Will be updated throughout the year. Last updated: 6/18/09

Number of English books read so far: 51 (39 non-fiction : 12 fiction)

Number of Chinese books read so far: 2

Number of books abandoned: 12

Non-Fiction:

1. Something for the Pain (One Doctor’s Account of Life and Death in the ER) by Paul Austin.
2. My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor
3. A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood’s Biggest Movies by Janet Hirshenson & Jane Jenkins
4. The Traveler by Daren Simkin, Daniel Simkin
5. Two Cats and the Woman They Own: or Lessons I Learned from My Cats by Patti Davis
6. Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah Goldstein, Robert B. Cialdini, Steve J. Martin
7. Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children’s Lives by Michael Ruhlman
8. Sweet Mandarin by Helen Tse
9. Marley & Me: Love and Life with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
10. The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck
11. Toast by Nigel Slater
12. Flipping Confidential: The Secrets of Renovating Property for Profit In Any Market by Kirsten Kemp
13. Photographers and Their Images by Fi McGhee
14. Gimme Shelter by Mary Elizabeth Williams
15. How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq by Matthew Alexander
16. A Dance With the Devil: A True Story of Marriage to a Psychopath by Barbara Bentley
17. Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
18. Designed to Sell: Make any home the hottest property on the block by HGTV
19. Home Rules: Transform the Place You Live into a Place You’ll Love by Nate Berkus
20. Stolen Dreams: Portraits of Working Children by David L. Parker
21. Karsh: A Sixty-Year Retrospective by Yousef Karsh
22. The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir by John Grogan
23. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum
24. Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe
25. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
26. Apartment Therapy presents real homes, real people, hundreds of real design solutions by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
27. Cent-sible Homemaking by Jean Clark
28. A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg
29. $500 Room Makeovers by Lisa Quinn
30. Columbine by Dave Cullen
31. Forty-four years with the Mayo Clinic, 1908-1952 by Harry J Harwick
32. Do Your Own Home Staging by Tina Parker
33. House Beautiful – The Home Book: Creating a Beautiful Home of Your Own by Carol Spier
34. No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine by Brooks Brown
35. The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez
36. Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood by Julie Gregory
37. Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung
38. Oil Painting: The Workshop Experience by Ted Goerschner
39. The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl by Shauna Reid

Fiction:

1. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
2. Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
3. Miracle Myx by David Diotalevi
4. All the Pretty Girls by J.T. Ellison
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
6. Life on the Refrigerator Door: Notes Between a Mother and a Daughter – A Novel by Alice Kuipers
7. Scarpetta (Scarpetta Book 16) by Patrician Cornwell
8. Testimony by Anita Shreve
9. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
10. The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle
11. Life Sentences: A Novel by Laura Lippman
12. The Myth of You and Me: A Novel by Leah Stewart

Abandoned books:

1. The Killing Circle: A Novel by Andrew Pyper
2. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
3. The Houses of Time by Jamil Nasir
4. A Cat Named Darwin: Embracing the Bond Between Man and Pet by William Jordan
5. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
6. Confessions of a Subprime Lender: An Insider’s Tale of Greed, Fraud, and Ignorance by Richard Bitner
7. The Sisters Antipodes by Jane Alison
8. The Shack by William P. Young
9. Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang
10. The Day After He Left for Iraq: A Story of Love, Family, and Reunion by Melissa Seligman
11. My Happy Life by Lydia Millet
12. Style Rx: Dressing the Body You Have to Create the Body You Want by Bridgette Raes

Justin and I will be married for 5 years in August this year. For the past 5 years, I’ve probably cooked a full meal twice (some Chinese meal, and Indian curry which turned out really well if I do say so myself! I should post the recipe sometime. Okay, I’d also made a sandwich and some scrambled eggs… but they don’t really count.) Now, I love food. Love trying new food. But I don’t really have the patience to cook. Plus I blame it on my college chemistry prac where you MUST follow the “ingredients” exactly, and follow each step exactly, to avoid explosions or some other scary things. So when it comes to cooking, I tend to measure everything exactly and follow the directions exactly which can be confusing since not every little details are listed sometimes! But you all know that cooking is both a science AND an art, and sometimes you just have to break the rules, or substitue, or be creative.

I love reading about food also, I’d read books like Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdai, Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford or A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg. I love watching Ramsey Gordn’s Kitchen Nightmare, or America’s Test Kitchen.

I also love reading food blogs, especially those with simple ingredients and delicious pictures (I AM a visual person after all!) So when I read that Coconut & Lime (which features 100% original recipes!) is having a 5 year anniversary competition (what a coincidence, that it’d be our 5 year wedding anniversary this year!), with the grand prize being a Vita-Mix blender, I got motivated to try cooking again (I blamed my sisters for making fun of me in the kitchen when we were younger :p). The 3rd time I’ll cook in our married 5 years. You see, Justin (who cooks!) had been longing for a Vita-Mix blender since we saw it on TV last year, but it’s out of our budget. So, wouldn’t this be the perfect anniversary gift?! Granted, the chance of winning is slim, but it’s the thoughts that counts right?

To enter, one can choose to do one of the following:
Make one of Coconut & Lime blog’s recipes, OR,
Create an original recipe using the ingredients coconut and lime.

Since I’m not that creative with food, I thought I’d better stick to one of the recipes – plus, all the food on the blog looked so good! The difficult part is to choose one! After browsing to see what the options are, and what fall within my comfort zone, I decided to make a meal for Justin instead of just making one dish. Who knows when the next time I’ll cook again?

So here’s our dinner tonight:

• Winter White Cauliflower Soup
• Mojo Pork Chops
• Green Tea & Tangerine Tapioca Pudding

So how did it go? Did Justin die from food posioning? Read on!

Winter White Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
5 cups (about 2 heads worth) cauliflower florets
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon whole coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

Directions:
In a dry, hot pan, quickly roast the coriander seeds until fragrant. Grind into powder using a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. Set aside. In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes or until they are soft and translucent. Do not let them brown. Add the cauliflower, salt, pepper, coriander and broth. Bring broth to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce to a simmer and cook 20-30 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and easily cut. Using a regular blender or immersion blender, blend until smooth. If you are using a regular blender, you will have to do this in steps, pour the blended soup in to another large pot as you go. If using an immersion blender, you can blend the soup right in the same pot. Once blended, add the milk. Return to heat and allow to simmer another 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Stir and serve.

Pics!

The ingredients. We didn’t have any home-made chicken broth so had to use the store-bought one (reduced sodium too!) Cutting the cauliflower reminded me of college days when I worked at a Chinese take-away shop in a food court. I mainly served, but sometimes had to help cut vegetables. Cutting cauliflowers can get messy, almost tempted to use frozen ones next time :p But probably won’t taste as good as fresh ones.

“During”. When all ingredients (except milk) are in the pan, before blending using the immersion blender (stupid me almost lost the thing in the soup because I didn’t lock it tight enough. “Justin! Is this thing supposed to keep falling apart?”)

Final product! We didn’t have any garlic chives to garnish (what Coconut & Lime did), so I used some dried basil instead – wow, me alternating the recipe!

My thoughts:

• Taste pretty good!
• Pretty easy to make. This is good since Justin doesn’t make soup often, and I love soup, so I can easily make it again
• We had grounded coriander instead of seeds, so I just toast them in the oven (broil) after I asked Justin what I should do since the recipe said to roast the seeds before grinding. What can I do without him
• We also don’t have white pepper, so I used black pepper instead. Didn’t ask Justin about that one. Actually, I did check with him if it’s okay as I don’t want the black pepper to overwhelm the dish. Well, at least I know what the potential substitute ingredient is
• Next time when we make it, may be nice to add some ham just to add another layer of taste

Justin’s thoughts:

• Tasted pretty good! Very hearty
• Nothing needs to change! (He’s a meat lover and thinks it’s okay without ham!)

Mojo Pork Chops

Ingredients:
marinade:
5 cloves garlic, grated
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and minced
3/4 cup sour orange juice*
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt
pepper

3 or 4 thick cut, boneless pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Whisk all of the ingredients to the marinade together. Pour over pork chops and marinate for 2-6 hours. Heat oil in a large skillet. Drain pork and reserve marinade. Add pork to skillet and cook about 5 minutes on each side. Make sure they are completely cooked through. Remove the chops to a plate and cover. Add marinade to the skillet and bring to a boil until it reduces to a glaze, about 2 minutes. Drizzle over pork chops before serving.

*Available bottled at most well-stocked grocery stores. Substitute fresh sour orange juice or a 50/50 combo of orange and lime juice.

Pics!

Ingredients. Note – the spice bottle with the red top is cilantro instead of ground cumin. Justin passed that to me by mistake. I didn’t notice until I started mixing the ingredients together (see, science experiments paid off! always double check!) We didn’t have any fresh or dried jalapeno (we’re growing some though!) and so we used a canned one instead. I asked Justin how much we needed since I have no idea how many jalapeno there are in the can. He said to taste it, if it’s too hot, then use a little. I have a mid-low tolerant of heat, but this isn’t so bad. Can swallow it without water but still gives me a moment of “wow this is spicy!”. Also used a 50/50 combo of orange and key lime juice as I couldn’t find sour orange juice in the grocery store. We have key lime and not lime juice at home, but thought it’d be okay. We also already have some pork chops at home, but they are bone-in, and not so thick, but figured they are good enough substitutes (see, I am learning!). There are actually 8 chops there, so I just doubled all the ingredients, so we’ll have some left overs for tomorrow.

Marinating the chops. Should probably have minced the jalapeno a little bit more, since they look a bit too chunky (compared to the finished pic posted on Coconut & Lime). When I tasted the marinate (before adding the chops! Yes I know at least that much!) I thought it was a tad sour. Could be the key lime. But Justin thought it tasted good as is (yes he had to tell me to taste what I am making again, after I asked if I added enough salt and pepper since quantity wasn’t specified :p) So I thought I’d leave it as is, and add some sugar later if needed. I generally have a sweeter palette than Justin who likes sour things. I have a sweet tooth.

Even though the chops are relatively thin, they took quite a bit longer than 5 minutes per side though. Perhaps it’s our electric stove. Justin would love to have a gas stove someday. Yes I even used the thermometer to make sure it’s cooked though it’s a bit tricky to use that thing – it’s just a cheapie one we got from HyVee! Justin wants the one recommended by America’s Test Kitchen (we just borrowed the series from the Rochester Public Library - it’s in Season 8. We love the food tasting and equipment testing segments.) As you can see, the glaze is a bit chunky.

My thoughts:

• Not too difficult to make! Typically I am more interested in learning to cook soup, appetizers or desserts than entrees, but this is do-able
• Should have defrosted the chops (from freezer to fridge) last night but forgot (fell asleep at computer desk instead.) Very messy to do it in the microwave
• Since we have more chops, I turned the chops around about half way while they marinated since the marinade couldn’t cover all the chops evenly in the bowl
• I think it’s still a little too sour to my taste, so maybe when we cook the remaining 4 chops tomorrow I’ll add some honey
• The final products look a little dark but I like the chops a little charred!

Justin’s thoughts:

• Pretty good!
• Don’t need to change anything! (Please don’t add honey!)

Green Tea & Tangerine Tapioca Pudding

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup small pearl tapioca (not instant)
1 teaspoon matcha powder*
zest and juice from 1/2 tangerine
1 egg

Directions:
Set the slow cooker on low. Pour the milk, tapioca, matcha and sugar in, whisk until the sugar dissolves. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, or until the tapioca is soft and translucent. Stir in the egg, zests and juice. Cook an additional 1/2 hour. Serve warm.

*If you don’t have matcha powder, seep 2 green tea bags in the milk for 1/2 hour before cooking, discarding the bags.

Yield: about 4 servings

Note: for more traditional tapioca pudding made in the slow cooker, eliminate the green tea/matcha and juice/zest and sub about a tablespoon of vanilla.

Pics!

Ingredients. Yes, the white stuff in the big tin is sugar. Couldn’t find any tangerine in the grocery store. We have either canned mandarin, or I have orange juice left from the Mojo Pork Chops. I chose orange juice (used 1/3 cup for a double recipe) since it is a little more sour and tangy than the sweet canned mandarin. We also bought some black pearl tapioca previously for bubble tea, and I thought I’d use them up in this recipe for some added texture. The green packet in the front is the green tea powder for making green tea bubble tea (see the black pearl tapioca in the picture?) They aren’t rabbit poop as Justin called them. Justin loves tapioca pudding, and I am guessing each serving size is small, so when I asked if I should double the recipe, he said Please! After mixing all ingredients (minus milk and orange juice) in the crock pot, I tasted it and thought I couldn’t taste the green tea (could be the quality of the green tea powder we have), so I doubled it. And again. So I ended up using triple amount of green tea powder. I also thought it was a little sweet, but since orange juice and milk are not added yet, I thought I’d wait and see.

Don’t have any nice bowl so show it off so I put it in a glass instead! You can just see the big black pearl tapioca from the top.

My thoughts:

• I like it! A little sweet though so I’ll use less sugar next time. This is coming from someone with a sweet tooth!
• I really like having the black pearl tapioca in there – since I double the recipe, instead of doubling the amount of the small white tapioca (1/4 cup in original recipe), I added another 1/2 cup of the black pearl tapioca instead (since they aren’t as tightly packed as the small tapioca). The black tapioca are more chewy, so it adds an interesting texture. Using all black tapioca would be too much though
• Lesson learned – have to be coordinated when adding the egg and stirring it in! Or you end up with some egg white chunks… oops. At least it’s not toooooo bad
• To be honest, wasn’t sure if I wanted to add the orange juice in, since I don’t know if I’d like it with the green tea. I like sweet and sour/tangy, but for some reasons I just couldn’t quite put the two together. But hey, if I don’t like it, Justin would probably still eat it. More for him!
• We had some left over, so I put it in the fridge. Even though the recipe said “serve warm”, I thought I’d try it when it’s cold too (so I can take it to work tomorrow I actually like it cold better! The green tea is more pronounced! It’s also a little less sweet (but I’d still reduce the sugar regardless the next time we make it)

Justin’s thoughts:

• It’s good! Maybe a bit too sweet
• Had a big bowl! Good thing I did double the recipe
• Liked it cold better too – the orange juice is more pronounced! Funny how I tasted the green tea, and he tasted the orange juice instead. He always made fun of me wanting green tea in something because I find it “refreshing”

Final thoughts:

Cooking is a lot of work when you don’t know what you’re doing (or where everything is!) but at least everything was edible – well better than edible Justin thoroughly enjoyed the meal which is rewarding to me. Even though he loves to cook, he said it’s nice to have a break sometime and he was very patient with me when I had questions. I said maybe I can try to cook 1 day a week on the weekend… or we can cook together instead. We’ll see how that goes! There are at least a couple more recipes I want to try on Coconut & Lime – surprise surprise, both are desserts (and one with green tea, ha!):

• Rich & Thick Chocolate
• Matcha (Green Tea) Angel Food Cake (I love fluffy cakes!)

If I end up making these recipes, I’ll try to take some pictures and show the results. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to take pictures when my hands are all dirty! Maybe I need to train Justin to do the photography instead

The Myth of You and Me: A Novel by Leah Stewart

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

Stewart peers into the complicated heart of friendship in a moving second novel (after 2000’s Body of a Girl). Ever since a cataclysmic falling out with her best friend, Sonia, after college, Cameron’s closest companion has been Oliver, the 92-year-old historian she lives with and cares for in Oxford, Miss. Oliver’s death leaves Cameron alone and adrift, until she discovers that he has given her one last task: she must track down her estranged best friend (whose letter announcing her engagement Cameron had so recently ignored) and deliver a mysterious present to her. Cameron’s journey leads her back to the people, places and memories of their shared past, when they called themselves “Cameronia” and swore to be friends forever. It was a relationship more powerful than romantic love—yet romantic love (or sex, anyway) could still wreck it. Stewart lures the reader forward with two unanswered questions: What was the disaster that ended their friendship, and what will be revealed when Cameron and Sonia are together again and Oliver’s package is finally opened? The book is heartfelt and its characters believable jigsaw puzzles of insecurities, talents and secrets, and if Cameron’s carefully guarded anger makes her occasionally disagreeable, readers will nevertheless welcome her happy ending.

My thoughts:

• Not the type of book I usually read, but hey, I was missing my girl friends back home, so thought it’d be nice to read a book about girl friendship.

• The book is about how 2 best friends got into a fight (but of course the author didn’t tell you why in the begining) and ended up not talking for 8 years. I guessed the reason half way through, if not sooner. I kept hoping I was wrong, that it couldn’t be that predictable. Really?! Maybe I read too many crimes novels with more sophisticated twists.

• If there is one thing I like about the book, it is this quote regarding why some books stopped where it stopped, from a writer’s perspective (p137). I found it interesting since I don’t always want a happy ending book: “A happy ending isn’t really the end, it’s just the place where you choose to stop telling the story. Why not make everything work out when you have the chance?”

Life Sentences: A Novel by Laura Lippman

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

This stunning stand-alone from bestseller Lippman (Baltimore Blues) examines the extraordinary power and fragility of memories. Writer Cassandra Fallows achieved critical and commercial success with an account of her Baltimore childhood growing up in the 1960s and a follow-up dealing with her adult marriages and affairs. The merely modest success of her debut novel leads her back to nonfiction and the possibility of a book about grade school classmate Calliope Jenkins. Accused of murdering her infant son, Jenkins spent seven years in prison steadfastly declining to answer any questions about the disappearance and presumed death of her son. Fallows (white) tries to reconnect with three former classmate friends (black) to compare memories of Jenkins and research her story. In the process, she discovers the gulf (partially racial) that separates her memories of events from theirs. Fallows’s pursuit of Jenkins’s story becomes a rich, complex journey from self-deception to self-discovery.

My thoughts:

• The book raised an interesting topic, especially since memoir is so popular nowadays -  how accurate is our memory? Especially for memoir? We have all heard of those “fake” memoirs that came out recently, whether it was done on purpose (to sell) or did we really just remember things differently than others? Seriously, I don’t remember a lot of my own details when my husband told me such and such happened. Ummm, made me nervous after reading Still Alice :p

• There was one big hole/mystery about the character Aubrey that was never answered. I got frustrated. Searched online for spoiler and found that I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t figure it out (I was feeling dumb about it). Finally, found that the author answered the mystery on Face Book’s “Life Sentences” page (after a reader asked her about it, see, so I wasn’t the only one!) and still not really satisfied with the answer – partly because now I have forgotten who-is-who in the book. Plus the answer should have been included in the book in the first place since it was a critical point.

• So interesting concept, but didn’t quite delivered.

The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

Master caterer Sarah Laden is barely holding her life together as a widow with two difficult sons—recalcitrant teen Nate and troubled fifth-grader Danny—when the unthinkable happens. Her best friend and neighbor, Courtney Kendrick, is arrested in a child sex abuse scandal. Courtney’s husband has vanished; their 11-year-old son, Jordan, is in the hospital recovering from a suicide attempt; and across the street Nate is finding, in Jordan’s backpack, evidence of unthinkable abuse. Kittle (Traveling Light; Two Truths and a Lie) crafts a disturbing but compelling story line, as Sarah, Nate and Jordan uncover and come to terms with the horror in alternating chapters. Sarah, for instance, is shocked to learn that she dropped off food for the Kendricks’ sex parties; Jordan must decide whether or not he wants to continue a relationship with his mother—who insists she’s innocent—if and when she gets acquitted. Kittle’s research sits awkwardly in expository dialogue—”One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before their eighteenth birthdays,” intones the detective who will later become Sarah’s love interest—but it doesn’t slow the momentum. Though the movement is toward healing, there are bumpy roads ahead for everybody in this melodramatic but gripping read.

My thoughts:

• Similar to Testimony, this book is written from different characters’ perspective as well, but with less characters which made it less confusing. It also deals with a dark topic (a darker topic, if you ask me). I like this book better than Testimony because I think there are more to the characters. While the topic is horrifying, it wasn’t quite as disgusting as The Girl Next Door – nothing to do with the subject matter as both are equally disturbing, but just how the author presented it. Sometimes,  you just don’t need to be quite that explicit to get the message across.

• It is an engaging read, but I think the story could be shorter as it’s about 400 pages long. E.g. the prologue can be editted out.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

Neuroscientist and debut novelist Genova mines years of experience in her field to craft a realistic portrait of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alice Howland has a career not unlike Genova’s—she’s an esteemed psychology professor at Harvard, living a comfortable life in Cambridge with her husband, John, arguing about the usual (making quality time together, their daughter’s move to L.A.) when the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s begin to emerge. First, Alice can’t find her Blackberry, then she becomes hopelessly disoriented in her own town. Alice is shocked to be diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s (she had suspected a brain tumor or menopause), after which her life begins steadily to unravel. She loses track of rooms in her home, resigns from Harvard and eventually cannot recognize her own children. The brutal facts of Alzheimer’s are heartbreaking, and it’s impossible not to feel for Alice and her loved ones, but Genova’s prose style is clumsy and her dialogue heavy-handed. This novel will appeal to those dealing with the disease and may prove helpful, but beyond the heartbreaking record of illness there’s little here to remember.

My thoughts:

• I don’t have a particular interest in Alzheimer’s, but had read some good reviews so I thought I’d give it a try. I mean, if I am really interested in learning more about Alzheimer’s, I probably would’ve picked a non-fiction to read, you know? Nevertheless, I want to keep reading some fiction (I used to read 99% fiction, but now it’s more like 33 since I got interested in reading non-fiction.)

• This book totally exceed my expectation. I just couldn’t put it down and was just sucked into the story. I admit I do cry when I read books or watch movies, so be warned. Luckily I was reading that part (really depressing) at home and not at work or on the bus!!

• The story definitely makes you think “what if” – not just “what if” if it happens to you, but “what if” if it’s your spouse, your parents, your grandparents, your siblings, your friends.

• I admired how Lisa Genova told this story – this is a serious disease and she raised awareness in a powerful way. As I was reading it, I felt that sometime I was being ‘tested’ as well to see if I remember the details… (omg, I don’t remember! Do I have it too?). It was so realistic that it almost read like a memoir.

• The author’s inspiration was man who mistook his wife for a hat:  “In examining disease, we gain wisdom about anatomy and physiology and biology. In examining the person with disease, we gain wisdom about life“.

• I enjoyed the “conversation with the author” in the back of the book. Her blog also talked about her writing and self-publishing (this book was self-published!). Her website (FAQ) also talked about how she got into writing this book. Website: http://www.stillalice.com/ Blog:  http://www.stillalice.blogspot.com

• I can’t wait until her next book, LEFT NEGLECTED, that deals with traumatic head injury.

• HIGHLY Recommend this book. Moving and haunting. Will stay with you long after you read it.

Testimony by Anita Shreve

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

Shreve’s novels (Body Surfing; The Weight of Water) benefit from propulsive plots, and her mixed latest, with its timely theme of debauchery among children of privilege, does not lack in this regard. The first paragraph foreshadows a tragedy in which three marriages are destroyed, the lives of three students at a private school in Vermont are ruined, and death claims an innocent victim. The precipitating event is a sex tape involving three members of the boys’ basketball team and a freshman girl. Beginning with an account of the debacle by the Avery School’s then headmaster, and segueing to the voices of the participants in the orgy, plus their parents and others touched by the scandal, the narrative explores the widening consequences of a single event. Shreve’s character delineation is astute, and the novel’s moral questions—ranging from the boys’ behavior to the headmaster’s breach of legal ethics to the guilt of those involved in the death—are salient if heavy-handed, while the female characters are wicked in the way women have always been stereotypically portrayed. The novel is clever, but the revolving cast of narrators often feels predictable and forced, keeping the novel on the near side of credible.

My thoughts:

• Each chapter is told from different characters’ perspective, so it is interesting to read a book written like so. Though there are quite a few characters, so sometimes I found myself asking, “who is this again?”

• Some reviewers found the content/text a bit too graphic. I didn’t find it too bad, probably I’d read worse (happens a lot when you are interested in reading true crimes!). It is a sensitive topic, and I guess the fact that I don’t have any children (especially if they are teenagers) made it easier to read or it may hit too close to home. Especially since this was supposedly inspired by a real life school scandal.

• The story can probably be shortened a little (not that I don’t like reading long books, but it is an easy read as far as the writing goes since it’s quite engaging (not to be confused with it’s not an easy topic to read for some). Though there is just something missing… you want to feel for the characters but they don’t touch you so.

Scarpetta (Scarpetta Book 16) by Patrician Cornwell

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

At the start of bestseller Cornwell’s plodding 16th thriller to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after Book of the Dead), the forensic pathologist—who recently relocated to Belmont, Mass., with her forensic psychologist husband—is called to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital for reasons that don’t become clear until she gets there. Oscar Bane, who voluntarily committed himself to Bellevue while denying he brutally murdered his girlfriend, refuses to speak to anyone except the high-profile Scarpetta. Bane, Scarpetta discovers, is obsessed with her. Meanwhile, someone masquerading as Scarpetta is lurking in cyberspace and supplying an online gossip site with dirty secrets about the doctor. For help on the murder case, Scarpetta turns to her computer whiz niece and a macho former colleague whose shocking actions in Book of the Dead severely damaged his relationship with Scarpetta. With a plot full of holes and frustrating red herrings, this entry falls short of the high standard set by earlier volumes in this iconic series.

My thoughts:

• I’ve always enjoyed the Kay Scarpetta’s series with all the forensic detials. In fact, that was a quote that Scarpetta wrote about herself that I really idenfy with (but I don’t remember the exact quote now, probably in a diary somewhere). I love reading murder/mystery books, especially those with a forensic focus.

• Having said that, I’ve been disappointed to read the last few books in the series – it was more about drama than who dunnit. Some reviews said this book is better, so I thought I’d give it a try.

• I was disappointed. I prob must have missed a book too cause I really don’t recall some of the details, and don’t feel the need to go read the one I missed. It’s still more about drama. I missed the chemistry the characters used to have with each other. The plot wasn’t that great either (I think I guessed the killer before it was revealed… I don’t really remember anymore, it’s that memorable.)

• Would I read the next book? I dunno. Probably, just to see if the old friends are back, but probably would still be disappointed since it’s been a few disappointing books already. I’d still recommend the early books.

Life on the Refrigerator Door: Notes Between a Mother and a Daughter – A Novel by Alice Kuipers

From Publishers Weekly (amazon.com):

Kuipers’s haunting debut unfolds like a flip book of half-drawn images too swiftly ended, a compilation of tantalizing notes posted on a refrigerator by a single working mom and Claire-bear, her wistful teen daughter. Bittersweet, funny and achingly real, the nameless mother (an overworked obstetrician) and bubbly Claire communicate through these notes instead of talking, e-mailing or text messaging. Missives range from the daughter’s plainly impassioned (Hi MOM! (Who I never see anymore EVER!)) to her mother’s soothing, tough-upper-lip responses written during her breast cancer treatment. Kuipers captures the anxiety surrounding tragedy and conveys the importance of fully experiencing life. Although the format has its limits (notably in character development and narrative momentum), Kuipers delivers a strong, emotional reminder about the importance of loved ones, even through times of unceasing complications and challenges.

My thoughts:

• After reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I wanted to read another book written in a similar format. This book is an exchange of Post-It notes between a single mother and daughter.

• A very, very quick read (like 20-30 minutes quick), so even if you don’t like it, it doesn’t waste too much of your time. Although the characters don’t have much depth and it’s a rather simple story, it’s still a little touching (probably because I haven’t seen my mum for 5 years, so mother-daughter stories get to me.)

• Though it’s difficult not to think after reading this “novel” (using the term loosely) that, Hey, I can write this and have a book published too!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

From Publishers Weekly on amazon:
The letters comprising this small charming novel begin in 1946, when single, 30-something author Juliet Ashton (nom de plume Izzy Bickerstaff) writes to her publisher to say she is tired of covering the sunny side of war and its aftermath. When Guernsey farmer Dawsey Adams finds Juliet’s name in a used book and invites articulate—and not-so-articulate—neighbors to write Juliet with their stories, the book’s epistolary circle widens, putting Juliet back in the path of war stories. The occasionally contrived letters jump from incident to incident—including the formation of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society while Guernsey was under German occupation—and person to person in a manner that feels disjointed. But Juliet’s quips are so clever, the Guernsey inhabitants so enchanting and the small acts of heroism so vivid and moving that one forgives the authors (Shaffer died earlier this year) for not being able to settle on a single person or plot. Juliet finds in the letters not just inspiration for her next work, but also for her life—as will readers.

My thoughts:

• This is not a book I’d usually pick up as I prefer contemporary to historical fictions. But I read so many good reviews, so thought I’d give it a try. I don’t advoid Best Sellerse or Ophrahs books on purpose, just that sometimes I am just not interested in that types of books. Plus, I was intrigued by the book title.

• Well, I learned a new word after reading reviews of this novel: epistolary – a novel written as a series of documents and in this case, letters. I like books written in dairy or letters format (ha, I guess we’re all nosy to some degree! BUT I won’t ever read others’ letters or diaries without permission. Ugh, I probably don’t want to know.)

• It is a delightful, light read. Not on my best books list, but I don’t regret reading. There are a little too many characters I think. I do want to find out more about Guernsey afterward thought since it sounds like such a charming place!

• The ending is a little predictable, but the characters are likeable. It’s a fast read, perfect for summer vacation (though I read this back in the bitter cold.)

There is an article from the Post Bulletin today that I love – talks about wedding cake alternatives. Don’t get me wrong, I like cakes, but I love lots of deseert options more!

No (wedding) cake for me — alternatives are on the rise

5/26/2009 9:10:03 AM

By Holly Ebel

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

When Audrey Bakker and Jason LeVan get married July 11, there will be no wedding cake served at the reception. Instead, guests will be treated to Snicker’s ice cream bars.

Why no wedding cake? “Because I never have liked cake, even as a little girl,” says the future bride, a sixth grade teacher at Kellogg Middle School. “I figured with a July wedding it will probably be really hot and this will be a cool treat. My sister did the same thing a year ago for her wedding.”

Interestingly, Bakker is not alone in breaking the wedding cake tradition. Creative brides, caterers, bakers and wedding coordinators have come up with some great alternatives.

What has become very popular, says Cynthia Daube, owner of Daube’s Bakery in Rochester, are wedding cupcakes. While this is still a cake item, they are much smaller, beautifully decorated and wrapped so that guests can take them home.

Daube has also created a Sweet Table for receptions which include a wide variety of tarts and cheesecakes. “People really like to choose desserts and we always make sure there are many different ones,” she says.

What is really hot right now in other cities are French macaroons. “For a wedding, these are incredible,” Daube said. “They are made into a very fancy dessert sandwich. We hope to be able to offer these in the next few months.”

Deb Frederick of Deb Frederick Consulting and Design has been involved in the wedding planning of more than 500 area brides in the past 10 years and also has some suggestions. “Presentation of whatever dessert you have is important. You want that ‘wow’ factor in addition to having delicious things,” she says.

Pyramids are a good way to get that. When stacked, cream puffs filled with a variety of mousses, champagne flutes or wine glasses filled with tiramisu, chocolate mousse or fresh berries are impressive.

A very personal dessert are wedding pies baked by family members. Cream pies, for instance, can be dressed up with a layer of whipped cream and sprinkled with gold dust for an elegant touch. A cookie table is another option. Bakers can also make large sugar cookies decorated with the names of the bride and groom.

Different bars — not the alcoholic kind — also can be very creative, Frederick says. A chocolate bar is always popular, where everything from brownies to truffles to chocolate-covered fruits and a chocolate fountain are offered.

And who would not love a candy bar? Different small candies like mints and jelly beans are arranged in apothecary jars. “If you coordinate the color of the candies with the colors of the wedding it creates a great look,” Frederick says.

One of the most popular is the ice cream bar. Cold Stone Creamery offers these as well as specially-made ice cream cakes.

Lynn Peterson, one of the owners, says the bridal couple chooses the flavors they want, all made at the store. Each flavor comes in a 4-gallon pail and includes a variety of mix-ins like M&M’s, chocolate chips, crumbled cookies and sprinkles. Cold Stone also provides the serving bowls and spoons.

So is there an ice cream flavor that is most popular? Yes, Peterson says. For a no-cake wedding, the most popular flavor, surprisingly, is cake batter.

Associated Press/Allie and Bri Photography

Makes me want to buy a helicopter and do some aerial photography!

BEAUTIFUL, STUNNING images. I hope Stephan Zirwes sells prints or a book of the images!

Here is his website (it has “music” though). After seeing the intro, don’t forget to browse each gallery too (tip: to get back to the home page, click “map” on the upper top left). I love the snow series (maybe they will make me appreciate MN winter more?), as well as the leisure and competition. Well okay I really like them all.

http://www.stephanzirwes.com/stephanzirwes.html

If you don’t have fast internet connection for a flash website, this site has a few images posted. But the images are smaller than from Stephan’s own website which has full screen images. Below is one from snow (linked from http://www.brainpickings.org)

~ christa

Have trouble picking colors for your weddings? Here is a great site to give you some inspirations!

http://theperfectpalette.blogspot.com/

Works for choosing paint and accent colors for your house too

One of the many reasons I am proud to work at the Mayo Clinic:

I recently read this blog post, Learning Perspective, on the new Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog — A blog with stories from patients, families, friends and Mayo Clinic staff. Definitely makes you think of what we can learn from the children, and from Jeff who came up with this creative idea!

Another thing I love at the Mayo Clinic is the music played at the Gonda Building (I think sometimes they have it at Charlton as well, but I don’t go there much.) Sometimes we have musicians playing on the piano and someone else singing. Sometimes I see staff playing. Sometimes I see patients playing. Regardless, there is always an appreciative audience. I just wish I have more time to stay and listen to the end of the song and clap for them.

~ christa

Justin and I went to the Girl Scouts Cookie Creations event on Thursday. I haven’t been before, so was totally looking forward to it!

Overall, it was a fun event, but it was WAY TOO CROWDED. The line was quite long, and you could hardly move. It started at 5:30pm, and you could submit you favorite creations (vote) by 6:30 pm, and they’d announce the winner by 7pm. We got there around 5:45 pm, and by 6:30 pm, we only managed to have 2 items (from the some booth no less)! We managed to go around once, but some vendors already ran out of food by the time we got there For the food that we did try, I quite liked the sushi Coco-Nut Girl Scout Roll from Sushi Itto. Justin liked the Baby Back Ribs with Trefoil Crunch Coating from Roscoe’s. The Dulce de Leche Chai Tea Shake from Vintage Light Coffee and Tea House was quite yummy too. I haven’t been to their cafe yet, should pay them a visit.

I think if they expect the same turnout next year (and it was GREAT that they had a big turn out!), they need to find a bigger space for sure. And see if there’s a way to improve the flow / efficiency so the wait isn’t so long and that food won’t run out which is a big disappointment. We’re still glad we went.

A while back, I signed up on Seth Godin’s blog to see if I could get a free book - The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz. I didn’t receive an email to notify that I “won” a book so I kinda forgot about it.

So it was a nice surprise when I received it in the mail over the weekend! There was a note that asked to do a review of the book, and then pass it on to someone else who would be interested.

Consider that done!

If anyone in Rochester MN would like to receive the book after I have finished reading it (my next book to read), then please leave me a note. First come first serve! If you could do a review (on your blog, or amazon.com) that’d be wonderful. And please pass it on after you read it!

——————-

Speaking of books, I am behind with 18 book reviews… will get them done after getting my tax done… argh. Definitely not one thing I look forward to.

~ christa

Fingers crossed that the bushfire in Melbourne/Victoria, Australia will stop SOON. This hit close to home since my family and friends live in Melbourne (tho fortunately not hear the bushfire, that I know of.) I lived there for 13 years.

Our thoughts are with those who lost their loved ones and homes.

A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood’s Biggest Movies by Janet Hirshenson & Jane Jenkins

From Publishers Weekly on amazon.com:

Hirshenson and Jenkins got their start casting for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios. When the studio went bust, they opened their own office, the Casting Company, and their book reminisces about the many films they’ve cast, including Harry Potter and A Beautiful Mind; the actors they’ve discovered, such as Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Scarlett Johansson; and some of the A-list directors, like Ron Howard and Steven Spielberg, who hired them. Given the authors’ credentials (they have been casting partners since 1981), consider the advice they offer blue-chip. They cover everything from how to handle a call-back to telling actors to send head shots “that actually look like you.” Most important, never take anything personally. A great audition doesn’t always translate into a role: there are many factors that determine the final decision, such as chemistry, preference and competition. These veteran insiders have a passion for casting major motion pictures, and they use meetings with famous people to illustrate how Hollywood works. Tales of actors’ career trajectories are informative without being malicious. For actors, this informative, breezy narrative is like having a frank but loving aunt tell you the facts of life.

My thoughts:

• It was a fun, quick read – want to find out why some got cast for movies like James Bond, Jurassic Park, Ghost, A Beautiful Mind, Harry Potter etc? I haven’t watched all the movies mentioned in the book, but it was very interesting to read someone got cast over another actor/actress. E.g. 2 actors may be equally as good for a role, but the final decision might depend on who else is cast, like the female lead’s best friend can’t be blond if the female lead is blond, and the best friend can’t be prettier than the lead etc etc.

• The book was in a conversational style, between Jane and Janet – but the 2 voices are so similar that I don’t really remember who is saying what, but it doesn’t matter that much.

• I wish the book was written in a more chronological order, or talk about one movie at a time, because the same movie might get mentioned through the book, so some parts seem a bit repetitive.

• A LOT go into choosing each role for each movie, even if the role is very minor. I think from now on when I watch movies (or TV) it’d give me a new insight about why someone may be chosen for a part.

• “Good casting = invisible” – so that when you’re watching the movie,  you don’t wonder who else may be better for that role, rather than the person chosen. Very true.

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor

from Publishers Weekly on amazon.com:
In 1996, 37-year-old neuroanatomist Taylor experienced a massive stroke that erased her abilities to walk, talk, do mathematics, read, or remember details. Her remarkable story details her slow recovery of those abilities (and the cultivation of new ones) and recounts exactly what happened with her brain. Read proficiently by the author, this is a fascinating memoir of the brain’s remarkable resiliency and of one woman’s determination to regain her faculties and recount her experience for the benefit of others. Taylor repeatedly describes her “stroke of insight”-a tremendous gratitude for, and connection with, the cells of her body and of every living thing-and says that although she is fully recovered, she is not the same driven, type-A scientist that she was before the stroke. Her holistic approach to healing will be valuable to stroke survivors and their caregivers, who can pick up suggestions from Taylor’s moving accounts of how her mother faithfully loved her back to life.

My thoughts:

• There is a VIDEO of Jill giving a speech on amazon, click here to watch it

• I want to like this book and I do enjoy the parts when Jill described what went through her mind that day, and how her mother helped her recover – eg her mother had to give her multiple choice questions, instead of yes/no question, so Jill can search through the mental pictures what her mum was asking. And I do appreciate the list of “40 things I need the most” for caregivers (not that I am caring for anyone with brain trauma, but since I work in healthcare, if I ever come across a patient with such condition, this list would be helpful.)

• But there were parts where I just skimmed… the part where she wrote about inner peace etc. I guess part of it is the writing style – it just couldn’t capture my attention. I guess I was expecting more about the actual account of the day she had the stroke and how she recovered and re-learned in the 7-8 years (she had to re-learn ABC, math etc), rather than the spiritual side of things.

• Last year I read Where is the Mango Princess? by Cathy Crimmins which I really enjoyed reading. Cathy’s husband suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and she detailed the “before” and “after” of his accident. I guess I was expecting My Stroke of Insight to be a similar book, which probably isn’t fair but I was interested to read something from the other perspective.

• The author mentioned The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) a bit, and it just happened that I did a charity photo shoot for their walk in Rochester MN last year, you can see the photos here.

All The Pretty Girls by J. T. Ellison

From Publishers Weekly on amazon.com:

In this tame debut, the body of a young girl discovered by the side of a Nashville highway puts homicide detective Taylor Jackson and her lowdown boyfriend, FBI Agent John Baldwin, on the trail of the Southern Strangler, a playful, brutal killer who likes to carry his victims across state lines before murdering them and removing their hands. Before long, however, Taylor’s reassigned to the suspicious death of a prominent TV personality, leaving John struggling to keep ahead of the Strangler’s mounting body count. Meanwhile, Taylor is still recovering from a near-fatal neck injury earned in her last case and worrying over her own demons—not the least of which is John’s threat to marry her. The real victim is Ellison’s plot, strangled by slow pacing, egregious subplots (a serial rapist, a crooked officer, a pregnancy scare) and a clichéd cast of characters: the shady Southern belle, the veteran detective pushed over the edge, the evil genius who stays a step ahead of everyone—even the appealing Taylor strikes a numbingly familiar tough-yet-vulnerable pose. Though a climactic showdown injects some much-needed excitement, readers may have a hard time getting there.

My thoughts:

• I enjoy reading murder/mystery/thriller because I like guessing who-dunnit. I like different twists and turns and solving puzzles. Usually though, I don’t remember the plot much afterward, as I just read these books for fun and don’t try to remember anything.

• Not a bad read, but not that great… I guessed who the killer was about 1/3 through the book. Of course I didn’t really know the motive or the fine details of the plot, but it was kinda obvious to me. Maybe I read too many books of this kind of books that you just know a certain “formula” will be used. Not that I guess who the killer is right every time – I mean, really, the author has control of how much to reveal or how many clues to leave you guessing

• It was a quick read though. Just feel kinda indifferent about it.

• Blah, I need to pick up some better fiction books to read this year.

• One thriller that left an impression from my 2008 list was Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. While I don’t remember the little details of the plot, and that it does take a bit getting used to the voice of the main character in the book (which could be a turn off for some), I enjoy the twists. Looks like there will be a movie! Although it’d spoil the surprise for me since I’d already read the book. Ah well. Books are typically better than the movies anyway – except the Lord of the Rings triology! I had no desire to read the book – bought the book, tried reading it but never seriously picked it off the shelf… but I love the movies! Same for the DaVinci Code – never wanted to read the book, but it was kinda fun to watch the movies as I just wanted to see what the fuzz was about (I really had no clue what the book or movie was about, so I had no expectation). And as I mentioned, I like books/movies that made you try to solve the puzzle.