books & stuff

I'm listening to Ireland, by Frank Delaney. Here's a brief Amazon review of the audio:

From AudioFile
When a storyteller comes to visit young Ronan's house, he becomes fascinated with the wanderer's art. His mother is less fascinated, throwing the man out and spawning a search for the man and Ronan's lifelong fascination with storytelling and Irish history. The stories form the backbone of the novel as Ronan traces the man's tales and tries a few of his own. Frank Delaney wrote with the ear in mind, and as narrator he uses his gentle, thoughtful voice to full effect. Like his fictional storyteller, he draws listeners in with the two-part goal of telling truths with a good story and keeping listeners driven to know what happens next. Rather than a must-read, this novel is a must-listen. J.A.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

It is extremely wonderful, and makes me want to go places in the car. Also makes me want to go to Ireland. Alas, I am now to CD 16 out of 20 and will have to find something else soon. As usual, I found this by accident, this time in the Menomonie library. I browse the CD collections in these small library for unabridged books that look interesting. This was a winner.

Current reading is some of the Anne Perry Victorian mysteries, at present the William Monk series. Good summer reading.

The garden continues, but is not done. We've planted corn, turnips, rutabagas. We have peppers and eggplant ready to put in, but since we anticipated two nights in the forties (and last night was the second one), we decided to wait until today or tomorrow to put them in. Meanwhile they're cozily housed in the cold frame. We have 200 beans of various kinds in 200 3-ounce dixie cups of potting soil. We're trying to sprout before planting, as we do with peas, since bean germination is always horrible. The garden looks beautiful, and I'll try to get down there this morning to take photos before I go to RF.

Jane and the Stillroom Maid was my favorite JA mystery, and you must almost be there, Suze. Let me know. sounds like Misc. was interesting.

Crab Newburg is not in my experience, either, for the same reason you give. I'm reminded of what Chris said about eating clams: Anytime one is where one can eat clams, oysters are available, so why eat clams. I can only do it after being in CA (or another coast) for long enough to have had oysters often.

My current cooking is highly pedestrian. When time eases up, I'll get back to interesting stuff.

Mom's doing wonderfully. Looks like Friday will be the spring day.