Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a Halloween Freebie, so I am going to keep it on the lighter side and focus on books with a touch of magic. These are books that are set in our contemporary worlds, but there is something magical that happens. Often they would be classed as magical realism.
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman - I have always associated Alice Hoffman with magic but had never actually read the book until recently. Still haven't seen the movie but I would like to now!
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen - All of SAA's books have magical elements in them, often related to food, and this one is no different.
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak - Don't let the fact that one of the narrators in this book is a tree put you off. Such an excellent read! (my review)
Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran - One of the characters in this book, Marjan, has unsurpassed ability with food. Her food can change your mood, and even the direction of your life in some cases. (my review)
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber - I loved this book so much and always keep an eye out for Heather Webber's new books (my review)
The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachel Linden - When eating a lemon drop can help you see what your life might have been like had things worked out differently, there's definitely a touch of magic involved. Loved this book! (my review)
The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura - In this book, if circumstances align, you can find yourself inside the cherry blossom bookshop. (mini review)
A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa - This one features amazing sounding Korean treats that help people say goodbye to their loved ones after they have passed (my review)
The Anywhere Hotel by Gisele Stein - I love the idea of this one. At the Anywhere Hotel, you can pick up a charm and instantly be transported anywhere in the world. Paris here I come!
Before I Knew I Loved You by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - There are lots of examples of these books with a touch of magic in them in Asian fiction. This one is the most recent book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. (mini review)
When her grandmother dies, Yeon-hwa inherits a debt-ridden bakery shop called Hwawodlang (which translates as the Flower Moon Temple Pastry Shop. It is not, however, a normal bakery. The will specifies that the shop can only open until 10pm until midnight, and it also specifies that Yeon-hwa must run the shop for at least a month. A month seems doable!
It turns out though that this bakery is different in other ways. The customers are spirits, making their final stop before passing on into the afterlife. There is also a black cat who watched Yeon-hwa with very knowing eyes and shaman named Sa-wol who are helping Yeon-hwa to understand the true nature of the bakery, the connection with a temple and ultimately to understand her grandmother.
Yeon-hwa has always felt a distance from her grandmother even though she stepped in to care for Yeon-hwa when she was a young girl and her parents were killed in a car crash. Now, Yeon-hwa wishes their relationship could have been different, and they could have had conversations about life, about her parents and about the bakery, but it is too late.
The various chapters feature a different sweet being made and we learn the reason why the spirits are requesting this particular item. It always have some meaning to the spirit and to the person it is intended for. The other thing is that obviously ghosts don't usually carry cash, so they in effect pay for their pastry by leaving an item that means something to them behind.
Chocolate Jeonbyeong Crackers - A woman asks Yeon-hwa to make these for her daughter and leaves behind something precious.
Plum-Blossom Manju Buns - A shy man who had only just summoned up the courage to ask a girl out asks for manju buns to be made for her, to help her move on.
Green Tea Dango - A woman asks for this to be delivered to her fellow artist colleague and friend
Strawberry Chapssal-tteok - A young boy wants to give Strawberry Chapssal-tteok to his older step sister who blames herself for his death.
Chestnut Yanggaeng of Goodbye - We learn more about Sa-Wol and Yeon-hwa learns more about her parents and grandmother.
Along the way, we also learn some of the rules of the afterlife which includes the fact that a spirit has 3 years to pass into the after life, otherwise they will be stuck forever.
While there are plenty of Asian books which people returning from the past/future/afterlife to have one final conversation with their loved ones, that is not the case here. Yeon-hwa is the one who has the interactions, including seeing details of their lives and then she and Sa-Wol act as conduits to the loved ones. It does have that familiar episodic structure that we see in so many of these types of books
I enjoyed reading this book but I didn't feel as connected with it as I might have expected to be. I don't think we particularly go to know Yeon-hwa as well as we could have. It was almost like we were kept at arms length which is a bit like Yeon-hwa's own relationship with her grandmother. However, it does have the same feel as a lot of those books so it is feel good and affirming without being excitable.
I was wondering how I was going to be able to describe all the different pastries which are mentioned in this book while writing this post, so I was very pleased to find a link to this video which shows what all the different desserts look like
Doesn't it all look so pretty!
This book was nice to read without being compelling, so I have to ask myself would I read more books set here and the answer is probably. It doesn't look like the author has written any more books yet, but she might!
I chose to read this book as it fit the AAPI Heritage category on the Spring Goodreads challenge. I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story, with the Books in Translation Challenge hosted at The Introverted Reader and the Speccy Fiction Challenge hosted at Book'd Out.
