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 Pizza has always been one of my favorite foods. According to my mother, it started in the womb, as she craved pizza like nothing else while pregnant with me and there has never been a moment in my life where I wasn’t happy to eat pizza! On the whole, I find British pizza very disappointing, and so my husband and I entered into our latest kitchen experiment: pizza making.
We didn’t really do it the labor-intensive way – we used a store-bought crust mix and a store-bought jar of pizza sauce. We figured that if we enjoyed the results, we’d then go for it and make our own crust and sauce, plus invest in a better actual surface to cook the pizza on. We only have a metal standard pizza tray, which is never going to make the pizza very crispy. Regardless, though, we thought it turned out pretty well!
We have very different tastes in pizzas, so we started with a half-and-half. Keith’s half was barbecue chicken, with barbecue sauce and some roasted onions and peppers, and my half was more traditional with just sauce, cheese, and basil, though I did throw some olives on there to spice it up a little. Here is a before-the-oven photo:
 As you can see, I’m not good at rolling out the crust yet! But here is the cooked picture anyway:
 Like I expected, the crust wasn’t particularly crispy, but we were both quite pleased with our first effort! And we enjoyed the results, so I think homemade pizza will be happening in my kitchen again soon.
For more adventures in Weekend Cooking, visit our hostess over at Beth Fish Reads!
 I’ve never been one to take notes in books. I have cracked spines and dog-eared pages, but putting a mark in a book? Nope. I find notes in books distracting and am actively irritated when I’ve taken one out from the library and discover that someone else has written in it. Buying used textbooks in college was a necessity but I disliked having someone else’s notes in the margins of my book. I just find it distracting – I can sort of see the appeal in seeing someone else’s thought process at work, and the obvious historical potential for marginalia, but I find that they get in the way of my own thoughts.
Since I don’t write in books themselves, I’ve seldom actually taken notes. Strangely, though, this weekend I had an urge to actually write some things down. I often start composing reviews in my head as I read, but if it takes me too long to actually sit down and write the review, I forget what I meant to say. As I get further behind on reviews, this gets more and more irritating, and I find myself putting off reviews because I don’t remember what I wanted to talk about in a particular book. So, in lieu of writing in my actual books, I have purchased a nice little notebook and for the first time have my very own reading journal. I am planning on noting down whatever comes to mind as I go along and, hopefully, using the results to make my reviews easier to write and more interesting to read.
Do you take notes while reading, whether in your books or in a notebook? Does it make it easier to write reviews?
 As anyone who was visiting undoubtedly noticed, my last post for the event was in hour 9. I think I lasted up until about Hour 11, falling asleep around midnight, and then got up again this morning to continue reading. I read 1311 pages in a total of 11 hours and 9 minutes.
The end of event survey:
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
Around midnight, which isn’t a huge surprise. I haven’t been able to stay awake past midnight very often since I started working – my body clock is too good at sending me to sleep!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Of the ones I read this time around, Shades of Milk and Honey and Howl’s Moving Castle were the best choices. They were both great books and kept me very entertained – plus I read them both ridiculously fast, giving me a sense of accomplishment.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope, I am happy to sit back and read!
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I thought everything was organized pretty well. To be honest I didn’t spend much time on the mini-challenges or on the main blog – I mostly read and visited the blogs of others I knew participating.
5. How many books did you read?
I read 4 complete books and then finished the remaining half of what I was reading previously.
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal, Touching the Void by Joe Simpson, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage by Jennifer Ashley, and Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint.
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
It’s hard to say, but a clear toss-up between Shades of Milk and Honey and Howl’s Moving Castle.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
Touching the Void. It was fine as a book, but I’m not into mountaineering which made it harder to enjoy.
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
Not a cheerleader.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
Very likely, and I’d probably still be reading.
Part of my problem this time around is that I actually got tired of reading at some point Saturday evening, around dinnertime. I took a break, but I wasn’t that crazy about heading back to the couch and reading again. I’m not sure if this is just a sign that I read plenty in my normal life, so I don’t really need to spend an entire day reading, or that it was just a nice day and I didn’t like that I’d been cooped up inside all day. I would have read outside if there was an area nearby peaceful enough for reading! But never mind – I did read a lot and I actually started reading another book this afternoon, so I wasn’t put off too much!
