Cook Bookery

If there's one thing I like almost as much as reading, it's eating. (I especially enjoy reading while eating.) The worlds of eating and reading combine in the cookbook - which is why I have a whole shelf of cookbooks in my kitchen. However, in my world, cookbooks are not just for cooking out of. They are for reading, too.

I especially like to read the cookbooks by Nigella Lawson. She is one of my favourite British cooks. The photography in her books is beautiful and many of the photos could hang on one's wall as art. However, her books are also entertaining to read as well. She writes her recipes in a conversational, flowing style which make them interesting to read when one is not cooking. In fact, I may have done more reading than cooking out of her cookbooks! In part, this is due to the British convention of using weight to measure flour and other baking ingredients, whereas in North America we tend to use cups. And I don't own a kitchen scale. (Yet.)

Of Nigella's books I own Forever Summer, How to Eat, Feast, How to be a Domestic Goddess, and Nigella Christmas. I think my favourite is How to be a Domestic Goddess as I enjoy baking. Nigella Christmas is also interesting because of all the extra baking and cooking that gets done at Christmas. I enjoy reading about all her ideas for various Christmas dinners and her interesting use of spices. I like using lots of spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg at holidays. There is something very medieval about using all those spices - they were very expensive to come by and so were only used at special occasions. Now, of course, cinnamon is fairly cheap on the spice rack, but it is still fun to use a lot of spices at Christmas for that festive feeling. I also enjoy Nigella's books for the look into British cooking. She uses a lot more fish and seafood than I think we do here (or at least in my landlocked province!) and some different ingredients. Her temperatures are all in Celsius or "gas marks" which I have no idea what those are. Further, she has access to some different fruits that I am not sure I could find in a supermarket here, such as gooseberries, currants (fresh, not dried) and quinces. I would love to actually cook in England out of her cookbooks when I have the ingredients!

Another British cook whose books I enjoy is Jamie Oliver. Yes, I like his shows too, but we have two of his cookbooks. The one, Jamie at Home, we have not cooked out of much (nor have I read it much either), but we cook out of Jamie's Food Revolution all of the time. In fact, it is sitting open to Mini Shell Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon and Pea Sauce (pg. 52) in my kitchen at this moment. You know a cookbook is well loved when the pages are beginning to stick together! The recipes in this book are great - quick, simple, and delicious. I've loved almost everything I've tried. Many of the recipes are for two which is handy when cooking for two or for one - good portion sizes. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. One my favourites and kitchen essentials. (Note: in the above recipe, since creme fraiche is so expensive to get here [another British ingredient that doesn't translate into North American kitchens] we just use sour cream. Still yummy!)

One of my favourite Food Network personalities is Alton Brown and my husband is a fanatical devotee of his show, Good Eats. We have a few of his cookbooks which demonstrate the same scientific tenacity to figuring out a fool-proof recipe that works. Both I'm Just Here for the Food and I'm Just Here for More Food are excellent teaching cookbooks for anyone interested in the science of food. His book Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run is more of a book about food than a cookbook. Alton Brown did two motorcycle trips which he filmed for Food Network: one trip across America and the other along the Mississippi River. This particular book is from the Mississippi trip and is more of a travelogue of food and some recipes. Good reading.

Of course, my survey of cookbooks is not complete without a mention of the grandmother of all cookbooks, the indispensable reference that has graced many a kitchen: the Joy of Cooking. Currently, it is beside the bed where I was looking up recipes for pie last evening. (Don't ask.) While I may not cook many recipes from it, Joy is the first book I turn to when I have a question about food. It discusses every ingredient in detail, gives you basic ways to cook it, and then goes into the recipes. It is my right-hand man in the kitchen.

And finally, just to show that my nerdiness extends even to cookbooks:

Yes, it's The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes. The real treat is the photos inside which have Star Wars models posed in action scenes with the various finished dishes one makes from the book. I think the book is actually for kids, but it's fun to have. A little whimsy is part of any fully stocked kitchen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go learn how to make Boba Fett-uccine (pg.41).

