Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

I finished the series Fairy Tales by Eloisa James.  I'm also using these books to complete the "A book that is a retelling of a classic story" requirement for the Read Harder Challenge. The Duke Is Mine by Eloisa James My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Duke is Mine  is a retelling of The Princess and the Pea. It has the heroine showing up in the middle of the rain storm, not looking at all like the lady she is supposed to be, and there is  scene where she sleeps on a pile of mattresses and feels something uncomfortable but it's not a pea.  I really enjoyed this retelling and thought that the hero and heroine were a really good match. I liked them both and how they were upstanding enough to want to please their families but realistic enough to know that it wasn't at all possible to deny their feelings for one another. The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James My rating: 3 of 5 stars The Ugly Duchess  is a retelling of The Ugly Duckling.  Like the original the h...

This full challenge is to pick A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade.  I took a look at the lists and while there were a few books on there I would read, nothing struck me as "Read me now".  Then I took a look at the Drama category of the Pulitzer Prize and decided on the 2008 winner. August: Osage County by Tracy Letts My rating: 4 of 5 stars Wow, talk about a dysfunctional family!  I didn't know much more than it was a story about a dysfunctional family from the promos for the movie (which I haven't seen yet.).  It took me a little bit to get a handle on who was who in the family, I had to keep flipping back to the character list.  I would love to see the stage setup, it describes a stage that is broken up into multiple levels and rooms of the Weston house. The story centers on the disappearance of Beverley Weston and the way his family deals with the fallout of disappearance. His wife, Violet, ...

I was never a big Batman fan. Thinking back I think my only real interest stemmed from the influence of a cousin and when our time spent together lessened so did my interest in The Dark Knight.  I kept a fascination with Harley Quinn and Mister J, but besides that, really didn't care. With the new movies and my introduction to Lil' Gotham, I've had a renewed interest in the city of Gotham and it's inhabitants. I've a new appreciation for the city and what goes on there so these two new volumes really peaked my interest. Gotham Academy, Vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy by Becky Cloonan My rating: 4 of 5 stars Welcome to the top prep school in the city.  Like everything in Gotham, it's not normal my any standards.  There are some weird teachers, talk of a ghost haunting a building and what looks like a mysterious cult on campus.  All Olive wants is a quite return to school after her bad summer break, but she doesn't get the quite time. She's thrus...

Against the Tide by Elizabeth Camden My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book wasn't what I expected, I was thinking it would be about military intelligence and Lydia's job of translating. This was part of the story, but the bigger story was about the hard work at getting people to stop using opium and the fight the opium addiction that seemed to be very common during the time period. Lydia is orphaned when her father's boat doesn't return to port one day after she gets done school.  Growing up in an orphanage, she is scared of ending up back in those low points in her life. She keeps everything uber organized and Alexander loves to mess with her. Every time he visits the office he moves something on her desk. They have both been warned off each other, but they are both really attracted to the other. They start working together, Alexander needs a translator and Lydia is the best in Boston.  This leads them into trouble. All the trouble in this book is pretty much Alexand...

Got my set today! @teampbr #books A photo posted by Amelia (@litjrzygrl) on Apr 29, 2015 at 11:31am PDT These four books were a mix of two things I enjoy, Harlequin romances and bull riders/riding. True Harlequin romances are my guilty pleasure. I feel they are kind of cheesy and very predictable, but sometimes you just need a light read. These were all reissued version of older books by Tina Leonard. While they all feature bull riders I was upset that there wasn't more talk about bull riding. Added on top of that there were a few scenarios that did involve bull riding that just didn't seem plausible.  They were enjoyable reads for the escapism. I gave all four books three stars.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by  Beth Fish Reads My cookbook collection rests on the foundation of two cookbooks, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and James Beard's American Cookery.  These two books were so overused by my father that they easily open to some recipes.  These are the cookbooks I learned to cook from and ones I go back to when I want basics. As much as I love these cookbooks this version of The James Beard Cookbook feels like a simplified version of the one I own.  This book is filled with the same writing style, a conversational tone that feels like a friend teaching you a favorite recipe. The format is simply broken down into sections. He shares a basic recipe and then variations. As someone who loves pasta, I paid special attention to the pasta section in the cookbook.  He broke this section down into the pasta and then the sauces.  First you make the homemade noodles and then you can pick from a number of sauces to accompany your creation...