The RIP Wrap-Up

 

As Readers Imbibing in Peril winds down for the sixteenth(!) time and my attention turns toward Nonfiction November, it's time for an RIP  reading wrap-up. This year I read three books for the event, instead of the usual one or two. Surprisingly, they are the same three books listed in my introductory post. I've been blogging since 2008 and am pretty sure this is the first time I've composed a reading list for anything  and then proceeded to read everything on it! Here's what I read:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten

As you can see, all three books turned out to be winners. How was your RIP reading this year?

It's September and RIP is Here!

 

It's September and you know what that means... RIP is back! Now in its 16th year,  RIP - Readers Imbibing Peril - has a home at @perilreaders on Instagram and twitter. The event, which runs through Halloween, encourages readers everywhere to enjoy: 

• Mystery
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Dark Fantasy
• Gothic
• Horror
• Supernatural

Visit @perilreaders to check out various challenges and information on this year's group read.

***************

I'm not a big mystery reader, I definitely don't read horror, and have never gotten into fantasy either, but there are still plenty of books on my RIP tbr. These are the ones I hope to read this year:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (reread)

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (audio)

 An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten (release date 10/5)

Are you participating in RIP this year?

Back to the Classics Challenge 2020

One challenge. That's all I can commit to this year... and it's Back to the Classics 2020, sponsored by Karen at Books and Chocolate. I've been a member of The Classics Club since it's inception, completed my first list of 50 classics in 5 years, signed up for round two, and my classics reading inexplicably stopped. The 2019 Back to the Classics Challenge was a bust, but I'm going to give it another try.

Here are this year's categories, along with  a few possible selections:

1. 19th Century Classic
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

2. 20th Century Classic (originally published between 1900 and 1970).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Them by Joyce Carol Oates
The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins

3. Classic by a Woman Author
filling in this category won't be a problem ;-)

4. Classic in Translation
The Magic Mountain or Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

5. Classic by a Person of Color
Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

6. A Genre Classic
several authors in mind, but no specific titles:
Wilkie Collins
Daphne DuMaurier
Georgette Heyer

7. Classic with a Person's Name in the Title
Miss Marjoribanks by Mrs. Oliphant
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (reread)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (reread)

8. Classic with a Place in the Title
Villette by Charlotte Brontë
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (reread)

9. Classic with Nature in the Title  
(so many possibilities here!)
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy
Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (a reread)

10. Classic About a Family
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

11. Abandoned Classic
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

12. Classic Adaptation
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay


We'll see how this goes the second time around. Will you be reading classics this year? Did you join any challenges?

Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty

Delta Wedding

by Eudora Welty

Harvest Books, 339 pages

originally published: 1946

Motivation for reading: This was my first book for the Back to the Classics Challenge (in the classic by a female author category)...  and also a read-along with Audrey.

Source: personal copy (ebook and audiobook)

Publisher's summary:
Set on the Mississippi Delta in 1923, this story captures the mind and manners of the Fairchilds, a large aristocratic family, self-contained and elusive as the wind. The vagaries of the Fairchilds are keenly observed, and sometimes harshly judged, by nine-year-old Laura McRaven, a Fairchild cousin who takes The Yellow Dog train to the Delta for Dabney Fairchild's wedding. An only child whose mother has just died, Laura is resentful of her boisterous, careless cousins, and desperate for their acceptance. As the hour moves closer and closer to wedding day, Laura arrives at a more subtle understanding of both the Fairchilds and herself.

Opening line(s):

The nickname of the train was the Yellow Dog. Its real name was the Yazoo-Delta. It was a mixed train. The day was the 10th of September, 1923 - afternoon. Laura McRaven, who was nine years old, was on her first journey alone. She was going up from Jackson to visit her mother's people, the Fairchilds, at their plantation named Shellmound, at Fairchilds, Mississippi. When she got there, "Poor Laura, little motherless girl," they would all all run out and say, for her mother had died in the winter and they had not seen Laura since the funeral. Her father had come as far as Yazoo City with her and put her on the Dog. Her cousin Dabney Fairchild, who was seventeen, was going to be married, but Laura could not be in the wedding for the reason that her mother was dead. Of these facts, the most persistent one in Laura's mind was the most intimate one: that her age was nine.

