Tag Archives: 2013

Fix-it and forget-it: Vegetarian Main dishes by Phyllis Pellman Good

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Cover Fix it and forget it Vegetarian main dishes

inanutshell 

I was slightly disappointed with this book. The last vegetarian book in this series had plenty of slow cooker meals, but in this book a lot of the recipes were non-crockpot meals and I am not sure how that ties in with the fix-it and forget-it idea.

Right the first recipe is for mushroom manicotti, and, frankly, I do not see the “forget-it” in a meal that calls for cooked manicotti, preparing the stuffing, stuffing the pasta, bake it and then prepare a tomato sauce on the side to serve it with.

So far to me this series represented easy recipes where I could throw the ingredients into the slow cooker and forget about them until the cooker had worked its magic. This concept seems to have been given up now for the sake of “roasting, stir-frying and steaming – all the methods that so highlight vegetables’ star qualities”. Admittedly those recipes sound mouth watering and lovely: Tasty lentil tacos, Polenta with spicy bean sauce, Quinoa with broccoli and hoisin sauce, but they are not what I came for.

I saved some of the slow cooker recipes and am definitely planning on making them soon. The non-crockpot dishes are definitely worth a go as well, just that they are not the fix-it and forget-it kind. If you don’t mind that, go for this book.

Product info and buy link :

Title Fix-it and forget it: Vegetarian main dishes
Author Phyllis Pellman Good
Publisher Open Road Integrated Media
ISBN ASIN B00AYRI3GM
I got this book from the publisher via Netgalley
Buy link Buy Fix-it and forget-it: Vegetarian Main Dishes

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

This post is part of

Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. For the other weekend cooking posts please go there.

The Borgias–The hidden history by G J. Meyer

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Cover The Borgias by G. J. Meyer

 

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

An unbiased (or maybe not quite, rather a little pro-Borgia) look at the Borgias from pope Calixtus III. to Cesare and Lucrezia.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Very much

For people who: like European history, the Renaissance

My thoughts: 

When I started reading this I knew next to nothing about the Borgias. I only knew that they are said to have been an infamous family, poisoning people to the left and right, power greedy as nobody else before or after, you know what I mean. Other than that I was clueless.

G.J. Meyer set out to write a book to rehabilitate that family and he does an excellent job. He starts at a time when the first member of the Borgias, Alonso de Borja, who later became pope Calixtus III., begins his career. We then are taken on a mind spinning journey through the next 80 years or so, learning about the rise of this incredible family, their drawbacks, the ramifications of their actions as well as all the political goings on in Renaissance Italy. And there is a lot to tell.

Alliances were formed one day and withdrawn the next, warlords were usurping cities all over the place, condottieri sold their services to one baron this moment and to another one the next, foreign kings were meddling nonstop. The intermarriages between families and the various relationships were mind-boggling; this is not a book that you can read without concentrating on it. The author, however, has a writing style that just flows and he explains everything so well that it is a pleasure to follow otherwise confusing events.

After every chapter he inserts a background chapter where he explains one specific aspect of the time, for example a short history of Venice and how come it was the only city state reigned over by a council of men, what condottieri were, great discoveries of the time etc. Those chapters were breaks where one could learn about a subject in more detail before the eventful family story was taken up again.

While being pro-Borgia the author still does not sugarcoat what the Borgias did. He tells facts and does not gossip. He interprets events for which there is no evidence in the Borgias’ favour, but always mentions other points of view as well. However, his interpretations make sense.

I feel that I can hold up a conversation about the Borgias now and know what I am talking about. Next time someone mentions Lucrezia Borgia being the ultimate venefica of the last millennium, I will be able to defend her with ease. What more can you ask for?

If you even have a faint interest in history and the Renaissance and/or the Borgias, you have to read this book.

Movie tip

I could recommend the TV series from 2011 “The Borgias”, but somehow I have the feeling it won’t do justice to the Borgias, so better stay away from it.

Product info and buy link :

Title The Borgias – The hidden history
Author G. J. Meyer
Publisher Bantam
ISBN 9780345526915
I got this book from the publisher via Netgalley
Buy link Buy The Borgias – The hidden history

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.

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This post is part of the This isn’t Fiction Reading Challenge which is hosted by The Book Garden.

