We got tagged by Lynn to answer a meme. About books. And our personal opinions.
Gosh this is going to be SO hard. Candy? Me? Talk about books we like?
*sigh* We suppose we could do it.
Total number of books I own:
Sarah:
This number has greatly dropped since I’m moving next week, and in a fit of cleaning fury I dumped more than half my romance paperbacks, and more than half my other books as well. I’d have to estimate that I started with well over 400 and have dropped to the 150 range. Of course, this just means – I can buy more books once I am confronted with those sad and empty shelves.
Candy:
Ummm. Loads. 2,385. OK, that was a number I just pulled out of my ass. Seriously, I have no idea, but I have two shelves stacked double-deep with nothing but paperbacks, plus a two mini shelves full of an assortment of children’s books and paperbacks, plus two BIG shelves full of hardcovers and trade paperbacks. And I have a couple hundred other books in storage back in Malaysia, most of which I inherited from my siblings.
Last book I bought:
Sarah:
The Fearless Pregnancy by Victoria Clayton – sorry, not a romance. This book, should you be pregnant like me, will get you through the first trimester with a lot less anxiety.
Candy:
I needed to get my oil changed and forgot to bring along the book I was reading, so I ran into Borders real quick and bought Fool For Love by Eloisa James because it was there and I was mildly curious about what happened to Esme and Sebastian.
And yes, I’m the kind of person who will buy a paperback just because she has to wait 20 minutes in the Jiffy Lube waiting room, and the thought of being book-less terrifies her. THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is how a person’s TBR pile can start to spiral out of control.
Last book(s) I read:
Sarah:
The Fearless Pregnancy – Victoria Clayton
Mr. Impossible – Loretta Chase
Beyond Seduction – Emma Holly
The Pregnancy Bible – Keith Eddelman, Joanne Stone
Candy
The last book I finished was White Tigress by Jade Lee. I’m currently switching between Vera Nazarian’s Lords of the Rainbow and Fool For Love by Eloisa James. Poor Fabric of the Cosmos is getting short shrift.
Five books that mean a lot to me:
Sarah:
The Fearless Pregnancy: I’ve referred back to it constantly the past few months and it has done a lot to adjust my attitude about being pregnant.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant: Acknowledges the male-centric telling of most bible stories, casts the story of Dinah, Jacob, Rachel and Leah in an entirely different light, and forced me to think more about the matriarchs of the old testament, and whether I should accept their stories as told.
Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore: I love Christopher Moore’s books. He’s so clever, absurd, and hysterical – The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove had tears running down my face I laughed so hard. But Lamb was not only funny, it completely changed the way I thought of and understood Christ, which is a tricky issue for me, as I converted to Judaism six years ago. Biff, Christ’s childhood pal, is resurrected by the angels to fill in the missing years of the gospel’s telling of Jesus’ life, specifically, puberty and adolescence, and in doing so reveals a human teenager and young adult who has to deal with damn huge responsibilties. It was amazing, and even though I knew what was going to happen, I cried at the end, then tied my husband down and made him read it.
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong: didn’t change the way I think about God, redemption, or the role of women in history, but reminded me that a good solid romance will make me cry and laugh – and reminded me that there are some out there. This book revitalized my interest and love of romance, after too many stumbles into poorly written novels. This book also ended up being half of the inspiration for my conversation with Candy that ended up as SBTB – there is a lot of good romance out there, and a lot of people who read it – discuss!
I have to think of a fifth? Without looking at my bookshelves? No way. I’ll have to add one later.
Candy:
Hmmm. OK, the first five that come to mind:
Something Wonderful by Judith McNaught: The first romance novel I learned to like. No, “like” is too lukewarm a word. I loved it. I devoured it. I read it in one big gulp, then I turned to page one and started re-reading it, then I re-read the good bits over and over.
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh: Started my love affair with reading books written in dialect.
A Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth: It’s a parable about slavery. It’s a crazy seafaring adventure. It’s a revenge tale. It’s about the importance of appearances and social class in 18th-century England. It’s about the idea that wealth is a blessing from God, which to some people means that becoming wealthy by any means necessary is a Godly activity. It’s about an attempt to create a utopian multi-racial society. In short, it has it all, and I tend to talk about this book a lot.
The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton: You know, I didn’t really like to read when I was a kid. I mean, I liked it OK, but the TV still ruled supreme. Then I picked this up when I was 7 or 8 years old. Holy crap. Gnomes. Fairies. Elves. The Saucepan Man. A new magical land at the top of the tree every few days, and you had no idea if the land was going to be something awesome or something kind of creepy. I was hooked on reading from then on. By the time I was 10 or so I grew very disillusioned with Blyton because of her simplistic morality and the overt jingoism in her books (British is Best!) and switched to “edgier” kid’s authors like Roald Dahl and Joan Aiken, but I credit this book for starting me on the slippery slope to bibliophilia.
Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff: Another children’s book. This one’s set in ancient Britain. The hero, Drem, is a boy with a withered arm and it chronicles his struggles to kill his first wolf to prove his worthiness to his clan. It also features a very neat love story. Probably responsible for sparking my ongoing fascination with historical fiction of all kinds.
I have so many more I want to add… The Jungle Book, and my first Dragonlance book (SHUT UP, I was 13 at the time and it started my love affair with fantasy which in turn bloomed into a love affair with science fiction), The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (taught me that narrators are not necessarily trustworthy, a truly mind-boggling concept for an 11-year-old), Misery by Stephen King, Huckleberry Finn, The Twits by Roald Dahl….
Tag 5 people to do this:
Buh. Who hasn’t been tagged yet? Errr.
1. HelenKay
2. Monica
3. Angie (see? I didn’t call you Brianna this time!)
4. Giselle
5. Beth K., Slayer of Foley
You suck. I had cheerfully avoided being tagged.
Hey Sarah, I didn’t know you were pregnant, Congratulations! I visited this pregnancy board when I was pregnant with Brianna and still visit it now that I’m a mom. It saved my sanity to be able to connect with other women who were experiencing exactly the same thing as I was since they were all due at the same time. I don’t know what month you’re due in but go to the site and choose your month. Oh and don’t forget there will be a lot of hormonal women so there’s always drama, but it can be a great place to get info you don’t know!
http://talk.sheknows.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3
Hey thanks!! I didn’t even realize that I had not mentioned my pregnancy over here – ha! Considering I just told the whole world I am surprised at myself. but I am indeed pregnant. I’m due in October.
And thank you for the recommendation!! I am so happy to find smart communities of pregnant women online.
Sarah, congrats!
Candy, I am so glad I’m not the only one. I’m a card carrying member of the I Must Have a Book If I Am to Wait 5 Minutes Club.
You are the fourth person I know who is due in October! Maybe one of those babies will be born on Brianna’s birthday.
It’s especially fun for me to send you over to those boards then since I was a Due in October member and am now a host of Born in October 2004. I sometimes lurk on the DIO board and have nostalgic moments of remembering where I was at in my pregnancy this time last year. Anyhow! I think you’ll find it a nice source of support. And congratulations again.
Congratulations, Sara!
Being pregnant with my son (now four) is what sucked me into the Internet—I got hooked on MWT at the old Salon boards and then moved on to the hard stuff. “Fearless Pregnancy” sounds great; I wish it had been around then. The book I found most helpful (because I’m a research wonk) was “Pregnancy and Birth: The Best Evidence.”
And Candy, I’m another Rosemary Sutcliff fan. I loved all her Roman Britain books to pieces.
Durr, I mispelled your name, Sarah. ::sigh:: Sorry.
Also a card-carrying member of the Cannot Wait Anywhere Without A Book Club. In fact, I always have at least one in my car. Always. (Current emergency read is Seduced By Moonlight by LKH, and I’m totally lost. Some series, you can start in the middle. This does not appear to be one of them.)
Congrats on the baby!
Congrats, Sarah! What a nice month to have a baby 🙂
So glad you two decided to play this game (I say, feeling guilty for having tagged you having not been quite sure how you’d like playing games like this).
Candy, I’m with you on the will-buy side of the fence. And this is exactly the reason that I have about two dozen books read through Chapter 3 or 4 – because of a wait that got me that far but then I returned to my *real* read of the moment.
Damn it I tagged Angie too.
and congrats sarah 😉
I TOTALLY love my title. I don’t need no little graphic or Duchess of HardlilNubbin or nuttin, for I am THE SLAYER OF THE FOLEY. All shall love me, and depair!
I did the thingie. And I should stay far from a keyboard when I’ve substituted scotch for sleep.
Um.
Y’all are so nice – thank you! I am so excited for October to get here, and lemme tell you, raging hormones make for interesting romance reading and can add a new dimension to my criticism. 🙂
And I am TOTALLY on the will-buy side, but since we just took six huge boxes of books to the library for donation (thanks Hubby for doing all the heavy lifting) I will have to get back into the buying of things. But for now, I get annoyed when the mail arrives – more stuff coming IN the house? No fair no fair!
And Amy – you have to start in the beginning of all the LKH’s. It’s a pity but there it is. However, if you do start in the beginning, the early parts of her series are totally worth it.
Dammit. Kate Rothwell tagged me.
I will get you later, oh yes, I will. And your little dog, too.
Thank you so much for the tag. How will I thank you????
Sarah, you’re PG? Congrats!
I am indeed Wendy, thank you for the congrats!
And Helen, just pay us back by fessing up to some SERIOUSLY embarrassing reads! Because eventually I’m going to have to read about the finer points of childbirth, and that will be SO MUCH more embarrassing than a Fabio clinch cover on the subway!
