Starting an UNOFFICIAL GastroCAT Challenge

For the UNOFFICIAL GastroCAT Challenge, you have to read a book that has a food/drink reference in the title or has food as a predominant theme and meets the monthly focus:

January - any food-related title/theme or any drink
February - Valentine's Day/Candy/Dessert or champagne
March - Ethnic foods (including Irish)/St. Patrick's Day/green food or beer
April - Seafood or juice
May - Dairy or coffee
June - Meat or red wine
July - Fruits or tea
August - Garden vegetables or water
September - School Lunch items or milk
October - Fall foods/apples/winter squash or cider
November - turkey/Thanksgiving or white wine
December - Christmas foods or hot drinks

Hopefully, my choices are not too specific. If you have suggestions for additions or changes, feel free to voice them!

GastroCAT Wiki http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2014_GastroCAT

Please put the food item in parentheses before the author's name.

This looks fun! Does the food have to be in the title? I have The School of Essential Ingredients -- I'll have to see if I can fit it in.

PM majkia about the wiki. She knows what to do and is tremendously helpful. Also, if you ask her, -Eva- can put a link to your wiki up with the other unofficial CATs at the top.

No, the food does not have to be in the title if it is a dominant theme in the book. For example, if a book was named " A Night to Remember", but it was a mystery where someone drank poisoned egg nog, that would qualify for the December challenge, because the egg nog was the murder weapon and egg nog is a Christmas food (at least in my mind). Does that make sense?

Cute idea but not for me. Aside of my cookbooks (and one random purchase of one of those presumably somewhat cozy mystery murder series with some food/chef angle?) I don't have any books dealing with food. There might be one here or there with a food-related word in the title but even that would be really few & far between. Have fun, folks.

BTW, about half of the entries in TIOLI challenge # 1 would qualify for this challenge as well.

I have been thinking about reading Hot Chocolate for a while, so this might be the push I needed to do it!

cute. I'll have to see what I have for February.

Hmm. I have no idea if I have books that fit or not, but I'm about to go find out!

I already read Eggs in a Casket this month! Yeah!

Not sure I have anything for February or March. :-(

Hmmm. Well, I had planned on reading Bean Trees soon, but I don't think I can fit that into this month. Looking on my shelf, I did find Wild Oats and Fireweed: New Poems by Ursula K. Le Guin, which has been waiting far too long. The closest thing I have for February is Plum Bun...I don't know if the title refers to the pastry, but it's as close as my library comes to offering a dessert or candy, so I think it will have to do! March may get skipped on my end, but later in the year I'll be able to slip in The Secret Life of Lobsters, The Good Life (wine!), Five Quarters of the Orange, and Bitter Milk and Three Cups of Tea...all of which have been in my tbr piles for far too long :)

Lois, I'm glad you set this up!

I read Home of the Braised (A White House Chef book) this month. I guess that would count. I'll be on the lookout for something for February.

>10 whitewavedarling: Great! I would think Plum Bun is a dessert, and your choices are right on!

>11 virginiahomeschooler: yes, that will count!

I have a graphic:


Now, I just have to work on the Wiki.

I'm working on what I will read for this challenge. A quick scan thru my Kindle-to-read list resulted in the following:

January - Chocolat COMPLETED
February - Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 COMPLETED
March - Cakes and Ale COMPLETED
April - Lowcountry Boil
May - Golden Eggs and Other Deadly Things
June - Imperfect Pairings
July - Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
August - Going Organic Can Kill You (A Blossom Valley Mystery)
September - Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (A Hannah Swensen Mystery)
October - The Cider House Rules
November - The Trouble with Turkeys
December - Christmas foods or hot drinks

Perhaps if we post lists here, we might help each other track down some reads/ideas? In that spirit, what I'm so far thinking.... (and listing it here so I don't forget...)

January: Wild Oats and Fireweed: New Poems (currently in my tbr pile)
February: Plum Bun (currently in my tbr)
March: Cakes and Ale (not in tbr, but from the 1001 books list, so I don't mind...)
April: The Secret Life of Lobsters (currently in my tbr)
May: Bitter Milk (currently in my tbr)
June: The Invention of Curried Sausage (not in tbr, but from the 1001 books list...)
July: Five Quarters of the Orange (currently in my tbr)
August: ??? (tba...)
September: Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
October: Cider House Rules (not in tbr, but from the 1001 books list...)
November: ??? (tba...)
December: Three Cups of Tea

Heavens, I never plan this far ahead, but it is fascinating to see how much I already had on my various lists that would fit this challenge!

hmmm, I'll check my tbr to see what might fit and potentially when... I'll try to remember to do that this weekend. Or, I'll at least start by seeing if I have anything that will fit February.

