Toady I’m bringing another Bib li o phile Friday, hosted by Whoo Gives A Hoot and Foxes and Fairy Tales, in honor of National Blueberry Cheesecake Day. Because who doesn’t like cheesecake? Actually…I don’t. So my post is more or less in solidarity with all the cheescake lovers out there! This one’s for you!
My task: Choose 5 books with blue covers or where food plays an important role.
The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel
First of all, look at that cover? While it may remind you of melted paint, doesn’t it sort of remind you of ice cream?
Secondly, if you read the book, one of the main things or symbol is ice cream. As soon as ‘The Devil’ arrives, he asks for ice cream. This mention of ice cream keeps coming up until the very end and that’s why I chose it. But seriously, you have to read this and my review. It is AMAZING. Look out because I have an interview with the author on the blog soon!
If you haven’t heard of it, Goodreads summarizes it:
Sal seems to appear out of nowhere – a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he’s welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he’s a runaway from a nearby farm town.
When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperature as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him. As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be. While the Bliss family wrestle with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever.
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
So I have reviewed this and it will be posted next week, but food is also important here to the protagonists. Let me give you a summary first, from Goodreads, and then I can explain.
Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.
But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.
Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.
But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.
To some, it is incredibly important what they ate in each of their lands. Some of these foods have evocative memories attached to them. So meal time is a big deal and the food is very well described.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
I read this for a unit in college and this inspired my Toni Morrison love.
Goodreads summarizes it:
Sethe was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. Her new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved.
You kind of need to read the book to understand the references to food, because it’s not in the summary. In the book, the mother goes without food and has to feed her ‘Beloved’ sweets. It’s a beautiful and haunting exchange and I highly recommend it.
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
With a title like that, food has to be involved! It becomes even more obvious once you read the summary from Goodreads:
Marian is determined to be ordinary. She lays her head gently on the shoulder of her serious fiancee and quietly awaits marriage. But she didn’t count on an inner rebellion that would rock her stable routine, and her digestion. Marriage a la mode, Marian discovers, is something she literally can’t stomach … The Edible Woman is a funny, engaging novel about emotional cannibalism, men and women, and desire to be consumed.
I haven’t actually read this, but I have been a longtime Atwood fan, and with a plot like this, what’s left to lose?
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
This one kind of occurred to me at the final hour. It is a story centered around family, and because of that family meals are a big deal. Additionally, the business of cooking ends up being a contentious debate for the future as well. If you love family dramas, this is a MUST.
Goodreads summarizes it:
Pachinko follows one Korean family through the generations, beginning in early 1900s Korea with Sunja, the prized daughter of a poor yet proud family, whose unplanned pregnancy threatens to shame them all. Deserted by her lover, Sunja is saved when a young tubercular minister offers to marry and bring her to Japan.
And you can read my review too!
Discussion
Cheesecake, yay or nay? If so, which type!
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You don’t like cheesecake?! Sacrilege! Haha, j/k. My mum doesn’t like ice-cream and I always say that’s a personal betrayal too. I see so many rec’s of Every Heart a Doorway and I’ve been wanting to read it for aaaaaages. I’ll keep an eye out for your review.
I can’t really eat things that are super cheesy or milky or lactose-y lol I’ll try to ping you when it goes live 😉 Oh and even though I get a terrible stomach ache after it, I can rarely refuse ice cream 😛