In our monthly thematic roundup of BookLife titles, we’re featuring books on food, travel, and cooking. Want to see your book spotlighted? Check out our calendar at booklife.com/news/policies/booklife-s-indie-spotlight.
Food & Fiction
Add Cyanide to Taste
Karmen Spiljak
ASIN B0957YB1V9
About the book: A sinister cook, a cursed cake, a casual dinner between neighbors that goes murderously wrong. This unique collection of culinary mysteries includes cyanide-free recipes for dishes featured in the stories.
Author statement: “As a massive foodie and crime fiction lover, I’ve always enjoyed stories that revolve around food. The idea of writing the kind of book I’d want to read kept my spirits up during the pandemic. I had a lot of fun thinking of new ways to combine food and murder.”
The Country Bake-Off
Riya Aarini
ISBN 978-1-73631-695-5
About the book: In this children’s book, Mouse Country is about to hold its famous Country Bake-Off! Joyful Jazella is eager to enter the competition. But Proud Pazenna has an extravagant kitchen and fancy spices, and she is sure she’ll take home the prize. Will Jazella’s cake impress the judges, or will Pazenna outbake her?
Author statement: “I was inspired to write this book after hearing a phrase about putting extra care into your efforts when given the least favorable circumstances, especially in comparison to those who’ve been given the most advantageous ones.”
Death in Paris
Kate Darroch
ASIN B09PMP4J6Y
About the book: In book one of the Màiri Maguire Cozy Mysteries series, Scots Irish teacher Màiri Maguire works in top boarding schools all over the world, but on days like today she wishes she’d never left Glasgow! They’ve been in Paris just 12 hours. Lianna’s in jail accused of murder and Màiri’s being chased by murderous criminals. She didn’t dream traveling outside Scotland would be so dangerous! The books in the series feature recipes for every meal eaten by the sleuth: Scottish, Irish, Regional English (e.g., Lancashire hotpot), French, Italian, Turkish, and many more dishes from around the world. Readers are also introduced to famous sights from each city visited, along with little-known facts.
Author statement: “Màiri’s story begins in August 1970, which was a very exciting time to be a woman—the world was opening to us and we really believed that we could be agents of massive positive change. I have fond memories of the years 1970 to 1975. I wrote these stories to give people a break from the difficult world of Covid-19 by transporting them to another and better world. But the better world in these stories is not an illusion. It’s how things were back in the 1970s for many women; it’s how things could be today. My cozies are like all cozies—entertaining. But true to the spirit of the 1970s in which they are set, these little books are also educational. I hope that, just as fans of James Blish can never forget that water has a double meniscus, Màiri’s readers will remember that people have been praying in Sacre Coeur continuously, 24 hours a day, for over 100 years.”
Travel Memoir
Adventure in Zanskar: A Young Woman’s Solitary Journey
Amy Edelstein
ISBN 978-1-73526-508-7
About the book: In 1983, 21-year-old Amy Edelstein set out on a solitary 500-kilometer journey in the highest valley in the world. Zanskar, the westernmost corner of the Tibetan plateau, had only recently opened to travelers. She would spend several months walking by foot, crossing passes above 16,000 feet, sleeping in caves, meeting high lamas, and exploring a culture that had remained virtually the same for thousands of years. It was a culture that would change dramatically and irrevocably in the few short decades that followed. What drew her was the eternal seeker’s quest for wisdom and insight. What shaped the rest of her life is what she found in the land, the culture, and its people.
Author statement: “The 1970s were a hard decade for independent-minded young women to come of age in America, especially in an East Coast industrial city that was more like the lumbering Midwest than the forward-thinking Eastern seaboard. When I looked around the Pittsburgh neighborhood I grew up in, I knew in my bones that if I was going to find guides for a deeper purpose I was going to have to head much further afield. I searched in the halls of academia, where I met brilliant and good people, but not wise ones. So, I took leave from Cornell University and went east, landing in Thailand, turning left to discover Burma, to the rice paddies of Bangladesh, and then the mountains of Nepal. I spent the next year walking in the high Himalayas and the next four years in India, studying philosophy and meditation with the best teachers I could find, and doing everything I could to tame my restless, anxious, and self-critical mind.”
Basilicata: Authentic Italy
Karen Haid
ISBN 978-1-73483-220-4
About the book: Basilicata is a journey to a land where ancient pagan rites live alongside those of the Catholic Church, world-class wine washes down edible hyacinth bulbs, zip lines parallel old mule trails, and the air is infused with the ideals of Roman poets and brigands.
Author statement: “With heart and humor, I set out to explore a lesser-known corner of Italy and discovered a fascinating land that maintains an old-world charm and authenticity into the 21st century.”
