Archive for November, 2009

November has flown by and I haven’t had much time for reading (or blogging). But I have a stack of books that I’m really excited about starting and want to read right away. I have a major case of So Many Books, So Little Time. I thought I’d give this list a little time in the spotlight and show the books that are coming home with me for my Thanksgiving vacation and why I’m excited about reading them.

You Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs: I love Augusten’s humorous essays, and am excited about this new collection. My book club is reading it for December (a nice light read since we’re all so busy this time of year), so I’ll start it a bit closer to the discussion/holiday dinner.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: This is the book that I am currently reading, and I’m savoring it and making my way through it slowly. My classics book club is reading it for December, so I have a few more weeks to finish it. I’m going to start a few other books and read this one on the side. (Our main book club has a secondary spin-off for people who want to read classics. It makes for an intense, but fun, amount of book clubs.)

Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table edited by Amanda Hesser:  I found this book at Strand a few weeks ago; it’s a collection of food essays from the NY Times. Many of my favorite writers are included in the anthology: Billy Collins, George Saunders, Julia Child, and Ann Patchett.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: I’m not sure how I’ve never read this before, but it’s time to remedy the situation. I’d like to read it after Thanksgiving to help set the Christmas mood, and then I’ll most likely indulge in watching a little reenactment of the story via Muppets.

Fire by Kristin Cashore: This it the companion to Graceling, which I devoured a few months ago. I’ve heard great things about this one. Based on how much of a page turner Graceling was, I think Fire will be the perfect plane book to read while traveling home to Michigan this week for Thanksgiving.

Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer: I think most literature lovers are intrigued by Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Paris – the store behind the publishing of Joyce’s Ulysses and a gathering place for so many 20th century literary giants. I’m very excited to read Mercer’s account of his discovery of the store and the close relationship that followed. This is another one that will be coming home to Michigan with me.

Does anyone else have a holiday case of So Many Books, So Little Time? What books are making you wish for unlimited reading time?

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway!

I’ve used a random number generator to find the two winners from the fans on Facebook and the comments below. I’m pleased to announce that they are: Annina and Kelly!

Congratulations! I will contact you both to confirm which book you’d like and to get your mailing address. :)

Simon Van Booy won the 2009 Frank O’Connor prize for his collection, Love Begins in Winter, his second short story collection. I read it a few months ago, and fell in love with his writing. It’s stunning.

I read his first collection next, The Secret Lives of People in Love. These stories were a little more somber, many of the characters had loved and lost. But the heart of it is still Simon Van Booy’s unique voice and skill with conveying the thoughts and emotions of his characters.

Here are a few of my favorite lines:

“When somebody leaves this plane – or, if you like, goes into another room – those left behind sometimes try and stop loving – but this is a mistake, because even if you have loved only once in your life, you’re ruined.” (page 37)

“Love reveals the beauty of seemingly trivial things – a pair of shoes, an empty wine glass, an open drawer, cracks on the avenue.” (page 48)

“Up here on this forgotten elbow of land, I have nothing to lose, and though I am more afraid now than I have ever been, I am relieved, I am unburdened, I am ascending.” (page 51)

“You might say that praying is useless if I don’t believe in God anymore, but let me tell you my opinion: praying for someone is a way to love them without ever having to know them.” (page 87)

The original edition is out of print, and Harper Perennial is releasing a new edition in January. The old edition is still available on the Book Depository.

Simon Van Booy’s Website

Well, there were—or maybe there are—a number of dead people out there. (Laughs.) It’s a very crowded place. There is a Beethoven and a Shakespeare and a Hitler and an entire family out there. But, fortunately, you don’t have to go to heaven to talk to some of them. A lot of them have left us amazing things on paper, and so their lives persist here anyway. Wonderful words. Beautiful music. Stunning things that resonate.
-Kurt Vonnegut

Let’s do a full disclosure right off the bat here, shall we? I’m obsessed with Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

I first had one in Washington DC in early October at a really cute cafe that Josh and I stopped in to get me a coffee fix. That was a Saturday afternoon. I spent all of that Saturday evening and Sunday with “pumpkin whoopie pie. pumpkin whoopie pie. pumpkin whoopie pie.” running through the back of my mind. On Sunday, when Josh and I were trying to find a place to eat dinner, he called me out on the route I was suggesting… and he was right: I was trying to lead us back to the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies. Eventually, out of hunger, he gave in, and let me google the location (we actually couldn’t remember the name of the place, so I had to google Border’s, which I remembered was across the street from it). Then we could locate the whoopie pie cafe. Locate, yes, but sadly, couldn’t partake. They had closed at 5 pm.

While I was still in DC, I googled a recipe to make them myself on my phone, and the first hit looked very promising – from the cookbook Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, and featured on MarthaStewart.com. I resolved to make them very soon after getting back home.

Well, I’ve made them twice so far, and they are amazing. I’m going to make them to bring to my family for Thanksgiving, and I’ll probably make them at least once more before then. They have a wonderful flavor, with just the right amount of spice. The bread/cookie part is dense and hearty, and the cream cheese frosting filling is sweet and heavenly.

Here’s the recipe and the photos I took while baking. (Note: the recipe says it makes 12 whoopie pies, but both times I’ve made it I’ve gotten over 30. I used a small ice cream scoop – about 1.5 or 2 tablespoons of batter per cookie.)

Ingredients

Makes 12 whoopie pies

• FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.



3. Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.



4. Make the filling: Sift confectioner’ sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)



5. Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

Notes from Emily:

-3 cups of pumpkin puree is one of the big (two pie) cans of pumpkin puree.

-In my oven, the baking time was closer to 10 minutes, so keep an eye on them, and check your first tray after about 10 minutes. Especially if you’re making them smaller like I did.

-I didn’t feel like getting a pastry bag dirty to pipe the frosting, so I just used an offset spatula to add the filling, and it works just fine.

I’m excited to officially launch Books, the Universe, and Everything on its new home!

I’ve moved here from emilyw.vox.com, and have copied over all my posts from there by hand. I still have a little work to do on the design and the sidebar, especially adding all the blogs I read to the blog roll!

You can grab my updated RSS feed here. I’ve also created a Facebook fan page where I’ll post links to new posts.

In honor of “the move,” I’m hosting a book giveaway! Two winners, chosen with the Random Number Generator from all entries, will receive their choice of one of my favorite books:

-Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
-The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse
-The Trouble With Poetry by Billy Collins
-The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
-The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
-A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel

To enter: Become a Fan of Books the Universe & Everything on Facebook. (You can use the Facebook widget to the right, or click here to visit the Facebook page and click the “Become a Fan” button from there.)

For an extra entry: Tweet or blog a link to this giveaway post, and leave a comment here with a link to your tweet or post.

Other notes about the giveaway:
-If you don’t have a Facebook account, or if you don’t want to become a Fan on Facebook for any reason, you can do the Twitter or Blog post option for an entry. Be sure to leave a comment here with the link.
-If you are already a fan on Facebook, you’ll automatically be entered.
-This giveaway is open worldwide; I will ship internationally.

This giveaway will be open until midnight eastern time on November 18, 2009.

Thanks and welcome to Books, the Universe, and Everything’s new home! :)

Books Purchased:

The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten
Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart
Fire by Kristin Cashore
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers (fur covered edition)
Bright-sided by Barbara Ehrenreich

Books Read:

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (re-read)
Look at the Birdie by Kurt Vonnegut
Cherries in Winter by Suzan Colon
Making Mischief by Gregory Maguire
The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

Previously reviewed: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma, Look at the Birdie.

It was a good reading month, thanks to a trip to DC with a great, long bus ride, and the Read-a-Thon.

This month I read two books for my book group. The Jungle Book served as inspiration for Neil Gaiman, so it was interesting to read it before I re-read The Graveyard book. The Jungle Book is completely different from the Disney movie, and absolutely worth reading. They transport you straight back to childhood and the magic of listening to adventure stories read aloud to you before bed.

If you have ever smelt the night air and felt a sudden urge to race out into the darkness and howl at the moon and dance wild in the shadows, then The Jungle Books is the book for you. -from the introduction by Christopher Paolini

I’m behind on book reviews, but look for posts coming soon for Her Fearful Symmetry; Juliet, Naked; The Secret Lives of People in Love; Cherries in Winter; Making Mischief; and The Wild Things.

MBS & the Prisoner’s Dilemma

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart is the third book about a group of four extraordinarily gifted and adventurous children who call themselves the Mysterious Benedict Society.

Since this is the third book in the series, I won’t say much here about the plot. I’ve enjoyed all three books, and while the first will always be my favorite, I think Prisoner’s Dilemma is the second best. I enjoyed that they were back home at Mr. Benedict’s mansion for most of this one, and the action built up nicely.

The MBS books in general are fabulous – they have it all: great characters, illustrations that are a bit Gorey-esque, a formidable group of bad guys, logic puzzles, brain teasers, and pie.

This series is outstanding, and is a perfect gift for kids (boys or girls) from about 5th grade through 9th. It’s also a series that adults who enjoy YA & kid’s novels will love too; my mom and many of my friends have read and loved them.

For anyone wanting to give this series a try, I recommend starting with the first book, The Mysterious Benedict Society, which is available in paperback from The Book Depository for only $3.49.

(This post was brought over from emilyw.vox.com. Click here for the original post and comments.)