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    The Lost Art of Mixing
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    The Lost Art of Mixing
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    The Lost Art of Mixing
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Lost Art of Mixing

    Written by Erica Bauermeister

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    National bestselling author Erica Bauermeister returns to the enchanting world of The School of Essential Ingredients in this luminous sequel.

    Lillian and her restaurant have a way of drawing people together. There's Al, the accountant who finds meaning in numbers and ritual; Chloe, a budding chef who hasn't learned to trust after heartbreak; Finnegan, quiet and steady as a tree, who can disappear into the background despite his massive height; Louise, Al's wife, whose anger simmers just below the boiling point; and Isabelle, whose memories are slowly slipping from her grasp. And there's Lillian herself, whose life has taken a turn she didn't expect. . . .

    Their lives collide and mix with those around them, sometimes joining in effortless connections, at other times sifting together and separating again, creating a family that is chosen, not given. A beautifully imagined novel about the ties that bind-and links that break-The Lost Art of Mixing is a captivating meditation on the power of love, food, and companionship.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 29, 2013
    ISBN9780385363358
    Unavailable
    The Lost Art of Mixing
    Author

    Erica Bauermeister

    Erica Bauermeister is the author of the bestselling novel The School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners, and The Lost Art of Mixing. She is also the co-author of non-fiction works, 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide and Let’s Hear It For the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. She has a PhD in literature from the University of Washington, and has taught there and at Antioch University. She is a founding member of the Seattle7Writers and currently lives in Port Townsend, Washington.

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    Reviews for The Lost Art of Mixing

