Musing about food

My friend Jane knows my favorite food is fried okra, so for my birthday on Saturday she took me out for dinner to a place that has it.  What's your favorite food?  Do you read books about food?  Do you like to cook or bake?

Recommendation by a friend

Conclave ~ by Robert Harris, 2024, literary fiction, 304 pages

The pope is dead.  Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will gather to cast their votes in the world's most secretive election.  They are holy men, but they are not immune to the human temptations of power and glory.  And they are not above the tribalism and factionalism that consumes humanity.  When all is said and done, one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on Earth.

The selection of a new Pope by the college of Cardinals is in the news right now, so this book that my friend Lois showed me yesterday when we met downstairs to talk is timely.  She offered to let me read it when she's finished.

Here's what I have posted this week:

1. Monday was National Tea Day, honoring my favorite beverage, HERE.
2. Tuesday was another special day, Earth Day, which I wrote about HERE.
3. World Book Day was celebrated on Wednesday, and I wrote about it HERE.
4. On Thursday, I wrote about three library books, HERE.
5. Friday's book beginning was about how America is changing, HERE.

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Beginning ~ with a town disappearing

Beginning

The town had been there for a century and a half.  Then one evening, in the summer of 2021, it disappeared.

The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration ~ by Jake Bittle, 2023, climatology, xxi + 345 pages

Even as climate change dominates the headlines, many of us still think about it in the future tense — we imagine that as global warming gets worse over the coming decades, millions of people will scatter around the world fleeing famine and rising seas.  What we often don’t realize is that the consequences of climate change are already visible, right here in the United States.  In communities across the country, climate disasters are pushing thousands of people away from their homes.

From half-drowned Louisiana to fire-scorched California, from the dried-up cotton fields of Arizona to the soaked watersheds of inland North Carolina, people are moving.  In the last few decades, the federal government has moved tens of thousands of families away from flood zones, and tens of thousands more have moved of their own accord in the aftermath of natural disasters.  Insurance and mortgage markets are already shifting to reflect mounting climate risk, pricing people out of risky areas.

Over the next fifty years, millions of Americans will be caught up in this churn of displacement, forced inland and northward in what will be the largest migration in our country’s history.  The Great Displacement tells the stories of those who are already experiencing life on the move, while detailing just how radically climate change will transform our lives — erasing historic towns and villages, pushing people toward new areas, and reshaping the geography of the United States.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking about books I've read more than once

Yesterday, I noticed that three books I had checked out of the Crown Center library were books I had already read.  Yes, I do re-read books, but having that many at the same time surprised me.  I am now in the middle of re-reading Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, literally about halfway.  So I'll keep reading that one.  You can see what I wrote about it, HERE.

I also checked out Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, knowing that I had read it before.  It is a wonderful book, and I decided that it was time to read it again.  Not only have I mentioned it on this blog at least half a dozen times (as you can see HERE), but it is a book I have recommended to many readers.

The third book is March by Geraldine Brooks, which I read so long ago (the copyright date is 2005) that I had not even started blogging.  My first blog post was dated January 2007, HERE.  I will probably read each of these three books (I mean, re-read them, of course) before returning them to the library.

World Book Day

World Book Day is celebrated on April 23.  This date marks the anniversary of the deaths of the literary giants William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, making it a symbolic day to honor literature.

Today is Earth Day

Earth Day is a global event dedicated to environmental protection, celebrated annually on April 22.  Why?  Because the first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, when millions of Americans mobilized to advocate for environmental reform.  This movement led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the enactment of significant environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.  Learn more HERE.

Let's drink tea today

April 21st is National Tea Day, to honor one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world.  It's a time for tea lovers to enjoy a hot cup of their favorite tea or an icy glass of tea (as I prefer).  Some articles I found seem to indicate that this day is only celebrated in Great Britain, but others say that the United States also celebrates this day.  Whatever day it is, I'm sure I will be drinking hot or cold tea.  Maybe it's because I have English ancestors.  Now, where's my tea?