Literature Love: Young Adult Fiction

Greetings everyone!

It's been a while since I have gotten one of these posts in and indeed it is high time to do one! I love all kinds of books and I consider myself to be quite a bibliophile (read: I would rather read than do anything else). Today's focus will be Young Adult Fiction. I am a sucker for this genre and probably always will be. I took a class on this genre and it's importance and that is where I have discovered some of the titles I'm about to recommend. These are all fantastic reads and each very different. Take a look at the links in each one to get to know the authors a little better too.

Here we go!

1. Meant To Be by the amazingly talented Lauren Morrill. I'm not huge into the sappy teen romance thing (well, not always) but this book was just an absolute joy to read. The characters are so loveable and funny and it's a sweet first-love story. It has a New Girl kind of charm/awkwardness to it, which we all love. The author of this book lives in Macon, Georgia as well and she came to my YA Lit class to talk about this book and her career as an author and all around cool person. And she signed my book. And I felt famous. And I live tweeted her whole discussion. I wish I weren't so awkward.

2. Wonder by R.J. Palacio. This book is about a little boy who has a facial deformity and all of his struggles and triumphs. I laughed and cried all the way through this book and was so moved by the beautiful message of understanding. I recently let my best friend borrow this book to read alongside her kids that are 8 and 9. They were at the time becoming acquainted with the fact that some people look differently because of disabilities or what have you. This book helped them all ask questions and discover things about themselves and about others. Guys, it's really amazing. The author also has some great teacher resources for class discussions!

3. Coraline by the infinitely talented Neil Gaiman. On top of being my (current) favorite author, this has made its way to one of my favorite books as well. It is in some ways like a modern Alice in Wonderland but far creepier and very captivating. And God help us if we really all DO have an Other Mother with button eyes. Coraline is like a gateway drug to the rest of his works, because once you start you can never stop. He's that good. Also, if you are a bookish type, you should see what he has to say in his Newberry Award acceptance speech from 2009. Bloody brilliant, this guy.

4. The Graveyard Book by (yes, again) Neil Gaiman. As I said, you've already had the gateway drug so let's just get down to it. This book is near and dear to my heart and has the most beautiful message of self-discovery, identity, confidence and even understanding others. Based loosely on the style of the Jungle Book, this story is about a young boy but it has just as strong a message for us grown-ups. If you like a bit of whimsy and humor then please give this a read. It's one of those books that you'll never forget!


Have any of you read any of these books? Is there another book you're curious/passionate about? Likes, dislikes? Do let me know!

~B~

Literary Dinner: Robber Steak

"There are many odd things to put down, and, lest who reads them may fancy that I dined too well before I left Bistritz, let me put down my dinner exactly. I dined on what they called "robber steak" -- bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire..."
- Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker's Dracula

As some of you may know, I really love the book Dracula. In fact, my senior capstone project is based on Mina Harker from the novel, so there ya go. Anyhow, Toby also loves the book and seemed to have a keen interest in the meals that Jonathan Harker ate in it. You may not remember, but on our 2nd anniversary he made Paprika Hendl which is featured in the first part of the novel. Earlier this week, he decided to make another dish featured in the book called Robber Steak. It's basically a kebab, but Hungarian Paprika makes a lovely Eastern European treat.

If you look up the recipe (which I just did) you will see that we took great liberties with it. This is in part because we aren't huge red meat-eaters and in part because we were on a tight budget...and also because we don't eat ham and turkey bacon is just NOT thick enough. However, our intentions were good and that counts for something. Right?

We are not super formal so this recipe is SUPER up for interpretation, haha. But, for the sake of having SOMETHING written down, here's what we did:

Ingredients:
1 pound(ish) of chicken, cubed
About half a pint of whole portobello mushrooms, halved (in lieu of bacon)
2 bell peppers, sliced thick
1 onion, sliced thick
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Dash of Hungarian Paprika
Kebab Skewers (is that how you spell it?)

The ingredients minus spices. Do excuse our crowded counter.

Directions:
Pierce all of the ingredients one by one in whatever fashion you please on the stick (see photo below). You can use whatever method of grilling you like, but we used our Foreman grill...well it's not actually a Foreman grill but, close. Anyhow, once all of the ingredients are on the stick, place them in the grill and cook them, turning every few minutes to even out cooking. Every grill is different, and we are still getting used to ours. It took us about 15-20 on medium heat and it was great.

And there you have it! So easy and quite filling. Very healthy too, which is definitely wonderful. We quite enjoy doing these literary dinners and we have more up our sleeves to share. Can't wait to cook (and eat) them!

Have a good day,

~ B ~