2011-2013 Reading List

Updated 22 January 2013:

The theme of 2011 has clearly become Paris. I think I am in withdrawal because I am not traveling there again for the foreseeable future.

The theme of 2012 is Paris and baby. Never too early to educate oneself as to how to prepare the body to make a baby.

The theme of 2013 is undecided, but thus far has been books written about time periods long since passed.

2011 book count: 13

2012 book count: 14 (17 if you count the fact that I read the Hunger Games trilogy twice)
2013 book count: 3

1. Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngat (LOVE this guy).

2. Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef, by Gabrielle Hamilton (I am a sucker for food books). I'm two chapters away. I really enjoyed this one. Calling Prune to make reservations today!

3. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (see title of blog, can you believe I've never read this? neither can I)

4. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens (because of Oprah - no, not really)

5. The First Tycoon, by T.J. Stiles (because I like wealth, and capitalism (again, see title of blog) and it won a Pulitzer Prize)

 6. John Adams, by David McCullough (because it's been sitting on my shelf for too long, and I wimped out and watched the HBO miniseries instead)

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (I've read the series forwards, I'm now reading it backwards)

8. Some book I saw in a French bookstore about these American sisters who married into nobility (and then divorced and remarried, etc.) (seems scandalous and trashy, yet historic)

9. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell (again, never read it). I've read it now! Kindle + weekend indoors + jury duty = book done!

10. Sweet Valley Confidential, by Francine Pascal. I read all of the Sweet Valley Twins (middle school books) as a kid. I read very few of the Sweet Valley High books and will admit to having read one or two of the Sweet Valley University books. This book sucked. It was terrible.... not even like guilty pleasure good. It took me about 4 hours to read it. Yikes.

11. Elizabeth Street, by Laurie Fabiano (historical fiction re the lower east side). This was great. Historical fiction was a good thing to read after #10.

12. Rememberance of things Paris, by Ruth Reichl. A collection of 60 years of food and wine writing from Gourmet magazine about Paris. Yes, please!

13. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte (I just couldn't get into British female authors in high school for some reason, so I just read the Cliff Notes to this one) Finished just in time to see the new movie!!! (and hate it because I inevitably like the book more)

14. Emma, by Jane Austen (see comment to #12)

15. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, by Amanda Foreman.

16. Apollo's Angels, by Jennifer Homans. A history of ballet, need I say more?

17. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Inspired by watching Easy A, which was a cute movie. Another one of those books I had little use for in high school, but I really enjoyed this time around.

18. A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway. Inspired by seeing Midnight in Paris while in Maine visiting the husband's family. This book documents Hemingway's time in Paris during the 20s, which is when the movie is set.

19. The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain. This is historical fiction written from the perspective of Hadley Hemingway, Ernest's first wife, set during the same time period as #18 above.

20. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, by David McCullough. Variations on a theme, you see. Which theme is that?

21. Parisians, by Graham Robb. Yup, there's definitely a theme this year. I just so love this city :)

22. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le Carre. Saw the movie... felt I needed to read the book.

23. A visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer.... It won a Pulitzer. It deserved it. Though perhaps it was not a novel.

24. The Hunger Games Trilogy (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay), by Suzanne Collins. I read them in three days (perhaps 3.5 and have already read them all again.... they are a little addictive).

25. The Fertility Diet, by George E. Chavarro, MD, and Walter C. Willett, MD.

26. What to Expect When You are Expecting.

27. Real Food for Mother and Baby, by Nina Planck.

28.  Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy.  It took a month, but I got through it.  This should also count as several books, I think ;)

29.  Boomerang, by Michael Lewis.

30.  The Visible Man, by Chuck Klostermann.

31.  Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin
32. A Clash of Kings, by George R. R. Martin
33. A Storm of Swords, by George R. R. Martin
34. A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin
35. A Dance with Dragons, by George R. R. Martin

36. Where We Belong, by Emily Giffin. Guilty pleasure read in one return flight from Paris.  It sorta sucked, but I'm used to it with her.

37. Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, by Bob Spitz.

38.  The Path to Power, by Robert Caro.  Have only heard marvelous things about Caro.  Perhaps starting with the longest book is not the best move, but I'm diving in.  This one is horrible to read on Kindle, because three weeks later, I'm still in the single digit percentage completion.... yikes.