    4/5

    144 ratings37 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      2.5* for the book itselfSimilar in style to Olive Kitteridge, so if you liked that you will probably like this better than I did. The book is really a series of interconnected short stories of the lives of various people connected to a restaurant in the Pacific northwest. I find this manner of storytelling frustrating in that as soon as I get interested in a character, Bauermeister leaves that person. I guess that my reaction to this just confirms my sense that I don't care for the contemporary style of writing... I prefer more closure than this provides (though it was better at that than Olive Kitteridge!).
    • 5/5
      Food, family, relationships, recipes....a wonderful combination, and a marvelously wonderful book.THE LOST ART OF MIXING makes you feel cozy inside and out. After being with Lillian, you are relaxed and happy...she is just someone who makes you want to be where she is and where you want to stay.In fact, most of the characters mixed well with each other just like a perfect recipe. Each character blended together to make an unforgettable book about family memories, misunderstandings that turned sour or proved to be a good thing, the heartache of aging parents, and also everyday situations we mostly likely are dealing with or will deal with one day. The book also had so many wonderful hints at recipes that it made me want to put the book down and get out my pots and pans and start immediately on a variation of Lillian's recipes. The characters in the story did the same thing. They made you want to stop what you were doing, they made you want to join in the conversation, and they made you want to become long-time friends with everyone involved. I enjoyed every character no matter whether they were causing trouble or dealing with trouble.If you need a comfy, relaxing read don't miss THE LOST ART OF MIXING. Ms. Bauermeister has such a soothing way with her words that you will feel as though you just had the most wonderful massage ever when you are done reading the book. Your body and your brain will not be on overload after reading this book but will be in a splendid slow motion mode.ENJOY!!! 5/5I won this book from LibraryThing and received it from Putnam Books without compensation in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      A delightful, escapist but thoughtful confection, if that is even possible. A bit on the order of Sara Addison Allen, with less magic and less romance.
    • 3/5
      Sweet book. Some characters return and new characters are added. Not a memorable book
    • 3/5
      I read the first book in this series and liked it so there's no surprise that I liked this one as well. It's an easy read with likable characters, who I was was glad to catch up on (from the first book).
    • 5/5
      Stories of a group of lightly eccentric people draw together at a restaurant. "a family that is chosen, not given.". Nicely written and engaging.
    • 4/5
      The Lost Art of Mixing returns us to Lillian's kitchen, which we first discovered in The School of Essential Ingredients, but things aren't going so terribly well. In the opening pages, Lillian discovers some news that will turn her life upside down. Lillian's accountant Al and his wife Louise are discovering maybe theirs is not quite a match made in heaven. Lillian's former student, current sous chef, Chloe thinks she might've found someone to love in the guise of the restaurant's new dishwasher, tall, silent Finnegan, but there's more to him than meets the eye. Not to mention, Chloe's aging roommate Isabelle is slowly losing her memories to Alzheimer's disease. As Isabelle wisely observes of her friends, "They were like ingredients that had become chemically incapable of mixing with each other, or perhaps had simply forgotten how, when she knew it wasn't the case and didn't need to be." Isabelle's memory might be slipping, but fortunately, she still has a few tricks up her sleeve that could heal the rifts between the people she loves. Unfortunately The Lost Art of Mixing didn't pack quite the same emotional punch for me as did The School of Essential Ingredients. I loved how, in School, Bauermeister drew Lillian as a wise lady whose instincts for which foods would re-awaken the spirits of her cooking school students. Not only was it an interesting concept, but it proved to be a great way to unite the several different stories Bauermeister was telling. In Mixing, Bauermeister spends more time on Lillian as a character in her own right, but also explores the lives of various other characters, which is interesting, but the story is not quite so naturally cohesive as when Lillian's cooking school was anchoring it.That said, Bauermeister's magic is still there. Like Lillian, Bauermeister has a keen instinct when it comes to people and the experiences that shape their lives, and in her writing, she does a fantastic job of drawing out the pasts that have damaged her characters and the things that each of them need to move forward. She also has a keen eye for the seemingly small things that can renew the human spirit - how physical labor can serve as a cleanser for the soul, how a listening ear and a cup of tea can be all it takes to set a person on a new path, and how a simple object can hold a wealth of memories. Readers will fall in love with this set of characters just as easily as the ones that graced the pages of School, and the glow of Bauermeister's beautifully intuitive prose is sure to win her more fans.
    • 4/5
