A Poem for New Year's Eve

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New Year Resolve
by May Sarton

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

"New Year Resolve" by May Sarton, from Collected Poems 1930-1993.

Clarissa Group Read: The End

It all began with a simple twitter conversation. Sometime last December, Terri tweeted that she was going to read Clarissa. I responded with encouragement and interest. One thing lead to another. Soon we were a group of two dozen readers with a plan to read the 537 letters (roughly 1500 pages) on their corresponding dates  between January 10 and December 18.

Terri and I never expected such an enthusiastic response to our project. I also never dreamed Samuel Richardson could be so long-winded!  Early comments from the group focused on adjusting to the 18th century language, women's lives in the 1700's, and Richardson's obvious need of an editor, but soon we were all involved in Clarissa's plight. And then...

Nothing... happened... for weeks.

Most of us fell behind in our reading. Some abandoned it altogether. I got as far as the May letters (around page 600), but a small group persevered to the end.

Please join us in congratulating:

Cat - Tell Me A Story
Christina - The Literary Bunny- (final post)
Lindsey - Sparks' Notes
Helen - She Reads Novels
Charlotte - Charlotte Reads Classics (final post)

Let me know if I've missed anyone. Also, if you include a link to your final post in the comments, I will add it here. 

Failing to complete my own project is an embarrassment, but I'm happy for the new friends and wonderful blogs I discovered in the process.  I will return to Clarissa eventually, but with a different approach - it will get my undivided attention. Reading Clarissa was always enjoyable, yet always a struggle to pick up after even short break.

So what's next? If you're up for another year-long group read, Amy and Iris are tackling War and Peace. I need a little break.

Terri and I thank you all for reading along with us this year.

Weekend Cooking: Pin It and Do It Wrap-up

Trish's  Holiday Pin It and Do It Challenge officially ends on Monday, so I'll wrap things up by sharing a few Christmas week pins.  After my somewhat disappointing attempts at fall decor, I decided to return to recipes. All photos are from Pinterest... I was too busy cooking.

Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup
We love soup, and I wanted to have a couple varieties on hand when the girls came home. Twin A's request for sweet potato soup lead to one of my first pins (pinned 34 weeks ago via Care onto my Soup & Stew board), but the soup actually tasted more like cauliflower than sweet potatoes. The garam masala, purchased especially for this recipe, added depth to the flavor. Only one of the girls liked it as much as I did and my husband didn't even try it. I'm not sure whether I'll make it again.

Brie and Raspberry Phyllo Cups
A member of my book club always brings these tasty treats to our summer pot luck dinner. I wanted to serve them as an appetizer on Christmas Eve, but wasn't sure of the baking time or temperature. I went searching for a recipe and pinned it - simple, elegant, and delicious.

Green Beans Almondine
Also prepared for Christmas Eve dinner, but I've never used an actual recipe. The shallots were a flavorful addition. I will definitely use this pinned recipe again.

Gingerbread Pancakes
As soon as I repinned this recipe from Amanda, I knew it would be served for Christmas breakfast. We substituted plain Greek yogurt for sour cream. Topped with sauteed pears, this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole
I needed a vegetable casserole for Christmas dinner and decided to try something new. This pin from McCormick was a big hit.

These five recipes, combined with my fall pins, land me in the 'Pin Obsessed' category - very fitting! Thanks again for hosting, Trish.

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.

Twenty Questions: A Year-End Book Survey

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1. What is the best book you read in 2012?
I listed my ten favorites in yesterday's post.

2. Most disappointing book?
Ragtime  by E.L. Doctorow

3. Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2012?
This is How You Lose Her  by Junot Diaz (audio)

4. Book(s) you recommended most in 2012?
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake  by Anna Quindlen
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry  by Rachel Joyce

5. Best series you discovered in 2012?
I avoided series this year.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2012?
Amor Towles
Elizabeth Gaskell
See my full list of ten here.

7. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake  by Jenny Wingfield

8. Book you most anticipated in 2012?
The Uninvited Guests  by Sadie Jones

9. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2012?