>15 whitewavedarling: I might join you with Cakes and Ale for March!

>17 LoisB: :)

Meanwhile, if anyone's interested and making their way through the 1001 list, some other options from the 1001 include The Corrections (for Thanksgiving, which it builds toward or revolves around, though I don't remember which...) and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

I've added Oranges are Not the Only Fruit to my list. It looks like I'll have buy it since my library system does not have a copy.

>19 LoisB:, you could probably find it in a used book store if there's one nearby; that book ends up on a lot of fem. lit and contemp. lit class reading lists. I found it pretty easily when I needed a copy a couple of years ago. I don't remember much about it, but that it was a quick read!

@LoisB, if you can't find it locally, don't forget bookfinder.com! :)

>14 LoisB:, 15 Cakes and Ale was one of the best books I read last year - I hope you two enjoy it as much as I did!

>21 fuzzi: Thanks! I just found it for $3.48 including shipping in "good" condition (hopefully).

>18 whitewavedarling: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen would be an excellent Thanksgiving choice!

Fab idea, I read The bean trees earlier in the month.

Sheesh. I don't think I have a single thing that would fit this. Although maybe I'll come upon a murder committed using a food item, but looking at titles I'm out of luck.

Jean, keep looking. . . I'm sure you'll find something tasty!

ok I found a few buried:

Feb: Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
July: Plum Island
September: Shades of Milk and Honey
December: The Gingerbread House

Yay!

Coincidentally, I'd just finished reading The Dinner when I found this thread!

I can't find anything on my shelves for next month, except possibly Little Bee or The Beekeeper's Apprentice. Bees make honey and honey is often found in desserts; not sure if that's too weak a link. :)

>30 mathgirl40: No, that is fine. I'm reading Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919. Molasses is often used as a sweetener, so I figure it fits. I' going to be fairly liberal on what fits a category.

31. Oh, is is any good? I'd love to read more about that event.

>32 PawsforThought: I haven't started it yet (still finishing my January list), but I'm from the Boston area, so there should be a lot of local color. I'll let you know how I like it.

I'm sure I'll have no shortage of options for this as I move along. I can't remember if I've read anything this month yet or not. I'll check! I am currently reading Murder Simply Brewed, but I'm not certain if that's a strong enough food connection for the GastroCAT or not.

If it deals something being brewed as part of the murder, why not?

Coffee, Lois! It happened at the coffee shop.

OK - go with it!

We have a Wiki: http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/2014_GastroCAT

Please enter your January books.

a new wiki expert!

Well . . . an amateur at best! Thanks for your help!

For the February Gastro CAT, any food- related item or activity having to do with Valentine's Day (for example a Valentine's Day dinner) is acceptable. Anything in the "sweet" area, be it candy, dessert, or a sweetener (sugar, honey, molasses, sugar substitute) is also acceptable. And, I can't believe I did this, but when I said champagne, I should have said sparkling wine! I am a big Prosecco fan! Champagne technically, and legally, refers to grapes grown in the Burgundy region of France.

So, I hope you can find something that allows you to eat or drink vicariously through your reading!

I like prosecco, too. Have you tried it with a little limoncello in the bottom of the glass? Perfect on a summer evening.

>42 RidgewayGirl: Ahhh, yes! Delicious :)

>I'll have to try that!

I'll put up the book I'm listening to, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, because Mma Ramotswe is always drinking her red bush tea.

Ok :)

@LoisB, for February, what about "heart", as in a candy heart? Or is that too vague?

About to add Wild Oats and Fireweed: New Poems to the wiki...it wasn't a great read, but I'm glad that this challenge pushed me to finally take it off my shelf and get around to it. Full review posted for anyone interested in Ursula Le Guin's work.

>47 fuzzi: Sure!

(49) Thanks!

Congrats to those who finished the January challenge!

On the last day of the month, I finished The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson.

>52 sturlington: yay!

I just heard about this challenge. I did enter my Schokolade für die Seele-book I read in January. Is that okay?

>54 paulstalder: That's fine!

I guess The Hairy Bikers' Big Book of Baking would count for January.

Puddings should do for February.

Das ||grüne Kochbuch for March.

OK, I'm in.

great!

