This has been a great week in TV Land. I'm almost ashamed to admit that since my last post, I've watched far more television than the average human being ever should.
Tuesday 9/21: Glee. The season opener was pretty hilarious, especially the introduction of new football coach, Coach Beiste (it's French). The opening "Empire State of Mind" number was outstanding, it was the kind of moment that really makes me kick myself for not having DVR. We also met some New Directions hopefuls, including 18 year old prodigy Charice who blew the roof off of McKinley High's auditorium with her rendition of "Listen".
Wednesday 9/22: Modern Family. Season premier of this Emmy winning show did not disappoint. The Dunphy's prepared to sell their old station wagon, while Mitch and Cam worked to build Lily a princess castle. My favorite line of the night was said by Phil in reference to a parade at a college football game that he and Clair attended: "Angela Lansbury was the grand marshal. Good times she wrote."
Thursday 9/23: Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock and The Office. Firstly, Big Bang Theory included Sheldon and Amy Farrah Fowler's first date (with Penny as the third wheel) and Wolowitz getting his member caught in the grasp of a robot arm that he created for NASA. I don't think I need to say anything more on that matter. The highlight of 30 Rock was the 2 quick shots of Pete and his wife...in the act. It was so hilariously wrong that it needed to be showed twice. As for The Office, the cold opening was amazing as the entire office danced and sang to Nobody But Me by Human Beinz. This episode was the jumping off point for Steve Carell's last season and I didn't think it disappointed at all. Pam giggling at Jim's key prank on Dwight and her spending the entire episode making it up to him and getting Dwight locked in the elevator? Good stuff.
Sunday 9/26: The Amazing Race. I've watched episodes in the past, but I've never watched an entire season. AR is definitely one of my favorite reality shows, I love watching couples self destruct while trying to do outlandish challenges and still trying to make their 10 pm flight. This season started off from Gloucester and had the contestants fly to London. There are some hilarious couples, including the couple that came in last (we called them the BFF/Lovers?) and a tattoo-ed motorcycle couple who had never heard of Stonehenge and thought that they were in the country of London.
Monday 9/27: How I Met Your Mother. Last week's premiere gave the audience a little taste of a wedding that could possibly be Barney and Robin's. All we know is that Ted is the best man and we saw Lily, Marshall and Ted all dressed up and ready to get their wedding party on. Also, we learned that Rachel Bilson's character (aka the mom's roommate) turns out to be a lesbian! This week, we got a little more insight into Barney's past as the crew helped clean out Barney's childhood home. We got to hang out with Barney's brother from another father, James, and saw some amazing flash backs of Barney's lie-driven childhood. We also got to meet James' real father (and indulged in a little sing-a-long where Barney displayed the best use of auto-tune other than The Bed Intruder song). I also watched 3/4 of Dancing with the Stars, although I really don't want to admit it. I'm rooting for a showdown between Mrs. Brady and the Situation.
Tuesday 9/28: Glee. THE MUCH ANTICIPATED BRITNEY SPEARS EPISODE. I personally thought it was hilarious (Britney Spears/Brittany S. Pears) and loved the way they incorporated Uncle Jesse, I mean Carl the dentist. The hallucinations at the dentist are what fueled the episode, so while people are scrutinizing it for copying Britney videos instead of incorporating original ideas, I think that it makes total sense. The fantasies of Rachel, Brittany and Santana are based on what they saw and admired as children, so why wouldn't they want to be in the exact videos that they grew up with? Anyway, spot on performances by Sue Silvester (the entire post-Toxic riot was outrageous), and we finally got to see a human side of the Beiste when she let Finn AND Arty onto the football team.
Wednesday 9/29: Survivor and Modern Family. I don't normally watch Survivor, I've never seen an entire season and actually don't like it very much (they spend WAY too much time sitting there talking about each other and Jeff Probst is such a freaking instigator), but there's a Gloucestonian on this season so I figured I'd watch. The one thing that I do like about it is that the vote is instant, there isn't two nights of shows like American Idol and DWTS where you have to wait to find out who gets the boot. Modern Family was amazing, as always, as they dealt head on with the issue of the Mitch/Cam will they/wont they kiss. I like how they turned it around and made it more about Mitch and Jay and how he doesn't like PDA because he really didn't get much affection as a kid (his dad hadn't kissed him since he was 12). The Alex story line was great, I'm happy she finally got some screen time where she wasn't being a bossy know it all. The shot to her tevas after her sister called her a lesbian was legen(wait for it)dary. My two favorite lines of the night were again from Phil, the first being the title of this entry: "He flipped his lid when she tried to contain him" (in reference to tupperware), and second the continuation of his technology songs from last season: "The computer and the printer must talk, talk, talk/ Command P makes the picture walk, walk, walk."
Tonight will be spent with the boys of Big Bang, the crew of TGS, and the employees over at Dunder Mifflin.
Switching gears, I found this on a friend's blog. Type these words into your iTunes library and name the first song that appears:
Happy: Happy Hour Hero by moe.
Sad: Sadie by Joanna Newsom
Love: Won't Want For Love (Margaret In The Taiga) by The Decemberists
Hate: Hate On Me by the cast of Glee
Light: Slave To The Traffic Light by Phish
Dark: I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie
Good: Good Riddance by Green Day
Bad: No News Is Bad News by Dashboard Confessional
Smile: Smile by Tony Bennett
Cry: Cry Me A River by Michael Buble
Girl: Girlfriend Is Better by Talking Heads
Boy: Boy With A Coin by Iron & Wine
I've also had a busy week book-wise.
Book 48: Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (3.5) This book reminded me a lot of book 17, The Song is You by Arthur Phillips. It is a social commentary on the mania of fan-dom; the crazy things that people do, say, think, write, and assume in reference to their favorite celebrities. Juliet, Naked tells the story of the very un-couple like couple, Duncan and Annie. Duncan is a self proclaimed Crowologist, specializing in the life and career of musician Tucker Crowe. In the 80's Tucker was in the height of his fame, touring after the release of his masterpiece Juliet (a CD chronicling his brief love affair with a famous model), when he goes to the bathroom during a gig and then disappears, never to be heard from again. Duncan believes that he knows more about Crowe's work than anyone, including Crowe himself. When Annie and Duncan separate after 15 years of living more as roommates than lovers, Annie finds herself in contact with Crowe after she writes a review of his newly released acoustic CD of Juliet (Juliet, Naked). The book was entertaining and fun, although the mystery of Crowe's demise was more pathetic than dramatic. The reader wants to empathize with Annie, but she makes it incredibly difficult. The entire novel she is defending herself as being a fan simply because Duncan dragged her into it, while in reality she's just as hopelessly devoted to Crowology as the next blogger fanatic. I wanted to love it, but Annie was crazy creepy, Crowe disappointingly defeated, and Duncan agonizingly aggravating.
Book 49: Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger (4) This was a great, fast-paced thriller that I bought on my Kindle for $2.99. It features Ridley Jones, a freelance writer whose life seems to crumble after she saves a young boy and receives a wave of media attention. She gets an envelope in the mail with a picture of a man, woman and child and a letter asking "Are you my daughter?". After confronting her father, a pediatrician, and mother, she still is not convinced that the letter and picture are mere coincidence. Due to her inquisitive nature and some coaxing from her dangerously handsome new neighbor, she embarks on a journey to find the truth about her family and her past. The plot was actually really well crafted, and as terrifying as the idea of kidnapping children and selling them is, Unger did a great job of making it realistic and believable.
Book 50: Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (4) Yay! Everyone loves a good chick lit novel now and again, and I have been a devoted Becky Bloomwood fan for several years now. The newest novel by Kinsella was released the other day, and I devoured it in no time. I've been by Becky's side through so much: credit card catastrophes, traveling to New York, arranging 2 weddings, finding her long lost half sister, pregnancy, and now raising her daughter Minnie during a devastating down-turn in the economy. While at times Mini Shopaholic was a little much, I don't know why I ever doubted it. Becky may be a ridiculously compulsive liar and actually physically and mentally addicted to shopping, but she has the biggest heart and watching her overcome her more selfish tendencies really is a triumph. The ending is so heartwarming and sincere, it instantly made me want to do something selfless for someone that I love.
Book 51: Easily Amused by Karen McQuestion (3.5) This was another bargain Kindle book that turned out to be rather enjoyable. The book begins by introducing us to Lola Watson, a 29-year-old magazine editor who has recently been left her great aunt's house. Lola is pretty much a loner, and aside from her high school friends Piper and Hubert, and her sister Mindy (the names in this book are really ridiculous), she really doesn't have anyone in her life. She is constantly annoyed by the homemade pies and pickles that seem to trickle in daily from her neighbors, and avoids small talk with them by putting out the trash at midnight. When Mindy announces that she's getting married on Lola's 30th birthday (just another item on a lifelong list of evil plots to steal the spotlight), Piper comes up with a plan for Lola to gain revenge. She suggests that Lola use Mindy's wedding to announce her own (fake) engagement, and after meeting a handsome, successful man at her husband's financial office, she sets Lola up with Mike, a hottie with a Jaguar who just happens to live directly across the street from her. Meanwhile, Lola's friend Hubert moves in after his outrageously messy breakup with his girlfriend. A fake fiance, a vile sister, and a more than friends new roommate are just the tip of the iceberg for poor Lola. It is a great story of finding friends, family and enemies where you least expect them.
I am currently on book 52: Favorite by Karen McQuestion
We are on week 39/52. Not only does this mean that I am 13 books ahead of schedule, but it also means that once I finish my current book that I've completed my new year's resolution! I am so ecstatic that I've been able to stick to my promise and refrain from re-reading books. Ever since I was a kid, I tried to do a book report on Charlotte's Web at least once a year. I've always been a home-body, especially when it comes to books. I consider characters to be personal friends, and settings to be second homes.
I've been so bummed that I won't be able to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before the first part of the movie is released in November, but it will be interesting to see how I react to the film without having re-read the book immediately before the premier. I've always re-devoured the entire series before watching a new movie, and I've always felt a bit disappointed by the artistic liberties that the director and screen writer take with the plot. Entire characters forgotten, chapters and chapters of important plot left piled in a trash can somewhere. Maybe not re-reading HP7 will allow me to appreciate the movie as a separate entity and wont leave me wanting (at least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't throw 9 months of self control down the drain in a fit of Harry Potter fueled passion).
I guess that's all I've got for today, but I suppose the above mix of television, music, and books should be adequate. Auf Wiedersehen!
9.21.2010
Freaking out about fall
I love fall. Pumpkins. Everything to do with apples and apple picking and apple cider and candy apples and APPLE ORCHARDS. The crisp air. The earthy smells. The crunchy leaves. Back to school shopping. THE FALL TELEVISION SCHEDULE.
Every year around this time I erupt with giddiness; the excitement that consumes me can simply not be contained. Every night of the week is filled with brand new television shows that I've been waiting ALL SUMMER to watch. Although chatting with Molly about spoilers, ripping apart Ausiello clues and speculating about cliffhangers all summer is fun, it certainly gets old around the middle of July. We spent this past summer wondering when we're going to meet the mother of Ted's children, worrying about whether or not Chuck Bass survived Paris, and itching like an addict every time a new Glee song was released.
