The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman has been on my “to read” list for a while now.  I’ve been trying to read more literature and less fantasy.  The problem that I have with reading too much “literature” is that it all seems to be realistic, yes, but the stories all seem to be the children of minds without Prozac.

The Light Between Oceans is one such book.  It takes place on an island off the coast of Australia called Janus where a lighthouse keeper lives with his wife.  One day a small boat drifts to the island holding a dead man and an infant.  The decisions made by the lighthouse keeper and his wife are life changing and tragic.

This novel is well written.  The imagery is good, the characters are fleshed out, but it’s not an uplifting book. I cried at the end. As a mother, it did make me think about how much I take my children for granted and made me want to hold them a little closer and work on my patience with them.  I wasn’t really in the mood for it but this is a perfect “Winter Read”.  When it’s cold outside and you are in the middle of the winter blues, a book like this lets you wallow in the misery of staying indoors and having sunlight withdrawal.

The Drink

According to the infallible Wikipedia, this cocktail is very popular in Australia, which I found lucky, since this is the drink I first thought of when thinking of a pairing for this book.  I pictured a drink that would go well with sailing ships and the light from the lighthouse signaling the rocky shore.

Dark and Stormy

• 2 oz. Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
• 3 oz. Barrit’s Ginger Beer
• Lime for garnish (optional)

Please note that every recipe I found was very specific in regard to the brand of rum to be used.  That said, I didn’t use it.  I used the dark rum I had on hand and some random brand of ginger beer that I found at World Market.  It was pretty good, but apparently it’s not authentic without the Gosling’s Rum.

I am a huge fan of historical fiction.  Specifically, I really enjoy books that deal with the events surrounding the World Wars.

Fall of Giants begins with the events leading up to the first World War.  Ken Follett is wonderful at taking actual events and making them feel as if the reader were living them.  He also has an amazing ability to write from all sides of an issue without becoming too bogged down.

My understanding of WWI before I began Fall of Giants was this: The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand started the war and Germany was the bad guy in this war too.

My understanding of WWI now is that if the world were run by women, no wars would ever be fought.  I’m just kidding.  Kind of.

From Follett’s writing, you feel as though Germany were really scapegoated to accept full responsibilty for WWI.  You live WWI through characters from Wales, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and the US.  I feel as though I just finished a really good history book.

Fall of Giants is Book 1 of a trilogy.  Winter of the World is up next, and I believe that it takes the children of the characters from Fall of Giants into WWII and beyond.  I’m trying to decide if I can wait to borrow it or if I should just suck it up and buy it.  At over 900 pages, it is definitely not a fast read, but I do feel a scholarly satisfaction after finishing it.  I feel minutely smarter, which doesn’t happen from the books I read much.

I’m not really sure what to think about this book.  It is hard to say I liked a book when I despised each and every character in some way.  That said, I was compelled to keep reading to see what new catastrophe would present itself; what new lows the characters could achieve.

In the first two pages of the book, Barry Fairbrother falls down outside the club where he has taken his wife for their anniversary dinner and dies.  Although dead, Barry Fairbrother seems to be the only truly decent person in all of Pagford.  His death results in a “casual vacancy” of his seat on the Parish Council and the town’s shaky moral fiber slowly begins to disintegrate as the residents try to fill it.

As I said before, I despised all of the characters of this book, but J.K. Rowling does an interesting job of really looking at the rawness of human nature.  While few of them have any redeeming qualities, she really scratches away at what motivates people to do what they do.  I didn’t like any of the characters, but I could see either myself or someone I know well in each of them.  Human beings may be more complex that the ones populating Pagford, but those people are here layered under our other personalities.

I’m not sure how I feel about a book with so much dysfunction, but I have not stopped thinking about it.

The Drink

This book is very British.  I’m no expert (I’ve never even been there), but I kept thinking I would like to have a Pimm’s Cup while I was reading it.

Pimm’s Cup

• 1 ¼ oz Pimm’s No. 1
• 3 oz lemonade*
• 7 Up (or other lemon-lime soda)
• Cucumber slices for garnish

Fill cup with ice and mix ingredients

Today is not only the anniversary of my very first blog post, but it also marks a milestone for me.  I stuck with something for an entire year, and while I’m not posting as often as I (or you) would like, I am still reading.  So hopefully you will find my posts coming more often now that my children are back in school.

Another exciting milestone is the anniversary of our book club.  Unless you are in our book club, it’s probably not that exciting for you, but it is for us.  I believe this is the beginning of our 3rd year.  We have a great group of girls who always have great insights into the books we read and make me feel very blessed to have such brilliant people surrounding me.  This month we are discussing The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I have been MIA lately because I have been working on getting my etsy site up and running.  (When it is up and ready, I will let you know.)  Sadly, blogging does not pay my bills, so I have been crafting and building instead of writing reviews for you.

Today I am not going to give you any detailed reviews, but I am going to give you a list of books that I have read in the last month.  None of these blew me away, but I liked them all.

• The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• Gabriel’s Inferno by Sylvain Reynard
• Slammed by Colleen Hoover
• Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
• The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Drink:

In honor of my book club and The Great Gatsby, the drink recipe for today is a Gin Rickey.