Speaking of this afternoon, we spent the rest of today in the sunshine. Here are some lovely blue flowers:
March has been an eventful month over here. Hubby’s birthday and exciting computer build, family concerns, and various other issues have dominated the month. I’ve now been in my job for an entire year, and with that have lived in the same flat in the same town for a year as well – the first full year anywhere since high school. We’ve finally made progress towards selling our old flat and I passed my Life in the UK test, so I’m all set to submit paperwork in November when I renew my visa. Just hoping everything is okay in my family and I’ll be set for another month.
Unsurprisingly, with everything else going on, it was a fairly slow reading month for me. I read 14 books, which I know is still quite a few, but isn’t much compared to previous months, even working. I did read two immense books in there, but I balanced them out nicely with shorter YA and romance reads. Overall I think I did pretty well given the circumstances!
Fiction
- The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
- Captive Bride, Bonnie Dee
- Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson
- Queen Hereafter, Susan Fraser King
- River Marked, Patricia Briggs
- Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver
- Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, Sarah MacLean
- The Glassblower of Murano, Marina Fiorato
- Monsieur Montespan, Jean Teule
- The Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin
Non-fiction
By far the best thing about a slower reading month is the lack of reviews waiting to be written. I only have four to do and I’ve finished two books in April, which is far off my usual lackluster performance.
Favorites of the Month
This month’s fiction favorite is a toss-up between Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. Both were spectacular in different ways, but both surprised me with their excellence and had me thinking about them even after I’d finished reading.
Non-fiction favorite goes to A World on Fire. Yes, it took me two weeks to read, but I felt like I learned so much and was given a totally new perspective on a topic I’d been learning about since elementary school. Very much worth it for anyone who enjoys history.
Looking Ahead
April promises to be an exciting reading month. The Read-a-Thon is next weekend and I’m really looking forward to participating – it looks to be my only free weekend all month and I’m so glad it fell on that one. I think this is my fifth one; it’s hard to believe it’s been so long since the first. I’ve already read two outstanding books and I’m hoping for many more. Possibilities include:
- Dreams Underfoot, Charles de Lint
- Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal
- The Native Star, M.K. Hobson
- 13 Rue Therese, Elena Mauli Shapiro
- The Paris Wife, Paula McLain
- The Four Ms. Bradwells, Meg Waite Clayton
- The Color Purple, Alice Walker
If you’ve read any of these books, tell me where to start! I wish you all a fantastic April.
I am an Amazon Associate. Some of the books mentioned in this post were sent to me for review.
I’m combating my own laziness and restlessness this weekend by making a few changes around here. Bloggy maintenance always seems to be last on my list, and while it isn’t essential, I still do spend a lot of time on my blog and commenting on others’ blogs, so I might as well make it a bit more comfortable around here. The biggest change is my “Read in” tabs – I hadn’t updated them since 2009! I didn’t think anyone noticed until I actually got an email from a reader who wondered what happened to them. I made a new one for 2011 and am planning on combining the old ones together. I have to add in 2010 and all the links in to the older blog posts as well.
I’m also planning on reconsidering the sidebars and what’s in them and adding in some new headers. The affiliate links are also going to take some thought. So, hopefully within a few days it will be a little bit different and nicer on the blog! Please ignore if things look a bit strange for the next week or two. I’ve also been thinking about a custom redesign, but it’s not in the financial cards just yet.
Also getting a bit organized, or disorganized as it may appear to the casual visitor, I have been making piles of books and I thought I’d share them with you. I have three hanging out on my TBR bookcase right now. The first one here is my Once Upon a Time V pile. I also plan to poach from this for the Read-a-thon, if I feel like it.
The second pile is the actual Read-a-thon pile. I know it’s two weeks away, but I got excited, and we’ll be away next weekend to visit my MIL for British mother’s day, so what time better than now to put it together? The pile kept getting too heavy on the romance – I seem to read short books faster than long ones – but I think the mix looks good now. I’ll be at the library in a couple of weeks to get a few more non-fiction books in there.