The Chinese Orange Mystery by Ellery Queen

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 Cover The Chinese orange mystery by Ellery Queen

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

Ellery Queens once more helps his father to solve a baffling mystery.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Yes

For people who: love whodunnits, locked room mysteries

My thoughts: 

I always liked Ellery Queen mysteries. They are the perfect whodunnits with a clever detective, a father/police officer sidekick and a nice atmosphere. The plots are always elaborate and puzzling.

This one is no exception. A body is found in an anteroom and the murderer has left curious clues behind. The dead man has all his clothes on backwards, all furniture, clocks, paintings are turned to the wall, even the fruit bowl is turned upside down. All people involved seem to have a past or a secret to cover up or – at the very least – an obnoxious attitude. 

As usual, Ellery solves the mystery in his own style and leaves everybody speechless. I completely failed the challenge to the reader that you will find in every Ellery Queen mystery. It tells the reader that now he has all the clues and he should be able to figure it out. I didn’t. This mystery is so tied to the time it is set in that no modern reader would deduct the solution from what he knows. Times have changed and what was common and obvious back then is now so extraordinary that it would not come to mind immediately. Once explained it makes sense, though.

A very quick and enjoyable mystery. If you like whodunnits you will love this.

Beware! Spoilers follow:

There are various  things I want to mention for people who don’t mind spoilers. If you do, do not read on!

The story first doesn’t appear to be a locked room mystery, however, when we get the solution it turns out to have been one all along. Unusual!

How the murderer was supposed to have done the crime is unfeasible. Yes, Ellery explains the how and that is plausible, but there was just not the opportunity. The situation is almost a little bit like in Agatha Christie’s “The murder of Roger Ackroyd” where the murderer is the narrator. Here the story is not told from the killer’s point of view but we accompany him during the hour in which the murder takes place and there is just no evidence that he had time to commit the crime. He works in his office and during that time four people come in to talk to him. Are we to believe that he is supposed to have gone next door, bludgeon a man, discover something unexpected, think of a ruse to cover that up, execute it (which includes rearranging all the furniture) and then process with his original complicated plan of bolting the door inside from the outside? Um, no!

The title of the book, by the way, is a MacGuffin. All the time Ellery goes on about the tangerines, aka Chinese oranges, which were available in the anteroom and of which one was eaten, either by the victim or murderer. In reality the tangerines are of no importance at all, the orange refers to something completely different.

Still, a very good mystery and baffling to the extreme.

Movie tip

The Mandarin Mystery (downloadable for free as it is in the public domain). However, I would only watch it for scientific reasons, it is absolute bollocks and does not resemble the book in the least. I am not kidding.

Product info and buy link :

Title The Chinese Orange Mystery
Author Ellery Queen
Publisher Open Road Media
ISBN ASIN: B00B1MSILY
I got this book from the publisher via Netgalley
Buy link Buy The Chinese Orange Mystery from various sources

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth

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Cover Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders by Gyles Brandreth

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis: Oscar Wilde as Sherlock Holmes.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Yes

For people who: like cozy/historical mysteries, Oscar Wilde

My thoughts: 

I like Oscar Wilde and I like historical mysteries, so “Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders” was an obvious choice for me. I was not disappointed.

The story is told from Robert Sherard’s first person point of view. He was a close friend of Oscar Wilde’s and his first biographer, but a rather dull Watson to Wilde’s Sherlock Holmes. The comparison to the Sherlock Holmes suggests itself naturally because Wilde displays extraordinary powers of deduction, a bit too extraordinary for my taste, he might give Holmes a run for his money. On top of that Arthur Conan Doyle is a key figure as a friend of Oscar Wilde and – according to this book – based the character of Mycroft Holmes on him. Be that as it may, Wilde and Sherard are the typical sleuth/sidekick pair with Wilde being quite in the know while Sherard has no clue as to what is going on.

Oscar Wilde is shown as a character with a lot of facets, amiable, the perfect gentleman with impeccable manners, a bit of sloth like, but at the same time extremely moody and unpredictable. His homosexuality is only hinted at by making him "worship" pretty young boys a bit too much to be just a lover of aesthetics. Sherard seems oblivious to this or chooses to ignore it. Strange, because towards the end he becomes outraged when he witnesses some "musical" activities ("musical" being the euphemism used at the time).

The mystery is quite puzzling, even though the reader gets an inkling rather early of who might be involved. It develops very slowly, the investigations are taking place over a long period of time and are not really the main focus of the book. The book lives from the atmosphere and the characters, most of all Oscar Wilde himself. You will find a lot of very familiar quotes interspersed throughout the book and and some that COULD be by Wilde but are Gyles Brandreth’s own.

