Literary Junkies Link-Up

This is the fourth month of our online book club, the Literary Junkies.  However, this is the third time I have participated, simply because I never got a chance to read one of the stories.  But that's okay!

Here are this week's questions!  Don't delay - link up today!

1. What are you reading now?  Tell us about it.

2. Give us the recipe for a great book.

3. Tell us things you've learned from a book recently.  Did you learn anything about history  Did you take away a deep & profound realization about the world around you?  Or maybe even a beauty tip?

4. What was your favorite book as a child?

My answers:

1. I'm reading Starting from Scratch by Susan Gilbert-Collins.  See the little image in my sidebar?  I've got to say, I'm not impressed.  I actually started this book a while ago, but it was taking so long to get through.  I wasn't interested (which is totally STRANGE for me!)  I put it down to read this month's book club selection.  I decided to pick it up again and finish reading it now, but it's just as boring as I remember it being.  Which is saddening, because it sounded really good!  And I rarely put books down midway through.  I can only remember doing that to ONE other book!

GoodReads synopsis

Why is someone who just defended her doctoral dissertation still wasting her time at her childhood home, two months after her mother’s funeral, making coq au vin and osso buco? Olivia Tschetter, the youngest of four high-achieving South Dakotan siblings, is not returning to “normal”—or to graduate school— quickly enough to suit her family. She wants only to bury herself in her mother’s kitchen, finding solace in their shared passion for cooking.

Threatened with grief counseling, Olivia accepts a temporary position at the local Meals on Wheels, where she stumbles upon some unfinished business from her mother’s past—and a dark family secret. Startling announcements from two siblings also challenge the family’s status quo. The last thing she needs is a deepening romantic interest in a close but platonic (she thought) friend.

But while Olivia’s mother is gone, her memory and spirit continue to engage Olivia, who finds herself daring to speak when she would never have spoken before. Told with humor and compassion, Starting from Scratch explores the shifting of family dynamics in the wake of shattering loss and the healing power of cooking.

2. The recipe for a great book would have to be a short introduction with background on the characters, and an equal mix of action, suspense, romance, and humor.  

3. The last book I read, which was this month's Literary Junkies book club selection, The American Heiress, was a period that takes place during the 1800s.  History has never been my "thing," however, I really enjoyed reading about this time period.  Picturing how lives were lived and how different they lived. It definitely made me want to read more stories based in this time period!  

4. The Monster at the End of the Book was definitely a favorite.  I can remember always reading stories, but this is one that definitely sticks out in my mind.  I do remember reading this a lot!

Happy Tuesday, all!