Rating 3.5/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner Sunday - Beef Rendang (new) Monday - Sausage and Broccoli pasta (new0 Tuesday - Mexican Chicken and Rice Wednesday - Pork chops, mash and cauliflower Thursday - Tomato and Paneer Curry Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Identical twins Nora and Stevie Lucky were adopted at birth and they are as close as they could be, despite having very different personalities and traits. Stevie is more happy go lucky and lets life happen whereas Nora is very controlled and plans everything. Stevie is single parent to the now adult Cherry, whilst Nora runs a successful restaurant with her husband Santi, with Nora being the pastry chef.
Another way that they differ is that Nora has always wanted to find out about their birth parents, whereas Stevie has no interest whatsoever in finding out. She has always had a bad feeling about the whole thing. They both adored their adoptive parents. Years ago they agreed that they would put off searching for their origins until after their adoptive parents had passed.
The book opens at the funeral of their adoptive mother. Stevie is shocked when at the wake Nora declares that maybe now they can finally find out about their birth parents. I probably would have been shocked at the timing of such a declaration too. As the two women grieve, they have moments which appear like they are growing apart instead of together. As the story progresses, we also find out that they have kept secrets, big secrets, from each other over the years.
This book is a bit hard to discuss without too many spoilers, but the blurb for the book opens with the question What would you do if you thought each day on earth might just be your last? When the girls (I should say women really as they are nearly 50 years old) do find out about their birth parents they find something out that shakes them to their core.
They each truly look at their lives and wonder if they are really happy and so begin to make some changes. For Stevie, that might mean letting widower Felix into her life more, but how can she let herself get closer to him and his boys when there is this big shadow hanging over her. For Nora, it means wondering about whether the restaurant and Santi are enough for her anymore. And whether all those plans and hours in the gym have been worth it. The two characters almost begin to take on some of their sister's characteristics.
There are so many layers to this book. There is the sister's relationship. There are the questions about what it is like to be adopted and to either want or not want to find out where you come from and there are questions about genetics and how they can influence how you live. While there are some big themes, this is a Rachael Johns book, so along the way you also get great relationships, humour, pop culture references and more. This one does take an unusual turn for part of the book, but I think that is exciting for Rachael as a writer that she feels like stretching herself and her readers.
Butterflies play an important part in the story and I love the way that this motif goes all the way through the book, including on this stunning cover.
I will say though....that ending! I had to read it twice to go ....wait....what. It certainly fits the book but I was a bit surprised by it. It's a bit enigmatic.
This book is set in Perth, which is where I am originally from, and I still have a lot of family living there. There were lots of very familiar places mentioned in the book. One scene was set at a restaurant that has been around for years that is maybe 2 kilometres away from my grandparents house and two of my cousins even worked there for a while. And yet, I have never been. Maybe I will make it happen one day. Maybe not.
I chose this as one of my book club selections this month when our theme was free choice. I mentioned how when I had my very long reading slump a few years ago Rachael was one of the few authors I still read and someone in the group asked me why I kept on coming back to her books. I had to think about it, but I think that it is that despite writing rural romance, rom-coms and commercial women's fiction, I always know that I am going to get an enjoyable read, filled with humour and emotion and relatable characters. It doesn't hurt that I feel like I know Rachael. I sometimes listen to her podcasts and I have met her many times now, going to lots of author events and attending all three of her book club readers retreats. I guess what it comes down to is that I can trust her as an author!
I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews.
Sometimes you can look at a book cover and title and think yes, that sounds like my kind of book. If you are super lucky, you then read the first few pages and know that you are going to love it, and this was one of those books for me!
When Lolly was in her early teens she wrote down 5 goals for her life. They were:
Live in another country
Own my own restaurant somewhere amazing
Fall in love
Help my family be happy together 4 ever
Get my own horse
Now in her early thirties, Lolly finds the diary and she is somewhat disappointed with her life in comparison to her younger self's dreams.
Lolly feels like she lives a life driven by her obligations and duty. Ten years earlier, her mother had died leaving Lolly, her dad and her younger sister behind. Every day Lolly rises early, bakes lemon drop pies (even though she doesn't even like them herself) for the family diner where her dad dutifully cooks each day. The reality is that the restaurant is not really viable any more no matter how much her family and their regular customers wish it was. To make things worse, her younger sister seems to be moving in a different direction to the one that Lolly imagined for her when she gave up her own dreams to help her sister through college.
When she looks back, Lolly only sees failure. She did spend a few months in England and fell in love with the town of Brighton, but there's no way she can open a restaurant there now. Her family is as together as it can be given the tragic death of her mother and the pressures of running a failing business. As for falling love, Lolly lost the only man she ever loved when she had to choose between supporting her family or moving away to support his career. Rory and Lolly had been inseparable since they were teenagers but there is no chance for them to ever be together again but she can't see herself meeting anyone else.
The only thing on her list that she doesn't feel like she is missing out on is the horse!
One day her eccentric Aunt Gert gives her an extraordinary chance to see what her life would be like if things would be different. Aunt Gert has a hidden supply of Lemon Drops which, if you suck them and think of where you want to go, give you the ability to have just one day in another version of your own life. Lolly finds herself running a successful business, or married to the man of her dreams or having just one more day with her mother. What soon becomes clear is in every version of her life, there are things that are great, but there is a cost for the different turns that life has taken.
