Never has a book both given me such hope for the future and so utterly depressed me. The portrait Milholland paints of a society where friends, family members, and neighbors all live together in harmony sharing meals and washing machines and child-rearing appeals greatly to the minimalist in me who believes we were better off when we had less “stuff,” less stress, and less isolation. The equally vivid lessons on nuclear weaponry, housing inequality, and police violence, while necessary because they are real, just made me sad. I wish I lived in the Holman House. I wish I lived in a world where there was more love, period. Until then, I’ll go make one of the many recipes featured in GROUP LIVING AND OTHER RECIPES, share it with someone I care about, and try to make my little corner better. Oh, and shout-out to people with otosclerosis!

Group Living and Other Recipes was a delightful novel. I liked the character exploration and the writing was propulsive. I would read more from this author.

A mash between memoir and cookbook, the author's writing flows into the recipes well. Her lifestyle is fascinating, and I enjoyed the unique recipes.

"Group Living and Other Recipes: A Memoir" by Lola Milholland is not fiction. It's a memoir and lengthy persuasive essay about group living.

I enjoyed hearing about her group living experiences, not so much about the other group living communities she talked about. I wish this book was only about the group living, not all the rest of the memoir parts such as the pine mushroom hunting. That and some other parts made the book far too long-winded.

I do like how she showed rather than told about how things worked in the Holman House in Portland, Oregon, and everywhere else she could. Telling about the other communities she didn't live in didn't work as well.

Each chapter ends with a recipe for a meal they enjoyed together. I was looking forward to this and was disappointed. Not one of the recipes would be anything I could eat. They are all very spicy, which I can't stand. They use a lot of garlic, onions, and shallots, and I'm allergic to aleels such as those. They use a lot of mushrooms, and I don't care for those. At least one recipe had miso soup in it, and I'm allergic to MSG. I realize these are personal issues, and other people will probably love a few of them. Overall, however, recipes do not come across very well in audio.

Thank you to Netgalley, Spiegel & Grau by Spotify Audiobooks, and Lola Milholland for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a great mix of stories, memoir, and recipes. The characters are lovable and the overall book and narration felt warm.

I am on the fence about how I feel about this book. As someone who currently participates in group living, I was excited to read something that shared the benefits of communal housing. However, I found the book to be a bit repetitive and the discussing of communal housing was very basic. It seems to be written for an audience that has never considered life outside of the nuclear single family home. I did enjoy learning more about hippy culture the author's parents and parent's friends engaged in, and I would love to have learned more about that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel and Grau for providing an arc for reviewers.

Group Living and Other Recipes is an interesting memoir that handles themes of community, food, and progressive politics. The author lives communally and is a self-proclaimed hippie. She talks honestly about the pros and cons of her community and why she ultimately chooses her lifestyle.

I recommend this to every queer person I've ever met because we're always talking about starting communes and honestly? this book is a great how-to for that.

Thanks to the Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for the ARC audiobook I read. Happy publication week!

Lola Milholland, founder of Umi Organic noodle company, presents group living from many different perspectives. We start out learning about Lola’s childhood and the Holman House, her first experience in group living. She tells us about her time in Japan, where she had a sweet connection living and making food (including pickles!) with a host family there. The she takes us back to the Holman House, which she lives in with her brother Zach, friend Chris, partner, and various other people over the years. Lola visits other communities that are developed as group living neighborhoods. She interviews children of some of these group living experiments, to see how they have settled into their adult lives.

Throughout the book, there are lots descriptions of family- both biological and found. We learn about the author’s noodle company and other work. There’s a section about protest/advocacy as an iteration of group living, involving a place near their home where bombs are manufactured and exported from. In addition to a yummy-sounding recipe at the end of each chapter, food making and sharing is infused throughout the book.

This is an important topic that I’m glad Milholland took the time to research and document for us. I have lived with other people all my life though none were too thought out. I find where I’ve ended up to be kind of lonely at times, and definitely like the idea of living in more of an intentional community with more people some day, or at least incorporating group living into my life a bit more!

An interesting and heartwarming memoir about the ways we live and dine, and the important role food plays in our lives. Milholland shares stories of growing up in a communal home, a situation unfamiliar to most people in North America and western Europe, and reminds us that multi-generational and communal living is, in fact, the norm in most of the world. She shares recipes collected over a lifetime, from her friends and family and others who have played an important role in her life.

The audio is read by the author, which is how non-fiction should be read in my opinion. This made for an enjoyable listen, though I wish I had the physical copy so I could try some of the recipes myself.

Happy Publication Day!

This was a very nice memoir about Lola Milholland, a girl who grew up in a sort of unconventional way and has applied this type of living to her adult life. This was an audiobook ARC that I received - thanks NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks! This memoir is narrated by the author herself (which I love when it comes to memoirs!).

Lola immerses herself in group living. In other cultures, living with your family past a certain age is common. In America, we put a lot of emphasis on turning 18 and leaving the nest. Lola approaches home ownership in a different fashion, turning to communal living arrangements and living with her brother. Her memoir follows her throughout her different living arrangements in her family home. Her parents are hippies, to put it simply, and crafted an openminded way of living in her young. This memoir is about how to coexist with others, how to do chores together, and how to talk through tension, but it relies heavily on food. Group Living and Other Recipes weaves in different recipes crafted by different people in Lola’s life. The recipes all sounded so yummy! I loved this touch on the memoir and think it made it stand out. Lola actually owns a noodle company to this day. You hear about the makings of her company in this memoir.

I highly recommend this memoir if you’re interested in learning more about co-ops, communal living, giving back to your community, and how to reject capitalism while living in a country that is based on it. It affirmed a lot of feelings I have about capitalism and the housing market in general. Lola goes through ups and downs and doesn’t commit fully to one way of life. I enjoyed her stories.

