The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos, translated by Sam Taylor

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The Mystery of Henri Pick
Author: David Foenkinos,  translated by Sam Taylor
Release Date: 5.7.20 (1st published 4.1.16)
Publisher: Pushkin Press

Have you ever read a book and been firmly in the middle between loving it and hating it? I think that is my opinion for this one. I love books about books and the nexus for this story is a library for rejected manuscripts in the small town of Crozon in Brittany *swoon*. A young editor browsing the stacks finds a gem in what could likely be the world's largest slush pile, returns with the manuscript to Paris, and publishes it to great acclaim. The novel, The Last Hours of a Love Affair, becomes more and more successful and the mystery surrounding the author (deceased pizza chef Henri Pick) increases. Swarms of journalists, skeptics, and hopeful authors descend on the tiny town of Crozon. As the story unfolds, readers learn about connections between the town's citizens and while some of these connections were interesting, I thought there were too many characters included and too much digression into their storylines. I definitely disliked a few of the characters and totally hated one of them. The parts I loved were the comments and analyses about publishing. Books aren't born in a vacuum. There are stories behind their creation and their creators. There are publicists and players who bring about buzz. There are systems in place to control what is actually produced for mass consumption. When the mystery unravels around the novel I was torn between loving and hating the outcome. While I wouldn't recommend this one widely, I would recommend it to readers interested in the process of book publication--or to those poor souls who actually believe all books achieve their success based on their own merit. 

A Literary Holiday Cookbook by Alison Walsh

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Literary Holiday Cookbook
Author: Alison Walsh
Release Date: 9.8.20
Publisher: Skyhorse)

Enjoy treats from favorite literary classics such as A Christmas Carol, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Little Women, Winnie the Pooh, and more with this delicious holiday-arranged (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and New Year) recipe collection. I especially loved Beorn’s Honey Nut Banana Bread (from The Hobbit), Walsh’s interpretation of the bread and honey Beorn serves Thorin’s company when they stay at his home on the edge of Mirkwood Forest. This cookbook would be a great addition to anyone’s kitchen and would also make a great holiday gift!

Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine

 

Title: Road Out of Winter
Author: Alison Stine
Release Date: 9.1.20
Publisher: Mira

"Trust me. Seeds will be more valuable than gold, and the one who can grow them? She'll be a queen."

Spring isn't coming...again. After months of tending to her mother's and step-father's abandoned illegal marijuana crops, Wylodine decides to leave her Appalachian Ohio home after her best friend sets off on a mass exodus with The Church. With nothing left to keep her on the farm and with extreme winter weather closing in, Wil leaves the farm behind, determined to find her mother in California. Equipped with a truck, tiny house, grow lights, seeds, and plenty of cash, Wil and a few fellow exiles head out on the icy roads, encountering more problems than the weather. Pirates, cults, killers, and utopian communities have cropped up in the hills and what they want most of all is Wil's talent for growing plants. 

This book was a blend of The Road and The Book of the Unnamed Midwife with a touch of Mad Max: Fury Road. I was on the edge of my seat and rooting for Will and her rag-tag crew. My favorite jaw-drop moment was the final line of chapter 11! (No spoilers but send me a DM on Twitter or IG if/when you read that part to tell me what you thought.) I am very impressed that this is a debut and I think the ending was perfectly ambiguous--delivering satisfactory closure but also leaving the possibility of a sequel/series.

About the Author:

Alison Stine  lives in the rural Appalachian foothills. A recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She has written for The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, and many others. She is a contributing editor with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Visit her website, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads for more information. 

Buy Links: 
Harlequin 
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Books-A-Million
Powell’s

Sisters by Daisy Johnson

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Title: Sisters
Author: Daisy Johnson
Release Date: 8.25.20
Publisher: Riverhead

Sisters July and September were born just ten months apart but are closer than twins. Dominant and controlling older sister September takes their special games like "Hide and Seek" and "September Says" to the extreme by constantly testing the limits of physical pain and cruelty. Drawn into their own world, the sisters don't fit in and don't care to fit in with their classmates. A school bullying situation leads to a suspension and an intended act of follow-up revenge, but what happens next is vague. Did the girls do something? Did something happen to them? Why is their mother taking them to live in their abandoned family home (the unsettling “Settle House”) on the Yorkshire moors? At the home the girls entanglement becomes even more disturbing and fractured. Add to the problem that their mother locks herself away in her bedroom, only coming out at night in order to avoid the girls. 

