Finally posting my November stats
Eight books read last month, four were chunksters: two with 500+ pages and two with 400+ pages! Litsy challenges:
Curiosity Shop for #whattheDickens
Democracy for #authoramonth
Happy Isles for #Samoa and the remaining 5 for #Algeria for #foodandlit
pickTwo beautiful souls found each other and survived many a danger and toils. This was an interesting tale told slowly and surely and with much description. The pacing lagged at times. This isn‘t my typical fare but it was enjoyable.
pickStill playing catch-up with #FoodandLit finishing October‘s Samoan read. This book was the first to be published in the United States by a Samoan woman. It‘s a coming of age story that catches the Samoan life and culture beautifully. I wish I knew there was a glossary of Samoan words in the back while I was reading as there are a lot of phrases and words not translated. Dinner, Samoan Chicken Moa Fa‘Asaina aver coconut rice.
so-soAdmittedly this book was written at a sorrowful stressful time in the author‘s life, his wife having just told him she‘s divorcing him. So he‘s very sulky as he travels across Oceania in his portable kayak that he carries with him as he flies from place to place. But that doesn‘t excuse his utter lack of humility, and a serious superiority complex with his smug judgments about 90% of his encounters with folks. He starts by blasting New Zealand ⬇️
My last Samoan dish: Tina and Amazing's Green Island Salad
It is a salad that combines fruit, vegetable (watercress, cucumber) & starch (green banana). I, however, kept all the ingredients separate so that fussy people could mix and match as they wished in their plates. I used mango and pineapple instead of vi (which I'd never heard of) and guava (which I didn't have). Very nice, as I knew it would be!
#Samoa #FoodandLit @Catsandbooks @Texreader
pickThe book centers on a 17 year old girl who loses her virginity to her teacher. I was really hesitant, but I wanted a Samoan author. The blurb was worse. Incest. But, it turned out that they were not genetically related but from the same community, which explains some Samoan culture. They don't marry within the same "family". It turned out to be quite lovely. During pauses of sex, the teacher continued to enlighten her by discussing the history.
Tonight we had food for October‘s #FoodAndLit #Samoa
It‘s Samoan Chicken (Moa Fa‘Asaina) with Coconut Rice.
It was pretty tasty. The sauce should have been thicker, but I had trouble thickening with the recipe I used. So much liquid 🤣
If you ever have a desire to read this book, be aware there is a lot of this.
The author is thorough, and 80% into it, I‘m getting a ton of detail about every possible island in Oceania. I‘m not fond of his constant criticisms (Wikipedia calls it a strong stream of irony, that‘s not what I‘d call it) of pretty much every single person he meets, and judgments of swaths of people based on those he encounters. But as usual I enjoy reading about ⬇️
pickThis was such a good book!
It is a typical zombie book, outbreak turns into zombies, turns into survival. But it was still a page turner. And as expected the humans are often worse than the monsters in an apocalypse 🙄
#FoodAndLit #Samoa #HauntedShelf #BlackCatCrew #OneSnackToRuleThemAll #TeamPumpkinSpice
Started this one for #FoodAndLit #Samoa today.
I am really enjoying it so far. A pandemic, some kind of lab experiment, a zombie outbreak on an island… perfect for October!
#HauntedShelf #BlackCatCrew
