Lovely Book of the Day

November 30 - Life in a French Country House: Entertaining for All Seasons , by Cordelia de Castellane (2021) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/48uMzA1 This book contains tips and inspiration for elegant entertaining at home. It’s arranged by season, and teaches us to entertain beautifully in the French manner. Besides recipes, she shares tips on table setting, flower arrang...

November 29 - White Truffles in Winter , by N. M. Kelby (2011) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3YRCM3X This novel imagines the world of the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier, who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy (London) and the Ritz (Paris) His wife, Delphine, was a poet who refused to leave her home in Monte Carlo, and he went on to ha...

November 28 – The Women in Black , by Madeline St. John (2020) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4hp8AEs Here’s a cute and light story about the ladies that work in the “Ladies Cocktail Frocks” department at the FG Goode department store. They’re all expected to wear black dresses to work. Set in Sydney in the 1950s. They’re girding themselves for the Christmas rush. A Slove...

November 27 – How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days, by Kari Leibowitz, PhD (2024) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/48tI6h1 I’m someone who loves winter, but dreads the long gray days we have here in Seattle in February and March. I’ve always set aside tasks to accomplish and creative things to look forward to in winter - why spend a...

November 26 – Little Women , by Louisa May Alcott (1868) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/48wRaSe With Thanksgiving comes a long weekend where we might be able to sneak in extra reading time. Perhaps you’re returning home on a long plane or car ride; or snuggled safely in bed after eating a post-Thanksgiving breakfast with leftovers. It’s a great time to re-read Little Wome...

November 25 - Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship , by Isabel Vincent (2016) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4fOKnpY “When Isabel meets Edward, both are at a crossroads: he wants to follow his late wife to the grave, and she is ready to give up on love. Thinking she is merely helping Edward’s daughter--who lives far away and has asked her to check in on...

November 24 - How to Age Disgracefully , by Clare Pooley (2024) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4et6kt7 When Lydia takes a job running the Senior Citizens’ Social Club three afternoons a week, she assumes she’ll be spending her time drinking tea and playing gentle games of cards. The members of the Social Club, however, are not at all what Lydia was expecting. From Art, a...

November 23 – The Echo of Twilight , by Judith Kinghorn (2017) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4eWDd2k Historical fiction described as “Downton Abbey mixed with Upstairs Downstairs meets Jane Eyre.” Set in 1914 during WWI, a lady’s maid named Pearl works for Lady Ottoline Campbell at her estate in Scotland. The two have an unusually friendly relationship. The men they love...

November 22 - Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others , by Amy Thielen (2023) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3AfMFie This is a cookbook, yes, but also a guide to hosting parties more effortlessly, more often, and more casually. I know that not everyone listening to this podcast enjoys hosting, or has the ability to. That’s totally ok. People who love hosti...

November 21 – My Mrs. Brown , by William Norwich (2017) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4f3b75M “Sometimes a dress isn’t just a dress.” A quiet, simple woman of a certain age has a secret, and travels from her small town to New York City to purchase a simple, elegant, perhaps “boring” black Oscar de la Renta dress at the Madison Avenue flagship store. She needs the courage...

November 20 - Great Short Books: A Year of Reading—Briefly , by Kenneth C. Davis (2022) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/48sHUPc This book helps you plan your next reading year, if you prefer short novels. It’s a guide to the best short novels of all time, defined as being under 200 pages. The guide suggests 58 short books - one for each week of the year, plus a few bonus c...

November 19 - How to Drink Like a Writer: Recipes for the Cocktails and Libations that Inspired 100 Literary Greats , by Apollo Publishing (2020) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3UOlMcv Autumn is a great time to host or attend cocktail parties; mix yourself a perfect cocktail to sip by a bonfire; or invite friends over for a wine tasting. Here’s a cocktail book for bibliop...

November 18 - The Kitchen Counter Cooking School: How a Few Simple Lessons Transformed Nine Culinary Novices into Fearless Home Cooks , by Kathleen Flinn (2011) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/40n9oUe A non fiction book about how the author, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu, helped nine other people find their inner cook. “The Kitchen Counter Cooking School includes practical...

