USA

we're in the states for a couple of weeks now, so check out the travel blog:
www.travel-so-far.blogspot.com

and I tried to read a couple of books so far while here... A John Grisham; I couldn't get past the first chapter. I've always been curious about his books. They're so popular, but they just don't do it for me. So I picked up an entirely different sort of book, Under The Tuscan Sun, and this time I got past at least three or four chapters before getting bored of it. I have always wanted to read it though, so maybe I will try again later. I think it's hard to read while in travel mode. My brain is a little mushier. I could barely remember the name of that book and I don't even remember the name of the Grisham one.

The one book that I am looking forward to getting back to when I get home is Eat, Pray, Love. I'm on the eating part. I started it a few days before leaving but it was the library's copy and it was on hold for someone else so I couldn't take it with me. Maybe I wouldn't have been in the mood for reading it here anyway...

The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency

This series has been popular for a while and so I recently read the first book out of curiosity. It's pretty charming. Those that love this series LOVE it. It gives you a small glimpse of African life too, which is always a bonus for me.

Not Everyone Loves Raymond, But I Do.

This is actually Rus, I can't remember my blogger password (it's been a long time since I posted anything.)

After a conversation I had with Liz last night I felt inclined to write this. We've both lived in other small Alberta towns, and this place is what I call the "cream of the crap". At least there's more to do here than hockey.

Liam's in Judo, the girls are in Ballet and loving it - do they have that in pigeon lake or delburne?

Here there's a swimming pool, there's girl's rugby, a show choir, several live theatre shows a year. the climate is probably one of the best in canada, the roads are free of snow most of the year.

sure there are prima donnas, and jocks, there's plenty to hate, but there's alot more to love.

The Hindi Bindi Club

I've been wondering which book to write about for days now, I have not been feeling like writing about Harry Potter although I will someday.

This book came to mind

"The Hindi-Bindi Club" by Monica Pradhan.

It's not really anything like my usual fare, but I liked the cover and the title and ordered it for work, I thought I could try to sell it to the libraries.

To my complete amazement I could not stop reading once I started, so I took it home and devoured it on a sunny afternoon this summer.

It's a book about mothers and daughters, the mother are Indian immigrants in the US and the daughters are born and raised there. The author explores the cultural differences between the generations and educates you in Indian history and culinary arts at the same time. It does not feel like a lecture though.

Every chapter features a recipe of mouth watering Indian dishes so don't read it hungry.

I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it. I ended up buying the copy and giving it to my youngest aunt for her birthday and she was also taken with it.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is spendid

Just when I thought I would have too wait forever until I read a can't-sleep-because-I-have-to-read-it sort of book, this came out. The author's other novel Kite Runner (which is being made into a movie to be released in 2008) is also really good. Yeah, I know "really good" isn't much of a description, but I'm not the excellent author, he is.

book to movie

I have always loved reading a book and then watching the movie afterwards. It is interesting to see how my imagination and interpretations match up. Right now I'm working on The English Patient. I have never seen the movie and having it sitting on my shelf, waiting, as I'm reading the book, is a great test of self-restraint.

Paddle to the Amazon

In 1980 Don Starkell and his 2 sons started canoeing to the Amazon from Winnipeg.

2 years later, one son has returned home, and having survived a number of hazards that could have easily killed them they have completed the longest recorded canoe trip (at that time - 12,000 miles).

I'd love to re-trace the route these guys took (although not by canoe). Don's narrative of the foods, sights and sounds along the way are vivid enough but not flowery.

His latest book "Paddle to the Arctic" is next on my list.

-Rus

Hi, I made a website all by my self for work, it´s in Icelandic but I just had to brag about it.
www.harrypotter.is

I´m not reading alot these days it´s to warm to read as we are having a fantastic summer, but as soon as I get my hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I will post about it.

freako

Just read "Freakonomics".
Best part was about african american names - and the girl who named her kid "Shateed" but spelled it "Shithead". Nice.
check this book out.
-Rus

finding farley

The couple who made the documentary "Being Caribou" are canoeing and walking across Canada with their toddler (and their dog) and documenting it. The point of the journey is to visit Farley Mowat; hence the name Finding Farley. Who says you can't travel anywhere and anyhow after you have kids? Here's their website.

p.s. This is my first post in months (otherwise it was just Rus posting under the same username). I guess I just needed to wait for something blogworthy.

-Elisabeth

recipes

i hear tell that the internet is mostly used for porn, recipes and geneology. i'm working on a site that will combine all three!

anyway, it occurred to me that i wanted to share some recipes, in particular ones without sugar or msg, i ran across this one in a magazine the other day:

1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 table spoons mint
3 tablespoons honey

it's recommended to serve it as a dip for kebobs of pineapple, peach and plum. but it's good on it's own.

rus

my time is short

i want to mention a few books,and a movie, that have been rocking my world lately

"hobo" by eddy joe cotton - supposedly true account of someone who has been hopping trains for 10 or so years, seems to have a high b.s. to truth quotient. enjoyable and inspiring nonetheless.

"assassination vacation" by sarah vowell - not only was she the voice of violet on "the incredible", but she has also written several books - this one is about her infatuation with assassinated presidents and an on-going pilgrimage to the holy places pertinent to them. and she's also friends with "they might be giants".

if anyone out there hasn't seen "science of sleep", you simply must! directed by michel gondry ("eternal sunshine of the spotless mind") he's also directed some of the best videos ever seen by the human eye, his collected videos are available on dvd too - his interview is worth watching on that disc too, it gives insight into this new movie which is pretty autobiographical i suspect.

obee kaybee

Mutts

I´ve recently come to love the cartoon strip Mutts check out the website.

