The Year of Brandon Sanderson

 I've always loved fantasy books, second only to sci-fi.  There's something about the imagination and the creation of a new world, with new rules and magical possibilities, that has always attracted me.  And many fantasy books are not one-off novels, but whole series that spin into more complex and rich societies and lands.  It's way too easy for me to get immersed in these books, to the detriment of normal life around me!  When I was in medical school, I didn't usually get a chance to do much "fun" reading...until my six week psychiatry rotation during which I taught myself to crochet and started reading one of the most epic fantasy series ever written, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time.  I had a lot of time on my hands (and maybe I crocheted while reading, can't remember the details).  I loved the Wheel of Time, but only got through about five of the books before coming to an abrupt halt, as I then began my 3 month surgery rotation.  I remember the frustration of knowing that the author was making things more and more complicated, and that he actually had yet to finish the series.  I said to more than a few other people, "He's going to die before he finishes the series, and then where will we be?!"  There's nothing I dislike more in literature than series that don't seem to know where they're going, and the author has a hard time finishing well.  If I'm going to invest hours and hours of my life reading something, I would like a satisfying and well wrapped up conclusion (JK Rowling NAILED this with Harry Potter).  

So, I shelved the books.  I figured that if the end wasn't even yet written, by the time the last books came out I would have forgotten important details and would need to go back and start the series over.  Years passed.  My prediction came to pass, and Robert Jordan died before he could finish the Wheel of Time.  But then.  I heard that the Jordan family had hired a new young sci-fi fantasy writer to finish the series, someone I had never heard of, named Brandon Sanderson.  It seemed like a promising development, and before too many more years had passed, in 2013, the final (14th) book of the series was published.  I kept my "promise" to myself, and started the series over.  And, dare I say, Brandon Sanderson saved the series, wrapping it up I think the way Jordan would have wanted it done, weaving all the threads together, tying up loose ends, and finally leaving me satisfied that this world and characters that I had come to love would be ok.  

From that point on, I became a Brandon Sanderson fan.  His books are, without exception, all fantastic.  I have read maybe 80% + of what he has published...and he is a prolific author, publishing already more than 40 full length novels in a variety of different worlds and series.  His novels aren't always action packed, necessarily, but each new series creates a different world, full of uniqueness and magic, which follows predetermined rules and makes sense.  His characters are rich and nuanced, he doesn't follow random rabbit holes, there's a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor (depending on the series), and most of his works are set in a larger "Cosmere" universe in which he references other characters and books he's written which is a fun Easter-egg type discovery to make.  

About 15 years ago, a doctor came out to Kibuye for a short term vision trip and brought Sanderson's newest (at the time) novel, Way of Kings.  This was the beginning of one of his most epic and ambitious series, the Stormlight Archive, in which he planned a total of 10 novels, each approximately 1000+ pages.  Of course I loved the book, but as it had just been released, I went back to my previous mantra of "don't start the series until the final book has been written."  This was a good decision, as Sanderson only released each book in the series approximately every three years.  And then, finally, in 2024 I read that he had published the fifth book in the Starlight Archive, wrapping up the "first arc" of the series.  Good enough for me.  It was time to begin!

I started in on Way of Kings again, and loved it just as much as my first time through.  Eric kindly bought me books 2-5 for my birthday that year, because as much as I love an e-library and Kindle, reading epic fantasy is better on paper (and a visitor kindly toted out the 5000 pages of books for me in their luggage).  So, 2025 became the year that I read over 6,000 pages of the Starlight Archive, and epic feat to be sure.  To make it more fun, Toby decided to read along, and we had a great time dissecting the books and figuring out what was really going on, in addition to trying to predict what would happen next!  And sure, I will admit that sometimes the story bogged down a bit, and there were probably too many characters that got to tell their story along the way, and in the end there was less wrapped up than I was assuming there would be (to be fair, I guess there are still five more books coming).  But the main stories made sense, the little interludes that he stuck between sections finally all connected to the storyline, and it was just a really enjoyable time.  I even read two additional novellas that take place in between several of the books, which wasn't part of the original "goal" but was fun to explore side characters and parts of the main world that weren't part of the original story.  

Was it worth it?  Yes.  Would I recommend them to everyone?  Probably not.  But, if you are interested in reading Brandon Sanderson, let me make some recommendations to you:

1.  I just want to read one book and not commit to a whole long series:  Read Tress of the Emerald Sea.  This is my very favorite Sanderson novel, and while it takes place in the "Cosmere" universe you don't need to know anything about any other novel, and it starts and ends within the same book.  A young woman sails off on a sea of green spores in order to rescue the man she loves, and has a tremendous story of adventure and courage and discovery along the way.  So fun and creative.

2.  I liked Tress!  Now what?  My whole family also loved another standalone novel, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.  It's about a somewhat East-Asian inspired world where a young woman who stacks rocks and a young man who paints nightmares find their lives bound together, sharing one body back and forth as they try to figure out what they have been tasked to do.

3.  My kids are interested, anything for them?  Read Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians.  This book is super funny, aimed at probably late middle school kids in which a family's magical powers are bizarre ideas like "always late" and "breaks everything," two skills which turn out to actually be super powers.

