June272012

Just a quick update

I haven’t been posting regularly, again, but its still pretty crazy at work.  Anyway, I do have a few books and recipes to post about coming up, so at least there should be more activity from me in the coming months.  I have been pretty caught up with Goodreads.com and listing my books there.  I am doing the 2012 challenge of 24 books this year.  I just upped it from 12 since I was only 4 away and December is still pretty far away. 

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7626100-erica

Here is my profile if anyone would like to be my friend on there and see my current status on my books are. 

Happy reading :)

goodreads.com book club book review update 

June262012

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

I have had this on my to read list for a while now.  It was one of those book that was on the reading list when I was in high school, but never had the chance to read it.  It started out fairly slow, it took the plot a bit of time to really grab my attention.  I was reading Ethan Frome for about 2 months on and off between other books that I found more interesting.  Finally I sat down and read until the plot finally gave me the push I needed to finish.  And I have to say I am really glad I was able to finish this classic tale. 

Read More

ethan frome edith wharton book club ethan zeena mattie 

10AM

Hunger Game Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I read these a while ago, right around the time the movie was in full swing.  I wasn’t going to read them because they were so popular, but I really couldn’t find a strong reason why I shouldn’t based on the basic plot of the book… in reality I was intrigued by the whole mass hysteria of the books.  So I read the first one, Hunger Games, in two days.  As a quick side note, this was when I had finally took the time to start using the Prime lending library on Amazon to my benefit, which I am now OBSESSED with it.  Amazon Prime keeps impressing me with each new service they offer.  Now to get back on track, I found the first book enduring.  I have yet to watch the movie, but the trailer kept popping up in my head when I was reading the first one.  I just kept trying to match the actors from the previews to the actual story. As a single book, I think it could have held on its own. 

Before I started the second book, I had talked to a few people, and they all said the the second was their favorite, and the third was their least favorite.  So I started this with high expectations.  However, I found this one to be almost the same book again.  I started Catching Fire, right after because I was anxious to see what could happen.  However I have to say that even though there were many part of the book I thought Katniss would die, my mind would keep going to the fact that there was another book that she had to be in, so there would have to be a Hail Mary at some point.  I had to force my way through this book so I could read the third and just finish the trilogy.  The whole teenage boy drama has never appealed to me, even when I was that age… its really just a bunch of whining that I could do without in most books.

Since I was let down by the second book so much, I came into Mocking Jay, with fairly low expectations.  I just figured it would continue on with the tradition of the first two, and be exactly the same, but it didn’t.  I thought this was the best of the three.  It had the same theme, but at least it wasn’t so obvious.  There was still a lot of boy drama, but in the end my favorite boy “won out” I guess.  I just feel like I am too old to find this book as enchanting as many of the other readers found it.  It was clearly a young adult book series, that did have thrilling parts, yet it still falls to a certain demographic.  I know a lot of people cried for the characters in these books, but I just never teared up once, and I cry at car insurance commercials!  That being said, the narrative is what kept me going.  The voice was just enticing enough to make me want to finish and find out what would happen.

I would be very interested in reading another book by Suzanne Collins just to determine what I really think of her writing, the trilogy was good, but I have a feeling she has something really great in her collection.  This was a decent read, but really can’t see me reading these again and again in my lifetime. 

hunger games suzanne collins book club bookclub mocking jay catching fire 

9AM

Native Son

Actually, I read this at first thinking it was a different book on my Kindle.  It was part of the many I downloaded for free a while back.  It turned out to be a short by T.D. Hamm and only took a lunch break to read.  It was essentially about a boy how couldn’t determine what was reality since his father teased him about it his whole life.  I really thought the short was pretty interesting, but still slightly disappointed it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be about.

May112012

..The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy..

hitchhiker's guide

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyby Douglas Adams

This has been in my halfway finished book pile for a few years now, and I finally finished the last two books in February.  I started reading this about three years ago, finished the first three novels, and placed it in the “I’ll finish this eventually” pile as a side effect of buying my kindle.  Now that I am actually reading again like I was three years ago, I am digging back into that pile of physical books and finishing them slowly but surly. 

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxyis hilarious! As most people know, this volume follows the adventures and antics of Arthur Dent and crew throughout the mulitverse.  My favorite aspect of this series is how independent the stories are and how hold up on their own.  It ended up being really easy to pick this book up after all these years, no backtracking.  Douglas Adams is brilliantly hilarious.  His style is distinctively memorable, satirical, and just captures my imagination. No wonder this series is world renowned.  I could read this volume over and over and never get tired of his writing style.

