July 2020 Group Read - Food

[Sarah]

This months group read is Food! What food books are you going to read? And it's a large category too! It can cover everything from those food based cozy mysteries to actual books on food. For example there's health related books about food, everything from suggestions on what you should eat to stay healthy to books on specific conditions like celiac, diabetes or food allergies. Or maybe you are interested in growing food or want to know about the history of food and how it has traveled across the globe. And food has even shaped cultures - like how the introduction of corn ended the mound builders earth work projects. Astronauts eat special food too!

So what are you going to read this month? Come and tell us about your books!

[Renata]

I recently bought Tembi Locke's "From Scratch", but haven't got down to it yet. Looks like a good time to start.

[Sarah]

Yes it's an excellent time to start reading your book! 📖

I have a few food related books to read too, including

[Colleen]

I just read Recipe for Disaster and it was a cute, funny and light-hearted read. My RL book club enjoyed it.

[Sarah]

That's great Colleen!

[Sally]

I read "The Coincidence of Coconut Cake"
Novel by Amy E. Reichert a while back. It was a good read, fun romance and a good recipe.

[Agnieszka]

I'm so glad you picked this topic!
I know there are several books/series I want read soon and it looks like July will be the time for some of them. From the top of my head here some of my book ideas:
= N'Ice Cream: 80 Eiscreme-Ideen locker, leicht & himmlisch cremig=N'ice Cream: 80+ Recipes for Healthy Homemade Vegan Ice Creams
Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries Box Set: A Culinary Cozy Mystery Anthology, Books 1-5
Pasta Pinot & Murder
The Peridale Cafe Series: 10 Book Box Set I read the first two so I'll finally continue this series
Anti Inflammatory Diet: The Smart Diet for Beginners. 14-Days No-Stress Meal Plan with Simple and Delicious Recipes. It Helps You Heal the Immune System, Prevent Diseases, and Lose Weight Easily.
The 7-Day Smoothie Recipe Book: 50 Delicious Smoothies For Weight Loss
Culinary Delights: Four Delectable Foodie Romances
Murder to Go
A Murder In Milburn, The Complete Series: 12 Book Box Set With Delicious Recipes
Kitchen Addiction! hopefully more in series

[Sarah]

The coconut cake book sounds great (and tasty) Sally! 🎂

I'm glad you're going to enjoy this upcoming theme of food books, Agnieszka! I have a few in my apartment too I'm going to read. I hope all of those will be great books! I might also try reading the book by Dr Bosworth. I know she's done some incredible things through diet.

Oh one food related series I really enjoy for some reason is about Goldy... Diane Mott Davidson one of her books in the series about Goldy is Chopping Spree her characters are fun, the plots are interesting and I just enjoy all the crazy situations that Goldy gets into running her catering business.

[Agnieszka]

Sarah wrote: "Oh one food related series I really enjoy for some reason is about Goldy... Diane Mott Davidson one of her books in the series about Goldy is Chopping Spree her characters are fun, the plots are interesting and I just enjoy all the crazy situations that Goldy gets into running her catering business."

I have this series on my watch list already but wasn't able to find book 1 for free. After your recommedation and seeing one of my friends I have similar taste in books rated it 4* I'll think about buying the first one and see if I like it.

[Sarah]

I've actually read her books in random order as I came across them and it was just fine. Well for me anyway. I'm sure there are little things that carry over from book to book but to me it wasn't such a big deal. It's not like in some series where you have to read them in order or be totally lost. In fact I think the first book I read from was one about a big shopping mall and a murder there.

In fact the one about the mall is Chopping Spree, the one I listed above.

[La Tonya]

Where the Crawdads Sing

[Sarah]

I enjoyed reading Where the Crawdads Sing in the book club- in fact I'd say it was my favorite book that I read while in the club..

[La Tonya]

Sarah wrote: "I enjoyed reading Where the Crawdads Sing in the book club- in fact I'd say it was my favorite book that I read while in the club.."

I enjoyed this book as well. Read my review on the following thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kim]

halfway done from MARCH!!: To Brew or Not to Brew

I need to catch up on my other spring reads, but I hope to get to this one: Peach Pies and Alibis

[La Tonya]

Kim wrote: "halfway done from MARCH!!: To Brew or Not to Brew

I need to catch up on my other spring reads, but I hope to get to this one: Peach Pies and Alibis"

Peach Pies and Alibis sound exciting. Enjoy Reading, 📚

[Sarah]

Peach Pies does sound like a great book!

The book I just read today took place in the Himalayas, in Nepal. They were drinking butter tea! I think they were putting butter in their tea! And the author often took the tea pot to bed, on his stomach, to help keep warm!

[Sally]

I didn't plan to read a book for this month, but "The Cooking Gene"
by Michael W. Twitty
appeared on the open page of my Overdrive, it was available and I checked it out. It is a mix of historical cooking and Twitty's search for his ancestors. He shares history that many, I certainly didn't know.

[Sarah]

I hope you enjoy The Cooking Gene, Sally! It certainly sounds unique and special. I once heard that the best diets for us can depend on what our ancestors ate. Some people thrive in being vegetarians while other people do better being carnivores. Maybe it all depends on the diets of our ancestors?