The end is in the nice and cozy Poirot manner. Everybody is gathered in a room and the sleuth presents the solution, gives his reasoning to a stunned audience and presents the murderer.

This is a lovely, super quick and entertaining read and I am looking forward to the next books in the series already. If you are not familiar with Oscar Wilde at all it might be helpful if you read a little about and/or by him first, but even without this knowledge, cozy mystery lovers will enjoy this book a lot.

Product info and buy link :

Title Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders
Author Gyles Brandreth
Publisher John Murray Publishers
ISBN 9780719569302
I got this book from a friend
Buy link Buy Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders
More info The Oscar Wilde murder mysteries

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.

Fix-it and forget-it vegetarian soups, stews and chilis by Phyllis Pellman Good

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Cover Fix it and forget it Vegetarian Soups, stews and chilis

inanutshell 

Just like the first Fix it and forget it book that I reviewed, this is a no-nonsense book with recipes suitable for a busy life with real life pictures. The recipes are all fairly easy and mostly for the slow cooker. With a few exceptions the instructions are limited to “mix all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook for 7-8 hours on low”. Can it be any easier? If you love beans and lentils especially, this is a book for you.

Out of the fifty recipes so far I have tried the Red Lentil Soup and it was super easy and very delicious. With baguette it is a nice, convenient and filling meal.

Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1,2 l vegetable broth
  • 1 cup dry red lentils
  • 3 carrots sliced
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 3 celery stalks chopped
  • 3 tbsp rice uncooked
  • 2 tbsp garlic minced
  • 1.5 tsp herbes de Provence
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions:

Mix everything in crockpot

Cook 4-5h on high or 7-8 hours on low.

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Product info and buy link :

Title Fix-it-and-forget-it vegetarian soups, stews and chilis
Author Phyllis Pellman Good
Publisher Open Road Media
ISBN ASIN B00AYRI5FQ
I got this book from the publisher via Netgalley
Buy link Buy Fix-it-and-forget-it vegetarian soups, stews and chilis

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

This post is part of

Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. For the other weekend cooking posts please go there.

On what grounds by Cleo Coyle

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Cover On what grounds by Cleo Coyle

Very short synopsis:

First mystery at the Village Blend. With the police discarding the case as an accident, Clare sets out to find the killer.

inanutshell 

I read it in: English

I liked it: Yes. I have already read a few later books in the series so I knew what to expect. It is a nice start to the series that clears up a few situations that were not explained later on anymore. Cozy atmosphere and likeable main characters. If you don’t mind the usual overload of the “theme” (i.e. “There is a bludgeoned body in the basement? Nothing a gourmet latte couldn’t fix.”), this is a very pleasant mystery.

For people who like: cozy mysteries & coffee.

Product info and buy link :

Title On what grounds
Author Cleo Coyle
Publisher Berkley Prime Crime
ISBN 9780425192139
I got this book from Birgit from The Book Garden
Buy link Buy On what grounds

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.

Weekend Cooking: Two greedy Italians

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Cover Two greedy Italians

Today I want to share something from “Two greedy Italians”, a delightful book with a lot of delicious sounding recipes. The German title is “Trattoriaküche” (Trattoria cuisine) which indicates down-to-earth food. My recipe today is for a poor man’s meal that has obviously taken the gourmet world by storm – Testaroli.

The ingredients couldn’t be cheaper or simpler, the result is pretty delicious – even though I think I cooked mine a tiny little bit too long.

Testaroli

Testaroli

Ingredients:

250 g flour

1 pinch of salt

2 tbsp olive oil

400 ml water

Instructions:

Sieve flour and salt into a bowl. Slowly whisk in 400 ml water until it is a smooth dough. Mix in olive oil.

In hot olive oil fry one ladle of dough  at a time. Each side 3-4 minutes.
Cut the slices into 8 strips each.
(A research on the net showed that usually the testaroli are cut into a diamond shape. )

Bring salted water to a boil. Add the testaroli and boil until they rise to the surface. Take out and drain properly.

Serve with a sauce of your choice, best is homemade tomato sauce or pesto.

The veggie factor of the book.

Recipe ratio (non.veg./veg.) can’t say but there are a lot of veggie recipes in there.
Worth it? Yes

Product info and buy link :

Title Two greedy Italians
Author Antonio Carluccio & Gennaro Contaldo
Publisher Quadrille Publishing Ltd.
ISBN 9781844009428
I got this book from the library
Buy link Buy Two greedy Italians

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.

