August Book Reviews: "Lamb," "Their Eyes Were Watching God," "Teacher Man," "Norwegian Wood," & "Stolen Innocence"

My rating scale: *OK, ** Good, *** Great

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

by Christopher Moore

Rating: *+

This book was basically a re-telling of Christ's life from the viewpoint of his friend Biff (aka Levi). This book covers a lot of the missing parts of Christ's childhood and teenage years and adds in some events that help explain some future events.

The audioversion of this wasn't the best quality... the sound levels were all over the place making constant adjustments to the volume necessary. I had high hopes for this book given the title. I thought the story itself was amusing though not as funny and clever as it could have been. It was a little more "in your face" obvious funny than witty. A lot of the middle portion of the book could have been cut out without affecting the story. There were some parts where they go live as Buddist monks and such which were good, but just unnecessarily long. I did like that this book gave Christ and a few of the other common bible characters a little more personality. If you want to read this I'm not sure the audiobook is the best way to go. I don't think I'll ever view the bible the same way again. Ever.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

by Zora Neale Hurston

Rating:**

I found this book at a library sale and finally decided to read it being that it's a classic of sorts. I wasn't really sure what it was about except that it was a pivotal book in African American culture. "Their Eyes" follows a young black woman through her life, several marriages, and a few major path-changing decisions. It was an important book at the time because #1 It has a strong, female, black main character and #2 It talks about a town solely run by black men and women.

This wasn't a very long book, but I was still able to immediately connect with the main character and ride the rollercoaster of emotions that she constantly experiences. It was a little tough to read with the phonetic dialect style of writing, but in this case I think it added to the characters and it was easier to read after a few chapters. This turned out to be a classic worthy of the title and worth all of the $0.25 I paid for it.

Teacher Man

by Frank McCourt

Rating:**+

After reading "Angela's Ashes" I knew I had to read more of Frank McCourt's books. Ok so I listened to them... but still. Teacher Man is a book about McCourt's years as a high school teacher in New York. I love the way he relates his experiences. I could just picture all of these things happening and I felt like I knew his students. It's very easy to relate to him in this book because we've all had that high school experience and know what we and other students were like. I highly recommend you get the audioversion of McCourt's books. His voice and Irish accent add so much to the story and give it a character that wouldn't be there otherwise. McCourt's books have by far been my most favorite to listen to. I'm always sad when they end. I can't wait to read "Tis."

Norwegian Wood

by Haruki Murakami

Rating: -

I made it about 1/3 of the way through this book and couldn't read anymore. The plot was almost non-existent and uninteresting. I didn't care about any of the characters and found them annoying at best. Not even a Beatles reference could keep me interested in this one.

Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs

by Elissa Wall

Rating: **

This was another library sale book. Being that I grew up Mormon, this book had a certain amount of intrigue and it did not disappoint. Sure, Elissa Wall isn't a great novelist by any means. This isn't going to be a classic. However, her story was so horrifying and heart wrenching I couldn't put this down.

The FLDS way of life was both better and worse than I'd imagined. Sure, growing up in Utah I saw polygamist people at the grocery store and heard rumors and such, but I never had an in-depth knowledge of their culture and beliefs. This book was such an eye opener.

There was actually less physical abuse than I thought, barring the rape and sexual abuse of minor girls in marriage situations. Overall Wall's childhood sounded a lot like mine for the most part... loving parents and neighbors were the norm.

I was surprised, however, by the level of brainwashing going on, with Warren Jeffs at the helm especially. It was almost 24 hours of indoctrination. Basically, multiply the Mormon standard by several times. What a mind job! Makes me sick.

If you don't get unreasonably upset about young girls being forced to do things against their will, I highly recommend this one. Actually, I highly recommend this for anyone. If you don't believe me take this as a testimony.... Seth was sick one day and stayed home from work. He spent the whole day reading this book and finished it. It was that engaging. This is some crazy shiz y'all.

Today's Special: Pressure Cooker Meals

So about a week before my birthday my mom called me to chat. Sometime during the conversation she asked me what I wanted for my birthday present:

Me: Um.... hmmm.... I know I want lots of stuff... let me think for a second.

Mom: Corinne got a really cool 3-in-1 steamer/pressure cooker/slow cooker. She really likes it.

