TTT: Historical fiction

Top Ten Tuesday: Historical Fiction Read in 2025

I've recently started playing around with Storygraph. As I record a book the App assigns a genre or genres to it. All of the selections I am listing I've read in 2025, all are considered historical fiction by Storygraph, and I liked the titles I am sharing. 

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn
Set during the McCarthy Era, 1950s, in Washington, D.C.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
A murder mystery set in a summer camp in two time periods: 1964 and 1975.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Set on a fictitious island off the coast of Italy during WWII.

The Antidote by Karen Russell
Set in Nebraska during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Set in Massachusetts (now Maine) in 1789, based on the diaries of Martha Ballard, a midwife who lived during that time.

Let's Call Her Barbie by Renee Rosen
Starting in 1956 this is the story about Ruth Handler and her most famous invention: the Barbie doll.

The Safekeep by Yael Van der Wouden
Set in The Netherlands in 1961 about the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust.

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
Based on the author's childhood memories of fishing with his father and brother in the rivers of Montana in the 1930s.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
Set in France during Nazi occupation during WWII.

Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin
Based on the the author's experiences growing up in a very conservative, religious family in Harlem in the 1930s. 

-Anne

Review: THE HEARING TEST (+Friday56 LinkUp)

Title: The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan

Book Beginnings quote:

On August 29, 2019, I was meant to travel to Venice to watch a lifelong friend get married -- a small reception for just ten people.

Friday56 quote:

The signal had been cutting in and out, so to speak, and a perpetual static had arrived and stayed with me -- like a radio station no one claims to run.

Summary: 

When the narrator of The Hearing Test, an artist in her late twenties, awakens one morning [the morning she is meant to travel to Venice for the wedding] to a deep drone in her right ear, she is diagnosed with sudden deafness but is offered no explanation for its cause. As the specter of total deafness looms, she keeps a record of her year—a score of estrangement and enchantment, of luck and loneliness, of the chance occurrences to which she becomes attuned—while living alone in a New York City studio apartment with her dog. (Publisher)

Review: I can't remember how I heard about The Hearing Test or whose review piqued my interest in it, but when I saw the print book on a library shelf as I walked by I thought, "ah, here's a book I want to read." That does not speak well of my researching skills because I really only knew one thing -- the main character was struck my sudden deafness. What I didn't know was the book was written in stream-of-consciousness style and that there was actually very little about the hearing loss and the actual hearing-exams, but more about these odd interaction she had all year with people and the out-there-grasping-at-straws types of treatments she kept getting talked into trying. The book was just about as odd as I'm making it sound.

The Hearing Test is considered autofiction since the author experienced sudden onset deafness in 2019, just a few months before the pandemic set in. Perhaps her decision to avoid talking about the unnamed character's treatments, if there were any, and focus on weird interactions, relates to her own experiences with increasing deafness. Or maybe it related to how difficult it was for people to get in to see doctors during the pandemic. I don't know if this is the case or not. 

There were moments of beautiful writing which I really appreciated. For example this excerpt is a reflection by the narrator upon seeing her old boyfriend:

Seeing him, I felt homesick for myself. As if I were a place that could be returned to (142).

After a moment of self-reflection she realizes she is slipping into denial:

This was what the doctor said to avoid. And then came a complete sadness that was very still and contained and twinkling, like water to a well. And this sadness felt in this moment like the greatest possible relief(153).

I rarely regret it when I've completed a book, and I don't regret reading this one. But I will not be recommending this book to anyone, especially to my friend who has recently loss a good potion of her hearing after puncturing her eardrums. This book would not be helpful for her.

My rating: 3 stars.

Sign up for The Friday56 on the Inlinkz below. 

RULES:

*Grab a book, any book

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your e-reader (If you want to improvise, go ahead!)

*Find a snippet, but no spoilers!

*Post it to your blog and add your url to the Linky below. If you do not add the specific url for your post, we may miss it! 

*Visit other blogs and leave comments about their snippets. Expand the community. Please leave a comment for me, too!  

Also visit Book Beginnings on Friday hosted by Rose City Reader and First Line Friday hosted by Reading is My Super Power to share the beginning quote from your book.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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-Anne

TTT: A Twist on "Beach Reads"

Top Ten Tuesday: A Twist on "Beach Reads"  -- Poolside Reads

I'm from the Pacific Northwest where reading at the beach is nearly impossible unless one happens to be at the Pacific coast on a still, warm day. Even if the beach is sunny, it is usually too windy to comfortably read while sitting on the beach. So, for a twist on today's topic I've decided to look back on books I've read during our yearly vacation to a resort in Central Oregon, where it is usually quite warm  or other places we've vacationed which have perfect weather for poolside reading.