This post is part of

Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. For the other weekend cooking posts please go there.

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela

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Cover A day in the life of ancient Rome by Alberto Angela 

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

We accompany the author during his day wandering around ancient Rome, sightseeing, admiring, explaining things.

Language I read the book in: German (Ein Tag im alten Rom)

Did I like it? Yes

For people who: like Ancient Rom and history made come to life by describing daily occurrences.

My thoughts: 

If you are interested in ancient Rome this book is a must read.

Alberto Angela takes us on a guided tour around Rome at the time of Trajan. We start in the very early morning in the house of a rich man, move on to shops, insulae, taverns, tempels, the baths, banquets and the Colosseum. We explore every aspect of daily ancient Roman life, breakfast, cooking, shopping, eating out, religion, entertainment, childbirth, teaching, dying….

Everything is presented in a very digestible way, explained properly with the appropriate background and shown from all sides (e.g. slavery or gladiators).

Where possible we are told about archaeological discoveries that back up the fictional stories (for example a fight between two gladiators that was documented on a mosaic, so detailed that even the names of the fighters were recorded).

There are only a few illustrations, no models, photos or other visual helpers to conjure Rome, but that is not necessary. Every chapter was so interesting and entertaining that I finished this book in no time. The German subtitle of this book is “Common, mysterious and astonishing facts”, and it completely lives up to that. Highly recommended.

Mr. Angela has one more book on the subject of ancient Rome out and one coming out in June that I will have to track down now.

Product info and buy link :

Title A day in the life of ancient Rome
Author Alberto Angelo
Publisher Europa Editions
ISBN 9781933372716
I got this book from the library
Buy link Buy A day in the life of ancient Rome

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.

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This post is part of the This isn’t Fiction Reading Challenge which is hosted by The Book Garden.

Weekend cooking: Cooking from above–Baking

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On my quest for new recipes I stumbled upon a book called “Cooking from above – Baking” by Marianne Magnier- Moreno (Original title: Mon Cours de Cuisine – Ma Pâtisserie).

baking_above

It is an absolutely beautiful baking book for visual people. The concept is that every recipe is accompanied by photographs of all the steps taken from above. Very helpful if you are not sure what the result of the various steps should look like. But whereas in most cookbooks the images of in between steps serve just an educational purpose and are often done in a rather uninspired way, here the aesthetic appeal is just as extraordinary as the culinary one.

baking1

Every piece of equipment is beautiful, vintage knifes, enamel spatulas, the stoves are just the size they need to be to fit the pot, it is just a pleasure to look at those images depicting the gathered ingredients (always neatly lined up) up to the finished product.

baking2

Apart from the visual pleasure you get a lot of delicious recipes. As it is a pâtisserie book it is not only about baking (the English title is a bit misleading). It covers desserts creams, sweet sauces, various cakes – from simple to sophisticated –, small pastry (among them maccarons and madeleines) and fruit cakes.

I recommend this to everybody who loves to browse through cook books and admire the beautiful food pictures, as well as to pâtisserie lovers. 

Product info and buy link :  

Title Cooking from above – baking
Author Marianne Magnier-Moreno
Publisher Hamlyn
ISBN 0600619982
I got this book from the library
Buy link Buy Cooking from above – Baking on Amazon as a used book

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

This post is part of

Weekend cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. For the other weekend cooking posts please go there.

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This post is part of the This isn’t Fiction Reading Challenge which is hosted by The Book Garden.

The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough

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Cover The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough 

In a nutshell:

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? YES

For people who: like ancient history, historical fiction, ancient Rome, political scheming, power struggles, warfare

My thoughts: 

It took me almost a year from buying this book to finishing it, exactly as I predicted in May 2012. But this is in no way a reflection on the quality of it. If you are watching my Goodreads feed then you might have noticed that reading sped up considerably a couple of weeks ago, the point when I managed to get this book as an e-book. Usually I prefer paper to e-book, but in this case reading the e-book is so much better. Carrying 900 pages around is no fun – at all.

It is impossible to talk about the plot of this novel as so many people’s lives are explored and so many things happen that, once you reach the end of this book, you are just stunned!

