Rabbit rabbit: The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waal

The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance
by Edmund de Waal
Memoir, History | Published: 2010 | Goodreads
264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them bigger than a matchbox: Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in his great uncle Iggie's Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the 'netsuke', they unlocked a story far larger and more dramatic than he could ever have imagined.

From a burgeoning empire in Odessa to fin de siecle Paris, from occupied Vienna to Tokyo, Edmund de Waal traces the netsuke's journey through generations of his remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.

First sentence(s):
In 1991 I was given a two-year scholarship by a Japanese foundation. The idea was to give seven young English people with diverse professional interests - engineering, journalism, industry, ceramics - a grounding in the Japanese language at an English university, followed by a year in Tokyo. Our fluency would help build a new era of contacts with Japan. We were the first intake on the program and expectations were high.

Rabbit rabbit: Peacebunny

Peacebunny Island
The Extraordinary Journey of a Boy and His Comfort Rabbits,
and How They’re Teaching Us about Hope and Kindness
by Caleb Smith
Memoir, Animals | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
The incredible true story of a boy who is changing the world through kindness... one bunny at a time.

Meet Caleb Smith: a young man who, at age 9, decided to follow his dream to train endangered and rescued rabbits to become therapy animals. Today, 15-year-old Caleb is an entrepreneur who owns and operates a private 22-acre Mississippi River sanctuary called Peacebunny Island. The deal is simple: he saves the rabbits, and they help save us. Driven by an unbreakable desire to minister kindness and compassion, Caleb's adventures include:

Founding a program of therapy rabbits who visit with first responders, senior citizens, families with special needs, and much more

Embarking on a quest along the Mississippi River to develop the site that would become Peacebunny Island

Overcoming challenges, obstacles, and disappointed dreams along the way

Inspiring hope and possibility in the next generation of young people

Stories of the kids who experience the calm, healing magic of Peacebunny Island

Being Benedict Cumberbatch

This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch:
The Joy of Loving Something–Anything–Like Your Life Depends On It
by Tabitha Carvan
Memoir, Biography | Published: 2022 | Goodreads
interview hosted by Book Passage (here)
Tabitha Carvan was a new mother, at home with two young children, when she fell for the actor Benedict Cumberbatch. You know the guy: strange name, alien face, made Sherlock so sexy that it became one of the most streamed shows in the world? The force of her fixation took everyone--especially Carvan herself--by surprise. But what she slowly realized was that her preoccupation was not about Benedict Cumberbatch at all, as dashing as he might be. It was about finally feeling passionate about something, anything, again at a point in her life when she had lost touch with her own identity and sense of self.

In This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, Carvan explores what happens to women's desires after we leave adolescence...and why the space in our lives for pure, unadulterated joy is squeezed ever smaller as we age. She shines a light onto the hidden corners of fandom, from the passion of the online communities to the profound real-world connections forged between Cumberbatch devotees. But more importantly, she asks: what happens if we simply decide to follow our interests like we used to--unabashedly, audaciously, shamelessly? After all, Carvan realizes, there's true, untapped power in finding your "thing" (even if that thing happens to be a British-born Marvel superhero) and loving it like your life depends on it.

WATCH:

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021)
Director/Screenplay: Will Sharpe
Screenplay: Simon Stephenson
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy
Biography, Drama, History | imdb
English artist Louis Wain rises to prominence at the end of the 19th century for his surreal cat paintings that seemed to reflect his declining sanity.

Happy release: VIDAS by Edward Stanton

VIDAS
Deep in Mexico and Spain
by Edward Stanton
Travel, Memoir, Mexico, Spain | Published: March 2021 | Goodreads
When the American ministers of hate demonized Mexico and the coronavirus struck Spain, Edward Stanton sat down to write a homage to these countries that he knows as well as his own. The result is VIDAS: Deep in Mexico and Spain, the first travel memoir to portray the two most populous Spanish-speaking countries in one volume, written with the perspective of an American and the knowledge of an insider.