Through these various experiences and the things that are happening in real life, Lolly begins to realise that it is still possible for her to live her dreams. It just might look a little different than it did in her imagination all those years before.
I do enjoy books with this kind of magical realism, where everything looks normal with just that element of a magical twist. This is a really good example of a feel good read, with loads of delicious sounding food, and an inspiring message. And there is also a recipe for Lemon Drop Pie in the back of the book.
This was my first Rachel Linden book and I can't wait to read more. If her other books are as good as this one then she now has a new fan!
I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story.
Rating 4.5/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Nasi Goreng Sunday - Chicken Kebabs, baked potato and coleslaw Monday - Honey Pepper Chicken Tuesday - Out for dinner Wednesday - Pork Chops, mash, broccoli and gravy Thursday - Creamy sausage pasta Friday -
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Last year I listened to The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods and I thought it was an okay read, a tad on the underwhelming side, but okay. That didn't stop my from jumping at the opportunity to read this book the second I saw it on Netgalley. A mysterious bakery in France - yes please. And I am so glad that I did as I really enjoyed this book!
When Irish woman Edie Lane sees an ad for a job in a bakery in Paris where the only requirements are that the person speaks English and has some experience working in the service industry, she knows this is the job for her! So what if she doesn't know anyone in Paris. It[s Paris, and it will help her get out of the rut she has been in for a while.
Things start to go wrong when she finds out that she isn't going to be working in a bakery on rue de Compiegne in Paris but rather she has accepted a role at the bakery on rue de Paris in Compiegne, about an hour north of Paris by train. So much for living the Paris dream.
When she finally arrives at her destination, she is given a less than warm welcome by the owner of the bakery, Madame Moreau. The one thing that was made very clear is that under no circumstances was Edie to mention the kitchen downstairs where all the baking happened. That area was very much out of bounds to everyone except Madame Moreau and the delivery boy Manu.
Thrown straight into work in the bakery, Edie realises that is going to take some work to get her French up to scratch enough to understanding most of her customers. But while the cafe is busy, there is also a black cloud hanging over it's futures. Developers are buying up all the buildings on the street and they want the bakery too. Maybe this is why Madame Moreau is always so surly, except for when she is serving the customers. Then she is very friendly with everyone except Edie..
As Edie's time in Compiegne continues she gradually begins to make some friends who slowly help bring the charms of the town to the fore. There is Geoff who gives tours of the area, Nicole the hairdresser whose boyfriend is in a band, and then there is Hugo who keeps on turning up. Hugo loves taking photos of old buildings and he and Edie just click straight away, All the while, Edie senses that there is something strange going on in the bakery, a touch of other worldliness, and she needs to work out what it is.
Sprinkled throughout the story there are small sections which tell the story of Pierre Moreau, who originally founded the bakery, including some of the events in the town during WWII. Some of the actions taken at that time continue to shape the town and relationships even now.
This is a book that you don't want to read when you are hungry. There are so many delicious sounding foods mentioned that you can almost smell them as you read. And there was a passage that just made me crave a proper French hot chocolate. Or Dutch. Something from that Northern part of Europe. I wouldn't be that fussy.
Inspired by a recipe book that she found in her room, Edie begins to cook some of the recipes, but also to make some of her own concoctions, a mixture of French and Irish flavours, to sell to the locals and tourists alike.
Music is also very important in this book, often being used as a tool to change the moods of the characters, to inspire memories and to draw people together.
The town of Compiegne has an important place in 20th century history. In a train carriage in the Forest of Compiegne, the Germans signed the armistice which ended WWI. Years later, Hitler made the French sign their own surrender in the same train carriage in the same location. There is also a chateau nearby with links to Napoleon. I am always drawing a mental map of what our next trip to France might look like, and Compiegne is definitely on the route I have in my head after reading this book.
It turns out that this isn't a new book. It was originally released around 10 years ago and has been revised and rereleased this year. Either way, I am so glad that I found this book as it brought me a lot of joy as i read it!
I am sharing this review as part of Paris in July, with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge that I host.
Rating 4.5/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Baked Ratatouille with beans Sunday - Meatballs Monday - Chicken Parma with chips and broccoli Tuesday - Sausages, mash, vegies and gravy Wednesday - Greek Style chicken with smashed potatoes Thursday - nothing Friday - Tonkatsu Ramen
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
Over the last few years I have read several books translated from Japanese to English, and I have noted that the books I have been choosing seem to have certain similarities. They are usually episodic with a story connected to one particular scenario and then the next story is about someone else. They often are looking at grief and those who are left behind, often they feature food and there are often cats.