Braving the World: Adventures in Travel and Retirement
Pam Saylor
ISBN 978-1-73607-311-7
About the book: This memoir and guidebook recounts travels from Rome to Croatia, London, and Venice and includes tips and tricks to help anyone plan their own adventure of a lifetime.
Author statement: “In 2017, after taking early retirement, my husband and I packed four suitcases and one beer cooler full of insulin and boarded a one-way flight to Italy for a yearlong dream trip. But our dream trip wasn’t always dreamy. As we navigated the challenges, we learned a lot about travel, life, and ourselves. I hope my book encourages anyone who is hesitant to travel to just go!”
Here We Are & There We Go: Teaching and Traveling with Kids in Tow
Jill Dobbe
ISBN 978-1-937165-21-5
About the book: Dobbe’s memoir chronicles her experiences teaching overseas in Ghana, Mexico, Singapore, and Guam with two children. The story concludes with Dobbe’s two children as teenagers returning to the U.S., where they experience another type of culture shock.
Author statement: “I have written and published three travel memoirs about our family’s life overseas. During those first 10 years when my children were small, I knew they’d never remember the lion dances in Singapore, visiting the slave castles in Ghana, or attending fiestas on Guam, so I wrote it all down, filling journals. When I decided to write my book, I unearthed those journals and used those memories to write my memoir about our lives abroad.”
Paris Blue
Julie Scolnik
ISBN 978-1-64663-471-2
About the book: Paris, 1976: 20-year-old American student Julie Scolnik has just arrived in the City of Light to study the flute when, from across a sea of faces in the chorus of the Orchestre de Paris, she is drawn to Luc, a striking (married) French lawyer in the bass section. This moving tale of an ebullient young American and a reserved Frenchman will transport readers to the cafés, streets, and concert halls of Paris in the late 70s, follow deep romance to sudden heartbreak, and explore a lifelong quest for answers to release hidden immutable grief.
Author statement: “I wrote part one of this story down over 40 years ago, and then every 10 years or so I would work on it and put it away again. I had way too much material. But I finally read a book on memoir and learned that memoir was a universal truth as illustrated by a personal story. So, I cut 100 pages, restructured it, had a revelation about the title, and my final, truest version of the book was born.”
Plunge: One Woman’s Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary
Liesbet Collaert
ISBN 978-1-73598-060-7
About the book: Tropical waters turn tumultuous in this travel memoir as a free-spirited woman jumps headfirst into a sailing adventure with a new man and his two dogs. Join Liesbet as she faces a decision that sends her into a whirlwind of love, loss, and living in the moment. When she swaps life as she knows it for an uncertain future on a sailboat, she succumbs to seasickness and a growing desire to be alone. Does Liesbet find happiness? Will the dogs outlast the man? Or is this just another reality check on a dream of living at sea?
Author statement: “Plunge encapsulates a decade of my nomadic lifestyle, mainly an eight-year period aboard a 35-foot sailing catamaran called Irie. While the genre of my book is travel memoir, the story digs deeper into the facts of living the so-called dream. It merges awe-inspiring sights and experiences with the challenges of living 24/7 together in a small space, as well as health, immigration, and money issues. The sailboat is the physical space in which some of the drama and joys occur; the scenery of the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific is the backdrop. I have been writing daily diaries since I was a teenager and documented my sailing journey (and current RV lifestyle) in blogs since 2007. In addition, I kept notes onboard of special feelings, precious moments, and dreadful experiences. All these items are the foundation of my book, shaped and edited into a compelling narrative.”
Viking Voyager: An Icelandic Memoir
Sverrir Sigurdsson
ISBN 978-1-64543-469-6
About the book: This book is a true story of the making of a modern Viking and his global adventures. Born in Reykjavik and steeped in the Icelandic sagas, Sigurdsson knew from an early age that he would travel the world like his Viking forefathers—with one difference: today’s Vikings travel not to loot and plunder, but to learn, study, and contribute on the larger stage of human endeavors.
Author statement: “I loved to tell stories of my travels to friends, who encouraged me to write them down. I did, in bits and pieces, and dumped them in a folder on my hard drive, like photos in a shoebox. Then I showed some episodes to my wife, Veronica Li, a former journalist and published author. She decided to help me weave my travel stories into a book with a coherent theme. Once we decided on a theme, we had a framework to hang my exploits on. I’m now a retired architect, after having worked on building education facilities in 30 developing countries. I feel this Viking has truly found his fortune, in the precious connections with people of diverse cultures and the wonderful sights and scenes all over the world.”