1. July 28, 2025 (today) --Central Oregon--  What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky: Stories by Leslie Nneki Arimah

2. August 6, 2024 --Central Oregon -- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

3. July 2, 2023 -- Whistler, BC -- Work Song by Ivan Doig

4. June 26, 2022 -- Palm Springs, CA -- Stranger Planet by Nathan Pyle

5. July 4, 2022 -- Northern California -- The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

6. June 3, 2021 -- Lake Tahoe, CA -- The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

7. June 5, 2021 -- Lake Tahoe, CA -- Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

8. August 4, 2020 -- Central Oregon -- Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

9. August 11, 2019 -- Central Oregon -- The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

10. June 22, 2019 -- Whistler, BC -- America for Beginners by Leah Franqui

Obviously books I choose to read poolside are just the books I happen to be reading at the time. I prefer to read books I own so I don't have to worry about water damage, but that is not a hard and fast rule for me.

-Anne

Review: THE BRIAR CLUB

Title: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Book Beginnings quote: 

Prologue. Thanksgiving 1954. Washington, D.C. -- If these walls could talk. Well, they may not be talking, but they are certainly listening. And watching.

Friday56 quote:

More than fifteen bouquets later, here they were.

Summary: Briarwood House is an all-female boarding house. The women all pretty much keep to themselves until Grace moves in. Grace, who lives in the tiny attic room, invites this ragtag group of women to join her for an impromptu dinner once a week and her attention draws them all out: Bea, a frustrated female baseball player turned PE teacher; Fliss, a British nurse and new mom whose husband is a doctor for the Korean conflict in Japan; Nora, a policeman's daughter; Reka, an immigrant from Poland; Clarie, a woman trying to hide her homosexuality; and Arlene, a goodie-two-shoes that none of the other women like. They call their weekly dinner "The Briar Club" which they hold the one night of the week the house manager is out playing bridge. Over four years a deep bond develops between the women, then on Thanksgiving, 1954, a murder occurs in their midst and suddenly what they thought they knew about each other gets called into question.

Review: The Briar Club is my fourth Kate Quinn book. I really like the way she incorporates history into her novels and this book is no exception. After WWII ended, the Cold War started up and the USA became embroiled in a "Red Scare", leading the charge -- Senator McCarthy. This theme of anti-communism was a thread that ran throughout the story. In addition there were many topics either touched on or expanded on throughout: domestic violence, birth control -- planning when/if to have children; treatment of immigrants; poverty; LGBTQ+ issues; mobs and police-on-the-take; and the last one, a big one, I can't tell you about or I will spoil the book for you!

Each woman in Briarwood House gets her own chapter, told in her voice or point-of-view. This allows readers to meet and get to know each character slowly. Each chapter has a recipe for the food that character shared with the group during their Thursday night Briar Club gathering. Though I didn't make any of the recipes I was sure tempted by them. During our book club meeting we discussed what food/recipe would we share if we were members of the club. Mine was stew using the same recipe my mother used when we were growing up. It is a family favorite.

Now to the murder mystery. We know from the very first page, which is oddly narrated by the house itself, that there is a murder. And we know the murder occurs several years in the future based on the dates of the chapter headings which slide backwards and forwards on a timeline. Throughout the book the house narrates little transition pages to remind us that the murder happens and to look for clues. So the whole time I was reading, I kept trying to figure out who dies and who does the killing. It makes for a lot of excitement at the end of the book, believe me.

The author's notes at the end of the book were very helpful, so don't skip them if you decide to read it. Several of the gals in book club, including me, thought the book was a slow starter. In fact one gal said the first 50 pages should just be lobbed off and then the book would be great. I thought it could have been trimmed by 50-100 without any loss to the story or my feelings about the characters. But the publisher didn't agree and felt that 450+ was a good length, which conveniently allows me to use this book for the Big Book Summer Challenge.

My rating: 4 stars.

-Anne

TTT: The last ten books I've read set during a war

Top Ten Tuesday: The last ten books I've read set during a war

I just finished read Catch-22 so I've been thinking about how terrible wars are, again. Here is a hyperlinked list of my most recently read war books:

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
WWII in Italy, and a fictitious island off the coast
Published 1961, read July 3, 2025
Noteworthy: A classic, considered one of the top ten books of the 20th Century.
My rating: 4 stars.

