mouse finished reading The Art Thief by Michael Finkel
One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the …
This was a delightful quick read; lively and engaging and ultimately sad
Reviews and Comments
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mouse commented on Cain's Jawbone by Edward Powys Mathers
Six murders. One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations. . . but only one is …
I would like to say, since I continue to wish I didn't have to stumble on other people posting their Cain's Jawbone solving thoughts, that I'm not going to post any of my Cain's Jawbone solving thoughts. Just, if anything, genuine, uncritical reactions to the text.
mouse reviewed Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled …
Lovely
5 stars
I found this touching and hopeful, I liked how poignantly the characters were drawn, and the themes of kindness and the vicissitudes of life.
My main complaint was that I think the simulation theory stuff was basically an unnecessary macguffin and didn't add to the themes (at least as far as they interested me).
mouse reviewed Baking and Pastry by Culinary Institute of America
A bit of a letdown
3 stars
I found this book a little disappointing because of how it's organized and how much of baking it tries to cover. It starts out with a ton of information about baking as a profession, tools, and technical information about baking (like tables of different gelling agents, and bread techniques and terminology). All of that information is really good, well curated, and clear, but I wished that the techniques specific to certain kinds of baking were placed with the recipes, rather than all together at the beginning. It also spends a lot of time, understandably, on professional bread techniques, and a lot less on pastry techniques. It feels at times like a bread book with some pastry recipes included.
There are tons of recipes, but often they are variants on a theme (like banana, chocolate, or lacenut tuiles) but no basic recipe and no information on how to modify the recipe …
I found this book a little disappointing because of how it's organized and how much of baking it tries to cover. It starts out with a ton of information about baking as a profession, tools, and technical information about baking (like tables of different gelling agents, and bread techniques and terminology). All of that information is really good, well curated, and clear, but I wished that the techniques specific to certain kinds of baking were placed with the recipes, rather than all together at the beginning. It also spends a lot of time, understandably, on professional bread techniques, and a lot less on pastry techniques. It feels at times like a bread book with some pastry recipes included.
There are tons of recipes, but often they are variants on a theme (like banana, chocolate, or lacenut tuiles) but no basic recipe and no information on how to modify the recipe yourself or what makes the modifications work. The pastry recipes aren't terribly well organized, not much time gets devoted to different types, and there are big omissions (like macarons).
I think it is just too ambitious to have a single book about "baking and pastry"!
mouse started reading Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the …
hoping this will be engrossing enough to distract me from being sick
mouse finished reading The Actual Star by Monica Byrne
The Actual Star takes readers on a journey over two millennia and six continents —telling …
This was really good!! Wow
mouse finished reading The Call-Out by Cat Fitzpatrick
Anvi, Kate, Bette, Keiko, Gaia, and Day are six queer, mostly trans women surviving and …
I really enjoyed this, and was very impressed with how well the verse worked! Real "if you've read Nevada and Detransition Baby..." energy (although personally I enjoyed it more than the latter)
mouse stopped reading Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Y: The Last Man meets The Girl With All the Gifts in Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt, …
Too scary for me
mouse finished reading Translation State by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch)
Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always …
I didn't think this was one of the stronger books in the series
mouse started reading Translation State by Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch)
Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always …
So pleased to be here
mouse finished reading The thin man by Dashiell Hammett
The Thin Man (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in the …
The movie is better.
mouse reviewed The English Understand Wool by Helen Dewitt (Storybook ND)
Raised in Marrakech by a French mother and English father, a 17-year-old girl has learned …
Just charming
5 stars
Dryly funny and endearing. I read this in one sitting last night and I've been thinking about how fun it was throughout the day
mouse started reading Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi's house is no ordinary building; its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls …
This is one of the few books I feel like I can re-read forever; this will be my third pass
mouse finished reading Immodest Acts by Judith C. Brown
The discovery of the fascinating and richly documented story of Sister Benedetta Carlini, Abbess of …
Somewhat surprisingly for a book randomly found in a thrift store, this was interesting, accessible, and short (about 130 pages minus appendices). It was a fun way to meditate on ins and out of trying to understand people in history, in general and specifically in regard to morality and sexuality, as a person who can't escape their own subconscious contemporary context and also as a person with a very conscious perspective.
mouse commented on Immodest Acts by Judith C. Brown
The discovery of the fascinating and richly documented story of Sister Benedetta Carlini, Abbess of …
I have now been informed that there is a Verhoeven movie based on this book??