My thoughts:

A large extended family gathers on the Mississippi Delta in 1923 for a wedding... and that's about it. Not much happens, but the story is not the main attraction. Instead, Welty examines the setting and her characters.

As I've learned from previous experience with this author, it's all about the writing. Welty's words are beautifully, almost magically, put together. Her lush descriptions bring the southern landscape to life and I've also come to expect a keen psychological exploration of her characters.

Delta Wedding  should ideally be read when in a patient, contemplative mood. Unfortunately, that was not the case for me this month. While I should have been focusing on the beautiful quotations, I found myself wishing something -- anything -- would happen.

I decided on a read/listen combination for this book and must give credit to the audio version narrated by Sally Darling. Her southern accent provided additional atmosphere to Welty's words but, in the end, I even ended up listening at a faster speed.

Could this be a case of the right book at the wrong time? It's entirely possible. I shared my thoughts on The Optimists's  Daughter  in 2011 and, overall, preferred that novel to Delta Wedding.

My rating:

A Monday Update: December 17, 2018

We're midway through December and holiday preparations are in high gear... the shopping is mostly done (though I'd better get busy wrapping!) and I spent several afternoons baking with my mother. Last weekend we visited out NYC daughters, took in The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, ate at my favorite restaurant, visited the American Museum of Natural History, and, of course, spent time in the bookstores.

This past weekend was pretty low-key. My annual winter cold arrived early and I spent most of yesterday on the couch.

Current reading//

The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope

The sixth and final Palliser novel is so good! I'm reading with Audrey and, again, we seem to be strangely in sync with our progress. If I'm not feeling better, I may spend another day reading and possibly even finish...


Book club//

My book club's annual holiday luncheon was last week... delicious food, a chance to catch up, and an excellent discussion. We talked about Born a Crime by Trevor Noah and decided to stay in South Africa for another month with The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. I won't be around in January, but it sounds very good. Have you read it?


On the blog//

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019

For the first time in years, I've signed up for a challenge!

In the kitchen//

At this time of year, quick and easy dinners are a must. After an afternoon of baking Christmas cookies with my mother, the last think I want to do is cook. Last week I made Four-Spice Salmon from the New York Times, Lemony Lentil Soup from Gimme Some Oven, and an incredibly easy Sweet and Sour Chicken in the slow cooker from The Kitchn. Notes on the chicken: I left it in the crockpot longer than recommended and I might add some pineapple chunks next time.

The week ahead//

So much to do... I really need to get over this cold! Our daughters are coming home on Friday and, hopefully, my SIL will also be visiting. We'll have dinner for twelve on Christmas Eve and our traditional brunch with the girls on Christmas Day. Later, we all go to my sister's for a "Yankee Swap" and dinner.

I'll be back here after Christmas with my list of favorites, 2018 wrap-up, and plans for 2019.


How was your week? What are you reading?

Back to the Classics Challenge 2019

While reviewing my reading list and statistics for 2018, I was struck by its haphazardness and began to wonder whether I'd carried the whole free-range reading idea a little too far. In addition, my classics reading is dramatically lower. I'll have more to say in my year-end posts, but for now it's clear that more structure is needed in 2019.

To that end, I have decided to take part in Back to the Classics Challenge 2019 hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate.  It's been years since I've participated in any reading challenge, but this sounds like a good one.

Karen says:

I hope to encourage readers and bloggers to tackle all the classic books we've never gotten around to reading. And at the end, one lucky winner will receive a $30 (US) gift of books from Amazon.com or The Book Depository! The rules and the prize are the same as last year, but I think I've come up with some fun new categories. 

If you're new to the challenge, here's how it works:
Complete six categories, and you'll get one entry in the drawing;
Complete nine categories, and you'll get two entries in the drawing;
Complete all twelve categories, and you'll get three entries in the drawing.

Here are the twelve categories and the book I've selected for each. My choices will probably change as the year progresses, but I understand that's allowed ;-)

The Categories:

1. 19th Century Classic: Rachel Ray  by Anthony Trollope

2. 20th Century Classic: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest  by Ken Kesey

3. Classic by a Female Author: Delta Wedding  by Eudora Welty

4. Classic in Translation: Grand Hotel  by Vicki Baum

5. Classic Comedy: Cold Comfort Farm  by Stella Gibbons

6. Classic Tragedy: The Return of the Native  by Thomas Hardy

7. Very Long Classic: Wives and Daughters  by Elizabeth Gaskell

8. Classic Novella: The Bunner Sisters  by Edith Wharton

9. Classic From the Americas (includes the Caribbean): The Grapes of Wrath  by John Steinbeck

10. Classic From Africa, Asia, or Oceania (includes Australia): Some Prefer Nettles  by  Junichiro Tanizaki

11. Classic From a Place You've Lived: The Beautiful and the Damned  by F. Scott Fitzgerald

12. Classic Play: Our Town  by Thornton Wilder


This challenge will help me make some much-needed progress with my second Classics Club list, too. Wish me luck!  Have you considered this challenge?

The Classics Club - COMPLETE!

Five years, fifty books...

When I joined The Classics Club back in April of 2012, my goal was to read fifty classics in five years. On October 10, 2017 I turned the last page of The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope, classic #50.  That's actually closer to five and a half years, but what a wondrous journey it has been. Along the way I discovered new authors and favorite books, learned more about classic literature in general and, even more importantly, connected with an incredible community of like-minded readers. I joined read-alongs, hosted a year-long Clarissa project with Terri, participated in Classics Club Spins, and even visited a famous literary site or two.

My 50 books:

Austen, Jane -  Emma (12/15)
Austen, Jane - Sense and Sensibility (7/17)
Bly, Nellie - Ten Days in a Mad-House (11/16)
Bowen, Elizabeth - The Hotel (11/14)
Brontë, Anne - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (12/12)
Brontë Anne - Agnes Grey (10/16)
Brookner, Anita - Hotel du Lac (7/13)
Buck, Pearl S. - Imperial Woman (8/14)
Calvino, Italo - If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (11/13)
Capote, Truman  - Breakfast at Tiffany's (9/14)

Christie, Agatha - And Then There Were None (4/12)
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy (9/14)
Dreiser, Theodore  - Sister Carrie (1/15)
Eliot, George - Middlemarch (4/14)
Gaskell, Elizabeth - Cranford (6/16)
Gaskell, Elizabeth - North and South (8/12)
Greene, Graham - The End of the Affair (11/12)
Jackson, Shirley -  The Haunting of Hill House  (9/14)
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw (10/16)
James, Henry - Washington Square (1/13)

James, Henry - What Maisie Knew (3/16)
Hardy, Thomas - Far From the Madding Crowd (5/15)
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles (7/13)
Hemingway, Ernest - The Old Man and the Sea (9/12)
Markham, Beryl - West With the Night (5/16)
Maupassant, Guy de - The Horla (7/15)
Plath, Sylvia  - The Bell Jar (5/14)
Pym, Barbara - A Glass of Blessings (2/13)
Pym, Barbara - Some Tame Gazelle (5/13)
Sagan, Françoise  - Bonjour Tristesse (7/15)

Stewart, Mary - The Ivy Tree (9/13)
Strachey, Julia - Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (11/13)
Tanizaki, Junichiro - The Makioka Sisters (5/12)
Thackery, William Makepeace - Vanity Fair (3/13)
Thirkell, Angela - High Rising (4/13)
Thirkell, Angela - Christmas at High Rising (12/14)
Trollope, Anthony - The Warden (2/15)
Trollope, Anthony - Barchester Towers (3/15)
Trollope, Anthony - Doctor Thorne (5/15)
Trollope, Anthony - Framley Parsonage (7/15)

Trollope, Anthony - The Small House at Allington (10/15)
Trollope, Anthony - The Last Chronicle of Barset (11/15)
Trollope, Anthony - Can You Forgive Her? (3/17)
Trollope, Anthony - Phineas Finn (7/17)
Trollope, Anthony - The Eustace Diamonds (10/17)
Wharton, Edith - The Age of Innocence (9/13)
Whipple, Dorothy  - They Were Sisters (1/15)
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray (3/13)
Williams, John - Stoner (10/13)
Zola, Emile - Germinal (9/16)

Links to my reviews (and I use that term loosely!) may be found by clicking on the Classics Club tab under the header photo.


Overall Favorites//

• The Barsetshire Chronicles (all six of them!) by Anthony Trollope - read with Audrey and a few other friends
• Germinal by Emile Zola - a readalong with Care and Melissa
• Stoner by John Williams
• An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - for a Classics Club Spin
• Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy earned a spot on my list of favorite authors

An unexpected treasure//
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki

Most anticipated//
An American Tragedy... it had been on my shelf for 35 years

Biggest fail//
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson - an epic fail of a year-long project I co-hosted. Several brave souls actually made it through and they're listed in my wrap-up post.

Longest// 
The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope - 890 pages

Shortest//
The Horla  by Guy de Maupassant - 79 pages

Most important lesson learned//
Classics are more fun with friends :)

A few observations//
 I fell for Trollope in a big way.
When it comes to reading the Russians, I tend to procrastinate.
I'm better at finishing classic series than contemporary series.
My original list of 50 became an evolving list, and that worked for me.
There are still SO many authors I want to try and SO many books I want to read.

Perhaps it's time to start a new list.
Stay tuned...

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Pin It and Do It: October Wrap-Up

The fall edition of Trish's  Pin It and Do challenge is winding down and I, for one, am glad she decided to reprise this popular event. Once again, I chose to go the foodie route. My recipes this month included an appetizer, soup, a few main dishes and a dessert. There is one more vegetarian main dish I plan to try, a butternut squash and quinoa casserole. The ingredients are on hand and if it's successful, I will include the recipe in a future Weekend Cooking post.

All photos come from the blog or website where I found the recipe. Links take you to directly to the recipe. Here we go:

Baked Apple Crisp

Apple crisp is pretty basic. It's so much easier than making an apple pie (no crust), but every bit as delicious. Since I always make pie, I have no 'go to' crisp recipe. This one from Mommy Hates Cooking  blog was simple to make. I brought it to Sunday dinner at my sister's and every last crumb disappeared. My only complaint was that it was a little too sweet... but then I usually cut back on the sugar in apple pies, too. (my pin)

Slow Cooker Italian Wedding Soup

I love Italian Wedding Soup, but never make it myself. I found this recipe on Gather for Bread  blog and was especially drawn to it because of the slow cooker. The soup was delicious... except for the meatballs. They were too dry. The next time I'll use ground beef that is not so lean or have the meatballs spend less time in the slow cooker. I do plan to give this a second chance. (my pin)

Chicken Pot Pie Turnovers

My husband loves chicken pot pie and I've been trying to find the perfect  recipe for years. This one from the Food Network  appealed to me because it looked easy, uses puff pastry, and because I think turnovers are more fun. It's a great recipe and I wouldn't change a thing, but it was a little more work than a "fun" recipe should be. (my pin)

Spinach Balls

I made these for my book club earlier this month. We met at 4 PM instead of our usual morning meeting time and appetizers were called for instead of coffee cake. The recipe is from The Kitchen is My Playground and I chose it because who can resist spinach and stuffing? I'll make these again sometime during the holiday season! (my pin)

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Back to chicken pot pie again. Because the turnovers were a little fussy, the word "easy" drew me  to this recipe from Spicy Southern Kitchen. Still not quite as easy as I was hoping, the recipe was absolutely delicious - but with a whole stick of butter how could it not be? So filling, too! My husband loved it and I'll definitely make it again... just not very often since it isn't the most healthful recipe around. (my pin)

Roast Chicken with Apricot Glaze

Finally, a truly simple and delicious dish! A rub of cumin, cinnamon, and kosher salt followed by a glaze of apricot preserves in the last ten minutes of cooking - that's all there is to this Simply Recipes recipe. It's an interesting twist on classic roast chicken and it looks so attractive on the serving platter, too. (my pin)


Links to other October Pin It and Do It wrap-up posts can be found on Trish's blog.

Do you use Pinterest?

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

Pin It and Do It: September Wrap-Up

It seems like I rediscover my kitchen every year around this time. After a summer of cooking and eating outdoors, I'm ready to turn on the oven, light the burners, and pull out the slow cooker. I'm ready for the warm, cozy smells and tastes of autumn. Trish, with perfect timing, chose September and October to reprise her popular Pin It and Do It Challenge. My family could not be happier. They were treated to several new recipes, all found on Pinterest, over the past couple of weeks.