[Renata]

Started the month with Nellie Bennett's "Only in Spain" - a memoir of an Australian saleswoman's tryst with the Flamenco. A penchant for fashion and a curiosity for the frilly skirts and suede dance shoes, caused Bennett to save up for a 6-week trip to Seville - the homeland of Flamenco. Spanish food, dance, music, culture - I'm 40% down and it's a wonderful book to travel vicariously in today's times.

[Agnieszka]

Last night I read I Quit Sugar: How to Have a Sugar Free Easter. Only at the end I found out it was an excerpt from her 'big' recipe books and if you want to read how to actually have a sugar free Easter with your kind of food you have to buy her other two books. I was so dissapointed I decided to delete it the next time I clean up my Amazon library - especially since none of the recipes appealed to me and she uses such exotic ingredients I wouldn't know where to get them and I doubt I could afford them.

[La Tonya]

Agnieszka wrote: "Last night I read I Quit Sugar: How to Have a Sugar Free Easter. Only at the end I found out it was an excerpt from her 'big' recipe books and if you want to read how to actually ha..."

I have had similar experiences with excerpts in books. It is very disappointing. Enjoy Reading, 📚

[Sarah]

That does sound like a wonderful and interesting book, Renata! I love traveling all over through books. It's much safer in my opinion. I know it's not the same but not everyone can travel or likes to..

And I understand your problem with that book, Agnieszka!! I have numerous food issues so I've pretty much given up on the idea of any recipe type book because no doubt if would be telling me to eat stuff I can't eat for one reason or another. I was thinking of getting a copy of this one particular health book but I looked at the reviews for it (as it's not a novel so no spoilers) and I read that apparently a big chunk of the book is advising one to eat the kind of things I can't eat. So I just forgot about it.. maybe someday my library might get a copy .. but it's so disappointing!

I am totally sugar free though..I've been that way for years now. The only sweet thing I eat anymore is a few types of fruit, mainly bananas. Today since it's a holiday I ate some watermelon, which is a treat..but I have too many issues to eat a bunch of fruit on a regular basis (but I do eat bananas every day). I'm basically eating for nutrition these days.

[Sarah]

I've finished today by Mark Twain..and this story actually mentions a very interesting food fact. They said that when Edward VI became king of England, the English people didn't grow any salad materials themselves. And apparently the majority of the people never ate it. The few who did eat it, the greens and radish, etc, was imported from another country..I found that fact very fascinating! Because these days salads are so common and are considered very healthy, so it's amazing to think that a few hundred years ago people never heard of a salad!

[Agnieszka]

I started yesterday with the prequel called 'The Cream Pie Alibi' (no single book edition available) which is NOT a prequel but most likely book 1.5 so somewhere in chapter 5 I decided to read book 1 first. Unfortunatelly by than I was so frustrated I only made it to chapter 2 and spend most of the day web-surfing and finishing one of my books I set aside to get over the frustration of finding out the author's formula for her romances.
I hope to continue today. I need to deal with some stuff out of house so I'm not sure if I'll finish it even though it's so short (only 143 pages if the total for the book set is correct - which I started to doubt because of how long I needed for the part I read so far and how much longer are the single book editions in this series)

[Agnieszka]

Agnieszka wrote: "I started yesterday with the prequel called 'The Cr..."

I finished this book (not really excited about it) as well as the so called prequel liked it pretty much and yesterday I finished #2 in series and liked it more than #1 but it's not that great.

[Sarah]

Sorry the books were not so great. That unfortunately happens sometimes. The titles certainly sound good! A bit of pie would be nice...but it's not going to happen.

[Sarah]

Little Women which I just finished today actually mentions lots of food. They would use hot turnovers out of the oven as handwarmers when they left the house...and then eat them too. One time one girl was unfortunate and dropped her turnover in the dirty gutter by mistake. They had jam on bread, had tea and coffee, had picnics outside several times - once with all sorts of animals anout getting into the food like ants and spiders. The girls were learning to cook and having huge disasters too! Once a bunch of girls were invited to a party and special food was bought but the food was ruined (!!) So they ran out to buy lobster! Then only one guest showed up! The book, written in 1868, is full of fascinating little adventures about food! The biggest food disaster must have been the young bride trying to make jam out of fresh currants and it was staying a liquid and simply refused to jell!

Oh! And pickled limes were all the rage back then! The kids would sneak them into school and use them as treats! If you liked someone you would share your pickled limes with them! But it was against the school rules too! So don't get caught! And these days most people never heard of a pickled lime.

[Agnieszka]

Sarah wrote: "Little Women which I just finished today actually mentions lots of food. They would use hot turnovers out of the oven as handwarmers when they left the house...and then eat them too. One time one g..."

I've somewhere on GR that either last or this year someone researched all the food mentioned in Little Women and published a cook book.

[Sarah]

I guess if someone did that they must have found the food mentioned interesting too. It does show how greatly things have changed over the years... I never would have thought someone would have published a book about it..

[Agnieszka]

I was hoping to read some more of the food books I own but won't be able to do it this month. I'm still glad I found out one of the series isn't really working for me and the no-sugar book isn't really no-sugar only substituting it with other forms.