Teaser Tuesday: The Spa Decameron

I read the advertisement while she mixed the bleach, and she gave me permission to go to Castle Spa and indulge myself.

Thus it was that Bev booked me in for the ten days of Yuletide.

-- The Spa Decameron by Fay Weldon

I love reading a book set at Christmastime at Christmastime and this is pure indulgence.  I don't know why I've never read a Fay Weldon book before, but I can tell already that I am going to be a big fan.

The set up is a modern take on the classic Decameron, with ten high-achieving London ladies luxuriating at a spa, entertaining each other with stories of their lives.

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

2 Days to Christmas!

3 Days to Christmas!

4 Days to Christmas!

5 Days to Christmas!

6 Days to Christmas!

Book Beginning: For Keeps

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

My mother's eyes follow the lines of my dress, and I can tell my body passes inspection this time, because my hair receives more attention this time.

-- from "Every Eyelash, Mole, and Freckle" by Carrie Kabak, the first essay in For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, edited by Victoria Zackheim

This is the last book that I am reading for my personal 2014 TBR challenge. I love the exuberance of the cover!

7 Days to Christmas!

8 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: Learning to Like Muktuk

Sometimes the children expressed a desire to taste food prepared for the staff and different from theirs. In the case of olives, they said, “Whitemen’s food doesn’t taste good.”

-- Learning to Like Muktuk: An Unlikely Explorer in Territorial Alaska by Penelope S. Easton, published by OSU Press.

Easton first went to Alaska after serving in WWII. She was working as a "dietary consultant" for the Alaskan Health Department and was fascinated by the foods of indigenous Alaskans, such as muktuk (strips of whale skin and blubber). She learned about Native Alaskan peoples and their food cultures, appreciating that public health personnel should know and honor the dietary traditions and adaptations of the region. Easton became an advocate for preserving native food customs.

Using her detailed field reports, photographs, letters, and personal memories, Learning to Like Muktuk provides a rare description of native Alaskan foodways from the period between the end of WWII and statehood.

I love these kind of "random memoirs" about ordinary people doing interesting things. Easton returned to Alaska for further reasearch from 1996 through 2005. She now lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she wrote this book, her first, at the age of ninety-one.

GIFT GUIDE: I'd recommend Learning to Like Muktuk for those interested in Alaskan history, indigenous food, and adventure travel with a vintage vibe.

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

9 Days to Christmas!

10 Days to Christmas!

11 Days to Christmas!

2015 CHALLENGE: 2X15 & Mt. TBR -- COMPLETED!

COMPLETED!

2X15: A PERSONAL TBR CHALLENGE

Like I did last year, I am combining the Mt. TBR Challenge with my own, idiosyncratic TBR challenge. I am going to read 30 books for this part of the challenge, one from each of the separate shelves on my TBR bookcases – 23 fiction books, and 7 non-fiction books. Instead of picking any book that looked good from each shelf, I picked the 15th book on each shelf.

This formulaic selection process yielded a random assortment of books. There are a couple of prize winners on the list, a few classics, some pop fiction, and a bunch of crazy stuff that tells me I either have diverse and wide-ranging taste or I need to clean out my TBR shelves! I like this goofy method of picking the books for my TBR challenge because it gets be reading the books that have sat on my shelves for too long.

These are the books in alphabetical order by author. I was planning on reading them in this order, but decided to mix them all up instead.

I also swapped a couple from the original list. Instead of Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which I found impossible, I read The View from Castle Rock and became a late but stalwart Alice Munro fan. Instead of The Mansion, which I didn't realize was the final book in Faulkner's Snopes Trilogy, I am going to read The Marriage Plot.

THE 2X15 LIST

Difficulties with Girls by Kingsley Amis FINISHED

Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius by Barbara Belford FINISHED

A Bromfield Galaxy by Louis Bromfield (Early Autumn, The Green Bay Tree, A Good Woman) FINISHED

Getting It Right by William F. Buckley Jr. FINISHED

Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens FINISHED

I was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley FINISHED

Oh. Play that Thing by Roddy Doyle FINISHED

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides FINISHED

The Book of Jonah by Joshua Max Feldman FINISHED

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass FINISHED

The New York Stories by Elizabeth Hardwick FINISHED

Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Month is Enchanted by Annie Hawes FINISHED

Fling: Short Stories by John Hersey FINISHED

Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala FINISHED

Southern Ladies & Gentlemen by Florence King FINISHED

Nice Work by David Lodge FINISHED

Wickford Point by Marquand FINISHED

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious FINISHED

A Writer’s House in Wales by Jan Morris FINISHED

The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro FINISHED

Collected Stories by Dorothy Parker FINISHED

Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker (Edgar winner) FINISHED

The Rise & Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman FINISHED

A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman Reveals the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City by G. Franco Romagnoli FINISHED

The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth FINISHED

Duplicate Keys by Jane Smiley FINISHED

Felicia’s Journey by William Trevor FINISHED (Costa BOTY)

The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall FINISHED

Things Invisible to See by Nancy Willard FINISHED (reviewed here)

On Writing Well by William Zinsser FINISHED

I hope to get through many more TBR books, but hit or miss, whatever catches my fancy. I’ll list those here as I go along.

