Recommended Reads, September 2016

I'm actually on pace to finish 150 books this year, though November may slow me down, since I'm planning to take part in NaNoWriMo, and writing time will be more important than reading time!

In September I read 13 books. Looking back at the list, these three stood out the most for me:

Coyote America by Dan Flores

I didn't know much about coyotes when I started this book--they just don't have the same mystique about them as their larger, rarer, and more glamorous wolf cousins. But I finished it filled with respect for and interest in these scrappy, resilient, clever survivors who've only thrived more in the face of attempts to eliminate them.


Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Literary fiction is generally among my least favorite fictional genres (I'm also not much of a reader of horror, Westerns, or hard science fiction). Rightly or not, I expect it to be depressing, self-important, and prone to putting fancy writing ahead of an engrossing story.

I'm glad I made an exception for Homegoing after hearing it raved about up and down the internet. (I think maybe Sarah Wendell or one of her guests on the Smart Bitches podcast was raving about an advance copy, and that was what put me over the top to putting it on hold at my library.) This is a beautiful book, and while it's not a happy, escapist read, it feels honest in both its ample sorrow and occasional joy as it follows the descendants of two Ghanaian half-sisters, one who lives out her life in Africa while the other is enslaved and taken to America, over ~250 years.


Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans De Waal

More natural history, this time a general overview of the current state of the science of animal cognition. Basically, we're becoming increasingly aware that many animals are more intelligent and thoughtful than we believed even two or three decades ago, especially when we try to see from their points of view. (E.g. early studies thought chimpanzees couldn't recognize faces...based on studies of their ability to distinguish between HUMAN faces. Turns out you do the same studies with OTHER CHIMPANZEE FACES, and they're quite good at it. By the same token, some studies suggested dogs were smarter than wolves because they're better at understanding human facial expressions, hand gestures, etc. Never mind how well wolves communicate AMONG THEMSELVES in their cooperative hunting.)

Recommended Reads, August 2016 (Summer Book Bingo BLACKOUT!)

I'm proud to announce I achieved blackout in Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo. OK, so I went really easy in the Read Out Loud section...but the Elephant and Piggie books really were my favorite picture books when Miss Fraser was little, and I truly have wanted to catch up on the ones that have come out since then.

August reads are marked NEW.

1. Recommended by a Librarian: How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by JC Lillis - A delightful m/m coming-of-age love story that's also a love letter to geek culture and fandom. NEW 
2. Cookbook or Food Memoir: Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson - a worthwhile read, especially if you like Samuelsson as a Chopped judge.
3. You've Been Meaning to Read: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Vol 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North and Erica Henderson - Somewhere in the last year or two I went from being someone baffled by comics and graphic novels to someone who seeks them out, and this one is fun, hilarious, and full of girl power. NEW
4. #We Need Diverse Books: The Lawyer's Luck by Piper Huguley - African-American historical romance novella, and a quick, sweet read currently free to download on Kindle.
5. Collection of Short Stories: Under My Hat, edited by Jonathan Strahan - anthology of short stories about witches by noted fantasy authors, many of whom are new to me authors I mean to try again. 
6. From Your Childhood: By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder - This wasn't my favorite Little House book as a child, but re-reading it now as an adult and the mother of a 12-year-old (Laura is 12-13 over the course of the book), I was struck by how Laura's adolescent restlessness and uncertainty is mirrored in the family's circumstances. 
7. Prize-Winner: The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood - I really intended to pick a Rita, Hugo, or Nebula winner for this category, but when I saw that the nonfiction history I was reading as research for my new manuscript was a Pulitzer winner, I just counted it. I will show my respect for the fantasy and romance genres in other ways. 
8. Set in a Place You've Always Wanted to Visit: The Graveyard of the Hesperides by Lindsey Davis - historical mystery set in Rome. (While present-day Rome is certainly on my bucket list, believe me I'd jump at the chance to visit the ancient city if the TARDIS happened by.) 
9. Recommended by an Independent Bookstore: Born for This by Chris Guillebeau - Advice and inspiration for career changers. NEW
10. Banned: Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin - a thoughtful and thought-provoking book profiling six transgender teens.
11. Collection of Poetry: The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton by Lucille Clifton - I rarely seek out poetry, but as long as the library puts it on their annual summer reading bingo, I'll manage a volume a year. And, really, I'm glad I got to spend a week's worth of evenings looking through Clifton's view of the world. NEW
12. Young Adult Book: Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff - a graphic novel full of pure swashbuckling fun in the early 19th century. Gorgeously illustrated, too.
13. FREE! Recommend a Book to a Friend: Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines - I've been recommending books to my fellow former Sleepy Hollow fan friends that hit some of the same sweet spots as Season 1 of that show, but without falling apart as the story goes forward, betraying and shredding their premises, and killing their heroines in a particularly disrespectful and painful way. (Not that I'm BITTER or anything.) This series definitely qualifies (and would make awesome TV for a network that would be sufficiently faithful to the source material).
14. Translated from Another Language: The Odyssey by Homer (Fitzgerald translation) - I do love my ancient Greeks, though I'm not sure I chose wisely in terms of translation. Fitzgerald was highly recommended in a book discussion thread I googled, but I read DH Lawrence's translation lo these many years ago (like at least 20) and seem to remember the story seeming far more vivid and lively. NEW
15. Non-Fiction: The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez - about the enslavement of Native Americans, especially in Spanish-colonized areas before and after independence.
16. Novel: Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain - character-driven historical romance, at once tender and hot.
17. Local Author: The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson - I found this book on a list of recommended reads at Powell's and therefore meant it for the independent bookstore category, but when I saw that the author lives on one of our Puget Sound islands and used his experiences gardening there intensively in this history and biology of seed plants, I decided it belonged here instead. 
18. Written by a Seattle Arts and Lectures Speaker: Falcon by Helen Macdonald - because I find raptors endlessly fascinating. NEW
19. Reread: The World of Jennie G. by Elisabeth Ogilvie - A favorite from my teens that still holds up well to rereading, and I've just discovered it's back in print! But it's the middle book of a trilogy, so you'll want to get Jennie About to Be first.
20. You Finish Reading in a Day: League of Dragons by Naomi Novik - a satisfying end to a wonderful series, though I thought the denouement was too short and didn't spend enough time on the characters I liked best. 
21. Read Out Loud: A Big Guy Took My Ball by Mo Willems - Seriously, if you have a little kid or are buying a present for one, this series is the best. NEW
22. Out of Your Comfort Zone: Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein - I decided this qualified for the category insofar as reading it as the mother of a 12-year-old daughter filled me with horror to think of the gauntlet of sexism, misogyny, and even rape adolescents and young women all too often endure.
23. Memoir: Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi - The most harrowing thing I've read this year, because it's so painful to acknowledge brutality committed by my own government, paid for by my own taxpayer dollars, and therefore in some sense in my name. But I feel like it was important that I read it for the same reason. Slahi has FINALLY been approved for release, but is still awaiting transfer. NEW
24. Written More than 100 Years Ago: Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery - published in 1915, so it just qualifies. This was one of my favorites of the series when a college friend introduced me to Anne, possibly because I was the same age as the characters. Now...it's fun, but I'd put it behind Anne of Green Gables, Anne's House of Dreams, and Rilla of Ingleside.
25. Recommended by a Friend: Lead Me Not by Ann Gallagher - Another male/male romance, this one a Christian romance about a deeply closeted man from a family that runs a Westboro Baptist Church-style ministry and his journey to a more welcoming faith. NEW

