What I'm reading Wednesday...

Fortieth challenge finish of the year.

Set in 1903 Canada, the main character has killed her abusive husband, and she is running from his two brothers who are intent on seeing her punished one way or another.

I found this at the library, and the cover on the copy I borrowed showed a woman leading a horse through a snowy forest.  I'm a sucker for historical survival stories, so the front cover art and the back cover blurb made me pick it up.  I had absolutely no idea how, or even if, I could make it count toward the challenge.  

I have a habit of of reading the stuff at the back of the book.  This one had the  author's acknowledgements, a conversation between the author and another author (Michael Ondaatje), and a list of books the author used in writing this one.  In the authors' conversation, Mr. Ondaatje says "...And there is a deus ex machina moment late in the book."

Well, thank you, Mr. Ondaatje, for telling me exactly which prompt I could fit this under!  And in a way that was a very 'deus ex machina moment late in the book' just for me!  Just see the definition below.  :)

Deus ex machina:  a plot device in which a seemingly impossible problem is abruptly resolved by an unexpected, often highly convenient occurrence."

By the way, I didn't recognize the event in the book that Mr. Ondaatje was talking about as deus ex machina, so it's just a darn good thing that he spelled it out for me.  LOL

Some of the meals the past week...

Tonight we had Chicken Curry.  I've been out of curry sauce for awhile now, and desperately wanting it with all these vegetables!  Yesterday I made a trip to Trader Joe's as their Red Curry Sauce and Yellow Curry Sauce are my favorites.  I stocked up on both of the curry sauces, and I also picked up some flat bread.

 I cooked another batch of fresh green beans with bacon and potatoes.  Wanted to make it a little different from the last batch, so instead of cornbread, I made Fried Corn Cakes from a recipe I found at The Gracious Wife.  Really easy, and easy to remember:  2 cups fresh or frozen corn, 2 large eggs, and 1/2 cup each of cornmeal, flour, schredded cheddar, and milk.  And seasoned with salt, pepper, and fresh chives.  Then spoon into hot oil, and let brown on each side for a couple of minutes.  It made quite a few, so I stored the leftovers in a container in the fridge, and to re-warm them, I popped them in the toaster.  

My first vegetable frittata using a recipe from Love & Lemons.  I used leftover cooked squash and onion, as well as some of the leftover green beans and potatoes.  I added the whisked eggs and milk, topped with some shredded cheddar and tomato slices, and baked at 400 for about 15 minutes.  My cheese got over browned in the hot oven, but it was great for a quick and easy supper.

I made Jeannette's Easy Apple Cake from Gina's The Cannary Family blog.  I took it to the family supper recently along with some Blue Bell vanilla ice cream.  Really easy, and got great reviews from the family.

And guess what we will be having more of in the near future.  This was what Carey brought in yesterday from the garden.  I think I may bundle some of the green beans and wrap in bacon and roast.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirty-seventh challenge finish of the year.

This is June's book club selection, and I went into it with low expectations.  I thought it was a cozy mystery, which I don't usually like.  But this one was a pleasant surprise.  The main characters are four women who  have been contract killers for forty years and have now reached retirement age.  They work for an 'agency' whose targets are all people who escape justice:  in the old days they were nazi art thieves, more currently they are drug triffickers, human trafickers, etc.

Thirty-eighth challenge finish of the year.

I found this book on my library's Cloud Website page when I was searching for something else.  I would have passed this one by, but I noticed the diacritical marks in the author's last name.

It was a short read at 153 pages.  It was...interesting.  The two main characters are neighbors who have not met until one of them has a cat who keeps turning up at the other one's house.  They bond over the cat, and come to realize that they both have really awful boyfriends.  

Thirty-ninth challenge finish of the year.

I have been meaning to read this one for so long.  Noticed that the library finally had the audiobook available for checkout.  Fourteen plus hours, and I listened to all of them today.  I didn't even speed the playback much, just 1.2, because for a change I LOVED this narration.  And I almost always love anything Mr. King writes.  Except Pet Sematary; that one scared me so bad I gave up reading the authors books for ten or so years.  It was because of the part where the toddler gets hit by a truck...I had a toddler at the time...just couldn't get the picture out of my head.  But that's another book.  THIS book was excellent!

Some of the meals this week...

I don't indulge in these often.  This week was a yes week.  Cheddar Jalapeno bagels, toasted, then topped with some avocado is just so good.  I just turned the top half upside down to show the cheddar and jalapenos; it had avocado on that half too.

Chicken Burrito Bowls was one night's supper.  Zatarain's Cilantro Lime rice, some baracho beans (I just buy a can and heat them up), shredded lettuce, avocado, and tomato, cooked chicken breast, topped with some queso cotija and Cilantro Lime salad dressing.

