Review: Obedience by Will Lavender

From the back of the book: When the students in Winchester University's Logic and Reasoning 204 arrive for their first day of class, they are greeted not with a syllabus or texts, but with a startling assignment from Professor Williams: Find a hypothetical missing girl named Polly. If after being given a series of clues and details the class has not found her before the end of the term in six weeks, she will be murdered.

At first the students are as intrigued by the premise of their puzzle as they are wary of the strange and slightly creepy Professor Williams. But as they delve deeper into the mystery, the boundary between the classroom and the real world is blurred and the students wonder if it is their own lives they are being asked to save.

Thank you to whichever book blogger(s) posted about this book. It is from one of the genres I enjoy most - psychological thrillers. Things are not what they seem, there are twists in the plot throughout the book, and the ending is a surprise that I hadn't predicted. There are some loose ends and details that are less than believable, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a quick reading, suspenseful story.

In other reading news...I finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield last weekend. I will refrain from creating the possibly 250,000th book blogger post about it, and simply say that I really liked it. It truly speaks to the heart of a book lover through Margaret and ends in a perfect but not totally predictable way.

I'm hoping to make a dent in my non-fiction TBR pile soon. However, the knowledge that I will begin graduate classes again in September is motivation to suck up all the fiction I can in the next couple months.

Buried in Dishes

I have been doing so much cooking lately that our sink is never empty. This is likely also due to my extreme aversion to doing dishes by hand. I'd rather leave the sink full while the dishwasher finishes another batch than do those that didn't fit in the dishwasher by hand.

Despite an epically failed recipe tonight, I did have great success with my adaptation of Patriotic Frozen Delight from Taste of Home. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk (non-fat)
2 cups (16 ounces) lemon yogurt
2 cups miniature marshmallows...or a little more :-)
1+ cup sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions: In a bowl, combine milk, lemon juice and peel. Stir in yogurt, marshmallows and pecans. Spread half into an ungreased 11-in. x 7-in. dish. Sprinkle with half of the strawberries and blueberries. Cover with the remaining yogurt mixture; top with remaining berries. Cover and freeze. Remove from the freezer 15-20 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

The originally recipe called for pecans, which are not a desireable ingredient in Mr. Taste Tester's world. So, I left them out. Next time I would experiment by replacing them with crunched up pretzels.

Either way, this one will make it to the recipe box as a keeper.

Proud as a Peacock

It's finished! And I am a terrible photographer...but you get the idea. Someday this one will probably be a wall hanging with a coordinating blue fabric edge. For now it will sit in my slowly growing pile of completed projects that need finishing.

Review: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

From the back of the book (for those few, who like me, had been oblivious to this book until recently): "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past the beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at the immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten…her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant – the sinister Mrs. Danvers – still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca…for the secrets of Manderley.

Before reading numerous glowing reviews on a variety of blogs, I had never heard of this book. Shocking! In discussing it with a co-worker who just happened to be reading it too, she compared it to a soap opera in the form of a classic novel. I finally started reading my bookmooched copy during Memorial Day weekend. I loved it as much as all the reviewers said they did!

I believe what captured me from early on was the development of the narrator. (How observant I am to just have realized we never learn her first name.) The reader really gets to know her, as we are privy to her innermost thoughts. And, despite being published in 1938, the inner world of our narrator illustrates enduring themes of the human tradition – love, insecurity, maturing from adolescence to adulthood, and self-perception. In addition, the narrator’s internal processing of certain events mirrored mine in an uncanny way. The first time I noticed this was as the narrator was preparing to leave Monte Carlo (early in the book):

"Packing up. The nagging worry of departure….I am aware of sadness, of a sense of loss. Here, I say, we have lived, we have been happy. This has been ours, however brief the time. Though two nights only have been spent beneath a roof, yet we leave something of ourselves behind. Nothing material, not a hair-pin on a dressing-table, not an empty bottle of aspirin tablets, not a handkerchief beneath a pillow, but something indefinable, a moment of our lives, a thought, a mood."

And I always thought I had a uniquely sentimental view of good-byes.

I look forward to reading more of Daphne du Maurier’s work in the future.

Time Flies When Your Cookin'

Ok, so if I were doing that much cooking over the past month, I would have enough meals in the freezer to last the summer. May was a busy month with a drive out to Pennsylvania and a wedding to attend in northern Minnesota. So, blogging took a backseat.

I actually did make two very successful new-to-me recipes during the last couple weeks that we also a big hit with Hermie's Dad. Someday I will actually remember to take pictures of these things.

Easy Baked Fish Fillets
Adapted from www.myrecipes.com

1.5 lbs grouper or other white fish fillets
Cooking spray
1 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice (I used lime, but will do lemon next time.)
1 tbsp light mayo
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
½ cup panko crumbs
1.5 tbsp butter, melted
parmesan herb sprinkles

Preheat oven to 425.

Place fish in an 11x7 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine lime/lemon juice, mayo, garlic powder, and pepper in a small bowl, and spread over fish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and paremsan herb mix; drizzle with butter. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.



Three Berry Chicken Salad with Thyme, Tarragon and Toasted Pinenuts
Adapted from The Skinny Gourmet

2 - 12.5 oz cans of chicken breast
¼ cup toasted pinenuts
1 package Welch’s dried fruit blend (cherries, blueberries, cranberries, golden raisins)
½ cup light mayo
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tsp dried tarragon
¾ tsp cumin
¾ tsp dried oregano
½ cup celery, finely chopped
1/8 cup sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
1 granny smith apple, finely chopped

Put chicken in a bowl. Add celery and onion.

Toast pinenuts in a sauté pan over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Toast until they are deep golden brown and fragrant. Add to chicken.

In a second bowl, combine remaining ingredients, except apples. (Using a second bowl helps ensure that the seasonings are thoroughly combined before adding to the chicken mixture.)

Add Apples to the mayo mixture, stirring to coat thoroughly.

Combine chicken mixture and the mayo mixture, stirring to mix well.

I will note that I somewhat defiled Erin's chicken salad recipe with the use of canned chicken. I'm sure her version has a much more sophisticated taste using roasted chicken, but I will definitely make my lazy cook's version again.

Did Agatha Christie Have Dementia?

As a counselor to family caregivers, many of whom care for a loved one with dementia, this article caught my attention today. How fitting that I had just finished my Agatha Christie book review a few minutes before. (That particular book was first published in 1950 – when Christie was 60.) Commentors on the article had mixed opinions about the validity of the study, but based on my experiences so far and other research I’ve read, I wouldn’t write it off as nonsense.

Review: A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

Synopsis from BarnesandNoble.com: You are cordially invited to a murder. A personal ad in the newspaper inviting strangers to participate in an evening of murder mystery fun and games at the home of Letitia Blacklock is an invitation that Miss Jane Marple cannot pass up. A good thing, too, because when the lights are dimmed real gunshots ring out, killing a young boy. Now it’s time for a new, much more serious game of “whodunit.”

Since watching the movie version of Murder at the Vicarage this winter, I have wanted to read some Agatha Christie. I randomly picked A Murder is Announced because it would satisfy two reading challenges at once. The premise sounded good, but I was underwhelmed.

What I have determined is that Agatha Christie books should probably be read in large chunks over a short time span. I read much of this one in little pieces. There were many characters with fairly shallow development, and I found them hard to keep straight when only reading a few pages at a time. I read the last 50 pages at one time, and enjoyed it more. Maybe that was also because I was learning how the crime really occurred.

That said, I am interested to read more Agatha Christie. Based on this experience, her books are focused on the architecture of the crime versus the characters involved. And, her crimes really are well thought out. She also creates humorous traits in her characters that gave me a chuckle from time to time. A lady in this book was named Murgatroyd. Everytime I read her name I heard Snagglepuss, of Laff-A-Lymipcs fame, saying “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” Ok, not the humor Christie intended with that one, but still entertaining to me.

