Very short synopsis:
Disgusting woman is being killed in an eccentric way. Hamish encounters eccentric suspects galore to choose from.
I read it in: English
I liked it: Yes.
The victim was such an unpleasant creature that you could only root for the murderer. A group of visitors in a hotel are always a great cast for a mystery, and the story set in Tommel Castle adds a little extra flair. However, the way that hotel is being run makes me wonder how they make any money at all. A luxury hotel where people have to replace the light bulbs in the rooms themselves? This is unheard of! Shows that the Halburton-Smythes as owners are just amateurs who have their upper class status going for them.
For people who like: very cozy mysteries, the Scottish Highlands
Product info and buy link :
| Title | Death of a glutton |
| Author | M. C. Beaton |
| Publisher | Robinson Publishing |
| ISBN | 9781845297350 |
| I got this book from | I bought it |
| Buy link | Buy Death of a glutton |
| More info | The Hamish Macbeth series |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Ok, this week I have been a slacker, I only did 63 minutes (goal 90), so I could have done better.
At least my Wii told me that my BMI changed to “ideal”, which is something to be happy about.
So, not many news from me. How did everybody else do?
To see other participants’ progress go to Joy’s Book Blog.
It’s time for another “Quizzical Monday”!
Question:
What are the names of the three musketeers?
Leave a comment with your answer. Then, to see whether you got it right, click on "Show" below. As usual, there is nothing to be won, this is just for fun!
Very short synopsis:
Short e-book for the iPhone or iPad about the T-Rex and its living environment.
I read/listened to it in: English
I liked it: Yes, but more important, my son liked it even more. This is my first step in the world of iPhone books (I don’t read e-books on the phone) and I was surprised at the convenience and possibilities. The book is short – and just right for the attention span of children. You can either swipe to get to the next page/scene or have it play itself on auto, and you can either read yourself or have the book read to you. A tap on an animal shows or tells the name of it and a tap on a word in the text has the word read to you. It’s a lovely, entertaining e-book for kids and has great illustrations to boot.
There are more books in the series about other dinosaurs as well.
For kids who like: Dinosaurs, especially T-Rex, and want to know more about them.
Product info and buy link :
| Title | It’s Tyrannosaurus Rex |
| Publisher | Oceanhouse Media |
| I got this book from | Publisher’s Weekly with a coupon code. A review was not required. |
| Buy link | Buy It’s Tyrannosaurus Rex on iTunes |
What children’s books for iPhone do you know and recommend?
Last week I mentioned on twitter that I was baking a rhubarb-meringue cake and a weekend cooking participant asked me whether I am going to blog about it. I hadn’t planned to but then I had this idea of creating a series of blog posts about various vegetables or fruit to educate myself (and maybe others). You see, until two weeks ago I didn’t care for rhubarb. At all. But then our neighbour knocked at our door and brought me some. Not being a person to turn down a gift I took it and then searched the net for recipes and for instructions on how to use rhubarb – I had never made anything with rhubarb before.
What is rhubarb?
In spite of being used as a fruit – for jam, cake, compote – rhubarb is a vegetable in the botanical sense- Already in the third millennium BC the Chinese used its roots for medical purposes, the ancient Romans and Greeks did the same. The stalks were thrown away. 
Rhubarb came to Europe only in the 18th century when an apothecary grew it in the UK. Only 1820 it made its way to the US and twenty years later into Germany and it seems the love for rhubarb still remains a rather regional matter. Its main areas of popularity are England, Germany, the three Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and North America. As opposed to ancient times, today we only use the stalks of rhubarb.
After I got this pack of rhubarb I went looking for a cake recipe and found this one. The day before I had had a very delicious lemon-meringue cake, so the meringue part immediately caught my eye.
Image credit: Wikipedia user 4028mdk09
Rhubarb honey-meringue cake
- 125g soft butter
- 125g sugar
- 1 pack vanilla sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks (will need egg whites later)
- 50g corn starch
- 150g flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- a bit shredded lemon peel
- pinch of salt
- 1kg rhubarb
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 100g sugar
- 50g honey (if desired) Mix all dough ingredients (up to the salt) thoroughly for about 3 minutes and spread evenly in a greased springform pan. If you can create a little edge.
- Heat oven to 190°C upper and lower heat.
- Wash rhubarb and cut ends off generously. Cut into 2cm wide pieces. Put on top of dough. Do NOT add sugar on top! Bake for 45 minutes.
- After half an hour whisk egg whites with lemon juice until very stiff. While continuously stirring add the sugar and honey (you can leave the honey away if you prefer the cake without).
- Take cake out of the oven and spread stiff egg white on top. Bake another 15 minutes until meringue is a honey-ish yellow.
Take out of the oven and let it cool down. Enjoy!
If you can’t get enough of rhubarb now, here are some more Rhubarb recipes at Martha Stewart.
This post is part of
Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. For the other weekend cooking posts please go there.
In spite of my dislike of movie adaptations of books in general there are some that worked for me. Here is a selection (the links go to Youtube):
- Misery
Most Stephen King adaptations are pretty bad, but this was was brilliant. Kathy Bates WAS Annie Wilkes. - I, Claudius
A British TV series adapting Robert von Ranke Graves’ books about Claudius. Unforgettable: John Hurt’s dance. - Girl with a pearl earring. You just have to like everything with Colin Firth.
- The Princess Bride
My last re-read of the book was disappointing, but the movie is fabulous. My favourite character: Vizzini - The Enchanted April
A great book that we read around the world. The movie is just like it. - The Lord Peter Wimsey series with Ian Carmichael.
He owns that role. - The P&P BBC mini series
With Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle. Need I say more? - Rebecca.
Isn’t Laurence Olivier great as Maxim de Winter? - Why didn’t they ask Evans?
Not the one with Miss Marple! No idea why they always put sleuths into the story where they don’t belong. This is a stand alone. The movie with Sir John Gielgud, Francesca Annis and James Warwick is it! - Bridget Jones’ Diary.
And yet again Colin Firth. Not saying this is the best film ever, but it worked. I like Renée Zellweger as Bridget. - Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock never fails to deliver. The film was better than the book. - Rosemary’s Baby
Not sure whether I didn’t like the Bramford best. - The Lord of the Rings
Much better than the books (sorry, all Tolkien purists). I don’t know how often I watched those movies with every possible commentary and without. This is one of my many favourite scenes. Can’t wait for The Hobbit.
What movie adaptations of books worked for you?
To see what other Thursday 13ers write about today, visit Thursday 13.
This week I did much better and got my Wii Fit board out every day (except on the one day when I went swimming). My total workout minutes are 151 (goal is 90/week), so I am quite pleased with myself.
I got rid of one of my Wii Fitness programs which is a total waste of money and time. If you ever feel tempted to get Exerbeat, don’t bother. After every exercise – some of them are only 90 seconds – you are forced to watch your Mii wander all across the globe on a “tour around the world” and listen to educational little tidbits about the countries you are visiting. I have heard that eventually you unlock the option to put a workout sequence together without interruptions, but I never even got that far because I was so annoyed by this pseudo-historical-geographical chatter. There is no possibility to turn it off in the general settings.
My search for a good Wii fitness program goes on. Does anyone have any recommendations? Preferably with (Step-)Aerobics exercises and boxing and not so much dancing. Thanks already in advance!
To see other participants’ progress go to Joy’s Book Blog.
It’s time for another “Quizzical Monday”!
Question:
What is the maiden name of Mr. Rochester’s first wife?
Leave a comment with your answer. Then, to see whether you got it right, click on "Show" below. As usual, there is nothing to be won, this is just for fun!
A quick lesson in ancient Roman law.
In a nutshell:
Short synopsis:
Marcus gets caught up in a lawsuit by providing some evidence against the accused. When the convicted man commits suicide so that his family can keep all their property the accuser (who would have received all the dosh) suspects foul play and hires Marcus to find out the truth.
Language I read the book in: English
Did I like it? Yes, very much.
For people who: like Ancient Roman sleuths, courtroom dramas, Perry Mason & Matlock
My thoughts:
Starting to read:
I didn’t remember how fun Marcus Didius Falco can be. I didn’t think the first book with him (The Silver Pigs) was so great but since then there were some books that I really really liked, like A Body in the Bathhouse, Ode to a Banker or Three hands in the Fountain. I think this is going to be one of them.
Such fun to read that people in ancient Rome were complaining about the same sorry state of affairs as we do nowadays, just a little different:
No wonder our roads are blocked with dead mules’ carcasses and the aqueducts leak.
Later on:
The evidence reports from Falco to Silius and various other reports and minutes give this an official touch and court room flavour. Also it is a very practical method to skip over a lot of rather boring interrogations. It gives us the gist without going through every conversation with the last minor witness.
What is the business with the door slave? What happened two years ago? Why did the sibling not defy the will of the deceased? Why were they all excluded and Saffia put in? Metellus was found guilty of corruption, but where has all the money gone?
As you might know I have very little reading time, but I only have the book for another day. More than 190 pages left, so I am neglecting my household duties in order to finish it. I am totally obsessed with the story by now,
Towards the end:
The story has taken a turn for the worse (for our hero sleuths) and I am very curious to see how they will wriggle out of it – I am sure, they will somehow come out on top of everything.
All in all:
A very satisfying detective story and ending (and a VERY fitting title, too). It is not action filled but mainly relies on the spoken word (with the exception of a couple of fisticuffs as can be expected in Rome).
The main theme of this novel is the judiciary system in ancient Rome, its corruption and – to us – rather inexplicable “justice”. From serious accusation of blasphemy made by civilians, to corruption charges for the sake of monetary gain, to false murder charges and the resulting financial recompensation, to the torturing of slaves in order to obtain a valid statement, it is all there. Hereditary law as well as illegitimate offspring and the consequences for the child, everything you ever wanted to know (on a general level) you will find out in this story.
This is an absolutely delightful read; I need to get my hands on another Marcus Didius Falco book now.
Location: Ancient Rome around 75AD
Images from wikipedia. Marie-Claire and Diliff
Product info and buy link :
| Title | The Accusers |
| Author | Lindsey Davis |
| Publisher | Mysterious Press |
| ISBN | 9780446693295 |
| I got this book from | the library |
| Buy link | Buy The Accusers. This is the Arrow Books edition |
| More info | Lindsey Davis’ website |
If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.
Here are my finds for this week…
- Mad about Pinterest, but never doing anything with the great ideas you pin? Join the Pinteresting Challenge “Pin it and do it” at Love, Laughter and a touch of insanity
- And anothr great idea for a challenge: the Book Pilgrimage 2012 at Libby’s Book Blog
- Download a few cute iPhone wallpapers at Eat drink chic
- What if LinkedIn had been invented in the 80s?
- Great feature about London Book shops in the New York Social Diary. I have been to only one of them – the wonderful “Books for cooks”.
- Have you found anything interesting this week? Please share!