I added Never Count Apples for January, not sure how I missed it!

I just realized that there is no month for PASTA! Could we possibly change March to add any ethnic food? Since this is an UNOFFICIAL Cat, that's what I'm going to do. If you approve, I'll add my book to the wiki.

How could I have forgotten pasta? It's a big component in my diet! OK, I will add "ethnic foods" to March.

How about making pasta a joker to replace any month we can't otherwise fill?

>61 MarthaJeanne: That's what I do when I haven't planned for dinner properly!

OK - Pasta can be the joker!

Does pizza count with pasta?

I would count it as ethnic in March, but not as pasta.

>64 cyderry: I have a title with pizza in it that I'm counting in September as a school lunch item...with the relatively new focus on healthy school lunches, I'm not sure it's still the case, but when I was in high school (in the 90s), I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the school-bought lunches were pizza. Dated or not, it fits into my book/history...

I'm using the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mystery for September. Hooray for the old school lunches!

>66 whitewavedarling: pizza is the only cafeteria lunch my son will buy, every Friday.

Looking at my favorite (*****) books of 2013, I realized that 2 have food items in their title:
Chocolates for Breakfast which would work for February, and
The Almond Tree which would work for November (or October, if you are Canadian), as I always think of nuts as a Thanksgiving food.

I highly recommend both books!

can leftovers be a joker too?

sure!

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 ****

A very interesting story about an event that I had heard of , but knew no details. Having spent most of my life in the Boston area, I was very familiar with the North End and could easily picture the geography. I also spent a good portion of my career in the Engineering business and found that many of today's engineering standards and practices were put in place as a result of the Molasses flood.

Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919

This sounds very interesting.

BTW love the haiku summaries

As February is coming to a close, don't forget the UNOFFICIAL GastroCAT challenge - a book with any thing sweet in the title or about anything sweet is eligible.

I just finished Plum Bun, and it was fantastic! I don't know when I would have gotten around to this one if not for this challenge, but I'm so glad I got pushed in that direction! Full review posted (and I've added it to the wiki), and meanwhile, if you couldn't already tell...I whole-heartedly recommend it!

I'm adding it to my TBR list - sounds very interesting!

I'm glad! I'm sure you know how you occasionally read a book, and find it so worthwhile that you hope it will end up being a bb for others! This was one of those for me :) I feel like it's one of those books that probably Should be on the 1001 list, but for various reasons, just got left behind by literary history.

Half way through a charity shop buy for this month - Let me eat cake, autobiography based around sweet items in the author's life, from Golden Syrup to high tea at the palace. Enjoying it so far.

#67 by @LoisB> I hope you like it. I found it too sweet for my tastes.

We'll see in September. Perhaps, I should have a backup plan. :)

For anyone interested in reading The Cider House Rules in October, Amazon has the Kindle edition on sale today for 2.99.

OOOhhh! Lois, I hadn't thought of that. I'm definitely putting that one on my October list!

March is here! Our topic for this month is Ethnic foods (including Irish)/St. Patrick's Day/green food or beer.

I'm planning Death Al Dente - give me Italian food!

Italian is my personal favorite, but I'll be reading Cakes & Ale.

I'm reading Cakes & Ale as well--it'll be fun to compare notes :)

Cakes and Ale ***

A very enjoyable Maugham read. It is a satire of the English aristocracy and the London literary scene at the beginning of the 20th century.

A previous reader had questioned the title, since neither cakes nor ale are mentioned within. I googled and found the following (uncited) in Wikipedia:

Maugham drew his title from the remark of Sir Toby Belch to Malvolio in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" Cakes and ale are the emblems of the good life in the tagline to the fable attributed to Aesop, "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse": "Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear".

Late to posting my February gastro-read:

Champagne: the Farewell by Janet Hubbard

On to March...

Das grüne Kochbuch is an advertising cookbook for a local supermarket chain. It's meant to show how bio-organic they are (not!), and for that it's actually not half bad. I think I'll make the savoury carrot cake soon.

>88 countrylife: >89 MarthaJeanne: Great! March awaits your culinary choices!

That was March. I figure a green cookbook works, right?

>91 MarthaJeanne: Sorry - yes, green cookbook definitely works!

I've also got The Green Kitchen waiting to be read.

Lots of Green this month!

Just finished Cakes and Ale--what a lovely and relaxing read!

I found Horseradish at a local charity shop, apparently you can eat the green leaves.

I haven't tried that. The only thing I use the horseradish in my garden for is the leaves, though: I spread them (fresh or dried) over newly seeded areas. Otherwise the local cats dig there.

>96 soffitta1: Interesting! To me, horseradish comes in a jar. I never thought about it's true origin.

I finished Death Al Dente which was very pasta/sauce ethnic intense but I did read part of it in an Irish pub!

>99 cyderry: Definitely, ethnic!

I haven't tried the leaves yet either, I hadnever heard of it!

This is an early reminder about the April GastroCAT: April - Seafood or juice. I'll be back in early April.

Would either of these work for March?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (When thinking of Irish food, I always think of Potatoes)
or
Hell Hath No Curry

I agree about potatoes. My mother was Irish. We had them every day! Curry is also ethic, so yes to both.

Just saw and bought Green eggs and ham in a charity shop. Perfect, especially as I have never read it.

You never read Green Eggs and Ham? What a deprived childhood! Several years ago we gave up some of our Dr. Seuss collection to colleagues of my husband with similarly deprived children. Green Eggs and Ham is one of his best.

My GastroKIT read for March's Irish/St. Patrick's Day/green food or beer:

The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World by Stephen Mansfield (3 stars) - Irish Beer

>107 countrylife: Good choice!

Re 106
I don't think the books were as popular in the U.K. I grew up on a diet of Enid Blyton!

April: Lowcountry Boil **.5

>110 LoisB: I'm reading the same book right now, and I suspect that my rating is going to be in that same territory. I guess I'll see if it improves, but the talking ghost among a few other things is just not cutting it for me. I'm glad I only got the first in the series.

Right - I don't feel any compulsion to go further in the series.

On a higher note, I started reading The Secret Life of Lobsters yesterday--it's been on my tbr mountain for ages--and I'm really enjoying it :) I'm only about fifty pages in, but so far, it's a really good mix of info./stories about scientists, lobster fisherman, and lobsters themselves. And, it's incredibly readable!

I'm from New England. I LOVE lobster! I'm glad you're enjoying the book!

I came across a huge one while snorkeling when I was in highschool, and spent just about all of my time in the water that day watching the big fellow. Underwater, he was so red, and so graceful--it was just mesmerizing! I've meant to read the book for ages...I'm glad the challenge gave me a final nudge :)

The Secret Life of Lobsters looks really interesting. Every thread today is adding to my "I ought to read that "sometime" lists.

>113 whitewavedarling: I look forward to your review or further comments on it.

I am reading Cod, really interesting. I have had it for a while, and this challenge was the push I needed! I ate a lot of bacalao in Spain and Portugal, so this has struck a chord.

Interesting! I've never eaten bacalao, but, being a New England native, I've had my fair share of cod!

>113 whitewavedarling: my copy of The secret life of lobsters: arrived yesterday, so I'll be reading it this month, too.

My GastroKIT read for April's seafood theme was:
Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw about cod fishermen. (3 stars)

I never realized there were so many books about cod and lobsters! I may have to add some of them to my TBR list.

I just finished The Secret Life of Lobsters and added it to the wiki....and what a wonderful and entertaining read it was! I'd been meaning to read it for ages...I'm so glad this challenge pushed me to get around to it!

>120 MarthaJeanne: I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I did!

The Unofficial GastroCAT theme for May is "Dairy or Coffee". I'll be reading Golden Eggs and Other Deadly Things.

I'll be reading Creamery Kitchen, but I have to finish the lobster book first. (BTW, >123 whitewavedarling:, yes it's very good.)

Do eggs count as dairy?

>125 MarthaJeanne: They do in my mind :) . Perhaps, I should have used a different term, but I intended it to mean those things that you buy in the "dairy" section of the supermarket - eggs, milk, cheese, etc.

You set up the category. But by your definition and my supermarket, smoked fish would count, too.

>127 MarthaJeanne: Darn! I guess I'll have to be fairly liberal as to what counts! I really was thinking breakfast type things, and my husband would be the first to tell me that smoked fish is one of his favorite breakfast foods.

My book counts even by quite restrictive definitions. Turning milk into things like cheese is definitely dairy.

I'll try to stop being difficult.

Well, I finished Golden Eggs and Other Deadly Things. Cozy, but nothing special.

I have two Egg-related books for this month - Bluebeard's Egg and The Affair of the Blood stained egg cosy.

If eggs count, I may read Eggsecutive Orders. Or I may go the coffee route and read On What Grounds.

Eggs count! So do the coffee grounds. :)

I'm thinking about Decaffeinated Corpse.

