I would not want my teen reading this--in fact, I think I'm giving up on this author.

Sarah J. Maas is the author of two popular teen fantasy series: Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses. In fact, Throne of Glass is a New York Times' Bestselling Series that will be made into a TV show by HULU. And frankly, I think it's all well deserved; Maas is an excellent writer. She has a skill in creating a vibrant world with fascinating characters who are dealing with compelling problems. I have really enjoyed reading her books, but I think I might have to stop.

Working at a library, I am exposed/introduced to a plethora of books--my favorite library perk! And when I came across Throne of Glass, I thought it sounded interesting, so I read it. Then immediately read the next two books. I recommended the series to a good friend; she read and loved them, too. Then we both anxiously and excitedly waited for Queen of Shadows to be released and were not at all disappointed.

In my I-want-to-know-what-happens-next induced depression, I discovered that Maas had started a new series, A Court of Thorns and Roses. I told my friend, and she beat me to it. When I finally got my hands on the book, I first read the book jacket. It was full of glowing, positive reviews, but most of those reviews commented on how sexy and passionate the book is.

I thought that was a little weird, so I asked my friend if this book was really steamy. She said that like Throne of Glass sex is mentioned, characters have sex, but it doesn't really go into any detail. So I went ahead and read it.

My friend wasn't necessarily wrong. As the book moves along, there's some sexual tension eventually leading to characters doing the deed. However, there was enough detail that it made me feel uncomfortable.

Then the book's sequel was released. I was a little wary, so I waited until after my friend read it to get her feedback. She told me there are a lot of sex scenes throughout--much more than the first book.

I was torn. I really wanted to see how the story plays out, but I didn't want to endure any more sheathing sword metaphors or other uncomfortable details. Ultimately I decided not to read the sequel.

Then finally, the next Throne of Glass was released. My excitement was tainted by worry that similar sexual content from the other series would creep into this one. And since the last Throne of Glass ended with some significant sexual tension hanging between two characters, I knew I might not be worrying over nothing.

I began the book. The tension definitely continued from the last book, but nothing happened until halfway through the book. The two characters were on the beach and it was obvious they were finally going to do it. The scene began with foreplay, continued with every intimate detail, until six pages later when the scene ended.

When I say every intimate detail, I mean it. Absolutely nothing was left to the imagination. And this lasted a full six pages.

I would not call myself a prude, but as the scene progressed, I literally read with my eyes wide open nearly bulging out of my skull. Six pages of explicit, intimate details. In all my worries over what would happen in this book regarding the sexual content, I did not anticipate anything so graphic.

And this book is marketed toward teens.

In fact, after reading the scene, I had to go back and double check that fact. All of Maas's books have been published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens and are indeed marketed toward teens.

Which brings me to the point of this post: If you are a teen, a parent of a teen, or simply a teen fiction enthusiast, proceed with caution regarding Maas's books (and maybe even the upcoming TV series).

I am not going to tell anyone what they should or should not read, that is a personal decision. And maybe scenes like this don't bother everyone. But this really bothered me; I did not like it or how it made me feel. In the middle of my teen fantasy novel was hidden six pages of pornography. I was not expecting it. I do not typically read adult books with romantic themes, because I don't want to chance upon scenes like this.

And I keep thinking about how this would have affected me if I had read it when I was a teen. This would have been traumatic for me. Honestly, traumatic; I'm not choosing that word lightly.

I remember the first time I read a sex scene in a book. In my teenage innocence and naivete, I didn't understand what was going on. It was a short paragraph, but I read it four or five times before I realized, "Holy cow they're doing it!" And at the time it was kind of disturbing; it bothered me despite being brief and subtle. And because it was assigned reading for high school, I finished the book. And even though we never discussed the sex scene in class, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we were done with that book.

A six-page explicit sex scene in a book would have been traumatic for me as a teen. I had absolutely no experience with boys beyond friendship. I wasn't asked on a date until college. I wasn't kissed until my mid-twenties. As an inexperienced, innocent, and naive teen, I would not have been ready for this. I'm in my thirties and enjoying a healthy sex life with my husband, and I'm still not ready for this kind of thing!