I first ran into them in an Icelandic newspaper where they appear every weekday. Since then I´ve read several collections of Patrick McDonnell´s work and totally fallen in love. I really love the art and the creators view of his pets lives. As a cat "owner" myself I can understand the tendencies to give your pets human emotions but the Mutts creator does not fall into that temptation a lot instead he points out the simple pleasure in life through the eyes of the Mutts without giving them to much human motivation.

Last Christmas I gave my mother a children´s book about the Mutts called "Just like heaven" I highly recommend it. It´s very simple but has a beautiful message that everyone can benefit from.

My first post on Lisbeth's Fruit Basket

I picked up Colin Angus' Lost in Mongolia in a discount bin at a bookstore a few months ago. Once I started reading, I could hardly put it down. A story of ultimate adventure, from the Yenisey’s headwaters in the wild heart of central Asia to its mouth on the Arctic Ocean, Colin Angus and 3 friends travel 5,500 kilometres of one of the world’s most dangerous rivers through remotest Mongolia and Siberia.
When I was done reading Lost in Mongolia I bought his previous book Amazon Extreme. Its the story of the first team to raft the entire length of the Amazon river.
This crazy Canadian adventurer has since completed the first human-powered circumnavigation of the globe. His newest book Beyond the Horizon tells the story. It was just released last week and I will be buying it as soon as it comes out in paperback.
Have a look at his website: http://www.angusadventures.com/index.htm

New Flags?

vote for your favorite

Shalom Auslander

Read a story in New Yorker by this guy when we were in Mexico, I probably never would have discovered him otherwise given the shortage of reading material we had there.
He reminds me of Douglas Adams, his short stories are absurd and entertaining.

Guy Delisle

We love this guy, his travel observations are hilarious. Highly recommended. (Also the author of Pyongyang, our comments on it posted here on Dec. 13, 2005).

Jon J. Muth

I discovered by accident (just before we left for Mexico) that one of my favorite comic artists, Jon J. Muth, has been writing and/or illustrating children's books for several years. I took all these out of the library yesterday (I particularly like Zen Shorts so far):

Gershon's Monster
The Three Questions
Zen Shorts
Old Turtle and the Broken Truth
Come On, Rain
Stone Soup
Batman's Dark Secret

Muth's medium is watercolour, he also painted Moonshadow and Dracula for Marvel Comics.

Living Abroad in Ireland

just finnished this great book and its made me really excited to go to Ireland. It is also VERY nice to have a husband that is as excited about the same thing as me. My favorite parts are the tombs with mummified remains of nuns in some cathedral that inspired bram stoker to write dracula.

This is Rus...

The Tapir´s Morning Bath
by Elizabeth Royte

There´s a reservoir in the middle of the Panama Canal, in the lake is Barro Colorado Island. The island has been a nature preserve for almost 100 years, a patch of rainforest surrounded by forest quickly disappearing.

There´s a lab on the island, biologists studying the bats, monkey poo, ants, peccaries, coatimundis and butterfly ears. This is the story of several of the scientists in 2000.

I can sum up why I like this book so much, it reminds me of how it´s good to know how much there is that you don´t know. (I'd never heard of the centurio senex bat, it has a flap of skin under it´s chin that it pulls up to cover it´s face when it sleeps. )

Be sure to check out this link, "The Cartoon From The Canopy" on the left margin is especially cool.

keep on blogging on...

Thanks Dagga and Halli for keeping on posting. The only books I have been reading lately are books with titles like "Spanish Now!", "Marine Life of the Sea of Cortez", and "The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving". I started reading Pearl S. Buck's autobiography (thanks to Halli for praising her or I never would have noticed it in the giveaway box). It was excellent and she writes about her life in a very unpretentious way but it is something that requires more concentration so I've put it aside until I get home. I don't have as much quiet time here as I do at home. It's worth bringing home with me but I still might leave it behind and just borrow it because I might want to fill my suitcase with seashells instead.

47

47 by Walter Mosley

47 is a very good book, it´s part history of slavery in America and part Sci-fi novel.

The main character is a 14 year old slave on a cotton plantation, he does not have a name and is simply called 47 by his owners and the other slaves alike.

First you experience the horror of the main characters life and then you watch as he becomes aware of the consept of freedom through his friendship with an alien entity calling himself Tall John. This story reads almost like a fable in parts, especially the Sci-fi parts, reminding me of "the little prince" the parts describing life on the plantation are firmly grounded and real almost uncomfortably so, slavery is not something you really want to come face to face with and this book makes you take a close look at it.

in the skin

i borrowed a book from elizabeth and i figured i should read it before she gets back. micheal ondaatje is a very poetic writter and i love his use of disconnected details to show you the whole picture. although he did a lot of historic research, which i really appriciate, i was a bit disappointed in the plot. it seemed somhow similar to the english patient (the best part of that book was ralph fiennes) because there was adultry, nudity and a couple of "f "bombs. i also loved how he did everything in present tense and had no cronological order. there were as many flash forwards as there were flash backs. the character developement and poetry are what pulled me through, otherwise i might have quit half way. I am still excited to read his latest "Anil's Ghost" because it takes place in Sri Lanka and we have a foster daughter there.

i just finnished reading my new favorite book, "Roots" by Alex Haley (as seen on the left on the set of the film based on the book) the reasons why i liked it is because i also detested it. the historical refrences were very accurate and the treatment of slaves was brutal. the hardships of the family were disgusting. I liked it because Haley had the chance to research his ansestors based on an oral history passed down seven generations to keep his ansestors' memories alive. this kind of family unity and respect has gained my upmost admiration. i want to do the same for my family. my heart is turned.