Capers in the Kitchen: stinking bishop

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Friday, 25 September 2009

Fact of the Day...

Did you know that Charles Martell, beloved inventor of Stinking Bishop cheese, has no sense of smell. Bless the man.

What I've been digesting recently...

The Paris Wife - Paula Mclain - fabulous novel from Hadley Heminway's perspective on her marriage to Hem. The style is v similar to Tania K's, the story is fascinating from the other side of the marriage.

The Diamond as Big as The Ritz - F. Scott - I read this when I was very young and built castles in Spain on the description of the house. The darker elements had passed me by entirely.

The Passage - Justin Cronin - G.Ripping.

The Privileges - Jonathan Dee - F Scott for the 21st century - It's Gatsby and Diamond as Big as The Ritz rolled into one.

After the Fire A Still Small Voice - Evie Wyld - debut novel from a local-living Australian author who is jut lovely and writes like a dream.

Sylvia Beach & The Lost Generation - Noel Riley Fitch's biography - for a summary see left.

At Home - Bill Bryson's latest informative treatise on the rooms in our house.

The Reluctant Bride - Lucy Mangan's account of getting married.

A Room Swept White - Sophie Hannah's most recent novel - gripping but slightly bizarre twist.

A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore's Orange Prize submission - made me laugh out loud and recoil in horror

The Prince of Mist - 1st part of a quartet to be published in English for children by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - a hint of Robin Jarvis

Blueeyedboy - the latest from Joanne Harris and it made me go 'hmmmm...'

Jo Nesbo - Is Scandinavia a hotbed of excellent crime writers or what? If you haven't got there yet, go. Oh and Redbreast is the first one, despite what the translation order says.

BUtterfield 8 - John O'Hara - why haven't I come across him before? And why wasn't I born Gloria Wandrous turning up on Eddie's doorstep with a bottle of bootlegger whisky in a mink coat and nothing else?

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel. I love this period of history and the Cromwell story continues to fascinate.

A Song in the Daylight - Paullina Simons. I love her, but where's the redemption? Why the nihilism?

Possession - AS Byatt. Richly textured and pleasingly erudite. Worth a re-read.

Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Brilliant.

The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova. A fabulous tale of love and art and the Leda myth thrown in for good measure.

The Chatelet Apprentice - Nicola Floch. A Gallic Books mystery set in the 18th century. Nicely evocative.

Small Island - Andrea Levy. I'm halfway through, but I'm not sure at this point I'm entirely convinced by the amount of time devoted to the back stories. I want more of 1948.

The Other Half Lives - Sophie Hannah. Cracking story, although curiously I found all of the characters completely unlikeable - but I remained enthralled by the plot.

The Bed I Made - Lucie Whitehouse. She also wrote The House at Midnight, a book whose ending I find so viscerally disturbing I've only read it twice. This is her take on Sleeping with the Enemy. I read it alone, in bed, at night. Never again.

2666 - Roberto Bolano's magnus opus. Gripping so far, but challenging. A 4-page sentence is a new work of art

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler's seminal detective novel. My introduction to the world where men wore hats and women had endless be-stockinged legs that are noticed and commented on and they take it as their due. More please.

The Complaints - Ian Rankin's latest hard-boiled Scottish detective. Not as fabulous as Rebus in all his unadulterated sod-them-all glory, but cracking story. Riveting.

Mad World - Evelyn Waugh and the real Brideshead - Paula Byrne's in-depth and utterly fascinating bio of the life and times of Waugh and the Lygons, the family behind the Marchmains and Brideshead Revisited. Brilliant and thoughtful.

Being Geniuses Together - Humphrey Carpenter's expose of life on the Left Bank - Sylvia Beach, Joyce, a touch of Natalie Barney and a dollop of Hemingway - utter bliss...

The Girl who Kicked The Hornet's Nest - the final part to Stieg Larsson's Millenium series - but where is her sister.....???? Argh - now we'll never know.

Wedlock - Wendy Moore's rather fabulous story Mary Eleanor Bowes. Great x 4/5 to the Queen Mother, she was also the Georgian forerunner of women's rights in marriage - successfully divorcing her unutterably abusive husband and retaining her property... Up the Women.

A couple of Tania Kindersley's - for the sheer love of her...

Capers in the Kitchen

Friday, 25 September 2009

Fact of the Day...

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