Book Haul, End of July

You may be thinking to yourself, "Didn't you just do this? How are you on another haul already?"

The answer is, of course, that last time it was a bunch of regency romances, and those read pretty quick. Also, I haven't been showing you the school library piles that are clogging up my book basket. The real thing of it is, though, I just can't resist books.

Seven books, that seems like a good number.

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo.

Jo Nesbo wrote The Snowman, which has a similar cover (black and white and covered in blood). I'm always a little turned off by the utter starkness and total depression that seems through the lines of most Scandinavian novels (and their television dramas, good grief) but I really liked The Snowman because it was scary and only medium-depressing, and it was written in a way that kept me interested and gave appropriate tension to the scary serial killer thing. Also, the mysterious snowmen were creepy as all get-out, and that was really appealing. So I have high hopes for The Leopard.

The Education of Hopey Glass by Jaime Hernandez

It jumped out from the shelf at me because it's oversized, and also graphic. 

Super Spy by Matt Kindt

...who also wrote Revolver, which triggered recognition in me until I later remembered that "Revolver" is the title of a magazine I don't read. Er, what?

It's a comic about spies, lady spies, in WW2. Awww yeah.

Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam

The spine & title appealed to me, so I picked it from the shelf. 

It's about solving a murder, and also, a Pakistani community.

Pirate King by Laurie R King

So... Laurie R King writes my favorite series, the Mary Russell Sherlock Holmes series, and this is the latest (second latest, she actually has two new ones out) one for me. It's the 11th thus far in the series. 

I skipped the last one (God of the Hive) because... well. It wasn't very good. My trusted reader friend advised me against it. She said that God of the Hive felt like a betrayal of the Mary Russell that we loved with every beat of our adventurous hearts. 

The plot summary for Pirate King on the dust jacket sounds silly. Flat out ridiculous. And the first section of the novel is titled "Ship of Fools", which I find to be a gloomy start for a Sherlock Holmes story. I worry that Laurie R King is going to be reduced to throwing plot at the wall to see what sticks. Can an author really be expected to maintain the same glorious level of delicious crime and adventure of feminism across so many years of writing? 

Carl Hiaasen started to nose-dive on his eighth book. So has King, unfortunately. Locked Rooms (#8) was the last decent MRH book I've read. Going into this book with an air of low expectations isn't how I want to start an adventure novel...

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

Eh. He dragged out the series for ages, didn't he.

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer

Found while checking to see if Carl Hiaasen had anything new on the shelf. Apparently Georgette Heyer wrote scads of Regency romances in the '30s. Does the fact that these books are 70 years old have anything to do with why they are in the general fiction section, and not the romance section? They're published by HQN Books. I like seeing writers reach back to language of the time period, I know how we do it today, but how was it done in the '30s? 

Also, I went to the Red Balloon Bookshop last night, and bought Half Magic (new paperback but with the original inside illustrations, a very happy memory from my childhood) and Ender's Game (because the movie is coming out, I need a refresher, and... seriously? I don't own a copy of Ender's Game??)

5K #1 - Complete

Well, the internet, I did it. I ran that 5K.

It was immensely pleasing to do.  It was hot, and difficult, and I sprinted at the end and thought "This won't do, I'm going to be very ill", but I wasn't ill, we all made it, we all did well, we all smiled at the end.

I ate half a pizza and two SoyJoy bars ♥ ♥ ♥ My love for SoyJoy knows no bounds.



What's next?

In 127 days is the Turkey Day 5K.

My focus for the next 3 weeks is going to be Awa Odori

...with some running mixed in. I am in the above video, actually, the one with the dangling pink bag.


After that, it's back to training!

Running Down the Week

So this 5K is in two days. I'm nervous. My secret preparation?

Training & Tofu!

My life is ruled by colors

I went on a low-impact run for 20 minutes today, finally stealing that file on the first zombie outbreak patient while para-military ops swarmed the building. Yeah, like the undead weren't enough, I have to deal with secret agent nonsense as well! I haven't quite decided if I'm going to be doing Zombies, Run! during the actual 5K... I'll more likely just put on some music and set up Run Keeper to keep me on pace. 

Tomorrow I'll go out cycling in the morning or have a nice walk, and then... well, do my best on the actual day. My best runs in the past have been when I'm well fed and well rested. This morning was a little difficult, coming on the heels of two rocking awesome full days, with no breakfast. 