Recommended Reads, July 2016 (Summer Book Bingo Edition)

Two months of Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo down and one to go! Despite my good intentions it's going to take a push to fill in the remaining nine squares by Labor Day. I've got a couple of poetry collections out from the library, but I'm eying them askance, since I rarely read poetry, and I'm far from enthusiastic about "Read Out Loud," not least because we haven't read aloud as a family since Miss Fraser started reading chapter books on her own in second grade, and she starts seventh grade this fall. It's so much slower than just reading, you know? But I'm more than halfway to a blackout, so I'll make a push.

July reads are marked NEW.

1. Recommended by a Librarian 
2. Cookbook or Food Memoir: Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson - a worthwhile read, especially if you like Samuelsson as a Chopped judge.
3. You've Been Meaning to Read
4. #We Need Diverse Books: The Lawyer's Luck by Piper Huguley - African-American historical romance novella, and a quick, sweet read currently free to download on Kindle.
5. Collection of Short Stories: Under My Hat, edited by Jonathan Strahan - anthology of short stories about witches by noted fantasy authors, many of whom are new to me authors I mean to try again. NEW
6. From Your Childhood: By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder - This wasn't my favorite Little House book as a child, but re-reading it now as an adult and the mother of a 12-year-old (Laura is 12-13 over the course of the book), I was struck by how Laura's adolescent restlessness and uncertainty is mirrored in the family's circumstances. NEW
7. Prize-Winner: The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood - I really intended to pick a Rita, Hugo, or Nebula winner for this category, but when I saw that the nonfiction history I was reading as research for my new manuscript was a Pulitzer winner, I just counted it. I will show my respect for the fantasy and romance genres in other ways. NEW
8. Set in a Place You've Always Wanted to Visit: The Graveyard of the Hesperides by Lindsey Davis - historical mystery set in Rome. (While present-day Rome is certainly on my bucket list, believe me I'd jump at the chance to visit the ancient city if the TARDIS happened by.) NEW
9. Recommended by an Independent Bookstore
10. Banned: Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin - a thoughtful and thought-provoking book profiling six transgender teens.
11. Collection of Poetry
12. Young Adult Book: Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff - a graphic novel full of pure swashbuckling fun in the early 19th century. Gorgeously illustrated, too.
13. FREE! Recommend a Book to a Friend: Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines - I've been recommending books to my fellow former Sleepy Hollow fan friends that hit some of the same sweet spots as Season 1 of that show, but without falling apart as the story goes forward, betraying and shredding their premises, and killing their heroines in a particularly disrespectful and painful way. (Not that I'm BITTER or anything.) This series definitely qualifies (and would make awesome TV for a network that would be sufficiently faithful to the source material).
14. Translated from Another Language
15. Non-Fiction: The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez - about the enslavement of Native Americans, especially in Spanish-colonized areas before and after independence.
16. Novel: Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain - character-driven historical romance, at once tender and hot.
17. Local Author: The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson - I found this book on a list of recommended reads at Powell's and therefore meant it for the independent bookstore category, but when I saw that the author lives on one of our Puget Sound islands and used his experiences gardening there intensively in this history and biology of seed plants, I decided it belonged here instead. NEW
18. Written by a Seattle Arts and Lectures Speaker
19. Reread: The World of Jennie G. by Elisabeth Ogilvie - A favorite from my teens that still holds up well to rereading, and I've just discovered it's back in print! But it's the middle book of a trilogy, so you'll want to get Jennie About to Be first.
20. You Finish Reading in a Day: League of Dragons by Naomi Novik - a satisfying end to a wonderful series, though I thought the denouement was too short and didn't spend enough time on the characters I liked best. 
21. Read Out Loud
22. Out of Your Comfort Zone: Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein - I decided this qualified for the category insofar as reading it as the mother of a 12-year-old daughter filled me with horror to think of the gauntlet of sexism, misogyny, and even rape adolescents and young women all too often endure.
23. Memoir
24. Written More than 100 Years Ago: Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery - published in 1915, so it just qualifes. This was one of my favorites of the series when a college friend introduced me to Anne, possibly because I was the same age as the characters. Now...it's fun, but I'd put it behind Anne of Green Gables, Anne's House of Dreams, and Rilla of Ingleside.
25. Recommended by a Friend

Recommended Reads, June 2016 (Summer Book Bingo Edition)

I'm going to do something a little different with this month's book recommendations post and talk about how I've filled out my Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo card so far.

