Reads for 2011

Resolution for this year: start blogging again on a regular basis. To restart, here are my top picks of books from my reading last year. Enjoy!

Grown-Up Reads:
1. "Sugar: A Bittersweet History"- My love of Culinary history continues! This one was fascinating , beginning with why sugar became the most popular sweetener in the Western world, the social ramifications from it (like the slave trade), and just how it has influenced and shaped societies. Full of villains and heroes, tidbits and mention of yummy sweets this is one riveting non-fiction book.

2. "A Countess Below Stairs"-My thanks to Jaima for helping me discover the delightful author Eva Ibbotson! Her novels are stories full of dynamic characters, a fun romantic plot and some sly humour. I love a novel where you really cheer for the heroing and Anna is just that. Fleeing imperial Russia this young countess takes her change of fortune in stride on arriving in England and takes a job as a maid of all work at an English manor. Her zeal to do the job properly is endearing and cannot help but win everyone's hearst, which doe not go unnoticed by the earl's nasty fiance.

3. "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie"- A mystery series by a Canadian author with a title that tickled my funny bone, all a very good start when I first picked this book up and it did not disappoint. Flavia de Luce, a ten-year old with a passion for chemistry, discovers a body in the kitchen garden of the crumbling family manor. Between solving the case , clearing her father's name and battling her two older sisters she is a heroing after my own heart.

4. "Finding Water; The Art of Perseverance"-I have mentioned already the marvellous book "The Artist's Way" By Julia Cameron, a book which has been key to me in growing as a writer. This book of hers takes the concepts of fostering your creativity from the earlier book and gives twelve steps in persevering in it, especially when the going gets rough. Marvellous.

5. "Pies and Tarts"- I blame a certain character of mine who has a talent in pastry that lead me to this great cookbook. But then, Martha Stewart does publish gorgeous ones doesn't she? This one is chock-full of scrumptious recipes, from mini lemon tarts with poppyseed crust, rhubarb crisp pie to the best recipe I have ever found for apple. My skills at pie have not been very good, but they are improving, this book providing ample inspiration.

6. "Handmade Home"- I have become a big fan of Amanda Blake Soule. Her books are a fantastic resource for activities and crafts to enrich my home and encourage creativity in both myself and my kids. She very "Waldorfy" which I love. This book is full of crafts enhance your home. I love her idea for portrait bookmarks using your kids art. Check it out.

7. "Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity From a Consumer Culture"- it can be easy as a homemaker to feel like a fish out of water in today's world. This book was very empowering in that it strengthened my resolve to see just how important a work it is that I do here at home, and made me realize that I'm not as alone as I thought. The history of of how homemaking became thought of as superfluous in North America was quite thought-provoking.

8. ""Secret Daughter" -Now here's a novel that made me laugh and cry. Very seldom do I find one that can make me love a character, then hate them, then love them once more. Also is it rare to find a book where I find a book with a character that I hate, but then grow to love, yet this one did both. Intertwining the tale of two families and the child who connects them, this book made me want to adopt a baby, eat Indian food and volunteer at an orphanage. One Indian mother gives up her baby who is then adopted by an American family. Don't miss this one.

9. ""Agatha Christie: An Autobiography"-The "Queen of Crime" has long been a favourite of mine. Reading her novels I formed a lot of questions and theories about the woman herself, and reading her autobiography I was thrilled to learn that I was right. The same style that prevades her books continues in this book, making it a fun read- despite it's considerable length. What I loved was how she would suddenly go off on tangents sharing her opinions about such topics as feminism, travel, poisons, morality, plus many others.

10. "Under the Harrow"-This book I devoured in three days flat. Putting it down was very hard to do! The isolated inhabitants of Dingley Dell have lived for over a hundred years in their valley, a society based on the three books they had when they were left there: The sixth edition of Britannica Encyclopedia, the King James' Bible, and the complete works of Charles Dickens. Anyone who leaves the valley is never seen again. But when one young boy runs away from home, what he finds in the outside world will either save or destroy the home he has left behind.