During 2021, I decided to keep a reading blog of all of the books I read for the year. I tried to pick a theme each month and read books around that theme. This has lead me to read some interesting books that I probably wouldn't have normally read. I like to challenge myself and I have always been a reader that would read just about any genre. I do have preferences, but I don't want to just get stuck with one type and not broaden my reading horizons. I feel that is what separates varied readers from those who only read one type of book. By being willing to read a variety of genres, my empathy has deepened and my knowledge of various races, cultures, and historical events has grown exponentially. With that being said, I am so proud to have surpassed my reading goal of 100 books this year. If you would like to see some of the books I have read, please feel free to follow me on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2021 Let's get into the books!
The first book I wish to talk about is Velvet is the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This is a genre which is not in my typical TBR list. I had noticed it on the new book shelf at the public library, I remember ordering it, and I kept seeing it on Instagram and Twitter. So, I decided to see what it was about. It is a noir or pulp fiction if you will. A daydreaming secretary in Mexico City gets involved with some bad people, rather innocently. Her neighbor asks her to watch her cat while she is gone for a while. Mexico City, during the 1970's is a city of unrest. Maite is concerned about getting her money for watching her neighbor's cat because she needs to get her car out of the shop. Come to find out, her neighbor, Leonora, is involved in some dangerous activites. Maite, a lonely secretary who reads her romance graphic novels and lives alone but dreams of a more exciting life, gets involved by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. She meets some men who could possibly be a love interest. One of them is even named Elvis. This is an edgy read that will keep you guessing about just how deep Maite will get into trouble.
The next three books I wish to share are picture books. Yes, picture books. I highly encourage adults to read a picture book occasionally. They are wonderfully written and the artwork can be just wonderful. Sometimes you just want to read a classic or favorite from when you were young. At the public library where I work part time, we take turns reading books for our story telephone number. Patrons can call a phone number and listen to a children's story, or an excerpt from a juvenile or young adult novel. Various library staff read these books and record them for the story line. Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast by Josh Funk is a fun story about food in the kitchen racing to use the last of the maple syrup. It addresses competition and ends teaching a lesson in working together. The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola is a wonderful story about a young girl and the origin of the poinsettia flower at Christmas time. The artwork is great and it is a sweet story about a girl trying to help out when her mother gets ill at Christmas time. Then I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read the classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, out loud for the story line. As an elementary librarian years ago, I used to read the story aloud to students with voices and it was always a hit. I think the students enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed reading it to them. If you have kids, grand kids, nieces and nephews, or friends with young children, make sure you experience reading out loud to a child. There is a special bond that is formed during this activity. I can't stress how important reading out loud is to those young ones just learning to read. They learn vocabulary, pronunciation, and reading flow. What better way for them to learn than for you to model for them. Okay, sorry, I went into educator mode. On to the next book. 
Sleigh All Day by Gina Lamanna is a mystery with a little romance thrown in. I am not a typical mystery reader, and I like a good mystery once in a while, but what I liked about this one is the main character, Kate Rosetti. I like her and how the writer develops her throughout the story. This was number six in the Kate Rosetti detective series, but I have not read any of the previous five books. I like when you can grab a book that may be part of a series and you can read it without feeling lost. I think this makes an author and a series more viable. This way, the reader gets to decide if they want to go back and read about the origins of this character or if they wish to read more in the series. I am not one to be real big into series, so this works for me. I know some people really like series or will only read series. Kate is a no nonsense type of person who wants to let her hair down at times, but has a difficult time doing it. I could relate to her and I think that made this book even more enjoyable to me.
I wanted to end the year by reading some of the top books of the year. The first book I want to share about is Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. This award winning young adult book addresses the topic of two girls who fall in love in San Francisco during the "Red Scare" in the 1950's in Chinatown. The innocence of the main character and how she deals with her feelings toward a friend at school is very touching. I think it would be very helpful for other kids going through that same realization that Lily experienced. You would think that attitudes would change from 1953 to 2021, but unfortunately that isn't always the case. This delicate subject is handled very well and it is very deserving of The National Book Award.
