Books of 2025!

 

Somewhat unrelated snap of some bookstore day purchases to add some visual interest

It's rare that I actually get around to doing a recap of my reading of the previous year, but our NYE plans were damned quiet this year so I started in on the following while waiting for midnight to strike. It was a total of 83 books read with a fair number of re-reads and only a small handful of non-fiction. A surprising number of Kate Atkinson titles; I think I read more of her books than Trollope's! But I suspect Trollope still rules when it comes to word count. Only a few real stinkers, with more books pleasantly surprising me than not so, all in all, a pretty good year for reading. 

  Alas, it seems that the links aren't surviving the cut-and-paste process, but there are links to all the titles in the books read in the sidebar, should the Imaginary Reader want to know more about the books listed. Sorry!

Skunk and Badger  . . . a fine children’s book that I got for Christmas and read in a day

A Place Just for Me . . . a very young children’s book with charming illustrations

Death of the Author . . . a meh sci-fi, faux lit book recommended by the Seattle Public Library when the book I wanted wasn’t going to be available for a while

Mulliner Nights . . . a surprisingly entertaining PG Wodehouse that doesn’t feature Bertie Wooster

Raising Hare . . . a charming and educational book about a woman and the hare who shared her life for a while

The Paris Express . . . based on an actual train disaster, not dreadfully interesting or nearly so good as its blurbs

Damned If I Do . . . surprisingly excellent (and varied) short story collection by the author of James

Telephone . . . an incredibly depressing—but good—novel by Percival Everett (aka “author of James")

Sense and Sensibility . . . sometimes I just want some Austen, but does anyone think that Marianne and the Colonel are well-suited?

A Thousand Splendid Suns . . . well-written but so much detail about the hopelessness of women’s lives that it felt somehow pornographic

The House of Silk . . . Watson and Holmes as portrayed by Anthony Horowitz. Not bad, but not great either

The Grey Wolf . . . Gamache never ages. It’s starting to bother me.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul . . . more comfort reading in the form of Dirk Gently. Not as good as . . .

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency . . .      a fine bit of escape with Dirk Gently; fascinating to find Douglas Adams going on a bit about AI back in the 1980s

The Confession of a False Soul . . . a weird little NYRB tale (in which people get used souls implanted in place of their worn-out old ones) that was short enough to read during one day’s long Metro commute

A God in Ruins . . . Kate Atkinson revisits the characters of Life After Life when maybe she should have just left them alone

The Searcher . . . the second of a Tana French trilogy of sorts. Some very unexpected plot twists and just excellent characters

Behind the Scenes at the Museum . . . I think this is the Kate Atkinson book in which I realized that minor characters were returned to just so that something awful could happen to them.

Normal Rules Don't Apply . . . I was obviously on a Kate Atkinson tear; these not-immediately-obviously connected short stories were quite fine and added up in a way I didn’t expect.

The Hunter . . . the first in the Tana French trilogy: excellent characters and fine writing

The Princess Bride . . . just as good as I’d remembered and even better than the movie

The Hedgehog's Dilemma . . . I didn’t realize that “the hedgehog’s dilemma” was some sort of classic philosophical/psychological concept until after I’d finished this odd little book in which a hedgehog both wants and doesn’t want company.

What Time the Sexton's Spade Doth Rust . . . I thought Flavia de Luca deserved a second chance. I still just don’t see the attraction.

Goats in America . . . a fascinating history of goats. In America. Truly eye-opening. Now I have to be more particular about where my chèvre comes from than ever.

The Moonstone . . . a classic for a reason; I enjoyed this re-read even if, sadly, I remembered too much of the plot for it to work as a mystery.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye . . . I can’t remember why I checked this out of the library. It turned out to be even more slight than I’d expected—and my expectations weren’t high.

The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years . . . the djinn has a pretty minor role (was there even a djinn?), but not a bad read otherwise

A Month in the Country . . . I remember liking this, but I don’t remember much in the way of detail.

Storybook Ending . . . another library-impulse item. Not brilliant.

The Old Bank House . . . an Angela Thirkell to refresh the palate.

The Man Who Didn't Fly . . . apparently a classic mystery for reasons I do not understand

Shrines of Gaiety . . . Kate Atkinson again in a book that didn’t quite add up

Mornings without Mii . . . as it turned out, this was mostly mornings with Mii and since Mii was a cat I was happy about that

The Lacuna . . . a Barbara Kingsolver I bought used some years back and finally picked up to read. Lots about Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leon Trotsky. Pretty excellent.