Whilst the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki certainly fits three of these similarities, it is not so much a book about those left behind after a loved one dies, and it has a kind of magical realism running through it! Obviously you can tell from the cover that there are cats, it is episodic in structure (although it does tie together nicely at the end) and the food is out of this world, as you might guess from most of the chapter titles.
The sections of the book include
Aquarius Trifle Lunar Chocolate Fondant Mercury Cream Soda Moonlight and Venus Champagne Float
The Full Moon Coffee Shop is a very unusual coffee shop. It can randomly pop up and then be gone just as quickly, it's waiters are talking cats, and for those who are lucky enough to visit, there is a side of astrological readings and otherworldly wisdom.
The first visitor is a down on their luck scriptwriter named Mizuki. In her twenties she was an in demand writer who had written hit TV shows. These days though, her TV scripts are out of fashion so she is writing for games, she lives in a much smaller apartment and she is something of a recluse. She has recently submitted a script that she is working on.
The second visitor to the cafe is Akari who works in TV and has the horrible job of telling Mizuki that her script isn't going to be picked up, which is difficult because they have a past connection. Akari has a reputation as a driven TV executive who has a mess to clean up when her leading lady gets caught up in a scandal.
Then there is computer guy Takashi who ironically seems to have a lot of technology related issues a lot of the time.
The final visitor is Meguma, a hairdresser who has moved back home to help out in her parents small salon but who is trying to work out what she wants her career to look like in future.
I thought would share a passage from the book to give a bit of a taste of the writing. When I was reading this on the plane, I was amused to see that there was a chapter called Mercury Cream Soda, because I knew I had scheduled a Weekend Cooking post about creaming soda for when I was away. So here is a short passage about Mercury Creaming Soda
At the end of a road, I spotted what looked like a popup cafe.
In front of a truck were several sets of wooden tables and chairs, where the passengers from the train were sitting. I recognised them, somehow, and yet their faces remained a blur.
I took a seat at a free two-seater table. Someone appeared and placed a glass in front of me. "Here you go. A Mercury Creaming Soda."
Unlike the scenery and people around me, the drink was vivid and distinct. It had all the usual components of a cream soda - ice cream and a cherry on top. What distinguished it from the normal version was that its soda wasn't the usual green, but instead a beautiful sky blue, and the ice cream was a greyish-what colour rather than the usual vanilla.
I pulled the glass toward me and sipped the drink through the straw.
The soda tasted pleasant and refreshing as it trickled down my throat, and the sweetness was just right. The taste was vaguely familiar and yet totally new,
The pale grey ice cream turned out to be a lemon-flavoured sorbet that went perfectly with the soda. As the flavours danced on my palate, I caught the sound of a woman's voice from the neighbouring table. She seemed to be complaining about something.
"Emails getting lost, data corrupting itself and now the train's late...Sheesh!"
The woman could have taken the words right out of my own mouth. It was if she was giving voice to my inner thoughts.
"Typical Mercury retrograde, isn't it?" she continued.
There is quite a lot of astrology in this book. Some of it I kind of skipped through, but some of it was very interesting, and some of it was just plain fun!
Interestingly, Jesse Kirkwood also translated the Kamogawa Food Detective Agency series by Hisashi Kashiwai. I might have to check out what else they have translated. The second book in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series is due to be released later this year. I will be reading it!
Weekly meals
Saturday - Out for dinner Sunday - Steak Egg and chips Monday - Normandy pork Tuesday - Chicken Kebabs and baked potato Wednesday - Beef Stroganoff Thursday - Mexican Chicken and Rice Friday - Leftovers
I am sharing this review with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story and Translated Fiction challenge hosted at Introverted Reader.
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
I became an instant fan girl of Laura Pearson when I read The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine last year. Her imagination is just so unique when it comes to the stories she wants to tell in her books!
Take this book, The Many Futures of Maddy Hart. Whenever Maddy Hart is in the middle of getting intimate with someone, she is thrown out of the moment and fast forwards to what her life will be exactly 10 years time if she stays with this person. Let's just say, the futures with some of these people do not look great. As a result, Maddy tends to stay away from men as a general rule.
Maddy is trying to make ends meet as an advertising copywriter whilst waiting for her big acting break. One day she is hired for a job where she is a Christmas elf, and there she meets a fellow wannabe actor, Oliver.
When fate throws Maddy and Oliver together again, Maddy does try to resist him but he's just so lovely. And when the times come, she sees a future that seems pretty darn perfect. He meets her parents, and her brother and soon they bond. However, each time she goes to the future she learns more, and it soon becomes clear that her perfect life is a little more complicated than she first assumed. And to get to that perfect future means that she might have to break her own heart, and Oliver's, along the way.