The recipe I have is from The Cocktail Bible by Linda Doeser.

4-6 cracked ice cubes, 2 measures gin, 1 measure lime juice, club soda.

Pour in gin and lime juice over ice and top off with club soda.

Personally, this is too bitter for me, so I cheat a little and add 1 measure of simple syrup too.  This probably makes this drink something entirely different than a Gin Rickey, but I just do what tastes good to me.  Usually that’s bourbon and coke.  I’m trying to branch out to gin.

My friend Taryn reminded me today that I have been a very bad blogger.  She didn’t say that, she is very sweet.  Taryn is expecting triplet boys and was just put on bed rest.  (I actually can’t believe how sweet she is considering the three children she is growing. I was unpleasant only growing one baby at a time.) Anyway, she mentioned that she actually reads my blog, and I remembered that I need to update it.  So, Taryn, (and anyone else who needs a book or two) here are some new reviews (to follow over the next couple of days).

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is my new favorite book, with Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness following at a close second.  The Night Circus is Morgenstern’s debut novel, but you would never guess that.  Her writing is as magical as her characters.  There is a lot going on in the book so it is a little difficult to know where to begin describing it.  I suppose I will begin with the circus itself.

Imagine waking up one morning and where the night before there was only an open field, there is now a sprawling circus.  It appears abandoned, but upon glancing at the sign you see that it opens at dusk.  Thus begins the mystery.  Once open, the circus assaults every sense.  What seems only skillful illusion, is actually real magic and the magicians are just as interesting as the enchantments they create.  Entrenched in a contest that began long before they were ever born, Celia and Marco breathe magic into their magic.

I don’t think I have read a book that was this well written in a very long time.  The black and white of the circus is brought to life in vivid images, smells, and longing.  Read it.

I know. I am really behind on my posts and I’m so sorry to my 1 follower.  I’m sure that you are all desperately lost without my guidance on which books to choose, but fear not.  I will post some reviews very soon. 

No book review today.  I have several reviews coming, but today I share something different.  I’ll admit that I am more grammatically neurotic than most.  With the exception of maybe my brother-in-law, Blake, or my friend, John Weyand, most people just don’t get worked up over spelling and grammar.  That being said, this is my public service announcement for the day regarding the use of fewer and less.  The misuse of these two words is rampant and drives me crazy, so I thought I would share the correct usage.

To explain this as simply as possible:

Fewer is used when you can physically count the items.  For example: I have read fewer books in the last year because I have been so busy.

Less is used when you are talking about something more abstract.  Example:  I read less now because I am so busy.

In the first example, books can be counted.  In the second example, reading is not quantifiable.

It is pretty simple once you start practicing.

More examples:

Fewer stairs. Less walking.  Fewer children.  Less stress.  Fewer drinks.  Less damage to your liver.

I could go on forever, but I won’t.  You are welcome.

Need a drink now that I made you think so hard? I will oblige.  My husband’s new favorite cocktail is the French 75, a refreshing cocktail made with gin and champagne.  I found this twist on it on a fantastic blog called Drink of the Week. Check it out for drinks for any occasion.  I haven’t found a source for alcoholic beverages quite like it, and I would never be able to keep up.

Golden Gate 75

Instructions

Directions: Blood orange juice helps turn this cocktail a color resembling the Golden Gate Bridge, celebrating its 75th birthday this year. Add Campari, orange juice, simple syrup, and bitters to an ice-filled shaker. Shake and fine strain (to remove any pulp) into a champagne flute or coupe. Top with sparkling wine. Zest the orange peel over the top of the drink and drop the peel in the drink or discard.

Reading anything good?  I need some recommendations for summer!

I often wonder if I was born in the wrong era. Not that I want hardship in my life, but struggle builds character, and I have to say our generation is sorely lacking. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls chronicles the life of her maternal grandmother, Lily Casey Smith. As horrific as Walls’ childhood was (as chronicled in The Glass Castle), the life of Lily Casey Smith is inspiring. Smith had qualities rarely seen in women of her time and it seems like Jeannette Walls inherited a great deal of her maternal grandmother’s gumption.

Both of my paternal grandparents just passed away (within 70 days of each other), and while reading Half Broke Horses, I started thinking about the lives that their generation (and Lily Casey Smith) led. They saw a depression (much worse than ours), war (also more affecting), and multiple hardships. We have life so easy and yet we complain about everything. What would any of us do if we ever had to work half as hard as our grandparents did? Okay, I’m stepping off the soapbox now. Not that I want to work that hard. I’m spoiled and I like it that way. It is just good to remember how easy we have it.

The book is billed as a True Life Novel. It is a work of fiction based on the things that Walls knew or found out about her grandmother. I regret not asking my grandmother more questions about her life.

The Drink:

At one point in Half Broke Horses, Lily Casey Smith is selling bootlegged gin from a stash that she hides under the baby’s crib.  Who would suspect a mother and housewife?  In that spirit, I give you the Dirty Bathtub Gin Martini.

The Dirty Bathtub Gin Martini

a splash of dry vermouth

gin

olive juice (the dirtier the better)

shake together with ice, pour, and serve with olives and a lemon twist.