June 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

And here's the breakdown for this month:

• I read a couple of children's books ready to recommend to my class - one which I had in the house (The Wild Robot by Peter Brown) and one which the teacher I work with passed to me and which has been recommended elsewhere (The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Rauf)
• I read 7 books from my windowsill, not all of which appear to have been on my list, for one reason or another (Alice by Christina Henry, The Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale, Scythe by Neal Shusterman, History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund, A Shiver of Snow and Sky by Lisa Lueddecke, Winter by Ali Smith, Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi)
• I bought a few books online (The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro, The Red Queen by Christina Henry, The Venetian Masquerade by Philip Gwynne Jones)

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. The Drowned Detective, Neil Jordan (charity shop, Harborne, April 2019)
42. Kate Atkinson, Transcription (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
43. Laini Taylor, Muse of Nightmares  (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
44. Emily St John Mandel, Last Night in Montreal  (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
45. The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro (AbeBooks, June 2019)
46. The Red Queen by Christina Henry (Waterstones online, June 2019)
47. The Venetian Masquerade by Philip Gwynne Jones (Waterstones online, June 2019)

Dinner, 30/6/19:Chat Patay, Greens, Kohlrabi

Year Long Declutter, week 26 (364 items total)

Had a bit of a reshuffle of the CDs, so there were some which could go. Reached the halfway mark, more or less - 364 items would be almost a year's worth, if I were doing one per day. I'm doing 2 per day, so it's halfway. Hoorah!

Dinner, 29/6/19: Hoisin pork & spinach stir fry

Book 48: Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi

This book has had a lot of hype in the fantasy community (and beyond) and rightfully so - it was excellent. A good idea, and well-written, a creative take on the whole magical world (or not) idea.  And of course, a thinly veiled (if veiled at all) allegory of black experience in the Western world, but in a good way. (This is the point where my husband will comment on this post, asking if I think he'd enjoy this book - my answer is yes, but I haven't recommended it yet because it's the first in a series and only the first is out and he has a lot of other books on his shelf at the moment.)

Dinner, 26.6.19: Spiced Indian Sweet Potato Wraps

We like these a lot, even those (Geoff) who claim not to really like sweet potatoes (what's with that, anyway?).  If you leave the yogurt off or use an alternative, these would suit a vegan - and Olivia used gluten free tortillas, so they can tick that box as well...

Dinner, 25/6/19: Curried carrot fritters

I found the recipe for these when I was looking for something which would use both the carrots and the tops, as I keep getting bunched new carrots in my veggie box - we've done a couple of things with the tops, but I wanted something different.  These were excellent. We're big fans of fritters and fritter type things, so I'm not surprised we liked these, but I highly recommend them. The chickpea flour added a nice texture and the flavour was great.  I decided to put in a couple of eggs (I doubled the recipe) instead of the ground flax seed, as we aren't vegans, so we don't need to skip eggs. I fried mine, but there's an option to do them in the oven as well. But I'll tag it vegan as the recipe itself is vegan.

Book 47: Winter, Ali Smith

The second in Ali Smith's series of seasonal novels - I read Autumn in (apparently) June last year, and this June, it's Winter.  At this rate, it will only take 4 years to get through one year of seasons.  But as usual, I am reminded when I read her books how astonishing it is when people are really good writers. Doesn't seem to matter what topic they tackle, there's a sort of feel to books that are well written. Perhaps her style isn't quite to everyone's taste, but I've been a fan ever sin ce I read Hotel World back in (apparently - good thing I keep track of these things!) Sept 2001.  Guess it's time to acquire Spring!

Dinner, 24/6/19: Sausages, Kohlrabi gratin, salad

Made the gratin on recommendation from a friend and it was very good. Geoff thinks he just prefers it roasted (and it's very nice that way, I agree) but this is a nice way to use it for variety if you happen to have a kohlrabi glut...

