I Have a Problem and it is Called "Time Travel": The Connie Willis Edition

Back in my bookstore days, there was a girl I knew who was rather a snob about literature. I suggested Outlander by Diana Gabaldon to her thinking that she might enjoy the historical aspect of it. She came back to me a day or so later and told me that Ms. Gabaldon's history was totally wrong and she couldn't make it past the first couple of chapters. Something about cotton in the 40's. Somehow I doubt Diana Gabaldon, a professional researcher, made a factual error about cotton.

At any rate, this girl returned the favor and recommended a book to me. It was called Passage by Connie Willis. I remember asking her why she thought I would like it and she said, "Because of the cover." I kid you not. The Literature Snob judged a book (and me by extension) by its cover! Regardless, I read the book. It was weird and didn't involve time travel. However, it was intriguing enough that I looked into the author and her other books.

The next book I picked up was called The Doomsday Book. This one was about time travel. It was set in the future at Oxford University and in the Middle Ages during the time of The Plague and features an historian named Kivrin and her mentor Professor Dunworthy. It was dramatic, serious, and depressing. But in the end, it made me look for more Connie Willis. The next one I found is my absolute favorite of hers and really what this post is about.

To Say Nothing of the Dog is nothing short of wonderful! This one also featured Professor Dunworthy but added all new historians. Ned Henry has been on a mission looking for something called The Bishop's Bird Stump. He's been sent all over time and England going to jumble sales looking for this item until he gets sent to the Blitz in London. Its here that he starts to feel the effects of so much time traveling. He gets back to Oxford where he is diagnosed with Time Lag and must rest. Meanwhile, another historian by the name of Verity Kindle, has been working in Victorian England and accidentally brings something back to the future that shouldn't have been. This causes all sorts of trouble with history (or so our historians think) and both Ned and Verity work to make it right.

The thing about this story is how funny it is! Its a comedy of errors and a mystery too. I fell in love with this book and have read it about ten times. (I'm feeling like a reread now would be a great idea!) The idea that time can't really be messed with, everything happens for a reason, everything has a consequence, this is why I like time travel stories. You can't change history only be a part of it. I think Connie Willis' stories really get this right. Add to that the amazing detail and the feeling of being both in the modern world and the past and the end result is an engrossing and entertaining story.

Okay, now that I've got all that out of the way, here's my recommendations for Connie Willis' works.

Read:
To Say Nothing of the Dog (even if you read nothing else by her, read this one!)
Black Out & All Clear (was supposed to be one gargantuan novel but her publisher split it up. Read them together. World War 2 awesomeness.)
The Doomsday Book (for background and an introduction to her version of time travel)

If you still want more:
Bellweather (not time travel but interesting story about chaos theory and the origin of fads.)
Lincoln's Dreams (not really a time travel but has some history involved. Good story but the end left me a little cold.)
Firewatch (a collection of short stories and the first time travel story)

Skip:
Passage (let's just say near death experiences and the Titanic. That should be enough to turn you away right?)

**There's a couple of other titles that I haven't read yet since they aren't strictly time travel. But there is a collection of Christmas stories out there and I am almost as weird about Christmas stories (particularly romances) as I am about time travel!

I Have a Problem and it is Called "Time Travel"

I love a good book (sometimes movies) about time travel. I don't know why. It isn't logical and certainly isn't possible. But I will read just about anything that includes time travel. There are some great ones and then there are some serious stinkers. These are just the ones I love. I'm going to write up posts about my favorites because the more people who read these wonderful books and writers the better. The first book is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

Once upon a time, I worked in a bookstore. Every time I would shelve in romance, I would have to restock this book. I could not for the life of me figure out why it was flying off the shelf. One day, out of curiosity, I looked at the book and thought the blurb sounded intriguing. I had no idea what I was in for. I finished it in three days (its humongous.) I read the next one and the next one after that. I couldn't love a book more than I love this one. Also, I had no trouble convincing others how wonderful the books were such was my love for it.

Outlander begins just after World War Two in Scotland. Claire and Frank Randall are taking a much needed second honeymoon when Claire, a former army nurse, disappears. In actuality, Claire has stepped through a cleft in some standing stones and gone back in time to 1746. There, she is assaulted by her husband's ancestor, Black Jack Randall, and rescued by members of the Clan MacKenzie. Thinking she must be a British spy, they spirit her away to the MacKenzie land. It is there that she befriends a young man named Jamie who is unlike the others. They form an unlikely friendship that takes them down a path of political, historical, and family intrigue.