 Lastly, my regular “immediate” TBR pile. I’ve mentioned before that I like to rotate through my books, reading equally from library, review, and own piles. This short term TBR stack switches between them, and I fill in the bottom with the next type of book as I go. I let myself choose other books or take something out of the middle of the pile sometimes, but generally I try to just get through all nine of them to keep to the mix. The current pile should take me about two weeks.
 And that’s it from me today. I’m off to continue reading Monsieur Montespan, a novel set in seventeenth century France about a rare loving marriage, but one in which the Marquis’s wife has caught the eye of King Louis XIV.
Do you have any piles of books lying around your house?
I am an Amazon Associate. Some of the books mentioned / pictured above may have been sent to me for review.
I’ve refrained from being too personal on this blog in a while, but this has not been a particularly easy week for me. We’ve had the first indications that my mom may be getting a diagnosis that I do not want to hear again – my younger brother passed away of cancer five years ago, and I have been petrified since that I will lose someone else to it. I’m doing my best to provide comfort and not let it get to me until the diagnosis is definite, but this has been a hard week. I hope things don’t get worse as the next few weeks continue.
Partly because of this I’ve signed up for a “Flying without Fear” course from Virgin Atlantic, scheduled for late April, something I’ve meant to do for a while. I’m terrified of flying and it seems to get worse every time I fly (bad news when your family is all on a different continent), so I’m looking forward to banishing that and feeling comfortable with travel again. Even if my mom comes out perfectly fine and just has an easily-banished infection, I’d like to look forward to visiting my family and going on vacation with my husband.
In other news, the rest of life has continued as normal, which always feels strange when there is so much turmoil in your personal life. This week was my one-year working anniversary, which feels weird; as I said on Twitter, work makes time both drag and fly. I think this is the first year that I’ve managed to stay in one place, doing one thing, since I was in high school. I also passed my Life in the UK test this week, so I am all set for my next visa – indefinite leave to remain – which I will be applying for in November. That visa pretty much means I can live in the UK for however long I want, so we’ll at least never have to worry about immigration to this side of the pond again.
Unsurprisingly, I’ve also been reading a lot. I spent quite a lot of this week wading through the tome that is A World on Fire (Amazon UK) by Amanda Foreman, a truly epic history of relations between the USA and England during the American Civil War. It’s the 150th anniversary of the Civil War and I was prompted to acquire this one thanks to BBC history magazine, which spotlighted both the anniversary and recommended this book, and Amazon.co.uk Vine which featured it at just the right time. It’s totally different from Foreman’s last book about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, but fascinating if slow going. I read a few other short books around it, as I generally do, but it’s been my main read for over a week now, and will probably persist into next week as well.
So that’s my week – how has yours been? Are you reading anything good?
I am an Amazon Associate.
With books and with plenty of other things, I often feel like I’m still a poor student. But as I’m nearing the finish of my first year of working (and marking it by attending my very first marketing event AND giving my first presentation on SEO with my boss), I’m very quickly realizing that I’m not, and that my money has power because I can decide what I do with it.
I’m in a relatively good position; my husband and I are both employed and we make enough money together to pay all of our bills, all the time, as well as eat and drive a car, and then we even manage to have some left over for both savings and leisure money. I know we’re not particularly rich, and a hefty bill still has the power to push us over the edge, but we’re both enjoying not having to stretch any pennies in any directions they don’t want to go and working on never having to do that again.
As evidence of our affluence, we’ve even managed to save up for a shiny new desktop computer, and I am now buying books on a regular basis. Rather than going for limiting the TBR or number of books purchased, I’ve just given myself a certain amount of money for books every month, so I’m relatively free to get whatever I want, even if it’s stupidly expensive.
This brings up, naturally, questions of just where to spend that money. How can I make it work hardest for the things I believe in? And this is where the biggest change has come in for me. I used to frequent charity shops and used bookstores all the time, hoping to acquire some wishlist books as well as those that just look interesting. I don’t do this any more, simply because if I’m buying books I want that money to go where it’s most valuable. I can go to the library for random finds, which I want to do to support them as well anyway. I donate to charities of my own free will, without depleting their book collections (and in fact bring them my discards).