Dinner, 23/6/19: Salmon, potatoes, broad beans

Year Long Declutter, week 25 (350 items total)

Still working through Alex's stuff  - these are some novelty pens and pencils which never get used. Some of them are going to school for my raffle prize box. The others are going in the bin.

Book 46: A Shiver of Snow and Sky, Lisa Lueddecke

Young adult fantasy adventure story; girl sets off to the magic and scary mountains to find the answer to save her people from a threat. But it was well done and some interesting aspects to it. 

Dinner, 22/6/19: Mediterranean stuffed peppers, greens

Had some romano peppers in the veggie box last week, so tried them stuffed with this couscous mix, which was very nice.  I also used a regular yellow bell pepper, because I didn't have enough of the romano peppers. The romano ones collapsed a bit more in the cooking, but the taste was great. 

Book 45: History of Wolves, Emily Fridlund

I had mixed feelings about this. Parts of it were very beautifully written and the premise was interesting, but I struggled to get inside the skin of the main characters, which I know was perhaps in some ways the point, but it always makes it harder if the main character is horrid or unlikeable or just, in this case, awkward. 

Dinner, 19/6/19: Pasta with Asparagus, Peas, Artichokes & Ricotta

Spring-like and tasty - used gluten free spaghetti, which worked fine.

Dinner, 18/6/19: Crispy Chili Tofu with Courgettes

A while back we had a great sweet and sour tofu from the Bosh! cookbook, and were intending to repeat it, but sweet and sour isn't great for the girls as Sarah is allergic to pineapple and Olivia doesn't love peppers.  Instead we tried this tofu alternative, which was also excellent, though a little spicy for Sarah, who doesn't like as much chili as the rest of us. I added the courgettes, which worked well, I think. Definitely one to repeat.

Dinner, 17/6/19: Black Bean Fajitas

Feeding a vegetarian has never been a problem in our house (even before we owned one ourselves) but lately, Liv has really been struggling with gluten making her feel really unwell, so she's trying to eat if not a gluten-free diet, at least a gluten-greatly-reduced diet.  Luckily, there were gluten free corn tortillas in the supermarket for her (regular for the rest of us). So black bean fajitas it was. With or without cheese as one prefers - without cheese, the meal is vegan...

Year Long Declutter, week 24 (336 items total)

Actually, this is a lot more than 14 items, this week - but I thought it was silly to count out the individual badges.  Alex kept a few for sentimental reasons, but most of them weren't anything special, so out they went. 

Dinner, 16/6/19: Mixed Vegetable Paella

This paella is from a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe, and it's really tasty. The vegetables in it are really tasty, and it's nice and spicy. People who still think meals without meat aren't as good (do those people still exist these days?) need to eat things like this...

Dinner 15/6/19: Chicken and Mushroom Pie, Spring Greens, New Potatoes

The pie is my usual Hairy Bikers recipe, but with celery added (we had a lot of celery) - it was really nice.

Dinner, 12/6/19: Frittata with mushrooms and romano pepper

Book 44: The Boy at the Back of the Class

A children's book about a refugee joining a class in a London school. Really lovely book  - pitched just right, I think, for the age group. 

Dinner, 11/6/19: Prawn and Chili Spaghetti

Dinner, 10/6/19: Chicken Curry (Geoff cooking)

I was originally going to go out to a class at the gym, but between feeling exhausted from a weekend of driving to fetch girls from uni and the fact that a year's worth of rain was coming down in a single day, I decided not to go.  Luckily, Geoff had cooked enough curry for all three of us (the girls being away larking it up on the Isle of Wight). 

Year Long Declutter, week 23 (322 items total)

This selection is also from Alex's room - some of the musical instruments went to school for my raffle prize box. The tennis medals also went to school, where they may be able to be put to good use. The rest went in the bin, I think.

Book 43: Scythe, Neal Shusterman

This was really good - set in the future where people have learned to heal any and (almost) all illnesses and injuries, there is an elite group of people chosen to be reapers - to kill a certain percentage of the population to prevent over population. Plus there's an all-knowing (but good) computer god-figure. Yeah, there's more to it than that, but that's the basic premise, and it was interesting where he went with it. Looking forward to the next one.

