Photo of the Week--1/10/11

I know my theme this go-round was "interesting architecture," so why am I including this picture of a snow field? Well, if you look closely along the horizon of the snow, you'll see some glowing runway lights: this is not just a snow field, it's an airport runway! When we took our little jaunt up to the Arctic Circle at Christmas 1999, this was where we landed in Ivalo, Finland. The terminal was a small, stone building with two gates, and the runways were really snowways. Now, that's how to make your architecture fit in with the landscape!

2010 Final Book Report

Here's where I break down the 104 books I read last year (104!), and look at totals and trends.

In 2010 I read:

104 books total (exactly 2 per week)
80 books for the first time
59 books for children or young adults
19 fantasies
14 science fiction
12 Austen related
10 were nonfiction/memoir (5 for work)
4 classics for first time

These are good numbers compared to 2009; not only did I read 12 more books over the year, more of them were books I was reading for the first time. While last year 71% of my reading was new books, this year I reached 77%. A majority this year were for young audiences, and it was great to see the quality of writing in the genre. Not that there was ever any doubt in my mind about that, but now if anyone ever pooh-poohs YA books to me, I can say, "Yeah? Have you read X? or Y? Z? or the whole alphabet, for that matter?"

I'm not sure I'll be able to get to 100 books in 2011, although I'd like to. I'm going to be working on writing a reference book, and that means I'll be doing a lot of reading for research. So you're going to see a lot of nonfiction on my lists ... hopefully the fun stuff won't get squeezed out. In any case, here's my summary of 2010:

Favorite book of the 1st quarter: Empire of Ivory, by Naomi Novik, a dragon fantasy set during the Napoleonic Wars that does a great job of world-building and thinking of alternate cultures. 

Favorite book of the 2nd quarter: Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, a compelling portrait of a teenage girl battling anorexia.

Favorite book of the 3rd quarter: Freewill, by Chris Lynch, an amazing experiment in second-person narration that makes the plot's central mystery even more compelling.

Favorite book of the 4th quarter:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, by M. T. Anderson, a fresh historical approach to the American Revolution.

Favorite book of 2010: Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly, a seamless weaving of contemporary teen trauma and fascinating historical fiction, set in modern-day New York/Paris and Revolution-era France.

Again, the majority of my best books were written for young adults. You're only young once, but you can read YAs forever—and with more people using e-readers (making it easy to hide what you're reading on the bus), I predict a continuing rise in popularity for the genre.

2010 Book Report: Fourth Quarter

So did I manage 100 books in 2010, or did my extremely busy fall defeat my best intentions? Check out my reading list from the last quarter.

Key: C: Children's; F: Fantasy; H: Historical; Hr: Horror; M: Mystery; MG: Middle Grade (ages 8-12); NF: Nonfiction; P: Poetry; SF: Science Fiction; SS: Short Stories; V: Verse novel; YA: Young Adult (age 13+); *not in the last ten years at least; ^for work; #e-book.

10/05/10: Gary Schmidt, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy (YA, H, 1)
10/14/10: Kenneth Oppel, Airborn (YA, F, 1)
10/18/10: Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now (YA, 2)
10/24/10: Lois McMaster Bujold, Cryoburn (SF, 1)
10/26/10: Margo Lanagan, Black Juice (YA, F, SS, 1)
10/31/10: Marilyn Nelson, A Wreath for Emmett Till (P, 1)
11/05/10: Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger (YA, 1)
11/10/10: Elizabeth Partridge,  John Lennon: All I Want Is the Truth (YA, NF, 1)
11/18/10: Sonya Hartnett, Surrender (YA, 1)
11/26/10: Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese (YA, graphic novel, 1)
12/05/10: M.T. Anderson, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Vol. 1 (YA, H, 1)
12/11/10: Anderson, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Vol. 2 (YA, H, 1)
12/13/10: Justine Larbalestier, Liar (YA, 1)
12/16/10: A.M. Jenkins, Repossessed (YA, F, 1)
12/18/10: Judith Clarke, One Whole and Perfect Day (YA, 1)
12/22/10: Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (SF, 3)
12/24/10: Stephanie Hemphill, You Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath (YA, V, 1)
12/26/10: Geraldine McCaughrean, The White Darkness (YA, 1)
12/28/10: Emma Donoghue, Room (1)
12/29/10: David Weber, On Basilisk Station (SF, 4 or 5#)
12/31/10: Weber, The Honor of the Queen (SF, 4 or 5#)

Total for the quarter: 21 books, giving me a grand total for 2010 of 104 books! I feel very pleased to have made my 100-book goal, despite a very busy fall. Again, most of these books were young adult books I read for my Printz Award project, which means not only did I read a lot of quality books, I got a lot of market research done.

So what was my favorite book of the quarter? I think it would have to be M. T. Anderson's two-part historical novel, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. Not only is the historical aspect really interesting—it's set in Boston during the American Revolution and told from the point of view of a slave—but so is the form, which is full of re-created "journals," letters, and articles. I love a good historical, especially one that can bring a fresh perspective to a familiar era.