For the most part, I buy new books, and I love feeling able to make that decision. It’s probably the one thing that has really signaled to me that I’m an adult now (that, and the fact that I can buy clothes from any section of the store I want, just because I like them – I never expected to enjoy that so much!) Books are my one hobby that costs money, so I take care to spend that money wisely. I do buy books online – I can buy more that way, and I want a LOT of books that my only local bricks and mortar bookstore, a puny W.H. Smith, doesn’t carry. There are no independents around that sell new books, so I’m limited in that respect, but I do try to buy from the actual bookstore especially now, even if the staff seems mainly employed to ask me if I want to buy chocolate with my books. To be fair, the local used bookstore isn’t any better – I’ve never seen the two employees even speak to a customer who isn’t actively buying something, but that isn’t really the point.
Anyway, the process by which I’m becoming a consumer, rather than someone who pinches every penny, has been quite fascinating to me. I love the privilege of deciding what I support and where I want my money to go. We never know what the future will bring, especially those of us who intend to return to academia at some point, so I’m going to enjoy making these decisions while I have the ability to do so – and I think considering where our money goes, especially on something we treasure as much as books, is a thought that everyone who is in a similar position should have.
Honestly, I had a really great idea for what to write about in this week’s Sunday Salon; unfortunately, I’ve completely forgotten it in the midst of a busy week. Stress at work generally means that when I get home, I just want to sit around and vegetate. You can even tell by my reading yesterday. I sat down and just read Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers and Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas, having my own mini-read-a-thon in the midst of a Saturday afternoon!
It doesn’t help that I’ve been on a bad reading streak. I’ve abandoned two library books and forced myself to finish two review copies in just two weeks. Looking back at my reading, there was a fifth book I didn’t like in the week before those as well. I can’t even remember the last time this has happened to me. I’ve gotten so spoiled by knowing what I like so well that it genuinely throws me off when I start to read a book which sounded great when I requested it or checked it out, but turns out to be really terrible. Even my husband noticed that I was dissatisfied with everything I was reading. Hence my reading spree yesterday – I knew I would love both those books, and it was an absolute relief to find out I was correct! Now I’m comfortably ensconced in Icons of England, a collection edited by Bill Bryson of all the things others love about England and, more specifically, the English countryside. Unfortunately I’m now wary of all the other books on my shelf – what if I don’t like another one of them?
So, the plan for this Sunday is more comfort reading, and more Assassin’s Creed II, my latest gaming obsession, before heading back to work tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll also manage a few reviews – I have six to write. This brings up another point; as I mentioned, I have two DNF library books to return tomorrow, and I’m not sure whether to write about them a bit or not. Since I so rarely abandon books, I’ve never really thought about it before. Would you be interested in knowing why I haven’t finished a book?
What do you do to get yourself out of a bad reading streak?
In all honesty, I meant to write this post yesterday for #savelibraries day. Unfortunately, time got away from me, but I thought it was still important to write about how things are in this country, and why libraries are regarded as something that can easily be forgotten (in my opinion). I’ve written similar opinions on others’ blogs, but I thought it was time to finally put them on my own.
Libraries in the UK are being closed down now, part of many, many governmental ‘budget cuts’ that, to me, seem mostly designed to make life harder for poor people and easier for rich people. It’s the way it goes. But, as a reasonably well-off person these days, libraries are my main concern. Because I can afford to buy books, but I know others can’t. I know my parents couldn’t satisfy my insatiable need to read with buying (at least part of why I’ve read some of my childhood books 10+ times) and I’m pretty sure that today’s parents will struggle just as much. Literacy should be encouraged; as we watch our countries slide down in intelligence, as even schools start to go downhill, it seems basic literacy should be encouraged more than anything. I proofread others’ writing; I know just how bad at least some schools here are at teaching students how to write. I’m convinced that reading voraciously helps immensely with not only writing but a vast amount of skills that are simply necessary for modern day life.
So why are libraries failing and being cut as unnecessary? I have a few reasons to postulate:
1. Kids don’t read. Some do, yes, but their parents don’t read. Reading in our modern day lives has become a chore. The people I know in real life who do read don’t use the library. At all. But kids need guidance to learn what they like to read. While teachers should take this on, I firmly believe librarians can also play a huge part in this. My library here has programmes for kids to do just this. Without them, their resources are more limited. I see no programmes planned to replace those of closed libraries.
