Book: Cook 1.0 by Heidi Swanson

Pages: 192 in Hardcover, Published by Stewart, Tabori, and Chang

For the last month or so, I’ve been reading and cooking from Cook 1.0 by Heidi Swanson.  I’ve made about 4 recipes and I wish I had more time to cook a couple other things that look really good.  But since I’ve had for 6 weeks, I think it’s time to return it to the library.

I really like Heidi’s blog, 101 cookbooks.  So when I saw that she had a few cookbooks, I knew I had to check them out from the library. 

I can honestly say that I LOVE how her cookbook is set up and organized.  It’s divided into different sections: chapter like breakfast, lunch, dinner and sides.  Each chapter is further divided into sections, which is cool.  It’s thought out very well, and it’s very easy to find recipes.  And the recipes themselves?  Everything is in table-format.  There are no long lists of ingredients or paragraphs for the recipes.  A quick glance, and you know where you should be and what you need to do next.  It’s very intuitive and it’s such a good vegetarian cookbook.  As much as I like tofu, it’s nice to see a cookbook that doesn’t rely a lot on tofu.   

The recipes are simple, with a lot of fresh ingredients.  I love that they don’t seem to take long to make- no more than 30 minutes for the ones I’ve made, and a lot of the recipes seem to be around the 30 minute mark. 

I also like the different variations that she has.  There are some basic recipes, and the variations of stir-fries, vinaigrettes, and flavored butters (amongst others) build on those basic recipes. 

 I give it a 5 out of 5.  It’s well-thought out, with good recipes.

Book: The Wives Of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser

Pages: 482 in Hardcover, Published by Knopf

I really liked it.  Fraser was relatively unbiased, and it was a very impartial look at each of his wives.  Henry is rarely mentioned, and it’s a great look at each of his wives, with their own identity and personality.  It gives you a good overview of their lives and who they were as people.  I really appreciate the fact that it was more about the women as individuals as opposed to the men surrounding them. 

But in all honesty, I had some trouble sitting down and reading it.  It’s nothing against the book or Antonia Fraser, but this is the 3rd different book I’ve read about Henry’s wives, so at times, it was pretty repetitive.  However, it is the most readable of the 3 I’ve read, so I’m not sure if I could pick between Fraser’s book and Alison Weir’s book.

Fraser attempted to break down the stereotypes and myths of each woman, which I thought was an interesting take on them.  It worked okay, and for the most part, her telling seemed to be pretty standard. 

The narrative itself flowed pretty well, and it was also organized fairly well.  Some of the chapter divides were somewhat strange, and things included in one chapter (or section in some cases) were better suited being in the previous one. 

Overall, it gets a 4 out of 5.  It’s well-researched and pretty unbiased.

Book: Fruits Basket, Volume 13 by Natsuki Takaya

Pages: 190 in Paperback, published by Tokyopop

In Volume 13, Yuki has his parent-teacher conference, in which we meet his mother.  His mother is intent on deciding Yuki’s future, when Ayame shows up.  This gives Yuki the strength to tell his mother that he’ll decide his own future.  Tohru goes to the Sohma estate to see if Kureno Sohma is the same Kureno that Uotani is interested in.  While trying to find Kureno, she comes across Momo, who is Momiji’s little sister.  Tohru finally finds Kureno, who tells her that he has no intention of seeing Uotani.  They also go on their class trip, and a girl tells Kyo she likes him, but he pushes her away. 

With each passing volume, it seems like there’s more that happens.  Tohru’s relationship with Yuki is questioned by Kakeru, and when Kyo pushes away that girl, she wonders if he’ll push her away eventually.  I feel like this is the volume when things start to change between Kyo, Yuki and Tohru.  And since there are only 10 volumes left, things will start happening at a more rapid pace.

Like with every other volume, I love the artwork.  It really is getting better with each volume, and I love that you know what’s going on, even when there are no words.  Plus, seeing the fan art is cool, and we learn about the year of the horse. 

It gets a 5 out of 5, and it will only get better!

Book: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Pages: 453, Hardcover, Published by HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Teens

Angelfire is about Ellie, a 17-year-old girl who discovers that she is the Preliator.  It is her duty to hunt and kill the reapers that are out to prey on human souls. 

I love the whole idea of someone being reincarnated over and over for thousands of years to protect all humankind from Fallen Angels. It’s a classic good vs. evil story, with Ellie turning out to be Gabriel, but in human-form. 

The characters fell flat for me, though, and were pretty cliché and stereotypical.  I found Will to be the most interesting, and I wanted to know more about him and his past.  Ellie, on the other hand, was superficial and, at times, really irritating. 

It was an enjoyable book, and one that was a pretty fast read.  It was fun, and the fight scenes made it a lot more interesting.  The forbidden romance was pretty obvious from the moment that Will and Ellie met, and I have the distinct feeling that we’ll be seeing more of this series.  I LOVED the mythology of the book, and was glad that it actually made sense. 

As far as Ellie getting her “powers,” it was pretty standard- she gets introduced to them on her 17th birthday.  What wasn’t standard, though, was the fact that she grows into her powers.  It was pretty gradual, and even at the end of the book, she didn’t have a full grasp on her powers. 

I also want to know what’s going on with her dad.  You learn that he was a pretty good dad, and then one day…he randomly turned into a jerk, and Ellie and her mom don’t know why.  I was left with the feeling that this could be really important, but I suppose we’ll have to wait until the next book to find out what’s going on there. 

It gets a 3 out of 5.  It was enjoyable, but there wasn’t a lot that stood out to me.