A wayward descendant of Mexico’s national hero, a femme fatale who recites poems in cantinas, a Tunisian prostitute in Barcelona, a Spanish psychiatrist who fights brave bulls, the wise owner of the world’s oldest restaurant. They are just a handful of the characters portrayed in this vibrant travel memoir. VIDAS: Deep in Mexico and Spain explores subjects as diverse as the art of blasphemy, the cult of the Virgin Mary, superstition and witchcraft, the bordellos of Mexico, Spain’s paradise of drink and food, the bullfight and the running of bulls in Pamplona, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Every chapter of this book depicts a different person or place, which combined create a cross section of the most populous Spanish-speaking countries in the New and Old World.

VIDAS: Deep in Mexico and Spain is a passage from childhood to adolescence and maturity, a tribute to nature and the open road, an exaltation of love, food and wine, a journey from the tender, mortal flesh to the luminous world of the spirit.

Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos and Me by Lorina Mapa

Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos and Me
by Lorina Mapa

Published: 2017
Publisher: Conundrum Press
Paperback: 140
Rating: 4
Memoir, Graphic Novel, Filipino | Goodreads

When she learns of her beloved father's fatal car accident, Lorina Mapa flies to Manila to attend his funeral. Weaving the past with the present, Mapa entertains with stories about religion, pop culture, adolescence, and social class, including her experiences of the 1986 People Power Revolution which made headlines around the world. It is a love letter to her parents, family, friends, country of birth, and in the end, perhaps even to herself.

Peekabook:

My two-bits:

Loved finding favorites in the author's pop references. Also, liked learning about what went down in the PI during the 80s.

~*~
* part of Filipino Reading Challenge (here)

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib

I Was Their American Dream
by Malaka Gharib

Published: 2019
Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publishers
Paperback: 160
Rating: 4
Graphic Novel, Memoir, Egyptian Filipino | Goodreads

First sentence(s):
When I was growing up, my mom would always say: You have to be better than us.

One part Mari Andrew, one part Marjane Satrapi, I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir is a triumphant tale of self-discovery, a celebration of a family's rich heritage, and a love letter to American immigrant freedom. Malaka Gharib's illustrations come alive with teenage antics and earnest questions about identity and culture, while providing thoughtful insight into the lives of modern immigrants and the generation of millennial children they raised.

Malaka's upbringing will look familiar to anyone who grew up in the pre-internet era, but her particular story is a heartfelt tribute to the American immigrants who have invested their future in the promise of the American dream.

The daughter of parents with unfulfilled dreams themselves, Malaka navigates her childhood chasing her parents' ideals, learning to code-switch between her family's Filipino and Egyptian customs, adapting to white culture to fit in, crushing on skater boys, and trying to understand the tension between holding onto cultural values and trying to be an all-American kid.

Peekabook:

My two-bits:

Fun way to get perspectives of the American dream and growing up as an Asian American.

~*~
* part of October Filipino American History Month

* part of Filipino Reading Challenge (here)

Why Karen Carpenter Matters by Karen Tongson

Why Karen Carpenter Matters
by Karen Tongson

Published: 2019
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Paperback: 138
Rating: 5
Biography, Memoir, Essay, Music | Goodreads

First sentence(s):
Unlike many other young icons of rock and pop lost to overdoses under dramatic circumstances, from Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendrix to Jim Morrison, Karen Carpenter faded out slowly, just like the music she and her brother, Richard, were known for making together as the Carpenters.

In the '60s and '70s, America's music scene was marked by raucous excess, reflected in the tragic overdoses of young superstars such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. At the same time, the uplifting harmonies and sunny lyrics that propelled Karen Carpenter and her brother, Richard, to international fame belied a different sort of tragedy—the underconsumption that led to Karen's death at age thirty-two from the effects of an eating disorder.

In Why Karen Carpenter Matters, Karen Tongson (whose Filipino musician parents named her after the pop icon) interweaves the story of the singer’s rise to fame with her own trans-Pacific journey between the Philippines—where imitations of American pop styles flourished—and Karen Carpenter’s home ground of Southern California. Tongson reveals why the Carpenters' chart-topping, seemingly whitewashed musical fantasies of "normal love" can now have profound significance for her—as well as for other people of color, LGBT+ communities, and anyone outside the mainstream culture usually associated with Karen Carpenter’s legacy. This hybrid of memoir and biography excavates the destructive perfectionism at the root of the Carpenters’ sound, while finding the beauty in the singer's all too brief life.