      A sequel to her first book, [The School of Essential Ingredients], and a fairly good one, too (though not as good as the original). The fact that her books are full of romantic relationships, yet devoid of long-standing loving unions is a bit frustrating (it seems everyone is either budding with new love, or widowed/divorced/abandoned), and one of the plot lines was a bit unrealistic (stalking isn't romantic). Still, there is something compelling about her writing, and the section in the middle detailing the experience of a woman in the early stages of Alzheimers, would have been enough to make the book worthwhile all on its own. Notwithstanding its flaws, I couldn't put this book down.
    • 4/5
      Erica Beuermeister has a real gift for narration. Her descriptions of the inner lives of her characters are insightful and reaches deep into her own very fertile imagination. She also has a way of weaving the seemingly disorganized and unrelated lives. Which is what makes her books so charming and interesting. This is a book that kind of repeats the formula of The School of Essential Ingredients, she brings unrelated people together in a food obsessed milieu and then she very incisively and expertly cuts through the messy emotions and details and gets at the basis of each of the characters personality. The only down side is that her modus operandi is becoming too familiar and too familiar to the reading public. This didn't keep me from reading the book of course, she is too good at what she does to keep me from her talents, but it does make me pause with much impatience whenever I get to the moments of awkward and trite transitions.I enjoyed the book, I liked the stories and I liked the way she pulls the stories together. It is a guilty pleasure to read her novels because I know it is light and I know it is inconsequential, but it is also entertaining and satisfying.
    • 3/5
      After reading The School of Essential Ingredients, I was looking forward to going back to cooking school and mingling with the students at Lillian's restaurant. However, the sequel is more about the lives of the students than the cooking school or the recipes. (The food metaphors made the book extra delightful!) Lost Art of Mixing is written in a style similar to the first book with alternating chapters from the viewpoint of the students. Several characters return from the first story, plus a few new students are introduced. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book, but it was still an enjoyable read with richly-drawn characters and much descriptive imagery.
    • 3/5
      Lillian's restaurant serves as the centerpiece to the stories of the characters in the book. There is the story of Lillian, herself, and her relation to Tom and their expected child. Al, Lillian's accountant, loves numbers, but not his wife. Chloe, a young cook, is learning to trust from tall, steady Finnegan. And Isabelle is slowly losing her gripe on her memory.While the characters interact and intertwine, I felt like they were the tentacles on an octopus, each dangling out by itself. I would finish reading a chapter that about a character that appeared to move the story along, only to encounter another about a different character which took off in a different direction. It seemed to lack a flow of plot, which is something I enjoy in a book.
    • 4/5
      Another heartwarming read with quirky characters who find a place to belong in Isabelle's restaurant. Good food is an added bonus
    • 5/5
      Food, family, relationships, recipes....a wonderful combination, and a marvelously wonderful book.THE LOST ART OF MIXING makes you feel cozy inside and out. After being with Lillian, you are relaxed and happy...she is just someone who makes you want to be where she is and where you want to stay.In fact, most of the characters mixed well with each other just like a perfect recipe. Each character blended together to make an unforgettable book about family memories, misunderstandings that turned sour or proved to be a good thing, the heartache of aging parents, and also everyday situations we mostly likely are dealing with or will deal with one day. The book also had so many wonderful hints at recipes that it made me want to put the book down and get out my pots and pans and start immediately on a variation of Lillian's recipes. The characters in the story did the same thing. They made you want to stop what you were doing, they made you want to join in the conversation, and they made you want to become long-time friends with everyone involved. I enjoyed every character no matter whether they were causing trouble or dealing with trouble.If you need a comfy, relaxing read don't miss THE LOST ART OF MIXING. Ms. Bauermeister has such a soothing way with her words that you will feel as though you just had the most wonderful massage ever when you are done reading the book. Your body and your brain will not be on overload after reading this book but will be in a splendid slow motion mode.ENJOY!!! 5/5I won this book from LibraryThing and received it from Putnam Books without compensation in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      a few chapters in I can tell that I adore this book and I'm going to need to own a copy.
      Sort of picks up where The School of Essential Ingredients left off, at Lillian's restaurant. But instead of cooking classes, it follows continuing adventures of some of the people the first book introduced.
      Lovely turns of phrases and imagery throughout. Reading the first book is probably a good idea.
      Although there were plenty of gorgeous food descriptions, I wished for more cooking class scenes, or, you know, any. But this book was more about interconnected stories, even out in the world outside the restaurant.

