Category: book round-ups

book round-ups

Magnificent Meals

veritywilde

It’s Christmas Day and I’m hoping that you’ll all be gorging yourselves on amazing food.  Spare a thought for me as you do, because I’m in the News Dungeon today – working the Big Day so other team members don’t have to (and so I don’t have to next year).  You should be all Christmas Booked up by now, so to celebrate the Big Meal on the Big Day I’ve put together a list of books with fabulous food, fantastic feasts or magnificent meals.  It has ended up being rather children’s book heavy, but hey it’s Christmas and the season for reading children’s books.  Well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Boarding School books

I know.  I’ve mentioned my love for boarding school series enough already.  But back in the day, the writing about the midnight feasts in Mallory Towers or the meals at the Chalet School was enough to make Childhood Verity – queen of the fussy eaters – think she might be able to get over her dislike of all sorts of things.  At the Chalet School they didn’t have midnight feasts, but they did have fresh warm rolls – so far so good – accompanied by milky coffee for Kaffee and Kuchen.  Now coffee makes me feel sick* but I was convinced that I would have loved it.  From my memory, basically pick a Mallory Towers or St Clares and there’ll be a midnight feast or a food related mishap, if you want to go Chalet School, try The Chalet School and the Lintons which has a rare example of a midnight feast in the series or start with School at the Chalet for the full on Austrian food experience.

The Harry Potter series

I argued long and hard with myself about what to do with Harry Potter – because it’s sort of a boarding school series to start with but it goes far beyond that.  So separate it is.  Whether it’s Butter Beer or Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans or the celebratory banquets there’s something fabulous about the food in the Potterverse.  I was eating a packet of Jelly Beans the other day and came across a gross one (Cinnamon I think) and all I could think of was Dumbledore and the earwax flavour.

Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

This is very nearly a spoiler including this, but the last meal of Philip Boyes is gone over in such detail in this, the first of the Harriet and Peter books, that it’s forever stuck in my mind. And although for everyone else Turkish Delight is inexorably linked with Edmund in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, for me it’s more about this book.  Not that I’ve ever liked Turkish Delight anyway, but I swear this book would put you off it permeantly too!

Away from specific books and on to food stuffs…

Chowder

I’ve read a lot of cozy crime books set in New England and I think every series has invoked chowder at some point or another.  Whether it’s the local diner where the detective talks the crime through with her friends while eating a bowl or the weird looking out of the way hut that turns out to be the home of amazing seafood, set a mystery book (or series) in New England and someone will be eating chowder at some point.  Try Jenn McKinley’s Library Lover’s series if you fancy some Chowder action.

Ices from Gunter’s

It’s not a Regency Romance if someone hasn’t mentioned Ices from Gunter’s – whether they’ve been provided for a party or an afternoon trip for younger relatives. I blame Georgette Heyer for starting it, so that’s where I’m sending you.  The Grand Sophy has some Gunter’s action (also a problematic depitction of a Jewish Money lender which I suggest you just skip past) and so does Frederica and a number of others.  If you’re Heyered out, try some Julia Quinn – there’s definitely some Gunter’s action in at least one of the Bridgerton books.

And finally, if you’re at all interested in food in history, can I suggest The Greedy Queen by Annie Grey which looks at the food Queen Victoria and her household ate and where it came from.  Really, really interesting.

Enjoy your Christmas dinner – and I hope you got the books that you wanted and will have time to read them!

Happy Reading!

*Long story, but the TL:DR is travel sick child + coffee factory = psychosomatic link between coffee and vomiting.

book round-ups, Christmas books

Christmasy Books 2017

veritywilde

No Book of the Week this week, instead I have some Christmas-themed books for you to read that are not new.  Some of these may come up on offers as ebooks in the run up to the big day – so if they take your fancy it might be worth adding them to your watch list.

Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

The sixth book in the Royal Spyness series (yes I still hate the name) sees Georgie acting as a paid hostess (not like that you filthy minded people) at a Christmas house party to escape from her own relations in Scotland.  But when there’s a spate of seemingly unconnected deaths in the village, Georgie is convinced that something more sinister is going on and starts investigating.  It would probably work best if you’ve already read some of the other books, but if you haven’t, Georgie is 30-somethingth in line to the throne, daughter of a newly impoverished Scottish Earldom and trying her best not to be married off to a chinless foreign prince by her royal relations.  In order to avoid this, she needs to find a way of earning some money of her own or find someone rich to marry herself. Trouble is she’s fallen in love with the equally impoverished and somewhat secretive heir to an Irish title and there’s not a lot of jobs suitable for an almost royal, especially an almost royal with a scandalous actress turned socialite for  a mother. Enjoy!

One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis

A short but sweet seasonal novella about to ex-schoolmates sharing a ride back to their hometown for Christmas.  She’s always had a crush on him but he has reasons why she’s the last person he’d want to be with.  But being stuck in a blizzard with only his dog as a buffer between them sees secrets come out and a new way forward emerging.  This is part of Shalvis’s Heartbreaker Bay series, but I hadn’t read any of the other books when I read this and I enjoyed it just fine.  If you haven’t read any Shalvis before, my version had lots of first chapter (or two) previews for other books of hers two if you like it and want to dip your toe in and try more.

A Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan has a Christmas novel pretty much every year – although I’m running a few behind (it’s only a three years since I mentioned trying not to buy this…)- usually a sequel to one of her previous novels.  They work best if you’ve already read the first one – or in this case two – books in the series, but they’re better if you have.  This is the third book about Rosie Hopkins and her sweetshop in the wilds of Derbyshire.  Helpfully it has a story-so-far catchup section at the start for newbies.  Despite the title, it’s not all festive cheer – and covers a difficult, but ultimately rewarding year in Rosie’s life.  I had a little sniffle at a couple of points – and although I had a problem with the portrayal of one character (the social worker), it was ultimately an enjoyably Christmassy experience.

I’ve already mentioned a lot of Sarah Morgan books this year – and in the last few months – but her Christmas romances are rotating through offers at the moment – so here is my review of Moonlight over Manhattan – but the Snow Crystal Christmas books and the Puffin Island Christmas book are also very good.