I can't even begin to say how disappointed I am. I feel invested in what happens to these characters. So I have picked the book up and continued to read out of some sense of loyalty maybe, but every time I do I get anxious and worried about what might be on the next page. I wouldn't want teen me to feel this way--I don't want to feel this way! I read for pleasure, and I read fantasy for an escape from reality. I don't read to peek in on characters in the bedroom, or to find myself facing some dilemma of whether or not I should keep reading.

If teen me asked what I thought she should do, I'd encourage her to stop reading. So I think I'm going to stop reading this book, this series, and this author all together. Despite how fantastic I anticipate the story to be, I'm not convinced it'll be worth it if what I like is peppered with what I don't like.

Hyperbole and a Half

There are many ways to get recommendations for new books. One of my favorites is through the Provo City Library's blogs. Libraries are amazing; if you're not familiar with your local library, check it out--either in person or peruse their website. You might be surprised at what you find.

I especially like checking the library's reviews because the librarians read everything, and sometimes I want to read something a little outside my norm. And that is where I found Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh.

Hyperbole and a half apparently started as a webcomic/blog. Then because of the blogs success, the book was published. The book is a collection of stories, often hilarious, from various points in the author's life as well as her ruminations on how she's dealt with depression, not hilarious, and her own self-discovery.

The book starts strong. I was laughing to tears by page 30, and considering the amount of drawings involved, there is much less than 30 pages worth of text. The combination of how she expresses herself in writing and in her simplistic comics is amazing. I loved it.

While the hilarious stories were my favorite part of this book, I also thought the author's introspection was worthwhile, and there were many times where her descriptions hit pretty close to home. She put on paper things I've thought, but I'm not sure I'd ever have the courage to say. Overall, it was an enjoyable, quick read.

Homemade Baby Food Revisited

In May 2011, I posted about making homemade baby food. I did it consistently with Charlie, and I've started it up again with Emmett. My main resource was, and is, Cooking Light First Foods (CLFF). I love it!

As I've started making food for Emmett, I decided to post some things I've learned. I still have not tried making all the foods in CLFF, but I have made quite a few. While most have been very easy, here are three I've had some difficulties with:

Green Peas
CLFF says to steam fresh or thawed peas for 6 min. or until very tender then process until smooth. I had a hard time getting mine smooth--and Charlie did not like the consistency.
I'd suggest steaming them longer, 8-10 min.

Plums
CLFF says to peel the plums. I dislike using potato peelers, so I looked online and discovered that plums can be easily peeled if they are blanched for 30 seconds. So I gave it a try, and 3 out of 14 of my plums had their peels easily rub off--it was fantastic. The others . . . not so much; I ended up using my potato peeler anyway. I think the 3 that worked were the most ripe. However, even though they peeled easy, halving and pitting them was a giant mess after they were blanched.
In the future, I will get the most ripe/over-ripe plums I can find, and halve and pit them prior to blanching. Then proceed with steaming and processing.

Dried Prunes
CLFF says to strain the mixture through a sieve after boiling and processing the dried prunes. This was time consuming! And frustrating!
I discovered that adding more of the cooking liquid to the mixture before straining made it a lot easier--go for thinner rather than thicker. But I also question how important it is to discard the solids. Would it be bad for the baby if I left them in? I don't know.

The Hunger Games

I had heard from a lot of people that The Hunger Games trilogy was a good read, so I finally got around to reading the first book. I started reading Friday night. I was done, in tears, Sunday night.

To say The Hunger Games was good would be absolutely true, yet slightly misleading. I found it horrifying and was slightly traumatized by the end. But I LOVED the book.

Here is one brief synopsis from the official website: Set in a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed. When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her younger sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

The book takes a dramatic look at the effects of violence on adolescents, and while it is in the extreme (I had to keep reminding myself throughout the book that the society I was reading about was not my society), it raises some interesting questions. The book also begins an examination of politics (again not our politics, but the principles there are true). While the book looks at some pretty serious issues, it is not didactic. The author, Suzanne Collins, perfectly blends an intense narrative with these serious issues.

And while I say I found The Hunger Games horrifying, amid the horror is a delightful mix of humor and wit that balances out the tragedy. All-in-all I’d say this book is practically perfect in every way. If you can only read one book this year, read The Hunger Games.

