Read: The Pillars of the Earth
January 14th, 2008
Preface: I have to admit that the uppity snobby bits of my reading psyche are not quick to confess to reading this book. It’s Oprah. It’s shamelessly smutty, it’s 973 pages long and it’s set in medieval England. But still.
The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition) (Oprah’s Book Club)… by Ken Follett
I didn’t read this for the descriptive genius (snicker) or the subtle eloquence (hee) of Follett. Nope. I read it because I’m interested in the historical period and the quotidian life of the High Middle Ages. And for that, it was decent.
It reads like a soap opera (though the flip side is that it’s definitely not hard to get through), so don’t expect delicate intricacies or elegant metaphors. You know. It’s for readin’. For enjoyment.
Oh, and it’s trashy. Sometimes I found this gleeful, other times just trying. Sex, gore and cliffhangers. Follett’s day job as a thriller writer is starkly apparent.
And don’t expect any stunning plot twists, really. If you look at the state of things about a quarter of the way through the book, you’ll most likely guess the general way everything comes out.
I’m leaving something out, though: this book is fun to read. It’s a good beach or travel grab, and, even though it’s 973 pages long, it goes by quickly enough. And if you’re as into Medieval European history as I am, you’ll enjoy the well-researched elements of it. ( 
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Review @ LibraryThing: Black Swan Green: A Novel by David Mitchell
November 14th, 2007lyzadanger’s review: “Sensitive, evocative, sad and hopeful at the same moment. A brilliant novel about coming of age in early-80s England. Poor Jason Taylor, he’s 13, saddled with a boring name, and growing up in the west Midlands in Thatcherite 1982. Introspection is not a strong value in his family or acquaintances.
Still, Jason has sensual and sometimes magical adventures. He manages to write passable poetry (albeit under a pseudonym) and stay alive despite beatings and humiliation by his dreadful classmates. He weaves between a mature subtlety of thought and its opposite: slang-ridden, simplified boy-speak that belies his actual depth. It’s great.
Relationships around him crumple and fold and hurt. Families drink and fight. In his village, bigotry marauds as political concern and blind nationalism is the current trend. But it’s surrounded by mystical, beautiful green and hills.
The chapter entitled “Bridle Path” is especially brilliant, detailing a day’s trek on said path by Jason. It’s an Odyssey-like set of occurrences that makes you feel like you might well end up in Middle Earth.
One of the better reads of this year.”
Random House Trade Paperbacks (2007), Paperback, 304 pages
tags: fiction, novel, england, 1980s, bildungsroman, read, readin2007, 50 book challenge
Completed: 11/13/2007
***** (of 5)
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American Myth?: Refrigerating Eggs
November 13th, 2007So I always thought eggs had to be kept in the fridge until I lived in
England for a while and found that, in grocery stores, eggs were
stocked out in the aisles alongside cereal and bottled gherkins and
the like. This kind of surprised me. So…is the need to refrigerate
eggs just a myth?
I just got Bob’s Red Mill 11-grain cereal in my keyboard.
4 Responses to “American Myth?: Refrigerating Eggs”
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Nostalgia!
November 2nd, 2007I am in the midst of reorganizing computers, backing things up and getting rid of cruft. I came across this swell little text document buried on an external drive somewhere. It’s from 2000.
—
To contact me, it is best to use my mobile phone and its neat features instead of my land line, as I am either away or online about 95% of the time.
Mobile Phone Information
To call from US: +44 7980 918 723
To instant-message me:
Go to www.lycos.co.uk
Click on free sms link
Click on send message link
Click on agree
Type in my phone number as 07980918723
Type me a text message
I get the message essentially instantly, so if there’s ever an emergency…
My Address
7 Pritchatts Road, Flat 204
Edgabaston
Birmingham B15 2QU
UNITED KINGDOM
Edit this page
July 28: Last Day at Kavi (party at my house, 9pm, all invited!)
July 29 - August 4: In town, valiantly preparing for departure. On call for transition problems. TO REACH ME, CALL 220-4082
August 4: Leave on train, 4:30pm, eastbound.
August 6: Arrive Chicago. Will attempt to check email/messages.
August 8-12: New York. Will attempt to check email/messages.
August 12-18: On Queen Elizabeth II, bound for England. For dire emergencies, I’ll try to provide the shore-to-ship communication phone numbers, but, be warned, this is FORMIDABLY expensive. I will try to send one mass email at some point, but I’m unsure how much this will cost me.
August 18: Arrive Southampton.
August 19 - September 2: Travel in Morocco and Southern Europe.
September 2 - 9: Barging in central Burgundy.
September 9 - 23: Undecided.
September 13 - 17: Apple Europe Expo, Paris. Assumably I’ll have a way to check my email at this event, since it is computer-centric!
September 23 - 27: Arrive Birmingham: attend International Student Induction event.
October 2: Fall term begins. Expect me to be in communication firmly.
One Response to “Nostalgia!”
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El Gray Says:
November 5th, 2007 at 8:53 am>>August 8-12: New York.
Yaaaay!
November 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I have been told, though it’s quite possible I am circulating a myth myself, that American eggs have been washed, thereby removing some protective layer on the eggs’ surface, and thereby necessitating refrigeration. They don’t do this in Europe, so their eggs are just fine on the shelf.
… Okay, I was annoyed at the possibility of my only contributing half-truths, so I googled it, and found this blog post, which references Cook’s Illustrated, which may very well be where I got my info from, but there is no way to check online.
Anyhow, I think the short story is that you need to refrigerate any eggs you buy at a store (that is, ones that were refrigerated when you bought them), but probably not eggs from a farmer or friend who didn’t wash them.
November 15th, 2007 at 10:56 am
Maybe it has to do with duration. Eggs available in Europe might be more recently laid than the ones in American grocery stores? I also like to imagine Europeans visiting their local market each morning, buying just the eggs they need for that day (before they head off to their grueling six-hour work days). Me, I’ll buy a dozen eggs, stick them promptly in the fridge and eat them over the course of a month or so.
Something else egg- and refrigerator-related that’s creepy. Store-bought mayonnaise doesn’t require refrigeration, even after opening. Which I find especially odd given that home-made mayo will give you a nasty case of food poisoning if you leave it somewhere warm for even a few hours. Maybe it’s because I don’t make mayo out of oh, whipped SOY.
November 17th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Here’s a forum thread from recipezaar.com that might shed some light..
http://www.recipezaar.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=231779
November 21st, 2007 at 6:53 am
Not sure why but they don’t refrigerate them here in Ireland either. Thought that was because they were fresher and didn’t need to be. On my recent trip I was shocked by how very very white American eggs are. Have got too used the regular old brown (almost always free range) eggs I get here. For another custom, in the Cork English Market you can still get buttered eggs which was (I’m told) an old fashioned way of keeping eggs fresher longer. Although the ones I see in the market look like they are in a cold case. Does cage free in US mean the same as free range in Ireland?