This is the heroine's reaction to the hero's pitch for a movie about the Donner party.

I'm almost finished with this, just in time for Book Club on Wednesday. I loved it. Great story!

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

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Tasha at Book Obsessed is hosting in July. Please stop by Tasha's busy blog, where she focuses on romance novels, with some mystery and suspense thrown in.

I got three short books last week that I plan to rip through to help me with my work on a Board of Directors for a local non-profit.

Unlike with a lot of nonprofit boards, we are not required to actively fundraise, which is very nice. But it is a subject I would like to learn more about, even if just to deepen my appreciation for the efforts of the professional fundraisers.




Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face by David Lansdowne




Asking: A 59-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers, and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift by Jerold Panas



Mega Gifts: Who Gives Them, Who Gets Them by Jerold Panas

Kitchen Remodel: Week Twenty, Cooking With Gas!

We are pretty much moved into the new kitchen.  There are some details and punch list items to go, and the outside is not finished yet.  But the cupboards are full, the pantry is stocked, and we are up and running.

The only trouble is that I don't feel moved in -- I am afraid to use anything in the new kitchen.  I don't want to hurt it or make it messy.  We have to force ourselves to put dirty dishes on the counter or cook on the stove.  It will get broken in eventually, but I am still white-gloving for a while.

Our first meal in the new kitchen was a favorite that we've missed -- Jalapeno Chicken.  I'll give the recipe below, but it is stupid easy.  It doesn't really count as a recipe since it is only one step more complicated than "apply heat to food."

JALAPENO CHICKEN

Pre-heat oven to 375. Pour a little olive oil in a roasting pan. Put chicken parts in a single layer.  Drumsticks work very well, but any parts will do.  Drain a can of whole jalapenos ("escabeche" style -- with the carrots) and evenly distribute the peppers and carrots in between the chicken pieces.  (Save the juice to marinate something else later.)  The ratio should be roughly one pepper for each piece of chicken. Cook until the chicken is really brown, one to two hours.  Turn the chicken once if you remember.

This is a yummy and super easy way to make chicken.  The chicken gets some spiciness from the jalapenos, but not a lot. The peppers themselves get all roasted and gooey and are delicious served on the side as a condiment to the chicken.  The leftover peppers are good on many things -- scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, etc.

Part of this kitchen remodel involved creating access from the kitchen door to the "terrace" on top of our garage.  That stage of the project also wrapped up this week and we were able to, at long last, put our patio table up there and use that outdoor space.  My parents and stepdaughter were the first to enjoy dinner with us out there.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginning: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The dying actress arrived in his village the only way one could come directly -- in a boat that motored into the cove, lurched past the rock jetty, and bumped against the end of the pier.

-- Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. Chapter 1 is headed April 1962, Porto Vergogna, Italy.

This is my Books Club selection for July and I can't wait to dive into it.

Review: Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

Moonlight Mile picks up the story of Amanda McCready ten years after the end of Gone, Baby, Gone. Amanda is missing again and Patrick Kenzie gets roped in to find her, with help from his firecracker sidekick, Angie Gennaro.

Dennis Lehane knows how to pack in details, keep the action moving, and make the dialog snap. Between the Russian mob and assorted thugs and cons, there is no knowing who will shoot who next or where the story will land. It is exciting right up to the last page.


OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

It is not necessary to read Gone, Baby, Gone before Moonlight Mile in order to understand the story. Moonlight Mile rehashes enough of the earlier story to give context. It also spoils the ending of Gone, Baby, Gone, so if you are inclined to read both, read them in order.

I won Moonlight Mile in a giveaway on Knitting and Sundries -- Thanks Julie!  I should have read it right away, but fell down in my blogger duties.  I finally read it now as one of my books for the TBR challenges I am doing this year:

• MT. TBR CHALLENGE (hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block) 
• OFF THE SHELF CHALLENGE (hosted by Bonnie on Bookish Ardour) 
• TBR PILE CHALLENGE (hosted by Adam on Roof Beam Reader)

Teaser Tuesday: Pet Goats & Pap Smears by Pamela Wible, MD

Fast forward sixty years and I realize I'm practicing medicine kind of like my dad -- minus the index cards [for medical records].

I'm a solo-solo doc -- that's solo with no staff.

 --  Pet Goats & Pap Smears: 101 Medical Adventures to Open Your Heart & Mind by Pamela Wible, MD.  Dr. Wible is a primary care doctor in Eugene, Oregon with an appealing way of practicing medicine that she is trying to encourage other doctors to follow.  Her new book "reveals the secrets to solving your waiting-room frustrations, slashing your medical bills, and securing first-rate health care now."

Dr. Wible is a champion of community healthcare, which she explains on her Ideal Medical Care website. You can learn more about her refreshing and sometimes funny approach to medicine on her personal blog, facebook, twitter, YouTube, and her Oregonian blog. 


She also has essays in two award-winning anthologies: Goddess Shift: Women Leading for a Change, along with Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, and Optimism: Cultivating the Magic Quality that Can Extend Your Lifespan, Boost Your Energy, and Make You Happy Now, along with Jimmy Carter and Steve Jobs.


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

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Tasha at Book Obsessed is hosting in July. Please stop by Tasha's busy blog, where she focuses on romance novels, with some mystery and suspense thrown in.

I got two books last week, one for book club and the other as a treat.



Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. I am looking forward to this one.



Plants and Their Application to Ornament: A Nineteenth-Century Design Primer by Eugène Grasset.  I've had my eye on this for a while and finally decided to spring for it.

Kitchen Remodel, Week Nineteen: Moving In!

The inside part of the kitchen remodel is almost finished.  Several details to go, like an Italian tile thing to hang behind the range, the pot rack above the island, and little punch list stuff.  But it is finished enough to move in.  Next week we can even start using it.

