Sift: The Elements of Good Baking by Nicola Lamb

  

I have a lot of cookbooks in my TBR, and there is nothing my husband loves more than for me to cook. To inspire me, I took photos with 24 cookbooks I have and I've prescheduled one post a month for the next two years. I'll plan to link up with In My Kitchen, hosted by Sherry's Pickings, and Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker). To further inspire me, I've created a Cooking/Baking Challenge for me for 2026 in which I read and bake from and post about one cookbook a month.

I'm not a math-y person. I forced myself to take every math class I could find when I was young. I always had high hopes that one day I would find a math class that was just for me. It never happened. 

Sift is a baking book for math-y people. I've been told over and over that it is important to measure precisely when baking, but I just can't make myself do that. After all, my grandma baked biscuits and pies and cakes all ninety-eight years of her life without owning measuring spoons or cups. 

So, I read Sift and numbers and percentages and ratios floated through my brain. Nothing stuck. I didn't try making anything in the book. Why? Because I didn't want to. 

You, though, you who weigh your flour and carefully follow all directions? You who read math books for fun? This is a book for you. I will not rate this book because it is more a measure of my incompetence than of this baker/author's skills.

Be a part of the friendly In My Kitchen (IMK) community by adding your post at Sherry's Pickings each month - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related. The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

Weekend Cooking was created by Beth Fish Reads and is now hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader (and Baker). It is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.  

For more photos, link up at Wordless Wednesday, Comedy Plus, Messymimi's Meanderings, Keith's Ramblings, Image-in-ing, Soul and Mind and So On, Wild Bird Wednesday, and My Corner of the World.

Summer Reading Challenges 2026

Summer is a great time for those of us who like to try a challenge or two.

Big books. A lot of people like to take on a big book for summer. 

And fortunately for all of us who enjoy big books, Sue Jackson of Book by Book hosts a Big Book Summer Reading Challenge. 

Here's a little about the challenge.

The idea behind this reading challenge is simple: Use the ease of summer to tackle a Big Book (400+ pages) or two or ... however many you want! You set your own goals. And if it is the start of winter where you live, then it's your Big Book Winter Challenge. Everyone is welcome to participate. 

The Details:
Hey, it's summer, so we'll keep this low-key and easy!

• Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.
• The challenge runs from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend (May 22 this year) through Labor Day (September 7 this year).
  
• Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that?  You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).
• No sign-ups are necessary! All readers are welcome to participate.

What kind of books "count"? All kinds! Middle-grade, YA, graphic novels, classics, all genres, all types--as long as they are at least 400 pages. Yes, e-books and audio books count, too--just check online for the number of pages in the print edition. 

My potential reads:

• Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Lacios - 400 pages 

• The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen - 418 pages  

• Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel - 482 pages  

• The Earth by Émile Zola - 512 pages

• Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser - 557 pages   

• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy - 592 pages 

• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - 992 pages 

 Two are book club reads---Pillars and Beyond Words---so those are the two I'm most likely to read.

 

 

But maybe you are not a person who enjoys reading big books. Maybe you like to read in quantity over the summer. In that case...

When Cathy of 746 books announced in 2025 that she would not host 20 Books of Summer this year after ten successful years, Emma of Words and Peace and Annabel of AnnaBookBel both volunteered to take it on. This year, Annabel will run the challenge alone.

• The 20 Books of Summer2026 (#20BOS26) challenge runs from Sunday June 1st to Sunday August 31st
• The first rule of 20 Books is that there are no real rules, other than signing up for 10, 15, or 20 books and trying to read from your TBR.
• Pick your list in advance, or nominate a bookcase to read from, or pick at whim from your TBR.
• If you do pick a list, you can change it at any time – swap books in/out.
• Don’t get panicked at not reaching your target.
• Just enjoy a summer of great reading and make a bit of space on your shelves!

Annabel will have monthly summary posts where you can add progress reports and recommendations. The final one at the at the beginning of September will stay open for a while to catch all the last reviews.

If you’re planning to join in please do add your blog / planning post link to the Mr Linky here.

Here are my (planned, but subject to change) 20 Books of Summer:

*Bake Happy by Judith Fertig.   

*Lost Horizon by James Hilton.    

*The Solitary Summer by Elizabeth von Arnim   

*Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel by Carl Safina.   

*Don't Call It Art by Austin Kleon.

*Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Mcfarlane.     

*The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.  

*Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson.    

*Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne.    

