I Will Fear No Evil

Paul Constant, the book critic for The Stranger (possibly NSFW*), is reading Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil on a bet. He is titling this Book Club of the Damned* on The Stranger's blog.

His summary of the first 122 pages, including spoilers & study questions, are here*. He writes:

I’ve read Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers, so Heinlein’s not a new experience for me, but this reads like atrophied Heinlein, as though he’s trying to write like a young man and failing miserably. This almost works with the ideas that the novel is trying to encompass, but I have a feeling it’s not going to seem appropriate for that much longer.

For anyone who cares, I have read I Will Fear No Evil. (And Starship Troopers and The Door into Summer and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Friday and Double Star and The Rolling Stones and Job and The Number of the Beast and Glory Road and more besides.) I don't think No Evil is Heinlein's best but I don't think it's his worst, either.

*The Stranger is an "edgy" weekly. In particular some of the personal ads on the right-hand side of the page would be problematic at many workplaces.

food notes

I read this review of the Triple Door's Musicquarium today. Turns out the theater was originally vaudeville. More impressive is that Wild Ginger / Triple Door makes their own coconut milk and oyster sauce, among other things. I did not know this.

John Hinterberger's clam spaghetti recipe. Hinterberger was the Seattle Times food columnist during the 80s. The original version I read was in conversational style, not this "recipe format" one; it listed the wine and mushrooms as optional & chili powder instead of a chili pepper. My memory was that the only required ingredients were an onion, a can or two of clams, grated parmesan cheese, basil, and spaghetti. I've made it with only those 5 ingredients, I've made it with 10 ingredients, but mostly I love that it's simple and I always have the basic 5 ingredients on hand.

Playing with Food - a slideshow of fun carved veggies. I'm not sure if the broccoli poodle or the little pigs are cuter...