The Good Stuff #1

These are a few of my favorite things.

Trying something new.

I wanted a place to share some of my favorite things - everything from kitchen gadgets, book, travel gear, kid stuff, housewares, etc. I felt like this extra content might clutter up the regular newsletter a bit too much, and could be a little off topic since it won’t always be related to cooking, so I’m breaking it out into a new space exclusively here on Substack. While the regular newsletter is always available on my website, for now this content will only be here on Substack. It will be a little different every week, a reflection of what I’m spending my time on.

I’d love to know what you think.

This week I’ve got books on the brain.

I’ve been trying to get back to reading more. My brain needs something to do during down times, and I’ve found that if I have a book or two going I will reach for those instead of scrolling social media or news. And given the political climate these days, and some other personal drama around social media, it’s healthiest for me to spend as little time doom scrolling on my phone as possible.

I’ve finished several books lately and enjoyed them all! I like easy reads, mostly fantasy and science fiction, sometimes a little mystery. I read to escape reality and lose myself in another world for a little while.

Here’s what I’ve read in the past few weeks:

A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab - Magic and traveling between parallel universes, with some mystery and adventure and a few darker characters than I usually read. There are several in this series which I do plan to read but need a break between some of these darker characters.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett - I loved this book more than any I’ve read in quite a while. My kids got tired of listening to me talk about it. Her descriptions about the different types of Folk and the worlds in which they live was magical, and I really related to the quirky and socially uncomfortable professor main character.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands, Heather Fawcett - same as above but even more so, taking the creativity to a new level and making our main characters even more lovable. I love the way she describes the people and places, so poetic and easy for me to visualize.

Stardust, Neil Gaiman - Gaiman’s books never disappoint. He can take what seems like an ordinary story on the surface and give you the most magical twists and turns that you would never expect.

Last Man Standing, Craig Falconer - a sci fi thriller. Honestly not the best I’ve ever read, the story got a bit predictable and the writing was somewhat ordinary. But still the story was compelling enough that I enjoyed it and I will probably read more in the series because I did get a bit hooked on wanting to know where this ends up.

I’ve also found that I like having a audiobook going for in the car, but for running around town and a lot of stopping and starting it works best if it’s a book I’ve already read. My current listen is The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. I read this decades ago and have seen the movie several times, but it’s nice to revisit the story with all of its compelling detail. I also was reminded that this was the second in a series and I haven’t read any of the others, so I might need to add those to my list next.

You can find all of my current and past reads all on one list in my Amazon store.

What are you reading these days?