Tag Archives: Non-Fiction

Review: The Telling Room by Michael Paterniti

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In a small village, a man named Ambrosio experiments and works to revive an old family recipe, a cheese his father remembers from his youth. What he creates is something so extraordinary that it wins awards and turns heads. In a college in the US, another man edits a newsletter for a local deli and becomes acquainted with the story of the world’s greatest cheese. Later, when he has a chance, he follows his heart to a small village in Spain to learn more about the cheese and the story he uncovers is so full of twists and turns that he writes a book about it.

This has been on my TBR for awhile because my friend E sent it to me with a note that said something to the effect of, “You also like cheese and Spain, so you’ll think this is an interesting story. But, you’re also not going to like the narrator.” She wasn’t wrong. I perhaps have a bit of sympathy for the author who idealizes this artisanal cheese maker and his integrity, along with the slow-paced small village life, but he’s not my fave. I get looking at the world around you, especially right now, and finding it wanting. But I’m not sure the solution is to quit the world and move to a small village in Spain to write a one-sided story about a very dramatic situation.

So, this book has a lot of ups and downs. The cheese bit was very interesting. The book writing bit was less so. For an author who has done some journalism, the approach he takes to the subject matter was annoying. His writing is fine, tight. The prose kept me interested. But the book has so many footnotes and that drove me mad. I get that stylistically that mimicked Castilian conversation with its many digressions but it did nothing for me. If I hadn’t decided early in the reading that I would not be defeated by this book, I would have DNF’d it for the footnotes alone. (Yes, apparently sometimes in my mind book reading is a game you can lose by not reading. And now I’m digressing. At least this isn’t a footnote?)

The descriptions of Spain and the cheese making process were awesome. But, the descriptions of writers block and interviewing and trying to be Spanish were not.

When you make it through both types of descriptions, you finally get into some of the betrayal and… no spoilers but the book doesn’t have a real ending. It sort of just… loses steam. This is maybe what happens when you go searching for the source of a myth? You find reality and it is long and rambling and stupid and you aren’t sure where something truly ends and the next thing begins.

Anyway, this one is a meh for me. I wouldn’t recommend it. it I also wouldn’t stop you from reading it. If you think you might be interested, let me know and you can have my copy.

Beth’s Favorite Books of 2024!!!

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I read a lot of good books this year. Like many of us, books were a much-needed respite from all the things going on in the world. So, I am forever grateful to all the authors who created the amazing worlds I visited this year.

In no particular order. Here are the books that I loved the most in 2024!

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang – This was such an excellent book. It was a tough read, I am not going to lie because I saw a little bit more of myself in the main character than I would care to admit but that’s a good thing. It’s good to be uncomfortable from time to time because that’s how you learn and ultimately grow. So yes, read this book. Especially if you are a liberally leaning white woman.

What the River Knows and Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibanez – These were a fun series. It really is a mix of The Mummy (1999 version) and Death of the Nile. I loved the dynamic between the main character and her love interest. It was a mix of adventure, romance and mystery. What the River Knows was so much fun, I had to immediately read the sequel Where the Library Hides. It just hit all the right notes for me.

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan – What if you could become a character in your favorite story? Sounds like fun, right? It is, at least to me. Rae may disagree as to where she ends up at the end of the book, but it is so much fun. A lot of humor and all the fantasy tropes that readers expect. I can’t wait for the sequel to come out.

Assistant to the Villain and Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer – Both of these books were so funny. I think I picked this up on a whim because it sounded interesting, and I am so glad that I did. It is just the right kind of humor I like. It is so ridiculous I love it.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy – The only non-fiction title on my list. Okay, it might have been the only non-fiction book I read this year, but I digress. Jennette’s story is heartbreaking because so much of the pain in her life was caused by her mother. How she handling it all now is admirable. I only wish the best for her.

The Familiar – Leigh Bardugo – Magic, mystery, betrayal. It is all here. I loved the atmosphere of the story. Leigh Bardugo is such a great writer. She paints such great portraits in her books. If you are looking for a standalone fantasy novel, You can’t go wrong with this one.

Spoiler Alert, All the Feels and Ship wrecked by Olivia Dade – I love them all. The Spoiler Alert trilogy follows three different couples from a TV show. All of them are relatable and easy to cheer for. I also love the fan fiction part of the stories.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi – Another hilarious book. I have never read John Scalzi before but I might have to after this. The absurdity of the books is amazing. Like I need this to be a movie or TV show because it would be awesome.

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan – I was introduced to Sophie Jordan from her first dragon books, so I was happy she’s back to writing dragons. There are some similarities to the last series, but I am not mad about it. It was a very fast read, and I didn’t want it to end. It’s a good thing the sequel is coming out next year.

Those were my favorite books of this year. After going through my list, I see a theme of comedic books. I obviously needed the laughs, and I am probably going to need the laughs next year. What were your favorite books of this year?

Ally Box!

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Greetings! About a month ago, I saw that Fulton Street Books and Coffee was putting together an ally box, containing books to help folks wanting to learn more about race, racism, and white supremacy in America. So, to further my education (and to be a better and more informed teacher) I signed up. The subscription is running for three months (and there are still some subscriptions available through Fulton Street Books website! Click through on that link above!)

In this first box, there are flash cards with key terms that you’ve seen popping up in the media and two books. They’re both books that are on my to-read pile and I am super excited about them. The first book is So you want to talk about race by Ijeoma Oluo. I think this will be an overview to some of the issues in the current moment.

The second book is The Color of Law: The Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. As someone who grew up in largely white communities, I think this one will probably contain a lot of information to help me better understand how I have benefited from our current systems that harm Black citizens and other citizens of color. Despite what I said about the first book probably being a good overview text, I think I’m going to start with the second one.

These look like they’re both going to be good reads, and I can’t wait to see what’s in the next box!

Top Posts of 2019

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These are the Posts from this year that you all really loved! Let’s revisit them, shall we?

  1. Review: The Golden Tower by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare – This was a fun series from two great authors.
  2. Quick Review: Question of Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro – Another great series with a new take on some favorite characters.
  3. Review: The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson – I love a good mystery and this has been top notch.
  4. Quick Review: The Vagina Bible by Dr. Jennifer Gunter – Twitter’s gynecologist answers all your questions about women’s health and demystifies some long standing myths that really need to go.
  5. Quick Review: Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard – Short story collection from the world of Red Queen.
  6. Reading Challenges – Who doesn’t love a challenge?
  7. What I’m Reading Now: Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes) by Lorna Landvik – Such a great title.
  8. Reality is Stranger than Fiction – This post by author Sherrilyn Kenyon was hard to believe. It’s like a novel.
  9. 24 in 48 – Kate attempted to read 24 books in 48 hours.
  10. Not a Review: Circe by Madeline Miller -” This isn’t a review so much as a scream into the void ” maybe the best line ever written on this blog ever.

Quick Review: The Vagina Bible by Dr. Jen Gunter

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This is embarrassing to admit but there is some comfort in knowing that I’m not the only one who thought this but *sigh* I didn’t realize there was a difference between the Vulva and the Vagina. I kinda thought they were the same thing. The words were interchangeable. It really is sad how little we know about women’s body and how for centuries the medical profession didn’t really feel it necessary to study women’s bodies and health the same way they study men’s. That’s where Dr. Jen Gunter comes in. Twitter’s doctor as she is known spells out the fact from the fiction. What we know to be true and what isn’t and really what works for her. She lays everything out in a very straightforward way. Her explanations are easy to understand and makes perfect sense to me. She has set it up in a way that you can jump around and read on what you want to know. Sure you can read from front to back and I’m sure it’s beneficial. I started it that way but then skipped forward to later chapters as they pertained more to my own personal questions. I did go back to the chapters I missed but I didn’t bother me that I didn’t read it order. I like to think of it as my own choose your own adventure book. The real strength is that as I have more questions as time goes on, I can always go back to reference. So ladies, I do recommend adding this book to your library. All of our lives, we have been told misleading or even out right lies about our anatomy that continue to do us harm. It’s time to take that knowledge back.

Review: The Last Speakers by K. David Harrison

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9781426204616_p0_v2_s550x406 My pop culture assignment from Kate is to delve into her world as a linguist. Linguistics has been referred to as a social science.  What does that mean exactly?  The first book, What Language is by John McWhorter was more of the scientific side of the linguistics, explaining what they look for when they study languages.  How languages are built and how they became to be and continue to develop. The Last Speakers is the social side of linguistics by discussing why the study of languages are important to understanding who we are and the world around us.  Both aspects are important to discover how we communicate to each other.  K. David Harrison set out to study endangered languages because the knowledge of the natural world they contain that we have lost by no longer speaking them.  He learns from indigenous people words that describes the world around us.  How they can speak or sing to animals to get them do what they need them to do.  Plant life that are now extinct.  Medicinal methods that have vanished in the wake of modern medicine.  If we lose these last speakers we lose more than just a language being spoken.  We lose a great deal of our own knowledge of our world that we will never get back.  The book reads like a travel memoir as he details his work around the globe but it’s also a plea to the world to not abandon these languages.  He and his team document these languages and do everything then can to keep these languages alive long after the last speakers pass away but also bring to light new or remembered words of our past.  I like that he isn’t to be the white savior.  He goes to observe and document and help where he can.  He defers to the people in how they want to documented.  Not all people want their languages to be shared with outsiders and he understands their reasoning without judgment.  It’s their language and culture and they should have the final say on who gets to know it and learn it.  It was an interesting book, with some great stories and I’m fully support more documentation of last speakers from all over the world.  We have so much more to learn.