Needle Tart

If I'm not knitting or sewing something, I must be cooking something!

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Books and Things

I had a slight relapse (the school nurse sent me home) and have spent the last week or so just sitting around knitting and reading. Since Julie posted her list of thirty books The Husband and I kicked around a few offerings.
These are the thirty books or authors we would recommend:
1. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
If you have ever pulled the "push" door this will help you understand why and who to curse.
2. Joan Hess
Pick a mystery. These people are nuts and that is what makes them fun.
3. Lois McMaster Boujold
The "Miles" series is mind opening and the "Sharing Knife" series is good old romance.
4. P.D. James
Mysteries for intellectual snobs (and really good reads)
5. The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
The Husband recommends this (I hardly remember it)
6. Connie Willis
Anything she writes is fascinating. From an explanation for the black plague to revisionist history.
7. Cresent Dragonwagon
Wonderful cookbooks. She started with a soup book and has written a huge vegetarian book that covers just about anything you want to cook.
8. Mark Bitman
How cooking works and how to get the best food from the least work.
9. Bernard Malamud The Assistant
Another of The Husband's books
10. Moosewood Collective cookbooks
One of the book groups I turn to when I want to make something "different" Lots of multi-cultural foods, mainly vegetarian.
11. Madia Heater
Any dessert you want. Her chocolate cakes are wonderful, and you will need them if you read:
12. Frank Tallis
The Vienna mysteries. All set in early 20th centuray Vienna. Lots of visiting coffee houses and having a little snack.
13. John Allen Gardner
Science Fiction centering on the disposable of society.
14. Alexandre Dumas
Drama, Lost love, Looonnnggg books.
15. Asimov
He may not have been a good example of how to live your life, but he sure could write.
16. Sandra Boynton
Sing it with me, The Cow says moo, the sheep says baa, three singing pigs say La La La.......
17. Jack Kerouac
Another of The Husband's choices (Seriously, is anything written in the 20th century literature? or is it all concept no content?)
18. Conan Doyle
Classic. Everyone should read it.
19. P. N. Elrod
Vampire mysteries set during prohabition.
20. Amy Lane
More vampires, new worlds, just read them already.
21. Sarah Paretsjy
More mysteries. Modern day.
22. Leonard Wolfe
The Husband would like to recommend his auto-biography.
23. Michael Holroyd
The Husband says Holroyd's biographies of George Bernard Shaw and Agustus John are worth reading.
24. Donna Andrews
Hysterically funny mysteries. I wish my family was like this. Then again, maybe not.
25. Lyndsey Davis
Sam Spade in ancient Rome
26. The Ethical Assassin by David Liss
27. Carl Hiaasen
Sort of mysteries set in modern Florida. Hiaasen has strong feelings about what progress has done to his home state.
28. Dorothy Dunnet
Read the Lymond chronicles and you will know a bunch about the 1500s (I got an A in world just by filling the blue book with the plots)
29. Mark Twain
30. Herman Hess
The Husband recommends.
31. Rose Levy Beranbaum
Want to bake something? Use any one of her "Bibles"
32. Patricia O'Toole
The Husband recommends her biography of Henry Adams
33. John Keegan
Military History from The Husband (this will make going to movies more challenging. "That's not the right plane.")
There you have our list. You may remember that I had a box with 65 books in it to read this year? I just counted, there are 62 left. Someone is adding books.....

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4 Comments:

Blogger Julie said...

No no, you say, that isn't right, the pigs say OINK all day and night!


Hahaha. Good list. I'll definitely try the design book because I'm the one forever wanting to know WHY so many things are made to work as they do.

You may like "Cook Wise" and "Bake Wise" by Shirley O. Corriher. Organic chemist and cook. She's great.

7:55 AM  
Blogger Amy Lane said...

Rhinoscerouses snort and snuff...

And little dogs say "ruff ruff ruff!"

I should bookmark this and come back to it--I love funny mysteries and you have a lot of them here!!! (And I'm so very honored that I made the list:-)

9:28 AM  
Blogger SunshineDreams said...

No, no,no. NO relapses. Blogger's orders.

I hope you are feeling better.

And I'm sort of groaning over your list, because 1) I already have too many books on the TBR shelves on my bookcase and two, I'm just now getting past the stage where Thing 4 doesn't occassionally request Moo, Baa, La, La, La, Snuggle Puppy and other such books. sniffle. ;)

4:09 AM  
Blogger Karen said...

hi! I just remembered to come check out your blog. After looking at your list of books, I would say we surely think alike. You have included most of my favorite mystery authors and cookbook authors as well.

Have you heard any of the Sandra Boynton song CD's? I thought the board books were awesome (and so did my kids) but the CD's were great for car rides. Example:

"Poor lonely peas, so green, so round and so small;
Poor lonely peas, does nobody love you at all"

(or something like that). She is definitely one of my favorite authors - we even put up a wallpaper border of her drawings in the nursery (all the babies slept there; now the Eldest Daughter has it as her room, and would probably remove the border if given a choice..)

Have a knitterly day!

6:18 AM  

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