My two-bits:

While it was fascinating to get some details about Karen Carpenter, the celebrity's influence on the author and Filipinos kept me engaged to the end.


~*~
* part of October Filipino American Month

* part of Filipino Reading Challenge (here)

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

The Snow Leopard
by Peter Matthiessen

Published: 2008
Publisher: Penguin Books
Paperback: 336
Rating: 5
Memoir, Travel, Nepal | Goodreads
Travel destination: Nepal

First sentence(s):
In late September of 1973, I set out with GS on a journey to the Crystal Mountain, walking west under Annapurna and north along the Kali Gandaki River, then west and north again, around the Dhaulagiri peaks and accross the Kanjiroba two hundred and fifty miles or more to the Land of Dolpo, on the Tibetan Plateau.

When Matthiessen went to Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and, possibly, to glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard, he undertook his five-week trek as winter snows were sweeping into the high passes.

My two-bits:

With all the trials and tribulations undergone including some life and death situations in this travel adventure, a lot of growth and introspection were the benefits.

Weekly feels posted on Sunday posts:
co-read with Naida at the the bookworm

Aug 17-23: Prologue & chapter 1
I got halfway through the introduction and decided to stop as it was getting too spoilery for me. I will get back to it later along with the acknowledgments which was also part of the front matter of the book.

Enjoying the details of the trek and learning about the various members of the party and how they function.

Aug 24-30: chapter 2
Importance of a good comfortable pair of hiking boots made an impression. Similar to what I found when I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

Love his writing style. Felt the cold, danger and beauty of the Himalayas as the search for the Blue Sheep and Snow Leopard continue.

"I am here to be here, like these rocks and sky and snow, like this hail that is falling down out of the sun." -page 108

Liked the reference and thoughts about the Yeti.

Aug 31-Sep 6: chapter 3
Meditation and expectations.

Sep 7-13: chapter 4 & wrap-up
Final thoughts and observations by the author of the place and people left me ready for a new outlook on future travel adventures.
~*~
* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

Picnic in Provence by Elizabeth Bard

Picnic in Provence
A Memoir with Recipes
by Elizabeth Bard
narrated by author

Published: 2015
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Memoir, France, Recipes
Hardback: 384
Rating: 5
Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
I don't, as a rule, introduce myself to cows.

Ten years ago, New Yorker Elizabeth Bard followed a handsome Frenchman up a spiral staircase to a love nest in the heart of Paris. Now, with a baby on the way and the world's flakiest croissant around the corner, Elizabeth is sure she's found her "forever place." But life has other plans.

On a last romantic jaunt before the baby arrives, the couple take a trip to the tiny Provencal village of Céreste. A chance encounter leads them to the wartime home of a famous poet, a tale of a buried manuscript and a garden full of heirloom roses. Under the spell of the house and its unique history, in less time than it takes to flip a crepe, Elizabeth and Gwendal decide to move-lock, stock and Le Creuset-to the French countryside.

When the couple and their newborn son arrive in Provence, they discover a land of blue skies, lavender fields and peaches that taste like sunshine. Seduced by the local ingredients, they begin a new adventure as culinary entrepreneurs, starting their own artisanal ice cream shop and experimenting with flavors like saffron, sheep's milk yogurt and fruity olive oil.

Filled with enticing recipes for stuffed zucchini flowers, fig tart and honey & thyme ice cream, Picnic in Provence is the story of everything that happens after the happily ever after: an American learning the tricks of French motherhood, a family finding a new professional passion, and a cook's initiation into classic Provencal cuisine. With wit, humor and scoop of wild strawberry sorbet, Bard reminds us that life-in and out of the kitchen-is a rendez-vous with the unexpected.

My two-bits:

This story tells the tale of the transition of big city Paris to small town Provence living. Also, the trials and tribulations of starting a small business, ice cream.

