So in March I read 29 books.  I know that sounds like a lot but bear in mind two things: First I had almost nothing to do at the nursing facility except read.  Second, 19 of the books were cookbooks.  While I feel they’re legit additions to a reading list (Most are more than just recipes.) I’m not going to be doing detailed reviews on them.  I’ll just point out some of the highlights where I found them.

Let’s start with the fiction:

My Soul to Keep, Tananrive Due – Imagine a group of immortals who have been kept alive by an infusion of blood stolen from Jesus on the cross.  Imagine their society demands absolute secrecy on pain of death to anyone outside the group who learns of their existence, but terrible revenge on the member who spilled the beans.  Now imagine one of the society who has long been something of a loose cannon, has fallen in love with a mortal woman, married her, and had a child with her.  And he wants his wife and his child to live forever at his side.  First of a series.

The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik – I always like Novik’s work, but I was thinking this might turn out to be the exception… and then she sucked me right into her story.  School of magic where the students stand a damn good chance of dying before (or at) graduation because the school is filled with demons who are hungry for their magic (and their flesh.) Cranky protagonist with a huge chip on her shoulder… yeah that works. Some nice kids, some not so nice.  Alliances being made to try to get safely out of the school.  Fun book, and again, first of a series.

Dream London, Tony Ballantyne – Certifiably weird, I’m not even kidding. The magical elements in this seem almost random, but in a way that seems quite organized.  I’m hard pressed to explain further, but if you like magic on the chaotic side, this might just appeal to you.  The protagonist, Captain Jim Wedderburn, is a total asshole, which may or may not be why he’s been chosen to figure out what’s going on in London, why is the city rearranging itself?  Where are all these weird buildings coming from?  And why are the people changing along with the city?  And if you don’t half fall in love with Mr. Monagan… what the heck is wrong with you?

The Man Who Died Twice – Richard Osman – Second book of a mystery series that feels like it’s going to become a huge favorite right up there with Louise Penny’s Gamache series.  It’s got an ensemble cast, which is my favorite sort of mystery, and the sleuths are crabby old people who are too smart for everyone else’s good.  Oh yeah, good times.

Dear Cary: My Life with Cary Grant, Dyan Cannon – A good rule of thumb is No Pedestals.  No matter how handsome, elegant, urbane, well-spoken, etc. someone is, they could be complete assholes in private.  Oh yes, Cary, I’m looking at you.  While it’s important to remember that Cannon is an ex-wife, what she says about him feels uncomfortably true.  When she was in the hospital giving birth to their daughter, he gave her beloved dog away because he didn’t like the idea of a dog around his child. (That would have been it for me right there.) When Dyan’s father got in an argument with Cary about something she wanted to do, Cary responded “She’s under my jurisdiction now!”  Excuse me?  Jurisdiction?  He comes across as a control freak with mommy issues, which is not a good look for him.  On the upside she pretty much admits he was a good father to Jennifer which is something.  But boy, Cary, you really disappointed me.  I thought you were cooler than that.

The Tribe of the Tiger – Elizabeth Marshall Thomas – I’d always meant to read this, and the nursing home stay gave me the time and the prod I needed.  It’s lovely.  Thomas writes at length and with clear love on all the different feline families.  If you’re a cat-lover, this is a must read.

Pale Rider, Laura Spinny – So what better to read during a Covid surge but a history of the Spanish Flu?  She starts with a shortish history of pandemics, moves to a history of the Spanish Flu and why it was so named (of COURSE everyone wanted to blame someone else, and the Spanish name just stuck.)  And she talks a bit about how it really got lost in the shuffle of history and never took its rightful place in that history. It is estimated that this pandemic killed more people than WWI and WWII combined. Yeah, that’s a lot of people, and most died in the second, most virulent wave.  She also makes it clear that human nature doesn’t change.  There were deniers, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and every other crazy or ugly form of human behavior we’re currently experiencing with Covid.  I suppose that should be comforting, but honestly, not so much.  It’s like we never really learn anything.

Holy Blood, Holy Grail,  Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent, and Richard Leigh – DNF – I actually read this many years ago when it came out.  Don’t recall that I bought into it then, but this time around I don’t think I read even 100 pages before I (mentally) shouted “Bugger this for a lark!” and removed it from my Kindle.  Ugh, this kind of conspiracy gets right up my nose these days.  Not as bad as The Government is Putting Microchips into Our Food bad, but bad enough.

The Brendan Voyage, Tim Severin – Could Saint Brendan have sailed from Ireland to the new world before the Vikings even made the trip?  Tim Severin and some friends made the journey in a boat built to the specifications in Brendan’s account, and decided, yes, in fact it was very likely that they not only could, but did.  What I loved about this book was the insight into who Brendan was, and the account of the worldwide interest in the voyage, and all the help that people were willing to provide along the way.  One thing humanity never seems to lose is their sense of a ripping good adventure!

Bad Girls from History, Dee Gordon – I really wanted to like this more than I did.  I wish Gordon had chosen fewer personalities and given us more information about them.  Hell there’s a lot of things I wish she’d done, or that I would have done differently.  It’s arranged in chapters about certain kinds of badness, like courtesans and prostitutes, serial killers, etc.  Within those chapters, the names are alphabetical not chronological, and each division really  tends to put us farther away from understanding these women in the context of their times, social situation, the expectations of women and so forth.  It’s clumsily done even if some of the accounts are interesting.

And now the cookbooks:

Cancer Guide and Cookbook – Useful book to help you keep yourself together and eating healthily.Scandikitchen: the Essence of Hygge – Almost more an exploration of the meaning of hygge and how to finesse it into your own life.  Some good recipes though.  Nice and comforting.Moon Milk – Moon milk… lovely notion.  Hot milk before bed, but mixed with things that are healthy, or comforting, or whatever floats your boat.The Moon Juice Cookbook – Very similar to Moon MilkThe Big Book of Kombucha Brewing – Yeah I’ve read this before.  I want to get back to making my own so it was a refresher course.Grandma’s Best Appetizers – Nothing too special.  Probably these are what Granny served people in the 70s.Soup Cookbook – Always good to have at least one of these.Simple Salad Cookbook – And one of these.Grilled Cheese Kitchen – Some really great ideas here.  I just wish the idea of a grilled cheese didn’t make my stomach do flip-flops right now.Martha Stewart ‘s Vegetables – It’s Martha, what can I tell you.  Pretty, often complex, but fun to read.Eating From the Ground Up – More vegetablesVegetables Unleashed — This is by Jose Andres, who I consider a contemporary saint.  It’s almost more important as philosophy than as cookbook.Heirloom Beans: Recipes from Rancho Gordo – If you love beans and aren’t familiar with Rancho Gordo, go look at their site.  Look at these recipes.  Think about the idea of beans so much fresher than what you get at the supermarket that you can truly taste the differences between them. Oh yeah.Asian Pickles at Home, Japanese pickles guide, Fermented Vegetables – These three cover a lot of ground in terms of pickling and fermenting, something that fascinates me.  I can recommend them all to one degree or another.Grandma’s Best Quick Breads – Nice little book with some good recipes.Milk Street: Cookish – Low key recipes from a trusted source.Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking – Easy stuff.

That’s it for March.  Don’t begin to expect this many books in April.  LOL