lesmel - 2024 I have no shelf control

Happy New Year! Blue and I hope everyone has a great year!



Goal for the year: Read more of my Kindle titles.

Bwahaha! Love your thread title...

Y'all. The library has a cookbook display and I did not have time for a close perusal. Darn, now I have to go back to look it over.

To get the year started, my first three books!

#1 Learn to Cook 25 Southern Classics 3 Ways: Traditional, Contemporary, International
Review in my Cookbookers thread

#2 Demon Copperhead
I will say I was very biased against this book. It's a contemporary retelling of David Copperfield. I find Dickens difficult to read. I found Demon Copperhead really difficult to listen to. I am known for listening fast and furiously to most of my audiobooks. You can't with this book. This isn't a knock to Kingsolver or the story; but it does impact how I feel about the novel overall. What is painful is that I could only listen to about 10 minutes at a time. Even then, I had a print copy, jumped to the end of the book and read the last several chapters to save myself from any heartache about the main character dying.

#3 The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing
A lot is crammed into this book. I found the biography part of the book more interesting; but not for lack of interesting topics in the second half. This was a LT Early Reviewers title from ages ago.

>4 lesmel: Yeah, I couldn’t finish Demon Copperhead. Painful.

#4 Copycat restaurant favorites restaurant faves made easy at home
Eh. The one recipe I want is the Shamrock Shake copycat. This isn't to say there aren't a ton of options in here. They are just not very inspiring.

#5 Taste of Home Copycat Favorites, Volume 2
I'm not inspired to try 90% of the recipes. The recipes I am interested in:

Zuppa Toscana
Wendy's Chili
KFC Coleslaw
Cashew Chicken with Ginger (Cheesecake Factory Spicy Cashew Ginger)
Original Girl Scout Cookies (sugar cookie)
Bourbon & Cornflakes Ice Cream (Humphry Slocombe Secret Breakfast Ice Cream)

>3 lesmel: The display was gone by the time I made it back to the library. Boo. This means I'll just have to go check all the cookbook shelves instead. Shucks.

#6 What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez
This was an almost complete fail for me. I think it's the wrong book at the wrong time; but really I didn't like 99% of the book.

I am in a reading funk. Nothing appeals.

>9 lesmel: Time for a re-read?

>10 2wonderY: Maybe. I am trying a fantasy ya that might help. And I am finally finishing a Kindle book I bought but don't care for. I figured if I could make myself finish the Kindle title, I could break my funk. We'll see if I'm right.

I find an old favorite reread helps me break out of a slump.

I have DNF'd two books this month. Life's too short to waste on something I am not enjoying.

#7 A Light in the Forest, Payne
Managed to finish this last night. As I mentioned, not really a fan. I was 2/3 through when I decided to skim most of the rest just so I could confirm I knew the whole story. So, what went wrong? Nearly everything. The storyline is obvious. The characters are either flat or overly done "mysterious," friendly, or assholes.

Time to catch up on this year's reads. Some how I've read 58 books already.

#8 Ash Princess, Sebastian
New author for me. Interesting. Not sure it's worth reading the rest of the series.

#9 Random in Death,Robb
I'll read these for long as she's willing to write them. I'm committed. lol

#10 Giuseppe's Easy Bakes, Dell'Anno
I love Giuseppe from GBBO. He's got some fantastic recipes in here. The photos are purdy.

#11 Doughnuts, Ferroni
This book makes me want to make and eat all the doughnuts. I've always thought that deep fat frying was such a waste of oil. Use it three times, and throw it out. Also, how do you dispose of it properly?

#12 Cultish, Montell
Good book. A little repetitive. The author uses "cultish" the same way a person uses "English" -- as in the language that is used in cults. And yes, the author does not have a problem calling any group that creates influence a cult. She does say that cults can be good or bad...or more specifically, benign or malignant.

#13 That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, Lemming
Hilarious and stupid.

