Monthly Book Review: December 2021 + Year in Review

It was a busy year with work and on the home front. I started baking sourdough bread earlier this year and I now religiously bake two loaves each week (two different starters - Seymour and Harry). I've perfected a softer crust (adding ice cubes under parchment sling before lid on to create more steam), experimented with flours (bread, wheat and rye mix is my current fave) and searched methods of scoring for the perfect "ear" or interesting design.

Almost two years into a pandemic. No one would have thought it would last this long (ok someone probably did), but I think we're pivoting to figure out how to live WITH this virus. Hubby and I were vaxed in March/April, yet we still got COVID in September. It was surprisingly easy to get and though we only had a mild case (I lost my sense of taste and smell, hubby had more of a flu), we're not anxious to repeat as we don't know the long-term effects. I'm still dealing with shoulder joint pain, though 95% better than when it first started, that has no other explanation than COVID side effect.

In the spirit of living, we took a few trips in a variety of modes. We were in Arizona twice - my husband's adult sons have settled there with their families and we were blessed with two granddaughters this year. There were also side trips to Flagstaff and Vegas. We went camping twice - a long weekend two hours away in an Airstream and a week-long trip to WI/UP Michigan in a TAB (hello COVID). And we made it back to our home away from home in Puerto Vallarta Mexico for a week.

I started the only book I read in December while in Mexico - The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. A hundred years ago Ada and Mathilda form an uneasy and unlikely friendship out of circumstance and convenience in Mississippi. Ada is a lost soul who dreams of belonging - hard to do with an abusive father and an unexpected pregnancy. Matilda dreams of making a new life in the North with the promise of greater opportunity and independence; however, her knowledge of secrets and the killing Ada's father puts a hamper on those plans. The two teens face bias, racism and poverty, luck, kindness and mutual perseverance.

Following are my top 5 of the 21 books I read this year - they either stayed with me, giving mind something to continue chewing on, or simply delighted. How interesting that they're in the order I read them. 

1. Anxious People* by Fredrik Backman (February)
2. The Lager Queen of Minnesota by J. Ryan Stradal (June)
3. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult (July)
4. Our Italian Summer by Jennifer Probst (August)
5. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi (November)

*Anxious People will debut as a Swedish Netflix series on Dec. 29th.

Monthly Book Review: November 2021

I started this while lying poolside in Puerto Vallarta (average 85 degrees) so I could feel good about posting by end of November. Then I decided to give in to feeling relaxed and blessed so let go. We're back home, I'm not even close to digging out of work emails and the daily temp has been 10-20 degrees. And we're getting 6" of snow tomorrow. Reality is a harsh beast. 

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi will likely be in my top 5 for the year. Lakshmi is an ambitious henna artist in 1950's Jaipur, India. Meeting the sister she never knew changes the trajectory of her life in ways she never would have imagined. This is a story of self discovery, redemption and the power of familial bonds. The storytelling is evocative - my mouth watered for the sweet and spicy treats Lakshmi prepares for her "ladies" and I longed to smell the heady aromas of the oils used as subliminal treatments in her henna. Lakshmi is part artist, part healer, part psychologist and stuck in the prescriptive castes of Indian society. I know very little of India, so have no idea of the accuracy, but it was a wonderful introduction and escape intp another culture. This is the first in a series of Joshi's books so I will definitely add the others to my Audible wish list.

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal was a disappointment. I loved Stradal's The Lager Queen of Minnesota, but this fell flat for me. The story follows Eva Thorvald from her father's childhood, to her unique culinary tastes as a teen growing hot peppers for a local restaurant, to rising fame as a unique chef. I loved how down to earth Eva was compared to other food snobs, and that she always stayed true to herself. I also loved the references to regional food with cult-like fame such as lutefisk and bars. Ultimately, I didn't feel connected - there were so many characters focused on with painstaking detail who were only bit players. This was Stradal's debut novel and considering how much I liked the later Lager Queen, I'm definitely willing to try another.

TBR List

• The Girls in the Stilt House by Kelly Mustian
• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
• The Good House by Ann Leary
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
• How to Have Impossible Conversations by Boghossian/Lindsay