I love a fun reading challenge! When my author friends, Diane Kelly and Melissa Bourbon asked me to come up for a 2022 challenge for their Facebook Reading Group, The Book Warriors, I jumped at the chance. I hope you will consider joining me in this challenge, either by joining the Facebook Group or by posting your reads here at the end of the year. If you would like this list in a Word document, please comment and I will email it to you.

HAPPY READING IN 2022!

Pick 13 food-related books to read in 2022.  They can be either fiction or non-fiction. Here are some suggestions for your Baker’s Dozen.  Feel free to come up with your own categories. 

• A book about a baker or bakery
• A book with a dessert or type of bread on the cover
• A book where someone is poisoned
• A Memoir that includes recipes
• A book with the word sweet, spicy, bitter, acid, salt, or fat in the title
• A book about where a character is a chef, cooking instructor, or restaurant critic
• A book that has a diner, coffee shop, food truck, or bar where the locals hang out
• A book with the word fries, cake, bake, flame, toast, heat, or burn in the title
• A book where a family gathers for a holiday dinner or party
• A book by an author whose first or last name is food-related (for example Ham, Baker, Herb, Apple, Ginger, Rosemary, Olive, Honey, Bacon, Madeleine, Curry, Blanche)
• A book by an author whose first or last name is beverage-related (for example Coffee, Brandy, Bourbon, Sherry, Jameson, Paloma, Margarita.)
• A book where fishing, farming, gardening, or hunting is a hobby or occupation of one of the characters
• A book where one of the characters owns a distillery, brewery, or winery
• A book where someone is murdered at a restaurant or bar
• A book with a cover that features people eating or drinking
• A book where there is a Bed and Breakfast in the story
• A book with an alcoholic beverage on the cover
• A book with the word recipe, menu, ingredients, or grocery in the title
• A book where a character enters a cooking contest or state fair
• A book with a cup of coffee or tea on the cover
• A book where a wedding cake is part of the storyline
• A Cookbook published in 2020 or later and you make at least 4 of the recipes
• A book where food rationing is part of the story
• A book with a bumbling cook or baker
• A book with two chefs or bakers who don’t get along
• A book with two chefs or bakers who have a budding romance
• A book where a baked item gets burned
• A book with a male chef or baker
• A book featuring berries

(Plurals, suffixes, and variations are allowed. For example: In # 5 for the keyword “sweet”, you could use “sweets”, “sweetie”, “sweetener”, or “sweetest”. In # 8, if the keyword is ‘bake’ you may substitute the words such as “bakes’, ‘baking”, “bakers”, “half-baked”, or “baked”.)