Favorite January Reads Part 1

January was such a wonderful month for reading (two snow days helped) so this will be a double post. I enjoyed several great books and can only hope this means 2020 is going to be an awesome year for reading.

Favorite Recipes from Melissa Clark's Kitchen by Melissa Clark (adult nonfiction)

This recipe book has changed how we eat breakfast at my house. Prior to reading this we didn't put pesto or ricotta in our scrambled eggs or make heaps of garlicky chard (or any bitter greens) to go with our fried eggs. But these two things are now a breakfast must-have depending on how we want our eggs. The recipes are simple, easy-to-execute, and include a concise story, which I really like in a cookbook. Occasionally recipe introduction paragraphs can get really wordy or do not exist at all, so I'm thrilled Clark has included just the perfect amount of story for each recipe. My family and I are really enjoying making these recipes together and we cannot wait to try them all.

Voices and Poetry of Ireland (adult nonfiction)

I enjoyed both listening to the poems, which I did first, and then reading them. There were also lots of unknown words to look up, which I always enjoy.

Favorite poems and lines:

From "Speaking to My father" by Theo Dorgan: "How should I sit here and explain to his shade That, yes, this is the work I do you died for, This is the use I make of all that sacrifice, I move the words as you moved heavy tyres."

From "The Tree Speaks" by Cathal Ó Searcaigh (a tree is lamenting/rejoicing/accepting that it will be cut down the following day): "Everything I have stored in the marrow of memories will be destroyed..."

From "The View From Under the Table" by Paula Meehan: "The view from under the table was the best view and the table itself kept the sky from falling." And later in this poem, another line I love: "In the fridge, white ghosts. Black ghosts in the coal shed. In the bread bin, hungry ghosts."

Amazing Facts About Baby Animals by Maja Säfström (adult nonfiction)

I love Maja Säfström's unique approach to not only capturing animals in all their cute glory with her stunning illustrations, but also how she writes about them. I particularly enjoy how she imagines what the animals are saying. For example, the rhea, which is a related to an ostrich, incubate and take care of their chicks alone. The dialogue bubble above the rhea says, "Hey ladies, just leave your eggs with me, I'll take it from here. It's the least I can do!" I would wallpaper my home with the pages of this book if I could.

The Lido by Libby Page (adult fiction)

The Lido was equal parts quiet story and on-the-edge-of-my-seat page turner. Kate, a journalist assigned to cover the closing of a Lido in Brixton, forms this beautiful friendship with Rosemary, a lady who has been swimming at the lido her whole life (80+ years). Kate, who is struggling with loneliness and panic attacks, gets absorbed into Rosemary's circle of friends, and they even start swimming together every day. Kate decides to try and save the lido with the help of Rosemary, the Brixton community, and a photographer who works at the same paper as Kate. I loved how the friendships blossomed and how memories of Rosemary's loving marriage to her husband, George popped up here and there. This was definitely the quiet part of The Lido's story, and it offered much-needed respite from the constant anguish of not knowing whether the lido would close or remain open. I also really enjoyed the language and bookmarked several places. Page writes that George and Rosemary "were a couple, like the quotation marks around a sentence." When George and Rosemary married, Rosemary remembers thinking that "a small life was more than big enough for her if it had George in it, and if they could live in a flat by themselves where no one would bother them and they would be in each other's arms if they got woken by rain or dreams in the night." If you are looking for a read that feels like sitting down for tea with a new best friend but also takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, I highly recommend The Lido. You will laugh. You will cry. You will feel like you are getting the most wonderful, chlorine-scented hug ever.