Reading Wednesday
Jul. 31st, 2024 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grundyscribblingThe Blackbird Oracle by Deborah Harkness
Somewhat disappointed. The All Souls trilogy is a guilty pleasure, but this feels less like a follow-up to the original trilogy than tossing out at least half of what was previously established. It turns out Diana's father (previously an only child) has a massive family in Massachusetts, where that stuff established in book 1 about magic dying out very much does not apply, and suddenly Diana is all about being a Proctor. She blows off her previous plans for the summer to hang with them. There’s a serious bustup with Sarah as it turns out Sarah kept a few secrets, and Diana has the stones to blame Sarah for not telling her about the Proctors- a very witchy family – even though Diana in book 1 wanted nothing to do with magic and had been avoiding it for years. (It also turns out the Bishop homestead is actually not such a wonderful place now that Diana has a shiny new family who have an even cooler magic property.) She then inexplicably drags Sarah back with her to the Proctor place. We learn Diana's father insisted her mother give up higher magic. Peter Knox, despite being dead is still somehow the bad guy, Satu levelled up (turns out Diana's victory moment at the end of book 3 wasn't actually much of a victory), Sidonie is still a problem, and now there’s another witch on the Congregation - who are still after Diana and her kids. Gallowglass is MIA in the present day but has a cameo in historical memories, Fernando is mentioned only in passing, as are Marcus and Phoebe, and there is nothing at all of Jack. Baldwin was about the only one who didn't seem to have had a character transplant. At this point, I'd kinda like the next book to be about him. And to top it all off, this was clearly mostly setup for another book or two. I pre-ordered this book; next one I'm borrowing from the library first.
Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis
You couldn’t make Josephine Baker up. If you wrote her as a character in a book, your editor would be screaming that she wasn’t believable. And she kept that up during WWII – knowing it was a fight to the death with the Nazis, she was all in for the Allies, even if the country she was from didn’t want her.
The Gilded Age Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from America’s Golden Era 1868-1900 by Becky Libourel Diamond
In fairness, I think I am not the target audience for this one – I'm not much enamored with the Gilded Age, only picked this up from the library out of curiosity. Also, what was fancy pants cuisine back then is less so now between time and improved kitchen tech – the recipes just register as classic (blueberry cake, broiled steak, roast chicken au jus) or curiosities (Saratoga chips, Fish House punch, Boston brown bread) with the occasional recipe not well known any more (devilled spaghetti, anyone?) That said, if you’re into this era, the book is very nicely put together, with information about Pullman travel, different classes/professions, daily life, holidays and entertaining, etc. There are also probably a few recipes in here that will be used to even those used to the classics. I’m curious to try out Queenie’s Cornmeal Potato Muffins and see if the Sweet Potato Croquettes can be adapted to work well without frying.
Somewhat disappointed. The All Souls trilogy is a guilty pleasure, but this feels less like a follow-up to the original trilogy than tossing out at least half of what was previously established. It turns out Diana's father (previously an only child) has a massive family in Massachusetts, where that stuff established in book 1 about magic dying out very much does not apply, and suddenly Diana is all about being a Proctor. She blows off her previous plans for the summer to hang with them. There’s a serious bustup with Sarah as it turns out Sarah kept a few secrets, and Diana has the stones to blame Sarah for not telling her about the Proctors- a very witchy family – even though Diana in book 1 wanted nothing to do with magic and had been avoiding it for years. (It also turns out the Bishop homestead is actually not such a wonderful place now that Diana has a shiny new family who have an even cooler magic property.) She then inexplicably drags Sarah back with her to the Proctor place. We learn Diana's father insisted her mother give up higher magic. Peter Knox, despite being dead is still somehow the bad guy, Satu levelled up (turns out Diana's victory moment at the end of book 3 wasn't actually much of a victory), Sidonie is still a problem, and now there’s another witch on the Congregation - who are still after Diana and her kids. Gallowglass is MIA in the present day but has a cameo in historical memories, Fernando is mentioned only in passing, as are Marcus and Phoebe, and there is nothing at all of Jack. Baldwin was about the only one who didn't seem to have had a character transplant. At this point, I'd kinda like the next book to be about him. And to top it all off, this was clearly mostly setup for another book or two. I pre-ordered this book; next one I'm borrowing from the library first.
Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy by Damien Lewis
You couldn’t make Josephine Baker up. If you wrote her as a character in a book, your editor would be screaming that she wasn’t believable. And she kept that up during WWII – knowing it was a fight to the death with the Nazis, she was all in for the Allies, even if the country she was from didn’t want her.
The Gilded Age Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from America’s Golden Era 1868-1900 by Becky Libourel Diamond
In fairness, I think I am not the target audience for this one – I'm not much enamored with the Gilded Age, only picked this up from the library out of curiosity. Also, what was fancy pants cuisine back then is less so now between time and improved kitchen tech – the recipes just register as classic (blueberry cake, broiled steak, roast chicken au jus) or curiosities (Saratoga chips, Fish House punch, Boston brown bread) with the occasional recipe not well known any more (devilled spaghetti, anyone?) That said, if you’re into this era, the book is very nicely put together, with information about Pullman travel, different classes/professions, daily life, holidays and entertaining, etc. There are also probably a few recipes in here that will be used to even those used to the classics. I’m curious to try out Queenie’s Cornmeal Potato Muffins and see if the Sweet Potato Croquettes can be adapted to work well without frying.
