First Book of the Year: 2020

Happy New Year! For the seventh year, Sheila at Book Journey is hosting the First Book of the Year event. The idea is simple - just share a photo of you and your first book. Sheila says:

Here we go – year 7.   I am THRILLED to continue this tradition, even when I don’t stay as well connected as I once did on this space. Thank you to those who have messaged me to ask if I will be doing it again. 

The answer is… Of course we are doing it...

So what is First Book?  First Book to me, is that first book you plan on reading for the New Year.  It can be a long-coveted read you have not had time for, a guilty pleasure read like a re-read of a favorite…  really it can be anything – it is, after all, YOUR First Book. 

Make it AWESOME.

My First Book...

One of my reading goals for 2020 is to get back to reading classics. Without really meaning to, I ignored them almost completely in 2019. So I will begin 2020 with my 13th  Trollope novel, The Way We Live Now.   As with the previous twelve Trollpe novels (The Barsetshire and Palliser series) I will be reading with our friend Audrey. We are just getting started and you're more than welcome to join us!

If you need a little more convincing, here's a sentence from the first paragraph. It's a perfect example of why I love Trollope:

"She spoke of herself in these days as a woman devoted to Literature, always spelling the word with a big L."

Have you selected your First Book of the Year?

First Book of the Year 2019
First Book of the Year 2018
First Book of the Year 2017
First Book of the Year 2016

My Favorite Books of the Decade: Nonfiction

2010: My Life in France by Julia Child (my thoughts)

2011: A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates by Blake Bailey

2012: Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen (my thoughts)

2013: The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy 
by David Nasaw (my thoughts)

2014: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (my thoughts)

2015: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (my thoughts)

2016: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
(my thoughts)

2017: Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker

2018: Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner (my thoughts)

2019:... coming soon!

My Favorite Books of the Decade: Fiction

2010: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese  (my review)

2011: The Easter Parade by Richard Yates

2012: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield (my review)

2013: Mudbound by Hillary Jordan (my review)

2014: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

2015: Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler (my review)

2016: The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud (my review)

2017: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

2018: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (my review)

2019: ... coming soon!

The Sunday Salon: A Mid-December Update

Mid-December. How is that even possible? The last six months have been a blur - selling and buying homes, packing and moving, and beginning a home renovation. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a two-week trip to central New York and are now back in Florida. We're counting down the days until our NYC daughters arrive... this will be our first Christmas with palm trees!



Recent Reading//

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir

by Ruth Reichl, narrated by the author

I loved everything about this audiobook. The combination of food with the changing world of magazine publishing made for fascinating listening. Reich's narration also added to my enjoyment.

The Dutch House

by Ann Patchett

narrated by Tom Hanks

Ann Patchett has long been a favorite author, so my expectations were high. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. What started as a read/listen combination quickly became an audio experience as Tom Hanks's outstanding narration practically forced me to set my kindle aside.

The Dutch House  is a novel about an extraordinarily strong sibling relationship. After a mother abandons her family, the older sister assumes the role of nurturing parent to her younger brother. The distant father remarries, introducing an evil stepmother with two young daughters into the mix. They all live (unhappily) together in the castle (the Dutch House) until a dramatic event alters the course of their lives. The story is told from the point-of-view of the younger brother and looks back over decades. Brilliantly narrated by Tom Hanks, I highly recommend listening to this novel. Easily a 2019 favorite.

Queen Bee

by Dorothea Benton Frank

A departure from my usual fare and a new-to-me author, I read this for the library book group which will meet on Wednesday. It was a quick, light, entertaining read with some interesting facts about honey bees. Probably a good choice for the busy month of December, but I hope it can sustain an interesting discussion.

Current listening//

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

by Ruth Reichl, narrated by Bernadette Dunne

Because I wanted more Ruth Reichl, I borrowed this older memoir about her time as  restaurant critic for The New York Times. After getting over my initial disappointment that Reich herself is not the narrator, I'm enjoying it almost as much as Save Me the Plums.



Home Renovation Progress//

The demolition phase is just about over. We're finalizing kitchen cabinet selection this week. I already feel like we're behind schedule, but better to slow down and make sure it's done right!



The week ahead//

My SIL is moving to SWFL! Her closing was last week, but she arrives tomorrow... just in time for the holidays. Our daughters will fly in on Thursday and Saturday. This will be a completely new Christmas experience, but I'm happy we'll all be together. Many traditions will carry over, but I'm sure new ones are about to begin... we will embrace the change!

