Past Literary (Written & Audio) Delights

 

July 11, 2021 ~ My new obsession involves cooking and freeze drying and storing! So, I dug out these cookbooks I have had FOREVER. I plan on adjusting these recipes to make delicious and nutritious freeze dried meals!

 

 

June 7, 2020 ~ I'm currently in a book club and I just finished Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine and I quite liked the book.  I must admit that it was a bit predictable for me, but I enjoyed the journey nonetheless.  I listened to the audio edition and the narrator was good.  I can kind of relate to Eleanor in a way.  It's hard to exist and still not feel so alone.

July 30, 2019 ~ I am up to my eyeballs with true crime.  Along with listening to the very popular podcast, "My Favorite Murder", I've been reading the book, No Stone Unturned.  So far so good.  It delves into how forensic scientists are improving their processes and techniques in gathering clues and evidence while solving murders.

May 24, 2018 ~ I am currently on a series that was recommended to me by my sister, Dori.  It's the Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford.  She liked the books because they are set in Minnesota, where we grew up, but she also liked the mystery of the stories.  I decided to give them a try, and I'm hooked.  I'm on the fifth book in the series called Winter Prey.  So far so good.  I tell you one thing, I wouldn't have attempted to date Lucas Davenport if he were the last man on Earth.  What a player!  

May 13, 2016 ~ With all of my projects I’ve been doing I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks. I’ve started a new series called the The Dresden Files written by Jim Butcher. I’ve just finished the first book titled, Storm Front, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s about a wizard who is a private eye. Yes, a wizard named, Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, and he’s quite quirky (and horny) and his sense of humor is right up my alley. He has a cat named, Mister (sounds exactly like my friend, Sally’s old cat…fat and grumpy), and he uses his powers in magic and potions (with help from his “Skull”) to help the Chicago police with cases that fringe on the supernatural. On to book two, and so far so good!

September 12, 2015 ~ I was listening to one of my favorite NPR podcasts, The Splendid Table and they were speaking with celebrity photographer, Melanie Dunea.  She had put together a unique "coffee table" book of photographs and gastronomic bucket lists of famous chefs and cooks around the world.  The images are beautiful and somewhat comical in some cases, and it's interesting to read how elaborate or how simple some of these culinary masters' final meal would be.  Plus they give a list of what they would be listening to, who was around, and what they would be drinking.  I love how Jacques Pépin stated that only his dog, Paco could stay with him to the end, everyone else had to leave when they were done eating.  Classic.

May 30, 2015 ~ E. M. Forster's "A Room With a View" is one of my most favorite stories. Be it book or be it film, I am still charmed by it. Some people may call it very dull or down right boring but I think the story and the time is so appealing. I've often thought that I was born in the wrong era, and I think the Edwardian period would have been quite something to live in. Of course, I would be like the heroine of the novel, Lucy. She discovers that the world isn't going to end if she follows her heart as she does when she plays the piano. She is in love with George, who is a bit of a "radical" and "free thinker" for the age, and he loves her regardless of what society thinks. Sigh. This is just lovely and I'm enjoying listening to the audio book this time around.

May 29, 2015 ~ I loved this book when I first read it in high school, and I loved the movie when I found a VHS to purchase in my early twenties, and now I'm loving listening to it on my audiobook, two days from my 45th birthday. Sissy Spaceck is reading and she's perfect. Harper Lee's one-hit-wonder is truly magnificent at any age I'm at.