Announcing the Tag for January 2023

[NancyJ]

Hannah wrote: "I’m thinking of reading City of Thieves and Black Cake for this tag. I think City of Thieves works for a couple of different candles as well."

I was thinking of both of those books too. City of Thieves only had one or two food tags, so I might hold off on that one.

[Booknblues]

NancyJ wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I’m thinking of reading City of Thieves and Black Cake for this tag. I think City of Thieves works for a couple of different candles as ..."

Both books are excellent and very different.

I think they both have to do with food. City of Thieves is about a hunt for eggs in Leningrad during WWII. It is a perfect winter read.

[Joanne]

Hannah wrote: "I’m thinking of City of Thievesreading for this tag. I think [works for a couple of different candles as well."

City of Thieves is a great read Hannah, I think you will like it.

[Karin]

Amy wrote: "HayJay and I will be reading the Lager Queen of Minnesota! Which also happens to fit a candle, ask Nicole R rated it 5 stars. If anyone wants to join us, feel free!

HayJay, I am intending to writ..."

Yes, I'm in now that it's waiting for me at my library. It arrived shortly after I went to the library on Thursday to pick up a hold, but since I won't be starting it until January it's not a problem. In the mean time I'm reading the latest Chet and Bernie book so my son can get his hands on it. I read faster and it's my library card, so I get first dibs ;).

[NancyJ]

I plan to read Babette’s Feast, Babette's Feast and Other Anecdotes of Destiny, or Babette's Feast & Sorrow-Acre by Isak Dinesen - whichever one I can get.

Other possibilities
With the Fire on High
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ
The School of Essential Ingredients
Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals That Brought Me Home
The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains or Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine
Black Cake
The Kitchen Front
Eat, Pray, Love
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking

[Hannah]

Joanne wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I’m thinking of City of Thievesreading for this tag. I think [works for a couple of different candles as well."

City of Thieves is a great read Hannah, I think you wi..."

It’s been on my TBR for nearly ten years now, and it seems to have made my “maybe” list for lots of recent tags, so it looks like January will be the month I actually get to it.

[Hannah]

NancyJ wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I’m thinking of reading City of Thieves and Black Cake for this tag. I think City of Thieves works for a couple of different candles as ..."

I got a copy of Black Cake for Christmas, so I’ll definitely be reading that. Does it matter that City of Thieves has only been tagged food a couple of times? I thought it didn’t matter how many times it had been tagged if we thought it fit the monthly tag.

[[deleted user]]

It doesn't matter for the monthly tag, but it has to be tagged 5 times as food if you want to use it for Subdue the Shelf or as a candle for Happy birthday pbt.

[Theresa]

For monthly theme it does not have to be tagged at all. You just have to fit it to the tag. But in the PBT year-long challenges, to get the bonus points for matching monthly tag the book needs to be tagged at least 5 times.

[Kelly]

Anne wrote: "I can highly recommend With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. It was a 5 star listen for me in 2020."

I loved this book!

[NancyJ]

Hannah wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I’m thinking of reading City of Thieves and Black Cake for this tag. I think City of Thieves works for a couple of differ..."

I agree with Jenny that it matters for the ‘ matching tag bonus’ for Subdue the shelf. I asked Anita about that before. You need 5 of the monthly tags for that.

I don’t recall a matching monthly tag bonus for Candles. There is definitely a 5 tag rule for the specific birthday tags- historical fiction, mystery, survival, etc. I think if you read it for the Pbtmod or Top100 list, you get the candle points for that. You also still get the regular 2 points for the monthly tag just as you would without the challenge. You have to post it in both places.

[NancyJ]

Kelly wrote: "Anne wrote: "I can highly recommend With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo. It was a 5 star listen for me in 2020."

I loved this book!"

Good to hear! I liked her book Clap When You Land this year, so I’m looking forward to it.

[Joi]

Chiming in to recommend Crying in H Mart!!

[Ellen]

Here are a few I really enjoyed:
The Kitchen Front
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars
Candy Freak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America
Crying in H Mart

I am going to read, or listen to actually:
With the Fire on High
Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir

[Anita]

Not a five star book for me, but I would recommend Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life from Scratch. It's a very good memoir.

Others I really enjoyed:

Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen
Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef
Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table

The only 5 star ones I could dig up is Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It and Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, so maybe if anyone has a diet resolution for the New Year, lol, those are options.

I want to read Eat a Peach. Also, has anyone read a book by M.F.K. Fisher? Her books look interesting!

[Theresa]

I have only dipped into M.F.K. Fisher, read a few of her essays and definitely want more. She is a legend of a food writer.

I do highly recommend Provence, 1970: M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and the Reinvention of American Taste by her grandnephew Luke Barr - excellent writer - I gave it 5 stars. From my review:

This marvelous biography/memoir revolving around culinary legends M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard and Richard Olney, is evocative, nostalgic, balanced, and a little bit gossipy. In 1970, all were struggling with that disarmingly simple question: “Where was I?” It is both an existential question in some cases reflecting transitions in work, home, physical place, but it is also a question of the moment for each as in where have they left off and where are they headed in the future of the culinary world. This quote is from the beginning of the book, but it is revisited at the very end at which point you actually have the answers.