1. Recommended by a Librarian 
2. Cookbook or Food Memoir: Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson - a worthwhile read, especially if you like Samuelsson as a Chopped judge.
3. You've Been Meaning to Read
4. #We Need Diverse Books: The Lawyer's Luck by Piper Huguley - African-American historical romance novella, and a quick, sweet read currently free to download on Kindle.
5. Collection of Short Stories
6. From Your Childhood
7. Prize-Winner
8. Set in a Place You've Always Wanted to Visit
9. Recommended by an Independent Bookstore
10. Banned: Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin - a thoughtful and thought-provoking book profiling six transgender teens.
11. Collection of Poetry
12. Young Adult Book: Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant by Tony Cliff - a graphic novel full of pure swashbuckling fun in the early 19th century. Gorgeously illustrated, too.
13. FREE! Recommend a Book to a Friend: Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines - I've been recommending books to my fellow former Sleepy Hollow fan friends that hit some of the same sweet spots as Season 1 of that show, but without falling apart as the story goes forward, betraying and shredding their premises, and killing their heroines in a particularly disrespectful and painful way. (Not that I'm BITTER or anything.) This series definitely qualifies (and would make awesome TV for a network that would be sufficiently faithful to the source material).
14. Translated from Another Language
15. Non-Fiction: The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez - about the enslavement of Native Americans, especially in Spanish-colonized areas before and after independence.
16. Novel: Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain - character-driven historical romance, at once tender and hot.
17. Local Author
18. Written by a Seattle Arts and Lectures Speaker
19. Reread: The World of Jennie G. by Elisabeth Ogilvie - A favorite from my teens that still holds up well to rereading, and I've just discovered it's back in print! But it's the middle book of a trilogy, so you'll want to get Jennie About to Be first.
20. You Finish Reading in a Day: League of Dragons by Naomi Novik - a satisfying end to a wonderful series, though I thought the denouement was too short and didn't spend enough time on the characters I liked best. 
21. Read Out Loud
22. Out of Your Comfort Zone: Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein - I decided this qualified for the category insofar as reading it as the mother of a 12-year-old daughter filled me with horror to think of the gauntlet of sexism, misogyny, and even rape adolescents and young women all too often endure.
23. Memoir
24. Written More than 100 Years Ago
25. Recommended by a Friend

I will update this post over the next two months - by which point I hope to have achieved a full blackout!

Recommended Reads, May 2016

This month felt like a bit of a reading drought for me, largely because too much of it got eaten up the audiobook version of Ron Chernow's Washington. Which is an interesting biography, don't get me wrong--it's just that it takes me at least four times as long to LISTEN to a book as to READ one, so what was meant to be a commute diversion to keep me from being annoyed by traffic took over my life for 10 days or so just so I could finish it before it was due back at the library. Suffice it to say I'm going back to baseball and podcasts to get me through my commutes.

That said, I did finish 10 books this month (including that interminable audiobook), and I have a few recommendations. All nonfiction this time:

The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture by Glen Weldon

Glen Weldon is one of my favorite panelists on the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, so I grabbed this book despite my not being that big of a fan of Batman per se. And it's an interesting look at geek pop culture over the past 80 years or so, and how the same basic story can be extremely mutable based on how the surrounding culture changes and what fans bring to it, both as individuals and as part of generations and/or subcultures within fandom. It happened to be a particularly timely read for me, as for the past two months I've been going through what amounts to a protracted breakup with my former favorite TV show and current fandom home, Sleepy Hollow. (The short version: They killed the female lead in the finale because the actress apparently wanted to leave the show, though it's at least arguable she wanted out because of frustration with her character's role being diminished from the original concept. Her death wouldn't have been so infuriating, except that how it was framed and her last words transformed her from an equal partner to the male protagonist into one of a series of helpers whose job had been to carry him forward. And just when I'd pretty much come to terms with the situation, they renewed the show, despite the storm of fan and critical outrage over the finale.) Basically, Weldon's approach to Batman feels like a validation of what I'm trying to do with Sleepy Hollow--take the version of the story that speaks to me and keep that while throwing out what it turned into.

Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber

A sort of faith memoir by the author of Accidental Saints, and an encouraging read for someone like me who shares the author's background of having been raised evangelical, with all the political and theological conservatism that usually entails, who worked their way over to liturgical mainline Protestantism (although her story is considerably more dramatic than mine). A definite recommendation for people who have something of a troubled relationship with their Christianity but don't want to walk away from it. (And I should go back to church soon, since I haven't been since Easter--I mean to every weekend, but I keep having severe introvert fatigue lately and wanting to stay home as much as possible Saturdays and Sundays.)

Eruption by Steve Olson

From the other side of the country, as a child of 9 I was fascinated by the eruption of Mount St Helens. As an adult, I see it every time we drive down to Portland unless it happens to be cloudy (which, this being the Pacific Northwest, it admittedly often is), and we spent an afternoon there on vacation a few years ago. This book helped me picture what it would've been like to live in the region then as it gave a history of land use around the mountain (lots of Weyerhauser logging) and events in the two months or so between the first rumblings and the big Plinian eruption on 5-18-80. Excellent read (though the bits about the history of Weyerhauser dragged a bit), highly recommended for readers who enjoy the intersection of science and history.