David Copperfield . . . donkeys! And also Uriah Heep and many other colorful characters. Sometimes Dickens is just what you want.

Dorothy Parker Drank Here . . . Dorothy is a ghost that only some people can see sometimes. She cracks wise.

The Children Who Lived in a Barn . . . the favorite Persephone title that features a haybox.

Greenery Street . . . another Persephone. Alas, the young couple lack a haybox, but otherwise excellent.

Rachel Ray . . . Trollope! It turned out to be one I’d read before but does that matter?

The Left Hand of Darkness . . . okay, I’ll say it: I’m just not sure that I understand why Ursula LeGuin has the following she does

How Do You Live? . . . this turned out to be some sort of book of moral instruction for children which I didn’t realize at first.

The Book of Lost Hours . . . a weird fantasy featuring people living in a world of books sort of. It was okay

White Nights . . . three longish short stories by Dostoyevski.

Windcliff . . . that rarest of creatures, a non-fiction title on my list of books read. “Windcliff” was a garden; this is the story of its development or the development of its creator.

Life After Life . . . the original Kate Atkinson for me maybe? A girl / woman keeps changing one thing and thus changing everything in her immediate world. Sort of cool.

The Last Chronicle of Barset  . . . the final book in the Barchester series so I’m pretty sure that the five earlier titles will appear below.

The Exiles Return . . . purchased in person at the Persephone shop in Bath last year. Germans return to Germany after World War II. It doesn’t always go well.

The Bones at Point No Point . . . a self-published mystery set on the Olympic Peninsula purchased on Bookstore Day. Not great.

The Small House at Allington . . . the fifth in the Barchester series

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms . . . I loved N.K. Jemisin’s books set in NYC, but her more serious/hardcore sci-fi didn’t do a lot for me.

Case Histories . . . okay, I lied. This may have been my first Kate Atkinson. It’s a Jackson Brodie mystery, and I just didn’t much care for him or for it.

Framley Parsonage . . . fourth in Trollope’s Barchester series.

Chenneville . . . this one took a bit for me to get into, but it wasn’t bad. By the author of News of the World (which was truly excellent)

Remainders of the Day . . . diary of a bookseller based, I think, in Northern England. I thought it would be dull, but I truly found it quite engaging.

We'll Prescribe You a Cat . . . one of those Japanese cat-lit books with an irresistible cover. It was actually quite fine.

Doctor Thorne . . . Trollope. Barchester. Life-sustaining.

Transcription . . . damn it! How many Kate Atkinsons have I read? I enjoyed this one enough to want to read more of her books.

Barchester Towers . . . Trollope. Again.

The Warden . . . the first of the Barchester series. It’s my least favorite of the lot, actually, but was better on this re-reading.

A World of Curiosities . . . a Louise Penny that I reread after reading her newest one because I thought I could use some background to make sense of it.  A bit creepy and not entirely believable.

The Grey Wolf . . . the newest Louise Penny at the time. It didn’t seem up to par, truth to tell, and yet I seemingly read it twice in the same year. Go figure.

The River Has Roots . . . a “Peak Pick” at the library and by the coauthor of How You Lose the Time War which I rather liked. This one was weird, but it was also good.

The Mystery of Henri Pick . . .the mystery was why it was published, possibly.

The Life of Herod the Great . . . but Henri Pick was a lot better than Herod. Zora Neale Hurston undoubtedly was a great writer, but this one was stinko.

The Twist of a Knife . . . an Anthony Horowitz mystery featuring Daniel Hawthorne. Rollicking good time.

The Mighty Red . . .  Louise Erdrich is one of those writers I never think I’m going to like and then I do. This one was no exception.

The Word is Murder . . . Anthony Horowitz again.

Close to Death . . .and again.

Orbital . . . Booker winner with lots of good press, but I sort of hated it.

Pickwick Papers . . . I don’t know that I’d ever read this classic Dickens before. It was not what I expected—quite charming and pretty political.

I Am Not Cursed . . . the story of Persephone in verse that I bought because I met the author. It then sat around for quite some time, but it turns out to be quite lovely and fine.

There Are Rivers in the Sky . . . Elif Shafak so you know I liked it; this story uses a drop of water to connect the story across millennia

How We Learn to Be Brave . . . I was a bit disappointed by this book by Bishop Budde since it wasn’t so much a “how-to.”

White Shadow . . . part of Roy Jacobsen’s continuing saga of life on an island somewhere in Scandinavia if a saga can be incredibly bare-boned.