2. Libraries can actually cost money for borrowers. In my old library system, it cost 50p to reserve a new book. Everyone who paid their 50p could read the book before the rest of us. It also cost 50p or more to reserve a book in a different library in the system, and more than that to borrow a CD or DVD. I understand that they’re just trying to raise money, but surely charging for a borrowed book is not the way to encourage this. Especially with point number 3.
3. Charity shops are everywhere. And while their mission is to do good for various suffering people and animals across the country, it certainly doesn’t help libraries (or bookstores) that they sell books for 50p or £1. Some charity shops dare to charge £2.50-£4, but these are less popular than the former. If you can buy a book for the same amount of money it costs you to borrow it for 3 weeks, why bother with borrowing? Why risk it being overdue? If you buy it in a charity shop, you own it, and you can pat yourself on the back for donating money to good causes. I know I’ve done it, because it is a good thing, but it doesn’t help my main concern here.
4. Books in the UK are pretty cheap in general. Most paperbacks I buy new online are £5 or less, with free shipping. I buy the occasional hardcover for around £10. If I had a bricks-and-mortar shop to support locally, they’d still only cost about £8. I can go to Tesco, my local supermarket, right now and get two books for that price. It’s not the same difference in the US, where most paperbacks are now trade paperbacks and cost $10-15. That’s a bigger savings than £5. I can afford to buy more books new, so I do. I still use the library, but I buy the books they don’t have, since there is no request system in place for the purchase of new books.
There is simply less surface cause for British people to need the library – not if they don’t read particularly often – because books aren’t that expensive and quite often library charges cancel out the benefits of borrowing a book for nothing. But that doesn’t mean libraries should be closed. They’re essential to communities, offering services for both children and adults that won’t be replaced. I was thrilled to see a library in Doncaster featured on the BBC yesterday due to all the people that were protesting by checking out books. But it’s important to remember not to support your library on just one day. Support them regularly, and we can teach the government that they are something we genuinely need, that can’t just be ‘cut’.
ETA: Nymeth wrote an incredible post elaborating in much clearer detail on why libraries are important.
As a child and teenager, I reread books all the time. For a few years, I didn’t own a book I hadn’t read twice, as I quite speedily read and reread any new books my parents bought me. Books are, obviously, easier to come by these days. I actually have unread books left from every single month of last year, which demonstrates how drastic the problem is, and I don’t really anticipate receiving fewer books at this point. But I still want to reread books I haven’t read in years. So, I have three big rereads I’ve decided to publicly commit myself to this year.
1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I read this first in high school and Ihave always wanted to read it again. I’m reading along with Nicole and Jen on What’s Old is New for the year, and so far have been doing really well. Reading each section only takes about half an hour, and while I know this means I’ll be reading this book for a very long time, that may be the only way I finish it again. Saying that, I’m enjoying it so far and found it difficult to step away after finishing the last section, so clearly my choice to reread this was a good one.
 2. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery – and the rest of the series. When I realized I could have all of these on my Kindle, I knew it was high time to reread these childhood favorites. I have never read all of them before, and some of the later ones I only read once, so I’m really looking forward to rediscovering them again. Anne of Green Gables has always been one of my favorite books. I’m planning on reading one book out of the series each month starting in February.
 3. The Wheel of Time. This is my biggest challenge for the year. This series was my very first foray into epic fantasy way back when. While it had its ups and downs, I have been waiting for it to be finished since I was in high school. Not as long as some people who started reading when the first book is published, but quite a while to wait for a series to end. Now, the last book, A Memory of Light, is the only one left to be published, but that leaves me with no less than 13 doorstopper volumes to read before publication date – the last three of which are completely new to me. I want to be ready to read 14 on that pub date, which is currently projected to be March 2012, leaving me with about enough time if I read one book per month, starting in February. This should also means I can remember what happened, because I’ll be reminding myself each and every month. (WoT fans will realize that I’m skipping the prequel book, but I actually remember that one fairly well since I accidentally read it twice and last, so I chose to leave that one out.)
Those are my rereading plans for the year. If they succeed, I have quite a few other series I’ll tackle in 2012, but I’ll go with these in the meantime.
Do you have any books you’re planning on rereading in 2011?
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