Books I Read in 2010
(in order of completion date)
- A Separate Peace – John Knowles (Jan.)
- Get a Grip on Evolution – David Burnie (Jan.)
- Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger (Jan.)
- The Origin – Irving Stone (Jan.)
- Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut (Feb.)
- Darwin’s Black Box- Michael J. Behe (Feb.)
- The Templars – Piers Paul Read (Feb.)
- Forget About It – Caprice Crane (Feb.)
- The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell – Hilary Spurling (April)
- Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky (April)
- Guinevere, Queen of the Summer Country – Rosalind Miles (April)
- A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson (April)
- The Angel’s Game – Carlos Ruiz Zafon (May)
- Ramses: Son of Light – Christian Jacq (May)
- Ramses: The Eternal Temple – Christian Jacq (May)
- Conspicuous Consumption – Vebler (June)
- Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome (June)
- Anna Karenina – Tolstoy (June)
- Ramses: The Battle of Kadesh – Christian Jacq (June)
- The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy (July)
- Daniel Deronda – George Eliot (July)
- Reading Lolita in Tehran – Azar Nafisi (July)
- The Ghost and the Dead Deb – Alice Kimberly (August)
- The Ghost and the Dead Man’s Library – Alice Kimberly (August)
- The Book Thief – Markus Zusak (August)
- Whose Body? – Dorothy Sayers (August)
- Espresso Shot – Cleo Coyle (August)
- Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie (August)
- A Pair of Blue Eyes – Thomas Hardy (September)
- The Sweet Far Thing – Libba Bray (October)
- Well Enough Alone – Jennifer Traig (October)
- The Monk – Matthew Lewis (November)
- Family Affair – Caprice Crane (November)
- The Pleasures of God – John Piper (November)
- The Diaries of Adam and Eve – Mark Twain (November)
- Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez (November)
- Finding Darwin’s God – Kenneth Miller (December)
- Tuesdays With Morrie – Mitch Albom (December)
- 84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff (December)
- Where I Lived and What I Lived For – Henry David Thoreau (December)
- The Brief History of the Dead – Kevin Brockmeier (December)
- The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame (December)
For my 2009 list: https://anakalianwhims.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/2009-book-list/
84, Charing Cross Road
Not since Shakespeare&Co. of Time Was Soft There has a European bookstore touched me so. This collection of letters between Helen, Frank, and others from Marks&Co. was delightful, beautiful, and oh so sad. I cannot wait to read its sequel and other work by Helene Hanff.
Finding Miller’s Fence
Like Darwin himself, Kenneth Miller stands tall on the fence between having any decided thoughts on science and religion as he eloquently expresses that he believes all of it and yet none of it. His language and style is convincing and comfortable throughout his book Finding Darwin’s God, and seems to be quite capable of appeasing the general public with his beautifully written ramblings. Yet, obviously, I remain unsatisfied.
Miller spends half the book defending evolution, half defending God, veiling his arguments in pretty language refusing to completely side with either side very much the way Darwin did in his own writings (for fear of social upset).
During this well structured persuasive essay, he calls Darwin a fence sitter and then wraps the entire book up with two separate statements:
1. “[…] Darwin in his later years tried and failed to find God, at least a God consistent with his theories.”
2. “What kind of God do I believe in? The answer is in those words. I believe in Darwin’s God.”
I respect his effort, and the book was extremely well written and absolutely fascinating. I just can’t seem to agree with him.
Muffins!
Tropical Pina Colada Muffins
1 ¾ cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup veggie oil
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple slices, drain the juice into wet mix, dice slices before adding
1 tblsp. Cocoanut extract
½ cocoanut shavings
Pour into greased muffin pan.
In a bowl mix a lot of butter, sugar, and more cocoanut shavings. Dollop mixture onto top of each muffin.
Immediately put in the preheated oven and bake on 400 for 30 minutes.