      Also: Al the accountant, and his bookstore adventures. Best part.
    • 4/5
      [The Lost Art of Mixing] is a sequel to [The School of Essential Ingredients], which follows some of the people from the cooking class, and adds some new characters. This is a book for foodies, with lovely writing about foodstuffs and the loving preparation of soul-enriching dishes. Better than your average chick-lit.
    • 3/5
      This was kind of a ho-hum story of a varied group of people who are connected to Lillian's restaurant. It was easy, quick reading with not a lot of drama. Each character has his or her on thoughts on things eagerly expressed by the author. It's nice to have a change of pace from the usual reading, but I'm not sure I would recommend this book.
    • 4/5
      This book follows up on Bauermeister’s earlier novel, The School of Essential Ingredients. I couldn’t remember many details about the first book, but the author fills us in well enough to get the gist of the story. Lillian has a restaurant and cooking school, and most of the other characters in the book were either in her cooking school at one time, or work for her in the restaurant. Although it doesn’t quite come up to the level of the first book, it’s a quick read and entertaining enough book. Some of the characters are quite dislikable; that may have affected my enjoyment compared to the first book. Some of the writing is lovely though, often employing imagery from food and cooking. For example, Chloe thinks about how easy it is to talk to Finnegan:“…talking to him felt as natural as moving a wooden spoon through a sauce warming on the stove, the way her words would circle out into the room and then back to him, touching base, set forth again by a nod, or a gesture of his hands.”Or this, with Chloe comparing Finnegan to her old boyfriend Jake:“Silence didn’t appear to bother Finnegan, the way it did some people, who seemed to think that airtime should be claimed like property. Jake had been that way, always reaching for the conversation as if it was the last slice of pizza in the box and the next meal was uncertain.”Evaluation: Not as good as The School of Essential Ingredients, but has some nice aspects.
    • 4/5
      This is another one of those emotional star ratings. I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't like this as much as I did. A lot of people think this is fluff. I love the way Bauermeister writes her characters. They felt so real I got in their heads and walked around in their shoes. I had completely forgotten about the character with Alzheimer's though and that kicked me in the gut so hard I could hardly finish the book. It was especially emotional for me. The good thing about that was I turned around after reading about the healing powers of food and put them to good use.
    • 4/5
      Really enjoyed this story of intertwining lives. Bauermeister does a better job than many of mixing back story and current story for each of her sympathetic characters.
    • 4/5
      From the synopsis:"Lillian and her restaurant have a way of drawing people together. There’s Al, the accountant who finds meaning in numbers and ritual; Chloe, a budding chef who hasn’t learned to trust after heartbreak; Finnegan, quiet and steady as a tree, who can disappear into the background despite his massive height; Louise, Al’s wife, whose anger simmers just below the boiling point; and Isabelle, whose memories are slowly slipping from her grasp. And there’s Lillian herself, whose life has taken a turn she didn’t expect. . . . Their lives collide and mix with those around them, sometimes joining in effortless connections, at other times sifting together and separating again, creating a family that is chosen, not given. A beautifully imagined novel about the ties that bind—and links that break—The Lost Art of Mixing is a captivating meditation on the power of love, food, and companionship."I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program in exchange for an honest opinion.I had previously read Joy for Beginners by the author and thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew that this book would be no different. While I have not had the opportunity yet to read the prequel The School of Essential Ingredients, the author provided enough backstory for the characters involved in this book so that I, as the reader, wasn't lost.The book devotes a chapter to each character as their lives all weave together. The characters are very well rounded and I wouldn't mind meeting them in real life. She's a very good storyteller.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I reminded me quite a lot of Barabara O'Neal's books; a good story mixed with food, friends and family. The characters lives intertwine in surprising and interesting ways. In the Lost Art of Mixing, what appears to be real on the surface is not always true, or at least not the whole truth. I'm looking forward to reading the book that came before this, The School of Essential Ingredients.
    • 3/5
      Painful read; Bauermeister tells the reader rather than showing her what happens.
    • 5/5
      The Lost Art of Mixing is a sequel to Erica Bauermeister's book The School of Essential Ingredients, continuing the lives of some of the characters from the first book a year later and introducing a few new ones. The quote at the beginning of the book, "Every truth has two sides - Aesop" reflects the overall theme of the book as the reader is shown how each of two people react to the same circumstances and the author skillfully blends all the characters into one story.Lillian's restaurant from the first book doesn't play as big a part in the story as the last book, and Lillian herself is more of a minor character although still the nucleus of the characters. Chloe, her sous-chef, has broken up with her boyfriend and is finding it hard to trust herself and others, especially Finnegan who has issues of his own. Isabelle knows that her memories are slowly beng taken from her by Alzheimer's and the story of her and her daughter's relationship forms two more sides of one truth. And Lillian has her own issue to deal with. The author's prose is so delicious and sensuous that I wanted to sink into the words and savor every one. "She let the silence unfold in the car, curl around the steering wheel, slip through Finnegan' s long fingers and stretch out in the back seat." She seamlessly blends the stories of each of the characters making the reader see that stories have two sides and what we may think we know, may only be one side of the truth.
    • 4/5
      I received this book through Early Reviewers. I liked the mix of characters in this book but found myself wanting a little more. I got to the end of the book and wasn't ready for it to end. It was an enjoyable read and it flowed well.
    • 4/5
