Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman

Aug27

Confusing. Twins, Rachel and Alice, go to the carnival in the village. One sister gets on the Ferris wheel, and the other disappears. Can the narrator, the twin who rode the Ferris wheel and stayed safe, find her sister before it’s too late? Is our narrator at all reliable? And which twin is which? Can identical twins really feel each other’s pain?

I must admit that although I was absorbed and intrigued by this YA thriller up until the very end, I’m not sure I got it. One of the narrators is delusional (or is she?), and I never did figure out what was real and what was imaginary. I even went back and re-read the beginning and the final chapters, and I still didn’t understand. It made me feel dumb.

So, I recommend this novel, with all its twists and turns, to readers who are smarter than I am, or who pay better attention, or who don’t mind ambiguity. Actually, I don’t mind ambiguity, if I know that’s what it is and if it’s not just me being slow-witted. Would someone else out there read it and ‘splain it to me?

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi

Aug26

The Drowned Cities is a companion novel to Mr. Bacigalupi’s award-winning dystopian novel Ship Breaker. Both stories take place in the same nasty, war-torn world: “a world destroyed and reconfigured by climate change and the greed of oil hungry corporations and industries. By the time the story opens, oil is an extremely scarce commodity, and the worldâ€™s transportation systems run on other forms of energy, for the most part.”

The Drowned Cities, however, is a much more violent and horrific novel than Ship Breaker was. Mahlia and Mouse, the two children who are the central characters in the story, are the victims of a society in which war has become the focal, salient fact of life. Mahlia is a half-breed, the daughter of a Chinese peacekeeper/soldier and his Drowned Cities (American) wife. Deserted by her father and with her mother dead, Mahlia has already experienced the horrors of a civilization in chaos that has become the playing ground for competing factions who war incessantly against each other for the sake of power. Mahlia and Mouse are so powerless that they don’t even count as pawns in the schemes of the groups that are fighting each other. They are nothing, “war maggots”, insects to be ignored or carelessly squashed unless they get in the way or are unfortunate enough to capture the attention of someone powerful.

I read this one with a kind of sick horror. The violence is the violence of war, not gratuitous in the sense that it is true to the realities of war. But on the other hand, the violence of war is gratuitous, unnecessary, and certainly unwarranted in the case of children who should never suffer or be enlisted as soldiers in the wars that adults start and prosecute. Just as we react with outrage when we hear of the child soldiers in some African conflicts, I wanted to pluck Mahlia and Mouse out of their appalling situation and somehow save them.

I predict you’ll feel the same way as you read The Drowned Cities. My other thought was: could The United States of America ever come to be such a barbaric, brutal place? I’m fairly sure we could. The Germans thought themselves to be one of the most civilized nations on earth before World War II. No one would believe the horrors perpetrated by such a civilized, Christian nation until they saw the proof of the Holocaust after the war was over. If our economy fell apart, for whatever reason, and our infrastructure collapsed, and most importantly, we had no real sense anymore of moral responsibility before a holy God, we could very well fall into anarchy.

Saturday Review of Books: August 25, 2012

Aug24

â€œ. . . reading is more important to me than eating. If I went blind, I would pay to have someone read to me. I would try to learn Braille. I would buy books on tape. I would rather go without food than go without books. â€ ~John Piper

Welcome to the Saturday Review of Books at Semicolon. Hereâ€™s how it usually works. Find a book review on your blog posted sometime during the previous week. The review doesnâ€™t have to be a formal sort of thing. You can link to your thoughts on a particular book, a few ideas inspired by reading the book, your evaluation, quotations, whatever.

Then on Friday night/Saturday, you post a link here at Semicolon in Mr. Linky to the specific post where youâ€™ve written your book review. Donâ€™t link to your main blog page because this kind of link makes it hard to find the book review, especially when people drop in later after youâ€™ve added new content to your blog. In parentheses after your name, add the title of the book youâ€™re reviewing. This addition will help people to find the reviews theyâ€™re most interested in reading.

After linking to your own reviews, you can spend as long as you want reading the reviews of other bloggers for the week and adding to your wishlist of books to read. That’s how my own TBR list has become completely unmanageable and the reason I can’t join any reading challenges. I have my own personal challenge that never ends.

While you’re here, check out the List of Lists below this post for even more book suggestions to make your TBR list even more ungovernable, unwieldy, and endlessly amaranthine.

55 Reading Lists That I Would Love to Read Through . . .

Aug19

IF I could live to be 300 or 400 years old. Maybe eternity is still linear enough for us to read all the books that we never got around to in this life? In the meantime, summer is not over yet, and I’m going to do all the reading I can before it ends.

1. Got Summer Reading? by NRO’s Symposium. Books recommended by Hunter Baker, Joseph Pearce, Gina Dalfonzo, Elizabeth Scalia (The Anchoress)and other like-minded and erudite people–what a treat!

2. Al Mohler’s Recommended Reading List for the summer of 2012.

3. 2012 Summer Books: NPR Critics’ Lists. Several lists here, including historical fiction, romance, sci-fi, and teen reads.

4. Devon Corneal: Summer Reading 2012, Books for Kids of All Ages.

5. New York Times: New Under the Sun, Books for Basking

6. Chicago Tribune: It’s summertime, and the reading is easy.

7. Texas Monthly: The Fifty Best Texas Books. I would love to at least take a look at each one of these and see what’s really good out of the bunch.

8. A Fuse #8 Production: Top 100 Chapter Books

9. A Fuse #8 Production: Top 100 Picture Books

10. Washington Week Summer 2012 Reading List. Lots of politics and history on this list, but those are some of my fascinations.

11. 10 Books a Day series by Sarah Bessey

12. Girl Detective hosts The Summer of Shelf Discovery: (Re)reading Teenage Classics I just couldn’t fit this odyssey inot my schedule this summer, but you can still read along with Girl Detective and others as they rediscover the YA books of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s.

13. Byliner’s 101 Nonfiction Stories, not exactly a book list, but I do want to read all of these stories from the world of journalism, what they used to call “human interest stories” and “investigative journalism.”

14. Carnegie Medal Winners. Wouldn’t it be fun to read through this list of children’s literature from the U.K., roughly equivalent to our Newbery Award winners? This same list at Lists of Bests.

16. Jared Wilson’s Fave Fifty. This list is just a list of favorites from a guy whose blog and taste in literature I happen to admire.

17. Great Summer Reading Suggestions by the team at Breakpoint.

18. Youth Reads Summer 2012 Recommended Reading List at Breakpoint.

19. 2012 Longlist for the Man Booker Prize.

20. NPR 100 Best Beach Books Ever.

21. NPR Top 100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Books

22. NPR’s Top 100 “Killer-Thrillers”.

23. Olympic reading list: everything you need to know about the history, legacy and risk of the Games. From the blog run by social scientists from the London School of Economics.

24. bartzturkeymom’s 2012 Olympics Reading Challenge The point is to read one author per each of the 205 nations participating in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games by the end of the games. Obviously, I won’t make the challenge, but I do like the list.

25. 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century, compiled by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. All of my favorites are on this list: Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Ellis Peters, Josephine Tey, P.D. James. Plus there are several I’d like to read more of: Ruth Rendell, Laurie King, Carl Hiaasen, Minette Walters, and more.

26. Image Journal’s 100 Writers of Faith. Some of my favorite writers are on this list, and I’d really like to at least try all of the books listed here. I have started a couple of the books that are listed and found that were not for me, or it wasn’t the right timing, or something. (I’m not a fan of Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany nor of Updike or Walker Percy.) Still, there are some great books on this list.

27. National Geographic’s 100 Greatest Adventure Books, courtesy of Carol at Magistra Mater. Here is the same list at Lists of Bests.

28. Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight: Top 10 Jesus Books. I’ve not read a single one of these “best books to read about Jesus.” But maybe I should?

29. What Are You Reading This Summer? from Hermeneutics, the Christianity Today blog for women.

Oh, my, while making this List of Lists, I found this website called Lists of Bests where you can check off the books (or movies or places or music) you’ve “consumed”, and it saves your lists and tells you how much you have to go to finish the list. And I love it. I could spend all day long on this website, just checking off lists. Am I obsessive or what?