To mention a few of the occurrences: the book covers the efforts of Marcus Livius Drusus to enfranchise the Italian allies, the subsequent so-called Social War, the start of the war against Mithridates, the rise of Sulla and his march on Rome, the fall of Gaius Marius, his seventh consulship and the short reign of terror the follows it. And by covering I mean  covering in detail. Even though sometimes a lot of time elapses between events, everything  is told and explained carefully, what caused it, who was on whose side, what were the consequences. Once more the amount of research that went into this book just astounded me.

After you read this book you think you know all those Romans. You might not completely understand them, as their mindset is a different one, but to a certain extent you can follow their reasoning and realize why they could not have acted differently – except for Marius at the end, but then, he was as mad as a hatter.

The book ends with Gaius Marius’ death, and I am already looking forward to the sequel. A lot of the people playing a major part in the first two books are dead now, but new ones are coming up on the horizon, Pompey (whose father Pompey Strabo here dies from an illness instead of from lightning, which I found a bit strange), Gaius Julius Caesar (who received a most unwelcome appointment at the end of this book ), Cicero – and of course, Sulla has yet to fight his Pontic war and return to Rome. Exciting times are lying ahead of us!

Product info and buy link :

Title The Grass Crown
Author Colleen McCullough
Publisher Arrow Books
ISBN 9780099462491
I got this book from I bought it
Buy link Buy The Grass Crown
More info Masters of Rome series
Still more info Gaius Marius and Sulla

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.

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Ancient Rome on five denarii a day by Philip Matyszak

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Cover Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day by Phili Matyszak

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

A time-traveler’s guide to sightseeing, shopping, and survival in the city of the Caesars.

Language I read the book in: German

Did I like it? It was quite entertaining.

For people who: would like to know a bit about ancient Rome without going into detail; would like to read an entertaining guide instead of a history book.

My thoughts: 

 

This is a fun little guide. Written like a contemporary travel guide it covers areas like hot to get to Rome, being a guest in a Roman household, where to find entertainment, where to shop etc. Pretty nice and enjoyable.

Interspersed are illustrations and little tidbits and trivia that add an extra touch. Want to know where certain modern words come from? About the state of Roman rented flats? You can learn a quite a lot about ancient Rome here. However, don’t expect too much depth! This book only lightly scratches the surface of what is to know, so if you want in depth knowledge you have to look elsewhere.

Two things that bothered me is that I was not sure in what time period I was visiting the city. From what is being said I assume it must be after Commodus (I think he is the last emperor that was mentioned), that would leave us at some point after 192 AD. I would have liked to know in what time I am travelling.

Also I did not particularly like the fact that often something was explained with a “and this will still be so 2000 years later” added at the end. This dulled the “contemporary” experience as it became clear that we are not in that period anymore. Of course, I am very much aware of that fact, but in a truly “fake” contemporary guide there should not be hints at what is going to happen in the future.

All in all, however, an enjoyable short read. If you are not already hooked on Ancient Rome, it might prompt you to read more about it.

You can find a small sample of the book in my Weekend Cooking post from last weekend where I talked about a delicious ancient Roman recipe that I found in this guide.

Product info and buy link :

 

Title Ancient Rome on five denarii a day
Author Philip Matyszak
Publisher Thames & Hudson Ltd.
ISBN 9780500051474
I got this book from the library
Buy link Buy Ancient Rome on five denarii a day

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.

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August is a wicked month by Edna O’Brien

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Cover August is a wicked month by Edna O'Brien
Vacationing in France can be dangerous and sobering.  

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

With her ex-husband and her son away on a camping trip, Ellen travels to the Côte d’Azur for a bit of adventure, preferably the sexual kind.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Yes, but I didn’t think much of the heroine

My thoughts: 

I liked this book and how it was written but I didn’t like the heroine. Edna O’Brien conjures the image of a sexually frustrated woman who, after an affair that faded out into nothingness, decides to revitalize her (sex-) life with a trip to the South of France. Her ex-husband is away on a camping trip with her son, so she is free to go.

I loved the atmosphere, I could feel the woman’s frustration, her eager desire to find someone, I could feel for her and yet I found her not very appealing.

She goes abroad without telling anyone where she was going, something I can’t understand at all. When you have children there is always something that can happen and then what do you do when people can’t find you? I found this highly irresponsible.

Even though she is not wealthy she goes to the Côte d’Azur of all places. From the start she has to watch how much she is spending, but then, due to unforeseen circumstances, she stays longer than she intended and at the end is astonished about the hotel bill and the countless cups of tea appearing on it. Well, hotels cost money, a vacationer should be aware of it.