Deductive Reasoning and Bees

Finally, my new Mary Russell (Laurie R. King) came in from the library and I was so thrilled I devoured it all in one sitting, pretty much. A period of extensive waiting time during the afternoon helped as well.

For those who don't know, Laurie R. King is an American writer who has imagined Sherlock Holmes' life after the end of the Conan Doyle stories. What did Sherlock do in the 1920's? In His Last Bow, a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr. John Watson indicates that Sherlock has retired to the countryside, where he divides his time between "philosophy and agriculture". In the story His Last Bow, collected in that volume, Dr. Watson learns that Sherlock has retired to study bees and in fact completed a monograph on them called Practical Handbook on Bee Culture with Some Observations on the Segregation of the Queen.

This is where Ms. King begins her study of Sherlock in the novel The Beekeepers' Apprentice. Sherlock has retired to the Sussex downs with his housekeeper, Mrs. Hudson. It is there that he meets Mary Russell, the narrator of the stories, and a young woman with an intellect to rival Holmes' own. This is where their partnership begins.

It continues through several books located both in England and abroad as the characters look into many varied mysteries - some taken from the Conan Doyle canon, and some from their own lives. The mysteries are fast-paced and exciting and as intricately plotted as anything Conan Doyle ever did in his day. It is a pleasure watching the smooth and quick intelligence of our two protagonists as they fight crime.

The most recent book (barring the one I just read) was The Language of Bees. I was a little disappointed with it when, as I approached the end, no solution seemed to present itself. I was surprised to discover that it was a cliff-hanger and so awaited the publication of the sequel with anticipation. Fortunately, The God of the Hive is excellent. Ensure two things before you have read this book. First, have read The Language of Bees very recently. (Presumably one would have read the other books in the series prior as well and I do recommend reading them all in a row. A working knowledge of the series is necessary - the books do interconnect and cannot really be read as stand-alone novels.) Second, be sure that you have a clear afternoon or two to devote to the book.

I will not go into specifics here because I know some of my readers will have not yet read the book! (Those that have are welcome to leave their opinions in the comments.) However, it is an interesting and exciting novel. Ms. King draws you deeply into the world she creates and it is easy to get lost in it. The mystery is deftly unraveled over the course of the novel without being rushed - the mystery does unwind over the course of two books, after all. The ending is interesting. I am not sure that I liked it - I did not dislike it but I am waiting for the next book. There have been major changes in the lives of these characters and the fallout was not adequately discussed in this book. I think what is needed next is a nice, at-home mystery (meaning not something with international dimensions, like a lot of the recent mysteries) where the reader can see how the fallout of the events of The Language of Bees and The God of the Hive have affected the characters and their relationship to one another.

For those of you who are book buyers (as opposed to me, who is usually just a reader), I definitely recommend purchasing the Picador paperback editions. The covers are beautiful stained-glass renderings of images drawn from the novel. They are a lovely addition to any mystery shelf.

Julia!

I tend to read books in themes. Usually that occurs because something tweaks my interest; I read one book on it, which then leads to further reading on the subject until I have fully satisfied my curiosity.

One such subject that tweaked my interest recently is Julia Child. I vaguely remember seeing her on TV when I was little, and my parents had one cookbook of hers that I used to read quite often. I had even read a biography about her. What tweaked my interest this time was watching the movie Julie & Julia. Meryl Streep did an excellent portrayal of Julia. I wanted to visit Paris - not today, but the Paris of the 1940s-1950s when Julia was there. I also wanted to read Julie Powell's book on which the movie was based.

This I did shortly thereafter when lent the book by my sister-in-law. She explained that the book was quite different from the movie and I have to agree. The Julie in the movie seemed to be a very sweet girl, the Julie of the book less so. I liked the way the movie really cut between scenes of Julia and Julie, really establishing the storyline about two characters of equal strength , whereas the book focused much more on Julie as opposed to Julia.