Dinner, 8/6/19: Broccoli and Kohlrabi Cheese, Salad, Sauteed Potatoes

Another kohlrabi in the box (before a tip about a gratin from a friend, which sounds lovely - that might be next) - this time, with lots of broccoli to use, we decided to do it in cheese sauce. Lovely!

Book 42: The Beast is an Animal, Peternelle van Arsdale

Young adult fiction, fantasy (more or less).  An interesting idea and an enjoyable read.

Dinner, 5/6/19: Frittata with mushrooms & tomatoes; salad

One of the things I've been enjoying eating more of while the girls are absent is egg based dishes like this - Olivia doesn't like eggy things, and while Sarah eats eggs, she's not crazy about frittata and omelette. And anyway, it would be harder to make enough for five.  

Book 41: Alice by Christna Henry

I really enjoyed (if that's the word) Henry's Peter Pan take (The Lost Boy) and had had expectations of this book; I was not disappointed.  Again, I'm not sure I can really say I enjoyed the book as it was very very dark, though it's far enough away from Alice in Wonderland that it hasn't put me off the original, but it was a really well constructed, interesting & horrific tale based around the Alice universe. Looking forward to The Red Queen, another one, linked to Alice. 

Dinner, 4/6/19: Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes & Basil

Doesn't show that well in the photo, but it was lovely - just a simple sauce of cherry tomatoes, a lot of basil and some garlic. 

Book 40: The Wild Robot, Peter Green

A cute children's story about a robot, Roz, who finds herself shipwrecked on an island (though she doesn't know it) and who learns to survive and make friends with the other residents of the island. 

Year Long Declutter, week 22 (308 items total)

Still working through Alex's stuff that he doesn't want any longer. This was a selection of wristbands from various events and places, and a bunch of extremely miscellaneous stuff - I don't really even know what all it was, but it went!

Dinner, 2/6/19: Risotto with mushrooms and asparagus

Strictly speaking this wasn't a vegetarian meal as I used chicken stock in it, made with chicken bones I'd had in the freezer - but the reason I tag my meals vegetarian is for inspiration, so if you were simply looking for ideas, there's no reason a risotto couldn't be made with veggie stock...

May roundup

WHAT WAS  FOR DINNER, MAY 2019

• 31st: Sausages, Potatoes, Kohlrabi
• 30th: leftovers
• 29th: Kidney Bean and Green Bean Curry
• 28th: Caramelised Onion and Cheshire Cheese Tart
• 27th: Burnt Aubergine Chili
• 26th: Stuffed Courgettes
• 25th: Pea & basil macaroni
• 24th: Chicken with carrots and cashews (K out)
• 23rd: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 22nd: Jacket potatoes
• 21st: Fish, new potatoes, carrots, asparagus
• 20th: Fend for yourself Monday
• 19th: Goat cheese & pesto canneloni
• 18th: Korean style prawn and spring onion pancake
• 17th: Stir fry with tofu, cashews & pakchoi
• 16th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 15th: Pasta with peas, asparagus & cream
• 14th: Frittata with chard, tomatoes &mushrooms
• 13th: Sausages, Jacket Potatoes, Beans (K out until later)
• 12th: Ras-el-hanout chickpeas with halloumi and broccoli
• 11th: Salmon, potatoes, Swiss chard
• 10th: Penne alla Amaatriciana (K out, Alex cooking)
• 9th: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 8th: Asparagus & New Potato Soup
• 7th: Courgette & Rice Filo Pie
• 6th: Fennel & Aubergine Bake
• 5th: Duck Breast, new potatoes, carrots, caramelised turnips
• 4th: Cauliflower Cheese, etc
• 3rd: Fish, asparagus, Jersey royals
• 2nd: Fend for yourself Thursday
• 1st: Frittata with Swiss Chard