Sydney Reads and Reads: January

A food memoir, a president, a rom-com, and an audiobook walk into a bar. And though this sounds like the setup for an excellent joke, it’s also a summary of my January reads! 

In Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of Critic in Disguise, Ruth Reichl takes us on a journey through her days as food critic for The New York Times. Giving us a peek at the absurdity and the excellence of New York City fine dining while generously sharing the inner conflicts she battles as a result of her job.

Over the years, I’ve heard Garlic and Sapphires recommended as one of the best food memoirs of all time. And there’s a reason for that. Not only are Reichl’s descriptions of her meals mouthwateringly good, but with each character she takes on, we, the reader, gain a deeper understanding of what makes this writer, foodie, and mother tick. Among other things, Garlic and Sapphires inspired me to make my post-COVID trip to New York centered around enjoying great food. In fact, the girls from the book club and I are already planning our assault on New York’s remaining restaurants. 

In This Time Next Year, by Sophie Cousens, “a man and woman who were born at the same hospital on New Year’s Day meet on their thirtieth birthday and discover the many times their paths almost crossed before.” 

I picked this up because of the premise, but it turns out, though the premise was great, the execution, only so-so. In defense of This Time Next Year, I feel this way about most British romances I read. I don’t know if it’s because we’re stereotypically more effusive. Still, I find that compared to romances by American authors, those from across the pond fail to grab me from the start, taking too long to give me a reason to really root for the two lead characters.

As we get deeper into the plot and gain more insight into the backstories of Minnie and Quinn, our two leads, I began to enjoy myself. And by the end, I was fully invested in how things would turn out. This Time Next Year is fine all in all, but for a book of this genre and style, I’d pick up One Day in December by Josie Silver instead.

In Selter Mountain, by Robyn Carr, the sequel to Virgin River, which I listened to in December, we follow Preacher, the chef at Jack’s Bar, as he rescues and falls in love with young mother, Paige. I’m still enjoying this series as a grounding force in my workdays, even if some of the tropes about men taking care of “their women” are a little outdated.

The eagerly anticipated A Promised Land, by Barack Obama, covers his rise through Illinois politics, his presidential campaign, and into his first term as president, leaving off at the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Barack Obama’s presidency had come and gone before I started deeply engaging with American history and politics. So much of my enjoyment of this book stemmed from the knowledge I gained about events I’d largely glided past in real-time. Even the nitty-gritty details of the 2008 financial crisis made sense to me through the clear, easy-going style of President Obama’s writing. The most refreshing part of this book was observing a leader who was willing to question their decisions and admit that they could have made better or different choices. Let’s normalize behavior like that, please!

At the time, I thought completing these reads was a considerable accomplishment. And then I met February’s reading list! Stay tuned to see what I took on! - xo Sydney