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• Title: The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book II)
• Author: Philip Pullman
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Year of Publication: 1997
• Pages: 326

The Subtle Knife is definitely a sequel, and reading it immediately after reading The Golden Compass is satisfying in a way that reading it alone would not have been. However, as a stand-alone work it was very good. It maintained the same tone of voice as The Golden Compass without being tiresome or too similar to it. (And I’m still glad to know that there is more to come in Book III.)

Lyra is still our protagonist, and in this part of His Dark Materials, she befriends a boy named Will who is from a different world than Lyra’s, one much like our own. Their relationship grows and strengthens over the course of this part of the story. Lyra and Will, both clever and good-natured prepubescent children, form a friendship with each other when they are both in trying times of loneliness and desperation. But it is not just a friendship of convenience; they sincerely admire and care about each other. In a quiet conversation near the edge of sleep, Pantalaimon, Lyra’s dæmon, encourages Will:

“[Lyra] thinks you’re the bravest fighter she ever saw, as brave as Iorek Byrnison.”
“I suppose I better try not to seem frightened, then,” Will said. He was quiet for a minute or so, and then he said, “I think Lyra’s braver than me. I think she’s the best friend I ever had.”
“She thinks that about you as well,” whispered the dæmon.
Presently Will closed his eyes.
Lyra lay unmoving, but her eyes were wide open in the dark, and her heart was beating hard. (p. 267)

Book II maintained the excitement of Book I, but in a more sobering way. I felt much more panic reading this book than I did the other, and much less bliss. It is still an exciting story and still one I want to continue (forever), but it’s sad. Here’s to hoping for a happy ending! 5/5

• Title: The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book I)
• Author: Philip Pullman
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Year of Publication: 1995
• Pages: 399

I started this book around the end of September, back during Banned Books Week. I got several pages into the book and then stopped; it was slow going. I started to read a couple pages each day and put it back down again. I brought it with me on my weekend trip to NYC and could not put it down. Not for one second.

On the hour long flight to the city from Rochester, I had read upwards of a hundred pages. For me, this was huge. I read slowly, making sure I catch every word, every meaning. But I could not read this book slowly after the first hump. It’s just impossible. I wanted to know what was going to happen so badly, so passionately, that my eyes flew across the pages—sometimes in bliss, sometimes in near-panic. So I put it down when I had to, and picked it up at every opportunity. I finished the book the next night, and was pleased to remind myself that it was the first part of a trilogy. “Yes!” I thought. “More, more, more!”

(more…)

• Title: Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone
• Editor: Jenni Ferrari-Adler
• Authors: Steve Almond, Jonathan Ames, Jami Attenberg, Laura Calder, Mary Cantwell, Dan Chaon, Laurie Colwin, Laura Dave, Courtney Eldridge, Nora Ephron, Erin Ergenbright, M.F.K. Fisher, Colin Harrison, Marcella Hazan, Amanda Hesser, Holly Hughes, Jeremy Jackson, Rosa Jurjevics, Ben Karlin, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Beverly Lowry, Haruki Murakami, Pheobe Nobles, Ann Patchett, Anneli Rufus, and Paula Wolfert
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Pages: 260

Eating alone is not a regular occurrence for me anymore, but it does happen occasionally, and it did happen a lot when I was in college. I expect it will happen more in the future. 

I have a love/hate relationship with eating alone. I like that I can be selfish when choosing foods when I’m alone, especially since my partner is very picky when it comes to fruits and vegetables. (He is trying new things lately despite his aversion to them. I’m very grateful to him for that.) This is also one of the reasons I love eating out: I can be selfish without being alone. (I’m envisioning the deliciously sour and potent lemon tart I had at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon in Yountville, CA, a dessert reserved for selfish occasions.) When I’m eating alone, I dislike the fact that I have no one to share my joy with, no one to cook for besides myself, no one to Ooh and Aah at my efforts, no one to talk to.

These short stories encompass those feelings through many different voices, some with more love than hate for eating alone than others (and vice versa), and all with different experiences and reasons for eating alone.

As a collection, this book is lovely. The stories can be read individually or in one fell-swoop. I adopted the latter strategy, and I enjoyed it very much. I felt as though I was being let in to these authors’ lives, voyeuristically watching them alone in their homes or out to eat, being let in on the secret of their habits. It’s terribly interesting, and I almost feel guilty for enjoying it. Almost. 4/5