Blood, Bones & Butter - Part 1

The Huffington Post Book Club is currently reading the book Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton. If you have not heard of this book, the title pretty much says it all.

**Spoilers Follow**

So far, I am liking the book. I have read through Chapter 10, which is halfway. I hover somewhere between liking this woman, and disliking her.  I really liked her as a child, because she was able to write the thought processes of a child in such a true way, that it was totally believable. Maybe it was the way I grew up, but when people claim that nine-year-old's are saying all sorts of swear words and such, I don't find it believable. But she doesn't really claim to have done that all the time. And the way she looks up to her older siblings is something I can relate to. I also loved the magical way she describes the parties that her family held, because I'm sure as a child, the whole thing was magically to her as well.

Gabrielle as a person seems to begin to fall apart after her parents get divorced, which is understandable, but it is where my ability to relate to her ends. When I was 13, I wasn't dressing the way she was, nor did I steal or lie about my age. I am also harboring a bit of jealously over the fact that she was able to travel around Europe in a way I wish I could. But I keep trying to remind myself that your money could go a little further then than it does now.

I think my favorite part was when she attended the University of Michigan. I thought her assessment of Michiganders was sort of funny. I'm not sure that we actually talk like that, though I have been asked before when out of state if I was from Michigan. They could tell. I could also understand how she felt when she was working through her graduate degree in creative writing. Even though I attended Western Michigan University, and I was only working on my Bachelors degree, I still felt the same way about most of my classmates as she did. Almost everyone was so into themselves, and thought their weed induced "abstract" writing was so good, and I just didn't get it. Luckily, in most classes, you found that one person who was on the same page as yourself.

Gabrielle never comes out and says, at least in the first half, that she is a lesbian or expresses any preference for other women, or even talks about being confused as a child. Part of me was surprised by this lack of information, but the other half of me thinks that this is the way it SHOULD be. When a heterosexual person is writing about their life, whether fiction or non-fiction, it's not always, "I was so confused about liking someone from the other gender" or other self proclamations about their sexuality. And when the person talks about their boy/girlfriend of the opposite gender, no one thinks twice. And that's how it should be for homosexuals as well. If they want to casually mention that they found a girlfriend in a butch girl from Michigan, it should not cause an eye-brow raise from the reader. I actually like that she just mentions it without trying to be a martyr.

I don't have much else to say about the book at this time, but look for my follow-up blog about the second half of the book sometime soon!

The House on Tradd Street - Karen White

Ah, a day off. Time to get laundry done, and make those cupcakes I've wanted for two weeks now, but have been afraid to try. Cause of the finger. But we have a new mixer now, a nice fancy one, so hopefully all goes well, when I get around to it. Also, I'm expressing my nerdy-ness by playing Star Wars Galaxies, a game which Mike got me into. Woohoo.


Anyways, last night, as for several nights, I've been experiencing insomnia. Didn't get to sleep till 4, and even then it was restless, fitful sleep. With odd dreams. But, on the plus side, I was able to finish a book (with my new LED book light, which is awesomely bright).

That book was The House on Tradd Street by Karen White. I've never read anything by her, and I just happened to pick up the book off the steps. My mom bought it on Amazon as part of their, "You bought this, so you'd probably like this" feature.

At first, I thought I was going to hate it. The main character is basically a Sandra Bullock type character. Single, almost 40, up tight successful business woman. And of course as skinny as a rail and can eat donuts without repercussion. Bah. But I stuck to it, because it gives me an ugly feeling to start a book and never finish it. I STILL think about a book I gave up on YEARS ago. But anyway...

The basic premise of the book is that this woman, Melanie, inherits this house from a man who's grandfather was a friend of her grandfather. Its an old house, which is what Melanie specializes in selling in the real estate world. But she hates old houses. Why? Cause she can see and talk to ghosts.

Before you scoff, she tries to hide this fact. And it's not overly ridiculous, like trying to watch the show Ghost Adventures or any number of shows like that. Every once in a while, throughout the book, she'll see someone no one else can see. But she tries to ignore it.

But she can't once renovations begin on this house she inherits. There is this long mystery attached to the house and the family, and all sorts of moving parts and whatnot.

What Karen White does well is creating this long line of suspense. Pretty much through most of the book, you're turning pages thinking "what'll happen?" You're just waiting for the break in the story, and for the characters to finally solve the mystery.

And part of my loves this book because I've always wanted an old house with mystery and intrigue so I could solve the ancient stories of the house. No such luck, yet...

Cons of the book: Melanie seems to have a turning point at the end of the book with another main character, Jack, who she keeps at an arms length through the whole book, but whom the reader is charmed by. But the publishers make the mistake of putting in the first few pages of a companion novel at the end, and she's right back to being her normal, stuck up self. So that was disappointing.

Also, there's another male character who you know is up to no good through the entire novel. And you except this big blow out. No. Only a punch in the jaw, and it's all over. I wanted an explosion. And the only explosion you get is one that crosses the line from mild fantasy elements to a full-blown spiritual spectacle, that I had a hard time accepting, because it was, shall we say "too easy."

But overall I'd say this book was pretty good and worth the read. Not all the characters are lovable, but at least she had the right frame of mind to put in a cute little fluffy dog, which no one can resist.