She goes with basically anyone who she hopes will give her a a good time, and as a result she finds her adventures disappointing and lacklustre. She can consider herself lucky that she got away without being raped or dead, as it happens. When she arrives at home another tragedy awaits her.

I absolutely love Edna O’Brien’s writing style and I enjoyed this short novel even more than I enjoyed her short stories. If it hadn’t been for the final blow I would have been perfectly ok with it – what she got until then is just what you are getting when you are not careful –, but the end was just too much for me and left me depressed. However, if you want a great read and don’t insist on a happy-go-lucky ending, pick up this one.

Product info and buy link :
Title August is a wicked month
Author Edna O’Brien
Publisher Open Road Publishing
ISBN 9781453247327
I got this book from the publisher via Netgalley
Buy link Buy August is a wicked month as e-book

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

Diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney

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Cover Diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney

Very short synopsis:

Illustrated diary of a middle school kid, describing his life at school and at home.

inanutshell 

I read it in: German (Gregs Tagebuch)

I liked it: Yes

My thoughts:

I can’t praise this book enough. If you have a school child who HATES reading and so far has never picked up a book voluntarily, try this one! We didn’t listen to the advice of the book sellers at our trusted comic shop (this book is not a comic, though) and discarded their suggestion of that very book because we thought it had too many pages, was too intimidating etc. However, a few weeks later our non-reader came along and told us that he wanted exactly this book. With pleasure, son! He read it in five evenings (224 pages), a miracle. He even copied a paragraph out of the book to take it to school and read to his friends, because I didn’t allow him to take the book. Voluntary writing – another first.
We had ordered the sequel at the same time and he started reading right afterwards.

As the book was also on my TBR list I read it after him and totally enjoyed it. There are a few situations where I cried with laughter. Oh, the things Greg and his mate get up to! It’s just too funny!

If you need a good laugh, even as an adult, get this book!

Product info and buy link :
Title Diary of a wimpy kid
Author Jeff Kinney
Publisher Puffin Books
ISBN 9780141324906
I got this book from I bought it
Buy link Buy Diary of a wimpy kid

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.

Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Cover Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Not your ordinary vampire romance

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis: Oskar meets a strange girl in his apartment complex. At the same time strange murders take place in his suburb of Stockholm.

Language I read the book in: English. Translated from Swedish by Ebba Segerberg

Did I like it? Yes. A lot.

For people who: love vampires, but not the schmaltzy smooching, don’t mind a little gore.  

My thoughts: 

When I started reading I vaguely knew what was coming as John has read the book and watched the two movies and had told me a little about it. But I was not prepared for this wonderful coming of age story, combined with gore, vampires, great side characters and an overall great atmosphere. Every person in this book has a distinctive personality and the writer took his time to develop each of them. We get to know the story from various points of view and this worked very well – even though I normally don’t enjoy character jumping too much. Apart from a few people, everybody was really likeable – which is quite an achievement considering the atmosphere in this book is dark, dreary, violent and not a happy one. Everybody has problems, everybody is fighting, and it still is an uplifting story!

What I particularly liked was that a lot of the side characters had facets that you normally don’t find in books. A glue sniffing boy with a problematic background has a great sense of humour (I really felt for Tommy in many ways. Not only does he have to spend the night with Hakan in a dark cellar, he also has to put up with insufferable Staffan, which is only slightly less unsettling). Drunken bums are very well educated, literate people (how many people you know can tell that the corresponding cat to Thisbe should be named Pyramus?). I loved them all.

The vampire angle was done really well, gave vampires a bit of a new spin and was quite exciting to read about, even though I found a few situations quite disconcerting and not for the faint of heart. But not the nightmare inducing kind either, at least not for me.

I do have a couple of complaints though. The end was disappointing. The conclusion of the book was done way too quickly. After writing five hundred odd pages and after developing the relationship between Oskar and Eli slowly and in depth, the author creates an end of one page That is unacceptable. It is cut off from the previous chapter, like a time lapse where some important things were forgotten to be told. I prefer stories to fade out slowly instead of coming to an unexpected halt.

Second I feel cheated. I battled my way through a lot of unsavoury scenes all the while hoping for Johnny and his mates to get their comeuppance and then when they finally do I don’t get to savour every detail, but have to read it in a witness report the length of a couple of paragraphs! Sorry, but this just does not do it! I was deprived of my satisfaction and I did not like that.

