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.

Meatless Monday...

 Things have been growing in the garden.  Today (Monday) the harvest was yellow squash, zuchini, and cherry tomatoes.  I put them in a fry pan with a little olive oil, a sliced onion, and some salt and pepper.

Let them cook, turning often, until cooked through and caramalized a bit.

I was feeling too lazy to cook a main dish, so I served with frozen Michael Angelo's Eggplant Parmesan from the freezer.  If you like Eggplant Parmesan, I highly recommend this brand that is found in the freezer section.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirty-first challenge finish of the year.

Once in awhile I get a wild hair to read a book that I probably should have read in high school.  As I was consulting Goodreads 52-Books-2026-Challenge page for this prompt, nothing was calling out to me, but then I saw that this was a suggestion for 'featuring a conspiracy.'  I've never read it, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Conspiracy and dystopian novels are not usually genres that I pick up to read for fun.  This one didn't do much to change that.  I checked this one out from the library as an audiobook, so I could kill two birds with one stone (and keep working at organizing my new cardmaking area that we moved into the guest room...I call it the 'annex,' as all my quilting supplies stayed in the original craft room).

Now, I have listened to more audiobooks this year than I have during the previous 68 years of my life, and I know I have mentioned that I don't usually love the narration.  This may be why I didn't like this book better.  It just seemed to never end.  I'm writing about this on Thursday afternoon, and the book was set to be returned to the library at 5:00 p.m., so I had to power through.

I think I will just say this about it using a reference from the book.  If I were sent to "Room 101," it would probably be after being told I would be there for an eternity, and I would walk in to find that the room was filled with books, and every single one of them was this one.  I'm giving it 3 stars, because it is a classic after all...it was very imaginative and well written...but OMG it was a real downer.

Thirty-second challenge finish of the year.

I usually get bored with long series unless I really like the characters.  And I really do like the characters in this series...particularly the dog.  :)  The main characters are a deputy sheriff and her K-9 partner.  I like all the regular secondary characters as well.  One of the secondary characters is a veterinarian, as is the author's real-life husband, so the animal healthcare in the books seem pretty realistic.

She has a new book coming out in September of this year.  I look forward to it.

This is Mexican Cornbread Casserole...

This photo is from a post last year.  I've been making Mexican Cornbread Casserole for probably forty years, as it's one our family really likes, and it is pretty easy.  A layer of cornbread on the bottom, beef and cheese baked in the middle, then a top layer of cornbread.

I made it again tonight.  I got a bit of a late start, so was kind of rushing through it.  I forgot one ingredient.  Cornmeal!  Hence tonight we had Mexican Mistake Quiche.  It was edible, but just.  Didn't warrant a photo.  LOL

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Thirtieth challenge finish of the year.

I just finished this afternoon, and really enjoyed it.  I hadn't read anything by this nineteenth-century author before.  This was originally serialized in a Victorian periodical in England.  And I believe I remember that when published in book form (in 1855?) there were some rewrites or additional chapters included.  It came in at 498 pages, and I'm going to say it again, the font on those 498 pages must have been really small, because it took an age for me to finish.  I read it on my Kindle, so I can't swear to that.

Strong characters, and even secondary characters were well developed and likeable for the most part.  Glad I gave it a go for this prompt.  

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

28th challenge finish of the year.

It was about British female convicts being transported to Van Diemen's Island (present-day Tasmania) by ship; dangers, challenges, relationships among strangers torn from everything familiar.

I liked it.  I read through the night to finish it.  The characters were likable, and the story was interesting.  And yet it somehow left me not quite satisfied.  It felt a bit rushed in places.

Twenty-ninth challenge finish of the year.

I really do love Elizabeth Berg's work.  This is her brand new one, just released, and I was excited to see that my library already had it in their "new acquisitions," so I got on the reserve list and received it almost immediately.  Her prose are spot on, characters to care about, and I don't think I've ever found anything to complain about in the books of hers that I've read.

This one is about a ninety-two year old woman who is wrapping up her life.  She never had children, so she is leaving her house to the child who grew up next door and with whom she had an almost familial relationship.  She is writing a letter, explaining and telling stories about the house and its contents, and sharing memories and advice with this child/woman.

Having grown up on a wonderful homey street myself, surrounded by neighbors where, when I knocked on their doors, they would always take me in for a visit or a snack or a baby chick (but that's my story, not this book's), it brought back some wonderful memories, and makes me wonder what I should share in letters to ones I love.

I have another two audiobooks also from the library.  I am listening to the first one while I go through boxes of stuff that needs to be dealt with in an unsentimental way (45% discards / 45% donates / 10% [or less] keep) is my goal.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Twenty-seventh challenge finish of the year.

