Since I haven't been cooking too much lately (latkes on Friday, rocky road on Saturday, and tomato-ginger chutney on Sunday), my list of recipes lined up to bat is growing. Over the next few days, I plan on spending some quality time with the Smitten Kitchen archives: right now I've got chocolate sorbet mixture chilling in the fridge (a full batch; I feel confident that it will be too good to halve), and tonight's dinner is roasted squash pizza. Later in the week I'll make avocado salad with carrot-ginger dressing, pasta with cauliflower & walnuts & feta, and citrus salad with feta and mint. So, clearly I have cooking on the brain. But you know what? What I actually want to share are some of my current library (VPL) picks:
I'm nearly done "At Home" and it's been a absorbing and entertaining read. The index lists everything from Dandies to Earth Closets, from Medieval Dining Habits to Elizabeth Gaskell, from Judicial Wigs to Servants, Scapegoating Of. It is, in essence, a long series of digressions. This is the first Bill Bryson book I've read, and now I'm looking forward to "A Walk in the Woods", mostly because I heard about the Appalachian Trail years ago and have been interested in hiking some or all of it ever since. (From what I understand, Bill Bryson did not enjoy his hike.)
I've just picked up a copy of The Tiger's Wife, entirely due to the rave review from Kate's mom at Christmas. Most newer fiction that I read comes from way of Kate, since I've always tended to stick to literature from about 1850 - 1950, mostly delving into modern books when they're non-fiction.
Some time ago I saw the movie; now I have a copy of the audiobook. It feels like spring is coming to Vancouver, and I haven't spent time this winter yet curling up with a Gothic novel, a pot of tea, and a knitting project while it's still dark and cold outside. We tossed out "Rebecca" as a bookclub suggestion some time back; I was reminded of it again recently while perusing a list of Best Gothic Books of All Time on goodreads (a very exciting list to stumble across, I might add. "Rebecca" is #4).
This book's description reads: "...obsession is not only a phemomenon of modern existence: it is a medical category - both a pathology and a goal. ... Beginning with the roots of the disease in demonic possession and its secular successors, Davis traces the evolution of obsessive behavior from a social and religious fact of life into a medical and psychiatric problem." Since I haven't started, it's yet to be determined where this book ranks on the dull to lively spectrum, but it looks like a promising glimpse into the things we try hard to control and the things that control us.
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