39.  Wolf Hall, by Hillary Mantel.  I'm not always one for historical fiction, but I love the Tudor period of England, and given that this one the Man Booker Prize, I thought I'd take it for a spin.  Instantly hooked. 

40.  Bringing Up the Bodies, by Hillary Mantel. See above.  Can't wait for the third part of the trilogy.

41.  The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. I blame this one on Downton Abbey.  Want to see what we Americans were doing while the Dowager Countess inquired about weekends....

42.  Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo.  Because of the movie, obvs.

43.  Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, by U.S. Grant.  Supposed to be great!

44.  The Constant Gardener, by John le Carre.

45.  Team of Rivals.  Because of the movie.

The Neighbor's Got to Go

I was in heaven all weekend. I had a house that I could pretend was my own and entertain people in it. Huge kitchen, dining table, etc. - it was a putterer's dream. And I am nothing if not a putterer :)

While I puttered - game night began. It began innocently enough with a lingerie shower of sorts where the bride had to guess who gifted each pair. Brownie Alligator's were easily the best. This blog is mostly PG, however, so there will be no pictures! It was followed by a drinking game where the bride has to correctly answer questions posed to the groom. Highlight here was the groom's answer that the bride's favorite activity is eating french fries while watching the Biggest Loser. A rousing game of Pin the Hose on the Fireman (and all that it implies) came next. A pictionary game followed. That's all I will say about that.

As the evening/early morning wore on, a select few of the louder girls (myself included) decided to hit the hot tub. Not more than 5 minutes in, we heard the neighbor yelling at us to keep it down. Not more than 10 minutes following that we were paid a visit by the property manager telling us our hot tub party had to end. Plots were hatched to "flamingo" her lawn with some leftover straws. The better part of reason kicked in and this plan was not realized.

Around 2:30, the last of us headed to bed. Or so I thought. At 5:08 am, we received the following picture via email from Ga.

Ly Bachelorette Extravaganza - Part Dos (aka Tasting the Wine)

Saturday morning I woke up and headed to the "gym." I got to the "gym" by means of a magical time-traveling elevator that took me back to the 1970s. There was a recumbent bike, a stairmaster and two elliptical machines that gave the user the feeling that they were headed downhill. It was less than ideal, but I do have to remind myself that I was back in 1970, and in 1970 this gym would have been considered "decked out." It's missing its disco ball though... that was sort of sad.

Being the group mom, I then headed to Walgreens to stock up on some snacks and sunscreen and went to Sbux to get my little chickies their morning Joe. Only one-half hour late, we were on our way in the PM to Sonoma. We arrived at Greystone Manor, a beautiful mansion to call our own at 10:45. Our first appointment was at 11, so mommy/drill sergeant/mini-Mussolini rallied the troops and got us on our way with Dan and other-driver, our designated drivers for the day.

First stop St. Francis. We tasted 6 wines here, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Viognier, a Cab Franc, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Malbec and a Zinfandel. Our host (really a glorified bartender) was friendly, if not a bit salesman-y. He didn't let me rinse my glass or give me a new glass between tasting. This made the hobbit angry. Nonetheless, I did really like the cab and husband and I are going to enjoy some soon.

Second stop heaven-on-earth, aka Hanzell. We climbed a steep, single lane little path to get to Hanzell, which posted the most breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside. Our guide Ben, lead us around the facility, included the barrel room and let us see the fermenting tanks. They had this amazing chandelier made from the spokes (?) of old barrels where the light from the chandelier let you see the amount of toast that was on the various barrels from which it was made. Definitely a show piece, and definitely part of the wine-making process that I've not yet been able to see - as it's generally hard to see inside a barrel. I also learned how to read the "label" of a barrel to see where it was assembled, where the wood came from and the level of toast. We tasted wine (and ate chex mix and cupcakes (dignity, always dignity :)) in a gorgeous room with big wooden french doors at the end which opened up onto what can only be described as a majestic view. The wines were really lovely. We tasted their estate pinot noir which was extremely elegant and had a great earthy nose like old-world pinot. Their chardonnay was also great, and was really not oaky despite having spend 12 months in lightly toasted French oak.

Our third winery was Frog's Leap, which is a favorite of the bride-to-be. We sat at a great picnic table in the middle of a beautiful garden and tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, a Zinfandel, an oddly terrific Merlot, the Rutherford cab and other ones I can't remember now, because we were busy with some covert ops, and we had been drinking a lot already that day. I met a cat that looked like my old cat Graham Cracker.