As a side note, one thing I've noted since moving to Washington is our governors tend to be a boring lot, at least compared to the ones we had in my time in Alabama and Pennsylvania. They're boring in a good way--competent technocrats with no major scandals--just not very colorful or with the kind of charisma and ambition that would land them on a presidential ticket. About halfway through my reading, I commented to my husband that I think I knew WHY we pick such boring leaders now. He said, "Ah, I see you've met Dixy Lee Ray." She was...colorful, to say the least.

Recommended Reads, April 2016

(Insert standard cliche here about the year flying by, can't believe it's May tomorrow, etc.)

I finished 11 books in April, three of which I'm recommending today. And unlike last month, none of these are deep into a series where you'd need to read at least three other books just to know what's going on!

Let it Shine by Alyssa Cole

This is one of the finalists for this year's Rita Awards in the novella category, and IMHO it's extremely worthy of the honor. It's an interracial romance set in the 1960's South with a black heroine and a Jewish hero, both of them active in the Civil Rights Movement, and it's so romantic and moving, and feels so complete despite its short length. And, in a way, it made the history from ~10 years before my own birth feel more real to me than all the serious nonfiction I've read, or that college class on 1960's protest movements, just by reminding me that most of the men and women involved were very young, with all the personal dreams and passions that entails, none of which stop just because you're fighting for justice and earning a place in history.


The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey

I wasn't expecting much when I picked up this book--I was mainly looking at it to see if it was accurate and interesting enough to be worth giving to my 12-year-old daughter as part of my ongoing plan to trick her into becoming a history geek like Mama and generally get a little more American history into her than the Seattle Public Schools seem to be bothering with. (I have a whole rant on that. Seattle schools are actually quite good as big city public schools go, but thus far my 6th grader has learned almost no history in school. And how do you expect kids who don't have history geek parents to even learn the basics, much less develop the nuanced understanding of how our past informs our present they need to be wise citizens and voters?)

Anyway, I ended up enjoying this book a whole lot myself for being the kind of nuanced lens on history I think we need more of--it uses Lincoln's address to look at slavery and racism, states' rights, and the ongoing tension between those rights and the need for a strong federal government, both before and after 1863.


Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz

Half 21st-century travelogue, half 18th century history, and a wholly compelling read.

Recommended Reads, March 2016

I know I've been neglecting my planned weekly recipe and making-me-happy posts--currently the issue is I've caught yet another Doom Cold, one that's had me laid up since last Saturday night.

I am, however, starting to improve, at least enough to sit up at the computer for a few minutes to pass along my recommended reads from March, in the order I read them:

Revisionary by Jim C. Hines

The final entry in Hines's Magic Ex Libris series. If you haven't read any of it yet, you'll want to go back to the beginning and start with Libriomancer. And if you're a fan of the series but hadn't realized this book was out, now you know.

It's hard to say much about a book deep in a series without giving too much away, but the general concept is our contemporary world, but with magic fueled by the shared belief of readers in fictional worlds--i.e. a magic wielder could pull Lucy's healing cordial from the Chronicles of Narnia, the invisibility cloak from the Harry Potter series, and so on. If that sounds intriguing to you, you'll most likely love these books.


The Horse by Wendy Williams

If, like me, you were the kind of kid who read all the Black Stallion books and all your hometown library's Marguerite Henry (my favorites were King of the Wind and Black Gold because RACEHORSES), you'll love this book. Especially if, also like me, you have a lifelong interest in evolutionary biology and like to keep up with its latest developments. Maybe a narrow target market after all? But if you're in it, read this book.






Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire

Like Revisionary, I only recommend this book if you've read what's gone before--it's Book 5 in a series about a family from a society of monster hunters gone rogue after they realized that not all, nor even most, of said "monsters" were actually deserving of slaughter. Instead, they're cryptozoologists, who study and protect the cryptids of the world, but with plenty of action fighting their old monster-hunting colleagues and such cryptids as really do pose a threat. The books are funny, playful, fast-paced and exuberantly inventive. If you're a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Sleepy Hollow (especially in its crazy-good Season 1 incarnation), you need to read these books. Start with Discount Armageddon.

This latest entry returns to Verity, protagonist of the first two books, after spending Books 3 & 4 with her brother Alex, and IMHO it's the strongest story yet. 

Wednesday Recipe - Chili-Cheese Mac

I've missed a couple weeks of poking recipes, mostly because I've been feeling a bit guilty about the fact I ended up bailing on my Lenten vegetarianism back in the second half of February when I got sick and never summoning the willpower and the momentum to get back to it. Maybe next Lent? Maybe later this spring or in the summer when there's a greater variety of fresh fruit and vegetables to make meatless eating more fun?

So this week I'm linking to one of my go-to recipes from Cooking Light, Chili-Cheese Mac. It's quick, easy, soothing comfort food with just enough extra spice to keep it from being too bland.

My modifications:

1. I rarely use 3/4 lbs. of ground beef. It's just an awkward amount for an ingredient that usually comes in 1-pound packages. I either use the whole pound or just half, if I happen to be making something else that week that calls for a half pound of it.
2. I don't use reduced-fat cheddar cheese because IMHO it's disgusting. So my version is a bit higher-calorie. (I do, however, use the reduced fat cream cheese.)

Don't get me wrong, this isn't anything fancy. Unlike the last 2 or 3 recipes I've posted, I wouldn't serve this one for company. But if you're looking for something simple and reasonably nutritious for a weeknight dinner, I recommend it.

Making Me Happy 3/11/16

This week I'm going to do it--I'm NOT going to use this post to rave about Sleepy Hollow or Hamilton.

Instead, I'll start by saying the thing that is making me happiest of all this week is that I just heard that a Facebook friend of mine--not a super close friend, but a former coworker--just got her first pathology results following chemo and a mastectomy for breast cancer that was caught at stage 3. They came back NED - No Evidence of Disease. Take that, cancer, you evil beast! You can't kill us all! Not today!

Other happy-making things:

I've started writing original fiction again for the first time in over a year--specifically, the interracial, Alabama-Auburn, just-how-much-can-I-starcross-these-lovers contemporary romance I occasionally bring up on Twitter. I'm just tiptoeing back in, but the characters and voices are starting to come alive for me.

I'm signed up for my first of three planned 5K's this year, on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, and I'm planning to start training for it next week, now that it's going to be Daylight Savings Time and I'll be able to run after work.

And since I want to share at least one thing that's something my readers can go out and experience for themselves, I'll talk about one of my favorite board games. My husband, you see, has become absolutely obsessed with board and/or card games. Mental challenges! Family togetherness! Entertainment for friends! While I tend to be happier with games like Taboo, Trivial Pursuit, or Cards Against Humanity that focus more on knowledge or wordplay, I'm learning to enjoy--and occasionally even win--some of Mr. Fraser's favorites. And one I'd like to recommend as a perfect combination of easy to learn but varied enough to offer continued challenges is Splendor.

You're a Renaissance gem merchant. Your goal is to out-compete the other merchants by stockpiling gems to earn prestige points, with bonuses in the form of "visits from nobles" that vary from game to game.

So if you and your family or friends enjoy board games, by all means give this one a try. It's also available as an iPad app, one that I find useful for unwinding at the end of an evening.

Making Me Happy, 3/4/16

Happiness Friday!

If I'm not careful, these posts could turn into a broken record of "Susanna loves Hamilton and Sleepy Hollow." But Sleepy Hollow has really hit its stride, not quite to Season 1 levels of awesomeness but solidly entertaining, ever since it came back from its midseason hiatus. If you've ever been a fan or are thinking of trying it, you should watch to improve its chances of getting renewed for Season 4.

And this song from Hamilton, wherein Hamilton helps Washington prepare his farewell address, has been much on my mind as we move through the election process. (Something which is NOT making me happy. I don't think I've ever been as scared by my own country before. People! Please. Vote courage. Vote compassion. Vote civil liberties. Vote for a generous, open-hearted, open-minded America. History has its eyes on us.)

This particular performance is at the 2015 George Washington Prize Dinner at the Gilder Lehrman Institute, hence the modern suits instead of colonial costumes:


"One Last Time" from the musical Hamilton from The Gilder Lehrman Institute on Vimeo.

And, fanfic being fanfic, because both of these obsessions of mine are rooted in the American Revolution, someone wrote a crossover. (Actually, several someones.) As an added bonus, it's quite well-done: Don't Be Shocked When Your Hist'ry Book Mentions Me. Basically, Crane and Abbie follow a lead that takes them to a crypt under Trinity Church in Manhattan, where they find Hamilton--the real historical one--in a state of suspended animation similar to what allowed Crane himself to come back to life in the 21st century. The newly revived Hamilton steps into modern Manhattan a couple months into the musical's run, leading to this gem of an exchange toward the end of the first installment:

“I scarcely recognize it,” said Hamilton, looking up and down the street at the changed face of the city. Grief settled over his features, once again. “What sort of place could I have, in such a world?”

A bus came to a stop just past them, pulling up to the corner. It had Hamilton’s face plastered over its side, near ten feet tall, with his name in letters half as big.

“What on earth,” Hamilton said, staring.
“Apparently there’s a play? A new one. On Broadway,” said Abbie.
“I want to see it,” Hamilton said immediately.
Abbie pulled out her phone, and after a minute’s tapping her eyebrows went up. “It’s sold out,” she said.
“The next performance, then,” said Hamilton.
“It’s sold out until May,” said Abbie.
“Ha!” said Hamilton. For the first time he looked a little less distressed. “I don’t suppose Madison could sell out a play for so long.”

There! Next week I have to think of something to be happy about other than Sleepy Hollow and Hamilton. Maybe. I hope.

Wednesday Recipe - Pasta with Red Wine Sauce

Another vegetarian recipe for a Lenten Wednesday, this one from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks at Home: (Slightly adapted because I think the timing works better if you get the sauce mix going while waiting for the pasta water to boil.)

Pasta with Red Wine Sauce
(4-6 servings)

- Salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T minced garlic
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1 bottle red wine
- 1 T butter

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Place the oil, garlic, and red pepper in a large, deep skillet and turn the heat to medium-high.

2. As soon as the garlic begins to brown, sprinkle it with salt and pepper to taste and add 3/4 of the bottle of wine. Bring to a boil and maintain there.

3. When the pasta water begins to boil, add the pasta. When it begins to bend (after less than 5 minutes of cooking), drain and add to the wine mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, adding wine a little at a time if it threatens to dry out completely.

4. Taste frequently. When the pasta is done, stir in the butter and turn off the heat. When the butter melts, serve immediately, topped with Italian parsley and parmesan cheese if you'd like.

Recommended Reads, February 2016

I missed last week's recipe and happiness posts because my daughter and I have been fighting the Lingering Cold of Doom 2016, and I spent from Tuesday night through midday Sunday doing as little as possible. This illness, however, led to me getting more reading done than I expected in February, a total of 15 books.