Being more interested in Julia, I did not read Julie Powell's next book, but turned to the biography of Julia Child which I had previously read: Appetite For Life, by Noel Riley Fitch. As far as I know, it is the only biography out there on her. It is a good and interesting read because Julia Child really had an interesting life. She was born Julia McWilliams in Pasadena, California, shortly before the First World War. She followed all the usual steps for a girl of privilege, but ended up working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS - spy agency) during the Second World War as she was too tall to join the other branches of the service. Julia was at least 6 foot 1. She was posted to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) with the OSS. There she met Paul Child. Their romance blossomed when both were transferred to China. At the end of World War Two, they were married. Paul continued working for the government and was posted to Paris. There Julia's love affair with French food began, and continued despite subsequent postings to Marseilles, Germany, and Norway. The rest of the story is well known: Julia writes a cookbook or two and ends up on PBS with her own cooking show.

The biography discusses Julia's family history and sheds light on her early life that may be unknown to many readers. Julia began her career relatively late, but the biography takes a well-rounded view on her life, not shirking the earlier time for the time when she was more famous. By the end it does disintegrate a little to a list of Julia's various cooking appearances, engagements, and television shows, but is still engaging.

What comes out clearly throughout the book is the special relationship Julia and Paul had together. Despite his initial reluctance to think of her as a partner, he eventually came around and realized they were right for each other. And partners they most assuredly were. For all the fame Julia realized, Paul was right there behind her. He was at every taping of her show, assisted with all of her cookbooks and accompanied her to every cooking demonstration and book signing. He truly was her right-hand man and the Julia Child we know and love today could not have existed without Paul's constant and unwavering support. He threw all his energies and talents into promoting Julia and her cooking. The two had a perfect marriage of partnership and passion. It is heartbreaking in the biography when Paul has a heart attack and requires an operation in 1974. He suffered a number of small strokes during the operation which affected his memory. Julia's partner and right hand man can no longer provide her with the support she needs. He lived on until 1994, growing more irascible and irritated every year as he struggled to cope with the changes to his mind. The marriage of equals was no more.

I did not realize before reading the biography just how involved in his wife's career Paul Child was. Really, it was their career - their joint effort in the world of French cookery. I would like to see a biography of the two of them: Julia and Paul Child. He was a talented and interesting man is his own right, who has received short shrift by history in not acknowledging his vital role in the development of Julia Child, the brand. This biography is great, but I think the need is there for a joint biography to recognize Paul's contributions and his own role in the story.

For those of you who are more interested in what Julia has to say, you should check out a charming little book, My Life in France, by Julia Child and her nephew Alex Prud'homme. This is a lovely little book about Julia's time in France: her first time living there with Paul in both Paris and Marseilles, and her discovery of the Cordon Bleu and French cooking, and her second time in France when she and Paul built a vacation home in the south of France and lived there for part of the year. This delightful book was written by Julia and Alex shortly before she died and is written in Julia's own voice. She comes across as an earthy and humourous lady with a soul of steel. Her efforts in testing and retesting every recipe for Mastering the Art of French Cooking were nothing short of heroic! She was intense and interested and always wanted to know why. Why this flour and not that, why whisk here, why this heat, why this ingredient, why this method. A cook who is similar today is Alton Brown of Good Eats, with his scientific discussions of cooking and how ingredients interact with each other. Julia wanted to know why the ingredients behaved they way they did and how the French recipes could be translated to American ones. She was a hard worker, but she seemed like a lot of fun to get to know.

Much is made in the book Julie & Julia about the scene where it is revealed that Julia Child does not like Julie Powell's blog. If that is true, one gets the reason after reading this book. Julie Powell comes across as a little bit slap-dash in her approach to the recipes. She often doesn't read them the whole way through and doesn't take into account the time needed to cook or let the ingredients set. Julia Child thoroughly tested and honed every recipe. She expected her cooks to have the same love of food and attention to detail that she did. As she says at the end of My Life in France:

"Good results require that one take time and care. If one doesn't use the freshest ingredients or read the whole recipe before starting, and if one rushes through the cooking, the result will be an inferior taste and texture - a gummy beef Wellington, say. But a careful approach will result in a magnificent burst of flavor, a thoroughly satisfying meal, perhaps even a life-changing experience." [J. Child and A. Prud'homme, My Life in France, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009) pg.302]

Julie Powell did not always take time and care with her recipes. Nor did she seem to have the love of food which really influenced Julia Child to make the education of Americans about French cooking her life's work. If it is true that Julia Child did not respond favourably to Julie Powell's cooking efforts, this is perhaps why.