I have been wanting to read The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave ever since it came out this summer. It is always checked out at the library. So, I did a free trial of Audible and was able to listen to it. It is a very engaging book and I found myself looking for reasons to listen to my audio book to complete this one. Hannah is barely married to Owen for a year when he doesn't come home from work one day and sends her a note, via some middle school students. The note says, "Protect Bailey." Bailey is his teenage daughter. Hannah and Bailey's relationship as step mother and step daughter is strained and she is worried about what she is going to do to convince Bailey that she needs to protect her. This story has many twists and turns and as Hannah looks for her husband, the flashbacks to when they first met, dated and married gives Hannah clues. This one needs to be added to your tbr (to be read) list if it isn't there already.
Of course how can I go through the holidays without reading a holiday story or two. We have lots of great books at the public library that take place during the Christmas season. One that caught my eye on the new book shelf was Santa Cruise by Fern Michaels. This was a cute story about three friends who reconnect at their high school reunion. Each one is still single in their mid thirties so they make a pact that if they are still single at Thanksgiving, they will take a singles cruise during Christmas. I was attracted to this book because of the cruise. Since my husband and I took a cruise this year, I wanted to see what their cruise was like. After just one cruise, I totally knew exactly what they were talking about when they explained their excursions and actives on the boat. I was not a big fan of her writing style. She tends to tell you every single detail and it is a little predictable and hokie at times, but a cute story none the less. It is not my regular kind of read, but fun for an easy escape during the busy holidays.
Another holiday story I listened to on Hoopla was Christmas at the Restaurant by Pamela Kelley. I read her first book in this series, The Restaurant, back in September. So, I was familiar with all of the characters. Apparently she is going to make this a series. This was a quick read and the setting is Christmas time on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts. They describe a tradition on the island during the holidays called the Christmas Stroll. When I read books like this, it makes me want to go and visit these places. It is a sweet story about three sisters that inherit their grandmother's restaurant on the island. Two of the sisters stay on the island and work with the restaurant and one sister lives in New York and is a silent partner. She just comes to visit at times. You get to know the characters in the town and at the restaurant, each with their quirks and personalities that will grow on you as you read about this vacation getaway community.
The next two books are from the young adult genre. I decided to venture out of my comfort zone again and to try something new. I think I read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson years ago, but our library has the graphic novel version so I decided to try it. Many authors are now publishing a version of their novels as a graphic novel. I used to read Archie comic books when I was a kid, and I am familiar with the anime books, but I have not tried an actual graphic novel. I thought if I chose one where I was familiar with the story, I could compare it with the actual novel. The graphic novel was very powerful. I can see how this version of the story would be very appealing to teens who are reluctant readers. Many people put down graphic novels and discourage kids from reading them. After reading one myself, I fully support encouraging kids to read graphic novels. They are a powerful mode of presenting stories and encouraging kids to read. The art work was amazing and conveyed the story beautifully. I can't believe this story is over twenty years old, and yet is very relatable to teens today. I encourage you to try a graphic novel. There are even adult titles that are being sold in graphic novel form. If we don't have what you like at the Meade County Public Library, just request it and we can look into finding it for you.
Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo was one of those books I was ready to not like because I was a little offended by the title. Being a woman of size, I was picked on and called names myself when I was a teenager. However, the story is so much more than a story about bullying. It is also a story about loss,friendship, and discovering who you love. It is a story about messed up families and teens with anxiety and depression. So many issues are brutally addressed in this story that many teens who are going through some of the same issues will appreciate that they are not the only ones experiencing these things. This story is not for the faint of heart. Though it has a somewhat feelgood ending, it goes through a lot of trauma to get there. After reading this, you will know of at least one teen you want to recommend it to, who needs to read it.
