June book update

So, in 2018, I'm taking a slightly different approach to blogging about my reading - I'm not really worrying about the in/out balance or how many books I read each month versus how many have been removed from the list. My only goal in 2018 is to read at least 100 books (as usual), so I'll be counting towards that, and noting books I read, acquire, get rid of, etc, but only for interest. I'm tired of feeling guilty if I acquire new books!

In January:  books read: 7; books otherwise removed: 3; books in: 7; books on windowsill: 62
In February: books read: 6; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 3;  books on windowsill: 61
In March: books read: 8; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 5;  books on windowsill: 60
In April: books read: 13; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 6; books on windowsill: 61
In May: books read: 10 ; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 2; books on windowsill: 58
In June: books read: 10; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 3; books on windowsill: 58

And here's the breakdown for this month: 

• I read (most of) one book which was loaned to Sarah by a friend, but didn't really find it as good as I'd expected - I have high expectations of young adult fantasy these days. It was ok, just didn't really resonate with me (The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater)
• I read one book I purchased last month, almost immediately after buying it - I've been waiting for it to come out in pb for a while (New Boy by Tracy Chevalier)
• I read three children's books to try them out before putting them on my recommendation shelf in my book corner (A House without Mirrors by Marten Sanden, What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau, The Silver Boy by Kristina Ohlsson)
• And a fourth which I know is good as we have copies of it in school already and use it for book groups sometimes, but which I hadn't read myself (Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver)
• I read three books from my list (Autumn by Ali Smith, A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, Runaway by Alice Munro)
• I read a few chapters of a book on my list, but it didn't really grab me (The Brothers Boswell by Philip Baruth), so I put it in the charity shop pile
• I read one library book (I was Born for This by Alice Oseman)
• I bought one used book from AbeBooks (March by Geraldine Brooks)
• I bought a couple of books in a charity shop with the express intent of taking them on holiday with me in August (The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North)

Here's the updated list of Books to Read in 2018. These are the books hanging out on my windowsill upstairs, waiting to be read. Or discarded. But hopefully, read. I started the year with 60 books on this list - you can see how long the books have been knocking around by the dates in brackets.

1. Ford Maddox Ford, Parade's End (Nov 2012 - birthday present - bought after the BBC adaptation - but I knew I wouldn't read it straight away as I wanted to let time pass from the adaptation.  Enough time has probably passed now...)
2. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South (2014)
3. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (would be a re-read, bought shortly after his death - spring 2014 - as I was reminded how much I enjoyed it and I didn't seem to own a copy - think my old one fell apart, probably...) 
4. Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman's Creek (Waterstones Piccadilly - 2016? bought in principle for the girls, but thought I might read it again as it's been ages)
5. Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn (Waterstones Piccadilly - 2016? bought in principle for the girls, but thought I might read it again as it's been ages)
6. Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram (Abe Books, July 2016)
7. Susan Barker, The Incarnations (charity shop, July 2016)
8. Neil MacGregor, Germany: Memories of  a Nation (birthday present, Nov 2016) (This book isn't technically on my windowsill, it's downstairs because I keep thinking I might have a go at reading it, but haven't really got around to it yet...)
9. Orhan Pamuk. A Strangeness in Mind (Christmas present 2016)
10. Andrew Taylor, The Ashes of London (passed to me by Geoff after he read it, April 2017)
11. Mark Haddon (Introduction), States of Mind: Experiences at the Edge of Consciousness (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
12. John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries  (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
13. Mikhail Bulgokov, The Master and Margarita (charity shop, April 2017)
14. Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor (charity shop, April 2017)
15. Rachel Ward, Numbers 2: The Chaos (Sarah's - added to my shelf after I read the first one, April 2017)
16. Rachel Ward, Numbers 3: Infinity (Sarah's - added to my shelf after I read the first one, April 2017)
17. Jane Smiley, Early Warning (Abe Books, May 2017, after finishing the first in the series)
18. Siri Hustvedt, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
19. Sally Vickers, Cousins (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
20. Hella Haasse, The Tea Lords (Bookhandel von Rossum, Amsterdam, August 2017)
21. Ernest van der Kwast, The Ice Cream Makers (Amsterdam, August 2017)
22. Lucy Worsley, A Very British Murder (Waterstones Oxford, August 2017)
23. Lucy Ribchester, The Hourglass Factory (charity shop, Farnham, September 2017)
24. Bi Fieyu, Three Sisters (charity shop, Farnham, September 2017)
25. Alexia Casale, The Bone Dragon (Waterstones Piccadilly, October 2017)
26. Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (November 2017, book was in the house already, added after I read Divisadero and realised I'd never actually read this one.)
27. Grayson Perry, The Descent of Man (December 2017, RA Gift Shop)
28. Sarah J Maas, Court of Thorns and Roses (Christmas present, 2017)
29. Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale (Christmas present, 2017)
30. Patrick Gale, A Place Called Winter (charity shop, December 2017)
31. Sebastian Barry, Days without End (Abe Books, January 2018)
32. Anthony Horowitz, Magpie Murders (W H Smith, January 2018)
33. Matt Haig, How to Stop Time (W H Smith, January 2018)
34. Bernie MacLaverty, Midwinter Break (Watersones Piccadilly, January 2018)
35. Ursula K LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness (Watersones Piccadilly, January 2018)
36. Clare Vanderpool, Moon over Manifest (was in the house, moved to my shelf Feb 2018)
37. Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad (Waterstones Wimbledon, Feb 2018)
38. Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (Waterstones Wimbledon, Feb 2018)
39. Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (passed to me by Geoff, Feb 2018)
40. Alwyn Hamilton, Hero at the Fall (Waterstones online, March 2018)
41. Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer (Waterstones online, March 2018)
42. ed. Tracy Chevalier, Reader I Married Him (Waterstones online, March 2018)
43. Bella Pollen, Hunting Unicorns (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
44. Diana Rosie, Alberto's Lost Birthday (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
45. Jojo Moyes, The Last Letter from your Lover (Charity Shops, March 2018)
46. Jojo Moyes, Sheltering Rain (Charity Shops, March 2018)
47. Sebastian Faulkes, A Week in December (Charity Shops, March 2018)
48. Marcus Zusak, I am the Messenger (Charity Shops, March 2018)
49. Jose Saramago, Blindness (Lisbon, April 2018)
50. Margaret Atwodd, Oryx and Crake (passed on by Geoff, April 2018)
51. The Killing Moon, N K Jemisin (Waterstones online, April 2018)
52. The End we start from, Megan Hunter (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
53. If we were Villains, M L Rio (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
54. Spark, Alice Broadway (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
55. The Mime Order, Samantha Shannon (Abe Books, May 2018)
56. March, Geraldine Brooks (Abe Books, June 2018)
57. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, Claire North (charity shop, June 2018)
58. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins (charity shop, June 2018)

