fall casserole # 2

Last week's casserole was such a success, I had to do it again! Today's casserole was polenta with squash and kale, and very well received. I couldn't find the recipe I wanted, so I just made one up.

( You know you want to. )

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

This recommendation from 7j was amazing. It blew me away. It was funny, it was profound, it was touching, it was witty, it was eerie, and it was very, very real. Far from your average, run-of-the-mill mystery, this one features a serial killer as the protagonist. It's not good enough that there are sequels - I want to get it back out of the library and read it AGAIN.

My favorite parts were Dexter's memories of his father, and his musings on his own psyche and sanity. ("I don't pretend to understand what it is about Dexter and blood. Just thinking of it sets my teeth on edge -- and yet, I have, after all, made it my career, my study, and part of my real work. Clearly some very deep things are going on, but I find it a little hard to stay interested. I am what I am, and isn't it a lovely night to dissect a child killer?" p 22) Five stars; one of the best books I've read all year.

ETA: I don't feel I said enough, here. This isn't really a book about serial killing. It's about how strange and funny people are, and how they want to see good in each other, and the dark sides we all carry around and try to hide. If you can get past the ick, anyone would get something out of this book.

Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

Oh, how I love being proven wrong about things like this. Here is another book that completely jettisons the notion that nothing new can be done with the dragon genre. First Temeraire, then this. This book is hard to describe. It's a young adult book. A boy finds a baby dragon and decides to raise it against the rules of his time and place. I know that that sounds totally cliched, but it's the way that it's done. Set in a federal dragon preserve? With a fearless band of dragon rangers? And dragons that they hardly ever see? It's very different. I really enjoyed it. Four stars, although I don't think I'll need to reread it quite as many times as I have reread The Blue Sword, which is my favorite Robin McKinley book EVAR, and if you haven't read it you should run out and get it IMMEDIATELY! Or ask to borrow one of my copies.