Review: Dear Mr. Henshaw

Beverly Cleary was definitely my favorite author growing up. I read all the Ramona Quimby books multiple times, but I think the prize for the most rereads of one books is this one...Dear Mr. Henshaw.

This was the first time I had reread it as an adult. What a difference of perspective! Leigh Botts' favorite author is Boyd Henshaw. He writes to him for the first time in 2nd grade, and a couple years later sends him a list of questions to answer as part of a school report. Mr. Henshaw answers his questions and sends a list back for Leigh to answer. So begins a mentorship and friendship in writing. Along the way, Leigh deals with feelings surrounding his parents' divorce and being the new kid at school, all while developing the skills he needs to become an author someday.

I was struck by the talent it takes for an adult to write authentically from a kid's perspective. We see the world through Leigh's eyes - even how he interprets Mr. Henshaw's advice. And, we see Leigh develop over the years he writes to Mr. Henshaw. His thinking becomes less concrete, and he is able to view a situation from multiple perspectives. He also develops self-awareness. I think it takes a skilled author to convey so many things in language plain enough that it can be understood by young readers.

When I opened the book last night, I could have told you that the book was in letter format between a kid and an author. I had forgotten almost all of the details, but as soon as I read them again they came back. I could hear some of them being read by my second grade teacher, while others were familiar because I'd read them so many times before. It was a fun trip down memory lane.

Progressing Peacock

I have always thought peacocks were pretty, and since seeing them in Rhodes in quanitities similar to mallards on a Minnesota lake, I've been drawn to stitch them.

Here's my progress on a project that has been in the works since October 2008. I got a lot more stitching than reading done this weekend, and this was the subject of my efforts. It's a relaxing one to work on because there are few color changes, and once the brown outlines are in place, it's pretty difficult to make a major mistake. It's no Rhodes peacock, but it will brighten a room when it's finished.

From the book jacket: There is a story that is usually told about extremely successful people, a story that focuses on intelligence and ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell argues that the true story of success is very different, and that if we want to understand how some people thrive, we should spend more time looking arond them - at such things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth date. The story of success is more complex - and a lot more interesting - than it initially appears.

This was a quick read, despite the fact that I still incurred overdue charges at the library. The first half of the book discusses how a person’s environment and circumstantial opportunities contribute to amazing successes or lack thereof. The second half of the book looks at the role of one’s culture and heritage as it relates to success as well as failure. He has a variety of interesting examples that illustrate each of these points.

Two main thoughts kept coming back to me as I read. The first is that, if taken from a certain perspective, this book could cause some readers to give up on their dreams. (Depending on a person’s determination, of course.) After reading the first half of the book you could easily make the argument that if certain conditions don’t exist, your exceptional talent will never result in amazing success. However, the conditions that led to the successes discussed in the book were likely much more apparent in hindsight. So, to anyone who might find the book demotivating – you better not give up because your ultimate path to success won’t be clear until it’s history!

Secondly, and completely unrelated, I was in awe over the amount of research that must have been involved in the book. At the very least you must be skilled at seeing patterns in data in order to form the conclusions that Gladwell did. And, once you’ve formed your theory, you likely need to identify additional resources that support this theory. Lots of work!

I have read all three of Gladwell’s books and, although it’s been a few years since I read it, I believe Tipping Point was the best. I still think back to its main concepts every now and then as it relates to business and marketing. Each book has its merits and clearly illustrates that Malcolm Gladwell has a unique perspective on everyday concepts. Lucky for us, he is also skilled at explaining that perspective to those of us who typically think more inside the box.

Bring on Fall!

Ok, maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. But I just finished this autumn Pine Mountain Pillow Kit. I wish I were so creative that I could say I made the pillow too, but until my husband teaches me how to use my sewing machine (seriously) I will have to rely on the folks at Pine Mountain. Funny how those home ec skills I learned by making bermuda shorts and a neon colored apron in 7th and 8th grade have completely disappeared.

Speaking of the 80s, my brother and I spent an enjoyable Saturday night reliving some of our favorite childhood memories via an 80s tune-fest on Grooveshark. I think we secretly hope we instilled appreciation for Toto, Anne Murray, Roger Whitaker, Mr. Belvadere, and the Muppet Babies (to name just a few) in his 7-week-old sons who got to enjoy the musical montage with us.

Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

From the book jacket: A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue.

It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden…and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder.

It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance…and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age – and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it – who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism – and an unexpected connection between themselves.

After seeing many great reviews of this book on other blogs several months ago, I requested it from my library. It finally became available three weeks ago.

The book begins with Mikael’s libel case, and I was nervous for a chapter or two that the book would be filled with details of financial corruption that I tend to find dry (despite being an accountant by training). Lucky for me, 2/3rds of the book focuses on Harriet’s disappearance and Mikael’s investigative experiences. Larsson intricately weaves connections among many of the characters, and introduces multiple complicated relationships in a way that is, surprisingly, not confusing. As you may have gathered from previous reviews, my ability to feel the essence of the characters is essential to my satisfaction with a book Larsson achieved this well. Though the ending may have tied things up a little too neatly, it was satisfying.

Stieg Larsson died of a massive heart attack in 2004. He left the manuscripts of three completed but unpublished novels in a series. He wrote them for his own pleasure after returning home from his job in the evening, making no attempt to get them published until shortly before his death. The first of these was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The second, The Girl Who Played with Fire was published in 2006, and I will definitely be adding it to my TBR list. According to Wikipedia, the series was intended to be 10 books, and he had a partial manuscript for book four, along with synopses of books 5 and 6.

Edited to add: One down in my Mysteryreader Cafe challenge!

Productive Relaxation

I had today off thanks to a CEO who made Good Friday an official company holiday a few years back just because. Ah, the joys of working at a tiny company. I used to view days off as an opportunity to be busily productive will all kinds of non-work things. Now, I just enjoy the ability to not leave the house, and relax in the recliner with coffee and our fur babies.

I didn’t leave the house today, but man, was I productive. I finished a book I’ve been working on for 2 weeks (review to come), I am now only stitches away from finishing my super secret cross stitch project that I’ve been mentioning for months, I napped (a must on any day off), I made baked banana donuts (which were a big hit with the cute boy in the house), and I made homemade BBQ chicken pizza for dinner with the dough from this recipe (also a hit). Yay me!

Reconnecting

This weekend I spent two hours on the phone with someone I haven’t spoken with in at least ten years. (Thank you, Facebook.) It was one of those conversations where you start getting off the phone ½ hour before you actually hang up because you keep coming up with new things to chat about. The happy feelings of renewing a long-lost friendship stayed with me for the rest of the weekend. I was struck by what we had in common despite the distance that time, miles, and differing life paths had put between us. It is, I think, the truest kind of friendship.

I moved to a new town just before the start of 8th grade. The town, in general, was not all that accepting of people who weren’t born there. That, combined with the fact that many 14-year-old girls are catty and mean, meant that I was lonely for much of my first months in town. Tanya and I rode the same bus home from school. Sometime in the late fall we started talking during the rides home. I remember telling my mom about the nice girl I met on the bus, and she encouraged me to invite her over to our house, which I finally did.

Our houses were within walking distance of each other, and we spent tons of time together. She introduced me to Days of Our Lives during the time John Black was introduced, and I have found I can still recognize many of the characters when I see an episode once every few years. We shared babysitting duties for one of our teachers who had four kids. We served as statisticians for the baseball and football teams coached by that same teacher. (Getting out of school early to sit on the same bench with a bunch of cute boys…it was awesome!) We planned parties to be held at her mom’s house just outside of town. We laughed A LOT. Peer pressure took over at some point, and the people who wanted to include Tanya in their circle did not see me as a desirable addition. Blah, blah…[insert teenage drama here]. I moved to a new town two years before graduation, but we had parted ways long before that.

I went to college. Tanya moved across the country. She tracked my down during my college years, and we were sporadically in touch. She apologized for the choice she made about our friendship, and, being distanced enough from those days, I had no hard feelings. Sometime before I graduated from college, we lost track of each other.