Peek into the french culture and family essence are captured well.

Loved the food focus with its descriptions, bit of history and recipes.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Paris in July (here)

Dear Girls by Ali Wong

Dear Girls
Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life
by and narrated by Ali Wong
narrated by Justin Hakuta

Published: 2019
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Memoir, Humor
Hardback: 224
Rating: 5
Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
Dear, Girls. I have a secret that I never wanted anyone to know.

Zombie sighting:
I was acting like a survivor in post apocalyptic zombie world who stumbles on a supermarket.
-part 3, chapter 6

Ali Wong's heartfelt and hilarious letters to her daughters (the two she put to work while they were still in utero), covering everything they need to know in life, like the unpleasant details of dating, how to be a working mom in a male-dominated profession, and how she trapped their dad.

In her hit Netflix comedy special Baby Cobra, an eight-month pregnant Ali Wong resonated so heavily that she became a popular Halloween costume. Wong told the world her remarkably unfiltered thoughts on marriage, sex, Asian culture, working women, and why you never see new mom comics on stage but you sure see plenty of new dads.

The sharp insights and humor are even more personal in this completely original collection. She shares the wisdom she's learned from a life in comedy and reveals stories from her life off stage, including the brutal singles life in New York (i.e. the inevitable confrontation with erectile dysfunction), reconnecting with her roots (and drinking snake blood) in Vietnam, tales of being a wild child growing up in San Francisco, and parenting war stories. Though addressed to her daughters, Ali Wong's letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and disgusting) for all.

My two-bits:

So fun and funny.

With this love letter to her children, Ali is just as entertaining in print as she is onstage. Ali gives her account of motherhood and life perspectives.

I listened to the audio version for the full effect of her storytelling."

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino

Trick Mirror:
Reflections on Self-Delusion
by Jia Tolentino

Published: 2019
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Essays, Memoir, Feminism
Hardback: 303
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

Includes:

The I in the Internet
Reality TV Me
Always Be Optimizing
Pure Heroines
Ecstasy
The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams
We Come from Old Virginia
The Cult of the Difficult Women
I Thee Dread

First sentence(s):
I wrote this book between the spring of 2017 and the fall of 1018--a period during which American identity, culture, technology, politics, and discourse seemed to coalesce ito an unbearable supernova of perpetually escalating conflict, a stretch of time when daily experience seemed both like a stopped elevator and an endless state-fair ride, when many of us regularly found ourselves thinking that everything had gotten as bad as we could possibly imagine, after which, of course, things always got worse."

Trick Mirror is an enlightening, unforgettable trip through the river of self-delusion that surges just beneath the surface of our lives. This is a book about the incentives that shape us, and about how hard it is to see ourselves clearly in a culture that revolves around the self. In each essay, Jia writes about the cultural prisms that have shaped her: the rise of the nightmare social internet; the American scammer as millennial hero; the literary heroine’s journey from brave to blank to bitter; the mandate that everything, including our bodies, should always be getting more efficient and beautiful until we die.

My two-bits:

Thoughtful collection of the sign of the times in regards to women.

Topics range from internet, reality tv, women heroines in books, etc.

~*~
* Filipino mentioned

Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention by Donna Freitas

Consent:
A Memoir of Unwanted Attention
by Donna Freitas
narrated by Kathleen McInerney

Published: 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Memoir, Feminism
Hardback: 336
Rating: 5
Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
The package sat unopened on the coffee table.

In this "compelling and disturbing" true story (Rebecca Traister), a young woman's toxic mentor develops a dark, stalking obsession that disrupts her career -- and her peace of mind. Donna Freitas has lived two lives. In one life, she is a well-published author and respected scholar who has traveled around the country speaking about Title IX, consent, religion, and sex on college campuses. In the other, she is a victim, a woman who suffered and suffers still because she was stalked by her graduate professor for more than two years.