*The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

*The Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy

*The Earth by Émile Zola     

*Uncharted by Gordon Ramsay

*Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson

*The War of the Buttons by Louis Pergaud     

*A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

*My Friends by Frederik Bachman.    

*East Post Like by Emily Arden Wells 

*Write Yourself Out of a Corner by Alice LaPlante.    

*Paris Metro Tales by Ruth Paget     

*The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.    

*The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

*The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard.    

*Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

*The Shippers by Katherine Center.    

*The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith

*The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse

  

Do you have any special plans for your summer reading?

Do you like to plan things out or are you more of a person who likes to read at whim?

Previous years' posts about summer reading:

Summer Reads: Seventeen Summer-Filled Books You Might Consider for Your Summer Reading This Year

Summer Reading Challenges 

My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors

My ten eleven twelve thirteen fifteen favorite authors and my favorite book by each one are:

Pearl S. Buck...The Good Earth

William Steig...Rotten Island

Annie Dillard...A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

James Thurber...The 13 Clocks

J.R.R. Tolkien...The Hobbit

Ruth Krauss...How to Make an Earthquake

Edith Wharton...The Age of Innocence

Sinclair Lewis...Main Street

Maira Kalman...The Principles of Uncertainty

Alexandre Dumas...The Count of Monte Cristo

Larry McMurtry...Lonesome Dove

Anne Lamott...Traveling Mercies

Sid Fleischman...Chancy and the Grand Rascal

George Orwell...Animal Farm

Robert M. Pirsig...Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Do we share any of the same favorite authors?

Do we share any of the same favorite books by the same favorite authors?

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.   

The Sunday Salon: Home from Georgia

 

Welcome! I am delighted that you joined us here at the Sunday Salon. 

What is the Sunday Salon? 

The Sunday Salon is a place to link up and share what we have been doing during the week. It's also a great opportunity to visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there. 

We will be on our way home today from our trip this week to the Georgia mountains. 

What I Read Last Week:

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel (Fiction)

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Fiction)

The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts (Nonfiction)

What I'm Reading Now:

The Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss by Robert Macfarlane (Nonfiction)

Make Life Happier by Mark Williamson (Nonfiction)

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry (Nonfiction)

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (Nonfiction)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (Fiction)

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (Fiction)

What I Posted Last Week Here at Readerbuzz:

The Sunday Salon: Baby Alligators on Mother's Day

Favorite Minor Characters

Yesteryear: A Novel by Caro Claire Burke: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

I began to list 3 Good Things every day during the pandemic. Now I've established a regular routine of writing down my 3 Good Things. Here are 3 Good Things from last week:

Good Thing #1:
Almost everything we had for supper

was from our garden.

Good Thing #2:

I picked up my t-shirt for 

the adult summer reading program.

Good Thing #3:

Flowers are everywhere.

Weekend linkup spots are listed below. Click on the picture to visit the site.

        

I hope you will join the linkup for Sunday Salon below.

Yesteryear: A Novel by Caro Claire Burke: Book Beginnings on Fridays, First Line Friday, The Friday 56, and Book Blogger Hop

               

Today's Featured Book: 

Yesteryear: A Novel

by Caro Claire Burke

Genre: Fiction

Published: April  9, 2026 

Page Count: 400 pages

Summary: 

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and her followers are sick with envy. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What her followers don’t know won’t hurt them.

Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children―they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible.

 

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY is hosted by Rose City Reader. What book are you happy about reading this week? Please share the opening sentence (or so) on BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAY! Add the link to your blog or social media post and visit other blogs to see what others are reading.

Happy Friday and welcome to the FIRST LINE FRIDAY, hosted by Reading is My Superpower! It’s time to grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line.

This is the last day of the life I imagined for myself. 

THE FRIDAY 56 is hosted by Anne of Head Full of Books. To play, open a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% on your e-reader). Find a sentence or two and post them, along with the book title and author. Then link up on Head Full of Books and visit others in the linky. 

In the daylight, it's easier to see how ramshackle this house truly is. The floorboards are old and rotted. Through the ceiling eaves in the kitchen, I can see slivers of sky...In this kitchen, there's no hidden pantry containing a massive refrigerator, two dishwashers, and a microwave... 

The purpose of THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, and befriend other bloggers. THE BOOK BLOGGER HOP is hosted by Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.    

 What do you think about rising prices for hardcovers, paperbacks, and eBooks? 

It's important that people are able to read and think about what is going on in the world. Books should always be affordable.