Book Buffet Readathon

 Hello Interwebs!

So my big reading challenge for August is something called Book Buffet. It's being hosted by Kim from Bookmarks and Breadsticks along with potatobrarian, Rosie Cockshutt, and Amrita by the Book and focuses on food related books. 

There is a bingo board with 16 prompts on it and I've come up with books that will fit into all of those prompts. I'll introduce what books I want to read first and then I'll tell you what the prompts are and what books fit into each prompt (there is considerable overlap). 

High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica B Harris: this is a nonfiction book I started a while ago about the influence of African cuisine on American cuisine from the days of the transatlantic slave trade to today. 

The Best American Food Writing 2020 by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (editor): this is a compilation of food writing from last year in a single volume. 

A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain: this is one of Anthony Bourdain's many, many food/travel memoirs. 

Cleaving by Julie Powell: this is a memoir by the author of Julie and Julia in which Julie Powell moves on from Julia Child and Mastering the Art of French Cooking to butchery. 

Menus That Made History by Alex Johnson and Vincent Franklin: this is a historical look at food through history based off menus from moments in time. I saw this on Amazon and it sounded really interesting so I picked it up. 

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P Manansala (Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mystery #1): this is a mystery series that takes place in a restaurant. This book follows Lila who is trying to save Tita Rosie's failing restaurant when a restaurant critic (and Lila's ex-boyfriend) drops dead after eating her food and she becomes the prime suspect. 

Between Two Fires by Laura Esquivel: this is a memoir by the author of Like Water for Chocolate told through stories, essays and recipes. 

A Little Tea Book by Sebastian Beckwith and Caroline Paul: this is a little book all about tea: the history and culture surrounding it. 

So the sixteen prompts are as follows (left to right and top to bottom on the bingo board). 

1. >40% BIPOC Authors: High on the Hog by Jessica B Harris; The Best American Food Writing 2020 by J Kenji Lopez-Alt (ed.); Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P Manansala; and Between Two Fires by Laura Esquivel, which is 50% of the total books on my list. 
2. Set on Different Continent: High on the Hog by Jessica B Harris; A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain; Menus that Made History by Alex Johnson and Vincent Franklin, and A Little Tea Book by Sebastian Beckwith adn Caroline Paul
3. Movie Adaptation: High on the Hog and A Cook's Tour
4. >40% Women Authors: High on the Hog, Cleaving, Arsenic and Adobo, Between Two Fires, and A Little Tea Book is almost 60%
5. Moderator Recommended: High on the Hog, The Best American Food Writing 2020
6. Fiction: Arsenic and Adobo
7. New-to-You Genre: The Best American Food Writing 2020
8. Translated Work: Between Two Fires by Laura Esquivel
9. New-to-You Food: Probably several of them. 
10. Group Read: A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain; the group read is actually Kitchen Confidential but since I read that last year I decided to read a different one. 
11. Free Space
12. Super Broad Scope: High on the Hog, The Best American Food Writing 2020, A Cook's Tour
13. Published in 2021: Arsenic and Adobo
14. Microhistory: A Little Tea Book; Cleaving
15. Non-Fiction: High on the Hog; The Best American Food Writing 2020; A Cook's Tour; Cleaving; Menus that Made History; Between Two Fires; A Little Tea Book
16. Published in 2020 or Earlier: High on the Hog; The Best American Food Writing 2020; A Cook's Tour; Cleaving; Menus That Made History; Between Two Fires; A Little Tea Book

So those are my plans for Book Buffet for August. We'll see where I get with those. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

August Preview

 Hello Interwebs!

So we are yet again on the cusp of another new month. As with last month I have a readathon that I will be participating in which will be a separate post with a separate TBR. But I have a handful of other books I want ot read as well in the month of August. 

I am currently listening to A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman as an audio book on my way to and from work (approximately 20-30 minutes each way. This is a book about a cranky old man who hides so much sadness inside before a chatty couple with chatty daughters move in next door and befriend him. It's really good so far and I'm approximately 30% of the way done with the book. 

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn (Bridgerton #1): this is a historical fiction romance which provides the storyline for the first season of the show Bridgerton on Netflix. I've had a paperback copy of the book for a while and just received special editions of the first three books from Once Upon a Book Club for my birthday so I'm going to finally read it. This book follows the oldest Bridgerton daughter, Daphne, and her romance with the Duke of Hastings. 

Isn't It Bromantic by Lyssa Kay Adams (Bromance Book Club #4): this is a romance novel, the next in the bromance book club series which focuses on the Russian, a Nashville hockey player who is in an arranged marriage with an old friend and wants to make it a happy marriage with help from his friends.

 

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (Simon Snow #3): this is the conclusion of the Simon Snow trilogy which is a sort of Harry Potter type story with a gay romance between Simon, a mage, and Baz, a vampire and mage, and their crazy adventures. 

Survive the Night by Riley Sager: this is a thriller about a girl Charlie who gets in a car with a man who might be a serial killer and must survive the night while figuring out what to do next. 

So those are the non-readathon books I'm planning on trying to read in August. I don't know which books I'll get to and not but these are my intentions. Coming later today is the readathon TBR which will constitute the read of August's reading. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Jane Austen July

 Hello Interwebs!

So the second half of July I participated in the Jane Austen July readathon. This readathon was for the entire month of July and is all about all things Jane Austen. The prompts were as follows:

1. Read one of Jane Austen's main six novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey, or Mansfield Park)
2. Read something by Jane Austen that is not one of her main six novels
3. Read a nonfiction book about Jane Austen or her time
4. Read a retelling of a Jane Austen book
5. Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen (i.e., 1775-1817)
6. Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book
7. Watch a modern screen adaptation/retelling of a Jane Austen book

So those were the prompts and I managed to fulfill all of the prompts except for one. 

The novel I read for the main six novels prompt was Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. This book follows Fanny Price, who is taken in by her wealthy aunt and uncle and brought to their estate, Mansfield Park, to grow up with her older cousins. Throughout the novel she navigates moral dilemmas and her feelings for her cousin Edmund. When everything falls apart in scandal she ends up on top with the man she loves. Mansfield Park is not at all my favorite Jane Austen novel, no matter how much I try I just can't really bring myself to like Fanny all that much and find Edmund to be rather insufferable. So all in all not my favorite but I still love everything that Jane Austen wrote. I read this partially in hard copy/ebook and finished it on audio during a trip to see my parents and travels to and from work. I read it from July 1st to the 28th and gave it 3.5 stars. 

I did not manage to read any of Jane Austen's non-main six novels during this month. I started the first volume of her Juvenilia but I didn't get very far into it and I definitely won't finish it by the end of the month. 

The third prompt was to read a nonfiction book about Jane Austen or her time period. My original intention was to read Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley but then I got a trial membership to Kindle Unlimited and found A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England by Sue Wilkes. This is a nonfiction book about the Regency era in England which is when Jane Austen lived but written like a travel guide with references to the people, places, and events of both Jane Austen's life but also her books. It was so much fun and I loved the unconventional format that it had. I read this from July 17th to the 26th and gave it a 4 star rating. 

The fourth prompt was to read a retelling of a Jane Austen book. I had several that would work but in the end I got an ebook copy of Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding which is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I LOVED this book. As a thirty-something myself (albeit with a nearly 2 year old and a serious partner) I found Bridget so completely and utterly relatable in her hot mess ways trying to diet and stop smoking and stop drinking while surrounded by insanity. I read this book from the 27th to the 29th and gave it a 4.5 star rating. It was definitely my favorite book of the month. 

The last reading prompt was to read something by a contemporary of Jane Austen and for this I chose the play Lover's Vows by Mrs. Elizabeth Inchbald. This is a play about a father and daughter as well as a mother and son and their scandalous connection between them. This play is the one that was to be performed by the characters in Mansfield Park and it was entertaining to read the play alongside the characters going to perform it while reading Mansfield Park. It was decent and a quick read. I read it from the 23rd to the 24th and gave it 3 stars. 

 

For the two movie/television watching prompts I decided to do the same story for both. For the direct adaptation I watched the 2020 movie version of Emma starring Anya Taylor-Joy. This is such a rich colorful period drama based off one of my favorite Austen books. Emma Woodhouse is such a delightfully complex and entertaining character and I love how she and her story are portrayed in this version. 

The modern adaptation/retelling I chose to watch was Clueless which is one of my all time favorite movies. I love this movie and think it's a hilariously fun adaptation of Emma for teenagers. 

All in all Jane Austen July was very successful. I read a Jane Austen novel I hadn't ever read before (Mansfield Park) and Bridget Jones's Diary which I'd been meaning to read for ages but never gotten around to and is now a new favorite. So all in all I had a great month of July and am looking forward to new reading challenges in the month of August. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Summerween Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

So July has been very very busy but I still managed to complete most of my two readathons. To refresh: Summerween was a horror/thriller readathon in the beginning of July celebrating Halloween vibes in the Summer time. The prompts were as follows:

1. Bake or Make a drink with your spooky read
2. Read a book in the dark
3. Read a paranormal book
4. Read a horror book
5. Read a book with Halloween colors on the cover

So I completed all of these prompts, however with my crazy month I split my month in half and did Summerween from the 1st to the 15th and then Jane Austen July from the 16th to the 31st. I read three books for Summerween as well as the other two non book prompts. 

For my bake or make a drink with your spooky read I did both. I made a batch of Apple Cinnamon scones from a Sticky Fingers mix. There are no pictures of the scones themselves because they disappeared too quickly. So here is a stock picture of the scone mix bag. 

In addition to my scones I broke out my Bones Coffee Company K-Cups and made a cup or several of their Frankenbones flavor which is chocolate hazelnut and one of my favorites. Bones Coffee Company is my favorite coffee brand and I absolutely love all their weird and wacky flavors as well as their graphics, I buy all of the t-shirts they come out with as they come out including a Frankenbones one with my "fall" clothing. 

The second prompt was by far the easiest one for me as I work night shift and therefore most of my reading is done either at night at work or in my artificially darkened bedroom before or after I sleep during the day. So that prompt was done quick and easy through the whole readalong. 

Next is the read a paranormal book prompt. Originally I had planned on reading House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. I got a couple sections into it and I just wasn't feeling it so I didn't finish it and switched up books. I ended up reading The Chill by Scott Carson. This is about a town in upstate New York that was destroyed in the early 20th century to build a reservoir to help feed New York City's water supply. In the present day you follow the people connected around the dam: the sheriff and his son, a cop whose family has ties to the founding of the drowned town, her father, and an inspector who are all swept up into the ghost story unfolding around the dam. The Chill was decent, I gave it a 3.5 star rating. It was fine but not what I was expecting. It was an enjoyable read and definitely fulfilled the paranormal prompt with its traditional ghost story vibes. I read it from July 13th to the 17th and gave it a 3.5 star rating. 

The next prompt was to read a horror novel and for this prompt I chose The Troop by Nick Cutter. This is a horror novel about a group of boy scouts having a camp out on an island in Canada when they come across a very sick man. The man is emaciated and suffering from horrific levels of hunger. One by one the scout leader and all the scouts begin to succumb not only to the disease the man brought with him but also to the paranoia and horror of the situation. I really enjoyed this book. I thought the camping vibes were perfect for a summer horror readathon. This is a horror novel I've seen all over the place on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok and was glad to finally read it. My favorite subgenre of horror is plague/illness based horror so I was especially glad to read it. I read this book from July 2nd to 6th and gave it a 4 star rating. 

The final prompt was to read a book with Halloween colors on the cover. I chose to read The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. In my mind the colors work for Halloween because the yellow/goldish hue on the cover coupled with the black made me think of creepy full moons on Halloween. This was a thriller following Mariana who goes to her alma mater, Cambridge University, when her niece's best friend is murdered. She immediately suspects the Greek Tragedy professor, Edward Fosca, and his creepy group of followers known as the maidens. This was a pretty good thriller. I hadn't read his other book, The Silent Patient, which was really big when it first came out but now I'll definitely check that one out as well. I read this one from the 6th to the 13th and also gave it a 4 star rating. 

So that was everything I did for Summerween. I enjoyed everything I read and I was glad to have an excuse to pick up thrillers and horror novels again. There's my first wrap-up for the month of July. Next will be my summation for Jane Austen July, which also went very well. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Birthday Book Haul

 Hello Interwebs!

It's been almost two weeks since my last post and that's because we're moving! We closed on our first house on the first of July so we've been moving in all our free time. I'll post about our new house with pictures and such in a couple weeks when we're all settled but for now here's a birthday haul because today is my birthday and with the exception of my in-laws I got almost exclusively books and bookish things.

So here's the whole shebang: birthday presents from my parents, birthday books bought with money from my grandparents, birthday presents from my partner and birthday presents I bought myself. We'll go through each one individually. 

First up from my partner I got the Once Upon a Book Club special edition Bridgerton box which includes the first three books in the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn along with a bunch of bookish goodies that are tied to particular passages in the book. The first book is also signed by the author. I can't wait to get into these. I've read the first one but I'm ready to reread it to open the presents and then continue on and then watch Bridgerton (again). 

So these are The Duke and I; The Viscount Who Loved Me; and An Offer From a Gentleman all by Julia Quinn in special edition hardcovers with the first one being signed by the author. 

This is the rest of my birthday book gifts which all came from Barnes & Noble. My parents bought me three of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga volumes and I used the money from my grandparents for some of the other manga and the books, plus some of my own money. The thing in the back was the bag I purchased to carry my many, many books. 