As the youngest writer to be short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, Daisy Johnson's writing style is full of gothic/horror tropes and comparable to Shirley Jackson in that the horror lies in the anticipation and sense of unease. Questions are never fully answered, causing readers to keep flipping the pages in hopes of just one more clue. I had my suspicions from the beginning but couldn't quite put my finger on the twist until it was fully revealed. However, the reveal was not necessarily shocking. The art of this novel lives in the layers of storytelling and the passive descriptions of psychological unrest. 

This book gave me serious flashbacks to 2015's The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne.   

Pre-order These September 2020 Cookbooks Today! (Part 2)

 

These cookbooks have been provided to me by the publishers in exchange 

for honest reviews and/or inclusion in upcoming articles/features.

On Wednesday I suggested a few September cookbooks you should pre-order today. Today I've got another 7 suggestions for you. I'll be reviewing these releasing individually in the coming days and weeks, but wanted to share my lists early so you could place your pre-orders (preferably from your favorite independent bookstore.)

A Literary Holiday Cookbook: Festive Meals for the Snow Queen, Gandalf, Sherlock, Scrooge, and Book Lovers Everywhere by Alison Walsh (releasing 9/1 from Skyhorse)

Happy Vegan Comfort Food: Simple and Satisfying Plant-Based Recipes for Every Day by
Karoline Jonsson releasing 9/8 from Pavilion Books

WitchCraft Cocktails: From Aphrodite's Love Potion to Mercurial Grounding Elixir, 75 Seasonal Drinks Infused with Magic and Ritual by Julia Halina Hadas releasing 9/8 from Adams Media

Olive & Thyme: Everyday Meals Made Extraordinary by Melina Davies (Kindle version) releasing 9/8 from Prospect Park Books

Petite Patisserie by Christophe Felder and Camille Lesecq releasing 9/15 from Rizzoli International Publications

Entertaining Chic!: Modern French Recipes and Table Settings for All Occasions by Claudia Tattinger releasing 9/15 from Rizzoli International Publications

The Chocolate Addict's Baking Book by Sabine Venier releasing 9/29 from Page Street Publishing

Pre-order These September 2020 Cookbooks Today! (Part 1)

These cookbooks have been provided to me by the publishers in exchange 

for honest reviews and/or inclusion in upcoming articles/features.

I am ready for the sweltering summer heat to be over and for cooler temperatures to arrive, not only for the sake of my sanity (being hot makes me cranky) but also so I can get back to my happy place...my kitchen! I'll be dipping into these delicious new cookbooks (and a few others I'll be sharing in an upcoming post) to test some recipes and write individual reviews ASAP. If you're ready to get cooking with a new cookbook or two, here are my suggestions for September 2020 cookbooks you should pre-order (preferably from your favorite independent bookstore) today:

Food52 Your Do-Anything Kitchen: The Trusty Guide to a Smarter, Tidier, Happier Space by Editors of Food52 (releasing 9.1.20 from Ten Speed Press)

Five Marys Ranch Raised Cookbook: Homegrown Recipes from Our Family to Yours by Mary Heffernan (releasing 9.8.20 from Sasquatch Books)

Big Love Cooking: 75 Recipes for Satisfying, Shareable Comfort Food by Joey Campanaro with Theresa Gambacorta (releasing 8.8.20 from Chronicle Books)

The Southern Entertainer's Cookbook: Heirloom Recipes for Modern Gatherings by Courtney Whitmore (releasing 9.8.20 from Gibbs Smith)

Greenfeast: Autumn, Winter by Nigel Slater (releasing 9.8.20 from Ten Speed Press)

The Good Book of Southern Baking: A Revival of Biscuits, Cakes, and Cornbread by Kelly Fields with Kate Heddings (releasing 9.8.20 from Lorena Jones Books/Ten Speed Press)

Very Merry Cocktails: 50+ Festive Drinks for the Holiday Season by Jessica Strand (releasing 9.22.20 from Chronicle Books)

2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

✨Book Review✨
2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything
by Mauro Guillén
(releasing 8.25)

By 2030:
- There will be more grandparents than grandchildren
- The middle-class in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will outnumber the US and Europe combined
- The global economy will be driven by the non-Western consumer for the first time in modern history
- There will be more global wealth owned by women than men
- There will be more robots than workers
- There will be more computers than human brains
- There will be more currencies than countries

As a professor at the Wharton School, Mauro Guillén worries "not only about the future state of business but also about how workers and consumers might be affected by the avalanche of change coming our way." In 2030, he explains how several trends like wealth disparity (The U.S. federal poverty line in 2019 was $28,100 for a family of four, while, according to the UK House of Commons Library two-thirds of the world's wealth will be owned by the richest 1 percent in 2030), Africa's baby boom and industrial revolution, senior citizens postponing retirement, and the end of modern banking will converge into a single tipping point in 2030.

