Kitchens of the Great Midwest

By J. Ryan Stradal,

Book cover of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Book description

“A sweet and savory treat.” —People

“An impressive feat of narrative jujitsu . . . that keeps readers turning the pages too fast to realize just how ingenious they are.”—The New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Pick

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Lager Queen of Minnesota,…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Kitchens of the Great Midwest as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I finished J. Ryan Stradal’s Great Kitchens of the Northwest coming home on a plane from Chicago this summer and wept as I read his acknowledgment of his mother’s powerful influence on his work. Stradal’s mother was an English major and often read her sons stories she had written as class assignments.

Stradal’s voice reminds me of singer/songwriter John Prine. Like Prine, Stradal’s prose is full of humor and kindness, and he writes convincingly from a woman’s point of view. Great Kitchens is centered around a food-obsessed family.

The characters are fully realized. They experience tragedy and hardship, work long…

I dare you to read this book and not end up a teary, blubbering mess, in the best possible way. Kitchens of the Great Midwest is one of those stories that transported and transformed me. I never knew I needed to spend an afternoon in Minnesota learning how to prepare lutefisk, but after reading this book I can say without hesitation that my life is infinitely better for having done so. This brilliant feast of fiction centers around a young chef Eva who reconnects with her Midwest roots on her quest to find herself and her family in her food.…

Those People Behind Us

By Mary Camarillo,

Book cover of Those People Behind Us

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Novelist Music Lover Reader Traveler Cat servant

Mary's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Those People Behind Us is set in the summer of 2017, post-Trump election and pre-pandemic. The story takes place in the fictional city of Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices. These divisions change the lives of five neighbors--a real estate agent, an ex-con, a Vietnam vet, a teenage boy, and an aerobics teacher.

These characters care for elderly parents and rebellious teens and struggle with loss, loneliness, grief, and financial worries. They are also all searching for community in a neighborhood where no one can agree on who belongs. In…

Those People Behind Us

By Mary Camarillo,

What is this book about?

It's the summer of 2017 in Wellington Beach, California, a suburban coastal town increasingly divided by politics, protests, and escalating housing prices-divisions that change the lives of five neighbors.

Longtime resident and real estate agent Lisa Kensington juggles her job, her shopaholic husband, a mother-in-law who knows how to push her buttons, and teenage children with ideas of their own, all while trying to hold on to her own dreams. Her neighbor Ray Gorman is a haunted Vietnam vet who is also caring for his aging mother. Keith Nelson, an ex-con, lives in his car, parked around the corner from…


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