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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.

Erica’s website.

Erica’s Facebook page.

Erica’s TLC tour stops.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher via TLC Book Tours.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Girl and her Pumpkin — What a horrible shot. Can you see the ghostly apparition? My phone does not take good photos. Notice the bow on The Girl’s pumpkin?

I don’t have much time and this week appears to be a wash but I wanted to check-in with you all because it just feels as if it’s been a long time since we’ve chatted and I simply can’t let that happen.

I am reading. Lots. The writing? Not so much. I do most of my writing before work but with this ongoing project my morning time has not been my own. I expect it to ease up after this week. Just a tiny bit.

Tonight, I will be handing out candy with The Boy after he returns from a cross-country pasta party. The Girl asked a friend to come over for trick-or-treating so The Hub will take them through the neighborhood. I almost forgot to put the chili in the crock pot but I did it at 5am. Think it will be done by the time I get home? I need a crock pot with a timer because so often the stuff ends up overcooked. Can you overcook chili?

This morning I have to attend a three-hour training session, followed by a one-hour meeting and then hopefully I can leave a bit early to beat the traffic home.

Here’s what I am reading: