Ambling around the internet this morning, I found this challenge from Book Chick City: Since I’m often setting goals like “go to the gym seven hundred times a week,” the idea of reading a hundred books of FICTION in a year sounds like a dream. I bet you read that much most of the time […]
novels
A lovely review
from Publisher’s Weekly How to Bake a Perfect Life Barbara O’Neal, Bantam, $15 trade paper (416p) ISBN 978-0-553-38677-6 The Rita Award–winning author (as Barbara Samuel) of The Lost Recipe for Happiness returns with the absorbing story of Ramona Gallagher, a 40-year-old woman whose joy in running a bakery in Colorado Springs helps her transcend a […]
Book review: MAYBE THIS TIME, by Jennifer Crusie
MAYBE THIS TIME Jennifer Crusie St Martin’s Press ISBN 978-0-312-30378-5 It has been six years since Jennifer Crusie has written a solo novel. Friends, it was worth the wait. Maybe This Time, published by St. Martin’s Press on August 30th, is her best book yet. It’s also another step in her long, interesting career, from […]
A Bed of Spices now available in ebook format
A BED OF SPICES is a wildly romantic tale of forbidden love set in the turbulent middle ages. Solomon and Rica meet by chance at the herbalist’s cottage and fall deeply in love despite the divisions of religion, class, and expectations — but how can they possibly find a happy ending with so many things […]
Pancake kisses, bacon hugs
THE SECRET OF EVERYTHING is out today! To celebrate, a love song to breakfast. PANCAKE KISSES, BACON HUGS Why breakfast is the secret of everything I suppose I should confess upfront that I am a morning person. I wake up cheery, chatty and at the very first fingers of sunlight creeping over the horizon. I […]
If you’re shopping for Christmas this weekend, try these books
First, before I forget, if you want a chance to win a collection of gourmet salts, go to barbaraoneal.com and post a favorite food from childhood. Let’s talk about books one more time before Christmas, shall we? What are you reading and recommending to others this year? What are some of your favorite reads of […]
Cooking and books, books and cooking: my Julie/Julia story
One Christmas season, I was at loose ends. I was finally, officially divorced after a fairly long marriage. My sons were working and traveling, or out with their friends. There was a man I’d been seeing, but he was traveling, too, and anyway, he was never going to be My Guy and I knew it. I […]
10 little stories about Michigan
10 little stories about Michigan over 4th of July, including fireworks, foodie visit to Zingerman’s, Guru
An excellent review and interview
The Gazette Telegraph’s book columnist had some lovely things to say about The Lost Recipe For Happiness: http://anitalaydonmiller.blogspot.com/ I should add that she most graciously interviewed me and read my book open-mindedly even though I accidentally blindsided her in a blog I wrote for RTB. Thanks, Anita. A lady and a scholar.
Writing as an act of faith
I noticed yesterday that the new book about Columbine is out. I’m not going to read it. I remember enough about the day and the subsequent stories to last me the rest of my life. Enough to say, “what a wretched day” and go on. But the anniversary will surely mean more coverage, and there […]