Autumn is also the time of year that I miss UMass the most. The anticipation of moving into a new dorm or apartment, meeting new people, opening up the Snack Bar, and starting new classes with my notebooks and pens that I bought in bulk from BJ's. The feeling of freedom and independence after spending the summer abiding by curfews and partying at friend's parent's houses. I miss tailgating at UMass football games, laughing at lost freshmen on campus, and the first few weeks of classes before the work piles up and we could legitimize staying up until 2 am every night playing Jetman and searching for bumper stickers to send each other on facebook. I miss Thursday nights at Charlie's, afternoons in the Grad Lounge, and late nights/early mornings eating mozzarella sticks and hash browns at the Route 9 diner. I'm so disgustingly jealous of everyone hanging out in the CSB right now, and all of those heading to parties in Puffton this Friday night.
Although I still love fall, and mostly everything about it, it's not as fun and exciting as it used to be. Yeah, I still get to go to the apple orchard, bake pies, and peruse iParty with Molly for scary Halloween masks, but as an adult fall just merely means another summer is over and summer hours are a thing of the past. 5 day work weeks are such a major drag without the looming promise of a 3 day weekend. I suppose this fall is a little special since we have two new roommates (Andrew and Jo), but it still doesn't make up for the fact that I could be skipping class right now and heading to the Yankee Candle Factory to buy 17 pounds of McIntosh votive candles.
I've been spending my work days reading blogs about television shows and wishing I was home snuggling with Lukah. Evenings are spent making dinner and watching How I Met Your Mother on DVD. Weekends are spent trying to balance my time between friends, family, and sweatpants. I've also been decoupaging my brains out in anticipation of Theresa Jean's 25th birthday. My train rides have been very busy, as you can tell from previous posts. I've been trying to plow through as many new books as possible before the end of the year (while simultaneously trying to avoid my train stalker). Since last we spoke I've read:
Book 46: My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler (4) I really enjoyed MHL more than AYTVIMC. I thought it was hilarious, and really altered my impression of Chelsea Handler. She can be a little intense and abrasive on her show, but this book makes her so real. I'd love to work in the cube next to her because I'd spend my entire weekend waiting for Monday morning where I would relish in her tales of one night stands with midgets and spend my entire morning asking her about the scars all over her knees and face.
Book 47: A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion (3.75) I bought this book because it was on super sale through amazon, and it turned out to be very good. The three women in the novel were so shockingly different, but desperately needed each other to survive. The ending was really surprising, I never in a million years would have guess that Roxy's life would turn so unexpectedly. I actually was anticipating Audrey being a super creep and somehow end up murdering Skyla. It was definitely worth the $2.75 I paid for it and would recommend it to anyone who envies other people's families in contrast to their own. The grass is always greener friends.
Book 47.5: And Thereby Hangs a Tale: Stuck On You By Jeffrey Archer (this was just a free short story I got on my kindle. It was good, but doesn't qualify as a whole book and was really too short to grade)
Currently on Book 48: Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (I'm about 69% done)
Well, I suppose it is back to fantasizing about autumns past. We have a wedding to go to in a couple weeks, but I'm planning on updating before then. Until next time...
Every year around this time I erupt with giddiness; the excitement that consumes me can simply not be contained. Every night of the week is filled with brand new television shows that I've been waiting ALL SUMMER to watch. Although chatting with Molly about spoilers, ripping apart Ausiello clues and speculating about cliffhangers all summer is fun, it certainly gets old around the middle of July. We spent this past summer wondering when we're going to meet the mother of Ted's children, worrying about whether or not Chuck Bass survived Paris, and itching like an addict every time a new Glee song was released.
Autumn is also the time of year that I miss UMass the most. The anticipation of moving into a new dorm or apartment, meeting new people, opening up the Snack Bar, and starting new classes with my notebooks and pens that I bought in bulk from BJ's. The feeling of freedom and independence after spending the summer abiding by curfews and partying at friend's parent's houses. I miss tailgating at UMass football games, laughing at lost freshmen on campus, and the first few weeks of classes before the work piles up and we could legitimize staying up until 2 am every night playing Jetman and searching for bumper stickers to send each other on facebook. I miss Thursday nights at Charlie's, afternoons in the Grad Lounge, and late nights/early mornings eating mozzarella sticks and hash browns at the Route 9 diner. I'm so disgustingly jealous of everyone hanging out in the CSB right now, and all of those heading to parties in Puffton this Friday night.
Although I still love fall, and mostly everything about it, it's not as fun and exciting as it used to be. Yeah, I still get to go to the apple orchard, bake pies, and peruse iParty with Molly for scary Halloween masks, but as an adult fall just merely means another summer is over and summer hours are a thing of the past. 5 day work weeks are such a major drag without the looming promise of a 3 day weekend. I suppose this fall is a little special since we have two new roommates (Andrew and Jo), but it still doesn't make up for the fact that I could be skipping class right now and heading to the Yankee Candle Factory to buy 17 pounds of McIntosh votive candles.
I've been spending my work days reading blogs about television shows and wishing I was home snuggling with Lukah. Evenings are spent making dinner and watching How I Met Your Mother on DVD. Weekends are spent trying to balance my time between friends, family, and sweatpants. I've also been decoupaging my brains out in anticipation of Theresa Jean's 25th birthday. My train rides have been very busy, as you can tell from previous posts. I've been trying to plow through as many new books as possible before the end of the year (while simultaneously trying to avoid my train stalker). Since last we spoke I've read:
Book 46: My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler (4) I really enjoyed MHL more than AYTVIMC. I thought it was hilarious, and really altered my impression of Chelsea Handler. She can be a little intense and abrasive on her show, but this book makes her so real. I'd love to work in the cube next to her because I'd spend my entire weekend waiting for Monday morning where I would relish in her tales of one night stands with midgets and spend my entire morning asking her about the scars all over her knees and face.
Book 47: A Scattered Life by Karen McQuestion (3.75) I bought this book because it was on super sale through amazon, and it turned out to be very good. The three women in the novel were so shockingly different, but desperately needed each other to survive. The ending was really surprising, I never in a million years would have guess that Roxy's life would turn so unexpectedly. I actually was anticipating Audrey being a super creep and somehow end up murdering Skyla. It was definitely worth the $2.75 I paid for it and would recommend it to anyone who envies other people's families in contrast to their own. The grass is always greener friends.
Book 47.5: And Thereby Hangs a Tale: Stuck On You By Jeffrey Archer (this was just a free short story I got on my kindle. It was good, but doesn't qualify as a whole book and was really too short to grade)
Currently on Book 48: Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (I'm about 69% done)
Well, I suppose it is back to fantasizing about autumns past. We have a wedding to go to in a couple weeks, but I'm planning on updating before then. Until next time...
9.15.2010
Vacation makes your brain turn to slop.
After about 12 days on vacation, coming back to work is a drag. It just feels like I've been away forever, and it's a little overwhelming to be honest. Our vacation on the lake was nice and relaxing, but since we're accustomed to going earlier in the summer, the fall weather was a little depressing. I started to get cabin fever by Friday and the fact that Andrew, Jo, Ter, Ryan and Jen were coming was the only thing that kept me from begging James to go home early. We went to Tim and Molly's wedding on Sunday and it was SO MUCH FUN. A wedding at Camp Spindrift is definitely a genius idea...
So while on vacation, I finished a couple books:
Book 41: Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern (2.5)
Book 42: Greyhound by Steffan Piper (3.5)
Book 43: Skippy Dies: A Novel by Paul Murray (3)
Book 44: A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (4)
Book 45 Are You There Vodka, It's Me, Chelsea By Chelsea Handler (3.5)
Currently reading book 46: My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
We are on week 37 of the year, so I am currently 9 books ahead of schedule. Woot Wooooot!
So while on vacation, I finished a couple books:
Book 41: Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern (2.5)
Book 42: Greyhound by Steffan Piper (3.5)
Book 43: Skippy Dies: A Novel by Paul Murray (3)
Book 44: A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (4)
Book 45 Are You There Vodka, It's Me, Chelsea By Chelsea Handler (3.5)
Currently reading book 46: My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
We are on week 37 of the year, so I am currently 9 books ahead of schedule. Woot Wooooot!
8.23.2010
MishMoshMonday
I feel like every time I go away for the weekend, I come back to the worst Monday ever at work. This morning my train's engine died and it took me a little over two hours to get in. When I finally arrived I had over 200 emails, and a voicemail from my boss saying that his car was broken into and all of his things were stolen. Mondays need to be eliminated.
I've finished a couple books this week:
Book 38: Everything Is Going To Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert (4)
Book 39: Fragile: A Novel by Lisa Unger (3.75)
Currently on Book 40: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This weekend James, Terry, Johanna, Andrew, Patrick and I went camping in Montreal. It was the most amazing time ever and I'm so bummed that it flew by so quickly.
Back to things that I need for my kitchen:
I've finished a couple books this week:
Book 38: Everything Is Going To Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert (4)
Book 39: Fragile: A Novel by Lisa Unger (3.75)
Currently on Book 40: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This weekend James, Terry, Johanna, Andrew, Patrick and I went camping in Montreal. It was the most amazing time ever and I'm so bummed that it flew by so quickly.
Back to things that I need for my kitchen:
8.12.2010
Thursday?
I went through this entire morning thinking that it was Wednesday. It wasn't even until I was waiting for the elevator in my building that the thought that it could be Thursday even occurred to me. I had to check my cell phone to confirm. Isn't it strange how days can just go missing from your life without it even impacting you?
So, I've had some book luck this week (thank goodness).
Book 36: Await Your Reply by Dan Choan (4)
Book 37: The Romantics by Galt Niederhoffer (4)
Currently reading Book 38: Everything Is Going To Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert
We are on week 32 of the year, which means that I am 6 books ahead of schedule. I'm actually pretty surprised that I'm still so far ahead considering how long it took me to get through some books (definitely over a week and a half-2 weeks for some). I guess reading some fluff, and devoting weekend and nightly hours to reading in addition to train time, has allowed me to pick up the slack that those terribly horrendous books had created.
So, I've had some book luck this week (thank goodness).
Book 36: Await Your Reply by Dan Choan (4)
Book 37: The Romantics by Galt Niederhoffer (4)
Currently reading Book 38: Everything Is Going To Be Great: An Underfunded and Overexposed European Grand Tour by Rachel Shukert
We are on week 32 of the year, which means that I am 6 books ahead of schedule. I'm actually pretty surprised that I'm still so far ahead considering how long it took me to get through some books (definitely over a week and a half-2 weeks for some). I guess reading some fluff, and devoting weekend and nightly hours to reading in addition to train time, has allowed me to pick up the slack that those terribly horrendous books had created.
8.02.2010
I Hate Mondays
Heyoooo. I can't believe it's Monday. UGH.
