Here it is at last, that post you've all been waiting for, right? ;-) The last (at least for now) batch of books on favorite TV shows. :-)

The companion book to the TV show Frasier is one of the best. Along with the expected episode guide (just through the third season, though), there are character (and actor) biographies, lots of pictures and a collection of quotes. Jefferson Graham is the author of Frasier.

The House That Hugh Laurie Built: an Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide, by Paul Challen includes a nice biography of Hugh Laurie as well as short bios of the other actors on House. Paul Challen explains how the show was developed and how Laurie got the job (quite the fun tale!) The episode guide includes inside jokes and errors (called 'booboos'). Most enjoyable.

Navy NCIS, by Klaus Hinrichsen, is a self-published fan book. My copy is season 1 - 8, but the author provides updates on a regular basis and at some point I will get a newer copy. Basically this is information you can find on line, but gathered all in one place and easy to read when curled up on the sofa. There are bios of the characters, a synopsis of each episode, and, my favorite bit, 'best lines' from each show.

Unraveling the Mysteries of the Big Bang Theory: an Unabashedly Unauthorized TV Show Companion, by George Beahm was an unexpected surprise one afternoon when I did a search for books about my favorite TV shows. As usual for this sort of book, there are bios on the characters and a guide to the episodes (through season four), but there are also entries on such things as asperger's syndrome and selective mutism which gives a greater depth of understanding to the characters. We also learn a bit about all that sciency stuff! This is a fun read!

Doctor Who has been around since 1963. I, however, am new to Who and that is why this entry is the last. Fortunately I got hooked during the 50th anniversary celebration so there were lots of books to read (which will show up on a post at some point). I found the history of the show to be fascinating. While not exactly complete, (the show, after all, is still airing), Doctor Who: the Complete Guide, by Mark Campbell has been a great resource.

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"Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate." -- Alvin Toffler

Recent, and rather scary, reads came from Char.

I started with Dragnet Nation: a Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance, by Julia Angwin. From cameras in public places, to every keystroke on a computer being monitored, to drones flying over the backyard, pretty much nothing is private anymore. It's amazing how much information is gathered, and how complicated it is to find out where and if there is a way to get off that list. Well written and easy to read, the author takes us along on her efforts to reduce the amount of information that is available about her.

Much of the information gathered and stored can be used to track us ... what we buy, eat, what sites we visit (and how often), political leanings, travel, and so on. That information is then used to customize what we might see in an internet search, what ads appear on the sides of our screens, leading to a personal and rather telescopic view of the news stories we see, the charities we might be interested in supporting, that sort of thing. Eli Pariser, the author of The Filter Bubble: How The New Personalized Web is Changing What We Read and How We Think, believes this reduces our awareness of what is going on around us, eliminates the stories that might shock us, cause us to rethink something, or even try a new book or movie.

Identity Theft Alert: 10 Rules You Must Follow to Protect Yourself From American's #1 Crime, by Steve Weisman is, as the title tells us, about identity theft. It explains how it is done and then ways to protect yourself. It made me much more aware of things I would not have considered a risk before, such as a photocopy machine. These now have memory chips, which makes all the scans accessible even long after something has been photocopied.

These books brought to mind Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson. It too, was a warning, an environmental warning. She made us aware of what the chemicals in synthetic pesticides (mostly DDT at the time) were doing, most especially to birds. (Hence the title, 'silent' spring). It was a long, hard battle with the chemical companies and it became the inspiration for the first grassroots movement that led to the creation of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

It has been longer than I care to acknowledge since I read 1984 (George Orwell) and Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) but I remember two things: Big Brother is Watching You, and, how everyone was electronically connected by headsets and big screens. We don't need the big screens (although they are certainly available) but it is possible to be connected and in front of a screen at any and all times. The authors weren't far off the mark.

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While not intended to be an academic work (it says so in the Author's notes), Murder in the Fourth Corner: True Stories of Whatcom County's Earliest Homicides, by T.A. Warger is a carefully researched book and a most intriguing look back at some of the most heinous crimes from our past. It may also be said that many were 'ripped from the headlines' (and what headlines they were!) Some were solved, some were not, some may have been committed in a house you've seen, or live in. (The author apologizes for that). A great local history read.

More books from the Images of America Series found their way to my 'to be read' stack this winter. As with the others mentioned in earlier posts, they are full of wonderful pictures and are of local places and events. First was Mount Baker, by John D'Onofrio and Todd Warger. It can be a forbidding and hazardous place, but it's full of human activity (not to mention volcanic) such as mining, logging, hiking, skiing (and one of the first places to promote snowboarding), and movie making (complete with Hollywood stars). There's an earlier version of the popular Sea-to-Ski race, too. Be sure to check out the duct tape award, and an early model of the ski lift. (nope, not a rope tow) (!)