OTHER MT. TBR BOOKS

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (chunkster)

For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, edited by Victoria Zackheim (2014 TBR Challenge)

Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler (reviewed here)

The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (chunkster; 2014 TBR Challenge)

Skios by Michael Frayn

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (chunkster)

Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi (chunkster; Erica Jong)

The Lyre of Orpheus by Robertson Davies

Night Fall by Nelson DeMille (chunkster)

The Untouchable by John Banville

How to be Good by Nick Hornby

Comeback by Dick Francis

The Treasure Principle: Discovering the Secret of Joyful Giving by Randy Alcorn

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Butcher's Boy by Thomas Perry (Edgar winner)

The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side by Agatha Christie

Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

The Charm School by Nelson DeMille (chunkster)

Promised Land by Robert B. Parker

The Spire by William Golding

Big Money by P. G. Wodehouse

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates



UPDATED: December 26, 2015

12 Days to Christmas!

13 Days to Christmas!

Book Beginning: Learning to Like Muktuk by Penelope S. Easton

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

Learning to Like Muktuk tells of my journey as a dietary consultant in the Territory of Alaska in the forgotten period between World War II and statehood in 1959.

-- From the author’s Preface to Learning to Like Muktuk: An Unlikely Explorer in Territorial Alaska by Penelope S. Easton

Trains and mail deliveries punctuate life in some places, but in Juneau, it was ships.

-- From Chapter 1, “Juneau, Home Base”

I love these kind of "random memoirs" about ordinary people who did really interesting things in their lives -- things I never think about people doing, in places I never think about.  Learning to Like Muktuk is particularly good because it is written in a very no-nonsense tone that packs in a lot of detail.

GIFT GUIDE: I'd recommend Learning to Like Muktuk for curious middle school or high school girls who want to travel and work with international charities or NGOs.

14 Days to Christmas!

15 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: The Brightwood Stillness by Mark Pomeroy

In the Ubung terminal, north Denpasar, Nate squatted on an oil-stained curb and waited for his bus to Yogyakarta. Around him, a pandemonium of air horns, shouting men, barking dogs.

The Brightwood Stillness by Mark Pomeroy.  Nate is one of two high school teachers whose stories connect in this book.  One is from Vietnam, now teaching in America. Nate goes to Vietnam to find out what happened to his uncle, a drifter and Vietnam vet.

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

16 Days to Christmas!

17 Days to Christmas!

2015 European Reading Challenge: Wrap Up Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016

THIS IS THE PAGE FOR WRAP UP POSTS.

TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS, GO TO THIS PAGE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

If you have finished the challenge at whatever level you signed up for, and if you did a wrap up post, please enter a link to your wrap up post here.  Please link to your wrap up post, NOT the main page of your blog.

LINK YOUR WRAP UP POST HERE:

2015 European Reading Challenge: Review Page

The European Reading Challenge
January 1, 2015 to January 31, 2016

THIS IS THE PAGE TO LIST YOUR REVIEWS.

IF YOU HAVE FINISHED, WRAP UP POSTS GO HERE.

TO SIGN UP, GO TO THE MAIN CHALLENGE PAGE, HERE,

OR CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE.

When you review a book for the 2015 European Reading Challenge, please add it to this list using the linky widget below.  Please link to your review post, NOT the main page of your blog. If you don't have a blog, post your reviews in comments on this page.

NOTE: There is overlap in January 2015 between the last month of the 2014 challenge and the first month of the 2015 challenge. If you participated both years, only count books read in January in one of the years, not both.

Please put your name or the name of your blog, the name of the book you reviewed, and the country of the book or author. For example: Rose City Reader, Doctor Zhivago, Russia.

LIST YOUR REVIEW HERE:

18 Days to Christmas!

2015 CHALLENGE: Foodies Read -- INCOMPLETE

INCOMPLETE!

I didn't come anywhere close to finishing this challenge this year! I only read two food-related books, far short of my usual stack. I hope to make up for the loss in 2016.

--------------------------------------------------

Margot from Joyfully Retired started the Foodies Read Challenge a couple of years ago, before passing the torch to Vicki from I'd Rather Be at the Beach, who now hosts the challenge on its own site, which this year is Foodies Read 2015.

This is always one of my favorite challenges.  I'm signing up again this year for the Pastry Chef level to read four to eight food books in 2015.

BOOKS READ

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass

Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

BOOK POSSIBILITIES

There are several possibilities on my TBR shelves, including:

The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America's Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David E. Gumpert

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family by Patricia Volk

The Tuscan Year: Life and Food in an Italian Valley by Elizabeth Romer

Epicurean Delight: The Life and Times of James Beard by Evan Jones

A Cordiall Water by M. F. K. Fisher

The Feasting Season by Nancy Coons

Dumas on Food: Selections from Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine by Alexandre Dumas

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure by Mireille Guiliano


NOTE: Updated on December 27, 2015

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads

19 Days to Christmas!

20 Days to Christmas!

Book Beginning: The Brightwood Stillness

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

When the door opened, Hieu Nguyen remained seated in the plastic classroom chair beside the head secretary's desk, talking pro basketball with Monty, the albino custodian.

