Ez’s Comments (group member since Jul 29, 2013)

Ez’s comments from the Literally Geeky group.

Red wrote: "Ok, so here's my somewhat pretentious review:

Like most people, this is the second time I've read this book. And I clearly remember thinking during that first reading that it was somewhat disappoi..."

I know when this book was published it came with two covers - one design aimed at adults and one for children. I imagine the publishers were snapping on their swimming costumes and preparing to dive into gold like Scrooge McDuck.

It's certainly a book anyone can read - and any kid who picks it up going to learn a lot. So what if there's a few swear words?

Yknow, Bach wrote concertos in honour of its elevated status amongst confections.

The greatest cake of all.

I can't find my hard copy of the Curious Incident, there's a good chance someone's borrowed it, and it's been a long time since I read this book....but as I recall it isn't the easiest book to bake along with.

Christopher, if I remember rightly, is offered Battenberg, but doesn't like yellow.

How about some alternative Battenberg colours and recipes?

It's been a really long time since I read the book but I remember being impressed by the narrator's voice.

Spot of traditional thread necromancy here.

What's an All Hallows Read bookswap you ask? Simple. You send a spooky book out, and get a spooky book back in return - something Hallowe'en appropriate.

I've never had bad year - The Haunting of Hill House (so, so good) , Locke and Key Volume One (highly rated by Aaron), and the super creepy Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (man, the illustrations!!!).

If you're interested in swapping then reply on this thread. By October 1st we'll match you up with a partner.

And with that, a mighty new romance sub-genre was born.

I had to keep reminding myself of the publication date, especially when the contraceptive pill was brought up: in terms of dress, architecture and technology I definitely went down the Buck Rodgers retro-future route.

That party... It became an Ice Storm style key-swap party, but with an alien.

Agreed. I think this book couldn't have come at a more apt time.

Thoughts, haikus or fingerpaintings - if it's about Arthur C Clarke's Childhood's End, this is the place to post 'em.

Some more mediaeval recipes, via @Bluedaffodil.

Lozenges or Curd Cheese Pastries (Anglo Saxon / Medieval Recipe)
Serves 6

You will need:

225g (8oz) wholemeal or wholewheat shortcrust pastry
225g (8 oz) curd cheese
25g (1oz) very finely chopped stem or crystallized ginger or plump raisins
15g (1/2 oz) toasted and chopped pine nuts – nut warning!
Sugar to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

Roll the pastry out very thinly and cut it into small rectangles, approximately 15x8 cm. You should have at least 24 rectangles.
Bake the pastry rectangles in a moderately hot oven (190C, 375F, Gas Mark 5) for ten minutes or until they are crisp and brown; let them cool on a rack
Meanwhile mix the curd cheese with the ginger or raisins and the pine nuts (leave out if there’s a nut allergy)
Add the sugar and lemon to the curd mixture to your taste
Serve by sandwiching together two pieces of pastry with the cheese mixture in the middle

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/Web/Peop...

Space cake! Post your most futuristic recipes here!

Beth wrote: "*googles Battenburg*"

You are in for a motherflippin' treat.

Adelia. Adelia. Adelia! Mistress Aguliar is one of the more strident protagonists we've encountered - not to mention anachronistic. There'll be more on that in the hangout, no doubt. I thought I'd take a moment to indulge in a bit of deconstruction.

Adelia’s view of herself: her role as an anatomist is all encompassing; it informs not only her professional choices, her views on life, but also her seemingly strict commitment to avoidant virginity, a concept which in itself is as unusual as her role as an anatomist - though a bit hackneyed when it comes to romance plots (no man could ever tame her, etc, etc). One quick tangent ahoy; medieval virginity is not quite the same as abstinence from penetrative sex - being 'untouched' encompassed a more metaphysical role and rarified position, than just being a single, unmarried lady. For more information on the vagaries of virginity and its role as a social construct see Hanne Blank’s very excellent Virgin: An Untouched History. Adelia's mutterings on her own virginity is one of MotAoD's less noticeable anachronisms, but... anyway, to the point!

Mistress Aguilar is very busy with the construction and refinement of her own identity; she's hyper aware of how others see her with a self obsession almost borders on the point of psychological narcissism, That's understandable in the circumstances, not to mention the fact that all doctors have egos - you wouldn't be able to treat patients without one. Nevertheless hearing Adelia's inner narrator bang the drum can become tedious. There's only so much self aggrandizement a reader can stomach, even if it is warranted.

However, I'd like to posit a theory. Yes, we are repeatedly informed that Adelia’s gender informs her role as a doctor even as she shirks the traditional obligations of a woman’s role in medieval society. Yes, the sisters are doing it for themselves (wooho!) but I would also argue that this repeated emphasis is deliberate on the part of the author, not only to hammer home the uniqueness of Adelia’s situation, but as a reaction to the persistent literary and historical trope of women being too modest to own up to any learning. Furthermore it is a deliberate counterbalance to the ‘unwomaning’ of 12th Century contemporary female medieval physicians, namely Trota of Salerno, possible authoress of the Trotula texts - a codified set of medical documents concerning female health.