Here we are in 2009, latecomers to the Facebook era, but, lucky for us, it’s still going strong. That connection, unbroken by time, distance, and life experience, found again, with such little effort, 18 years after it was first made is a testament to the qualities that make up the foundation of a person’s self. (Excuse my momentary philosophizing.) There is no doubt that I have grown as a person and live a more fulfilling existence that I did as a self-conscious, fitting-in-obsessed 14-year-old. I’m sure that, with different words, Tanya would say the same of herself. Yet, within 15 minutes of saying hello again, we were exchanging details of personal life events that had occurred during the years since we’d last talked. Whatever Tanya found approachable in me that first day on the bus, and whatever I recognized in her that made me confident enough to invite her to my house was still there. We are older and wiser, yet fundamentally the same.

In a time of much adjustment and evolution from self-sufficient single girl to healthily-dependent married girl, I find great comfort in the confirmation that no matter how much I’ve evolved, the core of me that has always been there has flourished in ways that leave it identifiable to the hearts of those who knew me “back when.”

See, I Told You I Actually Stitch

Since I'm still not so close to posting pictures of my most recent finishes, I thought I'd post these in the meantime. They were gifts for my mom.

This was not a dream...

I have at least one childhood "memory" that I'm aware of that didn't actually happen. It involves visiting the other side of my grandma's duplex while there was some kind of gathering taking place. The best I can figure, I had a dream that lodged itself in my long-term memory.

During the past couple days I was somehow reminded of a series of books I enjoyed during late elementary school. They were historical fiction, probably for teens, and each book was named after a girl...the only two I'm certain of are Joanna and Caroline. A lot of the books in the series were thick, at least in sixth grader terms - probably 250 pages or more. I remember keeping a log of how much time I spent reading one of the particularly long ones. (It's no wonder I thought I should be an accountant.)

The specific details of the stories have escaped my long-term memory, but I have fond feelings about those books. So, yesterday I went on Amazon to search for them. No luck. Even after various combinations of search criteria. Bookmooch, I thought. No luck. Maybe the online database for the library from which I actually check out those books 20 years ago. (Ack! 20 years ago?! I don't feel old enough to have actual memories of life 20 years ago.) Anyhoo, no luck, again.

I know I didn't dream these books. They existed! I swear! Does anyone else out there remember them?

Review: The Reader

Amazon.com Review. Oprah Book Club® Selection, February 1999: Originally published in Switzerland, and gracefully translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, The Reader is a brief tale about sex, love, reading, and shame in postwar Germany. Michael Berg is 15 when he begins a long, obsessive affair with Hanna, an enigmatic older woman. He never learns very much about her, and when she disappears one day, he expects never to see her again. But, to his horror, he does. Hanna is a defendant in a trial related to Germany's Nazi past, and it soon becomes clear that she is guilty of an unspeakable crime. As Michael follows the trial, he struggles with an overwhelming question: What should his generation do with its knowledge of the Holocaust? "We should not believe we can comprehend the incomprehensible, we may not compare the incomparable.... Should we only fall silent in revulsion, shame, and guilt? To what purpose?"

In the mood for a book that I could, hopefully, finish more quickly than some I’ve read recently, I searched my TBR shelf. I was surprised to find a copy of The Reader, which I had borrowed from my dad at least six years ago. The fact that I had hung on to this book that has now regained popularity by becoming a movie gave me some sort of satisfaction along with the happy surprise of finding that I owned it. As if it somehow helped prove my case that books are never a bad investment…they don’t get moldy or slimy like the bulk container of baby carrots that made its way into my cart during the first trip to Costco.

Unlike the carrots, I finished this book in less than a week. Although it wasn’t light reading, it was engaging. Bernhard Schlink’s writing style was uncomplicated, yet rich. I had no trouble connecting with Michael and understanding his fascination, confusion, and self-doubt surrounding his interactions with Hanna. Their affair impacts him throughout life, leading up to the trial and long beyond it. The end took me by surprise, but seemed perfectly fitting.