My favorite part of this series is when Arthur realizes that his only skill that is valuable to society is sandwich making, which seems rather useless.  But he was actually able to make it work to his benefit when he was abandoned on a planet that is in the early stages of civilization. I do have to admit that when I am reading the guide, all I want to do is play Spore. Actually I think I want to play Spore almost anytime I think of aliens I could make in the game, like the characters in Aaahhh! Real Monsters..

But anyway… I just want to thank my Mom for getting me into Douglas Adams.  I think he has permantently worked his way into my top five favorite authors..

douglas adams the ultimate hitchiker's guide to the galaxy ultimate hitchhiker's guide galaxy book club book club book review review 

May72012

..The Fault in our Stars by John Green..

The Fault in our Stars

I finished readingThe Fault in our Starsby the end of February.  It was the first book that got me back into reading on a more regular basis.  I have never really been one to read books in the young adult genre, but I have to admit that after reading this book I have decided to reconsider my objections. 

I really lovedThe Fault in our Stars, mainly because it spoke to my teenage self again in a way that I didn’t find completely annoying.  What I mean by this statement is that whenever I read a book that reminds me of my youth, I tend to find the narrative voice a bit whinny and finishing the book is really difficult when I just cannot look past my teenage self-loathing.  For example, when I tried to rereadGo Ask Alice, I couldn’t even get past the first couple chapters because of how much she complained about EVERYTHING!!! It just makes everything drag, especially when I think of how much I loved books like that when I was 15 years old.

So moving on, TFioSavoids that pitfall fairly well since Hazel is way beyond her years.  She still has the boy problems, the friend issues, and many more problems that face a normal teen, but is much more level headed due to her intimate relationship with death.  I am just amazed how I was pulled in so quickly, and kept championing for Hazel. For her life to continue, with as many normalcy  we all hoped to experience as a teen, even with her limited time frame.  Hazel won me over by her tongue and cheek humor throughout the story.  And even though I knew that based on the tragic premise of the book, I balled my eyes out in the many twists and turns John Green took me on. I don’t think this really has to be said again, but I will clarify that TFioSis THE book that made me want to get back into reading on a regular basis.  I had been toying around with the idea of reading more often, but this is the book that kick started my efforts once again, AND I have actually been keeping up with my goals of one book a month.

John Green TFioS The Fault in out Stars Book club book club book review 

May12012
..White Wine, Leek, and Lamb Stew.. I’ve been craving shepherd’s pie/lamb lately, and I just found my dutch oven from when I lived at home, so I decided to give it a whirl for dinner. I went searching online for ideas on how I should accomplish the daunting task of learning how to use a dutch oven again.  And after some research I was able to draft this recipe below.  The house smells awesome, and turned out fantastic.  I’ve never really cooked with wine that much, but as of late I will be using it a lot more often. Ingredients: 1/2 cup olive oil 1 lb lamb shoulder, off the bone and cut into 1 in cubes 3 leeks, half mooned and only the whites 5 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup sliced mushrooms 1.5 lb fingerling potatoes cut into 1 in sections 4 cups vegetable broth 1 cup white wine Bay leaf Sprig of rosemary ——- Start by preheating the oven to 300 F Pour half the oil into the dutch oven and heat over medium heat until oil just barely starts to smoke. Brown lamb cubes for 8 min. stirring occasionally. Once browned, remove and place in a bowl for later.  Add the rest of the oil to sauté the leeks, garlic, and mushrooms for about 4 min. until leeks are soft. Then add in potatoes, veggie broth, wine, bay leaf, and rosemary.  Bring to boil then place in oven for 1.5 hours. Serve with sour dough bread. Serves 4 Enjoy..

..White Wine, Leek, and Lamb Stew..

I’ve been craving shepherd’s pie/lamb lately, and I just found my dutch oven from when I lived at home, so I decided to give it a whirl for dinner.

I went searching online for ideas on how I should accomplish the daunting task of learning how to use a dutch oven again.  And after some research I was able to draft this recipe below.  The house smells awesome, and turned out fantastic.  I’ve never really cooked with wine that much, but as of late I will be using it a lot more often.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1 lb lamb shoulder, off the bone and cut into 1 in cubes

3 leeks, half mooned and only the whites

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1.5 lb fingerling potatoes cut into 1 in sections

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup white wine

Bay leaf

Sprig of rosemary

——-

Start by preheating the oven to 300 F

Pour half the oil into the dutch oven and heat over medium heat until oil just barely starts to smoke.

