Oh yeah, my son liked it a lot and so did my daughter (12 when she read it). I don't read a lot of high fantasy or YA so I'm definitely not it's demographic, but I appreciate it for what it is. And the movie hit me harder than I thought it was going to (only the 2nd Studio Ghibli film I had seen at the time), so it's no wonder I prefer the movie. I'm glad they both exist.

Absolutely agree. Typically now if I read a book that I love that has an adaptation, I won't watch it because it's just not the same experience and my biased brain won't appreciate the differences. Honestly, Howl's Moving Castle is the only exception that I can think of, but I had watched it and fallen in love with it several times before I read it. Maybe that's just my biased brain working inversely for that one.

Absolutely agree about the vibe thing. Sometimes I need to warch something and I know a Ghibli film is the only thing that will do it for me.

When Marnie Was There is such a wonderful movie, and I own the book now, but am hesitant to read it for the same reason as above. Not because I'll be disappointed, I just know it won't feel the same.

I thought Howl's Moving Castle (film) was better than the book. Granted, it's not my style of book and I bought it to read aloud to my (6yo) son, so it's probanly not fair even for me to compare, but the movie is such a beautiful depiction of this magical world and the relationship with it's characters. They're really two completely different experiences.

Bryant Terry is one of my favorite cookbook authors. His books are afro-vegan and southern soul food. The recipes can have some pretty ourlandish ingredients, but most of them easy to replace with something more accesible.

Meera Sodha and her vegetarian Indian cookbooks are incredible. I have learned some much just from trying stuff out. I've also just revently discovered Madhur Jaffrey's wide world of cookbooks. Her World Vegetarian book have something like 600 recipes in it and the few I've tried so far have been great.

Bad Manners (formerly Thug Kitchen) again are vegan, but they're a lot more accessible than most out there. Their cookbook was the first one I bought when I went veg and I still make variations of their Collards and blackeyed peas.

If you're interested in more Eastern recipes, this is one of my favorite food blogs. https://hebbarskitchen.com/

Absolutely! I will later tonight when I have time to dedicate to it, I promise.

I love cookbooks. I don't even really care too much what they're about. I have been a vegetarian for 5 years, so I like to get ones that I can use in my own cooking (mostly Eastern cultures), but I will seek out anything fresh with a unique voice. I also really like chef memoirs and travel food books.