Audiowalking is one of my favorite things to do. I tend to stick to the same routes, but each day I see something new. Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
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This winter has not been bad at all, but I have spring fever and it shows in my reading.
It started with the house plants. On a nice day I re-potted all of my plants, and realized I now have way too many. The library to the rescue! I checked out Decorating With Plants by Baylor Chapman. I loved this book, and it has helped me spread my plants out around the house in a way that doesn’t make me look like a crazy plant lady.
I’ve also been cleaning out my freezer and re-filling it with healthy meals and ingredients. The library to the rescue again- The Make Ahead Sauce Solution by Elisabeth Bailey has been super helpful. I like that I’m just freezing the sauce, not the entire meal. It’s a great space saver.
I’ve also been trying to streamline my schedule and be more productive. 5-Minute Stress Relief by Elena Welsh had a ton of great tips for quieting my mind, and productively dealing with my stress (instead of looking at Twitter and feeling like the world is going to end.)
Happy Spring everyone!
(Note: links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support! 5-Minute Stress Relief was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)
March to me means gardening, new beginnings, travel, and a little bit of romance. If you’re also thinking along those lines here are some books I can recommend for March.
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Audiowalking is one of my favorite things to do. I tend to stick to the same routes, but each day I see something new. Here’s what I’ve been listening to and seeing this week.
Note: Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support.
Cinnamon rolls from the air fryer are perfect for Sunday mornings
My husband was worried that when my kids gifted me an air fryer for Christmas I would take it the wrong way. My kids had seen a very persuasive infomercial though, and talked him into it. The kids were right. I love that thing. I use it at least once a week, mostly to roast vegetables.
When I got the chance to review an air fryer cookbook I jumped at it. I was ready to graduate from roasted broccoli.
The book was great. I was amazed at all of the things I can make in my air fryer. I made hard boiled eggs and cinnamon rolls right away, and they kind of saved the weekend. My only complaint is that many of the recipes called for specialty pans and ramekins.
My conclusion: it’s okay to gift your mom an air fryer, but you should buy her this book too.
Note: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I went to write a post about gardening books to read when you’re waiting for gardening season to start only to find I had already written it. Here’s a repost from 2016.
We've had some warm days this month, and the temptation to go outside and plant something is strong. It's a fool's errand though. Anything I plant will just drown in the wet soil, and more mud will end up on my shoes than on the ground. Here's what I'm reading until it's safe to work in the garden.
The Food Lover's Garden by Angelo Pellegrini - this is an old book that doesn't read like an old book. If you love to grow vegetables it's worth seeking out.
The 100 mile diet made popular by Plenty and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle isn't as popular as it once was, but these books are worth going back to.
The Backyard Homestead will make you want to plow your lawn, and grow paw-paws, tree nuts, and all sorts of other crazy things. That's not a bad thing!
What are your favorite books about gardening?
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My cat passed away last month, and that has seriously damped my ability to enjoy books. Is reading on the couch even reading if you don’t have a cat practicing yoga moves on your knee? I’ll miss him forever, but hopefully I’ll get back to my love of reading soon. Until then know I am probably being unnecessarily grumpy about some of these books.
The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso - Someone described this as woke Golden Girls, which I thought was pretty funny and also accurate. Two sworn enemies live next door to each other have to put their differences aside when they realize they need each other. For those like me who have been seeking out books with characters over 40 who actually do things more interesting that drinking tea and giving advice give this one a read.
The Gown by Jennifer Robson - A good story matched with good information about England after WWII.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf - I almost put this down because of a lack of quotation marks, but I’m glad I ended up sticking with it. It’s a sweet story about families - the ones you’re born with and the ones you create.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman - Another sweet story about families. If you like Backman you’ll like this book. If you don’t skip it.
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - I really, really loved this book when I first read it, and I still love it today. It was where I first learned about the danger of mitigating language and that I should trust my years of practice.
A Better Man by Louise Penny - I read this really quickly when it first came out, and wanted to read it again but slower. My initial assessment stands- not the best Gamache but still a decent read.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I am in awe of Fitzgerald’s ability to say so much with just a few words. This is a yearly read for me, but to be honest I might pull it out again in a few months. That’s how much I love this book.
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I was surprised by how much I liked this cookbook. Going in I thought it would be full of pretty looking but impossible to cook at home restaurant food. There were some involved recipes, but there were a lot of attainable ones too.