Anyway. I finished The Magicians by Lev Grossman (34). I can't decide between 2 and 2.5 stars. I really didn't love it, and for the most part I didn't really like it. I thought the writing was clunky, the character development was shallow, and the story itself was infuriating, but I can appreciate what Grossman was trying to accomplish. Merging together two classic series of fantasy and attempting to make it modern and widely universal is no easy feat. Some of his ideas were original (ziplock of mutton fat, semester as a goose..?), however the main characters were just SO unlikeable that it made it impossible to enjoy their journey. Grossman also failed greatly on coming up with original, yet convincing, names for the fantastical subjects of his story. Plain and simple, he has absolutely nothing on Rowling or Lewis. He should be embarrassed to even be mentioned in the same review as them.
I also finished Three Delays by Charlie Smith (35). I'm easily awarding this book a 1.5. I couldn't stand it; it took me FOREVER to read because I just couldn't force Smith's delirious stream of consciousness down my throat. It's true that the main characters Billy and Alice were on drugs for pretty much the entire novel, but I felt like Smith had to have been just as high in order to produce such dizzying slop.
I've evidently been striking out completely with books lately. I've been doing some fun cooking though. Yesterday I made my first quiche (cheddar, broccoli, zucchini and onion), my first fresh squeezed lemonade (strawberry basil) and my first cheesecake (lemon, lime, orange zest). Thanks foodgawker.com!
Also, I've started to consider some things that I want/need for the kitchen. I figured I should start keeping a list because every Christmas I'm like, oh crap! what's that thing I wanted six months ago?
Anyway. I finished The Magicians by Lev Grossman (34). I can't decide between 2 and 2.5 stars. I really didn't love it, and for the most part I didn't really like it. I thought the writing was clunky, the character development was shallow, and the story itself was infuriating, but I can appreciate what Grossman was trying to accomplish. Merging together two classic series of fantasy and attempting to make it modern and widely universal is no easy feat. Some of his ideas were original (ziplock of mutton fat, semester as a goose..?), however the main characters were just SO unlikeable that it made it impossible to enjoy their journey. Grossman also failed greatly on coming up with original, yet convincing, names for the fantastical subjects of his story. Plain and simple, he has absolutely nothing on Rowling or Lewis. He should be embarrassed to even be mentioned in the same review as them.
I also finished Three Delays by Charlie Smith (35). I'm easily awarding this book a 1.5. I couldn't stand it; it took me FOREVER to read because I just couldn't force Smith's delirious stream of consciousness down my throat. It's true that the main characters Billy and Alice were on drugs for pretty much the entire novel, but I felt like Smith had to have been just as high in order to produce such dizzying slop.
I've evidently been striking out completely with books lately. I've been doing some fun cooking though. Yesterday I made my first quiche (cheddar, broccoli, zucchini and onion), my first fresh squeezed lemonade (strawberry basil) and my first cheesecake (lemon, lime, orange zest). Thanks foodgawker.com!
Also, I've started to consider some things that I want/need for the kitchen. I figured I should start keeping a list because every Christmas I'm like, oh crap! what's that thing I wanted six months ago?
7.16.2010
33. Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann (4 stars + Amazon review)
34. Currently reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman (a ridiculous fusion of Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Degrassi)
I've also attempted to start Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Tinkers by Paul Harding. Now that I have my amazing Amazon Kindle (thanks James!), I've been starting books, not finishing books, jumping around in books. I'm out of control.
34. Currently reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman (a ridiculous fusion of Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Degrassi)
I've also attempted to start Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Tinkers by Paul Harding. Now that I have my amazing Amazon Kindle (thanks James!), I've been starting books, not finishing books, jumping around in books. I'm out of control.
6.30.2010
6.11.2010
I'm officially the worst blogger of all time. I'm so lost on my book count, but I'll try to see if I can get this right. Dates are a blur, tally is what I'm focusing on.
Ready?
16. Little Bee by Chris Cleave (3.5) A story about a refuge from Nigeria who befriends an English woman whose husband recently committed suicide. The relationship between the two women is so delicate and fragile; it wholeheartedly infects her husbands soul and is the reason for his suicide. The beginning and middle of this book was outstanding; the ending, of course, is what absolutely ruined it for me. It was so far fetched compared to the honest brutality of the first 3/4 of the book.
17. The Song is You by Arthur Phillips (4.5) The thing that made this book so outstanding was that throughout its entirety, the reader has no idea whether or not the main male character is a romantic, intelligent and sensitive man that they should love and root for or a creepy, infatuated stalker who makes up the entire plot in his head. The main female character is the bad ass lead singer of a just discovered rock band. Together, their strange relationship makes for some incredible train reading.
18. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (4.5) So subtle and touching, this book really makes you root for Eilis, a young Irish immigrant who embarks on an unplanned move to America in the 1950's. She has no family, an entry level job as a cashier in a department store, and a boy that falls in love with her and changes her life.
19. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (4.5) Following in the footsteps of Nine Stories and Dubliners, The Imperfectionists has easily become one of my favorite collections of short stories. Each chapter is told through the perspective of a member of an English speaking newspaper staff set in Rome. It is hilarious, and haunting, and incredibly memorable.
20. The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell (4.5) This book honestly surprised me; i I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. The chapters switch off and tell the story of two very different people living in two very different times, but who are so innately connected it almost seems impossible. I learned so much about London/Soho in the 1950's and the bohemian art movement and felt so connected to these amazingly three dimensional characters.
21. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (3) Some nice fluff that was actually pretty enjoyable. The story is about a young girl who leaves her home in Indiana to attend a prep school in Massachusetts. Unlike most of the rest of the rich kids at her school, she is there on scholarship, and thus a complete outsider. What I appreciated so much about this book was that the main character wasn't extraordinary; nothing outstanding happens to her. She doesn't have magic powers, she doesn't overcome the odds and become the most popular girl in school, she doesn't somehow win tons of money and claim vengeance on all the girls who were mean to her. She's simply a girl who is trying to fit in, which makes it a raw, real coming of age story that I found myself appreciating and relating to in a very honest way.
22. Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan (4) I got this book on super sale at Toad Hall in Bearskin Neck for $3.99. It was an amazing fusion of reality and fantasy, it really reminded me of Shrek but with humans as the main characters. There is magic, mystery, love, and evil, and it was a great read.
23. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (4) So intense and kind of difficult to read, The Road is about a father and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. McCarthy never reveals to the reader exactly what happens and how the world comes to be covered in ash and full of cannibals, but the intense relationship between the unnamed father and son affects the reader on so many levels. Although there isn't a lot of dialogue, the actions of these characters say far, far more than their words ever could.
24. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (4) Having not seen this movie, I was excited to read this book. I absolutely fell in love with Griet, and was enraptured by her relationship with the artist Johannes Vermeer. While I know that this book is a complete work of fiction, I really loved the fact that it was completely plausible, and for all we know, it is the exact events that lead to one of the most recognized paintings of all time.
25. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris (3.5) One of Sedaris' earliest books, I thought that Barrel Fever was absolutely hilarious. I read some reviews saying that people didn't like this book as much as his later ones, but I love seeing how an author begins their career. Once you see where they start, it's easier to understand what they become. I loved that each short story was told by a different narrator, and it was impossible to tell if it was a female or male until you get entirely through the story. Sedaris is so versatile, so honest, and such a disturbing asshole (and I love him).
26. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (5) The final book in Larsson's Millenium trilogy, I've been waiting for months for this to be released. I absolutely loved this book, and hate that the story of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander is over. I am so glad that I got to meet these two characters and be a part of their world. Lisbeth is one of the strongest female characters I can think of, and Blomkvist is far too dreamy for his own good.
27. Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella (4) One of Kinsella's stand alone books (outside of the shopaholic series), she tells the story of Lexi Smart, a woman who has an car accident and wakes up to realize that she has amnesia and doesn't remember the last three years of her life. She last remembers having a crappy entry level job, being stood up by her latest crappy boyfriend, and being unhappy with her appearance and when she wakes up she's taken over her bosses' position, is married to a millionaire, and is having an affair. It is hilarious, surprising, and I absolutely loved hanging out with Lexi for a day.
Currently we're on week 24 of the year, so I'm three books ahead of schedule. I really do wish that I wasn't outrageously lazy and kept better track of the books I've been reading, what week I read them, and what I liked and disliked about them, but I suppose it could be worse.
James, Terry and I went to North Conway a couple of weekends ago to stay with my Aunt and Uncle, and while we were there we went to Jackson, NH for the annual duck races. They were having a book sale at their community center with tons of books donated by the local libraries. They were doing a special about 15 minutes after we got there: $1 per shopping bags of books. I got 14 books for $1. Seriously unbelievable.
Summer hours have started at work so I have today off which is greatly appreciated. Terry and I woke up and watched some Ahh! Real Monsters and Laguna Beach season 1 on the Wii Netflicks, then we went downtown and the most delicious lunch at Sugar Mags (I had a cup of corn chowder and a fruit salad topped with curry chicken salad and it was the dreamiest lunch ever. Definitely the first two courses I would want for my last meal on earth). Now I'm hanging out with Lukah watching this insane documentary on the National Scrabble Tournament in 2002. I thought I loved Scrabble, but these people are legit bat shit.
Ready?
16. Little Bee by Chris Cleave (3.5) A story about a refuge from Nigeria who befriends an English woman whose husband recently committed suicide. The relationship between the two women is so delicate and fragile; it wholeheartedly infects her husbands soul and is the reason for his suicide. The beginning and middle of this book was outstanding; the ending, of course, is what absolutely ruined it for me. It was so far fetched compared to the honest brutality of the first 3/4 of the book.
17. The Song is You by Arthur Phillips (4.5) The thing that made this book so outstanding was that throughout its entirety, the reader has no idea whether or not the main male character is a romantic, intelligent and sensitive man that they should love and root for or a creepy, infatuated stalker who makes up the entire plot in his head. The main female character is the bad ass lead singer of a just discovered rock band. Together, their strange relationship makes for some incredible train reading.
18. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (4.5) So subtle and touching, this book really makes you root for Eilis, a young Irish immigrant who embarks on an unplanned move to America in the 1950's. She has no family, an entry level job as a cashier in a department store, and a boy that falls in love with her and changes her life.
19. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman (4.5) Following in the footsteps of Nine Stories and Dubliners, The Imperfectionists has easily become one of my favorite collections of short stories. Each chapter is told through the perspective of a member of an English speaking newspaper staff set in Rome. It is hilarious, and haunting, and incredibly memorable.
20. The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell (4.5) This book honestly surprised me; i I had no idea that I would love it as much as I did. The chapters switch off and tell the story of two very different people living in two very different times, but who are so innately connected it almost seems impossible. I learned so much about London/Soho in the 1950's and the bohemian art movement and felt so connected to these amazingly three dimensional characters.
21. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (3) Some nice fluff that was actually pretty enjoyable. The story is about a young girl who leaves her home in Indiana to attend a prep school in Massachusetts. Unlike most of the rest of the rich kids at her school, she is there on scholarship, and thus a complete outsider. What I appreciated so much about this book was that the main character wasn't extraordinary; nothing outstanding happens to her. She doesn't have magic powers, she doesn't overcome the odds and become the most popular girl in school, she doesn't somehow win tons of money and claim vengeance on all the girls who were mean to her. She's simply a girl who is trying to fit in, which makes it a raw, real coming of age story that I found myself appreciating and relating to in a very honest way.
22. Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan (4) I got this book on super sale at Toad Hall in Bearskin Neck for $3.99. It was an amazing fusion of reality and fantasy, it really reminded me of Shrek but with humans as the main characters. There is magic, mystery, love, and evil, and it was a great read.
23. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (4) So intense and kind of difficult to read, The Road is about a father and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. McCarthy never reveals to the reader exactly what happens and how the world comes to be covered in ash and full of cannibals, but the intense relationship between the unnamed father and son affects the reader on so many levels. Although there isn't a lot of dialogue, the actions of these characters say far, far more than their words ever could.
24. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (4) Having not seen this movie, I was excited to read this book. I absolutely fell in love with Griet, and was enraptured by her relationship with the artist Johannes Vermeer. While I know that this book is a complete work of fiction, I really loved the fact that it was completely plausible, and for all we know, it is the exact events that lead to one of the most recognized paintings of all time.
25. Barrel Fever by David Sedaris (3.5) One of Sedaris' earliest books, I thought that Barrel Fever was absolutely hilarious. I read some reviews saying that people didn't like this book as much as his later ones, but I love seeing how an author begins their career. Once you see where they start, it's easier to understand what they become. I loved that each short story was told by a different narrator, and it was impossible to tell if it was a female or male until you get entirely through the story. Sedaris is so versatile, so honest, and such a disturbing asshole (and I love him).
26. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (5) The final book in Larsson's Millenium trilogy, I've been waiting for months for this to be released. I absolutely loved this book, and hate that the story of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander is over. I am so glad that I got to meet these two characters and be a part of their world. Lisbeth is one of the strongest female characters I can think of, and Blomkvist is far too dreamy for his own good.
27. Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella (4) One of Kinsella's stand alone books (outside of the shopaholic series), she tells the story of Lexi Smart, a woman who has an car accident and wakes up to realize that she has amnesia and doesn't remember the last three years of her life. She last remembers having a crappy entry level job, being stood up by her latest crappy boyfriend, and being unhappy with her appearance and when she wakes up she's taken over her bosses' position, is married to a millionaire, and is having an affair. It is hilarious, surprising, and I absolutely loved hanging out with Lexi for a day.
Currently we're on week 24 of the year, so I'm three books ahead of schedule. I really do wish that I wasn't outrageously lazy and kept better track of the books I've been reading, what week I read them, and what I liked and disliked about them, but I suppose it could be worse.
James, Terry and I went to North Conway a couple of weekends ago to stay with my Aunt and Uncle, and while we were there we went to Jackson, NH for the annual duck races. They were having a book sale at their community center with tons of books donated by the local libraries. They were doing a special about 15 minutes after we got there: $1 per shopping bags of books. I got 14 books for $1. Seriously unbelievable.
Summer hours have started at work so I have today off which is greatly appreciated. Terry and I woke up and watched some Ahh! Real Monsters and Laguna Beach season 1 on the Wii Netflicks, then we went downtown and the most delicious lunch at Sugar Mags (I had a cup of corn chowder and a fruit salad topped with curry chicken salad and it was the dreamiest lunch ever. Definitely the first two courses I would want for my last meal on earth). Now I'm hanging out with Lukah watching this insane documentary on the National Scrabble Tournament in 2002. I thought I loved Scrabble, but these people are legit bat shit.
3.26.2010
March Madness
So, long time no write. This whole daylight savings thing has honestly made me a ruined woman. To be fair, I did predict that being ahead in my book count would become an advantage once I started to trade my valuable reading time for an hour of shut eye. These past couple weeks have been pretty insane.
Firstly, last weekend was a ridiculous extravaganza of wedding frivolity. James, Terry, Tini, Carlos, Emily, a bunch of our other friends and I attended the wedding of Ryan and Jen French. We stayed at the Seaport Hotel in Boston both Saturday and Sunday night and had an absolute blast. It's definitely going to be a difficult shindig to compete with.
Last Friday night, Terry, Molly and Molly's college roommate Bethany went to the Worcester DCU Center to see Michael Buble. We were in the absolute last row of the arena, but we had a great time and our love and affection for Mr. Buble seriously at least tripled.
This week, we had a complete re-org at work and everybody feels a little blind sided. It's going to take some getting used to for certain, but we'll have to wait it out a little to see what this change actually signifies for us as a team.
Our kitchen is also almost finished, we just need to paint, add hardware to all of the cabinets, get the sink installed, and put EVERYTHING into its place. Wow, I guess that list is a little more daunting when it's actually written out. Eeek. Add on top of that that James sent out invitations to a party at our house tomorrow night, and the pressure is on to make our house look inhabitable.
Now onto more important things. Since my last entry, I've finished 3 books and am 1/3 of the way through a fourth. Warning: there are several spoilers in here so if you don't want to find out what I hated most about a book (which is most likely the ending), I'd stop reading now if I were you.
I honestly can't believe that my last entry was before I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I feel like it was an absolute lifetime ago. It turned out that the dreamy publisher I was eluding to before turned out to be gay, but you know, it's really hard to utilize gaydar when reading about a fictional character. I loved the epistolary style, and I always have ever since Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. The plot was really interesting because none of my exposure to World War II in school ever discussed it's impact on other parts of Europe aside from Germany and Austria. The setting of the book was in Guernsey (obvi), one of the islands in the English Channel. During the war, they were completely cut off from civilization, and they had no idea what other countries/cities/islands had been taken over by the Nazis, or who was winning, or how many people had been killed. It was as if they were stuck in a complete deprivation chamber, and based on the book it's hard to say who had it worse: those who were seeing first hand what was happening or those who were cut off from it entirely with only their worst fears to guide them. I give it a solid 4 stars, simply because I wanted more out of the ending (and because I was super let down to know that Elizabeth had died and Kit was left motherless, and I thought it was a little far fetched that everyone trusted Juliet so readily to let a stranger adopt Kit).
The next book I read was Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Book 14). While I was reading it, I had a lot of people ask me what I thought about it compared to Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code since those books turned out to be such crazy blockbusters. I kept comparing it to a hybrid cross between The DaVinci Code and the National Treasure films staring Nicholas Cage. Professor Robert Langdon was as dreamy and dashing and intelligent as ever, and the villain was equally as creepy and demonic as that albino dude from DaVinci Code. I really love how Dan Brown creates insane fast paced thrillers out of such a vast array of subjects and topics. In The Lost Symbol, he fuses together Science, Philosophy, Logic, Art, Masonic Tradition, and National secrets and conspiracies and weaves a web that was almost impossible for Langdon himself to escape from. I really think that anyone who enjoys any of his other writings will really love The Lost Symbol, especially if they have any interest at all in the history of our nation. Easy 4 stars for readability, suspense, and hunky Robert Langdon (laps at the Harvard pool every morning at 4am? Yes, please).
My next reading venture was Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (Book 15). I finished it last Friday, and it honestly took me SO long to read (almost as long as it took Inman to return home to Ada). There's very little dialogue, and since it takes place in the woods and on mountains there are a lot of long, winded passages describing nature (which, don't get me wrong, I really love, but enough is enough Frazier!). Each chapter rotates between the story of Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, and Ada, a beautiful and spoiled young woman whose father has recently passed and left her with a lot of land and very little help and life experience. Many people claim that Cold Mountain is an illustrious love story, but I felt that there was very little connection between Inman and Ada other than the fact that Inman had a little crush on her before he left for war, and Inman was the only prospect of male companionship that Ada had after her father passed. The two shared less than a handful of encounters before Inman had been drafted, and even after that they had only shared four letters during the four years that he was away. I didn't feel love, I felt necessity, and that's the last thing you really want to feel while reading a "love story." I give the book 2.5 stars. I would have given it 3.5 because Ruby's character was amazing, and an absolute breath of fresh air, but then Inman had to go and get himself killed within 3 pages before the end of the story which really makes reading the entire thing absolutely useless.
I'm onto Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Book 16) now, and so far I really like it. The author has an intrinsically mesmerizing way with words, and I find myself wanting to remember and highlight so many passages simply for their amazing structure. I put this passage up as my facebook status because I just love how dry and ironic it is: "We looked as if we'd been cobbled together in Photoshop, the three of us, walking to my husband's funeral. One white middle-class mother, one skinny black refugee girl, and one small Dark Knight from Gotham City. It seemed as if we'd been cut-and-pasted. My thoughts raced, nightmarish and disconnected." I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, so I'll have to update you next time.
Welp, I guess that's all I have to write for now. My next 24 hours are going to consist of cleaning like a crazy person for our party tomorrow. Who knows what disgusting and horrifying things I'm going to find in the wreckage that was our kitchen and dining room. Wish me luck. :)
Firstly, last weekend was a ridiculous extravaganza of wedding frivolity. James, Terry, Tini, Carlos, Emily, a bunch of our other friends and I attended the wedding of Ryan and Jen French. We stayed at the Seaport Hotel in Boston both Saturday and Sunday night and had an absolute blast. It's definitely going to be a difficult shindig to compete with.
Last Friday night, Terry, Molly and Molly's college roommate Bethany went to the Worcester DCU Center to see Michael Buble. We were in the absolute last row of the arena, but we had a great time and our love and affection for Mr. Buble seriously at least tripled.
This week, we had a complete re-org at work and everybody feels a little blind sided. It's going to take some getting used to for certain, but we'll have to wait it out a little to see what this change actually signifies for us as a team.
Our kitchen is also almost finished, we just need to paint, add hardware to all of the cabinets, get the sink installed, and put EVERYTHING into its place. Wow, I guess that list is a little more daunting when it's actually written out. Eeek. Add on top of that that James sent out invitations to a party at our house tomorrow night, and the pressure is on to make our house look inhabitable.
Now onto more important things. Since my last entry, I've finished 3 books and am 1/3 of the way through a fourth. Warning: there are several spoilers in here so if you don't want to find out what I hated most about a book (which is most likely the ending), I'd stop reading now if I were you.
I honestly can't believe that my last entry was before I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I feel like it was an absolute lifetime ago. It turned out that the dreamy publisher I was eluding to before turned out to be gay, but you know, it's really hard to utilize gaydar when reading about a fictional character. I loved the epistolary style, and I always have ever since Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. The plot was really interesting because none of my exposure to World War II in school ever discussed it's impact on other parts of Europe aside from Germany and Austria. The setting of the book was in Guernsey (obvi), one of the islands in the English Channel. During the war, they were completely cut off from civilization, and they had no idea what other countries/cities/islands had been taken over by the Nazis, or who was winning, or how many people had been killed. It was as if they were stuck in a complete deprivation chamber, and based on the book it's hard to say who had it worse: those who were seeing first hand what was happening or those who were cut off from it entirely with only their worst fears to guide them. I give it a solid 4 stars, simply because I wanted more out of the ending (and because I was super let down to know that Elizabeth had died and Kit was left motherless, and I thought it was a little far fetched that everyone trusted Juliet so readily to let a stranger adopt Kit).
