Top Ten Tuesday: A Touch of Magic

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)

 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Love That Are More Than 10 Years Old

 

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Books I Love That ARe More Than 10 Years Old. 

I don't really read a lot of old books, so I decided to tweak the theme a little and share the last ten books I have read that are more than 10 years old. It just so happens that this list includes some books that I loved!!

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones - (published in 1986). I read this earlier this year as part of March Magic. I did see that the movie version of this is currently on Netflix so I might watch it soon.

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran- (published in 2005) I read this a couple of years ago now for Cook the Books (review here)

Poison Study by Maria V Snyder (also Magic Study and Fire Study) - (published in 2005) I decided I was going to reread this series, and then carry on to read the next books in the series. I did the re-read part, but still haven't read the next books in the series. (review here)

Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys - (published in 1985) - This was originally a series of stories published during WWII and then republished in this form 

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl - (published in 1961) I actually listened to Taika Waititi and his famous friends read this story back in the early days of the pandemic!

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - (published 2010) - I have listened to this on audio several times now. Might just about be time for another listen!

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - (published 2008) - Yay! Another opportunity to mention this book! (review)

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - (published 1990) - So much fun. I have watched the TV adaptation twice so far.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer - (published 1957)- There are a couple of Georgette Heyer books which have been narrated on abridged audio by Richard Armitage - my idea of aural bliss! Highly recommended. (review here)

Ross Poldark by GrahamWinston - (published 1945) - I read this after watching some of the TV series.



I am looking forward to seeing what books other participants have on their lists.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I currently have out from the library

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is no set theme this week and so today I am sharing the books that I currently have out of the library. Our library system is still closed because we are still in lockdown, so they keep on extending the return date. At the moment the return date is due to be 31 October but that could be extended further depending on what happens. 

The Opal Dragonfly by Julian Leatherdale - I read this author's first book a few months ago and I liked it so requested this one. I intend to read his last book too.

Tsarina by Ellen Alpsten - This was reviewed a lot a couple of months ago and it sounds so good. I requested it from the library straight away

The Heirloom Garden by Viola Shipman - I saw this mentioned a few times and knew I wanted to read it!

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi - I saw this mentioned on a few Top Ten Tuesday posts over a few weeks so decided I needed to read it myself

Ambulance Girls at War by Deborah Burrows - This is the the third book in the Ambulance Girls trilogy

Those Who Are  Loved by Victoria Hislop - I really enjoyed some books by Victoria Hislop years ago but it has been a long time since I read one.

The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks - This is a middle grade book but I have heard good things about it.

The Poppy Wife by Caroline Scott - I saw this on someone's blog somewhere and it prompted me to request it from the library, but I can't remember where or when.

Rosewater & Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran - This is the last book that I borrowed from the library before it closed that I haven't read yet, so I want to read it before the library opens again

Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown - This is the current Cook the Books bookclub choice, I am about half way through this at the moment.

This week...

I'm reading....

This weekend has been a bit unusual in that I really was not reading anything. Normally I have an audiobook on the go, plus an e-book and a paper book, but having finally finished The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley on audio, I hadn't yet started a new one.  I also finished reading Tiny White Lies by Fiona Palmer this week.


So really, the question should be what I am a going to be reading?

I have a number of library books about to be delivered to me this week, so I think that I should really read the final book that I had checked out when all the social isolation restrictions started back in March, and that book is Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran.

I will also be starting Miss Graham's Cold War Cookbook by Celia Rees for an upcoming blog tour on ebook, and The Spanish Promise by Karen Swan on my phone.

On audio, I am looking forward to starting to listen to The Switch by Beth O'Leary. I read The Flat Share last year and loved it so I am looking forward to this one. This will also be the first audiobook that I have listened to from Netgalley.

I'm watching

This has been a bits and pieces kind of viewing week too. We were looking forward to watching South African/New Zealand comedian Urzila Carlsson's Netflix comedy Overqualified Loser as soon as we heard about it. We did enjoy it, but it was very similar to the show that we saw live a couple of years ago.