30. Christianity Today’s 100 most spiritually significant books of the 20th century at Lists of Bests.

31. Newbery Medal Winners at Lists of Bests.

32. Newbery Honor Books at Lists of Bests.

33. Petersens’ 100 Christian Books That Changed the Century at Lists of Bests.

34. Books from The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer.

35. 25 Books Every Christian Should Read from Renovare at Lists of Bests.

36. Hugo Award Winners for Excellence in Science Fiction at Lists of Bests.

37. Nebula Award Winners for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

38. Edgar Award Winners for Mystery Novels at Lists of Bests.

39. Printz Award Winners at Lists of Bests.

40. Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography at Lists of Bests.

41. Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize at Lists of Bests.

42. The Ultimate Summer Reading List from Biola Magazine.

43. Evan Johnson’s Reading List.

44. Horn Book International History List.

45 NPR’s Best Ever Teen Novels. Just published on August 7th, this list includes some of my favorites: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hobbit and LOTR, Anne of Green Gables, and Divergent. It also includes some un-favorites, which I won’t name. So I’d like to read the rest to see where they fall.

46. Longitude: 86 Greatest Travel Books of All Time.

47. Hutchmoot: Recommended Reading. (Even though I can’t go ’cause it’s full, and it’s in Nashville, and I’m in Texas, and I wish I could, but I can’t. But I can read the books.)

48. 2012 TAYSHAS Reading List. This list comes from a committee at the Texas Library Association, and it focuses on books, adult and YA, that are of interest to young adults. Of course, if you’re young at heart, like me . . .

49. Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List 2012-2013.

50. Excellent Books for Teens Between Cultures by Mitali Perkins.

51. 55 Biographies and Memoirs I Want to Read.
52. Reading Through Northern Africa for my Northern Africa Project.

53. My own Classics Club List.

54. My Own To Be Read List.

55. Dr Peter Boxall’s 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die at Lists of Bests.

‘

Saturday Review of Books: August 18, 2012

Aug17

â€œGood literature erects bridges between different peoples, and by having us enjoy, suffer, or feel surprise, unites us beneath the languages, beliefs, habits, customs, and prejudices that separate us. When the great white whale buries Captain Ahab in the sea, the hearts of readers take fright in exactly the same way in Tokyo, Lima, or Timbuctu.â€ ~Mario Vargas Llosa

Book Tag: Dog Days

Aug14

These are the dog days of summer (where does that phrase come from?), and we have a dog. Not my choice, my son brought him home and foisted him upon us in a moment of weakness on my part, but he is kind of cute, both actually the dog and the son.

So let’s play Book Tag again. In today’s edition of Book Tag, please suggest your favorite dog book. If the dog doesn’t die in the book, you get extra points.

Remember the rules: In this game, readers suggest ONE good book in the category given, then let somebody else be “it” before they offer another suggestion. There is no limit to the number of books a person may suggest, but they need to politely wait their turn with only one book suggestion per comment.

I’ll start off with a classic, sort-of dog book, the series by Yorkshire veterinarian James Herriot that begins with All Creatures Great and Small. I’m not even much of an animal lover, but I love these books. The stories Herriot tells are funny, poignant, sometimes dramatic or sad, but always absorbing and full of human (and animal) interest–and lots of dogs.

The Presidents Club by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

Aug14

The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy. Recommended by Al Mohler.

Fascinating. I learned a lot about the presidents of the latter half of the twentieth century and their post-presidential lives.

I learned that both Truman and Hoover were at first rather neglected and forgotten after their respective presidencies were over, but that later presidents came to rely on them for advice and encouragement and sometimes (Hoover) help in carrying out humanitarian initiatives. According to the book, Hoover was great at organizing and carrying out post-war recovery programs to help refugees and starving people in the war zone, something he did after World War I and before he became president and after World War II, after he was president.

Johnson was a pain and a blowhard who nevertheless agonized over his role in escalating the Vietnam War. I don’t think I would have liked LBJ very much.

Nixon came across as a very complicated, arrogant, insecure, devious, and intelligent man. He knew a lot about the Russians, and thought he knew even more than he did. He advised presidents on foreign policy, towards the Soviet Union/Russia in particular, and he very much wanted to be recognized and admired for his contributions.

The authors depict Gerald Ford as a courageous man who knew that his pardon for Richard Nixon would heal the country and strengthen the presidency but knew also that it would seriously undermine his chances to serve as an elected president.

