Sunday Notes on Monday 5/19/14

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that every Sunday I play a little game with myself. One of the first sections I read in the Washington Post is the Outlook section, which includes the book reviews. I flip straight to the last page to check out the Washington Bestseller list. This week’s list focused on paperbacks—it alternates between paperbacks and hardcovers. You can find my scoring system in the May 6, 2013 post. Oh joy! I’ve read half the books on the list, with Inferno by Dan Brown and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn holding the number one and two spots, respectively.

This week I also glanced at the New York Times best seller list. I was delighted to see that I’d read half of the books on their paperback list as well. Gone Girl topped that list too, followed by The Longest Ride. Both are great reads—and yes, I’ve blogged about them.

Last week, I mentioned I’d be compiling a list of some of my favorite recent reads and posting suggestions for summer reading. I went back through my notes and realized I’ve read quite a few books I’ve truly enjoyed. So, over the next week, I’ll be sharing my favorites—hopefully by category. I say “hopefully” because, well, I’m a Gemini. Doing things in an orderly fashion sometimes drives me a little crazy, so we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve also renewed my quest to find good books for summer that aren’t necessarily on the bestseller lists. As much as I love my little game and the thrill of scoring big by reading chart-toppers, I’m venturing into the world of lesser-known gems. Yes, I’ll sacrifice my score to boldly go where good books quietly live. I’m starting this week with The Apartment. I’ve just begun reading it, so I can’t say too much yet.

Wishing you a wonderful week—and happy reading!

 

Foodie Friends Heads Up it is Shoofly pie!

I am so excited to share this article with you and here is why.  When I was young my parents, brother and I went on a road trip to the Pennsylvania Dutch country.  It was so beautiful and so peaceful.  Of course we went to the Amish farm to get a glimpse of what life is like but mostly we just drove around.  We were only there for the day.

But here my foodie friends is what  really qualifies this as part of my foodie quest. While driving around we found this restaurant called Plain and Fancy.  Many of you might know this place.  As a kid I thought this place was great.  Everyone sat at long communal tables and waitresses brought out platters of fried chicken, bowls of mashed potatoes, green beans and corn.  For someone from a small family where dinners were relatively sane, this world of insanity and noise was wonderful.  We sat at a table with people who had come from many different states. Everyone talked to each other. We ate fried chicken.  We never ate fried chicken at home.  Kentucky Fried chicken was off limits to us.  There was a strict no fast food policy at my house.  My Mom was one of the original pioneers of the healthy eating movement.  Most everything we ate was cooked from scratch.

And here is the best part.  At the end of the meal there were a variety of desserts served, that cherished ending to this delicious meal.  There were different cakes and pies but the pie that caught my eye was shoofly pie.  I am thinking the pie got its name because the person baking the pie would set it out on the back porch to let it cool.  Because the pie had such a high sugar content it would attract flies.  As the person carried the pie back in the house to serve it to the family they would be swatting the flies away and say "Shoo fly don't be botherin my pie"  Good story right?

So here is the link to this article about shoofly pie and Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking.  Included are recipes.  There is one for shoofly pie.  I made it and it came out pretty good.  Hope you enjoy the article and the pie.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/pennsylvania-dutch-cuisine-the-real-deal/2014/05/12/7f961844-c975-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html

The Whole Enchilada

This book falls under my foodie friends quest.  Alas it does not have recipes in the book but it does center around food.  Goldy meets Holly at the hospital the day their sons are born.  Other than the fact that they have both given birth to sons, they have another thing in common they are both married to doctors who they will shortly divorce. Goldy and Holly create a support group called amore anonymous and they add Marla and several others.  They are good friends but Goldy hasn't seen Holly for a while.

Here is where the foodie factor comes in, Goldy is a pretty successful caterer. The story starts out with Goldy catering the 17th birthday party for her son and Holly's.  The boys have been friends forever. The food theme for the party is, you guessed it Mexican food and the dishes cover the whole enchilada.

Holly shows up and is acting weird and paranoid.  Turns out that she seems to have good reason because as she leaves the party she collapses and dies.  Was she poisoned and if so why and by who.

In addition this woman is going around town dressing like Goldy, driving a truck like Goldy and trying to steal Goldy's catering customers. She is just a wee bit crazy.  Who  will win this catering war.  All I can say is lots of people are turning up dead.  The story is humorous and it is fun guessing who is the one doing all the killing.  I am thinking good beach read here!

 

The Fault In Our Stars

I am just trying to get my thoughts together on this book. To me it was an amazing, touching book.  It had the same effect on me as the book Me Before You.  It is thought provoking and evokes emotions on so many levels. 

The book is about teens with cancer.  They live in a world where everyday may literally be their last and they handle it with such grace and dignity. The two main characters are Augustus and Hazel.  Hazel is 16 with terminal cancer. Gus  has cancer as well but he has a 75 % chance of beating it. She meets Augustus(Gus) at a support group meeting and they form a very special bond. 

People are scared of cancer, I know I am and I know how hard it is when a friend is diagnosed with cancer.  You certainly want to be their for them but it becomes hard because everything has changed. Things that you thought were fun don't seem to be that much fun anymore.  Things that you thought were important aren't so important. That is what makes Hazel and Gus so special.  The get it and they are committed to each other.

For the person with the diagnosis dealing with it is personally difficult.  You have trouble dealing with it yourself but you also worry about the people around you who you may leave behind, your Mom, your Dad, a spouse, a sibling.

This book deals with all these issues with a great mix of levity and seriousness.  All I can say is it is a must read.  One final note, I have seen the trailer for the movie based on this book and I will be going to see it,  even if it is just to see how they translated the book onto the screen.  Read it!!!

Sunday Notes on Monday

This was a good week.  I had time to read and I took the opportunity to finish up two books.  The first one is The Fault in Our Stars. You will have to read my blog post for info on it.  I will say this it was a great book. The second is The Whole Enchilada and yes this one counts as part of my foodie quest.  While the title has the requisite food item alas no recipes in the book.  It is however a good who done it mystery.

I can't decide what to read this week.  I have a ton on my reading list.  It is just so difficult to choose.  I think I will just keep you all guessing.

People are starting to think about vacations and with that comes the question, What book(s) should I take with me ?  People are asking me about my favorites. I decided I will compile some of them and you all can just pick from the list.

 I am not sure when I will be taking time off so I think I will compile my must read this summer list in the next couple of weeks.  It always seems there are so many more books on my list than I can possibly read.  But that's good right?  It means I will always have a book with me.

Happy reading and have a great week!

Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale

While the name of this novel is humorous, the content is not.  So much for me relaxing and chuckling over a funny book.  Faith Bass Darling abruptly wakes from her sleep because god has told her she must sell her belongings.  These are not your everyday things.  These are rooms of antiques and furniture worth thousands.  So Faith has two teens help her move everything to her front yard where she proceeds to sell all her things for a ridiculously low price. 

Through this yard sale the reader is treated to glimpses of her life and losses.  Faith is not a well woman and it is sad to see her "disappear" mentally and then return to the present.  The sad thing is she knows she is having memory lapses and tries to bring herself back.  Going through this with my own Mom I can merely guess how incredibly frustrating and depressing to realize (if you do realize it) that you can not remember what you did an hour ago or this morning.

 

Sunday Notes on Monday

If you have been reading my blog by now you know that every Sunday I play this little game with myself. On Sunday one of the first sections that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section. It contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. This week the bestseller list focused on paperbacks but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post.

I had a great week as far as my little game.  That is because it was paperback week and I tend to read paperbacks more frequently than hard backs.  So my total score was six out of ten of the fiction books and I give myself a bonus point because I read the number one non-fiction book as well.   Of note is the number one book on the paperback bestseller list Gone Girl which I enjoyed and blogged about on December 11, 2012.  The movie is coming out soon and if you are like me, you might want to read the book and then go see the movie.  Hollywood always makes "creative changes".  That is why they say the movie is based on a book rather than is the book.  Once I read the book I like to see what the creative changes are and whether it has added or subtracted from the original story line.

Sad to say as much as I tried to read, the hours I worked took a toll on me.  I got into bed with every intention of reading and woke up the next morning with the book on the floor.  So I have put The Fault in Our Stars back on my list and added Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale.  I couldn't resist the title and I am hoping for a little humor. One book I want to mention again is The Prince of Risk which was a perfect combination of finance and terrorism. Check it out.  See my post from April 16th.  Have a great week and happy reading.

 Click on the titles below for more info on the books.