Congrats Sarah!
Thanks Helen! Now, what awesomely awesome book did you read lately? Link! Link!
My last two books were Murder in the Hamptons by Amy Garvey and a non-romance, The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips.
If you’re looking for something that numbs the mind, like actually freezes it in the off position, have you read Diana Palmer? I’ve read every book – even her inspirational which is sooooo not my thing – and have no idea why I keep buying. I don’t like the hooks (virgins etc) but keep buying and, hell, I’ve even purchased her in hardcover. Wendy is one Palmer book ahead of me because she told me about one where the heroine got pregnant while sleeping and didn’t know until the hero told her, you know, at the hospital or something. Aren’t you happy your other half let you in on the pregnancy secret?
I have never read Diana Palmer. And are you saying the heroine is pregnant, and didn’t KNOW she was pregnant? Man. Or, woman. Daaaaaamn.
I’m so glad the Hubby let me in on the secret.
I’m going to have to look this Palmer chick up!
I *heart* Diana Palmer. She is so awful, yet I must buy every single one of her books as well. And tis true—her heroines get pregnant before the sperm can completely clear the penis. And they often can’t stand the smell o’ bacon a mere one day later.
Oh man, seriously? Y’all, I had no idea I was pregnant. I kept checking the test against the box to make sure I wasn’t reading it wrong.
This sounds like those romance novels from the bygone era when the hero would “penetrate her womb” and crap like that (and for the record, OW!).
I gotta check this Palmer woman out.
Do you really think we could make up the virgin-gets-pregnant-while-sleeping-and-doesn’t-notice scenario? No one is that clever….except Palmer. I can’t remember the exact title of this one but the theme doesn’t change all that much from book to book.
Wow. The cat can’t even flop over on my pillow without waking me up. I cannot imagine sleeping through some nooque’. Seriously. Wow.
I’m reading some of her online reviews now – older man, virginal hero, somewhat forbidden element to their romance, and a wooden plot with spicy dialogue – this is the Palmer hallmark, I am guessing?
Hmmmm. Perhaps the Books(not)Free queue needs to be a biiiit longer. Any titles to recommend?
HelenKay speaks (or writes) the truth! I did read a Palmer wherein the heroine—a virgin—lost it to the hero while in some memory altering state (something totally not believable like extreme stress) and woke up thinking it was all a dream. And, yes, yes, the hero had to TELL HER she was preggers!
Can’t really go wrong with most any Palmer. For an original flava, try to select one featuring a texan rancher/former mercenary and a young innocent 20-22 year old who the hero promptly mistakes for a whore. That is about 90% of her backlist, so you should have no trouble finding one to fit the bill.
Ok, I will march into TMI territory and say that once upon a time, back in the day, before Hubby was hubby but we were still getting it on, I dreamt one night that we had “forgotten” to have sex, so I woke up, and decided we had to have sex right there, so I, um, made sure we had, before he had fully waken up to realize what I was doing. And when I explained why I was doing what I was doing, he had to tell me that, indeed, we had already done the deed, and there was no reason for me to wake myself and him up in such a fashion, not that he minded.
And when I woke up all the way, I remembered that we had in fact done the boogie, so I rolled over and went back to sleep.
But I do not recall, aside from this event, ever having been in a mind altering state such that I wasn’t sure if I’d had sex. Sleepy, yes. Mind altered? No.
I gotta find this Palmer chick.
I can’t remember the pregnant while sleeping one – Wendy knows so we’ll get her to tell us. Palmer does have an ongoing series called Long Tall Texans about all these alphas and virgins from this town in Texas. Those ALL fit the description above.
I do remember one particularly annoying set of brothers who loved biscuits and there was a lot of biscuit talk mixed in with the sleeping virgin nookie. I seem to remember some of this series – maybe not the biscuit boys – being repackaged in Love With a Long Tall Texan and Long tall Texan Summer anthologies. Really, how can you not love those titles?
Wasn’t the brothers who liked biscuits that Lori Foster set of books. The ones that were named,one after each brother? I would swear there was a helluva lotta talk about biscuits in those books. Could it possibly be that more than one author would make us read about biscuits and virgins? 😀
I was thinking about Palmer’s Hart brothers. They had names like Simon, Reynard and Callaghan (yeah, I knew the memories would come rushing back if I thought about it for a second or two). I don’t remember Lori Foster having biscuit lovers but I may be blanking on that.
Oh god, not the biscuits! The big criteria on wife material was the quality of their *heh heh* biscuits. Wasn’t the conflict/angst of one of the novels all about how one of the ladies couldn’t cook? It took her a good several months to perfect the biscuit recipe. I was thinking—give that bastard a box of bisquick and a pan and tell him to get off his lazy ass!