Another night was Shrimp Soft Tacos.  I put frozen shrimp (straight from the freezer) sprayed with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic in the air fryer for ten minutes or so at 400°.  Warm corn tortillas, coleslaw, shrimp, avocadoes, queso cotija, mango salsa and some lime garlic sour cream.  Tasty but messy!  :)

Roasted Spaghetti Squash Primavera.  Delicious garden bounty.  Spaghetti squash rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, then roasted till tender.  While spaghetti squash was in the oven I sauteed thinly sliced onions untill they were caramelized, then added halved cherry tomatoes, finely diced zuchini, and finely diced cooked chicken, cooked over medium low with a teaspoon of chicken bouillion powder, garlic, Italian and seasoning.  Add a few ounces of cream cheese toward end of cooking time and stir in till melted.  After spaghetti squash is tender, shred the flesh with a fork, then fill with the vegetables cooked on stove top, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Thirty-fifth challenge finish of the year.

This is a newly published continuation of the story of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek.  It was very satisfying follow through with the characters, and I really enjoyed reading it.  The vivid descriptions of sights and sounds put me right into the setting with them.  This is the third book I've read by this author.  All very good.  

Thirty-sixth challenge finish of the year.

Took me awhile to settle on a book for this prompt.  Then I was reminded that in the movie The Princess Bride, the grandfather is shown holding and reading the book of the same name to his grandson.  Since I knew I've had the book on my Kindle (since 2012), I decided it followed the intent of the prompt close enough (as well as  my own intent to get books I already own read!) 

I did enjoy it, but it was a bit challenging.  Having already seen the movie, which was pretty straight forward as fairy tales go, I wasn't prepared for the satyrical bent of the rest of the book.  It was a work of metafiction in which the author breaks the fourth wall, and speaks directly to the reader.  I didn't realize that the 'introductions' of the anniversary editions of the story were actually not introductions, but were how the  original story was spun by the author; also the follow up story at the end of the book was actually still part of the original story.  It made it difficult to understand where to start and stop reading. I don't always read introductions, and I did skip part of it in this one, only to find that I needed to go back and read it.

It was very imaginative with the inclusion of actual living people.  I found myself wondering if the author had to get their permission to include them in the story.  Once I caught on (thanks to some research on the book and author), it made more sense to me.  The portion that was made into the movie was followed pretty closely, and had additional back story of the characters' histories which was enjoyable.

Not quite Monday, not quite meatless...

 

I've been waiting...and waiting...and waiting!  Every day Carey brings in a handful of green beans harvested from the garden.  Maybe enough to toss in with other vegetables in a stir fry, but we really love green beans on their own.  So for a week I've been setting aside the green beans till there was enough accumulated for a pot of green beans with new potatoes and bacon.  

I cut 3 slices of bacon into 1.5 inch pieces, and cooked them a bit in the bottom of the pot at medium high heat.  I stirred in a sliced onion, added some new potatoes, and the green beans.  Seasoned with salt, pepper, and about a teaspoon of chicken bouillion powder.  I added a cup and a half of water, covered the pan, and reduced heat to low.  Then I left them alone for about 3 hours.  I made a pan of cornbread, and then we sat down to our simple fare.  Inexpensive, easy, and delicious!

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirty-third challenge finish of the year.

So excited to get this one read, because it has been on my Kindle since 2011!  There's lots of new books that I want to read this year, but when I don't have something in mind, I look at books I already own to see if any fit the challenge prompts.  I go to my Kindle's content library/books/sort:acquired oldest to newest.  It's more fun to read a long-owned yet never-read book if I can make it fit into a challenge prompt category.

This one was okay.  It was originally published in 1920, and was about the life of the aristocratic families of New York's Gilded Age.  None of the characters really made me care about them.  But it was well written, and in 1921 the author became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for this work.

Thirty-fourth challenge finish of the year.

So good!  It is the first new release (April 2026) that has kept me this entertained, guessing, and surprised since I read Gone Girl when it first came out fourteen years ago!  The minute I finished it, I called Kasey and told her I had a book she HAS to read.  She asked which book, and when I told her, she said she had just finished it on Friday.  She really liked it as well.

This one is about a wife and mother who becomes a viral social-media influencer.  It is so imaginative and well written, and has an element of time travel?!  

A word of warning:  there is a lot of talk about faith.  This is NOT Christian fiction.  It is more a satire of current events surrounding social-media-content creators and Christian nationalism.  I wouldn't be surprised if some people do not grasp that aspect of it.