Of course, the cats wanted to help. Here is Ella Fitzgerald, posing as usual. She didn't like the plastic sandwich bags messing up the arrangement of canisters.  I agree.   

 

I still haven't read a food book in a long time. My plan had been to read either Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain or The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn for the Foodie Reading Challenge.

But my brain is a sieve so I forgot that plan and started reading Smiley's People by John le Carré, the third book in The Karla Trilogy that begins with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (reviewed) and The Honourable Schoolboy (reviewed).

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginning: Smiley's People by John le Carré.

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

EARLY BIRDS: I am experimenting with getting this post up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. We'll try it this way for a couple of months to see if people like the option of early posting. If you have feelings one way or the other, please comment.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Two seemingly unconnected events heralded the summons of Mr. George Smiley from his dubious retirement.

-- Smiley's People by John le Carré.

This is the third book in The Karla Trilogy that begins with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (reviewed) and The Honourable Schoolboy (reviewed).

Freedom!

Happy Independence Day!

Review: Beast in View

Beast in View won Margaret Millar the Edgar Award for the best mystery of 1956, the third year the award was given. Set in the seedier parts of 1950s Los Angeles, this psychological thriller involves a reclusive young heiress and her dysfunctional family members, all being harassed by threatening telephone calls.

Millar followed the hardboiled examples of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but did it with a feminine twist.  In particular, she gave her female characters more edge, as shows even in this short snippet: 

June knocked on the door and waited, swaying a little, partly because the martini had been double, and partly because a radio down the hall was playing a waltz and waltzes always made her sway. Back and forth her scrawny little body moved under the cheap plaid coat.

Although the themes are a little stale and most of the characters now look like noir stereotypes – back alley pornographers, daytime drinkers, and closeted gays are just a few examples – the book is more than campy, vintage fun.  There is a lot going on and the plot has some decent twists to it.  Every one of the major characters, and a few of the minor ones, seem at one point or another like they could be the villain. 

OTHER REVIEWS

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Beast in View counts as one of my books for the Vintage Mystery Challenge.

Teaser Tuesday: The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman

And this is exactly how a woman agrees to see a man second time after finding him neither interesting, intelligent, nor compelling: He announces that he is a recent widower, vulnerable, like a man without an epidermis. That you are his first plunge into the treacherous waters of the Sea of Dates.

-- The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman. Her books are always fresh and fun -- perfect for summer. This one is about a socially inept surgery resident who finds herself dating a third-tier candy salesman.


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

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Tasha at Book Obsessed is hosting in July. Please stop by Tasha's busy blog, where she focuses on romance novels, with some mystery and suspense thrown in.

I was in Idaho last week, filing a new case, and stopped by a couple of local libraries to check out their sale shelves.  The Boise library has a particularly good Friends of the Library store inside the main branch where, along with the usual fiction, mysteries, romance books, and nonfiction selections they have a very nice collection of books by local authors and the local university press.

I ended up hauling home a stack of books:



Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet, edited by Ruth Reichl (this looks great and is perfect for the Foodies Reading Challenge)



Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, illustrated by Edward Gorey (these are the poems that inspired the musical Cats)



Adam and Eve and Pinch Me by Ruth Rendell (a stand alone mystery from an author I just started reading)



American Places by Wallace Stegner with photographs by Elliot Porter (a gorgeous coffee table book with text by one of my favorites)



The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty (Southern and perfect for summer)



The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot (something more serious than cats)



Death in Ecstasy by Ngaio Marsh (she is another new favorite of mine)



Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett (I hated Waiting for Godot, so don't know why I think I can read his novels, but it is on the Observer's Top 100 list)



Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney (I already listened to this, which I highly recommend, but wanted the book because Heany's Introduction is worth re-reading)

Kitchen Remodel, Week Eighteen: Tile Bravo

Finally! The white tile got here. Now the final kitchen dominoes can fall.  This week is was install tile, grout tile, caulk bottom of tile, and wax the soapstone counter tops.  This coming week will be seal the tile, finish the wood floors, and build the toe kicks.

There are other patches of white tile above other counter tops, but this is the largest patch.

There are still plenty of little things to finish inside, and some big things outside like stucco, bricks, patio stones, and plantings.  But getting the white tile in was a big deal to me because we couldn't wax the soapstone and make it black until the tile was in, so we couldn't see what the counters were really going to look like until today.

To make up for the lack  of food literature in my recent book diet, I've been reading about cookbooks. I have my heart set on getting a copy of the Toro Bravo cookbook by Liz Crain.  It doesn't come out until October, but it is generating a lot of foodie buzz already. The more I read about it, the more I want it!

The Toro Bravo restaurant is already a Portland legend.  I can't wait to try some of Chef John Gorham's recipes at home -- while reading his terrific stories as told by Liz Crain, one of the best up and coming food writers around. All good.

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

Book Beginnings: Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore

Please join me every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.

TWITTER, ETC: If you are on Twitter, Google+, or other social media, please post using the hash tag #BookBeginnings. I am trying to follow all Book Beginning participants on whatever interweb sites you are on, so please let me know if I have missed any and I will catch up.

MR. LINKY: Please leave a link to your post below. If you don't have a blog, but want to participate, please leave a comment with your Book Beginning.

UPDATE: SORRY FOR THE MISSING LINKY. OPERATOR ERROR. I WILL GET IT FIXED BY NEXT WEEK. THANKS FOR LEAVING YOUR LINK IN THE COMMENTS.

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all of our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is "loss of soul."

-- Care of the Soul:: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life by Thomas Moore.

I've read a couple of his other  books, but never this first one in his "Soul" series.  This one is certainly making me think.