This has been my choice of audiobook-to-fall-asleep-to this summer. So delighted was I that I pulled the hardback down and reveled in the print. In thThis has been my choice of audiobook-to-fall-asleep-to this summer. So delighted was I that I pulled the hardback down and reveled in the print. In the same way that I read most mysteries for the "mood", I read Wodehouse for his turns-of-phrase and brilliant descriptions.
Everything in this book is perfectly ridiculous. Not irrational like Dadaism, but satire that makes you smile.
• Lord Emsworth, who is besotted with his pig, Empress of Blandings. Who, by the way, has a "high standard of obesity." • The Lord's neighbor, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe. • A butler called Beach. • The Lord's brother is The Hon. Galahad. Listening to the audio, I thought it was Ungalahad, perhaps related to unguent?
Stephen Fry was narrator par excellence. I snagged The Blandings Castle Collection (Books 3-6) for one credit on Audible. My favorite laugh aloud moment was when a formerly broken up couple reunites.
Ronnie was saying what he thought of himself and his opinion appeared not to be high. He said he was a beast, a brute, a swine, a cad, a hound, and a worm. [...] Sue said it had all been her fault. Ronnie said, No, his. No, hers, said Sue. No, his, said Ronnie. No, hers, said Sue. No, altogether his, said Ronnie. It must have been his, he pointed out, because, as he had observed before, he was a hound and a worm. He now went further. He revealed himself as a blister, a tick, and a perishing outsider.
I read (and loved) 52 Ways to Walk. And the cover of Miss Eliza's English Kitchen popped up by the same author. I gave it a go, and I'm glad I did.
TheI read (and loved) 52 Ways to Walk. And the cover of Miss Eliza's English Kitchen popped up by the same author. I gave it a go, and I'm glad I did.
The food writing is splendid. Some of the social angst of a Victorian spinster seemed more 21st century than 19th century. This book made me happy to live in a time where cooking my family's food is socially acceptable, not strictly the domain of servants.
NOW, I have to get my hands on Eliza Acton's cookbooks! Here is a delicious quote:
"I have started to see poetry in the strangest of things: from the roughest nub of nutmeg to the pale parsnip seamed with soil. And this has made me wonder if I can write a cookery book that includes the truth and beauty of poetry. Why should the culinary arts not include poetry? Why should a recipe book not be a thing of beauty?
My thoughts come quickly and smoothly in the solitude of the kitchen, and as I beat the eggs I find myself comparing the process of following a recipe to that of writing a poem.
Fruit, herbs, spices, eggs, cream: these are my words and I must combine them in such a way they produce something to delight the palate. Exactly as a poem should fall upon the ears of its readers, charming or moving them. I must coax the flavors from my ingredients, as a poet coaxes mood and meaning from his words."...more
I enthusiastically loved this book. It surprised me. It inspired me. Daily walking has changed my life (for the better), and Annabel Streets gives me I enthusiastically loved this book. It surprised me. It inspired me. Daily walking has changed my life (for the better), and Annabel Streets gives me even more reasons to keep it up. Her information was scientifically up-to-date, e.g. brown fat and nitric oxide.
Here is a sampling of quotes I wrote down in my commonplace journal:
→ thirty-five chronic diseases could be prevented by exercise
→ Distance — at any pace with any number of rests — surpasses intensity.
→ It seemed to me that for anyone in the throes of grief, a daily walk was more essential than ever.
→ Time in the woodland also improves our microbiota.
→ Hill climbing does not impact our joints.
→ ...undernourished and atrophied navigational skills ~ the more time we go mapless, the better our spacial understanding
→ No one needs a guided awe walk. All we have to do is turn off our phones, uses our senses, and take note of the bewitching beauty that turns up on almost every walk, often in the smallest of things — lichen, moss, insects, raindrops. Anyone can cultivate the capacity to marvel....more
Scottish minister's son ventures out into the world. And writes. This is my favorite kind of light fiction. There are many parallels/allusions to PilgScottish minister's son ventures out into the world. And writes. This is my favorite kind of light fiction. There are many parallels/allusions to Pilgrim's Progress and to Vanity Fair.
A few quotes I copied into my commonplace journal:
• David and I fadge [to thrive, to be compatible, suit, agree] very well together.
• Although they [David's parents] lived in a backwater there was nothing stagnant about them.
• There are few things more uncomfortable than to sit and listen to a family row.
• I knew exactly what the psalmist meant when he sang that his cup was full. My cup was brimful, it was running over with joy....more
I'm breaking my own rule: "Never read Wodehouse back to back."
However, when I saw "included until 5/03" next to many Simon Vance's narrations of WodeI'm breaking my own rule: "Never read Wodehouse back to back."