Here are my favorites from those books, in the order I read them. As far as I know, none were actually February releases--I'm rarely quite that up-to-date in my reading--but if your curiosity is piqued, they're all available as ebooks and/or at your local library.

Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber

A memoir of faith by an unconventional Lutheran pastor (her congregation is the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver) that was the perfect read for me at the beginning of Lent. It follows the rhythm of the liturgical church year--which is a big part of what drew me from my very non-liturgical Baptist roots all the way to the Episcopal Church, that whole sense of following an ancient rhythm and set of traditions to mark the patterns of the year--and also features the life-affirming grace and humor that have been a source of joy to me as a newbie Episcopalian. (Episcopalians and Lutherans have wildly different Protestant origin stories, but at least in America have grown quite a bit alike, so there's a certain similarity in style and approach, and our congregations often work together.)


The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

I'd never read anything by Butcher before, though I knew him for a popular and prolific author. So I didn't quite know what to expect from this book.

What I found was purely delightful. Steampunk fantasy with airships engaging in duels a la Hornblower or Aubrey/Maturin in the clouds! Swashbuckling! Talking cats! (The talking cats were my favorite part of all.)

This book is first in a new series which I expect to follow all the way through, and I plan to check out Butcher's backlist as well. There are few things more delightful as a reader than discovering a new-to-you author whose "also by..." list takes up an entire page.


In Her Wildest Dreams by Farrah Rochon

A contemporary romance novella that packed a lot of romance and character develop into a story you can read in an afternoon. It features one of my all-time favorite tropes--friends to lovers--in a pair of New Orleans entrepreneurs (he's a computer programmer turned chocolatier, and she's a high-end event planner) who support and advise each other as they struggle to balance their longing for independence and self-sufficiency with their needs for community, to care for and accept care from friends and family.

I love that this is a city story, and one where love goes hand in hand with work, ambition, and finding a sense of vocation and fulfillment in their careers for both the hero and heroine.


Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War by Linda Hervieux

This account of black American soldiers during WWII, focusing on the experience of a barrage balloon battalion who landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day, was fascinating, and it left me gibbering with rage at the culture I was born into--that of the rural white South--for the way those soldiers, American citizens fighting to defend our country and to liberate Europe from tyranny and genocide, were treated. Yes, much has changed (though much still needs to change). But the fact that German POWs were regularly given privileges, kindness, and leisure opportunities that black AMERICAN SOLDIERS were denied? It's sickening. Not surprising, sadly, but sickening. (Not that I'm saying the POWs should've been treated badly, please understand.) And it also made me realize that we're almost as far removed from WWII now as WWII was removed from the Civil War. It seems weird that we're so many decades past WWII that it's starting to feel both distant from our world and close enough to the Civil War that you can clearly see the through-lines connecting them in American race relations and military history.

Listen to the Moon by Rose Lerner

While In Her Wildest Dreams was a delicious example of one of my favorite tropes, Listen to the Moon took a trope I usually struggle with--a large age gap between the hero and heroine--and made it work for me. (He's 40 and she's 22.) It helped that they met as adults, and she was never in any sense his ward or otherwise a daughter figure to him, so while there was a gap in their maturity and life experience, they still felt like equals in their relationship.

It's also an unusual historical romance in that the hero and heroine are both servants and stay that way throughout the story. In addition to being a sexy love story is something of a meditation on work, community, and finding your true vocation--so in that way it has a lot in common with my other romance recommendation. More romances like these, please!

Making Me Happy, 2/19/16

Happiness Friday!

First of all, I know I raved about Hamilton just last week, but this week it won Best Musical Theater Album at the Grammys and performed the opening number live from the Richard Rodgers theater, so you can see what the staging and actors look like.



This isn't my favorite song from the bunch, but it certainly does an impressive job of summing up the first two decades of Alexander Hamilton's life and foreshadowing the rest of it in four minutes...and it just confirms my belief that men's clothing has been going downhill since at least 1815. I would totally love to walk around in a world filled with men dressed like Hamilton and Burr in that clip...especially if I still got to keep my jeans, at least for everyday. (The big sweeping skirts and corsets might be fun for grand occasions.)

Moving along, I've been on an organizing fit lately, based partly on Marie Kondo's Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and partly on Fay Wolf's New Order. Right now I've my dresser, the pantry shelves, and the closet and bookshelves in my office the neatest they've EVER been, and it gives me such a feeling of relaxation to look at those neat, well-organized, uncluttered spaces. Hopefully by the end of the year the whole house will be the same way.

Last but far from least, I read my first Jim Butcher book this week (The Aeronaut's Windlass) and enjoyed it. There's always a special pleasure to discovering a new-to-you author with a nice long backlist to delve into.

Wednesday Recipe - Shakshuka

Second week of Lent, and it's time for my second vegetarian recipe of the week, from a really lovely cookbook called Breakfast for Dinner. It's a traditional Middle Eastern dish featuring eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, and it's my favorite kind of recipe--quick, fairly easy, but hearty and popping with flavor

Shakshuka

3-4 servings

- 2 T extra-virgin olive oil

- 1 med. yellow onion, chopped

- 2 mild peppers (such as Anaheim), seeded and chopped

- 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

- 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes with their juices

- 1/2 c. vegetable broth

- 1 tsp ground cumin

- 1 tsp smoked paprika

- 1/2 tsp dried oregano

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

- 6-8 medium or large eggs (as you can see, I only use 4, because my daughter doesn't like eggs and my husband and I can only eat so many at a sitting)

- 2 T chopped flat-leap parsley

- 1/4 c crumbled feta cheese

- Warm pita bread or baguette, for serving (so far I've used baguettes)

1. In a large, deep skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers, and jalapeno and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice, vegetable broth, cumin, paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper. Lower heat and simmer 20-22 minutes, or until thickened.

2. Crack eggs on top of the sauce, cover, and cook 6-8 minutes, or until whites are set and yolks are thick but runny. Sprinkle parsley and feta cheese over top and serve with warm bread.

(One step I do differently is I crack each egg into a sauce or small ramekin before adding to the sauce. That way I can make sure the eggs are good, fish out any shell bits that get in, and add them to the poaching liquid quickly enough that they're evenly done. But if I didn't own a dishwasher I wouldn't bother, since that would mean an extra dish to hand wash for each egg, the odds of a bad egg are fairly low, it's not like a tiny bit of eggshell will hurt you, and all I'd have to do is remember which egg went in first and feed it to my husband, who likes his eggs well-cooked, and take the last one for myself since the runnier the yolk is the happier I am.)

Making Me Happy, 2/12/16

Happiness Friday!

First off, I'm happy that I get Presidents Day off work, so this will be a long weekend for me. (The last one till Memorial Day...oh, wait, can't let any sadness into this post.)

Speaking of not allowing sadness into this post, Super Bowl? What Super Bowl? I did, however, see an awesome though too-brief concert with Beyonce and Bruno Mars.

Also, though I discovered it months ago, one thing that's consistently making me happy is the Hamilton soundtrack. Just in case any of you haven't heard about it yet, Hamilton is a hip-hop infused musical about the life, accomplishments, and ultimate downfall of Ten-Dollar Founding Father and first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. It sounds crazy, but most people I've met with even the slightest receptivity to musicals or history fall hard the moment they hear the soundtrack.

So if you haven't heard it yet, here's a taste. "Yorktown" gives a good feel for the overall sound and style:

Here's Aaron Burr's big Act I number, "Wait For It," the most gorgeous villain song I've ever heard:

Trust me. Hamilton. It is made of awesomeness. I'm jealous of all my friends who have seen or will soon see it on Broadway, and I'm already plotting how to see it when it comes to San Francisco a year from now (not with the original cast, though...oh wait, HAPPINESS POST...must stop with the sadness).

Wednesday Recipe - Old-Fashioned Bread Omelet

So, I'm going vegetarian for Lent. (Well, mostly vegetarian. Per Lenten tradition, I can have fish on Friday, and since Sunday is always a feast day even during a fasting season, I get meat on Sundays.) My goal is to be more mindful about how I treat my body, both as a spiritual discipline and to kickstart my health goals for the next year or so.

Therefore for the next seven weeks, my recipes of the week will be vegetarian. I'll start off with one of my go-to comfort meals from the More With Less Cookbook:

Old-Fashioned Bread Omelet
(4 servings)

Combine and soak 15 minutes:
- 1 c. bread cubes
- 1/2 c. milk

(The recipe doesn't specify a type of bread, but I like to use a firm white bread, like day-old French bread. Basically, anything that would work well for French toast, though since this is a savory recipe you probably wouldn't want to go with brioche or challah.)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Combine in bowl:
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 c. grated cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- bread and milk mixture

(The recipe doesn't call for pepper. I always give it a few healthy grinds' worth anyway. It also doesn't specify a type of cheese. I use whatever I have on hand, usually cheddar or a Mexican blend, though the time I started the recipe before realizing all I had was parmesan turned out just fine too.)

Heat in oven-proof skillet:

- 1 T. butter

Pour in egg mixture and cook over medium heat without stirring, about 5 minutes. When set and beginning to lightly brown underneath, place pan in oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking on top. Turn out onto hot platter, folding omelet in half. (Or, if you're me, just dish it straight onto your serving plates.)

----

Simple, comforting, and hearty. The bread gives the omelet a certain extra robustness that's nice if you have texture issues with the squishiness of eggs. (I do--I'm adventurous with trying new flavors, but I have Texture Issues.) Outside of Lent, there's a good chance I'd go full-on breakfast for dinner and serve bacon, sausage, or ham with this. And it's equally good with a savory vegetable side--I like to quick-cook some kale or spinach in a little olive oil with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and some cider vinegar and/or lemon juice--or with whatever fruit suits your fancy.

Making Me Happy, 2/5/16

Happiness Friday!

Sleepy Hollow is back tonight. Sure, I angst over this show way too much at times. That's life if you're watching a show as a dedicated shipper of a pairing that isn't (yet) canon. (Ichabbie 4EVA!) But the previews for tonight's midseason premiere look really good, so set your DVRs.



Cam Newton in the Super Bowl. As long-time followers of my blog or Twitter feed know, I've been a big fan of Cam Newton since he led Auburn to the national championship in 2010, and I'm rooting for him to achieve the rare (possibly unique?) combination of Heisman Trophy, Lombardi Trophy, and collegiate national championship. I'm sad my Seahawks aren't back again this year (I was hoping for the revenge/grudge match against Brady and the Patriots), but while the Hawks are my team, Cam is my player. And all the kerfuffle over his personality, celebrations, etc. only makes me root harder for him. So....War Cam Eagle!

Last but far from least, I'm SO happy the days are finally getting noticeably longer. I always get the winter blues with the short, gloomy Seattle days six weeks to a month on either side of the solstice. This week was the first in ages where I neither arrived at work nor left it in the dark, and I can already feel my mood and energy levels starting to pick up.

Wednesday Recipe: Kid-Tastic Pizzadillas

This recipe is definitely a quick and easy dinner recipe whether than one where I show off my mad cooking skills--in fact, it's the easiest recipe in my repertoire outside of hot dogs or adding some cooked chicken to a salad kit and warming up a loaf of French bread to dip in olive oil and balsamic. But I figure most of us need more quick and easy ideas, so at least half of my recipe posts will fall into that category.

