I've been reading Maggie O'Farrell's The Hand That First Held Mine, just finished it and it was a can't put it down sort of book. Difficult not to rush it, but worth a slower read as there is so much to absorb. I haven't for some reason read any of her other titles, but will be searching them out soon. The story has two areas of focus, Lexie and Elina, Lexie leaving home and eventually becoming a respected and successful journalist, Elina a generation later, already a fairly successful artist, becoming a mother at the start of the story. The difficult birth of Elina's son and its consequences for her , and how she gradually recovers are gently and subtly revealed. Slowly the link between these two women is revealed, along with complex family stories and relationships. With its themes of love, loss, identity, marriage and the importance of creativity in an individual's life, I found this a superb read. I found that Maggie O'Farrell captured the feeling of the 1950's and 60's very well when telling Lexie's early life and affair, a time of freedom and infinite possibilities. A wonderful rich read of a book.

Foodie books

I picked up Clarissa Dickson Wright's memoir, Spilling the Beans for 50p at a Christmas Fair, as I was intrigued to read about her connection with the Books for Cooks bookshop in London. The whole of her life story is fascinating read, even the tale of her descent into alcoholism. I had picked up snippets of her story from watching the Two Fat Ladies cooking programmes and bits of reading, but the story straight from the horse's mouth is obviously more revealing and more interesting.
Another book about food which I gathered on a library swoop just before Christmas was The Foodie Handbook: The (Almost) Definitive Guide to Gastronomy by Pim Techamuanvivit. The author writes a food blog, Chez Pim, which is quite interesting, although somewhat American in recipe detail. The book does include recipes as well as all sorts of advice on how to eat, drink, cook and be a 'foodie'. Some of the recipes reveal the author's Thai background, but as ingrediants for Thai cooking are now more easily available everywhere, there is no problem sourcing them. The tone of the writing is chatty and friendly and the photographs are lovely, although not every recipe is illustrated. Although Pim is US based, her foodie recomendations have a world wide spread and appeal.
It's not the first foodie handbook I've read: in the mid 1980's Ann Barr and Paul Levy produced the Official Foodie Handbook, which although I haven't read it since then I seem to recall as being somewhat more dictatorial as to what to eat and drink to be considered a foodie.

Some alliteration

I've recently been dipping into Elspeth Thompson's Wonderful Weekend Book with some interest. There are some suggestions that could be off-putting to some readers, such as how to go about looking for a country weekend cottage, but many others are things that I and others of my baby boom generation have been doing most of our lives, along the recycling, handmade route. It's an inspiring book, but I wouldn't recommend following up every suggestion, just those that are really within your own personal reach of time, energy, and money and then only one or two at a time. There are also lots of useful suggestions of ways of involving children in weekend activities as well.

The Three Weissmanns of Westport, by Cathleen Schine is an interesting take on the theme of Sense and Sensibility, but set in modern day America. Joseph Weissmann decides to divorce Betty,his wife of over forty years and to kick her out of their apartment in Manhattan, for which she made the down payment. His two step daughters, Miranda and Annie, for a variety of reasons, move in with their mother when she is offered a cottage in the summer resort of Westport on Long Island. The story follows the vicissitudes of the lives of the three women and their circle of family and friends, including a trip to a desert resort with Cousin Lou and his wife, which offers a nice contrast to winter in Westport, as well as the ups and downs of romances of Miranda and Annie. I enjoyed this as a read and found it very amusing in places.

Reading halt

Over this Christmas and New Year I intended to read much more than I did, but with visits from family, some staying a few nights, some coming for the day, I seem to have come to a slight halt. Nevertheless have started reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Lacuna, which seems to be a very promising read, and have also finished a couple more, started earlier.

Our Reading Group discussed Jill Dawson's The Great Lover the other day. I had read it earlier, ( and posted about it here) but didn't re-read, so found the discussion interesting. Many of the group weren't that keen on it, but most had read it and one or two who had'nt finished said they would read to the end. They felt slightly confused by the mix of fact and fiction, not knowing precisely which might be which. I had enjoyed reading it last January, but didn't feel inclined to re-read, partly because I could still remember much of it. We were joined for our discussion by one member's new ( born in October) daughter, who was extremely well behaved for a first timer, barely a cry, just an interested look round most of the time.

Foodie time

I seem to be a bit of a food provider at the moment. A week or so ago it was our local residents association autumn social, for which i organised the food along with a fellow committee member, nothing too fancy, just nibbles such as salmon tartlets, vol-au-vents, small sandwiches and some small sweet nibbles, and for drinks wine or fruit juices. Then my brother-in-law came to stay, so a couple of slightly more elaborate meals were called for, such as a slow roasted shoulder of lamb with greens and roasted potatoes, parsnips and carrots followed by an apple cake for pudding. Tomorrow I shall be contributing to a light lunch following a book club meeting, and next week a group of friends are coming to my home to have a lunch - we usually go out together once a month, but as we normally meet up near the end of the month, which in December gets a bit near Christmas, we decided to have our get-together in someone's home, and I volunteered this year. Happily I usually enjoy cooking and feeding other people (than oneself and husband) does help get the cooking creativity going, even if mostly its fairly simple stuff.

Our Book Club recently discussed Tracy Chevalier's latest novel, Remarkable Creatures. The story of Mary Anning and her discovery of the first complete ichthyosaurus, and her friendship with Elizabeth Philpott, a spinster dumped in Lyme Regis together with her two sisters, make a very readable story. Tracy Chevalier's research is good, although obviously this is fiction, so facts are altered for effect on the story. Nevertheless, she brings to life two women from different classes, makes their friendship very real, and also highlights the real difficulties Mary Anning had throughout her life with money and recognition for her work in finding and preserving fossils. We pretty much all enjoyed the story, several of the group know the area very well, so their interest was was more intense. Most of us had read several of Tracy Chevalier's other novels, but some felt this latest title was not quite of the same standard. Personally, I feel that her writing and storytelling is up to the expected standard, although even if the actual plot was fairly slight, she has made an interesting tale out of it.
I've recently finished George Sand's Winter in Majorca, the story of some months she, together with her lover Chopin and her children spent in that island in 1838 and early 1839. The translation I read was by Robert Graves and also has notes by him. Her writing is captivating, especially when describing the beauty of the scenery, but her attitude to the inhabitants was at the least offhand, if not actually rude on occasion. They in turn were scandalised by her relationship with Chopin, and also very concerned about his illness. I recently watched a television series in France about George Sand's life, which brought out how eccentric she was, but also how hard a worker she was to maintain a home for her children, as she brought them up on her own after separating from her husband.
A different read was Helen Garner's The Spare Room. The story of a visit by Nicola to stay in Helen's spare room, while undergoing some alternative treatments for her almost terminal cancer at a clinic in Melbourne. Helen is at first eager and willing to help Nicola in any way she can, but as Nicola's treatments take their toll, so Helen's emotions change and the reader is made aware of the dificulty Helen has in controlling her feelings while Nicola maintains an almost frightening optimism. A beautiful piece of writing , describing raw and painful emotions on the subject of a forthcoming death.