Check back in a couple of days for my final accounting of my year in books, as I break down what kinds of books I read and look forward to 2011.

Photo of the Week--1/3/11

We found this interesting site on a weekend excursion to Jersey, in the Channel Islands. La Hougue Bie has cool buildings from different eras in one place. Atop the "hougue" (mound, in Norman) is a medieval chapel. At the bottom of the picture, where Boy is standing, we have a Neolithic ritual site that is about 5500 years old. Although this type of site is called a "passage grave," its primary function was ceremonial, not for burials. When they excavated and restored the entrance to this site, they discovered that on the equinox, the sun's rays would shine all the way into the back of the chamber at sunrise. Proving once again that an interest in astronomy isn't geeky, it's historical.

The Printz Award Winners: 2008

I've been plugging away at the list, using the cold weather as an excuse to stay inside and read while using the exercise bike rather than going outside to run. That means a little more reading time, and I've made it through the list of books from 2008 that the ALA deemed were those that "exemplify literary excellence in young adult literature."

Winner:
Geraldine McCaughrean, The White Darkness
Honor books:
Judith Clarke, One Whole and Perfect Day
Stephanie Hemphill, Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath
A.M. Jenkins, Repossessed
Elizabeth Knox, Dreamquake: Book Two of the Dreamhunter Duet

Clarke's One Whole and Perfect Day: Another Aussie makes the Printz list, with a book that didn't feel YA to me at all. Sure, the main character is a teen, a girl who feels like her family is totally crazy and hopes that maybe her grandfather's upcoming birthday party might be a chance to have something go right for a change. But her point of view isn't the only one: we get scenes from the point of view of her mother, her grandparents, her brother, her brother's girlfriend, her brother's girlfriend's mother (and father)—characters with a wide variety of ages and backgrounds. YA books are usually in the first person, and even when they aren't they're usually focused on one character's point of view. To include the thoughts of—gasp! adults, especially adult family members—seems really really unusual. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book, it was fun and the characters were interesting, I'm just not sure how open most teens are to reading about the enemy's, er, their parents' or grandparents' side of things.

Hemphill's Your Own, Sylvia: The author labels this a "verse novel" that is based on the life of the poet Sylvia Plath, who famously committed suicide via gas oven at age 30, with her children in the next room. I've mostly known about the controversy surrounding her death and her legacy (her estate was controlled by her husband, poet Ted Hughes, from whom she was separated at the time of her suicide), and the whole kerfuffle turned me off of wanting to know more. Hemphill's verse novel/biography combines poems, sometimes in the style of Plath's own work, with brief explanations of the biographical facts behind the event described in the poem. The triumph of Hemphill's work is not just the wonderful poems which trace Plath's life and work, envisioning her and the people around her, but that it made me think I've been missing something. The poems moved me, both as verse and as story, and made me want to go to the library.

Jenkins's Repossessed: It seems like YA has been flooded with supernatural fiction over the past few years,  what with all the vampires, angels, werewolves, fairies, and other creatures starring in their own novels. This book features a demon—sorry, a fallen angel—who tires of tormenting souls in hell and decides to take a vacation on earth. He assumes the life of a slacker teen scheduled to be creamed by a bus, and discovers the fun of having a physical body, and the complexities of having feelings. After a few philosophical discoveries—has anyone noticed he's left Hell? does God pay attention anyway?—Kiriel leaves Earth behind, having tried to make a difference in a couple of people's lives. This book was a pleasant-enough read, but I didn't find it revelatory, having left that kind of philosophical angst behind during my own teen years.

Knox's Dreamquake: Although I had access to this book, I didn't think I could fairly judge it without reading the first volume, which was checked out of the library. Rather than wait, and postpone this blog entry weeks and weeks, I took my first pass for a while. Too bad; this fantasy looked interesting.

McCaughrean's The White Darkness: Wowee. I had no idea what this book was about when I cracked it open—I had some vague idea it might be a fantasy, given the dreamy-looking cover and the acclaimed British author's previous work in retelling myths—but it turned out to be a contemporary adventure set in Antarctica. The story is told by Sym, a 14-year-old Brit who is fascinated with both Antarctica and the polar explorer Lawrence "Titus" Oates,  who perished on Scott's fatal expedition in 1912. Sym feels estranged from her schoolmates, most of whom are obsessed with boys and clothes—we don't discover she is partially deaf until a few chapters into the book—and often talks to Titus in her head. When her "uncle" turns a weekend in Paris into a trip to Antarctica, Sym is thrilled at first. As she discovers more about her uncle's true intentions and his past relationship with her family, the novel turns into a terrifying, hallucinatory journey into the cold and the blinding white of Antarctica. It was an intense story of survival, and even if it did push the boundaries of disbelief in places, it was a fascinating portrayal of one of our planet's last frontiers.

