
Slice of Life is a regular update on the latest in my life. This is where I write about my books, movies, tv, food, fashion, family or whatever subjects are on my mind this week. It’s just a little glimpse of my slice. (“But what about the great deals on books?!” Just keep on scrollin’.)
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- The past week has been hard. I do not feel qualified or in the right position to speak about race. Instead, I feel like I need to open my heart and ears and listen. Really listen. I will also point to this post which outlines very aptly a few important ways one can actively be a force for good on race issues. I am more of an escape reader, but even I know the importance of not sticking your head in the sand when the world around us is quite literally falling apart. One book I read last year in an effort to better understand this issue was The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas. I need to read more of these kinds of books, but I recommend this one and have committed to reading more books by people of color this year. Specifically, I plan to read: Notes from a Young Black Chef (ordered), Bluebird, Bluebird (ordered) and Their Eyes Were Watching God (on my hold list at library). Is it enough? No, but it’s a start.
- The hot weather is here in Texas (and it’s only going to get worse). We are trying to get outside in the mornings and save the afternoon (heat of the day) for inside chores, minimal (educational) TV programs, reading and audiobooks (we are loving this app), and my oldest (8 years old) is even showing some interest in cooking (we bought this book and are working our way through it). What are you doing to beat the heat?
- Our local library opened back up this week (Praise God!) for curbside pickup and we picked up our first group of books of the summer yesterday. It felt good.
Weekend Reading: The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

New on the Blog
Dutch Oven Roasted Potatoes – Take the makings for this dish on your next camping trip and prepare for minds to be blown. {Pin this Post}
2020 Summer Thrillers Reading List – Don’t mist this (PRINTABLE) list of 30 amazing thrillers that are perfect for summer reading. {Pin this Post}
Dutch Oven Blueberry Cobbler – Do you know what is a really good quarantine activity for this summer? Camping! This is the best and easiest way (no special tools, except for the actual dutch oven, required) to cook cobbler by the campfire. {Pin this Post}

Amazing Book Deals
Whether I have read (and loved) it, heard about it from fellow bookish friends or actually have it on my own “to be read” list, each book below made this list because it’s on my radar (AND because it’s on sale). Note: Book bargains are subject to change so act fast!
NOTE: My weekly book deals list will soon be moved out of “Slice of Life” and onto to its own page on my site. The new book deals page will be updated (and emailed to my mailing list) on a weekly basis.
Want these book deals to come straight to your inbox?
Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Last Day by Luanne Rice
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Don’t Overthink It by Anne Bogel
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms (FREE with PRIME)
The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey (FREE with PRIME)
What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon (FREE with PRIME)
El Deafo by Cece Bell
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Widow by Fiona Barton
Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson (free with PRIME)
The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
If You Tell by Gregg Olsen
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Whisper Man by Alex North
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Audiobook Deals
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Gulp by Mary Roach
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond
1984 by George Orwell
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Virgin River by Robyn Carr
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart
Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia Macneal