Our fourth "bonus" winery was Domaine Carneros where we tasted a brut, a demi-sec and a rose sparkling wine. We basically had a sip of each and used it as a halfway point to stretch our legs, though the brut and rose were quite lovely. "Bonus" wineries sound much more practical when you are a bit toasted from drinking wine all day.

Next up: Game night at the house. The night of a case of wine for 11 women and one angry neighbor.

LY Bachelorette Extravaganza - Part Uno

Ly is getting married to Puma Tattoo :). We are all thrilled and wanted to celebrate. Ly is from San Francisco (by way of Chicago). There's wine close to San Francisco. There's also a five bedroom mansion we can rent for some insane price close to San Francisco that's even closer to the wine. Done and done! But not before, of course, we hit the town where Tony Bennett left his heart many years ago.

Breadstix for six minus one breadstick left JFK for San Francisco at 9:30am on Friday. Five and half hours, several coffees, some wine, some screwdrivers, a judgmental, French-speaking flight attendant, an EHarmony profile and 6 gossip magazines later, we arrived in San Francisco. We picked up our car, named her the PM and headed towards downtown. Michelle, Kelly and I went in search of cheese and non-vegan desserts to fortify ourselves during our mostly-vegan weekend. We went to the Ferry Terminal Market and looked out at the bay. We walked back the way we came, to avoid getting lost, avoided a Hanzel & Grettel-style fate and met Ga in Union Square to drink some more.

Lured by promises of free wine in the lobby, we headed back to the hotel. I met up with Rich-ay, one of the husband's groomsmen who lives in San Francisco. He bought me beer and gifted me with stories and gossip about my husband and his friends. Score two for Rachel!

We all got dollied/sluttied up and headed to Gracias Madre, a vegan-Mexican food joint in the Mission District. Here the adventures really began. There were special nametags, straws and a blinking pin for the bride-to-be. They were all in the same shape. A gold star to the reader who guesses what shape they were in! Joy, who sadly could not join us for the weekend, sent us pitchers of margaritas and sangria. We were joined by the last breadstick Lisa, the bride's sister and several of Ly's college pals. We had a merry 'ole time. My adventure stops there as I had to go interpret indemnity clauses back at the hotel while my pals went to karaoke.

At least I got a good night's sleep out of it! We needed it for the day ahead.......

Happy Birthday Allie

My best friend Allison "Allie" Bucy passed away at the ripe young age of 23. Today would be her 28th birthday. I had a dream about her last night. We had gone to California for some purpose, including seeing her dad. Our first arrival was to some sort of clothing store/library. Her dad picked us up there and we walked a couple doors down in the strip mall to a sports bar to watch a Pats/Giants game, but walked into a library instead where Flynn mysterioulsy morphed into Cole, Allie's brother, and Allie and Cole checked debate tournament updates. Oh and I successfully pilfered a white Chanel bag from the store/library and Allie caught me and just told me not to act so guilty ;) Allie and I were supposed to debate the next day and didn't have so much as an affirmative much less any evidence. Oh yea, and some celebrity (not George Clooney) had become president and that factored into some sort of politics disad. God, after all of these years, I'm still a giant nerd.

It's strange how your subconscious is so tuned into your deep feelings. I suppose they are really one in the same. I thought a couple times over the past week that Friday was Allie's birthday, but it wasn't foremost on my mind when I went to bed last night. I had been reading a book and texting my husband. Anyways, I wanted to write this one down, because I don't always have the sharpest memories of dreams.

Paris, December 27th

The boulangerie was closed on Mondays. Booooo. We planned on seeing the France 1500 exhibit at the Grand Palais, so we walked over to the right bank and went to the first restaurant we saw near the Louvre. It was crappy craperton... also my cappucino was literally 9.5 euros... they said it was the best cappucino in Paris... reminded me of the movie Elf... also it was not the best cappucino in Paris. It was utterly forgettable. As we made our way towards the Grand Palais, we noticed that the line for the Ferris Wheel was not very long. Despite wife's objections to Ferris Wheels (I hate the ones where the seats rock), we bought two tickets. "Do you want to switch sides of the car?" husband asks midway through t

he ride, as he stares at the paralyzed with fear wife.... "um... no, you can look over your shoulder at the other side.

After the Ferris Wheel we headed to Laduree for some macaroons and champagne. God I love Paris.

