"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" by George R R Martin

Initially, Sam wasn't thrilled about the idea of watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on TV (he'd read a review that described it as "silly"), but now that we've gotten started, he's nearly giddy about it. (I'm enjoying it too, if slightly less giddily.) After seeing the first episode, I asked Sam if it had been published as a book first. "Yes," he said. "Obviously you've forgotten that I gave you a copy almost three years ago." Lo and behold, there it was, deep down in the TBR stack on my end table in the Reading Room.

I asked ChatGPT whether I should finish watching the series and then read the book, or if I should go ahead and start the book now. I was told to start now. Atlas (the nickname ChatGPT chose, under duress) is aware of the extent of my TBR: "Given what I know about you, you don't need another 'I'll get to it later' book." (They/it didn't realize this already was an "I'll get to it later" book . . . ) Atlas went on to suggest, "Treat the show as a companion, not the primary experience," describing the book as "very spoiler-light" and "one of GRRM's most charming works on the page." 

The decision having been made for me, I dove right into the book and found this to be the right choice. I enjoyed the reading experience and made my way through the book quite quickly. It’s plot-heavy and not especially thought-provoking, but this was not surprising. More surprising was that, for the most part, the story was sweet and good. There are a few horrifying moments (a lance to a horse's throat springs to mind), but nothing to the extent of the fate of Ned Stark. It almost reads like fanfiction (but well-written and worth reading). As Atlas said, "The real joy is in character, tone, and small moral moments, not shock twists." Now, if only I could manage to keep all these dang knights and Targaryens straight in my head . . .

"The Psychology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained"

Just finished another Bathroom Book, which Sam bought for me nearly 3 years ago when I was experiencing a life slump where I felt like I was boring and never had anything to talk about. (Does this make you wonder whether Sam agreed, or whether it was just a sweet way for him to cheer me up? Part of me knows Sam well enough to be sure it was the latter, part of me says "don't go there.")

As per usual for DK books, this book is a good, broad (if not especially deep) overview of the history of psychology, broken down into manageable (bathroom session-length) sections. It starts with the very roots (Galen, Descartes, Herbart) and hits all the big names in psychology chronologically, describing each one's main ideas. 

I was probably about halfway through the book when I realized I really wasn't retaining any of it. Should I start taking notes? Should I go back and review? Then I came to my senses. I wasn't studying for an exam. I wasn't even looking for gems to incorporate in my life (and if I did come across one, I would be happy to record it). I remembered my purpose in reading this book (a prompt to think, and therefore a prompt for discussion) and realized that--much as I love the idea of Knowing Everything (while, hopefully, avoiding the pitfall of being recognized by others as one who thinks I Know Everything), it's never gonna happen. And if I really need to know the specifics of a particular era in human psychology, there's always Wikipedia. 

I did note two parts that stood out to me. First: Karen Horney (1885-1952) said there is a "real self" (your authentic desires), an "ideal self" that strives to fulfill demands (those things you think you "should" do--often based on external pressure, which is internalized), and the "despised self," which is what develops when you fail to meet the expectations of the ideal self. Therapy might help with discovering your real self and putting off your ideal and despised selves, allowing you to find goals and aspirations that are authentic to you, not just things you feel like you "should" do.

Second, I noted the work of Carl Rogers (1902-1987) which ran along very similar lines and can in part be summarized this way: "Resentment can be buried deep within us when we act in accordance with someone else's wishes rather than our own. If our actions are free of external influences, we feel more authentic, more solidly in control of our own destiny, and more satisfied with the results."

Gardening books

I really enjoyed dreaming my way through these two gardening books. Sam gave them to me for my birthday, after I had mentioned that I would like to have a nice book on garden design. Both books were full of beautiful photos, showcasing amazing gardens of all sorts.

The first one that I read was Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces by Jan Johnsen. It seemed to me like more of a lookbook than a true garden design book: it pictured lots of beautiful ideas, but did not provide much in the way of cohesive planning assistance. It did cover quite a few garden design concepts, but (of necessity in a publication intended for a broad audience) these concepts were expressed in vague generalities. I did note down two helpful things: 1) Aim to create gracefully curved sweeps, rather than short wiggles or straight lines. 2) Balance a garden with yin and yang, creating harmony by using the two concepts to contrast and complement each other. Examples of yin: rounded shapes, soft leaves, flowers, water, contained shady spots, darker colors. Examples of yang: straight and vertical lines, hard rock, sunny open areas, lighter colors. 

Next up was Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love by Julie Moir Messervy. I really liked this one, and I think eventually I will find it much more useful than Gardentopia. It asks a lot of work from the reader (which I have thus far only read about) but it gives pretty explicit steps to follow, which is great. It's much more focused on a property as a whole, rather than individual little nooks and crannies. It is also much more focused on hardscaping than on planting. Unsurprisingly (it's right there in the title) this book is more about landscape design than garden design. But that doesn't mean I wasn't left with some serious yard envy!

