The novel opens with a woman on a plane, heading to an annual writer’s conference held somewhere in Europe. She begins a conversation with the man sitting next to her. He proceeds to tell her a long story about his family dog. It’s a very good story, one that held my interest for many pages longer than it should have. I enjoyed it, though I … Continue reading Kudos by Rachel Cusk
I saw this on Book Twitter today, Agostino Ramelli’s 16th century design for a bookwheel and now I don’t think I can live without one. The bookwheel was designed to solve the problem of what to do with so many large heavy books. The 16th century saw an explosion of printing producing books at prices more and more people could afford along with greater numbers of … Continue reading Captain Ramelli’s Bookwheel
None of this is true, what we were told in history class if you’re my age, but the story goes like this… When Moctezuma, the Aztec Emperor met Conquistador Hernan Cortez in 1519, he thought the Spaniard was the god Quetzalcoatl returned to fulfill a prophecy ending the empire. Though he had just a few soldiers with him, Cortez was able to use superior armor and guns … Continue reading Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall
This is delicious. And very easy. The hardest part is finding stale chocolate croissants at a reasonable price. Fortunately, they are sold stale daily in six-packs at my local Safeway. (That was what the kids call shade.) Basically, you put a bunch of torn chocolate croissants in an oven safe bowl. Best if these are stale croissants but the ones Safeway sells have worked very … Continue reading Chocolate Croissiant Bread Pudding from How to Be a Domestic Goddess
I didn’t like this book. If I don’t like a book I stop reading it. Life is not long enough to waste your time reading books you don’t like. Not with a TBR stack as big as mine. I did read this book all the way through to the end so I must have like it on some level. This is going to be one … Continue reading The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
You need to read all of the instructions first with Nigella Lawson. You can just look at the ingredients, skim the recipe and begin. You’ll be in for a nasty surprise if you do. The first time I tried the Chocolate Coffee Volcano from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson I had my work cut out for me. You have to start with … Continue reading Chocolate Coffee Volcano from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
Begin with this…..The Democrats have been the majority party, by millions of votes, for the presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives for most of the last seven election cycles. By majority I mean they have received more votes total than the Republicans. Yet they are the minority party in all three. How is this possible? What can be done about it? This is … Continue reading It’s Time to Fight Dirty by David Faris
Nearly all recipes begin with turning on the oven. So that’s what I did. Set the oven at 400 degrees. Then begin mixing everything together to make the dough: one egg yolk, blue cheese, butter. Add flour and cornmeal. Form into a flattened disk, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. But, Nigella, the oven is already on. Should I turn it off … Continue reading Savory Blue Cheese Crackers from How to Become a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
Contemporary Mexican fiction is the place to be. If we’re still including Roberto Bolano in the category, which I am. Julian Herbert’s new novel Tomb Song, translated by Christina MacSweeney, shares a love for language with much of the contemporary Mexican fiction I have read. What language can do, the way it can excite, anger, frustrate, is something I’ve found to be a common denominator in … Continue reading Tomb Song by Julian Herbert
At the end of nearly every school year, someone cleans out a classroom closet and leaves a box of books on the table in the faculty room. Take whatever you want. Typically, they are pretty slim picking. There’s really no use, beyond collage, for old textbooks anymore. But this year I found a copy of Hal Morgan and Andreas Brown’s book on early real photo post … Continue reading A Brief History of Paper Moons
This book was not what I expected. Even though I had no expectations at all when I started it. I had no idea what it was going to be about. I read it because it’s part of The Summer Reading Challenge at The Morning News. I didn’t even read the inside flap; just started reading. In his introduction Mr. Ball writes about his brother who … Continue reading Census by Jesse Ball
So yesterday I wanted to bake something but I didn’t want to go to the supermarket to buy ingredients. Looking through the kitchen cabinets and my newest cookbook, Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess, I found that I had just the right things for a batch of espresso and walnut cookies. The of espresso powder and the half bag of walnuts were left … Continue reading Espresso and Walnut Cookies from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson
