snapshot 10.4

welp. I didn’t get as much reviewing done this weekend as I’d hoped. September was so rough. But I now have one really good night’s sleep in me, so let’s do this October thing. And let’s make it a lot better than September, yes?

I am behind in my reading and reviewing and whatnotting, but I do want to talk about Carla Lalli’s Food Is a Feeling. I have been a little reluctant to pick this book up because it says it’s Recipes and Stories, with Love. Like I said, it was a bad month, so I wasn’t sure I was ready for the stories. But they’re lovely. This is a cookbook written as she and her husband split up. It’s personal and emotional and real life. It’s reminds me of My Kitchen Year, Ruth Reichl’s deeply personal cookbook about the year after Gourmet was shuttered. I love that cookbook. I listened to it on audio like it was a memoir. I think Food Is a Feeling is a lot like that. So I’m loving it.

I’m also reading How Can My Manager Be So Stupid?, a Japanese novel about a woman who works in a bookshop. It’s a lot of fun. I worked retail for many years, and I have had a lot of stupid managers. And if you happen to be a former manager of mine and you are thinking that I’m not talking about you, you’re probably wrong. Assume the problem was you. I was a delight.