Trota of Salerno is a fascinating study. You can read that she was a noble 'magistera' and chair of medicine at Salerno, or, alternatively, that the lady was a virtual nobody; someone who's name has been mistakenly appended to the Trotula: just when she's all but written out of history, the Trotula is in fact edited to turn her into a man.

12th C medical texts? Pshaw! Of course they *must* be written by a learned medieval dude, because no woman could possibly break with convention and practise medicine in her own right - nor find time between popping out kids to write down a couple of notes on gynaecology. I make no excuses for the slathering of cynicism or feminism that liberally butters that statement. Women in history are all too easily obliterated.

There are other female physicians too (though few and far between), German nun by the name of Hildegaard of Bingen would have been a contemporary of Adelia's. In a later biography she’s presented as a self taught mystic possessing little educated Latin but a pharmacological knowledge of plant life and herbs, and whose medical works document the circulation of the blood. Whether this knowledge was aquired by empirical study or, as Theoderick of Esternach, her would be hagiographer, notes, divine inspiration is a matter lost to the ages.

In contrast to these vague, lost women of medicine, Adelia is absolutely self possessed and in charge of her own narrative. She's ahead of her time medically, and yes, seems to dance blithely through the raindrops of heresy, but when compared against the deprivations of history, it's heartening to see a woman's contribution receive just approbation.

.... Even if it is a fictional alternative history at best.

Adelia Aguilar: more than a lady with a big head and a chip on her shoulder.

Cheesecake isn't a proper cake. It's got a biscuit base

I'd also recommend Terry Jones' tv series (and book) Medieval Lives. You can find most of the series on YouTube. Funny and informative.

12thC Gingerbread

"And the Lord said 'let there be cake': and there was cake."

This excised verse from Genesis may have been lost to us, but just because the bakers and cooks of the Middle Ages didn't have access to baking powder, that doesn't mean they couldn't bake the hell out of a cake.

Oatcakes, sweet seeded cakes, brydons (cakes served in a wine sauce), and waffles. All would have been made during feasts. Of course, if you were at the arse end of the Feudal system you'd be out of luck and crying into your disgusting pottage.

Honey, cloves and spices like ginger, mace, nutmeg, costly saffron, and fruit: these were all used to sweeten the cakes of the 12th century. If necessary bakers attempted to get a rise with egg yolks.

So, what kind of non-anachronistic smackerel can you make to munch upon whilst reading MofAoD? How about some gingerbread. The super easy vegetarian friendly recipe below makes enough to serve four.

Ingredients :

Four teaspoons of ginger.
One teaspoon of ground cloves (for added authenticity and arm day workout, grind them yourself in a pestle and mortar).
One teaspoon pepper. All the way from India! Isn't international trade wonderful?

Two cups/470ml of honey.
1lb/450g breadcrumbs (if you're really into self flagellation why not try approximating mediaeval breadcrumbs with a soda bread or rye?)

Heat the honey in a pan, and gently bring it to a boil. Do not set the honey on fire. Any scum at the top will boil off, but why not read up on the doctrine of the sanctity of dirt though, just in case. Look, don't worry. Everything is fiiiiiine.

Add everything else, - the crumbs, the spices, the whole shebang. Give it a stir. When all the ingredients are mixed, remove them from the heat.

Get out a baking tray. Pour the mixture on it.

Leave your gingerbread to cool.

When the gingerbread is completely cool cut it.

Dineth upon it, but not too much or Adelia will come along and bodyshame you.

If anyone is interested in the period and wants a very quick crash course via Hollywood, the 1969 film Beckett staring Burton and O'Toole is interesting homoerotic viewing.

O'Toole's Henry II barely contains his desire for close buddy Thomas ap Beckett played by Burton,who spends most of the film as an unimpressed walking definition of the Friendzone.

The secret to a superlight sponge cake? Replace 25g of flour with ground almonds (thanks, Grandma Hasthorpe) and sieve flour and ground almonds three times.

Stay tuned for Fruit Cakes.

Hola, here be spoilers theories and blather about Patrick Rothfuss' the Kingkiller Chronicles.

Confused? A Literally Geeky bone of contention; aages ago, the Kingkiller Chronicles were recommended on Geekocracy. Two books published, one is in the ether... So many questions.

What lies beyond the stone doors?
Why doesn't Kvothe play music anymore?
What did he do? What did he do?
Master Ash? Yeah, he's totally THAT DUDE. Right?

Which will be published first: Winds of Winter? Doors of Stone? Or the sequel to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell?

Post your thoughts via ravens. Wear your tinfoil hats. Beware of spoilers. This is your last warning.