Carter was apparently a loose cannon, talented in diplomacy, but prone to go off on his own and cut his own deals without consulting the sitting president or the State Department. He practically worked miracles when he was sent on diplomatic missions to North Korea and to Haiti, but everyone back in the U.S., the president and all his advisors, was on high alert, wondering what he would do or say next.

George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton became close friends after their time as president was over, working together to raise money for disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina and after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Then, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton became friends and cooperated to raise funds for Haiti relief.

That’s the kind of stuff ex-presidents do, and the thesis of the book is that they form a sort of “club” made up of the very few people in the world who know what it’s like to deal with the pressures and responsibilities of being the president of the United States of America. They become concerned with their own legacy to some extent, but also with the guarding of the office of the presidency. So they cooperate with each other and with the president who is in office to protect the prestige and honor of the presidency, even while possibly disagreeing in fundamental ways about policy and politics.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in July, 2012

Aug12

Children’s and Young Adult Fiction
Chronal Engine by Greg Leitich Smith.
Crazy Dangerous by Andrew Klavan. Semicolon review here.
Something Like Normal by Trish Doller. Semicolon review here.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Saenz. Wonderful writing, appealing characters, not so appealing theme or plot.

Adult Fiction
The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarity.
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection by Alexander McCall Smith. Semicolon review here.
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson.

Nonfiction
The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. Semicolon review here.
Goodbye to a River by John Graves. Semicolon review here.
Bringing Home the Prodigals by Rob Parsons. Semicolon review here.

Saturday Review of Books: August 11, 2012

Aug10

â€œI am one of those overeducated library types who might be expected to look down her nose at self-help booksâ€“-but the whole bookstore is a self-help section to me. When something needs to be fixed, my first and abiding instinct is to read. I think I can read my way to a solution. Or at least an evasion.â€ ~Lauren Winner

55 Recipes I’d Like To Make

Aug7

Now I haven’t made any of these, but I am in need of some new ideas. So, these are the ones I’ve found that I’m planning to try out soon.

1. Chocolate Cherry Cake from Brenda at Coffee, Tea, Books and Me (who shares my reason for celebrating at this particular time of year)

2. Sweet Sour Meatloaf from Norma at Collecting My Thoughts

3. Pumpkin Bread Pudding from The Anchoress. I’ll probably save this recipe for autumn, the time for pumpkin.

4. Sweet and Sour Meatballs and Cherry Crockpot Cobbler from Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight Dawn always has such wonderful posts about homemaking and homeschooling and organization and loving life.

5. The winner of Rachel Held Evans’ Recipe Contest of Biblical Proportions: Medallions and Carrots It’s actually Pork and Carrots, and I think my family would like it because it’s a bit sweet. We’re all sugar addicted.

6. Gingery Marinated Beef Cubes from The Reading Zone Sometimes in addition to all the yummy books and teaching tips, Sarah includes a “slice of life”, which is where this recipe idea comes from.

7-12. Cranberry Ketchup.
Wisconsin Cheese Soup.
Spinach Lasagne.
Surprising Chili
Cheeseburger Soup
Strawberry soup
All from The Common Kitchen. A lot of the Headmistress’s recipes are way too “healthy” or labor intensive for me, but the above look just right, veggies and all that good stuff, but easy and tasty, too.

13. Recipe for a Sweet Smelling House from Carol MagistraMater.

14. Best Scones Ever from LiterariTea

15. Fruit Crisp from Like Mother, Like Daughter. Actually, I’ve made lots of fruit crisp, but Aunt Leila suggests making the crisp part ahead and freezing. I like that idea.

16. Our Favorite Potato Soup from Melissa Wiley Melissa says she’s a “disorganized cook”, like me! So her recipe should work perfectly in our disorganized, soup-loving house.

17. Spicy Lentil Meatball Soup from Violet at Promptings.

18. Winter Fudge Cake from Farm School

19. Moo-Shu Pork from Jessica Snell at Homemaking through the Church Year. Jessica is a lovely and inspiring Anglican writer, homemaker, and mom.

20. Root Beer Bundt Cake from Girl Detective. I’ve made 7-up Cake and Coke Cake, but never root beer. Girl Detective, by the way, not only reads and reviews great books; she also bakes bodacious birthday cakes. I am much too lazy to go to this much work for a birthday cake, even though I love my urchins very much.

