The School of Essential Ingredients

This isn't a novel; it's a poem! It's that beautiful!

Lillian owns a restaurant and on Monday nights, when the restaurant is closed, she teaches a cooking class. This book tells the story of the members of the class and the teacher.

That sounds pretty simplistic but what makes this book so mesmerizing is the writing. It's sumptuous! Every page contains so many delicious metaphors and similes that you just want to eat them.

If you're looking for a book to get lost in for an evening, pick this one up and you won't stop reading until it's done...and then you'll want to start cooking!

The Angel's Game

Good rainy morning. Yesterday was gorgeous with not a cloud in the sky...and then we woke up this morning all wet.

I did manage to sit in the sun yesterday reading for about an hour. Felt wonderful!

I'm glad I'm done with this book. I'm still not sure if I liked it. I'd be all set to give up on it when a really interesting scene would take place so I'd continue on.

It was mysterious, and ghostly, and very well written. The writing is what really sucked me in because the premise just didn't appeal to me.

David Martin is commissioned to write a book unlike any other ever written. But, who is the person who commissions him? Is he real or an angel or the devil? It all comes together at the end and makes sense but it was a long route to that point.

I started The School of Essential Ingredients yesterday and am over halfway through already. I'm loving it!

Sworn to Silence

Kate was brough up Amish but an incident in her childhood disillusions her and she leaves her parents' farm as soon as she can and becomes a policewoman. Now she's the chief of police in the town where she grew up and some horrific murders have been happening.

This was another unputdownable novel. Yes, the plotline is a bit predictable but the characters are well drawn and unique enough to give it depth.

I took this with me to the beach yesterday and read and read.

Dead Until Dark

One of my fellow English teachers gave me this book and said it was something to read when I just wanted to escape and have fun. And she was right!

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress who can read minds--that is, everyone's except the handsome vampire, Bill's mind. She ends up using her "disability," as she calls it, to help solve a series of murders in her town.

I love the way the author makes the existence of vampires so natural. This was so much more fun than that other popular vampire series where the main characters are boooooriiiiing! Sookie will steal your heart!

The Help

This was an awesome book! Awesome! When I got home from school yesterday, I was only half way through it and finished it before I went to bed.

It's the early 60s and 3 women form an unusual alliance. There is Skeeter Phelan, a white woman who has just finished college and has returned home to try to find a job. She wants to be a writer but there aren't many opportunities for her in Mississippi.

Then there is Aibilene, Skeeter's friend's black maid. She is dignified, loving and intelligent but is stifled by the limitations placed on blacks.

The third member of this group is Minny, also a black housemaid. She's a great cook but her smart mouth keeps getting her fired.

For various reasons they unite to tell the story of what being the "colored help" is really like.

WARNING: Don't finish this wonderfully written book right before going to bed. You'll be up all night thinking about these courageous characters.

Finger Lickin' Fifteen

I know it's Monday but it feels like Sunday because of the long Labor Day weekend. I'm enjoying it with my granddaughter and some friends who drove up from Massachusetts to visit. Not much reading is getting done, though!


What can I say about this series that hasn't already been said? As with her others, this is a quick read but it holds plenty of entertainment. It was the perfect antidote for my first week at school. I laughed out loud quite a few times.






I'm sneaking a few minutes of peace and quiet before the rest of the crew wake up and we start cooking breakfast outside for everyone. Maybe tonight I'll have a chance to sit and read for awhile.