Happy Monday, book friends! I had a restful weekend at home with Azula, reading and baking and playing Stardew Valley. Now, another workweek begins.

A couple of books arrived on my doorstep this weekend, so I’m here with another book mail Monday!

(Serious) New Cook* by Leah Su Quiroga and Cammie Kim Lin

I’ve somehow begun attracting the attention of PR folks who are promoting cookbooks, and as a cookbook lover, I am very here for it. I was delighted to be offered a review copy of this cookbook, which is designed to teach basic cooking skills through popular recipes. I’ll admit I expected some pretty basic stuff here, but this book is chock full of gorgeous color photos of recipes that genuinely have me excited to get into the kitchen.

The recipes are grouped into trios that teach a particular cooking technique or skill, then build on it in subsequent recipes. There are full color photos of the steps to really walk you through the process, and a ton of general cooking knowledge at the start. Though I’m not a particularly “new” cook at 30, I do think I’ll learn some new things from these recipes, including how to make steamed pork buns and mochi. Many thanks to Rizzoli publishing and Andrea Burnett PR for the review copy.

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

This was my October pick from Authentic Books. I met Celeste at a book signing back when I lived in Cincinnati and read Everything I Never Told You. She became an auto-buy author for me, which is why I’m going to check this one out even though it doesn’t quite sound like the kind of book I usually like. It’s about a 12-year-old boy called Bird, who goes on a journey to find his mother. There’s a distinct dystopian/speculative vibe here, wherein the government has implemented strict laws to preserve “American culture,” including the ability to relocate children with dissident parents and remove “unpatriotic” texts from libraries. Bird’s mother was a poet with some “unpatriotic” views, and he grew up knowing next to nothing about her.

I imagine this will be a difficult and heartbreaking read much like her previous books. To be honest, 12-year-old boy narrator gives me distinct shades of the (deeply boring) books I was forced to read throughout middle school, which is my main reason for not being over-the-moon excited for this one.

---

That’s it for me this week! I did also grab a couple of library cookbooks to try and find some good vegan recipes, but TBD on whether either of them makes their way into my permanent collection.

What about you, book friends? Get any exciting new books recently?