Travel the World Through Books: Books and Bites Podcast, Ep. 77

Books and Bites

On this episode, we discuss books set in or about a place you want to visit, one of the prompts for Books & Bites Bingo. Join us as we travel to Mexico City, Paris, and the English countryside--all with the help of some good books!

Jacqueline's Pick

If you dream of the City of Light, Jacqueline recommends The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor. The book has two strong female characters whose stories are set seventy years apart. Alice's story is set in modern-day France, while Adalynn's story takes place in 1940s, occupied France.

Pairing: Croissants with chocolate and coffee. Find a recipe for croissants, traditional and pain au chocolat, on The Simply Luxurious Life.

Michael's Pick

Michael's pick, Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, is a tense noir set during the turbulent 1970’s in Mexico City. We follow a bored and lonely secretary named Maite who lives in her own little world, obsessing over music and romance comics. When her neighbor, Leonora, a local student, asks her to watch her cat for a few days and never returns, Maite decides to track down her whereabouts.

Pairing: A hot bowl of Huevos a la Mexicana from Gabriela Cámara's My Mexico City Kitchen.

Carrie's Pick

Carrie enjoyed Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield, a book set along the western portion of the Thames River in nineteenth-century England. A gravely injured man appears at an old inn carrying a small child who is not breathing. But when the girl appears to wake up a few hours later, the community must try to uncover who she is. To which of the three families claiming her does she belong?

Pairing: Dippy eggs with toast soldiers, a popular breakfast for British children.