I also loved reading Silverstein’s story. Growing up as an American in Asia, then moving back to America having never actually lived there was an interesting way to develop a palate. I also appreciated his realizations that his career as a lawyer was killing his soul, and was glad he shared his first few years of floundering as a food truck operator. We can all use a reminder that hip restaurants and gorgeous cookbooks don’t just get awarded because you’re a nice person.
One night after work last week I whipped up some Chinese BBQ sauce and the Bacon Jam Brussels Sprouts to go with a ham dinner. Both were delicious. Next I’d love to try my hand at making some of the street tacos and cocktails from this book.
Messy weeknight kitchen
Visiting Austin has been on my travel bucket list for a few years now, and when I go visiting The Peached Tortilla is high on my list of things to do.
I love walking this time of year, always with an audiobook playing in my ears. Some days are so dreary and gray, and then all of the sudden it will get ten degrees warmer and flowers will start poking through. Then the next day it might all be covered in snow again.
Spring is coming soon!
Every year I set way too many reading goals, and I don’t meet half of them. That’s okay - I have fun setting the goals and then give them up when I stop having fun meeting them. After all reading is my hobby not my job.
This year I set three new goals:
Read 200 books (around 16 or 17 books a month)
Read books from 20 different countries
Read 20 new to me cookbooks and cook at least one recipe from each one
I also took note of a few reading challenges. Mr. Book on Litsy, the Reading Women Challenge, and Modern Mrs. Darcy’s challenges all caught my eye. I’ll cross check each of these lists against what I read, but probably won’t seek out any books to finish them.
I also keep track of states I’ve read from and like to see if I can read a book that begins with each letter of the alphabet.
Oh, and I have my project re-read to work on, and I really should finally read In Cold Blood. Not to mention the 50 new releases I have on hold at the library, and the 10 audiobooks I’ve anxiously been waiting for on Libby.
So yeah, 2020 should be a pretty good reading year. I can’t wait to see what happens!
Winter sports have started which means a lot of my reading takes place at the ice rink now.
It never fails. As soon as I hit publish on my list of favorites from 2019 I read 3 amazing books. Don’t get me wrong, too many amazing books is a good problem to have, but I feel bad for my books. I hope they know they are all my favorites in their own way.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood - This read like a warning to us all, with a glimpse of a silver lining. It’s not too late, but you need to pay attention. I was worried this sequel would be awful, but I liked it quite a bit.
The River by Peter Heller - A lot of the reviews on this book went back and forth on if it should be called a thriller. The tension of people vs. nature plus the constant threat of a hidden adversary thrilled me.
Stoner by John Williams - This book shows up a lot on lists of classics you probably haven’t read. I finally read it for a book club and thought it was wonderful. It sounds boring if I describe it - the story of an undistinguished man’s life, but Williams wrote with such a thoughtful melancholy and I loved it.
Cookies don’t bake themselves, and I needed the help of some good audiobooks.
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane - A good story that kept me guessing until the end. However I probably wouldn’t recommend this on audio because the narrator mispronounced all of the Massachusetts names and it drove me nuts.
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - Another one that kept me guessing. However this one worked especially well on audio. If you tried to read this and couldn’t get into it because of the main characters ticks you might want to try it again.
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - Completely bananas. I couldn’t believe this was a true story. If you think you know workplace drama, give this one a try. Woah.
Part of project re-read
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline - Once again this book ripped out my heart and crumpled it up like an old piece of paper. It’s very similar to Stoner now that I think about it.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - I’ve been seeing this book everywhere lately, and I’m so glad it’s getting the love it deserves.
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One of my goals this year is to read and cook from twenty new to me cookbooks. My first of the year was Spiced, a book I had really high hopes for because it’s from America’s Test Kitchen.
And this book did not let me down. I loved the look of all the recipes and really liked how they included many sauces, spice mixes, and dips since that’s what most of my cooking consists of these days.
There were many things I would have loved to cook, but the only recipe I had everything on hand for was the Sriracha salt. It was very easy to make, and smelled amazing. I can’t wait to try it on popcorn and scrambled eggs.
Even though I really enjoyed flipping through this book I probably won’t buy my own copy. I would need to buy so many specialty spices and new pieces of equipment that it’s just not practical.
It’s A Brand New Year!
Happy New Year! It’s time to get a fresh start on everything- life, work, reading challenges…
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - This is the book you need if you want to understand how to meet your New Years resolutions. Buy this book - you’ll want to return to it again and again.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman - A book about hockey, but also so much more. This took me about 100 pages to get into, but after that I couldn’t stop.
Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean - A trip back in time to the last days of the Space Shuttle program. It’s a great reminder of why we love space travel, and a reminder to embrace whatever makes us geek out.
Good Cheap Eats by Jessica Fisher - If you want to cook more and/or save money this year this is the book for you. This is good, inexpensive, family pleasing food.
Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay - If you get snowed in this is the perfect book to spend the day on the couch with. It’s a remake of the classic Dear Daddy Long Legs, which in itself is worthy of spending a day on the couch with.
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A rainbow out my office window last week.
A popular New Year’s Resolution is to get a new job. Sometimes though you don’t need a new job. You just need to get some perspective on why your current job isn’t so bad. Here are four books to read when you feel like you just can’t take it another day.
The Martian by Andy Weir - Coworkers a pain, and your to-do list got you down? At least your co-workers didn’t leave you on Mars trying to figure out how to survive.
The Travelers by Chris Pavone - Sometimes your boss will ask you to do things that don’t seem to fall within your job description. In The Travelers Will is just trying to write an article about Argentina when he gets recruited to be a spy.
Bad Blood by John Carreyrou - This book is completely bananas. Most people are used to signing non-disclosure agreements, but what about non-disclosure agreements that cover previous non-disclosure agreements, threats against your family, and being followed by private investigators?
Breaking and Entering by Jeremy N. Smith - It’s scary to think about being hacked, and in this book you can see how someone could charm you right into it.
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2019 was a very prolific reading year. I listed to more than 70 audiobooks this year, loved biographies of people I don’t agree with politically, and learned I really love graphic novel adaptations of the classics. I read 20 five star books, and they were all really good, but when it was time to pick my favorite I had a hard time. Here’s my best effort, but be warned that it will take me a while to get there.
Here’s what I wrote when I first read these:
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline -- If you have ever felt like you're invisible, or taken for granted by the people around you, I think you'll really feel for the main character in this book. (Even as she makes bad choices.) I appreciated that this wasn't the usual artist has affair with muse story.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman -- I listened to this book about a grumpy old man for the Imaginary Book Club. It had been on my TBR forever, and I was so glad for the push to get to it. It's great on audio if for no other reason than to get the correct pronounciation of Ove.
The Martian by Andy Weir - I've been embracing the spirit of Mark Watney lately when faced with tasks that seem impossible. If he could get off Mars, I can get my work projects done.
My first impressions:
City of Thieves by David Benioff - This is one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. Two men in Leningrad during WWII set off to find some eggs. It’s horrifying and sad, but also oh so funny. Highly, highly, highly recommend.
Save Me A Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan - My son and I both wished it were longer.
Save me the Plums by Ruth Reichl - This book was a great peek into the workings of Gourmet Magazine, told by someone who clearly loved her job. I also loved the insights into how a working mom with a demanding job made it work.
My thoughts:
50 Great American Places by Brent Glass — Highly recommended for anyone who will take a detour when they see a brown sign on the highway.
Hoover by Kenneth Whyte — This book completely changed what I thought about Herbert Hoover. An amazing biography about an amazing life.
Betty Ford by Lisa McCubbin — An amazing book about an amazing woman.
My twenty second reviews:
The Boat People by Sharon Bala - This was a timely and relevant book. Highly recommend for anyone interested in issues facing refugees coming to the US and Canada. (One note: the lack of quotation marks was distracting, but I was able to get past it because the story was good.)
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza — Beautiful and heartbreaking. This one will stay with me for a long time.
The Kite Runner Graphic Novel by Khaled Hosseini — The Kite Runner (Graphic Novel) by Khaled Hosseini - This leaves a few big chunks of the novel out, but still packs an emotional punch. I liked it a lot.
This is the one I keep coming back to, and the one I think I’ll still remember in ten tears.
Thank you all for giving me a place to talk about books this year! Here’s to happy reading in 2020!
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Getting up at 4 am isn’t so bad when you get to look at this.