Next came Tall Ships on Puget Sound, by Chuck Fowler and the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society. From the mid-1700's to present times, tall ships have been seen in local waters. From the smaller ships (think the Lady Washington) to the larger four-mast barks such as the Queen Margaret, from explorers to the military, you'll see them in this book. Even the USS Constitution, better known as 'Old Ironsides' has been here! The U.S. Bicentennial, and locally, the Washington State Centennial sparked new interest in these beautiful ships and it is now possible to visit, or even crew on one.

Times change, and so do ships. The Navy in Puget Sound, by Cory Graff, Puget Sound Navy Museum shows just that in another wonderful collection of old photographs. Destroyers, submarines, aircraft carriers were all built in this area. Many returned for repair (some more than once). Be sure to look for the picture of the USS Lexington providing power to the city of Tacoma in the winter of 1929! (There'd been a drought, and the water reserves were low). There are some great aerial shots in this book, too.

I learned in a holiday letter that my cousin took a trip on a steamboat last year. I was intrigued by the fact that at the end of the day, the steamboat could just drift over to the side of the river and tie off to trees for the night. I did a search, found a few books on steamboats and this was the best: Steamboats on Northwest Rivers (Before the Dams), by Bill Gulick. This is a history book that reads like a grand adventure, it was almost a 'one sitting' type book. Ships would sail here from England 'under canvas' and then be refitted into either a stern-wheeler (which worked the best on shallow rivers) or side-wheelers. Follow the career of Captain William Polk Gray as he becomes one of the best river pilots ever. (What's the best way to navigate rapids? Slowly, on the side, or fast, and right down the middle)?

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Recently, somehow, a conversation turned to cookbooks, something about which I know very little. Still, it was interesting, enough so that it became a post!

I've kept my Mom's The Joy of Cooking: a Compilation of Reliable Recipes with an Occasional Culinary Chat by Irma S. Rombauer and illustrations by Marion Rombauer Becker (1943 edition) for nostalgic reasons. It is filled with mom's notes as to when something was used, if it was good, and so forth.

When I moved into my first house, Tall Reader gave me Betty Crocker's Cookbook since it is a good, basic place to start. When I get that rare urge to cook, it is my go-to, how-to resource. Even for me, the recipes work!

I remember The I Hate to Cook Book, by Peg Bracken, from my mother's cookbook shelf. The one I recently read/skimmed is an updated and revised version for the 50th Anniversary edition. Recipes still sound good, helpful hints seemed helpful, but are still unlikely to be used in my house. ;-)

Which brings me to a cookbook that my mom and several of her friends loved. The Sunset Cookbook: Food With a Gourmet Touch. I do not know why this was loved and cherished the way it was, and for that reason I passed mother's copy on to my little sister. She joined our family when I was in college. I'm glad she did, and that she is now the one loving this cookbook.

Tall Reader loves to cook and bake. For years she made all the bread(s) her family ate. When I asked about a cook book I gave her with northwest recipes, she brought over three. (We've been friends for a long, long time). I know for sure I gave her one of them so that is the one featured here. Celebrate the Rain: Cooking with the Fresh and Abundant Flavors of the Pacific Northwest, from the Junior League of Seattle. The cover caught my eye first, then the title, and finally, when I learned that the artwork was all from local artists I decided it had to go to Tall Reader. I can tell you that the artwork is wonderful, she can tell you that the recipes are yummy!

"The only reason I have a kitchen is because it came with the house" Unknown. (I have seen this quip in craft books, on aprons, on wall plaques, and decals, but never with an author.)

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January is Hot Tea month so it seemed like a good idea to do my second tea post sooner rather than later. ;-)

You Wouldn't Want to Be At the Boston Tea Party! Wharf Water Tea You'd Rather Not Drink, written by Peter Cook and illustrated by David Antram. A nice children's book about the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party, what they were and why they were so disliked.

I selected The Ultimate Tea Diet, by Mark "Dr. Tea" Ukra, with Sharyn Kolberg mainly because of the title and I thought it would fit well in a tea post. Yes, it is a diet book, but with an attitude I like. Seems tea is good for boosting your metabolism, shrinking your appetite and so forth. There's a bit of tea history (the Ukra family has been in the tea business for a long time), what tea to use for various cravings, and a nice collection of recipes using, oh, tea rubs and so on. There's a nice appendix of other books on tea, too.