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel.
WWII in France.
Published 2020, read June 10, 2025
My rating: 4 stars

Lisette's List by Susan Vreeland.
WWII in Provence region of France.
Published 2014, read February 22, 2025
My rating: 3 stars

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn.
WWII in Great Britain.
Published 2022, read December 27, 2024
Noteworthy: a short story/novella.
My rating: 5 stars

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck.
WWII in Bavaria region of Germany.
Published 2017, read November 14, 2024
My rating: 4 stars

A Bell for Adano by John Hersey.
WWII in Italy.
Published 1944, read September 5, 2024
Noteworthy: 1945 Pulitzer Prize winner.
My rating: 4 stars

The Women by Kristin Hannah.
Vietnam War.
Published 2024, read July 28, 2024
My rating: 4 stars

Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan.
Sri Lankan Civil War.
Published 2023, read July 8, 2024
Noteworthy: 2024 Women's Prize winner
My rating: 5 stars

Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips.
US Civil War.
Published 2023, read June 19, 2024
Noteworthy: 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner.
My rating: 3 stars

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.
US Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg.
Published 1974, read April 10, 2024
Noteworthy: 1975 Pulitzer Prize winner.
My rating: 5 stars

-Anne

Classic Review: CATCH-22 Where I examine why this book is considered one the most influential books ever written

Several times in the past few months I've examined lists put together by some literary luminary or another and many of the lists name Catch-22 by Joseph Keller in the top 20 Best Books of the 20th Century, some even have it in the top ten. (See lists here, here, here, here, here, and here.) Why? What is it that makes this anti-war novel so influential? Published between two messy wars, WWII and Vietnam, is made a strong indictment of war in general. Pointing out through satire the inhumanity of man's most insane practice --war!

Catch-22 tells the story of Captain John Yossarian, a bombardier in the US Army Air Corp. who flies bombing missions over Europe. Instead of feeling proud of his service he feels sheer madness. As soon as he nears his required number of flight missions, the Colonel ups the required number. There is no winning. So Yossarian makes his way to the infirmary, the only place on the base where he is safe from flying missions. His medical systems? Some vague liver complaints and a fear of being killed --

"They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
"No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
"Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
"They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
"And what difference does that make?" (Chapter 2)

It is at this point that Yossarian runs afoul of the Catch-22. Today we use this term to mean a situation with no way out. Yossarian and his fellow fighter pilots were forced to follow insane orders to demonstrate their sanity. But if they refused to follow orders, they are deemed crazy, which is the sanest position to take. It reminds me of Clinger in the old Mash TV show. He kept doing more and more out-there behaviors, trying to be sent home for insanity. But as soon as he calls himself insane it is proof that he isn't. It's a Catch-22. 

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. (Chapter 5)

Catch-22 not only deals with the absurdity of war. It also deal with the hypocrisy of military bureaucracy. A Colonel trying to gain favor with a General requires his fighter pilots to drop their bombs in a tight bomb pattern, not because that it more deadly or effective, but because it looks better on the photographs. Upping the required number of missions before furloughs isn't good for morale but it makes it more likely that the Colonel will be promoted, and it is really obvious all he really cares about is himself. When Major Major Major, the Squadron Commander, realizes his men don't really like him, he decides to never talk to them. He tells his sergeant to not allow anyone in his office when he is there, including the sergeant. While Colonel Korn made a rule that only certain people were allowed to ask questions during their briefing meetings.

Under Colonel Korn's rule, the only people permitted to ask questions were those who never did. (Chapter 4)

Other themes in Catch-22 are mortality, sex, greed and fear. One of the oddest characters in the book is Milo Minderbinder. He is the air-base head chef, but he is always cutting deals, originally to get better food for the base, but later just to make money. It is obvious he is greedy. As a wheeler-dealer, he makes deals with the Germans which hurt the Americans. He is a symbol of ruthless capitalism. There are people in all nations who worship money. Oddly one can't help liking Milo, everyone does.

My husband and I listened to Catch-22 together on a recent car trip. I'd find myself laughing because he was laughing. As a combat veteran, Don found a lot of humor it -- the absurdity of orders which made no sense; the individuals who worked so hard to get out of their jobs. At one point he started laughing about a phrase which involved cuss words. I started laughing because he was laughing and pretty soon both of us were doubled over in laughter. The book is so irreverent, it is funny. When Don was in Iraq he experienced his own Catch-22 ironic situations -- "Where were those weapons of mass destruction we came to Iraq to get?" Throughout his military career he had many of his colleagues make references to the book or to Catch-22s in general. As an anti-war book, it is not high on the reading list for officer professional development, but fellow officers, who had read the book, always found ways to reference it or to name the Catch-22s they were encountering. 