Sir Harry Hotspur of Humblethwaite . . . with a title like that, it’s got to be Trollope.

The Heart of Winter . . . Jon Evison’s latest. It wasn’t my favorite.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep . . .  another re-read

Breaking & Mending . . . by the author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a nonfiction account of being a doctor in England; it’s not all tea and crumpets.

The Fraud . . . aha! This is the book I keep vaguely remembering with its not-so-subtle skewering of Dickens!

A Death in Summer . . . this book, however, left absolutely no impression on me whatsoever; I don’t remember it even after rereading the linked review.

On the Other Side . . . another Persephone Shop purchase, this book consists of letters written by a mother in Germany during World War II to her children in Allied countries. It’s not clear until the end that she never sent them, making it all sort of reminiscent of The Bolos’ “Letters” song.

The Eyre Affair . . . Jasper Fforde, how I do adore you! A reread of the first of the Thursday Next books. (I am shocked to find that many people I know and like are completely unaware of Thursday Next.)

The Way We Live Now . . . a Trollope that turned out to be far too au courant: a horrible and revolting seemingly wealthy man rises to a position of power and influence. I felt rather betrayed.

Happy 2026!

No Kings II in Seattle, largely in photos

This one just made me laugh.

Kindred spirits, round 1

More kindred spirits--the other side of the kindred spirits above

I love good puns.

Go MARINERS!

. . . and the flip side--I love a hometown crowd.

This one reminded me of Karen Molenaar.

No additional caption required

And I vote

Raccoon

Toilets were sort of a theme.

I'm not sure who the actor is, but I liked this one.

I rubbed its nose. That's supposed to guarantee that my democracy survives.

I'm sure I should know this creature, but I don't.

This one is clearly a cat. Which were a theme.

Ca

Chickens with attitude

Crowd scene

Crab or lobster? I'm not sure.

Donald in chains--a crowd favorite

Exactly.

Again, it's the clever I can't resist.

One of many cat-themed sign

The best of the animal costumes

Exactly, #2

Again with the cleverness of the Left

Talking to you, Johnson!

Cha!

Unicorn and Dinosaur are friends.

Time travelers, I'm guessing

Because sometimes rude is funny

I'm also fond of succinct.

Seattle slug power!

Another cat sign

To the point

I didn't even notice what was in the cat's mouth here.

Blogger threatens to have a breakdown with all these photos so I'll just add that No Kings 2 in Seattle was a good time. A decent crowd, many clever signs, some inspiring speakers, and the rain held off until the homeward commute. It sort of poured then, sadly, but we had some hot tea once our soggy selves (and bikes) reached home.

Truth

Raspberry tart recipe with far too much backstory

So damned good

 It's been a while, blahdeblahblah, and I just don't have the energy or brain capacity to try to catch up in any way so I'm just popping in with a bit of a recipe post that ignores world events pretty much entirely, noting only that it is berry season.

 Because it's raspberry season and Big Brother Farms has had some particularly lovely berries on offer. Coincidentally--or not--I have fond, if distant, memories of delicious fruit tart birthday cakes. I don't remember where those tarts came from--in fact, I'm not even sure where I was living when I was having them on my birthday--but I've been feeling nostalgic for them. Sadly, they seem fairly unobtainable now, at least if you need to transport them via Metro or bicycle, so I realized that if I was going to have the tart of my dreams, I was going to have to make it myself. [Note: this isn't my actual birthday cake; more of a self-indulgence that happens to be happening during my birthday month.]

  I looked online to see what I could find, but my beloved love&lemons' offering was underwhelming, and I figured that if they were failing me, there wasn't much point in spending more time googling. A scant hour or two later, I stopped googling. I turned to Julia but wasn't exactly sold on her recipe either. I thought to see if Joy had anything useful and found that when it came to fruit tarts they, like Julia, thought in terms of custard, though they included a lot of what the Rombauers themselves might term "Cassandra-like warnings" about the likelihood of the custard becoming watery or ridden with deadly bacteria or both. One way or another, I was put off custard.

 Which left me with my own book of recipes accumulated over the decades. I decided that what I needed was a meld of two recipes I'd not made in decades: an apricot cream tart and Gina's raspberry pie. At last, here's the recipe:

[Well. Almost. I was fully focused on making this thing before it got any hotter in the house so I didn't even think about taking photos of the process. This is straight text, no helpful--or distracting--visuals.]