Me: I know there's something I wanted I just need to think for a second.

Mom: Has she told you about it? It's really amazing.

Me: Wasn't there some sort of fishing thing I needed?

Mom: So I have one of these 3 in 1 pressure cookers too. It's really amazing. It's ELECTRIC.

Me: Wait, what?

Mom: Yeah it's an electric pressure cooker.

Me: Really? Does it work good?

Mom: Oh yeah. You can just type in the amount of time you want it to go for and after it's done it shuts down to a "warming" mode. It's a steamer too. You can cook rice in it and use it as a slow cooker. And it has a delay cooking option.

Me: I've never even heard of such a thing! I need one!

Mom: You can think about it if you want and let me know.

Me: Nope I've made up my mind. I need a 3 in 1 electric pressure cooker for my birthday.

Mom: Ok, if that's what you really want.

Isn't my mom so geniusly talented at getting me to want stuff? It was like some sort of Green Beret tactic of making me ask for the thing she already had in mind. Those are some serious skills.

So I use my pressure cooker on a regular basis, but usually just to cook potatoes or frozen chicken breasts. But now that I had this new fancy contraption, I had to expand my mind and use it as intended... a quick one dish delicious meal producer.

I scoured the Internets and found a handful of recipes that sounded enticing and thought I would share them with you in this week's theme: Pressure Cooker Meals. Enjoy.

Corned Beef & Cabbage: This was by far my favorite meal of the week. It wasn't exactly fast at about 90 minutes, but much faster than a regular corned beef meal and definitely tasty. Plus since I didn't have to watch the pressure cooker at all, I was able to fit in a pre-dinner run . I don't know if the recipe producer had a giant sized pressure cooker or what, but I wasn't able to fit all my veggies in the pot. I will definitely be making this again.

Navy Bean Soup- This one took a little preparation to soak the beans overnight, but it was hardly time consuming or difficult. I couldn't find a 3 lb. ham shank... only a bunch around 10 pounds, so I thought maybe it was supposed to use ham hocks instead. So that's what I used. They look really disgusting but the soup turned out great. I cooked mine a little bit longer as I noticed the recipe says to cook it at 15 psi and the high setting on my pressure cooker is 9 psi. Oh, I also ended up using both my regular pressure cooker and the electric one because this made a ton of soup. If you only have one regular sized cooker, I suggest cutting the recipe in half. This was a very good soup and one I would make again. If you've never tried Navy Beans (aka White Beans) you're missing out. They are very buttery and delicious!

Ham with Vegetables- While this wasn't a gourmet meal by any means, it was a good solid meat and potatoes type meal and it was fast! If you like ham and vegetables, this would be a nice addition to your weekly menu.

BBQ Ribs- I picked up some pork baby back ribs on impulse when I saw they were on sale. Turns out you can cook them in the pressure cooker too! I think they could have used a few extra minutes in the cooker as the meat wasn't quite as tender next to the bone as I would have liked, but the sauce was great! I cut back on the sugar by 1 full cup as suggested by other reviewers and doubled the cayenne pepper (they were not spicy in the slightest). I may like this recipe even more than my regular standby. Awesome!

Shoot 'em Up

Since this is my 'random' life story, I'm interrupting my family travel log with some guns. No, not my amazingly ripped muscles (spectacular as they are...).... REAL guns. Made of steel. And power. And really tough things.

Last weekend Seth and I went out to the west desert with my parents to do some good old fashion shooting. Ok, maybe it wasn't 'old fashioned' per se, but it was fun and we liked it. However, before the shooting began we had to find some wild horses. What else were we going to use for target practice? I jest! I jest! We just looked at the horses (and maybe corralled them with our car) and admired their untamed beauty.

The wild west.

It was a very windy day... note the dust storm in the background.

After watching the horses for a while we loaded up our weapons and did some shooting... Fred style. My dad likes to mix things up a bit with rapid fire, quick draw, and timed obstacle courses. Not your average plinking by any means...

Dad starts things out with the 357 Magnum revolver.

Then it was onto the quick draw with a 9mm Smith and Wesson.

I must have been surprised that I actually hit something.

