July Reads

Ok!  Now this is more like summer reading.  I finally got a hold of some decent books.  That, and there is absolutely nothing on TV at night, even though DirecTV gave us some free movie channels as a Thank You for being long time members.  There isn't even anything worth while on there.  I mean it is such a wasteland that we even watched the "Jesus is Aliens" movie (AKA Knowing).  Gag Gag.  Anyhow, here's my listerini-poo:

1. The Scoop: How to Change Store Bought Ice Cream into Fabulous Desserts by Lori Longbotham.  This was a dud of a cookbook for me.  Nothing that I haven't seen online before, and worst of all...zero pictures in the book.

2. The Ice Cream Lover's Companion:The Ultimate Connoisseur's Guide to Buying, Making, and Enjoying Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt by Diana Rosen. Again, pretty worthless in the recipe department for me, and what is the deal with having no pictures in a cookbook?  Seriously.  This is why I like to get recipes from blogs.  A bad picture is better than none at all.  At least this book had some interesting facts about the history of ice cream, so it wasn't a total wash.

3. Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen by Sara Foster.  I checked this cookbook out because my best friend sent me a list of new cookbooks that had been recently released.  This was one of the few on that list that my library had in circulation.  This book had quite a long wait list so it took a while before I got a chance to check it out.  The pictures were gorgeous, but the recipe book was a big dud for me.  I guess I'm just a Yankee girl with Yankee taste buds.  If you are a fan of Southern Cuisine, then this book would definitely be a winner.

4. The Ice Cream Bible by Marilyn and Tanya Linton.  Are you sensing a theme yet?  Did you know July was National Ice Cream month, so it's only fitting to read all these ice cream books.  I'm really fascinated by the idea of making ice cream from scratch.  Now that I have a stand mixer, I've been drooling over the ice cream attachment.  Although two recipes caught my eye that don't require an ice cream maker.  SCORE!  I went through this book looking specifically for the non custard ice cream recipes.  The thought of using eggs in ice cream grosses me out.  With my luck I'd under cook or curdle the custard and either version is blecky in my book.

5. Ice Cream and Iced Desserts by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis.  Every recipe has a picture.  YES!  This is what a recipe book SHOULD look like.  Now this didn't have nearly as many non egg recipes a the Ice Cream Bible did, but the eye candy alone more than made up for it.

6.A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught me About Love, Friendship, and the Things that Really Matter by William Deresiewicz.  Dude.  Jane Austen from a male perspective!  And he likes the books and learned life lessons from it?  Woah.  Now I'm looking at Jane in a different light.  Some of the stuff he points out is so true and basic I'm like, "Now why didn't I see that?"  Great read for Austen fans.

7. Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell.  Gen, a teenage girl, is forced to accompany her family to a camp where you live life as if it was 1890.  She manages to sneak in a cellphone in order to communicate with her friends.  One of her friends turns those texts into a blog.  By the end of the book, predictably, Gen discovers that she actually liked living at the camp as a pioneer.  I loved this book.  The subject matter, the story arc, the characters, Gen's revelations, and the writing were all so engaging.  I wish there was a sequel!

8. Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede.  Book 1 of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles.   First off I have to figure out why my library only carries book 1 and book 3 in the series.  What's up with that?  This book is about a princess who is fed up what she should do and what is expected of her so she volunteers to become a Dragon's princess.  This was an amusing quick read geared toward middle school aged kids.  The princess reminded me a bit of Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching, but without the dry British humor.

9. Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houk.  This book is geared toward teenage girls, but I enjoyed it anyhow.  It's based on a story of an Indian prince that was cursed to live his life as a tiger, except for 24 minutes a day.  This girl falls in love with the prince/tiger and works toward helping him break the curse.  Lots of adventure, magic, and romance.  It's nice to see a teen romance novel that isn't smutty, just lots of kissing.

10. Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Zombie time!  Why wouldn't you name the forest that surrounds your town that is filled with Zombies, The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  Someone got creative. The main character, Mary, is fascinated by the stories she has been told by her mother about the ocean, something no one else in the town believes exists.  Then Mary's mother gets "turned" and Mary has to decide if she is going to join the convent, or marry the brother of the boy she is in love with.  The nuns have all these secrets, then their town is breached by the undead.  Mary and a few others escape down a hidden path.  Very riveting dystopian young adult literature.  I couldn't put the book down.  I am all set to read the sequel The Dead Tossed Waves.  I hope it's as good as the first one.

11. The Throne of Fire: Kane Chronicles book 2 by Rick Riordan.  I had forgotten what had happened in the first book, but luckily the author does a good job in the first few chapters throwing hints of the past book's plot.  This is a typical kid's sci-fi fantasy book.  Orphans have super powers and have to save the day.  The Kane children come from the result of the joining of 2 powerful Egyptian magical lines, so of course they have uber magical skills.  The big baddy of Chaos is about to break out of his prison and they have to find a way to free Ra to save the day.  There is a brief moment in the story where I wasn't sure who was good and who was bad, and which side was even the good side.  I liked that.  Too much predictability is not a fun read for me.  I love the chapter titles too.  Make sure you pay attention to them, cause they will give you a chuckle. 

12. Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houk.  I loved the sequel to Tiger's Curse almost as much as I loved Tiger's Curse itself.  This book has fairies in it.  FAIRIES!  I would like to state for the record that I totally want a fairy makeover.  AND fairy hair clips.  And by that I mean Fairies who hold my hair like hair clips.  I cried at the end.  I had a hunch about what was going to happen but I still got all weepy.  They better fix it in the third book is all I can say.  I'm anxiously awaiting book 3 to come out this fall.