This is a unique story, and the book is filled with great family and friendships. Maddy loves her parents, and she does everything that she can to support them, especially her younger brother, and they in turn are supportive of her even though they don't always understand the decisions she makes. Maddy's best friend Priya is the only one who knows about the visions that Maddy has, and I can understand why she would be curious about what Maddy sees in the future as it relates to her. Another great character was Mrs Aziz who was their neighbour at the beginning of the book, and who becomes a confidante to Maddy.
If I think back to my ex, could I have known what my life would be like 10 years after I met him. Well, yes, I think it probably wasn't a huge surprise that things ended as they did, with me being a single parent. But there are positives though. I have been with my husband for just over 8 years, and if I think back to when we first started seeing each other I was pretty confident early on that we were going to be happy together, and we are. Of course, the difference is that we have to live through those years to get to that point, and trust in fate, and each other.
The central question of the book is really is it better to know what the future holds or is it better to just live it as it happens.
I have seen this book referenced in several reviews as magical realism and at first that label threw me. I therefore went and looked at the definition, which Brittanica.com says is a "narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction." and I can see how that would be applied to this book, and Eliza Valentine too!
This is my third book from Laura Pearson. My favourite is still the first book I read, The Beforelife of Eliza Valentine, but this was also a really good read, telling Maddy's story in a very unusual and unique way! I own most of Laura Pearson's backlist now, and I can't wait to read more of her books, and see what unique tale she comes up with next!
I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.
Rating 4/5
About the book
The Many Futures of Maddy Hart
Suddenly Maddy is right there… in her very own future. And it’s all wrong, yet again.
It happens to her every time. When the kisses lead to the bedroom, just when she thinks she might have found the one… Just for a split second, Maddy disappears, and she finds that she’s living her own life. But ten years into the future.
She’s only there for a little while. But each time, it’s long enough to know that she doesn’t want to be any of those future versions of Maddy. Because every man she falls for seems to lead her to a future that is just… wrong.
Until she meets Oliver. And the vision of their future is happy. Beautiful even. A little girl runs around, her braids flying behind her, giggling about how she wants sausages for dinner. She has eyes just like Oliver’s.
There’s just one catch. If Maddy wants the family she’s seeing in her future with Oliver, she realizes she has to break his heart now…
Would you destroy your present if there’s a chance that it could give you the perfect future?
Perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Matt Haig, and The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. The most unmissable ‘what if?’ love story of the year!
Laura Pearson is the author of issues-based women’s fiction. She founded The Bookload on Facebook and has had several pieces published in the Guardian and the Telegraph.
It's been a while since I have done a joint review of a book with Bree from All the Books I Can Read, but recently we realised that we were both reading The Island of Missing Trees so it seemed like a good idea to talk about this book. Especially since it was a book that we both loved!!
First, here is the Goodreads blurb
A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World.
Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love.
Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited - her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.
A moving, beautifully written and delicately constructed story of love, division, transcendence, history and eco-consciousness, The Island of Missing Trees is Elif Shafak’s best work yet.
My thoughts are in purple and Bree's are in black.
M: I wish I could remember where I first saw this book.. I am pretty sure someone posted about it on Facebook and I immediately thought it looked like my kind of book. If I could remember who it was I would definitely be saying thank you because I loved this book, right from the first page. (Edited to say I remember now. Thanks again Mae!) How did you hear about this book?
B: I think it might’ve been on instagram and I’m not ashamed to say that I immediately added it to my buy list purely for the cover. I hadn’t even read the blurb, I thought that the cover was just so eyecatching that I knew I wanted it on my shelf. I ended up buying it in a little indie bookstore in the town where my husband was born when we visited my MIL and I went there with the specific goal of buying just that book. As soon as I walked in, it was on a big display. And when I finally read the blurb, I knew that it was something that I was pretty confident I was going to love.
M: I can see why the cover caught your eye. It is lovely. Let’s talk about the blurb and setting. This book tells the story of Cyprus from the 1970s through to the 2010s through the story of Kostas, a Greek Cypriot, and Defne, a Turkish Cypriot. Theirs was a love story that was going to be doomed from the start, forbidden due to the differences in culture and religion. The two young people used to meet at a tavern called The Happy Fig where the owners were happy to help them. However, as the ethnic tensions escalated, this relationship became even more forbidden.
How much did you know about Cyprus and the events of 1974?
B: Shamefully little I’m afraid. I know the bare basics of some of it and the divide between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. One of my dad’s lifelong best friends is a Greek Cypriot whose parents left when he was around 3 years old. But in terms of really knowing the island’s even modern history, I really only had the vaguest of understandings. I feel like this story definitely piqued my interest to learn a little more about it, especially because of The Fig Tree and it’s proprietors. If Kostas and Defne are a forbidden relationship, the owners of the tavern where they meet in secret are even more so - and it’s no wonder they are so understanding and supportive. Did you enjoy the way we learned about them and how they were woven into the story?