Here are the highlights:

Slow Cooker Tuscan Chicken Soup

Tuscan Bean Soup is a cool weather staple around here, so I was intrigued by this slow cooker chicken version. Roasted red peppers were an unexpected, but welcome addition. We'll have it for lunch all weekend... despite temperatures in the 70s.
my pin
link to recipe

Blue Moon Orange Chicken

Katherine recently listed Blue Moon Orange Chicken as one of her Top 10 Favorite Pinterest recipes, and now I know why. This is a citrus version of the Honey Beer Chicken my family loves. I was hoping for leftovers, but we ate every bite - delicious!
my pin
link to recipe

Sole Piccata

I love anything piccata. There was no sole at Wegmans this week, so I used flounder instead and followed the recipe exactly as written. Unfortunately, it stuck to the pan (I should have used more olive oil or sprayed Pam) and totally fell apart. Let's just say this meal was a delicious mess! The photo, obviously, is from Pinterest.
my pin
link to recipe

Easy Chicken Tamale Pie

I mentioned this dish last weekend in my update post. The twins were home and my husband was out of town. Since it's their kind of recipe and not his, we made it Saturday night. All three of us like it, though I would tone down the spice. The girls were perfectly happy with a little heat. Using rotisserie chicken made the recipe even easier. Sorry I forgot to take a picture - this one is from Pinch of Yum blog.
my pin
link to recipe


This weekend I'm planning to try a new Apple Crisp recipe and will report on it in my October post. Links to other September Pin It and Do It wrap-up posts can be found on Trish's blog.

Do you use Pinterest?

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

Readers Imbibing Peril: R.I.P X

It's R.I.P. - Readers Imbibing Peril - time again! For this tenth edition, Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings has passed the hosting torch to the ladies of The Estella Society.

This event, which runs through Halloween, encourages us to read...

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

Or anything sufficiently moody that shares a kinship with the above.

There are just two simple rules:
1. Have fun reading (and watching).
2. Share that fun with others.

One again, there are many levels of participation - just pick the "peril" that's right for you. I've chosen "Peril the Second" and will read two books that fit the RIP theme. I may pull out my Virago Book of Ghost Stories and tackle the "Peril of the Short Story", too.

Complete details can be found over at The Estella Society.

My list of reading possibilities:

The House at Riverton  by Kate Morton
I'd Know You Anywhere  by Laura Lippman
Baltimore Blues  by Laura Lippman (but do I really need another series?)
Burial Rites  by Hannah Kent
Lady Audley's Secret  by M.E. Braddon
Strangers on a Train  by Patricia Highsmith
Whose Body?  by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Black Tulip  by Alexandre Dumas
My Cousin Rachel  by Daphne du Maurier
Armadale  or No Name  by Wilkie Collins

Have you read any of these books?
Are you participating in R.I.P. X?

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

My first experience with Shirley Jackson was decades ago in high school. I was horrified by "The Lottery" and so not inclined to explore more of Jackson's work. Fast forward thirty-something years. As a new blogger and frequent participant in Shorty Story Monday, I was scrambling for a story of the week, stumbled upon "The Lottery" in my daughter's  lit class anthology, and reread it. Much to my surprise, it was still just as disturbing as I'd found it to be in high school. But this time, I was more impressed with the way the story was able to provoke such feelings.

That reaction, and the discovery of R.I.P., prompted me to pick up  We Have Always Lived in the Castle a year or two later. The reading experience would turn out to be one of the most memorable of my life. A raging Halloween thunderstorm left us without power and I actually finished the last several pages of the book by candlelight. It's still difficult to separate my feelings about the novel from the unusual reading experience, but it was all pretty amazing.

So here we are a few years later. The Estella Society is hosting a readalong of The Haunting of Hill House in conjunction with R.I.P. IX , so I borrowed a battered old paperback copy from the local library... although I wish they'd had the gorgeous Penguin Horror hardcover edition instead.

Brief summary (from goodreads):
First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House  has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

My thoughts:
This type of novel is way outside my comfort zone. I rarely read anything involving supernatural elements, horror, or the like, but decided to challenge myself during R.I.P. this year. However, I didn't really experience the "unnerving terror" as promised in the summary. The book seemed more creepy than scary to me. An insidious feeling of dread and unease crept up on me. I felt slightly off balance throughout my reading - never entirely sure of what was actually happening.

