It was my birthday on Sunday. My family surprised me by taking me out to the mall, and saying my birthday present was a new cell phone, of my choice!!!! The biggest surprise ever, as I have never owned one before, though I have been looking at them for a while. I am now living just after the Iron Age according to my 23 year old son,as between the new laptop and a cellphone, I have leapt light-years ahead from being in the Stone Age before. Now if I can just figure out how to get music on my phone, and how to text, I'll be the hippest just turned 49-year-old ever. (Sadly, I know that last phrase 'hippest' dates me, and I've lost many cool points with that. Sigh)
At the end of the day, I realized that I was the lucky recipient of the new cell phone, Cranford on dvd (I'd already seen it this winter from the library and really enjoyed it, so am thrilled to have my very own copy of this very sweet BBC comedy-drama of village life by Elizabeth Gaskell). And two wonderful book tokens for Amazon so I can do some book shopping shortly. Then, this morning, I remembered - I had been making a box of books for my birthday! So my ex-partner brought down the books, and here are
Susan's Books to celebrate my birthday:
-The Impossible Dead - Ian Rankin (Malcolm Fox #2......first book was very good, so I was so happy to see this in paperback so soon)
- Novel Destinations - Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon (subtitles "Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West", who could resist this?)
- The Bibliophile's Devotional - Hallie Ephron (subtitled, "365 days of Literary Classics". This is to remind me of how many great books are out there that I still have not read!)
- Why I Wake Early - Mary Oliver (my favourite poet, I am collecting all her books now. I love this title poem also. She is my heroine and guide when it come to writing as clearly as possible, to say exactly what I mean and not waste language if it's not needed)
- District and Circle - Seamus Heaney (another poetry book, how could I resist one that features a subway line that I've ridden on? His use of language and words is rich and fills my mouth - alliteration abounds (I know! bad me!), and the poems delve into the meaning of things - I could write this in all literary terms, but really, these poems have depth and they are about every day life in England, and they teach me about using language. Remarkable)
- The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni - this has been on my wishlist for almost a decade. I love her speech patterns, her poems are like she is talking directly to us, and she is wry and funny and moving and bitter and wistful and even loving in them.
- A Train in Winter - Caroline Moorehead (another subtitled book: "An extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship and Survival in World War 2. I had to get this as soon as I saw this. It's about a group of women who were resistance fighters in WW2, who were rounded up in the detention camps and sent to Auschwitz - and how they tried to support one another and keep each other alive during the trip and in the camps. Only one train during one trip, took the 230 women to the death camps during the 4 year war, hence the title. It was the only time women of the Resistance from France were sent. The book explores why they joined the Resistance, and how they helped one another. A must-read, for me)
Now, to be honest, my birthday list I gave to my family did have many books listed on it, so I was careful not to pick any up for the box. Dervish House by Ian MacDonald is top of the list, as is Tim Power's new book, Hide Me Among The Graves, the sequel to The Stress of Her Regard,which I am rereading now to refresh my memory as I read it many years ago. I'm also waiting for Artur Erlandur's Outrage to come out in softcover. I don't think I will have any difficulty using my book tokens, do you?
Showing posts with label birthday books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday books. Show all posts
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Some birthday books and how to get your footie man to read
My birthday was a month ago, but for various reasons, I haven't been able to post about the books I received. The first book I received on my birthday, from my wonderful husband who is also the lucky recipient of my recipes so he likes picking out what he is going to be eating for the next few years.
Nigel Slater is one of my favourite cooks. He was the one who taught me how to roast a chicken perfectly every time, how to make bangers and mash the way the English like them, and who gave a recipe for lentil soup that is a winter mainstay in our household now. He is an English cook, so I am not able to see his tv shows, though I do copy out his Observers Food Monthly columns often. I didn't know before discovering him that that there were cooks that could speak to us, whose recipes made sense and who I would feel comfortable spending time in the kitchen with, until I met Nigel in Appetite while I lived in England in 1999-2000.