A humble, funny, and honest personal reflections pulled together as a memoir to explore group living as an alternative to the nuclear family structure.

Lola Milholland's childhood was with free-spirited parents that approached life sharing EVERYTHING. Her past and current communal living is explored within the larger topics of family, non traditional jobs, nuclear power, food, housing shortages, Oregon history and so much more. Weird, but she makes it work. And there are recipes!

I don't think I would be successful at group living, but I so appreciate the value of communal meals and relationships.

Thank you to Spiegel & Grau, Spotify Audiobooks and NetGalley for the ARC!

“Group Living and Other Recipes” by Lola Milholland sounded like it may be an introspective memoir about Lola’s upbringing in Oregon with her “hippie” mom. What it wound up being was a series of stories all sharing an interwoven thread of the need for community, a love story for the driftless region of Wisconsin (that Driftless Books mention had me smiling and kicking my feet). This wound up being more richer than I ever imagined. A great read on why the need for community is necessary, how the capitalistic hellscape has us turning towards individual needs instead of what’s best for all, and amazing sounding recipes that I want to try for myself and family (plus so much else). Thank you NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau (for Spotify books) for this ALC. Will definitely be buying a physical copy to reread and have the recipes on hand.

I enjoyed this audiobook. I was unsure what to expect from a memoir with a recipe book. It was written and narrated so well. I loved how the stories were woven in with recipes in such an organic way. I would recommend this to anyone who would love to hear about non-traditional ways of living while getting some great recipes.

Through meals, moments, and shared memories, Lola explores group living and the stories of residents at the Holman House.

This was an interesting memoir and look at living as a community rather than individually. Though unconventional and not without challenges, we come to see the benefits of group living such as tackling loneliness, the sharing of food and responsibilities (ex. caretaking), companionship, and more. I enjoyed hearing Lola’s stories about her home growing up, her family dynamics, straying away from societal expectations, and all the recipes she’s since welcomed. Overall, this was an insightful read full of found family, food, and love.

Thanks NetGalley and Spiegal & Grau for my arc!

This was such a wonderful and easy listen. I felt like I was huddled around a speaker for storytime, just happy to have them sharing their life through literature. The line about being a voyeur in other realities stuck with me. It is also why I read, watch movies, and personally people-watch. I like to see how others engage with humanity & am so often encouraged with sparks of creativity or kindness or hunger to be involved with the world more deeply. Or, I'm directed inward to pay attention to unhealed wounds that need tending to or previous versions of self that don't serve where I'm at now.
I have so much appreciation for the way all people's beliefs were written about with acceptance and respect. Lola's memoir is a reminder that we can all coexist, share a meal, and see past any shallow perception of others.
Thank you to the author and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy, it was eye opening and also made my tummy rumble and mouth salivate at the thought of so much delicious food.
After listening on audiobook version, I want to buy a physical copy to keep in our kitchen with the cookbooks, so my partner and I can make as many of the yummy recipes as we can both eat.

Good for those who approach the topics for the first time, this is a mix between a memoir and a reflection on various aspects of communal living among families, friends, and throughout various decades, while also including recipes at the end of each chapter.
The narrator - the author herself - reads it well.
I just wished for a different arrangement of the story and chapters, because we move back and forth in time and space and it can get a bit confusing and jarring.

A very thoughtful and considered memoir. I was given a copy of the audio-book in exchange for an honest review. The audio-book is read by the author, and she does a very competent job of it. This book is a consideration of different ways to live, and the constraints that capitalism have placed on us. It's not overtly political, but discussing these issues is always a heavy lean to the left. It is thoughtful and interesting, as well as deeply personal. There are recipes scattered throughout the book - having them read to me was actually very soothing, although I hope the final version comes with a PDF of the recipes, because I would love to try some of them.

Narration: A
Content/Memoir: A-
Story Telling/Writing: A-
Best Aspect: Very real and emotional memoir, with lots of interesting recipes.
Worst Aspect: Be a good one to have in print as well as audio for the recipes.
Recommend: Yes

I listened to Group living and other recipes by Lola Milholland. This book is a memoir with recipes for various dishes interspersed. The author captures how food can be attached to memories, joy and sadness.

The audiobook was read by the author, Lola Milholland. I was skeptical about the recipes being read aloud, but was I wrong!The recipes came to life with her words and were full of feeling. I could feel the comfort in her intonation and they were my favorite part of the book. The author leads the reader through times of her life including the time of Covid 19 and the events surrounding that time. She has a strong sense of community and purpose but a recognition of her privilege.
The stories about mushrooms were especially delightful. I really enjoyed this book.

Group Living and Other Recipes is a curious blend of memoir and cookbook. Milholland goes through her experiences of sharing a living space from her college years until now. The book continuously explores the “group living” and “commune” models and all their trials and benefits. I found some interesting insights about the power imbalances that arise in even the flat group living arrangements!

Each chapter ends with a recipe related to the chapter’s story. In the audiobook format, the recipes interrupted the book's flow, and I ended up skipping many of them. It could work better as a supplemental pdf (there’s no way I’m re-listening to the recipe portion each time to make the dish).

This is not a 5-star book, because towards the end, the book moves away from communal living to a discussion on nuclear weapons which felt like a very far departure. As a Ukrainian, I did not appreciate the author using the war in my country to justify the relevance of the nuclear weapons conversation when there’s no evidence that she knows anything about my war. I have so many questions (about group living) left unanswered that could replace those weapons justice chapters. Like how do race and multiculturalism (multi-religions too) impact the living situation, what happens when one member experiences personal trauma (like death of a loved one or war in their home country), etc.