Which brings me to my new favorite breakfast... tofu in a blender.

I never thought I would be a person who drank smoothies, simply for the reason that I looked at people who drink smoothies, and filed them under a broad umbrella category of "people living a different style of life from me" which might be some sort of "-ist" (classist? foodist?). The point is, I think it's a faddy replacement for an actual food, and should not be treated as a meal or a food in its own right. Yet I drink those suckers at least twice a week.

As follows:

1.  It's easier to make than many a breakfast food, and besides, in the wee hours I often don't want to eat any of the "traditional" breakfast foods. (I'm looking at you, pancakes!) That stuff belongs to brunch-time only!
2. It's sort of delicious. Not super delicious, mind you, but well-enough tasting that I desire to continue consuming it until it's gone. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it's not the world's greatest flavor, so what are you going to do?
3. It doesn't make me feel awful. I wouldn't say that I gain superpowers after consumption, but I have yet to feel sluggish or sick or weighed down, which is something that can happen with an empty stomach + food. 

So there you have it, the magic of tofu... I guess. That was more a list of "negatives that it lacks" instead of "positives it contains", but in general, hoping for too much too soon is a path to disappointment.

The rest of this week looks to be good. I promised The Bean I would take him to the library so we could get books about England, and Eels. I want to read more Dune books. My Mimi is in town, and hopefully this week I can put on a fancy dress and go on a fancy date with her. Almost every day, I'll get to sleep in. Win win win win, all week long. 

A Tool of their Machinations

All afternoon today I was exhausted, but by the time 8:30 rolled around, I was finally ready to run. Two days ago I had one of my best runs ever. I did a pace of 11:16, which, if you will recall from just a month ago, is a drop of 1:31.
Full disclaimer, a month ago I was running intervals with more walking, and now I'm up to longer running intervals. It's not that I'm crazy fast now, but I have stamina. I can run more.

Anyway, feeling the block of being tired, I just cast my mind back to that success in terms of mental preparation. And so off we trot.


I just finished up Week 6 (walk 5, run 22, walk 5), from here on it's just running. Running and running, a few minutes more each time.

The Zombies, Run! story has sort of stalled in my mind. I'm working through a multi-episode arc involving a doctor with a terrible U.S. accent, who wants me to find some medical records about the first infected person, and has basically shanghai'd the radio station away from my trusted radio contact, Sam. Poor old Sam. And I'm like a less-exciting version of Brad Pitt, trotting around out there with my lightbulbs and baseball bats and packets of matches, dodging zombies and being the secret errand-girl for some darn doctor.

It's not that I don't want to know what happened to Patient Zero, but I'm just tired of being a tool for some lady who doesn't really care about me. Sam cares. I adore Sam, and I'll run where ever he tells me, even though he's bad at geography and can't tell his left from his right. This doctor just rubs me the wrong way.

It didn't matter too much today, though. I had other things on my mind, and ruminations pass the time as quickly as zombies do.



Finding out that you don't have any ice cream in house, at nearly 11pm, is really crap :/

Book Haul, Early July

Small but mighty!

Here it is, my haul for early July.

I write this having completed all but two of the items above, which is actually quite a feat. The whole point of these hauls is to gather up as many interesting-seeming items as possible, and then try them out. Usually, there are a few rejects. But not this time, ho ho!

The True Darcy Spirit and The Second Mrs. Darcy by Elizabeth Aston.

As I wrote in the previous entry, Elizabeth Aston writes a continuation of Pride & Prejudice, largely concerned with the extended network of the Darcy family. Lots of cousins, distant relatives, etc. Lost fortunes, arrogant members of the ton trying to keep spirited young women under their thumbs, the usual tricks. 

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

It's been quite some time since I saw the movie, so I am enjoying this (not remembering what all happens). I picked up this book in the mental health section of the library, where I was trying to do research on anxiety.

The Mummy at the Dining Room Table by Jeffery A Kottler and Jon Carlson

This is the other book I picked up from the mental health section. It has nothing to do with anxiety, and everything to do with therapists talking about their most interesting cases. It was good because while the stories of the people were extremely interesting, it was also neat to hear about the therapists' reactions and reasonings for doing what they did or trying what they tried. 

