Bookish Shows

I've seen 2 plays in the last 30 days and loved them both.
First up is Austen's Pride, a new musical based on Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice.  Since I love Austen I really enjoyed this one.  It combined Jane trying to write the novel and the novel.  It's a story i know by heart but having Jane Austen pop in and out and make comments about what she was trying to do gave it a nice twist.  I don't know that it's going to break all records for a musical because it is pretty typical musical material but the actors were great, music fun and a story i love.

The second play was just last week and it was Dracula!  Saw it 2 days after Halloween which was pretty appropriate.   The ACT theater produced this and i really liked it. Spooky and super well done.  I haven't read Dracula in years so i didn't remember the entire story but really enjoyed it.  They had a woman sitting up at the top of the set who played cello and sang which gave it an eerily feel to it.   Also really liked that it was a diverse cast which makes me super happy.   Perfect Sunday afternoon activity! 

Leaving Time

For my birthday, a friend gave me the book Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult.  I put it on my bookshelf but kept reading all of the other books on my list.  She would ask me every now and then if i had read it yet.  Finally out of guilt, i picked it up.  It was really good.  I had read one other Jodi Picoult book but for some her reason had not read others.
The story is told from different view points and time periods.  Jenna Metcalf is a young girl searching for her mother who disappeared when she was a baby.  She doesn't know if she is alive or dead.   Alice her mother tells the story starting with her research in Africa and when she met her husband, Serenity Jones is a psychic who has lost her abilities but agrees to help Jenna and Virgil is a detective who has left the police force and has fallen into a drunken hot mess.  Together they piece together the story of what happened.  Throughout the book, Alice talks about elephants, how they live, how they remember, how they grieve, etc.  All of her research is on elephants and they play a critical role in this story.
I really enjoyed the characters.  You have to be willing to believe in a little paranormal activity especially for the Serenity story.  Overall all, a really fast read and one that kept me guessing.  No spoilers here but I was completely surprised by the twist near the end. 
I will say that sometimes all of the elephant talk got to be a bit much for me.  It is a lot.  But it was interesting and connected to the story.  I'd give this a solid  4 stars out of 5!

Now completely unrelated, I've been making soups lately.  The weather has turned cool and soups are so perfect.
Made a Squash soup with some Kabocha Squash that a friend gave me already cubed.  I roasted it and then added some chicken broth , onions and heavy cream .  I used my immersion blender and blended it up.  It was delicious! 
Then the next weekend I made a Chicken and wild rice soup.  It was listed as a copycat soup for the Panara soup which i have never had so not sure how to compare.
I've copied the link below.
Really good!  I will make that one again.
Happy reading!

https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Copycat-Panera-Chicken-and-Wild-Rice-Soup-2227894#directions

Year of Magical Thinking and the end of summer

Where did the summer go?  Holy cow!  It flew by.
In August I took a week of vacation and didn't go anywhere for half of it.  The first half I flew to Sacramento to spend a few days with my amazing sister and family.  The timing was perfect because the Beehive book group was meeting that weekend.   And we celebrated Jane's Birthday!   We discussed Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue.    This is a great example of a book I would have never picked up on my own.  It just wasn't on my radar .  But it was the choice for the August meeting so I read it.  Really like it a lot!  That's why I love book group because it forces you to read stuff you wouldn't have normally read.
This is the story of Jende Jonga a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem.  He is trying to earn a living for his family and gets a job as a chauffeur for an executive at Lehman Brothers.    The story is about the American dream for the immigrant family and for the family of privilege that they work for.  Overall I really liked it .  Wasn't a fan of the wife Cindy and felt sorry for the son Mighty .   thought it was an interesting view from an immigrant of America .  It is far from perfect but yet they want to stay and yet they miss their home country.  Fast read.  I gave it 4 stars.
When I got back to Seattle, I had some donut adventures (searching for the best donut in Seattle!) and I went to one woman plan of Year of Magical Thinking.    I read this book back in 2009.  I remember thinking it was just heartbreaking.  The one woman play was the same.   Joan Didion lost her husband in 2003.  At the same time her daughter was very ill and eventually also dies.   The book is about how she dealt with the grief.  The play was great.  I remember that I liked the book but it is really a hard book to say you like.  It is about death and grief and not the kind of book you are so happy you read.  The play was the same.  Glad I saw it, actress was amazing but the topic is heavy.  You leave there feeling a bit crushed.
Overall a great week of vacation.  Good books, good donuts and lots of good friends

Homemade Jelly filled donut 

Homemade donut stuffed with Nutella

My lovely sister! 