[Theresa]

Just in time for January tag, here's an article on a Brooklyn Bookstore dedicated to Black Food. It has an online presence that should trigger some interesting books for the TBR. I am going to try for a pilgrimage in January to one of their pop-ups. I haven't been to Brooklyn since 2019. Good excuse to get back there.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/bem-...

[Theresa]

The second I saw Ntozake Shange mentioned in the article, a Barnard graduate, I flashed back to my 2022 Barnard Reunion in June and spending time during cocktail hour with some of the POC alums catching up, and the conversation turning to the importance of food and cooking to black culture and heritage, discussing High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America which they were all reading or had just read. Also discussed was Black Food: Stories, Art, and Essays , New American Table, and The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South.

I had totally forgotten that coversation until now.

[Ginger]

I’m not a huge fan of self-help, so I chose The Ingredients of Us by Jennifer Gold. It’s a fiction book that has a storyline involving food.

[Book Concierge]

Spectacular banner, Anna!

[Karin]

I'm starting my first one for this on audio on Tuesday.

[Theresa]

Anna - just a yummy banner! So yummy that every time I see it, I feel compelled to start cooking! 🤣🤣🤣

Great banner start to the year.

[Joi]

I have on my radar:
A Batter of Life and Death
Arsenic and Adobo
Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir

[Theresa]

Joi wrote: "I have on my radar:
A Batter of Life and Death
Arsenic and Adobo
Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir"

Love, Loss, and What we Ate is one of my favorite all-time memoirs!

[Dale]

Hi everyone! I just joined the group and am hoping I'm posting this correctly. For the January topic of food, I'd like to recommend John Lanchester's The Debt to Pleasure. Described a "wickedly funny ode to food," it's the kind of cookbook you might expect from a collaboration between Julia Child and Hannibal Lecter.

[Anita]

Dale wrote: "Hi everyone! I just joined the group and am hoping I'm posting this correctly. For the January topic of food, I'd like to recommend John Lanchester's The Debt to Pleasure. Described a "wickedly fun..."

Dale!! So awesome to have you visit us.

You are totally doing it right. I'm adding The Debt to Pleasure to my list!!!

[annapi]

Welcome, Dale! Jump right in, we're a fun group!

[Theresa]

Welcome, Dale! I have had the Debt to Pleasure on my TBR forever. Thanks for the reminder.

[Joanne]

Welcome Dale!

[Nicole R]

I think I am going the nonfiction route with one or both of these:

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
Wine Girl: The Obstacles, Humiliations, and Triumphs of America's Youngest Sommelier

I have owned The Billionaire's Vinegar for like 5 or 6 years, and Wine Girl constantly snags my attention.

Also, I have not read it but I just watched From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home on Netflix. It was a tear-jerker but good!

[Nicole R]

Oooo, I also realized I own The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus! I may have a lot of nonfiction food reads this month!

[NancyJ]

Has anyone read Light from Uncommon Stars? I want to read more sci-fi and this one involves a donut shop. I can’t tell if it’s closer to Becky Chambers (like) , Doug Adams (meh), or This is How You Lose the Time War (loved it). Any opinions?

[Cora]

NancyJ wrote: "Has anyone read Light from Uncommon Stars? I want to read more sci-fi and this one involves a donut shop. I can’t tell if it’s closer to Becky Chambers (like) , Doug Adams (meh), or..."

I am currently reading this one (about half way through). I think of the ones you listed it is closest to Becky Chambers. So far, the sci-fi elements have been pretty light (mostly pertaining to a character's back story).

[NancyJ]

Cora wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Has anyone read Light from Uncommon Stars? I want to read more sci-fi and this one involves a donut shop. I can’t tell if it’s closer to Becky Chambers (like) , Doug ..."

Thanks Cora. Do you like it?

[Robin P]

NancyJ wrote: "Has anyone read Light from Uncommon Stars? I want to read more sci-fi and this one involves a donut shop. I can’t tell if it’s closer to Becky Chambers (like) , Doug Adams (meh), or..."

It was cute and sort of like Becky Chambers, in my opinion. There is a a lot of food, between the ethnic restaurants and the donut shop. Not a terribly memorable book for me, though. And not that much sci-fi.

[Cora]

Cora wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Has anyone read Light from Uncommon Stars? I want to read more sci-fi and this one involves a donut shop. I can’t tell if it’s closer to Becky Chambers (like) , Doug ..."

I am listening to it and so far enjoying it. It really gives the reader a feeling for what trans teenagers go through and how discrimination affects them. The sci-fi and fantasy angles are fine, but I think Katrina's perspective is what I really take from the book so far.