I must confess, however, that the book did go on a bit long. You know what I mean? One starts out laughing and pretty soon, due to repetition, one merely rolls their eyes. That was me. The book became less and less funny as the insane situations kept happening, or as we come to understand the seriousness of the war and the conditions these men were encountering.

When I was in high school I tried to read Catch-22. I honestly don't think I read very much of it, nor understood what I was reading because very little of the story was familiar to me. Now I can say, proudly, I've read Catch-22 and I am so glad. And those folks over at Shmoop have more to say about it,

If this sounds a bit hard to follow, it's because, well, war is the ultimate destruction of logic. This book has won countless accolades to drive that point home. But don't take our word for it. Given its cultural importance, leaving this book off your reading list would be ... insane. (Shmoop)

So why should we read Catch-22? Well, it has certainly influenced our culture, for one thing. Also its sharp criticism of war and our bureaucracies should give us a moment to pause and ponder when we think these two institutions (for lack of a better word) have the solutions to all our problems. Its use of humor and satire make the message palatable and memorable. And, as Shmoop reminded us, we'd be insane not to.😏

My rating: 4 stars.

At 453 pages it qualities as a big book for the Big Book Summer Challenge.

 

-Anne

2025 Paris in July -- deuxième partie

Hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

I had so much fun at the beginning of the month trying to figure out what French-ish things I could do, I am excited to keep things going. If you missed my first post, check it out here.

1. My husband and I started watching "Transatlantic" on Netflix. It is set in Vichy France just after the Germans took over Paris in WWII. The series is filmed in Marseille.

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2. I created another Spotify list for 2025 Paris in July. This one is of famous Classical French Composers. It is quite a playlist. I think you will recognize a lot of the pieces. Enjoy.

2025 Paris in July -- French Classical Composers Playlist

   I included a lot of greats: Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Offenbach, and Bezit, to name a few. I also included one piece by Chopin. Chopin was Polish but moved to France later in his career and composed much of his music there, including this piece, Fantasie-Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor. Even if you don't consider yourself to be a classical music fan, listen to a few moments of these pieces and you'll recognize many numbers and be blown away by the talent of these French composers.

 Prefer something more modern? Here is my first 2025 Paris in July playlist made up of French musicians, or musicians singing in French.

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3. I attempted to read a middle grade novel, Le Petit Nicolas, en français. I have forgotten a lot of the French I learned in high school. I ended up concentrating on just one chapter, "Les Cow-boys". I read each paragraph looking for words or phrases I recognized before I ran it through a translator. I was pretty proud of myself for essentially reading the whole first sentence without help.

J'ai invité les copains à venir à la maison cet après-midi pour jouer aux cow-boys.

My translation: I invited some companions to come to the house in the afternoon to play cowboys. 😁

And then a few lines later: [One of Nicolas' friends] Alceste has a tomahawk and is wearing a headdress that makes him look like a chicken. Not bad, huh?

I have to confess I am enjoying the illustrations the most. Writer Rene Goscinny and illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempe were a great team.

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4. Tour de France - Stage 12 (out of 21), the Pyrenees. A Slovenian racer, Tadej Pogacar, dominated his rival, Jonas Vingegaard, and won the stage by more than two minutes. He is now ahead in the tour by three and half minutes. "Pas de suspense." I learned a new word: "peloton." I thought it was just a company name, but I got it backwards. The company took the word, which means "the main group of riders that stay together in a pack for energy-saving and aerodynamics." The breakaways are those riders who leave the peloton and surge ahead.

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5. Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette (Galette fraise et rhubarbe)

I made this recipe before, using Ina Garten's "Raspberry Rhubarb Crostata" recipe (in Cooking for Jeffrey cookbook.) When I showed my effort to my daughter she called it a "galette". Apparently crostatas and galettes are essentially the same thing, a rustic free-form tart. Crostata is the word in Italian and galette is used in French. So I made it again this week after renaming it. I used strawberries instead of raspberries. Yum!

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7. More book related endeavors:

• I placed a hold on the audiobook Candide by Voltaire. The library tells me I will need to wait 12 weeks for it. They only have one copy and five people are ahead of me in line.
• I've started the book Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. The main character is British and she is traveling to Paris for just a day. I am not fully committed to finishing this novella but I'll carry on for a few more days and see if it catches my imagination. So far I haven't gotten very far and I am worried I won't be able to finish it before we leave for vacation next week.
• Earlier this month I placed a hold on a copy of Le Petit Prince en français from the library. I canceled that hold today. After my experience attempting to read Le Petit Nicolas, I decided I need to back up and read children's book first. Something way simpler. Plus, as I said before, we are leaving for a 10-day vacation next week and I wouldn't be able to pick it up if it came in when we were gone. Perhaps next July!?

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8. One last musical treat: I listened to at least part of all the songs of "Les Miserables", my favorite musical, en français. Here is the playlist on Spotify. If you listen to only one song, listen to the finale "C'est pour demain." Or for a little more fun, try "Maître Thénardier" it is the comic relief in the play and it is perfect in its original language.

Passe une bonne journée!

-Anne

Review: HOW TO READ A BOOK by Monica Wood

Title: How to Read a Book by Monica Wood

Summary: A novel about friendships, second chances, and life-changing power of stories.

Violet is incarcerated for manslaughter and killing a person in a drunk-driving accident. Harriet is a retired English teacher who decides she still has something to give so she starts a book club at a the women's prison. Violet is a member of that book club. Frank is the husband of the woman killed in the accident and now a handyman at the bookstore where Harriet shops for books for her group. The three, Violet, Harriet, and Frank all converge one day after Violet's release in that very bookstore with unexpected results.

Comment: I do not have a physical copy of How to Read a Book. The preview only provides the first seven pages of the book's text so I am unable to provide a quote for page 56 (or anything beyond page 7). When I went searching for help from the internet, I found this blogpost by For the Joy of Books which was crammed full of quotes from this book. As I read through them I was so charmed I thought I'd share a few with you, rather than the usual from pages one and 56. Since the chapters are divided by speakers I'll try to identify who is speaking and, if possible, give a hint to action:

Quotes:

• Violet (in prison, reflecting on her time in book club):
• "I feel the way I always feel in Book Club. The way I think we all feel. Safe."
• "When we gather to talk about books...We're readers...Not embezzlers. Not murderers. Readers."
• "Harriet was forever showing us how to read. How to look for shapes and meaning. How to see that stories have a 'meanwhile' -- an important thing that's happening while the rest of the story moves along."
• Harriet (teaching about books to incarcerated women):
• "In order for reading to become an exercise in empathy, it helps to think of all the characters in all the books as fellow creatures."
• "Reading one book makes it part of all the other books you've read."
• "Iambic pentameter does not hurt."
• Frank (reflecting on his life and relationships):
• "Retired people were thought to be lonely. But it wasn't that. It was the feeling of uselessness, of being done with it all."
• "For decades he whiffed a sense of wrong in everything he aimed for, but Harriet seemed to accept his good intentions. Or, more precisely, to accept his intentions as good."

Review: I missed the book club where How to Read a Book was discussed. Which is a pity since it seems like a book whose themes could be explored more fully. I am a fan of Monica Wood and I get a sense that she cares about creating characters who are good human beings -- kind, thoughtful, complicated. I appreciated the way Harriet taught her students about how to think of literature, including poetry, and how they responded to stories. Don't we all respond to stories? A good story can transport us "to" or "away from" -- traveling in our minds to new places, or taking us away from current circumstances at least for awhile. The book club meetings were my favorite parts of this book's stories though there was much more to say  about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and how we are all worthy of love.

Book Club: Since I wasn't at book club I decided to attempt to answer the questions myself. I went searching and again ran into For the Joy of Books, but this time with discussion questions. Honestly they are some of the best discussion questions I've ever seen for a book, any books. I will not attempt to answer all the questions here but I thought I'd pick at a few:

• 1. In honor of Harriet, write a 10-word (maximum) sentence to describe your reading experience:
• "Audiobook brings stories to life, I can picture all the scenes."
• 3. Why do you think Harriet started each book club with the mantra: "I am a reader. I am intelligent. I have something to contribute"?
• I imagine that women in prison very likely had a lot of negative feelings about school. They also probably didn't think very highly of themselves. To make such a strong, declarative statement out loud sets the stage for a robust discussion in the group, where no one person can dominate, and everyone is encouraged to participate.
• 16. Why did the women like to hear stories about Lou?
• Lou is Harriet's dead husband. Hearing stories about Lou brings him to life in everyone's minds. He is like a hero character in a book.
• Check out the whole list. There are 40, gulp, questions. My book clubs can usually only handle 10 or so questions at one meeting, but all of them are good and worthy of consideration.

My rating: I initially gave the book a 4-star rating but after this post, and reading all those quotes, I am upgrading my rating to 4.5 stars.

-Anne

Paris in July 2025 -- Reviews, food, music, and more

Paris in July 2025 is hosted by Emma@WordandPeace.

This is my first year participating. Unlike other reading challenges, this challenge asks participants to not only read books set in France, but to eat French food, watch French movies, practice speaking French, anything French. So here is what I've done for the challenge so far this month....

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Coq au Vin

1. Don and I spent the better part of a day on July 7th making Coq au Vin (Chicken in Wine), a first for both of us. It was so delicious we both just about died and went to heaven. It was worth the labor that went into creating this dish. It is possibly the best meal we've ever fixed. We got the recipe from NYT Cooking. We subscribe to their recipes. I hope you can open it. If you can but don't have a subscription, print it immediately. Next time you won't be so lucky.

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2025 Paris in July Playlist

2. While the chicken was simmering, I sat down and made a "Paris in July 2025" playlist on Spotify. Here is a link so you too can listen to music sung in French or played by French musicians, too. My husband commented on how sexy the music, while he was slurping down his meal. 😚 (I just fixed the link to the playlist. Try again.)

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Soufflé au chocolat mi-amer (Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé)

3. Our second night of Coq au Vin I decided to make another recipe, Soufflé au chocolat mi-amer. As I was readying the ingredients, "mise en place," my husband was preparing the vegetables for dinner. He was slicing the zucchini with a mandolin cutter when, distracted, he sliced the top of his two fingers. Dinner plans were instantly changed as we scampered to the emergency room to staunch the bleeding and make sure he was okay. He is. Next night, we tried again. This time my daughter and I were able to mix up the souffle and get it in the oven while the Coq au Vin was reheating and the vegetables were stir-fried with no fingers or blood. An odd aspect of the recipe is that it called for placing the souffle pan directly onto the bottom of the oven, not on a rack. Wanna guess what happened? You guessed it. The bottom burned. Sigh. All that work for a burned souffle. Next time, I will just put in on the bottom rack. Others said it was good, I thought it wasn't worth the effort. I admit it does LOOK good, though.

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4. Review: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley -- a murder mystery. When Jess gets to Paris to stay with her half-brother, he is missing. She eventually sneaks into his apartment to wait for him. When he doesn't show up, Jess starts to snoop around. She notices odd things -- a broken St. Christopher necklace, a blood stain on a cat, and a floor board bleached a different color than the rest. As days go by Jess becomes more and more sure her brother is dead and everyone in the apartment -- the owner, the nice guy, the alcoholic, the socialite, the young girls, and the concierge -- all are suspects. But where can Jess go for help? She's tried the police, but that didn't seem to do much good. And now everyone is warning her to leave or else...what?

The Paris Apartment isn't the type of book I usually read but I found it to be a compelling, fast-moving plot and I was interested to figure out who dunnit. As a book for Paris in July, it had just enough about Paris culture and the use of French words to make it feel very French. I discovered that quite a few of the French words were actually swear words when I translated them. So now I've expanded my French vocabulary, ha!

My rating: 4 stars. E-book.

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5. Movie: Widow Clicquot -- After scrolling though our options on Netflix, my husband and I settled on watching a movie set in the Champagne Region of France, about the woman Widow Clicquot, who, through her own will and determination, successfully figured out how to bottle champagne. Her practices, which she started fine-tuning during the reign of Napoleon, are still largely used today. The movie, was conducted in an almost dreamlike quality with lots of flashbacks to her earlier life with a mentally-ill husband. It was well-done and interesting but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who loves a lot of action.

My rating: 4 stars.

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6.  My husband has been teasing me about everything I do these days that has even a hint of French to it... For example I bought a jar of apricot fruit spread made by Bonne Maman, a French company whose claim to fame is they only use natural ingredients in their jams. I do love their apricot spread but I wouldn't think of blogging about it.  Tee-hee!

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Where will the second half of the month take me?  I've order two middle grade books in French from the library. Will I be able to read them? It has been so long since my 5 years of French classes in college and high school. I hope to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Galette. And I do hope to watch a few more movies. Any recommendations?

-Anne

TTT: Books with honorifics in the title

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I've read with honorifics in the title

I had to stretch way back in time to find enough honorific-y titles to fill out my list (and then I went a little overboard!) Don't judge! 😆

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

Dancing with Mr. Darcy edited by Sarah Waters

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, et al

Mr. Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien 

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss

-Anne