That's all I'm willing to share about the plot. Let's just say there is much romance, political intrigue, and action to keep you interested from the get go. It also helps that Claire and Jamie are two very real characters with motivation that is usually lacking in other romance characters. The other thing about this book is that I refer to it as a romance but it is so much more than that. It's historical and sci-fi. It's romance and suspense novel. It is purely wonderful.

Outlander is the first in the series. There are, I think, seven so far in the series with an eighth coming in 2013. Some are better than others. I happen to think the odd numbered books are the better ones, but that's just me. It is definitely a commitment to read one of Ms. Gabaldon's books but I am so very glad that I did!

Grimm Way of Life

So. I have been obsessed lately. With what you may ask? With my current weight loss/healthy lifestyle change? Nope. Work? Family? Money? Nope. I'm obsessed with a TV show. Grimm to be exact.

If you haven't seen Grimm, it is an NBC show that currently airs on Monday nights though it is about to switch back to its regular Friday night time slot. The show is centered around a Portland police detective who discovered in the pilot episode that he is a grimm. That essentially means he can see people for who they are, i.e. the big bad wolf, the three little pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It's his job to go after the bad ones. He's got a partner at work, Hank, and a partner in the creature world, Monroe. Also along for the ride is an unknowing girlfriend and a mysterious boss.

Season Two began 3 weeks ago and it has been fantastic. I cannot get enough of it. I've followed the tags on Tumblr and followed the actors in the show on Twitter. I'm a Twitter newbie and still think of it as sanctioned celebrity stalking but I can't help myself! Some of the fangurls on Twitter are dangerously desperate for attention but that is a whole other post!

I'm not planning on turning this into a Grimm blog (not that it is much of any kind of blog) but don't be surprised with the Grimm posts working their way into it.

Homemade Coffee Creamer: The Results

All right. I've had my very short and not very restful 6 hours of sleep. I am showered and at the desk with coffee in front of me. The husband says the creamer was good but lets give it a try shall we?

Definitely an improvement! It has less of a condensed milk taste but its still off to me. Of course, I've been dealing with ingredients that I can't pronounce for years. For now, we'll call it a success but I may try this again with another recipe.

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I am out of coffee creamer and out of grocery money. What's a coffee creamer addict to do? Make it at home, of course.

I've done this before with limited success. There are recipes all over the internet for it but I've yet to find one that didn't make my coffee taste way too sweet or not sweet enough. Well, tonight I may have found the answer.

The basic recipe is this:
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 3/4 cups 2% milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Mix all three together with a whisk and store in fridge for up to 10 days.

Here's the important step that is missing: Heat on the stove on low heat until all flavors combine. Don't let it boil, instead turn it off when steam just starts to rise out of the pan. Let cool for 10 minutes or so and then refrigerate.

I guess tomorrow I'll let you know how that goes.

This Writing Thing

When I was 9 years old (the same age as my daughter is now), I had to do a report on what I wanted to be as an adult. My report was about being an architect. It's what I wanted to do then. I don't know how or why I settled on that, but I had a love of buildings. They were amazing and you never knew what went on inside one of them. I used to sketch floor plans of sprawling and impossible homes and then populate them with an imaginary family.

In the ninth grade, we had career day. You went to the guidance counselor and told them what you were interested in doing as a career. In return, they gave you a print out of the kind of classes you would need to take for the rest of high school and then what your college courses would likely end up being. Back then, in 1986, there was a helluva lot of math involved in becoming an architect. Did I mention that I am not good at math? 

About this time, I discovered that while my math skills completely sucked my writing skills were pretty good. And even better, I enjoyed writing! Ever since then, it has been my dream to be a writer. But as I have said before, I have no follow through at all. I've been published once (a short story in a college journal.) But I have never finished anything.

Perhaps its time to get cracking.

Thinking About Writing

I'm thinking about writing again. I think about it all the time. I make up stories in my head practically every day. I know characters for these stories intimately. So why don't I put pen to paper (or hands to keyboard as it were) and give them life? I don't have an answer for that. Maybe I get bored easily. Maybe I'm too critical of myself. Maybe I don't have the time.

Hm. Of those three maybes, I think being critical of myself is probably the main reason. But getting bored easily is also a big one for me. I'll come up with something I think is a good idea and think about it some more until I find the flaw in the plot. By then, I'm done. No need to go on. NaNoWriMo is not my friend for this very reason.

How in the world can I get past this? If anyone reads this and has any ideas, let me know.