Other than that, this was a pleasure to read. Now I must get the short story “Let the old dreams die” to find out what happened next. I am glad the author wrote it because during reading I got this nagging thought that maybe Eli is just having Oskar around as the new caretaker, and I need to know that this is not so. 

Product info and buy link :

Title Let the right one in
Author John Ajvide Lindqvist
Publisher Quercus Publishing
ISBN 9781847248480
I got this book from we already had it lying around
Buy link Buy Let the right one in

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Crochet One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant

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Cover Crochet One-skein Wonders by Judith Durant

Crochet one skein wonders is a great book for projects and ideas for experienced crocheters. Every project uses 100g yarn or less, so none of them is overwhelming or too time consuming.

The projects are sorted by yarn weight starting from thread to heavy weight with everything in between. If you feel like a quick project, just look in your stash what you have got at home and then look up a project for that type of yarn – very convenient. They range from scarves and cowls to doll clothes, baby caps or shoes, jewellery and bags to mittens and gloves. The style varies and I am sure everybody will find something they will like.

At the end there is a list of abbreviations commonly used in stitching instructions  as well as a symbol key in order to understand the charts. A guide to yarn weights and a glossary complete the book. The glossary consists of short instructions on how to crochet the various stitches and comes with a few illustrations.

All instructions are clear and easy to follow. As a bonus for non-American readers all measurements are given in cm as well as inches, which is a great help. I already went through my stash and chose a spiral mesh bag as my first project. I admit I am slow, but but will post my progress here on Crafty Tuesday.

All in all for crocheters this is a really nice book with lots of ideas to choose from, and they are all do-able with what we have at home already without additional expense. All of us have a leftover skein lying around somewhere. Let’s put it to good use!

Product info and buy link :

 

Title Crochet One-Skein Wonders
Author Judith Durant (editor)
Publisher Storey Publishing
ISBN 9781612120423
I got this book from Storey Punlishing via Netgalley
Buy link Buy Crochet one-skein wonders

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.

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This post is part of the This isn’t Fiction Reading Challenge which is hosted by The Book Garden.

DNF: Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson

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Cover Started early, took my dog by Kate Atkinson

Elena recommended Kate Atkinson to me and I can see why she did. Kate Atkinson is a writer who conjures up an atmosphere with a few well chosen sentences and her stories are cleverly built. Unfortunately, I neither particularly enjoyed the way she writes, nor did I like the atmosphere.

Even though I got used to the elliptical writing style after a while I never got into it. I like it in a title (I wasn’t aware that the title of the book reflected the writing style THAT much), but not in a 400 page book. (Find the book’s beginnings here).

As for the story, I am a novice to Kate Atkinson and have not read the previous Jackson Brodie books. Maybe I should have started with the first book in order to understand better what was going on with him, but to me he seemed to be a whiner who mostly thought of and felt sorry about his previous relationships and who didn’t like himself very much. I probably could have lived with him, but the story is full of characters who all have so many problems and who are so full of self loathing that it was depressing.
A child spending some time with a corpse (this is my deduction, I didn’t get to the revelation of that particular thread), a dead child, a woman in a coma, a spinster who buys a child, an old demented woman, a number of old, and possible corrupt policemen, an adoption officer with a secret, the list is endless. Give me a break!

I am sure that somewhere towards the end all the various storylines – and there were many with time jumps back and forth continuously – came together in this cunning way where you go, "ah, now I see why this was said there and then, and what was the meaning of this and that 200 pages earlier" but I didn’t make it that far. When Jackson Brodie woke up next to a woman whose name he didn’t remember and had to sneak out of her house I was finished with the book. Sorry, but I do want to enjoy reading and not dread what might come next.

However, if you enjoy a real downer of a book, I recommend this one.

Paper artist by Gail Green

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paper_artist

In a nutshell:   

 

Short synopsis: Paper projects for children of all ages

Did I like it? Yes, it is inspirational and gives tons of ideas and instructions

For people who: like paper and crafting

My thoughts:   

 

The projects in this book cover a wide range of topics and levels of difficulty. Every (future) paper crafter can find something here that appeals to him/her. The book is divided into several chapters, from “Adorable Accessories” (definitely for girls), “Pretty Presents”, “Classy Keepsakes” to “Dazzling Decorations”.

Some of the projects are intricate and fragile; as the mother of two boys I would predict that they won’t stay intact for very long, but maybe girls are a bit more careful with paper art. If you are a beginner or you have clumsy and impatient kids, you should start with some of the easier, more sturdy items, but as you get more experienced you can try your skills with more advanced projects. And there is plenty to choose from. Tubular frames, quilled name plates, cards, photo cubes, book ends, owls, boxes, ornaments, time capsules, you name it. The techniques vary, from scrapbooking to quilling, to weaving to mosaic. Some of them easy, some of them rather sophisticated and with a lot of supplies. The instructions are always clear and easy to follow.

If you are a paper crafter and would like to introduce your child to it, or if you want to explore paper crafting together with your child, this book is something you should definitely have a look out for.

Product info and buy link :

Title Paper artist: Creations kids can fold, wear, tear or share
Author Gail Green
Publisher Capstone Press
ISBN 9781623700041
I got this book from Netgalley
Buy link Buy Paper artist (publishing date March 01, 2013)

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Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith

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Very short synopsis:

The second instalment in the 44 Scotland Street series with news of all the inhabitants.

inanutshell 

I read it in: English

I liked it:    Yes, it was a great continuation of the series.

Again we are left behind with a few loose threads that I can#t wait to find out more about. What is going to happen to Bertie? Whose baby is Irene having? Is Janis a gold-digger or not? That one thought of hers in the restaurant indicates as much, but the latest conversation between Matthew and his father says different. Bruce is gone – good riddance! Is Pat’s father buying the flat for her? Is she going to be available for Matthew now because of his financial prospects? “Love over Scotland” is already waiting for me.

Product info and buy link :

Title Espresso Tales
Author Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher Abacus
ISBN 9780349119700
I got this book from I bought it
More info The 44 Scotland Street series
Buy link Buy Espresso Tales

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44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

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Cover 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

Tales of the city in Edinburgh.

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis:

Short instalments about the life of the inhabitants of a house in Edinburgh and the people they meet.

Language I read the book in: English

Did I like it? Yes, absolutely.

For people who:  love a cozy atmosphere, great locations, interesting people, short chapters that leave you wanting more.

My thoughts: 

I want to move to Edinburgh. Not because it is a lovely place (it is, but that is not the reason), but because I want to be able to enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s books set in Edinburgh more than I already do. If you live there I am sure the reading experience will be exceptional. The way he moves his characters around, through streets, around quarters and inside shops is so enjoyable, even if you have no idea about the places; it must be absolute bliss to be able to picture the real locations that you know from experience while reading his stories.

When I started reading I wasn’t aware that this was previously published as a serialised novel in a newspaper, but I was pleasantly surprised. The chapters are very short, but always with an ending that made you want to read on. If I had read that in the paper I would have waited eagerly every morning for the new instalment.

Pat moves into a room in a flat at 44 Scotland Street. From now on we follow her life and that of her flatmate Bruce, an extraordinarily vain surveyor, of their neighbours Domenica (I want her to live next door to me), Irene, an extraordinarily pushy mother, and her son Bertie and of the people they know. As this series has the same setting as the Isabel Dalhousie books I almost expected her or Jamie to come around the corner any minute, but unfortunately this did not happen. I could have imagined Isabel turning up at the lecture at the Portrait Gallery, for example.

The whole book is a delight to read. The little incidents and goings on are sometimes common, sometimes annoying, sometimes completely absurd, sometimes exciting even, but never to the point where your heart rate starts to go up.

One of my many favourite passages:

“Why did you set fire to Daddy’s copy of The Guardian, Bertie? Did you do that because guardian is another word for parent? Was The Guardian your Daddy because Daddy is your guardian?”
Bertie thought for a moment. Dr Fairbairn was clearly mad, but he would have to keep talking to him; otherwise the psychotherapist might suddenly kill both him and his mother.
”No,” he said. “I like Daddy. I don’t want to set fire to Daddy.”
”And do you like The Guardian?” pressed Dr Fairbairn.
”No,” said Bertie. “I don’t like The Guardian."       
“Why?” asked Dr Fairbairn.
“Because it’s always telling you what you should think,” said Bertie. “Just like Mummy.”

I am glad I have the next book in the series already sitting on my shelves.

Product info and buy link :

Title 44 Scotland Street
Author Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher Random House
ISBN 9781400079445
I got this book from I bought it
Buy link Buy 44 Scotland Street

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.