4.  I am interested in Starlight Archives but that's way too long for me.  Read the Mistborn series.  Some of my other favorite Sanderson novels (only three!) in which magical powers take place by burning metals, which grant abilities in opposite pairs. Very unique and creative.

5.  What about SciFi...does he write that too?  Read Skyward, a fun series of books in which a girl lives in space and becomes a fighter pilot to defend her home from "aliens."

Biang Biang

 Eric and I used to try new recipes all the time when we were first married.  Part of this was that neither one of us really cooked all that much, and part of it was a fun hobby/activity to try together.  And honestly it's really easy to run out to the grocery store, even at 10pm, and get whatever ingredients you could want or need!  In 2008, we tried a new bread recipe every month, and got some fun, and occasionally disastrous, results.  Then we moved to Kenya, and it was hard to cook anything.  When you're not an experienced cook, and you move to rural Africa and work a lot, and grocery stores are three hours away, turns out feeding yourself is hard.  We limped along and got a few fun new recipes along the way.  And then we landed in Burundi in 2013.  I think I finally hit my stride and figured out how to feed my family, as is evidenced by the large size of my now teenaged children! ◡̈ 

But after 12 years here, it often feels like there is "nothing new under the sun."  There are very rarely new ingredients available in country, and while we have a nice variety of produce, it's all pretty basic stuff.  Half the time, my recipes have at least 2-3 substituted ingredients.  Meat remains a luxury item.  And if I didn't think to import a special ingredient the last time we traveled out of the country, it's just not possible.  So it surprises me when, all of a sudden, I am able to try a new recipe!  We visited some good friends last summer who have decided to adopt a "plant based diet" (I guess vegan is no longer an in vogue term).  They recommended a fun dish that they've been enjoying, called Biang Biang noodles.  The intriguing part, in addition to making your own noodles, was that a serving size is only 1-2 noodles per person.  I immediately looked up a recipe on my phone and there it sat for the next five months.

Fast forward to November.  In his writing class, Toby was working on an interview with one of our teammates, Eunice, on how she manages to cook amazing Korean food in rural Burundi.  As a sort of impromptu practical learning experience, she showed Toby how to make tofu.  He was totally enamored with the process and memorized all the details, then came home to share and ask if we could try it ourselves.  Well, come to find out that making tofu is almost identical to making cheese...you just have to start with soy beans --> soy milk instead of regular milk.  And we have made a lot of cheese here over the years.  So, it turned into a fun Saturday project for the two of us.

But then once the tofu had been made, the question was what to do with it?  I've never really eaten or cooked a lot of tofu in my life, and basically just remembered that it is very bland and takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with.  Then, my moment of brillance.  The biang biang noodle recipe!  

I'll share the link here.  It was really just 2, maybe three, ingredients.  We made the dough and let it sit for a few hours.  Then basically you form a little donut shape out of the dough blob, and start letting gravity do its work.  Toby and I hand stretched out eight noodles, all circles at least 4 feet in diameter, and then threw them in boiling water for a few minutes to cook.  Toby fried the tofu, and then we made the amazing sauce featured in this recipe, mixed everything together, and voila.  It was seriously magic.  It was the most delicious thing that I've made in a long time.  The noodles are thick and chewy, almost more like gnocchi at some points (the thickness was pretty variable throughout the noodle).  The tofu was a perfect complement to add some protein to the mix and soak up the yummy sauce.  I did substitute sesame oil for peanut oil, since that's what we had, and I can't imagine it tasting any better.  

It was a fun reminder for me that cooking doesn't just have to be making sure there's food on the table every night.  This was definitely an event, and fun to share with Toby.  And, that there are a lot of potential recipes out there to try out from time to time.  

The Lost Art of Blogging

 Eric posted his annual blog last week about the top 10 books he read in 2025.  Interestingly, that's really the only post he's made on our blog (annually) in over 5 years...well, maybe this isn't interesting to anyone, especially if you look at our blog sidebar and note that none of our friends have posted in at least eight years.  But for me, I can see that we used to post a lot, even several times per week when we were preparing to go and then deployed in Kenya.  It was sometimes tedious to think of things to write, but more typically, it was a fun chance to reflect on some events that had happened, synthesize some thoughts, and share them with the world. 

It seems like the blog is mostly a medium that has come and gone.  Social media seems to be the most popular mode of communication, or video logs on youtube and elsewhere.  But recently I was reflecting with Eric that I miss being able to share stories with people.  Facebook just seems like an endless string of political rants and advertisements.  Instagram is only photos (probably I can share stories there but as I feel my age, I will admit that the medium remains rather a mystery to me).  I don't like videoing myself, preferring to write instead of talk.  In some ways, blogging used to be like my journals, and I miss that.  How do I share my accomplishments of reading over 6000 pages of Brandon Sanderson in 2025?  Or making an awesome new noodle recipe?  Or getting close to throwing the Ring into Mount Doom (on my epic walking app)?  They are small and basically insignificant moments...except for me.  And perhaps it's arrogance to think to share them with people, but maybe this helps me feel connected.

So for 2026, I'm setting a goal of trying to blog several times per month.  Maybe no one will read them (certainly no one is checking our blog regularly after 5+ years of inactivity!).  But I'm trying this little experiment for me, because I think it will be good for me to write again.

Happy new year, all.