The next book I read was Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol (Book 14). While I was reading it, I had a lot of people ask me what I thought about it compared to Angels and Demons and The DaVinci Code since those books turned out to be such crazy blockbusters. I kept comparing it to a hybrid cross between The DaVinci Code and the National Treasure films staring Nicholas Cage. Professor Robert Langdon was as dreamy and dashing and intelligent as ever, and the villain was equally as creepy and demonic as that albino dude from DaVinci Code. I really love how Dan Brown creates insane fast paced thrillers out of such a vast array of subjects and topics. In The Lost Symbol, he fuses together Science, Philosophy, Logic, Art, Masonic Tradition, and National secrets and conspiracies and weaves a web that was almost impossible for Langdon himself to escape from. I really think that anyone who enjoys any of his other writings will really love The Lost Symbol, especially if they have any interest at all in the history of our nation. Easy 4 stars for readability, suspense, and hunky Robert Langdon (laps at the Harvard pool every morning at 4am? Yes, please).
My next reading venture was Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (Book 15). I finished it last Friday, and it honestly took me SO long to read (almost as long as it took Inman to return home to Ada). There's very little dialogue, and since it takes place in the woods and on mountains there are a lot of long, winded passages describing nature (which, don't get me wrong, I really love, but enough is enough Frazier!). Each chapter rotates between the story of Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, and Ada, a beautiful and spoiled young woman whose father has recently passed and left her with a lot of land and very little help and life experience. Many people claim that Cold Mountain is an illustrious love story, but I felt that there was very little connection between Inman and Ada other than the fact that Inman had a little crush on her before he left for war, and Inman was the only prospect of male companionship that Ada had after her father passed. The two shared less than a handful of encounters before Inman had been drafted, and even after that they had only shared four letters during the four years that he was away. I didn't feel love, I felt necessity, and that's the last thing you really want to feel while reading a "love story." I give the book 2.5 stars. I would have given it 3.5 because Ruby's character was amazing, and an absolute breath of fresh air, but then Inman had to go and get himself killed within 3 pages before the end of the story which really makes reading the entire thing absolutely useless.
I'm onto Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Book 16) now, and so far I really like it. The author has an intrinsically mesmerizing way with words, and I find myself wanting to remember and highlight so many passages simply for their amazing structure. I put this passage up as my facebook status because I just love how dry and ironic it is: "We looked as if we'd been cobbled together in Photoshop, the three of us, walking to my husband's funeral. One white middle-class mother, one skinny black refugee girl, and one small Dark Knight from Gotham City. It seemed as if we'd been cut-and-pasted. My thoughts raced, nightmarish and disconnected." I'm only about 1/3 of the way through, so I'll have to update you next time.
Welp, I guess that's all I have to write for now. My next 24 hours are going to consist of cleaning like a crazy person for our party tomorrow. Who knows what disgusting and horrifying things I'm going to find in the wreckage that was our kitchen and dining room. Wish me luck. :)
2.22.2010
I'd completely do Bode Miller
Man the Olympics are cool. I was watching the men's Nordic combo last week and I honestly was just so exhausted by the end. The US men's hockey team beat Canada last night, which is insane. I felt like I was watching Miracle all over again.
I finished Woebegon Boy by Garrison Keillor (Book 11) last week, and I actually really liked it a lot. It was like a comedy of errors where the story of the main character was told through hilarious anecdotes of misfortune and grief. I wish that I could have related to the small town mentality a bit more, but it reminded me a lot of Groundhog Day cross bred with Fargo, which I really appreciated and enjoyed. I really loved the main character, John, and his crazy family that he didn't truly appreciate until after one of them was gone. His significant other, Alida, was seriously the perfect female counterpart. She was selfless, and intelligent, and thoughtful, and she is one of the best and most likable female characters that I've ever read. I'll easily grant this novel 4 stars for the crazy Grateful Dead references alone.
I also finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Book 12) last Friday. It was a quick read, but I absolutely adored every second of it. I can certainly envision it being a book that I return to year after year for the rest of my life, until I essentially become Olive. The novel is a collection of short stories chronicling the life of retired math teacher, Olive Kitteridge, from Crosby, Maine. What is unforgettable about these short stories is that while each chapter mentions Olive, or an acquaintance of Olive's, each is narrated by a different character and not every story line directly involves her. In some stories, she just happens to walk through the background, barely undetected by many but making an immense impact on the narrator. In others, she's sharing her deepest secrets and most traumatic experiences (being held hostage in a hospital in nothing but a modesty gown, watching her son's wife smoke cigarettes and drink beers while pregnant with her first and only grandchild). I wish that I had actually spread the book out a little more, but it was like an ice cold glass of lemonade on a humid August day. I barely even stopped to breathe. I'd give the book a solid 4.5 stars, but I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a read for everybody. Strout's writing is more about the details, more about what the narrator isn't saying, more about how this short anecdote is merely a building block in monstrous sky scraper that is Olive Kitteridge the character. I'd recommend it to any reader who enjoyed Let the Great World Spin, Dubliners, or Nine Stories, which just so happen to be three of my favorite books. I have a ridiculous soft spot for short stories and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
I started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Book 13) this morning and I absolutely LOVE it. It's an epistolary novel, which means that it's written as a series of documents (in this case letters), and chronicles the German invasion of the island of Guernsey (located in the English channel). I already have a crush on Sidney, the dreamy publisher, and am deeply hoping for a hook up between him and Juliet, the sweetly impulsive author. But we shall see what happens...
In other news, James and I made the most delicious Thai Peanut Ground Chicken Meatloaf for dinner tonight. NOM! It had grated carrots, yellow onion, garlic, peanut sauce, Braggs, an egg, breadcrumbs, pickled ginger, red and black ground pepper, and some cumin. We had it with some sesame ginger rice and a tomato and mozzarella salad. It really is the hugest pain in the butt to cook without a kitchen, so I'm considering it a small victory for foodies everywhere.
I finished Woebegon Boy by Garrison Keillor (Book 11) last week, and I actually really liked it a lot. It was like a comedy of errors where the story of the main character was told through hilarious anecdotes of misfortune and grief. I wish that I could have related to the small town mentality a bit more, but it reminded me a lot of Groundhog Day cross bred with Fargo, which I really appreciated and enjoyed. I really loved the main character, John, and his crazy family that he didn't truly appreciate until after one of them was gone. His significant other, Alida, was seriously the perfect female counterpart. She was selfless, and intelligent, and thoughtful, and she is one of the best and most likable female characters that I've ever read. I'll easily grant this novel 4 stars for the crazy Grateful Dead references alone.
I also finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Book 12) last Friday. It was a quick read, but I absolutely adored every second of it. I can certainly envision it being a book that I return to year after year for the rest of my life, until I essentially become Olive. The novel is a collection of short stories chronicling the life of retired math teacher, Olive Kitteridge, from Crosby, Maine. What is unforgettable about these short stories is that while each chapter mentions Olive, or an acquaintance of Olive's, each is narrated by a different character and not every story line directly involves her. In some stories, she just happens to walk through the background, barely undetected by many but making an immense impact on the narrator. In others, she's sharing her deepest secrets and most traumatic experiences (being held hostage in a hospital in nothing but a modesty gown, watching her son's wife smoke cigarettes and drink beers while pregnant with her first and only grandchild). I wish that I had actually spread the book out a little more, but it was like an ice cold glass of lemonade on a humid August day. I barely even stopped to breathe. I'd give the book a solid 4.5 stars, but I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a read for everybody. Strout's writing is more about the details, more about what the narrator isn't saying, more about how this short anecdote is merely a building block in monstrous sky scraper that is Olive Kitteridge the character. I'd recommend it to any reader who enjoyed Let the Great World Spin, Dubliners, or Nine Stories, which just so happen to be three of my favorite books. I have a ridiculous soft spot for short stories and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
I started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Book 13) this morning and I absolutely LOVE it. It's an epistolary novel, which means that it's written as a series of documents (in this case letters), and chronicles the German invasion of the island of Guernsey (located in the English channel). I already have a crush on Sidney, the dreamy publisher, and am deeply hoping for a hook up between him and Juliet, the sweetly impulsive author. But we shall see what happens...
In other news, James and I made the most delicious Thai Peanut Ground Chicken Meatloaf for dinner tonight. NOM! It had grated carrots, yellow onion, garlic, peanut sauce, Braggs, an egg, breadcrumbs, pickled ginger, red and black ground pepper, and some cumin. We had it with some sesame ginger rice and a tomato and mozzarella salad. It really is the hugest pain in the butt to cook without a kitchen, so I'm considering it a small victory for foodies everywhere.
2.10.2010
The book with no ending (literally)
So I went to Glazed with Terry, my Aunt Nancy, Maryellen and Bonnie last night to work on our bowl set, and I got back the two bowls I painted last week. Literally amazing. I guess it just goes to show that a lack of planning isn't always a bad thing. I just used random colors and put stripes all along the inside of the bowls. I've been using this special glaze with these rocks in it that explode in the kiln, so there is no way to guess how the colors are going to come out. By the end of it, we're going to have a very expensive set of hand painted bowls and plates, but you know, spending my money on doing something that I really like to do and getting something tangible out of the deal is just about as good as it gets.
I finished The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham yesterday (book 10) and I'm giving it 1 star. I was moderately interested in the characters, the plot was a little tired after seeing Wedding Crashers and listening to Gold Digger on loop, but what truly ruined this book was the fact that there was no ending. At all. Wickham had to put "The End" after the last paragraph or else the reader would have ripped the pages to shreds trying to find the closing paragraphs and pages. Just as the book is about to come to it's climax (Zara was going to meet her father finally, we were going to find out what happened between Fleur and Richard (Was she staying? Was he mad that she lied about Zara's father being dead? How much money did he really have after giving Phillipa and Antony their trusts?), we didn't know whether Lambert just get off scott free after trying to steal money from Richard and strangle Phillipa or if he was sued, and I have no idea what was happening with the romance between Antony and Zara), Wickham completely bailed on the book because honestly, she wrote herself into a corner. If she was going to keep consistent with Fleur's character, there would be no way for her to settle down with Richard after she found out that he just gave away 10 million dollars. There was no real evidence that she loved him at all, and she would have ended up leaving him. I hated it and I do not recommend it to anyone, at all, ever.
Ugh. Anyway...today we're supposed to get a huge snow storm and I 'm kind of concerned about getting home but we'll see how it goes. I started Garrison Keillor's Woebegon Boy on the train ride in this morning, but it's extremely detailed prose with small print so it might take me a couple days. I'll keep you posted.