To make the crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter (cold)
2 tbsp shortening (cold)
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp very cold water
1/2 cup almond flour (aka ground almonds)

Combine flour and salt in medium-size bowl. Cut butter into small pieces and then work butter and shortening into the flour/salt until it's all pretty thoroughly blended, but still sort of coarse. Mix in the almond flour and sugar. Stir yolk into cold water and add that combination to the dough; stir until it's all evenly moist/properly combined. Gather dough into a ball and let it sit for ten minutes.

Grease a large tart pan, bottom and sides. Roll out dough to be large enough to cover bottom and sides of tart pan. (The rolled-out dough should be sturdy enough that it can be folded--gently--and shifted to the pan.)  Prick dough all over with fork. Chill for thirty minutes. 

 Preheat oven to 375°F.  Place beans or second pan on top of crust to prevent it from puffing up in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans/additional pan and bake an additional 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Remove pie shell from pan once cool.

Vague directions on making what I'm calling the "dairy base":
[This is where I seriously winged things so all amounts are approximations. Taste as you go and aim for a spreadable texture.]
Roughly 4 - 5 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (very much more or less) sour cream
1/4 cup superfine sugar (I'm sure regular granulated would be just fine too)

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and beat (by hand or with mixer) until thoroughly combined. Mine definitely was not entirely uniform, meaning there were some bits of uncombined cream cheese since I kept adding more as I went. It worked just fine.

The original recipe from Gina used the term "berry sludge" for this vital element:
1 cup raspberries
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup sugar (I used granulated)
1/2 cup orange juice (or other juice or plain water)
a few sprigs of fresh lavender

Mash up the raspberries and put them into a pan along with the cornstarch, sugar, and juice over medium (or medium-high) heat. Bring to a boil while stirring pretty constantly. I used a wire whip. Once it has somewhat thickened, drag the flower end of the lavender sprigs through the mixture to add some lavender flavor and, very likely, some lavender seeds and/or flowers. Once the mixture is congealed but still liquid enough to scoop out / pour, remove from heat. Remove/discard the remains of the lavender.

Combine it all!
Spread the dairy-rich base across the bottom of the cooled baked shell. It should cover it maybe a quarter inch thick--likely less. I lacked the nerve to try to go up the side of the shell, but that might have been a nice touch. 

Have 5 cups of nice-looking raspberries rinsed and ready to add. Place them pointy-tip up in concentric circles to cover the entire surface. Ladle / pour the somewhat cooled sludge over the top, trying to cover every berry so the whole thing glistens. Chill for at least three hours before serving.

Mother and Child tarts (there may have been some shrinkage)

 As it happened, I had a bit more dough than needed for my tart pan so I made a sidecar tartlet. I topped that one with apricot and chopped almond, rather than raspberry, and the glaze consisted mostly of heated up/strained apricot preserves though I used the unwashed raspberry sludge pan so I picked up a hint of raspberry as well. This was, essentially, a mini-version of the original apricot cream tart recipe. It was also utterly delicious.

No Kings in Seattle

 

Possibly my most popular sign to date

Blogger is willing to allow me to upload photos, maybe, as long as I don't try to do too many at once. We'll see how it goes. It was a perfect day for taking a walk across town with 70,000 of my closest friends, all of us in a good mood and glorying in the non-violent exercise of our first amendment rights. Naturally there were some people who were very slow to understand what democracy looked like, no matter how many times they were told that "THIS is what democracy looks like." I tell you, I was beginning to despair. Similarly, people seemed slow to learn whose streets these were ("OUR streets"), but we were all in agreement that things like ICE and T**** had to go. Now. 

 As usual the company and the signs were the highlights of the experience. I'm always a bit doubtful about what these demonstrations accomplish, but I feel it's better to be out there than not. And while I'm still waiting for a chant I can really get behind (see above: "what does democracy look like / whose streets"), the cleverness of the signs is always inspiring. For instance:

This one was at the bus stop post-march. I loved it!

And this one I admired before the march even got started.

Clever *and* well-reasoned

This is why we're out here, isn't it?

His pants are wearing thin, too.

There were a number of iterations of this one.

(Prop 1 raises the limit on local property taxes.)

I don't get why "earrings!" is repeated, but I like Liberty's expression here.

Clever "Shitler." I'm not so sure about the back-of-the-box sign behind it, however.

One of my absolute favorites: clever *and* well-executed

This clever word-play was also used by more than one marcher.

If only the Republicans had any human decency or true patriotism . . .

*This* is really so on point--and why we have to keep showing up.

Of course, saving democracy builds up an appetite, not to mention a thirst. We finally checked out the new restaurant down the hill, La Chingona, on the way home:

Excellent salsa and margaritas!