I am a Canadian social anthropologist living in England, and my research is about material culture and heritage in Mexico. I have always been fascinated by the ways that people make their cultures through objects, food, and space; this almost certainly started with my mum who is always making something stitched, knitted, savoury, or sweet, often all at the same time. I hope that you enjoy the books on my list – I chose them as they each have something important to teach us about how our consumption of things affects those who make them, often in profound ways.
Like the other works on my list, Susan Terrio’s book considers how globalization transforms the production, meanings and markets for goods, and the lives of those who make them. Terrio considers how artisanal chocolate makers in Paris and the Bayonne area worked to carve out a high-value market niche for themselves by re-educating the public about the quality and prestige of French handmade chocolates. She documents how they managed to succeed in this project by borrowing terminology and practices from wine connoisseurship, and by linking their handmade chocolate to French identity. I love this book because it provides insights into how our own ideas about taste, quality, and enjoyment are deeply connected to economics, politics, policy, and identity – and because it’s about chocolate, of course!
This absorbing narrative follows the craft community of French chocolatiers--members of a tiny group experiencing intensive international competition--as they struggle to ensure the survival of their businesses. Susan J. Terrio moves easily among ethnography, history, theory, and vignette, telling a story that challenges conventional views of craft work, associational forms, and training models in late capitalism. She enters the world of Parisian craft leaders and local artisanal families there and in southwest France to relate how they work and how they confront the representatives and structures of power, from taste makers, CEOs, and advertising executives to the technocrats of Paris…
I’m
the happy father of five children, born between 2000 and 2017. So in my adult
years, I have quite constantly lived in the company of young children, and I’ve
started inventing stories for them. I have now six albums published in France,
all of which were originally imagined for my kids just before we switch off
the light for sleeping. Born in 1975, I live in Paris, I’m the chief editor
of Philosophie magazine (a monthly publication with 50 000
readers), and I’ve published twenty novels and essays alas not available in
English. I’m the president and co-founder of a creative writing school located
in Paris, Les Mots.
Claude
Ponti is now in charge of the answers to the children's questions in Philosophie
Magazine. Maybe less diffused in the Anglophone world than Ungerer, he’s
clearly a great artiste, one of the biggest, with an extravagant and
surrealistic imagination, and this album, in particular, is a masterpiece.
Claude Ponti’s nimble wordplay and punning, combined with his phantasmagorical and joyful illustrations, create an endearing gem of a book, bound to be a bedtime story favorite.
From one of the world’s most beloved children’s book authors comes a story of a high-spirited flock of friends building an unusual birthday cake. A rabble of soft, golden “chicklets” are awoken one morning to a startling proclamation: they only have ten short days to prepare for their best friend Bertha Daye’s party. It’s time to get to work building a larger-than-life castle cake to house and feed the revelers. Made of chocolate…
I was a teenager in the 80s (with the big-hair pictures to prove it) and a chain-smoking, bar-hopping, flannel-clad twenty-something in the 90s. I remember everything about those days. Because my brain is basically a pop culture museum, most of my books are nostalgic, geared toward Gen X, and heavily influenced by the John Hughes films from my youth. My novels are always written with humor, heart, and heat… and more than a little sarcasm. Then again, I’m a lifelong Jersey girl, so that might go without saying. I love reading stories with fun, gorgeous heroes and smart, vibrant heroines… so that’s what I write.
Tara Sivec is flipping hysterical, and if you haven’t discovered her yet, I highly suggest you dive into her entire book catalog immediately. Seduction and Snacks was my first read from her, and I noticed so many similar pop culture references in our writing that I messaged her to introduce myself and find out if we’d been separated at birth. S&S is crude, silly, and thoroughly entertaining. Oh, and also—according to the warning on her book’s sales page—not to be taken seriously. You should probably go in with an open mind (and a bottle of Tequila).
From USA Today bestselling author Tara Sivec comes the first book in the hilarious Chocolate Lovers series - NOW A FILM FROM PASSIONFLIX!
Claire is a twenty-something, single mom that grudgingly helps her best friend sell sex toys while she attempts to make enough money to start her own business to give her foul-mouthed, but extremely lovable (when he’s asleep) toddler a better life.