I finished The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham yesterday (book 10) and I'm giving it 1 star. I was moderately interested in the characters, the plot was a little tired after seeing Wedding Crashers and listening to Gold Digger on loop, but what truly ruined this book was the fact that there was no ending. At all. Wickham had to put "The End" after the last paragraph or else the reader would have ripped the pages to shreds trying to find the closing paragraphs and pages. Just as the book is about to come to it's climax (Zara was going to meet her father finally, we were going to find out what happened between Fleur and Richard (Was she staying? Was he mad that she lied about Zara's father being dead? How much money did he really have after giving Phillipa and Antony their trusts?), we didn't know whether Lambert just get off scott free after trying to steal money from Richard and strangle Phillipa or if he was sued, and I have no idea what was happening with the romance between Antony and Zara), Wickham completely bailed on the book because honestly, she wrote herself into a corner. If she was going to keep consistent with Fleur's character, there would be no way for her to settle down with Richard after she found out that he just gave away 10 million dollars. There was no real evidence that she loved him at all, and she would have ended up leaving him. I hated it and I do not recommend it to anyone, at all, ever.
Ugh. Anyway...today we're supposed to get a huge snow storm and I 'm kind of concerned about getting home but we'll see how it goes. I started Garrison Keillor's Woebegon Boy on the train ride in this morning, but it's extremely detailed prose with small print so it might take me a couple days. I'll keep you posted.
2.07.2010
All those Doritos commercials really worked.
James and I just watched the first half of the Super Bowl and were absolutely killing ourselves over the fact that we didn't have any Doritos. Normally Carlos brings some Nacho Cheese and Tacos at Midnight, but since we are in the midst of a kitchen volcano, we didn't have any one over to watch the game this year.
I've been kind of sick recently (okay, this past Friday I was REALLY sick), but it's given me some non-train time to read which has been nice. I finished Nightlight, Push, The Glass Castle and Valley of the Dolls since my last post. The ratings are below:
Tuesday Edit: I just started a little bit of fluff reading in between all of these heart-wrenching tales of abuse, poverty, and deception. Yesterday I started Madeleine Wickham's The Gatecrasher and should be done by my train ride home today. It's semi-trashy chick lit, so I wont have much to critique. I wasn't even sure if I was going to admit to the chick lit that I indulge in every once in a while on here, but since I'm the only one who reads this I don't see why I shouldn't.
I've been kind of sick recently (okay, this past Friday I was REALLY sick), but it's given me some non-train time to read which has been nice. I finished Nightlight, Push, The Glass Castle and Valley of the Dolls since my last post. The ratings are below:
- 6. Nightlight (Harvard Lampoon): 3 Stars. The beginning and the end of this book were pretty hilarious, but the middle was absolutely dragging. Coming from someone who loves Twilight, but still realizes how ridiculous the concept of a teenage vampire romance novel is, I'd recommend it to anyone who can appreciate the true definition of a parody without getting offended. Some Amazon reviewers were pretty pissed, but I wouldn't necessarily take their word as final.
- 7. Push: A Novel (Sapphire): 4 Stars. Push seriously blew me away. The frankness and intensity of Sapphire's words were both shocking and unbelievable, but the portrait that she painted of Precious Jones was something that needed to be shared with the world. The fact that a girl with so little could still see a slight ray of hope in such a dark and scary world was inspiring to say the least. A sure fire read for anybody who ever wants to work with children or teenagers.
- 8. The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls): 4.5 Stars. This was an amazing book to read after Push, since I was already in that kind of mindset. The memoir, told by Jeannette Walls about her life growing up with an alcoholic father and an artist mother, was seriously a gem that I am so happy to have stumbled upon. While many people chastise memoirists for their tendency to exaggerate, self aggrandise, or for their inability to tell a story subjectively, I think that sometimes that is the true beauty of the tale. The way a seven-year-old sees the world, and the way they remember things happening, may not be the exact truth, but it's their truth. It's what they've based their entire memory and life on, and I think that says a lot. Besides, there aren't many people in the world whose absolute true life story is interesting enough to sell thousands of copies of; we all need a little juicing up to make our stories worth while.
- 9. Valley of the Dolls (Jacqueline Susann): 3 Stars. I've wanted to read Valley of the Dolls for quite sometime and last weekend at the thrift store I found it for 35 cents and couldn't resist. It's certainly a book that I'm never going to forget (seriously, how could ANYONE forget Neely O'Hara?), but it wasn't one that I was satisfied with. The entire time I was reading it, I was enamored with the thought of Lyon and Anne. Everyone else's lives were just so tragic and heart breaking, but there was always the beautiful prospect of happiness lying in Lyon and Anne's relationship. I even said to myself, "I don't care what happens as long as Lyon and Anne are together!" Boy was I wrong. Neely and Lyon are two of the most despicable characters I've ever encountered, and can't wait for the day that someone brings home an ugly pet so I can name it Neely O'Hara.
Tuesday Edit: I just started a little bit of fluff reading in between all of these heart-wrenching tales of abuse, poverty, and deception. Yesterday I started Madeleine Wickham's The Gatecrasher and should be done by my train ride home today. It's semi-trashy chick lit, so I wont have much to critique. I wasn't even sure if I was going to admit to the chick lit that I indulge in every once in a while on here, but since I'm the only one who reads this I don't see why I shouldn't.
1.26.2010
To Read cont.
Bloodroot (Amy Greene)
Just Kids (Patti Smith)
The Privileges (Jonathan Dee)
Too Much Happiness (Alice Munro)
Await Your Reply (Dan Chaon)
The Magicians (Lev Grossman)
The Song is You (Arthur Phillips)
The Good Thief (Hannah Tinti)
Travel Writing (Peter Ferry)
Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout)
Just Kids (Patti Smith)
The Privileges (Jonathan Dee)
Too Much Happiness (Alice Munro)
Await Your Reply (Dan Chaon)
The Magicians (Lev Grossman)
The Song is You (Arthur Phillips)
The Good Thief (Hannah Tinti)
Travel Writing (Peter Ferry)
Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout)
1.25.2010
Sounds Like Crazy
So I finished Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Maheffey last week, and actually liked it a lot more than I anticipated. I was excited when Terry bought it for me for Christmas, but reading books that really delve deep into character's psyches can sometimes freak me out.
The main character, Holly Miller, suffered from dissociative identity disorder (which in the past was referred to as multiple personality disorder). Four of her personalities, Ruffles (an obese, chip munching woman who lived her life on a large purple pillow), Sarge (a military officer with a scar on his neck), The Boy (who wore red converse sneakers and didn't have a face) and the Silent One (a meditating man who never spoke), were pretty harmless. For a while it seemed as though their main function was to help Holly survive day to day situations involving her fifth personality, Betty Jane (a Southern belle with a horrible temper, who forced Holly to spend her parent's credit cards on clothing, private transportation and Charmin toilet paper). These five personalities made up the Committee. While Holly was working as a waitress at a diner in New York City, she would sometimes allow either Betty Jane or Ruffles take over her personality since they were far more outgoing and thus more likely to make better tips. During one instance when Betty Jane was in control, Holly met the developer of a new animated television show. He was incredibly interested in having Holly (Betty Jane) audition for the role of the main character.
After working for a month perfecting the art of becoming a voice-over actor, Holly won the part of Violet. She got a reputation for being extremely high maintenance because for Holly to use Betty Jane's voice, she also had to fork over her free will and allow Betty Jane to be completely in control of her body, her mind, and the Committee. As time passed, Holly also auditioned for the part of Harriet, using Ruffles' voice. She went on to win two Emmys, but her continued strange, diva behavior resulted in her being fired from the show.
Her dismissal brought upon a deep depression, where she began having difficulty maintaining control over the Committee. Her therapist helped her attempt to integrate both the Committee and herself into one, and by doing so revealed that dissociative identity disorder is ordinarily caused by intense trauma. Throughout sessions with her therapist, Holly unearthed the tragedies of her past and slowly gained insight on each of the Committee members, who they represent, and what role they played in her past and present.
The story was both hilarious and haunting, and while I was rooting for Holly to overcome her past and become a fully functioning person with only one personality, I found myself also wishing for Ruffles, Sarge, The Boy, and The Silent One to become their own people as well. And while I knew that Holly had to be hiding some truly traumatic things from herself, Mahaffey really surprised me with the intensity of it all.
I let Emily borrow the book after I finished with it since she went to school for psychology, and would probably have a completely different reaction to the story than I did. However, I would highly recommend the book to anyone despite their previous knowledge of psychology or dissociative identity disorder. It was a great train read, not only immensely entertaining but also wildly thought provoking.
Overall, I'd give it 4 stars. I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say that it's one of my favorite books of all time.
This week I borrowed Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon from Emily. She said I'd probably read it in one sitting, so I'm also reading Push: A Novel by Sapphire. I haven't seen Precious yet, but am looking forward to hopping on that bandwagon.
The main character, Holly Miller, suffered from dissociative identity disorder (which in the past was referred to as multiple personality disorder). Four of her personalities, Ruffles (an obese, chip munching woman who lived her life on a large purple pillow), Sarge (a military officer with a scar on his neck), The Boy (who wore red converse sneakers and didn't have a face) and the Silent One (a meditating man who never spoke), were pretty harmless. For a while it seemed as though their main function was to help Holly survive day to day situations involving her fifth personality, Betty Jane (a Southern belle with a horrible temper, who forced Holly to spend her parent's credit cards on clothing, private transportation and Charmin toilet paper). These five personalities made up the Committee. While Holly was working as a waitress at a diner in New York City, she would sometimes allow either Betty Jane or Ruffles take over her personality since they were far more outgoing and thus more likely to make better tips. During one instance when Betty Jane was in control, Holly met the developer of a new animated television show. He was incredibly interested in having Holly (Betty Jane) audition for the role of the main character.
After working for a month perfecting the art of becoming a voice-over actor, Holly won the part of Violet. She got a reputation for being extremely high maintenance because for Holly to use Betty Jane's voice, she also had to fork over her free will and allow Betty Jane to be completely in control of her body, her mind, and the Committee. As time passed, Holly also auditioned for the part of Harriet, using Ruffles' voice. She went on to win two Emmys, but her continued strange, diva behavior resulted in her being fired from the show.
Her dismissal brought upon a deep depression, where she began having difficulty maintaining control over the Committee. Her therapist helped her attempt to integrate both the Committee and herself into one, and by doing so revealed that dissociative identity disorder is ordinarily caused by intense trauma. Throughout sessions with her therapist, Holly unearthed the tragedies of her past and slowly gained insight on each of the Committee members, who they represent, and what role they played in her past and present.
The story was both hilarious and haunting, and while I was rooting for Holly to overcome her past and become a fully functioning person with only one personality, I found myself also wishing for Ruffles, Sarge, The Boy, and The Silent One to become their own people as well. And while I knew that Holly had to be hiding some truly traumatic things from herself, Mahaffey really surprised me with the intensity of it all.
I let Emily borrow the book after I finished with it since she went to school for psychology, and would probably have a completely different reaction to the story than I did. However, I would highly recommend the book to anyone despite their previous knowledge of psychology or dissociative identity disorder. It was a great train read, not only immensely entertaining but also wildly thought provoking.
