Links I Loved (Volume 1)

I made you think this was a Valentine's Day post, didn't I?

So, I've seen quite a few bloggers doing a weekly roundup of links to posts, recipes, and books they've enjoyed over the week, and I've decided that it would be fun to take it up and do one for myself. Hopefully it'll be a nice way to shower some virtual love on my favorite bloggers and get me blogging and thinking more.

I've started a volume count just because I want to; this isn't part of a linkup or anything like that. It would be nice if I did this weekly, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Either way, I hope I can point you towards some gems!

Books I Read

I finally finished The Consolation of Philosophy! I really enjoyed reading it and thinking about the points Boethius brings up. If you (like me) are just starting/hoping to start getting into philosophy, this makes a great beginning point for primary texts. It's written in a really clear and concise manner and the points aren't presented as overly wordy or complicated, unlike some other books (cough cough Confessions).

I also read Please Ignore Vera Dietz, a teen problems novel that was very well written and delivered. It is not content-free but neither is it explicit. I felt that all the issues it dealt with were addressed sensitively and with great understanding, and the little bits of humor stuck in here and there helped keep the tone from getting overly depressing or serious.

Yesterday I finished a whopping two whole books, The Returning and Faery Tales and Nightmares. Both very enjoyable reads, same content warning as above. You can check out my full reviews by visiting my Goodreads page.

Recipes

Deb's White Bean Pasta with sizzling rosemary oil sounded amazing! If only I was in charge of our family's dinner rotation, I would have this in an instant.


I'm not usually one for recipes that require a lot of intricate work, but I'm starting to warm more to the idea, doing my ciabattas this week and putting crumpets and croissants on the to-cook list as well. Heidi's popover recipe came at a good time!

Sarah's Coconut Soup also sounded really good, though I'm not usually one to cook with ginger. I like how specialized and unapologetically all-out she is with her health food cooking.

Articles

Both of Simcha Fisher's articles on Lent (here and here) are worth a read.

A few reflections on Pope Benedict's retirement: Fr. Longenecker, Elizabeth Scalia, and Calah Alexander.

Everything You Wanted To Know about Cannibalism but Were Afraid To Ask by Mentalfloss.


Phew, that actually took a while to get all the links rounded up! Next week, I'll start a bookmark folder for it so I'll have it all in one place :D