10. Most memorable character in 2012?
Swan Lake, The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

11. Most beautifully written book read in 2012?
Rules of Civility  by Amor Towles

12. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2012?
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

13. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2012 to finally read?
North and South  by Elizabeth Gaskell

14. Favorite passage/quote from a book read in 2012?

"In out twenties, when there is still so much time ahead of us, time that seems ample for a hundred indecisions, for a hundred visions and revisions - we draw a card, and we must decide right then and there whether to keep that card and discard the next, or discard the first and keep the second. And before we know it, the deck has been played out and the decisions we have just made will shape our lives for decades to come."
― Amor Towles, Rules of Civility


“The thing about old friends is not that they love you, but that they know you. They remember that disastrous New Year's Eve when you mixed White Russians and champagne, and how you wore that red maternity dress until everyone was sick of seeing the blaze of it in the office, and the uncomfortable couch in your first apartment and the smoky stove in your beach rental. They look at you and don't really think you look older because they've grown old along with you, and, like the faded paint in a beloved room, they're used to the look. And then one of them is gone, and you've lost a chunk of yourself. The stories of the terrorist attacks of 2001, the tsunami, the Japanese earthquake always used numbers, the deaths of thousands a measure of how great the disaster. Catastrophe is numerical. Loss is singular, one beloved at a time.”
― Anna Quindlen, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake


15. Book read in 2012 that you would be most likely to reread in 2013?
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake  by Anna Quindlen


16. Best classic(s) read in 2012?
North and South  by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall  by Anne Bronte

17. Best translated work you read in 2012?
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki

18. Any titles abandoned in 2012 you might read in 2013?
NW  by Zadie Smith on audio - I may try it in print

19. Any challenges completed in 2012?
2012 was a challenge-free year.

20. Any read-alongs completed in 2012?
No, I failed miserably with my own year-long group read of Clarissa by Samuel Richardson.


Survey adapted from The Perpetual Page-Turner. Let me know if you decide to play along.

My Favorite Books of 2012

It's that time again...  I love all the yearly wrap-up posts and "best of" lists bloggers are so fond of compiling. It's fun to see which books stood out or left a lasting impression, and which ones missed the mark.

My favorites this year include both fiction and non-fiction, new releases and classics, a work in translation, and a collection of short stories. Here are my favorite books of 2012, listed in the order I read them:

You Know When the Men are Gone (audio)

by Siobhan Fallon 

narrated by Cassandra Campbell

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake  (a read/listen combo)

by Jenny Wingfield

narrated by Catherine Taber

The Makioka Sisters 

by Junichiro Tanizaki

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake 

by Anna Quindlen

Rules of Civility 

by Amor Towles

North and South (read/listen combo)

by Elizabeth Gaskell 

narrated by Juliet Stevenson

The Old Man and the Sea 

by Ernest Hemingway

(Is it really the same book I read in high school?)

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry 

by Rachel Joyce

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 

by Anne Brontë

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman 

by Alice Steinbach

What is your favorite book of 2012? Have you read any of these?

Merry Christmas to All...

“Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ” 

― Washington Irving

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The Monday Mention: Nutcracker by E.T.A Hoffman

The Nutcracker  has long been part of  my family's holiday tradition. All three girls danced in local productions when they were younger and we often attended the professional ballet, too. As a result, our collection of Nutcracker  memorabilia - ornaments, books, and figurines - has grown over the years. We enjoy reliving the memories each year as we unpack these precious treasures.

Today I'm pleased to share with you the newest addition to our collection, courtesy of the lovely people at Crown.  But beware, E.T.A. Hoffann's Nutcracker, with pictures by the legendary Maurice Sendak, is not the ballet of our childhoods. This is a slightly darker version of the tale based on Hoffmann's 1816 extended short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King".

As with any children's book, the pictures really matter most to me and Sendak, as always, perfectly captures the mood with his brilliant illustrations. This book may not be suitable for very young children, but should appeal to the older elementary crowd.