However, when I saw "included until 5/03" next to many Simon Vance's narrations of Wodehouse books — all bets were off.
I don't read Wodehouse for the plot or the story.
I read him for humor, for vocabulary, for word play, for names, for English idioms, What ho?
Speaking of names, it seems so delightfully Wodehousian to shorten Felicia to Flick.
Simon Vance did his usual superlative job of narration. Sadly, when I listen, I intend to remember the zingers, but almost never do. With apologies to my friends in Pittsburgh here's a laugh aloud: Judson had accused him of being like a wet Sunday in Pittsburgh. Quite justly. He had been like a wet Sunday in Pittsburgh.
In a departure from his previous books aimed at a different audience, Joel Salatin, pioneer in regenerative agriculture, wrote TMPoP primarily for ChrIn a departure from his previous books aimed at a different audience, Joel Salatin, pioneer in regenerative agriculture, wrote TMPoP primarily for Christians, looking at farming through the lens of the Bible.
Salatin dwells in the betwixt-and-between: more at home in practice with environmentalists who trend atheist or pantheist AND estranged in lifestyle from fellow evangelical Christians who scoff at questions of food quality and land stewardship.
He was simultaneously sobering and enlightening. While, at times, I find his writing style to be over-the-top and repetitive, Salatin has served up a rich abundant platter of ideas to explore.
tillage and chemical fertilizers; carbon cycle (it's not new, I'm just behind in my learning); GMOs — using Genesis 1:12, plants bearing seed according to their kind to show that sterilized seeds are not according to creation pattern; Pasteur's Germ Theory compared to Beauchamp's Terrain Theory; the critical importance of honeybees; how to capture more sun.
If it won't rot, it won't digest. <-- Velveeta, I'm looking at you!
My reading list just expanded exponentially, and Curt and I are talking though ways we can support local farmers and make changes to our lifestyle. This is a book which warrants repeat readings....more
It was an opportunity to flip over the Etch A Sketch of my life, give it a good shake, and start again.
That sentence, by itself, lifted this from a 3.It was an opportunity to flip over the Etch A Sketch of my life, give it a good shake, and start again.
That sentence, by itself, lifted this from a 3.5-star to a 4-star book.
Another gem: I wonder why when we travel outside the United States we expect people to behave like Americans - even in their own country.
It is too easy for me to foster idealized views of other cultures. I want all the pictures inhabiting my mind to be true. Give me lofty views, ancient stones, welcoming smiles, and yeasty aromas. David Lebovitz will not demolish those images, but he'll augment them with the reality of line-cutters, sidewalk minefields, and potential cultural misunderstandings.
I wonder how much of his portrayal of Parisians is about the urban/rural divide. The city has a different milieu. I remember with dismay the first time my husband and I took our sons to a big city. Raised in Los Angeles and Chicago, we both knew the rules: don't make eye contact, stay in your lane, be aware of what is around you, etc. But our wide-eyed boys were clueless and vulnerable.
I have a visceral dread of being an Ugly American in a foreign country. Lebovitz offers many tips: always greet and acknowledge a shopkeeper; never ask a person what they do for a living (instead ask where he or she is from); never touch something you don't intend to buy; don't expect samples of cheese; dress - down to the shoes - carefully. ...more
I am overcome with gratitude to Cindy for writing this book.
Reading it concurrently with Wendell Berry's A Place in Time made me realize that I will I am overcome with gratitude to Cindy for writing this book.
Reading it concurrently with Wendell Berry's A Place in Time made me realize that I will never be truly satisfied with a book unless it contains both grief and joy.
I wrote responses to most chapters with my status updates. I hope they are visible.
Twenty years back, I used to chirp with delight whenever our family had what I called a "reading evening." Together in a room while we all read our own book. Now, in this season of life, it is the default for Curt and me. Our "rule" is that we interrupt each other when we read something wonderful. I raved about Cindy's book. I read paragraphs. I said to the man who I believe understands me better than I understand myself, "If you want to understand me, read this book."
Friends, he is! He even recommended it to a coworker who explained that he and his wife want to raise their family without the burden of perfectionism. "It's written for mothers, but it's full of wisdom for all."...more
This was a delightful companion during Advent/Christmas. You'll find as much ruby red in this book as you will pink in the movie Barbie.
The recipes dThis was a delightful companion during Advent/Christmas. You'll find as much ruby red in this book as you will pink in the movie Barbie.
The recipes didn't thrill, but I don't read Nigella for recipes; her gorgeous writing is what grips me. Her literary pièce de résistance was calling "Christmas lunch the lynchpin of the year." Another joy: "descanted carols," a cousin to decanted wine.
There were pages of recipes that require dried fruit. ::shudder:: Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, fruitcake, mince pie, chutney. Oh, no thanks, I'm good.