Both books were enjoyable, but neither was exactly what I was looking for (not that I'm ungrateful or anything). I really wanted something that will teach me garden design. I want to be able to look at part of my yard and know: in this x-shaped plot of land, with y amount of shade and z amount of water, I should plant three of a, five of b and one of c, and if I plant them in this pattern, they will look great and thrive. Maybe someday (like when I'm retired) I will become a Master Gardener, and maybe in my pursuit of that honor, I will attain this knowledge. But for now, I'm still stuck with the somewhat less efficient process of garden experimentation.

"Anil's Ghost" by Michael Ondaatje

It is currently colder than it has any right to be in this part of the world, and I want nothing more than to put my feet somewhere warm (ideally, Costa Rica; but as that is not possible at the moment, maybe on my husband?) and curl up with a good book. But I am prevented from this simple pleasure by the knowledge that I am behind on blog posts, and reading yet another book will only serve to get me farther behind. Plus . . . I can read (during the daytime) without electricity, but blogging is another story, and in weather like this, electricity is not a sure thing. So blogging it is.

I felt like I ought to have been impressed by Anil's Ghost. Ondaatje is a celebrated author (thought admittedly more for The English Patient and Warlight than for this novel) and it says right there on the back of this book that it is "a work displaying all the richness of imagery and language and piercing emotional truth that we have come to know as the hallmarks" of Ondaatje's writing. So I know that this book (and its author, and the subject matter) are all worthy of inspiring admiration, and I ought to have been impressed. 

But I wasn't.  

That's not to say that I feel especially critical about this book, or that I had a strongly negative reading experience, or that you shouldn't read it. But it does mean that I did not sink into this book. I did not luxuriate in it. It was not one of those books that reminded me of why I love to read.

I think I felt a little bit lost as I read. One issue was my own ignorance. I had absolutely no context for this book, having no awareness of the civil war that was fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009, and this was not the type of book to provide much context or to add much to my knowledge. There is pleasure in reading a book that is subtly written, where details are hinted at rather than spelled out, when there is guesswork and interpretation involved, but this is only truly pleasurable when the reader feels able to fit some puzzle pieces together. Instead, I felt as if I was reading a dark book in the darkness, and I merely stumbled my way through it.

I suppose I should try to give a brief summary of the book. Anil Tissera is a forensic anthropologist of Sri Lankan heritage. She is sent back to her home country by an international human rights group to investigate government-linked murders. It is not a plot-heavy book, but despite this, there are plenty of horrors described (highway crucifixion is one that sticks in my mind). And I spent most of the book assuming that Anil was doomed (why else would the book be called Anil's Ghost?) but she survived, which left me trying to determine the identity of Anil's ghost. Is it her coworker Sarath who ensures she is able to get out of the country safely? Is it Sailor, the skeleton on which she focuses much of her work? Is it Ananda's wife Sirissa? Is she haunted by Sri Lanka itself? 

“Dinner in One” by Melissa Clark

I've cooked my way through another Melissa Clark cookbook! But not Dinner in French (yet--I took the easy way out and put that one on the back burner). Instead I went with Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One Pan Meals. In some ways this was like a step backwards, after having cooked all the recipes in Dinner. Generally, the DiO recipes are slightly less complicated, slightly less time-consuming, with a slightly shorter list of ingredients (and either a greater percentage of the ingredients are easy to find, or I've grown accustomed to tracking down unusual food items). In short, I would characterize the DiO recipes as generally simpler and easier. But a step towards comfort is totally acceptable when the results are still amazing. AND if you're not ready to take a flying leap into fancy French feasts. 

The first recipe I cooked from Dinner in One (Crispy Lemon Chicken with Potatoes, Oregano and Capers) also happens to be the first recipe in the book. I cooked it on Saturday, March 9, 2024. My notes (in part) say, "For such a simple-seeming recipe, I feel like I screwed it up in a surprising number of ways! But it all turned out OK in the end, & tasted good."

The second recipe I cooked from DiO was not the second recipe in the book. I did not stick with cookbook order. The book is divided by cooking method (sheet pans, skillets, dutch ovens, etc) followed by a small selection of cakes and another small section of basic sides. I didn't want to focus on my favorite chapter (sheet pans!) and then get stuck slogging through my least favorite (instant pots & multicookers . . . though I must admit this was really only my least favorite because I don't own an instant pot or multicooker, and I don't want to buy one, so I had to adapt all the recipes to a dutch oven). So I skipped around. The varying number of recipes in each section don't allow you to do the entire book by cooking one recipe from each section and then continually cycling through again (for example, there are 18 sheet pan recipes and only 8 instant pot recipes), but I bounced around in a way that would ensure I did not get bored and neither did our palates.

Ninety-nine recipes later, I finished up on Saturday, December 27, 2025 (the last Saturday of the year) by cooking Cauliflower-Carrot Soup with Smoky Paprika Shrimp ("Nice soup!") but I'm still not planning to dive into Dinner in French yet (though I do get brave and try something out of it occasionally). The main reason I'm continuing to put it off is because Sam gave me a copy of Melissa Clark's Kitchen for my birthday, so I have my work cut out for me for another year or so!