Look for my yearly wrap-up and favorites at the end of the month. In the meantime, I wish you all peace and joy this holiday season!

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Another Blogging Break

I thought this might happen. Life is busy, and about to get busier...

We traveled to Key West and the Everglades for my husband's birthday, are in the midst of major decision-making on the remodeling project, will fly to NY this weekend for a two-week Thanksgiving visit, and then drive our other car to Florida. By the time we get back, Christmas preparations will be in high gear. And then there's the day-to-day political drama... I feel compelled to keep up with every twist as it unfolds.

My reading time has evaporated. Nonfiction November, my absolute favorite blogging event of the year, is happening without me. It's time to hit the pause button for a few weeks.

I'll catch up with you sometime next month. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to my friends here in the United States!

This Week's Read: Save Me the Plums

1 

MAGIC DOOR

I was eight years old when I first found the magazine, sitting on the dusty wooden floor of a used-book store. My father was a book designer who enjoyed the company of ancient volumes, and he often took me on book-hunting expeditions around New York, leaving me with a pile of vintage magazines while he went off to prowl among the dark and crowded shelves. That day I picked up a tattered old issue of Gourmet, enchanted by the cover drawing of a majestic swordfish leaping joyfully from the water. This looked nothing like the ladies' magazines my mother favored, with their recipes for turkey divan made with cans of mushroom soup, or pot roast topped with ketchup, and I opened it to find the pages filled with tales of food in faraway places. A story called "Night of Lobster" caught my eye, and as I began to read, the walls faded, the shop around me vanishing until I was sprawled on the sands of a small island off the coast of Maine. It was deep night, the sky like velvet, spangled with stars.

Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir
by Ruth Reichl

This week's read is actually an audiobook. Ruth Reichl narrates her own story and I am enthralled! Save Me the Plums  is unlike other food memoirs I've read. The magazine/publishing angle is unusual and so interesting. I started listening on Sunday and am halfway through already.

Here is a portion of the goodreads summary:

Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the risk (and the job) of a lifetime when she entered the glamorous, high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Now, for the first time, she chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet, during which she spearheaded a revolution in the way we think about food.
When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America's oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone's boss. And yet . . . Reichl had been reading Gourmet  since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no?

What do you think? Would you continue reading?

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intro is hosted by Vicki at I'd Rather Be At The Beach.

Sunday Salon: Gulfside Musing is Here!

Hello, friends. I hope you're enjoying a relaxing weekend. Here in southwest Florida, the first hint of fall has arrived... and by that I mean it cooled down to around 70 degrees last night and the high today is expected to hit 84. It feels so much comfortable with lower humidity. I hope it lasts.

The blog name change I've been contemplating is official -  Lakeside Musing is now Gulfside Musing! You'll also notice that the old wooden dock in my profile pic has been replaced by a palm tree. My twitter and instagram handles have been adjusted as well.

Finished this week//

The Nickel Boys

by Colson Whitehead

narrated by JD Jackson

What an amazing book! I finished  yesterday and can't stop thinking about it.... that ending! The Nickel Boys  is even more powerful knowing it's based on a real reform school, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, which operated in the Florida panhandle until 2011. I plan to attend a book discussion at the library later this month and maybe even write a review. You'll surely see it on my year-end list of favorites. In the meantime, I've added Colson Whitehead's entire backlist to my tbr.

Current reading//

Save Me the Plums

by Ruth Reichl, narrated by the author

I'm starting Nonfiction November with Ruth Reichl's foodie memoir about her time as editor of Gourmet  magazine. It's just the 'something completely different' I need to follow The Nickel Boys.  I started listening on my walk this morning. The ebook is also available from the library... this might turn into a read/listen combination!


On the blog//
Nonfiction November, Week #1: My Year in Nonfiction


In the kitchen//

Lots of baking! Last weekend I mentioned this Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake from pinch of yum.  I made it on Sunday and it was delicious! I used two large Honeycrisp apples and real buttermilk rather than the milk/vinegar alternative. Everyone loved it! Since I had more buttermilk to use, the next day I made a second one for my FIL's freezer.

We had dinner guests again on Wednesday and there was still  more buttermilk left, so the search was on for another cake recipe. I decided on a  Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake, a moist cake with a super-sweet pecan topping. Our guests loved it, but the topping was a little too sweet for my husband.
P.S.  The buttermilk is finally gone ;-)

Renovation update//

The building permit for our remodel has been filed. The project will begin once it's approved... hopefully within the next week or so. Last week we selected the roof.


How was your week? What are you reading today?

The Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.