Appetite is his award-winning cookbook, and had just come out that winter. Giving me The Kitchen Diaries, the latest from this wonderful cook, was a real delight for me. In this cookbook, Nigel takes us through the year of a cook and his garden and the vegetable market. He decided to cook with what ever foods he could find at the market that day, and whatever his garden was producing at that time. Seasonal eating, which seems trendy now, although if you buy food at the fresh market stalls, as we are lucky enough to have here in Ottawa, then eating seasonally is possible 5 months of the year. I have done this for several years now, from May until Oct when the last of the harvest is gone. So I am thrilled to have a book by Nigel on how to use the bumper foods as they come into season, how to live rhythmically with the seasons.
I have only dipped into this cookbook so far, and already I've seen several recipes I want to try. Grilled zucchini with basil and lemon, cannelini beans with coppa, spinach and mustard (the picture of this dish always makes me hungry when I look at it!), lamb chops with oregano and tsatziki, Nigel's delightful trifle (alcohol-free!), Chicken stew and mash (for winter days)........mmmmmm, it must be lunch time soon. I will be reading this cookbook throughout the year, so I can try out Nigel's recipes as the food becomes available here too, so I can experiment further with eating seasonally. I'll let you know how it goes.
My other presents didn't arrive from Amazon.ca until this past Friday, thanks to a gift certificate from my mother:
Yes, I treated myself to a hardcover! Connie Willis's Blackout, which I had been intending to wait until it came out in softcover so I could carry it, has had so many good reviews that I can't wait. A very rare treat, and I've already read the first chapter while finishing up reading books for the other book challenges about to wind up. I bought for my birthday:
Blackout - Connie Willis
Diamond Solitaire - Peter Lovesey - 2nd book in the Peter Diamond series
Dido Live - dvd of Dido's live performance in 2004 in England
Lone Star - dvd, John Sayle's dark mystery, which I absolutely love and haven't seen in ages.
By the way, Blackout is book one of two books. It was so huge the publisher broke the novel into two parts, and the second book, All Clear, is due out in October. That's not so long to wait! Connie is one of my favourite authors, and this book is a return to Mr Dunworthy and his time-travelling historians. This time they are going back to World War 2. Here is a review that does not give anything away, at Locus Magazine online.
**I'll be posting on Carl's challenge tonight, after I finish reading A Midsummer's Night's Dream this afternoon. Lovely, lovely midsummer's eve! And Shakespeare.
Happy Fathers' Day and how to bring more books into the house:
It's Father's Day here in Canada, as it is in many places in the world. To my readers who are also fathers, Happy Father's Day. I hope you get some quiet time to read (most likely tonight after those who have made you fathers go to bed). My spouse, who is parked in front of the tv for World Cup football (aka soccer over here in North America) for this month, received two books from me - many of you know he is long-suffering because I buy more books than he has seen in his life. Slowly but surely I have been building a large library of English football books for my love. Today was no exception: he received the England pre-match warm-up kit to wear, as a proud England supporter, and two books:
Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski
The Story of the World Cup by Brian Glanville
Since England, and now Italy, are on the bubble - they must win their next game or go home early from the tournament - Soccernomics, which I bought some time ago, seems timely with its subtitle: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, And Why the US, Japan, Australia, Turkey - And Even Iraq - Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport.
I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying a book and some footie on this Sunday.
PS May I add my congratulations to my readers from New Zealand? We were cheering for you today, and it was a thrilling point you won today against the Azzuri.
PPS To my Italian readers, I'm sorry, I really am. As someone who cheers for England, you can take comfort that you played better than we did in our last match.
