Ti | Book Chatter

Hello there. It’s been another crazy week for me at work. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, sort of. In one sense, the worst of it is over but when you are dealing with an implementation of epic proportions, it tends to go on and on because of how many divisions are involved, how many colleges, departments, etc. I think in two years, we will pretty much be done. I know… two years!! Unbelievable.

I began this post with the intention of sharing all my weekend reads with you, but these days I am not able to read more than say, two books at a time. So this weekend I will be spending time with this book:

I love Nesbo and I love Harry Hole but I am almost done with The Leopard (the book before Phantom) and it’s not doing it for me. I am loyal to the series though so I want to see it through, but I don’t like where Nesbo went with Leopard. It damn near made me give up on it at one point but I’ve heard from others who have read Phantom and they are all telling me that I need to finish Leopard to really appreciate Phantom. Okay. I will.

As for other plans, I still have a book to read for a tour next week but with the three-day weekend, I should be okay. November came out of nowhere, then came the time-change and then to add more stuff to the list, The Boy joined Men’s Chamber Choir and auditioned for another play! He is still doing The Music Man but will be adding Singin’ in the Rain, if he gets a part.

Tonight I have to take The Girl to a laser tag party. You think they will notice if I try to read while they run all over heck trying to shoot each other?

The Lost Art of Mixing
By Erica Bauermeister
(Putnam Adult, Hardcover, 9780399162114, January 24, 2013, 288pp.)

The Short of It:

A literary treat for the senses.

The Rest of It:

If you haven’t read a book by this author yet, you are really missing out.

In The Lost Art of Mixing, Bauermeister returns to Lillian’s restaurant, first featured in The School of Essential Ingredients. Lillian’s restaurant is known for bringing people together. It’s a place to rediscover yourself and the pleasures around you. Through her carefully prepared meals and the cooking classes she offers, her simple acts of kindness provide the much-needed tonic that these folks have been searching for.

Included are some familiar characters from the first book, but we also meet Al, an accountant whose marriage has left him pondering who he is. Finnegan, nineteen years-old and orphaned at a young age, he finds solace when he gets a job as a dishwasher for the restaurant. Isabelle, who is struggling with dementia but finds a friend in Chloe, who you might remember from the first book and then finally Louise, Al’s wife who doesn’t seem to know her husband at all, but at the same time, seems to know everything about him.

The first book was filled with the smells of cooking. I literally drooled my way through it and then did not have any food in the house which was bad planning on my part. It was hard for me to believe that a book could evoke such feelings of comfort, but it really did. This time around, there is a lot less cooking, but more going on with the characters. They are complex and intricately layered with real-life problems that readers can relate to. I found the characters to be endlessly fascinating.

Additionally, there is something wonderful that happens when you return to familiar territory and I loved visiting with these characters again. The Lost Art of Mixing is a fabulous complement to The School of Essential Ingredients. Although you can read this one as a stand-alone, I encourage you to read her other book first. The writing is wonderful in both and trust me, you’ll want to extend your visit once you are done reading them.

Release Note: This wonderful book does not hit the shelves until January 24, 2013! If you can hold out, I promise to host a giveaway once the book is released.