photo from www.chapters.indigo.ca As I was taking advantage of my free trial of Audible, I decided to listen to Lucky by Marissa Stapley. This book was all over Instagram in December. It is a Reese Witherspoon book club book. This was a quick read and it was a very engaging read. I found myself listening to it while just sitting in the house, instead of only while I was doing house work. Lucky was found on the front steps of a church by a nun and her father claims to rescue her. Supposedly her mother was going through postpartum depression and didn't know what she was doing when she left Lucky on the church steps. Thus begins the life of Lucky and her father. A life which turns out to be a life of hustle and crime. Lucky is a very smart girl and wishes to just have a life of normalcy. Normal is very boring to her father. After Lucky grows up and her boyfriend leaves her in a hotel room in Vegas, she tries to figure things out on her own. This book is very difficult to put down. I could very easily visualize it being a movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
The last audio book that I just finished, The Bookworm's Guide to Dating by Emma Hart is part of a series. I have never read anything by this author but of course the title intrigued me. I listened to it on Hoopla. It is a cute story about a girl who owns a book store with some friends and she has a difficult time dating. She decides to try online dating and her big brother's friend, Josh decides to help be her match maker to weed out the bad guys online. In the process, Kinsley and Josh realize they have feelings for each other but Kinsley is his best friend's little sister. Nothing can happen between them, right? This book is what I would call a contemporary romance. If you are shy about sex and prefer more indirect language when talking about "hooking up" then you may want to skip this one. It is a cute story, but it is very graphic. The language would probably turn some people off.
The last book I wish to share is A Classic Christmas: A Collection of Timeless Stories and Poems by a variety of classic authors like Dickens, Alcott, and Montgomery. This is a great collection of some sweet "true meaning of Christmas" stories. The main book, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, is in it's entirety. Then there are some short stories by some of the other well known authors. There is also a short collection of holiday poems, including 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore. This would make a wonderful gift for anyone who enjoys heart felt Christmas stories.
December is a time of baking at my house. I love to bake and unfortunately I also love to eat. I really didn't make much candy this year at Christmas, I mostly baked cookies and cakes. I just wasn't feeling in a homemade candy mood this year.
I started the baking season off with trying out my cookie stamps. I got the deer stamp when we went to Carmel Christkindlmarkt in 2019. It is a wooden stamp that was made in Poland. The magnolia stamp was a clay stamp that we picked up in Savannah earlier this year. We went to Savannah for the day when we went to Hilton Head Island in May. The cookies were good and they had a good flavor, but they were not as crisp as the gingersnaps I made last year. The stamps are tricky to use and you have to make sure you use flour or sugar with them before stamping or your dough gets all in the crevices. I want to try a sugar cookie recipe with my stamps next.
I usually make some type of dessert and send it to work with my husband. His office staff requested one of my cheesecakes. I decided to make a red velvet cheesecake. I used my standard cheesecake recipe, I just added red dye and cocoa powder. I made the crust out of chocolate animal cookies. I then made a cream cheese icing to pipe over the top with holiday sprinkles. I didn't get to taste it, but my husband said it got rave reviews at work. It just wouldn't be Christmas without me making a cheesecake of some sort.
This next recipe is not a dessert, but I just had to share it. I have a confession, I recently got addicted to checking out TikTok for recipes and kitchen hacks. Of course, you have to wade through some pretty crazy stuff to find the good stuff, not unlike shopping at a Big Lots or Ollie's. I saw this recipe on TikTok and decided to try it. It is a keto recipe, we do not do keto, but it is very delicious and much healthier than regular chicken nuggets. I call them air fried chicken nuggets. First, you take a can of chicken. (I do not use canned chicken much) I prefer to cook my own chicken in the crockpot then shred it, but you can used the canned chicken in a pinch. I cooked about 4 chicken tenders in the crockpot on low with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and some DanO's seasoning. Just put a little water or chicken broth in the bottom of the crock pot to have moisture. Once your chicken is cooked, pull it, or shred it. Then add one egg and 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese to 1 cup of pulled chicken. I doubled the recipe since I was making enough for myself and my husband, who can put away some chicken. Mix it all together then scoop out spoonfuls of mixture and roll into balls. I kind of flattened the balls into nugget like shapes. Then, air fry at 390 degrees for 15 minutes. I stopped the air fryer at 7 minutes and flipped them over. Once they are done, let them sit about 2 minutes then enjoy! They have a great texture and are crispy without the breading. We made a buffalo sauce, like Hooters, part Frank's hot sauce and part butter. You can toss the nuggets in the hot sauce and have boneless buffalo chicken. This was a big hit with my husband and we will be making these again.
Our first Christmas gathering was with my sister. She was serving finger foods, so I brought cookies for dessert. First I made one of my favorite cookie recipes, the magic peanut butter cookies. They do not have flour in them. They are just an egg, peanut butter and sugar. I also add a little vanilla. Mix them and roll them in sugar then do the little fork criss cross on top like you do for peanut butter cookies. They come out so crunchy and delicious. These are great for anyone with gluten issues. Next I made a batch of the kitchen sink cookies, like I made at Halloween, but instead I like to call these stuffed stocking cookies. I put Christmas M&M's instead of Reese's Pieces and I added heath pieces and I found the little caramel pieces for this batch so I didn't have to cut up caramels. These are the best cookies!! Everyone at the party really enjoyed them. You could cut up any candy bar you wanted to add to it if you wanted. I also added walnuts to this batch. Here is the recipe again. These are definitely worth trying. https://snappygourmet.com/kitchen-sink-cookies/
The last cookie I made for this tray was a 3 ingredient chocolate cookie. I found this recipe on Pinterst as well. It is very simple, just one box of cake mix, one cup of Greek yogurt, and chocolate chips. It is a very sticky batter and the cookies are more of a brownie texture. If you like a soft chewy cookie, then you will enjoy this fudgy cookie.
Every year I make goodies to share with my neighbors. Some years I make cookies, some I make fudge or candy. This year I decided to go the cake route. I made a rum cake. This recipe is a yellow cake mix with some additions, including rum. Then, you mix butter, rum and vanilla and make a sauce you pour into the cake after taking it out of the oven. Then, once it cools and you pop it out of the pan, you just keep brushing on the rum sauce and let it soak into the cake. This makes it very moist and delicious. The other cake I made was a pound cake. It was just a good old yellow butter pound cake and I made cooked caramel icing to pour over it. It is a very easy and reliable caramel icing recipe that I use from my Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. It always sets up and is very delicious.
Well, it just wouldn't be Christmas without sugar cookies. Nothing like a buttery rolled out sugar cookie with icing. It is one of my favorites. I have a tried and true sugar cookie recipe that I have used for many years. I got the recipe off of the back of a Wilton cookie cutter. It does not have to be chilled and that is a time saver. It holds it's shape and is very tasty. Then, I discovered a new cookie recipe from a coworker that is simple and delicious as well. The banana pudding cookies taste just like you are eating banana pudding. They do not have any bananas in them but they do have banana cream pudding mix and white chocolate chips. These were a great hit as well.
On Christmas day I was so delighted to have my son and his girlfriend as well as my step son, his wife and my step grand daughter. We had a brunch and opened gifts. It has been a long time since we have had kids here on Christmas day to open gifts. It made Christmas extra special this year. For the brunch, I made a tater tot breakfast casserole with sausage, cheese, eggs and tater tots and cinnamon rolls. I saw on Pinterest where you could make your cinnamon rolls look like trees and tint the icing. That is what I did and they turned out fabulous. It was a wonderful Christmas and I hope you were able to see family that you have been unable to see over the past year and a half. This pandemic has been very trying, but maybe we are on the downward slide of the worst of it.
Thanks for stopping by my blog and allowing me to share some of the things I enjoy doing. I hope you have a wonderful new year and don't forget to set your reading goals for 2022.
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