M: I could definitely understand why Yussuf and Yiorgis were so supportive of the young couple and I loved that The Fig Tree was such a welcoming place. It didn’t matter who you were, what you believed or where you were from you were welcome to meet and eat and drink. The atmosphere and ambience sounded so lovely, especially with the eponymous fig tree in the middle of the tavern. When the troubles started between ethnic groups, I was so sad to think of a place where tolerance was so embedded became one of early targets of those who are not tolerant. I guess that is probably not that unusual in such situations. And the tragedy only escalated from there.
Let’s talk about the fig tree shall we? I must confess that I was a little concerned initially about the role of the tree as a narrator. How did you feel about it?
B: The same! When I realised just who that narrator was in parts of the story I was definitely apprehensive about it. Maybe because I didn’t expect it to have that sort of element going in, it kind of took me by surprise. But I ended up absolutely loving that choice that the author made. It became this omniscient narrator that was able to give the reader this overarching view of things, from Cyprus and also after that. The author winds everything the fig has ‘seen’ and experienced into the story. I also really was surprised at how much I enjoyed learning about the actual tree itself - its growing cycles, its history. The idea of burying it for a British winter was fascinating to me and the fact that the book provided instructions including a little picture was great because it was different to how I pictured it in my head. I actually ended up googling “burying a fig tree in winter” after that and read about how it’s quite often done in places like Canada, etc as well, that have harsher winters than fig trees would be used to in their more native environments. It’s quite ingenious really! And quite amazing that the tree survives such a thing.
How did you find the way that portion of the narration played out for you?
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Head over to Bree's blog to see my answer to this question and more!
And if you would like a taste of the writing in this book, I recently shared an excerpt which you can find here.
If you were to ask me which is the place I would most like to visit in the world, the instant place that came to mind would be Paris. To be honest, I am not sure that would be that big of a surprise to anyone who has been reading my blog for any length of time. It is not, however, the only place I would love to visit, and this week I have been reading/listening to books set in two of those other places. I have been reading Still Life by Sarah Winman, set in Tuscany and I have been listening to Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
This book was mentioned in a Discord group I am in and I thought it sounded interesting but the main reason why I started listening to it is that it was a short audiobook at around 6 hours. I have a number of big books that I would like to listen to on audio but the idea of listening to a book that is 30 hours long when I have such little listening time is overwhelming,so this seemed like the perfect length.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is set entirely within a basement cafe called Funiculi Funicula down an alleyway in Tokyo. Even in the heat of the summer, it remains cool. There are three clocks on the wall, each of which show a different time. The cafe is owned by married couple of Nagare and Kei ably assisted by Kazu, their regular customers come and go, and we get glimpses into small aspects of their lives.
There is something special about this cafe. You can time travel from the cafe but there are very strict rules.
You must sit in a particular chair in the corner and the you can't move from the chair
You can only meet people who come into the cafe
Nothing that happens in the past will change the future
You must finish the coffee before it gets cold
It's not that it is as simple as just those four rules either. The particular chair is generally occupied by a ghost who sits quietly reading her book, so the only time you can sit in the chair are in the short moments when she takes a bathroom break. And if you break the other rules there are consequences.
There is an entire ritual associated with the time travel, performed by Kazu. There is a specific coffeepot that gets used, Kazu must be share that the traveller knows the rules, and the transition between times begins as soon as the coffee is poured.
The structure of the story is in effect four connected short stories where the time traveller has unfinished business. For one woman it is the chance to go back to have redo a conversation which happened just a few days ago with her now ex-boyfriend. For another it is the chance to have one last conversation with her sister that she has been deliberately avoiding for many years. Then, there is the nurse whose husband's memories are progressively fading away due to early onset Alzheimers and then finally a chance to say hello that would otherwise never happen.
There is no doubt that this book is a little on the sweet side, but it hit the spot for me this week. I was interested in the stories and characters, as well as the glimpses into Japanese culture that we were given. For example, in one of the stories, they talked about the Tanabata festival at Sendai, and it had me wishing that we would be able to visit.
While there wasn't a lot of food specifically referenced in this book, but there was plenty of conversation around coffee and sake and the day to day running of the cafe. I am really looking forward to reading or listening to the next book. I would be particularly keen to find out what the deal with the ghost is. Hopefully we find out in the next book.
This book was translated by Geoffrey Tousselot and narrated by Arina II. I enjoyed the narration. I am curious that the second book has a different narrator so now I am not sure if I should jump straight into the next one or maybe listen to something else before going back to it. I do have several audiobooks that I am part way through so maybe I should finish some of those.
Rating 4/5
Weekly meals
Saturday - Dinner with Family
Sunday - Pizzas
Monday - Teriyaki beef bowls Tuesday - Wednesday - Grilled cheese on toast Thursday - Friday takeaway on Thursday
Friday - Honey chicken rice and broocoli
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
A few months ago now I read and loved Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber. It had so many elements that I love - Southern charm, good food, great characters and a dash of magical realism. I already had this book on my Kindle waiting for me to read so it was a no brainer that I was going to read it. Whilst I enjoyed Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe slightly more, this was still a fun read with a lot to like about it.