So overall, I didn't think it was a great year for the Printz books. A couple of them I thought were interesting enough to read once, but kind of forgettable. The National Book Award winner from this year was Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which I have read and do think will endure, while the runners-up included Sara Zarr's Story of a Girl, which I thought would speak more to teens, especially girls. Of the Printz books I read, I'd probably pick Hemphill's as my favorite ... but as a writer I may be inclined to favor books about writers.

I would say at this point I've only two more years of award-winners to read, but the 2011 awards will be announced in February, so I may not finish by then ... keep posted to see.

Photo of the Week--12/27/10

This building in Lucerne, Switzerland, was just cool: the Wasserturm ("water tower") in the middle of the Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge). The Kapellbrücke was built in the 14th century to help defend Lucerne from attacks, and is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe. The water tower is 140 feet tall and made of brick, so it has served not only as a water tower but as watch tower, treasury, and torture chamber (oooo!). A lot of European buildings have such interesting backgrounds just by virtue of existing for centuries, but we thought this one was extra intriguing. A tower! In the middle of a bridge! In the middle of a river! No wonder it's one of Switzerland's most popular tourist attractions.

Don't Fear the Springform

Another holiday, another party, another round of "Diane, this cheesecake is awesome!" Although I've always had a love for baked goods (for more evidence, see Cookie of the Month), it took me a while to attempt a cheesecake. Part of it might be that I was never that wild about cheesecake, having only been exposed to it in restaurants, where it was usually plain, dry, and accompanied by fruits I didn't really like. I have to admit, though, that a big reason I didn't attempt a cheesecake was the pan. That's right, I was intimidated by the springform.

I mean, look at it. It's got some kind of mechanism on the side. If it looks  complicated, I reasoned, it must be tricky to use. I bet the recipes must be tricky, too. Why should I bother to play around with tricky pans and tricky recipes when there are so many cookies and cakes I could make instead?

Well, I finally broke down and got one at the first Pampered Chef party I ever attended. You go to those things and eat the food or sample the wares and feel like you should buy something. I was living in England at the time and had a tiny oven, and the springform was cheaper than stoneware anyway, so I bought one. And lo! It wasn't that hard to use. And guess what? Fresh cheesecake, made with interesting flavors, is pretty damn tasty. I became a cheesecake baking fiend. So I am going to share some of my cheesecake baking tips with you, along with a recipe that never fails to get compliments.

1. Digestive biscuits make a better crust/base than graham crackers. I learned this out of necessity, as  digestive biscuits are native to England while graham crackers are not. They are made from wheat flour and wholemeal, and have a denser, grittier texture than graham crackers. This makes them great for a cheesecake base, as they don't collapse under moisture like graham crackers do. I usually find them in the international section at the grocery store, or at specialty stores like Cost Plus World Market.
2. You can reduce the fat/calorie content by judicious substitution: neufchatel or light cream cheese instead of the full-fat stuff, vanilla yogurt instead of sour cream. I've used all these with success, although you might need to adjust baking times (see number 4 below).
3. I can't stress enough how much a real mixer can make the cheesecake. It's just too hard to get cream cheese blended by hand; a powerful stand mixer will take care of all those lumps. Making sure you let your cream cheese soften before mixing is helpful, too.
4. Don't trust your recipe when it comes to baking times. I often have to leave my cheesecakes in for longer than recipes say to make sure that the center gets set. This time can be 10 or even 20 minutes longer than a recipe's baking time, but cheesecakes are so dense that it's hard to overbake them. Fail to bake them enough, though, and the center will be too gooey. (Not that anyone will complain, it still tastes great, but it's hard to serve a gooey cheesecake.)
5. Experiment with flavors! I've had success with chocolate, Bailey's (or both!), peppermint/candy cane, pumpkin, cranberry, triple berry, M&Ms ... lots of things lend themselves to cheesecake, because the cream cheese base is so bland it mixes with any kind of flavor. I simply Google "cheesecake recipe" to find something new and interesting to try.

And now, one such Googled recipe that gets great results with a relatively simple instructions.

Cranberry Cheesecake with Walnut Crust

1½ cups graham cracker/digestive biscuit crumbs

½ cup finely chopped walnuts
¼ cup butter, melted
1 can (16 oz.) whole cranberry sauce
3 packages (8 oz. ea) cream cheese, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup flour
3 eggs
8 oz. dairy sour cream
2 t. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F. Combine crumbs, walnuts, and butter. Firmly press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-in springform pan. Bake until golden, 5 or 6 minutes; remove from oven. Cool slightly. Spread with cranberry sauce and set aside.

Reduce oven temperature to 300F. Use mixer to beat cream cheese, sugar, and flour until smooth. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until well-blended. Pour evenly over cranberry sauce. Bake until a knife insert1 to 1½ inches from edge comes out clean, about 1 hour [or longer, if necessary--D]. Turn off oven; leave the cheesecake in over with door ajar until top is firm to the touch, about 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack about 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours. Just before serving, remove cheesecake from pan onto a serving plate.

Serve and receive compliment!