What about me? Will I try any of Julia's recipes? I am still on the hold list for Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume One (now very popular at the library) but I did manage to take out Volume Two. This is the book with the infamous French Bread recipe that took Paul and Julia many years to perfect. It takes 7 hours. The croissants, 11. While the recipes may be extensive, Julia's wit and humour come through on every page. She is there to guide you and help you through her recipes, as long as you give her the respect her work deserves. I may not try the bread (at least not during the summer anyway!) but there's a cake or two I've been eyeing, and I would like to try the famous Boeuf Bourguignon from Volume One. However, when I try her recipes, I will keep in mind Julia's words and take time and care. This is her life's work, and it deserves our respect in the kitchen.

Mind Virus

A few posts ago, I mentioned my initial concept for this blog - the Nosy Bookworm concept. I finally had a chance to put my plan into action, and this is the result. I picked up Isobel Gunn a few weeks ago and looked at the materials on either side. One was a DVD, but the other was a book. I made a careful note of the title, put the book on hold, and picked it up in a few days (even before the original holder had picked up his or her copy!).

The book: Virus of the Mind by Richard Brodie. Definitely not something I would have picked up myself! The book is about the field of memetics. Thoughts, ideas, and concepts are broken down into units called the "meme". This has occurred through evolution. Memes infect our brains, forcing us into certain patterns of behaviour that follow the meme. In short, the book applies the theory of evolution to thoughts and concepts which are made up of memes, instead of people and animals, who are made up of DNA.

I'm not sure the idea is entirely successful. I don't know that evolution applies to thoughts - or that thoughts are independent of people and can be carried over somehow (genetically?). It seems like he's trying to use scientific terms to quantify something that is not scientific. Mr. Brodie is not a scientist - he's a former Microsoft programmer who has written a few books and now is a professional poker player. Generally not the first person I would look at to teach me about the new science of memetics. I hesitate to classify it as a science - perhaps pseudoscience? According to the book, all good sciences are laughed at initially. Then the public jumps on board. Well, except for those sciences that are later discredited.

Mr. Brodie spends most of the book discussing evolution and how we have been hardwired for certain behaviours and the role memes play in all of this. However, by the end of the book it becomes the usual self-help patter about finding your purpose in life and doing everything you can to follow that purpose. Does everyone really have to have a purpose? What if someone's self-declared purpose is to be a singer, but they suck. Really, really suck. Can you have a purpose that you're not good at? I suppose one would argue that singing is not the calling for them - even if the singer would disagree. What if someone's purpose is to be a serial killer? Not a purpose to foster. I am not a big fan of self-help books and try to avoid them like the plague.

I also have a few quibbles for Mr. Brodie on some specific things in the book. It is very American-oriented. He is an American, so that makes sense, but reading it as a non-American (U.S.A.-American; I'm still a North American) was interesting. He talks a lot about the corrupt government and memes that make the government corrupt and talks about taxation and how direct taxation was illegal under the American Constitution until the 16th amendment was passed. However, he also quotes from the American Constitution, Article I, Section 9, which states "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." Now I don't know about you, but when I read that sentence, it doesn't say that you cannot tax the public directly. It says that you cannot tax the public directly unless it is in proportion to the Census. That changes his argument somewhat.

According to Mr. Brodie, pets are a meme. They have ultimately enslaved us to cater to their every need. Pets have evolved to be cute so we will take care of them. Now maybe recently this is true (I am a willing slave to my adorable kitties) but I would argue that for a good portion of human history, pets were around because they worked for humans. Humans did not need another mouth to feed - the pets had to earn their keep. Pets were a working member of the family - cuteness did not enter into it. There are many different dog breeds which show all the different jobs humans bred the dogs to do. Of course, now that so many of us no longer require the other skills of the dog, cuteness may win out. But I just don't think he looks into the historical origins of pets here.

