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2025 Reading List

Welcome to a new year of reading!

I read 28 novels and 26 graphic novels last year. Not bad! This year, I’m putting recent acquisitions and reads at the top. That does not mean READING order, just PILE order.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye, John Scalzi. I had to start this as soon as I got it. It’s an absurd notion, housed as if it really happens and people have to deal with it. It’s got plenty of Scalzi humour and I’m liking it, despite its silly premise. In mid-read.

Never Flinch, Stephen King. This was a surprise from Amazon, we’d pre-ordered! I started it immediately after I finished Bazaar of Bad Dreams. It is another Holly book – he just can’t quit her!! This novel was good – not great. I do fervently wish the next book is called Two For Flinching, however.

Goodwill Hurl, 10 June 2025
After, Amy Efaw.
Little Deaths, Emma Flint.
Everything You Want Me To Be, Mindy Mejia.

The Greatest Zombie Movie Ever, Jeff Strand. Started this one and it reminds me of the movie Super 8. It’s Super 8 from the kids’ points of view. Short and fun read!

Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout. The slow start was indicative of a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Anything that is “literary” tends to be ponderous, IMO. This novel is about 90% dialog, some of which is directed to the reader as asides, to fill in about the characters. It’s a little odd, but with this particular book, a nice break from the constant chatter of the characters. Despite the overall slowness of the book, it is still a good read and a good study on dialog driven narrative.

Country of Origin, Don Lee. This one is hard to describe. The core of the book is racism, but Lee narrows it down to Japanese/American racism. But the story is about a mysterious disappearance and one character’s problems with relationships. It was a pretty good read. Definitely had a surprise ending.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Stephen King. This is a re-read. It’s a short story collection – a style that King excels at. The foreword has valuable info about writing the short story and a bit about his process. Nick has been on a King binge, so I thought I’d join him.

Taste / My Life Through Food, Stanley Tucci. Yes, this is a second read of his memoir. It is SO GOOD. He is extremely witty and you’ll read it in his voice. He shares family recipes along the way. HIGHLY recommend.

Burn the Place, Iliana Regan. Yes, I did read this a couple of years ago, but I picked it up again at Ollie’s. Memoir of being a self taught chef, rising to Michelin heights. It’s about being a queer, self taught chef. STILL a great read. Found the other copy in a pile that Nick moved. WORTH getting twice!

Home, Marilynne Robinson. Pulitzer Prize winning author. This book is one of Oprah’s, so I look forward to reading it. Eh, well, it’s as wordy as you’d suspect for a Pulitzer Prize winning author. It’s slow and ponderous, and feels English to me, despite the author being American. It’s just OK. Finally finished. Not a fun read by any means. Her catchphrase is “he put his hands to his face”. WAY overused, as is a character crying on every other page and saying “it doesn’t matter”. UGH. Probably will not read the other one (below).

Lila, Marilynne Robinson. Same author, same reason for getting it. Probably will NOT read this one.

The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, Zoraida Córdova. This author does a lot of fan fic and even writes romances under another name. She is from Ecuador but lives in New York. I think this is a fantasy book set in Ecuador. We’ll find out!
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Looking for VSG/Bariatric info?

Hi there! If you’d like to see ONLY my extensive research on Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, bariatric diet and managing GERD (reflux), you can filter out all my other posts and see just those by clicking HERE. You can see my vlogs about my VSG journey here.

To see any category (recipes, for instance), use the drop down menu to the right labeled “View Posts by Category” and select the category you’d like. Thanks for stopping by!

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Current State of VSG/GERD

I just saw a post by a woman who is in stage 3 kidney failure due to long term use of PPIs. Which is why I got off those things very soon after my VSG surgery. If you take them, you should start stepping down from them immediately. The product I talk about in this post would be an excellent way to do that. Read on. However, if you’ve not read it, I’d read my other post which includes the links to PPI research before reading this one if you want the full picture. The kidney specific articles are here and here. I also have several posts about getting off PPIs, you’ll see them in the category.