Full of fascinating (and often frightening) statistics, 2030 supports the facts that many of the "old rules" about our culture, economy, and technology (babies outnumbering retirees, printed money as legal tender, middle class attainability, and paths to financial security) are in the process of a seismic shift. I found the information about birth rate trends in different countries especially fascinating and the entire book was extremely thought provoking. The final copy of this book will also include a chapter on the implications of COVID-19 on these trends.

The Mother Code⁠ by Carole Stivers⁠

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.⁠

✨Book Review✨⁠
The Mother Code⁠
by Carole Stivers⁠
(releasing 8.25.20 from Berkley)⁠
⁠
I think we all fall into one of two camps when it comes to reading about pandemics in the middle of a pandemic:⁠
1. Uh no, way too meta.⁠
2. ohhh yes, let me see what the similarities and differences are here...⁠
⁠
I fall firmly in the second camp. I have loved dystopian, pandemic, and post-apocalyptic novels for about 20 years and I'm still loving them in the midst of our current world health crisis. I started reading this book in mid-April...right at the beginning of our current coronavirus pandemic and whoa was it intense. The release date kept getting pushed back so I held off on reviewing, but now it's almost out in the world and I want to put it on the radar of my fellow readers! ⁠
⁠
In the novel, a bioterrorism agent (IC-NAN) is rapidly spreading to wipe out almost all of humanity, causing government scientists to speed up their "New Dawn" project to ensure the survival of the human race by placing genetically engineered and IC-NAN-immune embryos inside of "mother" robots. These flying robots are then sent to top-secret coordinates in Utah to oversee each child's incubation period, birth, and then raise them in the new world. Each robot is equipped with the means to provide food, water, and education. They are also imprinted with "The Mother Code" computer code, "meant to embody the very essence of motherhood" for the children. As the children age, their Mothers transform in unpredictable ways, resulting in the few remaining government survivors believing they must now be destroyed. ⁠
⁠
I found this debut novel absolutely fascinating and thought-provoking. It is heavy on the science part of science fiction, with discussions of testing protocols, genetic sequencing, bionic tissues, etc. The story brought up great questions such as: "Can we use deep learning to teach a machine to think like a human?" and "What makes a mother?"⁠
⁠
Also pictured: my "mothering" meal for the family. One of the only ones that everyone likes, chicken and pasta with broccoli.

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy

I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher

✨Pub Day Feature✨

Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy 

releases today from Flatiron 

For readers of Station Eleven and Flight Behavior, a debut novel set on the brink of catastrophe, as a young woman chases the world’s last birds - and her own final chance for redemption.

A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive. 

Franny Stone has always been a wanderer. By following the ocean’s tides and the birds that soar above, she can forget the losses that have haunted her life. But when the wild she so loves begins to disappear, Franny can no longer wander without a destination. She arrives in remote Greenland with one purpose: to find the world’s last flock of Arctic terns and follow them on their final migration. She convinces Ennis Malone, captain of the Saghani, to take her onboard, winning over his salty, eccentric crew with promises that the birds she is tracking will lead them to fish.

As the Saghani fights its way south, Franny’s new shipmates begin to realize that the beguiling scientist in their midst is not who she seems. Battered by night terrors, accumulating a pile of letters to her husband, and dead set on following the terns at any cost, Franny is full of dark secrets. When the story of her past begins to unspool, Ennis and his crew must ask themselves what Franny is really running toward—and running from.

Propelled by a narrator as fierce and fragile as the terns she is following, Migrations is a shatteringly beautiful ode to the wild places and creatures now threatened. But at its heart, it is about the lengths we will go, to the very edges of the world, for the people we love.

Impersonation⁠ by Heidi Pitlor

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

⁠

✨Book Review✨⁠

Impersonation⁠

by Heidi Pitlor @heidipit1⁠

releasing 8.18.20⁠ from Algonguin 

⁠

Professional ghostwriter Allie lands a deal to write the memoir of a prominent women’s rights advocate whose staff believes she needs to soften her image before running for public office. ⁠

⁠

This novel was a personal gut punch for me. Allie's journey as a broke single mother with a young child stirred up so many memories and emotions, most specifically the constant worrying and despair of barely being able to make rent or find adequate, available, and affordable childcare. Author Heidi Pitlor also delivers a smart and honest behind-the-scenes look at the ghostwriting process and the ups-and-downs of working with a variety of clients. I currently handle many of the situations in this novel on a daily basis so I found myself alternating between cracking up and sighing in solidarity.