The France 1500 exhibit was interesting. It was all artwork (mostly religious) from various parts of France that was produced around... you guessed it.... 1500. Tons of illuminated manuscripts, bibles, prayer books, etc. I have to say, I wasn't all that blown away by the exhibit. Not shockingly, everything produced in or around 1500 was religious and theme and, as it turns out, there isn't exactly a vast body of "events" to choose from to depict in artwork. I'd say that 95% of the exhibit was Annunciations, Baptism of Jesuses, Nativities, Crucifixions and Manifestations. They are pretty, no doubt, but it gets a wee redundant. There was an interesting Nativity where the cardinal of the day had himself painted into it as though he was there... that was a stretch of the time-space continuum, amongst other things.

For dinner we headed to Le Comptoir, recommended to us by Tony Bourdain. There are NO RESERVATIONS so we sat outside under badass heat lamps and shared a bottle of wine before they seated us inside. Oh, I know what you are thinking - how romantic... sitting french style outside an adorable bistro in Paris drinking wine...... YET... the French still smoke. Like Marlboro reds and like chain-smoke style. The couple sitting next to us had two cigarettes before their appetizer and another two in between the appetizer and entree and then another one before coffee showed up. Seriously people, smoking is bad for you... really bad for you. Stop already! Dinner, however, was pure awesomeness. We shared a plate of thin sliced Iberian ham for an appetizer and then husband had beef and I had the most amazing pork I've ever tasted.

Paris, December 26th

We landed in Paris after an uneventful flight where I watched the utterly forgettable "Eat, Pray, Love." The book might be more compelling, but the movie did not inspire any sympathy in me towards the character. "Oh my God! I'm so brave! I gained 10 pounds and am now only slightly underweight!!!!" "Oh my terrible problems, I'm glad I'm so wealthy I can take off a year of work with no fear and join my wealthy fellow Americans at exclusive ashrams in India!" Anyways... I'm probably being a bit harsh, but this was all that was available to watch on a long flight.

We were luckily able to immediately check into our hotel, the beautiful Hotel Pont Royal, beautifully situated 4 blocks from the Seine and 2 blocks from Eric Kayser, the boulangerie where I had croissant #1 out of 1000 of our seven day trip. We walked along the Seine near the Louvre and saw Notre Dame and St. Chapelle. We went for a crepe (sucre for me, nutella for husband) and went back to the hotel to nap. We arose from a very deep sleep for dinner at Chez Fernand, a second location (turns out the owner owns 8 restaurants in Paris). I had a phenomenal veloute of broccoli, the husband had terrine of pate, and we shared boeuf bourguinon for dinner. It was incredible! We mopped up every last drop of the sauce with bread. Then we had a gateaux du chocolat, which was also awesome and decadent, but my tummy was telling me (shouting, really) "STOP" Back to the hotel and fell asleep, only to wake wide awake around 2:30am. 4 hours of Harry Potter later, I fell back asleep and husband and I woke up around 11am.

Part 2: Paris, Texas

The rest of the time in Texas went something like this:

Saturday: Arrive Waco
Sunday: Depart Waco for Austin
Monday: Depart Austin for Waco, by way of Salado, dinner at Ninfa's with the Eastlands
Tuesday: Dr. Pepper Museum, shopping with Courtney
Wednesday: Tour unexplored areas of Waco (for husband)
Thursday: Uncle Dans for lunch, Ninfa's for dinner
Friday: Hardest workout ever, courtesy of JRM, cook like a fiend, Christmas Eve Dinner
Saturday: Christmas Breakfast, Depart Waco for Paris!

Highlights: Austin was great as usual, and Chris and Caroline are amazing hosts. After a devastating Giants loss to the Eagles, the gals headed to the Domain, this awesome outdoor mall in Austin (it was like 80 degrees that day) and the boys played some pool. We had dinner at Peche, a french restaurant downtown with pre-prohibition style cocktails (think no vodka, and absinthe). They were heavy on the gin, so yours truly was happy. The boys decided they decidedly did NOT like absinthe. Perhaps they didn't believe the girls when we said it "tastes like black licorice" as when they took their first sips, they each exclaimed "gross, it tastes like black licorice." It also looks like a margarita that's been left out overnight. Not really my cup of tea. Blood sausage and sweetbreads on the other hand? I'm your gal. Needless to say, we had a great night.

