I’m looking forward to alternating my temperature this weekend with sunny, cold walks and relaxing in front of the fire with a good book.
Have a cozy weekend. If you are celebrating the Chinese New Year, have a great celebration. Happy Year of the Rabbit!
A couple of weeks ago, Tom shared with me a piece written by Bill Eville, a writer for The Vineyard Gazette. In his Saturday article for The Notebook, a weekly Gazette newsletter, Eville usually makes reading recommendations. Last week he was thinking about M.F.K. Fisher, a legendary food writer, but he couldn’t find much of her writing on the internet. Instead he shared a link to a piece that Ruth Reichl wrote about Fisher, the writer who “virtually invented the food memoir” and a visit that Reichl had with Fisher shortly before Fisher passed away.
This reminded me that I had something written by Fisher on my bookshelf and I hadn’t read it yet. After reading Eville’s and Reichl’s article, I went in search of the book. It turns out that I had The Art of Eating (Bookshop.org), a collection of five of her books. What a treasure trove for my food writer reading journey this year!
Eville’s piece in The Notebook comes in a newsletter subscription, not online, so I can’t share a link to it. You can subscribe to it via The Vineyard Gazette if you want. He’s a clever writer. The first thing that I’m sharing with you this weekend is Reichl’s piece about M.F. K. Fisher.
- Ruth Reichl on M.F.K. Fisher’s Lifetime of Joyous Eating — Reichl writes about her childhood discovery of M. F. K. Fisher and about Fisher’s contributions to food writing. (LitHub)
- The 20 Best Things Our Team Read in 2022 — The crew at Cupcakes and Cashmere recommend their favorite reads from last year. (Cupcakes and Cashmere)
- These 15 Buzzy New Books—Your 2023 Reading List Is Here — Looking ahead, here are 2023 book recommendations to add to your TBR (to be read) list. (Camille Styles)
- Here are a few recommendations of books I’ve recently listened to.
- The Sign for Home by Blair Fell. I loved this story about a young DeafBlind man and his interpreter. Arlo has lost so much in his young life, my heart broke over and over again as I listened to this book. When Arlo signs up for a creative writing class and begins to work with his new interpreter, Cyril, their lives quickly move in new directions. Not only is this a beautiful story with characters I was soon invested in, it was a great introduction into the world of interpreting for DeafBlind people. The author narrated the book and he did a great job. (Audible)
- The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. Based on a true story, this book is full of suspense! When Hitler invades Russia, Mila Pavlichenko, a young history student and mother, becomes a famous sniper, known as Lady Death. Russia sends Mila with a group of students to America to try and convince the Roosevelt administration to help Russia battle the Nazis, but Mila is being hunted there. This story is a real thriller! (Audible)
- The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Cussy Mary Carter, one of the “blue people” from Kentucky, is a traveling librarian in Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project. She covers rough territory to bring books to people in the hills, to help them learn to read, and perform other small tasks for them. Cussy is loved by many of her clients, but has to deal with terrible prejudice against the “Blues.” In equal parts, this is a story of courage, kindness, and love, as well as fear, unfairness, and hatred. (Audible)
You can read more about the blue people from Kentucky here: The Blue People of Troublesome Creek (nclark.net)
- Poem: Aise de Mayon — One last reading item is a poem about mayonnaise and love. (The New York Times)
- Quick Creamy Tomato Soup — Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich are the perfect accompaniment to a winter’s day of reading. (Sea Salt and Sailor Stripes)
- Goodness: Handmade blankets for homeless crafted with ‘love’ come to Capitol Hill — There are so many good factors to this story. The kids learned about math and about homelessness in this project, many blankets were made to keep people warm, and the blankets were first displayed to bring attention to the problem of homelessness. (The Washington Post)
About the photo: A boardwalk at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport, MA.