I had a really good reading month, one of my best in a long time! Most of my reads were shorter or easy or unputdownable (or some combination of all three!), which definitely helped.
Show Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in December
nonfiction
Show Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in November
This year absolutely flew by, and honestly, bring on 2021. I can happily announce that I made my reading goal this year, when I definitely thought I wouldn’t — I only read 6 books before April! At that point, thankfully, something kicked into gear and I was able to get back on track. This month was a bit of a mixed bag, but I ended on a high note. Here’s a look at what I read:
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School + Alfredo Sauce
Kathleen Flinn’s The Kitchen Counter Cooking School is not what I expected. I bought it on a whim at a library used book sale (how I miss those!) because it looked food-related, and I love food-related reads. I think I thought it was fiction. Anyway, I recently picked it up as my selection for an alliterative read in my Long Distance Reading Challenge and realized it’s non-fiction.
In it, Kathleen teaches nine women (apparently there was one male participant who ended up dropping out before it started) to cook. She starts by going to their houses to get a sense of what’s in their cupboards and fridges and their level of cooking skill. Then, the group meets weekly in a commercial kitchen, and Kathleen imparts her wisdom. The women make everything from simple vinaigrettes and bread to soups and braised pork. They learn knife skills and how to prepare and use a whole chicken.
[Read more...] about The Kitchen Counter Cooking School + Alfredo SauceShow Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in October
My reading month started off with a bang and then pretty abruptly crashed to a halt the week of Halloween. In that time, I managed to read two graphic novels and an essay collection about popular movies, but have been struggling through my current fiction read (which I’ve been working on for 13 days). Anyway, here’s a look at what I read — mostly 4-star reads and no two books alike!
Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers with Fall Vibes
It’s finally (already?) October! I’m sure I’m not alone in the feeling that 2020 has somehow been both the longest and shortest year so far. Anyway, fall is definitely underway in Michigan. We had what was probably our last 70-degree day on the last weekend in September, and it’s been chilly and a little bit rainy ever since. It’s wonderful cozy-up-with-a-book weather.
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is mostly aesthetic, focusing on book covers with fall vibes, but per usual I'll share just a few thoughts on each pick today — even though I picked them for their looks, their contents are what’s important.
What She Ate #5: Barbara Pym + Baked Macaroni Cheese
For those of you who don’t know—and I didn’t—Barbara Pym was an English novelist, popular in the 1950s for her social comedies. She is the fifth woman Laura Shapiro discusses in What She Ate, and as such, this is the fifth post in my series about the nonfiction book about food.
Though her novels were not considered highbrow, they developed quite a following and have a beloved place in English culture. Pym wrote about relationships, about village life, and often about the church. She also included a lot of food in her writing, certainly mentioning the bad but more often celebrating the good of English cooking (when no one else was really talking about its positives).