Welcome to Litsy!

I enjoyed this book and they way the characters were woven together, but I would have like to have followed Eva's life more closely. The structure reminded me of Olive Kitteridge, only set in the Midwest. I enjoyed it more than The Lager Queen of Minnesota and I also want to read his latest novel.

I enjoyed this one and am checking out his next as well. I would give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

This book is on its way to you @Kappadeemom . Sorry for the delay. I really enjoyed this story of Eva, a talented chef. While we really got to know her in the first few chapters, the majority of her story was told through the stories of other characters whose lives intersected with hers, sometimes only peripherally. I would have liked a more "interior" look at Eva, an interesting character to say the least. Still a pick. @Kimzey @Maggie4483

My sixth (!!!) read of this book was via audio on a road trip this weekend with my husband. I‘ve always hoped he would read it and listening together was wonderful. So much of this story speaks directly to my heart, from all of the food bits to the found family aspect. This is one of my go-to comfort reads. I just saw that J Ryan Stradal has a new book set to publish April 2023 and I am OVERJOYED. One of my absolute favorites.

This book tells the life story of Eva Thorvald in a unique format - each chapter is from the perspective of a different character. The author created authentic characters…some more likeable than others. Very clever read. Loved it!

My April reads. I got a little sidetracked this month 😳 only one book for challenges and of course my book club book, which was a reread. I hope to focus a little better on book choices next month! #pop22 #Booked2022

@KarenUK @Cinfhen @Kalalalatja @Megabooks @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraBB @Laughterhp @RaeLovesToRead @jenniferw88 @squirrelbrain @BarbaraTheBibliophage

I forgot to tag #booked2022 with Includes a Recipes I enjoyed the characters the different POV‘s that revolves around Eva as she grew up and found her place.

I really enjoyed the characters and story! This reminded me a bit of Olive Kitteridge, getting to know the people who have made an impression and helped Eva in becoming the person and chef she becomes. Overall a sweet story about life‘s ups and downs and the people that become a part of your journey. #pop22~ a book with a recipe

I don‘t know why it took me so long to finally read this! A delightful read that touched on the sweet and bittersweet moments in life. I appreciated the smallness of the towns and characters and the big heart of it all.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My last read of 2021 is a reread of one of my top favorites. I chose to read my treasured ARC copy because I love this cover more than the others on my shelves. Every time I read this book, the characters speak new things to me. I relate with some *so much* and I find great humor in others. The part of me that loves food and cooking narratives loves this story SO HARD, as does the part of me that loves stories about found family. Just brilliant.

I didn‘t read anything about this before I started, and I think that‘s for the best. The description wouldn‘t have enticed me since I‘m not a foodie person. I ended up enjoying these linked stories because it was fun to see how the threads fit together. Also, this is maybe weird to say, but it was refreshing how mean/self-centered/imperfect the characters were. The chapter on Octavia was my favorite. Read for the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club.

A wonderful book of connected vignettes that each tell the story of a single dish and a character important in the life of Eva, providing an interesting way of watching her grow from a baby who is fascinated by a farmer‘s market table of unusual tomatoes into a renowned chef who, for a steep price and years on a waitlist, provides small groups of food enthusiasts with an ever changing “adventure meal” that they will never forget.

This is a bittersweet book about a young woman, Eva Thorvald, and the people who move in and out of her orbit over the first 25 years of her life. It‘s much more character-driven than plot-driven, and it left me feeling a little melancholy. I am not sorry I read it. I love how it shows how the people we surround ourselves with affect who we become.

Excellent book about how food means more to some people than just physical nourishment. I read this one without reading any reviews or the jacket copy based on someone else‘s recommendation and I‘m glad I did. The structure was unique and the characters 3 dimensional and well developed. Not understanding where the book was going made it a much more interesting experience. My husband at one point said “you‘re obsessed with this book”. High praise.

The novel centers around Eva, a culinary prodigy born with a “once-in-a-generation palate” to a chef father and a sommelier mother. Though growing up in poverty and facing numerous challenges, by age 10 Eva is growing chocolate habanero peppers in her room and selling them to local restaurants.

I just skimmed through the recipe sections but I did enjoy the heart of the story.

Tomorrow is my chat with J Ryan Stradal for The Bookworm in Omaha, NE! Link below to join us on Crowdcast for a conversation about the Midwest, the craft of writing, and craft beer.

3pm CST on 1/24/21

Link to sign up here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mckenny_stradal

This book embraces a passion for food.
#wordsofoctober #aromatic

I surprised myself by loving this book club pick, about a talented chef who grows up ignorant of her tragic beginning (her mother abandons her as a baby & her devoted, smitten father, a chef himself, dies suddenly; she‘s raised by her loving but plebeian aunt & uncle).

There are a lot of characters & POV‘s, all different (from punk rock to pitiful), but like ingredients in a perfect dish, it‘s a pleasure to witness how they all come together.👇🏻

“The tomatoes were so full of richness and warm blood, it was like eating a sleeping animal.”

“He spent the rest of the class entranced, watching Keeley‘s mouth make noise, as he luxuriated in the hopeful blood shimmering through his veins.”

I‘m not saying I dislike it...but this might be the most emo passage I‘ve ever read:

“They are not the ones with the hardness to make others wait; they are the ones left waiting, until their souls are broken like old bread and scattered in the snow for birds. They can go right ahead and aspire to the stars, but the only chance they‘ll ever have to fly is in a thousand pieces, melting in the hot guts of something predatory.”

I am not a foodie but have an affinity towards food related books. 😬
This was an easy and comforting read. I liked that there was no hard conclusion for anything - as that is how life generally is.

