The Hate U Give caught my eye back before it was released in late February thanks to the 2Pac reference in the title but I just was able to download it to my Kindle from the library this week. It was as good as I hoped. The story of Starr, a black girl going to … Continue reading
I’ve read a few books the last couple of days but Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa was my favorite. Translated from Japanese, it is the story of a reluctant dorayaki (a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste) chef who against his initial impulse hires a woman in her mid-70s to help out at the dorayaki … Continue reading
I watched Poirot since I was 9 or 10 when it premiered here on PBS and the series premiered until it ended just a few years ago. That’s roughly 2/3 of my life! One my favorite scenes was in ‘The Royal Ruby’ where Poirot shows his dining companion the best way to eat a mango. … Continue reading
The Potlikker Papers one of, if not the, best food history books I’ve ever read. It goes from the segregated South to the Black Panthers (did you know Bobby Seale* has a cookbook?) to Nation of Islam to hippies relocating from cities to the deep South to start communes to Paul Prudhomme to Southern Living to … Continue reading
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Mikita Brottman lives in Baltimore too and the book club she starts is right in Jessup south of the city. I always like a local connection. Each chapter focuses on a different novel or play she has the prisoners read and their reactions to it. There is also a … Continue reading
The Tannie Maria mysteries are one of my all-time favorite mystery series. That’s really saying something because I have read literally thousands of mysteries over the years. The Satanic Mechanic was a lot of fun and a little less gruesome than the first book in the series which involved some unfortunate wildlife poaching scenes. The … Continue reading
Schadenfreude almost made me want to go to Germany. Rebecca Shuman did a great job of weaving in her personal story (she basically became a German major–without knowing German!–because she had a crush on a boy in high school who introduced her to Kafka), the sites and sounds of Germany and Prague, and the struggles of … Continue reading
Kat Kinsman is a food writer so I’ve been familiar with her work and connected with her on social media for years so I was excited that she had a book coming out. It isn’t food related (although she does explain how she got various food writing related jobs) but you know I love a … Continue reading
I’m a little too old to have seen most of Mara Wilson’s movies. I’ve seen Mrs. Doubtfire but I certainly didn’t see a Thomas the Train Engine movie and while I probably would have like Matilda when I was younger, it came out when I was in high school so I was not the target … Continue reading
I’ve been reading Caroline Leavitt’s books a long time and always enjoy them even if they are occasionally a tad dramatic. Cruel Beautiful World takes place in 1969 when a 16-year-old girl runs off with her charismatic, idealistic, liberal 30-year-old teacher. Not only does running away with a man twice your age and dropping out of … Continue reading