I watched the first episode of Cable Girls which is a Spanish Netflix show. I knew that the show was in Spanish but I assumed that it was subtitled. Most of the time when I am watching TV I am usually reading blog posts, or writing them, or just generally doing other things so subtitles don't really work. However, I found out this week that it is actually dubbed rather than subtitles, and therefore I could watch it. I might go back to it. We'll see.

We have also been watching a documentary on History Channel about General Washington, which has been interesting.

One thing that we did watch this weekend was the new Tom Hanks movie, The Greyhound which is a WWII movie about the Battle of the Atlantic. I really enjoyed it. It is very much a war movie. There's very little in the way of background story, or getting to know the characters but it is very well done.

For the coming week, we come to the end of Masterchef. It's been a long season, but a great season. This year, the judges changed which I think plenty of people were worried about. How would Masterchef work without the judges who have been there since the beginning? And now, old judges  who? The new judges have been so great, the food has been amazing, and I am sure the producers had to work overtime working out how to make the competition work given that they were still filming when all the social distancing came into being!


Life.....

We are now into our second week of Lockdown 2.0. It's challenging, but it is what it is. I mentioned last week that, for the first time, we had been instructed to wear masks whenever it wasn't possible to social distance. That advice has changed and from the coming Thursday it is compulsory for us to wear masks whenever we leave house. I know many other countries have had this in place for a long time, but it is a lot different for us.

We are trying a couple of new things food wise this week. I saw an ad on Facebook not too long ago which was a French patisserie on the other side of the city that would deliver freshly made pastries, and then you could cook them yourselves. Seeing  as we were ordering something I figured we might as well buy some macarons. Everything was so good. We are definitely going to be ordering some more.

This week we are trying a meal box. The idea is that this restaurant provides you with a different cuisine for three meals in the week, with all the food, along with the instructions on how to cook it, and access to the head chef's instructional videos. This week the cuisine is from Morocco and I am really looking forward to trying this. I have never done anything like this, so it's a first in lots of ways.

We did also start our third lockdown jigsaw. This one is all about different landmarks around the world and boy, it is challenging. It will keep us going for a week or so.

Blogging wise, I started something a bit new in an old way, which was a Vintage post where I find a post from the archives and repost it. I do have some more vintage posts coming up, with a specific focus on historical fiction. I am also seriously contemplating a Facebook page. Do you have one? Would you recommend having one?

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Smile
Paris in July: Midnight in Paris
Vintage: Lamington
Weekend Cooking: National Lamington Day

I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my 2020 Winter TBR

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme is Books on our Winter TBR pile. In terms of pure numbers this year has been my best reading year for about four years so that's something to be celebrating isn't it? So these are books that I aim to be continuing my renewed reading mojo with over the next few months.

Something to Talk About by Rachael Johns - This is the follow up to Talk of the Town which I read not too long ago. Rachael Johns is always a good read.

Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams -This book has been on my radar ever since I heard the author talk about it! I need to read it!

500 Miles from You by Jenny Colgan - I listened to the previous book in this series not too long ago so I am keen to given this one a go now.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - I loved reading With the Fire on High earlier this year so I am super excited to read this one.

Kitchen Chinese by Ann Mah -  This is the next book in the Cook the Books bookclub.

Rosewater & Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran - This is the last book that I borrowed from the library before it closed that I haven't read yet, so I want to read it before the library opens again

The Pretty Delicious Cafe by Danielle Hawkins - I read a couple of Danielle Hawkins books earlier this year and now I intend to read them all.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - I have seen and heard so much about this book recently. Even when I was out for dinner recently someone talked about it.

The Goldminer's Sister by Alison Stuart - This is a review book that I have coming up and the follow up to

Storm Glass by Maria V Snyder - After reading the original trilogy in this series, I am now going to read the next trilogy which focuses on a character that we have already met in the previous book.