Overall, I'd give it 4 stars. I really enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say that it's one of my favorite books of all time.
This week I borrowed Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon from Emily. She said I'd probably read it in one sitting, so I'm also reading Push: A Novel by Sapphire. I haven't seen Precious yet, but am looking forward to hopping on that bandwagon.
1.23.2010
Bravo Papa!
On the eve of our decision to begin turning our delicious dinners together into amateur Phantom Gourmet expeditions, we stumbled upon the Mecca. The Holy Grail. The lost city of Atlantis. The looks darting across the table were ones of awe and disbelief. Could it really be that a place does exist where the meat sauce alone is enough to make Michael Lentini actually cry?
The night began as many others do: empty stomachs, Lentini in the trunk, and 40-minute waits at every respectable restaurant in town. While the buffalo tenders at Lat might have been sufficient for most of us, James wasn't having it. He whipped out his military grade cell phone and dialed 411.
Casa de Lucca (http://www.casadeluccarestaurant.com/) is a small family run eatery in Beverly, MA. James and I went a few years ago with my parents after watching one of my brother's hockey games in Salem. We remembered it being pretty good, and attempted to take everyone there last weekend for Emily's birthday. When we arrived, there was hardly enough room for us to fit inside the door, but the smell wafting out through the cracks was hypnotizing. We pushed through the crowd, grabbed seats at the bar and were torn between whether or not to wait it out or try our luck somewhere else. There wasn't an employee in sight, let alone a hostess to tame the increasingly angry mob of hungry Italians. A family who had been waiting there for about 40 minutes wrote a note on the hostess' pad of paper saying their party was leaving and that they received the worst service imaginable. While they were on their way out, James asked where they were heading and they told us to another place down the street. Since we weren't any closer to getting a table than we were when we first walked in, we decided to follow the crowd and venture onto more promising prospects. While the dinner we did end up having wasn't horrible, the service and ambiance were atrocious. A waitress spilled water all over our bruschetta (and Emily!) and did not offer to replace it, the waitress neglected to ask everyone (minus James) what kind of pasta they wanted so everyone got potatoes (at an Italian restaurant?!), and they had this crazy Lilith Fair tribute band playing throughout the entire duration of our meal.
Anyway, back to the story at hand. James dialed 411 and got the number for Casa de Lucca. Since the restaurant is about a 15-minute drive from Gloucester, we decided we could call ahead and by the time we arrived there might be a table for us. At that exact moment however, the universe shifted a little bit and the stars above us arranged themselves into a perfect, linguine shaped line. There was no wait. There were no angry note-leaving Italians in the doorway. They could feed us right away.
We filed back into the car, shut Lentini into the trunk with our ski boots, and headed up the highway. 15 minutes and the Thong Song later, we arrived and Carlos danced a jig all the way to the door. If we had been more perceptive, we might have considered the fact that finding a perfect parking spot directly outside of the restaurant was mere foreshadowing of the perfection awaiting us. The smell hit us as soon as we walked in. The kind of smell that takes you back to your grandmother's faux brick walled kitchen as a child, or one that you might smell if confronted with Professor Slughorn's love potion (for those living under rocks, the potion smells differently to each individual depending on what most attracts them). It honestly was like a scene in a perfectly scripted sitcom; the hostess came over and asked if we were the party who called ahead, we all said yes, and as she turned to bring us to our table we spotted a framed photograph of a little girl directly above the hostess stand. Carlos' eyes began darting between the picture and the hostess. The picture. The hostess. The picture. The hostess. It was her, however instead of missing teeth and pig tails, she donned an apron and a welcoming smile. That's when it hit us: this place was the real deal; real Italian food made by a real Italian family. Our hearts began to race with excitement as we took our seats.
(Side note: from this point on I deeply apologize for the over usage of the word delicious.)
We began the meal by ordering two bottles of wine, a Chianti and a Cabernet/Merlot. We toasted to "Doing it all over again", since being there felt like such de ja vu, but I'm pretty sure we couldn't have been more wrong. It's impossible to be doing it all over again when you're experiencing such pleasure for the first time. Our waitress then brought over the most delicious garlic bread sticks any of us have ever had, along with a bottle of olive oil for dipping/drenching said bread. We started examining our menus in between bites and grunts of rhapsody. The main consensus was to either get the Tour of Italy (ravioli in marinara, linguine alfredo, AND chicken parmigiana) or the Southern Italy (eggplant parmigiana, linguine bolognese, AND lasagna), being that both options allowed us to not have to choose just one meal (pfffff). There honestly was no wrong or bad choice on the menu, so it is impossible to imagine the pained looks on our faces when it actually came time to order.
The waitress began with Emily, who had decided on the Tour of Italy. The visions of alfredo dancing through her head were far too strong for her to resist. I then ordered the Vitello alla Parmagiana (veal parm), followed by Terry's Mussels alla Marinara and James' Tour of Italy (with veal parm instead of chicken). Now this is where things got interesting. It is a well known fact that it is (nearly) impossible for Lentini to order something if another person at the table has already ordered it, which is why he likes to order last. Being that he was going to have to order right before Carlos, that crazy trickster, he was immensely secretive during our post-ordering analyses. He totally hit one out to left field when he announced to the waitress (who he was completely eye f*cking by the way) that he'd have the lasagna. While we were all exchanging surprised looks, the waitress asked, "With the regular marinara or the meat sauce?" Tini looked at her like she had six heads and a hunchback and said, "The meat sauce, of course." Carlos rounded up the line up with the Pollo alla Parmagiana, although we were all completely banking on him to throw Tini for a loop and order the lasagna. Apparently Carlos wasn't game for putting his delicious dinner on the line just to mess with Tini's head. He was clearly playing for keeps.
The next order of business was the salad. Some might compare Casa de Lucca's unlimited salad and bread sticks to that of the Olive Garden's, but to do so would be an injustice. The salad came out in a family style bowl, and we were all invited to help ourselves to a heaping portion of greens. The mountainous salad was deliciously chilled with a summit of the sweetest red onions imaginable. The dressing was a tangy vinaigrette that would put any mass produced Olive Garden dressing to shame. An unexpected bonus was that for those in our party that preferred to not have salad, they were offered a homemade soup instead at no extra cost. Lentini and Emily enjoyed a deliciously concocted Vegetable Barley soup that went great with the wine, and even more wonderfully with the warm, garlicky bread sticks.
Although the waitress did not offer to refill our salad bowl, looking back I consider it a favor. She cleared our salad plates and soup bowls and began to present us with our entrees. Every dish that she placed on the table was met with applause and an echo of "Ooohhhss" and "Aaaahhsss". The fragrant steam hovering above the sauces and meats and pastas were enough to make us all collapse from over stimulation. Emily and James' Tour of Italy entrees were served on platters (not plates) that were each large enough to feed a party of at least 4 people. Terry's pasta was covered in so many fresh, garlicky mussels, it was impossible for all of us to resist trying one. Mine and Carlos' veal and chicken parmesan dishes were so large that the meat and the pasta each had to be served on two separate plates. And finally Tini was given his enormous brick of lasagna absolutely covered in meat sauce. He took one bite of the lasagna, gave us all a blank expression, dropped his fork, picked up his spoon, and started shoveling mouthfuls of sauce and meat into his mouth. His eyes began to twinkle, his expression had a softness about it the likes of which none of us had seen before. His heart was so touched by the 50-50 ratio of meat to sauce that it positively rendered him speechless. Believe me when I say that it was the first time any of us had seen him so inspired, so head over heels in love with an Italian food that was not made by him or a member of his incredibly Italian family.
None of us finished our meals. It was the first time in our history that every single one of us brought home leftovers. The evening ended with Lentini making eyes at and inappropriate comments to our waitress (expected), Emily declining dessert (completely unexpected), and all of us deciding to start grading our meals from here on out. We realized that since we all love going out to eat with one another, we might as well chronicle our various food journeys for our own pleasure and future reference. We then developed the "Five Nom" grading scale, with One Nom being horrible and Five Noms being, well, Casa de Lucca. It's a little unfair really to think that the first night of our grading system resulted in the highest of holy honors, but you know, I think that's the way it was supposed to happen. It takes being truly inspired by something to be jolted into action, and I for one am thankful that it was Casa de Lucca that had the power to do it.
The night began as many others do: empty stomachs, Lentini in the trunk, and 40-minute waits at every respectable restaurant in town. While the buffalo tenders at Lat might have been sufficient for most of us, James wasn't having it. He whipped out his military grade cell phone and dialed 411.
Casa de Lucca (http://www.casadeluccarestaurant.com/) is a small family run eatery in Beverly, MA. James and I went a few years ago with my parents after watching one of my brother's hockey games in Salem. We remembered it being pretty good, and attempted to take everyone there last weekend for Emily's birthday. When we arrived, there was hardly enough room for us to fit inside the door, but the smell wafting out through the cracks was hypnotizing. We pushed through the crowd, grabbed seats at the bar and were torn between whether or not to wait it out or try our luck somewhere else. There wasn't an employee in sight, let alone a hostess to tame the increasingly angry mob of hungry Italians. A family who had been waiting there for about 40 minutes wrote a note on the hostess' pad of paper saying their party was leaving and that they received the worst service imaginable. While they were on their way out, James asked where they were heading and they told us to another place down the street. Since we weren't any closer to getting a table than we were when we first walked in, we decided to follow the crowd and venture onto more promising prospects. While the dinner we did end up having wasn't horrible, the service and ambiance were atrocious. A waitress spilled water all over our bruschetta (and Emily!) and did not offer to replace it, the waitress neglected to ask everyone (minus James) what kind of pasta they wanted so everyone got potatoes (at an Italian restaurant?!), and they had this crazy Lilith Fair tribute band playing throughout the entire duration of our meal.
Anyway, back to the story at hand. James dialed 411 and got the number for Casa de Lucca. Since the restaurant is about a 15-minute drive from Gloucester, we decided we could call ahead and by the time we arrived there might be a table for us. At that exact moment however, the universe shifted a little bit and the stars above us arranged themselves into a perfect, linguine shaped line. There was no wait. There were no angry note-leaving Italians in the doorway. They could feed us right away.
We filed back into the car, shut Lentini into the trunk with our ski boots, and headed up the highway. 15 minutes and the Thong Song later, we arrived and Carlos danced a jig all the way to the door. If we had been more perceptive, we might have considered the fact that finding a perfect parking spot directly outside of the restaurant was mere foreshadowing of the perfection awaiting us. The smell hit us as soon as we walked in. The kind of smell that takes you back to your grandmother's faux brick walled kitchen as a child, or one that you might smell if confronted with Professor Slughorn's love potion (for those living under rocks, the potion smells differently to each individual depending on what most attracts them). It honestly was like a scene in a perfectly scripted sitcom; the hostess came over and asked if we were the party who called ahead, we all said yes, and as she turned to bring us to our table we spotted a framed photograph of a little girl directly above the hostess stand. Carlos' eyes began darting between the picture and the hostess. The picture. The hostess. The picture. The hostess. It was her, however instead of missing teeth and pig tails, she donned an apron and a welcoming smile. That's when it hit us: this place was the real deal; real Italian food made by a real Italian family. Our hearts began to race with excitement as we took our seats.
