🥳Happy New Year!🥳 I’m just popping in for a quick update about what the new year will hold for this lil blog. I also want to do a roundup of my top five favorite books from 2023 (because I read sooo many exceptional books and can’t help sharing the crème de la crème). Let’s begin!
What I’ve Got Cookin’ for 2024
As you may recall, in 2023 I published my first independent cookbook, A LITERARY PICNIC. It’s a mini e-cookbook of 25 outdoor-friendly recipes inspired by classic lit. I love how it turned out, but I’d really like to expand it into a full-size, physical book. So that’s my big project for 2024!
Right now my plan is to double the number of recipes and reformat the book so it can be printed and distributed by IngramSpark. This way, it will be available through major sellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble without me needing to stock/ship my own copies from home.
In my ideal world, the expanded edition of A LITERARY PICNIC would be ready to publish by early June, since it’s a summer-centric book. However, deep down I know that goal isn’t super realistic. A picnic cookbook requires lots of outdoor photographs, which means my photo shoots are heavily dependent on the weather. . . and northern Illinois isn’t exactly known for having mild Springs. Sometimes it snows on Easter.😆
I still have my fingers crossed that I can somehow meet the summer deadline, but chances are much better that the book will be available in early November, just in time for Christmas shopping. I’ll keep you updated as things progress!
. . . and now without further ado . .
My Favorite Reads of 2023
(in no particular order)
NORTHANGER ABBEY
by Jane Austen
I’m a big fan of gothic lit and parodies, so Jane Austen’s tongue-in-cheek take on classic gothic tropes was a big win for me. Three cheers for the wit and humor of my current favorite Austen character, Henry Tilney!
P.S. I’m thinking of reading EMMA or PERSUASION next. Let me know which one I should choose in the comments!
BROTHER WOLF
by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
Another gothic novel, this time more traditional. I loved Eleanor Bourg Nicholson’s vampire novel, A BLOODY HABIT, so when I saw she’d published a werewolf-themed companion novel, I snatched it up! Werewolves are my favorite gothic monster, and I love how Bourg Nicholson pits them against Francisican friars. If you like novels written in the gothic Victorian tradition, I think you’ll love this book too!
TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE TEA
by Jules Verne
I posted earlier this year about my fraught relationship with bad translations of TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES. Luckily, I finally found a good translation, and it has turned me into a major Jules Verne fan. I made a menu for TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES in March and am currently reading JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH!
EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAERIES
by Heather Fawcett
My favorite read this year, though it was a tight race. I just can’t get enough of Emily and Wendell’s clever banter, and the dark academia vibe reminds me a bit of JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Five stars!
RONIA, THE ROBBER’S DAUGHTER
by Astrid Lindgren
This is by the same author as PIPPI LONGSTOCKING, but I love it so much more. It’s such a delightful children’s book, complete with a brave heroine, fierce friendship, and an enchanting yet perilous fantasy world. I can’t wait until my kids are old enough for me to read this to them!
. . . and a favorite book honorable mention goes to THE LIGHTS OF PRAGUE by Nicole Jarvis, yet another gothic novel that has won my heart (this one has vampires and is set in 1860s Slovakia!).
A
That’s all for now!
See you on Thursday for my first recipe of the year. 🥳
Looking forward to that print cookbook!
I met the author of Brother Wolf at a con in November, and I desperately want to read it and her vampire book! (*grumbles in not enough book money*)
Also, you are, like, the fifth or sixth person to have the Encyclopaedia of Faeries on your best-of list, so I am REALLY getting the impression that I need to read it.
I’m so jealous that you got to meet her! I’m biased towards werewolves, but the vampire book is great too. Encyclopedia of Faeries is seriously sooo good! I can’t wait to read the second book.