When Carter, the one-night-stand from her past that changed her life forever, shows up in her hometown bar without any recollection of her besides her unique chocolate scent, Claire will make it a point that he…
I am a New York Times Bestselling author of more than twenty children’s picture books and chapter books as well as a mom to two young kids. Nothing fills me with more joy than reading to children and witnessing how a story can open up their hearts and minds. And Valentine’s Day is a holiday that brings me extra joy because it’s all about spreading love and friendship. I love Valentine’s Day so much that I’ve written two picture books about it!
My kids never get tired of hearing this story! Love Monster is an adorable hero who faces a bit of a struggle when he discovers a box of chocolates waiting on his doorstep. At first, he wants to keep the yummy treats all to himself. But then his heart gets this squeezy feeling and he decides to share them with his friends. Little does he know, but Love Monster’s friends have a surprise waiting for him! This story is a great lesson in not jumping to conclusions, and in keeping your heart open.
A deliciously funny story featuring Love Monster, who now appears in his own animated television show on CBeebies!
When Love Monster finds a mystery box of chocolates at his door, he can't believe his luck. But he's soon thrown into a whirlwind of turmoil. Should he keep the chocolates for himself? Or risk the perils of sharing his good fortune with his friends?
This super-funny-rumbly-tummy-sherbert-explosion of a story shows that when faced with the selection box of life, following your heart will bring you the best treats of all.
I am a food blogger and cookbook author who has been making up recipes for fictional foods from fantasy and science fiction since I was old enough to walk and talk. I love building a bridge between stories, imagination, fandom and food. For over a decade, with a lot of research and some really bad puns, I have been helping other geeks and nerds all over the world make their fictional food fantasies come true.
Between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl’s work was a big part of my childhood and I’m far from alone there. Although the man himself left behind a complicated legacy, this cookbook is full of nothing but love, memories, and highly amusing anecdotes. The highlight recipes for me are the rose-petal sorbet, the almond soup, and, well, the entire chocolate section. Yes, there’s an entire section of the cookbook dedicated to chocolate.
This book is a mixture of anecdotes covering Roald Dahl's family, his childhood, and his happiness at home with Liccy, his wife, and their numerous children, grandchildren and friends. For this extensive family, there is no more enjoyable way of relaxing than sharing good food and wine. The meals they enjoy together round the old pine farmhouse table at Gipsey House are either fine examples of national dishes of their heritage - Norwegian, French, British, etc - or favourite recipes that have delighted three generations of discerning eaters. Many recipes have acquired a particular significance for the Dahl family over…
I’ve been fascinated with the extraordinary ever since I read Madeleine L ’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time in middle school.I was also enchanted by Dorothy’s trip from black-and-white Kansas into colorful Oz. I once heard Neil Gaiman mention the “hyperreality” of life, and I thought, Yes!That’s how I want to see the world—the magic everywhere.I voraciously read not only magical realism books but also fantasy. These stories heighten my awareness of the wonder in everything and in everyone, and they deepen the richness of the stories I tell and write.
Even before it was adapted into the Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, Chocolat entranced readers with its mix of hedonism, whimsy, and, of course, chocolate.
In tiny Lansquenet, where nothing much has changed in a hundred years, beautiful newcomer Vianne Rocher and her exquisite chocolate shop arrive and instantly begin to play havoc with Lenten vows.
Each box of luscious bonbons comes with a free gift: Vianne's uncanny perception of its buyer's private discontents and a clever, caring cure for them. Is she a witch?
Soon the parish no longer cares, as it abandons itself to temptation,…
Who doesn’t love chocolate? This is what I ask myself very often. Being an award-winning children’s book author with a passion for chocolate and sweets, I began to wonder how healthy my lifestyle really is. With the death of an overweight friend of mine and many people around me with weight issues, I felt it was time to write a book about food choices for kids.
A little mouse is trying to hide its red-foil-wrapped chocolate heart, but every hiding place she finds is not safe enough for her standards. Eventually, she puts it in her mouth and eats it. Now it’s safe! This delightful picture book for preschoolers makes me smile each time I read it. The illustrations are simplistic and beautiful. They fit perfectly to the text.