The Brightwood Stillness by Mark Pomeroy.  Just starting this book, I have mixed feelings about the plot. The story involves two high school teachers, one who is accused of sexually groping two of his students. Since the book is about the friendship between the two teachers, I suspect the accusations will prove to be false.

If so, that may make for a good novel, but it will rub me the wrong way, since a lot of my law work is with kids who were molested by trusted adults like teachers, and the idea of kids making up accusations to get unpopular teachers in trouble is a myth that needs to be put to rest.  I want to race to the end to see where the story goes.

21 Days to Christmas!

22 Days to Christmas!

Teaser Tuesday: Living with Thunder

Oregon's second highest peak (10,495 feet), Mount Jefferson, hasn't erupted for more than 27,000 years.  Still, by geologic standards, where the second hand ticks in millennia, this composite volcano is merely dormant, rather than extinct.

-- Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of Pacific Northwest Landscapes by Ellen Morris Bishop.  This teaser is a good sample of the readability of this "science" book.  It is full of information -- and lots of color pictures and diagrams -- but aimed at a general audience. I think older kids or anyone with a general curiosity for geology would love it.

If you have a Pacific Northwest person with any interest in the outdoors on your holiday gift list, this could be your ticket. It's brand new and not likely that anyone else will think of it.

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

23 Days to Christmas!

Mailbox Monday: The Brightwood Stillness

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event. Mailbox Monday has now returned to its permanent home where you can link to your MM post.

I got one book last week, and I am very excited to read it:



The Brightwood Stillness by Mark Pomeroy. This debut novel looks complicated and interesting and like just the thing for a cold winter weekend. It offers a "vivid look at friendship and the challenges of cross-cultural communication, [a] poignant take on the legacy of Vietnam, and [a] Pacific Northwest setting." Sounds great!

24 Days to Christmas!

Every year, I countdown to Christmas here on Rose City Reader with vintage Christmas cards.  It's sort of a blog advent calendar.  Some years the cards share a theme; some years they don't.  This year we are going with a Christmas tree theme.

2014 Book Challenge COMPLETED: The Vintage Mystery Challenge

COMPLETED!

Every year I sign up for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block.  This year, Bev added a Silver level, but I only participated in the Gold level, reading mysteries published before 1960.

There is a BINGO theme this year, which mixed it up a bit.  Luckily for me, the rules allowed for one wild card or freebie, or I was stuck.

MY BOOK BINGO

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie (book with a COLOR in the title)

What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (aka 4:50 from Paddington) by Agatha Christie (book with a NUMBER in the title)

Death in the Air (aka Death in the Clouds) by Agatha Christie (book with an AMATEUR detective)

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh (book with a PROFESSIONAL detective)

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (book set in ENGLAND)

Enter a Murder by Ngaio Marsh (FREEBIE: book set in the ENTERTAINMENT world)

Book Beginning: Living with Thunder

THANKS FOR JOINING ME ON FRIDAYS FOR BOOK BEGINNING FUN!

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 & SLOWPOKES: This weekly post goes up Thursday evening for those who like to get their posts up and linked early on. But feel free to add a link all week.

FACEBOOK: Rose City Reader has a Facebook page where I post about new and favorite books, book events, and other bookish tidbits, as well as link to blog posts. I'd love a "Like" on the page! You can go to the page here to Like it. I am happy to Like you back if you have a blog or professional Facebook page, so please leave a comment with a link and I will find you.

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

YOUR BOOK BEGINNING



MY BOOK BEGINNING

The Pacific Northwest's landscape celebrate's volcanoes.  Visit any Northwest icon -- Mount Rainier, Haystack Rock, Multnomah Falls, Hells Canyon, or even the Owyhees' Leslie Gulch -- and geologists will likely identify a volcano as its progenitor. 

-- Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of Pacific Northwest Landscapes by Ellen Morris Bishop.

This oversized paperback is filled with glossy color photos and informative charts that make the geology of the Pacific Northwest immediately understandable.

Judging from the enthusiasm my husband has shown for the book ever since it arrived, I'd say it has great gift potential for several of the hikers, rock hounds, and generally curious on my holiday shopping list.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Teaser Tuesday: Children & Other Wild Animals

My daughter, age six, sleeps with her bare, also age six. My son, age three, sleeps with his basketball and a stuffed tiger, age unknown. My other son, also age three, sleeps with a can of anchovy fillets – King Oscar brand, caught off Morocco and distributed by the H. J. Nosaki Company in New York.

-- From “The Anchoviad” one of the most charming essays in Children & Other While Animals by Brian Doyle, published by OSU Press.

Brian Doyle is a Portland treasure and he writes some great books, fiction and non-fiction.  Children & Other Wild Animals is his latest from OSU Press, just in time for holiday gift giving!

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