#14 Gatherings: Casual-Fancy Meals to Share
ATK always have interesting cookbooks.

#15 Butter, Flour, Sugar, Joy, Kartes
Not even sure how I stumbled onto the title. Interesting recipes.

#16 Snacking Bakes, Arefi
Interesting recipes. Purdy pictures.

#17 Save What's Left, Castellano
Ugh. No.

#18 Bake, Hollywood
Paul Holywood is such an interesting character. I'm borrowing this book again.

#19 The Batch Lady: Cooking on a Budget, Mulholland
Another title I don't know how I found. Interesting recipes. Interesting batching.

#20 Lady Smoke, Sebastian
Eh. I think I can skip the last book. I don't need to know how it ends.

#21 Fix It & Freeze It/Heat It & Eat It, Ray
There's gonna be a lot of these in my thread. Basically, I like seeing what and how people are batch cooking.

#22 Fix 'n' Freeze Pressure Cooker Meals in an Instant, Sanders

#23 Snacking Cakes, Arefi
More purdy pictures.

#24 It's Always Freezer Season, Christensen

#25 Modern Freezer Meals, Rosen

#26 Good Housekeeping Dishes for Two
If it's not batch cooking, it's small cooking I'm after.

#27 The Complete Small Plates Cookbook

#28 Kevin Belton's Cookin' Louisiana
I love Kevin Belton. I saw him in person at the New Orleans School of Cooking. This is such a neat regional cookbook.

#29 The Boy Who Cried Bear, Armstrong
Second in the new series. Feels different from the first series. I have no idea why she spun off the story.

#30 The Lady in Glass and Other Stories, Bishop
Eh. I'm glad it was a library book. I'd have been annoyed if I bought this title.

#31 Meal Prep in an Instant, Ludlum

#32 The Lighter Step-By-Step Instant Pot, Eisner
I'm always down for an IP cookbook.

#33 Super Shortcut Instant Pot, Eisner

#34 The Simple Comforts Step-by-Step Instant Pot, Eisner

#35 The Step-By-Step Instant Pot Cookbook, Eisner

#36 Edge of Collapse, Stone
Prime reading title. Friend was reading it. I swear I've read this already or something nearly identical.

#37 Freeze Fresh, Schmidt

#38 From Freezer to Cooker, Conner

#39 The Complete Make-Ahead Cookbook

#40 Coleman Hill, Foote

#41 Cross Her Heart, Leigh
Prime reading title. Interesting book. If I can find any of the other of the series from the library, I'll read at least one more.

#42 All My Darkest Impulses, Unger
Amazon singles. Chap-book style titles. I think I know where this story is going.

#43 Fog Descending, Unger

#44 Circling the Drain, Unger

#45 Love the Way You Lie, Unger
Yep. I was right about this story. I think this (the last one) if the weakest of the stories.

#46 Randomize, Weir
Amazon singles. This is kind of a hoot. Worth the 10-15 minutes to read it.

#47 Ask for Andrea, Ihli
Intense story. The story runs in fits and starts. I can't tell if that's the changing view point or uneven writing.

#48 The Art of Avoiding Your Werewolf, Glass
These gonzo romances (I have no idea what else to call them) are weird. Some are funnier than others.

#49 Yellowface, Kuang
This was a big book for our bookclub. Lots of discussion. Lots of viewpoints.

#50 The Good Lie, Torre
Intense; but ridiculous.

#51 Wake Me After the Apocalypse, Rivet
Eh. Definitely YA.

#52 Heartless, Silver
I needed some mindless romance.

#53 Flawless, Silver

#54 Powerless, Silver

#55 The Stillwater Girls, Kent
Prime reading. Intense and unrealistic.

#56 Glassworks, Wolfgang-Smith
Bookclub book. Eh. I didn't find it to be compelling or memorable.

#57 Reckless, Silver

#58 Hopeless, Silver