Dinner (Lunch) 30/6/18: Leek, Potato & Gorgonzola Tart

...and other stuff, too. Friends to lunch meant a big lunch and no dinner - and it was actually a bit too hot to sit outside, especially as our friends had a fairly small baby with them. The tart was a new recipe, but we really liked it. I made the slaw with radishes and chicory again as we really liked that the other day. Plus tomato & cucumber salad and some asparagus. A couple of loaves of good bread, and we were sorted. 

Book 54: Runaway by Alice Munro

I've never liked short stories as much as I probably should, mainly because they are often too short and leave me wanting more. Alice Munro is frequently described as the Queen of the Short Story and by golly, she is. It's no wonder she won the Nobel Prize; her writing is just stunning. If all short stories were like these, I'd be a convert for sure.  Didn't read much this past week as I was away at an activity camp with 37 10 & 11 year olds, so the short stories were perfect for the small bits of free time I had (they aren't really THAT short - there's only about 10 in the book). 

Dinner, 29/6/18: Vietnamese Noodle Salad (Olivia cooking)

A nice summery meal - the sauce has fish sauce in it, but if you were veggie or vegan, I'm sure you could just put some soy sauce in, instead and it would be almost the same, so I'm tagging it up.

Book 53: I was born for this by Alice Oseman

Found this on the new books shelf in the library when I popped in the other day -it's YA title, so it's too old for my class (definitely), but I enjoyed it. It's about a boyband and a fangirl, and it's a lot darker than I expected (not in a gratuitous way or anything), but it was a good story. 

Dinner, 24/6/18: Stuffed Courgettes with feta & sundried tomatoes

We all like this - we've had it before several times. Really nice summer dish, eaten in this case with a loaf of fresh bread. Outdoors!  Love that outdoor eating season...

Books in

Got these in a charity shop for 99p (for both of them). They looked promising for holiday reading (entertaining, not too challenging and able to be left behind rather than packed in suitcase to come home). I've been meaning to read The Girl on the Train for a while, and for that price, decided to break my usual self-imposed restriction of not buying film adaptation book covers (usually I hate them, but this one isn't too in-your-face).

