Monthly Archives: February 2018

Maine Reading Retreat

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I visited Maine this weekend for a reading retreat with four of my girlfriends who also work in publishing. We rented a beautiful beach house that overlooked the ocean on one side and the Saco River on the other. It was a beautiful house and we sat near the fireplace, read books, cooked together, and had the most amazing time. Compared to living in the city, it was so quiet and peaceful—perfect for getting a lot of reading and writing done! Here are some of my reading highlights from the trip:

  • Manazuru by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Michael Emmerich: This was my first read of the weekend and it’s this beautiful, profound, haunting story of loss. Twelve years ago Kei’s husband, Rei, disappeared and she was left alone with their daughter. Now we watch Kei struggle to move on and put the past behind her as she’s haunted by ghosts both figuratively and literally.
  • The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert: I loved this book! It’s a dark, clever, startling debut and its got elements of fairy tales and Alice in Wonderland. I was lost in it for hours, absolutely enthralled by the writing and the beautiful design.
  • Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot: Heart Berries is a powerful memoir of Terese Marie Mailhot’s coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. The memoir is one of struggle, as she details her dysfunctional upbringing and challenges indigenous women face, but ultimately one of strength and will.

Dark Books in Translation For Dark Winter Nights

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I find that there’s nothing better for a dark winter night than a dark, strange book. Maybe it’s a thriller or a mystery, or maybe a collection of stories, but I love a good creepy book. I’ve collected here some dark books in translation for cold winter nights. All of these books are short, written by women (who better to really scare you?), and absolutely unsettling.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang, Translated by Deborah Smith

I love Man Booker International Prize–Winner The Vegetarian by Han Kang. It’s a beautiful and provocative story about a woman, Yeong-hye, who begins to have horrible nightmares—of blood and carnage—and in order to clear her mind and rid herself of these dreams she becomes a vegetarian. The story becomes one of control and power as her husband and family try to break her into submission, back into the norms of Korean society. To further emphasize her lack of control, Yeong-hye’s own story is told by others, in three parts, first by her husband, then her brother-in-law, and finally by her sister. It’s a dark, fascinating book that you won’t be able to stop thinking about it.

Things We Lost in the Fire: Stories by Mariana Enriquez, Translated by Megan McDowell 

I was blown away by this collection of dark, macabre short stories set in contemporary Argentina. They are stories of ghosts, disappearances, violence, inequality, and more and I promise that you will be haunted by them. My favorites were stories of obsession like “The Dirty Kid” in which a young professional woman discovers that a local child has been killed and mutilated, and “The Neighbor’s Courtyard,” a story of an ex-social worker who believes her neighbor has a child chained up in the backyard. The collection is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado.

Nowhere to Be Found by Bae Suah, Translated by Sora Kim-Russell 

Nowhere to Be Found follows a nameless narrator’s search not for meaning, but for meaninglessness, in contemporary South Korea. Bae Suah’s young narrator describes her empty existence as she travels through life, barely moved by the disintegrated state of her family and her own poverty and loneliness. Translator Sora Kim-Russell describes it as “a road novel turned inside out, a story of a woman’s journey out of and into desire told as only Bae Suah could tell it.” Blurred descriptions of a life full of trivial banalities are thrown against dark, sadomasochistic sex scenes. The abrupt shifts are disorienting and unsettling and Suah breaks boundaries, constantly, between recollection and memory, facts and fiction.

Fever Dream by Samanta  Schweblin, Translated by Megan McDowell

Translated into English for the first time, Fever Dream is an eerie, absorbing novel about the “power and desperation of family.” A young woman is in a rural hospital clinic, delirious and dying. A boy named David, the son of a friend, waits by her bedside as Amanda tries to piece together how she came to be there and where her own daughter is. But there’s something wrong with David, wrong with the place Amanda finds herself, and maybe something wrong with Amanda too. The writing is tight and sparse but absolutely absorbing and you’ll find yourself racing to the end of this small but powerful book.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

Spring 2018 New Releases: Food and Cookbooks

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Prepare yourself for some particularly droolworthy upcoming food and cookbook releases this spring!

