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Pinch Me book cover including the Italian countryside.

Pinch Me
By Barbara Boyle
She Writes Press, 9781647428327, Feb 2025, 216pp

The Short of It:

If you want to feel wonderful about the world again, pick this up. It’s a beautiful, feel-good memoir.

The Rest of It:

This book is wonderful. In its brief 216 pages, I lingered and made the recipes and scanned all the QR codes for photos. Yes, people! Delicious Italian food AND photo albums of the restoration process of this beautiful 300 year old farmhouse. Barn, really.

Barbara Boyle and her husband Kim visit a small Italian town for vacation and fall in love with the town, its people and the overall sense of place. So much so that when they return to their US home in San Francisco, they begin to dream about a possible home there. Could that work?

With the right realtor, a dedicated construction crew and lots of trips back and forth, they purchase what is essentially a barn and turn it into the most beautiful home, overlooking the hillsides and wildflowers and yes, grapevines too.

I am not a big RENO person. As soon as foundation talk enters the chat, I tune out but not in this case. Solving the foundation issues in a 300 year old relic, takes precision, care and creative solutions. I found this part to be fascinating. Also, how they started with the roof! I would never have even though to start with that when the walls are crumbling and held up by mud.

Construction aside, the relationships that this couple built there are admirable and the kindness of strangers, who eventually become neighbors was so comforting and sweet. I loved hearing about their interactions with the local businesses too. All of the delicious restaurants and pasta making experiences and the emphasis on fresh produce and simple ingredients.

Reading Pinch Me was a palate cleanser for my soul. Anyone in need of that needs to find a copy immediately. I will say this, there is a deeper topic introduced towards the end and also a COVID pandemic mention given how it affected that region. But, it was just what the doc ordered as far as escapism.

Highly recommend. It will be on my fave list at the end of the year. Would make a great gift too. I would include some photos of the house but I want you to get the book and scan those QR codes for the albums!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Red Dog Farm
By Nathanial Ian Miller
Little Brown & Company, 9780316575140, March 4, 2025, 272 pp.

The Short of It:

What is home to you?

The Rest of It:

Growing up on his family’s cattle farm in western Iceland, young Orri has gained an appreciation for the beauty found in everyday things: the cavorting of a newborn calf, the return of birdsong after a long winter, the steadfast love of a good (or tolerably good) farm dog. But the outer world still beckons, so Orri leaves his no-nonsense Lithuanian Jewish mother and his taciturn father, Pabbi, to attend university in Reykjavík. ~the publisher

Living on a cattle ranch in Iceland has its challenges. These are quiet people with hopes and dreams but also people desperately aware of the life they’ve been given. Orri leaves for university but returns when his parents begin to display signs of needing help.

There are beloved ranch animals lost to the elements. Early morning hay stacking on mornings so cold that their equipment won’t start. While working the land, Orri and Pabbi talk about life and reflect on choices they’ve made. His mother interjects with her observations on life. Clearly, this is a family that loves each other but there are revelations and they each choose a direction to go which eventually leads to a very dark moment.

I was mesmerized by this book. There’s not a lot of action. It’s contemplative and reflective but I enjoy these types of reads sometimes. The writing is just beautiful. I was on that ranch with these characters. This is definitely one of those armchair traveler reads. The harshness of the ranch was comforting to me. It was consistent and genuine.

Highly recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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