Dinner, 22/6/18: Potato, Taleggio & Spinach Tart

We've had a run of lovely weather lately, which means a lot of outdoor eating, which is great. This is a fantastic tart, really filling - it uses bread dough, so it takes a bit longer to make (because of the rising), but it's a nice effect in the end.  We had a friend of Olivia's with us for dinner, as well, so I made a couple of salads on the side to help make sure there was enough food - the slaw has carrots, radishes and chicory and was a nice change from regular coleslaw.

Dinner, 22/6/18: Prawn Curry

This was ok - I think it would have been better with larger prawns. It wasn't thrilling, but it was reasonable.

Book in

Ordered this book the other day from Abe Books (used book source online), as it's the only (I think) one of hers we haven't read - and Geoff and I both like her stuff, though neither of us was crazy about The Secret Chord. 

Book 52: A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers

A follow-up (not directly a sequel, really) from A Long Way To a Small Angry Planet, which I read earlier this year. I think I liked this one even better. I liked the parallel story structure and I liked the (very gently touched on in the book, but ever present) ethical ideas surrounding advanced AI. Plus it was just fun to read. 

Dinner, 20/6/18: One Pan Spicy Rice

This is a fairly frequent dish (for us) in our house. It's basically rice, spinach, raisins and chickpeas, cooked with some curry paste. It's easy to fix, quick, and tastes really nice. Usually I throw some cashews on top; we didn't have any in the house, so it got pistachios. You can also blob on some yogurt if you like; I didn't on this occasion. 

Dinner, 19/6/18: Linguine alla Puttanesca (Alex cooking)

A classic - "whore's linguine"  - anchovies, capers, olives, tomatoes in a simple sauce for spaghetti or linguine. Yum.

Book 51: Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

Another kids' book - this is one I've heard of before and know a bit about, but I hadn't read it. Alex has read the whole series and said it was very good. I really enjoyed this, and liked the fact that it was set in such a different world than much fiction you encounter. Looking forward to the next one in the series (not sure if I will read the whole series - there's like 6 of them - but certainly will try another).

Dinner, 18/6/18: Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Harissa

The original recipe of this doesn't have couscous in it, but it's an adaptation I made last time or the time before when cooking it, which works very well. I also roast the cauliflower leaves and stems chopped up and add them into the couscous - not only are they tasty, but it's such a waste not to use them.  We like to sprinkle a bit of feta cheese on top for that bit of creamy bite, but that's totally optional, so I'm tagging it vegan as well as vegetarian. Shown here with no cheese...

Dinner: 17/6/18: Chicken & Mushroom Pie (Hairy Bikers)

Geoff's request, for Fathers' Day. Alex helped me cook (seemed apt as it's Fathers' Day) - Olivia is in the midst of revision, still (only a few more days to go, thank goodness) and Sarah was still at uni.

Our little maths joke...

Dinner, 15/6/16: Ginger Sweet Tofu with Pak Choi (Ching-He Huang)

This was absolutely gorgeous - one of the best tofu dishes we've had (and we are big tofu fans, eat lots of it). The marinade made it really flavourful. A definite repeater. 

Dinner, 13/6/18: Broccoli Soup (Aine Carlin, Keep it Vegan)

A very simple vegan broccoli soup. She suggests stirring in a little soya cream, if you like. We had some sour cream in the fridge, so that seemed like a good option for those who wanted to (we aren't vegan). 

Dinner, 12/6/18: Spaghetti with peas, mint & crispy bacon (Alex cooking)

Not much to say about this one. Pretty much what it sounds like!

Book 50: The Silver Boy by Kristina Ohlsson

This is obviously going to be the year of reading kids' books, and I have to say: I am enjoying myself immensely. There's such great stuff out there, it's amazing. I enjoyed this story with a mystery element - it turns out to have been the second story about the two main characters, but that wasn't a problem, except that it made me want to find the first. My book recommendation basket next year is going to be overflowing with awesome stuff!

Dinner, 11/6/18: Black Bean Tacos

Homemade refried black beans with pomegranate salsa and fresh guacamole. Yum. 

Dinner, 10/6/18: Sausages baked with Puy Lentils

...and served with mashed potato. Yum. 

Book 49: Autumn by Ali Smith

Always nice to come back to an author you know you are almost certain not to be disappointed by. I've been an Ali Smith fan since I first read Hotel World back in... a long time ago. (Ok, 2001, I checked.) And although I'm not sure I've read every single titles, I've read most of them and thought them all good - and most very good. I love the way she writes and the small & big issues she writes about. This was super. 

Dinner, 9/6/18: Chili Chicken Curry (Good Food Magazine)

A simple curry with chicken, potatoes, tomatoes. 

