The Hound of Death

From the book cover:

Twelve unexplained phenomena with no apparent earthly explanation...

A dog-shaped gunpowder mark; an omen from 'the other side'; a haunted house; a chilling seance; a case of split personalities; a recurring nightmare; an eerie wireless message; an elderly lady's hold over a young man; a disembodied cry of 'murder'; a young man's sudden amnesia; a levitation experience; a mysterious SOS.

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My Review:

There’s no question that Agatha Christie is the queen of mystery, this short story collection just adds further evidence to the heap.

 

One of the things I enjoyed about this collection is the absence of Hercule Poirot. I think every Agatha Christie fan has their least favourite of her detectives. If you’ve been following my reading challenge, you know that I’m not a fan of the little detective and his grey cells.

All of the stories in the collection contain some element of the occult, although sometimes it’s simply someone playing tricks, the intention is there.

My favourite story in this collection is ‘The Fourth Man.’It centres around a young woman with multiple personalities. Three self-important professionals (a doctor, lawyer and clergy man) sit in a train discussing an intriguing case about a young woman with multiple personalities. Because of their various fields, they feel confident that they will be able to come up with an intelligent solution to the mystery surrounding the girl’s death. The fourth man sits in their cabin listening to their reasoning and then blows the whole case wide open, proving that they are not as worldly as they think themselves.

My least favourite is the title story. It felt twice as long as its 19 pages. I struggled to get into it and couldn’t wait to finish it. The narrator is dull and protagonist and antagonist did not interest me in the least.

3/5

A Daughter's A Daughter

From the book cover:
A daughter's opposition to her mother's plan to remarry threatens to destroy their relationship.

My review:
This is my second Mary Westmacott novel, and I have to say I absolutely loved it. I feel like it should be a play. It's short at 183 pages and very sweet and entertaining.

The novel takes place over the course of four years. When it opens, Ann Prentice is at a train station feeling very lonely, having just seen her only child, Sarah, off on a three-week trip to Switzerland. Ann is the quintessential doting mother. She's raised Sarah by herself with only the help of her maid, Edith. Ann was widowed when Sarah was just three years old.

Later that same day, Ann meets Richard Cauldfield at a dinner party hosted by an old friend. She feels an attraction to him but does not get to speak to him much during the course of the evening. The next day they bump into each other at a greenhouse and are inseparable for the next three weeks. Before Sarah's return, Ann agrees to marry Richard. When Sarah returns she is none too pleased about the impending nuptials and does her best to bring a stop to them. She succeeds and in doing so, jeopardizes her own future.

A Daughter's A Daughter is very thought provoking. I have two daughters of my own and think I would be inclined to make the same decision Ann made in choosing her daughter over Richard. That part is not shocking, what shocks are the changes that take place in the two women after Ann's sacrifice.

5

In the Himalayan Nights

From the book cover:
Dehradun City, Himalayas, India 1977: Two bright, beautiful, lesbian research assistants accompany their Indian professor to this city near the tense borders of China and Nepal to observe the "holy-war" dance of the Mahabharata and its link to polygamy and local heroes (or villains?). The girls begin to question the holiness of the Bhagavad Gita's two polygamist avatars while watching the dance, even as they fall in love with India and their friendly hosts. While gathering data on women's rights violations, caste discrimination, and animal cruelty, they discover more about their own culture, their relationship and themselves.

When their hosts uncover the women's secret love-life, they turn against them and the research team's existence is threatened. Will the Indian "holy-war" become a personal one between locals and outsiders, men against women, polygamists against lesbians, Indians against Americans?

My Review:
I have mixed feelings about Anoop Chandola’s In the Himalayan Nights. On the one hand, I really enjoyed reading it because it exposed me to the basic tenets of the Hindu faith in an unbiased format. But on the other side, I’m disappointed because it doesn’t quite live up to the synopsis on the book cover.

Narrated by Archi Rainwal, an Indian professor who works in the United States, the novel is for all intent and purposes a re-telling of the Mahabharata – the Sanskrit epic about the 18-year war between the Pandava and Kauravas princes. The war would have taken place sometime between 8^th and 9^th century BCE. Himalayan Nights is set in Dehradun City, Himalayas, India in 1977.