George Washington’s Muffins
1 ¾ cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup veggie oil
1 can cherry pie filling
1/3 cup vanilla extract
Mix and pour into greased muffin pan.
Top each muffin with chopped walnuts and immediately place in preheated oven at 400 for 30 minutes.
Cranberry Orange Delight
1 ¾ cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup veggie oil
1 can wholeberry cranberry sauce
1 tblsp. Pure orange extract
Pour into greased muffin pan.
In a bowl mix a lot of butter and sugar. Dollop mixture onto top of each muffin.
Immediately put in the preheated oven and bake on 400 for 30 minutes.
Thanksgiving Apple Muffins
Thanksgiving Apple Muffins by Andi
1 ¾ cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup veggie oil
1 can apple pie filling
1/3 cup vanilla extract
1 tblsp. Cinnamon
Bake on 400 for about 25 minutes.
Ayla Zepharyn Klemm
My daughter arrived at 3:37 am October 18th. I was seventeen pages into The Brief History of the Dead, irony of ironies. Shall get back to you all with a review as soon as I can get enough awake hours of the day to finish the book and make my assessment.
The Sweet Over-Done Thing
A Review of The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
I was rather tired of Gemma’s magic and the realms by the middle of this last installment in the trilogy. What’s worse, I felt spoon fed an ending that would never end. This one is the longest not because that much more happens in the story, but because the author found her wind and just kept blowing. There is rumor of a fourth book and I pray Ms. Bray goes against that plan and starts something fresh instead. Bray is a talented storyteller and should waste no more time on this particular story, but stretch her legs and do something more exciting than beat a dead horse with a fourth book.
Inappropriate Things to Do to Pregnant Women
taken from jokesprank.com
… and for some reason the masses think its ok…
* Squeal loudly at them, directing half the conversation at their enlarged gut.
(Back to that whole: “Please look at my face when we’re talking” kinda thing. The kid isn’t out yet, it can’t see you making googoo faces at it, and talking baby talk at me isn’t going to accomplish anything anyway.)
* Rub the belly, attack the belly, poke the belly – pretty much any touching of the belly that you would not do if the person was not pregnant.
(We’re not Buddha, we can still feel that, if I didn’t want you rubbing my six pack at random in the super market I probably don’t want you doing it now – I can still feel that. And don’t take it personally as though I have somehow slighted YOU because I didn’t want you to molest me.)
* Hit on them.
(On what planet is it ok to hit on someone who is having another man’s child? Just because I’m having sex and there is obvious proof of that fact, doesn’t mean I want to have sex with you. Don’t look at me like that, don’t ask for my number, and don’t keep talking to me after I tell you I’m married and wave my wedding ring at you. Whether you have a twisted fetish or you’re just trying to make the “fat” girl feel good about her day – its creepy. Don’t do it.)
* Lecture them about their tattoos.
(Just because I have a tattoo and I’m pregnant, does not mean that I went and got that tattoo while I was conceiving, seconds after the strip turned pink, or eight months into my pregnancy. I’m not an idiot, I know that getting a tattoo while pregnant is not a good thing to do – why would you assume that’s exactly what I did? I had a lifetime to get a tattoo… I’ve only got 10 months of being pregnant. Use your brain.)
A Pair of Blue Eyes
Thomas Hardy does it again playing with all your emotions! This is yet another brilliant piece of work that takes you from loving to hating, adoring to judging, and then back to a calm “as it should be” state. Elfride Swancourt, Stephen Smith, and Mr. Knight are all so very real as each one demonstrates the ability for a human being to be wonderful and loving, hateful and horrible, and yet endearing all at once.
Espresso Shot – Cleo Coyle
Cleo Coyle’s cozy little mysteries never fail to have me craving good coffee and in the kitchen baking delicious treats to devour. Whether its just a lazy day off, or the worst sick day of your life, picking up one of the Coffeehouse Mysteries is the perfect solution. They are an afternoon read that will truly relax your being while enticing your taste buds! Cannot wait to pick up the next installment.
Anakalian Whims 