Nigel Slater is one of my favourite cooks. He was the one who taught me how to roast a chicken perfectly every time, how to make bangers and mash the way the English like them, and who gave a recipe for lentil soup that is a winter mainstay in our household now. He is an English cook, so I am not able to see his tv shows, though I do copy out his Observers Food Monthly columns often. I didn't know before discovering him that that there were cooks that could speak to us, whose recipes made sense and who I would feel comfortable spending time in the kitchen with, until I met Nigel in Appetite while I lived in England in 1999-2000.
Appetite is his award-winning cookbook, and had just come out that winter. Giving me The Kitchen Diaries, the latest from this wonderful cook, was a real delight for me. In this cookbook, Nigel takes us through the year of a cook and his garden and the vegetable market. He decided to cook with what ever foods he could find at the market that day, and whatever his garden was producing at that time. Seasonal eating, which seems trendy now, although if you buy food at the fresh market stalls, as we are lucky enough to have here in Ottawa, then eating seasonally is possible 5 months of the year. I have done this for several years now, from May until Oct when the last of the harvest is gone. So I am thrilled to have a book by Nigel on how to use the bumper foods as they come into season, how to live rhythmically with the seasons.
I have only dipped into this cookbook so far, and already I've seen several recipes I want to try. Grilled zucchini with basil and lemon, cannelini beans with coppa, spinach and mustard (the picture of this dish always makes me hungry when I look at it!), lamb chops with oregano and tsatziki, Nigel's delightful trifle (alcohol-free!), Chicken stew and mash (for winter days)........mmmmmm, it must be lunch time soon. I will be reading this cookbook throughout the year, so I can try out Nigel's recipes as the food becomes available here too, so I can experiment further with eating seasonally. I'll let you know how it goes.
My other presents didn't arrive from Amazon.ca until this past Friday, thanks to a gift certificate from my mother:
Yes, I treated myself to a hardcover! Connie Willis's Blackout, which I had been intending to wait until it came out in softcover so I could carry it, has had so many good reviews that I can't wait. A very rare treat, and I've already read the first chapter while finishing up reading books for the other book challenges about to wind up. I bought for my birthday:
Blackout - Connie Willis
Diamond Solitaire - Peter Lovesey - 2nd book in the Peter Diamond series
Dido Live - dvd of Dido's live performance in 2004 in England
Lone Star - dvd, John Sayle's dark mystery, which I absolutely love and haven't seen in ages.
By the way, Blackout is book one of two books. It was so huge the publisher broke the novel into two parts, and the second book, All Clear, is due out in October. That's not so long to wait! Connie is one of my favourite authors, and this book is a return to Mr Dunworthy and his time-travelling historians. This time they are going back to World War 2. Here is a review that does not give anything away, at Locus Magazine online.
**I'll be posting on Carl's challenge tonight, after I finish reading A Midsummer's Night's Dream this afternoon. Lovely, lovely midsummer's eve! And Shakespeare.
Happy Fathers' Day and how to bring more books into the house:
It's Father's Day here in Canada, as it is in many places in the world. To my readers who are also fathers, Happy Father's Day. I hope you get some quiet time to read (most likely tonight after those who have made you fathers go to bed). My spouse, who is parked in front of the tv for World Cup football (aka soccer over here in North America) for this month, received two books from me - many of you know he is long-suffering because I buy more books than he has seen in his life. Slowly but surely I have been building a large library of English football books for my love. Today was no exception: he received the England pre-match warm-up kit to wear, as a proud England supporter, and two books:
Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski
The Story of the World Cup by Brian Glanville
Since England, and now Italy, are on the bubble - they must win their next game or go home early from the tournament - Soccernomics, which I bought some time ago, seems timely with its subtitle: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, And Why the US, Japan, Australia, Turkey - And Even Iraq - Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport.
I hope wherever you are, you are enjoying a book and some footie on this Sunday.
PS May I add my congratulations to my readers from New Zealand? We were cheering for you today, and it was a thrilling point you won today against the Azzuri.
PPS To my Italian readers, I'm sorry, I really am. As someone who cheers for England, you can take comfort that you played better than we did in our last match.
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