You know, I could be mixing the two. The biscuit thing was so familiar and I haven’t read too many Diana Palmers. I’m sure there’s someone out there who could solve this mystery!
Do you know, E.D’Trix, I made drop biscuits the other day, from Bisquick, and the first thing I thought of was the romance novels where the men went gaga over the heroine’s wonderful homemade biscuits. I wasn’t thinking of any particular book, but it has been a theme in several 😉 All I could think was…well, I’m pretty good in bed, but since I only make drop biscuits from a pre-mix, I guess I’d be out on my ass.
And this is how romance novels have influenced my life 😀
Y’all aren’t kidding? Biscuits? Are we sure we’re not talking about the Fabio kind (see close up above)?
Wow, I have GOT to find this woman. Biscuits. It’s all about the bisquick, I tell you.
Candy even sent me a recipe for homemade buttermilk biscuits a few days ago. I need to find her an older, lascivious rancher cowboy who will appreciate her (ahem) biscuits.
Angie, there is a biscuit genre?! A biscuit oeuvre ?!
I am shocked… and hungry.
Well, as far as pregnancy cravings go, biscuits are pretty innocuous. And just think, if you make them yourself and do it well (and baking in the nude probably couldn’t hurt), you are guaranteed to have a man slavering at your feet. Well, in the world according to Diana Palmer and several other authors.
sadly, my cupboard is entirely bare as we are moving on Friday. If it ain’t in the fridge, it ain’t in the house. I do own Bisquick but it’s in the new house, a few towns over.
Sarah: “Would you slaver at my feet if I made biscuits right now?”
Hubby: “Biscuits? No.”
Sarah: “Anything that would make you slaver at my feet?”
Hubby: “No.”
Sarah: “I need to trade you in for a Palmer model.”
Hubby: “A WHAT?”
Damn! Another romance novel inspired fantasy dies an ignoble death. Thanks so much Sarah.
Sorry. I need to work on Hubby’s biscuit appreciation skills.
And seriously. I would kill for a KFC biscuit right about now. And in my wallet resides exactly one dollar. GAH!
Okay, since we’ve descended into TMI, let me just tell y’all that I guarantee that virgins wake up when the deflowering process begins in the sleep. And a ruder awakening, I can’t imagine, even if aforementioned virgin was willing before falling asleep.
(Ex-hubby experienced some… er… technical difficulties on the Big Night. Apparently, my snores were just the ticket to cure it.)
So, as I was saying. Bull. Fucking. Shit.
The only biscuits I make are milk, wheat, and gluten free, for my son. Damn those food allergies. I guess I’m doomed to die a miserable, shrivelled up spinster.
I get off the computer for a couple of hours and y’all go and start talking dirty about BISCUITS. For shame, ladies, for shame.
Also: Damn straight my buttermilk biscuits are awesome. It’s all in the light touch while kneading. *koffkoffsnicker*
For those of you interested in trying it out for yourself, here’s the recipe I use:
2-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1-2/3 sticks cold butter, cut into 1/2” pieces
1 cup cold buttermilk
1. Preheat oven to 425°F and grease a shiny metal pan or cookie sheet. Shiny is important—dark pans = burnt biscuit bottoms, and it sounds like this might be grounds for severe beatings and somnambulist rapes in Texas.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together and stir gently to make sure everything is well-combined.
3. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. If you want to cheat (make sure that Texas Ranger hubby isn’t watching!) you can use the food processor for this, though be careful you don’t over-process the mixture.
4. Add buttermilk all at once and stir very gently with a fork until just combined.
5. Dust flat surface and hands liberally with flour. This dough will be very sticky and very wet, so be very, very generous with the sprinkling of the flour. Keep a small bowl extra handy, actually, because you’re definitely going to need extra as you knead.
6. While using a very, very gentle touch, knead about 15-20 times—just enough for the dough to have some structure and hold together. Roll or pat into a 1/2”-3/4” thick sheet. If you’re lazy like me, make it roughly rectangular, get out your sharpest knife and cut that sumbitch into 9-12 equal parts. (I know, I’m lucky the Very Tall Husband hasn’t broken my arms yet for the sacrilege of square biscuits.) If you’re more of a traditionalist, use a round cookie cutter. Don’t use a drinking glass to cut out the biscuits—the blunt edge will compress the dough and inhibit rising. (Hey, the King Arthur Flour cookbook says so, so it must be true.) Gather all the scraps together, knead and roll out again and cut more biscuits, though this second batch probably won’t rise quite as high as the first.
7. Place all the biscuits in the greased pan/cookie sheet, with their edges just barely touching and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are puffy and light golden brown.
8. Sit back and watch husband slaver at your feet. Consider investing in a sturdy chastity belt for any and all times you’re unconscious while Long Tall Texan hubby is in immediate vicinity.