The elves have been busy buying books for the people in my family. Here’s what they got:
My 9 year old loves these books, and I was happy to find one about Lucille Ball who seems to be a kindred spirit.
My 11 year old son is a budding cook, so I am trying to encourage that since I get dinner out of it once a week at least.
It’s a weird thing when I’ve read a history book that my husband hasn’t, so I got it for him for Christmas.
Happy holidays all!
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My cat can be slightly distracting…
November was a good reading month. I took part in Non-fiction November on Litsy, and really enjoyed myself. I also started in on my project to re-read my favorite books of the last decade.
These are my notable books from November. Check back on December 27th for a round up of my favorite books of the year!
It’s All Relative by A.J. Jacobs - I grabbed this book on a whim from the Libby app, and ended up loving it. Author A.J. Jacobs falls down the rabbit hole of genealogy and ends up trying to plan a family reunion for everyone he’s related to which turns out to be pretty much everyone on earth. Funny, interesting, and touching- a great audiobook read by the author.
Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America by Jared Cohen - I started reading this book because of my current obsession with Andrew Johnson, and ended up really enjoying the whole thing. Presidential psychology is one of my favorite things to read about, and it turns out Vice Presidential psychology is just as interesting. There’s also a lot in here about how hard it is to go from a position that is essentially considered a show piece to running a whole country (and you thought you had a bad day at work.)
Me by Elton John - This had everything you’d want in a celebrity autobiography: gossip, name dropping, outlandish outfits, descriptions of how famous songs came to be, and a few touching moments. I love that Eton John doesn’t take himself too seriously.
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel - Listening to this I kept thinking about how my college trip to the Louvre was wasted on my 21 year old self. I had no idea what those precious works of art had to go through to hang in that museum.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman and Brooklyn by Colm Toibin are both still the punches in the gut I remember them to be. They’ll both stay on my favorites list.
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones - Two girls from different backgrounds are forced together when a race riot breaks out at their high school football game. Similar to, but not as good as The Hate U Give; it’s still well worth the read.
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Homes - I loved Linda Holmes in her Television Without Pity days, and was really excited to read her debut novel. This was a solid story about Evvie and her journey after her husband who she didn’t like very much died. I listened to the audio which was well done.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - Lisa See is a go to author for me, and this was no exception. If you enjoy books about friendships between women read this book.
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Jihadi Bride by Alastair Luft is the intense story of Erik, a member of the High-Risk Traveler Task Force in Canada, and his daughter Arielle who travels to Syria to work with the terrorist group the Islamic Caliphate, thus becoming one of the people her father has dedicated his career to stopping. Erik will stop at nothing to get his daughter back, even if it means leaving his own organization to travel to Syria and recover her himself.
Overall, I liked this book. I was quite invested in Arielle's story, but found Erik's story to be a little off putting and choppy. This would make a good book for beach reading, or for reading on a long flight. I would look for other books by this author when I am in the mood for something that is fast paced and thrilling.
Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. You can get it for free on Kindle Unlimited right now. Links to amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
Two things happened this month. First I decided I should really do over my recommendations page. Then I started seeing lists of the best books of the decade. The two came together in my mind, and I started in on a project to re-read all of my favorite books from the last decade to see if they held up enough to recommend.
Luckily I’ve kept pretty good track of my reading, and was able to find one or many books from each year in the last decade.
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Water skiing Santas, of course
December can be a great or awful reading month depending on how over-scheduled it gets. Some years I have plenty of time to stay up late, baking cookies, and listening to audiobooks or reading by the tree. Other years I’m so brain dead the only thing I can manage is watching the Christmas episode of West Wing Season 2 over and over again while eating candy canes.
If you do end up with the more relaxed version of December this year here are some titles I recommend.
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith - Mysterious, and snowy, and atmospheric. Perfect for reading on a cold night. If you like Ruth Ware give this lesser known title a try.
Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan - If you spend the holidays thinking about family dynamics and appreciating your mother for making everything seem so damn effortless when you were a kid this book is for you. Buy one for yourself and buy an extra copy for your mom.
Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine - This is the perfect audiobook to listen to if you have a long night planned in the kitchen. It is so fun and funny.
When Books Went To War by Molly Manning - This book is really interesting, and also something perfectly acceptable to talk to your boss about if you get cornered at the company Holiday Party.
Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy - The perfect cozy read to lose yourself in for a day.
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