21. Pumpkin Rolls from Sheila at Book Journey. I’m sensing a pumpkin, soup, chocolate theme in the recipes that appeal to me. Sheila’s blog is is lovely place for readers and bloggers and writers to meet together and discuss books, maybe over a slice of pumpkin roll.

22. White Chicken Chili from Hope Is The Word. I made this on Sunday, July 1, and we all enjoyed it very much. I wanted to add some corn to the recipe, but I didn’t have any.

23-24. Jama Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup is all about food and fun and books and celebration, so I found a couple of recipes there that I’d like to try
Black-eyed Pea Salad Medley.
Tracie’s Cheatin’ Shells

25. Potato Casserole from My Friend Amy.

26. Corn Salad from Heather at Sprittibee.

27. Lemony Buttered Shrimp from Jennifer at Conversion Diary Jen is a hilarious Catholic mom who lives and writes from Texas.

28. Chicken Marinara from Kim at The Upward Call

29. Banana Sheet Cake from Rebecca Writes Rebecca is a theologian as well as a homemaker, and she is worth reading on either subject.

30. Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes from Chef in Training (Actually I found a link to this and several other recipes from Pinterest at Shonya’s blog, Learning How Much I Don’t Know)

31. Chocolate Chip Pie from Renee at Add More Chocolate. Renee hasn’t posted in a while, but she still has a whole bunch of chocolate recipes in her Month of Chocolate feature that she did in February, 2010.

32. Cranberry Salsa from A Circle of Quiet. She has a food blog called Notre Pain Quotidian.

33. Gooey Butter Cake from Laura at Lines in Pleasant Places.

34. The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever from The Pioneer Woman via Beth at Weavings. I actually made this cake for the 4th of July, and everyone loved it.

35. White Chicken Enchiladas from Donna at Quiet Life.

36. Picadillo from Dorian Speed at Scrutinies.

37. Ammie’s Unbeatable Beef Stroganoff from Heather at Sprittibee.

38. Delicious Chicken Skillet from CIndy at Notes in the Key of Life. More links to Cindy’s favorite recipes.

39. Hawaiian Bread Sandwich from Staci at Writing and Living.

40. Breakfast Cookies from Susan Wise Bauer.

41. Jambalaya from Amy’s Humble Musings.

42. Seven Layer Salad from Barbara at Mommy Life.

43. Chicken Piccata from Seasonal Soundings.

44. Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole from These Four No More.

45. Crockpot Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from Kathie’s Garden of Life.

46. Crack Dip from Shannon at The Mommy Diaries.

47. Crockpot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin from Tiny Tidbits.

48. Greek Potatoes and Chicken from The Southern Belle.

I found the preceding four recipes at Kelly’s Korner blog on a crock pot link-up called Crockpotalooza.
49. Patty Melts from The Pioneer Woman.

50. Orange Julius. I have made this before, and I’ll post the recipe soon for those who don’t know it. Yummy summertime breakfast drink!

51. Flaky Apple Foldovers From my book, Summertime Favorite Recipes by Pillsbury.

52. Turkey Salad Polynesian. From my book, Summertime Favorite Recipes by Pillsbury.

53. Creamy Corn ‘n Zucchini. From my book, Summertime Favorite Recipes by Pillsbury. I can’t find it online. If it turns out good, I’ll post the recipe.

54. Country Morning Coffee Cake. Ditto #53.

55. Cinnamon Baked French Toast from The Pioneer Woman.

I know I could probably “pin” all these recipes on Pinterest, and it would be a lot easier, IF I could figure out to use Pinterest and IF I didn’t keep reading bloggers who are complaining about how Pinterest is eating up their lives and IF I hadn’t already spent hours making this list, so it’ll have to do, and if you want pictures click on the links and most of them have pics, and yes, I know this a run-on sentence, but I can’t stop myself which is why I’m not on Pinterest. END.

By the way, these recipes are mostly from bloggers who are on my Google Reader, bloggers whose recipes and book recommendations I trust. Thanks guys for all the new additions to my meal repertoire and for all the other lovely blog posts that you share with all of us each day.