I was inspired by Julie's blog to post about all the reading material that is on my waiting list!! I have started numerous books over the past year, with good intentions to finish them! Sadly, I haven't finished a book since reading "Sweetness in the Belly" by Camilla Gibb!
The photo above, should be in chronological order by which I started reading them!! "The Good Earth" being the longest dust collector on my list! I started this book after seeing it on the best seller's list at Chapters. I love reading about Chinese history, preferably non-fiction. This is a fictitious novel, written in the earlier part of the 1900's. The writing style is not comfortable for me to read... a lot of those old words used, like "thou" "tis" etc. I have had a hard time getting through it, and even visualizing the backdrop. Had I not been to China, I don't know if I'd have an accurate visual in my mind!
The second book "The Glass Castle" was an impulsive buy at Costco. I have read about half of it, and have enjoyed the story so far. I just kept putting it down for longer stretches, and never got back to the story!! It's not a long book, or a hard read. My time for reading just hasn't been plentiful over the past year!
"The Twentieth Wife" was also a Costco purchase. I am trying to branch out and read from different cultures, rather than just China! I'm not sure what it is about this book, but I have had a hard time getting into it, and sticking with it! I plan to get back to it eventually!
Next on the list is "Middlesex". I originally thought it was a historical read by an immigrant family from the UK, based on the cover and the name! haha I was wrong. I had heard great things about this book, and thought it might be a nice change from what I tend to read. It's intersting, but again... it wasn't keeping my interest! I will finish this one, eventually, as well!! LOL
"What is the What" is about a man from Sudan who escapes the fighting and makes his way to America as a refugee. It's technically a novel, only b/c the man who wrote it cannot tell with certainty the exact details of his life during those times. It is, however, based on a true story. The author is not the person the story is about, as he is simply the "writer". I read good reviews about this in a magazine, and that's why I picked it up.
"Kabul Beauty School" was my Valentine's present from Jason. He knows I like to read biographical books about other cultures etc. Which is why he picked this one up for me. I'm currently reading this one, and am about half way through. It's not bad, but a bit of a fluff piece in my opinion! I don't really care to hear about perm solution details and exactly HOW the author taught these things to the women of Kabul. I understand overcoming language barriers, but the author gives too many details about this sort of thing (explaining foils, colouring hair etc). It's a light read, and it's a true story. So I'm sticking with it.
I'd really like to read "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (the author of The Kite Runner)! I'm anxiously awaiting this book on paperback!!!
This was my own creation... it was pasta with Cheddar Cheese soup and Cheese Whiz added. I put Stove-Top Stuffing on top and green onions. Sour cream mixed in with this casserole would have made it more moist.
My own version of Kraft's Cheesy Volcano Meatballs. I didn't make it very Italian like the recipe. This is more my meatloaf that I make, but in muffin shapes. The kids like it b/c it's portion sized, and I call them "Jumbo Meatballs"! A big hit in our house! I use stuffing, egg, italian dressing, bbq sauce, onions, garlic.
I made this last night. It's called Easy Chinese Stirfry. It tasted good, but I's prefer a more peanutty sauce or something more gingery. The recipe calls for the Sweet Onion Vinaigrette. The kids liked it- sans legumes! lol
Fiona and Kieran trailing behind Jason, looking for a cache in the uber muddy trail!! This was one of the Winter '08 Cache & Release (CAR08), caches. They are activated on geocaching.com at 6pm Friday evening, and the event ends Saturday (tonight) around 5pm, I think? All the cachers meet up, and get prizes for the most caches found, most FTF's (First to Find) etc.