(Side note: from this point on I deeply apologize for the over usage of the word delicious.)
We began the meal by ordering two bottles of wine, a Chianti and a Cabernet/Merlot. We toasted to "Doing it all over again", since being there felt like such de ja vu, but I'm pretty sure we couldn't have been more wrong. It's impossible to be doing it all over again when you're experiencing such pleasure for the first time. Our waitress then brought over the most delicious garlic bread sticks any of us have ever had, along with a bottle of olive oil for dipping/drenching said bread. We started examining our menus in between bites and grunts of rhapsody. The main consensus was to either get the Tour of Italy (ravioli in marinara, linguine alfredo, AND chicken parmigiana) or the Southern Italy (eggplant parmigiana, linguine bolognese, AND lasagna), being that both options allowed us to not have to choose just one meal (pfffff). There honestly was no wrong or bad choice on the menu, so it is impossible to imagine the pained looks on our faces when it actually came time to order.
The waitress began with Emily, who had decided on the Tour of Italy. The visions of alfredo dancing through her head were far too strong for her to resist. I then ordered the Vitello alla Parmagiana (veal parm), followed by Terry's Mussels alla Marinara and James' Tour of Italy (with veal parm instead of chicken). Now this is where things got interesting. It is a well known fact that it is (nearly) impossible for Lentini to order something if another person at the table has already ordered it, which is why he likes to order last. Being that he was going to have to order right before Carlos, that crazy trickster, he was immensely secretive during our post-ordering analyses. He totally hit one out to left field when he announced to the waitress (who he was completely eye f*cking by the way) that he'd have the lasagna. While we were all exchanging surprised looks, the waitress asked, "With the regular marinara or the meat sauce?" Tini looked at her like she had six heads and a hunchback and said, "The meat sauce, of course." Carlos rounded up the line up with the Pollo alla Parmagiana, although we were all completely banking on him to throw Tini for a loop and order the lasagna. Apparently Carlos wasn't game for putting his delicious dinner on the line just to mess with Tini's head. He was clearly playing for keeps.
The next order of business was the salad. Some might compare Casa de Lucca's unlimited salad and bread sticks to that of the Olive Garden's, but to do so would be an injustice. The salad came out in a family style bowl, and we were all invited to help ourselves to a heaping portion of greens. The mountainous salad was deliciously chilled with a summit of the sweetest red onions imaginable. The dressing was a tangy vinaigrette that would put any mass produced Olive Garden dressing to shame. An unexpected bonus was that for those in our party that preferred to not have salad, they were offered a homemade soup instead at no extra cost. Lentini and Emily enjoyed a deliciously concocted Vegetable Barley soup that went great with the wine, and even more wonderfully with the warm, garlicky bread sticks.
Although the waitress did not offer to refill our salad bowl, looking back I consider it a favor. She cleared our salad plates and soup bowls and began to present us with our entrees. Every dish that she placed on the table was met with applause and an echo of "Ooohhhss" and "Aaaahhsss". The fragrant steam hovering above the sauces and meats and pastas were enough to make us all collapse from over stimulation. Emily and James' Tour of Italy entrees were served on platters (not plates) that were each large enough to feed a party of at least 4 people. Terry's pasta was covered in so many fresh, garlicky mussels, it was impossible for all of us to resist trying one. Mine and Carlos' veal and chicken parmesan dishes were so large that the meat and the pasta each had to be served on two separate plates. And finally Tini was given his enormous brick of lasagna absolutely covered in meat sauce. He took one bite of the lasagna, gave us all a blank expression, dropped his fork, picked up his spoon, and started shoveling mouthfuls of sauce and meat into his mouth. His eyes began to twinkle, his expression had a softness about it the likes of which none of us had seen before. His heart was so touched by the 50-50 ratio of meat to sauce that it positively rendered him speechless. Believe me when I say that it was the first time any of us had seen him so inspired, so head over heels in love with an Italian food that was not made by him or a member of his incredibly Italian family.
None of us finished our meals. It was the first time in our history that every single one of us brought home leftovers. The evening ended with Lentini making eyes at and inappropriate comments to our waitress (expected), Emily declining dessert (completely unexpected), and all of us deciding to start grading our meals from here on out. We realized that since we all love going out to eat with one another, we might as well chronicle our various food journeys for our own pleasure and future reference. We then developed the "Five Nom" grading scale, with One Nom being horrible and Five Noms being, well, Casa de Lucca. It's a little unfair really to think that the first night of our grading system resulted in the highest of holy honors, but you know, I think that's the way it was supposed to happen. It takes being truly inspired by something to be jolted into action, and I for one am thankful that it was Casa de Lucca that had the power to do it.
1.21.2010
Desert Island
Film:
1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
2. A League of Their Own
3. Clue
4. Labyrinth
5. The Breakfast Club
(Aside: It is impossible for any of the Harry Potter movies to be included in the above list because their amazingness is far too much for this list to handle. I would need all of them in addition to these five.)
Television:
1. Dawson's Creek
2. The Office
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. Arrested Development
5. Freaks and Geeks
Musical Artists:
1. Phish
2. moe.
3. Michael Franti
4. Regina Spektor
5. Iron & Wine/Death Cab for Cutie (Tie)
Songs:
1. Waste (Phish)
2. Rebubula (moe.)
3. Down With Disease (Phish)
4. Us (Regina Spektor)
5. Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
Books:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
2. Nine Stories (J.D. Salinger)
3. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
4. The Dharma Bums (Jack Kerouac)
5. Possible Side Effects (Augusten Burroughs)
(Aside: Same stipulation applies to this list as the first. Harry Potter > Lists)
1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
2. A League of Their Own
3. Clue
4. Labyrinth
5. The Breakfast Club
(Aside: It is impossible for any of the Harry Potter movies to be included in the above list because their amazingness is far too much for this list to handle. I would need all of them in addition to these five.)
Television:
1. Dawson's Creek
2. The Office
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. Arrested Development
5. Freaks and Geeks
Musical Artists:
1. Phish
2. moe.
3. Michael Franti
4. Regina Spektor
5. Iron & Wine/Death Cab for Cutie (Tie)
Songs:
1. Waste (Phish)
2. Rebubula (moe.)
3. Down With Disease (Phish)
4. Us (Regina Spektor)
5. Mr. Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra)
Books:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
2. Nine Stories (J.D. Salinger)
3. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
4. The Dharma Bums (Jack Kerouac)
5. Possible Side Effects (Augusten Burroughs)
(Aside: Same stipulation applies to this list as the first. Harry Potter > Lists)
The Facts of Life
1. I can't even stand the thought of ankles touching. Mine touching each other, mine touching yours, yours touching yours. Just the thought sends shivers down my spine and makes me want to die.
2. My biggest fear is murderers. Specifically Charles Manson. Thanks E! True Hollywood Story.
2. My biggest fear is murderers. Specifically Charles Manson. Thanks E! True Hollywood Story.
1.20.2010
Youtube 101
Harry Potter Puppet Pals
Move Your Boogie Body
Ghost Ride the Whip
David After Dentist
He's Gonna Kick My Ask
Flea Market Montgomery
Charlie the Unicorn
Charlie Bit Me!
Blood!
Unforgivable
I Like Turtles
Pinky the Cat
The Griddler
Sweet Berry Wine
D!ck in a Box
Leprechaun in Alabama
Lawrence Welk
60 Ghetto Names
The Grape Lady
Old Greg
Gunther
Lighter Tricks
Princess
Gimme More Dumbledore
Ms. Swan
Badger
Dramatic Chipmunk
Salad Fingers
Womanizer
Ras Trent
Kid on a Rollercoaster
Funniest Kid Ever!
Shoes
Cunningham Muffins
Caillou
Aisha
Move Your Boogie Body
Ghost Ride the Whip
David After Dentist
He's Gonna Kick My Ask
Flea Market Montgomery
Charlie the Unicorn
Charlie Bit Me!
Blood!
Unforgivable
I Like Turtles
Pinky the Cat
The Griddler
Sweet Berry Wine
D!ck in a Box
Leprechaun in Alabama
Lawrence Welk
60 Ghetto Names
The Grape Lady
Old Greg
Gunther
Lighter Tricks
Princess
Gimme More Dumbledore
Ms. Swan
Badger
Dramatic Chipmunk
Salad Fingers
Womanizer
Ras Trent
Kid on a Rollercoaster
Funniest Kid Ever!
Shoes
Cunningham Muffins
Caillou
Aisha
1.19.2010
To Read
Brooklyn (Colm Toibin)
This is Where I Leave You (Jonathan Tropper)
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (William Kamkwamba)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)
The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)
The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)
Sag Harbor (Colson Whitehead)
A Gate at the Stairs (Lorrie Moore)
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival (Normal Ollestad)
Beautiful Creatures (Kami Garci)
The Given Day (Dennis Lehane)
This is Where I Leave You (Jonathan Tropper)
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (William Kamkwamba)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)
The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls)
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)
The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown)
Sag Harbor (Colson Whitehead)
A Gate at the Stairs (Lorrie Moore)
Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival (Normal Ollestad)
Beautiful Creatures (Kami Garci)
The Given Day (Dennis Lehane)
Resolution
This year, I decided to commit to a completely realistic New Year's Resolution. I initially resolved to make "Just Do It" my official mantra of 2010, but I knew that those three one syllable words alone weren't enough to actually force me into action. I needed a plan. I needed a goal.
It came out of no where, really. I was in the car with some friends and I blurted out "My New Year's resolution is to read a book a week", like I've been plotting it for days, even weeks. I suppose my subconscious had plans that it decided not fill the rest of me in on.
As of now, I'm a little ahead of the curve, but I'm hoping that's going to help down the line when I'm on the train and my sagging eye lids demand that I exchange 50 pages of my resolution for 50 minutes of sleeping upright.
1. January 1-3: The Girl Who Played with Fire (Steig Larsson)
2. January 4-10: The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein)
3. January 11-17: Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann), 4. The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
5. January 18-24: Sounds Like Crazy (Shana Mahaffey)
It came out of no where, really. I was in the car with some friends and I blurted out "My New Year's resolution is to read a book a week", like I've been plotting it for days, even weeks. I suppose my subconscious had plans that it decided not fill the rest of me in on.
As of now, I'm a little ahead of the curve, but I'm hoping that's going to help down the line when I'm on the train and my sagging eye lids demand that I exchange 50 pages of my resolution for 50 minutes of sleeping upright.
1. January 1-3: The Girl Who Played with Fire (Steig Larsson)
2. January 4-10: The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein)
3. January 11-17: Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann), 4. The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
5. January 18-24: Sounds Like Crazy (Shana Mahaffey)
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