Professor Rainwal, his wife, Tula, and two research assistants, Marla and Jennifer are in the northern region of India to study the dance of a Mahabharata and how it relates to modern Indian society, female roles, the caste system and the country’s heroes. The chapters alternate between modern India (1977) and the war. In the modern sections, Professor Rainwal speaks with members of different sections of Indian society to get their thoughts on the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita (the scripture part of the Mahabharata), India’s caste system and other topics that arise from the nightly dances.

The story really isn’t about Marla and Jennifer. Professor Rainwal describes their backgrounds and provides the reader with info as to what they think about certain topics and their general dispositions but it’s really not a story about their relationship. In the last few pages of the novel, their Muslim interpreter/tour guy tells the professor that he’s discovered Marla and Jennifer naked in bed together and that they shouldn’t be honoured, but no real fuss is made. The professor is relieved that there is no mention of the CIA, because that would put their research project in jeopardy. The story then fast-forwards to Dr. Rainwal's return to the U.S. and he mentions that he hasn’t seen or heard from Marla since the night he discovered the truth about her relationship with Jennifer. But, he does mention that he’s seen Jennifer’s work as a research assistant. Marla was the more vocal of the two so it leaves one to wonder whether something happened to her.

Despite my thorough summation of the novel, I don’t feel I’ve spoiled it for anyone wishing to read it. It’s such a full book with so many little details that I’m definitely going to read it again. This story reminds me of Greek mythology, particularly the Trojan War.

4/5

About the book:

In the Himalayan Nights by Anoop Chandola

ISBN: 978-0982998700

Publisher: Savant Books & Publications LLC

Date of publish: March 24, 2012

Pages: 286

S.R.P.: $16.95

TurboCharged Recipes

From the book cover:
TurboCharged Recipes: Delicious Fuel for Your Fabulous Fat Burning Machine is a perfect stand-alone on an excellent companion book to the highly acclaimed rapid fat-loss and health book TurboCharged: Accelerate Your Fat Burning Metabolism, Get Lean Fast and Leave Diet and Exercise Rules in the Dust.

My Review:
TurboCharged offers classic recipes with healthy ingredients. I didn't try all of the recipes, instead I tried to select one or two recipes from each section.

All of the meals fall into one of six categories:

1)Meals with whole protein and/or fat alone or combined.
2)Meals with fresh, whole fruits or vegetables.
3)Meals with 90% whole protein and/or fats and no more than 10% vegetables.
4)Meals with 90% vegetables and/or fruits and no more than 10% whole protein.
5)A smoothie with water (or ice) and a scoop of 100% whey, egg or pea protein powder with no more than 3 grams of carbohydrates and about 25 grams of protein.
6)A smoothie with water (or ice) and 1-2 whole fruits and a scoop of 100% whey, egg or pea protein (optional).

Following the categories above is suppose to help the body burn excess fat. Maybe I've always been a healthy eater and just didn't know it, because I didn't find any of the recipes that I tried different than any of the things I would normally make for my family.

Seafood Marinara

The Seafood Marinara was about the only dish that didn't pass my family's taste test. I used a white wine and halibut and I served it on a bed of spaghetti noodles. If I were going to try this recipe again, I wouldn't put in on noodles and I would probably skip the wine and use muscles, shrimp and scallop for the seafood. To be fair, the recipe didn't call for a halibut, it said to use your preferred seafood. 

 

Seasoned Salmon

 I make grilled salmon at least once every two weeks. When I made the seasoned salmon, my family couldn't tell the difference between the salmon I usually make for them. This is a good thing because the seasoned salmon is baked!

Chicken Marinara

The chicken marinara is one of my two favourite recipes. It's tasty and very wholesome. My entire family felt good eating this dish over a bed of bismati rice.

Fruit Salsa

 Meh. It was a bit too spicy for my kids and my husband and I prefer our fruit whole. I think it would be a nice garnishy side dish for large family dinners. It could replace cranberries at the Thanksgiving table for those who prefer a bit of spice.

 

 

Unfortunatley, I didn't get a picture of my favourite recipe, the Medican chicken.  I loved it so much, I making Mexican turkey this year for Thanksgiving!

 

TurboCharged Recipes is a great kitchen staple cook book. It's got some very basic recipes that everyone should have in their possession.

 

 

3/5

 

About the book:

TurboCharged Recipes by Dian Griesel, Ph.D. and Tom Griesel

ISBN: 978-1936705078

Publisher: Business School of Happiness Inc.

Date of publish: May 2012

Pages:268

S.R.P.: $24.95