I had been planning to read Ice Cream U about Penn State's creamery and ice cream making program for last month's Alpha CAT, but never got around to doing so. Would it be acceptable for this month's GastroCAT? It is definitely a dairy product, but not a breakfast food. However, the heading is not qualified by breakfast. Penn State began as an agricultural high school, then became a land grant college, and for many years has been a university. At least initially, the cream for the ice cream came from Penn State cows. Penn Staters for years have patronized the Creamery which sells ice cream made by the university in addition to cheese, honey, etc. Ben and Jerry both learned to make ice cream at Penn State before they started their franchise.

>135 sallylou61: I think that sounds like a dandy dairy book!

>135 sallylou61: Yes, it will count. It's definitely dairy!

Finished The secret life of lobsters. A very good book. Thanks to those who recommended it.

I just received my copy in the mail yesterday. It's now on my TBR pile.

>138 MarthaJeanne: and >139 LoisB: :)

Meanwhile, I'm afraid May marks the first month when I didn't enjoy my GastroCat read, but it did get a book off of the TBR mountain, so at least there's that. In any case, Bitter Milk is read, I'm about to add it to the wiki, and there is a full review written.

Good reading, all!

I still have to read my May book, but I just finished Animal, vegetable, miracle and I hope nobody minds me counting it for June. Admittedly, the meat she raises is poultry. The alternative is probably to skip June.

Chicken counts as meat in my mind (animal, vegetable, mineral), so you can count it for June.

Caught up today, by reading The Creamery Kitchen. It will be useful in spite of not really being what I had hoped. (Reviewed.)

Interesting review! I'm afraid it would never occur to me to make my own cheese!

I read Ice Cream U by Lee Stout, which is very attractive coffee-table book about the Creamery at Penn State University. Mr. Stout chose the title since several Pennsylvania newspapers had called the Penn State Ice Cream program "Ice Cream U." I looked at the numerous photographs, both black and white and in color, in the book immediately after buying it several years ago, but had never read the text. The text covers more than just the making of ice cream; it discusses Penn State's role in the dairy industry in Pennsylvania, a brief history of ice cream from early times (not limited to Penn State), the instruction the University has provided in making butter and cheese in addition to ice cream with an emphasis on its short courses, and the extensive research that has been done in dairy science there. However, the focus is on ice cream, which has greatly appealed to Penn Staters for many years.

I was disappointed in the text which gets a bit repetitious. Moreover, following the text can occasionally be challenging since some of it appears in portions of columns under illustrations, or is separated by several pages of illustrations before continuing. The main text also competes with highlights of the text in large letters and with picture captions. If one does not read the text, one misses out on interesting information. However, the book as a whole is beautifully done.

>144 LoisB: calling labneh 'making cheese' is a bit exagerated. I have a plastic coffee filter holder that I line with the filter, set it over a beer mug, then ladle yoghurt in. In a few hours I can add salt, pepper and chopped herbs from the garden for a lovely dip or spread. I usually add the whey to bread dough or just drink it.

Paneer is harder, but I can't get it otherwise. You heat the milk, add lemon juice, again let the whey out. Then it needs to be pressed (cheese cloth is better than the coffee filters for this!) for a while so that more whey comes out and it sticks together. BTW the first instructions are plenty to do it, but this one needs fairly good directions, which these aren't.

Whether or not buttermilk, sour cream, and yoghurt are worth making yourself depends on the cost and quality of what is available around you. Now Kingsolver has a recipe for mozzarella that I would like to try... Do I want to drive to the other side of Vienna tomorrow for the rennet? Since my supermarkets have good prices on Italian Mozzarella and Greek Feta, this is really just playing. I can't really imagine that it is worth it, except to say that I did it.

I finished Decaffeinated Corpse just before jetting away on vacation.

>147 cyderry: Enjoy your vacation!

I started Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy. I started reading last night, and am already about 1/3 of the way through.

>149 tymfos: Good - you should make it by the end of the month!

>143 MarthaJeanne: Further note. The recipe for lemon thyme feta bread (with grated zuccinni) is quite good, although we would add more herbs to it. Even if I bought all the ingredients in. Maybe this lemon thyme plant will survive.

>151 MarthaJeanne: That sounds quite tasty! Alas, another thing I don't do is make bread.

This is a quick bread. Very easy.

Not that yeast bread is hard, but it takes more time, and experience helps.