Finally, one last beef. Mr. Brodie includes a chapter on religions because religions spread and propagate by memes. None of the religious beliefs are true beliefs; they are memes implanted in your head to serve the purpose of the religion. Further, religious people definitely do not understand science. In fact, you cannot be both religious and scientific at the same time. These are two opposing doctrines. Mr. Brodie implies that all religious people are nutbars who don't believe in evolution and have tons of children. This chapter is very insulting to religion in general and very dogmatic in a sense. It is either black or white: you are either religious or you believe in evolution. He does not seem to grasp the concept that some people can be both religious and believe in evolution. It is not black or what, it is not religion vs. science. Both can co-exist within the same brain. That is certainly not true for all religions, but Mr. Brodie tars all religions with the same brush and does not recognize the diversity present within the religions of the world.

It is also interesting to note that in a book purportedly about evolution, Mr. Brodie does not cite On The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin in his Recommended Reading list at the back of the book. No, I haven't read it either, but I thought that was an interesting omission. Maybe Mr. Darwin's opus will be a good winter project read.

Was this a good book? No. I cannot honestly recommend that everyone should rush out and read it. It was good in a sense in that it made you think about the bigger questions in life. But I think it has very little actual scientific value.

This book aside, I'm curious to find out where my next nosy bookworm adventure takes me!

Wiki-ing

I love Wikipedia. Most of my non-book and non-magazine reading time is spent there. I especially enjoy the linked articles. I will often start off at one place (such as a feature article on California) and end up somewhere else entirely (land organizational systems). It's so easy - you just click on the next link and off you go. The random daily article generator teaches me about things I never knew I didn't know! Also, it makes it following generations of royalty a lot easier.

The other day, I was reading about Anthony Henday (an explorer with the Hudson's Bay Company [HBC] in the Alberta-Saskatchewan area of Canada) and decided to click on the Explorers of Canada link and review my elementary school history lessons. This click led me to an alphabetical link of the mostly male and European explorers who first discovered Canada for the Europeans. The sole woman on that list is Marie-Anne Gaboury. So, of course, I clicked on that link.

For the record, Marie-Anne Gaboury (Aug.2, 1780 - Dec.14, 1875) was a French-Canadian woman who was the first woman of European descent to travel and live in Western Canada. She is also the grandmother of Louis Riel. Marie-Anne traveled and lived in what would be the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Along the way she had 7 children. She seemed like a very interesting woman.

At the bottom of the article, under the See Also section, I came across this intriguing sentence: "See also Isobel Gunn, an HBC labourer who travelled to Rupert's Land disguised as a man." That sentence just smacks of story - I clicked on Isobel Gunn immediately. And, sure enough, Isobel was a young Scottish woman who came to Canada to work for the HBC in 1806 under the pseudonym John Fubbister. She managed to get away with it for quite awhile too, until December 1807 when she gave birth to a baby boy. Isobel remained in Canada and worked as a washerwoman until 1809, when she returned to Scotland with her son.

How was it that I had never heard of Isobel before? I wanted to know more. A work of fiction was listed and I immediately put the book on hold at the library. Isobel's very life demanded to be fictionalized. What an amazing story! An author would have great scope here.

The book I took out is Isobel Gunn, by Audrey Thomas. And, sadly, I found it to be quite a disappointment. The book is about Isobel, to be sure, but it is not told from her point of view. Instead, it is told from the point of view of a minister who grew up with Isobel on the island of Orkney; one Magnus Inkster. In fact, the book is almost more about Magnus's life than Isobel's. I am not interested in Magnus - Isobel is the person with the interesting and true life story. I wanted to hear her story - even fictionalized. The tale was rambling and the dialect thick. I understand trying to show the reader that the people are not speaking the "Queen's English", but I often find dialect writing to be difficult to read. It stops the reader's flow and sometimes a reader will just skip the dialect because it is too difficult to understand.

The book seemed to focus more on Scotland and Magnus's life than on Isobel's extraordinary adventures in Canada. Isobel had such a fascinating life and the historical study seems to be minimal. I was really hoping for a story in Isobel's voice - a tale of her experience, or what a writer would imagine to be her experience and what her thoughts and feelings may have been. The tale is still waiting to be told.