Fablehaven

I recently finished the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. While the completion is recent, I think I started reading the series a couple years ago. Why did it take me two years to read five preteen/young adult books? Excellent question. Well, there are a couple reasons. First, I didn’t find the first one interesting enough to quickly pick up the second one. Second, I borrowed them from my mother-in-law who was also loaning them to a friend. So I had to wait until her friend finished, and then I had to wait until either she or I remembered to give/ask for the next one. And third, I was simultaneously reading another, more interesting, series (which when I finish I will blog about, but it’s like 15 books long, and while I’m on book 11 or 12 they’re each at least 600 pages, and I’ve still got a while).

So why didn’t I find the first one interesting enough to quickly pick up the second one? The scope of the book was narrow. For those who don’t know the premise of the series, allow me a quick summary: the books follow two young siblings who discover that their grandparents are caretakers over a magical preserve, and then these two kids proceed to have a variety of adventures interacting with the magical community. So the scope of the book was narrow because all the action in the first book was centered at the magical preserve, Fablehaven, which for a first book introducing the reader to a new world is kind of understandable. But at the same time, the first book didn’t leaving me anxiously wanting more.

The next question is: did the later books get any better than the first? Yes! And I would say the rest were all significantly better than the first and all at about the same quality as each other. The later books very rapidly began integrating characters and events from outside Fablehaven, and then the two main characters themselves began encountering magical creatures in the “real” world (outside of Fablehaven)—and throughout the world. Which satisfied my dislike of the narrowness of the first book.

Personally, I think the series’ greatest strength is the pacing. Brandon Mull gets things started and keeps things going. I may have encountered passages that made me want to stop reading maybe once or twice after the first book. But while the books are set at a good pace, they aren’t so intense I couldn’t ever stop if I needed to do something else. And it was easy to get back into them once I put them down.

The series greatest weakness is that the books tend to be a bit didactic. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy learning from literature and I appreciate books that support good morals and values, but I don’t like it when an adult character gives a kid character a lecture on how they can improve (which probably happens a little more than once per book in this series). I see it as a failing of the author. A good author should be able to show good morals and values and principles like repentance and redemption instead of just talking about them.

Now, I must concede that in my mid twenties I am not the author’s target audience. The books are intended for preteens and young adults. If I try to imagine twelve-year-old me, I think I would have devoured this series with reckless abandon.

Overall, the books are entertaining and fun to read. I would recommend the series to anyone looking for a fun bit of light reading.

Homemade Baby Food

Since Charlie's been tolerating his oatmeal and rice cereals well over the past several weeks, I've decided to get him started on veggies and fruits. And in an effort to avoid buying expensive baby foods and to satisfy my control freak tendencies, I've started by making my own baby food with the help of a fantastic book my sister gave me, Cooking Light First Foods.

There are two specific things I really love about this book. First, it shows that you don't have to buy any expensive equipment. When discussing the tools needed to make baby food, the book gives a list of items ranging in price from as little as $2 to as much as $150. And thus far, none of the recipes I've looked at require the expensive baby food makers. Second, it offers lists of food choices beyond what I would have thought to feed my baby. After all, my thinking is just because I don't like a food doesn't mean I shouldn't expose Charlie to it; he may love foods I don't usually eat or enjoy. There are two lists I like to peruse, one that breaks fruits and veggies into color groups and another that groups fruits and veggies by seasons.

So, with my handy-dandy baby food cookbook, I got started by making Charlie some carrots. Now the recipe given is super simple and also kind of obvious—you may be thinking, "she needed a cookbook to figure THAT out!?" But I do find the book helpful. So here's the recipe:

1. Steam 1 pound carrots for 20 minutes or until very tender. 2. Blend, process, or mash until smooth, adding cooking liquid to reach desired consistency.

Since I already had a really awesome blender, I used that, and it worked great. Now obviously a baby isn't going to eat a pound of carrots in one sitting, so I spooned my carrot puree into an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer; when the puree was frozen I took the cubes out of the tray and am storing them in baggies in the freezer. One serving for Charlie is about two cubes.

All in all, the experience of making baby food was a success. I found it to be quick and easy. Plus, now I feel all thrifty and domestic—hooray for esteem boosters!