My only read for the Gastro challenge in May was Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock, a YA novel with a dairy farm setting in Wisconsin.

It's time for the June GastroKIT (aka UNOFFICIAL June GastroCAT). This month's topic is meat or red wine. Enjoy!

I'll be reading The Invention of Curried Sausage--it's not off of mount tbr, but it is off of the 1001 books list, so I was still happy to search it out :)

Interesting choice! I'm going with Imperfect Pairings, a romance that takes place in an Italian vineyard.

I already finished The Invention of Curried Sausage! It was absolutely lovely, and a fast read also! Full review written, and I've added it to the wiki...

On a side note for folks on this thread, there's a lot of food throughout this novel since the majority of the story takes place in the last days of WWII and just after, when rationing is a concern. All together, it was the perfect read for this challenge, and ticked a book off of that 1001 list!

I really want to read that.
My read is not for the faint hearted, with donkey and babies on the menu, all in a drunken potcheen stupor. The republic of wine. Lots going on, really recommended.

>159 soffitta1: sounds like another interesting read!

I was planning on skipping this month, but I saw The Meat Racket by Christopher Leonard on the new book shelf in our public library. If time permits, I might read it; after getting home, I discovered that it has a number of negative reviews although also some very positive ones.

>161 sallylou61: I hope you can fit it in and that you agree with the positive reviews!

Re 161 and 162. I think that the nature of the book might lend to having both very positive and very negative reviews. The book is primarily about the Tyson Company (which I know as a poultry processing company but may find they are involved in many more things when reading the book). I just glanced at the reviews, but noticed that one of the positive reviewers stated that the negative reviewers might have had involvement with the company.

This happened with a book I read a couple of years ago, Paterno by Joe Posnanski. Joe Paterno still has some very strong supporters, some of whom feel that he could do no wrong. Several very early negative reviews in Amazon.com appeared to have been written by these people; I wondered whether some of the reviewers had even read the book. I found the book, which covers Paterno's whole life through his death, but was in the process of being published when the NCAA issued its sanctions against Penn State, to be a very balanced account of Paterno's life. I gave it a positive review in LibraryThing https://www.librarything.com/work/12769032/reviews/89307579.

Although I liked Paterno for many years, I was certainly not a fan of his at the end. I think that Penn State allowed him to have much too much power, and that he should have been fired for insubordination when he refused to step down as football coach after several losing seasons several years before he was fired.

I may put Paterno on my wishlist.

Sorry, I will not be reading The Meat Racket after-all this month although I hope to read it sometime. We are going on vacation late next week and I don't want to take any library books with me, and still have books for official challenges to read. I was planning just to take paperbacks, but might make an exception and take Victura which I just received as an early reviewer book. It looks as if you also will be reviewing it. Lois.

I just finished reading an extremely interesting book, Savage harvest : a tale of cannibals, colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's tragic quest for primitive art by Carl Hoffman for the GeoCAT challenge, but do not expect that you included cannibalism in the meat category for this month's GastroCAT!

I haven't received Victura yet, but being a native Greater Bostonian, I am looking forward to it.

I think I have to draw the line at cannibalism! have a nice vacation!

Oops - my read had a cannibal side!

>167 soffitta1: LOL!

Does i count if I drink red wine while I'm reading?

I'm reading Shadow of Night with Vampires who drink blood or hunt venison; would this count?

Good heavens!!!!

I should explain that I don't eat red meat- to me it tastes bloody! And, I don't read/watch anything in the horror genre. so all this talk of cannibalism & vampires is about to send me in search of some wine of any color. I'm wondering whatever possessed me to even consider red meat as a category option.

>169 cyderry: (and any others with similar questions), yes, if it involves the hunting of non-human red meat.

Calm down, it's almost July. Instead of meat, we can all read and eat nice red peaches, and cherries, and raspberries, and currants, and ...

(Yes, I know, there is another red fruit on the market this time of year, but I don't eat them, I break in hives if I get even a little bit.)

{deep breath} I'm calming down . . .

My June reads for the GastroKIT challenge were both red wine - no meat books:

GastroKIT (Meat or Red Wine):

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (Linganore Winecellars Black Raven)
The Lighthouse by P. D. James (Lighthouse Red – Cape May Vineyard)

I don't think that I posted here that I read Imperfect Pairings for this challenge. The story centers around a vineyard in Italy.

I finished Shadow of Night!

>175 cyderry: Yay!

So, it's July already! This month's focus is fruit or tea. I will be reading Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit.