July Book Update

I liked the way I kept track of my book reading last year, so I'm going to do something similar this year - just monitor books in and out, without any pressure to declutter or read things in order, etc. I'm once again setting a goal to read 100 books in the year - I read 102 in 2018. Otherwise, my only goal is to keep reading and keep enjoying books!

In January: books read: 9; books out: 2; books in: 5; books on windowsill: 59
In February: books read: 10; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 54
In March: books read: 4; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 52
In April: books read: 6; books out: 4; books in: 2; books on windowsill: 48
In May: books read: 10; books out: 0; books in: 3; books on windowsill: 48

In June: books read: 9; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 46

July has just been an insane month - with stuff at school and being away (several times) I have barely read anything at all.   However, I did manage to read:

• One children's book which I was testing for my classroom (Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke)
• One book on the airplane to the US (The Drowned Detective by Neil Jordan)

Here's the updated list of Books to Read in 2019. 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
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. Susan Barker, The Incarnations (charity shop, July 2016)
7. Orhan Pamuk. A Strangeness in Mind (Christmas present 2016)
8. Andrew Taylor, The Ashes of London (passed to me by Geoff after he read it, April 2017)
9. Mark Haddon (Introduction), States of Mind: Experiences at the Edge of Consciousness (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
10. John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries  (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
11. Mikhail Bulgokov, The Master and Margarita (charity shop, April 2017)
12. Jane Smiley, Early Warning (Abe Books, May 2017, after finishing the first in the series)
13. Siri Hustvedt, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
14. Lucy Worsley, A Very British Murder (Waterstones Oxford, August 2017)
15. Sebastian Barry, Days without End (Abe Books, January 2018)
16. Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (passed to me by Geoff, Feb 2018)
17. Bella Pollen, Hunting Unicorns (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
18. Sebastian Faulkes, A Week in December (Charity Shops, March 2018)
19. Jose Saramago, Blindness (Lisbon, April 2018)
20. Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (passed on by Geoff, April 2018)
21. Spark, Alice Broadway (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
22. The Mime Order, Samantha Shannon (Abe Books, May 2018)
23. March, Geraldine Brooks (Abe Books, June 2018)
24. Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys  (Waterstones Picadilly, July 2018)
25. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (charity shop, July 2018)
26. The Murderer's Ape, Jakob Wegelius (Waterstones Wimbledon, August 2018)
27. The Snack Thief, Andrea Camelleri (passed to me by Geoff, Sept 2018)
28. Even the Dogs, Jon McGregor (Abebooks, Sept 2018)
29. Islands in the Stream, Ernest Hemingway (Abebooks, Sept 2018)
30. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas (Waterstones Wimbledon, October 2018)
31. The Mistletoe Bride, Kate Mosse (charity shop, November 2018)
32. Milkman, Anna Burns (Waterstones online, December 2018)
33. Hillbilly Elegy, J D Vance (Waterstones Piccadilly, December 2018)
34. Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (Christmas present, 2018)
35. Theft, Peter Carey (charity shop, January 2019)
36. The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy (charity shop, January 2019)
37. The Music Shop, Rachel Joyce (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
38. Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
39. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
40. And the Mountains Echo, Khaled Hosseini (charity shop, Harborne, April 2019)
41. Kate Atkinson, Transcription (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
42. Laini Taylor, Muse of Nightmares  (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
43. Emily St John Mandel, Last Night in Montreal  (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
44. The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro (AbeBooks, June 2019)
45. The Red Queen by Christina Henry (Waterstones online, June 2019)
46. The Venetian Masquerade by Philip Gwynne Jones (Waterstones online, June 2019)

Lunch, 31/7/19: Artichoke Dip; African Chickpea Soup (Great Sage)

 

Checked out an amazing vegan restaurant in Clarksville for lunch today - really yummy food.  Might try to get back there before we leave!

Dinner, 30/7/19: Sausages, Sweetcorn, Sweet potato chips

A very basic meal today - sausages (Italian for me and Mom, veggie for Olivia), some sweet potato chips made with white sweet potato, and the rest of the sweetcorn. We will probably buy more sweetcorn while we are here, of course.

Lunch 29/7/19: Spaghetti with Veggie Sauce

Another instance of eating a larger lunch and just having bits and pieces for dinner. This was made with gluten free spaghetti (with the Barilla kind - which is virtually indistinguishable from regular spaghetti) and various vegetables in the sauce.  

Year Long Declutter, week 30 (420 items total)

More miscellaneous stuff - some from the drawers in the living room - phone cases which don't fit our current phones, a notebook, etc - some from Sarah's room - some psychology texts and magazines, discarded clothes, etc.

Lunch, 28/7/19: Veggie Chili & Sweetcorn

Today we're having a big meal at lunch - Olivia made vegetarian chili and we have fresh sweetcorn to go with it.  We're planning on eating a huge bucket of popcorn for dinner as we are going to see Toy Story 4 this evening.

Lunch, 27/7/19: Salad & Sandwich at Panera Bread

So today, we decided to get some lunch out. We are limited in where we can go because Olivia is a vegetarian and also has some issues with gluten - this makes eating out in the US a lot more challenging than in the UK (at least in Laurel, MD - New York City, California and Portland, OR would probably be a breeze).  Not to mention, we wanted something quick and cheap.  We tried Panera Bread, which has a range of salads and soup bowls.  I had a Greek type salad and half a pesto & mozzarella sandwich. Liv had a bowl meal with grains and veggies and stuff - it was yummy.   Mom just had a different salad/sandwich combo.  When we eat out at lunch, we're just grabbing nibbles or leftovers at home for dinner...