Told in alternating voices between Sadie Way Cross and her sister, Leala Clare, the story is fundamentally the story of the two sisters and their mother who have a very difficult relationships. Their mother had raised them as a single parent whilst running a bed and breakfast right on the shores of the lake, the lake that Sadie had nearly drowned in 8 years previously. Whilst she survived, the colour of Sadie's hair had changed overnight to "glittery silver tresses" which Sadie's mother reminded her of the stars. Tired of being different, Sadie left her home town of Sugarberry Cove and didn't look back. Well, except for maybe when she was being honest with herself about how much she missed Sugarberry Cove and her home and family.
Sadie is an online content creator with her own YouTube channel, A Southern Hankerin'. She found people from all over the South who talk about a particular recipe, whether it be a family favourite or something that brings back memories. They could be complicated or as simple as buttermilk scrambled eggs.
Whilst Sadie doesn't really have a home as she travels all across the South, Leala is the opposite. She has stayed in Sugarberry Cove. She has the perfect husband, the perfect child and the perfect show home. So why isn't she happy?
Their mother, Susannah, having a heart attack is the trigger to bring all three members of the family together, forcing them to face their own truths about their life both past and present, about their relationships with each other and those around them and what the future may bring. First and foremost, it makes them see how much their mother really hasn't been coping for quite some time. The B&B is in desperate need of a makeover, and it isn't making enough money.
Leala and Sadie have been so engrossed in their own worlds that neither really know each other. Leala assumes that Sadie's channel is a little hobby rather than the extremely successful undertaking that it is and Sadie assumes that Leala is happy in her perfect life.
There are a cast of other characters who pass through the book including Teddy who comes to stay at the B&B every year for years and has become a close family friend, who this year brings her niece Bree for the first time, Sadie's uncle who has played a pivotal role in the absence of their deceased father, her first love and more.
Another character is the lake. There is a legend that the lake is home to Lady Laurel, the lady of the lake. Each year in August, there is a lantern festival where the townspeople can make their wishes and they may come true. It sounds like a truly magical event.
I thought I would share a passage from one of the A Southern Hankerin' episodes
"Is there anything I can do to help, Mrs Teakes?" I needed a diversion from my thoughts or else I was bound to fall into a deep mudhole of self-pity. I'd alreaady set up my cameras, three in all, to frame specific shots of the homey kitchen that breathed vintage charm, which was easy to do since it hadn't been updated in at least sixty years, possibly more. The room was painted a cheerful blue, and the scent of vanilla floated in the air, as if being exhaled by the colorful, floral wallpaper that served as a backsplash. The bulbous white fridge, covered in family photos, postcards, and old newspaper clippings hummed loudly, its long chrome handle gleaming. The wide stove with side-by-side ovens had two storage drawers at the bottom, and I could only imagine the stories it could tell of the meals it had cooked.
But those stories would have to wait. The focus of today's video ws on a dish served cold. Several small glass bowls were lined up along the ceramic tile countertop, each filled with different ingredients. Shredded coconut. Mandarin oranges. Sour cream. Maraschino cherries. Pineapple chunks. Mini marshmallows. Once the food prep was complete, I'd bethe one asking all the questions for the sake of the video, which would be posted the following week on my YouTube channel, A Southern Hankerin'.
The videos wereabout more than Southern cooking. At their heart were human-interest pieces featuring people across the South willing to share a family recipe and the story behind it. Last week, I'd had an in-depth preliminary phone interview with Mrs.. Teakes, and today I'd film her while she told me how, in the late 1960s, she'd captured the heart of her late husband with her recipe for ambrosia salad
During the interview I'd be sure to mention how the South proudly labeled some desserts as salad. To those who lived here, this came as no surprise. After all, this was the land where mac and cheese was considered a vegetable But my audience wasn't limited to the South. I had viewership that spanned the globe, a fact that amazed me - though it shouldn't. People tuned in for the heartwarming, relatable stories, which were needed in the world more than ever.
It sounds like a Youtube channel I would like to watch!
I am already excited about the next book that the author is releasing which is going to be called In the Middle of Hickory Lane
Do you have any cooking related Youtube channels that you watch, or podcasts you listen too?
About the book
The Lights of Sugarberry Cove is a charming, delightful story of family, healing, love, and small town Southern charm by USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber.
Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family, but despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. What is she supposed to do?
Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night her sister almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted—so why is she so unhappy?
When their mother suffers a minor heart attack just before Sugarberry Cove’s famous water lantern festival, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. It’s the last place either of them wants to be, but with a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, the sisters may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past, and rediscover a little lake magic.