Sweet Potato Soul: 100 Easy Vegan Recipes for the Southern  Flavors of Smoke, Sugar, Spice, and Soul by Jenné Claiborne (February 6th)

Vegan cookbooks are so hot right now, and out of all of the amazing vegan cookbooks coming out this spring (notably: Hot for Food Vegan Comfort Classics and Vegan 100: Over 100 Incredible Recipes from Avant-Garde Vegan) I’m most interested in Sweet Potato Soul from NYC-based blogger, personal chef, and cooking instructor Jenné Claiborne. Claiborne’s food looks amazing—comforting and substantial with beautiful colors, textures, and flavors.

Fermentation Revolution: 70 Easy, Healthy Recipes for Sauerkraut, Kombucha, Kimchi and More by Sebastien Bureau and‎ David Côté (March 15th) 

Fermentation is a continuing trend in cookbooks from 2017 and I can’t get enough of it! Kimchi is a must-have in my house and I make it in 8-lb batches way more often than I’d like to admit. (I use Maangchi’s recipe for anyone interested.) Fermentation Revolution is more than just fermented vegetables, but a wide range of recipes and techniques for fermenting fruits, sugars and honeys, grains, and more.

The Modern Kitchen: Objects That Shape the Way We Cook, Eat, and Live by Tim Hayward (April 3rd)

Think about all of the objects in your kitchen, from the much-loved wooden spoon to your fancy, pastel-colored Kitchen-Aid mixer; all of these items have a story. Through 100 familiar kitchen objects, The Modern Kitchen examines notions of gender, class, and more and provides a “portrait of our domestic lives.” It might seem a little obsessive for some, but the photographs and extensive information will hit the sweet spot for the kitchen collector or food geek who loves to stroll through the aisles of Crate & Barrel or Williams Sonoma.

The Perfect Cake: Your Ultimate Guide to Classic, Modern, and Whimsical Cakes by the Editors at America’s Test Kitchen (March 27th)

It wouldn’t be a real foodie-worthy list without a book from the editors at America’s Test Kitchen, and this one takes the cake! (Sorry, not sorry) The recipes range from sheet cakes and special occasion cakes to cupcakes, cake pops, and cheesecakes.

The Measure of My Powers: A Memoir of Food, Misery, and Paris by Jackie Kai Ellis (March 6th)

The jacket copy of The Measure of My Powers likens the book to Eat, Pray, Love, H is for Hawk, and Wild. That got my attention! Jackie Kai Ellis journeys to France, Italy, and the Congo to find herself, her happiness, and a path for a different kind of future. It sounds amazing, particularly her time at pastry school in Paris. Ellis is the founder of Vancouver’s Beaucoup Bakery and the leader of The Paris Tours, a culinary excursion group.

Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen by Hannah Howard (April 1st)

Another powerful memoir coming out this spring is Feast: True Love in and Out of the Kitchen by Hannah Howard. Feast is a “compulsively readable memoir of a woman at war—with herself, with her body, and with food—while working her way through the underbelly of New York City’s glamorous culinary scene.” It looks like an incredibly heartbreaking must-read.

Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots by James Syhabout with John Birdsall (January 23rd)

Chef James Syhabout has created an amazingly vibrant and personal cookbook dedicated to recipes for cooking home-style Thai and Lao dishes. With recipes ranging from sticky rice and Lao beef noodle soup to Lao minced pork salad, every single recipe looks exciting and delicious.

Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls with Veronica Chambers (February 6th)

Wow. Wow. Wow. This powerful and astounding cookbook is not about fusion cooking. It’s about the intersections of the African and Asian diasporas and how they have “criss-crossed cuisines all around the world.” Alexander Smalls and JJ Johnson have built this unique understanding of the Afro-Asian-American flavor profile in their renown and historic Harlem restaurants, Minton’s and The Cecil, and are now sharing over 100 recipes in Between Harlem and Heaven with readers and home cooks.

The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats by Daniel Stone (February 20th)

I love globe-trotting botanists! The Food Explorer tells the true adventures of David Fairchild, a late-nineteenth-century food explorer and botanist who traveled the world and introduced plants and crops such as kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, avocados from Chile, pomegranates from Malta, cotton from Egypt, and the cherry blossom tree from Japan, all to America.

Prosecco Made Me Do: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails by Amy Zavatto (April 3rd)

This fun and beautifully illustrated collection of recipes will have you serving up some seriously sparkling cocktails. Also includes purchasing and serving tips and a guide to cordials, syrups, and liqueurs. It would make a really fun gift for the bellini lover in your life.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.