As a doctoral candidate, Freitas loved asking big questions, challenging established theories and sinking her teeth into sacred texts. She felt at home in the library, and safe in the book-lined offices of scholars whom she admired. But during her first year, one particular scholar became obsessed with Freitas' academic enthusiasm. He filled her student mailbox with letters and articles. He lurked on the sidewalk outside her apartment. He called daily and left nagging voicemails. He befriended her mother, and made himself comfortable in her family's home. He wouldn't go away. While his attraction was not overtly sexual, it was undeniably inappropriate, and most importantly--unwanted.

In Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention, Donna Freitas delivers a forensic examination of the years she spent stalked by her professor, and uses her nightmarish experience to examine the ways in which we stigmatize, debate, and attempt to understand consent today.

My two-bits:

This memoir of unwanted attention was tough to listen to. The gradual and persistent creepy stalker actions and how things played out kept this story full of uncomfortable tension and anxiety. But necessary to see. The guy was relentless. He was a living nightmare for the author.

Got me thinking of the enablers and how they were complicit.

~*~
* listened to the audio version

* part of October monthly theme: True Crime, Hunger, Horror, Harassment

The Body Papers: A Memoir by Grace Talusan

The Body Papers:
A Memoir
by Grace Talusan

Published: 2019
Publisher: Restless Books
Genre: Memoir, Feminism, Filipino
Hardback: 272
Rating: 5
Goodreads

First sentence(s):
The recipe for yogurt can be contained in a single sentence: add a spoonful of yogurt to scalded milk and leave it alone in a warm place until it thickens.

Zombie sighting:
I zombie-walked though that year and barely went to classes.
-chapter 13, page 137

Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather’s nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family’s legal status in the country has always hung by a thread—for a time, they were “illegal.” Family, she’s told, must be put first.

The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. In her thirties, Talusan must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family’s ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself.

Not every family legacy is destructive. From her parents, Talusan has learned to tell stories in order to continue. The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating and documenting such abuse and trauma, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness.

My two-bits:
Loved this story of a strong resilient woman. I especially was interested in the Filipino American narrative.

~*~
* monthly theme: True Crime, Hunger, Horror, Harassment

The Fact of A Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano Lesnevich

The Fact of A Body
A Murder and a Memoir
by Alexandria Marzano Lesnevich
narrated by author

Published: 2017
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Memoir, True Crime, Mystery
Hardback: 326
Rating: 5
Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
The boy wears sweatpants the color of a Louisiana lake.

Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, working to help defend men accused of murder, she thinks her position is clear. The child of two lawyers, she is staunchly anti-death penalty. But the moment convicted murderer Ricky Langley’s face flashes on the screen as she reviews old tapes―the moment she hears him speak of his crimes―she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case. Despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.

Crime, even the darkest and most unsayable acts, can happen to any one of us. As Alexandria pores over the facts of the murder, she finds herself thrust into the complicated narrative of Ricky’s childhood. And by examining the details of Ricky’s case, she is forced to face her own story, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and reckon with a past that colors her view of Ricky's crime.

But another surprise awaits: She wasn’t the only one who saw her life in Ricky’s.

An intellectual and emotional thriller that is also a different kind of murder mystery, The Fact Of a Body is a book not only about how the story of one crime was constructed―but about how we grapple with our own personal histories. Along the way it tackles questions about the nature of forgiveness, and if a single narrative can ever really contain something as definitive as the truth. This groundbreaking, heart-stopping work, ten years in the making, shows how the law is more personal than we would like to believe―and the truth more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.

My two-bits:

Whoa! the connections and coincidences.

Along with being a mystery (of sorts), I liked reading about the growth and journey of Alexandria.

fyi: the story continues...

Ricky lost another appeal for freedom this past June. In September, it was announced the he is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to get his conviction thrown out.

~*~
* listened to the audio version

* monthly theme: True Crime, Hunger, Horror, Harassment

Hunger by Roxane Gay

Hunger
A Memoir of (My) Body
by Roxane Gay

Published: 2017
Publisher: Harper Collins
Genre: Memoir, Feminism
Hardback: 306
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Every body has a story and a history.

Zombie sighting:
The term morbid obesity frames fat people like we are the walking dead.
-chapter 4

“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.”

In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her own past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.

With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.

