Creating Papercrafts by Labeena Ishaque

I finished Dead Sky by Tami Hoag last night. It was really good with lots of suspense (although I guessed the end). The characters were strong and there were a couple of wise-cracking detectives.

My other book was Creating Papercrafts by Labeena Ishaque. There were some really good ideas in there, including greetings cards with tiny bundles of twigs attached to the front, and a fabulous travel journal with covers made from an old map. I loved the aged effect, and you could put all sorts of pockets inside to hold tickets etc.

I love travel journals! (Even though I never keep one ...). I think it is the promise of them that is so enticing. Here is a webpage devoted to journals including travel journals.

Day 156; Book 155

Dead Sky by Tami Hoag

This is one of Tami Hoag's later books, where her focus has moved almost completely from romance to crime. Hooray! This author started out as a writer purely of romance then moved through a combination of the two to the crime thrillers she writes today. Characterisation is good, with the protagonists in this one being neither completely good or bad. Much more interesting and much more true to life! I'm about three-quarters of the way through this one but I've been too busy to finish it. Hopefully tonight ...

An Image Demonstrating Today's Shameful Lack of Blog Action

My 5-Month Anniversary is Today!

Five months of Book-a-Day that is! I started on 10th October last year so now I have only 7 months to go. This is where my calculations let me down because I reckon that is 151 days but I thought I was on Day 153 and Book 153. Oh well, I'm either keeping up or I am ahead ...

Penelope Lively

I'm afraid I had never read this author before, despite her having a prolific output of books for children and adults. Judgement Day is erudite and detailed in its observations of people and places and well worth reading, although ultimately rather sad. I'm going to try her other books.

I also read the play version of Robert Tressell's Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Stephen Lowe. This is a classic of socialist literature which, however, I don't think I would ever have got round to reading without this blog. The best scene comes when the character Owen demonstrates capitalist economics to his fellow workers, using the cutlery and food on the table as props. The bosses may strike us today as too reminiscent of moustache-twirling villains, but that doesn't take away from the significance of this work and the radical thinking it represented at the time.

Day 153; Book 153

More Sublime and Ridiculous Reads!

I'll start with an old favourite - Return of the Bunny Suicides! If you haven't heard of this, it's basically a book of cartoon bunnies with but one aim in life: self-destruction. Why is this funny? It's a puzzle, but I think it's probably to do with the contrast between the cuteness of the rabbits and the darkness of their intentions. The situations are ridiculous too, with horrible ends involving toasters or maypoles. The book ends with a picture of a Venus Fly-Trap, and then you notice the fluffy little tail sticking out ...

Also light-hearted was Reading My Arse! I had to buy this for the title alone. It's by the actor Ricky Tomlinson and was another of the Quick Reads series. (Incidentally, if you want to attract non-readers, is placing these books in a traditional bookshop the best idea? What about supermarkets, or pubs?). This story was much better than The Cave, but did have an element of wish-fulfillment about it. This is all very well for the author, but may not appeal to the reader quite so much ...

I also read another of the Marcus Didius Falco detective books, with Falco this time investigating a serial killer in Ancient Rome. Did they have serial killers in those days? It makes an interesting story anyway. It's darker than usual but there's still room for Falco's quips.

Finally I read Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. Fortunately Catriona had leant this to me, because on the basis of my usual trick of going purely by the title and cover I would have missed out on this book. It turned out to be beautifully written and a fascinating romance and adventure story. Highly recommended.

Day 152; Book 151

Wholemeal Shortbread

This recipe produced accusing cries of "Why have you never made this before?" so I reckon it is worth sharing.

8 oz wholemeal flour
6 oz butter
5 oz demerara sugar
pinch of salt

Rub the butter into the salted flour (I softened the butter for 30 seconds in the microwave first - check how powerful your microwave is first though!). Then add the sugar and knead with the hands until the mixture is soft. You are then supposed to roll it out to 1/2 inch thick, but I just pressed it into a baking tray, and I think it would be crisper if you made it less than 1/2 inch thick. Back at 375 degrees F/190 degrees C for 20 minutes, then cut into slices and cool on a rack.