The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC. The book was released April 23, 2024.

Ruth Reichl is one of my favourite food writers. I adore her memoirs. This was my first time reading her fiction. The novel was set in Paris in 1983 and featured a woman’s adventures in Paris after her estranged mother’s passing. I enjoyed most of the food moments and grew to appreciate the characters. I found the novel slow to start and did not warm to the characters until at least half way. Content Warning as there is a brief but intense traumatic event in chapter 2 which I am not sure added much to the character or story. If it was necessary to the character’s background, it happened very suddenly and is not dealt with much later. All in all, a nice little novel. I heartily recommend Reichl’s nonfiction writing.

Setting: Paris, France.

Read April 14-16, 2024 on Kobo Libra 2.

The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught

A cozy fantasy graphic novel. It was cute and very similar to The Tea Dragon series. I do prefer the art and story telling in Tea Dragon though. Cute.

April 16, 2024.

The Lord God Made Them All (All Creatures Great and Small) by James Herriot

Read by Nicolas Ralph. I adore this series. This was the penultimate book. It included adventures of Jim abroad as a vet for an export company so it was a bit of a travel memoir. I enjoyed that more than the cow stories. I think cows are fine but they have become my least favourite of the stories. I much prefer the dog and cat ones.

Setting: Great Britain, Turkey, Germany.

1.25x. April 6-18, 2024.

Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies by Julie Andrews Edwards and Emma Walton Hamilton

Read by the authors. This was lovely. It was Julie Andrews and her daughter reading poems. I should have listened to it more slowly. I could listen to it again and maybe I will in the future.

1.25x. April 13-19, 2024.