The woman with kidney failure and my current status have prompted me to write an updated post about my VSG and long term GERD issues. I’ve not written anything about it in detail since 2021 when I tried acupuncture – which didn’t do much, sadly. I wrote a passing note within a deck building post last summer, but I have not written anything detailed, which will now be rectified.

Ok, so let’s go back to my last batch of writing from 2021. I did acupuncture, and while I do feel acupuncture is helpful for many issues, I got little results even with the Chinese Death Tea™.

I got into a routine with ONLY famotidine (H2 blocker), 3x a day, totaling 40mg/day and antacids (calcium). This was fine until 2024, when I started throwing up. Often.

I thought I was just overeating, but when the spitting and puking kept happening, I started to pay attention. It was NOT volume related, it was something else. I did some digging and found that throwing up typically begins with VSG patients around the 8-10 yr mark. Why? It is the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) spasming and/or becoming weak. When I mentioned this within my deck building post, I was thinking it was gall bladder, but no.

So I kept on with my famotidine routine and tried to be extremely careful when eating (read: eating TINY amounts at a time) to not miss the signals that I would end up puking. This went on until about a month ago (June 2025) when I was looking at FB and an ad caught my eye. It was an ad proclaiming Kiss My Acid Goodbye!, which of course, has the perfect tone for me. So I clicked it and read about the product and decided to roll the dice on a fucking FB ad.

I interrogated the dude who said he was behind the product – I even ran his emails through AI detection! – and he was, indeed a real guy who was ALSO a VSG patient who had the same puking experience that I am dealing with. I started the KMAG supplement (you can read all about it here: How KMAG works) and after a month, I can say that it definitely does SOMETHING. I’ve cut down famotidine to 10mg Pepcid at bedtime only and I’ve only had 3 pukes in that time, with a few spits w/out puking. I should probably go to 2x/day with it, but I take SO MANY fucking supps. I take: multivitamin, NAC (because I’m a sot), vit D+K sublingual, B12 sublingual, liquid glucosamine/chondroitin (nasty), concentrated liquid biotin/collagen and liquid magnesium (to offset the calcium, which is becoming a non-thing), PLUS the KMAG. It’s a lot.

I do feel that KMAG is healing my ravaged stomach and LES, it’s taking some time, but ALL natural supplements take time.

So that’s where I am with VSG/GERD and supplements. I feel that KMAG is doing its job healing up damage and soothing the LES spasms that are the likely culprit of the puking.

If you want to read ALL my posts relating to VSG, PPIs and managing GERD, here is the category, which is recent first, so you’ll need to go backwards to get to the beginning.

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Roasted Green Bean and Asparagus Salad

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Roasted Green Bean and Asparagus Salad

Roasted veg, a punchy vinaigrette and a pop of blue cheese makes this one elegant salad! It looks fancy, but is super easy to make.
Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American, Italian, Mediterranean
Keyword asparagus, green beans, salad
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author misangela

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups green beans, in 1-2" pieces
  • 1 cup asparagus, peeled and cut into 1-2" pieces
  • 10 grape tomatoes, halved
  • 2 Tbl red onion, brunoise (very small dice) or shallots
  • 2 Tbl minced parsley half in vinaigrette
  • 1 Tbl fresh thyme leaves only 1 tsp if dried, half in vinaigrette
  • blue cheese crumbles or feta or goat cheese
  • pepitas or nuts if you need more texture

Vinaigrette

  • 2 tsp garlic paste or smash up 2 cloves of garlic very fine
  • 1/3 cup EVOO
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tbl rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard or whole grain
  • 1 Tbl of the minced parsley above
  • 1/2 Tbl of the thyme above
  • S/P to taste

