TSS: The Second Sunday of Advent

Good morning and Happy Sunday. How have we arrived at the second week in December already? Advent is a season of preparation, and that's precisely how I've spent every spare moment this week - making lists, shopping, writing Christmas cards, and decorating. As a result, it's been pretty quiet at Lakeside Musing with only two posts (The Makioka Sisters for The Monday Mention and Top 10 Tuesday highlighting books on my Christmas list). But I have it on good authority that Santa read the second post, so there may be a few books under the tree this year after all.

Current reading:

Without Reservations  by Alice Steinbach

Reading a few pages before nodding off to sleep just isn't conducive to finishing books. No matter... I'm closing in on the two thirds mark and savoring every page.

Current listening:
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What we Do in Business and Life  by Charles Duhigg
Random House has added the author to their Open House line-up.. what a happy coincidence!

Anticipating:
A trip to New York City later this week for the Hurricane Sandy-delayed Random House Open House.

Planning ahead:
I'm thinking about the direction my reading and blogging will take in 2013.  James' TBR Double Dog Dare will certainly figure into the mix, but changes are coming. Look for a full post as the new year begins.

Inspiration:
It's been years since my last adventure in knitting, but my brother posted a photo on my facebook wall that could push me to dust off my needles. Zelda would most likely find this reindeer hood beneath her dignity, but I think it's adorable.

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Today's plans include cleaning and laundry (how exciting!) and more decorating. Later we'll have dinner with my family. If all goes well, there could be some reading and blog-hopping, too. Do you have a long to-do list today? Are you reading anything good right now?

Top 10 Tuesday: Please, Santa, Just a Few Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week we're talking about books on our Christmas list.

The Brontes: Wild Genius on the Moors by Juliet Barker

... I recently finished The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and want to know more about the Brontes

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte

... I loved The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

... I want to read more by Charlotte, too

Through the Window: Seventeen Essays and a Short Story by Julian Barnes

...The Sense of an Ending was a favorite last year

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

...  I want to read one more Hemingway before visiting his Key West home

John Steinbeck: A Life in Letters

... Travels with Charley made me want to learn more about Steinbeck's life

 Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters by John Steinbeck

... okay, so I'm pre-occupied with Steinbeck 

Team of Rivals: The Political Geius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

... I saw Lincoln last weekend

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

... I loved North and South

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford

... just because

So that's my list today. Obviously I'm in the mood for classics, biographies, and letters at the moment. There seems to be a theme developing for 2013...

Find links to more posts here. What's on your Christmas list?

The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki

The Monday Mention is back with another favorite from earlier this year.

The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki, originally published serially in Japan during the 1940's,  offers "a detailed characterization of four daughters of a wealthy Osaka merchant family who see their way of life slipping away in the early years of World War II."

Quite a departure from the mostly British and American classics I have been choosing lately, this book started slowly, mostly due to unfamiliar Japanese names which were hard to keep straight.  A character list hastily scrawled on a post-it note stuck to the inside cover helped immensely and I breezed through the rest of the novel.

What I loved:

• the characters
• cultural traditions surrounding courtship and marriage
• descriptions, especially of dress and dance
• recurring references to cherry blossoms and fireflies

Most of all, I loved how one family mirrored a country's struggle. The four Makioka sisters represented both ends of the spectrum between a traditional and modern way of life.

My rating:

Author Birthday: Ann Patchett

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From today's Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of novelist Ann Patchett (books by this author), born in Los Angeles (1963). She grew up Catholic and went to an all-girls Catholic school in Nashville, where she still lives. She said: "Catholicism really trained me for fiction writing. I think it has to be the greatest religion for a fiction writer because it is so much a tradition of story and parable. I spent my whole childhood on my knees in front of pieces of carved marble, and in my heart I was filling that stone with enormous life. That gets at the essence of storytelling." 

She went to Sarah Lawrence College, where one of her teachers was the short-story writer Grace Paley. She said that Paley would cancel classes and take the students to protests, and that she discouraged any kind of pretension in their writing. Patchett said: "She taught me that writing must not be compartmentalized. You don't step out of the stream of your life to do your work. Work was the life, and who you were as a mother, teacher, friend, citizen, activist, and artist was all the same person. People like to ask me if writing can be taught, and I say yes. I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to write dialogue, maybe even how to construct a plot. But I can't teach you how to have something to say. 

Patchett's books include Bel Canto (2001), Truth and Beauty (2004), Run (2007), and most recently, State of Wonder (2011).

I discovered Ann Patchett in the late 1990's when the cover of The Magician's Assistant caught my eye. After reading that novel, I returned to the bookstore and purchased her earlier works. Since then, I have read all her fiction plus Truth and Beauty.  The Magician's Assistant (which I have been meaning to reread for years) is still my favorite, with State of Wonder close behind. Bel Canto, probably her most famous work, is my least favorite.

Have you read Ann Patchett?

Weekend Cooking: Pin It and Do It Fall Pins

Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season is upon us, but there's still time to post a wrap-up of fall-themed pins completed for Trish's Holiday Pin It and Do It Challenge.

Although I first made Cider-Brined Maple Glazed Turkey as a pre-Thanksgiving experiment in October, it was my most successful pin of the season and deserves another mention here. At 25 pounds, our Thanksgiving turkey was twice the size of the 'test model' and I wasn't sure whether more brining solution would be necessary. I was also nervous about doubling the salt. Thanks to Wegmans and their #Turkey911 hashtag on twitter, Chef Mark assured me the same amount of brining solution would suffice for the larger bird. Our brined turkey was just as delicious on The Big Day. I'm now a huge fan of brining and will experiment with different flavors in the future.

Next came the question of leftovers. What should I do with the rest of the turkey? My mom came to the rescue with her famous Turkey Cranberry Wreath. She makes this every year on the day after Thanksgiving. I've added it to my Pinterest board and am using the pinned photo because I didn't remember to take a picture of my own.

There was still enough turkey left for a couple of Turkey Pot Pies. My husband loves pot pie and, although I've tried several recipes (including one using a slow cooker), I still haven't settled on a favorite. My pinned version from all-recipes used refrigerated pie crust, was quick, easy, and delicious, but next time I'll make my own crust. Again, the photo is from Pinterest. Our pie disappeared too quickly!

I also tried a couple of crafty pins for Thanksgiving decorating. They were simple projects, but I wasn't really happy with either result. The 'Looking Glass Pumpkins' were gorgeous in the pin photo. I couldn't find the mirror-like aerosol spray and used a shiny chrome instead. The result wasn't quite as attractive.

Finally, my pin for stenciled Thanksgiving votives was pretty much a bust. First, it was difficult to keep the stencils in place on the round jars and, second, the lettering was hard to see once the candles were inserted into the jars. I ended up using smaller candles and, although it looked fine from a distance, the lettering looked sloppy to this perfectionist's eye.

Ideas for Christmas:
- spray pears a shiny metallic gold and use as table decor
- winter votives (square, this time!) with the word Noel, or Joy, or Peace...

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has a food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up over the weekend.

Audio Encore: The End of the Affair

Thank you, Colin Firth.

Your voice added depth and meaning to a piece of literature which previously left me feeling profoundly indifferent. It's been ten years since I read The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. My reaction at the time was one of total apathy - no connection, no sympathy, not so much as a trace of like or dislike toward any of the characters. Greene's prose elicited a similarly flat response.

However, listening to you read Greene's work was a very moving, albeit depressing, experience. So depressing, in fact, it took weeks to finish a short six and a half hour audiobook. (I put it aside several times to read something cheerier.)  How did that feeling elude me in print? 

Several weeks have passed, and I continue to think about an audiobook that left no lasting impression in print. As various passages come to mind, I marvel the sheer beauty of Greene's writing. I still don't care much for the story, but I can appreciate what Greene accomplished and will now consider reading more of his work.

This production is a testament to audiobooks and the power of the spoken word.

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Full disclosure: I downloaded a free copy of this audiobook during a recent promotion at audible.com.

Tuesday Intro: Without Reservations

Dear Alice, 

Each morning I am awakened by the sound of a tinkling bell. A cheerful sound, it reminds me of the bells that shopkeepers attach to their doors at Christmastime. In this case, the bell marks the opening of the hotel door. From my room, which is just off the winding staircase, I can hear it clearly. It reminds me of the bell that calls to worship the novice embarking on a new life. In a way I too am a novice, leaving, temporarily, one life for another. 

Love, Alice

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
by Alice Steinbach

Pulitzer prize winning journalist Alice Steinbach, trying to discover who she is when removed from work and family roles, takes a sabbatical to travel the world on her own. During the 1993 journey, she writes numerous postcards to herself which will later serve to jog her memory as she documents the journey.

This book was recommended by a book club friend and, after just 60 pages, I am enjoying it immensely. What do you think of the opening?

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening paragraph(s). Feel free to grab the banner and play along.