Books Read - Winter 2010

1. The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs
2. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery*
3. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery (#2)*
4. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery (#3)*
5. How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
6. Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery
7. 21 Days to a Thrifty Lifestyle by Mike Yorkey
8. Candide by Voltaire
9. Essays by George Orwell
10. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff
11. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
12. Every Young Woman's Battle by Shannon Ethridge & Stephen Arterburn

* = in partial fulfillment of my New Years Resolutions

Notes:

- I really enjoyed The Know-It-All, subtitled "One man's humble quest to become the smartest person in the world." A.J. Jacobs also wrote "The Year of Living Biblically" and "The Guinea Pig Diaries," and in those books he alluded to this one, so I've been interested in reading it for a while and was happy when I found it on sale in a paperback edition. This is his story of reading through the Encyclopedia Brittanica from cover to cover (er - covers to covers - I guess it's 32 volumes). He passes on tidbits and facts that he learns through his reading, and he also shares his personal experiences related to this gain of knowledge: other people's opinions towards his project, awkward situations where he blurts out more than he should, the fine imposed by his wife for sharing irrelevant facts, his efforts to live up to his family's legacy of wisdom. Although it may sound dull to read a book about a guy who reads the encyclopedia, this book is highly entertaining and worth reading.

- I read Anne of Green Gables over and over when I was young, but now it has been a long time since I've taken them off the shelf. I remember how Mom bought me the whole set at Costco, and how proud I was to be reading something with a reading level of ten years old when I was only nine. Now as I re-read them I have found that I remembered almost everything from the first book, but I've forgotten almost everything from the next few. None of the scenes in the third book were familiar to me and I never knew what was coming next. That will change a little bit as I progress to the final few books of the series - I have some recollections from them because they were my favorites. But the things I remember the most are the things included in the movies. And I also wonder if the middle books are just less memorable: I already forget details, and I just read them!
Lucy Maud Montgomery changed her writing style a bit between the first and second book of the series. For instance, in the second book she started using ellipses (...) where brackets or dashes would be better suited. Then in the third book she began using dashes where commas would have worked just fine, but luckily that didn't go on too long.
If I met Anne in real life these days, I'm not sure that we would be friends. She would say I have no imagination, and I would say she's too gushy. I've been impatient with that lately - in real life as well as in literature.

- Gourmet Rhapsody (the sequel to The Elegance of the Hedgehog) was fantastically good, but a little anti-climatic. A food critic on his deathbed searches for a long-forgotten perfect taste, but what he finally comes up with, choux, is something I am unfortunately unfamiliar with, as the book is translated from French.

- In an English class anthology, I once read "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, and it was so interesting that it made me realized that essays don't have to be boring and dull. Unfortunately, many Essays are still boring and dull, and I was so glad to be finished reading this book. Granted, there were some good ones, but after reading fifty pages about English Socialism around the time of the World Wars, I wasn't really taking this book seriously anymore.

Delights

My Mom came to visit me! I was a little apprehensive about this; I find spending time with my family very tiring, if she was going to come to my place I would have to do a lot of cleaning, and I wasn't feeling well in the week preceding her visit. But it turned out lovely. We spent our time away from my apartment, so it didn't matter that it remained a bit of a mess. Instead, we went shopping and went out for dinner.

The hilight of our adventure was going to the Farmer's Market. I was surprised to find it open in March, and then I was surprised again to find so much classy stuff there. (That's where Mom got the beautiful cup of coffee pictured above.) I discovered some things that I didn't expect to be able to find anywhere - like French desserts!

They had macarons! I've had a macaron infatuation for the last few months, since I found a box on clearance in a grocery store freezer and found them to be amazing. They are soft and crispy and chewy and sweet and magnificent. My wanderings on the internet tell me that they are very fancy and quite rare. It seems that you can get them at upscale stores in large cities, and people become all snobby and insist that only the very best ones are any good. It looks like there is one place here that sells them, but it's really far away from me so I haven't made it over there yet. (Unfortunately the grocery store where I first found them doesn't carry them anymore.) I was astounded to find them at the Farmer's Market! (There were actually two booths there selling macarons.) "This is my dream come true," I told Mom with my mouth agape, and I introduced her to the delight. Someone told us that these are the new cupcakes - the new overpriced rage. I liked them before I knew that. However, I think that part of my infatuation may be related to the fact that they were a novelty - something I couldn't get whenever I wanted. I also think I may have preferred the cheap frozen variety. Still, though, this was very exciting for me.

At the Farmer's Market, I also found madeleines. I have been wanting to try these since I read about Proust and how they feature in one of the scenes in his novels. They are like a pound cake in a shell shape (and somehow pound cake tastes better like that than it does in a slice), dense yet fluffy, with a hint of lemon. They carried an air of simplicity, and in that way they reminded me of creme brulee. As I ate them, I sat quietly and practiced mindfulness.

I sound like a frog.

I have been sick this week with the most bizarre "cold" I've ever had. I've had one constant symptom: a strained voice, bordering on no voice. That's the first problem that appeared, along with the necessity of daily three hour naps. The first night I woke up constantly because swallowing was such a struggle. Then I had a day where my lower back hurt and all my skin felt over-sensitive - I couldn't get used to wearing clothes. Then the next day my neck was all stiff and painful and I said my head must be too heavy. That's around when I started coughing (not earlier, which I found strange). Now this morning I woke up with an eye infection. The only eye infections I've ever had have been when I've had bad colds, and I wonder if they're related - like the cold is going up into my eye? As well as this strange array of symptoms, I am surprised by symptoms I don't have. I've only sneezed once, and my nose isn't running or stuffed up. Anyway, the good thing is that one weird symptom tends to leave when the next one comes (except for the voice problem), but I wonder what my problem will be tomorrow!

Baby Blanket

Someone at work asked me to make a blanket for her daughter, providing me with the materials and an example, and thereby introduced me to a new style of baby blanket! It was so easy: you take two pieces of fleece of the same size, cut "tassles" all around the edge (I made them about four inches long and the width of a ruler), and then you tie the tassles together, top with bottom. No sewing necessary! It was really easy, and it turned out pretty cute.

Peaceful

This was the view when I got to work this morning. Between the sun beginning to rise on the horizon and the foreground of houses lay a blanket of clouds. The radio called it fog, which I guess is an accurate description when you're in the middle of a cloud, but looking at it from above I could see the ripples. It was like a dream world.