I was born and raised in Waco, Texas, am 27 years old, and until December 2010, I had never stepped foot in the Dr. Pepper Museum. It was interesting enough, especially from the perspective of the history of the bottling industry. Husband loved learning that the bottle deposit used to be 2 cents (on a 5 cent bottle), whereas now, it's like 5 cents on a $1.99 bottle - people had a much greater motivation to return them then! Below is a picture of "Dr. Schnee", the version of Dr. Pepper sold in St. Louis that husband drank growing up!

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. We had a dinner of beef tenderloin, cheddar mashed potatoes, black beans and rice, jalepeno-cheddar cornbread, southwestern corn, roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and dessert of brownies, flan, cookies and pie. We were all stuffed, especially since I ate half of the cheese before putting into the potatoes AND we had to go out for one last lunch of Chik fil A before leaving Texas. Seriously Chik Fil A, open in the East. You'll make a killing. Off husband and I alone. I slaved away joyously in the kitchen most of the day (oh Texas and your big houses with two ovens and tons of counter space!). Husband hand-mashed the potatoes into the most silky smooth perfection you've ever seen. It was truly a work of art. We then enaged in my mother's fascist gift-exchange program, which lasts at least 6 hours, regardless of the number of people in attendance and number of gifts. Each person is given one gift at a time and we all have to watch that person open his/her gift and ooo and ahhh over it before anyone can dare touch another present. I'm not bitter. The finale was an etching we all bought my mother by an artist of some notoriety up East. Copyrigh laws, alas, prevent me from posting it here. You can view it here though, http:www.helenfrank.com/#179898/A-Glass-of-Guinness. The fella on the left is a spitting image of her father, my late grandfather.

Christmas Day we had brunch at my aunt and uncle's house and then headed to the Waco airport (2 hours ahead of flight, oh dear husband). We got through security and waited the 1 hr, 45 minutes until our flight to Houston. There were 6 people on our plane. Incidentally, ALL of our bags were searched. I mean ALL 6 of us. They didn't find anything. I think security at the Waco airport is just bored. Wouldn't you be? Also, news to me! You know board planes in Waco via a Jetway! Really moving up in the world :)

Part 1: Paris, Texas.... as in Paris & Texas, not to be confused with Paris, Texas.

On December 16th, the husband and I made our way (back home) to the Lone Star State. First stop, NorthPark mall where we ate P.F. Changs, my husband judged me for drinking a beer at noon (hello, we're on vacation thank you!) and we finally sorry Harry Potter 7, part un.

Random side story. Husband, until around December 10, 2010, had never seen a Harry Potter movie or read a Harry Potter book. "Trix are for kids" seemed to be his motto. Well, hesnapped out of THAT quickly. We watched a marathon of Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire on a Sunday. Man was HOOKED. By Tuesday, he didn't even wait for me to get home from work to watch Half Blood Prince, as he just "assumed because I saw it recently, I didn't need to see it again." Translation? I am hooked to the kids' movies and I can't wait two hours to watch it with you. I even got the following emails at work "When are Ron and Hermione going to realize they are in love?????", followed by "Wait, Snape is EVIL?" Anyhoo, to my great pleasure husband was chomping at the bit to see HP7p1 and now I have a fellow obsessive devotee to stand in line with me for the midnight showing on July 11, 2011. Oh, and now husband declares we have to see it in Imax too.

So anyways, after the movie we headed up to see Sarah and Matt. We saw their giganticapartment, played with a very riled-up Riley Cat and headed to Uncle Julio's to satisfy wifey's "fix" of mexican food. There are serious withdrawal symptoms when I'm away from this stuff my friends...... The next day husband and I traveled to Dealey Plaza and went to the museum in the book depository. We then toured homes in Highland Park, where husband is trying his best to convince wife we should live. STAT.

That night the "dance moms" and daughters got together for dinner and the Nutcracker at Bass Hall in Forth Worth. We had such a good time at Fondue we didn't realize what time it was and basically had to stuff the dessert fondue in our purses as we fled the restaurant for the theater. Seeing the Nutcracker brought back such happy memories of our childhood/teenage years. It's so wonderful that all of the mommies and daughters are still friends after 20 years :)

Sunday morning, husband met the mommies and daughters for breakfast and Sarah, husband and I began the trip down to Wacko. Oh Wacko.......

Next time on Paris, Texas: Austin, Texas, the Dr. Pepper Museum, and more Mexican food.