Steeped in Tea, Creative Ideas, Activities and Recipes for Tea Lovers, by Diana Rosen took tea off in a more creative direction. One section is how to create an atmosphere for tea served in various rooms. Teas, the tea service and recipes are included. There are ideas for gifts for tea lovers, how to display cups, or pots, and how to build a display shelf. There are even a few ideas for creating a tea garden, including an apartment sized one in a terrarium.

I love coming across something unexpected, and this was the case with Totem Poles and Tea by Hughina Harold. The intriguing combination of tea and totem poles caught my eye, what could that be? In 1935 a young woman took a job as a teacher/nurse on Village Island (off the BC coast). It's primitive and isolated, there are language and cultural barriers, but she comes to love the people and the area and writes long letters home. Later, she used them for the stories she wrote for CBC radio, and then this book. It makes a good companion book to Nothing Daunted (from the April 12, 2014 post).

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I was amused to discover that January 13 is International Skeptics Day. I really don't need a day, however, I'm pretty much a skeptic every day. ;-)

Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, by Charles P. Pierce. Common sense, thoughtful thinking, logic .... none of these seem to be in use anymore. If something makes money, is said loudly enough, and enough people believe it, then it must be true. It has even lead to politicians being elected because they promised to vote against a project that never existed in the first place. There have always been 'cranks' as the author calls them, but never had they had so much power. This book was scary, and rather depressing.

Knowing that much of what we hear or read is not exactly true, I looked for a book on just how that is done. Spin This: All the Ways We Don't Tell the Truth, by Bill Press was what I found. Learn how just about anything can be put in the best possible light, whether in politics, sports, advertising, and general life. (There is a difference between a spin and a lie, by the way). Fun, at times, but frightening as well.

Full of tidbits of information, The Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong, by John Lloyd and John Mitchinson proved to be an enlightening read. Turns out, the Great Wall of China can not be seen from the moon. (Okay, I did wonder about this)! A two-toed sloth has either six or eight toes, and an octopus doesn't have eight arms. Some I actually knew (violin strings are not made of cat gut), others I didn't. The short entries allowed me to read this book during the ads on tv. :-)

Burt Reynolds as James Bond? Invading Russia in the winter? Changing the taste of Coke? Read about these and more in 100 of the Worst Ideas in History: Humanity's Thundering Brainstorms Turned Blundering Brain Farts, by Michael N. Smith and Eric Kasum. Some are familiar, some are not, some, well, you have to wonder what folks were thinking! Nicely laid out with a good bibliography should you want to learn even more.

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Charles Finch is the author of a wonderful series of mysteries starting with A Beautiful Blue Death. I recently finished the most recent, The Laws of Murder, and was pleased with how well it fit in with what I'd learned in The Invention of Murder about how reporters would vie for stories, and exaggerate the facts to make them more dramatic in order to sell more papers. I love how Finch includes that unexpected 'twist' every so often. :-)

I can't remember when I first discovered the Ellery Queen mysteries, but once I did that's pretty much what I read until I'd read every one I could find. It took two authors to write these mysteries, cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee. Some what dated now, I still go back and read one every so often. Try And On the Eighth Day, or Cat of Many Tales.

For a more puzzle type of mystery (it's good to know lots of trivia, too), try the Black Widower mysteries by Isaac Asimov. The first is Tales of the Black Widowers. Witty and fun. Keep an eye on the waiter, Henry.

Oliver Quade, the Human Encyclopedia, by Frank Gruber, is a collection of old stories (from the 1930's) was an unexpected find. I have avoided pulp fiction because the few stories I'd read were more of the gun-toting, fighting characters than I like. Not so here! Quade sells encyclopedias. He's read through the 24 volume set several times and has a photographic memory and solves these mysteries by using that knowledge. All in all, a most enjoyable read.

Seems this is Peculiar People Day! Sounds like a good excuse to pick up a Christopher Fowler Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery. :-)

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While it is true that tea is my beverage of choice, I am also a lazy tea drinker and use tea bags ... you know, the ones filled with tea dust rather than leaves!

A Little Book of English Teas, by Rosa Mashiter, illustrated by Milanda Lopez answers that puzzling question of what to serve with afternoon tea! Included are recipes for summer and winter afternoons as well as suggestions of the best tea for each season. There's a brief history of tea at the beginning, a subject that will come up in another book (see below). And, for those of you who read my blog and are aware that I don't cook, not to worry, I've still not done so, but this is a nice read nevertheless. ;-)

It was found in just one place (at least the good stuff was). How it was grown, harvested, graded, etc. was a carefully guarded secret. This is the true story of mystery, intrigue, adventure, and espionage about the theft of tea. Britain once got all tea from China, where it was a carefully controlled commodity. Finally the 'powers that be' decided they no longer wanted to be dependent on another country for their favorite beverage. For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History, by Sarah Rose is the story of this grand adventure.