Since the recipe is available on the MyRecipes website, I am linking to it rather than copying and pasting here.

As you'll see, it's ridiculously easy. I usually modify it by using regular tortillas and pepperoni rather than fat-free tortillas and turkey pepperoni. And, of course, you don't have to make it pizza-flavored. I'm just as likely to use a Cheddar Jack blend and cooked chicken and salsa for the dipping sauce--the recipe's virtue is in being a quick, idiot-proof way to make a quesadilla. At least, it's about 99% idiot-proof--be sure to check before the stated time to make sure your tortillas aren't burning. With my oven/baking sheet combo it takes closer to six minutes than ten to brown them once you fold them over.

Anyway, it's that easy. Add a salad on the side, and you've got a nice, fairly light weeknight dinner that will leave you with plenty of time to write, binge watch your latest favorite TV show, get more sleep, or whatever your heart desires.

Recommended Reads, January 2016

Jumping right back into the blogosphere with my recommended reads from this month, in the order I read them. (Note that only one is actually a January 2016 release--I'm rarely quite that timely in my reading. But in a world of ebooks and libraries, all of these should still be readily available for your reading pleasure.)

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu.

Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys epic fantasy about the fall and rise of kingdoms, especially if they like settings outside the standard medieval European-ish swords & sorcery. (Which, thankfully, is becoming less standard. Though I enjoy a good faux-Western medieval fantasy as much as the next reader, I also enjoy variety in the genre.)

While this isn't an all-time favorite for me--I tend to prefer a somewhat tighter POV approach, either first-person narration or a limited third person with an intimate focus on just a few characters (think Jacqueline Carey, Lois McMaster Bujold, or Naomi Novik), I loved the world-building and setting, which is based on the rise of the Han dynasty and China with elements of other cultures, including Japan and Polynesia, and I plan to read more in the series as it comes out.

A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

Recommended for: Readers of YA and fantasy who like strong world-building, strong women and girls, and fairytale and legend retellings. (And also beautiful covers. Isn't that just gorgeous?)

I noticed a couple chapters in that I didn't know the first person narrator's name, nor that of most of the other characters--it was all my sister, my mother, my great-grandmother, etc. You'd think that would make it hard to keep track of characters or feel connected to them, but it didn't at all.

I enjoyed the heroine and her sister's resilience and determination. And the part of the world-building that stood out most to me was the character's form of ancestor worship where notable ancestors were set up as "smallgods," who both answered their family's prayers and drew power from being worshipped.

Katrina: After the Flood by Gary Rivlin

Because of the subject matter, I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book, exactly, but I found it readable and engrossing, and alternately encouraging and infuriating.

I followed Hurricane Katrina and its immediate aftermath as closely as anyone living far away from New Orleans, and I thought I knew a decent amount about the recovery and the current state of the city. This book showed me how much I didn't know, and made me think long and hard about how we as a nation handle disaster and recovery--and how our culture's biases with respect to race and class come out all the more strongly in the face of disaster. Have we learned anything that will make us better prepared the next time a major hurricane or big earthquake hits the US? I'd like to think so, but I have my doubts.

New Order: A Decluttering Handbook for Creative Folks (And Everyone Else) by Fay Wolf

I heard about this book on a recent DBSA podcast. Since I am eternally looking to improve my level of organization and time management, I decided to give it a try, especially given that bringing my house's chaos level down to something more manageable is one of my chief goals for 2016. (So far my clothes, bookshelves, and pantry have been decluttered, and it really does make me feel better about life.) This book gave me some great new ideas as I start to tackle some of the tougher projects, like kitchen tools, all the stuff we've shoved into our closets, the piles and boxes of papers, most of which are probably past their retention periods, etc.

Why, hello, cobwebby blog!

I hadn't realized it had been quite THIS long since I'd updated this blog. I somehow never got up the time and energy to do an update of everything I'd read on the Europe trip, including ALL the Amazon  buy links...and since I've been reassessing my writing career and goals, it didn't seem as critical to be putting fresh content online every single week.

But now I'm writing with the intent to publish again (as opposed to writing with the intention to entertain with fanfic, which I did while reassessing my career goals and will probably continue to do on a small scale, because it's so fun to participate in fandom, not to mention put up a piece of writing and get near-instant feedback). I'm just starting one new project with another further down the pipeline, both in new-to-me genres--contemporary romance and urban fantasy. It may be a year or more before I have a new release to talk about, but I wanted to go ahead and revive this blog.

I won't be logging every book I read, however. I already do that over at LibraryThing, and I don't want to fuss around copying and pasting and looking for Amazon links instead of LibraryThing ones to put the exact same content here. But if you're interested, please do check it out! I enjoy the LibraryThing community and taking part in some of their reading challenges.

What I'm going to do instead is a monthly post recommending whatever I read in the past month that I think is especially notable. There won't be a set number of books, though I can't imagine going a whole month without reading ANYTHING that makes me think, "Hey, some of my friends/readers would think this was awesome, too."

I'm also going to shoot for two weekly posts: 1) a Wednesday recipe post, since I love cooking, talking about food, and finding/helping others find good recipes, whether they're elaborate weekend productions or quick work night dinners; and 2) a Friday "What's Making Me Happy This Week" post, inspired by the good people at Pop Culture Happy Hour.

Beyond that, maybe I'll find time to write occasional commentary on how my writing is going, what's going on in the writing world, etc. Or I may not! Because while I enjoy blogging, it's a lower priority than writing, reading, cooking, or, you know, family, friends, and the job that pays the bills.