November 17 – The Bronte Plot , by Katherine Reay (2015) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3YqVjmb This author writes lots of Jane Austen themed books, such as “Dear Mr. Knightley,” “The Austen Escape,” and “Lizzy & Jane.” She also has written a few books about literature and bookstores.  This book features a rare bookseller, Lucy, who sort of uses unethical methods to s...

November 16 - The Third Gilmore Girl , by Kelly Bishop and Amy Sherman-Palladino (2024) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/48wdZWb Here’s a memoir by Kelly Bishop, who you might remember playing Mrs. Emily Gilmore in “Gilmore Girls” in the 1990s and 2000s. Her autobiography covers her extensive dance career. I had no idea she was instrumental in the creation of “A Chorus Line...

November 15 – March , by Geraldine Brooks (2005) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3YChZBc This fictional depiction of the Little Women March family’s patriarch won a Pulitzer Prize. It follows Mr. March (based on Louisa May Alcott’s father Bronson Alcott) as he leaves his family in Concord and joins the Union to fight against the Confederacy during the Civil War.  Geraldine...

November 14 - Wine Club: A Monthly Guide to Swirling, Sipping, and Pairing with Friends , by Maureen Petrosky (2023) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3YG9zZu Wouldn’t it be fun to start a wine club? Autumn is the perfect time to gather with friends and learn more about wine. Each month, the book guides you through a  specific style of wine or varietal, from Cabernet Sauvign...

November 13 - Made from Scratch: Reclaiming the Pleasures of the American Hearth , by Jean Zimmerman (2012) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3NTictq With Thanksgiving feasts approaching soon, you might notice that I’m recommending a lot of food related books lately. This one is a non-fiction food history book, and I personally found it fascinating. This book sings the prais...

November 12 - The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters , by Priya Parker (2020) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4hiHEGh It’s less than a couple weeks until Thanksgiving, and my thoughts turn to gatherings and celebrations. I think about the lonely people who aren’t invited to any gatherings, or who haven’t found their “people” yet. I have hosted hundreds of Mee...

November 11 – The Other Bennett Sister , by Janice Hadlow (2020) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3YmbCAv Here’s a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, where the neglected middle sister Mary is portrayed as a frustrated intellectual with hopes and dreams of her own. I have a huge weakness for Pride and Prejudice retellings, and this is a nice cozy autumn read for...

November 10 - Sophie Valroux's Paris Stars , by Samantha Verant (2021) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4e2z382 This work of culinary fiction is the second in a series about French chef Sophie Valroux, but you don’t need to have read the first book to enjoy this one. In this one, she’s cooking and running the restaurant at a Chateau she inherited from her grandmother....

November 9 – The Pink Suit , by Nicole Mary Kelby (2014) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4e6xFkF Here is a fictional novel about an Irish seamstress who worked at a haute couture fashion house, Chez Ninon, on Jacqueline Kennedy’s iconic pink suit, and what happened to her after the suit became famous for all the wrong reasons. The Irish immigrant, Kate, is obsessed with pe...

November 8 - The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slate r, by Nigel Slater (2012) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3AqLYTm Award winning British food writer Nigel Slater shares a year’s worth of his grocery shopping, cooking and entertaining. For example, under the New Year’s Day entry, “A Day of Hope and Hot Soup.” His recipes are arranged by season. There...

November 7 - Midnight Blue , by Simone van der Vlugt (2018) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3YpnfXC Here’s a book you might enjoy if you liked “The Miniaturist” and “The Girl with a Pearl Earring.” This historical fiction novel is set in Holland’s Golden Age. (The 1650s) Catrin is 25 when her husband dies. She leaves their small village to go work as a housekeeper for a fa...

November 6 – Penelope in Retrograde , by Brooke Abrams (2023) Shop now at Amazon.com (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4e7kyj4 Welcome to our November 6 episode of The Lovely Book of the Day podcast! I’m your host Carrie, from the Lovely Living blog. I have another beautiful book suggestion for you on this blustery Wednesday. A romance writer who dabbles in astrology heads home for Thanksgiving, r...