Company of Liars by Karen [...]]]> When the news is to depressing to bear, where does one turn? To the past, naturally. While surveying my LibraryThing account, I noticed I’ve recently toured: the plague years, frontier life, and the Great Depression. For free entertainment that will lift your spirits, head to your local library and pick up:

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. Run from the plague through post-apocalyptic-like 14th century England. Hard times highlights: sleep outside in the rain, avoid the smell of death, and keep one eye on the living. My full review is here.

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura does not need an introduction, and my first Little House reading as a “grown up” did not disappoint. The writing is simple and detailed; it’s not a coincidence that Ingalls received Newberry Honors for most of her books. Hard times highlights: mill grain with a coffee grinder and twist hay all day to stay alive.

Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles. Chronicles the coming of age of three sisters during the Great Depression, through the worst of the Texas dust storms. Hard times highlights: make dresses out of sugar sacks and rugs out of pantyhose; get buried alive in a dust storm.

All of these books were well written, riveting reads. I recommend you revisit these lovely time periods, and then turn on present-day news reports and laugh at the doomsday anchors.

I signed up to be an early reviewer for the first time last month, requested a few books, and forgot about it. I never thought [...]]]> A free book arrived on my doorstep a few weeks ago courtesy of LibraryThing and Harper Collins Publishers. What does that mean? It means I am a LibraryThing Early Reviewer!

I signed up to be an early reviewer for the first time last month, requested a few books, and forgot about it. I never thought that out of nearly 1,000 requesters for each book that I would “win” a copy—especially on my first try.

And then—before my free-book joy had a chance to fade—LibraryThing notified me that I won a second review copy.

I’m not satisfied that this review truly captures the novel, and I may go back tweak it if I have an epiphany. But I thought I’d better get something posted to my account or my literary good fortunes might come to an end.

So I give you a review of The Lace Reader, by Brunonia Barry, scheduled for publication in August.

The Lace Reader starts like every good Victorian novel—with a crazy narrator you can’t trust. From there, the beginning starts and stops between Southern California and Salem, Massachusetts. It’s hard to fall into the story for the first few chapters as the author gives too much back story (telling, not showing) and it’s hard to get a grip on protagonist Towner Whitney. The stilted feel returns as the story wraps up.

The plot finds its pace when Towner lands in mid-1990s Salem, complete with fortune telling witches, a homicide detective, a ragged band of Cavlinists, and insane aunts. The broken structure of the book works well, switching between multiple narrators, quotes from “The Lace Reader,” and journal entries.

For most of the of the book, the pages turn themselves in a blend of whodunit and psychological intrigue. Author Brunonia Barry successfully took this linear-minded reader into the world of the insane and brought her back out in one piece. [4 out of 5 stars]

Jamestown: A Novel by Matthew Sharpe.

This book jumped off the “new” shelf [...]]]> I’ve been looking for a venue to jot down thoughts on the books I read. My reviews don’t fit Amazon or LibraryThing, and both seem like very public places to post. So I decided to post them here, to a comfortably sized audience.

Jamestown: A Novel by Matthew Sharpe.

This book jumped off the “new” shelf and into my arms at my local library. I thought it was a historical look at Jamestown, Virginia, but it turned out to be post-apocalyptic story with historical characters. I suppose the skyscrapers on the cover should have tipped me off.

I like a nice end-of-world-story, so I read it anyway. Or tried to—I made it about halfway through. I love the concept, and really wanted to get sucked in and race to the end, but once Sharpe moved into multiple voices (more than Rolfe and Pocahontas) I lost interest. Despite my failure to finish, I can image others liking the story, so I’ll recommend it.

The Keep by Jennifer Egan

Reviews of this book were not good, and I had fairly low expectations at the beginning. But what a perfect, bizarre story it turned out to be.

The combination of castles, ghosts, prisons, and a cast of unlikable characters ripped me through, and the plot lingered well after I put the book down. The lasting impression was the newness of it all—while Egan used some familiar literary devices, the novel had an element of obscurity that I found pleasing. It twisted, turned, ran off the road and made me cringe, but always in a good way.

If you read The Keep, Diane Rehm’s interview with Egan is worth a listen.

We almost always start with curry puffs, and try one of the fun cocktails they make with crushed fresh [...]]]> If you’ve visited in the last six months or so, chances are Matt and I took you to Bangkok 54. We rarely go a month without visiting this place, our favorite Thai restaurant in the D.C. area.

We almost always start with curry puffs, and try one of the fun cocktails they make with crushed fresh fruit (I’ve tried mango mojitos and blackberry martinis) or a new Thai beer.

For the main course, Matt alternates between pad thai and drunken noodles, and I love the fish specials and brown rice. It’s one of those rare places where we always save room for dessert—I’ve never had a better version of mangoes and sticky rice.

If you’re in the area, give us a call. We’d love an excuse to take you here.

Price level: * That was cheaper than I expected!
Gourmet factor: *** I could be a regular (in this case, I am).
Dress code: * I’m overdressed because I came straight from work.
Friendliness: **** They know me here.
Celebrity visits/political scandals: None. It’s too new and innocent for all that.

I knew I was in for a good time when we drove up to complimentary valet parking and Matt said, “I’m confused… am I driving on [...]]]> Happy birthday to me! Matt took me to the fancy 2941 last night, one of the few around here that has top-notch reviews from both Washingtonian and the Washington Post.

I knew I was in for a good time when we drove up to complimentary valet parking and Matt said, “I’m confused… am I driving on the sidewalk?” No, just an ornate driveway.

Upon exiting the car we met up with some goldfish:

While I was taking this picture, the guys standing next to me asked his elementary-age sons, “Are you ready to pick out your dinner?”

Both Matt and I ordered “summer tasting menus,” five teeny-tiny courses packed with flavor and paired with five types of wine.

We gave creativity points for the centerpiece brought out before dessert:

And the dessert itself:

I’m sure Matt and I screamed “we don’t usually come to places like this, it’s a special occasion!” to the wait staff, but they were very nice. Snobbery is not unusual at restaurants around here (at any level of fanciness), but the staff seemed more amused than put off by our awkwardness.

After we paid the bill, an authoritative looking man showed up out of nowhere and asked it we wanted to tour the kitchen. I was blindsided, and turned instantly (and unfortunately) shy. I think the main point of the kitchen tour was to point out you can reserve a table there, but I was unable to ask questions. Perhaps a more outgoing person would have had a different experience.

I’m playing around with a rating system—one star is bad, four is great. Here’s how 2941 ranked in my categories:

Price level: **** I’m not sure I can enjoy the food here knowing the bill is on its way. The birthday version of this—forget the price, pour the wine, and eat up!

Gourmet factor: **** Wow! Special occasions only.

Dress code: **** Conservative and formal.

Friendliness: **** I could make friends here!

Celebrity visits/political scandals: Mikhail Baryshnikov ate here.