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran

Recently I saw that Deb from Kahakai Kitchen was reading a book for an online book club called Cook the Books, and I straight away thought that it might be a book club that worked for me! I therefore requested the February/March read from the library straight away, which is Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran.

This is a book that I have been aware of for a long time but I hadn't read it before. In fact, I haven't read any of the books that have been selected for this year.

Pomegranate Soup begins with the three Aminpour sisters arriving in a small town in Ireland called Ballinacroagh. Marjan, Bahar and Layla are looking for another new home and are opening a cafe serving their traditional foods in a town that may not be ready for them

The three women escaped from Iran at the start of their revolution in 1979, making their way to Ireland by sneaking over the border into Pakistan, making their way initially to London and then to Ireland.

Marjan has unsurpassed ability with food. Her food can change your mood, and even the direction of your life in some cases. Each day, she and her sisters cook delicious lamb stews, pomegranate soup, bake elephant ears pastries and serve coffee using beautiful samovars, sending the delicious scents of cinnamon and other spices wafting into the main street of the town. Whilst there are those who are willing to accept strangers into their town, especially after tasting their food, there are others who are not.

There was lots to like about this book. I loved all the food content, the descriptions of the way that Marjan in particular nurtured those around her through her food. I liked that there were a number of recipes included in the book, and enjoyed the almost magical realism feel to it, focusing on the power of food to change the way that you are feeling. I guess I would call it magical realism lite for want of a better term.

There were some things that didn't work as well for me. Many of the characters felt almost like caricatures, especially the characters who weren't willing to accept the family, from the nosy busy body neighbour who spied on the women, and the local bar owner who had his own plans for the cafe space.

Overall, it's a readable book, without being amazing.

I am looking forward to reading the next selection of the Cook the Books bookclub which is Hippie Food by Jonathan Kauffman

The idea of the Cook the Books is that you cook something inspired by what you read. I am choosing to share a recipe for Persian Drizzle Cake which I made last year.  The recipe is from Queen.com.au. I chose to top my cake with Turkish Delight Easter eggs  rather than rose petals.

Persian Drizzle Cake

Cake
¾ cup (180ml) milk
Pinch of saffron
150g butter, room temperature
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp rosewater essence
1 ½ cups (225g) self raising flour
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp lemon zest (approx. ½ lemon)
½ cup (60g) chopped pistachios

Lemon Rose Syrup
⅓ cup (75g) caster sugar
80-90ml lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)
½ tsp Queen Rosewater Essence

For the cake

Preheat oven to 180°C (fan forced). Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.

Gently warm milk in the microwave for 40 seconds. Add saffron and allow to infuse while you make the cake.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla extract and rosewater essence and beat well.

Add flour, cardamom, lemon, pistachios and saffron milk and mix on low until just combined.

Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 55-60 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

For the Lemon Rose Syrup

During the last 10 minutes of baking, combine sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture has slightly thickened. Add rosewater essence, stirring to incorporate. Straight from the oven, pierce the cake multiple times with a skewer and pour warm syrup over hot cake. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Top with rose petals, pistachios and icing sugar before serving.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. 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. For more information, see the welcome post.

I am also linking this post up with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story

And also at Novel Food

Library Loot: March 18

We worked from home today for the first day. The good news is  I still like my husband. The not so good news is that we had to spend a chunk of time on the phone trying to get our internet up and working again after it died a couple of days ago.

Like so many others  around the world, my local library has closed down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic so who knows when I will be doing my next Library Loot post, unless I start borrowing ebooks and audiobooks. The reality is that I have enough of both of those of my own so I probably don't need to borrow them!

Interestingly when I checked the library catalogue today, all of the books I have out have had their due date extended to 1 May which was unexpected!

Here's what I did borrow this week:

Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran - I finished the first book in this duo a week or so, and I am sufficiently interested to find out what happens next.

The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke - This is a new release that I had seen a few really good reviews for so I thought I would request it.

Palace of Tears by Julian Leatherdale - This author has a new book out which I have seen a few reviews for. I am not sure why but I was more drawn to his debut rather the new one.



Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.