Ugh.  I begrudged the reading time it took to slog my way through this one.  The setting was a large, decrepit manor house in the English countryside.  The owners, though going broke, were hosting a big house party for their estranged daughter's birthday.  Lots and LOTS of characters to keep up with, more than a few of which kept switching identities with other party attendees.  It was torture to try to keep up.

Oh, and did I mention that each day magically started over on the day before, during which the characters switched to yet other party-attendees' identities?  And they did not retain the memories of the day 'before,' so they wrote themselves notes and hoped to come across them.  By the fourth replay of the eve of the party, I was SO exhausted with this book.  However, by this time, I was so tired of the 'secret identity' trope, that I did not want to read another entire book using it; so I persevered.  I skimmed some before switching to the audiobook version which I checked out from the library.  I think I listened to it at double time while I did other things around the house.

I finished, FINALLY, but I hated almost every minute, every page, every freakin' identity switch and day replay.  Obviously I do not recommend this book.

**Post edited to remove the Ada Blalckjack book, as it was included in this week's post by mistake.  I had forgotten that it was in last week's post.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Twenty-fifth challenge finish of the year.

This is my second reading of this book.  In 2017, I rated it 10/10, and wrote this:  A septuagenarian woman approaches a neighbor, the widower of a former acquaintance, with a proposal.  She wonders if he might sleep with her...just to hear someone breathing in the bed next to her at night, to talk to in the dark.  It was such a sweet story, and the Netflix Original movie version with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda was wonderful as well.

I loved it just as much this time.

Twenty-sixth challenge finish of the year.

Found this one on the Goodreads 52 Book Club 2026 Challenge Community.  The complete title/subtitle is 'Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic.'  Ada was an indigenous woman hired by the expedition because she could speak and write English and was a skilled seamstress.  Having a sick child to support, and an absent husband, she went along.  Other indigenous people who had signed on, backed out before the outset, so Ada was the lone woman with the group made up of men.

And with this one behind me, I am half-way through the challenge.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Twenty-third challenge finish of the year.

This crime fiction > courtroom drama is a genre and sub genre I used to read a LOT of, but for some reason kind of got away from.  This is the first I've read in a long time, and it was well done.  I came across this 'author' while sorting donated books at the library, so I knew that Perri O'Shaughnessy is the pseudonym for two sisters, one a trial lawyer for sixteen years, and one a writer.  This title is the first in a series.

Twenty-fourth challenge finish of the year.

What can I say about this?  Not my genre.  Not my trope.  I thought about reading Jane Eyre for this prompt, and I wish I had!  But I thought I would try to stay close to the prompt's seemed intent.  I found this one free to borrow from Kindle Unlimited.

The subtitle for this book was too long to put in the graphic: A Hilarious Small Town Rom-Com of a Grumpy Mountain Man and the Surrogate For His Child.

Not sure how to describe this without sounding prudish.  Maybe I'll just say that I give this two stars for writing, plot, etc.  But I give it FIVE red hot peppers for sexual content.  If that's your deal, go for it; if it's not your deal, then turn away.  This is the first of a trilogy, but I think I've read enough.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Twenty-first challenge finish of the year.

Seemed to take a long time to get through this one.  Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis' relationship going from US/UK correspondence to eventual marriage.  It seemed to be well researched, and a subject the author cared about.  However I couldn't quite get invested in the characters.  

Twenty-second challenge finish of the year.

This falls under the old adage of 'don't judge a book by its cover.'  This cover art is one which is in the trend that I hold a particular dislike for.  To me it kind of screams CHICK LIT which is not my favorite genre.  But this was my book club's selection for this month so I figured I should make an effort.

The club meets at my house this Friday.  My house is not ready for company (for reasons I will probably post about later), so I looked everywhere I could think of for a way to borrow the audiobook, but all options had long wait lists.  I finally resorted to using one of my Audible credits to purchase it, and I listened to it while I did other things around the house. 

The 'castle' setting was one of the gilded-age mansions built in Rhode Island which was the wedding venue; it was the closest I could come to getting it to fit into one of the prompts.  It IS chick lit, but wasn't mind-numbing pap.  The characters were likable and their development was pretty good.  I didn't love it, but it was better than I expected, and I feel good about getting it done so I can take part in the discussion.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Nineteenth challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle since 2013.  It took me over a week to finish; I've had other stuff going on.  My daughter and I were reading it at the same time; I finished it last night, she finished it today.  I was reading it on my Kindle; she was reading a paperback, but may have switched over to audiobook, as she said the print in the paperback was almost too small to read.  At 416 pages of tiny print, maybe that's why it took me so long.  I really thought she was going to beat me to the finish line.