A Revelation

I was making dinner the other evening when a revelation came to me. I do not like modern fiction. By that, I mean books written in and about the current day. I only like historical books. By this I mean books written in time periods prior to this one, or books written in this time period but not about this time period.

A quick survey of my shelves confirmed my suspicions. The bookshelf in the study is filled primarily with non-fiction history books, mostly about royalty, ranging in time from the Ancient Greeks to the Cold War. But nothing really recent. My fiction shelves also contain a wide variety of mystery, fantasy, sci-fi and other types of novels, but nothing current. In fact, the only novels I have set in the present day are Confessions of a Shopaholic and Bridget Jones's Diary.

All of my mystery selections are either written prior to the current day (Agatha Christie), or written about the past from the present day (Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series). Some of my favourite authors are no longer living: Lucy Maud Montgomery, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie. Fortunately there are many excellent historical fiction authors which are living and whose works I enjoy: Sharon Kay Penman, Judith Merkle Riley, Fiona Buckley.

I don't just enjoy historical fiction, I also enjoy sci-fi and fantasy. These are also books that do not take place in the current time. Some of my favourite sci-fi/fantasy authors are Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, and Robin McKinley. I would almost classify my chick-lit favourites Confessions of a Shopaholic and Bridget Jones's Diary as fantasy just because their setting and heroines are so far removed from my daily life as to seem almost unreal. I will never be a singleton with a chic publishing job living in a little flat in London.

The rationale behind my apparent antagonism is probably this: I live in the daily world. I know what it is like. I read to take me away from the everyday, whether it be to a farm in Prince Edward Island (Anne of Green Gables), the bloody civil war in 1100's England (When Christ and His Saints Slept), or soaring on dragonback across the skies of Pern (The Skies of Pern). That doesn't mean I don't sometimes enjoy a well-written piece of modern fiction. But my favourite books and authors will always be those who can transport me away from the everyday to a different place or time.

Always take advice from your friends

I am always on the lookout for a good mystery. I love most of Agatha Christie's works (especially Poirot) but, sadly, I've read nearly all of them. A friend suggested I check out Ngaio Marsh as a writer in a similar vein to Ms. Christie. Boy am I glad I did - Ms. Marsh is terrific!

I started with the first book in the series; A Man Lay Dead. As with many of Agatha Christie's works, it took place at a house party at an upper class estate in the country. One of the guests dies, and there are only a limited number of suspects. This time, however, the sleuth isn't a short Belgian detective with little grey cells and an obsession with tidiness or a little pink and white old lady with a Victorian brain. No amateurs here - the detective is actually a detective with Scotland Yard: Chief Inspector Detective Alleyn.

Alleyn is a likeable character. He has flashes of brilliant deduction, and seems almost Holmesian at times. There seems to be some sort of mystery in his past as he doesn't appear to be the regular type of detective the other characters are expecting. He appears to be the same class as those at the house party, yet he is working for Scotland Yard. I am curious about the Chief Inspector and want to read more to find out more of the mystery of his life.

The book was not very long, but it was entertaining. The mystery was solved satisfactorily through pure deduction. I appreciate the "puzzle" mysteries. The setting is lovely and Ms. Marsh fills her book with all types of British slang from the 1920's and 30's.

In short, if you like Agatha Christie, you will probably like Ngaio Marsh. The settings are fairly similar, but Chief Inspector Alleyn is his own character. These books are not copies of Ms. Christie's works; they are fully realized mysteries in their own right. There is merely a similarity of time period. I am excited to have found a new mystery writer to read and can't wait to read the rest in the series!

Dragon Tattoo

I have finally finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and I am ready to share my thoughts with the world! Note to those in the world who have not yet finished the book, I will be discussing all of it, so if you want the mystery to remain a mystery, stop here!

This book is about many things. It really consists of two separate stories: the mystery of who killed Harriet Vanger, and the journalist Blomkvist's vendetta against Wennerstrom. (Yes, I know some of these names have umlauts and no, I don't know how to make my computer produce umlauts so there won't be any on those names that should have them.) I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed the book, given the level and type of violence in it (and see below for further comments), but it was interesting reading. Will I read the rest in the series? Probably not, actually. Yes, I do want to know more about Salander and her background, but I want to know without having to read another book about the characters. It is not that they weren't compelling, or that the book was uninteresting, it's just not my type of book.

The Mystery
My taste in mysteries usually runs to Agatha Christie - emphasizing psychology and deductive reasoning. I'm not really a "thriller" type of person. Therefore, I was very excited when the premise of the mystery was revealed. A young girl disappears, only a certain number of people could have committed the crime, and the detective has to go back into the past to solve the case. Paging Hercule Poirot!

I was almost disappointed to find out that the murderer was a serial killer. None of Agatha Christie's killers are serial killers, per se. Yes, they might have killed a number of people, but they are not characterized as serial killers. Instead, they are relatively normal people who turn to murder to solve a problem, whereas a serial killer murders as a matter of fact and as part of that person's everyday life. For example, the Agatha Christie killer kills because they are threatened, for money, for love, etc. A serial killer kills because he is a serial killer. End of story. Less interesting, in my opinion.

(The killers' actions are still horrible, by the way, no matter who is doing the killing.)

Salander
Lisbeth Salander was a very interesting character. From the beginning, I decided that despite what the courts in Sweden might say, she was not mentally deficient and could take care of herself. So why does she act the way she does? She is refusing to play the game. The game of politeness that everyone, to a certain extent, plays to fit in and get along with society. But Lisbeth doesn't play the game. She doesn't follow the rules. Sometimes I just wanted to yell at her to follow the rules, take the tests and you can prove you don't need a trustee. But sometimes I wanted to admire her stubbornness. Of course, she also may act the way she does due to some kind of syndrome (Asbergers, as Blomkvist theorized) in which case she does not have a choice as to the way she acts and cannot play the game at all, even if she wanted to.

Journalistic Ethics
I thought there were some very interesting ideas in the book about journalistic ethics. Blomkvist wanted to report the crimes of the killer despite the effect it would have on the sister, but had no qualms about using stolen (hacked) computer data to write a story to bring down Wennerstrom. I think the police needed to know about the crimes, but Blomkvist did not need to publish a story about them. Sometimes the media is a little too intrusive in their quest for "free speech". Where there are rights, there are responsibilities. Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you should. Writing the story would have a big effect on the sister and cause her further torment and pain. Yet writing it is an exercise of free speech, right? Not everything needs to be made public. But the police should be told, to privately work on the case and help the families of the victims.

While I did applaud that Wennerstrom's empire was taken down at the end, I deplored the methods. Evidence from someone's hacked computer would never stand up in court! I'm not sure I can justify stealing from someone's computer, even if that person is a jerk.

Violence
I was somewhat put off by all of the violence in the book. Frankly, there is enough violence happening in the world without having to read about fictional violence too. Also, I'm not sure what purpose the scenes with Bjurman were designed to serve. Lisbeth could just have easily done research on sexual sadism without having been subject to such.

Further, I was disgusted when I read about the cat. Or, rather, didn't read. I have a bad habit of scanning ahead and just barely caught the paragraphs before I made myself stop reading and turn the page to start the next chapter. Reading or hearing about violence against animals is an especially touchy subject for me. It makes me very upset. We have domesticated these animals (cats and dogs especially) and had them give up their wild behaviours in exchange for food and shelter and protection with humans. When a human injures or hurts an animal, they are breaking this "contract" we have with the domesticated animals. We are the ones who have bred them to become dependant on us, therefore the responsibility is on us to take care of the animals. Hearing about any kind of animal abuse makes me mad and upset whether fictional or (sadly) non-fictional.


In summary, while I did not hate the book, I'm not entirely sure I really liked it either. I would recommend it as an interesting and fast-paced read (toward the end) (and despite the author's tendency to explain a lot about things), but with a strong caveat as to the nature of the violence in the book.

Keeping on the subject of mysteries, my next book is by Ngaio Marsh - New Zealand's answer to Agatha Christie!

Vacations

I always have a hard time deciding what to pack on vacations. No, not clothes or shoes (although that is difficult too), but reading material. I have a deep-seated fear of running out of something to read and being unable to access anything new. This means I tend to overpack on books, but I’d rather bring too many than not enough! Although it does lead to a heavy bag at times.

