Coming attractions

I was excited to hear that Ian McEwan has a new book out. Then I read this review in the NY Times, and I lost some of my enthusiasm. I absolutely loved “Atonement” and really liked “Saturday,” so it’s disappointing that his new one seems to not live up to them. But on the bright side, there are many older McEwan books that I have yet to read, so hopefully those will occupy me for a while.

Other new books I am looking forward to: "After Dark," by Haruki Murakami, and "Divisadero," by Michael Ondaatje. Also, Tom Perrotta, author of one of my favorite books, "Joe College," has a book coming out in October with the very intriguing title of "The Abstinence Teacher."

But maybe I should make a dent in the current pile(s) before I start any of those...

The pursuit of happiness

When my boyfriend saw the title of the book I’m now reading—“Eat, Pray, Love,” by Elizabeth Gilbert—he said, “That sounds like a really dumb book.” I had the same reaction when I first saw it. In this case, my first impression was totally wrong.

In the book, Gilbert, a recently divorced thirty-something, chronicles a year she spent in Italy, India and Indonesia to recover from the emotional toll of her divorce and resulting depression. She decided to spend that year in pursuit of pleasure (by eating pasta and pastries in Italy), spirituality (by meditating and learning from a Yoga Guru at an Ashram in India) and balance (seeking both pleasure and spirituality in Bali). It almost feels like three separate stories, although the author’s very strong voice and the transformation she undergoes along the way tie them together.

While reading each section of the book, I found myself wanting to follow in Gilbert’s footsteps—maybe not by actually traveling to her destinations but embracing some aspects of her spiritual journey. (Why did I stop studying Italian, the most beautiful language I have ever spoken? And why do I never go to yoga classes, even though I always love it when I do?) Too busy, I guess. Maybe it is time to stop and think about what is really important to me … this is the kind of book that can have that effect on you. I highly recommend it.

(Up next: “The Feast of Love,”by Charles Baxter, for my book group meeting in June. Two books in a row for me with “Love” in the title! How nice.)

C is for cookie

It has been raining all weekend, so I decided this was a good time to do some baking. My snickerdoodle project started out just fine: I had Nigella's recipe, which I followed faithfully, measuring ingredients while my fantastic new stand mixer did all of the hard labor. The flour that I grabbed from the pantry did seem a little lumpy, but I was not worried.

The first sign of trouble came when the round balls of cookie dough refused to flatten into nice normal cookie shapes, even after 15 minutes in the oven. A few also had mysterious cracks along the tops. Something was amiss. When I tasted them, they weren't horrible, they just didn't taste like they should have. They were kind of dry, they were misshapen and they kept falling apart. That's when I decided to look more closely at the flour and discovered that the use-by date was June 2004. (This shows you how often I bake.) I did some research and found out that flour actually does expire - you're not supposed to keep it for longer than six months. OOPS. I'm not discouraged though, I just need to try again, with non-ancient flour. I will conquer the snickerdoodle recipe!

"Bringing Down the House"

I am definitely in the wrong line of work. I just finished reading “Bringing Down the House,” by Ben Mezrich, and I am ready to hop on a plane to Vegas and hit the blackjack tables. OK, maybe I don’t have the mathematical genius of the MIT students who figured out how to win millions of dollars by counting cards. And, I guess there are some pitfalls involved, like when the casinos figure out what you’re doing. (Guess what? They don’t like it very much, even though card counting is technically legal.) So, maybe I’ll rethink that plan. But I still highly recommend this book, which is compulsively page-turning. Probably a good book to read on a long plane trip.

It’s also being turned into a movie called “21,” starring Kevin Spacey and a few other big names. MIT refused to let them shoot on campus, so all of the campus scenes were shot at BU (a slightly more aesthetic locale). The producers caused gridlock in Boston a few weeks ago by shutting down the Mass. Ave. bridge to shoot there, but if the movie is as good as the book, it’ll be worthwhile.

Frankly, my dear

I just found out that another sequel to “Gone With the Wind” (one of my all-time favorite books) is going to be published this fall. It’s not technically a sequel but more of a retelling of the story from Rhett Butler’s point of view, covering a longer time period than the original book. It sounds like it has decent potential - hopefully it will be more of a literary success than the first sequel, “Scarlett,” which was sort of enjoyable but mostly disappointing.

In my last post, I forgot to mention one book that I did finish recently: “When the World Was Steady,” by Claire Messud. The reason I forgot is probably that it was not a very memorable book. It’s about two estranged middle-aged sisters who are each trying to escape their personal crises - one flees to Bali after a messy divorce, the other takes a holiday to Skye (Scotland) with her mother after having a breakdown at work. The story did offer some interesting insights about relationships and self-discovery, but I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorite reads. I picked it up mainly because I really liked Claire Messud’s recent novel, “The Emperor’s Children.” I found that one more relatable (it’s about a group of twenty-something Brown alumni living in NYC in 2001), and the writing was really beautiful.

In the kitchen

Haven't posted in a while, mainly because I haven't had that much time to read recently :( I'm going to try to change that. I'm also hoping to have more time to cook, especially bake, with one of the new cookbooks I got for my birthday recently. It's called "How to Be a Domestic Goddess," by Nigella Lawson. I am not harboring any illusions about actually becoming a domestic goddess, but I do aspire to produce (and consume) some darn good cookies and cupcakes. Maybe I will start with snickerdoodles. Who could resist cookies called snickerdoodles? I'll probably skip the recipe for steak and kidney pudding though. (Nigella is British, so she has a few items that I'm guessing appeal only to her countrymen.) I'll keep you posted on my baking successes or failures - who knows, maybe this will also become a food blog :)

Fun with cataloging

Those of you who have been reading this blog faithfully (I think there are at least 3 or 4 of you) have probably been asking yourselves, "Where can I find a list of all the books in the fabulous Enna's collection?" Well, your prayers have been answered. Last summer, I discovered librarything.com, a site that is heaven-sent for people who are REALLY obsessed with books. I spent one really hot afternoon holed up in my bedroom (the only room in my apartment with an air conditioner) with my laptop, entering all of my books into an online "virtual catalog." So now anyone can see what books I have! And I can see other people's books! (This is inordinately exciting for me because checking out other people's bookcases is the first thing I do when I go to someone's house. Yes, I am a book voyeur.)

Anyway, if you actually do want to see my books, here they are:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/enna406

I don't know if you need to have an account just to look at the site, but if you do, it's free. And if you decide to start your very own book catalog, let me know so I can snoop around it! :)