Dinner, 26/7/19: Macaroni Cheese with Old Bay, Salad

As we are in the US for a long time this summer, we are trying to eat in the house quite a bit, not just go out. It's a little challenging cooking at my mother's house as she doesn't have a really well stocked kitchen (she herself hasn't cooked much in years) and also, there are some things she can't eat (e.g. spicy foods) any more.  So I think my meals while on holiday are going to be pretty random!

Book 50: The Drowned Detective, Neil Jordan

July has been such a non-reading month for me, for one reason or another, but I did manage to read this one on the plane to the US. It was good, though I wasn't at all surprised by the resolution, which I thought was fairly obvious from the start.  

Dinner, 24/7/19: Mexican Black Bean Wraps

Not really soft shell tacos, not really fajitas - but a black bean filling, a tomato & onion salsa, avocado, lettuce and so on.  Plus cheese/yogurt for those who want it. And a little bit of corn on the side.

Book 49: Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Hard to believe this is the first book I've read this month, but July has been like that. It's normally quite busy, but this year, even more so. But I have a long airplane trip coming up, so at least I'll get through a couple!

Dinner, 23/7/19: Salad with griddled courgettes and beans

Aka what's in the fridge & larder salad. Today was the last day of school and I hadn't planned what to cook for dinner - largely depending on how hot it was, what arrived in the veggie box and how much energy I had.  I did mean to use some of a pack of feta cheese which has been in the fridge a while on this, but totally forgot (which means another meal using feta coming up soon, I guess.)  This was really nice & should be even better leftover for lunch tomorrow as the beans will have a bit of time to marinate in the dressing (a mustardy type of dressing). 

Dinner, 22/7/19: Pasta with Pesto, Green beans and Potatoes

Dinner, 21/7/19: Courgette & Halloumi Kebabs, Oven Potatoes

These had a really nice tahini and yogurt dressing on them. 

Year Long Declutter, week 29 (406 items total)

More things from our drawers of electronics and electronics related items. Broken headphones, miscellaneous cords, screen protectors for phones we no longer have, surplus chargers, etc.

Dinner, 20/7/19: Roast Root and Pulses bowl

This was from a vegan cookbook, and was useful as we had beetroot in our box this week, and various other things which wanted using. The recipe had kale, but I used the beetroot tops and some spinach we had around instead. Also, we didn't have walnuts, so we used other nuts. A really nice combination of flavours & textures and the mustardy dressing was great.

Dinner, 19/7/19: Chicken Curry

Geoff cooking (yay!) as I am still exhausted from my trip. Roll on weekend.

Dinner, 17/7/19: Pasta alla Amatriciana

We have this a lot - it's easy and yummy. This time, we cooked the bacon separately, so Liv's pasta only had the red wine and tomato sauce. Then added the bacon in after taking out her portion. Worked well anyway.

Year Long Declutter, week 28 (392 items total)

An assortment of stuff - some books off my windowsill, which I probably won't read; a selection of unneeded cords and pieces from various electronic things, a pair of shoes which are just worn out, some miscellaneous manuals from stuff. Mostly in the bin, a few things to the charity shop. 

Dinner, 8/7/19: Baked potatoes & sweet potatoes, bacon & beans; celery salad

Year Long Declutter, week 27 (378 items total)

Some more CDs that we are thinning out of our collection, plus some unwanted clothes of Olivia's. All off to the charity shop.

Dinner, 3/7/19: Pasta with courgettes and lemon

Dinner, 2/7/19: Aubergine and Mushroom Curry

All the kids were out tonight, so we tried this (none of the kids like aubergine and Sarah doesn't like mushrooms) - it was excellent. The recipe contains yogurt, but you could easily substitute a plant based yourt to make it vegan. 

Dinner, 1/7/19: Artichoke, bacon and cheese tart

June Update

WHAT WAS  FOR DINNER, JUNE 2019

• 30th: Chat Patay, Greens, Roasted Kohlrabi
• 29th: Hoisin Pork & Spinach Stir Fry
• 28th: Everyone out but Geoff
• 27th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 26th: Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Wraps
• 25th: Curried Carrot Fritters
• 24th: Sausages, kohlrabi gratin, salad
• 23rd: Salmon, Potatoes, Broad Beans
• 22nd: Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers
• 21st: Pasta alla amatriciana (Alex cooking, G&A only)
• 20th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 19th: Pasta with Artichokes, Asparagus & Peas
• 18th: Crispy Chili Tofu
• 17th: Black Bean Fajitas
• 16th: Vegetable Paella
• 15th: Chicken & Mushroom Pie
• 14th: Picnic dinner outside the National Theatre
• 13th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 12th: Mushroom & pepper frittata
• 11th: Spaghetti with prawns and chili
• 10th: Chicken curry (Geoff cooking)
• 9th: Lunch in Brum, no dinner cooked
• 8th: Broccoli & Kohlrabi Cheese
• 7th: Chicken with crispy capers and new potatoes (K out)
• 6th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 5th: Frittata with Mushrooms and Tomatoes
• 4th: Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Basil
• 3rd: Lamb Cutlets, Asparagus, Potatoes (K out)
• 2nd: Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto
• 1st: Fish, Fennel, Carrots (K out unexpectedly)