I didn't love it, and can't put my finger on why.  The main characters were likable, most of the secondary characters not so much.  I was contemplating exactly what kept me from really liking it.  It is based in Greek mythology, and as I was thinking back to high school literature classes, I realized I didn't enjoy learning about mythology even then.  So maybe I can chalk it up to it just not being a genre I enjoy.

 

Twentieth challenge finish of the year.

I don't like to try to rate non-fiction.  I'll say that it is not light reading.  This was along the lines of a journal written by C.S. Lewis as a way to work through his grief after his wife died from cancer.  

Tomorrow will be the 27th anniversary of the death of my best friend, also from cancer.  Did I pick this one now on purpose?  I didn't think so, but perhaps.  I will probably read it again.  It's impossible to absorb and process something this deep in one read through.  But it had enough points I agreed with that I would like to revisit it.

I'm now about halfway through the bigraphical fiction book about C.S. Lewis and his wife that will fill prompt 45.

 

The first quarter of the year is behind us already!  I'm satisfied with the challenge progress I've made so far.  I've read books for each prompt that has red arrows at their number.  And if a prompt number has two red arrows pointing to it, it means the book that I read for that one has been lingering on my Kindle for a loooong time.

Chive garden progress 7 days in

Day 1

grocery store green/spring onion bulbs in water (green leaves used in recipe)

Day 7 - Impressive.

At this rate, I'll have to harvest regularly and use more often in cooking.

PS:  Blogger is acting up again for me.  Completely froze on me, and had to restart.

What I'm eating Wednesday...

I am reading, but not making a lot of headway.  

I have been cooking quite a bit though.  Yesterday I did a test run of "baking" white and sweet potatoes in the slow cooker.  I wasn't crazy about the results, but they were okay.  The skins were a bit too fragile for my intended purpose (twice baked potatoes), but would work great for "baking" them in the summer without heating up the kitchen.

I made about seven of the regular bakers into twice-baked potatoes, and after freezing on a baking sheet overnight, I moved them into individual vacuum-sealed bags this morning.  Now they are in the chest freezer for future meals.

I did a large dice of the two sweet potatoes and one of the white potatoes, and refrigerated them overnight.  Tonight for supper I used them (along with some sausage) for breakfast hash topped with fried eggs.  Leftovers remain, yay!

Since I picked up my grocery order last week, I've also made Sausage, Rice, and Green Beans Skillet, next night I roasted a spaghetti squash and topped it with shrimp alfredo sauce.  Another night I made Italian Baked chicken with rice as a side and broccoli.  The leftover chicken breasts will be diced for a casserole or something another night.  Tomorrow the plan is for meatloaf.

I do so much better when I plan a menu and have the groceries in the house.  

Speaking of groceries, I thought I'd show you these photos I took when I unloaded the grocery order last week.  

I have stacking egg trays for the fridge.  They nest together when they aren't both full.  When I buy more eggs, I buy a different color from what I still have to use at home.  

I move the older eggs to the front of the top tray so they get used first.  Then I'll start on the brown eggs when the white ones are used up.  Sometimes we go through eggs faster than others.

When I'm not in the kitchen, I am in the process of moving my card making desk/shelves/supplies to the guest room.  The quilting supplies will stay put and be able to spread out a bit once the desk etc is moved out.  I'm trying not to rush.  Don't want to risk messing my knee up again.  But not rushing means a longer process.  And I have book club at our house in two weeks.  Yikes.  I hope it's done by then, but I'm just not going to stress over it.  My book club is good folks, they won't hold a bit of mess against me.

A recipe in photos...

If you'd like the approximate measurements...

Cornbread Salad

Cornbread (I used leftovers that I crumble and keep in freezer)

Green Onions (1 bunch sliced)

Green Bell Pepper (diced finely)

1 tomato (diced finely)

2 hard-boiled eggs (diced)

Bacon (cooked and chopped...I know mine was overcooked)

Mayonnaise (enough to moisten salad to your taste)

Salt, Pepper, & Garlic Powder (to taste)

We had it with Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches.  But also great to serve with any kind of barbecue.

Now come on, I had doubts too, but I first had it at a staff barbecue, and I and everybody else  asked for the recipe.  We like it!  (I mean it's not like I'm asking you to try Peanut Butter and Pickle Sandwiches!  LOL)

And I saved the root end of the green onions to try out my new, handy-dandy chive-growing water pot on my kitchen window sill.  Updates to come.