Sunday Salon: Good Taste by Jane Green

The Fortress: A Love Story by Danielle Trussoni, published September 20, 2016 by Dey Street Books. 
I am three-quarters of the way through this book, billed as "a memoir of love and transformation in France." It is about married foreigners in a 13th-century fortress in a small town in France, Aubais. The marriage is falling apart, and I'm not surprised given the bad vibes from the residence - a former fortress that may have seen a lot of bloodshed and death in the old days. The couple have even seen the same ghost at different times, albeit a friendly one, a woman in blue. Ghosts and violence in the past of a residence are not conducive to a happily married life,  in my opinion. 

Jane Green's new cookbook, Good Taste, came in the mail, thanks to NAL.

Good Taste: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green, October 4, 2016, NAL
There are fairly simple, uncomplicated recipes that I'd like to try - 
- Daily Baby Back Ribs, with only six ingredients and five easy steps. 
- Slow Braised Onion Chicken, with seven ingredients (including three different parts of the chicken) and easy prep for an oven baked dish. 
- Plum Tart Tatin looks delicious.

I am still reading two novels about children "adopted" by Native American Indian couples in complicated scenarios.
In LaRose by Louise Erdrich, a tragic accident leads one family on a North Dakota reservation to give up their precious young son to another Indian family. 
In Winter's Child by Margaret Coel, an Arapaho couple on a reservation hopes to formally adopt a white child left by a stranger on their doorsteps years before. 

What are you reading this week? 

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

First Chapter: LaRose by Louise Erdrich

Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph every Tuesday. Share the first paragraph(s) of your current read or book interest, with information for readers

LaRose by Louise Erdrich, published May 10, 2016 by Harper. 
A contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in Native American culture. 

First paragraph, first chapter:

NORTH DAKOTA, LATE SUMMER, 1999. Landreaux Iron stalks a deer along the edge of the property bordering his own. He shoots with easy confidence - but when the buck springs away, Landreaux realizes he's hit something else, a blur he saw as he squeezed the trigger. When he staggers closer, he realizes he has killed his neighbor's five-year-old son, Dusty Ravich. 

Dusty was best friends with Landreaux’s five-year-old son, LaRose.... Following an ancient means of retribution, he and wife Emmaline will give LaRose to Dusty's grieving parents. “Our son will be your son now,” they tell them. But a vengeful man begins raising trouble, hurling accusations of a cover-up the day Dusty died. (publisher)

Would you keep reading, based on the first paragraph and the book description? 

Sunday Salon: Winter's Last Hurrah

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit Mailbox Monday, and It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

Snow surprised us this morning, as almost eight inches fell overnight. It was very picturesque while it lasted, but the sun came out later and melted much of it from the trees and sidewalks. It may have been winter's last hurrah, at least we hope so. 

New books for review, a variety of genres:

Wedding Girl by Stacey Ballis, to be released May 3, 2016 by Berkley
Top pastry chef Sophie Bernstein and her sommelier fiancé were set to have Chicago’s culinary wedding of the year…until the groom eloped with someone else in a very public debacle, leaving Sophie fifty grand in debt on her dream wedding and then losing her job and her home…. Sophie moves in with her grandmother, Bubbles, and looks for a new career.
The Kingdom by Fuminori Nakamura, to be released July 12, 2016; advance uncopyedited edition from Soho Press. A noir novel about a freelancer in the Tokyo underworld who blackmails for an unknown organization for her living, until someone discovers her secrets. 
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, published April 5, 2016 by Simon & Schuster. 
Ani FaNelli is the woman you love to hate. The woman who has it all. But when Ani's immaculate façade begins to crack, she soon realises that there's always a price to pay for perfection.
And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer, to be released May 3, 2016 by Harper.  A novel inspired by historical events—about two women, one European and one American, and the mysterious choral masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach that changes both their lives.
The Summer Guest, historical fiction by Alison Anderson, tp be released May 24, 2016 by HarperCollins. Blinded by a fatal illness, young Ukrainian doctor Zinaida Lintvaryova is living on her family’s rural estate in the summer of 1888. When a family from Moscow rents a cottage on the grounds, Zinaida develops a deep bond with one of their sons, a doctor and writer of modest but growing fame called Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.
LaRose by Louise Erdrich, to be released May 10, 2016 by Harper. A contemporary tale of a tragic accident, a demand for justice, and a profound act of atonement with ancient roots in indigenous culture.

Contemporary fiction, thrillers, and historical fiction - a lot to read this spring!
What's on your reading desk this spring?