A lover of suspense thrillers and all things horror, my first introduction to romance novels was during book club. I love a good Rom-Com but as a reader, I used to shy away from erotica or meet-cute alpha male novels. Now I devour romance novels but they need very specific things. Strong heroines and suspense...and yes, great love scenes. Sparking my passion for the romance-suspense mash-up, I took a personal story and turned it into a suspense-driven romance full of angst. With 2 published novels, I continue to read and write romance thrillers hoping to change the stigma of romance as ‘fluff’ and ‘smut’ and show the strength in love.
This book still fits into my niche of romantic suspenseful thrillers, but has an air of fun Rom-Com style writing and not the dark gritty suspense of my other recommendations. I loved this story. Sydney Logan was very creative with building the lust and desire between two professional thieves that are typically out to rival each other. A book about con artists may turn some off, but the sweet sassy relationship built between Ethan and Jenne will suck you in. Just when you think it's all flowers and chocolate, Logan has Ethan hiding Jenne away from a bigger threat until they join forces and take revenge. Suspense, intrigue, angst, and sass… This book is a homerun!
Con artists Jenna York and Ethan Summers always seem to cross paths during their travels around the world. With their partners in tow, the cunning criminals wreak havoc across the globe, stealing from the rich and giving to the richer. While Jenna tries to convince herself that she sees him as nothing more than a professional rival, Ethan finds it a little harder to fight his attraction to the beautiful thief. When tragedy strikes, Jenna and Ethan join forces, but are the stakes too high? Can they escape this last job with their lives-and their hearts-intact?
I’m a multi-genre writer, a passionate reader, and, like all of us, a flawed human being. The stories that truly speak to me are the ones with a main character who is imperfect. I may not like the protagonist at first, but as the author develops the story and the hero’s challenges, the character grows, we see inside them and learn to love them, as they also learn to love and accept themselves, flaws and all. They use this growth to make a better world. And that’s what fiction is all about. Of course, it helps if they’re funny too. I love humor.
A book by Charlotte English – what more needs to be said? You know it’s going to be an unputdownable, funny journey. Gussie thinks she’s the ‘normal’ one in the family, until her magical gift asserts itself. Spiky and unsociable in nature, Gussie finds her ‘wyrde’, and then begins to view herself in a new light. With this new confidence, she sets out to save her world.
‘If you had not already realised it, this is a very strange house you are come to.’
The Scions of the House of Werth are all born normal. It is what happens afterwards that sets them apart.
It is not easy being the most supernatural family in England. Nell talks to the dead; Lord Werth is too often to be found out in the churchyard at the dead of night; and the less said about Lord Bedgberry, the better.
Only Miss Gussie Werth has missed out on the family curse. She sups on chocolate, not blood; she's blissfully oblivious to…
I tell people when I meet them that when I married my husband, I got roots. I moved a lot as a child, living in small country towns to suburbs of big cities, and my favorite place by far is in the country, surrounded by nature, feeling that sense of belonging. My husband and I live in his great-grandparent's house in the country, next door to his mother, who still lives in the house where she grew up and raised my husband. There is nothing I love more than sharing my love for Jesus with readers through fictional situations that could really happen.
This pick was a hard one, to decide which series of this author was my favorite. I picked this one because I absolutely love Jess. She is written in such a realistic and beautiful way. I couldn’t help but see some of myself in her. While this is the third book in this series (I highly recommend you read all three, in order) it was probably the one that stuck with me the longest. Brenda Anderson writes realistic, emotionally filled pages, drawing the reader in as though we belong. The storylines are all different and genuine and the characters all have their own personalities and quirks. There isn’t a book from this author that I don’t love and I highly recommend them all.
When flowers and chocolate collide, romance is sure to bloom.
Family has always been the one constant in Jess Beaumont’s messy life, so when her parents separate, she puts “Operation: Planting Hope” into action. All she has to do is recreate the circumstances that helped her parents fall in love. Unfortunately, that includes the daunting task of restoring the family cabin’s gardens. When the handsome candy store owner shows up to help, she’s certain she has all the elements required for her parents’ love to bloom again. After all, flowers and chocolate are the perfect ingredients for romance.