Next was the obstacle course with the AR-15. Most fun I ever had losing.

Next came the hunting rifles. I got to try out the lever action 30/30. Sweet.

We pretty much fit the profile of gun nuts.

Even Mom joined us... didn't do any shooting this time but she had the fastest knitting needles in the west!

I am the law.

Crossroads of the West

So way back like a month ago we went to Zions National Park and some other places with my family. I know I said I was working on these posts a few weeks ago, but that was pretty much a lie. Unless you count vaguely thinking about the fact that I needed to post about it. But, I figure you don't really want a whole lot of blah blah blah about all my summer vacations, so just look at these pictures. They're more interesting anyway. If I waited until I was inspired in the literary realm, this story would never see the light of day.

BEHOLD... the first day...

So as we were driving down to Zions we saw this motorcycle towing a Barbie houseboat trailer. WTF?! Was it a trailer disguised as a Barbie houseboat or just a Barbie houseboat? Why, for the love of all that is good and holy would you possess such a thing?! People are INSANE.

After seeing the Barbie houseboat we got pulled over by a couple cops so a giant dump truck bed could pass us. It was HUGE.

Thus ended the first day. And it was good.

BEHOLD... the second day...

Waiting for the shuttle bus.

These kids. Sheesh.

The squirrels on the Narrows trail had no fear of humans. Seth actually nudged one with his foot and it just sat there. A few of these guys just about got stepped on!

Seth likes to pretend to hike while he's hiking.

Hiking the Narrows.

Lily and her dad. They made a pretty cute team.

I love this picture of Seth. *swoon*

Annie looks like she's crossing the river to kick my ass.

Such a cute little family. Gotta love these guys and don't even get me started with that kid.

J.R. started carrying Lily through the deeper water. She was good at playing "damsel in distress."

Group shot... minus Annie and Eric who turned back a little earlier.

Later on that night we celebrated my 30th birthday. Meh, 30 is way easier to say than 29 anyway.

The festivities were moved inside due to windy conditions (hard to keep the candles lit in a breeze). Notice my monkey face. Now THAT'S hot. Thanks for the gifts everyone, and those cupcakes rocked, Mom! I'm pretty sure I ate like 5 of them.

Thus ended the second day. And it was was good.

Waterfall Canyon: Way Better Looking than Ogden.

Seth and I tackled another local hike this weekend called "Waterfall Canyon." It's pretty much just like it sounds... a hike up a canyon to a waterfall. It was very similar to the Adam's Canyon hike, though shorter and to be honest... at least this time of year, the waterfall wasn't quite as spectacular. The waterfall was probably at least twice the height of the one in Adam's Canyon and we were told the flow is much more significant in the spring. It was still fun though especially since it was my first hike up on the east side of Ogden. The view was great albeit a little weird with the Great Salt Lake so far in the distance.

Overlooking Ogden. It looks way better from up here... trust me.

A Bit of a Motley Crew

Ok so there's some good news and some bad news. Good news is I've been taking a lot of pictures lately. Bad news is they're all piling up and I'm a little overwhelmed with them and don't really know where to start so I'm procrastinating in hopes that some magic fairy will come and take care of it all for me.

Alright, alright, I know there are no magic blogging fairies. So I guess that means I'm going to have to tackle this myself. To start the multitude of really amazing things to come, I thought it fitting to introduce you to my family. My dad took some family photos during our recent Zions trip and they all turned out so great! I can't wait to get these printed up and hung on the wall!

The crazy kids who started it all...my Dad & Mom a.k.a Fred & Denise. Best parents ever. My dad loves Fresca, can you tell?

My older sister, Corinne and her family. That's my bro-in-law J.R. holding Bryce. Corinne is holding Reid.  Lily is front and center with Ella on the left. Such a cute family. Wish I could see them more often... it always seems like the kids are growing up so fast. Love all those dark brown eyes!

This is my younger sister, Annie with her husband, Eric and their adorable daughter, Belen. Aren't they the cutest? Love that these guys live so close. Makes it easier to be the favorite aunt! HA!

 It's hard to be this good looking, but we take our trials and deal with them the best we can. (But seriously... isn't Seth so amazingly handsome and manly? I love those baby blues.)

Eh, it could be worse!