Dinner, 8/6/18: Courgette Caponata Pasta (Hairy Bikers)

Really lovely pasta dish, with courgettes, peppers,  tomatoes, capers, onions, etc. Good fit with shell pasta as the little bits get stuck inside the pasta (in a good way). 

Dinner, 6/6/18: Chili con Carne (Geoff cooking)

Although I can certainly make chili, it's usually Geoff who does so in our house - partly because he makes a good one, and partly because he works at home, so is available to babysit it over the long cooking period it really needs to make it the best it can be. I'm happy; I get to eat a lovely meal without having to cook it!

Dinner, 5/6/18: Artichoke, Olive & Lemon Pasta

Alex cooked again - good thing, as I was home later than normal. He's going to be the King of Pasta dishes before he's through...  I confess to grating a bit of cheese on this, but if you didn't...vegan.

Book 48: What the Moon Saw by Laura Resau

Another one for the classroom. The ideal age on this one is probably a year or two older than my kids, though there's nothing innately unsuitable in it; I just think it might appeal slightly more to girls who are a little older. It's a lovely story full of magical realism and finding yourself and again, really shows another culture in an interesting, sensitive way. Beautifully written, as well. 

Dinner, 4/6/18: Asparagus Risotto

It's asparagus season; what more can I say?  (I've tagged this recipe vegetarian because you could easily use vegetable stock, though I've used stock made from last night's chicken.  Not vegan, though, as I wouldn't want to do without the cheese...)

Book 47: A House without Mirrors by Marten Sanden

Another one for the classroom - I really liked this combination of fantasy and reality - the story worked very well, even though some elements were obvious to an adult reader, that might not be obvious to younger readers. I also liked that it was in translation (from the Swedish) as it's nice to kids to be exposed to books from other cultures (though the book itself could have been set almost anywhere). 

Dinner, 3/6/18: Roast Chicken, roast potatoes, greens

Book 46: New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

Been waiting for this one for a while - part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Project - the third I've read (the other two being Margaret Atwood's Tempest and Anne Tyler's Taming of the Shrew). This one really appealed to me as not only do I like Tracy Chevalier very much, but it takes places in the DC suburbs in the 70s - something to which I can really relate.  An excellent retelling; who'd have thought the machinations of Othello were so suited to the 6th grade playground? I have to say, though, it didn't feel as much like my primary school as I thought it might - probably because I grew up in PG County and we were highly integrated by then. A new black face wouldn't have meant the same thing for us...

Dinner, 2/6/18: Spinach, Chickpea and New Potato Curry

In as much as we eat any meal "all the time" in our house, we eat this one all the time. Usually with some flatbread to soak up the juices (which we did this time as well). 

Book 45: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

You may have noticed I have a real fondness for Young Adult fantasy novels, so I expected to enjoy this, but I have to say, I didn't like it as much as I thought I might. Not sure why - maybe the characters just weren't sympathetic enough to me? It's not a bad book, but it didn't hook me in the way many of this genre do.

May Roundup

WHAT WAS FOR DINNER, MAY 2018

• 31st; Pasta Bake with Meatballs
• 30th: Sausages, Asparagus, Baked Potatoes
• 29th: Chicken Traybake
• 28th: Stromboli
• 27th:Spicy Asian Tofu Salad (no photo)
• 26th: Out at a friend's birthday party
• 25th: Asian Stir Fry with Cashews
• 24th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 23rd: Spiced Broccoli with Paneer
• 22nd: Courgette & Mint Soup
• 21st: Carrot and Chickpea Tagine
• 20th: Cauliflower & Chicken Curry (G, A, O)
• 19th: New Potato, Mozzarella & Spring Onion Tart
• 18th: Penne all'Amatriciana (G & O only, others out)
• 17th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 16th: Courgette & Lemon Spaghetti
• 15th: Vegetable Stir Fry (no photo)
• 14th: Sausages, Mash, Green Beans
• 13th: homemade pizzas (no photo)
• 12th: out to dinner
• 11th: Filled Pasta with tomato sauce
• 10th: Chinese Takeaway
• 9th: Lentil Salad with Salsa Verde and Cornbread
• 8th: Courgette & Mushroom Tart
• 7th: Barbecue at neighbour's house
• 6th: Barbecue at neighbour's house
• 5th: Jerk chicken, sweet potatoes, courgettes
• 4th: Jacket potatoes with toppings
• 3rd; fend for yourself Thursday
• 2nd: Chorizo & Chickpeas braised in cider
• 1st: Spaghetti with lemons and olives