I have run out of books to read! I need a winter reading list.
Every single night of my reading life (beginning at age 3) I have read a book in bed before going to sleep. And when the winter comes there may even be time to read a book in front of the fire in the afternoons and I will be travelling to Australia and New Zealand this winter so I read in the airports and the airplanes and taxis and buses and trains and in the backyards of my children. So I need heaps of books. I know you read. What book did you read this year that you loved enough to recommend.
If you are new to the Fellowship here are the previous lists.
2012 books
2013 books
2014 (what happened to 2014?) I cannot find it. 
Anyway – it is that time again – though there is no actual time for this list except that I am out of a book and need some guidance. And you are all readers! Will you share?
To start the ball rolling I have two recommendations from The Fellowship. Books that have come out this year and I was lucky enough to read.
The first is a recipe book written by John Amici : Recipes from The Bartolini Kitchens. This is not only an extraordinary collection of one families recipes cooked by the Bartolini sisters and their families and recorded by their son and nephew but also a collection of stories about an Italian family settling and cooking and flourishing in America. This is the story of the American Dream with food.
The second book I would like to recommend is by Melissa DeCarlo. The Art of Crash Landing. It is a novel of a young woman named Mattie who finds herself pregnant and lost and launches herself out into the world with much gusto and determination and not a little trepidation. This book charges along at breakneck speed, a wonderful read. And what I liked the most about Mattie and the collection of characters that we meet as we read this book ,is how REAL they are. How easy it was for me to empathise with the people that people these pages. Loved it.
Both of these are available on Amazon. 
I have a few more that I will tell you about when I write up the list.
Now: How about you?
Do you have any books you have read lately that we might want to read? I love a good book.
From your recommendations I shall create the 2015 list of books recommended by The Fellowship of the Farmy – for us all to print and share. In the past I have given away our lists as Christmas presents to my friends and family all of whom love to read. And if you are a reader of this blog you are one of The Fellowship so everyone can join in.
What are you reading? What have you written? What should I be reading?
Love celi
PS. I will not answer the comments today so you do not have to scroll down too far to add your own. But I will be reading and compiling all day! Thank you!
The Kitchen's Garden 
113 responses to “The Winter Book List 2015”
I read two of Alice Hoffman’s this year, A Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers. Really enjoyed them both, and am looking forward to reading more. The first is set on the Island of St. Thomas in the 1800’s and tells the life story of the woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro; the Father of Impressionism. The second tells the story of four women during the siege of Masada. I would also like to recommend All The Light We Cannot See. Can’t wait to get the whole list!
I’ll second, or third as the case may be, Recipes from the Bartollini Kitchens…great read and has my favorites of John’s recipes. I’m a total space, sci-fi and fantasy geek so here are a few I’ve read this year or prior and would recommend. Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear (the third of the trilogy is coming), George R.R. Martin’s entire Game of Thrones series…the show is good but the books are a whole different animal, and I’ve just started another 5 book series beginning with Dan Simmon’s Hyperion. If you want further escapist and wish to step back in time to the American 60’s, John D. Macdonald’s Travis McGee series are fun.
Oh my gord! A Travis McGee fan – I only know of one person (other than me) who has read them all and loved them! Slip F18, Bahia Mar. Absolutely love those books – a little violence (but not graphic) – a little PI detective mystery – a little sex (but respectful of women and not graphic) – really truly 1960’s. Think Magnum PI (Tom Selleck), but in Florida and before “technology”, and with a brainy sidekick. Wow, haven’t thought of JDM for a long time, must dig them out and read again. Every book title has a colour in it.
Chris S in Canada
My husband grew up in Ft. Lauderdale in the 50’s and 60’s and lived about half a mile from Bahia Mar. He turned me on to the Travis McGee books…he has the full collection. A great vacation read and like you, periodically we both decide it’s time to pull them out, transport to the Busted Flush and enjoy the whole adventure again…with a glass of Plymouth, ice and a twist, please. 🙂 BTW, we know a few more fans.
Anything Phillipa Gregory (http://www.philippagregory.com/books), particularly The Cousins War Series & The Tudor Court Novels
Anne Rice’s Blackwood Farm
Michael Pollan’s Second Nature & Cooked
Anything John Steinbeck, most recently for me Travels with Charley in Search of America
Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
David Allen’s Getting Things Done
Just finished reading (for maybe the hundredth time) the entire series by Tony Hillerman. The Joe
Leaphorn/Jim Chee characters are as interesting as the country they drive you into. The Southwest Four Corners. Get to know about my part of the world.
Oh, I love his books, I have them all!
Another great reminder of books that I haven’t re-read for a long time. Loved them all! I think a couple of them were made into movies with (if I remember correctly) Adam Beach, a Canadian. Guess I need to dig these out too. Have travelled a bit in that part of the world and it is truly beautiful!
Chris S in Canada
I have a book I’d like to send you, but it’s packed away somewhere. Perhaps after I move. I see that it is available from Amazon’s used books so if you don’t want to wait for me, try Back to the Damn Soil by Mary Gubser. There is not even a good description on Amazon. Mary Gubser wrote about her experiences as a city girl in WWII moving to a farm in rural Oklahoma. It is the most delightful read.
In addition, The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister as well as the sequel, The Lost Art of Mixing. And the unrelated Joy for Beginners.
The Shepherd Life by James Rebanks
I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed and found Olive Ketteridge by Elizabeth Strout an interesting look at a woman’s ‘life over 25 years. I also find I’m reading less and watching movies or playing on my computer more. I’m heading down to Mexico this Saturday, so will see what books are available for trade at the camp bookshelf. Beach reading is definitely different than curling up in front of the fire or snuggled under the blankets. Enjoy!
Olive Ketteridge by Elizabeth Strout , it’s a great book and the movie is also good.
Taller When Prone by Les Murray, especially the poem about the mute cat. You’ll feel as though you could have written it.
Cutting For Stone – Abraham Verghese (Pretty sure you will not want this one to end and I have it in paperback if you want me to send it to you. Would love to see this story in a movie)
War Brides – Lois Battle (excellent and fairly quick read)
Beautiful Ruins – Jess Walker (also mentioned above)
Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver (read many years ago but excellent read)
Currently I am reading “The Boys in the Boat” – Daniel James Brown.
Thank you for doing this list. I will enjoy getting some ideas.
My all time favorite book was “Breakfast with Buddha” by Roland Merullo. I couldn’t put it down. I read too much nonfiction and will have to look at the ton of books on my shelves to get a better handle on what I read and what I lost interest in. I love the short stories from Chicken Soup books because they usually make me feel good, are short and sent me off to sleep kindly. I’m so glad to hear you are traveling to see your children this winter. Looking forward to hearing about the trip.
Series by Louise Penny featuring Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, in the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec, Canada: beginning with Still Life, then A Fatal Grace and 9 others.
Wonderful books – you see her growth as a writer and how Gamache changes as things happen in his life. Newest book out within the last 6 months or so.
Chris S in Canada
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams; Bone Horses and Ladies of the Canyon by Lesley Poling-Kempes have been books I’ve enjoyed lately. We are about to get our first
freeze tonight here in Albuquerque!! Still have zucchini squash and tomatoes in the garden!
Just finished A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. Also enthusiastically recommend: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann; The Patrick Melrose 5 book series written by Edward St. Aubyn; Meet Me in Malmö by Torquil McLeod; My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse; To the Field of Stars: A pilgrim’s journey to Santiago de Compostela.
I second Pat R’s recommendations of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and Furiously Happy, both by Jenny Lawson. But if you read them on the plane, you will disturb everyone with your choking laughter. I am currently reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, which I love. And I would highly recommend Blue Latitudes by Tony Horwitz (anything by him is great) (non-fiction) about the voyages of Captain Cook.
I’ve been in an Italian idyll for months before a trip & have read The Leopard by Guiseppe di Lampedusa (I’d only seen the movie years ago.) I also read A Fine Romance by Cynthia Propper Seton, The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard & also her Naple Dispatches, & I have now embarked on Elena Ferrante’s 4 volume long Neapolitan novel- as she describes it, beginning with My Brilliant Friend. It’s brilliant so far.