      Summary: In this sequel to The School of Essential Ingredients, Lillian's recent round of cooking classes may have finished, but her restaurant is still bringing people together. Al, her accountant, lives for numbers and order, but is learning to appreciate the more subtle pleasures of celebrating life, although that celebration does not filter through to his strained relationship with his wife. Chloe is a young chef at the restaurant, still aching from her recent heartbreak but slowly learning to trust her heart. Isabelle, Chloe's housemate, is slowly falling prey to Alzheimer's, but still manages to see the lives around her with a startling clarity. And Lillian herself is dealing with a major development in her life, one that she thought she'd left behind. As their stories intersect at and around the restaurant, these disparate people find themselves supporting and balancing each other, blending together like an ingredients in a recipe, like a family that they find and build for themselves. Review: Erica Bauermeister's books are not the sort of books I would normally seek out, nor the sort that I would expect to enjoy based on the description. As I said in my review of Joy for Beginners, books about ordinary people in ordinary relationships leading ordinary lives is not my usual cup of tea. But Bauermeister has a way of making the very ordinariness of the lives of her characters and turning it into something worth cherishing, something worth celebrating. A running thread in this book is Al's discovery of a book of rituals, which are a way of making celebrations out of daily life. I thought that was a nice inclusion, because it neatly encompasses what I think make Bauermeister's books so special: they encourage us to savor life, whether in a bite of food or another person. Her prose has an astonishing way of making everything bright and vivid, and of really invoking all of the senses that are not necessarily always involved in reading a novel.However, while there were a lot of elements and moments that I loved in this book, there were things that I missed as well, with the result that I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as Bauermeister's first two. Primarily, I missed the amazing focus on food and cooking that anchored The School of Essential Ingredients. Bauermeister writes that so well, and while there were bits about cooking in this story, they were much less central, which was somewhat disappointing, given that this story revolves around a restaurant. I also didn't feel the same emotional connection to her characters this time around, although whether that's due to my own state of mind or something about the stories Bauermeister was choosing to tell, I couldn't say. But even so, I really enjoyed this book. It's somehow light and warm and comforting all at the same time, and definitely an enjoyable read. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: This book could stand alone relatively well (considering how long it's been since I read the first one and how many of the details I'd forgotten), but it's richer for knowing the backstory. I'd recommend Bauermeister's books in general to anyone who's looking for a heart-warming and satisfying read.
    • 5/5
      I was delighted to get this book----a sequel to The School of Essential Ingredients. And it was a perfect follow-up to the wonderful characters I already knew along with some new "Ingredients." The author develops wonderful inter-relationships that are funny or sad or surprising. It's a book to just plain enjoy---and I was just sorry to see the end! Couldn't there be still a third book in the series?
    • 4/5
      If you enjoyed The School of Essential Ingredients you’ll want to read The Lost Art of Mixing. Erica Bauermeister delves into the lives of characters from the first book. We get to see sides of each that even the other characters never see.This novel is a connected string of intriguing stories that explain the characters we thought we knew. Just as a recipe is the sum of its ingredients so are the characters a sum of their life experiences. Each strives to find connection to those they love but must rely on being accepted for themselves. To do that, they must accept others as they are. The mix will work or it won’t but, in the end, they’ll know if they should stay or move on – be part of this recipe for the life they want or find another that will work.I really liked The Lost Art of Mixing. Humor and drama mixed evenly to become a novel that left me satisfied. I’d love to see where life takes these characters but even if this is where Erica Bauermeister leaves them I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
    • 2/5
      I loved The School of Essential Ingredients, so I gladly signed up for a chance to read The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister.There are many characters in this story. Lillian and her restaurant are the center of the cast of characters. We first read about Al and his wife, Louise. Then there is Chloe, Isabelle, and Finnegan. AND, of course, Lillian, who is surrounded by everybody. This book is all about these people and their relationships.The characters, I found very confusing, and never did straighten them out, even towards the end. There was also really nothing holding all these people together except for Lillian and it just wasn't enough. I got frustrated with the characters, all the problems, and nothing ever really making sense. I drug through to the end and the end didn't make me happy either.
    • 4/5
      So this is a sequel of sorts to Erica's first book, THE SCHOOL OF ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS , I loved her first book, the restaurant that the mail character teaches her cooking class in plays a big part of the book , not so much in her second, although I assumed she would maybe have another cooking class and involve new people. The people in this book were mainly some of the last book and the help but really no cooking was involved at all. Some of the back plots weren't developed at all. I will look forward to her next writing and hope for more of the same, from the first book, always hopeful.
    • 4/5
      I was thrilled to receive The Lost Art of Mixing to read and review.I read and enjoyed Ms. Bauermeister's previous book The School of Essential Ingredients and was happy she continued with the story.In this story we are reintroduced to many of the characters from book one. Each chapter is dedicated to a character and told from their point of view. This time there is less emphasis placed on food and the restaurant and more placed on the development of the characters, their background and relationship to the story line.Once again the writing is superb. The words flow from one story line to the next allowing the reader to become fully engrossed in the lives of these unique characters.As a foodie, I missed the cooking school storyline this time around but enjoyed the direction of this novel and the wonderful characters.