The whole family was home!

Educated!

The summer is flying by me!  My reading year has been a bit slow, only 10 books read this year.
But, I'm on vacation this week and hoping to get a couple of books under my belt.
But, i want to review one I finished up last month-   Educated by Tara Westover.  Now, i know everyone has loved this book.  It is on all of the "Best of 2018" list but it was not for me. 
I think it is well written and it is truly remarkable that she survived this upbringing.  It is remarkable that she managed to educate herself and push herself through college and beyond.  But it was painful to read.  So much abuse and pain and emotional drama.
If you don't know the story, it is a memoir of a woman who grew up off the grid in Idaho.  Her father is a self proclaimed prophet of impending doom and her mother becomes a mid-wife. Her father doesn't believe in doctors or medicine or education or the government.   They are Mormons and survivalist.  Tara doesn't go to school and is home schooled (thought not really) by her mother ..   She wants more for herself and manages to get into college and studies philosophy and history at BYU.   It is a story of her growth and eventual separation from the family and the crazy belief system they live with. 
I just struggled with all of the terrible accidents they endure.  Between car accidents, burns, and accidents in the junkyard, it felt like someone was always hurt and not being treated by a real doctor.  Plus she has this very abusive brother who inflicted pain on her, her sister and his wife. 
I struggled with how she was constantly saying..  I knew I should do something but i couldn't.  Or I wish I had done this, but i didn't.  I get that it is very traumatic and living in that situation is not even something I can imagine but I didn't enjoy it.  Some would say that it is more important for us to experience these things and to understand them and to admire how she overcame and that is fine.  I read primarily for fun. 

The author- Tara Westover 

    I gave it 3 stars- well written, important topic, amazing journey but really difficult to read and so upsetting. 
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History of Bees and the Secrets of Paper and Ink

I can't believe it is the end of June!  Summer is sneaking by me.  Summer is always when i do the most reading of the year because i usually spend a week on the beach somewhere fun.  No major beach plans this year but i do have a week at the end of the July with no plans at all!  Maybe I'll get some reading done then!
I have 2 books to review and both are written as multiple stories and in multiple time periods.
Let start with History of Bees.   This book is by Maja Lunde and was originally written in Norwegian and then translated to English.  The first story is in 2098 where Tao spends her days hand painting pollen on trees since bees are now extinct.  Then 2007 focused on George who is a Beekeeper in the US and finally 1852 where William is a seed merchant who builds a new type of beehive.   The common theme is Bees but in truth the story really revolves around the relationship with the sons.  Each story has a son who plays a critical part.  The Father/Son relationship and Mother / Son (for the Tao story) is really where the struggle and emotion of the stories happens.  I started off really liking the Tao story and struggling with the George story.  In the end i wanted to know what would happen in the George story, still really liked the Tao story and was over the William story. 
I'd give this 4 stars because the story was interesting and the characters well thought out.

The Secret of Paper and Ink is by Lindsay Harrel.  This popped up as a recommendation for me because i do love a story set in a bookstore!  Similar to History of Bees, the store rotates between 3 characters.  2 of these are set in modern times- Sophia, who just lost her fiance suddenly and is struggling to move on.  He wasn't what people thought and was abusive which just complicates the matter.  Ginny Rose is running a bookstore that she bought with her husband who has since walked out.  The third story is discovered in a journal by a woman named Emily who is determined to be an author and is in love with a man who is out of her reach.  Sophia moves to Cornwall England to escape her past and ends up working with Ginny to save the bookstore  They search for Emily's identity and try to figure out what happened to her.
I enjoyed the book.  It is a really easy read and i liked all 3 stories though I did want to kind of smack Ginny and tell her to move on.  She kept waiting for her husband to come back and it was obvious that he wasn't.   The end got just a little weird with some references to God and faith which I don't mind except it felt a bit unexpected.   (i realized later it is tagged as Christian Fiction on Goodreads )
Overall a fun and easy read which is what I need to snap me out of my reading slump!  I'd give this 3.5-4 stars.

I made Bran muffins coated in Honey and Molasses after reading the History of Bees.  They are delicious and you coat the muffin pan with the honey and it makes a nice sugary coat over the muffin.   It is the Mimi Cafe recipe!  https://www.loulougirls.com/2015/10/mimis-cafe-honey-oat-bran-muffin-copycat.html?spref=pi

The muffins!  delicious 

Bran, honey, Molasses and powdered milk!  All the normal stuff you have in your cabinet! 

Elizabeth Gilbert and Cheryl Strayed

I first read Elizabeth Gilbert before her hit Eat Pray Love.  I read Stern Men when it came out.  I was working at B&N and picked it up for vacation.  Really liked it and moved on.  Years later, 2006 /2007 to be exact, i was going through a painful separation and read Eat Pray Love .  It spoke to me.  I thought I'd be just like Elizabeth Gilbert and travel and mediate and fall in love.  I highlighted passages and reread sections again and again.  Turns out I didn't travel or mediate or fall in love but I still hold that book dear to my heart.  I woke up last week and saw that she was in town giving a reading of her new book.  I grabbed a ticket and went!  I got an autographed book with the ticket and sat next to a delightful woman (also by herself) and found out she was moving to Richmond!  we talked about Richmond and Jobs and life.  Then Elizabeth came out and read and answered questions.  She is so wonderful.  She talked about faith and death and love.  It was a great evening.
 A few weeks earlier I had gone to the play- Tiny Beautiful Things.  It is based on the Cheryl Strayed book when she was an advice columnist , Dear Sugar.  I only discovered Cheryl Strayed a few years ago when i read Wild.  Another great book about a woman in a life changing place getting healthy and whole and figuring out who she is.  Loved the book  The play was sooooo  good.  It made me laugh and cry.  The big ugly cry.
Now, the cool thing is that Cheryl and Elizabeth are friends.  Just recently on their Instagram account they posted a photo of themselves having dinner together.  That makes me happy!
Also, i just love seeing plays created from great literature.  It is so interesting how a playwright interrupts the material.  One of my favorite types of theater!
Now excuse me while I go and start reading  Elizabeth's new book-  City of Girls!!

Sourdough

the starter

Still  having a bit of a slump with reading but I finished Sourdough by Robin Sloan and really liked it .    A bit of a weird tale of a programmer in San Francisco who inherits some sourdough starter from her neighborhood food delivery guy/ kitchen.  She starts making bread which is so good that she starts doing it full time.  The starter has a strange back story and it kind of takes over.  Weird but fun and a fast read.  Hopefully it will help break my slump. I am giving it a solid 4 stars!    It definitely got me interested in sourdough starter and bread making .  I made my own starter.  For almost 2 weeks I fed it daily and talked to it and named it Eve.  Then I made my first loaf of bread!   Really good but boy does it take a while!  Bread making is not fast!   I'm going to keep working on the bread.  I think in some ways making bread teaches me patience.  Also, it taste good.  Now i'll have a gift for friends when I get invited over!  

2nd rise

Final product 

National Poetry Month

Love this.  It feels magical and perfect.

Spring Slump

I'm been in a bit of a reading slump. I've started 4 books and just haven't moved through them.  Don't get me wrong, i plan to finish all 4 but I've just had trouble getting going.  Sometimes this happens and  I just need to power through one and I'll be back on track.
But, in the meantime, let's talk about books!
I was in NYC for work a couple of weeks ago and got there a day early to play in the city.  One of the things I did was visit the Morgan Library and Museum.  It is JP Morgan's library and it is pretty spectacular.  He was a book collector and you can walk through the library and view the collects and hear an audio tour of the building and his collections.  Not only was it absolutely beautiful but there was also a Tolkien Exhibit to see.  No photos allowed :( but it was cool to see the art work and photos of his life.
That night I met with 2 dear high school friends at the Algonquin hotel.  It was so fun to catch up and I  saw the round table!  If you don't know what i'm talking about --  Dorothy Parker (Writer, poet) was a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table.  It was a group of writers who would lunch at the hotel almost daily .  Look it up!
Love visiting NYC.  So full of literary references.

I have 3 books on my Kindle right now so hopefully next week I can post an actual review!  Wish me luck.

Book of the Month Club!

What's the perfect gift for a reader?  Book of the Month Club!
I got a 1 year subscription for Christmas from 2 of my favorite people.  Now each month I get to choose a book and have it delivered.  The funny thing is that I moved to digital books a few years ago so it is kind of cool to move back to real books!  Here are my first 2 choices for January  and February;

Rosie!

Every thing's coming up Rosie!
Can't believe we are halfway through February!   I've had a slow start to the year.  I have only finished 2 books but started 4 others but just haven't finished them up.
Let's start with the first book of the year--  the Rosie Project!
I loved this book.  Super fun about a man named Don Tillman who is socially challenged and decides to find a wife.  He finds Rosie who is the opposite of the perfect mate for Don but he sets off on a journey to help her find her real father.   Don's orderly life get interrupted and he falls in love.  It's just a charming story with a very unusual main character.  Well written, funny and just a great read.  There is a scene where Don dances at an event that made me laugh out loud on the bus. The folks around me thought I was crazy.    I did not like his best friend who is a womanizer and gives bad advice.  But besides that, the rest of the book was great.
Now for the bad news....   I liked the first book so much that I started reading the 2nd book.  the Rosie Effect.  I made it halfway through and put it down.  It was not good.  I actually found it painful to read.  About halfway through I realized that I just wasn't enjoying it and had no desire to finish it.  The 2nd book was about Don adjusting to life with Rosie and an upcoming arrival.  Rosie's character didn't feel authentic and it felt like there were issues in the book just to added to showcase  Don's awkwardness (Asperger's) .  Also, Don's best friend Gene shows up again and since i didn't like him in the first book, having him in the 2nd book wasn't great.  I don't usually drop a book once I get this far into it but I just gave up. 
My recommendation- Read the Rosie Project and stop there.

Also...sounds like they are making a movie!  Ryan Reynolds staring as Don. 

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 

Everyone is publishing them but this is the one I have used in the past.  (the link is on the sidebar)
Enjoy and happy reading!

New Beginnings and Happy New Year!

So,  I didn't finish those 2 books on my Kindle and i ended  the year at 31 books!  My goal was 24 so i'm pretty happy!   This year i'm setting my goal at 30.  Let's see if I can do  it again. 
It would be hard to choose my favorite for the year but I can choose a few favorites ☺Here are my top 5!
I'm going to start with the very first book i read in 2018-  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.   At first I didn't like the main character but about half way through I just loved her!  She is quirky and weird and I think she is on the spectrum.  At times I felt sad for her and yet i wanted to know her.  It is a character that stuck with me for a long time after reading.  I would highly recommend this book!
The next one I would list in my top 5 is The Bookshop on the Corner.  I reviewed this book earlier this year so I won't do it again.  Loved this book.  It is just a quick read and a feel good book. 
Next would be The Rules of Magic.  I also reviewed this book so i'll just say that if you haven't read Alice Hoffman, READ HER NOW.   Next would be Before We Were Yours.  I just read this book last month and I have been telling people about it ever since.  It is based on the true store of scandal around the Tennessee Children's Home Society Orphanage.  The story goes back and forth between a young girl and her siblings who are stolen and put in the orphanage and eventually sold out to families.  The other story is modern day and about a woman, Avery , who has come home due to her fathers health crisis.  She starts to uncover some secrets in her family history which leads her on a journey.   Really well written and a great discussion for our book group.  Finally book 5 is  Little Fires Everywhere.  This is my 2nd book to read by Celeste Ng.  She is an outstanding writer!  This story is about 2 families , one mother super controlled and living the upper middle class life.  The other mother an artist and living paycheck to paycheck.  She has lots of secrets and mystery surrounds her.  But the reason this book is so good is because of the character development.  The plot is good but the characters are just so rich.   Pick it up. 

When i started this blog I had planned to make it half book reviews and half recipes inspired by the books.  Ha!  So far it has only been book reviews.  I always forget to photograph what I'm cooking ..
For 2019 I am committing to taking more food photos and posting on the blog at least 1 time per month.  And maybe even telling people about the blog since no one even see it!  Maybe it's time to go public!   

So, here is one recipe for the end of year.  My favorite holiday baked good from this year- Cranberry orange loaf cake.  Delicious.  Not necessarily inspired by a book but inspired by the season .  Happy New Year!  (from the website- 2 Peas & Their Pod)

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