Sunday, November 27, 2016

BW48: Foodie Books



Thanksgiving is over and even though our tummies are stuffed with turkey and more, we're heading into the season of food.  All kinds of Christmas and Hanukkah and winter celebrations on the horizon so figured I'd present a mini challenge.  Pick a book with food in the title or about food. It can't be a straight forward cookbook because that's just too easy.   You have several ways to go with ingredients, seasoning, artistic creations, sensations, and other gastronomical delights. 


There are plenty of fun non fiction titles -  Cravings, Fresh off the Boat, Relish, In Defense of Food, The Man Who Ate Food, Relish and Salt, as well as plenty of fiction titles such as 



When in Doubt, Add Butter 


Or one of my favorite series which you can argue isn't food, but talks alot about food, The Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle.



On What Grounds


Or how about this delightful book full of magical realism and yummy recipes


Pomegranate Soup


I'm getting hungrier by the minute.  *grin*   Find all kinds of interesting books searching on  Goodreads for Foodie Books, Popular Food Fiction, Food in Book Titles as well as Bustle's 13 Books All Food Lovers Should Read, plus Bon Appetit's 20 New Food Books to Read.

~cheers~ 

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Sunday, November 20, 2016

BW47: Happy Thanksgiving




I'm Thankful for You

By 

Joanna Fuchs



Thanksgiving is the appointed time
for focusing on the good in our lives.
In each of our days,
we can find small blessings,
but too often we overlook them,
choosing instead to spend our time
paying attention to problems.
We give our energy
to those who cause us trouble
instead of those who bring peace.
Starting now,
let's be on the lookout
for the bits of pleasure in each hour,
and appreciate the people who
bring love and light to everyone
who is blessed to know them.
You are one of those people.
On Thanksgiving,
I'm thankful for you.
Happy Thanksgiving!


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Sunday, November 13, 2016

BW46: Flufferton Abbey

In the Garden - George Goodwin Kilburne


I think we are all in the mood for something flufferton.  This post is brought to you by AggieAmy, one of our 52 Books Well Trained Mind Book a weekers, who kindly offered to guest post this week.


Flufferton Abbey is not a genre so much as a writing style.  A few genres lend themselves well to being Fluffeton books such as cozy mysteries, comedy of manners, romance, and historical fiction.  Everyone has their own specific thing they look for when they pick up a book and plan to spend time at Flufferton Abbey but there are a number of things that are expected:

  • A happy ending – If you are crying at the end of the book it does NOT qualify.  A Flufferton book has the couple getting together, the mystery solved, the situation put right tidily.  If anyone has died during the course of the book they had better have deserved it.
  • Setting – A lot of the charm in these books is being able to sneak away to someplace wonderful for a visit.  It’s easy to imagine that the cuppa tea we’re having isn’t really in our living room but the morning room of our manor house.  Gritty?  Realistic?  Downtown Detroit in the 1960’s?  Nope.  Not Flufferton appropriate. 
  • Characters – We love these characters.  They have charm.  They make us smile.  We wish we knew them in real life.   
  • Humor – A mandatory ingredient.  Some books have us laughing out loud in ways that make our family worry about our mental stability.  Some books have just an occasional chuckle.  All books have at least some. 
  • Re-readability - Absolutely.  These are the books that we've read so many times that there are sections we've memorized. 

Where to start:

Georgette Heyer

                The Grand SophyFredericaVenetiaSylvesterCotillion  

Jane Austen

                Pride and PrejudiceEmmaPersuasion

DE Stevenson

                Miss Buncle’s BookMrs. Tim ChristieKatherine Wentworth

PG Wodehouse

                My Man JeevesSomething Fresh

LM Montgomery

                Anne of Green GablesThe Blue Castle

Angela Thirkell

                High Rising

Stella Riley

                The Parfit Knight

Susan Branch – a nonfiction present day version of Flufferton Abbey





Which ones have you read?  What authors would you add to this list?

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Sunday, November 6, 2016

BW45: Bookish Babble



Come on in and have a seat.  I'm in the mood for some bookish babble.  Here in the U.S, daylight savings time is ending and we have finally reached the final act of the presidential election.  A modern Shakespearean tragedy in which we've been the captive audience of what seems to be the world's longest play. The curtain is slowly descending as the players take their final curtain call.  

Which reminds me, have you gotten a 52 books bingo yet?  Plays and fairy tale adaptations and non fiction reads will fill the bill.  In the mood to read presidential biographies, perhaps current affairs, foreign or domestic.  Or maybe you'd prefer a comedy or art.  The book blogging world is celebrating Non Fiction November so head on over to Doing Dewey for more fun and frivolity.

For a translated book, check out Halldor Laxness's Wayward Heroes which has been translated from icelandic and is now available through Archipelago books.  If you are squeamish about mysteries, try a cozy mystery instead. You can't go wrong when it comes to Arthurian stories with Mary Stewart or Marian Zimmer Bradley.  

My son has introduced me to Doctor Who and he insists I must call him The Doctor.  However, unlike me in which I'd watch every episode in order in a season, we've been doing it my son's way and sort of The Doctor's way, dropping in here and there. He's enthralled with the weeping angels right now and I haven't decided which Doctor I like the best yet.   I'm waiting for the 'mom, I gotta have this book' itis to begin.  Did you know Neil Gaiman, whose birthday is coming up this week on the 10th,  wrote three episodes for Doctor who - The Doctor's Wife and The Nightmare in Silver.  He just became a grandfather as well.

Mini Bingo challenge of the month - have a friend, family member, loved one or even query a stranger in the book store and ask them to pick a book for you to read. You may be surprised!  

Happy reading!  


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