So I got volumes 3-7 of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga in the hardcover Fullmetal Edition which is as far as I could take my collection with what was in stock at the store. This is my favorite anime which my boyfriend introduced me to during quarantine and the pandemic. I binge watched the whole thing on Netflix just before Christmastime and I've been slowly amassing the Fullmetal editions of the manga ever since. 

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell which is the third book in the Simon Snow series. This is the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition with exclusive cover art on the dust jacket and exclusive art on the end papers. I also have the second book in the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition and I need to see if I can find a hardcover copy for the first book too. 

A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St. Clair which is a Hades and Persephone retelling. This is actually the third book in the series which I didn't realize so the first two will be coming from Amazon soon. 

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper. This is a memoir by an African-American ER doctor about her time in the ER and is one that's been on my radar for a while and was part of the buy 1 get 1 50% off sale tables. 

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse which is a pre-Columbian based fantasy story that everyone's been all over this year and last year. It was also a buy 1 get 1 50% off sale book.

So those are the books I got for my birthday. I'm super excited to get into them and I had a pretty good day. We had Salsa Verde Enchiladas made from our HelloFresh box and I got my birthday drinks from both Starbucks and Dutch Bros Coffee to enjoy before (and during work). 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Summerween Book Tag

 Hello Interwebs!

Summerween is officially upon us. The readathon which begins tomorrow, July 2, and runs through July 8th. Since I love horror, thriller and all things Halloween I have decided that I will 100% be participating in this readathon especially since it runs almost to my birthday. In addition to the Summerween readathon I found the Summerween Book Tag which I will be sharing with you today. So without further ado, here is the SUMMERWEEN BOOK TAG!

1. What spooky reads are you most excited about in your TBR list/pile right now? The Troop by Nick Cutter,
   
   
   Pet Sematary by Stephen King 
   
   
    
2. What's your favorite revenge novel? Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 
   
   
   
3. What's a horror or thriller/crime book you wish you could experience for the first time? Final Girls by Riley Sager 
   
   
   
4. Sucks to suck! You were just given a handful of yoru least favorite candy. The one not even your siblings or your friends will trade for. What candy is it and what spooky book did you want ot love that disappointed you? This is a controversial answer but definitely Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I like chocolate and I like peanut butter but never the two shall meet; Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie which looked like a great zombie/vampire kid novel but ended up falling flat. 
   
   
   
5. Time to put on your costume! If you could exist in one spooky novel, which one would it be?  Who would your best friend be? If I had to pick one, probably IT by Stephen King, I think the part with the kids would be great. I think any of the kids would make a good best friend but if I had to pick one probably Beverly. 
   
   
   
6. What's your favorite haunted house book and/or television show? The Turn of the Screw by Henry James 
   
   
   
7. The food question. You can ONLY pick one from each would you rather.
1. Chocolate or Sour Candy? Sour Candy
2. Coffee or tea? Tea
3. Apple or pumpkin pie? Pumpkin Pie
8. Show us your favorite book with a witch or a woman who gets screwed over by society and the patriarchy. Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, both a witch and a woman who had gotten screwed over by the patriarchy 
   
   
   
9. Which book on your shelves or audiobook library has the scariest book cover? Carrie by Stephen King 
   
   
   
10. It's Summerween and it's hot outside! What book(s) do you recommend that give off summer vibes? Think lakes, cabins, beaches, etc. Whatever reminds you of summer! The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix. I haven't read this one yet but it's in my Kindle library and the cover with the peaches gives me major summer vibes. 
    
    
    
11. You and your firends are exploring a well known haunted house. You get separated and suddenly you hear screaming coming from somewhere upstairs. You run into the next room and find two of your friends. Which 2 fictional characters are they? Who do you want in this situation with you? Velma from Scooby Doo 
    
    
    and Cecil Baldwin from Welcome to Night Vale 
    
    
    
12. Trick or treat! Stephen King, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, and Shirley Jackson are at your front door. Who do you give the best and biggest candy bar to? Stephen King, hands down. I love all these authors but he's my favorite by far. 
13. What is your favorite spooky book to movie adaptation where both of them are good? The Ring by Koji Suzuki; both the book and the movie are great even though they can be very different from each other. 
    
    
    
    
    So that's the end of the book tag and a taste of my horror/thriller books. I'm so excited for Summerween to kick off tomorrow and I hope you'll join me in this tag and the readathon both!

Happy Summerween and Happy Reading!

Richelle