In the midst of The Move and other big life changes, I’ve found that reading fiction is somehow easier for me. I’m not sure why, but I’m certainly grateful since it made now a great time to read The Kitchen Daughter for BookClubSandwich. I’ll admit I was a little skeptical about the premise — after her parent’s death, a woman discovers she can communicate with the dead when cooking their recipes — but ended up satisfied with the book as a whole. (If you want a more detailed summary, the one on IndieBound sums things up nicely).
Today’s the big day when BookClubSandwich will be chatting about Jael McHenry’s book The Kitchen Daughter. I managed to finally finish the book over the weekend while on a road trip from Madison to Morris and back to find a house for Boyfriend, Hannah, and I. Fourteen hours in the car leaves plenty of time for reading (and napping).
The wait is almost over! BookClubSandwich, the online book club I host with Andi (Estella’s Revenge) will be discussing The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry exactly one month from today.
I haven’t started the book yet, but that’s because it’s on my Nook and Crusoe (the name of my Nook) is currently en route to Qatar with my friend Erin, who is traveling to an international science journalism convention. When Erin and I hung out on Thursday, she told me she didn’t have any books packed for her extremely long flights, so I offered for her to take Crusoe, which is loaded with books (including this one!). By the time Crusoe gets back, he will be more of an international traveler than me! But maybe that’s appropriate, given his namesake.
The votes are in and it looks like BookClubSandwich will be reading The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry for our next selection. The Kitchen Daughter won by a pretty wide margin, getting 10 of the 21 votes cast in our poll. This also the first fiction book this online foodie book club will be reading, which is exciting!
Last week I asked for some suggestions for foodie fiction that could be options for the next edition of BookClubSandwich, the online foodie book club I co-host with Andi (Estella’s Revenge). We got a lot of great suggestions — both fiction and nonfiction — that I trimmed down to five choices. Below is the list, plus some info about each book, and a poll at the bottom to vote.
Between Andi’s beginning of the semester madness and my week with a cold that makes me want to hide under my covers, we’ve been a little slow about getting some discussions up about David Kamp’s The United States of Arugula, our most recent pick for BookClubSandwich.
To whet your appetite for the discussion post which should go up tomorrow, I pulled some of my favorite thought-provoking quotes from the book, which looks at the evolution of American food through the chefs and foodies that helped make it possible.
I’m excited to tell you that BookClubSandwich, the online bookclub for foodies and wannabes, has picked our third book — The United States of Arugula: The Sun-Dried, Cold-Pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution by David Kamp.
For a little background, BookClubSandwich is an online book club I host with the lovely Andi at Estella’s Revenge. We’ve been around since last June, and so far have read Coop by Michael Perry and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. The discussions all happen online, and it’s open to anyone who is interested in reading some great (we hope) books about food.
Welcome to the online discussion for The Jungle, hosted by BookClubSandwich: An online book club for foodies and wannabes. Andi (Estella’s Revenge) and I are both glad you’re here.
The discussion format is pretty simple – I’ve included my thoughts below in a sort of review – there are a bunch of discussion questions as well. The comments section is open for responses and discussion – responding to each other as much or more than responding to me – and there’s a Mr. Linky to add your own reviews. The discussion will take place all week, and Andi will have a wrap-up of the discussion next Monday.
This is just a quick reminder post that BookClubSandwich, an online book club for foodies and wannabes, co-hosted by me and Andi of Estella’s Revenge, will be “meeting” online next Monday, November 8 to read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
On Monday I’ll put up an initial post with some thoughts, discussion questions, and a Mr. Linky for your reviews. You can post your thoughts anytime that week, then Andi will do a wrap-up post on Monday, November 15.
Monday Tally is a weekly link round-up of some of my favorite posts discovered over the week. If you have suggestions for Monday Tally, please e-mail sophisticated [dot] dorkiness [at] gmail [dot] com. Enjoy!
BookClubSandwich: We’re Heading Into The Jungle
The book readers voted on for our next BookClubSandwich read is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I’m excited about this pick – it should be easy for everyone to find and, even though it’s a novel, is often cited as one of the big books in journalism history.