My two-bits:
This memoir strongly portrays the experience of being in Roxane's body and history of it which brings about an understanding of the mind and body connection and how we are shaped.

~*~
* listened to the audio version

* monthly theme: True Crime, Hunger, Horror, Harassment

* part of Our Shared Shelf 2017 (here)

100 Times: A Memoir of Sexism by Chavisa Woods

100 Times:
A Memoir of Sexism
by Chavisa Woods

Published: 2019
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Genre: Memoir, Short Stories, Feminism
Paperback: 231
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
In this book, I've cataloged one hundred formative incidents of sexist discrimination, violence, sexual harassment, assault, and attempted rape I've experienced from childhood to now, to paint a clear picture of the impact sexism has had on me throughout my life.

A catalog of one hundred incidents of sexism, harassment, and assault from age five to now by Lambda Literary Award finalist, Chavisa Woods. From gender-based discrimination in work places, to unsolicited groping from strangers in public, to the attempted assaults on herself and the assaults of close friends, Woods uses personal stories to prove that sexual violence and discrimination never just happen once, but that it is a consistent battle women and woman aligned people face every day. "All my life, when I've tried to talk to men about sexism, my main obstacle has just been trying to convince them it exists, and that it is something that actually has a deep and near constant impact on my life. When I talk to most women, though, [. . .] there is immediate understanding that the incidents we are discussing are part of an endless stream of sexist experiences."

100 Things is powerful in its straightforwardness, demonstrating how often women are forced to silently endure sexism and harassment and how men are encouraged to feel entitled to another person's space and body. Woods reveals that no age, orientation, time, or place helps prevent sexual violence and that a more in depth conversation is needed to bring it to an end.

My two-bits:
Whoa! and these are just 100 accounted for.

~*~
* monthly theme: True Crime, Hunger, Horror, Harassment

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home
by Tembi Locke

Published: 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Memoir, Recipes, Sicily
Hardback: 352
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
In Sicily, every story begins with a marriage or a death.

It was love at first sight when Tembi met professional chef, Saro, on a street in Florence. There was just one problem: Saro’s traditional Sicilian family did not approve of him marrying a black American woman, an actress no less. However, the couple, heartbroken but undeterred, forges on. They build a happy life in Los Angeles, with fulfilling careers, deep friendships and the love of their lives: a baby girl they adopt at birth. Eventually, they reconcile with Saro’s family just as he faces a formidable cancer that will consume all their dreams.

From Scratch chronicles three summers Tembi spends in Sicily with her daughter, Zoela, as she begins to piece together a life without her husband in his tiny hometown hamlet of farmers. Where once Tembi was estranged from Saro’s family and his origins, now she finds solace and nourishment—literally and spiritually—at her mother in law’s table. In the Sicilian countryside, she discovers the healing gifts of simple fresh food, the embrace of a close knit community, and timeless traditions and wisdom that light a path forward. All along the way she reflects on her and Saro’s incredible romance—an indelible love story that leaps off the pages.

My two-bits:

Inspiring and comforting read with much love, laughter and food despite sadness.

Yummy recipes included.

PeekAbook: Sicilian Pesto recipe



~*~
* part of Reese's Book Club 2019 (here)

Super Sushi Ramen Express by Michael Booth

Super Sushi Ramen Express
One Family's Journey Through the Belly of Japan
by Michael Booth
narrated by Ralph Lister
Published: 2016
Publisher: Picador
Genre: Memoir, Food, Travel
Hardback: 336
Rating: 5
Goodreads

First sentence(s):
It had started off as a perfectly temperate discussion about the relative merits of French and Japanese cuisines.

Japan is the pre-eminent food nation on earth. The Japanese go to the most extraordinary lengths and expense to eat the finest, most delectable, and downright freakiest food imaginable. Their creativity, dedication and ingenuity, not to mention courage in the face of dishes such as cod sperm, whale penis and octopus ice cream, is only now beginning to be fully appreciated in the sushi-saturated West, as are the remarkable health benefits of the traditional Japanese diet.