I also find that my selection of reading material on a holiday is quite random. Here is a selection of recent books I took with me on holiday.

A Man Lay Dead, Ngaio Marsh
The Darcy Connection, Elizabeth Aston
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
All The Weyrs of Pern, Anne McCaffrey

A pretty broad selection, don’t you think? Mystery, Georgian/Regency, Current and Sci-fi/Fantasy. Enough to keep one occupied for the longest of car trips.

Now, what did I actually read on holiday?

All The Weyrs of Pern, Anne McCaffrey (still working on it)
Julie & Julia, Julie Powell
People Style Watch, June/July 2010
The Hockey News Genius Issue June 7, 2010, Vol.63, No. 26
Ghost Towns of Alberta, Harold Fryer

As you can see, even though I packed enough books for a week I managed to keep myself occupied with other reading material anyway. And still didn’t start my book club book!

Two of the selections are magazines. I have quite the glossy paper addiction, which I have managed to calm somewhat by buying subscriptions. However, when the subscribed magazines are late, this leads to random impulse purchases at the 7-11, therefore leading to both People Style Watch and The Hockey News. Not generally periodicals for the same audience, one would think.

The other two new books on the list are borrowed. We spent some time with relatives on this trip, and I’m always browsing other bookshelves to see what I might want to read. I recently saw the movie Julie & Julia, and wanted to read the book. My sister-in-law had it, so I borrowed it right away. Ghost Towns of Alberta is due to the fact that my travels took me near some ghost towns in Alberta, so I borrowed the reference book from my parents to read a little more about the history of the area.

So, this is what I read on holidays. Not really that different from what I read on any given week, actually. I am interested in a broad range of subjects, so I read about a broad range of subjects. However, it is past time to get started on my book club book, so that should keep me occupied for the rest of the week. Then I can finish All The Weyrs of Pern and any other gems that didn’t get read on my trip.

The Nosy Bookworm

Most blogs have a gimmick, a theme, something to keep you tuning in every day (or few days!) for new posts. My general theme is books, but I had a gimmick originally in mind for the blog. I was going to be the Nosy Bookworm.

It all began one day at the library when I was picking up some books I had on hold. I often put books on hold, as the library does not always have the books that I am looking for. With the hold service, I just order them in. And I used to work very close to a library and could run over on my lunch break. Anyway, I was there in the library on my lunch break, loathe to leave the comforting surroundings, but hungry and ready to eat lunch at my desk. I noticed that one of the other hold books near my own selections looked interesting. I believe it was a Jane Austen sequel. I noted the author and title, returned to my desk, and put the same book on hold that evening. The book came in, and, it wasn't bad. I read a whole series by the author - whom I believe is Elizabeth Aston, and quite enjoyed the series.

I should probably explain that at my library, the holds are filed on shelves to the side of the circulation desk, all organized by name and the last few digits of your library card. Essentially, it is self-serve. So anyone can look at the books that are on hold, but only you can take your book out. I found a few more books on hold by the patrons to either side of my selections, and was able to read some new and different books.

Thus, the gimmick for my blog was born. I would be the Nosy Bookworm, putting books on hold and reading whatever book was next to my selection on the hold shelf, no matter what it was (barring, perhaps, books in a foreign language.) However, I hit a minor snag prior to posting. Every now and again I go through phases where my books at home interest me to the exclusion of all others. I became obsessed by my massive collection of Agatha Christies and reread them all. I didn't put any books on hold for weeks!

So, when I came to starting my blog, I decided to broaden the category and discuss books in general, and nosiness in specific when a good opportunity popped up. Such an opportunity presented itself when I picked up the Ngaio Marsh book (that finally came in!) at the library this week. The book on the right, sadly, was a DVD. The book on the left I pulled slightly off the shelf to check the title...it was The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which I am already committed to read for my bookclub (and will begin soon, I promise!). Some times you win and discover a new book, sometimes you don't! I have another hold to pick up next week, so hopefully I'll get some more inspirations for future reads soon.