Reading and Eating
This week I finiahed a GREAT book: I absolutely loved the writing, the setting, the way the characters developed… and the penultimate chapter was brilliant (“round up the usual suspects!”) The last chapter was slightly confusing- I mean, I was pretty sure I knew what was happening, but I was wondering why that was happening as opposed to what I THOUGHT was going to happen. I googled it, and found a spirited discussion on Goodreads. People had all sorts of theories about what the ending means, and cited details from earlier chapters of the book to support them. The ambiguous ending definitely worked, and I think the passionate debate is the sign of a great book. After I finished the book I listened to this podcast, where James Altucher interviewed Amor Towles. It was really interesting to hear about his writing process. They mostly talked about Rules of Civility and Gentleman in Moscow (and, interesting detail- a character From Rules makes an appearance in Gentleman!) I’ll eventually read Towles’ other books, but right now I’m following my rule of not repeating authors (just for now, because there are so many books I want to read.) Next up was this mystery, recommended by Lindsay:: I’m ALMOST DONE, and I really like it. I love the setting, the story, and the main character. Ruth Galloway is an archaeologist who gets involved in a police investigation. One of the things I especially like is that Ruth weighs “twelve and a half stone.” I had to look it up- a “stone” is equal to 14 pounds. Every book I read seems to have a female main character who happens to be slender and pretty- It’s refreshing to read a book where the main character is a strong, confident woman who isn’t conventionally attractive. Let’s talk about eating! There isn’t a lot to report, but I made these chai-spiced teff waffles. on Mother’s Day. They were good! In honor of the day, I drank out of my Baylor Mom mug. By the way, I’ve decided that my husband is officially “holiday blind.” He put that cloth on the table, and didn’t understand what made it autumnal. Um… the colors? The fact that there are leaves on it? Sigh. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised- here’s how he wrapped my Mother’s Day present. For dinner, he made pesto! You might remember that I’m trying to eat less pasta, so I tried to load my plate up with salad and roasted vegetables. I couldn’t resist a piece of bread though. (I also HAD to change that tablecloth!) Have you read anything by Amor Towles? Did you make a special brunch or dinner for Mother’s Day? Top photo by Syd Wachs on Unsplash