Inspired by Shizuo Tsuji's classic book, Japanese Cooking, A Simple Art, food and travel writer Michael Booth sets off to take the culinary pulse of contemporary Japan, learning fascinating tips and recipes that few westerners have been privy to before. Accompanied by with two fussy eaters under the age of six, he and his wife travel the length of the country, from bear-infested, beer-loving Hokkaido to snake-infested, seaweed-loving Okinawa.

Along the way, they dine with - and score a surprising victory over - sumos; meet the indigenous Ainu; drink coffee at the dog café; pamper the world's most expensive cows with massage and beer; discover the secret of the Okinawan people's remarkable longevity; share a seaside lunch with free-diving, female abalone hunters; and meet the greatest chefs working in Japan today. Less happily, they trash a Zen garden, witness a mass fugu slaughter, are traumatised by an encounter with giant crabs, and attempt a calamitous cooking demonstration for the lunching ladies of Kyoto. They also ask, 'Who are you?' to the most famous TV stars in Japan.

What do the Japanese know about food? Perhaps more than anyone on else on earth, judging by this fascinating and funny journey through an extraordinary food-obsessed country.

My two-bits:

Loved the details and historical bits on Japanese food including convenience store offerings, sumo wrestler's diet, tempura, umami, etc.

Side stories with family members were cute.

~*~
* weekly theme: Japan - food

* listened to the audio version

Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod

Paris Letters
by Janice MacLeod
narrated by Tavia Gilbert

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Published: 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Genre: Memoir, Art, France, Paris
Paperback: 272
Rating: 5

series:
Paris Letters
A Paris Year

First sentence(s):
I'm in love with the butcher," I told Summer.

Finding love and freedom in a pen, a paintbrush...and Paris

How much money does it take to quit your job?

Exhausted and on the verge of burnout, Janice poses this questions to herself as she doodles on a notepad at her desk. Surprisingly, the answer isn't as daunting as she expected. With a little math and a lot of determination, Janice cuts back, saves up, and buys herself two years of freedom in Europe.

A few days into her stop in Paris, Janice meets Christophe, the cute butcher down the street-who doesn't speak English. Through a combination of sign language and franglais, they embark on a whirlwind Paris romance. She soon realizes that she can never return to the world of twelve-hour workdays and greasy corporate lingo. But her dwindling savings force her to find a way to fund her dreams again. So Janice turns to her three loves-words, art, and Christophe-to figure out a way to make her happily-ever-after in Paris last forever.

My two-bits:

LOVED this memoir of making it in Paris with romance to boot.


Artwork: July in Paris letter available at Etsy shop

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* New York Times bestseller, 2015

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Paris in July (here)

Pancakes in Paris by Craig Carlson

Pancakes in Paris
Living the American Dream in France
by Craig Carlson
narrated by Donald Corren

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Published: 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Genre: Memoir, Food, France, Paris
Paperback: 320
Rating: 5

First sentence(s):
If you had met me as a kid and seen where I came from, you would have never in a million years imagined that one day I would end up living in France.

Zombie sighting:
"Remember Craig," my first investor Todd once said to me when he saw me with dark circles under my eyes picking french fries off the floor like a zombie, "you're living your dream."
-chapter one

Paris was practically perfect...

Craig Carlson was the last person anyone would expect to open an American diner in Paris. He came from humble beginnings in a working-class town in Connecticut, had never worked in a restaurant, and didn't know anything about starting a brand-new business. But from his first visit to Paris, Craig knew he had found the city of his dreams, although one thing was still missing-the good ol' American breakfast he loved so much.

Pancakes in Paris is the story of Craig tackling the impossible-from raising the money to fund his dream to tracking down international suppliers for "exotic" American ingredients... and even finding love along the way. His diner, Breakfast In America, is now a renowned tourist destination, and the story of how it came to be is just as delicious and satisfying as the classic breakfast that tops its menu.

My two-bits:

This was an American male perspective of living in Paris. Loved the drive and determination Craig has to make his dreams come true despite the rocky road.

Got a peek into how businesses run in Paris. What a difference! especially in regards to employees.

PeekAbook:

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* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Paris in July (here)