Brown lamb cubes for 8 min. stirring occasionally.

Once browned, remove and place in a bowl for later.  Add the rest of the oil to sauté the leeks, garlic, and mushrooms for about 4 min. until leeks are soft.

Then add in potatoes, veggie broth, wine, bay leaf, and rosemary.  Bring to boil then place in oven for 1.5 hours.

Serve with sour dough bread.

Serves 4

Enjoy..

Lamb stew dutch oven leeks garlic white wine 

7PM

Long Intermission

..I know its been a REALLY long time since I last posted anything on here.  I started a new job back in October, and well I was caught up in things.

I will be back this week with a few book reviews I’ve had waiting for a rainy day, and I also have decided to add my other passion to this blog, which is my own personal “I can host my own cooking show” adventures.

With that said, time to go downstairs and check on that next entry right now..

..p.s. be expecting reviews on these books that I’ve already read this year:

The Fault in our Stars

The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Native Son

And the Hunger Games Trilogy..

October52011

Picture of Dorian Gray

I am still reading The Picture of Dorian Gray.  I am about half way through, and really hope to finish it soon.  I am still in love with Oscar Wilde’s style of writing!  The reader has just discovered that the picture changes, but only just.  I feel there is still quite a lot of dark things that need to happen before we get to the well known plot of the picture being hid away somewhere.  For now, my favorite character is Lord Henry.  His manipulative nature intrigues me, just like every other character in the book.  I know this is supposed to be a scary tale, and I just cannot wait for the turn in plot.  I will have another update by the end of the week and try to pick out the next book I want to read.

Until then—

— Erica

The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde Book club 

September232011
The Picture of Dorian Gray Written by Oscar Wilde I decided that since I was beginning this page, I should also start posting about a book I have just started as well.  This classic has been staring at me from my library for awhile now, and I finally broke down. This is the first book I’ve read by Oscar Wilde, and I absolutely love his style of writing already.  I was slightly apprehensive about starting this book for the main fact that some of the great classics can be a bit dry.  That is not the case so far for The Picture of Dorian Gray.  I am on chapter 3, and about 16% through the book.  At this point, Lord Henry is beginning his experiment of influence on the young, untarnished Dorian Gray.  Their mutual friend, Basil, has reluctantly introduced the two, and Lord Henry has already begun spinning is web.  Lord Henry is very disillusioned with life, and is very apt at influencing his peers, as Basil has been witness to.  However, he finds a thrill in molding a fresh mind into a replica of what his ideal morals are for our society.  There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence.  On other activity was like it.  To project one’s soul into some gracious form, and let it terry there for a moment; to hear one’s own intellectual views echoed back to one with all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one’s temperament into another as though it were a subtle fluid or a strange perfume: there was a real joy in that—perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar as our own…. I have to admit I have been in a classics phase lately.  I have been reading a lot of books that are common place in our culture, but I feel no one takes the time to read anymore because the plot is so well known.  Until next week —Erica

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Written by Oscar Wilde

I decided that since I was beginning this page, I should also start posting about a book I have just started as well.  This classic has been staring at me from my library for awhile now, and I finally broke down.

This is the first book I’ve read by Oscar Wilde, and I absolutely love his style of writing already.  I was slightly apprehensive about starting this book for the main fact that some of the great classics can be a bit dry.  That is not the case so far for The Picture of Dorian Gray. 

I am on chapter 3, and about 16% through the book.  At this point, Lord Henry is beginning his experiment of influence on the young, untarnished Dorian Gray.  Their mutual friend, Basil, has reluctantly introduced the two, and Lord Henry has already begun spinning is web. 

Lord Henry is very disillusioned with life, and is very apt at influencing his peers, as Basil has been witness to.  However, he finds a thrill in molding a fresh mind into a replica of what his ideal morals are for our society. 

There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of influence.  On other activity was like it.  To project one’s soul into some gracious form, and let it terry there for a moment; to hear one’s own intellectual views echoed back to one with all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one’s temperament into another as though it were a subtle fluid or a strange perfume: there was a real joy in that—perhaps the most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar as our own….

I have to admit I have been in a classics phase lately.  I have been reading a lot of books that are common place in our culture, but I feel no one takes the time to read anymore because the plot is so well known. 

Until next week

—Erica

Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde book club Picture of Dorian Gray Picture Dorian Gray 

← Older entries Page 1 of 2