The rest of the books in the section weren't so good, and I must admit I ended up going home and punching "anxiety" into Google. So, you know, that.

Off the Grid by P.J. Tracy

P.J. Tracy, if you don't know, is a mother-daughter writing team from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They write detective thrillers that take place in the midwest, and so far they have all been pretty good. It's a satisfying cast: the two Detectives (one a slightly-naieve family man, the other a slightly-bitter divorcee), the rest of the MNPD (the red-headed computer guy, the sassy receptionist, the Chief), and the Monkeewrench team (a group of computer software designers who are targeted by crime in the first novel, and stay on as main characters throughout). 

Just go read their books. They're quick, engaging, and awesome.

A Night at the Opera by the Marx Brothers

Are you watching the Marx Brothers? Why not?

Contains one of my favorite Chico piano scenes of all time (although this one is a very close second) also "Cosi Cosa" which is good to sing anytime, anywhere. 

So there you have it, what's tided me over for the past two weeks. As soon as I finish up The Second Mrs. Darcy and Girl, Interrupted, it's off to the library again!

Oh, Mr. Darcy!

I blog to you today from my deck, soaking in the gorgeous summer sun (not really -- I'm under an umbrella. Skin cancer, you know) with ice-water and sweet cherries, and a lovely breeze blowing through the trees. I feel just grand!

Here's a few things I've had going:

Whoa there, Darcy!

The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston.

Finished it. Didn't love it, but enjoyed it. Elizabeth Aston has written... 6? 7? books that continue the story of the Darcys, starting with a story about their five daughters (Mr. Darcy's Daughters). It's written in language that captures some of the era, but with a definite modern slant. There is more chat and less description. I find that since Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth aren't actual characters in the story (so far they are always off in Constantinople or Venice or whatever) the reader can have fun with the idea without being scandalized by modern treatment of beloved characters.

Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife by Linda Berdoll

I wrote in an old blog about a book that picks up right after the marriage of the Darcy's and the Bingley's (It may have in fact been called The Darcy's and the Bingley's) and how it was so nauseating with professions of love that I could mark my pages with dribbles of vomit. 

Is that too much of an image?

Anyway, this book has Mr. Darcy acting as more of a reserved jerk than a love-sick sop in private. It's nice. The author is hell-bent on writing in the style of the day, so you have to wade through long paragraphs and ill-chosen words in order to figure out what the hell is happening. There is a lot of flash-back and exposition. I had to reach for the dictionary a few times to figure out who had insulted who. But bits of it are quite funny, and make up for the tedious parts. Lydia explaining sex to Elizabeth and Jane had me laughing quite a lot. 

Lastly, I got new glasses

Shiny!

Definitely saucy librarian time.

BARF - Coconut Sweet

Soooo... let's do some BARF!

Today's BARF comes from "Greatest Ever Indian" cookbook, which looks like it ought to be part of a "Greatest Ever" series of cookbooks, but is not (as far as I can tell). It's definitely one of those books that you can pick up for a few bucks in the front section of Barnes & Noble, which makes you less likely to actually buy it... which is too bad, because it's a pretty good cookbook as far as I can tell.

I mean, look at that little guy!

Naturally I go straight for the dessert section, because I can't afford to buy all that lamb (sweet, delicious lamb) required for the meat & entree section. 

I picked Coconut Sweet because it contains 3 ingredients, all of which are delicious on their own (coconut, butter, condensed milk) and it seemed simple. 

Welp. It's supposed to cool down after the cooking so you can "shape the coconut mixture into long blocks". This is what I ended up with:

Sure, I'll just pick that up with my hands, thanks.

As you can see, it is not very... shapey. The picture in the book shows a nice little crumbly cake-like slice of coconut sweet, like that kind of molding sand that children play with. It's a gooey, sticky blob. I can't form this into anything other than a smaller blob. 

Not to say that it isn't delicious. It tastes amazing. I have been dipping a spoon into the pot and just eating it straight, which is good for me, but bad for anyone wanting to avoid my germs (SUCKERS). 

Is it a success? I think so... presentation is very important in food, but when it comes to things that are supposed to look like boring little blocks anyway, I think that taste trumps all. And the taste of this dessert is FANTASTIC. It's simple, it's incredibly sweet, and it's coconutty. 

Nothing not to love.