My mom used to say ' I wouldn't (whatever) for all the tea in China' and this memory sent me in search of I Hear American Talking: an Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases, by Stuart Berg Flexner as I thought it might be included there. It was full of descriptions, explanations and origins of just such phrases and was a wonderful reference book. I gave it once, as a gift, and now it is out of print so I'm left with just the memory, but if any of you can find it, please, read it, it was fun! (And check to see if 'for all the tea in China' is included).

There's the one that is taught in our history classes. There's one that may (or may not) have actually happened, but in any case has the biggest re-enactment every year. There's one that was the first public protest by women in U.S. history where they not only published their support of the boycott on tea in the local papers, but then gathered on the town green and burned what they had in the cupboards. Ten Tea Parties: Patriotic Protests That History Forgot, by Joseph Cummins tells of these and more. I found this book both interesting and frustrating. There is at least one glaring error (well, to me, anyway). There are no footnotes or endnotes to see where this information came from, and the bibliography is small. Still, the 'interesting' was stronger than the 'frustrating' and overall I enjoyed the book.

Do you knit? (I don't.) Looking for your next fun project? Take a look at really wild tea cosies (yes, all in lower case), by Loani Prior. Really crazy cosies with good pictures and (I can only assume) the necessary instructions.

And, if you are more in the mood for a cozy mystery with your tea, try the Laura Childs Tea Shop Mysteries. Set in the south, with good characters, each mystery has an interesting twist: historical, an environmental issue, a local celebration, and so on. Start with Death by Darjeeling.

I actually found enough books for two entries on tea, so expect another post at a later date! (And who knows, maybe I'll find even more)!

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I'll start the new year with books on subjects that, when I mentioned them, surprised several people. I'm calling it the "you read WHAT?" post. :-)

I am most often in sweats and tees, so I got more than one startled reaction when I mentioned The Lost Art of Dress: the Women Who Once Made America Stylish, by Linda Przybyszewski (let's pause a moment to let the Spell Check recover ...). I was amused to learn I was right ... this 'sausage casing' look is not attractive! And heels are much too high and narrow (see the x-rays at what happens to feet is such shoes). In times past there were Dress Doctors, to use a term from the book, that could teach women how to dress for their body type, for the occasion, what fabric to use, what style, etc. It does not mean skirts cannot be short, or one must always wear flats, it's just that there is a good way to do this! After all, a dress or skirt that moves, that has a gentle 'swish', that gives a suggestion of what's underneath is much more alluring than one than bunches, binds and wrinkles. More pictures would have been nice, but overall, a surprisingly good read.

Another round of great reactions came with Total Wheelspin: Car Culture, Quizzes, Myths and Motoring Madness, by Tony Davis. Even with the connection to Australia and the cars there (with which I am totally unfamiliar), this was a fun read. A favorite vehicle of mine was my old 1978 GMC pickup, and that's about as fancy as I get!

Since I was on a bit of a roll, I went on to read other books I normally avoid. Sports seemed to be the way to go and Constant Reader offered up this recommendation: The 34-Ton Bat: the Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobble Heads, Cracker Jacks, Jock Straps, Eye Black & 375 Other Strange and Unforgettable Objects, by Steve Rushin. It sounds like a book of lists, but it's much better than that! I would have appreciated pictures of the mitt, which went through a variety of styles, and I was bemused by how long it took for some of the things that made the game safer to be accepted by the players. (especially the cup) (!) I learned about uniforms (originally heavy, and much too warm for the heat of summer) and the bat, seat size in the stands, and beer. My favorite chapter was the one on the music played at games. A good organist would customize the music for what was happening in the game, and perhaps have a specific song or melody for each player. A most enjoyable read. ;-)

Another subject about which I read very little is math. I tried Benjamin Franklin's Numbers: an Unsung Mathematical Odyssey, by Paul C. Pasles, but could just not get into it. This book did show another side of Benjamin Franklin, though, and others might like the 'math' included so I thought I'd go ahead and list it. :-)

With the exception of books, of course, I am not much of a shopper. My philosophy, like Austin Phelps, is "Wear the old coat, buy the new book." Still, I found Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge, by Lindy Woodhead to be an interesting read. (There is also a PBS series). Actually, Mr. Selfridge reminded me a bit of P.T. Barnum in that he was a showman, knew how to stage things, how to use advertising, and understood the value of customer satisfaction

It was fun reading outside my 'comfort zone' and I expect to do more in the future.

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