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
About 18 months ago I heard of a online bookclub called Cook the Books and it was something that sounded right up my alley. The idea is that you read a nominated group food related book and then you cook something that comes to mind while you are reading the book. I read one book and I intended to read more, but then that idea slipped between the cracks. Recently, someone posted that the next book selection was Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe and, based purely on the cover, I was sold!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I hadn't really looked too much into what the book was about but it was my kind of book, and I knew it from page 2!
Anna Kate Callow returns to the small Alabama town of Wicklow following the death of her beloved grandmother Zee. She has inherited Zee's cafe, The Midnight Cafe, but there is a catch. She must spend at least 60 days running the cafe before it can be sold. This is the longest that Anna Kate has spent in the town. Her mother Eden left home when she was pregnant with Anna Kate after a tragic car accident which killed Anna Kate's father and never looked back, thanks mainly to the hatred that was directed her way by his family. The last thing that her late mother wanted was for Anna Kate to be stuck in Wicklow with all that means.
Zee's specialty was Blackbird Pie, not actually bird pie, but rather fruit pie which has mysterious ingredient. Local legend says that if you eat a piece of the famous pie you will dream of a lost loved one, and when you get the pie right, the blackbirds will sing in the trees behind the cafe at midnight. Getting it right means more than just baking the pie. It requires the assistance of several of the quirky characters from the town, it requires the nurturing of the garden and it requires love.
Also recently returned to Wicklow is Natalie Linden Walker. She has moved into the small house on her parents property with her daughter Ollie following the tragic death of her husband (yes, there are quite a few untimely deaths in this book). For Natalie, she knows that she had to return to Wicklow, but her relationship with her mother has always been difficult. She is dignified, very rigid and has high expectations - think of the stereotypical Southern mother and you might have a fair idea.
Natalie wants nothing more than to eat a piece of the pie to see if she can get some answers as to what actually happened to cause her husband's death, but if there is one thing she has always known it is that Lindens do not step foot in the Blackbird Cafe...ever.
Wicklow is a town which is struggling to say alive, despite the best efforts of the town folk. As the cafe is reopened, and the blackbirds begin to sing, and soon there are birdwatchers galore descending on the town. With the town needing to come together, old wounds will be exposed, truths will be revealed and relationships will be healed.
In many ways this book reminds me of those written by Sarah Addison Allen. There is the genteel Southern town, with a touch of magical realism, quirky characters and a lot of charm. I hadn't read Heather Webb before, but I will be reading more. There are two more that seem to be written in this style, but she also writes mysteries.
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, the idea is that when you read the chosen for Cook the Books you then make something inspired by the book that you read. There is so much delicious sounding food in this book, there were so many things that I thought of to make. When Anna Kate arrives in Wicklow, she is welcomed by the townspeople, many of whom welcome her with zucchini loaves, and at one point it mentions zucchini and cheddar biscuits. I made the classic mistake of thinking that this meant biscuits in the Aussie sense of the word, so I was thinking it was a kind of cracker. It was only when I was searching for a recipe I realised that what it meant was the savoury scone type of biscuit from America.
The other option that I thought of was to try making a proper fruit pie. I've made lemon meringue pies and tarts, but I haven't really made what I imagine an American style pie to be.
In the end though, I have decided to make Hummingbird Cake, because it is a Southern classic, and because I really wanted to make something with cream cheese frosting. I used this recipe from Taste.
I ended up using vegetable oil instead of olive oil. The toasted flaked coconut was a revelation to me, and I will be making that again to throw on my cereal in the mornings or something else.
200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar 45g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 x 440g can crushed pineapple in natural syrup 3 small ripe bananas, peeled, mashed 185ml (3/4 cup) extra light olive oil 2 eggs, lightly whisked
Cream cheese frosting
1 x 250g pkt cream cheese, at room temperature 100g unsalted butter, at room temperature 450g (3 cups) icing sugar mixture 3 tsp milk
Preheat oven to 160C. Brush a round 22cm (base measurement) cake pan with olive oil to grease. Line the base and side with non-stick baking paper. Spread the flaked coconut over a baking tray. Bake for 5-8 minutes or until toasted.
Combine the flour, sugar, desiccated coconut, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the pineapple, banana, extra light olive oil and egg and stir until well combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake in oven, covering the cake with foil if it browns too quickly, for 1 hour 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, to make the cream cheese frosting, use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese and butter in a bowl. Add the icing sugar and beat until well combined. Add milk and beat to combine.
Place the cake on a plate. Spread the cream cheese frosting over the top and side of the cake. Sprinkle with toasted flaked coconut and serve.
I am also linking this post up with Foodies Read hosted at Spiritblog.net.
Weekly Meals
Saturday - Fried Chicken, mash and beans
Sunday - Roast Pork with veggies
Monday - Beef Stir Fry
Tuesday - Butter Chicken
Wednesday - Spag Bol
Thursday - Chicken Kebabs, baked potato and coleslaw
Friday - Take Away
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
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