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  • On a sheet tray, put the green beans and asparagus in a single layer with a little EVOO to keep from sticking. Lightly S/P. Pop in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the veg starts to get soft.
  • While the veg is cooking, whisk together the vinaigrette until it is emulsified.
  • Once the veg is soft, turn on the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes to get some colour on them. Then pull from the oven and cool for a few minutes.
  • Put the warm roasted veg in a bowl with the tomatoes, onion and herbs. Stir in the vinaigrette. Don't use too much, there should only be a Tbl or so in the bottom. Use any leftover vinaigrette on a salad!
  • This can be served room temp or chilled. When serving, top with the crumbled cheese of your choice and pepitas or nuts if you like.

Notes

This recipe is for 4 smallish servings. It took half a bunch of asparagus and half a small bag of ready to go green beans. It can be easily doubled to use all the veg and make a good sized bowl. 
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Wool Gathering

Got kind of a random list of stuff on my mind, so this post will be loosely organized, however not as fanciful as the title implies. HA!

The main thing on my mind is something I’ve been struggling with for a while now. It is my status as The Party Girl™. I’ve always been known for knowing how to have a good time and I’ve certainly leaned into it over the years. I do love me a good party, true, but now that I’m getting old and slowing down, it has been damned hard to move people away from the perception that every interaction with me needs to be a party. This may seem to be a minor thing, and for most people, perhaps it is, but for me, it has become an issue. I can’t have people over for dinner without it becoming an all night affair. Again, I like to party as much as the next girl, but I simply CANNOT do all nighters any more (I don’t even do it at CONS any more FFS!). I am simply too old. It takes me DAYS to get over it – the fatigue, the detox, the angry tummy, all of it. Late night parties are just not worth the price any more! BUT I can’t seem to get anyone to understand this. Every person to the one is deeply embedded with the belief that if you’re at MY house, then baby it’s gonna be a par-TAY! I know change is hard and all that, but I really need my friends to be more open to having a relatively early evening (1am I can do!) and perhaps not all of it spent smoking (which is getting harder for me to recover from). I AM capable of having movie night, or game night, or whatever without it being a balls to the wall party. Sigh. This is my cry for help!

I had a keratosis thing on my cheek recently. It just appeared and was pretty big and ugly – keratosis is basically a skin bump. I fished around the intertubes and found a thread about diclofenac (yes, arthritis cream) being useful to get rid of them. I had some, so I thought: what the hell! I’d already been using microneedle blemish patches with a little success, as well as hyaluronic acid moisturizer and retinol serum. Well, the diclofenac WORKED! Who knew? I also now have eczema spots all over my body, which I find most irritating. They don’t itch, they just look awful. My neighbor works for Dermalogica, and she gave me some serum stuff that has plant STEM cells for the keratosis. It did little for the keratosis, BUT it did help with the eczema spots. I’ve never had so many issues with my skin. UGH. I hates it.

My chronic GERD has advanced to a LOT more spitting up and/or vomiting up the whole meal. It is fairly random, but sometimes I can feel when it’s going to happen and stop eating immediately. Yes, I know that getting a revision to a full bypass would solve this, but I just can’t. I may be driven to it at some point, but for now, I just can’t face another surgery. So I’ll live with occasional bulimia. Sigh.

Shasti is starting to show her true age. We think she is probably 15+, which is 4 years more than we initially thought. Her eyes have begun to show age with the irises changing colour and the pupils becoming a bit cloudy. She sleeps a LOT more. Her kidney numbers are not great, but holding steady for now. I have to get her on fluid therapy, which means I have to learn to do it myself ($145 a pop? NOPE.). I have a difficult time with the hard jab necessary to pierce that tough skin on her scruff. I’ve managed to get her to take her kidney and constipation meds in her food, but now we are trying to do a week of antibiotics every month, rotating the kind, to see if we can keep that gum infection at bay. THAT is proving nearly impossible to put in food – it is the pink stuff, clavamox, and she is supposed to get 1ml a day. It is too much for food and gods I hate fighting her to take it orally. I spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with the cat.

And finally, I guess I’m just a little on the depressed side lately. I feel misunderstood, I am always tired and I have no motivation to do anything. BUH. It will pass, it always does, but it’s just a DRAG. I try daily to remember that I have a basically good life with a nice home, good friends and a wonderful partner in crime. I try to avoid the news and avoid thinking about this country going down the toilet because I am trapped here and can’t leave, so what good is it to waste time worrying about it? I just try to accentuate the positive, baby.

And with that, I go forth to find some happiness. Which means I’ll probably cook something. ;)

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Quick and Easy Cheesecake Souffles

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Quick and Easy Cheesecake Soufflés

This is a riff on a cheesecake pie recipe I have. I only had one brick of cream cheese, so I came up with these easy little soufflés instead. Yummy!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, French
Keyword cheesecake, souffle
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 4 ramekins
Author misangela

Equipment

  • 4 Ramekins small 4-5oz size
  • 1 sheet pan with a lip to hold water, or use a casserole dish
  • 1 hand or stand mixer

Ingredients

  • 1 8oz cream cheese regular brick, not whipped or any of that
  • 2 Tbl sour cream heaping Tbl, regular not low fat
  • 3 Tbl key lime juice or reg lime, or lemon - use zest, too!
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 Large eggs, whole
  • large crystal sugar at the end for crunch, optional

Instructions

  • This recipe actually only takes about 10 minutes to assemble, the first 30 minutes is to let the cream cheese and eggs come up to room temp.
  • Preheat oven to 350ºF and thoroughly spray ramekins with food release spray.
  • Take the room temp cream cheese and put in a microwave safe bowl. Nuke for 20 seconds at a time until it is soft and creamy. This will eliminate lumps!
  • In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, citrus juice (and zest if you have it), vanilla and sugar on med low until smooth. Once blended, add the eggs and beat for 2 mins on medium.
  • Fill ramekins to the lip (usually about 1/4" from top). This recipe was 4 ramekins with 2-3 Tbl over for me. My ramekins are about 4.5oz.
  • Put ramekins on sheet pan and put on oven rack. Add hot water to about 1/2" deep.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes or until they are set and just barely starting to brown around the edges. I tossed on some large crystal sugar at the end, just because I had it. Optional, but a nice little crunch. Or mix a little zest with sugar and add that!
  • Cool completely and refrigerate before serving. Or if you are like me and impatient, chuck one in the freezer for a few minutes, then devour it partially chilled. :D

Notes

I think I like these better than the original cheesecake pie recipe! The pie is in a graham cracker crust and I find that I like the filling more than the crust anyway. Perfect! 
This is a cross between cheesecake pie and key lime pie. I substituted key lime juice to get that flavour rather than lemon. It's good either way. 
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To Be Perfectly Clear

For those who need more clarity about what’s up:

– I am not here to be your personal chef, therefore I do NOT owe you any dinners at any time. If you find this offensive, then leaving my sphere is the best move. I don’t miss you, HS.

– I will not stand for abusive behavior couched in the notion that it was “for the best”. NOPE. Abuse is abuse and I don’t regret ditching you crazy bitches one little bit, CBH & JC. The children have also been damaged and that is unforgivable as well. Don’t miss you in the least.

– I do not care about your widdle fee fees, RC. YOU are a Nazi sympathizer and Felon worshiper. There is no excuse for that level of complete self absorption. I don’t miss you, either.

I will not acquiesce to demands made by crazy self absorbed people any more. I’ve done it for years to keep the peace and I’m done. IDGAF if I have only a few select friends – I’d rather have FEWER of better quality than a bunch that I don’t really have ties with in the first place.

If any of this offends you, you know where the door is. I’m old, cranky and out of time to waste with people who are just out for what they can get for themselves. I want quality over quantity.

That is all.