--- title: Author Crystal King's Blog - Tasting Life Twice | 52 books description: 52 books | Author Crystal King muses on life, history, writing and food. --- # Tasting Life Twice Author Crystal King muses on life, history, writing and food. Browse by All Blog Books italy ancient rome Italian History Recipe Writing When in Rome food Feast of Sorrow fun historical fiction Bartolomeo Scappi Viva Italia! The Chef's Secret reading history Apicius Italian Language Renaissance 52 books Boston Cinquecento Publishing italian recipes grub street renaissance recipe roman video Ancient Roman Food Colosseum Culinary Delights books set in italy renaissance italy Ancient history YouTube authors cooking fiction music 52 books in a year Author Book Christmas Language Learning Maine Poetry Pope Roman Forum Scappi The Renaissance Venice Writer Writers Resources fantasy learning Italian travel writers Anne Rice Art Book Clubs Christmas carol Christopher Castellani Circus Maximus Florence Gillian Flynn Greek Harry Potter Honey Italiano Italo Calvino Latin Literary agent Marcus Aurelius Marcus Gavius Apicius Muse and the Marketplace Pantheon Papal conclave Pope Benedict XVI Research Roman Empire Sardinia Sistine Chapel Turkey Ursula K- Le Guin Vestal Virgin Wine ancient recipes architecture baking beauty blogging book recommendation book review christmas gift cibo cookies crystal king gelato giveaway holiday ice cream interview italian cooking literary literature middle ages new year's resolution rejection renaissance Italian food recipe roma rome sci-fi shopping social media special event summer television xmas 100 favorite books 1950s 1960s 1970s 2016 2017 320 AD 3D Achilles Aelia Agostino Chigi Alice Alina Reyes All This Talk of Love Amanda Palmer Amaryah Orenstein Anais Nin Ancient Greece Ancient Roman architecture Andrea Bocelli Anita Shreve Anjali Mitter Duva Anne Carson Anne Rampling Antonio Latini Arch of Constantine Arts Artusi Astrology Augustus Author Life BBC BDSM Baldassare Peruzzi Baroque Bell-ringer Bells Benvenuto Cellini Black tea BlogHer Bloggers Bologna Boodles Byki Cake Catholic Church Cellini Charles Dicken Chuck Palahniuk Clark Frasier Colleen McCullough Cologne Colum McCann Concord Cook Cookbook Corsica Cosimo de Medici Critical & Creative Thinking Dante Dante Alighieri David Bowie David Wishart De Re Coquinaria Doge's Palace Dormouse Durham Cathedral E-L- James Earth Egypt Eleonora Galasso Emily Browning England English language Ernest Hemingway Erotic literature Etsy Faint Promise of Rain Fifty Shades of Grey Fight Club Flamingo tongue snail Forum Forvo France Francesa Michielin GO Literary George Orwell Germany Gone Girl Gone Girl (novel) Google Translate Got Milk Grasso Grub Grub Street Muse Gunter Grass Hairstyle Harvard Harvard University Henry David Thoreau Henry VII of England Hunger Games Independence Day International Space Station Isabella Dalla Ragione Italian American Italian food J-R-R- Tolkien James Wood Jane Austen Janet Fitch Julius III July Justin Rowe Karl Lagerfeld Katie Caldesi Kennebunkport Maine Kessler Twins Keurig Kindle Deal Kit Harington Kurt Vonnegut L'Amore Esiste La Cucina Leicester Leonardo Da Vinci Linguistics Livia Lucca ## Posts about 52 books: ![52 in 52: Books Read in June, July and August](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/tiffany.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [sci-fi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/sci-fi) [thriller](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/thriller) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [52 books in a year](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books-in-a-year) [books set in italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books-set-in-italy) [fantasy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fantasy) [fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fiction) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) ![52 in 52: Books Read in April & May](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/georgia.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [52 books in a year](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books-in-a-year) [book review](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/book-review) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) ![52 in 52: February Books Read](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/JC.jpg) [Writing](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/writing) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [sci-fi](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/sci-fi) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) ![I Did It! 52 Books in 2015: November - December](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Reading-1.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [ancient rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ancient-rome) [lynne griffin](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/lynne-griffin) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [52 books in a year](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books-in-a-year) [a book a week](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/a-book-a-week) [alice hoffman](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/alice-hoffman) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [david baker](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/david-baker) [david mitchell](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/david-mitchell) [emile zola](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/emile-zola) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [ghost story](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/ghost-story) [mary beard](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/mary-beard) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) [resolution](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/resolution) [Wine](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/wine) My 2015 New Year's Resolution of reading 52 books in 2015 is complete! I even did better than that and read a few more too. 60.  [Slade House - David Mitchell](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S3RILQW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o01_)  Ending the year with Slade House was a good decision. I slurped it up in about two nights of reading--it was that good. It's one of the most unusual ghost stories that I've read. Mitchell toys with point of view in the most artful of ways and his method of telling the story across the decades is equally masterful. I didn't find it to be a scary story, just one that kept me wondering what on earth might happen next. ![52 books in 2015: A reading list for Jul-Oct](https://blog.crystalking.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/offscreen-magazine-260704.jpg) [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [foodie](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/foodie) [italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italy) [Pope Alexander VI](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/pope-alexander-vi) [Venice](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/venice) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [books set in italy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books-set-in-italy) [Dante](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/dante) [Dante Alighieri](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/dante-alighieri) [fantasy](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/fantasy) [food](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/food) [gourmand](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gourmand) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) [Italian History](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italian-history) [Italo Calvino](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/italo-calvino) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) [When in Rome](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/when-in-rome) I have been rather remiss, I fear, in keeping my book list updated here on my blog. I've been reading far more than I had hoped, but certainly not as much as I would like. I am happy to have passed the 50 book barrier with more than a month to spare! Let's see if I can get close to 60 books this year. I'm confident I'll finish at least 2-3 more this month, and hopefully another 3-4 in December. **October** [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [Gillian Flynn](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gillian-flynn) [Witch of Napoli](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/witch-of-napoli) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [Gone Girl](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gone-girl) [Harry Potter](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/harry-potter) [Jane Austen](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/jane-austen) [Michael Schmicker](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/michael-schmicker) [Patricia Park](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/patricia-park) [Re Jane](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/re-jane) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) I posted last month about [my goal ](https://blog.crystalking.com/crystal-king/blog/2015/06/09/way-52-reading-book-week)of reading at least 52 books this year. The good thing is that I'm well on my way! Here are the books I read in June. [Books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/books) [Gillian Flynn](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gillian-flynn) [52 books](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/52-books) [Blog](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/blog) [book review](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/book-review) [Gone Girl (novel)](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/gone-girl-novel) [historical fiction](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/historical-fiction) [reading](https://blog.crystalking.com/tag/reading) One of my goals this year is to read, on average, a book a week, or at least 52 books this year. I'm right on track...even a little ahead! **May ** ![](https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=1481231558851356&ev=PageView&noscript=1)