I can't read this anymore!

by Laura Sullivan

Why do we keep reading a book when it makes us mad? Or sad? I have been reading the Game of Thrones series, by George R. R. Martin, and it is positively infuriating at times. Do you know how you feel when you just love a book and want to send a note of thanks or congratulations to the author? I feel the opposite. I want him to do some serious explaining as to what he was thinking when he decided the fates of these characters and send them off to the publisher. Really.

So why do I keep reading? I am three books in, (it's five books so far, each at about 900 pages) and in the middle of this last book, something finally very good was about to happen- and didn't. I was ready to throw in the towel; I just couldn't suffer with this anymore. My husband read the whole series, and thinks: "It's just not normal for a grown woman to be at the supermarket muttering about a science fiction novel." I have to explain- this series is epic in scope, but tragic, and like nothing you've ever read. The main characters (or those that you think of as main characters, and will carry through the whole series, die without warning. Nothing good happens in this book! So why do I keep reading?

Because, my friends, this is why we do read- if Romeo and Juliet went off to live in a cottage by the sea, would it endure? If Jean Val Jean became a baker and lived in Paris, we would have The Happies instead of The Miserables. We love epic tragedies. They are stories, they keep us turning the pages and to be able to suffer and feel, and then go out to mulch the garden, unharmed. We need vile, horrible villains, and tragedies of epic proportions. They make the story go. I will keep reading the Game of Thrones, and continue with book four, A Feast for Crows, after I take a break. For a book with happy ending.

What to do until Downton Abbey returns

by Laura Sullivan

I have to say, even though the ending of the second season of Downton Abbey was far, far more satisfying than the first, I will still miss it. To have to wait until next January for the third season is perceived as pain for some. There is even a Downton Abbey support group on line! (I must say, if that is the support group you need, good for you- you are living a pretty great life!) Meanwhile, between here and January of 2013, here are a few books of that age to get you through. I haven't read some of them yet, but culled from some lists I saw, and interviews I heard. I hope you, and I, like them. Descriptions are right from the books, as I have no experience with them as yet.

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, by the Countess of Carnavon
The story behind Highclere Castle, the real-life inspiration for the hit PBS show Downton Abbey, and the life of one of its most famous inhabitants, Lady Almina, the 5th Countess of Carnarvon and the basis of the fictional character Lady Cora Crawley.  Drawing on a rich store of materials from the archives of Highclere Castle, including diaries, letters, and photographs, the current Lady Carnarvon has written a transporting story of this fabled home on the brink of war....

Below Stairs, by Margaret Powell
Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of masters and servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, Margaret Powell’s classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of an indomitable woman who, though she served in the great houses of England, never stopped aiming high. Powell first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s.  As a kitchen maid – the lowest of the low – she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. It was a far cry from her childhood on the beaches of Hove, where money and food were scarce, but warmth and laughter never were. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids’ curlers, to raucous tea-dances with errand boys, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlormaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress’s nephew, Margaret’s tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation. Margaret Powell's true story of a life spent in service is a fascinating “downstairs” portrait of the glittering, long-gone worlds behind the closed doors of Downton Abbey and 165 Eaton Place.

Fall of Giants, by Ken Follett
 A thirteen-year-old Welsh boy enters a man's world in the mining pits; an American law student rejected by love finds a surprising new career in Woodrow Wilson's White House; a housekeeper for the aristocratic Fitzherberts takes a fateful step above her station, while Lady Maud Fitzherbert herself crosses deep into forbidden territory when she falls in love with a German spy; and two orphaned Russian brothers embark on radically different paths when their plan to emigrate to America falls afoul of war, conscription, and revolution.
From the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty, Fall of Giants takes readers into the inextricably entangled fates of five families-and into a century that we thought we knew, but that now will never seem the same again.

(I did read this last one, and loved it. It is the first of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. I can;t wait for the next installment in September of this year.)

Love love?

by Laura Sullivan

Elizabeth Bennet & Darcy

As I look over the list of books that I've read over the years, I see that not many are love stories in any way. I seem to gravitate toward shipwreck books about resourcefulness and struggle for some reason. Shipwrecks aside, here are a few of my favorite love stories for Valentines Day that are decidedly not romance novels....

Pride and Prejudice,  Jane Austen
Sense and Sensability, Jane Austen
Persuasion, Jane Austen

These are perpetually on any of my book lists. Formulaic, but Jane has written about the plight of women in her day. Women who had little choice in life, but who made their life what they wanted, and would rather live out their lives as devoted maiden sisters and daughters than to live in an unhappy marriage.

More modern, but British again is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson. A quiet love story about a man in his 60's interested in living life in love, and not living out his days as a stay at home widower, as the rest of his family expects him to do. Funny, charming, and lovely.