The moral questions go far beyond those specific to the Holocaust. How do you reconcile your personal experience of an individual when it conflicts so drastically with his/her past actions? How do you balance your emotions with logic? How do you reconcile a past that still influences you with the present?

If you enjoy books that make you ponder life, I recommend this one.

Aromatherapy

Despite the recent book reviewing tendencies of this blog, I have not lost my interest in stitching. I continue to work on some gift stitching and cannot, therefore, post any of my updates.

I probably have at least 5 times more cross stitch patterns than I do books in my TBR shelf/night stand pile/box in the basement. Several of those patterns are in progress, but that never stops me from beginning another one...big surprise.

Earlier this week, my latest coveted stitching supply was announced to me in the email inbox...scented threads! It reminds me of the lickable wallpaper scene fromWilly Wonka's Chocolate Factory...stitch an orange, it smells like an orange; stitch a lemon, it smells like a lemon; stitch a snozzberry...well you get the idea.

Despite the cheesey, 80s reminiscent ad, I am eager to try these out. Stitching might just have reached a new level of relaxing!

Review: The Eyre Affair

From Publishers Weekly: Surreal and hilariously funny, this alternate history, the debut novel of British author Fforde, will appeal to lovers of zany genre work (think Douglas Adams) and lovers of classic literature alike. The scene: Great Britain circa 1985, but a Great Britain where literature has a prominent place in everyday life. For pennies, corner Will-Speak machines will quote Shakespeare; Richard III is performed with audience participation … a la Rocky Horror and children swap Henry Fielding bubble-gum cards. In this world where high lit matters, Special Operative Thursday Next (literary detective) seeks to retrieve the stolen manuscript of Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit. The evil Acheron Hades has plans for it: after kidnapping Next's mad-scientist uncle, Mycroft, and commandeering Mycroft's invention, the Prose Portal, which enables people to cross into a literary text, he sends a minion into Chuzzlewit to seize and kill a minor character, thus forever changing the novel. Worse is to come. When the manuscript of Jane Eyre, Next's favorite novel, disappears, and Jane herself is spirited out of the book, Next must pursue Hades inside Charlotte Bronte's masterpiece.

Dare I admit I have yet to read Jane Eyre? (Does it count that I saw the play?) And, the only Dickens I know in depth is A Christmas Carole! Despite my classical reading deficits, I really enjoyed this book. I found it entertaining and so witty! (And I probably still missed a lot of the wit.) With characters named Victor Analogy and Braxton Hicks you can’t help but chuckle. Not to mention crazy inventor Uncle Mycroft and his bookworms that produce too many apostrophes and hyphens when they get overwhelmed. There’s time travel, travel into classic books, and elements of any good adventure book all mixed in with some romance and a little family drama. I know, it all sounds like too much, but Fforde has true talent and, in my opinion, it works. I envy his creativity. This is the perfect read when you simply want to have fun. This is just the first book in the Thursday Next series, and I look forward to reading more.

This book was also recently read by Trish.

Review and Giveaway: The Broken Parachute Man

From the book cover: After middling pharmaceutical company executive Clyde Young boards an airplane to attend a national meeting to make a presentation concerning his employer's premium drug, his schedule is thrown into a curve when terrorists hijack the plane. After refusing to keep his head down, he is hurled out with a parachute that barely functions.

He is able to survive in the wilderness, but upon his arrival back to civilization, no one believes his story. They assume he is one of the terrorists that hijacked the airplane, so Young escapes to Las Vegas to determine why he was targeted and who was responsible for his ordeal. He lives as a street person and meets four people who believe his story: a sociopath, a prostitute, an alcoholic doctor and a pickpocket.

These people become his allies. They travel with him to the east coast and then to Europe. As Young continues his investigation, he discovers abuses on the part of his employer that could result in mortal danger for innumerable innocent patients. He must act quickly to expose the danger by staying one step ahead of the unknown criminals who are closing in on him and his allies.

I received an promotional review copy of this book early in February. The author, Robert Bolin, is an oncologist, and that fact, probably unfairly, made me skeptical of his creative talent. The beginning of the book sucked me in, as I read of Clyde’s struggle to survive in the wilderness amidst flashbacks to his corporate life. He even talks to us, the readers, at some points. I got to know him as a person with complex emotions and a drive to survive. Clyde’s escape to Las Vegas and his connection with the group of homeless people kept me interested. I was reading of a man who found a way (if at times far-fetched) to take charge of a situation into which he had be thrust and, in doing so, evolved as a person.

The second half of the book is where Clyde really begins to connect the dots regarding his employer’s scheme with the help of his homeless allies. I have to admit that my interest waned at points that were crucial to the plot. As I considered why this was, I decided it was at this points that I lost touch with the characters. Their personalities were overshadowed by the logistics of the plot, which was at times pretty complicated.

Clyde happens upon some extremely lucky opportunities for a homeless person and, with the help of his homeless friends, is able to capitalize on all of them in ways I think would be tough for anyone, much less people afflicted with mental illness, addiction, and other complicated life issues. I also felt that the pieces of the puzzle came together too cleanly. I can’t say it wasn’t captive suspense that kept me reading to the end, but simply the need to know what Clyde would do with what he learned. I must admit I was underwhelmed.

This being my first promotional review, I had hoped it would be glowing, as I appreciate the opportunity to help authors promote their creative efforts. I can only begin to empathize with the energy that goes into producing a novel and getting it published. The book does have its merits, as I mentioned above, and I think someone with a particular interest in the pharmaceutical industry might find the motivations of the big, bad drug company and related players entertaining. But, it probably won’t make my list of best reads in 2009.

Though I’m new to blogging and my readership is low, I am offering my copy of this book as a giveaway to anyone in the U.S. who might be interested. Just leave me a comment on this post with a way to contact you. I will draw a winner (if there is more than one interested party) on March 28, 2009.

Breaking More Rules

My goal was to only make recipes that I had already accumulated. However, I still subscribe to many food blogs and am bombarded with ideas daily. Tuesday I came across two new recipes that were so easy that I couldn't resist trying them out.

Tuesday night we had Taco Bake which was featured on What's for Dinner. It was super simple and tasted good. The only solicited feedback I got was that the chili beans did not soften up enough. I agreed. Next time I might consider getting them started in the microwave before adding them to the beef. I froze a couple leftover pieces of this too. I'm skeptical of how the crust will hold up after thawing and reheating.

Last night I made Rice Noodle Soup with Shrimp from Dishing Up Delights. I seem to have a problem with adding too many noodles to recipes and last night was no exception. The amount of noodles did not allow the bok choy to wilt enough and they seemed to diffuse the garlic and ginger flavors. I will probably give this one another shot, but will increase the garlic and ginger and decrease the noodles.

I Fell Off the Wagon

I have no library books in my house, I was reading a book that qualifies for the Mysteryreadcafe Challenge, and I was looking forward to whittling away the books on my TBR bookcase...and then the Animal Humane Society annual book sale happened...

Last year I went to the book sale on the third day it was open. This time, I went on the day it opened, and when I saw people walking out with grocery bags full of books, I was hoppin' to get in there and shop. Pictured above is the "damage." But how can you feel bad about supporting such a good cause? :-)

In addition to my book sale haul, I received my first ARC ever, The Broken Parachute Man by Robert Bolin. I'm only about 30 pages in so far, but I'm liking it. I also borrowed two books from my mom and one from a collegue that had been on my Bookmooch wish list. I need to start practicing all those techniques I learned in my high school speed reading class!

Introducing Morgan!

The newest addition to our happy household!

Review: A Blessed Child

From Publishers Weekly: Amid Summering tourists on the tiny Swedish island of Hammarso, a blended multinational family comes together in this arresting and well-observed saga from Ullmann (Grace). Isak, professor prone to fits of rage, has a loving second wife in Rosa and three daughters by three different women. The eldest, Erika, 13, and the youngest, Molly, five, are flown to Sweden in the summer by their mothers to spend sometime with their brilliant, and infuriating father. Middle girl, Laura, Rosa's daughter, welcomes them; together, the girls apprehend terror in Isak's irrepressible fits and, tragically, in Ragnar, a local boy Erika's age who doesn't fit in. The narrative moves back and forth in time, as the three daughters converge 25 years later on Hammarso to visit their aging father, now mourning the loss of Rosa. In adulthood, each woman possesses a profound inner life haunted by buried childhood memory.

I finished reading A Blessed Child by Linn Ulmann right after Christmas. I had read good reviews of it and was interested by the fact that it had Scandinavian roots, being of Norwegian heritage myself. The book had its strengths. The descriptions of the island were vivid, and the use of what I assume to be common Swedish expressions, helped set the geographic tone. The emotions of the girls as daughters, sisters, friends, and adolescents, though sparsely described at times, were real to me and kept me interested in reading the book through to the end.

The overall sparseness of the book is what left me feeling somewhat empty at the end. There was so much material that could have been expanded...the daughters' relationship with their father; their reactions to being shipped of to live with him and their half sisters for the summer (I suppose it may not seem odd to them if it's the only life they've known); their relationships with their mothers; Ragnar's inner thoughts. My training in psychology is showing, I think. For some, the beauty of the book is likely that so much is left to the imagination. For me it felt hollow.

I don't feel like I wasted my time reading this one, but it wasn't near the top of my favorites for 2008.

I Won!

There are many generous bloggers out there who host giveaways, either sponsored by an author or publisher or by the blog authors themselves. When I come across a book that looks particularly interesting, I enter the giveaway.

Well, I just won a blog giveaway for the first time! Dawn from She is Too Fond of Books hosted this giveaway recently. H.L. Mencken is an author I have heard much about and never read. Additionally, this book picqued my interest and is outside the realm of what I would typically choose at the library or bookstore. I am excited to read it. Thanks again, Dawn!

Hungry Girl

I was introduced to the Hungry Girl site by a co-worker a couple years ago. It provides all kinds of tips and recipes for light eating based on Weight Watchers guidelines. The site's creator, Lisa Lillien, provides points values for all of her recipes as well. I receive a daily Hungry Girl e-newsletter featuring recipes, new healthy grocery items, and other great info.

I planned this week's dinner menu using mostly Hungry Girl recipes. So far I have made three of them with basically good results. (I am so lucky my permanent taste-tester is willing to try almost anything once.)

Monday night I made Hungry Girl Onion rings. It's a recipe I would definitely try again with some minor modifications. I used my mini food processor to grind up the cereal, which I will not do again. A full-size food processor is necessary to make the crumbs fine enough. I added some garlic powder, salt, and pepper, but not enough. (I have a fear of over-seasoning things, which usually results in under-seasoning.) I served the onion rings with veggie burgers on grilled sandwich thins. For dessert, I made another Hungry Girl recipe, Peaches 'n Cream Microwave Cupcakes. I substituted banana for the peaches, and the flavor was good. I think I over-mixed the batter slightly and probably could have cut the microwave time by 15 seconds. The recipe was super easy, and I will try this one again too.

Tonight I made Hungry Girl Pot Pie. (Pictured above.) I used two whole chicken breasts and four crescent rolls instead of the recommended three. I also added garlic powder, minced onion, and pepper to the veggie mixture. Finally, I sprinkled some Lawry's salt on the tops before baking. I consider this one the best success of the week, and Mr. Taste-Tester agreed.

They Aren't Kidding!

I just came across a new-to-me site with 350 free blog backgrounds....The Cutest Blog on the Block. As you can see, I have already made use of one of their offerings. It was a hard decision! We'll see how long it takes before I try out another one.

Childhood Favorites Reading Challenge

The Holistic Knitter is hosting this challenge. The rules are simple - read at least five books you enjoyed as a child between now and June. I have a small collection of books I loved as a child and have yet to reread them. (It's hard to justify rereading books when I have such a big stack of books I've never read.) Not sure what all five will be, but here are three that have made the list so far.

1. Harriet the Spy
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
3. Dear Mr. Henshaw (I can't count the number of times I read this one as a child.)