A Photo of my TBR Pile, Pillows and Cookbooks: Backlist Reading, Never Forget Eleanor Movie, Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson, No Big Deal by Bethany Rutter, The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran, and Godsgrave, book 2 of the Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff

Hola book lovers! It's March Madness already, with the chill winds and the Oscars blowing in, along with Lent and Easter coming up the first week of April. I can't believe it's nearly full Spring here in the PNW. We usually don't have temps this warm this time of year, but it's refreshing to have cold evenings and warm rains to wash away the winter detritus. I'm going to try and insert a photo of my current TBR pile of books that I keep on my bed, which are my immediate reading material, vs the books on my red book cart, that are unread but can wait, and the unread books on my bookshelves which sit there, gathering dust and making me feel feckless and mean for shoving them aside. Meanwhile, I've got 16 physical books and 4 new e-books to read, the latter on my Kindle Paperwhite (not shown).

Meanwhile, here's a couple of tidbits and four book reviews from yours truly.

I used to read my mothers cookbooks, and then when I'd find an old cookbook at a garage sale, I would buy it and take it home and avidly go through it, though I never dared suggest to my mother that she try the more "exotic" recipes, because she  was an excellent cook, but only within familiar parameters of Midwestern fare. She worked a full time job as a nurse, took care of three children with health problems and managed to cook and clean and maintain her home, all without any help at all from my father. So I figured adding more to her plate wasn't a good idea...she was keeping it all going by the skin of her teeth as it was. But I dreamed and drooled while reading The Moosewood Cookbook, or French Cooking with Julia Child, or Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking.

Pillows and Cookbooks: Highlighting Backlist Reading

Does anyone else love a Sunday morning in bed with a cup of thick bitter coffee and a pile of cookbooks? I highly recommend it. I am a homebody who after a recent devastating house fire has moved three times in as many months with my very favorite husband and wild happy pack of dogs.

But... without my books. The fire was a disaster, but one that is slowly being remedied with fire restoration experts, paint decks, boxes of fabrics, builders and... replacement books. Turns out someone else's edition is just as good a friend as mine were. I can always turn the pages down again. And the comfort of the old cookbooks reintroduced makes for a practically perfect day in deep midwinter.

There are generations of cooks who don't know Laurie Colwin. That has to change. Colwin first gave us Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen followed quickly by More Home Cooking: A Writer Returns to the Kitchen.

Then she died, which I have never quite gotten over. Laurie is a warm, generous cook, and you are going to want to sit at her table and laugh and eat. You will cry when you realize you cannot, but still she will be with you forever once you own these books. They were two of the initial ones I replaced. Her writing is simple and straightforward just like her food. Laurie once did a riff on chocolate cakes, baking a bunch until she found the perfect one with buttermilk and lots of dark cocoa. I can whip up that cake up in 20 minutes flat and wow a room of late-night guests who need one more post-party treat before bed. "One of the delights of life is eating with friends; second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends." Laurie Colwin gets me.

Christopher Kimball has become synonymous with the trend in TV food. He founded Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen and now Milk Street. But his older cookbook The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook is, for my money, still his best. Want to whip up a perfect tall flaky biscuit? Kimball's version never misses. How about fluffy buttermilk pancakes like Grandma made? The secret to those turns out to be egg whites. And fried tomatoes--every summer I want some but because I only make them once or twice a year, I turn to my old tattered copy so I don't waste time ruining the first batch. Eggs Benedict on top of fried green tomatoes is a wow. Spend a couple of hours turning pages here and you will be dreaming up Sunday meals for a month.

Italian food is a staple in most American homes, so The Silver Spoon should be, too. It's still the best loved cookbook in Italy 70 years after it was first published. Roasted pork with prunes? Yes. I mean, it's a game changer. I make great fried chicken--I am an evangelist for my fried chicken, taught to me by my beloved Gram. Nobody else's even comes close. Just ask me. And yet this fried chicken marinated in lemon and olive oil was a revelation. This book is fun to read too. Glazed radishes. Why? Make them and pile them on a Parmesan-encrusted pork chop, and you'll see.

When I was a little girl, my mom got the Time Life Good Cook series. Remember them? They were edited by the brilliant Richard Olney. He and Julia Child, James Beard and M.F.K. Fisher forever changed the way Americans eat and think about food. Along with Alice Waters, they introduced us to seasonal eating. Made from scratch, respecting the seasons, farmer's markets, roasting over flame... these were the lessons that took us away from all those godawful church supper Jell-O salads.

Richard Olney's The French Menu Cookbook is a treatise on why eating well will make your life happier and more beautiful. Seriously. We are living in an age where it is all about what you can't eat. No meat, no gluten, no dairy, no fun. Richard Olney will remind you why food matters. It is a demanding cookbook, but as narrative nonfiction it will just make you drool. I might not cook partridge over a cherry-wood branch, tickling its skin with thyme butter every seventh minute, but I will improve my capon and I will not ever forget the flame, either. I'm still dying to talk about M.F.K. Fisher and Marcella Hazen and Julia Child. Stay tuned for part two. --Ellen Stimson

I'm looking forward to this film, because there are so many suffering with various forms of dementia, and my father died of Lewy Body Dementia, so anything that shines a light on this dreaded, dreadful disease is welcome...the more we understand, the better we are hopefully able to cope with those who have it.

Movies: Never Forget Eleanor

Jason June's children's book Never Forget Eleanor https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJscFDcle0I6ak1IEpzSA~k1yJoKXv-hs8x6iXDpSlpoMLg-gVdw will be adapted for film by Unger Media. Deadline reported that the animated film "will expand on the story from the popular book which shines a light on dementia and Alzheimer's disease, told through the eyes of a child named Elijah."

"I instantly bonded with the Unger Media team over their passion for the connective power of stories. I know they are the perfect partner to bring my books to new audiences," said June, who is also in development with the company on a film adaptation of his novel Jay's Gay Agenda.

"The moment we read Jay's Gay Agenda, we jumped at the chance to collaborate with Jason June," said Unger Media CEO & founder Jonathan Unger, will also serve as executive prodiucer on the new project. "Jason June's inclusive, yet positive style of storytelling aligns with our ethos of content with a purpose, and Never Forget Eleanor personifies that in this beautiful story. We know families across the globe will fall in love with Elijah and his loving grandma Eleanor, seeing themselves in this sweet story."

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson is a witty YA urban fantasy/mystery that was surprisingly well written and quite thrilling. I was surprised by the ending, which doesn't usually happen in YA books with a mystery woven throughout. Here's the blurb: Veronica Mars meets The Craft when a teen girl investigates the suspicious deaths of three classmates and accidentally ends up bringing them back to life to form a hilariously unlikely--and unwilling--vigilante girl gang.

Meet teenage Wiccan Mila Flores, who truly could not care less what you think about her Doc Martens, her attitude, or her weight because she knows that, no matter what, her BFF Riley is right by her side. So when Riley and Fairmont Academy mean girls June Phelan-Park and Dayton Nesseth die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone's explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.

Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders. But they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer...before the killer strikes again. 

Look, having been one, I understand how horrible teenage girls can be, seriously. I find that my tolerance for their BS has gotten much lower as the years have gone on, however, so when the snarky resurrected teens become even more awful and snotty when they only have a week to "live", I almost quit reading the book. However, the protagonist, Mila, was so deadpan and so heartbroken about the death of her best friend that I couldn't jettison the book altogether...I had to see what would happen and whodunit. Anderson's prose is clean and her plot swift and incisive. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone who likes YA mysteries with modern-day Wiccans and zombie mean girls. Trust me, you'll laugh and have fun reading this one.

No Big Deal by Bethany Rutter is a YA romantic/coming of age/fat-positive book that, though it's British, still has some excellent universal themes of body positivity, fat acceptance and rejection of the diet and exercise industry, which scams millions of people every year into thinking diets work, when they don't work 95% of the time. One of the things I liked best about this book was that the protagonist, Emily, is fat and fabulous, and she doesn't allow all the diet BS and fatphobia to dictate her worth to herself or others. She's confident, dresses fashionably and has good friends and a father who adores her (though he's a wimp who doesn't stand up to her horrible dieting fascist mother, who tries every trick in the book to force her teenage daughter to starve herself). Unfortunately, once Emily happens upon boys and crushes and dating, she starts to question her confidence in her larger body and herself (Men/boys are the ruination of many a confident woman/girl). Here's the blurb:

It's not my body that's holding me back. It's more of a problem that people keep telling me it should.

Meet Emily Daly, a stylish, cute, intelligent and hilarious seventeen-year-old about to start her last year at school. Emily is also fat. She likes herself and her body. When she meets Joe at a house party, he instantly becomes The Crush of Her Life. Everything changes. At first he seems perfect. But as they spend more time together, doubts start to creep in.

With her mum trying new fad diets every week, and increasing pressure to change, Emily faces a constant battle to stay strong, be her true self and not change for anyone.

No Big Deal is a warm, funny inspiring debut YA novel from Bethany Rutter: influencer, editor and a fierce UK voice in the debate around body positivity. 