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon is the start of a series about a time traveling British nurse from World War II, who stumbles through some standing stones into the arms of a Scottish Jacobite in the 1700s. Very historical, magical, and some slight bodice ripping. Those of us who wait not so patiently for the next installment of the Outlander Series dream of our husbands in kilts... (Full disclosure- my husband did accuse me of reading a romance novel when I was reading this, but it really is very historical! I learned a lot.)


Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Greene is a young adult novel that is still one of the only novels to ever make me cry. Heatbreaking young love about a young country girl and a German POW during WWII. (The other novel to make me cry was when Laura got married at the end of the Little House on the Prairie Series- she left the only home she knew!)

Right now I am reading The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I am just at the beginning, but the author's name does suggest romance- I'll let you know. It is Brooke's favorite book of the year.

My neighbors, Emily and Max

by Laura Sullivan

Hi friends,

I had the great pleasure of listening to my neighbor, Emily Colson, talk about her book, Dancing with Max yesterday at the Duxbury Free Library. I have to be truthful, I went more slightly as a neighborly obligation, and left wishing my whole family came with me. She is a wonderful speaker, and gives a perspective on children with autism, and how a life lived with joyful abandon can be liberating to anyone.

I have known Emily for a few years now, and can attest that she is always sunny, happy, and smiling. She completely embraces the joy  in life, and all that she has with her son, Max.

Thank you for sharing your story, Emily, you are an inspiration, and very funny, too!

See Emily's blog at: http://emilycolson.com/emilys-blog

Dancing with Max is available at Westwinds today. Come in and pick up a copy, and say "Hi" to Emily and Max when they see you on their adventures around town.

New Years Reading Resolutions

by Laura Sullivan

I like making New Year's resolutions. I make lots, because one is bound to get done, and I feel so accomplished. (I think it's because I like making lists and crossing things off. First: make list. Then when the list is done, cross off "Make list." Who's ahead of the game!) 

This year I am making a reading resolution, and it's now public, so you can ask me how it's going when you see me on the street. But if I am on the street, it is likely that my car is broken down. So stop and help. Then ask me how my resolution is going. 

I am going to read Middlemarch, by George Eliot.(This portrait is of George at 30. I hope that she's not just been reading her book- she appears to be suffering from terrible ennui.)  I know, some of you think, "Oh, I've read that four times" or "Every Summer!" But for me, it is my literary Waterloo. I have tried three times to get into this book that by all rights I should love, but something stops me at about page 150. No more- I will finish it!

I have been successful in a reading New Year's resolution book before- I resolved to read the New Testament in its entirety a few years ago, and I did. And I knew how that story would end… go figure. Future years' resolutions will include James Joyce's Ulysses, The Old Testament, and You Can't Go Home Again, by Tom Wolfe. 

I have read and enjoyed many a giant tome. War and Peace, Les Miserables- easy. All Jane Austen- child's play. I drool over Downton Abbey. I should be wrapped up in a Victorian Novel with a cup of tea right now. I vow to get to the bottom of this book once and for all, and cross it off my list.

I'd love to hear- what's your reading resolution?

Satisfying series

By Laura Sullivan

Have you ever finished a book and felt like you left a friend behind? I have. I still remember reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo one summer on the train every day. It is such a large book! As a voracious reader as I was, and still am, it took me six weeks to finish. I read on the T, at my lunch hour, at night. (I really got out a lot…) I can still feel how it was to close that last page and just hold it on the way home. We were done, Jean Val Jean and me. What book in the world can you go to after you've finished a book like that?

The above scenario is why reading a series is so satisfying. No mourning and wondering what you will possibly read next- there's something in line to take its place and continue the story. Until the end of course- it's hard, but you will recover. Many series are written for young adults, or by mystery writers. The young adult should be "young at heart." A good story is a good story, no matter the intended market. Young adult books don’t mean have teeny bopper themes, or that the writing is sub-par; they often have content that is appropriate for a young adult audience. Think of them as PG books. Okay, enough convincing- here are some of my favorites:

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I read this series three times; once when I was a kid, once to my older two children, and once to my younger two boys. Find someone to tread this series to- just 15 minutes a night and you'll be through it in a year. So many discussions along the way!

Harry Potter, by JK Rowling

What can I say? I didn't dress up like my 43 year old sister in law when the books came out (her daughters haven't even read them!) but I did attend the midnight release party of the final installment at Westwind's and finished the 800 plus page book two days later.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

I usually really hate post apocalyptic literature, but I had to read the first book for book club, and I'm so glad I did! Books two and three followed soon after, and when I was done, I passed them to my husband, who read all three as voraciously as I did.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordian

I am still reading the latest of this series to my nine year old. I so try not to read ahead after he goes to bed…

Chains and Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson

These books are Revolutionary War diary stories of a slave girl trying to find her sister. It is gripping, and the cliffhangers would put any soap opera to shame.

These are only a very few of what's out there- my son Ben loves spy books- the Alex Rider series and the CHERUB series. The point is, there are so, so many to choose from. Ask your local bookstore owner for some guidance. I'm sure they will talk your ear off, as I have!

Food writing!

by Laura Sullivan

It's October now, and although we had a lovely 80 degree Indian summer weekend, it is generally getting cooler. With the cooler days, we are more apt to sitting in a cushy chair with a blanket and a book, than lounging in the hammock with one. It is also the time of year to hunker down and cook good food. Coincidentally, it is also when the farmers markets offer their best - apples, pumpkins, squashes kale, and cider doughnuts.

Our farmer's market here in Duxbury is so bucolic, everything looks so fresh and good! I tend to get overly ambitious and buy too much. I can’t help it- it's like when I wake up in the morning with the best intentions of my day: oatmeal for breakfast, roast kale chips in the oven for a snack, and bread and soup for dinner. (My husband makes fun of my "hearty food" days, but he seriously benefits from it, too.) No one wakes up in the morning and thinks, "Today's the day I'm going to let that cabbage that I bought wilt in the fridge for one more day then finally throw it out. And because it's bad, I am going to stick some frozen pizza in the oven, because, oh well, that's all I have."

If you can’t get to the farmer's market (poor you), this is where you will get, and hopefully, keep inspiration for eating well during the long winter days ahead: food books. Cook books, journals, food history books, reviewer's reminisces-all of the above. When I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, I bought a sprouting jar and I still use it- especially in the cold months when my garden is frozen over. Her story is the year in the life of her family on their small farm in Virginia. They took the full year to live off their own land, and to eat as locally as possible. It's informative, not too preachy, with some good recipes thrown in.

There are so many books like this to choose from- pick what you are interested in, and something that reads like a story. Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma is more of a history of food. Well researched and written, it will have you thinking about why you eat what you eat, and the shape of your teeth and why they are how they are…

Dr. Andrew Weil's Eating Well for Optimum Health is more of a health centric book. He's a health nut who's a little chubby himself, a good indication to me of someone who likes food. It is a guide to good health and way of eating that you will enjoy, not suffer through.

The above books are not just browsing books, but full on reading books. If this kind is not your cup of tea, get a cup of tea, and sit down with a stack of cookbooks to leaf through and gather some new ideas for the well-intentioned kale languishing in your fridge. There are also so many beautiful cookbooks that I couldn't possibly mention them all, so I will name a few. Gwyneth Paltrow's My Father's Daughter, anything by Ina Garten, and the Silver Palette books are some of my personal favorites. Don’t tell the folks at Westwinds, but what I like to do is get cookbooks from the library, take them home, and try them out. Once I've found one that's a keeper, I return the library book, and buy my own copy. I have done it with every book I've listed above.

It's getting chilly here at the computer, and I have a southern cookbook open on the counter with a chicken in the fridge waiting to be cooked, and to be joined by the sweet potato salad I've already made (because it's cool, but still warm enough for a salad.)  After I type these recipes for you, I will go cook that pullet.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

5 large sweet potatoes

3 c. arugula

6 chopped scallions or 1/2 cooked Vidalia onions

2/3 c. craisins

1/2 c. toasted chopped pecans

Dressing

1/4 c. olive oil

2 tbsp real maple syrup

2 tbsp apple cider

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (optional)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Peel and cube sweet potatoes into bite sized pieces. Toss with a little olive oil, kosher salt and pepper, and roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, turning on the pan every 10 minutes. Whisk dressing ingredients together. Toast pecans. Let the sweet potatoes cool, then toss all ingredients together in a pretty bowl.

Roast Chicken with Cider and Molasses

5-8 lb roasting chicken

1 c. apple cider

1/2 c molasses

1/2 c. cider vinegar

1/2 c. chopped mixed fresh herbs- tarragon, rosemary, basil, oregano, parsley

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 sweet onions, sliced

12 cloves peeled garlic cloves

1 c. chicken stock

salt & pepper to taste

Place cider in saucepan over medium low heat and reduce to 1/2 cup.  Remove from heat and add vinegar and molasses. Preheat oven to 450. Sautee onions and garlic with olive oil. Place chicken in roasting pan, stuff cavity with fresh herbs, and spoon onions and garlic in the cavity and around the chicken. Add 1 cup stock to pan. Rub chicken with butter. Roast for 30 mins. Reduce heat to 375. Add cider mixture to the pan and baste chicken. Baste every 20 mins or so. Cook chicken 20 minutes per pound, until internal temperature of thickest part of breast is160 degrees, or until the little thing pops up. Let rest for 10 minutes, covered by foil. Remove chicken from roasting pan, and place the roasting pan on stove top on medium high heat. Let mixture reduce a little, and skim off any fat. Season with pepper and salt, and serve alongside chicken.