22.Aug.2009 The Spice of Life Challenge

1 July 2009 – 31 December 2009

Rebecca Reads is hosting The Spice of Life Challenge, which I’ve been eying since its conception, but wasn’t sure if I could manage with my other challenges. But what the heck, I love food and I should really not miss a challenge about food related books! It’s a tiny bit late, but I think I have relatively good confidence that I can complete it, since I’ve already read one book since the challenge started. Also the challenge site is one of the best I’ve seen, with one of the best buttons!

There are 4 categories:

• Cookbooks share recipes so we can recreate delicious meals. I love a good cookbook, and I’m always on the lookout for another favorite. I’d love to hear about your new discoveries! To count a cookbook for the challenge, please share a little bit about what types of recipes it contains, any of the favorites that you may have cooked, and what you liked or not about it. You obviously don’t have to read every page of a cook book or cook every recipe.
• Nonfiction books are about food in general, including history of any food, cooking and diet guides, and reference books. For reference books, as for cookbooks, you may not need to read every word, including those dense ones that you will be referring to again and again. Sometimes nonfiction books are best read in small bites; keep in mind you have six months to nibble through something!
• Memoirs, autobiographies, or essays are written by cooks or the everyday eater and are about learning to cook or about cooking or eating in general.
• Fiction captures the significance of food in our lives by making food a main part of the story. Define this as you will: if food is important to the story, it counts!

And 3 levels of participation:

• A Taste: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a taste” means that, although you love food and you love books about food, just a taste of food books will satisfy you right now. You’ll read and review just read two books from any of two of the above categories (different categories).
• A Sampler: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a sampler” means that you want to balance your food book diet with variety, for variety is the spice of life. You will read and review a book from each category for a total of four books.
• A Feast: Joining the Spice of Life Challenge for “a feast” means that you want to fill yourself with good food books of all kinds this year! You will read and review six to eight books from at least three of the above categories.

I’m joining for A Taste.

Books I read

Nonfiction
Squeamish About Sushi by Betty Reynolds (finished 08/09, rating )
Main food: Japanese food

Fiction
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (finished 09/09, rating )
Main food: Cocktail, party drinks, fruitcake

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (finished 09/09, rating )
Main food: Christmas feast!