I agree with the blurb that this is a funny and inspiring work of fiction, and I would hope that it gets into the hands of as many fat teenage girls as possible. Even though I'm long past my teenage years, I recognized myself in Emily, though I wasn't as confident as she was (it was the 70s, and every guy had a poster of tiny little Farah Fawcett on their wall, with her small breasts and slim hips and big blonde hair and huge white teeth...I was the antithesis of Farah when I was a teenager.) However, I did try to maintain a sense of self, though I was bullied by everyone and my mother looked like the dark haired version of Farrah.  The prose was spunky and the plot wobbled in spots, but mainly got it done. I'd give this book an A, and recommend it to every teenager who has trouble accepting themselves as they are right now. 

The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran is a supernatural erotic thriller that reminds readers of the old adage to "be careful what you wish for." The prose was clean and tight, but lacked a certain richness that I look for in well written literary fiction. The plot was a bit slow in spots, but once it gained momentum it was like an avalanche, all the way to the rather bittersweet ending. Here's the blurb:

"There's two types of magic at play, here. There's what these characters are trying to do, mixing books and sex and spells, and then there's the magic Sara Gran is doing to us, as we compulsively read this literary thriller. And there's a third magic we only wish we could do: pay in blood to go back, read this book again for the first time." — Stephen Graham Jones

A mysterious book that promises unlimited power and unrivaled sexual pleasure. A down-on-her-luck book dealer hoping for the sale of a lifetime. And a twist so shocking, no one will come out unscathed.

After a tragedy too painful to bear, former novelist Lily Albrecht has resigned herself to a dull, sexless life as a rare book dealer. Until she gets a lead on a book that just might turn everything around. The Book of the Most Precious Substance is a 17th century manual on sex magic, rumored to be the most powerful occult book ever written--if it really exists at all. And some of the wealthiest people in the world are willing to pay Lily a fortune to find it—if she can. Her search for the book takes her from New York to New Orleans to Munich to Paris, searching the dark corners of power where the world’s wealthiest people use black magic to fulfill their desires. Will Lily fulfill her own desires, and join them? Or will she lose it all searching for a ghost? The Book of the Most Precious Substance is an addictive erotic thriller about the lengths we’ll go to get what we need—and what we want.

I disagree with the blurb that this is an addictive novel. I suppose if you're into weird sex and creepy men who think light BDSM is a big thrill, then you'd be likely to love this book. I'm not a fan of pain, nor do I find beating women to "arouse" them sexy or sensual...I find it abusive and misogynistic. I also don't find the idea of using sexual fluids (yuck) and blood (from killing someone) to complete spells in order to revive someone to be a reasonable goal for anyone. But then, people with no morals or values or of decent character are somewhat opaque to me...I don't get them at all. Horrible people make me nauseous. Hence, I was disappointed by the book and it's unsatisfying ending. I'd give it a C, and only recommend it to people who enjoy reading about terrible and wealthy book collectors.

Godsgrave (book 2 of the Nevernight Chronicles) by Jay Kristoff is a dark action/adventure fantasy that verges, but never quite falls into Steampunk fiction. Kristoff's prose is lush and evocative, even when he's describing disgusting and gross things like blood, guts, torture, etc. the plot moves like a scythe cutting ripe wheat, and I was at the end of this large e-book of over 400 pages before I knew it. Here's the blurb:

The second thrilling installment of the award-winning Nevernight Chronicle, from New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff.

In a land where three suns almost never set, a ruthless assassin continues her quest for vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Mia Corvere has found her place among the Blades of Our Lady of Blessed Murder, but many in the Red Church hierarchy think she’s far from earned it. Plying her bloody trade in a backwater of the Republic, she’s no closer to ending the men who destroyed her familia; in fact, she’s told directly that Consul Scaeva is off limits. But after a deadly confrontation with an old enemy, Mia's suspicions about the Red Church’s true motives begin to grow.

When it’s announced that Scaeva will be making a rare public appearance at the conclusion of the grand games in Godsgrave, Mia defies the Church and sells herself to a gladiatorial collegium for a chance to finally end him. Upon the sands of the arena, Mia finds new allies, bitter rivals, and more questions about her strange affinity for the shadows. But as conspiracies unfold within the collegium walls, and the body count rises, Mia will be forced to choose between love and revenge, and uncover a secret that could change the very face of her world. 

There are more twists and turns in this book than a roller coaster, which makes for page-turning reading. That said, I didn't think it would end the way it did, or end with the cliffhanger that leaves readers frustrated as to the fate of our protagonist assassin, Mia, aka the Crow. But now that some of the bad guys are dead and Mia's on the run, I'm at a crossroads as to whether to spend the money to download the final book onto my Kindle Paperwhite. To be honest, this series is far more gory and gruesome than I like, and I'm generally not a fan of horror fiction or media like movies and TV shows. Still, a lot of plot lines were finished in this book, which I appreciate. So I'm going  to give it a B, and recommend it to anyone who read the first book and who has a strong stomach for blood and guts.