#3books that we're recommended to me.

I don't get recs often but a few years ago I seemed bookish online friends to tell me their favorite books. These are the books that came up more than once. I still haven't read them. 😬

I had no idea what I was expecting but this is going to cause a huge book hangover. Follow the life of Eva Thorvald through influential characters on the road to her becoming a celebrity chef. Stradal reminds me of Hiaasen (😳 I went there!) as he weaves a beautiful tapestry around Eva. This will be a definite reread and I will NOT be lending this out. 😁 Now, about those peanut butter bars... everyone loves bars, don't they??

I was really enjoying this book... then I read "year three was the white colonial McDonald's in Hyde Park, New York." That's our super fancy McDonald's and it's in NEW Hyde Park, not Hyde Park which is 4 hours north. ??? Anyway, if you're on Long Island, not the home of FDR but the summer home of TR, be sure to look for the historic colonial McDonald's on Jericho Turnpike. #LongIslandLittens

I really feel this way deep down in my guts and God, it hurts!!! 😫

**Except that this particular character is a delusional ass... 🤣

Really enjoyed this. Captures so many characters and nuances of the Midwest. Looking forward to whatever he writes next.

3 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 ⭐⭐⭐
1 ⭐⭐

On to June! 🎉

Well, I ripped through the last half of this book! So intriguing! Not too heavy, not too light - lots of fun!

⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is fun. I really don't want to say anything about the plot, because big twists happen early. You have to be okay with time jumps, but they're all in one direction. A @Liberty recommendation, so you can't go wrong!

Preparing a #feast is a labor of love

#magicalmay

I never used to listen to audiobooks, but here I am totally loving it. This one is for my monthly #bookclub. I like how the narrator does a midwestern accent for dialogue.

Morning @OriginalCyn620 🌸 here‘s some pretty art I found on a walk a few days ago! It‘s rainy and grey here today, which is the perfect weather to have my window wide open while I read the tagged book and drink my warm coffee! #isolationinteractions

Good morning @OriginalCyn620 🥰 I keep waking up before my alarm so I‘m hoping to get a couple chapters of this read before my meeting at 8:30. I‘d like to recommend throwing a dance party when you wake up - put your headphones in (or turn on the stereo if you can rope your family into it) and dance for 10 minutes! It‘s a great way to start the day ☺️

J Ryan was so fun to chat with tonight. Some interesting tidbits that came out—he started the book with the final menu, so the story came from that; he wrote the 1st chapter last; he is sick of Pat Pragar‘s peanut butter bars; this is his first published novel and it sold within 8 days; he had barely any input on the cover but the reason it doesn‘t have the blue background of the ARC is because Target said they like lighter covers. 😂

Book club tonight! Since we‘re discussing the tagged book, I made one of the recipes included. Pat‘s award winning peanut butter bars, with the help of my sous chef. 😂

J Ryan is the BIL of my friend, so he‘ll be Skyping in to our discussion. I have two questions percolating so far. One has to do with cover selection (the UK cover is far superior to the US one and I want to know how much influence he had on cover selection.) the other question ⬇️

This one has been on #MountTBR for quite a while. I decided to go on my library‘s OverDrive page to see if I might be able to knock a couple out by listening. Yay! This was well-narrated and I enjoyed it on audio.

I liked the first half of the book. While it all came together in the end, I didn‘t like that the second half because it really went off on some tangents. If you‘re a real foodie, this would probably be a great feel good read.

This novel honors the #labouroflove that is cooking 🥘. Preparing and presenting food shared with others is an intimate social experience worth the time and labour.

#soulseptember
@Eggs

Eva is born to a chef and a sommelier and the her life story and that of those around her is told through their significant food experiences. Both pokes fun at and has reverence for locavore foodie culture, with an appreciation for bars. The different sections seemed disparate at times but came together to show how each person‘s choices played out. An enjoyable read.

The peanut butter bars are amazing! The book is even better. Read the book. Make the bars. Thank me later 💕

I‘m making Pat Prager‘s Peanut Butter Bars from this book, and I can‘t wait to try them! (Recipe is in the book and on Pinterest)

Lots of fabulous books from Christine! I feel the #LitsyGoesPostal ❤️ ! I‘ve wanted the tagged book for a long time and I‘m a sucker for Nancy Milford biographies! And a book about cooking from books? Sold! The Making of a Carpenter looks riveting —and I‘ll probably have to arm wrestle @WanderingBookaneer for it! I‘ve been intrigued by the Eve of Destruction for a while — the premise just sounds so good! And I love journals (and I persist too!) 💜

Interwoven stories centering around Eva & food in the Midwest with lovely recipes throughout. A nice story and concept. This only gets a so-so from me because it doesn‘t delve deep enough into any of the characters for me to care very much.

I really had no idea what the story was and consequently it was a wonderful surprise of a book. It‘s about karma and hard work and that life isn‘t fair and doing your best and making good choices despite everything going on around you. It‘s almost like short stories with characters that reappear, which allows the story to jump ahead time wise with a bit of back story and not a lot of blah, blah, blah. The ending was nice in a full circle way.

I‘m not in the mid-west ( I live in South Western Ontario ) but this is what I made for dinner on Sunday and doubled it so I‘d have an easy dinner for Thursday when I go to book club 🥇roasted veg and meatballs served up on quinoa

“One of the things that Eva hated the most about being a kid was how everyone always told her that childhood was the best time of their entire lives, and don't grow up too fast, and enjoy these carefree days while you can. In those moments, her body felt like the world's smallest prison, and she escaped in her mind to her chile plants....”

I remember this feeling!