Bout of Books 9.0 – Goals

It’s looking to be a freezing night here in Birmingham.  What a perfect night to start a Bout of Books Read-a-Thon!
I plan to read at least an hour a day, which is not actually that much for me, but I’m starting a new job this week, so that’s going to slow me down a bit.
I don’t have many books picked out, but I know I want to read The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena.  It comes out from William Morrow in February.
The novel was originally published in German and has been very popular so far in Europe.  From what I can tell it seems to fall into the magical realism category in line with Chocolat or  Garden Spells.
Iris has inherited her grandmother’s farmhouse in the German countryside.  The house has been in the family for generations, but Iris hasn’t been back there for years.  The house holds the memory of so many tragedies that it can be hard to see the present through the past.  The yard has current bushes that are white and taste of tears.   The cellar is filled with moonstone colored current jam that the captures the essence of the year it is made.  The jars from 1945 were donated to a museum because they were too bitter to eat.
Iris must find a way to come to terms with her family and her past before she can hope to move forward.

I’ll let you know how it goes and what else I pick up in the meantime.  And if any of you are in areas affected by the weather, please stay safe!