However. The Girdlebuster Pie wins the day. The Best Recipe Title Ever. And gorgeous! I dismissed it as a diabetic coma to come. But when I showed the photo to Curt his eyes got glossy and round and wistful. I found the recipe online and bookmarked it for that future day when we are all insulin sensitive.
The one drink I made, a Poinsettia (sparkling wine, triple sec, and cranberry juice), while winsome in the crystal, only garnered an 'okay' on taste. I think the bubbles were overwhelmed with the flat additions.
More than anything, I love the Nigella Vibe. ☼ And this time of year, above all, should be about relaxed expansiveness, about succor as well as celebration. ☼ I'm very happy to have company while I'm pottering stoveside. ☼ What is the use of fabulous food and blip-free efficiency if everyone is cowed into misery by the stress you give off? ☼ If a meal isn't worth making a special effort for now, when is it?...more
Wow! Think of the richest dessert (Girdlebuster Pie? Molten Chocolate Cake? New York Cheesecake?) — the kind that even "volume eaters" can only take tWow! Think of the richest dessert (Girdlebuster Pie? Molten Chocolate Cake? New York Cheesecake?) — the kind that even "volume eaters" can only take three bites of: that is this book. So rich. So filling. So delicious. It isn't normal to need four months to finish a 320-page book, but it's best imbibed in tiny gulps.
The Guardian's obituary referred to Patrick Leigh Fermor as the patron saint of autodidacts. I think of him as a private scholar. 18 years old, traveling on foot through Europe — what excites him? Staying at a home with a well-furnished library. Everything interested PLF: paintings, ideas, architecture, sculpture, flora, fauna, landscape, dress, song, food, people, conversation. Winsome and handsome, he won the hearts of folks along his sojourn.
Kudos to any writer who describes something universal, but (at least I've) never before encountered in print.
All was frozen. There was a particular delight in treading across the hard puddles. The grey discs and pods of ice creaked under hobnails and clogs with a mysterious sigh of captive air: then they split into stars and whitened as the spiders-web fissures expanded.
Leigh Fermor ended this book with a numinous description of a Hungarian Maundy Thursday service. My impetus to start A Time of Gifts came after reading Dame Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon which began with a Croatian Easter service.
Two more delicious samples of gorgeous prose:
Flights of waterfowl detonated like spring-guns loosing off a whirr of missiles across the water. It was a world of scales and webbed feet and feathers and wet whiskers.
[She] was a born monologuist. [...] I soon knew all about their children, and their illnesses and bereavements and joys. This staunchless monologue treated of everyday, even humdrum matters but the resilience and the style of the telling saved it from any trace of dullness. It needed neither prompting nor response, nothing beyond an occasional nod, a few deprecating clicks of the tongue, or an assenting smile.
Reread. TMWWT is in the same category as CS Lewis's Till We Have Faces: each time I read it I hope to plumb more of its depths and, eventually, to lovReread. TMWWT is in the same category as CS Lewis's Till We Have Faces: each time I read it I hope to plumb more of its depths and, eventually, to love it.
Above all else, I cherish Chesterton's lighthearted approach to life, even when in dire circs. Do you understand that this is a tragedy? **Perfectly, replied Syme; always be comic in a tragedy.**
When I read this twenty years ago, I posted the next quote. It was when creating greeting cards with stamps and stickers was what we all believed we should do. My friend Melanie made me several cards with this quote on the front! "I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship."...more
I found this title by searching for Simon Vance in Audible. It's a stand-alone madcap Wodehouse. The down side of audio books is in retrieving quotes.I found this title by searching for Simon Vance in Audible. It's a stand-alone madcap Wodehouse. The down side of audio books is in retrieving quotes.
There are scads of aliases in this story -- few are who they appear to be. My favorite name for a butler: Cakebread!!
Experience has taught me to resist, to positively fight against, the impulse to grab another P.G. Wodehouse title. I must put ten titles in between PGW. Otherwise they lose their charm....more
I'd class this as an acquired pleasure. I struggled reading only with my eyes and only with my ears; both audio O, Davie man, dinna be a pompous gowk!
I'd class this as an acquired pleasure. I struggled reading only with my eyes and only with my ears; both audio and visual -- with many pauses for the glossary of Scottish words -- worked well.
More of David Balfour, but not much of the inimitable Alan Breck Stewart.
Frederick Davidson's narration was top shelf. I was surprised he chose to pronounce our heroine's name CAT tree OH nah, when the Scottish pronunciation is Katrina.
I'm on a "RLS in August" tear. Next up: The Ebb-Tide....more
Margaret Rose was a compelling character. She is sent to summer camp and suffers all manner of bullying indignities; she responds by refusing to partiMargaret Rose was a compelling character. She is sent to summer camp and suffers all manner of bullying indignities; she responds by refusing to participate in anything. She replies "I would prefer not to," when asked to do something. After (one of two) an elderly Hungarian curmudgeonly uncle rescues her, she settles in at 19 Schuyler Place. Creative eccentrics, her uncles have spent their adult lives building three tall towers — considered "outsider art" — in their back yard from scrap materials. [Downside of audio: no illustrations. I'd love to see an artistic depiction of the towers.] Neighbors petitioned; city ordered demolition; Margaret Rose fights to save the towers.
The many references to changes in the culture reminded me of James Howard Kunstler's the Geography of Nowhere, an excellent history of urban development.
And I have added Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener [source3 of "I would prefer not to" quote] to my TBR list. ...more
The best part of this book is its Britishness. All the glorious phrases, and words like foozled and hooshed, and the syntax that says Jolly Old EnglanThe best part of this book is its Britishness. All the glorious phrases, and words like foozled and hooshed, and the syntax that says Jolly Old England.
Three stars because I liked it, and three stars because the humor thinned out, inducing closed-mouth smirks instead of loud guffaws. Very close to P.G. Wodehouse in tone. I find it's better to read snark and humor in short segments spaced in between other genres.
Here's a fun sample:
...a really good actor can often give a clue to the feelings of a character simply by facial expression. There are ways of shifting the eyebrows, distending the nostrils, and exploring the lower molars with the tongue by which it is possible to denote respectively Surprise, Defiance and Doubt.
exploring the lower molars with the tongue —>> that is rich!...more
I'm just going to say it: Joe Posnanski's writing bolsters my belief that eternity in heaven will never be boring. His book, Baseball 100 was my favorI'm just going to say it: Joe Posnanski's writing bolsters my belief that eternity in heaven will never be boring. His book, Baseball 100 was my favorite 2021 read. But, you ask, what more could be said? Why yet another book on baseball?
Because, my friend, Posnanski —storyteller extraordinaire—can take what you think you know about a moment, and spin it on its side, showing you more sparkling depth and texture and verve. There is the constant delight of discovery. The beauty of backstory. He, in short, is never boring.
He takes excursions that enchant and amaze. He finds ordinary moments and he invests them with meaning. This writer has perfect pitch, perfect pacing, perfect power.
I buy few audiobooks because not many are worthy of repeat listens. I bought Why We Love Baseball. My husband and I will listen in the kitchen, listen on the road, listen while we butcher and package elk. Joe Pos (along with Ellen Adair - who reads the mini-chapters) does a highly excellent job narrating. ...more
A very clever book equally delightful to adults and children.
The long-awaited baby—a daughter— is born to the king and queen. A wicked aunt throws soA very clever book equally delightful to adults and children.
The long-awaited baby—a daughter— is born to the king and queen. A wicked aunt throws some powder into the christening water and chants an incantation that the princess would be "light of spirit and light of body." She has no weight and she is unable to cry.
MacDonald puns with all the meanings of light and all the meanings of gravity. This fairy-tale makes the reader think about things we take for granted.
"Perhaps the best thing for the princess would have been to fall in love. But how a princess who had no gravity could fall into anything is a difficulty."...more
Six fairy tales are told anew, And spiced with pictures — quite a few, It took a pair of Steigs to do 'em: 'Twas Jeanne who wrote them, William drew 'em.
T
Six fairy tales are told anew, And spiced with pictures — quite a few, It took a pair of Steigs to do 'em: 'Twas Jeanne who wrote them, William drew 'em.
This book was hard to find — until I looked at archive.org where you borrow an hour at a time (and, alas, read from a screen). These are no Disney retellings; they stick close to the classics. I found Jeanne's* words charming and captivating.
"What are you bawling and squalling about? Some fiddle-dee-diddle, I have no doubt?"
"Her sisters were glad to see her go, but rubbed onions in their eyes to make themselves weep."
William's whimsical drawings feature bulbous noses, triangular teeth, and thick, bepolkadotted women (again, all things NOT Disney).
* Jeanne died last July at the age of 92. A quote from her obituary: Humor is largely the way I get by in the world....more
February 13, 1945. Told from the viewpoint of residents of Dresden before and during the Allied bombing/annihilation of the city. Mutti (Mama) saves aFebruary 13, 1945. Told from the viewpoint of residents of Dresden before and during the Allied bombing/annihilation of the city. Mutti (Mama) saves a young elephant in the zoo from being destroyed; Mutti, Elizabeth, Karl, and Marlene the Elephant flee Dresden and search for refuge in the countryside. They thought Marlene would be a hindrance, but she smooths the way with the people they encounter.
Carol Bakker
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