The characters were a mystery to me. What was really going on with Eleanor? And Theo, too, for that matter. The male characters were handled in an entirely different manner. Why was that?

Jackson's descriptions and tight writing style made The Haunting of Hill House a worthwhile read. Beginning with the opening paragraph, there were many passages that made me pause and take note.

I laughed out loud at Dr. Montague's reference to Samuel Richardson and Pamela, and am sure my fellow Clarissa readalongers will also appreciate the quote.

"If any of you has trouble sleeping, I will read aloud to you. I never knew anyone who could not fall asleep with Richardson being read aloud to him."

More memorable quotes:

"It was a house without kindness, never meant to be lived in, not a fit place for people or for love or for hope. Exorcism cannot alter the countenance of a house; Hill House would stay as it was until it was destroyed." 

"It was an act of moral strength to lift her foot and set it on the bottom step, and she thought that her deep unwillingness to touch Hill House for the first time came directly from the vivid feeling that it was waiting for her, evil, but patient... Hill House came around her in a rush; she was enshadowed, and the sound of her feet on the wood of the veranda was an outrage in the utter silence, as though it had been a very long time since feet stamped across the boards of Hill House. 

"She watched them, seeing their apprehensive faces, wondering at the uneasiness which lay so close below the surface in all of them, so that each of them seemed always waiting for a cry for help from one of the others; intelligence and understanding are really no protection at all, she thought." 

"Fear," the doctor said, "is the relinquishment of logic, the willing relinquishing of reasonable patterns. We yield to it or we fight it, but we cannot meet it halfway."

A final word:
This book practically begs for a reread... and it certainly deserves one. A couple of trusted blogging friends have suggested the audio version. I've already penciled it in for R.I.P. X!

My rating:

R.I.P. IX: Better Late...

R.I.P. IX - It's that time again, and I'm late to the party. This is the ninth edition of Readers Imbibing in Peril, a favorite of bloggers everywhere. Our host, Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings, invites us to read:

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

The event runs through October 31, and the rules couldn't be simpler:
1. Have fun reading (and watching).
2. Share that fun with others.

Carl is offering several levels of participation.

I've chosen Peril the Second - read two books of any length that you believe fit within the R.I.P. categories. My plan is to read A Murder is Announced  by Agatha Christie and another book still to be determined.

I will also participate in Peril of the Group Read. Andi and Heather of The Estella Society are hosting a readalong of The Haunting of Hill House  by Shirley Jackson which will run from September 1 to October 1. I just picked up a copy from the library yesterday and can't wait to get started. All the details are here.

Have you chosen your peril?

Cook It Up: Weber's Real Grilling

Summers are short in central New York, so we take advantage of every moment - boating on the lake, relaxing on the patio, grilling, and eating outdoors. That made choosing an August project for Trish's Cook It Up! cookbook challenge a cinch. Weber's Real Grilling has been on my shelf for years. I bought it to go with a Father's Day grill so long ago that the grill is history. The cookbook, however, remains on the shelf, woefully underutilized.

Now it's decision time. Should I keep it or donate it to the library book sale? The first think I did was look through the book for comments on recipes we've already tried. I found just two:

• Halibut with Grill-Roasted Lemon and Caper Dressing - very good! try with swordfish, too
• Bottle o' Beer Chicken Thighs - pretty good

I would have sworn there were others. Since I almost always make some sort of notation, perhaps they weren't worth a comment?

Anyway, the book is printed on very high-quality paper and each recipe is accompanied by a color photograph. There is an introduction to grilling, tips on choosing a grill, and a discussion of basic techniques and handy tools. Chapters include starters, red meat, pork, poultry, fish, veggies and sides, and even desserts. Each chapter offers additional information specific to the category - for example, cuts of meat, what to look for in purchasing beef, how to tell if its done, etc. There are even post-it flags in the back so you can mark your favorite recipes.

Armed with my own supply of post-it flags, I marked nearly 20 recipes to try. In the end, one fish, one red meat, and one chicken recipe made the cut.

Halibut a la Tunisia

Halibut is one of my favorite types of fish. This recipe calls for making a paste of lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, paprika, coriander, cumin, garlic, kosher salt and pepper. It is spread on the fish, refrigerated for an hour or so, and then grilled. The recipe was okay, but there are so many tastier ways to prepare halibut I doubt I will make it again.

New York Steaks with Corn and Avocado Salsa

We used a filet and a strip steak, and rubbed them with the mixture of chile powder, paprika, garlic, kosher salt, oregano, and pepper as directed. After the steaks were grilled, they were topped with the corn and avocado salsa, made according to the recipe. The result...meh. I prefer the spice mixture my husband has perfected over the years, and the salsa wasn't that great either.

Tandoori Chicken Kebobs

After seeing The Hundred Foot Journey, we were craving Indian food and this marinade of plain yogurt, fresh ginger, and several spices including turmeric and cumin sounded perfect. It was good, but not great. I wouldn't make it again.

My final verdict:
Three mediocre recipes. There are still several more I want to try but, given the track record, I think this one goes to the library. Besides, I need to make room for Ina Garten's new cookbook!

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

The Classics Club: Spin #7

The Classics Club Spin has been a huge success. Previous rounds have dealt me The Bell Jar, Middlemarch, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Cheerful Weather for a Wedding. The rules are the same this time, only the dates have been changed.

Here's how it works:
- Go to your blog.
- Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club list.
- Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog by next Monday. (8/11)
- Monday morning, we’ll announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.
- The challenge is to read that book by October 6.

I'm still sticking with a slightly modified version of my original list. Here's what it looks like this time:

Pick Me, Pick Me (books I want to read now)
1. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
2. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
3. Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty
4. Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell
5. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Quickies
6. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
8. The Professor's House by Willa Cather
9.  Sandition by Jane Austen
10. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Favorite Authors
11. The Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton
12. What Maisie Knew by Henry James
13. They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
14. The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck (reread)
15.  Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Chunksters 
16.  Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
17.  An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
18. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
19.  Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
20.  The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

Here is a link to The Classics Club's announcement post.
Are you participating this time around? Let's Spin!

8/11/14 UPDATE: Number 17 came up for this spin. I'll be reading An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.

Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist by Tim Federle

Is that the best title ever, or what? I've never been especially interested in mixology (we prefer wine around here), but I had to borrow Tequila Mockingbird by Tim Federle from my library. Just to read it, I mean...

The table of contents had me in hysterics - drinks named The Last of the Mojitos, Gin Eyre, Howards Blend, The Sound and the Slurry.  By the end of the introduction, I knew this book belonged in my permanent collection.


Gentle Drinker: 

Congrats. You fought through War and Peace, burned through Fahrenheit 451, and sailed through Moby-Dick. All right, all right, you nearly drowned in Moby-Dick, but you made it to shore - and you deserve a drink! Hang tight, undergrad. A beer's not going to cut it. Not this time. 

To pay proper homage to the world's greatest stories and storytellers, we've carefully crafted a library's worth of literature-inspired cocktails. Scholarly sips for word nerds, if you will - and the people who love them...

This little book begins with the basics - tools, techniques, and terms - before getting down to the business of recipes. Each recipe begins with an entertaining paragraph about the specific book/drink pairing. Ingredients and directions follow, many with full-page (comical) illustrations.

Since The Picture of Dorian Grey  was one of my recent Classics Club Spin reads, I decided to try The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose at a recent family gathering. It was delicious, people - dangerously so! I know you can't make out the recipe from the photo, so...

           Makes about 8 drinks 

10 sprigs fresh mint, washed
1 (12-ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
2 cups vodka (like Grey Goose)
Cucumber, sliced into wheels, for garnish 

Tear mint, then place in the pitcher. Add the lemonade concentrate and stir until thawed. Pour in the vodka and 3 cups cold water and stir. Serve over ice, garnish with the cucumber wheels, and remember: age before beauty - if anyone will fess up.

Last night (TGIF, right?) we tried Infinite Zest. Not quite as delicious, but just as potent. A little extra limoncello made it more palatable.

Whether you enjoy mixed drinks or not, Tequila Mockingbird is a very entertaining read!

Cook It Up: A Cookbook Challenge is hosted by Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch of Insanity. Find links to other posts here.

Weekend Cooking, hosted at Beth Fish Reads, is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.